It was the first quiet morning Sean had experienced in what felt like months. He had finally made it to the East coast, and the salty air was revitalizing. As he walked along the misty path that stretched out before him through a small field, he wondered what it was once used for. Someone had taken the time to lay square stepping stones several hundred feet. Was it a path to the shore for a family to fish? Was it to the neighbors’ house that he saw in the near distance? Whatever it had been for originally, those people were gone.

Sean looked over his shoulder, and then scanned the horizon. Since he had crossed over into Maine, the sightings of the living dead had dwindled. It was a relief, but also put him on edge. This had once been a populated, touristy area; the people didn’t just disappear. And, those people were now monsters wanting to tear into his flesh. So…where were they?

He walked along in silence for a while before going up a small hill. Once he got to the top, he was met by a view of the ocean. The sparkling waves crashed to the shore, punctuated by the call of seagulls.

To Sean’s right, under a tree, a large quilt was crumpled on the ground. What looked like the remnants of balloons laid strewn around. Broken bowls and chipped platters lay in haphazard heaps. A pile of soggy paper and cardboard looked like the remains of a once-wrapped gift. Soon Sean’s eyes fell on the body that lay at the foot of the tree. It was mostly bones by now, having been scavenged. It wore a flowing orange and pink dingy dress with a sash that said “Birthday Girl” stained brown. In intervals around the quilt were other bodies slumped on the ground; two young children, and another woman. Sean could almost see the scene play out like so many others had before in this new world.

He scanned the remnants of food to see if there was anything non-perishable. Among the remains of now-rotten food, he found a bottle of unopened champagne. He chuckled to himself at the irony of it all. With weary legs, he sat down on the ground, then opened the drink with a loud “pop”. Nearby he heard the familiar snarls of an animated corpse. He turned his head to see what must have been a male family member of the birthday girl starting to crawl in his direction, seemingly awakened by the noise from opening the bottle. He wasn’t moving very fast due to both of his legs missing from the knees down. The whole bottle of champagne could be finished off before he reached him.

With a nod of his head Sean tipped the bottle in the direction of the corpse of the woman and her family.

“Happy birthday.” He said, and with that took a massive swig.