The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 9

Clarise was the first to wake up of the Brown siblings. She yawned, stretched her sore muscles, then crawled from out Natalie's motherly embrace to silently sneak over Julia and get to the closed book nook door.

"Excuse me," Clarise whispered silently.

Opal's brown eyes shot open, and Clarise put a finger to her lips to shush the quiet Labrador. And before Clarise could tell Opal to stay, the dog was up on her feet and following the youngest of the Brown siblings. Clarise sighed, then allowed Opal to follow her out of her sisters' bedroom.

Clarise didn't go downstairs--not yet. Instead, she went back to her own bedroom and changed into a white top with black tights and a blue jacket--her favorite one. She ran a brush through her hair, but it got stuck. She pulled it out, thinking she looked so unkempt as she stared at herself in her bedroom mirror.

"Mom would make me look pretty, wouldn't she?" Clarise asked Opal, who nudged her with her wet nose. Clarise bent down and kissed Opal before heading down the hall and down the carpeted stairs--socks silent on the floor.

Clarise remembered about the food, but couldn't remember the word Julia and Natalie used--it was rotations, right? Clarise asked herself. Sighing, she went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. The power was still on, so the nuclear plant had to be still in working order, right? Clarise cocked her head to the side, then went to the pantry to feed Opal a good helping of dog treats for being such a good little guardian. Opal wolfed down the treats, Clarise laughed quietly, then went back into the pantry to get out some trail mix--the kind her dad brought with him when they went on weekend hiking trips.

"Dad would call you a good dog, wouldn't he, Opal?" Clarise stroked Opal's ears, then pulled herself on top of the counter to look out the window. She saw a few more of the zombies--there couldn't have been more than ten of them she counted before losing her place at eleven-teen.

Opal yipped, Clarise told her to hush, then Opal snarled like a dog on the guard with the desire to protect her mistress.

"Hush, Opal!" Clarise put a hand to her mouth, then slipped and fell back against the kitchen floor with an audible whump sound. She picked herself up, then saw someone staring at her through the window. It wasn't a zombie like she'd seen for the past three--or four--days.

"Can you lend me a hand?" asked the stranger through the window. Despite the window being closed, Clarise could still hear him. Clarise's face turned red, then pale, then red, and pale again. "They're not too dangerous," said the stranger. "Let me in and I'll show you they mean us no harm."

Clarise shook her head, tears in her eyes along with a grotesque amount of fear. "My family wouldn't like that at all!" Clarise said quickly.

"Then I'm coming in," said the stranger with a wry grin.

"No!" Clarise shouted. "Julia! Natalie! Help me!" Clarise jumped on the countertop again to check the locks on the window. They were locked, and this stranger--this nameless stranger was still trying to pry open the door. Julia and Natalie came running, guns blazing. Natalie pulled Clarise away from the window just as Julia took aim. "Don't make me kill you, buddy." Julia snarled, Clarise sobbing into Natalie's clothes. "Either you walk away now... or you die. I don't care if the walkers hear. I'll kill you like I killed my parents." Julia's jaw went tense, but the stranger--he looked like he was in his mid-twenties--just stared at Clarise.

"Nice praise for the Walking Dead universe... The little one's cute," he said. "Is she yours?" he grinned, and Julia clicked back the gun.

"Walk away, dude," Julia narrowed her eyes, "or prepare to be zombie chow."

"Is that the best you can come up with for some pathetic comeback?" he asked, a few zombies coming up close--almost too close for comfort. Julia's nostrils flared, then she peered further outside. Had the window been open, the stranger could have grabbed Julia in a choke hold and pulled her outside himself. But Julia knew better than to open the window.

"Natalie, get Clarise out of here. Now." Natalie pulled Clarise out of the kitchen with Trent trailing behind them, the stranger looked to Julia.

Julia saw what she needed to see--the stranger was holding himself up by a ladder he must've stolen from the shed in the backyard. "One more chance, dude. Go away now or die." Austin and Opal both snarled at the man. And just as he punched through the window's screen, blood smeared the glass but didn't shatter it.

"Let me in!" he shouted.

"You're a bigger idiot than I realize." Julia pursed her lips and jammed open the kitchen window. The man's wrists were pinned between a rock and a hard place, as it were, and he cried out in pain. The other zombies heard, started coming for them. Julia forced a cold smile to her face--so unlike her to do--and she shoved the ladder out from under the stranger.

"Hey! What--" Before he could say another word, he cried out in pain as his legs were bitten by three of the dead sneaking up on him. They trampled the flowers in the garden beds, but Julia was pleased with herself--she protected her family. That was her Prime Directive now--would always be now.

The man howled in pain, then as his body turned a deathly grey as the color in his eyes faded, Julia slammed the window shut. His wrists, once pinned, now broke and fell to the ground with a dark red ooze. It smelled God awful, but Julia smiled anyway.

"Go to Hell, bastard," was all Julia said. She cracked her neck from side to side, then moved away from the window, pulling the shades closed. The ladder was broken, so none of the zombies could climb up--if they even could--and see them inside.

"Good going, Julia." Austin prided his sister on her handiwork. "Don't think I could've done a better job myself." 

"I don't like killing, Austin," said Julia with a sigh. "I'm just doing what I need to do to protect you--you're all I have left." Julia wet her lips. "I can't lose you... I won't lose you."

Austin stopped at the foot of the stairs, then embraced Julia hard. "You won't lose me, Julia. You won't lose any of us. Whatever we do, we do as a team." Julia nodded once, Austin continuing. "You're the most badass person I've ever met, you hear me? Don't doubt yourself or your abilities to protect us in this sort of situation. Dad wouldn't do it, mom wouldn't do it, and neither should you."

"Got it," Julia said quietly, a real smile appearing on her face again. "Austin, just don't envy me because I've had to mercy others and kill. I don't like doing that, but it's something I'll have to do to protect you all."

"I know," Austin said with a nod of the head, following Julia upstairs again. "I don't envy you about the killing, but your bravery is impeccable." Austin grinned as Julia did--she was impressed with his vocabulary, especially for one who wasn't all that skilled in the grammar department.