Page 91 of Dating After the End of the World
“No way. I’m going to find my family.” He pushes me aside, but Tessa jumps in front of the doorframe, blocking his exit.
“Greg! Listen to her. We need you to stay up here.” Tessa shoves his chest with both hands, forcing him back a step.
He sighs heavily and shakes the fog out of his head.
“We can’t lose this tower again. It was a miracle I even got up here in the first place. You need to stay here, protect the tower, shoot any burners you see, and provide cover fire as needed. Got it?” I can see he’s struggling, unable to be okay with just staying put while his family’s in danger. “Please,” I add.
Molly steps forward and squeezes him as hard as she can, tears running down her cheeks as she tries to crawl inside his body—heraffection for Greg wanting nothing more than for them to fuse into one being. “Greg, we need to do this, for our family.”
He looks down at her glistening wide eyes, and within the endless depths of the love behind them, he must see the reassurance he needs. He picks Molly up and squeezes her so hard her back cracks a few times. She giggles as Greg gently sets her down. He turns and salutes me. “Consider the tower secure and your six covered, ma’am.”
I chuckle, patting him on the shoulder. “Thanks, sir.”
We exchange tights smiles and firm nods, and then Tessa and I take our leave, heading toward the main house. This time, with the safety and security of friendly eyes watching from above.
The three bodies are still lying outside where we left them. Even in the cool weather, flies are accumulating in a fury, excited by the newly found food. A hatching place for their larvae, which will become an all-you-can-eat buffet for the maggots that’ll turn them into nothing but bones.Exactly what they deserve.
A scream cuts through the woods, emanating from where the small cabins are. It sounds like a woman, but the scream isn’t for her; it’s something otherworldly, a sound I’ve never heard before. Two quick gunshots ring out, and then the scream magnifies in volume, a hundredfold over what it just was. Neither of us needs to see the two small bodies lying limp in the grass to know exactly what just happened. Another cry pierces the air before a man yells. A gunshot rings out and the world is silent once again. A lineage lying upon the earth, the only place it will ever exist again, erased in seconds.
Tessa looks at me, tears pouring out of her in silent streams as she motions toward the sound, as if to ask,Should we go do something?I shake my head and bite hard into my tongue, trying to channel my focus on the here and now, the pain grounding me to a spot on the porch. I tell myself,There’s nothing you can do for them now, over and over.
I motion with my hands for us to scout around the house, and we check the windows for any signs of burners and meet back where we started.
“Where do you think they all are?” Tessa asks.
“I don’t know. They have to be around here, though. Where would everyone else be?”
We slink into the house; the kitchen looks as though a bomb went off. Tables are overturned; plates and utensils are shattered and strewn across the floor. Our boots crunch over the fragments as we try to avoid them without success.
We hear a loud bump from the master bedroom. Muffled cries escape from under the door. Immediately we both plant our backs to the wall on either side of it, moving slowly, listening for any other sounds. More muffled cries are followed by bumping on the floor, but no voices, and no footsteps.
I bring my gun up and point to the door handle, signaling for Tessa to grab it. I hold up three fingers and rhythmically bring them down.
Three.
Two.
One.
Tessa pushes the door in as I swing my gun around the frame, scanning the room from left to right, top to bottom, in seconds. But there are no burners in here, and then we see the source of the noise.
Tied up in the corner, back-to-back, with gags in their mouths, are Elaine and my aunt. Julie’s in bad shape, blood running down her head, like she put up a fight and was beaten for it.
Tessa and I race to them, quickly removing their gags and untying their hands.
“Are you two okay?”
“Julie’s hurt,” Elaine answers in a whisper, coughing from the dryness of her mouth.
“Let me see,” I say, turning my attention to my aunt, inspecting the top of her head. It’s a bloody mess, but I find the source of it, a nasty open gash a few inches in length sliced across it, like the skin split due to a heavy blow. I examine her eyes, noticing they’re not responding well. She’s clearly concussed.
“Where’s my mom?” Tessa asks.
Elaine shakes her head and points toward the bed, her eyes swimming with tears.
Confused, Tessa rises slowly, approaching the bed as though a creature is ready to crawl out from under it and drag her into the darkness. Then I see the look on her face change.
“Mom!” She can’t help herself, yelling the word as she rushes around the side of the mattress and drops to her knees.
