The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 17

After Julia left the guest bedroom where her sister was sitting on the bed, she went to the kitchen to say her few goodbyes to Clarise and their brothers--and Mrs. Wallace, too.

"Come home to us," said Trent to Julia and Luke. "We need you two. You're, like, the President and First Lady..." Trent smirked.

"We'll be back." Luke kissed his mom on the cheek, and the two quietly left the house, the frozen ground crunching beneath their boots. Julia was wearing bootcut jeans with a light blue sweater under a red parka with faux fur boots, and Luke was bundled up, too--not to Julia's extent, but he looked warm enough too.

Julia and Luke didn't see many of the dead lurking about--good fortune, perhaps? They didn't want to get their hopes up, but it seemed like the dead just up and left their small town of Havenville. Few of the living were left--most of the town had been swallowed by the mouth of Death. There were still some people here and there, but no one stayed for long.

It was just too quiet now, though, and that's what put Julia on-edge. Luke, too. They were both freaked out, rightly so--who wouldn't be?

The crunch of snow was oddly relaxing beneath Julia's feet, and Luke followed her closely, gun in hand and ready to fire. He hurried a few paces forward, then brushed against Julia. Her hands were cold--she'd forgotten gloves--and Luke smiled softly. Taking his large gloves off, he handed them to her.

"Luke, no--" Julia protested.

"Take them. You'll need them more than I do." Luke smiled as he remembered the first time he and Julia kissed--he now kissed Julia's temple. She smiled, thinking all of this too quiet, too perfect.

"Thank you," Julia said softly.

They continued down the road without delay or sight of the dead. The town was in a valley, so there were rolling hills everywhere beyond the borders of town. Not the best type of town in a zombie apocalypse, but you were given what you were given.

"You know," Julia said, looking at the hills, "Clarise's birthday is coming up soon."

"Anything special you want to get for her? Like... steal a mermaid necklace from an abandoned apartment store in Atlanta, Georgia? Because I'd help you with that." The two laughed softly, and Julia shook her head no--noting Luke's reference to The Walking Dead.

"No, I wasn't thinking of stealing a necklace... but I was thinking about stealing something." Julia's smile spread wider. "Clarise loves books--we all do. Perhaps we could raid the old bookstore south of town?" Julia shrugged, pouting with slight hope.

"Sounds doable," said Luke with a grin, pulling Julia into a kiss. Her arms snaked around him as he had her, and the two had the strong desire to simply roll in the frost until snow formed above them. "A hunt for books it is then," Luke spoke through kisses. "Any particular books you had in mind?"

Julia thought about it. Clarise would be turning nine. The first year without their parents to bestow her with presents, so Julia knew she had to do something for her youngest sister. "She likes anything Nancy Drew-related." Julia thought still. "I'm sure she'd enjoy a few other things... not horror, though. We have enough of that here."

Luke nodded. "We'll get through it." His hand squeezed Julia's, and he led her away from the center of town. "For now, though, we'll find some food and have a cookout tonight." He was grinning, and Julia offered a smile too despite the knowledge they'd never have another normal cookout with burgers and hot dogs again. That was a past long gone now... and growing further distant still.

Julia and Luke continued down the road, Julia's keen blue eyes taking note of several animal tracks. Before all hell broke loose, her dad was a hunter in hobby, and he'd taught her how to set traps. What with the zombies dissipating and all, Julia had set out traps several times and came home with a few rabbits and squirrels. It wasn't much, but it was enough to feed all those hungry mouths--herself, Natalie, Austin, Trent, Clarise, Opal, Luke, and his mother. Eight mouths to feed, several bunches of food were rationed out and whatnot, so starvation was something front on Julia's mind.

Had been that way for a while now.

"Thinking of any books you'd want for your birthday when it comes up?" Luke asked his girlfriend.

Julia thought about it. "You know what I like: fantasy anything, science fiction anything." Julia shivered, thinking about the cold and how she might have to resort to burning books for fire and whatnot. Luke could read her like a book--he could see what was in her mind, it seemed, and he put an arm around her.

"We'll be okay, Julia," he said to her. Julia snapped to attention as she heard low growling sounds. Luke stood back to back with her, gun ready to fire. "Or we could just burn the corpses--keep the dead out of this one-family town."

The joke was pathetic, but it didn't seem like an entirely stupid idea to Julia.

"I don't think it's the dead." Luke still didn't take his finger off the gun's trigger. "Let's go look."

"Famous last words," Julia retorted with a grin.

"I'd rather die by your side than anyone else's." Luke looked into Julia's eyes as if he could see their future.

Julia shared the same dream--the two of them rebuilding all that had been left damaged and broken. So much like that dream in The Walking Dead, but better--real. Julia and Luke envisioned high walls all around their town with guards posted and guns ready to fire. The houses had white picket fences and the lawns were all kept beautiful. People were around and living in peace and harmony. That dream could be achieved if people came around, but this little town of theirs was near-entirely desolate of people.

Where could they find the manpower or even the people to help build this dream--share it with them? There had to be other people alive out there--there just had to be...

"Looks like it was just a squirrel." Luke lowered his gun, sighing a breath of hot oxygen into the cold air--they could see the frost forming before them.

"Julia?" There came a voice. "Julia Brown?" Whomever it was calling out Julia's name she didn't know--couldn't quite remember.

"Who goes there?" Julia asked quickly, regretting giving away her name. Who was this stranger, and where were they coming from? Julia nor Luke could see anyone remotely close to them.