Love at the End of Days Read online

  “Laney and I have already worked out a schedule and talked with Adrianna about it. Your daughter has chosen to stay with Laney until you return.” She smiled. “Likely because Laney’s promised to teach her how to use a crossbow.”

  Sean snorted. “Figures. Of course she’d bribe her with weaponry.”

  The corner of Mel’s lip twitched. “If she is going to survive this world, she’ll need everything Laney can teach her. And she’ll need that vaccine.”

  Sean rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands like it would ward off the coming headache. Put that way, how could he refuse? The colony needed his expertise. Adrianna needed it. No one had been on more successful supply runs, and at his very core, he was and would always be a soldier. Dead Run River had a need, and he had a need to fill it. “At least send a civilian who has pulled the trigger on a pistol before. I’d like to think we’ve learned our lesson after the last one.”

  A slow grin took Mel’s face. “I knew you’d come through.”

  “Don’t count your chicks before they hatch. We aren’t back alive just yet.”

  And with every obstacle stacking against them, odds were they weren’t coming back human.

  Chapter Six

  THANK THE POWERS THAT BE that Finn had decided against cutting Vanessa’s knife-throwing arm. With the bandaged one limp at her side, she hurled another blade that toppled end over end until it lodged itself in the target-painted tree. Thunk.

  “Hey,” came a soft voice behind her.

  Laney stood beside a great evergreen with a backpack slung over one shoulder.

  “No, thanks,” Vanessa said, turning once again to pitch another knife. “I’m not interested in buying any Girl Scout cookies today.” Thunk.

  “Eloise told me you were accepted for the supply run. She said you hang out here and practice most days. I asked Guist to help me pack a go-bag for you.”

  Vanessa eyed the offered backpack suspiciously. “I can pack my own bag.” Thunk.

  “I know you can. I just thought maybe I could offer advice from what I learned as a fighter all those years. I messed up a lot in the beginning, and I thought it could be easier for you.”

  “Why do you care if it’s easier for me?” Thunk. “I thought you would be skipping all over this place when I left.”

  “Vanessa, I’m not trying to run you off. Eloise told me how much your friendship means to her. I left her with a good-bye note last year, and you were there for her through most of her pregnancy. I know me coming back has thrown a wrench in things around here, but I don’t want to rip Eloise up with our squabbling.”

  “Well, maybe you’ll get lucky, and I’ll get tickled by a Dead on the mission. Then you can have her all to yourself. Shit. Why do you do this? How can one person make me feel all guilty just being myself? I just wanted to get over him, you know? Just not think of you two anymore, and now I can’t escape your legions of fans. Sucks filling that shadow.”

  Laney shifted her weight and looked down at the toe of her boot. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, and spun to leave.

  “Waaait.” Damn it, Laney was really going to get her to bury the hatchet, wasn’t she? Didn’t Laney get that her bitterness was the only thing keeping her from pining for the man who’d rejected her so epically she’d never want another partner again? “Fancy a knife throw?”

  “Ha, heck no. I’m terrible at knives. I mean, I’m impressively bad.”

  That little tidbit drew her up short. “What is this? The invincible Laney Landry sucks at something?”

  “Admittedly so. I used to practice all the time, but I just didn’t ever get it.”

  Vanessa flipped a blade in the air and caught it by the hilt over and over. Somehow, Laney’s admission to a weakness made her hate her nemesis less. She narrowed her eyes to slits. “Okay, I’m going to say this once, and if it leaves here, I’ll deny it for eternity.”

  Laney’s mouth quirked with amusement. “Okay.”

  “I never thanked you for saving my brother and me that day by the gardens.”

  Laney arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “And you still haven’t.”

  “That’s as close as you’re getting, Landry. Take it or leave it. It was pretty cool of you to put yourself out there and protect a person you hated. Even if you were only trying to save Eloise, my brother was saved in the process, and he’s all I have, you know?”

  Laney wiped off a tree stump in a half-hearted attempt and sat down. “I know how that is.” Her smile could’ve belonged on a ghost for as sad as it was. “I had a brother. Jarren. He was all I had too, and he died the day before I came to Dead Run River last year. Losing him was—I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.”

  Vanessa’s innards churned like she was being burned from the inside out. She hadn’t known about Laney’s loss. She was naturally and harshly honest with people, but if she’d known Laney was going through hell, she would’ve cut her some slack at least. Losing Nelson was completely unimaginable, and Laney had gone to work and undergone all of those horrible tests, all while mourning her brother’s passing. It made her sick and ashamed. “I didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t want you to. I didn’t want anyone to. Talking about it was impossible. Mitchell was his best friend. We’d all grown up together, and that loss was a secret hurt we shared together.”

  Vanessa slumped down against a tree under the weight of the new knowledge. Here she’d been pining at the unfairness of Mitchell picking Laney when they had this deep, rich history together. They’d been through the apocalypse together for crying out loud. She’d known him for only a second compared to Laney. She’d misjudged every single thing, and suddenly, she couldn’t trust herself. The conversation had become too deep and promised to drown her if it continued, so she bailed. “What’s so fantastic about this go-bag you guys have packed?”

  Laney squatted and pulled at the zippers. “It has the essentials but also a few extras that a lady needs. They wouldn’t have taught you about that in training because they think every go-bag is the same. It’s not. Canteen with iodine tablets is a must. Purify all water. If you get sick out there, you’re just a meal waiting to happen. Guist snagged homemade protein bars for meals on the go, and this blue tarp and rope are all you need for a shelter. Tie the rope in between two trees, toss the tarp over it and hold down the edges with rocks. Here’s a first-aid kit with a few extras in it because I know your arm is injured. Extra bandages are in there, and they need to be changed daily. Keep the cut clean. Infection in your arm will be a dinner bell for Deads, and you don’t need them hunting you any more than they already will be. Fishing line and flies are in the Tic Tac case along with a spark starter. You’ll need to pack an extra pair of clothes and two pair of socks. If yours get wet, switch them. You don’t want sore feet on the run. Where do you keep your ammo?”

  Vanessa pulled open her cargo pockets and pointed to an ammo pouch on her belt.

  “Perfect. I heard you’re a bad ass with a gun, so you’ll be good on weapons. The hardest part is getting used to traveling with men. Don’t take any crap from them.”

  She gave a wicked grin.

  “Not that I thought you would,” Laney said with a laugh.

  “What’s that?” Vanessa pointed to a tangle of flat canvas ropes.

  “That is really important. It’s a tree harness. Deads can’t climb, so if you find yourself in a jam, find a tree and get yourself up it. If you’re stuck for a while, don’t go to sleep up there without the harness on. This one is mine, and it’s smaller and made more for a woman. It’s yours while you’re out on missions.”

  “And what if I don’t come back?”

  “You’ll come back. You have a good team with you, and Finn said you guys are taking the Terminator. That truck is a Dead crusher. What tree do you want to climb?”

  “Pardon?”

  “I need to show you how to secure the harness and you need to get a feel for which trees are best for you to climb.”

  “
Oh, right. Uhhh,” she said, searching the immediate forest. Her size was going to hinder her on this one because the older trees’ branches were all too high for her to reach.

  Laney followed her until she pointed to a smaller pine with branches all closer together near the bottom. She hoisted the harness over her shoulder and climbed, ignoring the burning pain jolting up and down her injured arm. The limbs were tightly packed together, and she had to shove her way through smaller ones that bent easily. Sap caked the palms of her hands, and the bark was rough on skin not used to it, but upward she pushed.

  “Higher,” Laney instructed. “Better to be safe than sorry when you are going to let your body go into an unconscious state of being.”

  Vanessa obliged until the limbs became too thin to hold her.

  “Good, now hook that part over your shoulders and buckle at the waist. And then strap the other end around the tree and tighten it.” When that was done, Laney said, “Whew, I’m glad you aren’t afraid of heights.”

  Well, now that Vanessa thought about it, the ground was really far away. A momentary panic seized her when she imagined falling to the ground and hitting every limb on the way down.

  “Vanessa,” Laney warned. “Look at the trunk in front of you. Put your hand on it. You’re safe. Now look at the ladder of limbs going down to the ground. You won’t fall. The harness won’t let you.”

  “What if there are Deads below me and I’m out of weapons?”

  “Don’t let that happen. It’s what we call being ‘treed.’ You’ll starve to death long before those Deads give up on you.”

  “Lovely.”

  “Okay, now unstrap it, then loop it over your shoulder again, and come on down.”

  Climbing a tree was much, much harder than it looked. Her fingers were tired where she’d gripped the branches, and the palms of her hands were scuffed up from the rough bark. Her arms shook like autumn leaves by the time she finally reached the ground again, but Laney assured her she’d grow used to climbing, and her body would acclimate to the need to use those muscles with practice. Over and over she wiped the palms of her hands against her pants until the sap was mostly cleaned.

  “Okay,” Laney said. “I’m going to head back. I have a check-up with Dr. Mackey to see how the baby is doing.” She turned to leave.

  “Laney?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why didn’t you pick Sean?”

  She opened and closed her mouth as if she were unable to come up with a reasonable explanation. Or maybe she was trying to spare her feelings about Mitchell.

  “Honestly,” Vanessa encouraged. “Was there a moment when you knew he wasn’t the one?”

  “He stifled me. I let him for a while, but it wasn’t me. I would have been a caged bird under his protection, and I couldn’t live that way. Not when Mitchell treated me like I deserved.”

  Honest words, but they caused such a disappointment within Vanessa. She wouldn’t be caged either.

  Laney gave a little wave and disappeared into the woods, and Vanessa turned to bury another blade into the bark of the target tree.

  The look of disappointment in Nelson’s eyes when she’d told him about the supply run the day before hurt like a lash against her heart. Still, in true Nelson fashion, he waited in front of the Terminator with a sack of breakfast food he’d nabbed from the mess hall.

  “Here.” Jamming the food at her, he hugged her in one fluid motion. “Come back.”

  It wouldn’t do to sob openly in front of her gathering team, so she patted him roughly on the back like she’d seen Dad do before the outbreak and promised she would.

  The dim blue light of early dawn illuminated a fog that had settled over the mountain. As she stood there, hugging her brother, a man strode through the mist with a heavy looking bag in one hand and a gait that dripped with confidence. Sean Daniels sauntered toward them with a slight frown on his glorious features and tossed his bag to Jackson, one of the senior guards. Holy guacamole. She’d barely managed to run a brush through the snarls of her hair, and he was approaching the Terminator like a one-man dream team. The freaking fog was actually parting for him. Her heart thumped an erratic rhythm against her sternum.

  “Vanessa,” Nelson wheezed. “Can’t…breathe.”

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, releasing Nelson from her anaconda grip.

  “Nice to see you too, Summers,” Sean said, not even bothering to stop on his way to the driver’s side of the eighteen-wheeler. “Load up,” he commanded.

  Nelson said good-bye and scrambled out of the way. The Terminator was a beast. Its grille had been modified into a steel snow plow, and someone much more creative than her had painted murals down both sides. Cartoon zombies bent and folded into endless positions of their final deaths while hellish flames licked the edges of the painting. Across the top, in elegant giant letters, read No Dead Food Attitude. Right, no weaklings allowed on this party bus.

  Finn, Jackson, a studious looking man named Brandon, and Keeter crawled on the back bench seat with their backpacks shoved under them, leaving the only space for Steven and her up front. Right by Sean.

  “I call window,” Steven murmured in a sleepy voice.

  “But—”

  “Sorry, Summers,” Finn said with a toothy grin. “He who calls it first, gets it.”

  After primly throwing him the middle finger, she scooted over beside Sean, who graced her with a hard look. What had she done? Maybe he was one of those people who was terrible at mornings. Or maybe he was rethinking his decision to vouch for her. Too late now.

  The engine roared to life under them, and he threw it in gear. The next few minutes were terrifying, but Sean maneuvered the gigantic vehicle down the switchbacks like he was born to be a trucker. She’d have to make him a T-shirt with that slogan if they survived this.

  “So,” she started, “if gasoline is only good for about a year, and we’re now on year four of the outbreak, how are we still driving around?”

  “No.”

  She scowled at the hard edge in his tone. “No, what?”

  “No talking. Everyone is trying to sleep, and you should be too. It’s your turn to drive next.”

  She snorted and waited for the punch line to the joke. When none came she asked, “Are you out of your ever loving mind? I haven’t driven since the outbreak, and even before it, I was mostly taking the bus.”

  “Why’s that?” His intensely blue eyes left the road just long enough to paralyze her with his gaze.

  “I was trying to be environmentally conscious. I wanted to make my ecological footprint as tiny as it could be to preserve the earth.”

  The corner of his mouth curved up. “And how’d that work out?”

  “Well, Deads ate everyone, and the jungle took over, so I guess the earth didn’t need my help after all.”

  “Should’ve enjoyed driving while you had the chance. Finn, you’re up next.”

  “Sure, boss,” came a rumbled reply from the backseat.

  Vanessa’s feelings weren’t hurt. If she’d been allowed to drive this Moby Dick of a truck, they’d be dead before they made it to Breckenridge. Sean waved to the guards at the front gate as they swung it open wide to allow them to pass. The truck hissed and whistled as he put it into gear and pulled away from the sanctity of Dead Run River.

  Her fears and indecision were meaningless now.

  Turning back was no longer an option.

  Sean was in trouble. Vanessa was so damned cute in the morning, it should’ve been illegal. One of those verbal types, she’d chattered on, asking questions about every leaf and blade of grass they passed like she’d never been outside the colony in her entire life. He tried to ignore her completely, but she made it very difficult. Mostly because the woman didn’t get her feelings hurt. If he told her to shut it, she threw a ready insult at him and went on talking as if he’d never made the effort of being rude.

  At the moment, she was sleeping soundly against his shoulder. Long, blond
tresses that shone like spun silver in the morning sunlight splayed across his chest like a fan, and for the eight hundredth time, he clenched his teeth against the urge to touch it. A wiser man would’ve flung her off onto Steven, who was snoring like a freight train against the window and wouldn’t notice.

  Her hand flopped into his lap, and he tensed against the feel of it. What was he supposed to do now? He wiggled to try to ease it off, but that only made the crotch of his pants become uncomfortably tight with a slow simmering rigidness. Not good. Removing his hand from the wheel, he picked her tiny wrist up between forefinger and thumb and set it back on her own lap.

  “You’re going to have to be careful with that, boss,” Finn murmured.

  Glaring through the rearview at Captain Obnoxiously Obvious, he said, “You think?”

  “Here,” his second-in-command said, “I’ll help.” Placing his giant paws on either side of her head, he yanked her off Sean and pushed her toward Steven.

  “Oow,” she howled with an angry grimace.

  Sean ducked out of the way as she nailed Finn with the full force of her flinging backpack.

  Sean tried not to laugh. Really he did, but the zipper caught Finn in the side of the head, and every time he looked back at the dumbfounded look on Finn’s bleeding face, his smile couldn’t be contained.

  “Vanessa,” he chided dutifully when he could keep the laughter from his voice, “blood brings the Deads in, so please, please don’t maim your own teammates.”

  She sat in a cloud of anger with her arms crossed remorselessly over her chest. “I was having a good dream,” she said, like that explained away her behavior.

  The main drag in Breckenridge appeared over the hill, and she leaned forward with her hands splayed across the dash. Maybe she’d never seen a ghost town before.

  Grass didn’t grow very well at this altitude, so foliage hadn’t exactly taken over, but the dilapidation of the buildings was enough to say no one had cared for this place in years. Paint had chipped, and the wood underneath had rotted in the wet seasons. Roofs sagged under the weight of Mother Nature, and doors to abandoned shops hung open. Rust bathed everything in red hues. The signs that hadn’t given up the fight yet clung to weather-eaten chains and nails, and stairs and porches had eroded away to splinters. In a hundred years, there would be no evidence that the ski resort town had ever existed.