Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying (8 page)

No one could say for definite what was
happening, but as the days went on and the situation continued to
degenerate two sides seemed to emerge from the chaos: Atheists, and
Theists. Both groups only touted their beliefs and found new
reasons for division instead of unison. The media chose sides as
well and any real information was lost in the noise as the great
debate of whether or not this cataclysmic event was God’s will or
some sort of infectious disease.

Faith in things unseen was always
tricky for Jim to wrap his head around. He thought it made sense
for some sort of God or Deity to exist but just couldn’t get
straight with all the ritual aspects of worshipping one. He loved
science, believed in aliens, but he knew there was a limit to what
to science could explain. Even now, at the end of times, he
couldn’t pick a side of course except for the side of the
living.

Sarah peeled her clothes from her body
and turned the shower on. She stepped in and didn’t care a bit that
the water was freezing—she could barely feel it. She grabbed the
soap and scrubbed at her body as hard and as fast as she could.
This wasn’t time for a relaxing shower, no, this was time to get in
and get out. She didn’t know this Jim guy at all and had no reason
to trust he wouldn’t barge in and try anything but she needed to
get clean. She was done in under four minutes and dry in less than
one. She wrapped herself tightly in the towel and stared at her
dirty clothes. She didn’t want to put them back on, and she didn’t
want to step out in a towel.

She bit her lip in indecision for a
few moments and then opened the door a crack and whispered,
“Jim.”

No reply, so she did it again, “Hey
Jim!”

Jim came running, “What’s the
matter?”

“
I…uh, just wanted to know
if you had any extra clothes you could lend me. I decided to shower
off.”

“
I doubt any of my pants
will fit you but let me take a look I’m sure I can find
something.”

He returned a few minutes later with
an old black t-shirt that read Arson on it red, a pair of
sweatpants and a pair of socks.

“
Here you go. This stuff
doesn’t really fit me to well anymore,” he said, patting his slight
beer belly, “but it should do the trick for ya. Probably going to
be big, but it’s all I got.”

“
Thanks, I’m sure they’ll
be fine.”

She put the clothes on and sure enough
they were big on her. The shirt would’ve been something she
might’ve worn to bed, but she was swimming in the pants. She pulled
the string as tight as it would go and double knotted it. The socks
were loose too and dropped down past her ankles. It was better than
nothing, she thought, and stepped out of the bathroom.

She walked over to Jim who returned to
the window. “Any new developments,” she asked softly.

“
Nope. Looks okay out
there.”

“
Good. Thanks again for
opening the door. I’d probably be dead right now…walking around
like those things.”

“
Your welcome. How do the
clothes fit?”

“
They’re a little big, but
they’ll do.”

“
So, ummm, what do we do
now, how does this work?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Well, do you have a plan?
Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”

“
Not really. If you want me
to take off, I’ll go--”

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean it
like that. I just—I haven’t seen anybody in days, if you’re part of
a larger group it makes sense to stay with them. I’ve been too
scared to leave and didn’t know what to do.”

“
You’re from around here,
right? If you know where the school is maybe we can drive over
there in the morning and see what’s going on.”

“
Yeah, yeah we can do that.
You don’t mind me coming along with you?”

“
Not at all. The more the
merrier.”

“
Good maybe we should rest
up and get some sleep? I have a futon you can sleep on in my
computer room next to the bathroom.”

“
Doubt I’ll be able to
sleep much.”

“
Do you want to try getting
to your group now, then?”

“
I’m not sure. I’m…I don’t
want to see that bastard again.”

“
I understand, but maybe
some of your friends have found out what’s happened—or maybe
someone else is in danger.”

“
I thought of that, but I
don’t see how we can get back into the school. The place is
surrounded by them—mostly.”

“
What do you mean
mostly?”

“
They aren’t around the
fence—at least they weren’t. They were mostly just around the
building.”

“
So we could climb the
fence and get inside then?”

“
I dunno,
maybe.”

“
Do you want to try for it
or do you want to rest?”

“
I guess we can try for it,
but if you’re going to stick with us you might want to pack as much
of your shit as you can. And any food and water you have
left.”

“
Okay, I’ll start packing
up my stuff. Why don’t you rest up in the meantime—give me an hour
or so.”

With that, Jim went into his closet
and found an old backpack, a gym bag, and the only suitcase he
owned—which was so busted up it didn’t look like it would survive
another trip, even if it were just down the road.

Sarah went into the computer room and
curled up on the futon. She didn’t think she’d fall asleep, but she
was so exhausted she was out before she knew it.

10 SPECIAL
OCCASION

(back to
top)

Walter walked to his bedroom, every
bone in his body ached. His lower back felt like it had been stung
by several bees and his left leg twitched from a numbing nerve that
he refused to have a doctor look at. He was an old man, with an old
man’s body and he didn’t need some damned Indian doctor telling him
that and then expecting a twenty-five dollar copay. A good night’s
rest was all he needed, or at least it used to be. Nowadays nothing
seemed to work, and the pains never seemed to go away. That was
life, or maybe just the slow end of it.

In the corner of the bedroom was an
old rocking chair. Laura bought it when she was pregnant with
Barbara. Walter sanded and stained it more times than anything else
in the home. Laura knitted scarves and hats in it now and Walter
would sometimes read and sip a few fingers of brandy on special
occasions. It sat in the corner with a thin ribbon of moonlight
glistening along its curves. Beside it was a small nightstand. In
it were Laura’s knitting needles and a few bundles of yarn in a
wicker basket. Behind that was a bottle of Walter’s favorite
brandy, Ararat, aged almost as long as the chair, and a simple, yet
elegant snifter.

He bent down, back creaking, and
wrapped his weathered hands around the nape of the bottle’s neck.
He set it on the nightstand and grabbed the snifter. This wasn’t
really a special occasion, certainly not a time for sitting idly on
an old chair with a brandy, but he was alive, his family was alive,
and that was something special on these new days. Every day alive
was now a special occasion and Walter could drink to
that.

The pour was slow but shaky and Walter
clanked the bottle against the glass a few times. The snifter was
three fingers deep and the bottle was more than half full. He hoped
he had as many days as the bottle had fingers deep. He sniffed the
Armenian brandy, gently swishing it around the glass and put it to
his lips. The dry skin of his chapped lips rejoiced as the caramel
colored fluid flowed behind his teeth.

It gave a little burn on the way down
but all in all it was smooth and velvety and felt right at home
when it reached bottom. Walter sat down and gently rocked himself
in the chair. He took another sip as he stared out the window. The
blinds were open only a crack, but that was all he needed to see
that all was not well.

Walter looked around the room and
everything in it brought a memory to his mind; the day they bought
the place; the day they moved in; the day they finally bought some
proper furniture. He thought about some of their old friends and
how most of them were dead or sunning it up in Florida.

He was a dinosaur. Extinct, but unlike
those once rulers of the world, he knew it.

He took another sip of the
Ararat.

Laura crept into the room. The door
opened smoothly—Walter oiled the hinges religiously—and for a
moment Walter didn’t notice her standing there looking at him, but
when he did he smiled.

“
What’s the
occasion?”

“
We’re alive.”

“
For how much
longer?”

“
Our days were over a long
time ago. I’m more worried about our grandkids.”

Laura said nothing and gracefully
closed the distance from the doorway to the rocking
chair.

She put her hand on his. Walter patted
his knee and Laura sat down in his lap, resting her head on his
shoulder. Their wrinkled skin was illuminated by the light of the
moon as they gently rocked. Walter was never much for the mushy
stuff and he certainly wasn’t one for tears, but despite was he
wasn’t much for the tears started to run down the hard lines of his
face.

“
I wish I could tell you
that our grandkids are going to be okay…that they’re going to have
a future, but I can’t. If there is a God and a heaven he calls
home, then maybe we’ll all be happy there when this mess is all
over.”

“
There is a God, sweetie,
there is. I know there is. I just don’t know why he’s doing this,
or letting this happen. I—I just don’t know…”

“
Guess we’re going to find
out, beautiful. It’s been one hell of a ride. I’ve loved you more
than life itself. You made every day a special occasion. You gave
me a son, and a daughter, and your love.”

“
And you’ve given me
yours,” she said, her words turning into soft sobs.

Walter’s shirt grew wet with her tears
and all he could do was rub her back and keep the chair
rocking.

The children were asleep. Jeff and
Maria bookended them in bed and when they were sure they were
asleep they slid out of bed and tiptoed out of the bedroom. Once
Jeff was in the hallway and Maria was a few steps ahead, he gently
closed the door. Thankfully his father was a nut about oiling
hinges and the door made no noise as it was drawn to a
close.

“
I can’t believe they went
to sleep so quickly,” Jeff said.

“
Don’t expect it every
time.”

“
I won’t. I figure once
they see what’s outside--”

“
Why would they ever have
to see it?”

“
We can’t shelter them from
it forever.”

“
We can try.”

“
And we will, but that
don’t mean it’s gonna happen like that.”

“
All we have to do is
shelter them long enough for this all to get cleaned
up.”

“
This again? Really? We are
on our own, Maria, why can’t you see that?”

“
The military will get this
under control soon enough. They’re equipped to deal with shit like
this.”

“
No one is equipped to deal
with shit like this. If there’s any military force left they sure
as hell can’t do it alone. We need to pull our own weight. We need
to be our own army, our own protectors.”

“
Come on, guys, give it a
fucking rest,” Barbara chimed in as Jeff and Maria made their way
downstairs.

“
Sorry, Barb,” Maria
said.

“
Shut up, Barbie, you know
I’m right.”

“
Can you stop with the
Barbie bullshit? You know you are the sole reason I never played
with them damned things, and as a result knew nothing of
fashion.”

“
You’re a trendsetter, stop
complaining.”

“
So, is all
quiet?”

“
They’re still out there.
They’re walking. Roaming, I guess. Some of them look like they
might come this way, but most of them seem to be following the
others. I haven’t really been able to make any sense of
it.”

“
I don’t think we ever
will.”

“
I’ll see how we’re doing
with food and water. Where’s the flashlight?”

“
Should be…right there,”
Barbara pointed

Maria grabbed the flashlight from the
coffee table and headed to the kitchen.

“
Where are Mom and
Dad?”

“
Upstairs.”

“
What’re they
doing?”

“
How the fuck should I
know? Probably having some alone time.”

“
Alone time?”

“
Don’t be
gross.”

“
I’m just kidding. Can’t I
crack a joke?”

“
No.”

“
How you holding
up?”

“
Great, you know, aside
from the fucking zombies.”