Ellie Dixon

The Last Christmas

Three months since we'd left the farm. Three months we'd been surviving with no sign of a long-term sanctuary in sight. Lori's pregnancy bump was starting to show, and Rick was getting worried because she needed somewhere safe to give birth... I'm assuming there'd be a lot of screaming and you can't live outside with a baby. They cry too much, what if it attracted a walker?

We'd found a cottage next to a side road that we were travelling on, it seemed clear, so we decided to stay there for a couple days, but it wouldn't do long term. My dad had gone out on a run with Glenn and T-dog a couple days ago, we were expecting them back tomorrow. Nine of us stayed in the one upstairs bedroom, it was pretty large, and we were used to cramming in, so we didn't mind. There was a bed and a sofa in the room. Lori was on the bed with Carl while Hershel was on the sofa. Rick had been sitting against the locked door. We'd brought in blankets that we kept and made a makeshift bed for me, Sophia and Beth in the corner. We tried to share them, but the adults refused and claimed they were fine using their bags as pillows and their jackets as blankets.

I knew it was Christmas day, I didn't have anyone to deliver my letter to Santa because I'd seen my usual postman get eaten by a walker while he was trying to deliver one of my mum's many unpaid bills. Every night, I'd take a moment and send a silent prayer to Santa to tell him what I wanted. Enough food, water and supplies to see us till next Christmas, I also asked for somewhere safe that we could live and stay at forever. Other than shooting my dead mother in the head I'd been pretty good, so I hoped for the best.

It was the very early hours of the morning when there were three knocks on the door. Me and Rick were the only ones awake in the room so nobody else saw my dad, Glenn and T-dog walk through the door. "Daddy!" I whispered, getting up and silently making my way over to him.

He picked me up and hugged me tightly. "Do you know what day it is?" He whispered to me.

"It's Christmas day." I grinned.

"Yes, it is." Dad nodded and kissed my cheek. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart. Ya know, I actually saw some stuff downstairs. I think Santa came."

My face lit up. "He brought supplies?"

Rick smiled at me softly. "Did you ask Santa for supplies?"

"For everyone. Food, water, clothes and ideally a map to somewhere safe where we can all grow old." I responded causing smiles to appear on everyone's faces that was awake, their faces all looked a little sad at the same time though.

"Well, Santa did the best he could. But, I hope you'll love it." Dad tapped my nose.

"Guys, wake up! Wake up!" I yelled at them.

"Oh god." Rick laughed.

Everyone bounced awake and started going for their guns as they looked instantly alert. "I probably could've gone around that better, you've all badly misread the situation." I said once I realised people started to panic. "Santa's come."

Everyone else just stared at me confused. "Santa?" Lori questioned.

"I think Ellie, Sophia, Carl and Beth better head downstairs." Dad said, putting me down on my feet.

Sophia wasn't on crutches anymore and her cast was off, so I ran over to her, grabbing her hand and dragging her with me. I ran first, dragging Sophia behind me, Carl was behind her, and Beth was slowly following us. We ran down the stairs and quickly entered the living room. On the floor I saw four different set ups. They each had a different coloured blanket folded up, one was pink, another purple, another light blue and the other green. The pink one had a chocolate bar, a bottle of water, a barbie doll, a pink nail varnish and a keyring saying "Ellie" on it. The purple one also had a chocolate bar, a bottle of water, a barbie doll and a purple nail varnish but with a keyring saying "Sophia" on it. The light blue one had a chocolate bar, a bottle of water, a new pair of running boots, light blue nail varnish and a keyring saying "Beth" on it. The green one had a chocolate bar, a bottle of water, an army action figure, a small toy helicopter and a keyring saying "Carl" on it.

"Woah." I let out before running forwards. "Food, water, this is what I asked for. Carl, I told you Santa's real." I laughed.

"I'm so confused." I heard Carl say but he had an overjoyed look on his face.

"Look at this." Sophia said, looking at her new doll and I looked at mine too. "Oh my god, we can paint our nails."

Dad came over and sat next to me. "What did Santa bring you?"

"What I asked for. You know what this means, don't you?" I smiled at him.

"That you were on your best behaviour all year?" Dad shrugged.

"That we're going to find somewhere safe. He didn't leave a map, but we'll find somewhere. Rick's right." I grinned.

"Look, daddy, I got new shoes." Beth smiled at her father who smiled at her. Beth looked at T-dog, Glenn and my dad smiling. "Thanks, guys."

"Woah, don't thank us. It was Santa." T-dog defended with a smile.

"I'm pretty sure Santa would want us to check the car though to see if he brought us any supplies." Glenn said to Rick who nodded before walking outside with him. I noticed Lori hugged T-dog and then my dad before coming over and sitting in front of Carl.

"Mum, I'm so confused." Carl shook his head, making sure there was no batteries in the helicopter, I noticed this, and it sent a wave of pain over me as I realised Jacob would've loved this. I chose to believe that he was in a better place and enjoying Christmas in Heaven while I helped Sophia open her barbie doll.

"Just enjoy it, baby." Lori smiled at her son.

Carol came over and sat in front of me and Sophia, smiling at our overjoyed faces. A smile growing on her face as T-dog started to talk. "So, you kids like the blankets? I think the blankets are the best part. And whichever of Santa's elves suggested that, deserves a raise and some of this alcohol Santa also found- brought. I mean Santa brought." I noticed T-dog raising a plastic bag, when Maggie peered inside, she laughed at the contents.

"I love the blankets. Daddy's motorbike is getting colder and colder to ride so maybe I can find a way to use it while he'd driving." I said, gently placing the doll, chocolate, water, keyring and nail varnish on the floor and wrapping the blanket around me.

Glenn and Rick walked inside. "Santa certainly delivered. We got enough food in the car to see us through two weeks at least." Rick announced.

"Merry Christmas to that." Hershel said happily.

"I also saw that Santa left a dead deer in the kitchen for a Christmas feast." Dad said with a proud smile on his face. Rick smiled at my dad and tapped his back gratefully. Sophia got up, she hugged T-dog who happily hugged her back, she then hugged Glenn who returned it with a smile before she hugged my dad. Dad hesitated as he looked shocked, he glanced at Carol who had a smile on her face. Dad slowly hugged Sophia back and a small smile grew on his face.

I looked out the window and noticed that it was starting to snow. "Guys, it's snowing!" I announced excitedly. 

We'd all run outside and just stood in amazement as it snowed down on us. After a while the snow coated the ground so obviously a snowball fight broke out. I got dad right in the face with a snowball causing him to go feral and start making those snowballs like his life depended on it. Me, Sophia, Carl, Beth, T-dog and Glenn all ganged up on dad. Even though it was six on one, we all seemed to be pelted with the snowballs dad was making. Rick, Hershel, Maggie, Lori and Carol all joined my dad. My dad's team was absolutely winning but my team refused to give in. Dad, Glenn and T-dog were the only ones with shoes on, we were all freezing and pretty much covered in snow but none of us cared. After the snowball fight, we all came together and made a snowman, we named him Fredrickson. In the evening we all sat around the fire, eating like king's and singing Christmas songs. It was the best Christmas I'd ever had, we celebrated Christmas like it was the last Christmas, the way the world was it might've been, but that day we didn't care. We had each other and that's all that mattered.