The Last Days (Books 1-3)

by Julie Cooper Brown

  “Did you cut yourself, what was all the blood?” I asked as I looked him over and turned him about.

  “Dude! I got to kill a zombie! It was cool! I was riding my bike up 41 from San Carlos, headed here to your house and got a flat. I had to start walking. That thing just came out of nowhere and the only thing I saw was that fence post, so I picked it up and blasted his head like I was hitting a homerun, man! He tried to get up, so I hit his head about five more times. Smashed it up! It was nasty but I got a lot of anger out of me when I killed it” he chuckled. “I don’t feel bad cause it wasn’t a real person, then I started taking the side streets up this way.”

  “Who were you staying with?” I asked.

  “Some girl I met a couple weeks ago, but she didn’t come home after leaving on the bus to get food yesterday. So I figure she’s gone, I reckoned I’d come here with y'all, but I had to get up here quick as I could. We gotta get outta here, now. I saw four troopers bust in a door and shoot everybody in the house. They weren’t even infected!”

  “See, Jillian!” Evan said as he sprung up off the couch and began pacing the floor. “I told you this was going to happen! I’ve been telling you for years!”

  Evan had been dreaming about U.S. soldiers, breaking into citizen’s houses and shooting them down without explanation, ever since he was a boy. I thought it ridiculous at the time.

  I cut him off.

  “Now, wait a minute. How do you know they weren’t Infected, Jimmy?”

  “Because the man said he wasn’t! They just kicked in the door, raised their guns and the man said that there weren’t any Infected in there. I didn’t hear any of the troopers say anything. They just started shooting and the others inside were screaming and begging until they had all been shot dead. They didn’t even use their machine guns; they shot them one at a time. It scared me to death! I ran as fast as I could to get off that street so they wouldn’t see me out. It ain’t safe to stay here anymore. I would have tried to call you but I lost my phone last week and I don’t know your number without it.”

  “The phones went down yesterday, internet too, and only static on the radio. We can’t get any information,” I said. “How do you know they weren’t just a rogue unit?”

  “I don’t,” he replied “but do we really wanna stick around and find out?”

  We updated him on things that went on around here.

  After we told him about Dan and Dawn he said, “I always knew he was a sick fuck. No pun intended. I never liked him.”

  “Well,” Evan began, “It’s eight thirty (p.m.) right now. We’ll leave at dawn. Old Joe wants to leave at eight, but I think the earlier the better. I don’t think the few soldiers that are left here are gonna come shooting us down. Fraley told us to run, so I know he’s not going to come up here and shoot us. Jill, make sure we have enough for all of us, we don’t know how long it will be before we will be able to get a hold of anything. We all need to rest. We’ll sleep in shifts. I’ll go first so I can watch during the night. Don’t let me sleep longer than five hours, but wake me if you need me or anything else happens.”

  He went into our bedroom and shut the door.

  I continued with my checklist and finished packing up and noticed Jimmy had fallen asleep sitting up. I left him there and started gathering our weapons, two guns and a pair of scythes.

  I walked over to Old Joe’s and knocked on his door, to tell him we were leaving earlier. He did not answer, I assumed he went to bed, we would see him in the morning.

  About an hour went by and Jimmy woke up. He went into the bathroom and I heard the sink running and I thought I heard him vomiting, I thought he was probably sick from what he’d done earlier. He stayed in there for a good ten minutes, when he came out he asked me, “Do you mind if I go back to sleep for a while?”

  “Of course not,” I told him “Get all the sleep you can. We’re leaving early.” He lay down on the couch and was out like a light.

  I sat and rolled the last of my smoke, it was just a small joint.

  I knew I wouldn’t be smoking it any time soon so I tossed it in my purse and forgot about it.

  Around two thirty in the morning Evan woke up and got in the shower. I put the clothes I wanted him to wear on the back of the door, and then went back over my list again to make sure I had everything.

  Evan finished his shower and told me to go get some rest. I told him to go over early and get Old Joe, that I had tried but he didn’t answer.

  I needed some rest, though I wasn’t sure if I could fall asleep. I prayed for everyone’s safety, I prayed for my sisters to be safe.

  I knew it was going to be the last time I slept in my bed and I wanted to enjoy it.

  I got into bed and borrowed deep under the covers. I must’ve fallen asleep pretty quickly because I don’t remember anything after that thought, until I woke up to a gun shot in the house.

  It startled me so bad, that when I jumped up I almost broke my neck, because my feet were tangled in the blanket. I kicked it away and flung the door open to see the wall ahead of me in the living room covered in blood and brains and I could see the soles of Jimmy’s tattered shoes.

  It took a second for my mind to adjust to what I was looking at, I thought of what Jimmy said about the soldiers and the fear hit me like a brick.

  I felt an icy chill work its way from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, causing the sensation of my hair standing on end and an empty, hollow feeling in my stomach developed. Where is Evan?

  I ran up the short hallway and it seemed like it took forever until I saw Evan, standing stock still with the gun still aimed at where Jimmy must’ve been standing, there was a faraway look on his face.

  I looked down at Jimmy’s body on the floor, the back of his head was blown out and its contents were now sliding down the wall onto the back of our couch.

  I went up to Evan and softly told him “It’s okay. You can put the gun down now.” I put my hand on his arm and gently pressed to make him lower it. He was still looking at the bloody wall and clearly in disbelief of what he’d done.

  “I had to, Jill. I fuckin’ had to. He was coming for me. He woke up and he was crazy looking, and came at me! He was one of those things in the video, Jill. I had to. Oh my God, Jill! I killed him!”

  He put his face in his hands and wept. There was nothing I could do to console him. He was the one who had remained calm through all of this, and I had never seen him break down in this way. Killing Jimmy was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. I knew he was going to need a little time.

  “It wasn’t Jimmy anymore, Evan. He would have killed you,” I said with tears blurring my vision and I rubbed his back, he shrugged me off. I didn’t take offense.

  I went into the bedroom, got the blanket off the floor and covered Jimmy’s body. And that was the end of Jimmy.

  We loved him; he would’ve done anything for us. This was truly a loss.

  I sighed and told Evan I was getting a shower. I was too shaken up to enjoy it so I made it quick. When I came out Evan had regained his composure and had put our back packs and bags in front of the door. I dressed and we got our things and took a last look around. We would never see our home again.

  LEAVING HOME

  We threw our belongings in the truck and Evan went to see if Old Joe would leave with us. He didn’t answer. Evan tried the door and it was unlocked, and he peeked his head in and pulled it back out quickly and shut the door. When Evan got in the truck he only said “Old Joe cannot come with us.”

  I didn’t want to think about why Old Joe couldn’t come with us. I told him we were going to go and get Evelyn.

  We rolled up in front of her house and I ran up to the door and was going to knock but it was partially open. I took a deep breath not knowing what I would find and pushed it the rest of the way open.

  Evelyn was lying on the chaise lounge, head tilted back and her mouth was open and a book in her lap. I didn’t see the cats that were usually
fighting for space in her lap. I felt her wrist for a pulse and there was none. I saw the empty bottle of sleeping pills I found for her yesterday on the stand next to her. I understood immediately.

  That bottle was almost full when I found it for her. She had overdosed. She did not suffer. I contemplated shooting her so she didn’t come back. I even put the gun to her head. I found I could not pull the trigger. I went out and pulled the door shut behind me.

  When I got into the truck Evan looked at me and I told him, “She’s dead.”

  He didn’t say anything, he pulled away from the curb and we headed north up the Tamiami Trail to the shelter they had supposedly still working on up in Punta Gorda.

  It was only twenty miles. The one in Cape Coral would’ve been closer, but they had built a barricade around the city a few days ago to keep anyone from going in or coming out, and it was too dangerous to head to the one in South Fort Myers, we would have had to go through downtown and there would be too many infected, there. We would never make it.

  Well, Evan is awake now, he’s not in the condition I was hoping he would be in, and I am terrified. He’s a Halfer.

  He spoke to me and his voice is gravelly and deep, not his own. He asked me to untie him; he said that he loved me and that I smelled so good. He said for me to give him a kiss. I did not.

  I think I am losing grip on reality here, or I’m just becoming numb. I got the joint I rolled few weeks ago out of the bottomless pit I call my purse, which, somehow oddly enough, I managed not to lose. That’s unbelievable! I can lose it in ten minutes at the bar. It’s filled with things that are all useless now, ID’S, social security cards, prepaid cards, Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie receipts and our cell phone. Well, that’s not completely useless. I can still tell the time and look at our pictures and videos, at least until the battery dies.

  Well, I have decided not to smoke it… because if I do, I will not only be a crying sad mess, I will be a crying sad paranoid mess. I’ll be freaking out, man! (I said that with a whisper in my stoner voice.) Forgive me if my humor is out of place, it’s the only thing keeping me sane. So, I’ll continue as long as I can and pick up where I left off. ****

  Things kind of moved pretty fast after that.

  We were on our way up to Punta Gorda. The only problem was we were low on gas. Real low, when all the bad things started happening everybody was lined up at the stations. The lines ran a mile down the road. Eventually, all the stations ran out of gas and never received another shipment. We didn’t get the chance to get any.

  When they brought in the troops and tried to organize it all, no one was allowed to drive their vehicles, so there weren’t many cars on the road we could syphon from, besides, we didn’t have a hose.

  We did make it to about two miles outside of Punta Gorda, and we got out and started walking. The stretch of 41 we were on was mostly devoid of Infected and the few we did see; we were able to run past.

  It was tiring because our packs were full, but we made it into Punta Gorda without a problem.

  A mile into town, we saw a mob of Infected ahead that were surrounding what looked to be a disabled school bus.

  I did not want to see, for fear it may be children trapped and there’s no way we could save them, and it would haunt me for the rest of my days if it were. We’d never be able to get them away from there, and where would they go then. We decided they were safer on the bus than they would be with us. We had no choice but to go that way. If we were quiet we could make it, for all their attention was on the bus.

  As we got closer we could see that it wasn’t a school bus, but a county bus carrying inmates. I don’t know where they thought they were gonna take them to in the midst of all this. They were still alive. I could see the panic on their faces and they knew they were never going to get out unscathed.

  We wanted to help them. There were just too many there for us to do anything other than put ourselves in danger. So with great remorse and heavy hearts, we took advantage of them being distracted and moved on.

  Eventually, we ran into a man that escaped that bus. He said that the guards at the county jail drove them out there, parked and took the battery out, then got into a waiting police cruiser and they left them there. He said he kicked the emergency door in the back and it just came open real easy, like it wasn’t even shut and he ran. They saw him but drove on, probably assuming the Infected will get him before too long anyway. When I asked why the other prisoners didn’t run, he said there were too many zombies coming already, that they must’ve been afraid to get out.

  I think he was bitten during that escape, he didn’t look well. He was heading home he said, to find his wife. We wished him good luck and he went on his way.

  So, it will be a couple hours until he is full zombie and I can do this. In the meantime I’ll try to keep from wigging out. It’s hard not too, though. He has opened his eyes and they are no longer the bright green they were in life. They are now the palest blue and blood shot, and he is pleading with me. He said that if I came closer, he would only take a little. He said it will make him feel better. Isn’t that what I wanted, for him to feel better? He said he is sorry that he wants to taste my flesh. That he wonders if it will taste as good as my vagina does. But he used the other word. Yes, I cuss like a sailor, but I hate that word. It’s just so vulgar.

  He is struggling in his restraints, but I tightened them up so he won’t be able to do anything but slither towards me, and I can just scoot around myself to avoid being within his mouth’s reach.

  Part of me wants to go to him, hold him, and let him tear into my neck in morbid embrace.

  And here I sit, rocking back and forth. I do it because it’s comforting to me. I’m trying to block out his words. I’ll tell you of the time we were out just cruising around town and we started discussing SpongeBob for some odd reason.

  He asked me if I knew where SpongeBob came from. I said, (because this is what I thought)

  “Yea, he’s a used up sponge the kitchen staff of a ship threw overboard.”

  He laughed so hard at me and told me where sponges really come from. I laughed until tears rolled from my eyes. How could I be so dingy? No, I’m NOT a blonde. I’m just not that educated on sea life.

  I need to end this soon, I am beginning to be nauseous and I have a slight headache and I don’t know exactly how this works. Evan didn’t tell me what he was feeling during the changing; I’m guessing it was like this. I really kind of feel like lying down but I want to finish this. So, I will leave the small stuff out, and try to sum up the rest for you, quickly. ****

  My birthday was just five days ago. I didn’t realize it. Evan reminded me. We were hungry and looking for new shelter when we saw a restaurant tucked in the corner of a small shopping plaza. So, we went there. After a thorough zombie check we barred the door with tables and searched for food and found some beef in a deep freezer that hadn’t completely thawed yet.

  It wasn’t any good to us though for two reasons. Number One; how are we going to cook it? By this time the power was down everywhere. So the microwave there wasn’t any help.

  Number two, we had seen too much in the past month and neither one of us had the stomach for it. Any species of flesh just didn’t seem appealing to us, at all.

  We looked around a little more and found several varieties of can goods, some packets of Capri Sun (for kids’ meals I guess) and a few cases of bottled water.

  We then sat Indian style behind the counter and I ate peaches while Evan ate chicken noodle soup.

  We talked about old times and friends. Things we’ve done together. Things we would like to do. We did not talk about what was going on. For those few moments, we really didn’t worry about anything.

  We finished eating and spread table cloths on the floor and used our backpacks as pillows. He told me he had something for me and pulled a little lump of newspaper from his pocket.

  I opened it and it was a tiny glass teddy bear holding a red heart that says ‘I Love you�
��. He told me “Happy Birthday”. I kissed him and thanked him for it. He told me he got it on one of our scavenger hunts a few days before. I carry it in my pocket now, and I have looked at it a hundred times.

  Evan and I weren’t ones to beat around the bush when it came to sex. We’ve always had wild, hot, raw and steamy sex. On the floor, bed, dresser, couch, chair, just all over the place sex, always great. But that night, we made love. I kind of hate to say it in that way, because it sounds cheesy and all, but that is what we did, and very intimately. It was slow, and passionate and beautiful. We took our time, while whispering loving words, then fell asleep holding one another.

  Under the circumstances, it had been a great birthday. The next morning (or should I say a couple hours later), Evan said we should stick around here for a couple days not only because of the food, but also because we had found a big bag of clean service towels. We were able to use those and some of the water to clean ourselves up. It felt nice to be even a little bit clean.

  We stayed there for three days. We tried to live as close to normal as possible, given the situation. We had both gotten some much needed rest. I slept as he kept watch and vice versa. There were pretty many gathered out front by then.

  They couldn’t see us because we stayed behind the counter and low to the ground, but I know they could smell us.

  Twice, I peeked out at the windows and saw several gathered there, both hands and their faces pressed flat against the windows. They were certainly sniffing us out. The fear I felt in my heart that moment is nothing compared to the fear I feel now, as I watch my husband die before my eyes and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.

  So, the time came to leave there, too. You can’t stay in one place too long.