FOURTEEN
(Three Years Later)
"And…here we are," Rick said as he eased the Mercedes SUV onto the now cracked driveway leading up to the Hamptons estate. Grass, weeds, and even a small flower or two popped up through the fissures in what was once a smoothly paved surface. Though it fell short of its once-manicured state, the sight was not unusual; half the roads they'd traveled to arrive in Southampton looked the same.
Kate leaned forward in her seat so she could better view the entire frontage of the home through the car's windshield. Despite the fact that over the years some of the shingles had fallen off and the porch looked like it could use a fresh coat of paint, the house was still quite impressive. She imagined that in its prime it would have been positively breath taking, but also knew her husband had full intent of renovating it back to that state as soon as possible.
As her eyes grazed across the front of the home, she spotted a second vehicle parked in front of the driveway and frowned at the two suit-wearing men standing beside it. "Babe, did you have to call in the National Guard to come with us?"
He chuckled haughtily. "That's not the National Guard—I called them; they wouldn't come. Something about this not being an actual emergency…" He winked at her and she rolled her eyes. "No, those two are private security."
Though their home had already been swept and confirmed clear of any zombie presence, Rick insisted that he wanted to be extra sure their first visit would be a safe one—particularly for his wife and her precious cargo. Kate assured him everything would be fine, but of course he'd gone above and beyond; when didn't he?
Rick parked their car beside the security personnel's vehicle and the duo stepped out, Kate a bit slower due to her expanding belly. The writer shook hands with the two men and confirmed the home and perimeter were secure before escorting his wife to the door.
When they received the first report from the caretaker hired, Rick and Kate realized how lucky they were. Aside from a few broken windows and some mild structural damage, the Hamptons estate was in good shape. The interior did not show any signs of destruction or ransacking so it was entirely possible that wind and rain from storm caused the external defects and not people; certainly not zombies. Upon hearing this, Rick expressed his guilt over the loss of his mother and daughter. He, for some reason, believed this to be solid proof that had they made it there they all would have survived, but Kate cautioned him against such thoughts. First, given what a treacherous trek it would have been, there was no guarantee they all would have survived the journey. Second, this information was learned after the fact; at the time they would have had no way of knowing if the estate was safe or overrun. Though he knew her reasoning to be rational, Rick still struggled, which was why Kate suggested the visit at the first safe opportunity.
"Ready?" Kate asked, looking up at him as he paused with the keys in his hands. When he didn't respond right away, she skimmed her hands over her belly. "You can go in alone at first if you want. We'll wait out here."
"No." He assured her, reaching out to take her hand. "I don't want to do this alone."
When Rick unlocked the door and they stepped inside, Kate was overwhelmed with the scent of dust and mustiness to the point where she sneezed twice. Her husband apologized for the state of the home, but she assured him it was fine as she pulled a tissue from her pocket. Though he'd originally wanted to hire a cleaning crew, she said there was no need for that to occur before their day trip. No sense cleaning something that would be dirtied up again during the renovation.
Kate dropped her husband's hand and stepped through the foyer and into the well-lit sitting room that led out into a beautiful back porch. She could immediate see herself sitting there, rocking a sleeping infant, listening to the waves crashing gently against the surf; she couldn't wait.
Just a few steps into the sitting area, Kate came across the first set of family photos and eagerly picked one up. Though it was clearly taken when Alexis was around five or six—over a decade earlier—it was easy for Kate to recognize the family of three even though it was her first time seeing the two red-heads. She smiled down at the frame, both happy to be able to put faces to their names, and sad that she would never have the privilege of meeting them.
Still holding the picture, she turned around, smiled and held it out to the man standing at the edge of the room. "See," she said. "I told you that you'd get your pictures back."
"Yeah." He replied, his voice noticeably thick with emotion.
She walked over, handed him the frame, and then stood on her toes in order to kiss his cheek. Then, backing away, she said, "I'll be on the porch; you take your time."
His eyes widened and he said, "Be careful; watch the-"
"-beach." She finished for him before nodding. "I know."
Though nearly a full year had passed since the government had declared the zombie epidemic "cured" it was not uncommon for one of them to appear now and then, and beaches were the most common places to have a sighting. Though no one quite realized at the time, because zombies did not need to breathe, being underwater was actually a perfect spot for them to exist. Countries and cities desperate to rid their streets of these dangerous beings began dumping undead into the water by the thousands. There was, of course, no way to know a zombie's geographical origins, but every time she read about a sighting or heard about it on the news, Kate wondered just how far it had traveled before washing up in the surf.
Fortunately, other than some seaweed, the estate's beach was pristine. Kate stood at the railing with one hand on it and the other below her stomach as the salty, sticky breeze ruffled her hair and the sound of seabirds could be heard. The beach sightings were becoming progressively more rare; one had not been heard of north of the Carolinas in almost six months. This would be a safe place for them to raise their son once it was renovated, but they had ten weeks; that was plenty of time.
After a few more minutes of observing the surf, Kate moved to sit on one of the wicker loveseats on the porch. The cushion had seen better days, so she tossed it aside, but the remaining seating was sturdy, though probably not comfortable enough for sitting for a long duration of time. She sighed, gazed up at the passing clouds, and waited for her husband to join her, which took only another five minutes. He sat down beside her, draped an arm over her shoulders and she snuggled into him. Resting her hand on his leg she asked, "You okay?"
"Mmhm." He sighed. "Just thinking about Alexis, about Mother, about the crazy last four years…."
Kate snuggled into him a bit tighter. She tried not to think of the past, not to think of how difficult life had been very often. She wanted to live in the present and try to forget the horrible things they had seen. They had each other; they were about to start a family. To her, this was enough, though she understood that being back in his home made her husband reflective and she wanted to give him that time.
Though Kate joked about the government's incompetence, she honestly did not expect to arrive at the first post-apocalyptic winter with absolutely no guidance or formal intervention from the military, but there was nothing. She, Rick, and the seventy-some other residents of the country club hunkered down and somehow managed to survive the absolute hardest three months of her life. When the weather finally broke, ten of them had died of exposure, the rest were starved, malnourished and hanging on by a thread.
With the area completely tapped out of supplies, the group headed south towards Washington, D.C. hoping to find a better, more permanent camp, but for miles they saw nothing but people in similar if not worse states than they. Finally, by early summer, they found a community in northwest Virginia run by a military installment. Though they too were operating with limited supplies, they accepted Kate, Rick, and the surviving group of forty-two they traveled with. Fortunately for the road-weary bunch, that was the turning point for the better.
A secret government lab tucked into the Nevada Mountains had finally discovered and tested a vaccination to make humans immune to the Zombie Virus, as it was now known. Once the vaccination was widespread, cleanup began. With the vaccination, a bite did not sentence one to death. Of course, one could still die if an attack was violent enough, but such a death would be due to blood loss or other trauma. Most importantly, that death would not result in a person returning as a zombie.
Over the next year, the country experience what felt like another industrial revolution. Slowly, electricity returned. Then gasoline and diesel arrived to fuel cars and trucks. Manufacturing resumed as did the planting and harvesting of crops. Of course, the country's population had been decimated—upwards of sixty percent had perished—but those left were as determined as ever to rebuild.
Unfortunately for those from major cities like Rick and Kate, returning to the homes they once loved was not possible. In order to eradicate the zombies, the government chose to bomb and burn most of the cities; New York had been near the top of the list. Two years after they met, the newly married couple was finally able to move back to the northeast—to a renovated New Jersey apartment building now housing young couples who had survived. Kate began work on the local police force and Rick tried his best to return to writing.
Once the country's financial situation was sorted out and Rick had access to his wealth once again, he and Kate moved from the apartment to a duplex not too far away. It was there they had shared the memories that had seemed the most normal to them: sitting on the couch sharing a bottle of wine and deciding they wanted to start their family, huddled together in the same place as they waited for the results of the pregnancy test, and a few months later discussing where they wanted to raise their son and how best to help him thrive in the new, uncharted world.
"Thanks for coming here with me," Rick said gently after they'd sat in a comfortable silence for almost ten minutes.
Kate slid from his embrace enough to kiss him. "Of course. I can't wait for us to live here; for us to raise James here."
Rick smiled and placed his palm on her belly, splaying his fingers out so he could cover almost the full bump with his touch. "I can't wait for that either, even though he won't grow up in the same world we did."
She shook her head and snuggled up to him again. "No, he won't."
The subject had been debated by them several times. For a while, even after things took a turn for the positive, neither thought it was responsible to bring a child into the world. Too much was still unknown; there was too much danger. But, as time wore on, they knew it was part of the healing process. Moving on, starting anew, and building the world back to be (hopefully) a better place.
After a few more minutes of sitting, Rick kissed his wife's head and reached out for her hand. "C'mon; let's finish the tour."
She let him help her to a standing position and lead the way back into the house. As they stepped inside she asked, "And then can we go back to discussing those colors for the bedroom?"
He gave her a skeptical look. "By 'discussing' do you mean 'arguing?'"
She grinned and stroked her belly. "We wouldn't argue if you just agreed with me, Babe."
He stopped walking and pouted at her. "It's not going to work this time so don't even try it."
"What's not going to work?" she responded, her voice ringing with innocence.
"This!" He proclaimed pointing between her face and her belly and back again. "I know you think rubbing your belly makes me give in to you, but it won't work. We're not painting the bedroom lavender. That's your pregnancy brain affecting your judgement. We're going with either that beige or the light gray. Between them you can decide; I'm ok with either."
"Gray." She decided instantly, even though she still did like the photograph of the lavender master bedroom she had seen in a magazine. Then again, the odds of her being able to decorate it as effectively seemed slim, so he probably made a valid point.
As they held hands and made their way through the rest of the home on the tour, Kate couldn't help but smile. As nice as their place was in New Jersey, it still didn't feel like home and never had. This place, however, would be home—their home. They would raise their son and possibly even more of their children in the future. They would laugh in the kitchen, play out on the sand, and go to bed in their gray master suite every night for the rest of their lives and she couldn't wait.
A/N: As you can see, this was the epilogue of sorts. I really hope you all enjoyed this story - i apprecaite all your reviews. I've been trying to write a zombie AU forever and I'm very happy with how this came together so I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did
As I mentioned last chapter, there is an alternate ending which i will post some time this week (remember: alternate doesnt meant bad! ;) )
As for what's next... I have a few... Murphy's Law, A Reasonable Doubt...and I might possibly post something during the Pornado on tumblr next weekend...maybe. Generally my attempts at smut have been tragic, but time will tell...
thanks!
