Page 29 of Doomsdate

“Well, you can’t stay here. You don’t have any food.”

“That is going to be a problem, yes.”

“Do you have anyone nearby that can take you in and help you?”

He shakes his head sadly.

I frown at him, feeling strangely frustrated at how isolated he is. I know I live my life that way, but Everett’s normal. He should have people; he deserves to. “What are you going to do?”

He tilts his head, eyes glued to the hand he’s using to pet Chicken. “I had quite a lot of time to think in that tree, and the thing is, I have no clue what to do. Sandeep was the only friend I have here, and now he’s gone. My sister, Gemma, is the only family that gives a damn about me, but she’s in Washington, D.C., and I have no way of getting there. I don’t have a car, and even if I stole one, I don’t know how to drive.”

“You don’t know how to drive?” My pulse is beginning to anxiety-race on his behalf. “That is a basic adult skill in this country!”

“I lived in New York City until five years ago.” Everett’s voice drips with embarrassment. “Public transportation’s good here. It’s never been an issue.”

We sit in silence for a long minute.

“How are you going to survive?” I finally ask, my voice small.

“To be honest, Maisie, I wasn’t doing that great a job surviving before the zombie apocalypse began. I assumed I was going to die in that tree, but then that plan fell through, so.” He finally glances up and meets my eyes.

My chin dips. “Your plan was to just…die?”

“Maybe not a plan per se?” Everett’s shoulders slump. “More like an inevitability.”

I blink. We are not the same.

“But then you rescued me, bringing us to the present moment, where I am stuck here, with no food, out of options.” He tilts his head back and groans at the ceiling, sounding almost…dismayed? Like I went and screwed everything up by getting him out of that tree.

“Unless…” He cracks one eye open.

“Unless what?”

“Just spitballing here, but what if we teamed up for the ride north?”

My eyes widen. I fork a thumb between him and me. “Us? That’s crazy. You’re a total liability!”

“That’s fair.” He sighs.

I launch to my feet and begin to pace. “You can’t fight.”

“No, not very good at that.”

“You have zero food rations.”

“Also true.”

“You literally fainted at the sight of your own blood! You’re a horror movie expert—how can you be afraid of blood?”

“It hits different when it’s your own.” He shrugs. “Look, you’re right. I’m pretty much useless. But I do know zombie movies, and I was right about the zombie waiting to surprise us, wasn’t I? Maybe my knowledge will be useful, and besides, how will you sleep without someone to stand guard for you? What if you get surrounded? Who will have your back?” His voice begins to pick up steam as he pieces his thoughts together.

I stop pacing to stare at him. “I don’t even know you.”

“It’d only be for a day or two, until you drop me off in D.C.”

“You want me to drop you off in a city?”

“Look. You rescued me, so that kind of makes me your responsibility, if you think about it.” He raises his eyebrows pointedly.