Authors: Jeremy Laszlo
“Get in,” I tell Greg as he struggles with the tailgate.
He slips and almost falls down on top of me, forcing me to give up defending him and boost him up into the back of the truck. Shoving him upwards with everything I have, I push him over the tailgate as he rolls into the bed of the truck with a loud bang. When he’s over, I clamber in after him, watching the gnarled, reaching hands of two Zombies vanish behind the tailgate as I tumble behind it. Immediately I hear the truck grind into gear and lurch forward. As we speed off, I resist the urge to fire at the other Zombies just to kill a few more, deciding instead to leave them alive. I want them to turn on their captors and I want them to tear them apart. I want the horizon to bring a bloody dawn for the religious zealots. I want whatever is left of their cult to pay for being wicked in a world where people need to remember their humanity.
Leaning up against the bench that runs the length of the bed, Greg groans and moans, his head against the cab of the truck. He looks awful, but I don’t care. He’s still alive and that’s all that matters. I’m not ready to lose him and I don’t ever want to think about the possibility again. I squat next to him, trying to keep my balance as Noah rams through another barricade. We’re almost out of ammunition, so if they keep pursuing us, we’re screwed. But that’s the least of my worries right now. I look at Greg and pray that he hasn’t acquired any internal injuries thanks to his little party with the two fanatics. I grab his head and force him to look at me, opening his eyes.
“Stay awake,” I order him. He looks at me with a warm, bloody grin and I can’t help but melt at the sight of it. I smile at him and shake my head in frustration. “Don’t fall asleep,” I tell him with as serious a tone that I can muster right now. “You probably have a concussion, so stay awake. Got it?”
“When did you get so badass?” Greg grins and leans his head back against the cab.
“When no one else would,” I tell him before leaning in and kissing him on the bloody lips. His kiss tastes of copper and salt. There’s no one else in the world that I would rather be here with right now than Greg. I love Lexi because I was born into the same family as her and I have an obligation to take care of her, but I chose Greg and that makes our love different. He’s my man and I’m never going to give him up. I’m never going to let anything happen to him.
“I’m glad you came back for me,” he says after I pull away.
“I always will,” I promise him.
It doesn’t take long until we’ve put Tifton in the distance. I try to keep Greg awake as long as I can, but he falls asleep on me. I was worried the moment he closed his eyes, but I don’t think he has a concussion. I’ll wake him up in a bit and check his pupils. Honestly, Greg has been through a lot worse than this when he was playing football. I don’t want to ever have to deal with a situation like this again. I want this to be our last adventure. When the truck begins to slow down, I’m in the process of cleaning up his cuts and gashes. I hear a knocking on the window and look up to see Noah’s face.
“I need you up here,” he shouts.
“I’m fine,” I hear Lexi snapping at him and I know that it’s probably serious.
Greg opens his eyes briefly, fluttering his eyelids as I begin to move. I feel his hand grabbing ahold of mine and I give him a soft squeeze, promising that I’ll be back soon. He smiles at me and I make my way to the back of the bed before hopping back down onto the road. I take a moment and look back toward Tifton and where we lost Henry. I’m not going to miss Henry one bit, but I wish that we’d had someone more valuable with us. Right now, I’m the only one with a skill. I’m a veterinarian and that makes me pretty good at keeping people and animals alive. The only other people I have with me on this journey are a bashed up chemist jock, a sarcastic gamer, and my overly emotional sister. I wish I had Marko, a mechanical genius or Devon, an engineering savant. I wouldn’t feel so burdened by responsibility. I don’t like being the leader. But that’s my burden right now and I’m going to bear it as long as it takes.
One thing I know for certain now. I will be avoiding any sign that has the black cross on it. I’ve learned my lesson. I make my way around to the cab of the truck and throw open the door. I look at Noah, who is pale and looks like he’s seen a ghost. At first, I’m afraid that it’s Lexi. I’m afraid that one of the bastards got her.
“She’s bleeding,” he says with a quivering voice.
“Get out,” I say to him as directly and sternly as I can.
“But—” he stammers.
“Get the fuck out,” Lexi shouts at him.
He doesn’t need to be told again and I’m thankful that he finally listens to her the eightieth time. Noah scrambles out of the cab and walks away from the truck, his arms wrapped around his chest as he goes, looking out toward the horizon. I’m not sure what’s wrong with him, but it makes me feel even more nervous. I quickly climb into the truck and close the door after me, staring at my sister who looks like she was just caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Her eyes are wide and the color is vanishing from her face.
“Lexi,” I say cautiously, seeing that her hands are covered with blood and that her baggy sweatpants are soaked with blood. “What’s going on?”
She stares at me for a moment and I’m afraid of what she’s going to say to me. Whatever is about to come out of her mouth is something that I don’t want to hear, but already I’m letting the pieces fall into place and I know what she’s about to tell me. It’s been my nightmare since all of this started happening, but truthfully, our luck was about to run out sometime soon. It was only a matter of time before one of us suffered an injury like this.
“I was going to tell you sooner,” Lexi says to me with a scared, little voice that makes me picture her when she was ten. I feel tears welling up and burning in my eyes. I’m scared. I’m so scared that I’m afraid to even move. I look at her and watch as she slowly starts to pull up her sweatshirt and I see the one thing that I’ve been terrified of since the moment the world began to collapse. Finally it all makes so much sense. “I was just so scared, Val. I was scared of what you’d do or what you’d say to me.”
“Oh, Lexi,” I say to her, scooting over and wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close to me. I hug her as tightly as I can and it all makes sense, but the fear is still there. The fear is gnawing at me like a rat chewing at the circuit box. I feel jolts of terror, but I refuse to burden her with those. I have to be strong. I have to be brave right now. She needs me and everyone here is going to need me before all of this is over. “Lexi, it’s going to be okay. Don’t be scared. I’m here. I’m with you.”
I feel my hand slip and my fingers touch the bump on her stomach and I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl. I marvel at how long it took for me to put together the pieces that my sister is pregnant. Some medically trained professional I am. I think back to the baggy clothes, the emotional swings, and the whole experience that I’ve had with her for the past months. I remember even hearing her vomit in the mornings, but I tossed that into the pile of bad coping strategies that she was suffering from. I fight the anger that she didn’t tell me sooner, because quite frankly, I should have noticed sooner. This is my sister and she was too afraid to tell me that she was pregnant. It makes me feel like a monster. I feel her stomach and for a moment, I feel a tiny bump pushing back from inside her womb and I immediately start to laugh.
“I’m scared,” Lexi laughs as tears roll down her eyes.
“Well, at least you’re not alone,” I tell her, looking over my shoulder at the back of the truck with all of the supplies. “We’ve got a ton of supplies here that will totally help us and you’re not going to be the first time I’ve helped deliver a baby.”
“But that was with animals,” Lexi laughs.
“Minor details,” I laugh with her, feeling the tears burning down my cheeks. “How far along are you?”
“I don’t know,” Lexi shakes her head. “I thought I was sick at first and I never paid attention to anything. I think I’m really early, Val. I think I’m too early.”
“Well, you’re tall and thin,” I tell her, trying to reassure her. Honestly, I’m terrified on so many levels but I can’t show her that. I have to be brave. I burn that mantra in to the back of my mind. I have to be the strong one. I have to be the one who is going to set the tone for everything. “You’re not showing too much, which is expected for your body type, not to mention the rationing we’ve been doing. Honestly, you’ve been a pain in the ass for months now, so I’m guessing you’re in your third trimester. I felt a little kick and it was strong.”
“She kicks all the time,” Lexi giggles and I can’t help but smile. I’m going to be an aunt.
“She? You’re certain about that?” I ask her, lifting an eyebrow.
“She better be a she,” Lexi says before grimacing and starting to breathe heavily. I hold onto her hand and look over my shoulder out the window to where Noah is pacing. He’s going to be the father of my niece. I feel my skin crawl at the thought of that, but I suppose there could be a whole lot of worse things out there. I’m just grateful that it wasn’t me who got pregnant. We’ve all been playing it fast and loose at the beach house. One of us was bound to get pregnant. I look at Lexi again and try to think over how I’m going to do this.
The odds of this baby surviving are unbearable. I’m not sure what this child is going to eat, how we’re going to take care of it, or how we’re going to do anything. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to Dayton and there will be a fully staffed medical facility that will be able to take over where I leave off. I’m not trained or equipped to bring a child into the world, but this has been happening for millions of years. There were children alive and well before the invention of modern medicine and equipment. So if the ancient Egyptians could do it, then I know that we can. I look at Lexi and I see a strong, driven woman who won’t give up without a fight. That’s the kind of fight that she’s going to need if she wants to survive this.
“There’s no epidural,” I tell her as she fights through another contraction. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you. It’s going to be extremely painful. You’re going to be in so much pain that you’re going to want to die, but I promise you, you’re going to survive it, okay?”
“Nice pep talk, Val,” she says, grinding her teeth.
“Are they getting more consistent?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she groans. “They’re a hell of a lot more painful too.”
“Then she’s coming,” I warn her. I quickly pull off my flannel shirt and throw open the door. “Hey, jackass, I need you to get me everything I tell you to,” I shout to Noah who is pacing back and forth like a terrified four-year-old boy who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Lexi lets out an agonizing scream and I turn back to her. “Hang on, Lexi. You’re going to make it through this.”
“We’ve got company,” Greg shouts from the back of the truck. I feel a sinking feeling in the depth of my stomach.
No, not now
. This isn’t the time for company like this. There’s never good company when someone says, “We’ve got company.” I look at Lexi and try to remember what kind of ammunition I have for the Sig in my pocket. We need to load up. We need to get ready for what is coming. Lexi puts her feet on the dash and pushes back, groaning against the pain. She’s having another contraction. There’s blood and amniotic fluid on the floor of the truck. I don’t like this. I’m questioning whether I can actually deliver this child, let alone do this while armed men are chasing us. I shake my head, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. How could I possibly ever be able to do this? How could I ever imagine doing this?
“How long do we have?” I shout, hoping that he can hear me.
“I don’t know,” Greg shouts back. “Not long.”
Not long isn’t long enough, I need Noah. I need a middle man. “Noah,” I shout for him to stop wandering around with his head in the clouds, trying to regain his sanity. We don’t have time for that, not with those deranged killers on our tails. I look at Lexi, who is beginning to get a grip on her contractions. I wish I had something for the pain, but there’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing here for her to fight against the pain. I look over my shoulder as Noah runs toward the door. “Hurry, damn it,” I shout at him. Rushing toward the door, he stops at the window and looks in, getting a glimpse at Lexi and his face going as pale as fresh snow. “Get it together,” I snap at him. He flinches and shakes his head, looking at me with a startled, horrified look. “Take my gun and go reload it. Give it to Greg, he’ll know exactly what to do with it.”
“I know how to load a gun,” Noah protests.
“Then prove it,” I shout at him, telling him to get moving. He doesn’t know how his lethargic movement makes me want to scream. I don’t bother looking at him as I hand him the Sig and send him off. There’s nothing for me to do now but hope that they get back here in time. “Okay, Lexi, keep breathing,” I tell her as her face begins to contort and twist as the suffering and anguish spill over her. She twists and clenches her fists under the affliction of the contraction. I grab her hand and hold it, squeezing it tight.
I can hear the roar of an engine in the distance. It’s the kind of sound that makes you stand on edge, but my nerves are already dancing on the brink and it pushes me closer. I don’t have much room left. I’m not interested in this new distraction. There are is no more room for distractions. I wait for the contraction to end. I watch as my sister struggles and her face is covered in sweat. I wish I had something—anything for her. I feel so helpless right now and yet, I’m the only help she has at the moment. I’m the only hope any of us have at the moment.