by Bale, Sarah
I put my arm over her waist and pulled her close.
“Not soon enough.”
She hummed.
“Are you mad at me?”
She flipped over so she was facing me. Fuck. She was most definitely pissed.
“What do you think?”
“Daisy, what was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. I just- did you sleep with her?”
My mouth fell open. “No!”
“Good.” She paused. “What did she want?”
“She was telling me about the information network. Seemed surprised you hadn’t told me.”
Her forehead creased. “I was going to, but then I got distracted with Grey and Kat.”
“I figured there was a reason.”
I inhaled and pulled Daisy closer.
“We have to leave sooner than we planned. She told me tonight that she’s going to tell Wyatt I’m alive.” I didn’t want to say the next part. “And she’s thinking about using you as a bargaining tool.”
“What?” Daisy’s eyes were wide.
“She’s not wrong in the fact that Wyatt will pay handsomely to know I’m alive. And throwing you to the wolves would be a double win. It would hurt me and she’d score points with him.”
Daisy asked, “When are we leaving?”
“Two nights. That gives us time to gather some supplies. Hopefully her source with the network doesn’t show up.”
“Is he supposed to?”
I nodded. “Theo said he should’ve been here by now.”
“Okay. So we’re leaving in two days.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry for overreacting.”
I kissed her. “Don’t ever apologize for your feelings.”
We were both silent, lost in our thoughts.
She looked up and said, “I’m going to tell my mom.”
“Daisy-”
“I know it’s crazy. She’ll probably run right to Lilly. But I have to try. I can’t leave her here like this.” Her voice was raw with emotion.
“Fine. But don’t tell her until we’re about to leave.”
“Deal.” She paused. “How are we going to get out of here?”
I replied, “I’ll think on it tonight. Maybe by tomorrow I’ll have a plan.”
She soon fell asleep in my arms, but I was too wound up to do the same. We needed a way to escape that Lilly wouldn’t see coming. She wasn’t dumb – she had to know we were going to leave at some point.
Sighing, I closed my eyes. I would find a way to get us out of here. I had to.
15
Daisy
Elijah was gone the next morning when I woke up. My body was stiff from sleeping in the same position. The room seemed so empty with no one else there. I threw my hair into a sloppy bun and went to the main house.
The house was quiet. Too quiet. I went to the kitchen and found Cooper. He wasn’t my favorite person right now, but he usually knew what was going on. He sat at the breakfast bar and had a cell phone in his hand.
“Why do you have that?”
He glanced up, cheeks turning red. “You’re going to laugh.”
“Try me.”
He put his iPhone down. “I keep my old phone just in case the cell phone towers come back up.”
“Why would I laugh at that?”
“Because it’s been almost four years since the outbreak. I’m sure the towers would’ve come back up by now if they were going to.”
I slid into the chair across from him.
“To me, it means that you still have faith in humanity.”
“A lot of good that does.”
There was a commotion from the backyard. I looked out the window and saw a group of men standing in a circle.
“What’s going on out there?”
“Lilly is picking her champions.”
That didn’t sound good. At all.
“Do I want to know?”
His lips twitched in a smile. “No. You probably don’t. But since I know she’s going to pick Elijah you’ll want to get familiar with the concept very fast.”
“Please explain.”
He glanced out the window and said, “She makes the champions fight to the death. With a whole bunch of biters locked in a pen with them. You know, to make it harder. But most of those assholes out there love it. Think it’s exciting.”
Oh my freaking god.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.” He stood. “Please don’t tell anyone about the phone. Lilly hates secrets.”
He went to another room. I followed him.
“Do you know where my mom is?”
“She stays in the basement.”
I couldn’t imagine anyone living in our unfinished basement. As a child, it scared the shit out of me. I made my way down the rickety staircase.
“Mom. Are you down here?”
She peeked her head around the wall. “Daisy? What are you doing down here?”
“I could ask you the same.”
I stepped off the stair onto a rug - the same rug that used to be in our family room.
“Let me get some light in here.” She lit a kerosene lamp. “There. That’s better.”
It really wasn’t. I could see better, sure. But what I saw made me want to turn around and leave. Our basement was a shrine to our old lives. I’m not sure how she managed to get the old family room furniture set down here. Family photos hung on the unfinished sheetrock wall. And my dad’s head sat in a baby swing, rocking back and forth.
I focused my attention on my mom. “Did you move all this down here yourself?”
“Theo helped.” She sat on the couch. “I was just about to feed your father.”
One time my father had to have oral surgery and my mom made him a smoothie. She held the cup while he drank it. The same cup was in her hand now. I shuddered. Nope! I couldn’t deal with this today.
“I just wanted to see where you were. I’ll let you get back to… feeding him.”
I turned and took the stairs two at a time. When I reached the first floor I ran into Theo. He grabbed me by the arms, steading me.
“Whoa. Everything okay?”
“No. I just saw where Mom is staying. And she was about to feed my dad’s head.”
His face softened. “I’m sorry you came back to find him like that.”
“Then why didn’t you try to stop Lilly from doing it?”
He sighed. “Because no one can stop her and no one wants to stop her. Daisy, people like the way things are here.”
“Have you seen Elijah?”
“He’s outside with Lilly. You don’t want to go out there. He’s pretty upset.”
I said, “I would be, too, if I was chosen to participate in one of Lilly’s crazy schemes.”
Theo’s eyes widened. “Daisy! Don’t say things like that. If she hears you.”
“Whatever, Theo.”
I pushed past him, but he grabbed my arm again.
“Come on.”
He led me to the front door and pulled me outside.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere we can talk.”
We walked down the paths where the bunks were. He took me to a smaller one not too far from where I was staying. Inside, I was surprised to see Cooper sitting on a cot. He jumped to his feet.
“It’s okay, Coop,” Theo said. He turned to me, challenging me.
“So this is where you stay? I’m surprised you’re not in the house with Lilly.”
Theo replied, “As I said, I have a room there, too. But I prefer to be out here.” He sat next to Cooper. “Where people are less likely to talk.”
I sat on the cot across from them. “Do people talk a lot about you two being together?”
Cooper’s cheeks were flushed and he wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
Theo said, “Most people don’t know. Lilly makes sure of that. Says this makes me weak.”
“It doesn’t. It makes you human.” I smiled. “Love is love, even in the
zombie apocalypse.”
Theo nodded. “I agree. But Lilly sees it as competition.” He paused. “She’s going to kill Cooper to make an example for the others and to hurt me.”
Cooper reached out and grasped Theo’s hand. “I’ll gladly die a thousand deaths if it means you’ll be safe.”
I hated to burst their bubble. “You won’t be safe. You know that, right?”
Theo replied, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do. I’ve seen the wall. I’ve seen what she did to your family and to my own father. Do you really think she’ll be satisfied by killing Cooper?”
Cooper stood. “I don’t need to hear this. I understand what you’re trying to do, Daisy, but you’re wasting your breath.”
He kissed Theo on the cheek and left.
When he was gone, Theo said, “You don’t seem to understand that I watched Lilly chop my dad’s fingers off while she was cheered on by her fuck squad. After that, I would have done anything she asked. It’s easier not to fight, even if it means losing Cooper.”
“He’s going to die for no reason! Just like everyone else around here.” I inhaled. “She wants Elijah gone. She sees me as a threat, too, which means I’ll be traded to her source with the network. See what I mean? It never ends.”
He said, “She’s not going to let Elijah die. She needs him alive for a while longer. For a trade.”
“Then why pick him as a champion for her fight?”
He hesitated. “I don’t know. She didn’t talk to me about it.”
“Does she usually?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should be worried.”
He stared at me. I realized that he was worried. And he didn’t know what to do.
I inhaled. What I was about to say was a huge risk to my well-being.
“What if there was another way?” I let my question sink in and then rushed on, “What if you and Cooper could be together without having to worry about people like Lilly wanting to get rid of you?”
“What you’re talking about doesn’t exist anymore, Daisy. The world is different now. You adapt and change to survive.”
“But it doesn’t have to be like that.”
He snorted. “What are you planning? To kill her?”
The thought had crossed my mind.
He went on, “Her fuckboy bodyguards will die for her. That’s the deal. They give their lives up to protect her and she fucks them.” He exhaled. “Are you going to leave? You don’t have weapons or even a getaway car. Lilly would track you down.”
“What if we did have weapons and a car?”
His gaze narrowed. “Do you?”
“No.” I sighed. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.”
“You’d have to leave soon.”
I asked, “How soon?”
“She’s planning on having the champion fight at the end of the week.” He frowned. “And if the contact with the network shows up before then…”
I said, “So two days.”
Which is what Elijah and I had already decided.
“Yes. And, if you were going to go through with it, you’d want to head out the main gate.”
I shook my head. “You said there were guards out there.”
“Then do something to make sure they’re distracted.” He lowered his voice. “If you can do that, then I’d say it’s safe to bet there will be an escape car a mile out. Close to where we used to ride our bikes as kids.”
My hands trembled. “That’s a lot to try to pull off.”
“But it’s down to do or die.”
He was right.
“Will you come with me?”
“No. I… I can’t.”
Because of Cooper.
I stood. “Thank you.”
“For what? I’m not helping you.” He gave me a slight smile.
I left the bunk, searching for Elijah. Two days. But now we’d have a car. And maybe even a chance.
16
Elijah
Daisy found me pacing in our bunk. My hand ached from punching the wall and I held it close to my body.
“We’re not leaving a day too soon,” I said.
She nodded. “I know. I heard.”
“I don’t know how she comes up with shit like this.”
“She used to watch a lot of television. But she won’t win.”
Daisy was in an awfully good mood.
I asked, “Did something happen that I’m not aware of? I expected you to be pissed and maybe a little worried about my well-being.”
“Oh, I am. But I’m also hopeful.”
She smiled and the sight took my breath away. I hadn’t seen her look so happy in a long fucking time.
“Spill.”
“I talked to Theo. He knows it’s not safe here and said he’d help us get out of here.”
“What the fuck? Why would he do that?”
“Because he knows Lilly can’t be trusted. He said we need to be gone in two days.”
I said, “Which we’d already agreed on.”
“I know. But now we might really have a chance to get away.”
I didn’t want to burst her bubble, but I had to.
“Do you really think we can trust him? Come on, Daisy, it’s probably a trap. We’re going to run, get to that car, and find Lilly waiting with a gun.”
She shrugged. “We’re going to die if we stay here. Grey and Kat made it out. I think we can, too.”
Fuck. She had a point.
I sat on the bed. “Okay. Why don’t you tell me everything that you and Theo talked about?”
She sat next to me and told her tale. I shook my head in disbelief.
“He wants us to walk out the main gate? Now I know it’s a trap.”
“Elijah, I really I don’t think it is. You didn’t see the look in his eyes.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Well, you’re right about one thing. We’re going to die if we stay here. At least if we run and get caught, our deaths will be on our own terms.”
Her eyes were bright. “We’re going to get out of here. But we’ve got to start planning tonight.”
I kissed her. “Let’s start now.”
We put our heads together and came up with a plan. I’d never had someone that I worked side by side with. In the past, I’d just ordered everyone around. It was nice not having to shoulder the weight of all the responsibly.
An hour later, Daisy threw her arms around me.
“It’s going to work.”
I hugged her back. “I hope so.” Then I asked, “Are you still going to tell your mom?”
Her face fell a little. “I’m not sure. After our encounter today I don’t think she’ll come and I’m not sure it’s worth the risk. She seems happy in her own little world. And I can’t offer her the same happiness on the road.” She blinked as tears filled her eyes, “Besides, maybe she’s better off here, with her memories of my dad.”
I held her against my chest. “At least you can live with that knowledge.”
We managed to stay out of Lilly’s way for the rest of the day. I swiped items we’d need whenever I could. I passed Daisy on the way to our bunk once. Her breasts were noticeably bigger. I stopped her.
“What do you have in there?”
She looked down at her chest and giggled. “Bread.”
I squeezed her right breast, feeling the dough. I laughed.
“Clever girl.”
She cupped me through my pants. “You could take a page from my book.”
Her silliness made me grin for the rest of the day. I didn’t even mind when Lilly called me over, ordering me to take her dishes to the kitchen.
When I sat them by the sink, I pecked Daisy on the cheek. Cooper made a sound behind us.
“You should bring your doe-eyes in a notch. People are going to notice.”
Daisy stuck her tongue out at him.
I bumped her hip with mine and said, “Scoot over. I’ll wash if you dry
.”
“Elijah, you can’t. She’ll get mad.”
And we were too close to fuck things up.
I nodded. “I’ll see you at the bunk.”
And then we’d be less than twenty-four hours away from getting the fuck out of there.
Daisy
I put the last plate away and checked my area one last time. Cooper was already gone for the night, which was a blessing. It meant I could go into the pantry without anyone seeing. Everyone else had settled into bed. Lilly, the loudest walker in the world, had stomped up the stairs right after dinner.
I grabbed a sack and went into the pantry. There was a cheese wheel that I’d had my eye on all day. I slipped it into the bag and went to the last aisle to get some clean cloths. Footsteps alerted me that someone, or a few, were coming into the pantry. I dropped to the floor.
“I’m starving. I hate guard duty. They never pack enough food for us.”
“I feel you. That’s why I’m pumped for the fight. It’s been a long ass week and I’m ready to see some blood.”
“Dude, that’s messed up.”
“Get over it, ya pussy. It’s a part of life around here.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Well, what else are you going to do for fun?”
“What I really want to do is slide into a nice, warm body. If you catch my drift.”
“Unfortunately for you, the ice queen doesn’t allow single women to live here. And it’s getting harder and harder to find ‘em alive and willing outside the walls.”
“What about her cousin? She’s hot.”
“Lilly has plans for her and the man. Best not to interfere.”
“Too bad. Maybe I’ll ask to fuck her before Lilly gets rid of her.”
“Good luck. She’s going to trade her right before the fight, then toss Elijah into the pits. Kick him while he’s down.”
“Shit. That’s brutal.”
“Come on. This will hold me over until breakfast.”
Their voices faded away as they left. My legs trembled as I stood. So, the source from the network was here? I hadn’t noticed anyone new, but that didn’t mean anything. Lilly was smart. He was probably hidden.
I grabbed my bag and snuck outside. When I got to the bunk I was surprised to find Theo talking to Elijah. The looks on their faces confirmed what I’d just heard.
