All the Dead Arising Read online

Faith was my responsibility.

  I had to focus on her.

  The reality of our situation was starting to sink into her nine year old brain. I wished she could have remained innocent just that little bit longer.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, not for the first time since we’d left the school.

  “I told you, we’re going to find a place to stay tonight.”

  Her hand gripped mine tightly. “Why can’t we go home? I want to sleep in my own bed. I’m scared.”

  “It’s not our home anymore,” I replied, trying to avoid telling her the truth so I didn’t have to remember the way my parents had looked on the floor. “Think of it as an adventure. We can go anywhere we like.”

  “I want to go home.”

  So did I.

  There was no point arguing with her. Between her and the ghosts, they were giving me a headache. We now had to do things that we never considered before. It wasn’t going to be easy so the sooner we both accepted that, the better.

  We came to a park, the green of the grass now a gray color in the light of the moon. It wasn’t exactly a place I would have considered sleeping before but now it was.

  I stepped into the park and waited for the protests from Faith. “We’re going to stay here tonight. Tomorrow we will find something more suitable.” And without spirits and dead bodies.

  It was going to be a long day.

  “Where are we going to sleep?” she asked.

  I pointed to a park bench. “You can sleep there and I’ll sleep on the ground in front of it.”

  “But we’ll be cold.”

  “It’s just for one night.”

  I waited for the dozen other questions she was dying to ask but they never came. Faith trudged over to the bench and lay down, testing it out. If my parents were still there to witness us, they would have had a heart attack.

  So far, I wasn’t doing a very good job of looking after my sister. Someone more responsible would have found shelter indoors, and enough food so that we didn’t have to ask Oliver for it.

  As soon as morning light came, I was going to get to work. We may not be able to return to our home, but there had to be others that were vacant. Some adults lived alone, their houses would be empty – except for their body. I would deal with it, I just couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with my parents’ bodies.

  I would have to leave Faith somewhere safe so she didn’t have to see what I was doing. Oliver might agree to look after her for a few hours. He was a good friend, I didn’t deserve him. What he was doing at the shelter was above and beyond saintly.

  The park was cold, like Faith had said. She didn’t last long on the bench before sliding down to lay next to me on the grass. We cuddled into each other’s arms and tried to keep our eyes closed.

  Despite all the noises of the animals in the park.

  At least there were no bodies there.

  Ghosts, on the other hand, were everywhere.

  Chapter Four

  One Month After the Event