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JENNA
Something fundamental changes in us after College Creek. Every one of us throws ourselves into fortifying Creekside. We dismantle bookshelves and nail planks over every window on the first floor. Carter and Eric pull together enough scraps to build a real door for the front entry, complete with a security bar to hold it in place. No more flimsy swinging glass doors for us.
The Xbox hasn’t been turned on once. Eric, Reed, and Johnny make a trip to the Depot to retrieve several solar panels. We finally have a working washing machine. We still have to fill it with water from the creek, but that’s a small price to pay for clean clothes.
Carter and I do indeed venture out into the pile of bodies to search for keys to other dorm rooms. Shockingly, we manage to find three for Creekside. All our food and supplies are now behind locked doors.
Lila and Eric have teamed up on the hydroponics project. She’s buried herself in the library books while Eric hooks grow lights up to the solar panels. A trip to a neighboring dorm produced the grow lights. Reed had known a few guys who grew pot in their closets.
I think there’s something going on between Eric and Lila. Even when they’re not working on the hydroponics project, they spend a lot of time together. They still argue and bicker over just about everything, but it has a good-natured edge to it.
All this progress and preparation hasn’t done anything to lift the pall that hangs over our group. Gone is the friendly banter. It feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
At least things between Carter and I have returned to normal. I feel like I can handle anything the world throws at me if we’re together.
“Will you help me get water for the washing machine?” I ask him. I’m dying to get out of our somber dorm room, even if it’s only for a trip to the creek and back. Besides that, I have a surprise for him.
“Sure, babe,” he says. “Let’s go.”
Outside, the air is clean and fresh from a recent rainfall. Out here, under the trees, I can almost imagine we don’t live in a world of death and monsters. All this should make me feel more relaxed, but I can’t shake the feeling of a looming threat.
When we reach the creek, I reach into the back pocket of my pants and pull out a folded piece of paper. “Here, I drew this for you.”
Carter unfolds it, eyes taking in the graphite lines that outline the shape of a beer label. The word “obstacle” is drawn in angular script. A runner leaps over what looks like a track hurdle. Upon closer inspection, the hurdle reveals itself to be made from bones and body parts.
“It’s perfect,” he breathes.
“We can still have Ultra Brew,” I tell him. “Maybe it won’t be what we planned, but it’s still ours.” I step closer to him. “I feel complete when I’m with you, Carter. With or without our brewery. I’m sorry I ever made you feel differently.”
“Babe.” He draws me against his chest. “We’re past that now. It was just a misunderstanding.”
“I know. But I’m still sorry I hurt you.”
He cups my face in his hands and kisses me. “It’s behind us.” He looks down, studying my face. “I want to try something. Will you close your eyes?”
“Okay.” I lower my lids, even though standing in the forest with my eyes closed is far from my comfort zone.
We stand there in silence, me with my eyes closed and Carter with his thumbs caressing my cheeks.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispers.
My eyes snap open.
His thumbs never stop moving over my cheeks. “Those words are meant to be a compliment, babe. That’s it. You’re beautiful. I’ve decided I’m going to say it whenever I feel like it. You’re going to have to learn to deal with it.”
I lower my gaze. “It’s just my stupid childhood baggage.”
“I know. I’m going to help you get past it, starting today. You’re beautiful, Jenna, inside and out. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
The emotion of the moment is almost too much to bear. It’s like a giant boulder sitting on my chest. I have to say something to dislodge it before I end up in tears. “You’re just feeling mushy because I shaved my armpits.”
He chuckles, once again folding me against his chest. “You got me. Once you got rid of the armpit hair, you went from hot to steaming hot.”
“You’re pretty hot yourself, Carter Stephenson.”
He raises a teasing eyebrow. “Even without the beard?”
“You are, hands down, the hottest boyfriend I’ve ever had. Although, I think I like you beardless most of all. I don’t have to worry about a zombie grabbing your face.”
“I guess that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“It’s definitely a good thing. I like you with your face.”
We stand together beside the creek, just holding each other. When we finally fill the water tote and head back to Creekside, I realize I’m even more in love with Carter than ever before.
“I promised to help your mom take apart some desks,” I tell him. Now that we’ve managed to find enough furniture to board up all the windows on the first floor of Creekside, Kate has moved onto a new project. “She wants to try building a garden bed for Eric and Lila.”
“I’ll help you guys,” Carter says.
“Don’t you have plans to—?”
Seven people step around the side of the building to intercept us. Four of them are dressed in military fatigues; the other three are college boys. I recognize them as the College Creek kids we ran into at the Depot on our beer run. Ryan, Adam, and Henry were their names.
“There you are,” says Ryan, leveling a gun at us with a smirk. “You guys don’t live in Pepperwood.”
“No, we don’t,” Carter says, voice flat.
“I’m hurt you didn’t trust us,” Ryan says. “We are, after all, schoolmates.”
“If that really means anything to you, lower your gun,” I reply.
Ryan’s smile curls as he studies me. The look makes my skin crawl.
He doesn’t lower his gun.