In the morning, I wake up and it takes a few seconds for everything that happened yesterday to sink in. I glance over my side and spot Reese, still asleep in his sleeping bag. He’s very still and is breathing very deeply. Trying not to disturb him, I climb quietly off the couch and tiptoe into the kitchen.
The bedroom door opens, and Ryder walks out. He’s stretching his arms above his head, but that’s not the first thing I notice. He’s wearing only his jeans, a wife beater, and belt, and with his scruffy face and powerful build he looks like a rugged, handsome, cowboy. He catches me staring and smirks.
“Like what you see?”
He sounds so arrogant that I want to reach over and smack that smirk off his face. “No,” I snap, making him chuckle. “I just wanted to see how much of a threat you could be to me. You’re a stranger; I don’t know you. You and your brother could be serial killers.”
He snorts. “Kind of late to be worried about that, isn’t it? If we were gonna hurt you, we could have done it last night while you were asleep and more vulnerable.”
He’s got me there. I should have been more careful with allowing strangers into my place, but the idea of them being dangerous hadn’t really even crossed my mind. If they wanted me dead, they could have just let the Warriors kill me. They wouldn’t have stepped in just to kill me themselves, right?
“You’re not gonna hurt me,” I say confidently.
Ryder moves so fast I don’t even see it coming. Suddenly he’s there, slamming me into the fridge. He’s towering over me by almost a foot, and his arms are making a barricade, trapping me. He leans in, and I tense up automatically. “Are you sure about that?” he whispers.
I refuse to tear my gaze from his. I won’t let him think I’m weak. After an intense few seconds, he chuckles and pulls away. “Brave little thing, aren’t you?”
I glare at his backside. He grabs a can of beans, a spoon, and heads into the living room to eat. I’m tempted to throw one of the cans at him, but I just shake my head, angry that I let him get to me. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge; it’s warm, but I suck part of it down anyways. Water is water and, warm or not, it’s necessary to survive.
When I head back into the living room, Reese is awake and sitting cross-legged on the sleeping bag. He gives me a bright smile and runs his fingers through his hair. “How’d you sleep last night?” he asks.
“You’re my guests. Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” I ask, smiling back.
“Ugh, I think I’m gonna puke,” Ryder says, propping his feet up on my coffee table again.
Reese chuckles. “Look, man, there probably aren’t a lot of women left in the world. I can’t help it that she’s cute.” I can feel my face begin to heat up, and Reese smiles even more. “Sorry; I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
I shake my head. “It’s alright.”
I move toward the couch, and Ryder smirks as I sit down. “Aww, there’s really nothing like puppy love, is there?”
I reach over and smack his arm, and Reese grins again. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
I sigh. “Well, lately I’ve been noticing some bad signs while in town.”
“Bad signs?”
“The population seems to be rising in this area. Pretty soon, I think my barricade might get overrun, and I’ll have to move. If that happens, I don’t wanna leave with nothing. So I’ve decided to start preparing. I was going into town yesterday for more supplies when I got ambushed.”
“Where are you going? What place could be better than this one?” Reese asks, leaning forward. “You’re up on the third floor, and you’ve barricaded the entrance. You’ve got a fucking garden on the roof. You’re not gonna find a place safer than this.”
“The garden is nice, but it can’t sustain me one hundred percent. I need to make trips into town, and it’s getting too dangerous to do. I’m not gonna get eaten just because I need some toilet paper or tuna. This place isn’t safe anymore.”
Ryder nodded. “Alright, where were you thinking of heading?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit.
Reese snorts and gets to his feet. He starts to pace back and forth. “You’re crazy. This place is fortified. It’s the safest place we’ve seen since this shit all started.”
“But if it’s not safe anymore, there’s no point in staying,” Ryder argues. “Sam’s right. Trips into town are risky, and they’re almost not worth it. I mean, how much stuff can you bring back per trip? Only a couple day’s worth of stuff.”
I nod. “Yeah, I can get a few meals’ worth of canned goods, but it makes the bag heavy and harder to get around. Plus, I can’t bring back weapons or clothes or anything else I might need. I don’t use a gun because I can’t carry the ammo and the food at the same time. The food is more necessary.”
Reese rubs his jaw. “That baseball bat is not going to help any if you get swarmed. You know that, right?”
“Of course. That’s why I always triple check my surroundings before going anywhere. Better safe than dead.”
Ryder snorts. “Ya think?”
I ignore him, and look at Reese. “We need to get out of here before this place gets swarmed. Plus, with the Warriors in the area, we’ll never make it here long. They’re out for revenge, and now they’ll be after you two as well. It’ll be safer for everyone if we pack up and leave before we’re forced out.”
“Better chance of surviving if we pack ahead of time.”
“This is crazy,” Reese says, spinning to face me. “This place is safe. All we have to do is be careful when we go into town. You’ve survived this long by being smart and hesitant. You can keep doing that, you know.”
“Smart and hesitant doesn’t do much good when you’re caught by a horde of flesh-eating monsters. The numbers are rising, and this place is going to be overrun eventually. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when that happens. Do you? The only problem is I don’t know where to go next. Where were you heading before running into me?”
Ryder frowns. “We were making our way to the coast. Then we were gonna find a boat, and head out to one of the smaller, less inhabited islands. We could set up a safe camp, and take out those things one by one. After awhile, all of the existing zombies would be dead, and because it’s surrounded by water, no more could find us.”
“That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Except that the coast is like a three hour drive from here, and I don’t have a car that we can use. Do you guys? If not, do you know how to hotwire a car? Because I sure as hell don’t.”
Ryder grinned. “Leave that to me, alright? I’ve got some experience with jacking cars that’ll come in handy. For now, just worry about gathering up enough supplies to keep us tied over until we can safely scavenge for materials in our new home.”
“So I can come with you guys?”
Ryder shrugs. “If you want.”
Reese sighs. “I still think leaving is a huge mistake. We have shelter here, and we can defend this place.”
“It won’t stay safe forever,” I argue, surprised that it’s Reese arguing with me instead of Ryder. “What happens when this place gets overrun? Do we just flee with nothing and nowhere to go? At least this way we’ll have a chance.”
“To go where?”
“We need an island that’s large enough to support a population, no matter how small, that has plenty of wildlife for hunting and breeding. Farmland would also be a plus.”
“Where are we gonna find a place like that?” Reese asks, looking around. “I don’t know of any islands near Kentucky.”
“Well, we could head up north to Michigan. They’ve got Beaver Island, right? That place has a really low year-round population. I bet we could get there and help fortify it. If there aren’t any survivors, we’ll clear out the few zombies there are and set up a base camp to work from.”
“So what do we do in the mean time?” Reese asks.
“Start gathering supplies for a road trip. We don’t know what kind of supplies we’ll be abl
e to find on the island. Tomorrow we can all split up and gather different necessities. Ryder can start looking for a usable car, preferably something with a lot of storage space. Reese, you can get weapons and ammunition. I’ll work on the food and bottled water. Alright?”
Ryder nods. “Alright, let’s do this.”
Zombie Island (Zombie Apocalypse #1) Page 5
