Life After The Undead (Book 1) (10 page)

“Did
you
sleep
well?”

I
shook
my
head.
“I
didn
’t
really
sleep at
all.”

The
door
to
the
bathroom opened,
and
Dad
stepped
into
the
living
space.
He
had
his
coat
on
and
his pistol in its
holster
at his
side.
He
was
ready
to
head
out.
He
glanced
at his
watch.

“It’s
six
right
now.
Hopefully,
I
’ll
be
back
by
noon.
If
I’m
not,
wait
until
tomorrow,
then
head
to
the
base.”

My
throat
tightened.
“Why
tomorrow?
Why
not
tonight?”

“I’l
l
need
some
time
to
talk
to
people,
get
some
answers,
figure
out
the
lay
of the
base.
If
I
get
the
answers
quickly,
I’ll
be
back
by
noon.
If
not…”

“You
’l
l
be
back,”
I
said.

Dad
smiled.
“Of
course
I
will.”
  He
wrapped
his
arms
around
Mom
and
me
and
held
us
for
a
long
time.
The
only
thing
that
made
him
let
go
was
the
stench of
burnt
meat
that
filled
the
room.

Mom
pulled
the
pan
from
the
fire
and
approached
Dad.
They
kissed,
then
Dad
headed
down
the
rope.
Mom
and
I
stood
on
the
observation
deck
until
he
was
out
of
sight
and
we
could
no
longer
hear
the
four
wheeler.
We
came
back
inside
and
filled
our
plates
with
burnt
hash
and
scrambled
eggs.

I
scowled
at
the
food.
“He
cou
ld’v
e
at
least
eaten
before
he
left.”

“You
know
your
father.
When
he
has
his
mind
set
on
something,
nothing
distracts
him. Not
even
food.”

I set
my
plate
down
and
stared
out
the
window.
I
wasn
’t
hungry.
Mom
nibbled
on
her
eggs before setting
her
plate
next
to
mine.
Why had we thought we could eat? I
supposed
we
were
trying
to
make
things
normal. Even
though
we
both
knew
there
was
nothing normal
left.

Noon
came
and
went.
Mom
and
I
stood
at
the
window,
waiting
for
a
sign
of
Dad.
The
horizon
darkened
and
a
chill
filled
the
room
before I
turned
away
to start a
fire.

“I’m
sure
he’s
okay,
Mom.”
My
voice
was
small.
“He
’s
gathering
information.
Helping
with
the
wounded.”

Mom
stared
out
the
window.
She hadn’t moved or even grunted to recognize that I’d spoken to her. I
wished
she’d
say
something. Confirm
my
hypothesis
in
some
way.
After all,
she
knew
Dad
better
than
I
did.
She
had
to
have
some
idea
of
what
he
was
doing.

I
grabbed
a
can
of
Spaghetti
Os
and
dumped
them
into
a
pot.
We
needed
to
eat,
even though
I still
wasn
’t
hungry.
Again,
it
was
that
normalcy
thing—the
idea
if
one
small
thing
was
right,
maybe
everything
else
would
follow.
As I
placed
the
meal
above
the
fire,
a
series
of
small
pops
followed
by
a
loud
bang
resounded
in
the
distance.
I
made
it
to
the
window
in
time
to
see
the
horizon
engulfed
in
an
orange
hue.

“I’m
sure
Dad
wasn
’t
in
there.”
I
tried
to
convince
myself
of
it
more
than
anything.

Mom
grabbed
me
and
held
tight.

“I’m
sure
he
’l
l
be
back
any
minute,”
I
said.

I
waited
for
my
mom
to
agree
with
me,
I
needed
her
to,
but
she
didn
’t
say
a
word.

We
stared
out
the
window,
watching
the
orange
light
flicker
until
the
Spaghetti
Os
boiled.
It
gave
me an
excuse
to
pull
away
from
Mom.
It
was
weird,
but as
she
held
me,
it
felt
as if
something
was
missing.
There
was
no comfort
in
her
arms.
I
stared
at
her
from
across
the
room. She
continued to
look
out
the
window.
What
she
was
thinking?

The
fire
died
a
while
later.
Mom
and
I
had
moved
to
the
floor in
front
of
the
door
and
wrapped
in
a
blanket.
I
didn
’t
want
to
be
alone,
and
I
knew
she
needed
comfort.
Neither
one
of
us
slept
. We
kept
waiting
for
Dad
to
walk
through
the
door.
He
never
did.

CHAPTER
3

Mom
and
I
spent
the
morning
holding
one
another
in
silence.
Clouds
from
the
fire
darkened
the
sky,
and
gray
ash
fluttered
on
the
wind.

Midday,
Mom
rose.
“Get
packed.
We’re
not
staying
here
anymore.”

“Where
are
we
going
to
go?”

Mom
stuffed
a
sleeping
bag
into
its
sack
and
threw
cans into
a
box.
“He told
us
to
get
him
the
next
day.”

“Mom—”

“He
might
not
be
dead,”
she
snapped.
“He
might
still
be at
the
compound.”

I
didn’t
argue.
I
didn
’t
want
to
imagine
the
unthinkable
had
happened.
Like
Mom, I
was
optimistic
we
’d
find
Dad
alive.
We
didn’t
know
the
extent
of
damage
or
exactly
what
had
happened
at
the
complex,
so
anything
was
possible. I
helped
Mom
finish
packing,
then
we
headed
onto
the
deck.
She
peeked
over
the
rail
and
lowered
the
rope
before
placing
our
belongings
into
the
basket.
She
was
about
to
lower
it
when
a
man
burst
through
the
trees.
His
hair
stuck
out,
and
his
face
and
clothes
were
covered
in
soot.
He
ran
to
the
rope
and
started
to
climb
toward
us.
He
lost
his
grip
and
slipped.
He
tried
again
and
had
more
luck.

My
heart leapt
into
my throat
when
I
met
the
man’s
gaze
. His
eyes
were
red
and
flared
with
intensity.
I
couldn
’t
tell
if
he
was
a
zombie
or
human.
He
moved
quickly,
so it
was
safe
to
assume
he
wasn
’t
the
undead,
but
the
intensity
in
his
eyes
didn’t
make
me
believe
he
was
there
to protect
us.
Maybe
he
was
infected.
We
didn
’t
know
what
the
victims
looked
like
before
they
turned
into
zombies.

“Hey!”
Mom
yelled
down
at the
man. “What
do
you
think
you
’r
e
doing?”

The
man
didn’t
answer
but
kept
climbing
frantically
toward
us.

Mom
aimed
the
shotgun
over
the
rail. “Hey!
  I
asked
you
a
question!”

The
man
glanced
up
and
noticed
the
gun
but
didn’t
slow
his
climbing.

“I’m
giving
you
one
more
chance!
If
you
don
’t
answer
me
by
the
count
of
three,
I’
m going
to
blow
you
away.”
  She
cocked
the
gun.
“One…two…three.”

I
gritted
my
teeth and
waited
for
the
explosion
of
the
gun,
but
it
never
came.
I
turned. Mom held
the
gun
over
the
railing,
her
finger
flexed
on
the
trigger.
I
turned
back
to
the
man.
He
was
a
few
feet
from
the
top
of
the
rope.

“This is
your
last
chance,”
Mom
yelled.

The
man
glanced
up
at
us. His
lip
curled
into
a
snarl.

There
was
a
deafening
crack,
and
the
man
’s
head
split
in a
spray
of
blood
and
bone.
His
body
lingered
on
the
rope
for a
few
seconds
before
flopping
onto
the
ground.
My
throat
tightened.
I
couldn
’t
catch
my
breath,
so
I sat
on
the
deck.

Mom
knelt
next
to
me
and
placed
a
hand
on
my
shoulder.
“We
have
to
get
to
the
base.”
She
pulled
me
up
and
toward
the
rope.

I
grabbed
it
and
slowly
lowered
myself
down
while
Mom
kept
watch. Bile
rose
in
the
back
of
my
throat
as I slid
through
the
blood
and
brain
matter
that
stuck
to
the
fibers.
When
I
made
it
to
the
bottom,
I
pulled
out
my
own
weapon
and
kept
an
eye
on
the
forest,
listening
for
anything
out
of
place.
Mom
joined
me
on
the
ground.
We
jumped
onto
the
four
wheeler.
I sat
uneasily
on
the
back.
What
had
possessed
her
to
kill
that
man?
Yeah,
it
was
possible
he
was
going
to kill
us, or
worse,
but
I
never
knew
she
had
it
in her.
Something
was
wrong
with
her, and
I
desperately
wanted
to
know
what
it
was.

It
took
us
an
hour
to
reach
the
base.
We
stopped
on
top of
the
same
hill
we
had
been
on
a few
days
earlier
and
stared
down
at
the
complex.
The
buildings
that
were
still
standing were
charred
black,
and
wisps
of
dark
smoke
curled
into
the
sky.
The
chain
-
link
fence
that
surrounded
the
place
had
been
toppled
in
several
areas
and
laid
on
the
ground.
The
blackened
corpses
of
people
lay
strewn
about
the
yard,
and
the
smell
of
burnt
flesh
permeated
the
air.
Any
hope
I
had
of
finding
Dad
disappeared
when
I
saw
the
destruction.
There
was
no
way
he’d
survived.