The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary

by Cole, Christopher

  After looking at the baby I turned to Izzy with a smile and said, “You’re a momma now.”

  Izzy smiled back stating, “Yep, I’m a momma.”

  Izzy’s bed was close to the window where everyone was looking. I held the baby up for everyone to see.

  “Oh, Izzy, you have such a beautiful girl,” Faith said.

  “She’s a little angel,” Kayley said.

  “I’ll admit, she does look cute. Almost as cute as me,” Jess joked.

  “You used to be cute, but I don’t know what happened,” Will teased.

  “Say what?!”

  Everyone laughed.

  “What’s her name?” Molly asked.

  “I haven’t thought of a name, yet. I was so worried about making it here, I haven’t thought of one yet,” Izzy said.

  “It’s got to be something good. Something beautiful,” Ashley mentioned.

  I thought for a moment and realized what the feeling I had inside was. It was a combination of a lot of good feelings, but one stood out the most.

  “How about . . . Hope?” I suggested.

  Izzy looked at me and questioned, “Hope?”

  The baby opened her eyes and looked right at me. Her eyes were just as blue as the Caribbean water.

  I explained, “I mean . . . we tried so hard to get here and now that we’re finally here, I think everything will be okay. Plus, your daughter has been born on the same day that we got here, so that must be a sign of good things to come. A sign of— “

  “Hope,” Clara finished.

  Some of us turned to her.

  Father Lawrence nodded.

  “Hope. Yes Hope, ‘You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.’

  – Job 11:18-19,” Father Lawrence recited.

  “That’s a good one,” Jeff said, amazed.

  “Hope, that’s a wonderful name,” Izzy said, as I gave the baby back to her as carefully as I picked her up.

  “You like that name? You like it sweetheart?” Izzy asked the baby.

  The baby made a little noise in response to Izzy.

  “Then Hope it is,” she smiled.

  They took Izzy and Hope into another room and everyone waved goodbye. I went to take my scrubs off. Now that Lieutenant Amos had found places for us to live, I found myself wondering where to go – with my friends or the Way family. Under normal circumstances, I could pick my friends without a problem, but I kept thinking about the look on Clara’s face, on Jonathan’s face! I don’t know why Clara thinks that I’m her son, but she does – and I’m certain it’s sincere and heartfelt. The look on her face, her tears, and her emotions said that she believed that I was her son. So, what would it do to her emotionally if I told her that I’m not her son? I’ve got some questions for Jonathan.

  I walked out of the room and saw him talking to Lieutenant Amos. There were a few soldiers standing next to Amos as he went on talking. He had a few papers and a map, so he must be showing everyone where they will live in the fort. After all the places where I’ve spent my nights, I wasn’t really particular about what kind of place to live – I just needed to be close to the people that I loved, to my friends.

  Lieutenant Amos started with my group, “This is where we are at the hospital, and here is where you guys will live in the northwest quarter. This apartment house has a few rooms for you to call dibs on the top floor, or the second floor, but your choice is final. When you choose your room, you write down the room number for the landlord.”

  “And what about us? Where is my family going to live?” Evan asked.

  “We found an apartment on the east side of town and . . . you get the top floor,” Lieutenant Amos answered.

  “Sweet,” River said.

  “And us?” Jonathan asked.

  “Actually, your family may be the luckiest. We found a house in a nice neighborhood not too far away from your friends in the apartment. You are in the last available house at the end of this cul-de-sac.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep, so you can’t miss it.”

  I saw on the map that the neighborhood he was talking about was close to my friends’ apartment – just a mile uphill from my friends. I made my decision; I’ll go with the Way family initially.

  “What about me?” Bob asked.

  “Aren’t you with them?” Lieutenant Amos pointed to the Rose family.

  “No, well I am. Evan’s my best friend, so I was wondering since we’re not related did you assign me something different or are, we all assigned the same place?”

  “Our space is limited; we’re trying to maintain an inventory for new arrivals. Sharing space whenever possible is important. It’s a big apartment, so there should be space for you. Unless there’s a problem with you living together.”

  “No, no, it’s not that, just wondering. I got no problem with sharing space and living together. Do you guys mind?” Bob asked the Rose family.

  Evan looked at Bob and started, “Bob . . . you were my best man at my wedding, you held my daughter when she was born, babysat my kids, and picked them up from school, helped my boys learn how to read, you killed that crazy psychopath that tried to kill my wife, and now you’re asking me if it’s okay for you live under the same roof?”

  Bob smiled.

  “No.”

  “What?!” we all exclaimed in unison.

  “Kidding! Of course, you can!” Evan joyfully expressed, giving Bob a big bear hug.

  Everyone laughed.

  “You asshole!” Ginger chuckled, while hitting Evan’s arm.

  “I couldn’t resist. It was perfect timing!” Evan defended.

  “You’re such a dick.”

  We followed the soldiers outside and they got us into separate vehicles to take us to our new homes. There were four different vehicles. One for the Rose family, two for my group, and one for the Way family. My people didn’t say anything, but gave concerned looks as I got in the vehicle with the Way family. I gave a look that told them to trust me and it’ll be okay, but they still looked worried. The vehicles weren’t military, but cars that used to be personal vehicles, but had armor plates on the outside and bars over the windows – which made sense to use whatever they got. Of course, when we got in, Clara sat in the middle to put an arm around both her daughter Ellen and me. Even though I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, I didn’t say anything.

  “I wonder what kind of house we’ll get. What do you think?” Clara asked us.

  “I don’t know,” I hesitantly answered.

  “Oh, come on, cheer up! You two will get your own room.”

  Ellen was practically the only one that didn’t talk throughout the whole ride to the house. The rest of us talked a little every now and then, but I had no idea what to say to this woman. It’s so strange – she thinks I’m her son, and it felt even stranger to play along with it. After a short drive, we made it to the neighborhood and I was surprised to see such nice homes. It was odd seeing houses that didn’t have overgrown plants, broken windows, faded paint, or broken walls and roofs. The driver took a few turns and we drove up a hill into a cul-de-sac. We parked in one of the two driveways of the house at the end of the street.

  The house was big and was painted in blue and white. It actually looked a little like the beach houses in North Carolina that were built lifted for flooding of hurricanes, but still had the same design as the northwestern houses. It wasn’t like those big ones that had twelve bedrooms, but this looked like it might have five or six. On top was a little widow’s walk. Above the front door and the garage, was a porch facing the ocean with sliding glass doors. The place didn’t really have a front yard, just the two driveways, and the small tree in the middle of the front stairway. Most houses built like this look small and narrow, but this one is a little wider and not too tall. It was nice.

  We got out of the vehicle and walked up the stairs t
o the front door. Inside, the walls were all white without pictures or portraits. The hallway led to the kitchen, dining room, living room, and study room. Besides the bathrooms, closets, and doors that led to the garage and backyard, that was everything on this level. We went up one of the two staircases to the bedrooms, bathrooms, the laundry, and another study room that had the stairway leading to the widow’s walk – I was surprised how clean everything was.

  “Oh wow! This is nice and it’s really ours to live in?” Clara asked the soldier.

  “Whole place is yours, but now it’s your responsibility to take care of it. There are some bed sheets, blankets, towels and some soap to start with, but your rations in the future are dependent upon your contributions to the community. There’s some food in the kitchen and pantry. The food in the public cafeterias is free, but if you want to bring food home here you have to buy it with labor points. Tomorrow, outside the parliament building there are huge boards of job postings for which you can volunteer. The best way to travel around in this city is by monorail,” the soldier explained.

  Jonathan nodded and responded, “Okay.”

  “And there’s a monorail that will take the kids to school. It’s outside the neighborhood.”

  As we continued to explore the house, the soldier left boxes full of clean clothes, soap, and two school backpacks.

  He said, “Okay, I’ll let you get settled in. See you tomorrow.”

  As he left Jonathan said, “Alright kids, pick a bedroom.”

  “I call dibs on the one with a bathtub,” Ellen immediately called out.

  “Except for the master bedroom.”

  “I mean, the other one. The one that faces the backyard.”

  Clara turned to me and asked, “Nathan?”

  “The one on the other side. The one that has the front balcony,” I said.

  “Yeah, there you go! You get to see the ocean!”

  Clara didn’t see it, but Ellen rolled her eyes and Jonathan shot her a look. We went upstairs and I dropped my backpack on the carpet floor of my bedroom. My bedroom was nice, white walls, grey carpet, a good size closet, a queen size mattress on a wooden frame, a long dresser with a mirror across from the bed and another next to the closet, a small, but nice bathroom with a shower with no tub, and huge sliding glass doors leading to the balcony – the balcony had a perfect view of the ocean with two comfortable chaise lounge chairs underneath tarps – the perfect place to get a tan in the summer. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 7:30 pm. I walked out through the glass doors to see the sun over the ocean. As I placed my hands on the rails, a calm breeze of fresh air blew in my face and I breathed it in. The walls blocked my vision from seeing the beach, but I could still see the ocean and the horizon where the sun would go down. To the right, was a big stone lighthouse on top of a cliff with a tree in front closer to the edge. To the left, was a big navy carrier and two destroyers anchored in Crescent Moon Bay.

  Jonathan walked in and whispered, “When she’s asleep, I’ll explain everything to the others.”

  I nodded.

  I never fully realized how unbelievable taking a shower was until now. Out there, we bathed either in a river or a creek, and if we were lucky, we would bathe in heavy rain. The hot water felt great on my skin and in my hair. The body wash made me feel clean as it washed away the dirt and sweat. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had a shower.

  After I dried off and got dressed in clean blue jeans and a white undershirt with a black collared shirt over it, I stepped out and smelled something good – there was even a new pair of sneakers for me. I walked down and already Clara and Jonathan were cooking something in the oven. Either my nose wasn’t fully working or I haven’t smelled that smell in a long time, because I couldn’t tell what it was but it was familiar. Clara and Jonathan looked like they’ve already showered.

  “Ah Nate! How does it feel to be all clean?” Clara asked.

  “It feels nice,” I hesitantly answered.

  “Where’s your sister?”

  “In her room, I think.”

  “Call her down, let her know—”

  “I’m right here, so you don’t have to call me,” Ellen interrupted as she walked down the stairs.

  I didn’t look at her, but I could feel her eyes stinging me. Jonathan was setting up the table and I was still trying to figure what to even say.

  “What’s for dinner?” I asked.

  “I thought since it’s our first night in, we’d have something special, pizza,” Clara answered.

  Suddenly I remembered what cheese and bread smelled like. In a few minutes, I’m about to eat a few slices of pizza!

  Ellen started, “How the hell was there pizza in—? “

  “Watch your mouth,” Jonathan said.

  “Or what, Dad? You— “

  “You won’t get dinner if you keep this up!”

  “Jonathan! Ellen! Please don’t fight! We just got a house and we have Nathan back! Our son! Your brother! Let’s just enjoy our company and the food,” Clara said to both of them.

  That was enough for them to stop arguing. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle, so I stayed out of it. I helped set the table by placing all the water glasses for everyone. I looked in a drawer and found cloth napkins – another surprise. The dining room table was made of glass and wood – it was nice, like the kitchen. The kitchen had white and grey marble counters, black oven, microwave, and dishwasher, cool hanging lights, and a big silver Samsung multi-door smart fridge. After a while, the pizza was ready and Jonathan placed it in the center of the table like they do in restaurants. It was a cheese pizza with a breadstick crust that had garlic on it. Each bite of the hot steamy pizza was like a bite of pure paradise. I savored it as if it was my last meal.

  Clara saw me enjoying the pizza and asked, “It’s really good, isn’t it?”

  I nodded.

  “Just like Bellagio’s Pizza, right?”

  After a few seconds I said, “It’s . . . even better.”

  “You remember how good that pizza was during that early spring? We’d eaten there before, of course, but that spring day it was just the two of us it was the best. I dragged you out of school to play hooky with me for the day, I had so much fun that day; it was a special day.”

  It was strange watching and listening to her as she talked. She looked and sounded very much like my mother. Jonathan looked similar to my father, but seemed very different from him in temperament. During dinners at my house Dad would tell funny stories to Mom – embellishing liberally for humorous effect (my Dad was known to strain and travel many a narrative mile just to chase a joke), but Jonathan was quiet and kept to himself.

  Clara continued, “And we went to downtown Portland and walked along the Pearl District. I don’t know, pulling that pizza out of the freezer made me think about that day. I’m thinking that it’s a sign of good things to come.”

  Suddenly, I remembered back to Fort Drum and seeing that ladybug with my friends. Was that a sign of good things to come, or a sign of incredibly bad things to come? Was this happening again . . . for something good to happen first, and then something bad after. Looking back at all of it, there were a lot of each, good and bad that have happened to me. Pat, Cindy, the mute girl, being separated from my parents, and the prospect of never seeing them again; meeting Will, Kayley, Molly, Patch, Jess, all the others, and finding this place along with Izzy and her new baby.

  “Nathan?” Clara asked.

  “Huh?” I lifted my head up.

  “You kind of spaced out on us, you alright?”

  “Yeah, it’s just . . . today is a lot to take in. A lot has happened.”

  “No kidding,” Ellen spoke.

  “Yeah, but it’s over. We’re safe now,” Jonathan said.

  “No, it’s another beginning,” Clara said.

  After a few moments of silent eating, Clara asked, “So that other group you were with, how did they find you?”

  I thought for a moment be
fore speaking, not wanting to give too much information about my friends to these people. I glanced at Jonathan and Ellen – they glanced back.

  “I don’t really remember. I was fighting some zombies and then I think I fell and passed out. They must have found me, because I woke up in a building with them helping me,” I answered.

  “They seem nice people, is it true you saved one of their lives?” Clara asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “How?”

  After a long pause I said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Why?” Ellen asked.

  We all turned to her.

  “I mean it’s pretty heroic to save someone’s life, right? So, why don’t you want to talk about it?” Ellen asked.

  “Ellen!” Clara exclaimed.

  “Unless you didn’t really save them and you lied— “

  “Enough Ellen!” Jonathan shouted.

  After a long silence, I spoke.

  “I didn’t kill just zombies . . . to help them,” I started.

  Ellen scoffed, “So, you lied— “

  “I killed people to save them,” I finished very grimly.

  She turned and looked at me.

  “I killed zombies and humans to save them.”

  Ellen looked a little shaken.

  We finished dinner, but the positive energy had evaporated. The pizza was so good I almost regretted brushing my teeth, erasing the afterglow of pizza sauce with toothpaste. I then stayed awake waiting for Jonathan to come and explain what was going on with Clara.

  Finally, at about 10:50 pm he came to my room with Ellen, placing his finger to his lips for us to remain quiet. I grabbed my backpack and we snuck downstairs and out through the front door into the street.