“Why? Why the hell did you do that?” I stepped closer to the gate. “Stay back!” He was full of aggression and pointed at me. “You are no longer my sister!”
“Nick, please. You don’t understand.” It was my turn to plead.
“I understand perfectly. You shot Jenna! My love, the woman I was going to marry.”
I felt bad for what I had done, but I had to do it. I tried to explain. “Nick, please listen.” I moved closer to the gate, trying to examine his physical state while trying to stay calm. “Stay back!” I yelled when he started leaning down to Jenna. “Nick, have you been bit?”
“Why?!” He was yelling. “Are you going to shoot me, too?!”
“She may have to, mate.” The sound of Henry’s voice startled me.
Nick wrinkled his brows together. “Henry? What the fuck? This is no time for games! What’s with the British accent? Quit fucking around, you asshole! Do you not see what’s happening here?!”
“Nick, I know what is happening. I have a lot of explaining to do, to both of you. So, please, tell us if you are injured in any way so we can get you out of there.”
Nick paused and contemplated a response. You could see that he was having trouble putting words together. His anger and despair were taking over. He was looking at Jenna and crying.
“Nick, I’m only going to ask you once more, and you need to be completely honest. If you have an injury due to an undead, then you need to tell us.”
“Undead?”
“Henry will explain more in a bit, Nick.” I tried to be soft and mellow, much like the way mom always was with him. He was a momma’s boy. I was hoping it would calm him down. The thought of my mom made my heart ache. I still hadn’t spotted her anywhere.
“No, I think I’m fine.” He looked down and all over his arms.
“Shrug off your jacket so we can be sure.” Henry wasn’t as calm and soothing as I was trying to be. He was demanding and growing impatient. Nick glared at him, seeming to question him. He shrugged off his jacket and turned three hundred and sixty degrees. He looked fine. I was so relieved.
Henry walked up to the gate and grabbed something out of his pocket. In a split second, he had picked the lock. I walked closer to Nick as he knelt down to Jenna.
“Don’t touch her.” Nick stood up, nodded, and walked backward, holding in the rest of his tears.
“I loved her, Elaina. I loved her so fucking much.” He walked over and hugged me.
“I know. I know. I’m sorry for what I had to do.” I was looking for the courage to tell him that I also shot our father, but I couldn’t form the words yet.
“Elaina, what’s going on? Where did you get the gun? Where did you learn how to shoot like that? You were always afraid of guns.” His emotions were all over the charts…a bit like mine and Claire’s.
“There’s a quick-spreading virus that makes people undead, but we’ll get into it more later on. We don’t have time to talk about this right now.”
“Wait. Undead?”
“Yes, undead. Like a zombie.”
Nick shook his head. “That’s so cliché. And seriously? I thought that was just movie or TV shit.”
“I know, but look at what Jenna was like. And the rest of these people, our family and our friends. I felt the same way just a few hours ago. One minute I was about to walk down the aisle to marry Henry, and the next minute…Liam arrived.”
“Liam?” He looked at me with bewilderment.
“Yes, Liam. Liam is Henry. Henry is Liam.” Nick looked as confused as I was. “We will get into that later. Right now, we have to go across the way and get Nate.”
Nick began to look around the street. “Holy shit. Look at all those dead people.” He began to realize some of the dead people were our family.
“True dead.” Again, he looked at me. I could see the confusion and sadness in his eyes.
“True dead? Wait, like that show with vampires?” It was not the time to make comparisons between real life and a television show.
“Yeah, sort of, I guess. But there are no such things as vampires. At least, I hope not,” I mumbled. I felt like I was experiencing déjà vu.
“Who’s Nate?”
“The wedding coordinator. Have you seen Mom?”
“No, but I saw Dad.” Nick was distraught. “He looked…he looked like Jenna before he bit her. She went to help him,” he said in a soft tone. “That bastard,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I need to tell you something.” Nick turned and looked at me. My heart was beating out of my chest. I felt guilty. I was chewing my cheek, trying to find the appropriate way to tell him while trying to swallow past the lump in my throat. I think he knew what I was going to say so I blurted it out. “I gave Dad a true death.” More tears poured down my cheeks.