Second Chance with the Shifter

by Leela Ash

  What if her baby wasn’t immune? There were still traces of the virus all over the world. Even if everything were all sterilized, there were still groups of mournful, green-tinged carriers who had the weight of the world on their shoulders. They traveled in groups, many of them drinking and drugging themselves to death, unable to bear the guilt they felt from causing the collapse of civilization. Their minds circled with regrets. If only they hadn’t pulled the strings to be the first vaccinated. Now they were doomed to witness the destruction their immunity had caused for the rest of their lives.

  If those bands of carriers ever passed through and touched the foods in the garden or coughed near them, they could find out the hard way that their child wasn’t immune. They would have to watch their baby suffer the way the rest of their families had suffered. It would be a fate worse than dying herself; to have a part of herself forced to succumb to the terrible illness.

  She took a deep breath and headed into the first house that caught her eye. If she could find anything useful for a baby on the way so Jax wouldn’t have to keep leaving her, then she would do it. She didn’t want him to feel like he had to take care of her all the time. And if the baby wasn’t immune, there had to be some antibiotics around that would ease its suffering, if nothing else. A baby without immunity would be doomed to suffer. The people and cities were still infested; the virus wouldn’t go away that easily just because many people now were immune to the effects themselves.

  When she walked into the house, she could tell that the people who had lived there had been happy. There were toys scattered on the floor and pictures of smiling faces; three children and two adults. She moved cautiously through the house, trying hard not to think about what had happened to the family or look at their pictures and belongings. She was there for one reason – to get supplies.

  She began pushing doors open, looking for the bathroom. She would look for medical supplies first and foremost, and hope that there were still some left. At first, all she found were bedrooms, and then, to her dismay, a nursery. It had never been used. There were no pictures of babies; Layne gathered that the family had been expecting a new child.

  Her eyes watered despite herself and she walked into the nursery, looking around and swallowing the lump in her throat as she touched the furniture. The baby had never gotten a chance to use all of this. The family was gone.

  She would come back to root through the desolate little room later. Layne forced herself to leave the nursery and finally found the bathroom upstairs. She rummaged through the closets and cabinets, relieved to find that they had a little baby grooming kit. Thermometer, nail clippers, a fuzzy little brush all sealed in a hard plastic container beside a first aid kit that had a fuzzy white film over it. She passed over the first aid kit, careful not to touch it, and grabbed the plastic box of grooming supplies. And as she suspected, there were unfinished bottles of antibiotics, meant to preserve at least some semblance of dignity to the people who were diagnosed with the contagion. She grabbed the supplies and walked out of the bathroom numbly, closing the door behind her.

  Layne felt dizzy all of a sudden; numb and scared. Her heart thudded and a familiar surge of nausea nearly brought her to her knees. She tried to hold it back but she couldn’t, and ran into the bathroom to unleash it into the toilet. She would have to rest for a little while. Her night on the ground hadn’t left her feeling particularly refreshed.

  Layne didn’t want to be in the pleasant house full of promise and love. She didn’t want reminders of why she was there in the first place. If she was pregnant and not sick, why had she found such a place? Somewhere that reminded her of all the joy and love she would be missing out on if the virus stole her child?

  She stumbled back down the hall to the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair beside the little crib, hugging her knees to her chest and allowing herself to cry bitterly. She succumbed to a flood of tears she felt like she had been holding back since the beginning of the end of civilization. She wept for the families who were killed by the virus, and for her own family; for Jax and for herself and their potential child.

  She leaned her head back against the headrest of the rocking chair and exhaled out loud, closing her eyes and letting her weary body tug her into a deep sleep.

  ***

  “Good news, Jax,” Tobi said, bounding up the tree. It was late afternoon and he had been waiting in the tree for a little over two hours. “Sam can’t stand Shark Tooth and wouldn’t care if we took off, just the two of us. So I casually introduced her to the idea of maybe helping you out. We’re going to try to do like you did, make it on our own you know? Start out with a trip to visit your little place. And we’ll have a head start. I told Shark Tooth I had some scavenging I wanted to do, just me and my lady. It’ll be a while before they realize we’re gone.”

  She winked at Jax and he laughed, shaking his head in relief and disbelief.

  “You mean she’ll make a house call for Layne?” Jax asked, his face lighting up.

  “Yeah,” Tobi nodded. “She already packed up all her medical supplies. Whether your lady is sick or pregnant, Sam’s the best. She can help her. Though personally I’m hoping for the former, because that’s a lot easier to treat than 18 years with a kid who might drop dead just walking into the wrong area.”

  “If Layne and I are both immune that shouldn’t be a problem,” Jax pointed out firmly. Tobi shrugged.

  “We’ll see. I just don’t like the odds. It makes me glad I’m a lesbian. Not going to accidentally get knocked up and have to worry about that kind of shit, you know?”

  “I guess so,” Jax said glumly.

  But there was good news. Tobi had pulled through for him. He was suddenly patting himself on the back for dealing with Tobi’s incessant crush on Sam for so long. It had been persistent and mournful. At least, until she had met Kelsey and the two of them had stuck together like glue for the next few years. He wondered what could have driven a wedge between them; they had seemed so happy.

  “Sam is going to meet us by the river. She already left so let’s get going. I told her it was kind of an emergency. I know it’s not like Layne’s dying or anything but you know, it’s better to get it checked out soon in case it is something serious. You’re not sick too are you?”

  “Well…” Jax said, thinking back to the way he had thrown up after killing the two desperate wanderers. “I don’t think so.”

  Tobi raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. She turned away and headed as quickly as she could toward the river. She had remembered what Jax said and brought her own bike, which was risky, but Tobi was well known as a hard-ass around the area so she didn’t seem too concerned.

  Jax followed along behind her. She never cut through the old neighborhood the way that he did; everybody in Hex had been told to avoid those places and they had become somewhat superstitious about it. That was how Jax knew that he was safe there and could always sleep soundly. They had looted the old buildings as much as they could and the only thing left there was nightmares.

  They ran swiftly through the wooded area surrounding the neighborhood and Jax stayed as alert as possible. If anybody from Hex found out that Tobi was helping him, she could get into huge trouble. Fortunately, everybody seemed to be busy elsewhere, and they made it to the river in record time, where Sam was pacing in front of the water, a serene look on her face as she gazed into the trees.

  “Hey,” Tobi said, running up to her.

  “Hi,” Sam said with a smile. Jax wasn’t sure how it was possible but she somehow looked smarter, maybe older and more wizened, since the last time they’d seen each other.

  “Hello,” Jax said, nodding at Sam.

  “Long time no see,” Sam said with a smile.

  “Yeah,” Jax said. “Thanks for agreeing to help me.”

  “I’m mostly doing it for your girlfriend,” Sam said. “And mine. Besides, it’s not like you would have any clue what pregnant women go through.”

  Jax frowned
and Tobi laughed.

  “Ease up, Sam,” she said. “Jax might have gotten her into this mess but he knows he will have to help her out as much as he can.”

  “Well that’s why you brought me here,” Sam said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. She had left it on the ground while she was waiting for them to show up, knowing it would conserve her energy. “Let’s go.”

  Jax felt nervous about showing anybody the secret land that he and Layne had found and settled. Even though he trusted Tobi with his life, he still wasn’t sure about Sam.

  “I don’t want you guys telling anybody about where we live, all right? We’ve worked really hard to set this place up for ourselves.”

  “Don’t worry. We have our own lives to live,” Sam said.

  “We’ll give you guys some beer, okay? Just to call it even. This stays between us. I mean it. I’ll do anything to protect my family.”

  Jax fixed his dark, intense gaze on both Tobi and Sam, and they shifted uncomfortably, but nodded. They knew that he would kill them if he had a chance, if he knew that they had betrayed him.

  “All right dude,” Tobi said. “But don’t blame us if somebody else ends up finding you. I won’t rat you out. Sam might, but I doubt it. I’d dump her if she did.”

  Tobi winked at Sam, who gave her a comical frown. Jax tried to ease up about it. They had been able to leave early enough that they would only have to make camp once. Both Tobi and Sam were in excellent physical shape, and kept up with him as he pedaled wildly through the rocky terrain. He knew they would be there soon. He only hoped that Layne would be okay. She could make him feel better about the world simply by looking at him. She didn’t even have to say a word. Hopefully with Sam onboard, he would be able to return the favor.

  CHAPTER SIX

  When Layne woke up, the morning had passed swiftly and the sun of the late afternoon was shining through the nursery window. She felt refreshed after a rest and finally had the energy to explore the nursery in depth. It felt wrong to benefit from somebody else’s tragedy, but the world as it was had left her with no choice.

  She began slowly, opening and closing drawers full of musty clothes. They probably wouldn’t be good to put a baby in, she realized. A lot of what was there wasn’t salvageable. She turned from the dresser and headed to the changing table, shocked to find several bags of sealed diapers and wipes that had never been used. She had hit the jackpot here, though she would only be able to carry a pack or two home.

  The couple was stocked up, experienced enough to prepare for the worst before the new baby came. She wished she could use more, but unfortunately the house had become dilapidated and moldy, affecting the clothes and nearly everything else.

  Just when she thought her trip had been mostly in vain, she opened the closet and gasped softly. A bag of vacuum-sealed baby clothes was hanging in the closet, clearly hand-me-downs from the older children. They were untouched by the elements, and beside the bag was a beautiful felt blanket, still wrapped in plastic and untouched.

  Layne stuffed everything that she could into her bag and slowly unpacked the vacuum sealed bag, cherishing each little outfit as if it were the most precious thing on earth. She could still feel the life in the clothing, worn by children who had been free to play and enjoy their youth. That was what she wanted for her own child, and it was with that hope that she headed back out on the road.

  She knew that she would have to hurry. Jax was efficient, and if he came home to an empty house, his worry would get the best of him. Her mind wandered to the last lingering kiss they’d shared, and she sighed wistfully. She hadn’t really expected to have sex with someone again; at least not good, consensual sex that hadn’t been initiated based on mutual need.

  She’d had a few experiences on the road before meeting Jax. There had been one man she’d stumbled upon who she thought about from time to time. He had been standing naked under a tree, his lean, muscular body bronzed in the sunlight. A lot of people had been left naked and with nothing in the initial chaos, before the tribes had provided everybody with security. He had been unlucky, caught by a group while he was sleeping, probably. It was sad to see so many forlorn people on the road.

  The second their eyes met she sensed in him the same, deep, primal longing that she’d had herself. She hadn’t seen another person in weeks, and it had been so long since she had been with a man that the sight of his virile body immediately aroused her. He didn’t approach her, and would have let her go on her way, but she saw the stiffening of his body as a result of her presence and hadn’t been able to help herself.

  The pull had been too much and she approached him, taking the initiative to try to give him something, anything, to feel good about. They didn’t speak, or even kiss. The need must have been clear on her face, because as soon as she approached he knew what she wanted.

  No words were exchanged while he pushed her shirt up so that her round breasts could press against his broad chest as he closed the gap between their bodies. She pushed her jeans down just low enough that he could push inside of her, and he held her pinned to the tree, ramming hard into her until she quaked around him. She came twice before he was spent, pulling out and spilling his seed on the ground. He gave her a weary smile before turning away and disappearing into the woods.

  The memory was interrupted by a deep, guttural growl. Layne stopped walking, her throat tightening in fear. The sound came from behind her, and she turned around slowly, praying that she wouldn’t be facing a lion.

  Her heart hammered in her ears as she came eye to eye with a savage, feral dog. It looked as if its ancestors were huskies, but the vicious gleam in its eye made it terrifying.

  “Good puppy,” she whispered, though she knew it was no use. Her hand found her knife, and she knew she had to act fast. If she ran, the dog would catch her. They loved a chase, so she would just have to think smart and get out of it with her brain, staying aware of her surroundings.

  Her eyes quickly scanned the area around her for shelter, and she saw a small hollowed out tree. Where there was one dog, there were bound to be more, so she would have to protect herself. The hollowed out tree might help, or it might corner her and guarantee her death. She held the dog’s startlingly blue eyes, knowing that if she broke the gaze, the attack would commence.

  She backed away as slowly as possible, trying to make it into the small shelter, but she stumbled on a root and fell to the ground. Her gaze was broken and she heard a snarl and the scuffling footfalls of the beast as it lunged at her.

  Layne rolled on her back and kicked up with all her might, knocking the dog back. It sprung at Layne again, unaffected by the kick. If anything, it was angrier. But it had given her all the time that she needed to fish her knife out of its sheath. She swiped expertly at the dog, slicing its shoulder. It lunged again and she kicked it away, slicing its throat this time. She glared down at it, feeling guilty and reluctant to harm such a beautiful animal. Luckily it cowered, retreating into the woods.

  Layne panted, unsure whether or not it was safe to let her guard down. She stayed still for a few beats, listening for any sign of danger. The coast seemed to be clear and she let out a long, shaky breath. She held tightly to the handle of the knife and lifted her bag from the ground, prepared to move away.

  Before she did though, she heard an almost inaudible whimper. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked around, trying to pinpoint its source. She finally realized that it was coming from the small hallow tree where she had hoped to hide from the feral dog. She couldn’t fight the urge to explore.

  What she saw melted her heart. A tiny puppy was lying in the dead leaves, clearly the descendant of the dog she had just fought off. Layne’s eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t think she had killed the mother, but if the wound was deeper than she thought, she might have run off to die in peace, leaving her baby motherless.

  She debated for a moment, gazing down at the adorable little dog. She hadn’t held a puppy since she was a little girl. She couldn’t
risk it dying out there alone without its mother. She lifted it gingerly and smiled as it yawned. Its eyes were barely opened, and it was light and soft.

  Almost as soon as she picked the puppy up, her mind was made up. She cradled the small dog against her chest and began to move quickly. Their home needed the extra protection. A dog as vicious and loyal as its mother had been could truly be an asset. If she was pregnant, her child would grow up safer and maybe even feel less alone with the added watch dog. Although she had never agreed with the domestication of animals, nothing seemed to make more sense.

  She finally made it home and looked down at the puppy she was cradling in her arms. They would be able to train it. There were three buildings besides the little cottage – a cellar, a shed, and a small barn. The pup would be comfortable in the barn, but if its mother survived would it come looking for it? She had no idea. Maybe it would be better to keep it inside so she wouldn’t be able to smell it out. Maybe she should have finished the job.

  She sighed and carried the puppy with her into the cellar to look for bedding. It could be difficult to feed all of them, but if they just taught the dog how to help them hunt, maybe things would be better. She didn’t know much about training dogs, but Jax probably would.

  With a surge of optimism, she closed the door of the cellar behind her and squinted her eyes, ready to seek the supplies she would need to raise the newest member of their family.

  ***

  Twilight began to set in and Jax was hungry. He had managed to share what was left of his rations with Tobi and Sam, who had packed some but had left in a hurry. They had miscalculated what they would need, assuming they would scavenge on the way.

  However, it was needless when Jax had a bag full of food, and he didn’t want to slow down and waste any time getting back home. That meant that he was anxious to fill his stomach– the hunger made him paranoid. He thought he had heard someone breathing in the woods when they had stopped to eat, but when he checked it out, there was nothing there. Hunger always left him feeling a little bit withdrawn and moody, so he stayed quiet for most of the journey.