The Dead Studios: Season 9

Chapter 10: Lost Shadows

     Jax wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he held the hammer. The cool spring air blew through him like a ghost as he stood there, finally finished with the fence. Richard and him had been working  all day. The sun was softly setting as Jax walked back down to the garage where Richard had gotten the hammer and nails. He put them back as he walked out, closing the door behind him. He walked a little into the woods, checking on the shot gun he had hid. He brushed the leaves away, as it became clear to him the gun was gone. He looked at the tree, seeing it was the one he had marked, but still, the gun wasn't there. He worried that someone from the cabin had to have found it. He walked back up to the cabin, coming through the back door that entered the living room. He saw Caroline sitting up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. She was holding a bowl of something, must've been soup. She looked at him and sighed, taking another spoon full of the soup. He walked past her and into the kitchen where James was. 

"Want some?" James asked him as he poured himself a bowl of the soup.

Jax looked at him. "Sure." He said. "Thank you, for taking care of her." He added.

James looked at him and smiled as he handed him a bowl. "I made you a bed upstairs. It's better than sleeping on the floor." He said.

Jax smiled back at him, taking the bowl of soup up the stairs. He walked up the stairs, entering the new environment, as he had never been upstairs. He got to the top, entering a big open room with 4 beds in it. There was a door to his right, leading into another room where Colton and Olivia were laughing. He walked over sitting on the bed, putting the bowl of soup on the bed side table. Colton came out into the open room.

"What's up?" He asked him, sitting down on one of the beds.

Jax looked up at him. "Nothing, just... eating soup." He said. He never thought he would've said something like that, but he did.

Colton cracked a smile and laughed a little. "Nice." He said.

Jax smiled a little bit back as he took a spoon full and ate it.

"Hey- what were you like before everything?" Colton asked, leaning off the bed.

Jax put the spoon back, looking at him. "Before, the apocalypse?" He asked.

"Yeah." Colton said.

"Well...just so you know, I'm 22 years old, and I was living alone at the time. I was finished with college for about a year. I went to school for  computer science." Jax said as he laughed a little. "What a joke." He said. "If I knew the end of the world was going to happen so soon, I would've went for something else other than god damn computer science." He said, taking another bite of the soup.

"What about your parents?" Colton asked.

Jax looked up at him at the realization. His parents. He hadn't thought about them in so long. "My parents?" He said, thinking. "I don't know..they live on the other side of the country- I moved away from them to go to college, then just decided to stay in the state... I never really tried to contact them when it all went down. I knew there was nothing I could do- it wasn't like I was going to take a plane to Oregon." He said looking at Colton. "How about you?"

"I killed them." He said. "I woke up one morning, the morning after the power went out, all over the world. And I walked out of my room, and... my brother." He stopped. "He.. he had been bit, I assume and he didn't tell us. He turned that night, and he devoured my parents in their sleep. I found the three of them, all locked up in my parent's bed room...so. I burned the house down." He said, looking up at Jax, making eye contact with him. Jax nodded his head up and down as he looked at him. 

"Better than having to do it yourself." Jax said.

"I still felt it." He said. "I still- feel it."