This Land of Monsters

by Tim Gabrielle

  Courtney led the way—she would choose her sister’s final resting place.

  Nash helped Melissa along as she hobbled with a thick bandage wrapped around her leg, moving along the roadside as the morning sun chased away the night’s clouds. The bullet had only grazed her calf and left a nasty wound, but she had stopped bleeding rather quickly.

  “There,” said Courtney, as she pointed to a hilltop shaded by a beautiful oak tree.

  Sullivan placed Jessica’s body in the grass and took the shovel from Dietrich. He dug the grave, the others comforting Courtney as she knelt beside her twin.

  Courtney stood up and held on to Dietrich, her face against his chest as Sullivan gently lowered her sister in to her grave. She sobbed as Sullivan settled shovel after shovel of wet dirt on top of her until the grave was full again.

  No one moved for sometime, and the silence was almost serene on the hilltop.

  “We can go now,” Courtney said, breaking the silence. Her voice was hoarse from crying, but her face was dry. She had no more tears left inside her.

  The group walked together down the hill and made their way back toward the road, when Nash suddenly stopped in his tracks.

  “Wait,” he said as he strained his eyes in the bright morning light.

  A silhouette of a man stood out against a line of trees, standing with his back toward them while he inspected the burning schoolhouse.

  “I’ll be right back,” said Nash, letting Sullivan support Melissa as he walked toward the man with his gun in hand.

  He approached the figure with caution, his gun held out in front of him as he walked slowly toward it, although he was fairly certain he wouldn’t have to use it.

  “Turn around,” he said as he stood close to the man with his gun in front of him.

  Nash lowered his gun as Duncan turned slowly. His clothes were wet and bloodied as he revealed a gaping bite mark on his neck. His face was covered with a deep sadness, unlike anything Nash had seen before. Nash’s eyes filled with tears, a sensation he hadn’t expected at all, as he raised the gun toward Duncan’s head. He held it steady, pointed directly at Duncan’s forehead, before he lowered it and placed it back in his waistband.

  He looked at the monster that had once been his stepfather as a whirlpool of emotions tossed and turned inside him. Anger, hatred, pity, sadness, fear, but above all, hope. Fletcher was dead, and now standing in front of him was the man who had been a monster long before he’d been turned. He thought about his mother, and her smiling face flashed in his mind as he stood pondering Duncan’s empty shell. Nash was finally free of Duncan’s tyrannical hold, but as he stood watching him, he couldn’t help but be overcome with a strange sort of sadness.

  “Goodbye,” he whispered as thick tears crawled down his face as he left Duncan to stand alone in the damp field.

  “You okay?” asked Sullivan as he approached.

  “Yeah.”

  Dietrich ran up ahead and looked at each of the vans and school buses, sitting in a line on the outskirts of the town. He climbed into the driver’s seat of one of the yellow buses and turned the keys as the engine roared to life. They each silently filed onto the bus and took their seats as Dietrich pulled onto the road.

  Chapter 44

  The sun set warmly over the group of people who danced and celebrated together in the dying afternoon light. Fires had been started, and lanterns hung from the trees lining the old dirt driveway that led up to the aging plantation home as the night slowly descended upon them. Underneath the massive pillars in the front of the plantation were men and women playing folk music in the dying light.

  A bride and groom held each other close, and smiled into each other’s eyes as the music fluttered through the evening air. In that moment, as they danced with each other, as their friends and family watched and danced along, it was easy to forget the wall at the edge of the property that protected them from the dangers of the outside world. It had taken a month to find the abandoned plantation and the better part of a year to erect the sturdy wall around it. Those that found them were welcome with open arms.

  Dietrich stood smiling, his arms around Emma as she tapped her hand against his to the beat of the music. Courtney stood with Sullivan, her head on his arm as she admired the dress she had created for the bride. Sullivan smiled while he watched the people he loved celebrate in the safety of what they had simply named, The Plantation.

  The sun crested downward over the horizon as Nash twirled his bride softly, both of them smiling at each other in the twilight.

  Melissa stared at the man she loved, the man who had promised to keep her safe, and who had kept his promise. In the dying light, they knew they were home. They’d found the place they were always meant to be: in each other’s arms, surrounded by the ones they loved. They’d found their place in this land of monsters.

  About the Author

  Tim Gabrielle is a married father of three beautiful children living in Tecumseh, Ontario. He spent the first eighteen years of his life in Paeonian Springs, Virginia, hiking and thinking up adventures in his head. Bringing his southern roots with him, Tim moved to Ontario in 2003 where he’s lived with his wife and kids ever since.

  If Tim isn’t writing, you can usually find him spending time with his family, playing rec league dodgeball, drinking Cherry Pepsi, or cheering at inappropriate volume levels for the New England Patriots.

  Don't forget to follow Tim Gabrielle on Twitter @TimGabrielle, on Instagram @authortimgabrielle, and Facebook @AuthorTimGabrielle.