by Deb Rotuno
“Jack! It’s good to see you, son,” he said, nodding once and reaching for my hand. “You’re early, I think. You may send our girl into a frenzy.”
Grinning, I nodded. “Sorry. I was relieved ahead of schedule.”
He patted my shoulder, his mouth curling into a smirk. “And you ran like the wind. I understand. How’re your parents?”
“Good, sir. They’re both still at the naval hospital.”
“Tell them I said hello, would’ja?” he asked, but we both looked up when light steps rushed down the stairs.
“Jack!” Sara squealed, beaming like the sunniest of days. “You’re early!”
She was off the bottom step and into my arms before either of us really could think, which caused Hank to chuckle and mutter to himself about being wrong. He was a good man, firm and quiet but kind. When I’d finally spoken to him of Brody Matthews, he’d thanked me and told me he’d threatened the boy’s life…and freedom. Apparently he’d almost had Matthews arrested by his good friend, Chief Robbins. On what charges, I had no idea. Maybe drunk in public. He’d told me that the only thing that stopped him was Brody’s dad—Leo had promised to handle the situation. It had worked for the most part, but occasionally we’d run into the bastard in a store or the diner or someplace in town, and he’d act like an asshole all over again. Mostly verbal, but I was pretty sure he remembered me putting him on his ass. I’d do it again, if needed.
“I’ve been given a few days leave,” I told her, setting her on her feet as I swallowed back my panic. “I needed to talk to you, Shortcake.”
She smiled and nodded, taking my hand. “C’mon into the kitchen. There’s coffee. Want some, Dad?” she asked him, and I smiled at the way she took care of him, even when he acted like he didn’t want her to fuss.
“Oh, I’m good, baby girl.” He picked his mug up off the table and took a sip before handing her the cup. “I’ve got to head into the fire station anyway. You two have a good day.”
“Sir.” I nodded once, shaking his hand again.
Sara tugged my other hand, letting go once we were in the kitchen. She rinsed out her dad’s cup to pour coffee for herself, asking, “Want some?”
“Please.”
I sat down at the kitchen table, cracking my knuckles nervously and thanking her when she handed me a mug. Once she sat across from me, I just looked at her. Jesus, she was beautiful. Even dressed casually at home in shorts and a T-shirt—though, it was my Army T-shirt—she was just gorgeous. The morning sun beamed in through the kitchen window, showing off reddish highlights beautifully. Her skin was creamy, smooth, free of makeup, but Sara didn’t need makeup. It was those dark-blue eyes I took in last. They were sweet, sharp, and still a touch sleepy, but she looked at me with love and trust and just…everything.
“I love you,” I blurted out, smiling when she laughed lightly. “I do.”
“Love you too, baby.” She got up from her chair and sat crossways in my lap, kissing my lips softly. “Now, you look upset about something. Wanna tell me about it?”
Abandoning my coffee, I chose to wrap my arms around her, kissing her shoulder, then her cheek. It was so damn easy with her. It had been since the beginning. Even going overseas had been tolerable, simply because her words, her voice, her beautiful pictures had come with me. They’d been the beacon of light at the end of a long, scary tunnel. That thought made me sigh. I inhaled the scent of her, closing my eyes at how fucking awful this could go.
“Jack, you’re scaring me,” she whispered.
“I’m scaring me too,” I mumbled against her cheek, only to pull back and cup her face. “I have…I got new orders this morning.”
My heart broke at the color that drained from her sweet face.
“Where?” she barely uttered aloud.
“Iraq.”
The word hung in the room like a fog for a moment, and I watched as she steeled herself, saw her determination to get through it settle over her. She nodded as her eyes lifted from my dog tags that she was playing with up to my face.
“How long?”
“Probably like last time. Six or seven months,” I answered her as honestly as I could.
She let out a long breath, swallowing nervously, but she smiled and cupped my face. “Okay, we’ll get through it like last time. When do you leave?”
I smiled at her bravery. I wasn’t buying a bit of it, but she was my amazing girl giving it her best shot. “Next week.”
“Are you on leave until then? Like last time? You know, to get your stuff in order?”
“Mmhmm,” I hummed, finally pulling her to me and hugging her tight.
I closed my eyes at the feelings that washed over me. She was it for me. She was home and happiness and comfort all rolled up into one beautiful, petite, blue-eyed package. At twenty-four, almost twenty-five, I knew what I wanted. Her. That was it. Suddenly, the thought of leaving her was unbearable. And the thought of leaving her and not coming back was fucking torture. I wanted to take care of her, love her for the rest of my life. I knew it as well as I knew my own damn name.
“Marry me,” I blurted out, smiling when she gasped and pulled back to look at me. “Marry me. Marry me before I leave so I can take care of you, even when I’m gone. You…You’re almost finished with school, but you could take more classes if you wanted, or take your time finding the job you want. You could stay here safe with Hank and only work for Shelly when you want to, but you…Fuck, Sara, you’re it for me. Marry me, and I’ll come back and really take care of you.”
Her face was incredulous but ridiculously adorable. “You want to marry me before you leave?”
“Yes! I know…I know it sounds insane, but I mean it, Shortcake. You’re all I want.” I shrugged, not knowing what else to say. “I did this all wrong, I know. I don’t even have a ring, but I didn’t exactly plan this shit.”
Her giggle was like music. “Okay…yes!”
My eyes widened, and my heart stopped, only to sputter into racing beats. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she said firmly, nodding that beautiful head of hers.
Suddenly, I felt guilty, and I held her face in my hands as I kissed her until we both needed air. “I can’t…I can’t give you the big wedding, but we can…I mean, when I come home…” I kissed her again. “I will come home to you.”
“You can’t make that promise, and I don’t need a big wedding, Jack. I just want you to be safe over there, okay?”
Smiling, I nodded. “With you…as my wife…I can do anything.”
She squeaked, grinning and shifting on my lap until she was straddling me. “I like that.”
I began to laugh as my head fell back, but it all turned into a hum when her warm lips pressed to my throat in a smiling kiss. “Me too, Shortcake…”
We lost ourselves for a second, right there in her dad’s kitchen. Long, deep, claiming kisses left me wanting her with a fire in my belly and a pressure in my cargos, which she shamelessly rubbed against. My hands searched out skin and ticklish places that usually made her moan sexily, and I wasn’t disappointed. The sounds she emitted were amazing and more of a turn-on for me than skimpy lingerie. Before shit really got out of hand, I pulled back, sweeping my lips over hers softly, smiling when her forehead thumped to mine.
“We should just…do this. Courthouse…like now.”
Her laugh made me smile. “I agree, but I want my dad there…and your parents. And don’t you want Joel and Derek there?”
Wrinkling my nose, I nodded. “I do, but I don’t want to waste this week, baby. I want to go to the cabin once we’re married.”
She smiled. “Yeah, definitely.”
That smile was easy and sexy and all mine, making my hands skim down her back and into her shorts as I cupped her ass. Fuck me, she had a sweet ass—in and out of whatever she was wearing.
“But for now…”
“But for now, you’re gonna take me up to my room, Mr. Chambers,” she commanded, laughing when I stood up from the tab
le.
I kept her in my arms as she wrapped her legs around my waist. “Hank will kill me.”
“He’s at the station. Just love me, Jack.”
I was stupidly happy that she wanted to marry me. My laugh and teasing couldn’t be contained, even with my approaching tour of duty overseas. If I had Sara, I’d do anything to get back to her.
We made love more than once in her bed. The first time was silly and playful, with tickles and grins, teasing about hearts breaking everywhere, but the second time was intense, with a realization of what was ahead—a huge step for us and my leaving. When we came together, it was eye to eye, at the same time, and with emotions swirling. I didn’t want her to cry, but she wasn’t the only one who felt the pull, the fear, and I held her until we were both calmer and could talk details.
We wanted the courthouse and a few days at the cabin at Clear Lake. We wanted a few days of just us. When we finally came up for air, we called Hank and my family. They were surprised at the rush of it but happy for us nonetheless. However, in order to have all of them there, we had to forgo a real, true honeymoon. Instead, we spent our first night as husband and wife at a hotel just outside of Portland, barely leaving the bed.
I came out of that memory with a gasp when someone handed me a bowl. Reality blurred back into clarity, and I took the rabbit stew with a small smile at Ruby, only to stare at my meal.
My vow to Sara before I’d left was that I’d give her the honeymoon we both had truly wanted when I came home, and it would be a graduation present for her at the same time. Those four days had been the best of my fucking life. As I gazed around at the people around me, at the reality of my situation, I shook my head, wishing for a time machine. I’d go back to that second honeymoon at Clear Lake and never come up for air.
I took a big bite of stew, which was damn good, smirking a little. It wasn’t long after I’d come home from Iraq that Sara had gotten pregnant with Freddie.
Someone nudged my elbow, and I glanced over to see Ruby watching me. She squeezed my arm. “I’m sorry, Jack. About before. I can’t…I can’t imagine what you’re going through. When my parents died, they left Ava in my care, so…I get a little overprotective.”
I huffed a laugh, shaking my head. “No worries. You sound like Sara. She’s the same way. She’d wrap our son in bubble wrap if she could.”
Ruby chuckled. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet her.”
Smiling, I took several more bites before standing up from the table. “I hope you get the chance.”
Dodge City, Kansas
3 Months & 2 Weeks after
Hurricane Beatrice
“It’s best to go in on foot from here,” I said, shutting off the engine of the old car we’d taken off the highway. I gazed around the rail yard that skirted the edge of the city. All seemed to be clear, but zeaks could be anywhere.
We needed supplies—food, water, and maybe ammo, though the latter wasn’t too bad. Joel had gotten really damn good at using that Marine sword of his, and I tended to use the compound bow when we needed to stay silent. The other two with us, however, were better with guns than more up-close weapons.
“Ruby, you and Joel look for clothes, oil for the cars, and anything in the hardware stores that we may need. Lexie and I will scope out food,” I told them, getting out of the cab and reaching for my weapons in the bed of the truck. “Water may have to wait until we get into Colorado, but I’ll see what we can find.”
Personally, I didn’t want to split us up, but we needed to get into the city and out as quickly as possible. I also knew that Joel wouldn’t want Ruby out of his sight, simply because they were growing closer and closer with every mile we traveled. And that left me with Lexie.
The former farm girl may have been a tiny thing—shorter than my Sara by at least a couple of inches—but she could handle a gun and could move pretty damn fast when needed.
Unfortunately, being with Lexie also meant brushing off starry-eyed stares and flirty smiles. Ruby found it annoying, Joel thought it was hilarious, and my mother’s theory was that it was hero worship, considering I’d saved her life at her house. Personally, I had no patience for it, but we had to work together, no matter what her misguided feelings were, because my parents were needed back at our camp to watch over Ava. Sasha was with them. She was needed there more than with us, though I had become dependent on her help…and company, if I were being honest with myself. So Lexie it was.
We walked together, stepping over train tracks, and I caught sight of a small building.
“Here,” I stated to all of them, pointing to the shed-sized building. “Two hours, we’ll meet right back here. No staying out in the open.” I glanced up at the sky that was growing more and more purplish-gray by the minute. “And we picked a fucked-up time to come into a town, that’s for damn sure.”
As if to prove my point, thunder rolled long and low, and the temperature dropped with the breeze that blew through the train yard. Once that rain started to fall, any and all zeaks would be even deadlier than they usually were.
We left the more industrial side of the city behind, getting closer and closer to town. The problem with cities any bigger than the little shit towns we’d been driving through was the population. More people meant more zeaks. More people also meant assholes protecting the meager shit they had left. On the flip side of that, bigger cities also meant better opportunities for supplies, with chain stores and restaurants. Dodge City wasn’t a metropolis, but it was a grid-like layout of houses upon houses, spread out over flat land. I could see a few of the infected wandering in and around doors and parking lots, but luckily, they were too far away to notice us.
It had been a long, hard road since we’d left Lexie’s farm. It had taken two full weeks to get through Arkansas and around Tulsa, though we’d been able to hunt for food a few times. We still had some of the canned goods that Lexie had brought with her, but we needed more. There were seven of us now, so the food went quicker.
“Oh.” I turned to Lexie. “We need dog food.”
She smiled and nodded, but her eyes were on our surroundings.
A major road loomed closer, and Joel caught sight of it. “What’cha think old Wyatt Earp would think of his shit?” he asked, pointing to the Wyatt Earp Boulevard road sign and then the crawling fucker under a bus bench.
“Which one?” Lexie asked softly. “If you’re talking Kurt Russell’s version in Tombstone, he’d probably kick ass and take names. If it’s Kevin Costner’s, then…we’d be fucked.”
Ruby snorted into a chuckle. “Only if we get Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday.”
“No shit.” I nodded, smiling in spite of the smell around us. The stench of zeaks was growing stronger, as was the feel of impending rain. It made me fucking nervous, which proved valid the very second we stepped around the corner.
I’d never seen so many fucking zeaks all in one place. They crowded the streets, sidewalks, and storefronts. It looked like a crowd waiting for a parade. The four of us froze midstep, not one of us saying a word. Just as the front few caught sight of us, big fat raindrops splattered to the concrete in front of us.
“Oh, fucking hell,” Joel barely breathed aloud, giving me a side-glance. “We’re gonna move in five seconds, and we’re going in the back doors of these stores. No splitting up.”
We all nodded, and the sky opened up like buckets of water being dumped out. The sound of pouring rain was overshadowed by the snarls and growls the zeaks let loose. Our scent and the sight of us sent them into a collective stampede.
“Now!” I snapped, turning the first corner and aiming for the closest building. The back door was unlocked, so we rushed inside, slamming it closed behind us, just in time to feel the zeaks pounding from the other side.
Lexie reached by me, turning several deadbolt locks closed. “That will stall them for a moment.”
Nodding, I pulled the compound bow around to my front. I’d had it strapped across my back, but we didn’t know what was in
side the building. Giving the place an assessing glance, it seemed we’d stumbled into a restaurant.
“Perfect,” I sighed, jerking my chin as I held out bags. “This’ll take longer, but we’ll stick together. Take whatever food you can find.”
We found a few really large cans of vegetables, a few sacks of rice, and several boxes of instant mashed potatoes. All would be put to use. Joel hoisted the bag to his shoulder, approaching the swinging door from the kitchen to the dining room. He nudged it open slowly, peeking through the crack. He held up a hand, showing four fingers as he looked to me and pulled his sword out at the same time.
We silently told the girls to stay put and then pushed our way into the dining room. The zeaks moved as one, already showing the increased strength and hearing the rain seemed to give them. Three men and one woman—the latter barely able to walk due to the broken ankle she was sporting. It was twisted and gnarled, and she limped my way, so I lifted the compound bow, taking her out. The other three reached for Joel as I reloaded another arrow. He swung the sword in a wide arc, taking two, and I finished off the last one. My arrow lodged in his skull, essentially nailing him to the wall. Blood, black as pitch, decorated the wallpaper in a splash.
The large windows facing the street showed the rain coming down in almost sideways sheets, but it also showed a swarm of zeaks pounding on the glass.
“That glass ain’t gonna hold. Ladies, we gotta move!” I ordered, taking back my arrows and pointing to the hallway off to the side.
Joel pushed through a doorway, taking out a lingering zeak and aiming for the emergency exit. The sign warning about an alarm was ignored as he barreled through it. An old bell-type, battery-powered alarm started to ring, which was a blessing and a curse. It drew more zeaks in, giving us a chance to cross to the next building, but a few saw us, following us right to the door.
Lexie and Ruby had no choice but to aim and fire, the gunfire louder than any alarm. Once we were inside, we barricaded the door with a desk, stepping slowly through a hallway and into the front of a store. It seemed to be a small gift shop, but we grabbed a few shirts, some lighters, and I stowed a bag of candy for Ava in my bag.