Kody Boye - Sunrise

“It doesn’t bother me. Fuck. I just wish we would’ve thought to grab them before we left.”

“We weren’t anywhere near the supply closet when we had to leave, Erik. It’s no one’s fault.”

“I know.” Erik said. “Ok. Cool. You need meds.”

“That’s all I’m asking for.”

“You know what kind?”

“Symbyax, but I can deal with other stuff too.”

“We can do that on our next supply run.”

“So you’ll talk to Jamie and whoever?”

“I will.”

“Hey, Erik? Just between us…before, when I was in prison…after I was forced to rape that girl for my initiation…I used to think that no one would ever accept me after what I’d done.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. When the other guys I was with died—when Dakota and Steve killed them just as they should have—and I was sitting there with the plastic cuffs around my wrist and my life dangling on the line, I thought that I would never get a second chance. You know what though?”

“What?”

“I got a second chance, Erik. You guys gave it to me.”

“They don’t come often,” Erik agreed, seating himself at the foot of the bed. “But in my opinion, Ian, you’ve proven yourself in my eyes. I don’t care what anyone says: know in your heart that I, Erik Roberts, former member of the United States military, think you have redeemed yourself for what you’ve done.”

“Thank you,” Ian said, a tear snaking down his face. “So much, Erik.”

“So we need medicine,” Rose said. “What’s the big deal?”

“ What’s the big deal?” Jamie asked. “We’re in the middle of a fucking blizzard!”

“All I’m asking is to go to the drug store in town and see if we can find some of what Ian needs,” Erik said, raising his hands and slowly bringing them down. “Chill, Jamie.”

“ Chill?”

“He’s got a point,” Dakota said, setting a hand on Jamie’s lower back. “Jamie, if the drugstore’s in town—”

“And only a ten-minute drive away,” Erik interrupted.

“Right. Why not at least try?”

“Because it’s blizzarding for Christ’s sake!”

“Easy big boy,” Steve said, pulling Jamie back a few steps. “I say three of us, including Erik, go out and get the drugs. Think about it, Jamie. We can hit this pharmacy and we’ll be set for the whole winter.”

“If it hasn’t already been raided,” Rose said. She bit her lower lip when all eyes turned on her. “Sorry for being a pessimist.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Erik said. “Who’s with me?”

“I am.”

“Count me in,” Steve said.

“Then it’s settled,” Erik nodded, looking to Jamie. “We’ll take the truck and that’ll be that. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“You remember where the drug store is?” Jamie sighed.

“I do.”

“You can’t blame them for wanting to go,” Dakota said, draping a blanket over his boyfriend’s naked shoulders.

“I know,” Jamie sighed.

A knock came at the door just then, and shortly thereafter, it opened to reveal Ian, dressed in a pair of jeans and a hoodie much too small for his broad frame. “Hey,” he said, his deep voice dampened by the chill he’d obviously just walked through.

“Hey,” Jamie replied. Dakota smiled in response.

“I didn’t mean to send you out in the cold. I’ve been going without as long as I can.”

“You should’ve said something sooner,” Jamie said. “We were just getting Ibuprofen and stuff before.”

“I know. I already feel stupid enough about it.”

“Don’t worry,” Dakota smiled, reaching out to grip Ian’s hand. “I bet they’ll be back any moment.

Rose pulled the crowbar out of what remained of the zombie’s head. “Fuck.”

“Fuck is right,” Steve said, looking at his own corpse. “Talk about a surprise attack.”

“You ok in there, Erik?”

“Yep,” Erik said, looking out at them from behind the shatterproof-glass counter. “You guys should get in here.”

“We’re afraid we’ll mess something up,” Steve said. “Right, Rose?”

“Not exactly, but right,” Rose agreed. She dangled the weapon at her side and kicked the corpse over, grimacing when she saw the thing’s disengaged spinal cord. “It was on its last legs before I took care of it.”

“Pretty impressive stuff there,” Steve said. “You in the army or something?”

“No.”

“Just wondering.”

“Were you?”

“ Was. See the scar here? Bomb. Broke all three bones. I was honorably discharged with a purple heart.”

“You saved someone’s life?”

“And nearly lost my own in the process.”

“That’s something to be admired,” Rose said. “Not many people are willing to put themselves in harm’s way for someone else.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah.”

“Who for?”

“My friend Therese. Mary’s crazy boyfriend broke into the apartment and shot her after he saw the bite. Thinking back on it, it was the best option, but we didn’t know what was going on and what the bites did. Jerard was just about to shoot Therese before I killed him with a candlestick.”

“Shit,” Steve said.

“I bashed his skull in while he screamed for me to stop.”

“Did she make it?”

“No. She sacrificed herself so the people on the boat could get away.”

“She’s her own purple heart in the sky,” Steve said, looking up at the ceiling.

Rose looked up as Erik knocked on the glass and pushed a dozen bottles of pills through the porthole. “They’re marked,” he said. “See those little pieces of paper inside them? That’s the name of the drug. There’s no issue about getting them mixed up.”

Steve passed the bag to Rose. “How much more is left?”

“We’ve basically hit a gold mine,” Erik said, continuing to comb through the shelves. “We’ve got everything from Xanax to Oxycontin to generic Morphine in here.”

“Are we going to get all of it?”

“We might as well. Better we get it before someone else does.”

“Pew,” Rose said, shooting Steve with her index finger.

“No kidding,” Steve sighed.

“It’ll be a little while longer,” Erik said. “I don’t want to worry them, but it’s better we get what we can while we can.”

Rose said, “Hey, Steve? About Mary, Therese and what happened while I was on the boat. I saw hell and back over the last two months. I’ve seen people die, kill themselves, get eaten alive or throw themselves into the ocean to get eaten by sharks. I’ve had to kill people I thought were my friends after they turned and even when they didn’t, all because of this…this thing that’s happening. But you know what?”

“What?”

“It’s given me a second chance.”

“At what?”

“Life.”

“How so?”

“If this hadn’t happened,” Rose answered, “and the world hadn’t gone to hell, I would’ve been on the streets, spreading my legs so I wouldn’t have to be homeless for the night.”

“Shit,” Steve said.

“Shit is right,” Rose replied. “But despite everything that’s happened, I don’t regret any of it, because it’s made me the woman I am today. And I’m pretty damn proud of that woman.”

“They’re fine ,” Dakota said, hoping to God that Jamie would quit pacing back and forth.

“They probably just hit the jackpot,” Desmond said. “Seriously, Jamie, nothing has gone wrong.”

“They said an hour,” Jamie growled.

“Don’t be mad at them,” Ian said. “Be mad at me.”