by Schow, Ryan
She could see the physical damage on his head and to his face. No, he was most certainly not okay. She bent down, pulled him up. He was heavy, but nothing she couldn’t manage. He stood on shaky legs, bracing her arm for support, his eyes looking down on her.
“You have…inhuman strength,” he said without an ounce of expression.
“Your brains still working?” she asked.
“Need to see Sarah,” he replied, weary from overexertion, or maybe a concussion. Inside, her heart sagged a bit. Maria wanted him to be her king, but there was already another claim on him, one he loved and respected: his queen.
She lifted up his shirt, saw gashes and nicks everywhere. He needed more than a few sets of stitches.
“Who else is cut and needing attention right now?” Maria turned and asked the group.
They all raised their hands.
“Okay,” she said. “We need water and medical supplies, so fan out and let’s find what we can.”
An hour later, after discovering a wealth of food, water and medical supplies (and eliminating the clan’s remaining holdouts), Maria was working on patching up the last of the men’s wounds. Four of the guys were asleep on the floor, snoring, only one of them having a hard time of it—Rex. He woke himself up twice, crying out, his hands flailing out before him, like he was being attacked.
Macy was there to comfort him.
Maria finished stitching up Stanton, who had a few puncture wounds but nothing life-threatening. Nick was awake, sitting next to Indigo, holding her hand. Maria took in her expression in a heartbeat, realizing she was on the edge of an emotional upheaval. Was it from the adrenaline dump of battle, or was it from thinking her father had been dead and then he just showed up? She would never know, but Maria was starting to understand their emotions, how they worked and why they worked.
It was nice. Indigo was a good kid.
Chapter Eighty-Four
They got home well after daybreak. They headed to their respective homes, crawled into their respective beds, then woke only when Sarah came to check on them. Indigo took Nick to see Bailey, who made a big deal of his face being beat to hell.
“We’ve survived worse,” he said.
“And I’ve looked worse than you, and you didn’t leave. Which means you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I never thought you’d leave me,” he said, grinning.
“I won’t. It’s you and me,” she said, taking his cheeks into her hands, kissing him gently on the lips. “Ah, the taste of fresh blood in the morning…”
He laughed, but it hurt. Indigo smiled.
She liked Bailey, and it was clear that Bailey was smitten with her father. That somewhere along the way, they’d fallen in love. She wondered how it happened, and when, but then she realized she’d fallen in love with Rex, who was okay with her giving her father most of her attention, for now. He’d said, “I’m fine. Go see him, catch up.”
“You’re the best,” she said.
“Just remember you’ve got my baby in that belly, so don’t leave me hanging all day.”
She laughed.
“I love that you love me so much,” she said.
“I love that you almost love me more,” he replied with a tired grin.
“Go to bed,” she said, kissing him. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” he said. “Remind me which house it is again?”
The morning came and went and everyone started getting up around two in the afternoon. Rider took a head count, telling people there was going to be a gathering out in the street in an hour. Everyone met in the street as instructed.
Indigo introduced Marcus, Nick and Bailey to the group, and asked that everyone greet them individually. Next she brought Maria up and asked her to have the kids introduce themselves. When One introduced herself as One, Maria said, “Your real names.”
One turned and gave the woman a startled look, then upon getting a second approval said, “My name is Sally, and Miss Maria saved our lives.”
When all the kids were done introducing themselves (each of them telling how Miss Maria was practically an angel), Rider asked Gunderson to come up. The ex-enforcer looked surprised at first, but did a good job of concealing the emotion. He had a hard time holding his head up as he walked forward, for he’d already been kicked out of the group once.
This was a man who—on this side of the apocalypse—was accustomed to rejection. He’d been rejected by every group he’d tried to be a part of, including this group (when they’d learned who he was), and by his own flesh and blood in the most crucial of times.
Rider understood the man’s posture, and his hesitation.
“Many of you know we asked Gunderson to leave recently,” Rider said, “but I want to stand up here and tell you I was wrong. We were wrong.”
He looked over at the man, eye to eye and he patted him on the shoulder. Gunderson’s head lifted a bit, almost like he was pleased to see he wasn’t going to be chastised or exiled a second time.
“None of us are without our own batch of sins, our own past, our own traumas,” Rider continued. “Some of us have lived lives we would not share with others, but we are not those people anymore. We are not our pasts. So I would like to formally welcome Gunderson to our community, and to a new life.”
He looked at Gunderson and the man had tears in his eyes. This was a hardcore, brutal enforcer for one of the worst gangs in San Francisco’s history and there he was, finally a part of something he wanted, something he never expected.
“We are no longer family by blood relation,” Rider continued. “We are family by virtue of community, and in the spirit of community, I’ve taken time to talk to Marcus and he has something he wants to ask you.”
Rider looked over at Marcus and nodded.
Marcus slowly walked to where Rider stood, cleared his throat and said, “On our way here, in Sacramento, Nick, Bailey and myself were shot and taken hostage. We were stuffed in separate metal boxes and left to starve to death. In other words, we should not be here today, we should not have lived. But we did. There is a community outside Sacramento, in the rural town of Loomis. This community is generous, friendly and looking to build something special. People from this community saved us from certain death. I’ve also left people I care about behind. They’re at the same community, which is why I need to head back there.” Taking a breath, he said, “I would like to invite all of you to come with me. It’s beautiful with lots of trees and streams and meadows, and it has a sense of peace San Francisco in its current state can never offer. Moreover, it is a place we can make our own homestead with neighbors who will look after us rather than threaten us. It’s a place we can raise families.”
When he stopped talking, he stood looking at the sea of faces around him, hopeful, nervous, breathless, almost like he’d never asked anything of anyone before.
“Yes,” Nick said.
Indigo said, “Yes,” as well, followed by Rex, Stanton, Cincinnati and Macy.
Lenna Justus said, “Yes,” as did Jagger, their two boys and Elizabeth.
Suddenly the air was filled with the word yes and it was decided right then and there: they were going with Marcus, going with him to join the people he missed, the people he needed.
Bailey walked up to Marcus, took his hand, knowing what this meant for him, and said, “Thank you for all you’ve done for us.”
He turned and looked down at her and there were tears standing in his eyes, new emotions on his face she hadn’t seen before.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said to just him, “but I love you. Nick and I love you. And the only reason we’re alive is because of you.”
He nodded his head, a tear spilling over, his eyes on her, then up on Nick, who was smiling at him and giving him that nod of appreciation. Nick knew what Bailey was saying. He knew what it would mean coming from her.
They left that afternoon, heading to Lone Mountain as a group. There they loaded up on food,
water and medical supplies. There was more than enough of all of these things, considering the clan was eating for nearly two hundred and had scattered out across the city looting every house and business they could. A few of the guys from the clan came back, one of them holding a beaten girl hostage. The first kid ran when he saw the group. The second let go of the girl and stood there as if he couldn’t figure out what to do.
Indigo walked down to where he was standing, his pistol now out and about ten guns on him. With her bow and arrows slung over her back, she said, “You go,” to the guy, and to the girl she said, “Are you okay?”
“He killed my grandmother and my friends.”
The kid broke into a sprint.
No one shot him.
Too bad.
Indigo pulled the girl into a hug as she broke down right then and there.
“It’s okay,” Indigo said.
“It’s not,” she said, sniffling, still crying. When she pulled away, the stranger saw two cute blonde girls approaching.
“Hi,” one of them said, “I’m Atlanta.”
“And I’m Macy.”
“Tessa,” she said, wiping her eyes but looking not the least bit better.
“And I’m Indigo.”
“What are you guys doing?” she asked, looking up at the school where dozens of people were gathered.
“We’re heading out of town, going someplace safe.”
“You’re lucky,” she said, looking down.
“Would you like to come with us?” Atlanta asked. “There’s no size restrictions on this caravan of lost souls.”
The girl looked up, her eyes saying “Really?” Then: “I don’t have anything or anyone to go back to after him.”
“Then you should come with us,” Indigo urged.
“We’re starting something new,” Macy offered with a smile. “Which means there’s room for one more.”
Chapter Eighty-Five
Five days later…
Marcus, Nick and Bailey asked everyone to hang back a bit while they headed into camp. The three of them strolled into the Loomis community to lots of friendly faces, some remembering them, others asking if there was someone they needed to see.
Corrine was first to see Marcus. She squealed with delight and bolted for him, practically tackling him with a hug which he let himself enjoy. Hot on her heels was Abigail who grabbed both of them and held on like her life depended on it.
Amber was walking up to the three of them with a huge, breathless smile on her face. Bailey met her with a hug.
“I didn’t think you’d come back,” she said, her eyes wet, her voice shaky.
“Why not?”
“A lot of people didn’t come home to their loved ones,” she said, looking at Marcus.
“Is he okay?” she asked. “His face…”
“We went through hell and then some to get back here. The man is cut from granite. And he missed you.”
“He said that?”
“Look at him,” she said, taking Amber’s hand, walking her to him. “It’s all over his face.”
The girls stepped away from Marcus so Amber could say hello. She didn’t say hello, though. Instead, she saw something in Marcus she’d been wanting to see in someone for a very long time, so she said hello with a long kiss that had the girls giggling.
“What did I do to deserve that?” he said, swallowing hard, trying to catch his breath.
“You came back to me.”
He looked at her, smiled, his battered face filled with emotion, the same as it had been ever since he realized he was coming back to her, Abigail and Corrine.
“I did. You and the girls.”
“But mostly her,” Corrine said, smiling, knowing what she was seeing.
“Because you love her,” Abigail teased.
She looked at him now with so many questions in her eyes. The woman was so beautiful, the kind of woman he never dreamt he’d let himself love.
“I think that’s what this is,” he forced himself to say. It was not a lie, it was just a truth he was afraid to admit. But he wasn’t afraid of anything, was he? He was. He was afraid of this, but those days were past.
He wasn’t his mother, and he wasn’t his father.
“I think it’s like that for me, too,” Amber said, sliding into his hug, pulling him tight against her. “I missed you.”
When Amber looked up at him, he knew. He knew he was in love, and he knew he was not his father. That he was a good man, a decent man, a man whose past no longer defined him.
The trio was met by more friendly faces, including Jill’s face. Bailey explained what had happened, what they’d been through and they all had decided to come out and hopefully be a part of something bigger than just themselves.
Naturally they were welcomed into the community where they spent the night. The next morning, after breakfast and introductions, they were taken to a large plot of land about a half mile down the road.
“This was going to be our next ‘development’ if you will,” Jill told them. “We didn’t know who would come, but this was where we were planning on expanding to next. So now it’s yours, if that’s okay?”
“It’s more than okay,” Marcus said.
That night they made a bonfire and circled the sleeping bags around the blaze knowing this was no home they were ever used to, but this was going to be the home they would make for themselves. There wasn’t a sour face among them. In fact, this was the start of something new, something safe and something fulfilling, and everyone felt it.
Epilogue
Several months later…
The D.C. homestead went from being a bit overrun to clean, functional and protected. No one expected an American president to just show up and decide to stay with them and as a result, the group welcomed him in with open arms.
Earl was their unofficial “leader” but he asked Ben one night to take the reigns and Ben said, “You’re doing a fine job, Earl. Better than I could do.”
“I doubt that, but thanks for the vote of confidence. Unless you’re just pacifying me.”
“I’m not.”
“Well then, I appreciate that.”
“What are you going to do now that you’ve found a home here?” Earl asked. “I mean, several times you almost left us, and there are times even now when I think that’s entirely possible.”
“Is that why you asked me to lead? Because if I said yes, then I wasn’t going anywhere? But if I said no then the possibility was still in the air?”
He grinned, then said, “And this is why you ran the show in the godforsaken D.C. swamp.”
“It’s okay. I get it. But I’ll tell you this, I like Gisele and I’m pretty sure she likes me too. But before I consider trying on that life, a life with her, I wanted to get your blessing.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because she was here before me, and there’s a bit of an age difference between us.”
“Age doesn’t mean anything when she’s old enough to decide who she wants.”
“You think she’ll want to…ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this…you think she’ll want to date me?”
“What about your wife?”
Ben spent the better part of his waking hours trying to work through that. In the end, after he apologized to her soul, after he felt her presence was no longer around him, he asked her spirit to give him a sign that it was okay to move on.
For the first time in months, he didn’t have nightmares.
With the nightmares gone, dreams finally had a way back in. Ben’s first clear dream was about money in his pockets. In the dream he kept taking it out—quarters, nickels, dimes—and there kept being more and more spare change.
He woke the next morning next to Daisy and he laughed. She looked up at him. Gave him a morning lick.
“I get it now,” he said out loud.
Daisy’s mouth opened, her tongue came out and she pretended to be panting. This was her version of a smile.
The message in the dream was clear. It was about change. As in, it’s time to change. Change was okay, lots of it. This would be the biggest change for him because when he married his wife, he intended to spend the rest of his life with her. Now that she was gone, he was alone.
But that wasn’t how he was meant to be.
Alone.
This life was about who a person was, the inspiration they found in others, the joy they had in their own lives because of the company they kept.
“My wife is gone, Earl,” he told his friend. “She’d want me to love. She liked me best when I could, and in the end, I shut down. I didn’t think I could come out of that. I was sure I couldn’t, but I did. I have. If it makes any difference, I asked for a sign from her, something that let me know she was okay with me moving on, and I got it.”
“Then, yes, I approve. But you didn’t need that from me, that girl’s head over heels in love with you if you can’t see it already.”
“I think I can see it,” he replied. Shaking Earl’s hand, he said, “You saved me, Earl.”
“You saved yourself.”
“I’m grateful for all you’ve done for me never the less.”
“If we don’t have each other,” he said, “then we have nothing. We’re your family now, Ben. We’re your family and you are ours.”
“I know,” he said, smiling. Then looking at Daisy, he said, “And it’s a good family.”
Daisy gave a sharp, happy bark.
It took several months of dusk-to-dawn work for us to build our homestead, but everyone pulled together the way we knew how. This became a different life than we knew in the city. Calmer, cleaner, more peaceful. And we are not alone anymore.
Our little family of three has now grown immeasurably with Rex back in our lives, and Indigo part of the family and with child as well.
Plus there are people like Rider and Sarah, Jagger and Lenna, and little miracles like Elizabeth, and fine young men like Ballard and Hagan. Our daughter Macy has grown to become a strong, capable young woman, and we have Atlanta (who has gotten close to Ballard and is in all likelihood seeing him behind our backs, which pleases me as much as it pleases Lenna and Jagger) who has since come out of her shell.
