Beware The Dead

chapter 3

I am awoken by a soft crying. I turn on my side and look out into the darkness. There is a soft shushing along with a whimpering. It is probably Damien rocking Ace who is hungry.
"Damien, is he hungry?" I murmur into the pillow.
"I think he is," Damien replies. I hear his footsteps approach the bedside. I yawn and sit up. I take Ace into my arms and he begins quickly drinking. I do not feel as weird as I did before when it comes to feeding him. I mean, everyone saw me as I was feeding him yesterday.
"Did I fall asleep before he was done eating?"
"You were out like a light bulb," he laughs.
"I was exhausted and I'm still pretty tired. It's okay though. I'll get up any time of the day and night to feed him and comfort him," I smile although Damien cannot see my face.
"I've been up for a while. He has been asleep since you last fed him which was an hour or two ago."
"Do you mean to tell me I only got one to two hours of sleep?"
"Yeah, and you must have been sleeping quite well because you kept mumbling in your sleep," he chuckles.
"What exactly was I mumbling?"
"You were mumbling about Ace and me. About how we are finally a family and then you began mumbling about the other baby. It was creepy. You named her Alice and talked about how she was supposed to die because that's what God wanted. You said how God does not exist and how he doesn't care about any of us," Damien explains.
"Oh," I say. I smile at the thought about me and Damien, finally, a family. Although Ace is small and frail, he will grow up to be strong like me and Damien. Hopefully Ace will not have all the infected blood in him. I fear that it will take control of him or make him sick. I cannot bear to lose another one of my babies. I do not think I can live if I had to kill Ace because he turned into an infected. Damien comes over to me and begins rubbing Ace's head softly.
"His eyes are just like yours," he points out.
"Yeah, like a combination of my blue and your green. They glow in the light. It is so beautiful. I wonder what the girl's eyes were like..." I stop myself from saying anything else about the other twin. The one that has died, and was eating off of Ace's food source.
"I bet they were just as beautiful as his," Damien smiles.
"Does anyone else know about her? The infected one?" I ask. I really do not want anyone else to know about her. It is heartbreaking enough for me. I do not want people to feel sorry for me.
"No, not unless you told them or someone else told them. They didn't seem to know when they came to visit you and if they did know then they weren't saying anything."
"I don't want them ever to know. I don't want Ace to know either. He will never know about his twin sister, okay?"
"That's fine with me," he replies. I find it hard to see me just forgetting about his twin. I know I would not forget, but that could be different for Damien. He is strong, mentally strong, unlike me. I may act like the badass, but really I am not. I do not like being the weak one. The weak die in this world; however, I will not let Ace die. He may be weak, but he will survive.
"I want to go for a walk," I smile, trying to shake off the thoughts going through my mind.
"What about him?" he asks pointing at Ace.
"I can walk and feed him at the same time, I think," I chuckle. I stand up off the bed as if nothing happened. As if I did not have Ace or... no, I need to clear her from my mind. She is not real. It was all a dream that I had twins. Damien puts a blanket around my shoulder so that it would be more private for Ace to eat. We begin walking around while feeding Ace. Damien knows where he is going, but I do not. Damien got to explore around while I was resting in the infirmary so I have to follow him. He brings me to a dining area and explains how everything works and the rules of the dining area. All the rules were stupid, petty rules like say please and thank you and all that stuff. My dad definitely came up with these rules. He used to hound on me when I did not follow his rules. My dad is very strict and now he seems to have softened up. It must have been when he left me and thought I was dead. Losing his entire family... that is hard to think of. I am just glad that I still have family and now he can see my family grow.
The next place Damien takes me is to the sleeping halls. They are small dorms where everyone had their own rooms. He shows me around a while before taking me to our room once Ace is seen as fit to live outside of care. Inside our room is one queen-sized bed with a small crib attached to it.
"Luckily, they had a crib from when one of the other kids here was an infant," Damien says.
"That's good," I smile. "I thought I still had a month to go after we got here, but they... I mean, he decided to come early."
Damien sighs," you know you can't hide that fact from your own self for that long. You have to stop hounding on yourself for saying they. You did have two babies, but one of them died. That's not your fault," Damien tries to explain.
"No, if I had not gotten bit then she wouldn't have died and begun eating off of Ace's food source. I want to forget all about her. I don't want Ace to hurt once he is old enough," I cradle him as close as I can to me.
"You will eventually have to tell him. He will probably be smaller than most since he was so tiny at birth. If you don't tell him when he is older than I will because I am not going to keep any secrets from my family.
I sigh," you are right. We will tell him when he is thirteen. Once he is a teen, I think he will understand then."
"Thank you. I am glad you understand that he needs to know. Now, let's go walk through the gardens," he smiles.
"The gardens? It is the middle of winter." By now, Ace is done eating so I put him on my shoulder to try and burp him.
"I know it is, but they managed to keep part of this building warm enough to grow food. It is really quite amazing." I follow him through three buildings; another dorm, a small library, and a large kitchen room. When we get to the doors Damien tells me to be prepared for the shock of warmth and humidity. He opens the door and a gust of hot air overcomes me. I walk inside after Damien to see trees, moss, fruits, vegetables, and herbs growing everywhere.
"Wow, this is really amazing," I laugh. It is big and warm with just the right amount of humidity. Ace finally burps and I cradle him in my arms. Damien leads me to where a bench is and sits me down. He turns me so I am facing away from him. That's when he begins braiding my hair.
"I know it is. This place is a perfect place to raise a family. I just wish that some of the people were not here."
"Who?" I laugh. "Everyone has been so kind to us and even to me."
"Andy," he growls. I turn around.
"What is wrong with Andy? He is super kind and helpful."
"I just have a feeling about him. I don't like him what-so-ever. I don't want you around him ever."
"But if it was not for him then I would have been alone while having Ace," I point out.
"And I thank him for that, but I still want you to stay away from him."
"Fine. If that is what you want," I sigh.
"Good. I got your hair up, do you have a ponytail?" he asks. I pull the ponytail that I have had for years from my wrist and hand it back to him. He ties my hair and smiles at his accomplishment.
"I love you."
"I love you too." I find it weird that he is being so protective. Could it be because of Ace? Could it be because of the other baby dying? Right now is not the time to worry about that. I have to protect Ace and Damien.
"Damien, when are we going to have a wedding and where?" I ask trying to change the subject. I do not like when we fight.
"I was thinking maybe on the first day of spring if it is warm enough for Ace to handle. It would be beautiful," he explains. The sun is now beginning to rise over the greenhouse roof.
"That is fine with me. Where are we going to get the wedding dress and tux?" I asks.
"Hmm, I don't exactly know. I will talk to your dad about it."
"I am glad he likes you," I laugh.
"Me too. I was worried that he hated me for some reason, but now I know that he doesn't." I smile at him and look down at Ace. He is so cute when he sleeps or anything at all. I wonder what his first word will be. I wonder what he will look like when he is older. I have so many thoughts going through my head about Ace. I hold Ace out.
"You can hold him. I think he needs to bond with his dad more," I smile. Damien takes Ace and holds him in his arms. Ace is so tiny compared to Damien's arms. I am surprised that Ace is big enough to be out of the infirmary.
"He is so tiny," Damien exclaims quietly.
"I know he is. I was just thinking of how I am surprised he is big enough to be out of the infirmary."
Damien sighs," we better get going. People are probably getting up by now."
I follow him out of the greenhouse and back towards the dining hall. People are in the kitchen preparing what looks like breakfast. A few of them wave at us and I wave back. We make it to the dining hall and we are greeted by Elizabeth, Jacob, and George. They all wear clothes I have never seen them wear.
"Hey girly, how's it goin'?" Elizabeth smiles.
"It's going good," I chuckle.
"Oh, he is so cute! I know I have said that about a million times by now, but he really is. Can I hold him?" Damien nods and holds him out. Elizabeth holds him in her arms in awe.
"Yeah." Damien nudges me. I know what he wants me to do. He wants me to tell them about our baby girl. Elizabeth gives us a confused look.
"What's going on? Is there something you guys aren't telling us?" She asks pointing at us both.
I sigh, " We had twins." Elizabeth claps and jumps up and down.
"That's amazing. Where is the other one?" she asks looking around.
"Dead," I answer looking down at the ground. "Was dead before she even came out. How she survived... Lived off of Ace's food source. That explains why he is so small." I feel  like crying in this moment. I do not want to remember having to kill my own baby.
"Oh, I am so sorry," she apologizes.
"It's fine. As long as Ace is alive," I half smile. She does not know how it feels to have to kill your own flesh and blood.
"It's okay. I will be here for you all the time and so will Damien," she pulls away and smiles. "And now that you found your dad, you can find out what he has been up to."
"You're right. Have you seen him?" I ask.
"I know where he is," a voice chimes in behind me. I turn around to find Andy smiling at me.
"Can you take me to him?"
"Sure, he is this way," He begins walking away. I take a few steps towards him before Damien grabs my arm.
"I told you to stay away from him," he growls. I yank my arm away.
"I want to see my dad. You stay here and watch Ace. If he starts crying, come find me and I will feed him," I growl back slightly. I begin walking away, feeling upset that I hurt him, but I want to see my dad. I follow Andy out into the hall and he stops.
"I am sorry if I cause you and Damien any trouble with your relationship," he apologizes.
"It is fine. He is just being overly protective. Where is my dad and what is he doing?"
"He is in the meeting room. He is having a meeting about what to do for the last winter months. They are supposed to be bad this year."
"Oh, and how did you know where I was?"
"You dad told me to watch over you. Just to make sure nothing happened to you; besides, I want to watch over you," he smiles. I am unsure if I should follow him or just run back to Damien. Why did he want to watch over me? I follow him up a few flights of stairs then down the hall to where I hear yelling.
"Do they always yell?" I ask.
"Yeah, all the time. They always fight about what is the best course of action." He pushes the door open and their heads turn towards us. My dad smiles at us as I hide behind Andy. I hold onto the back of Andy's shirt. He chuckles a bit at me, but I hate when people stare at me.
"Kaylee, what do you need?" my dad asks kindly, seeming to not frighten me. I come out from behind Andy.
"I just wanted to catch up with you. You have been gone for so long and I don't know what you have been up to," I reply. My dad sighs and turns to the other men in the room.
"This meeting is over until tonight," he says and everyone disperses. He comes up to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder. He leads me away from the room and into another, a more private room. He closes the door so it is just me and him sitting on the bed.
"I have missed you so much," I quickly say wrapping my arms around him and leaning my head against his chest.
"I have missed you too. So, what is it you want to ask me?" I back off of him. I have not thought of any questions to ask him.
"Um... I just want to now what you have been up to," I reply.
"I am head of the camp. I was about two months after getting here. The old head of camp died and announced me the head of the camp. I help with everything and anything as you can tell," he smiles. "Now, what have you been up to? Damien told me about the bad stuff, but what about the good stuff."
"Well.." I begin. I explain everything that has happened to me since he had left from the time we had to leave the camp to the time we had the baby.
"Oh, so you had twins?"
"Yeah, but she had been eating off of Ace's food source. I... um... I put her down," I frown, nearly in tears. He wraps his arms around me and hushes me.
"Everything will be okay. You are here and now you have a family to look after," he chuckles.
"Yeah, and now that you are here, I feel safer, like no one can hurt me," I giggle. In reality, I do not feel safe. I feel like everyone is against me. I fear this camp. I felt safer outside of these walls. It is beautiful and all, but some of the people are not what they make people think they are. I think... some of them are monsters in human skin.