Chapter Three: Que dios te bendiga y te proteja
"Your sister's a cop; how do you not know?" Ashley asked exasperatedly, a hint of venom in her voice.
"It means, 'I don't know!' Jay's a cop in New York! Any protocols I know are probably irrelevant here... besides, a cop is never supposed to abandon their post like the Deputy did." Juno stated calmly, "Have you guys called anybody yet?"
That seemed to snap the three older women out of their panicked states before they all simultaneously reached for their cell phones. Juno already had her own pressed to her ear as she waited for her mother to pick up the house phone. She moved into a corner of the room to give herself some semblance of privacy while keeping an eye on the kids at the same time. Four dreadful rings later her mother's normally soft and patient voice answered sounding harried and scared, "June-Bug! Is that you? Are you okay? DON'T go outside! Were you bit? Amor, tell me you weren't bit!? Have you heard from José? Jayleen and her marido burst in here an hour ago raving about cannibals and- We haven't heard from Jake yet, he was at the hospital working this morning, your sister is going sick with worry! God, mija! Did you see them?"
Juno wasn't able to answer her mother before she heard scuffling on the other line and a familiar masculine voice took over, "Juno? It's your father. Your mother is a bit hysterical right now. Are you alright?" he asked firmly.
A relieved sigh escaped from her throat, "I'm okay. I haven't been bit, haven't really seen them yet either... but I heard them when I was outside playing with the kids."
"Don't go outside." her father demanded, "Where are you? In the daycare?"
"Yeah. What about you guys, are you safe? Is anyone hurt?" she asked, her voice trembling despite all of the mental effort Juno was putting into making her voice steady.
"Both your sisters are here and so is Jasmarie, Julia never dropped her off at the preschool this morning. The only one missing is her husband, we haven't heard anything from him or your brother yet." he answered patiently, "I haven't let them call anyone just in case the noise attracts those damn geeks to the recipient."
"I haven't heard from José." Juno confessed before adding hopefully, "He's normally making his rounds to the outlying farms at this time before going back to his garage... I was supposed to come and pick him up on my way upstate to you."
"Mierda," her dad cursed softly, "No sabe nada de José." he informed Juno's now estranged family in the room with him, before stating bluntly, "That's not happening anymore."
"Wh-What?" Juno stuttered, "What do you mean that's not happening anymore? Wouldn't it be safer for all of us to band together?"
"Normally it would. But not this time Juno. I contacted some friends still serving, Juno this is not an isolated incident. This is a worldwide epidemic; those things are everywhere and the more densely populated the area is the more infected are lurking about. I-I'm afraid Juno that you wouldn't make it here, especially on your own." her father's voice was solemn and raspy in a way that she hadn't heard in years. The last time she'd heard her father cry was when José had gotten in a terrible car accident when he was seventeen and they hadn't known if he would pull through. Fuck. Fuck!
She shakily breathed in, "Now what? What do I do papi?"
"Where are your guns?" he asked bluntly in his usual no-nonsense tone.
"They're upstairs in my apartment, under lock-and-key up in the storage safe you got me."
"Good. Good." he muttered, "You still remember how to shoot?"
Juno snorted wetly, "How could I forget, papi?"
"That's my girl." he softly praised her, "Headshots only. Jayleen told us that headshots are the only things that keep the geeks down. Now, from what I remember that daycare of yours is practically a fortified base right? Don't move from there you hear me. You live on an island, think Juno, how many residents live there?"
"Fifty, and that's including the kids in the daycare right now." she responded after a moment.
"Okay, that's good Juno. It won't be too hard to clear that area." he muttered that last part to himself, "How far is the next building from yours?"
The building next door was Mr. Arnold's firearm store; it was (had been since Mr. Arnold wasn't exactly Mr. Arnold any more) run by the old man himself and his disabled (army related accident) son Hank. They lived in the apartment above the store, but unlike her, they didn't use the rooftop space to do anything. The area was flat like her own roof and it did have access to the rest of the building but she'd heard from Mary (the owner of "You want It, We got It" craft store) that Hank used to hang around on the roof before he came back permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Mr. Arnold had chained the roof door closed when Hank tried to commit suicide during the transition month after being honorably discharged. The gap between the two buildings was practically non-existent, maybe a foot apart if she was being generous.
"Not too bad, the door on that roof was sealed off years ago."
"That's perfect!" he exclaimed, "What about the building on your other side?"
This time Juno responded right away, "That's a house, about ten feet away and the roof is slanted so no access that way. But there is a building on the other side of Mr. Arnold's... I'd have to go up there and manually check it out."
"Alright, but not yet. Do you still have that military-grade radio communicator I sent you two years ago?" he asked her urgently. She did, Juno had stored it in her spare room (mentally dubbed as her storage room) along with all of the other military and gun/weaponry related junk that her father sent her periodically. Only now, it seemed that his paranoia and overzealousness was going to come in handy since the world had decided to go right ahead and transform itself into a place worse than hell.
"Yeah. It's in my apartment."
"Is it safe for you to get up there unspotted?"
"Yep, Ms. Bettina had the stairs covered with the same mesh fabric as the fence in the backyard to promote privacy. The whole thing is covered, the only problem might be the noise... but considering that sirens and screaming are the only things I can really hear from the outside, I should be able to sneak up there undetected," Juno answered contemplatively as she chewed on her bottom lip.
"Bueno, then that's what you should do. You need to set your frequency to ours got it? You still remember the-"
"Yeah papi, I know it. Have it written down next to the machine just in case I ever forgot it as well." she interrupted.
Her father sighed in annoyance, "No me interrumpes mija, you know I hate that. As soon as you get a chance that's what you do, cell phones and the internet aren't going to be working for long."
"Dios, this is really it. Isn't it? The beginning of the end." Juno whispered in horror, tears threatening to stream down her face.
"Don't talk like that Juno." her father stated almost harshly, "You need to use your brain right now, you can't let your emotions get in the way or you'll end up dead. Ouch! Damn woman! Don't hit me!" he proclaimed to whoever was smacking him as the phone was snatched from his grasp.
"Juno? Amor, estas ahí?" her mother asked gently.
Relief flowed through her body, "Mami!" she practically gasped.
"Mija," the woman breathed out lovingly in return, "Baby I need you to listen to me okay; you need to stay calm okay. That was all your papi was trying to say before he put his foot in his mouth, panicking won't do you any good."
"I know." Juno agreed as she allowed a traitorous tear to fall, making sure to shield her face from the children's curious eyes, "Es que- Los amo mucho y no sé cuándo nos vamos a poder ver otra vez."
"Ay, mija. Yo sé, esto no va a ser nada fácil... pero no podemos perder nuestra fe. No nos vamos a poder ver fiscalmente, pero todavía podremos oírnos con el radio. Necesitamos sobrevivir esta tragedia. Te amo mucho mi niña linda."
Juno held in a sob at her mother's comforting words, "I know, I know. I love you a lot too. You guys need to survive too, because we need to meet each other one day soon."
"Your sisters' all love you very much too, I can't pass you to them right now because they are on watch... I'm so sorry amor, but I have to hang up now in case José calls the house phone." her mother added reluctantly.
"Okay, te amo mami."
"I love you to the moon and back Juno. Stay safe amor, don't forget to set the frequency to the radio."
"I won't, be safe." she whispered.
"Que dios te bendiga y te proteja, Juno. We'll talk soon, tomorrow night okay, at nine."
"Okay, ciao." Juno could hear her mother mutter a quick goodbye again before dropping the call, only her mom would still believe in god after the dead started eating the living. Even then, Juno was grateful for the normality of the blessing her mother had imparted on her as if nothing had happened to change their normal routine.
Words 1682
Translations:
Amor = Love or My love
Marido = Husband
Mija = abbreviation of the word Mi Hija, which means 'my daughter,' nickname
Mierda = Shit
No sabe nada de José = She hadn't heard anything from José
Papi = Daddy
Bueno = Well
No me interrumpes mija = Don't interrupt me
Dios =God
Amor, estas ahí? = (My) Love, are you there?
Mami = Mommy
Es que- Los amo mucho y no sé cuándo nos vamos a poder ver otra vez = It's just that- I love you all so much and I don't know when we'll see each other again
Ay, mija. Yo sé, esto no va a ser nada fácil... pero no podemos perder nuestra fe. No nos vamos a poder ver fiscalmente, pero todavía podremos oírnos con el radio. Necesitamos sobrevivir esta tragedia. Te amo mucho mi niña linda. = Oh, mija (sorry it's weird to write that phrase in English). I know, this isn't going to be even romotely easy... but we cannot lose faith. We won't be able to see each other physically, but we'll still be able to hear each other with the radio. We need to survive this tragedy. I love you so much my beautiful child.
Que dios te bendiga y te proteja, Juno = May God bless you and protect you, Juno (that prayer is called a Bendicion in Spanish. When you finish speaking on the phone with an older relative you say 'Bendicion' and they repeat this prayer back to you).
Ciao = Bye
