Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Like a Dream
ZACH
I was so worried I’d never see Aiden again. But I hoped he would remember Cedar Grove. Remember my story about it. The one conceivable place that would make sense to meet around here. And he remembered. He found me. And now he’s in my arms.
He didn’t hesitate. He just ran to me, and now the warmth of his body radiates as his arms hold me close, pressing me against him. His hands are trembling as he whispers into my ear, “I’m so glad I found you.”
I laugh from pure joy and whisper back, “Me too. I thought I might not see you again.”
He takes a deep breath and draws me in closer. This is the first time Aiden’s shown me this much deliberate affection. I don’t want this feeling to end.
Jo clears her throat loudly.
“Oh, sorry, Jo.” I pull out of the hug, my face burning. “Jo, this is Aiden. He’s the friend I told you about.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Jo raises a hand in a wave.
“Likewise.” Aiden returns the wave.
“When I got here yesterday, I bumped into her. She was part of the maintenance team, and she’s been living here since the Great Collapse.” I smile at Jo. “We—ah—kinda hit it off. Shared love of the place.”
Jo beams. “Can’t think of a place I’d rather be at the end of the world.” She raises her head and looks around, smiling.
Aiden studies Jo as if sizing her up. “How’d you keep people out? Seems like the militias have an iron grip on the area.”
“Ah-ha!” Jo yells. She takes a little remote control out of her pocket and presses a button. Faint sparking noises come from various directions. “Not bad, huh?”
Aiden looks confused, so I explain.
“The whole park is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and Jo electrified it. She also rigged up cameras. Luckily, she saw me, so she met me at the gate before I touched it.”
“Yeah, little Zach looked harmless,” Jo says, smiling. “After he told me how he loved the place, I had to let him in. He told me you might be coming, so we kept the fence off today.”
“It’s a brilliant setup, Jo,” Aiden says. “How do you power everything?”
“See there?” Jo points at the roof of a nearby building. Banks of solar panels cover every square inch. “We were converting the park to solar to save on electricity. But I added a bunch more I stole off rich people’s houses.” Jo laughs a big laugh, apparently thrilled with herself. She’s like a little kid in an old woman’s body. “They charge our backup batteries, plus I only power the parts of the park I use.”
I turn to Aiden. “Jo’s a fellow tinkerer. I told her all about my setup in Elk Springs.”
“Oh, yes, brilliant.” Jo nods to herself. “I particularly liked the Wilsons. It’s the little touches that matter.”
“Exactly. That’s how I feel.”
Aiden has an amused look at our banter. It occurs to me this is the first time he’s ever seen me talk to anybody other than him.
“You two must be hungry,” Jo says.
“Heck, yeah.” My stomach literally grumbles at the mention of food.
Jo leads us to one of the park restaurants. We weave through various brick pathways and overgrown shrubs. On the way, Aiden and I talk among ourselves.
“She’s quite a character.” Aiden laughs, then quietly says, “Are you sure we can trust her?”
“I think so. She’s wicked smart, holed up here on her own, living her dream in this park.”
Aiden nods and looks around. “This setup she has. With the fence. You think that’s enough to make it safe here?”
“I’m not sure. She’s made it work so far. The park is very remote. It’s forest for miles in nearly every direction. But I also get the sense that people simply leave her alone.”
“Hmm. Yeah, maybe.” Aiden nods but doesn’t look entirely convinced.
“Oh, but I haven’t told you the best part yet. She’s got a car battery jump starter she’s going to let us have. It still works, and she can charge it up using solar power. Plus, she knows a place where there’s a car.”
Aiden’s eyes narrow. “That all sounds great, but she’s just gonna let us have it?”
“Well, not exactly. She wants me to get the Earthquake ride working again. That’s what I was working on when you got here.”
Aiden lets out a chuckle. “This lady’s getting more and more interesting. Speaking of ‘when you got here,’ I haven’t heard how you got here. How’d you escape?”
“Oh, yeah. Well, when I first ran into the forest, I was scared shitless. Especially after that first gunshot. But after they stopped shooting, I had a moment to think. They weren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. So I stopped, picked up a big rock, and threw it far in the opposite direction from where I was running. That was all it took to get them off course.”
Aiden has a big smile. “You’re amazing.”
I smile and feel a flush across my face. “Anyway, after I couldn’t hear them anymore, I went straight to the road. I knew it was risky, but I figured if a car came, I could duck into the woods. Cedar Grove was the only place I thought we might find each other, so I wanted to make sure I beat you. I ran the entire way.”
“That’s like twenty miles. How did you do that?”
“I guess I never told you; I was really into running in my previous life. I finished second in my age group in the Seattle Marathon.”
Aiden puts his arm around me and smiles. “You never fail to surprise me, Zach.”
And my cheeks burn again. I’m not used to Aiden being this friendly and extra flirty with me. And I’m enjoying it. Like, a lot. Maybe the atmosphere of Cedar Grove is getting to him. Maybe it’s the near miss of losing each other.
“So I got here yesterday afternoon. Jo saw me through her cameras and stopped me before I got to the fence. I told her how much I loved Cedar Grove, and the Earthquake ride in particular, and she immediately took to me. We started fixing up the ride yesterday. You know the rest.”
We arrive at a themed restaurant called Pirate’s Den. It’s all done up like an old Caribbean tavern, a place you might expect to see a roving band of pirates drinking rum and starting bar brawls. Long aisles of wooden tables run the length of the room. Nets, seashells, anchors, and other nautical items cover the walls, while treasure chests filled with gems and gold doubloons pile up in nearly every corner.
Jo takes us behind the front counter and into the kitchen. Here, the pirate theme ends. The bright, clean industrial kitchen has stainless steel counters, stoves, fryers, and a walk-in refrigerator. Most notably, the power is on. Fluorescent light fills the room.
Jo ducks into the walk-in freezer and is gone for a moment. Then she comes out with a few boxes of frozen goods under her arm. She fires up one of the deep firers and makes us a meal fit for a carnival. We have fish and chips, corn dogs, fried cheese sticks, and funnel cake. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything like this.
“Where did all this food come from, Jo?” Aiden asks.
“It was all here. If these fridges stay closed, they keep stuff frozen for a while. And it only took me a few days to reroute the power from the backup batteries to power the fridges.” She smiles proudly. “I’ve been eating nothing but carnival food for a year.”
We all laugh.
It is delicious and fiercely nostalgic. But my stomach aches a bit after my second corn dog. My body is used to eating a lot more simply.
Before bedtime, we both get a nice hot shower, thanks to electricity and well water. Jo’s got a good deal going for herself here. But it also makes me a bit worried. I’m afraid it’ll only be a matter of time before somebody figures out what she’s got and tries to take it from her, kind of like what happened to me back at Elk Springs. Being smart can only get you so far. You need luck, too, and that can run out at any moment.
Aiden and I sleep in dormitory bunks designed for kids who live and work here the whole summer. We sleep in shifts, so somebody is alert the whole time. I take the first shift, and Aiden takes the second.
While he’s sleeping, I can’t help but stare at him. When he’s awake, Aiden looks like he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He always looks so serious and stressed. But now, he looks so peaceful. I’d love to know him when he’s done with whatever this damn mission is he’s on. I’d like to know the happy-go-lucky Aiden. The Aiden I caught a brief glimpse of today, walking around the park.
The next morning, we wake up to a real honest-to-goodness cup of coffee. Jo has brewed some in the kitchen. It’s been at least a year since I had one.
“Jo’s made a cup of joe.” She keeps repeating the joke, and we laugh every time. It’s actually pretty funny.
She also made us microwave breakfast sandwiches. The kind that looks like little croissants with eggs, cheese, and a sausage patty. I really don’t know how people used to live off this stuff. This entire experience feels very surreal. Like this is a little bubble in the world that the Great Collapse didn’t reach.
After breakfast, I get to work on the Earthquake ride again. Aiden comes in and helps too. Jo has most of the electrical work done on the ride. She really gets electricity, especially considering all she did with the solar power and electric fence. I help with some of the mechanical issues.
Many ride vehicles need minor repairs to their wheels or drive mechanisms. Several of them are flat-out broken, and we clear those away. Aiden also runs through the entire course of the ride, ensuring all the scenery is in working order and secured, especially the ones that move near the cars.
It takes the better part of the day, but we have the ride in working order by midafternoon. Jo, Aiden, and I stand outside it. Jo has the biggest grin on her face.
She puts her hand over the green start button on the control panel. “Just wanted to say thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.” With that, she presses the button, and the entire ride comes to life. The cars move along the track, banging through the swinging doors.
“You first, Jo.” I hold out a hand to the closest car, moving along the track.
Her eyes light up, and she runs over and hops in the car.
“You guys coming?” Jo says, looking up at us.
“We’ll catch the next one,” I say.
I jump in the next car and pat the seat, shooting a sly smile at Aiden.
He returns the smile, his cheeks now rosy, and gets in beside me.
*
AIDEN
The car we’re riding in is modeled after an old red convertible, complete with a fake steering wheel. Zach and I scrunch up together. I put my arm around him, and he nuzzles into me. The feel of his body pressing against mine sends tingles through me.
Conflicting emotions fight inside me. Any time Zach enters my mind, all I want to do is hold him close and protect him from harm. I nearly lost him, and the thought of that is tearing me up inside. But with him in my arms, so adorable and content, I can only think of wanting to kiss him. It overwhelms me.
It’s a little strange that this ride has emotional significance to Zach. Like maybe I’m trouncing on sacred memories. But life is too damn short to get hung up on things like that, so I let it slip from my mind.
The car careens through the swinging doors, and we’re in the first scene—a normal-looking living room. A fake window looks out to the Golden Gate Bridge. An animatronic brother and sister sit around the TV. Suddenly, the whole room shakes. China in a display cabinet rattles, and pictures fall off the wall.
We move on to the next scene and are on a freeway. Another car is beside us. A large crack forms in the roadway, and the car falls into it.
Then our car turns into a tunnel. Large iron support beams hold it up. As we go under a beam, it cracks in the middle and starts falling toward us. The headlights of a bus head directly for us. It’s about to hit head-on when our car swerves away at the last second.
The force pushes Zach further into me, and my entire body tingles. This must be the exact moment in the ride when he kissed Felix. The whole thing is a little surreal. I take my eyes off the ride to look over at Zach. He’s gazing at me with these soft and longing eyes. I can’t resist anymore. It’s too overwhelming. My brain tells me this is a bad idea, but every other part of me disagrees. So I give in to the moment.
I lean over and kiss him.
His lips are soft and wonderful. The touch makes my heart flutter. We come apart for a moment.
“Is this okay?” I ask gently.
“Yes,” Zach says with certainty and a little laugh.
Our lips join again but with more urgency this time. Our mouths open slightly, and I delicately explore with my tongue. But I take my time to savor the feeling. I lightly brush my tongue against his, and a pulse of electricity runs through me.
The world melts away, and only Zach and I are here. The heat of his breath, his soft lips, and the scent that is uniquely his fill my senses. This wave of emotion overtakes me, and I’m filled with euphoria. I never want this to end.
Then our kiss intensifies. Our lips separate and join again, both of us needing to kiss deeper and further, with a want and desire that’s been building for days. I grab the back of his head and pull us in closer. Zach’s soft moan through my lips drives me wild.
All around us, the Golden Gate Bridge sways back and forth, and the suspension cables snap. But we ignore it all, lost in bliss.
The car turns and goes through the exit doors of the ride, and we find ourselves in the late afternoon daylight. Only then do we separate, both breathing deeply.
Jo greets us, positively beaming. “You guys look like you had a fun time.”
“We did!” Zach says, recovering quickly and returning the smile. “Thanks so much for the work you did to get it running.”
“Thank you, Zach and Aiden!”
I put my arm around Zach as we return to the Pirate’s Den. I give him another little kiss. He smiles and practically starts skipping along the path.
I have to admit, I’m very conflicted. This day with Zach has been like a dream. Maybe it’s the surrealism of the theme park creating this powerful nostalgia. If I squint my eyes, I can almost imagine the world is back to normal. I miss it and would love for it to last forever.
But the other part of me knows what I must do. This really is like a dream, and we’ll have to wake up from it sooner rather than later. The realities of the world will come crashing down on us. Every day I spend with Zach is another day I put him in mortal danger.
I may end up regretting that kiss. But for now, for this moment, I let my worry slide away, and I am blissfully happy with Zach by my side.