Day Beyond the Dead (Book 1)

by Dawn, Christina

  Day Beyond the dead

  Chapter 1

  Christa pulled the chair up to the table as she began to sort through the various photos. She vowed to not do this but she couldn’t stand to have any pictures of Gerard in her possession. She wanted to wipe his memory from existence. He had broken her heart and she wanted nothing more to do with him.

  Sitting next to the fireplace in her secluded cabin she found various pictures that were of him and tosses them into the fire. “Good riddance.” It had been a long relationship between Christa and Gerard but couldn’t have ended worse. There was a time she thought for sure he would be the one she’d share the rest of her life with. That all ended the day she found him kissing Becca in the bathroom of her house.

  Christa was supposed to be at the library researching for the majority of the day but ended up coming home early. She came in through the side door that lead into the kitchen and snuck upstairs to surprise Gerard only Christa was the one to be surprised. She found Becca sitting on the bathroom countertop locking lips with her Gerard.

  Christa stoked the fire making sure every little bit of the pictures were incinerated. The heat from the fire kept the cabin warm for the most part while the snow fell outside. She felt this was the perfect time to get away for a while and write her next novel. Luckily her career allowed her to write from anywhere because leaving the town of Buckhannon and all signs of Gerard was the best medicine. That had been two months ago and it felt great to have the seclusion away from all the drama, rumors and heartache. There is only so much one person can take.

  Christa took one last look out the window at the snow falling. Her eyes watch the descent of random different flakes wondering how many more would fall by tomorrow morning. She made it upstairs to her room and turned in for the evening.

  Christa opened her eyes due to the noises coming from downstairs. There were faint noises of rustling around and cupboards being opened and shut. She couldn’t help but wonder who or what was downstairs. Slowly she walks to the closet, retrieves a baseball bat and walks down the stairs. The closer she gets to the kitchen the louder the noises get. She holds the bat up ready to swing as she hears footsteps approaching her. Just as a silhouette rounds the corner she swings with all her might and makes contact in the midsection.

  “Ow!! Stop please stop! I don’t mean any harm I thought this place was abandoned!”

  That voice sounded awfully familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. Christa reached over and flicked the light switch on and was startled to find Gerard laying on the floor clutching his stomach.

  “What are YOU doing here in the middle of the night rummaging through my kitchen?! Are you out of your mind?! I should call the cops. You are lucky I didn’t have a gun handy or the outcome would have been severely different. Seriously Gerard what are you doing here?”

  “You mean you don’t know?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You could call the cops Christa but no one would answer. Everyone is dead. Surely you know that right?”

  Christa paused and gave Gerard a bewildered look. “Gerard, stop. Stop this nonsense. What is wrong with you? Are you seriously willing to resort to stunts like this because of what you did??”

  Gerard stood up and reached for Christa’s hands but she pulled away. Looking disappointed he sighed and said, “Christa, I really wish this was all some ‘stunt’ but it’s not. I mean I regret with all my heart what I did but this is no joke and it is definitely no stunt.”

  She could tell by the look on his face that he was dead serious. Walking towards the fire she takes a seat in the chair closest to the flames.

  “I don’t understand. Why is everyone dead?”

  “Well it happened about a month and a half ago and it spread like wildfire before anyone could control it.” Gerard walked over to the chair adjacent from Christa’s and continued his story, “From what the news said it started at a research facility. I don’t know all the details but after the initial incident it spread pretty rapidly and all the efforts to keep it contained were overwhelmed pretty much from the start.”

  “Wait. What do you mean ‘it’?”

  “It’s a virus of some type. All I know or have figured out is that if you get bit it isn’t long before you are one of them.”

  “Them?”

  “Zombies or at least that’s what I call them. I know it sounds crazy but believe me I am not kidding in the least Christa. I wish to God I was but I’m not.”

  Sitting there in her chair Christa’s mind raced with a thousand thoughts at once. She instantly thought about her mother and sister still in Buckhannon. She also thought about Bree, her beloved 7yr old daughter that was currently with her father in Morgantown. She couldn’t help but to wonder if they were okay. “Did you say ‘everyone’ was dead?” Christa looked up at Gerard through tears in her eyes trying to keep her composure.

  “Christa…I didn’t find one survivor, but that doesn’t mean your mom and sister aren’t ok. Wait. Where is Bree? Is she with Daimon?”

  Christa couldn’t speak through her tears so she just nodded at the question. Gerard came over and knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her knees. “We’ll find Bree. I am sure she is alright. Daimon wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Not much else we can do for the night so you should probably go back to bed. Is it ok if I sleep on the couch? I don’t want to impose or anything but considering wha-“

  “-it’s fine Gerard. The blankets and pillows are in the hallway clo-“

  “-I remember. Thank you.”

  Christa shot him a half-hearted smile and headed upstairs to bed. “Oh. Make sure the doors are locked too or where ever it is that you came in from.” Gerard gave a smile and a nod. She finally made it under her covers, but all she could do was lay there and think about her daughter. How could she sleep at a time like this knowing her baby was out there somewhere and could possibly be in danger?

  No. She couldn’t let thoughts like that plague her mind. She had to believe her Bree was find because she knew Daimon and if anything he would die to keep her safe. As the thoughts swirled in her head she faded off to sleep.

  The bright light from the sun hitting the white snow illuminated Christa’s room and woke her up. She couldn’t help but to feel like all of the events of last night were one big nightmare she had dreamt up. She felt that so much that she walked downstairs to the kitchen in nothing but a tank top and underwear.

  As she came downstairs she noticed the fire still going through her half opened eyes. She rounded the corner heading towards the kitchen to get her morning cup of coffee.

  “That’s a sight I miss.”

  Suddenly she realized it wasn’t some bad nightmare. It was a reality and the words that came out of Gerard’s mouth made her stomach turn. She quickly ran back up the stairs and put some clothes on.

  “Don’t get dressed on my account.”

  “Please Gerard, just shut up. As if today wasn’t hard enough with the realization of everything, I sure don’t need to hear your perverted comments.”

  “You use to like my perverted comments.”

  “Yeah well you use to be faithful. Now please, shut up.” Gerard’s demeanor changed from playful to more serious after Christa’s words. Taking his cup of coffee, he went and sat down next to the fire. “Well I’m not staying here. I need to find my daughter.”

  “Well you won’t make it far out there Christa, at least not now with all this snow. This is really the safest place to be right now. The towns are just overrun with these things. You’d never make it.”

  “What would you have me do Gerard? Would you have me si
t here and play house with you all winter?? I can’t sit here and just do nothing. I can’t. Especially if I think somewhere out there is my daughter and time is of the essence and I can’t waste what time I have here with you. That’s just ridiculous. Besides I could possibly go crazy if I had to resort to that.”

  “The best thing you can do for Bree is stay alive. What good are you to her if you’re dead? I say wait until the weather clears up. You can’t exactly get away fast, if need be, if it is snowing out.”

  “Well we’ll have to get food probably before the weather clears up so I’m not sure what you expect us to do about that. So whether you like it or not Gerard we will have to leave here before the snow melts or we could just starve.”

  Gerard put his head in his hands and sighed, “I guess we’ll have to then. I gotta tell you though Christa, I don’t like this one bit. I really don’t, but I don’t see what our other option would be either. For now though we have food so we’ll wait before we head out. Besides I think a big storm is heading this way this evening. Would do no one any good to be out in it. I’ll go fetch some more firewood from the wood pile though.” Christa watched Gerard cautiously venturing outside before she headed into the kitchen to make breakfast.

  After she made breakfast she put both plates on the table and sat down to eat. She heard the front door shut and Gerard approach the kitchen. He sat down and started to eat as he noticed the bags of food on the countertop.

  “Christa, what is this?”

  “We’ll have to take food with us Gerard, just in case something happens. It’s not like we can go to a drive-thru and I really don’t want to have to stop every time we get hungry.”

  Gerard let out a sigh, “You really are bent on doing this soon aren’t you.” He looks down at the plate of food in front of him and back up at Christa, “We’ll go tomorrow depending the weather. Okay?” Christa nods.

  All that night the snow fell. With each passing flake Christa grew apprehensive about Gerard’s willingness to go with her. Whatever his decision she had already made up her mind she was going with or without him. She couldn’t sit idly by anymore without doing something to get to Bree.

  After watching the snow fall for some time Christa went upstairs to get some sleep. She knew she would need all the rest she could get in order to face the unknown tomorrow. As she laid there in bed her stomach turned in anticipation for what laid ahead tomorrow. She might not have known what it would bring but she knew she would meet it head on.

  Chapter 2

  The very next morning the snow had stopped falling. This little fact made Christa’s heart leap because she knew what that had meant. She was headed out for Morgantown and Gerard was coming with her. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Gerard being there and it wasn’t like that fact took precedent over the fact the world was pretty much ending, but if it was ending would she really want to spend her last days with Gerard? That’s a question she had not really asked herself since the moment she saw him in the fetal position on her floor, especially since prior that day she was burning his pictures.

  This whole situation was one she rather not have been in but she was determined to make the best of it. She knew a truce with Gerard at this point was better for Bree’s sake and for hers. Besides, Gerard knew more about the current situation than she had and that was a definite benefit. Although deep down inside Christa wondered if this still wasn’t some kind of cruel joke Gerard was playing with her. In a way, she had hoped it was.

  They gathered the essentials and headed out to Christa’s SUV. She put the supplies in back while Gerard gathered up a few more odds and ends. As they both sat in the vehicle Christa bolted out the door and back into the cabin. Gerard watched anxiously and opened up the door to the vehicle to step out in case she needed him. Moments later he saw Christa reappear with what looked like a stuffed animal in her arms.

  She opened the door to her SUV and sat down. “For Bree. It’s her favorite.” She tossed the pink bear in the back seat, buckled up and headed down the long drive way. She took one last look at the cabin in her rear view mirror hoping she would see it again.

  The roads down the mountain were extremely slick, especially due to the fact there was no one to clear it off which made the start of the journey very challenging. Christa was no stranger to snowy roads. She grew up in West Virginia, but that didn’t stop Gerard from voicing his opinions the whole way down about how she should drive. He sounded like a nagging wife. She had entertained the idea of opening the door and booting him out as she kept driving on.

  They had finally reached the outskirts of Buckhannon. It was a small town of around five thousand five hundred residents. The biggest attraction was the super Wal-mart where everyone went to shop for pretty much everything. As they approached the highway it was devoid of any traffic, which wasn’t too unusual for the weather.

  As they got more into the populated areas of town it got eerily silent. There wasn’t a person in sight anywhere. The scene, however, looked chaotic as if a riot had taken place and had gotten out of control. There was trash strewn about as well as decaying old meat by the smell of it.

  “What in the hell happened here? Where is everyone? It’s as if they just disappeared.”

  “Don’t be fooled Christa. No one just disappeared, but you will have wished they had unfortunately.”

  Christa stopped in the middle of the street with her car running and slowly opened her door.

  “What are you doing?! Christa get back in the car! You don’t realize just how dangerous it is here. Please, for the love of God, get in the car!”

  “Please Gerard. No one is around and I just want to see something really fast. I’m only going to walk near that car and then straight back I promise. Okay.” Christa started walking over to the discarded trash and meat lying next to the car. She had a curiosity in the back of her mind and she couldn’t help but to satiate that curiosity. As she got closer to the car she let out a scream and ran back towards the vehicle. As she got near the vehicle she noticed movement from the right side of her peripheral vision. She paused perplexed by what she saw. A man with his face half off walking towards her slow yet intently.

  “Christa! Get in the car now!” Gerard jumps out of the still running SUV and pushes Christa in the passenger side of the vehicle and runs around to the driver’s side. Pressing on the gas Gerard drives off in the direction of Christa’s mother’s house which is just out of town.

  Tears began streaming down Christa’s face as she kept looking backwards at the still walking corpse. “Who….’what’ was that? I thought…I thought that was just meat by the car but something told me to check. It was flesh Gerard! It was the severely rotted remains of a person! What is going on?! I can’t …I can’t-“

  “Christa! You have to get a hold of yourself! I know this is all a bit much to take in but you have to get a grip! This is one time in your life you can’t afford to lose it. Bree needs you and you won’t help her if you can’t help yourself.”

  Through teary eyes Christa looks at Gerard and gives a nod as she wipes away the tears. She knew he was right. The world may be falling apart around her but she couldn’t afford to fall apart with it.

  “We will head to your mother’s house to see if anyone is there and then we’ll make raids for provisions. Okay?” As they got further out of town they came to the road in which Christa’s mom lived on. They traveled slowly to make sure they wouldn’t get hung up anywhere. The closer they got to her house the more knots that appeared in Christa’s stomach. She could see it from a distance. She could make out the porch where she would play on as a child. It was strange seeing it now. Usually when she saw this house it gave her a sense of peace and security, but today it was anything but.

  The car came to a stop and Gerard turned off the ignition and looked over at Christa. “Please, stay in the car. I don’t want you to see anything if there is indeed anything to see inside there. Once you see something you can’t unsee it. I don’t want t
hat image in your head.”

  Gerard got out of the vehicle and walked towards the front door, grabbing the shovel that was resting on the side of the railing of the front porch stairs. He approached the door, turned the knob and disappeared inside. Christa’s heart raced and her stomach turned. It was like a bad movie playing out in front of her eyes only she wasn’t sure of the setting inside and that fact got to her.

  The minutes felt like hours as there no sign of Gerard, but then she saw him come outside on the porch with shovel by his side and his head down. He looked up at her and motioned her in. She got out of the vehicle and ran over to him. He opened the door and on the couch laying under a mound of covers was her mother. She ran over to her side and embraced her.

  “Mom! I’m so happy to see you are okay. Where’s sis?” Christa could tell by her mother’s demeanor that she was dead. Suddenly she heard a thud near the back of the house and she turned her head immediately in the direction of the noise. She glanced up at Gerard and his sympathetic look filled her with confusion. She then turned her attention to her mother and she knew that noise was her sister. “She’s back there isn’t she. When did it happen mom? When!”

  She went into town to go to work and the clinic was filling up with people who had these intense flu-like symptoms and one of them bit her. That was just before the situation spiraled out of control here. She fell ill and I found her dead in her bed the next morning. As I went to leave the room she woke up and came after me. It was all I could do to close the door in time and she’s been there ever since. Eventually I got really low on food and the gas ran out. Then I got really sick. I can feel the pneumonia in my chest Christa. I’m so weak.” Her words ended there due to the coughing fit that ensued.

  “You sound awful mom. We need to get you out of here. We can get you some med-“

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “What? What do you mean you’re not going anywhere? That’s nonsense mom. Come on let’s go. Get your stuff.” Christa got up and took a cover off of her mother.