Journal of the Undead (Book 1): Littleville Uprising (19 page)

Alan raked his hands through his thinning hair and paused to reflect. He had never approved of having guns in the house; in fact he had always voted for stronger gun control. It seemed surreal to him that he would be sitting in his bedroom holding a gun. Stranger still, that he would be calmly telling his children how he had just shot his zombie wife in the head. It terrified him that he’d held the gun to his precious daughter’s head, prepared to eliminate her if she had been attacked. His only comfort was that Emma was blissfully unaware of what he’d planned. Catching his reflection in the mirror of Jillian’s vanity, Alan was convinced he had aged twenty years since morning. In the same dreary, monotone voice, Alan continued.

“Anyway, I came upstairs to check on Jillian and I heard this dreadful moaning. When I opened the door, she staggered toward me. Well, I thought maybe she had taken too many Valium. She’d been going a little overboard ever since the mugging. I reached out to steady her and that’s when she tried to attack me. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

“It’ll be okay, Dad,” Matt said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“I’m afraid not, son. She bit me.” Alan rolled up his shirtsleeve to reveal a bite-sized wound above his wrist then handed the gun to Evan.

“Evan, I assume you know how to fire one of these?”

“Yes sir, I do.”

“And you know between the eyes is best?”

“I know, sir,” Evan said solemnly.

“No!” Emma screamed, throwing herself in front of her father. “You are NOT going to shoot my dad.” She pried the gun from Evan’s hand and pointed it at his head. “You take one more step and I’ll shoot you instead!”

“EMMA JANE!” Alan shouted, interrupting Emma’s rant. “Put that gun down now!”

As Emma turned her head to address her father, Matt snatched the gun from Emma’s hand. Emma continued to berate Evan as bitter tears streamed down her cheeks. The thought of losing her father was too much to bear.

BANG.

The color drained from Emma’s face as she watched Alan slump to the floor with a dull thud.

“Oh no,” Emma whimpered as she knelt to the floor next to him. “You can’t be dead too.”

Completely ignoring the clean shot in the middle of her dad’s forehead, Emma pressed her head to her father’s chest. She listened for breathing or a heartbeat, but the silence was deafening. In her heart, she knew there was no point in attempting CPR. She clung to the lifeless form that had been her father and sobbed.

“Matt, what the hell did you do that for?” Evan asked barely louder than a whisper.

“He’d been bitten. What was I supposed to do? Wait for him to attack one of us?”

“He would have died first. You could have waited till then … at least that’s what I would have done.”

“I didn’t want
you
to do it anyway. She never would have forgiven you.”

Matt pointed to his sister who was still crouching next to her father. Emma’s body shook violently but her eyes, though wide with horror, were glassy and unfocused. Evan bent down and tried to console her but she remained unresponsive. He gingerly hauled Emma to her feet and spoke softly and calmly, as if she were a child.

“Shh, Emma, it’ll be alright.”

“Enough!” Matt interrupted, “Emma, knock it off, we don’t have time for a meltdown. You need to go pack, now. Only necessities, what you absolutely need to survive. That means sensible clothes and shoes. And I’d better not see any makeup or hair stuff.”

Evan scowled at Matt and wrapped a protective arm around Emma.

“C’mon Em,” Evan said, tossing her bag over his shoulder. “You should wash up and change into something less gruesome, then pack. You’ll need at least three sets of clothes. Try to avoid anything baggy; you don’t want to give zombies anything to grab onto. If you need any help just give a yell, okay?”

***

Matt smirked and rolled his eyes when Evan returned from Emma’s room but said nothing. The boys worked together, wrapping the bodies in sheets and dragging them outside. Evan stopped himself from berating Matt, but shooting Alan upstairs had given them double the work.

Once outside, they dug a shallow grave. Unable to speak, Matt gently pushed both bodies into the pit. He knelt for a moment next to the grave and mourned the loss of his father. He hurriedly wiped the tears from his face, doused the bodies with gasoline, and set them on fire.

“Let’s get Emma and get out of here,” Matt muttered, trying to choke back his tears.

The boys walked back to the house in silence, expecting Emma to be waiting. An eerie stillness hung in the air, sending a shudder up Matt’s spine. He slowly climbed the stairs to retrieve his emergency pack. Ever since Evan had shared his copy of the
Journal of the Undead: A Survivor’s Guide,
Matt had a bag packed and ready in case of an uprising. He just never thought he would ever
really
need it. Evan trudged upstairs behind Matt while mentally planning the fastest and safest route back to his house.

As Matt ducked into his room, Evan went to check on Emma. He tapped lightly on her bedroom door and paused for a response. When none came, Evan walked in uninvited. Emma was curled up in a ball on the edge of her bed staring vacantly into space and shaking violently.

I’m an orphan now. All alone with no one left on this Earth that loves me
ran in a loop in her mind.

Still covered in filth, she hadn’t washed or packed. Positive that Emma had gone into shock, Evan covered her with blankets. He dumped the books and folders out of her backpack then rummaged through her closet and drawers for clothes to pack.

Matt walked in a minute later and was livid. Evan had been scurrying around, packing her bag while Emma sat there doing nothing. Matt yanked Emma to her feet and savagely shook her in an attempt to rouse her from her catatonic state.

“Damn it, Emma! I swear to God, if you don’t pull yourself together, I’ll leave you here!”

“No,” Emma breathed and latched her arms tightly around Matt’s neck.

“You’re not helping, Matt. She’s in shock.”

“Yeah, we’re all shocked,” Matt spat. “It’s not every day zombies terrorize your home town.”

“Not shocked,
in
shock,” Evan corrected, “And shouting at her like that is only going to make it worse. Imagine how you’d have felt if I’d never loaned you my book. She had no way to know this was coming.”

Evan finished packing Emma’s clothes while Matt grabbed her toothbrush. He tossed a handful of her toiletries into the bag, purposefully forgetting makeup and hair styling products. Evan wrapped another blanket around Emma and secured her backpack over both shoulders.

Despite Matt’s smirks, Evan guided Emma safely downstairs as he shared his escape plan with Matt. They both agreed that cutting through backyards to the Stones’ house would be best. At Evan’s suggestion, Matt prepared his mountain bike. Emma’s ten-speed wasn’t made to withstand the abuse of riding off road but she was in no condition to ride anyway. Evan insisted that he would walk Emma through the field and protect her. Matt peddled quickly past the smoky blaze of the funeral pyre and into the open field.

“Wait, come back,” Emma croaked in a thin raspy voice. “He left me, he left me …”

Her face crumbled and Evan could feel her entire body trembling. He tried to console her but she continued to mutter, ‘He left me,’ over and over again.

Matt finally got his chance to ditch me and he took it. I bet he wishes I’d been bit instead of Dad; then he’d be rid of me for good. He’d be right to wish it. I’m a horrible person. I treated Daddy and Matt like crap and it’s all my fault Tyler is dead. Why did Tyler listen to me? I’d made fun of Evan and Matt when they tried to tell me I was wrong, but I was the one who’s wrong. I should just let those things kill me
, her broken and terrified mind admonished.

***

Matt pedaled fast through neighbors’ yards to reach Evan’s house. He hoisted his bike over the tall wrought-iron fence surrounding the Stones’ property before climbing over himself. Rather than try to lift Emma over the fence, Evan walked the extra length to the gate with her, but it was locked. Digging in his backpack, Evan retrieved his cell phone and called his mom. Kate quickly punched in the code and the gate rolled open. She met Evan at the front door and looked apprehensively at Emma.

“Dear God, what happened?” Kate gasped. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah, she’s okay … at least physically. Wrong execution of the right idea. I wanted to make sure she got here safely. It just never occurred to me that she would think Matt was leaving her behind. So stupid of me! Mom, can you help her? Matt and I have a lot of work to do.”

“Of course, I will. Emma, c’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.” She wrapped a protective arm around Emma and led her upstairs. She did her best to secure Emma’s blankets so the blood was concealed.

***

Evan and Matt set to work; first hauling supplies upstairs. Then they would begin the daunting task of dismantling the staircase. Meanwhile, Kate had taken Emma to the master bathroom. She gathered fresh towels from the linen closet and got the shower water running.

“There you go, dear. You’re all set. Just be careful, sometimes the hot water fluctuates. The heater has been on the fritz. If you need anything, just holler.”

Then Kate left to give Emma some privacy. She and Lucy joined the boys in carrying food, bottles of water, batteries, and the contents of Frank’s gun safe upstairs. As they worked, Kate commented how fortunate she’d been that Lucy hadn’t gone to school that morning.

“Your dad called this morning, Evan. He told me to stay in the house and to keep you both home from school today. I must have called your cell phone a million times to tell you to come home. I tried calling the school but I couldn’t get through. I was so worried. Thank God, you made it back safely. It was good thinking, bringing Matt and Emma with you. We’ll all be safe here.”

Before his family moved in, Frank had seen to it that the house had extra safety modifications in the event of war. Each window had been fitted with metal shutters and deadbolt locks that latched from the inside, making it impossible to break through the glass. The home was hooked to a generator in the event of a power outage; they had plenty of fuel to last them for at least a month, and the basement was a customized bomb shelter. Because of the book, Evan decided that dismantling the staircase was a better option against zombies.

The tall, wrought-iron electric fence surrounding the property did not have openings wide enough for a human to fit through. As long as the gate remained locked, nothing would get through. Since zombies wouldn’t be able to climb over, Evan was confident it would keep out any uninvited guests. Even though Frank had anticipated protection for his family in the event of human war, his precautions proved beneficial for an outbreak of the undead.

***

Evan looked around at the progress they had made and was pleased. They had all been so busy they hadn’t realized Emma hadn’t resurfaced. It was only when Lucy asked about her friend that they noticed. Matt was annoyed that she would shirk responsibility by hiding in the shower. He stormed upstairs to give Emma a piece of his mind but Evan charged after him to prevent him from upsetting Emma. Kate’s overprotective nature sent her following the boys and Lucy tagged along, not wanting to be left out. Getting there first, Matt pounded on the bathroom door.

“Quit acting like a diva and get out here!”

When he didn’t received a response, he threw open the door and peered inside. He expected to see Emma preening in front of the mirror. Instead, she was curled up in a ball on the floor of the tub, still wearing her clothes. The water temperature had dropped and Emma’s teeth chattered against her blue lips. Practically comatose, Emma had not noticed that anyone had entered the room.

“Emma! Emma, can you hear me?” Evan called as he tapped her shoulder.

“What’s wrong with her?” Matt gasped.

Kate pushed the boys aside and adjusted the water temperature. Soon, the air was thick with steam and some of the color returned to Emma’s lips and skin.

“Alright, I want you boys to get back to work. Lucy, please bring me a pair of flannel pajamas from my dresser and then you can go help your brother.”

Once Lucy handed over the pajamas, Kate closed the door to the bathroom. She proceeded to remove Emma’s clothes and shoes. Setting the uniform in the sink to soak, Kate adjusted the showerhead attachment and angled the spray into Emma’s thick hair. It took two applications of shampoo to remove the blood that had matted into her curls. Once Emma was dried off, Kate helped her into the soft pajamas and tucked her into bed.
 

Hours later, long after she’d put Lucy to bed, Kate decided it was time to iron out a few details with her son. Evan and Matt were organizing the stockpile of supplies in Evan’s bedroom when Kate entered, wearing a determined look on her face.

“Evan, I need you to explain to me why poor Emma was begging me to let her stay here. For some strange reason, she seems to be operating under the illusion that I despise her and that she isn’t welcome in this house or anywhere near Lucy. Where on Earth would she have gotten an idea like that?”

With guilt written all over his face, Evan explained what had happened the day of Lucy’s party.