Last Chances (Sequal to Second Chances by cuteycindyhoney)

Yes I know it's another one of my stories for cuteycindyhoney. HOWEVER!!! This one I wrote a decade ago. Literally 12 years ago actually. I wrote this and originally it was saved on an A drive. I thought i had lost it, and found it again. This has been reread by Cindy, and I would like to remind everyone I wrote this at 19 years old. This is an old story so if my quality of writing has changed I apologize for younger Vicki's skills. Here it is though for you all to enjoy.

The New World

Loneliness that was what permeated his mind as the winding road slowly began to become a uniform picture in his mind. Tetsuyo’s bike was old, probably around from the 1960’s. To tell the truth, it wasn’t his. It had belonged to Dr. Tate. But Dr. Tate had passed away, yes that’s how Tetsuyo had to keep it; if he admitted he had died horribly, he himself would go insane.

What troubled him the most was the loneliness though. He was from a small town, tiny really, and in a place where everyone knows everyone, one death is enough to make the entire town mourn. When the town died and he was left alone, he mourned for the entire town. Now all that was left was survival, finding and scavenging off the remains of what had been the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

He had made some good distance in 3 years with only a bike to carry him. He had been to Augusta, Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond, Pittsburgh, and now he was headed for New York City. It was as best a place as any. Alone, he was utterly alone. The idea sort of depressed him. Now he always kept the chamber of the revolver at his hip full of blanks, just in case he got desperate one minute and didn’t have time to stop himself.

He would have kept the gun empty. The harsh reality was that earth without people was more dangerous for the individual. Once before he had reached Atlanta, an escaped bull had attacked him. He barely saved his life by climbing up a tree. Even then the bull had torn the tires off his bike. The scar he carried on his right arm had taught him that lesson. Don’t have anything that can kill him, but enough to scare off wild animals.

“GRUMBLE!!!” His stomach started to growl and remind him of the necessities of the body. He lightly slid to a stop. “I know I know. I need to feed you. Well according to the map we’re only a mile from a community college. There should be some canned food there.”

Libation Community College was founded in 1961 in order to continue the education of the population of Libation County. That didn’t matter anymore. The disease, the epidemic as Tetsuyo called it, hit the world like a mallet. It killed those who were touched by it, even going so far as to disintegrate the corpses into a fine pasty residue. That had disturbed Tetsuyo. He had wanted to at least cremate his mother; nature is the cruelest denier. Libation County had been no different; however, its esteemed Community College