Land of the Dead

Epilogue

Land of the Dead

Epilogue

On the other side, where only darkness and desolation penetrated its base, lay her scattered remains.

Every now and then, they'd all go and visit. Keep notes about everything they'd gone through with her. How she had started the apocalypse, and how she'd given away the cure that had ended it.

It had been nine years since the apocalypse had ended, and a new era had begun.

//////

"Yes, Ivy, I understand. We'll go visit Jett tomorrow. And the rest of them." Alice paused, balancing the phone on her shoulder as she jotted notes down on a notepad. "What do you mean you don't want to go tomorrow? Do you ever want to go? Just because she was a bloody moron doesn't mean- oh bloody hell, give it a break. Okay, good. I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye."

She placed the blue pen she was holding down onto the notepad and put the phone back in its original spot, before calling out to her husband. "We're going to the graveyard tomorrow."

"Okay then," Her husband replied, walking into the room where Alice was stationed. Her hair grazed her shoulders now; it was a lot shorter than what it once was. It was no longer blonde, but its original colour; an oak-brown.

Her husband picked up their daughter and swung her onto his hip. She giggled slightly, pointing towards the ground where Lego bricks lay scattered everywhere. Their son laid among them, playing around with them.

"Look daddy!"

"I see," He eyed the Lego bricks, making Alice simply smile. He reminded her of Slate, in many different ways. Blue eyes, black hair. Except his eyes weren't as blue as what Slate's once were.

//////

"Naveen!" Flynn shouted, watching as a young girl with curly, thick orange hair divided into pigtails darted around the kitchen wearing a tinfoil hat. She was profusely banging a pot-pan on the Caesar-stone bench-top.

"Quit it, your mother is trying to...Naomi! Get down from there!"

His other daughter had climbed up onto the kitchen bench-top and was now dancing wildly to a television program.

"Naveen, honey, please settle down. And Naomi, get off the bench-top sweetheart, you'll hurt yourself." Ivy beamed as she stood in the doorframe to the kitchen, hair now long and scraped back into a ponytail. Flynn had cut his fringe and slicked his hair back with gel. He looked more mature than ever.

"Where's Nicki and Lukas?" Ivy asked Flynn.

"How would I know?" Flynn replied as he helped Naomi down onto the ground.

"Oh, I also forgot to mention- we're going back down to the graveyard tomorrow. I'd like to convince Alice and see if we can go to some sort of Cafe afterwards; preferably Starbucks."

"You and your Starbucks. Why not Nandos?"

"Oh quit it, Starbucks sell my iced-tea."

"And Nando's sell my chicken."

~*~

Flynn and Ivy rolled up first with their four children. Ivy searched her surroundings for Alice, her husband and two children, but they weren't found anywhere.

"Looks like we got here first!" Ivy called out to Flynn, who helped Nicki out onto the ground. Ivy opened up the rear car door and helped her two daughters Naveen and Naomi out. Flynn rounded the car, holding Nicki and Lukas' small hands.

A few moments later Alice finally showed up with her two children and her husband.

"Now we can finally enter." Flynn muttered. Ivy suddenly remembered something.

"Ooh, Alice, can we go to Starbucks afterwards if you don't mind?"

"How about Nando's instead?" Flynn suggested. They'd had this conversation before, so Alice knew how to respond immediately.

"I know where we can go- KFC."

"Oh for goodness sake hell no." Flynn murmured.

"We should get going." Alice's husband coughed out. Alice beamed at him, silently agreeing.

"Right- sorry." Flynn lead the way, nervous about encountering where Rosemary lay. He began to slow down his pace until he finally caught up with Alice.

"Hey, you know...I was wondering, maybe, instead of going to KFC, we could go to Starbuck's like Ivy had suggested before?" Flynn scratched the nape of his neck.

Alice smiled. "I see what you're trying to do."

Flynn smirked. "Yeah. So is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a maybe."

Once they reached the location of Victoria's grave, which came first, they all bowed their heads in respect. Naomi and Naveen began fighting however, and Flynn had to pull them away from each other, clearly agitated at the fact they'd broken a minute of silence for the dead.

Beside Victorias grave were the twins. Alice knelt down and ran her fingers over the smooth surface of a crinkled photo; it was a picture of their whole family, not just the twins themselves. She swore she'd seen it somewhere before; and remembered that Slate was holding a photograph all those years ago when they'd first found Lily and Lani. She smiled at the memory.

They didn't do much when they passed by Roses grave. Ivy felt like it was rude, however, and got her children, along with Alice's, to go out and pick the perfect flower. A few moments later they returned with a lily, placing it beside her grave. Ivy smiled. The twins and Rose used to get on a lot.

"Can we get a rose for Rose...mary?" Naveen beamed.

Ivy chuckled. "Leave it for next time, sweetheart."

Naveen had a look of pure disappointment on her face, but instantly her features lit up again as soon as she pranced onwards.

Alice knelt down at Slates grave, which had come next, and whispered a 'Thank you' to him. She was happy for meeting him. Flynn and Ivy said their last goodbyes to their best friend, saying a goodbye to Sienna who lay beside Slates grave too, and then moved onward.

In the very centre of the graveyard, stood a statue which caught and reflected the light. It was made of granite, but was chipped at the edges, and covered in moss.

"Jett," Alice breathed out. She missed her brother dearly.

"Look! It's Uncle Jett!" Her son cried out, pointing at the statue.

"Why is he made of rock?" Nicki asked. This earned a faint laugh from Flynn.

"Nicki, he was once a person like us. That's just a statue."

"Where is Uncle Jett?" Nicki asked again. Flynn didn't want to reveal that he was buried six feet underground.

"He's not your uncle, Nicki. And Jett...he's somewhere above."

Nicki looked up at the cloudless sky and had to shield her eyes from the sun. "I can't see him!"

Flynn shook his head. "Don't worry Nicki."

"The...one...who saved us all!" Lukas read aloud, pointing at words that had been etched into the stone. Ivy clapped.

"Well done Lukas!"

"He truly did save us." Flynn smiled. "He saved us from an eternity of suffering, and pain."

Alice looked down at the ground. She'd lost her brother. She'd lost one of the many loves of her life. She'd lost friends, and she'd lost enemies. But in the end, she'd never ended up losing herself. Her, like many others, just kept on living.

☆