Life After Z

Chapter 2 - Lucas

It had to be here. It just had to be. There weren't many people left in the world and only a small percentage of people had asthma. Meaning that there was no reason for people to be taking inhalers. Antibiotics, yes. Painkillers, I could understand. But why for the love of Mike could we not find some inhalers?

I ran my hands over the empty shelves as my ears rang from the few shots that we had been forced to make to clear the drugstore. I wasn't going to give up. They had to be here. They just had to be.

As I was climbing the shelves to see for myself that the top shelves were also empty, I heard a banging that made me jump and lose my grip on the metal shelves. As I stumbled to regain my balance I looked to the front of the store to find my worst nightmare come to life in vivid technicolor. Somehow, Sebbie was out of the shipping container and banging his small little fists against the glass of the front windows of the store. His face was nearly blue from a lack of oxygen as his airways continued to close and there were at least five Zs right behind him.

My son's face was frozen in panic as he tried to scream for help with breath that he didn't have.

I started running toward the front of the store, feeling that both Copper and Everett were doing the same but for some reason, the doorway that we had just cleared was now packed with Zs. I turned frenetic eyes toward where Sebbie was pounding on the window, but he was no longer there. Instead, I could only see the pack of Zs moving further down the street, following my sweet boy.

Oh, God. This couldn't be happening.

I forced myself to focus in front of me and took shot after shot at the deathly pale people with blackened veins that wanted to literally eat our faces off. That wanted to eat my son.

No! Not today. This was not happening today!

I pushed myself into the fray, shoving the closed-packed Zs into each other as I made a mad dash to the door. Faces blurred and my gun ran out of bullets, but I kept on fighting. The Zs weren't fast, but Sebbie wouldn't make it far in the middle of a full-blown asthma attack. My boy was close and he needed me. I wasn't going to let anything get in my way of getting to his side. Zombie apocalypse or not, I was his father and it was my job to keep him safe.

A job that I was failing miserably at.

I vaguely heard Cooper yelling at me to wait, but I couldn't. I dodged and shoved and took out my hunting knife to end any Zs that got too close. I scanned the street ahead of me, but couldn't see the tell-tale gleam of Sebbie's red hair. I also didn't see any Zs huddled over meaning that they hadn't gotten to my son. He was still alive. Still needed me.

"Sebbie!" I screamed as I reached the end of the building and looked down the alley. And what I saw there made my heart skip a beat. I stood frozen for a few invaluable moments as my brain processed the near-impossible scene before me. Sebbie was huddled on top of a dumpster as a thin woman with large glasses fought the pack of Zs, making sure that none were able to try to get to my son.

Two of the Zs abandoned their pursuit of the woman and instead started ambling my way. Their motion snapped me out of my surprise-fueled inaction and I lunged forward and stabbed the closest Z through their left eye. Part of my attention was still caught on the woman and as I turned to take care of the second Z, I saw her rear back and throw something in my direction. I barely had time to flinch as something whizzed by my head and embedded itself into something right behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a tall, fully mummified Z bare inches from my back with a throwing knife sticking out of his forehead, dead center.

I had just come inches away from becoming Z food.

Meaning that this heavenly woman had not just saved my little boy, but me as well. Was it too soon to declare myself in love?

I pushed away those distracting thoughts and dispatched the last Z between me and Sebbie before sprinting over and hauling myself on top of the dumpster. Sebbie was sitting with his back to the alley wall, his lips were blue and his face looked bloodless. He was taking short panting breaths and I could tell that he was moments away from passing out.

"Sebbie!" I yelled again, not caring about my noise level. I grabbed his shoulders and brought my head down so that it was level with his. It took a few heartbeats but he eventually cracked open his eyes and I saw his pain and fear staring back at me.

"I'm here. I am here with you Sebbie. Stay with me. We are going to get through this, Sebbie. You just have to stay with me," I pleaded and my voice cracked with the weight of my own helplessness. Sebbie reached up and grabbed my arm, but the motion lacked any strength and my stomach plummeted. We still didn't have it. We didn't have an inhaler. I couldn't help him.

"Move," a stern, raspy voice said and I looked over to find the woman kneeling on the dumpster next to me. I didn't move, too lost in my own preemptive shock and grief to do anything other than cling to my son and beg God for help.

"I can help him, but you have to move," she said again as she pulled something out of her backpack. I looked down at her hand to see an EpiPen. It wasn't an inhaler. Sebbie wasn't having an allergic reaction, he was suffering from an asthma attack. She didn't understand. It wasn't right.

The last of my hope drained away and I turned back to my son. I cupped his face and rested my forehead against his. My breath was just as erratic as his was and somehow that felt right. We would exist together in these last moments. Breathe together until we don't.

"My dear Sebastian. I love you. You are the absolute best thing I ever did in this world and I need you to know that you are not alone. I am here and I love you," I told him as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Dad," Sebbie wheezed so quietly that I was half positive I imagined it. But imagined or not, I heard everything he was trying to tell me in that one word. He loved me too. He was scared and wasn't ready to leave this world.

"I know," I whispered to him through the knot that lodged itself in my throat. "I know, son. I am here. I love you." And then his eyes fluttered shut. The knowledge that I would never see his vibrant green eyes that always displayed such enthusiasm for life again tore through me, leaving nothing but unimaginable pain.

No! Not my son. Not my beautiful, beautiful boy. Anything else. I can take anything else. Anything but him. Please. Please, God. I will do anything. Just please spare my son. Anything. Please...