The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 8

The day had diminished into the night, and the five siblings sat together in prayer, the Brown boys silent as the girls prayed together. Austin and Trent were looking out the window now, searching for any zombies or survivors wandering by.

After Julia and Austin buried their parents in the yard, Julia returned to their dad's home office and found two more guns and plenty of ammunition--one gun for herself, one for Natalie, and one for Austin. Trent and Clarise were still too young to handle guns, they thought--for the moment, at least. Clarise didn't want to hold a gun, but Natalie told her she would need to learn in time. And Clarise, crying, agreed to it at last. If she'd not listened to their late parents, she always listened to Natalie.

Natalie was the motherly sister, the angelic one. When Julia hadn't known what to do in the past, she would seek out Natalie for advice. They were like the Miss Captain Kirk and Miss Spock of the Brown siblings--they all knew it.

After prayers were finished, Clarise stood shakily--she was weak from lack of food and sleep. When she stumbled, Natalie caught her and scooped her up in her arms. Clarise's eyelids drooped, and Austin bolted upright to bring water bottles back for them all.

"Three days inside and we don't know how much longer it'll be," Trent sighed, rubbing the nonexistent stubble on his chin as Austin had done before--as their father had done before, but he had stubble that every ticklish woman would envy for.

"I miss dad..." Clarise murmured.

"We all do," Trent said with a soft sigh. "Believe me, Clarise, we all miss mom and dad."
Austin returned, handing the bottles of water to the others. "Drink up. We don't need anyone feeling lightheaded in times of peril."

Julia smirked. "Now you're sounding like someone from the Lord of the Rings universe."

"I'm almost certain I'd prefer orc rangers over the dead we have to face here."

Trent surprised his elder sisters and brother--they didn't know he'd watched the movies before, but it seemed more than likely, all things considered. Their dad wasn't always one with the best of judgement in age-appropriate movies.

"Me, too," said Clarise with a yawn.

"Now that is shocking," Natalie said open-mouthed, then yawned herself.

Julia sat by the bedroom windows, gun in hand with her water bottle on the dresser beside her. No lights were on inside the house, so the dead couldn't see in--but the Brown siblings could all see outside pretty well. There were smoke signals from fireplaces in the houses down the street, and though Trent asked about building a fire earlier, Julia didn't think it entirely safe.

"Remember those movies with the smart zombies?" Julia asked him earlier. "What if these zombies can learn that smoke signals are used to note others alive? Then they'd come after us, and we'd be as good as dead." The rest of the siblings thought Julia smart--surprisingly so, and even wondered how she'd acquired all the knowledge on zombies.

Three days inside, they wondered what to do other than sit and talk and hear from Julia about what she knew of all zombie-related movies. And when they'd give her looks of intrigue or discomfort when she came upon bloody and gory zombie movies, she'd ask, "What? I'm a girl who likes the zombie worlds... not of our own, I mean!"

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" Clarise asked as she screwed on the water bottle cap again. "I don't want to sleep alone."

"None of us do, Clarise," said Trent, seating himself next to Austin. "You got that gun ready to go off?" he asked his brother, who nodded wordlessly. "You'll be here when I wake up tomorrow morning, big brother?" he asked again, and Austin nodded again.

"You bet, Trent," said Austin with a smile.

Julia cracked her neck from side to side, then looked out the window again. She could see the smoke signals from down the street, but none of the zombies seemed to pay attention--yet. It was only a matter of time until they actually learned, and Julia didn't want to watch her brothers and sisters die because of all that.

"I'll protect them, mom and dad," Julia said in a murmured promise, her hand on the gun tucked in the hem of her jeans. As she moved, she breathed in her scent--she needed a bath. Badly. But wasting water wasn't a good idea. Still, they had water to begin with, didn't they? Julia would ask the others tomorrow after they woke up--alive and well--what they thought about showers.

They'd probably be in agreement with her, wouldn't they?

Julia told the others to go into the book nook room and sleep through the night. She would simply go around the house to check for any signs of broken barricades before returning to them. They hurried into the room--the one room they could be in with lanterns on that they'd found in the basement--and Julia left them.

Julia went from the front door to the back door, then checked all the windows--they were safe. When Julia returned to the others in the book nook room, she saw Natalie had a lantern on the coffee table--not a lit-fire lantern, just one of those battery ones--and she was reading to Austin and Trent and Clarise. Julia leaned against the door frame for a moment before coming inside fully, shutting the door behind her, and sitting down to listen to Natalie reading until she fell asleep herself.

Julia was half-asleep up until Natalie stopped reading, then she opened her blue eyes to see Austin lying against the couch with Trent and Clarise on either side of Natalie with peaceful smiles of sleepiness on their pale faces.

"You really do sound like mom when you read like that," Julia said softly. "It's beautiful."

"Thank you." Natalie closed the book. "I still think mom did the better voices."

"Thank you," she said again. "We've had a prayer, read a good book, and now I guess it's lights out?" Natalie asked with a tilt of the head. Her hair needed brushing, slightly messed in her blonde bangs.

"Sleep well, Natalie," said Julia with a stretch and a yawn.

"Sleep well, Julia," said Natalie with a corresponding yawn.

Then Opal yawned herself, curled up next to Julia on the opposing sofa, and the Brown siblings were all soon asleep.