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Solace

Chapter 85

Lindsey gradually opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to her surroundings. With their tiny bedroom bathed in a golden morning light, everything seemed frozen in time as the room remained perfectly still and quiet. In a relaxed fashion, she stretched out her legs under the white sheets. Her back needed a good stretch, too, but she didn’t want to move for the fact that her husband had his arm circled around her waist, his bare chest to her back. She breathed deeply and let her gaze drop to the nightstand a few feet away. Sunlight cast a shadow across her knife in such a way that she could read the words carefully etched into the handle.

So yesterday was real.

She thought she had dreamed it. The past twenty-four hours were almost too good to be true. Thinking back to the ceremony, the celebration – God, she loved those people, her family. They’d given her and Rick something special, and if the world went to hell today – like, more than it already had – she would die happy.

Rick’s hand brushed the underside of her breast as he awakened from his restful slumber. He inhaled on a yawn and exhaled softly into her messy hair, nuzzling the nape of her neck. She rubbed her backside against his growing arousal and released a sweet sigh when he swept her hair aside to kiss along her shoulder. His hands continued to roam, growing bolder as she arched into his touch. He lifted her left leg over his own, fully exposing her to him. His lean fingers found her wet and ready. He dipped two digits into her slick opening, which earned him a low moan. Eager to be one with her again, he removed his fingers, held her hips steady and allowed himself to be absorbed in her velvet heat.

An hour later, after making love and simply enjoying some time alone together, the carefree couple decided to get dressed. Rick was back to his usual wardrobe – boots, black jeans, and gray t-shirt – while Lindsey wore dark jeans tucked into her boots and a navy blue racer-back tank top. She watched Rick adorn his gun belt as she attached her knife to her own belt.

After freshening up in the bathroom, she met Rick in the kitchen, where he was waiting for her with a hot cup of tea. She smiled as she accepted it, briefly flashing back to when he’d offered her the same gesture while they were staying at the cabin. She had just suffered through her usual nightmare about Jared, only to have him be replaced by Rick. Maybe she should have known back then that there was something different about Rick. Surely she wouldn’t have known he’d become her husband, but perhaps identified that they shared a connection on a deeper level, though, she wasn’t complaining about the marriage part.

Lindsey occupied a seat across from Rick at the small table and watched him sip his steaming instant coffee. Her brain promptly registered how his lips would taste if she kissed him right now. She reached over to grasp his free hand, and he brought her soft palm to his lips.

“Should we get--?” Lindsey began.

A scream shattered the peaceful morning, making the little hairs on the back of Lindsey’s neck stand up straight. It came from nearby, somewhat muffled, but grew louder and more desperate. Rick and Lindsey launched from their chairs, sloshing tea and coffee onto the wooden tabletop, and pushed through the screen door. The shrieks were coming from a bungalow the next row over. They sprinted down the path, swatting at low-hanging leaves, to arrive in front of Zoey and Bill’s place. Abraham and Rosita burst out of their bungalow a few lots down and followed the newlyweds up the steps.

Lindsey’s first assessment showed that Zoey was fighting with someone, then that someone became her father – her dead father. With gray skin and empty, clouded eyes, Bill had taken on full walker form. His solid arms reached for his daughter, but it definitely wasn’t for a hug. Zoey did everything in her power to keep him at bay, but her small frame put her at a disadvantage. If they hadn’t shown up when they did, the girl wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Abraham dashed across the room and snatched Bill’s arms, holding them behind his back. “Get her out of here!” he yelled to Lindsey and Rosita. The two women grabbed Zoey and rushed her out of the bungalow, where the girl proceeded to collapse into a fit of tears on the front steps.


Meanwhile, as Abraham restrained Walker Bill, Rick armed himself with his knife. Holding the side of Bill’s head, he forcefully stabbed the blade into the former Army Sergeant’s ear. While unpleasant, it was the best way to put down a freshly-turned walker because the skull hadn’t decayed enough to easily go through the top. Bill’s body sagged and the men guided him to the floor. Rick stood and removed a rag from his back pocket to wipe the blood from his knife, and then threw it in the trash. After replacing his knife, he knelt down next to Abraham. The redhead’s mouth closed tight and he pressed his forehead to his clenched fist.

Respectfully, Rick remained silent as he observed Bill’s body. What had made the man turn? He suspected that suicide was involved, but how? He checked the arms and legs for anything obvious, then the torso, neck and head. Nothing presented itself, so his best guess was that the damage occurred internally. Standing again, he peered around the room. It looked well-kept, presumably by Zoey, apart from a lantern smashed to pieces on the floor; another victim of the struggle. He moved to Bill’s bedroom, the door wide open, inviting him inside. He walked across more broken glass, reminiscent of the last time he’d been there. Scooching down, he spotted an orange plastic bottle and lifted it from where it was hiding beneath the untidy bed. The prescription bottle did not list Bill’s name – it was probably scavenged from a pharmacy on the mainland – but one word did catch his attention: Temazepam, known as a strong sleep aide, along with the statement: Do not consume alcohol while taking this drug. Rick’s blue gaze dropped to the various liquor containers around him.

Clutching the empty pill bottle in an unsteady hand, he left the bedroom and stalked out onto the porch. Lindsey glanced up at him with sad eyes, seeking an answer for Bill’s sudden death. Rick showed her the bottle, and Rosita, who was sitting on the other side of Zoey, shook her head.

He felt the same way. Bastard. How dare he leave his daughter to fend for herself. Yes, Bill had experienced something horrible, but they all had – it didn’t mean it was time to opt out – it was time to ask for help. Rick had offered his and he probably should have tried harder, but Bill was a grown man. He had responsibilities like everybody else and a daughter that needed him more than ever. The painful memory of Louis and his terrible demise would never go away, but it would lessen over time with the help from the family and friends that still remained. What really got to Rick though was the way Bill had done it. If he was that keen on taking his own life, he should have ended it – a bullet to the brain would have been ideal. But to leave himself to turn and possibly impart the same fate on his daughter was beyond stupid – it was fucking selfish.

Rick took a step toward the three women, the youngest in his sights. Zoey’s black hair hung in a glossy sheet over her face. He lay a hand on her trembling shoulder and she lifted her head. With red-rimmed eyes and wetness blotting her cheeks, she was the definition of devastated. Grudgingly, he moved the clear prescription bottle into her view.

“Where’d he get the sleeping pills, Zoey?”

The girl convulsed, her mouth gaping on a quiet sob that racked her entire body. “Oh- oh my God…what have I done?” she cried.

Lindsey rubbed her back and shot Rick a glance of concern. “Zoey, what are you talking about? Did you get him the pills?”

Zoey nodded through her anguish. “I did. He was having trouble sleeping so I got them from the clinic. I thought they would help, I thought--” She burst into tears again, clearly recognizing her fatal mistake.

Lindsey continued to console her by wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. “You couldn’t have known, honey. Like you said, you were trying to help. You did nothing wrong.”

“But my dad’s dead because of me!”

Rick stepped around Rosita and knelt on the steps to hold Zoey’s watery gaze. “He would have found another way. Deep down, I think you know that, too. He was hurting and wouldn’t let any of us get through to him. There’s no excuse for what he’s done, but the last thing you should do is blame yourself – it’s what brought him to this point.”

At that moment, more people showed up, likely drawn in by the commotion. The group included Brian, Tommy and Carl.

“Woah, Zoey, what happened?” Carl exclaimed as he hurried toward the weeping girl.

Rick halted him by pressing a hand to his chest. “Give her some space. Her dad died…and then attacked her.”

“How?” Carl asked in surprise. “Did he get sick?”

You could say that. Rick contemplated how to put this without making a scene or going into a long life lesson with his son. “We think he drank too much and his body shut down.” Not exactly a lie.

As Carl absorbed this, Rick enfolded his son into his arms and observed Brian approaching them.

“Did Bill…?” he asked, making a subtle cutthroat gesture with his hand. Slowly, Rick nodded. Brian squeezed his eyes shut as he blew out a quiet breath. “We have a spot we can bury him – there’s a grove on the west side of the island. It’s…peaceful.”

Carl turned out of his father’s embrace with a deep frown. “Other people have died here?”

Brian shrugged sadly. “Even we’re not immune to loss. We’ve had some of the elderly folk pass away from more natural causes – cancer, heart attack and such, but the first one was a rude awakening. We didn’t know then what we know now.” Rick knew he was referring to the fact that they’re all infected, no matter the cause of death. “We lost three that day. Back then we didn’t have the cure,” he reminded them. “We had one man drown, and another like our friend, Bill.” Rick appreciated that he didn’t say it. After the incident at the CDC, Carl was no stranger to suicide, but this wasn’t the place for prying questions. “We lost a few more at the beginning and we’ve learned from our mistakes, but it was a heavy price to pay…”

Based on the look eclipsing Brian’s weary face, Rick believed there was more to that story.

Lindsey braced Judith on her hip and held Zoey’s hand as they watched Abraham, Rick, Daryl and Brian lower Bill’s body into the ground. He was shrouded in a dark sheet, his pale face and final wound withheld from sight. The men shifted away from the six-foot opening and Lindsey tightened her grip. Zoey’s tear-streaked cheeks and tired eyes remained solemn and composed until Brian and Daryl each picked up a shovel and began filling in the grave – her face contorted and bottom lip quivered.

“Daddy,” she whimpered.

The agony in her voice tugged at Lindsey’s heartstrings, flooding the blonde’s eyes with unshed tears. Only twenty-four hours before she had begged for her own father. Although his death took place some time ago, their group’s nonstop losses kept it fresh in her mind. While she thought it wrong of Bill to inflict this pain on Zoey, she understood the want for an end. She couldn’t judge because she, too, had been there – in the pharmacy moments before Rick found her, and then again on the factory floor when she was choked to within an inch of her life. She hadn’t told Rick, but she’d considered it once more after their attack on that ill-fated, moonlit night. She missed the people from her previous life, but it was the people in this life that had kept her from making any careless decisions. Never would she deliberately bring that kind of heartache on Rick.

At that instant, he and Lindsey traded a somber look, and her brown eyes softened at the heaven-sent vision of her husband. Zoey slipped out of Lindsey’s grasp and walked to the edge of her father’s grave. As the sheet became obscured underneath a disarray of red soil, the girl dropped in her handful of colorful flowers. She lingered there, frozen with grief, until Lindsey took her hand again and pulled her into a hug. A swift breeze blew through the palms trees, swirling Zoey’s obsidian hair with Lindsey’s blonde locks. They looked up to the sky to see dark clouds swallow the bright sunlight, dropping the tiny cemetery into shadows.

Notes

Comments

@Corall
Aw thank you so much!! :D

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
5/18/16

I just finished reading this story :) and its the most amazing story ever :D

Corall Corall
5/17/16

@Kandy
No worries. I actually used Paint, haha. I just figured out what size the banner needed to be (by trial and error) and then cut the image down until it fit.

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
4/13/16

@bluecrush611

Also, Another Annoying Question. Where did you make that Banner of Lauren And Andrew? I need to get a good Banner place thingy and i need advice xD

Mother Dick Mother Dick
4/12/16

@Walker Witch
Thank you so much for the kind words and for following along!

@eventualprocrastination
Thanks for all of your comments! I actually just published a book, so that's the direction I'm taking for now, but who knows. Maybe I'll post something here and there. :)

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
4/10/16