by J. Rudolph
e house, so we had a place to move people but I knew that there were enough belongings around that another bus could be filled.
It was obvious we were in late fall with how short the days were now. We called it a night at dusk after Trent and Tyreese came back, dragging a healthy sized boar behind them and I collected the fish net. We came up with the plan of getting up with the sun; we had to get back to Idaho. We ate a small dinner, not wanting to waste anything we had piled up for the others, before we went to bed. As I fell asleep, my stomach fluttered with joy and anticipation.
We were all going to be together again. This was our second chance. I prayed a silent prayer that we were going to be able to enjoy it, and be able to live happily ever after.
Moving Home
That morning, we piled into our vehicles to go back to Idaho for the last time. Tyreese stayed behind to keep watch on the place and to run the gates when we came back. He waved at us from the wall, and Tanya waved back with a wistful smile. We made an interesting looking convoy as we drove down the road together; a few trucks and a bus with no seats. It was funny to imagine the zombies that we passed as they looked on, and how we had to look like a meals on wheels truck that kept on going.
When we drove by the house that sat at the edge of the road, we saw a man again, but this time the gun was held in one hand with the butt of the rifle resting on the wooden porch. He wore a large smile as he waved at us. I wondered if that was Jack, or if the man was just someone who knew about us. Either way, he looked rather friendly and welcoming instead of hostile or defensive. Trent gave a wave back as we continued on the road. I was thrilled that they were more relaxed about us. It would be nice to have friends, or at the bare minimum, allies.
Even though I really tried, I couldn't force my mind to stop thinking of getting back home. I knew that it would make the journey longer if I didn't distract myself, but I just couldn't wait to see the looks on the faces of the group. I knew that they were already aware that we were on our way, but I knew that their excitement over seeing us all was still going to be glowing from every pore.
After a lifetime's worth of driving, and I'm still not sure why it always seems to take longer to arrive at a place than it is to come back home, we bounced down the road. Loose gravel kicked up from the ground as it made little clunk noises in our wheel well. We squeezed into the gate, the last of all the vehicles, and were greeted by a very happy Drew and Louise.
"Is it time to go? Are we moving now?" Drew asked, barely containing his enthusiasm. Nathan, Drew's ever faithful shadow, was following right behind and asked the same thing. I stood there, taking in the sight of my son. It felt like I was away from him for an eternity every time we were apart. I felt this spin of joy when it hit me that with this move we won't have to be apart again like we had been. I missed spending time with him. I hugged him tightly before I felt this small tugging on my jeans. I looked down and found Nathan looking up at me with an expectant look in his eyes. I couldn't stop the carefree laugh from slipping out of my mouth. It had been a long time since I felt like we were going to be alright. We were going to be free from the zombies and we even had a good thing going with the neighbors. We were good, and the feeling wrapped me in warmth.
I picked up my nephew and said to them both, "We sure are guys. Have you packed yet?" They both nodded.
Louise whispered, "They haven't slept at all with the excitement. Who can blame them? I didn't either!" She giggled like a kid. I saw in her that she was excited to be finally able to move out of Kristen's house since she had been stuck here since the start of the apocalypse. I felt bad for her in that moment, it occurred to me that she hadn't been home at all since the start of the apocalypse. All she had from there was the picture that Trent had rescued when we rescued the dog. I felt horrible that we lost Tesla. That seemed to be a theme of the end of the world, you lose more than you expected. I shifted Nathan to my hip and with my free side I leaned over to give her a hug. I admired her enthusiasm for this project. She refused to be a victim of the world's end, although I wondered if at night, when she was alone, if the mask of positivity came off and she let the tears fall.
I looked over the group of people that were almost dancing as they carried out their sparse belongings in grocery sacks and trash bags. We came in with so little, and were leaving with the same. Tanya and Trisha were herding Dalynn, Tomisha, and Abigail, who were dressed in their princess dresses that we had acquired at the kids clothes store all those months ago, out of the door. Their arms were filled with stuffed animals and, closest to their hearts, their dolls that they made in Scipio. I rarely saw the girls without those dolls, and I missed Mercedes all over again. Liam came running out of the house with a blanket tied around his neck, Superman style, as he helped move kitchen stuff from the house to the bus. Erin and Lacey carried out JJ's crib, filled with baby stuff like diapers and baby clothes. Raine bounced the baby as she walked in circles.
Justin and Jackson stood over one of the cars they had acquired at some point. It was a beat up El Camino that they never did get running. Derek went over to them to see what was going on. I only caught every third or fourth word, but I gathered that the gist of the conversation was that they didn't want to leave their project vehicle behind. I heard Derek ask them why they thought that they had to leave it, and Justin responded that they never got it running so they wouldn’t be able to drive it to Montana. Derek laughed and pointed to the SUV that their dad had, and more specifically, the tow hitch. It was such a simple solution that they didn't even think of it, and it was far from a permanent solution, but until they came across a trailer that would work, one of the boys would be behind the wheel manning the brakes. They were happy enough with that idea. They loaded the tools that they had been working on the El Camino with into the open bed as well as a few extra tools that they didn't want to leave behind.
I noticed that not everyone seemed to be super excited over the move. Kristen was standing in her garden with a sad look on her face. I handed Nathan off to Louise and told them I would be right back. I wandered over to my sister-in-law and said hi. She quickly brushed the tears off of her face and made her voice sound more cheerful than she felt.
"Wanna talk about it?" I asked as I stood next to her, quietly.
"There's not a lot to say. I don't know what it is that's making me cry." She replied, trying to sound more confident than she felt. I knew Kristen often tried to make people think she was having a random hormonal moment instead of owning her feelings, and seeing how I knew her better than that, I wasn't about to let her get away with it. She hated giving her feelings a name or acknowledging them at all, but sometimes, that is exactly what you needed to do so you could move on. I sighed sympathetically.
"This is your house. The look on your face right now? It's a lot like the look that was on mine when I had to leave the complex. Part of you knows that you can't stay, and that is hard. You made this place your home and you made this a beautiful place to be in. You worked your butt off to make this home. You look at all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making this a place that is yours. You see where Nathan played and how he grew from this little peanut that scooted around the kitchen on his belly when he refused to crawl, to this kid that now runs in circles in that same kitchen. And now? Well you know it has to start all over. It sucks."
Kristen laughed softly, "Yeah, it sucks." She sniffed her nose and brushed off a new run of tears off of her cheeks.
"Is this something you want to do, coming with us?" It occurred to me that I never really did ask if they wanted to come, I just assumed they just did.
"Yeah, it is. Still hard. It's the whole starting over thing, you know? I'm standing here in my garden thinking about how in a couple weeks I was going to plant a few things in that spot by the wall now that the colder weather has set in, and now I can't. This garden has a few things that are planted that I'll never harvest. I think about all the people that are alive right now and how there has to be some
groups of people like us who are so desperate to find a place just like this and here we are, just leaving it. We've been here for a long time, Cali. This was home for years before the zombies, and now? We're just leaving it."
"What can I do to help?" I asked softly.
"Promise me that it's worth it?" She whispered to me.
"I think it is." I looked her in the eyes, and tried to convey that this was a good thing. I hoped she felt what I tried to express.
"Well, I don't want us to stay here alone, so okay, let's pack up the stuff. I found a bunch of seed packets, by the way, that I never got around to planting. We have to make sure we take those."
"We will take anything we can. Between the field and the yards, you'll have more than enough places to plant now."
We stood together silently for a moment while she collected herself. With a nod, she started towards the gardening shed and started to pull out all of her gardening equipment and asked if we could put it in the truck. I nodded in agreement before I went to the shed and started to pull things out myself.
It didn't take long before we loaded every space that didn't need to be open for a person to sit. Kristen took one last look around before she ran into the house and came back with a couple of pieces of construction paper and a black marker. In careful lettering, she wrote,
"We had to move on, we outgrew this place. There are wells and a garden behind these good fences. If you need a place to hide, hide here."
She ran back inside and found a hammer under the sink as well as a couple of nails. The truck was against the fence so when she came back, she climbed on it so she could lean over the fence and she nailed the sign on the outside. She smiled when she was done.
"That helped," she said, "Now, I know that if there are other people out there they know that this can be a place of hope for them, like it was for us." She looked around the backyard again, walked over to her car, and called Nathan over. "Hey buddy. Are you ready for a new adventure?" Nathan nodded his head emphatically and she gave him a tight hug. "Do you have all your toys?" He nodded again. "Okay then love, buckle into your seat." She buckled him in to the car seat then kissed him on the head. After she closed the door to the back seat, she turned to me and said, "For him. I can be brave for him." She smiled at me then walked around to the driver's side of the car and climbed in.
Mike unlatched the gate and waved to Trent to start the back out process. We pushed it open with the truck as we backed out, and everyone followed behind us. After everyone else was out, Kristen backed her car out. Mike shut the gate and jumped into the passenger's seat, and we were off.
It was funny, how many cars it took to move six families. Sure, there were only seven cars, but we looked like a Labor Day parade. I chuckled inside thinking about how it had to look, and how it was good Jack's group knew this was coming, because otherwise, it had to look weird. When we rolled past there were a couple of people standing on the porch, like they wanted a glimpse of their new neighbors for themselves. I'm sure that we made an interesting little group to see coming down the road. Drew and Liam were sitting in the back of the truck and they chatted happily in the back. I loved listening to their chatter. They speculated about Jack and what life in the town would be like.
In a little more time, we reached our walls. Tyreese waved at us from the top of the wall before he climbed down and opened the bus gate. We drove through and parked along the street by the school and everyone else followed suit. When the last car was through and the gate was shut, everyone got out of their cars and looked over the town. The people that had never been here before looked rather impressed with their home. I waved everyone over and explained the general layout of the town. I explained that the school was where we would stay until the houses were ready. We walked over to the school and then up the street where we showed everyone where their homes would be, and gave them the option of switching it up if anyone needed it. As we toured the area, everyone seemed pleased with the places they were about to move into. As I imagined, Nathan was thrilled about the jungle gym. The other kids were excited as well to have a place where they could run and scream. Drew stood off to the side with his arms folded as he watched them play. I watched him as he stood over the littler ones, and realized that Liam was standing on the other side, with the same stance, as though they were both on point. Part of me wanted to cry over these two as they refused to play. They were still so young, but they had grown up more than they should have. Eleven-year-olds should be playing too.
We talked about how Lacey, Tanya, and I started with taking out stuff that we knew people weren't going to be wanting in their house and that we were taking those things to the mercantile, and that we had a burn pile for the beyond nasty things that may be encountered. We had cleared most of Kristen's and Louise's place, but we suggested they go through again and do the same thing. Kristen and Louise nodded in understanding and then offered to help out anyone who might need it afterward. We also brought up the businesses that were in the area and said that we wanted to see those places back up, especially the café, the garage, the fire department, and the medical center. Louise did a happy dance about the café, seeing that as a place where we could meet for family dinners at least once a week. Derek was just as happy about the garage. I knew that his ideal retirement was going to be able to work on cars as a hobby, and that was looking like more of a reality.
While we were talking, we realized that we were without power at all here. No one had seen any solar panels and we wanted to make finding some place that would have them a high priority. I knew that the solar thing wasn't likely to be as big here as it was in California where us hippies were. I also accepted the reality of winter here being a bigger deal, and that the solar panels will be covered in snow when they are on top of the roofs.
"Why are solar panels mounted on roofs?" I asked, addressing no one in particular.
"They just do. It keeps them out of the way and not as blocked by trees and stuff." Lucas replied. His face twisted in confusion and then asked, "Why?"
"We live in snow country here. If we get solar panels, we aren't going to want them on the roof where we have to knock the snow off of it, will we? If we mount them on the ground then we can clean them better, right?"
"You know that our global positioning isn't as ideal as it was in California for these solar panels, right?" Trent asked me. I nodded.
"Some is better than none, right?" I retorted. He had to agree, and he accepted my rationale with a kiss.
Trent kicked at the rocks at his feet, thinking heavily. Before long he said, "I'm thinking there would have to be a place to build a metal forge, right? It should be easy enough to build windmills too. There are all sorts of parts lying around here that would work well in a windmill. It's a good thing that we've all become used to energy conservation here."
"So, where are we going to find stuff like this?" Matt asked.
"Big brother, I have a solution." From his pocket, Lucas pulled out a map and began to unfold it. "I found this in the garage and thought it might be handy, you know find out where the bigger towns are. And, as it so happens, Livingston and Bozeman aren't too far away from us. I bet they would have something in the way of a home improvement store."
Home improvement stores. Just the thought of those wonderful places was enough to make us bounce around like little kids. I saw the possibility of paints and wallpaper and gardening stuff, including stuff we didn't really need, like flowers. I was grinning like a fool at the mention of getting things like solar panels and paint.
"So Cal, you wanna go with us?" Matt asked.
The word yes was on the tip of my tongue and almost out of my mouth when I looked back at the playground. Drew was still standing there, watching over the kids and I began to realize something. From the start, I was running off on adventures to kill zombies and grab stuff. Drew didn't play. Drew didn't play, despite the open space and despite the bicycles that were put in the bike rack for the older kids to use. I wondered how
much of the maturity and over-developed sense of responsibility was my fault.
"Guys, I'm going to sit this one out, but I do have a list, if that's good by you guys." Trent looked at me like he understood why I turned down this run. He smiled at me, seemingly proud of the choice I just made. Tanya volunteered to take my place, and I was glad that there was someone who knew what sort of plants had a prayer in surviving around here. I asked her to connect with Kristen as well on the plants. I told them that I would provide for them a list of things I wanted in just a bit.
Speaking of Kristen, I wanted to talk to her. I excused myself from the group and found her looking at her house.
"Hey Cali. I was just checking out the house you found. I like it. I really like being able to see it from the street and admire the curb appeal, if you know what I mean. It's been a long time since I could walk up to a house and say, ‘there it is.’ I also love that you put me next to the playground. I don't think I will ever get Nathan off that jungle gym, you know that, right?"
I laughed. "I know this is a goofy question, but I need to know what you would need from a home improvement store for a project idea that I have."
"What kind of idea?"
"We have a lot of meds still from before, and while the group is out they are going to grab any meds that are still around, because there will be a time when all the meds run out, but I have a feeling that the diseases won't run out. I want to make a homeopathic garden, like what you started in Idaho, to help all the meds from being burned through too fast. If there is a mint plant, for instance, I could use that for little cases of nausea and save the Zofran for the big stuff. I don't know a whole lot of herbs so I would have to have you take over that. Who knows how long the meds are going to last anymore?"