We spent hours on the road searching for a safe place to house Barry. Courtney and Christie both became distraught as time went on and we knew Barry would succumb soon enough. Finally, we found an old medical supply warehouse just outside the city.
The place was practically empty with the exception of a few lingerers. I figured most warehouses and such shut down through the chaos in an attempt to keep from getting looted by rioters.
"I know I'm running out of time," Barry huffed as we lay out a bed for him to rest on. "There's no need to do this. Not for me."
"We're going to help you until you're not here to help, bud." Vick argued softly, "lay down, get some rest. I'm going to clean the wound and wrap it up."
"I hate seeing dad go through this." Courtney cried to her older sister, "I can't go on without him, Chris. When we lost mom, I —"
"Shhh," Christie petted Courtney's head as if she was a child. "I'm here, Court. I'll always be here."
Courtney is twenty-four years old and her older sister still treats her like a kid. It shined a new light and suddenly I became grateful that I didn't have an older sibling.
"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I'm sorry the two of you are going through this. Neither of you deserve it."
"You're part of the reason, you asshole!" Christie snipped harshly. "You and your girlfriend were playing outside and all of the sudden a horde of the deadfucks shows up. I'm not stupid — I know you did something."
What could I possibly have done to attract them? Zombies have been showing up at Barry's for days. We knew it was coming but we refused to believe it until it was too late.
"We helped protect your precious farm." Kara chimed in hawkishly. "I never did anything to hurt you or your dad's property. What kind of fucking people do you think we are?"
"Not the kind that can fend for themselves."
Courtney side eyed her older sister. "Christie, stop."
Christie scoffed in response. "What? It's true. They came to us for help and we helped them — then the zombies showed up and ruined the fucking farm that's been in our family for years!"
"We didn't bring the zombies with us." Kara observed in a hiss, "it would've never happened if the virus didn't start. We didn't do this — the infection did — and if you think otherwise, no offense but fuck you."
"Dad is laying on his death bed and we're arguing with people who don't fucking matter!" Courtney pushed Christie away before storming to her father. "Don't waste your breath, Chris."
Barry lay on medical blankets we found and placed on the floor. His body began to shake and his eyes started to gloss over. The infection is highjacking his system with every moment that passes. What can we do?
"Going to have to tie ya down, brother." Vick approached with rope in his hands. "I think you'll understand."
I noticed tear streaks on Vick's flush cheeks. Him and Barry have been as close as brothers for years. I know the feeling of losing a brother.
"Do whatever it takes to keep my daughters safe. Please." Barry held his hands out for Vick to tie them, "I need you to take care of them, Vick."
Vick swallowed before responding. "I'll do everything in my power."
"I can't even imagine how they're all feeling right now," Kara whispered somberly. "I — I feel like this is my fault. If I had suggested we go somewhere else, if I didn't try to take those zombies on myself —"
"There was nothing we could do Kara," I assured in a hushed tone. "Those zombies were migrating or something — maybe they were looking for food. Either way, it wasn't you."
Barry got relatively worse quickly. It seemed the more time the virus spent in his system, the faster it took over. His pupils and irises were pretty much gone, leaving behind cloudy, soulless eyes. He stopped talking as much and his heartbeat began to slow. His body temperature fell drastically.
"I'm sorry, Barry. I never got to pay you back for helping us out — if it wasn't for you, Kara and I wouldn't be alive." Tears streamed down my face now as I stood above him, "What you did for us means everything."
Surprisingly, he responded in a weak voice. "You can still do something for me — look out for my girls."
I met his eyes and it was the most uncomfortable feeling, staring into the eyes that were once full of life. I wondered if his vision was impaired at all by the loss but deemed it inappropriate to ask.
Does he realize who he's asking to take care of his daughters? Can he see?
Courtney bent down before planting a kiss on his cold forehead. "I love you, daddy."
Courtney's tears fell down to land on her father's forehead as he lay on the bed of blankets we made him.
Christie didn't cry. For some reason, it didn't surprise me. She came off as cold and unattached from the beginning. I have no doubt that she detached herself from what's happening in order to survive.
"Dad, thank you for everything. I'll never forget the love you've shown me." Christie finally added before wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you for taking me in when my own parents didn't want me."
We couldn't let Barry become one of those — things.
Vick's solution was to put him down when his breathing stops. This way, he lived until his last breath but he won't have to roam around as a mindless bag of bones. Vick asked the girls to leave the room and when they exited, he held the tip of his knife's blade against Barry's temple.
He inhaled, paused, then exhaled.
The knife pierced right through Barry's temple. It was less bloody than I expected but regardless, tears fell from my eyes as Barry's body lay there, knife wound in his head.
I'm so sorry, Barry.
_
"The radio broadcasted something about a safe zone when this all started," Vick explained as he drove the suburban. "Said it's out East. Our best bet is to check there."
"You think they're just going to take us in?" I questioned in a slightly harsh tone. "We barely have anything more than the shirts on our backs."
The suburban bounced as we drove down a narrow, bumpy path. Lingerers could be seen on both sides of the road. Some zombies were still inside their vehicles and fought to free themselves from the seatbelt but never did. After some time of observing them, I've realized they're dumber than a bag of rocks.
Courtney and Christie still didn't speak much to us. I could only imagine the emotions they're feeling after losing their father and their childhood home. Christie barely had time to mourn her boyfriend and child before the death of her father hit.
"Place shouldn't be far now. It's too bad we don't have Barry with us." Vick commented somberly. "I know he loved car rides — just bein' out on the road was enough joy for him. It never mattered the destination."
"Remember when we all packed up and headed out to PA for the weekend? The damn boat almost sank when we were out on the boat." Courtney reminisced as she turned to Christie with a smile on her face. "I was a mess. Ten years old thinking I was going to die out on the water."
"You didn't go on a boat for years after that." Christie teased with a laugh. "Dad tried to get you back out on the water but you've always been so stubborn."
Courtney smiled painfully. "I'd go anywhere with him now."
We approached an area of the neighborhood that was now fenced off. Big signs hung all around the entrances.
SAFE ZONE: NO TRESPASSING
YOU WILL BE EXAMINED AMONG ENTRY. INFECTED PERSON(S) WILL BE EXECUTED.
"This is it?" I inquired skeptically. "Looks like they just threw some barricades up and called it a day."
Vick advised, "Keep a grip on your weapons incase they try something."
We exited the vehicle and approached the tall gates. There was a crashed convoy in middle of the street of the safe zone and I interrupted as not being a positive sign. Vick called out to anyone that could hear him.
"Hello? Anyone in there?"
"Place looks fuckin' abandoned." Kara commented, "maybe they had to leave."
Grrrggghhh... rrrggghh..
A zombie woman approached with her long, straggly, dark hair hanging in her face as she trudged. She dragged a broken foot along the cement causing her skin to peel off — she continued to walk, essentially taking more skin off until her muscles were revealed.
The stench of death hit me and made me gag. I held my breath and realized there were multiple infected behind the foot-dragging woman.
This place is gone.
"Oh, God," Courtney responded to the smell with a scoff.
"Vick, this place is overrun. Let's get out of here." I advised, settling my firm gaze on Vick.
Instead of responding, Vick reached in between the bars of the gate and shoved his knife into the skull of the foot dragger. She fell to the ground and finally, Vick turned to meet my gaze.
"Stab them through the gate."
"Why?" I spat angrily. "Are you trying to get us killed, Vick? We just lost Barry. We can't lose anybody else!"
"If you're careful, you'll manage taking them down with little risk." He argued hawkishly. "This place could do us a lot of good, son. Look at how much they built the walls up."
I observed the gates and the surrounding fence and walls. It was clear this was an emergency military foreground turned from a small area of this neighborhood. I pictured the possibilities and realized he's right. We need this place.
I reached down to grip my pocket knife before opening it to reveal a freshly sharpened blade. My hands shook as I slid my arm through the gate to stab another zombie in the head, sending him down to the cement for good.
Kara grabbed my arm in an attempt to hold me back.
"Jake, what are you doing? We can't fight all of them!"
"This is the best chance we'll have." I stated, glaring into her eyes. "Look at this place, Kara. We need it. They can't reach through the gate — we have an upper hand."
I turned around just in time to notice Courtney, who reached through the gates slowly as a zombie approached her. The infected man reached for her arm and instead of stabbing him, she held it out for him. She kept it in place until his teeth were centimeters away from her skin.
"Courtney! No!" I barked, grabbing her quickly. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Her dark eyes met my gaze and I couldn't detect her reasoning. It didn't help that she didn't respond — instead, she fell to the ground.
"Hey! Hey!" Vick yelled as he ran to pick her up from the ground. "Court!"
"Move! Get out the way!" Christie shoved through us to get to her younger sister. "Court, cmon. Get up."
"I can't." Courtney finally raised her head to reveal tears streaming down her face. "Not without dad. I'm not supposed to be here. He's so much stronger than I am! Why did he have to die?"
"He died defending the farm, sis. That's how he wanted to go out, alright? We can't be mad. We have to keep going for him."
Clink.. clink...
Rrrr.. ggghhh! Rrrggg...
The zombies rattled the gates behind us, letting out moans and growls as they became more riled up by the second. They could smell us and it made them even more aggressive. More and more infected continued to gather up on the other side of the gate.
"I can't keep going!" Courtney cried out angrily. "We had to watch him die, Chris. It wasn't just a normal fucking death! He didn't even have pupils anymore!"
"Shhh," Christie cooed in an attempt to calm Courtney. "C'mon, grab my hand. We have to stay strong for him, Court. I'm still here — I can't go on without you."
Snap! Crsssh!
The chain that hung around the gates snapped from all the weight and let the zombies loose. Each one of us took off. I was under the impression we would head back to the vehicle but Vick had another idea.
"Use your guns!"
I turned to him with an expression of confusion and concern.
I don't have time to ask questions.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It took me a few shots to get used to the recoil of the gun Vick borrowed me. After awhile, I got used to it and actually began to get headshots, essentially killing them each in one shot. When all the bodies lay on the pavement below our feet, we each glanced around.
"Everyone a-okay?" Vick questioned as he began to shuffle toward the now open gates. "Hate to use guns but it was necessary that time."
"What the Hell, Vick?" I hissed. "We could've died, man!"
"But you didn't. C'mon, we gotta get inside and close up this gate before more come. We just rang the dinner bell by sounding so many shots off."
Seven.
Seven houses on both sides of the street inside of the safe zone. Each one once had living, breathing, human beings inside. Now they each had an assortment of different zombies banging from the other side of the door. There was chalk drawings on the sidewalks indicating children resided here at one time.
"Milo used to love playing hopscotch." Christie commented under her breath as she examined the chalk drawing on the pavement.
Courtney still didn't say much. Maybe she was shaken up or maybe she really did want to die. Regardless, her spectacle could've costed our lives. She's the reason the chain that held the gate together broke. We stopped mid-combat to assess her breakdown.
We strolled through the street until we picked a house to occupy for the night. Darkness would takeover the sky soon and seeing as we've more than likely attracted zombies, we have to find somewhere to hide out for the night.
Tonight, we live.
_
I paced back and forth as the night went on. There's no way I can sleep. My nerves shook. They could be here any minute.
"Hey."
I turned to meet Courtney's gaze through the candlelight. Her tan face was illuminated from the small flame. She pursed her lips as she approached me.
"Hey?" I spoke in a questionable tone. "What's going on, Courtney? You okay?"
"I'm alright now. I just wanted to thank you for earlier," she huffed in a whisper. "I wasn't in the right state of mind. I thought I wanted to die but I don't."
"Don't thank me." I thought back to Barry's last request. "I know you don't want to die. None of us do — we just want to live normal lives again and sometimes the thought of it seems pretty farfetched."
"You get it. I believe we can live normal lives again even if it takes awhile," she turned to sit on the wooden kitchen stood behind her. "I know that I want to be around to see it and if I had been able to go through with that —"
"It's the least I could do." I assured firmly. "Your dad did a lot for us. You all did. Don't mention it, alright?"
Moments passed as her soft gaze met mine through the candlelight. She stared into my eyes as if she could see my soul.
"You're a good man, Jake. I had my doubts but I know now."
Before I could respond, she bent forward to press her soft lips against my own. Just before our tongues met, I pulled away in shock.
"Courtney, you're not thinking straight, alright? I'm with Kara. I have been for a long time."
"You're right — I'm sorry." She seemed shocked at what she had just done. "God, I'm sorry. I'll go."
As she shuffled out of the room my eyes stayed wide.
What the hell just happened?
Distanced growls caught my attention and I hurried to the front window. My suspicions were correct.
They're here.