Chapter One
Kellan sped down the road, leaving a trail of dirt in our wake that reminded me of the dust storm that had swept through last summer. From the passenger seat I watched the barren landscape fly by, brown and almost blinding in its brightness. The road, now nearly buried by the sandy Oklahoma terrain, was cracked and peppered with holes from age and neglect, and I tightened my grip on the door when the tires thumped over a particularly deep fissure. My elbow poked out of the open window, slowly getting scorched by the sun’s rays while sweat beaded on my upper lip. When I licked my lips, the salty taste of sweat was accompanied by an earthy grit I had long ago gotten used to. The drought had been going strong for five years now, but even before the earth had turned to dust beneath our feet, the violent winds had made it impossible not to get covered in sand when you went outside. Especially when you were speeding down the road the way we were right now.
“Look,” Kellan called, raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the wind rushing through the car.
He kept his hands on the steering wheel as he nodded toward something in front of us. I leaned forward, squinting so I could see through the dusty goggles I wore. Thanks to the sun shining down on the landscape, it took a few seconds to make out what he was pointing at, and even then I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to see. It was a truck, pulled off to the side of the road with its doors wide open. Nothing new, really. Abandoned vehicles were common. It wasn’t like there were mechanics around every corner.
Kellan eased his foot off the gas, and the car slowed. He didn’t stop completely, though. His eyes, barely visible behind his goggles, were focused on the truck. “It wasn’t there last time I came out.”
“So?” I didn’t have to yell to be heard since he was driving slower than before.
Kellan’s mouth turned down in one corner and he shook his head. “Look at it, Regan.”
I rolled my eyes behind my own goggles before ripping them off. Kellan still hadn’t stopped the car, but he was driving slowly enough that I was able to get a good look at the truck as we rolled past it. Blood, reddish brown against the off white paint, was smeared across the open driver’s side door.
My hand went to the gun strapped to my hip. “Zombies?”
I was already scanning the landscape, not bothering to put my goggles back on. There was no sign of the dead, but that didn’t mean a thing. They could have attacked this poor asshole then wandered off, drawn away by another sound, maybe.
“Look at it, Regan.”
Kellan had that tone. The one that ruffled my feathers. The one that made him sound patronizing, like he was my father or even an older brother. He was neither, which was what pissed me off.
My back stiffened and I shot him a glare, but he just nodded to the truck again. It was behind us now, so I had to twist in my seat and stick my head out the window, but when I did, I saw what he meant. Items littered the ground around the truck like everything had been pulled out and thrown around. As if someone had searched the interior for something useful. Even worse, there was blood on some of the items.
Marauders.
I turned back around, settling into my seat as I pulled my goggles back on. “Go.” I waved to the road in front of us. “Hit the gas, and let’s get the hell out of here in case they’re still around.”
“They’re not,” Kellan said. “The tire tracks have been covered by the dirt. Whoever did this is long gone.”
He accelerated anyway, and we shot forward.
In seconds, the car was once again filled with wind and dust, cutting off the retort trying to force its way out of me. Not that I was planning on arguing with him. Kellan knew what he was talking about for one, and for two, I could trust him with my life. Even if he did irritate the hell out of me fifty percent of the time.
It wasn’t long before buildings came into view, most of them now little more than crumbling shells of what they had been nine years ago, and Kellan once again slowed. The trail of dirt following our car eased but didn’t fade completely. In the distance, I spied three other trails, brown against the cloudless blue sky, telling me there were at least three other vehicles out on the road today. Hopefully, it was only other people heading to the settlement to trade and not whoever had raided that truck.
We passed the old college, the parking lot now overgrown with waist-high weeds that had somehow managed to flourish despite the drought, and then the Wal-Mart. Or what was left of it, anyway. A group had lived in it until a few years ago when a twister tore through the state, leveling half the town and ripping the roof off the store. Now it was crumbling, like most of the other buildings. Without people to maintain them, they couldn’t withstand the severe Oklahoma weather, and the state was reclaiming the city one crumbling structure at a time. High winds and golf ball size hail damaged roofs and broke windows, heavy ice in the winter collapsed already weakened roofs and walls. Tornados flattened buildings, while uncontrolled wildfires took out whole neighborhoods. The little bit left of the town I’d called home nine years ago was not only unrecognizable, but rotting as well. Before too long the only part of Altus, Oklahoma left would be the small downtown square that had been walled in and turned into a settlement.
Kellan pulled his goggles off and tossed them onto the dashboard. He ran his hand through his dark hair, shaking the dust from it before running his palm down his face. He was trying to wipe the dirt away, but all he succeeded in doing was streaking it across his skin. His eyes never stopped moving as he drove, passing more ramshackle buildings and shells of businesses long gone, not relaxing even when the wall came into view.
The person in the watchtower waved, signaling to the people on the ground to open the gate for us, and Kellan slowed the car. The dead lined the sidewalks, taken out by the guards and stacked three high, their bodies left to putrefy under the hot sun in hopes it would keep large hordes away. It was the most repulsive security measure I’d ever seen, but it seemed to be working. In nine years of living with the zombies, the settlement hadn’t been threatened by a big horde since they’d started doing it. I still wasn’t convinced it was worth it, though.
The buzz from hundreds of flies filled the air as we waited for the gate to open. The pests circled the bodies, landing to feast on rotting flesh before taking off again, and my nose wrinkled at the cloying stench of death. It was familiar after all these years, but no less repulsive. I doubted I would ever get used to the smell. Or maybe I just hoped I wouldn’t.
Kellan accelerated as soon as the gate opened, maneuvering the car through the tight space before expertly turning the wheel so he could pull over just inside. Cars were allowed in—leaving them outside the walls was like an invitation to have your belongings stolen—but there was no room to drive around. The little bit of fenced-in town was pretty packed at this point.
Kellan yanked the keys out of the ignition. His cheeks were pink from the drive, but it was subtle enough that most people wouldn’t notice. I did, because I was staring at him. A fact I didn’t really register until he turned my way and his brown eyes grabbed mine.
Heat flared up my neck to my cheeks and I looked away, focusing on the bag at my feet instead of the man at my side. This was how things had been between us lately, but I wasn’t sure why I’d found myself paying more and more attention to him as days passed. Okay, that was a lie. I knew. I just couldn’t figure out what had shifted between us or why, after all this time, I suddenly found Kellan desirable. I’d known him literally forever and nothing about our situation had changed over the last nine years. He still got under my skin faster than anyone else had ever been able to, and he still often reverted to treating me like I was his spoiled little sister, which only irritated me more. Yet over the last year, I’d found myself more and more distracted in his presence.
“You okay?” he asked after a moment of silence.
I ventured a look up. His black hair had fallen over his forehead, nearly covering one of his eyes, but they were still focused on me. He shoved the hair back before absentmindedly running his hand across his jaw. It was dotted with sparse stubble that I knew from experience would be soft against my skin, which was different from the stubble Cade and Blake sported. I’d felt the tickle of Kellan’s facial hair before, more than once, but last summer was the first time I’d become aware of it. We’d been goofing off, and he’d lifted me up, pretending he was going to throw me into what was left of the river, and his chin had rubbed the back of my neck. The brush of his soft stubble against my skin had sent a shiver down my spine, nearly making my toes curl. Even now, almost a year later, the memory of it was still vivid in my mind, causing bumps to pop up on my skin.
I pushed my door open, tearing my gaze from his. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
When I climbed out, the hot sun pounded down on my head like it was trying to light me on fire. I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky, allowing the heat from the sun’s sweltering rays to push my unease away. The streets inside the settlement were bustling with activity—thankfully. It would give me something to focus on other than Kellan.
Flies buzzed around me, landing on my cheek and neck, and I waved my hand in front of my face in an attempt to shoo them away. It wouldn’t work, and I knew it, but I couldn’t stand the little pests—especially knowing the last thing they’d landed on had most likely been one of the dead—and I never gave up trying. The flies had always been bad, but the population had exploded since the apocalypse and had grown progressively worse with the drought. Now, it was impossible to escape them no matter where you were.
I was still waving my hand in front of my face when I opened my eyes, and I had to squint as I looked around. The Altus settlement was set up in a literal square, concentrated in what had formerly been the downtown area. It had been easy enough to fortify in the early days of the zombies, because the rows of buildings on each side were connected, creating four sides of what now made up the wall. Back then, the survivors simply had to create new walls to block off the streets, then board up any back doors and windows that might leave them vulnerable. It had worked well, and as more and more people wandered into the settlement, the buildings that had at one time housed stores, restaurants, and other businesses, had been emptied and repurposed into functional living spaces. Now, more than nine years later, the town was thriving. There was only one other settlement within reasonable driving distance even worth our time when we headed out to trade, although Kellan and I came here more often. Mostly because, once upon a time, Altus had been our home.
I tossed my goggles onto the passenger seat before shutting the car door. On the other side, Kellan was already scanning the area. The place was safe and secure, but that was just his way. Mr. Responsible. He was always checking our surroundings when we were out, never relaxed until he was positive things were secure. If I didn’t know him almost as well as I knew myself, I’d think he was uptight. He wasn’t, though. Kellan had a fun side, a soft side, too. He liked to joke around, liked to tease me until I got mad, and then he’d throw his head back and laugh. It was infuriating, but adorable at the same time.
When he needed to get work done, though, he was all business.
“Let’s trade first,” he called as he nodded toward the market on the far side of the square.
He took off, and I had to jog to catch up. People nodded as we passed, a few I recognized, although most were strangers. At least to me. Kellan had come here a lot more often, so it was entirely possible the people who called out the occasional hello weren’t strangers to him. Something I was very aware of when we passed a woman and she purred out a seductive greeting that got lost somewhere between a hello and an invitation.
“A friend of yours?” I asked, eyeing the woman whose curves made my long, lean frame look childish in comparison.
Kellan shot a look my way, and despite the severe mask he wore when out, the corner of his mouth twitched. “Something like that.”
I pulled my backpack up higher on my shoulder as I glanced back at the woman. She’d kept walking, but the way she was swaying her hips told me she was hoping Kellan was paying attention. Too bad for her, I looked back to find his gaze on me, his eyes twinkling with a teasing light I was more than familiar with.
“Is that why you came with me today?” Heat licked at my cheeks at the implication that I’d come to have some alone time with him, and I’d just opened my mouth to protest when he said, “Maybe you’re looking to meet someone?”
I slammed my mouth shut when my cheeks grew hotter. He hadn’t been referring to himself or thinking about the two of us together. No, he was asking if I’d come here hoping to meet someone new.
“Get real,” I muttered as I reached back and twisted my long, brown hair into a knot on the top of my head.
The knowledge that I’d so thoroughly misinterpreted his question made it impossible for me to look him in the eye, so I focused on the ground as I walked, instead of Kellan.
The once smooth street had fissured and cracked over the years, and just like everywhere else, weeds grew from the openings. Here, the townspeople had at least made an effort to control Mother Nature, and the green that had made its way through the cracks was minor. Still, it was there, and for some reason, more than anything else, the sight of those green sprigs poking through the cracks made me think back to what this town had been like before all this. To the close-knit community and the annual events that had been held right here in this very spot. Chili cook-offs, the Rock N’ Rumble car show, the yearly Walkin’ On Chalk contest where community members would decorate whole sections of the sidewalk in brightly colored drawings. These were the events I’d attended for the first twelve years of my life, and back then I’d thought things would never change. Altus had been a small town, and secluded, but it had been home. Now, though, it was gone. It had disappeared like everything else normal and familiar, as if carried away by a large gust of wind.
“Do you remember it?” I asked, tearing my gaze from the ground so I could focus on Kellan. “Life before the zombies, I mean.”
His brows furrowed like he was thinking it through, but he probably didn’t have to think that hard. Kellan was fifteen when the virus killed off the world.
“I remember,” he finally said, and his gaze moved past me, toward the other side of town like he was trying to see his old house. “I remember it all.”
He only looked that way for a few seconds before he was once again focused on me. Something about the way his gaze moved over me made the hair on my scalp prickle. I ran my hand over my head, trying to smooth down any stray hairs, or even force my body to obey me, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t been able to control it in nearly a year, thanks to my sudden realization that Kellan was not only a man, but a very attractive one on top of that.
He blew out a long, deep breath before once again focusing on the street in front of us. “Let’s get this over with so we can grab a drink.”
When Kellan started walking faster, I was forced to practically run to keep up. It was almost like he was trying to run away from me. That couldn’t be right, though. Kellan was probably just thinking about the things we’d lost. Our families. Our friends. Our futures.
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