The Last Days

by Gary Chesla

  The barn would be the marker that would help them find her when they came back to visit her.

  It would be a landmark that would help them find her grave.

  When this was over, if it was ever over, even if it was never over, hopefully travel would be easier sometime in the future, they planned on coming back to plant flowers.

  To remember Kimmy’s life and the good things and hopefully not remember her final days.

  He knew they could never forget Kimmy’s final days, but hopefully the pain would subside with time, enough to let the good memories outweigh the bad.

  He knew that would take a long time for the horror they felt to ease.

  He knew all good things came to an end, but they weren’t supposed to end so fast and in such a horrible way.

  Mike slowly lifted his head.

  Every muscle ached almost as much as the pain he felt in his heart.

  But he couldn’t help feel something was wrong.

  Something was definitely wrong, but there was something else.

  Mike sat up. He could still feel the screwdriver in his hand.

  He didn’t want to look at it.

  The sight of it covered in Kimmy’s blood would be too much for him to handle.

  He didn’t want to look, but he did.

  Mike jerked upright on the bale of hay he was sitting on.

  The screwdriver was clean?

  “Was this why I couldn’t remember last night?” Mike thought “Did I fall asleep?”

  If he fell asleep, he didn’t finish what he had to do when Kimmy turned.

  He didn’t want to remember what he had to do, but he also knew he had to do it.

  But then a horrible feeling ran through his body.

  “If I didn’t set Kimmy free?” Mike froze. “Where is she?”

  He knew if he hadn’t set Kimmy free from her horrible fate, she must have turned when he fell asleep.

  His heart sank. Not only had he failed to keep his little girl safe, but he had failed her again. He let her become one of those horrible monsters.

  He had failed to do the last night the last thing he could have done for her. No matter how hard it would have been, it was the last decent thing he could do for her.

  And he had failed her again. He couldn’t bear the pain. Tears poured down his face.

  He sat still as another horrible thought filled his mind. “Why didn’t she attack me when she turned?”

  He knew the first thing they did when they turned was attack the first person they saw.

  An even more terrifying thought hit him. “Maybe she didn’t see me first, she saw……..Kelly!”

  His head jerked towards Kelly.

  She was lying bent backwards over the bale of hay.

  Her legs laid bent over the bale of hay. Her upper body laid down over the other side of the bale, out of his sight.

  Mike froze. “Kelly!”

  The thought that he had failed not only his little girl, but that his stupidity and inability to stay awake had also cost Kelly her life was more than he could bear.

  He saw in his mind the devastating horror Kelly must have felt as her daughter had sprang upright in her arms. Kimmy, her milky white eyes staring at Kelly, right before sinking her teeth into Kelly’s neck.

  Mike closed his eyes and sobbed. He wished Kimmy had seen him first. He didn’t want to live. Maybe the commotion would have awakened Kelly and she could have escaped somehow.

  Mike opened his eyes and slowly crawled over to Kelly. He didn’t want to see this, but he deserved whatever pain it would cause him. All of this had been his fault. He could have easily prevented all of it. They both counted on him and this was their reward for putting their faith in him.

  Mike crawled over the bale of hay and looked down at Kelly.

  She was breathing comfortably.

  His heart felt relieved, but he was confused.

  He had a sinking feeling that he was missing something, something terrible.

  Thuuuup! Thuuuup! Thuuuup!

  Mike heard a shuffling sound coming from behind him.

  He quickly turned his head to look.

  Whatever it was, it was behind the car.

  “Whatever it was?” His heart sank. “Whatever it was? It’s Kimmy! He had just referred to his little girl as ‘It’.”

  Mike looked down at Kelly. He thought about waking her up. But he decided not to wake her. He didn’t want her to relive this horror all over again.

  He wouldn’t do that to her.

  She lived it once and once was one time too many.

  She was sleeping comfortably, or at least as comfortably as could be expected after what she had endured.

  She believed it was over.

  As horrible as it was, it was over in her mind.

  He had failed them enough. He wouldn’t make her go through this again.

  He would finish what he should have done last night.

  Mike quietly crawled back over and picked up the screwdriver. His legs didn’t want to stand.

  He didn’t want to do this, but if he didn’t, no one else would.

  Kimmy deserved peace and Kelly deserved to not have to relive this all over again.

  For everyone’s sake, it was his job to end this.

  He could not live with himself if he didn’t.

  It was going to be hard enough to live with himself as it was.

  Mike gripped the screwdriver and forced himself to stand.

  The tears began to flow down his face again as he pushed himself over to the car and moved slowly down alongside the car.

  He knew the sight of Kimmy, as he knew she would now look, was going to tear him apart.

  He took a deep breath and stepped around the back of the car.

  “Whack……….MEOW!”

  Mike jumped back from the car as a large orange and black cat frantically flew out from behind the car……………followed by Kimmy holding a stick in her outstretched arm.

  Kimmy looked up at him. “That’s a bad kitty…..It Bites!”

  Mike dropped the screwdriver and stared.

  His heart almost jumped out of his chest. Tears of joy ran down his face. He bent down and scooped Kimmy up in his arms and hugged her against his body.

  “Why are you crying Daddy?” Kimmy asked.

  “Daddy’s happy!” Mike sniffed.

  “Oh!” Kimmy replied looking confused.

  “Let’s go make Mommy happy too!” Mike said.

  He carried Kimmy over to where Kelly was still sleeping spread out on top of the bale of hay.

  Mike sat down on the bale of hay next to Kelly’s legs.

  Mike reached out and squeezed Kelly’s leg.

  Kelly slowly opened her red eyes.

  It took her a few seconds to focus, but when she did, she jumped up off the floor and yelled. “Kimmy, you’re alive!”

  Kelly took Kimmy from Mike and hugged her.

  Mike looked at Kelly. “It wasn’t a zombie, she was bitten by a damn cat!”

  Kelly pulled Kimmy away from her and looked at her. “Did a kitty bite you?”

  Kimmy nodded. “I was going to the bathroom and the kitty walked by me. I reached out to pet it. The damn kitty scratched me and then it bit me!”

  Kelly looked at Mike and laughed, tears of joy continued to run down her face. She hugged Kimmy tighter.

  “When are we going to eat? I’m hungry.” Kimmy said.

  Mike laughed. He felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He couldn’t remember when he had been this happy. The horror and agony he had gone through quickly disappeared.

  He looked at Kelly and Kimmy. The horror was gone, but the meaning of it all was still very clear in his mind.

  Life was precious and could be taken away in an instant.

  With what the world had become, death and loss could happen at any time. Danger was now waiting behind every tree and bend in the road.

  He would not take anything for granted
any longer.

  He was more determined to protect his family now more than ever.

  The world was too dangerous to take chances with their lives.

  In the days ahead, he had to put his family first. He needed to think about the future, whatever it would be, and figure what would be the best thing for his family.

  He wanted to keep his family together and safe for as long as he could.

  “I’m hungry too.” Mike said. “After we eat, maybe we could put that soft bed you made up in the loft to good use.”

  “We aren’t going to get back on the road this morning?” Kelly asked.

  Mike smiled. It felt good to smile again. “I don’t know about you, but I’m in no condition to move on yet.” Mike said. “I could use a day’s rest to recover before we try this again.”

  “You won’t get any complaints from me.” Kelly smiled. “I’ll go see what I can make us to eat. Any requests?”

  “I want a candy bar!” Kimmy said.

  Kelly was going to tell her how candy was bad for breakfast but stopped. “Candy bars it is!”

  Kelly sat Kimmy down on the hay bale and went over to the car and opened the back hatch.

  Kimmy looked up at Mike and whispered. “I have to go to the bathroom!”

  Mike’s heart jumped at the word bathroom. He nodded and walked to the barn doors in front of the car. Kimmy followed.

  “Here we are!” Mike said.

  “You want me to go to the bathroom inside the barn?” Kimmy looked at Mike.

  “Yep! Right here in the barn!” Mike smiled.

  Kimmy got a big grin on her face, then down came her pants.

  The candy bars tasted good.

  The bed in the middle of the hay was comfortable.

  After reassuring Kimmy that damn cat couldn’t get up in the hay loft, they all quickly fell asleep.

  Kelly on the left, Mike on the right and Kimmy squeezed comfortably in the middle.

  Two hands held on to Kimmy to make sure she didn’t wander off.

  Chapter 24

  Capton Bolten had just finished briefing the Marines, telling them what he knew about all that had happened.

  He was happy to see the determination in their eyes as he detailed his plans to find more survivors with the hope of reestablishing a foothold on American soil.

  If that was not possible, to at least find a way for them all to survive.

  After answering all their questions as honestly as he could, he dismissed the group.

  He now sat in the control room on the bridge to discuss his plans for the next excursion into southern California.

  The men sitting around him were the XO, The two Petty Officers, the Lieutenant and the Sargent.

  “Gentlemen.” The Captain started. “Before we continue our plans to find survivors, I feel we should make an attempt to find if anything is left of our government or military command. If they still exist, they may have important information about the conditions in different parts of the country. They might have records about where the virus hit the hardest and what areas had the best chance to survive. It could save us countless hours of searching and wasting our resources. We have considerable resources, but with the state of the world, what we have is irreplaceable. Once our fuel and supplies are gone, they are gone.”

  “What about the ships we saw in the harbor?” The XO asked. “We could possibly replace a lot of our fuel and food from those ships.”

  “That may be possible, but it would require considerable risk. It is a risk I would prefer not to take at this time. The ships could have been waiting to be resupplied. If so, the risk we would be taking to get onto those ships to find out would be for naught. When we have more men that would increase our chances of successfully executing such an operation we will reconsider. At this point we have enough supplies on board for our present needs.” The Captain replied. “The ships themselves may be crawling with the infected. When needed, we will explore that option again.”

  “How would we be able to get to Washington to see what is left of the government and the Pentagon? Would your plan be to take the ship to the east coast? It seems the trip would take a lot of time.” The Lieutenant asked. “I believe the longer it takes to get back to search for survivors, the lower our odds of finding anyone left alive.”

  “You’re correct about the time factor being against us. If we don’t find any survivors in the next week, I honestly do not believe we will find any. There will be small pockets of a few individuals that will be able to survive for some time, but to find any substantial number of survivors, it has to be soon. Their numbers are probably declining substantially every day.” The Captain answered. “When we were recalled back to the states, I had been informed that the government was attempting to relocate to a safe area in California near San Diego. They were going to establish a control center there until conditions improved and they could attempt to regain control over the country again.”

  “What about the rumored caverns that were supposed to have been built in the Rockies to house the government in the event of a national disaster?” The XO asked.

  “I thought of that. It is my belief that they attempted the move there first. As you know it only takes one of the infected to create a devastating chain reaction. I believe what happened on the carrier also happened there. The quarters there are probably like our lower decks, totally populated with the infected. My last communications specifically stated that they were relocating to California. I believe if we are going to find any remnants of the government, it will be here.” The Captain replied. “Lieutenant, Sargent, you spent some time here in California. Did either of you see or hear anything that might help us narrow our search area?”

  The Lieutenant shook his head. “Sorry Sir. There wasn’t anything I am aware of that would help.”

  “Knowing the government,” the XO added. “They would probably have set up a base in downtown LA.”

  The Captain laughed. “I agree XO. That would be typical government thinking.”

  All the men laughed.

  “But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.” The Captain smiled. “Let’s assume they actually listened to someone with some intelligence for once. Let’s assume they for once, made an intelligent choice. We don’t have the time to waste checking out typical government choices of locations. We know what we would find there. It would look like what we saw in LA. Again, it would be a total waste of our time.”

  Again the men all laughed.

  “I only plan at taking one shot at this. At best, even if we had the exact location of where to look, from the loss of communications, I don’t believe we will find anyone left. But I feel obligated to try before I continue to operate on my own. I am a Navy Captain and believe in working through the proper chain of command, if it still exists.” The Captain said. He looked at the Sargent. “Sargent, If you were the man that had been given the job of making the decision of where to relocate the government. What would have been your choice of a survivable location?”

  The Sargent looked at the Captain. “If my instructions would have been to select a location in the San Diego area, I would have chosen the Laguna Mountains near Lake Cuyamaca. It is in the mountains which would give a measure of protection and the lake would provide the water they would need. It may be possible to survive there for an extended period.”

  The Captain pulled up the map of the Laguna Mountains and studied the area around the lake on his computer screen. He panned around other areas in southern California. Finally he looked up at the men. “I agree Sargent. It looks like a reasonable choice. I believe that is where we will look. Let’s hope they had a Sargent to make the decision for them and not a bureaucrat.”

  “Petty Officer Clawson, is the helo fueled and ready to go?” The Captain asked.

  “Yes Captain.” The Petty Officer replied.

  “Petty Officer, you will join me on this mission.” The Captain said. “Sargent, you will also join me. If you would select two
more of your men, preferably good marksmen. If any of your men are snipers, they would be a good choice.”

  “Yes Sir!” The Sargent replied.

  “XO, the ship is yours until I return.” The Captain said. “If I don’t return, I would expect you to carry on as planned.

  “Yes Sir!” The XO answered.

  “After you do what you can to rescue my ass, of course.” The Captain smiled.

  “Of course Sir.” The XO replied. “That goes without saying. By the way Captain, I understand the Maries have volunteered to try and clear the next level below the hanger deck. I said I would run it by you.”

  The Captain smiled. “I guess the Maries are getting bored. It has probably been a few days since they have been able to shoot anything.”

  “Yes Sir!” The XO chuckled.

  “I wasn’t planning on attempting that yet, but it is always a good idea to keep the Marines happy. Divide them into two groups and have them remove the barricades above the number three and number seven stairwells. They can pick off as many of the infected as they can from there. ”The Captain said. “They are not to attempt to go down below until I return. That should be a good start and should keep them happy for a while.”

  “Yes Sir, I’ll see to it.” The XO replied.

  The Captain went down to the helo where the other four men waited. The Captain crawled into the pilot’s seat and powered up the engine while the other men boarded.

  “Sargent, you’re up here with me.” The Captain turned and called out into the back of the helo.

  The Sargent moved up to the Captain and the Captain pointed to the copilot’s seat. “Sir, I’m not a pilot. I can’t help fly this thing.”

  “Neither can any of the other men. I want you up here with me for your experience and to help keep my ass out of trouble.” The Captain smiled.

  The Sargent slid into the seat next to the Captain. “Sir, may I ask why you chose me instead of the Lieutenant for this mission?”