The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary

by Cole, Christopher

  I pulled out my Zippo and asked, “This, too?”

  Lieutenant Amos looked at it and answered, “Yep, sorry. Considered lethal.”

  “Yes sir,” I nodded.

  “And don’t smoke. You’ll get cancer.”

  “Do cigarettes even exist anymore?”

  “You’d be surprised.”

  I placed my backpack on the table and pulled out the M&P45 I found in the RV and handed it to Private Amos. Ashley surrendered the Kahr K9 I gave her, her hatchet, and her knives; Carrie her brush axe and knives; Molly, her metal bat and knife; Patch his S&W 64, machete, and a knife; Jess her ice axe, the S&W 629 and her knife; Clark and Cody their knives and hatchets; and finally, River surrendered her sniper rifle, bowie knife, and her bow and arrows.

  “You kill zombies?” a soldier asked Father Lawrence.

  “Yes . . . to protect the children, those with souls,” Father Lawrence answered.

  The soldier nodded and complimented, “I’m pretty sure God would bless you.”

  “Maybe, I’m certain I’ll find out when I’m standing in front of the maker and judged for my shortcomings – I’m at peace with that.”

  I took comfort that I wasn’t the only one who was feeling empty surrendering our weapons. After everything that’s happened, we learned the value of having something to defend ourselves with.

  We walked through the metal detectors and emptied our pockets. My heart skipped a beat when a soldier looked closely at my Tree of Life keychain Dad gave me, but he gave it back. They even let me keep the cameras I found in the RV as well. After they searched through our stuff, they led us through the fence pathway out from under the wall into a bigger clearing. They called it the Entrance Box, or ‘the Box’ for short. This one had fences, too. We could see the city; it was about a mile and a half from our current location.

  The other group from Oregon was all standing and sitting nearby as we came out. They looked like they were in the same condition as we were. Some of them looked slightly injured, as if they had recently seen death. I thought it would be best to leave them be to sort out whatever they were going through. Like the space underneath the wall, there were two small buildings on both sides of the clearing – I assumed they must be security stations. Lieutenant Amos said they were working out all the paperwork and assignments for everyone’s living quarters. He said we might get an apartment, and if we’re very lucky, some of us will get a house. A house!

  We waited for an hour and they still hadn’t said anything, so Will and Jeff went over to go talk to the officers. They talked for a long time and eventually Kayley and Tracy went over to them. Faith and the Rose family went over close to the fence gate to look closer at the city. My friends, Father Lawrence and I sat with Izzy and Blair while waiting for things to sort out.

  Seeing how organized this place is made me wonder if there was a functioning radio. Maybe they could contact Fort Drum and I could find out if my parents are okay, I could tell them I’m safe.

  I walked up to a soldier and asked, “Hey, do you guys have a radio? I was wondering if you had made contact with Fort Drum in New York – if so, I could get word to my parents.”

  “Sorry, kid, but there are only twelve settlements in North America that we know of and none of them are in New York or even on the eastern seaboard,” the soldier said.

  “But Fort Drum had a radio, that’s how they knew about Fort Denver.”

  “We haven’t been able to reach them. Trust me, our radio’s working fine so their radio is either busted or . . .”

  He stopped when he saw my fear.

  “I’m sure they’re fine, son, their radio is probably malfunctioning – they malfunction often, there are a million reasons why they may not have been able to make contact with us,” the soldier said.

  “Okay,” I muttered, as I walked back to my friends.

  “Hey!” the soldier called out.

  I turned to face him.

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” he said.

  I nodded before going back to my friends.

  “Oh, come on! My back is killing me! How much longer do we have to sit out here?” Blair asked.

  “Patience, my friends, patience. They won’t keep us here forever,” Father Lawrence said.

  “Should it take this long to figure out where we’re gonna live?” Izzy asked.

  “Now that we’re here, I don’t know what to do. We spent so much time trying to survive and make it to someplace safe, now that we’re here, I don’t know what’s next,” Ashley said.

  “Well, I guess that’s the best part. They’ll probably have schools for you to attend, but after that you’ll find a job or something to contribute to help this place,” Father Lawrence said.

  “I know what I’m gonna do – take a bath!” Patch stated.

  “Good, because I can smell you a mile away!” Jess joked.

  We all chuckled.

  Actually, I could really use a bath, too. I didn’t smell so bad, but I felt dirty and the only kind of water we used to wash ourselves out there was river or lake water. I was anxious to get wherever we were going to live in. We made small talk while waiting, background, interests, likes, dislikes.

  “No way! For real, you were a theater actress?” Molly asked Izzy.

  “Actually, I was auditioning to be a theater actress, but then the outbreak happened,” Izzy said.

  “Oh man! Still that would have been cool,” Ashley said.

  “I can see you on the stage now. ‘To be or not to be? That is the question.’ Or, in some other famous Shakespeare play,” I teased.

  Izzy scoffed, “Yeah, I wish.”

  “What about you, Blair? What did you do before all this?” Molly asked.

  “I was . . . I was just a college student working at Starbucks,” Blair answered.

  “Starbucks is the coffee chain, right?” Patch asked.

  “Nathan?” a woman from the Oregon group called out softly.

  “Yep, they sold good coffee,” Blair answered.

  “On a scale of one to ten, how much do you two miss coffee?” Carrie asked.

  “Twenty.”

  “Twenty-five,” Izzy answered.

  “Eight,” Father Lawrence added.

  “Nathan,” the woman called again.

  “What exactly is coffee? I mean, how do they make the beans?” Molly asked.

  I started, “Actually, coffee comes from a plant that grows these berries— “

  “Nathan!”

  “—they take the seeds which are the coffee beans and grind them into coffee.”

  “Nathan!” the woman called louder.

  When I turned around, I saw only for a split second as the woman ran up and hugged me. I lost my balance a little as she embraced me tightly.

  “Oh my God, Nathan! You’re alive!” the woman said, hugging me tightly.

  I was stunned and confused. I looked past her shoulder to see a man and a little girl standing not too far away, looking extremely anxious. The man had an expression like he was trying to figure out what to do, but had no answers, yet. He looked an awful lot like my father, maybe half an inch shorter, same dark blonde hair, maybe a few years older, but a strong stature, and green eyes. The girl that was standing next to him looked similar in age to Carrie and myself, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The woman hugging and holding me had blonde layered hair that reached her shoulders, same slim, and a beautiful face with blue eyes – you could tell she was a good soul, she looked like an angel. I couldn’t help but gaze at her.

  “Clara?!” the man called.

  “Jonathan! He’s alive! Our boy is alive! My son, my son is alive! My sweet angel is alive!” Clara wept with happy tears.

  Her boy? She thinks I’m her son?!

  I looked over at my friends and they all looked as completely confused as me. They kept shifting their eyes back and forth between Jonathan and me. I turned back to Jonathan and he looked like he was trying to think of what to say. Is this some kind of joke?
Clara held her hands gently on both sides of my face and looked directly into my eyes.

  “Oh my God Nathan. I’m so happy you’re okay,” Clara smiled.

  I didn’t know what to say. I stood there stunned and confused. When I looked at her I saw her relief and happiness – her gently smile, the longing in her eyes. It was the kind of joy that a person has after they’ve been reunited with someone they love completely.

  Clara closed her tearful eyes and gently placed her forehead on mine and spoke, “I was so worried. I thought I lost you. You scared me to death.”

  She kissed my face and hugged me again whispering, “I love you so much.”

  After a couple of seconds, I gently hugged her back, though still confused and puzzled. As happy as she is at that moment, I didn’t know how she might react if I told her I’m not her son. I started thinking of my options; something told me intuitively that telling her the truth wasn’t the smart play.

  Clara backed up to look me up and down and wiped her tears asking, “Did these people help you? Are they your friends?”

  I still didn’t answer.

  “Nathan?” Clara asked.

  “Uh—” before I could say anything Jonathon gave me a pleading look. My friends saw this too and looked back at me.

  “Yeah . . . these are my friends. . . that I-I came across . . . when we got separated,” I said, playing along.

  My friends gave me a bewildered look asking what the heck I was doing. When Clara looked at them, I pleaded with my eyes telling them to go along.

  “Yeah, we-we were able to help him,” Ashley said.

  “How did you find Nathan?” she asked, keeping her arms around me.

  “We uh— “

  Then all of a sudden Izzy let out a gasp of pain and water started dripping down her legs and her face went pale. Blair’s eyes widened.

  “Izzy?” Carrie asked concerned.

  “Oh my God,” Izzy spoke.

  “What’s wrong?” Molly asked.

  “The baby, the baby is coming!”

  “Now?!” Patch exclaimed in an alarmed tone.

  “I’ll get the others!” Father Lawrence said, before sprinting off.

  “Hurry!” I shouted.

  Izzy started panting and she looked scared.

  Blair held her hand and told her, “Okay Izzy, you’re gonna to be okay. The baby is going to be okay, just breathe.”

  She started squeezing Blair’s hand and panted even more. Will and the others ran over to aid Izzy. My friends and I moved out of the way for Will and Kayley to help her. I saw the soldiers on the radio and scrambling to get the gate open.

  Lieutenant Amos came up and said, “Okay, we’re getting a vehicle ready. We’ll take her to the hospital.”

  “Is it far?” Kayley asked.

  “Barely four miles. My guys are on the radio with the hospital. There will be a doctor ready when we get her there.”

  A medical vehicle pulled up next to us and we got her inside. Once she was secure inside, it drove off to the hospital. The soldier said it was about four miles away, so we can make it there easy – I was the first to start running.

  “Nathan!” Clara called.

  ****

  I was the first to make it to the hospital and everyone else followed shortly thereafter. They took Izzy into the operating room on the second floor and we waited outside. Lieutenant Amos came by and told us they were done with the paperwork, and had assigned housing for all of us. Clara was beside me and said that we should go, but there was no way I was leaving without knowing if Izzy and her baby were okay.

  “Nathan, it’s alright. Your friend is in good hands, we can go,” Clara said.

  I shook my head and stated clearly, “I’m not leaving until I see that she’s okay.”

  “Nathan.”

  Will and Kayley overheard and questioned, “Nathan?”

  “Who’s Nathan?” Tracy asked.

  “He’s my son,” Clara answered.

  Before they could say anything, I jointed my eyes to tell them to go along with it, but they still looked confused. Somehow, I wasn’t angry or annoyed that she kept calling me her son.

  “Were all these people in the group you were with when we got separated?” Clara asked me.

  “Yeah, guys this is my mother, Clara,” I said, hesitantly.

  “Uh . . . hi, so you’re his mother?” Will asked, with an eyebrow raised.

  “Yes, I’m Clara, Clara Way,” Clara answered, shaking Will and Kayley’s hand.

  The whole time Tracy kept looking at me like I was crazy. From the look on Jonathan’s face, he was afraid Tracy might tell Clara the truth. He looked at me with worry in his eyes. I looked hard at Tracy – she still looked uncertain but she trusted me.

  “How did you find Nathan?” Clara asked.

  “He was out by himself killing zombies to protect two of his friends,” Will answered.

  “Oh, he did?”

  “Yeah, he killed the zombie that almost killed me.”

  Clara turned to me and asked, “You’ve killed infected?”

  “Yeah, he sure did. He’s a lot tougher than he looks,” Kayley stated.

  The adults talked for a while, Clara and Jonathan talked about how bad everything was in Oregon. Some of their people were killed by bandits and by zombies – a few even committed suicide. We didn’t talk much, not wanting to give them any info.

  I got up and pretended to go to the restroom and while Clara and Jonathan weren’t looking, I waved Tracy over. We walked down the hall far enough so that our conversations wouldn’t be heard.

  “Sonny, what the fuck is going on? Who is that woman?” Tracy whispered.

  “I have no idea. I’ve never seen her before in my whole life,” I answered.

  “Why did she call you her son and why are you going along with it?”

  “I don’t know, but I just think it’s the right thing for now.”

  “Why? Just fucking tell her you don’t know her from Adam.”

  “Look, Tracy, I don’t know what the deal is with her – maybe she’s in shock, maybe she’s not all there, I don’t know. What I do know by the looks her husband’s been giving, if I tell her the truth it might not go well. You saw him, he kept giving signs to play along. I think going along is the right thing, and it’s costing nothing, but some time and patience.”

  “It’s their damn problem, not yours. If she’s whacked then let them deal with it!”

  “Jesus Tracy, what if that was you? Or Will?”

  “Oh my God,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  I explained, “Look, I’ll play along with this and find out what’s going on, okay? So, just go along with it for now.”

  Tracy sighed, “Fine.”

  We went back to join the others and waited. Finally, a doctor wearing those green scrubs came through the door.

  “She’s okay, both her and the baby,” the doctor said.

  Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

  “So, is it a girl or a boy?” Kayley asked.

  “It’s a girl, and it was an uncomplicated delivery. She did great, but she’s exhausted. We just finished settling her and her baby.”

  “So, Izzy was right; she said she knew it would be a girl,” Blair smiled.

  After some hugs went around the doctor asked, “Which one of you is Nathan?”

  It took me a few seconds to answer, almost forgetting Clara.

  “Me, I’m Nathan,” I responded.

  “She wants you to see her baby.”

  “Why can’t we all go in?” Carrie asked.

  “A newborn baby is very sensitive to germs and bacteria,” the doctor explained.

  “Yeah, that’s right, they always do this so the baby doesn’t get sick,” Kayley added.

  “Exactly, however, I will allow one person to go in. I asked her who she wanted to go in and she picked you.”

  “Why him?” Jonathan asked.

  “She says she wants the boy who saved her life to hold h
er child,” the doctor answered.

  “You saved her life?” Clara asked me.

  “It’s a long story,” I answered.

  I looked down at myself and saw that I wasn’t exactly clean. The doctor scanned me from head to toe and made the same conclusion.

  The doctor said, “We don’t really have time to give you a shower, so we’re gonna clean your hands and your head and put you in a sterile gown. We’ll put you in scrubs like these – alright?”

  I nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “Good, follow me. The rest of you can follow Nurse Rebecca to a window where you can watch him hold the baby.”

  As I entered, a nurse came out and told everyone, “This way please.”

  He took me to a room to wash my hands and head. I did it as thoroughly as possible, not wanting to get the baby sick – my hair was a little damp. The doctor helped me into the scrubs and then led me into the room where he said they would bring Izzy. I saw through the window where everyone will be able to watch and I had to admit, I was getting a little nervous. I never in my whole life have ever held a baby. After a few moments, everyone showed up and waved through the window.

  “Ready for the operation doctor?” Patch asked me.

  “Yes doctor, ready the patient,” I joked, stretching the glove.

  “You look like a clown in those,” Carrie stated.

  I shrugged.

  Then finally, they wheeled Izzy in holding her baby in a bed on wheels. She looked so happy with her baby in her arms. My heart started racing at a steady pace when I saw the small baby girl. The baby’s eyes were closed, but she was moving her little arms and little legs around. I slowly walked up to her – she was wrapped loosely in a baby blanket. Izzy was all clean in hospital robes – her hair was still wet. When I got close, I was speechless. No words can describe how beautiful they were – Izzy and her newborn baby girl.

  Izzy turned to me and asked, “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  “She is, you both are,” I agreed.

  She smiled. “Here,” and she gently handed me her baby.

  I responded feeling nervous, “Okay.”

  I held the baby as carefully as possible. Holding Izzy’s baby gave me this great feeling inside. It was a mixture of so many great feelings, that I wasn’t fully aware of what they were. I felt happy in a way that told me that everything was going to be okay. It had been so long since I felt that confident in the future – it felt new. After all we’d been through together, all the bloodshed and death, we finally made it to a place where something as pure and innocent as this could happen – something as soft and gentle and in need of safety could be born – something as beautiful as this little baby girl!