- A chip bag clip for clamping the umbilical cord
- Sanitized scissors for cutting the cord
- A Black and Decker tape measure to measure the baby
- A small shallow pan of warm water to clean the baby
- Blankets and a hat to wrap the baby
- A hastily made birth certificate
- A photograph of Austin, so the baby would see her father
The group looked prepared but they didn’t feel it. A firm mattress had been moved to the living room and on it laid Jill in a thin nightgown. She was breathing rapidly and sweating. Isobel had come to lend an extra hand. Rob was there to help with breathing technique and to give Jill a hand to squeeze the hell out of. He felt slightly ashamed to watch and wondered how Jill really felt to be surrounded by mere acquaintances for this momentous occasion.
“Where’s Austin? He said he’d be here!” Jill screamed.
“She’s delirious, don’t mind her,” Moira said with kindness in her voice. “How long ago did you say her water broke, Molly?” Moira asked as she examined Jill.
“I think it happened this morning but she didn’t tell me; like she was unwilling to accept that it was happening without Austin here. I ran to get you when I noticed her having serious contractions,” Molly whispered.
“She’s been in labor for hours. She’s fully dilated. This baby is ready to come out. We’re going to push now, ok Jill?” Moira asked between her legs.
Jill looked around the room for her husband’s face and when she didn’t see it she shook her head. “No, not yet. Can’t we wait a little longer?”
“Come on Jill,” Molly coaxed her gently, “the baby has to come out now.” Molly wiped the sweat from Jill’s brow and tucked her hair behind her ears. “You can do this.”
“Ok. Ok. I’m gonna push,” Jill replied.
“Here we go,” Isobel said, looking to Moira.
It took an hour of pushing and Jill nearly fainted twice from the pain. They had no painkillers to give her that would do any good.
Around eleven that night baby Annabella Cooper finally emerged. Jill had survived but needed some stitches and a lot of cleanup, which Moira tended to. Rob still held Jill’s hand.
Isobel and Molly cleaned off the baby. It was emotional for both of the women who had only seen death recently; new life brought a shaky hope. They laughed together when they saw that Moira’s baby booties fit perfectly but that the hat was slightly too large for the infant’s head. Wrapped in a blanket and crying, the baby was brought to Jill.
“Our little girl. She’s so perfect. Austin would love her so much.” Jill touched the baby’s nose and looked into her eyes. “Daddy would love you so much.”
Isobel wrote on the birth certificate, little more than a piece of printer paper with some ruler lines on it, the date and time of Annabella’s birth.
Afterbirth
Moira stayed in 204 for a few hours to make sure that everything was alright with both mother and baby. Occasionally Jill would cry out for her husband but then Molly would be at her side to comfort her. The undead outside were pounding furiously on the walls of the building. Jill’s screaming and potentially the smell of the birth and life of the baby had encouraged them.
Ben and Isobel checked the stairwell barricade. They stared at it for nearly fifteen minutes, moving home décor into various positions for the tightest and most unmovable fit. Satisfied and spooked after hearing a window shatter in downstairs, they left the stairwell and went to bed.
The Photograph Isn’t Enough
“How is the little baby today?” Isobel asked Molly as they crossed paths in hallway a few days later. The child was in Molly’s arms and Jill wasn’t around.
“Annabella is great. She’s a quiet baby so far. Jill isn’t so good though.”
“I noticed. What’s up? Is it post-partum depression?” Isobel knew it was common and likely, given the circumstances the child was born into.
“It’s more than that. Jill won’t stop looking out the window. She’s trying to find Austin in the crowd. Every time she thinks she sees him, she runs over, grabs the baby, takes it out on the deck and yells for him. It hasn’t been him yet, thank God.”
“Wow. She’s in major denial.”
“I think she’s gone off the deep end. She keeps telling me that she wants Austin and the baby to meet.”
“Nothing’s going to change him back,” Isobel sighed.
“Tell that to her. She’s convinced otherwise. I’ve been trying to take Annabella out of the apartment and away from Jill as often as I can.”
Full Access
Rob went out onto his balcony and looked down at the windows and sliding glass doors of the apartments below. All the glass had been shattered and every so often he could see a zombie enter or exit the building through the newly created doors, its feet crunching on the shards without caution or care.
“Hey . . .” Vaughn paused as he checked the dog’s collar, “Cheddar.” He greeted the golden retriever that stood in front of him, its tail excitedly wagging, a front paw extended to be shaken formally. The dog lived in a now abandoned house a ways down the road from Willow Brook that Vaughn had just broken into. Vaughn wasn’t too keen on animals but the dog followed him everywhere he went within the house with what looked like a smile on its furry face. He couldn’t help but warm to Cheddar. The only thing he didn’t like about the dog was that it wouldn’t stop putting its paw up for a handshake. Every time Vaughn stopped, there the paw was in his face. Vaughn took only a few supplies from the house and, before leaving, he gave the dog some fresh water and ripped open a big bag of dog food left by the absent owners.
“Don’t eat it all before I come back,” he said as he pet the dog’s head. Cheddar put his muzzle in the kibble and started to fill his starving belly. Even as he ate, the dog lifted a paw for Vaughn to grasp.
“It was nice to meet you, Cheddar,” Vaughn said, laughing, as he gave in and gently shook the paw one last time that day.
Isobel’s dreams were filled with strange things that night. A baby walked to the barricaded stairwell with its mother and pointed its tiny little finger at the wall of furniture, silently asking for it to be torn down. The mother, blinded by love removed every item from the baby’s path. The undead flooded the building, crawling up the stairs to break down the apartment doors. Then, Isobel was at the grocery store because Willow Brook was empty of food but, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t read the shopping list in her hand. In another part of the dream Markus shot Vaughn. Upon waking she couldn’t remember why.
One for You and Two for Me
Her dream was somewhat of a premonition. The next morning she went upstairs before breakfast to grab some food. She was shocked at what she saw, or rather, what she didn’t see.
The group kept all of their food stored in the third floor common area. It made keeping stock a lot easier. The only problem with this plan, it turned out, was everything. It wasn’t locked up, no control of it beyond verbal instructions given to each resident on how much they could consume in a day. But, as Isobel looked at the small pile of food left, they’d put too much trust in one another. Someone in the group had obviously been eating more than their ration or hiding extra away for themselves.
Isobel began to panic a little inside. What will we do if we run out of food? she worried. She grabbed a breakfast bar and went back to her apartment.
“Is that all you’re going to eat for breakfast?” Ben asked.
“It’s almost all there is. Someone’s been taking too much food. Who would do that?”
“That’s a tough question. And I don’t even know how to start looking for the answer. Just when you think you know the people around you.”
“I figure with the number of mouths we’re feeding, we’ll be screwed in a week and a half if we don’t stop whoever is doing it and find some more food.”
Ben and Isobel sat quietly for the rest of the morning; pondering who could have jeop
ardized the group. At lunch, Isobel chastised the group as a whole for the incident, hoping to put pressure on the individual who was responsible. After lunch Ben went to visit with Edward and Moira, leaving Isobel alone. A knock came on her door.
Thank God, Isobel thought, someone is going to confess. Isobel opened the door and let Markus in.
“Thank yo-” she started to say but he cut her off.
“It’s Molly,” Markus said with confident excitement in his voice.
Isobel’s mind couldn’t wrap itself around the name Molly. She was sure that Markus was here to apologize. She hadn’t even considered Molly as a possible culprit.
“She is bulimic. You know, binge and purge,” he whispered, even though they were alone. He walked around the apartment touching things, waiting for a response.
“Molly? She takes care of everyone else. How could she abuse her body like that? How could she not think of the impact on the group?” The questions came spilling out of Isobel. “This isn’t regular life. We can’t just drive down the street to the store!”
“Calm down, Isobel. When you have a mental disease you don’t make rational decisions,” Markus said.
“How do you know she is bulimic?” Isobel asked.
“About three months ago I bumped into her downstairs. She dropped some mail and I helped her pick it up. There was a brochure for some kind of therapy retreat. I handed it back but I saw the name of the center on it. I ran upstairs and searched the Internet. Kind of snoopy of me but I couldn’t help myself. It was a body image clinic that specializes in eating disorder treatment. You don’t get a brochure from a place like that unless you request it.”
“I should check her old apartment on the third floor. That is the only place she would have privacy. Ben is with the Cabels, do you want to come with me?”
“Field trip!” Markus exclaimed. “I love a good scandal!”
Litter Bug
Molly was frantic. She had run upstairs as fast as she could after lunch to try to hide the evidence of her bad decisions. Her old apartment was a mess. Empty food containers were scattered everywhere and it smelled like vomit. She was able to fill one garbage bag with trash and toss it over the railing of her balcony before her secret was exposed to all.
Isobel didn’t knock and that made Markus even more excited. She used her set of keys to let them in. The smell hit her nose and she cringed. Markus felt proud as he surveyed the proof of Molly’s betrayal. Piles of empty cans and plastic bags, a can opener, used paper towels, all littered the floor.
“I knew it!” Markus blurted out.
Molly’s heart nearly stopped when she came out of the bathroom, a bag of vomit in her hand, sweat building from her brow, to stand face to face with Isobel and Markus.
“What . . . I . . . why are you in here?” Molly stuttered and yelled. She dropped the bag of vomit on the carpeted hall. Markus watched the plastic bag fall and said a small prayer that it wouldn’t burst open onto his pants. It hit the ground with a soft splat and the plastic held. Molly didn’t give them time to answer. She pushed through them and ran out of the apartment.
“Oooh. Someone’s in trouble,” Markus said to Isobel.
Rob and Gabe were in the hallway when Molly came running by.
“Dad, she looks sad.”
“Yeah she does. I wonder what happened upstairs.” Thinking it might have something to do with Vaughn, Rob followed after her. “Stay here champ.”
Rob found the door to 204 open a hair and he let himself in. Jill and Molly sat together on the couch, Jill’s hands rubbing Molly’s back as she cried loudly.
“Hi Annabella,” Rob said as he walked over to a bassinet in the corner of the living room. The baby was asleep despite the noise of Molly’s entry and emotion. “Is everything alright, Molly?”
“I was getting better you know? I was in therapy and I was making . . . progress. Things were looking up for once in a long time.” She kept her head down and it looked like she was talking to herself more than to anyone in the room.
“What are you talking about?” Rob asked. He truly was stumped.
“I have an eating disorder Rob. It’s my fault we are screwed on food. I tried to stop but I’ve been so stressed about the baby and everything that I went a little crazy last night.”
“How much did you eat?” Rob thought maybe she could consume twice her portions at best.
“I don’t know but I was up there for three hours.”
Markus and Isobel had taken their time coming downstairs after Molly. They knew she couldn’t go anywhere, none of them could. The two of them walked into 204, Gabe followed behind, looking for his dad.
Molly saw Markus and her eyes drilled into him. How long did you know? She knew it was his fault she’d been found out. “Why did you do this to me?”
“Woah, woah. I didn’t do anything,” Markus pointed at himself dramatically.
“You told Isobel and now almost everyone knows.”
“I’m not a tattle-tail. I’m a do-gooder. Some of that food you wasted was for me! I’m just trying to survive.”
“Ok guys. Calm down. Molly, we were bound to find out. Markus, you could maybe have given Molly an opportunity to tell the group on her own.” Rob tried to be a neutral force in the argument.
“She was upstairs cleaning up anything that tied her to the problem. I don’t think she planned on admitting anything!” Markus yelled, pointing at Molly as he buried her deeper.
“What do you want me to do, Markus? It’s an obsession,” she said, exasperated, “and I’m sorry.”
“I accept your apology Molly. As for everyone else, that is up to them,” Isobel said.
Markus left without saying anymore. He didn’t like feeling his mortality. It would be awhile before he could forgive Molly for her wrong.
The Third Meeting
Dinner the same day brought yet another meeting of the group.
“Thanks everyone for meeting like this all the time,” Isobel said.
“It’s not like we have other plans,” Edward said lightheartedly and everyone laughed at his apocalyptic humor.
“On a serious note though, I called this meeting so that Molly could talk to everyone all at once. Molly?” Isobel looked to her expectantly.
“I don’t think I can do anything but come out and say that it’s my fault that we don’t have enough food to last us through the month. I am bulimic. I’m sorry. Really I am. I’ve been through therapy, before this, and I just have to work hard to put everything I learned there back into practice. The circumstances are a little bit . . . different this time though.”
“You messed up the rationing, Molly,” Rob, who’d had a little bit more time to think about Molly’s decisions, reprimanded her.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I love you all like family now, especially Gabe and Annabella. This problem is just bigger than me.”
“I want to believe that you can control it but I think we should put the food supply in an apartment up there and lock it up; create a controlled system to divvy it out,” Ben suggested. “So this doesn’t happen again.”
“I agree with, Ben.” Markus said.
Moira grabbed Molly’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry Molly, but I agree with Ben too.”
“It’s fine Moira. I brought this on myself. Everyone has a right to be angry with me.”
At that moment Gabe poked his head around the corner. He’d been listening to the whole meeting. “I’m not mad at you Molly.” Rob waved his hand at Gabe to join the group and Gabe ran to sit on Rob’s lap.
“No matter where we store it or how we lock it up, the problem right now is that we don’t have enough.” Jeff reminded the group.
“I have a plan for that,” Isobel said. “We all know that Vaughn goes out regularly and is skilled at . . . well, staying alive out there. I’m going to talk with him about taking some of us out to bring back food.”
“How will we decide who is going?” Edward motioned with his can
e around the circle of residents. The room became silent. No one wanted to think about going outside.
Isobel broke it, knowing a decision had to be made. “Well, you and Moira, though very agile and healthy for your age, won’t be able to fight, run, or haul as much food as the rest of us so you don’t have to worry about it. Jill just had a baby and isn’t very . . . stable. She will stay here too.”
Molly was terrified to be alone with Vaughn inside the walls of the building. She didn’t want to be stuck with him and the undead but she knew they would expect her to go.
“I’ll go,” Molly volunteered, hoping that someone would speak out against it, “even if you weren’t going to say my name.”
“I was actually going to suggest you. We need to be responsible for our actions so this is how you will repay the group, by replacing the rations you consumed. Ben, if you feel up to it, I’d like you to go with Vaughn and Molly. You have the most familiarity with firearms and you are the strongest of the men.”
“Hey!” Markus called out. “I’m strong too.”
A few residents laughed but Molly didn’t find his comment funny. It was his fault that she’d have to leave the building; have to spend time with someone who’d tried to molest her.
“Ok, Markus, you can go,” Isobel countered with a smile.
Markus turned white and shook his head.
“Don’t worry Markus, I’ll go. I’ll come upstairs to talk to Vaughn with you too, Isobel,” Ben offered.
“Perfect.”
Markus, Jeff and Rob moved what was left of the food into an empty apartment upstairs. Isobel locked the apartment and waited for Ben to meet her at Vaughn’s door. She wanted to plan that day so that it could get done before the food situation at Willow Brook became desperate.
Tom Vaughn’s 2nd Assignment
Only one knock and Vaughn stood in his open doorway, smelling like half of a stolen bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey. Isobel could tell that they’d interrupted a personal male moment because a porn DVD flickered on the television in the living room behind him and his pants were unzipped.
When the Dead Page 8