p class="MsoNormal"Chapter 4/p
p class="MsoNormal"emIt had been twenty-six days since she'd spoken words style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe last words she'd uttered had been to her daughter's grave before leaving home for the last style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found herself humming as she drove or walked, and seemed such a funny thing when she'd catch herself doing style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe world was so style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe quiet was too style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe only thing that kept her mind steady and focused on tomorrow was the scrape of shoe soles against concrete, the crackling whir of tires over dried leaves littering the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe world was dead, but she was alive, and the noises kept her from going crazy in the quiet./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe'd slept the last three nights in the back room of an abandoned grocery style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen the virus first hit and people started panicking, it had clearly been one of the first places style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe shelves were style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanProduce was rotting in the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe few items abandoned in the meat coolers were now green and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut someone had set up a cot in the back room of the store, and Carol had taken shelter through a particularly vicious style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut food was running low, and she had to keep moving./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe'd found a drug store that still had product in the windows, so she'd parked the old Jeep Cherokee behind it and had come in front style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emMost of the painkillers were gone, but she managed to find a few bottles under the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found antibiotics and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found first aid kits and boxes of bandages. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe took a sweep around the rest of the place, loading up on soap and shampoo and boxes of tampons and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe left a few packages, because while it felt like she was the only woman left in the world, she knew she wasn' style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThere were people out style="mso-spacerun: yes;" style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd heard screaming in the night, and she had stayed still in the dark and prayed her car would still be there come morning./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emBy the time she loaded the back of the Jeep up with supplies, the sun was high in the sky, and her stomach was rumbling style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSo, she topped off the tank with the contents of one of the red gas cans in the back of the truck and started off down the street./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emTo her surprise, three men darted out across the road, laughing wildly and disappearing down an alley between a bar and an old insurance style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCarol's heart raced, and she slammed on the brakes in case anyone else came running style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor a moment, she wondered if she'd hallucinated the whole style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut, as she brought the car to a slow crawl down the street, she peered down the alley just to see one of the men turn a corner a disappear behind the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer heart pounded in her chest, and she reached for the glove style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanInside was a small handgun. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd never shot a gun in her entire life until a week style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt had been Ed's, and she'd never touched the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut when she'd been hunkered down in the back of an old trailer, she'd heard someone—or something—prowling around style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd stuck her arm out the window with the gun in her hand, pulled the trigger, and soft footsteps went scampering off toward the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanProbably a coyote, she'd thought, but she hadn't been willing to take any chances./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe peered down the sidewalk the other men had just come running from, and it was then that she saw someone slumped in the doorway of a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor a moment, he was so still she wondered if he was style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut when she saw him lift his head wearily, only to slump back down, she found herself cutting the engine and rushing out of the Jeep./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emWith the gun firmly tucked in her back pocket, she approached the figure. He was cloaked in a poncho and had nothing on him but a crossbow. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHis lip was busted, his nose was bloody, and she could tell by the broken string on his weapon and the scratches on his hands that the men had tried to take that, too, but had style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt was when she saw the dead man slumped against the other side of the doorway that she realized why the others had given up and fled./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Are you ok?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAre you alone?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe lifted his head and peered up at her through shaggy hair, and she offered him a kind style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe saw something in his pretty, blue eyes style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDespite her trembling hands and racing heart, she didn't feel compelled to run style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe was the first person she'd seen—besides his attackers—and he looked like he could use some help./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emHe stared up at her for a moment, as if trying to convince himself she was real. She reached out to try to push his hair back to get a look at his wound, and he flinched style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe pulled her hand back then and backed up a little./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Assholes stole my shit."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Looks like they clocked you a good one, too."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"I've had worse," he muttered, fishing for the pack of cigarettes in his torn shirt style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Yeah."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer head bobbed in style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Me too."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em.../em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Carol hadn't slept style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDaryl had gotten out of bed as quietly and gently as he could, and she'd lay there watching him scrawl a note out for style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe knew before she even read it that he was going out to look for supplies, and while she hated the idea of him going out alone, she knew going with him would only slow him style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe wasn't feeling the best, and something had been bothering her since the moment she opened her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"She hadn't felt the baby kick once all style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe usually woke her with a kick or a nudge hard enough to jostle her from her dreams and awake the urge to rush to the bathroom to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe remembered well enough from her first pregnancy that close to the end, the baby didn't move as much, but even that knowledge didn't help ease her worries style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Still, by the time the sunlight filtered in through the slats in the blinds, she still hadn't felt so much as a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen she ran her hand along her belly and pressed her fingertips gently against the spot his little foot had been nudging her lately, she didn't get the usual squirm or stretch she typically style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"She pulled her hand away and tried not to think about style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"She stayed under the covers until her stomach growled, and as soon as she was up on her feet, she felt a sharp twinge in her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt caught her off guard, and she toppled forward, hands breaking her fall on the mattress as her knees dug into the sides of the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath before releasing it, and as the pain subsided, she straightened and started out of the bedroom./p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't easy to keep her mind on other style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe fact that her back and hips ached from how low the baby was made it difficult to think of anything else. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe could tell the baby had style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe likelihood that she was giving birth in the next week as opposed to the next month seemed greater, and while she'd been mentally preparing herself for the worst, she still wasn't quite ready to get it all over style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor as uncomfortable as she was and as eager as she was to feel normal again, the emafter/em was what kept her awake at style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe what ifs were loud and frightening./p
p class="MsoNormal"emIt had been twenty-six days since she'd spoken words style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe last words she'd uttered had been to her daughter's grave before leaving home for the last style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found herself humming as she drove or walked, and seemed such a funny thing when she'd catch herself doing style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe world was so style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe quiet was too style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe only thing that kept her mind steady and focused on tomorrow was the scrape of shoe soles against concrete, the crackling whir of tires over dried leaves littering the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe world was dead, but she was alive, and the noises kept her from going crazy in the quiet./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe'd slept the last three nights in the back room of an abandoned grocery style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen the virus first hit and people started panicking, it had clearly been one of the first places style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe shelves were style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanProduce was rotting in the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe few items abandoned in the meat coolers were now green and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut someone had set up a cot in the back room of the store, and Carol had taken shelter through a particularly vicious style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut food was running low, and she had to keep moving./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe'd found a drug store that still had product in the windows, so she'd parked the old Jeep Cherokee behind it and had come in front style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emMost of the painkillers were gone, but she managed to find a few bottles under the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found antibiotics and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe found first aid kits and boxes of bandages. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe took a sweep around the rest of the place, loading up on soap and shampoo and boxes of tampons and style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe left a few packages, because while it felt like she was the only woman left in the world, she knew she wasn' style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThere were people out style="mso-spacerun: yes;" style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd heard screaming in the night, and she had stayed still in the dark and prayed her car would still be there come morning./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emBy the time she loaded the back of the Jeep up with supplies, the sun was high in the sky, and her stomach was rumbling style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSo, she topped off the tank with the contents of one of the red gas cans in the back of the truck and started off down the street./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emTo her surprise, three men darted out across the road, laughing wildly and disappearing down an alley between a bar and an old insurance style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCarol's heart raced, and she slammed on the brakes in case anyone else came running style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor a moment, she wondered if she'd hallucinated the whole style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut, as she brought the car to a slow crawl down the street, she peered down the alley just to see one of the men turn a corner a disappear behind the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer heart pounded in her chest, and she reached for the glove style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanInside was a small handgun. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd never shot a gun in her entire life until a week style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt had been Ed's, and she'd never touched the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut when she'd been hunkered down in the back of an old trailer, she'd heard someone—or something—prowling around style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe'd stuck her arm out the window with the gun in her hand, pulled the trigger, and soft footsteps went scampering off toward the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanProbably a coyote, she'd thought, but she hadn't been willing to take any chances./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emShe peered down the sidewalk the other men had just come running from, and it was then that she saw someone slumped in the doorway of a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor a moment, he was so still she wondered if he was style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut when she saw him lift his head wearily, only to slump back down, she found herself cutting the engine and rushing out of the Jeep./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emWith the gun firmly tucked in her back pocket, she approached the figure. He was cloaked in a poncho and had nothing on him but a crossbow. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHis lip was busted, his nose was bloody, and she could tell by the broken string on his weapon and the scratches on his hands that the men had tried to take that, too, but had style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt was when she saw the dead man slumped against the other side of the doorway that she realized why the others had given up and fled./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Are you ok?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAre you alone?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe lifted his head and peered up at her through shaggy hair, and she offered him a kind style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe saw something in his pretty, blue eyes style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDespite her trembling hands and racing heart, she didn't feel compelled to run style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe was the first person she'd seen—besides his attackers—and he looked like he could use some help./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emHe stared up at her for a moment, as if trying to convince himself she was real. She reached out to try to push his hair back to get a look at his wound, and he flinched style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe pulled her hand back then and backed up a little./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Assholes stole my shit."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Looks like they clocked you a good one, too."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"I've had worse," he muttered, fishing for the pack of cigarettes in his torn shirt style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em"Yeah."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer head bobbed in style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Me too."/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em.../em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Carol hadn't slept style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDaryl had gotten out of bed as quietly and gently as he could, and she'd lay there watching him scrawl a note out for style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe knew before she even read it that he was going out to look for supplies, and while she hated the idea of him going out alone, she knew going with him would only slow him style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe wasn't feeling the best, and something had been bothering her since the moment she opened her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"She hadn't felt the baby kick once all style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe usually woke her with a kick or a nudge hard enough to jostle her from her dreams and awake the urge to rush to the bathroom to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe remembered well enough from her first pregnancy that close to the end, the baby didn't move as much, but even that knowledge didn't help ease her worries style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Still, by the time the sunlight filtered in through the slats in the blinds, she still hadn't felt so much as a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen she ran her hand along her belly and pressed her fingertips gently against the spot his little foot had been nudging her lately, she didn't get the usual squirm or stretch she typically style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"She pulled her hand away and tried not to think about style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"She stayed under the covers until her stomach growled, and as soon as she was up on her feet, she felt a sharp twinge in her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt caught her off guard, and she toppled forward, hands breaking her fall on the mattress as her knees dug into the sides of the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath before releasing it, and as the pain subsided, she straightened and started out of the bedroom./p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't easy to keep her mind on other style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe fact that her back and hips ached from how low the baby was made it difficult to think of anything else. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe could tell the baby had style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe likelihood that she was giving birth in the next week as opposed to the next month seemed greater, and while she'd been mentally preparing herself for the worst, she still wasn't quite ready to get it all over style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFor as uncomfortable as she was and as eager as she was to feel normal again, the emafter/em was what kept her awake at style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe what ifs were loud and frightening./p