“Yes, but it’s been a few years now,” Kathryn graciously answers.
“Mom, I’ve got a special someone for you. Pierce, here’s your grandma.” I work to take him out of the sling as the others came into the room with my mom sitting in the rocking chair.
“You brought the baby?” She sits up, alert and anxious.
“Your grandson, Pierce.” Unsure if I should let her have him, I go with my gut and place him in her arms.
“He’s so little.” She starts to rock him gently for a few minutes, while the rest of us sit or stand in the small space, watching her.
He starts to fuss just a little and squirm, but that’s enough for my mom.
“Emma, can you take the baby for a while? I’m really tired, and I think I need to go take a nap.” She gets up so suddenly, that if I hadn’t been standing there, she would have dropped him to the floor.
“I’ll go make sure that she’s okay. If you’ll excuse me.” My dad leaves the small living room and goes through the one door leading to the bedroom.
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had expected, but I guess it went okay.” I try to play off the strangeness of my mother’s behavior.
“Oh, sweetie, you don’t have to apologize. She’s not the first person to have a few problems, and not be quite right afterward,” Nana assures me.
Kathryn holds the door open for us as we walk out onto the small porch.
When we get to the golf cart, I get in the passenger’s seat and begin to rearrange Pierce as the seat dips under Kathryn’s weight next to me.
I look up, confused.
“I’ll see you and Kathryn later, dear.” Nana pats me on the back and begins down the path toward her home.
“What? You’re not coming to see Granny Earlene with us?” I ask, not understanding what’s going on.
“Hell no. That woman has hated my guts since I took her son away from her.” Nana pauses at the fork that leads down the trail, back to her house.
Shock covers my face as I try to process Nana’s anger. “Haven’t you always lived on Jackson Mountain since you and Pop got married?”
“Exactly. That woman,” Nana points up the hill, “has always lived less than a mile from us, but I took her son away from her. I’m too old to put up with her nonsense these days. So when I don’t have to see her, I don’t.” With that, Nana turns on her heel and marches down the mountain, away from Granny Earlene’s.
“Well, this morning is just full of surprises,” I exclaim, leaning back against the seat.
“Don’t get too comfortable yet. We need to talk about Haley,” Kathryn states as she takes the parking brake off and we start forward up the mountain.
“What about Haley?” I ask, not wanting to pick a side yet.
“You two looked really cozy when you got back last night.” Kathryn looks at me accusingly.
“I’m not sure I’m understanding the problem. She’s Dawson’s wife. We all went on a dangerous trip through which we got to know each other. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do, get to know Brad’s family better?”
I’m going to make her say what she doesn’t like about Haley if I have to get out and walk up the hill to do it.
“Don’t you know what she did?” Kathryn asks, certain that I couldn’t possibly and still be friends with her.
“What did she do? Marry Dawson and become Andi’s stepmother?”
“She stole Dawson from Andi’s mother,” Kathryn informs me, almost gleeful in sharing her side of events.
“Really? So the fact that Carole was a lesbian and went to live with her lover had nothing to do with her leaving Dawson and Andi alone?” I know I should stay out of it, but I just can’t help put a busybody in her place, even if she is Brad’s mother.
“What?” Kathryn steps on the brakes and I’m almost thrown from the cart with Pierce.
“Carole was gay. She liked girls. Ask Andi, she knows about it as well.” I know by her reaction that it’s not something Dawson has talked about.
“Seriously? We always assumed that Haley was hitting on him because she was Andi’s babysitter, so Carole left because she’d had enough.” Kathryn takes a few deep breaths to steady herself.
“I think that it was a long time ago, and you might want to try getting to know Haley for who she is and not based on assumptions. The world could end tomorrow, and all those things don’t really matter anymore. She’s family, and Dawson loves her. He wants to be here, but he’ll leave if he thinks that the clan won’t take care of her.” I sway back and forth slightly to keep Pierce happy.
“Why didn’t they tell us?” Kathryn has a tear running down her face.
“They knew that people on the mountain weren’t progressive and didn’t want to have anyone cause problems.” I know this will take some time to process. “Just start by being nice to her and including her in things. If you do that, then the others will follow your lead.”
“Thank you for telling me. I just wish they had trusted us enough so we hadn’t wasted all these years being mad.” Kathryn wipes her eyes.
“Well, you kind of proved their point with how you treated her, so just show them that they can trust you now. They’ll tell you in their own time.”
She starts up the hill again, and we finally arrive at Granny Earlene’s cabin.
Cabin is a very generous term for the small structure because while the logs on the cabin are still standing, the whole building tilts to the right, while the chimney leans in the other direction. It gives it a weird look that makes me tilt my head from side to side.
The first thing I can hear from Granny Earlene is the cackle that echoes from the darkened interior.
A small bundle of paisley covered cloth moves through the door and into the doorway.
“If it ain’t my Brad’s baby. You bring that child right up here and let me bless his little soul.” The crackly voice comes through a toothless mouth, surrounded by withered skin that seems to have grown loose around the bones, giving the flesh that I can see a flapping appearance.
At least I know Granny Earlene is alive since she’s talking to us as we gingerly walk up the steps. The porch’s boards creak unevenly as I make my way to the rocking chair where she’s sat down, motioning with a bony, almost skeletal hand, for me to join her.
“Hey, Kathryn. I see you got visitation duties this morning,” a voice from inside speaks as I pass by.
“Good morning, Pat,” Kathryn responds, following me to the chairs.
“Oh, it’s a wee little thing. You’ll have to hold him on my lap. I don’t trust myself to keep him from falling.” Granny cackles in delight at the baby boy in front of her.
I do as she asks and hold Pierce just off of her lap, which places the backs of my hands against her knobby knees.
Two other hands reach around me to touch Pierce’s head, as two voices begin the blessing.
“May your days be bright and long. May you be the fastest and the strongest of the clan. May they look to you as their leader and listen because you hear the voices that will help the clan survive.” Granny’s voice gives a shrill cackle, while the other two echo her words.
Pat is holding a little vial of something which Granny dips her finger in and wipes in the shape of a cross on his forehead.
I don’t want to offend them, but this is getting out of hand, so I lift Pierce from her lap and look over, hoping that Kathryn will get us out of there.
“He’s such a blessing. Can you see the light surrounding him?” Pat asks Granny Earlene.
“Surely can. That baby will save us and help his family so that we can stay on the mountain. There’s always one in every generation that has the special light. I won’t be around to see it, but mark my words, he’s special.” She points her finger at us to emphasize her words.
She suddenly flings her head back, like someone has placed her head wrong on her shoulders.
“What happened? Did she die?” I clutch Pierce close and back up.
“
Oh no, she’s just fainted.” Pat picked up a vial and holds it under her nose to revive her.
“Kathryn, I think we need to head back home. Little man is going to need a diaper change, and his stuff is back at the house.” I almost run to the golf cart, not waiting to see if she follows.
Granny cracks an eye open. “Did it work? Did we scare her?”
“I believe you did. Now, I’ve got to ride down there and calm her down. Bye, Pat. Granny.”
Wide-eyed, I don’t say anything as we drive down the mountain. When she stops at the house, I get off, still holding Pierce tightly.
“I think I’ll go in now.” I turn and go inside without looking back.
I can only hope that Brad will come rescue me from the crazy part of his family because if this is a normal welcome for a baby, then I’m not sure we can stay here.
Before I finish changing Pierce’s diaper, there’s a knock on the door.
Kelly stands in the doorway with a smirk on her face.
“They want you in the family room.” Her tone sounds like I’m in trouble for something.
I use a wipe to clean my hands after changing his diaper and go out to face the music for whatever I’d done.
“Surprise!” The entire family, except for those on guard duty, are crowded into the room.
“Welcome to the family.” Nana grins.
“I’m not sure I understand. I got married to Brad over two years ago.” I look at all the smiling faces, but have no idea why they’re so happy.
“You passed the initiation. Granny Earlene always likes to “bless” the babies, and if the mothers don’t run screaming then we know they’re made of stern stuff and can survive anything,” Kathryn chimes in.
“So that wasn’t real?” I ask, feeling relieved that maybe the crazy genes only run on my side of the family.
“Nope. Even the feud between Granny and Nana was to test you. They have to know that you’ll stand up for the family, even if there are two sides to it.” As Pop explains, my eyes meet Kathryn’s in acknowledgement of which side I’m on in the Haley matter.
The entire family has to hug me and welcome me to the real family.
“Does this mean I get to know all the secret things the guys went out to get the other day?” I joke.
“We’ll give you the family tour later,” Cole promises.
I look around the room and realize that I already feel a part of the family. The only thing that will make my world better would be to have Brad by my side.
The End for now…
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Copyright: 2018 Alathia Morgan
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Acknowledgements
Jackson Family Tree
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
A Word from the Author
Sneak Peek: Co-Ed’s Against Zombies
Thanks so much to my editor. I love that you really get into the story and love or hate my characters.
Rebel Edit & Design
Book cover: Widget Wyrven Studios. You are amazing!!
Brad Jackson—An undisclosed location Overseas.
As the apocalypse begins…
My eyes pop open as Doug comes running into our tent.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping that my life wasn’t about to get even more complicated than it already was, but I knew from the look on his face that it was.
“They’re declaring it’s contagious. They’ve asked scientists to come in and do some tests and send the reports to the government.”
“Crap. Can we contain the spread of it?” I asked.
“No. Some of the doctors and scientists working on the wounded have gotten it as well and were all sent back to the hospital in Germany.” Doug’s breath slowly returned in-between his gasps for air.
“Have we been put on red alert?” I started to put my boots on in preparation.
“They’re going to have us move out and return back to the main base. Here, in the middle of nowhere, the only thing between us and a horde of those things is a thin wall of sand bags, barbed wire, and a large wooded area.” Doug waved toward the south end of the base to make his point.
“So, when do we evacuate?” I asked wearily.
“Twenty-four hours. In army speak, in about a week.” Doug sank onto the other bunk, trying to get his second wind.
“Why would they wait so long to get us out of here?”
“There are other outposts that have higher priority due to their more isolated situation. We’re not at the top of the list, but I’d put us close to the middle. The bright side is that there are others who have to wait even longer than we do.” Doug started to take his boots off, but gave up, falling back on the cot.
“Don’t they want us to take a shift on watch?” I asked, incredulous that he could even attempt to sleep right now.
“Oh, guess I left out that part. We don’t have to report until second shift. They’ve brought another group in that were on a mission. They got some sleep last night and they’re insisting that we get some rest in case we have to move out in a hurry. We’ll be running full-out to escape these things.”
I finished lacing up my boots and stood.
“You’re not going to sleep while you can?” Doug inquired.
“I need to call Emma and make sure they’re safe.” I almost reached the tent flap when his words stopped me, chilling me to the bone.
“If the carriers of this disease reach America, I don’t think we can save our families. Plus, you can’t tell her anything because it’s all classified.” He flung an arm over his eyes, ending his side of the conversation.
I just hoped that I could catch Emma and convince her to take our newborn son, Pierce, to Nana and Pop’s house on Jackson Mountain.
Hearing Emma’s voice had been wonderful, but I was worried. If the sickness reached America, there wouldn’t be any way to stop it. I had to make sure it didn’t happen.
The sound of a chopper brought me back to reality. I knew that trying to get some rest was what I should do, but I headed over to find the staff sergeant instead.
“Jackson, what do you need? We’re kind of busy here.”
“Yes, sir.” I returned his salute. “I can take an extra shift if you need me to.”
He looked me up and down, taking into consideration the fact that I’d just come off a twelve-hour shift.
“Fine. Go help the newbies get settled until we can get them transferred out with the next batch they have coming in from th
e outposts. The corporal over there will be the one you need to talk to while I—” The radio buzzed, interrupting him, before he continued. “The next group is going to be the last one for a few hours. We’re not finding many survivors in the outposts this far out.”
With a wave of dismissal, he returned to issuing orders, and I went to find the new layover of soldiers.
“Corporal, the staff sergeant sent me over to see if there was anything you needed to get settled?” I did a double take as the petite figure turned at the sound of my voice.
“Brad?” Corporal Jackson gave a quick salute, but then stepped out of character by giving me a hug.
“Patti, it’s so good to see you. I mean, Corporal Jackson.” I knew how hard she’d worked to get where she was, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful, even if she was my second cousin.
She turned back to the men in line waiting for some food. “Is there anything you need, men?”
“No, ma’am,” they chorused.
“We should be fine until everyone’s eaten. Why don’t you join me and I’ll fill you in on what I know at the moment?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I couldn’t say no to a direct order, especially if it got me more information about what was going on out there.
I followed her and her men through the line, only picking up a dessert since I’d eaten just an hour ago.
“Can you tell me why they had to bring you in from the outposts?” I knew that I might not have clearance, but she was a senior officer and my cousin, so I could only hope that she would tell me the truth.
She motioned toward a table at the back of the mess tent, where it would be harder to be overheard by the others enjoying their meals.
“Brad, it’s bad out there. Our outposts were simply there to make sure the rebels didn’t try anything, but by the time we got the order to fall back, two of the five outposts had been overrun by these infected people.”
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 14