Eve started crying, too. She went up to Nick and hugged him tightly. “I don’t think I can leave without you.”
Nick hugged her back. “Yes, you can. You have no choice. You’re a survivor, Eve. That’s why you’re still here. You just keep on surviving, okay?”
Eve backed away from him and nodded. She was clearly trying to hold herself together. Her lips were pursed tightly together as she fought away her emotions.
Nick took off his woollen jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You take this,” he said. “It’s going to get cold soon.”
Eve smiled at him, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. “It smells like you.”
Nick waved a hand. “Now go on. Get out of here before I try to eat you all.”
Teary-eyed, but knowing what must be done, everyone started climbing back into the truck. Nick took the time to say his goodbyes to Anna.
“Sorry it went down this way,” she said to him.
“Me too, but somebody has to stay behind to let the animals free anyway. Can’t leave them caged up to starve to death, can we?”
Annaliese smiled. “I feel better knowing they’ll be free. Thank you.”
“You just look after everyone, you hear me?”
Annaliese snapped off a salute. “I promise.” Then she got into the truck and started the engine.
Nick turned around to look for Pauline. He couldn’t let her leave without saying goodbye. She and Eve had been with him since the beginning.
He spotted her over at the edge of the woods, pulling up some carrots from a plot and dumping them into a sack. Nick saw the danger before she did.
But it was too late.
Two dead men came out of the bushes and grabbed Pauline by her arms. The one on her left took a deep bite from her neck.
“Nooo!” Nick sprinted towards her, holding up the shovel he had armed himself with. He reached the edge of the clearing and smashed the shovel against the two dead men’s skulls, one after the other. Both of them fell to the ground dead. Pauline fell to the floor beside them. Blood pumped from her neck and soaked the grass. Her eyes were still open and staring at Nick.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She smiled and then went still. Nick was glad it was the expression she died with.
I’m sorry I didn’t turn around faster.
Nick looked back at the truck. The others were all staring in horror. He waved a hand at them. “Go! Get out of here,” he shouted. “More will be coming and you won’t get another chance to leave.”
They all stared sadly for a moment, but then Annaliese faced front and got the truck moving. She took it slowly at first, but eventually sped up and headed into the woods. Nick sat down on the grass and watched the truck disappear into the trees. He really was going to miss them all, but he wouldn’t trade things for the world. Soon he would be back with his wife and son.
He lay back on the grass, looked up at the stars, and wondered what Heaven would be like. And if he would ever get there.
Epilogue
Nick had needed to work fast to get all of the animals free in time. A moment longer and the dead would have swarmed over him, having finally made their way from the grounds around Ripley Hall.
The various animals had run wild as soon as he’d let them loose. The dead just ignored them. It was as if anything other than a human being was invisible to them. Hopefully, the animals would find a way to survive. The world was now free of men hunting them and using them for food. Maybe, if anything, the world would at least be better for the animals.