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visionofwriters-deactivated · 6 years

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Dark Windows - Chapter 2

The cutlery clinked as the "family" ate in silence. Judy had tried to lighten the mood with a few jokes earlier on, and as far as Eleanore knew, that's all she did. Apparently, she had two children (two girls or two boys?) that had died during the apocalypse. Eleanore wondered if Judy had always been like that or if it was just the result of the death of her family. Just in case, she added "Meet a humor-less Judy" to her mental list of "Things To Do If I Go To a Universe Where The Apocalypse Never Happened". She liked to say the whole name in her mind instead of thinking of an abbreviation. It was her own kind of humor.

"We're short on water," Dolly said, interrupting Eleanore's thoughts.

"Who was on the last water trip?*" Margaret asked, folding her hands and looking across the table. Since she was the oldest, everyone considered her the leader and followed her directions. The only one that dared threaten her orders was Bonnie, her daughter, and even those threats where very occasional.

"Beth and me," Judy said, dipping her turkey in the soup

"Was there any left in the store?"

"We went all the way to Oklaser," Beth said. Eleanore leaned a little bit across the table to hear her. "The store on Pearey only had spoiled bread."

"What about on Lioness? Have we already gone there?"

"We tried, but it was full of zombies." Eleanore jumped into the conversation, fondling with her spoon. "There's a river nearby, so the store is probably intact*."

"Maybe instead of two, four people can go, " Dolly said.

"Yeah, and if there's a river there has to be a bridge, right?" Judy said, moving her hands to explain her idea. "Go through the bridge.

"That's a good idea." Margaret nodded. "Dolly, Judy, Eleanore and..." She looked across the table at the person in front of Eleanore. "Beth, do you want to stay or go as well?"

"I think I'd rather stay." Eleanore frowned. Nobody asked her what she wanted to do. She didn't give it much thought though, as she knew she'd still go if she had been given a choice.

"Perfect. Dolly, Judy, Eleanore and me will go."

Officially, Dolly did not like bridges.

They were bumpy and had rocks and zombies crawling on the sides and they were NOT made for cars, especially a microbus.

"Gah!" Dolly heard Eleanore and Judy yelp in unison from the backseat. There were no seatbelts on the back, and the rocky path was probably making them jump. Eleanore grunted and said, "Gee, be more gentle, will you?"

Dolly grunted as well in response. She had learned it was better not to respond to Eleanore's snarky comments.

"We're almost there," Margaret assured them. Dolly looked up and realized she was right. She had kept her eyes on the corners of the road, careful to smash any zombie's hands from trying to crawl up and not fly off the bridge. The street was pretty, white banisters and red brick buildings. In the side of her eyesight though, was a one-floor convenience store.

"Hey, careful!" Judy pushed her shoulder slightly. Dolly returned her gaze to the corners and realized the car was going sideways and was about to fall in the water. She quickly turned on the wheel, also careful not to fall on the other side. She didn't need to worry though, as the bridge finished and the car stepped onto the street. Now that they were on a floor actually meant for cars, their drive was smooth and quick, and in seconds they were already in an alley behind the store.

"The door is locked," Judy told them, still trying to turn the doorknob.

"Of course," Margaret sighed, pausing to rub the bridge of her nose. "Is there a piece of wood or something hard we can use to smash the door open?"

"No..." Eleanore said looking around. "Our best option would be going to the front."

"It's full of zombies though," Judy said, now trying to unlock the door with her hair clip.

"Maybe we can smash one of the windows-" Dolly was interrupted by the sound of the door clicking. The three girls turned to see Judy in front of an open door.

"Boss!" Eleanore smiled, interrupting the silence and sneaking beside Judy to get inside. The others followed, and Judy stayed behind to lock the door again for zombies.

"Alright, we'll split up," Margaret said, rounding them up at the entrance of the store. "Dolly and Eleanore, try to get any food that is non-perishable or spoiled. Judy and I will search for the water."

The first floor was always dark. Beth hated it, even though it seemed she spent most of her time there. She wasn't one of reading, which was the only possible entertainment, so she was always in the kitchen. She was the only one that wasn't really annoyed by cooking a lot. Sometimes, some of the girls would take her place and let her rest, but in those times Beth got terribly bored.

Whether she had fun killing zombies or not depended on the situation. She wasn't like Eleanore, who put all her anger (that was a lot) into the killings. Sometimes she did have fun, breaking zombies' necks as she imagined them as her parents, who had almost prevented her marriage.

Oh, how she had loved him.

They spent three months in a bliss until he bought that fancy new serum circling the market. Beth still remembered her wedding day. It was the sixth of March (he had decided, she wanted June 18th), underneath the beautiful sun with the shade of an oak tree.

Beth chuckled to herself. The perfection of that day and the three months that came afterward surely were a sign that something was going to go wrong (oh, so terribly wrong).

She guessed her situation was better than Judy's, who was married for two years and had twin boys. Or better than Margaret and Bonnie, who lost their husband/father. No, theirs was better than anyone else's. They had each other.

"Beth?" Beth looked up to see who had interrupted her thoughts. Speaking of the devil, it was Bonnie. She was wearing a yellow dress too long for her short stature. Beth made a mental note to sew the sleeves and give her one of her extra poodle skirts.

"Yes?"

"Is there something you need help with? I'm kinda bored and there's nothing else to do..."

Beth was surprised to hear that. The young girl surely didn't seem bored locked in her room listening to music for two months straight.

"Yes, there is," Beth said, smiling slightly to herself. "Come on, follow me.

Margaret walked her hands in the run-down sink. The downstairs bathroom was reserved for cleaning up if needed after going outside. Ray wasn't allowed to go in, of course, as at least the sink was probably infected. No one really knew how the plague had spread so fast, but the family's theory was that it clung to solids. A zombie could spread their plague into a piece of wood, for example, and then if a man touched or was in close proximity to the infected piece of wood he would be infected himself. That's why they were so careful.

Margaret shook her hands above the sink and opened the door into the house. She walked upstairs and opened the door to her room. She was surprised to find the room empty, her daughter nowhere to be seen. She smiled a little bit as she thought that finally, she was going out of that damned room.

Margaret took off her shoes next to the drawer and out another, a cleaner pair from beside the chair before walking back out. As she was about to walk down the stairs, she heard a soft yelping coming from the other shared room. Margaret ran to it, expecting the worst, and opened it, slamming it into the wall.

What she saw surprised her to no end.

Bonnie was on top of a box, wearing a white shirt rolled up to her elbows tucked into a soft purple poodle skirt. On her knees was Beth, string, and needle, sewing a seam in the skirt.

"Oh, hello Margaret!" Beth smiled, standing up and grabbing Bonnie softly by the shoulders to turn her around so Margaret could see her final result. Her stepdaughter's features had always been very soft, so it was such a loss she spent half her time frowning. Her long brown hair (the same as her father) was brushed down, her fringed made to look thick as they used to show in the magazines. The poodle dress elongated her figure, making her short stature more poised.

Margaret smiled.

"Look how pretty you are!" Margaret took Bonnie into her arms, lifting her off the box.

"Mom!" She groaned kicking her legs as Beth giggled. "Mom, stop!"

"Why is everyone screa- Wow!" Judy entered, joining Beth in her giggles as Margaret finally let Bonnie on the floor.

"Guys, don't-" Bonnie groaned, her shoulder smothered in her mom's shoulder.

"Oh my god, you're so chrome-plated!" Eleanore came in, cackling at the annoyed girl's new look.

Bonnie groaned yet again and finally managed to squirm away from her mother and storm away from the room, leaving the four women laughing in the room.

Ahhhhh!!! I surpassed a thousand words this time, I'm proud of myself :)

Anyways, to make some things clearer:

They go on water trips to find drinkable water on stores (since there isn't running water anymore)

The store next to the river is intact because besides eating human flesh, zombies search for water by breaking into stores and stuff. If there's a river, the zombies are drinking from there and don't need to search in convenience stores.

Also a little 1950's slang dictionary:

boss - cool

chrome-plated - dressed up

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

#originals #didn't like this chapter as much oops #is demotivation a word #ughh #visionofwriters #1950 #zombies #dw #darkwindows

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