We have little time to make it to Camp Haven before the blistering winter. The weather is already bad even though it is fall and George says it is a bad idea for me to be out in that kind of weather, but there is no way we can possibly make it to Camp Haven by then. I do not think we will make it to Camp Haven before the winter. I bet we will get trapped out here in the middle of winter. The wind has been howling and the trees have been groaning for weeks. Luckily, Rubble has been taking care of Chibi. Damien has been taking care of me as well. As well as me having to take care of him.
"Damien, how much longer until we find a place to take shelter?" We are in the middle of nowhere with nothing to shield us from the wind.
"I don't know sweetie," he sighs sadly. He pulls the blanket off of himself and wraps it around me. I take half of it off and wrap it around him.
"You are cold too," I coo. He always puts my well-being before his own. If I did not take care of him like I do, then he would surely freeze. After a while in the freezing wind, a few days, I spot a small house.
"Over there!" I point. The wind becomes stronger and more vicious as we come closer to the house. The hills were shifting into a flat plain where the hills can no longer shield us from the wind. The wind howls once we open the door. Everyone piles in and we close the door behind us. It is stiff and cold inside; however, it is much better than the feeling the wind biting at our ankles like hungry wolves.
"Let's get a fire going and get everyone warm. Once that is done we need to get everyone feeling better and make sure Kaylee is good." I roll my eyes at his last statement. I am perfectly fine and so is the baby. I mean, it has been a month since we left Saint Cody's Hospital. The baby has continued to grow and is now popping out more than they have before.
"I am fine," I mutter. Damien sighs and wraps his arms around me.
"We just want to make sure you are okay and that the baby is okay. I don't want anything to happen to you or that baby, okay?" I nod and watch as the others help collect some wood and start a fire. In no time, they have a fire blazing and everyone sitting around it. I sit on a chair in a corner. I hate not being able to do anything. I have to always stay on the sidelines, but that will soon be over and I'll be back to killing infected. As you might think, don't infected freeze during the winter? The answer is no. They become a lot slower, but they still move around. It is harder to see the crawlers because of all the snow, but we still get by without getting bit. Damien sits next to Elizabeth. She continues to turn around then tells Damien something. Damien finally comes over to me and sits next to me. I lean my head on his shoulders.
"Do you think we will make it to the camp before the baby is born?" I ask.
"I don't know, but hopefully we do. It would be much safer to have the baby at Camp Haven then it would be out here."
"I know it would. I can't wait to see Alice or Ace," I smile. He smiles back and ruffles my hair. When I look near the fire, I found Chibi cuddling up next to Rubble.
"Can we stay here forever?"
"We cannot. You will need proper medical attention; besides, it will get too cold here," he says kissing my head. We rest the rest of the night and the rest of the next day inside the warm cabin. It is a decent size for a place out in the middle of nowhere. Finally, the day comes where we have to leave. It is quite sad, seeing the warm cabin disappear from sight off in the distance. We bundle ourselves up against the never-relenting wind. I hope we get to the factory soon.
After about two months of walking, we find ourselves trapped in a sticky situation. A raging river lay in our path. There does not seem to be a way to get across and although other water sources have frozen over, the current of this river is strong. We look everywhere for a way around but find none. Zachariah comes up with a plan to knock over a tree and hopefully climb across with nothing bad happening. I doubt that will happen. We have a child and then we have me, as big as ever. The baby has become increasingly bigger. It has only been a few months, four or six, and we still are not close to the factory. I just want to get out of this weather. I want to stop walking. I want to be safe. The guys knock over a tree close to the water's edge. It lands with a splash.
"I will go first to make sure it is safe," Jacob says. He cautiously steps onto the fallen tree and proceeds to make his way across. When he is close to the end, he jumps to the other side.
"Okay it is safe, but be careful. There are some parts that are slick," he calls. One by one everyone begins making their way across. Zachariah carries Rubble and Chibi across so they did not fall in. Me, Damien, and George are the last ones on the other side.
"I will go first then Kaylee and then Damien. This will be sure that I have you in the front if you fall and Damien has you in the back if you fall," George tells us. George climbs up first and lends his hand down to help me up. Damien climbs up after us and we begin our dangerous decent across. I fear to fall into the cold, dark depths below.
"Don't look down, Kaylee. It will only make you more likely to fall," Damien says behind me. I look up at the back of George's coat. We make it to the halfway point when everything goes wrong. I hear Damien cursing behind me. When I glance back, I find him dangling off of the trunk of the tree.
"Damien," I exclaim. I kneel down in front of him and grab his hand. The current is beginning to take him away. I pull with all my strength and manage to get him to his knees. I take my blanket and coat off and wrap them around him. All I have on under my blanket and coat is a thin, long sleeve. I do not care if I was cold; however, as long as Damien does not die of hypothermia. When we finally make it to the other side, everyone rushes to Damien's side. I look at Damien and smile. He looks at me and says something to the others. Cinna looks at me then makes her way over to me. She wraps her arms around me to try and warm me.
"I will be fine," I say as my teeth chattered together.
"You need to stay warm, girl." I ignore what had just happened, but kept a close eye on Damien. If he gets sick and dies then I would be all alone to take care of this baby.
It takes us one month to get to the factory from the river. It should have taken us longer, but George remembered a shortcut that nearly cut our time in half. We climb inside the building to find many pillows and mattresses stacked all around. Everyone finds the nearest thing and fall asleep on it. I stay awake with Damien beside me. I wonder if Damien is doing better. I reach my hand over and put my hand on his head. I feel warm in a good way. He does not feel cold and he had stopped shivering once I am in his arms. The baby has grown huge to the point where I am nearly winded when walking. The bulge from the baby is defiantly bigger than Kayla's was. Everyone sleeps all day the next day before everyone finally stirs awake. I am half asleep when George finally announces how close we were.
"We only have a few more days in this terrible weather. I know this fall and beginning of winter has been hard, but if we don't get there soon then we will be trapped outside in this weather." Then he stands," Then we will finally have a home!" Everyone cheers and yells while I cover my head with a pillow. The sooner we get there the sooner I can stop walking. I can finally relax with Damien. We can settle down and raise a family. I sit up quickly. I must have startled Damien because he nearly jumps to his feet.
"What is it, Kaylee?" He asks.
"Once we get there, we can start a family," I grin from ear to ear. He puts his hand on my head and kisses it.
"Yes we can," he smiles back. We begin our two day journey to Camp Haven, our final destination. On the first day, we did not run into any trouble except for the cold. We went through a small forest and then across a plain. My legs were now becoming numb and I could barely stand. No one could carry me because I was getting too heavy with the baby and all. That night was harsh. The snow had began falling in fierce spurs. Snow covered the ground which made it worse to sleep. I cuddled up to Damien, who wrapped his arms around our ever-growing bundle. The next day, the snowing had settled to a soft drift. Off in the distance, we saw a large building, a town, larger than I had ever seen.
"Guys, that's it. That is Camp Haven." We all cheer and hurry our pace. We come to the gates and someone calls down to us.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Calls the man.
"I am George. I know the man that runs this camp. We need a place to stay. One of our women are pregnant," he calls back. The man leaves and then the door opens up. We all slip inside the compound to find people walking around and guards guarding the gate.
"Welcome to Camp Haven," the guy gleams. "My name is Link and I will show you around the place." Link is a young guy, maybe in his thirties. He wears a green shirt with black pants. He seems quite nice. He looks towards me and when our eyes met his jaw drops. "How long has she been out in this weather like this?" Link asks.
"Quite a few months, I suppose," Damien answers for me.
"Come come, lets get you guys warmed up and her checked out." We all follow him to a small building. It seems to be an infirmary. He stops us at the door and smiles.
"Now, Tucker here will show the rest of you to your rooms," he points to a man standing by the door. Tucker is a short and fat man. He wears a big white shirt with extremely loose pants. Now, he would be a good meal for the infected. I laugh out loud and everyone turns towards me.
"It's nothing. I am just thinking to myself." Tucker ignores me.
"Right this way," Tucker smiles. Everyone follows, but I am stopped by Link.
"Why don't you follow me so we can get you checked out," He smiles kindly pulling me away from Damien. Damien grabs my hand. I squeeze his hand lightly.
"I am coming with you. She is my wife after all," Damien smiles. This is the first time he has actually said wife. Link nods and we follow him up some stairs.
"You guys just wait in here while I go get the head of the camp," Link smiles before leaving us. I look up at Damien and smile.
"We finally made it. Now we can start our family," I gleam with joy.
"Yes then after you have the baby, we can have a real wedding," he smiles back. Now that this journey is over, we can finally live a real life... together.
*Head of Camp point of view*
I hear someone coming up the stairs to where I am having my meeting. Link burst through the door. It irritates me when he does this in the middle of my important meetings.
"I thought I told you not to disturb me while I was having a meeting," I growl hitting my fist against the table.
"Sir, a group of people came to the camp," he huffs.
"Okay, give the usual tour and be over with it."
"But sir, one of them is pregnant," he says calmly.
I sigh," Chuck, why don't you come help me with this one?" Chuck nods and we begin heading towards the infirmary.
"We need to be careful about these new people. They could be a trap for us to steal all of our goods," Chuck points out.
"It will be okay. You made it here perfectly fine, didn't you? Even after your camp blew up after that zombie attack. You said you were the only one to survive. The ones who survive, thrive."
"I did and I am eternally grateful for you letting me in." We come up to the door and when we turn the corner a girl is seen sitting next to a boy. I feel my eyes begin to water and my heart drops. When the girl looks up, she nearly burst into tears.
"Daddy?" she frowns and begins to cry. Then she stops crying and smiles her normal, cheerful smile while tears still stream down her face," I'm pregnant."
Okay guys, this is the end of the first book :-). There will be a second book; however, I will not post the first chapter until I find a title picture along with the actual title. Please help me figure out a title so I can hurry and post the first chapter of the sequel because I am very ecstatic about how this one has turned out. The next book will bring around more adventures for Kaylee and her new family. I will keep you guys as updated as possible so make sure you keep an eye on your news feed for updates :-) Love ya guys!!