“It will be life again. It has to be. If we stop leadin’ our lives then the zombies win.” She glares at Ron until he looks back at her.
He crinkles his eyebrows and frowns, and they both break into laughter.
As Ron stops laughing, he stares at Ann and smiles when he looks into her eyes. “And we’ll need plenty of laughs, or it just ain’t life at all.”
“We’ll fill this house with laughter, that’s a promise.”
Lewis walks in, shakes off the cold, and lifts a bottle out from underneath his coat. “Made a trade, got you a housewarming gift. Don't know a thing about wine. I hope it's good.”
“Wow, Lewis, you didn't have to do that.” Ann smiles and sets the bottle down on the stairs.
“Yeah thanks, how did you get that?” Ron smiles and shakes his hand.
“Oh, it took some doin’, but a man of the cloth can manage sometimes.” He pumps his eyebrows and smiles.
“How's that workin’ out, the chaplain thing?”
“Good, it takes my mind off the noise, keeps me grounded. Lotta soldiers need it to. It's good.”
“Glad to hear it.” Did they give you somethin’ better than that tent?”
“Yeah, a second tent.” He chuckles and shuffles his feet.
“Oh right, figures.” Ron smirks and scratches his head. “Well, how's it look?”
Lewis takes in the room and nods, “it looks great.”
“They'll do the same for you, I'm sure, probably next door.”
“Actually, I think I'll choose to stay on base. I don't feel alone there, and I, I feel important. You know?”
“I'm happy for you.” How about a glass of wine?
“Just a sip.”
✹✹✹
Two days later after settling into their house, Ron sits with Ann and Joshua, their adopted son, gently rocking back and forth on a porch swing and looks out over a street they can finally feel safe on, from the comfort of a place they can call home. They still wear coats, but that cannot spoil the moment they would have enjoyed in its full glory on a normal September dusk, and the sun peeks slightly over a ridge line towering in the western sky; and the clouds still obscuring the sun’s enriching radiation hint that they might one day disperse and say their sweet goodbyes.
Cassius lounges beside them, and he can finally feel as relaxed as before his understanding of the world flipped upside down and went crazy. His ears droop without a tense muscle between them but still absorb everything in his environment, and his nose deciphers a bewildering number of scents from far and wide, understanding each of them. The bite mark on his shoulder, still slightly visible and scabbed over, serves as a terrible reminder of the events such a short while ago.
One of his eyes opens, and he raises his head to look around. Holding his gaze for seconds, his body tenses and looks ready to explode out of bondage. He holds fast with a stare until a military vehicle cruises past. The soldiers inside scan everything and look at the house as the vehicle slows to a crawl. Ron waves at the truck, and they nod then continue their sweep. Once the exchange occurs Cassius lets his muscles unwind and rests his head on his paws.
“After everything, I just can’t stop enjoying this.” Ron fastens a button on his coat and smiles at Ann.
“It feels like it was all a dream.” Ann pauses and reflects silently for a few seconds. “When do you get sent out on your first mission?”
“Well the orders are dead simple, search and kill, but, without losing sight of the overall objective, I can carry them out however I want, including when we depart and how long we stay out.”
“You won’t leave for a while, will you?”
“No, not just yet, we legitimately have more training to do. But I can’t squander the military’s investment by sittin’ around too long. Unfortunately, we’ll have to cover a large area, so it’ll take a while.”
“I understand.”
“Thanks.” He pauses and looks around. “You know what we have here, this area, it’s a fraction. We have so much work to do. I and the others only represent a part of the effort in a tiny pocket west of the mountains. The whole country, and the world for that matter, still has the same challenges. Some places don’t have any people left. We’re practically startin’ over again as a species.”
“God…I try not to think about it.”
“Probably wise.”
Ann looks down at the sleeping baby in her arms bundled up in a blanket, and smiles. “He’s out like a light.”
“He’s a good boy, not selfish. I think I would’ve liked his parents.”
“Well, I vow to do the best I can for him.”
“You’re a natural.”
“You’re just sayin’ that.”
“It’s true.”
“Is it so true that you can picture me with another one?”
“Huh?”
“I haven’t had my period in six weeks. I can’t get my hands on a pregnancy test but six weeks.” She raises her eyebrows.
“That’s…great!” Ron settles on the word, “great,” after dismissing a few others rather abruptly upon gazing into Ann’s eyes. In one voluminous rush dreams of fatherhood and fears of failure addle his consciousness. He feels wonderful and frightened at once and then smiles at Ann and hugs her. When they release from their tender embrace Ron looks down at Joshua. “Two’s better than one isn’t it?”
Ann nods with a big smile that refuses to wipe off for a while.
“And we’ll treat them equally.”
“Of course.” Then a brief pause follows and Ann’s eyebrows raise again without wavering.
Why is she lookin’ at me like that? Ron holds his gaze and grins. He looks down and sees her rubbing her thumb on her ring finger. Oh, of course! He kneels on one knee and takes her hand in his, “Ann.”
“Yes,” She almost loses control in her excitement, but restrains herself to a smile.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” The word follows the question without pause or breath. Ann wipes a tear, and they hug again with even greater warmth.
To be continued…
The Inroad Chronicles (Book 1): Legion Seed Page 33