Novels2Search

Chapter 32: … You Fools!

A couple hours later, and we had a gargantuan hole. It didn't seem like mom's car was that big, but it was an SUV. And it had demolished our neighbor’s tiny hybrid car with very little trouble.

We didn’t dig quite as deep as you would think we would have to. After all, mom's car had been flattened. It was less than half the height it had originally been.

When it was time, I stood over by the… grave, right by the center edge, and held my arm out. Over the last few days I had practiced taking things out of my inventory. I'd concentrated on my aim, and had improved a lot.

I only had the one chance to do this, so I needed to get it right.

I pushed all thoughts out of my head, especially the memories of my Mom's arm hanging out of the car's window. I needed to concentrate, I needed to think only of this.

I reached into my inventory, clicked onto my mom’s folder, took a few beats to clear my mind of everything except what was in my mom’s folder, and then clicked on the car.

One moment the grave was empty, the next my mom's flattened SUV was just suddenly there, and it made a hellish bang when it hit the bottom of the grave.

The hole turned out to be a bit too big, which was good. Better to have more room than you needed than not enough. Plus, Mom's arm was still dangling out the window. I don't know how I would have felt if it would have been snapped off from lack of room when the thing fell into the hole.

I stood there a few moments, closed my eyes and told my mom that I loved her, and that someday I would see her again. I’m not religious or anything, but I did hope that someday I would get to see her, and my dad, again.

We started working to fill in the hole, and found that besides the monotony of shoveling dirt into a hole, it went a lot faster than digging the hole.

It was getting dark by the time we trudged back down into town and made our way back to the pizzeria. I didn’t get tired, but I felt drained. I couldn’t imagine how exhausted Teddy and Wood felt. But they weren’t saying anything about it.

Ellie had a pan of pizza ready for them when we got back, and I sat on the counter, smiled and nodded as they recounted the part where we got visited by the Travai.

“And this psycho has a freaking shotgun,” Teddy volunteered. “That would’ve been pretty useful before this.”

Wood didn’t even blink. “No, it wouldn’t. I don’t have any ammo for it. It’s just for show.”

I felt my eyes widen, and Teddy punched his brother in the shoulder again. “Asshole! What if they’d attacked?”

“Then I would’ve pulled something else out. But I think it had the desired effect.”

Well, that it had.

***

Ellie

I didn't think my bedroom could look any more depressing than it had. I’d been wrong.

The paint on the walls was a dark olive green. There were cracks in the walls, and above the door jambs. There were even some spots of water damage in the ceiling. And all the furniture, including the bed, were well worn relics from my family's past. Not family heirlooms, but hand-me-downs from aunts and uncles. And from my Grandma.

But at least I'd had the multi-colored Christmas lights on the walls to ward off the real depression of living here… alone. But in no time flat, the electric had gone out, and those Christmas lights were never going to light up again.

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Right now there was a meager yellow light creeping through the windows. Not that the sun was all that strong anymore, with the endless overcast sky the aliens had whipped up. I did really miss the sun, though.

I heard something outside my window, and new immediately that it was Oz.

“You know,” I said, “this is really a little too Twilight. Even for you.”

“What are you talking about?” He said, making himself comfortable on a tree limb. I remembered he had almost died the first time he climbed up here. But now, as a vampire, he just climbed up here like some kind of spider monkey.

The thing was, he wouldn't come in. He didn't trust himself. I guess there was a part of me that didn't trust him either. And I hated that.

“If this was Twilight,” he said, “I would be a werewolf peering in at you.”

“Oh yeah,” I said playfully, snapping my fingers. “If you were the vampire, you'd be in here staring at me while I slept. Way better to have you as a peeping-Tom than some ancient vampire creeper.”

He smiled. I loved it when his smile actually made it to his eyes. Anymore, it was hard to get him to smile like that.

And just as fast as it came, his smile dimmed. “Where is Mr. Flox?”

I turned to the self I had him on. Well, the shelf I'd had him on. A hand-knit stuffed fox my grandmother had made for me. She’d used cashmere yarn, and had stitched a little satin heart on the right side of its chest. Grandma had died 6 years ago, but it was still my favorite thing in the whole world.

I bit back my bitterness. “Someone came in here the day the aliens invaded and took him. They knocked a few things over, but that was the only thing they actually took.

“Asshats,” he said. He sounded so angry. And when he got angry, the vampire part of him took over. It made him really strong, and made his voice really scary. I didn't like that. But I loved him.

“That's my scary creature-of-the-night boyfriend,” I scolded. “Thou shalt not curse.”

I strode over to the window. I wanted to take that anger right off his face, and I knew only one way to do it.

Before I could overthink it, and allow Oz to take off into the night, I leaned out the window and kissed his lips. They were cool against mine, but they tasted like him still.

Him and Smarties.

He made a little gasping noise, and I knew I'd surprised him, stealing his breath away. It's the little things that mean the most when you're in the middle of the Apocalypse.

***

Mort

Wood, Teddy and I were walking through the woods, going towards town again. I kept on looking side to side as I walked, and tripping. Because, you should be looking where you're going. But, you know, when you can’t look around you while you're walking, and then you suddenly can again, you have to look around.

“That would go better if you actually looked where you were going,” Teddy said.

“Yeah, I know.”

There's a pause, and then Teddy said, “What do you think it means?”

I looked over at him. “What what means?”

“That you can suddenly move your head around.”

Oh, yeah… “I've been meditating. Or trying to. I guess it's working, and this is kind of like cultivation, you know, gaming extras.”

Teddy nodded.

“By Judas priest!” A terribly familiar voice called from behind us.

No. No, no-no-no-no-no.

We all turned, and there he was. Medium height, built like a barrel, always a baseball cap over shoulder length auburn hair, and a friendly, though condescending expression on his face.

Jesse…

Fuck us all to hell…

“If it isn’t the Lost Cause Boys. Good to see you made it… so far.” It took a moment to count Teddy and Wood by pointing his finger at them individually. “Are you guys down by three already?”

Yep, that's why I called him Jesse Jackass. Well, that and the fact he's better than any of us at all video games, and he knows it. That and he's really charismatic, and funny, and he's so good at all that, people buy him video games just so he’ll play the game with them.

Okay, yeah… I bought him Cyberpunk 2077 so he would play it with me. And we did play that, twice. But then he beat the game, beat the crap out of me, and then moved on to the next new game, and someone new to play with.

The next shiny thing.

And somehow, he'd always get a hold of your email or phone number or whatever, and every day at 3:00 p.m. he would send you a text: It's 3 o'clock, you fools!!! WHY AREN’T U GAMING?!?! Like he was freaking Gandalf or something.

“Our group are all still alive, Jesse,” Teddy said, his voice resigned and unhappy. “Good to see that you made it, too. Zach… Sarah.” he nodded to the two people on either side of him.

They were Jesse's minions. Sarah, a short, thin, younger than she looks brunette with a sour expression and long, lank hair. And Zack, a virtual ginger giant with tattoos, piercings, and a penchant for oddly decorated, skin-tight jeggings.

Though, it seemed, Jesse had way more than two minions now. There were no less than 20 teenagers standing behind him.

He had followers now. Fantastic.

And then Jesse's eyes dropped down to me. “So what's this? Some kind of toy?”

But then his eyes grew wide, and he started to laugh. “Holy shit balls!!!” he cooed, deliberately appropriating my catchphrase, “Is that really Dud-o-Mort as a freaking gnome?”