Veronica, Sophia, and Holly emerge from the bunker all at the same time. Sophia slowly turns away from where Jackson sat under the pavilion and quickly makes her way to the washroom that Willy occupied a part of already to get herself cleaned up as well. She keeps her head down in an attempt to hide the tears still stain her cheeks and coat as she walks. Veronica and Holly slowly approach Jackson together, side by side, leaning on each other for strength and courage in what it is they both know they are about to do. They sit next to Jackson, Holly on his left, Veronica on his right, Jackson’s tears splashing around his feet forming a broken hearted pool of lost dreams. “Was, was she in a lot of pain?” Jackson asks softly. “We did everything we could to keep her as comfortable as possible” Holly whispers, her own tears still salting her lips. Standing up and squatting in front of Jackson, Veronica lays the blood stained bundle she held in her arms in his lap. Jackson sits up looking back and forth between Veronica and the bundle. As he slowly begins to peel back the soft cloth of the bundle he slowly reveals what lies inside. The baby’s eyes were open as he exposes its head, then its arms, as he slowly continues to examine the bundle the baby grabs his finger as he unwraps the babies hands. Jackson gasps in surprise “It’s alive! You saved the baby?!” Jackson exclaims. “She, Jackson, it’s a girl, a beautiful healthy baby girl” Veronica still squatting in front of him says as she places her hands over her mouth in an attempt to cover up that she has again momentarily lost control of her emotions, “Your and Gracie’s baby girl.” Jacksons tears begin in force again, a mixture of the pain of lose and the happiness of gain as he looks into the eyes of his daughter and all the love that is contained there. “My and Gracie’s little girl” Jackson whispers, “she always wanted a little girl.” “What are you going to name her?” Holly asks placing an arm around him in a comforting embrace. Jackson sits staring into the eyes of his baby girl for what seemed like an eternity to Veronica and Holly. Without a word Jackson stands up cradling the baby and begins to walk purposefully to the bunker. He pauses just as he is about to enter the room where he knows the recently departed love of his life lies silent and alone. Collecting himself as best as he could, taking in a big sigh, he crosses into the room and strolls to the side of Gracie’s bed. “Look Gracie, you did it love. She’s perfect just like you always said she would be.” Jackson slowly brushes his hand down the side of Gracie’s face gently placing her hair behind her ear as he bends down softly kissing Gracie’s still warm lips and as he pulls away he whispers in her ear, “Thank you for being you and for making me, me every day.” Jackson turns, tears streaming down all of their faces, “Her name is Marie. The babies name is Marie, just like Gracie dreamt it would be.”
“The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world is the love of a woman’s heart”
– Josiah G. Holland
Chapter Seventeen
Volcanic ash, fine particles of microscopic glass with the consistency of talc, covers almost everything. Water is more valuable than all the gold, silver, or jewels left in the world combined, life giving and almost impossible to obtain. Cleanliness was a lost necessity away from the compound. You could get a quick tooth brushing in and a small towel off but bathing was completely out of the question, the amount of water needed for that couldn’t be spared. They were all covered in dirt and three days of grime as they entered the chiropractor’s office. Unsanitary, unclean bodies and unwashed clothes, all of their possessions covered in dirt, ash, and the thriving bacteria that accompanied all of it, the wayward opportunistic hitch hikers that had found an unexpected ride on an errant arrow straight into the flesh and bone of Clay Stratford.
Clay’s side throbbed and ached in a constant ebb and flow as his body goes back and forth in its effort of fighting back the fever and nausea that have now began accompanying the pain. He has broken out in a cold sweat as he carries the tarp inside that he had collected from the jeep to wrap his dead friend in. Colt had passed away in the middle of Laura and Paige’s watch last night. Slowly but mercifully Colt had passed away from his wounds and lose of blood without ever regaining consciousness. Short ragged breaths and the soft, barely coherent, occasional whisper of Holly’s name had been the last verbal contributions Colt had been able to offer to the world around him as he had slipped away. Clay had finally gotten through to Ray last night as they had sat and talked over the rare treat of hot cups of coffee. Clay was finally able to get him to understand the pain and lose that they all faced everyday and all the hardships they had all faced just to survive to this point affected different people in different ways. And that they just needed to always do the best they could to repeatedly remind everyone (as often as they could) of the one thing that was the easiest to lose in this animalistic, dead, grey world. A world where their only goal from one day to the next was to survive. But even this world gone mad, above all else, they needed to keep their humanity. Lost in his thoughts of last night’s conversation Clays turns to sharply foolishly forgetting about his inflamed wound, sending a shock of pain up his entire right side. Momentarily blinding him with pain and making him drop to his knees as he braces himself from fully falling over with his right hand as his left hand instinctively clutches at his wound. As he regains his senses from the agonizing pain that now made up his entire right side Clay can hear a fresh round of debating on whether or not we were wasting precious time and valuable cargo space for some one that was, all be it unfortunate, already dead. The words come in and out as the fever plays with Clay’s vertigo. The first real sign of what he had feared most from the wound, the extremely high fever caused by the now raging infection that was swiftly spreading throughout Clay’s body traveling through his blood.
Chapter Eighteen
Screams rip through the countryside guiding Cain and Dylan on their blind rush through the labyrinth that was once just a path to the water station as they desperately try to find the source of the screaming. Cain’s hand and forearm burn from the bites he sustained in the fight to drive off the dogs from what they now knew was all that was left of poor Rose. Dylan’s leg had also been bitten hobbling him, but only slightly, as first fear and now rage propel him through the dark. Whatever new massacre awaited them Cain was afraid to imagine as he rounded the corner first a few steps ahead of Dylan, his leg now beginning to throb with stabbing pain with every new step he took as he ran. The lights of their flashlights fall on the small clearing in the path illuminating Lily and Belle in a violent struggle with a third, and much larger, wild dog. Lily was holding onto Belle with all her strength, her heels dug in and her arms wrapped around Belle’s upper torso underneath her armpits in a bear hug of desperation as a third, unknown person was attempting to knock the dog off of Belle, by throwing large stones and sticks at the dogs head and the ribs that stood out along the dogs sides from being on the verge of starvation. The dog, in its own personal battle for survival, had grabbed Belle by the ankle and was putting every last ounce of hope and energy it possessed in an attempt to drag Belle off down the side of the hill and away from the attack of missiles being hurled at it as fast as its attacker could find and throw them.
Lily and Belle can hear the mayhem of the attack on Rose before they can see it. The short solitary scream that had alerted them of the danger had seemingly been cut off mid way through it and was then followed by a softer garbled scream. Then ultimately by an eerie silence that was only broken by the pitiful whines and cries of the dogs, the tearing of clothes and the lapping and ripping of blood and flesh. Lily stopped just as the horror scene surrounding Rose was playing out to its climax instantly doing her best to block the sight, that was only being shown by Rose’s flashlight that had fallen to the ground during the initial part of the attack and was now trained directly on the feeding frenzy that was being performed on her twin sister, from Belle. Unfortunately she was unsuccessful as Belle’s fresh round of screams echo down the path alerting the dogs to their prescience, which was exactly what Lily was hoping wouldn’t hap
pen as all three of the dogs stop in the middle of the chaos that defined their meal and look up at them with blood covered muzzles and drool over the body of Rose. Recognizing the lack of a threat that the two girls presented to their meal the pack goes back to their buffet of the young Miss Rose Jones. All except the leader, whose posture never altered from its aggressive stance and who hadn’t taken its eyes off of the girls since their arrival to the kill sight. As Lily continues to shield Belle from the grisly scene she begins to now back out of the small clearing and starts working their way back up the trail bit by bit as the lead dog, who is clearly much bigger than the other dogs left in the pack, slowly and methodically begins to walk towards them matching their slow retreat step for step. Its head down, its teeth bared, a low rumbling growl emanating from deep in its chest. Three feet at the shoulder the dog was still every bit of eighty pounds even in its starved state. Some fur still clung to it in small clumps around its shoulders, tail, and down the center of its head giving it a sickly Mohawk. A collar was still attached around its neck showing that it had once been part of a family. But in the end instinct and survival had long buried all the memories of once being the loving pet of some little girl or boy.
She heard the attack begin just as she finally realized that the pack was no longer trailing after her. Her relief in this realization was short lived as she first heard the screams at the beginning of the attack followed by the screams of what sounded like a little girl about five minutes later. Aubrey ran as gracefully as possible in the dark and cold down the trail she had stumbled on accidentally in her flee from the small wild dog pack towards the new round of screams fueled by the unmistakable youth behind the voice. She had initially hoped the trail would lead her to an encampment of other survivors, as it was evident that the trail was regularly used. As the killing sounds reverberate through the hills she now realizes it would just lead her head long into more death and despair.
Lily begins to realize that not all of the dogs of the pack hunger pains had been sated with the untimely demise of Rose as the lead dog continues to follow her and Belle back up the trail towards the entrance of the compound. She notices as the dog begins to walk with its head lower and lower, starting to crouch ever so slightly preparing for the spring that would fill its jaws simultaneously with death and life. All of its strength moving to its haunches for the spring that would end the tormenting pain in its belly and stop the drool that ran out from between its teeth in small hungry rivulets. Lilies stomach begins to tie itself into knots and her eyes begin filling with the tears of fear and lose as she figures out that an attack on them was now an absolute conclusion and could be just seconds away. Lily turns to look down at Belle who hasn’t muttered a sound since she had finally stopped screaming from the shock of the scene when they first arrived and found Rose being devoured by living breathing nightmares. She strokes Belle on the top of her head and whispers “It’s going to be ok Belle but I want you to cover your eyes, ok? Can you do that for me?” as the tears of knowing the inevitable begin to slide down her cheeks falling on her arms. Belle never takes her eyes off of the dog as she answers “OK. But I don’t think so Lily, that everything will be ok.”Movement out of the corner of her eye brings Lilies head back up just in time to see the monster rock back on its haunches and snarling with a barking roar it begins the spring that will bring down its next meal. Its eyes glowing red from the ashes and lantern glow the dog is every bit the picture of the horror that haunts you from under your bed. The horror that waited for you from inside the slightly ajar door of your closet. The horror that haunts you from the dark corners of the unknown shadows where monsters live. But here, there isn’t anyone to come turn on your light to chase the dark away. No covers to pull up over your head to hide your face. No one to tell you it’s going to be ok when the monsters of your nightmares make you wet yourself as you begin to cry and scream. When what haunts your visions when you close your eyes to sleep is leaping at you with its mouth open and its teeth bared. No mommies or daddies to run to as your nightmares are coming to eat you.
Aubrey hits the dog in the middle of its leap with the first stick she can find big enough to hit the monster with catching it across the center of its back, unfortunately breaking the stick as she does. The hit does not stop the attack it merely throws off the aim of the hunter from the neck to the leg of its intended prey which was the little blonde haired girl that Aubrey assumed had been the voice of the screams she had heard. Fortunately for Belle the monster stumbled on his own as he came down grabbing her leg just above the ankle around Belles Achilles tendon. Its hold was strong and set as Lily and the dog begin their tug of war of life and death, the life of five year old Belle Kingston hanging in the balance.
Cain and Dylan break out of their trance that was brought on by the hypnotizing chaos of the scene playing out in the small clearing on a path they had both taken almost every day for the past year on their way to fill the water jugs. “RUUNNNN!” Cain yells as approaches the girls still under desperate attack from the dog. “AAAGGHH! Hey! Over Here!” Dylan yells at the dog trying to break its concentration on Belle, Lily, and the new comer. Dylan strikes the dog in its right hind quarter hard with his tree branch putting all of his left over strength in the blow. The blow was placed well enough and delivered hard enough to cause enough pain that the dog finally releases its grip on the struggling Belle, yelping and snarling at its assailant as it does. “RUN LILY! RUN NOW! GET TO THE COMPOUND!” Cain yells again at the girls now that they are, at least for the moment, free from the grip of the monster they had been fighting against. As the dog turns on Dylan snarling and snapping at the stick in his hands its jaws making audible snapping sounds as it closes on empty air. In the melee’ Cain notices that the dog is wearing a collar with a short piece of blue rope hanging off of it in tattered strings. Cain stops suddenly unable to believe his eyes, burnt in across the back of the brown leather collar barely still legible in its worn state and the dark is the name “Buddy”. “Buddy?” Cain says aloud to the dog more as a question than a statement. The dog stops snarling and fighting for the briefest of seconds (visibly confused at the sound of its name being said aloud) allowing Dylan to get a good crack on top of the dogs head breaking his stick with the force of the blow. The hit causes the dog to yelp and momentarily fall to the ground and lie on its belly. “BUDDY!” Cain cries out again to the dog, causing the dog to briefly turn its attention to Cain, then turning its attention back on its attacker it snarls and growls at Dylan, then turning swiftly it bounds off into the woods running away from the clearing and the compound headed south back towards town.
“Be careful who you trust, remember, the devil too was once an angel.”
–Unknown
Chapter Nineteen
Year one, Day Three Hundred and Twenty Five
Levi and Paige guide the small group into the second of the three houses surrounding the chiropractor’s office that they had mapped out to search for supplies today. Paige looks at Levi as they prepare to enter the living room of the house thinking to herself about how glad she was to finally see Levi beginning to act to like his old self again. The group needed him to be on his A game out here on the edge of the Ashland as they did their best to find and bring back the badly needed supplies to the compound. The group of Levi, Paige, Laura, and Grant continue their search of the house being as quiet as possible. None of them saying a word as they go from room to room searching first for any survivors, second for any threats, and third for anything they could use for survival. Then, as long as there weren’t any survivors or threats, they would go through the house take any and everything they could find of any use to the group out here or to the group depending on them back home at the compound. It felt odd being out here without any of the more experienced adults with them. But with the death of Colt, the age of Jim, and with Clay not seeming like himself, the leadership on this sortie had fallen heavily upon the shoulders of Levi and Paige. Who were the only other members of the
group that had been on every other sortie that Clay had organized since scavenging for supplies had become a necessity for the survival of the compound. Laura and Grant were a little bit more out of their element as their primary assignments on all of the previous sorties had been to aid Ray with the gas and to guard the vehicles. But they were both performing the duties admirably on the sweep and clears of the houses thus far.
“OK, everything looks good. Let’s start the search for supplies” Levi says as he turns to the group after the last room had been cleared, sounding muffled through the mask he and the others all still wore every day. “What area should we search first Levi?” Laura asks, “Same as last time?” “Yeah that’s what I was thinking, everything went really well in the last house and we came away with a lot more than I thought we would” Levi answers. “So, Laura and I will search the kitchen and bathrooms while Levi, you and Grant search the bedrooms and the garage. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find another full gas can” Paige offers. “That sounds about right” Grant says hitting Levi on the shoulder, “If there’s another ATV in this one maybe we can talk my dad into letting us take it along with the one that was in the last garage.” “Man I hope so that would be sweet” Levi agrees with a short laugh. They separate into their search groups falling into quiet lighthearted conversation about the things they hope to find as they do.
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