The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 13

Luke's house was across town--a large yellow house with a white picket fence and the works. The walk there would take longer than if they were driving--even biking. Trent wasn't one for biking, and Clarise couldn't ride a bike without training wheels, so it proved a dilemma in the first few minutes after the lot left the Brown house.

"Coast clear?" Trent asked for the umpteenth time, and Luke nodded once.

They bolted from house corner to house corner, peered around and looked for the dead, then skedaddled further across town. By the time they got to the wooded area between the center of town and the suburban part of town, they were crawling on hands and knees and looking through ample brush.

"See anything?" Clarise asked, rising almost too tall for comfort from the grass on which she lay. Natalie stopped her, pulling her close. "I don't see many zombies out there." Clarise shaded her eyes from the sun high in the sky--it was almost noon.

"Doesn't mean we're not still in danger, though," said Luke to Clarise. "Come on." Luke helped Julia to her feet, then the others, and they hurried along the line of trees. Julia's heart was beating out of her chest by the time they came upon the center of town, seeing the fountain still working, seeing the town hall's lights all on for a reason they didn't know, and so on.

"This is too weird," Austin murmured to a nodding Trent. "Too weird."

"Look at that." Trent pointed towards someone in the middle of the street. At first glance, he didn't look like much, but when Julia and Luke looked closer, they saw it was one of their schoolmates--his name was Greg. He was on the track team and he loved roller blading. Julia almost had the idea to call out to hi, say hi--but no. That would not have been the wisest course of action.

Greg was sprawled out on the pavement, legs broken. He'd been bitten all over, turned into a zombie like so many others. He was groaning and moving slowly, his feet unable to move him to stand. He didn't see any of them, so Julia thanked God for that much.

"Let's go. We're spending too much time here as it is." Luke whispered, waving to the others to catch their attention. Luke took Julia's hand in his own--his skin was callused and bunched with muscle. His touch on her skin made Julia go weak in the knees, but she forced herself to remain calm, remain alert. She had to do this.

"This'll be a story to tell our kids one day," Luke said quietly to Julia. "The tale of daddy and mommy defeating all odds against the dead to come out on top. Alive, well, happy--" Julia stopped him.

"You know... how I feel, but... we can't say things like that, Luke." Julia felt guilty for saying that, but she needed to be real with herself. This was day--what? Day five or six of the damned zombie apocalypse. Everyone was planning for their future still, but Julia felt she needed to be 'real' about this--meaning she couldn't imagine a perfect future with Luke by her side. They couldn't imagine living in a nice house with that white picket fence, perfect lawn, and children playing at their feet.

That couldn't happen. Not now, not anytime soon. It killed Julia inside thinking about it, but she had to protect herself and her family.

"You don't know how happy I am knowing you've come with me." Luke stopped the lot with an upright hand as they came to another street that would lead them back to his house--a shortcut, as it were. It would still take, maybe, ten minutes or so to get to his house on foot is they ran for it.

"You don't know how happy I am knowing you still care for me," Julia said quietly.

Natalie looked to her sister, then to Luke. She still didn't trust him as Julia did--he betrayed her, for God's sake! Clarise was looking up at Natalie with wide eyes-fearful eyes, eyes desiring to know the complexity of their eldest sister's relationship with her first love.

"I'll tell you later, Clarise." Natalie promised again. "Trust me."

"I trust you," said Clarise. "It's Luke I don't trust."

"Come with me. Quickly!" Luke froze in place the second he saw a horde of maybe fifteen to twenty of the zombies. Hearts in throats, everyone felt like crying and throwing up simultaneously. When the zombies moved like swaying reeds in a field, their attentions turned. "In the trees!" Luke whisper-shouted, and hoisted Clarise and Trent into the trees. Natalie and Austin could climb on their own, but the zombies noticed them now.

And the zombies were now running.

"Shit!" Luke cursed. "Shit, shit, shit!" He took Julia's hand in his and pulled her with him. "You guys know the way. Go to my house. We'll draw them off!" Luke shouted to the others hiding in the trees. "Move when it's safe." He and Julia took off running back to the center of town, Opal running with them. The dog hadn't stayed with the others--she couldn't climb trees, but Julia promised herself that even Opal would live, be safe, protect Clarise.

Julia had the one and only gun loaded to a tee in her hand. She'd not fired the gun this day, but she knew she'd have to plan to do it sometime.

"Is this truly a story for children, do you think?" Julia asked, running hand in hand with Luke. "The survival story of the first Luke, the first Julia--a tale told to their little Julias and little Lukes. What do you think?" Julia smirked despite the quick running.

"Sounds like a story to me!" Luke said to Julia, not even out of breath. "I'm sorry," he said to her, his eyes gazing at her own as they ran from the fading zombies.

So, Julia thought, the zombies might actually have power reserves. It doesn't appear they have full-on energy to chase after us after a short time. That's good to know. She noted, brushing sweat from her brow as she and Luke disappeared from the zombies' sights.

They were safe--if only for the moment.