“This is kind of uncomfortable to say, but I have to say it. This little man is my world.” Her soft demeanor fades, her brow lowers, her tone deepens. “I will do anything to protect him. Do you understand?”
“I get it. I feel the same way about these four. None of us are going to let anything bad happen to any of us, and that includes you guys now.” he says.
“Good. Where will we stay?”
“In the room you stayed in last night. It was Outlaw’s, but he’s going to move into Rad’s room.”
“Okay. So I have a question.”
“Ask us anything.”
“It's an odd question.”
He grins and chuckles, “Ask me anything.”
Her pitch raises, “What’s the deal with your names?”
Hawaii chuckles again, “Yeah, our names are kind of weird I guess.”
“That, or you all had pretty weird parents.”
Her joke lightens the mood. She laughs and the family join her.
"Well, we all grew up together in a community. We've known each other our whole lives. Our community was, in a sort of feud, I guess, with another community. They attacked us, burned our community, and lured infected in. We barely made it out. We couldn't find any other survivors. That was about five years ago. Our names are reminders of those we love that we lost." he says.
"Well, that's not really funny." Rosaline says.
Zee rubs Hawaii's shoulder, presenting an understanding look to Rosaline, "It's alright, this is just how our lives have gone. All we can do is move past it and become stronger."
"She's right. My name is Hawaii because my family is Hawaiian. My uncle had a painting of the islands in his house. He used to tell me stories that his dad told him about when he lived there. It always sounded so magical. So, I chose that."
Zee embraces Hawaii's hand, flashing a warm smile to him.
"Zee was my mom's nickname."
Zee motions for Rad to follow suit.
"My older brother used to call me a 'Rad little dude' all the time.”
"My momma always called me Sweetie when I was a little girl. I always liked it."
"Momma used to read us stories when we went to bed. There weren't a lot of books in our community, but my favorite was one about Jesse James. He was an outlaw in the wild west. He was cool."
"I don't really know how to respond to all that, but it's cool that you remember your families that way." Rosaline replies.
"What about you? What your family?" Hawaii asks.
"That's...a long story." she says.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The sight of his brother’s mangled, lifeless body broke him. He knew he should flee far from this wretched house of horrors, but he couldn’t. He slumped to the floor in the hallway of his brother’s house, pulled his legs to his chest, and cried harder than he ever has. His tears ran until his eyes dried out, giving him all they had.
His brother was his closest friend, as kids they were inseparable. Pete was a different kind of boy. He didn’t understand people or how to act around them. He didn’t like large gatherings, he didn’t like anyone getting close to his face, and he hated feeling like he was being talked down to.
Markus never treated Pete differently. He treated him like a person, like a friend, like a brother. Markus’ plan was to get to Pete and June’s house, bring their families together, and ride out this storm as a big family. On this day he was reminded of a valuable, and heartbreaking lesson; life does not care about your plans.
◆◆◆
NINE YEARS LATER
The passage of time is an odd thing, it only moves as fast as you perceive it. In situations like these when schedules and time frames lose purpose, when certain days no longer mean what they once did, when watches and calendars cease to be priorities, time itself fades to the background.
Somewhere along the way, in the nine years since that fateful day that Markus entered his brother’s final resting place, he lost his sense of time. He hasn’t known the current day, month, or year in what seems like eternity. There are only two things he’s concerned with, finding food and keeping his family alive.
His every day has become a struggle to maintain those two priorities. Never the less he persists. He fights against death, against the disease, and against those things that wander the land like morbid savages.
He’s fought and killed other people for food, he’s taken down more infected than he can count, and he’s done it all to keep his family breathing. He’s fought against the weather, against the terrain, and even against his wife when this new existence had become too much for her and she tried to kill herself.
Markus and Kylie only speak to each other when it’s necessary. They no longer profess their love for one another, they no longer embrace throughout the night holding on tightly just in case tomorrow never comes, they no longer kiss their son and tell him it’s going to be all right.
For Markus the days are cold even before the sun falls. He touches trees and the bark doesn’t feel as it once did. The wind isn’t refreshing as it was when he was a child. When he looks around all he sees are threats building upon threats. Dangerous moment after dangerous moment.
He doesn’t know why he fights to keep himself and his family alive. He doesn’t want to ask himself that question. He just wants to see the next day, and the one after that, and the one after that. It isn’t hope, it’s a stubborn refusal to fail, a refusal to give up, a refusal to quit. He’s not built that way. For better or worse he keeps going, and he’ll continue to do so until he’s forced to stop
“Patrick?!” Kylie’s says with a soft tone.
She’s afraid to scream. She’s afraid of what could be just past the trees that she can’t see.
“Patrick?!” she says
