Apokalypsis | Book 6 | Apokalypsis 6 Morris, Kate (cheapest way to read ebooks TXT) 📖

fine,” Poppy told her and snagged one from the floor for herself. Hers was black with a white spot on its head that matched the one on its front left leg. “Aren’t they cute?”

Wren looked down at the strange eyes staring back up at her and stroked its head. “Yeah.”

They both laughed when Elijah couldn’t catch one. Poppy surrendered hers and snagged one for herself again, an all-white female.

“Goats really like people, so we have to be tender and patient with them,” she instructed. “We have to earn their trust, or they won’t come to us and will become skittish. They have good memories, too. Trust me! They remember the humans they like and the ones they don’t.”

“You’ve lived all your life on a farm?” Elijah asked the girl.

Poppy nodded, “Yes, we were homeschooled. My pa was Amish. Then he met my mother and fell in love. He left his family, gave everything up for her. He still raised us in a much plainer way, though.”

“Plain?” Elijah asked.

“Yes, Amish. But we weren’t really Amish. My father was shunned for leaving. Never got to see his family again after that. We speak Pennsylvania Dutch, too, just like my father’s family. He wanted us to learn it. We went to a Mennonite church, but my mother didn’t like it. She was Christian non-denomination but went along with my father’s teachings anyway.”

“Sounds like they both sacrificed a lot for each other,” Wren observed. Her parents were the same. Poppy only nodded sadly.

“At least you four still have each other,” Elijah pointed out, to which she nodded again.

“We should get the chickens in and settled,” Poppy suggested and released her goat.

They found the chicken coop for the farm, but Poppy declared it also too dirty to keep them, even for the night. They made a plan to clean it out in the morning and just put the chickens in the goat pen.

“Some may get out, but as long as you all are shutting this barn down at night, then they should be okay,” she said as they released them.

She was right. A few flew up onto the short wooden wall surrounding the goat enclosure and perched there. The rest ran under the feed trough to hide and peck at the grain that fell through. She never even knew a chicken could run or fly. It really was a day of firsts for her.

A few hours later, as the sun was setting, she curled up on the sofa with Dixie at the farm with Elijah and the Miller kids, who were going to be staying with them since they had an empty bedroom upstairs. Alex wasn’t home but was staying for a few more days at Avery’s to help keep an eye on the sick girl, Clara, just in case she was infected with the virus. They were pretty sure she wasn’t, but it was better to err on the side of caution.

They’d all returned to Avery’s earlier for a big pizza party from the supplies that had been pilfered from the pizza shop in town a few days ago. Renee and Stephanie had made it for everyone. It was so good. It felt normal for just a moment and made them forget for just that moment what was going on in the world. Everyone was exhausted from the cattle drive and the normal workload and returned to their own homes soon after dinner, but it was nice to fool themselves for a few hours that the world hadn’t gone to hell.

The fire in the basement wood-burner was going strong, and the old farmhouse was warm and toasty. The Miller kids were sleeping in the same room upstairs despite the fact that it only had two twin beds, and Elijah returned to the living room with mugs of steaming beverages for her and him.

“Hot cocoa?” he asked and extended one to her. “No marshmallows, but I figured this would hit the spot. It was cold out there tonight.”

She needed no reminding of that. She’d never even seen snow until she came to America.

“Thanks, this is good,” she told him.

“Warm enough? The blower’s going.”

“I’m getting there,” she said as Dixie snored softly on the floor next to her.

He smiled and scooted closer, wrapping them in a soft, avocado green throw blanket that looked as old as the house. It smelled clean and fresh, though. They’d laundered everything when they moved in, even the linens that used to belong to his aunt.

“Better?” Elijah asked and gently rested his jaw against the top of her head. She wasn’t sure, but it felt like he might’ve pressed a kiss to her head, too.

Wren managed a nod, sipped her cocoa, and handed it to him to place on the stand beside him. The warmth of the house, Elijah’s body pressed against hers, the nostalgia the hot cocoa brought with it, and her full stomach lulled her into a fast sleep. She dreamed she was home on the coast in Australia about to hit the waves. The only thing that was different than the actual real memories she could play in her mind’s eye whenever she wanted was the fact that Elijah was there with her in orange board shorts and shirtless. They were both tanned to a golden bronze, his blonde hair full of highlights from the sun as if they’d spent the entire summer on the beach together. He was smiling. She felt herself laughing. It seemed so real, and even when she realized she was dreaming, Wren forced herself not to wake up.

Chapter Seventeen

Jane

Nearly three weeks had passed since she’d gone to the city with Elijah, Wren, and Roman, and now it was near the end of February, and a nasty snowstorm had blown in last night. Jane was at the barn feeding the cows, having fed the horses first. Some of the people in their groups were going to practice riding today. Avery’s cool friend, Renee, had mentioned it being a good idea since the snow was