The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 2

"Opal!" Clarise shouted, only now remembering their beloved dog was outside. Julia heard from the foot of the stairs leading to the basement, so she ran like lightning towards the backdoor and whistled as loud as ever. Opal came running--the stranger covered in blood not in sight.

"What did you do?" Natalie's green eyes widened as she looked to Julia.

"None of us could live with ourselves if we knew Opal died simply because we locked up the house because of a--" She stopped herself. She wouldn't say the Z-word. It was all too freaky a thing--stuff like this only happened in movies, Julia had told herself: World War Z, The Walking Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and so on. How could this be real? Any of this?

With Opal bolting inside and Julia slamming the backdoor closed--locking it, too--Julia raced upstairs and down the hallway to her dad's home office, passing by the bedrooms. Her dad had kept the home office room immaculate always, always demanding that Natalie and Clarise take off their muddy shoes before entering the off-grey-carpeted room if they'd just been in the garden. That went for their mom, too. It was an unspoken law, a common-sense rule.

Julia went to one of the bookshelves and pulled out her dad's books--one on the science of dreams, which he was truly fascinated by--and pulled back the book cover to reveal the cardboard had been worn-down and hollowed out to make room for the key to her dad's desk drawers.

"Got you," said Julia to the key, then went to the desk. Julia wiped sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her jean jacket before unlocking the desk drawer. All windows of the upstairs rooms were open, and the hair on the back of Julia's neck stood up, her blood flow turning cold as she heard one of her neighbors scream after the shattering of glass. Julia knew her neighbor's scream--she was the one with Dementia, and she screamed like mad at different parts of the day and night. Sun-downing was especially bad for her.

There was nothing Julia could do for their screaming neighbor now. Her duty was to her sisters and brothers; she would die before she saw any of them hurt . . . or if Natalie had ordered Julia to go save their neighbor.

With the gun in hand, Julia left the office to go to Austin's bedroom at the front of the house--his bedroom had the best view of their neighbor's house from across the street. Sure enough, one of the windows had been shattered. Julia could see blood on the broken glass, smell the tang in the air as the wind blew towards her. The neighbor was still screaming, then all went silent.

"She's dead," Julia told herself.

When the stranger came into view, Julia narrowed her eyes through her black-framed glasses. She took aim, then fired. She got the stranger in the skull, just the place where all zombie movies told you to take aim. The thing went down, and Julia smiled, blowing nonexistent gunpowder rising from the barrel.

"Looks like those weeks of gunmanship skills from summer camp are finally paying off, aye?" Julia asked herself, her smile fading as fast as it came. When she looked back to the house, she saw the neighbor staggering back and forth in front of the window. No more screaming, just inaudible moans. "I give you mercy," Julia said, quoting Roberta Warren from one of the shows on Netflix she loved.

Opal barked, and Julia could hear from the floor vent leading downstairs to the ground floor Natalie telling Trent and Clarise to hush. They did, and Julia smiled, tucking the gun in the hem of her pants before taking off her jacket. Despite the coolness of the house, Julia was feeling hot. Not attractive-hot, hot-hot.

"Is this the way everyone feels after a first kill?" Julia whispered to herself, wondering to herself if any other zombies--and other of the dead--had heard her. Yes? No? Maybe so? She didn't know, couldn't be certain in the least.

Julia headed downstairs to be with her siblings, protect them. Julia had to protect the motherly Natalie, the gamer duo of Austin and Trent, and young Clarise. Opal, too. She couldn't--wouldn't be forgotten either.

"I won't let them hurt my family." Julia's blue eyes narrowed and the grip of her hand on her dad's gun tightened. She thought of that scene in Breaking Dawn when Renesmee was born. "I won't let them hurt my family!" said Julia again as she quickly descended the stairs to go to her siblings in the basement--she should have slid down the banister the way Trent and Clarise did when racing around the house like wild beasts, she thought. Julia knew she and her sisters and brothers couldn't just hide underground in the basement; they had to remain vigilant, remain alert, remain safe until their parents got home.