by Josh Vasquez
Josh noticed the interaction in between the two. Lexx flashed a smile.
“Whatever it is, it’s bad news. That’s for sure,” he said with a laugh.
Everyone on the porch seemed to agree. Chris pulled on his goatee, until finally sitting forward in his chair.
“You said Jeremy felt this rage?” He asked.
Lexx slowly nodded.
“So,” Chris said. “Should we need to worry about him?”
Silence lingered as the question hung in the air.
Lexx didn’t mean to insinuate that Jeremy was going to lose his shit eventually, but was it possible? The kid didn’t seem to show any signs of freaking out. He had been a great asset to the group. Tori seemed to be having the same thoughts, judging by her facial expressions. It wasn’t what Lexx meant. But what if it did happen? They only knew so much about it to begin with and what it was fully capable of doing.
Just look what it did to LJ, Lexx thought. Could that happen to Jeremy? Hell, could that happen to me?
Before Lexx could answer Chris’s question, or his own for that matter, Jeremy walked out onto the porch. The kid smiled, something Lexx had not seen much of in the past few days. He took Ben’s death pretty hard. It was good to see him coming back around.
“Hey everybody,” Jeremy said. “Dinner is ready.”
“Good, I’m hungry,” Josh said, not missing a beat. “We’ll finish that conversation later everybody. Now it’s time to eat.”
***
Jeremy felt like his stomach was about to burst. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms up, trying to open up any free space left in his abdomen. In doing this, he yawned, suddenly feeling the tiredness that follows a big meal.
“I am so full,” he said. “My stomach must have shrunk from not eating, because I feel like I barely ate anything.”
“Haha, yeah, that sounds about right,” Josh said.
The rest of the group seemed to be in agreement, even Bacon, the piglet, and Opie, the Boston terrier, who both gorged themselves on scraps. The two small animals lay on their sides underneath the table, too full to move.
“Dinner was very good ladies, thank you,” Josh said.
Everyone else began to chime in his or her gratitude.
“Yes, thank you so much for dinner and for your hospitality,” Tori said. “Please allow the three of us to clean up. It’s the least we can do.”
Jeremy and Lexx both nodded in agreement.
“No, it’s okay we can handle it,” Laura’s mother said.
“No, seriously. We’ll clean up. Y’all are doing so much just letting us stay here,” Jeremy insisted.
“It’s okay Mom, they can help,” Josh added.
She nodded and smiled.
“Thank you,” she said.
Jeremy was so full; he was unsure if he would make it to the kitchen, much less be able to do dishes. But Tori was right, it was the least they could do. It sure beat sleeping out on the road again.
“Thanks guys,” Josh said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. Tomorrow we’ll begin beefing up the defenses around here. If we’re going to be staying here a while, we better make it zombie-proof. But tonight, let’s rest. We’re alive, we’re safe, and we have a lot to be thankful for.”
With this, Amy stood up and walked out of the room without a word. Chris looked at her, sadness in his eyes. He too stood up, and pushed his and her chairs in.
“I, I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean-,” Josh stammered.
Chris shrugged and gave him a small smile.
“It’s okay bro, you didn’t mean it,” he said, turning to look towards the sound of the slamming door upstairs. “She just hasn’t been the same since, since we lost Hailey.”
With that, he turned and went after his wife.
Jeremy looked at Josh, who seemed to be on the edge of tears himself. He looked around the room and noticed that the rest of the family seemed to be fighting off crying as well.
They were broken. Weary.
“Why don’t y’all go ahead and head upstairs. Get some rest. We’ll take care of this mess,” Jeremy said, his voice soft and gentle.
They all nodded and left the table. Josh mouthed a “thank you” as he and Laura left the room. Then, it was just Jeremy, Lexx, and Tori. The three of them shared worried glances.
Chapter Six
Jeremy placed the Tupperware containers of leftovers into the refrigerator. The fact that they had a working refrigerator continued to blow his mind. They had electricity for that matter. Sure, gas-fueled generators powered it, but they had freaking electricity. Finding gasoline shouldn’t be too hard, seeing that not a lot of people were driving around nowadays.
Lexx put the last of the dishes back into the cabinets, as Tori wiped down the dining table and counters. When they were finished, the three of them huddled in the kitchen.
“Okay,” Tori started. “Let’s kill the elephant in the room. How long are we staying here?”
“Why should we leave?” Jeremy asked.
“Because we don’t want to wear out our welcome. And because these people are going through some stuff right now. They don’t need us around, getting in the way,” she said.
“These are good people Tori,” Jeremy replied. “They took us in out of the goodness of their hearts. And we won’t be in the way; they need us just as much as we need them.”
She leaned back against the counter.
“That’s not what I meant Jeremy,” she said. “What I mean is they just lost a little girl. That’s hard to walk away from. You saw the mom. She hasn’t spoken since it happened. The dad carries the weight of the whole thing. The grandparents seem level, but I’ve noticed the way grandma looks at Chris. I think she blames him too. I can just tell. Then you’ve got the boy, who seems to be the only one that has his head on straight.”
“What about Josh and his wife?” Jeremy asked.
“Oh, please! Don’t get me started on that!” She said, rolling her eyes.
“What do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean by that? Jeremy, she’s fucking preggers,” Tori hissed through her teeth, trying her best to keep her voice down. “What do you think is gonna happen when that baby is ready to come out? Hmm? Do you know anything about birthing babies? Cause I don’t know jack shit and I’ve got the right plumbing!”
Jeremy’s eyes shot to the floor, but bounced back up to meet hers.
“People have been hav-”
“Having babies for thousands of years?” She interrupted. “Yeah, and how many women died in child birth before modern medicine? How many women still die in third-world countries? Please. Okay, let’s just pretend that everything goes peachy and the baby comes out alright. What then? Babies make a lot of noise. Noise attracts zombies. What happens if, knock on wood, we have to leave this place? With a baby in tow? We might as well strap fucking sirloins to our backs.”
Jeremy did not have an answer for her. To an extent, she was right. The baby was going to make things difficult, whether inside Laura’s belly or out. But Jeremy did not see that as a legitimate reason to leave. This was still hands down the best place for them.
“So what do you want to do then Tori?” He asked her. His eyes set against hers.
She turned away from his glare, looking at Lexx for back up. He shrugged. She looked back at Jeremy.
“I don’t know.”
Silence.
“I don’t know okay?” She said. “I’m just saying, this place isn’t all pros. It has its cons too.”
Jeremy thought about laying onto her about giving him the verbal whiplash, but decided against it. He was tired. They were all tired. He had come to know the woman enough to know that she could get a little carried away. He smiled.
“I hear you,” he said. “Let’s sleep on it. We have time to figure it out. We don’t have to leave tomorrow, do we?”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t think so. Let’s get some sleep guys.”
He pulled a blanket up around him and stared up at the ceiling in the darkness. Tori’s words echoed in his head.
It has its cons.
It took him a while before he could finally surrender himself to sleep.
***
Once in their room, Tori pressed Lexx on the issues from downstairs.
“So, you were quiet down there. You don’t have an opinion on any of this?
He looked up at her from the bed. He had crashed onto the full-sized bed as soon as they entered the room. He looked at her, taking in her body language. Her hip was cocked out to the side.
Not a good sign.
Her hand was placed on her hip, elbow pointed out to the side.
Also not a good sign.
She stared him down, waiting for his answer.
I should probably answer her, he thought.
“Seemed like you had things under control,” he said.
She sighed.
Uh-oh. Wrong answer, Lexxie.
He sat up and swung his legs around to the side of the bed. He held his hands out towards her, motioning for her to come closer. She seemed reluctant, but moved towards his hands. His hands found their place on her hips and he looked up into her eyes.
“I agree with you one hundred percent. I just think we need to give it more time before we jump ship.”
She sighed again, but differently than before. This time out of relief, not exasperation.
“Plus, you were letting Jeremy kinda have it and I did not want to jump in the middle of that,” he said with his boyish smile.
She playfully punched him in the shoulder. He fell back onto the bed, clutching at his shoulder, as if nursing a mortal wound.
“Stop that. I barely hit you,” she said.
“Oh, if only you knew your own strength!”
She jumped on him and grabbed his ribs.
“I’ll show you my strength, you wuss!” she said, with a giggle.
She pushed her fingers deep into his ribs, causing him to squirm and buck. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her side, and rolled over. She tried to wiggle her way out from underneath him, but soon gave up. Their faces were only inches apart; their breathing long and deep. He leaned in and locked his lips with hers. First lips, then tongue, until finally he loosened his grip around her arms. He placed one hand around the back of her head and the other over her fast beating heart.
She sprung from the bed to the floor.
“Haha! I’m free!” She said, leaving Lexx to wonder what just happened.
“Why you sneaky little-,” he started.
She raised her arms to flex her muscles.
“Ha, you loser. Typical man, always thinking with his dick. I knew all I had to do was bide my time, maybe bat my eyes a bit, and then whamo, I’m free.”
He just stared at her smiling. She had outwitted him. Suckered him. And good too.
Fuck, she is so hot, he thought.
Her smile quickly disappeared and fear flashed across her face. Lexx shot up off the bed.
“What is it babe?”
She shushed him, holding up her finger. He stopped moving and honed in his hearing, a skill he had worked on much within the last week.
At first, it was just silence. He waited a moment and was about to open his mouth when he heard it. It was faint, but it was a sound he could not mistake.
A moan.
Oh, shit…
Tori looked at him, her finger placed over her mouth, eyes wide. They continued to listen, waiting for another moan, to hear if it was getting closer or further away. A few seconds passed, but there another moan. This time slightly louder. And closer.
Tori walked over to the small table on her side of the bed, picking her pistol up and loading a round into the chamber. Lexx held up his hand for her to stop.
“Hold on a sec,” he said.
Something about the moan seemed off. He listened patiently for the next one and did not have to wait long. There was another, Followed shortly by another and then another.
“What is it?” Tori whispered.
Lexx leaned in closer to the wall. He placed his ear against the drywall and listened. He could hear the moans much better.
“Are they in the house?” Tori asked.
He chuckled continuing to listen to the wall.
“Haha, no. They’re not in the house. It’s not zombies Tori.’
He turned to look at her, his grin ear to ear.
“It just sounds like somebody missed his wife,” he said, placing his ear back on the wall.
She came next to him at the wall, placing her ear against it as well.
Lexx was right. It wasn’t zombie moans she heard. It was sex moans from Josh and Laura’s room next door. Tori felt her body relax.
“Isn’t she already pregnant enough?” She whispered.
“Ha. Wanna give ‘em a run for their money?” He asked.
She pushed him away from the wall.
“Get away from there. I don’t need you getting any more ideas,” she said, walking back to bedside table, setting the gun back down.
“Aw man, c’mon. We can win. I’ve got moves you haven’t seen yet,” he said.
She laughed at that. Kicking off her shoes and stripping off her jeans, she climbed into bed.
“The only thing I’m in the mood for tonight is a good night’s sleep Lexington.”
He looked at her, back at the wall where a louder than intended squeal could be heard, and then back at her. His shoulders dropped in defeat as he stripped down to his boxers.
“You play a hard game Victoria.”
He crawled into the bed and turned off the light. She snuggled up next to him, placing her arm over his chest and her head on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be glad I got my rest,” she said, before planting a kiss on his cheek.
Lexx fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Chapter Seven
Jeremy’s left eye cracked open as the early morning sunlight breached the darkness of the living room. For a second, his brain wondered where he was at the moment, the same way it did anytime he woke up somewhere new. Once it registered, he felt his body relax.
He was safe. He looked around the large room in the dim light, taking in his new surroundings. CJ was still asleep on the air mattress. The boy was sprawled out; his feet hanging off the end of the short bed. The house seemed so still as Jeremy sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. There was a small clink behind him and he spun around to see the source of the noise.
Josh was sitting at the table with a large coffee mug. He was writing on something that Jeremy could not see from his seat. Jeremy stood up, buttoned his pants and walked over to the table. As he approached, Josh looked up from his work and smiled.
“I didn't wake you, did I?” He asked, followed by a sip from his coffee.
“No. The sun did. You got any more of that stuff?” Jeremy asked, motioning towards the mug.
“Yeah, I think I left some in the French press if you’re into that sort of thing, but I made a pot for the normal people as well.”
Jeremy nodded groggily and made his way towards the kitchen. After pouring the rest of the brown nectar from the French press, Jeremy returned to the table where Josh had continued his work. He was drawing and making notes on a map of Georgia with a black marker. There were small x’s and circles all over the southeast portion of the map.
“Whatcha doin’?” Jeremy asked.
“I’m making note of all the blocked roadways we encountered on our way here,” he said without looking up. “I want to know what roads are open to us for when we go out.”
“Out?” Jeremy said.
“Yeah. For supply runs. Plus, if this place, God for
bid, ever gets compromised, we’ll need to know the best escape route.”
Jeremy nodded slowly. He did not want to think about leaving the safety of the cabin. Last night was the best sleep since the whole zombie apocalypse started. He was not ready to give that up yet. That was something worth fighting for.
“That's pretty smart. What are those circles for?” Jeremy asked.
Josh smiled.
“Those circles are some of my company’s job sites. There are some real handy supplies that we can gather from them, that I’m pretty sure my company won’t be using anymore. And if things ever do get back to normality, I’m just as sure they would be glad I have them and not someone else,” he said.
“What kind of supplies?”
Josh's smile grew.
“Well, there’s tools for one, but the first thing I’m interested in grabbing are a couple of generators. You interested in going on a run today?”
Josh’s smile was infectious, because Jeremy also began grinning.
“Heck yeah,” he said, taking the final swig of his coffee.
“Good. Once everyone else is up, we’ll get going.”
“Is your wife going to be okay with you leaving so soon?” Jeremy asked, raising an eyebrow.
Josh stood up from the table, taking his empty mug to the sink. He paused for a moment. He turned back around to look at Jeremy.
“Probably not, but I know the area better than anybody, so she’s just going to have to get over it.”
***
“No.”
That was all Laura said.
She stared him down for what seemed like an eternity in his mind. He seemed to anticipate this response from his wife, because he didn’t seemed fazed by her tone or body language at all. She leaned her back against the dresser, her arms folded across her chest. And because it was Laura, tears welled in the corners of her eyes, despite her trying to fight them back.
She always cries when she’s upset, Josh thought. Classic Laura.
“Baby,” he started. “We’re gonna need supplies sooner or later. It’s better to go now before our choices get slim.”
