Zombie War: Health + Safety Regs

Chapter 7 - Controlling Risks

When Philippa opened the door, she ran into a wall of solid heat. The outlines of the corrugated iron huts surrounding the beaten dirt floor of the compound shimmered and blurred in the sunlight as she stumbled towards her bunkhouse.

Her body shook as she tried to run. Deep sobs threatened to rack her body again, a weakness she refused to give into while Nico was in danger.

She'd known from when she'd timidly shook hands with Dean's mother for the first time at a family barbecue that the older woman hated her. Dean had laughed and said his Mom could be a bit fierce, but she was bound to hate any girl who took her baby boy away.

Philippa knew it went deeper than this. In Marie's eyes she fitted none of her demanding criteria of what she required in the perfect daughter-in-law. For a start she was English, which to Marie meant she was automatically snooty and stand-offish. She was also a couple of years older than her precious Dean and the worst thing was she wasn't even a Roman Catholic. Being a Church of England Protestant who only attended church at Christmas and the occasional Easter didn't cut it with the elder Mrs Nolan.

'Probably only goes at Christmas because there's booze provided,' Marie had muttered to her neighbour Hattie Maguire at the wedding reception. 'It's well known all the English do is drink.'

Philippa had heard this particular barb as she made her way over to Dean's side so they could cut the cake, her pale complexion flushing with unwanted colour.

It was a bit rich since Philippa already knew that Marie kept a bottle of vodka stashed in the back of the bread bin and there was another one in the toilet cistern.

She had hoped that presenting the bitter old woman with her first grandchild would bring about some kind of thaw in their relationship, but while Marie doted on the infant boy she took great pains to point out to Philippa every mistake and bad parenting decision she made.

When Dean's father died a few short months later of a stroke, Marie somehow managed to turn the blame on her daughter-in-law. With nobody to nag and bully at home, Marie took to turning up at their condo at all hours of the day and night trying to take over the care of Philippa's baby and husband.

Philippa suspected that a lot of these times Marie was drunk, so was very loath to leave Nico in her care. But once again Dean just laughed and advised her to lighten up.

'She's just lonely Pip, give her a break. She needs something to do now Dad's gone; a reason to get up in the morning.'

So Philippa had toughed it out for her husband's sake, but when Marie's speech started to slur and she turned Nico over in his buggy one morning as she pushed him down the stairs even Dean started to realise his mother was not coping.

They'd got her assessed and settled into a very good, and very expensive, nursing home not far from the condo and enrolled Nico in the nursery.

This was another strike against Philippa as far as Marie was concerned, and every time Philippa visited she treated her to a vicious and lengthy list of her supposed sins and failings. Dean and the nursing staff tried to soothe her by telling her it was just the dementia talking, but Philippa knew differently. Her mother-in-law still hated her and however hard she tried she would never get her to like her let alone love her.

But while Philippa could take all the digs and insults thrown her way, she'd always thought that at least Marie adored Nico. In those first dreadful days after Dean was taken, Philippa had been forced to leave Nico in her care and that of their also very elderly next door neighbour Mrs Pagonis. She'd spent long days searching through Chicago's hospitals for any sign of her husband. She'd seen things nobody deserved to witness in their lifetime and one time was almost infected when a patient unexpectedly turned. Luckily a security guard was close by and had shot the newbie zombie's head off, but Philippa was left shaken and covered in blood.