by Riva, Aline
“Because I wanted you to see the route my father took,” he replied, “when him and others fled the mainland in the beginning. My dad was so badly bitten escaping the rig, Uncle Marc didn't think he would make it. But he survived and those bites were deep enough to make him bite virus positive, that's how I came to exist.”
Then he turned her around, taking hold of her hands as Lula called back that they were almost home now.
“Sarah,” said Zodiac, “I only bit you when we were kids on Wolfsheer because I only bit people I really liked.”
She laughed and so did he, but then he carried on:
“But we're not kids any more. And you know how much I love you.”
He let go of her hands, reached into the pocket of his coat and drew out a small velvet covered box. As he opened it, the sunlight caught brightly on the diamond set into the gold ring.
“Will you marry me?”
Sarah's eyes filled with joy.
“Yes!” she said, and then he slipped the ring on to her finger as the boat reached the dock.
On reaching land, they travelled in Zodiac's car, taking the scenic route all the way down from the dock to the sea front, then they took another turn, cutting through a residential street that led into the heart of town. Here there stood a large building with wide windows and a fancy sign above the door. Parsons would have approved of the name of the bar and its night club next door: The place was called The Wolfsheer.
They parked the car, then as his sister went in the front entrance with Sarah, Zodiac ran up the steps to the upper section, heading for the balcony.
“Oh no, not again!” said Lula, and the two women giggled as they went inside.
Greg was standing at the end of the bar, dressed in a suit and wearing a tie with a diamond pin. His hair was slightly grey but age had been kind to him. He was still very much a handsome man who turned the women's heads, but he was happy enough with Cleo, who was beside him as he discussed security with Marc, who these days didn't need to patrol the beach, due to improved barriers. These days, he wore a suit and tie and felt more like he was back in his old job again – except he wasn't protecting Greg, he was chief of security at the club, which was a hell of a lot better than taking out zombies rising from the sea...
“As I was saying,” Greg continued, “These days, because we have the barrier behind the sea wall, we only need minimum watch duties done from the towers. The only place we keep open is the dock and we have the gates and fences in place there and the guards, so we're completely secure.”
“I still wish we could find a way to wipe those creatures out,” Marc replied.
“Christian still has a small amount of the serum left. Maybe one day we can recreate it, mass produce it... but I don't think it would be used for virus control. It's capable of saving lives in so many ways,” Greg told him, “Who knows, maybe one day...”
“Until then we have to share this world with the undead,” Marc reminded him.
Greg shrugged.
“They roam the wilds, we live safely behind our barriers. It works for me. But as we speak, Christian is still researching in his lab between seeing his patients. John is still working on more ways to improve safety for the town. I think we can say we've survived, we share the world with the dead but we don't have to suffer their company.”
Just then he leapt from the balcony, his coat sailing out behind him, then Zodiac landed like a cat with a heavy thump that shook the bar. He jumped down with a look of triumph on his face.
“Wolfsheer Island is clean!” he announced, and as his parents and Marc came over to join him, other drinkers gave him a round of applause.
“Well done, son I'm proud of you,” Greg said, as Cleo hugged him and then let go.
“It was nothing,” Zodiac replied, “Me and sis are invisible to those creatures. We just picked them all off with guns. It took hours!”
Pride shone in Greg's eyes as he looked at Zodiac. In that moment he recalled every moment of his son's start in life, from his mother dying from zombie attack when he was a baby, to being shot on the way into Circus in the days when Flint had run the town. That little boy was a man now, a zombie killing man, one of many of his kind who were growing up willing to get out there and help keep the hordes down using their gifts, virus people may as well be invisible to the undead, and thanks to Zodiac and Lula, Wolfsheer Island would soon be habitable again.
Greg turned to his daughter.
“I'm proud of you too, Lula. But are you sure you want to go on more of these missions with your brother? I mean, you're only fifteen -”
“Relax, Dad,” she said, “They can't see us. It's easy work.”
Then as Sarah stood beside Zodiac, he put his arm around her shoulder.
“Sarah said yes!”
Again his parents congratulated him, then Marc shook his hand.
“Welcome to the family, Sarah!” said Cleo.
Zodiac looked to the bar.
“Let's have some champagne over here, Vicki!”
As Vicki walked down to the other end of the bar she looked across it and shot him a disapproving look.
“How many times do I have to tell you about leaping? If you jump from the balcony to the bar I won't serve you again!”
“I'm sorry, but us virus kids were born to fly!” he said, and then he and Lula laughed.
Vicki smiled at Marc, who looked fondly at her, they had been married for ten years now, and Vicki's condition had greatly improved. She still looked young for her age, and since the barriers had been strengthened, her fears had greatly subsided.
The champagne was served and Greg made a toast to the future. As he looked to Cleo, their gaze locked and he leaned in and kissed her fondly, just as Zodiac pulled Sarah into his arms and gave her a big kiss too. Then the champagne flowed and the mood was light as the residents of Circus Town celebrated the double good news, Wolfsheer was now inhabitable once more, and Zodiac was getting married. Life was moving on as it should, in the small town that had overcome the odds and risen from the ashes of the zombie apocalypse.
Miles out, past the vast wall that kept out the undead, past the spikes in the ground that went on for miles to ensure absolute safety, in the wilderness they roamed, rotting, snarling, lumbering through ruined land that was theirs while the living kept them out of their rising fortress towns:
Mankind had survived in pockets of civilisation, but they would always have to share the earth with the hordes because they could not wipe them out. The only choice was to co exist, and that was the way of the future, and it was working. The apocalypse had not ended human life but changed how humans lived it, and this was the best anyone could hope for, it was still a victory.
End
