by catt dahman
“I know. You’ve become a strong young man.” Kim took a moment to look his adopted son in the eyes.
Kim went to tell the rest that the island was now safe but to be on guard.
He said they would use the horses to run another check for hiding zombies. Julia
gave Kim a small wave as she stroked Matt’s hair. “I’m awful sorry, Matt. My
condolences to you and your family.”
“Thank you, Kim,” Matt said, “who else?”
“Nick, Trip, Kevin, Manuel, Derek, and Robbie.”
Matt shuddered. “When Len, Kim, Nick, and I were held by the Reconstruction Army, one of the group was told to go back and give the rest of the survivors the terms of an agreement. Without hesitation, we three told Matt to go. He was nineteen, and we wished to protect him; we saved him from the horrifying crucifixion we had endured.
When the rest came in, they brought the horses so the rest could do a search of the area.
Steve, as the only doctor in camp now since Doc had died, checked Len at Kim’s request, despite Len’s grumbling.
“You stay right here and rest until I say you can move around. You are over fifty now, and I worry about your blood pressure and heart.”
“Come on, Steve….”
“You heard me. You wanna upset everyone else all over again by keeling over
and dying? No? Then, do what the hell I say,” Steve roared.
“I will, but don’t go around announcing I’m over fifty anymore.”
“Fine.”
Steve made more people angry but didn’t care as he checked Kimball, Beth, Jessie, Big Bill, and Mark for shock, but they seemed okay, just a little dehydrated from crying.
“I want these on light duty for the rest of the day.” Steve glared at Kim before he could argue. “As second in security, Jet, you’ll need to step up and run things. Cory, Rev, Rae, and some more can help you, but Matt and Carl need to take things easy until they feel a bit stronger.”
“Steve, you don’t have the authority….” Beth began.
Jet shrugged. “He’s the doctor; I think he does. I have this, Mom.”
Beth watched her son take charge, ask for help, and issue orders, and she felt a wave of pride in him. Katie, her pretty fifteen year old, was already on horseback and held a rifle at the ready.
The young were inheriting the world, just as it always was and should be. Although she worried about her children, their adaptations to the new world made her feel safe and proud.
Beth picked a cabin at random with a small living area, a bathroom, a bedroom
at the back, and a big loft overhead. Each family had one, and the rest were for singles, six to a cabin. Beth decided four of her children could go to the loft, but Willow, or Wills, as she was called, was only two and would sleep down stairs with Kim and Beth.
Katie wanted to bunk with Jilly, Johnny, and Roxy.
By the time they assigned the chosen areas, sixteen of the twenty cabins were marked for use. Some cabins were marked for supplies: medical, cooking, and educational. The office cabin in the center would remain an office and a meeting place.
Beth looked over the cabin with a grimace. It hadn’t been cleaned for ten years, and it needed to be aired out and scrubbed. She dragged out old bedding since they had brought their own clean things. Beth shivered as she added the old bedding to the fire of bodies.
Julia, Rae, Misty, Tory, as well as the other women were doing the same things, grabbing buckets and soap to clean. Beth put her ten-year-old twins, Georgie and Stevie, to work. Her younger ones had to baby sit:Wills.
In time, the cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats were in pens on the island. They found only two other zombies walking around. Len swore they would flush out any hiding anywhere on the island.
Chapter 38
We Are Home: Port A Island
Despite everything else, the team who had been on the island had left crab traps, and a few of the people fished off the pier.
The cooks of the group took some of the food supplies and made a meal of crab Alfredo, using some jars of the creamy sauce and boiling big kettles of pasta. They blackened the fish, grilled it, and seared it in a tomato sauce they served with the pasta. There were fresh mussels and a salad made of lettuce they brought and sea grasses.
The group ate until they were stuffed.
The first smiles of the journey were shown here.
“Tomorrow, we put up fences and guard towers. We set up the supplies and start planting our trees and vegetables we brought. We get the berries going.
We set up fishing and get shrimp and more kinds of fish, and we’ll have curried goat tomorrow night, I am told. We have food, but we’ll grow or raise more in this fertile soil.
“We’ll be digging a pond, too. The cattle have one, and it’s a good little clean
stream, so we’ll shift it a little and run it over there to two places: one will be for washing
bodies and clothing, and the other one will be fresh water for drinking and cooking,”
Len said.
“Home.” Kim nodded.
We are home. We are at Port A Island,” Mark announced. Quickly, the name
became Port AI and then Port.
They would spend the next month’s building, bringing in new supplies, setting up security, and making the island a home. Everyone would work hard, and the first permanent change they made was a graveyard where they erected crosses for the ones lost on the tip and on the island.
Chapter 39
We Have Fought the Good Fight; We Are Going into That Good Night
On the fifth night at Port, Misty told Mark she was pregnant, and he cried, but happy over a new life, glad he had his family, and relieved that Misty forgave him his indiscretion.
Len sat with Kim at the fire. They shared a few cigarettes and a bottle of vodka.
“Do you know why I called for you when I saw Nick?”
“Not really. You felt dizzy, I guess. You could’ve called for Mark or…no, I don’t know why you called me.”
“Since day one, I have depended on you above anyone else to be there as my second. You know that. Mark is acting Governor, but I still order people around; he’s okay with it, same for Matt. It wasn’t that.”
“Okay,” Kim said.
Len sighed. “I saw Nick, and it all hit me: a little secret that has always been at the edges of my consciousness, nibbling away. Hey, don’t look shocked that I can be a Marine and intelligent.”
Kim laughed. “I know you’re sharp.”
“So I saw Nick, and the secret came to me…flooded me really. I suddenly understood and knew everything that had eluded me. Us. I needed you to see and understand as well. I couldn’t deal with it alone.”
“I must have missed something, Len. What was it?”
“I’m not crazy, Kimball.”
“I know,” Kim told him, “what was it you figured out?”
Len rubbed his jaw and drank from the bottle before passing it to Kim. He lit another cigarette.
“You know how George bonded us? He told us about sticking together and not giving up, about not letting the Zs win. He told us to go out on our own terms…not the terms of the Zs…remember?”
“We’ve lived by that. George was a smart man.”
“He was more clever than we knew. He wanted us to fight and survive and rebuild. He wanted everyone to have respect and choices, but he was saying all that and meaning it, but it was to distract us, Kimball. He was an illusionist. Sleight of hand.”
“How so?”
“He knew the secret, Kim. He just didn’t want us to figure it out,” Len said as he smirked, “but I figured it out.”
Kim handed the bottle back. “And?”
Len shook his head. “On Z day one when a person was infected, it was all over.We never had a chance, and George knew that.” He tapped his head. “He said George’s terms was about each of us fighting and then being able to go out in whatever manner we wanted, Kim.
We have fought the good fight. But we just haven’t decided on what terms we will go out. Nick decided for himself. He went out with a surrender.”
“I don’t….”
“Yes, Kim, I’m right. We will all go because we can’t live in this world. It’s not ours anymore; it’s theirs; we are just slowly going…deciding our own terms.
And ya know what? Mine are still a mystery. I haven’t decided how to go. But brother, we’re all gonna go. I just hope we can do as George wanted…on our own terms…but we need to decide…terms mystique.”
“You mean we don’t know how to let go? But we should?”
“In time, each in his own time will let go.”
“I can’t. I have a family...children…and Beth; I have a life. I won’t go quietly or whatever that poet said about not going into the goodnight or whatever it is. I’ll fight.”
Len chuckled. “Then that is your set of terms, but, Kim, we’re all going; we’ve lost the battle. We lost it ten years ago. We’re all going into the good night; we’re half way there; only the terms remain.”
-Fort Worth 2013
About the author:
catt dahman lives with her husband, child, three cats, a dog, and a ferret outside Fort Worth. She graduated from Texas A&M and has a Master’s degree. Writing has been one of her passions for thirty-odd years. She enjoys the genres of westerns, horror, thrillers, and splatter punk. Find her at website or Face Book
Copyright.
catt dahman
© 1990, 2013, catt dahman
[email protected]
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book, including the cover and photos, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. All rights reserved.
Innocence©Nic Hatfield 2012. Lyrics used with permission.
The characters, places, and events depicted are fictional and do not represent anyone living or dead.This is a work of fiction.
Z is for Zombie Order:
George’s Terms
Event Horizon
Shadow of Doubt
Devil’s Details
Rage
What Lies Beneath
Avenging Angel
End of the Road
Terms Mystique
