Page 27 of Dyana (Love in the Apocalypse #3)

When I woke up the next morning, Dyana was still sleeping between us.

She looked so peaceful, which wasn’t always the case when she slept.

I wouldn’t admit it to her, but I’ve spent more mornings than I care to admit to watching Dyana sleep.

I couldn’t help it. Part of me found it hard to believe she was real.

For four years, Dyana had been a fantasy.

Someone we talked about and looked for, even though we knew we’d never find her.

Every morning, I woke up in terror, worried that it had all been a dream. So to alleviate that feeling, I watched her sleep.

“You’ve gotta stop being such a fucking creeper,” Bryce rumbled.

“Shh,” I said when his voice made Dyana’s forehead wrinkle. “If you wake her up, I’m going to punch you in the nuts.”

“If you wake me up, I’m going to punch both of you in the nuts,” Jack mumbled.

He pulled Dyana closer and buried his face in her neck.

When she wrapped her arm around him and sighed, I felt a pang of jealousy.

Their connection was undeniable. I wanted that.

I knew that Dyana and I would get there one day, that this was brand new, but I still yearned for it.

Hoping to let her sleep longer, I slid off the bed and went to take a piss.

I grabbed my knife and opened the front door cautiously in case the zombies from the night before were still in the yard.

I didn’t see them, so I stepped out onto the front stoop.

It was already shaping up to be a beautiful day, which was great news.

The chickens wouldn’t come out if the weather were shitty.

As I pissed off the side into the bushes I heard the surprising sound of a motor.

There weren’t many cars on the road anymore, and the sound momentarily froze me to the spot as my brain struggled to accept what I had heard.

The vehicle had gotten closer when I finally snapped out of it and ran back into the house.

While I was always willing to meet new people, I didn’t like the idea of doing so when we had Dyana with us. I peeked out the window as a dirty car rolled through the neighborhood, slowly causing warning bells to go off in my head. I stiffened slightly as Jack and Bryce joined me at the window.

“Who do you think it is?” Bryce asked.

“It could be anyone,” Jack replied quietly.

After hearing Dyana’s story last night, we were all a bit on edge, worried that Harris could show up at any moment.

“But it could be—“

Jack cut me off. “Anyone. Let’s just keep this quiet for now. I don’t want to scare Dyana unnecessarily.” I wasn’t sure how smart it was to keep a potential threat from Dyana, but considering one of us was usually with her at all times, how much danger could she be in?

We let Dyana sleep late into the morning. God knew she needed it. When Dyana finally awoke, she grabbed her things and darted down the hall to the bathroom. When she returned, she handed my shirt back to me.

“Thanks,” she said shyly.

“I’m the one who should be thanking you,” I replied. “Now I’ll get to smell like you all day.” My words made her blush, and I grinned at her like an idiot. I was just so happy at that moment. I had my brothers by my side, and we got the girl. It could only get better from here.

Bryce pulled Dyana into his lap. “Do you forgive me for triggering you last night?”

“I was never upset with you,” Dyana replied. “There’s no way you could have known it would have triggered me, especially if I didn’t know until it happened.”

“Are you feeling better today, Doll? If you’d rather go home, we can. The chickens aren’t going anywhere,” Jack said.

“Oh, yes, they are,” Dyana replied. “They’re going home with us. And I’m fine. Come on, let’s go catch some chickens.”

We packed up our things in case we had to make a run for it for some reason and couldn’t return to Jack’s house.

Jack stepped outside first and looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone out there.

Dyana probably thought he was checking for zombies, but Bryce and I knew better.

We carried the cages and feed to the park with our heads on a swivel, listening for any sign of a nearby car.

Thankfully, we didn’t hear anything, and the longer we spent outside, the more comfortable I became.

Jack was right, it wasn’t anything to worry about.

Probably some random person passing through town.

We set live animal traps around the area where we had been spreading feed for a few days and put piles of feed in each one.

While we were tempted to hide in the bushes and watch, we knew our chances of catching the chickens would be better if we didn’t.

Instead, we searched the nearby houses for any items we might want to bring up the mountain at some point.

That was one good thing about the apocalypse: looting was not only legal, it was encouraged.

When we eventually circled back a couple of hours later, we had four hens caught within the three cages, with an angry rooster, a few more hens, and a small brood of chicks running around the cages anxiously.

While Bryce and Jack ran back to the house to get the pet carriers we found, Dyana and I tried to come up with a plan to catch the rest of the chickens.

Not that we were able to implement it. As soon as we approached the cages with the carriers, the rooster and hens not in the cages scattered, taking some of the chicks with them.

“We’re going to have to reset the traps,” Jack said as we moved the captured hens and the babies who stuck around into the three pet carriers.

Why don’t you and Bryce run these chickens home, and Dyana and I will reset the traps,“ I suggested. “With any luck, we’ll meet you up there with the rest of the chickens before nightfall.”

“That’s a good idea,” Dyana agreed. “We don’t want to stress them out any more than necessary, so I don’t want to leave them sitting in those carriers longer than necessary.”

“How are you going to get them up the mountain?” Bryce asked.

I shrugged. “We can search for more carriers, and if we don’t find any, we can toss them in backpacks or something.”

“Ok, fine,” Jack said. “But be safe. Don’t do anything stupid.”

I understood his message. If that car shows up again, hide.

“You be safe, too,” Dyana replied. She kissed them both quickly and then started working on the traps.

I watched as she moved them closer to the tree line and away from the original placement.

Chickens weren’t stupid, and these chickens seemed to be smarter than your average variety—especially that damn rooster.

“Are you sure splitting up is a good idea?” Bryce asked quietly.

“We’ll be fine,” I assured him. They took off, and I helped finish setting up the cages by spreading more chicken feed around. “Where are we going to find more pet carriers?” I asked when we finished.

“I think I have an answer to that,” Dyana replied. “Follow me.”

I followed Dyana into town and down Main Street. She took a left down a street that passed by the high school and stopped at a house halfway down the street. “This was my best friend Lyla’s house. Her family had a million cats and dogs. We should find what we need here.”

“Have you been in here since the outbreak?” I asked as we approached the front door.

“No, so stay alert.”

Dyana opened the door, and we stood in the doorway listening for any signs of life or undead inside.

We didn’t hear anything, and I was just about to give the all clear when a zombie came bumbling around the corner.

Dyana was a step closer, so I held back to let her take it down.

When she didn’t react and the zombie grew dangerously closer, I looked at Dyana and saw that she was frozen in place, her face filled with horror.

Realizing the danger she was in, I stepped past her and stabbed the zombie in the head.

As soon as the zombie dropped, I spun around to check on Dyana.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, blinking back tears. “I don’t know why I froze when I saw Lyla, or why I hadn’t anticipated it. I had to put my sister down. Why did I freeze for Lyla?” She was obviously angry with herself.

“Hey, I had your back. We’re a team,” I said, trying to soothe her. “She was your high school best friend. It would make sense that seeing her would hit you harder.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she argued. “If you freeze, you die.”

“Listen to me, Red,” I said, cupping her face. “As long as I am here, I won’t let that happen. You can freeze, freak out, or completely lose your shit, and I will protect you.” I hugged her close, and she slowly relaxed in my embrace. We stood together for a little longer before she broke contact.

“Thanks. Let’s find those carriers.” We searched the house and found what we were looking for in the hall closet.

“You know,” I said as my eyes landed on a record player in the living room. “We should come back one day and start shopping the houses for anything worth bringing back with us. A record player would be cool.”

“Yeah, and with a record store in town, we would have lots of options to choose from,” Dyana replied.

We stepped back outside, and I looked at the school. “Want to give me a tour?” I asked, nodding toward it. “Take me down memory lane for Jack and Dyana? Two American kids living in the heartland,” I sang.

Dyana groaned. “Not that again. All through high school, we heard that.”

“Sorry,” I chuckled as we crossed the street. “I couldn’t resist.”

“Are you sure you want to go inside?” Dyana asked as we approached the front doors. “If you’ve seen one school, you’ve seen them all. Plus, I don’t know if there are any zombies left inside or not.”

“Yeah, come on,” I encouraged. I dropped the carriers onto the sidewalk, grabbed her hand, and tugged her forward. “It will be an adventure. Consider it our first date.”