Life at Peace

Author's note: This is the epilogue. I had posted it in Survivor Stories, but I thought it would also be appropriate to have it up on this story.

It had been a few years since the Palm Tree Outbreak. It was in the middle of 2016. Andy Talbat and Tammy Blaine got married on September 27th, 2014. The date was really special to them as on that particular date in 2011, they had met in the middle of the Fortune City Outbreak.

Andy had gone through major depression and trauma, starting from the many victims of being eaten alive by zombies or even becoming one of the undead. But the really heartbreaking moment was when he saw his younger brother, Adrian Lee getting eaten alive in the lobby of the Fortune City Arena. The two brothers were there to attend the "Terror is Reality" event, which drew a sellout crowd, despite having many protestors of the group, Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality, also known as C.U.R.E., whom were against the event and their cause.

The young man was at a major loss. He had seen many people die from everything that went around, and it wasn't just from the undead. There were mercenaries around taking part in a heist that went on the middle of an outbreak and murdering anybody who got in their way. People who had just gone crazy, like a guy in a mascot costume with makeshift flamethrowers. People were being mugged by looters. Even Andy got mugged himself. He was saved, however, by a trio of attractive women who certainly knew how to handle themselves in danger, and they all looked like models and were dressed scantily for some reason. In spite of all that, Andy went on his own, dealing with his own issues his own way and trying to survive the ordeal, even though his mind was entirely on everything that happened around him.

It wasn't until a man named Chuck Greene came to talk to him. Andy told him everything. He couldn't handle life anymore. What was crazy was that Chuck led him into the Atlantica Casino, where he saw a beautiful young woman in a mermaid costume sitting on a clam, probably as a model for the display in the casino. After seeing a lot of people die or turn in front of him, there was no way that with this girl having no way to walk that he would let her suffer the same fate. So much of the carnage he couldn't let go that he could have saved some of them, and though the young woman mainly talked to Chuck, Andy volunteered to carry her and handed the man his weapon. Andy wielded a shotgun that he would have used on himself and no longer trusted himself with it. He carried this young woman, whose name was Tammy back to the safe house, where they had a nice talk about everything that happened.

Not long after they were rescued and went back to their normal lives, Andy wanted to see Tammy again. The two exchanged numbers while in the safe house and Andy made sure to make the trip to go see her, as she lived a decent distance away from him. The two connected that they started dating and later fell in love. It got serious to a point where they went on a romantic getaway in 2013 to a city in Florida, where a zombie outbreak occurred and found themselves in the middle of it. With Andy reuniting with an old girlfriend named Ana Torres, who was a rookie undercover federal agent, the couple, along with Ana decided to team up to uncover the truth of the outbreak and find a way to escape from the outbreak as danger went there way for those few days.

It had been a few years since then, as Tammy had become Tammy Talbat, and Andy getting over his fear and trauma from everything that occurred those years ago. Tammy also gave birth to their first child in early-2016, a boy named Adrian Lee Talbat, named after Andy's late brother. The couple stayed in touch with Ana, who had become an agent for the Zombie Defense and Control agency sometime after the Palm Tree Outbreak. She had partnered up with Brad Park, whom she had met during that whole event. Ana was up for being Adrian's godmother, but she had other priorities to get through before the time came to do that.

Andy had started writing about his experiences, as well as did side projects as a novelization of everything that happened. Though with the latter, he went by a different name whereas he used his real name for the real story about it all. The books had become quite the sellers, especially after books like Frank West's "The Willamette Incident" and Stacey Forsythe's "Fortune's End" selling a lot when written and published.

The Talbat family had moved to a remote home just somewhere in Verdi, Nevada, which was close to Reno.

One night, Andy sat alone in his personal office, where he honed his craft as a writer. His office consisted of posters for movies such as "Captain Commando" and "Forgotten Worlds," as well as movies like "Paddle Party Massacre" and "Laser Knight," and finally, a poster of British metal band, Angel Lust. There were also pictures of him and his mother, as well as old pictures of himself with his brother Adrian at his desk. He was a bit lost because he wanted to do another story about something else, but he just couldn't figure out what he wanted to start with.

"Hey." A female voice said. Andy jumped and looked up. Through the doorway was a redheaded woman with green eyes and wearing sweatpants and T-shirt under an open long-sleeved shirt.

"Oh, Tammy, it's you," Andy said. "Sorry, my mind was on something else. Where's the baby?"

"I just put Adrian in the crib," Tammy said. "He was getting tired and I put on some lullabies to help him go to sleep. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, honey," Andy said. "I've just been a bit, I don't know, uninspired lately?"

Andy said that like he was unsure of what he really felt. Maybe he lacked inspiration as of late, especially with being a father and a husband.

"You're not sick or anything, are you?" Tammy asked as she got closer to him.

"Not the case," Andy said. "I've just been trying to figure out what I want to do for my next project. It's amazing how it only took our whole experience for me to write out two books and I knocked them out within two years."

"It'll come to you, trust me, babe," Tammy said and pulled up another chair to sit next to him. "Is something on your mind?"

"Just wondering, but do you ever think about the shit we went through a while back?" Andy said.

"What do you mean?" Tammy said.

"I mean we went through two outbreaks," Andy said. "We survived both of them. I sometimes wonder how we managed to avoid getting infected."

"You're not saying you miss the zombie outbreaks, are you?" Tammy said. "I hope you're not getting those nightmares again. After we left Palm Tree City, you haven't had any of those dreams ever since then."

"Well, it's crazy to see how things have changed for us over the years," Andy said. "You were a model before I met you. Things were fine until my brother died and then we met and then everything else change from that point on. Now we're married and have a son."

"And I wouldn't trade it for anything," Tammy said. "Yes, the modeling that I did was fine and all, but everything changed and we both went with it. Andy, you know I love you with all of my heart and we both have a wonderful baby boy. I know you love that boy and spending time with him, which was one reason you haven't been as inspired. That's not a bad thing at all."

"I know it isn't," Andy said. "I love you, too, and I love Adrian to death. I just wonder if things happened so fast that we wasted our 20s, and we're only 26."

"I really hope you don't mean that," Tammy said. "And I really hope you don't miss the zombies, either. I was so scared for you and for myself during that trip. Yes, I helped out, too, but some of the stuff that we went through, I don't ever want to go through that again. I hope you don't want to go through it, either. With us having our lives together as well as our beautiful baby boy, I really hope you don't think that whatever's missing has anything to do with all of the stuff we went through."

Tammy had a good point about this. She, along with Andy, and their friend, Ana experienced a lot of hell during that outbreak. Whether it was facing the undead, gang members who were trying spread anarchy, as well as Phenotrans mercenaries killing innocents for their attempt at a cover-up, they went through a lot. They even faced some people who went crazy during the outbreak. It had been a few years up to that point. In Tammy's case, she didn't want to experience anything like that, and she even was in the Fortune City Outbreak. Andy had to survive during Fortune City, but he did a lot more in Palm Tree City. No one should want to endure that hell again. He also had a wife and a son, and he'll be damned if he let Adrian grow up without his father around.

"No, I don't ever want to experience it again," Andy said. "I can't imagine how the ZDC does it, if there are any outbreaks going on, that is."

"You know, I've talked to Ana recently," Tammy said. "She even asked about you. Do you even realize all the shit she goes through with her job? She has to live it every day. Sure, there haven't been that many outbreaks since the one we went through, but it's possible that there are people who are infected and could turn. You should call her sometime. She'll tell you everything about what she goes through, even when doing desk duty sometimes."

Just then, it hit Andy. Maybe this could be something for his new story, as maybe a federal agent getting caught in an outbreak or a potential one. Or maybe he wanted to try something new, like maybe do a mystery thriller or something. Aside from that, he knew that his own wife was right.

"It's getting late, baby," Tammy said. "Maybe you should get some sleep. I'm going to bed in a bit anyway."

"You're probably right," Andy said. Both of them leaned to peck each other on the lips.

"I'll be waiting for you, but first I'm going to check on the baby," Tammy said.

"I'll check on him in a bit myself, just give me a bit," Andy said. "I'm tired, too."

Tammy got up and left the room. Andy sat in his chair and stared at the computer screen. He exited out of the word processor that he was about to use and opened up Chrome to check out some stuff. He opened up Google News and one thing that drew his attention was something related to what seemed like an outbreak. The supposed outbreak was taking place in East Mission, Oregon. There were reports of it that there may something, but it hasn't gone on lockdown yet. Whatever it was, just reading it made Andy know that he didn't miss any of it and didn't want to have to experience it ever again. To him, it was a good thing that he, Tammy, and Adrian all lived in the sticks.

Andy got out of there and put the computer to rest and turned off the light to his office. He got up and walked down the hallway. He found the door that read "ADRIAN" in different colored letters. He walked in there and saw his son asleep in his crib. He looked at him, deep in thought. He knew he should be happy that he was living a peaceful life.

Tammy was right. She said she wouldn't trade any of this for anything, and neither would I. Andy thought and reached into the crib to pick up his baby boy to hold him for a bit. Much to his surprise, he didn't wake up. Andy held his son in his arms. After that talk with his wife, it was then he knew that he wasn't just lucky but was blessed. After a minute, he put Adrian back in the crib and was on his way to go to the bedroom.

He walked in. It was dark, but the light from the hallway showed that Tammy was out. She was already asleep. It didn't take long for him to change into his sleepwear and climbed into bed. Although the discussion with his wife inspired him a bit for his next project, right now he needed some rest. He thought maybe he could call his old friend, Ana tomorrow and see what he could do. In the meantime, he needed some sleep. He knew now that he would never trade this life for anything.

Another note: That was it for this one. I will note that when I was more active with this story, I had originally thought of the epilogue being Andy and Tammy's wedding but I scrapped the idea. This, however, was different because it was set a few years later. They not only got married, but also have a son. I remember this was like my pet project, as around the time I started this, I had gotten back into Dead Rising, and someone made me remember an idea that I had years prior of doing a spin-off involving two survivors. Plus, someone had pitched the idea of pairing up these two survivors and I liked the idea so much that I wanted to keep going with it.

I am planning to do the sequel spin-off to "A Dead Getaway" which is centered on my OC, Ana Torres, and Brad Park working together. They are just partners, so no shipping of the two. I am debating about a setting, but it will be a few years after this story. The premise would be more that Ana and Brad are investigating an outbreak, but I am having trouble about a setting, whether it's in the south, east coast, or maybe an amusement park. With it involving ZDC members, it makes me wonder if it would be more like "Resident Evil," but I could try to make it like "Dead Rising." I also have different projects going on right now. I may start on it after I finish at least one of them. I don't plan to make my spin-off sequel as long as this story, though.

Hope you all enjoyed the epilogue.