Cameron just looked at her. "Seriously?" he asked, not wanting to believe his ears.
"Yeah," she sighed.
"Well…fuck!"
"I didn't tell them that you're the father, and the doc's staying quiet until I say so," Marge told him. This was now the third pregnancy in Yuba (the first that was conceived post Z-day, as Cameron liked to call it). And the doctor she was referring to was actually the National Guard's medic—they were able to grab some medical equipment for him during one of the supply runs (not from hospitals, though). The poor bastard, being the only person with medical experience, had been studying extensively to cover as many fields as he could.
"Are you sure it's mine?" Cameron had to ask, hoping that she had slept with Dennis at some point.
"The ultrasound confirmed that I'm almost eight weeks along…so yeah, it's yours." It was nighttime, so everyone in the house had gone to bed.
Despite the situation, Cameron couldn't help but laugh. "Funny, and here I thought things were going really smoothly for a zombie apocalypse." He made a motion to get down on one knee to ask the question that had to be asked—but Marge held him in place.
"We don't have to tell them it's yours," Marge offered. "Just be there for the kid."
"I'll be a father," Cameron said without argument. "It might end things between me and Becky but—"
"Look," Marge said soothingly, "if you and Becky are solid, she should understand that the small thing between us was in the past." She smiled. "I love you, Cam. I'm not just in love with you."
"Same here." He straightened up. "I suppose tomorrow I'll start looking for a new place." That mean he was moving into a tent. "And I better tell Becky tomorrow."
And that he was planning on doing. After a very subdued breakfast, Cameron left to take his shift with Becky. After the whole procedure to honk the horns to attract any possible zombies, they took their posts near the construction site.
The wall was being built.
As the two of them stood guard, Cameron tried time and again to say what had to be said. In the three weeks that they've been a couple, he found that he was very fond of her. In fact, he was fond enough of Becky that it would have simply felt wrong not to tell her about the pregnancy.
"Spit it out," Becky said casually. "I know there's something on your mind."
"Marge isn't my sister," Cameron finally said to her.
Becky just looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I figured as much," she said slowly. "The two of you get along way too well."
Really? Cameron thought, surprised. In the short time that they were together had she actually been able to figure him out so well? Maybe that was one reason he liked her as much as he did.
"But why are you telling…wait," Becky said, looking at his obviously guilty face. "You dumb bastard, you knocked her up, didn't you!" Yup, she definitely knew him.
"It was before you and me hooked up, I swear!" Cameron said desperately in defense. "We already ended it before then." That didn't look to appease her one bit.
"And when was the last time that the two of you fucked?" Becky asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Uh," he hesitated, knowing the answer wouldn't please her, "well…the night before you and I hooked up."
Becky slapped the shit out of him. "You were screwing someone else, while I spent those weeks trying to come on to you?" she shouted at him, making Cameron genuinely fear for his life. He nodded. "And you didn't say anything to stop me?"
"But—but—"
"I'm gonna see if Celia wants to switch partners."
As he watched Becky storm away, Cameron realized that the two of them had a fight while standing in zombie country as if it were normal. What the fuck did the world come to? Not only that, but now he felt completely horrible over how things went, as if there was a pit sitting in his stomach.
"Becky's pissed," her replacement commented, appearing a minute later. "What happened?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
Dennis was probably the most shocked, surprised, and blown when news spread through Yuba. Cameron, who didn't want to rough it (as the story went), decided to pretend to be Marge's brother so he could sleep in a comfy house—and to have easy access to her when he had an urge. Not only that, but after getting bored with Marge, he took advantage of Becky! God dammit, was he actually back in high school? By the end of the day "asshole" was Cameron's new nickname, and Marge was the victim because she was the pregnant one.
Thankfully, there was no denying that as the father he had to take responsibility, so he was pretty much forced to stay at the Harrison's. But the hardcore Christian community (and then some) was calling for Cameron's sinning ass to be tossed out of Yuba. It didn't happen, thank god, but it was still pretty bad. Marge tried to do some damage control, but to no avail.
Strangely, it wasn't the fact that Marge was pregnant that was making Cameron so upset. So they had a kid on the way. Yeah, it was a lot to take in, but there was no use crying over spilled milk. And it wasn't like it ruined his future—the zombies already took care of that. It was Becky. Why did it make him feel so bad to lose a girl that he only dated for half as long as he knew?
Also, if Cameron hadn't been feeling so lousy about loosing her, then he'd be more pissed at some of the people in town. After the zombie shock wore off, and Yuba started coming together, just about everyone had started following the "if it felt good do it" rule. Cameron and Marge were far from the only ones having themselves a good ol' fashion time. It was just because of their situation that they weren't able to take the necessary precautions. And by the time Cameron had found something beyond physical attraction, the past came back to bite him in the ass. Fate sure was a stingy bitch.
Probably the only person that didn't seem to take things in a bad way was Jack.
"Does that mean you're my dad now?" he asked, when Cameron had nothing better to do than attempt to teach the three-year-old how to play poker.
"You don't have to call me that," Cameron said to him. "See, you have three sixes and two queens. That's called a full house."
"But I want to call someone dad," Jack pouted.
Cameron flinched. He forgot that his father died before Jack could remember him.
"Jack," he said, unsure how to handle the situation, "I would do anything for you and your mom—just like a dad. But your mom and I aren't getting married." That had been another issue. More than one person volunteered to hold the shotgun, but Marge made it clear that they had no such intention (Dennis had looked a bit relieved).
"So my brother will get to call you dad, but not me?" he asked, looking like he got the raw end of the deal.
"You could have a sister," Cameron said, avoiding the issue. "Now here I have two twos and two eights—that's a two pair." Jack wasn't paying attention and looked put out. He sighed. "Ask your mom if I can be your dad. If she says yes then I'll be fine with it."
Marge was going to give him hell for that later, but at least for now he didn't have to deal with it.
A few days passed since the truth came out. Not only was Cameron feeling miserable, but also he was bored out of his skull. Yawning, Cameron tried rubbing the heaviness from his eyelids. That day he was keeping watch over the town's western perimeter. Parked along the length of the small bridge, the personnel carrier he was standing in was the only thing blocking the road. Unlike the north and east, to Yuba's immediate south and west was a small river that served as a natural barrier. It wasn't much but it kept zombies out.
So that meant that the western road was also the most boring. The road forked right before him. One led straight ahead while the other turned south. Nothing was out there, not even a lone zombie.
That was probably one thing that people took for granted in zombie media. Once you carved yourself out a nice little niche (or at least it was nice), and killing zombies became about as exciting as washing the dishes, things got dull. Oh sure, he could Google the nearest electronics store, get a car, and get himself a console along with some games—but there were a few drawbacks: One, it didn't get anything productive done; two, it would only entertain him for a little while; and three, it wasn't worth the risk.
He would've liked to go back to the construction site to keep guard, but that also meant he would have to deal with people shooting dirty looks at him.
A sound then caused him to perk his ears up. It got steadily louder before Cameron recognized it as a car. Looking south to his left, he indeed saw as a blue pickup truck drove closer and closer. Cameron couldn't help but be amazed.
It's been three months since the outbreak. All the higher ups, even Cameron, figured that all those that survived the first days were either dead or rescued. He watched as the pickup truck abruptly stopped at the sight of the personnel carrier. In the car was an old woman, and Cameron saw her jaw drop.
Getting out of the car, she asked desperately, "Is it safe here?"
Cameron knew the drill. It was done twice on him in the past, and to many others that found the community. "I'm sorry but you gotta take off your clothes," he explained calmly, raising his rifle. "We can't allow any bitten people in here."
"Is this really necessary?" she asked tensely.
"Beyond me it's infection-free. If we wanna keep it that way, we have to be careful."
Reluctantly, the woman undressed, and Cameron hopped off the personnel carrier to take a closer look. Pronouncing her clean, he called in the survivor through his radio, and proceeded to move the vehicle blocking the path.
Being the leader, Isturez was there to greet her after she parked her pickup.
"Welcome to Yuba," said Istrurez, with a warm handshake and a smile. "You must've come quite a distance, we didn't expect to see any other survivors out here."
"Well then you must not have been doing a very good job!" the old lady exclaimed, suddenly turning fierce. She pointed at the license plate on her truck—it read Wisconsin. "I'm from Lancaster! It's not two hours from here!"
"Really?" Isturez asked, flabbergasted. "How'd you manage to survive for so long?"
"Rationing," she answered, still angry. "The only reason I managed to escape at all is because my neighbor's door was broken in to, distracting all the things trying to get into my house."
"Do you think others are still alive?" he asked.
She nodded. "Definitely possible."
"Show me on a map."