After Days

by Salina Anderson

  His true motivation had always been to make enough money and to build a big enough house that would make him feel like he deserved Maya back and to have a family with her. Then he would go to her and get her back. But that time never came. Matt never felt good enough for her no matter how much he accomplished. The memories always lingered of their last fight and how he had made her believe that he didn’t want kids with her. But it had all been his own fear that he wouldn’t be a good enough husband and father, that she deserved better. And he had lost her because of his own fears and shortcomings.

  He would venture into the city from time to time to see her. She never knew he was watching her but he would sit in one of her favorite cafes or book stores and wait just to catch a glimpse of her. She had made quite a career for herself and really seemed happy so who was he to come into the middle of that and mess with her head all over again? He instead would spend some of his weekends at her cabin in the mountains reminiscing about the wonderful months they had spent there together and fixing up the old place so it didn’t fall down before Maya came back to it.

  He couldn’t bring himself to continue living there after Maya had left, but he couldn’t abandon the place either. When he saw that the roof had started to leak, he replaced it. And when the paint had faded and peeled off completely, he repainted the house. When he went there one day and put his foot through the front porch, he tore up the old rotted porch and replaced it. Some days he would sit in a rocking chair on the porch until late at night, staring at the woods and the black sky filled with tiny stars, and he would cry about his loss. He was not a man prone to tears and his mother and Maya had been the only people to ever see him cry.

  One day he decided that he needed a reminder of the little girl they had lost so he built a mini rocking chair to join theirs on the porch. All of that work over the years and still Maya had not returned. Not even for a weekend getaway or to check on the place. But he knew that was where she was headed when the virus outbreak had gotten out of hand. He had gone to his brothers with the hope that he could convince his brother to drive them there so when he succumbed to the virus, he could be buried in the one place that he felt true happiness.

  As he walked down the road and out of the city, he wondered if Maya had made it to the cabin. She had obviously been immune to the virus but there were so many worse dangers by the time she had started preparing to leave the city. He would go to the cabin first and see if she was there. If anything could bring them back together, it would be the world ending like it had with a bang.

  It was dark by the time he found a vehicle that was in decent enough shape for him to trust for his journey and he set out towards the southern mountains. Half way there he realized that he hadn’t eaten all day, let alone several days since he had been so sick but he didn’t feel any pangs of hunger. Strange. He pulled into the next restaurants parking lot he saw, a sports bar right off the highway that was likely more bar than sports.

  A few cars sat in the parking lot with no passengers and the night was dead silent around him.

  As he pushed open the front bar and his eyes adjusted to the dark interior, he quickly jumped back when he saw several bodies at the bar and strewn throughout the bars floor. When he didn’t see any movement, he cautiously made his way inside. It stank inside and he realized where the smell was coming from when he poked one of the patrons sitting at the bar and the body fell off the barstool and hit the floor with a thud. The guy’s hair was shock white and his face was bloated and mottled, the stench of death and decay hung heavy. Matt couldn’t stand the smell anymore and he stumbled back out into the clean night air.

  Matt didn’t stop again until he got to the cabin. His disappointment overwhelmed him with emotions when the house sat dark in the night and Mayas car wasn’t in the driveway. She hadn’t made it here. What had happened to her? He dug out the hidden key from underneath the ceramic frog and pushed the door open slowly. Nothing moved inside and he could smell the dust that had coated everything since the last time he had been there.

  Matt sat quietly on the porch in the rocking chair and just listened to the world while he sorted through his thoughts. He had somehow lived through dying from the virus and being hit with a nuclear blast and now he wasn’t hungry and he definitely was still not tired even after his long day of walking in the nude. He still felt incredibly awesome and he knew that the strength he had now was much more than what he had ever possessed, and he was never a weak man. As he puzzled over this strange turn of events, he slowly realized how quiet it was. No sounds of coyote howling in the distance, owls hooting in the trees, or even an occasional plane passing overhead. Could it possibly be that he was the last person alive and even the wildlife hadn’t survived the deadly virus?

  He should at least try and get some sleep. Tomorrow he would have to devise some sort of a plan and who knew what lay ahead of him now. Where once his life was planned out with each day blending into the next, now his days stretched ahead of him, an infinity of unknowns and possible dangers.

  He laid on the couch and pulled an afghan around him, not able to bring himself to sleep in the bed that he and Maya had once shared. When sleep did finally come, so did the nightmares. An endless rush of cries for help, pain, confusion and strange visions of other people stumbling around the same burnt out city that he had just left.

  Chapter 16 – Our strange little family – Present Day

  Maya awoke to the sounds of her newborn mewling next to her in hunger. She smiled when she saw his perfect face and his tiny puckered lips. She listened quietly for signs of the others in the houses and could hear quiet voices in the other room. Sitting up slowly, she pulled on the bathrobe hanging next to her bed and lifted her son into her arms. His warm body curled against her chest as she wrapped her arms around him and shuffled into the hallway.

  She stood in the hallway doorway and took in the scene before her in disbelief. Dennis was putting more fire into the woodstove while the woman pulled some bowls out of the cupboard and Matt stirred a pot of something on the stove. She thought she had prepared herself for every scenario over the months that she had been there but never had she thought that other people would be here with her.

  “Well hello there sleepyhead. How are you and your new addition doing?” Dennis asked from the woodstove. She smiled his way but her eyes couldn’t seem to leave Matts face now that he was looking at her. “I’m doing ok, thank you. Very tender but not as bad as I thought it would be. I just got up to get some formula for the baby.”

  “Well honey, I don’t think you’re going to be needing any of that formula.” Remarked the woman and the men both chuckled.

  Mayas face flushed with embarrassment when she looked down and saw the wet front of her bathrobe. She looked back up at everyone and began to laugh. “Well, since you all have already seen my lady parts, there’s no point in my being modest now.” And with that, Maya gingerly positioned herself on the couch and as discreetly as possible got her son situated on her breast. He was a quick learner and the suckling sent a tingling across her chest and down her abdomen. It was a pleasant feeling that took away some of the pain from her nether regions.

  The woman sat down beside her and handed Maya a glass of water. “Matt will have some dinner ready soon. My names Krista by the way”

  “Thanks Krista. Thank you, all of you for being there when you were. By the way, how did you manage to show up right then anyways?”

  The room fell into silence as Dennis, Matt and Krista exchanged glances. Matt cleared his throat and Maya locked gazes with him across the room.

  “Dennis has been watching over you since you got here and he put in the call to us when he felt you were close to due with the baby.”

  Matts answer only gave Maya more questions and she studied him while trying to think of how to respond.

  Matt walked over to the couch and nodded at Krista who stood up and walked into the kitchen, taking over the stirring of the soup. Matt sat down next to Maya
and she felt the energy pass between them having him that close. Did he feel it too or was it just her that was still hopelessly attached to him? He must still care for her if he had gone to all of this trouble for her safety.

  Matt put his arm around Mayas shoulder and she leaned into him. “I have much explaining to do Maya and I will tell you everything, but now’s not the time. Right now you need to focus on regaining your strength and taking care of your baby.” Maya nodded at him slowly, seeing the sincerity and concern in his eyes.

  And then he stood up and walked back into the kitchen and Maya was left with a warm tingling along her side where she had been pressed against him. She looked down at her son and smiled as he suckled away with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands held in tiny fists against his chest.

  Dennis cleared his throat and she looked over to him standing in front of the woodstove warming his hands. “You already know that I’m Dennis and I’m the creepy old guy that’s been watching you all of these months.” Startled laughs came from the kitchen and Maya laughed herself at the man’s admission. “I must say Missy that I’m mighty impressed at all you accomplished by yourself with this place.”

  “Thank you Dennis but I almost threw away all of that hard work with my stupid stubbornness.”

  They both looked down at her son as she lifted his sleeping form away from her and set him down carefully next to her on the couch. Krista was immediately in front of her holding a bowl of soup and a spoon. Maya took it gratefully and began to eat. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was!

  The others pulled the kitchen chairs around the couch and they all ate like that in a semi-circle and listened to Dennis telling his story of his life before the virus and then after the virus. She found out that Dennis had lost his wife several years before the virus epidemic and had expected to get sick since all of his other friends had succumbed to it. But when he didn’t get sick, he began to search for other survivors in his mountain town and that was when he found Matt at his lodge. They had known each other over the years and Dennis would go to Matts place occasionally to see what magic he had worked on the old lodge. He was still the oldest known survivor to this day and he really didn’t know why he was still on earth but knew he had some sort of purpose so when Matt had asked him to live in the cabin in the woods and watch over an empty house, he figured he had found his purpose. Halfway through his meal, he smiled at Maya and asked her “Do you mind dogs?”

  “No, not at all. In fact I love all animals and have been so sad that they also have all died from the virus.”

  “Well, not all of them.” Replied Dennis. He stood up and walked over to the front door, opening it to reveal a beautiful long-haired white dog who sat patiently there wagging his tail. Maya laughed with delight and the dog wiggled over to her happily as she reached out to stroke his soft back.

  When Buddy had finally calmed down and had been given a proper greeting from everyone, he curled up happily in front of the woodstove.

  Maya told them of being grabbed by the military while trying to get some last minute supplies to leave the city and then the years spent surviving in the compound. When she got to the part about escaping the compound she grew silent as the memories came back of the screams of pain and fear she had tried to block out. The others watched her expectantly waiting for her to finish her story. She cleared her throat and looked up at Matt when he asked “Did the father of your child succumb to the virus when it was released into the facility?”

  She couldn’t take her eyes off of him as she considered how to answer. She had only said that the virus had gotten into the compound and she was torn over how much to divulge but finally realized with a sigh that keeping secrets now would only be hurtful in the end.

  “The father of my child is the one that had the virus released into the compound.”

  She looked at each of them in turn and didn’t see the shock or surprise that she expected on their faces. Instead Krista stood up abruptly and leaned down to bundle the baby into her arms. “Maya, how about I help you and the baby take a nice bath before bed?”

  “Thanks Krista, that would be really nice.” And Maya realized she meant it when she attempted to get up and could feel how weary her body was. She knew the time for questions and answers would come but everyone was keeping silent for now and she was okay with that. Matt helped her off the couch and she again felt the electricity pass between them, this time his head shot up and their eyes locked. He smiled at her slightly and let go as Krista began to lead her into the bathroom.

  Chapter 17 – Is there anyone out there? – More than three years ago

  For several days following Matts strange awakening in the city in the nude, he stayed at the cabin in hopes that Maya would show up. He busied himself with cleaning the place and making sure everything would function when she did finally make it home and spent his evenings hiking through the woods in search of some kind of animal that had survived. He was disappointed each night as he only found carcasses and further proof that the virus had truly left nothing untouched.

  After a week at the cabin, he realized that he needed to start taking some sort of action. At least look for survivors. His first step would be to go home and see if his house was still standing and if anyone in the town had survived.

  He was enveloped in sadness as he drove away from the cabin. He had so hoped that he would be reunited with Maya and felt that his miraculous rebirth was a sign that his life was on the right track. What had happened to her? He was determined that he would find her and he would get her back. The end of the world had finally made him realize that he had not been truly alive all of these years. You can’t be without your soul mate and still be alive inside.

  The drive back to his place was tedious as he kept running into roads filled with cars. Often times the drivers were just a rotting corpse and other times they were empty. He figured that the majority of the dead had succumbed to the sickness but quite a few of them had been murdered in acts of violence. There were some horrific car accidents as well that he came up upon and he had to tap into his time as a volunteer firefighter to get past the death and destruction without being sick.

  When he finally reached home, he was happy to see his house was still standing but the town was like a ghost town. He knew it had been a pipe dream to think his friends had survived when everyone else had not but it was that hope that had kept him going this far.

  He was grateful that he had built his house to work off the grid since there would no longer be electricity to rely on. Some of his lights were still on and it seemed strange to see them after his week of being in the dark.

  He had rebuilt the original log structure and turned it into the kitchen with vaulted ceilings and then had continued to add on section after section in an effort to keep himself busy so he couldn’t dwell on the life that he felt he would never have. Besides the kitchen, he also had two living areas, 5 full bathrooms, 2 half baths, a huge laundry/mud room and 10 bedrooms. Above one wing of the house he had used the lofted area as a library and the lofted area in the other wing served as his office. The house was very open with tall ceilings and huge logs where ever you looked and the bedroom he had chosen to use was not considered the master bedroom of the house but rather a smaller bedroom that was off of the office area and had what he considered to be the best view of all.

  After much relentless lobbying, the county had finally allowed him to build a workshop on the property as well and his 100x100 pole barn sat at the far edge of the property, far enough from the house so the sound from his projects couldn’t be heard. He had 125 acres here and the land was perfect in his eyes. He had searched for years for the perfect town to settle down in and then had waited patiently for the right property to become available. He had made a lot of friends in this town and was sad to think that those people were now gone.

  Matt walked out to his workshop and went to the very back set of shelves that he had used to store things that he couldn’t currently use but may need a
t some point. Digging through the different shelves he finally found what he was looking for, a CB unit. Switching it on, he spent several hours flipping through the stations and sending out a message in search of survivors.

  After several hours of no responses, Matt switched the CB to auto scan and brought it with him back to the house. It was dark outside and his lights shown through the windows guiding his way back to the house. But he realized that he had been in the workshop with no lights on and hadn’t even realized that it had grown dark outside. How had he been able to see in there? Even outside, his vision was incredibly clear and bright. What had happened to him in the city? He wasn’t complaining and was more intrigued than anything and as he began to think through the several oddities about himself that he had begun to notice, he realized that he hadn’t eaten again all day. Even when he did eat, it didn’t bring the usual feeling of satisfaction like it used to and sleeping felt more like a chore than anything and not something that his body was actually requiring. Maybe it was time to test these new abilities and see how far he could push it. Tonight he would stay up all night and he wouldn’t eat anything until he actually started to feel hungry.

  With that resolve in mind, Matt decided to see if he was any stronger than before the incident and he headed to the bedroom that had been taken over by his workout equipment. Admittedly, he had not spent much time in here since the house had been completed, instead preferring to get his exercise through working hard and daily hikes and he was not as familiar as he should be with the equipment. After several minutes of figuring out how to attach the weight plates to the bar, he managed to get it together and started with 100 lbs. Several additions later and he was up to 300 lbs and maxed out with what he had available but it still felt light to him. Now he was intrigued. He walked outside to the suv he had driven here from the city and positioned himself behind the back tires with his hands under the bumper. As he lifted the suv off the ground without breaking a sweat, he saw movement off to his right and abruptly dropped the vehicle to the ground, spinning around to confront whoever was coming towards him.