She stood there for a moment, and he could hear her crying. Then, Jon heard Terrence approach and urge her to go with him, and together they walked to the pantry.
Jon closed his eyes tight, not wanting the tears to come, but he couldn’t help it. He muted the sniffles so that Brooke wouldn’t know, but he let the tears roll down his face.
He didn’t turn around.
35
Jon stood with his hands against the door, holding himself up as he looked down at the ground. He closed his eyes.
A memory came to him of when Carrie had been in labor. It had been almost thirty hours before she’d finally been ready to push and bring their son into the world. But as that had happened, things had begun to go wrong.
Jon remembered Dr. Roslyn pausing from giving Carrie directions to push, and turning back and signaling one of the nurses. Before long, two new nurses had entered the room.
“What’s wrong?” Carrie had asked.
“Mrs. South, it appears as if the umbilical cord has wrapped around your son’s neck. I’m going to attempt to unwind it.”
The next few minutes had seemed to go by so slowly. All Jon could remember from that time was holding his wife’s hand and using his other to rub her sweating forehead.
“Jon,” she’d said, looking into his eyes with tears running down her cheeks, “whatever happens, make sure they do whatever it takes to save his life. Even if that means me sacrificing my own.”
“Honey,” he’d said, understanding the severity of the matter while remaining confident it wouldn’t come to that, “I don’t think—”
“Promise me.”
Jon had held her hand tighter, running his other through her hair. Then, he’d wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I promise.”
Jon opened his eyes. He stared at his hands, pressing against the door as the zombies beat against the other side of it. He still refused to look over at the pantry, not wanting to risk seeing Brooke.
It was time for Jon South to make the same sacrifice his wife had been willing to make for their son.
It was time for him to go see Carrie and Spencer.
Jon gripped his gun tightly with the hand on his good arm and grabbed the door handle with his other.
Then he pulled on it, allowing the screams of the horde to echo into the kitchen.
36
Brooke could only listen, enfolded in the darkness of the pantry.
She stood leaning against the concrete wall, looking down at the ground as she held herself up. Her mind raced.
How could this have happened? Jon South had been the best thing to happen not only to Hope’s Dawn, but to her, since the founding of the community itself, only a short time after the outbreak had begun. As she often did, Brooke found a way to blame herself. If only she had gone with Jon when he’d traveled into the town to find the bottles for the Molotovs, maybe she could have done something to prevent him from being bit. She could have been there for him if only she had done as she’d so often had and willed her way into going with him. She should have been there for him.
Why had it come to this?
Because she had allowed herself to fall in love with him.
Of course, that wasn’t why Jon had been bitten, but it was why Brooke was feeling the way she was. She loved every single person at Hope’s Dawn. They had all become her family, and their community’s future depended on each person pulling their weight and working towards common survival. Of course, she mourned when someone from their camp died. But this was different.
Brooke hadn’t felt this away about a man since her early days with Peter. It had been so long since then, she had honestly forgotten what it felt like to be in love. But that feeling had begun to return in small ways. She’d felt it when Jon walked into a room. When he looked at her a certain way. If he hugged her, put his hand on her shoulder, or even accidentally brushed up against her when walking past her.
She didn’t just love Jon South. Brooke was in love with him.
And now he would be out of her life for good, leaving almost as fast as he’d entered it. Because that was the way the world had become. There was no going back to any sort of normal. There never had been.
Her arms shook, and she was barely able to hold herself up against the wall. She wanted to curl up on the ground and allow herself the time to grieve.
Terrence put his hand on her shoulder. “Brooke, you’ve gotta be ready to run out of here.”
But she didn’t want to run. When she left the room, Brooke wanted to fight off the horde of zombies and save Jon’s life, however much longer he had of it. All moments were precious, even if he only had a few left.
There was nothing she could do about Jon, though, as many ways as she tried to think her way around it. The only thing she could do for him was to fulfill her last promise. She had to get out of the prison and make it back to Hope’s Dawn with the supplies they’d found. And, more important than that, she had to make it back to her son.
She pushed herself off the wall and stood up straight. Using her forearm, she wiped her eyes and then her nose. She stood tall, facing the door.
“You ready for this?” Terrence asked.
“Yeah,” Brooke said. She then looked at him, standing tall, and nodded. “I am. Really.”
Terrence didn’t ask for reassurance again. He knew Brooke well enough to know how strong she was, and if she said she was okay, even through all her stubbornness, he knew she was telling the truth. Because Brooke was strong.
She adjusted the heavier pack on her back and listened for the signal. Brooke had taken Terrence’s pack, while Terrence had put Jon’s on his back and carried Brooke’s in his hand. Jon didn’t have a reason to hold onto anything in the pack or the bag itself. The bag would be the second to last sacrifice Jon would make for Hope’s Dawn.
Closing her eyes, Brooke listened for the signal. She held the gun in her hand. It was only to protect her, not Jon. They’d all agreed that, no matter what, Brooke and Terrence would only fire their weapons to defend themselves or one another. Jon had insisted they shouldn’t ‘waste’ any bullets trying to get the zombies off of him.
The sound of the zombies was apparent as they flooded into the kitchen, and Brooke startled and opened her eyes as the first gunshot rang out.
Subsequent gunshots followed. They blasted out amongst the sounds of the invading horde. Jon himself managed to make no noise, likely trying not to confuse Brooke and Terrence about when it was time to make their exit.
Brooke shook as she waited for the signal. What if it never came? Or what if it did, but it was in the form of Jon screaming as the gang of creatures took him down. What if—
“Now!” came the call from the kitchen. “Get the fuck out of here!”
Brooke didn’t hesitate.
The sounds of the snarling horde poured into the room as she pushed open the door to hell.
37
The final bullet exited the chamber of the gun.
“Now!” he cried. “Get the fuck out of here!”
Jon balanced on top of the long line of stovetops as the zombies below clawed at his feet. With the gun no longer being an option, he pulled the bat off of his back for defense now.
A zombie worked to push itself up to join him, but Jon managed to bash it in the top of the head and keep the creature at bay. All he was doing now was buying time. Not for himself as much as for Brooke and Terrence.
The pantry door busted open, and out came Jon’s friends. Brooke led the way and Terrence followed behind, carrying the extra pack.
Jon kept an eye at his feet as another zombie tried to climb up onto the stoves. The creature grazed Jon’s ankle and nearly brought him down.
He glanced up to see a zombie from the back of the horde moving towards Brooke. His first instinct was to want to fire at the monster, but he knew he couldn’t. He started to cry out and warn her, but Brooke was ready for the zombie coming at her. She raised her gun and landed a shot in its fo
rehead.
At the same time, Jon let out a deafening scream. He hoped this would keep the pack’s attention on him and that they wouldn’t turn towards his friends.
It mostly worked, the majority of the zombies staying at his feet. The horde was so crowded together anyway that they could barely move. Jon believed that was the main thing keeping them from jumping up onto the stove.
But all that mattered to Jon was Brooke and Terrence making it out of the room.
A couple more zombies at the back of the crowd looked at them, but Brooke and Terrence had already made it out the door.
Jon swung the bat down, but he looked up to see Brooke looking through the doorway. Tears poured from her eyes, which had locked on Jon for one last time.
He nodded at her.
She shut her eyes and slammed the door shut.
Brooke slammed the door shut, and her legs gave out beneath her. She crumbled to the ground, slumping against the door. Any tears she had left came pouring out.
On the other side of the thick, secure door, she could still hear the faint sound of the zombies. She wanted nothing more than to open the door and help Jon. To take out as many of the zombies as she could, even if it meant risking herself. But she knew she couldn’t. They had done what they had done, and there was no going back.
“It’s not good for us to stay here,” Terrence said. He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were red. He was doing his best to keep himself together for Brooke. She wondered if it had been part of a promise he’d made to Jon.
He kneeled next to her, putting his arm around her and encouraging her to get up. On the other side of the door, the zombies continued to snarl. A moment later, the sounds were followed by one that was even more devastating.
Jon screaming.
Brooke put her hands against the door, reaching for the handle and wanting to go back in so badly, but Terrence held her back.
“There’s nothing we can do,” he said. “Come on. You need to get away from here.”
She didn’t want to go. She wanted to know if Jon was okay. He could survive this. It was what she wanted to think, unable to come to the reality that Jon surviving wasn’t the point.
Surviving had never been the point. That was what had frustrated Brooke the most. Jon had always wanted to be a martyr, while Brooke had tried to give him a reason not to be. Instead, she had given him something to die for, allowing him to fulfill his own destiny, as selfish as it seemed to her.
It was as if her body floated as Terrence helped her up and led her away from the door. She knew her legs were moving, if only because the door got farther away with every moment that passed. Eventually, she managed to walk on her own, and she followed Terrence even though everything was a blur.
They reached the other side of the cafeteria and traveled through the door, moving through the smaller library and recreation area. Brooke didn’t bother to avoid the debris on the ground, kicking away books and trash without realizing it. The idea of being cautious had faded.
When they got back to the door leading into the cell block, Brooke froze. She turned and looked back through the cafeteria, and could see the kitchen door. They were far enough away now that Brooke could only faintly hear the horde. She heard no human screams.
She couldn’t move from this spot, though. Her feet wouldn’t allow it. All she could do was stare at the door.
Hope’s Dawn had lost its fair share of people. Brooke had lost people close to her. This one was going to take longer to get over than most, but she knew it was what she had to do. She understood it was the last dying wish of Jon South.
“Brooke,” Terrence said, standing on the other side of the door and in the cell block.
She looked over at him—her face and eyes red, but dry and absent of tears.
“Let’s go,” she said.
She didn’t look back at the door.
38
Brooke sat in the back of the pickup truck and watched the prison fade into the distance. Smoke billowed from the prison yard where they had burned all of the zombies. But Brooke looked beyond that, almost as if she were looking through its walls.
All she could think of was Jon South.
She didn’t cry.
The four of them sat in Lennox’s study in silence. Crickets chirped outside since evening had come, transitioning day into night. The lit candles crackled, and each sound could be heard amongst the silence.
Brooke sat next to Terrence on a couch. Lennox sat in a chair across from them, Raylon to their right. To Brooke’s left was an empty chair. She knew who should have been sitting there, and she stared at it with her hand on her chin.
“I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am for your loss,” Lennox said. “I didn’t know him well, but he was a brave man.”
You have no idea.
“I still don’t understand why we can’t go back there,” Raylon said. “There’s got to be a chance he’s still alive. We shouldn’t have left without at least checking.”
“That’s not what he wanted,” Brooke said. Her voice showed no emotion, only truth. “And our people have already headed back to Hope’s Dawn.”
“So, we just let him be a martyr for no good reason?”
“There was a good reason,” Terrence said. “The three of us weren’t all going to make it out of there. And if we’d waited on you all, there was a chance more people would have died and also that we couldn’t have contained the horde in one spot. Not to mention that it was a closed space, and there were gas ovens in there. It could have been a disaster.”
Brooke and Terrence had decided not to tell the others that Jon had been bitten before they’d even gotten to the prison. They both knew that Jon would have insisted on making the exact same sacrifice he’d made, regardless of whether or not his fate had already been decided or not. Jon South was a hero, and they wanted no one to question that.
“Not to mention that he allowed you all to get out of there with all of that,” Lennox said, pointing at the backpacks.
Brooke stared at the packs. She knew the contents were going to help many people, and that was a large part of Jon’s sacrifice. It was just the kind of man he’d been. It bothered her, though, that Lennox would even bring up the supplies. Especially when all he had done was sit here while Jon had gone and sacrificed himself to get it all.
“He just wanted to help people.”
Lennox pushed himself up out of the seat. He stepped around the coffee table separating them and kneeled next to the backpacks. He opened up one of them and rummaged through it. The pack he’d opened first was the one mostly containing the first-aid they’d found. He took a quick peek in the other bags, as well, and then stood back up.
“We should go ahead and put all of this with the stuff Raylon and the others found so we can split it up,” Terrence said. “We’re going to need to get back to Hope’s Dawn soon.”
“I don’t think that’s how this is going to work,” Lennox said, standing up.
Brooke looked up at him. She didn’t like the tone in his voice, and she arched her eyebrows.
“What’re you talking about?” Terrence asked, beating her to the question.
“It doesn’t seem fair to split this. You all have been through so much, with the attack of the Vultures and now the events of today.” Lennox gestured down at the packs. “They’re yours.”
“You’re just giving us all of this?” Brooke asked.
“We’ll still split what Raylon and the others brought back,” Lennox said. “But you earned this.”
Brooke stood. She extended her hand in appreciation. “Thank you.”
They shook hands for a moment, and then they hugged.
Raylon came over, going straight for an embrace and not bothering to extend his hand to Brooke. He ran his hand up and down her back.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
But no amount of apologies was going to bring Jon back.
From everything the people of Freedom Ridge had found
at the prison, Brooke and the others from Hope’s Dawn had decided to only take what they needed and leave the rest. Lennox had allowed them to keep what they’d found in the pantry, and Brooke had wanted to return the gesture.
When it was time to go, Raylon and Lennox were there at the camp’s entrance to bid the Hope’s Dawn group farewell.
“Thanks for your help,” Brooke said.
“Likewise,” Raylon replied. “I’ve wanted to get into that prison for a long time. I feel pretty accomplished, despite what happened.”
“You sure you don’t wanna take my offer?” Lennox asked.
While in the study, Lennox had invited the people of Hope’s Dawn to come live there with them. They didn’t really have the room to add that many people to the community, but Lennox had assured them they could make it work. Brooke had told him that they appreciated the offer and that she would keep it in mind, but that, for now, Hope’s Dawn was home.
“We’re sure,” Brooke said.
“I understand. Well, at a minimum, don’t be strangers.”
“We won’t be,” Terrence said.
They all hugged, and then Brooke hopped in the pickup truck with Terrence.
Terrence pulled through the gates, and she waved at Lennox, Raylon, and the others from Freedom Ridge before the settlement faded into the distance in the side mirror.
39
Brooke wanted to doze off in the passenger seat of the truck, but her mind resisted. Even though the ride from Freedom Ridge back to Hope’s Dawn was short, she knew a power nap would do her good. But there would be no fighting the fact that she wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Jon. Specifically, she replayed the last moment she’d seen him. When she’d shut the door to the kitchen, him staring at her as zombies clawed at his feet. Brooke doubted she would ever forgive herself for leaving him there to be a martyr. She would always question whether there’d been something else they could’ve done, a scenario where all three of them could’ve gotten out of there alive, without endangering anyone else from the rest of the group. She’d always regret not standing up for that possibility.
Dead South | Book 2 | Dead Lies Page 14
