Eternity

The Fall

            Man's downfall could be summed up to two words man's arrogance. Before I get ahead of myself. Let me introduce myself. I'm Ada Quinton. I spent a good portion of my adult life helping others. I graduated from medical school at the top of my class majoring in Thoracic surgery, General Practice, and in Geriatrics. The latter was just a filler course but the elderly have always fascinated me. Anyway, when the outbreak occurred, I was in the heart of it. According to the news, it began in Los Angeles. But if I were to pinpoint a guess, I'd say it was in D.C. CDC was forever in the works of trying to create a virus to strengthen mankind to the best of their abilities. I am an advocate of allowing human nature alone but others believe we should give evolution a push. They call this a push? How about a gigantic shove. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is punishment for man's arrogance. God is displeased. I'm a Christian through and through, although I am not an expert on the Bible, I go to church every Sunday, I pray before I eat and sleep. Call me a prude, I don't care but I refuse to be swayed by Godless masses.  Back to my original point, when it occurred I was working at my second job. Oddly, enough I was a fry cook at a friend's diner when a drunk, at least that's what we thought at first came stumbling into the eatery. Before we knew it total chaos broke out. Dead eyes, mottled skin and the stench of rot permeated from its body. It ripped the throat out of a trucker. Blood gurgled out of the fatal wound, screaming ensued, as people ran for the doors. Unbelievably, the dead trucker and the first Walker began lurching for they next prey. I have seen enough zombie flicks to know, you have to kill the brain to put it down. One unlucky man tried to squeeze past but was yanked back by the trucker, he tore into the man with his hands, blood, viscera and intestines spilled out. Wendy and I scrambled through the back door, we shoved the dumpster in front of the door. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do. Make sure everything's clear, then we'll get back to the house.", Wendy said. "Good, but I'm not staying here if it's only going to get worse. I'm going to find Jim.", we made our way to the front of the restaurant, it was an old nightmare. People freaking out and holding the main doors shut against the killers trying to get out. My SUV was park directly in front of us and we made a run for it. I drove home, only stopping long enough to make sure Ms. Gilbert was safe. I offered to bring her with us but she refused. " It's alright, honey. You just take care of yourself. Call me when you get there.", she hugged me and waved as I drove off.

         Once we got to the house, Wendy and I grabbed two bags each for clothes, personal items, food, and whatever weapons were readily available. Because I'm licensed to carry, I strapped my .38 to my belt,grabbed my dad's hunting rifle, and my recurve bow. I threw six boxes of ammo for the rifle and six for my .38,into my ammo box. We made our first trip to the SUV to put our stuff in the back. Fortunately, because gas is so high, I always have seven extras ten gallon jugs ready for emergencies. "Get the gas in the back. I'll get a cooler for food and drinks.", I grabbed the Igloo and hurried inside. Opening the fridge, I threw in the water bottles, lunch meat, Mayo, ketchup and what not. I also emptied the ice tray, I threw in cheese, snacks and bread in as well. It would serve us well until we could stop and get more things.  Needless to say, we bagged seeing as the news reported widespread chaos. The dead were resurrecting and eating living humans. There was no point waiting around to see how much worse it could get. We made it out of town, heading to the Arizona border when things really broke. We stopped in Kansas to scavenge for water and food, when Wendy was bitten by one. We holed up overnight in a convenient store. Thankfully, I remembered to grab any and all medicinal items when  we'd hit a Walmart near here. I also brought along my doctor bag as well. I helped Wendy settle on the floor. I covered her with blankets, but it seemed no matter what I did, she was getting worse. Her fever spiked and she went into convulsions. I turned her on her side so she wouldn't swallow her tongue. No amount of cleaning the bite helped. The infection spread too quickly. Wendy's skin began mottling, her eyes were glazing over. Her breath was labored, "Don't do this to me." I wiped the sweat from her forehead and watched helplessly as she died. I couldn't be sure of how long it took for the change, but with a quick prayer to God for forgiveness, I readied my knife.  Wendy's chest stilled, her last breath rattled as it left her. "God please protect me and welcome your child home.", with that I jammed up the knife in her skull with a sickening crunch. My stomach lurched but I pushed the nausea down.  I covered Wendy's face with blanket and moved away from her. I checked each door to make sure they were locked.

      My night was long and full of anguish. Don't think I'm without compassion for Wendy, we did go through school together. I loved her like a sister and I did cry. As morning Rose, I dragged her body outside and into the shallow grave I dug an hour before. I pulled her body into the ground and gently laid her head down. " I'm sorry. God please keep her safe. Until we meet again, be safe. I love you sister.", I wiped the tears from my dirty face and proceeded to bury her. I gathered whatever supplies from the store and continued on my way.  I was able to make Georgia but was shocked to see it in ruins. When Jim and I were kids, Dad used to take us to a quarry outside Atlanta. Fishing and swimming being the main theme of the outing. I did make it to his apartment but no one was there. I drove back out of town and to the quarry. I hoped I was right. Only God would know if I would find my brother there. It seemed like a safe place to gather and figure things out? Even if I was the only one there, it would be safer than driving around and wasting gas.  As I made my way up the long drive, I was surprised to see others. Thank you, God!, I thought.