“Your orders have been carried out, sir. Request permission to rest,” Duncan said as he saluted me.
I wrapped Duncan up in a bear hug and lifted him off his feet. As I put him down, I shook his hand and reminded him of what I told him a while ago. “You’re always welcome where I live. C’mon up to the lodge. Charlie and Tommy will be glad to see you, old son.” We walked up to the lodge, where Duncan was greeted like the long lost prodigal.
The summer breezes ran lazily over the treetops as the sun dipped into the horizon. Scarlet rays turned the green leaves crimson and the purple clouds raced each other to the far side of the world. Sarah moved up close to give me a hug and kiss.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?” I asked.
“Saving us all.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything special.”
Sarah took my face in her hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “You reminded us that we were alive once and gave us the will to live again. Don’t ever deny that because that is what you did. Everyone knows it and you should too.”
I looked down. “I lost a lot of people too.”
Sarah hugged me. “You never worried about ghosts before, why bother now? It was never your fault. You did what you could.”
She was right. We were alive and we were living. It was the best revenge we could have against a world gone dead.
As I closed my eyes and breathed Sarah in, I heard a far-off moan carried on the evening breeze. I had managed to get a lot done, but there was more work to do. I still had a promise to keep and we had more to take back.
I made another promise that day. The white flags of the dead might be still out there, but they were no longer a symbol of surrender. They were a rallying cry, to take back what we had lost and reclaim our lives and land. They had tried their best and failed.
We were taking it back. One ragged step at a time, but we were taking it all back.
I looked in and watched Jake play on the floor of the lodge. I thought about his mother, and how far we had come in such a short time. Across the river, next to the abandoned school, I saw a ragged flag flutter in the wind. I knew what I had to do for my son, what I needed to do for everyone still alive, still struggling to keep the monsters away.
I had to step up, rip the country away from the rotted fingers of the virus, and spit in the eye of the infected who haunted the darkness.
I had to take it back.
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Taking It Back wfotd-2 Page 26