Kellan asked me to stay with the newly headless body as he went up the stairs to make sure it was safe to dispose of the fresh corpse. I could hear his heavy footsteps going up the stairs and after a short pause coming back down. I guess after all the killing I had done here recently I was beginning to feel a bit like a sociopath, no emotional connections to anyone, not even myself. Kellan looked me in the eyes and I just had a feeling I was in for some sort of lecture about it being okay and that I only did what I had to do.
“Betts, let me take this thing upstairs and drop it off so it’s not creeping me or you out and then we need to talk.”
Oh great. Those words “ we need to talk” are never good in any sentence.
“Sure. I’ll be here.”
I mean it’s not like I can go anywhere. I am trapped in zombie hell. That’s just how I feel. I have no freedom and no room to run. What can I say I am restless spirit. Kellan showed back up after a short amount of time.
“Betts, listen. I like you. I know these two weeks being trapped in the bomb shelter have been hard and yeah I have come to like you a lot more than I should. What happened in the tunnel, well that is not how I planned on that to happen. I know your pretty stressed out from all the killing of these creature things and frankly , you got more backbone than I do. Damn it, what I am trying to say..... Fuck it ... If we .... uh”
“Jesus, Kellan you alright there dude ? you look more frustrated than a T-Rex with an itchy ass.”
“Never mind. Anyways I need to check those camera’s and we need to find those masks.”
“Alright. Your acting like a pansy. Just saying. So man up a bit, Will ya ?”
“Yeah, Betts.”
I continued my search for those stupid masks. The smell was seeping into my memory and I knew I would never be rid of that nasty vision and smell of rotting flesh. I had searched the nearest places to me until Kellan’s voice broke my concentration.
“Hey. There’s at least four in the house. We need to secure it. If we can get them all out and block their entry. The house may be safe to come and go as we please.”
I mentally prepared myself for more killing. Knowing that in my head that what I was fixing to do was necessary to survive, but in my heart I felt like some type of hired killer. I grabbed my weapon and crept up the stairs and drew my blade for battle.
As I topped the stairs, I seen what Kellan meant, four of our lovely dead cannibalistic friends were pacing back and forth. I knew I would be able to decimate each one of my foes, if I managed to not be seen. I seen the camera in the corner and gave it a thumbs up and approached my first victim. He looked fresh and seemed to move a little faster than the others. He was dressed in a ripped National Guard uniform. It only took one swift slice from my blade to decapitate this foe. The decaying fleshy face rolled from the corpses body then his body twitched and then ceased to move.
I moved onto my second kill . This flesh eater had milk filmed eyes and her flesh sagged from her bones. I deftly removed her head with ease. The last two were easy to kill. They were slow and seemed to be decaying very fast. They may not have ate in weeks. I managed to grab their attention and while one followed the other I punctured both of their brains in one move. I had killed two birds with one stone. I checked the rest of the house, no zombies. We found the entry point which was a busted door. We removed the bodies to eliminate most of the smell and then somehow we managed to block it with spare wood that was in the basement. Thank God that his parents prepared for everything.
After our corpse foes were out of the house the place still had that lingering smell of death and decay. I just could not stand the stench any longer.
“Kellan, think you could give me a hand in looking for those masks? I really don’t feel like dreaming about the smell of rotting , maggot eaten corpses for the rest of my life.”
“Yeah. Betts, anything you want.”
We tore the basement apart. We looked in cabinets, drawers, and even under the stairs. I guess it really never dawned on me to look in the spare bedroom until the smell became just something I was used to. I managed to search the bedroom in peace and I let my thoughts run wild. I now know that is always a bad idea, on my part, that allows people like Kellan to sneak up on me. I was searching in a dresser when Kellan grabbed my sides and out of pure reflex I punched him dead on the nose. I have never seen so much blood come from one little wound. I guess that was all my emotions built up into one quick punch.
There was a tiny sliver of me that felt bad, but the rest of me had no problem laughing at him holding his bloody nose. I guess something clicked then I realized blood draws the cannibals that are outside. I rushed to take my shirt off and held it to his nose. There I stood in just my bra and I let him have it.
“What the fuck where you thinking ? You don’t scare someone who just killed five brain biters. Did you expect that I would just laugh it off ? Jesus Kellan ! If I had my blade next to me I could have killed you. I would have killed you. You are so fucking childish sometimes. You know what , the tunnel, worst mistake of my life. Leave me the fuck alone right now. If you touch me I will fucking slice you.”
“uh... I’m...I’m... Sorry.”
Kellan just walked away. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy. I continued my search and managed to find those stupid masks. Who the hell puts an essential element for a doomsday whatever, under the bed ? Well I had the masks and tossed the other mask at Kellan.
“Look what I found. Oh it’s a Godsend. Not really. Why the hell where they under the bed ? Do I even want to know but has your nose stopped bleeding ?”
“Yeah . It’s stopped bleeding. You need to shower and we need to find your clothes.”
Yeah I hurt his feelings earlier. It made me feel like a piece of walked on shit. Better now than never I guess.
“Kellan. You think you can scrounge up that soda you were talking about and possibly something made of chocolately goodness? I am going to hop in the shower down here. The house is clear now right ? We checked everywhere?”
“Yeah. Go hop in the shower. Be back in a few.”
That shower was the best thing to ever happen to me. Two weeks of brain matter and blood washed out of my hair was magical. Dirt and grime washed away that had accumulated under my nails and through my socks. After spending an hour in hot water, I exited the shower scrubbed of my past. My shower allowed me time to think and explore my options of escaping the shelter. I have to get away, with or without Kellan. Eventually, we would run out of supplies and what then ? We would all be up shit creek without a paddle.
Wrapped in a bath sheet , I went in search of Kellan. I found him at the top of the stairs. He looked like a lost puppy. He had my wishes next to him a soda and chocolate. It’s amazing what a little nookie can accomplish and do to ones attitude. Kellan no longer acted like my goofy best friend who I shared my everything with, he was acting more like a caring boyfriend. If the house was completely secure, I would prefer to stay in the house, if it wasn’t for that damn smell.
He looked at me like I was the greatest thing to ever happen and I knew that it was time for me to go for sure. I broke the silence first.
“Hey. Want to stop staring at me . I’m clean. Can I go get my clothes now ?”
“Yeah. Sorry. It’s just , I want to fuck you right now.”
“Christ, Kellan. I am not a blow up doll. Relax. I’m not into the whole ‘ Let’s Get Naked And Mate ‘ thing all the time. You gotta cool it. Get me to the stairs and take a cold shower okay.”
“Anything you say, Betts”
There he goes again. I swear, I have got to get out of this place and away from him. I went up the stairs and to the middle hallway. I always loved this house. It was so big. Kellan grabbed the cord that brought down the stairs to his room. There was this part of me wishing that there was another living soul waiting at the top of the stairs waiting so I wouldn’t have to be in such close vicinity to Kellan. My dream was crushed as the stairs descended and there was no one there. Being around the same people for so long makes you long for something or someone new. I guess that is what happens when you are stuck in a fucking windowless hole with a religious psycho bitch , a semi-quiet man, and a boy who wants to fuck you all the time. Oh what has the world become?
After Kellan pulled the cord down, his voice broke the rant going on in my head.
“Here ya go, Betts. Take a nap if you need to. I am going to do what you suggested. I need to cool down. I’ll be back in a little while.”
“You sure your okay there. I didn’t mean to yell like I did earlier. I was just mad. You scared the shit out of me.”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I just need to blow off some much needed..... you know.”
“Oh. Okay. Well come back and we will watch those movies and pig out.”
So now that I know that Kellan was going to shower so he could jerk off, that gave me some time so relax in my natural state. I double checked the room to make sure no one else was in here with me. What a relief it was to know that I could officially relax. I laid the bath sheet on the bed and that’s when I heard a weird sound coming from the dresser. At first I thought my imagination was running wild because I was finally alone for the first time in forever. I ignored my gut feeling and let it go again until I heard it again. That’s when I realized I didn’t have my katana. I felt stupid for leaving it downstairs. I hoped Kellan stashed some sort of blade up here.
I searched the room and just when I was losing hope, next to Kellan’s interesting stash of porn was a very large knife. Well at least I could defend myself, somewhat. The noise was a slight thumping, like something trapped inside a drawer. I was prepared to kill anything, if it attacked. I had no clue what it was or if it was dangerous. Knowing my luck it was probably some type of infected squirrel and soon as I open the drawer it attacks my face and I am a goner. I yelled down the stairs for Kellan, hoping that maybe he would hear me. He still hasn’t showed up. Time to put on my big girl panties on and handle this situation.
I listened closely to the dresser where the mysterious noise was being made. I started with the bottom drawers and slowly pulled them out with my knife drawn. Nothing. Oh what a relief, for that point. Listening again more closely. I heard the tiny thumping again. I tried the middle drawers. I slowly pulled them out. I seen a fleshy pink fist and I dropped the knife immediately. Inside Kellan’s t-shirt drawer was a tiny pink bundle. I checked to make sure there was a pulse. Oh, this infant was alive. I picked up the baby. She was tiny and very stinky. Her soiled diaper had soaked her blanket and some of Kellan’s t-shirts. Oh, well this is a miracle. I laid her on the bath sheet and looked for a bag of baby items. If she was put in a drawer than someone made sure to conceal her carefully and they would have brought baby items.
I searched the corners and the closet and then I checked the other drawers and bingo, top drawer were three bags of baby items. I pulled them all out to investigate the items. All the essentials where there. Then the baby started to cry. If it wasn’t for having a niece I wouldn’t know anything about babies. I unwrapped the tiny bundle and noticed she still had a piece of her umbilical cord, so she had to be less than three weeks old. I took the wet clothes off and changed her soiled diaper with ease. She still seemed fussy. I found the formula and realized there was no water up here. I would have to wait. I didn’t want to chance taking her downstairs yet. Kellan finally decided to show his face about five minutes later.
“Whoa, is that a baby and where exactly did you find it ?”
“Kellan, Nope this isn’t a baby. It’s one of those new animatronic toys that rich kids play with. Yes, you fucktard. It’s a baby. It’s a girl. It was in your dresser and I almost killed it with that big ass knife over there. I need water for a bottle to keep her quiet. She is less than a month old. That woman downstairs may have been her mom. I killed her mom.”
“Betts, you killed a Skin puppet and she was already dead. Why is it crying ? Does that thing have an off switch ?”
“That thing is a girl and I haven’t given her a name yet. She’s hungry , that’s why I need water. Why don’t you run down stairs and I can grab some water so I can get her to stop crying. I have most of the essentials here.”
“Yeah. Does it have to go with us?”
“Yeah Kellan. She does. I am not leaving her up here by herself. Are you stupid ?”
“No. I just... She’s loud. Let’s go get that water.”
“Thanks asshole.”
That’s just great. Kellan doesn’t like babies. This is going to be harder than I thought. I managed to get some water and made her a bottle and she settled down right away. She drifted to sleep after being burped. Having a large family does have its perks. I learned a lot from my sisters about how to care for children. Kellan constantly looked at her like she was a puzzle and he couldn’t figure her out. It kept me amused. I just kept thinking how were we going to explain that I wanted to keep this little bundle to Michael and Lorna ?
I spent a few hours trying to think of a name for the baby. It was harder than it looked to pick a name. I kept thinking about how I always wanted to see the ocean and I came up with Azura Jade. Kellan liked it and called her AJ for short. A part of me thought that even in this fucked up part of the world I might make a decent parent for this little girl. I knew right away that Azura would be a guiding light during this Biter Takeover . As she slept I kept thinking that if we never found her she might have been biter food. That seems like a gory way to die and honestly I would prefer to be hammered into planks of wood and then have a rusty spike slammed in my eye, than die by being ate alive by a walking cauldron born creature.
Kellan kept looking at AJ laying in between the pillows and it made me wonder that if we were the last living, breathing people on the planet, then he wouldn’t be so bad to deal with. We occupied our time by watching our very ironic film that we rented “Awaken Dead”, go figure a movie about zombies. We cuddled up and watched our movie and tried to figure out how to tell his parents about our new found present.
“Betts, are you sure that we should keep AJ ?”
“Duh. She’s quite the little pick me up in this situation. So yes. We keep her.”
That was the end of the conversation and we decided that we would wait until tomorrow and tell his parents that we decided to be parents ourselves at seventeen and in the middle of a doomed world no less.