I Slept In and Missed It (Apocalypse)

12

It had been a week since Caleb died and Sammie was still sleeping in my bed. Lincoln and Kane had been working hard to fix the fence damage and some of the damage inside. I was worried about James; he didn't seem to be handling Caleb's death very well. He had stopped talking and wasn't eating much ether. I was worried he would get sick. He didn't seem to be sleeping well, he constantly had bags under his eyes. Kane said he didn't react this way to their parents death. I had tried to get James to talk to me but he just couldn't. Terry thought that the death of Caleb may have brought up unresolved feelings about his parents' death. This morning I found him outside in the snow walking around in just his pajamas, no shoes, and no weapon. Sam had decided he would move back into the room with him. I was hoping Sam would get him talking. At midday we sat down to eat. It was canned soup and homemade bread. We were eating once a day now, but supplies were still going down fast. Our animals hadn't made it through the zombie storm, and we were no longer getting milk or eggs. We planned to raid the nearby houses in the next few days we just had to wait out the snow. It had been non-stop snowing for the last 4 days and the snow was at least 3ft deep. It had buried the ute in and we couldn't dig it out yet. James slowly sipped his soup, barely eating a mouthful by the time we all finished. "Come on James, you need to eat" Kane pleaded. James just stared at the soup not responding. "Maybe he needs some rest, he doesn't look too good" Lincoln said looking concerned. James stood up and walked to his room. Worried I followed him. He lay down in bed and closed his eyes, I went over to him to feel for a temperature. When I put my hand on his forehead it was burning up. I went to find Terry to help. He took his temperature with a thermometer "42°, that's not good. We need to cool him down" I packed snow into a piece of cloth and pressed it against his head. Terry continued to check over him but couldn't find anything wrong. "It must just be a cold," I said. Sam wouldn't be able to move back in until James was better. We couldn't have two sick kids.

For the next three days only Terry entered James's room. Slowly his fever broke and he started to feel better. He was at least eating again. We were now allowed to see him again and Sam was excited to move back in. We all sat in Sam and James' room eating our meal that day. Today was beans and bread. No matter what we always had bread. Me and Abi had made a lot of it, and frozen it outside. We were able to keep things frozen by filling the fridge with snow and putting things in the snow filled fridge. The fridge sat outside so that everything would stay cold and the snow wouldn't melt. We no longer had hot water as we had run out of gas a few days before Caleb died, but we were making it work. To cook we made a small fire in the bottom of the oven and put food in pots inside the oven. Today we had a few jobs that needed doing and after our meal we all split up. Kane and Abi were on zombie watch which meant being outside in the cold making sure no stragglers were getting close. We had only seen one since Caleb's death, the snow seemed to be slowing them down a lot. But still we had a watch just in case. James and Sam had "school work" to do. Lincoln was teaching them how to assemble and disassemble weapons. Terry was teaching them basic first aid and I was teaching them to read. James and Sam knew basic reading but nothing more. I had them first our lesson normally went for about an hour then Terry would have them then Lincoln. I decided to do some math with them today as James still wasn't speaking. After my hour I watched Terry teach them. James became very nervous towards the end of Terrys lesson. But seemed to stop as soon as Lincoln took them into the basement for weapon training. I watched for a while then went to check on Abi and Kane. Once again they were kissing instead of watching. I rolled my eyes but left them to it. Me and Terry decided to play cards. It had become strange with Terry, we hadn't kissed or touched since he hugged me at Caleb's funeral. I was worried he wasn't into me anymore. Maybe he was just giving me space. Lessons finished and the boys headed upstairs to their room. It would be dark soon. Terry went outside to get Kane and Abi, we all sat round the table playing uno. An hour later I was blowing out candles and saying goodnight to everyone. I was once again alone in my bed. I struggled to fall asleep for hours when I heard footsteps in the hallway. Probably just someone going to the toilet. Half an hour later I heard them again. I got up to check what was happening. "You ok?" I asked, poking my head out the door. "Yeah I'm good" Lincoln replied. I got back in bed and eventually fell asleep.