Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

AVA

“I can’t believe he can jump like that,” I said, watching Gyrik squat atop the lead truck.

“That’s nothing. He could jump to the top of that building with no problem.”

I looked where Zach was pointing and felt another wave of awe. Sure, Gyrik had said as much, but seeing was believing. And Gyrik was more able than I’d imagined. Faster than I’d guessed. Stronger. And a fantastic snuggler. Considerate too.

The last man I’d seriously dated had been a narcissist. I had seen his love bombing for what it was within six months, and I had broken up with him. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the end. I’d had to deal with the fallout for months afterward until he’d moved on to another woman. After that, I’d been standoffish about attempting another relationship. It’d left a mark on me, making it hard to trust any overtures of affection.

However, that’s not how it felt with Gyrik. He did things quietly, without any demands for recognition. While packing up, he’d cleared the snow off my truck, carried the cats and all their supplies out, and made sure that my water bottle was full. I’d had to ask to find out who did those things. And when I thanked him, he’d downplayed his actions, again not looking for recognition. It felt…right. Normal.

But was it affection or just kindness?

The way he looked at me as he glanced back from his perch felt like it was more than just kindness. Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though. Or desperation.

In the last twenty-four hours, I’d heard from each man that Gyrik was the one who’d keep us safe…and I believed them. He was so different, not just in appearance but in everything about him. While he seemed nice enough, I also recognized he wasn’t someone I would ever want mad at me.

Then, was my budding interest in him because of actual attraction or self-preservation?

“Zach, take the center so I can take the tail,” Will said over the radio.

“Copy that,” I said back.

Zach eased back from the truck in front of us while Will moved to the side. Once Zach edged by him and we were in the middle, Zach closed the distance between us and Bram’s truck. I glanced back to see Will doing the same.

“Yesterday, you mentioned that you’re a programmer. What kind of stuff can you program? Any games?”

Zach’s question distracted me for the next few minutes and eased the tension that had crept in. He seemed pretty carefree when speaking, but the things he said and the observations he made showed he wasn’t the typical devil-may-care teen.

Which was probably why he didn’t run us into the ditch when the first infected appeared, shambling through the snow.

Zach hadn’t exaggerated. She was exactly like every zombie depiction Hollywood ever came up with. She looked about my age but with discolored, decaying skin, cloudy eyes, and dirty, tattered clothes.

Her long hair hung in icicles around her head, and she could barely move through the snow. Not that it was deep. It looked more like she was having trouble getting her limbs to work.

The way her head tracked the sound of our vehicles as she struggled to move was disturbing.

Gyrik jumped down from the top of the truck, glanced at me, and mimed covering my eyes.

“He doesn’t want you to watch,” Zach said.

“Yeah,” I said faintly. “Got it.”

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing instead of crying.

The apocalypse was real.

Bites.

Sickness.

Zombies.

And I’d hidden away from the worst of it. Guilt hit me hard, and I thought of my family.

What if what I just saw had happened to Mom, Pops, and Kylie? What if I found them in the house like that?

Bram’s assurance that I could change my mind made more sense. Would I be able to deal with seeing my family like that? Worse, would I be able to deal with what would need to be done? The men had stressed several times how dangerous the infected still were…how there were still so many left.

The rules Zach had already shared, like the ways to kill an infected, ran through my mind.

“Gyrik removed her head, didn’t he?” My words were barely audible over the hum of the engine, but Zach heard.

“Yeah. He has to. Leaving them as they are means they’ll be there to hurt the humans that are still alive.”

I nodded and leaned my head back against the seat.

“You should keep your eyes closed.”

“I will, but we both know I’ll need to face this eventually.”

“Aren’t you already? Give yourself time to process what you’ve seen before you add anything more. And there will be more. A lot more. But like I said before, at least, these ones are slower and less scary than what was out there before. Seriously, I don’t understand how you made it without anything finding you until now.”

“Same.”

I’d gotten so lucky. Hopefully, that luck would last a little longer, and I’d find my family holed up and safe. Yet, a thread of doubt remained. My family had known where I was. If they’d had the chance, wouldn’t they have tried driving to the cabin to get me, too?

“If you’re not busy dodging dead people, can I ask questions?”

“No dodging. Gyrik is keeping them all away. It’s easier to clean him than the vehicles. What’s your question?”

The image Zach had just painted muted me for an extra few seconds.

“How fast did everything happen? From the time people started being affected to the time the evacuations started?”

“Hours. The bombings happened within days. Everything was chaos. I’m glad you missed it. I still have nightmares about those first few days.” He made a derisive sound. “The first few weeks, really. We got smarter. But so did they.”

“Do you have any family left?”

“I do. My mom and my sister. My dad’s gone.”

“I’m sorry.”

Pete, who was sleeping in my lap, made an inquisitive sound and started purring as I petted him.

“It is what it is,” Zach said. “It’s better to accept the circumstances than live in denial. Better chance of survival, you know?”

I nodded and opened my eyes, staring at the cab’s ceiling for a moment before turning my head and looking out the window. We were passing through a residential area. Several of the infected people were trying to reach us, but they moved like the first woman had—as if their limbs weren’t cooperating with them.

It gave Gyrik time to run to them, one by one. I didn’t watch what he was doing, but I glanced behind us and saw how he was throwing the bodies into little piles. My stomach didn’t turn. I didn’t know why not. It should have.

“Why does he pile them like that?”

“Several reasons that you might find a little nauseating.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“Well, the body piles used to deter other infected from wandering too close to the area. Those were the smarter ones. We’re not sure how smart these ones will get, so the piles are still a warning. But they’ll also keep the area neater. There’s nothing we can do about the dead right now with the ground frozen, but the scientists stressed how other kinds of sicknesses might become a problem if dead people are just left everywhere.”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“The day we figured out how to stop the smart ones, they’d surround our community. Hundreds of thousands of infected. More than we could have hoped to kill or keep out once they gathered. They fell where they stood. We’re talking miles of dead bodies around the communities.

“It took days to pick them all up and haul them away. Thankfully, it was still cold enough then, or it would have been really bad. We found places to move them to. Some were burned. Some were buried. There were too many to stick to just one method. Hopefully, once the warm weather comes, we won’t have any problems.”

We continued through Elk River at a steady pace without incident, and I breathed a little sigh of relief when we reached open road. After a few miles, we stopped so Gyrik could wash up.

Not wanting to test my stomach, I didn’t look to see why he needed to wash. But I had an imagination and could guess that he was probably covered in the blood of the people he’d beheaded. Rather than be sickened by the thought of it, I was sad for the role he had to play just because he was stronger and immune. I’d glimpsed how he’d had to run from one infected to the next, non-stop, while keeping up with the vehicles. He had to be tired.

“I’ll grab his clothes and do a sweep,” Zach said over the radio.

“Watch your feet,” Bram said in return.

“Stay here,” Zach said, handing me the radio.

I kept the cats close so they wouldn’t bolt and watched Zach withdraw a handgun I hadn’t known he’d been carrying inside his jacket. He glanced at me.

“Sometimes they get caught under the vehicles. Someone died that way. Bitten as they got out. Always make sure someone checks before you get out or jump clear so they can’t grab you if they're there.”

Without waiting for me to acknowledge the warning, he opened the door and jumped out like he was trying to avoid a puddle. Once he shut the door again, he slowly circled my truck from a safe distance. He did the same to the other two vehicles before climbing into the back of the main one.

I had so much to learn if I wanted to stay alive.

I glanced at Gyrik, who was standing in the middle of a snowy area beside the road. He was shirtless now and using handfuls of snow to clean his skin. Steam rose around him, proof of his warmer body temperature.

Mesmerized, I watched the play of his muscles as he moved, and Pete made another inquisitive sound.

“My thoughts exactly,” I said softly.

What exactly was Gyrik? Protector? Alien? Bodybuilder stud muffin? He checked so many boxes that it was hard to tell.

He bent down and pulled off his boots. Barefoot in the snow and completely unbothered by it.

Unable to look away, I watched him reach for his waist. I’d bet my bonus that he wasn’t wearing anything else under those leather pants. Did I want him to turn around so I could see? Should I shut my eyes in case he did?

The waistband loosened.

Repeat grumbled, and Pete made little questioning meeps.

Gyrik hooked his fingers in the material at his hips and tugged the molded material down. Inch by sculpted inch, he revealed his glutes.

I think I might be a biter. A nibbler at the bare minimum.

When the leather reached his knees, Gyrik bent slightly to grab the cuff of the pant leg clinging to his calf. The move revealed what hung low between his massively muscular thighs.

He was large all over.

I averted my gaze, and it collided with Zach’s, who was watching me from the back of the truck in front of us. He winked at me and hopped down from the truck.

Embarrassed that I was caught perving, a flush ignited in my cheeks.

“Hey, Gyrik. I’ve got some new clothes for you,” he called.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back of my seat. Could anyone really blame me for looking? Gyrik wasn’t human. Of course, I was curious. It was only natural.

Opening my eyes, I peeked again.

He was still turned away from me. This time, Zach stood beside him, saying things I probably wouldn’t like. And Gyrik was listening attentively.

I looked down at Pete and pulled him off my lap to hug him close to my chest.

Will Gyrik be mad that I’d looked? Offended because he just got done killing dozens of people?

Without a doubt, I was the worst person on the planet.

Sighing, I held Pete and started working on how I would word my apology without sounding like a deranged idiot.

Sorry for peeping at your pecker. I didn’t actually see much.

Nope.

I didn’t mean to look. My eyes slipped.

Funny, but no.

Sorry for watching you change. It’s been over a year since I had sex, and I was just making sure I still had a pulse.

I definitely had a pulse; I was just missing my brain at the moment.

Sorry I watched you change. I was so traumatized by seeing my first zombie that I needed something nice to look at.

Actually, that one wasn’t too bad.