Her eyes were frantic, and she trembled violently as she coughed. “We didn’t close the bedroom window. I don’t even know why it was open. It got in when we were sleeping and knocked over the candle by our bed. Jack’s in there with it!”
Charles stumbled back in, and Micah cursed before gripping his axe tighter and kissing my temple. Then he stormed up the ladder to help.
My heart twisted in my chest as I watched him go, but I knew he had to help. They had to be okay.
There was a guttural growl before it went silent, and my entire body thrummed with unease as Nathan held me to his chest tightly.
It took too long for Micah to exit the treehouse with Charles and Jack behind him, and once they were all down safely, and Ava ran into her husband’s arms, I ran into Micah’s.
His arms caged around me safely, and he kissed my head. “I’m fine, darlin’. The mountain lion is dead. Jack killed it just as I got in there.”
Relief plowed through me, but the dread only eased a little bit.
“Thank God for the rain,” Benjamin muttered as he ran a hand down his face, staring at the supply shed.
Sally glanced at us before giving us a thankful smile. “Thank God you are going on a supply run tomorrow.”
“It tried to run from the flames.” Ava’s voice cracked. “Since when do zombies run from danger if it meant infecting someone?”
“I don’t know,” Jack choked. “But I never want to encounter one like that again. It was too smart, and it was so fucking hard to kill.”
Charles didn’t say anything as he held onto his wife, but the look on his face showed the trauma they’d just gone through in there.
“You can stay with us,” Sally offered.
The rain pounded down, making it to where everyone had to shout to be heard.
“Thank you!” Ava nodded at them.
Benjamin smacked Nathan’s shoulder and squeezed. “Be safe, son. We’re thankful it turned out this way and nothing worse.”
“You too, Dad,” Nathan murmured before we stood there for another minute, staring at the destruction of the treehouse.
It wasn’t as bad as it could be, but it wasn’t good either. The walls and roof were burnt down on the side of their bedroom and halfway into their living room.
“Let’s get back in our home,” Micah told us, and we all followed his lead to the treehouse.
I was thankful my parents and Spencer’s treehouse was locked up tight, but I was also slightly happy they hadn’t heard anything and had to witness that.
Nathan and Micah both helped me up the ladder and onto the deck safely before we went inside, and the warmth of the treehouse helped ease the bone-chilling cold from the rain and temperature. We discarded our soaked clothes and got intosomething warm and dry before we piled into Micah’s bed and held each other tight.
I didn’t want to think about how many more large predatory animals were zombified and intelligent roaming around us in the forest.
Solid sheetsof rain poured through the night, battering the Oasis with fierce winds, but as we left the treehouse and headed to the clearing in the morning, the dark clouds parted for the morning sun that bathed our home in a gray light that showed the clear damage of Ava’s treehouse and the supply shed.
“I hope the fire didn’t give our location away to any others in the area,” Nathan muttered, but Micah shook his head.
“No. I don’t think so. Not with the amount of rain last night. Anyone smart would be sheltered and unable to see it.”
“But the roar and screams?” Calix asked with a shiver.
“The rain was so hard, maybe it drowned that out.” Micah shrugged, but his eyes were tense as he surveyed the clearing and all the damage.
Benjamin and Dad came out of the supply shed with grim expressions.
“We were already low on medical supplies, but the fire got to most of what we had left,” Benjamin informed us with a sigh. “Good thing you guys had planned to head out today. Temperatures are taking a nosedive, so take the tent. Shelter in any place you can on the trip.”
Daisy and Jay strolled behind Mom and Spencer as they walked over with bags slung over their shoulders and baseball bats in their hands.
