“You think he’ll be, okay?” Rose asked, looking at Ethan.
“I think so. He’s lost so much, but I think those boys are healing him. He showed me a photograph of his family, the twins are about his youngest’s age.”
“My sweet Lord, this world has surely gone to hell. What do you think our future looks like?” she asked. She was always afraid to know but couldn’t help but ask anyway. She was a realist.
“I think for most of the world, if this thing is worldwide and indications are that it is, will die off. Our world has become silent and I think there will be pockets of humanity, if they can survive these zombies.”
“Do you think the zombies will die off?”
“I think so, but how long, I don’t know and if they travel, more may head this way. But they are on foot and so can’t travel far very quickly. I plan to spend a few hours a night going and patrolling as the werewolf. I can cover more ground easily and I won’t need a weapon. Anything within our area, I’ll put down, you can count on it.”
“That was a selfless sacrifice you made for us Ethan; I want you to know it. I thank you, for all of us,” she said and smiled. Ethan smiled and shyly held out his and she took it and squeezed his hand. When he went to pull away, she held it and looked him in the eye.
“It’s been a minute since I’ve dated, but I’d like to see what’s between us.”
“I’ll be honest, I’ve not dated since college. In my profession, well, it never really led to relationships. I’ll ask your forgiveness now if I blunder,” Ethan said softly. A smile twitched on Rose’s lips. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled.
“Ah, so I’ll be in charge of this relationship,” she said and laughed when he blushed.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’d best go get supper started. Lauren, come on and help me, sugar,” Rose said and got up. She held out her hand for Lauren, who took it as she carried a book in her other hand, and went into the house.
Ethan sighed heavily and felt a satisfied calmness wash over him. He would never in a million years picture himself sitting on a porch in the deep south, on a working farm. He liked his new truck and felt no qualms whatsoever about how he got it. That little bastard had it coming to him and there was no telling what kind of mayhem he would have caused in the future. There were all kinds of assholes floating around out there and, in a crisis, or chaos, many of them came crawling out of the woodwork. Many men also stepped up to the plate, like Reggie and helped others, not harmed them or took advantage of them.
He was learning a lot from Reggie and he was looking forward to hardening their defenses. Later, he’d head out to the barn and change and then head out into the woods. He would steer clear of homes; he didn’t want to get shot. But he would roam and kill any zombies out there. If they had souls, then they would at least be release to go to heaven, if there was a heaven. From what he’d seen in his life and in his work, he doubted it. But a small part of him kept a kernel of hope. He heard Rose talking softly to Lauren and he smiled. She’d make a good mother. He froze at the thought and sat forward in the rocking chair.
“My god, if this relationship went anywhere, we might end up having children,” he whispered to himself, shaken to the core. He’d never considered having children, why would he? He’d not dated for years and had known that chances for a family were nil. His heart thumped loudly in his chest and it filled his head and his ears. What would he do as a father? What wouldn’t he do? He’d seen how it had destroyed Reggie. Ethan wasn’t naive enough not to know what Reggie had done. If his children had been zombies, then Ethan knew the man had put them down. His heart squeezed in sympathy for Reggie. It was beyond his imaginings to have to do such a horrible thing and he was king of killing. But not children, no. Except zombie children and they were already dead.
This was definitely something to think about. It wasn’t really dating in this new reality. Because there was nowhere to go if things didn’t work out. He had made this his home and you didn’t shit where you ate. Yes, they would go very, very slow, he couldn’t afford to screw this one up on any level. He stood and stepped off the porch.
“Hey, you guys wanna go fishing?” he called to Reggie and the boys. The twins squealed with excitement and fell off the swing. Reggie laughed and shook his head.
TEN
Zahara’s heart lodged somewhere in her throat and panic seized her brain. It was such an overwhelming and foreign feeling that she could only stand there, her mouth opened in shock. Shay knew to stay inside the truck while they cleared the area. She knew if it were a zombie, Shay would have screamed and they’d have come running. She looked at Xander and saw the same stunned fear pasted on his face. She began to strip and he started to but she held up her hand.
“No. I’ll sniff her out. You might need to
