What remains

Lesley looked around him , unbelieving the sight infront of him .

It was a supermarket . Or what was left of it .

The doors were broken open , each store had shattered glass paving its path . There was discarded merchandise everywhere . Blood splattered the walls , floor and it's old pungent smell filled the air , making each breath Lesley took like breathing through a cloud of miasma .

The ceiling lights were broken and dead , some were hanging precariously low . There was furniture smashed in shops and a large puddle of water near where a tap had been left open. There was no way that people could come in there .

It was so horrific that it drenched Lesley's soul in fear of the danger around them , making him twice as nervous .

He was on the second floor looking down into the food emporium , behind him was a door to the stock room . They had left the city an hour ago , leaving their Rover close to the area but not too close . Rovers were designed to be soundless but they could still catch attention by driving over road debris .

Lesley had been horrified by what he saw on the road . It had been so long since he went out of the city but to think that the city had fallen to so much destruction . No wonder Liam never told him details when he came home , this was the stuff of nightmares .

Bones and teeth , skulls littering the pavement . Lesley swore he saw a fingerless hand on a bustop bench . The flies were everywhere , having a buffet across the city . Decay and rot was the very air itself and nausea was the least of his problems . He got used to nausea but not to the flies .

Everytime one landed on him , he thought of it inside someone's stomach , someone's brain and it made him cringe and swat it away . It lasted for ten minutes until Martin told him to get used to it . The flies were the least of his worries after all .

Lesley looked left , right and then below where he saw Ross in position as his lookout captain . Liam was with Martin and Rick in the stockroom , collecting the food and supplies left over from the outbreak . Other squads had been there before them , meaning they didn't have alot to take . There would be another squad sent over next week aswell .

Reaching behind him, Lesley pulled out his Crux and looked at its shiny surface again. His grip tightened as his eyes hardened like steel . He'd fight , if any zombies came , he'd fight them .

" Rookie , look around not at your knife . " Ross yelled quietly at Lesley , who nodded his head and put his Crux away .

He looked left and then right , then he looked up at the ceiling .

Huh ?

The ceiling had some holes in it , and this meant they could see the metal beams holding up the roof .

Lesley narrowed his eyes , noticing a shiny green light in one hole . It was flickering , like a firefly and his eyes couldn't look away or tell what it was .

" Hey , you good ? " Liam asked him and Lesley was snapped out of his head .

" Yeah , yeah , yeah , you guys done ? " He asked him .

" Yep . Enough supplies for three weeks . Martin already packed it in the Rover . Call Ross up . " He said .

Lesley looked down and opened his mouth to call Ross but the man was gone . One moment he had been there and the next he was not .

" What's wrong ? " Liam asked and looked down to where Lesley was looking , " Where's Ross ? "

" I-I don't know . He was right there a second ago . " Lesley said looking around to see if Ross had changed position but nobody was anywhere down there .

" Les did you just lose our second support ? " Liam asked him anxiously .

" No . He was there , I just looked away for a moment and he - ah ! " Lesley shouted when a hand grabbed him from behind . His mouth was covered and a mouth neared his neck , chilling the blood in is veins .

No! No ! He thought , he wasn't supposed to die here !

He reared his head and gave the thing behind him a strong headbutt . His mouth was freed and he drew his Crux , ready to kill the monster but Liam grabbed his hand , stoping him .

" Stop Les ! " Liam said as Lesley tried to attack .

" It's a zombie ! " He yelled at his cousin and then he heard laughter . It was loud and clear , coming from behind him and from the zombie .

" Damn , a headbutt . I did not see that coming . " Martin said coming from the stock room , " You okay Ross ? That sounded like it hurt . "

" Like hell but the rookie's impressive " The zombie said but it wasn't a zombie . It was Ross wearing dirty clothes over his military uniform .

" Good job , Lesley . You reacted quickly and efficiently disabled your opponent . " Rick said leaning on the stockroom door , " Although a real zombie would not have let you go . You should have reached for the head and pushed it away , then taken your Crux out , cut off its arm and then the head . But good work , you did good . "

" What ... is going on ? " Lesley asked them .

" It was a test . To see if you're good or not . " Rick said and he nodded at Martin .

The bearded man came over and pulled the Skillet he had strung to his back . He took it off and gave it to Lesley with a smile .

" Told you , you're a fighter kid . " He said and Lesley took the gun with a nod .

It was lighter than he expected but he soon got used to the feel . Strapping it onto his shoulder , he looked at all of them as they looked at him .

Even in this fallen world , in this ruin of a city , in what remained of civilization , he'd met people like them . He stood up straight and gave a bow .

" Thank you superiors . I will fight bravely . " He said and the other guys chuckled softly .

" Kid get up . Come on , let's get back to the city and have a feast . " Martin said , " I'm a good man in the kitchen . "

" I'm starving , what's on the menu ? " Ross asked as they walked through the door .

" I want roasted chicken .You heard me right, I want roasted chicken . " Liam said following the others .

Lesley smiled at them and looked back to the roof , back at the hole but the green light was gone . Had he imagined it ?

" Are you coming ? " Rick said placing his hand on Lesley's shoulder .

"Yes." Lesley said turning around and Rick led him away with his hand still on Lesley's shoulder .

.....

Mel reached down into the soil and dug out a skull . It was an adult skull with a full set of teeth . There was no flesh on it , or residue tissue to mention .

He placed it on the ground next to a tombstone and looked around himself . He was on his knees , on a grave , digging for human remains . This was what he had been doing since morning , he had three sets of skeletons now , each a pile of bones next to their graves .

The cemetery was quiet , except for the occasional rising dead body . ' Late bloomers ' was the term for zombies still rising after the apocalypse . Then there was the masses of zombies skulking the place , moaning and groaning so that it was like a horror film .

So not so quiet.

The moon illuminated the area , with its legion of undead , it's broken down crypts and the lone zombie collecting human bones . A smell of salt , sulphur and decay was in the air , perfuming it with the scent of a widow's funeral .

Mel reached into the grave to pull out other bones but he found nothing . He searched and searched but the only bone was the skull he had pulled out . He groaned and got up , taking the skull with him .

Walking away , he went to another grave and placed the skull on top of it . He knelt down and stroked the dry remains of what was once a human being .

"So...rry." He said to the skull .

He then got up and went to collect his skeletons . Picking each of them up , bone by bone , he made a big pile of bones in the centre of the cemetery , where zombies were moving about . None of them gave him any attention .

After finishing , he looked up at the sky , at the moon , his eye clear and focused . For a moment , a flash of humanity appeared in those dead eyes .

"Why ... us?" He said and then he looked at the bones of the people he had dug up . After standing there for ten minutes, he turned around and left the cemetery, and the pile of bones where they were.