The Town of Last Haven: A Zombie Novel

Part 45

Jake thought about Natalie and Julia's unborn baby the whole drive back to town--to home. Natalie was safe--if only for a short time. How could Julia lie to her sisters and brothers and everyone else for so long about having slept with Luke again and then winding up pregnant? Pregnant! Of all things, Julia was pregnant!

But could Luke be lying? Jake wondered to himself as the trucks grew bumpy over the pavement, severed half-dead zombies groaning along the streets.

Jake said nothing upon seeing the borders around their town. The town of Havenville barely made the maps in the old world, had no true 'haven' in it. The name of Havenville was so unsuitable, but Jake had an idea for a new name for the town in this new world. Last Haven. 

The town of Last Haven.

Jake saw the women and the children waiting for their husbands and fathers to come home, but not everyone did. Jake heard women crying, kids asking where their daddies went. It made Jake's heart hurt--he knew the pain of loss.

But he had Natalie--she was the one in this world he loved most, the girl he'd die for. Nearly did, in fact. And he was coming home to her.

Jake saw the Brown House down the street when he turned the corner. There Natalie sat on the front steps with Julia, Austin, Trent, Clarise, and Opal. Julia was sitting in the shade on the swing with a book in her hands, and Austin and Trent were talking quietly. Opal spotted Jake first, and she barked and howled. Clarise pointed to him, and Natalie bolted from the front steps towards Jake.

Jake held out his arms as Natalie ran at him. She threw her arms around him and kissed him feverishly on the lips, telling him 'I love you' as many times as she kissed him. She squeezed him tight around the abdomen, then started crying--it was a surprise she'd held out this long. Jake returned Natalie's every kiss, and he told her in return the three words he longed to tell her for so long.

"I love you, Natalie Brown. I will always love you, always protect you--I swear it." It was now that Jake got on one knee and pulled out the small circlet from his coat pocket--a ring. "Natalie Brown, I've wanted to ask you this for so long now. Will you marry me?" There were tears in his beautiful eyes, and Natalie dropped to her knees too, pulling herself up to kiss Jake again and again.

"Yes, Jake Hayden. Yes! Yes, I will be your wife!" They kissed, they embraced, and Jake realized this was his happily ever after--at long last! He had a family, a home, and he'd fight every day for the rest of his life to keep them safe.

Jake had time to make things right, mend every wound, fade every scar. He would protect, marry, and love Natalie forever; he would help break the news to Julia's sisters and brothers of her pregnancy; he would have forevermore to do all this and more.

This--this was the town of Last Haven. Here was home.