Broken Dreams

by Rissa Blakeley

  “Elaina! Come on!” Henry screamed. I was ready.

  “How do I know you aren’t bit?!”

  “I’m not bit!”

  I started choking back tears, realizing my life had been forever changed. “How do I know you aren’t lying to me, like you have lied about everything else? How do I know for sure?” The crying, girly side found its way to the surface yet again. The tears were running down my face.

  “Elaina, please. Open the door. I’m not bit. You have got to believe me.” Henry was begging so I nodded at Claire.

  She leaned up against the door and unlocked it. As she started to crack it open, I raised the axe up over my head, ready to strike. I stood there in disbelief that, at any given moment, I may have to kill my Henry. But was he really my Henry since my Henry was a lie?

  “Slowly, Claire,” I whispered. I could see Henry’s eyes. The same eyes that would look at me full of love over the past two years. I took a deep staggering breath. I nodded to Claire and she opened it all the way.

  “Jesus Christ. I didn’t think you would ever open the door.” I stood holding the axe, ready to strike. “Elaina, are you mental?” He put his hands in front of his chest. “Put the bloody axe down. You are going to hurt someone. Yourself, more than likely!”

  “I can’t.” My voice shook. Those two simple words were hard to release from my mouth.

  “Listen to me. I’m not bit. Look.” He leaned the shotgun up against the wall and slowly turned around, holding his hands up, trusting that I wouldn’t strike. He lifted up his shirt for me to see his clean cut body that was deliciously trim. Oh, god, he was so beautiful.

  He did have some blood and gore splattered on his clothes, but I didn’t see anything that looked like an injury.

  Relief overwhelmed me. I dropped the axe and jumped into his arms. I wrapped my arms around him so tight that I could have crushed him. He hugged me back just as tight. I was so scared, but his strong arms made me feel safe. I had to learn to trust this new Henry. I just had to. What other option did I have?

  He continued to hold me tight. It was so comforting and healing to be in his arms. I heard the door slam. I looked over at Claire and she was standing there, trying hard not to cry. I felt guilty for showing my love for Henry in front of her.

  She had lost her longtime beau. I was losing my best friend right before my eyes. I didn’t know if my family was safe. Grief and regret filled me. I pulled back from his embrace. “Henry, we have to go back.”

  “Back where?” he asked.

  I looked at him like he had two heads. I knew he couldn’t possibly be that dumb, could he? “The church! We need to go back to the church. Now!”

  He shook his head. “No. Absolutely not.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “No. It’s far too dangerous. I don’t want anything to happen to you. To either one of you.” He looked at me for a while, then looked at Claire. She was standing by the door with her head hanging. “Claire, I’m sorry. We can’t go.”

  “My family is there, Henry!” I started to feel more anger coming on. “We need to go get them to safety! I love them…” My voice trailed off.

  “I realize that. I love them, too, but we cannot go back there. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I need to go back and see if any of them are alive. Or go to their homes and see if they are there.”

  His sigh was heavy and he stood silent for a minute with his hands on his hips. He jammed his hand through his hair a few times. After pacing around and mumbling to himself, he reached into his pocket. He cursed to himself. “Here.” He handed me his cellphone. “Start calling everyone you know that was there before something happens to the signal.” I realized my bag was still at the church, along with my wallet and my phone. My family may have been trying to call me. What if they thought that I was hurt or dead, or undead -- whatever the fuck you call it!

  I started with my mom’s phone…nothing. My dad’s...nothing. Nick’s...nothing. I was panicking. I tried my mom’s again, and then someone answered. Someone who wasn’t my mother. “Hello? Hello? Help me. Help me, please!”

  The voice was a high-pitched male voice. I didn’t recognize it and I couldn’t say anything. “Please help! I’m stuck in the flower shop across from the Heritage Family Worship Church. There are people eating people. Oh, my god! Please!” His words came out rapidly.

  Henry grabbed the phone from me. “Hello?”

  “Please help me…” The voice trailed off.

  “Sir, where did you get that phone?”

  “I found it in the street and picked it up. I was coordinating a wedding at Heritage. The Daniels’ wedding. Do you know them? Please send help! I called the police station, but they aren’t even answering. I can’t get through to 911. There are people covered in blood trying to get into the shop. I’m so scared!”

  Henry covered the phone with his hand and leaned over to me and whispered, “It’s Nate, the wedding coordinator.” Nate was this tiny flamboyant man, who thought everything he touched turned fabulous. He had an ego bigger than anyone I had ever met. There was never a hair out of place and he was always in an expensive suit.

  Nate didn’t recognize Henry’s real voice. He was yelling when Henry put the phone back to his ear. “Sir! Sir! You have to calm down. I need your help.”

  “No, you don’t understand! There are people eating people! I need your help! I’m trapped!”

  “Sir, I understand what you are saying. Can you tell me what you see? Do you recognize anyone? Anybody from the wedding party?”

  “Uh, oh, god. There are so many lying on the ground. Some eating others. Others are roaming around mindlessly.” Nate went quiet for a moment. “Wait! I think I see a normal someone.”

  “Okay. Can you tell me where you see them? What do they look like?” Henry was so calm and collected. My heart was trying to leap out of my chest, and I was clawing at his arms, trying to pull the phone down to my ear so I could hear what Nate was saying, as well.

  “There are two people across the way. I can’t make out any features. One may even be trying to attack the other. I can’t even be sure they are normal. There are bloody handprints all over the window. Please! Please, I need help!”

  “Sir, you need to try and stay calm.”

  “Calm? Calm? Are you serious? Have you any clue what I am facing here?”

  “Yes, I do. But it’s best for all of us that you stay calm.” I looked at Claire. Did he mean what I thought he meant? “Tell me, where do you see the people, sir?”

  “Uh, umm, they are across the way. Next to Heritage, behind the lot gates.”

  “One more question. Are you bit?”

  “Bit?”

  “Yes! Bit! Did an undead bite you?”

  “Undead?”

  “Yes! Undead. The people eating people.”

  “No! Please hurry.”

  “I’m not that far from you. I will be driving a black Tahoe. Whatever you do, do not leave the shop. I’ll come in to get you.”

  “Okay, I will wait here. Please hurry!”

  Henry ended the call, then turned to me. “Elaina. I need you to wait --.”

  “The hell I am! I’m going with you.”

  “No. Absolutely not!”

  “Henry, that could be someone from my family who is trapped!” I was practically stomping my foot like a child.

  “No. I will not let you go.”

  Oh, really? “Ha! Try and fucking stop me. Let’s go, Claire.”

  I turned toward the door and picked up the double-sided axe as Claire opened the door. Henry’s arm reached out and over-powered Claire, slamming the door shut. “Don’t be a prat!” I think I saw a vein pulsing in his forehead.

  “A prat? What the fuck is a prat?”

  “A fool. An ass...” He pushed his hand through his hair, and then put both hands on his hips, staring me down.

  “Wow. Look who is the prat. Liar.” I wanted to add “liar, pants
on fire”, but I decided that it may piss him off even more.

  “Bloody hell.” Henry rolled his eyes. “Elaina, it’s far too dangerous for you two. You don’t know how to take care of the undeads.”

  At that moment, a whole new Claire showed up. “Listen up, asshole!” We both whipped around and saw her holding Henry’s shotgun pointed directly at him. “My Marc was there; Elaina’s family could still be alive. We are going with you, and you are going to like it or I will turn you into Swiss cheese. We clear?” Henry swallowed hard. We all stood in silence for a few moments. We were taken aback by the new Claire.

  Henry barked out a few obscenities. “Fine. But before we go, let’s see if I can get you two into different clothes.” Henry looked us up and down, focusing on my bare feet. “And both of you need some sort of shoes.” He stopped talking. I looked over at Claire, and I couldn’t help but smirk at her.

  I was proud. Like a momma bird watching her fledgling fly for the very first time. I mouthed Thank you to her and she nodded at me. Her eyes looked dark and saddened, but I could tell she felt empowered.

  Henry walked quickly back toward his room. “Come on, the both of you.”

  Claire put the shotgun down and we followed behind. He started going through his drawers, pulling out t-shirts and workout pants. “Here, these will be a little big, but they will be better than those dresses.” Then he headed to his closet and found a couple pairs of boots. “These, too. Both of you.” I grabbed one pair of boots and Claire, deciding she probably should change out of her heels, grabbed the other.

  Then he headed back to the living room. I could hear him going through his cache of weapons in the trunk while we changed in silence.

  Chapter 2

  W

  e crept down the back stairs to the garage, guns ready. We all had backpacks with weapons in them. I wasn’t a fan of guns. I had never even picked one up until that day.

  Henry gave us both a quick lesson before we left his apartment. I was still hung up on that. The lesson was pretty much here are the bullets, here is where you put the bullets, this is the trigger, point and shoot. Henry was like a regular Boy Scout. He liked to be well prepared.

  We didn’t see anyone: true dead, undead, or human. I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon. It felt a bit eerie. Henry stopped in front of the exit door to the garage.

  Without turning around, he said, just shy of a whisper, “I’m going to cover both of you. Here are my truck keys. I need you to run to it and drive over to me. I’m going to pick off any I see.” He was pointing over to the left. My stomach was doing flip flops.

  “Okay. But who’s going to cover you?” I was concerned about his welfare.

  Henry turned and grabbed my chin. “Don’t worry about me, love, I’ve got this. Trust me, I know what I am doing.” He kissed me on the forehead, dropping the keys in my open hand. Both Claire and I took a deep breath, looked at each other, and ran like we had never run before.

  I hit the unlock button on the fob twice, mid-stride. We looked back for a brief moment when we heard several rounds go off. Henry’s boots were clunky and too big, and I felt the workout pants heading south. Thank fuck the truck wasn’t that far from the door.

  I jumped in the driver’s seat, while Claire got in behind me. I tossed my bag back to her. Instinctively, I locked the doors. I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I wasn’t used to a vehicle of that size.

  I had a compact, craptastic car. Henry kept insisting that I pick out a new car, but I didn’t want to accept that from him. He said that, one day, he was just going to pull up in one and drop the keys in my purse, steal the other car, and set it ablaze in an empty parking lot. That Henry of mine was such a character. I never thought he would actually do something like that…but I wasn’t so sure anymore.

  He even had the audacity to take me out on a date to a car dealership. Days prior, he and the salesman spoke about what he thought I would like and would accept. As soon as I realized what was going on, I refused to even look at the cars that he had lined up outside, ready for me to take a test drive in.

  Henry apologized profusely to the salesman for my stubborn ways and we left the dealership without a new car. He ranted at me in his own soft manner on the way to dinner.

  The radio was on in the truck. I was a bit startled by emergency tones, followed by a recording telling everyone to stay inside their homes until further notice. Being the rebel that I am, I ignored the directions and shut off the radio.

  A few more shots rang out. I looked back at Claire and said, “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  I threw the truck in drive and hit the gas. The tires spun and I sped over to the door where Henry was waiting. I whipped the truck around and slammed on the brakes. Henry’s face was priceless as he hustled over to the driver’s side. He moved like he was in military combat mode. I was still confused as to how he was able to hide all this from me.

  “Move over.” He waved at me to move to the passenger side. Oh, there it was again, that bossy attitude which I adored, but would never admit. Was he ever going to learn that I don’t take directions very well?

  I put on my best angelic face. “I can drive.”

  He raised his left eyebrow. “I see that, but…just…move on over, would you?”

  “Fine.” I climbed over the console to the passenger seat, and Henry jumped in, tossing his bag at me. I tossed it back to Claire.

  “Buckle up, ladies. We’re going for a wild ride. Elaina, I want you to have your gun ready.”

  “Just remember, I’ve never shot a gun before.”

  “Now is a perfect time to learn. Just don’t shoot me accidentally on purpose.” He winked at me and I couldn’t help but throw a soft smile back at him. I have to admit that his real voice was a bit sexy. I just wished I knew the real Henry -- or was it Liam?

  “Hey, both of you!” Henry and I jumped. “Look!” Claire was pointing frantically. There was an undead man staggering around like he was looking for his car, but I would imagine that he was looking for a meal. He must have been rather fresh because his suit wasn’t too messy, besides the giant bloodstain down the front. I shuddered.

  “Oh, bloody hell. Claire, hand me that shotgun. Elaina, shoot only if I tell you.” Henry rolled down his window, put the truck in drive, and gunned it toward the undead man.

  My heart was trying to escape through my chest. I could hear Claire’s quick breathing. Henry slammed on the brakes and threw it in park. Nothing like a little whiplash to make the day even better. I grumbled and rubbed my neck.

  “Keep your windows up right now. I’ve got this. Hey!” Henry yelled out the window and the undead man looked toward us, snarled, and started stumbling toward the truck. Henry jumped out.

  I went into an instant panic. “Henry! Get back in!”

  Without turning around, he yelled, “Shut it, Elaina! I’ve got this!”

  “Henry! Henry, please!” He pumped the shotgun and, without aiming, he shot the undead man in a matter of seconds.

  He jumped back in, buckled up, and jammed the shifter into drive. He floored it and, before I could yell “No!” he ran over the newly true dead man. Claire screamed.

  “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “Insurance policy. Let’s get the fuck out of here before we attract any more attention.” As we headed out of the garage, I was a bit baffled by his nonchalance.

  ***

  “Henry.” I was becoming more nervous. I wanted to ask more probing questions, but he was focused on the road.

  “Yes, my love?” His voice was calm and soothing, like it used to be, but with his British accent.

  “I need more info. I have shared my life, my love, my bed with you. I nearly married you today and I feel like I know nothing about you. When were you going to tell me about all of this shit?” I felt that it was a valid question.

  “I hadn’t found the right time yet.” He sounded regretf
ul and sad, but that statement made me angry. Big shocker right there.

  “Wow. Okay. So, before we went out on our first real date wasn’t the right time? You could have told me everything, and then I could have decided if I wanted to have a relationship.”

  “I couldn’t tell you! And once I got involved with you, I couldn’t lose you. I loved you from the moment I locked eyes with you. You know that!”

  For real? That was all he could come up with? “Lose me? How is that your decision? And how selfish are you to bring me into this blindly!” I felt rage burn through my body. I thought about the probability that my entire family was being eaten by each other. “Damn you, Liam!” I slammed my fist down on the dash.

  “Don’t call me Liam! I’m Henry! Henry, damn it! And, in case you have forgotten, this is not my fucking fault! I didn’t make this. I’m just here to fight it and protect you!” he shouted, full of rage, and punched the dash. I was startled. He was used to my outbursts, but he had never reacted to me like that before.

  “Why? Tell me why I can’t call you Liam?”

  “Never mind,” he muttered, returning his focus back to the road.

  “I want to know! I deserve to know!”

  “You do, but now is not the time, Elaina!” He grumbled something, then slammed on the brakes. Just what I needed, a little more whiplash. He cursed to himself and looked over at me. “I need to talk to you about a few more things before we go back to the church.”

  “Great. Are your mummy and daddy from Neptune?” There. I mocked him in his own accent, but it didn’t make me feel any better. It made me feel like I was two.

  He growled. “This is hard for me, too. I wanted to tell you so many bloody times who and what I am! But I couldn’t. I wanted to be completely honest, but I didn’t have that luxury. You have given me everything. I have given you nothing but doubt and anger.” He was upset with himself and his eyes began filling with tears.