Rose was unsure what Jamie had done with Jacob’s body and she truly didn’t care. There was a fraction of her rational brain that knew Jacob had been disturbed, but that small whisper had been almost completely shouted out by the rest of her crying for revenge.
It’d been three full days since they’d returned to the camp and they were now about halfway through the fourth. Rose was again sitting on the rock overlooking the river when she felt a small touch on her shoulder, it was Jamie. They’d barely talked since Jacob had killed himself, Rose had shut down and Jamie had automatically taken over.
“Which cottage should I unload the car into,” she asked softly, plainly not trying to upset Rose. “Or do you think I should just put everything in the big house?”
Slowly, Rose turned and faced Jamie. Her hair was messy and unkempt, likely from the lack of showering after exerting herself taking care of Aaron and Adeline’s bodies. Jamie gave Rose a cautious small half-grin as Rose turned toward her. “Why would you do that?” croaked Rose, her voice having not been used in days.
“Well I just figured,” started Jamie, “After Aaron and Adeline...I just assumed you were going to want to stay here now.”
For the first time in days, Rose finally felt like smiling. Just the fractional movement of her lips into a smile seemed to restart the pilot light in her soul. She looked deep into Jamie’s eyes and she could feel her emotions starting to fill the dead voids carved by Jacob’s actions. Rose’s smile broadened to a small smirk, the deepening sadness now receding to the periphery of her mind. Standing, she wrapped her arms around Jamie’s neck, a perplexed look on Jamie’s face before she caught on and wrapped her own arms around Rose’s waist. “Thank you Jamie,” said Rose, her face buried into Jamie’s neck. “Thank you for being here with me.”
“I...You’re welcome?” stammered Jamie.
“I think it’s time we went to Boston. There is nothing left for me now, for us here. Maybe we can return to visit some day, but it’s time to move on. Thank you for helping me see that,” said Rose peeling her face away from Jamie’s neck and kissing her on the lips before breaking the embrace.
“Glad I could help,” said Jamie, a goofy half-grin on her face. “I’ll go grab our things from the house,” said Jamie. She turned to leave but then stopped, leaned over, and gave Rose another quick kiss before trotting off toward the big house.
Rose turned from Jamie and faced Aaron and Adeline’s graves, fresh tears blurring her vision. “Goodbye my friends,” she said in a soft voice. “I’ll never forget you or everything you’ve done for me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The second trip south from the camp back toward the United States and eventually Boston was much different than their first. That first trip had been filled with so much excitement and anticipation of adventures to come, now Rose was neutral at best. While she still was excited about the prospect of heading to Boston with Jamie, that excitement was heavily tempered by the loss of Aaron and Adeline. What if Rose lost Jamie? How could she handle that? Jamie was all that Rose had left, the thought of losing her as well haunted her.
It wasn’t just physical loss either. Sure there were lots of physical dangers out there, but Rose had done many things she was not proud of when she was making her way north. The guilt of seeing the gleaming white remains of her past actions was gnawing at her as well. Jamie had seen the SUV she’d escaped Green Forks in, the shot-up CDC vehicle and bodies at her home. It wouldn’t be hard for Jamie to connect the dots there. The spectre of Lt. Drisco was present as well, the horrors of that escape loomed like a shadow. Jamie had yet to ask about any of the things she’d seen at these locations, maybe she had no idea Rose was associated with them? But there was only one way north from Green Forks and Rose knew Jamie probably would ask someday; she dreaded it.
They had left the camp in the early afternoon, the sun was high and bright in the sky and Rose’s phone was plugged into the stereo, a steady mix of Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Rolling Stones and others provided them a soundtrack as the countryside swept past. By the evening, Rose and Jamie again approached the base at Estcourt Station. It was starting to get dark and neither Rose nor Jamie wanted to keep driving as Boston was still about a ten hour drive away. Staying at the base was not an option Rose was open to and Jamie seemed to know better than to suggest it. They carefully picked their way around the base in the car trying to avoid as much debris as possible. Once on the American side of the border, they were able to rejoin the road.
“There are several houses along this road that we might be able to stay in,” said Rose turning down The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar on the radio. “That’s assuming they’re all not as destroyed as the base.”
The houses closest to the base were very much destroyed, almost as though they’d been bulldozed over, but the further they got from the base, the less damaged they appeared. Near the edge of town, they found a secluded house that appeared virtually untouched. The grass on the lawn was high even now but the windows appeared to all be unbroken from the road and the front door was closed.
Parking in the driveway, Rose got out of the passenger seat and slung her rifle over her shoulder. Jamie followed slamming her door closed and slinging her new shotgun; formally Adeline’s and even more distantly, Rose’s.
“Clearly, you were never a cop,” said Rose after Jamie slammed the door.
“Yes, thank you for reminding me officer,” said Jamie sarcastically, sticking out her tongue at Rose. “You really think someone or something is waiting for us inside here?”
“You can never be too careful,” called Rose, checking her rifle quickly to make sure there was a round in the chamber before re-slinging it on her back. “You can never be too careful,” she muttered again patting her holstered Glock .45 on her hip softly.
“Oh my God you’re such a cop,” said Jamie shaking her head and walking up to the front door. “Locked,” she said after checking the knob.
“Ok, you check around the far side of the house, I check around this side,” said Rose pointing to the side of the house closest to the driveway.
Rifle still slung, Rose moved quickly but carefully around the side of the house checking the windows she came upon as she passed by. The growing darkness outside and the darkness inside made for very little visibility inside the house. Taking her time, Rose slowly rounded the backside of the house, her hand on the grip of her handgun. Rose kept close to the house as she moved along the back wall. Above her head were a few windows she wouldn’t be able to look into without standing on something so she ignored them. The backyard was just as overgrown as the front but Rose could see a small inground swimming pool off of a back patio. The water inside it looked black from a distance and Rose chose not to get any closer. The patio was red brick, large weeds growing up between each brick giving the patio a warped and disused look. The patio ended at a small cedar staircase that rose to a sliding glass door.
Moving up to the door, Rose could see Jamie now moving away from the house toward the pool. She seemed to be more interested in taking in the sights than checking the house for threats but Rose could hardly blame her. She was no doubt a good fighter and survivor, but being tactical was something Jamie was not. Rose loudly whispered to Jamie, “I’m going to check this door,” pointing at the sliding glass door. Jamie gave her a smile and a thumbs up moving to get a better look at the swimming pool.
Frowning, Rose returned her attention to the door. Moving along the house right up to the frame of the door, Rose put her back to the house and readied herself for a quick peek inside. If someone was waiting for them, doing a quick peek would be safer and likely not get her head blown off.
Unslinging her rifle and holding it up and down against her chest and shoulder, Rose twisted around for a quick peek into the house through the slider. Instead of getting a glance of the inside of the house, Rose came face to face with a mostly-rotted, grinning skull. Letting out an involuntary squeak of surprise, Rose tried to move away bu
t instead toppled head-first over the treads of the stairs, flopping down onto her back on the patio with a loud “Ouaf!”
As she lay on her back, all Rose could hear was a loud guffaw of laughter from Jamie from over by the pool. Pushing aside her own embarrassment, Rose too began to laugh as she lay on the ground, shaking on her back.
Offering a hand, Jamie heaved Rose back up on to her feet. “Hey, watch out, there’s a dead guy in the doorway there,” Jamie deadpanned, a sly grin on her face.
“What the fuck, you knew?” asked Rose, her cheeks glowing pink with embarrassment.
“Well you seemed so focused doing cop stuff, I didn’t want to interrupt you,” said Jamie, her sly smile broadening.
Rose responded with a quick jab to Jamie’s arm, “You fucker,” she said, smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It only took a few disgusting minutes for Jamie and Rose to wrap up and drag out the dead body in the house, luckily there were no other bodies. Possibly the homeowner or possibly a survivor who just didn’t make it, either way the house was his final resting place. Previously infected or not, they definitely weren’t going to be spending the night in the house with the body. It would just have to finish it’s decomposition out in the yard.
They took up residence in what was most likely the master bedroom. It was at the back of the house and the windows didn’t face the road so there was no immediate fear of light being seen from outside the house, but even still, they kept it to a minimum. Having the ability to charge Rose’s phone in the car meant they had a flashlight as well as access to music in the house, an amenity that Rose hadn’t realized she missed so much.
After a meal of cold beans and some of the last bits of Adeline’s bread, Jamie and Rose settled in on a bed of blankets and pillows brought with them from the camp. Lying there on the soft blankets, Led Zeppelin's Since I’ve Been Loving You playing on her phone, and Jamie curled up, her head on Rose’s stomach, she could easily forget that the world had ended and her and Jamie were among the last of its survivors; that so many of the people close to her were now dead. It was an odd thought, knowing you were one of likely just a few left roaming the planet.
“Do you want to talk about your house?” asked Jamie, her head still lying on Rose’s stomach.
Rose’s blood went cold. She was silent for a long moment. “What do you mean?” she said softly.
Jamie picked up her head. She wasn’t angry, but she looked serious. The normal Jamie with a quick smile was plainly sitting this conversation out. “Rose, I love you, but we can’t have any secrets between us. I need to know everything about you, what happened to you at your house especially.”
Rose’s could feel herself starting to sweat. Should she tell her everything? Would that drive her away? Rose knew herself, she wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, she’d just done what she had to survive. What if Jamie left? How would she handle that? Rose had serious doubts that she could survive without Jamie now, she was relying on Jamie more than anyone since the infection started.
Jamie could clearly see the hesitation in Rose’s face. “Look Rose, we both had to do some terrible things to survive. I just think we both should put it all out there, then there won’t be any surprises. Everyone’s cards will be on the table.” There was another pause. “Would you like me to go first?”
Rose wasn’t sure how to answer that, so she just gave Jamie a nod.
“Ok fine. Quick summary of my life before the infection. I was living in Boston, Med Student, studying to be a doctor or a nurse, I wasn’t really sure. Money was tight and I didn’t have a very good relationship with my parents so it was all being paid for by scholarships and loans and stuff. About two years in, I decided I was sick of it and left. When I told you I left Boston to avoid the infection, that was a lie; I left to avoid my parents. When I quit school, they quit me cold turkey. No contact, nothing. God forbid I’d ever run into them so I left town and the best place I could think of was Montreal.”
Jamie shrugged then continued. “By chance I got into modeling once I got up there and since I already had a few tattoos, I decided to go all in and become an alternative model. I got a lot of the artwork I have now in the beginning but the initial money didn’t last and I was struggling to get by yet again. Thats when the drugs and prostitution started.” Jamie paused looking at Rose for a reaction. Rose was shocked, but kept her reaction internal, Rose knew her own secrets were even worse.
“It’s ok, keep going,” said Rose, rubbing Jamie’s thigh.
“Nobody sets out to become a hooker, okay? It just kinda happened. I was sleeping with girls and guys anyway and I needed money so it just kinda happened that way,” said Jamie, shrugging. “Anyway, I’d been doing that for about two months along with some coke. I tried some other stuff, but coke was the drug I did mostly. Not a ton, just a little bit here and there. Drinking was the big thing I did. Lots of drinking.
So two or so months in, that’s when the news started up with all of this infection stuff. Not on TV so much, more on the internet. People talking about what’s happening in New York and stuff. So anyway, a couple of my girlfriends and I are working this motel, we got a couple rooms, all adjoining, and from my room I can hear this guy wailing away on one of my friends. Like really going to town on her. But I know this girl and some guys are into that so I’m not immediately in panic-mode. This goes on for a while so I crack open the common door just to peak in, check on her. Sure enough, this guy has beaten the shit out of her so badly there’s blood spray literally all over the walls. So I throw open the door and yell for him to stop. Without even letting up, he yells over his shoulder, ‘You’re next bitch.’”
“I wasn’t even thinking anymore, I was just moving instinctively. I grabbed a pair of scissors off the dresser and rammed them into the side of this guys neck. I think he tried to scream, but it was just a gurgle before he collapsed next to the bed. I looked down at my friend and I could tell she was a goner, her entire face was crushed. I turned to run but before I could get to the door, he was there.” Jamie shuddered at the thought.
Rose looked into Jamie’s eyes and she could see the pain that was present there, an old wound just exposed. “Who was he?” asked Rose.
“His name was Seth,” Jamie said his name as if spitting. “He was a biker, Hell’s Angels. After I turned and was running toward the door, he was just there, like he’d appeared out of nowhere. He didn’t say anything that I can remember, he just punched me in the face, knocked me out. The next thing I remember was in his Suburban and we were outside the city headed north. I put it together from what I overheard, the infection, the fall of Montreal, I even saw some of the bikers kill some infected I think. It was hard to tell since they killed everyone.” Jamie grew silent, the memories still replaying silently in her own mind.
Rose was still rubbing Jamie’s leg, as much as she didn’t like sharing, she knew that it was better this way. Rose was going to accept Jamie, the good and the bad, but it was nice to know it all.
“Thank you for killing him Rose,” said Jamie, breaking the silence. “I know you were just defending yourself but you saved me. I don’t think I’ve ever actually said thank you,” She leaned over and gave Rose a long kiss on the lips before breaking it off. Rose had heard the story of Jamie’s escape from the Hell’s Angels before and it was easy to connect the dots to her and Aaron. Rose had been skeptical at first, Jamie’s appearance made her look the part of someone who would run with a gang of Hell’s Angels, but the more Rose had gotten to know Jamie, the more ridiculous that thought became. Despite the air of roguishness she liked to maintain, she was exceedingly kind and would have made an amazing doctor had she stuck with it. She was empathetic and gentle, a perfect complement to Rose who was often cold and closed off. Jamie had all the missing pieces of Rose that made them so perfect together.
Jamie was looking at Rose. “Do you want to go now?”
Rose swallowed hard. “Jamie, I have done things...to people. People who
weren’t infected. I did them to survive. I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
Jamie placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “I’ve been to your house, I can probably put the pieces together. It’s okay Rose, we’ve all done terrible things.”
Rose sighed. “Jamie look, the first thing you need to understand is that I’m immune. Like fully immune to the infection. I’ve been bitten many times and I’ve never gotten the infection is what I mean. People, the CDC, they came for me and I defended myself.”
The shock was plain on Jamie’s face, she clearly was not expecting that, but it faded quickly. Rose could see the wheels turning in Jamie’s mind, putting things together. “I saw the destruction in your house, the basement, when I went in there,” said Jamie. “I suppose it makes sense, your wife Kate, she was buried in the backyard and you were in the house with her. It shouldn’t surprise me, but damn Rose. Really? You’re immune? Why’d you never say anything?”
“We were safe up north. It didn’t seem important up there and it never really came up frankly. It’s not like Jacob had a lab in his basement or something we could cook up a cure with my blood,” said Rose. She tried to make the retort sound sarcastic but she couldn’t hide the hurt in her voice.
“Rose, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse…” started Jamie.
“No Jamie, you’re right, I should have said something. It’s just...after everything I went through making my way north, I got used to not talking about it.”
“The CDC came after you?” asked Jamie.
“Yes,” said Rose, a touch of sadness still in her voice. “They got tipped off I was immune and came to do a check. They were going to take me away, I had no other choice but to fight back. They’d given this presentation to law enforcement and...Look, they forced my hand. I probably would’ve ended up in some laboratory somewhere and odds are, I wouldn’t be walking or breathing.”
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 2): Homecoming Page 6
