“Nothing a little sleep won’t fix,” he assured her. “Good to have you back with us safe and sound. These boys were going out of their minds.”
Emery blushed as she glanced at each of us in turn. “It’s good to be back. Justin was more deranged than I ever gave him credit for.”
“Why don’t we get inside for the night?” I suggested. “Then you can get cleaned up and tell us what happened.”
Luis led us to the apartment he had found, and as soon as we were through the door, Camila pushed Emery into a chair and grabbed the first aid kit.
“You boys get dinner together. We’ll eat when I’m done patching Emery up,” Camila ordered.
We put together an assortment of foods from Camila’s bag and set them out on the kitchen table. Some of the food wouldn’t last as long, so we pulled those foods out first. Once Emery was cleaned up and bandaged, we all sat to eat.
“This is quite the spread,” Camila praised. “Well done.”
I don’t know why, but her approval hit a soft spot inside of me. Even after Eddie’s death, Camila had never treated us differently. She had never blamed us, though I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had, just like I hadn’t blamed Emery.
“We wouldn’t have it if it weren’t for you, Camila, so thank you,” Nico said.
We sat down to eat, and once we’d eaten, all eyes turned to Emery. “What happened, Piccina?” Felix asked.
Emery closed her eyes for a second and took several deep breaths before launching into her story. Finding out that Justin had essentially murdered Darla and Lani had been a surprise. I knew the guy was a grade A creeptoid, but I hadn’t pegged him as a murderer. Of course, I hadn’t expected him to kidnap Emery, either. If any of us had gotten that vibe from him, we would have killed him on the spot.
“It’s a good thing the zombies got him,” I said when she had finished. “Because if they hadn’t, we’d be hunting right now.”
“I might go hunting anyway,” Nico growled.
“None of that,” Camila scolded. “Emery is safe, and Justin is no longer a problem. Let’s not put ourselves in danger for some unnecessary vengeance.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nico mumbled.
Camila patted his cheek as she stood to clear the table, and I nearly laughed out loud when Emery’s mouth popped open in shock. I don’t think she considered how quickly we would bond with her parents, but shared trauma is a powerful thing. From the moment we got separated from her, we had one goal: get back to Emery. And when we found out Justin had takenher... well, we shared that terrifying moment as well. Plus, we genuinely respected Emery’s parents. Always had.
Once dinner was cleaned up, Mr. Higgins retired to one bedroom, and Emery and her parents took the other. Nico, Luis, and I bedded down in the living room so that we could easily take shifts standing guard.
“We should have picked up on how dangerous Justin was,” Nico commented from his post at the window.
I watched him from the couch. Nico had always taken his role as leader seriously. He took any failure or misstep personally. I knew the lives we’d already lost weighed heavily on him. Not seeing Justin for the psychopath he was would stay with him for a while.
“We had no way of knowing he would do what he did, Nic,” Luis said from his place on the recliner. “That isn’t on us, and certainly not on you.”
“Still. We failed Emery,” Nico replied. “From now on, one of us is always at her side. I won’t let her get separated from us like that again.”
“Agreed,” I replied.
“That was my fault,” Luis said softly. “I was right there at the tree with her. Everything happened so fast, I don’t know how we got separated, but I won’t let it happen again.”
“Maybe you all should stop blaming yourselves for shit you can’t control.” We all jumped and turned to see Emery standing in the kitchen.
“And how long have you been standing there listening to us, Princess?” Nico asked.
“Long enough. My parents fell asleep, so I thought I’d talk to you about our plans for tomorrow.” Emery came into the living room and perched on the arm of my couch. It was hard to see her in the dark, but from her posture, she still looked worn out.
“You should be resting, love,” I chided gently.
“Perhaps, but I’m not tired yet, so talk to me about our plans.”
“The current plan is to cross the bridge into Manhattan in the morning and try to find another evacuation zone,” Nico responded. “Hopefully, there are still some that didn’t get overrun. If we can’t get out that way, we’ll cross to the mainland somehow and get as far from populated areas as possible.”
“Do we have any idea of how far the infection has spread?” Emery asked. “The news only ever focused on the New York City area.”
