This is the end

Chapter 22

I walked into Rachel's office to talk about the new shifts she wanted to discuss and see where I would be. Knocking on the door and listening for her to say come in, I sat at the chair across from her desk and waited for her to start.

"So, Rose I wanted to talk about new shifts and I was wondering if you could be in charge of the nursery. You can say no due to you being pregnant with twins and could be a lot of work and we also have an opening for the front counter to. Sherry wanted to change positions for flexible shifts. She would work nights instead of during the day for her kids sake." I nodded and thought it over. Working in the nursery would be more work than sitting around and doing paperwork and helping patents get in. I should go for the front desk and I knew I made my choice.

"I'll go with front desk." I said hoping I didn't sound to greedy.

"Great, I think that's a good choice for you anyway. And when the time comes close to your due date we can discuss that. Don't want any stress for you and the babies and I know you will do great at the desk. You still will get to work with some patents on Monday and Friday so you can still work in those departments on those days to move around." She said and I got up and shook her hand.

Walking to the front desk and getting everything prepared for the day and I knew where everything was I sat down and started to work.

****

Going to the cafeteria to get some lunch I spotted Jules sitting by the window. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and when Jules noticed me she waved me down. I walked up to her and sat down.

"What are you doing here?" I asked unwrapping my sandwich and started to eat.

"I just came to see you. I heard you were having twins. Tyler told me you got two of mostly everything for the babies and wanted to know how you were doing." She said talking a little to fast, she seemed more excited than me and I guess I could understand that. She didn't have to give birth to twins and get huge. I smiled at her before answering.

"I'm fine just getting over the morning sickness actually. Going into my second trimester soon." I said as I finished my sandwich. She took a sip of her coffee and grabbed my hand.

"I'm here if you need me. Since Lance is gone for awhile I'm sure it's hard for now." She said. I nodded my head knowing she was there for me, she was like a best friend to me. Besides the weird encounters at first. But she was still a friend and we moved on.

"How are things going for you?" I asked to get the attention off me for awhile.

"Everything is going okay. There's some moments though that I walk in a room with Tyler and Lacey in awkward silence and looking everywhere but at me or each other. I just have a weird feeling I guess. I been busy at the store and Tyler having hardly anything to do until everyone comes back." She said

"What you mean it's awkward? Like Tyler cheated on you? Or they fought?" I asked getting curious.

"I don't know really I asked Tyler what that is about and he brushes it off." She said playing with her now empty cup and looking down kind of sad.

"I bet it's nothing. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding." I said taking her hand this time and giving it a squeeze. She nodded and took her hand away.

"I almost forgot to, Tyler said you guys didn't get any high chairs. Just stuff for the bedroom. Shipment came today and they came with four high chairs. We are getting one for Lacey and I thought maybe I could hold the other two for you if you like?" She asked looking at me.

"That be great actually. I didn't think we were getting shipment until everyone came back?" I asked a little confused.

"Oh they filled up a truck and sent it here. They should be returning tonight back to the town to fill up more and return sometime this week. They found a lot actually. They even took two more trucks with them to haul more. They are doing great in Beardstown. And then they would go more down south Oxville. Then back up if they don't find everything in Beardstown I guess." She said and I thought over the plans that I went through with my grandma. I didn't remember going over these towns and I didn't think we were going to go down south more until we got with one city. One thing wasn't adding up.

"I have to get back to my shift. Thank you again and I'll come get those high chairs sometime this week." I said getting up and throwing away my trash. She looked at me confused, but I didn't have time to explain. I needed to get my shift done so I could go talk to my grandma about this.

****

Turning off the computer and going to the locker room to change into my cloths and head for home. I was hopping grandma would be there so I could talk to her about this. I speed walked to my house and walked into the kitchen to look for grandma. She was at the stove cooking some soup it seemed and turned around when she heard me enter.

"You want to tell me why the team is going to go down south more when we don't have all the supplies and I thought we were going to start building the wall around Beardstown then go down more south and expand?" I asked breathing in air as I used it all to talk.

"There are some survivors down in Oxville. We aren't expanding down there but they got a radio transmission down there and said they needed help. So they are going down there to get the survivors and come back. Hence why they took two more trucks down with them." She said as she got bowels and started to pour some in each for us.

"How many survivors are we talking about and why didn't you tell me?" I asked. I sat at the table as she did and got some bread to dip in my potato soup.

"about thirty survivors. Some are injured and need some medical health. You might need to talk to Rachel about helping the day they come back and then help on the floor with them." She said. I pushed my bowel away and sat back and took a deep breath in.

"We will need more medical supplies to do this grandma. Thirty is a lot of people. How much are injured to be precise?" I asked her.

"There seems to be sixteen that are injured and the rest is fine. They said that they were surrounded and running out of food. We picked up the signal when they were in Beardstown and called us back to see what we should do. More survivors more to fight back and help around." She said and I nodded in response. Yea we needed more people around we could use the help but living arrangements would be tight. The construction people are getting some apartments done sometime this week that they been working on for about a month.

"What about the apartments? Would they be ready in time?" I asked her.

" Not all the way thru but at least it's summer so we don't have to worry about them freezing. There some things that need to be fixed by Tyler and his crew this week and he will start tomorrow. We will make this work and some will be in the hospital." She said and I knew I had to ask the question that needed to be asked.

"When will they come back?' I asked.