Cole gives me a condescending smirk. “Sweetie, I
could make it to the mountain on foot. It might take about a
week, but that place has a homing beacon and once it’s in
your blood, you always know the way home.”
I feel my eyes tear up as I think of Brad and really hope
that he can find his way back to us on the mountain really
soon.
The trip to the less traveled highway only takes about
thirty minutes, but we can see several areas where entire
sections of streets have police barriers keeping anyone from
entering.
Once on the highway, Cole becomes a chatty Cathy and
starts to regale me with tales from his, Dawson’s, and
Brad’s childhood growing up on Jackson Mountain.
“So why didn’t I see you around when Brad and I were dating, if you were the three amigos?” Since I have him all
to myself, I can ask him questions about the family.
“I couldn’t get back from a time-sensitive mission
overseas. They had me hopping from one thing to another
before I got out. I think they wanted to make sure they got
their money’s worth before I went to work in the private
sector.”
While it appears that Cole isn’t paying attention to the
road in front of him, I know from watching Brad drive that
he could give you a description of everything important
we’re driving past.
“So what do you do now that the military has finally
allowed you to terrorize the civilian population?” I have no
doubt that Cole is a playboy who has women falling at his
feet constantly.
“If I told you, then I’d have to kill you,” he teases me.
“Nah, I do security work for a couple of warehouses in
Nashville. I’ve been called in to work a concert on
occasion, but mostly it’s keeping people from wandering
onto their property.”
“That must be quite a change of pace. Do you miss the
military?”
“Nope. I don’t like someone telling me what to do. I
know, wrong career for that, but this way, I’m my own boss
and choose which security project I want that week. We’ve
had to chase kids out that were trying to use the empty
space for raves or parties,” Cole explains, seeming glad to
talk to about anything.
“Worried about what Brad will do once he retires from the army?”
“I would be lying if I wasn’t concerned, but I know
he’ll find something that fits who he is and hopefully, it’ll
keep him happy. I know after years of action, the downtime
will seem like its own version of prison.”
“Emma, you don’t have to worry. He’ll find something
that makes him want to get up in the mornings. You and
baby Pierce will be a huge part of that.”
Dusk has changed to dark as we continue along the less
traveled highways.
We’re just leaving the Chattanooga area when someone
runs into the road in front of us, causing us to swerve onto
the shoulder.
The truck doesn’t even slow down as I look on in
horror. The person gets up and starts to crawl after us.
“I almost told you to stop, but then I realized it must be
an infected person.” I give a shudder.
We continue on, but about ten minutes later, Cole starts
to have trouble holding the wheel straight.
He slows down and pulls over to the widest spot on the
shoulder of the road and picks up the radio. “Jackson Team,
we have a problem. Standby for info.”
“I’m going to see what’s wrong. Get your gun out and
cover me.”
Within seconds he’s back, just as I strap my holsters
onto my legs.
“We have a flat tire on the trailer.” He speaks into the radio, updating them and me at the same time.
“Hayley, continue on since you have extra cargo.
Dawson, I’m going to need help changing this out. Emma
can stand guard while we get it taken care of.” Cole gives
me an encouraging look.
“I’m not sure about that. What if I freeze because it
looks like a person?” My voice shakes with just the thought
of it.
“Emma, this is where the rubber meets the road. You’ll
do just fine, but I can always let you change the tire while
Dawson and I stand watch.” Cole smirks at me again.
“Stop laughing at me.” I square my shoulders and scoot
over toward the door he’s holding open for me. “I’ve got
this. Besides, you’ll never let me live it down and I can’t
handle the years of stories.”
The headlights of an approaching vehicle can be seen
and we both watch as first, Dawson, then Haley drive past
us and make a U-turn, pulling up in front of our vehicle.
“Haley, I told you to keep going,” Cole admonished
her.
“Tough! I’m here now. Get over it.” Haley sticks out
her tongue.
“Really, Haley. I don’t want two more people to
protect. I know you’re good, but they won’t be. I need you
to keep going and get home so Nana and Pop know that
we’re coming.” Cole motions her back to the truck.
“He’s right, babe. The less people out here, the better.
Worst case, we can run to my truck and take off and come
back in the daylight for this truck,” Dawson says, trying to reason with her.
“Then let’s all get in the two trucks and keep going.”
Haley won’t be moved.
“Look, just stay in the truck with it running and we can
use the lights to see what we’re doing. If something
happens, you can take off and we’ll be right behind you.”
Dawson relents.
I feel funny holding my gun, ready to shoot anything
that moves as the two men start jacking up the trailer to
change the tire.
Getting the tires switched out, we’re tightening the lug
nuts when I hear something on the other side of the truck.
I peer around the hood. “Uh, Cole? Dawson? You
might want to grab your guns.”
I hold my gun up as movement along the fence rustles
the trees and struggles to get free of the barbed wire.
When a deer appears, I lower my gun and take a deep
breath, only to swing the gun up and fire a shot as a person
moves to attack the deer.
“Nice shot,” Dawson says from behind me as the deer
escapes the zombie.
I had instinctively swung around with the gun held out
in my hand. He catches it before I point it in his direction.
“Down, tiger. You got him. Cole’s almost finished, so
I’ll help keep a look out.” Dawson has his gun out as well,
but he looks more relaxed than I do with a gun.
“I’m finished over here, and I’ve put the stuff up so we can get on our way now.” Cole comes around the front of
the truck to admire my handiwork.
The trees start rustling again, and all three of us race for
the trucks, knowing that we don’t want to deal with any
other things that might appear out of the darkness.
A few shadows come toward the truck as it pulls out.
“You just m
issed three of them. They must have come
to the sound of the gunshot,” Haley informs us on the radio.
“Let’s just get home. We’ve only got a little over an
hour left,” Dawson responds.
“Fine by us.” I agree. Arriving at Jackson Mountain
can’t happen soon enough for me.
Chapter 8
Trish
Deciding this might be the last day we get to have as a
family, I suggest a picnic for dinner.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful. We won’t have to cook,
and the kids will be able to play outside,” Jessica responds
enthusiastically.
“I would like to work on your fences and make sure
that you don’t have any openings. I’m not sure these things
are smart enough to crawl through, but at this point, it will
prevent them from just walking up to your house.” Cooper
makes it sound like he works on fences and a farm every
day.
“Honey, I’m sure that Jessica knows more about her
place than you might anticipate.” I don’t want him to insult
her.
“No, Trish, I completely understand. He’s trying to
make sure that we’re safe. Let me call Linc and see if he
can come over to help you and the two boys with that this
afternoon.” Jessica easily rounds up her children into the
truck as we leave to go back to her house.
“We can start closing the main gate when we leave or
get home. The cattle guard keeps out the animals, but I
don’t think it would stop the zombies,” Drew suggests,
overhearing our conversation.
“Good idea, honey. It’ll be your job to hop out and pull it close once we go through.” Jessica winks at me as she
congratulates him.
“Aw, geeze. I walked into that one, didn’t I?” Drew
asks sheepishly.
“I’m afraid you did, son, but I’ll have Carson get out to
help you so you can show him how it’s done.” Cooper grins
at the frown on Carson’s face.
Jessica is on the phone with Linc before we get all the
kids loaded and buckled into their seats.
She waves and gives me a thumbs-up as she peels out
and makes us eat dust all the way to her house.
Linc and his truck are sitting in the driveway as we pull
up. He’s about thirty, and stands a good six-two, if Jessica
is a good person to measure by. His blond, shaggy hair and
tanned lean body show that doing farm work isn’t always a
bad thing as the muscles on his crossed arms make me
blush.
“Um, babe?” Cooper waves a hand in front of my face.
“You might want to close your mouth.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to stare, but
wow.” I wipe at my mouth, just in case there’s drool
coming out.
“If I hadn’t seen him for myself, I might be jealous, but
he’s certainly the better-looking man,” Cooper
acknowledges. “And from the looks of it, taken by your
sister already, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.”
“Dang it. I hope he’s good enough for her. I don’t want
her to get hurt again.” I take my time before exiting the
truck so that I have time for my face to resume its ‘I’m not interested in your man’ pose.
“Well, I could always be eaten by zombies, then the
two of you could share him,” Cooper says as my hand starts
to open the door.
“Stop that!” I swat at him playfully. “I choose the man I
wanted to love, and even a younger man won’t make me
want you dead. Besides, that could really happen, and I
should kill you myself for even suggesting it.” I scowl at
the thought of losing him to those horrible things.
I pull him toward me so I can give him a kiss. “I’ve just
spent the past two days hoping that you were alive and I’m
going to take every advantage of the fact that you came
back to me in one piece.”
“So we’re on for a roll in the hay later?” Cooper asks
seductively.
“I think under the circumstances, that could be
arranged, but it would have to be covert because our
children are getting smarter.”
“Well, if the plan is to be covert, then smooching in the
car with all the children and your sister looking at us is
probably not what you were going for.” Cooper turns to
face the crowd staring at us through the truck’s windshield.
“Right. Now I’m blushing again. Great.” I get out of the
truck and walk over to our audience.
“Sorry about that. I’m just glad that he made it back to
us safely.”
“No worries. It happens around me a lot. I think I might be Eros the Greek god who made people fall in love.” Linc
waves off our apology.
“So Jessica said something about checking the fences to
make sure they’re secure?” Linc stands up straight, and I
have to reassess my earlier measurement; he’s closer to six-
five in height.
“Kids, why don’t you go play for a little while and
around five, we’ll start the chores and get the picnic ready.
I think we could talk your dad into a game of baseball or
kickball.” I try to bribe the children out of earshot of the
discussion that’s about to follow.
Cooper waits for them to leave the area before
answering Linc. “Yes. We need to make sure there are no
holes that zombies could come through. I know it sounds
crazy, but the less the girls have to watch out for, the
better.”
“I know we don’t know each other, but I live in a small
cabin on the back side of Jessica’s property and in
exchange, I help her out with stuff that she can’t do, or
when she needs an extra farm hand. I’m within helping
distance if things get bad. I’ll bring a sleeping bag to the
barn and camp out in there.”
There goes our plans for a roll in the hay.
“I’ve got it for the moment, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll
get a call to leave in the next day or so and I really will feel better knowing there’s another adult to help protect the
kids.” Cooper holds out his hand. “I’m Cooper, by the way,
and this is my wife, Trish.”
“Hi.” I don’t even try to shake his hand now that Cooper has marked his territory. I know if I touch him, the
heat from my face blushing will cause a meltdown.
“I’ll go put this little guy down for his nap, then help
Jessica with the berries the kids picked earlier.” I manage
to excuse myself from the conversation.
Trevor’s been playing in the dirt by the porch and will
need a quick bath before he’s allowed to lay in any of
Jessica’s beds.
Since bath time is never a fight with a boy that loves to
play in the water, I have no trouble getting him in, but
when it comes time to get out, that’s always difficult.
“Look, if you’ll get out and come lay down with me,
then we can play outside with daddy this evening. Don’t
you want to play ball?”
“So if I lay still for tree minutes, then I can get up?”
He’s checking becau
se he wants to lay down the ground
rules for how this negotiation is supposed to work.
“If you lay down for ten minutes and don’t fall asleep,
then you can get back up.” I watch as my own personal
little terrorist thinks about my proposition.
“Deal.” He holds out his soap covered hand to shake on
it.
Since it’s covered in soap, I figure it must be relatively
clean.
“Deal. Now, let’s get you dried off so that we don’t
flood Aunt Jessica’s bed with water.” I hold the towel out
to wrap him up as he climbs carefully over the edge.
“We’re gonna drain the tub so the water won’t make it all the way to her room, Mom.” He puts a chubby little fist
on his naked hip.
“I guess you’re right, sweetie,” I agree, drying his hair.
“Now, there’s no chance of even a drop following you.” I
pop him playfully on his Pull-Up as I open the door so that
he can run to the bedroom.
I was hoping that I would get the chance to sneak in a
quick nap. Trevor’s trying to climb up into Jessica’s bed,
but it’s too far off the ground for him.
“Hold on, mister.” I stop him from pulling the
comforter off the bed. “There you go.” I lift him up and
place him in the middle.
I close the door to help block out any noise and crawl in
to keep my little tired man from getting up.
My head hits the pillow and by the time I turn to check
on him, he’s asleep. Seconds later, I am as well.
-----------
The picnic idea had gone over well. The chores were
done and the four of us adults were just sitting on the porch
having a last drink of the day while the children tried to
catch lightning bugs.
Cooper’s phone goes off and we all turn to face him as
he answers it.
“Hello?” After he confirms it’s Martin, he walks around
the side of the house for privacy.
“Is he always secretive about his phone calls?” Linc
asks, joking around.
“Pretty much. Most of the work he does is classified, and someone tried to steal it using this zombie thing to get
their hands on his project.” I catch Linc up without really
telling him anything about my hubby’s work.
We chat about casual, everyday things as I wait
nervously for Cooper to return. It’s almost thirty minutes
later when he comes back on the porch and the yard is
Moms Against Zombies Page 11
