I was trying to calm down. Slowly, I took deep breaths as Elliot tried as best he could to help me. Tears flowed as I slowly but surely managed to do so. Then, all of a sudden, in the sky, a "boom" could be heard, a fireball visible for a few seconds before disappearing, a shower of debris falling not far from here. Speaking of outside, what a mistake it was to look out of the window.

Elliot and I had got up to look out of the big window in the living room, glancing at a landscape that had changed completely compared to the morning itself. Columns of smoke could be seen in the distance, on the main avenue, while in some places fires had actually appeared in the buildings. Across the street, a fire had broken out, with little hope of any fireman ever coming to put it out. My eyes were still wet, while Elliot was impassive. He'd never been the most expressive when it came to other people, but I knew that deep down he was also on edge.

-

The television was showing adverts, as usual. It had already been a few hours since the news story. The town was still burning, but miraculously the electricity was still on. On the radio, emergency messages were being broadcast on almost every station, except some that were more or less completely automated and playing music on a loop. As for the phones, text messages urging people not to go out under any circumstances had been sent several times before the bollards stopped working for some unknown reason, perhaps because vehicles had crashed into them. In any case, the mobile network had stopped working in the area, so we were isolated, with only this old TV talking about toothpaste and this radio playing a shrill message or classical music. Slumping down on the sofa, I glanced at Alex. He seemed to be slowly recovering from what had happened. For my part, I have to admit that I've always had a much lower than average sense of empathy, so at the moment I wasn't feeling much.

What about my family? I've got three brothers still alive, but I've never really been close to them, and they've never been close to me either, so whether they die now or later, the bottom line is that the funeral will cost less.

-

Elliot seemed to be holding his own. No wonder. I wasn't doing so well, to be honest. My parents and more generally my family were maybe... gone, and it wasn't really the way I thought they'd go. The world was crumbling around me, literally and figuratively. How could it all have gone so wrong in such a short space of time? I mean, yesterday I was still at a job interview and today the only person close to me who's still alive is Elliot, and the world is slowly falling apart. It's like one of those post-apo series he likes, by the way.

But maybe some of the neighbours were still alive! I mean, we've only seen images of the hospital and places packed with people, but we weren't in one of the most crowded places, so maybe people had survived outside, they had to have! Rising from the settee in a burst of courage, Elliot looking at me not without questioning my action, I made my way to the heavy front door, peering through the small peephole. Taking a black umbrella in my hands, I saw nothing on the doorstep, just the lift to my right and the staircase to my left. Inhaling, I took the handle and opened the door, brandishing my umbrella like a twelfth-century sword, Elliot rushing towards the door with a knife nicked from my kitchen, grabbing my shoulder and starting to whisper.

"What the hell are you doing here? Are youout of your mind?"

"Shhh... look, nobody's here!"

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I then whispered to Elliot, who was looking around the door, a little stressed.

"For now."

Indeed, for now, because apparently the opening of the door had woken up some of the neighbours to the right of the building. Apart from the lift on the right, there were three other flats, one of which seemed to have a half-open door.

"Is there anybod-"

Cut off by Elliot, I swallowed my saliva, backing slowly into the flat behind me. Then, the neighbour's door began to open even wider before a blackish figure appeared, giving off an aura that wasn't very reassuring. Without hesitation, Elliot pushed me backwards as never before while the creature decided to make the sprint of its life, Elliot closing the door behind him with a huge noise, myself falling to the floor, the thing racing down the corridor leading to the stairs before we could hear a distant noise, obviously that of the thing that had fallen down the stairs.

Elliot looked through the peephole, while I struggled to my feet. Looking at him, he turned around, starting to move his right hand as if trying to calm down.

"You're a total idiot! You really are the worst idiot alive, seriously! What's the big deal about going out with a fucking umbrella? Were you feeling suicidal or what's the big deal?"

Trying, the word is... important here.

"He's so stupid, he's so stupid, he's so stupid..."

Elliot had repeated, continuously, for a good ten seconds before slapping his cheeks, heading towards me. In an instinct to protect myself, I stepped back, before he came and put his hands on my own cheeks, shaking my head from right to left.

"Alex... Alex... Alex... In the future, please don't go out with an umbrella as your only weapon when you know there are things out there that look like Walking Dead zombies."

"..Understooch"

Understood, I'd said, as my cheeks were squeezed by Elliot, who seemed a little on edge. It was one of the few times I'd seen Elliot in that state, which was an indication of the level of stress and anger he must have been under. After that, I have to admit it wasn't exactly clever of me to go out with my umbrella after seeing what was on TV. But now we knew that... it's true... outside.

-

Tears began to stream down young Alex's face. Now he knew it was true. Silent tears that Elliot had seen clearly. Taking advantage of having his hands on the young man's cheeks, he had gently wiped them away. With great difficulty, Alex understood that everything that was happening was real, and so did Elliot. They'd both realised that their loved ones were probably already infected and sick, and no doubt transformed into something like what was outside, which might still be alive or might already have been dead from the very first seconds of the infection. That's why Elliot, too, had had a few tears gently rolling down his hitherto dry cheeks. Although he didn't think he gave a damn about his family and laughed about it, knowing they were dead was a blow to him: he was slowly breaking down.

So our two friends gently and silently let the tears fall, and time passed. The noises outside grew scarcer, as the city's various lights went out one after the other. One by one, Eliennée's sectors fell into complete darkness. A few generators took over in the so-called important places, like the big hospital and the most fragile infrastructures, but everywhere, the electricity stopped. Eventually, the television and lights in Alex's modest flat were switched off too, and the building sank into a heavy darkness.

Modern civilisation was gradually crumbling, and Man disappeared into eternal darkness, while two people were perhaps the last survivors of this new world.