Chapter 8: 8 – Funeral (2)

Immediately after killing the couple, Jonathan turned to Samantha and his friends, '' ... I'm sorry. This was not supposed to happen ... but this is our new reality.'' He then looked at Nathan, '' Hesitation always leads to catastrophic results. If you feel that the situation is strange or something is wrong, run or fight, but don't hesitate.''

'' The world has changed, and most likely the government will not be able to handle what is happening. What was common until last week will now be a luxury. Zombies and humans will try to kill you. You need to adapt to our new reality as quickly as possible, otherwise... you may end up like them.''

Jonathan didn't say who they were, but everyone understood that it was Jane and Franklin.

Samantha was still crying, but she heard what Jonathan said and was trying to digest everything that has happened. Eve and Nathanael also looked as if they were trying to understand all that. And Nathan, after what happened, Jonathan has already given up on him.

''I will keep this with me.''Jonathan said and pointed the gun.

No one said anything against it.

'' ... Let's move all the bodies. Do you have a shovel?''

-------

After removing the bodies of Jane, Franklin, and Nathan's parents, Jonathan began digging graves for the quartet, along with Nathan and Nathanael.

Jonathan was very angry with Nathan, so the atmosphere was bad. Silence dominated the place.

''Father, do you think things will get better?'' Nathanael tried to improve the atmosphere by making conversation.

'' ... I don't know son, the most we can do is wait and see what will happen.'' Nathan said, but he did not have much hope that things would improve.

Jonathan wanted to say that nothing would change, that this is now their normal life, and that having a funeral is a luxury that many people won't have in the future, but he decided to keep quiet. 'Nathan already has an idea that nothing will change and Nathanael, even though he has seen me killing people, I don't know if he is ready.'

Although Jonathan was kind of arrogant and complicated, he really liked Eve and Nathanael. Jonathan saw the two as younger siblings, so he wasn't pushing things too hard for now.

'But Nathanael has to be ready, he and Eve. Maybe I can start some training with them, to teach them how to shoot...?' Jonathan himself didn't know very well how to shoot accurately, so much so that all the kills so far have been close range, so some training would do him good too.

'I can call Samantha to join in, too. But the noise of the gunshots would attract the zombies, and the house doesn't even have a fence... I can buy a silencer at the SHOP, and we can put up a fence around the house. But one of these days we will have to leave the place. It's not safe.'

Even if there was a fence, Jonathan was not so naïve as to think that the only problem with the zombie apocalypse was zombies, 'In most of the stories I read, humans were always a big part of the problem.'

A great example of a human problem is Nathan. He had the opportunity to shoot Franklin and save Jane but he hesitated, and it killed someone. Of course, the worst were the killers and bandits, but a useless companion was a big handicap.

'Nathan... I won't even try. I don't know if he'll be much help, I just hope he doesn't get in the way.'

2 HOURS LATER

Everyone was gathered in the garden of Nathan's house to pay homage to those who had died. Nathan was the first to speak, "When I heard what was happening to the world, I ran to help my family. But I failed not only once, but twice. And that cost me half of my family.''

Nathan cried again, "I'm sorry ... I promise to do better.''

Samantha, Eve and Nathanael also made a short speech. Everyone cried.

Then it was Jonathan's turn to speak, "Are you sure I can do it?''

Nathan nodded, '' I see no reason not to let you speak.''

Jonathan nodded and started to speak, "I will try to be as brief as possible. This will be for the living as well as for the dead.''

Jonathan sighed, '' As soon as the news broke that something bad was happening, I felt in my guts that it was the end of the world as we knew it. And by the looks of things, that's true. But that doesn't mean we should stop living, on the contrary, we have to fight even harder to protect ourselves and the ones we love.''

'' ... I'm sorry, even though I had made first contact with you hours earlier, I feel that I could have done more for you. If I had paid more attention to the bites, if I had done the amputation earlier, if I had held the person tighter. I did what I could, but it wasn't enough.''

'' But what happened to you won't be in vain. It can't be in vain! Everyone here has learned lessons that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. We'll train our bodies and our aim, see if we can put a fence around the house and go after food.''

''I promise that I will live my life to the best of my ability, trying to honor the legacy you left behind.''

After saying this, Jonathan was quiet. The funeral officially ended, but no one left the place. Only after a long time did the group start to leave the garden.

But before they could enter the house, Jonathan said, ''Wait.''

Everyone focused their attention on him. "I told you the truth. We have to start preparing for the end of the world. Samantha, see how much food we have and count it. If it's too little, let's go to my place because the pantry is full.''

''Eve and Nathanael, let's start practicing our aim. We only have one gun but plenty of ammunition, so let's make use of it. We also need to make a check in the neighborhood, to see how many are alive and how many are dead.''

''And Nathan... you will be in charge of setting up a fence. I will look for the materials and help you.''

Nathaneal and Eve interfered, "We want to help too!''

Jonathan looked at Samantha, who nodded, '' Okay, it's settled... everyone has their task. Let's make sure everyone stays alive and well.''

The funeral ended with the mood better than it started.

Jonathan began to think that maybe they had a chance of surviving the Apocalypse along with him.

' I'll use the SHOP to help...let's see how much they will improve with the training.'

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1 WEEK LATER

The outcome of this week was good. The food stock was good, thanks to Jonathan's pantry, which was so full of supplies that it took four trips to get everything to their location.

The group did not find any neighbors. The 5 were the only ones in the neighborhood. Of course, they didn't enter the houses, because there might be zombies, but they knocked on the door and no one answered.

Jonathan bought a silencer and said he found it in his father's safe. Nathan didn't believe him, but decided not to go any deeper. Eve and Nathanael already know how to shoot. Well, they know how to squeeze the trigger, accuracy is another thing.

Jonathan also improved his aim, but he was not an expert.

The fence was ready in 6 days. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep the zombies away from the house.

This brings us to today. The group was having dinner. They still had electricity, hot water, and the internet was working fine.

''Mom, today I hit 5 out of 10 shots! That's my new record!'' Nathanael was happy with his results.

''Look at you! I'm proud of you!'' Samantha ruffled Nathanael's hair.

Eve also wanted affection, so she said her result too, '' Mom, and I got 3 out of 10! That's my record too.''

"My two babies are already so big...'' Samantha also ruffled Eve's hair.

Jonathan and Nathan ate in silence. After Nathan had finished building the fence, Jonathan, even though he didn't want to, let him practice with the gun too. Nathan's accuracy was normal.

While the group was eating, the TV was turned on in case something happened. And, lo and behold, for the first time in days a news report was on TV.

' PSHHHHHHHHH...'

As soon as the TV rang, Jonathan was the first to react and went into the living room to watch. Nathan came right behind, followed by Samantha, Eve, and Nathanael.

The group stood in front of the TV. Who was there was the acting president. He looked terrible, "Are we on the air?''

He apparently asked someone, and he must have gotten a 'yes', because he started talking. because he began to speak, ''Well then... my fellow patriots. In the last few days, our world has been hit by an unprecedented catastrophe. Violent people, whom some of us call zombies, yes, those fictional monsters, have appeared all over the world. Many countries have already fallen prey to this virus, and I believe that ours will not last long either.''

The president showed the camera a bite on his arm, ''I don't have much time, so I'll tell you what the government found out about the zombies.''

He told them to shoot him in the head, amputation was confirmed to work, etc. After all this, the president sighed, "My friends, this is really the end of the world as we all know. I hope you can survive it.''

"God bless us all.''

The broadcast ended. The mood in the house was horrible because even though they didn't believe much, they all hoped that the government would help. But now... they knew it was impossible to receive any help.

Eve and Nathanael were crying and sobbing. Samantha and Nathan hugged them while Jonathan was not so affected, because he already knew that the government could not do much.

When the group was in the living room, the lights suddenly went out. Jonathan, fearing the worst, ran to see if there was any hot water. And to no one's surprise, the hot water ran out.

Jonathan returned to the living room, using the flashlight on his cell phone. When he returned, Nathanael asked, '' Where did you go?''

"I went to test to see if there was hot water.

'' And?''

Jonathan shook his head, '' It's over ... do you have a backup generator?''

Nathan nodded, '' Yes, but it runs on gasoline and we don't have much.''

'' How long would it last?''

"If we use it only for emergencies, it would last three weeks. If we take the fuel out of the car, maybe 2 months.''

Jonathan sighed, 'In the next couple of days, I'll have to 'explore' and find the suplements.'

Jonathan's plan was to disappear for a few hours, use the SHOP and return with supplements, but the group didn't know that.

''In a few days, I will go out for gas.''' Jonathan said and sat down on the sofa.

'' ... Thank you.'' Samantha thanked him.

"Don't worry about it. We're family.''

Silence dominated the room. The night was terrible for the group. They found that help is not coming, the power and hot water were either out or limited.

''What now?'' Eve asked no one and at the same time, to everyone.

''We will do our best to live... and hope for a better future.''

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