Apocalypse Life/Issue 11

Previous Issue - Hope

Issue 11 - Outbreak
Julius and Alice were frozen in their seats, their eyes focused on the soldiers emerging from the humvee. A few of them have already turned toward their direction, indicating that they've seen them.

What will Julius do? Run away from the military? He stands up, confused in his thoughts. He looks to Alice, who was looking at him.

"C'mon," he tells her, as he walks toward the entrance.

They walk side by side, with Alice looking worried, and Julius blank.

"We'll be safer with them," he tells her, as false reassurance in his part. It was too difficult for him right now to make the tough choice of being free, or being safe.

As much as he wanted to drive away, this was his life. His, and Alice's. He breathes loudly, as if to shake off any of his former plans, and continues to walk steadily.

They emerge from the store, seeing three soldiers walking toward them.

"Don't move!!!" shouted a young male's voice. In a flash, they were pointing their guns at them.

Julius and Alice stand frozen, as the soldiers run toward them. One of them carefully grabs the metallic bat from Julius's arm, while the other two stay focused on Alice, who had her hand behind her waist.

"Gimme that," asked a female voice. "Whatever you're holding, gimme that!"

She motions her hand toward Alice, who maintained a fierce look about her. That look slowly dissolves as she slowly pulls out her hand, clutching her combat knife. The female soldier snatches it from her hand.

The male soldier from earlier drops his gun stance, and starts speaking into the radio on his chest. It was hard to make out, as he was muttering silently on it.

The two other soldiers motion them to walk toward the humvee, which was right in the middle of the parking lot.

One soldier stood outside of it, keeping watch. He puts down his gun and stands idly, as he waits for the group of five to enter the vehicle.

The female soldier opens the door and climbs in, followed by Julius, then Alice, then the rest of the soldiers. After some time, the standing soldier eventually climbs up, into the front seat.

Julius felt a slight claustrophobia as there were barely any space inside. One of the soldiers couldn't even sit, choosing the middle ground instead.

Julius notices the soldier sitting in front of him, looking at him with a smirk.

"What's with the sour face?" he asks, taking notice of Julius's expression.

Julius tries to wipe it off by looking blankly, but he was doing a bad job.

"You oughta feel special," another male voice says. He was sitting to the right of Julius. "Y'all are the first we've found since last night!"

Julius notices Alice, who was looking as miserable as he was. She was sitting at the far right of him as well.

"Leave 'em alone. I'm sure they've gone through enough." It was the female soldier, the one who didn't have a seat.

"W-where are you taking us, anyway?" Julius asks, slightly surprising the male soldiers.

They all look at each other, until the female soldier turns to Julius.

"The highway 40 blockade. Plenty of people there, just like you." -