Apokalypsis Book One

by Kate Morris

  “What’s going on, Roman? And where the fuck are we? This is…” Stephanie complained.

  Roman ignored her and took off. He tossed over his shoulder, “Keep Connor out of the house. Go check out the place, bud!”

  He hoped he could rely on Stephanie to do the right thing, but he knew he was probably placing too much faith in her.

  “I’ll help her, Roman,” Dez offered, and he sent her a nod of appreciation as he sped past her.

  “Harper, come and help us!” he yelled to her mother, who was just standing there looking up at the blue sky and treetops. He didn’t have time to coddle her depression. He needed help. She snapped out of it and followed Roman, although he left her in the dust.

  Inside, Jane was trying to get her father to respond to her through tears of fear and anguish. He couldn’t let her father die. He was the only family she had left.

  Roman dropped the box, removed the lid and took out a pair of rubber gloves. Then he dug around and found gauze, bandaging, tape, and tweezers. Harper knelt beside Jane’s shirtless father. He handed her a pair of latex gloves, as well.

  “I think the bullet’s still in there,” Harper said as she examined the wound. Brian held a flashlight so they could better see. She slid her hand under his right side. “Roll him slightly, guys. I can’t see what I’m looking for.”

  They did, and her father moaned in pain in his semi-wakeful state. Roman didn’t see an exit wound, either, but there was a lot of blood.

  “Jane, get us some towels and water,” he said to her. He also wanted her out of there. As soon as she left, he asked Harper, “Is he gonna live?”

  She shook her head, “I don’t know, Roman. I’m not a doctor. It seems like he’s lost a lot of blood, and I don’t know how to remove a bullet from a body. We’ll have to stick our fingers in and feel around, I guess. I don’t even know what the hell to do.”

  He nodded and laid his hand on her shoulder, “Me neither, but we’ll all three work through this.”

  And they did. Jane brought towels, and they mopped up and swabbed away the blood that oozed in a slow trickle from his wound. Next, they used their gloved fingers and dug around in the wound trying to find the bullet. None of them could.

  “I’ve heard of doctors leaving bullets in the body when they can’t get them out or if the surgery risk is higher than the risk of leaving it in,” Brian said. “Maybe it’s just too deep in there to find. Maybe we can just leave it in there.”

  Roman looked at Harper who shrugged and shook her head. He didn’t know, either. “What do we do?”

  “Stitch him up and give him antibiotics to ward off infection?” she said unsurely.

  “What do we use to stitch him, and does anyone know how to sew?” Roman asked everyone.

  “I can sew,” Harper said. “We just need a needle and thread. Jane, you dig through the boxes and find some sort of antibiotic cream and antibiotic pills. Pain pills, too. Between all of us families who contributed medicine, surely there were antibiotics in there. Roman, you and I will sew him up, so find a needle and thread. We’ll burn the needle with a lighter to sterilize it. Brian, you and Destiny are going to have to hold him down. Get that Noah kid in here to help.”

  She’d jumped into the role of adult, and for that Roman was thankful. He wasn’t so sure if he could’ve handled this without her.

  An hour later, through the horrifying moans and cries of pain from her father, they had him doped up, sewn up, and bandaged up. Jane was on the porch with Connor and Stephanie. After her father had cried out the first time, they’d sent her out.

  “Jane,” Gyles said hoarsely.

  “I’ll get her, Mr. Livingston,” Harper said and touched his shoulder lightly.

  A split second later, Jane was kneeling on the floor at her father’s side. She held his hand in both of hers.

  “Dad,” she whispered and pressed his hand to her cheek.

  “Janie,” he said. “You have to go to the library.”

  “What?”

  “You’re going to need to learn how to grow a garden. In my gun safe is a store of seeds. Learn what you can. Get books on gardening and survival. The electricity’s going to fail soon.”

  “Dad, just rest,” she said and kissed his hand.

  “Listen to me,” he said and looked up at Roman, too. “Don’t leave here. Make this your home now. You’re safe here. Looters won’t find the place. Don’t go to the safe zones. Not safe. You have to learn how to survive.” He paused so long that Roman figured he fell asleep. Then he restarted, “Cut firewood. Grow a garden. Learn medicine. Go back to your grandmother’s in a few weeks and get those hives. You’ll need them. You can use honey on wounds. Remember that. Go to the creek down in the woods if you need water. It’s clean.”

  “Dad,” she whispered and told him to rest again. He didn’t. He just ignored her and kept going.

  “Roman, learn how to use the weapons. Get more. You’ll need them. Steal from abandoned homes if you have to. There are a lot of dead people out there now, so there will be empty homes. Learn how to reload the ammo for them. I have a reloading bench in the basement. The books are all there. The ammo I have down there will last a while, but you’ll need more for hunting and survival eventually.”

  He faded out, looked like he was asleep. Then he snapped awake again.

  “Learn how to trap and hunt and fish out of the stream. This food won’t last more than a month for this many people. Only eat twice a day. Be careful who you let live here. Take those horses to the neighbor’s farm. They’re gone. I already know they’re dead. I checked on them when I came home.” He paused again and coughed. “They have a few cows grazing, but they were grain farmers. They have a pasture where you can keep those horses. They don’t need a lot of hay, but I know they have a silo full of grain. Feed them that to get them through the winter. Keep the pipes warm in the house. If they freeze, you’ll be in trouble.”

  “Don’t, please don’t,” Jane whispered and smoothed the hair back from his forehead.

  “Just listen to me, baby,” he said. “If the electric fails, you’ll need a way to cook. Go to town, to the historic site. Remember the old brick mansion I took you through a few summers ago?” She nodded. “There’s an old wood cook stove in there. You guys will have to steal it. It’ll be the only way you have of cooking when the electric and gas run out.”

  She nodded vigorously. “Yes, I hear you. I’m listening.”

  “Stay together. Stay with Roman,” he said and closed his eyes. “Don’t get separated. Take care of her.”

  “Yes, sir,” Roman promised.

  He was weak and didn’t wake again. Roman wished they had a doctor here. He didn’t want her father to die. He seemed like a good man, and she was obviously crazy about him.

  “You kids can start unpacking,” Harper told them. “I’ll stay with him. Don’t worry, Jane. If anything changes, I’ll find you.”

  They got straight to work after scrubbing their bloody hands in the bathroom sink. As they were leaving, Roman stopped her and embraced Jane for a long time so that she could relieve some of her stress.

  “I’m so scared, Roman,” she said when she pulled back with tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t make it.”

  “Don’t think like that. Just focus on the work. And don’t worry. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  She nodded and sniffed and Roman kissed her softly on the cheek, avoiding a bruise.

  “Let’s go,” he said and went back out into the living room where others were already bringing in boxes and crates and tubs of supplies. “Jane, why don’t you figure out sleeping arrangements and tell us where you want all this.”

  She took a deep breath and finally nodded. It took a long time, but they finally got everything unloaded before dark and before the rain started. Some of it was stored in the small storage shed behind the house, some in the basement, and some in closets. It wasn’t a huge house, about half t
he size of his parents’, but it was enough.

  The first floor housed the master suite, which was considerably smaller than anything in his former neighborhood, but it did have a queen size bed and a small three-quarter bath. There was a sizable pantry off the kitchen, but no attached garage. Upstairs was a loft, a full-size bath, and two bedrooms. The basement was partially finished and housed a rec room with sectional sofas and the laundry equipment and utility room.

  They set up the sleeping arrangements. Brian and Noah were to sleep in the loft on a sofa and the Murphy bed hidden in the wall. Dez and her mother were to take one bedroom on the second floor, and he would sleep in the other with Connor. Steph would have the basement to herself. Jane’s father, they moved to the first-floor master where she said she wanted to stay, too, until he was well. After that, they’d rearrange and figure it out.

  As long as she was in the same house as him, Roman would rest easy. He didn’t feel as if he could ever be separated from her again. They were somehow connected. He didn’t understand their strange bond yet, but someday when things settled down, he would be able to reflect a little more on their relationship. He’d also tell Connor about their mother and somehow find a way to grieve, as well. Not today. Today was about getting to tomorrow.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  They went with Noah to transport the horses to the farm nearby. They were antsy from being stuck in the trailer last night and all day today so far. Jane went with them to show them where it was, which was a good thing because they never would’ve found it on their own. It was almost as secluded as her father’s place, and Noah nearly passed the hidden drive. Once they got into the property deeper, though, it opened up into a massive grain farm with planted fields of winter wheat, corn that still needed to be harvested, and huge silos and barns. The house was small and white like her grandmother’s.

  “Jane, wait in the…”

  “No! We talked about this, remember?”

  “Right, sorry,” Roman said as if he were disappointed he had to go along with her order of not separating anymore.

  They took the horses to the pasture Jane led them to and freed them to their own devices.

  “There’s a spring reservoir out there at the other end of this pasture where they can get fresh water with the cows,” she told them as she latched the gate again.

  “We’ll probably need to walk over here from now on to check on them,” Roman said to them. “We should conserve our gas.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Noah said. “I think we can check on them every couple days. That’s a huge pasture. They’ll be fine for a few days at a time. If we grain them every other day, it’ll last longer, too.”

  “Your father said these farmers are dead,” Roman said. “I think we should check their house to see if there’s anything we can use.”

  He tried the back door and found it unlocked. “Careful, guys,” Jane warned.

  Noah nodded and took out his pistol. They searched the house but discovered it empty of people, so they got busy taking food supplies and medicine bottles they found in the bathrooms.

  “Someone buried them out back,” Jane said to him as she came up to him putting a box in the truck’s bed. She’d needed to sneak away for a moment to use the bathroom in their barn. “I found their graves.”

  “Maybe your dad,” he suggested, to which she nodded as Noah unhitched the horse trailer. “Tomorrow I’ll go first thing with Brian and hit the places in this town your dad suggested.”

  “Yeah, it’s not far,” she said. “I’ll have to go with you to show you how to get there and where that old historical home is.”

  They returned to the house as low gurgles of thunder rumbled in the distance warning of a much more sizable storm moving in than just the drizzle that started a few hours ago. Destiny made everyone sandwiches from the lunchmeat they needed to use up, and they ate in the dining room. Roman forced Jane to eat something because her stomach felt too sensitive and uneasy even to consider eating anything. Stephanie complained about the food again, to which Roman jumped her case in front of everyone and embarrassed her. Jane felt bad for her. She wasn’t used to this. Stephanie had led a much different and probably much more pampered lifestyle. Her days of hanging out at the mall, getting facials, eating sushi, and drinking expensive lattes were over. Jane figured she’d adjust a lot faster to roughing it than Stephanie.

  “Go to hell, Roman,” Stephanie finally said and left the table with her food.

  “Be patient,” Jane said to him. “She’s been through a lot.”

  He regarded her as if she were one of those crazy, infected people. Referring to them as night crawlers seemed to make them even scarier than they were. She just wanted to stick with the term infected people for the time being.

  After dinner, she checked on her father again and found Brutus at his side sitting on the floor staring at his master. Her father’s condition hadn’t changed any, not for the better or the worse. Harper told her that was probably a good thing, but Jane wasn’t sure. He was so pale and still asleep.

  When she returned to the living area, Roman was finishing up telling of their plans for the next day to go to town and retrieve things. Everyone went their separate ways after he finished. They were all exhausted. He warned everyone to get some sleep. Tomorrow, they were leaving early. Nobody even bothered to argue or turn on the radio or television. What was the point? They were in this now. There was no going back. Maybe not ever.

  She took her shower after everyone else had gone to bed. It felt good to wash the day’s worries off of her. Instead of using the blow dryer, she braided her hair and donned a tank top and yoga pants. They were the first things she found in her luggage that Roman packed for her. Then she laid beside her father, slipping onto the bed as carefully as she could without jostling or disturbing him.

  They were finally together. Maureen wasn’t interfering. The family courts weren’t keeping them apart. She finally had her dad. And now he might die. Jane’s heart was broken. First her grandmother and now her father. She wondered at the capacity of the human psyche and how much more she could take. Roman lost both parents. He had no idea if his grandparents were still alive. All he had left was Connor. All she had was her father and him. Soon, it could be that all she had was just him.

  After what felt like hours, she finally got up. When she couldn’t sleep back at Nana Peaches’s farm, she would walk through the apple orchard. She wondered if Roman ever saw her. He said he watched her from his window sometimes. That made her blush. Jane left her father’s side a little after midnight and tiptoed to the living room with the intention of going to the kitchen to get some water.

  “Jane!” Roman whispered from the sofa as if she’d startled him. “What’s going on? Is it your father?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. There was a nightlight plugged in near the entry door that offered a tiny bit of illumination to the whole area. “He’s fine. The same. No fever or anything.”

  “That’s good,” he remarked and rose.

  “I couldn’t sleep. The storm,” she offered forth a lie.

  “Yeah,” he acknowledged as if he didn’t believe her and crossed the room to stand in front of her. He stroked his hands up and down her bare arms. “How are you holding up?”

  “How are you?” she turned on him, getting a shrug.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve just gotta keep Connor safe.”

  “I know. I’ll be there to help.”

  “If something happens to me…”

  She stopped him, “It won’t.”

  Roman sighed and said in a soft, pleading tone, “Take care of him for me, Jane. At least I’ll know that you’ve got his best interests at heart.”

  She nodded as Brutus padded over. He seemed agitated and even whined once.

  “What’s wrong, buddy?” she asked and stooped to pet his big head. He whined and tapped his front paws on the ground a few times. “I already fed you.”

 
“Does he need water?”

  “I gave him that, too,” she told him.

  He whined again and swung his square head toward the door.

  “Does he need to go out to do his business or something?”

  “He doesn’t do this when he’s gotta go,” she said and walked toward the front door.

  Brutus bolted in front of her and growled deep in his throat. It scared her. He was blocking her from opening the door.

  “Hey, get back from him, Jane,” Roman said quietly so as not to alert everyone in the house and wake them.

  “He’s never like this. Easy, boy. Easy, Brutus,” she assured the dog and petted his head again. He wagged his tail, but when Jane reached for the doorknob again, he growled. The sound was low and menacing. Then he whined and backed his rear up to the door.

  “Is he…does he have this infection?” Roman questioned as he approached and stood next to her. “Do you think animals can get it?”

  A memory from her childhood, one of the rare good ones she had from when she was staying with her father during one of their brief visits when he could get Maureen to give her to him, flooded her mind.

  “He did this to me before,” she said. “I think I was like thirteen or so. He was just a pup then, about a year old. He wouldn’t let me get out the door then, either.”

  “Why not?”

  “We weren’t sure. I wanted to go out and catch fireflies in a jar. He stood in front of the door like this. The next day, my dad found bear paw prints in the woods near the house.”

  “Shit, do you think there’s a bear out there?”

  “I don’t…”

  Brutus swung around and growled at the door this time with his hackles risen. It caused the hair on the back of her own neck to rise in sync. A few seconds later, a clattering on the front porch came. Then she heard those familiar sounds, the ones those non-humans made when they were trying to form words and couldn’t manage to anymore.

  “Jane, get back,” he hissed and yanked her arm. She stumbled against him. Roman pulled her upright again.

  “Brutus, come,” she whispered fervently to the dog. Thank God she hadn’t just let him out. Those things might be out there. A second later, her suspicion was answered. Something banged against the front door. It wasn’t a friendly neighbor’s knock, either. It was a crashing, pounding expression, as if the knocker had lost some of their motor skills and was using more of their arm and shoulder than a straightforward rapping of knuckles.