Solanum

The Funeral

~Kris~

The sun... something that is always a constant. It always comes and goes... just like people but not in the way we always expect. The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west... but people, they never leave the way you think they're going to. I thought that Jennifer and I would make it out of this alive, I thought we could start a family and now I'm left in shambles with the dreams I once held dearly shattered upon the ground.

Jenny...oh god... I'm so sorry. I should have protected you better, her lifeless body rested in front of me, stray hair covering her mangled face. I reached forward moving some of the hair out of her face. She wasn't the Jennifer I came to love, this was a monster and I know Mac did the right thing.

I haven't slept or even thought about sleeping since I lashed out on Mac the way I did... god I'm such a dumb ass. She warned me... she said we should have done it earlier. I could have easily done it while Jen was sleeping but I didn't have the guts. Mac... she saved me and all I could do was yell at her for doing the one thing I couldn't do to protect everyone. I'm not fit to be a leader... it should be Aj or even Mac, they've been planning for this since they've met.

You know what they say hindsight is better than foresight and sadly I'm lacking both hindsight and foresight. I can't look back and think or what I could have done and I can't look ahead so that we can be prepared. Mac was always good at that... she's always been better then me but I've always just put her down, making her feel terrible, what kind of brother am I?

I let out a long sigh and glanced over at Mac who was by herself resting on a rocky portion of the ground. She moved over there to get away from me... I saw the fear in her eyes and it really hurt me. I shouldn't have gotten that out of control, I truly wanted to kill her last night and everyone knew it. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked me to leave since I'm obviously unhinged.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Allison was stretching her arms and let out a quiet yawn. I've known Ali since I was younger since she's always been best friends with Mac. She quietly shuffled her way over here and plopped down next to me. Her hand rested on my shoulder sending chills down my spine for some odd reason. I turned my head looking into her bright hazel eyes that always seemed to glisten even in the darkest of times.

"I'm sorry if I scared you last night." I looked away from her focusing on the dimming fire so I wouldn't have to see her reaction. Allison always got scared easily and I saw that last night when she was frozen in place.

"It's ok... you must feel terrible. You don't look that well," her hand lightly ran up and down my back which soothed me. Her touch was soft and warm like that of a mother, that's something I've always liked about Allison. She makes me feel so calm and at home when I'm with her, that's just the kind of person she is.

"I didn't sleep at all,' I said so bluntly like it was a normal thing. She nodded her head slightly in understanding but had a slight frown as if the news worried her. Her hand continued to slide up and down my back calming me even more. I leaned into her touch loving the way it felt.

"Well that's understandable... I mean if I were in your position I don't think I could ever sleep peacefully again." Her voice was slightly raspy from just waking up causing her volume to be low but loud enough for only me to hear. "She deserves a proper burial don't you think?" she leaned forward looking into my eyes. She leaned back to where she previously was and suddenly became uneasy, almost scared that what she was saying would set me off. "I mean that's what I would want but it's totally up to..." I looked at her making her gasp in surprise.

"That... that would be nice," I jumped up from the log and looked down at Ali. She seemed scared but stood her ground and put on a facade... she always acted so strong. "Here," I held my hand out to her and pulled her up once she took it. She stumbled lightly but caught her self, a tint of pink racing to her cheeks. "You o..." her head popped up a little to quickly.

"I'm fine! Thank you..." I nodded and stood by Jennifer's feet. She stood by Jennifer's head and looked down at her fondly, probably remembering all the good times they had together. Allison was the one who introduced me to Jennifer and we had instantly clicked.

"Can we just get this over with?" My voice cracked... what the hell is wrong with me. My girlfriend just died and that's how I reacted... maybe I'm not as fazed by this as I thought I was. She nodded and grabbed under Jennifer's arms. We lifted her body and carried her away from the makeshift camp we were currently living in.

There was a river that me and Jenny have spent a lot of time at lately and that's where I plan to bury her. That was our little getaway in this apocalypse... it was our own little slice of heaven in this hell. We carefully placed Jenny just next to the small river that ran through the middle of the woods.

"We should start digging," I looked for an appropriate place that we could bury Jennifer.

"Um Kris... we don't have anything to dig with..." she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly and looked at anything but at me.

"We can't just leave her on the side of the river are you nuts?" I didn't mean to be that harsh... once again I let my feelings get the best of me and I lashed out on another friend. I crouched down to the ground and started to dig into the soft ground with my bare hands.

"Kris..." I ignored her knowing that all she was going to as try and stop me, there is no way that we're just leaving Jennifer out in the open for the geeks to tear into her unprotected body. "Kris please listen! Just hear me out!" I stopped briefly and looked over my shoulder at her, she was holding a bag, about he size of Jennifer which made me curious but I just kept digging.

The ground as getting hard to dig through the deeper I got down, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to dig a deep enough grave but I had to try. My fingers hurt from the rocks and pebbles that stuck up from the ground jabbing into them.

"Kris..." Allison's hand gently covered my right shoulder making me stop completely. I turned on my heel so that I was facing her completely. She looked down at me with pity in her eyes... I hated that, I don't want her pity, I wanted Jennifer back. "We can't dig her a grave but if we put her in this and place her in the river on something that will float then she'll be carried away and nothing will be able to get her," I nodded and we started looking for things that were large enough for Jennifer's body.

"Here," I stood in front of a door that was ripped off of one of the nearby houses and thrown over the guardrail of the road that ran along the river. I carried it over to Allison who was gently placing Jennifer into the weird bag she had and tied it shut. "Hold the door while I get her up ok?" she nodded and jogged to where I left the door.

I knelt down in front of Jenny, carefully placing my hands beneath her light body and carrying her to where Allison was holding the door in place in the dirt infested river. I laid her gently on the door and closed my eyes. "I'm sorry Jenny... please go in peace, I love you," a single tear ran down my cheeks as Allison let go of the board. More tears came as the realization hit me that the girl I loved was dead and floating away from me forever. Everything around me paused, I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't feel anything. I was in a state of shock and I couldn't wake up.

"Kris we have to go," Allison's voice rang lowly through my mind. She came into view shaking me violently to get me out of this wired trance I had fallen into. "Kris please there are geeks coming... please!" I shook my head coming back to it looking past her at the small group of geeks that were making their way towards us. I nodded and pulled on her arm leading her away from the impending danger and away from my recently departed love.

~So we've decided to do some shorter chapters with characters other than Mac so you guys get the full experience... this chapter is what most of them will be like so let us know what you think... Still haven't decided if we will show our true identities and only time will tell <3~ E.M.