A Story To Tell: Season 1| A Zombie Apocalypse Story (Completed)

Day 28.1

Hank

I pull into the driveway of my home. I see my son's car which is instantly a relief. We all get out of the truck, and I tell everyone to stay put 'till I made sure the coast was clear. I turn the knob but it is locked, so I take out my single key and unlock the door.

"Hello? You here, Willie?" I call out for my son William. "Gigi?" Neither of em' answer. I mumble curse words under my breath. "I don't wanna find you dead, Will. You better not be dead. It'd be real stupid if you were." I shut the front door and go upstairs to one of the guestrooms.

The first guestroom I go in has a suitcase with clothes scattered ev'rywhere. They're here. At least they were. I go into the second room, and it's empty. I go up to the third door and hear quite and mumbled words. I try opening the door, but it is locked.

"Son, you in there?" I ask what I think is him, uncertain of what to expect. I attempt to open the door again with force, and it cracks open. I glance around the room and spot my son on the ground, rocking and hugging something.

"Will? Where's Gigi?" I notice a small pink bookbag in his arms. I gulp. "William. Where is Gigi?"

"If only I had saved her. I'm just scum on her shoe. Barely even a speck in a haystack," he continues to murmur. I hate to see my son like this.

I walk over to my son. I snatch the book bag away. "No-nuh no. This is all I have left of her."

"Son, come on. Moping around isn't gonna do no good to ya," I insist, my dry voice faltering. I think about my fondest memories with Gigi. I remember when she visited me down here every summer. We would go to a movie, I would buy her ice cream, and then I would play with her down at the beach with my neighbors' grandkids.

I put a hand out for him to grab. He grabs my hand and we form into a hug. I grab the back of his head with his ungroomed brown hair. "We're gonna make it through, son. I promise." I don't realize this at first but my voice shakes. I hate makin' promises I can't keep. Yet I just did it. I'm never able to keep my promises for Will or Gigi.

"You need a shower, Willie." I direct him to the shower and it feels as if he's a little boy again. Me tellin' him to take a shower after he played in the mud all day. I wonder if the water's still workin' elsewhere. We've got a well, so we don't gotta worry 'bout it.

I go downstairs and see that the crew brought everythin' inside.

"Is everything okay, Hank?" Amber quavers, she's always tryna make sure people are alright. It'll be the death of her one day, I swear it.

"Ah, well. My son is flat out broken. He just mutters the same things. The same godawful hopeless things," I sigh out as I speak, kicking the cabinet.

"Your granddaughter?" Her voice is soft and she scrunches her eyebrows together.

"Dead." Silence falls over the room. I walk away and start cleaning up my kitchen that is trashed. As I pick up the dishes, I hear footsteps march through the house. My son runs over to me in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Dad. The power flicked off. Longer than ever before," my son says gruffly. Water drips from his hair to his nose.

"Put on a shirt, there are ladies present. I didn't raise you in a damn barn." I gesture to the girls nearby. I see that I broke the broke record that Willie turned into. It's nice to see him not act like a damn nutcase. "And it was bound to happen sometime soon, I mean, it's been what, three, four weeks since the damn apocalypse started?"

"We're even lucky that the power is working at all," Jackie adds into the conversation.

"Don't cast your luck yet, Jackie," Axel joins in a taut manner. "When we were at that gas station, the lights in the bathrooms were flickering, barely working." I look towards Axel's face for a second and it looks like he is debating somethin' in his head.