The struggle swelled into a climax and one began to falter. The second broke back the first’s arms and placed his foot against the defeated one’s shoulder. Though the first screamed out a last command, death ate his final words. Like a star, the first collapsed in onto itself in submission to the second. Its voice changed and truncated by the displacement of its throat. Like one might pluck a weed from the earth, Sara saw the second tear off the head of the first. Its light imploded and completely dissipated.
With its task completed, the second also burned out, leaving only the dark forest of dead trees.
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙
The world now seemed such a cold place. A biting north wind blew across Sara’s naked and sensitive skin. New sensations flooded her nerves. Something altogether different stooped down and picked her up. In her haze she stared at the thing trying to understand it. A man. In her stupor, she let him carry her without resisting. He felt warm as he pressed her up against his chest.
When her mind cleared enough to wonder where they headed, she looked outside his embrace. There she found dead faces passed before her reeling in their new plight. Most stood looking confused and bewildered at their existence. But the stronger more aware ones reached out towards her. Like some nightmare their hideous faces approached her as if to eat her.
In fear, she tucked her head back into her carrier’s chest. Her face collided with blood oozing out of him as she did. She tried to scrape it off her face but only managed to smear it. As he ran, Sara caught a glimpse of her carrier’s face. It seemed almost familiar. But before she could consider it deeper, a terrifying noise and color frightened her. Even though the intense color shot up into the sky, just the existence of such a terrible thing in the world was enough to force Sara to cover her face in her hands.
Soon a deep rhythmic thunder pounded the earth frightening Sara again. She wished only for silence but it would not come.
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙
Clouds, like a silent stranger, rolled in over Colorado Springs. It brought the threat of rain over the infested city. As the afternoon progressed, a drizzle started to invade the air. And for a moment, the red Mars-like haze lifted enough to see several city blocks.
The city streets seemed quite under the blanket of falling rain. Only the distant noise of a thundering machine broke the silence.
In the midst of the calm afternoon, a flare tore through the silence and into the sky. It rose through the rain and hung for a moment suspended in the air.
“Flare,” Val said pointing even though Connor wouldn’t see her gesture.
“Great!” Connor replied leaning out of the helicopter enough to see where they headed.
Val engaged the windshield wipers as they neared the hospital. She scanned the roof as best she could from her vantage point and asked, “Any tangos?”
“I-I don’t know what that means.”
Val breathed heavily. “Enemies. Zombies. See any?”
“No.”
“Light ‘em up as soon as you do,” she said leaning over to look him in the eyes. “That means shoot them.”
“Oh thanks for that. I wasn’t sure.”
They both smiled.
The helicopter hung in the air for a moment suspended in the increasing rain. The moisture managed to clear the air of months’ worth of dust. The resulting atmosphere was something altogether new. Visibility finally increased as the haze gave way to the rain. This allowed Connor to see a figure dash into the hospital entrance. Connor kept the mounted gun pointed at the roof access door.
Several zombies, attracted by the noise of the helicopter, wandered out onto the roof. Connor made short work of them. The powerful gun ripped their bodies apart splattering them against the rooftop. Only afterwards Connor realized the noise of the gun attracted more. Soon dozens came crawling out the vents and windows onto the roof.
“Why are there so many here?” Connor complained.
“Who cares? Screw ‘em,” Val yelled.
“I’d prefer not to engage in necrophilia, thank you.”
Silence.
“That means doing it with dead people,” Connor felt the need to explain.
Val gasped. “You joked! Even if it was some cryptic reference normal people wouldn’t get. I’m so proud!”
Connor smiled and wound up the gun. Val moved the helicopter in closer to the roof of the hospital to make Connor’s job easier. Now a pile of bodies lined the entrance to the roof.
“More on the other side,” Val announced.
Connor saw a new line of them pouring out of a hole in the roof floor. Like some majestic display of authority, the helicopter swung backwards but Connor’s bullets still tore the newcomers to shreds. The tracer rounds glowed against the haze and gloominess. None could stand against the might of the helicopter.
When Connor finished off the new line of zombies, he turned to find dozens occupied where he cleared earlier.
Val swung the helicopter around again so Connor could see both entrances to the rooftop. While they moved, Connor happened to see a figure running through the windows on the floor below them.
“Why aren’t you firing?” Val seemed slightly annoyed she had to ask him.
“Do you think this gun would cut a hole in the side of the building Brady could jump through? The roof is too crowded.”
“Yes, but it would take too long. The roof wouldn’t be too crowded if you’d keep shooting!”
“I’m going to try it.”
“Connor,” Val said turning around to look at him, “Brady and Sara don’t know to go there. They’re heading to the roof. If it’s not clear for them, they’ll die. Stick to the plan!”
Val maneuvered around again so Connor couldn’t shoot out the side of the building.
Connor guessed a hundred zombies now occupied the rooftop. They completely overwhelmed the helicopter landing pad. Originally, Connor thought they could just land on that and pick up Brady and Sara. He never imaged they’d have this much resistance.
Starting with the ones by the entrance, Connor began clearing the way again. As he did, one of the doors swung open and a familiar face stepped out onto the roof. Connor looked down at his friend. He held a terrified Sara. Her skinny legs dangled outside his embrace. Brady kicked the door closed behind him and stood a moment to get his bearings and assess the strength of the crowd.
Brady glanced up and met Connor’s gaze. A strange sensation shot down Connor’s spine to see his friend standing there back from the dead. Quickly now Connor fired into the crowd closest to Brady and Sara thinning their ranks. After that, Connor started making a path for them to get to the helicopter.
Val had seen Brady’s entrance and now lowered the helicopter closer to the rooftop. This would be the part she hated. Zombies lined the edge of the roof and raised their hands towards the descending machine. Several zombies pressed up towards the edge of the roof knocking others over the edge. The lower the helicopter came, the more frenzied the zombies seemed. Like frantic animals they threw themselves off the ledge as they tried to jump for the helicopter. Their mangled bodies started to line the ground beside the hospital.
Connor made a sweep of the ledge with his gun mowing down many. In a last big effort, he cleared the large group standing between Brady and the helicopter. Helplessly Connor watched as multiple zombies jumped in towards Brady and grabbed him. As he struggled against them several of them cut into Brady’s arms and Sara’s exposed legs. Brady looked up as if pleading for help. Connor dared not shoot the gun that close to Brady for fear of hitting him. But he helped by keeping any additional ones off him.
With the helicopter now close enough to the rooftop for Brady to jump into, several zombies saw their opportunity and attached themselves to the landing rail. Connor pulled out his sidearm and shot down at them. But without the constant efforts of the larger gun, zombies now flooded the ledge.
Connor watched as Brady weaved in and out of deadly grasps. Val had maneuvered the helicopter b
ack from the ledge to keep from taking on more zombies. But this meant Brady would have to jump while carrying Sara.
With suicidal zombies cascading over the ledge on either side of him, Brady charged for the edge. In what seemed like an eternity, Brady stepped on the very edge and pushed off it. For a moment he hung suspended between heaven and earth only inches below the rotating blades as they whirled cutting into the rain. In one last effort, zombies tried to snatch him as they fell like a waterfall off the roof.
Connor wanted to try to catch them but instead decided to shoot the three zombies trying to come along with them. He ended the flight of the three with well-placed bullets. This left only one still attached to the helicopter.
Val looked back with a smile as Brady and Sara crashed into the helicopter floor skidding across it to slam into the door on the far side. In an instant, everything seemed alright.
As soon as the two were onboard, Val leaned the helicopter into a deep turn away from the hospital.
“We’re all clear,” Connor announced when he’d killed their last stowaway and watched its body fall to the ground.
What seemed impossible now vanished behind them.
Connor turned around and made eye contact with Brady. Brady lifted his shaking arm and Connor grasped his hand. Brady looked at his friend in complete exhaustion. Connor moved Brady’s other arm to see Sara. What he found underneath Brady’s arm seemed much more like a scared girl than a woman. Wide-eyed she looked back at him unsure of anything. Her skin soft as a baby without any sign of infection. Beautiful.
Brady, overcome by exhaustion, rested his weary head against the metal floor. When they turned, Brady could see the movement of the earth below and it seemed altogether unreal. He closed his eyes and pulled Sara close.
After a moment, Brady felt Sara move and opened his eyes to find she looked at him. Her beautiful eyes only inches away from his. She brought up her hand and slowly traced his face. With a gesture Brady had dreamed about for months, Sara took his hand and intertwined their fingers. Sara closed her eyes as if to take it in.
Brady kissed her gently on the forehead as a tear fell onto the hard metal floor.
His great task finished, Brady sighed and rested his forehead against Sara’s. Under the rhythm of the blades, Brady released himself to the sweet embrace of sleep and let the helicopter bear him to his rest.
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙
After checkups, they travelled back to their mountain cabin. Brady and Sara slept for days. Only eating and bathroom breaks woke them. This gave a chance for Connor and Val to spend time alone.
“So what happens to us?” Val asked half way through a game of cards she and Connor played. Val rested her cards against the table and looked up at him.
“Very sly,” Connor replied to her actions. “Bring up some deep topic so we get distracted from the game I’m winning. Why didn’t you bring this up during the last game when I was losing anyway?”
“Connor,” Val said in a tone that seized his attention.
“Well,” Connor said softly, “I think it all depends on you.”
Val played a card and then looked up at him again intently.
“I remain the way I was,” Connor continued. “I consider all that to be in your past. You were a zombie and under that influence. I don’t hold you responsible for the things you did.” Connor played a card and Val immediately played another one. “I loved you before. I love you even more now.”
“Except now I’m not going to eat you. Kind of takes some of the kinkiness out of it, huh?” She glanced at the table. “It’s your turn.”
Connor played a card and replied, “Umm, sure.” Her previous comment both excited and horrified him.
Val played her last card and raised her arms in victory.
“I knew it, you did that on purpose!” Connor said throwing down his last card.
“A girl’s gotta win somehow!”
Connor leaned back from the table and looked at her. She collected the cards and started shuffling them but part of her long hair fell down onto her face. She stopped shuffling and ran her fingers through her hair to collect it towards the back to tie it.
Drawn in by her beauty, Connor watched in fascination, unable to look away.
She looked up at him and finished taming her hair. Connor reached over the table and pulled out a bit of hair from its confinements. It fell forward against her face across her right eye.
“Hey do you mind?” Val said in reaction to his gesture. “I was trying to tame the beast not let it out.”
He could barely believe how stunning she looked. Seeing the tone of the conversation was changing, Val finished with her hair and looked up at Connor through her half covered gaze.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “I want to marry you.”
“I know,” she said somewhat scared now that the subject she brought up had progressed this far. “Connor, you need to know that I’m not pretty.”
“I think you’re beautiful!”
“Connor, stop. I’m so messed up. You know, I’ve had people in my head. The zombies have cut into me and done things to me that will never heal. I’m gritty and entirely unpleasant at times. Broken. I’ve ruined every relationship I’ve ever. I can’t be trusted. I’m not what you’re expecting. And that frightens me. I fear your expectations of me because I’m not any of that.
“I can’t help feeling like you have this high and mighty princess type of idea about me. And although that’s very flattering, it’s not me. Connor, I’m so broken. I’ve been dragged through it all. Look at me. I was a zombie-human hybrid for crying out loud. I don’t even know what it means to be human anymore much less a good wife. I’ve eaten people, Connor. I wasn’t like Sara. I was awake and conscious for all of it. And somewhere inside, I’ll always remember it.
“I want to be good to you. I want to learn to be good to you. You’re a good man and you deserve a decent wife, Connor. I’m not sure I want you to be stuck with me.”
“Val, I’ve loved everything I know about you already. All that is in your past. All the things you just mentioned were when you were some crazy hybrid of a human zombie. But you're you now. I’ll be patient. I’ll help you.”
“And what, Connor,” she looked at him deeply, “what happens to me if you don’t like what you find? Will you discard me? Will you abandon me like everyone else has? Or will you be a true man? Will you pursue me? Will you value me enough to dig down through all this shit to find the real – sometimes unpleasant - me?”
Her words left him silent for a moment. “I love you. And I’m willing to go through the hard times with you. I want to know you. I want to pursue and be good to you.”
She put her arms on the table with palms up as if inviting him to hold her hands. “Connor, I’m scared as hell. But I want to trust you.” She looked up at him with a tone he could not misunderstand. “I entrust myself to you. You have no idea how hard it is for me to trust someone. Especially men. But I love you. And I’m willing.”
“I’ve hoped you’d love me from the moment I met you.”
“Oh! You mean when you were lusting after my unconscious body?” He turned red. “I’m kidding! Come on, Connor. You’re going to need to take me less seriously.”
“Valarie,” Connor said getting on one knee.
“Oh! You’re getting all formal!”
“Will you marry me?”
“I can’t. I’m doing my hair… for the rest of my life.”
He looked at her sternly.
“On the condition you’ll lighten up,” Val said with a smile. “I’ll marry you.”
“I promise,” he said with a forced smile. The two embraced kissing. “When should we have the wedding?”
“I’m not doing anything Tuesday. Oh wait, I’ve got a salon appointment. Wednesday then?”
“No good. I’m fishing. Thursday?”
Val looked at him with pride. “You joked! Good job, baby.”
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙
• ∙
Early the next morning, Brady stumbled into the kitchen. He looked at his companions with a drunken, wild gaze. He slumped down into the chair and looked wide-eyed at his two companions.
“Hi,” he greeted them in a sleepy tone.
“Good morning, precious,” Val said putting a hand on his shoulder as if to steady him.
“Is there coffee?” Brady asked. “Or whiskey. I don’t know which.”
“Let’s start with coffee,” Connor said, pouring him a cup.
Brady grunted thanks when Connor placed it in front of him. About half way through the cup, Brady started to wake up and looked over to Val. He looked at her and greeted her again with eyes full of meaning, “Hi.”
She looked back at him in a similar deep tone. “Hey, you.” She took his hand and almost let tears come out of her eyes. “Thank you.”
He made no verbal reply but squeezed her hand.
“How did you know?” Val asked.
The question hung unanswered for a moment but was quickly forgotten when a woman in a bathrobe appeared in the kitchen doorway. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Hello,” she greeted everyone softly.
“Sara!” Brady said standing to greet her. He embraced her with a quick hug.
“Connor,” Sara said nodding towards the man at the far end of the table.
“Sara,” Connor said somewhat awkwardly, “it’s very good to see you.” Sara managed to give him a tired smile.
“I’m afraid I don’t know you,” Sara said to Val.
“I’m Valerie,” Val said standing. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Is it just the three of you?” Sara asked.
“Just us,” Connor answered. “Come sit. I’ll make you some breakfast.”
Brady pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table for her to sit in.
Before Sara moved, she looked around the room as if looking for someone else. “Brady, where are our children?” Sara asked.
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