Sunshine (4 page)

             
I awoke to Sunny kicking me in my side. He was wide awake. Man how long had I been out? Sunlight was shining through the boards. I panicked and started to look around for any sign of danger. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the barn, but there was a loud knocking outside.

             
This didn’t sound like a Jack, but what else could it be. I peeped out a hole in the wall and saw something very surprising. There was a man at the barn door. I must be dreaming there couldn’t possibly be a man. He was very good looking from what I could see, so I must be dreaming. I gave myself a couple of seconds to collect myself.

             
What if he was dangerous, like Sunny’s father? What if he wasn’t and he was looking for someone to group up with? Having someone else to keep watch and help keep Sunny alive would be amazing. Plus he might have some new information on the Jacks. Alright, I definitely needed to let him in but I was going to greet him with my gun in hand.

             
But the knocking had stopped. So I grabbed Sunny and ran down to the door. It took me a couple of minutes to move the boards, but I opened the door before he was too far off.

             
I screamed at the top of my lunges, “Wait! Please, come back! I’m not going to hurt you. Please, come in. I’ve got food and supplies.”

             
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. “Alright Honey, I’ll come in. You don’t have to yell at me about it.”

             
Man, he was handsome. He could have been a heart throb Hollywood celebrity, but he just called me honey. We had just met and I already wanted to punch him in the face. This was going to be interesting.

Chapter 8

Marcus

“This is a quaint little place you’ve got here. Is there anyone else with you?”

“No. It’s just me and Sunshine. I’m Emma Fritz and you are?” as I put out my hand, simply to be nice.

“Marcus Bradley nice
to meet you, you can put that gun down I don’t bite.” his hands were very rough.

“Have you seen any Jacks in the area? We have only been here for one night.”
I lead him over to the truck and sat down on a bundle of hay.

“No. I spent the night in a big old oak tree and didn’t see or hear them. I picked up on your tire tracks as I walked. You should really hide them better. Jacks can’t recognize them, but it’s still a good precaution
. Jacks aren’t the only monsters out there.”

“
Yeah, I didn’t have time. With Sunny it’s not easy.” I was keeping my distance. Sunny was very fussy and really wanted to meet our new friend.

             
So I pulled him into my arms and let him look straight at Marcus. I thought he would cry, because he had never met a man before. He, however, reached out to him. I couldn’t believe it. This was a sign to me to trust Marcus, even though it probably wasn’t very smart. He seemed a bit dangerous.

             
He was wearing a leather coat, jeans, hiking boots, and a cowboy hat. He had thick black hair and his eyes were an odd blue color, they reminded me of robin’s eggs. He was clean, but scruffy looking. He too carried a large backpack and had a rifle in his hand a machete hung from the strap. It was very beat up and had some blood on it. This made him look even more dangerous. I never sought out fights with the Jacks, but I suspected he did.

             
His manners also appeared dangerous. His gun was still in his hands ready to shot at any minute, as he checked the whole place over, like it was a trap. What had this man been through that he could think I was trying to trap him? I was a single woman with a tiny baby, why would I set a trap for sexy men? I wasn’t a black widow.

             
“I’m going up to the loft I’ll be right back. Make yourself comfortable”. I took Sunny upstairs to change him and ready a bottle. He giggled as I changed him into fresh clothes.

             
When I returned downstairs Marcus was outside burning a pile of leaves. “What the hell are you doing? That will attract them!”

He turned and gave me a huge smile like I was an idiot. “How you’ve survived I don’t know. You don’t know anything about Jacks do you? They are attracted to fire, but not to smoke. It covers our s
cent and they try to avoid it for some reason.”

He picked up some of the leaves and
placed them in random spots around the barn. They weren’t on fire just smoldering.

Before coming back inside he took a long look at the surroundings. He must have been satisfied.

              I was sorting through our food supply, while Sunny played on his blanket. I would need to find him some more toys. “Would you like something to eat? I’ve got canned goods.”

             
“Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve eaten processed food. Are those peaches? Mind if I have a can?”

“No help yourself. What do you eat then?”

He was opening the can with a knife that had a bone handle with skulls carved into it. My subconscious was yelling at me, “this man is dangerous.” However, I backhanded her and told her to butt out.

             
“I eat off the land. I hunt a lot. The blood attracts them so you have to cover and gather up anything with blood and burn it. Yes I know the fire attracts them, but not nearly as much as blood. Plus there are a load of edible plants in the woods and you can usually find good pickings on the abandoned farmer’s fields. I’ve got some grapes if you want them?”

             
He pulled out a bunch that looked a little worse for wear, but they were fresh. I hadn’t had fresh food in forever. You could find canned good nearly everywhere so I kept to them.

             
“Thank you.” They tasted amazing and I smashed up a few to give to Sunny. He started to bounce around the second they touched his lips.

             
“How old is your son”

             
“He’s not my son. Well not biological. His mother died giving birth so he’s mine now. He’s four months old I believe. I have a hard time keeping track of time. He seems to like you, even though you’re the first male he’s ever met.”

             
He was done with his jar of food and pulled out what looked like jerky from his bag.

             
“Oh that’s very nice of you. To risk your own life to care for someone else’s kid.” This ton came off like he didn’t think it was very nice, like I was stupid and he would have never done such an idiotic thing.

             
I pulled Sunny into my lap and he grabbed for my face. He was a very happy baby today. I would never have left Sunny there to die like his mother. The thought was horrifying.

             
“Well you don’t have to stay here if you think we are endangering your life. We have been doing perfectly fine thank you very much.”

“Yes, I don’t think I’ll stay long. I was just curious about you. I haven’t met humans in several months. I do better on my own anyways.” He looked like he was now of
f to another place as he stared at the ceiling.

              We spent the rest of the day in the barn. We took turns watching for the Jacks and he taught me some of his knowledge. It turned out he did know a lot more than me.

             
The safest place to sleep was in trees. They Jacks were horrible climbers, so they would make a lot of ruckus, which could wake the dead from slumber. Then it was like shooting fish in a barrel as they tried to make it up. This was interesting to me, but worthless knowledge as I wouldn’t be able to sleep in a tree with a baby. A tree house sounded inviting though.

             
He also said they were good swimmers. This saddened me as I was still hoping to find a boat. I’m sure I would be safe in the middle of the ocean, but my peace of mind was now gone. He confirmed my knowledge of them being territorial and working in small groups. They seemed to still be pretty smart and seemed to have formed some sort of grunt language.

             
The thing that caught my interest the most was about the other humans out there. The nomads as he called them.  “There aren’t many nomads anymore. I’ve only come across three groups since it all happened. I usually avoid them when I see their tracks. Everyone is always very kind and nothing like science fiction would make them out to be. No one is a cannibal. I only ever observe from afar, though. You’re actually the first person I’ve talked to in a very long time.”

             
There were still other humans and they didn’t want to hurt Sunny or I. Rosa wasn’t the last kind person in the world. This sounded like a miracle to me. It was nice just to have the very uncharismatic Marcus to talk to, I couldn’t imagine finding a group to talk to that would treat me like family.             

             
Sunny was still impatient as I held him. Why he wanted to be held by Marcus was beyond me, but I wasn’t letting him anywhere near my baby.

             
Finally he fell asleep in my arms and we tucked in for the night. Marcus decided he wanted to sleep on the roof. He felt safest up there.

             
This was nice. I was actually smiling as I feel asleep.

Chapter 9

A Shark by a Different Name

              I awoke in the night to Sunny crying and a very loud storm outside. Well it wasn’t actually contained to outside. Sunny and I were both soaked from holes in the roof. The Jacks didn’t travel much in the rain, which was good news as I wouldn’t be able to hear them coming in this storm. I scooped up Sunny and headed downstairs hoping it was dryer down there. I wondered were Marcus was.

             
As I came down the stairs that question was answered for me.

             
He appeared to be naked with a blanket tied around his waist as he laid out his clothes. What the hell was he thinking? This was so inappropriate. Yet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off his bare chest. I made my presence know with a very loud, haahumm.

             
“Oh Hi, sorry all of my clothes are soaking wet. I had to borrow a blanket. I see you both got wet up there as well.”

“Well you could cover yourself up a little better. You can keep the blanket
, now that you’ve rubbed your stuff all over it.”

He burst into laughter. “Well if you rather I run around naked
, here’s your blanket.” he grabbed for the tie in the blanket.

“No
,” I burst out,” keep it please. I’ve got more blankets in the truck”

I changed S
unny and dried myself as best I could with our one towel.

“Do you think the storm will last long? I like them
, the Jacks always hide away during them”

“I think it will quickly rain
itself out and then the Jacks will again be hunting us.” Why did he smile almost all the time?

“Well good
night; wake me up if anything happens.” I wasn’t going to take any chances. I set Sunny in the passenger seat and spend a very rough rest of the night sleeping in the driver seat.