I peered up at him with the threat of wrath in my eyes. “Shut up.”

“We won’t make it back by dark if we rest,” Cooper called back.

“If we keep pushing like this, we’ll all be too tired to clear,” Bryce said. “We might just have to find somewhere to hole up for the night.”

“In Shallot?” I said, grabbing my knees. I stood up and made myself take the first step. “Didn’t you say some of your people got killed there?”

“Some of Nathan’s people,” Joey said.

I nodded, but didn’t say anything else. We alternated walking and jogging, until finally I saw that damn car in the middle of the highway. The alarm had been silenced, or the car battery had died. The teds were gone.

The tire tracks from the Jeep were still rutted in the field on the other side. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since that day. “Come on,” I said. “We’ll go in slow. Stay together.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nathan

By late afternoon, I caught myself glancing at the crest of the field or the road every time I passed the front door. By dinner, I had to work to conceal my worry. Ashley’s anxious comments every five minutes didn’t help anything, but when Zoe mentioned that it would be dark soon, truth began to creep in.

“They should be here by now,” Elleny said in a quiet but anxious voice. “They wouldn’t walk in the dark, w-would they? The sun has already set.”

Ashley sat down at the table and closed her eyes. “They’ll be back, Elleny, don’t worry. They couldn’t have all been hurt. If something happened, some of them would still come back. So you know what that means? They’re all fine.”

“They said they would come back tonight. If they don’t come back, someone got hurt,” Zoe said, oblivious to what her words would do to everyone else at the table.

Elleny puffed out a sob. Ashley covered her mouth with her hands.

“Everyone calm down,” I said, on the verge of hysterics myself. “Shallot is almost fifteen miles away. It might have been too optimistic for them to think they could travel thirty miles in a day on foot and clear. That doesn’t mean anything is wrong. That could just mean they’re being smart and aren’t risking traveling at night.”

Elleny nodded. “Scarlet wouldn’t do that. They’ll be back in the morning.” She took a small bite of mashed potatoes.

“Exactly,” I said.

Ashley nodded. “Maybe they’ll send Cooper back tonight to tell us. He can make it back faster than the rest of them.”

“Maybe,” Miranda said. “But don’t freak out if he doesn’t. Let’s not worry until we have something to worry about.”

Miranda’s voice was calm, but the look she shot me said that she was only trying to help me keep the others calm. She didn’t know if they would come back any more than we did.

Just as I took my first bite, the power went out. Zoe and Elleny screamed.

“Sssh!” I said. “We knew this was going to happen eventually, don’t panic. Everyone sit tight.”

I felt my way over to the cabinets and reached under the sink, grabbing two flashlights. I turned on one, and handed the other to Miranda.

“I’ll get candles,” she said. “Come with me, Elleny.”

Ashley sat at the table with Zoe, holding her hand. I smiled at them. “This is no different than any other night. We always sleep with the lights out.”

“But if we needed to turn them on, we could,” Zoe said, shaken.

Ashley hugged Zoe to her side. “Don’t worry. I’m right here with you.”

“I’m here with you, too,” Zoe said, patting Ashley’s hand.

Scarlet

“In here!” I said to Joey and Bryce, holding open the door. Cooper had led us to the house they’d stayed in before. It was already boarded up, and, according to the boys, was only a few houses away from another house full of guns and ammo.

Bryce and Joey had attracted the attention of a large group of teds to divert them away from the house, and then backtracked. Once they were inside, I tried to flip on the light. Nothing.

“Power’s out?” Joey asked. He slipped off his pack and pulled out a small flashlight. “There’s candles under the sink, but I don’t have any matches.”

“I do,” I said, unzipping my pack.

We all sat on the floor in a circle, sipping our water and breathing hard. By the time we’d reached Shallot, we only had an hour to work with before we would need to head back. Shallot was so overrun, we all lost track of time, and then it was too late to even think about going home. We cleared until nearly dark, and even then we still had more than half to eliminate.

Joey didn’t rest long before he stood up again. “I’m going to go check the windows and doors. Make sure all of our boards are holding up, and see if we still have a second exit.”

Bryce rolled his eyes, and when Joey was out of sight, he grumbled under his breath. “G.I. Joe to the rescue.”

“Hey,” I said, taking a sip of water. “He saved our asses more than once today. Be nice.”

Bryce rested his arms across the tops of his knees, unhappy.

“Uh . . . guys . . . ?” Joey said, walking into the room with his hands up. With only the candles to light the room, I could only make out Joey and the end of the rifle that was against his head.

Cooper, Bryce, and I all stood up quickly, pulling our guns. Joey stood in front of the man holding him hostage.

“Didn’t your mothers teach you not to walk into someone’s house without knocking?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “We’ll leave.”

“How did you get here?” he asked. “A car?”

“No, we walked,” I said. “We’re sorry. Just please let us leave.” I lowered my weapon. “See? We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Too late for that,” the man said. Joey closed his eyes tight, but nothing happened. I grabbed my flashlight, and shined it in the man’s eyes. He recoiled from the light. His hair was shaggy, his nails and fingers black with dirt, and his camouflage overalls and coat were stained with blood. He towered over Joey, and I wondered if we had a chance if we all charged him at once.

“Skeeter?” Bryce said.

The man struggled against the beam of my flashlight to see who called his name. “Who’s that?”

“It’s me, Bryce! Coop’s here, too! I can’t believe you made it!”

I lifted the flashlight so the light bounced off the ceiling and cast a dim glow over the entire room. Skeeter pulled his gun away from Joey and shook Bryce’s and then Cooper’s hands.

“Holy hell, boys!” Skeeter said, pulling his hat off his head.

“What are you doing here?” Cooper said, a wide grin on his face.

I was completely confused. Bryce and Cooper seemed to know this man, but Joey didn’t.

“Skeeter McGee, nice to meet ya,” he said, shaking Joey’s hand. “Sorry ’bout that. I’ve had some run-ins with some assholes. You know how it is.”

Joey shook his hand, bewildered.

“I knew the girls’ old man’s place was out this way. I thought I’d try to catch up to y’all, but I got stuck here. This place is crawlin’ with creepers!”

“Creepers,” Cooper said with a chuckle. “I like that.”

“No,” I said. “It’s ted. Zoe wouldn’t like it if we changed it.”

Skeeter’s face fell, and turned white. “What’d you say?”

I glanced around the room. No one else seemed to know why his mood had suddenly changed, either, and I worried the boys didn’t know him as well as they thought. Whether the boys knew this man or not, we needed to protect everyone we left at home. “We just made a group decision on what to call those things. It’s pretty silly, actually . . .”

“No, ma’am. You just said Zoe. Like little Zoe, ’bout yay high. Light brown hair?” he asked, karate chopping his chin to show the length.

“How do you know Zoe?” I said, instantly suspicious.

Skeeter ran over to me. “She’s my niece. You’ve seen her? Where is she? Is she with her dad?”

“Your niece?” I said, wondering why Nathan had never said anything about a brother.

“Aubrey is my sister. Nathan’s wife. Have you seen them?”

Nathan’s wife. The words stung.

“Yes, we’ve seen them,” Bryce said. “They’re at Red Hill Ranch. They’re safe.”

Skeeter laughed once, and then stumbled backward, falling onto the couch. “Oh, thank God,” he said, flattening the palm of his hand against the side of his face. After a moment, he covered his face in his hands, bent at the waist, and then the big, burly man began to cry.

We all traded glances, unsure of what to do. The one thing I was sure of was that as of that moment, there were ten of us.

“Skeeter?” I said. I touched his shoulder. “Skeeter. We’re heading out tomorrow after we clear. You’re welcome to come with us.”

“Clear?”

“Yes. My daughters are meeting me at Red Hill, and we’re making sure they don’t run into trouble.”

He nodded. “Then I’ll help you.”

The next day was hotter than the day before. Two hours after sunrise, and it was already muggy. The hairs falling down from my bun were sticking to the back of my neck, and the waves of heat were dancing just above the asphalt. I didn’t think it was possible, but the rising temperature made the pungent smell baked into our clothes waft into the air and blend to form a potpourri of rotten food and bad breath. I could barely stand to smell myself, so I tried to keep my distance from everyone else.

In Shallot, we each took down five teds apiece, and then began our trek back to the ranch. Skeeter told the story of how he made it through a herd of zombies until he got to his wife, who had turned, so that he could put her down so she didn’t hurt anyone. The more Skeeter talked, the more I liked him, and I wondered if Aubrey was anything like her brother. It didn’t feel so senseless now, telling Nathan that it was over between us. Now that Skeeter was moving in, it would have been weird, anyway. Suddenly the thought of being around Nathan without any prospect of fixing what I’d done was very depressing. The closer we got to the ranch, the sicker I felt.

“I can’t believe you know Nate. That’s just bizarre,” Cooper said.

“It’s funny y’all ran into him. You just missed him at the church,” Skeeter said.

“He was at the church?” Bryce said, amused.

“Yep. He was. He left with Zoe the first chance he got because he knew it was only a matter of time before they got in.”

“What church?” I asked, stopping in the middle of the road.

Skeeter grinned. “First Baptist Church of Fairview.”

“Holy shit,” I said, realizing that the people I saw running out of that church could have been Nathan and Zoe.

Skeeter nodded. “Holy shit, indeed.”

We alternated jogging and walking. Cooper was anxious to get home to Ashley, concerned she would be sick with worry. When we breached the top of the hill, I glanced back, hoping my babies would be doing the same thing soon.

Ashley burst through the front door and ran down the drive, jumping into Cooper’s arms. She began to cry immediately. Elleny jumped off the porch and hugged me, trying her best to keep her eyes dry. Nathan, Miranda, and Zoe were standing on the porch, confused at the sight of the gruff-looking fellow bringing up the rear.

“Skeeter?” Nathan said. By his words alone it was obvious he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but he had the most disgusted look on his face.

“Uncle Skeeter!” Zoe yelled, running down the steps into his arms. The second he hugged her back, she wrinkled her nose. “You stink!”

Skeeter laughed. “I know! Yucky, huh?”

Nathan walked down the steps, and wrapped both of his arms around his brother-in-law. “I can’t . . . I don’t believe it.”

The men hugged for a bit, and then we all hugged each other. When Nathan got to me, he held me tight, and then planted his lips on mine. After less than a second of shock, I let myself melt into him. His fingers dug into my back, and I pulled him close.

“I’m so sorry,” I said against his lips.

He shook his head, keeping his eyes closed. “Don’t. Don’t say a word. Just let me hold you.”

I buried my face into his neck, feeling safer than I had in weeks. Nathan loved me more than he should after what I’d said. Hopefully it wasn’t too much to ask that God give me just one more miracle.

Bryce climbed the few steps to Miranda, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Good God almighty,” Skeeter said, his voice grave. “Y’all shoulda warned me.”

“About what?” Bryce said.

“Two redheads in the house.” He sighed. “I had better chances in Shallot.”

Miranda narrowed her eyes at him, and I laughed. “You’re probably right.”

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Nathan said, hugging me again. He kissed my cheek before pulling me into the house by the hand. He left me long enough to show Skeeter the facilities, and get him some clean clothes, and then he returned. “I have some bad news. The electric is off. I’ve tried to flip the breaker, but it’s . . . it’s gone.”

I nodded. “We knew it was temporary, right?”

Nathan nodded. “So, you met my brother-in-law? He’s something else, isn’t he?”

“Yes. Is this going to be . . . awkward for you?”

“No. Skeeter knows she left. He knew it was over a long time ago. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, hugging him to me. I pressed my cheek against his shoulder, glad that he didn’t take anything I’d said before seriously. “What I said before . . . I . . .”