Tomorrow Land (6 page)

“Of course.” Chase nodded knowingly. “And where is Mr. End of Days now, may I ask?”

She stared down at the ground, kicking a rock with her toe, hating the cruelty seeping in at the edge of his voice. Obviously he’d not only changed physically, but in other ways as well. She supposed they all had.

“He’s down in Florida,” she said at last, not knowing why she felt the need to be vague. “I’m heading down there to find him as soon as I gather up some supplies.”

Chase pursed his lips, but said nothing. The silence hung in the air between them, heavy and suffocating. It was funny; she’d imagined this scenario a thousand times down in the shelter, fantasizing about finding him again. But never in a million years had she pictured him looking so cold, so angry. She supposed she deserved it though. In fact, she was probably lucky he was even speaking to her.

“Well,” he said at last, as if making a decision. “We can probably hook you up with some supplies. And give you a place to sleep for the night.” There was no warmth in his invitation. No softness. He might as well be extending the offer to a stranger. In a way, she guessed, he was.

“We?” she couldn’t help but query. “Who’s with you? The kids from school?”

He shook his head. “Not many left from our original group,” he replied briskly, but she caught a flicker of pain in his eyes. “But my brother is great at picking up strays. We’ve got an even dozen, counting myself. We’ve been here for two years now, ever since we came back down from the mountains.”

So they
had
gone up to the mountains. She felt an ache deep inside as she wondered how things would have been if she’d gone with them, as planned. If she’d chosen Chase instead of her dad. Once again she felt the urge to apologize, but didn’t know where to begin.

“What made you come back?” she asked instead.

He shrugged, looking uneasy. Half of her wondered if he came back for her, but then rebuked herself for thinking it. He’d probably given up on her years ago. For all she knew he had a new girlfriend, back at the Walmart.

“Way too many people, not nearly enough food,” he said in way of explanation. “We figured we could come down here, get some supplies, maybe head back up. Problem was, when we got here, we ran into the Others. They’d pretty much taken over the town by that point. They attacked immediately and killed most of our little group. We weren’t prepared back then. We had no idea.”

Peyton thought back to the monster she’d fought, and she shuddered. She didn’t want to imagine fighting off a group, didn’t want to picture what he’d gone through. “But you escaped,” she concluded.

Chase nodded. “Yeah. Most of the credit goes to Tank—you remember my brother Trey? He’s a born leader, that guy. After we fought our way out… well, he dredged up all the survivors and herded us into the local Walmart. He even collected others who’d been hiding out around town.”

“And now you live in a Walmart?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“Hey, don’t knock it,” Chase declared. “‘Wally World has everything you need to survive an apocalypse: canned food, camping supplies, first aid, bedding, even toys for the kiddos. You can live in a Walmart for a long time. We even grow our own vegetables in the Garden and Patio section.”

 “You grow your own food?” She’d been wondering how they were eating. How many years of canned food could a Walmart hold? She supposed it depended on the number of survivors.

“Sure. In addition to the stuff in our building, we have some corn growing out in Washington Park. We also hunt. Neighborhood’s overrun by animals these days. Deer, rabbits—we even keep a cow around for milk.”

“Nice,” she said. And she meant it. She hadn’t had a glass of milk in years. “So… what about the others?”

“Oh, yeah, well, we have to compete with them for the deer and stuff. But they really aren’t into the whole vegetarian thing, so they don’t mess with our corn. And they’re lousy at opening cans.”

“No, no,” Peyton corrected. “Not the
Others
. Not the monsters. I mean the other survivors.”

Chase gave her a strange look. “There aren’t any,” he said, as if surprised by her question. “As far as we know, we’re the last. Everyone else either died, was eaten or… well, you know—became one of
them
.” He looked ill for a moment, then shrugged it off. “That’s why I was so surprised to see you today. I haven’t seen anyone new for probably a year.”

Peyton swallowed hard. Everyone was gone. The whole world. It was hard to wrap her head around it. Maybe her mother had had the right idea. After all, what was her dad fighting to save, if everyone was already dead?

“So what’s with the new name?” she asked, wanting to get her mind off her dismal thoughts. “You’re going by Chase now?” She had to admit, it sounded kind of hot. Dangerous.

He gave a little snort. “Oh, that,” he said. “My friend Stephen was bored one day and came up with tribal names for all of us as a joke. And they kind of stuck, I guess. We call Trey Tank—’cause, well, he’s built like one, what with all the bench-pressing he does. And Stephen now goes by Rocky ‘cause stuff around him never goes smoothly. Spud’s our resident gardener…”

“And they call you Chase because…?”

“Cause there ain’t no zombie out there that can catch me,” he boasted, patting himself on the chest. She waited for him to laugh, to tell her it was a joke. But he seemed totally serious. He certainly was a lot cockier then he used to be… Guess surviving the apocalypse could do that to a guy.

Another silence fell over them and Chase looked around the perimeter. “I can’t believe we’ve been standing here talking this whole time,” he said. “We’re like sitting ducks—zombie bait. Come on, I’ll take you home sweet home and you can meet the gang. Tank’ll be thrilled to see you.”

She glanced at her wrist. It was a crazy habit, she knew, since time had lost its meaning long ago and she hadn’t worn a watch in years. “It sounds nice, but I’m actually in a hurry,” she replied. But even as she said the words, she felt herself hedging. She’d just found Chase again—against nearly impossible odds. And no matter how cold he was acting, it was still him. The boy she’d dreamed about every night since those titanium doors locked behind her. And now she was just going to up and leave him all over again?

Still, she tried to remind herself, she had a long way to go and she didn’t know how much time she had left. She couldn’t afford to allow herself to be distracted by the past, even if it was living and breathing and standing in front of her—causing her heart to ache. The fate of the new world was in her hands—and she couldn’t let her own personal regrets get in the way of her mission.

She looked up, catching a flicker of emotion in Chase’s eyes, darting out then retreating behind his otherwise expressionless mask. Had he just assumed he could talk her into sticking around? Did he
want
her to stick around? The idea made her heart involuntarily flutter.

“Well, no offense, but you’re not going anywhere tonight. It’s almost dark,” Chase reminded her. “Trust me, you don’t want to be out alone in the dark these days. And you’ve got to be hungry, right? We’ve got plenty of food. And sanitizers for those… fingers.” He looked down at her razors and she wondered why he didn’t ask her about them. “We can outfit you with supplies for your trip, too. And give you a lay of the land—it may be a bit different than you remember.”

He was right, she realized, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief wash over her. Though time was of the essence, of course, so were the basic necessities for a road trip. It would be smart to go with him. The right thing to do. And deep down she was glad she could justify it.

“Okay,” she relented. “But I need to leave first thing in the morning.” She wanted to be clear.

He held up his hands. “No problem. Trust me, it’s not as if we’re dying for another mouth to feed.”

She blushed, feeling like an idiot. What had she expected? For him to beg her to stay? Once upon a time he might have. But that world was gone forever. “Great,” she managed to say, forcing the raw emotion from her voice. “As long as we’re clear.”

“Crystal,” Chase replied curtly, and she again forced back a shiver at the ice in his tone. “Now wait here, okay? I’ve got to grab some… supplies. Then we’ll head over.”

“Need some help?” she asked.

“Nope. I can take care of myself.”

Somehow she knew he was going to say that.

*

Peyton Anderson. Peyton flecking Anderson. Chase couldn’t believe it. Of all the apocalypses in all the world—she had walked into his. How many nights had he lain awake on his old, creaky cot in that overcrowded, filthy, stinking refugee camp up in the mountains, thinking of her? Wondering if she was safe. If she was alive. Wondering why she’d left him without a word of explanation.

And now here she was. Alive and well, and mostly unfazed, too, by the looks of her. While he and his brother had suffered, while they’d watched most of their friends and family die, she’d prospered, living it up in some cushy hideaway set up by her father, who’d turned out not to be so crazy after all.

He wanted to be furious at her, to abandon her to the darkness and the zombies, to leave her to fend entirely for herself. But at the same time, he was just so happy to see her alive. To know she’d survived. It was all he could do not to grab her and pull her into his arms and kiss the life out of her, to finish what the apocalypse had so rudely interrupted.

But he couldn’t do that. She’d betrayed him. She’d left him high and dry without a second thought. He remembered the day like it was yesterday, waiting in the rain until dark, waiting until Trey finally returned and dragged him away. Hoping, praying, begging that she would show up at the eleventh hour, a smile on her face and a promise on her lips to never leave him again. The memory was like a knife to his gut.

And even now, she wasn’t back. Not really. She wasn’t making apologies or promises to make it up to him. In fact, she was eager to abandon him all over again. To make some kind of trip to Florida, of all places. Though why anyone would be in a hurry to go there, especially in high summer, Chase had no idea.

And so, while it was nice that she had survived, he knew in his heart there could never be a happily ever after for the two of them. He’d let her stay the night at the Walmart and get her what she needed—he at least owed her that for old time’s sake—then tomorrow he’d see her on her way and try to forget he’d ever run into her. It was better that way—would be better that way even if they were the last two people on earth.

Anyway, he had more pressing things on his mind at the moment.

He stole down the street and slipped into the vacant house he’d originally been casing. Fading light filtered through its half caved-in ceiling, allowing him the luxury of not wasting the precious battery power remaining in his flashlight. He stepped over a decomposing body sprawled out on the floor—he hated when they weren’t tucked away in their beds—and made his way up the creaky stairs to the master bathroom.

His mind flashed back to Peyton. Man, the way she had taken on that Other was un-flecking-believable. Sure, he’d seen people turn and fight before. But most of those people were dead. Peyton had made it look effortless. She’d sliced through the creature with razors that appeared to be fused to her fingertips: some kind of cybernetic enhancements, he guessed. Her dad had been into that stuff. It looked like he’d messed with her eyes, too. With some kind of mirrored implants. Weird. Hot, too, but definitely weird. He hadn’t dared bring it up.

He hadn’t been prepared for his body’s betrayal as his eyes had roved her scantily clad body. The reaction wasn’t surprising, he supposed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen another teenage girl, never mind an attractive one—never mind an attractive one who had been his first-ever love. He involuntarily thought back to her curvy hips, long shapely legs, her baby-powder scent. God, how did she smell like baby powder four years after the apocalypse? She was too much. It was a good thing she wasn’t sticking around.

He shook his head, desperate to get sex off the brain. He had to grab the stash quick and get out of there. Leaving Peyton alone had been a stupid, selfish idea. What if that injured Other came back, this time with buddies? Not that they were usually very organized, but you never knew. And while she’d done a great job taking on one, how would she fare against four or five? It’d be better to get back to safety, especially with darkness coming on.

He considered turning back, returning tomorrow alone, but the raw need churning his stomach wouldn’t let him. Nights were long in the Walmart. Nights without medication were even longer.

Just grab the goods and get the hell out.

He reached the upstairs bathroom, pawing away the cobwebs across the medicine cabinet. A disturbed layer of dust filled his lungs and he coughed. Yanking open the cabinet, he checked the contents.

Score. Total score. He grinned. Well, this made things a little better.

A bottle of Vicodon. Another of Oxycodin. Yes! He’d had a feeling that old Mrs. Gardner with all her aches and pains would have kept a good stash in her bathroom. And he’d been right! Of course, he had no idea if the stuff was still any good. At least not half as good as the government surplus stuff he’d scored from that military base a few months ago, properly stored and sealed for an extended shelf life. But that base was a day’s journey away and he needed some short-term relief, at least until he could think up an excuse he could give Tank for making another journey.

He stuffed the bottles in his pocket and hurried back to Peyton. Squinting as he stepped into the fading sunlight, he let out a sigh of relief. She was waiting for him, untouched, unharmed. Another wave of protectiveness washed over him. It was strange. She looked so vulnerable standing there, studying a small clump of daisies. But, he reminded himself, she wasn’t the same girl from long ago.

Then again, he wasn’t the same boy, either.

Chapter Seven

“Don’t look now, but he’s behind you again,” Avery whispered to Peyton the next day at school. “Your stalker.” They were pushing their way through the crowded halls.