They say it was the government that started it some super steroid testing gone wrong. Others believed our wrong doings have caught up with us, our pollutions killing us off. A few paranoid freaks believed a supernatural force was at work. A single person that thought our time as dominant species was over, and was now using the plague as a mass murder weapon.
Others simply believe we are over populated and God did his work.
The plague, a scientific anomaly, where the dead could walk again, but at a terrible price. My sister and I have believed for a long while that we are the only ones left. Any humans anyway, there are plenty of them. Plenty of undead roaming the Earth. If they bite you, you die and become one of them. We are already infected, it’s in our blood. A gun, a noose, an arrow, a knife, any one of those things could kill us and we’d come back. As one of them.
I sat atop the camper; we had it found at a near-by junk yard, keeping watch. A rifle sat laying across my lap, its scope glinting menacingly in the remainder of the campfire light. I yawned but did not shut my eyes, Leanne’s shift for lookout did not start for another hour or so. My eyes swept across the open field, back and forth, I easily spotted a mouse running to a near-by hole, and an owl perched atop a tree. I heard the swish of the wings and a rustle, then a squeak. I yawned again.
I heard a rustle below and saw Leanne emerge from the doorway of the camper.
“Is it my turn yet?” she asked rubbing her eyes “I can’t sleep any longer.” She yawned. I rolled my eyes.
“Go back to sleep Leanne, I still have another half hour.” I told her.
“But I can’t sleep!” she exclaimed stamping her ting foot.
I looked into her face, it was identical to mine. For we were twins, identical to the last freckle. I flipped my red hair to one side, and glared at her. She cowered and quickly retreated to the confines of the camper once again. I rested my back to a small hatch in the camper roof and watched the night time sky. I listened to the sounds of the night, crickets chirping, the owl hooting, the sounds of a mouse and somewhere in the distance a wolf howling.
I heard the camper door creak open again, I sat.
“Leanne?” I asked, I heard the sounds of footsteps on a ladder and Leanne appeared at the top of the camper. I sighed and she clambered over, she snuggled up to me and I remembered last Christmas when a lighting storm had taken the power out.
We huddled in a corner shrieking every time we heard thunder. I screamed especially loud when our father came through the front door. He jumped slightly and ran to us gathering us up in his arms. He murmured soothing words to us and soon we were fast asleep in his arms.
We were so small back then, we were so young now. Only eighteen each, I looked into her identical green eyes and she whispered “Can we sing songs?” I nodded my head.
We sat at the campfire our heads thrown back laughing, we had just finished a song of birds and rainbows. Leanne looked to me.
“There were four priests in a boat, in the middle of a lake. One stood and walked across the water to mainland, soon after the second followed. The third stood and fell into the water and drowned, the first said to the second ‘Think we should’ve told him about the stepping stones?’” she said, we fell backwards giggling at the joke we’ve told a thousand times. An owl hooted. “The owl hoots!” cried Leanne
“Yes it does!” I said back, we stood and did our handshake. Clap, back clap, we put our hands together like lions about to strike.
“RAWR!” we screeched then, our hands folded together “Forever.” We promised.
We heard a muted thud from behind and we spun around. My breath caught in my chest, and I heard Leanne’s quicken. I stared into the blackness to where they stood, and one lay. Six of them, there were six. Six zombies, they had been good enough to get this far without me hearing, which is impressive. Nothing snuck up on an ex-FBI agent.
“Get the shovels.” I said curtly. Leanne obeyed and soon we stood there with a shovel in our hands.
“You get the ones on the right, I get the ones on the left?” and before I could stop her, she charged into battle.
I rolled my eyes and charged in after her. I whacked and spun, twirled and struck. I was on my last zombie when I heard it. That blood curdling sound that will haunt me until this day. Leanne’s shriek. It rang in my ears and I quickly finished off the last of mine. I spun.
Leanne’s last zombie had her by the shoulder and its teeth were sunk in deep. I brought my shovel down on its head it moaned and collapsed. I caught Leanne and laid her down on the ground gently. Tears in my eyes, I shook with silent sobs.
“One. Last. Time.” Her words were punctuated with rattling breathes.
“One last time for what?” I asked tears rolling down my cheeks, dripping off my chin onto her chest.
“The song, sing it… one last time.” She said her eyes fixed on something far in the heavens.
I obliged and sung the lullaby my mother had sung to us since we were little. I reached into my jacket’s pocket and pulled out the pistol I held there. I shook my head, tears flew from my eyes. I pointed the gun to Leanne’s head.
“I’m sorry.” I took a breath that shook my lungs and caused me to cry harder. “You can’t become one of them.”
I made a fist. Just like she had taught me and before the trigger went I heard her breathe “I’ll love you forever Lee.” and then there was a bang and she lay still, a small hole punctuated her head. I pressed the gun to my head for one moment but pulled it away.
She wouldn’t want that. I headed back to camp and began packing up thinking all the while:
No longer ‘Me and Leanne’.
No.
Now it was just me.