The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 24

One minute everything was normal; the next minute changed everything. Whatever happened in the beginning is information lost, but the people live on.

Survivors from elsewhere came to Julia Brown's small hometown looking for food, shelter, and safety. The population grew, and with more gatherings of people amid the lonely towns there came more of the wanderers.

It was like something out of a movie--the moment the people fought back in World War Z. There was no real immunity to becoming a wanderer, but it seemed that only humans were affected. The wanderers did eat dead animals faster than vultures crowding around a deer carcass, but the animals weren't affected--how?

Julia and Luke shared in the dream for peace but had little hope anything would ever truly change--how wrong they were! With a new order established in their once lively hometown they built walls around the town like the people did in The Walking Dead. In rolled the Trump Wall jokes, that he had a good idea if used correctly--a wall to block out the dead from attacking.

With the wall in place, there were lookout stations and people with guns. Forget the whole gun control issue; guns were truly needed here--you couldn't reason with an attacking wanderer. And anyone who tried died. Julia made sure she, her boyfriend Luke, and their family were not on those lists of casualties.

It was later in the day--just about sunset--and Julia was on border patrol with Tanner circling the inner borders of their town. Julia wasn't one for mechanics, but it was Austin whom had learned to hotwire the cars to working order. Grandmaster Mechanic was Austin's newfound title, and he enjoyed it, the partial glory too.

Tanner was driving, Julia with a gun slung over her shoulder as they neared the next watchtower. There were flags on each of the towers in different colors--blue meant all was well, yellow meant caution was to be needed, green meant that there were travelers looking for shelter, and red meant there were hordes of wanderers near.

And this night all the flags were blue--they were safe.

Tanner slowed the car and pulled up next to one of the watchtowers. There were two people atop with guns in hand, but they were no danger to he or Julia. Julia looked to Tanner with concern. Ever since that day almost a year ago he'd been acting funny--off. Not quite like himself.

"You okay, Tanner?" Julia asked, her hair falling to one side.

Tanner nodded quickly. "It's nothing, Julia. Don't worry about me." And he whispered so quietly that Julia couldn't hear him, "You don't seem to worry about me--ever, it seems." He grumbled, his hand going to his side. If a scratch from a wanderer could turn you, it certainly took its pleasured time--Tanner had been feeling pain in his side from the wanderer's scratch for ten months now. How long until he died? He was left wondering--without answers. Tanner had been exhausted from day one, especially as he wondered how to shake Julia's feelings for Luke to shift to himself. A selfish love, but a love nonetheless, he thought to himself.

"Did you say something?" Julia asked, not sure she heard Tanner.

"It's nothing," he said with a sigh. Like he'd tell her he was injured; he didn't want her pity. Only her love, which he knew deep down she would never give him. Changing the subject, he spoke again. "If this is your dream--the walls, the protection against the wanderers--are you happy with it?" Tanner was genuinely curious.

"Nothing is perfect, Tanner, but this is a fragment of what was once home." Julia's blue eyes went distant as she looked to the sun disappearing beneath the wall. The next flagman she could see was waving a blue flag--still safe. "I have my family safe with me, I have books to read at my leisure--I have so much again. I'm not about to give it up."

Tanner offered a sigh through the nose, then continued driving onward. Had things not changed as they did almost a year ago, he'd have been taught to drive by his mom--his dad had been long out of the picture thanks to Death's hand.

"What are you going to do when you get home?" Tanner asked--this he was genuinely curious about, though he hoped to high Heaven that it didn't quite involve Luke.

"I'm going to hug my sisters and brothers, kiss Luke, then sit down and read before dinner. The hunting teams brought back two deer, so I don't need to eat rabbit jerky for a while--thank God." The two shared a slight chuckle, then returned to making sure the perimeters were safe. "What about you?"

Tanner moved from Luke's living room sofa to a smaller house down the street. He wanted to stay, but only at first--he could only take so much of knowing Julia and Luke were going at it nearly every night of the week. What day was it now? Well, it didn't really matter anymore, did it?

"I'm just going to go for a walk. I could do with some fresh air."

It was true--Tanner did need fresh air. He looked the part of a half-starved teenager with slight-sunken grey eyes that were no longer blue, slightly hollowed out cheeks and clothes that were two sizes too large for him now. There was little muscle to him anymore--not much was there before either.

Tanner watched as Trent and Clarise Brown waved to him from the window. He could hear Opal barking from inside, too. Julia jumped out of the car, then embraced her running-to-her siblings, Opal running out the door with Julia's brother and sister.

"Hi, Julia!" Clarise hugged Julia tightly, kissing her cheek. "Mrs. Wallace was just reading to us--you in?" The youngest Brown sister looked to the eldest with hopeful eyes, and Julia nodded.

"What book?" Julia asked.

"A really great book!" Trent added, brushing his matted bangs from his face. His hair was getting too long--he needed a haircut.

Julia smiled softly, "Of course, I'll listen to Mrs. Wallace read."

Of course, she read the book, Tanner thought to himself. Julia's every book out there. He started up the car again, then drove down the street to the little house he made into a home. It wasn't truly a home though... because Julia and her sisters and brothers weren't living with him. There were other ways to make his house more of a home, but he didn't want any part of anything if it didn't have to do with keeping Julia for himself.

"Ten months later and still no hope of winning Julia's heart..." said Tanner to himself as he went to the small kitchenette to mark down on an old calendar still for this year. He marked it with a red pen and punched the wall, rattling the dishes in the cupboard. "Ten damn months," he repeated.