A Monster in the After

In the aftermath of billions of deaths, every individual death that follows means more to the survivors than it ever did before. Many of those deaths went unmourned or uncelebrated. They were just another fact of life in the After; another footnote on the page of a dying world.

Sometimes, however, the life that was now missing could affect the lives of those left behind in so many ways that no one of them could see what those around them saw.

Empathy was one of the first things lost in the After.

Sarah Perkins saw the death of Doc as not only a personal tragedy, but as a loss of hope. She sat in her seat and stared unblinking at the man that had delivered her three children. Hell, if what he told people was true, then he had helped deliver half the population of Beverly in the Before. For certain, they had all survived in the After because of him.

Sarah remembered Doc tending the sick and the wounded 28 years ago. She remembered him consoling her when she was a terrified 17 year-old pregnant with the first baby to be born in the After. She remembered him spending sleepless nights fighting off Ruby's fever and setting Grant's broken arm. She remembered just last year when he dragged her out of her postpartum after Emily was born.

Now she would never forget his pale face lying so still on the front counter of the old Burger Buddy where they were holding his wake. Two days ago, he had confirmed that she had another baby on the way. Today, she knew she had no way to protect herself or her children from the days ahead.

Maybe it would have been better if they had all died at the end of the world.

Connor Callahan had not been so still. Since the wake had started, he had walked up to Doctor Shields’ body eight times just to stand there and wonder if he was ready to become Beverly's only medical professional. He had been a first year vet tech in the Before. He had been assistant to Doctor Shields for the last 25 years, after the doctor had dragged him out of a three year fit of alcoholism.

Connor was sure he had learned a lot, and most of the thirty-four survivors in Beverly were as healthy as anyone could be in an irradiated world without any of the conveniences of the Before. The Perkins children terrified him, though. The doctor had been so patient with them, but Connor wasn't sure if he could help them the same way.

This death, more so than any of the dozens they dealt with in the After, was as tragic as it had been sudden. People would be looking to him to fill shoes he might never be able to fill. He was proud to have had Doctor Shields as a mentor, but it had never occurred to him to think of the day where the old man, now in his sixties, would be gone.

Connor would do his best, but as he walked up to the front counter for the ninth time, he could not help but wonder what the old man would think if he just headed out into the wilderness to live alone without the pressure of carrying the load. Would he be disappointed? Or would he be calm and understanding like he always had been?

Emily Perkins let out a pronounced objection to her lack of stimulation and food. A few folks flinched and tried to ignore the crying infant, while a few others looked at Sarah Perkins and her children with profound pity. Dean King found himself snarling in disgust. He shouldn't. His boy Matthew had been daddy to every one of those brats.

Now, watching Sarah do nothing to soothe the youngest while Ruby took her baby sister outside, he could only think of the fight he had with Robert Shields 15 years ago. The two of them had grown up in Beverly together and might have even considered each other friends. Especially in the After, it was important that the town doctor and sheriff got along well.

They did not get along well that day, or on the next two occasions when Sarah turned up pregnant. Dean thought the very idea of having kids was a waste of limited resources these days, and had been furious at everyone involved for allowing it. Robert came to him with a bottle of old Perfect Blend he had secreted away. The entire bottle of scotch had been gone by morning, but Robert had managed to make his point.

Just because the world ended, doesn't mean we have to stop living. Sarah and Matthew had been trying to make a life in the After. The rest of Beverly had just been surviving. Dean still never liked it, but he had shut up about it.

To distract himself from the only slightly more distant wails of his granddaughter outside, Dean left his post in the back of the Burger Buddy dining area and slipped past the other mourners. He approached the front counter and stood beside young Connor, who was yet again standing over Robert's dried up body with one hand shaking uncontrollably as though he was reaching for something that wasn't there.

Or maybe he was afraid to touch the deceased.

Dean certainly wasn't. He ignored the unnatural state of his friend's body and picked up Robert's hand. It felt so light for a hand that had carried so much weight in the After; a weight he was sure Connor was not going to carry well.

Dean found himself trembling a moment later. He realized very suddenly that the last time he had held Robert's hand had been three months ago. It had been the night they had found Matthew out by the old well. Robert had done everything he could, but he said Matthew had lost too much blood. Whatever had attacked him that night had left injuries the doctor couldn't explain or treat with what little resources they had.

If there had been more time, maybe they could have sent someone up to Browns to scavenge more supplies. Maybe they would have even braved the trek up to the old Morton House in the hills. Of course, scavenging had been what Matthew was in charge of and even he had avoided the Morton House. That's why Robert and the Wiggins boys shouldn't have been up there yesterday.

Connor, whom Dean knew he would never call Doctor Callahan like some of the kids did, jumped like he only just now realized he wasn't alone by the body. He cleared his throat and forced a half-smile.

“I know he was your friend, Sheriff. Sorry for your loss.”

The blood boiled in Dean's veins. He felt the heat in his face. Before the young man could blink, Dean spun and punched Connor square in the jaw, sending him skidding across the floor.

“Sorry for my loss? Sorry? Where the hell were you when Robert needed medical attention, huh? Where-”

Dean stopped himself. Everyone was now staring at him. Everyone, that is, except for Sarah Perkins and Owen Wiggins.

He thought about saying more. He thought about apologizing. Instead he just shook his head and stormed out of the building. The little brass bell above the door still rang loud enough to replace whatever curses he was muttering under his breath when he left.

Seth Wiggins was glad for the loud peal of the bell. It had covered up the snicker he had let slip after watching Sheriff King lose his damn mind. With the town “boss” out of the room, Seth relaxed a little. He leaned back in his booth seat and stretched out his legs. He watched the new town doctor become his own first patient. Callahan had pulled himself up off the floor using the front counter, then realized how close he was to touching Old Man Shields’ hand hanging off the side.

Callahan stepped back suddenly and then busied himself with inspecting his mouth for missing teeth.

To Seth it was a grand show. Not to mention, for his purposes, the whole thing was very convenient. He might be the only person in Beverly to think it, but he was glad Shields was dead. The Old Man knew things.

“Dead men tell no tales,” he mumbled.

Owen, sitting beside Seth in the booth, looked up at his twin like he had missed something. Like normal, Seth just brushed him off. His twin had always been a bit funny, but he had been extra annoying since they had found Shields in the Morton House yesterday morning. The wake was proving to be just the distraction Seth needed.

Without Shields, he had no doubt that Callahan wasn't going to piece together that Sarah was pregnant with Seth's baby, not that daft scrounger he had left for dead by the well three months ago. He couldn't say if the squealer outside was his or Matthew's, but he knew she hadn't slept with Matthew since the baby was born, and he certainly had.

Seth knew Shields was the kind of doctor that might figure it out. Just like he knew King was the sort of sheriff that might start connecting dots to his son's death if he knew about their little affair. All the tragedies of the After, from draughts and blistering rain to endless blizzards, didn't change the fact that Seth had his eyes on Sarah since they were in Mrs. Durham's kindergarten class together in the Before.

Now, having killed Matthew and conveniently “not heard” Shields calling for help while they were standing watch for him, Seth was free to do as he pleased. The fact that King and Callahan seemed poised to feud was icing on the cake.

The only person that could say differently was Owen. As far as Seth was concerned, that wasn't an issue. His twin was both too loyal and too stupid to rock the boat. It was as convenient as having no witnesses at all.

As far as Owen was concerned, he had witnessed things that put his brother's lust and murder out of his mind.

Out of his mind. That was what most people had always said about him. Both in the Before and in the After, people thought Owen was the stupid twin. Owen disagreed. He was simply the quiet twin that knew better than to get Seth's way of doing things.

The mess with Matt King had proven that had been the right decision. Owen had been there that night. He had watched as Seth lured Matt out to the well and bashed his head against the old stone well. Owen hated it. Matt was a little older than them, though not as old as Doc Callahan or Doc Shields, but he had always been a good man. Even his fallout with Sarah had been about not being able to provide for all the kids she kept wanting to have.

Owen said nothing, not at the time, or even now at the wake. His brother slapped him on the knee as he stood up in dramatic fashion and headed toward the front. Seth brushed against Sarah as he passed her, probably trying to flirt somehow, but she didn't seem to notice. Doc Callahan had gone to the bathroom, probably to use the mirror, so there was no one at the front counter but the pale husk that had once been kind old Doc Shields.

Seth picked up the doctor's dangling hand and dropped it on the old man's chest. He half-turned to the room and said something about “no hand outs.” Seth thought he was so funny. If he had been paying attention yesterday, then he wouldn't be laughing, not this time.

Owen had always thought it weird how Doc Shields had said Matt's injuries had been so bizarre and that he had bled out completely. Sure, Seth had smashed his head good against the edge of the well. Sure, Matt had been bleeding when they left him there unconscious. That didn't add up to the story Doc Shields gave about something having come in from the wilderness to attack Matt.

Not being able to save Matt had been hard on the old doctor. So much so that he had dragged the twins out of their beds the night before last to venture up into the hills with him to the Morton House to look for stores of medicine and supplies. He wanted extra hands and protection for anything that might be lurking outside of town. He knew Sheriff King wouldn't allow it, not after Matt's warnings that the place was bad news and unsafe.

Seth agreed and off they had gone. Owen suspected there had been silent threats about secrets exchanged between his twin and the doctor otherwise they might not have gone. Doc Shields went inside the old manor while they had stood outside to make sure the sheriff didn't sniff them out.

There had been a sound, Owen thought. Like maybe the doctor had called for help. He had looked at Seth, but his twin seemed to not hear anything, so Owen dismissed it the first three times. The fourth time, Owen had to be sure and darted in to check on the doctor.

He had found him lying in the middle of one of the rooms, already pale and drained, just like Matt had been when he was found. This time, there were no wells and no bleeding head wounds, just the dead doctor. At least, that’s what Seth said when he followed Owen into the room.

But Owen had seen…

He didn't know. Something moved in the shadows that night, away from the doctor and out into the wilderness. It didn't move like an animal or a person, though it had certainly been shaped like a person. Owen may have been thought of as dim, but even he knew that a person's eyes do not glow in the dark like the eyes he saw vanish into the dark.

Something had been there. Something had come out of the wilderness and killed Doc Shields. Owen wasn't too dim to realize the same person-thing must have killed Matt after they left him at the well three months ago. That meant everyone was now in danger, but he was suddenly too scared to speak, even to Seth.

Owen was watching his brother at the front counter when he suddenly jumped up and made a choking sound. His eyes were wide with terror. What Owen saw that no one else had seen, was the pair of glowing eyes watching the wake from the dark, unused kitchens of the Burger Buddy. Those eyes had been intently focused on Seth, but had met Owen's eyes deliberately when they saw they had been noticed.

A moment later, those same eyes watched Owen run out of the store in a panic. The older Wiggins twin followed after him after a dramatic shrug to his fellow mourners.

Those eyes belonged to Evan Morton. He hadn't been part of the survivors here in the After any more than he had been a part of the town of Beverly in the Before. He had been asleep, quietly numb to a world he correctly had predicted was heading for a bloody end. He had been asleep until the drip of fresh blood had reached his hidden room at the bottom of the old well three months ago.

Back in his old manor, Evan had struggled to make sense of the After. Then they came in looking to take his things, things he had collected over centuries. The After was going to become a very different place. Everyone told stories about monsters in the Before. In the After, they told stories about the Before and forgot that humans weren't the only monsters in the world.

No one stops to think about what happens to the monsters after the world is ended. The survivors in Beverly, Evan noted with a smile, were about to find out.