2. Tori

2

TORI

Queasiness lingered like a lead ball in my gut hours after we’d left home.

The horses kept a steady pace the entire time, as if they knew we were escaping some impending doom. Even Kovu, who had muscle spasms every now and then from going long distances.

My muscles ached, and my butt had gone numb from the ride. We hadn’t ridden the horses for such a long period of time since we went into lockdown at the ranch. We hadn’t even left our property since the day this whole thing started. I kept looking over my shoulder and scanning the area the best I could.

Nathan insisted that we didn’t want to take any roads, and we believed him. I remembered the chaos when it all started. Driving through zombies and wrecked cars was something I’d tried to block from my memory, but it was no use. I remembered it vividly. The roads must’ve been in complete disarray even now.

The scenery changed back and forth between wooded areas and pastures, but the air turned even cooler as the sun left the high point in the sky. It didn’t stop the sweat that coated my skin from the long ride though, and the farther we went, the less flat the land became. The horses were starting to tire from the rolling hills on our path.

I’d been surprised that Kovu hadn’t insisted on a break yet, and he was having no trouble carrying both Spencer and me.

The sun dipped slightly below the horizon, making the sky alight with purples and blues that bathed the pasture.

“Nathan’s cute,” Spencer whispered in my ear, and I stiffened. “And he’s super into you…”

“What do you mean?” I whipped my head toward her, and she giggled. “I haven’t really spoken to him.”

“He asked about you when we were saddling my horse. I mean, he was asking about everyone, but he asked me if you were seeing anyone in particular. The man definitely is attracted to you, and he is so sweet and funny. I’m telling you, Tori, go for it.”

“Really?” I looked to the front where Micah and Nathan rode ahead with my parents beside them. For not knowing much about horses, Micah learned how to ride quickly. “He is cute…but so is Micah.”

“Micah too, huh? Well, we are in the apocalypse. Why choose?” She giggled.

“Spence,” I hissed out.

“What? I’m just saying…if you like both of them and they like you, why not try it?”

“They probably wouldn’t like that,” I reasoned with her. “I mean, I don’t even know if Micah is interested.”

“How would you know? Did you ask?”

“I don’t even know them!”

“You know they’re hot.”

“Spence-”

“Tori, come on! Live a little. You’ve been burned before. Why not just have a little fun and take this opportunity to move on from the past?”

I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth and bit it. She had a point. I didn’t think I would even have a chance at finding anything romantic after the world ended. This was an opportunity for me to get to know them.

“Can wetake a break? This ride is killing me!” Daisy groaned, her words muffled as she shoved her face against Jay’s back.

“If we take a break, we will be increasing our risk of actually dying,” Nathan said stiffly.

“But we just-” Daisy lifted her head before cutting herself off with a high-pitch scream. “Zombies!”

Moans and strangled cries left the ghostly mouths of the small horde blocking our path as we came around the curved track.

My throat seized as I held back a scream of my own from the sight of them.

All the zombies I’d seen up until now had been clearly dead, rotten flesh and pitted skin. But the state of the more decomposed zombies that stood in our path was something out of an alien horror film. Human bones with mangled tendons and muscle hung off as they dragged themselves forward. Their teeth were rotten as they snapped their jaws at the air.

Nathan and Micah dismounted their horse without any hesitation, and Nathan brought his rifle up and shot through the skulls of a couple of zombies. The sound wasn’t anything like the guns my parents had. It was quieter, which was a pleasant surprise.

Micah rushed forward, slamming his axe into the head of one zombie before turning and hitting another.

They took out the zombies seamlessly, like a team. It made me wonder just how many times they’d done it before.

Nathan moved forward, rifle up on his shoulder as he scoped the area. The sounds of their boots crunching as they walked over the disposed dead and cleared the area was sickening.

Micah was just ahead of Nathan, and neither of them saw the blood-caked fingers digging into the soil and pulling its upper body out from the high grass next to Nathan.

Adrenaline slammed into me as I jumped off Kovu, grabbing the golf club that had been secured to the saddle bag.

“Tori! What’re you doing?” Mom gasped, and the rest of their shouts blended together as I raced toward Nathan just as the zombie’s hand curled around his ankle.

Nathan’s head snapped down as horror enveloped his features.

I swung the club over my head and struck down on the back of the zombie’s head with as much force as I could muster.

The crack of the skull came easier than any I’d killed before, and brain matter splattered everywhere. Sounds of puking erupted from behind us, and I swallowed the burning bile in my throat as I stumbled back with my golf club clenched in my hand.

“Fuck. Nathan, I’m sorry.” Micah rushed back to us, checking both of us over with his eyes. “I didn’t check the high grass enough.”

“Don’t be. You did your job. That was on me. If it wasn’t for Tori, though…”

“Good arm on you, darlin’,” Micah finished, nodding at me with relief clear on his face.

“Darlin’?” Nathan forced out a breathy chuckle, the color in his cheeks starting to return. “I think killer is more appropriate. Thanks for saving my life, killer.”

“Anytime,” I replied, forcing my lungs to inflate and deflate with oxygen as my heart pounded mercilessly in my chest.

“You need something better than a golf club,” Micah stated, his lips thinning into a grim line.

“No. I like my golf club,” I defended as I adjusted my grip on it. “It’s light-weight and pretty brutal.”

“You never liked my golf clubs before,” Jay grumbled as he helped Daisy off the horse behind us.

I glanced down at the mush of a zombie head that I had made and shrugged. “They weren’t as fun as they are now.”

Nathan barked a laugh. “She’s got a damn good point.”

“It’s not like you used the golf club much through the years anyway,” Daisy said as the rest of the group walked over. “Not after we made it to the ranch at least.”

The horses kicked their hooves at the ground, refusing to come close to the dead.

“She’s killed the majority of the zombies that came up on the fence back home.” Spencer snorted. “How many have you killed?”

“None,” Dad answered for her. “Care if we take a quick rest without the bickering? Horses need a break.”

Micah and Nathan shared a look before nodding.

“We can only chance a five minute rest,” Micah said.

“Good enough for me.”

We’d led the horses around the dead zombies on the ground and moved far enough away from the carnage to feel comfortable. Some of us stood while others sat on the ground, and my muscles cried in relief for the break.

Micah and Nathan sat on each side of me, and the warmth of their shoulders spread to mine.

“So, why the golf club, killer?” Nathan broke a stick before digging it into the ground and carving a line in the dirt.

The entire group seemed to shift as I let out a heavy sigh. “When the apocalypse started, I had stormed out of Jay’s house into a massive horde so I went back in and grabbed the first thing I saw which happened to be the golf club. It worked. I took down a lot of zombies on the way to my car.”

“Why were you storming out of Jay’s house?” Micah raised a brow as he scratched his beard.

“Technically it was my house too,” I murmured, not really caring to elaborate. I didn’t want to air my dirty baggage to the first men I’d been attracted to in who knew how long.

“Jay and Tor were together for two years. That’s why they were living together,” Daisy interrupted, and Jay coughed before shooting her a glare.

A tingle swept up the back of my neck and across my face as I wrapped my arms around my waist.

“Maybe there was a reason Tori didn’t want to tell them,” Spencer snapped at her. “It’s not your business, but I guess you love putting your nose where it doesn’t belong. She did storm out of the house that day because she found you where you didn’t belong.”

Daisy’s lips curled into a scowl. “So sorry our love was greater than theirs.”

“Greater?” Spencer snorted, and Dad nudged her with his elbow. “What? I don’t think any great love story starts out by sleeping with your best friend’s boyfriend behind her back.”

My face heated as I dipped my chin down and stared at the carved line Nathan had dug into the dirt. He’d abandoned the stick next to it, and I felt that both men were tense beside me.

“I wasn’t just sleeping with him! We wanted to be together!” Daisy’s voice turned shrill. “We were together when she wasn’t around!”

“This isn’t the time or place for this discussion,” Mom stated firmly, but Spencer wouldn’t let it go—not that I blamed her.

“You say that like Tori was the other woman. She was the one dating and living with him!” Spencer threw her hands up with a loud groan. “God, are you that stupid?”

“It’s not my fault Tori decided to be infertile and couldn’t give Jay the family he wanted!”

My body flinched as if I’d been physically hit, and my blood ran cold.

Jay slapped his hand over her mouth before her eyes widened. “Stop talking, Daisy! You don’t need to defend our actions. We went about it the wrong way, and you agreed with me that we did. Getting defensive isn’t helping our situation.”

She kept her mouth shut as he moved his hand, and a warm tear trickled down my cheek before I wiped it away roughly with the back of my hand.

“Tori,” Spencer whispered, the regret thick in her voice.

“It’s fine.” My voice cracked, and I forced myself to look up. “I might beinfertile, but at least I can’t have a baby in a post-apocalyptic world.”