Page 51 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

“Why?” I ask innocently, keeping my composure this time.

“Spill. We want to know everything.”

Cal nudges Mina, saying, “Don’t include ‘we’ when it’s you who wants to know.”

I can’t help but laugh as I say, “Then you might want to leave the room, Cal, if you don’t want to hear about it.”

“Wait, what? Are you going to tell us?” Cal perches on the edge of the couch, looking me straight in the eyes. What are friends for if not to coax out the deepest, darkest, juiciest secrets? That’s who Cal and Mina are to me, right? Friends.

“So it’s us now, huh?” Mina crosses her arms in mock anger. Cal just shrugs and relaxes back into the couch.

I tell them everything about what happened three days ago after I stormed out of the cafeteria. They sit so still I’m not sure they are even breathing as they listen to every detail I give them. In a post-apocalyptic world such as the one we live in, there’s very little entertainment. Movies, television shows, concerts? Non-existent. Drama and gossip are the way to pass the time when we aren’t fighting to keep our community thriving.

My trust in Mina and Cal to not tell a soul about Amos and me must run deeper than I thought because I tell them every little detail down to the way his hands felt on me, to the things he said after our make-out session. “If you need the release, I can get you there in a few minutes. But that’s not enough time for me to do everything I want to do to you.”

“Oh my freaking God, Lori. How did you not just drop your pants right then and there?” Mina shouts.

Cal’s laughter vibrates off the walls. “I’m with Mina there. Amos gets me going with just one look. I don’t know how you could walk away after all of that.”

“What do you mean ‘gets you going’?” I ask, glaring at Cal with my viper-like eyes. My gaze softens, though, when I think of Amos’ pet name for me. “Copperhead.” I’m his viper, and he only has eyes for me. Well, at least I hope so. We still haven’t really talked about what we did, were about to do.

“Lori, Amos is a fox. He can wet anyone’s panties regardless of their sexual preference,” Cal explains, making me blush.

“Yeah, he’s not so bad to look at.” The smile on my face fades almost instantly. “I miss him.”

Cal and Mina hop up in tandem, propping themselves on either side of the armchair I’m sitting in. The comfort they offer helps soothe my worries. Knowing they care about me has me feeling all kinds of things. Friends. How did it happen that I have best friends? I haven’t had this kind of relationship since…Sarah. A vision of her gorgeous tanned skin and smoky quartz brown eyes infiltrates my mind. Tears shred at my eyeballs as I attempt to hold them back.

“Lori, it’s going to be okay.” Mina pats my back as she holds me in a loose hug. “Amos always comes back. He’s relentless. And he has unfinished business with you. That man needs to come back.”

My body wrangles with the emotions twirling around inside, and my chest clenches at the thought of never seeing him again. That he’ll become just another person I’ve lost to this dangerous world. That he’ll become a face that will fade from my memory.

“He freaking better!” Is all I can say as I give in to the tumult of tears.

Chapter 33

Twomoredayspassand it’s business as usual. Amos’ room is barren and unused as I walk past the open door and make my way to the athletic center. Cal and Mina have been keeping me steady, letting me cry it out, and offering me their unconditional support and love. During the nights and mornings, my mom steps in to keep my mind occupied when I’m not training.

I feel so hollow inside. A feeling I know all too well from a time in my life I’d like to never revisit. This hollowness is different. Before I was alone. Now? I’m surrounded by friends and my mom. So why do I feel hollow? It can’t all be because Amos has been missing. Well, that’s a bit dramatic. Apparently he’s checked in on the radio, but it’s only a one-way radio. It’s how The Valley receives messages from The Wall.

How I wish I could just talk to Amos for one minute. We aren’t even anything, just the idea of something. I guess that something filled a void I didn’t know was still inside me. Goddammit, I miss Amos. I miss him way too much to be healthy.

As I blindly walk along the sidewalk and up the stairs over the bridge that leads to the northern part of campus. I stop halfway across the bridge to look out at the train tracks below. A lone zombie—a deadie—barely holding on to the last scraps of dead flesh, wanders aimlessly along the tracks.

“I feel ya, buddy.”

The zombie’s head flicks up but not in my direction, as if it can barely even hear me.I wonder how long these things can unlive for.It’s been over five years since the outbreak. All the information I’ve been given on these undead humans is pretty much the same. They decay like any other dead creature, but the process is slower. I guess that’s how these things can still be standing so many years later.

I turn away from the deadie and continue my route to the sports center for training. When I step on the training mat, Kyle is at his normal spot at the front, ready to start the session with our unit. Olivia and Andrew are on standby, awaiting his instructions. But it isn’t Kyle who shouts for attention. I twirl around at the voice that said, “Good morning,” from behind me.

Amos. He’s back. And he looks even more gorgeous than the imprint of him on my eyelids. As he walks by, he gives me a quick wink. That’s it. A freaking wink. I want to be angry that he didn’t give me more, like a goddamn explanation as to why he was gone for so long. We are at training though. He’ll make time for me later. So I brush off my shock and calm down my racing heart.

“Alright, everyone, let’s circle up,” Amos says as he reaches Kyle at the front of the mat. “As you all know, Lucas and I went to The Wall after receiving a message on the radio. One of Dr. Tuwile’s spies was captured and brought in for questioning. General Greene requested my presence. I was not allowed to interrogate the spy directly, but I relayed our own line of questions.”

Amos pauses for a moment, scanning the faces of our large squad of warriors until his eyes find mine. Something about his gaze grounds me, makes me feel safe. I allow my mouth to curl into the smallest of smiles to let him know I’m okay.

But he doesn’t look away as he says, “The intel we’ve received from this man is not good. Dr. Tuwile’s men are on the move. They have been kidnapping not just lone travelers and small nomadic groups along The Wall, but targeting established communities too.”

My heart hammers in my chest. Kidnapping. Targeting. It’s happening again, has been happening all this time. Doctore will not stop. This must mean that there are weak spots along The Wall if our communities aren’t safe. I don’t know how many there are, where they are, but the idea of our allies being taken by Doctore is terrifying.

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