This Would Be Paradise (Book 2)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 29

I had decided to keep Zoe's tidbit about Darren's tendency to wander in the night to myself. It was biased, I know, but I didn't want to think that we had brought the killer with us.

For the rest of the day, Roy and I worked on planning our trip back to the apartments in Gretna and our spy mission. At the peak of the memorial tonight, we would sneak out and poke around Wyatt's condo. Roy made sure to have his tools ready to go at the front door. We couldn't just kick in Wyatt's front door; we didn't want them to know we had been in there.

We found John later and filled him in. He said he would help with both, even volunteering to help us gather the people from the apartments.

"I'll be drivin' though," John said.

"Well it is your car after all," I shrugged.

"I see there are some new dents and scratches on it."

I grinned sheepishly, "Kind of a hazard of the zombie apocalypse."

"We could always hit up a dealership and get a new fleet of cars," Roy suggested.

"We'll have to keep that in mind," John agreed.

Just before supper, everyone was called to the lot towards the back of the cul-de-sac where a freshly dug grave was waiting for Reina's body. A huge crowd had formed with Wyatt and an older gentleman standing beside the grave. Judging from the bible in the older man's hand, I assumed he was a priest or someone to do with the church.

After about ten minutes, Grant, Byron, Ethan and Oscar came over carrying the body in a bare-bones coffin made of plywood. Using flat rope spread across the hole, they lowered the coffin down into the grave. It wasn't six feet deep, but the coffin lid was still about a foot lower than the lip of the grave.

"We are here to honor the life of Reina; a teacher, a friend, a sister, a pillar of this community," Wyatt boomed over the hushed voices. "Benjamin will lead with a verse from the bible."

The elderly man stepped forward and opened his red tome as he cleared his throat.

"I will being reading from Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gave way and the mountains fell into the heart of the sea."

At that point I started to tune him out. I was not one to draw comfort from religion. Instead I peered around at all those attending Reina's burial. Most people had their heads down while they listened to Ben recite from the Bible. The children from her class were present, some visibly distraught; the adults around them trying to comfort them. I had no way of knowing if the adults were the kids' parents or if they were now adoptive guardians.

Wyatt and his groupies stood by, their hands clamped in front of them. Ethan had decided to join us after they had lowered the body, now standing beside Chloe with his hand on her shoulder. Grant appeared stone cold as he listened to Ben, nothing on his face giving away what he was thinking. Byron and the surgeon both looked sullen as they stared at the coffin. Oscar wiped away a tear. He had it the worst; he was the one who had to look at the body up close and personal as the town's resident doctor and medical examiner.

After Ben finished, Wyatt ushered everyone to the clubhouse where dinner and refreshments would be served in memory of Reina. It sounded almost like a party. The funeral precession took up the entire street like a morose parade, not one person must have been absent.

The clubhouse smelt like hot food and the cooks hurried to the back of the building to the dinner they must have been working on before the funeral. As soon as everyone was inside, music was played so that you could just hear it over the voices. They wouldn't dare turn it up to rock concert levels.