A New Soul

For seven year old Hailey, her family's old barn was her favorite place. It was a special place to her, a place only for their family. Her mommy had told her many times that it had been in their family for almost two hundred years, an amount of time that was unfathomable for her to wrap her head around. Her grandparents, the oldest people she knew, said their parents weren't even alive when the barn was built. With how old they were, she found it hard to believe that they weren't the ones who built it.

Hailey was pretty sure her grandparents were lying to her, which she thought wasn't entirely fair since she always got in trouble when she lied to them and her parents and any of the other grown-ups that worked on the farm. Of course, she also figured it could be one of those "grown-up questions" that her parents promised to answer for her when she grew up, and she had a lot of them.

What were these old metal things they never use except to pull things from?

Why did bad people try and steal the food they grew instead of just buying it with bullets like everyone else?

How did Mommy have a baby inside her?

This last question was obviously the most important one at the moment, as she had been sent out of the house once the doctor had shown up. She hadn't understood much of what had been said, only that her mommy had broken something that held water (considering she got in trouble when she broke a glass of water, she felt her mommy should get in trouble as well) and now the baby was coming. She didn't know why a doctor was needed for it, but guessed it was another grown-up question. All she knew for sure however was that everyone seemed excited and scared at the same time.

She supposed she could understand why everyone was excited. Her parents had seemed excited when they told her she was going to become a big sister. The farm workers and the guards seemed excited when talking about "taking bets" on if her mommy was going to have a boy or a girl and when the baby would be born (whatever that meant, since she never asked). For what must have been forever, or at least since she was still six, the doctor came by to see her mommy, but never seemed to show any sign that her mommy's belly growing was bad.

Grown-ups, she decided, were weird.

"Hailey!" she heard her daddy yell out from outside the barn. "You in there, Baby Girl!?"

"I'm right here, Daddy," she said, walking toward the entrance of the barn. She noticed the large smile on his face as he knelt down and pulled her into a hug. He pulled away after a second and stood up, offering her his hand. She reached over and took it.

"Let's go introduce you to your baby brother," he said.

-Twenty Years Later-

As twenty-seven year old and five month pregnant Hailey made her way toward the old barn, a few of the farm-hands nodded toward her in passing, something she returned to them with a smile. She knew, just as they did when her mother was pregnant with Johnny all those years ago, they were taking bets on when she would give birth and what the sex of the baby would be. She now knew that, something that confused her as a child, was done as a form of entertainment for the adults.

Even after all these years, she still loved living on the farm, and never bothered wondering about what her life would have been like had she been alive and old enough before The Pulse. Considering she hadn't even been a year old when The Pulse happened, it wasn't like she had any memories of what the world was like. She never knew about cars that drove, planes that flew in the sky, machines that made working the farm easy. To her, those things were simple fantasy, no different than magic in old books she would read.

Still, the reality of The Pulse helped answer a lot of the "grown-up" questions she had had as a child. She could even understand why her parents waited to tell her until she had matured. Even as an adult, there were times she couldn't wrap her head around the stories her parents had told her about the day right after The Pulse happened. From what she remembered, only the occasional thief would try and steal from them instead of paying. Hearing about those early days, however, still weighed heavy on her. Even now, almost fifteen years after being told the whole story, she still had problems seeing her father, the same man who had a smile that almost split his face the day Johnny was born, as someone who could coldly kill someone. By the time she was old enough to have memories, however, everything had calmed down for their little slice of the world. The Hastings Farming Coalition was formed, and the area was secured by a group made up of farm workers, former police, and former military.

From what she had read, it had seemed much more preferable than the old world, as well as other areas of what was once the United States. Caravans would come through, collecting food to sale in exchange for other items, and she would listen as the guards told stories about their homes. Some had stories similar to what her parents went through. Others told of horrific nightmares, where instead of helping each other, people would turn on their neighbor for a simple container of water and box of ammo. The worst were stories told by people who had lived in massive cities, something she couldn't fathom having spent her entire life in Nebraska. Their stories made her think of the wars she had read about, where it was everyone against everyone, oftentimes for the stupidest of reasons.

She let out a sigh as she walked up to the old barn, apparently built by her great-great-great-grandfather (at least, according to her grandfather). She walked inside the open door and lowered herself to a blanket-covered pile of hay kept for their horses. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out as a small smile crossed her face. She heard something move beside her and opened her eyes, looking over to spot an unruly mop of red hair. She shook her head and reached out with one of her arms, causing her daughter to leave her hiding place and walk over to her. Her daughter lowered herself next to her, and Hailey pulled her close. Her daughter, five year old Hope, placed her head over Hailey's pregnant stomach, causing Hailey to let out a small smile. She remembered doing the same thing when her mother was pregnant with Johnny.

"Mommy, when can I meet the baby?" Hope asked, looking up at her. Hailey smiled down at her, running her hand through Hope's hair.

"In about four more months," she answered, causing Hope to huff in annoyance.

"But that won't be until forever from now," her daughter said, causing Hailey to laugh. After a moment, Hope once again looked up her at. "Mommy, how did the baby get inside you?"

"I'll tell you once you've grown up," Hailey said, smiling down at her.