TORI
This was a bad idea.
Guilt and regret swarmed in my gut as I stared at the closed door that Calix just walked into.
The man had been abrasive, and I hadn’t expected him to be a germaphobe. It must’ve been an absolute nightmare for him to live in the world the way it was. Even though he’d worn a medical mask, his bright green eyes had been calculating and beautiful. His black hair had stuck up in every direction, and I felt bad for waking him. His voice had been deep, and it sent chills down my spine the more he talked.
I hated that I made him feel uncomfortable in his own home.
All because I hadn’t wanted to deal with Daisy and Jay.
Micah cleared his throat and walked across the wooden floor to the kitchen area and waved his arm over the wooden cabinets and a wood stove. “It’s getting chilly now that summer has ended, but with the horde, we don’t want to start the wooden stove unless we’re cooking something or it’s below freezing.”
Nathan strode toward an open door with a porcelain sink visible and jerked his thumb toward it. “This is the bathroom. When you’re finished with your business, spray the disinfectantsolution in the blue bottle and wipe it down with the blue cloth all over the toilet and bathroom for Calix’s sake. For future reference, he has the cloths and spray bottles color-coded for each room. Blue is the bathroom, green is for the floors, white for walls, red for the kitchen, purple for the living room, and black for the bedrooms.”
My face burned as I nodded, getting under the covers Nathan had laid out on the bed for me. “Sure. Thanks for letting me stay with you. I’m sorry I made Calix uncomfortable.”
“You’re welcome here. Calix will come around. Give him time.” Nathan smiled, and my heart fluttered at how welcoming the two were—but I hated that I’d intruded on Calix’s safe place.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.” Micah yawned, stretching his arms over his head. His flannel rode up a bit to show his toned lower abdomen with a dark trail of hair leading into his pants. “Ready to get some sleep?”
I nodded. “If it wasn’t for you, my family and I would’ve been terrified. I don’t want to think of what would’ve happened had we seen the horde and had to deal with it on our own.Thank you.”
They both shot me reassuring smiles.
“Don’t worry about it, killer. I’d be dead on my feet if it wasn’t for you.” Nathan gave me another longing look before retreating back into the door closest to the wood stove. “We’ll leave the door open in case you need anything.”
“We should really be thankin’ you, darlin’,” Micah said with a grin before following Nathan into his room.
My heart throbbed painfully in my chest as I snuggled down in the bed and let out a breath.
They were extremely kind. I hadn’t met many people so open to helping others even before the apocalypse.
I hoped Spencer and my parents were doing okay in their treehouse. I didn’t have time to think about the state of theworld, our home, or even mourning Kovu because the moment my eyelids fluttered shut, exhaustion took over.
My body jerked awake,and the sheets and blankets stuck to the surface of my body.
Groans, moans, and shuffling came from below us, and fear leaked into me as I shot upright in bed with sweat rolling down my spine.
The moonlight still shone into the treehouse, but there was barely enough light to see, let alone move around in a place I didn’t know well.
But my body screamed at me to get up anyway.
I tossed the covers off and slid out of the bed before tip-toeing over to the window.
My stomach rolled as I saw the amount of zombies making their way through the forest, miraculously not noticing us up in the treehouses. A shiver worked its way through me as horror knotted my gut.
An entire army of undead was below me.
If any of us had been down there, we would be dead. Just like that.
I hoped the horses were safe in the shed, but the way the horde came through made me think the worst. They destroyed everything in their path aside from the trees themselves.
The ranch wouldn’t have survived this.
A tear slipped down my cheek, and I glanced up at the treehouse adjacent from ours to meet Jay’s gaze.
He stood there, staring out the window same as me, but his eyes were locked on me rather than the zombies.
