fi•na•le
the last part of a piece of music, a performance, or a public event, especially when particularly dramatic or exciting.
an original zombie short story
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ONE YEAR EARLIER
Doc and Taylor were both panting as they finally got to their base camp. Taylor had a far off look in her eyes and Doc was leaning his weight onto her, while holding his side.
Alex and Cora, who were sitting by a fire and talking as if they were at some sort of summer camp, immediately sprint over, weapons readied when they heard pair's dragging footsteps. It was one hell of a reunion.
"Oh, shit!" Alex exclaimed and covered his mouth in disgust at the amount of blood that was on Doc's shirt.
"What the hell happened out there?" Cora said. She didn't lower her gun. The probability that it was a Stiff bite was too large for her to let down her guard.
"We got ambushed. It was these two guys and they tried to take our stuff. But Taylor... she... " Doc started but couldn't seem to finish his sentence. Whether it was because of pain or something else, no one knew.
"I killed them both." There was a heavy silence. "I shot them with the gun that James gave to me and they died." Taylor's words were hollow and her face was blank. She looked to be in shock. "They weren't even turned. They were still people. Living, breathing people and I just-" Her breathing picked up pace and Alex quickly took Doc away from the panicking woman to make sure that she didn't drop him.
Once Doc's weight was off of her, she fell to the ground. Her hands were visibly trembling, in fact her whole body was. Cora tucked her gun back in her waistband and crouched in front of Taylor. She grabbed her face and Taylor grabbed her wrist in response, trying to latch onto the last bit of reality she could as she slipped into a full blown panic attack.
"Taylor, look at me. Look at me!" Cora spoke over Taylor's rapid breathing. "Tell me five things you can see."
"Wha- why?"
"Just do it!"
Taylor looked around as far as her eyes would let her in her state. "Your jacket." Her eyes flew back to where Alex was following Doc's directions and helping patch him up. "Alex. Doc... Blood. Your scar on -uh- your chin."
"Good. Now, four things you can feel." Cora felt Taylor's hands tighten around her wrists and she let them.
"Your arms. And my belt." She moved her hand further up Cora's arm and latched onto some bracelets. "Your bracelets. My sweatband." Her breathing was starting to slow down a bit.
"Three things that you can hear."
"Uh...uh- your voice." Taylor shut her eyes tightly, trying to focus. "Doc's voice." Her eyes sprung open. "Footsteps."
Cora tensed and let go of Taylor's face and took her gun out again. She felt bad for leaving Taylor in that state but it would be useless to calm her down only to get mauled by a group of Stiffs. She raised her gun and walked quickly toward the edge of their camp. She was tense and alert but relaxed when she heard James' voice.
"You really gonna shoot me, Cor?" James was out of breath and covered in blood, though only a bit of it was her own.
"Depends. Are you bit?"
"Do you really think that I'd come back to camp if I were bit?" Cora still didn't lower her gun. "No, I'm not. You can check me once I get this mess off of me. Now, more importantly, are Taylor and Doc back and safe?"
Cora winced. "Back, yes. Safe... not entirely. They're by the med tent."
Despite the ache and exhaustion in her bones, she took off in the direction of the med tent. She cursed when she saw Taylor's state. Taylor got up as soon as she saw James and crushed her in a hug. She needed comfort that only James could provide as much as she appreciated Cora's efforts. James latched onto her as well needing some comfort after fighting and killing ten Stiffs, that she still had to remind herself weren't human anymore.
"You can't do that again, Taylor." James uttered softly.
"I know. I know...I'm so sorry." Taylor almost devolved into tears once more but James shushed her and hugged her tighter.
"It's okay." James leaned back so she could look Taylor in the eyes, wiping some of her tears in the process. "You're okay, you just have to be more careful."
"I know but it got Doc hurt and I...I had to k-kill people."
James' eyes widened slightly but she tried to hide it for Taylor's sake. If someone had spoken those words to her before everything went down she would've arrested her immediately but things were different now. James took a deep breath and gathered herself. It was her job to look after these people, no matter what happened. But she had to know...
"Was it you or them?"
"Yes! They were trying to rob us and they had already stabbed Doc and they were about to kill me too! And then I remembered that gun that you gave me and I turned off the safety and then they were just on the ground, dead. Because I shot-"
"Hey."
"-them. I took two lives and I barely even flinched. And I know they were going to kill us but I didn't even feel that bad after it had happened. I mean, maybe I was in shock or someth-"
"Taylor." James managed to snap her out of her frazzled response. "You're starting to sound like Doc with all your rambling." James smiled at her trying to cheer her up. "Look, you did what you had to do to survive and you did. You're still here. That's all that matters right now, not how you got here or what you had to do. Just focus on the fact that you survived and you protected Doc too. So thank you." Taylor finally nodded.
They heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see Cora, who had been standing there the whole time. "Doc's in the med tent right now. He says he'll be fine but I would check on him." James said a quick 'thank you', gave Taylor a kiss on her forehead, then raced to the med tent.
When Taylor didn't follow her, Cora furrowed her eyebrows. She became even more confused when Taylor started walking towards her.
"Thank you for what you did earlier. You really helped." Taylor said.
"Yeah." There was an uncomfortable silence. Accepting thanks wasn't really something that Cora was used to. Taylor figured that that was all she was gonna get from Cora in terms of a response, so she left towards the med tent.
Cora watched her leave. She had watched their whole interaction and she tried to push down the feelings of jealousy that were rising in her but it was difficult. She longed for a parent like James when she was growing up. Though, she'd take almost anything over what she did have. She felt tears pooling in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. Crying makes you weak. She laughed humorlessly. Even when she was thinking about how much she resented him, his lessons still ran through her brain. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and wiped her eyes once more. Then she joined the others in the med tent, coming upon a strange thought.
She was thankful that the apocalypse had happened.
