Chapter Ten
Maisie
I wait until the lilac light glazing the morning mountains resolves into a gleaming, brilliant white to enter the tent.
I hate to rouse Everett after so little sleep, but the urge to move now that the sun’s risen over Shenandoah’s rounded shoulders, to find our next haven before the zombies rise again, is a restless, demanding itch.
Or it could be the promise of sex. There’s that.
The fever in Everett’s eyes when he agreed to our sex lessons was a drink of pure adrenaline—I couldn’t have fallen back asleep if I’d tried.
While the sight of his massive erection swinging wildly as he fought zombies was truly absurd, the thought of what must’ve come before, when I was asleep in the tent and he had his big hand wrapped around his cock, thinking of me, is not.
It fills me with heat. A nervous, giddy heat that’s as surprising as it’s intense. I decided to have sex before I turned thirty, but I didn’t realize I’d want it, too, that the practical striving to meet my goal would be paired with a physical yearning I’d feel in all my softest places.
Everett’s eyes are closed now, his dark lashes resting lightly against his cheekbones. His lips are parted, pouty in sleep, and I feel a strange urge to lean over and kiss him awake like he’s a princess in a fairy tale instead of a hot professor in a horror story.
“Everett?” I whisper, not wanting to wake him and yet wanting those eyes focused on me.
I shake his shoulder lightly, but only Chicken stirs from her spot curled up against his chest, one of her eyes slowly winking open to regard me, then closing again with a distinct but friendly fuck off.
“Time to wake up,” I try again, this time a little louder, as I hover over him. “Eve—”
“Wha—” His eyes spring open, finding mine above him, and he rears back, grabbing Chicken and yanking her to his face like the covers.
She does not approve, yowling and launching herself out of his arms. “Oh. Maisie.” His chest rises and falls rapidly as the fear gripping his face is replaced by relief. He sits up quickly.
“Sorry—didn’t mean to scare you.” I haven’t woken anyone up since…well. Maybe ever? No matter how early I’d rise growing up, Mom was always already awake. I used to wonder if she slept at all. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He blows out a deep breath. “I didn’t piss myself.” He pauses. “I think.”
A small laugh hiccups out of me, which Everett rewards with a smile of his own.
I suddenly realize how close we are, and a blush floods my neck.
I back out of the tent ungracefully. “I’m going to pack up out here and radio Gramps, check in and let him know we’re leaving for the day.
Can you take down the tent after you’re dressed? ”
“Oh, yes. We’re well acquainted.”
I leave him to it, gathering up our supplies and stowing them back in my SUV. When I slide behind the steering wheel and turn on the portable ham unit, it’s with a small smile of my own.
“CQ, CQ, CQ, Gramps, this is Maisie-girl, come in.”
“Maisie-girl! Thank god,” Gramps replies immediately, his voice more garbled than usual through the speakers. “I didn’t realize how long twenty-four hours could be till I had to wait to hear from you again.”
The warmth in my chest spreads through my limbs; I’m relieved to hear Gramps’s voice, too. “I’m fine, Gramps, I promise. How’re you feeling?”
“Hold on a sec, need to get my partial situated.” There’s a pause, then, “Ah. That’s better.
Damn fake teeth won’t stay in right. As for me, I’m still healthy as an old mule with a heart condition, but I’m the least interesting topic right now—spill it, girl!
What’s going on out there? Where are you? Are you somewhere safe right now?”
“Yes, in Shenandoah National Park, taking the route you and I discussed. Mostly empty like we thought, but there was a run-in with some rangers last night. Dead ones.” My eyes scan the white woods surrounding the car on reflex. “Nothing we couldn’t handle, though.”
There’s a long, staticky pause. “Did you just say we?”
I brace myself, fully aware that I’m a grown woman and Gramps isn’t actually my grandfather or anyone with any authority over me, for that matter, and yet anxious to confess all the same. “Everett’s with me. My, uh, date?”
“The professor?” Gramps asks incredulously. “The son of a bitch that ran off claiming you were about to Misery him?”
“That’s the one.”
“Good Lord in heaven,” Gramps says under his breath. “Maisie-girl, now, I’m not one t’ judge, but I have to clarify here: Did you, in fact, Misery him?”
“No!” I laugh, indignant. I’d be angrier, except it doesn’t sound like Gramps would’ve been that put out if I had kidnapped a whole-ass man. “Long story short, I found him in a tree on my way out of town and decided to help him. I’m dropping him off at his sister’s on the way to your bunker.”
“Lord, Maisie! What are you thinking?”
“He’d have died if I didn’t help him! He’s the only survivor I’ve seen yet in a world that’s otherwise chock-full of flesh-eating zombies.
It’s gonna take days to get up to your place, maybe a week.
Doesn’t it make sense to have help for part of that?
How am I supposed to sleep without someone to stand guard? What if I get surrounded?”
“What if this stranger beats you up, takes your rig, and leaves you for the dead?” Gramps counters right back. “What if he does worse?”
The thought is so preposterous, I almost laugh again. “He’d never do any of that. I’ve been talking to him online for a week, remember? He’s a nice person, Gramps.”
“He wasn’t so nice two nights ago when he broke your heart.”
“He didn’t break my heart. He hurt my feelings, that’s all.” I rub the back of my neck, the shame and embarrassment I felt when Everett ran out still uncomfortably within reach. “He’s a gentle person. He saw my weapons and got scared, end of story. That doesn’t make him bad.”
“So, you’re telling me after a background check, a week of messaging, one awful date, and a day of driving together, you know everything there is to know about him? You’re comfortable trusting this stranger with your life?”
“I—” But the words don’t come, and I let my finger slide off the talk button.
When I think about trust and Everett, so many things compete against one another.
How I let him into my apartment and kissed him, only for him to reject me to my face.
Then, his very real apology for how he acted, followed by the shock of walking into his house and seeing pictures of his wife everywhere.
His duffel full of hard drives instead of warm winter clothes, but how he strove to learn the perfect front kick.
The way he had my back last night, even though he was terrified.
He didn’t run or climb a tree. He stood beside me and fought.
He listened. And when that ranger with the giant hole in her stomach almost took a bite out of mine, he stepped between us with that weird little Taser without knowing if it’d work at all.
My eyes find Everett now, fighting a tent pole in the distance. As I watch, it springs up and whacks him under the chin. I snort, but it’s a weak, half-hearted sound. Because no matter how kind he is or how hard he tries to learn, it’s how much Everett doesn’t know that puts us in danger.
And how much I don’t seem to mind.
I press the talk button again. “I don’t think he’d hurt me on purpose. But I don’t trust him not to accidentally do it.”
Gramps huffs in response. “Good. You keep your eye on him, Maisie. When you sleep, hide your keys and stay armed. When you’re awake, watch for conflicting behavior. Does he say one thing but do another? Does he seem jumpy or skittish? When you ask him questions, is he forthcoming or evasive?”
“All right, Gramps. It’s not like he’s KGB.” I rub my forehead. “But I hear you. I’ll be careful.”
“He may not be KGB, but he could be an evil vegan.”
Lord.
Everett finally slides the last piece of the tent back into its bag, then stands, pressing his palms against his lower back and smiling like he just finished an honest day’s work. He turns, sees me watching, and gives a happy wave, like did you see that? I give him a big thumbs-up.
“You’re not going through any cities for this fella, are you?”
“Just Washington, D.C.,” I admit, wincing already. “Heard anything bad about there?”
“Washington, D.C.?!”
I press the talk button for a full minute, just so I don’t have to hear Gramps yelling at me.
When I finally let go, he’s still going strong, bellowing about the good-for-nothing government and the administration that sold us to the devil, so I press it again.
After another full minute or two, the air’s finally gone quiet.
“I understand the danger, Gramps, and I promise you, I’m not going to take any unnecessary risks. I just want to help Everett, that’s all, and to be honest, I was really scared to leave Durham, okay? Having him with me helped.”
“Oh, Maisie-girl.” Gramps sighs. “I understand a thing or two about that. But if your gut’s telling you this man is safe, that having him with you is helping keep you safe, then I’ll stop my wheezing about it.
For now,” he warns. “Just, whatever you do, don’t give him my coordinates, and don’t let your heart get involved with your decision-making. You hear?”
“I won’t, I promise.” I run my hand down the dashboard of the car, the faux-leather material beaded beneath my fingertips.
I’m not going to tell Gramps about my deal with Everett, but I don’t need to, either.
I can keep my head on straight about one night of sex.
It’ll probably be bad, anyway—isn’t that what people always say about their first time?
Well, what women always say. I roll my eyes at how unfair that is, but it doesn’t keep me from wanting to try it myself, even if it’s just to get it over with and check it off my list.
Besides, something tells me that sex with Everett won’t be bad.
I don’t think it’ll be bad at all.