Generation Dead - 07 (16 page)

I wondered briefly if Jake had a box like this, but I was pretty sure he did.  I sat down on the couch and put the box in my lap.  It had been made with care and I wanted to appreciate that care.  The lid opened without a fuss, and I took a tentative look inside.

To tell the truth, there
was a lot less than I had expected
.
  There was a picture of a couple I had never seen before, an old knife in a worn leather sheath, an envelope, a pouch with fifty gold coins in it, and a thick, leather covered journal. 

I looked first at the knife with a practiced eye, noting it was razor sharp, with a single edge and a smooth, stacked leather grip.  It was as much a fighting knife as I had ever seen.  I looked at the picture, and I could recognize some of my father’s features on the man.  I realized I was looking at a picture of my father’s parents, my grandparents.  I put the picture down carefully and picked up the journal.  It was a thick book, and inside was
inscribed,
‘My War on the Dead’ written by my father. 

I looked at the book, and opened a few pages.  It had been neatly typed, and there were over eight hundred pages.  Dad must have found a computer that worked, and spent a lot of time chronicling what he had gone through.  A careful inspection revealed that Dad had also torn out the pages of another book, and glued his inside.  Clever that. I had a lot of reading to do.

I opened the envelope last and pulled out the single sheet of a handwritten letter.  I couldn’t believe I was shaking so bad, and had to settle myself before I picked it up again.  I leaned back and began to read.

My son Aaron,

I never thought I might be writing a letter like this, since I always figured I would be the one to go before your mother.  But fate had other ideas, and I found myself without an anchor.  I had you and your brother, but you two are of an age that you don’t need me anymore.  That doesn’t make me sad, it’s the way of things and I think I prepared the two of you as best I could to deal with the world you’ve inherited.

You have many gifts, Aaron, and as you read
thi
s,
you need to start finding them are using them.  This world has a ton of possibilities for you, and you have the good fortune of learning from the mistakes of the past and making it a
good
world for generations.  That’s what you need to do, son.  Make the world a better place than it is.  Find your way, don’t stray from it, and make everything you do
focused
on your way.

The picture is your grandparents, my mother and father.  Your grandmother died in the early stages of the zombie uprising and your grandfather found his way south. 
You might remember him from when he visited a long time ago.
If he’s alive still, he might show up on your door someday. His old Marine
K
a
-Bar knife is there,
so
use it well.  It served him well for twenty years in the Marines.  I’m giving you these things so you have a history, a place in the world.  So many people just ended, and the rest had to start their histories over.  You at least have part of yours. 

The book is a record of what I and your uncles went through during the start of the zombies and the wars that followed.  It is your history as well.  There is also the story of your family, going back to when your great, great, great, great grandparents came over from Europe.

I will return someday, I give you my word.  Until then, I want you to do two things.  Believe in yourself and become what you are meant to be.

Love to you, my darling boy.

Dad.

I don’t know how long I sat there, just reading and re-reading the letter.  I didn’t want to put it away,
because
it was all I had of my father.  I looked over the journal, and immediately it was precious to me as well.  I spent some time looking at the picture of my grandparents, wishing I could have met my grandma.   The knife I looked over, and knowing its history, I was sure I would respect what it could do. 
Doubtless,
it had seen as much combat as my own knives had.  I stood up and strapped the knife onto my belt, and I was surprised at how easily it slipped into my hand.  I looked it over again and it positively glowed with a happy kind of wickedness, as if it was anxious for action.

I put the letter, journal, picture and money back into the box, and left the suite.  I felt oddly calm, like a hole in my life had been filled, and yet I had a lot of questions for myself.  What was I meant to do?  What was I supposed to accomplish?  Was I supposed to apprentice myself?  Unfortunately, I had no answers for these questions.

The next morning, Julia came into my room and sat on one of the chairs as I related what I found.  She was interested in the journal, and I promised her she could read it as soon as I was done with it. 

“We have another job, by the
way,
” Julia said. 
“Came in this morning.”

“Is it a rush?  I feel like we’ve done nothing but jobs for the last three weeks.” I laid back and put a hand over my eyes, as if to pretend it didn’t exist if I couldn’t see it.

“Jake wants to wait a little while, too, so we’ll probably go in a week. He says by the look of
it,
it should be fairly easy.
” Julia
stood and walked over to the bed, sitting on the far edge. 
“Anything else in the box?”

“Nothing that has a big impact on our day today.”
  I looked up.  “Whose turn is it for making breakfast?”

“Yours.
  I’m hungry.  Get up. Get up. Get up!”  Julia slapped my feet and I whipped a pillow at her, knocking her off the bed.

It was probably going to be a good day after all.

Chapter 26

“Move your ass, they’re right behind me!”

“Where’s Julia?”

“She’s not here?”

“Oh, God.”

“
Run
!”

We bolted down the dark corridor, having discovered that
about thirty zombies blocked our exit
.  Jake had gone ahead to scout, and that hadn’t turned out so well.

“Do you think she went into one of the stores?” Jake
guessed,
as we passed a doorway with a store name painted on it.

“Well, let’s see.  She’s not with me, and she’s not with you. I’d rather not think she’s languishing in the stomachs of about a dozen zombies, so that would be my hopeful guess.” I said.  This whole collection was one big nightmare after another.  Absolutely nothing had gone right, even from the beginning.

“Don’t get morose.  Just run, you damn
fool,
” Jake snarled.

I gave it right back. “Watch that ‘fool’ shit, asshole.  You’re the jackass that ran in here in the first place.”

“You know
what? Just
shut up.”  Jake ran headlong into the crash bar on the door to the shopping area of the mall, knocking it open and tripping over a pile of boxes that ha
d
been left by the door. 

I followed, and as I watched the door
close
, I could see dozens of glowing eyes coming towards us.  I pulled off my pack and quickly rummaged through it
.
The door conveniently had no handle, so it was going to open
easily
when the zombies hit it in force.  I pulled out a small wooden wedge, and jammed it in the small space between the door and the door jam.

“What’s that for?” Jake asked.

“Something Uncle Duncan taught me.  Can buy you ten seconds or more when you really need
it,
” I said, tapping the wood with the butt of my pistol.

Jake looked put out.
  “How come he never taught me that?”

“Probably because you preferred to listen to
yourself,
” I
said, not to put
too
fine a point on it.

Whatever he was going to say was lost as the first zombie plowed into the door.  The whole thing shook, and the wedge was nearly knocked out. 

“Damn!” I said, pounding it back into the crack.  “We
gotta
get the hell out of here!” I said, backing away from the door.

“Where the fuck is Julia?” Jake said, turning and running down the hall.  Storefront after storefront was smashed and looted, although the dust indicated that there had been some time in between visitors.

As if in answer, a single wail drifted to us from the darker recesses of the mall.  Jake and I traded looks as we bolted in that direction.  The mall was laid out in a cross pattern, with longer halls on the north and south ends.  There was a food court in the middle, but that place had long gone to the dust and decay.  I had dared Jake to open one of the fridges, but he had
im
politely declined.

We had not originally wanted to come to this mall.  Malls were generally bad news.  Either they were full of zombies, from people trying to take refuge when the
original outbreak had occurred, or they had kept the virus out, and had become
little communities of their own, with interesting ways of doing things.  One mall had a community where the rule was clothing was not allowed.  We didn’t stay long
, although we looked for a while.

This mall was definitely not one of the latter.  As w
e ran down the dark wing, a black
groaning shape reared up out of the darkness and confronted me.  I barely slowed down as I swung my axe, slamming the blade into the skull of the zombie in front of me.  It went down withou
t a twitch and I yanked my ‘hawk
out as I passed. 

Another shape rose up
,
but it was too slow to intercept me.  Jake nailed it with his mace, and we were still moving.  As we went deeper into the darkness, we could see a small bit of light coming from a side corridor to the left.  We could also see about a half dozen glowing eyes turn our way as we thumped through debris and decay.  This mall had definitely seen better days.  I think it might have been used as a refuge for about a day,
but
then people got greedy, looted it, and took off.  Then the zombies moved in and there went the neighborhood.

“Baby Gap!
 
Baby Gap!”
  Jake yelled, and at first I thought he was nuts, but then I saw the sign, and realized he was trying to avoid the horde that was headed our way.  I dove sideways and went through a hole in the window, miraculously avoiding cutting the hell out of myself.  I rolled out of the
way,
as Jake dove after me and we both stood up, ready to fight.

Not surprisingly
, we heard a noise in the back.  Jake nodded to the left and I took the right.  We crept past bare shelves and creepy mannequins, trying to stay silent so the horde outside would pass us by.  The noise repeated itself,
and then
there was a curse.

I looked over at Jake and we both nodded.  Julia.  Stepping quickly to the back counter, we could see a red light flashing back and forth, obviously looking for something.  Jake stepped closer and suddenly the light shifted and two feet of sharpened steel flashed past his face.

“Hey!”  Jake slipped back and I stepped forward in his place.  The blade came towards
me,
but
I
knocked it out of the way with my axe.

“Knock it
off,
” I said quietly.  “What the hell are you doing in here?  You
were supposed to have come to the utility door.”

I think Julia actually blushed.  “I wanted some jeans.”

“Are you fucking serious?”  Jake asked.  “There’s about thirty zombies headed this way!”

“Hey, we were always taught to take advantage of opportunities as they presented themselves.  Here is a jeans store, why the hell not?’  Julia said defiantly.

“Was that you we heard wailing?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, that was me.”  Julia looked embarrassed again.

“Why, dare I ask?” Jake said.

“I can’t find my size.”  Julia pouted.  “
There’s
all kinds of fat people sizes and super-skinny sizes, but nothing in
my
size.”

Jake
had
never been known for his tact.  As a matter of fact, his honest nature has caused more fights than a body has a right to.  “Well, you could lose weight.”

Julia stared daggers at Jake. I was actually surprised he didn’t fall dead right there.

“Or gain it to fit in the fat
jeans,
” I tried helpfully with a smile.

Julia turned her gaze on me and I was shocked I didn’t disintegrate in a pile of ash.  I swear lasers came out of her eyes for a second and singed my eyebrows.

“All right, enough of
this,
” Jake said.  “We have about a minute before the ones outside figure out where we wandered off to.  We weren’t exactly subtle in our choice of entrances to this place.”