Far Series (Book 1): Far From Home

by Mary, Kate L.

  That didn’t mean it didn’t sting.

  The sizzle of cooking meat filled the room, and the greasy scent had my stomach begging for food. Beside me, Kiaya was going through some of the containers we’d found in the fridge, smelling the contents to decide what was still good. The potato salad was apparently a no-go, but she put a big serving spoon in the giant container of coleslaw and another in the macaroni salad.

  “So where in Indiana are we stopping?” I asked as I piled the slices of tomato onto a plate.

  She didn’t turn my way, but I could tell she was watching me out of the corner of her eye. “Indianapolis. Or just outside it, really.”

  “You have an address for your sister?”

  “I do,” she said.

  “Okay.” I let out a deep breath, nodding. “Indy is on the way to Troy, so it should be an easy detour.”

  Almost hesitantly, Kiaya turned to look at me. Her smile was shaky, but it felt like a peace offering. I nodded twice to let her know I was good, and her shoulders relaxed.

  Devon cleared his throat. “Not to interrupt, but I think these are done.”

  We made our burgers and piled generous helpings of macaroni and coleslaw on our plates before heading to a table. It was strange seeing the diner empty after how busy it had been when we first arrived. I hadn’t even been able to find a place to sit that day, and now it was deserted and would most likely remain that way indefinitely. Just like nearly every other place in the world.

  The thought was almost depressing enough to make me lose my appetite. Almost.

  We ate in silence for a few minutes, our chewing the only sounds in the diner. My mind was mentally tracing the path we would take. From Texas to Oklahoma, then up to Missouri before heading over to Indiana. Then finally, after weeks of wanting to be there, I’d be home in Ohio.

  What would the world be like?

  If this empty town were any indication, it would be like another world. Home would be familiar, but different at the same time, and I couldn’t even imagine it. Would I be alone? I didn’t know for sure if Mom would be there—I prayed she would be, though—but what about the others? Would Kiaya and her sister come with me? Would Devon stay in Troy, or head to West Chester?

  Realizing I was open to Kiaya coming with me, and possibly even Devon staying, seemed odd, but I couldn’t deny it was true.

  I swallowed my food and focused on Kiaya, saying, “What happens after we stop in Indianapolis?”

  She shrugged, chewing slowly as she thought about it, then swallowed. “I don’t know. I guess my sister and I will have to talk about it.”

  “You could come with me,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to find at home, and I don’t want to be alone. Safety in numbers, right?”

  She nodded, but it was slow and noncommittal. I knew why; she’d made it clear dozens of times by now. Kiaya didn’t trust other people, and that included me.

  “We’ll see.”

  “We have time,” I replied. “Just think about it.”

  “Does that go for me, too?” Devon asked, drawing my attention.

  “You don’t want to go home to West Chester?” I asked him.

  “No point.” He shrugged. “I don’t have any family there. I don’t have any family anywhere, really.”

  “What happened to them?” I found myself asking.

  “My parents died when I was ten.” He frowned like the memory still hurt. Thanks to this virus, I didn’t even have to work that hard to imagine how awful it had been. “Car accident. After that, my grandma raised me, but she died the year after I graduated from high school. I’m not married, and my girlfriend and I broke up about six months ago. There’s nothing for me in West Chester but things, and let’s face it, most of that stuff is worthless now.”

  I snorted, thinking about the items I left in my dorm room, things I’d never see again but would also never miss. Books, clothes, shoes. Some of the pictures would have been nice to have, but I could live without them. In fact, I had a feeling most of the things I used to think were so important I’d soon discover had been pointless. Like Devon said.

  “I hear you,” I said before taking another big bite of my burger.

  Devon grinned and his dimple deepened. “Does that mean I get an invite to the apocalypse sleepover, too?”

  Something about his expression, about the grin and the playful glint in his eyes, combined with the bulging biceps, brought my ex-boyfriend to mind. That was when it hit me why he got under my skin so easily. He reminded me of Doug, the guy who’d dumped me for the cheerleader.

  God, I’d liked him so much. All freshman year we’d flirted, then finally he’d asked me out the second week of sophomore year. I’d been ecstatic. Over the moon. We’d gone out once, twice, three times. Months passed, and we went to homecoming, then prom in the spring. That was when we’d slept together, at a hotel room he’d booked for the night. He’d been my first, and when he’d whispered that he loved me, I’d believed it. More than a year we dated, and when he’d dumped me for Jessie Simpkins a few weeks into my junior year, I’d been utterly heartbroken. I never thought I’d get over him, had barely dated since.

  Of course, as time moved on, those feelings of loss and pain had morphed into others. Bitterness and eventually hatred. Which was why Devon had irritated me the moment he opened his mouth. He had that same cocky self-assurance about him. At least on first impression. Now, though, I was starting to see something else. Something better and stronger.

  Still, I had a tough time shaking the image of Doug.

  His smile faded when I didn’t answer. “What is it?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head as I picked at my macaroni salad, avoiding his gaze. “I just realized you remind me of someone. That’s all.”

  “Someone you like, I hope,” he responded.

  I only snorted in response.

  “Oh.”

  I wasn’t being fair, but I couldn’t push away the similarities between the guy who’d broken my heart and the man across from me. Hopefully, as we got to know one another, it would get better. Otherwise, this was going to be an awkward trip.

  Kiaya took a bite of her burger, looking thoughtful as she chewed. Even before she’d swallowed, I knew she had something on her mind, and while I didn’t know why, I braced myself when she opened her mouth to say something.

  “We should talk about this whole zombie thing.”

  Devon froze in the middle of scooping up some macaroni salad. “What about it?”

  “Well, about what we know so far, which isn’t a whole lot. We know this virus, whatever it is, kills people and they come back. But Kyle died almost two days ago, so it looks like people don’t come back right away.”

  “True,” I said, trying not to think about the terror I’d felt in that room when I’d had to fight him off.

  “We know we’re immune to the virus, too, but what we don’t know,” Kiaya continued, “is what happens if we get bitten.”

  Devon set his fork down, and it clanged against the plate, the sudden noise making me jump in the otherwise quiet diner. “In the movies, people always turn from a bite.”

  “Exactly,” Kiaya said, punctuating the word. “But this is real life.”

  We lapsed into silence.

  I’d fought two zombies off at this point, both times trying to avoid letting them get their teeth in me on instinct alone. Maybe in the back of my head I’d been terrified what a bite might mean, but not at the time. Then I’d only been focused on survival. But Kiaya was right, and zombie fan or not, I knew what could possibly happen if bitten.

  “Well,” Devon said thoughtfully, “I’m sure we’ll eventually find out one way or the other. In the meantime, let’s just try to avoid getting bitten altogether. It’s the only way to be sure.”

  “Seriously,” Kiaya muttered.

  Devon went back to eating his macaroni while Kiaya picked at her coleslaw, but my appetite had disappeared. We were probably all thinking the same t
hing. About watching our friends die from the virus and how horrible it had been and how we’d been sure we were safe, only now that certainty was gone. No one was safe.

  I thought about Mom, home by herself and possibly clueless about what was happening. There were so many houses around her, so many dead neighbors who would come back. Was she staying inside like she promised? God, I hoped so.

  I jumped to my feet, my hand already moving to my back pocket. “I’m going to try to give my mom a call.”

  When I hit the button and the screen lit up, the little bar in the top right hand corner made me frown. Fourteen percent. I’d need to charge it in the car.

  “Stay close,” Devon said, his tone serious.

  I nodded to the back of the restaurant. “I’ll just step into the kitchen.”

  The others nodded, and I headed off, already pulling up my recent calls so I could click on Mom’s name. The phone was pressed to my ear when I stepped into the kitchen, and the cloying scent of rotten food made my nose wrinkle. It wasn’t death, though, so I had that much to be grateful for, at least.

  I thought of what I would say to my mom as the phone rang. If she didn’t already know about the zombies, I had to warn her. I could only imagine a neighbor, now undead, stumbling down the street. Mom was a kindhearted person, like Kiaya, and if she saw someone she thought might need help, I wouldn’t put it past her to go outside. She had to know how imperative it was that she stay indoors.

  I was so focused on my thoughts that I barely registered when the ringing stopped and her voicemail picked up.

  That was odd.

  I disconnected the call without leaving a message, ignoring the way my stomach tightened, and tried again. Like before, all it did was ring, but this time when her usual chipper recording asking the caller to leave a message greeted me, I didn’t hang up.

  “Mom, it’s me. We’re heading out soon and I wanted to let you know.” I paused, wondering if I should tell her about the zombies. I didn’t want to freak her out, or make her think I was insane. Instead I said, “Stay inside and call me back when you get this. My phone is almost dead, but once we get on the road, I’ll be sure to charge it. I love you.”

  I hung up but didn’t move right away, instead staring down at the phone. Why hadn’t she answered?

  The possibilities were too scary to even consider.

  12

  We didn’t bother cleaning up our mess before leaving the diner, which of course left me with a bad feeling. Outside, things were exactly how we’d left them. Hot and sunny and empty, with only distant sounds breaking the quiet. They got louder as we crossed the street, heading back to the motel, and I knew what they were before I even saw the movement in the nearest car. Still, I found myself stepping closer to Devon without thinking.

  He eyed me but didn’t smile, almost like he was afraid to be playful. “You’re not stepping closer to me because you need protection, are you?”

  Okay, not afraid.

  “No.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s because you have a gun and Kiaya has a gun, but I have nothing.”

  I lifted my hands to show they were empty.

  Why hadn’t I taken a knife from the diner? That would have been smart.

  “Shit.” Devon pulled a knife from the newly acquired sheath strapped to his waist and held it out to me. “Sorry. I’m an idiot.”

  “Thanks,” I said, forcing out a smile.

  He returned it but said nothing, and I knew why. I’d made things awkward—or more awkward—and still hadn’t answered his question about whether he could stay. It was a shitty thing to do and not like me. I wasn’t a selfish person.

  “You know you can stay at my house if you need to,” I told him, then playfully elbowed him in hopes of easing the tension. “I mean, I think I kind of owe you for saving my ass and stitching me up.”

  “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do something you don’t want to,” he said.

  “No,” I assured him and almost sighed with relief when the word came out firm. “It really is okay.”

  “Thanks,” he said, a genuine smile pulling up his lips.

  No one said anything else until we’d reached our room.

  “I know we want to get on the road, but I’d like to take a shower while the water is still working,” Kiaya said when we stopped outside the closed door, looking between us. “You think that’s okay?”

  The bangs as zombies tried to free themselves from cars were almost constant now, and as much as I wanted to get out of here, I had to admit the idea of taking a quick shower was appealing. Between the lack of AC in the diner and how sweaty we’d gotten loading the car, I felt like a ball of dirt.

  “What do you think?” I asked Devon, not trusting myself to make the decision with the lure of a shower calling to me.

  “As long as we make it fast, I don’t see how fifteen extra minutes will make that much of a difference.” He shot me a grin. “Which means no skinny dipping today, I’m sorry to say.”

  “I wasn’t skinny dipping.”

  I rolled my eyes as Kiaya shoved the door to our room open and followed her inside. She’d flipped on one of the flashlights we’d scavenged from the cars and set it on the dresser. The beam was pointing up, illuminating the area surrounding it but not the corners, but it was better than nothing.

  “I know,” Devon said. “Which is another thing I’m sorry about.”

  My glare was met with his smile growing wider.

  “You two are going to be a load of fun to travel with.” Kiaya grabbed some clothes from her bag and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll make it quick.”

  The door clicked shut a second later, leaving Devon and me alone.

  He was still smiling, so I turned my back on him and got busy digging through my suitcase. It took a minute to find the leggings I was looking for, but thankfully the shirt and bra I’d wanted were right under them.

  I was still searching my bag, looking for underwear, when Devon said, “That’s a lot of stuff.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked over my shoulder at him.

  He nodded to the bag. “The suitcase. It’s a lot of stuff to pack.”

  “I was going home, and I didn’t know when I’d be back at school, so I took as much as I could. What’s it matter, anyway?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said, “I’m just making an observation. That’s all.”

  That I was high maintenance. I could read between the lines. Figured. Just when I was beginning to thaw toward him, he had to be an ass.

  “Well, you can just keep your observations to yourself, thank you. The fact that I packed heavy for a trip home doesn’t say a thing about who I am in any other scenario, so don’t get any ideas.”

  He chuckled. “You’re awfully defensive.”

  “With you?” I lifted my eyebrows as I looked over my shoulder at him. “I think I have a good reason.”

  “You don’t.”

  “Right,” I said just as the shower cut off.

  He shoved himself off the dresser and headed my way. “I want to take a look at that cut before you take a shower.”

  Before I could respond, he’d grabbed my hips and turned me so my back was facing him, then ran his hands up each side of my waist, moving my shirt aside. His skin was warm against mine, and his hands calloused and strong, and something about the firm way he grabbed me made my knees suddenly weak. My body responding to him this way was ridiculous, because I wasn’t even sure I liked him. Yes, he was reliable and capable, but he was also irritating and judgmental, and he teased me about stupid things at inappropriate times.

  “Relax,” he said, his breath brushing my cheek.

  I shivered, and he let out a low chuckle that seemed to wrap around me. It was more irritating than his teasing.

  “Hold still,” he said as he removed the gauze.

  I looked back as he knelt, his hands still on my hips but his focus on the cut. My heart had sped up and it was thumping through my head loudly enough to dr
own out every other sound, but I could feel every move he made. Could feel his breath caressing my back when he exhaled, could feel his fingers as they flexed on my hips, could feel his pulse thumping.

  “It stopped bleeding, so that’s good.” His gaze moved up to meet mine and he smiled. “You’ll be ready for regular physical exertion in no time.”

  I flushed and his smile widened.

  He stood but didn’t move his hands, and when his gaze moved down, he wasn’t looking at the cut anymore. He was looking at me, caressing my backside with his gaze, memorizing my curves.

  The bathroom door clicked, and he released me, stepping back.

  The second his hands were off me, I was finally able to breathe.

  “It’s cold, but it’s better than nothing,” Kiaya said when she stepped out.

  “Good.” My voice came out higher than usual, and I cursed myself for being so affected by Devon.

  Kiaya froze and looked between us, but I refused to meet her gaze as I scooped my clothes up and hurried into the bathroom. I shut the door and leaned against it, letting out a sigh. Right now, I was more than grateful the shower was cold, because that was what I needed. That and a lobotomy. How the hell was I attracted to Devon? Not only did he remind me of my asshole ex-boyfriend, but he was also irritating as hell.

  When Devon slid behind the wheel and held his hand out, I wanted to scowl, but the truth was, I was happy not to have to drive.

  I slapped the keys into his hand and rolled my eyes when his sparkled.

  “Someone has their panties in a bunch,” he commented with a smirk.

  “Don’t look so smug,” I said, “you have no effect on my panties.”

  “Not yet.” He slid the keys into the ignition. “Just wait until things settle down, and we’ll see.”

  I rolled my eyes again before turning away.

  Kiaya had already slid into the back seat. Shit.

  I walked around to the other side of the car and stuck my head in through the open passenger door. “You sure you don’t want to sit up front?”

  “It’s your car,” she said.