LEFT BEHIND FOR DEAD - Zombie Outbreak by Kingsley Nathan

Author:Kingsley, Nathan [Kingsley, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DM Publishing
Published: 2013-07-19T14:00:00+00:00

* * *

We found a highway crossing Texas going west and took it. We kept along the berm and off the road, always on alert to any movement in the high grasses.

At dark fall we veered off the highway, having met no more than three other Walkers during the day. We found a clearing and a mesquite tree rattling in the wind. Long green bean pods hung from the thorny limbs, clicking against one another. We sat beneath it and I told Maddy, “I have something for you, turn around.”

She squirmed on her butt, turning her back to me. “Is it a surprise?” she asked, hopeful.

“It sure is. Just a little surprise for your birthday.”

I wanted to make it all right, make it real for her. We had no house or table, no refrigerator or bed, but we had a cupcake and candles and I meant to make it as special as I could.

I tore the package apart and spreading out the plastic paper, I arranged the two cupcakes on it. I got out candles and stuck them willynilly into both cupcakes. I found the little airplane, a green plastic toy with propellers you could swirl with a twist of your fingers. I set it next to the cakes. Then using a Bic lighter, I lit the candles and said, “You can turn around now.”

The candlelight lit up the cupcakes and the plastic toy and it looked pitiful, I knew it did, it was a travesty of a birthday party, but it was something, it was all I had to offer.

I watched her face and my heart melted seeing the smile. “Ohhh...” she breathed.

“Blow out your candles, birthday girl, and make a wish.”

I knew what she'd wish for, that was no secret. Just like me she would wish for a return to a normal world, to government agencies that worked, to police departments and firemen, to school teachers, and convenience stores and gas stations and walks on the beach and birthdays indoors, a family around a table with a real birthday cake...

She closed her eyes and blew out the candles, but when she looked they popped back into flame. That's when she laughed and that's when I knew this girl really meant something to me beyond a travel companion and a bed mate. Her laugh was so pure it changed the dark night into a magical place where laughter was heard again and the world might go on some way.

She blew at the candles over and over, laughing the whole time, and I joined her, laughing, happy to see someone happy for a change.

When the candles finally gave out and didn't light again, she plucked them one by one from the cake, licking the candle bottoms of icing. She handed one to me and we ate like children. Like children at a birthday party.

She loved the airplane. She twirled the propeller and made engine sounds, dipping the toy through the air beneath the thorny tree, and I fell in love with her.

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