“I told you not to come out here without me, Liv,” he says, dodging my attempt to snatch my bow back. “You could get yourself killed, especially with zombies around.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, come on, stop being so dramatic. It’s just one zombie, and it’s completely stuck, unable to do anything. It’s perfect practise for when I go outside.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not going anywhere? It’s far too dangerous for you outside, even if you’re able to shoot a bow.”
Here we go again.“You do realise that I can’t stay here forever, that I’ll eventually need to leave and go outside?”
He shakes his head. “You’ll never need to. Not with me and Lauren here.”
Frustration bubbles in my chest, but I tramp it down. I need to stay calm and reasonable. And not turn it into a shouting match like our previous arguments. “But you need me, especially now that we need food. I can be useful out there. I can carry things or look for food. Please, Tobias, I want to help.”
He softens slightly. “I know you want to help, but you’re better off staying at the cottage, where you’re safe.”
“I wouldn’t have to go far,” I say, not willing to give up. “Maybe I could go to the woods up there—” I point to the top of the hill where the small woods lie “—and hunt us some food. I’ve seen a couple of deer in there, as well as squirrels and rabbits.”
He shakes his head. “We don’t need you doing that. Not when I can find us the food we need.”
I grind my teeth, getting more frustrated that he’s just notlistening to me. I understand he wants to keep me safe—fuck knows I want that too—but him keeping me locked up will come to bite us in the ass if something happens and I’m suddenly the one who needs to scavenge. But he’s too damn stubborn to see that!
Harlow whines and presses against my side. Without thinking, I drop my hand to the top of her head, but sinking my hand into her soft fur does little to staunch the anger boiling in my chest.
“Toby—”
“I said no, Liv and that’s final,” he barks before marching up to the stuck zombie, pulls out his knife and slams the blade home into itsskull. The eerie glow from its eyes immediately dims as it collapses to the ground in a rotting heap.
Jerking his knife from the corpse, Tobias turns on his heel and levels a thunderous glare at me. “I want you to march yourself back down to the cottage and don’t you eventhinkabout arguing back.” He shoves his knife back into its sheath.
I bare my teeth at him in a silent, frustrated snarl and stubbornly stand there, glaring back at him. He may have raised me after our parents died, but he constantly forgets that I’m no longer a child he can order around.
He sighs and rubs his face with one hand, the other still holding my bow. “Olivia, don’t test me. Not today.”
I bristle but relent when I see the weariness in his eyes. The constant stress of living in this fucked-up world is pressing heavily on his shoulders. I wish he would let me help him instead of carrying it all himself and leaving me to feel like a useless burden.
We trudge back to the cottage in silence, the only sound being the crunch of our shoes against the frozen ground. Tobias doesn’t give me my bow back until we’re at the back door of the cottage.
“If I see you up there by yourself again, Liv, I’ll take that off you permanently,” he warns before ducking inside.
“Asshole,” I mutter, glaring at the door for a moment before following him.
The warmth of the small country kitchen envelops me as I close the door after Harlow. Leaning my bow against the wall next to the door, I turn to see Tobias has already sat down and pulled Lauren into his lap. Three mugs of steaming tea sit on the table and I grab one while trying to ignore the twinge of envy at my brother and his wife.
I’ve never been held by a partner like that. Gale wasn’t affectionate outside of sex and brushed me off whenever I asked for a hug. The men before him weren’t that affectionate, either. A part of me longs to have the easy tenderness that Tobias and Lauren have, even though I know I never will. Dating prospects in the apocalypse are practically zero for me since I don’t leave the cottage. Not that any man would want me, not with my issues.
“You got any plans for today, Ollie?” Lauren asks. She’s leaning her head against Tobias’s shoulder, a soft smile on her lips as he absently strokes her hair.
“I’m mostly just going to get the garden ready for planting in the spring and figuring out which seedlings need starting soon,” I say as I take a seat on the other side of the table while ignoring my tumultuous emotions. I turn my attention to my brother. “Are you going out?” I only just keep the bitterness out of my tone.
He nods. “I’m going to hit up the village fifteen miles west of us before paying Andy a visit to see if he’ll trade us some food for labour.”
Even though society has gone to shit, there are still people out there willing to trade and help others out. Andy is one of those people. He lives about two miles up the road and often trades with Tobias for cheese, milk and meat from his goats and things he gets from others that he doesn’t need.
“When are you leaving?” Lauren asks softly.
“In about an hour.”
The two of them share a look I can’t decipher.
Tobias sighs. “I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise,” he murmurs as he strokes her cheek with the back of his fingers a moment before bending down to press his lips against hers.
