Induction

Adam thrust out his hand, waving it at the zombies lining the sea wall. “How can you believe he’s alive when that’s what he’s up against? They don’t sleep; they don’t sit back and relax. They just wait. Wait for us to get within reach or slip up and make a mistake.”

“I believe, Adam, because I have to. I believe in my husband, and I won’t write him off for dead just because you think I should.” The small watercraft knocked against the hull of the Houseboat, and I left him sitting in the rowboat gawking at me as I stormed off. I slammed the bedroom door and felt the air rush from my lungs as I fell against the door. The knob jabbed into my back and I winced with pain. Daphne, who had been napping, now stood at the foot of the bed wagging her tail. Not even she could calm me down.

I stomped my feet on the floor like a petulant child and went into an ALL CAPS RAGE, spewing profanities and words I, myself, didn’t even understand. Then I threw myself dramatically onto the bed and cried. Emotionally exhausted, I fell asleep angry at Adam and angry at myself. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Chapter 20 All Dogs Do Not Go to Heaven

Noelle woke up the next morning with contractions. Finn pounded on my door like a maniac, repeatedly yelling it’s time. I groaned and dragged myself from the bed. Opening the door, I got socked in the face with Finn’s pounding fist. “Holy shit! I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… are you okay? oh my God… it’s… it’s… happening,” he blurted without taking a breath.

I had to laugh, even through the pain, because his craze hit my funny bone. I wiggled my nose around to make sure all the bones were intact and pushed him out of the way. He followed me like a lost puppy all the way to the master suite where I examined Noelle. Her contractions weren’t painful, and they weren’t getting closer together. “I don’t think this is it, guys. I think what you’re experiencing is Braxton Hicks contractions. Your body’s getting you ready for the real thing. Why don’t you play it safe and stay in bed today? I’ll check on you throughout the day, but if anything changes, I’ll just be topside.”

Still ashamed of my behavior the previous day, I avoided eye contact with Adam when I found the group waiting in the galley. I addressed them all. “We need to discuss Noelle’s situation. We don’t have the setup to deliver a baby here. I’m not talking a full-fledged labor and delivery room; we don’t even have basic tools to cut the umbilical cord.”

Seth eyed me suspiciously. “So what are you proposing?”

“We need to hit up a medical supply store. A hospital is out of the question. It would be a suicide trip. There’s too many things that could go wrong, even in the best of circumstances. We need things. Soap, gloves, a surgical blade, a blood pressure monitor, suture kit, just to name a few.”

“And what?” Seth asked. “You think it’ll be a walk in the park? Do you even know where the closest supply store is?”

“Yes,” I sniped back at him. “I do know where it is. And no, I don’t expect it to be easy. But it has to be done.”

Meg jumped in, asking, “Wasn’t the helicopter used for transporting emergency patients? Wouldn’t it be full of useful stuff?”

We all looked to Seth for confirmation. We were once again disappointed. “It was, but we stripped her clean of all that stuff early on to fit more people.”

“So then,” I declared. “It’s settled. We need to do some shopping.” I made a list of items we needed and gave each person a hand written copy. With the state of the current world, I had become a realist. If something happened to me or anyone else, the group needed to carry on. Deciding who would be going with the group turned into a heated debate.

After an hour of bickering, it was decided the party would be made up of four people. Seth, Lowell, Adam and I would venture out for supplies. I couldn’t risk Meg getting hurt, and Nancy would stay back and care for Noelle. Finn was obviously distracted and would be no use to us in the field. The fighting was due to my insistence on accompanying the men. Any idiot could see they were just trying to protect me, but I didn’t need protecting.

The map of the city still sat unmanned in the Target parking lot, most likely burnt to ash from the explosion. Our only option was to draw one. Adam and I were familiar with Cape Coral. The soldiers, on the other hand, had been dispatched from a base in Tampa. The closest medical supply store was two miles away. On a normal day, it would have taken us minutes to get there. However, without transportation it would be quite a trek on foot.

Our biggest concern was how to get to land. There was no way to hit the dock nearby. It was teeming with undead. An argument was made to just move the houseboat up the coast but the sound of the engine would just draw them to us again. We decided to take the rowboat and paddle until we found a safe place to dock and tie up the boat.