Outbreak: Brave New World (9 page)

The room was silent for a long minute, save for the sound of the children sniffling.
They could hear the back door open followed by Frannie and Carl talking in low voices to one another in the hall. “Guys, go sit with Frannie for a minute.” Adam said quietly as he lowered his children to the ground. Rodriguez could not help but smile when Paulie and Becca let her scoop them up and carry them to the recliner. “Me and Amy are going to check on Mommy, alright? We won’t be a minute.”

Frays looked at her mother. “
Don’t worry, Mom.” she said as she glanced at the kids in the other room and checked her M9 under the table. “It’ll be fine. Lacey’s gonna be right there. Nothing’s gonna happen.” Jessica tried to ignore the way her daughter’s hands were shaking when Amy stood up and went to the bedroom door.

Lacey was behind her. She paused, screwing on a cheerful face before turning the handle and opening the door. “Hey, Laura.” Frays said with a small smile as she went inside “How’s the arm? Feeling alright?”

The woman looked pale and sweaty as Amy snapped on a pair of latex gloves. She frowned as she did it. Not only did Laura not look good at all, she only had one other pair of gloves left. They were going to have to go into town soon. “So…sorry I was such a bitch.” Laura said as Frays examined her right arm. There was an enormous black and blue mark where it looked like she had hit it on a tree or something on her way down the hill. “I didn’t know about…before.”

Adam sat on the bed next to his wife and held her hand, his face heavy with concern as he watched Frays examine his wife. “
C’mon, baby. Just relax.” he whispered as he brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. “We’re gonna take good care of you and you’re gonna get better. It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

Amy’s lips pinched together in a thin line. “Don’t worry about it.” she said and forced a smile. Frays checked the bandage wrapped around the woman’s calf and nodded to herself. The wound seemed to have stopped bleeding. Hopefully she
was just in shock or something. She had lost a good bit of blood fairly quickly… Amy went to the closet, took down a couple pillows and put them under the woman’s feet. “You just rest. We’ll be in to check on you. Are you hungry or anything?”

“No, thanks.” Laura said as she squirmed a little. “I’m a little cold.”
Lacey was off the bed and rooting around in the closet in a flash. He found a quilt and took it down off the shelf. He nodded appreciatively when Frays removed her gloves and helped him spread the heavy blanket over his wife.

“Take a nap, baby.” Adam said and smiled at his wife. He rubbed her shoulder for a little while, still smiling at her. “I’ll bring you some soup or something later, okay?” Lacey turned and walked out of the room leaving Amy alone
with her. Frays smiled too then followed after the man.

Jessica was in the kitchen making something for lunch when he came into the dining a
rea. The kids looked up then climbed out of Rodriguez’s lap and sprinted across the floor, wrapping their arms around their father’s legs the second they saw him come out. Frays laughed quietly as she closed the bedroom door behind her. “Those kids love their daddy, huh?” the woman asked with a small nervous smile as she paused only to clap Lacey on the shoulder before drifting towards the rocking chair in the living room.

Carl came over and sat on the couch. He looked uneasily at his big sister then smiled. “So…I’m gonna be an uncle, huh?” he asked.
The boy looked uncomfortably towards his father and shifted on the couch cushion. “That’s pretty cool.”

Amy
’s eyes flitted towards her father and nodded. “Yeah, looks like.” Frays shrugged and crossed her arms over her stomach as she started rocking slowly. She frowned and glanced at Rodriguez across the room. Frannie shrugged almost imperceptibly then got up and went into the kitchen to help Jessie. Not for the first time since they arrived at the camp Frays found herself missing Jacob, the man she had started dating at school after she returned from Iraq. They had only been going together for a few weeks but she had loved him and now he was gone and she was pregnant with his baby and Dad was angry with her and he should be here to help take care of their baby but he was probably dead….

Carl smiled. “Right on, Aim.” he said as he held out a fist. A brief smile flashed across his sister’s face and she bumped fists with him. “I’m
gonna be the best uncle
ever
just you wait. You need a sitter or whatever I’m there, sis. Don’t worry. I got it.” The boy giggled excitedly at the thought of meeting his new niece or nephew. “What are you gonna have? Boy or girl?”

“I dunno.” Amy said quietly. She smiled weakly and glanced toward her father. “I…didn’t even know
for sure that I was pregnant until like two or three days ago.” It suddenly hit her exactly how little she knew about a lot of things, not least of which the details of pregnancy and childbirth. She smiled shyly. “I kinda hope it’s a boy.”

Becca looked up at her father, a puzzled expression on her little face. “Daddy,
Amy’s pepbermint?” she asked as she scooted off of Adam’s lap and crossed into the living room. Intrigued by yet another mystery, the little girl walked up took Amy’s wrist and licked the back of her hand. “Amy’s not pepbermint.” Becca announced with more than a little disappointment. The girl frowned. “I like pepbermint.”

Everyone cracked up
. Amy gave the little girl a quick hug. “No, I’m not peppermint.” she said as she released her, still biting back laughter. “I’m
pregnant
. I have a little baby growing in my belly.” Now Paulie frowned and ambled over to stand next to his sister, the both of them seemingly perplexed by what was going on. Amy’s heart broke a little bit more looking into their red little eyes as the two kids studied the woman sitting in front of them.

The boy frowned at Frays then poked her stomach
making Amy snort a short laugh and wriggle away. “How did a baby get in there?” he wondered aloud, still poking away. “Did you swallow it?” It seemed perfectly reasonable to him. Daddy said not to eat watermelon seeds because you did not want a watermelon to grow in your tummy, after all.

Amy snorted and shook her head, a bit of color coming to her cheeks
as she squirmed away from the boy’s prodding finger. “Um…talk to your dad about that.” she said quietly and looked over at Lacey. Frays half smiled at the little boy and tousled his hair. “That sounds like a job for your dad if I’ve ever heard one.”

Lacey
seemed started then gave Frays a dirty look as the children came back to him and climbed back into his lap, demanding to know how Amy had gotten a baby in her belly. “Um…well…” he gave George a beseeching look across the table. “Ah…um…when a man and a woman love each other…ah…”

“The good Lord blesses them, making the woman with child.”
George said quietly. He sighed heavily as he pushed away from the table. The big man’s shoulders heaved as he turned and went into the kitchen to help bring stuff over to the table. Jessica had been experimenting with some kind of spicy smelling rice and beans thing. There was more cornbread, which he decided would make it worth it. They would have to start digging into the MREs stashed in the attic a little sooner than he planned. He did not plan on having five extra mouths to feed… It would be a hardship but they would make it work. Turning away a fellow Marine and his family, especially with the two small children, and a wounded soldier was not even an option as far as he was concerned.

Jessica nodded towards their kids
as she set the pot on the table and scowled at her husband. “Lunch is about ready. Amy, Carl would you set the table?” she said and started back for the cornbread, only to see that Frannie was bringing it over. “George, get the milk.”

The air was tense as they ate. It hurt Jessica’s heart to see how her daughter glared
across the table at her father. Paulie sat in Frannie’s lap, the little boy snuggling protectively against her chest. “C’mon, little man. Try some.” Rodriguez said as she held up a spoonful of food up to the boy’s lips. “It’s pretty good.”

Becca leaned against her father’s side.
Adam ignored his food, instead putting his arm around the girl and rubbing her shoulder. The girl had eaten some of the rice and beans then curled up against her dad. Lacey frowned sympathetically at his babies. They did not seem too hungry, but had just plain cried themselves tired. He picked up the little girl and took her over to the couch then covered her with a blanket. After a few moments Rodriguez took Paulie and sat down in the recliner, rubbing the little boy’s back as he drifted off to sleep.

Once Becca was asleep Adam slumped against the side of the couch.
In his mind he was sixteen again, sitting in the hallway of the hospital. A grey haired man in blue scrubs had just told him that his grandfather had died on the operating table. Grandpa’s heart had given out and there was nothing they could do… He stared at his hands too numb inside to even really register what was going on…

Frays was crouched in front of him. “C’mon, buddy.” she said quietly as she helped him to his feet. “Let’s let the kids sleep for a minute.” Amy put an arm around his shoulders and guided him through the sliding door and out onto the deck.
He sighed and curled up against the fence around the edge of the deck. It was humid with little wisps of fog coming off of the ground around the cabin, giving an eerie feeling of claustrophobia to the forest around the building.       

Frays spared a glance through the door
at the child on the couch and the other little one asleep in her friend’s lap before sitting down next to him. The young woman frowned slightly as she watched Lacey out of the corner of her eye. In spite of everything that had happened between them she still liked the guy and she wished she could think of something to say that would make him feel better but nothing came to mind.

It took her a minute to realize that the man sitting next to her was crying. Frays hesitated then slipped an arm around his waist
, letting the man lean against her. “Shhh…” she whispered in his ear. “Shhh…it’s alright, buddy. It’s gonna be okay.” Amy held him tight and let him rest his head on her shoulder. It took everything she had to keep from shedding any tears herself. First Rodriguez losing Eamon and now this…

“Damn it, no it’s not!” Adam grumbled. He leapt to his feet and paced in a slow circle
, shaking with anger. “It…it’s not fair, goddamnit! After everything…and now…” Lacey shook his head and wiped at his cheeks. “Three days…I…my poor kids. Jesus. My poor babies…”

A brief fit of anger ran through her and she
mercilessly stomped it out.
At least you had three days.
Frays thought then sighed, shaking her head. She would give just about anything for three more days with Jacob… Amy stood up and crossed her arms over her stomach as she leaned against the railing. “I’m so sorry, Lacey.” she said quietly, wiping at the corners of her eyes with her thumb. “I was too slow. I coulda made the shot from the stairs. Maybe…”

Lacey shook his head. It was just like her, to take the blame. He decided a
while ago that it must be a Catholic thing. Every time something bad happened Frays would beat herself up over it. It drove him up the fucking wall every time, as he liked her and a good portion of the time there was nothing she could have done about it anyway. “And if you tried you might have hit my fucking wife.” he spat angrily, dismissively waving a hand at the woman. “Look…just don’t, alright? Not now.”

Frays’ mouth opened and closed a couple time
s. She looked down then nodded a strange look on her face when their eyes met. “Alright.” she said quietly then took a couple steps towards him, wracking her brain for something comforting to say. Amy retreated and leaned back against the railing. She stood there looking at Adam, watching him with her arms across her stomach. Frays knew how much he had to be hurting and it was driving her nuts to see him going through it. Part of her wanted to hold the man and let him cry if he needed to…

“Stop fuckin’ looking at me like that.”
Lacey grumbled as he turned on his heel to face the house. Adam wiped the tears off his cheeks, rolled his shoulders. He had gotten banged up a little bit falling down the hill but nothing a little rest would not fix in his opinion. When he turned back Adam snorted at the look of concern on the woman’s face.

“Are you hurt?” Amy asked, taking a half step c
loser to the Marine. “Come here and let me take a look at you.” She grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of her. Frays was suddenly angry with herself for letting him walk around after taking a spill down the side of the hill like he did. He could have really hurt himself… The man stayed right where he was, making Frays scowl at him. “C’mon, Private. Sit.” she said a little sharper than she really meant to. Her expression softened and she frowned. “Please.”

Lacey grumbled under his breath and sat. Amy looked down at her hands, sighed and snapped on her last pair of gloves. “Hope you appreciate this.” Frays said with a small grin. She put a hand on the young man’s head and pushed it back, pulling her flashlight out of its pouch on her LCS with the other. “This is my last pair of rubber gloves.”
The woman smiled a little as she checked his pupils.

“That’s my squad leader.” Adam said without much humor. He blinked as the powerful little flashlight flicked in his eyes. “
Always looking out for her Marines.” Their eyes met for a half second and he frowned, looking down at the floor.