Chapter 24
Barefoot and Helpless
Cam
After getting his bike ready, Cam spent the downtime going around to help everyone else, trying not to stew over Rachel, who of course had yet to return. He’d just helped Gray load his trailer when he realized Key and Allie were nowhere to be seen.
Cam swallowed an initial urge to panic. Truly, no two people are more equipped to protect themselves in the zompocalypse.
But that doesn’t make them infallible.
“Goddamn it,” he muttered. He turned to Gray. “Did you see Key and Allie leave?”
“They went thataway.” Gray gestured across the road and gave him a sympathetic look. “Want me to come with?”
“Nah. I’m sure they’re not far. Probably strategizing on goddess stuff.”
After double-checking the weaponry he carried, Cam set off and, sure enough, found them in an area mostly clear of tall grass near a farmhouse they’d already checked for supplies. He waved, but they didn’t notice him, and he didn’t dare call out.
As he got closer, he looked at Allie, barefoot with her hiking boots and socks beside her, stranding in what looked like mountain pose while Key watched her. What the hell? They decided to do some yoga all of a sudden?
Allie’s eyes were open, and he could see her breathing. An odd chill chased through him. He walked a little faster, trying to ignore the goose bumps rising on his arms.
That was when he saw the ankle-biter crawl into view from one of the few clumps of tall grass at the edge of the clearing. It was still about ten feet from them, and Cam was about to shout a warning when he saw Key unsheathe her machete. She’d have no problem taking out the Z.
Then another ankle-biter, which seemed to be mostly torso, followed behind.
Cam broke into a jog, scanning the perimeter, and drew his knife. No panic, just business. Key split the head of the first Z with a grunt.
However, Allie wasn’t moving or reacting to the noise or the danger.
At all.
Christ almighty.
Cam was only a few feet away when Key noticed him, and his knife was hilt-deep in the torso zombie’s head a beat or two later.
“Thanks,” she said, nodding at him.
When both of them looked at Allie, Cam said, “Allie—”
Key stopped him. “Wait. She’s busy.”
Busy?
He walked around to the front of Allie, looked into her open eyes... and his blood froze. Those big doe eyes he loved so much were vacant, elsewhere. Looking into something he couldn’t see. “Angel,” he whispered then looked frantically at his mom. “Key, what’s wrong with her?”
“Don’t touch her,” Key commanded. “Just... stop, Cam. Please. When it’s done, she can explain it to you.”
“Why are her shoes—”
Key cut him off. “It’s not my story to tell, honey.”
Unease tightening in his stomach, he waited. Everything seemed to slow. Had birds been making noises before? Cam couldn’t remember, but they sure as hell seemed to have been put on mute. Everything was eerily quiet as they waited for... something.
Suddenly, with a gasp, Allie came back from wherever she’d been, her eyes clearing and her body relaxing into a regular standing position.
Key held out a hand to her. “Allie, honey, are you okay?”
Allie nodded, but a second later, bright-red blood began to drip from both her nostrils. Cam gave a wordless sound of protest, and she finally realized he was there. Her expression turned from weary but triumphant to wary and apologetic.
What does she have to apologize for?
“Cam,” Allie said then stopped, raising the heel of her palm to her nose. “Oh.”
“What... what happened to you?” Cam did his best to keep his voice from being accusatory, willing the adrenaline to cease zinging through his body.
When Key held out a handkerchief from her pocket, Allie took it and held it to her nose. “I needed to find someone. Rachel,” she said, her words a little muffled. She pulled back the cloth and sighed at the red staining it. “It took a while—I think She wanted me to suffer. Worry. Doubt.”
“Then She could swoop in with a last-minute vision, and you’d be super grateful. Fucking shit.” Key shook her head. “Sounds like a goddess. So... you saw?”
Allie described the location. “Rachel’s in some kind of standoff with another group. There are four of them, and she’s pinned down. One’s injured but able to pull a trigger. They’re all armed.”
“Which means we need to go bail her ass out.” Key propped her hands on her hips and looked up at the sky. “We could send half the group to where she is to get there more quickly, or we could get the whole group ready to go if we want to stick together. Cameron, what do you think?”
What the actual fuck? “Are we pretending Allie isn’t just standing here bleeding after some sort of fucked-up yoga session?” When Key rolled her eyes, Cam turned from her to Allie. “What happened to you?”
Allie wiped more blood from her nose, mouth set in a grim line. “It’s part of my gift. From Morrigan. I don’t only get the dreams—I can find things. Food, water. Places. People.”
The hairs on Cam’s neck rose.
“It’s how I found the bunker, initially,” she continued.
“Morrigan told me to look for a safe place—and She didn’t mean with my eyes.
” Allie wasn’t looking at him as she talked.
Her gaze was either on the ground or on Key.
“For the best results, I need a good connection to the ground, so that’s why I took off my shoes and socks.
I’m not really in my body when I’m seeking, if it works.
And...” She grimaced. “I was right about Morrigan being angry at me, so this particular session was a rough one.”
“Not really in my body.” Those words sent a shudder through him. “When you try to find something, you’re basically cut off from your senses? You’re barefoot and helpless?”
Those big brown eyes snapped over to him, wide with hurt and anger. “I’m not helpless. I pull my weight.”
Shit. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then don’t say it like that.”
“Don’t put me in the same category as Brandon. You know I don’t think you’re deadweight. I’m worried about you.”
“Oh, I know.”
Her anger crackled between them, sparking an answering flame that rose up within him—no doubt fueled by the adrenaline and the lack of sleep from the night before. It was a toxic combination, and he knew he couldn’t let it loose on her.
But goddamn it, she could have died. And she hadn’t trusted him, again, with something important. Something earth-shattering. “I just wish you had told me.” He swallowed. “Do you not get how fucked-up this was for me to walk into?”
Allie’s expression closed off. “I’m sorry you had to see it.” Before he could speak again, she looked at Key. “The sooner we get to Rachel, the better.”
Key looked from Allie to Cam. “Children, I think we could end this on a better note.”
Cam groaned. “I mean, Jesus, if you’d been alone out here, either one of those Zs would have bitten you.” A thought struck him, belated terror boring a hole into his stomach. “Back in Illinois, when you found the fuel. And the ambush. You went off alone to... What do you call it?”
“Look. Seek. Either one.”
“You didn’t want me to know. We’ve already been over the ambush, but the fuel—you could have told me then.”
“I didn’t take risks.” Allie took a breath, frowning. “I made sure I would be safe.”
“Prepared like you knew there were no zombies around, or prepared like you hoped there weren’t?” How many times has she come that close to dying? “Morrigan makes it this way?”
Key spoke up. “Cameron, walk softly here. There’s a lot you don’t understand.”
“I want to, but no one will let me.” Great, Hale, go the childish route.
Don’t forget to stick out your lip. He shook his head.
“I mean, fuck, you told my mom, and I get it—she’s in the club, and I’m not.
But I’m on your side here.” He stopped and scrubbed a hand over his face. “When were you going to let me in?”
Allie swallowed. Her nose had stopped bleeding, thank God, and now she was worrying the bloody handkerchief between her fingers. “I didn’t want... I thought...” She paused then glared at him. “I was worried about how you might react.”
He sighed. “Goddamn it, I’m not mad. I know I sound mad—”
“And look mad,” Key said, squaring up a little like she was ready to kick his ass. “Check yourself, son.” When he gave her a fulminating glare, she added, “Of course, that’s always kind of how your face gets when you’re upset.”
Cam looked back at Allie, who blinked back tears before turning away from him.
“Fuck.” Unable to stop himself, he took a step toward her. The adrenaline that had been coursing through him, fueling his emotional outburst, was draining away. “I’m fucking this up. I’m sorry. Angel, I’m sorry.” He stopped. “I’m scared. It scared the shit out of me, seeing you like that.”
She looked back at him. He willed her to understand. Witnessing her standing motionless, face vacant and eerily absent, zombies crawling toward her? All he’d been able to see was that she was about to die—and would have died, had Key not been there.
He turned to Key. “So you were guarding her.”
“I wouldn’t have asked her to seek out Rachel—or anything—without protection, Cameron.” The tone was firm but quiet, with maybe a little guilt mixed in. Key had asked Allie to do it, which meant she was responsible.
“Did we need to find Rachel that badly?”
“We needed to find her so we wouldn’t be stuck here, waiting.” Key folded her arms. “Malcolm’s never sent messages asking us to come—something must be up.”
“And Odie is there.” He leveled a gaze at her, but she only tightened her jaw. “I do get it, but did it have to be at Allie’s expense?”
“It’s not at her expense. You aren’t even trying to understand her point of view, son—”
“Would the two of you stop talking like I’m not here?” Allie glared at both of them, although the effect was lessened a bit by her holding the handkerchief to her nose again. “We need to go.”
Cam’s stomach clenched. What was he doing, throwing blame around like it would change anything? Getting angry like Allie had been afraid he would? His fragile certainty that he was in the right grew smaller with every passing second. “You’re right. Allie, please...”
She stopped him with a raised hand and a shake of her head while she wiped her nose a final time. Then she sighed and said wearily, “I accept your apology for fucking this up. We’ll talk about it later.” She turned and crouched, still a little wobbly as she put on her shoes and socks.
Meanwhile, Cam looked at Key, but his mom had that disappointed look he always dreaded. She walked over to Allie, turning her back on him.
He was letting her down. Letting Allie down.
She didn’t say it. She didn’t have to.
At least Allie had accepted his apology—for now, until they found Rachel and sorted out that mess, that bit of hope would have to be enough.