Is This The End Of Us? Or Just The Means To Start Again?

In the last second it feels like the whole world stops, the wind stops blowing, the stars stop twinkling, I stop breathing but then the clock ticks again and again and again. The world keeps turning and we’re still standing on the edge of it.
“Jack...” I say, staring out over the city below us, silence everything is quiet and still like nothing has changed.
“Either this is a really crappy heaven or we’re still living”
“I’m thinking it’s the second one” I say, taking Jack’s hand I pull him towards the edge of the roof, sitting down with our feet dangling over the sidewalk below.
“What do we do now?” Jack asks.
“What I’ve been waiting to do for some time” I reach up and tangle my hands in his hair, our lips touching softly at first but slowly getting more intense as Jack wraps his hand around my waist and he pulls me closer.
“I love you” I whisper, afraid to speak any louder and break the atmosphere.
“I love you too Alex, there’s no one else I’d rather survive the end of the world with”

Together we watch the sun rise, bathing everything in an orange glow. A day I never thought I’d see, the whole world looks slightly different like it’s not quite ending anymore. There are leafs on the trees, birds in the sky and no zombies in sight.
“So what do we do now?” Jack asks.
“Leave I spouse, no more running though. I’ve done enough running for anybodies life time”
Together we walk out of the warehouse, the only belonging I save is my lyrics book. Everything else we leave, the world is changing, it’s time to put the horror of the last one behind us. We’re moving forward and not taking the past with us, the gun life forgotten on the floor.
“Where shall we go?” Jack asks.
“London, I’ve always wanted to go to London”
“That’s a fucking long walk Alex!”
“Well good thing I’ve got you then”
“You and that stupid smile that I can’t resist” he laughs, kissing my nose. Walking hand in hand with Jack through the streets of some city that has long lost it’s time it doesn’t feel the same as it did before. I’m not scared I’m going to die, I feel alive, like I can free the world.
“Jack, can I ask you something?” He nods.
“What’s it like being dead?”
“I could think, I feel you touch me, speak to me but I couldn’t reach out to you. It’s like being trapped inside yourself, I just wanted to tell you it was okay and that I’d never blame you for any of it”
“But Jack...
“Don’t” he says, putting a finger to my lips.
“I am never going to blame you for any of it, because just think where would we be without it?” he asks, he’s right without the zombies I’d still be running.
“Thank you” I whisper, standing on my tip toes I kiss him. There’s a crash behind us and we pull away, a figure is standing behind us. I can’t tell if he’s human or not.
“Hello?” I call out. There’s only a grunt in response, well that answers that question. Jack steps away from me and towards the zombie.
“Jack what are you...”
“It’s okay, I don’t think he’s going to hurt us” he reaches out towards it, putting his hand on its shoulder.
“I’m Jack, this is Alex. What’s your name?”
“Jack why are...” I get cut off as the zombie makes a noise.
“M....Ma....Mark”
“What’s going on here?” I ask, walking up to Jack.
“Y... You are” crocks the creature.
“What?” Jack and I both say in unison.
“Zombies curing themselves, you show us how”
“We did?” I ask, I think of our kiss on top of the warehouse building.
“Love” the zombie reaches out and puts one hand on my chest and the other on Jacks. “Human emotion, it’s all we’ve got left”
“Love is bringing you back to life! But why us? In the warehouse zombies were cured before” I say.
“No they hadn’t, they were close but they hadn’t fully cured anyone yet. We were the first” says Jack.
“We really?” Jack nods.
“Love is the key to bringing back the un-dead”
“Freeze! All of you un dead scum” Looking up, I see a man at the end of the street, pointing a gun at us, dressed in a suit and dark glasses he looks like an FBI agent.
“Excuse me?” I yell.
“Kid move, there’s a zombie right behind you”
“No” I step between the man and the zombie.
“Kid, what are you doing? I’ll shoot!”
“He’s not a zombie anymore! They’re curing themselves, can’t you see?”
“That’s crazy, zombies are killing us. It’s kill or be killed” the guy yells.
“You’re wrong, they’re changing, we’re changing!” yells Jack, standing up with me.
“You’re one of them” he cocks the gun. “Both of you”
The words barely leave the man’s mouth and Jack’s got my hand, pulling me along as we go through the streets. I hear a shot and I know Mark the zombie is dead.
“Alex...
“Yes Jack?”
“We’re running again”
“Don’t remind me” we’re running through the streets again, expect this time we’re running from our own kind, running to save the zombies not from them.
“Quick this way!” stepping out from out of the building is Rian, grabbing Jack’s hand I pull him in Rian’s direction. We finally stop in the middle of what seems to be an old shopping centre.
“Thank you Rian” I pant.
“Alex the zombies... Something changing” he says.
“We know” Rian’s head snaps up at the sound of a voice he’s never heard, Jack’s voice.
“Y... You did it?” he stares shocked at Jack’s panting chest, the sweat on his forehead and the light in his eyes.
“We did it, it’s us Rian. We’re changing them; we’re showing them how to cure themselves, love is the answer” I say.
“Love is the cure? You... You think I can save Zack?” he asks.
“Sure of it, is he....?” I cut myself off, we’re not alone as I thought, and in fact they’re zombies everywhere and we’re standing in the middle of them.
“Take us to him” Jack says. Rian leads us through the shops until we reach an old music shop, cds and guitars lining the walls. Standing the corner is a boy, tall, muscular and with those dead, grey eyes.

“Zack?” Rian goes to touch his arm and the boy groans.
“Come on Zacky, I know you can come back. I need you to okay?” Rian says.
“Rian, what does Zack love?” I ask.
“Hmm well music, why?”
“I’ve got an idea” looking through the piles of old dusty cds until I find one I recognise.
“Jack can you find a cd player that works?” he comes off into the back, there’s a loud crash and Jack walks back into the room holding a cd player, now his dust half covering him. I can’t help but chuckle at him. Taking the player and placing the cd inside, I crank up the volume and let the music blear into the room.
“I want to take you through a wasteland I like to call my home
Welcome to paradise”
Bille Joe Armstrong vocals rang into the room, Green Day feeling the silence and slowly something starts to happen to Zack. It’s his eyes, they start to flicker and change, the grey fading away to show a green beneath it.
“Zack?” Rian’s voice cracks. Zack’s eyes blink, slowly like they’re rusty but they come into focus and he seems to be aware of what’s around him.
“Rian?” His voice is even hoarser than Jack’s had been. Rian basically jumps on Zack, hugging him with tears in his eyes. I turn off Green Day from where they were still playing.
“Alex, how... How did you do that?” Rian asks, finally letting go of Zack, who still surprisingly quiet.
“If love is the cure, we’re in a music shop I assumed that it meant something to Zack. So I took a chance”
“Do you think it could work again?” Jack asks.
“Yeah, I spouse” Jack takes down a guitar from the wall, sitting down on one of the boxes that scatter the floor and starts to tune it.
“I don’t any songs...” he admits.
“Hold on” I grab my lyric book from my bag, skipping through it until I find the right page and passing it to Jack.
“I didn’t know you wrote” he says.
“Just play” I say, nudging his shoulder.
“I have seen millions of faces,
ever-unchanging; content with redundancy,
I'm not the same way;
searching for change in directions that I want to go” I begin to sing softly, Rian joins in tapping on one of the wooden boxes.
“Take a breath, let it out slow,
Seasons change with the break of a lifetime,
Remind me again why we thought twice about it,
We've got ambition like you've got restraint so”
With Jack of guitar, Rian tapping his box and me singing it’s like we’re actually making music. An art long lost in this world. Slowly Zack comes around, also taking a guitar off the wall he joins Jack in playing, the both reading the lyric sheet of the floor.
“Smile like you don't give a damn about the consequence,
just say anything,
We say summer holds such wonderful things.
This must be more than just built up suspense,
In the wake of an accident.
Twist and turn in my sleep,
wake me up when we get there;
Destination success”
As the music continues to play, we start to attract attention. Other zombies begin to peer through the shop windows at the four of us within.
“Run like hell - We make noise for the sake of escaping.
Run like hell - You only live once now take this to heart.
Tell my family and friends I'll be ok.
Smile like you don't give a damn about the consequence. Just say anything. We say summer holds such wonderful things”
As the song ends there’s a noise, a noise I don’t recognise but looking up I see it’s the zombies outside the window. They’re clapping, they’re applauding us.
“Guys...” I walk to the window, Jack close behind me. Peering out the window, I look at their eyes, I see every colour, brown, green, blue but not a single grey.
“Did we just...” I stare at Jack, he looks as shocked as I do.
“Love is the cure... What is a more powerful reminder of that than music?” he says. It hits me, he’s right. It’s the music; it’s always been the music.
“Jack I could kiss you!”
“Please do” I lean in and press our lips together, pulling each in and in until he can’t get any closer.
“Guys I’ve got an idea” Jack says, breaking away from the kiss, almost gasping for breath. He takes an eclectic guitar down from the wall.
“Jack’s that’s not going to work, there’s no power” I say.
“Trust me” I nod. He goes on and passes a pair of drum sticks to Rian and finally a a pink bass to Zack.
“Sorry we don’t probably know each other, I’m Jack and that’s my boyfriend Alex. We kind of started this whole curing the zombies thing...”
“Thank you” he smiles, a cute smile. He takes the bass from Jack and the skunk haired boy turns to me, handing me another green guitar.
“Okay here’s the plan”

We stand on the balcony of the shopping centre, facing the 100s of zombies below us. A drum kit is set up, Rian sitting behind it and two guitar and a bass all plugged into amps, finally a mic in front of me plugged into its own speaker. There’s been no power in mouths, I have no idea on how Jack’s planning on getting these’s instruments to work. Twenty minutes later and the lights start to flicker. Bang the place fills with light and the pure sound of power running through the walls.
“How did you...” I ask as soon as Jack reappears.
“There’s always a backup” he says, winking at me. I take my guitar in my hands, plucking the first sting and rings out through the walls; it sends a shudder through me. Stepping up to my mic, I take a deep breath and just let the lyrics fall from my mouth, like it’s the easiest thing in the world, like I was born to.
“Manage me, I'm a mess
Turn a page, I'm a book half unread
I wanna be laughed at, laughed with, just because
I wanna feel weightless and that should be enough”
I take the guitar in my hands, finding the places on the strings without having to look, like I’ve always known how.
“But I'm stuck in this fucking rut
Waiting on a second-hand pick-me-up
And I'm over getting older
If I could just find the time
Then I would never let another day go by
I'm over getting old”
I turn to Jack, the purple guitar in his hands. He’s smiling, a bit goofy smile like I’ve never seen before. He turns to look at me, mouthing ‘I love you’ before the sounds of his guitar ring into our make-shift venue.
Maybe it's not my weekend but it's gonna be my year
And I'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as I go nowhere
And this is my reaction to everything I fear
'Cause I've been going crazy, I don't wanna waste another minute here
I make believe that I impress
That every word, by design, turns a head
I wanna feel reckless, wanna live it up just because
I wanna feel weightless 'cause that would be enough
If I could just find the time
Then I would never let another day go by
I'm over getting old
Maybe it's not my weekend but it's gonna be my year
And I'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as I go nowhere
And this is my reaction to everything I fear
'Cause I've been going crazy, I don't wanna waste another minute here”
Rian’s drums, Zack’s bass, Jack’s guitar, my guitar and my singing; it feels like magic. As the chords of the song ring through the walls we stare down at the zombies below us expect they’re not zombies anymore. The people below us are dancing to the music, jumping to beat of the drums and tapping their feet to the bass.
“This could be all that I've waited for
(I've waited, I've waited for)
And this could be everything I don't wanna dream anymore
Maybe it's not my weekend but it's gonna be my year
And I've been going crazy, I'm stuck in here
Maybe it's not my weekend but this could be my year
(this could be my year)
And I'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as I go nowhere
(Go nowhere)
And this is my reaction to everything I fear
(Everything I fear)
'Cause I've been going crazy, I don't want to waste another minute here”
The last chord plays and I look down at the people below, real people and we saved them.
“Jack, you’re a genius!” I say, wrapping him in a huge hug.
“It was your song” he says, kissing my cheek.
“But it was all of us” I say, wrapping my other arm around Zack’s shoulders. The four of us standing facing the people below, they said love could save us but in that the most powerful conveyer of that is music. It’s a love we forgot as our world ended around us and we’re bringing it back. Saving the world, one song at time.

The End.

Notes

There will be an epilogue, it's not quite over yet :')