Dec. 18, 2009

Dec. 18, 2009

What a day!

We drove to Riverview and went to the daycare near the Riverview mall. The windows were boarded up and there were still cars in the parking lot, leading us all to believe that there were probably people there. There were a few zombies milling about, though they were pretty quickly dispatched. We made sure that all of them were gone before trying to get into the daycare. We started by knocking loudly on the door. This resulted in some screams from within; they sounded like a mix of children and adults.

"It's all right!" Bruno shouted. "I'm Officer Bruno Rhéal-Cormier and we're here to protect you! Please let us in!" There was a long pause for a few minutes, then some banging, then the door creaked open.

"Hurry," came the voice of a young woman, probably not much older than I am. "Come in, quickly." She ushered us in, candle in her hand, and shut the door behind her. She locked the doors with a large set of keys. "Come with me," she said. We followed her through the corridor into a large classroom, filled with young children and five young women. It was lit with candles, some of which were birthday candles placed in the center of a moldy-looking muffin.

"Visitors," said one of the young women, her face brightening."It's nice to see some new faces." Some of the children, however, looked at us and started crying.

"Don't cry," said the woman who had led us in, gently. "They're only wearing goggles and face masks." Sometimes it's easy to forget what you're wearing, so I quickly slid my face mask off and put my goggles on the top of my head. I watched, relieved, as the boys followed suit. The lady who led us in smiled. "See?" The children calmed immediately, and the woman turned to look at us.

"How did you know we were here?" she asked quietly.

"We found some writing on the prayer board in Sackville," Derek replied.

"Beth," mused the woman. "She said she was headed for Sackville. She came by, much like you did, and spent some time here with us." She smiled, though a little sadly, I thought. "I'm Winnie."

"Officer Bruno Rhéal-Cormier," said Bruno.

"Derek," Derek added.

"I'm Tracey," I said. "We brought something for the children." I set the bag of toys right in the middle of the floor, and I smiled. "Santa's steering clear of this spot for now . . . who can blame him? He asked us specifically to drop these off for you kids." One of the formerly frightened kids stared at us.

"You know Santa?" he whispered in awe. It was a relief to see children still acting like children, despite these difficult times. I winked at the little boy, and I put the sack of toys in the middle of the floor.

The daycare workers made sure everything was orderly, and all of the children got a new toy to play with. They played together, and for just a moment, it was easy to forget that we were in the middle of the end of the world.

The daycare had had some people stop by and give them tins of various kinds of food on their way by, and they had been making large pots of soup for the children every day. Food was beginning to get scarce, though, so we spared what we could, and they were very appreciative. They invited us to stay the night, and we accepted. Bruno and Winnie talked extensively after, and Bruno was trying to convince her to get the children out of there. She wasn't hearing anything of it. I guess she thinks it's safe here, and I guess it's hard to know what to do with so many children in such an awful circumstance, but I can't help but think that keeping a big group of kids together in an enclosed space could be more harm than good.

I'll trust Winnie's judgment, though. Maybe she really does know what's best for these kids.

I've saved the best part about today for the last. Derek and I went into a side room and piled our coats on the floor to make a makeshift bed. In the room's dim candlelight I noticed he was looking at me, then he did something completely unexpected. He actually kissed me. Like I said before, I've always kind of had a thing for Derek, but I never imagined it could possibly be returned. Maybe the whole fact that I'm pretty much the last girl alive right now is attractive to him, but anyway, yep. Derek kissed me.

Maybe it seems stupid to think about this so excitedly in the middle of the apocolypse, but I don't care. What else to I have to live for? My family is dead and my friends are nowhere to be found. I can be happy about being kissed by Derek. And damn it, I am.

He told me he was sorry for everything. I don't know what he meant but it doesn't matter. He told me I was his best friend and he never wanted to ruin that, but as long as we stay together we should be able to get through anything. Then I kissed him.

And now I'm lying here in our makeshift bed, with Derek's arms around me as he sleeps, writing this awkwardly by the candlelight. And despite the insanity outside, the raging zombies and the scared people, I am happy.