After The End (24 page)

Nice ink. It really held up well.

“Let’s get back. No telling if there’s
others. Just kick the cadaver into the path, and we can carry it to
the burning grounds on the trip home.”

I led the pair back to our companions. We
found Jake standing over the body; his windbreaker lay over Ellen’s
Father. The Nurse was cursing and kicking a tree repeatedly. Troy
set his hand on the frustrated man’s shoulder. Without any words,
we carried both sets of remains to the camp. We left the fleshie to
be torched and sent Nancy ahead with the Nurse to notify his
family.

We entered the gate to the sounds of his wife
bawling and his daughter sobbing gently. The community was lined up
at the entrance to pay their respects to our fallen member. Jordy
hugged his mother while Michael and Bobbi held tightly to Randolph.
I felt ashamed that I hadn’t been able to prevent such an
unnecessary death.

Memories played through my mind. I thought of
the five people who died over the last winter of illness and the
three others who’d been killed by random accidents.
The Reaper still likes to do things the mundane way
sometimes. Pointless losses. Each person we lose is another
generation that won’t be seen later.

The night was doleful and we postponed our
discussion on retaking the city. I lay awake until midnight. Giving
up on rest, I went outside to chat with Daemon about anything but
death.

After ten minutes, I found him sitting on the
center tower with the sentry. Randolph tilted his head when I
climbed over the top of the ladder.

“I thought Marley Guy was relieving me in an
hour?”

“Oh, sorry. Couldn’t sleep and thought I’d
come be social for a bit.”

Daemon sat on the edge looking into distant
obscurity, swinging his legs and humming. Randolph chuckled
quietly.

“Uh huh. Well, I think maybe I’ll hit the
outhouse real quick and you two can be social and keep a
lookout.”

I held out my hand for the night vision
binoculars to cover him.

“No problem.”

As Randolph descended, I heard him mumbling
indistinctly to himself.

“Heard that, Randolph.” Daemon called after
him. “We have a room, but Cal’s bunk is between us.”

I blushed at the truth of it, even though we
laughed it off. The Roman had insisted on the arrangement.

Our eyes met and the full moon shone on his
eyelashes, creating a halo of illumination. The weight of the
binoculars reminded me to check the tree line. The fledgling rose
to stand beside me.

“How come you couldn’t sleep?”

“Dunno. Just too much in my brain to get any
rest. Why are you hanging out on the platform?”

He shrugged.

“Because I thought you’d be sleeping and I
didn’t feel like taking lessons on being a proper Undead citizen
with Cal.”

The breeze shifted, sending a chill up my
back and a mild shiver through my weary limbs.

“You cold, Squirrel?”

“You’re not?”

“Nope. Vampire.”

“Oh. Yeah, guess that makes sense.”

I scanned the horizon. I turned away only to
feel his hands rubbing my arms gently. I warmed up, but a different
shiver came over me. Daemon spoke softly into my ear.

“Better?”

I cleared my suddenly dry throat.

“Yeah, much better. Thanks.”

I kept my eyes on the lenses but I was sure
he could hear my heart pounding. My thoughts grew foggy as I tried
to think of how to look him in the eyes without feeling that
desire. The steady thuds below announced Randolph’s return. Daemon
stopped his caresses and kissed where my cheek met my ear.

“For what it’s worth, my heart races when I’m
next to you, too. Sweet dreams.” he whispered before taking flight.
“I think I’ll go work on my control with Cal after all.”

When the guard reached the top, I handed him
the binoculars and moved towards the ladder. In total silence,
Randolph reclaimed his post and I returned to bed. Lying there, I
listened to the snores and breathing of my roommates and replayed
our one night together in my head. My sleep was a pleasant escape
from the day’s loss and doubts.

I dreamed of flying and laughing and all the
things I never let myself wish for. I dreamt of Daemon and peace
and fearlessness. I lost myself in hope and forgetting the last
year had been real. I rode roller coasters and ate ice cream,
watched movies, and played cards with my family. There was funnel
cakes and friends and fireworks. It was the last time I remember
having such repose.

The vote was clear and we decided to stay in
our current fort — at least until after the rampaging cannibals
were handled. Although there had been only five hands for retaking
the town immediately, over half of the remaining twenty-one other
adults said they wanted to revisit the option later. It seemed like
we would either be moving or splitting the camp in the future,
possibly both.

Everyone with children, as well as Sunny and
Chase, debated enthusiastically for remaining where we’d built a
secure life. One of Troy’s men stood and argued that the town was
ours for the taking; he fumed when the raised hands revealed he’d
only swayed four others. Neither Troy nor Seth was part of that
group. The guy spit on the ground and stormed off talking about
loyalty and priorities; he didn’t bother to return for the
discussion of Seth’s old neighbors.

For the entire portion of the council
regarding our foes, Seth sat cross-legged and watched the dust
settle on his shoes. I began the topic as I’d rehearsed with the
others from the raid.

“Alright everyone, we won’t worry about going
back into Orlando for now. That’s a matter for a later date, and
we’ll consider it strongly at that time. With that said, it’s time
to get down to the reason we’re staying here: there’s a group of
people raping, killing, and eating other survivors. We all know
that this last raid put us in direct conflict with them. Several of
us witnessed the level of cruelty and sadism they inflict on
others. It’d be crazy to expect them to treat us any differently if
they find us.”

“What exactly did you guys see them
doing?”

I calmly looked at the man who’d asked.

“I won’t discuss it now; there are children
present. Find one of us later and we can tell you. None of us want
to relive those events. I’ll say that those people may be human,
but there is no humanity or decency left in them. The things they
did are barbaric and unforgivable. Those weren’t actions of
survival, they took pleasure in the things they did.”

“So we should take your word that it’s worth
staying here and running back and forth when we could just kill off
the last few zombies and get the world back in order?”

“No, you have to use your best judgment. But
that world is long gone. If you want to go try, go ahead. But you
haven’t volunteered for a raid in over six months and you’ve got no
idea what it’s like; the world isn’t that simple. Let it go.”

“But…”

“Shut your mouth or leave!”

Sunny glared at me; I’d lost focus out of
frustration. I heard Daemon whistling Let It Be and breathed
deeply.

“I’m sorry for that outburst. You have a
right to your say, but please let me finish first. Alright?”

I tried to plaster a polite smile on my face
like I used to do when dealing with rude guests at work. His
alarmed expression hardened and he nodded before crossing his arms.
I tried not to stare at how much his fingers shook on his elbows or
the red of his face.

“Thank you. The issue is, we have several
ways to manage this problem and we need to decide how to proceed as
a community. The first is what we’ve been doing since we first
heard about pillagers: increase our defenses and training, while
limiting our travels from the fort. They’re getting closer and
actively seeking us out — not a great long-term solution.”

I hesitated. All of my years of sales came to
mind as I presented the real choices.

“The second is a team of volunteers and one
vamp locate their home location and eradicate them. That includes
any other survivors who reside there. This option would mean
killing people who may not have even know about many of the
atrocities that gained them supplies; it would also be extremely
dangerous since we don’t know how many or how well armed our enemy
is.”

I purposely paused to drink some water to let
these choices sink in. Cal said fear sinks in best with time. Time
gives a person time to think of everything that could go wrong.

Here goes nothing, convince
them and everything will be fine.

“Third alternative is we let Cal and Daemon
go on this task alone.”

Already heads were shaking and eyes flicked
over to our non-human residents. Little Bobbi sat drawing in the
sand with Ellen, both completely unaware of what was happening. Her
brother just watched the grown-ups and pursed his eyebrows; I
suddenly knew how uncomfortable it must be for a parent to realize
the jokes in a Mel Brooks film no longer went over their child’s
head. My palms sweating, I elaborated.

“One trip to survey and evaluate how they’re
set up. Another trip to make the final decision on whether or not
we’re even capable of taking these dudes down. They’d be risking
everything to keep us safe; but we would have to trust their
judgment.”

This was the moment we’d prepared for, the
opportunity we hoped would be selected. I waited and watched the
assembly for signs of a favored path. I doubted anyone would opt
for the first. The second meant extra danger for all of us except
Cal and Daemon, but it also meant that the distrust of the pair had
grown to where the risk was considered acceptable.

There was a low rumble of conversation.

I prayed our community wasn’t already that
concerned about the Pact. The third was the safest and most
logical. It left all humans in camp and able to defend against
attack, as well as able to acquire more food for winter. The third
choice also meant the relationship between the humans and vampires
was stable and the camp wouldn’t be divided easily.

The chatter and banter made my head buzz.
Only a handful of people seemed emphatic in their motions and tone.
I sat down and looked in all directions as the fate of every person
I knew hung in the balance. I’d cast my line and it was time to
wait for a fish to bite.

My chest was bursting with every slow minute
that dragged by without a resolution. I reminded myself that I had
to remain patient and mellow so that the crowd would decide without
feeling influenced. Chase, Troy, and Sunny had all agreed that it
was a matter of trusting in our companions to make the right choice
— even if we were trying to nudge them towards the third
option.

After thirty-seven anxious minutes, it was
agreed that we should vote. This time everyone wanted to vote by
paper ballot. I cringed inside at why so many wanted to vote
anonymously, but consented with a smile at Cal’s urging.

“Of course, I’ll get the supplies.”

The meal table was transformed into a polling
place. I placed torn squares of notebook paper under a rock and six
or seven pens beside them. An unused pot was laid in the center of
the table with its lid. As each adult walked up, I handed him or
her a scrap of paper and they wrote their choice, folded the paper,
and dropped it inside.

“One vote per adult, write one, two, or
three. No one may abstain and the first couple to vote, please
cover the sentries so they can voice their opinion as well.”

I watched as a line formed; some fought to
join the end in an attempt to gauge how the vote was leaning before
casting their lots. As the end of the line reached me, I jotted
down a shaky three and steadied myself to see the results. Each of
my conspirators had placed themselves in the line at intervals in
the hopes that they might subtly influence their neighbors that the
third choice was optimal. It was a coordinated effort and I felt
guilty until I began tallying the votes on the ground.

It hadn’t worked.

“Only one vote left and we stand at: first
option has three votes, second and third options are tied at eleven
apiece.”

The crowd leaned forward and my chest
hammered as I unfolded the tiny piece of hope. I showed the number
to the group and composed myself to announce the decision.

“The second alternative is our course of
action.”

The planning process sucked. We spent two
days deciding who was going on the hunt and whether or not the
cannibal we’d seen was the only ones we’d execute. Very quickly it
became apparent that the camp was once again divided; half wanted
to destroy every person that lived in the hostile encampment while
half wanted to just assassinate the leader and negotiate a truce
with the remainder.

“Everybody shut the hell up!”

I rubbed my temples in an endeavor to make
their bickering stop reverberating in my mind. The volunteers all
froze and gawked at me.

“We aren’t going to risk the lives of every
person in this fort to kill one guy who might already be deceased.
If we’re going to search out and exterminate another living person
to protect ourselves, we are going to completely eliminate the
danger. If we enter their camp, none of them walk out.”

I raised my head to peer into each of their
eyes.

What did they think this would be? They voted
to do it this way, did they think it was an easy decision to kill
people?

Jake walked towards the door.

“I can’t do this; I’m not volunteering
anymore. Not for a slaughter.”

Marley Guy and two others started to follow
him.

“Marley Guy, you’re staying.”

“Wha? Why you think I’m gonna stay and go do
this? I can leave just like them three.”