Life After Death

by Reames, Jeffrey

  "Thank you! Thank you, Davina!" She wrapped her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek.

  "It is chilly, so you will wear your sweatshirt."

  "Okay."

  I try to make her play or watch "Frozen" for the hundredth time, but I can see the prospect of touching the ground is too much for the four year old.

  "Let's get dressed then."

  Rosie jumps up and down. I have to say, she gets dressed in one of the fastest times in quite a while. I get dressed and throw on my Tennessee hoody. We go out of the fort. There is not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky. I look through the binoculars and do a sweep. There is nothing. No zombies. No animals. No humans. Nothing.

  I lower the ladder. I go down first with my backpack with water, a towel, ammo for my Glock and the shotgun. Rosie is right behind me. She hits the ground and takes a few small steps. It feels weird being on the ground again. I take the ladder and lay it behind the bushes of the one wall.

  Rosie looks at me and giggles. She jumps around me and grabs my hands. We spin around and I can't help but laugh too. The craziness of our world stops for a moment. We are both kids again. Rosie needs it. I think I need it too.

  She spins around and around by herself. I wonder how she doesn't get dizzy. I look around the fields. It is a different perspective. Not that I see anything, but it is just different. Like I forgot how the world looked when I'd leave my house for school or practice or a game. We take a lot for granted. All this sure reminds me of that.

  Rosie grabs me again. She spins me around and we topple to the ground in a mess. I roll on my back and just look up at the sky. Rosie skips around me singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song.

  It is nice.

  It is quiet.

  Rosie stops skipping and looks off in the distance. No more song, just her looking over me. I sit up in a lurch. Sorry, I know, dramatic.

  I'm expecting a zombie or two, or a human, but all I see are some big birds walking near the tree line. I first think they are vultures. Maybe I didn't bury the people well enough, or worse, Rosie's dad.

  I pull out the binoculars from my pack and peer at the creatures. I was wrong. They aren't vultures at all. They are wild turkeys! I've seen them occasionally in the area. Deer are more common. Well, at least before all this zombie virus started.

  "Zombie birds?" She asks and gets behind me, as I stand up.

  "No, no, no. They are turkeys."

  "Gobble Gobble?"

  "Yes, as in Thanksgiving is coming early this year! Thank ya, Jesus!"

  "What, Davina?"

  "We will be eating turkey later today!"

  "I think I like turkey."

  "I'll have to de-feather it.. I think I have a container big enough. I have an oven, that I hope will work. I can do this."

  "First thing we have to do, is kill us a turkey."

  "Kill?"

  It really is amazing how the mind works. I'm used to hunting with my dad. Yes, I've even dressed a deer and a few birds in my time. Don't judge me. I told ya I was a country girl. It is something how we can kill zombies and people even, but with animals, we hesitate. It shows Rosie's heart. I'm doing it for food. Well, I'm gonna do it for us, for food.

  I get my rifle from where I dropped my bag. I lift it up and adjust the scope. There are four turkeys. We don't need the biggest for two people. I can only have so many leftovers. I'm sure there will be more turkeys around sometime. Then again, these are the first I've seen since it all began.

  I take aim at a medium sized turkey. I take a few steps forward. I tighten my aim and fire. The gunshot sounds super loud on such a quiet day. The turkeys flap their little wings. Some get airborne... Some do a quick run in to the woods. My target was on the ground.

  I smiled to Rosie. "Turkey!"

  She smiled back. "Do we have any craneries?"

  "Cranberries?"

  "Yeah, those!"

  "We do... A bunch of cans of them!"

  "I like them."

  I laughed, "me too."

  We walked down to the bird. I pretty much had taken its head off. Pretty good shot, I have to say. I slipped the rifle over my shoulder and picked the turkey up by the less gory legs. It was a good size. I could tell ya it was about fifteen pounds, but I don't know. It wasn't too heavy that I strained. It wasn't too light, that I wished I picked a larger bird.

  Rosie danced around me as we walked back to the pack. I heaved it over my free arm. We walked to the garage and fort. I put the pack and turkey down. I got us the ladder and helped Rosie up, along with the pack and rifle. I went back down for the turkey. I got one of the basins out, I usually for laundry. (Something I don't talk about in my diary. Ugh!)

  I started boiling water in my biggest pots. Poured it in with the bird. I tried to heat the water filled basin as best I could too. It might have been just about a boiling temp. I needed it to be warmer. After a few minutes, I saw a few bubbles in the basin's water.

  I let it boil and went to my pantry area and found some mashed potatoes, peas, and the cranberry sauce. I didn't have any stuffing. Sorry, I didn't put it on the list for the zombie apocalypse. I wasn’t bummed about it either.

  I started "Frozen" for Rosie. She lied on the bed to watch it. I went outside and made a quick cursory glance around the yard. The gunshot did not attract any zombies. At least not yet. Why do I think like that?

  I pulled out the wet, warm bird. I said a little prayer and tugged on a patch of feathers. They came off relatively easy! Woo hoo! It worked like it should. I started de-feathering the bird. Some came out better than others, but it wasn't too bad.

  I know we have a small blowtorch somewhere. I go back inside the fort and find it with the stove equipment. I take it to the bird, not to cook it, but to get rid of some fine hair-like feathers of the turkey.

  I then go about the work of gutting it. I'll spare ya the details. I'm not sure how scarce food is for ya but, I don't want ya throwing up hearing how and where I cut the bird open to remove its insides or its feet. Ugh. I was a bloody mess. I washed off the bird inside and out and put what seasoning I could find on it. I put it in the biggest cooker I had and put it in the solar oven.

  It smelled wonderful as it cooked. I left the door open to the fort, so the smell could drift inside. We were in good spirits. Rosie watched "Frozen" again, and I watched some with her on the bed. Now, the song is in my head, but I really don't mind.

  I checked on the bird and it looks toasty. I wasn't sure how the solar oven would do, but the turkey was a good golden brown color. I came back in the fort to find Rosie in my old Christmas dress.

  "I thought we should dress up for the meal," she smiled.

  "That's a good idea." I only brought two dresses up to the fort. I really didn't think I would need them, but then again, you never know. So, I changed in to my blue sequin cross top with a tiered blue soft skirt dress. It was my first homecoming dress. I came out of the bathroom. Rosie’s mouth dropped.

  "Wow."

  "Thanks, Rosie," I said and swirled around.

  "I've never seen ya dress like a girl."

  "Gee, thanks."

  "In a dress, I mean."

  "My Halloween costume?"

  "That's a costume. This is a dress. You look awesome."

  "So do you, my dear."

  I prepared the potatoes and the peas. I cut the yummy jellied cranberry sauce. I found one some cans of chicken gravy. That would have to do. We had three slices of a loaf of bread we made two days ago. Our feast would be a real feast.

  I turned off the stove and brought in the bird. I can gut and de-feather a bird, but I haven't cut a turkey up. So, I started at the breast and started cutting slices of white meat off. I put some on Rosie's plate and I'm not gonna lie, a huge amount on mine.

  We even said grace. Then, we dug in! The meat was a bit dry, but the gravy helped. I would scoop up some mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and some turkey and stuff the big fork full in my mouth. Oh, it was heaven.

  I thi
nk Rosie was just as happy. We each had an extra plate. We were both half asleep. It was only seven o'clock. I cut what I could off the turkey and put it in containers. I stuffed the small refrigerator as much as I could. We would have leftovers for at least three or four days.

  We went to bed with our bellies full. We both quickly fell asleep. We slept well. The zombies and the world forgotten for one night. I prayed that we could find more turkeys or even a deer. We will be okay!

  November 16th

  Well, we woke up, tired. Maybe too much sleep or just too much food. It was another chilly morning. I walked the perimeter in sweatpants, a jacket, and a cup of hot tea. I saw three zombies crossing the lawn off in the distance. They were far enough away, I didn't worry. No noise from Jimmy or the other zombie. So, we rested in the morning. I gave Rosie a bath in the wash basin. Not the one for the turkey, mind you. I am soaking that one with some disinfectant.

  I decide we both need to do something different today. We will have school. We will practice our Abc's. Well, Rosie is. I think she knows some letters and a few words, but she needs to know them all. She needs to be able to read, write, and do math too.

  We sit at the table and she is excited to practice writing her letters. We tackle the first five letters and write them both in capital and lower case. I give her ten M&M's for doing well. I think I have a new student.

  We go outside after lunch of some turkey. We practice with the gun again. She hits a target I picked out. She is really doing well. I am so proud of her. I give her a big hug.

  We celebrate with a turkey leg and the rest of the mashed potatoes, peas, and cranberry sauce. We watched "The Minions," and had a great day. The end of the world doesn't have to be all bad.

  November 17th

  I had a cup of hot tea to my lips when I heard the loud rusty truck coming up the driveway. There were two guys in the cab and three guys in the back.

  They pulled up to the house. The three guys in the back jumped out. Two had a baseball bat. The other had a very tiny handgun. It wasn't a statement about anything. It is just that ya need some type of weapon nowadays.

  One had a dirty hoodie on and dirty jeans. The other two had camo jackets and camo pants. They looked around the area. They sure didn't see me. I squat ran back to the fort to get my rifle and two handguns with the silencers. I had Rosie as usual stay in the fort.

  I came back to the edge of the fort wall. I gasped.

  Inside the cab, and now out on the ground, is my dad. He's just in a long sleeve shirt and jeans. He looks skinny. He looks beaten. I click off the safety on my rifle and watch.

  The driver pushes my dad towards the house. "You better not be lying, David."

  "I'm not, Chris."

  Chris was a tall man. Jeans, and a white button-down shirt under a jacket. He had black hair and a short beard.

  My dad was a bit shorter than him. My dad is six foot. Chris I'd say, was maybe 6'3." My dad's light brown hair is usually spiked, but now it was lying flat on his head. I hadn't seen him that way. His right eye looked black and blue. He normally was a lively man and talked a lot. Today he was quiet. His blue eyes went as brilliant. Dad looked rough and broken.

  I said nothing. I just watched.

  "In the house. I have food and supplies," my Dad said.

  Chris motioned to the three guys. They ran to the front door. I didn't warn them about my squatters. Dad told them the house for a reason. He knew I was up here. He was trying to protect me.

  The men stood with their backs to either side of the door. The other did his best to peer inside. They were in for a surprise very soon. Hoodie stepped inside and looked to either side. He went right. The other two went left when they entered.

  Chris stood next to my dad and watched the house.

  I heard yelling. I heard glass breaking. Why is it always glass?

  More yelling and a scream. I saw four flashes and heard the shots from the end of the house. The zombies must have been in the kitchen.

  Chris fidgeted with a button on his shirt. He took a step forward when the three men toppled out of the front door.

  "There were two zombies," hoodie told Chris.

  I think it surprised my dad. He might have been trying to protect me and the fort, but he didn't expect zombies to be in our house. Oh God, if he thinks it is me. Oh no!

  "Two male zombies. We didn't see any food, water, or supplies. Someone rummaged through all the kitchen cabinets."

  Chris looked at my dad. He shoved him against the truck hard.

  "You said you had a boatload of food and supplies."

  "I did. I really did. I haven't been home in over a month. Who knows who has been here. Someone already found it and took it all. You know how it is out here. I'm not surprised."

  Chris pulled out a handgun and poked my dad in the chest. "That was our deal. We got you here in exchange for the food and supplies. We wasted resources and a man on the way here. We don't waste resources."

  "Chris, it was true. I had supplies. Look, I'm a good hunter. I can be an asset to you."

  "You might be, David. But, you are also another mouth to feed and we don't have the food now, to feed you. I'm not wasting any more resources on you, goodbye."

  Chris drew up his gun. My dad raised his hands up.

  I raised my rifle from its resting position. A quick look in the scope and I fired.

  Chris looked at his hand. The gun flew from his hand. Blood spurted from where his two bottom fingers used to be. The other guys crouched down.

  Chris just stared at his hand. I re-aim and blood mist sprouts from his skull as it explodes out the back of his head. Chris falls back and smacks his head, or what is left of it near the front step.

  The other armed man saw me fire the second time and shot at me. Thankfully, it hit the concrete of the fort. I turned in his direction. He ran for cover of the truck. I shot him through his side. The shot probably took out his heart as it passed through him. He coughed blood and took a few more steps and smacked his face and upper body against the truck, before sliding out of my view.

  The other camo guy was right behind his buddy. He had the cover of the truck and probably the gun. I ran to the other edge of the wall. He was peering over the truck, trying to find me along the wall, but I wasn't there anymore.

  I aimed the rifle from my new flanking position and shot him in the head. He didn't even see it coming.

  I turned the scope back and found the hoodie guy holding my dad. He had Chris's handgun to my dad's head. I stood up with the rifle aimed at him. My dad struggled some and looked at me.

  I wiped my eyes from the tears. Hoodie looked up at me.

  "Hey, I just want to get out of here. I don't care about you. I'll never come back if you let me leave."

  I kept my aim.

  "Really, you must know David, maybe he is your dad? I don't know. I'll let him go. I promise."

  I kept my aim.

  "We will get in the truck. Your dad will drive us down the driveway and I'll let him off at the end. Now, put down the rifle and we can all get on with our lives."

  I kept my aim.

  "Look kid, I'll give you to the count of five to put down your rifle. Then, I'm going to drive with your dad a little and that'll be it. Okay? Listen up..."

  "One."

  "Two."

  I pulled the trigger.

  The guy stops talking. His head flings back. His hands drop from my dad. He collapses to the ground, dead. My dad wipes his face. He looks at me. I smile back.

  This isn't a movie or tv show. You don't wait in the real world. I couldn't take out hoodie guy if he drove away with my dad. I had to take the shot. No remorse about it.

  I ran to the side. Rosie watched me from the doorway to the fort.

  "It is okay, Rosie. Some bad men had my dad."

  "Like my dad?"

  "Yes, like that, but I took care of the bad men. We are safe and so is my dad. Would you like to meet him?"

  "Yeah, do you think he wi
ll like me?"

  "What's not to like, girl!"

  I got the ladder and set it down on the ground. I flung my rifle over my back and a handgun in my pants on my back and climbed down.

  My dad was still wiping his face when I hugged him. I haven't squeezed him so hard ever!!! I didn't even realize I was crying.