Yellow Dress

I remember her in the sunlight. Her caramel colored hair shimmered with streaks of gold. Emerald green eyes twinkling just for me, and my knees would turn to jelly. The freckles scattered about her face did their graceful dance as her cheeks puffed and her lips curled into a soft smile. The rosy lips press up against mine and the rest of the world dissolves into nothingness. God, I miss her.

I remember the first day we met. We were in a field of grass. She had a ribbon in her hair, playful and whimsical as always. I’ll never forget the yellow dress she was wearing that day. I loved the way she looked like an angel in that yellow dress, which is why I had her buried in it.

It’s just Simon and me now. He has her eyes, which right now are wet with tears. He’s shivering in the corner. He says he’s just cold, and I let him think that for now. I know he’s scared. I’m scared too, son. When we went to sleep he would clutch my arm so tightly you would think he could rip it off. I’d watch him until he was asleep, until I saw his eyes darting back and forth blanketed comfortingly with those freckled eyelids. He has been dreaming of his mother a lot. I miss her too, son.

It’s been a month since the fallout, the disaster, the apocalypse, whatever it is people are calling it. There were heavy clouds of brown soot and dust engulfing the major cities. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. It only took three days for the sickness to take over the entire planet.

The government had no idea how to handle the panic, the people, the disease itself. Crowds went insane from paranoia: wanting a cure, a sign from God, or the merciful hand of Death to take them swiftly away from this planet. But with a disease like this, where would Death come? How could Death arrive for people who have died once already?

They’re not particularly smart, not very strong or fast. But the sheer number of them is staggering. Simon and I were lucky to have been near his school, which was specially designed to keep people out. There were several of us, and now it’s just him and me. Some went crazy and had to be… disposed of. Some couldn’t stand being inside any longer and threw themselves at those things. Some left for help… Maybe they’ll be back… Maybe they’ll still have someone left to save.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Scratch! Scratch! Ssssscratch!!! All the ghouls were coming from the door down the cold, linoleum hallway. They were trying to fight against the crude barricade that we had built a week and a half ago. Their horrid moans forced its way into the sky and through the windows from their distended bellies full of human flesh. Simon wasn’t sleeping, but he was most definitely clinging to my arm just as tightly. I found a shotgun yesterday, possibly from a police officer who abandoned his post here at the school, a wise choice.

I never thought I’d have to use it, and I hoped that that wouldn’t change. But it looks like help won’t be coming anytime soon. The dead have run out of fodder and were adamant about getting to Simon and me. One of the men who went for help designed an escape route. He was a soldier for the army but his entire platoon was wiped out by the hordes of ghouls. That’s why all those creatures were funneled into that single opening; it made it easier to pick them off, one by one. That worked for a few hours.

Right now, it’s the worst-case scenario. Simon was too scared to scream. We had run out of ammunition but I found an aluminum bat in the gym for the boy to defend himself in case something happened to me. I carried the shotgun on the off chance that I would find some shells along the way. We’re stuck on the roof now. Those godforsaken things won’t be able to reach us, but how much longer can we live like this? We have nothing to eat and are exposed to the frigid air of the night.

I carry my exhausted son in my arms and bring him towards the west side of the building. My head tells me that I did this so that when the sun rose above the horizon the warmth of its rays would comfort my son and give me strength. My heart tells me that I did this for a glimmer of hope, that I did this to convince myself that everything will be okay as long as I saw the beginning of another day. I closed my eyes and felt the icy wind slam against my face.

When I opened my eyes again, I could feel the gentle touch of the sunlight penetrating my skin reaching deep into my flesh. Simon had already been up and was peering over the side of the roof. He saw the crowds of the undead trying to pile its way through into the school. They were still after us; throughout the whole night, they chased us. A trail of a single teardrop drew a clean line down his dirt-covered face. I tried my best to comfort him until I saw what he saw. He had singled out one of the creatures approaching the school.

None of these things were easily recognized as former human beings. There was very little left to identify them as their formerly living selves. Most of them were almost completely decomposed. Legs were falling off of some of them. Arms were falling off the rest. But this one that Simon had spotted had hair like wire sticking, and all her appendages in tact. There was only one thing that I saw on this particular zombie that made me cry, made my lose hope. Like I said, I will never forget that yellow dress.