#jhtalks

Admittedly, without the Mighty Hawks to hold his attention and keep him busy, Jake felt more than a little lost. For the night, the Hawks had been taken care of, freeing Jake up so he could have some fun at the community wide shindig for Sol and Ginny's trip out of Redwood. But now he was here at the party, without his kiddos, he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself.

This party was nothing like the parties he used to attend back before the virus. In one way, he missed those old parties since he understood how those parties worked and what the social protocol was for them. And if he did anything that might damage his image, his publicist could take care of that for him. He didn't have a publicist anymore and honestly, he had no idea what might happen to him if he upset everyone. It probably would impact the Mighty Hawks negatively and he couldn't let that happen.

It had been too long since Jake had the opportunity to attend a party. More than five years by his count. Shocking! But finally, it was time to celebrate and bid all the best for Sol and Ginny's excursion beyond the walls of Redwood. Did he know why they were leaving Redwood? No. Should he care? Probably yes. Was he more concerned about having fun at the party right now? Yes.

Jake went into the Community Centre to get himself a drink. The Mighty Hawks were taken care of for the night so Jake effectively had the night off (barring any emergencies of course). Tonight, he could let loose a little for the first time since before the virus broke out and ruined everyone's fun.

Now with a drink in hand, Jake scouted the people assembled in the Community Centre. His features broke out into a big grin when he saw Renee mingling with some of the others.

It was late afternoon, the school day was over and yet Jake and Erin were heading back to the school building. Jake held onto Erin's hand as she skipped alongside him, still not quite comprehending the situation they were now in.

At least she didn't draw on her face, he thought to himself. This could be so much worse!

They reached the school house and Erin led the way to Emine's classroom. "Miss Emi! Miss Emi! Look, I have tattoos like you do now!" Erin went into the classroom, excited to show off her "tattoos". Those "tattoos" being Erin having drawn on herself with a bunch of sharpie markers she had "borrowed" from Emine's art supplies.

Jake followed Erin into the classroom, holding the "borrowed" sharpies in one hand. "Hi Miss Emi," he said, using the title the kids used for her as their teacher. "Guess who was a little inspired by your awesome tattoos and got creative this afternoon?"

It didn’t sit well with Jake that this hunting trip was forcing him to go further from the safety of Redwood than he was used to but he had a job to complete. He had only been staying there for about four months and he didn’t realise it until now but that place was like home, for him and his kids, his Mighty Hawks.

Straying further away from Redwood caused a pit to form in his stomach. The advice from both David and Orion played on repeat in his head (don’t make noise, find a good vantage point, pay attention to your surroundings, and let the prey come to you), with the hope that if he followed it to the letter, he’d be able to get back to Redwood and his Mighty Hawks sooner. Of course, the sooner he got back to Redwood, the sooner he’d see Renee again. No, he shouldn’t let himself get distracted but a faint smile did appear on his features as he continued to walk through the woods.

Up ahead, the woods thinned and opened up into a clearing. Jake figured that’d be a good place to wait and watch to see if the deer he had been tracking might walk through. He was about to seek out a good hiding spot when he heard voices. He narrowed his eyes at the clearing, struggling to see if anyone was already in the clearing. He angled his head to one side and listened. Again, he heard voices. He wasn’t alone. 

He quickly put himself behind a large tree, obscuring himself from the view of anyone hanging out in the clearing. He closed his eyes and forced himself to listen out for more clues about what was waiting for him up ahead, rather than to the heavy thumping of his heart. He only caught snatches of sounds but he managed to determine there were bandits up ahead, since zombies don’t curse like bandits do. Jake carefully peeked around the tree and spotted another he could use as cover that was closer to the clearing. He took a deep breath and dashed over to it.

“Fix his leg or, I swear to fucking God, I will fucking shoot you!”

That didn’t sound very friendly. Jake frowned. Before he could even stop himself, he was reaching back to take an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back. He notched the arrow in his bow but didn’t pull the bowstring back. He had played the hero so many times in movies, this was like muscle memory for him. However, in the movies, if he got hurt, someone would yell ‘cut’ and he could go back to his trailer like nothing had happened. It wasn’t going to be like that here.

"I think you already know the answer to that, Ikelypuff. Actually I think most of the town already does but anyway. Yes, I have wanted someone I can't have. Thank you for your question."

They were two hours into their latest hunting mission and Jake hadn't, yet, made a single joke or dropped in a single pun. He was intended to make good on the deal he and David had agreed to at the party over a week ago. So far the last two hours had gone by fairly quickly but Jake's attention had been taken up with leaving Redwood, tracking prey and navigating through the forest that sat close to Redwood. But now they were sat in cover, waiting for their prey to wander by, time had seemingly ground to a stop and all Jake could think about was the jokes he could be telling.

So much of parenting seemed to come down to two things (at least in Jake’s experience so far): “keep the kids safe at all costs” and “tire them out so they sleep all night.” Living here at Redwood helped tremendously with that first point. There were still plenty of potential hazards within the walls of the Redwood community but none as hazardous as the zombies staggering around out there! And there was also plenty to do in Redwood which helped with the second point, like taking his mini-Hawks to visit Cass at the stables.

At least he wasn’t bringing all of the Hawks with him this time. Cass, Cody and Leo had elected to stay home that afternoon and Jake trusted Cass and Cody to be able to look after their younger brother with no problem. So Cass (grown-up Cass, as Jake called her in his head) would only have to help tire out 2 Hawks, rather than 5!

The entire way, Willow and Erin asked Jake so many questions about horses, none of which he could answer himself. All he knew about horses was that they were big, deserved respect, and to never stand directly behind them in case they got spooked and kicked you. Willow and Erin already knew this much too. So when they rounded the corner and the stables appeared in view, the two girls were all the more eager to find Cass who actually knew a thing or two about horses.

For once, the Hawks didn't act up when it came time to start the new day. Jake walked with all 5 of them from their house to either the day-care or the school with no issues. All 5 of them seemed to be excited for the new day. Jake tried his best not to be suspicious about any ulterior motives one or more of his kids might have, as if they were lulling him into a false sense of security with their good behaviour!

He dropped the little ones off at the day-care first (none of them stopped to say goodbye and just raced off to play with their friends which Jake tried not to take personally) before accompanying Cass and Cody to the school (they at least had waved to him before going in). His fatherly duties done for the next few hours, Jake headed down the school steps and started to head for the training grounds.

As he walked along, he said good morning to the other Redwood residents he passed. He and the Hawks had only been here in Redwood for 3 months but it was feeling like they had been a part of the community for much longer than that.