The Seventh Day by A.E. Watson

Author:A.E. Watson [Watson, Tara Brown writing as A.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-07-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

We sit in the living room, all of us in a circle with the evening’s fire creating an orangish glow in the room. I look around at the small faces of my sister and her friends and say the thing I least expected to say, “We have a decision to make. Lee and Erin are going to the coast because they heard there’s a chance that the base there is a biter-free zone. Would you guys want to go there?”

Joey’s eyes narrow. “What if Dad comes, Lou?”

My stomach twists as the reality of the situation crashes upon us and I can only shelter her from so much. “Dad never came for Mom, Jo. He never came.”

Joey’s eyes close. I know this means she’s stopped listening to me. I glance at Julia and say the thing I’ve needed to say from the beginning. “Your dad is gone too.” Julia starts to leak tears but doesn't make a sound, not like Joey who’s sobbing. I hate myself. “All our parents are dead. The only one who might be alive is our dad and if he is, he stands a very good chance of being at the base on the coast. He’s a military scientist. They won’t let him leave there until he helps cure it. That's how it works. So if he’s alive, I suspect he’s there.”

Sasha comes and wraps her long thin arms around the girls. “We have each other, and right now that's the most important part.” Furgus gets up from the fire, panting, and snuggles into the girls. He squishes all three of them but they don't seem to mind it. I think he senses they need to be squished with his version of hairy love.

We all sit in silence. I don't know what else to say. Joey lifts her face, tears still filling her eyes, and murmurs, “Did you see her? Was she at the house?”

I nod slowly, wishing I could be anywhere else in the world or that I wasn't the only version of an adult in her life.

She sniffles, wiping her face. “Was she sick?”

I nod again.

That seems to make it better for her. She wipes her face again and rests her head on our dog. She closes her eyes and holds onto his thick dark fur.

Lissie and Julia eventually calm down. I have to imagine we all sort of expected the worst and hearing it is hard, but at the end of the day, we all knew it would come to this. The last couple days have proven that.

Sasha strokes their heads, kissing and whispering comforts softly. She’s a lot like her mother, a nurturing woman.

Erin gives an exhausted sigh. “We have to leave in the morning. We need to get to the coast by tomorrow. Once we hit the cities on the coastline it’s going to be brutal there.”

I wince. “It’s like twelve hours of long, hard driving on Highway 90. Spokane, Seattle, and Everett will be busy cities.”

Lee shakes her head in twitches.

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