Red at Day

I wake up in a room that belongs to a dead girl. My eyes flutter open and I lay in her bed, looking around the room. Pictures of her and her fiance are hung all around the walls. She was a beautiful woman, who had a handsome husband. It's a shame they fell pray to this plague. I rub my eyes and sit up, pulling my legs close to me so I can sit in the fetal position. I sigh, feeling bad about taking her room. Jackie stirs but doesn't wake up. Honey lays under the cover in a ball shape in the window. I get out of the bed and avoid hitting Jackie, being the one on the side of the wall. My bare feet hit the cold wooden floor with a 'tap tap' noise and I walk to the door. I walk downstairs, tired and cold. Carter and Angel are cuddling on the pull out couch. The blanket on them lays on their wastes', giving their arms goosebumps. I consider fixing it for them but I would just wake them. I look at the fire and see it's nearly out so I search for firewood. Around the fireplace there are little paper balls, but no wood. They must have come from a paper man. I silently laugh at the joke. My grandfather had once made the same joke but with glass balls instead.
“What are you doing up already?” I turn around and see Bart. He's fully dressed including his ski pants and a warm jacket.
“Looking for firewood.” I answer.
“Well, you won't find any here.” Bart says in a soft voice “Every morning I chop wood for the fire and then I go out hunting. We need some meat and a buck will do us well. You're more than welcome to come, of course. The other guys may see it as weird but with some persuading, they can get use to the idea.”
“Sweet! Do I need to shower or anything?”
“I wouldn't recommend it. You will be taking off your jacket by just chopping the wood. Take one after.” I nod and rush upstairs, making sure to make minimal noise. As quietly as I can I quickly put on my winter clothes. I even tie my hair up and stuff it into my hat so I can be safe. I think I should cut it short soon so the zombies can't grab it. It's happened on multiple occasions and next time the results could end disastrous. Maybe I could have Angel cut it before we go to the south.
I creep back downstairs wishing my boots would make less noise.
“All set?” Bart asks.
“Yeah. When we're done, though, I should go to my boat to brush my teeth and shower.” I reply.
“I understand. Will you be staying for dinner?”
“Yeah, if you want.”
“Every week the village throws a party of sorts in the old church. It's to show how far we've come and to show thanks that we're all still breathing. It would be great if you all were to come.”
“We'll make it” I assure with a smile.
We walk outside and continue walking until we're what seems like miles away from home. We continue until we find a large stump next to a log that Bart had been working on for a few days. There's a saw and pick on top of the stump which will be used for chopping the wood.
“It was dead when I found it. Use the saw to cut reasonable pieces from the log. Then you'll set it up on the log, long way, and stick your pick into the middle. Once it's all set up, you grab your sledge hammer and swing. Make sure you hit hard enough so it breaks in two. I'm going to grab a chainsaw and cut down another dead tree for more wood. After it's down, I'll come back with the tree and we can saw the branches off for kindling. Depending on how much firewood can be made from that log, we'll make the rest of the firewood with the new wood.” Bart informs. I nod in response and Bart smiles. He says goodbye and leaves while I grab the saw. With the saw, I make five pieces of wood from the log. Already sweating, I take off my winter jacket and set up my first log onto the tree stump. With the pick in piece, I firmly grasp the hammer and test how heavy it is so I don't accidentally break my tailbone. I pick it up and wince as my bullet wound stings. I try my best to ignore the throbbing pain in my shoulder as I swing the sledge hammer above my right shoulder and take aim to the pick. I take a deep breath and swing as hard as I can. The hammer hits the side of the wood which flies off in another direction as the pick lands somewhere among the leaves. Shit. I begin looking for the pick because if that's lost then we're screwed. As I begin my search, a chainsaw can be heard in the distance. I groan as I toss the leaves around. Every now and then I change my position in hopes that I can catch light glinting off of it. The loud 'bzzzzzzz' of the chainsaw stops in the distance. My hands wrap around something long and cold. I rip it out of the pile of leaves and smirk out of victory. I have the pick.
I find the log off in the distance and run back to the stump to set it up again. I rush to get everything ready so Bart doesn't see I've messed up. I hold the hammer over my shoulder and swing. I hit the side of the tiny log once again and an assortment of cusses escape my lips. I drop the hammer in my fit of anger and the sound of dragging is behind me.
“Well that's not something a young lady should be saying.” Bart says from behind me. I turn around, still fuming.
“Right now, there are a lot of things young ladies shouldn't be doing, Like killing zombies, being the leader of a doomed team, travailing to the North Pole,-”
“Annabelle, I understand you're frustrated and scared. That isn't you speaking, it's your frustration. Take a moment to cool off and I'll show you how to chop wood.”
“I'm fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, then. Watch me.” Bart says and begins to set up the wood. I watch as he lines up the hammer with the pick. Bart does a test swing first and then the real thing.
“See, it's easy. Now you try.” Bart smirks, handing me the hammer. He sets up the log and the pick. I pull the hammer above my shoulder and stand my ground. Bart walks towards me and tells me to fix my position. I do so and swing when Bart gives the okay. I hit the pick!! I drop the hammer and scream a victorious “yes!”
I'm sweating as we bring the firewood to Bart's house. I feel disgusting and in great need of a shower. I'm not too keen on looking for a deer next but I know I have to do this. Bart knocks on the front door of his house with his foot and we wait but a few seconds for Carter to open the door.
“Where were you guys?” Carter asks as we enter the house.
“The wood doesn't give you a hint?” Bart chuckles. Carter smirks in response and takes some of our load.
“We're going to a party tonight.” I inform Carter.
“A party? I haven't been to one since the weekend before we all got our report cards.” Carter recalls.
“It should be fun.”
“Where is it?”
“At the church. There will be a bunch of teens and gunk from different families so it looks like we'll be able to mingle.”
“Thank god. I've been dying to talk to someone other than you.” Carter laughs. I stick my tongue out at him and leave with Bart to go hunting. I'm sure Carter and Jackie will make a nice fire for the house.
I borrow one of Bart's hunting riffles and we walk into the woods to find a nice deer.
“How come you have two of these things?” I ask.
“I have two sons you see. He went off to collage in Fairview, which is in Alberta in Canada, and so we never really got to see him. Right before the plague, he called us and said he was on his way back here so he could be with us. He should be back by now, though.” Bart tells.
“What's he like?”
“He is a smart mouth and a charmer. That boy got in more trouble here than he could in the city. In fact, a few months after he left, we found out one of the women here were pregnant. She said it was his and that he didn't know about it. It's a boy an he's about eight weeks old. Looks just like the father. She's been waiting for my son to come back to tell him. She wants it to be a surprise.”
“What was his name?”
“Jack.” My eyes widen and I look at Bart with sad eyes. My face becomes pale and my heart feels weak. Jack? My mind reels back to the hotel I stayed at with a young man of that description. I continue to walk even though my knees are ready to buckle. You mean your son is the boy I left to die?
“What did he look like?” I say in almost a whisper.
“He looked like me when I was younger. Tall, pale, and skinny. Believe it or not I use to have black hair before it turned gray.” Bart laughs. No, oh please no. Please don't tell me it's the same Jack. My hands become sweaty and shaky. Jack, I never meant to kill you. I never meant to leave your kid without a dad and I never meant for you to leave your family. I never meant for any of this to happen.
We carry on in silence until we can faintly hear voices of the other hunters. The others hush as soon as they hear the leafs crunch with our every step.
“Who's there?” asks a voice in the distance.
“Bart and a guest.” Bart replies. The group is in a circle when we reach them. There's a few teens in the distance that I can't see but I shrug it off. Some of them join while others keep watch. All together I count twenty three boys, not including Bart.
“Bart, what's a girl doing here?” asks one guy.
“Annabelle is here to help us hunt. She's been with the fleshies for a while and since she's taking a break, she needs to practice her aim. Annabelle is the leader of her own team and they all know how to stop the fleshies. If I were you I'd be grateful she's helping us.” Bart informs. The guys look back and forth at each other.
“Why is she on a break? The world isn't going to save itself.” one of the brutes had said.
“I'd like to see you guys try and make it out there.” I reply.
“We're doing fine as we are right now, thank you very much.”
“What happens when you run out of bullets and fuel? Then what will you do? You're sitting ducks for zombies who will rise out of the ocean and eat you all without a single thought in their mind.” The guys look at me once more.
“And what was your name again?” a teen asks.
“Annabelle.” I repeat. I hear them mutter to each other.
“...We're, uh, gonna go huntin' now.” One says.
“Of course, but Jace, could you come here for a second?” Bart asks. A boy that was keeping watch jogs over, his black hair flawlessly waving, keeping his blue eyes on his surroundings. His dark hair compliments his pale skin on his tall lean body. He looks over and smirks at me. I can't tell if I'm flustered or scared as hell.
“Annabelle, this is Jack's twin brother, Jace.” Bart introduces. My stomach feels like it's slowly going under more and more pressure, almost like it's ready to deposit anything within it.
“Nice to meet you” Jace says, taking his gloves off and holding his hand out. I fumble taking glove off and slide my hand into his. Jace shakes my weak noodle-like hand with his strong, firm hand.
“H-hey...” I stutter. It's like talking to a ghost.
“Sorry you didn't get to meet me sooner. I live by myself and ran out of firewood last night so I couldn't make dinner.” Jace apologizes, rubbing the back of his head.
“Not a problem.” I tremble.
“I hope you'll be coming to the party tonight.”
“Wouldn't miss it.”
We all walk back to Bart's house with a freshly killed deer. The guys tied the hooves of the deer to a pole and they're carrying it while I hold the three guns. Jace ended up killing the deer.
I open the door for the guys and we all walk in. Carter, Angel, Jackie, and Honey spot me from the couch area. They notice my head is down and my hair is hiding my face. Carter opens his mouth to ask what's wrong but Jace walks in. You can see the blood drain from their faces and their mouths close. I know, guys. It does seem like some sort of twisted dream.
“H-How?” Jackie whispers.
“Guys, this is Bart's son, Jace. He's the older twin brother of a guy named Jack.” I say before anyone can ask another question “I'm going to go to the boat to take a shower.”
“Do you want to use ours?” Bart asks.
“Or you could come over and use mine.” Jace offers.
“Nah, I don't want to burden you.” I say, quickly leaving the house. I shut the door behind me and Jackie quickly follows after me.
“Are you okay?” Jackie asks.
“Yeah.” I say, forcing myself to sound normal. Jackie looks at me and shakes her head.
“No, you're not.” she says.
“Yeah, I am. I mean, would have know this would happen? But it's okay.” I say.
“Annabelle, you're not making any sense.”
“Hah, yeah.” I twirl the hair coming out of my hat. It's a nervous habit of mine. Jackie doesn't say anything. Instead she watches me carefully and helps me back onto the boat. Jackie leads me to the bedroom to grab shampoo, soap, clothes, a towel and facecloth. She then leads me to the bathroom and waits for me to finish in the sitting area.
I shut and lock the door behind me with a sigh. I throw everything on the toilet and turn on the water. While the water heats up I look at my face in the mirror. Thank you Dial soap for keeping my face clear. I take off my load of clothes and the mirror begins to fog. I look down at my naked body, my cross hanging between my breasts. I take the necklace off, not wanting to ruin it, and set it on the sink. I sigh and grope my b-cup boobs. Too small. I put my hands down and enter the shower, enjoying the feel of clean water washing away the filth. The thump, thump of water on the top of my head soothes and calms me. It works its way down my head, to my breasts, own my stomach and thighs until it works its way down the drain. I raise my arms and run my fingers through my hair. I put my hair over my right shoulder and grab the shampoo. I pour a handful in my hand and put the bottle down. I plop the shampoo on the top of my head and start scrubbing. It lathers up in my white hair and I moan over the orange smell. I put my head back under the water and the suds flow down my back. I do the same with the conditioner so my hair is easier to brush. Next I rub the dial soap in the facecloth and wash my face. I rinse the facecloth and use it to wipe all the suds off my face. I lather the soap in the facecloth once more and scrub my body clean starting at the neck, then making my way down. I'm finished but I don't want to leave the shower. It's warm and comforting. I can stand here forever and just think but I can't waste water. I turn off the water and linger inside the tub for a little bit. I let the water drip off of me for a few minutes until I decide to grab my towel. Just as the shower, I start drying my hair first and work my way down. It would be a shame to dry my torso only to have to become wet again by my hair.
Once dry I separate my clean clothes. I grab my white lace panties and slide them upwards. They fit perfectly. I then hook my white bra and slide it on from the top of my head. I stretch the bottom a little so they can slide over my boobs, fitting so nicely. After I put on my long sleeve shirt on first, not wanting to put on any pants. I can't wait until this is over so I can walk around camp in my panties without worrying if I'll get frost bite or not. I suck up my comfort and pull on some jeans. The I pull on sweatpants, ski pants, sweatshirt, my big poofy coat, and finally my boots. It's so hot but I'll need it for now.
I exit the bathroom with my supplies and put them in the room I stay in. Jackie follows me in.
“They all went to Bart's house. Even Paris went. Well, Rose made her but still. I waited for you. It'll be dark soon so the party's about to begin. When it's over we can sail off to that place.” Jackie comforts. I smile in response and we walk off to Bart's house.
“Okay, everyone.” Bart begins “We're going to go to the church. I'd like to ask you all to be on your best behaviors. You see, if we're loud, we could attract something do we'll keep our voices and the music low.”
“We know how to act. We've done this before.” Rose snaps.
“Rose, for once could you be nice? I mean, these people are letting us join their party and all you can do is be rude!” Angel yells. We all look at her with our mouths open. Angel never yells.
“I didn't even want to go.” Rose says, sitting on the couch next to Paris.
“It's always one of you. If you guys don't want to go, then stay here.” I huff. I would never let them back on the boat. Rose might sail away.
“Fine, Reed, we're staying.” Rose says.
“Actually, Rose, I want to go.” Reed replies.
“What?! No, you're staying here!”
“Rose, you don't control me. I've gone along with you for the most part because I love you but at this point you're being stubborn for no reason. Instead of being a jerk just be nice. You've been like this ever since you started hanging out with Paris. You've changed and lost almost all your friends so you could be crazy like her.”
“Are you kidding me? I don't control you. As for the whole Jackie, Paris thing, I never liked Jackie. She's so full of herself and Paris helped me realize I'm happier without her.”
“Happier or not you've changed. I love you but I'm going to this party and having fun. Now you can stay here and sulk with Paris or come with us and have a good time.”
“No thanks, I'll be with my real friend.”
“Fine.” Reed walks out the door and waits outside for us. We look back and forth between Rose and the door, not knowing what to say. We slowly make our way outside to join with Reed. I hear Ruby mutter “You catch more flies with honey.”
At the church the music is low but enough to hear over the chattering of the villagers. There are couples dancing and singles mingling. I stand off to the side and nibble on a few chips.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” a brown haired boy asks.
“Standing.” I joke.
“Why not join the party?”
“I dunno, I mean, it's not really my thing.”
“There's a lot of things that aren't my thing.” I chuckle at his joke and he smiles.
“I just wanted to say sorry about today. The guys just aren't use to having women hunting.” He says.
“It's cool but you should give women more credit than they have now. I mean, they're really strong and gunk. Not all women are weak and helpless.” I reply.
“Yeah, I guess we do need to do that. I guess we could start off by teaching women to use guns.”
“There's an idea.”
“Mind if I cut in?” I look over and see Jace smirking at the both of us.
“Nah, man.” The brown haired boy says. He waves goodbye and leaves me alone with Jace.
“So, why are you all alone?” Jace asks.
“I enjoy food too much to socialize with the opposite sex.” I reply.
“Really?” Jace laughs “How about we dance and you can snack while we do that?”
“Nah, I don't like people.”
“Not even me?”
“Nope.”
“Jace, come here an hold your nephew for a moment.” A woman calls.
“Care to join me?” Jace asks.
“Sure.” I reply. I follow Jace across the room to see a blonde girl holding a little baby. His's black hair is is already grown and sticking out in random places. His blue eyes stare are me and he giggles, showing the flew teeth he has. Jace takes the baby in his arms and bounces him.
“This is Alexander.” Jace laughs “When my bro gets here he'll request a name change. Probably Jake Junior or something stupid. Maybe Rex. He's always been a fan of dinosaurs.” I smile but continue looking at the baby. He really does look like Jake. What makes it worse is Jace looks like Jake holding Alexander. You'd never know the difference.
“Wanna hold him?” Jace asks.
“Oh, uh, I dunno.” I say.
“Common, it'll be fine.” Jace places the baby in my arms. I look down at Jake's baby. Oh many I'm holding Jake's baby. I blush a bit but hide it. Jace puts his arm around me and looks down at the baby, smiling.
“If you'd like to keep that arm, get it off of me.”
“Oof.” Jace laughs, removing his arm. I sigh and hope he'll take the baby from me soon. I look at the dance floor and see Jackie dancing with a nice looking boy. I smirk knowing she'll easily win their hearts. Carter and Angel are dancing, Honey is off to the side talking to the brown haired boy, Kasmira is dancing with another boy while James sits at a table clicking away on his laptop. I wonder if Honey's okay. I mean, she still doesn't know if Dakoda's alive or not. She's so faithful she probably won't even dance with another guy.
“Having fun?” Alexander's mom asks.
“A blast.” I say. She takes back the baby and kisses his forehead.
“Thank you for holding him. Jace was suppose to do it but I guess he pushed that responsibility onto you.”
“Woa, she totally took him willingly.” Jace laughs, hands in the air.
“Uh-huh.”
The party goes on and we all have a blast. Everyone (not including Honey) danced with someone. We all ate and it really did feel like we were all normal again. Bart and Jace walk everyone back to the boat.
“Thank you all for staying. You've really given me faith for the rest of this apocalypse.” Bart says, smiling.
“It was really fun partying with you too. We'll have to do it again some time.” Jace laughs.
“Not on your life.” I say, sticking out my tongue.
“Annabelle, when you guys are finished, would you mind staying here? You could live with us and we could take care of you.” Bart smiles.
“I don't know. We all have homes back there. Why don't you guys join us down there? We'll continue north and come back for you. We'll go back to our town and you all can live there while we go south. We'll come back and all live together. The whole village could come. You can reconnect with others and have more supplies.” I say.
“I'd like that.”
“Do you mind if I join you guys?” Jace asks “I'd love to be a part of your group.” My heart throbs a little. There is no way I'm taking Jace from his home to be killed like his brother.
“No, you're staying here.” I say.
“Why not? I can help. I'm a good shot, too.”
“No.” Jace looks upset by the news and I say, “When we come back here from the north, I'd like to tell you guys something but for now, it can wait.” The guys look confused but my team knows exactly what I'm talking about.
We all wave goodbye at each other while Honey steers the boat. We're going to sail through the McClure Strait to Nuuk, Greenland. We'll take a break there and relax for a day.
“Are you really going to tell them about Jake?” Jackie asks as we lay down in bed.
“Yeah, they deserve to know” I answer.