“Twenty?That’s a horde in itself.”
“Not anymore,” Calix grumbled. “The longer we live in a zombie-infested world, the more zombies come to be.”
“I guess,” she sighed.
I finished up the last of the dishes, and the three of them were pacing the living room.
There was a restless feeling in the air, and after being in the treehouse waiting out the horde, we were all ready to get outside and breathe the fresh air.
I grabbed my axe off the floor in the living room, and Tori grabbed her golf club from beside the door. Nathan went into my bedroom closet to grab his sniper rifle, and Calix went to his room to grab his crossbow.
“Ready, darlin’?” I pressed a kiss to her temple, and she nodded, but a frown marred her blissful happiness from earlier that morning.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Calix stepped in front of her and placed his gloved finger under her chin to tilt her head up to look at him. “Something’s obviously bothering you.”
She licked her bottom lip before sighing, and Calix dropped his hand. “I’m ready to get out of the treehouse and get some fresh air.”
“Not sure how fresh the air will be after the horde has been passing through,” Nathan commented, but Calix interrupted him.
“But?”
“But I don’t want to leave because that means we will have to go back to the ranch,” she explained in a whisper. Her brows furrowed together as she thought about it. “I know you said I could stay with you, but before the apocalypse, it was weird enough moving in with one new relationship after a couple of months. But now? Moving in with our three new relationships after only four days of knowing you? And the fact that I actuallywantto? How do I explain that to my parents and Spencer?”
“Hey, darlin’, you don’t have to decide right now. You know we want you here, but I don’t think you’ll be leaving. That was the biggest horde I’ve seen, and the last hordes we had did enough damage. I don’t mean to make you upset, but I don’t think the ranch will be livable like it was,” I told her honestly, and the guys nodded their heads in agreement.
“Don’t make a decision until we’ve seen the ranch, killer.” Nathan grabbed her by the back of her neck and tugged her into him for a kiss. “We’ll make this work no matter what.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, and we all shared a look.
She would be ours no matter what. Zombie apocalypse be damned.
14
TORI
Aputrid odor poured into the treehouse the moment Nathan opened the door and stepped outside into the bitter cold air. I shivered, and I was glad I’d thrown on some leggings and a coat over Micah’s flannel.
The dog still growled, but it wasn’t nearly as ferocious sounding as it was before.
“That’s a telltale sign of a horde coming through.” Micah coughed a few times into his elbow as Calix paled and stepped outside.
My nose scrunched up as I walked out, and Micah shut the door behind us.
Cold seemed to permeate everything, and I shivered as we walked further out onto the deck. The treehouse had been chilly, but outside was freezing. Micah must’ve insulated the heck out of the house because the difference was clear.
“Five in the clearing,” Nathan said, bringing his rifle to his shoulder.
Calix aimed his loaded crossbow, and the arrow went clear through the skull of one before he put it between his legs, stood on it, and pulled the string back to place his arrow, then broughtit back up and shot another as Nathan shot the other three one after the other.
“Five down. Watch my back.” Micah went to the edge of the treehouse and gripped the side before lowering himself down.
“Watch your feet as you come down, killer.” Nathan lowered himself down after Micah, and Calix stayed up on the deck watching over them.
I dropped down to the pegs while holding the golf club and climbed down, following behind Nathan as he and Micah scoped out the area.
The frozen ground crunched underfoot, and the sun only warmed where it touched. “It’ssocold. Do you think it’s an early winter?”
“Probably,” Nathan said with his teeth chattering.
