The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 22

Though Julia and Luke slept well through the night after another going-at-it of romance--that went on into the early morning--Tanner didn't sleep a wink... let alone forty of them, as the old phrase went; catching forty winks.

Tossing off the covers at just passed seven-thirty in the morning, Tanner got up and went to the window and peered outside. The sun was barely coming up over the horizon of rolling hills, but there was still light. And there were a few more wanderers out there, but not enough to wreak total havoc for one person to fend off.

"Kill him..." Tanner murmured to himself, somewhat about half-asleep.

He went into the kitchen to grab one of the sharp knives, then threw open the door and blockade. With the knife in hand, the wanderers looked at him with dead eyes, no souls peering through the discolored grey orbs. Tanner slashed the throat of one of the wanderers, then more started coming at him.

"Kill you!" he said again. "Kill you all!" he shouted, the wanderers coming at him in quicker steps. When one tried to grab his wrist to bite, Tanner shoved the knife down the zombie's throat--through its throat. And blood spattered, staining his clothes crimson red.

There were less than ten, and now there were less than five--two now. And Tanner was killing them all, the corpses lying in pools of blood at his feet, the snow stained as red as his clothes. His hair was matted with blood, his pale skin greying with slow starvation--he wondered how he had the energy to do all this.

And then an image of Luke came to Tanner's mind, an image of Luke lying atop Julia. Casting the image away, Tanner cut the throat of the final wanderer before it too slumped to the ground in a dead heap of blood and decaying flesh.

Julia and Luke stood by the window watching Tanner drop to his knees in the snow. Julia wanted to go to her friend, help him back into the house, but Luke kept a hold on her hand. The two luckily clothed, Natalie and Clarise came into the room with Trent and Opal trailing behind them.

Clarise pressed her face against the window--Trent did, too--and she asked, "Is Tanner a raging psychopath?" Natalie figured their sister must've learned the word from Julia... or Luke. Whomever it was, Natalie was far less than pleased. Pissed, really. Truly, truly pissed.

"It appears so, the way he fights the wanderers." Trent smirked. "Glad he's on our side!" Trent and Opal raced from the room, Clarise running after him because he stole her teddy bear.

Natalie looked to Julia and Luke--she knew Tanner was in love with her sister, too, that he wasn't happy about Julia and Luke being back together, and so on.

"Is he on our side?" Luke asked aloud, raising an eyebrow as he slung an arm around Julia's waist. He was unsure of that part--so unsure that Tanner wouldn't hesitate to kill him at a moment's notice.

"He's... a good person," Julia said slowly. "He'll come around--if only for my sake."

"Not mine," Luke said with a knowing smirk that was all but pleasant. "I'd prefer not to be zombie Fancy Feast. That doesn't even sound remotely appetizing."

Luke put a hand to his gut--he'd lost a bit of weight since this whole thing started. His stomach growled, and his first thought--besides the thoughts of Julia--was what breakfast would be.

Perhaps more rabbits and squirrels? He didn't know, but he would gladly give his portion of food to Julia and her sisters--it was his job to protect them as well as Julia. They were his family, too.

"The lone wolf hunts the... its prey," Tanner gasped out, still lying on the frosted ground--he'd begun to lose his mind. Now. "The wolf and I--we are one and the same. My prey--Luke!" he gasped out, now realizing he'd been scratched by one of the wanderers. And he was bleeding. Not profusely, but still bleeding nonetheless.

Tanner stood shakily, clamping a hand around his pained side. Austin came from out Luke's house to check on Tanner. He saw him covered in blood, but Tanner lied, said it wasn't his. And Austin still asked, "You sure you're okay, man?" he looked weary.

"I'm fine, Austin." Tanner assured his friend's brother--his friend, too--but still he felt pain. He wondered if he would turn like the walkers in The Walking Dead. If he was going to die, he'd take Luke down with him--going, going, gone, right? Well, Tanner's snapped-in-half mind was thinking up one hell of a way to go.

"Sure?" Austin asked again.

"The wolf is fine," Tanner murmured, walking with Austin back to the house. "I'm fine."

He lied.