Forgetting the Apocalypse

60. The Interview pt. 1

Mara's Pov*

I couldn't stop my leg from bouncing up and down. I've walked from New Mexico all the way here to Alaska and that's nothing compared to the amount of exercise that my leg is doing right now. I don't know what scares me the most. The fact that we might be separated or that we'll be around other people.

Every time that we've gone near other living people it always ended badly, with the exception of Kailee and her brother. I get hurt in ways that leave more than physical scars. I can't keep going through this. The sound of his footsteps made me jump. Jack was getting riled up at my anxiety which didn't help me try to calm down. I tried petting his head, scratching him behind the ear. Something just to keep my hands busy.

"I know the worst thing to do is to tell a woman to relax so perhaps try and think of something calming might work?" he tried to smile.

When I didn't respond his smile slowly faded. "I'm sorry. I was always told that my humor was something I needed to work on. Why don't we try taking deep breaths?"

I wanted to hit him so bad but after seeing and hearing him breathe deeply I soon found myself mimicking his pattern until I managed to get my leg under control and Jack was resting his head on my knee.

"Atta girl, so why don't you tell me about your little friend here? He got a name?" Clicking his pen he opened up his notepad to a blank page. It almost made me laugh as it reminded me of Riva a little bit.

"His name is Jack. I've had him going on two years now. I found him or rather he found me when he followed Blackie back to us." I went on to tell him about who Blackie was and how I trained Jack to hunt with me.

"Can I ask how you met Fredi and the other two men?"

He continued to write everything that I was telling him. His writing pattern was different than Riva's but it had the same effect as his. No detail left unwritten.

"I met Fredi when I was alone. It had been months since I woke up in that car wreck I was in and we just stumbled upon eachother. We spent a few months traveling together. Please don't tell him this because then I'll never hear the end of it but it actually wasn't that bad. I mean he took some time getting used to but he never pushed me past my limit. Plus he's actually has some skill with a gun and is a real good cook despite not having many ingredients to work with or an actual kitchen," it was a little weird talking about Fredi like this.

In fact too weird. I reached into my bag and pulled one of the mini bottles of whiskey to take a sip. "Anyways, it was just us two for a while until we got caught in the snow with some zombies on our tail, that's when we met Roone and Riva. They're brothers who were holding up in their family's hunting cabin which regrettably ended up being burned down while we made our escape. The four of us have been together ever since until about.." shit I'm really bad with timelines.

"It's been more than a couple of months for sure since we picked up a brother and sister, Kailee and.. and um, and Boaz. Unfortunately, we lost her brother back in Canada when we ran into some crawlers." I still don't know how Kailee doesn't blame us. I blame me. Thankfully he lets me take a few more moments and doesn't say anything as I continue to sip on the whiskey.

"Take your time, we have all the time in the world." he says kindly.

It caught me a little off guard when he said that. In what way do we have all the time in the world?

"I'm ok, it's just... I'm ok. I know he was sick, he had a bad heart from what his sister told us but losing him the way that we did especially when we were so close hurts the most. Then there's Kailee who not only lost her brother but also her arm, part of me is just waiting for her outburst. For her to finally start blaming us, to blame me."

"Tell me why you think she should blame you."

"Because.." my tears were starting to form, "because it my dog that he went back for. Jack's leash was caught and he saved his life from the burning house as well as the crawlers. If he had just come out I could've gone back inside and gotten him myself! Why didn't I go back inside!?"

Jack jumped up on my leg and began licking away my tears which only made me want to cry more.

"Mara. Mara look at me please."

He set aside his pen and notebook and held out his hands. I don't why but I didn't feel scared or repulsed when I placed my hands in his. When I looked at him, I can see some of my pain in his eyes who were also shedding tears.

"Please believe me when I tell you that you are not to blame. That fire was a complete freak accident. They went over everything in the building, electrical, interior, everything. No sign of arson. Boaz went back to save Jack because he was a good lad who knew just how much Jack meant to you. Unfortunately in doing so his heart gave out on him. It wasn't your fault sweetheart." he pleaded with me.

I couldn't understand it. How could it have been a freak accident? He let go of one of my hands so he could write something down but as soon as he was done he held me with both once more. We stayed like that for a while until I was able to settel down a bit and sat back in my chair. As I wiped the remnants of my tears I tossed back the rest of the whiskey instead of continuing with the little sips. Meanwhile, he was going through notes from another book until he found what he was looking for.

"Well Miss Mara I think after this interview I know exactly where to place you. We have this small facility where we have a bunch of rescues that will be looking for either their forever home or jobs as service animals, with how well you trained Jack and how trained the others seem to be, I think you and the rest of your companions would really thrive in that location. So what do you say? Sound interested?" he asked.

I didn't know what to say at first. He noticed my hesitation because the next thing he said was the best thing I had heard in a long time.

"The facility is large enough that you all will be living there along with some other doctors as well as the canines. There will be no others that will be assigned there. Only those authorized with special permissions such as myself and the doctors will be allowed to go."

The shock on my face must have been evident because for the first time since we started the interview he started smiling again. I didn't have any words because it sounded too good to be true so instead of running the risk of jinxing it I nodded my head.

"Very good. Well that concludes our interview so I'll be seeing you again once you've settled in at the new place. Would you be a dear and call in Roone please?" I nodded to him.