Mike was very apprehensive that day. We were all very anxious because a possible pregnancy news would change everything between us. Mike was going to be a dad, and we were going to have to start thinking about how to help raise a kid in the totally inappropriate environment of a bunker. Rachel and I avoided talking to Mike as we walked towards town. We only had our backpacks with minimal and basic equipment that day, as our goal wasn't to bring supplies.
We were still in the process of grieving when Tina came to the news: she was late. How late? Like almost a mouth late. If that freaked me out, imagine Mike. Tina said it took her a while to tell us because she still hoped her period would come in the first few weeks. Then came Joe's accident, and the agony we went through until he died. But she began to feel the first signs of seasickness, and there was no more putting off the news and her fears.
First of all, we had to confirm the pregnancy, and there were two ways to do this: wait to see if the belly would grow or get a pregnancy test. Tina asked us to get a test in a way, as if going into town was always something simple and commonplace. It never was. Going into town meant risking our necks with every step. I hated going into town myself and would give up my seat to Blaine or Sam without complaint. The issue was one of trust, I think. The boys were great but constantly fumbled in a time of stress. Mike, Rachel and I were a team in that sense, and we understood each other with just a glance.
It was a sunny and hot day, one of those when we were absolutely sure we wouldn't run into any reaper daytime. The zombies were always the same: most standing still, looking at the weather, and one or two moving around, as if they were sentries at the gates of hell. And there was the stench! The hotter it got, the stinkier the city was. We moved stealthily, as usual, until we reached a convenience store, because it was closer than the pharmacy on our usual path. The great difficulty in reaching the little market was the proximity to the butcher shop, where most of the zombies were concentrated for who knows why.
"Looks like there are less zombies here." Rachel said in sign language as we waited for the right opportunity to make our way to the shop and slip inside unnoticed.
I looked towards the butcher shop and gestured maybe. We knew that the reaper population could maintain itself because they had sex and reproduced, which was a sign that the virus killed the person's consciousness, but never the vital functions, nor the survival instincts through reproduction, apparently. But the zombies in that city didn't really seem as plentiful as before. It was something we couldn't have noticed when we walked into the school a few days ago, because it was on the outskirts of town. It had been months since we actually went to downtown, hence the relevant observation.
"Maybe it's because of the militia." I said to Rachel in sign language as well. We knew they had an interest in the flour warehouse, and they cleaned out the local Walmart. But we had no idea what else the city could be of interest to.
"Girls, focus!" Mike caught our eye.
Mike signaled for us to move forward. We got to the side of the little market and opened the back door, as usual. We found the vast majority of shelves empty, not least because we ourselves had our share of it to get things we needed. But there were still objects scattered around there, such as hairbrushes, combs, other trinkets and products that we didn't think of using in our daily lives, such as pregnancy tests. The place was apparently empty, yet we always worked in silence. As we make our way between the missing shelves, we hear the sound of someone stepping on something they shouldn't have.
Mike immediately signaled and we organized into our unprofessional but working defense system. We put our weapons up to see what is going on. A man, in desperation, tried to attack us. He went at Mike, trying to hit him with an iron bar. Mike dodged and knocked him to the ground. Immediately, I arrived to provide cover.
"Be quiet or get shot." I said out loud. His fall had already made so much noise that our silent action no longer had any effect.
The man lay still on the ground, dropped the iron bar, and raised his hands. He ended up making more unwanted noise.
"Please, I am unarmed." he looked really afraid of us.
Mike signaled for silence. Rachel checked through the glass door and signaled that some zombies were walking towards us. While Mike and I tended to the very thin and visibly frightened man, Rachel quickly ran between what was left on the shelves and grabbed a few packages. We hurried to get out of there, since our objective was fulfilled.
"Please! Let me go with you!" The man looked desperate.
Mike signaled for him to be quiet, then allowed him to join us. We left through the side door and ran towards one of the houses in the neighborhood while the zombies forced the front door. There was a lot of weeds growing in the city, and we could see many rats and other small animals and opportunistic insects starting to take over the place along with the zombies. I swear I once saw a snake lunge at a zombie only to be devoured afterwards. Although the undergrowth could hide some inert zombies, it also helped us to dodge them. Instead of heading to our part of the forest, we led that guy to a small strip of woods that was in the middle of town, between one set of houses and another. As we didn't see any zombies around, we rest there.
"Who are you?" Mike asked the man in a low, almost whispering voice.
At that point, I was able to really get a good look at the unexpected individual. He was almost a raggedy, with very dirty clothes, he was hurt and he certainly hadn't showered in a long time. I don't know exactly what heredity he had, but I thought there was something Latino about him.
"My name is Paul. Paul Meier. And you?
"You can call me Joe." I didn't understand why Mike didn't want to give his real name, but that's okay. I just thought he was being overly cautious.
"And you?" Paul asked me and Rachel.
"All you need to know is that my name is Joe." Mike drew attention to himself. "Paul, what are you doing here?"
"Running away..." His look was terrified.
"Away from where?"
"Andradine."
"What?"
"The city used to be known as Athens I think, now it's Andradine."
"What's in Andradine... Paul?" Mike continued to question.
"They are rebuilding the city. They built a wall around a whole neighborhood, and now they are going to expand it."
"Is this bad?"
"For those who are slaves, yes." Paul responded with conviction.
"Paul, what happened to you? Where are you from?" Rachel asked gently. The tone she used was very positive to make the man feel more at ease.
"I'm on the run from there… I used to live in Parkersburgh on the West Virginia border. You know, the purge was slow to get there... four months later and we were good. We even set up barricades at the exits of the city, the mayor did a very good job of uniting the population. It lasted until the first contaminated appeared. Everything fell apart very quickly, something like two weeks and the city turned into chaos. I... I ran away with my brother and we arrived in Athens. We saw that the mayor there had formed a militia himself and had barricaded the entire supermarket area and part of a residential area, and they had already started building a wall enclosing the university buildings."
"Then you were forced to work on them?"
"We worked as required and received food and security in return. That was the deal: working to eat and to sleep at a nice and safe bedroom. Until there was a strike, so to speak, which was violently repressed. A lot of people died... my brother died. After that, everything got worse and we really became slaves."
"I'm sorry, Paul." Rachel said respectfully.
"How did you get away?" Mike asked.
"Yesterday, I jumped off the truck after working on loading building materials at this city." He said with sadness and that could explain the injuries he presented. In fact, there was a cement factory and at least two big companies that sold building materials, which were on the edge of town, close to the high school. We never explored this place because it was never in our interest to get materials of this nature. At most, we pick up some tools to make minor repairs to the bunker. "They don't need a walking skeleton. I'm disposable. That's why they won't come after me."
We couldn't discredit that man. His physical and emotional state showed that what he said was true. He was a skin-and-bone rascal. We witnessed the militia's modus operantis, and the worst work was done by people in a state not unlike Paul. Besides, we had to flee Lakeview ourselves because our neighbors were like that militia. It was the law of the fittest, apparently. Mike, Rachel, and I had a little debate in sign language about what to do about Paul. The options were to help him, take him with us or leave him there on his own. We agreed to help him, but also not to give him any additional information about us. It was too risky to shelter a stranger, especially when you didn't know if he could have been infected or not. He could be contaminated and so have said nothing, he could hand us over to the militia in exchange for a benefit, he could do a thousand and one things.
We decided to go into one of the houses we hadn't broken into yet. We found a clean one, with no reapers and some processed food still in stock. It would be enough for him to spend three or four days, maybe a little more if he rations his food. If Paul was smart, he could try to get more resources around the neighborhood.
"You can stay here, Paul." Rachel said in a whisper. "Lock all doors and windows at dusk and don't make any noise and you'll be fine."
"Aren't you going to take me with you?"
"We can visit you in a few days to see how you are. But you cannot know where we are for now." Rachel said trying to convey some hope.
We left Paul behind and continued on our way. Honestly, I didn't have much to think about the day's actions. Although they cost us precious hours, it was worth having a little more information about the militiamen, to know who we were dealing with after all. Mike walked further ahead of us, and he was still very anxious, silent. I didn't know what was going through his head. Tina was pro-choice, and if she was pregnant and didn't want to go through with it, we had the pill. I didn't know exactly what Mike thought about it, because it's one thing to have an opinion about what happens to someone else. Another thing is when it happens to yourself.
"Remember when Quinn got pregnant?" Rachel said quietly as we walked back to the bunker.
"From when did you try to prove at all costs that Finn wasn't the father?"
"I saw Quinn and Puck confabulating in the corners and I just threw some stupid talk at Quinn. She fell into the trap because she was too lost, too desperate. And yes, I was right to relieve Finn of something that wasn't his responsibility." Rachel complained and she was right… almost, but I still think she should have spoken to Quinn in private and given her the chance to tell the truth. "Anyway, what I mean is when that happened and everybody got a little crazy about it."
"Not me. I got promoted as head cheerio."
"Santana, I'm serious."
"I'm too. Do you think Quinn and I were friends?"
"You were frenemies."
"Exactly! Because Quinn saw Brittany and me as her minions. This is not friendship. Quinn was my classmate in high school, not my friend. I was never invited to her house for biscuits and tea. The time I was there, her mum thought I was the maid's daughter!"
"You mean you didn't mind one bit when Quinn got pregnant?"
"No, I made fun of her face."
"So, you're going to make fun of Tina if she's pregnant too?"
"Tina is different and they are different situations, Berry."
"Now you're calling me Berry?"
"You pissed me off."
"Okay, why is Tina different?"
"Because honestly, I don't know what we're going to do with a baby around. The bunker is safe, of course, but it will be a bit of a problem."
"I would love to have a baby around, but I also think it will be very complicated. Things are already naturally complicated for us."
"Yes. It's almost like The Quiet Place's plot."
"Not so much."
"It will be a bit similar. I don't know, Rachel... I don't know what to think about Tina being pregnant, because it's going to affect our lives in a profound way. Because this won't be Mike and Tina's responsibility alone. This concerns all of us."
"Are you implying that we have a say in the decision she might make?"
"No. I'm saying whatever Tina and Mike decide, it's going to impact us too, and we're going to need to think about all the scenarios."
Rachel didn't voice it, but every time she fell silent in the middle of the debate it was a sign that she was in agreement, even though she didn't want to be. When we arrived at the bunker, taking advantage of the fact that we still had a few hours of sunlight, we called everyone outside and left the space for Mike and Tina to have some privacy. We just sat there next to the bunker, commenting on something or the other speaking in a low voice.
"Tina spent the day crying her eyes out." Quinn told us.
"I figured." I replied.
"She said they took a risk and were too optimistic."
"Having sex without a condom is like playing Russian roulette." I made the comparison.
"Only if you can't hold back." Sam said confidently. "If you're even minimally focused, you know when to pull out."
"Pre-cum can contain sperm, if you don't know. It's not a large amount, but there is a risk, albeit a small one." Rachel explained it like it was a wikipedia.
"That explains a few things." Sam hinted at something about their relationship that I had no desire to know.
"I'm not interested in knowing about your mediocre performance, Sam. No one here want to!" I complained.
"Oh, I am!" Brittany held up a hand. "We never talk about these cooler things. I can never comment that Santana knows how to give a great massage down there. Too bad we haven't had time to do that since the apocalypse."
"Brittany!" I complained and felt my face burn.
"It's truth. When I was in pain after Coach Sylvester's crazy workouts, I'd go to Santana's house, and she'd give me a full massage with one hell of an orgasm. I was always great the next day, while the other girls only complained of body aches."
"Brittany, please." I asked one more time.
"Santana enjoying the tantric thing?" Sam smirked. "I wish I had known this side of her."
"That's because you're a guy and I'm a lesbian. That time we dated my goals were: the sooner we finished, the better."
"Did you settle for quickness?" Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah… I've never had, you know, with any guy."
"Not even with Punk?"
"Not even with him. I fucked guys for popularity and because I was in the closet, Quinn. I never liked getting intimate or having sex with any of them. Sorry Sam, if I offended you, but it's the absolute truth. I hated having sex with you, but I did anyway because I was too afraid to come out."
"That explains why you wouldn't even look at me." Sam looked a little offended. "You turned your face away every single time. I'm very sorry, Santana. If I had known, if I hadn't been such clueless idiot at the time, I would have given you my support to be with Brittany, or to get a girlfriend."
I nodded at him. I knew he was being sincere this time.
"I'm not a lesbian, because I don't really think of women that way, but I've never had a fully satisfying experience with any guy either." Quinn confessed. "Daniel was very good in that sense…"
"I knew you had sex with Daniel!" I interrupted Quinn for the briefest of moments. "But go on."
"Yes, Daniel was experienced and he knew very well what he was doing. Jack was also very good in that regard."
"Jack?"
"The 40-year-old skater guy."
"Ohhhh" We said at the same time.
"So. Despite everything, it seems like something was always missing."
"Love, maybe?" Brittany did the little confrontation.
"Maybe you're right, Brittany." Quinn nodded. "I've liked the boyfriends I've had, I've been attracted to a lot of men, but I've never loved anyone the way you and Santana love each other. I envy you and Santana for that, just as I envy Mike and Tina." Then she glared at Rachel. "Just as I was so jealous to see you and Finn together. Because even though you were completely different people, you made sense together and loved each other. It was obvious, and I'm sorry for all the times I tried to take him away from you because of my envy."
"Thank you for apologize, Quinn." Rachel said sincerely. "Finn was my everything. I know you all had issues with us, but I tell you, I've never loved anyone the way I loved him. I think you would laugh at our lack of imagination when it comes to sex. It was all very mommy-daddy under the covers and lights out. It was exactly like that, and I'm not ashamed of it, because it was perfect for me. Because it was with him." I put my arm around Rachel's shoulder and comforted her a little bit. She smiled at me and snuggled a little. "Obviously I like you, Sam. But I still need time to be completely comfortable with you."
"Well… We need to go inside." Quinn pointed at the clock.
You didn't need a watch to know it was time to go in. The light in the forest was already quite dim, and in a few more minutes we would start to hear the hideous little screams once more. We lock the door and go down our little staircase. Mike and Tina were sitting on the bed, side by side. Tina wiped away her tears while Mike held the stick. No one asked the obvious question, and it took astronomical effort on my part.
I went to the oven, and got my fraction of the day's meal: pasta, tomato sauce, with parsley and chives. Rachel did the same. We sat at the table and ate in silence while the others continued with their own routines. The night came, Tina and Mike didn't say a word to us. All I did was take a quick shower, change into my sleepwear, brush my teeth and lay down in my sleeping bag.
...
Early in the morning. In the early hours of the day, Tina and Mike said they were going to the vegetable garden on the ranch, and would come back later. They said they were going alone because they needed to talk more about the fucking test result. At that point, it was pretty obvious to me that Tina was indeed pregnant, because if she wasn't, the discussions would have been shorter. If she and Mike needed all this space to talk, it was because their chromosomes came together, and the miracle of the cell division happened.
I grabbed the hamper and went to help Quinn and Brittany wash our clothes in the stream. It was all very rustic: soaking everything with a little soap, rubbing everything on a stone, rinsing, soaking the clothes again with a little fabric softener and rinsing a second time. We improvised a clothesline on the outskirts of the bunker and we left the clothes drying there, only picking them up either in a sign of heavy rain or, when everything went well, in the middle of the afternoon.
"I bet Mike will want to move to the ranch." Quinn speculated as we rested after the domestic hassle.
"Why do you think that?" Brittany asked.
"Tina has been saying that maybe moving there might be an alternative if the gate gets fixed." Quinn explained. She was referring to the fact that the gate had become wobbly because someone, a reaper or something else had tried to force it open two months ago. "She likes that place because it's spacious and well protected by the forest. But I'm not so sure. Our neighbors wouldn't move if there was a guaranteed place. Also, the bunker proved to be much safer than these normal houses."
"We would have to get construction material in the city for the gate and to reinforce parts of the wall, which means that we would have to spend our diesel to get a car to transport things, because we won't be able to do that on foot." I explained. Not that it was really a barrier. "It's a week's work at least. Besides, we have another problem."
"Which one?" Quinn asked.
"The militia. We found a refugee from the city they're besieging fled to Logan and he told us a few things. Remember Lakerview after our home island contagion? Yeah, same kind of people."
"Same kind of… San! You're only telling this now?" Quinn snapped.
"With this thing between Mike and Tina, the subject didn't come up, okay? Also, I'm telling now. I imagine the threesome must be discussing this as well." I was referring to Rachel, Sam and Blaine who went out fishing on the lake.
"What are we going to do?" Quinn was really annoyed.
"Stay right where we are."
"I don't think we have anything to worry about for now." Brittany was always the most upbeat among us. "Tina and Mike are expecting a baby and we have a safe place. It's all that matters now."
I smiled at my girlfriend and sighed. Then ideas popped into my mind.
"Quinn, if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone with my girlfriend for a minute. We're going over there by the waterfall and please don't go there for the next hour unless you want to watch some good live porn."
"I swear if you had a penis, Brittany would be on her second child by now!" Quinn groaned and started to get up. "I just hope Sam and Rachel aren't having the same idea."
"You can always fall back on Blaine, that is if he's not actually threesomeing with Rachel and Sam." Brittany said consoling Quinn, and all I did was laugh. It was good to laugh like that to clear the liver of poison, as my father used to say.
Once Quinn was gone, I exchanged smiles with my girlfriend and we went to a nice spot by the waterfall. There was also our abandoned car, but as there was actually a road that ended at that point, I never felt completely safe or at ease. The waterfall was our fuck spot and it was set for good reason.
"You know what I think, San?" Brittany said hugging me. I swear I was able to get lost in those blue eyes.
"What?"
"That you should be more sensitive. Quinn was widowed not even a week ago."
"Just because Quinn had a carnal moment with Joe doesn't make her a widow. You know her, Britt."
"Carnal moment?" Brittany smiled. She always smiled when I was unintentionally funny.
"That's what we're going to do now, my love."
Obviously that's what we did, and again I won't go into pornographic detail. All I'm saying is, it was great, as always, because Britt and I know our bodies' ways, and whenever we have a little time, privacy, and comfort, we can't go wrong. We wore our clothes after our orgasms because we were out in the open, in the middle of a forest in an apocalyptic world, so we didn't exactly have the luxury of being naked looking at mother nature after orgasm. It wasn't possible to be sloppy. I held Brittany's hand, grabbed my gun and we headed towards the clotheslines. I was surprised to see Quinn there alone, reading one of her medical books. She was so focused that she was startled when Brittany and I approached.
"Have you done what you had to do?" She said sullenly.
"None of your business, but yes!" I replied and winked at Quinn, teasing her a little. "Where is the threesome?"
"Blaine is in the bunker while Rachel and Sam are around doing whatever. I'm really not in the mood for Blaine today."
We collected the clothes from the lines, put everything in the baskets and returned to our bunker. I loved when a day went by without incident, without seeing zombies, and even without seeing snakes. I hated snakes, although I ate them without any problems. I was a bit like Indiana Jones in that sense.
Blaine was really the only one in the bunker at the time, and he was making our meal for the day. It might not seem like it, but Blaine had some talent for cooking. He said he learned everything from Tina and Joe. I believed that his real talent was never singing behind a piano, but making creamy rice. That's exactly what he prepared, with a little tomato, herbs, olive oil, powdered milk mixed with a spoonful of cornstarch.
"That smells perfect." I thought the smell of onions sautéed in oil was delicious. And yes, we had onions in the garden.
"Chop some of the carrots for me? Cubes, please!" Blaine hadn't asked anyone in particular, so Brittany was the first to step up. And yes, we had carrots in the garden as well.
Not long after, Rachel and Sam got inside the Bunker. I took a good look at them and it didn't look like they were enjoying wild good sex. Rachel didn't look too pleased about something and Sam was a little awkward. Whatever it was, it would have to wait because I was starving after the intense morning activities. Blaine and Brittany served our meal: creamy rice and carrot cubes. It was divine, so much the we forgot about Mike and Tina. What we did next was pure routine. We cleaned up the dishes and Brittany started singing Mana Mana by the Muppets. She could do that for hours when she was happy. We folded the washed clothes, the floor was swept, the bathroom clean and how good it was when our cistern was full of water, working without any problems.
That's when Rachel noticed.
"It's already five in the afternoon." She pointed at the wall clock inside the bunker. "Where are Mike and Tina?"
I frowned and confess that my heart skipped a beat from the nervousness and sudden stress. I thought the time they had to talk alone was more than enough to work things out between them, right?
"I'm going to the ranch." I said as I grabbed my revolver and shotgun.
"Santana, you're not going after them at this hour." Quinn protested and I saw Brittany freeze.
"Santana!" Sam confronted me. "It takes us an hour to walk there. You won't be able to get there safely in sunlight. I would never let you go there alone either."
"That's why I'm spending the night there."
"No, you won't!" Brittany finally said something and it was soon to be against me. "I admire your courage and your determination, my love, I do, but I won't let you go just to die because of Tina and Mike."
"If Mike and Tina don't show up by sundown, so be it. We'll look for them tomorrow. Perhaps they decided to sleep at the ranch despite the bad gate." Rachel also got in front of me and I tried to move her out of my way but she resisted. "That's not being brave, San, that's suicide, and I won't let you go out there and die. What's more, you have to realise that Mike wouldn't be stupid enough to risk Tina's life. She's pregnant for god sake!"
Brittany took the shotgun from my hands. It was very frustrating. They were right and I was acting on pure impulse. In Mike's absence, I was the leader, I gave the orders and I needed to learn to take better care of them all.
"Rachel, Blaine and Sam will stand guard on the perimeter of the bunker as long as possible. Perhaps Tina and Mike are already arriving and we are suffering for nothing. Either way the threesome will cover for them if they get in trouble." Brittany spoke like a true leader and I was blown away. "And you, Sanny, are going to stay down here with me and Quinn... very quiet."
"What if they don't come back Britt?"
"We'll talk about it tomorrow."
I sat on the bench and crossed my arms, just watching as the threesome grabbed their weapons and headed outside. They wouldn't be more than half an hour outside. I looked at the clock the whole time. Then I looked at the door. I shook my legs and avoided looking at Quinn and Brittany. How could I lost time like that? How can Mike do this? Six o'clock and it was sunset. This was the moment to literally run into the bunker with all the lung and leg strength you had. Six-fifteen and there was no more sunlight in the forest. Anything. Six twenty and the threesome entered the bunker, closed the door without Mike and Tina. I felt my body shake in such a way, as if I was going to have a panic attack. My vision got a little blurred.
Quinn put her hand on my shoulder and brought her face closer to mine.
"Breathe. Just listen to my voice, San, breathe with me."
I accompanied Quinn on this breathing exercise that she proposed and I confess that I came to my senses. Quinn hugged me tight, like she didn't want to let me get away.
"What do we do?" Blaine asked.
"Tomorrow I'm going to the ranch at first light." I said pulling Quinn away from me.
"I will go with you." I expected Rachel to accompany me. "Blaine too. Sam stays here with Quinn and Brittany. Is that good?"
"Fine by me."
I walked to the door and took in the surroundings. I had foolishly hoped to see Mike and Tina running towards us, but if they lost their time, and because Mike was so rational, it made more sense for them to stay under cover somewhere, wherever that might be, than to take their chances with the reapers. Brittany offered me some chamomile tea. It wasn't usual for us to consume anything at night other than water, but I think the main purpose was to calm me down.
"Everything will be fine, San." Brittany whispered to me.
"I want to be sure."
"Trust me."
...
I didn't sleep that night. At most, I napped. There wasn't a ray of sunlight, as the day dawned under torrential rain that began to fall in the early hours of the morning. I rolled up my sleeping bag, put on my boots and grabbed my backpack which had basic items like a granola bar, my canteen of water, my knife, my flashlight, and a refill of ammo for my revolver. As an extra item, I took a raincoat, which we rarely use because, obviously, we didn't usually leave the bunker on days like this. Rachel woke up then, and so did the rest of the guys.
I was already looking forward to leaving, but I had to wait patiently for Rachel and Blaine. I thought that both Blaine and Sam were very poor substitutes for Mike. Sam had more physical strength, but Blaine was a little more coordinated with his weaponry. Both made primary mistakes every single time. Rachel packed her first aid kit in her backpack, as usual, and the same items as mine. Blaine took the spear, I gave my girlfriend a kiss, and we left the bunker.
I hated walking in the soggy forest. With rain it was even worse, because everything was slippery, and the walk became slow. Even with all the care, it wasn't uncommon for us to slip a little, to skid a little. I didn't talk to either Rachel or Blaine during the walk, too anxious to get to the ranch. I knew the other two were also eager for good news. Because of my nervous state, they had to remain calm so that there was a certain balance.
Halfway through, we found something unusual: two reapers were lying on the ground, receiving all the impact of the wind and rain on their backs. We approached cautiously, gun in hand, to find out if they were really reapers or recent zombies. They were reapers and apparently they had injured legs. Even so, it was impressive, when they saw us, they tried to get up anyway to attack us. Rachel and I took no chances and shot them in the head to make sure they didn't even have a chance to turn into zombies.
"Bear." Blaine speculated in sign language as he pointed to the wounds on the reapers' bodies.
There were injuries, but essentially the legs were broken, including a compound fracture. My bet was that the overnight rain caused these reapers to slip and break their legs on the uneven terrain. We move on. Just for the record, we didn't see any dead bears along the way.
Because of the rain, the volume of water in the river was much higher, and the current was much stronger. The point where we used to cross the rope and wood bridge made by our old neighbors was no longer so inviting because the water was running over it. I led the crossing. Not that the river was very deep there. In regular days, if we crossed it without the bridge, the water would be up to our knees. But the volume of water grew to the point where the rapids became treacherous, with the water churning above our waists. In any case, the bridge was still strong and we managed to reach the other side without any problems.
We arrived at the ranch and, to our surprise, we saw bodies of reapers over there. There were seven bodies, two of which were waking up like zombies. Rachel nailed in the head the one that was already charging at us, while Blaine took care of the rest with the spear. The house had a broken window, which was a bad sign.
"Hey you!" The voice came from the roof. It was Mike. I had a weakness in my legs and almost fell to the ground, it was such a relief to see him alive. "There are reapers inside the house." Mike warned us. "We fled to the mezzanine."
"Where is Tina?" Rachel asked.
"She's safe on the mezzanine."
"Do you have ammo?" Rachel asked.
"We are out." Mike replied. "Those ones on the floor… my work."
"Okay, do you have any idea how many are in there?"
"I don't really know. About five or six… maybe."
It was necessary to consider that we got food from that place too. Although Tina and Joe had made a vegetable garden closer to home, the greenhouse was there, and there was also a lot of our cultivation. We couldn't risk losing our cultivation site to these hellish monsters. I signaled to Rachel and Blaine, we reloaded our weapons. The door was locked, and maybe Mike didn't have the key in his hand. So I thought of a different strategy. I started banging and screaming at the broken window. The reapers inside woke up and came towards us, but they were easy target. We took out eight of them at the cost of nearly all the ammo we had. What remained, basically, were the bullets from my revolver.
We entered the house and went to the point between the living room and the kitchen, where it was possible to take the rope to go down the stairs to the mezzanine. When I first went through that house, I didn't think it was very ingenious to have a mezzanine that served as a storeroom since there was a barn right next door. But I thanked later that mezzanine existed. Mike and Tina came downstairs almost immediately. Mike was soaking wet from the rain, whereas Tina was really safe and dry. Rachel and Blaine hugged them. I am not.
"Thanks Santana." Mike tried to hug me, but I backed away.
"What the hell happened?" I practically screamed.
"We talked, we... did stuff, we ate the best organic food possible and we did more stuff... and we lost time and forgot to smoke signal." Tina summarized. "The reapers broke down the gate and we had to take refuge."
"It's not funny, Tina." Rachel frowned. "We were worried. Santana almost came here after five in the afternoon. No one could sleep well because of you assholes."
"How did this horde attack you anyway?" Blaine asked. "Did you happen to be that noisy?"
"We're not dumb, Blaine. We were in the room, and maybe it was because of a light on. I turned on the heating system, and we were even able to take a hot shower. We were excited, I think, and we relied too heavily on the house's protections. When we saw that the gate was down and the house wasn't that safe, we ran to the mezzanine to salve ourselves. The mezzanine has an exit to the roof. I got so frustrated that I started shooting some of them. I really had nothing to lose... Luckily, they didn't understand that if they jumped and pulled the chain, the ladder would come down."
"Well, that doesn't matter now. Let's go back home." I said. "Then we come here to burn these bodies."
"No, San. It's raining hard and Tina is pregnant."
I should have been overjoyed with the official news, which actually everyone already suspected would be the case. I was happy, but at that moment, all I did was pack the rifle like a guitar on my back.
"It's up to you. I will come back now, and I'm the only one with a gun with ammo."
I walked out of that house full of reaper's bodies without looking back. I used to like that place, but those pests ruined everything. When I got to the riverbank, I realized that everyone else was behind me. I was unwilling to talk to anyone and led the way across the bridge once more. The rain had calmed down more than when we arrived, but it was still there. At this rate, I was predicting that the next day would also be rainy as well.
When we got back to the bunker, Tina and Mike were met with celebration and scolding all at the same time. Nothing more deserved because of all the affliction they put us through. I dry myself and changed into dry and clean clothes. Quinn and Sam served our meal, which was properly soup, and then we all had tea. By four in the afternoon, the rugs were already rolled out and I was sitting on top of my sleeping bag reading a book. That's when Mike called for everyone's attention.
"Guys, Tina and I talked a lot yesterday and we decided to have our baby." Mike got applause and Tina got hugs. I already thought this was the case.
"I'm sure we'll be able to get a crib in town." Rachel said with confidence and excitement. "I saw baby clothes in a store too. They are untouched!"
"That's the thing, Rach. We're going to have this baby, but we don't want to raise it here, in a bunker in the woods, with no prospects other than surviving and running away from slave-owning militiamen and unethical hunters. There has to be something else left in this new world. That's why Tina and I decided to leave. We're going to get a car, we're going to get some stuff and head north."
"Are you going north? Where exactly?" I questioned.
"You know that box Pacey left you with the keys in?"
"Yeah… so?"
"Have you never looked at the bottom of it?"
I didn't even know where that box was anymore, but Mike took the piece of cardboard out of his stuff and showed it to me. There was a sort of hand-drawn demarcated trail that started at the ranch and ended at Prince Edward Island.
"They're there, Santana. Tina and I will make sure we get there too."
"Mike, this is so illogical. Do you want to look for the promised land again? We know how it worked last time." I deliberately joked, because yes, I thought it was all nonsense, an absurdly optimistic daydream from Mike.
"Santana, I appreciate your concern, but Tina and I have already made our minds and we don't need permission from either of you, nor are we asking you to accompany us. I will start preparations for our departure in the next few days, and Tina and I are going to Canada."
I looked at the others, and everyone was just as confused as I was. Even though we wanted to debate, Mike didn't seem to be up for it. He had this trait of being terribly hard-headed and adamant when he made a decision that only concerned himself. The thing was, we didn't know anything about this new world anymore. Absolutely nothing. We knew of the dangers that were at our doorstep, we knew that Ohio was no longer a very friendly land, which formed many communities of militiamen, whose ethics we didn't know how far it went. I didn't want to live out the rest of my days in the bunker, but I was very afraid of the outside world, largely because of the countless losses I had suffered in a very short space of time, until our arrival at the bunker in a case of extreme luck. Mike and Tina leaving would affect us all deeply, and there was a lot of talking to do about what to do.