12. Epilogue

Three years later

The mixed serum turned out to be just what the world needed. It was developed at the CDC’s main testing facility and mass produced there as well. It killed off the disease almost as effectively as Caleb’s blood- the malaria in the serum gave the injected person a fever just hot enough to burn out the disease while not risking their life at the same time.

The government was still getting their feet back under them. They were having a hard time since most of the elected officials had been killed during the outbreak, but it also made them look at their policies differently. Things were much easier, and most of the survivors were granted free housing for three years so they could build their life back up.

Caleb and I had a nice river front property just outside of Pagosa Springs. It was in a heavily wooded area so Caleb could run freely and without consequence. It was a decent sized place, a three bedroom house with a loft. It was a log cabin, to be technical. It had a wrap-around porch that opened up to a nice view of the mountains of Wolf Creek Pass.

I sat lazily in a big comfy chair that was on our wrap-around porch and watched Caleb saw menacingly at a large tree that had fallen close by just a few days previous. When he was able to take a large chunk of it off and chop it into smaller pieces for our fireplace, I grabbed a glass of lemonade and brought it to him. I hobbled across the yard, hand resting on my distended stomach. We were married, he asked me a year after the outbreak ended and I gladly accepted. I couldn’t imagine life without him, but sometimes I still worried if I was tying him down too much. He assured me time and time again that he’d rather be here with me than still searching. And now, after a year and a half of trying, we were finally going to have a kid, a son that would be named Marcus. He would be a wolf too, but I was actually okay with that.

He accepted the drink I proffered him and chugged it down, setting the empty glass aside. He nuzzled my hair and kissed me gently, then bent to kiss the child still residing in my belly.

“Any day now,” Caleb murmured. He smiled up at me tenderly, and I knew then that I was probably the happiest woman alive.

note: and there you have it, that's the end folks, hope you enjoyed this one. I'll be back with another one shortly!