by Greene, Dane
Without a second to stop and think, I walk over to the unconscious creature who distracted me. Grabbing a nearby rusty pipe, I ready myself. I use the pipe to snap the creature’s neck. Normally, I’d pummel it to a pulp to make sure it was dead, but I already have one mess to take care of.
Safe for now, I drag the corpses outside and leave them behind the building. There are plenty of stray dogs around, and keeping them fed keeps them from trying to eat me. It’s funny how they’ve gone feral, but I guess I’m no different.
I spend the next few hours cleaning the wall, removing all the blood from inside the building and from my clothing. While I’m in the middle of dumping my cleaning water outside, I hear something strange. When I look through the glass walls of the play area, I see something I haven’t seen in a while.
In the distance, about a hundred yards out, is a group of people. They’re heading toward my restaurant, and I know there will be no escaping them. Too much movement and one of them is bound to see me. There’s no way to get into my tunnels unseen, so I grab my pipe and hide in the doorway they’ll use.
Thinking back, I remember all that happened before I met Jason’s group. Things changed so fast I even surprised myself by how fast I decided to work alongside these people. The trip to the store was so much different than anything I’ve done in a long time. Melany was so kind to me that we became friends immediately. Today is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed being alive in a very long time.
All this time, I thought it would be hard to reintegrate myself into a social group. Now I’m finding it much easier than I ever hoped. We walk alongside the road on our way back to the fast food restaurant, and thoughts swirl around in my head.
They’re only interrupted when I hear someone walk up alongside me. The person next to me is Brian, and so far, he’s been the only one who hasn’t talked to me. I get the feeling that he’s a very reserved person. As he walks beside me, I find that I enjoy his company. He’s calm and quiet. I like the others, but they can put me on edge. With Brian, I feel relaxed, like he knows I’m here but he isn’t pushing me to interact with him.
After a few minutes, I look at him and smile. He’s pretty attractive, and I find myself blushing. I turn my face away and try to cover up my embarrassment by talking to him.
“So how do you know everyone?”
The boy looks surprised, and I smile at the look of shock on his face. I see him blush, and I realize he wasn’t expecting me to talk to him. After a few seconds, he collects himself and answers me. “Aaron and Jason were my friends before all this happened. Aaron saved my life the night the outbreak happened. He saved my whole family and helped us get settled in an apartment downtown.” Brian’s flush fades, and his face grows more serious. “I’m not sure if anyone’s told you, but the reason we left is because there wasn’t enough food for everyone. My parents might not be the strongest people, but I wanted them to live through everything. Leaving was the only way I thought that would be possible.” Brian speaks softly, and his mention of parents reminds me of my own.
I ran away shortly after the power went out. My father liked to drink, and when he didn’t get his liquor or had too much of it, he liked to hit my mom. Without power, I knew that nothing good could happen and that it was only a matter of time until my dad hurt us.
At first, I left the house to avoid them. I didn’t plan to stay away, but as the days passed, I realized the power wasn’t coming back, so I decided to stay away for good.
I may not know what kind of people Brian’s parents are, but I can understand wanting your parents to survive. Even now, after everything, a part of me hopes my mother is still alive. As far as my father goes, death would be too good for him.
My thoughts are interrupted when Brian speaks again. “What about you, Dawn? How do you know Jason?”
“He’s an old friend. We went to grade school together. We used to spend time at his house after middle school. After we were in high school, we would still hang out every once in a while. The last time I saw him was a few days before the power went out. He’s changed a lot since then. He looks sad.”
As I look at Brian, he looks at me with hesitation. Before too long, I understand why. He tells me all about what happened to Jason after the power went out. He also tells me about the group and what’s gone on with them since they came together. By the time the fast food restaurant is in sight, my understanding of what I’m getting involved with is much better.
These people have managed to survive. Like me, it hasn’t always been pretty, but they’re still alive. Knowing that this group has gone through hardships of its own makes me feel better about joining. Looking at Brian, I realize that I want to stay with him. He may not know it, but he’s the heart of the group. Grabbing his hand, I walk by his side. When he looks at me in shock, I smile.
For a few moments, I’m happy, but it’s all shattered when we get close enough to see the whole restaurant. My eyes go to the side of the building. It takes a moment for it to click, but I realize that the movement is a fight between two Palemen and Aaron. My body reacts before I do, moving into a full sprint. My feet hit the pavement, and I push myself to go faster. The slaps of feet echo around me, and I know the others are following my lead. While I run, I’m helpless and can only watch what’s going on. At first, Aaron seems to be losing, but I see that I was wrong when he leaps onto one of the creatures and severs its spine with a dagger. Something about the way he moves scares me.
He isn’t attacking with fear or acting like a trapped animal; he’s acting like a predator. Right now, he’s enjoying the slaughter. When I’m about a hundred feet away, I see him take the last creature down. His movements are as graceful as they are deadly. By the time I reach Aaron, I find him on his back, staring at the sky. His expression scares me. He’s smiling in an inhuman way, and there’s an expression of pure fury in his eyes. Whatever’s going through Aaron’s mind right now, it can’t be good.
Aaron’s covered in blood, and I’m unsure if he has been infected. No one has ever changed in front of me, so I have no idea what it looks like. Wondering if he’s starting to turn, I pull out my gun and aim it at him. Around the time I do this, the others catch up. Wanting to see them, I turn my head. Confused, they look at me, and I know it’s because I’m aiming a gun at their leader.
How can his face not scare them? My own question is answered when I look back toward Aaron. The horrific face I saw seconds before is gone now, and I see that he’s blinking. Whatever happened was terrifying, but I don’t think it’s a reason to shoot him yet. I put the gun away and say, “I thought you might be turning for a second. Sorry.”
My hope is that my excuse is enough to convince the others I didn’t mean any harm. Jason and Brian move forward and help Aaron stand. He tells us all what happened as he regains his strength. After Aaron recomposes himself, he shows us the work he did. We all move to the roof and set up the tents and other camping supplies that we gathered earlier.
Aaron still worries me, but from what I can see, he cares about the people he’s with. During dinner, he even gives me part of his meal. Though I want to refuse after months of eating stale bread, the food is so good I can’t say no, and he knows that.
As the night winds down, watches are picked, and I end up getting paired with Brian. My stomach flutters with excitement, and I have to calm myself down.
Putting my feelings aside, I force myself to go to bed in my tent. Stretching out, I sleep comfortably for the first time in months. I sleep so well that it feels like only seconds before Melany wakes me.
“Hey, Dawn. You’re up,” Melany says as she stifles a yawn. I find myself better rested than I’ve been in a long time, and I get up, full of energy. When I remember who I’m doing my watch with, I brim with excitement. It only takes me a few minutes to find Brian.
He’s sitting on the edge of the roof, watching the moon. My hand finds his when I sit next to him. He looks at me, and I smile. We sit together like that for what fee
ls like hours. I’m content to enjoy his company, but I’m not sure why this is. Hardly any time has passed, and we’ve spoken very little, but I know that I want to be with Brian. I’ve never been this bold before, and before the power went out, I avoided having any relationships. For some reason, I’m connected to Brian, and I think it’s the same for him.
We sit together, and I lay my head on his shoulder. After a few more minutes of sitting, I finally decide to break the silence.
“Brian, I saw something strange with Aaron earlier today. He had a wild look in his eyes. It sounds strange, but it was almost like he was a rabid wolf wanting to attack whatever he saw next. You seem to trust Aaron. How are you sure he won’t snap and attack one of us?”
Brian sighs. “These past few months I have noticed subtle changes in Aaron. Of course, all of us have changed, but Aaron seems to be the most affected. There’s something in the air. The Palemen use some kind of communication we don’t understand. It’s the only way to explain how they haven’t wiped themselves out yet.”
My head moves from Brian’s shoulder, and I look at him, confused. “What does that have to do with Aaron?”
Brian looks sad as he smiles. “Sorry, I had to explain that first. Dawn, it may not seem like it, but Aaron is actually a very gentle person. Everything that’s happened to him has been wearing him down. Things are starting to slip through the cracks. I think that however the Palemen communicate is affecting Aaron. I can’t explain how. It’s intuition. You shouldn’t worry, though. I know Aaron, and I know he’d rather die than watch any of us get hurt, even you.”
“Even if what you said was true, why would he care about me? He only met me a few hours ago.”
“That’s how Aaron is. He cares about people. He’ll always protect the people he loves. Think about it: right after a disease breaks out and panic spreads, he helped his family and friends escape. After that, he came to me and my family. How many people would risk their lives to save a friend for no reason other than they thought it was the right thing to do? Dawn, the fact that Jason cares about you is reason enough for Aaron to protect you.”
“Is Jason the only one who cares about me?”
Brian looks at me, and I see him hesitate for a second. “Dawn, I care about you, too. I can talk to you better than anyone else. It may seem crazy, but there’s a connection between you and me. We live in a world where we could die any at moment, and I don’t want to hide my feelings for you, no matter how crazy it may seem to me or anyone else.”
Hearing Brian confirm my hopes lifts my heart up. He’s right; death surrounds us every day, and there’s no way to escape it.
It would be foolish to ignore my feelings for him. If I do, I may someday regret it. Leaning forward, I kiss Brian. At first, he hesitates, panicking. It’s obvious that this is his first kiss, and that makes it all the more exciting. My arms wrap around Brian and I pull him in closer. His previous hesitation starts to fade as he wraps his arms around me.
We sit there at the edge of the roof, a world of death below, and it doesn’t matter. Right now, in this moment, nothing matters but what’s in front of me. No matter what happens, no matter what I have to do, it’ll be worth it as long as it means I can go one more day living.
Pulling away, I breathe heavily. Brian does the same, and we stare at each other with longing. After a second, Brian looks confused.
“Is everything okay?” he asks. “Did I do something wrong?”
Smiling and laughing, I lean over and give Brian a quick peck on the cheek. “No, Brian, you were perfect. It’s too much. I feel like we might’ve forgotten we were on watch if we kept going.”
“Okay, that makes sense. Good, I’m glad I was okay.” Brian smiles and is silent for a second. “So what does all this mean? To be honest, I don’t have any experience with stuff like this. You’re kind of my first kiss. I guess what I’m saying is, do you want to go out with me or something?”
Brian’s words come out awkward and cause me to smile. When he asks me to go out with him, I feel mixed emotions. It’s not that I don’t want to be with Brian—I do. It’s just that I’m not sure dating is something you can do in a world like this.
“Brian, please don’t take this the wrong way, but things are different in the world now. You could be dead tomorrow, and so could I. We don’t have time for games. I like you. Right now, I know that I want to spend more time with you. That’s all that matters to me. The title is pointless.” At first, I think Brian is going to be mad, but when I see him smile, I start to think otherwise.
“Yeah, I can understand what you mean. At least it makes things easier. I was going to ask you to not tell anyone anyway, and not having a title makes that easier.”
Anger flares in me for a second, and I have to force myself to be calm. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t want me to tell anyone. “What’s wrong with people knowing? Are you ashamed of me?”
“Of course not. It’s like you said: we could die tomorrow. If we tell everyone, there will be people who put hope into what we have. They’ll see it as normality in a crazy world, and someone could cling to it. If one of us dies, I have a feeling the other is already going to be useless. The last thing I want is something so wonderful to be the downfall of our group. One day of bad morale and we could all die.”
The anger that was building dissipates as Brian talks. He stops to take a breath, then looks me in the eyes. “I could never be ashamed of being with you,” he says. “It’s not like I’m saying we hide anything. If someone notices, I’ll be honest with them. All I’m saying is, let’s not be out and in the open with what’s happening.” Brian looks out toward the moon, and my eyes follow. We sit there for a while, me in his arms. After a minute, he tells me our watch shift is over, and we go to wake up our replacements.
He walks me to my tent, and I go inside. He tries to say a final goodnight, but I grab his arm and lead him inside. When he tries to speak, I silence him with a kiss. At first, he resists, but it’s only seconds before he’s kissing me as passionately as I’m kissing him. As I lie down, I zip the tent door closed.
Even if it has no title, and even if we have to be quiet about what we’re doing, I don’t care. At the end of this day, all I care about is that Brian’s here with me. All I care about is that I’m in his arms. Even after Brian has fallen asleep, I stare at the tent roof and think. I’m overjoyed that this group ran into me today. My sanity might have slipped entirely if I went much longer without them. My eyes close, and I roll closer to Brian, knowing I’ll get the first night of peaceful sleep since all this started.
Chapter 10: Aaron
July 7th
Cries and moans echo off the walls of my tent. The cries of the Palemen are as strange and inhuman today as they were three months ago.
Knowing I won’t be able to sleep with all this noise, I roll over and sneak my way out of the tent. Fortunately for her, Evelyn’s a heavy sleeper, and I know the Palemen won’t disturb her. As I zip the tent open, a beam of sunlight shines into my eyes. The light blinds me, but I do my best to ignore it and exit the tent without disturbing Evelyn.
Once outside the tent, I stand up and let my eyes adjust to the morning light. When I look around, I see that most of my party is already up. I decide to take a quick walk around the perimeter of the roof in hopes of spotting the Palemen who woke me up. Surprisingly, I find our perimeter clear, but I figure they must have wandered off or are hiding. Remembering my close encounter yesterday, I decide that it’s best to get off the edge of the roof for now.
Noticing that there’s no one cooking breakfast, I decide to help myself to the task. As I cook, the other members of our party start to join me one by one. There are some conversations between my friends, but for the most part, I’m left alone with my thoughts.
My meager meal of rehydrated food finishes cooking right around the time Evelyn joins us.
Everyone digs into the food hungrily. They aren’t the only ones. Once I start eating, I find myse
lf pretty famished. After the meal is gone, I find I want more. Hoping to distract myself, I start a conversation. “Did anyone happen to grab a map while they were out yesterday?”
There’s a pause before Jason answers. “I thought about grabbing one, but I didn’t, mostly because I had no idea which map to grab since we haven’t decided where we’re going. Once we figure out where we’re going, we can grab an atlas from the gas station down the block.” As Jason says this, he points behind him. Looking in the direction he indicates, I see a gas station maybe three hundred yards away.
“Okay, smart call on the gas station; they should have the maps we need. So where should we go?” My question starts a conversation that lasts a few minutes. Several ideas are tossed out, from finding a cabin in the woods to staying here on the roof. None of the ideas seem like good ones until Brian speaks up.
“What about an island? Based on what we’ve seen, the Palemen are far too uncoordinated to manage swimming without drowning. The way I see it, as long as there’s a mile of water or so between us and the shore, we should be totally safe from any Palemen. Even if there was an outbreak on the island, wiping out the Palemen population on an island wouldn’t be very hard.”
Brian’s suggestion sparks a memory. Before the power went out, I was interested in survivalist camping, where I learned about a small island in Lake Wisconsin that might be perfect.
“Brian, you’re right. An island would be perfect, and I think I know of a good one close by. It’s called Garden Island, and it’s in the middle of Lake Wisconsin.” The other members agree that an island would be best, and we decide that we should find an atlas before we decide on anything specific. Jason stands up and says, “If an island’s our goal, I’m going to grab a map real quick. Anyone willing to come with?”
Dawn stands up, and together, they grab some supplies and work on going to the gas station. The rest of us wait for them. Several of the others are talking, mostly about the island. The conversation moves around me, and I focus on watching Jason and Dawn. They don’t run into any trouble, and once they’re inside the gas station, I can’t see what’s going on.