by Silas Cooper
“Yeah, we have a lot of time at least to think on it and get Dax on the hunt.” Jayda agreed. Then her voice fell. “I just wish I could go out and shop for new stuff. As most women, I’ve spent years waiting for this. And now that it is here, during all this, nothing is normal. What if the world doesn’t change back? What if my son or daughter can never attend school? Or a prom? What if there isn’t anyone to date?”
“Shh,” Sherri soothed. “You can’t think that way. You will drive yourself nuts. We just have to continue to take it one day at a time.”
“Sometimes it’s more like one minute at a time. All of this and pregnancy hormones too,” Jayda complained.
Sherri gave her a hug, and Jayda cursed the damn tears that so often fell from her eyes these days.
Chapter Fourteen
Lucas rolled over, but he opened his eyes when he bumped into a warm body. Sherri, still sleeping, laid beside him, naked. He ran his hand up her body, as he tried to wrap his waking mind around what was happening between them. Sherri moaned and stretched beside him. He tried to redirect his thoughts from the parts of her touching him. She finally opened her eyes and smiled.
“This is wrong,” Lucas sighed, moving just enough to keep his body’s desires in check. “But I don’t want to stop.”
“Maybe it’s not wrong,” Sherri said. “Dangerous, yes, as in lack of protection and trying to keep the others from knowing. But wrong? Who’s to say what is right and wrong when the world is falling apart? Yes, we have an age difference, but right now, we provide for each other a much needed human connection.”
“You’re right,” Lucas smiled at her.
He kissed her gently, but then moved to get out of bed.
“I’d love to stay, but I have to get to Chase in the lab,” he said as he rushed to get clothes on.
By the time Lucas got to the lab, Chase was already hard at work.
“What’s up today there Doc?” Lucas asked.
“Same as yesterday,” Chase answered shortly.
“Okay, then. What do you want me to do today?” Lucas asked the back of Chase’s head, since he hadn’t even bothered to turn around.
“Whatever you want. Does it really matter? We are just wasting our time here hoping we don’t starve to death before the world returns to normal. Some of us are wasting it differently than others, of course,” Chase grumbled.
“Do you have a problem with me that you would like to discuss?” Lucas dared ask.
“Close the door,” Chase huffed.
Lucas did so, then turned around to walk back to Chase. He braced himself for whatever was to come. He had had his share of bad news in the past month to last him a lifetime.
“What you are doing with Sherri is irresponsible,” Chase began, his voice quiet but firm. “What if she gets pregnant? Huh? What then? We already have one pregnancy to worry about.”
“So, it’s okay if you screw around with Jayda because she’s already pregnant?” Lucas grumbled under his breath.
“I’m not,” Chase answered. “I’m comforting her when she needs it, for the baby’s sake. But I’m not letting myself get attached to her. She’s a widow like Sherri, and neither of them have had the opportunity to grieve their losses. Plus, I’m not letting it affect my work. We are getting nowhere. Beyond that, I’m not letting it affect my judgment. We have to remain sharp to survive this.”
“I don’t want to just survive,” Lucas hissed. “I’m tired of just surviving.”
Lucas plopped down on the stool beside him. He looked at the dead mouse cut every which way. They’d dissected and tested him above and beyond. A few months ago, he’d have been called a waste of time and trashed. Chalked up to an unexplainable phenomenon, they’d have started over or moved onto something new.
“I’m not going to stop seeing her. We are being careful. But right now, we’d both lose our minds without one thing to look forward to each night. There is nothing wrong with using human contact to survive. Especially when our days seem pretty numbered.”
He turned back to the mouse and got back to work.
* * * * *
Jayda walked in her room. As she moved in a square around the makeshift bed that Chase and Dax had created for her out of cushions from office furniture, she tried not to let her situation bring her back to tears again.
“Just checking on you,” Dax said through the door after he’d knocked. “You okay in there?”
“Sure,” she huffed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Is it alright if I come in?” Dax asked.
Jayda told him to come in. He seemed a sweet enough guy. He checked on her several times a day as he did his rounds to protect them all while Chase and Lucas worked in the lab. She assumed they were wasting their time, but they all held onto that shred of hope that their research allowed them. Dax entered the room with his brows furrowed.
“Really, I want to know how you really are. I know you have Sherri to talk to and all, but I am honestly concerned if you ever need another ear,” Dax offered.
“I appreciate that, but everything is fine,” Jayda said in a shaky voice.
Dax nodded at her and turned to leave the room.
“Shit! Wait. Even I don’t believe myself,” she sighed. As tears stung her eyes, she went on, “I don’t want to have this baby. I can’t say that to Sherri, not to a woman who didn’t get the chance to have a baby before the world went to hell.”
“Uh,” Dax stumbled. “I don’t know what to say. I’m really out of my element here, but I really want to help.”
“Don’t worry about it. It just felt good to say it out loud.”
“No. No, I want to help. I offered and I meant it,” Dax said as he moved back into the room closer to her. “You are a strong woman, Jayda. At least from what I’ve seen and heard. You and this baby will be all the stronger for having survived this. This baby couldn’t ask for a better mother to teach him or her how to survive anything. I know you will do everything in your power to not only bring him or her into this world, but to provide for the baby after it is born.”
Jayda just stood there, stunned to hear such words from this man. In all honesty, she’d told him because he seemed safe to tell, as in he wouldn’t overreact. She’d thought him cynical enough to actually agree with her.
“Sorry, I should have kept my mouth shut,” Dax stumbled.
“No! Actually what you said, it helped a lot. Your words struck just the right chords inside me. Thank you, Dax.”
“Anytime,” he smiled. “You know, anytime I questioned myself when I was young, my father used to tell me this story about some great, great, however many greats, grandfather who was one of the first settlers in the colonies. I’ll spare you all the details, but you remember the stories from history, the way they survived those harsh winters, the odds against them. The world here was new and they had to build it up from scratch. I’ve thought about that story a lot. And I believe that once this virus is stopped by people like Chase and Lucas, then we too will rebuild from scratch. And, honestly, I couldn’t be more thankful to be with people like you and Chase to do so.”
“Thank you, Dax. Now I don’t know what to say,” Jayda moved over to give him a hug.
He patted her back and finished with, “I trust Chase and I believe in you. Don’t worry about anything,”
* * * * *
Lucas kept working. Slamming down instruments he knew he couldn’t break and writing notes till his fingers ached at how he gripped the pen, he looked over the results before him. With trepidation and celebration looming, he hoped he was reading the result right. If he was, he’d finally stopped the cell decomposition in the mouse. He’d stopped the disease.
Looking around him, his whole body shaking now, he noticed that Chase had left the lab. He walked out in the halls to find him, but didn’t see him in any of his usual places. He started knocking on doors, but his shaking turned to trembling as not Jayda or Sherri or Dax had seen him anywhere. The place wasn’t that big.
As a group, they looked again, expanding their search. He tried to control himself, keeping his mind from tossing out all the worst scenarios. Finally, he heard his voice coming from a room.
When Lucas looked in, Chase growled, “Close the door.”
* * * * *
Chase listened to static. Since he’d answered his phone, he’d heard a voice a few times, but couldn’t make it out yet.
“Hello,” he asked for what felt like the millionth time.
“Chase, are you there?” the voice came through.
“Daniel?”
“Yes! Sorry I didn’t show at the checkpoint we’d established.”
“Sure,” Chase offered, unsure himself what he even meant by it.
“It’s not safe where you are,” Daniel continued.
“It’s okay. We’re doing fine,” Chase grumbled.
“No. It’s not safe. I have to get you out,” Daniel said.
“What are you talking about,” Chase asked.
He’d yelled into the phone that time, so he looked over his shoulder, expecting the whole crew to enter at any time. To his surprise, they didn’t.
“”It’s not safe where you are,” Daniel repeated.
“You keep saying that, but I don’t understand what you mean. What you want me to do?” Chase growled.
The phone went dead. He tried redial several times, but with no success. He finally walked out of the room to find them all across the hall from the door staring at him. He stormed away from them, not ready to talk. Fury burned up through his body, and he wasn’t exactly sure why.
“Chase,” Lucas yelled after him. “I have something I want to show you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Chase had been taking notes when Dax entered the lab. He looked up briefly, but went right back to scribbling out the latest test results. They’d moved from mice to zombies with the theory that Lucas had come to him with a month ago. The cure seemed just out of their reach now. The sliver of light at the end of the tunnel, plus the treat of dying from boredom, kept them going.
“Chase,” Dax said. “I need to talk to you.”
“Ah, sure,” Chase said putting his pen down. “I’m at a place I can take a break.”
“In a private room, please,” Dax whispered.
Chase only nodded and followed Dax out of the room, down the hall, and into another.
“So, what is on your mind, Dax?” Chase asked.
“We’re getting too comfortable. If a massive group of zombies comes this way, we’re done for,” Dax began abruptly.
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Chase said with a shake of his head. “We haven’t seen a group of zombies since we got here, what is it… however many weeks ago. Plus, they seem to move slower these days.”
“We can’t take the chance,” Dax continued.
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but we’re good now. We all stick close together and we all have access to guns. Plus, the research is coming along. I never would have believed it a month ago, but I think we are actually coming close to a breakthrough. If we’d have had the right kind of setup, we probably would have been there long ago, but we keep plugging away,” Chase smiled.
“That’s just it,” Dax complained. “I don’t have anything to do! I know it sounds silly to say, but I’m going mad. You and Lucas, you have your work. But me, I patrol the building, I eat or nibble, I sleep, that’s it.”
“What you do is important, the most important thing. Without you, Lucas and I couldn’t work and the women wouldn’t be safe.”
“And I’ll keep doing it, just give me something else to do, anything else,” Dax begged.
“Sure. I’ll think on it,” Chase said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “But, right, now I have to get back to the lab.
On his way there, he saw Jayda entering the lab. Seemed everyone needed to talk. He went back to work, and tried to make small talk with her, but she was moody. So moody in fact, that she seemed to blame every issue she had on him.
“I barely sleep. All I do is puke. We eat the same thing over and over again, and the baby isn’t liking it obviously,” Jayda complained.
“From the sounds of your tone, you blame this all on me too?” Chase sighed.
Jayda didn’t say anything. As tears rimmed her eyes, she just threw her arms around Chase. Hesitantly, he hugged her back, bringing his arms around her and pulling her close. He let his brain take a break. This close to her, he couldn’t think. He especially couldn’t contemplate what it felt like to have her in his arms. She needed him, and he’d be whatever she needed him to be. He’d made peace with only that.
“I did it!” Lucas’ voice broke them apart.
“Did what?” Chase asked, turning but not moving away from Jayda.
“I stopped the cell from decomposing,” he answered emphatically. “I tested it again and again. I replicated it. I’m ready to test it on an actual zombie!”
Chapter Sixteen
“I think we are just another couple of hours away from seeing positive results on these zombies,” Chase said to Lucas.
He was shocked to see the boy’s eyes when he looked up. They worked side by side, long hours, but rarely actually looked at each other. The tired smile he got from him warmed his heart. All he’d seen of him lately was from the side, which showed how thin he was getting. Weight he couldn’t afford to lose.
“Do you hear that?” Chase asked. “It’s like someone is knocking on a door downstairs, I think.”
“Well, that’s never good,” Lucas sighed. “I’m sure Dax has it under control, whatever it is. But since we’re waiting, maybe we should go see if we can help him out in any way.”
“Sure,” Chase said, already on the move to the door of the lab.
The banging got louder and louder as they went. When the reached the bottom of the stairs and went into the hall, they saw Dax on the floor. Chase ran over to try to wake him, but with no success. He shook and shook him, shouting his name, but the guy hung lifeless from where Chase had him by the shirt.
“Look,” Lucas said holding up an empty liquor bottle. “I thought he smelled like alcohol. He must have had this hoarded somewhere. I just found it under this blanket of his.”
As the banging got louder, or maybe just more insistent, Chase shook Dax harder. His eyes blinked several times before he looked at Chase with a glazed over look. Lucas, who had run to a window and back shook his head as he crouched back down beside them.
“There’s a mass of them out there. I can’t make out how many, but it’s bad,” he exclaimed. “Looks like the door is about to give too.”
“Shit!” Chase growled, letting Dax fall to the ground. “We have to get out of here. Looks like it’s time to see how far we can get on the gas we have left in the tank of the van. Come on. Help me get Dax to his feet, and let’s clear out.”
They were just at the stairs with a wobbly Dax when the door gave. Stopping, they shot as many zombies as they could to give themselves enough of a start to get the women and get out the far set of stairs.
Chase saw Lucas run into the lab. Dax, who had sobered up quickly, he sent to gather the women as he went in after Lucas. He found the boy frantically packing stuff up.
“Look, we don’t have time for this,” Chase yelled. “We have to go.”
“I can’t just leave it here,” Lucas stammered.
Just then, a zombie appeared on the other side of Lucas. The far door to the lab hadn’t been closed. Before he could get a word out, the zombie went for Lucas. Without hesitation, Chase blew the zombie’s head off. He moved to shut the door against the onslaught of the next bodies. Thankfully, most of them had all gotten slower and weaker as the days rolled by. You could tell the new ones from the older ones.
“We have to go,” he said to Lucas as he helped him to his feet.
“But the research. We’ll lose everything,” Lucas sighed.
“Not if I save that brain of yours we won’t. We can duplica
te it between us. We don’t have a choice. Let’s go!”
With a sad Lucas in tow, Chase caught up to Dax and the women. They loaded a few meager supplies into the van and took off just as a group of zombies reached them. Chase fished for his ringing phone as he drove away without any destination in mind.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Is this Chase Douglas?” the voice on the other end asked.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“My name is Frank. I’m a friend of Daniel’s. I can help you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Chase sat in the van in an abandoned parking lot with his eyes on the empty road. The outdoor mall at his back with its broken windows dark had no more appeal. He looked back in the van at the rest of his motley crew. Each looked a bit worse for the wear. Maybe not as bad as the scenery, but a close second.
“I’m worried he won’t come,” Jayda seemed she’d just spoken her thought out loud.
“He’ll come,” Chase sighed, not even believing himself.
He looked down to where Lucas and Sherri held hands. They all had no other hope but to wait for this man named Frank to meet them here. Food, ammo, gas, it all remained in short supply at this moment. The store behind him didn’t even look worth the risk to rummage through.
“So, when you spoke with him again, he said to meet him in this parking lot?” Jayda asked.
“Yes,” Chase sighed.
“You are sure you got the right address?” she asked again.
“Yes. I had the right address last time. Obviously something happened to Daniel. Truthfully, I’m not one hundred percent sure this guy will show either. But I know I have the right spot, and I know at this point we have no better options than to wait it out. This is the absolute best I can do for all of you at the moment.”
Silence fell over the van. It made Chase uneasy, but as much as he wanted to break it, he didn’t want to be questioned anymore either. He ticked off the conversations he’d had with Frank in his head. Trying to find a shred of hope to cling to, he went through the conversations again and again to the point they were just comforting endless chatter in his brain.