Adapting To The End

The Prologue

March 30th 2022… This story follows a group of college students in the state of Arkansas, it is the story of how they lived through the end and how they died at the beginning of the new world. They’ve been planning for the apocalypse for years, making plans for just about everything, the group gets an alert on their phone for a disaster “This is a country-wide alert, the government has fallen, may peace be with you and god save us all.”, when they saw the alert they didn’t waste any time leaving class to get in Dean’s four-door truck and get the hell out of the city and out to the house in the middle of nowhere they worked together to buy just in case such an event ever happened. The group made sure that there was no one in the house, after that, they went out to the shed and opened a trapdoor that led to a small bunker with boxes of MREs, a few rifles, pistols, shotguns, extra magazines for the rifles and pistols, extra ammunition, extra clothes, crank radios, battery-powered radios, two axes, a few machetes, and extra batteries. After bringing a battery-powered radio, with batteries, and a pistol with an extra magazine for each member of the group into the house Alex turned on the radio and started surfing frequencies to see if anyone was still playing music, sadly the only thing being played was the recording of the alert “this is a countrywide alert, the government has fallen, may peace be with you all and god save us all.” Alex shut off the radio and said “if god wanted to save us why did he let the government fall? That’s another reason to add to the list of why I hate super Christians.” The others sighed and found somewhere to sit. They talked and went over their plans after talking about their plans they started boarding up the windows and hanging sheets on the ones they couldn’t board up but eventually, it was dark they all took shifts for the watch during the night in two-hour intervals, first on watch was Alex he didn’t see anything and eventually it was Lilith’s turn she also hadn’t seen anything Dean was next and he too saw nothing Lena was next and also the final person on watch she saw a few deer, a wolf pack, and some other animals that she couldn’t name. Eventually, the sun had risen and officially started day one of the apocalypse, they kicked off the day by laying out how they wanted to build the fence around the house. They eventually agreed on a fence made of logs tied together with rope and chain, reinforced with sheet metal although they couldn’t build it yet they needed to get it started soon. They had breakfast and made sure that the window fortifications would hold. They walked the perimeter several times throughout the day. When it came time to set the supports for their fence, they chose some thick trees to cut down and put into the holes they made for the supports, after a while of digging, cutting, and moving they finally had all of the supports in place. Although they still needed the main walls and gate they had done enough for the day, again they had to take shifts for watch but this time they all saw nothing and heard nothing but the wind and the leaves. Three months later the wall was successfully put up although, with some trial and error specifically with Alex and him checking if it was set right and almost knocking it over before it was finished, Lena had been away on a scavenging trip while the finishing touches had been put on the wall. For now, the wall will hold, later into the end of the world maybe not but it will hold for now.

Chapter One: Our Beginning

‘Day 58: Well it’s finally late summer, about two days ago Alex did something stupid and got himself hurt again on the material run, nails, and shit like that, Lena has been gone longer than she said she would, she said a week but it’s been two and a half but we trust she’ll come back but if she isn’t we will go find her, and Dean found a stray cat that scratched the shit out of him. Specifically what Alex did was try to kick open a door but he failed and hurt his ankle pretty badly. The funny thing about it was the door was unlocked. I took an inventory of the supplies we have. We have enough ammo to stock a small town militia and enough food to feed said militia but we are lacking in medical supplies. Log day 58 signed: Lilith Bates’.

Lilith signed the logbook and left her room bringing the logbook with her “ALEX! I told you to stay off your feet, you dumbass go back to your room and rest so you don’t hurt your foot worse!” she hit Alex on the head with the logbook

“Fine,” he said, “you sound like my mom.” Alex limped back to his room and grabbed a random book to read while he rested. Several hours go by and a loud thud is audible at the front door, Alex grabs a pistol and checks what it was, when the door opens Lena falls face-first through the doorway “LILITH, GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE!” Alex yelled after moving Lena out of the way and closing the door. Lilith is soon in the living room cleaning the cuts and scrapes that are on Lena

“you’re lucky you aren’t dead! You made us all worried!” Lilith yelled at Lena

“You act like this is the first time this has happened, I know what I’m doing.. most of the time at least.” Lena replied, Lilith poured some isopropyl alcohol onto one of the bigger cuts “Ow you asshole you did that on purpose!” Lena shouted

“did what? I’m just cleaning your wounds.” Lilith replied with an obvious grin on her face

“You did that without warning me! You know I don’t like that!” Lena whined. Once the larger cuts were stitched shut and the smaller ones with a bandaid over them Lena went to the attic, which is her room, to rest as she had been gone on a loot run for the past two weeks. The loot she brought back was lacking in ammo and food but just so happened to be full of medical supplies; bandaids, bandages, elastic wraps, and a lot of other stuff were in the bags Lena brought back.

Several Hours Earlier: Lena is jumping from building to building within the city trying to get to a promising-looking building, on the last jump to the promised building she misjudged the jump distance and practically drop-kicked through the uppermost window gaining several small cuts and a few medium cuts upon regaining her awareness she noticed that she had landed in an old medical warehouse but instead of cleaning and patching her own wounds she took anything she could find and went back home.

The Next Day: the group goes to the lake to do laundry and gather water for the week “Why can’t either of you two wash the laundry, both of you know I can’t swim.” Lena whined to Alex and Dean

“I know I could but I really don’t think you can carry all of this wet clothing, water makes shit weigh a lot more, sorry.” Alex replied

“Sorry, Lena. Hopefully, you’ll learn how to swim soon buddy.” Dean replied after Alex while they walked away with two loads of laundry for Lilith to hang.

“Y’all don’t have to be such assholes to Lena, she is right about not being able to swim,” Lilith stated like she was a mom scolding her children

“It’s funny though, come on let me and Dean have some fun,” Alex argued.

“Still no reason for making her clean the laundry every time.” Lilith snapped back to Alex, Lena used the edge of an underwater cliff to fully soak the clothing in water although she tries her best not to fall in she does occasionally.

Eventually, the group finished their laundry and decided it was time to have fun, so Alex, Dean, and Lilith swam for a bit while Lena refused to get in “Come on we won’t let you drown. We aren’t complete assholes.” Alex begged Lena to get in

“no, I’m perfectly fine staying right here. I am mostly dry and am at no risk of drowning” she replied while unfortunately standing close to the underwater cliff she was just using to wash clothing.

Alex pulled her down into the water and held her up so she wouldn’t drown “Well it’s time to learn how to swim” he said with a smug look on his face.

Lena slapped Alex repeatedly “you fucking asshole, how dare you! I hope that your guns rust and we run out of stuff to clean them with!” She shouted

“goddamn stop yelling you’ll attract the infected, you need to learn how to swim before you fall into a river while we aren’t there to save you.” Alex replied to her shouting.

Lena slapped him one last time so Alex dropped her but instantly pulled her back up to the surface “You done?” He asked

“yeah. Asshole.” Lena replied.

“Ok let’s get started with teaching you how to swim, we’ll start with letting you float on your back. Just take deep breaths while trying to lay as flat as possible” Alex informed Lena on how to float to the best of his abilities but Lena just locks up and begins sinking although Alex’s arms get in the way of her drowning. She began flailing and trying to grab onto Alex but her hands slipped off as she continued to flail “Stop. I’ve got you” Alex had already pulled her up out of the water while she was flailing her arms “Just trust me on this, I will not let you drown.” By now Lena has calmed down but is still holding onto Alex as tight as she can with those claws she calls fingernails “You need to clip your damn nails when we get home” Alex said while prying her nails off of his arms.

Two hours go by the sun is starting to set and the four of them load up the clean clothes into their vehicle and drove home, once home Lena and Lily are talking while clipping their fingernails “Alex is just jealous that he can’t stop himself from biting his fingernails, don’t feel bad about your nails″ Lilith said to Lena who had already finished clipping her nails.

“It's not that I’m still mad that he pulled me into the water like that” she whined in response

“You’ll have to learn eventually, you know that he refuses to let any of us die. He did it for good reason, just poor execution.” Lilith reminded Lena

“I know, but when was the last time any of you had to save me from drowning- ″ Lena tried to reason before being cut off by Lilith.

“a month ago. You nearly drowned a month ago.” She snapped at Lena “Stop trying to make excuses to not learn how to swim, just let him teach you so you don’t die.”

More time passes, it’s well into the night and Lena can’t sleep. She keeps thinking about what Lilith said ‘dammit, why does she have to be right?! Making me feel all sorry about getting mad at that asshole’ she thought to herself while walking around the house. Alex opens his door “Could you stop pacing up and down the hall? I can hear every step you take, the walls are thin, remember?” He questioned

“Oh, sorry, I’ll stop. I guess you can’t sleep either?” Lena asked him

“not really, you walking around didn’t really help. Come in here so we don’t wake up the other two by talking in the hall” Alex replied and moved out of the doorway. Lena hesitated for a moment before walking into his room “if you are expecting an apology for pulling you into the water, don’t, it’s not coming you need to learn and refuse every time we offer to teach you.” Alex closed the door and told Lena plainly how it was

’What the fuck is wrong with this guy? It’s literally your fault I’m mad at you asshole-’ Lena thought before being interrupted by remembering what Lilith told her “Yeah Lilith told me the same thing more or less.” As they talked through the night Lena fell asleep in Alex’s bed. Alex was still awake when the sun rose, sitting in a chair Waiting a while before waking Lena.

“Hey, it’s morning, we’ve got shit to do. Go get ready while I wake the others up.” He tapped on Lena before walking out of the room and waking up Lilith and Dean.

Eventually, all of them are awake and in the living room, “today, we’re all going on an expedition. Well past the furthest that Lena has gone, get your weapons, and meet back here in an hour.” Alex told the group, as the other three walked away Alex added “Don’t forget food this time.” After an hour they all reconvene in the living room, all armed with their bags packed with ammo, food, and the tools they carry. “Everyone packed?” Alex asked and they all replied with a yes or a variation of it, Alex opened the front door and held it for them to walk out “Lilith, you’re driving today.” She replied with a nod. They all loaded into a sedan, favoring it over the truck they started with, and began down the open road. Occasionally stopping to clear other vehicles from the road, “keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, search these vehicles and siphon off their gas if they have any.” Alex said, almost commandingly. They looted and siphoned the cars they moved before loading back into their sedan, driving for several more hours and reaching their destination the group hid their car in an abandoned garage. They took their weapons and bags out of their trunk. Alex is armed with an AR-15, an M9 Beretta handgun, and a Eighteen-inch Latin-style machete. His AR-15 has a twenty-inch barrel, an 18-inch Picatinny rail/M Lok handguard, an angled foregrip, a flashlight with a pressure switch, and a duty RDS Aimpoint red dot sight. His M9 is equipped with a flashlight and suppressor. His machete is simply that: a machete. Lilith is armed with a Benelli M4 shotgun, a Glock 34, and a fixed-blade USMC Ka-bar-style knife. Her Benelli has a standard barrel with a heat shield, a flashlight with a pressure switch, and collapsible stock. It’s loaded with buckshot and slugs, one buckshot shell in the chamber with two in the tube followed by three slugs. Her Glock is equipped the same as Alex’s, just a flashlight and a suppressor. Dean has a Remington 700 .308 rifle, a 1911, and a hatchet. His Remington 700 has a standard barrel and a fluted bolt. It has a soft recoil pad, a Harris BRM bipod, and a vortex venom 5-25x56 FFP rifle scope. His 1911 has a long slide, a seven-inch barrel, a flashlight, a suppressor, and an optic mount with a full-size reflex sight. His hatchet is a simple cold steel ax gang hatchet. And finally, Lena, armed with dual revolvers, an MPX carbine, and a butterfly knife. Leaving her glock at home and taking two revolvers for style factor, along with taking a Sig MPX which she continues to call an ‘MXP’ and ‘SMG’(submachine gun) even though it’s not a machine gun, much to the disappointment of Alex. The revolvers are just that, revolvers, with no modifications other than better firing pins. Her MPX on the other hand is dressed up nicely, in Alex’s words at least. Suppressor, a better trigger, flashlight, and laser both with pressure switches, a vertical foregrip, a folding stock, and a duty RDS aimpoint red dot sight. All of their main guns have slings. “Alright peeps, suppressed weapons only, don’t want to call any more of the dead to us than necessary, if I hear a single unsuppressed shot I’ll rip you limb from limb myself.” Alex stated and joked.

Dean chuckled and replied in a joking tone “You wouldn’t kill your own best friends would you?”

Alex smiled slightly “Why do you always call my bluff?” Dean didn’t answer, he just patted Alex’s shoulder, “Time to get moving?” Alex asked; receiving nods of approval as the answer. He opened the garage door and whispered “Lilith, you take point. You’ve got the shotgun this time.”

“Got it, anywhere in particular to lead to?” She asked while checking her shotgun chamber, it is loaded.

“Police stations, gun stores, convenience stores, and gas stations. The regular.” He answered, checking his own guns “Don’t forget to use your handgun to shoot straggling infected.” He added. The group moved away from the garage, Lilith leading with Alex and Dean in the middle and Lena bringing up the rear. They moved slowly and methodically, searching houses as they approached them in groups of two never leaving the others’ sight. As they walked a few infected caught their scent and approached, the group waited for them to get within melee range, four of the dead got close to the group as Alex and Dean drew their melee implements. Alex kicked the closest in the knee causing it to fall to its other knee, he brought his machete down into its skull, grunting as he extracted the blade. Dean hit the one closest to him with the flat back of his hatchet, causing its jaw to dislocate and hang open limply, he slammed the blade into the back of the infected’s skull. He pushed with his left foot as he pulled the hatchet from its cranium.

“You and your lack of style, Alex. Gotta up those numbers.” Dean teased as the final two infected got closer, “do you two want to take these?” He asked Lilith and Lena.

“Nah, we’ve got your backs, y’all take them.” Lena stated as she looked around, keeping her eyes open for anyone approaching; dead or alive. Alex took offense to Dean’s words and tried to add more flourish to his kill, as the third infected approached it reached out an arm. Alex cut off its hand and dodged out of its way, pushing it further away from him and causing it to turn back towards him. As it turned he cut off the rest of its arm and split its head down the middle.

“That work for ‘getting those numbers up’?” He teased Dean as he gestured towards the dead-dead man on the floor and then pointed to the other infected “Your turn.”

“I guess that works, no need to be sour about it.” He said while turning to the last infected. He simply threw his hatchet, caving in its skull as the blade hit.

“What the hell? That’s not fair!” Alex whined when Dean threw his hatchet “I did all this flourish and extra shit and you just threw your weapon at it?! That’s so not fair.”

“Dude, it’s the apocalypse, nothings fair.” Dean replied as he retrieved his weapon. “We were all on track to get a degree in whatever we were going to college for, if things were fair we wouldn’t have to deal with all this.” He stated “hell man you already shot a man for trying to steal our truck a week into this shit. Was that fair for him?” He added to his previous statement.

“I guess you’re right.” Alex said with a sigh “I was joking by the way. Didn’t have to get all philosophical on me.” He said while lightly patting Dean’s shoulder, “Let’s get a move on. I wonder why there aren’t many deadies around.” He said and then spoke to himself. Soon the group rounded a corner and came face to face with a massive horde of the dead “Why did I have to say anything- run, two blocks back. Enter the three-story building on the left and stack up on the second floor overlooking the stairs. Go, I’ll be right behind you.” He said quietly to the group as to not draw the attention of the horde more than their approach already had, giving them clear and easy-to-understand instructions the three ran. Once they were running Alex raised his rifle and shouldered it, letting his bullets fly until he needed to reload the first time, during his reload one of the undead had gotten into his blind spot; only noticing it once it was right on him, he put the empty magazine into its mouth to avoid being bitten, he let go of his rifle, letting it hang only by its sling, he grabbed the infected man by the throat and drew his M9 from its holster. after which he snatched the rifle magazine out of its mouth and fired the handgun. Now he started to walk backwards only firing when they were within arms reach. After a minute or so of using his handgun its mags went dry and he drew his machete and pulled a piece of thick cloth from his pocket, wrapping it around his hand to protect said hand. As he walked backwards he would punch and or slash the closest infected to him. Once there was enough distance between him and the horde he turned and ran to the place he told the other three to go to. the horde was still large, maybe still several hundred strong, “don’t shoot! It’s Alex!” He shouted as he entered the building and rushed up the stairs.

“Holy shit dude we thought you died when the gunfire stopped, don’t you ever do that shit again.” Lena said before slapping him in the face and hugging him “Don’t do that shit, if we run then we all run.”

“That’s fair, I deserved that,” Alex said while sitting down, taking off his bag and pulling his empty magazines from his dump pouch and guns and a few boxes of nine-millimeter ammunition as well as 5.56x45, loading said ammo to his empty magazines. “Get ready, they’re coming. Lena, Lilith, you two have semi-auto weapons. Lilith takes out those slugs and loads up a full tube of buckshot. Post up on these stairs and get ready to shout when they come through that door.” Alex gave more clear and concise instructions and the two women followed them, Lilith unloaded her shotgun and reloaded it with only buckshot. Alex took a moment to rest before sending Dean to a window that overlooked the horde. Dean shot the infected in the back of the horde with his Remington 700. Shortly after Dean started firing the infected at the front of the horde bashed open the door.

“THEY’RE HERE ALEX!” Lena shouted before both her and Lilith opened fire on the infected that entered the building, Alex joined in on the shooting once his magazines were loaded. After an hour or so of firing at the dead the amount of dead entering slowed.

Alex drew his handgun and walked down the stairs, stepping on and over the dead infected. “Let’s go finish these fuckers off.” He said as he left the building, firing at stragglers. One that hid around the side of the building lunged at Alex and took him to the ground. Lena and Lilith ran out to help Alex kill the final few infected. “You Piece of Fucking Shit, I WILL EAT YOUR FIRST BORN.” Alex shouted as he struggled to push the infected off of himself, eventually flipping the situation and punching in the skull of the infected man with his bare hands

Lena rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder “Hey, buddy, it’s done. That fucker is dead-dead.” She spoke in a low, calm, and kind tone. Attempting to calm Alex down, when she spoke to him he turned to look at her; his face and hands coated in blood, and a look on his face that could scare a demon. Once he realized who he was looking at his face softened and he wiped his face with his sleeve.

“Sorry.” He spoke softly as he stood, he shook his hand “that fucking hurts, remind me not to do that,” He told Lena in a joking tone. He gathered anything he dropped when he was tackled. “Dean, bring yourself down here!” He shouted up to the window that Dean was aiming out of. ‘Fuck. that’s definitely going to be sprained’ he thought to himself while rotating his wrist.

As Dean came out of the building he was loading his rifle with loose ammo “What happened to you?!” He asked Alex

“That little shit.” Alex pointed to the dead infected on the ground and kicked it slightly. Dean let out a light chuckle in response to Alex’s statement. “Lena, you’ve got the medical bag, give me one of those elastic sprain wraps. That strained the hell out of my hand.″ Alex told Lena and immediately began rummaging through the bag. After 20 or 30 seconds of looking, Lena found one and tossed it to Alex. After catching the wrap he rolled up his shirt sleeve and began wrapping his wrist.

“What now? Alex?” Lilith asked

“Back to the car, it looks like it will rain soon, I’ll wash off in the rain if it comes. I’m not wasting our drinking water on this.” Alex said as he began walking the path they took to get to this point. “What are you waiting for? Come on.” He said while walking backward. Lena, Lilith, and Dean followed Alex. Soon the group arrived at the garage they left the sedan in, just as they left it, Alex and Dean let Lena and Lilith sleep in the sedan first. “Why does hitting stuff have to hurt so much?” Alex asked Dean while massaging the hand he used to beat the infected to death.

“Well, you had to hit the thing hard enough to destroy its brain. Makes sense that your hand would be damaged. You probably fractured a hand bone or two.” Dean stated and joked while looking out of a window. “Heck, we’ve got company—“ he drew his handgun and checked its chamber “—wake the other two, there are five men approaching, all armed. They must have heard the gunfire.” He extracted the pistol’s magazine and checked if it was fully loaded.

“Got it. What are they armed with? Rifles? Shotguns? Subguns?” Alex asked while waking Lena and Lilith from their sleep, before Dean could answer Alex was telling Lena and Lilith what Dean had told Him. “Get your guns, there are five armed men approaching.”

“All three of what you asked. two with rifles, two with shotguns, and one with a subgun.” Dean answered Alex’s question. As the other two of the group rearmed themselves the armed men got closer and closer to their position

“Where are they?! They’ve gotta be around here somewhere!” One of the men whined

“Maybe they’ve already driven away? If they even came here in a car. I really don’t want to fight people-people.” Another tried to reason “Could we please just go home?” He begged.

“No, they’d do the same thing that we’re doing now. This is our territory and they’ve trespassed.” The third man chimed in while hitting the second in the back of the head with his knuckle. “Eventually you’ll have to kill someone, why not do it protecting your home.” The last two stayed quiet, keeping their eyes and ears open for any sign of them.

Seeing a singular bloody handprint on a garage door one of the two that stayed quiet spoke “There.” He pointed, and the other four approached the garage door. But as they did, a volley of rifle, shotgun, and handgun fire ripped through the door killing two of the men instantly and injuring a third. “OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK.” He shouted as he and the other still standing ran for cover. The four inside reloaded their weapons and exited the garage with their guns raised. Alex with his rifle, Lena with her dual revolvers, Lilith with her shotgun, and finally Dean with his 1911. As they exited Alex let off a single round into the injured man, putting him out of his misery, the two uninjured men blind-fired around the cover they took. “I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!” He shouted at the group that had just killed his friends.

“Stop shooting and we will let you two live! It was a show of force.” Alex and his friends took cover on the far side of the garage they had just come out of

“Why should we believe you?! Why should we believe anything you say?!” The man shouted questioning Alex

“I’m Jake, What’s your name?” Alex asked, although deceptive in his words he did want to know the man’s name.

“A-Axel, the other one is Jeff.” He answered, no longer shouting at Alex, stuttering slightly. “What’s your reason for us believing you?” He asked apprehensively.

“Well, I’ve asked your names. I haven’t shot back yet. And if you want more proof you and your buddy can drop your weapons, all of them, and come out with your hands above your head and walk backward towards us.” Alex spoke plainly once again, giving clear instructions to Axel. “Do as I say, answer my questions, and don’t give us a reason to kill you. If you do all that we won’t kill you and Jeff, okay?” Again, he plainly stated instructions.

Axel whispered to Jeff “Should we believe him?” He only received a nod from Jeff who was beyond scared at this point. “O-okay, we’ll come out.” He said as he disarmed himself, Jeff followed suit, as they walked backward Alex and Dean hit them with the butt of their rifles. Axel and Jeff who are now knocked out are tied to chairs, their hands bound and their mouths taped closed.

Alex tapped Axel awake, “Wake up dummy. You are gonna tell me the boundaries of your ‘territory’ as that one guy called it. If what you show me isn’t the same as Jeff over there, I’ll cut out his eyes and feed them to you.” Alex said, as plain as his instructions were earlier, no fluff or bluff in his words or voice.

“N-no! Please! Don’t hurt him! Please! I beg you! I’ll tell you what you want to know!” Axel pleaded with Alex, begging him to not hurt Jeff.

“Oh? What is Jeff your best friend? You’ll tell me what I want or his eyes are gone. If what you tell me doesn’t match what he told me, his eyes are gone. Understood?” Alex asked, making sure that Axel understood.

“I understand- please! Don’t take his eyes!” Axel begged as Alex untied him from the chair and led him to a different room. “What do you want from me?” He asked.

“Show me the borders of your territory, on that map there.” Alex shoved Axel towards a table. A table where a map lies, as Axel showed the outline of their ‘territory’ Alex leveled his M9 at him. “Thanks for telling the truth, now walk back towards the door, exit the building and kneel in the grass or I will end you where you stand.

“What?! Why? I told you what you wanted!” Axel shouted while doing as he was told to do, fearing what would happen if he disobeyed. When outside he kneeled beside Jeff.

“Anything you would like to say?” Alex asked the two men kneeling in the grass. Neither of them answered, they both just looked at the grass and waited. Two suppressed gunshots ring out. Alex executed both of them, he walked away, leaving them to rot in the grass of an office building. And as simple as that Alex was back to his friends and they all drove off in their sedan, bringing with them the food they found during their looting in the city and the guns they peeled from the hands of the dead men who they fought.