“Shit, sorry,” he says as he loosens his grip and smiles sheepishly down at me.
“No worries. I should be thanking you for getting Lauren and my ponies here safely.”
“Consider us even.” He steps back and looks to the left, his face softening.
I follow his gaze to see Rachel holding and kissing the shit out of a tall, willowy woman with straight black hair and almond-shaped eyes. That must be her partner, Tamsin.
A contented smile spreads across my lips as relief settles in my bones.
For the first time in a long time, I feel settled. Sure, the threat of the Scourge and their allies is still there, and the zombies are still outside the walls, but my family and those I care about are all here. They’re all finally safe and so am I.
Just Friends
Rhys
We made it.
Somehow, we evaded the Scourge, the Lodge assholes and the infected and travelled all the way to Haven with most of our group. It’s something I dreaded wouldn’t be possible, but here we are.
I stand in the middle of Haven, watching everyone hug and greet one another with tears of joy in their eyes. It’s beautiful and I should be happy, relieved.
But I’m not.
There’s a churning in my gut and a tightness in my chest that tells me this isn’t over. That getting to Haven in one piece was only half the battle.
“Rhys!” a familiar feminine voice calls out, followed by heavy footfalls.
I turn just in time to catch my younger sister, Harriet, as she barrels into me with a happy squeal. Matt, her husband, strides after her, a soft, indulgent smile on his face as he watches her cling to me like a monkey.
“You’re back! You’re finally back!” she babbles, crushing me against her before she drops back to the ground and slams her fist into my shoulder.
My still-healing shoulder.
“Motherfucker!” I yelp, jerking away from her. “What the hell was that for?”
“You’ve been gone for nearlya month, Rhys! I thought you weredead.” She ends on a sob as tears fill her eyes. “We all did. You said nothing, left in the car in the middle of the night, and none of us heard anything from you.”
Ah, shit.
“I’m sorry, Ri,” I say as I awkwardly wrap my arms around her and pat her back. “I didn’t mean to worry you. We just wanted to chase after the Scourge before they got too much distance between us.” Not that it mattered since the car broke down the next day, but she doesn’t need to know that.
Harriet sniffles as she clings to me, like I might disappear if she lets go. “You’re still an asshole.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Matt comes up and pats my shoulder. “Good to know you’re all okay, man.”
I nod at him as Harriet loosens her hold to look up at me with a tear-stained face. “Don’t do that again,” she says sternly.
I grimace. “You know I can’t promise shit like that.”
She huffs and steps away from me with a scowl. “Don’t I know it. Prick.”
Movement over Harriet’s shoulder catches my attention. I tense as the leaders of Haven—Charles, Adam, Katherine, and Elsa—all stride out of the main building. It used to be the check-in and main event building back when Haven was a holiday site. Now it serves as a town hall of sorts, where meetings and other important admin things happen.
The four of them pause, eyes widening when they catch sight of just how many people there are. I guess they weren’t expecting me to come back with nearly thirty people, but it’s not like I could leave them there. Plus, many of them wouldn’t have survived by themselves.
Matt sees them and grimaces. “Come on, Ri, before Elsa catches sight of you.”
