Musa knelt down in front of the huge stone and mourned for Erik. I stood some distance away from him, feeling the same pain he too felt. I thought about Erik's last words before he died, a hero who didn't considered his own life but the lives of his comrades. Erik sacrificed himself because he knew that the maneaters would eventually catch up with us. His death made me wonder what type of man he was. He looked harsh towards me on the outside, but a wonderful person on the inside.
     I couldn't wait for Musa to grief over Erik for a long time, so I spoke up," We have to look for the others Musa".
     He didn't answer me. He continued his mourning.
     " Come on Musa we have to go".
     " Shut the hell up Joe!", yelled Musa as he suddenly stood up and pointed his Ak-47 at me," Just shut up you bastard! You murderer!".
     " Okay I'm sorry about Erik's death but--".
     " Sorry?", Musa cut in sharply," Now that's the word I hate hearing from you scientists. You make up some chemical that infects people instead of helping them and yet you still have the goddamn boldness to say I'm sorry? No, I won't accept that".
     I wanted to talk but again he prevented me from doing so." You ungrateful son of a bitch!", continued Musa," Ever since you and your father continued that experiment and unleashed it into the world, I've lost so many precious people in my life. I've lost my family, my men, Tom, and now Erik. I now realise that you can't run away from your past until you have eliminated the demon in it. All these deaths have always lead me back to one person. It has always lead me back to you Joe, which means I can't progress until I've made sure that you will not live to see the end of this day".
     " So you have finally made up your mind to kill me Musa".
     " Yes I have Joe. But first, toss me your revolver now".
     I sighed, brought out the revolver and threw it at him. It landed right at his feet. Still pointing his gun at me with his right hand, he bent down and picked up the gun with his left hand. He flipped his left hand to the left so as to know how many bullets I had left. He looked at me and laughed when he saw that I hand only one bullet left. He threw the gun away on his left and saw a small empty room behind me.
     " Now turn round and march into that room behind you", ordered Musa.
     " Musa this doesn't make any--".
     " Go into that room now Joe!".
     I sighed, turned round and walked into the room. I stood at a corner and stared at him.
     " If you're going to shoot me then do it quick".
     " Oh no Joe. You think I'm going to kill you that easily?", asked Musa as he remove his ammo, emptied its contents and threw both gun and ammo away.
     " Then you are going to kill me with your barehands huh?".
     " No Joe. I'm going to kill you with these", said Musa as he brought out two jack knives." But to make things fair, take", he tossed one of the knives at me," Lets see whether Max taught you very well".
     I picked up the knife and looked at Musa," This isn't right Musa. If you kill me you won't find the cure".
     " Fuck you, I have Wallace. He'll find the cure. In fact, we'll find the cure, but you won't be alive to see it".
     I sighed, held my knife tightly and raised it up to my shoulder level while I did the same with the other hand. Musa smiled, knowing that I had finally accepted his challenge. He copied my fighting position and walked cautiously towards me. I did that same too, not letting my eyes of him. Then the both of us broke the silence, yelled and ran towards each other to begin the battle.
***
     The aftermath of the explosion showed lots of stones that buried the bodies of the maneaters and Erik. Dust covered the whole scenery and not a stone was moved except one medium size stone which seemed to be moving upwards from the pile of rubbles. It finally broke through the rubbles and tumbled down the pile. A maneater was pushed out as well and a man dragged himself out. It was Erik, putting his gun in his holster, bleeding internally and externally, having dust all over him and yet was still clinging on to life. He stood up slowly and observed his perimeter. He walked steadily down the pile and walked slowly towards a black car. He coughed out some blood and touched his right shoulder which had the bite marks of the maneater he pushed away. The holes were deep and sticky with blood. He ignored the pains he was feeling and reached the car. It was locked, much to his annoyance. He bent down and picked up a large stone beside it with much difficulty. He broke the glass of the door behind the one leading to the driver's seat and opened that door by placing his hand through the hole he had made and unlocked the door. He sat on the driver's seat and locked the door. He saw a torn page of a King James Bible and picked it up. The first thing he saw in it was 2 Timothy 4:7, which says:
     " I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith".
     Tears blinded his eyes as he read it. He dropped the page, brought out his gun and pointed it under his lower jaw. He didn't know whether he was going to die or turn into a zombie, but he wasn't going to take any chances. His left eye however caught a figure coming towards him. He looked at the figure while the gun was still pointed under his jaw. He couldn't guess who the figure was because his vision was becoming darker. He then felt his pains miles away from him and smiled. The gun fell off from his hand, his vision was finally dark, his breath seized and he finally drifted off into an eternal sleep.