Jonathan held onto Emalynn as she tried to stay on her feet. He couldn’t even imagine the pain, physical and emotional, that she must be experiencing right now. He was furious that he let this happen to her. He knew that he could have prevented this if he had tried harder to be involved with her.
Roger ran past from out of nowhere and kicked Bradley hard in the stomach. The dead man was knocked back several steps by the impact, yet he managed to stay on his feet. Contents from his stomach was forced up and out of his mouth. “I’m not getting puked on again,” Roger said. He kicked Bradley’s knee in backwards, causing the dead man to fall awkwardly forward. With several good stomps to the head, Bradley’s brain burst onto the concrete.
“NO!” Emalynn screamed as she watched Bradley die once again. She knew this was no longer the man she loved, yet it was still hard to watch his head burst open in the street.
“Why aren’t you running?” Roger asked as he turned back to Jonathan, showing no concern for the young woman screaming. “Oh.”
The road back to the house was filled with fiends moving toward them. The sun, just coming up in the sky to the east, cast shadows off of the horde that stretched far out of sight. The group instinctually moved in close together while they planned out how to make it through this alive.
“We won’t be able to move through that group. Maybe we can take the long way around. Run down this street here.” Guillermo pointed behind him without looking toward the road just down from them. “From there we can loop back around and hope enough of them follow us to give us a clear shot at the gate.”
The soft scraping of shoes on concrete made the group turn. Another group of the undead moved up the street behind them. This one was too close to the road Guillermo was hoping to take. There is no way they would make it before that second group tore into them.
“Well it looks like this might be the end for us,” Roger said without much emotion.
Maybe I can be with my family now
.
“I’m so sorry,” Emalynn said as she began to cry harder than before. “You shouldn’t have come after me. I’m sorry. This is my fault. Leave me here on the street and run. Jonathan, please run.” She placed her hand on his face and looked him in the eyes. Her eyes displayed pain, terror, and sadness.
Jonathan looked into her pleading eyes. Their beauty mesmerized him now as much as ever. “That is not going to happen. We will find a way through. I just wish I didn’t live in a neighborhood where everyone had a damn wall around their yard.” He looked around knowing there was a way to run; he just had to find it. For a brief moment Jonathan believed he had seen Sam moving through the horde.
Before he could find the boy once again, the sound of the powerful BMW roared over the commotion made by the incoming horde. The screeching of the tires breaking free of their grip on the pavement echoed across the town. The black sedan came into view as it parted the sea of undead. Fiends rolled off the top and sides while others were knocked down and run over. The car slid to a stop in front of the group, who just stood there amazed for a moment.
“Well. Get the fuck in!” Deacon yelled through the window as it slid down into the door. He looked more stunned then them that they were not moving faster. He continued to swear under his breath as the window rolled up.
Guillermo opened the back door so Jonathan and Emalynn could climb in. Roger jumped in next to them. After shutting the back door, Guillermo took one quick look around at the bodies that continued to move closer. He sat in the front seat and closed the door behind them.
Emalynn continued to cry and mumble that they should have left her behind. Blood ran down her leg turning her tan flip flop red. Jonathan knew this wouldn’t end well for any of the group. He noticed that even Roger was holding back tears. He had always thought Roger to be emotionless, yet he was clearly disheartened by the imminent loss of this young woman.
“Who is watching the gate?” Guillermo asked in a panic.
“It’s all good, mate. Sophia closed it behind me,” Deacon assured. “We are going to take a short detour. I know we don’t have time for it,” he added as he turned to Jonathan. “But it’s the only way we can clear the road out from in front of your place to get back in.”
Jonathan nodded his understanding and went back to talking quietly to Emalynn. He ran his fingers through her brown hair as she rested her head on his shoulder. Even clumped with blood, her hair was as smooth as it usually looked. Her skin was very warm. Jonathan could tell she was running a fever.
They drove up and down the streets for about five minutes before Deacon headed back toward the house. Deacon slowed down as he passed by the gate so he could signal to Sophia. He stopped, backed the BMW up, and waited for the gate to open.
“Come on,” Deacon urged under his breath as the gate moved slowly open.
“Shit,” Roger exclaimed. “They are moving around the wall. We have to move.”
“It’s too late. The gate is open too far,” Guillermo pointed out.
With the gate finally open enough to fit the car through, Deacon hit the gas. The car took off effortlessly and passed quickly through the opening. Once through, he slowed down again, but he didn’t stop the car.
Guillermo and Roger both jumped from the moving vehicle and turned to the gate with their own weapons drawn. Deacon pulled into the garage and ran back down the driveway to hold off the undead while Jonathan carried Emalynn into the house.
Sophia watched eagerly for the gate to open fully so she could shut it. “This has got to be the dumbest gate!” She hollered down the driveway. With the gate fully opened, she hit the button to close it. As it began to shut, she grabbed her rifle and ran down to help Deacon.
Two dozen fiends made it past the gate before it had shut. Roger and Guillermo took on the ones that were further apart from the rest of the horde. Deacon and Sophia fired into the larger group, not taking the time to aim, yet they fired high enough for the rounds to tear through the skulls of their attackers. They had to gradually step back toward the house as the horde moved in closer.
By the time they had reached the garage the last fiend fell. More stood at the gate, shaking it violently in an attempt to break it down, but the gate held strong. Bodies lay scattered throughout the driveway and the front yard where Roger and Guillermo led them off to make it easier to take them out with their melee weapons.
“Should we go in? Or leave them be for now?” Deacon had asked, understanding what would soon happen.
“I need to talk to her. Then I will be out to help clean this mess up,” Roger stated, and he walked through the garage and into the house.
Guillermo and Deacon grabbed some work gloves from the garage and started dragging the bodies toward the wall. Some of the bodies were lighter than they had looked. The muscle and bone was so fragile that legs were pulled free of the hips, held together only by the thin layer of skin that remained.
Sophia went inside to sit with the twins, who were watching a SpongeBob SquarePants DVD. She tried to put on her “brave face” so the kids wouldn’t know right away that something was wrong, yet kids always knew. Although adults think they can hide the truth from children, somehow they can sense it.
Roger walked slowly down the hall, unsure of which room Jonathan had taken Emalynn to. “How is she?” He asked as he found the two in Jonathan’s room. Emalynn was lying on the bed while Jonathan brought her wet washcloths and pain killers. He had bandaged her leg quickly, but they all knew it would not matter.
“She is awake and in pain.”
“Hi, Roger,” she said, her voice hoarse from screaming. She looked up at Roger with dry, graying eyes. She has known Roger for a long time, so even on her deathbed she had a sound of confusion and concern in her voice.
Roger began to cry. Jonathan thought about giving them some time alone, but thought better of it. He found it hard to trust this man. There seemed to be no telling what he was thinking. He didn’t care when Bradley and Tyson were killed, yet he was distraught now.
“You know, I wanted to protect you. I wasn’t able to protect my own family. My children, my wife, they are out there somewhere.” He put his face in his hands as he started crying harder. “There was nothing I could do for them, and I wasn’t there for you when you needed me to be,” Before she could respond, he rose to his feet and left the room.
“I don’t understand that man,” Emalynn said forcing a smile. She reached up to touch Jonathan’s face. “I’ve seen what happens to people after they’ve been attacked like this. I only wish we had more time.”
“Do not talk like that Ema. We will have all the time in the world.”
“Don’t be stupid Jon. You know as well as I do what is happening to me. I made a mistake. He looked ok out there in the street,” she said, referring to Bradley. “But I was stupid. I ran after him, when I had you right here,” She started to cry, but she didn’t seem sad about her short life coming to an end.
“I was stupid Ema, not you. You are amazing, and I let you slip away.” He bent down and kissed her on the lips softly. “Can I ask you a horrible question?”
“Of course,” she replied. Her loving smile and sad eyes confused Jonathan emotionally.
“How does it feel? What are your symptoms?”
“That is horrible,” she laughed a raspy laugh, “but that is the scientist in you. My head hurts more than my leg does. I feel like my brain will burst through my skull at any moment. I can feel my blood burning in my body, too. My muscles are tightening an-.”
“That is enough, please. I am so sorry,” Jonathan could no longer hold back. He laid his head down on her chest and cried until he fell asleep. He had focused too much on saving the world, and now he just lost his chance at love.
Outside, Roger packed as much as he could carry while still packing as light as possible. He took down his small tent and packed it, as well. His plan was extreme survival out in a hostile world. He evolved from a caring husband and father to a heartless survivor in heartless times, and then evolved back to a caring father of a young woman who wasn’t his. Like any good father, he was willing to kill to protect his children.
“Where are you going?” Guillermo asked. He wasn’t really concerned or sad to see him go, just curious.
“I have to leave.” He turned to Guillermo; his face was that of a broken man. “I think you know why.”
“You killed them, didn’t you?”
“The boy wasn’t supposed to be there. Believe me on that, please. I thought I could protect her better than he could. I thought he was going to get us all killed. As it turns out, the dark place I was in blinded me of reason. I know you hate me, and I don’t deserve any better. I’m leaving, it will be my burden to carry, until I’m killed out there.” Roger nodded off toward the world past the wall.
As soon as Roger had confessed, Guillermo’s knuckles turned white as he clenched them tightly. It took all of his strength to not attack the man. Visions of cutting him into pieces filled his head, but he knew a death on the street at the hands of the dead would be worse than what he could do to him. “You son of a bitch,” Guillermo declared, and he turned to walk away.
“Give me a second to explain, please,” Roger begged. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserve anyone’s, but I listened to my wife die!”
Guillermo stopped. He wanted to keep walking, to let Roger leave the safety of this place. Being torn to pieces may still be too easy of a punishment for the man, yet Guillermo now felt sorry for him. He turned to Roger and waved for him to continue.
“It was the day of the attack. The moment I realized that what was taking place was serious, I called my wife. She had been trying to reach me for most of the morning, but I was busy trying to keep us on the air.” Roger choked up as he spoke.
“Our youngest daughter was taken right out of her hands. Luckily she couldn’t see the gruesome sight, but she had to hear her screams. She managed to fight off a small pack of fiends and get our older two children out of there.” The tears began to roll down his face.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Guillermo’s throat was tight.
“By the time I called her, she had already been bitten. As she picked up the phone she was screaming at the other two children. She told them to run as fast as they could. The screams that followed were all I needed to hear to know they hadn’t made it very far. I tried to tell her that I loved her, but I don’t know if she could hear me over her own screams.”
Guillermo turned away from the man to wipe away his own tears. “I can’t imagine how that must feel,” he forced the words out while attempting to hold in his sobs.
“This world can take someone as weak as I am and turn them into something wicked. I will spend the rest of my time alone.”
Guillermo held his hand out to Roger, who shook it. “Good luck out there. I hope you find redemption. I am sorry, though. At this time, I cannot forgive you, but I truly do hope you find peace.”
“Thanks,” Roger said with a thin smile, and without another word, he turned and walked toward the wall. He placed the ladder up, climbed to the top, kicked it to the ground, and dropped over the wall and out into the world. Most of the fiends were still at the front gate, but Roger had to take out a couple that had walked along the wall to the side of the yard. When he was sure that most of his path was clear, he held up the keys they picked up from the BCRC building and began to make his way through the surrounding yards.