Free Amongst the Dead by David Bernstein

survive, she’d needed to detach herself from her feelings and keep her killer instinct sharp.  
    The Milners proved different than the rest of the world. They were a tough family—strong physically and spiritually with the need to not only survive, but to live. They’d kept their humanity and love for each other alive even in a world that had fallen apart. Riley wanted to be a part of that love, that bond, finding it difficult to truly believe in, until one day when she let it all out, crying hysterically onto Joanne’s shoulder. The pent-up emotions, multiple layers of sadness, dread and guilt were shed from her soul like an old skin. Through conversation and with some time she’d learned that opening one’s self up to others wasn’t a weakness, but a strength that would keep her balanced, keep her human.
    For years, even when her father was alive, she had given up hope that she’d ever find people that could live normal lives. People that were capable of bringing joy and happiness to others around them. The world, as she had known it to become, was a wasteland of self-preserving mutants. Jack had rekindled her feelings of hope in people, that not all of them were wicked. But Jack’s acts of kindness had ultimately led to his death. Why weren’t the good people rewarded?  
    Now, living amongst the Milners, Riley had learned to trust again, to love again. George and Joanne had become her adopted parents. They showed nothing but compassion and love, always looking out for her and Eric’s well-being.  
    The family life that she had only heard or read about, the stuff of fiction, was now a real part of the world in which she lived. Every day she was able to wake with a smile, knowing how lucky she truly was and that her father and Jack, with their sacrifices, allowed her to be where she was today.  
    A year had passed since the day she arrived at the Milners house. They celebrated her fourteenth birthday, giving her a cake made from goat milk, stale but viable Twinkies, cinnamon and honey. It was something at one time she might have considered a child’s concoction, but now a delicious treat. She was grateful for what it represented and where it had come from.  
    The house was a log cabin built by George Milner before the Zombie Apocalypse. It was a large cabin with two floors and a basement. A wood stove sat at either end of the abode, keeping the house warm throughout the wintry months.  
    They had chickens in a coop and goats which they used for milk. The animals were easy to keep as they fed naturally off the land.  
    A nearby river supplied loads of fresh fish as well as a few nearby lakes. The Hudson River wasn’t too far off, easily gotten to by car, but the Milners almost never traveled toward the city of Poughkeepsie—known for its gangs, zombies and crazy people. When they traveled for a scouting supply mission, it was usually north into unpopulated regions.  
    The log cabin was set back a quarter-mile from the road and well hidden, especially during the summer months, by the heavily wooded forest. The wood stove burned cinders and twigs during the daylight hours, keeping the heavy burning at night to avoid being seen from afar. George had told Riley that no breathing, talking human had ever come around. On occasion a member of the undead would wander into the area—one making it all the way to the house’s front steps—but George or his wife would take care of the things, usually with a single shot to the head to destroy the eye/brain connection. The log cabin was a safe haven from the wilds of the world. It had taken Riley a couple months before she was able to relax and let her guard down somewhat, but never completely.  
    She loved tending to the livestock, getting eggs from the chickens and petting the goats. She spent much of her free time—chores always needing to be done first—reading books that George and Joanne had acquired over the years.  
     
    She worked with George, an