5. Tori

5

TORI

My chest felt like there was a jagged, gaping hole within it as we continued on the path to the Oasis, Kovu left behind with a zombie bite on his leg and a bullet in his skull.

He was a great horse, and we did everything together throughout the years. He tagged along with me for every chore I had at the ranch, and we rode the trails any chance we had. He’d been my best friend, and while I knew we did what had to be done, it hurt.

I appreciated Nathan making it so Kovu didn’t suffer, and it was quick.

We hadn’t known that animals were able to be infected from the virus, and that alone was dangerous. What other knowledge about the world did we lack?

“Anything we should know when we get there?” Dad asked, his tone solemn.

“We have a dog chained up and muzzled on the outskirts of the Oasis itself,” Micah stated grimly. “He was turned the second year into the apocalypse, and I didn’t have the heart to put him down the first couple of days. Sometimes I wish I had done it, but then we noticed the zombies avoided him and the area around him, so he is a good deterrent.”

“My dog was killed by zombies too,” Daisy piped up for the first time since Kovu was put down, and her voice made my skin crawl.

Nathan’s arms tightened around my waist the same time mine tightened around Micah’s, and a strange sensation spread through my body at being pressed between them.

I found them both attractive, but the feeling wasn’t anything like arousal. It was more of a comforting feeling that made me feel safe.

Which was insane to me since I’d only known them for a few hours. Had the lack of outside contact turned me into someone who sought physical affection from others?

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nathan said, but his words didn’t sound sincere.

It was a breath of fresh air to meet a couple of men who didn’t fall for Daisy’s innocent façade, and that only made me like them more.

“Daisy, you don’t actually know what happened to Tiny,” Jay reminded her, saying exactly what I had been thinking.

Daisy groaned. “Okay, I may not have actually seen it happen. But I assume that’s what happened since she was in my apartment when everything happened. She was a chihuahua, so she didn’t have many survival skills.”

“That’s fucked up,” Nathan whispered, his hot breath fanning over the shell of my ear.

I buried my face against Micah’s back to hold in a snort.

Daisy had always been selfish, but it was never that bad. She was my best friend for a reason. She used to come over every other day and have sleepovers with me—and they never stopped, even when I moved in with Jay. Though, now I understood that I wasn’t the reason she had stayed by my side so long.

Once I caught her and Jay together, her personality went to shit—or maybe that was how she always was, and I had finally seen just how bad it was.

A familiar pang of loneliness shot through my chest as I thought about how I’d isolated myself when we got to the ranch after I’d caught them together. I spent more time with Kovu over the last three years than with Spencer, and I didn’t even tell Spencer what happened until a week after we’d made it home.

But Kovu knew, and he was my biggest comfort during that time…and now he was gone.

“Can you explain more about how it works at the Oasis?” Dad asked. “Like how you’ve been surviving there.”

Nathan cleared his throat as he moved his head back to glance at my dad. “We’re like a village. A series of treehouses in close proximity, and we have working toilets and a sink in each treehouse. Thanks to Micah and my dad having some plumbing knowledge, they were able to work with the pipes and make a pit latrine. It works. Plus, we have the shower shed outside for showers, and we bathe in the river sometimes.”

“You have electricity, right?” Daisy’s voice had taken on a whiney, irritable tone.

Micah and Nathan both snorted.

“We have candles for light, but those are getting limited. We weren’t able to gather any in our supply run since the horde showed up,” Nathan explained.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s the apocalypse,” Micah grunted the words out, irritation flaring in his voice.

“But we’ve had electricity all these years!”

“Not everyone’s as blessed as you all were,” Nathan snapped. “Majority of the human population were turned, so electricity has been mostly wiped out in the real world.”

“We were blessed,” Mom interjected. “But we are also blessed that you two warned us of the horde. Electricity or not, we are going to have a safe place to stay. Be grateful, Daisy.”

She let out a small gasp. “I’m sorry, Grace. You’re right.”

“It’s okay,” Jay murmured to her. “I know it’s a tough change, but it’s necessary.”

“Yeah. I know. I’m sorry.”

“She always like that?” Nathan whispered lowly in my ear, and a chill spread down my body.

Being between them had really started to get to me, but not in a bad way.

“She’s actually not, but she doesn’t handle stress well. Never has,” I whispered back.

“Not handling stress can get you killed now. Being overwhelmed isn’t an excuse any more,” Micah said, low enough for the rest of the group not to hear.

I didn’t know what to say next, so we fell into another long silence the rest of the way to the Oasis.

My eyelids kept drooping shut, and I was more than grateful for Nathan’s sturdy hold on me as I leaned against Micah because without them, I wouldn’t be able to keep myself upright.

They may have been strangers, but was it bad that I felt more comfortable with them than during the two years I had been with Jay?

Feelings were subjective, sure, but it didn’t feel like this was a bad thing.

A low, guttural growl echoed through the trees, and my body barely responded—exhaustion clouding my responsiveness.

“What was that?”

“That’s Bane. He’s the dog I told you about,” Micah answered, and relief poured into my muscles as I relaxed between them again.

“We’re here?” Spencer asked, and they both made small noises of agreement.

The horses moved their walk to a trot as we sped past the muzzled and chained zombie dog that growled at us.

“That should be impossible,” Dad muttered. “All of this should be.”

Nathan chuckled, his chest vibrating against my back. “You were really sheltered at that ranch, huh?”

“Everything happening in the world is impossible—virus or not. You can’t convince me otherwise,” Micah added.

Micah pulled on the reins, and Trigger came to a halt along with the rest of the horses, and another shot of grief spread through me when I remembered Kovu wasn’t with us.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I forced my head to move up off Micah’s back and look around.

My gaze widened as I took in what the Oasis actually was, and a pleasant humming vibrated in my chest.

It was the middle of the night, and yet the area was bathed in slivers of moonlight. I’d assume the Oasis would be beautiful and lit up on a full moon rather than the crescent in the sky.

Thick pine trees held up four treehouses that rounded in a circle around the small clearing the horses stopped in, and the cool air skimmed through lazily.

The treehouses were massive. I mean, not like a large house but more like an apartment. They were much bigger than I imagined a treehouse to be, and they looked well maintained.

There was a small wooden shed in the clearing between two of the houses, and between the other two houses sat a larger wooden shed almost the size of our living room back at the ranch.

“Micah, Nathan,” a male voice hissed through the night as a man with blonde hair and black framed glasses came walking up with a flashlight. “What’s going on? Where’d you get the horses and extra hands? You’re back three days early.”

“Good to see you too, Dad,” Nathan grumbled as he got off the horse and helped me down before Micah jumped off. “Long story short, there’s a horde only about half an hour behind us—if that. We had to run back, but we ran across their farm and told them about the horde and offered them sanctuary with us to ride it out.”

I reached up and stroked Trigger, ignoring the grief swirling in my chest as he blew air from his nostrils and nudged me with his nose.

Spencer walked up next to me and bumped my shoulder with hers.

“Thirty minutes?” Nathan’s dad ran a hand down his face. “We’ll have to warn the rest. We usually have procedures for new survivors, but since there’s a horde coming, we have little time to talk about things.”

“We appreciate the hospitality,” Dad stated, walking over and holding his hand out to the man.

He shook Dad’s hand firmly, and they shared a brief smile. “We have an empty treehouse your family can stay in. It’s stocked with everything you need. We’ll have to go over more after it passes, but someone will come get you when it does. I’m Benjamin. Welcome to the Oasis.”

“I’m Tom. This is my wife, Grace.” Dad wrapped an arm around Mom and glanced at my sister and me. “These are our daughters, Spencer and Tori. Daisy and Jay are… Well, they’ve been staying with us.”

“Good to meet you.”

Benjamin cleared his throat. “Hordes are intense. I don’t know if you’ve been through one, but we’ll probably be stuck up in the treehouse for a few days before we can come out.”

“No electricity or a shower for days?” Daisy muttered to Jay, and my restraint snapped like a rubber band.

I whirled around on my heels and glowered at her. “Are you kidding me, Daisy? They’ve gone out of their way to save our lives, and you still find a way to complain about it.”

Her mouth fell open before she closed it and scowled. “Just because you don’t care about personal hygiene doesn’t mean—”

“I do care about personal hygiene, but I recognize that our lives are more important than going a few days without a shower! Why can’t you ever see the bigger picture?” My voice raised before a louder moan echoed back, and then several moans started to be heard from the forest.

“Maybe you two shouldn’t be trapped together in a treehouse,” Nathan muttered.

“Tori, you’re welcome to stay in our cabin with us,” Micah offered.

“That’s a great idea,” Spencer answered.

“Couldn’t agree more for once.” Daisy huffed.

“Hey, now—” Dad started to protest, but I turned back to the two men offering me their cabin.

“I’d love to. Thank you.”

Both of their faces relaxed, and they seemed pleased that I took them up on their offer—which solidified the decision.

“Tori, they’re two men you don’t know,” Dad stated the obvious.

I opened my mouth to defend my decision, but Nathan stepped forward with a gentle smile. “I understand that, sir. But your cabin is right next to ours so you’ll be able to look out the window and see Tori whenever you want. She will be safe with us. I promise you.”

Dad’s scowl softened slightly, and Benjamin spoke before he could. “My son would never let harm come to anyone so long as he can prevent it.”

“I don’t like it.” Dad pursed his lips before focusing on me and sighing. “But I get it. As long as you’re sure, honeybee?”

“Yes, Dad. I feel safe with them as it is,” I admitted. “I need time away from everything anyway.”

Jay flinched as Daisy smirked with an eye roll, but they didn’t respond.

“I handle keeping all the water clean, and all the treehouses have enough food and water to last a couple of weeks,” Benjamin explained. “We’ll have to go over rules after the horde passes for now, but just do not use the wood stove at night during the horde. If you must use it, do it during the day. Try not to bring any attention to yourselves as it passes through.”

“What about the horses?” I asked as Trigger kicked at the ground.

“They’ll have to go into the bigger shed. We don’t have much in terms of what horses need, but there’s enough we can throw together to help them survive the horde,” Benjamin explained. “We can do that now before I show you all the treehouses.”

“We’ll show Tori the treehouse,” Nathan said, and his dad nodded. “Everyone stay safe.”

I turned to my parents and gave them a hug before doing the same for my sister. “Stay safe. I love you guys.”

“We love you,” Mom murmured. “You be safe.”

“I’m sorry,” Jay interjected, running a hand through his hair. “But isn’t it a dumb idea to allow Tori to be locked up in a treehouse with two random men?”

Daisy shot daggers at him as I tilted my head.

“Three, actually,” Nathan corrected, and Micah snorted.

Jay blinked at them before frowning. “That’s not any better.”

“It’s better than having Daisy keep making passive aggressive comments at Tori,” Spencer pointed out, sticking her tongue out at Daisy.

“I assure you, your daughter will be safe with them,” Benjamin promised as the moans and groans of the undead grew closer, sending a sickly feeling down to my gut. “But we need to all be in the treehouses as soon as we can.”

“I want to stay with them,” I told my parents. “I’ll be fine. Less drama is better at a time like this anyway.”

“Stop making a scene. It’s not that serious.” Daisy rolled her eyes.

I bit my tongue and hugged my family once more before we helped everyone situate the horses in the shed, and then Nathan and Micah led me to their treehouse.

Thick wooden pegs came out the side of the tree and led up to the platform of the treehouse, and Nathan was the first to go up before offering me his hand.

My hands grasped the rough wooden pegs as I climbed up and took his hand for him to help me up. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, killer.”

Micah came up behind us and placed his hand on my lower back. “Ready to see our place, darlin’?”

A strange thrill of excitement spread through me as I took in the treehouse in front of me. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken them up on their offer, but I’d been stuck with Jay and Daisy for three years. I needed a break from it all, and my intuition told me these two were good men.

“Absolutely.”