Least Likely To Survive (33 page)

I know change is an inevitable part of life; especially when the world falls away; what better time than that to be confronted with all the personal demons we keep locked away?  The last few days had been like looking at myself through a funhouse mirror, just to find that what I had come to believe was being resourceful and independent was all just a cop out.  I was terribly selfish and had successfully closed the door on the possibility of anyone caring for me.  Now I was some sort of mutant, and had likely fallen in love with one of the most famous actors on the planet.  And not the ‘kissing posters on my wall before bed’ kind of love, but the ‘he sees how incredibly nuts I am, but digs me anyway’ kind of love.  The idea of letting someone else in was still more terrifying than hordes of zombies, but I didn’t really have a choice anymore.

I stared at the fire until I thought my retinas would be scarred from the light of it.  It was truly massive and awful, and I was so very glad to see it.  Somehow the idea that the place I had been tortured and mistreated was going down in an impressive pile of rubble and smoke was comforting.  I breathed deeply of the soot and smoke now lacing the air around us, and the sounds of buildings crashing to the ground, which was setting off enough car alarms to make me long for the door bells I loathed so much.

I wasn’t sure what would happen now; didn’t even know if we had enough supplies to make it to the coast, but there were a few things I was sure of.  First, that we had made it; all five of us were alive and together and I wasn’t sure I could ask for more.  My confidence had been shaken, and I wasn’t quite as sure I would reach my island as I had been starting out, but standing there, my fingers entwined with Jack’s, I didn’t worry about it too much.  The world had already ended and all we could do now was survive it.

After a few minutes of watching the fires burn, Jack turned to look down at me as the late afternoon sun and glare of the fire cast shadows over his face.  I noticed bits of ash built up under his eyes but didn’t want to risk touching him just yet. “Hey Angie?”

“Yeah, Jack?”

“I’m sorry I made you stop.”

I smiled up at him and with as much of a wink as my swollen eye and still fat lip could muster, “It’s cool; you’ll figure out a way to make it up to me.”  With that, I turned away from the world’s largest bonfire and got back in the car.