Page 37

Kara takes care of two on his left just as the skies open up and begin to pour. She’s shoved against a tree while wrestling a larger one, calling his name for help just as he pulls his blade free from a hard skull.

He yanks the dead man off her before dropping it to the ground.

For a moment, he feels like himself again. Who he was before life beat him down. There’s no hesitation on his part, no fear except the healthy kind that keeps him alive in a herd of corpses. It’s a glimpse into what they could be again one day, maybe into what they already are.

He told her that he could see himself getting better and meant it, but now he can feel it.

They work together until there are only a few left. He shoves a rotter to her, knowing she’ll be ready so he can take on the final threat. By the time the next crack of thunder hits, there’s a small pile of gore at their feet.

“We’re lucky they were slow ones,” she gasps on a heavy breath, sheathing her weapon. “Those aren’t as common anymore. They disintegrate faster than the hordes of runners.”

All this talking and yelling they’ve been doing could have attracted an even worse crowd. They got lucky this time that it wasn’t Silas, and he’s not trying to test fate.

They’re both drenched. Her clothes stick to her body, and raindrops run down her cheeks like tears.

“Let’s go home,” he offers her his hand, relieved when she slips hers into it.

“Really?”

“Really.”

She’s in his arms a moment later, pressing to him warm and wet, breathing him in with a sharp inhale. “Only forward from now on.”

He was prepared to die today, but now he’s holding the woman he loves while she drops a kiss to his neck. They’ve been given another chance. He won’t waste it.

“We lost our horse,” he says lightly, noticing how alone they are.

“He’ll get back long before we will. Come on.

Let’s take a long walk in the rain…but first, I think you forgot something.

” She pulls the hair tie from her pocket, holding it out until he lifts his hand for her to slip it over his wrist. “This is yours. It was a gift. You ever give that back to me again and we’re gonna have words. ”

“Words, huh?”

“Oh yeah. Lots of them.”

“Guess I better not take it off then.”

“I guess not.”

“Hey.” He feathers a kiss to her knuckles, offering a declaration that’s so much easier to say than he ever expected. “I love you. I meant it.”

He never should have written it in that note, but he’d been afraid he might never see her again. She deserves to hear it in person.

Her smile is bright enough to blind him in a rainstorm as she says it back. “I love you .”

What they plan to do about that now is anyone’s guess, but the words have been said, and there is a weight lifted that comes with setting them free.

* * *

The bike is left at the gates a few days after they returned, rain-soaked from a near run-in with Silas. Just in time for their trip west. Wade curves a slow hand over expertly crafted leather and metal.

“You two were really gonna speed off into the sunset and not say goodbye?”

Juliet jogs over to meet them, enveloping Kara in a hug, but hesitating to offer the same to him.

“We would have found you first,” he opens his arms, watching her grin grow three sizes as she moves in to accept what he couldn’t give to a stranger before.

He isn’t one hundred percent better yet. Maybe he never will be, but he can hug someone who has helped them, and Juliet falls into that category.

She squeezes him tight in a way that feels as final as they all know it is. “You’re doing the right thing. Getting out of here. There aren’t many members of Silas’s army left anymore. We’ll pick them off. Eventually. Do me a favor and don’t think about them again.”

“Gonna try real hard not to,” he agrees.

“Good, and don’t take this the wrong way. You’re both always welcome back, but I hope to never see you again. I hope you find what you’re looking for instead.”

He lets out a half-chuckle with a nod.

“Good, now get the hell outta here. What are you waiting for?”

“You heard her,” Kara says. “Ready to hit the road?”

“Are you driving?” he asks.

“No. Not this time.”

He wonders if he’ll remember how, but the moment he straddles the bike, it all comes back like it never left.

The dog has been a problem when it comes to planning this trip.

Gator can’t run alongside the bike all the way to Arizona, and there’s no sidecar to stuff him in.

The solution is something they’ve struggled with, especially with how resistant Wade had been to bond with him at first, fearing a future loss.

“I um…I know one of the children who’s taken a liking to him,” Kara said the previous night.

“I can’t really explain how just yet, but I will someday.

I think the dog would make her so happy.

She would take good care of him. It’s safe here.

Safer than ruining his paws on pavement for weeks or months. ”

So he agreed, knowing that they’d both miss this floppy-eared animal but that maybe he was always meant to end up here, making kids smile in a world where smiles are hard to come by.

Kara squeezes Wade’s arm in a comforting gesture. “He’ll be okay. Look how happy he is.”

The puppy hardly spares them a glance, far too thrilled to be cuddled by laughing children.

They toss a ball for him across the courtyard, cheering when he fetches it, even though he’s easily distracted and meanders his way back.

There are no other pets here, he has noticed.

They’ve brought in the first dog this community has seen in years.

It’s a bittersweet sight to watch him become the most popular new member.

Wade straddles the bike and a thrill washes over him when Kara gets on behind, wrapping her arms around his waist in a snug grip and resting her chin on his shoulder.

The engine roars to life, purring beneath them as they blow through the gates, kicking up dirt in their wake toward a future he can’t wait to reach.