Apocalypse Life/Issue 3

Issue 3 - Life Goes On
"Uncle Henry!"

Julius ran toward Henry and hugged him. Henry patted his back slowly. "Relax kid, I ain't dead yet..."

They went inside the front door of the house right away. Inside, Henry closed the three locks and stuck a door stopper on his door's knob.

Julius took off his backpack and sat on the couch, thinking of what he's seen. Henry enters the room, pouring bottled water on a glass. He gave it to Julius. "I don't trust the tap water. Least this one's bottled for a while now."

Julius took the glass and drank it. Henry sat on a comforter in front of him and opened the TV. All it showed was the emergency broadcast. "Been loopin' for two days now. Don't know what's been happenin' with my favorite shows."

Henry looked at Julius, who was staring into the ground beside him as he drank his water. "So... how'd you come to your senses?"

Henry looked at him, a blank expression with a slight tint of worry on his face. "My sister called me. Talked to me for hours. Told me so many things..."

"She did a good job then. Just a few days ago you're still refusing to believe all of this. So much so that I started believin' you. I was gonna cancel my nuclear shelter...."

Julius subtly smiled, and laid quiet for a few seconds.

"Has your phone line been working? Whatever I call I get automated messages..."

Henry looked at the phone hanging on his dining room wall. "All the lines are dead. It ain't just your phone."

Julius placed his glass on the table. "Have you heard anything from my parents?"

Henry's eyebrows started to curve a bit. "Nobody's called me for days. Not even Brian..."

Julius stood up. "I've gotta go get them, and I want you to come. I was figuring we could use your car--"

Someone started banging on his door. The banging's rythm was normal, not so unnatural. Henry stood up from his seat and looked through the door's peep hole.

"He doesn't look to friendly...."

Julius turned to him. "Who is it?"

Henry was still looking through the hole. "A hoodlum."

Somehow, this sent Julius back to his senses. He grabbed his backpack, and hoped to get his godfather ready.

"I forgot we'd been losing time... i-it's just been a while since I had a breather. We need to go soon."

Henry turned around, and grabbed his rifle. Julius had forgotten to ask him about his gun skills all this time.

"When did you learn how to use that thing?"

Henry pulled it up to his chest and started brandishing it. "My friend urged me to go to the shooting range with him.... been doing it a few weeks now. Never thought it'd come in this handy...."

He kept looking at it, then looked at Julius. "Where're you going anyway, kid? Looks like you'll need more stuff."

Julius took his backpack off and held it by the straps. He opened it and started examining what items he had inside. "I'm going to get my parents. Then, we'll hold off somewhere until I meet my sister..."

Henry pauses for a bit. "Take what y'can in my fridge, kid." He walks toward his couch, grabs the displayed photo frame, and sits. Julius hadn't noticed this, and starts looking in his refridgerator. He rummages, and starts putting useful items on his backpack. He had noticed that Henry did his shopping; numerous canned and packaged goods were stockpiled inside it. "Give me another bag, uncle. We'll need as much as we could." No response.

Henry turns for a second, then resumes packing up. After a while, he checks up on Henry. He sees him looking through the door to his backyard. Henry takes notice of him, and motions him to be quiet. He silently moves away from the sliding door. "Need more bags, kid? Looks like you could use a bigger one..." he says, silently.

"I'm cool with this one, uncle.... but maybe you should grab one for yourself. All this food can't go to waste..."

Henry vanishes for a bit, and returns with more bags. "Really though, kid. I don't know how you'll be haulin' all this... just grab what you can."

Henry hands him a small duffle bag. Julius takes it and starts piling it up with more food. "Don't worry kid. My appetite ain't that big. Take what you can."

"Start packing, uncle. We have to leave soon."

Julius resumed packing food and examining how much it'd weigh. Henry continued to sit on his couch, not packing anything.

"Uncle Henry? What's wrong?"

Henry continued to sit, relaxed, looking at him.

"Sorry kid, but I ain't coming with you."

Julius curves his eyebrows, and starts looking worriedly at him.

"No... no, you're kidding, Uncle. C'mon. I know you love this house and.... I know it'll be hard to kill those things out there, but I'll be here. The more of us here...."

Somehow, the look on Henry's face stopped Julius from talking.

"You're a good kid, Jules.... but I've got business to tend to."

He stands up, grabs his gun, and hands it to Julius. Julius drops his duffle bag and takes the rifle.

"No. This isn't right. You're coming with me Uncle, whether you like it or not..."

Julius hands him the gun back.

"Kid, your aunt Quinn is up there. She hasn't been sleepin', or.... reading, or... anything. She's just up there, not knowin' what she's doing."

Julius's jaw started to drop slowly. His eyes started to gleam a bit. Henry turns away from him, rubbing his forehead.

"Was bit last night. Now, the news told me to stay away from her, quarantine her, that bullshit.... but I didn't. I love that woman too much. She told me she'd be up there, sleepin' it away. I figured the hospital can do somethin' about it... so... w-we waited. I called as much as I could."

Tears started to stream down Julius's eyes. "I... I can go rush to the hospital, look for a solution---"

"It's alright, kid. It's alright."

Julius stood still at first, then sat on the comforter. Henry sat on the couch.

"She laid in bed all day the next day, tellin' me everythings OK.... but it wasn't. She stopped breathing by the afternoon.... and hell, II can't look at her now. I left her in our room."

By this time, Julius started to hear the footsteps upstairs.

"I can't do it, for the life of me, kid. Took me all that afternoon until I finally grabbed my gun. Figured I'd blow steam off... so I practiced on a few outside. After a while, I'd killed about six. Turns out, I ended up savin' you."

Henry looks at his rifle, which was on the floor.

"I've gotta face this, kid. And even then, I ain't done."

Julius wiped the tears off his face. Something about the look of his uncle stopped him from persuading him further.

"I'd really love to see you through, kid... I don't want you bein' in danger.... but, this is somethin' I gotta do."

Henry stood up from his seat, and grabbed his gun. He grabbed the duffle bag full of supplies and gave it to Julius.

"C'mon, kid. You gotta move."

Julius stood up, and hugged Henry.

Henry patted his back.

Julius unlocked the locks, and removed the door stopper. He exited the house, with his uncle looking over him.

The car that was once parked on Henry's driveway was gone. The streets were empty, much like how it was when Julius entered the neighborhood. There were no signs of walkers.

Julius resumed walking, far away from what was once a place he regularly visited. He was hoping he'd leave with a car, and another person to accompany him, but it wasn't fulfilled. He remembered having the same thoughts just hours before, but he realized he didn't have the same circumstances his uncle had. He realized, that even though this world has changed, life has to go on, as long as he's living.

Just as he walked a short distance away from the house, he heard the same gunshot that saved him.