Moms Against Zombies

by Alathia Paris Morgan

  his stuff that he never came back for so feel free to rip it, or burn it. Just help yourself,” Jessica announces as she

  pushes through the crowd at the doorway and drops a box

  on the floor at Cooper’s feet.

  “Won’t it make you feel uncomfortable?” Cooper

  obviously doesn’t want to be the cause of bad memories.

  “Nope. Clothes should be worn and besides, they look

  so much better on you.” Jessica scans his slightly

  overweight frame.

  “Thank you.” Cooper says gratefully. “I didn’t really

  have anything for farm living packed in my stuff.”

  “Oh, that reminds me, babe. All the packed goods are

  out in the barn. We just left them there, except for our

  suitcases.” I haven’t moved from the bed yet because it’s so

  nice to just take a second to relax in the midst of our

  world’s potential collapse.

  Jessica does a great job of removing the children out of

  the room as Cooper gets dressed in a checkered shirt. He

  continues to dig and finds a pair of boots at the bottom of the box.

  “Will those fit?” I ask curiously.

  “Only one way to find out.” He sits down to pull the

  boot on and wiggles his foot around.

  “Hmm…it might be my style. Should I model it for

  you?” he asks cheekily.

  “No, I’m good.” I laugh at the image he brings to mind.

  “Good, because they’re a little big, but they’ll work

  until I can get mine out of the truck.” Cooper holds out a

  hand to lift me up from my very comfy position.

  “I guess rest time is over. Darn it.” I sigh as I sit next to

  him on the edge of the bed.

  “We can sneak out tonight and do it under the stars.”

  He tries to move his eyebrows in a seductive manner.

  I just shake my head. “We don’t want to take advantage

  of Jessica, or make her feel uncomfortable.”

  “Oh, she’ll never know we’re gone,” Cooper replies

  triumphantly.

  “If you don’t hurry up, we’ll be late for this meeting

  and then she really will be pissed at us.” I walk to the door

  and know he’s following as I round the children up.

  -----------

  The meeting didn’t start off well because they didn’t

  trust anything that Cooper had to say.

  “How do we know that you’re not just part of the conspiracy?” an older farmer accuses.

  “They say they’ve got the military containing the

  problem and no one needs to be worried,” a younger man

  advises.

  I stand off to the side with Jessica, not planning to

  speak up, but as the questions continue without really being

  answered, I can’t keep quiet any longer.

  “Most of you know my sister, Jessica. I only found her

  a few months ago and our kids met for the first time

  yesterday. I know that they’re saying this isn’t a big deal,

  and this is the only city where this infectious disease has

  started spreading. I don’t know if it’s a conspiracy, but

  what I do know is that a normal woman turned dead came

  up to my van with my children in it and clawed at the

  windows.”

  I sense I have their attention, so I continue. “My

  twelve-year-old son had to wash her blood off the side of

  my van. I don’t know why it’s not all over the countryside

  yet, but I do know that when the folks in the cities realize

  what is happening, they’ll try to make it to the rural areas

  just like when a hurricane is about to land on the coast.

  “Would you rather sit here and do nothing if there

  really is an epidemic? Or do you want to be prepared and

  keep your families safe?”

  Many heads nod in agreement, when Jessica steps up to

  emphasize the urgency.

  “I wanted you to hear it from two people who escaped

  the city. We need to take precautions and make sure that we

  have everything we need to survive this. My family and

  their farm have been here since before the Civil War. That might be why my house needed so much remodeling.” This

  earns her a few smiles and acknowledgements of her right

  to be speaking.

  “If we gather extra supplies and things we normally

  have to drive over an hour for, then if something happens

  we won’t be out of things like bandages and clean drinking

  water. Can we at least appoint a group of people to use the

  emergency action plan for the town?” Jessica implores the

  group seated in front of her.

  “Well, it might be all right if we started a committee to

  look into the emergency plan and see if everything is in

  working order,” the Mayor suggests.

  “Can’t hurt. Even if this isn’t the real thing, at least

  we’ll know the plan works,” a grandmother in the crowd

  acknowledges.

  “All in favor of checking our town’s readiness for an

  emergency?” The Mayor asks as a motion for approval.

  Many heads nod and call out in approval.

  “Nays?” he asks, scanning the room.

  A few look as if they might say something, but remain

  silent.

  “Motion passed. We’ll meet in two days after church

  lets out to see where we stand on the action plan.

  Dismissed.”

  Most of the people file out without stopping to talk to

  either one of us.

  “Don’t worry, it’s normal for them to be suspicious of you. They have no history with you to know if you’re lying

  to them or not.” Jessica whispers to me.

  “Nothing we can do now but get the farm ready and

  wait for them to figure it out.” Cooper hasn’t taken the

  distrust personally like I have.

  The next two days are going to be torture as we wait for

  a phone call from Martin and the community.

  Why do I have to have patience if the world is going to

  end?

  Chapter 7

  Emma

  I didn’t want to leave baby Pierce, but things would go

  so much faster if I go with the family to gather my parents

  and bring them to Jackson Mountain.

  My parents live on the outskirts of Memphis, and since

  Nana and Pop want all of our family on the mountain,

  we’re going to get them before things get worse.

  Normally, I’d just call them, but cell service isn’t

  working for some reason, and while they’d met some of

  Brad’s family at the wedding, they don’t really know them

  well enough to just leave everything because his family

  says the sky is falling.

  The plan was to leave early in the morning and start

  along the main interstate to Memphis. Dawson, Haley, and

  Cole would be driving with me. I wasn’t sure where Cole

  fit into the family tree, but I wasn’t going complain if they

  wanted to keep me company on the long eight plus hour

  drive.

  We decided to take three trucks, and I get to ride with

  Haley. I don’t really know her very well, but Andi seems to

  have a real distaste for her.

  “Hey, Emma, are you ready?” Haley yells from where

  she stands next to the big red double cab truck, dressed in

  booty
shorts and a classic flannel shirt tied at her waist.

  “Sure, just a sec,” I yell back. I need one last kiss from my baby.

  “I’ll be back as quick as I can, baby. Don’t grow or do

  anything special while I’m gone.” I kiss his little head

  before handing him to Nana.

  “Now, you run along. He’ll be fine. We protect our own

  on Jackson Mountain. You’ve got a long drive ahead of

  you and we don’t want you out on the road after dark,

  considering everything.” Nana rocks the bundle in her arms

  as she tries to console me. “It’ll only be two days and he

  won’t even have time to miss you, we’ll keep him so busy.”

  With a sigh, I turn and head to the truck. I have to grab

  hold of the handles on the side to jump up into the seat.

  Haley starts the truck with a loud bang as she shifts into

  gear, following the trucks in front of her.

  My eyes don’t leave the bundle in Nana’s arms until the

  trees obstruct my view. I quickly wipe the tears away from

  my cheeks, glad that so far Haley is ignoring me to

  concentrate on keeping the tires in the ruts on the dirt road.

  “I’ve never had a baby, but I imagine the first time you

  leave ’em, it’s the most difficult,” Haley says while

  keeping her eyes on the road.

  “You’re right. If the world wasn’t falling apart, then I

  would have left him with Nana and only called a time or

  two.” I grin sheepishly. “Several times I’m sure, until Nana

  told me to stop, but this just feels more final.”

  “If there’s anything I’ve learned trying to make my way

  into the Jackson clan is that they take care of their own.”

  Haley pulls out onto the main road, relaxing now that her tires are on the pavement.

  “So, I’m curious. Your truck has lots of mud on it and I

  know that you and Dawson go mudding, so why are you

  driving so carefully?” I glance at Haley as she frowns.

  “Nana doesn’t want my truck messing up the driveway.

  It was an issue for a while and I try to make sure that I

  don’t do anything to cause them to ban me.” Haley shrugs

  her thin shoulders.

  I give her an appraising look. “So they don’t welcome

  everyone into their home?”

  “Hell, no. Dawson and I have been together for almost

  ten years, and I still have to watch my Ps and Qs around the

  family homestead.”

  “You don’t look old enough to have been with him for

  ten years. Were you, like, five?” I ask without thinking. “I

  am so sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “Oh, honey.” Haley laughs. “If that’s the only rude

  thing I’d had said about me while in this family, I wouldn’t

  be watching how I was driving. They must not have told

  you about me. I normally come with a warning label.”

  “Nope, nothing. I don’t know anything except that

  you’re married to Dawson and that Andi is your

  stepdaughter.” I leave any of the insinuations that have

  been whispered about off my list.

  “Well, the condensed version is that Andi’s mom,

  Carole, was an angel. When she left in the middle of the

  night, the family assumed that Dawson had something to do

  with it.” Haley waits to see if I’m going to interject anything before continuing.

  “Dawson’s a guy, so I’m sure there was something, but

  nothing like his family blamed him for at least. Anyway, I

  was the babysitter down the street. It was my senior year

  and I had watched Andi since she was little. So, when

  Carole disappeared on him, they were devastated. Dawson

  had a job that sometimes required him to stay gone

  overnight and I would come over to watch Andi.

  “It had been about six months of this arrangement,

  when I forgot my English paper on the printer at their

  house. I ran back over to get it and would have been gone,

  except I heard a noise and went to check things out. He was

  sitting there crying over her goodbye letter.

  “When he saw me standing in the doorway, he tried to

  be all macho, wiping his eyes, but in the process, he

  dropped the letter. I bent down to hand it to him and our

  hands touched.” Haley’s face brightens at the memory.

  “It didn’t take much before I was on the floor next to

  him and we were kissing. I missed class that day, but my

  paper got an A so there’s that. I was eighteen, by the way.

  I’d always looked up to Dawson, but he’d been married so I

  thought it was just a school girl crush until that first kiss

  morphed into something more.

  “Nobody’s told you any of this? Not even what a “ho” I

  am, that I stole him away from such a devoted wife?”

  Haley can’t contain her disbelief.

  “I just knew that you were quite a bit younger, but that

  happens in relationships sometimes.” I’m hoping to stay in

  neutral territory with my answer.

  “We’re just your classic story of how the babysitter stole the husband and made the “perfect” wife run away.”

  She lets out a snort to downplay the hurt still hiding inside.

  “What did the letter say?” I question, wanting to hear

  the rest of the story.

  “You know what? You’re the first person to ask me

  that. It said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I won’t pretend that I love you or men anymore. I’m leaving with my girlfriend

  and we’re going to California where we can be together and

  people won’t look at us funny. Take care of my little Andi,

  she’s going to be amazing.’”

  “Wow! So Carole was gay? It doesn’t sound like it was

  your fault at all. I’m going to be really nosy here, but why

  would the Jackson’s think her leaving was because of

  you?” It doen’t make sense to me. She didn’t love Dawson

  any more. I can see why the family might point fingers at

  them, but really, it was their decision.

  “Dawson didn’t want to tell them because a lot of

  people in the mountains aren’t very tolerant of a gay

  lifestyle. He took all the blame, even though he defended

  me the whole time. Andi didn’t know until I finished

  college. He still needed someone to stay with her while he

  was gone, but Andi and I started to butt heads the older she

  got and realized that my relationship with her dad was more

  than just being the babysitter.

  “I moved in after college because it was too weird to

  live at home still, but Andi started to resent me more the

  older she got. I never tried to take the place of her mom,

  but I guess because I’d always been around it was easier to

  make the accusations then deal with the truth.”

  “Does Andi know why her mom left?” I look out the window at the passing hills, processing all that I’ve been

  told.

  “Yeah, she found out when her mom called five years

  later on her fourteenth birthday. Her mom didn’t apologize

  or invite her to visit them, but from then on, it was a

  constant fight.”

  “I’m so sorry. I had no idea that this is why Andi is so

  upset. When did she move out?”


  “When she was a high school junior. It’s not like we

  were really strict parents, because Dawson was still gone

  several nights a week and I understood because I hadn’t

  been out of school that long. I miss her, but it’s been nice to not have the fighting all of the time over the smallest

  things.” Haley doesn’t try to gain my sympathy or vote

  with her story, but I can’t understand why the family still

  has it out for her after all these years.

  “Did you ever want kids of your own?” My mouth is

  going to get me in a lot of trouble if I don’t stop asking

  prying questions.

  “We didn’t really feel the need for them. I mean, I’d

  been around Andi since she was a baby, and my mom let

  me babysit her at our house so that she could make sure the

  baby was really safe. When she graduated and went to

  college, I was just as proud of her as if I’d given birth to

  her. Dawson already had one kid, and with his schedule, it

  just didn’t seem fair to have another baby when he

  wouldn’t be around to raise it. So I get to travel with him

  now when I’m not working, and we make trips up to see

  Andi when we can or she’s talking to us that day.”

  “I’m sorry. I truly didn’t know the situation. Once she gets a little older and falls in love herself, she may have a

  little more compassion toward you and her dad.” I shake

  my head at how dumb teenagers can be.

  “It still hurts, but I’m used to it now and try not to take

  it personally. There’s not much point in trying to do

  anything because the family blames me. We just do

  holidays, but Jackson Mountain isn’t really a place either

  one of us feel comfortable most of the time.” Haley finishes

  her story and grows quiet for a few minutes.

  Finally, I can’t take the silence any longer. “You should

  tell Kathryn. It’s not right to let the world end with this

  kind of secret between you and the family that could be

  welcoming you in with open arms.”

  “What about your parents? What do they think of all

  this? If I’m prying, then just tell me to shut up.” I grin

  because my nosey ways have always gotten me into trouble

  many times before.

  “Ha, that’s a laugh. Kathryn wouldn’t listen to anything

  I had to say, or Nana either. Andi is the child prodigy so

  they’ll protect her no matter what.” Haley slows as the

  outskirts of Nashville fill with commuter traffic.