Their go-to conversation was always Boston. Boston was where Jamie was from and Rose could sometimes hear that distinct accent come out when she said certain words. Rose had visited Boston once when she was a child and had good, albeit fuzzy memories of the city. Rose remembered the tall Prudential building, the rocket-like elevator to the top making her dizzy; the bustling farmer’s market with the highway rumbling above her as her parent’s weaved through the vendors and she hopped over fallen trash and produce on the ground. According to Jamie, that highway was now underground in a tunnel, part of the “Big Dig” Rose had been vaguely aware of but never cared about. Jamie’s view of the city was always positive and appealing, not a hard sell when they were living in the middle of the woods in northern Quebec. Rose had been born and raised in Bangor, Maine, which was more of a city than Green Forks ever was, but tiny compared to Boston. Despite this, Rose and Jamie considered themselves city people, plain and simple. Escaping to northern Quebec and its endless woods had been a novel way to escape death but now, in their second spring, it was becoming slightly maddening.
Rose had shared with Jamie her desire to someday return to “civilization,” whatever that meant now, and lord over the rubble of a crumbling city like a queen. Surprisingly, Jamie had been all for it. Living in a city stripped of all it’s people, being able to take advantage of all the amenities a city provides, while still having the solitariness of the wilderness seemed like the perfect compromise given their current circumstances. Each night they discussed it, the idea becoming less of a fantasy and more of a goal, something out there that was achievable instead of just sitting around in the woods and growing old. Rose could not deny that the draw of this idea, of leaving Quebec and adventuring back home and beyond was becoming more and more appealing.
“What about the infected. They’re still out there, or did you forget?” said Adeline when Rose mentioned the idea over breakfast one morning near the tail end of their first summer.
“Do you remember what it took for us to get here? How many people died? Rene? Everyone in Paimpol and Green Forks and everywhere beyond that? You think one winter has been enough to kill off something that killed off the whole human race?” added Aaron, clearly angry and distressed over any talk of leaving their sanctuary. “You would be nuts to leave.”
At the time Rose had conceded, the desire to go back hadn’t been as strong then. But as the second winter had dragged on, her and Jamie’s desire to leave had only grown more intense and acute, like a spark that had been fanned into a flame.
As spring had started taking hold around the cabins, this longing could no longer be contained. Rose had decided that it was time to go, she couldn’t stay in their woods any longer. Both her and Jamie seemed to have independently come to the same conclusion: the fading winter would be their last in Quebec. Their hopeful planning changed from distant fantasy to a real decision. “Surely two winters should be enough,” they thought. “What infected human could survive two winters exposed to all that cold and snow?”
Giving up on sleep, Rose rubbed her eyes, stood and walked out of the bedroom. Being on the second floor, the doorway faced a balcony overlooking the first floor; an open-concept kitchen, living room and dining area. Sitting at the dining room table below were Jacob and Adeline. They were both talking and looked up at Rose as she stepped up to the railing of the balcony.
“Rose, I hope we didn’t wake you up,” said Adeline, smiling faintly.
“Nope, I’ve been awake for a little bit,” said Rose, yawning.
“Well since you’re up, mind if we talk about something? I was just talking to Jacob about it,” asked Adeline.
“Sure,” said Rose as she turned and walked to the stairs. Rose reached the bottom and shuffled across the floor, grabbed a chair, and dragged it over. Jacob looked his usual dour self so Rose couldn’t really get a read on what this discussion was going to be about from him. Adeline appeared nervous but also excited, her cheeks lightly flushed with a light-pink hue.
As Rose sat down, Jacob went to stand but Adeline stopped him. “Why don’t you say Jacob?” she asked him. Reluctantly, Jacob sat back down, “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes I’m sure, it’s good news after all,” said Adeline, smiling.
Rose and Jacob’s relationship was not what anyone would classify as “warm” or probably even a relationship at all. They were more like distant roommates who interacted with each other because they had to, not because they wanted to. It’d always been this way. Rose guessed it either had to do with the way they took the camp from him or them entering his parent’s home, possibly a combination of the two. There were lots of things that Rose regretted, but those things were not two of them. They needed this camp to survive and it seemed to work out well for everyone involved. No one got hurt or even injured. If it was the house he was still mad about, Rose couldn’t understand why Jacob wouldn’t have wanted his family buried. Why let them rot in the house? It made no sense but there was a lot about Jacob that she didn’t understand nor did she really care to figure out.
After Jacob sat back down, Adeline got right to the point. “Rose, I’m pregnant. I would guess at least a couple months, but I couldn’t be sure until now. Isn’t that exciting?!” Rose could feel the joy radiating off of Adeline and couldn’t help but smile even if she didn’t feel like it. Was it exciting? Rose didn’t think so. That pretty much cemented the group staying here for the foreseeable future.
“I haven’t even told Aaron yet,” Adeline continued, blushing. “I think he’ll be excited. We’ve talked about this type of thing, there is no birth control around here so…”
“Congratulations,” said Jacob giving her a small smile. That was almost as surprising to Rose as Adeline’s announcement.
“There is a reason I wanted to tell Jacob first,” said Adeline. “Jacob, I know this might be tough for you, but I think we are going to move out of the cabin we are in now and move into your parent’s house.”
Jacobs weak smile died on his face and Rose could see his eyes turn dark. This was not something that Jacob was anticipating or wanted.
“The house is already set up for kids and it will give us a lot more living space once the baby comes. I think it will be best for everyone. Jacob you can stay here in this cabin and Rose and Jamie could move into our cabin. It’s going to be great! We’re going to make our own little neighborhood!” exclaimed Adeline, now bursting with joy.
Rose and Jacob likely both felt equally disheartened by this news but Rose did her best not to show it outwardly. The last thing she wanted to do was to ruin this for Adeline. They had so little joy in their lives, she didn’t want to take this away from her. Maybe they could talk later privately, but now was not the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next few weeks were strange for Rose. She’d all but decided to leave the camp to start a new adventure when Adeline had dropped her bombshell. Aaron had seemed to take it pretty well and while he still had the occasional look of someone in shock, he was adjusting. Jacob seemed a little more withdrawn than normal, but Jacob was always withdrawn so Rose really didn’t pay it much attention. This extra withdrawal seemed to coincide with everyone, Jacob excluded, starting to clean the big house. Jamie had been referring to the house as “The Tomb” since Rose had arrived at the camp, but that nickname died quickly after Adeline’s announcement. Now everyone just called it “the house” or “the big house” until it would inevitably be called Adeline and Aaron’s house.
Jamie seemed curiously indifferent to the news. Rose had been fishing for an ally to commiserate with now that they’d be staying, but Jamie didn’t appear phased. This pissed off Rose to no end and she confronted Jamie about it one day while they were alone in the big house cleaning. “I really thought you would be more upset about staying now that the baby’s coming,” said Rose out of nowhere, trying and failing to keep her annoyance from boiling over.
“What do you mean?” answered Jamie casually. “I lo
ve it here.”
Oh hell no. “What the fuck does that mean?” said Rose, equal parts anger and frustration. “What about all those talks we had about Boston? About going back there and starting our lives over?”
“What about it? You were serious? I thought we were just talking,” said Jamie shrugging and grabbing a spray bottle. Despite the appearance of labels, the bottle was filled with river water, the best cleaning agent available to them. Turning her back to Rose, she sprayed a mirror and wiped it down with a rag.
Steaming, her vision taking on a red hue, Rose took the broom she was holding and flung it into a wall snapping off the top third of the handle. “Jamie, what the fuck! Are you fucking serious right now?” Rose could feel the color rising in her face, her hands were clenched in fists.
Turning and facing Rose, Jamie could barely contain her laughter.
“You fucker!” spat Rose. “Were you seriously just messing with me?” Rose’s anger slowly deflating like a pricked balloon.
“I am fucking serious. But not about that,” said Jamie moving over to Rose and sliding her arms around her waist and pressing her body against Rose’s. Jamie leaned around and kissed Rose on the side of her neck before leaning back and pulling off Rose’s shirt leaving her completely bare-chested before she knew what was happening. “Let’s christen this bedroom before Aaron and Adeline have a chance to,” Jamie whispered slyly in Rose’s ear.
Anger now gone, replaced with the warmth of Jamie’s body and the smell of her hair, Rose answered by tackling Jamie onto the nearby bed, her lips finding any patch of open skin available.
Some time later, exhausted but at the same time energized, Rose laid naked on the bed, Jamie’s head resting on her stomach, her own naked body coiled around her legs like a snake. Both were awake but preferred to lounge in the afterglow of good sex for as long as they could. Rose was content to stay there for the rest of the day and happily ponder the popcorn ceiling above her, but the opening and closing of the front door made Rose and Jamie sit up with a start. Like two guilty teenagers, they quickly danced around the room collecting their clothing and dressing before their visitor found them. Rose could hear footsteps on the stairs as she pulled her shirt over her head and zipped up the front of her jeans. “Everyone descent?” yelled Aaron as he rounded the top of the stairs and walked into the master bedroom Rose and Jamie were in.
“Yes, yes of course,” said Jamie, cheeks flushed, a wide grin on her face. “You really need to get your mind out of the gutter Aaron.”
“Hmm, clearly” said Aaron raising a suspicious eyebrow.
“What’s up Aaron? Come to check on our progress?” asked Rose.
“Or lack thereof? No, I actually wanted to talk to you about something Rose. Jamie, you mind if Rose and I have a chat?” asked Aaron.
“No problem. I’ll go find Adeline and see what’s next on our list of chores,” said Jamie flashing Aaron a toothy grin. She gave Rose a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room and playfully bouncing down the stairs.
“So Aaron, what’s up?” asked Rose sitting back onto the bed.
“Rose there is something I wanted to talk to you about. Actually I wanted to talk to you about it before we found out about the baby, but things happen.” Aaron was somber but not sad, Rose wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“I know you want to leave,” Aaron continued. “I mean, it’s obvious, you told us about your plan last summer, but I know you were looking forward to it and now with the baby, I know you think you have to stay...you don’t.”
Rose was a little taken aback that she’d been that transparent. Apparently the brave face she’d been putting on was not brave enough. “Aaron, I can’t just leave you guys and a new baby,” she started.
“You can Rose,” said Aaron, cutting in. “We don’t need you to protect us anymore. We needed you to escape from Paimpol and everything else, but we’re safe now. We have you to thank for that. The least we can do is let you know we’re okay with you leaving. It’s the elephant in the room. We know you want to go and I wanted to tell you can.”
“Aaron, you keep saying we,” started Rose.
“This is from Adeline too. She’s not enthusiastic about it, she loves you like a sister, but she also knows that we owe you a lot and we can’t make you stay, nor would we want to.”
“Aaron, you can’t be sure you’ll be safe here. Would you be able to protect this place if a large group of infected came through?” asked Rose.
“Rose, I think we both know that’s not going to happen anymore. That first winter, we heard the infected here and there but this last summer, we heard what? One scream, maybe two and we haven’t seen anyone, infected or otherwise. Now that we’ve gone through a second winter, I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’re probably safe.”
It was solid logic, the same logic Rose had been telling herself to justify her departure. Could she leave? Would it feel like abandoning them?
“Rose, I want you to take this,” said Aaron pulling Rose from her thoughts. It was what looked like a walkie-talkie, but more phone like.
“What is that?” asked Rose, accepting the device.
“I found them in Sainte-Marguerite-Marie last time we were there in some electronics shop. There was a big display and everything. They are rechargeable satellite phones and assuming the satellites are still in orbit, they should work. Adeline and I will keep one and you’ll have the other. We can talk whenever we want and if we can’t, they have emergency buttons that emit a distress signal until the battery dies,” said Aaron.
“A distress signal isn’t going to help you if I’m hours or days away,” said Rose. It was a weak argument, but she felt she couldn’t give up without some sort of fight.
“Rose, the world ended. This is easily the best option out there and much better than most people could hope for,” said Aaron. His mind was made up, he was just waiting for Rose to join him.
“You’re sure about this Aaron? You’re sure you’ll be okay?” said Rose. Her internal fight was over, the phone had pushed her over the edge.
“Rose, we’re sure. This is what we want,” said Aaron pulling Rose in a massive bear hug. Rose wrapped her arms around Aaron and hugged him back. It was time for her next adventure.
Chapter 3
It took about a week to get everything together and prepare for whatever Rose and Jamie may encounter outside the boundaries of the national park. Besides a few trips out to Sainte-Marguerite-Marie and back to scavenge for supplies over the last few years, they’d not been out into the world at all. Rose was a little worried about what they’d find; it was easy to be lulled into a false sense of security being as isolated as they were in the woods. Who knew what a city would be like, all those people concentrated in such a small area, and could the infected survive this long?
Adeline had her doubts and did not hide them very well. It was pretty clear to Rose that her absence from the “sit down” with Aaron had been purposeful. Adeline didn’t want them to leave, but she knew there was nothing that was going to stop Rose now that she’d been given the okay. And if Rose left, so would Jamie. Rose hadn’t been this close to a person since Kate and she was grateful that Jamie was going to come with her. Rose wasn’t going to let what happened to Kate happen to Jamie.
The once sister-like relationship between Rose and Adeline had become awkward and stiff; even small talk was a struggle. Adeline and Rose had been alone just the night before after their final dinner together as a group. “Do you have enough food?” Adeline had asked Rose while they were clearing the dishes.
“I think so,” Rose answered. “We’ll run out eventually though so I assume we’ll have to scavenge at some point. At least I found another charger for my phone in town so there’s that I suppose. We’ll be able to scavenge to a soundtrack,” said Rose, smiling. The exchange was followed by a long silence only broken by the clinking of plates and silverware as they were washed in a large tub by Adeline and stacked in a drying rack by Rose
. Clearly Adeline was not in a joking mood.
Finally, when most of the dishes were cleaned, Adeline asked, “Do you even know where you’ll go? Do you have a plan?”
“Well not an exact plan, but we’re going to start by visiting your father,” said Rose becoming slightly annoyed. “Then we’ll probably make our way toward Boston where Jamie’s from. I’d also like to stop at my house in Green Forks.”
Letting a plate loudly slip into the tub of unwashed dishes, Adeline turned to Rose, “You can’t know Rose! You just can’t! How do you know if all the infected are gone? It’s too much of a risk! Stay here, stay here where it’s safe and maybe in a few years, when we can all be sure, maybe then you can go back out there if you still want to…”
“Adeline, look,” said Rose cutting in, “I know that would make you happy to have us stay, we’ve been through a lot together and those experiences have made us like a family. Speaking of which, you are about to make bigger. I did what I needed to do, I got you and Aaron here, you’re alive and now you’re having a baby. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you, but as your family grows, my place here gets smaller.”
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 2): Homecoming Page 3