Bryce held his arm out to his side, gesturing for Joey to go in. I made a face at him. Joey was just trying to keep us safe, and Bryce was being kind of a dick about it.

Joey was inside for quite a while. Just when I thought about mentioning that we should go in and check on him, he appeared in the doorway.

“It’s clear.”

“You have blood on you,” Cooper said. “I mean more than before.”

Joey pulled up his shirt to wipe his face. A full set of abs was revealed for just a second before he let his shirt fall back down into place. “Well . . . it’s clear now.”

“I didn’t hear your gun,” Bryce said.

“I used a fork.”

Cooper nodded, an impressed smile flashing across his face. “Well played.”

Chapter Sixteen

Nathan

“Kids?” I asked.

“The corner house. Three . . . no, make that four. Two boys and two girls. Teenagers, by the looks of ’em. They’re alive.”

I lowered my gun and motioned for Zoe to stay in the house. “Then we should probably introduce ourselves.”

As I crossed the street and walked down the block, I tried to keep my posture relaxed, and my gun down. I could only see one kid, one of the boys, his dark hair wiry. He was a ball of testosterone and muscles like I was at that age.

I stopped on the street corner and held up my hand. “Hey there. We’re friendly. No need to worry.”

The boy didn’t speak, he just watched me. Another girl, blond, pale, and exceedingly beautiful, took a step out from behind him, her eyes fluttering between her people and me and Walter.

Walter walked up beside me and stopped.

“Are they from Shallot?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Uh,” I began. “You guys okay?”

Another girl stepped out. This one was shorter, with long, auburn hair. Her brown eyes looked right through me. “We can’t get the pumps at the gas station to work.”

“You’re out of gas?” I asked.

The kids looked at each other. They were either really smart and didn’t want me stealing their ride, or they were too scared to speak. I didn’t think for a second the latter was the case for the redhead. I doubted she’d ever hesitated to speak what was on her mind in her life.

Walter’s screen door slammed and I turned to see Zoe standing next to Joy. She clearly wanted to leave the safety of the porch to be closer to me, but Joy kept a gentle hand on Zoe’s shoulder. I couldn’t hear what she’d said, but it seemed to calm my daughter.

I turned back to the kids. “You guys just passing through, then?”

“Yes, but like I said, we need gas. The pumps at the gas station aren’t working,” Red said. “Do either of you know anything about it?”

I took mental notes of everyone in their group. The tallest one had a nice face. The second tallest looked like he’d had some military training. I could tell by the tall kid’s shoes and his hands that he was a rich kid, but his eyes said he was a good kid. The other boy looked like a jock, possibly a frat boy. He watched the soldier and the redhead a lot. The soldier was the one to watch for sure, although the other two could definitely do some damage. Even with all the muscle and manpower, it was the redhead that seemed to be the boss. Oddly, she seemed to be the most trusting out of the five.

I looked to Walter. “I need to fill up myself.” I looked to the group. “I’m traveling with my daughter, Zoe,” I said, gesturing to the porch. “We’re leaving soon. I’m looking for a place out of the way. Some place safe.”

One of the boys smiled at Zoe and waved. I stared him down, and he immediately righted his posture. “I have a little sister about her age,” he explained.

“This is pretty out of the way. Where are you all headed?” I asked.

They all looked at each other again. They had a destination in mind. It must have been good if they were protecting it.

“We can help ya with the gas,” Walter said, “in exchange for helping Nathan and Zoe to a safer place. You have my word that he’s a good man. I don’t really want them to leave, to be honest, but he’s right. They need to be farther away from those things.”

They all watched us, especially Red and the soldier.

“We’ll think about it,” she said, turning and leading the rest away.

They left us, walking two by two except for the soldier, who brought up the rear. The redhead was with the second tallest, and the blonde was with the jock. I wondered where the soldier fit, and then when I saw them all crowd a Volkswagen Bug, I really wondered where he fit.

Walter and I returned to the porch to join Joy and Zoe. I sat on a rocking chair, and Zoe sat on my lap, watching the kids talk around their vehicle.

“They seem nice,” she said simply.

“I think so. I don’t really know them.”

“They’re strangers?”

“I suppose so.”

“We’re not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“No, kids aren’t supposed to talk to strangers.”

Zoe turned to me, her brows pulled in. “But what if the strangers are kids?”

I kissed her cheek and pulled her against my chest, rocking her and ignoring that her heels were digging into my shins. Her hair was starting to smell less like shampoo and more like sweaty skin. I imagined I didn’t smell so great, either.

“Joy?” I said.

“Yes, dear?”

“May we use your facilities? I’d like to make a good impression on this doctor.”

Joy chuckled. “I doubt he’s dressed for church, either, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s true.”

Joy shook her head and made a face. “Lord have mercy, I am so rude. Of course, Nathan. There is a shower in the bathroom in the hall. I’ll get you some towels.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

The blonde sat on the bottom step of Walter’s porch, disinterested, and the rest of them stood before us. Having so many eyes on us was a bit intimidating, even if they were just kids. I looked down at a stain on my Oxford shirt. Now that Zoe and I were freshly showered, our clothes smelled horrible, and felt heavy with dirt and sweat. Joy had offered to wash them, but I was afraid they wouldn’t be dry in time and the kids would be antsy to get going and leave us behind.

The redhead spoke first. “I’m Miranda Hayes. That’s my sister, Ashley,” she said, nodding to the blonde on the steps. “Our father is Dr. Hayes. He lives about nine miles north, up the road, there, and then back west. It’s perfect for you and Zoe. If you help us fill up our tank, and a few gas cans, you can follow us. I can’t promise you that my dad will let you stay, though.”

“No deal,” I said, my eyes narrowing.

“He’ll probably let you,” Ashley said, finally looking up at us. “He won’t turn away your little girl.”

“But we don’t know how many people he’s helped already. I expect he will, but I can’t promise. Understand?”

“What about the guys with you? How will you get him to let them stay?”

“We have an open invitation,” the jock said. “Well, except him.”

He was talking about the soldier. They must have picked him up along the way. I decided that if they had done that, they must think the father is open to more guests. “I’ll take my chances.”

“It’s getting late,” Walter said. “Meet us at the station in the morning. You got a watch?”

The soldier nodded.

“Eight a.m.”

Miranda

“Home sweet home,” Ashley said. She was holding an empty gas can, looking up at the two-story building just four blocks from the general store.

“Not really,” Cooper said, shrugging his shoulders to redistribute the weight of his bulging backpack.

I shook my head. Why did guys insist on stuffing everything they needed for a weekend in a small bag? As if it wasn’t manly to appear to need more than one set of clean clothes?

The house wasn’t anything special. The windows were darkened by dirty screens. The chipped paint—on both the house and the concrete porch—admitted years of negligence. One small, apologetic spot of soil in the front begged any visitors to believe all wasn’t lost. Even though the rest of the house might have been too much for the owner to keep up with, that two-by-two plot of ground was adorned with every color of pansy in existence. Not a single weed in the bunch. Every blade of grass was carefully trimmed at the borders of the square of flowers, and fresh soil had been added not long before.

The home was at the end of a dead-end road. Continuing on was possible, but only through tall prairie grass and about a hundred head of cattle. Only one other house was two lots away, across the street and on the opposite corner. We’d pushed the furniture against any entrances the first night and used wooden planks from the privacy fence down the road to board the windows, and then slept in the basement, each of us taking watch every two hours. Well, except Joey. He never seemed to sleep.

The first morning we secured the windows and doors, but we still slept in the basement. We pulled the mattresses downstairs. Especially after seeing Nathan and the old man walking down the street a few days before with their guns and reappearing with at least fifteen more, it just felt safer. When we saw them return the next day, we watched where they went, waited until they left the redbrick house on the next block, and then searched it ourselves. It didn’t take long to find out why they were making the trip. The house was full of nearly every gun imaginable. More than my dad’s collection. More than any collection I’d ever seen—and my dad had dragged me to more than one of his fellow gun enthusiasts’ houses. We took a few pieces and ammo ourselves, and quickly returned to our safe house. When we saw the duo visit the redbrick house again, we followed them home to the other side of town. It was less than a twenty-minute walk. That’s when they spotted us, and when we made the deal to show Nathan to my dad’s ranch in return for helping us with the gas pump.

I followed Ashley up the steps, and then stopped when Joey’s arms appeared in front of us.

“Hold up. Let me clear it first.”

We waited, Ashley biting her nails, and me kicking at the welcome mat as if it were perfectly normal that the soldier we’d just met was searching our temporary home for any curious dead ones.

Sensing Bryce’s irritation, I turned. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, making that face. The one that distorted his beautiful green eyes and made them glow and change into beady, unfamiliar pools of emerald.

“What?” I asked.

Bryce began to say something, but Joey poked his head from the door with a trace of a smile. “Clear.”

We unpacked our newest treasures, ranging from more packs of condoms to cans of corn. Bryce walked into the back bedroom and sat on the box springs, making fists and then stretching his fingers, and then repeating the process.

“Tell me,” I said, knowing if he kept another thought to himself, he might burst.

Bryce stood up, took a step, and swiped at the door, making it slam and my shoulders shoot up to my ears.

“I take it you’re upset?”

“Who is that guy?” Bryce said, pointing to the closed door. “We pick him up from his shitty pickup and the girl he killed in the street, and suddenly G.I. Joe is running the fucking show?”

“Is that what you think he’s doing?” I asked calmly.

Bryce was only blowing off steam. He got that way any time he’d been under stress for any length of time, like when his dad left his mom for Danielle the nail tech for a few weeks before he figured out he was already married to the best woman he could find. He also yelled at me over the phone much like he was yelling in that bedroom the time Cooper’s little sister got really sick and Bryce agreed to drive him home from school. By the end of the phone call he was sobbing, barely able to describe how hard it was to watch Cooper and his family so worried and sad.

Bryce trusted me to love him anyway, even at his worst, just like I did when I was snapping at my dad for things out of his control. Dad always listened patiently, and then no matter what I said or with how much anger I said it, he responded with words of unconditional love. After he and Mom split that was one trust I didn’t make him earn back, and he took the responsibility of that trust very seriously. That wasn’t the only thing I pretended I hadn’t learned from him.

“Wait,” Bryce said, mimicking Joey’s deep voice and holding out his arm. He had the most ridiculous, smug look on his face, a thousand percent more arrogant than Joey’s. “Clear.” Bryce rolled his eyes.

“He just got back from a tour in Afghanistan. They talk like that, don’t they?”

“Who cares?” Bryce seethed. “He keeps telling us what to do. I’m fucking sick of it. We somehow managed before he came along.”

“True,” I said, nodding.

“We don’t need him. We should leave him here. He probably knows how to hotwire a car. There are dozens here to choose from.” When I didn’t respond, Bryce’s eyebrows pulled together, and he ducked his head to make eye contact. “What are you trying to say? You want him with us?”

Bryce and I had been together so long, I didn’t have to say everything. It was one of the many things I appreciated about him.

“He’s a soldier. It makes sense to keep him around, don’t you think?” With his intimidating size and piercing glare, Joey’s looks alone were enough to scare off any living person who might want to harm us, and his particular skill set made him an asset against the dead ones. Bryce was nearly as tall as Joey, but his biceps didn’t bulge from his sleeves the way Joey’s did. Come to think of it, all of Joey’s muscles seemed to bulge from his clothes.

“No! I don’t!” he said, incredulous. His anger helped my thoughts break free of the chiseled parts of Joey’s body—which were all of them.