Chapter 13- Connections

Julia refused to stay in bed. Instead, she took to the chair by the window and she kept eyes on Maverick at night. Jayson had long left her, because visiting hours had ended and she had nearly refused to stay until her medical situation was explained in full detail. Her initial injury, her weeks trying to recover, her trip through zombie town. She had no recollection of anything near related to zombie town. She searched through memories and nothing similar rang a bell until she found out the date. Someone had planned ahead. Someone had stopped the zombie apocalypse before it happened. She had thought she had no more questions for the universe. She thought she had seen all its cruel and all its wonderful surprises. The universe works in mysterious ways. Some had been revealed and some kept secret.

She wrapped in a light blanket and she sipped a soda from home. She hadn't had the pleasure of soda in many years and it tasted like pure heaven. She had jumped from the depths of hell in New Jersey to the plain and peaceful life of Maverick, Pennsylvania. What she had hoped to find, she hadn't found. She expected a war with the dead not to be standing in a world among the living. Electricity, running water, cars on paved and clear streets, advanced medical care. None of that had mattered, because what she found was Jayson Keller. A pleasant and sweet surprise that had devastated her emotionally. She hadn't seen him in twenty some years.

He swore he would be back in the morning. He promised her, first thing, he would come back and talk with her. At this point in the game of life, she yearned only to hear his voice. Holding his hand and his body against hers had been a bonus. Once he'd left for the night, she acclimated herself to her surroundings and her new frame. She hadn't laid eyes on her youthful body in years. She looked like an old car that went into the shop and came out with a brand new chassis. No nicks or dings, well...except for a couple scars...not her scars...and the body she lurked inside, she didn't recognize. Must belong to the chatty one...she thought, the ebullient one, the one who loved life and had an affinity for Chess Morgan that he didn't need to beat or restrain, connive or dominate into her.

She affectionately called the other one, drunk slut. She'd come across the drunk slut a couple times. Once she brought Mayers home from parts unknown, then having left with him the direction they traveled. Then again after the birth of Caroline Keller. For all her drunken and sober antics, she had at the very least patched the strained relationship she had with Antonia. Answers that Toni had sought, only she as her mother could answer. The road trip to Florida, having killed McGill, having several relations with several men and then going into the VA and working her ass off came as no surprise. The one rule the girl did not break was communicating with Chess Morgan.

There were things she didn't know, the bad blood, the betrayal, the pain and the hurt he'd caused. Waking in the hospital room alongside her husband hadn't been anticipated. She successfully avoided the man at home. In the company of respected and mutual friends in the community, she had to maintain a certain professionalism and act as if he was the king he believed himself to be.

She asserted herself and her dominance over them as soon as she entered their space. The drunk slut explained the current condition and how she had come to be encapsulated inside the young one. Suicide...She spent her entire life struggling to remain among the living to establish a future that was already laid out for her. It had been, she firmly believed, her purpose as given to her by the universe. All she had to do was wait and seize the opportunity. If she hadn't given her the book of Caroline, then they'd all be knee deep in human remains. A birth and death with care and love did not include offsetting the entire future for herself and her family. What was she thinking? Zombies were a fact of life, like it or not, and the feeble attempts to hold on to the modern amenities of life only hastened their family's stake in the future.

Where shall you hide when the nests come?

Chess ended the call he got from Jay demanding to know what he did to piss her off. She's sick. She's not in a coma. They're coming to her instead of her going to them. There was a legion of Julia's inside one head, a multiple personality cluster fuck, a nest of red heads, and one of them surely was unhappy with him. Lord only knew what he had done in some other time and place to piss that one off. The way she spoke and the glare in her eyes, he'd never seen the woman so angry. She looked like she wanted to put him through the hospital window. He could honestly understand paying for and owning up to past and more present sins, but dammit...did he have to pay in the current for future sins as well? So when Jayson demanded to know what he had done to piss her off, he could only respond honestly..."Ask her, Jayson."

Jules had mentioned that they do not speak in the future. She lived with Tavin in Philadelphia and had since she returned from Jersey. That was the basic back story and everyone knew it, but no one truly knew the reason behind it. He couldn't even venture a guess.

If their version of the flipside was anything similar to what they would face in reality, then it was worth preventing. He had never been to war, but he had been to war. His controlled war environment with the dead during his service and then on the flipside, that was the greatest war yet and it wasn't fun. He had kept them secluded from the outside of the fence at the school, knowing it was all a flipside and a dream, that they never ventured out and into the streets. He purposefully let others do it. The problems inside the fortress alone kept them all busy through the first year. Why sink themselves into something that they'd have to hit reset on in August? He tried to make that time as enjoyable and normal as possible, because it wasn't real. He sat back, took notes, watched how it was done and eventually, when the time came, he would manufacture the exact same results himself. Julia had given him the blue print and it didn't come in any binder that she had written. It all went down so utterly and drastically different.

He took his girl to bed and made love to her. Jess was either complaining or horny or both this week. Glad to have him home and next to her and she had plans of her own for him. A list...these women and their lists...she handed one over plain as day and it clearly had a list of demands. All to be carried out and completed prior to her due date. He had his hand in so many different pots lately, he didn't know whether he was coming or going and Julia, the sanest of the three so far, had told him to take a break and take it easy.

Tavin had taken care of the cleaning crew, holding his own glock to the head of the man who came to install the surveillance devices. He mentioned it took every ounce of strength inside of him not to pull the trigger. Kid wasn't much older than he was himself, working a job for Homeland, he'd said. Tavin bound and gagged him, destroyed the equipment in front of him and then went through his phone and wallet. He had his name, Ethan Bates, as well as his address, social security number, pictures of the man's daughter. He didn't kill Ethan Bates in his home that morning, but he beat the living hell out of him.

He learned a few things during their time together. Ethan usually had security with him. In fact, the day they originally planned on installing the equipment, he had two agents with him. He always went in covered and nothing ever happened. The agent would tranq the person or persons in the home, he'd get to work. They'd do one of two things, remove the person(s) from the home or leave them to wake up without any inclination the privacy of their own home was being monitored. Normally the agent would remove specific items or stage a particular scene.

On the day in question, however, the agent, Pierce, had met with the wrong home owner. The homeowner, who Ethan had not seen or known the identity, had successfully shot and killed Agent Pierce. Ethan was instructed to take off at that point, the job had gone south and he hadn't been a part of the fracas inside the house or anything that occurred afterward. He only was there, Ethan said, to install the surveillance equipment and leave.

He left Tavin Keller's house lumpy and bloodied, but alive. He also left with a threat against his lovely daughter, Emily Ann. A kindergarten student whose picture he had in his wallet and phone. A cute and innocent 5 year old whose two front teeth were missing, all smiles. Long pony tailed brown haired child in a school uniform.

"Don't fuck with me or my family, Ethan. I will fuck with yours."

Jody thought that was a little over the top. He sat on the sofa, painstakingly recovering, binge watching afternoon talk shows. This day, he witnessed the entire drama unfold after Jay and Julia had left for the police department. It was not their M.O. to go hunting and killing little kids, kindergarteners of all things. Although they would be easier to catch.

"Not actually gonna hurt his kid, Jo. Damn." And he set out to clean the linoleum of blood without another word.

Chess couldn't believe Tavin took that route with his surveillance installer, but he understood it. The guy was earning a buck like anyone else involved. They had all the information they needed, except for the why. Ethan couldn't give him that information as he wasn't privy to it. None of them could fathom what in their lives was so interesting that they needed monitoring by homeland security. Who were they going to complain to though? Not like they could call the cops and pin anything on the guy. This cut deeper than the local PD as evidenced by the statement Julia had given the detective off the record. Everything and everything was off the record. There was no record, it was all top secret.

Jess's financials were all sorted out. They had gone to a lawyer recommended by Uncle Dom. A nephew of his had recently passed the bar, got a job with a firm in Lancaster. A 45 minute ride and a consult with the newest and gainfully employed Manganelli had him on top of it all. He'd work on it in his spare time and he'd put all the paperwork through, designate someone to liquidate and sell all the assets and handle all the legalities, which was what Jess chose to do.

Chess consulted with his own lawyer, Jimmy Darth, in his tiny office in Oaks, and he had him hash out the possibility of buying that porn site. Ultimately it was way out of his price range and he couldn't afford it even with all the money in his off shore account. He loved tits and ass, occasionally a dick, and he wanted her to keep that site. He hesitated to mention it to Jesslyn, but Jimmy advised him to take a chance and mention the worth to her. Initially she was against the idea. Any normal female would be. He sat her down and he explained the revenue off this site over the course of the year and it would be insane not to keep it.

"It's nasty though, Chess."

"I know you believe that, but it turns a profit when these morons can watch it for free. Jess, think about it."

"I don't know anything about running a business."

Neither did he, but there were already people in place to do just that. Apparently there were two people, a husband and a wife in their late twenties a home office with a business and computer technology degree between the two of them. They ran and kept the site moving. Those two were paid to make it all work and had been since the site's inception. Considering Jesslyn's dad could not have anything to do with it in the slightest. Jeffrey Gilligan's off chance conversation in a coffee house with a young married couple straight out of college had turned into the cash cow that Jess considered revolting.

"We can make this less revolting." He assured her. "Change your view on it. I mean, look at you right now. Us, right now."

Julia would be jumping on this idea and churning out more of her own. If there was a girlfriend that would love this business and all its depravity and filth, it would be Julia. But he was dealing with Jess.

"What about us, right now, Chess?"

"We just made a porn without a camera. What's the difference?"

"No one's watching."

"We used to do that, let people watch." He reminded her.

"No one watched us, Chess."

"Uh, yeah, I remember a lot of times we spent behind closed doors with Jay and Julia. We had an audience and so did they. We watched, we learned and sometimes critiqued. So did they."

"Yeah, but the 4 of us only hooked up like a few times and-only it was all-I don't know. It was all me and Julia after a while-"

"We remember it differently, then."

"So, um..." She hesitated as she cuddled up with him. "You said if I have questions, I should ask them, right?"

"Questions about what?"

"When we were doing all that, did you ever want Jay?"

"No, Jess." He answered. In fact he had never given him a thought in that regard. "He's my cousin. He's straight."

"Oh, ok. But he's cute though." She smiled.

"Cute and related are two different things. So, no, I never thought about fucking Jayson." He thought a minute and then continued. "Being bi made me more open to that happening though."

"But he's not, and-"

"You'd have to ask him why he was cool with it." He said, turning off memory lane at that point and steering her back to the present. "So, that being said, what we did is no different from what they got going on the website. You've done some basic shit and some nasty shit. It all depends on who's watching and getting paid for it."

"I'll think about it."

Thinking about it was a good sign. That site was lucrative. She would be insane throwing easy money that she didn't have to earn away. She wouldn't have to go to school or work and she could easily live off the earnings from the website. Talking Jesslyn into doing things was most difficult. Once she had a belief, it was hard to change her mind. She was stubborn like that and she didn't really care about money like that. She had some morals, this one. She had always known right from wrong, safe and sensitive, content with a simple life. Simple and struggle were two different things. Without an income, if he wasn't around or involved, she would have a rough way to go.

Jess fell asleep, which left him wide awake. He watched the doorway before getting out of bed entirely. Julia had unsettled him. Since Jess lay sleeping, he went downstairs to the kitchen table, opened a beer and went online. He scanned over her list of needs, which made it also his list of needs, and he ordered everything on home depot.com. He planned on picking it all up in the morning. Jay had already helped breakdown and move the furniture. He'd asked Ray, but Jay was more receptive to the idea. Jay would, he realized, help anyone do anything. Kid never said no to anyone.

His heart about leaped out of his chest when the phone vibrated and started skittering around the table. He wasn't usually easy to frighten, but it was late and he wasn't expecting any phone calls.

"Coming to kill me? I'm still awake." He droned when he answered the phone.

"I have spent hours deciphering the mess you have made here, Chester."

Oh, my God, he felt this would be a long conversation with the queen. He'd never had the pleasure of a face to face or ear to ear with the original. "What have I done now, Julia?"

"Why are the street lights on? Why are the dead not walking among us? Why am I married to Jayson Keller? Why on this great earth have you changed the course we made for ourselves and our family?" She asked these questions, but from her tone of voice she was only thinking out loud. She truly didn't want answers. "I understand that you are young and dumb. But we all made crucial plays in this game, Chess, but what you people have done is plain old dumb. You are playing right into their hands." She paused. He could hear her sipping on a drink. "You have destroyed our future, Chester. You and I, no...he and I worked and slaved and hustled to reach specific goals with our family in mind. You tanked our years of work, everything we earned inside and outside that fence, for this? For electricity and air conditioning and cars and gas and cell fucking phones." She was so frighteningly calm and collected.

"Uh, I-"

"Uh, uh, um..." She mocked him. "Have you given any thought to what will come of us without our chosen profession? What's the end game here, Morgan? For God's sake, everything we hold dear is slipping into thin air."

"The fortress. Our house."

"I do not speak of material things, Morgan. I could care less of material things. It's honor, respect, power, control. You, Morgan, have rolled the dice and lost. You have gambled our future-"

"What's so fucking great about it, babe?"

"Do not 'babe' me."

"From what she has said, it's not a future that's-"

"You don't understand, Morgan. You are not thinking."

"Julia, I'm sorry. I don't even know why I am sorry, but whatever I did to you-"

"He doesn't apologize for anything. You have become weak, husband."

"I'm not your husband."

"How could you? How could you allow this? Have you any idea, Chess, how important it is that we stick together in times like this? How is she supposed to accomplish anything with Jayson weighing her down?"

Fuck...this...bitch...

She laughed a moment. "Do you know what is happening at home right now? Our home, our shelter, our safe haven? It was written, remember?"

"In the binder?"

"In a sketch, Chess. We sent Jayson to work. We set this up. We created a plan." She raised her voice.

"It is about the school."

"It's not about a damn building. Could be a circus tent for all intents and purposes, Morgan. We carried out our plan and we reaped the rewards of our plan. Think before you act. You always chided me about that. 'You never think'." She was leading him as only she could. "The fence, Chess. The fucking fence. You're trying to kill us." She raised her voice. "Where are you going to hide us when the nests come? Our fence is being dismantled, genius."

"Don't need a fence, genius." He replied coolly. He'd witnessed the plan in action on the flipside. 

"I see we have a smart ass." She smirked, sipping on her drink. "We do not need a fence, however, you have given no thought to those that do need one."

"You called to criticize me. To argue with me. Baby girl, you know this turns me on."

"Some things never change." She replied with a hint of sarcasm. "I assure you, though, that this no longer turns me on."

"Maybe that's your fucking problem. Maybe you shoulda stuck with your husband instead of fucking off and fucking around with other people. I'm not talking about love or sex either, woman. You know exactly what I mean." He commented coolly, thinking this would not settle well with her. "Where's your fucking loyalty, bitch?"

"I left it in Virginia." She ended the call on that statement.

What the fuck is her problem? Chess asked, looking at the cell phone. She had no right to hold against him the things he hadn't done yet. He had no idea what transpired in Virginia. Before Virginia, during Virginia or after Virginia. He didn't recall ever having given a fuck about Virginia and honestly was growing weary of hearing about the state of Virginia. The family forgave and moved on from the most horrendous of acts and sins, usually involving or rotating around the red head, but they always rebuilt from their traumas and tragedies and came out of it stronger.

Bull shit...Chess thought...this is bullshit.

3 days of nonstop IV antibiotics and being cooped up inside Mav General. She was craving a smoke. Day three and Jay left her alone all day. He said he had work to do with Chess of all people and instead of leaving her alone, he dropped off Mayers.

Oh, my...She thought as he entered the room. He gave her a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek. The arms and the lips lingered a little too long for her taste, but he looked so fine, she allowed it. The kid could not look any hotter if he tried. Even with the pallor he had on his flesh, he looked edible. She had always enjoyed looking this boy over. She may have taken a turn down the asexual route, but she was after all still female and could appreciate the male form. "Aren't we friendly today, Mayers?" She asked as he patted her red hair.

"No more than usual. How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. I wish they'd allow me to leave."

"I'm sorry I haven't seen you. I mean, I don't feel good. Today is the first day I woke up with some life in me."

"Good to know."

"Wasn't sure you'd want to see me either."

"Oh," She frowned. "Um, I think it's very kind that you stopped by."

"Well, the other ones are in there somewhere, right?"

"Oh, so you arrived for them?"

"All three." He replied.

Smart choice...

"Unless there's more in there I'm unaware of."

"No, Mayers, but we are all present and accounted for."

She and drunk slut had theorized that once the morphine was out of her system, then the Julia's would fade. Once that Morphine was gone, they were forced to tweak their theory and speculate that once she was no longer ill, then the Julia's would fade. She gave him another once over and realized he looked drained. "The infection will subside. It takes time. I have seen so many men and women in my time fall victim to this virus. Myself included."

"I'm sure you have."

Sitting across from the wife had him on his best behavior. He was withdrawn and quiet. Julia suspected it was post-infection blues. People frequently found themselves down and depressed post illness. It had been documented and widely studied. The world as she knew it when she originally became infected was so classified, unstudied and so unreported. The virus responsible for decimating the whole population and leaving a wake of dead in its place was paid no mind outside the realm of a handful of small and underfunded labs. It was years and years before the true studies were done and then and only then did she understand that depression was part of the virus itself. It suppressed humanity in more ways than ceasing the beating of a heart.

She gave Jody Mayers a rundown of what to expect. He could seek medication since it was available, although it would eventually pass. The depression, the sadness, and sometimes the suicidal ideation was all part of the infectious process. It affected the areas of the entire brain after all before settling into the areas of the brain that control motor skills and hunger. All these years later, there was never anything wrong with Julia Morgan. The infection caused her psychosis. No one knew it then and no one investigated it then.

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind then, Morgan."

She suddenly doubted it was all post infection blues. What was up this kid's ass? She wondered.

"Would you like to talk about zombie town?" She asked him curiously. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"You've been informed." He told her, taking a water bottle from his back pack.

"A bit. I simply asked about my medical condition as I awoke in a hospital bed next to my husband." She paused. "The first one, not the current one." She explained. "I simply asked 'what is wrong with my leg?' and I heard bits and pieces about this place in Maryland."

"That's all you need to know. It was no Jersey by any means, Morgan."

"Ah, I see." She nodded. "No place on earth worse than New Jersey. I think we can agree on that."

"We can and we do."

"Same reasons, I would assume."

"Some differ, boss." He moaned. Her distant past and his past and possible future, both lived it and neither wished to revisit. "I did not leave voluntarily. I would not have left had I known."

"Understood, Mayers."

He shuddered at the thought of Jersey. "I still have fucking nightmares, Morgan." He admitted. "Zombie town, I was infected again. This time I wasn't left behind."

She gave him an odd look. "Weren't taking a bunch of infected grunts home."

"We could have died, Morgan."

"Could have died on either shore."

"Fucking bullshit, Morgan." He mumbled.

"We took you guys out as far as we could."

"They followed." He argued. "Can't change it now."

"Exactly. So what do you want from me now? An apology?"

"No."

"It was wrong." She admitted. "Nothing about war is right, Mayers."

"It was a long time ago."

"Longer for me than you and it continues to haunt me. Doesn't matter how many times I talk about it, write about it, think about it."

"I would not wish it on my worst enemy. What you went through was a million times worse."

She shook her head. "I should not have handed that book over to her. That was for your eyes and her eyes, a testimony to the blunder I dropped into. But she let everyone read it. It was personal and I did not think that she would share it."

"We thought we would never see you again."

"Yet, here, we are. In the flesh. Occasionally this will occur. Occasionally we will cross paths."

"Yes, it appears that way."

Outside the realm of New Jersey's battles and the fortress, which she was not willing to talk about, because it was not her that he met in the fortress. She never returned there once she recovered from Virginia, losing Jayson and then Samuel. When she left and went to work, she left the fortress and everything and everyone involved behind her. Anything that happened in Mayers' company while in the fortress and anything leading up to and including New Jersey had nothing to do with her. She was not conscious or aware during the time that Julia leeched on her brain. They spent a bit of time in awkward silence till Jody rooted around in his back pack and said he brought her something she would enjoy.

"Me, Mayers?" How would he know anything that she enjoyed? He didn't know her well enough or long enough, she thought, until he set a deck of cards on her over bedside table.

"Yes, boss. You." All the Julia's, young to old all had an adoration for cards. He'd seen it across the board, especially out of the Julia he knew and loved. The girl did not like to lose, that's why she played so well. Poker was her favorite card game. "We normally play war." He admitted shyly, because the truth was stranger than fiction.

Julia smiled a genuine smile. The first he'd seen of her since his appearance in the hospital room. She held the deck in hand and she pulled the rubber band from the pack of cards. She started shuffling. "If you'd only brought me a shot and a smoke to go with it, we'd be perfect, Mayers."

"Next time. I don't think the nurses would appreciate that." He grinned as she dealt. He prepared himself for an ass kicking, but she had been helping him along. So had Chess. The two of them were fanatical card players. Even when they were angry or disinterested or depressed or moody, they never turned down a card game. Both obsessed over their cards, each played the same exact way. This woman in front of him was no different.

"I'm rusty I will admit." She giggled a bit. "Tavin doesn't indulge my card playing anymore. He says we have played a million hands."

"You probably have."

"If I had a shot for each hand." She laughed awkwardly, slapping her knee. This woman was a nerd, had a silliness about her that he found amusing. "We say shot because-"

"There's no such thing as dollars, yes. I get it." He had no sense of humor. So dry and so drole. "Go easy, boss."

"No peeking." She giggled, excited to have someone to play with. Occasionally Tarin would indulge her or if Tatia and Greg visited, Greg always played with her. She didn't bring up Tatia Keller and so far, neither had Mayers.

They passed a couple hours playing hands of poker. They played through lunch and through her hour and a half long antibiotic infusion. She noticed Mayers checking out the nurse as she moved around the room, as she hung the IV and as she took Julia's afternoon set of vitals. A cute and young nurse in plain blue scrubs. Typical, pretty blond nurse. "They're a dime a dozen around here, Mayers." She said in reference to the nursing staff. "Oh, I should add a couple more precautions when it comes to the Z virus. You are young and I would assume sexually active, so you should refrain for six to eight weeks till the virus is completely out of your system."

"Uh, thanks for the tip." He said, blushing slightly.

"Yes, studies have shown that even though you feel just great and are back to normal, the virus can still be transmitted sexually. It is a fact, Mayers. Just saying."

"Condoms though-"

"May help, yes. We don't have any of those, so that study is obviously lacking. Good point."

"If you have a vax, then what does it matter?"

"We don't have a vax here and now, do we? No. I am attempting to educate you so that you do not turn whatever lucky female you lay with into a monster." She explained. She always sounded preachy when she heard herself speak. She could never have normal conversation anymore. Anyone who ever spoke to her always had questions and sought answers or they wanted to hear stories of what it was like before the clear states and vaccinations. No one was ever interested in her personal well being it seemed. It didn't bother her much anymore. Once she penned and published the books, people stopped talking to her altogether or would seek an autograph on a copy they carried.

Julia was kinda famous after all was said and done. She had journal upon journal stacked in closets in the fortress and in Philadelphia. She sent people to obtain her journals, which occupied her closet in her room on the second floor of the fortress. It had gone untouched by anyone. Although they hadn't been on speaking terms in more than a decade, her husband never allowed anyone inside her room. No one was to touch her things. Heads would roll.

From those journals, she'd penned a tell all autobiography, multiple factual biographies on Jayson Keller, Tavin Keller and Chester Morgan and others who were significant in forming the free states, which would become the reunified states. She had made the books deeply personal as a full account of the history could be documented. Her best known work was the autobiography, which she purposefully had broken into three separate cliffhangers. All best sellers and left out no detail of the evil deeds, debauchery and mayhem. Who would have thought it? She'd written one specifically on protocols, another that focused on zombie warfare, another that focused on gardening and farming. She kept a wealth of knowledge in her head and in her books.

"So, a lot of people bought your books, Morgan?"

"Certainly. All proceeds benefitted veteran's charities and orphan charities." She nodded, seemingly proud of herself and her life and her accomplishments. "The gardening book was personally my favorite, but not many people were a fan. Women mostly. Old ladies. I have a fan club from the reunified states and the elderly from their homes across the states write me regularly. I always write back."

"That's nice, Morgan."

"It is." She beamed happily with a smile on her face. "I have luncheons with the ladies. Gardening clubs across the reunified states honored me and fed me home cooked meals. I went on tour specifically to promote this book and get outta Philly for a while. They put me up with the finest of accommodations and they listened when I spoke."

"Cool."

"Yes, very. They always tried to marry me off to their aging sons. I went on many a date with gentlemen that lived with their mothers."

"Oh,"

"Again, free food. I was hungry. I also had to be a lady. These women respected me for some reason, even after the autobiographies had been published. The pioneer, warrior, feminist, human rights activist, gardener that I am."

"So you met a lot of guys that way?"

"I don't...men, no." She shook her head adamantly.

"You crossed over to girls completely." He commented as he discarded.

"No, Mayers. I do not even like girls. Females were a fad, a phase. In order to move things along, making men happy was a hobby of mine."

"So you are alone?"

"I live with Tavin."

"He's your boyfriend then?"

"No, did you mean alone as in by myself or alone as in single? They are two different things."

"Single."

"I don't go to bed with men or women anymore."

"Why though? Because of Jersey." He surmised.

"Yes, directly as a result of New Jersey."

Julia quieted and she continued to play, thinking about New Jersey. Seeing Mayers brought that to the forefront of her mind. Julia's dream had been only part of the horror she endured in New Jersey. Sitting warm and comfortable inside Julia Fry's tight and fit and young body was a shocker. So very different from her own carcass she carried around on a daily basis. She took revenge on those men in Jersey, but the damage had been done. Revenge was sweet, but the harm they caused her, she couldn't talk about with Mayers. "It is not your fault, Mayers."

"I realize that, but maybe if I had been there, not lost the jeep, not-"

"I cannot forgive you, because you have not done anything wrong. Understand?"

Jersey savages...Tavin Keller knew about them and their acts upon her. His ears had heard it all as he had to deal with the aftermath of the Jersey chapter of her life. He was her physician after all.

"Yes."

"War sucks, Mayers. As do the traumas and the scars and the injuries we sustain during war, physical and mental. That's all I will say about it."

"Ok, so is my Julia allowed to speak?"

"Sure, Jo. She wants to talk to you though." Julia replied. She sighed loudly. "She is rusty as fuck." She commented as she looked over her hand.

"Come on." He raised his voice and smiled at her. "That's your poker face."

"You know, she's fascinating to talk to. She's got stories to tell for days. Plus she's absolutely ruthless and she's weird and awkward and funny. No filter at all whatsoever."

"Like you, Jules."

"Only you do not fear me." She smiled as she discarded and picked up another card. "You looked terrified coming in here to her."

"You don't understand. You never will understand what she did to us."

"It is a way of life, Mayers. Similar to life, there's good and bad. Wins and losses. Jersey was not the ideal introduction into-" She paused. "It was not zombie 101." Julia said softly. "It was zombie level expert and it was the beginning of your game and the end of mine." She said coolly. "Enough."

Jay stood on the burned out block in Kensington by the truck. He'd been sitting inside, but got thirsty, so he got himself a drink from a street vendor and he watched the clean up as it unfolded across from him all these weeks later. Buildings up and down the block were condemned and burned out shells of businesses and eateries were left in the wake of the Kensington zombie outbreak and riots. He listened as the people passed him by and picked up bits and pieces of conversation. He momentarily wondered if they'd ever found Kevin's remains. He'd probably been part of the mass burn. A couple hundred bodies had been burned in the days that followed the zombie rise and riots, but an exact number had not been released to the public yet.

A black man passed, eyed him, and kept moving, but then returned after a short distance down the block. "Aye, yo, my man." He called.

Jay looked around and realized he was addressing him as there was no one else around him. He was standing next to a truck with bullet holes in the frame. Jay became nervous, but had to stay cool. "I ain't buying nothin', man."

"Nah, man, aye, I remember you." He extended a hand toward Jay and he shook his hand firm. He was in a blue work uniform. "Ah, shit, man, good to see you."

"You sure you mean me?" Jay asked, looking up at the 6 foot 5 inch tall black male with wide shoulders, a little on the heavy side, and Jay never felt as small as he did while standing near this man in his early 40's.

"I mean you, yeah." He acted like he knew Jay, familiar with him and he cleared up the confusion with his story about clearing the Kensington streets alongside him. "Name's Art Sellers, never caught your name, son."

"Jayson." He answered, which started them off on a conversation. Soon others who knew Art joined in and stories of the extermination ensued. By the time Chess returned to the truck, Jay was as comfortable in Kensington as he would have been standing in Maverick.

Jay had a handful of people surrounding him and didn't look threatened. Art shook Chess's hand as well and towered over Chess by more than a foot. He remembered Chess primarily because of his stature. They had been the people who slaughtered and never fired a single bullet from a gun. "Knives!" Art bellowed with a laugh to the elderly man alongside him. "Yo, yo, these kids only used knives, Trev." He added, clasping Chess's shoulder. Chess felt like he had a death grip on him, but he was easy and friendly, having conversation on a street corner in the ghetto. He credited Jay especially with keeping him alive and armed him with a pipe to defend himself. "Hit em in the head, man. Hit em in the head." Art explained, his huge arms in motion as he swung an imaginary pipe. "Yo, still got that pipe, too."

Jay could make friends and conversation with any walk of life. Whereas Chess would have sufficed the meeting with a handshake and keep it moving, Jay engaged people. He asked how they were, how they and their families were getting by after the fall out, once the cameras went away and the military rolled out.

"I'm on the payroll, clearing this out and making way to rebuild, but what they rebuilding ain't what we had in mind." Art's face appeared disappointed. "They building this neighborhood up, taking it out our hands and gonna market this to a different type of folk. They been here, the companies, offering us cash money to relocate outside here. When they rebuild, they want different peoples here."

"You didn't take the money?"

"No, this my home. Nobody took it. We didn't fight for these streets in that war to sell out and leave it."

"Hell naw." Trev, his friend who dwarfed at his side, chimed in. He stood in greasy work clothes and stringy black and greying hair. He had a couple teeth missing and a bit of a hand tremor. "You see dat, man?" Trev pointed to a work area where the dozers moved rubble and soot covered blocks and bricks. "Dat smoke. They still burning em. They been finding more dead people. They burning everyday on every site. Buildings coming down and crushing them don't even kill dem off."

"Yeah, man, be careful out there."

"Yeah, stay safe." Art added. "You ever need a thing round here, you got my digits, a'ight."

"Yep, thanks. Nice seeing ya."

Chess took a tour through Kensington, Jay took some pictures and a few videos, thinking Julia may like to see what was going on there. He would visit her when he got home and take over for Jody.

"Speaking of Jody, think he's hating this babysitting gig?"

"He volunteered." Jay informed him as they made their way to York Street. The further out of Kensington they drove, the more the streets looked like a normal city and Chess complained about driving through it. He finally parked outside Kev's apartment. No one parked in Kev's spot, but Chess didn't really care.

"Where we at, man?" Jay asked.

"Gonna visit an old friend, Jay. Someone you need to see in there." He kept his bag over his shoulder and instructed Jayson to keep his with him as well. They stood, bags over their shoulders at a door on the street level. Chess kept his finger on the buzzer until the door released and he pushed his way inside. They climbed up the flight of stairs, past the chair lift and the apartment door was ajar for him.

"Hi." Hayley said, sitting on the sill that overlooked the street.

"How ya doing, Hay?" Chess asked as he crossed the room to her. They hugged and she saw Jay over his shoulder.

"I'm good." She said quietly. "Hey, quiet alright? The babe's napping." She rounded Chess and took hold of Jay. They hadn't seen each other in ages, since she was pregnant. "You cut off all your hair." She commented, rubbing a hand over his short locks of black hair.

"Yeah, a while back. What's up? How are ya? How's the baby?"

"She's sleeping. I'm alright, waiting on T to get back. He's picking up Chinese for me." She slid her hand over his arm and took hold of his hand. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Work," Chess answered. "Hay, can we see the baby?" Chess asked as he set his bag down.

"Yeah, sure, of course. Please don't wake her. She's fussy."

Hayley walked ahead of them into the room she and Kev used to share, the room she and Terrence occasionally shared. Their relationship was low key. Kev had only recently died and T made it appear as if he was looking out for his friend's girl. Hayley crossed that room to a pack n play and Chess hung back at the doorway. He'd seen the baby a handful of times, but Jayson had not. Chess wondered the reaction he'd have and he would gauge his suspicions by the reaction. He'd seen the baby before. He had no doubt Jayson would recognize Shy on first glance.

Despite Hayley's cautioning them about quiet and not waking her up, Jay paid her no mind. When he saw her he reached over the edge of the crib and he lifted the sleeping baby into his arms. Her eyes opened a moment and Jay rocked her a bit, shuffling as all parents do, from foot to foot with a gentle rocking that would soothe.

"You said she wasn't mine." He whispered.

"She's not." Hayley replied, her voice hushed. "She's Kev's daughter."

"Hay, this is Hannah. You jumped before you ever laid eyes on her."

"Jayson, please."

"You never considered the possibility? Not once?" Jay studied her, same olive skin, same big deep brown eyes, same nose and little pink lips. Same feeling when he held her against him. "Hayley, this is my daughter."

"I'm not sure. I never was."

"Well, I am sure. It's why I brought him here." Chess announced. "I'll give you two some time."

Why Chess chose this particular time and this particular day was easy. Jay was in the truck with him. He'd known since Shy was born. Jody was tight with these two and Kev's crew. He and T were friends. If Jody had not sent him a picture of Shy, Chess would not have known either. As Shy grew, he kept in touch with Hayley and whenever he was in the city, he'd meet up with Jody there and visit a bit before they would go out, walk the streets, party, hit a club or a bar. He watched Shy grow on and off from birth into the baby that he had lived with at the farmhouse, the baby that Julia and Jayson and everyone else cared for alongside Tarin. He'd spent many a night with Julia and a teething Hannah to know that Hayley had Jayson's daughter in an apartment in Philly.

He could have said something sooner. He debated whether to tell him at all, but as Jesslyn's baby bump grew and the day approached that he, himself, would be a dad, he knew for sure that he wouldn't want another man raising his daughter. He felt rather strongly that Jay should have a choice whether he should raise his own daughter. Jay deserved to know the truth. What he did with the truth from that moment on was up to him.

"Hayley, if you're not sure, there are ways to find out. We should."

Hayley was quiet and she watched Jay hold Shy, who had yet to wake up.

"I like the way things are. No one knows we slept together."

"Honestly, you were Kev's girl. T has nothing to do with her. We should find out for sure, Hayley."

"How do we do it then? I'd like to do it without T knowing. Till I know for sure."

"Her doctor. The pediatrician will be able to or tell us where to go." He replied, walking the room to the end of her bed. He sat and held Shy. "Why Shy?"

"Cheyenne." Hayley answered, moving her hand over her daughter's fine brown hair.

"Oh, how very native of you." He commented, feeling the pressure building up in his head, a developing headache...

"Are you mad? Don't be mad. She could be Kev's too, you know."

"How are you doing?" He asked.

"Done school. Looking for a job, you know."

"You don't seem yourself."

"I'm fine, Jayson."

"Ok, Ok." He said softly. "Awe, Hay, she's like perfect."

"Yeah, perfect. All she does is cry, Jayson."

"That's what babies do."

He sat and talked quietly with Hayley for nearly an hour. She warmed up once she realized he wasn't angry or upset with her. They talked about home, the family, the kids and Jess. She mentioned Julia, but he didn't elaborate past a broken ankle and the infection that followed it. He skipped over the whole abduction and Zombie town extravaganza. Hayley had enough on her mind.

They talked about school. He didn't go back this fall, but would go back in the spring. She'd finally finished her bachelor's degree from Penn in business administration and took courses specifically for medical management and administration. She seemed down that her degree she'd worked so hard for didn't land her a job right away. She'd applied to everything and anything locally and every place she applied or interviewed sought an employee with experience.

"I'm a girl with no job. I'm a college graduate and a single mom and I'm miserable. She's a cranky baby, never satisfied with anything I ever do."

"Got any help, Hay?"

"No." She welled up with tears and a few slipped onto her cheeks. "Once I get a job, can take care of myself. I started applying further out of Philly into the suburbs. I don't know. I thought I would have it all worked out by now."

"Yo, Jayson, wanna head home?" Chess called from the other room.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be right there." Jay said, shifting Shy off his chest and onto Hayley's. "Let me know when you make an appointment and where. I'll be there. I want to know for sure. If she's mine, Hayley, I should take care of her too. I would want her in my life, you know."

"Yeah, I will. I'll let you know."

Hayley seemed off. Not her usual talkative and overly chatty self. Hayley was usually so much more full of life. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I-uh-nothing. It's nothing. Just tired is all." She replied placing a fake smile on her face. She placed Shy back in her pack n play and they tip toed out of the room. "You should go before T gets here."

"Yeah, sure." Jay and Chess hugged her good bye and as they stepped out of the building onto the street, the two ran into T with the Chinese food that Hayley had said he went to buy.

"Yo, Morgan, wus up?"

"Stopped by to see Hay and Shy before we head back home."

"Who this?" T asked him, sizing Jay up as gave him a not so pleasant look.

"This is my cousin, Jayson. He's J's boyfriend."

"Ah, man, hey. How's J doing? Tell her I said hey."

"Will do." Jay nodded, standing as tall and cool as possible. This Terrence was completely intimidating and a monster of a man. Absolutely massive compared to his own slight build. Solid, thick arms and hands that would be able to grip watermelons with ease, it seemed. Clean shaven, appeared clean cut, but underneath there was a mean streak in this guy, a feeling Jay couldn't shake once back in the truck and on the way out of the city.

"He was terrifying." Jay admitted and he had seen a lot of shady characters running the flipside. He'd seen them all, the mean ones, the tough ones, the overbearing ones, the deadly ones. He had never felt so strangely small in front of another person. Something about the eyes maybe.

"You were fine, Jayson." He laughed a little. But even he had to admit T was a scary dude. The size of him didn't help much. T was as brutal and frightening as the personality that emanated from him. "He just don't know you."

Jay was all nerves on the ride out of the city. Quiet, pensive. He had a million thoughts running through his head. Foremost in his mind was Julia at Mav General. He had to go home and tell her the truth.

"She'll understand, Jayson."

"Do you remember how well she understood this last time?"

"How did this happen, Jay? I thought you didn't fuck with Hay anymore."

"This is bullshit, Chess. I don't fuck with Hayley, I didn't."

"Jayson, it's clear that you did."

"Once. One damn time. She was home from Philly, mad at Kevin for the millionth time. I broke up with Jess, I didn't hook up with Julia yet. She was in between them."

"Well, that. I could see that, but Hayley."

"I didn't have a lot of girls in my phone, you know. I don't go out looking for it. It always kinda comes to me."

"Don't you ever just wanna go out and find someone you don't know, someone completely new?"

"I did that, too."

"Yeah, when?"

"Stef for one, but Adrienne, Jenn, and Sarah. I was with Jess for like two years and I didn't have anybody else-"

"But there's like always the one you have on back up that you don't hit up till things go bad with the regular one right?"

"No." Jay answered, shaking his head. "I don't have any back ups. I don't even look for any back up's when I'm with someone. What is wrong with you?"

"You're a different breed, I guess." Chess shrugged.

"I focus on one person at a time."

"Ok, nothing wrong with that."

"So on a scale of one to murder, how pissed is she gonna be?"

"I thought you two told each other everything."

"Ain't nothin' to tell, Chess. I didn't think it was important and you know how she feels about Hay. Besides, she was still fuckin with Tav at the time. I didn't think it mattered."

"Matters now. Don't tell her till you know for sure." Chess suggested. "Like Hay said, she could be Kev's. You could have been raising Kev's kid at the farmhouse. Ever think of that?"

"Hay didn't fuck with Kev at the farmhouse."

"All that time-"

"Yeah, in all that time." Jay nodded.

The flipside birthed strange bed fellows, birthed strange relationships with strange and deep connections. A connection lay in a crib in Philly. A connection burned to death in an abandoned building in Kensington and sparked a negative then positive chain of events afterward. Connections sat in a hospital room playing poker. Connections rode in a bullet ridden truck on the turnpike west toward other stronger connections. He hoped Julia would see it that way.