After The End (19 page)

“I’m ready to answer my questions.”

Troy and his remaining three comrades were
already assimilating into our society. Their meager belongings sat
by their new bunks in the main cabin until we could come up with
more housing. Sunny and Bubba began the crew on survival training
with partners as soon as they passed the Q&A session. The
corpse of the fifth man was unceremoniously dumped in the burning
field for disposal with the contents of our outhouses.

It was easy to see why the men had followed
Troy without question: he was the only one with any actual skills
in fighting, hunting, or escaping fleshies. I’d fully recovered
from my ‘illness’ within a day and a half after the interrogation.
Chase, Sunny, and Cal had already assessed Troy’s abilities,
insisting I put him into regular shifts while the other three
newcomers were brought up to par.

Cal recommended we try to add a few crossbows
to our arsenal as well, given how much simpler they are to become
proficient with than the bows. I agreed; the amount of practice
time we had to spend with the bows could be used for many other
ventures. Only a handful of us were decent shots at any distance
beyond twenty yards anyhow, even with the compound bows.

Each meal with our freshmen residents yielded
new information about the state of things beyond our solitary
domain. Amongst tales of ravaged and pillaged strongholds of
humans, they reported stories of half-starved vampires keeping
humans alive in jail cells or chained together like cattle in the
slaughterhouse. Troy spoke quietly about witnessing a couple of
skirmishes between small bands of survivors and the Undead they
crossed. I could tell he was choosing his words carefully.

“They felt it was the human race against the
world. This scraggly group just kept roaming from place to place,
foraging for whatever they may be able to use; hiding from the Dead
at night, and killing off the vampires during the day. It was like
they thought all they had to do was kill everyone who wasn’t human
anymore, and the world would go back to the way it was.

Fast food would reappear and they wouldn’t
struggle and everyone would get along fine.” He sighed and looked
down. “Those guys were full of hope to the point of delusion. They
didn’t even consider that the ammo might run out if they kept
shooting.”

The crossbowman shook his head as he
finished. Our lunch of roasting possum crackled and burned,
forgotten for a moment as we all processed what we heard. Silently,
I wondered how this would affect the interactions we maintained
with Caelinus and Daemon. I searched each face for any signs that
the Pact could be weakening but found only blank expressions.

Seth’s story changed those faces entirely.
After the cooking meat was remembered and tended, the
accountant-turned-spearman set down his bowl. He wiped his glasses
on the hem of his shirt and cleared his throat.

“Troy found me last winter after I ran away
from my subdivision. I was barely conscious, having done nothing
but run from my neighbors and those cursed souls who’d been turned
by the infection. All I’d taken was my makeshift spear and a bottle
of water. The water ran after an hour or two of running and I
didn’t eat again until he found me three days later, barricaded
against a handful of zombies in a hair salon. I nearly died to
avoid what my neighbors were turning to.”

While Seth paused to wipe his eyes, I found
myself leaning closer. As Chase’s hand grazed past mine, I realized
I wasn’t the only one who’d done so.

“None of us were prepared for the outbreak or
the mess that followed. Our suburb was pretty close, so a handful
of us pooled our supplies and decided to band together until this
whole ordeal blew over. We even had a little party like it was
another hurricane come to wash over us; board the windows, get out
the emergency kits, drink some booze, and wait.”

He started to rock gently as his eyes glossed
over with the wisps of memories.

“It was a quick thing to line up the cars and
suvs as a wall a few houses past our cul-de-sac entrance. Garden
tools and household objects became weapons thanks to duct tape or
whatever else we could find. That first month, all we did was keep
saying we’d be rescued soon and do our best to destroy those
corpses that came up to the vehicles or the brick wall protecting
our families.”

I looked at the others and recognized the
same woeful look on their faces, while Seth cleared his throat and
wiped at his nose. A tiny yellow bubble swelled and receded in his
nostril as he spoke.

“It was fine for a little while, but soon
enough we went from rationing food and drinks to trying to catch
bugs and strays. One of the guys said we should send out a party to
loot the area for supplies.

‘The worst has to be over by now. The Army or
the Red Cross or the CDC is probably just a mile or two away
putting everything right again. You’ll see.’

There were about two-dozen adults and seven
or eight kids holed up there. Five of the men went out to search;
two came back. They carried a couple of bags of canned food and
juice boxes and were covered in blood. Their faces looked decades
older.

They just dropped the bags and sat on top of
the improvised wall with some guns they’d picked up. Not a word
about the other three even when the families cried and begged for
an explanation. They just shrugged and stared down the street;
those guys wore that vacant expression every minute since. We never
learned what happened to the other three.”

A couple of people slowly rose and excused
themselves back to chores or rest. It was a too familiar story for
many.

“As the weeks went on, those two led others
out to gather supplies more often, leaving the rest of us to fend
off the zombies each day and for a short time, a vampire by
night.”

Seth paused. His mind seemed to come back to
him as he awkwardly realized we were friends with two vampires.

“Not to say all vampires are bad, just the
one that kept attacking us. She would swoop down and grab us from
the wall or sneak into one of the houses and take one of our folks
while they slept.”

I patted him on the forearm and gave a weak
smile.

This is the first time
anyone here has said so much about the past. It’s bringing up so
much pain; has it really been almost a year?

“Anyways,” he continued “she didn’t kill
anyone; she just drank from them and set them back in the
cul-de-sac. Sometimes, some food would be sitting on the asphalt
next to the victim. Scared the Hell out of everyone though. One day
one of the ladies got a good look at her and recognized our
attacker. The next morning, we burned her house down a couple of
blocks away; never had another incident with the thing.

The food stopped getting left behind after
the fire. Our searches yielded less and less. Soon winter came and
we had nothing left. The gardens and emergency kits were bare. Even
the pets had ‘gone missing’ — thankfully, the children never knew
the truth. The direness of our circumstances began to sink in.
There was no rescue. No supplies. Just an endless stream of zombies
and a small pile of bullets and kitchen utensils.”

I sharpened my sword as the spearman spoke; I
didn’t think I was going to be able to look at him and keep my
composure for the next part.

“One of the recently widowed had been
pregnant when the outbreak came. The baby came early and seemed
fine. The lady bled too much and passed away a few minutes after
her son cried out. Poor boy didn’t even get a name or to see her
smile. That’s when it began. One of the guys took the woman’s body
close to the fire and stopped. Instead of burning the corpse like
we’d been doing, he pulled out a knife.

The rest of us rushed to stop him, but he
just kept ranting about wasting our only chance to live and
starving to death. One by one, people took their hands off him. The
decision had been made.”

Seth wept openly, his hands cupping his face
as the tears and snot drizzled through his shaking fingers and onto
the ground.

“We ate her. God help me, we cooked that poor
woman and devoured every bit of her. No one told the children that
we were eating their neighbor, the nice lady who gave out caramel
apples every Halloween and babysat them growing up. And two days
later, when her innocent and nameless son died, we made him into
stew.”

Bubba puked into the cooking fire, creating a
cloud of stench and sparks. A couple of other residents ran for the
outhouse, likely for the same reason as the storyteller fell to his
knees in the sand. It seemed Seth spoke to someone or something far
away instead of us; it was a plea from a man condemned to his
memories.

“I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t eat the baby, or
whoever would die next. The whole group talked about hunting other
survivors for their rations and their flesh. I just couldn’t live
like that. I’m sorry. I’m so, so very sorry…”

His words of remorse trailed off as the guilt
overwhelmed the man. Chase and I helped Seth to his feet; the Nurse
followed as we laid him down on his cot and took his weapons, belt,
and shoelaces away.

We’d all seen the breakdowns before; the past
could kill a person in the present easier than any gun. The Nurse
stayed with Seth and by dinner, he said the spearman could return
to his chores, but to watch him train for a day or two. I thought
about the man’s tale and wondered if this was the same group of
attackers pillaging the area.

I guess it’s best not to
find out.

I hurried from my training with Seth towards
my raid-planning meeting. The guy was becoming really good with the
spear we gave him in place of his duct-taped weapon; he seemed to
delight in learning the nuances of wielding it. I think just being
able to provide food and protection gave Seth confidence. Watching
him practice and hunt animals was like watching a drowning man
figure out how to swim.

During a lesson on spear-fishing, he confided
in me that it was his desire to find a way to atone that drove him
to become as useful as possible in Nova Nocte.

“It’s my only opportunity to make my life
count for something. If I can just keep these people safe and free
of that kind of depraved existence, then maybe it will absolve a
tiny bit of the guilt I feel. If not, then at least I’ll be too
damned tired from all the hard work to think about it.”

I watched him continue to practice his
swordsmanship with Randolph; I would need to focus for the raid, it
was going much further into town this time. And we had to bring
back an extra vehicle.

When I entered the Coffin Cabin, I found a
whole lotta crazy gushing out of everyone. Cal and Daemon were
arguing over who was going with me on the raid, both clearly
watching their words with Troy in the room. Forrest was grumbling
about not wanting “that damned cannibal” in the party. Sunny and
Chase were holding a very quiet but fervent debate in a corner of
the room while the Nurse and Sindbad listened and occasionally
seemed to take the smiling husband’s side. The other two volunteers
for the excursion sat on a bed trying to be invisible.

Over the din, Sunny shouted,

“Dammit, Chase you aren’t going on this raid;
you will stay here with me. I’m pregnant and I’ll be damned if you
aren’t going to be here to help me defend this fort! Squirrel and
the others can pick up those supplies just fine without you.”

Silence.

Simultaneously, all heads turned to view the
furious woman at the center of attention. Other topics lay
forgotten and book-marked as the words sank in.

“Yes Dear.”

Chase’s smile spread almost beyond his ears
at the announcement. He reached out and pushed an escaped strand of
hair from her face before kissing his wife.

“Uh, guys, we’re going to need to arrange for
another volunteer. My wife needs me in camp to help out until you
guys get back. If that won’t work for anyone here, you can address
the issue with my sweetheart.”

I shook my head abruptly.

Arguing with Sunny on a good day was iffy at
best, I doubt there’s anyone insane enough to do so now that she’s
pregnant and chock full of hormones. Oh and armed with her favorite
spear… um, no thanks.

Satisfied with the resulting acceptance of
his withdrawal from the raid, Sunny nodded and sat down at the
small table.

“Okay, let’s work out a shopping list and get
a location in mind. Does someone want to go get another volunteer
in here so we can get a plan in motion before lunchtime? Daemon,
you’re staying here and Cal will go with Squirrel and the
others.”

Hands were raised and mouths opened.

“No Troy, your other two friends need to stay
in the fort, they aren’t capable enough for this yet. Troy and Seth
are going, deal with it Bubba or deal with me. Any other
issues?”

After a pause and a toothy grin, Forrest
muttered “No ma’am. I’ll wrangle up another volunteer.”

Seeing a break in the meeting, I hugged Sunny
and soon she was engulfed in an outpouring of congratulations on
the baby. Chase received pats on the back and a promise to keep an
eye out for cigars. Bubba returned a few minutes later with Jake
and a small bundle. The older man held out the tied square of cloth
to Sunny and Chase.

“Go ahead and open it. Just a little
something I want ya’ll to have for the baby.”

Sunny looked puzzled as she untied the
corners of the light blue swatch, revealing a fuzzy stuffed frog
with a tiny bow around its neck.

“It was my daughter’s and eventually my
grandson’s favorite dolly. I just thought it’d be nice for someone
to be able to play with it again. I kept it clean, but it’s durable
if ya’ll want to wash it.”