Reasonably lonely road

As I sit here in the sand, spinning around my heart shaped locket I got from my husband, I wonder, after all this searching, all these long dreadful days, after the world was known to be the end, I wonder ever so deeply, is it true, that I am the last person on earth? I'm sure there would of been other people with the same idea as me, hiding underground in a pretty big burrow I built when the last prediction of the dying world was being broadcasted, other people in their own underground haven, but so far, seems as if everyone was sceptical about it. I've knocked on every door I've come across, I've walked past billions of people burnt to smithereens, the poor fools who thought the world was gonna last forever, but sadly they were wrong. But I just could shake the feeling that I was the only one left, I just had to keep walking and searching.

Every new place I would yell out different things "HELLO!?" "HELP!" "COOWEE!" "WHO WANTS CHICKEN FRIED RICE?!" "PIZZA DELIVERY!" I would even sing songs that would get stuck in my head really loudly. At least a few kinds of foods in convenient store lasted, like canned and some processed food, so one day I went into a store to get some food to eat and I was just sitting in the store, eating away, now finally convinced and accepting that yes I am the last person here. Once I accepted that, I heard 2 knocks on the stores door, made me jump, scream and turn around to see what knocked on the door, I was quite terrified after being convinced I was the last person alive, so I walked slowly around the stock isle I was sitting in to look at the door. It was a tall man who looked to be in his early 30s, with a cowboy hat, trench coat, very dirty, and he had a border collie dog with him too who was calmly sitting next to him.

"Hi," I said to him anxiously,

"Hello darling, are you the only one in this town?" He asked,

"I thought I was until I heard your knock on the door. Am I the only person you've come across?"

"So far yes, but I'm not giving up."

"Ok, would you like some food in the meantime? All the canned and some processed food survived."

"Sure, thank you ma'am."

"Hah, don't thank me, thank whoever invented the can and messed up foods."

"They're probably dead."

"How ironic." We both had a laugh. "Are you on a mission somewhere?"

"Heading South, checking every town I come across to see if anyone survived."

"How long have you been traveling for?"

"Few days, ain't no one around except for us, and his guy." The man said looking at the dog.

"How'd you survive?"

"Caves full of quartz, those things are tough as hell."

"Wow, that would've been pretty cool."

"Yeah.. What about you?"

"Dug myself a burrow."

"That's pretty risky."

"I'd rather die trying than die doing nothing."

"Fair enough. What's your name darling?"

"Amy?"

"How old are you?"

"28, you?"

"Chuck, and 32."

"Does the dog have a name?"

"Not really, he just responds to Boy so I keep calling him that."

"Nice. Hey Boy," I say while patting him, "so you just found him?"

"Yeah, I was calling out in some town yesterday and heard him bark then he came running towards me and then he just started following me."

"Naww sweet, got yourself a companion."

"Yeah, did you want to join us to find more people?"

"Sure I'm already doing that anyway, may as well have some company."

"Great, should we get going?"

"Yeah, come on Boy."

As we began to walk to the next town, I saw in a store we walked passed a bike with a carrier on the back,

"Woah, what the heck, reckon that would work?" I asked Chuck pointing at the bike,

"Only one way to find out." Chuck got on the bike and told me to sit in the carrier, "holy crap it works! Woohoo!"

"Yewww!" We both yelled out of joy, and Boy barked and sprinted ahead of us with a happy look on his face, this will make the mission much faster, while Chuck rode the bike, I kept calling out random things every 30 seconds waiting to hear or see a response, but still nothing. After about 2 hours, Chuck gave up, so I took over on riding the bike while Chuck sat in the back, Boy was getting tired too so he hoped in the carrier with Chuck. The sun was going down, so I suggested we find some shelter to crash out for the night.

The next block of houses we came across were all mansions, Chuck and I picked a house, though we were both pretty excited to be in a big house and see what's survived here, but we were way too tired, so we found our own beds and fell asleep.

The next morning when I got up out of bed, I saw chuck making a concoction of drinks.

"What are you doing?"

"Good morning, I found some beverages in the basement along with some other fancy food, don't understand why there's no one alive in here because of that but oh well, we're having cocktails for brekky, and whatever fancy food this is, some kind of salad or something, anyway here you go madam, mojito on the house, well from the house haha."

"So no searching today?"

"What makes you think we're not?"

"Drinking in the morning."

"So, I can drink, ride a bike and yell."

"Fair enough." I said spinning my locket while walking over to drink the mojito.

"What's with the locket?" He asked.

"It was a gift from my husband."

"How come he's not here."

"He, he" I stuttered trying not to cry, "he called me crazy for knowing the world was gonna end, and then he refused to join me in the burrow, after I heard and felt it, I ran straight home to find his remains on the couch. He'd rather risk his possible last moments watching TV, than survive with me in a burrow. Now who's crazy?" I said tearing and looking up.

"Obviously he is, sounds pretty egotistical to me." Chuck said trying to cheer me up.

"Yeah he kinda was."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"I'm sure you have your own losses to be sorry about."

"I do, but my biggest loss was before all this."

"Can I ask who it was and what happened?"

Chuck paused and thought about how to explain it, "I had a 4 year old daughter, her mother hated me because I didn't want to get married, so she took my daughter away from me, without any contact, she blocked me on all social medias, and changed her phone number. I haven't seen my daughter in almost a year, I doubt it, but I'm hoping to find her alive, I have to see her at least one more time."

"I'm so sorry. I'll help you find her."

"Thanks." We both skulled our drinks to our losses. "I wonder what Boy's story is, how did he manage to survive?"

"Who knows, but it's gotta be a good story."

Today we travelled for 8 hours, both drunk, both swerving around a lot when riding the bike, we managed to get to a town called Bango, Chuck recognised a car and it's number plates.

"Oh my god." Chuck said running towards the house where the car was parked in.

"Where are you going?" I asked but didn't get an answer, so I followed him into the house.

"Mary? Penny?!" Chuck called out while running around the house opening every door, the last door he open was obviously a kid's room, he picked up an amethyst crystal that was almost the size of his hand, dropped to his knees, covered his eyes with his other hand and started crying, I went over to him and rubbed his back,

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked him calmly, he then turned around and hugged me, felt his tears and snot on my shoulder but didn't want to mention it as he's having a moment. When he let go and stopped crying he said,

"This is my daughter's room, Penny. I gave this crystal to her when she was a baby, obviously she didn't survive or else she'd be here with her mother, right?."

"I'm so sorry." I said shedding a little tear.

"It's fine, I knew it I just didn't want to believe it."

"Where should we go now then?"

"I don't know about you, but I think I'm gonna stay here for a while."

"Ok, would you like me to stay too?"

"Only if you want to."

"I do."

We settled in for the night, of what felt like the end, Chuck and I both lost our loved ones, both haven't found anyone else, both sad, lost, broken, tired souls, ready to rest.

"I figured out how to make tea with all the supplies that are here, would you like some?" I asked,

"Sure."

As I handed him his tea, our hands touched, we both paused and looked each other in the eyes, I accidentally dropped the cup of tea on the ground,

"Shit, I'm sorry I'll make you another." I said.

Chuck grabs my hand and says "Don't bother," he stands up, gently holds my face with his other hand and says "you're so beautiful." And he leans in and kisses me, we then began to make out, he grabs my waist, picks me up and sits on the couch with me on top of him, ripping each other's clothes off, "seen as we may be the lasts ones left on earth, shall we keep the human racing going?" He suggests,

"Can't say no to that." I said feeling the first bit of life we've both felt since before doomsday.