A Little Bit Out There: Riley, Yadira

The bruises, the blood - it all healed eventually.

Our relationship didn't.

She deserved it. Everything I did to her, she deserved.

Casey tried to protect her - tried to get in my way. After everything he did, after everything he stood for - he reformed the entire school system from the ground up ... it wasn't hard to snap his neck.

She spent the next two days curled up in the bathroom.

Whatever. I don't need her anymore.

I don't need anyone.

Quinn. Skyler. Teagan.

These are my legacy.

They_

He'll never hurt me again.

He'll never hurt anyone again.

Another Man's Seed: Riley

There was so much blood.

I took the child gently from her arms, setting him aside in a nest made of blankets. I couldn't bring myself to outright murder the infant. I'll dispose of him in another way.

Before she could protest - before she could begin to be ready - I 'celebrated' this birth with her.

She didn't like it, she didn't want or enjoy it - and why should she? She'd let her body be ravaged by a human. But when we completed the act, a seed formed, and she lay limp and spent.

It's in the planter now, all of my anger and hatred burning in that one seed. It's fortunate, I suppose, that - according to Father's research - this will not be a child.

Casey confronted me, but I assured him it was for the greater good. We needed a future, to save the world from itself.

It wasn't like two males could create an offspring, after all, and it would be weird to try.

I convinced Casey to help me take the squealing mass of flesh to the City Hall. We left it there while Yadira was sleeping.

When she woke, she was angry. Of course she was. But some time between her and the incident, and the explanation that we didn't murder it - I'm not heartless - and she eventually could forgive me.

Then I forced her to eat the fruit.

I had to gag her to stop the screaming.

Betrayal: Riley

Betrayal! Outrage!

I'll kill him - I'll kill him!

Another man's baby - another - she - I can't -

She agreed to marry me easily enough. But after ... after. She told me she'd been - intimate - with another man, that she knew, had known she was carrying his - his seed!

I could kill her for this - I should kill her for this.

No.

She might have his seed - but she won't be allowed to keep it.

I'll not raise a - a human in our midst, a reminder of her disloyalty.

For now, I'll pretend. I'll pretend that I still care for her. When the baby is born ...

My offspring may not be conceived of love, when I'm done with her body, but they will be mine.

Plans on Plans: Riley

With our entry into the workforce, Casey and I were allotted larger water rations. It felt good to drink as much as we needed, even if it was the disgusting water from our sink that we got. I left the lion's share - what's a lion anyway? - to Casey - I didn't need that much water really, and he was dealing with children. They might have been awful to us - but they were the future, right?

That's Mother's compassion speaking, I think.

Mother's old guitar disappeared one night. I didn't think much of it, until I found the note on my typewriter.

"Tony Jr. sends his regards."

Someone had gotten into our house and taken it. And why? Oh, I had my guesses. Now that we had actual income, I'd secreted some cash away someplace safe - just in case.

More likely, though, since nobody knew about that - I would guess it was just a reminder that we hadn't given the new Tony our respects. Sure, when the thugs came by, we handed over the cash, and they were satisfied - but neither I, nor Casey, had gone to see Old Tony - much less Tony Jr. - in person. Ever. Maybe they took offense to that.

Not my problem.

I made friends with a local girl. She's still in the school system, but she's cute, and she makes me laugh. Yadira, her name is.

Secretly, I think of her as mine. I've already decided - when she's of age - well.

I don't think she's ready to make the transformation, but when she is - I'll have her then.

Job Assignments: Riley

Shortly before the army men came, I went down to the pit to talk to Mother's vacant body.

I like to imagine she can still hear me ... maybe she's just trapped inside, you know?

That actually seems kind of horrifying, in retrospect. I don't like that idea after all. But the point stands - I went to talk to Mother.

She'd moved.

That was ... unexpected.

I found her laying in the ashes of the fire. I'd never bothered to clean it up - this pit was supposed to be a grave after all.

She wasn't breathing anymore, and she'd wilted, her skin turning dull and brown.

So that was that. Mother was truly dead.

With the thugs' grudging help, I put a fence around the pit, and chained it shut so that nobody could get down there.

It was a grisly memory, one I'd prefer to forget.

So the military men came, and told us who would be doing what. If they noticed that it was only two of us now, they didn't comment.

I looked scrawny, felt scrawny - but maybe they saw something in me that I didn't, because they picked me to join the military. They told Casey he would be part of some kind of Morale Unit - but he plucked one note on Mother's old guitar, and apparently it was just too awful for them. There was an opening at the school as well - something I found funny, to be honest - and the commanding officer barked an order - he'd be working there, looking after other peoples' children.

He'd be watching them carefully while they were outside doing their mandatory physical training - since he was bigger and stronger than I was, he was better suited to protect them from the zombies than I was.

Father mentioned the zombies, didn't he?

Apparently the 'frothing lunatics' - as he called them - were the product of an off strain of vampirism. It was highly contagious and very lethal, and it took root in the human population sometime before Father escaped his school. It started at the school. According to Father's notes, he later discovered that it was part of something called the Lazarus project - a plan to allow humanity to live forever. Only it backfired, and instead of providing eternal youth and power, it killed its victims and raised them as the mindless undead.

One other thing of note: Father says he was bitten once while doing a report, and it was completely harmless - to plants, like us.

The Cleansing Power of Flame: Riley

I couldn't find Charlie anywhere in the house, at least at first.

That should have been my first clue that something was very wrong.

I found him in the pit our parents had dug. Mother stood, staring blankly into space, but Father ... Father.

Charlie's skin was blackened, slightly, he'd been a little bit charred by the fire he'd started. Father was in pieces on the ground, his corpse tender from the flames.

"What are you doing?!"

Charlie smiled at me. "They're already gone, you said it yourself. They're dead, they just don't know it yet. Why shouldn't we - why shouldn't I - benefit?"

I knew then what I had to do. Casey would be heartbroken, but it was necessary.

Turning, I walked away - for a moment.

As Charlie was chewing on one of Father's fingers - the finger that held his wedding ring - I cracked his head with a hammer. I don't know if that killed him - but he didn't scream, when I pushed him into the crackling fire. His body curled, blackened, twisted - but it was necessary, I reminded myself. It was necessary.

I collected Father's ring. I'd give it to a pretty girl, maybe. I don't know.

We settled into a routine, Casey and I. He worked out, alone and resentful, while I hammered out story after story. I typed until my fingertips turned hard and callused - but the thief woman never did return.

My work ensured that.

Book Learning: Riley

A bus came to our house the first time ever. It had a military escort, and when we didn't immediately go outside, a woman in snow-white camouflage walked up the stairs. She knocked on the door, and when no one answered, she barged into our house.

"We know you're in there. Come on out."

Reluctantly, I led my siblings down the stairs.

We didn't have clothing in the traditional sense - we had thick leaves that protected us from the cold. Still, they set us up with some cast-off clothing, saying it was too cold outside for us to go out without it on.

How had they found out about us? The thief woman, of course. She reported us to the government.

They said we wouldn't be allowed to return to our house, since there were no adults - that was unacceptable! I threw up a fuss, even kicking the woman in the shins, for emphasis, with my new boots.

She raised an eyebrow down at me.

The nice lady who was to be our teacher sighed. "It can't hurt anything to let them stay. After Mr. Moss's last broadcast, do you know anyone who would be willing to take them in?"

So we were allowed to stay at home, except on the days that the school bus was able to make it through the snow to our place.

It felt like maybe a day, maybe two, before things went wrong. In reality, it was probably closer to a few tense months.

My brothers aren't as cool-headed as I am. There was a fight - it was a mess - several of the humans' children ended up with broken limbs.

We weren't allowed to return to school anymore, and that was that. We'd been registered, the employment agencies would come for us when we were deemed old enough to join the workforce.