Sara: Tad Spector Novella, #3

By O.K. Nelson

The fire truck was taking longer to fill up than any of them hoped. Randall, Jim, and Mr. So were on the top of the fire truck with their squirt guns as people slowly approached them. They were obviously not zombies by the way they walked. They had weapons with them but still unable to tell if the bullets were contaminated or not, they were loath to use them. The inverter that Jim had used for the ham radio luckily worked, wired into the old gas pump, although slower than normal it worked and was filling the gigantic tank of the fire truck.

• Language: English
• Publisher: O.K. Nelson
• Release date: Mar 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201886486

Book preview

Chapter 1

The baby came out easier than they expected. Mindy looked up at Mrs. Glick, the smell of antiseptic and old-fashioned cooking filled the small apartment. Mindy was on a small mattress on the floor with a pile of blankets and a plate of food nearby. The now crying baby in her arms wrapped in an old blanket, the blood and liquid had been wiped off of the new baby girl and Tad had the honor of cutting the umbilical cord a short while ago. Mindy was exhausted but thankful that the pregnancy had gone fairly uneventfully. Even the birth was without incident thanks to Mrs. Glick’s eye for things. The baby latched on easily and started to nurse. But the nagging thought of what was to come seemed to rest on both Tad and Mindy's face. Mrs. Glick did her best to reassure them that everything seemed fine. But with Mindy almost suffocated to subdue the screams of birth as Jim, Sal, Randall, and Mr. So guarded the front of the apartment, things seemed anything but normal. This world that this beautiful baby girl was coming into was not the one Tad hoped for her, not a world that he hoped for anybody.

Okay, now that this is done, we're gonna need to get moving. Tad looks at Mindy, the baby asleep on her chest. Mindy looks up sleepily, not really regarding what Tad was saying as anything important at the moment. But the look on Tad's face was dead serious.

We can't raise a kid here in the city with the way things are.

Mindy smiled weakly.

Okay, I will give you that your plan did work and things are a lot better than they could be but most people still don't know who they are. The world is essentially falling into chaos.

When has the world not been in chaos? Mrs. Glick came behind Tad, offering him a plate of old-fashioned spaghetti.

Eat something daddy, you're gonna need it. You have more than us to look after. Tad crouched cross-legged on the floor as best he could and swirled his fork in the rich-smelling food. He bowed his head slightly, thankful that they did have this to eat.

Come on you two, time to eat you for you as well. Mrs. Glick stuck her head out the door as the four men with their large squirt guns came inside.

All quiet on the western front anyway. Sal came in and set the plastic gun by the door.

Yeah, just a few stragglers, not really looking anywhere in particular, Jim said, a slight squelch sounding from the radio attached to his belt.

Anything live on that thing. Tad pointed to the radio.

No, pretty quiet on that front as well.

What about from our friends from above?

Not much. They've been keeping an eye on things but nothing much to report after the main downpour in the fancy drone work that created the rain. It seems like most of the world has calmed down slightly. Although there are still pockets here and there. They say we're not out of the woods yet by any means but a lot better than it was.

The NASA space station communication had been Jim's idea. And it had made all the difference. But they had no way of getting back with the way things were. The people they depended on at NASA had been affected in the first wave. So they were stuck up there, helping from above as best they could. But also trapped in a limbo that did have a time limit, there is only so much food, only so much oxygen, only so much time for them to figure this out.

Chapter 2

Tad woke up in the dark to the sound of his baby daughter's crying. Mindy somehow was able to still sleep through it. Tad's eyes opened wide and he sat bolt upright as she started to scream suddenly. Tad nudged Mindy. She slowly woke up.

What time is it? She asked.

It's time to feed the little one. They still hadn't named her wanting to know her a little better before they gave her an official title. With things being less formal now, there is no rush to get paperwork handled, to get a social security number, to ‘bag and tag’ the baby as Sal put it. Mindy grabbed the little bundle from out of her makeshift crib of a cardboard box lined with blankets.

Mrs. Glick emerged rubbing her eyes.

Boy, this takes me back. She said. I don't envy you in a lot of ways. But I do miss my young uns.

What happened to your kids? Where are they now?

I don't know. I hope they're doing okay. The last we spoke. She took a long pause. We weren't speaking if that makes any sense.

Both Tad and Mindy nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.

Well, it's about daybreak anyway. Might as well put some coffee on. And as she went to the small kitchen behind them, she kept talking.

Only gave birth once. I had three of them. It was during the war. Not the best timing, especially since I was a part of things you could say. Needed in a way. The pregnancy wasn't accidental, but it definitely wasn't planned. And it really put a kibosh on what I had been doing, the delightful task of seducing and killing Nazi operatives. Which is surprisingly easy unless you're as big as a house.

Mindy jabbed Tad in the ribs as he imitated a big belly, looking at Mindy jokingly portraying her when she was pregnant.

But it was rough. Mrs. Glick went on. "Trying