White Flag of the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  “I kissed her.”

  Charlie raised an eyebrow at me. “About time.” he said wryly.

  I smiled. “I thought so.”

  Charlie turned serious. “Sorry about Kristen. Duncan brought her down and wrapped her in a blanket. Nothing you could do, man.” he said.

  I looked at him. “I know. But it doesn’t make me feel any better. Even wasting the bastard that killed her won’t bring her back. She didn’t deserve any of this, Charlie. She was just a kid.”

  Charlie didn’t say anything; he just walked alongside me as we worked our way to the others.

  Duncan and Sarah were kneeling beside a wrapped form, and Tommy was standing out of the way. Sarah saw me, stood up and wrapped her arms around me. I held her for a moment then gently moved away. I reached down and picked up Kristen’s body, and walked over to the doors. I had a long walk back to the truck, but I didn’t care. I’d carry her if my legs fell off. Sarah moved in behind me and the rest of the men followed suit, forming a small funeral procession out of the store.

  I walked to the truck, and gently placed Kristen in the bed. We climbed into the truck and headed back to the complex, none of us saying much of anything. Sarah put her head on my shoulder and I could feel the occasional tear hit my sleeve. I was angry at what had happened, angry at myself that I hadn’t seen what Cole was about to do and stop him. Part of me wanted to burn the building to the ground, but a larger part reasoned that it was not my fault, and I had actually managed to save Sarah and Kristen from worse fates. I didn’t regret killing Cole, unarmed though he was. He was a blight that needed to be eradicated, and I was assigned the job.

  When we got back to the complex, there were more tears shed for Kristen. Charlie and I assigned ourselves the duty of digging her grave. We buried her next to her friend Chelsea, and said a small prayer for her eternal soul.

  When the sadness of the day passed, I sent Charlie back to the McCord’s with Mark Wells, our resident electrician, and John Reef, our plumber, to look for supplies and things they might need to make our lives a little easier. They also had the job of burning that grisly pile of zombie heads. Charlie reported they popped like acorns. I was pleasantly surprised when they returned with a huge generator. Apparently the teens had no idea a large power source was right outside their lair, and instead had relied on sunlight and flashlights. Charlie pulled up with it, and Mark went to work immediately attaching the lines and seeing how much power could be had. In short order, we actually had working lights in the condos. We took the smaller generators and brought them over to the town homes, where they provided welcome relief from the darkness.

  I spent the evening with Jake and Sarah, just taking in the activity and staying relatively quiet. Sarah and I didn’t speak about what happened, but we both were thinking about it. Part of me felt guilty, but I was reminded by a little voice in my head to Get busy living. Part of me was concerned about Sarah, but I wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. We went to bed in our separate rooms without a clear answer.

  I got my answer about an hour after the lights went out. A soft rustling alerted me to someone in my room, and I saw Sarah moving towards my bedside.

  “Your woman?” she asked again, with a sly smile.

  I held out my hand. “Yes.” was all I said as she took my hand and climbed into bed.

  I didn’t feel the need to say much else after that.