by Eric Vall
“It’s okay,” Paige said with a smile. “We know everyone is just trying to get by.”
“I hate to ask,” Trinity said, and she bit her lip. “Do you think we could stay with you? Just for winter?”
“No,” Silvie said as she shot her friend an annoyed look, “we are going to the farm. We talked about this. We aren’t going to stop.”
“I’m really sorry,” I said with a frown. “We have too many people as it is.”
“I get it,” Trinity sighed.
“What about just one of us?” Daisy asked.
“Well, one and a half,” Silvie said with a smile.
“No,” Trinity said.
“Come on, Trin,” Daisy said. “He’d be able to take care of them better than we will.”
“Yeah,” Silvie said. “We don’t know if the farm is still there or not.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and my eyebrows pulled together. “Did you say one and a half?”
“Yeah,” Daisy said with a soft smile. “Come here.”
She led the girls and I to the passenger door of the truck, and through the rain on the window I saw the outline of a woman, but Daisy opened the door to reveal the woman was holding an infant.
“Oh,” I said as I looked at the mother and baby. The mother was black-skinned like the other women, with small curls that hung around her face and neck, and she looked thin and tired, but even still her features were striking. She had high cheekbones, deep brown eyes, and full lips that sat above a small rounded chin. She truly was stunning. The baby was small, and I figured it was probably only a few months old.
“This is Kimmy,” Daisy said. “And the little one is Anthony.”
“Oh, my God,” Bailey breathed beside me.
“The patron saint of miracles,” I said with a soft smile, then I looked over to the other women. “Did you deliver him yourselves?”
“We didn’t have another choice,” Trinity said.
“It wasn’t easy,” Kimmy said with a small laugh, and her full lips parted to reveal a set of pearly white teeth.
“I bet it wasn’t,” I chuckled, then I leaned in slightly but stopped myself. “May I?”
“Sure,” Kimmy said. She pulled the blanket back to reveal the infant’s small, beautiful face, and both Paige and Bailey gave out an audible ‘aww’. He had small curls on the top of his head, and the same deep, lovely complexion as his mother.
“He’s beautiful,” Bailey said softly.
“So cute,” Paige cooed.
“Can she stay with you?” Daisy asked hopefully in a small voice.
“No,” Kimmy growled. “We are going to Mass—”
“We love you, Kimmy,” Silvie interrupted as she knelt down by her friend. “We just want to protect you and Anthony.”
“I know,” Kimmy said softly. “But I’ll be okay with you all.”
“I’m not just going to give my sister to some random guy,” Trinity said.
“You both need to be reasonable,” Silvie groaned. “We aren’t set up to take care of a baby.”
“It’s just too risky to be on the road,” Daisy continued. “We need to go to the farm, but we don’t know what we are going to find there.”
“Then we’ll figure something else out,” Trinity scoffed.
“Tav,” Paige said quickly. “Can we talk to you?”
“Alright,” I said, and I looked at the women. “We’ll be right back.”
I let Paige pull me toward our truck, and she stopped when we were just out of hearing range of the others.
“We have to take her in,” Paige said firmly.
“Bailey?” I asked with a raised brow.
“Paige is right,” the blonde said with a nod.
“I don’t think they can take care of him properly,” Paige said, and she looked back over to the truck.
“The mom, Kimmy, is pretty thin,” Bailey said, and she bit her lip.
“I did notice that,” I said with a nod.
“We have plenty of extra dorm rooms,” Paige said.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “We can’t leave her out here.”
“She may not want to come with us,” I said.
“But if she does she can, right?” Paige asked.
“I think you girls are right,” I sighed. “They obviously care about her, but I’m worried for her and the baby.”
“So, we’re taking her with us,” Bailey said as if it was decided.
“She didn’t seem like she wanted to go.” I shrugged.
“Well, we should ask again,” Bailey said.
“Let’s go, then,” Paige said with a smile, and she started back toward the women’s truck.
“Trinity,” I said as we walked up. “I know you don’t want her to go, but if she would like to she is welcome.”
“I kind of don’t want my sister—”
“Can we have this discussion in private for a moment?” Silvie cleared her throat.
“Uhh, sure,” I said, and then Bailey, Paige, and I walked away from the truck again so that the other women could talk to each other.
We didn’t have to go far, since the rain was really coming down, and we couldn’t really hear what they talked about.
A few minutes passed, and Bailey started to shiver. I was about to yell over that we needed to be on our way, but then Silvie called over to us, and we returned to the truck.
“I’d like to go,” Kimmy sighed, and she leaned out of the passenger side of the truck with baby Anthony in her arms.
“You would?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said with a sad nod. “I’m only holding them back, but if I can stay in one place and help, that’s what I’d like to do. I promise I’ll be useful.”
“Kim, no,” Trinity said, and she shook her head. “You’re useful to us.”
“Would it be alright with you?” Kimmy asked without taking her eyes from me.
“It’s okay with us,” I said with a smile.
“Okay,” she nodded, and then she turned to her sister. “Come back for me, okay?”
“You don’t have to do this,” Trinity said, and her voice cracked with emotion.
“I do, sister,” Kimmy said softly.
“We’ll take good care of her,” Paige said with a soft smile.
“Kim, please,” Trinity said, and her bottom lip quivered. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know,” Kimmy said. “But I have to think about Anthony, and about you all.”
“This won’t be permanent,” I told Trinity. “You all can come back and get her whenever you get settled on the farm.”
“Is this really what you want?” Trinity asked Kimmy.
“It is,” Kimmy said, and she pulled Anthony a bit closer to her.
“It’s the best decision,” Daisy said, and Silvie nodded.
“I’ll be back for you,” Trinity said seriously.
“I know you will, sister,” Kimmy said, and she walked toward Trinity and held her in her embrace as her sister cried against her.
I looked over to see both Paige and Bailey wiping tears from their eyes.
“Thank you,” Daisy said, and we all turned to look at her.
“We were worried we wouldn’t be able to provide for the baby,” Silvie whispered. “We want them to be safe.”
“We’ll take good care of them,” I said with a nod.
“We have a nurse too,” Paige told the women. “We’ll have her look over Kimmy and Anthony.”
“Thank you,” Silvie said.
“We really do appreciate it,” Daisy said. “But we only just met you, and we know we’re asking a lot.”
“It’s okay,” I told her, and I put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re trying to do what you think is best for Kimmy and the baby.”
“We are,” Daisy said, and I saw a tear roll down her face and mix in with the rain.
“We’ll be at Piper Girls College,” I told them.
“Okay,” Daisy said with a nod.
“Yo
u all should go give her hugs,” Bailey said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Paige said softly. “It’s not good for them to be out here in the rain.”
“Okay,” Silvie said, and she wiped her eyes, then they both walked over to Trinity and Kimmy and joined the embrace.
“This is crazy,” Bailey breathed.
“Right,” Paige whispered. “I mean, I’m happy she’s coming, but this is not how I was expecting our day to go.”
“We still need to get back to campus,” I said. “The guard will be coming through any time.”
“We should warn them about the Guard, too,” Bailey said.
“Yes,” I said with a nod.
“Ladies,” Paige said to interrupt the group hug. “I don’t know if you all saw the smoke earlier, but that means the National Guard is leaving the camp in Burlington.”
“How do you know?” Trinity asked, and her eyes grew wide.
“We know they were going to blow a gas tanker when they left,” I said.
“What does that mean?” Daisy asked.
“The Guard was keeping Canadians behind the border,” Bailey explained.
“There’s going to be a lot of people heading south in the next few days,” Paige said. “We all need to get out of this area, and quickly.”
“Whatever you do, don’t go north,” I added.
“Okay,” Silvie said, and she kissed Kimmy on her forehead and looked her in the eyes. “We’ll be back for you.”
“I know,” Kimmy said with a small smile.
Daisy gave her and the baby one final hug, then joined Silvie in the truck so Kimmy was left with her sister.
“Be safe,” Trinity said.
“I will be,” Kimmy said softly.
“I love you,” Trinity said, and tears rolled down her face among the drops of rain.
“I love you too, sis,” Kimmy choked. “Now, go.”
Trinity bent down and kissed baby Anthony, then she kissed her sister on the cheek and walked toward the truck.
“Come on,” Paige said, and she grabbed Kimmy’s arm gently and led her toward the truck.
We all piled into the military vehicle up the road, and we were beyond soaked. The girls had let Kimmy sit in the passenger seat, and I turned the truck on, then looked over to the dark complected woman. She was beautiful, with long, wavy hair that hung down her back, large dark eyes, and plump, full lips.
“It should get warm in here soon,” I said.
“Is Anthony warm enough?” Paige asked, concerned.
“He’s okay,” Kimmy said, and she looked down at her baby, then back up at us. “Thank you all. Like I said, I promise to be useful.”
“I’m sure you will be,” I said with a smile. “But I’m just happy we could help.”
I started down the road.
“Paige,” I said. “You’re still on map duty.”
“Right,” the brunette said, and she pulled out the map. “There’s a turn up here on your right in about half a mile, take that road.”
“Okay,” I said.
“How old is Anthony?” Bailey asked.
“He’s about four months old,” Kimmy answered.
“Wait,” Paige said, and she thought for a moment. “So you were pregnant before the EMP?”
“I had found out about a month before,” Kimmy said with a nod.
“Where’s his dad?” Bailey asked, and then she bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--”
“It’s alright,” Kimmy said gently. “He died shortly after the EMP.”
“I’m so sorry,” the blonde said with a frown.
“What happened?” Paige asked. “If you don’t mind.”
“It’s okay,” Kimmy said, and she readjusted baby Anthony. “He went out to get us supplies, but we found him dead from a gunshot wound a couple days later.”
“That’s awful,” Bailey said.
“I’m very sorry,” I said softly. “The world can be cruel, especially to good people.”
“Thank you,” Kimmy said, and she smiled at me. “He was a good man.”
“I’m sure he was,” I said with a nod.
“So how many others are there?” Kimmy asked as I took the turn Paige had told me about.
“Almost thirty,” the brunette said.
“Wow,” Kimmy said. “That’s a lot of people.”
“We’ve been working to prepare for winter for months,” Bailey said with a smile.
“Whatever I can do to help,” Kimmy offered.
“First of all, we should get you checked out by Marla,” Paige said.
“Who is Marla?” Kimmy asked.
“She was a nurse before the EMP,” Bailey told her.
“That would be wonderful,” Kimmy said. “Anthony seems to be doing well, but it would be amazing to hear it from a nurse.”
“Good,” Paige said with a smile. “But you should get checked out too.”
“Okay,” Kimmy agreed, then she looked at each of us with a soft expression. “I want to say thank you again. I’m sorry to put you out like this. We… well… we didn’t know what was going to be at the farm in Massachusetts, but they needed to go and hopefully reconnect with—”
“It’s not putting us out,” I told her. “We want to help.”
“I appreciate it,” Kimmy said with a smile. “It’s been awhile since I met anyone who was nice for the sake of being nice.”
“We really do just want to help,” Paige said.
“I can tell,” Kimmy said with a smile.
“There’s two other boys that will be at the campus too,” Bailey said happily.
“There are other children?” Kimmy asked.
“They’re older,” Paige said with a nod. “But yeah, they’re Marla’s kids.”
“The nurse,” Kimmy said with a nod.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “I think they’re four and five, or five and six, something like that.”
“That’s great to hear,” Kimmy said with a smile.
I listened as the girls told Kimmy about our group, and Paige gave me the occasional direction, but I focused on the road through the driving rain and thought about what we had done that day.
I wondered how the others would react to our new additions, but I also knew that we had the means to take care of her far better than the other women did. They had tried their best, but I felt that they had done the right thing in letting her come with us.
I looked over to the woman and her small child and felt a smile come to my face. I had always wanted children at some point in my life and looking at Kimmy and Anthony gave me a whole new respect for parents. This woman had chosen to leave people she knew and loved to come with us, strangers, because she felt it was the right thing to do for her child. If that wasn’t love, I didn’t know what was.
Chapter 3
“Oh, my God,” Kimmy breathed as we drove by the dead bodies that were hung at the bridge by campus. They had started to decompose and most were bloated and gray, with open eyes that stared at you, and were emitting a rotten stench that could only belong to the dead.
“Oh,” Paige said, and she looked at Kimmy. “I’m sorry, we should have warned you.”
“Did you do this?” she asked with wide eyes.
“Yes,” Bailey said with a nod. “A lot of people were trying to come up to campus.”
“It was my idea,” I told her with a soft smile. “We aren’t bad guys, but we have to look the part to keep people away.”
“I see,” Kimmy said, and she pursed her lips and pulled baby Anthony a bit closer. “I understand.”
“You aren’t upset, are you?” Paige asked.
“No,” Kimmy said, and she smiled gently at us. “I do understand. You had to do what was needed. I was startled, that’s all.”
“Okay,” Bailey said, and she frowned slightly. “I don’t want you to think we’re terrible people.”
“Not at all,” Kimmy said. “We all have to do whatever we can to survive in the world as
it is. I know I have done bad things since the change.”
“Thank you for understanding,” I said with a smile. “Still though, we should have warned you.”
“It’s okay,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Does this mean we are almost to the campus?”
“As soon as we get to the top of this hill,” I said as I started up the hill that led to our home.
“I can’t wait for you to meet everyone,” Bailey said with a grin.
“I will be happy to meet your family,” Kimmy said with a beautiful smile.
I reached the top of the hill and saw Rolly up on the roof waving down at us, so I waved to the old man and parked the truck near the gym.
“Hey!” Anna called to us as she and Tara came out of the building.
The girls rushed over to the truck with Winchester as I opened the driver’s door, and Tara wrapped me in a warm hug. The rain had died down to a drizzle, but I was still soaked from changing the tire earlier.
“Ew, you’re all wet,” Tara said with a grimace as she pulled away.
“It was pouring just a bit ago,” Paige said from behind me.
“We’re glad you’re back,” Anna said seriously. “The guard blew the tanker.”
“I know,” I said calmly.
“We need to get everyone to …” Anna trailed off as she looked around me into the truck, and her eyes grew wide. “Who is that?”
“This is Kimmy,” Bailey said happily, and Winchester hopped in the truck to lick her and Paige.
“Hello,” Kimmy said with a small wave, and Winchester leaned over to lick her as well.
“Oh, and the baby’s name is Anthony,” Paige added.
“I’m sorry, I think I just had a stroke,” Tara said in a flat voice as she stared at the new additions to our tribe.
“Tara!” Bailey chuckled.
“It’s okay,” Kimmy laughed. “I’m sure this is a surprise.”
“Uh, yeah,” Tara said with wide eyes.
“We don’t have time for this now,” Anna said with authority. “We need to get everyone here, we don’t have much time until the guard passes through.”
“You’re right,” I said with a nod. “Bailey, Paige, please show Kimmy inside and meet me back out here in two minutes. And take Winchester with you.”
“On it,” Paige said, and they all hopped out of the truck.