Eve

Chapter 23

Big Bear was quiet – well quieter. We found out a bunch of houses were attacked that same night as ours, and, when word got around, most families decided to flee. I have no idea where to. But apart from our house and maybe two or three we could see the lights on at night, everything was abandoned.

The two stores that were being kept opened had closed – after being repeatedly ransacked by the people fleeing.

Aunt Meredith, Mom, Edgar and I got together for an 'emergency meeting' that night, after the attack. To the sound of cars going by packed with food and scared shitless people, we decided we weren't leaving. There was nowhere to go – and if Big Bear was like that, imagine what the rest of the world was like.

Not a week after that, the TV went dead. It switched from a rerun of Seinfeld to a blue screen with the words 'Emergency Alert – Outbreak Notification Issued by the World Health Organization. Stay Indoors' in Terminal font.

Then, a week after that, we heard the first bombs.

The zombies – who had been making almost daily appearances out our window until then – seemed to have left, at least for the time. Edgar suggested that maybe the bombs had gotten them all, but we all knew the truth – those bombs had probably killed more non-infected than infected.

And if they indeed killed more infected, that meant that there were now more infected people than non-infected in the large cities. It was bad news either way.

I was sitting alone on the couch in the middle of the night when my phone flashed in a dim blue light. I knocked the living room lamp reaching for it like an animal. The internet had been oscillating between barely working and not working at all for two weeks now, so whenever my phone showed signs of being connected, I jumped like an animal.

To: Eve

From: Coordination

This is an automated e-mail. Please do not reply. Attached you will find your grades for the current quarter.

Great. The world was ending, but at least I hadn't failed Math.

"B minus in English, huh?"

I turned around. Mom had a semi-smile on her lips, watching me over my shoulders.

We all had semi-smiles back then – it was the best we could do in terms of happiness.

"I guess it doesn't matter," I said. "What with the whole 'we're all going to die' thing."

"Also, you were expelled," mom said, making way around the couch and sitting by my side. "Don't think I forgot that."

"Am I still grounded?"

From outside, we could hear the TUM, TUM, TUM of Meredith and Edgar reinforcing the boards on the windows.

"I think we're all grounded," mom said.

I rested the phone on the center table, then leaned back. For a while, neither of us talked.

"I'm sorry," I said, after much internal debate.

"For what?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. For being a shitty daughter."

Mom frowned. "You're not a shitty daughter."

"Yes I am. I punch people and disrespect your orders and I'm always grumpy. Even Damian calls me grumpy." I pushed away the sinking feeling in my stomach at my own mention of Damian's name.

Mom chuckled. "You're not a shitty daughter, Eve. You're just a teenager."

"Don't reduce me to a generalization, mom."

"You see, that's exactly the kind of thing a teenager would say."

I managed a smirk. Mom dragged herself closer to me.

"I know it's hard for you without dad," I said. "Jesus Christ, I'm turning this into a soap opera scene. All I'm trying to say is... you do your best, and I know that. I know it's not easy to –"

"I know, Eve," mom said. "I miss him too."

She put her arms around my shoulder, and I nested my head on hers.

Yeah, I cried. So? I wanna see you deal with the end of the world, your boyfriend's imminent death, bombs raining down from the sky and a troubled relationship with your mom without shedding a tears.

"We're gonna be ok, Eve," mom said, after a while. "We've made it this far."

I nodded, eyes still pressed against her cotton shirt.

"And whatever happens, we'll stay together. Do you hear me?"

Again, I nodded.

Outside, the TUM, TUM, TUM of Edgar and Meredith continued.

"We're gonna stay together to the end, Eve. Me and you against –"

"Don't say me and you against the world, mom. It's cheesy."

I felt mom's shoulder go up and down in a chuckle.

I don't know how long we sat like that, in silence, her brushing her hand against my hair. But when I opened my eyes, it was almost dark outside.

"Mom," I whispered, waking up. "What time is it?"

Mom's head fell against her chest, sleeping. I leaned her back against the couch and covered her body with a wool blanket.

Outside, the TUM, TUM, TUM noises had died.

"Aunt Meredith?" I asked, stepping through the front door. It was a chilly kind of afternoon end outside, when the sun is gone already but the sky's still clinging on to a few scrapes of light, painting everything around a menacing shade of gray.

"Edgar?" I called again, making way to the side of the house. A soft breeze raised a couple of dead leaves by the road. A second later, the sound of a motor engine reached me from far, growing louder, louder, louder until the faded dots of bright white light turned to headlights coming closer on the road.

I made way to the side of the road. The car screeched, raising a puff of black smoke from the pavement. The driver's door flew open, and Meredith stuck her head out, hands still on the wheel. Face covered in blood. "Where's you mom!?"

"Aunt Meredith..." I whispered. By her side on the passenger seat, Edgar had his hand to his neck. Dark blood was streaming down between his fingers. His skin was pale as paper.

"Get your mother, Eve," Meredith said, turning her head back at the road then at me again. "Now!"