Ten
Liv
T he next morning, I accompanied Cruz to the house down the street to retrieve our car, leaving Dawn and Jonah behind to pack the food and supplies we'd need for our trip. Dawn had shown me all the jars of jams and pickles she’d preserved in recent months, so we’d have plenty of food to keep us going in the short-term, which meant goodbye to stale cereal and powdered milk. Hallelujah. I wished we didn’t have to leave such a well-tended garden behind, but when we reached Bridgehill, Dawn's expertise spread across even more land would make this worthwhile.
My scream last night had pulled Cruz away from Jonah's friend's house before he had the chance to check the contents of the garage, and it turned out the owner had reverse parked a white, late model SUV inside. I shoved the roller door all the way up while Cruz lifted the car's bonnet and got to work hooking up the jumper cables. If we could get it started, our lives would become infinitely better in a short period.
Another vehicle. More people.
I'd been dreaming of this for a long while.
The garage had a small workbench with tools attached to a shadow board and an extensive collection of camping gear stowed on overhead shelving. We wouldn't need the camping equipment, but we could never have too many weapons. I grabbed a couple of hammers and a small axe, shoving the axe under the driver's seat and the hammers in the storage compartment of the door.
Cruz started our original car and climbed out, sending me a smile. "Jump in," he called out, turning his back on me to keep watch on the driveway.
I took a seat in the SUV and left the door hanging open, waiting for the go-ahead to try the ignition. The raised bonnets blocked my view of Cruz and most of the street, leaving me feeling isolated in the garage. I rummaged in the console to distract myself, sifting through travel packs of tissues and old receipts. We may have seen the last of the dead man’s accomplice, but that didn't mean other people wouldn't want to start trouble if they caught onto our existence.
When the Ford's engine had been running for a solid five minutes, Cruz leaned out to make eye contact with me around the upright bonnets. He gave me a thumbs up and I returned the gesture, putting my foot on the brake and lowering my head to press the start button.
Anticipation hummed inside me as I pictured us travelling down the highway to our next destination. We’d be another step closer to our future by today’s end.
The engine turned over on its first attempt, and I sucked in an excited breath, barely able to believe it had worked. I laughed and lifted my head, leaning out sideways to share the victory with Cruz.
He was gone.
The hairs rose on the back of my neck, and my heartbeat quickened.
He’d never disappear without telling me—not while we were out in the open in this way. We always kept each other aware of our locations.
A strange feeling came over me, and I frowned as I climbed from the car to scope out the situation. It was almost impossible to hear any noises over two running engines, but it had no effect on my eyesight.
Cruz was lying face down on the concrete. At first, I thought he must have been doing something mechanical to the undercarriage of the car, but then I spotted the blood pooling beneath his cheek and fear slammed into me.
My eyes jerked to the other end of the driveway.
The woman from last night—Sue—came running toward me, shoving the slingshot she must have used to take Cruz down into her back pocket. Pulling a knife from her belt, her features went tight with determination. She wore a loose tank top and ripped jeans, and the arm I’d injured was wrapped in a bandage already covered in smudges. The wound didn't appear to affect her mobility, so I could only assume she’d found some heavy-duty pain meds.
Adrenaline coursed through me, and I readied myself, rushing back to grab a hammer from the driver's door. Yanking the tantō from my belt with my free hand, I stepped out onto the driveway and flung the hammer at her with all my might, hitting her with the heavy end smack in the middle of her chest.
She made an oof sound on impact, and her eyes filled with pain. I took advantage of her momentary weakness and ran at her, swinging my sword and slashing her upper arm. Her scream filled the air, and a look of pure rage came over her that might have worried me if I hadn't been armed with weapons and just as pissed as her.
She wanted the car. If I let her take the car to avoid more trouble, there was no guarantee the SUV would continue running or even start a second time. I couldn’t risk stranding us here for good—not when we’d made promises to Dawn and Jonah and were so close to achieving our goal.
Both vehicles were unlocked with their engines running and the keys inside. I had to guard two cars and make sure she didn't hurt Cruz again while he was unconscious.
Stay focused. Keep your head straight.
“Just give me the car and you’ll never see me again,” Sue said, her words tinged with desperation.
"Fuck off now and you can live,” I countered. “That’s it. That’s the deal."
I slipped my knife from its sheath, and with a backhanded swing, caught her forearm before she could yank it away. It was enough to inflict a surface wound, but it wouldn’t slow her down for long.
I allowed myself a split-second glance at a movement behind her. Two of the infected were ambling up the driveway, attracted to all the noise created by cars and humans. More of them would come soon. They always did. Rather than causing panic, it made my job that much easier.
“You could have come and talked to us like normal human beings,” I said, jumping back as she swung her knife at me. Anger charged through me, and I channelled it, letting it drive me forward when fear might have held me back. I'd had enough of opportunists who wanted to cheat and steal. “But you tried to take what we had. Your boyfriend assaulted me, and you just stood there and let him.”
I hadn’t realised how furious it made me until it began flowing from me like lava.
“And your boyfriend killed him for it!”
Although the engine noise covered the moans of the approaching dead, she was too hyped up to notice them, anyway.I needed to make sure she stayed focused on me. They'd be on her in seconds without me hurrying them along, but I desperately wanted to put an end to this so I could go to Cruz. What if he was dying behind me right now while I stood here wasting time on someone who meant nothing to us?
I made sure not to glance at the infected. If she knew they were about to surround her, she could panic and make choices I had no time to predict. The bonnet was still up on the Ford and the cables attached, but that wouldn't stop her from jumping in and tearing out of here if the idea occurred to her.
Movement stirred behind me, and relief flooded me when I realised Cruz was conscious.
“Back off now!” I yelled, coming at her again with a double swipe. Knife to the wrist, sword to the shoulder. Hard. Fast. Both attacks connected and drew blood, and she grazed my forearm with her own knife. It stung, but I didn’t need to look to know she’d only scratched the surface.
In seconds, she'd be a dead woman.
The infected were a few steps away. One of them reached for her hair, and I shot an intentional look in their direction to throw her off balance. With a scowl, she turned her head to see what had caught my attention. I used the moment to run at her, ramming my hip and shoulder into her chest, sending her stumbling backward into their outstretched arms.
Breathing hard, I steadied my footing to make sure I didn't join her in the skirmish.
One of the dead got a hold of her, and the other followed suit, tangling its fingers in her hair. Sue’s momentum sent her tumbling to the ground with them beneath her, and I waited to make sure she couldn’t scramble free. When an infected man sank his teeth into her neck, I released a shaky breath and turned from the sight, blocking out her scream as I hurried back to Cruz.
He'd already pushed himself up to a sitting position when I got to him. “Are you okay?” I asked, stowing both weapons to free up my hands. My breaths were coming fast, my limbs trembling with adrenaline.
He pressed his hand against the side of his head, then pulled it away to find blood. “I’m good.”
With another glance at the dead to confirm they were still occupied with Sue, I gave Cruz’s scalp a quick check, running my fingertips across his skull. Blood trickled from a cut hidden in his hair, dripping down the side of his neck. I found the sticky spot just above his ear, and he let out a hissing breath. “Sorry.” It could be a concussion or in need of stitches, neither of which I could treat without first aid supplies. “I’ll look at it properly once I’ve taken care of… that.”
Sue had stopped making noises, and when I faced the pile of writhing bodies again, she was lying on top of the other two with blood... God, everywhere . It looked like a massacre had taken place, and the smell of the dead combined with the puddles and splatters of red had my stomach lurching.
I yanked my knife free again and strode over to the group, dispatching the two infected before I checked on Sue. Her body was no longer moving. She’d been ravaged by their bites, her throat torn open, and her blank eyes stared up at me. Finding no signs of life left me strangely deflated, and my chest ached as I embedded my knife in her ear to stop her from turning.
A second death on my hands in twenty-four hours. I’d never crossed that line until yesterday, and I wondered how proud Haruto would be if he could see what I’d become.
I shut down the second-guessing and focused on what needed to be done. Keeping my eyes averted from her injuries, I grabbed Sue’s wrists and peeled her off the other two bodies. My breaths were heaving from me, my muscles working overtime as I dragged her to the section of overgrown grass beside the driveway.
Both engines were still running, the keys within easy reach. Other people could turn up at any time with weapons. We needed to get moving fast before the noise drew more attention.
Cruz stepped in and transferred the remaining two bodies to the same spot, creating space for us to leave. I wanted to jump in the car and tear away from the house. Leave all my regrets and never come back. Breathing hard, I stopped and stared at him, thankful we'd made it through another fight without losing each other.
Our gazes meshed, and my throat ached at the sight of him. His eyes were tired, his hair rumpled. Blood trickled down his cheek on the way to his jaw. We couldn't keep doing this and surviving. Luck had been on our side so far, but if we stayed on the move like this, eventually we’d encounter a situation that one or both of us wouldn’t walk away from.
Similar thoughts must have occurred to Cruz. Without warning, he grabbed the front of my t-shirt in a rough grip and yanked me to him. I sucked in a breath as his arms came around me in a hug so tight every muscle in his torso strained against me. He sighed into my hair, and while the engines hummed beside us, I clutched his waist and leaned into him. “Are you in pain?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion as the fast-paced thump of his heart played beneath my ear.
“Other than a headache, I'm good.” Cruz tightened his hold on me for a split second, then let me go again. “Did she hurt you?”
I swallowed and sneaked a glimpse of the bodies piled up beside us. The image of Cruz laying among them lifeless crept into my head and I forced it straight back out again. “I’m fine. She cut my arm, and I’m basically responsible for another death, but... I’m fine.”
Cruz gazed down at me, his tiredness giving way to resolution. “She went about it the wrong way,” he said, “and so did her weasel boyfriend—just like the woman down at the river. Don’t fool yourself into thinking she was a victim. You... ” He paused and clasped my face, his warm breath moving over me. “You amaze me, querida .”
My cheeks flushed, and I turned my head away, overwhelmed by his praise, but thankful for his words. Cruz had referred to me as a force on the day we met, and I hadn't believed him. I still didn't now, but I hoped to one day match the image he had of me. If I could do so without losing the most important parts of myself, even better.
"Keep doing exactly what you're doing," he said, bringing my attention back to him. "You’re strong, and fierce, and kind. Promise you won’t let me or anyone else throw you off the path you're on."
I wasn’t sure what he meant by my path since we were travelling together. We had the same vision for the life we wanted to build, but my mouth lifted on one side. "I promise."
His gaze sharpened, and he gave me a direct look, trying to convey something I didn’t quite understand. "I mean it, Olivia," he said, as if he thought I wasn't taking him seriously. "If anything happens to any of us in our group, it’ll all be okay as long as you’re still around. You're the key."
I frowned, more lost than ever. "To what?"
"The future."
Cruz and I parked both cars in Dawn's driveway and checked the front yard and the street before we went around the back. There were no indicators other people were hiding nearby, but after too much attention over the past several hours, it paid to remain vigilant.
During the time we were gone, Dawn had harvested and packed at least a week’s worth of fresh food and stacked the tubs by the back door. Combined with the practical, non-perishable items that Jonah had left outside to take with us, the second car had become more than just a backup now.
I knocked on the locked door and tried not to overwhelm Cruz with attention as we waited on the back step for Dawn to let us in. There were no worrying signs after the attack, no nausea or dizziness to speak of, so I could only assume it meant he’d be back to his normal self after some rest.
Dawn pulled the door open and immediately set eyes on Cruz. Her gaze widened, and she stood back to let us through. "What happened?"
The alarm in her voice drew Jonah in from the lounge room, and he hung around in the doorway to assess the scene.
"She came back." I pulled out a chair and urged Cruz to take a seat at the dining table. He spared me a do-we-really-need-to-do-this look before he sat and resigned himself to some minor fussing. If he knew how much it had affected me seeing him lying lifeless on the concrete, he wouldn't hesitate to accept first aid and attention.
"Jonah, can you go outside and grab one of those first aid kits?" Dawn asked. To us, she said, "The medical supplies were already packed. I didn't think we'd need them again in the time you were gone."
"I didn't think she'd be stupid enough to take another run at us either," Cruz said as Jonah opened the back door and took off down the steps.
Dawn leaned her hip against the bench, her body language casual, her eyes anxious. “What did she do?”
I moved Cruz's hair to one side and found the long gash in his scalp. Blood was still seeping from the wound, and when I accidentally touched the edge of the broken skin, he jumped. "Took me out with a fucking slingshot," he said, clearly still pissed at being taken by surprise.
Dawn's gaze flicked to me and returned to Cruz. "I wouldn't be too embarrassed about that. Jonah nearly lost an eye to a slingshot when he was a kid. They look harmless, but they're not."
"You know what they say about sticks and stones." I ruffled his hair, and he glanced up at me, slipping his hand around the back of my thigh as I stood beside him. His mouth curled upward in a smile, and just like that, his anger faded.
I held my hand out for the kit Jonah brought back, stepping away from Cruz to open it on the table.
"How’s it look?" Jonah asked, leaning in to peek at the injury while I gathered the supplies I needed.
"Not too bad. I think his pride hurts more."
"Hey." Cruz looked up at me as I returned to my previous position, his eyes warm with affection. He pulled me between his thighs and clasped my waist, waiting like a good little patient as I tore a packet open and slipped a sterile wipe free. Before I could get to work on him, I quickly swabbed the scratch on my arm just in case Sue’s knife had remnants of the dead on it.
When I used a fresh wipe to dab at the blood already drying in his hair, Cruz jerked at the stinging sensation. I paused and gave him a patient look. "Aren't you supposed to be drinking whisky straight from the bottle and letting me stitch your head without anaesthetic?" I asked. “This is a little disappointing.”
He let out an amused breath. "If only real life was like the movies."
“I didn’t think she’d come back,” Jonah cut in, sharing a look with his mum. “She was shitting herself last night. The way she ran out of here, I thought there was no way in hell we’d ever see her again.”
“Cowards get desperate sometimes,” Cruz said, “and when they’re desperate, they’re dangerous.”
“Where is she now?" Dawn asked, her tone careful. I suspected she already knew the truth. We wouldn’t be so relaxed if we knew she was still out there somewhere with even more of a vendetta against us.
My fingers stilled in Cruz's hair, and I drew a long breath. Two people had died since our arrival less than twenty-four hours ago, and I wondered how our behaviour would alter Dawn and Jonah’s opinion of us. Would they still want to leave everything familiar and venture into new territory with us after seeing how easily we could kill others?
"Let’s just say she won't be a problem again," Cruz finally answered.
"Oh." Dawn's attention bounced from Cruz to me, then across to Jonah.
"You mean you…" Jonah left his sentence unfinished.
Cruz nodded and squeezed my waist, a silent warning to let him take responsibility for the second death. Another stain on his reputation wouldn't change their opinion of him, but it might alter their view of me. I didn't want that kind of dishonesty in our partnership, or the group, though. We were good people, and sometimes circumstances pushed us to do terrible things to survive.
"We were fighting,” I explained, “and two of the infected came up behind her. I pushed her backwards and let nature take its course." I finished cleaning the wound and swapped the soiled antibacterial wipe for a roll of webbed tape. No stitches were required, but I hoped I could get the tape to stay in place without needing to shave part of Cruz's scalp.
Keeping my eyes on the task, I tore thin pieces of tape from the roll, holding the wound closed as I lay each strip in place. All the while, I remained aware of the weight of Cruz's hands on my waist and the attention of everyone in the room. Rather than trying to explain myself, I let the information marinate and trusted them to understand my actions had been a last resort.
Dawn spoke first after a long silence. “I never thought it would come to this,” she said. “We had a few scary times during the looting and raids, but after it calmed down, the most trouble we ever got was from the dead. Now living people are trying to kill us?” She pushed her shoulder-length hair back from her face and watched me dress Cruz’s wound. “There are so few of us left that you’d think we'd try to get along, but apparently human nature doesn’t work that way. People have turned mean.”
I finished tending to Cruz’s scalp and let his hair fall back in place, thankful no one appeared to be viewing me in a negative light. “People are mostly the same as they were before the virus," I said, "but the meaner ones don’t have to worry about the law anymore. They’re taking whatever they want without having to deal with the consequences.”
Cruz smiled his appreciation for my care, then pushed himself up to a standing position. “Which means we need to be ready—all of us. Cars attract attention and whether we like it or not, we’ll encounter other people on our way to the east coast. If you can’t talk reason to someone, if they show any signs that they’re looking to take what we have, react fast and use your weapons. Last night,”he said, looking directly at Dawn, "we were lucky, and we can't afford oversights like that again."
Her eyes darted to me, then back to Cruz. "I'll do better, I promise."
Jonah nodded his understanding, his features determined.
Only last night he’d been shocked that Cruz had resorted to deadly force to keep us safe, and today he’d accepted our reality. Part of me hated that someone so young needed to keep making these adjustments to stay safe, but we were living in a different world. Being cautious and slow to trust didn’t mean we wouldn’t meet good people along the way—we’d met Jonah and Dawn after all—but the four of us had to keep our eyes open, our senses alert, and pay attention to every gut feeling.
"So, what do you think?” I asked, cleaning up the first aid supplies. “Are you ready to say goodbye to this place?”
Dawn huffed a loud breath and looked around the kitchen.
When her eyes met mine again, she gave me a smile that looked equal parts nervous and excited—the exact way I felt when I left my apartment for the last time. "I started mentally separating myself from this place as soon as we sat down at the table to talk to you,” she said. “I’m ready when you are."