Dead Living (36 page)

She didn't notice the pounding on the door
behind them had stopped.

She jumped when a loud, steady knock came
right behind her, followed by a muffled voice she recognized.

“Hello? Got room for one more in there?”

Sam shook as she ripped the chain away. Larry
and Travis continued to shoot corpse after corpse, but they kept
coming. The low light made it difficult to get a clear head
shot.

She threw the doors open. Aaron stood with
his bow slung over his chest. He held two long blood-covered
knives, one in each hand. Sam recognized one as her own. He had a
few more sticking out of his quiver.

She threw herself in his arms. Larry turned
from shooting walkers long enough to give him a surprised look.

“Sorry it took so long,” Aaron said.

Sam pulled away and pointed to the storeroom.
“They're inside.”

Aaron squinted to see. It was difficult to
see anything with the few people holding candles moving to the
door. All he could make out were shadows and moans.

“It's clear out here. Everybody move out.” He
looked at Sam and gave her a quick kiss. “The halls are clear. Just
give me five, maybe ten minutes.”

He jogged forward and kicked at the feet of
the horde while the rest of Lexington filed out into the school's
halls. The undead tripped and fell over each other, giving everyone
precious seconds to get out. Travis and Mary brought up the rear as
they helped Carrie walk. The last two standing at the door were Sam
and Larry.

Aaron turned around and gave them a nod. “Ten
minutes, I think.”

“The kids are in the girls' locker room.”

“I won't let anything happen to them. Don't
worry.”

Larry shook his head. “Is he insane?”

Sam smiled. “I used to think so too.”

She closed the door behind her.

*****

Sam didn't know how much time had passed, but
it felt longer than ten minutes. She stayed by the storeroom doors
while everyone else spread out in Lexington's halls to see Aaron's
work. He had killed every walker he saw. Some had arrows in their
heads, but most were killed by blades.

She couldn't wait anymore. She opened the
storeroom doors to see dead corpses everywhere. Aaron emerged from
the hall leading to the locker rooms, the children right behind
him. He flashed her a bright smile.

She ran to him and they embraced as hard as
they could. Sam gave the children a glare as they whistled and made
noises over the display of affection.

“Is it over?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, still be careful, but I think
I got all of them. Just takes a long time to stab two hundred
brains.”

Sam locked eyes with Derek and Nikki, who
stood right behind Aaron. She saw the sadness in their eyes.

“We lost some of us. Richardson and Amanda
are gone,” Sam explained.

Aaron nodded and put a hand on Derek's
shoulder. “I'll miss Richardson. But you're only half right.”

He led everyone through the storeroom to the
outside. They had to step over corpses as they walked. He waved to
the truck near the gate, and Amanda climbed out.

Derek almost knocked Aaron over as he ran to
the girl he thought of as his little sister. Nikki stopped just
long enough to give Aaron a kiss on the cheek, then ran to Amanda
as well.

Aaron put his arm around Sam's shoulders as
she watched the three embrace. He wasn't surprised when Derek gave
Nikki a long kiss.

“That's not a bad idea,” Aaron said, pulling
Sam close to him.

Sam wrapped her arms around his neck. “We
thought Amanda was out here with the walkers.”

“She was.”

It took a moment to understand his meaning.
She looked over at Amanda as she hugged Nikki's leg. “You
mean-”

Aaron nodded.

Slowly, the people of Lexington started to
gather around Aaron. They looked at the dead corpses with stunned
surprise. Larry was the first one to talk.

“Aaron, how the hell did
you
do
this?”

“Richardson's gone. What are we gonna
do?”

“Aaron and Samantha should be in charge
now.”

“Are more walkers coming?”

Aaron held up his hand to get everyone's
attention. He still held Sam's hand. People started to light
candles as it grew darker. He was surprised at how fast everyone
quieted down and looked at him.

“Okay, we have a lot to talk about,” Aaron
said. “Between last night and today, it's been pretty shitty
lately.”

“You can say that again,” Travis said.

“But I've got a plan. It'll take work from
all of us, but things will get better around here.”

The questions came at a fast pace.

“How did you kill all the walkers?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I heard you got bit by a walker.”

“What do we do now?”

Aaron laughed. “First thing out of the way,
about me and the walkers-”

Aaron hoisted the last generator onto the
back of the truck while Amanda dragged two pillowcases of supplies
behind her. He took them from her and placed them neatly near the
back.

He took a quick drink of water from his
canteen and handed it to her.

“You doing okay?”

The young girl nodded, although Aaron could
see she was tired. Amanda was definitely a tough little girl. She
pushed a lock of blond hair out of her eyes. She would need a
haircut soon, something Aaron wasn't looking forward to. When Mary
cut her hair three months ago she cried for almost an entire day.
It took two showings of an old cartoon called The Lion King to calm
her down.

“What do you think?”

He gestured to the back of the truck. It had
been a long four days from home, but it was a productive four days.
The truck was full of wood, water, blankets, light cloths,
tools.

Amanda smiled. “We got a lot of stuff.”

“Damn right we did. Put her there.”

They gave each other a high-five.

“What are we doing next?”

He pulled the sliding gate down.

“Now it's time to go home. Mission
accomplished.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really? We're going
home?”

“Yup.” He felt guilty at her enthusiasm. “You
know you don't have to come out here with me, right?”

“I have to help you.”

He laughed. Amanda watched him kill corpse
after corpse, what she called monsters. He didn't really want her
to watch, but it didn't seem to bother her. She was growing up too
fast.

He hopped over a dead corpse as he climbed
behind the wheel. Amanda sat next to him and buckled her seat belt.
They started the drive away from Home Depot back to Lexington High
School.

“Next time we come out, can we bring a
sleeping bag? Sleeping on these seats is hard.”

Aaron smiled. He'd tell her later that this
was the last excursion away from home.

They drove with the windows down. The winter
was finally over. It was a beautiful spring day. Aaron was going to
enjoy the next few months.

He enjoyed keeping Sam warm during the
winter. He'd enjoy cooling her off in the summer too.

They heard activity as they drove down
Honeyton Road and made the turn into the high school. Aaron glanced
at Amanda to see the girl was almost bouncing on the seat with
excitement.

The windmill on top of the school was
steadily turning in the breeze. Mary shouted Aaron's name and waved
before disappearing into the greenhouse near the second garden. He
heard the sounds of chickens clucking. It was good to be home.

Travis, James, and Carrie were chatting near
the front gate. They gave Aaron and his young partner a wave as
they drove by. They were already peering into the back of the truck
as they got out.

“Aaron, you guys got a haul here,” James
said.

Aaron walked to greet them, Amanda at his
side.

“I couldn't have done it without my sidekick
here.”

Amanda smiled proudly, then looked up at
Aaron. “Can I go find Derek and Nikki?”

“Sure.”

Carrie smiled. “I saw them over by the
bleachers. But be careful. They were tongue-touching the last time
I saw them.”

“Tongue-touching?”

“Kissing.”

“Yuck!”

Amanda ran away. The adults laughed. Others
joined in near the back, ready to help unload. Aaron saw Larry
jogging their way.

“Did it go okay?” Larry asked.

They walked together inside the school. Kids
played in the halls. Some of them stopped long enough to give Aaron
a hug. Everyone missed him.

“It went well. Got plenty of supplies.”

Larry unfolded a list he'd been working on.
“I hate to tackle you right when you get back, but I'm afraid
another list is already growing. Gibbons isn't gonna be able to
handle the cows at the end of the street by himself. We're gonna
need some more fluorescent lights. One of the panes in the
greenhouse is busted. We're down to only two electric
chainsaws-”

“Larry, you can go get all that stuff
yourself.”

“Huh? What?”

Aaron slapped him on the back and pulled a
map of Lexington out of his back pocket. He handed it over.

“The circle I drew is walker free.”

Larry stopped in the hallway to study the
map. They faced each other as Larry looked up at Aaron.

“Are you kidding me? This is almost all of
Lexington.”

“No joke. There's still bodies in the streets
we'll have to clean up, and I might have missed a bathroom or two.
But yeah, it's clear. Just be careful, as always, but my days of
being away from my girlfriend are over. Speaking of my girlfriend,
where is she?”

Larry laughed and motioned for him to turn
around. Aaron looked behind him to see Sam leaning against an old
locker, a small smile on her face.

His jaw dropped, and he remembered why he was
looking forward to the summer so much.

Sam wore tight sweatpants and a white tee
shirt that was too small for her, showing off her stomach and fine
curves. She was gorgeous, and gave him a look that told him she had
thoughts involving the two of them.

“Larry, you're dismissed,” she said.

“Yes, ma'am.”

He took one step toward her, but she was
already moving. She tackled him and pinned him against the row of
lockers. She kissed him so hard he almost lost his breath. He
pulled himself together and kissed her back. She ran her hands up
his sides as he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to him.

She leaned in to nibble his ear and whisper.
“We need to get back to our room. Right now.”

He laughed. He thought back to the night
before he left. He was surprised he could move the next day.

“I've only been gone four days.”

“Four days too long.”

Sam knew no undead in the world could harm
her boyfriend, but that didn't stop her from missing him when he
was gone. She shoved a touch of jealousy she had for Amanda aside,
who could go with Aaron among the walkers.

“Is it true what you said?” she asked.
“You're done running around out there?”

“I'll still help out, but you can come with
me.”

She kissed him again and playfully ran her
lips over his neck. She was pleased with his response.

“Me and you. Bedroom. Now.”

They walked hand in hand for only two steps
when they heard a voice behind them.

“There you are. Hey guys, you got a
second?”

They turned to see James. James could see
from their faces he was interrupting something.

“I'm sorry,” he said. “But we actually got
visitors.”

“Oh really?” Aaron said. He looked at Sam. “I
guess we'd better go say hello?”

She sighed, but knew he was right. It had
taken a while, but she'd accepted the fact that everyone looked up
to her. “Okay, let's go.”

They left the school through the front door.
Next to the trucks was an old minivan. A man and woman that didn't
look much older than Aaron and Sam were cautiously looking around.
They had two children with them, a boy and girl. Everyone kept
unloading the truck while keeping their distance.

“Good afternoon,” Aaron said.

Sam smiled and squeezed his hand. Those were
his first words to her when they met.

“Hi,” the man said. “I'm Kevin. This is my
wife, Lori. These are our children, Ronnie and Linda.”

Aaron took the time to shake everyone's hand,
including the children.

“I'm Aaron. This is my girlfriend,
Samantha.”

He smiled. “We saw the sign on the beltway.
Is it true? Is this place really walker free?”

Sam looked at Aaron. He and Amanda had just
put up the sign the day before.

“It's very close. We're proud of what we've
done here.”

“How is that possible?”

“Stick around, maybe you'll find out. Are you
good people?”

Kevin nodded. “We'd like to think so.”

“Then you're welcome to stay. Hey Larry,
would you mind giving Kevin and his family here a tour?”

Larry helped lower a generator from the
truck, then walked over to introduce himself. He led Kevin and his
family away.

Sam leaned her head on Aaron's shoulder.
“We're gonna get bigger, aren't we?”

He nodded. “This is a good place, and it'll
attract good people. And the bad people, well, that's why I've got
you with me.”

She laughed and grabbed his hand. She was
done waiting. “You and I have things to do. Let's go.”

She led him to the bedroom they shared in the
library.

Aaron had a feeling it was going to be a good
day.

I live in Maryland with my wonderful wife and
four cats. I love gaming, computer technology, movies, and of
course, reading and writing. I love science fiction and especially
horror. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies, anything
supernatural, all beautiful subjects.

I’ve been writing since I was twelve years
old. There’s just something about creating a story that I like.
It’s always fun to try to come up with something that hasn’t been
done, or is unique in some way. It’s fun to build a character, give
him a personality and background.