by Deb Rotuno
“I had…no fucking idea if you’d survived, if you’d come here like I’d asked, but I kept going. I kept pushing all of them. I hardly gave them a choice in the matter,” I started ranting. “I…Shit, I hardly cared who came with us, but if they did, they knew we were heading here. End of fucking story.”
She grinned, running her fingers deliciously through my hair. “That’s my stubborn husband.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I finally caught a glimpse of hope at home. I stopped in Sandy.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Did you…”
“Oh, I got your note. Jesus, just knowing you’d left the house okay, that you’d been alive there. That meant…everything. Thank you.”
“How’s it…”
I shook my head sadly. “Sandy is…no more.”
“Hey,” she whispered, kissing me lightly. “It’s okay. Home is…here. Now. Home is where you are, where Freddie is, where all those people outside are. It has to be.”
“I know,” I sighed, pulling her closer, and then finally rolled onto my back with her on top of me. “I know, Shortcake. Believe me. I couldn’t give a shit where we are. Just having you here, right here, is enough for me. I’m so fucking grateful.”
“Me too.” She leaned in to kiss me but grinned when the sound of the front door of the cabin met our ears.
“I’d recognize those footsteps anywhere,” I said in a whispered chuckle. I patted her bottom. “C’mon. As much as I want to stay in this bed all day…”
“We can’t. There’s so much to do.”
She kissed me once more with a sweet smile and soft laugh before getting out of bed. We used some of the water from the night before to clean up a little and to be able to flush the toilet. Sara was dressed and armed by the time Freddie’s patience had completely evaporated.
“Dad!” he yelled, bursting through the bedroom door just as I finally strapped my gun to my thigh. “That dog you brought…She’s so freakin’ awesome!”
Grinning, I couldn’t help but scoop him up and toss him over my shoulder. “I know. She is really awesome.”
“We’re keeping her?”
“Oh, yeah, we’re keeping her.”
Sara’s giggle was soft, but I heard it. It was the happiest sound, one I used to live for, and I’d do the silliest shit just to hear it. I kept Freddie over my shoulder as we walked through the cabin.
We stepped out onto the porch, and there were more people milling around than I was used to, but they were all busy. The zeak cleanup was underway. Mose was driving my truck to load them and pile them up, and Joel was using the four-wheeler with the trailer. The tables were full. Some people were just talking, some were preparing food.
My mother was looking at Hank’s leg, where he’d been wounded the day before, and he glanced up to see us, smirking a little but pointing our way.
“You know,” he started slowly, “there’ll be no living with her now. She was right that you were coming, so she’s gonna hold that over our heads forever and a day.”
Grinning, I slipped Freddie to the grass and wrapped an arm around Sara’s shoulders. “That’s my girl. Who’s the stubborn one?” I asked in her ear.
She was wearing a wicked grin, and I loved it.
“I’ll ease off in a month or two,” she told her dad before kissing his cheek as he muttered under his breath. “How’s the leg?”
“Sore, but Dottie’s fixin’ me up,” he told her, smiling my mother’s way.
Sara hugged my mother, and they exchanged whispers like usual, Sara nodding in answer to some question. Next she went to my father, who was eyeing a small garden with an older gentleman, and gave him a hug, as well.
Ruby’s RV door opened, making me smile as Ava came out, sleepy-faced, with her Sabrina shadow right behind her, followed by Ruby and Olivia with Aiden in her arms. The only one I hadn’t seen was Lexie.
“Sara,” I called, waving her to me. “I’d like you to meet these ladies and the tiny gent.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile as they approached.
Ruby was the first to us. Forgoing any introductions, she wrapped my wife in a hug. “Omigod, it’s nice to meet you, Sara. I’m Ruby.”
Sara grinned. “You too.”
“This is Olivia,” I introduced, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder, and Sara shook her hand. “That crazy man is Aiden.”
“Oh my goodness,” she crooned. “Aren’t you handsome?” When Aiden gave her his toothy-dimply grin, my girl was done for, just like I knew she’d be when I’d first seen the chubby boy. “And who’s this?” she asked, kneeling down in front of Sabrina.
“Sabrina,” she answered. “Jack talked about you.”
Sara grinned at the laughter but nodded. “Yeah, well, he’s talked about you too. All of you. Freddie and Janie are around here somewhere. They’re about your age, so you won’t be alone. Okay?”
“Okay,” Sabrina said with a smile.
Ava was quiet, but I pulled her to me, saying, “Today you’re shy, Half Pint?”
She shook her head but smiled Sara’s way.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ava,” Sara said, looking to me.
“I’m…” Ava started but faltered and blushed a little. “I’m glad that you’re okay. We came as fast as we could for you.”
Sara crooned, pulling Ava in for a hug. “Thank you, sweetie.” My beautiful girl looked at all of them, saying, “There’s food and water. Maybe even coffee. You can make yourselves at home here.”
Ruby nodded and thanked her, guiding everyone around the table, but her eyes met mine, flickering to the RV and silently telling me where Lexie was. I only nodded and shrugged.
Gazing around a little, I caught sight of Joel with Mose. They’d started a cleanup fire but had stopped, pointing to the fences. My eyes then fell to the far back corner of the camp. There were makeshift crosses, four graves in the process of being dug by Quinn, Derek, Brody, and a man I didn’t know, and two mounds with grass growing. Six. They’d lost six damn people. And more from careless, guileless survivors than from zeaks.
“Son, sit,” Hank stated, catching where my gaze had fallen. “I’ve got a feeling we’re gonna have company again. We took out three of theirs before they ran out of here like a scalded dog.”
“Boof,” Sasha added, walking up to us, and I ruffled her fur.
“Nothin’ personal, big girl,” I told her but turned back to Hank, who snorted. “And that pack was the biggest I’ve seen.”
“Me too. I think Portland is empty and they’re hunting for food,” he stated, which caught the attention of the few people around us.
My father sat down across from us, and my mother finished with Hank’s bandage and then took a spot beside Dad. Sara leaned against me, handing me a mug of coffee.
Hank glanced between my parents and me. “I’d like to be prepared. I’d like these people prepared, armed, and ready. They only saw who we let them see.”
“Which wasn’t much, Hank,” Tina stated. “They saw you, Derek, and Brody. They have no idea how many of us were shooting at them.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Hank agreed. “If they come now…” He gestured around the camp at all the people. “We have numbers.”
“Numbers but way too many ways to get in here,” Dad added, glancing around with a grimace. “Everything’s so open. Those fences are great against the zeaks, but not…people.” He pointed toward the fence line, where Joel and Mose were removing zeaks that had skewered themselves onto the spikes.
“You know, Brody’s been talking about Klamath Lake, specifically Rocky Point,” Josh piped up from the other table. “We’ve never had enough people to leave to scope it out, but…now we do.”
Hank eyed him for a second but then turned toward the graves, giving a sharp whistle. “Brody, come over here for a second!”
“Well, this should be a joy,” Tina muttered, making Sara snort and smack blindly her way. “What? He’s just…At least he’s not drunk; he’s an absolu
te peach when drunk.”
I chuckled but buried it into Sara’s upper arm. I really liked the woman. She was going to get along with Joel perfectly.
“Brody, talk to me about Klamath Lake. What were you thinking?” he asked when Brody joined us, though he stood away a bit, leaning on a shovel.
Brody shrugged. “Really, for supplies. There are tons of hotels and lodges down there. It’s not all that far, either. But…heaven forbid we leave the camp short.”
The jibe hit the mark it was meant for, and Sara flinched.
“Brody, focus on someone besides yourself…just for a few minutes,” Hank drawled, much to my amusement. “Can you do that?”
Brody sneered but nodded. “It would take a day or two and a rather large group, but we could scope out the area for supplies. Maybe even a safer location—a bigger place, bigger lake…Not that I’m not grateful for Camp Chambers or anything, but there’s a group out there trying to take it, and this is open and easy to sneak in. There are so many of us that we won’t fit in four small cabins and a few RVs much longer. A lodge, something big, something even gated…”
“You’re free to leave Camp Chambers anytime you wish, Brody,” Sara snapped, her lip curling in anger. “I think I told you that on the way here.”
I chuckled, which only pissed the asshole off that much more, but he knew who was around him. He was outnumbered, outsmarted, and a minority with how he felt about us. If he said one derogatory word toward her, he’d be obliterated. And I honestly had no desire to hand him his ass my first day there. I was way too fucking happy to be home. Tomorrow? Maybe.
“Whatever,” he sighed, rolling his eyes back to Hank. “It would need scouting first. I’ve only been there a couple times, and that was years ago.”
Hank nodded, adjusting his baseball cap. “Okay…Well, we can’t go yet, not until I’m healed. If we do this, then I’d like to go with the scouting party. Until then, we have work to do, and I’d like to start keeping a couple of people as patrols. Even at night.”
“We can do that,” my dad stated with a nod. “We did it on the road, so we can do it here.”
I nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. And we have weapons.”
“And you’re trained,” Josh added.
“Well, that too,” Dad conceded. “Though, anyone can be trained in weapons and fighting.”
“Even you, Brody,” Derek drawled, slowly walking up to the tables. “You could use some discipline.”
Brody bit his tongue, which I found interesting, until Sara leaned to my ear. “Derek punched him the hell out not long ago. My dad? He threatened to tie him to a tree. Same day. Right after my dad got here, in fact.”
“Oh hell,” I sighed, shaking my head, but I kissed her cheek and stood up. Looking to Hank, I said, “We’ll talk about that scouting trip a little more, but after your leg is healed. For now, we’ll do what you need here.” Turning to my cousin, I held out my arms. “Where do you need me?”
He grinned his lazy-ass smile. “Christ, everywhere. The graves are just about done,” he said, the smile slipping off his face. “But there are infected still left to burn, and the gate needs repairing. Oh, yeah, and more fencing…”
“There’s laundry and water to boil,” Tina added with a giggle.
“Traps to check,” Hank piped up.
“Fish to clean.” Sara grinned, kissing my lips. “Anywhere, Jack. Just…pick your poison.”
Grinning and cracking my knuckles, I nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll get started, then.”
To be continued…
Acknowledgments
I need to thank Jenny Rarden for always keeping me going, for cleaning me up, and for setting me straight. I’d also like to thank some of my friends who have pushed me to keep going, cheered me on, and helped me with the tiny details: Reina Latona, Pamela Stephenson, Sue Bartlet, Bethany Tullos, Jodi Parker, Inga Kaczmarek, and Melanie Moreland. And lastly, thank you to Coreen Montagna for the beautiful cover and all her hard work taking my words and making them into an amazing book.
And finally, I need to thank my husband, John, for putting up with something that once started as a hobby but turned into something different. Love you.
About the Author
Deb Rotuno was born and raised in central Florida, where she currently lives with her husband and four cats. She’s worked in retail for almost seventeen years, but if she were able to do anything she wanted, she would be a full-time reader, writer, and fur-baby mom. She has always been a big reader, and writing was something she started late in high school, but she began to dabble in it again once she discovered fanfic in 2009. Since then, she’s read and written plenty in her spare time, especially since she cannot watch a TV show or a movie without thinking about how she could write a story like it.
Website: www.debrotuno.com
Twitter: @Drotuno
Facebook: Facebook.com/drotuno
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