CHAPTER EIGHT
I’d spent a majority of the day before helping in the garden. It was important for us to have successful crops if we were going to have enough produce for the following winter. We’d stockpiled rice and other products, but if we wanted some things we’d have to grow it ourselves. Thankfully, we had plenty of animals to butcher for meat. In the autumn we’d be busy canning whatever we could.
The guys had worked all day hauling the corpses from the night before and burning them and a house down to the ground. My dad had given a long lecture the previous morning to Alexi and Justin on the hazards of getting wasted when there was the possibility of danger. Neither Melanie nor Viktor tattled on me and Kyle, which we were grateful for.
In the evening, I’d helped Paulina prepare dinner while Melanie patiently watched Riley parade in and out of the living room, showing off her new clothes. Riley practiced strutting around the house in heels the past few months so she was a pro. I’d still be interested in watching her run from a gang of zombies in them. Well, if by some miracle civilization did return, she’d be prepared for prom.
Until then, I’d be sticking closer to the ground in boots and flats. Except for my wedding, I may don a pair of pretty heels for that. I still needed to find a dress, something simple and feminine. I was thinking the outlet mall in Silverthorne may have something. I’d have to get Melanie to check it out with me.
Alexi and Justin were tired from their work, and still a bit hung-over, so they’d gone to bed right after bathing and eating dinner. My dad had set about the task of figuring out what Zeke did and did not know academically. Mostly, it was the “did not know” category that filled up. He had his work cut out for him. The boy couldn’t read and the alphabet was meaningless symbols.
Kyle and I found alone time by sitting out on the deck, cuddling on the same chair. Talks of the future had changed since before the apocalypse. When we were in middle school, we’d often contemplated which college we’d go to or which profession we’d like to go into. I’d wanted to be something ambitious like a lawyer or an FBI agent. Kyle’s dreams were more easily attainable; he’d wanted to be a high school math teacher. Nowadays, our dreams were more down-to-earth. We talked about having a home of our own nearby and someday making a baby or two. I thought that someday was a day far away. Like when we were thirty. I was in no hurry to be responsible for keeping another person alive. Kyle had the “whatever happens, happens,” attitude. I’d stealthily be starting our own stockpile of condoms the next time we went on a supply run.
Having to get up early the next morning, we all went to bed at a decent time, Melanie and Viktor before everyone else. Paulina had simply shaken her head, complaining that there was a couple who needed to be getting married. Live and let live was my motto. There was no longer a society to judge and I figured someday that little fact would catch up with Paulina.
Today, we’d be on the road again. We left early after finishing loading up the vehicles with goods to trade. Eating the breakfast Paulina made us all for our journey, I wondered if she ever got tired of constantly cooking. I got the impression she found pleasure in providing nourishment for the rest of us, so maybe not.
We’d all been looking forward to today, having had good experiences in the past at this settlement. There was only one downside to going there and I wasn’t going to even acknowledge him. With any luck, he’d be on a supply run himself or otherwise occupied and out of my sight. I knew the guys were hoping to pick up new defensive techniques with regards to weapons or combat.
My dad and Paulina sought out the chance to socialize with their own age group. They didn’t have much in common with each other and were sometimes bored being surrounded in isolation by a group of youths. My dad had Mac to visit, but poor Paulina had no older women to converse with. Melanie was arguably more mature than me, so I think she on occasion filled that void, but was usually off with Viktor.
That’s the way it was when you were in love. I’d known for a long time Kyle was my partner for life. We’d shared much sadness and happiness over the years. Our bond was unbreakable. Viktor seemed to have found the same thing in Melanie. Girls at the settlements were never been able to entice him into straying. Like Melanie said, ring or no ring, they were solid.
People got bored at the settlements, rarely seeing new faces, and the single people living at them would sometimes come on to visitors. Viktor had had to brush off a persistent older woman at the Colorado Springs settlement more than once. We’d all had experiences like that. I thought our group was sometimes envied for our unity. We were small enough for loyalties to never conflict.
And we never told any outsiders where our permanent home was, friends or not.
Our small convoy of cars, three to be exact, descended from the mountain at around ten in the morning. The weather was overcast and, from the dreary shades of grey in the sky, I didn’t need to be a weatherman to predict a good chance of rain. Good for our crops, bad for the roads. I was pretty sure it was Thursday. Maybe it was Friday; the days of the week lose their importance when your main objective in life is simply to survive. Still being alive and healthy on a Thursday didn’t feel any different than any other day of the week.
My dad always kept track of these things, the time and date, making sure our clocks were always correct and making his own calendars. The one he always posted in the kitchen even had important dates written in. As if Memorial Day was important anymore. The greatest war of all time had been fought over the past six years, the war against our extinction, and there too many fallen in its many battles to keep track of them. Too little time to mourn them all. None of us liked to think of the people from Arizona we’d known at school and in our old neighborhood that we’d never see again.
We’d taken several cars in an effort to ease the congestion now that we had the new addition of little Zeke. Viktor had suggested a safer, but slower route that weaved through the mountains, avoiding any known settlements or major towns. As we passed the mountain scenery, I felt the occasional zombie vibe. Nothing alarming, like a swarm of them awaiting us on the road. The ones we’d herded together the other night were in all likelihood the last hordes we’d encounter so near to the house for awhile.
My dad, Justin, and Paulina led the way in the truck. Viktor, Melanie, Alexi and Riley were in the Suburban, pulling a trailer with the supplies we planned to trade. That left Kyle, Zeke, and me at the rear of the formation in the Jeep. To say we’d drawn the short straw would be a monumental understatement. Even Riley’s whining didn’t compare to the pestilence that was Zeke’s views of the world.
Zeke blabbed the whole way to Fort Collins about nothing in particular and everything we didn’t want to hear. His drawl had grown wearisome before we’d even left the friendly confines of our driveway. He spoke frankly of all facets of life, from the uselessness of women to the time he’d bested his former captors in a pissing contest. It was a truly riveting conversation which made the road trip so relaxing for Kyle and me.
“Hey blondie, you two is getting hitched right?” Zeke inquired after a rare and unfortunately all too short silence. I’d been hoping he’d fallen asleep back there. He’d scarfed down enough food to go into a coma.
“It’s Anya, not blondie,” I said monotonously for the zillionth time.
Ignoring me, he continued to run his dirty and uninhibited little mouth. “You know, you’re pretty smart puttin’ that shit on lockdown.” he directed at Kyle, who couldn’t help but scoff at his nerve. “And here I was, thinkin’ you were dumber than a dog runnin’ right into the middle of a horde.”
“I’m flattered, really,” Kyle acknowledged dryly.
Zeke was undeterred. “Though, maybe settling down with a woman ain’t so smart after all. Lorenzo always used to say that only man was intelligent enough to come up with this plague, but only woman was stupid enough to unleash it on the world.”
Kyle burst out laughing and quickly shot a glance at me. At my dirty look, he’d grown ver
y intimate with the windshield in front of him in an attempt to avoid my fists of fury. Concentrating on his driving, he must have felt my glare. “What?” he asked innocently. “You can’t deny the kid’s hilarious.”
“You don’t have to encourage him,” I hissed under my breath, “especially when he’s acting racist or like a little misogynist.”
“I know you’re gonna ask me to be your best man and the answer is yes,” continued Zeke confidently. “Course that’s only if there’s a bachelor party,” he finished smartly. At the sound of Kyle's guffaw, he got my fist in his side, the one wearing his engagement ring.
“Zeke, what in God’s name do you know about bachelor parties?” I asked the little demon, turning in my seat to stare pointedly at him. He had me genuinely interested how a nine-year-old living in the apocalyptic world would acquire knowledge of pre-marital festivities such as this.
“Well, Miss Anya,” he emphasized sarcastically, “remember them cowboys I was with before ya’ll kidnapped me? Well the Mexican one, Lorenzo, had a little TV thing that could play videos.”
“Alright, that’s enough,” I interrupted him. “There’s no need to finish that story.”
There was no telling what kind of video had taught him about bachelor parties. Disgusted yet again, I told Zeke it was time to play the quiet game. Predictably, Zeke lost the quiet game after only a few minutes. This was the entire drive to Fort Collins. Zeke spout off about age inappropriate topics while I uselessly scolded him and Kyle laughed occasionally.
At least the scenery was beautiful. The mountain towns hadn’t been quite as ravaged as the rest of the state, particularly Denver and its suburbs. Back when the outbreak first began most people had foolishly congregated in the cities, thinking the hastily called up National Guard and police officers could provide protection. Refugee camps outside the cities were inevitably overrun by massive hordes of the undead searching out victims.
We didn’t see a living soul the entire drive, not a surprise. One of the soulless undead fell victim to the grille guard on the truck, leaving Viktor and then Kyle swerving to avoid running over the corpse. If I had a nickel for every zombie we’d killed . . . well, what the hell would I do with all those nickels anyways?
The former college town of Fort Collins was one of the few settlements we’d encountered which showed some remnants of civilization. The university’s former students, along with some professors and families, had formed the only rival to the Colorado Springs settlement, both in size and security. Its survivors were educated, well organized and, most importantly in these harrowing times, they were normal. Unlike the pleasure seekers of Eden and the power hungry of Colorado Springs, the Fort Collins group strove for progress and community.
Several times a year, we made the long trip to Fort Collins to trade supplies and stock up on biofuel. Twelve foot walls, made with a mixture of materials, surrounded the borders of the settlement. Dorms, dining halls, classrooms and wide open spaces provided ample room for the people to prosper and plant crops. We’d even considered settling here at one point before Viktor and my dad had decided it was best to seclude ourselves from others. The security in the numbers here didn’t outweigh the use of my gift. Plus, in our little mountain retreat we didn’t have to answer to a larger community. We made our own decisions.
We arrived on campus being followed by a slew of stray zombies that were then trapped in the spiked moat around the gate. An engineering professor had devised an ingenious drawbridge system which added extra defense in the event of mob attack. I saw a guard wearing a silver fire proximity suit preparing a flamethrower to light the living dead on fire after they fell into the pit.
“Badass!” Zeke exclaimed in awe. “I gotta get me one of those!” Hopefully he meant the suit, not the flamethrower. I imagined Zeke having playtime with a flamethrower and setting the forest surrounding our home ablaze.
“Not till you’re twelve, son,” Kyle joked.
“Or ever,” I added cheerfully.
The last time we visited, there’d been rumors Colorado Springs’ leaders wanted to annex this place. So far these rumors had proven untrue, but after the events at Eden it didn’t seem farfetched any longer. The prospect wasn’t a good one. It would take away a lot of the enjoyment of visiting if this place became the military dictatorship that Colorado Springs was.
Kyle and I had our own special errand to run this trip. There was a pastor who could give us a formal wedding for only a meager fee at the chapel on campus. I’d been in there once before. Paulina had made us all visit the church a few summers ago because she’d found dirty magazines in Justin and Alexi’s room while gathering their dirty laundry. It didn’t really seem fair for us to be grouped with the little perverts, but there we were. For awhile now, she’d pretty much given up on keeping everyone’s faith alive, leaving us to our own beliefs or non-beliefs. Maybe she’d finally seen enough and given up on God herself.
We crept through the gates and stopped in the visitor parking area to run through a quick security check. A guard would routinely step up to each vehicle and ask us to state our business and how long we’d be staying. The drill was the same each time we came.
Our guard was a cocky-looking guy in his mid-twenties. I was honestly hoping we’d get someone else because every time we were here this guy would stare at me. It’s not that he was unattractive. A shade over six feet, his black hair was currently buzzed and he had hooded blue eyes surrounded by thick lashes. What always unnerved me was the mischievous look in those wicked eyes which implied he knew something you didn’t.
He motioned us out of the vehicle and I noticed he was strapped with enough weapons and ammunition to take out a horde by himself. “Hi there,” he greeted, his gaze zeroing in on me in my shorts and tank top. “Welcome to Fort Collins, I’m Conley, what’s your business?” he asked Kyle while watching me come around the Jeep. I took the blue flannel tied around my waist and put it on, uncomfortable being scrutinized.
“We’re here to fuck shit up,” squeaked Zeke.
Kyle laughed before answering, “We’re here to get biofuel and visit the pastor.”
“Sounds good, you know the weapons restrictions?” asked Conley in his rumbling voice. Yet again, he was looking at me. Then he, almost distractedly, continued by saying, “No automatic weapons allowed. Each person is permitted one handgun with the safety on and one sheathed blade.”
“Yeah, yeah, commando Conley. This counts as my blade, right?” quipped Zeke as he unsheathed the machete he told us “spoke to” him.
“Sure that works, even if it’s bigger than you are, champ,” responded the amused watchman. “Be safe guys . . . and you too, miss,” he finished softly while staring at my mouth.
Ignoring him, I walked away, hoping he wasn’t now checking out my bottom in my jean shorts. Guys were such pigs and the last thing I needed was some stupid self-absorbed jerk ogling me. One more thing to add to the long list of reasons not to live in a settlement.
We weren’t ten steps away when Kyle asked me, “Hey, so should I kick that guy’s ass?” It was very noble of him and all, but I wasn’t sure he’d healed enough yet for fighting.
“Of course you can, but after we get all our trading done,” I teased him. Never having actually spoken to him, I hadn’t known Conley’s name before. The first time I’d noticed him, I was seventeen and we were trading supplies here as usual. His piercing stare had made me blush and I’d avoided him ever since. Pushing thoughts of him out of my head, where they had no business being, I headed to our first stop.
One of my favorite parts of visiting Fort Collins was seeing my friend, Suzanna, who ran a cluttered albeit charming general store on the far side of town. It didn’t see much business because it mostly focused on women’s clothing, makeup and knickknacks. Once I saw her, I could catch up on any gossip and see what she’d been up to.
With Kyle and Zeke in tow, I entered Suzanna’s empty shop where she sat painting her nails some crazy design.
By no means was I self-conscious about the way I looked, but Suzanna had that exotic beauty that made men crazy. I’d asked her once what her ethnicity was and she’d told me a little bit of everything. Another time we’d had some drinks together, the first time I’d ever gotten fully drunk, and she’d told me she was half-Filipino, half-Ecuadorian and half-French. Whatever that meant. She wasn’t the brightest girl I’d known, but I was hoping it was the alcohol talking.
She lifted her eyes and smiled immediately. “Anya Donovan, my long lost sister!” She giggled excitedly while walking around the counter. Laying a big hug on me, she made sure to keep her hands stretched out so as not to ruin her intricately painted nails.
“Suzanna!” I laughed. Come to think of it, I never did catch her last name in all the time I’d known her. With so few people around, I guess it made sense to only go by one name. Madonna and Prince would be so proud.
She ushered me to the seat next to hers behind the counter and opened a special wooden box of nail polishes. She always treated the box like it was her treasure chest and the contents her treasure. She grabbed a few fluorescent hues and started jabbering about the comings and goings of the settlement. Things could get scandalous when people were forced to be in such close proximity for long periods of time. Not that I knew most of the people she was talking about, but the drama in the residence halls was entertaining even in an abstract way.
After telling me a story about a bed-hopping husband getting caught, she looked up and saw Zeke standing in the doorway, admiring her. Real smooth, Casanova. She smiled at him and the boy blushed a deep shade of red, sporting a toothy smile on his face. “Who’s this little cutie, Anya?” asked Suzanna loudly.
I looked to Zeke so he could introduce himself, but in his mesmerized state he didn’t seem capable. “This is Zeke, we found him on a supply run in Grand Junction,” I explained. “He’s part of the Donovan clan now, but we’re thinking of trading him for a cow.”
My taunt went unnoticed and the strangest thing happened then. Zeke actually walked up and politely as the day is long, said, “Nice to meet you, Miss Suzanna. I’ve heard good things about you, but no one mentioned you were the most beautiful woman in the world. That seems like a big oversight to me.” It was the first time I’d heard him speak and not sound like he was raised by degenerate carnies.
“That’s so sweet of you, Zeke. You’re quite handsome yourself.” Her compliment made him blush all over again and his eyes lit up. She crooked a finger to bring him closer. “Would you mind doing me a favor, Zeke?”
He nodded eagerly and I imagined the chores we could get out of him if Suzanna was the one to ask.
“Do you think you could take Kyle on a walk so Anya and I can have a little girl time? You know how we girls like to chat . . . about handsome boys.”
Looking at my own handsome boy, Kyle was awkwardly eyeing the lingerie section of the store. Now, there was a thought, honeymoon supplies. He must have felt my gaze on him, because when he looked at me his eyes were hot. Now I was the one blushing and the grin he gave me let me know that he knew what I was thinking.
“Gladly, Miss Suzanna,” Zeke replied, gawking at her ample chest. Oh god, not another Alexi. My little brother had given Suzanna a wide berth since she slapped him when he was fifteen.
Kyle came over to kiss me on the cheek, telling me to come find him when I was done with the girl talk. When the door shut behind them, Suzanna gestured for my hands and opened a bright pink nail polish which looked like something Princess Riley would pick.
“Actually, do you think you could go with a dark red?” I asked carefully, not wanting to hurt her feelings.
She pulled out a deep red shade of polish and shook the bottle. “Ooh, someone’s feeling daring. Does this have anything to do with why your man was practically dressing you with his eyes in lingerie?”
I shrugged one shoulder noncommittally. “Perhaps.”
Laying my hands gingerly out on the counter, I heard a deep gasp of surprise. “Oh my God! Is that an engagement ring?” Suzanna chirped in that special high-pitched voice reserved for babies, puppies and weddings. Frankly, I was shocked it took her this long to notice the rock on my left hand.
“Yep, he proposed the other day. It was really cute and unexpected,” I told her proudly. “We’re going to the chapel later to talk to the pastor about setting a date for a ceremony.”
“That’s so great! Have you picked a maid of honor yet?” She threw the question out there indifferently, but it didn’t hide her anxiousness. “I mean, I know Riley’s your sister and all, but that girl is a pain in the ass.”
“Well I was kinda hoping you’d do it,” I offered. “You could help organize the preparations while I’m not here?”
“I was hoping you’d say that!” Suzanna beamed, clapping her hands together in excitement.
“Now, let’s talk about you. How’s the love life?” I asked, trying not to monopolize the conversation and talk only about me. Suzanna was several years older than me, at twenty-four, and last time I’d come she’d been single.
“Oh, you know, it’s been worse,” she said merrily with a smirk on her lips. Clearly she was downplaying it. “I’ve been seeing this guy off and on the past few months. I can’t tell how serious he is, though.” She finished her thought wistfully, obviously wanting things to be more serious than they were.
We talked about all sorts of things while she painted my nails, even giving them a second coat after the first dried. An emissary from Colorado Springs had come recently and discussed providing a military force. Fort Collins’ leader, a man named Beckett, had outright refused and the emissary left on bad terms. Based on my previous experiences with the military-like settlement down south, it didn’t bode well.
Other gossip was some former biology students trying to experiment on zombies to find any weaknesses. So far they hadn’t had much luck. This wasn’t surprising. I’d guess only the most brilliant scientific minds had a chance of curing this plague. The former students of Colorado State University, though intelligent, weren’t in the class of genius. I imagined some secret underground military bunker in New Mexico where brilliant scientific minds were hard at work, trying to discover a cure. A girl could dream.
Suzanna informed me there was a new family originally from St. Louis who reported Missouri and everything east of the region was almost completely uninhabitable. We were all worried about hordes crossing the Midwest, coming from the highly populated East Coast and into Colorado. The newcomers came from a settlement that was overrun by thousands of zombies at once. If that were true, it’d be the largest pack we’d heard of in years.
I told her about the bear incident and how we’d rescued the baby bear. Rarely leaving the walls of the campus, Suzanna was amazed we’d had the courage to track an infected grizzly bear. I also told her the entire story of how we’d come across Zeke, leaving out my part with necromancy. Her eyes widened when I described the bandits and their demands. When I was telling her about us herding the two hordes of undead together, her hand slipped and she got polish on my knuckle.
Wiping it away, she said, “You guys are crazy. I don’t know why you don’t move here. There’s plenty of room in the dorms.”
“We like our privacy,” was my practiced answer.
Friends were few and far between during Armageddon and it was nice to have constancy in Suzanna’s friendship.
As we were saying goodbye that same jerk from the gate, Conley, came strolling in smiling like he was the answer to the infection. He walked up to the counter, leaned over it and, to my horror, kissed Suzanna in a way that should be behind closed doors. Oh god, he was why she was so happy and confused at the same time!
I put on a blank expression and tried to be nice as Suzanna introduced me to Conley Beckett, the head of security for the settlement. From the starry look in her eyes, she really liked this guy, so I refrained from blurting out that he probably wasn’t serious about her at all. It wasn’t my pla
ce to say such things.
“Anya,” he said my first name slowly, as if savoring it. My eye was twitching in my effort to keep from glaring at him. “I’ve seen you around over the years.”
Suzanna now wore a strange look on her face and grabbed onto his hand. “Baby, Anya is getting married!”
A dark glint entered his now cold blue eyes. “Is that so?”
My friend wasn’t deterred. “Isn’t that wonderful? She and Kyle have been together, like, forever. I just think it’s so great that they’re committing to each other in such a permanent way.”
Subtle, Suzanna was not.
Conley ignored her enthusiasm, and her hints, and grunted irritably. “I’ve got things to do.” With that, he made his exit in long, angry strides. I wasn’t sure what had pissed him off so much. Maybe he didn’t like his women pressuring him.
Suzanna’s pretty face fell. “Sorry about that, he’s not usually so moody.”
I’m sure my smile was strained. “It’s okay, guys get like that.” Still trying to reassure her, I said, “Believe me, I know, I live with enough of them.”
For the rest of our time together, she wasn’t quite as upbeat, but when we said our goodbyes, she hugged me as tightly as she had when I’d arrived.
I wasn’t ten feet from her shop when I encountered Conley again. He was leaning against the side of the building, one heel raised against the wall in an indolent position. He was now wearing sunglasses to reduce the glare of the hot midday sun. Having the disturbing idea that he’d been waiting for me, I’d planned on walking right by without acknowledging him.
He had other plans. “Where are you off to, now?”
I would’ve continued to ignore him, but he moved to walk alongside me. “Trying to find my fiancé.”
“Him,” Conley grated out. “He seems kind of. . . .”
I stopped, spinning around to face him. “Kind of what?”
“Not you’re type,” he answered mulishly.
Laughing without humor, I shook my head. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know a lot about you,” he returned stubbornly.
My heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head. “I know you come from Phoenix. I know your mom died in the beginning. I know you have two brothers and a sister. I know from the stories I’ve heard that, like the rest of your family, you’re fearless.”
More like we had an advantage over everyone else, including the infected. When he first declared he knew a lot about me, I’d worried he’d somehow found out about my ability. Instead, he knew only general facts. “Who’ve you been compiling your information from? Suzanna?”
“Her,” he agreed. “And my dad.”
“Derek Becket is your dad?” I asked, already figuring that out when Suzanna introduced Conley.
Conley nodded then abruptly changed the subject. “Are you hungry?”
“What?”
The sunglasses blocked me from seeing his eyes, but the way he turned his head to the side, I knew he wasn’t looking at me. “I was just about to go get something to eat from the dining hall, wondered if you wanted to join me.”
His head was turned back towards me when I answered. “Um, thanks, that’s, uh, hospitable of you, but I really need to go find Kyle.”
His jaw tensed and he walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Fine, see you around.”