Sunshine (7 page)

I laid out a blanket and
sat down with Sunny. I held him up, while he tried to stand.

“Look at you my
big boy. You are truly a miracle.” He smiled back, so proud of himself.

“Yes, Mamas very proud of you.”

We played like this for hours. I even saw Marcus walk past carrying a few squirrels over his shoulder. He looked very worried. I wonder what had gone wrong. Maybe I would confront him about the silent treatment.

There was suddenly movement in a bush just beside the gazebo. I grabbed my
gun and put Sunny behind me. He started to cry right away. I prepared myself for a Jack. It must have snuck in somehow. Or it had been hiding this whole time. The bush shook again and I braced myself for a fight, and then out popped a small brown rabbit.

Oh how stupid I had been. I took this as a sign we needed to head inside.
Sunny’s tears only intensified the farther we got from the gazebo.

“Don’t worry little one we can go back again.” My smile soothed him.

When I walked into the living room Marcus was making a stew with the squirrel and some veggies. I decided it was time to be the bigger person.

“I saw you got some squirrels today. They smell good. Thank you.”

He kept stirring.

“Sunny and I saw you come in from the greenhouse. He really enjoyed himself.”

He still stirred.

“There was a rabbit in there that nearly gave me a heart attack. Oh but maybe I shouldn’t tell you that. You’ll cook it up for dinner tomorrow.”

I was laughing to myself.

Even Sunny tried, “
Gooobabbaaadddmamam.”

Still nothing.

“Look Marcus this silent treatment is stupid. Please let’s just forget the past. I don’t care about your story. I appreciate everything you’re doing right now, but I would like to help too.”

“Fine.
I’ll watch the pain tomorrow and you can go looking for food and fuel.”

He walked away and I didn’t see him again till the morning.

He was in my room shaking me awake.

“Wake up already. I don’t have the patience for you. Here’s a map of the area. I haven’t made it to this place yet. It will take you almost the whole day. Your packs right here and it has everything you will need. I haven’t seen any Jacks, but still be aware. Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to have to raise the little shit by myself.”

“Wow. You definitely aren’t a morning person,
jezz. Ok I’ll get dressed and head right out. When Sunny wakes up he will need…”

“
I know how to take care of him. Now get going.”

He stomped off and down the hall. The sun was barely up
so I don’t really see what the big hurry was. I looked down at the map. He was sending me about seven miles away to an old gas station.

Chapter 14

Glow

             
I sure hoped Marcus could take care of Sunny. He seemed competent enough and for some reason Sunny liked him. I still didn’t know if we were on talking terms or not and I didn’t know if I cared. He really was a jerk. I found it most odd that he didn’t call me honey, sugar, or sweetie. He must not be trying to get in my pants anymore. No that was rude. He never acted like he wanted me. Really I didn’t know why he hung around. We were really a burden to him.

             
For whatever reason I didn’t want him to leave. It was easier to keep Sunny safe when he was around. So I would put up with his attitude problem. It’s not like I was a saint either. Anyone that knew me well enough knew I could be a stubborn witch and I was very good at winning verbal fights. A real fight between us would be very interesting.

             
Now where was I going? Oh yes, I had to go right, and then follow that road for a mile. I had to remind myself this was dangerous. It was yet again a glorious day outside and I was lost in thoughts about Marcus.

              It was nice to be outside getting some exercise. I could tell that I had lost some of my muscles and I was breathing a little harder then I use to. This would be a problem if I had to run. Thankfully I didn’t hear any Jacks. I finally came to the gas station.

             
It looked really rough from the outside. It was coated with a layer of grim and it looked like it could fall down at any minute. There was also an odd smell in the air. It wasn’t a place I wanted to go in, but I couldn’t let Marcus know I was a coward. So I walked in.

             
The place was destroyed. There was nothing salvageable in the main store. I decided to check the back area. There was still an odd smell. I opened the door and it was as if I had just walked into a horror show.

             
The floor was covered with old blood and in the corner were pieces of human bodies. I could see a half-eaten arm and a thigh. Off to the side was a gun and backpack. I nearly fainted this was a Jacks shelter. I had to get the hell out of here.

             
I quickly ran from the station, but as I walked out the door I could hear them screaming. They must have been sleeping. I wouldn’t be able to outrun them. So I did the only other thing I could think of. I climbed a tree. I was now putting my life in Marcus’ knowledge.

             
On the way up I dropped my gun, but there was no time to turn around. The second I made it under the cover of the leaves they came into sight.

             
There were six of them. Six.

             
I’ve never seen this many in a pack. I wouldn’t be able to shoot them and live even if I hadn’t dropped my gun. There was no way I was going to get out of this. They were surely going to smell me or hear me. I should have picked a bigger tree. This one was the maple tree version of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.

             
They went back inside and the sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones filled the air. I didn’t dare leave the tree out of fear.

              They didn’t do much over the next several hours. They fought, broke some of the gas pumps, and continued to eat. They still hadn’t noticed me.

             
I had no idea what I was going to do. I was hoping they would move on, but that could be days or weeks feeding on the bodies. I couldn’t live in a tree for more than a couple of days if that.

             
I started to get really worried when the sun started to set. I soon wouldn’t be able to see where they were and how was I going to stay up in this tree once I got tired. I was already having trouble not falling out.

             
Marcus must know something had gone wrong. I should have been back before dark. I hoped he didn’t come looking for me, because he would have to bring Sunny into this horrible place.

             
I still couldn’t get the images of the body parts out of my head. They had been real human beings like me. If they had come to the house I would have taken them in and accepted them as family. Now they were being torn apart by monsters. They must have put up a big fight, because one of the Jacks had a bad bullet wound to the neck that looked horribly infected. I couldn’t believe it was still alive actually.

             
Later that night a large fight broke out. The screeches and grunts filled the forest. The wounded Jack tried to eat, but it looked like two of the others didn’t agree. They pushed him hard to the ground and when it got up to try again it got its head ripped off. This started a chain reaction. The others that hadn’t been involved joined in and it was pure chaos.

             
One Jack snapped a smaller one in two and then got its brain smashed in with a rock. The sounds were horrible and I had to keep myself from throwing up. It frightened me that it still had the mental capacity to use a rock as a weapon. Finally, when it was all over, there was only one left standing.

             
It had been badly beaten and could barely stand. This was my only chance. I jumped down from the tree and grabbed my rifle. It noticed me and came charging, but it didn’t stand a chance. My shot was perfect.

             
I grabbed my pack and started running. I wanted to get the hell out of this place. I bottled up my tears. I didn’t even pay attention to my surrounds I just ran. I didn’t stop and I didn’t look back. I just ran.

             
I had to be getting close to the house. I couldn’t see anything but an odd orange glow on the horizon. I ran even faster. I felt like my lungs were going to explode.

             
As I got closer, real fear started to set in. It was our house and it was on fire.

             
Where was my baby?

             
It appeared the entire place was ablaze.  I was coming up on the greenhouse there was no way I was getting in there, so I headed around to the front door. And there on the front lawn I saw them.

             
Marcus was holding Sunny.

“
Sunny. Marcus” I screamed as if they were my last words.

Chapter 15

Family

              “Sunny. Oh my god what happened?” I couldn’t comprehend what was happening, I stopped myself just in time and yanked Sunny from Marcus’ hands. He looked ok, but shook up. I held him hard against my chest.

“Marcus
are you ok? What happened?”

I couldn’t help myself from putting my arm around him. He looked
very unraveled.

“I don’t know what happened. You were supposed to be back and you never came. It started to get dark so I was going to come after you, but I couldn’t with Sunny. So I left Sunny up stairs, while he was sleeping and loaded up the truck to come find you. As I went to go get him I smelled smoke. I ran to the generator room and it was on fire. We must have been running it too much. So I ran up to get Sunny
, but it had already spread to the stairs so I ran to the back set of stairs. Thank God those hadn’t caught yet. I thought the worst had happened. You had been killed by Jacks and Sunny had been killed in the fire. Both would have been my fault I’m supposed to take care of you two. Well I got to him as the fire was starting to come through the floor. We jumped on to the roof and got out safe. Everything is gone, Emma. Everything. I’m so sorry.”

I took a long deep breath when he finished. This was a horrible situation, but they were safe. I had to comfort him as I could see h
e was an absolute mess. I guess he does have a heart after all.

“It’s fine Marcus. You two are ok and that’s all that matters. We can find everything we need we are crafty. I’ve still got all my ammo and the rifle to keep us safe for now. Here you take them you’re a better shot. Nothing’s your fault. We were abusing the generator.”

His face told the tale of how overwhelmed he truly was.

“I shouldn’t have sent you out there. I was angry at you for no reason. What happened anyways?”

“The gas station was a shelter for six Jacks. They had a store of dead bodies there that they were eating. I hid in a tree and watched them kill each other fighting. I shot the winner and ran straight here.”

              “I had no idea. I’m such an idiot. Sunny seems better. He really missed you.”

             
I looked down at my son and he looked very tired.

             
“We better get out of here. There may be Jacks around and the fire will attract them.”

             
Marcus finally stepped away from me. I guess he was back in survival mood. “You’re right. There’s a house a mile down the road that might be safe. Here give me the pack. “

             
I handed it over and then cradled Sunny in my arms. He coughed and I noticed his nose was running. He must have inhaled some smoke. I hope he’ll be ok. I didn’t have anything to give him to drink or eat. My poor baby, he had never had to live without dinner. I had always been able to provide for him in that way. Instead I sang him twinkle, twinkle little stars as we walked to our next temporary home. How many of these “homes” would we have to live in?

Marcus was on full alert as if danger was behind every corner, and it was very possible it was. I had seen a different side of him just now. He spoke of us as his family. I guess we were a sort of family. The sort of family that a world made of evil would create.

“Hurry up Peaches. You’re slowing me done. Don’t make me leave you two behind.”

Well that was very, very short lived.