But the Children Survived

by A. L. Jambor

“Okay, boss.”

  Cash walked through the warehouse, washing up the drops of blood leading to the dock. He checked the floor and the dock for traces of blood and wiped the door and table for prints before locking up and going home.

  When Teresa read about Dr. Tomlinson's disappearance in the St. Petersburg Times, her first thought was Vinnie. When his body washed up on the shores of the Anclote River, she knew it was Vinnie. He had avenged her Antonio, and even though she found what he’d done morally repugnant, she secretly cheered him. He had done what she couldn’t do. He had protected her Antonio's memory.

  *****

  Jason was thirteen years old when Teresa decided to send him to a good prep school in Connecticut. Lorraine had investigated it for her and said it was one of the best on the East Coast. Jason was adamant that he wouldn’t go, but in the end Teresa won out and he left for New England. Teresa missed him terribly, but she felt he needed to be around boys his own age and men other than her father.

  Teresa had always felt inadequate when it came to Jason's needs. She had been an only child and a girl at that. She hoped he wouldn’t blame her one day for his abandonment issues, and that he would understand why she had sent him so far away. Jason would come home during breaks and summer vacation, and each time he’d grown an inch.

  By the summer of his seventeenth year, he was a strapping six feet tall. He looked like Antonio with her father's build. He had brown hair with a slight wave to it and brown eyes. He was a good-looking boy who turned heads at the mall when Teresa took him shopping for school clothes. Antonio would have been proud.

  One day shortly after Jason had returned home for summer break, while Teresa was cooking Jason some eggs, she fell to the floor with blood running from her nose and was dead before she hit the ground.

  PART THREE

  JASON RUSSO

  Chapter 38

  St. Pete Beach, Florida

  When Jason Russo woke up, he could see Ricky sleeping in his bed next to the wall. Ricky was snoring. He was eighteen years old, but he hadn't changed much since Jason’s eighth birthday. He had no gray on his snout or his body. His belly skin looked fresh and pink, not mottled and dark like some older dogs. Jason was happy Ricky hadn’t aged because that meant he might be around for a little while longer.

  Ricky was the only living, breathing being he’d seen in weeks. Ricky's mother, Chloe, had died when Jason was eleven, leaving the little dog in a state of grief for several weeks after. Jason and Ricky had always been close, even though Jason had been gone for months at a time. Now they depended totally on each other for survival.

  Jason got out of bed and stretched his six-foot frame until his hand touched the ceiling. He walked over to the sliding glass door that looked out onto the beach and slid it open.

  He stepped onto the porch and felt the sun on his face. He had cleared the beach the first week. Then he’d tackled the street in front of his house and in the surrounding area for about a mile around so he could travel without encountering death at each turn.

  Jason took a few deep breaths. The smell of rotting flesh was still faintly wafting through the air. Jason had done a good job. With the beach and streets clear, he could begin using the table on the deck to eat his meals. He liked the fresh air, and now that the air was clear, Ricky would join him. For the first week Ricky had refused to come outside except to relieve himself. Now he stayed outside a little longer.

  Jason went back inside and closed the sliding glass door. Ricky was still asleep. Jason walked to the stairs going down to the lower level of the house, passing his mother's room. He kept the door closed as the smell of her perfume always made him tear up and he refused to give in to that weakness. He’d shed enough tears. With the door closed, the smell in the hallway had dissipated. He took the stairs two at a time until he reached the bottom three at which time he jumped, landing in a squat and giving himself a perfect 10.

  Jason walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He was happy the electricity was still on. As most of the neighborhood had, his mother installed solar panels when the Bennetts had petitioned them to. It was a good investment. They had been able to sell some of the power back to the electric company.

  This had been a very hot summer so far, but Jason's frozen food supply was safe. He had emptied Granger's freezers a few days after the disaster, so he had plenty of frozen waffles and concentrated orange juice. He also was able to salvage eggs.

  His mother had shown him how to freeze raw eggs by adding a little salt or sugar to them before freezing them. He’d spent a good part of that day preparing the eggs. He had grabbed some ice cube trays at the store and used them to freeze the eggs. Now he just popped one or two “cubes” out a day and had eggs every morning. He was running out, though. Soon he’d have to change his breakfast menu.

  The first day had been almost unbearable for Jason. His mother died right before his eyes while he was on the phone with his friend Justin. As Teresa fell, he heard a thump on the other end of the phone and then nothing. He knew the phone was still on because he could hear the sound of the ocean in the background. But Justin wouldn’t answer.

  He dropped the phone and ran to Teresa. He started CPR but he could hear no heartbeat. He tried to dial 911, but no one answered the call.

  Justin looked at Ricky, who was whimpering over Teresa's body. He sat down on the floor near his mother with his back up against the kitchen island and for a long time, he just stared at her. He was tired from the night before. He had gotten home late from Justin's house. He closed his eyes for just a minute and soon fell asleep.

  When he woke up a few hours later, Ricky was licking his hand and trying to get his attention. Teresa was still lying where she had fallen. He looked at Ricky and the little dog jumped up on his shoulders and licked his face. He had to go out.

  Jason hauled himself off the floor and walked over to the sliding glass door leading to the first floor deck. He opened the door without looking up. Ricky hesitated as he sniffed the air. Jason gave him a little shove his foot, and then looked up.

  He saw bodies littering the beach. The shock made him step back. There had to be at least 50 people on the stretch of beach behind his house. He could see them for at least half a mile each way.

  Ricky ran to the side of the house where there was grass. Jason couldn’t move. He just looked at the beach. Ricky ran back to the deck and barked at Jason. He was hungry. He broke Jason's concentration and snapped him back to reality. He barked again.

  “Okay boy, okay.” They both walked back into the house.

  The dog food was in a cabinet next to Teresa's body. Jason went to the refrigerator and pulled out some cold cuts. He ripped them into little pieces and put them in Ricky's bowl. He set the bowl down on the other side of the kitchen near Ricky's bowl of water. The little dog sniffed it and gobbled it up voraciously. Then Jason turned his attention once more to his mother's body.

  She would begin to stiffen up soon. He would have to make a decision. Once again, he picked up his phone and dialed 911. Again, no one answered. That's when the tears began to roll down Jason's face.

  Jason felt embarrassed to be crying. He would be eighteen in two weeks and to be crying at his age was just humiliating. He hated feeling so weak. Then he thought of Justin. Maybe he could find someone over there to help him.

  Jason, with Ricky at his heels walked over to Justin's house. It was one house over near the convenience store. As Jason passed the house next door, he saw the lady who lived there lying on the front porch with a newspaper in her hand as if she had just picked it up when she fell over.

  He jogged past while Ricky trotted. Before he got to Justin's house, he could see Justin's little sister Caitlyn lying in the driveway. He walked over to her and could see the blood coming from her nose. He saw the family dog, Nora, lying in the grass. He looked at Nora and she, too, had blood coming from her nose.

  “What the hell happened, Ricky?” Jason said.

  He walked to the front
door, and it was open. He entered the house and saw Justin's mother, Janice, dead on the sofa with the TV still running. He walked into the kitchen and there was Justin's father, David, with his face in a plate of eggs. Justin was on the floor with the phone in his hand. Jason turned and ran out of the house.

  He threw up on the lawn, just missing Nora's body. He fell onto his knees and threw up again. His body was shaking all over and he couldn’t stop it. What the hell was he going to do now? And why were he and Ricky still alive when everyone else had died?

  Jason walked back to his house. He had to take care of his mother. He went to the shed and looked around to see if he could find something waterproof to wrap her in. He found an old tarpaulin from when the house had been painted. He picked up the tarpaulin and then looked around for something to tie it with.

  He found an old dog tie-out they had kept Ricky on until it became apparent that this dog would never run away. He took that in his other hand and went back into the house.

  Jason laid the tarpaulin out in the living room. He then gently lifted Teresa's body up and carried her to the living room. He laid her on the tarpaulin and then stood back. He knelt down next to her and took her hand. She looked like she was asleep. The blood under her nose had dried and darkened. He broke down again and sobbed uncontrollably.

  Jason willed himself to stop crying. He pulled the tarpaulin around Teresa's body. He thought about putting something inside the wrapping to help it sink to the bottom of the ocean. He walked outside and found some decorative rocks Teresa had put there a few years ago. They were heavy enough to do the job.

  Jason continued to wrap Teresa in the tarpaulin. There were rivets on the sides of the tarpaulin and Jason wove the dog tie through the holes. Just before he finished weaving, he slipped the rocks into the tarpaulin. He took the dog tie and wrapped part of it around the bottom by her feet to close it. Then he turned to do the same to the other end.

  He looked at Teresa's face. It would be the last time he ever looked upon his mother's beautiful face. He had to close his eyes as he wrapped the ends of the tarpaulin around her head and then wrapped the rest of the dog tie around it, pulling it closed. He made sure the knots were secure before he tried to move her.

  The rocks made her body heavier so he had to drag her to the deck. He was going to use David's 20 foot sailboat to take her out to sea. Jason and Justin had taken the boat out alone several times, and Jason felt well able to handle it.

  He pulled Teresa's body out to the deck. He was careful when he got to the lip of the sliding glass doors to lift her head over the bump. He did the same when he got her to the end of the dock.

  The sand was soft and it took him a while to get her to the Carsons’ dock. When he got there, Jason had to lift Teresa's body up to the dock, about four feet off the ground. He was able to sit her up, grab her arms through the tarpaulin and hoist her up onto the dock. The rocks were all at her feet.

  Jason then dragged her to the boat, which was docked on the right hand side of the dock. Again he had to lift and hoist to get her onto the boat. Once she was aboard, Jason cast off the lines and unfurled one of the sails. The wind was picking up and the boat easily sailed away from the dock. Jason tried not to think of what he had to do next.

  When he was out about a mile, he lowered the sail and waited until the boat slowed down. He threw the small anchor over the side to stop the boat.

  Jason tried to remember something from the Sunday school classes his mother had taken him to before his father died. After Antonio died, Teresa had lost her faith and stopped going to church. Jason wasn’t sure what to do when suddenly he remembered an old song they had taught him. He hummed it quietly and then sang the first line. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” He couldn’t remember anymore, so he just started to talk to his mother.

  “I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I know I didn't tell you enough but I love you. I will always remember you and ...” He started to cry. Then he started to shout. “What the hell, God? What were you thinking? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?!”

  He sat down on the deck of the boat and felt the waves gently rock him, like a mother rocking her baby. He looked at his mother wrapped for burial. He knew he couldn’t stay here forever and that sooner or later he would have to go back to the shore. He couldn’t leave Ricky alone.

  Jason put his arms around Teresa and held her, clinging to these last few seconds with his very life. He cried so hard his stomach began to hurt.

  “I can't.” He whispered. “I can't do this.” Jason shook his head.

  Teresa’s body felt hard, not like his mother at all. He sat up and let go of her. His shoulders went up and down.

  “But I have to because there isn't anybody else, is there?”

  His grief had suddenly turned to something deeper, a depression that would enable him to do what he had to and not feel. He put his hand out and touched Teresa. “Bye, mom.”

  He got up off the deck and lifted Teresa up. He put her over the side and after one second of hesitation, he let her go. Jason watched as she disappeared feet first into the ocean. The rocks would ground her to the bottom so she wouldn’t wash up on the beach.

  Jason didn’t want to linger. He pulled up the anchor and unfurled the sail. He took hold of the wheel and turned the boat around, careful not to get hit by the boom. He steered the boat towards Justin's dock and just before he reached it, he lowered the sail and gently guided the boat next to the dock. He was glad Justin had taught him to sail. He would use those skills many times over in the next three weeks.

  Chapter 39

  Jason heard Ricky's nails on the stairs. He must have smelled food cooking.

  “Hey, buddy, you woke up.”

  Jason smiled at Ricky. He had put some pet stairs by one of the kitchen chairs so Ricky could climb up and sit while Jason ate. Sometimes Jason would give him some of his food one piece at a time.

  Ricky had a sweet little face that Jason found comical. When he opened his mouth to pant he looked like he was smiling. His bug eyes made him look skeptical, especially when he was looking up at Jason from the floor.

  “Guess what, Rick, we can go shopping today. I cleaned the streets off and now we can walk the neighborhood without looking at zombies all day. Right, fella?”

  Jason reached over and ruffled Ricky's head. He had filled his cabinets with paper plates so he wouldn't have to do dishes. He did have to wash any pans he used, and silverware, but that wasn’t so bad. Anytime he could get away with just using a paper plate and the microwave, he did.

  He put the plate in the garbage bag he had by the sliding glass door and then went upstairs to shower and get dressed. When he came back down, he gave Ricky a small can of dog food. While the dog ate, he went back upstairs to do his daily check of the neighborhood with Justin's binoculars.

  He grabbed the binoculars and went up one more flight of stairs to the roof. There was a modern version of a widow's walk up there and he perched himself on it while he used the binoculars to scan the area.

  Where he stood, he could see them but they couldn’t see him, so to speak. As usual, there were no living people in sight. A week or so ago he had thought he heard a truck drive past his house, but he was just waking up and decided it was his imagination.

  He went downstairs three at a time this time and told Ricky to get a move on. He opened the door and he and Ricky walked the two blocks into the shopping center of town. They walked past the stores that Jason had cleared of bodies and rotting food.

  “Buddy, I think I need some new shoes. Let's hit the shoe store.”

  Jason opened the door of a small surf shop and held the door for Ricky. There was plenty of light from the sun today so he was able to see the racks of clothes and shoes. He picked out a pair of Converse Pro Leather Sneakers, cargo shorts, and some graphic tees.

  Jason looked at the underwear and grabbed those too. Most of his clothes were getting too small. Dragging and lifting bo
dies for two weeks had pumped him up and he continued to lift weights over at Justin's. His chest was getting bigger, as were his arms and thighs.

  “You see anything you like, Ricky?” Ricky made a sound that greatly resembled a harrumph. “Guess not.” Jason threw the clothes in a bag, left the store and headed home.

  When he got back to the house he was hungry again. He popped a frozen pizza into the oven and set the timer so he wouldn't forget. He had 15 minutes to kill and now that he had finished cleaning up the neighborhood, he was finding it hard to fill time.

  Last week he had entered his mother's office. He had been avoiding that room for fear it, too, might smell like her. But while he was throwing bones into the sea the day before, he had the strangest memory. It hit him out of the blue.

  He was listening to his mother talking to her friend a few days after his father died. Her friend made a strange remark about how his father and Teresa had created a purple baby and how it was too bad Antonio had never been able to make that drug. Teresa had nodded her head. When Jason asked what they meant by a purple baby, Teresa told him they had been talking about a movie.

  Jason had forgotten all about it until that moment. He knew his father had been a biochemist who grew these weird plants in the basement. He knew that his dad had given them to an old man named Vinnie.

  Jason and his mother used to visit Vinnie until the old man died. Jason had been about 12 years old then. He remembered seeing the plants at Vinnie's greenhouse. He knew they were poisonous. Then he remembered they were also very purple.

  When he got back home from clearing the bodies that day, he stripped off his clothes before entering the house. He went inside and looked around the greenhouse to see if any remnants of his father's lab still remained. There was nothing left. Teresa must have had it all removed at some time.

  He then went upstairs and took a shower. After he ate, he reluctantly went into Teresa's office. The scent was different in there. There was an old air freshener on the table by the air conditioner vent. There was an ebony desk with very little on top. Teresa had been neat. There was a small safe in one corner and a file cabinet next to the desk. Teresa's laptop sat on the file cabinet.