Free The End by Justin Chiang

remember it was just some small town.” 
    Leo stared at him .  They’d already had the same conversation before but it kept coming up.  Leo couldn’t help it.  He wanted to know, needed to know, what the hell was going on and either Evan really had no better idea than he did or he was hiding something.  The house was getting colder.  The power grid for the area they were snowed in at was down and so was the heat.  When they first arrived they explored the house together silently. 
    It felt weird being in someone else’s home —someone who no longer existed.  The pictures on the wall showed three smiling children, Mom and Dad on either side of them.  They had a beta fish in the kitchen.  Leo had tracked down its food and been feeding it ever since.  Finn had actually stopped being snarky for a while after they’d found an unfinished shopping list on the counter.  The last thing written on the sheet of paper was apple sau .  It spoke to just how sudden it all was.  After that he kept to himself.
    “Tell me about Abbey Downs.  What do you remember?” asked Leo.
    Before Evan could say anything more there was a loud thud from above.  The entire house shook like something had fallen on it—something big.  Evan shrugged as if to say beats me, man.
    Finn was coming down the stairs now, yawning as he went, “Did you hear something?”
    Everything got darker like a briefly overcast sky only it was already dark outside from the onslaught of snow.  Leo ran to the window and immediately scanned the sky.  They never did find any kids clothes and now his thoughts strayed to the zoo incident again.  Then the doorbell rang. Evan grasped his empty pistol; Leo noticed and motioned him toward the door.  They approached slowly, cautiously.  Finn descended the rest of the stairs and opened the door as if it were just the mailman.
    Evan drew on the figure at the door.  Leo cringed.  Before them was a woman.  At least six foot tall, slender, with long blonde hair and ice blue eyes.  She had Icelandic features, high cheekbones, and pale pink lips.  Her white fur lined coat made her almost invisible in the blowing snow.  Her emotionless stare was unnerving as she stared in at Finn.
    “Well it’s about time,” said Finn “Was beginning to be a bit of a sausage fest if you get my meaning.”
    The woman’s eyes fell on Evan, then his pistol; they seemed to sparkle dangerously for a moment at the sight of it.  Then she locked onto Leo.  Her cheeks flushed pink and Evan could swear he heard her growl like an animal.  There was an explosion of motion and then she was straddling him.  Before Leo could protest, the woman’s tongue lustfully filled his mouth and now Evan was sure of it, she was growling.

6
     
     
     
     
    Anna was staring into space.  The last few days had worn her out more than anything in her life before the darkness came.  When it went down, Anna had been driving to her office in Tallahassee.  She was on route 10 heading west from Monticello when everything went black.  Unable to see, she had eased her foot on the brake and stopped, hoping that the blue gray Volvo behind her didn’t crash into her.  God only knew her old beater could barely take her daily commute.
    When the darkness cleared she saw that a medical supply truck had t-boned a school bus in the lanes ahead.  A cherry convertible had run off the road to her left and on the other side of the interstate a motorcycle was on its side, wheels still spinning and its driver missing.  The car behind her had slowed and stopped haphazardly in the middle of the road.  She put her car in park and got out.  The wind blew the smoke from the wreckage toward her.  It was all very quiet.  Moments later a small prop plane crash landed into route 10 behind her close enough for her to feel the heat of the flames on the back of her neck.  She screamed. 
    She didn’t immediately dial 9-1-1 but even if she had it would have just rang