Page 78 of Say You'll Stay

When she stretches her legs out on either side of him, he reaches back to pat her thigh just because he can.

“That would have been a nice spot,” she says, absently. “Good fence. Lots of room. Too bad it’s overrun.”

“No one’s been there in a long time. Would take a whole crew to clear it.”

Dozens of rotters swarm the grounds behind the fence. In another life, it might have served as a fine home base, but here, it’s only fit for the dead.

“How far do you think we are from the farm?” she asks.

“Not far. Couple hours. Need to hop on the parkway for a while first, wait until you see those views.”

Wrapping one arm around his chest again, she readies for takeoff, her tone teasing. “Is that considering our glacial pace, or if you pick it up?”

“Listen, if you hit me with another‘are we there yet’we’ll be walking.”

She knows full well he isn’t serious. “Okay, okay.”

“You ready then?”

“Mhmm.”

He rolls to a start, hearing her voice flutter in his ear.

“Are we there yet?”

“Ready to start hoofing it, or what?”

Her laughter as they speed up is the best sound. He’s never had this kind of easy teasing with anyone. The rest of the world thinks him angry and aggressive, but she knows him and that’s a gift he never knew he needed so badly.

As they inch closer to the farm, his nerves start to frazzle. By painting this place as a perfect post-apocalyptic picture, he raised her hopes for paradise. If it turns out to be nothing but a failure, that’ll be on him.

* **

Several hours later, they turn onto an old gravel road, and all his childhood memories begin to flood back. The scent of apples from the orchard and the crunch of rocks on the driveway. How safe being this isolated felt when he was little and hiding in the grove, hoping his foster family would forget him and never come looking.

The only signs of life when they pull up are a few horses in the back pasture that could easily have survived alone. It’s not overrun or uninhabitable. The log cabin style farmhouse looms over them worn and tired, but still standing strong. A few sections of chipped paint and porch railings knocked out are the only damage he can spot. The barn in the background with a few scattered sheds, looks even better.

Still, he parks the bike halfway up the driveway and hides it in the trees before walking the rest of the way, shotgun ready and on alert for other inhabitants.

“You were right about this place,” Olivia says quietly, as they survey what he hopes is their new home. “I knew you would be. It’s so beautiful.”

“Doesn’t look the same as it did back then. Lots changed. Most of the fruit trees are gone, but it seems safe so far. Do you like it? Really?”

“I love it. We won’t find somewhere safer than tucked right into the valley of the mountains. And look, there’s a greenhouse down the hill.”

“Might be animals in the back pastures, too. We’ll have to head down there later and see what’s left.”

The Blue Ridge Mountains surround the property on three sides, providing protection from weather and unwanted visitors. No one could hike in through those steep hills and the chance of the dead making the journey is slim to none.There is one way in and one way out, and that makes security a straightforward task.

As they creep toward the porch to do a cursory check for danger, three infected inside crash into the front door. Two at breakneck speeds, pounding on the glass and scrambling to reach their targets, and one larger, slower one that ambles about like an angry snail. Cole hoped it would be empty, if only to unburden himself of having to put down the family that still grace some of his only good memories.

“It’s two fast and one slow,” he sighs. “We need a plan first.”

“Check out the shed for anything useful?”

He nods, and they head to an oversized shed in search of anything that might dispose of the dead quieter than alerting half the state with the shotgun. Underneath old tires, amidst odds and ends, toolboxes, and building supplies, he discovers a complete roll of barbed wire. Cutters and gloves are harder to locate, but eventually, they spot both in a bucket under a workbench. He’s thankful that this farm needed animal enclosures because they’d be hard-pressed to find a better way to handle the situation.

Together they form a plan, leaving the baby and the cat in the shed, tucked away in a corner where they snuggle together until the coast is clear.

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