"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.