Everything for Jessica

Regis’ nose burned as he stepped outside. It was a smell he was all too familiar with. He shielded his eyes from the blinding sun and looked around. He sniffed again. With teary eyes and on the verge of vomiting, he located the source of his nuisance. The woman awkwardly stumbled out of the shadows towards Regis with waving arms. She wore a tattered cocktail dress and she only had one high heeled shoe, making her walk unstable and look like as if she was drunk. Regis would have probably laughed at the situation if she wasn’t riddled with large bullet holes and infested with maggots and flies.

He silently waited for her to approach him. In these kind of circumstance, he would try not to attract more of them. He would have to deal with her as silently as possible. The woman moaned softly, her head swinging from left to right with each step. Regis squeezed his eyes, assessing the creature in front of him. He smiled as he noticed that he could easily take her out with one hit of his baseball bat.

He braced himself as the undead woman came closer and her horrific features became more apparent to him. The flies were already buzzing around him and it was as if he could hear her growl like a hungry lion. Regis took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air, and swung with his bat. It was a direct hit and the skull of the woman split open like a overripe melon. The body crashed on the street with a loud thud. It was still twitching, but presented no danger to Regis.

“May God have mercy upon your soul. Or what’s left of it.”, Regis mumbled as he made a cross and cleaned his bat with a piece of cloth he immediately discarded after use.

“Is she dead?”, a little voice behind Regis whispered.

“I told you to stay inside until I gave the signal.”, Regis replied with a stern voice. “It’s too dangerous outside. What if there were more of those things around?”

“I thought you needed help.”, the voice said even softer on the verge of crying.

Regis scanned the area for a moment and then faced his little companion. He crouched and laid his hand on her little shoulder. “Jessica, I know you’re a strong girl. But you shouldn’t take risks like that. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know.”, she replied and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket. She briefly stared at the body of the woman. The dress and several strands of gold hair fluttered softly in the wind. She was almost hypnotized if not for Regis who suddenly shook her by her shoulder.

“Jessica. Get inside. Now.”, he whispered and pushed her towards the front door. Confused by the strange behavior of her father, she slowly made her way to their house. The house with the white windows and red bricks-

“Now!”, Regis screamed as he saw more of the creatures shamble around the street corner. He glanced at her daughter that didn’t look back or stopped. She just ran to the door and closed it behind her without any hesitation. Just as he taught her.

The two men moaned with excitement as they noticed Regis standing still in the middle of the road. The largest of the two, a bloated African-American construction worker, shoved the mummified teenager out of his way and began to accelerate his pace. Regis stared at the approaching creature that was almost two heads taller than him growling and drooling with anticipation as it came closer. He braced himself once more, but this time it wouldn’t be easy. This time he would have to use something with more power. His fingertips touched the steel of the gun and for a fraction of second, Regis relived a memory of his wife and the emotions he hid away a long time ago managed to resurface once more.

No, this wasn’t the time.  He would have to deal with this later. Regis smelled the foul odour of the construction worker. He smelled like a public restroom on a hot summer day. He aimed his gun and squeezed the trigger. The first shot always startled him. It was a reminder that he held something that couldn’t only kill the creatures with, but also himself or his daughter. The bullet borrowed itself in the lower jaw. The man staggered backwards for a moment, but resumed his course. He aimed once more and squeezed again. The skull exploded, splattering gore on the ground like a crimson fountain. The body first fell on its knees and then toppled forward on the asphalt that was baking in the sun.  

“That’s something you don’t see everyday.”, he whispered to himself.

The teenager was a lot slower and more brittle, but had the same kind of relentless determination that caused the death of so many good people. Regis looked at the house and back at the teenager and noticed the leather biker outfit he was wearing. Aside from being encrusted with blood and caked with gore, it seemed to be in one piece. Leather is very difficult to bite through and can provide a much needed advantage in the future. It wouldn’t be the first time he stripped bodies of killed undead for his own gain. It wasn’t something enjoyed, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Still disgusted by the idea to see a naked, decomposing body again, he decided that he would regret it if he didn’t take this opportunity.

The teenager had made some progress, but was still nowhere near Regis. It tried to moan, but only produced a dry cough. He would have to do it quickly since the chance of more zombies being attracted by the gunshots was still very plausible. Regis took another look around and then sprinted towards the teenager who was startled by the sudden movement of his prey. Deciding that it wouldn’t take much strength to take him down, Regis used his fist and struck the mummy right on the forehead. The teenager let out another dry cough as his face crumbled by the impact of the fist. Regis grabbed and yanked the lifeless, shrivel body towards him and dragged him out of sight.

As he was taking the leather jacket and pants from the body, the walkie-talkie suddenly came to life with a loud hiss and static. Regis almost pulled out his gun, but quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie from his belt.

“What is it?”, he whispered.

“Daddy, where are you?”, Jessica asked and Regis heard that her voice was filled with concern.

He sighed and answered: “I’m , eh, taking care of some business sweetie.”

“What kind of business?”, Jessica asked.

“That’s hard to explain, but I’m not far away. From now on, you must use the walkie-talkie for emergencies only okay?” Regis tried to sound strict, but he was glad that his daughter kept an eye on things. It was this that saved lives in emergency situations.

“Okay.”, Jessica replied and she turned it off.

Regis looked around once more to make sure that he didn’t gave his position away. He exited the shrubbery next to the playground where he and Jessica always played in the weekends and during holidays. It was nothing special: a large sandbox, couple of swings and a high slide. He tightened his grip around the leather outfit and walked back to the house. He hoped that Jessica would never find out about him stealing things from corpses that used to be alive at a certain point. He didn’t want to be a bad example to his daughter who was already struggling with the concept of dead people eating other people and that her mother was one of them too. Jessica struggled with it and Regis couldn’t deal with it. It was still too surreal and too fantastic for him. This was something that only happened in movies, not in real life. But for the sake of his daughter he must keep going and do everything to ensure their survival. Even if it means stripping down rotting carcasses for useful items.

Regis closed the door behind him, locked it and propped a heavy chair against it. Just in case. He went upstairs and hid the clothes in his bedroom. He would have to clean them when Jessica was sleeping. He stared at his reflection on the large bedroom mirror. He looked like shit. He hadn’t taken a decent shower since this thing started and to conserve water he had to grow a beard. It was already growing thick and it made him look like a bum. He changed his shirt and went to the kitchen where Jessica was humming a happy tune as she was drawing with the brightly colored crayons she got for her birthday.

“Hey sweetie.”, he said.

“I’m sorry daddy.”, she replied.

“I know you are. Come on, give your daddy a big bear hug.”

Jessica smiled, dropped her crayon and ran towards her father who was standing in front of her with open arms. She squeezed him tight as if it would be the last time they would do this. Regis gave her a kiss and stroked her hair. He smiled as she went back to the kitchen table and started drawing again.

“What are you drawing?”, Regis asked as he prepared himself to make dinner. He looked at the cans and boxes of conserves. There was still enough to last a few days.

“I’m drawing something for mommy when she comes home.”

Regis froze. He thought that she already knew that her mother was one of them now and that she couldn’t return anymore. Maybe he hadn’t explained it the right way. Maybe she was confused. He couldn’t blame her. Even he had trouble on trying to figure out the situation. Should he tell the whole story again? What if she would get more confused and would do something that could get herself killed?

“Daddy?”, Jessica asked when she saw that her father was staring at a can of peas.

“Jessica, I, I thought we talked about this.”, Regis finally said. “Mommy isn’t coming back. She is a bad person now. Do you understand that?”

Jessica nodded and stared at her drawing as if she was in deep thought. She looked really confused. Regis sat next to her at the table.

“Can I see it?”, he asked and smiled.

Jessica slowly nodded and handed him the drawing. What Regis saw scared him. He saw a drawing of a pink man being ripped apart by a group of gray men. There were large thick, red lines scribbled through it, no doubt representing blood. In the upper corner was a drawing of a blue car with two other gray men on top of it. Lastly he saw a man with a beard shooting a gray man. Thick lines of red were drawn behind the head of the gray man. The detail was the thing that startled Regis the most.

“Sweetie.”, Regis said cautiously. “Why aren’t you drawing pretty horses anymore?”

Jessica sighed as she grabbed the piece of paper and yanked it out of Regis’ hands. “This is to let mommy see what happened.”, she said matter-of-factly.

“But don’t you think that she want to see something more... pretty and happy?”, Regis asked and stroked her head once more. He was deeply concerned with this conversation.

“I guess.”, she said and grabbed a new piece of paper. “Maybe a rainbow and puppies?”, she asked.

“That would be nice.”, Regis replied with a smile and went back to preparing food.

As they were eating, Regis noticed that Jessica hadn’t touched her food. He knew that this wasn’t her favorite food, but so far she didn’t complain because she was always hungry. This time she seemed to be thinking about something really hard. Regis hadn’t seen her think so hard since she got  a Disney puzzle that she wanted to complete without the help of her father and mother.

“Jessica?”, Regis said. “If there’s something wrong, you have to tell me. I can help.”

Jessica didn’t respond she was softly whispering something. Regis had to strain his ears to hear the words “mommy” and “coming” repeated over and over again.  Regis was now officially panicking. What would Mary do? She was always the one that fixed the problems under the motto “girl stuff”. But now that she was gone, he had to fulfill two roles.

“Daddy, I saw mommy.”, Jessica suddenly said and those words hit Regis like nothing else before. All of the sudden, the emotions he suppressed came back like a tidal wave. The fork in hand started to tremble a little.

“You, you did?”, Regis replied, still unsure how he should deal with this. He felt tears burning behind his eyes. He refused himself to cry in front of his daughter, but somehow one tear escaped that slid down his cheek and landed on the edge of his plate.

Jessica took a bite and nodded: “When you told me to go inside.”

“Sweetie. That’s impossible. I would have seen her if she was there. Remember, she not the same anymore. She’s a bad person.”

Jessica chewed on a piece of meat, but that didn’t refrain her from talking: “She said that she would come over for a visit.”

“No. No she didn’t. Remember we talked about seeing things that aren’t there?” Regis said as calmly as possible. Deep inside he wanted to scream that she had to shut the fuck up and eat her food. But he didn’t want to. They had enough problems. Fighting wouldn’t solve anything.

“But I know I saw her. She gave me this.”, she said and took something out of her pocket. It was a golden necklace. The same Regis gave Mary on the night he proposed. Regis was awestruck.

“Where. Where. Where?”, was the only thing he could mutter.

A soft knock on the kitchen door, snapped Regis back to reality. He immediately grabbed Jessica and pushed her at the back of the kitchen. He motioned her to stay away. She was too startled by the sudden commotion to say anything. Regis aimed his gun as he slowly walked towards the door. There was another knock. This time more decisive, but still polite. Several scenario’s played through Regis’ mind. I couldn’t be a zombie. They wouldn’t knock before entering. They would just destroy the door and sink its teeth in the nearest arm, leg or neck. Survivors were more likely. Maybe someone that wants to find a place to sleep or to find some food. But it also could be bikers or robbers trying to steal anything valuable... or take Jessica for their own perverted pleasures. Bastards. They would have to kill him first if they wanted to take her.

With rage bottled up inside him he opened the door and against better judgment started shooting at the pitch-blackness of the night. Jessica screamed and ran to the living room with her hands pressed against her ears. Regis heard a loud thud and someone wheezing. Serves them right. He closed the door and cautiously stepped back.

“Are you alright sweetie?”, Regis yelled.

There was no reply. Fuck. They must have gone through the front door. He ran to the living room only to find bloody footprints leading from the door to the couch and up the stairs.

“Jessica!”, Regis screamed and he followed the footprints with his gun raised.

Pale moonlight illuminated the wooden floor of the hallway and Regis could clearly see the grimy smears on the floor leading to Jessica’s bedroom. His heart was racing, his lungs were burning and adrenaline was coursing through his veins. He braced himself and kicked the bedroom door open. He almost pulled the trigger again, but he froze and stared at Jessica and Mary.

Regis said nothing. He stood there like a statue and watched Jessica and her dead mother sitting on the bed next to each other with Jessica reading a book. To Regis’ surprise and shock the corpse of his late wife did nothing. Not scratching, no biting only paying sincere attention to Jessica’s voice as she read the story about a white bunny that wanted to be friends with a fox.

“How.”, Regis whispered.

Mary suddenly stood up and moaned deeply as she shuffled towards her terrified husband. Her eyes, once serene and content, were now filled with the same hunger and desire Regis saw with each zombie he encountered. Regis just shook his head. This wasn’t happening. He was seeing things. Stress can affect your perception. He took a few steps back and saw Jessica’s confused face.

“Mommy.”, she said. “The story isn’t finished yet.” She thumbed the book, counting the pages. “There’s still five more pages to go.”

The zombie stopped, slowly turned around and shuffled back to Jessica. She sat back down and moaned softly and she stroked her hair with her bony fingers. Jessica continued her story.

“Jessica.”, Regis said softly. “Come here.”

“No daddy, the story isn’t finished.”

Regis kept his eyes on the zombie he once called his wife and she stared him as well. Mary moaned and seemed to be agitated like Jessica when he interrupted the story. He slowly aimed the gun, mouthed “I’m sorry” and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered Mary’s left eye socket, but it didn’t penetrate her putrid brain. Jessica screamed as Mary rolled of her bed, leaving a trail of dark blood on her sheets. Mary struggled to get on her feet as Jessica was jumping up and down her bed begging her father to leave her mother alone.

“Stop it daddy! Mommy is back like I said!”, Jessica screamed.

“This isn’t your mother!”, Regis screamed back. “She’s a monster, a miserable sack of rotting meat! She’s not your mother anymore!”

“Yes she is, yes she is, yes she is!”, Jessica replied and tears rolled down her red cheeks.

“No!”, Regis screamed at the top of his lungs, letting out all his frustrations and anger on her daughter. He aimed again and pulled the trigger. The bullet graced Mary’s head and buried itself in the wall behind her.

Mary was now on her feet and shambled towards Regis who was reloading anxiously.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit.”, Regis whispered as some of the bullets fell on the floor.

Mary, crazed with hunger and rage, grabbed Regis and sank her teeth in his throat. Regis screamed as blood gushed in the air and Mary ripped out a large flap of skin and tore several main arteries. Regis fell on his ass and against the nightstand with a loud thump. He screamed out in pain and gurgled as he choke in his own blood. The carpet underneath him slowly turned red as the puddle of blood increased in size. With tears in his eyes he watched Mary still chewing and Jessica still crying and fell on his side.

“Jessica.”, he said with his last breath and slowly closed his eyes.

“Daddy?”, Jessica asked as she was wiping her tears. “Daddy? Are you alright?”

Mary crouched and started to feed off Regis. She grabbed his head and smashed it open against the sharp corner of the nightstand. Brains and skull fragments spilled all over Jessica’s favorite books. But Jessica didn’t say anything about it. She watched in horror as her mother, or at least what she assumed to be her mother, scooped out larges pieces of gray matter and stuffed it in her mouth.

“Mommy?” Jessica whispered in freight. “When will daddy come home?”

Mary just continued eating until there was nothing left to eat in the little bedroom of the house with the white windows and red bricks.