me, keeping the gun aimed chest high at the door.
I yank the door open and the person on the other side
falls through to land on the floor.
“Don’t shoot!” I yell. “It’s Cooper.”
“Glad to see me, babe?” he asks as blood drips from a
cut on his forehead.
“What happened?” I demand as I survey his bruised and
battered body.
“It looks like you’ve been through a war,” Jessica says
helpfully as she lowers the gun. “Why don’t we get you
into the kitchen and I’ll get some coffee started.”
“I need a shower first. I’ve got to get the blood off of
me,” Cooper whispers.
“Trish, take him into my room. I’ve got some of Billie’s
clothes left he can use.”
We both help him up as he groans from the pain all
over his body.
Twenty minutes later, the three of us gather in the kitchen so he can tell us what’s going on.
“You’ll never believe the things I’ve seen in the past
twenty-four hours.”
If his body is any indication, things weren’t going to be
safe for our family for quite a while. Now that he’s here
and alive, I can face anything, even a zombie horde, with
him by my side.
Chapter 4
Emma
The sun is just setting as I pull into the mountains,
thankful that my drive is almost over. I tried to dial Nana’s
number again, but got the same message, “All servers are
busy. Please try again later.”
Knowing cell service is spotty in the mountains
anyway, I don’t worry about it because I’ve been driving
for hours now. I keep expecting Pierce to wake up, but the
little guy is still asleep. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean a long night for the two of us.
The roads narrow as I pull off the highway to travel the
last few miles into the country. I turn the lights on as the
trees grow thicker, and the daylight fades into darkness.
Nana and Pop live a few miles from town, but only a
short drive from the highway. I let out a relieved sigh as I
spot the sign over the drive announcing their farm, The
Home Place.
Even though I slow down as I go over the cattle guard,
Pierce lets out a cry, announcing his consciousness. “Hang
on, baby. We’re almost there.”
The tree-lined drive winds on until it suddenly opens up
to their home with a small view of the lake that can only be
seen in the daylight.
The porch light flips on as Pop comes out to
investigate. The farm dogs surround the car so I roll down
the window. “Hey, Pop. It’s Emma and baby Pierce,” I announce, because out here in the mountains, most
landowners have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions
later. It’s not terribly late in the evening, but spring tends to come late in the mountains so dark covers things around
five in the evening.
“Nana, its Brad’s Emma. She’s done brought the baby.”
Pop walks out between the dogs. “Girlie, it sure is good to
see you. We got a message this afternoon from Brad, but
didn’t know if you’d make it out before morning.”
I turn the car off and open the door, knowing that the
dogs won’t hurt me as long as Pop is standing here in such
a friendly manner.
“When he called me, I packed and got out of the city. I
tried to call, but the phones haven’t been working since this
afternoon.” I groan as the blood rushes to my legs after two
hours of sitting still.
Pierce lets out another wail.
“Who’s pinching that sweet baby boy?” Nana walks
past both of us and opens the van door to get Pierce. “You
knew Nana was nearby, didn’t you?” She unbuckles and
cradles him as she has many grandchildren before him.
“I’ve got him. Emma, you bring his bag in and then you
can help Pop unload your stuff into the shed.” Nana doesn’t
even look back to see if we follow her instructions.
Shrugging it off, I move to do as she said, because
nobody leaves Nana hanging for long. I sling the diaper bag
over my shoulder and collect my purse and phone from the
front seat.
“Looks like you were prepared for trouble,” Pop comments, looking at the empty holsters strapped to my
legs.
“I took them out and put them in my purse while I
drove so I didn’t hurt myself. I’m still not used to carrying
weapons around.”
“That might be changing if the rumors turn out to be
true.”
“Now, Pop, you stop that. There’s no need to scare
Emma or talk that way in front of the sweet baby.” Nana
frowns until she turns back to face Pierce. “This boy needs
a new diaper and some love from his Nana.” She takes the
diaper bag from me and disappears down the hall, toward
the spare bedroom.
“I’m never going to see my baby again, am I?” I grin
over at Pop, who simply shakes his head and goes back
outside to start unloading my vehicle.
The sorting doesn’t take long, and Pop carries the few
things inside that we need immediately, but I don’t want to
unload things into the shed because this might be a false
alarm, and I can go back to the city after a long weekend.
“Why don’t you just drive into the barn? It will keep
any unwelcomes out until you decide what you want to do
about things,” Pop suggests kindly, seeing the tired lines on
my face.
“That would be wonderful. I didn’t realize how relieved
I would be to get here. Your farm just seems to exude
safety. I also haven’t slept in over five weeks since Brad
went back overseas.”
“A new baby will do that to you. Why don’t we get some supper in you, and then you can take you a little nap
while we get reacquainted with the little man.” Pop finishes
locking the barn up after I drive my van inside.
“It’s an offer I can’t refuse.” I smile wearily.
-----------
My eyes open to sunlight peeking through the window
and I jerk upright.
Where is Pierce? Frantically looking around, I spot the crib in the corner and a contented baby looking over at me.
Whew.
“You worried me, little man. I can’t believe I slept
through the night and didn’t hear you. I must have been
exhausted.”
The only answer I get is the contented thumb sucking of
my beautiful new baby. Since he seems to be happy, I’m
going to grab a quick shower.
I dig through the box of my clothes we had brought in
last night, but stop when I hear voices out in the hallway.
“That poor child, doing everything by herself with a
new baby just wore her out. We won’t wake her until we
have to.”
Nana’s voice fades as she and someone else move
down the hall.
Unable to resist a look, I crack the door open and catch
the back of another woman walking toward the kitchen
with Nana.
“They said you were sleeping.” An accusing voice startles me. I look down and see one
of Brad’s nephews
standing in the room across the way.
“I was asleep, but now I’m going to take a shower. Is
that okay with you?” I ask the boy, crossing my arms over
my chest. How old is he, four? Five?
“Don’t bother me none if you want to waste your time
in the shower. Me, I’ve got more important things to do.
You do what you’ve got to.” His little face seems so
serious.
“Levi,” I call out as I remember his name.
“Yeah?” he responds with all the attitude inherited from
his older brother, Owen.
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking out loud.
“Hmph. Well, don’t go around saying my name if you
don’t need nothing. Can’t have you crying wolf.” With that
parting comment, Levi leaves me to shower.
Assuming that more of the family had arrived last night,
I hurry through my shower, wishing I could take my time.
I’d already rudely slept through the evening and needed to
pull my weight with breakfast. I don’t want them to feel
like I’m being a mooch.
I shouldn’t have worried, though, because by the time I
get done and change Pierce, the table is set and all the
adults are gathered around the kitchen, waiting for any last
instructions from Nana.
“Let’s sit down before it gets cold,” Nana announces,
and the rush for everyone to take their seats begins.
Two of Brad’s sisters are there with their husbands and children, but the rest of the family live nearby and would
stay in their own homes unless things got really bad.
“Ah, there she is with the baby.” Nana doesn’t even ask
if she can have him as she scoops Pierce from my arms and
starts talking to him.
“Go ahead and say the blessing, Pop. I’m gonna hold
onto this little bundle for a while.”
I can’t say I complained too much. I haven’t eaten a hot
meal since Brad left. The adults pass the baby around the
table through the meal so that no one person is missing out
on their meal.
I’d seen some of this while Brad and I had been dating,
but didn’t realize the amount of help it really provided to
have a large family, and this isn’t even half of them. I
might have to rethink living in the city after this
experience.
-----------
After breakfast, the rest of the local family start arriving
and making their way into the large family room that can
hold at least thirty adults comfortably.
“If you’re a youngin’ under the age of thirteen, you
need to make yourself scarce while the adults talk,” Pop
commands as the family continues to gather.
“Aw, Pop. I’m big enough to help kill some zombies. I
can shoot rabbits or a coon from just as far back as the
adults,” Owen whines.
“Now, none of that, son. If things get bad we’ll need
your gun skills, but for now, you can go play with your
cousins and enjoy a day free from school.” Allen, Owen’s father, admonished him.
Within minutes, the children are playing outside,
oblivious to the issues that are being discussed. I’d grabbed
the diaper bag so that I wouldn’t have to leave the
conversation.
“I’ll take him back from you now.” I stand in front of
Nancy, Allen’s wife, extending my arms to take Pierce
from her. “He needs to eat, and this is the perfect time.”
“Just give me the bottle and I’ll feed him,” Nancy
pleads.
“I didn’t feed him all night and really need to do it the
other way.” I motion at my boobs, hoping the other adults
won’t overhear.
“Oh, yeah. I can’t do that, but when you’re done I’ll be
glad to take him back.” Nancy places Pierce in my waiting
arms. “We would love to have another one, but it just
hasn’t happened yet. So, I’m going to steal yours so I can
get my baby fix.”
“I think that can be arranged.” I smile at her as I walk to
sit in the corner, behind the recliner, trying to block most of what I’m doing from view.
Pop calls the meeting to order. “I believe everyone is
here that lives close enough, so let’s get started. What do
we know?”
“Not much yet. The news here in Tennessee is reporting
things as usual,” Allen informs the group.
“I believe our extended family are the only ones not at
school today,” Nancy adds.
Kellie, Brad’s other sister, chimes in. “So are we just crazy?”
“Emma, what did you see out there yesterday?”
Kathryn, Brad’s mom, turns the room’s attention on me.
I adjust the blanket to make sure I’m decent, and think
about how to answer such a loaded question.
“My doctor’s appointment was yesterday and the nurse
checked me in, telling me the doctor would be right there,
but he never came. I waited about twenty minutes and
things got almost eerily quiet.”
Everyone is still staring at me, and while I’ve gotten
used to Brad’s big family, it still bothers me to be stared at, but I continue. “There was no one in the building. I grabbed
baby Pierce and headed out to the parking lot, but didn’t
see anyone at first. This guy came around the corner,
walking kind of funny, and then I saw the blood on his
clothes. I took off running to the van, got Pierce buckled in
and got out of there. It wasn’t until I was on my way here
and got gas that I saw he had followed me and smeared
blood on the side of the van.”
“Did he attack you?” one of the men asks.
I’m still not sure who everyone in the extended family
is, so I answer him as best I can.
“Once I got in the van I didn’t see anything, and he was
moving too slow to really say that he attacked me. He did
follow me, which really freaked me out when I saw it at the
gas station.” I take a deep breath and squeeze Pierce a little closer to my chest.
“There wasn’t anyone around panicking or screaming.
In fact, you would have thought it was the weekend
because the complex I was in was completely empty. If it
hadn’t been for the unlocked building, I would have
thought I was imagining things.”
Pierce makes a protest at the way I’m holding him, so I
try to fix him without being obvious.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have worried or come out here if
Brad hadn’t have called. Stranger things have happened in
the city with shootings and stuff, so I didn’t think much
about it,” I assure them. “Brad just didn’t want to take a
chance with it being just me and the baby.”
“Sweetie, I appreciate that you’re trying to downplay
this, but if Brad thought it was worth a call from overseas,
then we can’t take this lightly,” Kathryn states.
“Grandma, I’ve been monitoring social media and the
less monitored black sites. Everyone is scared. The only
real events have been in large cities here in America: Salt
Lake City, Utah, Springfield, Missouri, and Charlotte
,
North Carolina,” Andi explains while fiddling with a tablet.
“There’s nothing in those cities. Why would they have
a zombie scare? Doesn’t make sense,” Pop grumbles
loudly.
“Actually, Pop, these cities all have one thing in
common that we know of; they’re all international flight
cities or have major national flights going through them at
any given time.” Andi turns her tablet to face the room.
“Major cities, but not big enough to cause a national panic.
The only cities that have gone on lockdown are these three.
All the other cities are anxiously awaiting to see if there are
any more outbreaks, or if there are any reports of
“zombies” wandering the streets.”
“Well, if Brad called, then that means the government
is preparing for it to hit America in full force. Could there
be instances occurring overseas and the news stations just
aren’t covering them?” I pipe in. “On the way here, there
was a brief mention, and then the station went back to
playing music. What if there’s a blackout on actual news so
that people don’t run through the streets screaming and
bring the “zombies,” or whatever after them?”
Now that I’ve spoken in front of everyone, it seems I
can’t stop making comments.
“So you didn’t run into any problems on the way over
here from Knoxville?” Pop questions Kellie and Clayton.
“The roads were clear, even though we left early this
morning. People were getting ready for a regular day.
There hadn’t been any school cancelations or closings.”
Dawson and Haley, Andi’s parents, walk into the room.
“Great, it’s the ’rents. Yo, what’s up?” The simple head
nod explains so much as to the reason Andi had come to
Nana and Pop’s instead of heading home to her dad and
stepmom’s house in Charlotte.
While everyone in the room waits their turn to get a hug
from the newcomers, I finish nursing Pierce and place his
tiny head on my shoulder to burp him.
The room slowly settles down again, and everyone
waits for the newcomers to fill us in on what the world
looks like.
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. I haven’t got that many years left. What’s happening in Charlotte?” Nana
prods her youngest son.
“The congestion is terrible. Worse than hurricane
weather because everyone is leaving the city. Normally, the
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