Chapter 21 "You'll See"

Day 89

Today was a break day. The previous days had been about plowing and tilling the land. Researching winter crops. Searching for more nearby houses to loot. Securing the house they were in. More weapons training. Mentoring and tutoring. School. Today was Tuesday by the calendar Patricia had kept, but they felt they had worked hard enough to earn themselves another lazy day, which was usually on Saturdays.

It was about 10 A.M., much later than the group usually slept in, but the majority of the group was upstairs, fast asleep. Jessie, however, was awake, thanks to Ron. Ron was like a little alarm clock. He would always wake up right at 6 A.M., even though they usually let the kids sleep in as long as they wanted. Lizzie was awake, as well, unable to sleep, and Jessie decided to take the two outside to the lake to play. Jessie had brought a towel to lay on, and she read her favorite romance novel, Sense and Sensibility, letting the children play in the water on the warm autumn day.

Otis was on watch that morning, but since Jessie had come out with Lizzie, he entrusted them to keep an eye out and stay safe so that he could sleep. He mostly trusted Lizzie to be the one alert, as she was good with her gun and Jessie and Ron were afraid to use weapons of any kind.

The two children were in their bathing suits, playing happily, enjoying the last taste of summer they are likely to have for a long time. As they were playing, a walker came out of the woods, frightening Ron. The scared boy hid behind Lizzie and pointed at it past her. "It's one of them," he said, his voice shaking. "Shoot it!"

Lizzie looked to it and smiled. The walker was wearing a sunday dress, like her mom used to wear to church. "She just wants to play," Lizzie told Ron, who stared at her curiously. "Watch." Lizzie trudged out of the water and began jumping around the walker like an excited puppy. "Can't catch me," she said, running back towards Ron.

Ron began crying, and Jessie looked up over the top of her book as Lizzie ran into the water towards Ron. Jessie dropped her book and ran to them, thinking they were in trouble. "Shoot it, Lizzie!" she yelled.

At Jessie's words, Lizzie froze. "What?" she yelled, unable to hear what the mother had said.

"Shoot it!"

Lizzie turned around to see that the walker was catching up to them and she screamed playfully. "You almost got me!"

Ron sat down in the water, crying even harder. He was afraid, and this felt wrong.

Jessie made it into the water, her dress instantly soaking as she made her way to Ron and she picked him up. Jessie took the gun out of Lizzie's pocket and shot the walker.

Lizzie looked at the dead roamer, stunned. Sorrow swept across her face, and she felt around her pockets. She found her knife, and quickly turned around and stabbed Jessie in the leg, causing her to fall. "You killed her! You killed my friend! How could you?! What if I killed you? What if I killed you?! It's the same thing!"

Jessie had dropped Ron, who was now in the water, frozen, witnessing this horrifying thing. Lizzie, filled with rage, made another slash at Jessie. "Run, Ron!" The boy sat there in fear, soaking and upset.

Then, Lizzie made a fatal slash, slicing open Jessie's neck as she attempted to scream for Ron to run again but he remained frozen in fear as her yell became a sick, bloody gurgle. The teen turned to him, and time seemed to slow down. The life oozed out of Jessie, her blood mixing in with the water like food dye. "Do you wanna be one of them too?" Lizzie asked after a while. The boy was bawling, and could only fearfully stare back at the older girl. "No, shhh, don't cry. Don't worry. She'll come back. It only hurts for a second, and then you come right back. You'll see."

The boy looked up at her, his eyes filled with despair, and he looked down to his mother, bleeding out with a terrified expression on her face. "Mommy's okay?"

"Of course she is. I didn't hurt the brain. She's going to wake up in a little while, and you can both be the same if you want. Maybe I will be, too," Lizzie grinned, thinking to herself.

The boy's tears slowed, and he hesitantly nodded. "I wanna be like mommy."

She smiled, said "Okay," and slit into the boy's forearm. He began to bawl again, loudly and harshly, piercing both of their ears and making a flock of birds fly out of the nearby trees. As he fell over, Lizzie smiled. Soon he would see exactly what she meant. And then her dad would see, too. Her dad would finally see what she had been telling him all this time. In fact, she could show him personally. She smiled even wider at the thought. She looked down at the knife in her hand, and had a heavy urge to ram it into her neck. Then, Jessie began to rise from the water, and she bounced with joy. She began playing with Jessie, running around the lake and playing chase, waiting for Ron to 'wake up' as well. Finally, after a while, Ron awoke and they began to play together, too. "Guys, I have to go show you to my dad," she said, trying to get them to stop playing.

A while later, Lizzie still running gleefully around the lake from the undead family, Ryan walked outside for fresh air when he saw Lizzie being chased in the distance. He smiled, thinking that Jessie and Ron were alive and that they were playing chase. As he walked closer, however, he noticed that they were turned, shambling about unskillfully. "Lizzie!" he shouted, and she slipped, falling onto her face in shock. Her dad had taken her off guard. "Lizzie, get up and run!" he screamed. "This isn't a joke anymore, get the fuck out of there!"

Lizzie, still lying on the ground, pouted at her dad. "You just don't get it, do you? We're play-" then, Jessie ripped into her arm, tearing of muscle and revealing bone, holding down Lizzie. Jessie and Ron had gotten down to Lizzie's level when she wasn't paying attention, and they were now taking full advantage of it. Undead Ron followed his walker mother's lead, and ate right into Lizzie's other arm, and Ryan began to run around the lake to get to his baby girl, reaching desperately into his pockets to get his gun. Before he could get it out, though, Lizzie had reached the no-hope zone as Ron tore into the teen's shoulder blade. Lizzie was now unconscious and Ryan was in tears. He finally reached his gun when he took a moment to stop, still a ways from the three. He choked on the tears and snot, doing his best to remain composed. He raised his gun and shot Jessie and Ron down, and slowly, mournfully, walked to his daughter, now nothing more than a mass of wet redness, blood all over the grass and staining every fabric of her clothes, bones poking out every here and there. There was no hope. He raised his gun just as one of Lizzie's fingers began to twitch, as she was reanimating. He couldn't bare to see her like that, let alone like this.

The majority of the group rushed out, weapons ready, investigating the gunshots underdressed in just underwear or in pajamas or a robe. When they saw what had happened, Ryan on his knees crying at the sight, Beth went to Mika who was just coming out and she shielded her eyes, leading the child back inside. This, of all things, was something she didn't need to see. Ryan entered an hour later, and had apparently already buried the three without us knowing, as he was covered in dirt and mud and blood. "I'm not going on that run tomorrow," he said stoically and retreated to his bedroom.