After The End (27 page)

Ignoring the pain in my leg, I followed Chase
back in for whatever items could be salvaged. The supply building
had been emptied, but the burning cabins had been untouched. As I
ran to retrieve my possessions, I felt an arm wrap around me.
Turning, I found a bloody Daemon pulling me away.

“It’s too late, the cabins are too far gone.
Leave it.”

“No, I can…”

He shook his head and flew me over the wall
to the others.

“We have to go. The noise and flames have
drawn every zombie for miles; we need to get everyone far from here
before dawn.”

The fledgling lifted me into one of the truck
beds and loaded his back with four large duffels.

“Cal and I already took out the other force
of marauders to the east. You guys drive towards the base in Winter
Haven. Cal and I will fly this gear and help clear the way. Stop
each hour so we can meet up and rest a minute.”

He took to the air and our society began our
nomadic life. The Nurse bandaged my leg, double-checked the health
of the kids, and monitored Sunny’s vitals as we rode. When we
stopped and hour later, the damage was assessed fully.

Nancy and two others had been killed in the
assault, one woman had died on the drive from smoke inhalation, and
four others had been wounded. None of the wounds appeared life
threatening, but we had no medicines to fight infection.
Thankfully, Randolph had gotten all of the kids to the SUV safely.
Jordy’s Mother had been shot shielding him. The preteen had
resorted to throwing burning sticks and angry words at the gunman
when she slumped over.

We fought grief and Dead throughout the night
before making camp inside a large house. We were miles short of our
intended destination. I’d watched the fire illuminate the nighttime
clouds while my community mourned around me. My mind wandered
numbly to the vibrant paintings I’d seen during the numerous art
shows in town; the same colors of this destruction shone in my
memory as beautiful.

I ignored the looks and questions bombarding
me. I thought of my journal turned to ash and thought of my printed
calendar folded neatly in my pack. Time still existed; so would we.
I inhaled the cool air and scanned the air above us for our Undead
entourage. Seeing the twin silhouettes just ahead, I closed my eyes
and waited for the blood on my skin to dry into flakes.

Found a new notebook to use as a journal in
this house today. It’s just a simple green spiral, but it comforts
me to know that my words can continue. I just spent the last day
and a half recording all I could remember of my last journal – the
few notes from my calendar help me estimate the dates. We’ve been
trapped in this house during the day, only getting out tonight
after Cal and Daemon were able to help us put down the swarm of
fleshies who’d followed us.

One of our wounded died yesterday after he
was bitten by one of the Dead; I hesitated before putting Jake
down. Cal glamoured the poor kid into believing he was reliving his
happiest moment; he wasn’t aware of any fear or pain. We buried him
near the swing in the backyard. Sunny’s baby still has a strong
heartbeat according to Daemon and Cal; we remaining wounded are
healing fine.

We now have a traveling pack of two vampires,
nineteen human adults, and four children. We have enough food and
water with us to last around one month, but not an entire winter.
Our only concern is getting to a place we can make habitable again
before our rations give out. Especially the water and medicine.

Tonight our caravan rolled to the outskirts
of the National Guard base. The kids stayed in the SUV with Ellen’s
Mom and Randolph. The trucks protected them from ahead and behind.
We carry a mix of weapons now: the firearms to guard us from humans
and the silent arms to save us from the zombies. The vamps met up
with us each hour all night, quietly cutting a path through the
masses of decayed Dead surrounding our troop.

Myself and the other adults rotated walking
briskly beside the vehicles and riding. Keeping the children and
supplies loaded meant a severe lack of space. After only two hours
of tonight’s journey, we’d had to replace the F150 with a Chevy in
desperate need of a tune up. I was thankful our mechanic hadn’t
been killed when the beast of a truck was resurrected in a blast of
milky blue smoke and knocking pistons.

Switching the gear had taken ten minutes.
Sunny and I stood watch with Troy while Seth and Chase led the rest
on a potty run into a nearby house. They sprinted out seconds after
entering. Running to help destroy whoever or whatever they fled, I
burst through the crooked door with my arrow ready to fire.

Looking into the dim foyer for a figure of a
person, I eased my bow around the corner to view the living room.
Seeing no people and no fleshies, I began to lower my weapon,
confused about the reason for evacuating the building so abruptly.
Then I felt it wrap around my ankle.

Looking down, I expected one of the zombies
but found instead a writhing snake tangling itself on my leg.

“Holy shit!”

I screamed like a baby and shook the scaly
monster off my leg while fleeing. I dropped my bow in the
process.

“Snake, snake, kill it! Someone get the snake
away from me!”

I flailed as I sped towards my friends. The
thin black creature held fast to me and I drew my sword to pry the
thing away. I heard laughter over my screams as Troy strolled over
and grabbed the snake behind the head. He freed me from my
passenger and held it up.

“Just a little rat snake, darling. It won’t
hurt you.” He drew his knife and cut off the head. “Makes a good
meal though.”

I looked at the rest of our camp clinging to
the autos and realized my hands were shaking. Remembering my bow, I
quickly picked it up and composed myself.

“Thanks Troy.” Facing the group, I rambled.
“I don’t like snakes. They’re all creepy and snake-like. They just
really freak me out. Sorry.”

Distant moans carried on the light
breeze.

Smooth move leader lady.
Way to announce dinner for the fleshies.

“Fuck. Sorry guys, our potty party needs to
relocate to an elsewhere. The departed are arriving so let’s
bail.”

Loading up, we trekked down the road until we
found a place to crash for the day. During our march, we managed to
hunt up a raccoon and two possums to eat. Using pool chlorine, a
bucket of water was slowly made drinkable.

Seeing the faded brick and concrete house,
our community came to a halt. Waking the kids, the vehicles were
backed up to the front porch and we disembarked. This time, I
stayed back while the building was cleared of enemies and
pests.

As daybreak drew close, I finished my road
kill stew and settled in to wait for my watch. I sat on the front
porch with both my bow and rifle to watch the sunrise; being on
second watch, I saw no point in getting two hours of sleep
beforehand. I thought about the people I was responsible for.

The four children snuggled up in the first
bedroom with their caregivers lying just outside the door. The two
vampires resting in the crawlspace, hiding from the beams of light
that cascaded so gently on my face. And of course the eighteen
other adults who were either snoring on the floor or sitting awake
for a turn as sentry. There was almost no chatter.

What are we going to
do?

The front door creaked open and I turned to
greet my visitor.

“Morning Troy. What brings you out here?”

He displayed his sly smile.

“Well, I always like to sit alone on a porch
with a pretty lady. Besides, who’s going to keep all the bad snakes
away if I’m not here?”

Playfully hitting his arm, I pulled him into
the chair next to me.

“Not funny. It was scary and on me and it
wouldn’t let go. Even Indiana Jones doesn’t like snakes. Would you
tease him?”

He shook his head with a little chuckle and
looked out into the distance.

Tendrils of clouds floated along the
Technicolor skyscape casting shadows over the ruins of humanity
below. I remembered a similar morning from my youth, listening to
Bryan Adams on the radio and scribbling little nothings in a
notebook. I felt the sides of my mouth crawl upwards at the peace
of it.

“Thinking something good over there,
Squirrel?” he teased and laid his crossbow against the wall.

“Just observing.”

“And?”

“Nothing much. Just enjoying the little
moments of harmony and dazzling magnificence that occur in the
middle of all this hideousness.” I watched a flock of water birds
flying over the treetops, then looked at his raised eyebrow. “The
world has gone to shit, but it occasionally doesn’t stink.”

He rocked on the back two legs of the chair.
For a minute, we sat in comfortable silence watching the debut of a
new day.

“That sounds about right. And a little less
fancy.”

I stretched my arms overhead and was rewarded
with a series of pops from my back. Rolling my head to each side, I
stood to extend my legs after a weary night. Turning to ask Troy
what he thought, I found his lips against mine and his calloused
hands perched on my hips. Startled by the kiss, I stepped back.
Troy held the kiss, stepping with me and encircling his arms around
my waist.

As I let my lips part, he gently massaged my
tongue with his. My hands found their way around his neck as he did
something wavy with his tongue I thought impossible. I ran my
fingers up the back of his neck and into his short hair; the soft
tips tickled the back of my hand. As my lust for him grew, a
thought Daemon flashed through my mind.

I slid my hands onto Troy’s strong chest and
gave a little pressure, breaking our embrace. My body screamed at
me for its disappointed lust and my brain for my failure to think
logically; my heart calmly debated with both.

Heart wants what heart
wants.

I thought of Daemon lying under the floor of
the house hearing my heart race like this with Troy and felt a pang
of guilt.

“I’m sorry, Troy. I like you, but I just
can’t.”

Without letting our eyes meet again, I
stooped to grab my weaponry and strode to the door. I went to open
it and was stopped by a gentle hand on mine.

“It’s okay. I get it. I’ve got plenty of time
to wait; if fang boy is my only competition, it reasons that
eventually this will work out.”

With the grin of a high school kid after his
first date, Troy pulled the door open for me. Dumbfounded, I stood
planted beside him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go bragging about our
moment.”

I felt the blush and fought it down as I gave
a tiny nod and stepped through.

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure. It’s always nice to be able to
watch the morning greet the world and just bask in her rays awhile,
isn’t it?” he prodded jokingly.

The day went quickly. Only two Dead came near
the house. Both were so decrepit that the first was put down by
hand. The second one was eliminated by bow mid-afternoon after
several failed shots from the porch. Both guards decided to keep
firing and gathering the arrows for practice.

I opted to split the first’s skull rather
than risk wasting an arrow; I couldn’t even tell if had been male
or female in life. The thing had lost everything below the upper
ribs and had peeled most of its skin off dragging along the
pavement. I looked at the thin trail the rotted cadaver had left
behind on the driveway and wondered how long it had been trying to
get here.

As night blanketed our hideaway, the
community was wakened for the evening’s travel. The vehicles were
given an once-over and fueled up while the group ate. While we
barricaded the children into the SUV and packed our belongings, we
discussed our plans.

“We’re going to break a big rule and go
towards the National Guard base in Winter Haven; most likely it has
a good number of fleshies roaming around it, but they’re probably
manageable if we work together as a team with Cal and Daemon.”

I gestured to our resident vamps as
reassurance of their zombie-fighting prowess. Daemon struck a
Charlie’s Angels pose. Both His mentor and I did our best to ignore
it, but I still felt the smile creeping on my cheeks.

“We aren’t going to try to clear the whole
area, we just want to get near enough to see if the place is worth
raiding or securing. Not being in Orlando outright, I’m hoping it
wasn’t overrun too badly.”

Everyone kept arming himself or herself and
mobilizing for the trek; occasionally my words would be met with a
nod or a weak smile. Aside from some snickering at Daemon’s
goofiness, there was nothing. I sighed. Noting my frustration,
Chase cleared his throat.

“Guys, Squirrel is trying to get some input
here; anyone got a comment?”

It felt like watching an entire herd of deer
stunned in headlights. I watched the blank stares for a minute
before the truth of it hit me: they aren’t thinking about it.

“Are you guys seriously just following no
matter what the plan is at this point?” I blurted as fast as the
realization could be formed into words.

“Of course.”

Several nods and shrugs followed the answer
from Marley Guy. I turned my head thinking I’d see someone shake
their head or something. I looked to Cal for guidance only to
observe him rubbing his temples in circles. Our eldest member spoke
coolly.

“You people make me fucking sad.”

People stopped prepping to leave.

“She may be leading you, but you aren’t
supposed to follow blindly. Squirrel is trying to keep everyone
involved so that if something happens, you may be able to use
something gleaned from the experience to survive. And you dumbfucks
have chosen instead to become lemmings. Sheep follow directions
unless it’s against their best interest, whereas lemmings will
follow unto their own demise for lack of thought.”