Colt had to laugh but hearing Tabitha’s jokes made him cringe, he thought the kids would die of embarrassment, but Beth running to get Ceara a blanket was really sweet. He waited for Alden to get up with the rest of them, “How are we doing the cabin thing? We al
l going to just go wherever?”
Alden shook his head, “Damn
,
you kids are about helpless without me ain’tcha?”
Colt got a look of indignation, “Damn man, it was a respect thing
, but fine we will make do.”
Colt turned to Beth, “You ok with us staying in the same cabin we had before? Charlie and Ceara can get the one they already claimed and Tabitha, I think you are stuck
with your favorite over there.”
Colt watched as Ceara a Charlie both darted into their cabin not saying a word, he wondered if they were wanting alone time or just to avoid the jokes that were in all their minds.
Colt looked back to Beth, “That was really though
tful to grab her that blanket.”
Ceara thanked Beth and wrapped the blanket around her to cover her chest. She ran into the cabin chocking again on the smell, she turned to Charlie, “I know that was supposed to be funny but, well it really was humiliating.” Ceara looked around the room seeing the three
bodies;
she swung the blanket off her shoulders and laid it over the little girl. “I’m going to see if I can find any cloth
es or something to change into.
The largest bedroom held a queen size bed and large oak dresser with a mirror. The cover on the bed looked like an old patchwork quilt and it reminded her of her grandmother’s bedroom. In the closet she only found one triple x-large flannel shirt. “Well it will have to do.” She yanked it off the hanger and slid it over her head without unbuttoning it. Rolling up the sleeves and tying off the bottom to try to get it to fit a little better. She walked out and did a spin for Charlie,
“No much but hey it ain’t wet!”
Charlie had stripped of his wet shirt and hung it on the mantel, “Yeah
,
wel
l I am just as dry as you now.”
Ceara
caught herself staring
at his bare chest
,
then quickly tried to get busy cleaning. “What do we do f
irst? Just get the bodies out?”
Charlie looked around, “Yeah, we need them out first and I think Alden may want to burn them so the sme
ll don’t draw no more of them.”
They went to the hall linen closet and found a couple of sheets for the other two bodies and set to work.
Charlie looked at his watch he couldn’t believe it was only a little before noon. Plenty of time left in the day to get their cabin in a livable condition. He went to the kitchen and found package of rubber gloves in a drawer and came walking back into the room with Ceara. Tossing her a pai
r, “Here this will help a lot.”
They picked up the first body, or what was left of it and scooped it into the blanket, then put the next one in and hauled the blanket out and across the open area. As the two walked back in they stood and looked down at the little girl. Charlie started to shake as tears came to his eyes remembering the small pair of hand he had found clasped in prayer back in Topeka. “Goddamn it all.” He started to sob as Ceara put her arm around him, “
it’s
okay
”
she said,
“
she’s with God now.”
Charlie looked at her and told her the story. Ceara pulled him close in a tight hug, “I’m so sorry. You want me to do this one.”
Charlie gave her a squeeze,
“No… no I’ll be okay. I just wonder what kind of God would let this happen to little kids. Ceara I don’t want to burn her. It just ain’t right. I want her to have a funeral. I don’t know maybe that will help me get back some sort of the humanness I’ve lost.
”
He looked Ceara in the eyes, “
I don’t want to sound like an ass but I don’t
want to get as cold as Alden.”
Cea
ra took his hand, “Sure sweetie,
w
hatever you want,
it’s
okay
…
I think it would be nice.” They took their time and wrapped the girl’s body up in a sheet then tied it closed. Charlie carried it out in his arms and laid it on ground.
Tonto came over and sniffed it and Charlie looked at him, “No Tonto this one’s okay we’re going to do right by her.” Tonto sat down and looked at the body then at Charlie who was still fighting back the tears. Tonto
lied
down next to the body and put his head on his paws. Charlie just stood and stared for a minute.
Alden broke the silence, “Charlie there’s a shovel in the shed out back and some plastic tarps and duct tape. If you want
,
I’ll help you out. Let me get these burning over here and I’ll be around back in a few.
You go find a nice spot.”
Charlie lifted his head an
d
saw Alden walk away towards the other bodies. He couldn’t help but feel that when you thought you had Alden all figured out
,
he’d come out of left field with something like that.
Ceara walked out on the porch and looked at Charlie, “What’d Alden say?”
Charlie looked down at the little girl and to
Ceara. “He’s going to help me.”
Ceara smiled, “Did you expect anything less? You go do what you have to
,
I’ll play house and get this place re
ady for us.”
She stepped down and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek then turned and went back in waving at Beth and Tabitha. Charlie turned and looked at Tabitha first then Beth and walked awa
y to the shed shaking his head, wondering if Tabitha would ever stop make him and Ceara the butt of all her jokes.
Alden walked around the cabin and found Charlie working hard digging the grave. Charlie had picked a spot back against the tree line where they bowed in a little. There were wild Lilac bushes on one side that had just started to bloom in the spring air. Grabbing a shovel he walked up and without saying a word he joined in.
It took a good
two
hour
s
and the two men had it done. Alden looked to Charlie, “Why don’t you go get her, I’ll finish up smoothing out the bottom.”
Charlie climbed out and looked down at the grave. His only thought was how many he had dug when he had worked for the Church cemetery. Walking around to the porch he walked up
the steps
and called to Ceara, “Honey we’re about ready
if you want to come out back.”
Walking back down he saw Tonto laying right where he’d left him. As he reached down to pick her up
,
Tonto sat up at attention, as Charlie lifted the girl he stood and then moved to Charlie’s right side. Tabitha was watching the whole thing unfold from her porch. Walking down and past Beth and Colt’s cabin she called to them. “YOU GUY
S HAVE GOT TO COME SEE THIS.”
Colt and Beth walked out to see Charlie walking slowly around his cabin carrying the limp body with Tonto walking slowly beside him. Colt looked to the girls, “You Know I thi
nk we should go and join them.”
The girls nodded and as they started off Beth and Tabitha stopped to pick some purple and blue small wildflowers that grew sparsely around the ground. As the three of them rounded the cabin they heard the back door open and Ceara came down the steps. Alden was still down in the grave and Charlie was standing over it. Tonto had moved around to the head of it. Sitting up straight, Maximus had come from out of nowhere and was sitting next to Tonto. Ceara joined the others and held out her hand to Beth who took it then held hers out to Colt who held his to Tabitha.
Charlie knelt down slowly and handed the child to Alden who gently placed it in the bottom where he had placed a tarp. He then took the edges and folded it over her. His voice was gentle as he spoke words that none of them could make out. Once the tarp was folded he began to seal it with the duct tape. When he finished he reached to pull himself out and Charlie bent down
, holding out his hand
. Alden grabbed his hand and as he was pulled out he turned and faced the grave. He looked to Charlie, “Son this is you
rs, you want to say something?”
Charlie looked at him then to the others with tea
rs in his eyes, “Yes Sir I do.”
Alden stepped back as Charlie folded his hands in front of himself. “Lord this was a one of your children. We found her and we feel that she should be with you and the sisters. Sisters, this is Charlie
,
please take care of this little one
,
give her joy and happiness and peac
e.” He looked to his new family,
“
I want to ask you if you would a
ll join me in the Lord’s Prayer?”
Alden reached out and grabbed Tabitha’s hand then took Charlie’s, as Charlie’s closed the circle with Beth’s hand. He began, “Our Father…………..”
As soon as the prayer was done Ceara turned away from everyone wiping tears off her cheeks. She silently walked back to the cabin to continue cleaning. She had found a plastic bucket and dish-soap under the sink and filled the bucket with cold water, adding the soap once it was full. There was no rag so she looked around and found a ratty
,
old cup towel. The cute little image of a teddy bear holding a heart was faded and stained. Ceara shook out the dust and held it up, it was dirty but what caught her eye was the hole that was worn into the towel right at the heart. She started to cry again wondering if any of their hearts would ever be whole. Ceara lugged everything into the living room,
she
got on her hands and knees
and
scrubbed as hard as she could but it didn’t seem to get the blood out of the hard wood floor. Ceara rolled the area rug up and left it by the door for Charlie to drag out and went back to trying to clean the floor. As she got to the spot where the young girl had been Ceara sat back and just looked at the area with
many
thoughts going through her head. “Why were they here? Were they on vacation or trying to escape just like we are? Where the other people they burned
your
parents? What was
your
name?”
She pulled out the dish rag and wrung it out, Ceara began scouring the spot. After a few minutes she rinsed out the rag and saw the spot was coming clean. She sat back on the floor leaning on the couch and began sobbing, everyone was gone, her family, friends, co-workers all her neighbors… everyone. Seeing the bodies had been hard but burying the little girl was more than she could take. Ceara didn’t know how everyone else felt but
during that funeral
she was saying good bye to everyone
in her life, not just the girl.
Beth stood there with her head bowed and the tears fell from her face hitting the ground. Trying to hide the sounds of her mourning was quite difficult for this was actually the first time that she had cried since this whole mess began. She had deprived herself of crying when she had to kill her family because of the shock from all of it, not to mention the chaos that followed with hurrying to get out of there. Then there was that terrible text that she had received from her best friends Kelly and Brad. All of the pent up tears had been building from the very beginning and it took this
m
oment
of silence to cause the damn to break. Closing her eyes as tight as she could
, the
memories flashed behind her lids of her
eyes. Her
big
sister and how they would spend the nights together sleeping side by side when they were younger. How she had to wonder if she was at peace now and
now
in a better place where she could walk, run and play. Then thoughts of everyone else whom had succumbed to the infected or the ones like each one of them standing there were trying to survive another day. Yes, it was this funeral for this small young little girl that was the str
aw that broke the camel’s back.
The sound of Ceara turning to leave caused Beth’s eyes to open and when she looked over her shoulder Beth quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.
S
he took in a deep breath because she hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath for all of that time.
Tabitha seeing Beth’s reaction caused her to gently place her hand up on her shoulder, “Beth, how about we leave the boys here and we c
an go get the cabins tidied up.”
Beth looked over at her and with her voice breaking she replied, “Ok, Tabitha.” Both of the ladies walked back to the cabin where Tabitha placed the dolly and Beth’s
Chappy
on the mantle. When she got to the door she noticed for the very first time that there was an old fashioned wooden oak
,
park bench sitting
under
the window. “Beth, let’s sit outside for a little while and just leave the d
oor open to air the place out.”
Sitting down with Tabitha, Beth looked out
, just
keeping an eye on the woods in case more infected would be lurking. Tabitha placed her hand over on Beth’s and said, “It’s going to be alright and even if it’s not…well it is right
for
now. I mean we got ourselves a pretty good group here and even though you and I got off on the wrong foot I think we are going to be good friends.”