Chapter 15

"During the excitement, she decided to go lie down in

one of the offices," said Di. "I think it was a heart attack and she passed in

her sleep. When she re-animated she bit Tim's wife who went to check on her.

When Nancy didn't come back, Marie went to check on the both of them, and they

got her. They're all gone."

DEATH THE ACT OF DYING; THE END OF LIFE; THE TOTAL AND

PERMANENT CESSATION OF ALL THE VITAL FUNCTIONS OF AN ORGANISM. TO REST IN

PEACE.

What a load of shit! There is no such thing as resting

in peace any more. My mother...my Ma...is

gone. What happened? Why her? Why not me?

"What the fuck?!" screamed T. "What happened?!"

She was just as much a mother to T as she was to me.

So even though she was nowhere near the hoard, death

still found a way to claim her. My mind was having an internal struggle between

that of the scientist and that of the loving son.

"Who, who took care of them?" I grimaced.

Di stroked Em's head as she gestured to her.

"She said, she said she had a headache and didn't want

to worry about you, T, and Joshua, and that she was going to lie down," said Em

through tears. "Nancy and Marie went to check on her. When they didn't come

back, I went to check on all three. They attacked me and I defended myself."

I slowly approached Em with my eyes nearly closed and

my teeth clenched. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

"Em, she was beginning to look at you as a daughter.

She loved you with her whole heart," I said. "You did what you had to do."

I reached out and embraced her as she sobbed.

"Not Ma! Noooooo!" screamed T. Naomi kneeled down near

her friend and cradled her head.

"No mo' worrying. No mo' runnin'. No mo' tears," she

said.

Tim just stood there, unable to speak and unable to

react.

Ernesti removed his hoodie and draped it over Marie.

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," said Ernesti.

He slowly stood and looked at the other two bodies and then looked at me. "Will

it ever end?" he asked.

The duality of the situation was unbearable. On the

one hand, I was ecstatic that we curbed the hoard without incident, but Ma.

Where do I go for wisdom? Who will pull me back from the brink? What do I do

now?

"Doc...err um dad?" said Joshua. "Ma was a great lady.

I know this to be true, because she raised a great man!"

I reached out and pulled him into the embrace with Em

and I. I pulled in T and Naomi. I pulled in a despondent Tim. After a while

everyone in the plant was in one big group hug.

We took the bodies back to the Otter's & Son

Mortuary Services. Di and Jamie did a wonderful job with the remains. Knife

wounds instead of gunshots enabled open caskets. T officiated the services, but

broke down in the middle, but he recovered nicely.

His tributes to them were outstanding. He interviewed

both Tim and Naomi to gather the necessary info for their respective eulogies.

There were tears, laughter and mourning. But when he sat down the papers he

read from, and looked me square in the eye, he broke down again. I stood and I

walked to the podium.

"Family...it's really an odd word. It typically means

those who share a bloodline. But when I was six years old and a little boy from

down the block said, 'No Ms. Williams, he didn't break Mr. Miller's window, it

was me. Your son is a good kid. Not like me. He's going to make something of

himself one day. Not like me.' When he left, my Ma looked at me and said, 'He

has made something of himself already. He is your brother.'" I said. "When Em

asked my mother if I was an only child, she said, 'No. There's Marvin and T!'

T, she always considered you her son as well. She said to me on multiple

occasion, 'You always said you wanted a large family, now we have one" in

regard to all of you. We are family. I would die for any of you. You all meant

just that much to Ma and me."

T hugged me and cleaned his face. I returned to my

seat as T asked for other speakers. One by one, they all came up and recounted

memories of Ma, Nancy and Marie.

"Does anyone else have anything they would like to

share?" asked T. I looked around and no one else came forward. Again, I stood

up and walked to the podium.

"Prior to my mother's passing, we discussed quite a

few things. One of which I should revealed a while ago," I said. "Joshua, will

you join me up here? Unbeknownst to but a few, Joshua and I have agreed to

become father and son, effectively making him my mother's grandson. I know the

two of them spoke often and she absolutely loved him."

Joshua hugged me as he began to weep.

"One of the last things we discussed was the trust of

the two things she cared for most. Em would you come up here please. My Ma

wanted to entrust you with two things: the first being her ring she received

from my father. She said she wanted nothing more than to see you wear it. The

second is my heart. I know this isn't the most romantic environment, but this

situation has snapped me back to the reality that time is precious. Em I love

you and I ask you in the presence of my Ma's spirit and all of our family: Will

you be my wife?"

Everyone in the chapel fell silent. Em looked at me

and kissed me and hugged me tightly as she whispered, "Yes!" Everyone cheered

and applauded. Even though the occasion was a somber one, the day itself was

happy. There were handshakes and hugs as we all continued the congratulatory

expressions. Just then, three DCs stumbled into the chapel.

"Shall we family," I said to Em and Joshua, as we each

took down a DC. Again, everyone applauded and cheered as we performed our first

function as an official family.

The next few months moved rapidly as Di and Naomi

spearheaded a bridal shower and an engagement party, while T and Joshua put

together what had to be the worst stag party in marriage history. And I loved

every minute of it. We gathered ill-fitting tuxedos and a wedding dress.

Rodriguez gave away the bride, with Di and Naomi as maids of honor; and T and

Joshua serving as best men. It was a beautiful ceremony and I damn near lost my

breath when I saw Emelia in her gown.

Love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate

affection for another person. To me, that nowhere near does it justice. To me,

love is a willingness to put another person's wants, needs, desires, safety and

happiness before your own. That is what I feel for Emelia. Pure joy and

unadulterated love.

She, Joshua and T completed my immediate family.

Joshua was growing into a fine young man and his relationship with Jamie was

beginning to bloom. The look on T's face when Naomi caught Em's bouquet was

priceless. She boxed out the other women better than most centers going for a

rebound.

Even though we are experiencing bliss, we are still in

the middle of the end of civilization as we knew it. Things, however, are going

well at the three locations. The council has taken my advice and spends a

rotational role at each site for a month, being visible and accessible to those

we bring in. We still use the ARC as the "reception" area to vet our new

members.

Thus far, we've only had to expel a few people, like

Jacob, Cyrus and that uncomfortable Horatio fellow and his sister, Darla. They

were just weird with their talk about cults and the DCs being God's will. All

smiles, but you could tell there was something that just was not right about

them. Hopefully they all made it on their own, or even together.

Today my new wife, my son, his girlfriend, my best

friend and his girlfriend are going out on a run together. We are looking for

other survivors who are willing to live peacefully among others. We have

relaxed our talent rule in favor of humane survival.

"Okay everyone, our objective today is to find those

who want to live with US," I said. "I know there are survivors out there that

need help, and we're in a position to give it to them. But by the same token, I

understand that there are those who would love nothing better than to slit our

throats and take what we have."

"So, what's the drill, dad?" asked Joshua. I'm still

getting used to him calling me dad. It does my heart proud.

"Well, son, my hope is to send you and Jamie in first

to assess a survivors' intentions," I said. "Due to Naomi's proficiency with a

sniper rifle, we'll keep her and T at a distance, while Em and I will back you

up just out of sight. I'll trust your judgement. If you think they are good for

our group, you can offer them a "safe place." If not, just offer them some

supplies. If things get hairy, Em and I will engage them with you two and Naomi

and T will provide cover and support. We'll check in with the ARC every hour on

the hour with our location, that way if anything happens, they'll be aware of

our general vicinity."

"Jamie, are you comfortable with your roll in today's

events?" asked Joshua.

"I think so, yes," said Jamie. "The training we've

been receiving has done wonders for my confidence and I trust you with my life!"

"Damn! This is just sweeter than fried molasses coated

in honey and dipped in sugar," joked T. "Young love! Ain't it the greatest?"

Jamie and Joshua blushed as they smiled at one

another.

I have to admit, this was the furthest a group outside

of the Raiders has gone from our little triangle. But I am confident in the

skill set of the team assembled. Even if it is those who are closest to me.

"Hey bro, we haven't really had a chance to talk since

Ma," said T. "How you doin'?"

"Well, some days are harder than others. Mostly I'm

just angry. All the shit we went through to survive, and she dies of a heart

attack? It's just hard to accept," I said. "Hopefully my anger isn't coming

through. I'm sure I'll find an outlet for it sooner or later."

"Well, your feelings are seeping through a little bro.

I mean look at this setup. Everyone here is connected directly to you," said T.

"It's like some sort of perverse family vacation. I'm cool though, 'cause I

trust you. I just wanted to make sure err' thang was err' thang."

Maybe T was right. I needed those I care about most

around me now. But was it the safest course of action? Probably not, but I'll

rectify that later.

"Look man, who better to look out for us, than us?" I

asked. "We'll be fine."

"Like I said, I trust you man," T responded.

We took the bus and drove for over an hour. We'd stop

when we thought we saw signs of survival, but nothing panned out. We checked in

often with Brian on radio duty. We finally hit Athens, GA.

We trolled the gated communities and made some very

startling discoveries. Most of them had been overrun...by people. We saw spray

painted gang tags of "Poppa's Pride" in each one. There were plenty of spent

shells and not many DCs which led me to believe that there was plenty of back

and forth gun fire. We needed to get out of here quickly!

We turned to leave this god forsaken place when we saw

it. Was it a ghost coming back to haunt us for making the call? Whatever it

was, I couldn't believe I was seeing it, here, now! This made absolutely no

scientific sense. Then it spoke.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the high and mighty

doctor himself! Fellas this is the prick I was telling you all about. Well

lookie here. He brought his pet asshole, T as well and some female

entertainment for us. How will I ever thank you?" said a familiar voice. "You

fuckers left me to die all on my own, but it looks like you the ones that are

alone now."

"Cyrus?!" T and I said simultaneously.