Chapter Sixteen: Lightning
It took Esme a week to get Andre to stop screaming at night for Cindy to come back. Her heart broke for the toddler, whose life had been flipped upside down again in less than a year. Lilac had taken one wide-eyed look at the new addition to their makeshift family and had taken to following Andre around wherever he went, not that Andre complained since he was equally fascinated with his new playmate. Bailey had also welcomed the new toddler into the fold with the same easy-going manner she had with Esme's other four children, it was her younger three children that were taking some time to get used to the new addition. Esme suspected that although they were used to sharing with her time with each other, it had taken them by surprise how much time she had to invest in the new toddler. It was probably just jealousy and they'd grow out of it soon.
Primrose whined whenever Andre got near Esme before demanding to be picked up and Thomas had taken to snatching anything that he declared 'his' out of Andre's hands. She had to create a time out corner to sit her son in, thankfully Bora hadn't picked up on this habit. Instead, Bora simply squealed and ran away whenever Andre got too close, her sweet baby was shy and it was so freaking cute, although when Bora approached the oldest toddler she would simply give him cute gummy smiles. Thankfully, Andre didn't seem to mind the babies. He was rather fascinated with them on the other hand... the toddler had probably never seen babies that young before, or at least didn't remember meeting younger children.
The snow had all melted from the earth over the last few days, to her eternal gratitude since she'd had to spend a couple of days moving supplies out of the truck and into the daycare on top of taking care of her brood (not to mention, that now Esme didn't need to climb onto the roof and sweep off any snow that had refused to budge off the solar panels because just the thought of it was an accident waiting to happen). One of the heaters she'd kept in the basement for the chickens broke yesterday, much to her displeasure, and Esme hadn't a clue on how to fix the damn thing. She simply decided to replace it with the heaters she'd taken from the Hearth's household. She had originally planned on starting to tend to the garden today, but that had been derailed by the storm now completely raging outside.
The wind was howling furiously as it raged against the windows and through the trees in the surrounding forest. Esme was once more prioritizing the use of the electricity in the apartment, she unplugged all of the unnecessary appliances, even the stove and microwave only plugging one of them in when she needed it, and only kept the five heaters plugged in to keep the living room and her bedroom warm. Oil and battery-powered lanterns lit up the room as Andre and Lilac were enjoying the three tents she'd set up for their 'camp-out' while her three babies played with soft toys in the playpen. Esme simply smiled softly at her children while she laid on the couch, a heating pad pressed on the small lump on the underside of her left breast, Bailey was taking advantage of the warmth and pressed herself against the pad and purred languidly. How Esme got a clogged milk duct whilst she breastfed the most children she ever had under her care was a freaking mystery and it would hopefully resolve itself within the next day or so. Up until now the only problem she had come across was one of the babies latching too hard and accidentally biting her nipples with their tiny but sharp teeth (that was not fun).
"Y-y el oso hace roar!" Lilac growled as she brought her brown bear up to Andre's face. The little boy screamed in mock-fear before bursting out into giggles and running away from Lilac who was now chasing after him. Andre didn't understand a lick of Spanish, not that Lilac seemed to have noticed, but the toddler had already picked up on some of the more common words used in the house by her children (no, si, leche, mio, oso/osito, gato, tele, comida).
"Oh no! The oso gonna git me!" Andre exclaimed as he ran around the couch and jumped up on the cushion across from Esme. "AH! Help! Esme!"
Esme smiled, "Oh no!" she exclaimed in false fear as she pulled Andre onto her lap, ignoring a squinting Bailey who was refusing to move from her warm perch and instead snuggled even further, "Who's gonna save us?"
Lilac paused in front of them, her brown eyes wide, "Yo! Me!" she proclaimed before throwing the bear onto the floor and blowing it a raspberry, "Bad oso! Go 'way!"
"Yay!" Andre cheered as he hopped down and wrapped Lilac in an enthusiastic hug.
"Aaah!" Thomas grunted angrily, his little hands were fisted as he grabbed on the back of the couch and glared, "Ah no! Mio!"
Esme gently bopped Thomas' nose, Lilac and Andre were already running off to the tent without care, "No. Not yours. We have to share."
Bora had pulled herself up to peer at them as well, she babbled happily before giving Esme grabby hands, "Mamamama!"
BOOM
RU MB LE
C R A C K
The shrieks of her kids filled the air, mixing with Bailey's yowl as the cat ran into Esme's room and under the bed. Even over the noise, as she gathered the kids into her arms and began to soothe them ("Shhh, shhh... It's only lightning, we're okay... It's okay, mama's here... Shh, shhh...") Esme could still hear the sound of wood cracking, splintering and crashing into something over the rain. An ominous feeling bloomed into the pit of her stomach. Something was not right. The moment that her children calmed down, Esme sprinted into her bedroom and peaked out of the blinds.
Crap!
The branch of an oak tree that had hung over into the back yard (Daisy had told Mitch last year that he should have cut down that damn branch, but noooo) had been struck by the lightning and had fallen, crashing into the wooden/chainlink fence surrounding the property. She could see some stubborn flames still clinging onto the tree and even the branch but the rain was quickly putting it out. The problem was that now, for the first time since the start of the apocalypse there was a breach in her fence. A breach, big enough that it could be used by rotters to get inside. The window facing the garden wasn't covered!
Fuck!
She still had some plywood in the basement that she could use to cover the windows... but she needed to move now! Who knew if any rotters in the area had heard the clap of the lightning and were now heading in their direction because of the sound. Damn it. Damn it. Esme couldn't have one goddamn day without something happening.
"Mama has to go to the basement for a little bit." she stated once she walked back into the living room, "I need you guys to be quiet. Remember the rule's when mama's not here?" she asked before reciting the limerick with Lilac and Andre (it was practically the first thing that she had taught the male toddler when he arrived), "Inside voice, quiet. Inside voice, shhh. Inside voice, quiet. Mama's coming soon."
Words: 1307
(Oh, oh)
(I smell trouble on the horizon...)
(No, wait... that's Daryl's natural scent...)
(JCJ58: Yay! I can't wait for their reunion either!)
(Beachgirl25: I'm so happy! Michone needs all of the love! I think Carl is going to be overwhelmed with all of the children, but maybe a bit relieved that Judith is going to have kids her age. They are going to be so cute all together! And honestly same, I think the only reason they didn't leave was because they had no safe place to go to... Especially with how young Judith was and how injured Hershal was... But now... We'll see! Although, I don't like the idea of them leaving the Govner in their backyard. That bitch has gotta go.)
(michie fan (Guest): Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked this chapter! Honestly, I love it when the kids are rescued too! I'm still bitter about Sophia and then later on what happened to Carl... I kind of wish that Cindy had lived too, but I didn't really want to overwhelm myself writing two OC's before they meet the main group, after all, that was already going to be an adjustment period and I thought that the group may be more accepting of one woman and five kids rather than two women... I HATE the Saviors and the Wolves with a goddamn passion... But I do like Jesus/Paul... We'll see what happens. And your welcome! Enjoy!)
(celia azul: I know... Those words she said to Cindy before she left are the same words that Esme is dying to hear as well... Cindy did a good job of taking care of a toddler on the road. RIP Cindy. I'm currently debating what episode, Esme is going to make her debut in... and it's going to affect how I write the next chapter, so we will see at what level of crazy Rick is on soon because I also would not want that man near my babies when he lost Lori, hell I wanted to jump in the screen and grab Carl and Judith as well.)
(Thanks for the wonderful reviews!)