Page 6

They race to the building’s corner, then head east for two more blocks, maneuvering around slow-moving herds of the dead.

Finally, they find refuge behind a diner.

There’s a warm hand in his and that’s when he realizes he reached for Olivia to pull her along.

Or maybe she reached for him. Not sure which, but someone did the reaching, and now they’re holding hands next to a dumpster like something out of a bad rom-com.

He lets go like she burned him, handing the squeaking baby back to her mother.

There’s a thank you on the tip of Olivia’s tongue, but he’s grateful she doesn’t speak it. He can see it well enough in her eyes and even that much makes him uncomfortable.

“You good?” he asks, softly.

“Always.”

Lucy objects with a few ear-piercing cries. Olivia tries her best to soothe her, but it’s no use. They have to get inside the diner or they’ll have a mountain of rotters on their heels.

A windfall leads them in through an unlocked back door, where they are promptly greeted by the staff. He stabs the cook with his knife and gets two waitresses after that. Yells at Olivia to stay back by the door until it’s clear before a few of the patrons head his way.

The dead have no muscle mass and no strategy.

Flesh hangs off them in gruesome layers, exposed bones grinding together from whatever wounds led them to their fate.

They’re often easy enough to dispatch, but he is only one man.

Three customers at once are pushing it on a good day.

The counter slows them down enough that he’s not overwhelmed.

Manages to get it down to the last one, but this fucker is bigger than him by a hundred pounds at least and freshly turned.

Cole’s boots slip on the greasy floor and then the world spins and tilts until he thunks hard on his back while the wind rushes out of him.

Those snapping teeth edge closer despite his best efforts to hold them at bay.

He lost his knife in the fall. There are no other weapons within range and the pressure from the weight of the other man is already suffocating.

He’s about to meet his maker, or would be if he believed in any maker at all, but then everything stops as quickly as it began.

The rotter falls to the side, revealing Olivia standing over him with a cast-iron skillet in one hand and a baby in the other.

Quickly, Cole grabs his knife and shoves it through a soft eyeball just to make sure the dead man doesn’t rise again.

“Are you okay? Did you get bit?”

“What the hell are you doing? Told you to stay back,” he growls, scooting away from her fussing, imagining how easily she could have died trying to save him.

“That was before you almost became dinner in this restaurant. Should I have watched it eat your face?”

“Yes!” he yells. “Yes, you should have!”

She only narrows her eyes, the angry edge to her tone still ringing in his ears.

It’s justified, considering he stuck his foot in his mouth.

What he actually meant to say was thank you .

Instead, it came out as an irritated scolding, as if he’s got any business scolding her, especially after saving his life.

He doesn’t know how to apologize, though.

His tongue ties and he fumbles, brushing past her to make sure the rest of the place is clear, even though he could see it fine from where he stood.

The baby is crying even louder than before, but at least they aren’t in the open. Cole starts raiding the kitchen for anything they can use while she gives Lucy lunch and that’s when the noise goes quiet and all he hears is the sound of his own regret.

He needs to make this right. Show her he’s not the same kind of jerk as her dead husband.

Gives her a while until she’s got a sleeping bundle in her arms and then sets down the package of graham crackers he found next to a jar of Nutella, joining her on the opposite side of a fifties-style diner booth.

“Bet they put this on the pancakes.” He grabs a cracker from a fresh sleeve and dips it into the chocolate before sliding the container her way.

“I love this stuff,” she replies, scooping out a generous dollop.

“Shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Thanks for saving my ass.”

There it is again, that gentle look he doesn’t know what the hell to do with.

“The most violent thing I’ve ever done before all this was kicking the washing machine when it shook too much.

Now I’m the one shaking,” she jokes, holding a hand out so he can see the tips of her fingers vibrate.

“It feels like all of this can’t be real.

What’s happening out there…I keep thinking it has to be some awful nightmare. ”

He nods. “I was out hiking when it happened. Didn’t get back until the shit already hit the fan. Thought it was some kinda joke at first, dunno how it would have been, but I blamed Wade for a second there like he did it all himself.”

Cole snorts at the memory, shaking his head.

‘The fuck did you do!’ he yelled at his friend as a reporter on TV ran screaming down main street.

‘Appreciate that you think I got all this power, but if I did, I’d be using it to win the lotto and getting laid by a long line of pretty redheads,’ Wade scowled.

“Might not get a chance to blame him for anything else ever again,” he continues. “I didn’t leave him a note. He won’t know where we went.”

“You think he could go to the safe zone on his own?”

He fiddles with two crackers, making a little tent on the clean tabletop. “Maybe, but he hates the law more than me, so he might go the opposite way.”

Her frown tugs at those pink lips he catches himself staring at. “We’ll start leaving notes from now on if we have to keep moving. You could still see him again, Cole.”

She’s not wrong, and he has no plans to give up, but his perspective is starting to shift toward what’s really important.

At the moment, Wade is a slim hope with no leads, but Olivia and Lucy are right here in front of him.

It’s only logical to put them first from now on and that’s what he intends to do.

“Rest here a while?” he suggests.

“Okay. We’ve got two blocks less to go than when we start again.”

Part of him is ready to rush forward and find out what lies ahead, and the rest is sounding the alarm on how dangerous it could be if the safe zone is overrun.

They can’t live in this diner, though. A few hours’ rest, that’s what they’ll take, and then push on, hoping their destination turns out to be a blessing instead of a curse.