The Ghost + The Darkness

Chapter Fourteen: Nomads

Blaire POV
We got into a house that was somewhat wrecked, but it was barricaded to not let the dead come in here, the windows were boarded up, but the Basement was a mess, "Oh dear god" I raised my lantern, covered my mouth in shock seeing a mother and daughter chained to the wall, dead and there was a note at the bottom of the staircase

Don't save us, save yourselves and your loved ones, you have a better chance than we did

I sighed, stayed down there for a while and put the note down then went back up to shut the door tight making sure that no one else comes in, not even Marilyn,"I got the garage to close, the car problem isn't as much as your Dad's, think I can get it down in a day or 2, what'd you find?" I looked behind at the basement door,"Nothing in the Basement, there's snacks in the cupboards that haven't expired and found a lantern on the counter"
"Okay good and Marilyn?
"She found a room comfortable enough for her, there's another bedroom, no cots or anything" He nodded,"And Missy?" I looked over at her and she took the couch. He says to me,"You can take the shift tonight and wake me up when it's Midnight" I nodded,"Got it"
"Any intruders, wake me, kill the zombies and if it gets-"
"Too much, we leave"
"Have I said this?" I shook my head as I set a couple bags down,"No, I just know already"
"Anyways, I'll go make a fire in the living room, let Marilyn know" I went into the room that she was in and she had a picture of her mother, father and a boy,"Who's he?"
"My brother, he's in high school...Blaire?"
"Hm?"
"Where's my Dad?" I took a deep breath knowing that I can't sugar coat this whole thing,"Marilyn, Dylan and I think that your father may have passed away, but he left you supplies that you need later on" I knew she had a lot of questions,"Where is that place you 2 were saying about?"
"We believe The Organization has moved down in California, we don't know where exactly, I don't know how long we're gonna be traveling, but it's gonna be hard" She started tearing up and hugged me, I held her tight,"I know sweetie, I know it hurts, Dylan and I will protect you"
"I want my Mom and Dad"
"I do too, I do too" I said quietly and tried to remain strong for her, I knew it was hurting and accepting the fact that Death knows no age, he takes as he or she pleases and doesn't give a shit about how their loved ones feel about it. You could be 2 and Death takes you, this is his work just like God. "Okay Marilyn, you need to stay tough okay?" She nodded as I wiped her tear away,"Stay strong for your family, for your mom and dad" She nodded again,"Anyways, you need to get into the living room with us, I'm cooking Dinner for us"

We went into the living room, Dylan was fixing his guns that he found along the way,"Fire just started, I pulled out a few cans of soup and a pot to hang over" I thanked him and Marilyn sat by him, I found cans of soup, vegetables that are good, even found Twinkies for Marilyn to have for Dessert, I cooked meat for Missy, since there wasn't any dog food for her, we lost her food on the way, I didn't want to feed her human food since it'll mess up her system, but it's for survival,"Here you go Missy" She chewed it all up as I was petting her, she was relaxed, I heated up the soup and burgers for us, we ate in silence because we have no idea what to talk about,"How long are we going to be staying here?"
"Until I can get that car to be fixed, so shouldn't be that long"
"Why would my Dad leave me?"
"We don't know, but we have a few guesses, but these things happen Marilyn, as much as I want to stay here for your father, but we can't, we don't know where he's at, he's gone and I'm so very very sorry"
"It's not fair!"

She dropped her bowl and ran to the room,"She'll learn Blaire, no need to rush her" I sighed and sat back down,"I know she doesn't understand yet, she lost her parents in one day, I think there might've been a chance that he was bitten when he was trying to save his wife"
"He was, I knew it was going to happen which is why I gave him the gun, we had a talk before"
"Since when you guys were alone"
"When you took Marilyn to the Bathroom, he started itching his arm and noticed the bite, I told him about his options, would he rather have his own daughter see him suffer or end the pain? It was already starting, turns out he would've changed overnight and we would have to kill him in front of her, he considered it and you guys came back, he made me not tell you, I knew"
"I'm finding it a llttle hard to believe because you sure as hell looked concerned where he went, like you didn't know"
"Because I didn't know he was actually going to"
"Of course, if I was, I woud've done it when I felt the change"
"No you wouldn't"
"And how would you know how I felt?"
"Because not everyone would know when it actually happens" I got closer to him and looked at him in the eye,"And what would you do?"
"I don't know" Sure he doesn't,"Primus, look at us...this Apocalypse is breaking us apart" I sighed,"Yeah you're right, it's just this constant thought of survival and Marilyn, Missy. It's not just us anymore, we can't blame Marilyn for delaying us, she needed help and with her father bitten, he would've killed her by now"
"But the thing is that, he said the bite was there for a few days, which is why he told Marilyn to run and don't look back, he was looking for a way to make it look like he was killed" I looked at the fire and a thought occurred to me that we forgot to do, so I asked him"Did you check Marilyn? You know, for bites"
"No, did you?" I shook my head,"No" We looked at each other and went to her room, she was changing,"We need to check"
"For what?"
"Bites"
"What?" We did, but we didn't strip her down because there are usual places like neck, arm, ankle, ribs, we had a slight panic and so did she because this was out of the blue. She wasn't infected, we apologized, but we did what we had to do,"What were you guys looking for?"
"When you have a bite mark on any part of your body, you change into a zombie out there"
"Is that what happened to my Daddy?" Dylan and I looked at each other,"No, he took another path, come on you gotta sleep"
"But can you tell me a story? Mommy used to tell me a story?" Dylan sat down and she shook her head then pointed at me,"Oh" Dylan shrugged and I sat in a chair,"What story do you wanna hear?"
"Seven Alone" Oh my God,"Seven Alone?" I haven't heard of that story for a long time, I was about her age when I heard of it,"There were seven children and parents who lived out in the West, who lived a fulfilling life until they heard of The Wagon Train that went all the way up to Washington to get to The Great Divide"
"What's The Great Divide?"
"Between USA and Canada"