I thought long about everything he said and how it all made sense. I know why we fight, and slowly I felt a little better. I shed only a single tear.
I looked at Brad and spoke, “I miss you, Brad . . . I miss you and Rachael so much.”
Brad gave me a hug and I hugged him back, not wanting to let go.
“We miss you, too, kid. Tell my girls we love them, okay?” Brad requested.
“I will, I promise,” I said.
Chapter 23
Nathan/Sonny
“Home is where the heart is.”
– Gaius Plinius Secundus
The dream ended abruptly and I woke up in Molly’s arms – everyone was still sleeping. It was early morning before the sun was up. Dawn was approaching as it was still dark, but the morning light was coming. I gently got up, trying carefully not to wake Molly. When I stood, I saw Ashley and Carrie down the hall in another classroom. I walked down to them. The early morning revealed some fog and made almost everything look blue. Ashley and Carrie were keeping watch, each armed with a rifle. They saw me coming.
“Hey,” I spoke lightly.
“Hey,” they both said back.
“Did you guys get any sleep?”
“I did. I woke up twenty minutes ago, but she didn’t. Carrie was up all night,” Ashley answered.
“Why were you up all night?” I asked Carrie.
“I was too pissed to sleep. I know you said that what Kate said wasn’t true, but it still stings. Besides, after losing Danny and Helga I didn’t want to take any chances,” Carrie answered.
I groaned and rubbed my eyes.
“I’m pissed, too, Carrie. But what Kate said is so fucking stupid. We’re not them. We’re still human. We didn’t let this world destroy our humanity, because if it did, we would have killed each other by now. There are worse things than being treated differently,” Ashley stated.
“Like what?” Carrie asked.
Ashley left a long pause before answering, “We could actually be the animals like she said we are . . . living out here, picking off of others, doing horrible things to other people, maybe even eating people.”
“Gross.”
“Yeah, like I said, it could be worse. So, let’s do what Nate is telling us we should do. Keep our humanity.”
“Last night, I couldn’t stop seeing their faces, all the people I’ve killed . . . I still see them, sometimes. I didn’t think that our last days before break would be like this. I’m sorry girls,” I said.
“Why are you sorry?” Carrie asked.
We turned to her.
“None of this is your fault. It’s theirs . . . the undead. They ruined everything. They took away so much . . . so much of what we can’t ever get back.”
“I know. I just . . . I just wish things were different. That shit wasn’t so wrong out here,” I said.
“Maybe . . . maybe that’s why we should be out here. To . . . make the world more . . . right or at least less fucked up,” Carrie said.
“But . . . we’re not them.”
“Yeah, we’re not them . . . but we should get rid of them. It’s like you said, ‘They’re things that need killing.’ That’s why we should kill the zombies. All of them.”
“And save people that need saving,” I said.
There was a long silence before Ashley spoke.
“Do you ever wonder . . . if we’d been different people if we hadn’t come here? Ever since we got on that plane, we’ve done a lot of things. Sometimes, I wonder what we would be like if we stayed. Do you guys wonder too?” Ashley asked.
“Sometimes,” Carrie answered.
After a long silence of watching the sky starting to light up, I spoke.
“You know . . . I had a dream last night . . . of your father,” I said.
The girls turned and looked at me.
“He was there . . . me and him. The dream was so vivid, felt so real. It was like he was actually there. We talked about what was bothering me about Kate calling us animals. I was telling him how a part of me wondered if it was true,” I explained.
Ashley was the first to speak and asked, “What did he say?”
“He told me . . . to focus on what you know is true. What I know is true is that we’re not animals, we’re still human, and . . . I love you two. I love our friends and everyone back home. They love us . . . and so does your dad,” I stated.
Carrie shut her eyes to stop any tears while nodding. She held my hand tight. I reached over and held Ashley’s hand.
“I love you. I love you both so much,” I said.
“We love you, too,” Ashley said.
Carrie kissed my hand, “We love you so much . . . and don’t you forget it.”
“How could I?” I asked, before hugging them both.
We hugged each other for a while and River walked in.
“Can I get some of that lovin’ action?” River asked.
I held out my hand and River came over with a smile and hugged us.
“You just can’t get enough of us, can ya?” Carrie asked.
“Actually, I was gonna say that and when you did – which you most definitely would have – I would have responded by saying there’s plenty of me to go around,” River grinned.
Everyone chuckled.
“So, where are the choppers landing?” I asked.
“Don’t know. It’s supposed to be at first light. Either way, Captain Noir gave us this flare gun, and these signal flares so we’ll be easy to spot. Where they’ll land is the question. Probably, by the track near the football field,” Ashely said.
“Sounds good to me. Oh, and uh . . . Captain Noir radioed the Fort. Looks like Chase was telling the truth. A family arrived at the Fort a day before the storm hit and they’ve been asking PA to keep an eye out for their missing kid named Chase Matthews. He got separated from them when a herd of zombies got the jump on them,” River explained.
I felt relieved at that moment.
“Huh, how about that,” Carrie said.
“Looks we made the right call. Avoided killing an innocent kid,” Ashley said.
“Yeah,” I sighed.
I grabbed an AR-15 rifle and my bow from the wall.
“What are you doing?” Carrie asked.
“I’m gonna head over to any areas where they might land and clear it of any zombies,” I answered.
“Not alone you’re not. Grab your sword. I’m coming with you.”
“Me, too,” Ashley added.
“Shit, me three,” River said.
We walked downstairs to an exit, but then we started to hear screaming. It was coming from the front doors. We ran to the front doors and we saw Kate with her friends with Patch and Jess. Michael was looking at the revolving door where McKenzie’s corpse was laying.
“What’s going on?” Ashley asked.
“Michael just found out that McKenzie’s dead,” Patch answered.
“What? Wasn’t she supposed to tell him last night?” Carrie asked.
“She was going to, but for some reason, looking at him she felt she couldn’t do it. So, she chose to wait until morning and apparently decided to show him,” Jess explained.
“How did you guys find out?” I asked.
“The skipper told us . . . and we felt it wasn’t our place to tell them,” Patch answered.
“NO!!” Michael screamed.
Lewis and Hanna tried to control him and then he finally fell to his knees with angry tears streaming down his face. He greeted his teeth trying to stay angry, but the sorrow was overwhelming him.
“You can’t be dead. You’re supposed to be here . . . for me,” Michael wept through his teeth and clenched fists.
No one said anything as he sat crying. We could understand that kind of sadness and pain – loss that you don’t know how to process … not being sure you can. Michael shot a glare at us.
“And look at you. You’re all still alive, huh?!” Michael shouted.
Then he glared at me.
Before Michael could finish that sentence, Kate grabbed Michael, shoved him against the wall, and slapped him hard in the face.
“Stop it! Right now!” Kate shouted.
Michael looked at her wide-eyed. We were wide-eyed, too.
“Don’t fucking call them that. They’re not animals Michael. We’re all on the same side,” Kate said.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Kate, are you fucking serious?” Michael asked.
“Yes, Michael. I’m fucking serious.”
“So, you’re okay with them living with us? Yeah right. Like they’re one of us!”
That struck a nerve with me and my friends, but before any of us could say or do anything. Kate slapped him again.
“Michael, I’m gonna say some things and you’re going to listen. We’re all just human beings trying to survive this hell. We’re all children of God . . . and now there’s the living, the dead and any scumbag that wants to kill us. The dead are the enemy. You start calling people Outsiders, wetbacks, or any racist names and I swear to God I will whoop your ass so hard you will wish you weren’t born! Do you understand me?!” Kate stated, firmly.
Michael glanced back at us before nodding, “Yes ma’am.”
Kate glanced at us before shoving Michael in another room to chew him out. My friends and I walked out feeling rather puzzled, especially me. It was getting easier to see, but the sun wasn’t fully up yet. The storm drove away the zombies, so the school was empty.
“What just happened?” Carrie asked with a baffled face.
“I think Campbell took back what she said about us being animals,” Ashley said.
“I didn’t expect that. I also didn’t expect her to slap Michael for being out of line,” River said.
“Neither did I,” I said.
Then two zombies started heading for us. They were moving slowly and one of them had a really messed up leg while the other only had one arm. The storm really did a number on them. Their clothes were damp, torn, and filthy – parts of their limbs showed bare bone. Carrie and I drew an arrow from our bows and killed them.
“I mean, it’s a goddamn mystery. It’s the mystery of the year. One minute she’s saying we’re wild animals that don’t deserve to live back home and the next she’s defending us. What changed?” Carrie asked.
“Maybe Ellen talked some sense into her or maybe Kate realized she was just flat wrong,” Ashley suggested.
Carrie turned to her surprised and asked, “Wrong? Kate Campbell realizing, she was wrong?”
“Yes, why is that so hard to believe?”
“I believe the British word for bullshit is ‘bollocks,’ and I agree. I say bollocks to that.”
Ashley rolled her eyes, “There’s no shame in admitting you’re wrong about something. That shit shows some character.”
“Kate didn’t exactly say she was wrong,” I stated.
Ashley turned to me and asked, “You don’t think her telling someone that we’re not animals – that wasn’t her openly admitting she was wrong?”
“It’s not exactly an apology,” River added.
“It still counts as taking back what she said. Maybe not an apology, but better than nothing.”
Then another zombie cawed out. It had no legs and its jaw was hanging from one side. Ashley drew her sword and killed it. Then another came by dragging its feet. It was a girl zombie; she was River’s age – her teeth were exposed with no lips and she had an arrow sticking out her back. River killed it. After that, there were no zombies to be found. We found a clearing big enough for the choppers to land. It was in the grass area in the middle of the running track. We stood there waiting for the choppers.
River broke the silence and stated, “You were right by the way.”
“What?” I asked.
“Last night, when you killed that bandit asshole Greg. What you said about why it’s worth killing him and people like him. Certain people like him stand in the way of us trying to survive. They stand in the way of us trying to live. People like Greg can’t be reasoned with or negotiated with. They’ve lost their humanity and are just too far gone. They’re—”
“Things that need killing,” I finished.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what they are. I think that’s the real main difference between us and them. They’re animals that need killing and people like Chase are people that need saving. If we can keep killing bad people that want to do us harm while saving survivors and good people, then . . . maybe these Dark Days won’t last so long.”
“So, what do we need? What are we?” Carrie asked.
River thought for a moment before answering, “We’re people that need to survive, need to live, because we care about what comes after.”
We looked at River and she smiled. We smiled back. Then, the sun started to come up. There were no clouds. So, we were gonna get an orange sunrise. Then, we started to hear helicopters. Carrie shot the flare gun to get their attention while the rest of us lit the signal flares. Ashley ran back inside to wake everyone and prepare to evacuate. The Pacific Army sent three Huey helicopters to get us. Grim was in the first chopper that landed. My eyes widened when I saw him. I wanted to hug him, but instead I stood at attention and saluted, he casually saluted back. They loaded the wounded first and some of my friends in one chopper with Danny and Helga in another chopper with the rest of my friends. Before Chase got into a chopper, I gave him back his stone necklace and nodded. He smiled and nodded back. I was the last to leave in the Huey with Grim and Captain Noir.
The Huey took us high into the air. I watched the school as we flew away. So many people died in there. I looked at Grim and he looked at me. He nodded with a look telling me he knew we all had a bloody time out here, but for now, it’s over. Grim and I watched the sunrise. It was beautiful with bright orange sunlight shining everywhere. I saw all the trees and their shadows in the morning mist. It was like looking at a painting. I looked back at Grim and at Captain Noir, giving a hopeful smile. Captain Noir returned the smile, but Grim didn’t. He looked back at the sunrise then back at me again and gave only the slightest hint of a smile . . . I couldn’t be sure. We flew back to Fort Gold Rush. Our home. My home where everyone is waiting for me, for my friends. My family.
About the Author
Christopher Cole was born in Seattle Washington in 1992, then relocated to North Carolina as child and lived for years at Wrightsville Beach. He has attended Wake Tech to become a welder because he likes to work with his hands to see the result of his efforts. One day he hopes to weld together anything from yard decorations to furniture or tools. Creating something is what inspired him to write Outbreak that he has worked on since he was a young man. Christopher originally intended to be a professional photographer to capture beauty, but decided to create something through words. Christopher loves writing, photographing sunsets, long walks on the beach, welding, and admits to his vice is playing video games.
Novels by Christopher Cole
The Dark Days Series
Outbreak
Sanctuary
About the Publisher
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
About the Author
About the Publisher
The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary Page 39
