Featured Fiction: The Plague S:1 EP:6

Scars

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Chapter 6

The family gasps in horror as they watch Jack cry and cry repeating the same two words. “I’m sorry.”

I wait for a good moment to ask the question, “How long ago were you bitten, Jack?”

“A day ago? day and a half?” He said, doing whatever he could to dam the flow of tears. A sinking feeling embeds itself in my soul when he says the words. I look at Harold and Drema.

“There’s nothing we can do, even if he was bitten somewhere we could amputate like his arm or leg, too much time has passed to save him. You have the choice of killing him now, or we could restrain him before he turns over and you could spend your last nights with him. It’s your choice,” I say. I can’t hold back a sniffle and a tear any more.

“We’ll leave it up to Jack,” they say.

“Jack?” Lance asks, I can’t see the family go through something like this alone. I make my way over and bring them into a large hug. It’s all I can think to do.

Jack, without saying a word, slowly reaches for the knife in my hands. I hand it over.

“It’s ok,” I say to the the rest of Jack’s family, “He’s making his own choice.”

There’s a silence that seems to last an eternity before William asks “Jack, do you have any final words?”

Jack looks his parents and brothers in the eyes and says, “You’ve allowed me to live a beautiful life, There’s nothing more I could have asked for, and knowing I cant be saved, I ask of you all to do these things. My dying wishes are, I ask to be beheaded after i’m gone, to ensure my disease ridden body has no chance of harming my family under the control of a being other than myself. I ask to berried where I die and leave undisturbed for as long as time will allow. I love you all, so much…”

He pauses and cuts off a piece of his shirt, and gives it to his parents.

“Keep this with you. Don’t Lose it. Don’t lose sight of what’s ahead because of the shadows behind you. Scars remind us of where we’ve been…”

“…Not where we’re going” His parents finish. They exchange a few goodbyes, a hug or two, then Jack steps backward.

I don’t turn away, and I don’t close my eyes. I’ve tuned out all sound, all I can hear is a soft ringing noise. Once Jack is dead I close his eyes.

We all stand in silence for a few minutes, I break the group and reach for a shovel.

“What are you doing with that?” Drema asks.

“Fulfilling Jack’s dying wishes. He asked to be beheaded and buried where he lost his life,” I say.

“Okay.” Drema says. She’s crying now, I can see it in her, she fully understands that a humans last wishes are no more than a promise. Trusting that someone will carry them out when nobody else can.

Her, Harold, the brothers, and my crew get to taking care of Jack and his grave. Lance, and Kenny get sticks, William beheads Jack like he asked, and everyone else is comforting one another.

The next day, we all awaken to get back on the road to our original location of Bilger’s Rock.

Before we left, Harold, Drema, Dwain, and Alex said their last goodbyes to Jack, laid a white rose where he’s buried and promise to return once a year, for as long as they’re alive.

We’ve waited a full hour after our due departure so that Drema and Harold can spend more time with their now deceased son. Dwain and Alex were ready to go an hour ago. William’s getting upset but I assure him he’d be doing this if I were to die.

“Come on, We need to go,” I calmly say to Drema and Harold. I can’t stand to look at them like this but I can’t bring their son back to life, “There’s nothing more we can do.”

“Okay Harold. Come on, let’s go…” Drema says, She looks to Jack’s cross “We’ll be back next year.”

The last four hours of the walk are painfully sad and silent, but at least we’ve made it to the rocks before sundown. I choose a small overhang by a slightly larger one with a fire pit, left behind by people who once came here when the rocks were closed to drink.

I forgot my sleeping bag in the truck, so I’ll just have to deal with the hard and uncomfortable rocks. The rock structures that circle the fire pit look as if they were carved out to be used as chairs. William and Kenny set up camp in a nearby, slightly larger cave with a network of caves to their left and right, as an escape should zombies make their way to us. Jamal, Hailey, and Shawn, set up to my right about 50 yards away.

A wall of rock separates us but it’s a short walk around the wall and through another cave to get there. Drema and her family set up quite a ways away from everyone else, in the corner of two walls about 250 yards away from me. Fortunately I can see them from where I am, so that’s good.

We can’t enjoy it too much though, we still have to make runs out to the truck to get the rest of our supplies. We’ll start tomorrow.

And I’m on the first run with Jamal and Dwain.