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JENNA
I awake in an empty bed. Granted, it’s a tiny twin-sized dorm bed, meaning it’s far from empty with my body in it. But I’m used to sharing with Carter. The yawning space beside me feels like an empty football field.
A few feet away, Lila sleeps with a mask over her eyes. An essential oil book is upside down on her chest, her battery-powered reading light sticking up like an antenna. Her jars of essential oils are lined up on the desk, along with several baggies of marijuana buds. Lila must have been busy with her herbs last night. I was so drained from my fight with Carter that I didn’t even wake up.
I consider staying in bed all day. It would be easy to cover up my head and hide from the world.
I give this serious contemplation for a full five minutes before discarding the idea. Hiding from Carter isn’t going to fix things. Neither will pretending.
I’ve pretended long enough. I never challenged him when he talked about the world getting fixed. I never told him what I think. No, I played along, and now look where I am.
I’m not going to pretend anymore. The world is a shit hole and we have to figure out how to survive.
First and foremost is food. We need to gather food. I’m talking about organized scavenging, complete with zombie clearance, comprehensive inventory, and supply room. A gathering of everything even remotely edible in the Creekside dorm building.
I rise, pulling on a pair of clean workout pants. I don a light sweatshirt and head into the sitting room in search of my tennis shoes. A good workout will clear my brain before I dig into my project.
Carter is sound asleep on the floor, one long arm thrown over his head. My heart constricts. I wish I could snuggle up with him, but what’s the point? He’s still mad at me, or else he wouldn’t have slept out here on the floor.
As I grab my shoes and slip out into the hallway, I realize Kate isn’t here. Her blankets are in a neat stack on the floor by the sofa, telling me she’s already up.
I know where she is. She told me walking is important after an ultra. She’ll be in the stairwell, which is exactly where I was headed.
Should I go back to my room? Go straight into one of the dorm kitchens and get to work?
“Don’t be a wimp,” I mutter to myself. I’ve promised to get myself in shape.
I’m also going to figure out a way to make things right with Carter. When that happens, I want to be on good terms with his mom. That won’t happen if I avoid her. Besides, I kind of like her.
But does she like me? Maybe she thinks I’m total slime for treating Carter like shit.
Only one way to find out. And it’s not by lurking in the hallway.
“Hey, Kate,” I call, swinging open the stairwell door, going for my best chipper, friendly tone.
Her flashlight beam bounces off the wall as she climbs the stairs, smiling at me in greeting. “Morning, Jenna,” she replies. “I was hoping you’d join me for a workout.”
Several layers of tension slough off me. “How long have you been out here?” I ask, falling into step with her as we climb the flight to the third floor.
“About fifteen minutes. Carter snores. I’ve always been a light sleeper.”
Despite my sour mood, I find myself smirking. “He does snore, but only when he’s really tired. He denies it, though.”
Kate chuckles. “I know. His dad did the same thing.”
Kate limps along on her bad ankle without complaint, both of her feet bare. Pink patches of calamine lotion cover the poison oak on her arms and neck. Her skin is sallow, stretched thin from physical strain and not enough nourishment. The gray roots of her hair have grown out a full inch. She looks like hell, but for some reason, I like it.
I can’t help but compare her to my own mother, with her breast implants and BOTOX injections and bottle-blond hair. I can only imagine the nasty things my mom would say about Kate.
She glances at me. “Does Carter talk about his dad much?”
“Yeah. He talks about him a lot.” I pause, trying to find the right words. “I can tell he misses him. He talks about him even more since the zombie outbreak.”
“Yeah. He talked about him yesterday, too.”
Was that before or after our fight? I realize I’m not ready to talk about Carter with Kate. It’s awkward and skirts too close to my assholishness. I want her to like me, after all.
We hit the third-floor landing and turn around, walking back down.
“I have a plan for today,” I tell her, searching for a way to break the silence.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to start going through the cleared kitchens in Creekside. I’m going to gather up all the food and organize it. Once that’s done, I’m going to convince the others to help me clear more of the rooms so we can access those supplies, too.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Jenna.” Kate’s eyes flash with approval that warms me. “I have to tell you, it’s a relief to know that not everyone in Creekside is waiting around expecting to be rescued.”
I let out a breath. “I agree.”
“I’ll join you,” Kate says. “Maybe we can get Carter to help us, too. The three of us will be enough to do the clearance.”
“That would be great.” I glance at her, relieved she’s volunteered to rope Carter into this. “Tell me about training on stairs. I want to know more about ultrarunning.”
Kate’s eyes light up. It’s clear she loves the subject, even if running here almost killed her.
“Ultrarunning isn’t like regular road running,” Kate says. “For one thing, almost all ultras are on trails. That means you aren’t running on flat surfaces. It means you spend a lot of time climbing hills. That’s where stair training comes in.” She pats one hamstring. “You need to build up this muscle.” Her hand moves from her hamstring to her right glute. “And this muscle. Climbing stairs activates these muscles.”
“What about your calves?” I ask, noticing that I use those as I climb.
“Yes, those too. Stairs help you engage all those muscles.”
I listen, fascinated, as she talks about running. I ask her questions, listen to some of her stories about races. I barely notice when I work up a sweat from the exercise.
“Did you run track all four years in high school?” Kate asks.
“Yeah.”
“And your mom didn’t want you to run?” Kate’s brow furrows at this.
For her, I realize this is akin to not wanting your child to breathe. “I think it’s because my dad ran track in college when they met. She always said the guys who ran track were too skinny.”
“Huh.” Kate is too polite to say what she really thinks. “I take it your parents aren’t together?”
I shake my head. “Dad ran off with his yoga instructor.” Mom dealt with this blow by getting a tummy tuck and making all her daughters get push-up bras. Like I need a push-up bra. “I actually like my stepmom. She’s nice. Or was nice. I hope she and my dad are okay.”
“I hope so, too,” Kate replies, giving my shoulder a soft squeeze.
The gesture is so kind and so unexpected my eyes well up. I swallow and change the subject before I make an idiot of myself.
“Carter told me a lot about his Uncle Rico,” I say. “I’m sorry he didn’t make it.”
Kate nods, eyes dropping. “He was the best friend I’ve ever had, aside from my husband.”
We continue to talk. Kate tells me about Frederico and some of the crazy runs they did together. It’s with some surprise that I realize how easily conversation flows between us.
I laugh as Kate relays a story about Frederico having to drop several “deuces” in the woods after a night of bingeing on chili. I’m about to tell her the story about pulling over at a Denny’s in the middle of the night on a road trip so one of my friends could do the same thing when the stairwell door bangs open.
Carter stands there, looking at us with flat blue eyes. The mirth whooshes out of me. The shock of his bare, handsome face hits me all over again.
“What are you doing?” he says to his mom, ignoring me.
The dismissal is like having my legs swept out from under me.
“Just doing a morning walk,” Kate says mildly. “Besides, you snore.”
Carter scowls at her, his eyes never once flicking in my direction. It’s like I’m invisible.
I clench my jaw. I messed things up. It’s up to me to fix them. Carter is worth it.
“Carter,” I say, “can we talk?”
He ignores me. “I’m going outside to work on Skip,” he tells his mother. “Just wanted you to know where I was so you wouldn’t worry.”
“Alone?” Kate’s voice sharpens.
“Yep.” Carter strides past us, heading down to the first floor.
I leave my pride on the floor and rush past Kate to catch up with Carter. Falling into stride beside him, I say, “Carter, please, can we talk? I—”
He stops, giving me a look so cold and so angry it takes my breath away. I shrivel inside, feeling about two inches tall. When he turns and stalks away, I don’t try to stop him.
Kate gives me an apologetic smile. “We’ll have to scavenge for food another time.” She hurries after Carter, leaving me alone.