by Crist, J. D.
There were two more doors in this room. One led back to the backyard, but the other was tucked away towards the corner of the room. Emily slowly opened the door and discovered a staircase leading down on the other side. "It must be a basement or a cellar of some kind," Emily muttered to herself as she flipped on the light and made her way down the stairs. Once down there, Emily found herself in a large open room with a concrete floor. There were two coffin-style deep freezers down here and shelves with more box/canned food. Emily opened the deep freezers to see that they were filled with various types of meat. Her mouth began to water at the thought of all the meals she could make in that large kitchen. As she shut the door, it took all her mental will to push away the thought of food once more. She turned and saw that on the wall next to the staircase was a washer and dryer. The smell of fresh laundry flooded her senses. It was another thing that she thought was gone forever.
Emily made her way back up the staircase and closed the door after shutting off the light. Once back in the main house, she looked up the stairs on the far side of the living room. The only place left to go is up. She had seen the back door in the kitchen but had decided against going out. Emily slowly climbed the staircase with Marley behind her. Each step hurt as Emily became aware of how tired and sore her body was. She had never had time to realize it before, but inside these walls, this house, she felt safe enough to let herself feel again. Emily found the master bedroom with a king-sized bed. There was a dresser in the room and, to the left, a master bathroom. Emily found herself moving more quickly as she cleared the room and moved on to the next. There were three more bedrooms up here. All but one of them were furnished with a full-sized bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. The beds were not made, and the mattresses were bare on each. The room that was not furnished was the one directly next to the master bedroom. Emily resolved that it was always meant to be her house, and that room was meant to be the nursery.
She and Marley were alone in the house and probably in the town. If there was anyone else here, Emily doubted that they still required oxygen. She felt her stomach rumble again and began to make her way down the stairs. Once in the kitchen, she opened the freezer on the refrigerator and grabbed a bag of pizza rolls. Hopefully, these were safe for Marley to eat. She would have to check the stores in town for dog food, and all of the meat was frozen downstairs. She heated up fifteen on a plate in the microwave and then put them into a bowl. She put fifteen more on a plate and began to heat them for herself. While she waited, she filled a second bowl with water and placed both on the floor for Marley. She then filled herself a cup of water, which she set on the kitchen island just as the microwave beeped, signaling her lunch was ready. For several minutes all that could be heard in the kitchen was the sound of eating. This was the best either of them had been able to eat in months, and they were enjoying it. Once they finished, Emily washed their dishes in the sink and placed them in the strainer to dry. She was going to live here, so she needed to keep it clean.
As Emily turned off the hot water, she realized how much she wanted to go upstairs and take a hot shower. However, she had no clothes to change into, still needed dog food, and doubted Ronald had any soaps for women. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it right. She also needed to check out still that barn she had saw earlier. If there were indeed live farm animals there, she would need to take care of them moving forward to ensure that the food never ran out. She also didn't know much about growing crops, but she needed to see what was down there to learn about it. Emily walked back to the entryway and grabbed her duffle bag from the floor where she had dropped it. She walked back to the living room and emptied it onto the table. She did have a change of clothes, but they were just as ill-fitting as what she was wearing and were only slightly less dirty. She put everything back in the bag and zipped it closed.
"Well, boy, it's time to go shopping," With that, she headed back towards the entryway, armed with her knife and crowbar, and stepped back out into the ghost town.
Chapter 15
Emily made her way to the east of the town first. She had decided to check out the farm before shopping because she did not want to carry all of the stuff back and forth. She had only made it a few blocks when she saw something moving to her left. She and Marley must have seen it at the same time because they both stopped. Emily watched as another man dressed in construction clothes walked towards them. Much like the one in the yard, if not for his eyes and walk, she would not have known he was dead. He was very clean and looked like he had just died, maybe a day or two ago. The zombie movies always seem to have a certain amount of rot and decay, but these folks did not, just the eyes. Emily dropped the empty bag on the ground and moved quickly to handle their unwanted friend. She had just raised her knife to strike when Marley began to bark. He did it so rarely it scared her, but she still managed to hit the brain. She removed the knife quickly and watched as out of a building three more men wandered out onto the street. "No big deal," Emily thought to herself, "Just move around, and with Marley's help, we can split them up, and it will be easy pickings."
Emily began to move and distance herself from Marley when a fourth figure emerged from the building. It was not a construction worker, and Emily felt her heartbreak as she looked at her. The girl could not be more than five or six years old. She was wearing a blue dress, and her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. As the dead moved, the girl seemed to stick close to the one wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. Emily could not help but suspect that if she removed that hat, she would find the man had a head full of red hair. Is it possible that he would still protect her even though they were dead, and she knew that he would? Emily watched the little girl so closely that she did not realize how close the other two men had gotten to her until one reached out to grab her. Due to her size, she was not as agile as she used to be and narrowly managed to escape his grasp. When she moved, he fell forward, and she scrambled to sink the knife into his skull. With no time to breathe, she jumped back to her feet and removed the blade. The next one was already right on top of her. She could hear Marley barking and could only pray that father and daughter were following him.
Emily could not move quickly this time, and the second man grabbed her shoulders, and they both fell to the ground. Emily felt the knife fall from her hand as she hit. The man fell on top of her. Though their flesh looked to be well preserved, the smell was overpowering. He bites at her, and she was using all of her strength just to keep him from getting the meal he so badly wanted. Emily feared that if she moved one of her hands to look for the knife, he would overpower her, and it would be over. Emily could still hear Marley barking and dared not call to him. He may have been able to knock this thing off of her, but that would lead the other two straight towards her before she was ready. Emily's mind scrambled for what to do. The last time she had been this close to a zombie, it had taken a nice bite into her shoulder. That's when she remembered the bite. She had not turned. It had only knocked her out for a few hours. She would have to move fast and not let him take a big bite.
Emily craned her neck and saw that the knife was right next to her. If she was fast enough, she might even be able to stab him before he got a taste. Emily looked up into the man's milky white eyes and counted to three. "One…Two….Three!" Emily dropped her right hand and felt the handle of the blade. She felt her left arm giving and the man's mouth drop towards her chest. She raised her hand, and just as she felt the man's teeth on her flesh, she stabbed him in the skull. The man's body fell limp on top of her, and Emily struggled to get him off. Soon she was back on her feet and saw Marley a short way up the road. The father and daughter had their backs turned towards her, and she had to act fast. She ran up the road, killed the father first, and then ran a short way back as the daughter turned towards her.
Emily did not have time to feel the emotions she had let paralyze her before as she couldn't have much time left before she passed out. She ran towards the child and, in one motion, put h
er body to rest. Emily collapsed on the pavement next to the girl's body and took several deep breaths. Marley came and sat next to her, looking exhausted himself. Emily ran her hand over the dogs' head, "Good boy," she breathed. Emily then looked down at her shirt. She could see where the zombie had bitten through the cloth. It was so thin and worn that it wouldn't have taken much, but her soft pink flesh was under the tares in the fabric. Emily reached up and touched where he had bitten her. There were teeth impressions in her skin but no blood. She had managed to avoid him breaking the skin and testing the fact that she was immune.
"That was close," Emily stated to Marley, and she lowered her hands. "We better get moving to the farm. I want to be back to the house before it gets dark." Marley seemed to agree and stood up, looking ready to go. Emily couldn't help but groan a little as she stood up from the ground. The farm still had to be checked out, and they were losing time. They continued to make their way up the road and soon found themselves at the farm. There was a fence around, and some of the fields were bare. Emily made her way towards the barn, noticing only a few things that appeared to be alive. One was carrots, and the other she thought maybe cabbage. She hoped some books on crops back in the library may help her determine what was growing and if it was harvestable. As she approached the barn, she paused outside of the door and listened. The barn was huge. She had seen that from the wall, but the sounds inside were terrific to hear. She knew she could hear a horse, maybe two, cows and sheep. There were other noises, but she was unsure what they may be, but they did not sound like zombies.
Emily opened the door and stepped inside and felt like a small child seeing animals for the first time. There were a few horses in the barn, a couple of sheep and three cows. They all looked pretty healthy to her, and she noticed that the back of the barn was open. These guys must have been going out, and grazing since everyone here died and kept themselves healthy enough. There may be more of them out in the fields that had not wandered in here yet. Emily knew it had been months since any of them had seen a live person and was surprised as she slowly approached one of the horses that stood still and allowed her to pet it. Emily then looked around and saw that the barn was a mess. The animals did not clean up after themselves.
"Alone in a manger on Christmas Eve, this has to be a good sign, right? A sign that something good is about to happen and change the world forever." Emily ran her hand over her stomach. "No pressure though, little one, just saying."
Emily looked around at her new animal friends and could not help but wonder if she would ever see an actual person again. Emily pushed the thought from her mind and headed back outside. Once outside, she began to explore a little bit more. She found a storage building overflowing with bags of grain and oats and another filled to the ceiling with canning materials. Emily had visited a petting zoo or two when she was younger and had even tried to have a few vegetable gardens. However, she had no idea how to run a farm or take care of the animals. Emily shrugged and decided she would just have to learn as she went. Perhaps there were some notes in the journal or some books in the library on farm life that would help her.
Emily headed for the farmhouse next. It was a typical farmhouse and furnished as if the owners had just stepped out. Emily thought for a moment that it might be best for her to take this house instead of the one on the main street. However, after several moments she decided that it would not be the best for her. She would have to journey here every day to take care of things, but the house on the main street gave her a clear view of the gate and was close to all the supplies. At least for now, this was not the best place for her to live. Emily closed the door behind her and started to make her way back to her new home.
Emily saw the bodies of the zombies she had killed on her way back. The men did not bother her, it was just another body, but the little girl brought tears to her eyes. It was the first child she had seen all this time, and it made her sick to her stomach to see that little girl laying there with a knife wound to the head. Emily forced herself to move on without stopping and made her mind turn to more practical things. She would need to figure out what to do with these bodies. She did not have the strength to dig a grave for each of them, but she could not leave them where they were. The smell would become overwhelming, and she didn't want her baby growing up in a place where dead bodies were left to rot on the streets. The more she thought about it, a fire would be her only option. She could move the bodies back to one of the undeveloped places and burn them there.
Emily had finalized her decision to burn the bodies just as she reached the main street. It was pretty late in the afternoon, and she had only a few hours before the sun would begin to set. She didn't need food for herself. There was plenty back in the house. She did need dog food, though, and that, she felt, could not wait. She opened the door to what looked like a market and held the door open as Marley followed. She scanned the area around her and waited a few moments. When she saw nothing move, she cried out, "Hello!" and waited a few more minutes. Silence other than the hum of the refrigerated units. Emily saw that there were shopping carts just inside and pulled one out of the row. This would make things much easier on her already exhausted body. Emily began to make her way through the aisles, in awe of the amount of dry package food she saw. The refrigerated units were all empty except for the freezers, full of different kinds of meats. Emily remembered that everything back at the house was frozen, and it would take it a while to thaw. She opened a freezer and pulled out a small package labeled GROUND BEEF, and placed it in the cart so it could thaw while she did all of her shopping.
Emily made her way through the aisles and picked up everything she would need to make herself a pasta dinner. She had not taken the time at the house to take inventory of the food to know what she could and could not make. Once she had her meal in the cart, Emily located the pet section and was thrilled to see bags of dog food lining the shelf. She grabbed a yellow bag that said it was steak flavored and put it into the cart. She also grabbed a couple of dog bowls, a new collar for Marley, and dog shampoo. Emily continued to wander the store until she found shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, and a hairbrush for herself. She grabbed a package of razors but knew that she did not have the strength to tackle that mess tonight. Once she was done, she made her way to the front of the store. For the first time, Emily felt terrible just pushing the cart outside without paying. She had been scavenging for months with no feeling and could not explain why she felt it now.
There was no time for this now. Emily pushed her cart up the main street to a clothing store she had seen on her way in. She opened the door, pushing her cart inside, and repeated her tried and true process. "Hello!" she yelled into the store. After several minutes there was nothing. Emily left her cart by the door and started to make her way through the racks. She knew what size she was before the flash, but the bump she was now sporting changed all that. This was not a maternity store, and after trying on several pairs of jeans, Emily was beginning to lose hope. She would need something that would hold up to the work she had to do on the farm and in the town. The skirts and stretch pants here were just not going to cut it. Emily continued to make her way through the store when she spotted overalls. She had not worn them since she was a kid, but right now, they were the most beautiful piece of clothing she had ever seen.
Emily walked over to the rack and tried on a couple of pairs until she found her size and then grabbed all four pairs they had in that size. As she walked her find back to the cart, she could not help but laugh that she would learn how to work on the farm, and the first piece of clothing she got was overalls. Emily worked her way through the store and found several shirts that fit and would work nicely with her new pants along with bras, underwear, and socks. She was disappointed to see that this store did not have shoes, but she was sure she had time to find a store that did before dark. Emily grabbed her filling cart and headed back outside. It didn't take her long to find a shoe store where she got a pair of tennis shoes and wor
k boots.
As she made her way back to the house, she felt proud of herself for everything she had found that day. Tomorrow was Christmas, and she had received all of her gifts tonight. Emily looked in the store windows as she walked and noticed a store called "Baby." The sun would be setting soon, and she did not have time to explore, but she surely had time to look through the window. Inside was every baby thing a child could need and more. There were cribs, dressers, mobiles, clothes, toys, and so many other things. Emily felt overwhelmed. She would find everything she needed for the nursery in this store. It was hard for Emily to pull herself away from the baby things, but she did and pushed her cart the rest of the way home.
She didn't want to mess up the floor inside the house, so she left the cart outside the door and set everything in the entryway. The meat was still partially frozen, so once everything was inside, Emily took it straight to the kitchen and put it in warm water to finish defrosting. She then brought the rest of the groceries to the kitchen, set them on the counter, set up the dog bowls, and put the dog food in the pantry. She took the new collar and dog shampoo into the downstairs bathroom and set them on the tub. Marley was going to look like a different dog when she was done. She then took her clothes and personal supplies up to the master bedroom. She set the private supplies in the bathroom and then opened the closet. Ronald's clothes were still hung here, and it caught her a little off guard. She quickly recovered, though, and removed them from the hangers and set them in one of the spare bedrooms. She opened the dresser drawers and did the same. She then put away the few clothes she now had.