One Hour to Live

by Gary M. Chesla

  The two men began to slowly back away from the house as they continued to shoot at his dad’s house.

  Kevin took the opportunity, stood up, aimed and let his arrow fly.

  Carl crumbled to the ground as Kevin’s arrow went through his right thigh.

  Steve saw Carl fall and decided he had had enough.

  He turned and ran towards the road, leaving Carl and Al to fend for themselves.

  Kevin took a second to look at his dad’s house.

  He almost fell to his knees as he legs felt weak when he saw the window to Lisa’s room.

  Large gouges appeared in the brick around the window from the bullets that had slammed into the house.

  The glass was gone as were the curtains that had hung over the inside of the window.

  All Kevin could think about in that instant was Lisa.

  He felt the weight of the world being lifted off him, when Lisa’s red hair popped out from the corner of the window and looked in his direction.

  When Lisa saw Kevin, she smiled and gave him the thumbs up signal that she was OK.

  Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to look at the yard.

  Carl, still lying on the ground, raised his gun and started shooting at the house again.

  Kevin grabbed the second arrow off the floor, put it on his bow and let the arrow fly.

  It hit Carl in the center of the chest.

  Carl dropped the gun as his head fell back against the ground.

  Kevin scooped up the final four arrows off the floor and ran for the stairwell.

  When he reached the living room, Bill was on the floor below the open shutter where he had unloaded both barrels to start the skirmish.

  Bill looked up at Kevin as he ran into the room.

  “I think I got one,” Bill grinned.

  “Well you didn’t get him good enough,” Kevin shouted.

  Kevin didn’t have time to give Bill hell and to tell him how he had screwed everything up.

  So, Kevin told Bill what he needed him to do. The rest would come later.

  “Bill, the bastard you shot is only wounded. He’s lying around the right front corner of your house,” Kevin said. “I’m going after Steve. I need you to go finish off that guy.

  He has a gun so be careful because he will kill you if you don’t.”

  Bill pulled two more shells out of his pocket and reloaded the shot gun.

  “I fix his ass,” Bill replied.

  Kevin ran out of the house, ran between Bill’s and his dad’s house and then behind the houses. After running through the back alley, he could see market Street.

  Lisa waved at Kevin.

  She waved and smiled at Kevin, happy to see that he was OK.

  She gave Kevin the thumbs up signal, so he knew she was OK and wouldn’t be distracted, worrying about her.

  The gun fire had begun to die down, hopefully this meant that everything was almost over.

  She smiled as the feeling that something was going to happen to Kevin was lifted from her shoulders.

  “Kevin was going to be fine,” Lisa smiled as tears came to her eyes.

  Lisa stood and started walking through the room towards the door.

  Sandy was on the floor behind the bed.

  “Come on Sandy,” Lisa said. “Let’s go down and see if Bob needs any help.”

  “OK,” Sandy nodded and got off the floor.

  Lisa took a step towards the door.

  She was smiling at Sandy when she felt a sharp pain tear through her left shoulder.

  The room spun around her as she felt her body being thrown through the air, then crashing into the wall next to the door.

  Her body crumbled to the floor.

  She looked down at her chest, the last thing she saw was the red color spreading across the front of her shirt.

  Sandy left the room and ran down the stairs.

  She opened the door and jumped off the last step and into the kitchen.

  Bob was looking out through the cracks in the window shutter.

  “God damn,” It worked,” Bob shouted as he watched what was happening out side.

  “Go get that bastard Kevin,” Bob shouted, celebrating what he hoped was their victory.

  “Bob,” Sandy said.

  “I think we did it Sandy,” Bob laughed. “Kevin’s plan worked. We are going to be fine. Well I guess as well as we can be with a bunch of damn zombies running around in town. But at least we won’t have to worry about these bastards anymore.”

  “Bob,” Sandy said again. “Something happened to Lisa.”

  Bob looked at Sandy’s scared expression, and listened to the silence around him.

  He jumped when he heard the shotgun blast coming from in front of Bill’s house.

  Then the eerie silence that followed.

  Bob moved as quickly as he could towards the stairwell.

  He climbed the steps as a feeling of dread make his stomach tighten.

  Bob opened the door and saw Lisa on the floor in a pool of blood.

  Her left arm was bent under her body at a gruesome angle.

  Bob dropped to his knees and touched the side of Lisa’s face.

  Lisa slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Bob.

  “Is Kevin here?” Lisa asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “No not, yet, but he’ll be here in a few minutes,” Bob replied.

  “Is Kevin OK?” Lisa forced the words out.

  “He is fine,” Bob said trying to smile, “His plan worked perfect. We’re all going to be fine. You just rest, he’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “I wish I could be here to see him,” Lisa said.

  “Just relax, you’ll be fine.” But Bob knew Lisa was right. She wouldn’t last until Kevin came back. It was a miracle she was even still alive.

  The bullet had entered through her left shoulder blade, dislocated her arm and tore a large hole where it came out near her left collar bone.

  A few inches over and it would have killed her instantly.

  She was losing blood quickly and there wasn’t a thing Bob could do.

  Without professional medical attention, which no longer existed, it would be over in a few minutes.

  “Bob,” Lisa asked.

  “Yes Lisa,” Bob replied.

  “Hand me that pink cell phone on the nightstand,” Lisa said.

  “Sure,” Bob replied and quickly got up to get the cell phone. He didn’t know what she wanted with that ugly pink thing, but he wasn’t about to deny her what he was sure would be her final request.

  He ran back to Lisa and placed the phone in her right hand.

  Lisa hit the power button and looked at Bob.

  “Tell Kevin I made him another movie,” Lisa said. “He will understand.”

  Bob nodded as Lisa struggled to hold the little phone up to her face.

  She pushed a button with her thumb and began to talk.

  Tears ran down Bob’s face as he listened to Lisa talk into the phone.

  His heart was breaking at Lisa’s words.

  She spoke into the phone for about twenty seconds, then dropped the phone on the floor as her head slumped to her chest and her right arm fell limp at her side.

  Bob reached out and picked up the pink phone and folded it closed.

  He slipped the phone into his pants pocket.

  Bob crossed his arms over his knees as he sat on the floor next to Lisa.

  He laid his head on his arms and began to sob.

  He cried for Lisa.

  He cried for Monica, who like Lisa was taken from this world way too soon.

  “How could any god let this happen to someone so sweet, innocent and who had brought so much joy to those around her?” Bob wept.

  Bob cried for himself, as it made him relive the death of his wife so many years ago.

  But most of all, Bob cried for Kevin.

  Lisa was gone, her pain and suffering were over.

  Kevin had to live in this fucked up
world and now he would have to live with this.

  Kevin could live with a fucked up world, but Bob didn’t know if Kevin would be able to live with what he would find when he came home later today.

  Kevin slowly moved down Market Street.

  He had seen Steve going down this direction. He had to be here somewhere.

  Kevin knew he had to be careful, Steve still had a gun.

  Kevin stood behind a tree and listened.

  He hoped he would hear the sound of footsteps as Steve ran.

  But there was nothing.

  Kevin slowly looked around the tree and scanned the area for a green van.

  He doubted Steve would be walking back to wherever he was staying.

  Kevin looked up and down all the surrounding streets, hoping to see where the van might be parked.

  Again, nothing.

  Kevin refused to give up and go home, not yet.

  He sat at the base of the tree and listened.

  Then Kevin heard a loud squeak.

  The sound of a door on an old rusty car being pulled open.

  He listened unable to tell what direction the sound had come from.

  Next, he heard a door being slammed shut.

  Then the sound of an engine starting.

  He turned and determined that the sound of the engine was coming from the alley behind him.

  As the sound of the engine began to come closer to where Kevin stood, he put an arrow on the bow string and pulled the string back as he listened to the van get closer.

  He spotted the van moving slowly, coming down the alley towards him.

  He hid behind the tree and waited, the alley would lead the van right past him.

  He pointed the arrow at the alley where it intersected with Market Street ten feet away from him and waited.

  Steve looked up Market Street as he drove into the intersection.

  Panic showed on his face when he saw Kevin smile at him.

  Steve began to hit the gas, but not before the arrow came through the open passenger side window.

  The arrow entered through the right side of Steve’s head and caused his head to hit the door frame.

  The green van drifted across market Street, stopping when it bumped into a telephone pole.

  Kevin walked across the street and looked in the van to make sure it was over.

  He reached across Steve’s slumped body and turned off the ignition.

  The van and gas could be useful later.

  Kevin turned and began to walk through the yards that would take him home.

  The earlier sight of Lisa flashing him from the bedroom window crossed his mind.

  Kevin smiled. It was going to be a good night.

  Chapter 22

  September, One year ago

  Kevin smiled when he reached the porch.

  He walked up to the door. After finding the door was locked, he tapped on the door and waited.

  The door opened a crack and Bill’s face appeared.

  Kevin slipped inside when Bill pulled the door open, then closed it behind Kevin after he stepped inside.

  “I got that bastard Steve down on Market Street trying to get away,” Kevin smiled. “Despite the fact that you jumped the damn gun, Bill, this worked out better than I thought.”

  The silence that greeted Kevin unnerved him.

  Kevin turned to look at why everyone was so quiet.

  Bill was standing at the sink with his back to Kevin as Bill stared at the boarded-up window over the sink.

  Kevin then looked at the table where his dad and Sandy were sitting with their heads down.

  Then Kevin looked at the empty chair at the table.

  “Where’s Lisa?” Kevin asked as a strange feeling began to come over him.

  Bob looked up at Kevin.

  Tears ran down Bob’s face.

  “Dad, where’s Lisa?” Kevin asked again, but this time knew he didn’t want to hear the answer.

  Tears began to run down Kevin’s cheeks as he looked at his dad.

  “Sit down son,” Bob said.

  Kevin stumbled over to his dad and looked down at him.

  “Where is she?” Kevin chocked out the words.

  “Up in your room,” Bob replied.

  Kevin ran to the stairway and up the steps.

  He stood outside the closed door to his room.

  He didn’t want to believe that anything had happened to Lisa.

  His heart was breaking as he stood outside the door.

  He didn’t want to open the door, because he knew once he opened the door he would never be able to close it on what he would find inside.

  But if Lisa was inside, he had to go in.

  He needed to be with her, whatever had happened.

  He owed it to Lisa to be with her and hold her, no matter what. He wanted to be with Lisa.

  Kevin opened the door and stepped inside.

  As he closed the door, he saw Lisa’s body on the floor behind the door covered with the green blanket they had slept under during the last week.

  Her delicate feet stuck out from under the bottom of the blanket, and her long curly red hair was spread out on the floor as it protruded out from under the top of the blanket.

  Kevin’s hand shook as knelt down on the floor next to Lisa and pulled the blanket down over Lisa’s face.

  Lisa looked like she was peacefully sleeping without a care in the world.

  The look Kevin had seen numerous times over the last week as he would lay in bed and just watch her sleep.

  When he reached out and touched her cold face, he began to sob uncontrollably as he pulled Lisa’s limp form against his body and hugged her tightly.

  They buried Lisa that day as the sun was starting to set.

  Kevin picked a spot near the picnic table in the back yard, near where he and Lisa had been reunited one week ago.

  A place where he could visit her and talk to her each day.

  A place where he could go to remember the best thing that had ever happened in his life.

  “My dad was right, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,” Kevin thought as he looked down at Lisa’s grave, tears streaming down his face, “I love you Lisa and I know you loved me, but I never realized how much until now. I’m so sorry I never told you just how much I really loved you. Please forgive me for being such a jerk.”

  Bill smoothed out the dirt on top of the grave while Sandy placed some little flowers at the base of the wooden cross she had made from some small sticks she found in the yard.

  Bob walked over and stood next to Kevin.

  Bob didn’t say anything for a few moments as he stood at Kevin’s side.

  He knew first hand that there wasn’t anything anyone could say at a time like this that would make Kevin feel any better.

  Only the knowledge that Bob was here, he hoped, would give Kevin some comfort.

  Finally, Bob decided to speak.

  “Before Lisa died,” Bob said. “Lisa had me get her your pink cell phone. She did something with the phone, then told me to tell you she made you another movie. She said you would know what that meant.”

  Kevin looked at his dad as Bob reached in his pocket and held out the pink phone.

  “Thanks,” Kevin replied as he took the phone from his dad’s hand.

  Bob walked back to the house, joined by Bill and Sandy as Kevin sat down at the picnic table.

  Kevin stared at that ugly damn pink phone and felt a smile try to form on his face.

  Images of Lisa flooded his thoughts.

  The ornery look on her face as she insisted he buy the pink one.

  She was right, every time he would look at that pink cell phone, he would think of her.

  Unfortunately, thinking of Lisa now was painful, but the image of Lisa looking at him with her ornery grin remained in his mind despite the pain he felt.

  Kevin couldn’t help himself as he smiled at the image in his mind.

  Kevin opened the phone and studied t
he buttons as he tried to remember how Lisa had told him to find the movies and pictures.

  Kevin tapped the menu button, then hit the down arrow and waited until word movies was highlighted.

  When he hit the ‘OK’ button, two pictures appeared on the screen.

  The first picture was a picture of Lisa’s bare bottom.

  Kevin knew if he tapped that picture he would see the movie of him and Lisa at the motel.

  Maybe in a few months he might be able to watch it again.

  But he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle that for months, if he would ever be able to watch it again.

  The second picture was a close-up picture of Lisa’s face, her two large blue eyes filled the picture.

  When Kevin tapped the picture, Lisa’s two large blue eyes filled the screen.

  She blinked slowly as the camera moved away, now showing her entire face.

  Then Lisa began to speak.

  “Kevin, I’m so grateful you are OK. I only wish I could have been here to hug you when you came back.

  I have so many things I want to tell you, but I know I don’t have much time. I need you to know how much I love you. I’m sorry if I never told you that enough. But I want you to know that I loved you more than anything or anyone I have ever known.

  I don’t know what comes next, but if there is a heaven, I would trade it all for one more week with you like we have just spent together.

  Thank you for loving me.

  I feel so cold and lonely knowing I won’t be able to touch you and hold you when you come home.

  If there is a heaven, I’m not going without you.