Justin had been ready to call it “Game Over.” Then Dean had shown up like an urban cowboy in a Ram truck—out of freaking nowhere. Saving his ass. That very same day had been the first time he laid eyes on Ella. His life hadn’t been the same since. As if fate had intervened in the random pinball of life and awarded him an extra ball.
They finally approached the housing subdivision he and Luther had checked out earlier. He didn’t want to change the plan by claiming residence in the first house they came to. Most of the homes were infested with rats or rotting bodies. Dead and undead.
“Stop.” It came out as a breathless yelp. Ella hunched over and rested her hands on her knees. “I need a minute.”
“Ye-ah, okay. Sure.” Justin pivoted around and searched the perimeter.
“I know, I know, I need to start working out again,” Ella admitted.
“I’ll take the baby,” Scarlett said firmly. She took the satchel before Ella said no.
He was about to tell Ella how amazing she was handling this when a window shattered across the street. There it was! Crawling on all fours! It growled and gurgled and gawked at them. Two houses down, another Z burst through a window. Time for the copycats. Soon, the street would turn into a window-smashing flash mob.
“Y’all get going,” Luther boomed. “Me and my big-ass wrench will take care of those mofos.”
Justin turned to Ella and silently asked if she was ready. She nodded.
“We’re almost there,” Justin encouraged.
They took a right on Bluebird Lane. Justin stopped beside a Toyota truck and waited for everyone to catch up. “It’s the two-story green house on the right.”
“Why that one?” Ella grimaced.
“You’ll see,” he hinted. He couldn’t wait for her to see it. It had all kinds of baby stuff. But mostly, there were no signs of death. The residents must have fled before the city had turned. Or worse, the parents had worked at Walmart. And their babies . . . Don’t go there.
Luther caught up to them with blood-spattered clothes. No one questioned his success.
“Okay, everyone, super quiet,” Justin warned. “We can’t let a single Z see us.”
They snuck to the backyard gate of the house next to the green house. He unhooked the gate’s latch, peeking in. No Zs. He ushered the gang into the backyard before darting to the patio furniture he and Luther had stacked next to the fence bordering the green house. Justin stood on the iron-rod patio table and studied the safehouse’s backyard for signs of Z activity. After the warehouse had been ransacked hours after they had found it, he wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“Bro, see anything?” Luther eyeballed the yard.
“No. Smell anything?” Justin asked.
“Nope. But, I’m checking it out anyway. Y’all stay put.” Luther jumped the fence.
Justin peered over the fence and waited for Luther’s all-clear.
Dean patted his back with apparent approval. “Son, I like your way of thinking. If any dead-heads followed our scent, they’ll be pounding on the wrong house.”
“You’re so smart.” Ella beamed.
Twila gave him a squinty-eyed look of approval too.
Finally, Luther waved them on.
The first thing he needed to do was spray down the perimeter. “Dean, help everyone inside. I’ll smother our tracks with bug spray. All the way to the gate.”
***
Justin quietly entered the backdoor to their new safehouse.
Ella nearly knocked him down with a hug. “Now I know why you chose this house. It has a nursery!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and lavished him with kisses. He cherished the fleeting moment of happiness before the next crisis screwed it up.
He hadn’t realized how much he needed her heart-warming affection. He let it linger. “How’s Mateo?” Justin practically hummed in her ear.
“He’s already asleep in the bassinet,” Ella hummed back. “Twila insisted on babysitting.”
“This is perfect.” Scarlett smiled, but her voice was totally devoid of emotion. “What about Zac?”
“I’ve been ponderin’ that myself.” Dean rubbed his stubbly chin. “Zac’s a smart fella. Once he finds the warehouse ransacked, he’ll assume we moved on. In the meantime, I suppose we can take shifts staking out the warehouse for his return.”
Justin’s tender moment—vanished. He didn’t say anything about Zac. Watching the warehouse would be dangerous. Really, how long could they wait for Scarlett’s boyfriend? In the Forbidden Zone . . .
Chapter 7
Dean Wormer stood watch in the Bluebird Lane’s front room. An antsy feeling urged him to step up their security. Thing was, boarding over the windows and doors would lead the dead-heads straight to them.
Meanwhile, the aroma of batter sizzling on cast-iron had his stomach churning in anticipation. Perhaps not so much for the flapjacks as for the intake of food in general since they had been rationing their meager food supply.
The grim reality sucker-punched him in the gut; the food would run out tomorrow. Justin had adamantly proclaimed he could scavenge food from the nearby homes, but it had most likely been looted-out within the first few months of the flu outbreak.
Of course, they hadn’t searched the entire Forbidden Zone. As a precaution, they kept their looting runs within an hour’s hike. Each time one of them went on a supply run, the horde activity increased substantially. No doubt, the dead-heads were well aware fresh meat presided in the vicinity. All the more reason to get out of Dodge.
Why hadn’t Last State secured the entire state? Perhaps the perpetual threat of hordes kept citizens in line. The hard-hearted facts poured
