An hour later, we were slipping out the front door of the building and fighting our way to Shore Haven. We had more than a few close calls, had to set a few places on fire, and had to hide in some tight spots for long hours, but before dawn the following morning, we were banging on one of the many entrances to Shore Haven.
Seeing us the way we were, Jasper was a bit hesitant about letting us in, but I swore that none of those things had bitten us. Reluctantly, he had unlocked the doors. We went straight to decontamination before meeting in my apartment to brief Jasper on what was going on and introduce him to our new guests.
Jasper wasn’t convinced we were out of the woods, but he at least allowed Tera and Russ to see that he was a real person by speaking to us via the computer screen and not as a disembodied voice via the intercom system.
He interrogated them both for nearly an hour until I cut in and told him that we were all beyond exhausted.
“Let us get a few hours’ sleep. We can talk about all of this over lunch around one,” I said, looking at my watch to see that it was nearly six in the morning.
“Fine,” Jasper said a bit peevishly. “Each of you in your own apartment. And I want everyone to lock their door in case you turn in your sleep. I don’t think those things can open doors, locked or not, but lock them.”
“We got it, Jasper,” I said, growing annoyed with his paranoia. As he was my uncle, I loved him, but sometimes, his barking orders from the safety of the tomb he’d locked himself in was more than a little aggravating.
He nodded, then the screen cut out.
“I’m sorry about him. His biggest concern is keeping that virus out of here for as long as possible. He wants this place to be a safe haven for survivors,” I said, showing Tera and Russ to the apartments next to Kayla’s and mine. I put Russ on the other side of me, and Tera on the other side of Kayla.
“How many survivors are here?” Tera asked.
“Just us. In the beginning, we were both cowards. We didn’t think about trying to bring survivors here, despite that being Shore Haven’s point, because we were still in shock over the virus and the death of our niece. Then when Kayla showed up, we decided that if people came, we’d let them in. It didn’t occur to me that we should be out there looking for people until we met Russ.”
“Do you think there are more survivors on the island?” Russ asked.
“I don’t know. You were out there. We can’t be the only people who’ve found a way to survive. We’ll discuss what we want to do from here on out later. I’m beat.”
Chapter 15
~~~Samantha~~~
—Inside the decontamination room.—
“So that’s what happened to Sadie.”
I said the words more to myself than to Jason. The tears slowly sliding down my cheeks surprised me.
“If she was one of those who crossed the bridge once it was down, then, yes,” Jason said, handing me some tissue—an item, like toilet paper, I’d miss when it was gone.
“Oh, she definitely was. She wanted off this island more than anything in the world. We saw that the turned were weakening. That they were dying. Yet she didn’t want to wait them out. She didn’t want to wait until it was safer to leave. I know I’m a coward. I know I’m weak. I know there’s no reason for me to be alive still. I’m the last person that should have survived this infestation. But my reasons for wanting to stay hidden weren’t unfounded. I knew it was too dangerous to leave. I didn’t know that was what was waiting out there for her, but I knew danger was out there. She didn’t give the virus time to work its way through the world.”
I was sobbing and rambling. I was angry and scared. I hated my sister, Sadie, those creatures, and myself. I was confused, and I was tired.
Jason crawled into the bed next to me and pulled me close to him for the second time that day. He let me cry on him for a long time. I needed to cry. To let out the fear, the anger, the grief, or it would bottle up in me and make me weaker. I wouldn’t be any help to his people that way. I had to wake up to the reality of the world I lived in if I was going to continue to survive.
The bridge was down. The flow of zombies across it was slowing. That commune was no more. As soon as I was well, I needed to find out about the rest of my family. Then I wanted to do something useful with the rest of my life. If there was someone out there working on a cure, I wanted to help. I had no medical background, but I would find a way to help, then I would find a way to get it to as many people as possible.
If Jason meant for Shore Haven to be a safe place, a refuge for survivors, I would help bring those survivors to the compound. I’d do everything in my power to remake the world again. Humans have done it many times before. We could do it again.
My mental resolutions eventually silence my sobs. I didn’t move from Jason, though. The tears were gone, but I was still tired, and I wanted someone to comfort me for just a bit longer. Tomorrow we wouldn’t be stuck together. We would no longer be the only two people we had to take comfort in when one of us needed it.
Despite knowing that I was no longer crying, Jason didn’t let go of me. He continued to rock and soothe me. For that action alone, I knew I could fall for him. From the second he’d walked into my life, he’d taken care of me. He could have easily left me with my sister. He should have left me on the ground outside of Shore Haven. He took a big chance in bringing me inside, treating me, waiting in the decontamination room with me, sleeping in the same bed as me. I could have turned at any moment and eaten his face.
Jason was physically attractive. Anyone would be drawn to him, but the way he took care of me…no one had ever done that before. My husband would take me to the doctor when I was sick, but I could tell David saw it as an inconvenience. He’d bring me food while I was in bed, but he wouldn’t clean the house or the messes he made to do so. He left all of that for me to do once I was well.
Time would tell if Jason continued his caring behavior of me after we left decontamination. If he did, I would definitely fall for him. I wasn’t one of those women who couldn’t live without someone, but it felt good knowing that someone cared. That someone worried about me. That someone wanted me to live.
Before I could let myself fall for him, though, I told myself, I needed to know what happened to my family. Needed to find out what happened to my husband. Either way, I was leaving David, but he needed to know that if I planned to move on with anyone. Doing so wouldn’t be fair to anyone.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked after I’d been silent a long time.
“My family. My sister is dead. That I know. But my parents, my…my husband, they could be alive.”
I felt his body stiffen under me when I mentioned David, then I felt his hand move to my ring finger to touch the smooth skin there. Where and when I’d lost my rings, I didn’t know, but it had to have been early on, as there was barely a dent in my finger to indicate where they’d been.
“I lost them. I’ve rarely remembered to wear the rings this past year, so I either didn’t put them back on after taking them off, or I lost them,” I said, as Jason continued to rub the finger.
“He’d been cheating,” I said to further explain why I hadn’t been wearing the rings. “I didn’t have proof until recently, but I knew. I loved him when we married, and I thought he loved me, but as time went by it became evident he only wanted me because he thought I would be able to have his children. I can’t. I’ve had a few miscarriages. With every single one I had, we drifted apart. I don’t even know why we stayed together.”
I wanted to reassure him that we weren’t doing anything inappropriate, even though we weren’t doing anything at all. Jason cared for me, yes. He’d comforted me every time I’d turned into a blubbering baby, but nothing more. I didn’t even know if he found me attractive, and I was speaking as if I’d been cheating on him and was trying to explain my actions.
“I’m sorry,” he said. The way he said it told me he’d been apologizing more for the miscarriages th
an the cheating husband.
“They were heartbreaking, but nothing that half the women on the planet hadn’t gone through as well. He knew the odds. He just thought because I was fat—something so few women on the planet are these days—that my chances were higher than most. I didn’t know that was how he felt. I thought he honestly loved me. I’m still a big girl. I’ve lost some weight these last few weeks, but not enough for you to not be able to see that I’m heavy. I’ve always been. Most of my life, men have avoided me because of it, so when he came along and actually paid attention to me, I didn’t question his emotions. It wasn’t until the first miscarriage that I got suspicious.”
“Men can be asses. Trust me, I am one, but I’m betting those people that avoided you, didn’t do so because they found you unattractive, no person could see you as such. They probably did so because they didn’t feel worthy of you. You don’t have the same genetic flaws those other women have. You’re probably healthier than most women are. For that reason alone you could have any man you want, and they knew it.”
I laughed slightly.
“Thank you for being kind, but I heard what they said behind my back. I listened to the rumors, the nicknames. I was a joke to them.”
“Then they were fools. Did you ever consider that your problems carrying children were his fault, not yours?”
“I did. My doctor even told me that he was most likely the problem, but David wouldn’t go in for any tests. He insisted that he was fine, and that I was fine, we just had to keep trying. After a while, I started avoiding him. I couldn’t handle the emotional trauma each miscarriage caused. I knew my marriage was over then, I just didn’t see a reason to leave him. He paid half the bills and was at least a body in my home to keep me from being alone all the time.”
I hadn’t known it was possible for Jason to hold me to him any tighter, but he did. We lay there in silence for a bit longer before he changed the subject.
“What did you do for a living?” he asked.
We spent the next few hours swapping life stories. He made a big deal about my being a writer, though he didn’t know any of my work. I made an even greater deal over him taking care of Keisha. She was probably the closest thing he’d ever have to a child. I mourned his loss. I could tell by the stories he told that he was an amazing father.
After we had supper that night, he checked my leg and had me walk around the room a few times. I was healing well and should be able to leave Shore Haven soon. I told him as much.
“You don’t want to stay here?” he asked, sounding disappointed.
“It isn’t that. I want to know if my family is alive. I haven’t talked to them since the outbreak. I asked David to check on them, and the last I heard they were all right, but that was weeks ago. I have to see for myself what’s become of them.”
Jason nodded in agreement. The expression on his face said that he was worried, though. About what, I wasn’t sure.
Hoping he was worried that he’d never see me again, I said, “If they are alive, and I’m welcome to come back, I’d like to bring them here, especially if you find a vaccine or cure.”
My tone suggested that I was unsure that I would be welcomed back once I left. We hadn’t talked about me staying or discussed what I would do for the group if I stayed. They might not take kindly to my leaving as soon as I was well. They might see it as a sign that I didn’t appreciate what they were doing for me.
“You’re welcome here as long as you want to stay. You are welcome back anytime if you choose to leave. Can I make a request without sounding too forward or controlling?” Jason asked, looking down at his hands.
“Anything,” I said, knowing I sounded desperate for him to make a claim on me.
“I know this will be asking a lot, as I know after losing your sister, you’ll want to get back to your family, but will you let your leg heal completely before you go? It should take a few weeks, and by then, I’ll be back from that supposed C.D.C. lab. Maybe the people there will have something. Either way, I’d like to go with you, if that’s okay?”
“You don’t have to do that. I can’t ask you to leave your uncle, Kayla, or Tera. That wouldn’t be fair to them.”
Jason gave me a questioning look but only said, “I’ll talk to them. Explain your situation. The rest of us know what has happened to our families. They’ll understand your need to know.”
“I’m sure they will, but they won’t like me taking you away from them. You’re their family now.”
“You’re ours. Please,” Jason said, sitting up and looking at me intently, “let me go with you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to go alone. I’d honestly prefer you to go with me, but…”
“Thank you,” he said, slumping against the wall.
Eventually, he turned to face me again, but I kept my gaze down at my hands for a long time before asking, “What do I do while I’m here?”
“For now, just rest and heal. After that will depend on what the world is like. Our biggest goals are finding survivors, and going for your parents and husband counts as part of that goal, and finding a cure.”
“Do we have to bring my husband here,” I asked, trying to sound as if I was joking and failing.
“If he’s alive and he wants to come, I think we have to. I can make sure he stays away from you if you want. I don’t know how the two of you can legally divorce in this world, or if you have to without a government, but we can find a way if that’s what you want?”
“It’s definitely what I want. I feel confident David wanted the same before all of this. If he still wants it now, I don’t know.”
“If he doesn’t, will he fight you on it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. David used to be a bit on the possessive side, but not scary possessive. What this world has turned him into, I couldn’t even guess.”
What I actually hoped for was an awful thing to wish for, and showed me how cold and angry I was toward David. I shouldn’t wish anyone dead, but I thought, if someone in my family had to be, I hoped it was him. He didn’t deserve to die. Cheating wasn’t a punishable-by-death crime, but him being dead would make things easy on me, which I understood was a selfish thing to think. But the way Jason was looking at me told me that there might be something between us. I wasn’t sure he didn’t have a thing going with Tera, but I was seriously beginning to doubt it.
“No matter what he says or tries, I’ll be there with you, I promise,” Jason said, breaking me from my horrible thoughts.
“Jason, I…”
“Jason, you two still awake?” Jasper asked, interrupting me.
I have no idea what I was about to say, so I was thankful for the disruption.
“Yeah, we’re still awake. We’re also still human. No signs of transformation with either of us,” Jason answered.
“And her leg wound?”
“Healing. Samantha will need another week or so of light movement for it to heal fully, but it’s healing. Do you have any new news from the outside world?”
“Kayla is begging me to release you, not Samantha, mind you, just you early. I will if you want me too.”
I started to open my mouth to tell him he should go. I was the one exposed, not him. Before I could say a word, though, he spoke up.
“Tell her that I will wait until the morning. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not infected, but to be sure, we’ll all wait patiently.”
“If it’ll relieve her mind, you should…” I stated.
“No. We go by what those doctors who were here when everything started said. We were heavily exposed to that virus. I’d actually feel better if we stayed an extra day, but as we aren’t showing even the faintest signs, I can’t justify it. She’s just an impatient teenager.”
“She sees you as a father, and she’s scared,” I said.
“I know, but she can be patient. Jasper, tell her I love her. Tell her that I’ll be out in the morning and that she can be waiting at the door for me if she wants. Is th
ere anything of import coming in from outside of Shore Haven?”
“I’ll tell her. I haven’t heard anything more on the radio than what I’ve already told you.”
“What does the bridge look like, can you tell? We’ll need to cross it to go to that C.D.C. lab.”
“There are still zombies coming across, but not hordes of them. I haven’t seen a live being—that I’ve been able to tell so far. I think you’ll be safe to cross it when you’re ready. Well, as safe as you can ever be in this world.”
“Tell Tera, if she’s going with me, that I’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow. I want to get there and back as soon as possible.”
“Is something wrong?” Jasper asked, curious at Jason’s tone of voice.
“Nothing’s wrong. Samantha wants to see if her parents are alive once her leg has healed. I want to go with her.”
“Perfect. If this woman has the vaccine or cure, you can start dispensing it on your trip.”
“Thanks for volunteering me.”
“Act like you wouldn’t have offered once you found out what she has.”
“Fine, but ask me from now on. You aren’t going to stay locked up there and bark orders like a king,” Jason said, only sounding a little as if he was teasing his uncle.
The older man heard the rebuke in Jason’s voice. He didn’t say anything more for a long moment, then he said, “Good night, you two. I’ll unlock your door at seven.”
“Thank you,” Jason said.
“Good night,” I said.
“He doesn’t mean to be an ass,” Jason said, turning to me.
“I didn’t think he did,” I said, though I was also a little annoyed that the man made no offer to help Jason in any other way than feeding him information. Since I didn’t know any of them well enough to voice my opinion on most matters, I kept my mouth shut.
“Do you think you’ll be up for a tour of Shore Haven once we get out of here in the morning?”
Shore Haven Page 13
