Chapter 7
The house Deanna gave us is bigger than anything I could have ever afforded before the apocalypse. There are two living rooms, an office, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and bathroom on the bottom floor. It's only lightly furnished with the more important pieces of furniture, being kitchen appliances like a microwave and fridge, and sofas, bookshelves, dining table and chairs. But the bathroom and laundry are fully stocked with towels, blankets, and cleaning products.
The upstairs feels even bigger. Five bedrooms, one of which is a master with its own walk-in wardrobe and bathroom. There are also two other bathrooms on the top floor. But the top floor is even barer with only a king size bed in the master, and a single in the room next door. But the walk-in wardrobe is stocked with clothes of various colours and sizes.
The whole house is done in shades of cream and whites; it looks too clean. I couldn't dare to wear my old boots on the glossy light wood flooring. I walk to the back of the house where the spacious kitchen is. It has marble countertops and glossy white cabinets. The room is light and bright with one wall fully made of glass sliding doors that lead out onto a large deck in the back yard.
I go out into the backyard where Raider is playing with Sami-Jay and Apples is munching happily on the lush green grass. The sun shows me it's around four in the afternoon.
"Raider I'm going to go get cleaned up then we're going to go for a walk, okay?" he looks over to me with a happy-go-lucky smile on his face.
"Okay mummy."
No more searching, this is the place for us, I have to tell myself. In the hour or so we have been here Raider has been happiest I have seen him since… I can't remember. I jog upstairs and into the walk-in wardrobe. I pick a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt that look like they will fit and throw a pair of flip-flops out that I can wear till I can clean my boots. I checked the taps and lights when I first entered the house and to my excitement there's running water and working lights.
I go to the master bathroom and have one of the shortest yet most refreshing showers of my life, washing off layer after layer of blood and mud. But once I deem myself clean enough I get out, knowing I will have to go see this Olivia person before nightfall so the kids will have clean clothes and hopefully food. The kitchen was completely empty.
It's probably no more than 15 minutes before I'm back down stairs. Raider and Sami-Jay are nowhere near as dirty as I was, they hardly ever get off Apples unless it's to go into a house. I walk down the two steps from the porch to the yard and Sami-Jay pushes away from Raider and comes towards me in hard and shaky steps, with her small arms raised. I pick up the cooing child and hug her to my side.
"Come on Raider," I say when we reach the gate.
"What about Apples?" he asks.
"She'll be safe here till we get back, come on babe," I say opening the gate hatch.
Raider bites his bottom lip then gives himself a reassuring nod. He runs out the gate and I shut it behind us.
We walk up the road Deanna pointed to. It's lined with smaller, closer houses, all in creams and whites, with very floral gardens. As we near the first corner a woman in her thirties, with pale skin, short blonde hair and a friendly smile rounds the corner. "Oh you must be the new arrivals. Hi I'm Jessie." The woman extends a hand to me and I put on a friendly smile.
"Hello I'm Athena but friends call me Ace. This is Samantha-Jay and that's Raider." I bounce Sami-Jay on my hip as we stand still.
"Oh my, when Nick said two young kids, I was thinking… I don't know what I was thinking. God it's amazing to see a baby, I never thought I would see one again," she gazes at Sami-Jay with adoring eyes.
"You have children?" I ask.
"Yeah, two sons. Ron is fifteen and Sam's ten, oh and my husband Pete Anderson, he's Alexandria's doctor."
"Wow, a doctor, few and far between these days."
"Yeah…" she sighs. "Well if you need anything just let me know."
"Oh if it wouldn't be a bother, would you mind showing me to Olivia? Deanna said she could help me with getting some new clothes for the kids, and the directions I got were kind of vague."
"Sure, right this way." I follow her back up the road she just came down.
"So how long have you and your family been here?"
"Since almost the start. We were going on a family vacation when the outbreak started. Found this place just after Deanna. How long have you been out there alone?"
"It was just me and Raider for the first few months, then we found a decent group and I stayed with them till I had Sami-Jay. We've been by ourselves since then, the odd group or one or two people here and there, but I hadn't found a place good enough for my children. That is until now…"
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