Van's mind filled with every question one might imagine when faced with the apocalypse.

But one question relentlessly beat at his skull, stabbed at his eyes and scratched at his throat.

"What the hell is that smell!?"

The air reeked of burning rotten flesh. A gust of wind picked up as retaliation to the offensive question. An awful stench shoved him back into the abandoned facility.

Sounds of gasping for air and gagging on the air received flooded out the hurried approach of footsteps.

When he looked back up towards the door his eyes were met with a gentle smile on a dirty face. The grinning women spoke in a soft tone.

"You alright in there, love?"

He nodded, still struggling to breathe. In an instant the woman disappeared and returned just as quickly with five others. One other woman, and the rest men. 

The hulking giant of the group tore open the door with little effort.

*screech*

The doors were forced back into their properly inviting position. The small hands of the grinning woman reached out slowly but was outpaced by a slender finger jutting from the pack of people.

"Found us a popsicle! Just look at those clothes, I thought they'd be all gone by now."

The small hands swatted away the slender finger.

"Look here love, it's not safe. Come to our camp so we can take good care of you."

Just then, the sound of metal scraping caused him to whip his head towards his sister. The hulking giant had somehow silently gotten behind him and was lifting the pod into the air dolly and all. An ugly grunt pushed past his beard.

"Gotta 'nother"

Without realizing, the young man was wrapped around the pod, as he tried to tug away his sister.

A giant hand grabbed his collar and lifted him into the air like a disobedient puppy.

"Put my sister down!"

His desperate words came out weakly.

"Wait!"

The woman stood before the giant and motioned for him to put down his prizes.

"Sorry about that, this one does more moving than thinking"

She pointed at the stern face of her companion. Next she motioned to the group to leave.

"Alright, come on then. You carry your sister and stick close. We ought to be leaving now. Like I said, it's dangerous out here."

Her gentle smile returned. Van could feel that time was running out without confirming with the timer on the pod.

The giant stood silently, waiting for him to follow the group outside. The insane grip strength of the monstrous man had crushed the frame of the dolly, fusing it to the pod.

Unfortunately, the dolly wheels were less than useless in the terrain he faced on the way to camp. Pushing, dragging and mostly carrying the pod was quickly sapping what little strength he had. 

And the air! Every breath seemed to burn even more. The terrain was mostly tye cracked remnants of a highway, either the occasional rusted out vehicle on the path. Sometimes the road was completely gone, or the path took a more rural route, switching to rocky and sandy hills. Van often lost his footing. Whenever he fell, or lost his breath, the familiar giant hands would lift the siblings without missing a step.

Even with the short breaks, it was getting harder to breathe. He jolted at the sudden realization.

I must have progressed to the next stage. 

Acute respiratory issues signaled that the virus had advanced to stage 2. The coughing and wheezing had earned the attention of the rest of the group. The slender man and small woman spoke in hushed voices.

"That one's sickly, might be no good"

"Hush! There's use for everyone and everything. Found a job for your skinny hind didn't we?"

"Ha! Indeed. Waste not, want not as I say."

Short conversations like that would carry on the wind now and again. The rhythmic footsteps served as background noise to the young man's sightseeing.

The red sky and black clouds began to fade into a mixture of smokey grays. Patches of grass could be seen in the vast sandy terrain. As they walked, the sky shifted to a violet hue and green patches of grass grew into a small field surrounding a chain link fence.

"We have arrived!"

The slender man turned to welcome the siblings. As Van walked past the entrance the smell seemed to worsen as the man spoke.

*Ka-chink, clink*

The locks rattled on the fence as it was slammed closed. Before Van could react the small woman spoke out.

"Two prime finds! A slave and a delicacy!"

A group of 30 or more clamored in front of the camps entrance. The crowd cheered and Van made out a few phrases yelled over the roar of voices.

"Can always use another slave."

"Big boy looks like good eatin'. "

"Haven't had a popsicle in a long while!"

A slave?

During his school days, Van had learned of the despicable history of his home country. Origins that began with stolen land and genocide. Followed by the mass enslavement of his ancestors. Then systematic oppression that would continue even after several leaders opposed them. 

Eventually things improved but only after the Psyn-Virus showed the world how useless discrimination was.

The thought of enduring the cruelty of slavery shook Van to his core.

But the last part of what the grinning woman said was even more disturbing.

Delicacy? As in food?

He scanned the crowd of some 30 to 40 people within the camp but needed no other confirmation than their watering mouths and murderous glares.

Someone shouted out from the crowd in protest. The small woman began to argue with him. Something about prices or trade value for a sickly weak slave. 

The conversation could barely be heard over the sounds of struggle as the giant man lifted Van into the air. This time not nearly as gentle as before. The crushing grip caused Van to pass out while his value as a slave was determined.

*smack*

Long slender fingers raked across Vans face.

"Wakey, wakey"

The slender man's breath stung more than the slap when Van had realized what these people were eating.

Van struggled but was chained from his shoulders to knees, dangling like a fish on a hook.

"Good news kid, you won't be becoming anyone's slave."

The smell of decay laced every word.

"And we won't be eating you!"

The slender man paused as if to hold in laughter.

"But the bad news is---"

"Where is my sister?!" Van snapped.

The slender man gleefully pointed at a far off tent.

"Oh yeah, the popsicle is gonna be an offering for our king. You, however, are gonna serve as bait for a little snack."

The slender man relished in the puzzled expression. Van followed the chains with his eyes to a crane idly sitting by. With a gleeful skip, the slender man hopped into the driver seat and took control. The crane flung the young man into the air and over the chain link fence of the camp. 

On the horizon Van could see a group of people running towards the camp. As they closed the distance the people appeared more like animals than humans. 

Snarling and groaning could be heard over the frenzy of bodies piling up underneath Van's feet. Stepping and clawing over each other as they came ever closer.  One swatted at his toes as he pulled his feet  up.

That's when he saw them up close.

Ragged clothes, battered by the wind and carelessness. Dry skin that was starting to decay. A mouthful of rotted fangs. These were walking corpses with the same hungry eyes as the people of the camp.

Zombies.

His mind could hardly accept this new reality. The world has ended. Civilization was gone. People were eating people. And now, zombies.

Just as Van clenched his eyelids in denial, a single zombie jumped up from the pile. It was just inches away as a lasso came circling from behind the chain link fence.

"Got 'em'!"

Van looked over the fence to see the campers reeling in the zombie away from the undead pile below.

Once the zombie was wrestled down and tied up, the crane arm returned Van to the other side of the fence. Although there was hardly a difference for Van in terms of safety, he still sighed in relief.

Immediately, the campers started a fire and hacked off the limbs of the zombie with hatchets and cleavers. 

Cheers for their long awaited meal drowned out the sounds of Van heaving from the horrid sight and putrid smell of people cooking and eating zombie stew.

Besides the dry heaving, it was getting harder to breathe. Was it the chains or the symptoms of the virus? No matter the cause, Van was slowly passing out from his shortness of breath.

*kaching, kaching*

Zombies rattled the fence from the outside as the feast came to an end. The stillness of night took the camp. Everyone slept soundly with their full bellies as Van's stomach growled in the silent darkness. Silent except for the zombies clawing at the fence.

Suddenly a light shined in the distance from the same direction the zombies came from.

Was the sun coming up already?

It was hard to tell how much time had passed since waking up. Van also agonized over every second as the timer on Violet's pod ticked away. To him, it felt like days had gone by.

Across the barren plains the tiny sun was coming closer. Van fixed his eyes on the light. It was too dim to be a flashlight, but it wasn't a torch either. There was no fire, just a red hot glow. If it wasn't so dark, he probably wouldn't notice it from this far away. 

Now it was so close that it didn't matter if it was night or day. A young woman was holding a glowing stick above her head. Beside her was a man who had obviously never missed a day at the gym.

Their clothes were a mix of utility with a sense of fashion. 

The young woman wore a black bodysuit that reached her chin like a turtleneck but stopped at her shoulders. She had a dark indigo holster on her left leg holding what looked like retracted metal rods. A matching jean jacket vest covered most of her chest with large front pockets. The jacket stopped short of where her navel would be. As did her hair that she tied into a single ponytail atop her head. The black and red braids swayed as she walked.

Her athletic build and stout frame complemented her curves nicely. She looked every bit the warrior that the man beside her did.

The guy had on a tight fitting gray green workout shirt. The short sleeves and sides were ribbed. His pants were black joggers with cargo pockets on the sides. He also carried a big navy blue backpack with countless pockets.

They both wore a pair of black gloves, probably leather, and their shoes looked like the newest in the series of a popular  running or basketball brand. At least new in terms of Van's time. Sneakers like that could probably be considered antiques by now.

In a swift motion the glowing stick was brought down and the zombies that lined the fence had fallen.

The chain links where they once clawed were now glowing hot and melting away.

"Sound the alarm!"

Van looked around to see a single camper outside their tent. They must have gotten up to take a leak and witnessed the wonder of the glowing stick lady.

Before their voice could carry a flash of lightning struck them down. Van snapped his head back to the two new arrivals but the woman stood alone, and the backpack sat on the ground where the man once stood.

The single camper's body lay smoking on the ground next to where the man who just arrived now stood. Electricity surged and dispersed around the body builder.

*Clank clank clank*

*Clank clank clank*

*Clank clank clank*

Lights flooded the camp to illuminate the intruders as the alarm awoke the sleeping cannibals. Van counted almost three times as many emerging from the tents than from earlier that day.

The electric man shrugged and grinned without a care in the world as he was quickly surrounded.

The firestick woman walked into the camp with the opposite of urgency while resting the glowing stick on her shoulder. 

She walked past Van and gave him a quick glance, as if only to ensure he was alive. 

Upon closer inspection this warrior woman was quite beautiful. Her weapon reminded Van of the space knights from his favorite movie series, WarStars. In the films, mystical battles were fought by warriors wielding glowing swords of stardust. The bad guys usually had the red swords but in this case Van was hopeful that she and her ally were good guys.

Sparks were flying as the campers were sent screaming into the air. The circle of foes is reduced to a handful of fleeing cowards in an instant. Escapees were met with a glowing hot slash as the woman joined her ally and they stood back to back. 

The intruders moved in unison like a team of superheroes taking down a horde of henchmen. Burnt severed limbs and torsos littered the floor in front of the woman. Flash fried corpses lay in front of the man.

Focused on the fury of the battle, Van had not realized that half of one the zombies had crawled in from behind the molten fence.

*crunch*

Van would have cried out from the pain but a shallow wheeze was all he could muster.

Suddenly a red hot flash erased the zombie hanging off of his leg.

A smoke trail escaped the head rolling on the ground.

Van and the woman confirmed the bite mark and glanced back at each other.

There was no use wondering if the wound was fatal or would turn him into a zombie like in common fiction. Her solemn face of regret was enough of an answer.

Shock, blood loss, hunger, fatigue and the virus compounded on Van's weakened body until he finally gave in, and passed out.