by Rachel Aukes
Chapter XXXII
The following morning
Groggily, I woke when the chest under my head moved. “Hm?”
Clutch stroked my black hair, which I’d let grow out during the cold winter. “Vicki has an update.”
I pulled myself up and rubbed my eyes. Everyone from Fox had been here all night. Benji lay sleeping on Diesel at Frost’s feet. Other residents had come and gone, checking in to see how New Eden’s first birth was coming along. The excitement was palpable. Nerves were on edge as everyone waited.
Vicki, one of the two people assisting the doctor with Deb’s birth this morning, stood in her scrubs, smiling. “Dr. Edmund says she’s fully dilated. It should be any time now.” With that, she turned and hustled back into the room.
I stood and stretched. Jase and Hali stopped their card game to stand and watch the door. Clutch and Griz also came to their feet. Only Frost remained sitting, but his gaze never left the door.
Five minutes passed. We waited. I paced the floor. Jase and Hali joined me. Ten minutes passed. I wanted to be in there, with Deb, but the doctor had been adamant about keeping the room as germ-free as possible.
Deb cried out, and I froze.
“It’s time,” Frost said. “She’s having the baby.”
I could hear Dr. Edmund’s muffled voice and Deb’s cries through the door. The doctor was giving orders, and I heard a flurry of movement behind the door.
“She’s seizing!” the doctor yelled. “Hold her down.”
I moved toward the door, but Clutch held me back. With my back to his chest, I clasped onto his forearms that wrapped around me. My heart pounded as we waited.
As quickly as the ruckus began, everything silenced. Then, the sound started softly but grew in volume. A baby’s cry.
I let out the breath I’d been holding, and turned in Clutch’s arms. We smiled and kissed. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered.
I tapped my foot, waiting for them to bring out the baby.
“I wonder if it’s a boy or girl,” Hali said.
Then, a second cry broke free, adding to the first. My eyes widened. I squealed and covered my mouth. “Twins!”
“Two?” Griz asked. “Wow, Tack had some strong swimmers.”
A moment later, Vicki and Izzie emerged, each carrying a baby, and neither looking up from her precious cargo. We rushed the two women to see the babies. They were wrinkled and purple and adorable.
“Are they healthy?” Frost asked first.
“Yes, they are a perfectly healthy boy and girl,” Vicki said softly.
“Can we see Deb now?” I asked, excited to congratulate the new mother.
Izzie sniffled and started to cry.
I swallowed and looked at Vicki. “Deb?”
Her lips trembled, and then she slowly shook her head.
“Oh, no,” Hali gasped. “Not Deb.”
“She hemorrhaged,” Vicki said after a long silence. “She lost too much blood, and we couldn’t stop it. We tried.”
No one spoke. I found I could only stare at the babies, the weight on my chest making it hard to feel anything.
“I promised her I would look after his babies,” Vicki said quietly.
I swallowed, then placed a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do it alone. We’ll all take care of them. Together. Because that’s what families do.”
Chapter XXXIII
Easter Sunday, one year after the outbreak
“How about Jack and Jill?” I asked.
Clutch guffawed. “That’s as bad as Griz’s idea for Dick and Jane.”
I shrugged. “Jase wanted Fluffy and Wuffy.”
His eyes widened, and I held up a hand. “Don’t worry, I shot those down.”
“Their names are Ted and Debra Nugent,” Vicki said, settling the debate.
Her words silenced the Humvee.
It took me a moment to place the male name before I remembered. Tack’s real name was Ted. Theodore Nugent, to be precise. Vicki had named the twins after their parents.
My smile was bittersweet. “Those are good names.”
The other Humvee pulled around us to take lead. Griz waved from the driver’s seat. It was the vehicle we’d hidden in the shed before going to New Eden. It was still packed with all the gear and supplies we’d crammed into it. We’d told Justin about it and offered to share the supplies, but he’d been adamant that we needed everything we had if we were going out on our own.
I turned to make sure Jase and Hali were following us, flanking our tiny convoy. The old Chevy truck was dirty, but Jase didn’t seem to mind—if his wide smile was any sign. Of course, that could’ve also been because Hali was sidled up next to him.
Boxes piled high to Hali’s right nearly hid her. All three of our vehicles were weighted down with food and supplies we’d bartered for in New Eden. Even our Humvee, with only room for the three of us, was chock full of supplies, including a radio so we could stay in touch with the other provinces and for me to plan flights with Akio.
Clutch drove. I sat in the front seat with one of the twins and a rifle propped against my hip while Vicki sat in the backseat with the other twin.
Frost had decided to remain at New Eden with Benji, which had come as no surprise. He’d made it clear he preferred to return to Fox Park, but he decided Benji fit in with the kids at New Eden and needed stability. We promised we’d stop by for a visit every chance we got.
When it came to Vicki and the twins, we left the decision up to her. We made it clear that we would stay in New Eden if she chose to stay. Not that she’d need help raising the twins, because she’d have an entire village to help with them, but because we’d given our word. Those babies were part of our Fox family. We’d do everything in our power to ensure their safety.
Vicki hadn’t given her decision for a full month after the twins were born. During that time, Justin had tried his damnedest to convince Vicki into staying with the twins. But, on the thirty-first day, she stood before us and stated that Tack and Deb would’ve wanted their children raised in Fox Park and not a silo.
I was relieved Vicki chose Fox Park. The truth was, Vicki and the rest of us weren’t cut out for city living. We’d all been on the run for so long that being confined in New Eden’s silo suffocated us. We needed freedom and fresh air.
As Clutch drove, I stared out at the fields of massive white turbines, all still. I enjoyed the scenery as it became more and more familiar.
“We should be there in about an hour,” Clutch said as he avoided a zed lying on the road.
With spring, the zeds reemerged, but they’d changed. Most had freezer burn. Bugs ate at their flesh, and they seemed to be putrefying in the warm air. Most could barely walk. They would rot away, and we’d burn the corpses.
When I saw the first zeds walking after the flight back to New Eden, I was terrified of having to face the herds again. It hadn’t taken long to realize that the zeds were decaying. These were only the remnants of the vicious monsters that had erupted from the depths of hell a year ago.
But, we’d never be free from the virus until every last zed was gone, every sick animal died, and every survivor was vaccinated. We were lucky. We had a head start on a new life. Our small group was one of the first to receive vaccines because I was part of the delivery crews. We were free from the virus, but we still had zeds and “zabid” animals to deal with. Only when both those predators were gone, would we have a fighting chance.
Baby Ted Nugent kicked out his legs before settling back into his nap. The twins slept much of every day; evidently, newborns did a lot of that. The baby girl—who I’d already nicknamed Little Debbie—must’ve woken, because Vicki cooed, “Happy Easter, sweet Debra.”
“We’re almost there,” Clutch said, and I looked outside.
Trees had replaced fields, and we passed a sign that read Fox National Park, 3 miles.
I leaned back against the headrest and took in a deep breath. Fox Park seemed a dream, and warmth
suffused me at the idea of being back there. Out of everywhere we’d been in the last year, Fox Park was the place that held the most potential for being somewhere we could start a new life. We followed Griz’s Humvee as it turned into the park.
New grass was fighting to sprout up through trodden ground. Regularly, a zed would be found lying on the ground, trampled by the herds and now freezer burned into a crusty-looking shape of something that had once been human.
“They sure got close to the park,” I mused at the telltale signs of the herds.
“Yeah,” Clutch said. “We were lucky to get out when we did.”
I thought for a moment, back to the days of the outbreak, to Doyle’s militia, to living on the river, and to living below ground in a silo. “You’re right. We have been lucky.”
“It’s getting late,” he said and picked up the handheld radio. “We’ll stay at the old town hall for tonight if it’s still secure. Tomorrow, we’ll go through the park and assess if we can rebuild.”
“Copy that,” Griz’s voice chimed in.
“Roger,” Jase’s voice came through.
“We’ll be able to rebuild,” I said confidently. “It’s not like we need more than a cabin to start with. And, I can’t imagine the herds managed to trample all of our gardens.”
As we pulled up next to Griz’s Humvee at the old Fox town hall, which had been the state park rangers’ office before the outbreak, I looked for signs of danger but found none. “It doesn’t look like the herds came into the park. They must’ve just stayed on the roads.”
“My guess is that they were getting too clumsy for all these hills and trees,” Clutch said. “I noticed their paths stayed on flat lands and only veered off when there was something that drew their attention.”
“We weren’t here to entice them,” I said before stepping out of the Humvee and inhaling the woodsy air.
Jase joined me, with Buddy at his heels. Sometime while Clutch, Griz, and I had been at the capital, Jase and the self-sufficient dog had decided they’d make a good pair.
“It’s good to be home,” he said with a smile before his eyes widened. “Whoa. Check it out.”
I followed his finger. My mouth dropped.
He twisted around. “Hali, get over here. You gotta see this.”
Hali ran over and covered her mouth. “Oh my God.”
Clutch stopped in front of the Humvee. “Is that…a deer?”
Sure enough, crossing the road was a young buck. It paused to look at us before continuing its journey into the trees.
“Yeah,” I said breathlessly. “I assumed they’d all been killed.”
“A deer,” Hali said breathlessly. She turned and kissed Jase, giggled, and skipped toward the large cabin.
Jase watched her leave. After a pause, he made eye contact with Clutch and then me. “She’s my girlfriend. I thought you guys should know.”
Clutch belted out a laugh. “Everyone knew that.”
“It was that obvious?” Jase asked.
“Yes,” I said, biting back a laugh. “But, it feels good to say it, doesn’t it.”
The corners of his lips curled up. “Yeah. It does.”
It took Clutch and Griz only a few minutes to make sure the large cabin was clear of any danger. Fortunately, it showed no signs of trespassers—human or zed. We had our sleeping bags out and dinner ready by the time Jase and Hali fed the twins with formula Marco had brought back from the big store back in Omaha.
While everyone sat around after we’d cleaned up, Clutch stood, took my hand, and led me upstairs. “Remember this room?”
I smiled and nodded. “It was the first time we had sex,” I said bluntly. I’d almost said that it was the first time we’d made love, but it hadn’t been like that at all. It had been only a couple months after the outbreak. We’d been stressed out, afraid, and in need of human contact. In some ways, things hadn’t changed much. In other ways, things were completely different now.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
We sat down on the floor, with me in Clutch’s arms, and looked out the window. We didn’t talk. We simply sat there and enjoyed the peaceful silence together.
It had taken one year for the zeds to destroy our world and the world to come back and destroy them. We still had work to do. Fortifying the park, flying missions, and avoiding sick animals—it wouldn’t be easy. Not by a long run. I didn’t even know if the few survivors who remained had what it took to survive as a species. But, we’d try.
Who knew what tomorrow would bring. Until then, I was content. We were safe in this building. We had seeds to plant and enough food and supplies to get us through the next couple of months. I kissed Clutch, and together, we watched the stars.
Cracked
A Deadland Saga short story (Captain Tyler Masden’s tale during the outbreak)
I sat on the floor behind the sales counter, holding my rifle and staring blankly at the blood splatter and flecks of human flesh peppering my fatigues.
Jonesie scrambled back to my position. “Our six is still blocked, Maz, but there aren’t as many zeds as before.”
I looked up, watched him for a moment, and then squeezed his shoulder, “We’ll get our window soon. Then we’ll head out.” I left off the part about the window I was waiting for would come by the way of some panicking civvie grabbing the zeds’ attention with his screams and lead them away from our current location.
Two hours ago, we’d holed up in a coffee house on the edge of a strip mall, with nothing but a floor-to-ceiling pane of glass between us and a street full of the unstoppable undead out front. We should’ve kept moving before the herd doubled in size. I’d made a rookie mistake by leading my team here. We were sitting ducks. As soon as one zed homed in on us, we’d be butchered. Right now, I was counting on the coffee smells to camouflage us from the predators outside.
Gripping my handheld radio, I looked over the remnants of my platoon. Three…that was all that was left under my command out of the thirty-five troops I’d led into Des Moines twenty-eight hours ago to keep the infection from spreading outside the city.
We never stood a chance. Des Moines had already turned into zed city by the time we arrived to close off the highways. Within the first hour we’d been overrun. Since then, we’d been passing the time getting slaughtered and running for our lives.
The worst part was that not only did we have to watch our brothers-in-arms die once, when they were shredded by the infected, but we had to put a bullet through each of their heads when they awoke. Those we didn’t get to in time were now bloodthirsty predators outside the coffee house window. Some were the men and women under my command. I’d led them to their deaths. And, by the look of things, they wouldn’t be the last.
I pressed the transmit button on my handheld and tried to keep my voice low. “Third Platoon to Fox. What’s the word on pickup?”
“All resources are still unavailable, but there’s a guy pulling together a militia. A team has been sent to rendezvous point gamma-alpha-niner-three to pick you up. What’s your status?” came the quick response from Camp Fox.
I pulled out my map, located which RP—rendezvous point—to head toward, and drew a circle around it. “We’re getting eaten alive here. There are four of us still viable. But we’re completely surrounded, and the zeds are going to sniff us out any minute.”
A lengthy pause, then Lieutenant Colonel Lendt’s voice came through the radio. “Masden, all other units are either down, unable to get to your position, or unaccounted for. Plan B is officially in effect. Phoenix is being sent down from Minneapolis and will be there in eighty-five minutes, and they will not wait for you. You need to get the Third out of town and to the RP and fast.”
I set the timer on my watch and saw the rest of the Third do the same. “But, the RP is over six clicks from my current position.”
“We are out of options. Do you understand what I’m saying, Captain?” Lendt asked.
“Understood, sir,” I replied tightly
. “But, we’re caught in a FUBAR sit here.”
“Believe me, if I had any choppers to send, I would. But I’m counting on you to get your asses out of there before Phoenix strikes. I know you can do it Captain. I need you back at Comp Fox before sunset. Out.”
I slid the handheld into my vest and breathed deeply. Jonesie watched me with a tight jaw. Thompson had long since gone silent. He sat with his back against the wall, staring straight ahead. Hart, his head on his knees, had rubbed his temples red. All three faces bore the same expression. This shit’s fucked up.
It was the same look I’d seen on the faces of the civvies I’d left on a roof of an office building, promising them that a helicopter would soon arrive. They didn’t believe me, but we’d left them anyway. Help wasn’t coming then.
Just like help wasn’t coming now.
“You heard the Colonel,” I said, keeping my voice just above a whisper. “Let’s get the hell out of this shithole.”
Hart motioned toward the big front window. “But we don’t stand a chance out there. We’ll never make it to the RP,” he said, his voice raising an octave with every word.
“We can stay holed up here,” I replied. “And in eighty minutes—if the zeds don’t find us first—the Air Force is going to drop a shitload of H6s on our heads and blow us to kingdom come.”
“We might be able to ride out the blast in here,” Hart said.
I chortled. “Trust me, there’s no riding out an H6 blast. If the initial explosion doesn’t turn all your bones to powder, the following fire will barbecue you. And the matter isn’t up for discussion. We crossed under I-80 already, which means we’re on the north edge of town. We can make six clicks in eighty minutes.”
Hart glared. “It might as well be six hundred clicks for how many zeds are out there.”
“The matter is closed, Private,” I growled out. “And, if you keep talking, we’ll have biters here in no time.”
I stared down Hart until he finally lowered his head. Hart was a fresh Army recruit, not even finished with basic training yet. Jonesie and I each had four years in the Guard. Thompson, a couple less. Not that branches mattered anymore. When the zed outbreak started, the military scrambled to pull together every able-bodied troop they could. Getting thrown into battle with new guys was bad enough. That Hart had seen right through me didn’t make things any easier. I wasn’t officer material, hell, I’d never planned on being one. I’d joined up to get college paid for. For fuck’s sake, I was a weekend warrior who’d done more sandbagging than shooting. I’d never even seen action until yesterday.
