Life After Z

Chapter 15 - Lucas

It had been a good day and a peaceful night.

We rigged up a hose to the well and tied it to a tree so that we could take what could loosely be viewed as a shower. It was cold as hell but it did the job well enough. Then we built a fire in a pit under the stand of trees instead of using our normal setup on the roof of the shipping container. It felt really good to spread out and feel the ground under my feet instead of steel.

I was half tempted to risk sleeping under the stars, but that notion was quickly put to bed when a couple of Zs stumped through the alfalfa fields. So after putting a good dent in another bottle of alcohol, whiskey this time, we headed into the trailer and locked up for the night. Everett insisted that we still do a rotation of watch duty to make sure that Ivy's group didn't ambush us while we slept but I was happily proven correct. The sun rising signaled that we had made it through the night without anyone looking to do us harm.

Well if you don't count the Zs that had shuffled past us during the first hour of my watch.

I was currently sitting in a camp chair with my gaze fixed on the driveway to the farm, filled with happy anticipation. For the first time in a very long time, I felt the stirrings of hope building within me. I had a good feeling about this place. I had even better feelings about Ivy and felt like a little kid on Christmas morning waiting for her to return to us.

That she would return, I had no doubt.

Ivy was a part of my future. It was a fact that I knew down to my bones. Why I was so sure of this when absolutely nothing was guaranteed in the apocalypse, I didn't know. But my faith in her was deep and it was damn near unshakable.

It felt incredible to believe in something again.

As if summoned by my thoughts of her, I spotted Ivy riding her bike and picked up the binoculars to get a better view. The fact that she was here so early could only mean that she wanted to be here with us just as much as we wanted her here. She was wary of us but her fear was slowly and surely dissipating. In its place, I saw fondness and curiosity growing each minute that she risked spending with us.

I was nervous to meet with her people but I meant what I said yesterday. I didn't believe that Ivy would stay with bad people. It was going to be an adjustment to integrate with new people but I knew that Ivy would be worth it. For both me and my son.

I was watching Ivy ride towards us while planning what I was going to say to her so that she would see me as a potential partner in life over Everett or Coop when I saw them. Five Zs stumbling through the waist-high alfalfa headed in a direct interception path with Ivy.

My blood turned to ice.

I had a rifle with me but I wasn't that good of a shot and Ivy was getting closer and closer to the pack of Zs. I could easily hit her as I was trying to down them. I would only trust Cooper to try to make those shots. In a panic, I used the butt of the rifle to bang on the roof of the shipping container. The noise would wake the others up and tell them that I needed help.

That this was an emergency.

I didn't wait for them. Couldn't wait because I could already tell I was going to be too late. Ivy was too far away and the Zs were too close to her. I screamed her name and pointed at the Zs before sliding down the edge of the ladder and crashing into the ground. As soon as I regained my balance I sprinted toward Ivy and the Zs, making as much noise as I could. Hopefully, I could entice them to come after me, giving Ivy time to turn around and ride to safety while we take care of the Zs.

I watched in horror as Ivy failed to slow down at all. How could she not see them? All five of the Zs were now on the road, most of them turned towards me and the racket I was making and Ivy was just about to ride right into them. I pushed my legs to run faster and my lungs burned as I tried to continue to scream while running.

Just as I was sure Ivy was going to crash into the pack, she veered off the left side of the road and passed the Zs with a good six feet between the closest one and her bike. She hadn't slowed down at all so she cleared them in no time, the Zs staggering pace no match for her bike.

I stumbled in relief, coming to an ungraceful stop and bracing my hands on my knees. Seconds later gunfire popped through the air and one by one the Zs fell to the ground. I assumed that Coop was on the roof with the rifle but I couldn't seem to be able to tear my eyes off Ivy in order to double-check. She was close enough to me now that I could read her facial expression and she looked confused.

She pulled up beside me and looked back over her shoulder at the downed Zs before looking at me with concern. "What's going on? Why were you screaming? Why did you guys shoot the dead? Is there something wrong?" Ivy asked and turned to survey our camp.

Her questions combined with the leftover adrenaline still pumping through my blood rendered me speechless. How in the world was she so calm? She had just come this close to being Z food and she wanted to know why we had shot them. I didn't understand what was going on right now.

"What the fuck, Darlin'?" Everett growled, running up to us with his handgun drawn. "You trying to get yourself killed?"

Ivy looked between us several times, still looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't do a single thing to defend yourself," I accused. "You didn't pull a gun, or turn your bike around. You just kept riding toward the Zs as if you didn't even see them."

"Of course, I saw them. This is an empty field and they are kind of hard to miss. But I figured it would be safer to dispatch them on this side of them so that I would have your help. You shouldn't have shot them. It was a waste of bullets and will most likely bring more of them here," Ivy admonished and I stared at her in disbelief.

"You rode by them on purpose so that you could fight them without a gun closer to our camp?" I clarified, still doing my best to reconcile the differences in our reactions to the same situation.

"Fucking hell, Darlin'," Everett summarized and I couldn't have agreed more.

Fucking hell indeed.