When we got out into the clearing, the sun was starting to peer over the horizon, and the temperature wasn’t as cold as it had been earlier that week. Spencer grabbed Tori the moment we’d left the shed, and she gave us a small smile before hurrying off with her sister.
“We need to make that supply run soon,” Nathan mentioned as we headed toward his dad.
“Yeah. The lack of meat in the area is too concerning.” Calix adjusted his mask on his face. He’d been doing great with coming around the other survivors in the Oasis as well, just with his mask on.
“No kidding,” I muttered and ran a hand down my face. “We need to plan to go while the weather’s like this.”
“Tomorrow?” Nathan yawned as we reached his dad, Sally, and Tori’s parents.
“For a supply run?” Benjamin quirked a brow, and Nathan nodded. “Perfect. We were just talking about how low our medical supplies are.”
The rest of the morning was spent getting everything ready for the supply run. We’d done it what felt like a million times, but for some reason knowing Tori would be with us spurred a new kind of anxiety in my gut.
20
NATHAN
It was still afternoon as we passed Daisy and Jay in a heated argument below their treehouse, and Tori paused for a moment.
“You don’t get it! I need something! I can’t just free bleed everywhere!” Daisy shouted, waving her arms like a crazy person.
“Why can’t we just ask—”
“It’s not something you can just ask for!”
Tori took a deep breath and changed directions to head over toward them, and I held my breath as I kept her pace. “Excuse me, but if it’s about your period—”
“What could you possibly know about a period? You don’t evenhave one anymore!”
Did this bitch ever learn?
“Daisy!” Jay shouted loudly, and she slammed her mouth closed but kept glaring daggers at Tori.
Tori just rolled her eyes. “Suffer then.” She turned and kept our path toward the woods, and I followed behind her. “See if I try to help you again.”
“Wait,” Jay called after us. “Is there anything we can use?”
“Pads and tampons are in the supply shed. Good for more than just menstrual bleeding,” I hollered back without turning my head, and Tori and I kept going toward the forest.
I could hear Daisy throwing another fit, but I didn’t care to listen anymore.
“Sheesh.” I shook my head. “Almost a shame Dad didn’t hear her say that to you.”
She just shrugged with that pensive look on her face that she’d had since she finished talking to Spencer that morning. “Think we’ll find anything?”
“Honestly?” I adjusted my sniper rifle on my shoulder. “Nope. But alone time with my girlfriend is enough to make me happy.”
She let out a small laugh before I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. I loved the way she snuggled closer with one hand lazily gripping her golf club. “Me too.”
There wasn’t anything about Tori that I didn’t love.
We made our way to the smaller clearing about ten minutes away and set up a spot with a blanket under us to watch for anything. Tori’s knees tucked under her as she made herself comfy but alert enough to look for anything to hunt. Her golf club and my gun laid beside us.
I didn’t want to hold my breath on finding anything. The last horde that went through seemed to really fuck up the wildlife. Strangely enough, we didn’t run into a single animal on the way here—even an infected one.
“What’s on your mind, killer?” I leaned back on the blanket and crossed my arms behind my head to stare up at her. “You’ve been quiet ever since you and Spencer talked earlier.”
“We just went through everything Daisy has done through the years,” she muttered, running a hand through her pretty brown hair with a sigh. “I just don’t get why she always throws the surgery in my face with Jay. She supported me getting thesurgery because she saw firsthand how much suffering I did two weeks out of the month. Now she’s saying I chose it. It was my only option at that point, and I didn’t take the decision lightly.”
