Day Beyond the Dead (Book 1)

by Dawn, Christina

  Gerard made it over the fence and they couldn’t see him anymore but they could hear him climbing down the fence. Suddenly a shot rang out which startled everyone and all they heard next was Gerard drop to the ground.

  Christa screamed out loud, “No! Gerard! Damnit, damnit! What the hell was that? Is he dead? Gerard are you okay? Say something! Gerard??”

  There was silence. They all stood there for a moment at a loss for what to do.

  Damion was pacing back and forth visibly frustrated, “I knew it didn’t feel right. I knew it! I don’t know what to do really. I mean we can’t climb the fence because we’ll end up getting shot and we can’t make it through the gate obviously. We also can’t talk to anyone because they are off a distance at best.”

  Just then footsteps could be heard faintly and they got closer as the seconds passed by. Christa couldn’t help but let her emotions show, “Why did you have to shoot him you assholes?! Why?? Talk to me you fucking cowards! Is he dead!? Is he??”

  The footsteps stopped around where Gerard’s body was and not a word was spoken. “You didn’t have to shoot him. We are unarmed and we don’t mean anyone any harm. We were just trying to find shelter. We were trying to find some place to stay for a long while. My wife is pregnant and we just want a place safe enough for her to have the baby later on. That’s all. Can you at least tell me if Gerard is dead?”

  “You guys need to leave. Now. We have nothing for you.”

  “What about Gerard?”

  “We’ll give him medical attention and he’ll be fine.”

  “Well we’re not leaving without him.”

  “Well then I suggest you set up camp right where you are because that’s as far as you’re going.”

  “We have a child out here though.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “Fine. We’ll set up camp out here.”

  They went back to the trucks to situate themselves for a long stay. Christa was helping situate the back of one of the trucks for sleeping later in the evening but she couldn’t help thinking about Gerard. She didn’t love him but she cared what happened to him; and she couldn’t help but hate the fact that she didn’t know what was going on behind the fence. She didn’t know if he would truly be okay or if they even had any medical care to begin with. These people could have been lying about everything. Gerard could be dead already. He could have been killed when they shot him. It was the not knowing that was bothering her.

  “We need to barricade that fence so nothing can get in while we’re out here waiting for who knows how long,” said Damion.

  “True,” Darren agreed, “but not a lot here to do anything with. If we gather stuff from outside we should be able to barricade it enough to keep anything out. We don’t really need any food due to the supplies we have so that’s something I guess.”

  Damion walked over to Christa to inform her of the plans to reinforce the fence. “Darren and I are going to go outside the fence to gather some materials to barricade this fence. We were going to drive somewhere but I’m not taking any chances with you and Anna, especially with those people inside. So we’ll be right outside the fence, ok.”

  Christa nodded her head and leaned over to give Damion a kiss, “I love you.”

  He smiled, “I love you too.”

  Christa and Anna sat on the back of the truck as they watched Damion and Darren barricade the fence slowly. They brought in a pile of supplies they found just outside of the fence and started to utilize them as best they could. It always amazed her how resourceful Damion was. No matter the resources he had he always seemed to make things work. This was no different. From the various supplies and items they found outside the fence they had successfully barricaded it.

  After they were done barricading the fence, Damion and Darren went back over to the trucks. “Looks great baby. You always amaze me no matter what you do.”

  “You give me far too much credit, but I’ll take it,” Damion stated with the utmost of modesty.

  “Of course you will.”

  They sat on the back of the truck eating soup out of individual cans. “I miss the regular hot meal. Just something about the way it warms up your stomach and radiates outward. It’s so funny how you look at food differently when you don’t have it so often, especially a good home cooked meal. All the things that were taken for granted I would gladly give my left arm for now. Funny how life works sometimes.”

  “That was deep Darren and I totally agree with you. I would love nothing more than a big, juicy hamburger right now. A delicious, mouthwatering hamburger. Mm mm.” Christa couldn’t help but lick her lips. She didn’t know if it was the pregnancy cravings or just the fact that she was really hungry for a hamburger, and at this point she didn’t care. All she knew was she wanted a hamburger really bad.

  “Oh my gosh stop talking about hamburgers,” exclaimed Damion. “Let’s go! We’re going through a McDonald’s drive-thru right now!”

  “I wish,” Darren added.

  “I’d be ordering a big Mac.”

  “I guess I’d be ordering a little Mac then.”

  They all started laughing. “Yes you would lil’ D. Yes you would.”

  It was dark so they shut the door on the truck and went to sleep for the night. Christa couldn’t help but wonder if Gerard was dead or alive.

  The next morning Damion woke up to find Christa not in the back of the truck. He started to panic as he got up and nudged Darren to tell him of her disappearance. “Did you see her go anywhere?”

  “No man I didn’t. Where could she be?”

  “I don’t know.” Damion opened up the back of the truck and instantly saw Christa over lying in the fetal position near the small patch of grass about fifty feet away. He immediately ran over to her and knelt down beside her. “Baby are you okay?” As soon as he asked it was when he saw the blood. There was blood on her pants and he could tell she was in great pain. “Oh my God Christa. Are you okay? It’s the baby isn’t it?” He picked up her head in his hands and cradled her.

  Darren ran over to Christa and Damion, “Is she ok?”

  Damion looked up at Darren and shook his head.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, but there is something I can do.” Damion picks up Christa and heads towards the gate. Anna stays in the back of the truck clutching to her doll. Damion finally reaches the gate and kicks it. “Hey! Hey! Heeeeeey! I need to speak to someone!! Please!! She needs medical attention!! Hey!!”

  Footsteps head over to the gate slow and methodically. “What do you want?”

  “I need assistance! She’s having a miscarriage and bleeding profusely! Please help her!”

  “I’m sorry. We can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t? If you can help someone you shot then you can definitely help her! Please! I’m begging you!”

  “You mean that guy? We aren’t helping him. He’s dead.”

  Christa was awake long enough to hear that and when she heard it she passed out. Damion froze in place when he heard those words. He slowly sank to his knees with Christa in his arms. He couldn’t believe it. Gerard was dead. He didn’t like him at all but he didn’t want him dead. He knew this meant two things. He knew it meant that these people had lied to him and he knew it meant they had no help to offer Christa.

  The gate rattled for a moment and then opened slowly. There standing was a woman dressed in ACUs. “Come with me.” A man went over to Damion to take Christa out of his hands but Damion relented. He backed off and Damion stood up with Christa in his arms. “It’s ok,” the woman said reassuringly to Damion as she motioned him to follow her. She looked over at the guy carrying the automatic weapon, “Go get the little girl and the guy.” He nodded and walked towards the truck. Damion watched him as he went over to gather Anna and Darren.

  Damion followed this strange woman towards a huge building that was surrounded by at least ten visibly armed men. As he went through the doors he couldn’t believe his eyes. Th
is place was immaculate and in order. There had to be at least fifteen people that were all dressed in military uniforms. “This way.” She motioned Damion down a hallway. They passed many doors before she stopped at one of them and proceeded inside. “This way. You can lay her down right there.” The room looked like it was straight out of a hospital. It was fully equipped from what Damion could tell.

  Damion laid Christa down in the bed and turned to the strange lady. “Thank you.”

  “We have a doctor and he’ll take care of her just as he took care of your friend.”

  Damion stepped towards the lady and two guards stepped forward to stop him but she raised her hand to tell them to stop. “What do you mean like my friend?? You’re not going to hurt her!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The guard at the gate told me that Gerard was shot dead yesterday.”

  “Damnit.” She looked at the one armed man that was closest to the door. “Go straighten that out and tell him to not open his mouth again. I swear that boy is going to end up screwing up something one of these days.” The man nodded and walked off. “No, he’s not dead. Your friend is in the other room and doing just fine. Let the doctor look her over and take care of her needs though. We can talk in the other room.”

  “I rather not leave her.”

  “She’ll be okay. I promise.”

  “Sorry but that isn’t good enough for me.”

  “Understandable. Well I’ll give you the run down while we sit here and the doctor examines her. When the shit went down we were good on base for a while but eventually we even lost control here. We retreated to this place and we’ve held strong ever since. When the undead would accumulate outside we’d kill them and discard their bodies somewhere else. Occasionally we’ll make sweeps for supplies and to kill whatever undead in our path. We figure the fewer the better. You guys are welcome to stay as long as you want. I apologize for the treatment before but as you know you can’t be too cautious nowadays no matter how armed you are. We’ve had people come here and even with all our weaponry they still tried to overtake this place. We ended up losing three people that day so we take it very seriously. I’m not about to lose another person due to carelessness or trusting the wrong people.”

  Damion interjected, “I can understand that completely.”

  “You sound as if you’ve experienced the same thing.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Just when you think the undead are the worst thing you can run into you find out there is worse. At least with the undead there are no false pretenses, no lies. You know exactly what they want.”

  “Very true.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Yes doctor?”

  “She’s fine. I’m just going to give her some medicine for the pain and hydrate her but other than that she will be ok.” The doctor turned his attention towards Damion. “She did have a miscarriage though. I’m sorry.”

  “I figured she did. Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “It’s no problem.”

  The lady turned to Damion, “I am truly sorry. I’m guessing you want to be by her side right now so I’ll leave you to it. I’ll have some food brought in for you both though.” She went to walk out the door but turned back around momentarily, “Oh and by the way, my name is Kate. Kate Blanchard.”

  “My name is Damion and she is Christa.”

  “Nice to meet you Damion. I’ll have that food brought in.”

  Christa remembered something, “Wait a second please.”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you have a wall or something where you remember the people you’ve lost?”

  “Yes we do actually, but why do you ask?”

  Christa reaches into her back pocket and stares at the two pictures a moment before handing them to Kate. “Could you put these up there? The one is Sgt. Donaldson and the other is Bree.”

  Kate walks over to Christa to retrieve the pictures, “I will. Thank you.”

  “No, thank you.”

  As Kate left the room Damion walked over and pulled a chair up to the side of Christa’s bed and held her hand. “I’m so sorry baby. I am. We’ll get through this I promise you that.”

  Christa opened her eyes and gave a half smile to Damion, “I know we will. You know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have you.”

  Damion takes Christa’s hand and kisses it, “and you’ll always have me.”

  “I heard we get to stay as long as we want.”

  “Yes. Do you want to stay?”

  “I do. I think we might have a real shot here and it’s the safest place for Anna.”

  “I think it’s the safest place for all of us at the moment.”

  “Damion?”

  “Yes baby?”

  “I need to tell you something before the pain medicine kicks in and I go to sleep.”

  “Yes?”

  “Come closer.” Damion leans over to where his face is directly in front of Christa’s. She looks in his eyes and takes in every detail about them before she finishes. “I love you” She presses her lips softly to his and savors that moment.

  “I love you too. Always have. Always will.”

  I know you do baby. I know you do.

  Dedicated to the love of my life.

  Come what may you never waiver,

  Always by my side.

  You know me better than anyone and

  Love me all the more for it.

  From the moment I met you,

  You awakened my heart, soul and mind.

  I look forward in spending eternity with you.