Episode 32: Dawn

“This is my house,” Mina gulped, still nervous but managing to suppress a stutter or a sob. She walked up the step and unlocked the door. She pushed it open. Everyone breathed a small sigh of relief when nothing emerged to attack them, and they all entered the house. Mina tried the lights, and was relieved to see that they worked. She was tired of the things the dark made her see.
“Where are your parents?” Jack asked in a kindly voice.
“Um... They’re in Vegas or something.” She said quietly.
“Well, we can’t do anything about that,” Jennifer said, a sudden understanding of Mina flowing through her voice. Mina looked at her, and tears began to fill her eyes again. Jennifer’s eyes became apologetic, which, though meant to comfort Mina, actually frightened her further.
“We have to get moving,” Sally said gruffly. The interruption calmed Mina, and made Jennifer think that her efforts to reconnect with Mina’s good side were being sabotaged. She was very wrong; as Mina was just afraid to reconnect with her. Still, Jennifer marked it mentally as another cruel act of Sally. “How are we going to do this?”
“Well,” Todd began, “I think that we need to stay in groups of at least two, for safety. In case a car breaks down in the middle of zombies. We only have one car right now, and it can seat up to six if we squeeze. That means that we can get two cars. Jennifer has a big van, and it’s already stocked with blankets, so we need that one. We want the most space we can have, to fit all of us as well as supplies. Waldo’s car is more roomy than Sylvie’s, so we should get that one.”
“My family is staying here,” Sally said stonily, giving Jennifer a nasty glance as she did.
“Well, I guess that narrows down who’s going. Mina, you drive. Sylvie, you’re her second. Waldo and Elli will get Waldo’s car, and Jennifer and I will get the van.”
Sylvie had long ago wiped the tears from her eyes, but her mascara had vaguely run. She did her best to keep her expression nonchalant and gently happy, but she kept glancing almost angrily at Elli, and wouldn’t make any real eye contact with anyone. Todd, Waldo, Mina, and Elli all noticed, but Waldo was the only one who put her before anyone else. He vowed to talk to her about it when he got a second. Todd was more concerned with Mina and Jennifer, neither of whom seemed to have any prospective emotional support outside of their group, and who seemed to have some sort of real problem. The same problem seemed to be connected to Dawn, further worrying Todd. Elli, meanwhile, was filled with depression, self-loathing, and an abhorrence for Sylvie. Mina was too scared of Jennifer to do anything about Sylvie’s problems.
“Get going!” Sally commanded. “We can’t stay in one place for too long. The longer we’re in one place, the longer the zombies have to find us. We do not want that to happen. Got it? Then go. Quick. And Mina, take your key with you. We’re going to lock the doors and hunker down here until you return. Return as quickly as you can, please.” Mina nodded nervously, biting her lip, in response. The six designated to go out for cars left quickly. Before leaving, Jennifer gave Sally a look that could kill sheep, and Todd gave Dawn a reassuring smile. She didn’t return it, because she was too busy holding her head against the pain of the strange memories that weren’t quite memories.

Mina’s car was loaded and started without incident. Sylvie sat in the passenger seat. At Mina, Waldo, and Elli’s insistence, Jennifer sat at the far right of the back seat, Todd pressed up against her, Waldo on his left, and Elli farthest left. It worked out well; Sylvie didn’t have much of a particular opinion on Jennifer, nor did Jennifer have a particular opinion on her. Todd and Jennifer were, in the eyes of Waldo, acting like rabbits during mating season. Elli and Waldo were both terrified of Jennifer, but not nearly as much as Mina was, and Elli was still angry at Sylvie.
“Let’s get Jennifer’s van first,” Mina suggested, attempting to be subtle but failing terribly. Everyone seemed to agree with that course of action and so, without incident, they reached Dawn’s house. There was one zombie stumbling around just outside of the van, but as soon as he and Jennifer were out of the car, Todd had shot it in the head with one round. It fell to the ground. Jennifer stared at him in astonishment, as did the others. Waldo stuck his head out the window.
“When did you get so good at that?” he asked earnestly. Todd looked at the gun.
“I can honestly say that I don’t know.”
“That’s weird.”
“I’ll say. Now, let’s get moving!”
Jennifer nodded slowly and hurried to the driver’s side of her van. She unlocked the door, climbed in, and unlocked Todd’s door from within. He climbed in, shut the door, and turned to smile at her. She stared at him cautiously for a moment, and then started the van. Mina began to drive away, and Jennifer followed. She glanced at Todd every couple of seconds.
“Alright, it’s time for you to start explaining,” he said calmly and quietly.

“Mom, there’s something wrong.” Dawn said suddenly. Sally grimaced and turned away from the window.
“What do you mean, sweetie?”
Dawn’s eyes looked panicked and accusatory all at once. “I mean... Something’s not right. I’m older than Marty. But everyone says that she’s older than me. My memory jumps from the beginning of summer break after my Sophomore year of high school to the beginning of Christmas break in my Junior year of high school. I can’t even quite remember the end of Sophomore year, or most of the year itself. I know something bad happened. And, for some reason, none of my old friends are around, but I can’t remember them anyway. I just know they existed. And I know that somehow I know Mina from a long time ago, but she is just as old as she was even though I know that it was a long time ago. And the same goes for the crazy woman.” Sally looked away from her daughter, to Jack. He shook his head. Sally bit her lip, and tears began to fill up her eyes. Marty leaned back in the recliner that she had claimed for the time being.
“You know, I could explain it to the squirt without feeling bad about it. I didn’t do anything except play along.”
“Stop calling me squirt,” Dawn said, turning to Marty with blazing eyes. “You’re supposed to be the squirt.”
Marty smiled with a vague amount of liquor still in her. “That’s right.” Dawn spun and glared at her mother.
“You have to tell me what happened.”
Sally covered her eyes with her hand, and propped her elbow in her other hand. “Dawn, I can’t...”
“Sally, you have to.” Jack looked up at her. “I’d tell her, but you know more than I do. I would just mix things up more.” His eyes were filled with more concern and parental love than Sally knew hers had been in almost ten years. Sally sighed heavily, and looked her eldest daughter in the eyes.
“Dawn... Please, you have to understand, that I was trying to help...”
“I still don’t know what you did to me!” Dawn yelled.
“Dawn, it wasn’t... Oh... Dawn...”
“Start with my Sophomore Year. That’s when it started, isn’t it?”
Sally shut her eyes tightly. “Yes. Yes. There was something terrible happening... Students were being killed... But still, you, and we, wanted you to go to school. Not many parents did, but enough to keep the school open for those who did. And it was your choice too, it was your choice! You wanted to find out what was happening. That’s what you said. You said you needed to know what was happening. You had been seeing something... You couldn’t describe what, but you had seen it. And you kept going, and they kept dying, and, oh, Dawn, you had always been so dreamy, walking with your mind in some sort of fog, but then, after the end of the school year, there was something in the school... You and some other students went to find it, and then... It exploded. It was this burst of multi-colored light... And some of the kids who had been there, they... Different things happened, Dawn. No one knows exactly what happened there! Some of them disappeared, some of them changed, and you... You went into a coma. Joe, Joe had been investigating it, and he was trying to get there that night, but he was too late... He found you. He couldn’t save you... No one ever knew exactly what happened, oh, Dawn, we couldn’t figure it out! All of you were there one minute, and minutes later some of you weren’t, and none of you were all the way there, and you were in a coma... Joe got you to a hospital, and they said that there was nothing they could do... It didn’t take us long to notice that it wasn’t just a coma, oh, god, it wasn’t just a coma... You weren’t aging. Your metabolism had basically stopped. And Joe, well, Joe had recently become the Director of the Department of Extranormal Affairs-he took you out of the hospital and put you into a special hospital where they studied those things and, oh, Dawn, it took us so long... Joe hired me, I watched over you, I did jobs to make it easier for the Department to help you, and... Oh, Dawn, it was just so long...”
Dawn’s eyes were misted over with too many emotions to name. “How long was it?” She asked quietly.
Sally could no longer speak. She was on her knees, sobbing.
“Nine and a half years,” Marty said quietly. Dawn spun to look at her. “You were asleep for nine and a half years. I watched my beautiful big sister become my adorable little sister. It made me kind of queasy. Why I started drinking.” Dawns eyes softened on her little sister. Or was she her big sister? She shut her eyes tightly and turned towards her father.
“How much of this did you know?” she asked quietly.
“Not much of it until tonight,” he said, his voice strangely resigned. “I knew about the explosion, I knew about the coma, and I knew about the metabolism. They told me,” his voice was definitely bitter towards his wife, “That the hospital was a special children’s hospital for children who need to be hospitalized but show no signs of recovery. They told me that you couldn’t take up a bed at the normal hospital anymore. I visited you, with your mother, once a week, for nine and a half years. Nine and a half years, without ever knowing a thing about what was really happening to my eldest daughter.” Dawn nodded; she was already forgiving her father, and her sister. She knew she wouldn’t be able to really forgive them for a while, but they were already on the road. Her mother, however...
“Why did you lie to me?” she whispered. Sally choked on a sob, and burst out with another sob. “I asked you why you lied to me,” Dawn hissed.
“The doctors said...” Jack started to say. But Dawn held her hand up to stop him.
“I asked my mother,” she said pointedly. Sally let loose another sob, and then another. Dawn glared at her patiently until, nearly ten minutes later, she stopped crying.
“Why did you lie to me?” She asked once more.
“Oh, Dawn, please, understand, I didn’t think you could take the shock... I couldn’t let you go into another coma. You might never have woken up from another one! I couldn’t gamble your life like that... I had to give you a chance, slowly introduce you to the world... Oh, Dawn, I’m so sorry...” Dawn continued glaring at her mother, who had begun sobbing again.
“And the two of you went along with it?” she asked without taking her eyes off of her mother.
“We didn’t have much choice, Dawn,” Marty said. “It made sense. I didn’t want to see you go into another coma. That was too scary.”
“If we didn’t go along with it, we could’ve lost you and your mother.” Jack looked at the ground again. “I hope that you can forgive us.”
Dawn shut her eyes. “I don’t kn...” She was interrupted by loud moaning outside of the house. Sally spun and readied her gun, still sniffling, but managing to fight back the tears. Jack, Marty, and Dawn all readied their weapons as Sally went back to the window she had been looking out of and peeked out of the curtain. She flung the curtain back closed and backed away from the window.
“Basement. Now.” She commanded, pointing her gun alternatingly to the window and the door, slowly backing away. Her family did as she said, because they knew that, at least in that department, she knew what she was talking about. They went to the basement door, Marty and Dawn descending first. Jack held the door open for Sally as she slowly backed away. When she got to the door she turned and ran quickly down. Jack shut the door.
It didn’t have a lock.

“Todd, I uhm... Oh, god, I’ve been planning this for almost an hour, but I still don’t know where to start.”
“Start with the easy part. You, somehow, knew Mina, Dawn, and Joe before all this, didn’t you?”
“Was I that obvious about it?”
“You, and them.”
(And the author and narrator. They were trying to build up, you know, a sense of mystery and wonder. Instead, they flat out told you that something happened ten years ago between the four of them. At least they didn’t come out and tell you what happened. Dumbasses. Should have built up the mystery better.)
“Oh. Well, you know that much now. So, I guess I should tell you how I know them?”
“Oh, first I want to make sure I know as much as I think I know. You don’t have a family anymore, do you?”
She blinked at him. “No.”
“You’ve been through several family like structures, haven’t you?”
She blinked again. “Jesus, how are you doing that?”
“Apparently, zombies and beautiful, powerful girls bring out the best in me.”
“That’s just... Oh.” She blushed slightly. Mina’s car had stopped and parked; Jennifer parked her van right behind the car.
“And you know where the zombies came from, don’t you?”
“Sort of...” Three figures came out of Mina’s car.
“And you’re falling in love with me?”
“I think s... Hey. Woah. Oh, dammit.” Todd smiled admiringly at her.
“I fell in love with you a couple of hours ago. When you held me in my house, when I was crying. You were so strong, but so soft. And I don’t mean physically. Emotionally. You seemed so... Psychotic. And then you were just so... Gentle. And I fell for you.”
Jennifer shut her eyes. She was torn. “Todd... We... There... I have to tell you something else... Oh, god, I’m going to... Oh...”
Todd touched her shoulder. “I think it can wait a little while. Something’s not happening like it’s supposed to. See how Waldo’s yelling, and Sylvie’s walking up the driveway, and Mina’s alone in her car? Sylvie isn’t doing things according to plan. She never does. There’ll be no stopping her. And Mina can’t be alone. She’ll lose it.” Jennifer cursed under her breath. “I’m going to ride with Mina. I promise you, when we leave her house, I’m going to ride with you. I’m going to listen to your story.” Todd unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.
“Wait,” Jennifer said. He stopped and turned. “Todd, why don’t we just... Let’s go away. Together. Now.” She looked hopefully, and sadly, at him. “It’ll be... So much easier...” Todd smiled at her.
“You know I can’t do that. You’ll follow us still, right?” he asked. She looked away and began to say something. He stopped her and leaned up and kissed her passionately. She was caught off guard but, after a second, put her hands on his shoulders and returned the kiss. He broke off. “You’ll follow us still, right?” He repeated. She nodded. He smiled and jumped out of the van.
“See you in a few!” he said before shutting the passenger door.
“Give it up!” he yelled out to the still yelling Waldo as he walked to Mina’s car. “She’s not going to listen to reason. Let her take her car. It’s more room for supplies.”
Waldo and Elli looked at Todd, looked at Sylvie, grimaced, and climbed into Waldo’s car. Todd got into Mina’s passenger seat, halting her tears once more.
“Mina,” he said kindly, “You’re not alone.”

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