Moms Against Zombies

by Alathia Paris Morgan

  could have, and that’s what really gets me.” I start to feel a weight I hadn’t thought I was carrying leave.

  Cooper holds up his hand, hoping I’ll acknowledge his

  attempt at a truce.

  “Yes,” I sniff.

  “I’ve had a lot of secrets for a really long time. I opened up a lot when we got married, but it was an ingrained habit.

  Honestly, we’ve never needed the money, and the way I was raised, it never really meant anything to me. I was

  already making a bundle when we got married, but as the

  projects got bigger, so did the promotions and the money

  that came with it. I didn’t want money to become

  something that we were trying to decide on bigger houses

  and cars with. I wanted our kids to be taught responsibility

  and to learn how to earn their own living, and not become

  the moochers we see all the time.”

  “I get that, but you couldn’t trust me not to tell the

  kids? Or to teach them how to be responsible children? Am

  I just your glorified nanny?” I’m getting mad again.

  “Babe, you’re so much more than that to me. You’re

  my other half.” Cooper slides to the floor in front of me and

  picks up my hands with his. “I did tell you about the raises

  and promotions, I just didn’t tell you how much they were.

  Remember all the times we discussed what to do with the

  money from each bonus or raise that I got?”

  “Yeah,” I ground out begrudgingly.

  “That’s what I did with the money each time. I put it in

  accounts for the kids and reinvested it into CDs that would

  make the most for each of them. I did lie in that I didn’t tell you the whole truth. There were a lot more zeros after those

  bonuses.”

  I narrow my gaze at him. “So for every hundred, it was

  closer to thousands? That’s what you’re telling me?” I yank

  my hands out of his and cross my arms in front of me to

  keep him out of my space.

  “Essentially, yes. It seems like I was trying to hide something, but I wasn’t. It just turned out that way. Can

  you forgive me?” he pleads.

  I understand the motive behind his actions, and it

  doesn’t really change my love for him, so I guess it’s a

  mistake that I can move on from.

  “I forgive you. I’m hurt right now, and it will take some

  time for me process things.” I grin mischievously. “When

  this zombie thing is over, I plan to do some serious

  shopping. I don’t think I’m going to give this credit card

  back.”

  “Honey, as long as you love me, you can spend as

  much as you want.” He pulls me into his lap.

  The past week’s stress melts away as his arms wrap

  around me, and I truly relax.

  “Don’t die on me tomorrow, okay?” I laugh at the

  shock on his face. “I may be able to be mad at you or make

  you sleep on the couch, but that doesn’t mean I want you

  dead.” I snuggle into his arms a little more.

  “Does this mean you want to take a walk out to the barn

  for a little roll in the hay?” he whispers suggestively.

  “I could be persuaded if someone special promised to

  show me the stars.” I stand and help him up.

  “Ready?” he asks, holding out his hand.

  I place my hand in his. “Ready.”

  We walk slowly to the barn and flip the switch off,

  leaving everything in darkness.

  I didn’t hear the giggled conversation between Linc and Jessica as we left the house.

  Linc

  “I think they’re going to make up. Do you wanna find

  our own place to do some making up?” I wink.

  “One happy couple is more than enough around here.

  We have a lot to do tomorrow.” Jessica pushes me toward

  the door. “Bye.”

  Smiling, because she hadn’t really said no, I take the

  long way around the barn, back to my place.

  -----------

  “Hello?”

  “He’s leaving by helicopter tomorrow,” a voice reports

  to his director.

  “Does he have the plans?”

  “There was no mention of it. He said he knew the

  pieces they needed, but without him, it would take years to

  put everything together and obviously, sooner is better.”

  “What time is he leaving the farm?” The director

  inquires.

  “In the morning, but there was no definite time. Should

  we make plans to intercept him?” the voice questions.

  “Since we don’t know where he’s planning to leave

  from, that would problematic. Follow them and report

  which direction they’re headed and we’ll take over from

  there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Um…” The voice hesitates before ending the call.

  “What?”

  “I was wondering if you might want to use the two

  women with him as leverage?”

  “He’s taking the women with him to Utah?”

  “No, sir. They’re driving him to the city, then going

  shopping. It’s his wife and sister-in-law, so I know he cares

  about one of them and is just getting acquainted with the

  other.”

  “You should have told me that to begin with. That’ll

  narrow down the cities that they can drive to and from in

  one day. Call me back when they leave and give me the

  vehicle’s description. We might be able to use this.” The

  director ends the call with a click.

  “Of course.” I’ll just run over and monitor all their

  activities. Oh, snap. I’m already doing that. He can just

  stick it if he wants the intelligence so badly.

  Chapter 9

  Trish

  It’s hard to leave the kids, even though Linc’s mother

  is so nice. I don’t normally get a babysitter, and I have

  Trevor with me for everything. Nicole has been in school

  the past three years, so I’m more comfortable leaving the

  others for a longer period of time.

  I have one foot in the truck with Jessica waiting for me

  to slide toward the center when I got cold feet.

  “I can’t,” I mutter, starting toward the house.

  “Honey.” Cooper meets me as he hurries around the

  front of the truck.

  He whispers in my ear so that the kids can’t hear. “We

  have to do this. Besides, don’t you want to spend the day

  with me? Kid free?” he adds as extra enticement.

  “You’re right.” I concede as the kids watch from the

  porch, wondering if I’d forgotten something.

  “I thought I left my wallet. Your dad already put it in

  the truck.” I blow an air kiss and climb in so the kids won’t

  be able to see the worry on my face.

  Jessica quickly gets in, blocking any escape. “Just

  breathe, sis. They’ll be fine,” she promises, knowing that it

  might not be true.

  Cooper starts the truck and I can’t even turn back to

  look. I just held up my hand to wave.

  “Sweetie, I never thought you’d take an unlimited shopping trip like this.” Cooper tries to joke and lighten my

  mood.

  “This just seems so final, like we’re abandoning our

  children to those things.” I keep looking straight out the
<
br />   front so I don’t see Cooper and Jessica exchange concerned

  looks.

  The truck remains quiet, except for the old cassette

  that’s playing ’50s rock and roll as we head straight into the city.

  The day seems normal as far as traffic is concerned, but

  we’re still nervous because we haven’t seen anything on

  the news about other incidents.

  “I’m going to drive over to the box store. Or do you

  want to go to the club warehouse store?” Cooper asks as he

  navigates through the unknown town.

  “What do you think, Jessica?” I speak for the first time

  in an hour.

  “Club warehouse first, then anything we can’t find

  there, we can find at the smaller store.”

  “Great,” Cooper replies.

  “Hey, how do you know where to go anyway? We’ve

  never been here before. Have you?” I ask accusingly.

  “Calm down, dear. I used a map and looked it up on my

  phone last night.” He grins at my tone.

  “Oh.” All the anger flees from my brain at his

  reasonable explanation. “I’m going to be suspicious for a

  while.”

  “Since I have a prepaid phone, I can use it for normal things, as long as the internet still works. I love you, babe.

  Truth from this point on, even with my project when I’m

  here. Deal?” He wraps an arm around me while holding the

  wheel with the other.

  “If you two need some privacy, I can just walk.” Jessica

  jokes.

  “What? You don’t like to see true love at its best?”

  Cooper sticks out his tongue like a little kid.

  “Cooper!” I admonish. “Behave, or I’ll have to ground

  you.”

  “If you do that, he might not be able to save the world,”

  Jessica snorts.

  “I’m glad the end of the world can at least be

  humorous.” I feel myself begin to have fun, even though

  we’re away from the kids.

  “Here we go,” Cooper informs us as he pulls into the

  huge parking lot, finding a space toward the middle.

  “Before you get out, I want to give you both

  something.” He reaches behind the seat and pulls out two

  backpacks.

  “I made you both a safety pack. It has knives, and a gun

  inside. Normally, you couldn’t walk into a building with

  these items, but I think since they’re in a purse, no one will look at you or suspect anything.”

  “Geeze, he’s going to ruin my casual look, sis.” Jessica

  gestures to her jeans and T-shirt.

  “That’s why there were so many purses to choose from in the closet.” Cooper chuckles.

  “Yep, I’m a minimalist. I can make an exception for

  today, though.” Jessica examines the two knives duct taped

  onto the lining. The handgun, a SCCY-CPX1, is lying on

  the bottom with two extra clips. Even with the added

  weight of the knives, it still doesn’t weigh as much as we’re

  used to carrying as moms.

  “They both have ten rounds, and the two extra clips

  give you both around thirty shots each if things get bad. I

  don’t think you’ll have to use more than that, but just in

  case.”

  I pull out a perfume and lipstick case that are in the

  pocket.

  “Don’t open those!” Cooper screams at me.

  “What?” I drop it, startled.

  “They’re pepper spray. I didn’t want you spraying it

  and trying to take a sniff.”

  “Way to warn a girl.” Jessica pulls the lid off of the

  lipstick tube and points it toward the floorboard. “Nifty.”

  I just stare at her. “What planet have you been living

  on? Nifty?”

  “Ha. We still use some older phrases out in the boonies

  on our farm. We don’t have to keep up with the cool city

  kids if we don’t want to.” Jessica slings the purse over her

  shoulder and hops out of the truck.

  Cooper grabs his duffle from the back and backpack

  from the seat as he comes around to kiss me goodbye.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful?” I beg him. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I know, babe. I won’t take any unnecessary risks. I’ll

  call every night that I can,” he promises as he holds me

  tightly, with the bags hitting my legs.

  I kiss him like I’m never going to see him again, then

  rip myself from his embrace.

  “Bye.” I fling over my shoulder, trying not to cry.

  “Um, babe? I think you’re forgetting something

  important.” Grinning, Cooper holds the credit card out in

  front of him.

  “Ugh!” I grab it and place one last kiss on his lips.

  “Come on, Jessica.”

  She’s been standing silently, waiting for us to say our

  goodbyes. She falls into step beside me as I quickly walk

  away.

  She seems to understand that I don’t want to talk about

  it. “Do we want a shopping cart, or the large flat cart?” she

  asks, focusing on what’s ahead of us.

  I almost resist, but glance back just once to see Cooper

  get into a cab.

  “You’ll turn into salt if you keep looking back.” Jessica

  lightly pulls me back to the task at hand.

  “Right. Do you have the list?” I question.

  “Yep, along with my extras in this huge purse I now

  have to lug around.” She flashes her club card as they let us

  enter.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  “You’re welcome.” She hip bumps me and takes off

  with the cart.

  “I’ve always needed a sister to mess around with.” I

  feel the smile settle on my face as I hurry to catch up with

  her, thankful for the new person in my life that cares about

  me as well.

  -----------

  Two hours later, we’ve loaded up the goods and had

  lunch before heading over to store where I can get shoes

  and extras for the kids.

  “This feels so surreal,” I tell Jessica as we leave the

  restaurant. “Nobody here seems to be in a hurry or

  concerned that an entire city just a few hours away is being

  quarantined.”

  “You know how we Americans are. Unless there’s

  danger right in front of us, we tend to ignore other’s

  problems. I think people are more scared than you realize,

  we just hide it really well.” Jessica holds the door open for

  me to enter.

  “Two carts this time?” I ask.

  “We always manage to fill two, even if the world isn’t

  ending, so I’m sure that’ll be a good start.” She joins me

  with a mischievous grin.

  “No more cart races. Do you realize that the only

  reason they didn’t kick us out of the other place is because

  we had that credit card to pay for all that stuff?”

  “Lighten up, sis. Money talks.” She rubs the tips of her fingers together.

  “Whatever. Let’s get this over with.” I sound perturbed,

  but barely hold back a grin of my own.

  A few minutes later, we’re standing at the rack of

  shoes, discussing the need for durable, verse shoes that

  sparkle for the girls when a shot rings out.

  I duck and turn to find Jessica doi
ng the same thing.

  “Should we leave?”

  She just shrugs. “Let’s see if we can find out what’s

  going on. It could have been a kid doing something he

  wasn’t supposed to.

  We stay low as we creep close enough to see the front

  of the store, where a guy is waving a gun around.

  “I just want to be safe and have food for my family. Is

  that too much to ask?” He throws the question out to the

  crowd. You’re going to let me have all the money in your

  registers or you’ll get what this guy did.” I can see the body on the floor, and the red puddle of blood growing around

  him.

  I start to motion Jessica back when the body on the

  floor starts to twitch. I watch in morbid fascination as the

  body sits up and takes a bite out the shooter’s leg.

  “What the…” He trails off as he screams in pain. He

  points the gun at the man on the floor and shoots three

  times, only to have the thing get up and jump on top of

  him.

  He loses his hold on the gun. A bystander catches it and starts shooting it widely, hoping to hit the original shooter

  or the thing on top of him.

  Suddenly, people were screaming because the person

  holding the gun has no idea what he’s doing, injuring more

  people.

  I reach into the large purse and grip the gun, easing it

  slowly out. I glance beside me and see that Jessica has done

  the same.

  Unlike the current person holding the gun, I hold mine

  facing the floor, unsure if I will have a clean line of sight to the thing causing the screams.

  Everyone that can still move has fled either out the

  front doors or into the office area overlooking the cash

  registers.

  The injured are moaning loudly when a new scream

  sounds from behind us.

  I continue to face forward as Jessica covers me from

  behind. We crouch behind a wall of jeans and below the

  clothing racks, out of sight.

  One of the injured people have been dragged out of

  sight on the other side, but they’re too badly injured to

  survive. The innocent people gathered around him have no

  idea what will happen when he dies, so they’re terrified

  when their friend starts clawing at them.

  “I can’t get a clear shot. I’m moving closer,” Jessica

  informs me as she moves stealthily through the clothes

  racks, providing her little coverage.