Free Inheritance by Chace Boswell Page A

as the flu had taken her, but taken her it had. He hadn’t known what to do with her after she died, so he did all he could think of. Knowing she would have wanted to be close to the babies he had wrapped her up tight as a mummy in her favorite set of sheets and sat her in the rocker in the nursery. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t let her go. How can you let the woman who was your whole world slip away when the world outside was already gone? He couldn’t, simple as that.
    He did the best he could with the twins, God knows he did, but there’s no replacing a mother’s love or motherly instincts. They deserved better than him. Linda deserved better. In Jacob’s heart, he knew they all deserved better than the hands they had been dealt. No one deserved what was lurking outside, not even the worst humanity had to offer.
    Downstairs, the door shuddered in its frame and finally it splintered with a thunderous crack. The dead poured into the foyer, stumbling over one another, as they made their way to the stairs. Jacob could smell their stench even with Linda sitting dead in the corner. He shut the door, but didn’t bother locking it. It was finally time.
    Smiling, he looked down at his angels. Somehow they had managed to fall asleep, finding comfort in each other’s arms. He bent and kissed both of them, already missing the soft feel of their skin against his lips. Clicking off the Ruger’s safety, he chambered a bullet. The gun roared in his hand and he could see the twins being born. Through the tears he pulled the trigger again and saw the babies coming home, Linda smiling in the backseat between them.
    Jacob dropped the gun to his side and for the first time in months it was no longer an extension of his body. It slipped from his grip and fell silently to the floor. The dead didn’t have to pound at the door, they didn’t even have to come for Jacob. He opened the door and embraced what he had coming.