Safe And Sound/Issue 1

This is the first Issue of Safe And Sound,

A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day 

Karen lay back up on the grass, something that had horrified her, but also at the same time interested her, as that the grass did not grow. It was like the whole world was dead, maybe it stopped spinning? She thought to herself. Highly impossible, of course, but it always made her think.

Joan threw the large rock into the thin cracked window, it shattered into millions of pieces and a large hole in the seemingly untouched house appeared. He whistled and three, skinny children came out from behind a car. Joan pressed his finger to his lips, two of the children copied while one just stood there waiting, Joan winked and raised one of the sharp pieces of glass and walked inside.

Karen stayed outside, standing on the porch, she admired the view that she had soon become used to. The sight of trash flying in the wind and dead people didn’t surprise her anymore, and the stench had become one with her body. Her body thick with sweat daily and bags under her eyes showed clearly more and more as the days went by.

A loud crash happened inside the house, Karen grabbed her knife and turned into the house quickly, she pushed the door closed with a rolled up newspaper holding it ajar. She saw a zombie lying with a cracked skull at the bottom of the blooded staircase. Robert’s head peeking over the banister, his eyes wide. “Where is Joan?” She whispers loudly, biting her lip and looking around. Robert looked over, running back up the stairs and entering one of the rooms. Karen quickly followed.

They entered what looked to be a large kitchen/dining room, despite the splash of blood here and there on the floor, it seemed untouched, for three years that was a jackpot. Sasha held a pack of bread in her arms, unopened, she still turned her nose up at it. “Its fine, only a little mould” Joan said, looking at Karen, her face frowning as she ran her fingers along the table. “You can cut it off…” Joan continued, reassuring her. “I think hunting is safer” Karen says quietly, hanging her head as Sean rummages in the cupboards behind her, Robert standing at the door keeping a look out.

Joan made his way downstairs, avoiding the rotting corpse and making his way into the large arched door room. There was a dead body slumped across the piano inside, a piece of paper lay on the table, crumpled and ripped. He picked it up and read it,

There is a gun in the piano for whomever may read this mother take care of Terisa Much love, Synthia

Joan shrugged, whoever these people where, they weren’t present, at least not alive. He reached into his pocket and brought out a lighter, holding it to the corner of the paper and setting it alight.

“We could probably stay here for the night” Joan smiled as Karen came through to the sitting room, stopping and looking at the piano. The room is silent for a few minutes, Karen in a deep daydream, Joan squeaks his chair and she jumps. “Oh, uhm, yeah…” She finally replies, stroking her finger across the piano, bringing up dust. Joan stands, putting his hands around the dead body slumped across the piano and pushed it off the seat, wiping the seat and looking at her. He leaves the room. Karen stands over the piano, looking at its scratched but smooth looking black surface. Music had always interested her, even though she could barely get her hands on music these days.

Sasha walked down the stairs and opened the door, she looked around to see if any zombies where outside, kicking away the newspaper and closing the door, lifting a chain and locking the door.

Outside was dark, according to Joan it was possibly 8pm, the cold started to settle in, Sasha, Sean and Robert bundled up in blankets and bed covers they’d found around the house. A nice home set up downstairs, next to the piano with some candles lit.

“Tomorrow, I say we go out into the forest, try our hand at hunting” Karen said. Joan nodded, rubbing his hands together, “Its better than eating this” She added, throwing the empty can on the ground and wrapping herself in her blanket, settling down next to Sasha and Sean, Robert lying beside Sasha and Joan sitting on top of the piano.

Joan takes a deep breath and jumps off, opening the piano lid and grabbing the shotgun that was inside, Karen sat up quickly and stared at him, startled a little. “What in the world?”

“There was a note, don’t worry” He smiles at her, placing the gun back down inside the lid and closing the curtains, taking the empty cans and lining them up against the door incase of an intruder. He pushed the sofa up against the arc, it just fit to make a barrier and he sat back on top of the piano, staring at the broken window in the hallway. He got up again, using a spare blanket and pulling it apart, using the string to create a thick stringy barrier, held by the glass. He returned to his sitting position on top of the piano, watching over the children. Robert was already sleeping soundly and Sasha lay on her back with her eyes half open.

Karen awoke in the middle of the night, the candles still burning and she was still wrapped in her blanket, she could see Joan in the candlelight, staring out the gap in the curtains, his eyes focused on one particular thing. “You not sleeping?” She asks as she slowly stands up, causing Sean to roll onto his back. Joan jumped, putting his finger to his lips and gesturing her to come over.

Karen slowly made her way to the window, he lifted the curtains slightly, she looked outside, a small pack of zombies roamed in the grass outside.

“They’ll leave by morning” She reassured him, putting her hands on his shoulders and rolling her thumbs. He kept his eyes on the group, putting the curtains back to how they were before, pulling the shotgun close.

The sun rose through the clouds. Joan leaning against the window frame, curtains in his face, he could hear something, some distinct moaning. He jumped up as he seen what it was, two zombies clawing at the window directly in front of him. He tumbled off the piano in shock, shaking his head and regaining balance. He closed the curtains and brought out the gun, just incase, he sat it on the piano. He looked over at everybody else, Karen lying on her side, her arm wrapped around Robert. Sasha and Sean spread out at the end. He smiled, they were at peace, which he liked. He walked around them and looked around the rest of the room. A large clock stood at the end of the room, behind the overturned dining table. He looked at it, the time was obviously incorrect, 2:34, as it was possibly 8am right at that very second.

“It’s very pretty, isn’t it” Karen said. Joan turned, realising that she was standing behind him. He nods, running his finger down the glass that held him from the clock’s face. “Very” “Its broken though… Doesn’t work anymore…”

Karen tilted her head to get a better look at the clock, it stood tall over at the small window.

“A broken clock is right twice a day” Joan says.

The group of kids walked along the road, Joan holding his gun that he had found earlier and carrying one bag, Karen carrying the other.

“Quick, what is 2 times 2?” She says, looking around frequently.

“six?” Robert guesses

“No, silly goose, three times two is six, but not two times two”

“Its four” Sasha says.

“Do it again!” Robert smiles.

Karen sighs, she loved to test the children. She had been teaching them for around a year now, a new topic each day, every day. It helped pass the time and in return they learned something new.

“Five times five”

Roberts eyes widened, he thought for a few seconds.

“I know! Twenty Five!”

Karen smiled at him, putting her hand around his shoulder.

Sean pushed his hand against his lips, thinking for a second. His eyes moving around his surroundings.

“Why is the sky blue?” He finally asks after some long thinking.

“I don’t know, I think its something to do with molecules”

“What is moli...Mollycules Karen?”

“Maybe we’ll save them for another day, just think of them all as being small round objects connected to each other”

“Like this?” Robert asks, linking his arm with Karen’s.

The group reached a small opening in a wall, Joan jumped through first and held his shotgun up, blasting through the heads of two zombies before helping the others over, before sprinting off through the trees before they reached the end of the road. Joan kept his eye out, Karen holding onto her knife in one hand and dragging along Robert, who was the smallest of the group, with the other hand.

They soon reached where Joan wanted to go, the country road, the long narrow road that took you out of Peterborough, at least, thats where they thought they were all along. Robert frowned, looking over Joan’s shoulder as he pulled off his bag and unzipped it, looking around every few seconds as he pulled a map from his bag.

“We’re going here, right” He said, putting his finger on the the map, it landed on Birmingham, a large, red, faint circle around the area. She nodded.

“Alright…” Joan threw his bag over his shoulder and lifted his hand to block the light from his eyes, looking around, he saw a couple of zombies on the road, which looked infinite.

“...Better get a move on” He grunted.