Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) (42 page)

Annie stepped
onto the first stair and gave my hand a tug, but I didn’t budge. “Bodies?” I asked.

Ky nodded. “Looks
like a married couple.”

I grimaced. “How
bad is it?”

“Just a ruined
mattress. Jason and Mase are taking it out back to burn with the bodies.” He
lifted his shoulders, offering me a slight smile. “But the good news is,
they’ve been dead long enough that the smell’s faded a bit. Should have the
place aired out enough to be livable by tomorrow…if we keep every single door
and window open.”

I gave him a
halfhearted thumbs-up. “Awesome.”

“Don’t worry, D, it’ll
be worth the wait. This place is
pretty
damn sweet.”

“Awesome,” I
said, more genuine this time.

Ky’s focus
shifted to Annie. “I’ve got somethin’ for you, kiddo,” he said as he pushed the
screen door open and walked out onto the porch, one hand held behind his back.
I couldn’t stifle the tiny twinge of fear caused by
not
knowing what was
in that concealed hand.

Stop it,
I told myself, forcing a smile.
We
don’t know anything for sure, and besides, he has no reason to hurt Annie or
me.
But after Sarah…I couldn’t
not
think about it.

Giggling, Annie
tugged on my hand again, and this time, I let her go. “What?” she asked as she
ran up the stairs. “Present?” We still hadn’t moved beyond one-word sentences
most of the time, but at least her spoken vocabulary was growing more varied.

Ky grinned down
at the little girl practically bouncing with excitement right in front of him.
“Does ‘Mr. Potato Head’ mean anything to you?”

Annie shook her
head.

“Well, kid…you’re
in for a surprise.”

I laughed softly
as I watched Ky crouch down to Annie’s level and present her with the
way-too-big-to-be-a-potato toy and Annie examine the thing with serious
intensity. “Can you keep an eye on her for a bit?” I asked Ky. “I want to check
on Carlos…and Vanessa.”

Ky nodded. “Harper’s
with them in the barn, cleaning up the damage caused by this little monster.”
He ruffled Annie’s wet, blonde hair.

Annie swatted his
hand away absentmindedly, frowning as she figured out how to open the latch on
Mr. Potato Head’s rear end to get to the goodies rattling around inside.

When Ky noticed
me lingering, he made shooing motion. “Go. I got this.”

Smiling my
gratitude, I turned away from the porch steps and headed toward the cluster of
farm buildings surrounding the roundabout. I’d yet to explore anything, only
having come back to the roundabout—where we’d left the horses in all the Annie–Vanessa
hubbub—to retrieve soap, towels, and clean clothes for Annie and myself before
washing up in the creek.

The horses were
all gone; a quick telepathic scan told me they were in the pasture on the far
side of the driveway, along with the goats. The cart and wagon had been parked haphazardly
between the cottage and a large, well-kept old barn. There was also a stable on
the opposite side of the roundabout from the barn, and a long building, whose
function I wasn’t quite sure of, between the two.

Making a mental
note to explore everything thoroughly later, I hurried toward the barn. Both of
its double doors had been slid open, likely to let in as much daylight from the
bright, spring sunshine as possible, but to my eyes, the interior looked
completely dark aside from dozens of tiny lights glowing like stars near the
ceiling. As I neared the doorway, I stared up at the crisscrossing strings of
twinkly lights in confusion. Carlos had to be powering them, which made sense;
what didn’t make sense was why they were there in the first place.

Only when I
stepped inside and lowered my eyes did I begin to understand. A handful of
tables—maybe a dozen—were set up deeper in the barn, draped with pale
tablecloths and set with centerpieces of withered flowers in shades of yellows,
oranges, and browns. It took me a few seconds to realize that the farm must
have rented out the barn as a wedding venue to make some extra money—and from
the looks of it, there’d been a wedding right before the outbreak, and they’d
never had a chance to clean up afterward.
Or the wedding never happened…

The site was
eerie, a haunting echo of the way the world used to be. For some reason, those
tables and chairs, covered in a layer of dust and still set up for a
celebration that may never have happened—a celebration whose attendants may
very well all have died in the last six months—were far more unsettling than
the idea of the dead couple being evicted from their farmhouse just a short
ways behind me.

I heard a
whistle, and snapped my head to the right, my heart beating double-time.

“Didn’t want to
startle you,” Harper said with a casual wave.

He, Vanessa, and
Chris were sitting at the right-most table, Harper’s chair turned to face
Vanessa, and Chris’s right behind her. Carlos was leaning against the wall
beyond the table.

With a smile,
Harper returned his attention to Vanessa, wiping a cotton swab over the
scratches on her neck. I was about to join them when I heard approaching
footsteps crunching in the gravel behind me.

“There you are,”
Zoe said as I turned around. She had a swaddled infant in either arm and looked
the picture of the quintessential exhausted new mom…except for the part where
she
wasn’t
a new mom, or a mom at all. “Here,” she practically groaned
in relief as she unloaded one of the slumbering babies into my arms. “I need a
break from double-duty.”

“Um…okay,” I
said, accepting the warm little bundle. “Which one is this?”

“Ellie…pink
blanket,” Zoe said. She readjusted Everett in her arms and, turning, started
walking toward the corner of the barn, away from the driveway and farmhouse.

I watched her
walk away for a few steps, then looked down at the tiny little person I was
suddenly holding.

“D,” Zoe said.
“Are you coming?”

Only when I
looked up again did I realize she’d stopped and was watching me, apparently
waiting for me to accompany her. I caught up with her, moving slowly so I
wouldn’t wake the newborn, and we rounded the corner of the barn in silence.

“So…I’ve been
thinking,” she said. “I really think we should tell Biggs the truth.”

“Zo—”

She skewered me
with guilt-filled eyes. “He can’t be a Monitor, right? So what’s the harm in—”

“Dani!” Annie
shrieked as she ran around the corner of the barn, just a short ways ahead.
“Look!” She came to a skidding halt in front of me and held up Mr. Potato
Head—the poor guy had arms for eyes, an ear for a mouth, and sunglasses and a
mustache growing out of the right side of his body—just as Ellie stirred in my
arms and started to emit a stuttering wail.

“Fabulous,” I
muttered.

31

ZOE

MAY 28, 1AE

The Farm, California

It was first thing in the morning and I’d
already been awake for a few hours, tending to the needs of my demanding charges.
I was in the kitchen, Annie and Sam eating their morning cereal while I made my
third cup of coffee.

“Hey,” Jake said as he walked into the
kitchen and wrapped his arms around me.

“Howdy.” I poured a generous cup of coffee
for me, a little bit in a spare mug for Jake, and then more in mine, deciding I
needed it more than he did. I’d learned to take advantage of every free moment
I had without the twins, which meant eating, drinking coffee, and sleeping as
much as I could were fair game.

Annie smiled at Jake, but soon a full-fledged
grin engulfed her face. “Babies!”

“Babies?” Jake said.

After taking a much-needed sip of coffee, I
turned around to find Camille walking away, leaving Jake with Everett in his
arms.

Sam stifled a laugh, while Annie burst out
in a bout of giggles that woke the infant Jake held awkwardly against his chest.
Fussing and screaming ensued. Amused, I watched Jake as he stared down at
Everett like he was wondering what the hell to do with something so tiny and
loud.

Shifting Everett, Jake held him out away
from his body. “Something’s wrong with him.”

I laughed. “Something’s
always
wrong; he’s a baby.”

Jake stared at Everett a moment longer
before tucking him into the crook of his arm. He glanced up at me, and I
quickly looked away, pretending I was focused more on cleaning up my coffee
mess than on Jake’s discomfort.

Everett’s face reddened and his screams
grew louder by the moment.

“Maybe he’s too hot,” Jake said, and he
began to unwrap Everett’s blanket from around him.

“He doesn’t like it when you remove his
blanket,” I said as I put the coffee grounds back in the cupboard. “I think
it’s a comfort thing.”

Jake raised Everett up to his chest and
began to pat his back.

“He doesn’t like that either; it makes him
gassy.”

Jake frowned. “Well, what
does
he
like?”

Annie and Sam were laughing at him again,
no longer making any attempt to stifle their amusement.

“You two think this is funny?” Jake said
with feigned irritation. When their laughter only grew more boisterous, Jake
smiled. “Sabotage,” he grumbled.

Taking pity on him, I set my coffee mug on
the counter and took a step closer. “Here, I’ll take him,” I said.

With gratitude emanating from him, Jake
unloaded the infant into my arms.

Like usual, I began rocking Everett in a
steady swing, instantly taking his screams down to fussy gurgles and grunts.
“You know, even though that was
probably the most awkward interaction I’ve ever witnessed, it might’ve been the
most precious thing I’ve ever seen, too.”

“Really…” Jake said dryly.

I nodded and went back to the counter,
simultaneously rocking Everett while I grabbed Jake’s cup of coffee. “Here ya
go,” I said, handing it to him.

Collecting my own mug, I held it up to
Jake’s. “Bottoms up,” I chirped. All I needed was a few moments to let the
caffeine kick in and I’d be ready for another day of nannyhood.

~~~~~

Sitting in one of the rocking chairs on
the farmhouse porch and holding a swaddled, contented Ellie, I basked in the
early afternoon sunshine, trying not to fall asleep myself.

Abruptly, the front door was flung open,
and Annie scurried out. Sam exited the farmhouse directly after her with a slam
of the screen door. Ellie started, but thankfully she didn’t start crying.

When Sam noticed us tucked away in the
corner, his eyes widened. “Sorry, Zoe. I didn’t know you were out here.”

I nodded down at Ellie. “All the noise and
voices inside were making her anxious.”

Sam walked over, staring down at the baby.
“Becca said they’re important.”

My eyebrows rose. “Did she?”

He nodded, and I knew Becca must’ve been
alluding to more than the sentiment we all had for the babies already.

“I’m not sure why, but that’s what she
said.” Sam gently brushed a wisp of silky, soft hair from Ellie’s forehead, an
image of his baby sister flashing through his mind, then he turned and headed
back to the porch steps.

“Where are you two off to?” I asked as I
resumed my rocking.

“We’re gonna play!” Annie sang as she
began jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

I couldn’t help but smile at her
enthusiasm. “I wish I could play,” I said. “But I have Ellie duty.”

Annie’s face scrunched up, and she stopped
jumping. “You look too tired to play.”

The smile fell from my face. “Gee, thanks,
Annie.”

“You should take a nap,” Sam called behind
him as he jogged after Annie, who’d done a Tasmanian devil spin and sprinted
toward the barn.

I
was
tired, but there was little I
could do about it. I was still in a constant state of emotional exhaustion—but not
physical exhaustion, which was what I missed.
It had been three days, and Biggs was already doing better,
his mind no longer the toxic mess it had been the first couple of days. But
despite his improved mental state, it was still up to Auntie Zoe to tend to
most of the twins’ needs, and they didn’t care if I was eating, had my hands in
mud, or had just fallen asleep.

Regardless though, Biggs, Ellie, Everett,
and I had found a temporary, affable routine that helped a little bit with my
sanity.
All it took were a
few days of sink-or-swim, trial-and-error situations, and I was settling into
my new job title surprisingly well. I understood the twins more—their quirks,
their personalities—making it easier to be preemptive with their bottles and
their naps and the noises they liked, disliked, and absolutely hated.

Ellie was the more even-tempered of the
two,
but
whenever she did become fussy, rapidly blinking my eyes and
talking to her like she was the cutest little baby in the world and I was going
to eat her up seemed to forego complete tears and bloodcurdling screams.

Everett, on the other hand, was grumpy—a
definite crier. He didn’t like to be left alone, and he didn’t like it when
Tavis entered the same room as him. Everett also didn’t like his diaper changed
or the sound of his sister’s crying or his bottle being too hot or too cold…he
didn’t like much of anything. So, as long as I remembered all of that
and
rocked
them both while they were awake, they were content…mostly…sometimes.

Ellie cooed, and I looked down at her. Her
wide blue eyes brightened with the golden glow of the sunset as she watched me,
slobbering and mauling her incredibly soft, tiny hand. “We should make a date
of this, you and I,” I said, wiping a string of drool from her cheek. “You like
sunsets just like your auntie, don’t you?” Ellie’s only response was a grunt
and a spastic kick of her feet.

Hearing approaching footsteps from inside
the house, I looked at the screen door just as it opened. Biggs stepped outside
onto the whitewashed porch with a small smile on his drawn face as he peered
down at Everett, who was nestled in his arms. “Hey,
Warden
,” he said to
me as he lowered himself into the rocking chair beside mine.

“Not the warden thing again,” I grumbled.

Biggs shrugged. “Hey, it’s not
my
nickname for you, it’s your brother’s. I asked him where you were, and he said
the ‘warden’ was outside. Did you really kick them out of the dining room
earlier?”

“Of course I did. I was in there with
Ellie, minding my own business, and Jason and Harper sauntered in and asked me
to draw up a diagram for them.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Biggs resituated
Everett against his chest.

“Nothing, until they started bickering
about projects that need to be done and who needs to do what, and then they
woke up the baby.”

“Oh.”

“I asked them to leave, nicely,” I added.

Biggs lifted his eyebrows and tilted his
head a little to the left. “Yeah?”

I rolled my eyes. “Mostly.”

Biggs smirked and leaned closer to gaze
down at Ellie, whose eyes shifted to his lazily before she yawned, making me
yawn in turn. “How’s her sneezing today?”

“She’s doing just fine,” I said. “We
soaked up some vitamin D this morning while I was drawing the farm layout for
Grayson. If she’s anything like her Auntie Zoe, she’ll be better in no time.
Sunshine’ll fix anything.” I offered Biggs a reassuring smile.

I was so relieved by the fatherly love he now
felt for the twins. I was a good enough stand-in for a few days while he got
his shit together, but the twins needed their father. He’d finally realized
that they were all he had left of Sarah, and Sarah would’ve expected him to
step up and love them the way they deserved to be loved.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, staring out
at the farm. Sam and Annie were playing with Jack and Cooper on the overgrown
lawn beside the house. “I know you didn’t ask for this role, and I honestly
don’t know what would’ve happened to my children if you hadn’t stepped in.”
Biggs shook his head. “I’m so ashamed of myself for acting the way that I did.
I can’t believe I blamed them…”

Hearing his self-deprecating speech made
me nauseous with guilt. He still had no idea what had
really
happened. He
had no idea that all of this was my fault…mine and Jason’s. “You were a wreck,
Biggs. I don’t blame you,” I said. “I loved Sarah, too, and I wanted to help—I
want
to help you in any way that I can.” I owed him that much.

Staring down at Ellie, I gave her a big
smile and said, “Everything takes time, but we’re getting there…we’ll be just
fine.” Ellie’s eyelids began to close, and as I tucked her blanket more tightly
around her, I yawned again.

“You should go get some rest,” Biggs said.
“I’ll take them for a bit.”

I shook the sleepiness from my mind as I
covered another yawn with my hand. “I’m not sure why I’m suddenly so tired.” My
stomach growled. “And hungry.” I looked at him. “When was the last time anyone
ate?”

Biggs shrugged again, distracted as he
bent down and scooped Ellie from my arms.

Taking my cue, I rose from the rocking
chair, stretched, and then groaned, thinking how wonderful it sounded to crawl
into bed for a couple hours. But then my stomach growled again. “I guess I’m
going to make some lunch before I get any sleep.”

Biggs nodded. “It’s up to you…you get a
free pass for the afternoon.”

“Thanks, Biggs.” Opening the
screen, I padded into the house, hearing scraping and banging in most of the
rooms as everyone was getting settled. At least we were finally moved into the
farmhouse and had a proper space to take care of the twins.

Walking into the enormous, bright
kitchen, I stopped short. Other than the coffee I’d made sure to unpack and a
few boxes of cereal, our food was still in boxes on the moss-green granite
island in the center of the room. Without Sarah, it looked like any sort of
cooking or culinary organization had completely ceased.
Where the hell is
Becca?
She’d become Sarah’s helper over the months, and I’d expected to
find her in the kitchen, organizing and cooking in Sarah’s place. But she
wasn’t there, and now that I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen her all
day.

If the Farm truly
was
our
new home, we needed to settle in, and if we were going to do that, we needed to
reestablish a routine. With so many of us, we needed some sort of schedule;
otherwise we’d be so lost in our myriad of to-dos that nothing would ever get
done. We needed group meal times and togetherness, and for that we needed a cook.
While I was a miserable excuse for one, I was a better choice than some of the
others. Hoping Becca would be willing to help me, I decided I would seek her
out and
beg
for her help.

Searching the ranch, I found
everyone busy, in the midst of some chore or another. Mase was chopping
firewood near the outdoor brick oven on the lawn area, while Camille stacked
the pieces in the storage space beneath it, but there was no sign of Becca. I
passed by an old shed, where Jake was wrenching on something, and poked my head
inside.

He glanced up at me. “Hey.”

I offered him a tired smile. “You
hungry?”

“Always,” he said. I leaned
forward, and after he met me halfway, I gave him a peck on the lips. “I’ll find
your sister and make us all something to eat.”

“Sounds good.” He turned his
attention back to the machine sitting on the table, and I continued on in my
search for Becca.

I made my way through the stable
and then into the storage barn, where I stumbled across Dani as she mucked out
the goat pen. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her curls escaping from
her braid and the dirt smudged on her cheeks.