Day Beyond the Dead (Book 1)

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 sit 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.