The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 37

After being sent into exile from the town, Tanner gathered what little he'd thrown about and walked for miles down the lonely stretch of road farther and farther away from the place he'd grown up, left, returned to, then left again.

"You'll be mine one day, Julia Brown." Tanner's mind had snapped after being so jealous of Luke for so long, but there was nothing to be jealous about anymore since Julia had broken up with her boyfriend--again.

As Tanner walked, he made sure to stay out of view of the zombies, climbing trees here and there in wait for the dead to pass him by. He felt like throwing up again from the aftermath of all the booze, but all he'd done was hold his breath as the zombies dissipated on the ground below.

Tanner climbed down carefully from the tree, then ran as fast as he could--not very fast at all, really--and came to find an aged billboard with a welcome sign inviting onlookers to a small town. The sign had been graffitied, and a butterfly-wasp emblem had been painted in white on the thing. Tanner's legs were aching, and he felt he couldn't walk anymore.

"When there's nothing left to do, I will find my way back to you," Tanner murmured, thinking of a memory of a smiling Julia. She was all he had in this world, and now he had nothing, but he would find his way back to her if it killed him in the end.

His legs gave out from beneath him.

Tanner collapsed in the dirt, mud caking itself to his sweaty skin and baggy clothes. He heard the low groans of the dead, then looked up to see three of the zombies approaching, their hands extended, blood coating their fingertips.

"Just end me, alright?" Tanner pleaded. "I don't want to go on." He pulled off his backpack, the turned on his back to look at the clouded sky. It would rain soon, but Tanner couldn't care less.

"Hey!" Tanner heard someone shout, but he didn't open his eyes. He could hear the groans getting louder, footsteps sloshing about in the mud. He heard running footsteps--faster in sound than the zombies could ever run--and Tanner heard slashing. "Hey, get up! Do you want to die?" The voice was feminine, angered, and Tanner opened his eyes to see a girl standing over him. She was defending him, using butcher knives to slice the throats of the zombies.

"Let me die," Tanner groaned, his back aching--was he lying on a sharp rock?

"No can do, you idiot." The girl killed the last of the zombies, one of them seizing and writhing without its head. She slid her knives into the hem of her belt, then held out a hand to Tanner. "Get up."

Tanner felt the rain begin, droplets of water falling on his face and blending the mud already on his skin. He held out a hand, and the girl helped him up--she was surprisingly strong. "Who are you?" he asked, noting the girl was indeed pretty--a different sort of pretty than Julia was.

"You first, idiot." The girl had saved his life, but she didn't seem all that pleased about it.

"My name is Tanner Evans, not idiot." He brushed the dirt from the front of his shirt, then got mud on his hands. "I'll thank you not to call me an idiot from now on."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Then don't act like there's nothing left to live for, you got it, Tanner?" she asked, no less irked or angered.

"Two things, now," said Tanner. "First, what's your name? Second, what is there to live for? You tell me." He folded his arms over his chest, then glanced down at his backpack lying in the mud. He scooped it up, knowing that everything inside was pretty much ruined by now.

"My name is Avery James... and there's hope to live for," she answered. "I know there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope, but... but trust me when I say it's there." Tanner wondered to himself if this Avery girl was a godly girl, one with faith and all that--he himself was on the opposite side of the spectrum with that one.

Tanner looked far from convinced. "Look, Avery, I just lost the girl of my dreams and my home, so don't expect me to be all that hopeful anytime soon, okay?"

Avery scrunched up her nose, looking as if she smelled something bad--the zombies smelled of death, but this was different. "So," she crossed her arms too, then continued, "are you going to come with me to safety, or should I just walk away and let you die?"

The choice was his own, and he wondered what would come next. "I'll join you," he said, voice all too raspy. He cleared his throat, then nodded to Avery. "I'll come with you."

"Good," she said. "You're one less of the dead I have to kill, so alright." she turned on her heels, then led Tanner away from the three dead zombies.

Tanner noted Avery's prettiness--her Earthy brown eyes, her chestnut hair, her pale skin--as they walked onward and away from the stink of death.