Red at Day

I wake up to the familiar rocking sensation. I open my eyes to the usual wood frame of the boat. I sit up, supporting myself on my elbows. To my left is Jackie. She silently sleeps curled up in a ball. I carefully move out of bed, not wanting to wake Jackie up. I open the door and shut it behind me. Paris is still sleeping on her little bed. She will continue to sleep until three and lay in bed for the rest of the day. Paris won't eat or drink unless we make her. Carter exits his room shirtless.
“I can't believe Angel's still sleeping.” Carter smirks. I roll my eyes and look in the fridge. I could make BLT's for everyone. We need to eat all the meat before it spoils. I take out a pan from the cabinet and clean it. I put as much bacon on the pan on the pan as I am able to without overlapping the bacon. I turn on the stove and pop the toast into the four toast toaster. I take the lettuce and tomatoes out of the fridge and look for a knife to cut it up with. Once the knife is found I wash it and chop the two foods into slim slices. The bacon begins to sizzle and the aroma fills the boat. I grab three glass plates, wash them, then put the bacon onto a clean plate. I put uncooked bacon on the pan, more grease welling up on it. I pop the toast out of the toaster and make two BLT's. I put more bread in the toaster.
“Carter, you want to eat before you go on duty?” I ask. Carter will have to take over driving the boat soon. At the moment Honey is driving the boat.
“Yeah, thanks!” Carter says from the table area.
“One or two?”
“Two!” I smile and bring over the sandwiches. Carter immediately eats the BLT's and I go back to finish breakfast. I continue my process until there are two sandwiches for everyone. Angel walks out of bed in a tank top and panties.
“Hungry?” I ask.
“Starved.” Angel yawns. Carter chuckles and Angel slides beside him. He wraps his arm around her and kisses her left temple. I slide her her BLT's and Carter finishes his.
“I love you.” Carter says.
“I love you too.” Angel smiles. Carter kisses her head again and goes upstairs to relieve Honey of her job.
“Busy night?” I ask. Angel blushes and nods. I give her a thumbs up and she holds back a laugh. Rose and Reed exit their room tired and hungry. They take their plates sit at the table with Angel. I take my food and join them.
“How did you guys sleep?” I ask.
“Pretty good.” Reed says, scratching his chest.
“Did you make this? Because if you did it'll probably taste bad.” Rose asks me.
“It tastes fine, Rose.” Angel sighs.
“Yeah, but, like, the thing is, Paris would totally make this meal ten times better.”
“Paris also said that if you don't like the food you starve. So eat it or starve.” I say, taking a bite from my BLT.
Honey walks downstairs. She's yawning and her eyes are red. Honey grabs a plate and sits with the rest of us.
“Eating before you go to bed?” I ask. Honey nods and takes a bite of her sandwich. Rose stands up and walks up the stairs. Reed sighs and follows her. Angel and I sit with Honey until she finishes. Honey leaves her plate on the table and goes to take a nap on the bunk bed. I take Angel, Honey, Rose, and Reed's finished plate. I take them to the sink and clean them. As I wash the last dish, Kasmira and James wake up.
“How did you guys sleep?” Angel asks.
“Pretty good.” James says. Kasmira nods, hiding her face. I notice a slight blush on her face and hide my smirk. The pair grabs their BLT's and eat at the table. I run the dish under the warm sink water and pour some dish liquid on it. I pick the sponge up once again and scrub the suffice of the dish, letting little bubbles well up on the plate. I continue to wash over then rinse it under the running water. I dry it with a dish towel and put it in the cupboard. I look over and see people still eating and people still talking. Two plates are left, four sandwiches remain on the plates. I go up the stairs and speed walk to the ships wheel yelling “Ahoy!” When I get to Carter, he's laughing.
“Hello, Cap'n Long Dong Hymen Popper!” I chime, saluting him like an American officer.
“Oh look! It's me second mate! The fair maiden, Red Eyes!” Carter smirks.
“How long until we reach the surface?”
“Maybe a few hours. We're going at a slow pace.”
After a while we dock at Sachs Harbor on Banks Island. We expect to find many zombies but surprisingly see none. Jackie, Honey, and I get off the boat to look around while the others stay safe on the boat. We walk around the small village hoping that this place doesn't contain zombies.
"It's so cold!" Jackie complains "What is it? Negative ten degrees?"
"Close." Honey replies, looking a temperature thermometer "Negative seven point seven."
"That's too fucking cold!"
"Imagine if you didn't have on your ski pants, sweater, sweatshirt, winter jack-"
"I get it we have a lot of warm shit on." Honey and I laugh at Jackie, even though we're all shivering.
"Who's out there?" We all look around to find the owner of the voice. "I'm not going to ask you again so you better answer me now! State your name and business or I'll shoot you down. I'll shoot you dead."
"If you shoot us then wouldn't we die?" Jackie asks.
"Not if he shoots us in the foot." I threaten, my voice strained, "We're travelers looking to dock our boat for the night.” We wait in silence to see if the man believes us or not. We hear a creek from behind us.
“Don't move. Don't even look back.” We follow the man's orders. I feel his eyes look me up and down.
“What do you have in your pockets?” the man asks.
“A gun in case zombies attack.” I reply.
“So that's what you call those things? Around here we call them fleshies. What do you plan to do when you leave?”
“We're going to travel to the north pole where we can kill all the zombies on the northern hemisphere.”
“How would you go about killing these monsters at the north pole? Santa clause?”
“No, we've discovered that America's government had installed a zombie killing device on the north pole which seeks out the zombie gene and destroys it.”
“Does it save the people who became a fleshie?”
“No.” A moment of silence crosses and all you can hear is the howling wind. We don't move in case the man does anything with his gun because of the sudden shock.
Basically, when we turn the machine on, all the zombies on the northern hemisphere will be fried and die for good. There's no saving those that we lost to this awful plague. Mom, dad, and Jasper will be gone forever. Normal life won't come around for a while. We'll have to clean up the bodies and find other survivors. We'll have to try and make the planet as it once was and hope that something like this never happens again. I know one thing, though. When life finally gets to the way it should be, my friends and I will be in history books for all to read. They will say how we bravely went off to save the world when it needed it the most. Well, that's if we manage to even pull this thing off.
“There's no going back?” the man asks after a while.
“No.” I reply with a hollow voice. Another long pause before we hear a long, sad sigh.
“I lost my daughter, Elizabeth, to a fleshie. It tore out her neck so she couldn't scream. Elizabeth was one of the first to go.”
“Who was the first?” Jackie asks.
“The mayor's son. It's a little ironic because he was to be married to my sweet little girl. Well, little to me. She was nineteen years old.”
“How's the mayor?” Honey asks.
“Dead. He killed himself shortly after his son died. He went crazy, you know. Said he could see the spirits of everyone lost. He said god had given up on us and this was our punishment.”
“Do you believe in God?”
“Sometimes I do but there are times when I have to ask myself 'why would someone do this to his own creations?'”
“It wasn't god. It was a group of scientists who did this. They were searching for a way to be immortal.” I inform.
“Looks like it came with a big price. You guys can turn around. I'll... I'll go inside and make you all some tea. You're welcome to come in.” says the man. We all turn around and see a tan old man with messy gray hair. He looks like he hasn't shaved or slept in weeks.
We follow the man into his small, wooden house. As we walk in, we can feel the warmth engulf us. We take off our scarfs and jackets as we immediately warm up. Inside is a small old woman with smile lines. There's a little kitchen, which the woman is in, that connects to the dinning room and living room. There's a set of stairs that leads upstairs which I assume is a bedroom. There are two other rooms which must be a bathroom and another bedroom.
“This is my wife, ruby.” the man says, gesturing to the woman skinning potatoes “Ruby, darling. We have guests. If you could, make some nice tea, please.” The old woman smiles and nods. Ruby grabs an older kettle, fills it with water, and places it on her gas stove. As the tea warms, she searches through the cabinet looking for tea leafs.
“Is there anyone else on this island?” I ask.
“Sure, we're really good at hunting so it just came naturally to us when the dead rose. Although it took a while for us to realize we had to shoot them in the noggin” the man says, pointing at his head, and continues “Every now and then they come back up to us from the sure but we manage.”
“How did you first react to them?” Jackie asks.
“We didn't know what to do. People were rising up from the water and as soon as we tried to help them they sprinted towards us. We shot at it but nothing worked and it bit the mayor's son. When we shot it in the head we rushed Garrett, the mayor's son, to my house where we cleaned him up. He soon got a fever which gave him awful sweats and he would often drift in and out of sleep. His bite flared and every day he looked more and more like a corpse. My daughter, of course, stayed by him at all times. One day he woke up and sat up. Elizabeth was so excited to see Garrett alive but he became a fleshie. By the time we found Garrett, Elizabeth had been consumed. We killed Garrett and then the mayor killed himself. The rest of the town tries to keep happy during these times.”
“Where's the rest of the village?” Honey asks.
“The men are out hunting while the women and children keep warm. We have a good amount of people living here. At least thirteen households, all containing growing families.” The man gives a warm smile and continues “My name's Bart, by the way. I had just realized I never gave it.”
“I'm Annabelle, this is Jackie and this is Honey.” I say, motioning to my friends.
“Nice name. I've never met an albino person before. Those eyes must have caused you trouble. It's a shame no one's looked past them.” I give a weak smile.
“How did you know?” I ask.
“Everyone's exactly the same. They have the same likes and dislikes yet they all consider themselves unique. Anyone who is really unique is considered an oddity and shamed for being so.” Tears form around my eyes but I hold them back, not wanting anyone to see me so weak.
“So are you okay? I hear albino's get some medical conditions.” Bart asks.
“Oh, uh, yeah. I'm pretty lucky compared to most people. I easily get sunburn, certain lights irritate my eyes, and I need to practice to make sure my aim doesn't decrease but that's all. I also use to be very sickly when I was a child. I could have much worse, though. I could have trouble seeing, rapid eye movement, or skin cancer. I'm very lucky.” I reply.
“I'm glad. Tell your mates to come to the village. I've noticed Rose has begun to prepare much more potato stew.” Bart winks. I nod and take my walkie-talkie into the other room.
Angel and Carter arrive as the kettle begins to whistle. They take off their large bundles of clothes and look around the small building.
“Where is everyone else?” I ask, looking behind Angel and Carter.
“Paris won't move so Rose and Reed wanted to look after her. James still has the computer program to run so Kasmira is keeping him company while he does that.” Carter explains.
“Yeah, 'company'” I say, using my fingers for an air quote. Carter suppresses a laugh and Angel looks away, tightening her lips.
“So you thought that too, huh? I wasn't even there and I know it.” Carter smirks. Bart clears his throat and we all remember where we are.
“Sorry!” I say “Guys, this is Bart and his wife Ruby.” Bart sticks out his hand and shakes the young couple's hands. Ruby smiles, says hello, and continues cooking dinner.
“Hey, I'm Carter and this is my fiance, Angel.” Carter says, mid-handshake.
“Congratulations, you two. Were you two already together?” Bart asks. Angel walks into the kitchen part of the room to help Ruby cook.
“Yeah, I'm glad she's alive and still with me.”
“You never find a love stronger than one you went through the most shit with.”
“That's how it works in the movies.”
“I haven't seen one of those in a while, actually. Maybe we can find something on the VCR and play it.”
“Sounds like fun. Do you have any horrors?”
“I have quite a few. My favorite has to be the 'Jurassic Park' series. I also have 'Evil Dead', most of the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', 'The Exorcist', quite a few of the Stephen King movies, 'Signs', 'Night of the Living Dead', but I'm sure you don't want to watch that, and more.”
“Oh man! I love A Nightmare on Elm Street! Freddy is amazing! He's my favorite!”
“You're more than welcome to watch him.” Bart smiles and Carter goes to the collection of VHS tapes. Carter spends most of his time looking at all the films, gushing over the ones he's seen.
“I love 'Carrie' by Stephen King!” Carter enthuses. Angel giggles from the kitchen. She's probably heard him rant like this before on classic movies. Knowing Carter, he'll have us watching Night of the Living Dead as some sort of sick joke. Only Carter would do such a thing.
Jackie ran to get the rest of the gang so we could all have a home grown dinner. By the time everyone (except Paris) came, dinner was ready. We all talked and ate the beautifully prepared dinner. Rose and Bart had to pull more tables and chairs into the room to have everyone fit into the tiny room. On the main table is a large pot filled with potato stew which is white with carrots in it. Other bowls were scattered on the table that were filled with things like Italian bread with butter, corn, asparagus, little bite size steaks, and for desert, a lemon cake topped with lemon slices. Everyone filled their plates and ate till their heart's content. After, we stay up late watching Jurassic Park, Night of the Living Dead, and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' until everyone retires to bed.
“If some of you want to use the upstairs bed or pull out couch, that's fine with me. Upstairs is a queen bed.” Bart informs as he goes to bed. Jackie, unwilling to go back out into the cold, asks the girls if they want to stay in Bart's spare room. We all stay and watch Freddy until I look over to see Jackie Silently sleeping. Honey and Kasmira help me plop her onto my back and I carefully take her upstairs. As we go up, Jackie moans and wraps her arms around my neck. She nuzzles onto my back and I silently curse her for making it more difficult to lay her in bed. As we reach the top my arms begin to tire and my legs scream for a rest. How is someone so small so heavy? She's not even bigger. She's a twig! Not that being bigger or smaller is a bad thing.
I lay Jackie in the white lace bed and pry her hands off of my neck. The walls of the room have pink wallpaper with a rose design. There's also a bay window which holds a mini bed.
“I'm not going to be sleeping here tonight so if someone wants the window, they can have it.” Kasmira offers.
“I want it!” Honey says with her hand raised “But why aren't you sleeping with us?”
“I'd rather sleep on the boat”
“But why?”
“I just want to.” Honey and I look at Kasmira suspiciously but doesn't say anything. Kasmira looks at us and sighs.
“I know what you guys are thinking.” Kasmira says “And, yeah, I slept with James.”
“So do you like him?” Honey asks sounding a bit excited.
“Well, not exactly. You see, we were both talking about how we're in the apocalypse and James brought up how it would suck to die a virgin. I knew he was joking so I joked back. One thing lead to another and, well, yeah.”
“Oh shit, congrats, man.” I say. Kasmira blushes a bit, not liking how her secret it out. Kasmira leaves and the rest of us fall asleep in our clothes. Carter already worked on the boat while Honey, Jackie, and I were off looking around so we can leave in the morning.