Hey!
Happy Halloween!
It’s been way too long since I’ve written. Not just writing a post like this, but it's been too long since I've written a book.
I’m in year two of my new career as a high school teacher. It’s going well. I’m teaching Graphic Communication and Video Production. Both are perfect for me. I’ve gotten decent at making t-shirts. I made this one for today.
Not bad!
On top of teaching, I also enrolled in grad school at Utah State University’s online program (Go Aggies!). I figure if I’m going to do this job, I might as well get more. All that, on top of launching the school’s broadcast department has worn me out and left me with little time for writing.
That’s been killing me. I’ve got a book ready to roll, but I will hold off on launching a new Kickstarter (I’m proud of this one) until the spring. That said, I need to get some of these ideas out. So, until that hits, I’m going to try and post monthly short stories to this page.
This one is perfect for Halloween. Originally published last year in the After The Fall anthology project, The Perfect Gift is the story of a father trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, trying to outrun a flank of demons to make it home to give his young son a birthday present. I enjoyed writing this.
It’s a quick, easy read. Download the link or continue reading below.
I hope you enjoy!
THE PERFECT GIFT
by J.D. Oliva
Daniel understood the dangers. He'd seen them all in the twelve years since the fall. Living alone was dangerous enough. Living with a growing boy is something he probably shouldn't have done, but then he reconsidered the passed six years ago. Shawn was here, and he meant everything to Daniel. Since Debra died, the boy was all he had left.
Daniel would lay awake worrying that the bastards would come for his boy every morning before bed, the same way they did his wife. This world wasn’t theirs anymore. Why couldn’t they accept that?
It didn't matter. All that mattered was Shawn. And tonight, all that mattered was his son's sixth birthday. No matter how difficult life had become, what kind of a father would Daniel be if he didn't find his son a present. No, not just a present. The perfect gift.
Daniel awoke early, knowing his son would still be asleep for a few more hours, allowing him just enough time to find something to give the boy. He traveled in shadows, keeping himself just out of their purview. Their numbers were small these days. Much smaller than before the fall, thankfully. They didn't belong here, anymore. Daniel didn't believe they ever really did.
Daniel spotted them while hiding behind the blown-out husk of an office building. It must be some kind of nightly patrol. If they caught sight of him, the bastards would've tied to kill him. They didn't care about his son back home, or the dead wife cremated two years past. They certainly wouldn't care about his baby boy's birthday.
Shawn had a lifetime of war and living in the shadows to look forward to if the state of things things didn't change. He didn't need to worry about that, not while he was still a kid. Right now, all he should be worrying about is playing and having fun. Life is cruel and unfair. But isn't it a parent's job to try and make their kids feel happy even when the world around them is burning?
Daniel looked down at the burlap sack. Inside was the gift. The perfect gift, really. Shawn would love it, and if God forbid something ever happened to Daniel, his little boy would remember it forever. What more could a dad ask for?
"To get home alive," he answered under his breath.
Daniel spotted six of them armed with heavy weapons. The guns didn't scare him. What scared Daniel were the weapons hidden beneath those black flak jackets. He had to avoid those. His eyes scanned past the guards, protecting a broken circle of buildings that used to be downtown. This place used to be something. Today, it's just a bunch of cracked cinder blocks and broken glass. Unless these lunatics were protecting something Daniel couldn't see? A weapon, maybe?
Honestly, that wasn't a problem he could deal with now. It was Shawn's birthday. He's what mattered. Daniel focused on one of the guards. He had a large gun in his hands, Daniel had no idea what kind. It probably had a name with a bunch of letters. AR-something-something.
The man stood around 6'4 with dark hair and a thick beard. A collection of golden trinkets of a backward religion these monsters still clung to, hung from his neck. Funny, those silly totems did nothing to help them before the fall. But that's what made them dangerous. Not the weapons but their steadfast, dogmatic beliefs. They're zealots who killed without impunity. And they didn't care about his boy's birthday.
Daniel could walk out the back and take the long way to their apartment building, but it would more than double the time he spent in the streets. Who knows how many of those warmongers would be in his path if Daniel took the long way? Here, at least he knew the number. The apartment lay just beyond what used to be downtown. One against six of them was terrible odds. Daniel looked down into the burlap sack with the perfect gift and had no other choice. There were too many variables if he back-tracked the long way.
He had to get home.
Daniel cinched up on the sack and dashed away from the half-wall that hid him from their view. His light steps barely made a sound as he zipped through the forum. Somehow, he didn't draw their attention. Maybe all those lessons he picked up had paid off? Daniel's feet settled, throwing his back against another disheveled wall. He did it. Daniel skittered his way across the forum and kept off their sights. Now he just had to cross--
SSKKKREEEE
Daniel's eyes snapped down to his feet, where a thick sewer rat with mangy flesh and broken teeth crouched. The creature stared up at him with red, hateful eyes. It might as well have shouted, Here he is! Don't let him escape!
"Traitor!"
Daniel hauled off and kicked the verminous little Judas in the chest. The critter shrieked again as it sailed through the air before splitting the uprights of a U-shaped chunk of rebar.
"Goal," he giggled to himself in a hush.
"What's that?!" One of the guards watched the fuzzy field goal he sunk from deep in enemy territory.
"Look, it's one of them!" shouted another.
TAKA TAKA TAKA TAKA
Bullets whipped their way across the forum, shattering the mock safety of a broken wall. Daniel pulled the burlap sack deep into his chest and ran again. If this was a different night and he didn't have the perfect gift in his hands, he may have stayed behind to fight off those demons. He had the skills and the training. He might have done it, but that's pride talking. Parents don't get to have pride. All that matters is making sure their children are safe. And happy.
With his light steps, Daniel scurried across the labyrinth of jagged concrete that once housed a bustling city and was now home to an army of stay dogs and Benedict Arnold rats. Not that Daniel saw any of them. Those creatures were smart enough to stay hidden in a firefight. Much smarter than Daniel. Not one of the errant shells hit its mark.
Daniel dashed and weaved through the maze. He stayed safe while moving as fast as his feet could carry, keeping the bag close to his chest. Who knows how many of them trailed behind? One was still too many. Daniel never turned back to look. If he stayed far enough away from them, it wouldn't matter anyway. They needed to be in close quarters to really hurt Daniel. The gift was a different story. With all the trouble Daniel had gone to procure it, he needed to keep it secure.
The sight of a high-rise pushing up from the concrete graveyard welcomed him home. Their building still looked the same as it had back when it stood as one of the most sought-after homesteads in what used to be a city. They knew Daniel was heading for the security of the lobby. They counted on it, for sure. What better than to collect a few innocents on top of a straggler like Daniel.
Instead, Daniel headed for the back. If anyone was inside the lobby, they might fall victim to the horde of demons racing toward their home. Daniel took the risk to venture out in a warzone. None of the folks who shared their apartment space needed to fight his wars. There were enough of those going around. This battle belonged Daniel, not them.
The fire escape was down. Daniel took one hand from the bag and leaped for the high-hanging rung. He scaled these metal steps hundreds of times and had gotten quite good at it. Doing it with one hand was a task he hadn't tried before. To his surprise, Daniel scrambled up the steps with ease. He didn't even hear a single gunshot whiz by hair ears. Maybe they didn't follow him all the way home? He still had no time to look back.
Daniel scaled up eighteen flights and quickly slid the family window open. He tumbled inside and slammed the glass pane back shut. For a moment, the only sound Daniel heard was his own breath reverberating in the apartment. No gunshots shots or sounds of pretend soldiers mounting up the steel steps. Just his breath. Until another voice came.
"Daddy?"
Daniel's head snapped away from the window. He found a little boy standing in the entryway holding a tiny stuffed brown bear he called Bram from his fingers.
"Hey, buddy!"
Shawn ran over and wrapped his arms and bear around Daniel's neck. Daniel pulled his son in with one hand and held him close to his chest before kissing the back of the child's head. They were safe-- for now.
"What're you doing, Daddy?"
Daniel pulled his son away and looked happily into his baby boy's eyes. "Well, today's a special day, and I needed to do something very special for my best buddy on his birthday."
"You did?" Shawn smiled.
"I did." Daniel extended the burlap sack to his little boy, who grabbed the bag with a wide glowing face. Could anything ever match the joy and excitement etched on a child's face in the moments before opening a gift? Let alone the perfect gift.
"Happy birthday, buddy."
Shawn took the bag and looked at it. He paused before gazing back up at his father, making sure it was okay to open the bag. Daniel nodded, and Shawn reached into the sack.
"Daddy!" Shawn's little hand pulled out a grey and white ball of fur. A kitten with sparkling green eyes and a tiny little face not so different from his own. "A kitty!"
Seeing his smile reminded Daniel that this was worth all the trouble. Going out in the heart of night with mad cultists roaming the streets, wearing their ancient totems and armed with instruments of death. He’d do it all over again just to behold that look on his boy's face.
"Can I have him?" Shawn asked.
"Of course. He's all yours."
Shawn pulled the kitten in close to his chest. "Thank you so much!"
If only Debra could see the joy in her baby's eyes.
Shawn took one look into those sparkling green eyes blinking back at him with the instant love and adoration often shared by small animals and children. Both looked so happy. The boy smiled, revealing a row of thin teeth like sharpened needles. He snapped down and sunk the jagged incisors into the creature's throat. The pet shrieked for a moment before going limp. Shawn drained the fluid from his birthday feast much too fast. He sucked the entire contents of the cat out in less than thirty seconds. Silly boy would have a tummy ache later.
"Slow down," Daniel said with a giggle.
Shawn looked up from his dinner and let a tiny red stream dribble down his face. "Sorry, Daddy."
"That's okay."
Daniel saw his boy and felt pride that someday Shawn might walk the streets at night and not worry about the last few stragglers who refused to admit they'd lost this world. Someday the plague of humanity would be gone, and their kind would finally take what is rightfully theirs. It's a nice dream.
What father doesn't want a better life for their son?
Knock knock
Daniel's eyes snap to the door. Perhaps he wasn’t as careful as he thought.