Mona embraced JR. “I understand. I intend to have that same discussion with Eli. I’m nearing the age where I’ll soon not chance having children, so it’s an important subject for us to broach, discuss, and agree on. It will be an important factor in whether we can live together.”
Mona and Brodie left well before darkness settled. JR and Sam sat outside on the bench in the waning light before JR approached the subject of children. “Most of my life I longed for the time I would have a man I loved and would have children with. You are that man.” Sam sensed some underlying emotion in JR’s austere tone but held comments lying at the tip of his tongue. “These past weeks since we left Oklahoma have been plagued with danger. The zombies I can accept, handle, and live with. They were something totally unexpected, but our most perilous encounters have been with rogue humans. Like the Hoopers and others. We’ve spoken in the past about them and agreed those evil individuals will probably be an ongoing threat all our remaining lives. In view of that we need to discuss our future plans and decide what choices we’ll make.” She paused for a spell. “I’m rambling and talking around the point we need to discuss. It’s difficult to bring up because it goes against one of my major goals in life.” JR took a deep breath and exhaled. She turned to face Sam. “Children are the issue. Our children specifically. Is it fair to our offspring to birth them into this shitty and dangerous world we’ve inherited? I question having children who will be exposed to the dangerous situations we’ve endured. I can’t imagine my reaction to having a daughter raped and beaten like the Hoopers treated me and Mona. I would go completely apeshit and retaliate viciously. Have you given any thought to this?”
“Actually I brushed against the thought but not in depth. I do see your point and share your concern. Frankly I’ll need some time to come to grips with this from a new point of view. I just assumed we would sometime soon have a child. But your concern is valid. Give me a few days to think this through. We grew up with the knowledge of conditions continuing to improve for our offspring because they always have from one generation to another. But that was mainly due to advances in technology. I don’t believe mankind’s intelligence level has changed over the centuries or advances in true underlying intelligence would have done away with the animals like the Hoopers and others. Today’s environment is seriously impacted by the loss of the fruits of technological advances. In fact, when the manufactured goods and food items we still have are expended our lives will become exponentially more difficult year after year—I promise to think on the subject of children and follow up with you soon. Immediately I think of pros and cons, but that’s straddling the fence and not making a decision.”
Several days passed while JR struggled with her treatment at the hands of Riley Hooper. Frightful nightmares at night were the worst, and she was thankful to waken in Sam’s tender embrace. She and Sam stayed close and talked about her abduction and treatment daily. Early one morning they drove to Kalispell for materials to build a meat smoker and to find packages of wood chips for their initial smoking attempts. While there, Sam decided to also load hickory base and wall cabinets for their kitchen area onto the trailer to save them from making a separate trip later. Fuel was still available if they searched for it, but soon it would become scarce and eventually become unattainable. Sam decided to build his own storage racks for lumber and stock up ahead of the best materials being taken or wantonly destroyed as some had already been.
After leaving the building supply store, they searched out a residential area to plunder. Turning a corner onto a street in an above average looking neighborhood, they witnessed two young people being chased by three undead monsters. They stopped two hundred feet away and each grabbed a sniper rifle.
The zombies caught the couple as they reached a green SUV they appeared to be heading for earnestly. The young man tried to fend a zombie off using a shotgun as a club, and the woman threw a handgun at one of the zombies grabbing at her. The couple were bitten and dragged to the ground before JR and Sam could intervene. JR and Sam shot all five zombies after the new victims turned and stood slobbering among their attackers.
JR looked to the houses on their left and saw several large cloth bags and cardboard boxes stuffed full at the front doors of four houses. The door of the next house to the left stood open, but there was no sign of claimed items. She and Sam cautiously approached that house first.
Sam examined the door. It had been forced open. A crowbar lay nearby on the ground. The vinyl siding beside the door had been blasted with shotgun pellets about chest high. “Two of the original zombies we shot were missing their stomach and chest areas. The young couple must not have been aware of using head shots. I’m guessing their guns were out of ammunition, so he used the shotgun as a club, and that’s likely the reason she threw her handgun at the zombies attacking her. They must have run out of ammo and couldn’t reload while being chased.”
They turned and walked to the next house where bags and boxes sat. The harvested booty was mostly canned and boxed
