Ok. I think I am doing something I shouldn't be, because every time I send something in, the first line gets repeated. If you have any idea why or you know how to stop it, tell me. Please and thank you. :
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Helena had to catch her breath but that would involve stopping, which would involve breaking the rules that Richard had gave her. Plus, it was hard to run with a dauschund banging into her boob every time her foot landed. Horrible. The gun in her hand was oddly warm and there was an odd mixture of safety and fear at the thought of holding it.
She ran into the kitchen, ignoring the dishes in the sink that made her think of Richard and the feeling of long lost normality, and opened the door that lead into the garage.
The room was familiar, a room she used and saw everyday. The black sedan was sitting in the middle of the garage because it was Monday. Richard always parked the car in the garage on Friday so that it was out of the way for the whole weekend. Only on Monday mornings did he take it out.
Thinking of Richard made her eyes tear up, so she looked around the room to take her mind off of him.
The washer and dryer were against the same wall as the door into the kitchen and to her left. If she was correct, her weekend clothes were still in there, a combination of sweats, giant t-shirts, and underwear. The toolbox was on the wall parallel to the washer and dryer and filled with tools too old for cavemen to use. Richard always liked tools, but never used them. He thought that just the idea of owning them made him feel more like a man. The beer and the bottled waters were stacked side by side next to the tool case. They weren't cold, but they'd do.
She grabbed the keys that were hanging on the wall next to the door and unlocked it manually with the key, fearing that using the button would alert the infected of her presence. When the door was open, she put Zeus on the passenger seat and then walked to the packages of bottled water (just three in total) to put them in the car. She picked up a case, moved back to the driver's side, and put it on the floor of the passenger seat. Zeus sniffed the plastic wrapper as Helena went around to get the other two cases.
Finished with putting Zeus and water in the car, she sat down on the driver seat, put her hands on the wheel, and cried. Cried for this disaster, cried from fear, and cried for Richard. She loved him. Why did he have to go? Why couldn't he be ok and be with her?
The tears burned her eyes and wet her cheeks, yet she couldn't stop. She shouldn't be alive. She should be with Richard, dead in each other's arms. That is how it is supposed to end. Isn't that how people in love died?
A nudge on her hand with a cold wet spot took her from her depressing thoughts. Zeus looked up at her, his eyes wide and the whimpering in his throat growing progressively louder.
"Oh, Zeus. Daddy won't be coming back," Helena explained and pulled Zeus onto her lap. "It is just us."
The statement triggered something inside Helena, a strength in which she hadn't felt in a long time, and she wiped the tears off of her cheek with the back of her hand. Her next movements were quick. She put the keys into the ignition, started the car, pushed the button to open the garage door, and drove in reverse out of the garage. Not to brag, but Helena could drive well when fast; Richard had always told her that. As soon as she was out of the driveway, she put the car into forward and sped off.
"See Zeus? All we have to do is go . . ." She stopped mid-sentence. Where was she going? How long would it take? Did she forget something Richard had told her?
"All we have to do is drive," she finished, half-heartily, and drove down the street. The separation of her and the place where Richard died was actually comforting, despite the fact she had thought it would be horrendous, and she felt herself gain more composure at the thought that she was distancing herself. Hadn't she always told her patients that?
Never dwell on the sadness if it means the reversal of healing. Instead, acknowledge what has happened and go forward into your remaining life.
And she was doing that. The acknowledgement of Richard's passing made her put her foot down on the gas pedal, putting more distance between her and Richard's corpse and the slight trail of the infected.