The Survivors

Chapter 4-Keep Calm, Don't Panic

To poppylavender who fell in love with Sammy and wrote an amazing end-of-the-world story named the Bloodshed Killing. Thanks for being one of the firsts!

I came face to face with my first body after ten minutes of scavenging. My first reaction was horror. I stared at the mangled body with jaw dropped. My eyes giant and I couldn't breathe. It wasn't the horror of the dead body. It was the horror of what that person had go through before dying. I separated from the group to spread the search and revealed a body under a board covered with red carpet.

The carpet is stained and dirty now. I remember it being so clean when it was the floor of first class. The board has nails sticking out the bottom with blood splattered on it from the body. The body is smeared with dark red blood that's dried from the burning sun. The skin is charred black with peeling red rashes covering the arms and legs. I can barely tell if it's a boy or girl.

The hair is burned to a crisp revealing the bright red skin on the scalp. Their clothes have been completely burned to charcoal, still steaming with tiny smoke trails. Their arms are half-crossed and sticking up in the air. Their legs sprawled out on the sand like scissors. Their mouth gaping revealing a black mouth with missing teeth. They remind me of burnt popcorn kernels.

It's face is screwed up in an expression of eternal terror. It gives me shivers even though the temperature is rising. I continue to gape at it unsure what to even do. Leave? Stay? Bury it? I feel my stomach churning and I start feeling dizzy. I take a slow step back, unable to take my eyes off the corpse. My mind racing to remember who this was. But nothing is recognizable.

"Levi!" I hear Oliver shout from far behind me. I stumble backwards covering my mouth with my hand. Oh God, they're dead. Gone. Gone from this world, forever. Burned to a crisp. I look back over my shoulder to find Oliver running towards me, kicking up sand behind him. After-images replay over and over in my head, unable to get out of my head. That face, that terrified face. That could have been me. What if it were me burned to death and that person was staring at me?

"You okay?" he calls continuing to run.

I gag, turning back to the body. I back up a bit more and stumble over my feet. I trip and fall backwards onto my butt. I scramble away from the body feeling a surge of panic. I continue to gag feeling my stomach contract trying to shove acid up my throat. The smell of burning flesh is overwhelming my senses now.

"Oh," Oliver whispers from behind me. He stopped short and stares at the body, expressionless for a moment. I close my eyes still covering my mouth, I lower my head trying to shake the image out of my head. Think of something else, anything else but that. Uh think about Mom-, no. No no no not Mom. Think about chocolate. Yeah, chocolate. In boxes from the girls at school. They always liked to give me chocolate.

But the image returns in my head, erasing all previous thoughts. I hold my stomach with my other hand trying not to throw up everywhere.

"I-It's okay Levi," Oliver stammers from behind, "h-he's dead now."

I shake my head, then look back at him with wide eyes, "I know that."

"J-Just don't panic," he continues ignoring me. His eyes now glued to the corpse like mine were. "H-He's fine now."

I shake my head quickly, "He's dead."

"Guys?!" I hear Lukas shout. We both look back with giant eyes, "NO! STOP!"

Lukas, twenty feet away, stumbles to a stop and gives us a weird look, "Why?"

I shake my head and slowly stand up. My legs trembling and stomach still churning. I brush sand off my legs and force myself to walk back towards Lukas. "Just don't," I tell him with pleading eyes.