“Here are your room keys,” she said, ignoring my warning. “This is the single room, and these are the connecting room keys. Check out is at eleven A.M., and if you need anything else, let us know. Enjoy your stay.”
I took back the keys, my credit card, and my license from her, rolling my eyes as I walked away. She’d learn soon enough. I handed out the keys, and we took the elevator to our floor.
“Meet back in the lobby in an hour?” Papi asked.
“Sounds good to me,” I replied as I let myself into my room. I tossed my bag down on the desk and immediately started the shower. I looked at my reflection with little surprise. My face still showed the bruises from where Justin had hit me. My wrists were still marked from the restraints. I was dirty head to toe, my clothes had dried blood, dirt, and zombie guts all over them. It was a miracle they let us into the hotel.
I stripped out of my clothes and threw them right in the trash. No amount of laundering would help them now. I moaned as I stepped under the hot water. Nothing had ever felt as fantastic as this shower. I stood under the stream and let it wash over me, the water at my feet quickly turning brown. Grabbing a washcloth, I pumped some soap onto it and started scrubbing every inch of my body. When I finished, I tossed that cloth aside and grabbed another to repeat the process. Three dirtied washcloths later, I finally felt a semblance of clean. Then I started on my hair. Wash, rinse, repeat until the water at my feet was clear and sudsy.
When I stepped out of the shower, I saw I had spent nearly every minute of that hour in there and needed to hurry. Redressing was tricky. Even though my clothes were packed away, they were still a bit dirty. I found the cleanest ones I could, slipped my feet into the flip-flops I’d packed, grabbed mywallet and room key, and headed downstairs. We would need to do some shopping after breakfast for clothes and essentials. I already had a plan for where to go that I needed to pass by the rest of the group.
As I suspected, everyone was waiting for me in the lobby when I got there. “Sorry,” I apologized, “It took a while to get clean.”
“No need to apologize, Princess. We haven’t been waiting long,” Nico replied, kissing my forehead.
We walked down the street to a diner, and the smells that hit us as we walked through the door instantly made my mouth water. It had been days since we had a hot meal, and quite a while since we’d finished off the rest of the food. I wasn’t the only one hungry, and as we ordered, the waitress’s eyes grew wider and wider at the amount of food we’d ordered. It was far more food than six people could eat under normal circumstances, but as one of those six people, I had no doubt we’d finish it all.
I’d ordered eggs, bacon, toast, chocolate-chip pancakes, a biscuit, and hash browns. When our food arrived, I dug into mine, and the table fell silent for several minutes, save for the sounds of eating. Finally, I paused to take a big gulp of my orange juice and then looked around the table. “I have an idea I want to pass by you.” I laid out my plan and then waited for their thoughts. It was based mainly on the belief that the rest of the world would become like New York.
“I think it’s a sound plan, Piccina,” Papi replied.
“We’re going to need a lot to make it work,” Nico hedged, “but I think it’s the right move. We know what’s coming; we’ve already lived it, so we need to get ourselves into a position to survive.”
“Not only survive, but defend,” Miguel added.
“So we agree, then?” I asked.
“Sounds like it, Sweetheart,” Luis replied. “It’s a good plan.”
After we finished breakfast, Mami and Papi went back to the hotel, while we headed to the nearest big-box store to pick up what we’d need over the next day or so. Once we got settled into our new place, we could start stocking up for the end of the world. The first item on our list was cell phone chargers. We needed to reconnect with the world to pull this off. We also grabbed clothes and shoes for everyone, along with new luggage.
Once we’d gotten everything we needed, we grabbed lunch and went back to the hotel. I dropped off food for my parents, then went back to my room to get everything squared away. The first thing I did when my phone turned on was to book a cabin in the mountains through my rental app. I booked it for several months out, paying with my debit card. All that money I had saved would come in handy after all. And in a way, I was still using it for its initial purpose—getting my parents out of the city.
Next, I rented a pick-up truck. We needed something reliable that could go off-road if needed, and capable of hauling all the building supplies we would need in the future. I rented it for the same amount of time I’d rented the cabin. My theory was that by the time anyone came looking for the truck or our time at the cabin was over, it wouldn’t matter because the world would already be fucked.
Having made all the preparations I could for the next leg of our journey, I finally lay down to take a much-needed nap until dinner. There were so many more things to arrange, but they would have to wait until we got to the cabin tomorrow. Then we could really start planning.
I woke up to a knock on my door and looked around the dark room in confusion before remembering we were at a hotel. How long had I been asleep? Groggily, I got up and answered the door. Nico stood on the other side and smiled at me when he saw me.
“You’re adorable when you’ve just woken up. I came to get you for dinner. Your parents made a reservation at a steakhouse. They thought if this was possibly our last dinner out, we should go big.”
“Go big or go home,” I chuckled. “Give me a minute to get dressed.”
When I left my room, Nico was still in the hallway waiting for me. He took my hand in his as we walked to the elevators, and it was such a... normal moment... that it felt odd.
“You look nice,” he said as we stepped into the elevator.
“Thanks. You look good, too.”
Nico chuckled. “I’ve been inside you, why does this feel like a first date?”
“I really don’t know,” I giggled. “It seems silly after everything we’ve been through. And I don’t just mean the last few days. It felt like we were building something before, and Eddie’s death derailed that. I’m glad we were able to reconnect, even if it took the zombie apocalypse to make it happen.”
“So am I,” Nico replied, lifting my hand to his lips. “I think we’ve always loved you, but navigating this type of relationship isn’t easy. And I’m not sure we would have succeeded then. The three of us had a lot of growing up to do.”
“So did I. And a lot of anger and grief to work through. It was unfair to blame you for Eddie’s death. He would have hated that.”
“All water under the bridge now, Princess,” Nico assured me as the doors opened.
