Over time, Donovan added to the tally marks. The water clock had now logged 19 hours. Whether they were correct or not was anyone's guess. Uncertainty had cleared away any semblance of normalcy and the group had begun to withdraw into their previous pairs and trios.

Victor sat alone again.

Gowan and Elizabeth were on the floor, facing each other, sharing a packet of chocolate biscuits. They had set up a small nest in one of the corners with their beds. The piles of thick blankets they used as makeshift pillows made the perfect hiding spot for their knives so that they didn't have to worry about the blades slicing them by accident when trying to conceal them in their pants.

Of course, they weren't going to mess up the beds with food. Who knew if the rats survived the world ending.

"I think when I leave the first thing I do will be visiting my parents." The dark crumbs fell down Elizabeth's chin. She tried to dust them off.

"You missed some." He watched her try and brush them off. "Nope, still there."

She tried to point to where they were to get an idea of where to brush them off.

"Just-" He scrunched his face in frustration.

Elizabeth licked her cookie and pressed it into her face. "Ah well, we'll just call it fashion."

Air escaped his nose as he shook his head.

"My family are religious, you know? They're probably hunched over a bible right now if they made it." Her voice softened, "I hope they continue to make it."

"I'm sure they will."

"What about you?" she asked, in an effort to get the spotlight off herself.

"Yeah. Christianity is most common religion in South Sudan. I think it helped my parents find community once they immigrated too." He shrugged. "Churches are good for that kind of thing."

"Totally. Is that why you got into ministry?"

Gowan's face grew solemn. "No." He cleared his throat.

"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Sorry! I didn't- Sorry! I didn't mean to intrude at all, I just-"

He stopped her rambling. "It's ok. I just ... I had to have a pretty significant wakeup call to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up."

She nodded and decided against prying any further.

Matthew's cries interrupted their awkward conversation. His wounds had begun seeping a milky liquid which Masina was trying to wipe away with wet gauze. She passed him more pain medication but they were both aware that it was running low after Violet had used so much of the stash.

"Think you owe my wife an apology, mate." Emilio towered over Donovan who was fussing around the water clock.

Donovan tilted his head upward. His eyes always had bags under them, but now it was like the life had been removed. "Ok." He stood up immediately and walked over to Amy. "Sorry," he droned in a lifeless voice. He stood there, watching her.

"That's ok," Amy replied uncomfortably. "Are you doing ok, mate?"

"I'll be ok." He wandered back to the water clock and robotically added another tally to the wall then tipping the bottom cup back into the top cup.

Victor scanned the sorry scene as he walked to Elizabeth and Gowan. "Sorry to interrupt," he began, "I know we're trying to stay put but I don't know how much longer I can take the screaming."

"Do you have an idea on how to fix it?" Gowan asked.

"More drugs?"

Masina had been listening in. "We cleaned out the pharmacy of anything that's relatively safe to use in a general emergency like this. Beside breaking into random back rooms and hoping someone sucks at securing their personal stashes, we're S.O.L."

"I should use the bathroom now," Matthew spoke up, "before it gets worse."

Matthew had begun to develop tremors. His lips were chapped and dry. The skin on his fingertips had been drained of it's usual colour. Labored breathing rung through the air as Masina helped him up to the bathroom that was so far away. Every now and then he would let out a yelp or a wheeze.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Donovan looked on helplessly. "Hey." His voice was soft, nobody noticed he'd gotten up. "Hey!" He yelled a little louder.

The room turned to look at him.

"I'll do it." He made his way to the center of the room. "I'll go through the break rooms. I'll go scavenging for whatever we can."

Elizabeth gestured to the paper on the wall. "It's ok. I'm sure we can survive for another day." She looked to Masina who was helping Matthew back down the aisle. "Right?"

Masina had stopped as Matthew contorted in pain. "Yeah," she said, as she struggled to hold Matthew up. She strained her voice as she tensed her core, "We can ration. It'll be ok."

Donovan put his hand on his hip and gestured to Gowan. "So he can save the day, but I'm a fuck up? Is that it? My boyfriend is dying."

"I asked Gowan because he's a man of God who's come back unscathed twice," Victor noted.

"I left and came back with a God damned angel!" Donovan shot back.

"By accident. After chucking a temper tantrum," Emilio added. "Captain Phillips here hasn't so much raised his voice."

Gowan squinted his eyes and shook his head in disbelief at Emilio's new level of being an absolute tool. "What?" he said quietly, "Captain Phillips wasn't even the-"

"SHUT UP!" Donovan yelled, "FOR ONCE! Just shut the fuck up. What have you done for anyone beside break a window?"

Emilio walked up to Donovan stony faced. Through gritted teeth he told him, "I stayed here and loved my wife so she wouldn't end up gurgling on the floor like Violet. What the fuck is it to you?"

Amy brushed past Emilio. She handed a white, plastic lighter to Donovan. "I'll tell you what," she said with her back to her husband, "hold onto this. Try this when your clock tells you that the world is spinning again. You'll be able to double check your working. If you flick it and the flame works..." She shrugged.

Donovan looked down thoughtfully at the lighter. All he could manage was "thank you".

"I know your little helper isn't around anymore, but if you want to get some shut eye I can take over the tally process." Amy suggested.

"Thanks, but I can't sleep when Matthew is like this."

"Please," Matthew groaned, "babe, you need sleep."

Amy's icy blue eyes cut through the dark, pleading at Donovan. "It would mean so much to me if I could help. I just really need a purpose. I need to keep my mind off ..." she gestured broadly, "everything."

Donovan hesitated, lowering his dark eyebrows suspiciously. "Ok."

"I've set you up a bed." Masina gestured to the small pile of blankets she had set up beside Matthew.

Walking over to the blanket pile, he whipped around to the crowd. "I don't need an audience!"

The onlookers quickly snapped to pretending that the closest object on hand was absolutely fascinating.

Matthew's hand was cold and clammy, but Donovan was happy to finally be holding it proudly nonetheless. He decided he didn't give a fuck about Victor or Emilio, and it seemed like no one else really seemed to mind. Rolling to his side, he clasped Matthew's hand with both of his. The invitation for time to pass as slowly as it needed to was carved across his heart as he studied every centimeter of his boyfriend's beautiful face.

"I love you so much," he whispered into his boyfriend's ear.

Matthew clenched his hand a little. "I love you too."

"I wish ..." Donovan's eyelids began to flutter closed, "I wish I hadn't waited for the world to end to tell you that."

Donovan slept soundly as Amy dutifully added the tallies as the water clock required.

"It's just struck 24," she noted to Gowan and Elizabeth who were standing nearby.

"24 hours left. Dang," Gowan said softly.

"What are you going to do with your newfound freedom once the world starts ... spinning again?" Amy asked Elizabeth.

She took Gideon's car keys out of her pocket, jingling them lightly. "Probably go for a joyride."

"You still have those?" Gowan looked impressed.

She shrugged. "I'm a packrat at heart."

Amy looked over her shoulder as she tipped the water back into the top cup. "I call shotgun," she joked. She looked over to Donovan, Matthew and Masina on the floor. All three were asleep. "What do we do if the light comes back but we're the only ones left?"

Elizabeth put the keys back in her pocket. "We find the car and dirty up those freshly detailed seats.

"Can we keep him alive like that forever? Just drugged up?" Amy felt her cynicism creeping back in.

Gowan brought out his calming smile. "I'm sure there would be other survivors. Victor can't be the only person in the world who knows what's going on."

"Yeah," Amy agreed. She didn't really believe it would be ok. It seemed like every time they got closer to freedom, she considered how many changes must await her.

Changes were never Amy's forte. That's why she loved her husband. He was simple and easy to anticipate. He was hot headed, but he was never violent with her. That was heads and shoulders above what her mother put up with. At least she could expect him to blow up. She could expect him to show up when she messed up.

He understood trauma. His was from the military, so it wasn't totally the same, but he was so gentle whenever she relapsed. He trusted her. He stood up for her. She could rely on him to be loyal and without any surprises. The hangover of habits from being in the army meant he had a schedule that ran like clockwork and she found it comforting.

She put him through so much shit and he never faltered. He never cheated or complained. Even at her lowest, he never saw her as damaged goods. Their relationship was the most she could ask for without feeling too selfish. Yet she didn't know how much more of the apocalypse she could handle.

She had watched her husband move an entire fridge by himself. He ran marathons for fun. No matter what was thrown at him, it was just embedded in his DNA to survive. She used to joke that he was her sexy cockroach.

Now the plates were falling. There were too many changes at once and none of them were in her control. She couldn't help but think back to when she watched Violet leave the room with such love and serenity. Even beforehand, when she was just jamming her fingers down Violet's throat to try and get her to vomit up the pills, all she could feel was jealousy. She simply felt bitter.

If she could have traded places with Violet's lifeless corpse, there wouldn't be a second thought.

She wondered if there'd be smoke for her too.