We Are Still Here

by Jimmy Bird

  Seth helped me carry the bodies and place them in the holes, right next to each other. We covered them back up and used materials from inside the store to make a temporary headstone. We felt that Danny wouldn’t want a memorial service. Instead, he would want us to go on living and if possible, kill Robert.

  We gathered at the gravesite and one by one, Seth, my sister, Bobby, and I said our goodbyes. My daughter elected to be silent and watch. Austin had been like an older brother to her and now, he was gone. I noticed that she was fighting back tears.

  When it came to my turn, I felt obligated to say something. But what was I going to say? I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not comfortable speaking in front of a group of people, even if it was family. Still, it wasn’t the first time I’ve step out of my comfort zone and spoke at a funeral.

  I closed my eyes and lowered my head to speak to my friend, no my brother, Danny and his son, Austin, “Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time or the luxury to do this for our friends and family when we were attacked and forced to abandon the Warehouse. So, I’m going to make sure that we do it for Danny and Austin. I want to start with Austin. I knew Austin well enough, but not like I should have and unfortunately, I will never get the chance. One of the things that I know about Austin was that he and Seth had become closer then brothers since the apocalypse arrived. Together, they even became like older brothers to my daughter, JoJo. Personally, I think the reason they got along so well was because they were close to the same age and had a lot in common but were also so different. You know what I mean? Before the apocalypse, Austin was a church goer, who was neat and organized. He had to have things done a certain way. Seth on the other hand was laid back and carefree. In the last year, Austin and Seth formed an unbreakable bond, one where, I think that they will see each other again in Heaven. Danny. What can I say about him? He was my friend, no, my brother! God, I miss you bro. Was he perfect? No. No, he wasn’t. He was far from perfect, but I’m not going to stand here and remember the bad things about him. Instead, I choose to remember him for who he was. A friend, a brother, a father, and a survivor. As you all know, we had been through a lot together. He helped establish the Council and was one of the more vocal voices when we were doing our training to survive. He was fiercely loyal in everything he did. To Danny, if you were his friend then you were family and for him that meant everything. If he needed to die so you could survive then he would gladly give up his life to do it. Danny and I were the last two Council Members alive and now it’s just me! Since you were killed, I am the last surviving Council Member, but don’t fret brother because I will see you again. Yes, we will all see you again. Now go. Go with your son to find your family. No, OUR family. When you find them, tell them that we’ll see you all again, Brother!”

  Chapter 6: The End of Our Humanity

  During our graveyard service, we had tied James to a tree, so we could pay our respects without having to worry about him escaping. Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry because it looked like the fight to escape had left him. His skin had become an ashy pale color, like he had lost all color in his skin. I noticed that he had lowered his head in defeat.

  He didn’t even put up a fight when we walked him over to the tree. It seemed like my plan for him had truly sunk in. He must have realized how close he was to dying and figured that resisting us was futile. Maybe, it was because he had lost the use of his dominant arm. Maybe, it was because he was waiting for the right opportunity to try to escape. It was hard to tell, either way.

  We left James tied to the tree with JoJo and an injured Bobby watching over him while my sister worked on moving our things from one vehicle to another. Meanwhile, Seth and I began searching the supercenter for whatever useful supplies we could find. As you probably know, it’s surprising the things people leave lying around.

  Seth and I found clothes, a few canned goods, a couple of brand-new machetes with their sheaths intact, and other camping gear (such as a couple of sleeping bags and a Coleman stove with a couple of bottles of fuel). We found the machetes hidden away in the supercenter’s backroom. It looked like someone had tried to hide stuff away until they could come back and get them. Well, it was all ours now. I made sure that I grabbed one of the machetes for myself. Seth wanted the other one. I figured that since Bobby was hurt, it was probably a good idea.

  We began carrying our treasure towards the back-exit door that they had used to bring Bobby out, when a thought came over me. Was this the type of person I had become? A kind of finders’ keepers, loser’s weepers’ type of person? Without realizing it, I guess I had, but it was to be expected. Especially, with all that had recently happened to us.

  There was no more looking out for your neighbor. There was no more trying to be like God or Jesus by walking the path of righteousness. No, there was no more trying to do what was right. Now, you needed to take what you could get, or you were screwed. You know, the ‘Do unto others before others do unto you.’ saying. Now is a time to take care of what’s yours before someone else does it for you and you end up dead.

  We were almost to the door when we heard screaming followed by a single shot that echoed throughout the darkened building. Thinking the worst, I dropped all the stuff that I was carrying, except for the machete and ran towards the door. I slid the sheathe into my pants waist as I pulled my gun out and immediately stopped. A thought occurred to me. We couldn’t just run out blindly shooting because if this was Robert’s people then Seth and I were the others only hope for survival. I tried to focus on the task at hand and not on my daughter. I failed.

  “Make you way towards the broken front door and stay hidden until I give you a signal. Take the machete with you.”

  He began to protest, but I stopped him, “I know you want to go with me, but this is how we survive. We must work together and trust each other. If we don’t then we all are as good as dead.”

  He replied, “I....I understand.”

  Without another word, he took off in the direction of the front door. I turned back towards the emergency exit door and took a deep breath. I tried to concentrate at the task at hand. I knew that being in the dark building and then going outside could kill me. My eyes would take a few seconds to adjust to the light outside and if someone was there then I could die. It was a risk I knew that I would have to take.

  I silently counted to three and opened the door. I rushed through the doorway into the bright sunlight, expecting to hear bullets flying past my head. None came.

  I blinked a few times and with my gun out in front of me, I searched the horizon. All I saw was a few zombies walking our way. Zombies? That’s right, I forgot that we were still in a zombie apocalypse. I wondered if the zombies were the cause of the gun shot, we had heard and not Robert’s people.

  With my gun in my right hand, I raised my left hand to shield my eyes from the sunlight. I turned to my right and saw my daughter standing tall with her gun pointed towards the horizon. It looked like a body was on its back a few feet from her.

  Fearing the worst, I sprinted towards her. I noticed that Bobby was struggling to stand up on unsteady feet. It looked like he was dizzy. My sister was running from the other vehicle to help him.

  I raced past the front doors and yelled out, “Seth. It’s alright to come out, but I need you to hurry because we’re going to need your help.”

  He emerged from the broken doorway confused, “What’s going on?”

  Without stopping, I informed him, “Zombies are coming our way.”

  I stopped a couple of feet from my daughter and took in the entire scene. James was waving his good arm, screaming for help while a zombie body was lying a few feet in front of my daughter. He looked like he was trying to signal someone in the distance. My eyes automatically followed his gaze towards the horizon, the closest zombie was about fifty feet away.

  I counted ten of them coming towards us, with more probably on the way. My guess was that when my daughter shot James in the back, it must have been lou
d enough that it brought them to us.

  James was still screaming and waving his arm. I didn’t see anyone else around, which meant that to me it looked like James was purposely trying to get the zombies attention.

  A realization occurred to me. It must have been James’ intention because he knew he was going to die. In fact, I told him so. This was probably a solution that presented itself to him, a way for him to go out on his own terms. He probably figured that he could kill two birds with one stone by using the zombies to kill him and us. I wasn’t going to let that happen. At least, not yet!

  I turned towards my daughter and told her, “Go help your aunt and uncle with James.”

  She immediately began to protest, “Dad, we didn’t get any supplies yet.”

  I smiled sadly at my daughter as I told her, “I know that, but we’re out of time.”

  Confused, she asked, “What time?”

  “More zombies are on their way and if we don’t leave before they get here, we may not be able to.”

  Without waiting for a reply, I turned towards Seth, “I need you to hurry up and get your spear.”

  My daughter whined a little as she stated, “Dad, I want to help you!”

  “I know you do, but I need you to help put James in our old car.”

  “But, why me?”

  My patience began to run thin, causing me to snap at her, “BECAUSE IF JAMES DIES, GETS BITTEN, OR WE DIE THEN OUR PLANS FOR REVENGE GO OUT THE WINDOW!”

  I paused to calm myself. Without thinking about it, I had lost control over my emotions. The same weakness that I was hoping to exploit Robert for. I looked at my daughter and from the look on her face said it all. I had just frightened her. I had let my emotions take over and had unintentionally yelled at my daughter. I took a deep sorrowful breath before talking.

  After calming down, I apologized, “I’m sorry JoJo. I don’t know what came over me, but I need you to understand that James is important to us. He the most important part of the plan. We need him for the trap that we’re setting for Robert.”

  Still confused, she asked, “Trap?”

  I sighed, “Yes, JoJo. You remember our planned trap, don’t you?”

  She shook her head up and down, “Yes dad, I do. But I still don’t understand what you’re planning to do.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll show you. Just help put James in the car and make sure that he’s tied down good and tight. I know that he’s not looking to good, but I don’t want to take any chances of him escaping or dying.”

  Seth ran up next to me, his spear was in his left hand and his gun was in his right. He was visibly shaking. I put my gun in the back of my waistband and pulled out my newly required machete.

  “Seth, put your gun away. We must take them down quietly otherwise we could bring even more towards us. Where’s your machete?”

  “I have it in my pants waist just like you did. Was that okay?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, It’s okay. Just make sure that you put your gun away.”

  Seth nodded his head up and down as he slid his gun into his back waistband. I watched to make sure that he had truly put his gun away.

  When I was satisfied that his gun was put away, I stated, “Relax. I can tell that you’re a little nervous, but you’ll be fine. Remember, I’m right here next to you.”

  I looked over and saw that the zombies were close to us. The closest was now about ten feet away.

  Without turning around, I asked Seth, “Do you remember the movie ‘300’?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Do you remember how the Spartans fought? They worked as a team, as a single unit. That’s exactly how we’re going to fight. We work as a team. If I move, you move. If I turn, you turn. Got it?”

  Seth started to visibly shake, “Yyyeeesss Uncle Jimmy.”

  I tried to reassure him, “Seth, relax. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  The closest zombie was now a few feet away. I raised the machete with my right arm and swung downward at a hard-left angle. I caught the first zombie in the top part of the neck. It went from his lower left jaw to the right part of his shoulder. I had swung so hard and the blade was so sharp that it severed the head from the body.

  The next zombie stepped up. A female zombie (at least from the old torn up clothes, it looked like it had been a female) was now a few feet away. She looked undecided on who to go for but ended up turning towards me. I quickly raised the machete upward, ready to swing for her neck when Seth’s spear tip caught her under the chin. The tip came out the left side of her temple. Seth tried to pull the spear back, but it seemed stuck.

  The female zombie dropped to her knees and began to fall over. Seth tried to hold onto the spear, but it was a losing battle. As she fell, it looked like she was going into a seizure. Her body began to convulse, causing her to take the spear with her. I must admit. It was the weirdest thing that I had ever seen. The zombies usually fall over and stop moving when you destroy the brain. So, the questions remain to be seen. Could it be that Seth didn’t fully destroy her brain? Was it possible that he just grazed it?

  Without hesitation, Seth bent over to retrieve his spear. I didn’t even have to look in his direction, to know what he was doing. Seth loved his custom-made spear. There weren’t many like it in the world and probably will never see anything like it ever again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t let him go for it. At least, not yet.

  I yelled out, “Seth stop!”

  Seth frowned, “Why?”

  I nodded towards our visitors, “Because, you don’t have time to get it right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He looked up just in time to see the next zombie reach out towards me.

  I panicked, “Seth, just get your machete out. Now!”

  I swung my long knife sideways, from left to right, severing the head from the body. I caught the zombie just below the chin.

  I was about to ask Seth if he was alright but realized that my question was futile. He swung his blade at the next zombie, catching it in the left side temple. He used so much strength that the knife’s blade went all the way into the side of the zombie’s head.

  The zombie immediately stopped moving and collapsed to the ground. It seemed that the weight of the body and added gravity allowed its head to slide off the blade with ease. Dark blood covered the blade. You could see that gravity began pulling the blood towards the tip of the blade as it dripped towards the ground. A small dark puddle began to form. Four down, six to go.

  I took another step and swung my machete blade tip sideways catching the next zombie in the left temple. It seemed that Seth had realized how sharp his own machete’s blade was and swung it like a sword from right to left.

  He caught the sixth zombie in the stomach. It looked kind of bloated and when Seth’s blade cut its stomach from left to right, its intestines dropped immediately to the ground. Its stomach made a small hissing sound while it smelled like a month-old trash that was sitting out in a hundred and twenty-degree temperature. The smell almost caused me to throw up.

  The zombie didn’t stop moving though as it dragged its disgusting intestines on the ground towards Seth. Seth’s eyes got wide when he realized that the zombie wasn’t going to stop walking towards him. I turned around and swung my knife upward just as it reached out his arms towards Seth.

  I caught the zombie in the base of the skull. Its eyes rolled back into his skull and immediately stopped moving. The thing’s arms dropped to its sides as it collapsed to the ground just as I pulled my knife back. Seth continued to stare at the zombie in disbelief as I turned back around to face the remaining four zombies.

  I wasn’t sure how long Seth would be in shock and didn’t have the time to wait for him to snap out of it. I noticed that the remaining zombies were spread out. I figured that it was a lucky break in my part.

  I gripped my machete’s handle tightly with my right hand as I began walking towards the closest zombie. I was so focused on the zombie that I almost jumped o
ut of my skin when I heard footsteps come up quickly from behind. Without thinking, I began to turn and swing my knife. Luckily, I stopped myself when I noticed that it was my daughter behind me. She was holding onto her little spear with both hands.

  I asked her, “What are you doing?”

  “I came to help.”

  “But, I told you to help your aunt and uncle.”

  “I did. James is tied up in the front seat. Uncle Bobby and Aunt Tina are watching him.”

  Frustrated, I said, “Fine. You stay next to me and do what I tell you to do.”

  JoJo smiled, “Okay dad.”

  I couldn’t stay mad at her, “Don’t, okay dad me. I mean it. If I tell you to move, you move. If I tell you to run, you run. Got it?”

  JoJo shook her head up and down, “Yes dad.”

  I turned around, “Good. Stay next to me and get in your fighting stance like I showed you. No shooting.”

  “I know dad. I heard you tell Seth that.”

  I glanced over at her and watched approvingly as she got in her defensive stance. Her spear tightly gripped with both hands out in front of her. I made sure that she stayed at my left. Seth walked up to my right side. We made a kind of small reverse ‘V’ shape with me in the middle.

  Seth looked like he had composed himself and was ready for the next round, but my daughter was starting to visibly shake.

  In a calm voice, I spoke, “JoJo are you okay? You know that you don’t have to do this?”

  JoJo looked at me, “Yes, I do. I need to know how to fight them, how to survive.”

  I smiled again, “Yes. I do suppose that you do.”

  I told them both, “Okay. Get ready.”

  The remaining four zombies were almost upon us. The first three made a horizontal small line, one for each of us. They kind of looked like a dysfunctional family. A heavyset father, an anorexic mother, and some tall young-looking male child. The boy kind of looked like my son Jimmy, only he looked a little older and taller. The boy had short, ratty hair. Of course, his skin had that grayish rotten look too it. The last zombie wasn’t too far behind them.