About the best way to describe Barbara is to call her soft. Soft blue eyes, soft red hair. Soft skin, everywhere. Soft body, nice and thin. Soft voice, soft personality. And the sweetest, softest lips I ever did kiss.
I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it now.
Only two things were wrong with her. One, she was soft in the head. Two, she was soft with other guys.
I met Barbara about a year before the dead people came back. I fell for her right off, and we were married after about six months.
Everyone told me that she was running around on me, but whoever listened to that kind of talk? I would confront her on something, and she would deny it all. What am I going to believe?
I would always warn her the same way about what was going to happen if I ever caught her at something. I'd say, "you better get you those kind of bracelets that Wonder Woman had. Remember, those ones that could stop bullets? Cause if I ever catch you cheating, you're going to need both of them."
And she would laugh, like I was making a joke, until she got to know me a little bit better. She heard a few stories about me, and started to believe me.
She just didn't listen.
I finally found out for sure about her the day the world ended. The whole world, not just mine.
I found out about the guy she was slipping around with from the guy's old lady. I didn't know her, but I think she knew a little bit about me. I think she was hoping I would do to him what I was going to do to Barbara.
But I ain't like that. A beautiful woman gives you a turn, you take your turn. Only human. I wasn't mad at him, like any other guy would be. He got off lucky on that one.
I mean, we were never going to be fishing buddies, or anything. I just wasn't mad at him.
Only her.
The guy's old lady told me where to find them. I caught up with them out at Truman Lake. I found their cars first, and parked a ways away, to sneak up on them.
They were both sitting at the end of one of the boat docks, dipping their feet in the water, with their backs to me. They were holding hands, and every so often one would kiss the other.
I stood back quiet for awhile and watched. Then, when I was done watching, I pulled out my 9mm, and went to confront them.
When I stepped up on the dock, it started to creak. They both turned back at the sound, and when they saw it was me, they both jumped to their feet. Their bare, wet feet.
At first the guy tried to be man with me, like he was going to step up and protect her from me. But a couple of shots at his bare, wet feet got him dancing, and he decided to go somewhere else.
He left fast, too. Almost running, and not looking back.
It was kind of funny.
I never will forget the look on Barbara's face. She wasn't scared, or nothing. She just looked at me, kind of sad. She whispered, "Baby, I never meant to hurt you." And I whispered back, "Yeah, I know," and squeezed the trigger.
I shot her through her cheating heart. Even then, as mad as I was, I couldn't hurt her beautiful face. All the time we were together, I never once hit her in the face.
Barbara looked surprised when I shot her, in spite of all my warnings. Then she staggered and stumbled backwards, off the dock and splashed down into the water.
My plan at this point was that everything was over for me. I wasn't going to go back to prison. I wasn't going to go on the run again, or try to hide her body. I just left her alone where she was, down there in the water, and watched the sun going down over the lake.
It was all calm and peaceful.
Then the next thing I know, I heard a wet hand slapping against the dock.
Then I heard another one slap against the boards. All of a sudden Barbara was climbing up out of the water, and was crawling after me.
Her clothes were soaked and bloody. Her hair was wet and stringy, with a couple of old leaves tangled in it. And her face wasn't beautiful or sad anymore. Now it was all twisted with rage.
Now she was biting at me, biting her teeth so hard together I thought they were going to crack apart.
She crawled towards me at first, but then she managed to make it back up to standing, and started coming at me like that.
So I got the Hell out of there.
