by Deb Rotuno
“Hot damn, if that ain’t helpful,” Joel said with a chuckle, bringing his fingers to his lips and issuing a sharp whistle as one of the four-wheelers drove by.
It was my dad and Quinn, the former catching sight of everyone and smiling, but he turned to me. “Ruby and Lexie have the other four-wheeler. They’ve taken out a few with cocktails, but we’ve got more rolling in.”
“Copy that,” I grunted, taking out a fucker reaching up at me from the ground. “We’ve got to keep your cabin clear. And where’s everyone else? Where’s Sasha?”
At the sound of her name, my big girl bounded out of the shadows, teeth bared, head low, and growls shaking her entire body.
“Abe’s got Olivia and the kids in the RV,” Dad answered, and we both glanced over to see it surrounded by so many zeaks that the fucker was rocking.
Rain poured down in sheets, and I wiped my face. “I got it! Go…and keep this cabin clear!”
I spun toward our caravan in time to see my wife—which was so very fucking surreal—shoot three times, taking out three zeaks, only to take out a fourth with a knife. Something about that scared me and at the same time turned me the fuck on, but I realized I shouldn’t be shocked that she’d survived this shit. Running by her, I tugged her shirt sleeve.
“I need your help, and…” I trailed off, but she didn’t wait for me to explain. I wanted to tell her I couldn’t let her out of sight for just that moment, but she seemed to understand without the words.
We stopped in front of my Hummer, and I reached for the rifle I’d set on top, engaging it.
“See that RV?” I told her, and she nodded. “We’ve got people in there. Kids…”
“Oh, damn, Jack,” she breathed, reloading her weapon. “How do you—”
“Just wait,” I told her, looking up. “Sasha!” I called, and suddenly, the big dog was standing in front of me. “Separate!”
“Boof,” Sasha pushed out, taking off toward the RV. Snapping at them, she ran low, fast, and just out of reach of the zeaks all the way around the vehicle.
“As soon as she gets their attention, we’ll have an easier time clearing them,” I told Sara, who was watching with fascination. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” she said, standing up as soon as Sasha had about a dozen zeaks all focused on her.
Another bright flash of fire lit up everything around us, which actually helped us, and we shot down the bastards around the RV.
I pounded on the door. “Olivia, Abe…You guys okay?”
The window flew up, and Abe’s face loomed in it. “We’re good, son.”
“Good, then stay put for now. You’re as safe as you can be, but take this,” I told him, handing him my .45.
“Jack, wait!” Ava called. “Here!”
The door flew open, and my compound bow was handed out to me, complete with all my arrows.
“Half Pint, close it and stay inside!” I ordered, waiting until she did as I said, but I could hear the cries from Aiden and Sabrina inside.
The four-wheeler with Ruby and Lexie skidded to a stop in front of us, and Ruby hopped off. “It’s a bitch to see out there. We need to get these headlights on…”
She rushed to my Hummer, turning on the headlights, and Abe followed suit with the RV. Lexie ran to my dad’s truck and did the same. It helped tremendously. I could see that most of the east side of the lake was clear, with a few stragglers stumbling in, but the north side of the lake, the side the cabins were on, had some still wandering through. Gunfire popped off here and there, but I could tell it was slowing down. I heard people yelling at each other, working together to clear the camp.
“Lose the four-wheeler, Ruby. We’ll work a sweep on foot,” I told her. “We’ve just about contained it.”
It seemed to take forever for the growls to stop, for the sound of bullets and yells to come to an end. We walked slowly around each cabin, finishing off zeaks that were still wallowing around on the ground. Someone had already started a zeak bonfire, which gave off enough light that we could kill the headlights of the vehicles.
Sara and I worked together, not saying much, but we were just about to make our way back toward my dad’s cabin when three zeaks stepped from the shadows between our cabin and his. One caught Sara off guard, taking her to the ground, but I put an arrow through his head, yanking his ass off her. She rolled over, aiming my gun from my nightstand, the one I’d noticed was gone from the house in Sandy. Two shots, two thumps to the ground from behind me, and I smirked her way.
“Damn, beautiful. I needed you with me all the way from Florida,” I told her, helping her to her feet.
As soon as we were upright, she wrapped herself around me. Suddenly, everything came pouring out of her. I backed us to the steps of our cabin and sat down, pulling her to my lap sideways as we stumbled over everything.
“I missed you so much…”
“I can’t believe you’re here. All of you…”
“I love you, Shortcake. Nothing could stop me; just ask any of them.”
“I have so much to tell you. I love you…so much!”
“Me, too.”
“Boof,” Sasha chimed in from beside me, making me chuckle.
“Sara, I’d like you to meet the only other girl besides you who’s stolen my heart,” I said through a chuckle as Sasha licked my face and then Sara’s.
“Oh yeah?” Sara asked, roughing up Sasha’s big head as she sniffled and smiled at the same time.
“Yeah,” I sighed, looking from the big dog to Sara. “She’s saved my life more than once.”
“Well, then, she’s most welcome,” Sara crooned, getting more licks as Sasha wriggled excitedly.
“Sara,” I heard Derek call, and we all looked up to see him just as covered in shit as the rest of us. “I think we’re clear. One or two may be out there, but they won’t be a big deal. And the rain’s letting up a little.”
Sara nodded and stood up, grinning. “I’ll be right back, then.”
I wanted to follow her, but Derek stepped in front of me. “She…I…Sweet fuck, am I glad to see you guys!” he finally blurted out, pulling me in for a rough hug. “Goddamn, she never stopped thinking you were coming. I didn’t…”
“It’s good, man.” I patted the side of his face. “I owe you…for her.”
“Not just her, Jack,” he said with a shrug, backing away as he smiled a little.
Behind him stood Sara, but it was the person at her side who made me fall to my knees. “Jesus, Freddie,” I barely whispered, tears forming in my eyes.
“Daddy!”
My God, it was the sweetest sound—aside from Sara’s voice—I’d ever heard. Even better was the feel of my son in my arms again. I stood up with him wrapped around me, and I buried my face in his neck. He still smelled the same but with sweat and dirt and little boy all over him. He was the sweetest smell in comparison to what was around us.
I felt arms go around me, and I pulled back to see Sara with tears welling up and falling down her face. I cupped her cheek, wiping away one set of tears, only to give up and kiss her.
“This is your welcome-home party, Jack,” she whispered, grinning when I snorted and sniffled at the same time.
“I knew you’d come, Dad!” Freddie said, beaming at me like it was Christmas fucking morning. “Mom and me…we just knew it!”
I hugged them both, just relishing the feel of them, the smell of them. Pulling back, I kissed Sara again, whispering, “Sorry I took so long. I got a little held up.”
Sara giggled sweetly, which was music to my ears, grabbing my face and kissing my lips roughly. “Late is fine, Jack. Better late and safe than not to arrive at all.”
Suddenly, hands and arms encircled us, and Sara squealed at the sight of my mother and father, and they yanked Freddie from me, smothering him in kisses. Sara got swept up in a hug by Joel. There were new faces and some introductions, but it was damn late, and some shadows held back. However, those who were friends and family came forward. I f
elt a firm grip on my shoulder, and I turned to see Hank, looking older than I remembered.
“I’m glad you guys made it, son,” he said, and I could see his eyes flicker to his daughter. He shifted on his feet, and I glanced down to see his leg was bandaged. “I didn’t think you’d…Bah, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got some things to go over, and we lost some people tonight, but it looks like we gained some new faces. Welcome home, son.”
Freddie came back to me, and I scooped him up, only to wrap an arm around Sara. I glanced around to see everyone—my group and theirs—watching us.
“I’m sorry…for who you lost. We…lost people too along the way,” I said, frowning. “We’re here, and I’m not going anywhere, so…”
My dad walked up to Hank, reaching for his hand. “Just tell us what you need, Hank, and we’ll do it.”
Hank smiled a little. “Not now. In the morning. It’s been a long damn day. We’ll leave cleanup and stories for tomorrow.”
Replies of, “Sure, Hank,” were called out, and I nodded his way as Sara hugged me tighter when our boy yawned widely.
Freddie turned my head when everyone started to walk away. “I’ve got lots to tell you,” he whispered, looking a little like Sara, which made me smile.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, lots!”
I kissed Sara’s lips, then my son’s forehead. “You know what, buddy? Me, too!”
Epilogue
SARA
Clear Lake, Oregon
5 Months & 11 Days after
Hurricane Beatrice
“I’VE CAUGHT LOTS OF FISH, DAD,” Freddie rambled. “And Derek taught me and Janie how to shoot. And Grandpa Hank showed up…”
I walked by Freddie’s room with a bucket of heated water for the bathroom; Jack and I both needed to clean up a bit now that the fight was over. But I was barely able to contain everything I was feeling. It was late, there would be so much to do the next day, but to hear my son’s happiness, to hear Jack’s appeasing hums…It felt like a dream.
I set the bucket by the sink and then walked back into the living room to see Tina and Janie coming in the door.
“I didn’t know if…” Tina started, grimacing a little.
Smirking at her, I shook my head. “Just because he’s here doesn’t mean I’m kicking you guys out on the street.”
Tina chuckled but looked up when heavy footfalls thumped into the room. “I just wasn’t sure, Sara. That’s all.”
“Jack, this is Tina and her daughter, Janie,” I introduced. “They’ve been in the spare room since we got here.”
I could see he was exhausted and probably a little overwhelmed, because I knew I was. But he smiled a sweet, soft smile, shaking their hands.
“I’m not here to disrupt anything,” he said, shooting a wink my way. “There’s plenty of room.”
“Thanks,” she whispered, telling Janie to go get ready for bed. She looked back to him. “I’m…um…I’m glad you made it okay. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
He grinned, and it was beautiful and kind. “You too.”
She swallowed nervously, something that was rare with her, but tears welled up in her eyes when she met my gaze. “We lost Martin tonight. I didn’t know until just now. Mose did a check, and I guess he got lost in the big fight, so they just found him…That makes four.”
“Okay.” I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and nodded at the same time. “Damn it,” I sighed, my voice breaking. I jumped when warm, strong arms wrapped around me, and I melted into Jack’s embrace. “Four…”
“Shh,” he hushed me. “I’m sorry, Sara.”
I shook my head, hearing Tina’s door click closed.
“I didn’t think you lost so many…”
Pulling back, I sighed. “We lost three today…earlier, before you guys got here. We had some…bad people show up—survivors who were trying to take all our things. That’s who we thought you were and why we were hiding. There was a fight, and it drew in a small pack.”
“How many have you lost total?”
Snorting humorlessly, I said, “Now…six.”
“Six?”
Sniffling, I swiped at my face. “Yeah, you only knew two of them. Travis…and Leo.”
“Oh, damn,” he groaned, gripping his hair and then rubbing his face.
“Jack, I…” I started, and he waited, looking down at me. His eyes were a warm, deep brown as his gaze seemed to rake all over my face. “I want to do this…this catching-up, trading-stories thing, but…”
He grinned, hugging me close and kissing my forehead. “Me too, but we need to clean up and get some sleep. Freddie fell out midsentence, midyawn.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” I said with a light laugh and then pointed to the bedroom. “I brought a bucket of warm water to the bathroom. It’s all yours.”
He shook his head. “You go ahead. I need to grab some stuff out of the Hummer.”
I laughed a little. “Only you and Joel would steal an Army Hummer.”
A crooked grin flashed quickly as he shrugged. “We had two.” He held up two fingers. “Go on, Shortcake. I’ll be right back.”
Taking a lantern into the bathroom, I eyed myself in the mirror. There was filth and blood all over me. I stripped down, bathing with soap, the warm water, and a cloth, finally pulling on fresh clothes. When I stepped back into the room, Jack was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Sasha was asleep and twitching, as if she were already in the middle of a dream, on the floor under the window.
“You mind?” he asked, pointing to her. “She’s…She usually stays with me.”
“No,” I said, smiling down at her. “I don’t mind.”
She was beautiful, big and black and sweet. But I’d seen her with him; she absolutely adored him, protected him fiercely. I’d give her anything in thanks for keeping him safe. A spot on the floor was a small, easy thing.
“Did…” Jack started but frowned down at the floor before standing up from the bed.
When he didn’t finish and started for the bathroom, I stopped him. “Did I…what?”
“You haven’t slept in here, have you?” he finally asked so softly that I barely heard him. “I just…It looks…”
“I did for the first few nights, but…no,” I told him honestly. “I mostly slept with Freddie…or on the sofa.”
His smile was sad but relieved too.
“I couldn’t; it hurt too much, Jack. And no one else slept in here, either. Dad would sleep on the couch occasionally, but he stays in his own cabin most of the time.”
Jack nodded silently, reaching down into a duffel bag to grab some clothes, and then he stepped into the bathroom. I slipped into the bed, smiling down at the dreaming dog. Her whiskers twitched, her feet shuffled, and her breathing picked up. She suddenly sat up, glanced around, and I scrubbed her head, toying with her ears, which she seemed to like.
“Thank you,” I whispered to her, receiving a snuffling lick to my face before she curled up on the floor beside the bed.
I had to have dozed off at some point, because I snapped awake at the feel of the bed shifting and warm arms wrapping around me.
“It’s just me,” Jack whispered against my cheek.
Rolling over to face him, I smiled, reaching up to touch smooth, freshly shaven, clean skin, not to mention bare chest and lean, newly defined muscles. “Oh, now I remember you…”
He chuckled, pressing his forehead to mine as his hands roamed, cupping my ass a little over the boxers I was wearing. “You mean you didn’t before? I was just some…stranger you were letting into your bed?”
“Meh,” I scoffed, shrugging a shoulder, but I squirmed closer, tangling my legs with his. “You seemed familiar enough,” I teased him, loving the easiness that had returned.
Long, calloused fingers slipped down my face, across my throat, to the chain around my neck. Even by low lantern light, I could sense the question, but I watched his face take in his name. The clink of metal as he turned the dog
tags over in his hand was sort of loud in the room.
“Your son put those on me,” I whispered, my eyes never leaving his face. “We’d had a bad day that day.” I quickly told him about the pack and having to shoot Leo, one of our own, who had turned, and Freddie’s meltdown after shooting an infected in order to save me. “So…everyone thought we were crazy or in denial, but we kinda stuck together. We kept our faith just between us.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said, laughing a little, which made him smile. “We were right. I’m kinda on cloud I-told-you-so nine right about now. There are one or two people I’d like to gloat to.”
“Me too. I knew the possibility,” he started softly. “The closer we came, the more we saw, the bigger the possibility was that you’d be…But I had to know. I had to get here to see for myself. And now, it doesn’t seem real, and it’s certainly not fair. I’m no better than anyone else out there who lost family, but I’m one lucky son of a bitch right about now.”
“Shh, Jack.” I placed my fingers over his lips, recommitting his face to memory. The tiny scar from the fight he’d had with Brody was still there on his bottom lip. There were deep purple circles beneath his pretty eyes from lack of sleep, not to mention stress and worry. There was a brand new scar across his brow, following the arc of it, which caused me to frown a little as I traced a finger gently over it. There was another one just inside his hairline that was new to me too. “I think we’re both pretty fucking lucky.”
His hand that was still toying with the chain around my neck gave a gentle tug. My lips practically smashed into his, and what started messy and a little awkward slowly settled down into…us. The kiss was easy and perfect, and I’d missed it so much that my hands gripped him, my leg squeezed him closer—though never close enough—and tears leaked from my eyes.
“I missed you…so much,” he mumbled against my mouth, sounding just as crazed as I felt. “To think of you…hurt, but I’d dream about you, about Freddie, anyway. And I’d wake up to the real shit…”