“Five minutes,” Chase shouted as he drove down the highway at one hundred and ten miles per hour. “Dax, help me find the paper I wrote the directions on. I can’t remember the name of the road we turn on last.”
Dax, now in the front seat as Lucas had elected to sit with Sherri, rifled through the junk piled up between them. He sped by exit after exit, with none ringing any bells in his head that it was the exit they needed. Dax finally handed Chase a piece of paper. As he tried to drive and read it, he couldn’t decipher his own handwriting.
“Shit, I can’t read it,” he grumbled.
“Give it here,” he heard Jayda shout form the back. “I was always better at reading your handwriting than you were,”
Chase handed the paper to Dax to hand back. He was just relieved to hear Jayda say anything. She’d been far too silent back there for a pregnant woman who’d just seen her zombie husband shot. An unnerving quiet, in fact.
“The exit should be coming up soon if I’m reading the numbers right. Sure, once we start reading signs, one will make this chicken scratch make sense,” Jayda said.
“Sorry, I was in a rush when I wrote it. Thought I would remember it. I’ve been here before,” Chase stated, trying hard to keep the tremor out of his voice.
With squealing tires, they made the off-ramp and turned onto a main drag through the small town. At Jayda’s insistence, he turned a few roads later. Nothing on it looked familiar, and he grew more frustrated and impatient as they went.
Finally, he turned in a driveway, and double-timed it back to the main drag. Jayda protested from the back, insisting she was right, he just didn’t give it enough time, but he just drove on.
“Hold on,” he yelled as he turned the car down a dirt road. “I recognize this.”
Dirt came up all around the van as Chase straightened the tires. For a second there he could make out nothing in the tan cloud he’d created. Soon, they flew past one old farm house, a bit of fields and then some trees. Finally, the tree line to the side of them gave way to an open expanse of land with a pond at the end.
“We’re here,” Chase exclaimed as he pulled up by the pond and came to an abrupt stop.
Everyone jumped out fast. The cold sweat on Chase’s neck caught the warm breeze.
“It’s beautiful,” Sherri exclaimed.
“There’s no one here,” Dax muttered.
“This is the place,” Chase sighed.
“You sure you got it right?” Dax asked.
“Yes,” Chase said even as he went through the conversation in his head. “This was the time and the place. He’ll be here. There are a million reasons a guy like him could be running a little late.”
“Let’ just take a breath and enjoy this view. It’s gorgeous, undisturbed, and silent. Not a sight of a zombie,” Sherri sighed.
“Think it through,” Dax spat. “You sure you didn’t get something wrong? You owe me man.”
“I got it right. I’ll deliver.”
“Right, just like you delivered gas from that gas station. Just like you…”
“Shut up,” Chase interrupted Dax. “I’ve done the best I could every step of the way.”
“Sure,” Dax grunted.
“You invited yourself,” Chase added. “You can uninvited yourself any time.”
“You know what, without me inviting myself here, you wouldn’t have these guns, or your lives then for that matter,” Dax went on, his face turning redder than it need be in the late afternoon sun.
“I appreciate it. But I don’t appreciate being hounded or questioned every time something doesn’t go right. I don’t control the zombies or the other humans we encounter for that matter. I’m doing the fucking best I can,” Chase yelled as he stepped up to Dax, got right in his face.
“Hold on, you two,” Jayda said coming up to referee. “I don’t need to listen to this. Chase did the best he could. He’s tried. We have to appreciate that. We wait here as long as it takes.”
They each found a place to sit down. Sherri and Lucas had moved close to the lake, in eyesight but out of earshot. Dax had plopped himself down in the shadow of the van and had said nothing more as time had passed. Jayda had walked off a bit toward the trees. He kept his eye on her. When he saw her shoulders finally slump and shake, he was thankful she’d been given a minute to mourn.
After the longest hour of his life to date had passed, Dax asked him when he was going to call it.
“And go where?” Chase asked.
“I have no idea. But we can’t stay here in the middle of nowhere.”
“At least there aren’t any zombies to battle at the moment.”
Chase saw something move down the road a few minutes later. He watched, hoping with all he had that it was a car and not a horde.
“Is that a car?” Dax asked as he stood up.
The sound of the engine came to them even as the large vehicle came into view down the road.
“Yes!” Chase exclaimed and then he yelled for the rest of them to come on.
They stood together and watched the vehicle come closer and into a clearer view from so far down the road. Then, just as suddenly, the car came to an abrupt stop. A cloud of dust practically covered it, made it disappear, before it made a large u-turn utilizing the grass, and left.
“What the hell?” Dax huffed.
Without saying a word, Chase just got back into the van. The others followed without saying a word. As the last door shut, they all sat in silence a few minutes. Chase simply turned on the van, turned around, and pulled out of the meadow back onto the road, leaving his own cloud of dust behind them.
The world is falling apart. Gas and food shortages are dire issues for those of us still human. We hide out mostly. If we dare go out on the streets in a desperate attempt to find food, you have to either kill the zombies or fight the starving humans. Here in this university lab where we’ve made our refuge, days are often only as long as the sun stays out. Most of the time we lose power for hours. Why it comes back on at all, we’ll never know. Who is there to ask? Television stations when we can get them are on a permanent state of emergency broadcasts. It’s been a month now since Daniel failed to get us at the checkpoint. We’ve all lost weight. Our food supplies are scarce. Dax continues to be a good soldier and tries to go find us food, but what is left to find? Lucas and I go back and forth about replicating the rate of cell decomposition we got in our original special mouse. He continues to be optimistic, but I think I’ve lost my ability to stay positive. I’m driven now, by one thing—keeping them alive. Lucas keeps saying we are close, but I think we are going about it the wrong way. And we don’t have the means to change course no
w
.
* * * * *
Dax marched, or stomped, up and down the halls. His boring ritual proved necessary for survival. That’s all they did now was survive. He continued to the window, scanning the street. Two zombies walked down the sidewalk. Except for their slowing gaits, as had been happening now, from a distance they seemed like two college kids after a rough night of partying trying to find their way home.
He made a few notes on the clipboard he had. He continued on down the hallway with an audible sigh. His stomach growled, and his legs ached. A sound down the hall caught his ear. He moved till his back glided down the wall. With his gun pointed in the direction of the sound, he moved slow and steady. Once he reached the door, he turned the knob slowly and then threw it open.
He was greeted by the slight screams of both Jayda and Sherri.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he felt his face heat.
“No, we’re sorry. We should have told you that we were going to be using this room,” Jayda answered. “As sad as it sounds, we needed a change of scenery, so we came in here.”
* * * * *
“So, where were we before my heart stopped beating?” Sherri asked Jayda.
Jayda could see that Sherri’s eyes were as wide as hers felt.
“Really. But this is as awake as I’ve felt in days,” Jayda responded. “Lack of food and too much sleep and inactivity isn’t good for a pregnant woman.”
“I’m guessing not,” Sherri remarked.
Jayda could see her friend grimace and then fall into some sort of private thoughts.
“I’ve been trying to walk around the room, as you know, but it just isn’t the same. Feel like I’m just chasing my own tail,” Jayda sighed.
“Basically you are, but what else can we do. Can’t go out for fresh air without fear of being attacked by the walking dead.” Sherri huffed. “Sorry, I’m really getting stir crazy.”
“No, we all are,” Jayda commiserated. “So, back to talk of baby clothes?”
“Right, baby clothes,” Sherri thought out loud. “I think maybe we could find a way to fashion some by the time he or she comes. We could get Dax to go out and maybe find some clothes. People seem more interested in food. Then, we could take a needle and some surgical thread or whatever it is from the lab.”
“Yeah, we have a lot of time at least to think on it and get Dax on the hunt.” Jayda agreed. Then her voice fell. “I just wish I could go out and shop for new stuff. As most women, I’ve spent years waiting for this. And now that it is here, during all this, nothing is normal. What if the world doesn’t change back? What if my son or daughter can never attend school? Or a prom? What if there isn’t anyone to date?”
“Shh,” Sherri soothed. “You can’t think that way. You will drive yourself nuts. We just have to continue to take it one day at a time.”
“Sometimes it’s more like one minute at a time. All of this and pregnancy hormones too,” Jayda complained.
Sherri gave her a hug, and Jayda cursed the damn tears that so often fell from her eyes these days.
Lucas rolled over, but he opened his eyes when he bumped into a warm body. Sherri, still sleeping, laid beside him, naked. He ran his hand up her body, as he tried to wrap his waking mind around what was happening between them. Sherri moaned and stretched beside him. He tried to redirect his thoughts from the parts of her touching him. She finally opened her eyes and smiled.
“This is wrong,” Lucas sighed, moving just enough to keep his body’s desires in check. “But I don’t want to stop.”
“Maybe it’s not wrong,” Sherri said. “Dangerous, yes, as in lack of protection and trying to keep the others from knowing. But wrong? Who’s to say what is right and wrong when the world is falling apart? Yes, we have an age difference, but right now, we provide for each other a much needed human connection.”
“You’re right,” Lucas smiled at her.
He kissed her gently, but then moved to get out of bed.
“I’d love to stay, but I have to get to Chase in the lab,” he said as he rushed to get clothes on.
By the time Lucas got to the lab, Chase was already hard at work.
“What’s up today there Doc?” Lucas asked.
“Same as yesterday,” Chase answered shortly.
“Okay, then. What do you want me to do today?” Lucas asked the back of Chase’s head, since he hadn’t even bothered to turn around.
“Whatever you want. Does it really matter? We are just wasting our time here hoping we don’t starve to death before the world returns to normal. Some of us are wasting it differently than others, of course,” Chase grumbled.
“Do you have a problem with me that you would like to discuss?” Lucas dared ask.
“Close the door,” Chase huffed.
Lucas did so, then turned around to walk back to Chase. He braced himself for whatever was to come. He had had his share of bad news in the past month to last him a lifetime.
“What you are doing with Sherri is irresponsible,” Chase began, his voice quiet but firm. “What if she gets pregnant? Huh? What then? We already have one pregnancy to worry about.”
“So, it’s okay if you screw around with Jayda because she’s already pregnant?” Lucas grumbled under his breath.
“I’m not,” Chase answered. “I’m comforting her when she needs it, for the baby’s sake. But I’m not letting myself get attached to her. She’s a widow like Sherri, and neither of them have had the opportunity to grieve their losses. Plus, I’m not letting it affect my work. We are getting nowhere. Beyond that, I’m not letting it affect my judgment. We have to remain sharp to survive this.”
“I don’t want to just survive,” Lucas hissed. “I’m tired of just surviving.”
Lucas plopped down on the stool beside him. He looked at the dead mouse cut every which way. They’d dissected and tested him above and beyond. A few months ago, he’d have been called a waste of time and trashed. Chalked up to an unexplainable phenomenon, they’d have started over or moved onto something new.
“I’m not going to stop seeing her. We are being careful. But right now, we’d both lose our minds without one thing to look forward to each night. There is nothing wrong with using human contact to survive. Especially when our days seem pretty numbered.”
He turned back to the mouse and got back to work.
* * * * *
Jayda walked in her room. As she moved in a square around the makeshift bed that Chase and Dax had created for her out of cushions from office furniture, she tried not to let her situation bring her back to tears again.
“Just checking on you,” Dax said through the door after he’d knocked. “You okay in there?”
“Sure,” she huffed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Is it alright if I come in?” Dax asked.
Jayda told him to come in. He seemed a sweet enough guy. He checked on her several times a day as he did his rounds to protect them all while Chase and Lucas worked in the lab. She assumed they were wasting their time, but they all held onto that shred of hope that their research allowed them. Dax entered the room with his brows furrowed.
“Really, I want to know how you really are. I know you have Sherri to talk to and all, but I am honestly concerned if you ever need another ear,” Dax offered.
“I appreciate that, but everything is fine,” Jayda said in a shaky voice.
Dax nodded at her and turned to leave the room.
“Shit! Wait. Even I don’t believe myself,” she sighed. As tears stung her eyes, she went on, “I don’t want to have this baby. I can’t say that to Sherri, not to a woman who didn’t get the chance to have a baby before the world went to hell.”
“Uh,” Dax stumbled. “I don’t know what to say. I’m really out of my element here, but I really want to help.”
“Don’t worry about it. It just felt good to say it out loud.”
“No. No, I want to help. I offered and I meant it,” Dax said as he moved back into the room closer to her. “You are a strong woman, Jayda. At least from what I’ve seen and heard. You and this baby will be all the stronger for having survived this. This baby couldn’t ask for a better mother to teach him or her how to survive anything. I know you will do everything in your power to not only bring him or her into this world, but to provide for the baby after it is born.”
Jayda just stood there, stunned to hear such words from this man. In all honesty, she’d told him because he seemed safe to tell, as in he wouldn’t overreact. She’d thought him cynical enough to actually agree with her.
“Sorry, I should have kept my mouth shut,” Dax stumbled.
“No! Actually what you said, it helped a lot. Your words struck just the right chords inside me. Thank you, Dax.”
“Anytime,” he smiled. “You know, anytime I questioned myself when I was young, my father used to tell me this story about some great, great, however many greats, grandfather who was one of the first settlers in the colonies. I’ll spare you all the details, but you remember the stories from history, the way they survived those harsh winters, the odds against them. The world here was new and they had to build it up from scratch. I’ve thought about that story a lot. And I believe that once this virus is stopped by people like Chase and Lucas, then we too will rebuild from scratch. And, honestly, I couldn’t be more thankful to be with people like you and Chase to do so.”
“Thank you, Dax. Now I don’t know what to say,” Jayda moved over to give him a hug.
He patted her back and finished with, “I trust Chase and I believe in you. Don’t worry about anything,”
* * * * *
Lucas kept working. Slamming down instruments he knew he couldn’t break and writing notes till his fingers ached at how he gripped the pen, he looked over the results before him. With trepidation and celebration looming, he hoped he was reading the result right. If he was, he’d finally stopped the cell decomposition in the mouse. He’d stopped the disease.
Looking around him, his whole body shaking now, he noticed that Chase had left the lab. He walked out in the halls to find him, but didn’t see him in any of his usual places. He started knocking on doors, but his shaking turned to trembling as not Jayda or Sherri or Dax had seen him anywhere. The place wasn’t that big.
As a group, they looked again, expanding their search. He tried to control himself, keeping his mind from tossing out all the worst scenarios. Finally, he heard his voice coming from a room.
When Lucas looked in, Chase growled, “Close the door.”
* * * * *
Chase listened to static. Since he’d answered his phone, he’d heard a voice a few times, but couldn’t make it out yet.
“Hello,” he asked for what felt like the millionth time.
“Chase, are you there?” the voice came through.
“Daniel?”
“Yes! Sorry I didn’t show at the checkpoint we’d established.”
“Sure,” Chase offered, unsure himself what he even meant by it.
“It’s not safe where you are,” Daniel continued.
“It’s okay. We’re doing fine,” Chase grumbled.
“No. It’s not safe. I have to get you out,” Daniel said.
“What are you talking about,” Chase asked.
He’d yelled into the phone that time, so he looked over his shoulder, expecting the whole crew to enter at any time. To his surprise, they didn’t.
“”It’s not safe where you are,” Daniel repeated.
“You keep saying that, but I don’t understand what you mean. What you want me to do?” Chase growled.
The phone went dead. He tried redial several times, but with no success. He finally walked out of the room to find them all across the hall from the door staring at him. He stormed away from them, not ready to talk. Fury burned up through his body, and he wasn’t exactly sure why.
“Chase,” Lucas yelled after him. “I have something I want to show you.”