Life After Death (#1)

Chapter Twenty-One

Max had taken one of the vehicles parked outside the Jennings' home; it felt heartless, but it wasn't as if they would need it anymore. Whilst he was seething with anger at how Henry had treated Lizzie, Max was still mourning the death of the young children.

He couldn't help but think that he could have done so much more to save them. He still thought that way about John and Joey too. He guessed that survivor's guilt would haunt him until his turn eventually came. In this world, everyone dies, and a lot sooner than they used to.

Lizzie sat motionless in the passenger seat, her body rigid and eyes fixed on the road ahead, not even taking a break to blink. She was traumatised. Max had always understood that it was hard for her to open up and trust people; after all, she had lost every single person close to her, starting with her dad before any of this shit even went down. She was just starting to find a home there, and was allowing herself to rely on new people; that is, until one of them held a knife to her throat.

This world was terrifying for Max to accept, but for Lizzie, it will be the only world she will ever really know. She was too young to experience much of a normal life, and there was so much she will now never get the chance to experience. Her first job, getting married, having kids; who knew if any of this was possible now.

"You know you can't blame yourself for any of that, right? It wasn't your fault," Max assured, breaking the silence.

"I know it wasn't my fault. It was that bag of shit Henry," she snapped back at him.

Max sighed. That wall, that defence mechanism, was back up.

"What exactly happened after I left the kitchen?" Max asked her.

"What do you mean?" Lizzie mumbled back.

"Well one minute I left you all in there to go find the kids, the next I come back to a dead body and Henry has completely lost it," Max said, needing an explanation.

"Well, Jenny was bitten. She was talking for a while, telling Henry how much she loved him and to look after the children, then the next minute she was silent...still. She must have been lying there like that for a few minutes, Henry sobbing into her body, then her eyes flicked open. I think Henry thought she was still alive, but then he saw that look in her eyes; she had changed. She looked so wild and angry, clicking her teeth together. He prayed quietly to himself and then slit her throat with that kitchen knife. Then I don't really know...he just kind of lost it," Lizzie explained.

"She turned that quickly?" Max questioned.

Lizzie nodded.

"There's still so much we don't know about this...disease," Max shuddered.

After all, the mystery surrounding it was the scariest thing.

The outbreak of the disease wasn't really something the pair had ever discussed. The loss of Lizzie's family was still so raw, Max was always careful when bringing up the past; but it suddenly occurred to him that he had never tested his and Joey's blood group theory.

"Did you ever get a vaccination? You know, when this all started?" Max asked as casually as possible.

"Yeah, every kid I know got one. Children were the first ones they issued them to, they obviously knew that they couldn't produce enough for everyone. Then when people found out, it just descended into chaos. The things people did to make sure their darling families got the precious orange cure. Fuck load of good it did," Lizzie explained, mumbling the last few words.

"Did the cure work on anybody?" Max asked, not really expecting her to know, but more just thinking out loud.

"Who can say man? I know people who took it and still turned, I know people who didn't take it and seemed fine; I heard about loads of cases where the drug actually accelerated the disease. Luck of the draw, I guess," Lizzie continued.

"Do you know what blood type you are?" Max said, angling the conversation towards his theory.

"Pfft, fucked if I know Max. How come?" she replied so casually.

"Just an idea an old friend and I had. Seems both of us took the vaccination and neither experienced any effects, and both of us were AB negative. That can't be a coincidence; for some reason my blood type is immune. It has to be." Max pondered, more confident in his idea the more he thought about it.

Lizzie sat in silence, clearly mulling over this new information.

"You could be onto something there. I mean on the news, they said it was spreading through contact with blood, mosquitos, cuts, that kind of thing; so it kind of fits. But if one of those things out there starts clawing away at your face and chowing down on your insides, I doubt your little AB negative blood is gunna do you much good," Lizzie chuckled.

"You've got a point there kid. We'll just have to make sure we keep killing them before they kill us then," he smirked back.

The pair were both grinning, but there was the undeniable reality looming over them, that they were sitting in a car, both covered in other people's blood, and driving towards nothing in particular.

"Where are we going Max?" Lizzie asked poignantly, hoping that he had some kind of plan.

"Hell, probably," he laughed. "Until then, I have no idea," he added.

Lizzie opened her mouth to speak a few times, evidently plucking up the courage to say something to her travelling companion.

"I...I thought...well, I was wondering if..." she murmured and stuttered.

"Spit it out you little gobshite," Max chuckled.

"I was wondering if I could visit my mum's grave one last time. You know, just to say goodbye. I don't think I'll really get the chance again," Lizzie explained, turning her head to look out the window to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

"You know what, that sounds like a good plan kid," Max replied warmly.

Lizzie turned back towards him, wiping her eyes, replacing the tears with a sweet smile that said thank you without the need for words.

Lizzie opened up the glove compartment, rifling through the items within. Clearly not finding what she was looking for, she fumbled through the compartment in the passenger door, before clambering in the back and checking the seat pockets. She withdrew a road map from the pocket behind Max's seat, and snatched up a pen from a tray in the front before scanning the map in silence.

After a few minutes passed, she jumped back into the front seat and thrust the map towards Max. She had clearly circled a small village, even marking out the quickest route.

"I guess we have our destination," Max laughed. "But before we set off, I have one last stop..." he said ominously, pulling into the car park of a large mall.

"I think it's time we got some clothes that smell slightly less of the dead."