Seasons of Z (Book 4): Dead Fall

by Riva, Aline

  That local legend had just walked stiffly into the bar, pausing to look around at the recent refurbishments. The place had long been due some work, and now it was carpeted throughout with dark wood and a brand new bar, and the seating was blue, with matching drapes at the windows supplied by Carol from her fabric store. The place had also been extended, there was another bar out the back with dance floor space, and that half of the bar was going to be a nightclub when it opened, but first, it was going to be used for something else. The whole place would be decorated next week for a wedding reception, with flowers and balloons and the other half of the bar would be used for a buffet. Mickey smiled as he walked across the empty room, thinking of the young couple so in love:

  They could have had the reception up at the manor, but they both recalled the first time they had danced together as children, in this very room thirteen years before. It was a day Mickey would never forget either, the day several hundred people turned out to stand up for him, on the day the police had come looking and then left again. Mickey would always feel grateful to this town for giving him a second chance at life - and what a great life it was raising Angel and all the happy years he had spent with Joy, who was walking over to meet him now with a smile on her face after ending a phone call to the caterers.

  “We're all set,” she said, and as she took in the sight of Mickey standing there in a dark blue suit she concluded the years hadn't changed him much at all, the lines on his face were a little deeper, but that was from smiling, and right now his eyes sparked as he thought of the upcoming wedding.

  “I can't believe our daughter is getting married!”

  Joy laughed, looking fondly at Mickey as she ran her fingertips down his tie and leaned closer.

  “I always knew those two were made for each other, our Angel and Lord Archie,” she said fondly, recalling years back, when Archie had proudly posed for a picture beside his new adopted father, Archie wearing a copy of Charlie's tweed suit especially made for the picture as he stood outside the manor, his little shoulders back and the tips of his tapered hands touching as he proudly posed for the photo. Archie had grown into a quick thinking, bright young man who was short and still a little rounded and walked quickly with a bounce to his step, but these days his speech only muddled and slowed and he said Archie instead of I when he was tired or emotional. Archie helped Charlie to run the estate, and he was very good at it, too. Charlie Featherstone was now in his seventies, but thanks to more than one bite from Imp over the passing years, was youthful for his age and in very good health. It was Charlie who had persuaded Archie to propose to Angel, and of course, she had said yes.

  “Do you think we were made for each other?” Mickey asked her.

  “Definitely!” she said with a smile.

  Joy looked into his eyes, recalling those hard days on the road after saving a wanted man from a lynch mob. Back then she had been a copper and he was the last person she had expected to fall for. But the outbreak had changed everything, and here they were, years later, Angel about to get married and Joy had so many years to look back on, and so many to look forward to, now as Mrs Joy Silk, wife of Mickey, local apocalypse legend who turned this town around back in the old days... She caught his weak hand in her grip and raised it to her lips and kissed it as Mickey slid an arm around her waist. They stood there in the middle of the empty bar, sharing a moment of silence as a look of love passed between them that needed no words. It was Mickey who broke the silence.

  “Sometimes I look back on the old days and I think, if I'd never fallen into the hands of that mob, we never would have met.”

  Joy laughed softly.

  “Not many people can say they met like we did. And I'm so glad I found you.”

  “Do you think Angel and Archie will be as happy as we are?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” Joy told him, “Now let's go home, Mickey, I'll run you a bath and then we can spend the rest of the evening relaxing.”

  “I like the sound of that!” he agreed, and they left the bar together, their hands linked.

  At Featherstone Manor, the place was silent as Archie grabbed Angel's hand, leading her up the steps as she giggled. Archie was in a grey tweed suit and his hair was neatly combed and there was a sparkle in his dark eyes as his tapered hand gripped the hand of his fiancée as they went inside and closed the front door behind them. Angel stood there in dark jeans and a black top that showed off her slender figure. Her hair was blonde and fell to her shoulders and her eyes lit up excitedly as Archie started to speak.

  “Dad is out with Mum, they went to the bowling alley and then they are having dinner in town. We have all evening, are you ready, Angel?”

  She nodded excitedly as Archie stripped off his jacket and let it fall to the floor. Then he hurried for the stairs as behind him, his fiancée held her hands up claw like and gave a menacing hiss.

  “Don't eat me!” he yelled, his hands awkwardly tugging at his buttons as he pulled open his shirt.

  As she headed for the stairs she looked up, snarling. Archie tossed his shirt aside and dashed for the bedroom as his tapered hands flew to his belt. Angel made her way up the stairs, pausing to sniff the air.

  “Guts....” she hissed, and carried on climbing.

  In the bedroom, Archie was in bed, reaching out to grab a condom. By the time Angel got there, her top was in the hallway, and she tugged off her jeans in the bedroom and cast her clothing aside as she crawled under the covers, looking up as Archie looked down, and she gave a snarl.

  “Guts guts guts!” she said menacingly, then she playfully poked at his belly, ticking him as he started to laugh.

  “I'm eating you Archie!” she snarled, and made playful, harmless nips on his stomach as he laughed harder.

  “No... not eat me... not eat me Angel.. no eat Archie!”

  She slid up above the covers, flipped her hair from her face and laughed as he did too.

  “Your speech always goes wrong when I do that!”

  He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.

  “Because I get excited! Any more eating me like that and the condom will be wasted, too much, too quick and all over for me!” he said, laughing again as she did too.

  “I love you, Archie,” Angel said softly and as their eyes met, she thought about that playground game years before - like the zombies back in the days of the outbreak, the game had evolved, too. Their generation were known as the Outbreak Generation, a unique group who had childhood memories of the apocalypse, who had witnessed it as kids and took their memories into the playground. Years later as adults, the Be My Zombie game had become something else entirely. Now it was known as Zomb Fet, and it was entirely unique to many people who were old enough to recall the horrors of the outbreak, but had turned the bad memories into something else, something safe and silly that had found its way into the bedroom... Her online name was ZombQueenAngel and Archie's name was LordArchie(Angel'sfood).

  Her parents didn't know about her zombie games, and neither did Archie's family. But she had told Poppy, who had folded up in a fit of giggles, then she had looked at her and said, Oh my god, you don't, do you?

  Angel had smiled and nodded.

  “Yes we do!” she said as she laughed and blushed.

  And now as they lay together, as Archie looked into her eyes she smiled, recalling how he had handed her a velvet ring box and said, Be my zombie forever, Angel...

  “I can't wait to marry you, we're going to be so happy together,” she said softly, and he smiled broadly, replying with a kiss as he took her in his arms.

  A week later Angel married Archie in the grounds of the manor on a warm Spring day in late May. Charlie and Carla had exchanged a smile as they watched them kiss at the altar, both sharing the same thought: It had all been worth it, for this moment, to see Archie married to his childhood sweetheart, in the grounds of the manor that would one day be his.

  Later at the reception, as Chris and River talked with Alice about their pl
ans to start a family soon, Izzy had run up to River and smiled as she held out the fabric of her pale silk dress.

  “Look River,” she said, “Do you like my dress?”

  River smiled down at the lively girl with red hair like Alice and the eyes of Mickey Silk.

  “Yes, it's very lovely,” she told her.

  Izzy smiled proudly.

  “It was very expensive, I like nice things!”

  As he joined them, Alex looked over at Mickey as he said, She's got expensive taste, she likes luxury... I wonder where she got that from? And a short distance away as he stood with Joy, Mickey smiled back at his best friend and raised a glass of champagne.

  Much later, with the reception over, Archie and Angel fondly thanked everyone who had attended, then hugged their parents, and before they left, Carol assured them both Imp and Fluffle would be okay - while they were away, she would stop by the house when Carla and Charlie were busy, and keep an eye on their lively Evolved to ensure no valuable china got broken as they darted about unsupervised. Then the guests gathered outside the bar and watched as the happy couple were driven off to start their honeymoon – a six week luxury cruise, where Poppy silently guessed some very strange games indeed would be played out by those two in the honeymoon suite.

  It was late when they returned home. Chris and River went upstairs to bed while Joy and Mickey sat down together on the sofa in the front room, after Joy had made some tea. Mickey gave a tired sigh as he kicked off his shoes and sat back as the weak side his body ached from hours of standing around talking, and later, dancing.

  “It's been a day to remember,” he said fondly as he turned his head and smiled at Joy.

  “It has,” she agreed as she sipped her tea then put it down and sat back, resting her head on Mickey's shoulder.

  Then Mickey suddenly thought of something.

  “What was all that about, at the reception? When Archie got up to dance with Angel and he said she would always be his zombie, I'm sure she said zombie...”

  Joy laughed softly as she raised her head from his shoulder.

  “I have caught her snarling at him quietly, and then they laugh. I believe it's that thing called ZombFet.”

  “What's that?” Mickey asked, and she laughed a little more as she looked at Mickey, knowing for sure his reaction to this would be priceless.

  “You've never heard of it?”

  “No,” he replied, “What is it, Joy?”

  She paused, smiling as she looked away, composing thoughts to make this easily understandable for Mickey, who she knew would still find it unthinkable...

  “It's a thing, Mickey. Used to be a game kids played in the playground, but as they grew up - the Outbreak Generation - they sort of took it with them. It's a role play game for couples. One pretends to be the zombie and the other is the victim and the zombie chases the victim and pins them down and pretends to eat them whilst tickling...”

  She slowly looked back at him. Mickey looked mildly confused, then dismayed and finally, as he looked at her, he could only respond with one word that came to mind:

  “Why?” he exclaimed, and Joy laughed again.

  “Because it's safe and harmless and a way to process all they saw as kids in the year of the outbreak, I guess. I'm not surprised some of them do this kind of stuff. I mean, imagine being Angel's age and seeing all that she witnessed. She has to deal with it somehow. And she's perfectly fine and so is Archie. We don't have to worry about them.”

  Mickey was still thinking about all she had said.

  “I remember what it was like to fight those things! How can anyone turn it into a game, especially a bedroom game? If a zombie came into my bedroom I'd blow its fucking head off!”

  She laughed again as she looked fondly at him.

  “You look tired, and it's getting late. Let's go to bed.”

  “Good idea,” he said as they rose from the sofa together. They left the front room and headed for the stairs, and on the way up Joy playfully said, Want to try it out? Shall I be the zombie tonight, Mickey?

  “Stop it!” he said firmly as she giggled, “It's weird, Joy!”

  Then as they headed off to bedroom he added with a smile, “But I might look it up online tomorrow morning, just for a laugh!”

  A short while later, the bedroom was in darkness as Mickey lay beside Joy sleeping deeply. Joy was still awake, thinking on what he had said, about if a zombie came in, he would blow its head off:

  Yes, he would.

  Because he still kept a loaded shotgun under the bed, just in case the zombies ever returned. It was a fear many of those who had fought to survive in Year Zombie still had – they didn't say so, they just carried on with each day, enjoying the return to normality but deep down inside, the fear would always be there and if the undead returned, they all knew what had to be done... That was the silent scar carried by Joy and everyone she knew, everyone who had ever picked up a weapon in the time of the outbreak. They were always prepared for the worst.

  Officially, guns had all been handed in after the world was declared safe - but she knew that wasn't the case, not in reality. Anyone who had fought back then would always keep a weapon in the house, if not in fear of the zombies, to simply protect the ones they loved, because the world had changed forever, in some ways good, in others, not so good. People were nicer to each other, they looked out for each other. The all know how close the world had come to losing the battle. It was a more caring place. But maybe that was because after coming so close to losing what mattered people held on to all they loved more fiercely now. They held on to who they loved, and as she lay beside Mickey, Joy felt sure she was not the only one who kept secrets that helped her sleep at night. Mickey wasn't aware his shotgun wasn't the only weapon in the house. There was the loaded handgun Joy kept hidden away, in a locked box in her wardrobe. It wasn't there for zombies, because the zombies were gone. It was there for that other threat to her loved ones, the threat she had seen emerge during the time of the outbreak that would always be around lurking unseen, somewhere, because humans had control once more and she had seen the best of humanity whilst struggling to survive, but she had also seen the worst. And as she put her arm around Mickey and he slept on, she looked into the darkness as her thoughts lingered on that forever present threat...

  She didn't fear the dead any more, it was the living that concerned her, the evil amongst humanity that might have made it through, that might one day reach into their family in the form of someone who wanted to cause harm. The outbreak had taught her to kill to protect those she loved, that was the mark it had left on her, something only she could see, and as she closed her eyes and held Mickey a little tighter, it struck her as ironic that she had tried to go through Year Zombie holding on to her law abiding principles. How ironic it was that years later the law meant nothing to her, not when it came to protecting her family. If anyone ever posed a threat to her or Mickey, or Angel and Archie or anyone else she loved, there was a gun in the wardrobe and she wasn't afraid to use it. Failing that, she could always pop over to Carol's and borrow a hose and a can of petrol. But that was what the outbreak had taught her, hold on to those you love, fight for them, do what ever it takes... They were all like family, close as blood, bound by what they had been through together. She gave a sigh as she close her eyes, reaching a conclusion as she held Mickey close and slipped into a deep sleep:

  Family. That was what had got her through Year Zombie, and she would always defend and protect them, but kill for them?

  Of course she would, if she had to.

  Family was everything, it was the reason they had survived, that bond that held them together. After all they had been through to survive back then, those cherished bonds were everything, to all of them. And that made perfect sense and always would, cast in stone to last forever, family was all that mattered.

  End