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CHAPTERONE
You are hereby exiledfrom Tenacity.
The words wouldn’t stop repeating in my head as we left behind the only protection we had from the infected and hellhounds. I had no more tears to cry over what had happened, but that didn’t make leaving any easier.
“Move, Shelby,” Nat, my husband, said with a nudge to my back. “And walk quietly. You bring any infected down on us and we’ll leave you.”
I glanced at him, taking in his short blonde hair and bruised cheek, and knew Nat’s empty threats for what they were. He wouldn’t leave me behind. Ever. If I had thought for a moment he would, I would have begged Matt, the leader of Tenacity, to let me stay. But I knew Nat and I were a package deal. End of story. I belonged to him because I’d stupidly said, “I do,” a few months before the world split open and everything went to hell. Two little words had fucked over my life, and I knew he wouldn’t release me from that promise. Not ever.
Nat moved ahead of me, leading the way around Tenacity’s massive wall of recycled metal vehicles. I didn’t know where we were headed and didn’t really care. It wouldn’t be as safe as the place we were leaving.
You are hereby exiled from Tenacity.
Thirteen of us, kicked out for stealing food and worse. Resentment and shame ate at me for my part in all of it.
As the sun rose higher, we parted ways with Tenacity’s expansive wall and moved deeper into the surrounding trees. The hush in the woods increased my tension as I watched for any sign of movement. I walked softly, aware of each dry crunch under my feet where snow mixed with leaves and twigs.
This wasn’t my first time outside the wall. But it was my first time without the hulking presence of the fey. Without one nearby, our group didn’t stand a chance against the infected.
Nat interrupted that depressing line of thinking by stopping next to a thick tree. His gaze swept the group, and he waved one of his guys forward. The man scurried up the hacked off branches and pulled a wrapped bag from the crook of the tree. He silently tossed it down to Nat, who opened it and started handing out weapons. Wicked knives, a few hatchets, and a handgun, which he tucked into the back of his pants.
I could see Nat’s self-righteous smirk. He thought he was so smart to have a hidden cache of weapons. But had he simply worked with the people in Tenacity, he wouldn’t have needed to prepare for exile. We could have remained safely hidden behind a secure wall instead of walking God-knew-where. What good would a few knives be tonight when hellhounds howled in the distance? None. And deep down, he knew it too, but he would never openly admit it. Which was why the group made several more stops to collect more weapons and a pack filled with food.
Each stop…each supply added to the subtle undercurrent of noise from our passage. The soft clank of metal cans shifting. The rasp of bramble against packs. The crunch of sound under our feet. It carried through the trees, and eventually, I heard a distant groan.
We didn’t stop moving. The plastic grip of my knife’s handle bit into my palm as I clutched it and kept pace with the group.
The first infected came running at us from between the trees. While I’d left Tenacity a few times for supplies and had seen my fair share of infected, it never got easier to witness the fate of those bitten. Zombie wasn’t a term I’d thought I would ever use. But the woman running toward us was just that. An undead human, decaying, yet moving.
Two men from our group worked together to bring her down. Three more infected appeared and died just as quickly. The efficiency with which Nat and his group worked surprised me. They typically went out for wood and came back in with very little. I realized now they hadn’t spent their time chopping firewood. They’d been preparing. Practicing. Making an “escape” plan as if Tenacity had been such a horrible place to live.
We picked up speed, almost jogging, before we emerged from the trees onto a parking lot. Nat didn’t pause. He crossed the distance to an apartment complex and grabbed a rope hanging down from a third story corner balcony.
“Billy, get up there, and get that ladder down.”
The man grabbed the rope and climbed it quickly. Seconds later, a bundle of knotted rope and wooden slats dropped from above.
“Shelby, go,” Nat said.
I hurried up the ladder, my limbs shaking hard. Filled in with cinder blocks, the second-story balcony no longer existed. Above that, boards extended from the floor of the next balcony. The ladder hung between a gap in the platform’s planks.
As soon as I reached the top, Billy helped me over the black iron railing, and I moved back to allow the next person up while I looked around.
Three small tents dominated the space. A composting toilet sat out in the open, and a rain barrel set up near the railing. Bricks covered the sliding doors to the apartment, and a large metal storage locker sat in front of the new wall.
“Welcome home, Shelby,” Nat said, joining me. “Thanks to our foresight, we have food, water, shelter, and a pretty nice setup to avoid infected and hellhounds.” He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to kiss my temple. “You’ll be living like a queen here.”
I highly doubted that, but was smart enough to keep my skepticism from my face and tone.
“Thank you, Nat. I know you worked hard to make this a possibility.”
“That’s right. I did.” He pulled back and turned me so he could study my expression. “And you’re grateful for that, right?”
The infected terrified me. But my husband scared me more.
“I am very grateful,” I murmured, going to my toes to kiss his lips lightly.
He grunted, apparently satisfied, and moved away to talk to the other men. I went to the railing and looked down from my prison. The ladder was up, and boards extended in its place, making climbing up to the balcony impossible.
