CHAPTER 7

Celeste lived in a large old white house with two towering oak trees in the front yard. The house was beautiful if a little scary looking with its peeling paint, and a line of gargoyles along the rooftop casting shadows across the yard as the sun was just starting to go below the horizon. I had been looking forward to visiting New Orleans, so it was a bit of a disappointment to find that she lived outside of the city.

New Orleans was one of the few cities that successfully fended off the initial zombie attack back in 2022. Initially, they had lost close to eighty-five percent of their population before they had managed to mount a strategic defense and take back their home from the diseased zombies.

I'd heard that because of everything that they'd gone through, New Orleanians tended to be a strong, close-knit group of people who looked out for each other. And I was curious about how they were so successful in repelling the zombie invasion when so many others weren't. I also hoped to learn more about the people and New Orleans culture while we were there, but the most important thing was, of course, to find a cure for Lucas.

Once we had everything unloaded, Celeste herself welcomed us inside, and even though we'd never met before, she was the type of person who immediately put you at ease with her warmth and kindness. She showed us to our rooms and then invited us back downstairs for a simple dinner with her and her 19-year-old niece Norah who was also staying there.

Celeste informed us that Mondays are always busy days with household chores, and the tradition is to serve red beans and rice, which can be left to simmer all day on the stove. With this, she also served cornbread and collard greens that were simmered in a seasoned broth. She also warned us that collard greens were an acquired taste.

I love trying new things and couldn't wait to try some of the local food. The red beans and rice were delicious, but I couldn't stomach the collard greens. To me, you might as well have been eating leaves, which is what I said when everyone laughed at the look of disgust on my face when I took my first bite of them.

"If you think collard greens are bad, you should try Aunt Celeste's fried okra," Norah said with a teasing smile.

"Just for that, I'm making fried okra for dinner tomorrow night," Celeste said with a laugh.

I smiled and took a sip of my sweet tea; Celeste and her niece had been so welcoming that it felt like we were having dinner with family instead of relative strangers. Hopefully, she would be able to help Lucas, and our lives would finally get back to normal.

I looked over at Norah and frowned a little. I would swear that she had blue eyes, but now they looked dark, almost black. Maybe I was just imagining things. I thought as she continued to eat without saying anything.

Suddenly she put her fork down and looked at Grandma with an eerily calm expression, "Erica, you have to help Riley; she needs you." With that, she picked up her fork and started eating again.

"Norah, what did you mean by saying Riley needs me?" Grandma asked with a puzzled expression.

Norah dropped her fork and looked at Celeste in distress, "did I do it again?"

Celeste reached out and squeezed her hand in sympathy before turning to Grandma, "Norah sometimes has premonitions. It's not something that she can control, but she's almost always right. Do you have any way to contact Riley?"

"I should be able to get her on the shortwave tomorrow morning. But tell me more about these premonitions; I've never met anyone with that talent before."

"This is a fairly new development for Norah, and she's not yet comfortable talking about it," Celeste explained.

"Oh, of course, please excuse my nosiness," Grandma said with a sympathetic look at Norah, who was starting to look more miserable by the minute.

"that's ok," Norah said with a half-hearted smile and scrunched down in her seat a little. And it was apparent that she wished herself any place else but here.

Just then, the awkward moment was broken by laughs all around the table when Moose let out a mournful little whine from his spot under the table.

I noticed with some interest that Norah's eyes now appeared to be blue again, but before I could comment on it, Moose let out another long and, if possible, even more, pitiful moan.

"I think that somebody needs to go for a walk," Celeste laughed.

* * *

Norah and I walked Moose around the back yard and played fetch with him until he finally collapsed on the ground at my feet with a happy little grunt and started chewing on a stick. I poked him with my foot, but he completely ignored me, concentrating all of his attention on the stick.

I sat down on an old stone bench by a fish pond in the rose garden and took a deep breath of the rose-scented air. " Everything is just so beautiful here," I remarked to Norah, who was sitting on the ground and petting Moose.

"It is beautiful, but before long, it will be hotter than hell, and that's not even mentioning the mosquitoes and snakes," she replied.

"I guess everything has a downside."

"That it does, but even with the mosquitoes and snakes, there's still no place else I'd rather live," Norah replied.

"Have you ever lived anywhere else?" I asked curiously.

"No, I was born here," she replied with a laugh before changing the subject. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, I guess," I replied cautiously because, in my experience, any time that someone asked me that it usually ended up being something that I'd rather not answer.

"What's it like being the daughter of Riley Black?"

"I would imagine that it's pretty much like being anyone's daughter."

"Your mom is a legend around here," she explained, noticing my puzzled look. " She's the greatest zombie fighter that ever lived. Almost every little girl I've ever known wants to be just like her when they grow up."

I looked at her in surprise, " I had no idea that she was so famous. Oh, I know about the zombie fighting, but that's something that she's always done." I walked over to the fish pond and stared absently at the koi swimming around. "Mom was gone a lot when Lucas I was young, and in many ways, she was more like a bossy older sister than a mom. Grandma was the one who took the most care of us."

"Wow, I had no idea. That must have been hard," Norah replied.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I think that Lucas and I had a pretty good childhood, but yeah, sometimes it's hard. Mom is always so good at everything that she does, and I feel like I can't always live to her expectations."

"What about your dad?"

"Dad, he's almost as busy as Mom. But he's a great dad and always tries to do fun stuff with us when he's home, like playing board games and baseball. And sometimes mom will play with us as well."

"That sounds nice," Norah said with a smile. " I never knew my dad, and my mom died when I was very -" suddenly she turned to stare out into the dark band of trees in the corner of the yard.

"What is it? Do you see anything?" I asked in concern.

"No," she said with a frown. " I just have that creepy feeling that you get when someone is watching you."

"Are you sure? Moose doesn't seem to notice anything."

"Yes, let's just go," she said with an agitated look before crossing over to the kitchen door.

I cast one look behind me as I followed her inside and froze for an instant. There, in the corner of the yard, and deeper in the shadows of the trees, it looked as if someone was standing there; Watching me, I blinked, and it was gone leaving me to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing. Because nothing, human or animal, could move that fast, it just wasn't possible.

I called Moose, and he followed me inside, bringing the stick with him; he seemed to be completely unconcerned. But, he was still a puppy, so you really couldn't count on him like you would with a fully-trained adult dog.

* * *

When I awoke the next morning, Grandma and Celeste were both down in the kitchen; I knew immediately from the tension in the air that something must have happened.

"Is Mom ok?" I questioned nervously.

"I wasn't able to get a hold of her on the short-range, but I'm sure everything is fine. She's probably just busy," Grandma replied.

I gave her a look of disbelief, " stop trying to protect me; I'm not and a child anymore, and we both know that she wouldn't miss your call for no reason."

Grandma sighed, "you're right. Riley is always telling me that I need to let you grow up."

I poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table across from her, "So what's the plan?"

"Well," Grandma took a breath. " I'm a little torn as to what to do; But, probably the best thing to do would be for me to go to Atlanta to check on your mom. While you and Lucas stay here so that he can take the cure."

I nodded and took a sip of my coffee, "I think that's the best way to handle it."

Grandma smiled, "have I told you lately just how proud I am of you?"

"It's been at least a couple of days," I replied teasingly.

Grandma reached out and tousled my hair before sitting her empty coffee cup in the sink. "It looks like you have things under control here, so I would like to be on the road within the hour." She started to leave the room but paused at the door, " Oh, I almost forgot about Trevor and Stephanie -"

" Don't worry about it; I can take the cure up to them," I soothed.

" And I'll go with her; we can take my jeep." Norah, who had just walked into the kitchen, added a reassuring smile at my grandma, who still looked slightly nervous about leaving Lucas and me.

"Ok, then. I should probably go get everything ready, Grandma replied.

"Are you going to drink that?" Norah asked, indicating my rapidly cooling cup of coffee after Grandma had left the room.

"Nope," I said and wrinkled my nose in disgust before pouring the coffee down the drain. "I was just trying to look more grownup."

"Well, it certainly worked, I thought that you looked to be at least 20 with that cup of coffee in your hand." Norah laughed and handed me a cup of hot chocolate. "You might like this better."

"You have chocolate!" I exclaimed and took a small sip of the rich, delicious beverage, almost closing my eyes in joy when the dark chocolate hit my taste buds. "Coffee isn't bad if you load it up with cream and sugar. But there's nothing like a delicious cup of hot chocolate."

"That's one of the perks of living here in New Orleans," Celeste replied as she sat a tray of beignets on the table. "One of my friends has family in Mexico who grow cacao, and they run a route up here every six months."

"I could get used to this," I replied and helped myself to one of the warm, delicious pastries on the table, before going upstairs to help Grandma finish getting ready for her trip to Atlanta.