Page 42 of Hero

“That’s what I thought,” Zed mumbles.

“Don’t be obnoxious.”

“I thought you said obnoxiousness is one of my core traits.”

I huff with amusement at his dry tone. He’s right. I’ve said those exact words to him before. More than once. “It is.”

“So how can I stop being obnoxious? I’d have to stop being me.”

“You could tone it down a little.”

His body shakes with amusement again. I love how it feels against me. “I’ll see what I can do.”

We’re silent for a few minutes. His body feels almost soft. Sated. Just as relaxed as mine. Then he says out of the blue, “So do you think we should move?”

“Yes. I don’t think we have a choice.”

“Me either.”

I take a deep breath, glad for the weight of his body as I try to untangle the knot of anxiety that’s always been too scary to tackle. “It’s going to be hard, but if we do nothing, I think we’ll regret it.”

“I think so too.” He pauses. “You want to go to that part of Kentucky they were talking about?”

“Don’t you think we should? At least we know there’s something better waiting for us there. Good people. More support. A better life for Rina. There might be something good farther west, but we don’t know where it is or how far it is or what it’s like.”

“Yeah. I don’t like the idea of leaving with no clear destination.”

“So you think we should go too?”

“Yes. I do. But I don’t want to do it unless you agree. All the way.”

I gulp. “I agree. All the way.”

He makes a motion with his head like a nod. Then he nuzzles the side of my throat one more time. “Okay. Soon, you think?”

“Yes. As soon as we can be ready. We don’t know when winter will hit and trap us here.”

“Okay. Good. We’ll start getting packed up and make a plan.”

“All right.” I feel a little shaky inside, but I’m not trembling. I’m not sure I even can tremble with Zed on top of me this way. “We’ll make a plan.”

I take a full breath. “And then we’ll do it.”

6

Three days later,at just before dawn, we’re getting ready to leave the cabin.

For good, most likely.

It’s so big—so large and nebulous and risky in my mind—that I have trouble holding the thought in my head. But Zed and I made the decision that night, and it’s final. Neither of us have doubted or questioned it.

It’s a hard choice, but it’s the best of a number of bad options.

We manage to keep any fears or worries from Rina, so she’s excited about the new adventure. She does nothing but talk about what we might see and what we might do and where we might end up. I do my best to temper her expectations so she doesn’t end up too disappointed, but I also don’t want to crush her hope.

It’s been a long time since I had that sort of hope. It’s not a thing to dismiss lightly. Not in a world like this one.

The past days have been spent packing and preparing and deciding what to bring and what not to. We’ll take the truck for as long as the gas holds up, but it won’t get us the whole way there. The chances of lucking out and finding gas along the way are so slim they’re barely worth considering. So we have to make plans assuming we’ll be getting out of the truck eventually and walking the rest of the way.

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