Their moans kept Francine awake for many nights, the sound haunted her thoughts and made their way into her nightmares. The moans and groans were not that of sex, though that would be more preferable; lord knows she hasn’t had that pleasure in many moons. Unfortunately, the noises coming outside the house was that of the dead. More specifically, those of her friends and family; or the people she knew in town.

They were all dead, yet somehow walking around. Their hearts didn’t beat, their flesh rotting, and their hunger for living flesh ravenous.

Her brother shuffled around outside along with her mother and father; the librarian that forgave her late fees when she returned her books a day late, the cashier at her favorite retail store that would also ask for her number, even the nine year old child she would watch every other weekend; they all moaned and starved, occasionally thumping against the reinforced front door.

It’s been months since the dead rose from the graveyard and took over the small town, months since Francine or her husband left her parents home.

It was a day before Thanksgiving, Francine and Dylan visited to surprise her family with the news of their first grandchild. The night of, the house was broken into by one of the dead; Bobbie, Francine’s brother, was bitten first before they were able to get the infected out of the home.

No one knew how quickly the turning process was. Fear developed when Bobbie turned and took a chunk out of Francine’s mother’s arm, who later tore out the throat of her father.

Dylan and her managed to shove all three outside before locking and barricading all the door and windows.

As the days turned to months, the living population lowered and the dead population grew. The couple managed to stretch the food but Dylan grew more considered with Francine’s pregnancy.

She grew weaker but tried her best not to show it. He could see how difficult it was for her to get up every morning; how she struggled to keep anything down. He even noticed her fever and the sweat that coated her pale skin.

“You need medicine.” He argued as he shuffled around the house packing; shoving some cans of food and makeshift weapons in a pack.

“I’m alright, honestly.” Francine tugs on his arm forcing him to stop while the other rests on her plump belly—the baby awake and kicking lightly.

“Please, I don’t want you to go out there.”

Dylan sighs and turns toward his wife, placing both hands on her fragile boney shoulders. He tried not to wince as he stares into her sunken eyes. They used to be so full of life; now they seemed unrecognizable.

“You’re sick, you need medicine and we’re running low on food and water. I might even be able to find some help, someone else had to have survived this.”

Francine’s heart painfully beat in her chest as panic rose to her throat. She didn’t want him to go, she couldn’t be alone in the house and she didn’t want the love of her life to go out in the monster infested town.

“What if I go into labor and your not here?” Tears pooled in the young woman’s eyes. “What am I going to do? What if those things get in?”

Dylan pulls her close and shushes her cries, smoothing her dirty hair from her face. “You’ll be fine, they haven’t broken in here since that first night and little Sofia knows to wait for me.” Dylan covers Francine’s hand with his and gives her what he hopes is a comforting smiles. “Who knows, maybe I’ll find a doctor out there who can help when she arrives. I have to do this, not only for you, but for her.”

He places a kiss on her forehead and her shoulders sag; defeated as her mind goes blank.

Nothing she could say will stop him, his words set and determined to find her and their baby help.

Dylan pulls away, his touch lingering on her clammy skin. He grabs his pack and swings it over his broad shoulder and gives her a smile once more.

Francine waddles over and kisses her husband, and long slow kiss that says everything she couldn’t express.

A smile of her own spreads across her lips. One that didn’t reach her eyes and was more out of sadness then joy. “Come back to us, and be careful out there.”