I turned and pushed myself off the floor, bumping into a figure standing in the doorway. I gasped, but then relaxed, recognizing Bryce. The relief didn’t last long when I saw the expression on his face. He wasn’t even looking at me. Instead, he was busy boring a hole into the back of Joey’s head.
“C’mon. Let’s go to bed,” I said, pulling Bryce with me downstairs.
His fingers were tense, as if he were holding onto a hot coal instead of my hand. He lay in bed next to me, but because he had nowhere else to go—not because he wanted to. He didn’t have to say it, the betrayal he felt radiated from him like heat on a blacktop road. I had no idea what time it was, but starting a discussion that would likely lead to an argument in the middle-ish of the night wasn’t appealing to me, so I closed my eyes and prayed the creaking walls wouldn’t keep me awake. No matter what I said, convincing Bryce that such an intimate embrace wasn’t what it seemed would be difficult when he’d calmed down and impossible when he was that angry. He had shared with me just hours before his disdain for the man I’d just had so tightly in my arms. I wondered in that moment if Bryce would have rather been outside in the dark with the dead ones than lying next to me.
Chapter Seventeen
Nathan
“Good mornin’,” Walter said, greeting the kids with rifle in hand.
Miranda worked to produce a smile, seeming tired and cranky. “This is my boyfriend, Bryce. That’s Cooper.”
I nodded to them.
“Now that the pleasantries are over,” Walter said, gesturing to the station, “looks like we have a situation.”
It was obvious why they’d had trouble. Two infected were inside the station, pushing excitedly against the double glass doors. One of them was a young girl, not much older than Zoe.
“Yeah,” Cooper said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “We’ve run into them before.”
“It should be just the two,” Bryce said. “Unless more wandered inside. I put down a male. He should still be lying by the cash register.”
Walter motioned for the boys to follow him. “Better let us take care of this, Nate. I don’t want you to think about this every time you look at Zoe.”
Regardless of the coward I might have looked like, I turned my back and tried not to listen as Walter and the boys eliminated the infected inside the gas station. Miranda kept an eye on the situation, but Ashley did as I did and looked the other way.
“Clear,” the soldier said. The jargon and tone confirmed my suspicions.
I stayed with the girls while Walter helped them look for a switch to turn on the pump. The owner’s resistance to new technology was fortunate. I wasn’t sure if we could have got it to work if it had been one of the newer ones.
“Okay!” Walter said. “Pull up the lever, and listen for it!”
“For what?” Miranda said.
I pulled up the lever, and the pump buzzed. “For that.”
With a big grin, Miranda began pumping the gas, and Ashley opened the trunk and pulled out three large gas cans.
“We’re in business!” Miranda said to her boyfriend.
He jogged to her side, and then interlaced his fingers on top of his head when he saw for himself. “Oh, thank God.”
“I’ll go get my car and fill it up, too, and then we can be on our way. You can pull up to the house and wait once you’re finished here. Load up what you can.”
Miranda nodded. “Will do.”
They were all bouncing and smiling, excited that we would be leaving soon. Once I made the quick walk to Walter’s house, I waved to Joy and Zoe, and then hopped into my car, which was still parked in the middle of the dead end.
“I’m going to fill up with gas, and then I’ll be right back to get you.”
Zoe smiled.
“I’ll pack you a few things,” Joy said. She was smiling, too, but her eyes were heavy with sadness.
Bryce was just topping off the last gas can when I pulled up. I’d passed Walter on the way. He didn’t look up. I imagined he was probably sad, too, and the responsibility of surviving alone was weighing on him. Guilt burned my insides, but not enough to sway my decision. They could come with us, or we could ask the doctor’s permission and then come back for them. Things weren’t so bad in Shallot that they couldn’t survive for another day or two. At least as long as the infected were still ambling around on the highway instead of in town.
Bryce put the last of the gas cans in the trunk, and then they crowded into the Bug. Ashley was hunched over in the backseat, sitting on both Cooper and the soldier. It looked uncomfortable as hell.
Miranda smiled. “We’ll meet you at Walter’s.”
“Does one or two of you want to ride with me? Looks kind of cramped in there.”
Miranda looked to the boy in the passenger seat, and then to those behind her. “Yeah, I bet Joey could fit better in your car.”
Joey lifted his hand. “Joey.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said with a nod.
They pulled out of the lot onto the street, and I pulled up the lever on the pump, waiting for the noise to click on. It didn’t. I jogged into the station, and toggled what I thought was the switch, but I wasn’t in there when Walter had showed the boys, so I wasn’t sure which it was.
I had barely crossed the parking lot and stepped into the street when I saw an infected just a block away making her way to the highway. I turned on my heels and ran back to my car, reaching inside to pull out the bag of guns Skeeter had given me.
Skeeter. As I made my way back, I thought about my brother and sister-in-law. They were both likely dead by that point. Aubrey probably was, too. Aubrey and Skeeter’s parents had been gone for several years, but knowing they were all gone made the situation even sadder. Zoe was the only one left.
When I approached the porch, Walter smirked. “You forget something?” he said, nodding to my car that still sat at the pump.
I laughed once, glad for the distraction. Walter and Joy were good people. Changing their minds about joining us at the doctor’s place was still a possibility. Once I got Zoe settled in, I was determined to come back for them.
“The pump didn’t come on.”
“No?” Walter said. “I can head back down there to see what the problem is.”
“Do you mind?”
Walter descended the porch steps, taking care to use the railing. “Not like I’ve got anything better to do, son.”
Miranda had parked in front of Walter’s house, and then she and her group lingered around the Volkswagen, discussing their next move. Joy and Zoe had just come back out to the porch, Zoe with a small packed bag hung over her shoulder. Walter and I had barely stepped out into the street when gunshots rang out. We’d heard them in the distance every day, but this time they were closer. Much closer. Soon after, an engine revving echoed through the quiet streets, and then a car came careening down the main street from the highway, fishtailing out of control.
“Daddy!” Zoe yelled, just as the car T-boned mine, both crashing into the pumps.
A huge explosion accompanied by a big boom immediately took the place of the gas station. As soon as the ball of fire traveled up into the atmosphere, the charred vehicles were visible only for a moment before thick, black smoke and even more fire shot from where the pumps once were.
“What do we do?” Joy said through the hands that covered her mouth.