twenty seven. rapture

twenty seven

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↳ rapture ↲

MY MOTHER SAID I WAS BORN BLUE. When I first arrived, I didn't cry. I wasn't breathing and looked entirely depleted of oxygen. The nurses had to pat my back to force that instinct into me. My very first inhale was coercion—not my own choice.

Maybe, I knew the second I did take that breath, I had to keep going. Perhaps I was timid to make a commitment, one that granted death permission to loom over my head until the moment I ceased to exist.

Eventually, my last breath will come. And with the certain brutality of death these days, I might wish, in my final moments, that I never took one in the first place—that I was born with my eyes closed and unable to open. That I had stayed blue.

I will never know my fate. That was what was so frightening about it. I could never trust that tomorrow would be there. Beth couldn't. Allie. My mom, and my father. Tyreese, Bob, and all the others we lost along the way.

Thus far, death has shown me that it will take until it's the only thing left. A whole world, split down the middle. All the different planets and potential forms of life — were they brought under effect, too? Was there something else out there with people like us, suffering too? Or, was it only us which had been presented with such an imbalance of nature?

This was another extinction event, just like the ones before us.

For a moment, I relished on the thought of being up there, in space. Tucked around stars, silence the only sound. If I were to be in a shuttle, I'd be able to look down at Earth and not notice all the destruction. It would still look like home, but, I wouldn't miss it. I'd be somewhere else. Not gone, just, present on my own accord. In the folds of everything to ever exist.

The idea didn't sound so great when I thought about other factors. I'd certainly run out of food. I'd be nothing but bones, orbiting more bones. I'd die up there. Alone. There was also the component that I had no idea how to operate a spaceship. If I were tasked with something as simple as opening the doors, I might have caused the thing to explode.

I was here, instead. On earth. A road, to be exact. My back pressed against the vehicles walls. The van-quaking music playing on full blast, while I tried to ignore the pounding misery it placed deep in my head.

"Where do you even go?" Noah said towards me, having to get close to a shout to even remotely get his voice across.

I blinked, looking away from the back windows, towards the boy to the side of me. He smiled, eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Space." I said calmly, realizing it sounded more like a joke than anything.

I was proved right when he chuckled. "Sounds about right."

My mouth curved as I tucked my knees into my chest, relief running through me when the music lowered. The cassette had been Aiden's idea. Of course. Everything he did was at the peak of obnoxiousness. He had claimed it would draw the walkers away from Alexandria, but I knew better than that. He just wanted a reason to listen to his tunes, full blast, while driving.

The music lowering told me that we were close to the warehouse. Aiden could only play the music for a set amount of time before it got dangerous. We didn't need to draw the dead towards our final destination.

When the van came to a complete stop, a few in the back began moving before Nicholas instructed to stay in place and wait for one of them to open the doors. It made my body heat — thinking about all the control they believed to possess, though I let it go. It was another tactic of trying to show that they ran things in the supply run group. The only reason they had any bit of control was for the single fact that Deanna was Aiden's mother, and Deanna had no idea how unbelievably dense her son really was. Aiden Monroe, so half-witted it hurt my sixth-grade educated brain. I had no idea how the leader and him could have any correlation, let alone be kin of hers.

Some people weren't like their parents in the slightest. The apple fell far from the tree. In Aiden's case, there was no way they'd even come from the same tree. He was something completely out of line, so repulsive that I wondered how his mother even gained the courage to claim to be family.

The back doors finally opened, motivating me to crawl over the crates, and hop down. I turned, staring at the two holding the doors while Noah followed, then Glenn, Tara, and lastly, Eugene. When the area was clear, Aiden began unpacking the boxes, handing out our packs, and dropping a few extra items in each one.

"That's it there?" Tara motioned at the building towards our side.

"That's the warehouse." Aiden nodded, counting his bullets. "Looks like that door is the fastest way in and out."

My weight shifted back into my heels. How could he possibly say that? We hadn't even scoped the place out, and he had already set sites on our point of entrance.

"We should know all the exits first." Glenn said, strapping a large gun around his shoulder. "So, there's a plan if things were to go south."

Nicholas shrugged carelessly. "Already got one. It's called goin' out the front."

The only thing stopping me from commenting on his stupidity was a low groan from behind, causing me to whip around. A walker was many paces away. My hand came against the butt of my pistol.

"Heads up." Tara said, not in any tone of immediate danger.

I took hold of the weapon, glancing at Noah who'd done the same. When he saw we'd shared the idea, he gave me a small nod, putting his back into the holster. I smiled in return, twisting back to face the dead.

"Got it." I claimed, holding my pistol comfortably in my hands.

I felt the weight it carried as I lined it up with the dead's head. In a steady motion, I pulled the trigger, watching the walker drop to the ground in pursuit of the silenced shot. I then, lowered the gun, carefully sliding my finger away from the trigger.

"Look at you with the aim." Aiden spoke, a hint of his extreme passive aggressiveness showing through.

He was still frightened on the topic of me having possession of a gun. He had tried to make me stick with my knife, before leaving. I fought that it was unethical, and that I was put on a dangerous job as a young girl with no sense of protection. Deanna had no other option but to agree.

Him seeing that I wasn't a horrible aim, made him all the more uneasy.

"Glenn's right, we should do a perimeter check. Know our exits just in case." Aiden then said.

What a smart idea. He almost made it seem like his own.

We did as he ordered. The two leaders went forward first, branching off. The remainder of us split. Tara and Eugene formed a group. Noah, Glenn, and I took the opposite side.

Not much was here. I realized this when turning the corner only to be faced with empty space ahead. To our left, in the distance, was strip of woods that began directly where the asphalt stopped. I hadn't remembered how overgrown things were out here. Vines of ivy grew against the fencing, tufts of grass extending so far that they looked like bushes. Even the asphalt itself looked tattered and in desperate need of replacement.

"It was good aim back there." Glenn said.

"Target practice probably helped a little." I rolled my shoulders back.

Usually, I used my knife against minimal threats such as the lone walker. A gun made it all feel real. The sound it made, and the recoil. The smell of gunpowder itching my nose. I hadn't used a gun this often since meeting the governor. I could still recall training with those heavy rifles in the field. Being told that killing wasn't ideal, but that there was a slim chance it might have to happen.

"M-hm." Noah agreed, grinning. "Last week, I think you got plenty on Aiden. No judgement, though. I was real close myself."

I attempted at hiding my smile in my elbow as I pretended to wipe my face.

"I'm not saying that Cyn should have pointed a gun in his face, but, me too. Real close." Glenn admitted.

I looked down to my boots. My jeans were almost too long. I could only see the tips of the dirty red leather. "Nobody else was going to put him in his place, were they?"

Glenn shrugged, bringing up a finger to itch his head. "I think my right hook did pretty good."

"True." I let out a snicker. "That was probably the most satisfying thing I'll ever see."

Just before Noah could add to the conversation, we were brought to a slow by the sound of a snarl. Our weapons rose immediately. Glenn sped up, leading us towards the end of the blank colored wall, towards more fencing near the front. The groans became louder as we approached, and as we faced what lay beyond, immediately accepted we weren't just dealing with one, or two.

There was a swarm at Nicholas's idea of an exit.

"Well, we're not getting out the front."

▬ ▬ ▬

"So, we go out the way we come in. If worst comes to worst, we always have flares we can use to lead them away from our door." Nicholas suggested.

Oh brother.

A tsk sound came from between Tara's teeth. "We don't know how many are in there. A flare can only keep so many distracted."

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'we'll cross that bridge when we get to it'?" Aiden asked.

"We cant cross any last minute bridges when doing this. We need a plan. Otherwise, we could all end up dead; like your last group." I protested, saying the last part with a hint of spite.

Aiden's eyes widened as he stepped at me. "That wasn't our fault!"

I couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped my throat.

Noah put his arm forward to prevent him from getting any closer. "Hey, man. We just need to all be on the same page, and we can't do that if you're sending us all in here blindly."

Aiden bit his cheek, stepping back. He definitely wanted to hit me, which made this entire interaction all the more amusing. He was arguing with a fifteen-year-old.

"You want a plan? Fine. Here's the plan. We go in there, now. Mullet head gets the inverter, and we leave."

Glenn scoffed. "You can't be serious, Aiden."

Yes, Glenn, yes he can. Because he is what one would call, fucking stupid. He must have never spent more than a couple hours outside the walls. He had no clue how to execute this, and certainly no qualifications to lead us.

"I am serious. Now, get a move on. We could have already been in and out by now."

Glenn lead the group up the few set of steps towards the door. Once all of us stood on the flat metal platform, he opened it, pointing his gun into the darkness. His fist pounded against the doorframe. Aiden raised his weapon and waited only a few seconds before growing impatient. Him and Glenn debated against one another before Glenn finally caved in and clicked on his flashlight, crossing his arm over the other holding his gun.

After he and Nicholas entered, Noah and I followed. The beam of my flashlight shined on the aisles, illuminating the boxes occupying the metal shelves. Whatever it was we were looking for, there was no way it wouldn't be here.

The problem was, there were thousands of boxes. Boxes only labeled with lines of letters and numbers impossible to decipher.

The door creaked shut after Tara and Eugene. Glenn turned, looking ahead. "Okay, let's move."

Following the suggestion, we began scanning through the closest aisles to be sure it was clear of the dead. It was too quiet, and extremely dark. Our flashlights only provided so much lighting, before the brightened edges blurred out into a vast thickening darkness beyond eyesight.

It left me feeling cold.

With a distant soft clang against metal, my attention was brought back in front of me. Shortly after, a rattling. We stopped this time, listening closely. An inarticulate sound. Ones only walkers sounded out. Pained noises filled with a hollowed tone of despair. Such sorrow, one could call it the dead's lament.

"They're stuck behind something." Glenn whispered.

He was right. The sounds weren't coming from opposite ends of the building. They were coming from a specific area, compacted together.

"How do you know?" Aiden asked.

"I don't, but they aren't here." He replied, trying to see past the shelves. "All right, let's go. Eyes up."

It didn't take more than the turn of a corner to come across exactly what'd been holding these walkers back. Flashing my light to the front, I faltered back as one of them slammed itself against a chain fence separating us. I glared into its dulled eyes. It mirrored a newborns gaze. The lack any pigmentation in their eyes. Grey — the absence of color. As I reached for my knife to put it down, a sudden burst of dead came from the darkness, leaning into the barrier. Snapping their teeth.

Teeth digrated down into a rotten shade of yellow. Sunken eyes, and skin that didn't even fit around them anymore. Brittle slender fingers, torn and tattered clothes. Decay, so much withering away.  Seeing them so close was different than the other times. It made me dig deeper than the thing itself, and not only see it as a monster, but something else. What once was human.

"You know your stuff." Aiden admitted.

Tara nodded. "We were out there a long time."

"There could be more." Glenn said.

"Let's get to work."

Tara turned at Eugene, shining her flashlight in his face. In result, he squinted, flinching. "You're up." She demanded.

The two began in a different direction, while Nicholas and Aiden spread out from us and began searching the other aisles. I was still inspecting the cage full of the dead, making sure the lock was fully intact when Glenn approached.

"Hey," He lowly whispered, bringing his head down. "I need you to do something for me."

I twisted. "Name it."

One of the dead was pressing its face so far into the link that its skin was splitting apart with the contact. Pus and blood tainted the chain. It pressed harder, its eye seemingly popping from the socket with the pressure.

"Follow Aiden and Nicholas around. Make sure they don't do anything stupid. I don't trust them, and I know you don't either."

He was right about that.

"Good idea." I replied, backing away from the fencing.

I looked away from the dead. He gave me a nod before I took off in their direction, my pistol aimed ahead. I bit down on the small flashlight, keeping it between my teeth to free both my hands. My right for the purpose of my finger hovering near the trigger, ready to pull it back in any circumstance of defense. The left, inspecting boxes on the way to make sure I couldn't find the micro-inverter on my own.

Unsheathing my knife with my left hand, I cut through packages carefully, reaching inside one at a time. Purple packing peanuts dropped, lightly tapping against the ground. When grabbing the contents, it was easy to rule out what wasn't like the brief example of an inverter Eugene had shown us on the way. I tossed the boxes aside, peering sideways frequently to make sure I still had eyes on the two a couple paces in front.

After spotting them in the same position they'd been in a few seconds ago, I went back to digging through the next one, before a snarl came from behind. Before I could properly react, a gunshot fired past, landing in a fully armored walker's vest a few feet away from me. I took many steps back, jerking my knife from the cardboard on the way. I held my hand up to Aiden, signaling for him to hold his fire. The walker was closer to me. I'd easily be able to pull his helmet back, and send the blade through his neck.

"It's got armor. Let Cyn get him." Glenn ordered, looking past the shelves. "You're wasting bullets."

Though, Aiden didn't stop. "I got him. Don't move, kid. Stay to the side."

I pressed myself into the shelf to escape his line of fire while he took another shot, this time into its kneecap. The revived corpse fell to the ground, all the more provoked. Aiden fired once again, the bullet ripping through its unpadded shoulder.

That singular moment was when my breath took the hitch. I noticed it, strapped on the bandolier of the uniform. That dark green, bumpy outer shell.

My lips parted, desperate to shout out. It was past the time to do so, though. All around me, an overwhelming stillness kept everything in this exact moment. Silence came—so loud that I couldn't hear a single thing. The shell seemed to be glowing when the bullet made contact, before a flicker turned into the brightest light imaginable. It blinded me so intensely that I momentarily forgot any other sight but this had ever existed.

Nothing else but this light, burning into my retinas.

All at once, It drained just as quickly as it had arrived, leaving absolute nothingness in place.

It seemed as if the rapture was upon us.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · 3,067 words • 12:30pm

If anyone mentions that week where everyone on tiktok thought the rapture was gonna come I will ban u off this book don't even test me rn I wrote this chapter before everyone started quitting their jobs and selling their houses bc they thought they were gonna float into the sky.

(someday these memes are gonna be super outdated and unfunny and the thought of that makes me chuckle)

sincerely yours,𝓜 ᥫ᭡.