Dead Flowers (Mad World) • Tank Dempsey

5

As nightfall came quick, Nikolai and Takeo are resting upstairs on the spare couches and Dempsey came back downstairs to sleep with his wife. He needed to comfort her while she's obviously in stress for reasons Dempsey don't understand. The gentlemen made sure all the doors were locked and the windows are perfectly boarded before they all slept.

Dempsey locked the basement door before he walked down the stairs, Nikolai and Takeo seemed like nice people he just can't take any risks.

He could see his wife is laying her back facing him, he couldn't tell if she was asleep or not. Walking back to her he picked her up and laid down on the couch so she could lay on him. Her hand fell over his heart when she's let down and she could feel the vibrations of his pumping heart under her. His heart that only beats for her.

In a world that's dead there's only so much that can bring a man happiness, and that is the ones he has around them. That is the love of his life, his ride or die, his light at the end of the tunnel, his everything.

He stroked her short hair while he stares at the dark ceiling, many things are going through his mind. Many that he can't pick just one thing to stick to. One big thing is, is it safe to continue to live here? Or should they leave? Takeo and Nikolai spoke so confidently about going North, but is North safe either? Or is nowhere safe and they just have to stay alive for as long as they can in this long game of unfortunate events?

Whatever happens, he is determined to fight through stronger than yesterday.

• • •

Love slept in that morning because Dempsey let her after her breakout the day before. In the morning the three men went to hopefully find a deer somewhere and they'll have cooked deer meat for breakfast. That's a dream meal at a time like this.

Dempsey locked the front door after he left a gun by his wife's couch, on the coffee table. She will see it when she wakes up.

Takeo held his katana out just in case, Dempsey brought his sniper rifle with them, and Nikolai brought his shotgun. "American, talk about yourself" Nikolai broke the silence drowning out to feet stomping on hard snow.

"There's not much to say" Dempsey shrugs "I was a corporal at my base and I'm an aspiring DI, I wanted to train the next generation of soldiers and teach them everything I know and more." They found a spot to camp at while they waited for something, if there is anything, to walk by.

"What about the missus?" Takeo set his katana back in his sash.

"Love...she has a heart for animals and reading." Dempsey says looking up at the cloudy sky. "She was at her last year of schooling to be a veterinarian, then this shit show happened—she was so excited too which is the sad part. She's a very intelligent woman so it's not a surprise that she's made it that far before it had to end. While I was deployed she would work at our local library so she'd be occupied and not feel so alone all day, yeah it didn't pay much but she did it because she loved to read. She says she would read the whole day. Getting paid was just a bonus for her."

"Mrs. Dempsey sounds like an amazing woman" Takeo bows his head "she is a blessing to you, Dempsey." Dempsey nods and turns his way back to the field they faced.

"Nikolai sees something!" Nikolai points out to the field, they had to look harder because they did see something walk in the distance. Holding up his sniper, Dempsey looked through the scope to see it zoomed in.

"Oh yeah" Dempsey smirked, he could see a gigantic male deer walk along the snow casually. Digging it's hooves in the snow for freezing grass. "that's one monster right there"
Dempsey lowered his barrel right to where the deers heart is, hoping the deer wouldn't run too far he fired the sniper. A loud bang waved through the area surely alarming undead's attention. They watched as the deer started to run towards them, unaware that they were right here. "Go go go!" Dempsey shouts as the three men jumped down the hill and runs for the deer, from the sides both Dempsey and Nikolai grabs the deer by its waists and Takeo pushes the deer back once the deer ran right into them. With this pressure the deer fell to ground and he is now in the men's possession.