by Crist, J. D.
Emily ran her hand over his soft fur as the familiar story played out on TV. As she watched, she was not alone in an empty town with the dead walking around but instead back on her mother's couch on Christmas. Emily allowed herself to become immersed and only came back to reality when the end credits started. She looked around the living room and realized how truly alone she felt. She ran her hand over her stomach.
"Next year, you can watch it with me too," Emily whispered to the baby. With that, she stood and returned the movie to its place on the shelf. She then pushed the button to shut off the tv. Emily looked up at the clock and saw that it was well after nine, and she could not help but want to crawl back into that soft bed. She headed to the kitchen and opened the back door for Marley. She watched for a few minutes to ensure that nothing had gotten into the backyard. Once she was sure that all was safe, she went to the sink and put away her dishes. When she had finished, she sat at the table while waiting for Marley to come back in. Once he did, she closed and locked the door behind him.
"Time to get ready for bed. Did you have a good Christmas?"
Marley wagged his tail, and Emily decided to take this as a yes. She climbed the stairs back up to her room. Once they were both inside, she closed and locked the door. She considered just removing her overalls and climbing into the bed but scolded herself for the thought. She had put down on her daily routine that she would take care of herself every day. She made her way to the bathroom and added her clothes to the hamper. She then climbed into the shower and began to wash. She decided that this was the night she would tackle her legs. She set to work with the razor and found the task a bit more challenging than it used to be. Not only had it been five months since she last shaved, but her baby bump forced her to come up with some new ways to be able to reach everything. After some time, she was satisfied with what she had accomplished. She finished washing and wrapped a towel around herself. She wiped the fog off the mirror and saw the same skinny girl looking back at her. However, there was a slight difference. There was some color back in her cheeks, a sign of life. Emily brushed her teeth and hair feeling proud that she at least looked like there was life in her once again. Once she had added her towel to the hamper, she turned off the light and joined Marley in the bed.
Emily slowly laid her head down on the pillow and thought back on the day. She still had so much to do, but somehow, she felt unstoppable. Within minutes, the sound of Marley softly snoring was beside her. He had slept so much since they arrived here. He had to be exhausted from looking out for her every second over the past five months. Emily rolled to her side to face her sleeping protector. She ran her hand through his fur and listened to the rhythm of his breath. There was no way she could have made it this far without him, and she knew it.
Emily closed her eyes and attempted to let sleep come to her as well. However, though she was tired, her brain refused to stop. She kept making plans in her mind and felt the time begin to slip by. She grew frustrated with herself for not being able to sleep, but her mind continued to race. Emily was just about to give up on sleep and get up to find something to do when it happened. She thought she had imagined it. First, it was so faint that she barely felt it. She laid still and waited to see if it would happen again. She nearly jumped out of bed as the baby softly kicked once more. It was the first confirmation that she had that there was indeed a baby in her belly. The test had said there was, and she had watched her belly slowly grow but no actual proof.
"Okay, little one, it's time for bed," Emily cooed as she rubbed her stomach. Suddenly, all the thoughts that had kept her from sleeping were gone. She began to hum lullabies and drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were filled with memories of her family and their reaction to the baby. She enjoyed the moments she should have had in her dreams, and her mind was even kind enough to erase Chad from the picture. She had a reason to calm herself and to believe that she could make it work. She would be meeting that reason in March, and there was no time to lose her strength. Many people would say that what she was trying to do was impossible, but she had already proven that the impossible meant nothing to her. It should have been impossible for her to survive this long in an SUV with only her dog. It should have been impossible for her to escape those men. It should have been impossible for her to not only be pregnant but not lose the baby with everything she had been through up to this point. It should have been impossible for her to find this sanctuary and everything in it. Impossible was just an opportunity for Emily, and the next day would hold even more for her.
Chapter 17
Emily woke the following day feeling excited about the day. She knew that in Missouri, the snow and freezing temperatures did not set in hard until January. That was only in a few days, so she had a lot to do before then. She quickly dressed and made her way through her morning routine. After breakfast, she gathered all of her dirty laundries and decided to give the washer a try. Once it was started, she headed back upstairs and made herself a lunch to take with her. There was a lot to get done in the town, and she did not want to lose time by coming back home to have lunch every day. She was happy to see that Marley seemed to have gotten plenty of rest and was back to his usual energetic self.
Emily, with her lunch and crowbar in hand, opened the front door to head to work. She had decided that her first stop would be the farm. She would work here every morning to take care of the animals and crops once the growing season started. As she made her way down the road, she kept an eye out for movement. She had no delays except when she passed the bodies she had left the day before. It was on her list to find a way to move them and a place to burn them, but she had discovered neither yet. The smell was worse than she remembered, or perhaps it was because she had gotten used to the smell of clean in the house. Emily looked down at the little girl and forced herself to move along. She could not let herself get pulled into those emotions now. She had work to do.
Emily made her way straight to the barn and began to inventory what needed to be done here. The only animal in here this morning was one of the horses she met on her first day here. The horse seemed to recognize her and walked towards her, nudging her face.
"Good morning to you too," Emily laughed.
Emily then looked at the barn floor and decided that it would be the best place to start. She would need a wheelbarrow and a shovel to get all of the muck out of the floor. She found both just outside the back of the barn and set to work cleaning the floor. The process was long and took what felt like hours, but finally, Emily carted the last of the mess out of the barn. Her horse friend had stayed the whole time watching her while she worked. A few troughs looked to have once held hay and water, but they were all empty now. Emily found a hose and dragged it inside, and rinsed each of them out as best she could. She then filled a few with water, a process she would need to do every day as whatever water source the animals had would soon be freezing over.
In cleaning the barn, she had found no hay or straw. There may have been some here before, but the animals probably helped themselves. Emily headed out to explore more behind the barn and was delighted to see that her new horse friend and Marley decided to join her. A little ways behind the barn, she found a tall metal fence. Inside was an animal that Emily was sure wasn't going to warm up to her. The bull looked to have kept his strength up in his solitude, but he was not happy to see her. Emily could see that he had water and looked to be surviving by grazing like the other animals. She would have to find a way to give him food once the grass was killed by frost. While it was another challenge, Emily could not help but feel excited at the possibility that the cows would be able to get pregnant. She had no idea how to let the bull out to get them that way, but it was still a new possibility.
Emily continued to explore and was excited to find a supply of hay, straw, and oats. This would give her everything to keep the animals fed through the winter. It had remained untouched as it was stored in a smaller barn further back. It would be a lot for her to carry into the barn,
and she would need to find a way to load and move the food. Emily walked through the fields and tried to take count of the animals she saw. She counted a total of four horses, five cows, six sheep, and three goats. While to a seasoned farmer, this was probably a tiny amount, Emily felt like she hit the jackpot. She made her way back to the barn and, after saying goodbye to her horse friend, headed back out front.
Emily took her time and began to look more closely around. All of the crops were dead, this was to be expected, but it was not the time to figure out how to plant new. She would do some research to see if she should be doing anything during the winter to prepare, but for now, the fields were on their own. On her exploration, she also found a chicken coop that she had not seen before. The chickens and a rooster were all around it and seemed to be healthy. Emily had skipped the section on chickens but would make sure to read up on them tonight. For now, she would leave them to their own devices. Emily had hoped to find a truck of some kind on the farm, but there was nothing.
As the morning drew to a close, Emily sat on the porch swing and ate her lunch. She was not in the mood for her bread crust, but Marley enjoyed the treat as she tossed it to him. Once she had finished, she gathered herself and headed back towards the main street. This was when she decided she would ensure that the town was empty, but she had not thought out this part. Ronald surely had some maps back in the study of the city, but she had not thought to look for one or bring it with her. A lesson learned for tomorrow. Instead, Emily made her way back to the main street and decided to check the few streets closest to it. The first two she checked were empty. She went into each of the houses and checked them room by room. The places looked to have had people living in them but now stood empty.
Emily was finishing the last house on her goal for the day and was allowing her mind to wonder. She began to think about what things she should try to find for the nursery when she was done or other things she would like to try for her home. She entered the last house and didn't notice Marley's pause as she broke her routine. She did not call out and wait to see if anything moved. She just walked in and started walking through the rooms. Her mind was on a bassinet when Marley barked and pulled her back to what she was doing. She had walked right past the damn thing without noticing, and now it was coming at her. The woman was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and if not for the white eyes, Emily would have thought she was alive.
Emily raised her crowbar and swung it hard at the woman's head. She heard the crack of the skull and watched as the corpse fell to the ground. Emily moved quickly and stabbed the thing in the head to ensure it stayed down. She stood and looked around the room, just in case there were more. Marley seemed to be relaxing, and Emily moved to put her back against a wall. While it was late, she decided it was time to get back to the plan. She called out several times and waited to see if anything responded. After several minutes she allowed herself to breathe.
"What the fuck was I thinking?!" Emily yelled at herself. "I can't let my guard down like that!" Emily could not have been more upset with herself. She knew better than to let her mind wander while clearing a place, but she had allowed herself to do it anyway. She then looked at Marley. He looked upset that she was mad.
"Good thing the brains of our team were still on duty. Good boy." Marley began to wag his tail and seemed to understand that she was not mad at him.
They then made their way through the rest of the house and back outside. Emily turned to start to make her way back to the main street when she noticed something under a piece of tarp behind the house. She carefully made her way to the backyard and pulled down the tarp. She felt like she had found a unicorn at the sight of the old flatbed truck. It was nothing pretty to look at but precisely what she needed. She opened the passenger door and climbed inside. The keys were nowhere to be found in the truck. Emily then thought of the corpse inside. She had not looked through the belongings but had just check for any more dead. She climbed out of the truck and headed back inside the house. It took her a while, but she found the keys hanging on a nail by the back door. Once back inside the truck, she prayed as she turned the key. The engine roared to life, and the gas gauge showed half a tank of gas. That was enough to do what she needed for now.
Emily shut the door as Marley jumped up on the flatbed. She drove the truck to the front of the house and shut off the engine. This was the most noise she had made outside since coming here, and Emily decided it best to sit in the truck for a few minutes to make sure she had not drawn any attention. She was sure there were more dead out there and did not want to be caught by surprise again. After some time, she decided that it was safe enough and headed inside. She found a blanket and wrapped the woman's body in it, and used the blanket to drag her outside. Emily then tried to lift the body onto the truck, but this turned more difficult than she had realized. She looked around the house and found a piece of plywood just big enough to make a ramp on the back of the truck, which she dragged the body up. She was exhausted by the time she was done and then remembered the men on the other road. They would be even heavier and harder to get up here, but at least she had a way to move the bodies now. She and Marley climbed into the cab of the truck and drove it back to the main street.
Emily parked the truck on the street in front of her house and headed inside. One thing she would need to do tonight is find a map and decide on a place to get rid of the bodies. Until she had that information, she was not going to load more onto the truck. Once inside, she set to the chores she had designated for herself that night. She put the laundry in the dryer, took care of Marley, and cooked herself supper. Once supper was done, she headed back downstairs to get the laundry from the dryer and also grabbed some meat for the next night. She took everything back upstairs and put it away. She had resolved to be as clean as she could every day so that she would only need to clean maybe once a week. Once everything was put away, she headed to the study and began to look for a map of the town. She found that Ronald had many maps in the surrounding area and was delighted to see one of the town.
She spread the map over the desk and began to study it. It looked like Ronald had updated it as the town was being built. Everything between the main street and the farm seemed to be completed, and it was all public housing. All of the shops and such were located on the main street. Behind her home were several more streets, all with housing that was completed except for the last two streets, those looked to be partially done. On the other side of town, there were only four streets of constructed housing, four more of partials, and a largely undeveloped area. Emily turned from the map and went to the bookshelf containing the things that Ronald had written himself. His journal that she found had a lot of information in it, but she knew that he had to have something with all the records for the town.
She finally found what she was looking for and headed back to the desk. Based on what he had written, the undeveloped part of town was supposed to be more housing. However, they were using part of it as a construction hub where they stored supplies. The book also contained a list of every house built, whether it was occupied or not, and whether the homes that were partially done were marked as available or not. Emily returned to the bookshelf and came back to the desk with two more books. One was a ledger of all the supplies the town had acquired broken down by where they were. She found the section on the construction site and looked through the materials. Everything needed to build houses was listed, but what excited Emily was gasoline. There were also several pieces of large equipment listed, including a front loader. Even though she had no idea how to work one, she felt confident that this might help her on the farm and with the bodies on the street.
Emily went back to the front of the book to take a closer look at what other locations were listed. She saw the names of all the stores she saw on the main street. However, there was a location called "Security" on the map. Emily turned to the security section of the log and gasped at what she saw. She knew what guns were as far as rifles, shotguns, and handguns,
but the list of specific weapons here was astonishing.
As she continued to turn the pages, she saw that there was even more ammo listed to go with the guns, along with vests, riot gear, grenades, and many other things. She quickly looked back at the map and looked back over the buildings; one was marked with an "S" that she had not paid much attention to before. She made a note to check this building out as soon as possible.
Emily then turned her attention to the other book that was labeled "Census." She turned through the pages reading the names. Each name also told how old the person was if they had arrived and where they lived. Emily began to count those that were marked as arrived. She tried to ignore the ages as she went, but she could not stop herself from keeping a count of how many adults and children were there. Some of the names had been marked out with a single line through them. Emily assumed that these were the ones that died before Ronald had lost control. Emily finished the last page and collapsed in the chair. There were fifty-seven adults marked as arrived and seventeen children. She had not bothered to count the ones that were crossed out. The ledger had been numbered for each name that was entered. According to it, five hundred people were expected to live here when it was finished.