After Today (The After Series Book 1)

by Jacqueline Hayley

  “Think he knows he’s about to get slapped?” Mackenzie said, and then flashed her eyes to Chloe. It was killing her that her best friend was upset with her. “Chlo, can we talk about this?”

  “Now you want to talk? Well, that’s a nice change,” Chloe snapped, before softening marginally. “Since when do we keep secrets from each other?”

  Hot guilt prickled over Mackenzie. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re my best friend, Mac. We share everything.”

  “It just kind of… happened. On our way back to Sanford.”

  “My parents took you in. Jake was like a brother to you. After everything Mom and Dad did for you, how do you think they’d feel?”

  That was a punch to the gut. Chloe’s parents had taken Mackenzie in, but it wasn’t done for her. They did it to control their own reputation. They were the good Christian family who took in a stray, but their generosity had been a contract with hidden terms of compliance.

  And falling in love with their son was definitely a breach of contract.

  “Mom and Dad think of you as a daughter, Mac.”

  “Oh, come on, Chlo. You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “What?” Chloe’s face was the picture of puzzled hurt. “You practically lived with us. Mom put so many hours into helping you apply for your college scholarship…”

  Mackenzie sighed. She was so tired. “Your mom and dad are good people, and were always kind to me. But they don’t love me, Chlo.

  “They took me in so that you wouldn’t be best friends with a street kid. They helped me with my scholarship to get me out of Sanford. Not for me, for them. I’m sure they didn’t mean to make me feel like an afterthought, but that was what I was.”

  “Mac!” Chloe was stricken. “I didn’t know you felt like that.”

  “It’s fine. Honestly, it is. I’m grateful for everything they’ve done. But trust me when I say they don’t think of me as a daughter.”

  “Maybe not, but I think of you as a sister,” Chloe whispered. “I’m so sorry I’ve been a jerk about this.”

  In seconds, they were out of their seats, a tangled mess of arms and tears and apologies.

  “If it comes to choosing between Jake and you, I’ll choose you.”

  Chloe had been the one constant in Mackenzie’s life. She’d shown Mackenzie what love and kindness and empathy were.

  “Don’t be dramatic,” Chloe sniffed. “Although you have no idea how weird it is to think about you being with my little brother. That’s going to take some getting used to. To be honest, it was more about not wanting to lose you to him, and also…”

  “Missing Ash?”

  “I feel hollow,” she admitted. “Just… empty. I don’t know where he is. How he is. I’m just empty and aching, and I don’t know how to get through this without him.”

  Mackenzie tightened her arms around her best friend. “I can’t imagine how you’re feeling, but I know you’re not alone in this.”

  “I have one condition.”

  “No talking about sex?”

  “No talking about sex.”

  Jake shivered in the darkness, lengthening his strides as he made his way toward town hall. Winter was coming. And he damn well hoped Townsend had a plan to ensure they had the power to stay warm over the bitterly cold months.

  Just another thing to add to the list he wanted to discuss with the mayor.

  After Chloe had revealed yesterday that Grams was missing, it was only Rachel knocking him out on some heavy-duty pain relief that had stopped him from going to Townsend before now.

  He waved at Buddy on guard duty as he rounded the corner and thought again of Mackenzie and Chloe’s crazy talk of sneaking out to see what was happening with the townspeople quarantined at the hospital. He was relieved Chloe had come around to the idea of him and Mackenzie being together, but the two of them conspiring was never a good thing.

  He and Mackenzie had fought, again, when he’d told them not to be stupid. And that was without him voicing his ambivalence about spying on the council. He agreed they needed to know what communication was coming across the ham radio—but he didn’t want to be sneaky about it.

  What he had with Mackenzie had seemed rock solid, and now it was literally crumbling apart in front of him. The powerlessness that coursed through him sparked an undeniable anger. He loved seeing how confident Mac was becoming in herself, but it also drove him crazy. How could she not see that all he wanted was to keep her safe?

  As though conjured by his thoughts, he saw two figures dash into a lane just ahead. Even in the light of the streetlamps and without the shadow of Dex trailing them, he’d know Mackenzie and Chloe anywhere.

  What the hell were they up to?

  He broke into a run, but halted three strides in with a groan.

  Christ, his wound hurt like a bitch.

  Holding his side, Jake awkwardly jogged in the direction they’d taken and, two streets of labored jogging later, he was greeted with a soft bark from Dex trotting out from behind a dumpster.

  “Bad dog!” Mackenzie scolded, appearing from the shadows of the bin. “You’re terrible at hide-and-seek.”

  “Hide-and-seek?” Jake raised a skeptical eyebrow as Chloe also emerged. “What the hell are you two up to?”

  “Don’t be mad,” Mackenzie said, approaching him with her hands out.

  His eyes flashed to the guilty look on his sister’s face, and he clenched his fists in frustration. “Tell me you’re not trying to sneak out.”

  “Not trying, little brother. We did. And snuck back in,” Chloe said, her chin tilted in defiance. “We had to see what was happening at the hospital, and if you stopped pretending to be Dad for just a second, you’d realize—”

  “You what?” Jake’s blood pressure rocketed.

  Not only had they risked themselves by going into a quarantined area, they’d risked getting shot at by guards. And they’d lied to him.

  Because they sure as hell weren’t helping Kat pack up her things so she could move into Chloe’s like they’d told him they were doing.

  “What about the words ‘shoot on sight’ do you not understand?” he hissed between his teeth, forcing himself to take a step backward before he grabbed Mackenzie and shook her.

  “Buddy was on guard duty. He wouldn’t have shot us,” said Mackenzie.

  “You were putting your lives into the hands of Buddy?” he asked incredulously. “I cannot believe how stupid you two have been.”

  “Don’t you dare call us stupid,” Mackenzie bit out. “Stupid is blindly following along with Townsend and his cronies.”

  They stared at each other in silence, and the sinking in his gut told him she wasn’t backing down from this. She honestly thought she was in the right.

  “Fucking hell!” He swiped a hand across his face.

  “There’s no one alive there, Jake,” Chloe whispered, coming to stand at his side. “It was just, piles of the dead. We couldn’t get too close because the smell…”

  He did not want to imagine the stench of rotting corpses. He didn’t want to even know about them. He already had the face of the girl they’d been unable to save permanently etched into his memory. “Stop,” he said.

  “And we heard motorcycles in the distance,” Chloe continued.

  “Stop!” he shouted.

  Both women took a step back, Mackenzie placing a hand on Dex’s head when he whined.

  “You don’t even realize how reckless you’re being,” he said. “I can’t protect you when you lie to me and put yourself in danger.”

  Both his hands were in his hair, fisting at it in torment.

  Everything was unraveling. And he didn’t know how to stop it.

  Chloe said, “You can’t tell me—”

  “Not now, Chloe. This is between Mac and I.”

  “There isn’t going to be a you and I, if you keep acting like this,” Mackenzie stated, her voice surprisingly firm considering the hectic color that had bloomed o
n her cheeks. “I’m well aware I’m not as capable or competent as I need to be for this new world, but you’re not even letting me try to change. You want to wrap me in cotton wool and hide me away.”

  “I want to protect you. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy in this!” he exploded.

  “I don’t need your protection!”

  “Well, what do you need, Mac?”

  “Nothing. I don’t need anything from you.”

  Jake turned his back and left, leaving Mackenzie and Chloe in the dark alley as he stormed toward town hall. Swallowing against the tightness in his throat, he used anger to mask the breaking of his heart.

  Nothing. I don’t need anything from you.

  He wasn’t stupid; he knew he had a tendency to want to fix things. But that was a good thing, right? He wanted to help people. Mackenzie didn’t get it. She didn’t understand he wanted to carry the burden for her. He loved her, for fuck’s sake.

  “What’s got your panties in a twist?” Gavin called out as Jake stalked into the foyer of town hall.

  The council had turned it into a base for their operations, and it was where most of the men spent their time, although Jake was surprised to see Gavin hanging out. From his presence at the clandestine meeting at the distillery, Jake had assumed Gavin’s agenda was aligned differently.

  When Gavin joined Trent and a couple of other guys hassling Vivienne Oxley about serving them beer, Jake frowned. Were the two men assimilating in order to gain information, or had Maggie been wrong to speak so candidly in front of them?

  With every female member of the town’s council out of town when Sy-V hit, town hall had literally become a boys’ club; they’d assembled tables, chairs and sofas, and were clearly not hindered by the rationing the rest of the town was on with food and alcohol.

  “Vivienne, time for you to leave,” demanded Tom Brenner.

  “Who’s going to monitor the ham radio?” Vivienne demanded.

  “Jennings has it figured out.”

  “Jennings knows shit. It’s my brother’s radio, and I know what I’m doing.”

  “Shut it, woman! It’s not your place to be telling us what to do,” growled Tom.

  “Don’t speak to me like that!”

  “Bitch!”

  Tom raised a hand to strike her, and Jake waited for one of the nearby men to intervene. The sharp crack as Tom’s open palm met Vivienne’s cheek was definitive in the sudden quiet.

  Vivienne gasped, hands flying to cover her reddened face before she spun and raced from the room. Shocked, Jake didn’t know whether he should follow to check she was okay, or stay to confront Tom. The fact the other men were complicit in their silence made his skin crawl.

  Before he could act, Townsend emerged from his office. “Jake! Good, you’re here.”

  Jake followed the mayor into his office and remained standing, even after Townsend gestured for him to sit.

  “You’re not going to let him get away with that, are you?” Jake said.

  “Son, we have bigger concerns than Tom Brenner.” The older man looked worn, his usually ruddy complexion gray. He poured two tumblers of whiskey and passed one to Jake. “There’s a lot at stake, and I need men like you I can count on. I can count on you, Jake, can’t I?”

  “Of course.”

  “I knew I could. Just like I know I’d be able to count on your father if he were here. Now, we need to have a discussion about that missing tanker of fuel, and Jim Boston. Is he going to be a problem for us?”

  Unease caused Jake to pause. “I don’t know anything about the tanker, but I know Jim isn’t happy. I can handle him. He won’t be a problem. I have to tell you, though, I’m not comfortable with everything that’s been happening. Where are the kids who were tied up out the front?”

  “We let them go yesterday. You didn’t really think we’d leave them there overnight, did you?”

  Some of the tightness in Jake’s chest eased.

  “And what about the old folk who were at the travel lodge? Where are they?”

  “That’s—” Townsend was cut short by Gavin, knocking on the door and entering without an invitation.

  “The door was closed for a reason!” Townsend thundered. “Get the fuck out.”

  “Sorry, sir. Sorry. Brenner wanted me to let you know he made contact again with the survivors in New York.”

  “Why didn’t you say so?” Townsend shot to his feet.

  “Reception was patchy, and they’re gone now, sir. But they repeated they’d spoken with someone from the CDC and confirmed the immunity theory.”

  Gavin was sliding back out when Townsend held out a hand to stop him, eyes narrowed in concentration. “Hold it. Who else knows this?”

  “Just Brenner. And me.” Gavin’s eyes flicked nervously between Townsend and Jake. “And you, now.”

  “Get Brenner and bring him here. And keep your mouth shut,” Townsend instructed, falling back into his chair and reaching immediately for his whiskey.

  “What immunity theory?” Jake asked, setting his own glass back onto the desk in front of him. “Who have you been communicating with?”

  “The ham radio has proved useful,” Townsend said, evasively.

  “If there’s some way of getting immunity, the community needs to know,” Jake asserted.

  “We don’t know anything for sure just yet. And it serves to have the community, shall we say… uncertain. It provides a level of—for want of a better word—control.”

  What the hell does that mean?

  Gavin returned with Brenner, and Jake couldn’t hold back.

  “It’s not okay to hit a woman,” he blasted at Brenner, not flinching at the other man’s glare.

  “Bigger fish to fry, son,” Townsend warned. “Brenner, who else knows about the immunity theory?”

  “It’s not a theory, boss. The group in NYC confirmed it. Anyone still alive has a natural immunity to Sy-V. The immunity mostly appears to be in clusters, as though it’s some kind of environmental factor that’s protected us.”

  “Who else knows?” Townsend growled.

  “No one. Just us.”

  “Good. I want it kept that way. Now, I need you to do something for me. Find Jefferies and bring him in. He’s breached orders and needs to face the consequences.”

  Brenner left, and Townsend turned to Jake. “This town is divided, and I need to know you’re with me. You wanted to know about your grandmother? Jefferies went rogue.” He paused, slugging back the rest of his whiskey.

  Jake’s stomach dropped. Time distorted, sound and action losing synchroneity. He watched Townsend’s mouth forming entire sentences, but his brain struggled to make sense of what he was hearing.

  “… accused them of using up resources… acted of his own volition… disposed of the bodies…”

  Jake shoved his chair back so hard that when he stood, it toppled.

  “What’re you saying?” His voice was tinny, far away. Drowned out by the blood thumping in his ears.

  “I’m sorry, son. He’ll be punished accordingly.”

  “What the fuck are you saying?” Jake yelled.

  “Jefferies killed your grandmother.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mac needed the world to stop. Just, stop. The horrifying scenes from the hospital continued to flicker against her closed eyelids, causing them to twitch. She rolled restlessly in the bed, wishing she’d taken Kat up on the offer to keep her company.

  Tiredness had seeped into her bones. She’d sat on the tiles while in the shower; her body was spent. She had nothing left. She’d dropped, listless, onto the bed—afraid to close her eyes, but unable to help herself.

  She knew her father was among those piles of decomposing bodies, and she was bereft. The realization she’d hoped he’d one day redeem himself—own up to and apologize for being a shitty father—was bitter. Because now he never would.

  Mackenzie shuddered, running her hands up and down her arms. She was afraid the stench from the hospital
was embedded in her pores.

  Dex snuffled from the floor at the foot of the bed, and she pulled back the sheet and called for him to join her under the covers. His warmth and bulk were comforting, and she buried her face in his fur.

  Jake would have a fit at seeing the dog in the bed.

  Jake.

  What a shitty time to realize you weren’t “falling” in love. You were in love. Head over heels, in fact. Right when he was breaking her freaking heart. She could not, would not, let Jake dictate her life. His bullshit savior-complex was untenable.

  And the fact he couldn’t see through Townsend? Made her want to punch him. Hard. It had taken all her self-control—and Chloe’s hand on her arm—to stop her screaming at his willful blindness. Walking away from him in that alley was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Because she hadn’t lost him, she’d let him go.

  Mac slept fitfully, waking early to let Dex outside. Splashing water on her face in the bathroom, she shied away from the mirror; her blotchy complexion and puffy eyes evidence of her grief.

  Grief for her father. For Jake. For the loss of the world as she’d known it.

  A heart-rending howl had her running from the bathroom and following the sounds of anguish to the kitchen, where she found Rachel and Caroline comforting Chloe.

  “What? What is it?” Mac cried, holding onto the kitchen counter for support. “What’s happened?”

  Rachel held Chloe, who was doubled over, arms wrapped around her middle as she sobbed. Caroline stood to the side, somber.

  “It’s Grams,” Caroline said. “Jefferies killed her. And everyone at the travel lodge.” She held her hand over her heart as her eyes brimmed. “I’m so sorry to be the one to deliver the news.”

  Falling to her knees in front of Chloe, Mackenzie reached for her, her arms encompassing Rachel’s. They stayed like that until Mackenzie’s knees were aching, and still they didn’t move. At last, Chloe’s sobs ceased, and she shrugged from the tangle of Rachel and Mackenzie’s arms, pulling away and gasping in air as though she’d been underwater.

  Caroline made coffee and ushered them to the kitchen table where they sat, stunned.