by Sage du Toit
Lucky
First Book in the N-Day Series
A Post-Apocalyptic – End of Days Series
Sage du Toit
Dedication
My biggest thanks goes to the love of my life, my husband Geoffrey. Without his unconditional support and encouragement, I would not have been able to complete this, my first book. He is also the one that designed my book cover and his patience as I watched over his shoulder was endless.
Also, to my lovely daughter, Emily. Her excitement and review of my book helped me to move forward. She swore that she read the naughty scenes with her eyes closed!
And to my cats, Chani and Joey. They are always there to comfort me and have given me lots of insights into cat behavior that helped me in writing this book. Not to mention the hours spent sitting at my side or across my lap as I typed.
Chani (Seal Point Munchkin)
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 1
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15 December 2020
Douglasville, GA
Sam crouched in the empty frame of the sliding glass door leading into the living room of the empty house...well at least she hoped it was empty. Her eyes scanned the room through the gas mask on her face while listening for any sounds. Everything appeared to be clear, so she slowly rose and took a few steps inside. She glanced down and carefully placed her foot to avoid the broken glass inside the door. Sam tightened her grip on the Bowie knife in her left hand, holding it slightly out and in front of her body as she moved forward. Once over the glass she glided across the carpet and peaked around a bar height counter that led into the kitchen. The doors to all of the cabinets were hanging wide open and everything appeared to be cleaned out. A few pots and pans and other dishes were strewn around the room, broken plates and glasses on the floor and littering the counter surfaces where someone had made a hurried search of the cabinets for food. Sam knew she wasn’t likely to find food in this house in the middle of a plain suburban neighborhood, but she was more worried about finding a secure, clean place to rest for the night.
She glanced out of the kitchen window and saw from the level of the sun on the horizon that she had about an hour left of sunlight. She noticed the window had a set of blinds pulled up to the top and made a note to herself to be sure to close that once she had cleared the house. She turned back toward the living room and looked down the long dark hallway. If anyone was hiding...it would be in the back of the house. It was a simple one-story home that appeared to have two or three bedrooms. The average median income family home in what she always thought of as a cookie cutter neighborhood. She chose this one out of all of the others because it appeared to be the plainest of all the plain houses located at the end of a dead-end road.
Sam stealthily moved down the hall coming to the first door on the left she pushed the partially open door all the way open and looked over the room. There was a large bed in the middle of the room with night stands and lamps on each side, a tall chest of drawers next to the door and a simple vanity table between two doors at the other end of the room, probably a closet and a bathroom. The door to the left was partially open and the door on1 the right was closed. She moved to the right door since it was closest to her and carefully turned the door knob. The door made a slight squeak as she pushed it open and she cringed inside and out from the sound. Sam froze in place, waiting to see if there was going to be any response to the sound. Everything was quiet, just the slight sound of the wind in the trees that were located behind the house.
Quietly letting go of the breath that she realized she was holding, Sam eased the door the rest of the way open. It was a bathroom with a single shower-tub combo in the corner sitting opposite a toilet and sink. She was surprised there was toilet paper on the roll next to the toilet and considered grabbing it now, who would have thought that toilet paper would be such a valuable commodity at the end of the world but decided to wait since she hoped to be staying the night here. As she was turning to leave the room, she wondered what other treasures she would find in the cabinets and drawers. Obviously, whoever had looted this house previously was only worried about food in the kitchen.
Sam caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun. Her dark brown eyes stared back at her through the gas mask on her face, making her look like some creepy alien. She barely recognized her own gaunt face that had dark circles around the eyes and she could see a dirt ring around the collar of her shirt. She jerked her eyes away from the mirror and moved out of the room and on toward the closet. There was still light coming from the bedroom windows but the inside of the closet was pitch dark. Sam eased around the cracked door and standing to the side she pulled the door open with her hand holding the knife.
As the door opened there was a sudden movement from inside the closet and the light from the windows reflected off bright green round eyes. Sam pulled her hand back ready to strike with the knife as the light from the window reviled a small blue cat that was puffed up and hissing at her with its tail straight up and puffed like a bottle brush and its back as curved up over its large stomach. Sam paused, realizing she had just invaded a mama cat’s den. Sam lowered her knife and took a step back. Seeing the cat hiding in the closet she realized that there probably weren't any people in the house and if the cat was alive, it must be safe enough to remove her mask. The cat was so small and her stomach was so big, Sam thought she was probably due any time now...she looked pass the hissing cat and saw a pile of clothes on the floor at the back of the closet that must be her nest. There appeared to be one small squirming baby already in the nest. Evidently, she was already in the process.
Sam took another step back and considered shutting the door so the mama cat could finish her business, but then she took a closer look at the cat. Her stomach was huge with babies, but her frame was diminished...much like Sam’s own frame and she knew the cat must be close to starvation. She also knew she couldn’t kill and eat the cat, especially something as small and skinny as this one. Sam had always been a cat lover anyway and since N-day she had only seen one that was still alive, and that was back when she was with Tom.
Sam shook her head to dispel her thoughts of Tom, she couldn’t think about that right now. The cat was trying to maintain her stance of defiance against Sam but it looked like she was having another labor pain. Sam reached up and removed her mask, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. The cat looked almost surprised and then she gave Sam an ugly look and walked back to her nest. There was nothing she could do right now; the labor was taking over her body and she had to follow her instincts to birth her kittens. The mother licked the one slimy body that was squirming around the nest and then leaned over and licked between her legs, helping the next one come out. Sam sank down where she was at the opening of the closet, the Bowie knife in one hand and her gas mask in the other resting across her knees.
She sat and watched as the mama cat birthed baby after baby. Th
e feline would occasionally look her way but since Sam hadn’t made any moves toward her she was letting her stay...for now it was more important to finish birthing. As each kitten came out the cat chewed the sack they were in, releasing them to the world and then ate the sack. It had been so long since the cat had something to eat that the afterbirth that she would naturally eat was probably a feast for her empty stomach. She licked and cleaned each kitten checking them over to make sure they were healthy and whole. The fifth and final small kitten came out and as she finished cleaning it she lay back so the kittens could suckle. Sam thought the cat must be exhausted and full of all the afterbirths. Sam could hear the slight rumble of her purr from across the closet and she smiled for the first time in a long time. The mama cat had either forgotten that Sam was there or accepted her presence since she hadn’t threatened her.
Sam sat and watched the babies mew and grunt pushing each other out of the way until each one had found a nipple. She longed to touch the kittens and pet the mama cat, wanted to tell her what a great job she had done and what a wonderful mama she was. A thought occurred to her...if she could take one of the kittens when it was ready she could teach it. Cats were smarter than people ever gave them credit for. And they were great hunters, surely there may still be some small rodents left in the trees and underground. Would be enough for the cat to feed itself and maybe share a ground squirrel with her...but it was only herself she had to worry about now. Of course, there was the worry of feeding the kitten until it was big enough to hunt. Sam chewed on her lip and mused about the prospect of having a companion. Plus, a cat would probably be able to detect a lot sooner if an area was clean. But how would she protect a cat while traveling? It was something she would have to think about…
Just then Sam noticed that the room was almost completely dark. The sun was going down fast and she hadn’t even finished clearing the house! Moving slow because she didn’t want to disturb mama cat, she backed out of the closet, pulling the door back to where it was before she opened it. She considered closing it all of the way, but if she did than the cat might mess in the closet. She decided that a mess in the closet might be better than the chance of the mama cat taking the kittens and hiding them somewhere else, she closed the door the rest of the way.
Sam methodically cleared the other two bedrooms, a second bathroom and the laundry room. The other two bedrooms appeared to be a little girl's room and a teenage boy's room. It didn’t look like anyone had done a thorough search of the house, only the kitchen was ransacked. Sam went back through the house and closed all of the curtains and shut all of the blinds. She wouldn’t be able to use a light until she was sure no one would see her from the outside. With the sliding glass door shattered she had no way to secure the back of the house. But she could barricade herself in the master bedroom once she had finished her search.
Returning to the kitchen, Sam carefully stepped through the broken pieces on the floor and located the cabinet that had all of the plastic bowls. She had yet to find a house that didn’t have a cabinet full of plastic bowls. She was lucky with this house, they had the fancy bowls that were sorted with lids attached. She grabbed a stack of four shallow bowls and two large mixing bowls. She assumed there was no running water in the house but she had checked the hot water heater in the master bath and the tank was still full of water. She was looking forward to getting some of the grime off her body, and she would also put a bowl of water in the closet for the cat once she finished her preparations for the night. She then looked under the sink and was happy to find a large roll of thick black garbage bags. These would be perfect to cover the windows if she could find some more tape.
She took another look around the kitchen as best as she could in the dusk of the oncoming night and noticed that there was a corner cabinet door that wasn’t standing open. The door next to it had obscured the odd corner door that opened to the deep back corner of the counter. Sam closed the door blocking it and opened the hinged corner cabinet. The almost hidden L shaped door reviled a turn table inside the cabinet that was packed with food. Sam’s hand started shaking and she reached in and pulled out a can with a red label that showed beef raviolis.
Sam’s mouth immediately started watering and it was hard not to open the can right then and there. Sam looked around the kitchen and spied a stack of plastic milk crates sitting in a corner. She grabbed two and brought them back to the cabinet where she filled them up with cans and boxes of food. More food than she had seen since leaving Fort Jackson. There were even packages and cans of tuna! She probably had enough food to feed herself and all of the kittens and mama for several months if she was conservative. She frowned at the thought of what she would do after that but decided that was something she would think about later.
As she hauled the two crates to the master bedroom she realized she felt different. She felt a purpose again, and hope...all because of a cat and a lucky find. Maybe the cat was her luck? She smiled realizing that she would no longer have to refer to the cat as the mama cat, her name was now Lucky!
Sam placed the two crates against the wall under the windows and then removed her rucksack, which was a MOLLE system (MOdular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment) that was practically empty and put the mask in the pouch on her hip. She never went anywhere without the mask. She checked to make sure she still had her Bowie knife on her belt and pulled her small flashlight out of the side pocket of the rucksack. She quickly clicked it on and off to make sure the battery was still working. Maybe she luck would hold out and she would find some batteries! She tucked the flashlight in her front jeans pocket and stepped out into the hallway. The laundry room was in the hall and she had briefly peeked into it and noticed multiple shelves and two drawer units next to the washer and dryer. There were stacks of sheets and blankets all neatly packed on the shelves and six smallish drawers.
There were no windows so she wasn’t worried about the light. She sat it on the floor, facing the ceiling, which allowed her to free both of her hands. She knelt down and opened the top drawer on the left, this drawer was full of cables and wires and phone chargers. Sam shifted through the cables but didn’t find anything useful. The next drawer down was full of all different types of tape. She grabbed the roll of duct tape and the black electrical tape and shut the drawer. The bottom drawer on the left had an odd assortment of screws, nails, screwdrivers and a small hammer, nothing she needed right now. Top right drawer was a junk drawer, odds and ends and scraps of things. Most if it she couldn’t even identify except for a few hinges. Next drawer down and she just about cheered! Her luck had held out! It was a drawer full of batteries! She reached up and grabbed one of the pillowcases stacked on the shelf above and shoved the tape and all of the batteries from the drawer into it. In her excitement she almost forgot about the bottom right drawer. She knelt back down and opened the drawer and almost fell over. The drawer was full of matches and emergency candles, and there was even a long-nosed butane lighter.
She picked up one of the emergency candles, that’s even what it said on the front of the long glass candle, 120-hour Emergency Candle. Sam leaned back against the door and stared at everything she had found in this small area. She had done without for so long, even these little small things gave her such comfort. Question is, how did no one else find these until now? It’s not like they were hidden. She carefully pulled the candles out and placed them and the matches and lighter in a separate pillow case. Standing up with the two pillowcases in one hand she put the flashlight in her mouth and pulled down a stack of the sheets and blankets to sleep in for the night. She then switched off the flashlight and headed back to the master bedroom.
After piling all of her new loot next to the crates of food, she then went to work taping up the garbage bags over the bedroom windows, she then went into the bathroom and taped up the small window in there too. She knew this was just going to be a temporary place, so no point in making it pretty. She had placed the flashlight down on the bed, giving her a dim light while
she worked, but now since the window was covered, she figured she could give herself some more light. She placed two of the emergency candles on the nightstands and lit them with a match. It wasn’t a lot of light, but it would save her batteries. She then looked around the room trying to decide how to secure the door, she really didn’t want to move the furniture around but she didn’t really see any other choice. So, she pulled a couple of the drawers out of the chest of drawers, to make it easier to move, then she pushed it in front of the door. Thankfully the floor was wood, so it made it a little easier to push the heavy dresser but she was winded by the time she was done.
Sam glanced into the drawers as she replaced them and saw woman’s underwear and socks in one and t-shirts in the next. This made her happy as well.... once she got cleaned up she had replacements, even if they were too big...at least they would be clean! Finally, it was time to eat. She looked in the crates and found the first can she picked up, ravioli night it is! She opened the can with the can opener she had also found in the kitchen and dug in with a spoon she had pickup there as well. She forced herself to eat as slow as she could, afraid that this much food might make her sick, it had been over 48 hours since she last ate and she wasn’t quite sure how she had managed to wait this long since finding the food.
Sam scraped the bottom of the can with the spoon getting the last of the dredges out then poured a little of her water in the can and swished it around and drank the last of the soupy tomato paste from the Ravioli sauce. Now that her stomach was full her exhaustion was catching up with her. Still one last thing to do before she could sleep. Sam picked up the lit candle and walked to the closet, slowly opening the door. The light helped to illuminate the closet fairly well. The closet was fairly big and had long rows of clothes on each side of the closet. The mama cat was at the end of the closet where a few items had fallen off hangers, or where she had pulled them down and made a bed. Lucky lifted her head from the bed where all of the kittens were snuggled around her sleeping with bellies full of milk.
