Page 78 of My Undead Love Life

“Not to mention the leopards,” Mad muttered. He sat with his golden eyes fixed on nothing. His jaw had been tight for days. Ever since Spencer had seen the two leopards from the roof, he’d been mentally rebuilding every barricade in the mall.

Mad didn’t know how to stop preparing, but I was glad for that. Someone had to think the way he did if we were going to survive.

“But we can’t keep staying here all winter,” Luck told us. “The longer we stay⁠—”

“The less likely we’ll be able to leave,” I finished for him. “I know.”

Luck rubbed a hand over his face. “We have to get Spencer back home.”

Spencer shifted under the comforter between Mad and me. Her shoulder brushed mine, and I tried not to notice the warmth of her thigh pressed against my leg. “The trip from the city to the Oasis is usually about a week if we go past my family’s old farmhouse,” she said.

“Farmhouse?” Luck asked, brows furrowing.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “For the first three years of the apocalypse, Mom, Dad, Tori, and I lived at home in a bubble. We had Daisy and Jay staying with us, too, but I don’t like thinking about those jerks.”

“Were you self-sustaining?” Mad asked, blinking in shock.

Spencer smiled. “Completely, yeah. Dad already had a garden before everything ended, and we already had chickens, a well, solar panels, canned food, a wood stove, tools, seeds, and fencing…basically every prepper’s dream. Except that my dad would absolutely deny being a prepper.”

“He had all that and denied being a prepper?” Luck asked with a chuckle.

“He called it being practical.” She shrugged.

Mad’s mouth twitched. “I like him already.”

“Of course you do,” I muttered. “You and Spencer’s dad can compare obsessive emergency plans.”

Spencer laughed softly. “He’s not necessarily an obsessive emergency planner, just an obsessive prep planner.”

“Same thing.” Luck waved his hand back and forth. “Who are Daisy and Jay, by the way?”

Her nose scrunched up cutely in disgust at the mention of them. “Daisy was Tori’s best friend. She was like another sister to us, but then she had a year-long affair with Tori’s live-in boyfriend. That was Jay.”

“How the fuck did they end up living with you all?” Luck gasped.

“Tori caught them having sex the day of the apocalypse.” She scowled. “Like, literally the day the world ended, and they followed her home since survival is better with numbers and all that. Mom and Dad weren’t going to turn anyone away when things were that bad. Daisy kept fighting with Tori after we moved to the Oasis, though. Daisy and Jay ended up dying on a supply run.”

That didn’t sound like anything to wish condolences for, so I didn’t.

Luck winced. “I’m sorry. Co-existing with them for so long must’ve been a nightmare.”

“It was, but it’s fine. My sister has three loving husbands now.” Her expression softened for half a second before sadness moved in behind it. “I really miss them.”

The ache in her voice hit me through the chest.

Mad looked down at the blanket, his fingers flexing once over the fabric. “We really should try to get closer to our destination. A week isn’t too bad to plan for.”

“It’s not,” Spencer said. “But that’s in decent weather. And with people who know the route.”

“Then, we need to prepare for delays,” Mad stated. “Stragglers, infected animals, smaller hordes, blocked roads, injuries, weather, and our possible lack of shelter. All factors to consider.”

“Gives us two weeks’ travel time, then,” Luck guessed.

“Two to four,” Mad corrected. “To consider all possible delays for us.”

Luck stared at him. “Four weeks?”

“I’d rather plan for four and arrive in two than plan for two and starve in week three.”