{"id":186,"date":"2013-07-21T12:26:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=186"},"modified":"2013-07-21T12:26:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:26:41","slug":"chapter-26","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 26<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Death.<\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what everything comes down to doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I know I\u2019m not the type to dwell on it.\u00a0 I\u2019m always the one who focuses upon the task at hand.\u00a0 I\u2019m the one who focuses on what is to come, the one who fights to make sure we\u2019re all prepared for everything.\u00a0 Basically, that\u2019s who I was.\u00a0 That\u2019s who I am.\u00a0 The military tends to breed that sort of thinking, make it become second nature in you.<\/i><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s who I am.<\/i><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem with that:\u00a0 Nothing prepares you for death.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how many lives you\u2019ve taken in the line of duty, as I have.\u00a0 You could be a doctor or a nurse.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re a mass murderer.\u00a0 No matter how many times you\u2019ve seen death staring you in the face, nothing can prepare for that in the slightest way.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t mean your own death; I mean the death of others.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s family, or friends, comrades, coworkers, whatever.\u00a0 Nothing can prepare you for that.<\/i><\/p>\n

So when death fell upon everyone around me like a rancid waterfall, I wasn\u2019t prepared.<\/i><\/p>\n

None of us were.<\/i><\/p>\n

None of us could be.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saturday, April 14, 2012<\/b><\/b>
\n4:15 p.m.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

There were few of them left, and only a day had gone by.\u00a0 Kevin sighed as he ignored the rumbling of his stomach, looking up into the clear, blue sky.\u00a0 Everything was so quiet amongst those who remained.\u00a0 It unnerved him in ways he couldn\u2019t really explain.\u00a0 There was a lot he couldn\u2019t explain, and no one asked for answers anymore.\u00a0 He was the highest-ranking solider left still breathing, and he had no clue how to handle that idea.<\/p>\n

So many had died, and so few remained.\u00a0 It was something he kept thinking, but never spoke.\u00a0 Sam had died hours before, one of the latest to go.\u00a0 None of them dared pull off the gas masks, though the problem of eating and such had occurred.<\/p>\n

In the end, you couldn\u2019t put off death.\u00a0 It would come in some form.\u00a0 It was going to be to this plague or starvation.\u00a0 They had a drinking system attached, but even that couldn\u2019t last forever.\u00a0 Neither sounded all that pleasant.\u00a0 His thoughts went to Sam, and for a moment, he considered his now dead friend lucky.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have to wait, to wonder; his end had already come.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have to choose between a lack of food and an airborne disease being the cause of his demise.\u00a0 It had been chosen for him.<\/p>\n

Freedom was overrated at times.<\/p>\n

Kevin wanted to call Brian, to see if he was okay.\u00a0 Yet he decided not to; there was too much to do, too much to deal with when it came to both himself and his cousin.\u00a0 Brian had his family to care for; Kevin had to somehow keep order within the dwindling ranks of his base.\u00a0 He just wished he actually had a stronger faith, like his cousin.\u00a0 He wished he wasn\u2019t questioning God right then, wondering why He would will this upon them.\u00a0 Kevin wished he didn\u2019t doubt God\u2019s existence right then.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d tried his mother throughout the day when he could, and other members of the family all down in Kentucky.\u00a0 No answers.\u00a0 No one had returned the calls, and Kevin knew the worst had probably hit them, too.\u00a0 He wanted to be hopeful; he wanted to be a dreamer and see the best outcome he could.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Kevin Richardson was a realist, a planner, a man who could face challenges head-on, and he had been ever since his father had died so many years before.\u00a0 It was what had landed him in his current position.\u00a0 It was what kept the tears from falling, even then, knowing his mother was likely dead.\u00a0 Knowing that half the country or more had joined her, seeing how it had ravaged his base, the entire east coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir?\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned to see a young private, who went by the name of Justin Flakeland; he was around twenty-two years old and fairly new to the base.\u00a0 He heard the fear within the younger man\u2019s voice, saw it within the soldier\u2019s sharp, blue eyes, almost hidden behind the gas mask.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2026 we put the bodies in piles, like you\u2026 like you ordered, Colonel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been up to him to decide how to dispose of the bodies.\u00a0 He\u2019d wanted to show more respect to all who had fallen to what obviously and plainly had to be bioterrorism now.\u00a0 There were too many coincidences:\u00a0 the mysterious planes, the plague\u2019s city of origin, the rapidness with which it consumed lives.\u00a0\u00a0 Somehow, the enemy had released a super-virus to destroy their biggest threat within the war.<\/p>\n

For a moment, he envied those overseas and cursed the injury that had kept him there in the States.\u00a0 But only for a moment.<\/p>\n

He had wanted to honor all the dead victims, so undeserving of their fate.\u00a0 But there were too many, and time was short.\u00a0 Kevin had to think of those who remained:\u00a0 the handful of men, who had managed to survive so far, thanks to the lockdown of the base and vigilance of the gas masks they all wore.\u00a0 To think of them, he knew that keeping the bodies till they could manage a proper burial was a biohazard he couldn\u2019t risk.\u00a0 Aside from the corpses still holding the virus, there were bacteria, bugs, the smell, and so many other complications to kill off the remaining residents of the MacDill Air Force Base.\u00a0 So, as early in the morning as 7:00 am, he had sent out the order of what to do with the earthly remains left behind.<\/p>\n

There were so many bodies, so many to clean out.\u00a0 They could just leave; they could just leave everything to rot behind.\u00a0 Yet duty held him here; loyalty and pride forced him to stay and do what he had to do.\u00a0 It was what made him who he was, and he knew his father would be proud of him if he knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you follow the procedure I laid out?\u201d was all he said, though, amidst all these wandering thoughts he had.<\/p>\n

Justin nodded, paling a bit at the thought.\u00a0 \u201cReady to go at your orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin followed him over to the first pile.\u00a0 It was a sickening image to behold.\u00a0 Bodies piled high, tossed carelessly atop one another.\u00a0 It had variety in race, women, children, faithful soldiers who served to the end, all similar in their glazed stares and the violet lesions that marked them.\u00a0 Now they were like rag dolls, tossed aside as if they were nothing more than forgotten toys, pushed along for something better.\u00a0 The smell that hit him was intense, even through the masks, but it wasn\u2019t of rotting bodies, not yet.<\/p>\n

Within Kevin\u2019s hand was a small pack of matches, and the other five men who still lived surrounded the pile on all sides.\u00a0 A simple movement caught the match ablaze, and it was tossed into the pile.\u00a0 The gasoline-drenched corpses instantly came to life with the consuming fire.\u00a0 The heat was intense, and there they stood, around the first of several piles, all ready with fire extinguishers of every kind they had, ready to control the flames.<\/p>\n

It was almost beautiful, in a haunting way.<\/p>\n

And that thought was the thought that finally broke him.\u00a0 That was the thought that caused a single tear, unseen by all but himself, to slowly roll its way along Kevin\u2019s cheek, untouched and unnoticed by others, beneath his gas mask.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be this way.\u00a0 Death wasn\u2019t supposed to be so consuming.\u00a0 This was an age where they prevented mass deaths from diseases like this.<\/p>\n

The flames jumped and licked and bayed at their control so far.\u00a0 Part of him wanted it to get beyond them, to just take over the base.\u00a0 He\u2019d have the excuse he wanted so desperately to leave.\u00a0 To search out Brian, the only remaining member of his family who may still be alive.\u00a0 Certainly, he was the last to talk to him sounding healthy.\u00a0 But even those chances were slim, because Brian had likely caught it from his wife and children, and died soon after.<\/p>\n

He nodded to the others and walked away from the bonfire, unable to observe any longer.\u00a0 Walking away, his thoughts were scattered.\u00a0 His mind wanted to focus on everything, settle on nothing, and not think of the fact that death would soon be there to greet the rest of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMooooom, you\u2019re, like, pulling my arm off!\u201d <\/i>he heard someone cry, someone young, probably a teenager, given the whine.\u00a0 Kevin raised a thick brow in question.\u00a0 What the hell?\u00a0 <\/i>Maybe he was hearing things.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s probably dead here too,\u201d <\/i>he heard the same voice say, soaked with cynical sarcasm.\u00a0 Definitely a teenager.\u00a0 The entire thought forced him to stop dead in his tracks at realizing someone else was alive.\u00a0 Kevin gathered his thoughts and turned to follow the source.<\/p>\n

Someone else was alive.<\/p>\n

That meant there was hope.<\/p>\n

At the nearest entrance to the base, he was met by an older Hispanic woman.\u00a0 She was proud-looking, yet also had the look of someone who had dealt with many trials in her life and expected more to come.\u00a0 Beside her was a young girl, he guessed to be about twelve or thirteen.\u00a0 The two were obviously mother and daughter, and the younger one had fear in her eyes, trying to hide behind typical teenage defiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh\u2026 thank God; I thought\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The mother shook her head, nodding sadly at the gas mask Kevin still wore.\u00a0 \u201cMy name\u2019s Jo.\u00a0 Everyone… everyone\u2019s\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone kicked the bucket, so we came here to see if you knew what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGabby!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true!\u201d\u00a0 She rolled her eyes and turned her back to Jo.\u00a0 Still, Kevin saw her wipe away the tears quickly, in hopes of being unseen, and saw the attitude for what it was:\u00a0 nothing more than a mask to protect her mother and help herself deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name\u2019s Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Richardson.\u00a0 The… man left in charge.\u00a0 If you want, we can go to one of the bunkers; we have a generator, and you can get comfortable.\u00a0 Our base… we…\u201d\u00a0 He motioned to the bonfire of bodies, still burning strong.\u00a0 \u201cIt hit us, too… and so maybe, you can tell me what\u2019s going on outside the base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jo smiled with relief.\u00a0 \u201cAlright.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

It had been a couple hours, and Gabby, the teenager he had heard, was staring out at the latest makeshift, mass cremating pile.\u00a0 They were in a smaller room, and before them was the set-up for radio broadcasting, used in emergencies.\u00a0 It was a room seldom touched, because with television and satellite technology, who really needed to make an old-fashioned emergency broadcast these days?<\/p>\n

After talking to Gabby\u2019s mother, Jo, and giving her some fresh clothing, Kevin had decided they couldn\u2019t be the only ones still alive.\u00a0 It seemed the two had been around the victims, yet managed not to catch it themselves.\u00a0 Kevin was amazed that Jo, given her exposure and job, was even alive.\u00a0 If she was alive, that meant others could be.\u00a0 That sole thought was what saved his sanity that night.<\/p>\n

So they were going to reach out to anyone alive left to hear.<\/p>\n

That was all they could do.<\/p>\n

Kevin prayed it would be enough to save anyone still out within the chaos.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 26 Death. That\u2019s what everything comes down to doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I know I\u2019m not the type to dwell on it.\u00a0 I\u2019m always the one who focuses upon the task at hand.\u00a0 I\u2019m the one who focuses on what is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":26,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186\/revisions\/187"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}