{Apocalypse AU}

{Requested}

Sounds of screaming and clanging could be heard from behind me as I ran through the endless hallways that seemed to go nowhere, my throat burned like a fire, my legs begged for me to stop running, and my whole body wanted to collapse of exhaustion. I wanted to cry out for help, get out of this place, anything to get me away from these diseased creatures. My mask seemed to suffocate me, every breath I took became shorter, every moment they got faster. I took a left of the hallway that split in two ways, I ran and ran until I was met with a wall, I skid to a stop and looked behind me. There was a person standing, their skin rotting, there was a hole instead of a nose on their face. They had a wicked grin plastered on their face as they raised a shakey hand, they pointed at me.

"Get him..." their voice was raspy and deep, an army of the diseased rounded the corner and ran towards me at a break-neck speed. I squeezed my eyes shut and shielded myself as they neared. This was it, I was done for. I was going to die and be forgotten, never find the answer to the greatest mystery, the cure. And I would die without knowing if __________ was okay.

...__________...

Oh how I missed her.

Then everything went in slow motion, there was a flashback of that day when she was taken away from me. I was struggling to free myself while she cried out for help, I tried to yell, scream, anything to let her know that I was coming for her. We were so close, but so far apart. Everytime I tried to get up, a great force pulled me back down. My voice was choked up in my throat, I couldn't speak. Then the scenario changed, I saw __________, but she was in a room. A cold, grey room.

She was in shackles, she hugged herself and dug her nails into her skin until beads of blood trickled down her bruised arms. Her hair was matted and her face was devoid of emotion, her once full-of-life eyes no longer held their usual gleam of mischief or happiness. She looked up at me and her mouth parted, forming words that came out in a meek whisper.

"Why didn't you save me?"

Then she repeated it again and again, voices joined until it became a messy chant.

"Why didn't you save me?"

"Why didn't you save me?"

"Why didn't you save me?"

Over and over again, I covered my eyes as tears began to spill out of my eyes. The chant still clear as the light of day.

"Do you still love me?"

This made me look up, I was now in a field of wheat. I saw _________ standing in the middle, wearing a knee length white, simple dress. Her hair flowing in the direction the wind took it, she walked away from me while her fingertips brushed ever so slightly against the wheat. A faint call was heard from behind me, I turned around and saw... myself.

It was me, except not me, I looked more mature, my hair was a bit shorter, and I wore a white button up shirt with black slacks. I stared as he started to walk over to __________, his hands in his pockets.

"What are you doing?"

He asked, wow his voice was pretty deep. Was my voice going to get deeper? Am I in the future, or an alternate reality? What was going on?

I saw ________ turn around, her face changed from one of surprise to adoration. She smiled softly and I gazed down at her stomach. She was pregnant! She rubbed her baby bump in a counter clockwise motion and turned around to look at her husband.

"Just enjoying the view."

Her voice was softer, she seemed alot more calm and collected. Nothing seemed to rest heavily on her shoulders, she looked like she never had experienced the Apocalypse in her life. She also looked different despite the bump on her stomach, her hair was {longer/shorter}, her hips seemed wider and her breasts more plump due to her expecting.

The Keith I was looking at walked up to her, kissing her on the forehead before setting his hand on her abdomen. They rested their foreheads on eachother for a moment, and in unison they said a simple but meaningful, "I love you."

Then there were giggles of small children, I turned around and saw toddlers dashing towards them. One boy and one girl, they had our characteristics. They must've been theirs.

They giggled wildly as they raced to their parents, I hadn't realized I was smiling as the family joined in a group hug. Laughing and not having a care in the world.

A feeling of hope and strength was restored for me, this was something I wanted, a life I craved to have with _________. The field of wheat started to fade away along with the family, I looked below me and saw nothing, everything was dark. Then I gazed back up until I saw her again, she had a florescent white hue emitting from her as she approached me.

She smiled and looked into my eyes, she lifted her hand and cupped my cheek. I leaned my head into her hand, everything to crumple away into darkness but she never faltered to look away or flinch. The darkness spread quickly and seemed to swallow her up, I desperately reached out to her as her light faded. I moved in a painfully slow pace as she disappeared.

▪▪▪

I sat up quickly, breathing rapidly and my heart raced. Beads of sweat rolled down my temple, I blinked a few times to adjust my sight. I looked beside me and saw the emptiness of the bed, the blankets had been kicked off onto the floor. I sighed softly and rubbed the tiredness out of my eyes, rolling out of bed and checking the time on my wrist watch, 4:30 AM. Only 3 hours of sleep, that's a personal best.

I trudged to the dresser and lazily threw on my clothes, grabbed my bag, gas mask, and canteen. Heading out to search for food or supplies.

Pushing open the large metal door, I was met with hot dry winds despite it being so early in the morning. I pulled out my flashlight and went forth into the dark early dawn, towards the direction of the city. Thinking back to the dream, it felt so surreal, I had forgotten how long it had been since I lost her. I searched and searched but I couldn't find a clue or an answer, I lost sleep, my health wasn't doing well. Every second of every minute, of every hour, she was always on my mind. I was losing hope, I couldn't live on without her by my side. I missed her, I needed her.

Now she was gone because of me, she was taken away from me. All because I didn't do anything to help, I would give anything to see her again.

Time dragged on as I walked, the sky was swollen with dark clouds, thunder rolled in the distance. I needed to get to shelter soon.

I began to jog towards the nearest building in the outskirts of the city, the back door was unlocked so I was able to sneak inside. It was a liquor store, boxes and trash strewn about. I looked around and found a light switch, I flicked it on and the store was illuminated. The storm outside began to brew as the low rumbling increased, shaking the ground beneath my feet ever so slightly. I decided to wait out the storm by looking on whatever was left of the shelves, canned foods, bottles, anything really.

The lights flickered as another sound of thunder clapped, followed shortly by a hard pitter patter of rain.

After a while of rummaging through old boxes and such, I had no luck in finding what I needed. So I settled down, opening my canteen and taking a sip of the refreshing water.

I twisted the lid back on and sat down, my back leaning against the wall. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift off as the rain outside drowned out any thoughts. I began to think about my wife.

The dream.

The memory of me losing her.

I missed her so much, I nearly forgot how she looked like, after all its been a year already. I was filled with devastation and dread since, I couldn't find her.

I let out a shakey breath and opened my eyes, gazing down at the wrist watch.

6:23 AM

'I guess we'll be here for a while.' I thought to myself before leaning my head back to the wall. Drowsiness and lack of sleep was tolling me, my eyes felt heavy and my limbs felt limp.

Finally I gave in.