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last01standingTitle: so goes the world
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Selena, Jim, Hannah
Notes: for yuletide
Summary: In the whole of England, 1306 made it out alive.
so goes the world
In the whole of England, 1306 humans made it out alive. Which was about 1303 more then number Selena expected. Jim laughed at her, but she was a pessimist when the infection set in and she was still a pessimist when all the infected had died.
They spent an extra thirty days in a government facility with the others, just waiting to be sure no one else is infected. The other survivors were skittish and untrusting and Selena could see most of them had thought they were the last man alive in the entire world.
She stuck close with Jim and Hannah, the two of them at her side just like they had been for the past few months. There were a few other groups like them. People huddled together, a mishmash of skin tones eye colours and accents. Different people but all the same somehow. All of them bound by tragedy, tighter then any family.
Their first steps back into the real world came after blood tests and quarantines and too much time but when Selena breathed in the air, she felt something in her chest akin to optimism.
Jim and Hannah appeared by her side a few minutes later, Jim clutching a few pounds to his chest. The government didn’t have the money to pay reparations. Not when they had to rebuild the entire country. But they did have enough to offer a travel stipend. Enough money for a one way ticket anywhere. “So,” Jim said, tossing his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t shrug him off. “Where to then. Anywhere in the world. My treat.”
Hannah looked at her feet. “Dad always said Barcelona was nice. He showed me pictures. Him and mum took a holiday there before I was born.”
“We go to Barcelona then,” Jim declared. “What do you say, Selena?”
It wasn’t a question of if she wanted to go. They were a unit now. They went together or not at all. “I don’t know much Spanish.”
“But that’s part of the adventure.”
***
Barcelona was hot and sticky and crowded and they spoke Catalan not Spanish. They stay for two weeks before they decide enough is enough. They day they decided to leave coincided, not coincidentally with a trip to the market on La Rambla when Selena had a flashback to the hordes of infected so vivid that she found herself reaching for the machete she no longer carried.
Jim pinned her hands to her back, called for Hannah and steered them out back onto the street. Hannah had a bag of fresh peaches in her hands and they laughed as they ate, taking the bus out of the city.
They bounce from country to country, place to place, trying to find somewhere to settle in but the cities are too big and three days after restarting her work as a chemist, Selena realizes she couldn’t do this any more. Crowds made all of them skittish and she dreamed alternately of Frank’s twitching body, soldiers making moves toward Hannah and a sea of faces of the infected.
She picked fights in bars when anyone but Jim touched her and Hannah refused to talk anytime they placed her in a school. “We can’t keep drifting like this,” she told Jim one night as she repositioned her hand on his legs.
“Things will work out,” Jim whispered in her ear, trailing kisses up her neck. “There’s nothing we can’t do.”
She wanted to tell him he was wrong. Wanted to regain the rigid structure she’d have before the infection. But she didn’t have this before the infection and she can’t bring herself to disagree.
(end)
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Selena, Jim, Hannah
Notes: for yuletide
Summary: In the whole of England, 1306 made it out alive.
In the whole of England, 1306 humans made it out alive. Which was about 1303 more then number Selena expected. Jim laughed at her, but she was a pessimist when the infection set in and she was still a pessimist when all the infected had died.
They spent an extra thirty days in a government facility with the others, just waiting to be sure no one else is infected. The other survivors were skittish and untrusting and Selena could see most of them had thought they were the last man alive in the entire world.
She stuck close with Jim and Hannah, the two of them at her side just like they had been for the past few months. There were a few other groups like them. People huddled together, a mishmash of skin tones eye colours and accents. Different people but all the same somehow. All of them bound by tragedy, tighter then any family.
Their first steps back into the real world came after blood tests and quarantines and too much time but when Selena breathed in the air, she felt something in her chest akin to optimism.
Jim and Hannah appeared by her side a few minutes later, Jim clutching a few pounds to his chest. The government didn’t have the money to pay reparations. Not when they had to rebuild the entire country. But they did have enough to offer a travel stipend. Enough money for a one way ticket anywhere. “So,” Jim said, tossing his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t shrug him off. “Where to then. Anywhere in the world. My treat.”
Hannah looked at her feet. “Dad always said Barcelona was nice. He showed me pictures. Him and mum took a holiday there before I was born.”
“We go to Barcelona then,” Jim declared. “What do you say, Selena?”
It wasn’t a question of if she wanted to go. They were a unit now. They went together or not at all. “I don’t know much Spanish.”
“But that’s part of the adventure.”
Barcelona was hot and sticky and crowded and they spoke Catalan not Spanish. They stay for two weeks before they decide enough is enough. They day they decided to leave coincided, not coincidentally with a trip to the market on La Rambla when Selena had a flashback to the hordes of infected so vivid that she found herself reaching for the machete she no longer carried.
Jim pinned her hands to her back, called for Hannah and steered them out back onto the street. Hannah had a bag of fresh peaches in her hands and they laughed as they ate, taking the bus out of the city.
They bounce from country to country, place to place, trying to find somewhere to settle in but the cities are too big and three days after restarting her work as a chemist, Selena realizes she couldn’t do this any more. Crowds made all of them skittish and she dreamed alternately of Frank’s twitching body, soldiers making moves toward Hannah and a sea of faces of the infected.
She picked fights in bars when anyone but Jim touched her and Hannah refused to talk anytime they placed her in a school. “We can’t keep drifting like this,” she told Jim one night as she repositioned her hand on his legs.
“Things will work out,” Jim whispered in her ear, trailing kisses up her neck. “There’s nothing we can’t do.”
She wanted to tell him he was wrong. Wanted to regain the rigid structure she’d have before the infection. But she didn’t have this before the infection and she can’t bring herself to disagree.
(end)
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