Sci-Fi / Dystopian
Date Published: 2/22/13
The Virus spread. Billions died. The Ending began. We may have survived the apocalypse, but
the Virus changed us.
When people started getting sick, “they” thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my
boyfriend, my family…they’re all gone now. I got sick too. I should have died with them—with
the rest of the world—but I didn’t. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear
off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I’d ever experience. I was so wrong. My name is
Dani O’Connor, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.
The Virus changed everything. The world I knew is gone, and life is backwards. We’ve all had to
start over. I’ve been stripped of my home, my dreams…all that is me. I’m someone else now—
broken and changed. Other survivors’ memories and emotions haunt me. They invade my mind
until I can no longer separate them from my own. I won’t let them consume me. I can’t. My
name is Zoe Cartwright, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.
We’ve been inseparable for most of our lives, and now our friendship is all we have left. The
aftermath of the Virus has stranded us on opposite sides of the United States. Trusting strangers,
making sacrifices, killing—we’ll do anything to reach one another. Fear and pain may be
unavoidable, but we’re strong…we’re survivors. But to continue surviving in this unfamil-iar
world plagued by Crazies and strange new abilities, we have to adapt. We have to evolve.
EXCERPT
Looking around apprehensively, I made my way toward the convenience store in hopes of finding a
bathroom. The vacant world around me was eerily silent. All I could hear was the creaking of a giant wooden
billboard being assaulted by the wind.
How long has it been since anyone was here? Through the dark windows I saw a bathroom sign that looked
promising, but I couldn’t bring myself to enter. I wonder if it’s safe…
As I stood outside of the store, I noticed a newspaper box still filled with papers. I leaned closer. The
headline read, BILLIONS DEAD, and the paper was dated December 9, right before everything had started
to shut down. I inserted a quarter and snatched out a paper. Scanning its contents, my mouth grew dry and
my body stiffened.
…the H1N1/12 pandemic…
…looting and riotous outbreaks everywhere…
…end of civilization as we know it…
…survivors losing their minds…
…governments can’t control…
…the Apocalypse…
The newspaper slipped from between my fingers. Frozen in place, I was suffocated by the reality of our
situation.
This isn’t going away.
The world ended.
Thinking of the strange feelings I’d been experiencing, I once again questioned my own sanity. My
thoughts were too loud to silence. My heart thudded, and I couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat. Looking
out into the abandoned world around me, I realized how alone we really were.
I bent down to reclaim the paper and turned on my heels to head back toward the truck, completely
awestruck as the words I’d read replayed in my mind. Each was a reminder that the only world I’d ever
known had ended.
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