Until the End Read Online Free PDF

quiet and reluctant.
    “Tell him I was an Eagle Scout too.” Jordan whispers with a grin, giving me some kind of salute that I’m guessing is native to eagles.
    “Were you?”
    He shrugs, his blue eyes sparkling.
    “Were you what?” Uncle Syd asks, pulling my attention back.
    “Nothing, sorry. He’s very trustworthy, I promise.” I tell him, knowing no such thing. “We’re leaving soon, though, and I’ll call you with updates on where we are.”
    “I don’t like this. It’s going to be dangerous. I’m watching the news and people are already going crazy. They’re looting and people are jamming the freeways. Nutjobs are already throwing out conspiracy theories on this all being a military biochemical weapons test and when they’re not saying that they’re spouting other insanity.”
    “Like what?”
    Uncle Syd groans and I can picture him rubbing at his forehead the way he does when he’s annoyed.
    “Oh, horror movie words like ‘zombie’ and ‘ghoul’. ‘Undead’.”
    At least I’m not the only one saying it, I guess. Even though it lumps me in with the “nutjobs”, it makes me feel less insane.
    “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?” he asks, his voice going uncharacteristically soft. “You’ve seen what it does to a person.”
    I swallow hard and try not to think about it, but I answer him honestly. “Yeah, I have.”
    “How ya doing?”
    “Um, I’ve been better, but I’m okay.”
    “Are you taking care of yourself?”
    This is what he asks when what he’s really asking is whether or not I’m taking my pills. I’ve taken them every day for the last four years without fail, so the question is always a little insulting. I answer him kindly, though, because just as he’s all I have left, I’m all he’s got too.
    “Yes. Always.”
    “Good. That’s good. You be careful, Al. Don’t stop to help anybody, you just take care of you. And if this friend takes sick, you run from him. Do you hear me?”
    “I hear you.”
    “You got your knife?”
    I smile affectionately. “I do.”
    “Alright. See you soon.”
    I hang up my phone and look at Jordan who is now sitting on my bed. It’s the first time a guy has been in my room since I’ve been here, and even though there’s no way he could know that, I’m embarrassed by the fact.
    “Looks like I’m going with you after all.” I say curtly. He frowns and I soften my tone. “If that’s okay?”
    Jordan nods slightly. “Yeah, it’s actually good. I won’t make it alone, neither of us will. Where do you need to go?”
    “My uncle’s house in Corvallis. What about you?”
    Jordan stands and looks out the window again. “Anywhere but here. I want out of this city and away from so many people. We’re like tinder to a fire. The more of us around, the faster it will spread.”
    “So we leave immediately?”
    “No,” he says, turning to face me. “It’ll get dark in a few hours. I don’t want to try moving out there in the dark, do you?”
    I shiver at the thought of meeting another Dee in the dark and say firmly, “Hell no.”
    “I’m gonna go back to my room and pack. Will you watch my back while I cross the hall and unlock the door?”
    I nod in agreement and follow him out of my room.
    “Pack one bag with the essentials to survive. Any bottled water you have, first aid supplies, non-perishable food. Here,” he says, pulling out his phone. “Let me get your number. I’ll text you when I’m ready to come back over and you can have the door open and ready. Make sure you lock it behind me when I leave.”
    We exchange numbers and I hold my bow loaded and ready, scanning the hallway as he hurries to his door and unlocks it. He waits until my door is closed before he closes his own. He’s just across the hall and a couple of doors down, probably has been the entire time I’ve lived here, and yet I’ve never seen him. I probably never would have met him if it hadn’t been for my roommate trying to eat my