Benjamin and Sally stood bundled up in the center of the clearing with my parents, Spencer, Jay, and Daisy.
The ground crunched with every step, and the breeze scraped over any exposed skin.
“Be safe out there.” Benjamin and Sally hugged us before we went over to the horses.
Daisy stomped her feet as she walked over to me with her arms crossed tight across her chest. “I’m sorry,” she gritted out before turning on her heels and going back to Jay’s side before I could respond.
I blinked a few times, and I clamped my mouth shut. I didn’t have to accept an apology when she clearly didn’t mean it. Even if she did mean it, it wasn’t my responsibility to accept an apology that I wasn’t ready to.
“Woah,” Spencer whispered, and Mom elbowed her.
“I’m glad things seem to be getting better. Steps in the right direction, at least,” Dad said, fussing with the reins on Belle before letting Jay take over.
The horses let out a few visible breaths as they kicked at the hard ground.
“How are we going to do this with so many people?” Jay asked, placing the heavy blanket on Belle’s back.
“That’s why we don’t have saddles,” Mom explained. “We’re going to be three to a horse.”
“Who’s riding with us?” Daisy asked, her wide gaze flicking to me.
“I am,” Spencer groaned, crossing her arms. “Tori’s riding with Mom and Dad, and Calix, Micah, and Nathan will be riding together.”
Nathan pouted, planting his hands on my hips and tugging me forward for a kiss. “Ride safely.”
“You too.” My heart sank at the implication of his words. Riding a horse wasn’t safe anymore. Not for the people riding or the horse itself. Not after what happened to Kovu.
“Return safely,” Benjamin said as we got on the horses. I rode on the back, holding on to Mom.
Spencer, my godsend of a sister, held on to Daisy. I knew she did it so I didn’t have to, and I loved her so dearly for that.
We left the Oasis with a blanket of unease over us. The overcast sky did nothing but make the ride dreary and cold as the sun took its time climbing higher.
The first couple of hours were uneventful aside from a couple of stragglers and the devastation left in the horde’s wake. Smaller trees were broken down, jagged ends on the parts of the trunks left, and blood and chunks of flesh scattered the ground of the forest. The rotten scent lifted the further we went, but the smell of the air was stilloff.
Grief shredded my chest as we passed through the spot where we lost Kovu, and I held onto my mom a little tighter.
“His body’s gone,” I croaked, silent tears streaming down my cheeks as she patted my hands on her stomach. “How is it gone?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know,” she whispered.
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat as Dolly picked up her pace, trotting faster through the forest with the rest of the group.
“Stay alert. Watch your sides, back, and front,” Micah said, his rough voice thundered throughout the forest. “Nathan’s got his gun ready to take out any zombies we run across. If there’s any smaller groups, get off the horses and kill them. We’ll need more than just us. Sometimes after a large horde, zombies stick together in groups.”
“That’s not scary at all,” Spencer huffed.
We were fortunate to go another hour further without interruption until a bloodied body of a man stumbled out of the forest along the path.
The dread I felt this morning amped up until all I could hear was static.
Just as Nathan raised his gun, the body threw its hands up. “Don’t shoot! I’m not undead, and I wasn’t bitten!”
Nathan didn’t lower his gun, instead he had it trained on his head. “And what’re you doing out here alone?”
“I wasn’t alone!” The man’s face went red, and he started to shake. Blood caked his clothes and had dried smeared all over his skin. “I had a group I was with, but that damned horde came through and took ‘em all! Can I come with you? What’s one more person in a group your size, huh?”
“No,” Nathan answered bluntly, and the guy shook more. “We don’t know your story, and you’re acting suspicious. I’m not chancing their safety for you.”
