The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (177 page)

“
That's pretty much it,” he
said. “When I met you I had been through several more losses. I
know we have all lost, I know that, but I wasn't as equipped for it
as I thought I was. Then Beth.” He took a deep drag from the
cigarette and let the smoke drift from his mouth.

“
I thought you two were an
item when I first met you. I figured out you weren't pretty quick.
I shoved what I felt away, and that was fine until she came to me
and said she was thinking along the same lines too. Exactly what I
needed. Exactly what I wanted, but the fear settled back in too.
Here I am again, responsible for someone I can't protect, and I
don't have the...” He shrugged.

“
Skill-set?” Billy
offered.

“
Skill-set,” Bear agreed.
“I don't have the skill-set to deal with it as well as I would
like.”

Billy laughed. “Not
sarcastic or in your face, Bear, but none of us have it. I
personally think you do have it, you just don't realize it. Good
leaders do agonize over their decisions. I truly would not want to
be you. But I'm not a leader, never intended to be one. Beth lead
us across half the country, God's honest truth. I followed, and I
still agonized the few times I had to make decisions. I think it's
part and parcel. Part of the deal. And I think you handle it better
than I have seen a lot of men and women handle it. I've been places
in my old life. Seen things. Lost things, took things. It's tough
to be the responsible guy. The one who has to say,
Yeah, I did that. I decided that was what we
would do.
You do it better than anyone
I've seen do it, and I wouldn't follow you if you could do it
without moments of worry, concern, indecision.” Billy shrugged.
“Trying to help, Bear. I don't know if I'm helping or hurting
you.”

“
You're making sense,” Bear
said. “Truth can be painful sometimes, but it's better than
lies.”

Billy nodded.

Bear looked up at the darkening skies.
“Looks like cold food tonight. Too late for a fire.”

Billy nodded and followed Bear back
into the garage area. They reinforced the doors and locked them
down for the night. They would be back on the road tomorrow.
Following what was left of the traffic packed and weed choked
thruway for a few more miles before they broke away and began to
head for the city once more. Bear was already using a small
flashlight, going over the documents they had taken from Weston's
office. He would be at it most of the night, Billy knew.

The Nation

The Power house

Bob picked up the phone from the
desktop when it rang. “Power plant,” he said, and “Amy, how... Uh
huh... Uh huh... Will do, Dear, will do,” he finished. He hung up
the phone and turned to Mike grim faced. Then he
grinned.

“
Amy says, and I quote,
'The mothership has landed,'” he said.

Mike laughed and then stopped abruptly.
“Oh my God, I have to get up there,” he said.

“
Well, go, Son,” Bob said.
“Go.”

“
Yes, Dear,” Janna agreed.
“And give her my love. Tell her I'll be up soon.”

~

Ronnie met him in the middle of the
path that lead up to the cave and walked with him. It was late
afternoon, and once again the sky was spitting snow.

“
Nervous?” Ronnie
asked.

“
No, scared to death,” Mike
said. His face did look a little pale, Ronnie thought.

“
Take a couple of deep
breaths. Amy says she just started and it's liable to be awhile,
considering that it's twins, and considering this is her first,”
Ronnie said.

Mike nodded as his long legs ate up
ground. Ronnie hurried to catch up. When they stepped into the
clinic Sandy and Susan were both waiting.

“
They're getting her ready
for the other room,” Sandy said. “Sit down and relax for a moment,
she'll be ready and you can go in. Steve and Jessie are both with
her, so don't worry, Honey.”

Mike thanked her and sat down, smiling
sickly. A second later Tom walked in and sat down
grinning.

“
How's she doing,” Tom
asked.

“
They're getting her ready
for the other room,” Mike said, repeating what Sandy had told him.
Tom nodded as did Ronnie.

“
What, you know what the
other room is about?” Mike asked.

“
Not a clue,” Ronnie
said.

“
Sure,” Tom answered. “The
other room is where they had Lilly. It's just the room with the
table and the stirrups,” he said.

“
Oh,” Mike said. He
winced.

“
Easy, Buddy,” Ronnie
said.

“
Yeah,”
Tom added. “Remember what I said? Once I was in there it was no big
deal: I was so... So
involved
that I just stopped paying
attention to all the stuff that had made me squeamish and I was
fine.”

“
Yeah,” Mike said. “I
didn't remember you telling me that.”

“
Yeah, but I did, and it
will be okay,” Tom assured him.

Amy wandered over, her hands clutching
the lower part of her stomach as though she truly were holding it
up. She stopped and kissed Ronnie and then ruffled Mike's hair and
kissed him too. “She's almost ready,” she told him. “A few more
moments.”

Mike nodded, and then
laughed a short uncertain bark. “The mothership. Bob said it and
for a split second I didn't know what he was talking about at all.
Then it hit me,
Wow!
”

“
Yeah. Lilly was the
mothership, now Candace... I guess I'll be the mothership soon.
Then it will be Arlene's turn to be the mothership,” Amy
said.

“
Remember how I said,” Mike
said to Ronnie, “that I never think about smoking anymore?” Mike
asked.

“
Yeah.” Ronnie
asked.

“
Well I could use one right
now,” Mike said.

Susan came out with two cups of coffee,
handed one to Mike and the other to Ronnie. She looked at Amy. “You
can't have any, Honey. She turned to Tom. “I'll be right back,” she
told him.

Amy sighed. “I can't sit here either,
it's too uncomfortable. I've got to go lay down.” She started to
bend, but all three men jumped up to help so she wouldn't have to.
She kissed Ronnie, then Mike and Tom, and headed back to the ward
in a slow shuffling gate.

Sandy came back in quickly. “Come on,
come on,” She told Mike. She turned to Amy who was partway down the
hallway. “You too, Amy. She wants you to be there. I have a chair
in there for you.”

“
Already?” Mike asked. His
hand held the as yet untasted cup of coffee.

“
Already,” Sandy
agreed.

Mike looked back at Ronnie and Tom and
they all laughed. He handed the cup of coffee to Tom.

“
Well, get in there,”
Ronnie told him.

He turned and followed Sandy back into
the room.

~

Mike walked into the room and right to
Candace. Amy walked down the other side of the bed and carefully
sat in the chair Sandy had put there for her.

“
Honey? Can you hear me,
Honey?” Mike asked. He held Candace's hand. She squeezed so hard he
had to fight an urge to pull free.

“
Honey, hang in there,”
Sandy said.

Steve popped his head out from under
the blanket that covered the lower half of Candace's body. He
folded the blanket back across her midsection.

“
Water just broke,” he said
to Jessie who was across the room. Jessie stopped what she was
doing, came across the room, poked her own head under the blanket
briefly and then came right back up.

“
She's fully dilated too,”
Jessie said. She noticed Mike and smiled. “Coach her breathing as
the contractions come. She's about ten minutes apart right now, but
they'll speed up soon.” She turned to Steve. “I'll take number one
you take number two?” She asked.

Steve nodded.

Candace turned her head to Mike. “You
okay, Baby,” she asked in a whisper.

Mike swallowed hard. “I'm okay, are you
okay? Does it hurt a lot?”

“
It's not too bad,” Candace
told him. She immediately groaned as another contraction
started.

Candace tried to catch her breath, but
it seemed almost impossible to get. The pain from the contraction
was everything. Spreading out into her stomach, flowing up into her
ribs, down into her thighs. It was everything, all she could think
of. Compared to the pain, Jessie's voice was like a small voice
calling from a mountain top. The wave of pain rolled on and the
voice came nearer. She was able to focus.

“
Stay with me, Honey. Now
push... Push.” Jessie told her. And as much as she did not want to
push, she did anyway. Steve Choi kept track of her blood pressure
on her other arm, and even though she wasn't supposed to move that
arm she couldn't help it as the fist curled into a ball and the arm
rose from the pillow it had been propped on.

“
Breathe, Honey,” Mike
coached. “Breathe.”

“
I love you,” Candace said
as she turned and looked at Mike.

“
I love you too,” Mike told
her.

She turned to Amy. “Thank you, Aim. I
love you too.”

“
Amy squeezed her hand.
“Always, Baby, always.” She told her.

“
Oh,”
Candace groaned as another
contraction started.

“
Go with it, Candace,”
Jessie told her. Don't push, just ride it out.... That's it,”
Jessie told her.

“
Don't push,” Mike
repeated. He patted her hand and swallowed hard.

“
Breathe, Candace. Don't
forget to breathe,” Jessie told her. “Nice deep
breaths.”

“
Breathe,” Mike
repeated.

Candace breathed in deeply and then
groaned again as another contraction started.

“
It's okay,” Jessie told
her. “Once again, ride it out, Honey. Don't push.”

Candace breathed deeply and felt the
contraction begin to ease.

“
Now, Candace, this next
one might come quickly,” Jessie told her. “And this time I want you
to push. We have one ready to greet the world.”

Sandy moved up next to Jessie with a
stainless steel pan lined with a soft blanket.

“
Oh my
God,”
Candace moaned,
“Oh.”

“
Push, Candace... Push.”
Jessie said calmly.

“
Push, Baby,” Mike
repeated.

“
Push, Baby,” Amy added as
she held her hand tightly.

“
That's it … That's it,”
Jessie told her. “Push, Honey. Okay... Don't push. Ride it out.
Sandy?”

Sandy dipped down with the pan.
“Okay... Okay,” Jessie said. “Breathe Candace, Breathe. Deep
breaths,” Jessie said as she moved backwards with a small baby in
her hands. She put the baby into the pan as Mike watched in awe.
Susan stepped in and clamped the umbilical cord, and a moment later
Jessie clipped it. Susan whisked the baby away.

Steve was now positioned between
Candice's legs. The first baby had been easy, the second was a
little bigger.

“
Okay,” Steve said. “Once
more. Give me one good push, Candace,” he told her.

“
Okay,” she answered
between gasps for air.

“
Deep breaths... Lots of
oxygen, Candace.”

She breathed deeply as the
contraction mounted. She pushed hard while breathing deeply again.
“Here it comes,” she gasped. “
Ohh!
”

“
Push... Push, push...
Good... That's good. Okay, okay, breathe, Candace, breathe,
Candace” Steve told her.

Candace gathered her strength and
pushed once more and the baby slid out easily into Steve's hands as
though it had never intended to be any trouble at all.

Steve had no sooner delivered the baby,
than the first baby had let out a squall that made all the pent up
breaths explode into joyous laughter. He held the baby a Susan
clipped the umbilical cord and then cut it. As if on cue the little
boy in Steve's hands let out his own cry as if answering his
sister. Steve carried the baby to the table, where he suctioned his
nose and mouth clear, then cleaned him up a little before he
wrapped him up and then took the little boy to Candace. Candace was
already staring in wonder at the little girl who wiggled and cooed
in her arms: Her eyes wide and watching. She made room for the
little boy as Steve lowered him into her arms.

“
One of each,” Mike said
from above her as she marveled at the two babies cooing softly to
each other.

“
You make it sound so
easy,” Candace said as she looked up and caught his eyes. She
smiled.

“
Never,” Mike said quickly.
“I meant, perfect. Like one for each of us to spoil,” he said
quietly. His eyes were fixed on the babies, not her, but they
shifted back to her when she spoke and she could see the tears
perched on the lids.

“
You're gonna cry,” Candace
said as tears of her own rolled across her cheeks.