The Dead Live On

by Cooper Brown, Julie

  Jillian saw Evan’s bound feet and her gaze swept up his body to his shattered face. Oh, Evan…I’m so sorry. She was sobbing inside, she bent to kiss his arm, but her body didn’t react quite as she had planned. “Oh, God, I bit him! Please…I don’t want to! I DON’T WANT TO BE THIS! I do NOT want to be this! I know now that Evan had the intention to kiss me but could only do what his body commanded. He bit me. I knew he would, I had planned on it. But I didn’t plan on waking up dead. God… I have believed in you all my life and tried hard to do better! Please don’t let me be this, take my soul and throw it in the fiery pits of Hell! ANYTHING BUT THIS! Why can’t I shut it out?!!... This is so bad…” She could hear herself moaning now, but in her mind screaming and crying harder than she had ever done before.

  “This is one hell of a curse, to leave the conscience in the decaying body so we could watch our flesh rot away, right before our eyes! You really meant it when you said that we would seek death and wouldn’t find it. REALLY!!?? DID WE REALLY FUCKING DESERVE THIS?! HOW ABOUT THAT LITTLE GIRL, WHO ATE A FUCKIN BABY!? DID SHE DESERVE THIS?!! DID THAT POOR LITTLE BABY DESERVE THIS?!!!! THANK YOU! THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR BELIEVING IN YOU ALL MY LIFE???!! JUST WHAT WE FUCKING ASKED FOR! Jillian screamed in her head. Well I am definitely seeking death now! Can I go down stairs? Can I get up, to do that?” She stood up and slowly walked toward the hatch.

  “YES! Yes, I can! I hope I can find something sharp to try to slam my head into, maybe the corner of the table… HA! Fat chance, getting that lucky… They can think, taste and smell. Walk and see what’s going on around them! And no one knows… And guess what? What? It’s not they anymore, it’s us… it’s fucking ME!!”

  She tried to scream aloud and still nothing but gurgling moans escaped her lips.

  “And FUCK that smell is so strong…!”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So!” Preston barged into the kitchen in his usual loud and obnoxious manner. “I’m going to take the second bedroom, and you two can fight over who’s gonna have first watch; unless you want to follow me up, Roland. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a tall, curvy True Red in my bed.” he said while winking at Kate and grinding his hips. Kate shivered as goose bumps covered her entire body while he confirmed her suspicions of why he had been standing over her the other night. She was sure he would have tried to rape her had Dave not been there. She remained calm, even though she wanted to slap the grin off of his face; instead she rolled her eyes and asked “What makes you think that I would follow you to bed?”

  “I see the way you look at me, you want me,” he replied as he ran his hand through his hair and flashed his biggest, brightest crooked smile. “Keep dreaming, Chuckie. I wouldn’t sleep with you if my life depended on it.” Dave giggled at her Child’s Play reference and knew why she had said it. Preston looked a little like the devil doll, except for his little beady, ugly brown eyes which darted about constantly. Kate had learned long ago to never trust a guy with shifty eyes. “Get over yourself; your tits aren’t big enough. I only wanted a foot rub while I try to sleep.” Dave was not laughing now. “Why don’t you just take your ass upstairs, be on your way before I do something I won’t regret.”

  “Oooh, I see.” Preston put his hands on his hips and nodded his head. “You want some True Red, too. I have no problem with sharing, if that’s the case. I don’t mind a sword fight every now and then.” Dave’s face turned purple and he stood up kicking his chair out from behind him across the kitchen floor. “I don’t think of her that way! I have known her for years, and if I did think of her that way, I guarantee you; I have a much better chance than you do. And as far as a sword fight, you’re barking up the wrong tree, all you’ll get is disarmed. Now, get the fuck out of here.”

  “Okay,” Preston threw his hands out to the side. “Have it your way, it’s your loss. Try not to need me.” And with that, he headed upstairs. “So, how do you want to do this?” Kate asked Dave, nodding her head towards the body of the infected in the floor. “We can start by getting it out of the middle of the floor. We’ll put it in the laundry room. I found gloves in the pantry. Here, put these on.” He tossed her a packet of latex gloves. “Then you can read that thing you found or sleep for a while. I’ll take the first watch.”

  “No, I can’t sleep when it’s daylight, no matter how tired I am. Besides I would prefer that you be awake while I’m sleeping. I don’t trust his creepy ass not to try to something funny. I worry more about what he’s capable of than I do the damn zombies.” They easily moved the body and put it down in the floor of the laundry room as planned. When they removed the gloves and washed their hands Kate suggested that Dave go ahead and try to get some rest, she was anxious to begin reading the notes that the woman had left behind. Giving in, he went to lie down on the sofa that barred the front door and Kate sat at the kitchen table to read them.

  An hour went by and Kate sighed as she finished reading Jillian’s account of events and felt so sorry for her, and was glad that it was over for them. She stood and stretched, trying to get the blood flowing again after sitting so still as she read. She looked into the living room and saw that Dave had still not fallen asleep. He got up and entered the kitchen to sit at the table with her.

  “Is there something on your mind?” She asked him. “Kate, do you remember Sunny Wright from high school?” “Yea, bleach blonde drama queen. I had two classes with her. She was always causing chaos and she was bitchy. Why, what about her?”

  “She was one of the people who turned during the run to the Medical Center. The fucked up part is I could swear on my life, that I saw a spark of recognition in her eyes. I know that sounds crazy, but it seemed like she knew who I was. She even held out her hand to me, she didn’t try to bite me. It seemed that time stood still for that moment and all the memories from high school flooded my mind. Did I ever tell you that she kissed me once?”

  “No, you failed to mention that.” Kate said after clearing her throat, a little jealousy peeking through because even though she was never interested in Dave, she knew for a fact that he had a crush on her in high school. He was always around to help her carry her books, or walk her home on a dreary day.

  “I was standing at my locker getting out my books for the next class, and she appeared out of nowhere. Put her hand behind my head and kissed me right on the lips. I wasn’t in love with her or anything but, it sure was a real nice kiss.” He was silent for a moment and Kate didn’t know what to say. “I almost walked away from her, didn’t want to kill her. I thought, for a second; that maybe I could hide her somewhere until a cure was found, but came to my senses, realized there is no cure and that she was infected. I was watching several of the others fall under the attack of many at once and others searching for someone to bite...or biting the first thing they saw. I had no choice but to do it. And it hurt me. Everything just got out of control after that. I didn’t stay to fight, there were too many of them, and after Sunny, I just didn’t want to have to kill anyone else that I knew.” Kate got up out of her chair to hug him and said, “I’m sorry. I haven’t had to put down anyone I know yet. I hope that I don’t. But I don’t think there’s anything human left in them, Dave. It may have looked like she knew who you were, but…”

  “A woman from Eiler Street came back to her house. The mother of those two boys we took. I shot her, too. She was banging on her own front door. I saw her turn and look at everyone who was watching. She made no attempt to attack; she turned back around and continued hitting the door. I shot her quickly because I didn’t want to entertain the thought of her being in there somewhere, and that was after Sunny. I think they know, I think they are aware, just not in control.” Kate recalled the part in Jillian’s story about her neighbor and knew that the woman they were talking about was one and the same, but she didn’t feel like getting into that with Dave. There were so many things she needed to discuss with him about what she had just read. And the time would come for that later.

  “
That’s what he Able Infected do, so it’s possible, I guess. But after so much time, I would hope that all traces of memory of their lives would be gone. Either way, we can’t look at these things like they’re people anymore. And if they are still in there somewhere… they’ll hurt us anyway whether they want to or not, and we will be putting them out of their misery if that’s the case.”

  “I know, Kate. It just makes it harder.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jillian slowly made her way down the ladder and stumbled on the last few stairs and landed on the floor beside the bed, the only sound, a muffled thump. Preston was in the bathroom and heard the noise, but when he looked in to see what it was, he did not see her. He resumed washing his face in the sink. Preston thought that he heard something and looked out into the hall to see what it was. He saw no one and there seemed to be no movement coming from the bedroom where the infected lay slaughtered. He continued to wash his face. He smiled and checked his teeth. Turned his face from side to side, he needed to look his best. Tonight would be a big night for him. He was going to fulfill the fantasy he’d had about these two since he met them.

  He would pretend to be asleep and sneak down and he would shoot Dave in his fucking balls, right before he shot him between the eyes. He’d have to remember to gag and tie Kate before he shoots Dave. Kate would not hesitate to kill him once she saw her friend being attacked. His plan was getting more difficult with every thought. He’d tie her up and then he’d have Kate’s hot ass in any position he wanted. He’d show her what a real cock looks like, up close and really personal. Then after her death, he would have her again before she reanimated, just as he did to Jansen, the Marine he had stolen the uniform from.

  “Fucking bitch thinks she’s too good.” He wanted to rip her pretty red hair out while fucking her from behind. She would scream all right. She would scream for mercy. He thought her disrespectful and planned to teach her to never disrespect him again. “I’ll bet he’s been fucking her, this whole time,” he said in a low whisper while staring at himself in the mirror “I see the way they look at each other. They can’t wait to get away from me so they can fuckfuckfuck. Well, tonight they’ll be fucked for sure.” He had so many plans for them he couldn’t decide on one. He rubbed the bulge in his pants as he anticipated the night ahead.

  Jillian got up off of the floor and saw the bodies of the Infected all over the room. “I remember…. someone ran into the other room when we woke up. I hear water running and there’s a man in the bathroom… Who is he talking to? Is there someone else here? Maybe he will help me… I can’t wait until this is over. But he smells so good! Maybe I can get just a little taste …” Preston was unaware that she had risen and was looking right at him. “What am I thinking? I don’t want this, and if I bite him, he’ll be this way too. I don’t want this for anyone!”

  Her hands went up to grasp her hair at both sides of her head, but she didn’t realize that her body had begun to react to certain thoughts inside her head. “Well, it doesn’t matter what I really want... I’ll just go with the flow and pray he has a gun.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I guess I’ll hit the couch again and try to rest since I’ve gotten that off of my chest. It was really bothering me. Thanks for listening. I’ll keep one eye open, though.” Dave stretched his arms out and yawned. “I’m beat. You can wake me in a couple of hours; I just need a power nap.” He walked into the living room and settled on the sofa that was barring the door. He kept one foot on the ground and his arm over his eyes. Kate began thinking about Jillian’s notes again. Jillian and Evan loved each other deeply, that was for sure, and though Kate wasn’t in the least bit religious, she sort of agreed with Jillian’s theory about why this happened to them and not everywhere else.

  It is odd that the other countries around the world had been demolished by natural disasters and the United States we were being consumed by the dead. She hadn’t thought of it that way until she read the notes. She knew it was a slip up of someone within the CDC, but was it coincidence that the virus escaped while the rest of the world was caving in? Immersed in her thoughts, Kate did not expect what happened next.

  “GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” Preston screamed and Kate jumped out of her chair with the papers still in hand and ran for the stairs. Dave was already at the top, looking into the bathroom. Kate could see one white shoe with a pretty green emblem, Jillian’s shoe. She thought that Jillian was a goner and thought to herself that Preston had gotten what he deserved for kicking Jillian earlier. Dave had not shot yet, and she couldn’t figure out why until she recalled what he had said to Preston when he warned him about unwanted attention.

  When Kate made it to the top of the stairs and looked into the bathroom as well, Jillian was sitting on the floor with Preston in her lap and her face buried in his neck, his hands trembling violently; preventing him from pulling his gun. His eyes rolled back in his head as he fainted. Kate thought she would call out her name to see if Jillian would have any kind of reaction since she had mentioned both of them in her writings. She also wanted to know if they still have a conscious. “Jillian” When Jillian looked up at them, Kate could see that her right eye was turned down as if she had suffered a stroke and her temple looked like so much raw meat, the bullet grazing her temple after exiting Evan’s face. She had several teeth marks around her lips, a bite from Evan; their last embrace.

  “That’s me! She said MY NAME...my papers in her hand… and praiseJesus, they have guns! I will be free…Why are you taking so long?! I’m a fuckin Zombie! See…see… a zombie! I am eating this man, shoot!” Kate was unsure if Jillian had responded to Kate saying her name or the sound of her voice, but Jillian’s face changed dramatically. It went from an evil, hungered expression; to stunned, then puzzlement and finally her eyes widened with recognition. Prestons’ blood and gobs of his flesh were dripping from her open mouth onto his chest. She cocked her head to the side and just looked from Kate to Dave, then back to Kate and back to Dave again. “Know them… Roland and Fraley… I know them! Oh please hurry! That’s right Roland, pull it out, baby. Thank you, thank you, and thank you! End it soon, end it now, PLEASE!!!

  Dave was right, and Kate knew what she wanted, so she raised her gun to shoot Jillian. She didn’t move to try to get at them, only closed her eyes and dropped her head. Her arms fell out to her sides, and if the dead could sigh, Kate would say that’s what she did. “My escape at last. Now I lay me, down to slee-“

  Kate shot Jillian in the top of her head, and her body slammed back against the side of the bath tub and she was no more. Dave shot Preston to make sure he wasn’t getting back up, either. Kate left the bathroom and Dave followed her down the stairs. “I told you, Kate. She knew us. They are still in there.”

  “I know… what can we do about it? Not one thing. It’s not like we have a cure. I don’t think there’s anyone left who can come up with one. So, locking them all up until that happens is out of the question. We have to kill them. We are doing them a big favor by killing them. They don’t want to be trapped like that.”

  “I guess not! She looked like she was ready.” Dave said while looking up at the landing where her foot still sat just outside the doorway. “I read in her notes that she slowly watched Evan change and he was in the abled stage for a bit… she called them Halfers. Funny name for them but I guess it fits. And she did plan on killing them both, the gun must’ve jerked away from her sending the bullet through his head but only grazing her face on its exit, causing little damage.”

  “Yea, but it looked like it entered the left side of her forehead at the temple. That had to be a brain shot.” he said. “It couldn’t have been, she came back to life. Did you see the teeth imprints around her lips? I think she passed out, from shock or fright. It would have been after her death that the Abled infected got up there, or she would have shot it first. Also, she had kissed Evan during his change and was telling of headaches and nausea, tingling of the lips, it was working on her, too
. She mentioned both of us in her notes. She talked about meeting you when Clark was bitten, how Clark showed them the video that wasn’t supposed to get out. I’d like to know how he got it, and she talked about me when I was trying to console the father of the two young boys. She really hated Clark, I’ll tell you that.”

  “Did she say anything else that may have been useful?” he asked. “Not anything that we don’t already know. Get some sleep, I’m going back up to shut the bathroom door; just in case. Then I’ll take the recliner, since I don’t have to worry about Preston now.”

  Kate stood outside the bathroom door for a moment and looked at Jillian. She removed Jillian’s cell phone from her pocket and looked at the pictures again, only this time she scrolled through them and found there were many pictures of Evan during the various stages of the infection. Some were pretty frightening and others were just sad to look at. Closing the phone and grabbing Jillian by the foot that stuck out past the door, she pushed it inside and leaned it against the sink. It was a tight squeeze but she was able to pull the door shut. As she turned to go back downstairs, a noise behind her got her attention and she felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. She spun on her heel and dropped to one knee while raising her weapon. Imagine her surprise at seeing a little girl standing there.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kate scared her when she drew her weapon, the girl jumped and put her thumb in her mouth, her other hand clutched a fluffy teddy bear wearing blue pajamas and nightcap, decorated with crescent moons and stars to her chest, and she began walking backwards.