“I guess you’re right. Here,” she said offering me the baby, “take her.”
“Uh that’s ok,” I said raising my hands.
“What? Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re scared of holding a baby,” she said raising an eyebrow at me.
I smiled, “No, I’m not, but I haven’t held a baby since my nephew.”
“Don’t worry,” she said pushing the baby into my arms, “it’s just like riding a bike.”
“Where are you going?”
“Be back in a minute.”
“Where…” I began, but she had already gone. I held the small girl in my arms and propped the bottle up so she could keep drinking. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was calm. Her face was smudged with dirt, but she was unharmed. Amazing, I thought, your mom kept you safe this whole way. I glanced at her sleeping form, Let’s hope I can keep her alive now. The baby stopped drinking, and I took the bottle from her mouth. She had had her fill and was asleep now. I paced back and forth at the end of the couch where the mother lay, rocking the sleeping child. Shifting her in my arms I glanced at my watch and groaned, it was almost four in the morning, and I really wanted to go back to bed. I yawned “Lucky,” I said quietly to the baby in my arms.
I don’t know how long I stood there, just rocking the girl, but I didn’t notice the quiet footstep approach from behind and only realized someone was there when I felt the gentle pressure of a hand on my shoulder. “Hey,” I heard Sarah say quietly.
“Hey,” I smiled down at her “Where’d you go?”
“The blanket she has is dirty, I wanted to get her a clean one,” she said holding up a small patchwork blanket that I recognized.
“Where did you get that?” I asked as I took the filthy blanket off of the baby.
“It was in the closet in the girl’s room. I found it when we were cleaning and couldn’t bear to throw it away,” she said as she wrapped the girls sleeping form in the new blanket.
“I haven’t seen that in probably eighteen years,” I handed her the girl who was now wrapped in my old red and blue baby blanket, the one my mom made.
“Kind of smells like you,” she said smiling.
“Oh, so you’re saying I smell like a baby?” I said teasing her.
“Maybe.”
“I do not.”
“I know,” she said. I wrapped my arms around her and the child. “So when do you want me to check out the mom.”
I let her go, “In the morning.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it is the morning.”
“Ok, smartass. How about when she wakes up. I would hate for her to wake up amongst strangers without her baby, she’d probably panic.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I usually am,” I winked.
She rolled her eyes at me, “That just leaves one question.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?”
“Who is going to take care of this little one?”
I put a finger on the end of my nose, “Not me.”
She scoffed, “Like I would ever trust you with a baby overnight.”
“Are you kidding me, I wouldn’t trust me with a baby overnight,” I said sarcastically.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.”
“Then I’ll help.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What’s the point of going to my bed if I can’t lie next to you? I’d rather stay up if it means I can stay with you.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
We sat and talked quietly about little things, avoiding Walkers, the baby or anything that had become commonplace in our new world. Soon the talk eased, and we sat on the second couch, Sarah holding the baby and leaning against me, and me gently running my hands through her hair. The baby slept, and Sarah sighed as my fingers lightly brushed her scalp. I knew how good it felt and I was glad she was enjoying it. While my fingers worked through Sarah’s hair, the fingers of sleep began to work on me, slowly closing in on me as I felt my eyes grow heavy. My head dipped, and I was instantly awake, scanning the room for danger. It was stupid I know, but it was damn near automatic. I shook my head and calmed as I looked at the sleeping angel in my arms. I smiled and settled for staring at the wall, trying my hardest not to fall asleep, but try as I might, I ended up tilting my head back and closing my eyes.
I woke to gentle shaking. I opened my eyes and saw Sarah still sitting next to me, just not lying against me. “You were snoring,” she laughed quietly.
“Sorry,” I said putting a hand on the back of my neck. I had fallen asleep looking up at the ceiling, and I had a wonderful pain shooting through my neck and up to the back of my eyes. I popped my neck and apologized to Sarah. I checked the time, seven twenty, and stood to stretch.
“Think we should try and wake her?”
“No, let her sleep.”
“Ok, but this little girl is going to want to eat soon, and she’s going to want more than Gatorade.”
“We’ll handle that when it comes around. We should probably get the others up, do they know about these two?”
“No, most of them are still asleep. I didn’t think we needed to wake them, especially since they were all so tired.”
“Ok well, let’s get everyone up as quiet as we can so we don’t wake the mother. Is Liz still up?”
“I don’t know, I woke up just before I woke you.”
“Alright, I’ll get the girls up first and have them meet in the dining room. Then I’ll get the guys up.”
“I can help.”
“No, it’s ok. You seem to have your arms full,” I smiled.
“Fine by me,” she shrugged.
I walked to the girl’s room and tapped lightly on the door. The door opened slightly, and Hannah poked her head out “Hey James, what’s up?” she said sleepily.
“Hey, Hannah. Uh, there have been some developments that occurred early this morning, and I need you to get everyone up and in the dining room as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Try and be quiet ok.”
“Ok,” she said mildly confused.
She closed the door, and I went to wake the guys. After relaying a similar message I went and joined Sarah in the living room. “She’s awake.”
“Yeah and she seems ok, happy even.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“Aren’t you a baby expert?” she said sarcastically.
“Whatever, come on we should go wait for the others.”
“Ok.”
We went, and Sarah sat in a chair in the dining room, and I stood behind her. I watched as the girls filed out in ones and twos and gasped as they caught sight of the bundle in Sarah’s arms. The guys on the other hand barely noticed the baby and instead asked, “Who’s the woman on the couch?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “She showed up last night hurt and carrying a baby.”
“Is she going to be ok?” asked Justin.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Jeez James. You know most people wait and go through the whole pregnancy thing before they have a baby. You seem to have skipped a few steps,” grinned Michael.
I smiled, “Well I was hoping you could be the godfather.”
“Hell no,” said Sarah smiling.
“You know, if I wasn’t such a good guy I might take offense to that,” said Michael.
“So the baby is ok too?” asked Carrie.
“Yeah, she’s going to be fine,” replied Sarah confidently, as if she dared anyone or anything to disagree with her.
“Ok guys, we need to keep it down. The mother seems exhausted, so I want her to sleep as long as she wants. We also need to make sure that whoever is with the baby stays close to the living room. The last thing we need is the mom panicking when she wakes up.”
“What do you mean whoever’s with the baby?” asked Matt.
“We’re taking turns.”
“What!” exclaimed Jason,
“I’m not taking care of a baby.”
“Yes, you are,” I said sternly, “We’re taking turns, and since you seem so excited to help, you can take the first turn.”
“What. No.. I…” he sputtered as Sarah pressed the baby into his arms. She was awake and was looking at Jason with skeptical eyes.
“I’ll help you,” said Carrie.
“O…ok. Just don’t get any ideas,” he said nervously.
Everyone laughed, myself included, and for a moment we forgot that we had a wounded sleeping woman on the couch. I quickly realized our mistake and tried to quiet everyone down “Shhh. We’ve got to stay quiet. Ok so Jason and Carrie are going to take care of the baby first, everyone else can go about your normal day. Go back to bed, work out, dig the storage, I don’t care what you do as long as you keep it down.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got it,” said Thomas who had been wheeled in on a sliding office chair.
“How’s that cast working’ out for you?”
“Fantastic,” he said grinning.
“You still taking those painkillers?”
“Just when it’s really bad,” he said.
“Ok, well let’s have you take half doses for the time being.”
“You got it doc,” he said giving me a thumbs up.
“Keep an eye on him would you,” I said quietly to Christina as we began to separate and go about our day.
“Is he ok?” she asked worriedly.
“Oh he’s fine, but sometimes pain meds can make someone a little loopy. Just want to make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb.”
“Yeah, ok,” she said heading over to where Thomas was sliding his way across the kitchen floor.
I didn’t know what everyone else was planning on doing, but I planned on going back to bed. Even with my accidental nap on the couch, I was still very tired, and my leg was starting to hurt. Sarah met me in the hallway leading to my room and smiled. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That you would love some bacon right about now?”
She cocked an eyebrow, “Bacon? Really?”
“What? I want some bacon.”
“Well, that’s not what I was thinking.”
“What were you thinking?”
“That I want to go back to bed.”
“Oh, well that’s the third thing I was thinking.”
“What was second?”
I grinned at her, and she shook her head, smiling back. We climbed back into bed to grab as much sleep as we could. I was shaken awake a short while later by Hannah, “Yeah what’s up?” I said sitting up
“She’s awake.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and ran my hands through my hair, trying to shake off any clinging remnants of sleep. Sarah got up and sat next to me. She must have sensed what I was thinking or feeling because she asked, “You ok?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do with her?”
“I have absolutely no idea. You wouldn’t have any suggestions would you?”
“Nope.”
“Oh you are just so helpful,” I said sarcastically.
“I try.”
Out in the living room, I found the woman and her baby sitting on the couch. I noticed that she still had her IV in and the baby was back asleep. I sat down on the coffee table in front of the two and introduced myself, “Hi, I’m James.”
“I’m Jackie and this,” she nodded to the small girl, “is Mary.”
“Well, it’s good to meet you,” I said smiling. “Did you come from Luke’s compound?”
I saw as her eyes darkened and then become haunted as she nodded, “They’re dead, he… he killed everyone.”
“I know,” I said sadly. “But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I took care of that son-of-a-bitch George. How did you escape?”
Her eyes seemed to go out of focus as she began to tell her story, “I was still up. Mary was cranky, and I was walking around outside the barracks when I heard shooting. There weren’t any flares to signal that there was any undead and then I heard return fire. I knew something was happening, but I didn’t know what so I went into the barracks to hide. My bed is at the back because you know, Mary likes to cry sometimes, so I try to keep her away from the others. I headed back to my bunk and tried to keep Mary quiet. It wasn’t long before someone burst into the barracks and just opened fire. I screamed along with everyone else, and I just fell to the floor. I didn’t know if I was hit, but I did my best to shield Mary from the bullets.” I saw tears beginning to form as she recalled the sheer panic she must have felt that night, “It was so loud, and once they stopped, it was like someone had thrown a switch on the world, turning off all the noise. I thought the silence would last forever, but then Mary started to cry. I couldn’t keep her quiet as I heard boot steps approach us. I held as still as I could, still on top of her and prayed that we would be ok. Mary was crying so loud, and I was sure they were going to shoot me. The boot steps stopped near us, and I heard someone say, ‘Shut that baby up,’ and I knew we were dead, but then I guess God heard my silent prayers because I heard another person say ‘Fuck the baby, don’t waste the ammo’ and then they left. I stayed there for what felt like forever, but I knew it was only a few minutes. I got up and I just… I just ran. I left everything and just ran. I don’t know how far or even what direction I went I just got out of there as fast as I could. I found a house and went inside to hide. I didn’t even check it to see if it was safe. I just found a bedroom and locked myself in. I don’t know how long I stayed there, but it was morning when I left. I started back the way I thought I had come, moving slow, keeping a lookout for anyone with a gun. I didn’t have a gun, all I had was a kitchen knife I got from the house I was in. I found a small house that was closer to the camp and, after checking to see if it was safe, I bundled up Mary and left her there.” Tears began to roll down her eyes, “Leaving her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I couldn’t risk her getting hurt. I walked through the camp, and I swear I couldn’t have held that knife any harder if I wanted to. All I saw were dead bodies. They were everywhere but as I encountered each one I counted them. There weren’t enough on the ground for everyone to be dead so I kept checking. I found your sign and I went to find a car. They were all shot up, or I couldn’t find keys. I didn’t feel comfortable staying there much longer and decided that I would have to just walk. I ran back to get Mary, and we started walking on the highway. I wasn’t thinking when I left, I didn’t even grab a gun or supplies, I just wanted to get away from all those bodies. On the way here I kept stopping to look for water. It didn’t matter, Luke’s scouting parties picked everything clean. I hid whenever I thought I heard someone, I got even worse when it got dark.” She gave an embarrassed smile as she wiped away the few remaining tears, “I jumped at every shadow, I didn’t even have a flashlight, I guess I didn’t need one as long as I had my little angel. I was so tired when I finally got here and just so relieved that I guess I collapsed. I’m really sorry about that by the way.”
“Don’t apologize,” I said giving her a warm smile, “I’m just glad someone made it out of there alive.”
“Thank you for your help, but I think Mary and I should get ready to go.”
“What? No, you don’t have to leave.”
“I couldn’t stay. It looks like you have your hands full as it is, you don’t need me, and a baby added to the mix,” she said glancing around the room.
I looked around and saw that everyone had gathered to listen to Jackie’s story. I smiled, “You’re more than welcome to stay here as long as you want.”
“Thank you but…”
“No buts,” said Sarah, “and you should at least stay and rest for a while.”
“Well, if you’re sure.”
“Positive,” I said. “Now you two can take my room if you’d like.”
“No, we don’t need anywhere special.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, we’ll be fine.”
“Well then, if the girls don’t mind you can stay in the master bedroom with them.”
“As long as they don’t mind a cranky baby every now and then…”
“We don’t,” said Jessica happily.
“Great,” I said standing. “I’ll let you get to know everyone. I’m sure the girls are dying to ask you about Mary. Once they’ve worn you down with their questions you can get something to eat or take a look around, feel free to do whatever you want.”
“Thank you, James.”
“Not a problem,” I said reassuringly. “Ok girls, go ahead.” They fired off so many questions so fast it was as if I opened the Hoover Dam and I did my best to stay out of their way. Walking away from the oohs and ahs of adoration, not to mention all of the baby talk, I stood next to Michael who had been standing away from the group. “Do you recognize her?” I asked.
He shook his head, “I don’t think so, but I wasn’t around camp all that much. Luke always had something he wanted me to do.”
“Pretty amazing huh?”
“Fucking incredible.”
“I guess if a woman and her child can survive a slaughter then there’s a good chance that others have survived this apocalypse.”
“Oh there are others,” said Michael, his eyes growing dull, “they’re just not the nicest people left on the earth.”
“There have to be a few good ones,” I said.
“There are, but they’re the exception.”
“Well, let’s hope none of the assholes decide to join our little party, for their sakes.”
“Agreed.”
“Listen I want to talk to you about something.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve got some plans to get some…vital supplies and I wanted to know if you’re interested in leading the ops.”
“What kind of vital supplies?”
“Come, step into my office,” I said dramatically.
“You’re fucking stupid,” he laughed as he walked into my room.
Michael and I talked for a while, and by the time we rejoined the rest of the group Jackie had eaten and was now walking with Sarah around the house and the outside. I figured she was explaining how we were starting a cold storage, the well, the attempt at growing crops, and the general goings on around the house. I watched as Sarah left Jackie and Mary near the top of the driveway and the pair began to slowly walk the perimeter fence. “How’s she doing?” I asked Sarah when she got close.
Survivors Series (Book 2): Heroes Never Die Page 12