| Empty Graves Part Twenty: Finale Time passed by in Halifax like a creeping old man who tries to walk across a busy street of traffic, but in these times, there was no such thing, the streets were baron of mechanical life, the only life you would have ever come across would have been your death, either that or the remotest of remote possibilities of finding other survivors. Each day that passed by, Saul, Jake, Mary and all the others hoped that a day would come when the dead would be gone and they would find some other people alive. But as each day died and a new day was born, this became more and more distant, or was it becoming closer and closer? Nobody knew exactly what to think, but each to his or her own had their own philosophies now on life, living and the dead. The docks in Halifax over a period of some three months had turned into a refuge for Greek philosophy rejects, the figures huddling around fires or other warm bodies as they conversed at length about their theories as to why it all happened. But despite these lengthy deliberations, nobody came to any conclusion whatsoever. Since the dead had originally risen, six months had passed by. Jake's eighteenth birthday was the month prior to their current position in time, and Mary's was just as close in the future. The time wore on, and as it did so, it became apparent that the dead were never coming back to Halifax. Maybe they were all dead at last? Or maybe they had all abandoned Halifax, leaving it for, ironically, dead. As the thought that they may have won the war entered their minds slowly, Jake and Mary began to think about home, Fort Severn. Were their parents still alive? For all that they had been through, they thought the chances were slim ever since their arrival, but hope is a godsend in this world, and the falling of the living dead was just that, sent from god, the bastard who had, at least for believers, sent this plague down to them to punish for the world's sins. A far shot from the crucifixion, thought Jake as he paced back and forth on the concrete dock with Mary, the morning sea air rushing in off the waves that splashed against the dark gray surround. "Jake, do you think we won?" Jake paused in his thoughts and footsteps for a moment, looking at Mary as he did so. "Yeah," he said as he nodded his head, coming off as some wise man of the apocalypse. It seemed such a far cry from when he was just a seventeen-year-old punk raising hell in his hometown of Fort Severn. As far as he was concerned, he was the oldest person he knew, he just wanted to rest now. He wanted to go back home. "Jake, are we going home soon?" asked Mary as the couple continued their walk around the dock lands, the landscape as far as their eyes could see baron of the dead and lush with green, living, grass. "Yes," said Jake simply as he led her back inside the building, he was to announce their departure on their trip home, an adventure in itself. It was time to leave he thought. They had been treated well in Halifax by Saul and his band of survivors, who were destined to philosophise in the docks forever more so it seemed. They were all too scared now, but Jake and Mary were anxious to get back to their way of life that they knew and love, but for the most part, they wanted to find out the truth once and for all, were their beloved parents still alive? With a simple "good bye, good luck and god speed" from Saul, the pair were ready to leave within a week of their announcement and they made their towards the gates in their fully fuelled vehicle, loaded with enough supplies and spare gas to last them the journey as they had done so before. Waving the huddled group goodbye, with Saul at the front of the lot, Jake and Mary embarked on their safe, yet terrifying journey home. Everywhere was dead so it seemed. Nobody living or dead stirred as they passed through every town and city they had done so before, but in reverse order. As they approached home, it was beginning to look like there was nobody alive anywhere. Were they going to be living alone in Fort Severn at this rate? As they had left it, Fort Severn was a war zone on their arrival, but this time it was the aftermath of a war. The zombies lay cluttering the streets, their foul stench having almost left them, they were damn near glued to the tarmac roads as Jake and Mary entered town. Needless to say, they were scared to death, but the living dead were finally dead and the living also appeared to be dead, or at least so they thought. Pulling the car up outside their old homes, Jake and Mary exited the tired and worn car, spilling out onto the empty street. Was everyone dead? They dreaded the outcome of the next few minutes. Pressing the horn on the steering wheel, Jake blared it long and hard for a few seconds, on and off for a further couple of minutes, finally finishing it off with wails and screams out into the cold air. A sudden clattering and sharp grind of metal, seemingly from Jake's front door, rang out. Attracting their attention immediately, Jake and Mary braced themselves for the worst as the door dragged open slowly and grudgingly. Appearing from the darkness of what was and still was to some extent, Jake's home, came four figures in tattered clothes, their faces pale and their eyes black and tired, it was both their sets of parents. In a moment of paralysis, the pairs stood and stared at each other from the centre of the street and the porch of Jake's home. "Jake? Mary?" came a coughing, choking voice. "Mom?" replied Jake as he stepped forward one step, as did one shady figure from the porch who entered the sunlight. "Mom, Dad!" shouted Jake in a child-like moment of glee as if opening presents on Christmas Day. "You're alive!" replied Jake's mother and father, soon being followed by Mary's similarly emaciated, but living, parents. The young couple separated for the first time in months and flooded over to their parent's thin, yet still warm and loving arms. Embraced in the moment, Jake and Mary forgot the past and looked into the future. It was going to be different and it was all going to be much better. The world had changed drastically, and for the most part, it seemed as if it was a good change, they were all just so distraught that it had to be in such a horrid and unrelenting way. The future held new opportunities, new ways of life as several other survivors wormed from the woodworks of Fort Severn and spilled onto the streets, all converging on Stewart Avenue to welcome back their two intrepid travelers and surviving members alike. This was a time of new life, and part of that was to be Jake and Mary's in just a few months. In a new world they would grow old with their parents, reunited, grow old alongside their children, alongside the others in Fort Severn, and the others dotted around the world. It was going to be alright, thought Jake, as he smiled, the huge weight of the past six months melting from his shoulders, as it must have done for Mary and the many other survivors across the country, and even the world. This was a time of re-birth for an entire race, mankind, and they were damned sure they weren't going to fuck it up like they had done before. Life was for living now. |