Zombie Story

Chapter Six

Chapter Six: Couple Telepathy (Day Two)

Heather didn't look up from where she was, the man was successful in bringing back rags but it wasn't necessary. The woman was concerningly quiet. Instead of screaming a stream of curse words or crying like they always seemed to be doing in the movies, she seemed to be fluttering in and out of sleep, her straight black hair was damp with sweat.

Heather finally looked towards me, "I don't need a vet assistant to tell me this is bad. At this rate, we can only save one, if even that..."

Her statement must have pushed a button because the pregnant woman's eyes shot open, her expression was one of panic, "Save my baby. Please. My litte girl...died...because of me. I can't lose another child. I couldn't bear it. Please, " the woman wailed, she clutched Heather's hand with a force that no potentially dying woman should have, "please."

Heather didn't respond to the women but instead turned to me, "Josephina, we really can't feed a baby, not without a mother to supply the breastmilk." Despite her statement, I could see it was killing her trying to be rational. Secretly, she was hoping I would disagree. That I would say we had the supplies. But we really didn't, and she knew that. She must have a soft spot for children and she must especially sympathize with the woman, having a daughter herself.

The silent Geoff finally spoke, "We've never had to take care of a baby. The cries would attract every zombie in the neighborhood and at that, every live person too!"

Heather looked back to the man we found alongside the pregnant woman, "Hey, whats your name?"

The man looked surprised that he was being spoken too directly for the first time, "Uh, David. Dave."

Heather nodded. "Okay David, she's your wife, right? So it's your baby. You decide."

The man frantically shook his head, "That's a lot of assumptions, hold up. We met like this morning. She's not my wife, we found eachother at the gas station. I guess we both happened to have the same idea to raid it. Let me tell you, it's a funny story the scare we gave eachother. It started off with a-"

"Save my baby, please," The pregnant women interrupted before she laid her head back, obviously exhausted.

I raised my hands in frustration, "Enough. Okay, enough." The silence that followed reminded me that everyone was waiting on me to speak. They were all listening now. What I said next would have a certain degree of influence over the group.

Could I deny a basically dying woman of her last wish. It would be too easy to let the preganant woman and her baby die, especially since nature would be doing most of the killing. The group would be left with David to help around. He was relatively young, and he seemed abled. With enough practice, he would be helpful to have on runs.

Then, I remembered Ethan. He was so kind. I know that he would have done it in an instant. He wouldn't even hesitate. I reached for the pregnant women's hand, I didn't even realize the words that came out of my mouth until I said them, "Miss, I'll raise your child like my own," I turned to face Heather and Geoff, "Save the baby. It'll be mine to care for."

"Are you sure?" Heather pulled me in close, dropping her voice an octave so only I could hear her, "A kid is no joke Josie. It'll be your responsibility." Those words again. Almost identical to what Zach had said. It must be some sort of couple telepathy thing.

I thought carefully on the words that she said. My responsibility? Well, go big or go home, right? "I've never been so sure of anything." I stated. It was an absolute lie, I was already so stressed and the baby wasn't even here yet. How was I supposed to keep the baby quiet enough to not attract any lurking zombies. I mean we were allowed to speak at room level most of the time, but the peircing cries of an infant would surely attract more zombies. If I thought today's herd was bad, what would it be like when they're all drawn to the shrill wail of a child. What was I even supposed to feed it? It wasn't like I could supply breast milk. I turned back to the woman.