Cleaning the Blood

"Alicia, are you hurt?" Dominic began checking Alicia's abdomen for injuries.

"I'm fine; just give me a second to recover," said Alicia, looking at Dominic's blood-covered face. She took a deep breath, feeling a bit more at ease after they had killed all those men.

"Sir?" Amanda and her brother Cristian entered the barn armed, shocked to see the bodies scattered on the floor. Blood had spread across the entire entrance. Sophia, who also entered, took a few steps back in shock at the sight of the corpses.

Dominic lifted Alicia off the ground, who could barely move, and carried her to the house next to the barn. "Kids, grab the weapons off the ground."

They couldn't waste time. Regardless of age, everyone in a world like this had to take responsibility for their own safety because no one would do everything for them if they weren't useful. That's why many families tried to be as useful as possible so their children wouldn't have to do these things.

"Leave me here and check for walkers." Alicia asked Dominic to set her down at the entrance of the main house, which was made of wood with its door closed and nothing visible inside.

Dominic put Alicia down, took his flashlight-equipped pistol and a knife in his left hand, and ventured into the house. Walkers weren't the problem in this world; it was the people they had to be careful of.

"Don't shoot all the walkers in the head. Tell the kids to come back," Dominic said, recalling that not all the corpses in the barn had headshots.

"I'll make sure of that."

Looking around the room, Dominic found no signs of humans, so it was likely that everyone had abandoned the place when the apocalypse started. Many had decided to leave their farms for what they thought were safer places. When everything began, no one knew where to run, much less that any place could be dangerous.

"I'll light the fire." Dominic walked to the fireplace and, in a few minutes, got a fire going to light up the house. He made sure to light candles and see if there was any electricity from a generator he could use. Surprisingly, this house had a basement with a generator that Dominic could start because there were several gallons of gasoline available.

Once the generator was on, electricity flowed to every corner of the house. Dominic would ensure the lights were only used at night and in the dining room.

When he returned, he helped Alicia inside and said, "There's water in the well. We can take a shower later."

Alicia nodded, watching the kids bring in bags of food, and pointed out, "Make sure to close all the doors, don't forget to secure the windows, and draw the curtains."

"I'll do that. We don't know how many more of those men are out there, so I'll be on watch until nightfall," Dominic said, ensuring to secure the perimeter and bury the bodies, not without first shooting them in the head.

The whole process was silent. Dominic washed his face and then smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves.

"Today was a fucked-up day."

Killing wasn't an experience that bothered him, but he didn't want to break the image others had of him. Today, he almost lost Alicia, showing that he wasn't indestructible. He was vulnerable, and he let someone hurt Alicia.

Something unforgivable…

Dominic swore he wouldn't let these things happen again. He wasn't someone who made the same mistakes twice.