{"id":188,"date":"2013-07-21T12:28:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2020-01-29T18:50:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T18:50:20","slug":"chapter-27","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 27"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 27<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to say here.<\/i><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how to describe that moment at the Cape.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get the wrong idea, I was with Howie (as I started calling him \u2013 I wasn\u2019t fond of Howard).\u00a0 But, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Once I regained my senses, and once I came back to reality, where everyone I loved was dead, I just took everything in.<\/i><\/p>\n

I mean everything.<\/i><\/p>\n

The truth, the quiet, the peace, all of it sunk in, and it took me a bit to really, I don\u2019t know, process it all.\u00a0 There was this weird peaceful feeling that came with all the death.\u00a0 Peace that came with the pain, the never-ending heartache of losing everyone around me.\u00a0 I still haven\u2019t stopped mourning them.\u00a0 But there was a sweet peace that came that day, and while it stayed, I loved it.<\/i><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t bothered trying to understand any of it.\u00a0 Why it happened, how it happened\u2026 I leave that for the others.\u00a0 I just try to focus on the fact that I\u2019m alive.<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019m alive, and that\u2019s a miracle.<\/i><\/p>\n

Right now, I guess that\u2019s enough.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Saturday, April 14, 2012<\/b><\/b>
\n5:00 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cKayleigh\u2026 Kayleigh\u2026 KAYLEIGH!\u201d\u00a0 Howard shook her fiercely, hoping for an answer.\u00a0 For the past hour, she\u2019d done nothing but cry hysterically. Then, suddenly, she had stopped and had been quiet since, she was reading the chouprojects.com<\/a> site.\u00a0 She peered up at him and saw he was fearing that she had finally snapped completely. Admittedly, that would have been nice; it would have been easier.\u00a0 She could tell he was never one for comforting; he was never one to rely on others, but she could also see that the idea of being alone in a world where everyone else was dead frightened the hell out of him.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh could see he needed her just as much as she needed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYES!\u00a0 What!\u00a0 What, Howie!\u201d<\/p>\n

He blinked, staring at her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you just call me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowie.\u00a0 It\u2019s better than Howard.\u00a0 Howard is too stuffy; how do you put up with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

He rolled his eyes, but was visibly relieved she was acting more normally and actually talking.\u00a0 Kayleigh gave a weak smile; she must have worried him more than she\u2019d thought.\u00a0 \u201cIt is my name.\u00a0 Are you alright now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowie sounds better,\u201d she replied, completely avoiding his question.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStill calling you Howie\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He waved her off impatiently.\u00a0 \u201cForget it.\u00a0 But really, are you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n

She processed the question.\u00a0 Would she be okay ever again?\u00a0 Somehow, Kayleigh doubted it.\u00a0 Still, she nodded dutifully, noting that Howie, as she would now think of him and call him, needed her to say yes.\u00a0 He could handle a major crisis, but couldn\u2019t take emotional outbursts.\u00a0 How odd.\u00a0 \u201cI need\u2026 I need a change of clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She looked down at what she was wearing.\u00a0 Skimpy pajamas, covered in dried vomit that, she sadly remembered, came from trying to take care of Sammy, of Bradley\u2026<\/p>\n

Her hair was covered still in chunks of half-digested food, for the same reason, and he nodded in agreement.\u00a0 \u201cWe can go back and check that yacht; it would have a bathroom for you to wash up in.\u00a0 Possibly clothes, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayleigh nodded and climbed out of the boat.\u00a0 \u201cWe can leave the supplies here.\u00a0 There\u2019s\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t continue her sentence aloud, but her mind completed it for her.\u00a0 There\u2019s no one left alive to steal them.<\/i>\u00a0 She felt herself shudder instinctively.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t feel natural, to have a world without people.\u00a0 There was a peace about it, though, that she actually appreciated a bit.\u00a0 It was soothing, but unnatural.\u00a0 Yet there they were.\u00a0 The quiet, the calm beyond any they\u2019d ever experienced before it hit, was all the confirmation they needed.\u00a0 Neither of them said anything for a moment, the thought still settling within their heads.\u00a0 Then Kayleigh stood, slowly climbing out of the boat, leaving her shoes inside.\u00a0 She glanced back at Howard.\u00a0 \u201cYou coming?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I\u2019m coming,\u201d he replied after a minute, climbed out, and followed her along the beach.<\/p>\n

The two walked in silence, much to Kayleigh\u2019s dismay.\u00a0 She could have used some simple chatter to distract her.\u00a0 She needed something simple to make her forget that her mother and father hadn\u2019t answered any calls.\u00a0 Neither had her grandparents.\u00a0 Something to make her forget the cruel fate she\u2019d had, of waking up and finding all of her sorority sisters dead, pale, covered in vomit and lesions, not to mention the fraternity boys she\u2019d come to love as brothers damned to the same end as well.\u00a0 Kayleigh craved for something to make her forget the horror of having her Bradley Lee die in her arms, just earlier that morning.\u00a0 Had it only been hours?\u00a0 Felt like years.\u00a0 His last words still echoed in her mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cKayleigh\u2026 I love you\u2026 always.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should we do now?\u201d she asked, begging inwardly for anything to break the silence as they walked along the beach.\u00a0 The waves could be heard crashing against the shore, with seagulls soaring overhead, but she needed human noise, talking, something.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t take hearing Brad\u2019s words in her head anymore.\u00a0 Not now.\u00a0 Kayleigh would break down again, and she knew it.\u00a0 \u201cAfter I get fixed up, I mean\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard sighed.\u00a0 She guessed then that he, himself, wasn\u2019t sure anymore.\u00a0 They were an odd pair, to be sure, and neither was experienced in handling any sort of crisis that came even slightly close to their current situation.\u00a0 Howie was a rich businessman, not the outdoorsy type, and she was a pampered, southern, sorority girl.\u00a0 Now they were forced to find a way to live on in a world without the comforts they\u2019d both enjoyed.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t find a boat with fuel, the power was down, and she didn\u2019t have a clue about what to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure yet.\u00a0 I want to just\u2026 drive.\u00a0 Find a place that hasn\u2019t been hit by this yet\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think it\u2019s spread farther than Florida?\u201d\u00a0 The two walked side by side, and Kayleigh forced herself to just enjoy the feel of warm sand beneath her feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, but it took over the school; we saw it as we drove here.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get a hold of anyone in your family.\u00a0 The radio had nothing but static earlier\u2026 I think it has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u2026 there may not be a place to\u2026 go to?\u201d\u00a0 She watched him, as the hope struggled to live inside her, and she waited anxiously for him to reply.<\/p>\n

And so he lied.\u00a0 She knew he did, yet she took comfort in it anyway.\u00a0 \u201cThere will be.\u00a0 We lived; there\u2019s got to be some place that was missed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where it is, but it\u2019s got to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think we\u2019ll be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Kayleigh, I think we might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled at Howie, slightly touched at how he tried to protect her within that bold, yet simple lie.\u00a0 Finally, they approached the yacht and slowly climbed aboard.\u00a0 The door was open, and she morbidly wondered if they\u2019d find yet another body to add to the growing list of corpses they\u2019d encountered.<\/p>\n

She glanced back at Howie.\u00a0 He nodded at her calmly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll stay on the deck.\u201d\u00a0 Peering in, Kayleigh went inside and found\u2026 well, she wasn\u2019t sure what to call it, per say, but she\u2019d describe it as the \u201chouse\u201d part of the yacht, anyway.\u00a0 She peered in and found a bedroom.\u00a0 She thought she saw something in the bed, but didn\u2019t wish to check.\u00a0 Heading further along, her eyes looked within another room, and with no sign of life, or of former life, she walked on in.<\/p>\n

It was designed for a girl, and that was all she needed to know.\u00a0 Rummaging through the suitcase still sitting carelessly upon the bed, Kayleigh wondered if they had been trying to run from the disease.\u00a0 She wondered if they had tried to do what she and Howie had wanted to do, but died before they could.<\/p>\n

Wrinkling her nose a bit at the style of the clothes, she shed hers and tried them on to see if they\u2019d fit well enough to deal with for now.\u00a0 They were a bit too punk-styled for her, with the chains and rips all through not only the pants, but the shirt.\u00a0 Kayleigh figured they must have belonged to the rebellious teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had no taste.\u201d\u00a0 Her words felt odd in the air, stale and unwelcome.\u00a0 She stared at the clothes again.\u00a0 Yuck.\u00a0 Still, they fit, and that would do.<\/p>\n

Back in the hall, she felt her spirits dip again.\u00a0 It was just so hard to stay upbeat with it all.\u00a0 Everything had its upsides.\u00a0 There was that calmness, the ability to actually hear nature, and she liked it, despite what had caused it.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t alone; she did have Howie, who, in an odd way, was already trying to look out for her.<\/p>\n

She was alive.\u00a0 She was alive, and to be blunt, she knew she may be only one of two who could say that.\u00a0 How was she still alive?\u00a0 Kayleigh had been surrounded by that illness, just like everyone else she knew.\u00a0 It was the same with Howie.\u00a0 By all rights, by all nature and science, she guessed the two of them should have caught it and died as well.<\/p>\n

Yet they hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

So there was the ultimate upside:\u00a0 they were alive, and the very fact they were seemed like a miracle.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh gave a slight sigh as she continued her exploring.\u00a0 Tears sprang to her eyes when she remembered that she was alive, but that everyone she loved was not.\u00a0 But they wouldn\u2019t want her to break down completely.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 She needed to control herself somehow, to make herself deal with it.\u00a0 She needed a lot of things.\u00a0 Before now, she had always relied on the current boyfriend to help her be strong.\u00a0 Always, she had been dependent on others, and now that was a luxury denied to her.<\/p>\n

I need Sammy, I need Brad, I need Daddy, I need\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by one simple action.\u00a0 She turned her head, and, in doing so, her eyes caught sight of the doorway to the bathroom.\u00a0 She smiled a bit to herself.\u00a0 A bathroom meant she\u2019d be able to have a hot shower.<\/p>\n

At that moment, the idea sounded like heaven.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Turned out a long shower was what she needed to set herself right.\u00a0 Her hair still wet, she tied it back in a ponytail with one of the hair ties she\u2019s discovered.\u00a0 She felt refreshed and able to actually try and do something now.\u00a0 Staring at herself in the mirror, she giggled at her appearance.\u00a0 Her pants were ripped all along the legs, featuring spikes and chains along them as well.\u00a0 Her shirt was a band shirt for a death metal band she\u2019d always hated.\u00a0 A lone rip tore across her bosom, revealing some cleavage for no one to see.\u00a0 All she needed was some white makeup, black lipstick, and some eyeliner, and she\u2019d be able to complete the look.<\/p>\n

She started making her way back to the deck, where she could hear Howie calling out for her.\u00a0 He was excited and holding something small in his hands.\u00a0 She ran over to him, expecting more bad news, which wasn\u2019t surprising when one considered the day she\u2019d had.\u00a0 It was a day that felt like decades had gone by, rather than hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout time you came up; I\u2019ve been waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u00a0 What is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie turned the knob of what she finally realized was a radio, and the two leaned in to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, this is Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Richardson from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.\u00a0 In this state of emergency, I need any survivors of the illness caused by bioterrorism to come to the base.\u00a0 I repeat, I urge any survivors to come to MacDill Air Force Base as soon as possible.\u00a0 We have everything needed to help you.\u00a0 If there are any survivors, come to MacDill Air Force Base.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

She squealed, hugging Howie and, in turn, causing him to drop the radio overboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cKAYLEIGH!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter!\u00a0 We know where to go!\u00a0 We\u2019re not alone!\u00a0 Howie, we\u2019re not the only ones left alive!\u00a0 We\u2019ll be okay!\u201d\u00a0 Kayleigh hugged him tighter.\u00a0 He chuckled, before shrugging out of her death-gripped hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright, let\u2019s go back and get our supplies, just in case.\u00a0 Then we\u2019ll get in the car and go to the base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be okay!\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave her a gentle look.\u00a0 \u201cHopefully.\u00a0 Just, don\u2019t get too excited till we get there, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nodding in reply, Kayleigh hurriedly climbed off the yacht.\u00a0 She ran along the beach, her feet splashing in the water as the waves came to meet them.\u00a0 They were going to be okay.\u00a0 For the first time all day, she felt like they were going to be okay.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 27 I don\u2019t know what to say here. I don\u2019t know how to describe that moment at the Cape.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get the wrong idea, I was with Howie (as I started calling him \u2013 I wasn\u2019t fond of Howard).\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":27,"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\/188"}],"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=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":526,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions\/526"}],"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=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}