Thirty minutes passed. Without looking at Sam she muttered, “There’s a turnoff a mile ahead to a county road, take it.”
“Wha. . . . He turned and saw the string of tears dribbling down JR’s cheek. She nodded. “It’s time, can’t put it off till it’s too late. I doubt there’ll be a definite sign just before she finally turns fully and transitions into a zombie and fulfills the urge to bite us. It has to be done, and now is the time.”
Sam slowed the truck and exited the highway east onto a two lane blacktop county road. Less than a mile later, JR said, “Turn around in that parking lot at the burned building ahead and park. This is as good as anyplace. It’s peaceful and quiet out here in the country.”
Sam parked, then walked around the truck, opened the passenger door, and reached to take Breyna.
“No!” JR said firmly. “While Breyna puts her best outfit on, will you get a shovel from the trailer and dig a deep hole in that field? We can’t leave her body in the weeds for animals to attack.”
Sam said. ‘I can do this alone. I’m not as attached as you are.” JR shook her head. “I caused it, so I'll end it. I made her my responsibility.” She and Breyna left the truck, and Sam shut the door behind them. As JR and Breyna entered the camper, he unlocked the trailer’s side door.
In the camper, JR resisted the urge to hug and kiss Breyna. Instead she sang an old lullaby she recalled her mother singing to her and her younger sister. “Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird don’t sing, Papa’s gonna buy you. . . .” The lyrics drifted away as JR fought to control her emotions. The child continued to stare blankly ahead oblivious to her surroundings and without any sign of human attachment. A frilly pink dress was draped over her. JR attempted to avoid looking directly at the child. With the pink dress and white patent leather dress shoes, Breyna looked ready to go to church. Or ready to meet God in heaven. JR stifled her sobs and dried her tears.
She gathered the child’s clothing before they left the trailer. They approached Sam at the edge of a field of weeds. Dirt was piled three-feet high on both sides of a three-feet-deep hole. Sam’s T-shirt was off, and his muscular torso glistened with sweat as he tossed dirt in a fast rhythm like a backhoe.
Breyna stared into the distance with her arms hanging at her side. She didn’t appear to notice the clear blue sky, the breeze blowing through her hair, the wildflowers, or hear the of numerous birds singing.
After scooping the loose soil from the bottom of the rectangular hole, Sam climbed out to stand by JR. Without looking at JR, he lifted Breyna down into the damp hole. Her head turned slightly toward his arm and her teeth clacked as her jaws chomped open and closed several times. She stood as if drugged or in a daze, oblivious to her surroundings.
JR’s voice broke as she said, “Lie down Breyna; it’s time for your nap . . . now close your eyes to go to sleep.
Breyna hesitated several seconds after each order but then complied.
JR held the Glock with both hands and sighted down the barrel at Breyna’s forehead. She moaned, and her right arm fell to her side. A look of despair shaped her features as Sam stepped beside her and laid his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this. I will.”
She looked at him harshly. “You said I had to be responsible and pull my own weight. I’ll do it. I won’t have you think less of me because I’m acting like a weak willed, whiny woman.”
She straightened her back and her resolve, raised both arms, sighted, and quickly squeezed the trigger. The slender body in the hole didn’t quiver from the impact, nor open its eyes.
Sam reached for a shovel, “Wait. We’re not throwing dirt in her face. She at least deserves better than that.” JR knelt above Breyna’s head and dropped two threadbare bath towels over the prone corpse. Rising, JR grabbed the flat shovel and began filling the hole at a rapid pace. Sam worked a spade across from her. The body was barely covered when JR said, “I’ll get her things from the camper and strip the bedding we slept on. It could be infected too. It all needs to be burned.”
Sam added, “Burn the mattress too; we’ll find a new one.”
She took the sheets and the pad from the bed and put them with Breyna's clothing before she dragged the mattress out the narrow door.
In front of the derelict ruins, diesel fuel fed a fire as Sam finished backfilling the small grave. At the head of the grave, JR said the lord’s prayer, as best she remembered it, and then placed Breyna’s doll on the freshly disturbed earth. Without a word she headed for the truck with head bowed and arms clasping her body as if she was cold. Sam cleaned both shovels, then carried them to the trailer. Neither spoke as they drove back to the highway entrance to continue north with sad memories of a sweet little girl they’d both grown attached to.
At six thirty, dark clouds threatened as they approached the next
