Rain Must Fall

by Deb Rotuno

  “C’mon, Jack. We’ll check inside. I’ll go with you,” he stated, stepping back from the window so I could open the door.

  Joel was already up on the porch, looking to me for the go-ahead to open the door. I hesitated, gazing around the yard that had obviously seen some shit. There were boards covering every downstairs window. Sara’s flowers were squashed, though they were trying to come back. The grass was overgrown. The porch chairs were shattered and covered in dark stains.

  If anything kicked my ass into gear, it was those blood stains. I ran across the yard, leaping up onto the porch. Joel stepped out of the way, but his gun was in his hand, and my father armed himself as well.

  My home was unrecognizable, not because it was destroyed, but Sara rarely let shit clutter up. And this was more than clutter. This was moving in a fucking hurry. There were empty boxes and bags tossed to the side, clothes and toys piled up on the sofa, and the cabinets in the kitchen were open and empty.

  “Clear the room, Joel,” Dad said softly.

  I took my stairs two or three at a time, coming up to the second floor with my heart in my throat. Freddie’s room was empty, his dresser drawers hanging open and ransacked, and his bed looked like he’d just gotten up from a night’s sleep. His TV, gaming system, and toy box were all there, untouched. Melted candles were on the windowsill, and I could see that he’d pulled out every backpack and duffel bag he owned; only the too-small ones were left behind in front of the closet.

  Pushing away from the door, I found Dad standing in the doorway of the room I shared with my wife. I locked gazes with him.

  “It’s clear, son,” he stated, which made me hopeful. “She did what you told her.”

  Nodding, I swallowed nervously, stepping into the room that had seen so many smiles, laughs, and tears. It looked pretty much the same as Freddie’s room, with open, empty drawers and abandoned suitcases and bags. Sara had packed in a hurry. The closet still had clothes, mainly mine and her dressier shit.

  “Jack,” Dad called, and I turned to see him by our dresser, pointing to a picture folded in half and standing upright.

  My name was written on the outside in Sara’s pretty handwriting.

  The picture had been taken the last time we’d gone to Clear Lake with just the three of us, which had been a few years back. Freddie was little, with his baby teeth and chubby cheeks. He’d shot up several inches since then, thinning out quite a bit. Sara used to tell him he’d be long and lean like me.

  Written on the bottom of the picture was a note to me.

  Come to us. We went where you said to go. Love you, Shortcake

  She’d dated it, and I realized that she’d survived in this house for two months after the hurricane and that the virus had probably hit hard by the time she’d written it. She’d left just about the time we were getting ready to leave Dexter AFB. And that meant…my wife and son had been alive inside this house.

  I sat down on the edge of our bed, unable to take my eyes off the picture of the two most important people in my life. The picture started to blur due to my tears, and my breathing picked up. It had taken me almost five months through hell to get here, and just knowing they’d made it out of this place like I’d begged her to made my whole body practically sag with relief.

  I spun my gaze around the room again, tucking that picture inside the back pocket of my jeans for safekeeping. Smiling, I let out a small breath. Gone were our photo albums, as was my handgun—the nightstand drawer I kept locked to prevent Freddie from getting into it was wide open…and empty.

  “She got out,” I whispered to Dad, who nodded once and smiled a little.

  “Thatta girl,” he praised her softly, gripping my shoulder. “She’s smart and strong, Jack. She would’ve had Hank and Derek protecting her and Freddie.”

  Nodding, I didn’t say anything as I simply gazed around the room again.

  I walked to the closet, pulling out some of my clothes and tossing them onto the bed, though my head snapped up when I heard Sasha’s bark.

  Dad walked to the window. “Zeaks. A few coming down the street. You finish in here, son. We got this.”

  I grabbed my older Army duffel as he ran downstairs, and I shoved clothes into it. I needed cleaner, newer shit anyway, so it might as well be my own stuff. Jeans, cargos, T-shirts…It all went in haphazardly.

  I sat down hard on the edge of the bed for just a moment. I needed to calm the fuck down, or I’d lose my shit in front of God and everyone. To see my house, my home, looking this way made my heart hurt. Sara had wanted this house so badly. She loved that it was close to her dad, that she could keep a watch over him, even when he didn’t think he needed it. She loved the fairytale look of soft-yellow paint and white shutters. To see it looking like it sat in a war zone was heartbreaking…for her. It must’ve killed her to nail up the boards, to leave the place we loved so much.

  “Oh, Shortcake,” I sighed, shaking my head. I thought back to the day we met here to talk to the Realtor.

  Sandy, Oregon

  7.5 Years Prior

  I pulled into the driveway behind Sara’s car, smiling at my girl as she waited on the front porch. I honestly didn’t think I could be any more in love with her, but watching her hand rub the just-starting-to-show bump made me stupidly crazy about her.

  We hadn’t intended to start trying so soon after my return from Iraq, but I couldn’t find a fucking thing wrong with a single bit of it. While I was gone, she’d stayed with her father but had slowly gotten us a tiny apartment just across town, and we’d moved in about a week after we’d come home from our real honeymoon. When she’d written to me about this house going up for sale, I was willing to take a look. Now…we needed it. We needed a nursery and a backyard and swings and anything the kid could ever want.

  Getting out of the car, I smiled down at her. “Sorry I’m late. I got held up a little.”

  “You’re here,” she said, kissing my lips. “You’re safe. That’s all I care about. Late is fine, as long as you arrive.”

  My hand immediately found her tummy and rubbed in greeting, and I smiled down at her. “And how’s Shortcake Jr. today?”

  She giggled. “Starving. So when we’re done here, you’re in charge of feeding us.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I smirked at her, but I saw her face. “Oh, baby, you want it.”

  “I do. So much!” she squealed in happiness, grabbing my hand. “Come look and meet Mr. Grear.”

  I didn’t need to see the house, except to maybe check that the fucker wasn’t hideous. If the house made her smile like that, then I was in. I’d survived two tours overseas with her full support and love, so if she wanted it, then I’d bust my ass to make it happen. Though I didn’t need to, since I’d stashed away for a rainy day…or this.

  Mr. Grear was the Realtor Shelly had suggested to Sara, and even Hank knew he was trustworthy. He showed us everything about the house. And most of it had been renovated recently, so there wasn’t much to do but decide and sign. The family had moved to Portland due to a job transfer, but it was obvious that they’d loved and cared for the place.

  When he gave us a minute to talk, I lifted my girl to the kitchen counter so I could look her in the eye.

  “Talk to me, Shortcake,” I told her, cupping her face with one hand and smoothing her hair back with the other. “What’cha think? You’re the numbers girl.”

  Grinning, she laughed a little, looking down at her hands and then back to my eyes. I wanted to kiss her silly over the hopeful yet tentative expression on her face.

  “It’s a lot to put down…”

  “I have the down payment, baby,” I countered immediately.

  “I can still work. Shelly’s paying me to keep her books, the Turners asked if I could sort out the bookkeeping at the store, and I could do some of it from my home computer.”

  “Which needs replacing,” I added, chuckling when she snorted. “Okay, one thing at a time. Got it.” I kissed her softly. “You want to work, th
at’s your call, baby. You wanna stay home with Shortcake Jr., then…”

  “Or Little Jack,” she argued with a laugh, because she wasn’t far enough along to know just yet.

  “Or…Little Jack,” I agreed for the moment with a smile I couldn’t fight. “Then stay home or work from home…I don’t care. But Sara, we can make it work; you just have to tell me.”

  Her sweet face scrunched up adorably. “I want it. Jack, I want it. It’s so perfect. It’s exactly what we want…and I think that first bedroom would be the perfect nursery, but maybe we should have Derek look at it just to make sure it’s—”

  “I’ve already talked to him, Sara. He did some of the work here, so he already knew about it. He says it’s a good house. New roof, new wiring, new plumbing.”

  Those big, beautiful blue eyes met mine, gazing up from beneath long, dark eyelashes, and I chuckled. “Okay, okay…Let’s go tell him we want it.”

  Her little dance on top of that counter was probably the most adorable, graceless, childish thing ever, and I stepped between her legs and pulled her mouth to mine with a gentle tug on the back of her neck. I kissed my girl hard and deep, loving the moan that I could elicit from her. Even better were the legs that wrapped around my thighs to bring me in closer and the grip she had on the back of my Army cargos, making me grind into her. Pregnant Sara was a needy Sara, and I usually couldn’t stop myself, though this time I had to try.

  “Baby,” I mumbled against her lips. “Aw fuck…Sara…”

  “Sorry,” she panted, pushing back.

  “Jesus,” I groaned, my forehead falling to her shoulder. “Never, ever be sorry for that, but as much as I intend to desecrate this entire house, I’d rather do it when it’s ours. And not when an old man is pacing on the front porch.”

  Her giggle was silent at first, buried in my neck, and it made me smile. It shook us both, but it was sweet music when it erupted even louder when she pulled away.

  I cupped her face, kissing her roughly before wrapping my arms all the way around her to set her back with her feet on the kitchen floor.

  “The entire house, Jack?” she asked, still chuckling.

  “Every fucking inch, Sara Chambers,” I growled in her ear, spinning her around so we could go talk to the Realtor. “No surface will be safe. Trust me, Shortcake.”

  Her back met my chest as she groaned a little, and I kissed her cheek before opening the front door.

  “Well, kids?” Mr. Grear greeted us again, smiling our way.

  I wrapped an arm around Sara from behind, pulling her to me. “Let’s make an offer…”

  I came up out of the memory when footsteps thundered down the hallway. Joel smiled a little when he stepped into the bedroom.

  “I bet Sara was pissed when she had to nail shit to the outside of her house,” he sang, shaking his head again.

  Laughing in spite of it all, I nodded. “No shit. I wonder whose ass she tore up.”

  “Hank’s.”

  We nodded in agreement, but he glanced around the room. Ruby appeared at the door, looking a bit worried.

  “She made it out of here,” I told her, pulling out the picture with the note.

  “Oh, God, she did.” Ruby gasped softly, and she smiled when she met my gaze. “She’s beautiful, Jack. And Jesus, is Freddie a clone?”

  “She is,” I stated solemnly with a nod. “And you’d think he was, but he’s like her in many ways.”

  She handed the picture back but cupped my face. “Your dad went to check Hank’s house, but he wants to camp at your parents’ place for the night. It’s as safe a place as any, says he’s got roll-down shutters. He said to ask you if you needed a bit of time…”

  I nodded, standing up in front of her. “We’ll head over there together. He’s right; their place is better. Besides, it feels wrong…without them here.” Joel and Ruby nodded in understanding as I picked up the bag of clothes I’d just packed. “We can sleep indoors tonight,” I told them, leading them back downstairs.

  “Doc says it’s about a hundred and fifty miles to the cabins,” Joel piped up, “but we’ll have to navigate 26 some more to get there.”

  Grimacing, I nodded. “Yeah, normally it would’ve taken about three hours or so, but…We’ll need to be prepared to rough it a few nights.”

  “Then I’m glad we stocked up on gas along the way,” he sighed, nodding a little. He stepped outside onto the porch with me, gripping my shoulder. “Jack, we’ll head out ASAP. As soon as we get some rest and some food in us, we’ll be on the road. We’re almost there, so just hang in there. We’ve made it this far, so nothing can stop us now.”

  “I know,” I sighed, stepping back onto the driveway. “We can hunt at my parents’ place. Maybe snag a deer. That’ll be enough meat that you could smoke it to save it.”

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” he replied, rubbing his hands together.

  My dad had everyone gathered on my front lawn, but I gave him a nod, so he turned to face them.

  “Okay, everyone. We’re going just a bit farther. We’ll get some rest, hunt a little, and then we’ll be back on the road again. We’ll do our best to scavenge what we can here, but I doubt we’ll find much. Load ’em up.”

  Chapter 11

  SARA

  Clear Lake, Oregon

  5 Months & 10 Days after

  Hurricane Beatrice

  “KING ME!” Freddie announced proudly, grinning up at Jonah, who pretended to be all indignant.

  “I play winner,” Janie called out, eyeing the checkerboard with a sharp, keen gaze.

  Jonah was like an extra grandfather around camp. He’d taught the kids all sorts of “old-school games,” as Derek called them. Backgammon, poker, checkers, dominoes, and even chess, which wasn’t as popular as the others.

  “Who taught you to be so good at checkers?” Jonah asked my son.

  “Mom,” he stated firmly.

  “What?” Tina sang teasingly in my ear as we started to get the fire ready for dinner. “You mean there’s something he knows that wasn’t passed down by Jack?”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “Uh, no. Jack’s not allowed to play games. He gets way, way too competitive. Even Go Fish and Chutes and Ladders get him all riled up. Plus, it’s the one game in which Freddie can truly beat his dad.”

  Tina giggled, shaking her head and shooting another glance at the table.

  Freddie, Janie, and Mallory were getting a few games in before dinner. Martin had just finished with their schoolwork. Josh had been with them, but he’d left right after with Derek, Ivan, and Brody to check traps and get in a little hunting before it got too dark or started raining.

  The camp was busy with as many people as we had now. Mose was still working on the spiked fence. Travis, Jesse, and my dad helped him, as did Brody occasionally. So far, it faced two sides of the tree line, but they eventually wanted it to go around the camp and portions of the lake. The Gold girls didn’t mind laundry duty, though Margaret and Millie helped them.

  Jonah took over the gardening, having set up several rain barrels around camp. It wasn’t indoor plumbing, but it was better than no water at all. Derek and Josh kept us fed with wild game. Freddie, Janie, and my dad fished just about once a week. And we all had turns with security watches. We’d slowly settled into a routine. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t easy. But we’d learned to cope.

  There had been the small pack or two, but nothing too big. We’d stopped it before it truly started. And the other survivors Derek had seen hadn’t been spotted again.

  I glanced up at the sky. The day was overcast, with much darker clouds rolling in from the distance. If I had to guess, the rain wouldn’t hit us until later that afternoon or evening.

  “Pretty ugly, right?” I heard behind me, and I smiled at Dad. “Let’s hope it’s just rain, yeah?”

  “No kidding. Coffee?” I offered, pointing to the kettle on the fire.

  “Sure, kiddo,” he sighed, smiling when I handed him a cup
. “This from that haul a couple days ago?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” I said, pouring myself a cup as we walked to my porch steps and sat down.

  Derek and Josh had stumbled on a small cabin about ten or so miles from camp. The owners had obviously tried to settle in and hunker down, but it didn’t work out. Derek had heard the growls, hisses, and clawing from inside the house, though he’d said the stench alone told him what had happened. Someone had to have been bitten before locking themselves inside. After drawing them out and killing them, he’d raided the cabin. All of it had been put to good use. Among the usual canned goods and supplies had been coffee, chocolate, beer, and whiskey. The two latter items may have resulted in the owners’ demise, considering Josh had said empty cans had been all over the cabin, but that was just my opinion.

  Dad and I were quiet for a few minutes, just letting the sound of the kids’ laughter wash over us. Tina had joined in on the games, as had Martin, who was probably using it as a teaching tool.

  “You know what I miss?” Dad said softly out of the blue, smirking when I looked over at him. “The diner.”

  Giggling, I leaned into him. I felt him press a kiss to the top of my head. “All of it? Or just the pie?”

  “Oh, God. Pie!” he groaned like he was in pain. “I definitely miss pie…and ice cream. Cold beers at Shelly’s while watching the game. Hot showers…”

  “Hell yes, hot showers,” I sighed, smiling down at my cup of coffee. “I miss…my cell phone.” I wrinkled my nose at that but glanced up at my dad. “I do. It has videos and pictures on there I can’t get back. Some go as far back as when Freddie was born; I just kept moving them over every time Jack would upgrade us or whatever. And everyone was just a text or phone call away.”

  Dad huffed a laugh. “Freddie being born…That was a day to remember.”

  Chuckling, I nodded. “I thought Jack’s entire company would put the maternity ward on lockdown. Joel alone scared the nurses half to death.”