“How did Nonna know?” Amanda frowned. How could a little old lady from Italy know Stephenson was a girl in a boy’s body?
“You’ll have to ask her,” Juli said. It was clear she wasn’t going to say more. “Do you—do you think I’m weird?”
Amanda snorted. “Of course I think you’re weird. You’ve always been weird.”
“So are you,” Julia shot back.
“That’s why we’re friends,” Amanda said. “Friends forever, right? You, me, and Cassie. We’re the chess nerds. We’re as weird as they come.”
“Friends forever,” Juli agreed. Her brow wrinkled. “Are you really mad at me for keeping it a secret?”
“Not really. I’ve sort of kept a secret from you, too.”
Juli straightened, clearly intrigued. “What kind of secret?”
“Watch this.” Grinning, Amanda went over to a box of beans that sat on the floor. As Juli watched in wide-eyed surprise, Amanda squatted down and lifted the entire box in her arms.
Juli’s jaw sagged open. “Holy crap, Amanda! You’re like—you’re like a guy!”
“I’m super strong.” Amanda couldn’t stop grinning. “I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out.” She plopped the box back onto the floor. “I helped lift a big tree off of Lena and I moved a boulder to hide us from the Russians. I’m an amazon!”
“Heck yeah, you are.” Juli squeezed Amanda biceps. “You could be a WWF wrestler.”
“Maybe I will be when the war is over.”
“Not until you take a road trip across the country with me and Cassie,” Juli said. “Remember? We promised we’d do that together.”
They fell silent at the mention of Cassie.
“Do you—do you think she’s okay?” Juli asked.
“Of course,” Amanda said automatically. “Leo will look after her.”
Uneasiness stretched between them. Neither of them said the obvious: their friend should have been back by now.
Juli cleared her throat. “What do you think about a haircut?”
“What’s wrong with my hair?” Amanda ran a hand through her straight brown locks.
“Nothing’s wrong with it. But you’re an amazon. I think you should have an Amazonian haircut.”
“What does that mean? Since when did you become a stylist?”
“Please. I stole my mom’s old copies of Cosmopolitan out of the trash and hid them under my bed. I read them at night when everyone was asleep. I know all about fashion.”
Amanda laughed. “I have you beat. I stole my mom’s romance books. I know more about sex than you.”
“Who cares about sex when you can have great hair?”
They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Fine, you can cut my hair,” Amanda said. It would be fun to have a different cut anyway. “But we’d better get moving. Nonna will yell at us if we don’t start moving the supplies.” She bent down and picked up the giant box of dried beans.
Juli jumped in front of her and opened the door. As Amanda walked by, she said, “I’ll bet by the time Cassie gets back from Luma Bridge, she’ll know more about sex than both of us.”
Amanda knew she meant it as a joke, but it fell flat. She and Juli exchanged looks, silent worry for Cassie running between them.
Epilogue
Time
“Luca!” Valentina picked herself up out of the snow. The side of her face throbbed from its unfortunate run-in with the olive tree in Mrs. Romano’s front yard. “Luca!”
Her big brother had their cousin Marcello on the ground. The two of them alternated between yelling and laughing as they shoved snow into one another’s face.
“Luca.” Valentina stomped over to the two older boys.
They paid her no mind. Their delighted laughs and shrieks made her all the more angry. To get their attention, she made a snowball and threw it down on top of them.
When that didn’t work, she made a bigger snowball. It was roughly the size of her head. She positioned herself over the rowdy boys and smashed it down on their heads.
They roared in indignation, but were too busy grappling with one another to retaliate. In another fit of frustration, Valentina smashed another giant snowball down on the two of them.
It was big enough to send the two boys rolling in opposite directions. With a wild cackle, Marcello jumped to his feet and bolted away.
“Catch me if you can, Luca!”
“How could you, Valé?” Luca sounded more angry than he looked. He flicked snow out of his ear, all his attention on his retreating cousin. “I had him!”
“You tripped me.” She bunched her fists and yelled up at her big brother with all the force she could muster.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Luca finally glanced down at her. He pulled another handful of snow out of the collar of his jacket and tossed it to the ground.
“You tripped me and didn’t even stop to see if I was okay.” This was the real reason she was so angry. “Look at my face!” She dragged a glove over the scrape on her cheek. The light blue wool came away with small streak of blood.
Luca dropped to one knee in front of her. He was only four years older, but even on his knees, he was still taller than her.
“Awe, Valé.” He gently tweaked the end of her nose. “I didn’t stop because I knew you’d be fine. You’re the toughest girl in the village.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to discern if he was making fun of her. “I’m smaller than all the other girls.”
“And that, dear sister, is precisely why you’re the toughest. I saw you wallop Carmella when the teachers weren’t looking.”
Carmella. Mention of the girl made Valentina scowl. The girl was two years older and thought she was the boss of the school. “I didn’t wallop her.”
“You threw a ball and hit her in the back of the head.”
“That’s not a wallop.”
“Of course it is. She cried, didn’t she?”
Valentina considered this. Carmella had cried. If anyone had seen Valentina throw the ball, they hadn’t ratted her out. “Yeah, I guess I did make her cry.”
“That means you walloped her. My little sister wallops a bigger, older girl and gets away with it. Told you. You’re the strongest girl in the village.” Luca grinned at her.
“Carmella is just dumb. That doesn’t make me tough.”
“Of course it does.” Luca tapped her on the forehead. “Strength is up here, little sister. You’re strong, Valé.”
Too late, Valentina spotted the glint in his eye—right before he shoved a handful of snow into her face. He leaped away as Valentina squealed.
“Catch me if you can!” He bolted away as she spit snow out of her mouth.
She stared after his retreating form, torn between stomping home in righteous rage and chasing after him. It didn’t take her more than three seconds to decide that stomping home in righteous rage would be boring.
Besides, what if Luca was right? If she was as tough and strong as he claimed, she could wallop him just the way she’d walloped Carmella.
He and Marcello sprinted through the Regio family vineyard. Breaking into a grin, Valentina cut through the village.
By the time the two boys burst out on the far side of the vineyard, Valentina was waiting for them. She’d climbed onto the rooftop of the school and had no less than five giant snowballs ready and waiting.
As soon as they were within range, she pelted them ruthlessly.
“That’s my little sister!” Luca’s voice was gleeful as he sprawled in a snow bank, grinning up at her as she hurled yet another snowball at him. “Isn’t she a tough one, Marcello?”
“Tough,” Marcello agreed. “Valé is the toughest girl in the village.”
Valentina, hands on her hips, beamed down at the two of them. When they dashed back into the vineyard, she swung down from the school room’s eave and dropped to the ground.
Fearlessly, she charged after the older boys, ready to
show them just how tough she was.
They played for hours as the snow fell all around.
They ambushed each other, played hide-and-seek, and, when at last they tired of rough housing, made snow angels in the fresh powder.
When they finally returned home, bright-eyed and exhausted, no evidence of the fun remained beyond their footprints the snow. Even those disappeared quickly, buried forever under the white flakes of time.
Author’s Note
Thanks so much for picking up a copy of this book! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Please consider leaving an honest online review at your favorite book retailer. Reviews help independent authors spread the word about our stories. I sincerely appreciate every one.
Don’t miss out on the adventure! Be sure to grab your copy of Sentients, the fourth installment of Zommunist Invasion.
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About the Author
Camille Picott has been writing Stories from the End of the World since she figured out how to turn on her family’s Apple IIe computer and wrangle a floppy disk into the drive. She loves zombies, running, and food (though not necessarily in that order).
She has a pet zombie named Steve who lives in her shed. He often comes out for family adventures and social media photos. (He is NOT a repurposed CPR dummy. He's a REAL zombie lovingly rescued from a dumpster who only happens to look like a repurposed CPR dummy.)
Stay in touch with Camille! She loves to chat about with her readers about the apocalypse, running, and her pet zombie (who loves beer).
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to my editors for helping me to make this story the best it could be!
Chris Picott
Linda Bellmore
Doc Fried
Zommunist Invasion | Book 3 | Scattered Page 24