Life After the Undead (Completed)

PART 11: Hibernation .1

Will's P.O.V.

Evelyn was actually pretty reasonable.

She had a gun pointed at us to make us go down into the basement on the first day. It was a shot gun, and it didn't shake in her grip, which meant she was completely serious about this, but that was it.

We were so well behaved about going down there, and so whiny about how she so did not need a gun to encourage us, that, after that day, she trusted us to go down by ourselves.

We'd wake up, we'd get to make breakfast, take whatever we wanted to entertain ourselves with into the basement and then she would lock the doors. She was also pretty good at keeping the house working at a minimal level but just enough so that we had lights, water and enough electricity to run the TV she moved down there for us. She liked to remind us that she spent hours reworking her system to make all of that possible.

Because she was injured, Melissa got to stay upstairs with Connor, who we all immediately took a dislike to. Except for Rebecca, of course, because the boy was smitten with her and obviously giving her all that attention she had been craving from me.

I was sort of hoping that sooner or later she'd ask me if it was okay that she go with him and I would have to pretend to be upset while shoving her in Connor's direction and running away before he realized how high-maintenance and crazy she was.

If he took her off of me, there would be no take-backsies. He'd be stuck with her... forever.

We actually didn't have to down into the basement right away. The first couple of days she was back, she was too busy cleaning the interior of the house, and she made us help.

She had cleared the bodies away easily enough with the help of either me or Keith and that drifter guy Godrick. They were disposed of in the moat. After that was done she had either Keith or me move what was broke out of the house and onto the lawn. All while Rebecca was supposed to tidy and wash down walls.

She did nothing, the two injured parties were the ones who did all the cleaning. Evelyn had been livid when she realized what had happened. She almost killed Rebecca all over again, but Melissa talked her down, saying that she practically begged too.

But all of us knew what actually happened.

Once everything broken was out of the house, she made a list of things she needed replaced and even allowed us to add items to the list like before, all except Rebecca. Mostly because Rebecca kept asking for make-up and new designer clothes and other useless things, but also because we could tell that Evelyn really didn't like Rebecca.

Either way, Evelyn never wrote any of Rebecca's requests down.

When she was finally ready to go out and leave us behind, that was when we got the shotgun to the face and then forced down into the basement. But as I mentioned, after the first day she stopped doing that.

Firstly because she didn't need to. We knew the deal, we could go down without the scare tactics. Secondly, because she wanted one of us to go with her.

Turned out she needed the extra muscle.

She never took more than one person though, she only took one at a time. I guess cause she didn't trust us, which, again, was fair.

Mostly she took me, because I was helpful, she said. Keith was apparently too jumpy. She didn't trust Rebecca as far as she can throw her. And the other two were injured.

I had the feeling that Melissa would have gone, injury or not, but Evelyn's work wasn't easy. It involved a lot running. Well once we started going into the city for supplies and new furniture there was less running, but only because zombies weren't milling through Ikea and other furniture stores.