Eternal

"The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal." Stella underlined her writing on the chalkboard. "It is a quote by Camille Paglia and your work for today is to think about it, alright? Maybe write me a word or two on it."

"What's an empire?" the dark skinned boy eyed the board with narrowed eyes.

"It's, uh- Do you know what a kingdom is?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, imagine a kingdom, only much, much bigger, containing way more countries."

"Oh," the boy nodded again, "like, like America?"

The woman smiled. "Yes, Salah, you can put it that way." She turned to her other student, the tiny girl in pink, her hands crossed on her lap. "Mary, are you alright? You are awfully quiet today."

She nodded, a river of red hair dancing about her face.

Stella sighed, putting the chalk back into place. "Salah, you can go outside and play, class is over for today, alright? I'll see you at dinner. Mary, please stay, if you will."

The boy trotted outside, a soccer ball resting in the crook of his arm. Stella watched the sunlight dancing on his skin, his smile, he was too young to let the world break him just yet.

She turned her gaze to the classroom, basically a board and three chairs in the middle of their living room, the dim light of it. She had been a teacher twelve years now, but had never taught to such small of an audience before.

She knew the answer before she asked; Mary was such a tiny ball of joy, always a giant grin on her freckled face, almost unable to sit still. Yet today, she had been staring at her with empty eyes, with such a look Stella hoped to never see again on her tiny face.

"You saw what happened last night, didn't you?"

The girl nodded, and she sighed.

"How much of it?"

The girl's voice was small, barely audible. "All."

It was the first word she spoke today, and Stella wished she had misheard, but she knew she had not.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She crouched down to the girl's level, taking her hand in hers.

"Mhm."

She waited for her, all these years spent working with kids had taught her the virtue of silence.

"It was a dead, wasn't it, mum?"

Stella felt her heart skip a beat, it was the first time in these four months that the girl called her that, even by accident. "Yes, baby, it was a dead."

She knew the official name of it, of course she knew, "Undead Human Predator" they called them, and she knew the folklore name too; zombies. But giving these things a name, making their existence something official, a scientific matter of fact, would terrify the girl; she was too young to remember the craze of it. So she stuck to what she gave her, "dead."

"I saw Rebecca fighting it, firing at it."

"Yes, she was trying to scare it away."

Mary's voice turned even lower now. "But she didn't."

"No," Stella sighed," she didn't."

"Is she alright?"

She felt the girl's eyes fixed on hers, searching deep inside her, kids had a sixth sense for lying. "I- I don't know, baby, I don't know," she sighed, wrapping the girl in her arms, the anxiety for her sister's fate burning all over her.

She had been running away from it, into the night, away from the light of the torches, as it was trotting after her, its long arms dangling on the ground, showing its path clearly on the grass. Stella didn't dare to follow.

A shadow passed over the house, dimming the light even more, making her shiver. She had grown to hate clouds.

The connections were made in her mind at alarming speed. It was cloudy out there. And clouds meant no direct sunlight. And she had let Salah go out there alone.

She shot to her feet, calling for him, as Mary tugged at her skirt, pointing at the window.

"I think it's back," she whispered.

Her blood froze in her veins. This one was bigger, the biggest one she had ever seen. It was well over nine feet tall, its arms reaching the ground, its back arched, like a cat ready to leap.

"Mary, you get in the shelter right now, alright?" She spoke slowly, calmly, taking the shotgun off the wall, ready to fight warning shots if needed. Into its head.

The girl was fast, a wisp of pink and red, opening the hatch and slipping into the underground bunker, where the dead couldn't reach them.

"I'm going to find Salah," Stella whispered into the opening. "You latch the door, and you don’t open up, unless I knock in code, alright?"

"Stella?" she called in a tiny voice, "I love you." And there was something final to it that broke her heart.

She heard the dead moving outside, the noise that its hands made, dragging on the ground. "I love you too. And I'm coming back, alright? Stay quiet."

She watched the trap door close, the sound of it latching, and with eyes locked on the creature, she made her way to the back door. Once outside, she grabbed a piece of scrap metal as a shield, knowing it would be mostly useless. If these things decided to eat you, there was no way back. But she had promised herself she would go down fighting. She wouldn't lose her makeshift family again. Not this one.

She felt for the knife strapped on her thigh at all times, she would give it to Salah if she found him.

And that "if" was tearing her apart, he was a boy of eleven for God's sake, he deserved to play safe at a soccer field.

She found him just behind the house, crouched next to the little cabin she and Rebecca stored the firewood in.

"I heard it coming," the boy whispered, and she nodded, passing him the knife. "Is Mary safe?"

"Yes, she's underground." She sighed, looking at him. "You were so, so brave, sweetheart. Care to be brave for a moment more?"

"Stella?" he whispered, locking eyes with her, "I don't wanna die."

His gaze weighed her down, the boy truly had doe eyes.

"Nobody's going to die," she smiled at him, a promise she knew she couldn't keep, but hell, kids deserve to feel they are eternal. "Shall we go join her?"