Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 31

Christopher Harris was prepared to die when he had stepped out of the old comfort station in Sancova Hills Park. He stood in front of the abandoned building for several minutes, waiting for Keaton to show up to rip his heart out of his chest.

But it never happened.

It never happened.

Why hadn't it happened?

Chris expected the relief. He expected his pain to disappear. He expected everything to go black.

He wanted to die.

His entire family had been taken away from him; his father and stepmother rotting in the building behind him. And his stepbrother, he could only guess.

He slumped to the cold, hard ground, sobbing loudly. There were no tears. Tears weren't possible. Several moments later, Chris found the strength to stand. He took a step. Then another. He was walking, but he wasn't sure the destination. He eventually found himself in front of Forty-Six Brooke Road.

Home.

Or what home used to look like.

He entered the building and made his way toward apartment 1A. When he saw the door slightly open, his heart dropped into his gut. He knocked several times before opening the door.

"Hello?" Chris squeaked, turning the light by the door on to reveal an empty living room. He stepped into the apartment. "A-Aaron?" he stammered. Chris wasn't sure what compelled him to call for his stepbrother. According to Keaton, he was dead. "It's me. . . . Chris." He slowly walked past the living room, into the narrow hallway leading to the bedrooms. "You here?"

He opened the door to the first bedroom. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Nothing could have prepared him for the smell.

On his father and stepmother's bed, a pile of bodies. Bloody and torn apart, the white sheets soaked in blood. All residents of the building. Even the landlord's body was in the pile.

Chris retched, backing out of the room and slamming the door shut.

Definitely the work of a dead walker.

Heart racing, he turned to the closed door of his old bedroom. Slowly, he made his way toward the door. Chris had no idea what to expect. Could Aaron's corpse be behind this door?

Or something worse?

Either way, Chris wasn't afraid to die. He grabbed the doorknob, turned and opened the door.

Sitting on his bed with his knees to his chest was Aaron, sobbing.

"A-Aaron?" Chris whispered.

Aaron immediately sat up and turned to stare at Chris.

His brown eyes gone.

Blank.

* * *

(Play song now.)

Benjamin helped Lainey to her front door. It was taking everything for him to keep himself from mauling her. Her blood-soaked shirt beckoned at him, but he ignored it.