Chapter 7: 7 – Funeral (1)

After receiving the message from his parents, Jonathan was still down, but he kept an eye on Franklin, who was still unconscious.

Jane had woken up, and Jonathan told her to go take a shower after Nathan returned. In the room, there were Nathan, Jonathan, and Franklin. Nathan decided to give the gun to Jonathan.

It was very quiet. Nathan noticed that Jonathan was feeling more down than normal, so he asked, "What happened?''

Jonathan looked at the man, "I received a message from my parents''

Nathan, fearing the worst, asked, "They...''

''Have they died? No, but they are on the other side of the country, and with the situation as it is, I doubt I'll see them for a long time. Maybe never again.''

Nathan, after seeing the bravery Jonathan demonstrated when killing his 'parents', had forgotten that in the end, he was still an adolescent, and the news that he might never see his family again must have caught him by surprise.

''Look, son, if you want to talk about the situation, you can count on me.'' Nathan, although a coward, was still a good person.

Jonathan thanked him, "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I think I just need some time to process the information.''

And time was something Jonathan would not have, since Franklin, who had been unconscious until now, groaned. Immediately, Jonathan and Nathan went to the man's side.

While one had a gun in his hand and a notebook, the other was totally unprepared for what could be a person who had turned into a zombie.

''Brother?! Brother! Are you okay? Talk to me!'' Nathan went up to Franklin without thinking.

When Jonathan realized that Nathan had gone unprepared, he shook his head, 'Although Franklin is tied to the bed, he can still bite...'

But, lucky for Nathan, Franklin was still human. It took him a while to open his eyes, but as soon as he did, he asked, '' Did it work?''

Jonathan, who had already put away his pistol when he noticed that there was no danger, started to analyze the situation, 'He looks terrible, his fever hasn't gone down... I think it's too late.'

But of course, Jonathan wasn't going to say that now, "You just woke up. We don't know if it worked yet...''

'Bam!' The door to the room where the three of them were was forced open. Jane rushed to her husband's side, ''Love.''

Samantha, Eve and Nathanael came right behind her, '' Nathan's screams caught our attention, so we came to see what had happened ... is he going to get better?''

Jonathan didn't say anything about it, but he thought it was stupid that they had gone in like that, without seeing if it was safe beforehand.

'' We don't know yet. We have to wait and see how he's going to react... but he won't get out of bed, and someone with a gun has to stay close to him, just to make sure.'' Jonathan said and looked at Franklin.

The scene in front of him was of a hopeful Nathan, who loved his brother, and a somewhat normal couple, who was about to lose one of their members in a matter of hours.

Jonathan, who did not want to feel guilty about the situation, chose to leave the room. He went into the living room and stared at the TV, which now only showed the emergency news. 'The world went down the drain in less than two days... this is worse than I imagined.'

Although Jonathan has the means to survive peacefully in this world, the same cannot be said about the others, 'I have to think about how to use this to my advantage... Should I be a person who helps others or should I think only of myself...?'

Thinking of various things that could happen if he didn't have morals, Jonathan didn't realize that Samantha sat next to him. When he finally noticed, he asked, '' Did something happen?''

"I should ask you that.''

Jonathan looked at her with a doubtful look.

Samantha sighed, '' It's clear that you're thinking about some kind of difficult problem, and if you want to share it, you can talk to me. And I am sorry that I made you cut off someone's arm, Nathan should have done that. Sometimes I forget how old you are.''

''I did what I had to do, I don't think anyone else could do it... But, I do feel guilty.''

Jonathan decided to open up a little. '' I killed two 'zombies' who were once people, amputated a person, made him feel pain and he could still die.. and to make matters worse, I'll never see my family again.''

Samantha took a few seconds to absorb the information, '' First, it wasn't your fault that the two of them transformed. They were no longer human and you did the right thing. The situation with Franklin is a gamble, everyone involved knows that... you may or may not have saved him.''

Jonathan was not so guilty about the zombies, but the situation with his family was really affecting him.

''And regarding your family... I'm sorry. You are welcome to stay with us as long as you need to.'' Samantha hugged Jonathan.

'' ... Thank you.'' Jonathan broke the embrace and made an unusual request, '' May I borrow your thighs?''

Samantha's face turned into one of surprise.

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Jonathan woke up from a very good sleep, ' Best sleep I've had in years...'

When he opened his eyes, Jonathan saw Samantha looking at him, '' ... Good morning?''

Samantha replied as she massaged his hair, ''Good afternoon. It's only been an hour since you slept.''

Jonathan thanked the "pillow" and stood up, "What's our status?''

Samantha sighed, '' Since you were sleeping I couldn't go check on them, but Eve told me that her uncle was getting worse and worse... I guess the amputation didn't work out.''

Jonathan sighed. ' Although I hoped it would work out, it's still frustrating not to be able to do anything more for him.'

Then, Jonathan stood up from the couch, '' Shall we check on him?''

Samantha nodded, and the duo headed toward the room where Franklin was. Once they got there, as soon as Jonathan saw the situation, he knew that all they could do was wait, 'He already has one foot in the world of the dead... he has a maximum of 30 minutes.'

Nathan noticed Jonathan and Samantha and came to talk to them, '' The fever hasn't gone down, and he's not feeling well... he's going to die, isn't he?''

Jonathan remained quiet and then nodded, ''He has a maximum of thirty minutes.''

Nathan and Samantha started to cry. Then Jonathan said, "You are lucky to be able to say goodbye to him. Enjoy the remaining time... and give me the gun.''

This time, maybe to prove a point, Nathan did not hand the gun to Jonathan, "No! You've done enough for us, leave it to me.''

Still, the man was trembling. Jonathan did not want to hurt his spirit so he accepted the situation.''' I'll leave it to you. But please don't mess this up!''

As usual, Jonathan took the notebook from his inventory, ' In less than a week of the apocalypse, the notebook is almost full...'

Jonathan approached Franklin, who was still conscious, and started to write down everything he thought was important.

Franklin, the dying man, noticed Jonathan, ''Hey, kid... Do you have good news?''

Jane, who was standing next to her husband, looked at Jonathan hopefully.

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Jonathan, who noticed that Eve and Nathanael were still in the room, decided to speak the truth, 'Maybe the two will mature faster.'

'' Sigh... I'm sorry, but we amputated too late. You have at most one hour to live... I'm sorry.''

As soon as Jonathan finished speaking, Franklin's face didn't change, because he already knew he was dying. But Jane, Eve, and Nathanael, who were hopeful, started crying non-stop.

Franklin sighed and assumed a defeated look. He then said to Jonathan, "It wasn't your fault. You did the best you could.''

Jonathan thanked him, '' Spend the rest of your time with your family... and when you feel that the time has come, ask the others to step aside. Don't take risks.''

Franklin nodded, and Jonathan got out of the room, to leave the family to say goodbye. Jonathan looked at his notebook and began to think about what went wrong with the amputation, ' He lost a lot of blood...? Was it because we took too long to cut and the infection had already taken hold?'

Each time Jonathan stopped to think, he was left with more questions than answers. With an idea in his head, he grabbed his cell phone from the inventory and logged into the social networks.

Unlike the TV, social networks were still active, with lots of information being shared.

People told their location, people saying they were immune. Right things are in the middle of wrong things, the usual for the internet.

Jonathan didn't even click on these posts so as not to waste time. What he wanted was to release the information he had. He didn't know why he was doing this, since it would be just one more post among thousands, but he felt obliged to post it.

' Maybe it's because it will make me feel like I've done my part...? I don't know much about how the brain acts, but that must be it.'

As usual, Jonathan posted on every social network he had about what he had found. The amputations, that headshots kill, etc.

Against his instincts, Jonathan looked up the amputations on social networks. And as expected, he had a lot of information but no way to prove it.

He still wrote down the information he found relevant about the zombies and the bites. When he finished, he realized that exactly 25 minutes had passed. 'Franklin doesn't have much time left...'

Jonathan entered the room and noticed that Franklin already had his eyes closed, 'He's dead...'

Immediately he said to everyone in the room, ''My condolences, but you need to stay away from him! He could turn into a zombie at any moment!''

Even though Franklin was tied to the bed, it was always good to be cautious. But some people just don't listen.

While Samantha, Eve, and Nathanael left and went into the living room, Nathan and Jane remained close to the body. To Nathan's credit, he had his gun ready but was trembling.

Jane, however, was crying too much, "No! We have to do CPR! Maybe we can still save him!''

Seeing that she was hysterical, Jonathan tried to get her away from the body, '' He's gone, if that body moves again, it won't be your husband.''

Jonathan managed to get Jane away from the body, but just as he was about to leave the room and join Samantha, 'Franklin' began to grunt and move.

This caused Jane, who was almost out of the room, to break free of Jonathan and run to Franklin's side, '' Love!''

'' Shit! Nathan, hold her!'' Jonathan tried to run after the woman and hold her back before she could reach Franklin, but it was too late. Nathan was also slow to react.

Jane, who did not even check her husband's face, hugged Franklin, "I knew you were alive... Franklin?''

By the time she realized that something was wrong, it was too late. A bite to the neck was enough to make her scream and fall to the ground, into the pool of her own blood, '' ARGHH!''

Mind you, this happened in the span of fewer than 10 seconds, so there wasn't much Jonathan could do after Jane broke free. Nathan, on the other hand, had ten seconds to react, but did not.

Taking advantage of the fact that the zombie's reach was not long because he was tied to the bed, Jonathan went to help Jane, even though he knew she was beyond saving. ''Calm down! Stay with me!''

Jonathan tried to apply pressure, but the blood wouldn't stop gushing. To make matters worse, Jane's scream caught the attention of Samantha, Eve, and Nathanael, who came in screaming, '' WHAT HAPPENED?!''

What they saw in the room traumatized them. A zombie tied up, a person trying to help another who had had his artery punctured, and an idiot with a gun who didn't use it when he should have.

Jonathan also noticed Samantha, '' Come here! Put pressure on the wound!''

Samantha came out of her state of shock and went to help Jonathan. As soon as she put her hands on the wound, Jonathan got up and went towards Nathan, who was still paralyzed.

When Jonathan came closer, Nathan finally snapped out of his stunned state, "Jonathan, I'm sor-".

What he received was a well-aimed punch to the face. The gun he was carrying fell to the ground. Jonathan did not even look at Nathan and went towards the gun.

He picked it up off the ground and went towards Franklin. Jonathan aimed at the zombie's head, '' I'm sorry.''

'Bang!'

Silence filled the room. The only sound was Jane drowning in her own blood.

Jonathan sighed and came closer to Jane and Samantha, who was still putting pressure on the wound. 'She's already lost too much blood...'

''Get away from her.'' Jonathan said to Samantha.

'' ... Why?'' Samantha knew the situation was bad, but she still held out hope.

Jonathan shook his head, '' He bit an artery. It's a miracle she survived for more than 30 seconds. I can shoot her now and spare her for an agonizing end, or wait until she dies and shoot her anyway.''

Seeing that she had no other option, Samantha stood up and spoke to Eve and Nathanael, '' Close your eyes.''

They've seen me kill Franklin, but I think killing another human alive, even in this state, is a different situation. Jonathan then aimed the gun at Jane's head.

"I'm sorry.'' Jonathan swore that he saw a look of gratitude coming from Jane. It could be his mind trying not to make him feel guilty for letting her slip through his grasp earlier, but he decided not to think about it.

BANG!

Just like that, the residents of the house went down to only 4.5.

0.5 was Nathan.

 

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