1
TORI
It was the end of the world when I caught my best friend having sex with my boyfriend.
No,really.
The anguish that filled my heart as hot tears blurred my vision of them together inourbed was only a dull ache compared to what happened after.
I had rushed outside of our home, ignoring their attempts at explaining themselves to find the world as I knew it had ended.
A horde of zombies roamed the streets—all people I had recognized around the subdivision, very clearly dead on their feet—sinking their teeth into everyone and everything that moved.
That was three years ago.
Now, a bitter feeling swelled inside of me as I watched Jay twirl Daisy in the kitchen of my parents’ cozy farmhouse, sickeningly in love. Her bare feet slapped against the white tile as she giggled, and he smiled widely at her as he brought her into his arms and hummed some old pop song.
If I was an outsider, I would’ve never guessed he had been my boyfriend for two years and her my best friend for fifteen years before that.
I should’ve taken my chances with the zombies.
Pressing my palms against the old wooden table, I moved out of my chair and slipped past them, biting my tongue as I pushed open the creaky screen door and stepped onto the patio that overlooked the ranch.
The chilly morning breeze skimmed over me, tossing my chestnut brown hair around. I shivered as I tugged the beige cardigan tighter around my body.
Summer was coming to a close, and I thought it was the end of September—not that I actually remembered. My family and I had tried to keep up with the dates, but after the second year, it all blurred together.
Days, weeks, and months were lost, and the only thing I knew for sure was that this was the third year of living at the ranch with no outside human contact.
The house was a four bedroom, two bath, and it had everything we needed and more. My parents had been living off-grid in their home long before the apocalypse. We were completely self-sustaining, and while it was annoying growing up, I was so grateful for it now.
My ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend had taken the guest bedroom while my parents stayed in the master bedroom upstairs. My sister had her room across the hall from mine, and it worked. It meant I could somewhat have my own space from the two people who had betrayed me the most—something that annoyingly still hurt to think about. I couldn’t wait for the day I felt nothing when I looked at them together.
I inhaled the crisp air, and I almost missed the scent of citronella candles that burned on this deck before theapocalypse. After the infection spread, insects and arachnids had disappeared.
No mosquitos, no spiders, no bugs at all.
While I loved the idea of a world with no bugs, it was unsettling.
We didn’t know much about what caused it or how it spread so fast—just what the news outlets reported before they shut down. There were many different theories of what it was, but the main consensus was a virus.
I moved around the fire pit, careful not to trip over the pile of firewood next to it, and went down the stairs and onto the grass. The wide open pasture went on for miles both ways, and we used to let the livestock out to graze before we lost one of our cows to a zombie. Dad shot the cow and the zombie as soon as it happened. Our wooden fence around the perimeter of the land did a good job keeping out the wayward zombies, but the cow had strayed too far.
Other than that, it was quiet. We lived in the middle of nowhere, and it was a good thing we did since society collapsed.
I frowned and picked up my pace toward the weathered chicken coop, stepping over the chicken wire before unlatching and opening the narrow door.
Clucks and fluffs greeted me as I stepped in. “Good morning, ladies!”
The rooster shrieked, flapping his wings as he flew from a top spot of the coop.
I scoffed. “Oh, I’m sorry, Randy. Good morning to you, too. Spence will be in soon to feed you.”
My sister, Spencer, handled feeding the chickens any scraps and garden leftovers while I collected the eggs.
We all had a job, and it made life after the apocalypse run smoothly.
I grabbed the small bin and gathered about fifteen or so eggs before turning around and catching a glimpse of someone in the doorway of the coop.
