The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 39

Time had little meaning anymore--summer turned to fall, and fall turned into winter--and the last once-printed calendars had run out. Now no one knew the true date, going only by Z-Day and Z-Day Plus One-hundred-whatever.

Jake Hayden lived in the guesthouse across the way from the Brown household for several months now, spending his days with Natalie in the garden with Clarise and teaching Austin and Trent how to use guns and combat weaponry to protect themselves from the zombies beyond the town borders. Jake spent his nights on watch with Julia, too, but it was the midnights and early mornings he treasured most.

Natalie would not go to sleep without Jake home, and after Jake and Julia would return, Julia would return to her bedroom and sleep till morning. And Natalie and Jake would then sit in the backyard together or in the garden just staring at the stars high above them. With the lack of light pollution, one and many could see hundreds more of the glittering stars--a beautiful sight, Natalie thought--and she treasured these times with Jake.

The night was late, and Natalie was in her bedroom reading a book by candlelight and looked to her still-ticking-away wristwatch. It was once her dad's, a small piece of him that she kept close. It was almost midnight the last time she checked it, and now it was almost one in the morning.

She set the book aside, then took to pacing the length of her room, stopping every so often to check the windows. Lights came and went, but those were from flashlights and torches belonging to passerby gunmen and night scouts. Natalie's heart rose to her throat--that horrible feeling you get before you're about to cry from fear--and went downstairs to the front room.

She was about to go search for Jake and Julia herself, but the door opened just as her fingertips grazed the handle. Julia walked through first, then Jake. Natalie's eyes were lined with tears on her lashes as she threw her arms around Jake.

"Where were you?" she asked again and again. "I was about to send a search party for you both myself," she said through chokes on air. "What were you doing? I got worried." Natalie sniffled, then dried her tears with her sweaty palms. The salty sweat stung her eyes, but she didn't care about that. She didn't even register the red in her eyes.

Jake returned Natalie's embrace, not wanting to let her go. "There were outsiders wanting in," Jake said slowly. "They had no guns or much concerning weapons--we checked."

The hair on the back of Natalie's neck rose. "How do you know that? How did they find us? Did you let them in?" she asked quickly, like bullets shot from a gun before being quickly reloaded.

"We searched them; they wandered into our territory not knowing where they were; and yes, we let them in." Natalie looked horrified for a moment, then Jake looked into her eyes with strength in his own. "They're under guard, but we have given them food and water. We asked for information, Julia and I, and they gave it to us freely."

Natalie's heart remained beating out of her chest. "Are you sure they're not going to kill us?" She wasn't trustful of most people nowadays, save her sisters and brothers and Jake.

"They gave us valuable information in exchange for their lives. Julia and the others and I have a day to decide whether we should keep them or send them out again." After Natalie's simple nod, Jake embraced her again. Natalie breathed in his scent--he smelled of firewood and pine needles, an earthy scent she favored.

"What was the information?" All looked to the head of the stairs, seeing Austin with Trent and a yawning Clarise by his side. They came down the stairs, and it was Julia who ushered everyone into the living room. As the eldest Brown sister passed the others by, Natalie noticed Julia's gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. She reached out a hand, not touching it, and felt its warmth radiate towards her.

Julia fired the gun--that much was certain--but did she fire the gun at the visitors or the dead beyond the walls?

"What's wrong?" Natalie asked again when she thought she wasn't being heard. She let go of Jake, her hands balling into sweaty fists, despite the chill of the weather outside. "Jake, tell me."

Jake said nothing.

"Jake, tell her." Julia crossed her arms over her chest, the heat of her gun not bothering her--and if it did, she didn't know it.

"The zombies are coming for us. They'll be here before tomorrow night."

Natalie's heart sank lower than her feet, Austin looked pale as winter's kiss of the first snowfall, and Trent and Clarise both looked as if they were about to cry.

"We need to warn everyone, gather our forces and take out the slow ones." Julia's face was void of color and emotion. Her voice was flat and cold. "We need to do this, go out there and kill them... or we die."

"Julia..." Natalie felt as if she'd throw up right here on the living room carpet.

"I'm scared," said Clarise with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to die."

"None of us want that," Jake said slowly.