Adam looked up at her. “I don’t think you want that. I—” The tears started coming, and Adam made no attempt to stop them. “I’ve done so many horrible things. Hurt so many people.”
“I’ve been alone with the zombies for years,” Eve replied. “Pretty sure I can handle you.”
“If you knew—”
“I don’t want to know what you’ve done. I just want to know what you’re going to do.”
Adam looked at his hands, his missing finger. While he slept, Eve had pulled the old, bloodied wrapping from his hand and re-dressed it, even though it was mostly healed by now.
“I think I want to build something,” Adam said. “Something good. I can’t ever atone for what I’ve done, but I’d like to die trying.”
“That’s as good a plan as any. So come with me, Adam. We’ll build our own Garden of Eden. Just you and me. And the zombies.”
Adam stood up. His legs were wobbly, but he felt strong. “Yeah. Just you and me. And the… And the zombies.”
~~~~
The Girl by the Side of the Road
Aixa sat on the curb, the tips of her Converse All-Stars touching the tip of the asphalt, now and then swinging back and forth to touch each other. She thought about the stories she heard growing up, about how over fifteen years ago, before she was born, those big rusty things she saw sometimes that everyone called “cars” would scuttle back and forth along the black parts of the street, right between all those lines, moving so fast sometimes they’d be gone before you even knew they were there.
Right now she didn’t want to think about all those stories her mothers told her. She was upset, and she knew it would pass, but right now she just wanted to be alone.
Well, really, that was the last thing she wanted, but for now sitting by the side of the road would do.
She saw the shape in the distance, coming along the main street. It must’ve been farther than it looked, because it took almost an hour before the bicycle slowed to a stop in front of her. Aixa stood up as the courier looked her over, propping himself up on one leg beside his bike, the other up on the pedal.
“You okay, kid? You from in there?” He nodded at the gate leading into New Los Angeles.
“You ever feel like the world is too small?” Aixa said. “Probably not, I guess. I’m okay, my parents know I’m out here. I was waiting for you, actually.” She wiped her nose across the back of her arm, clearing herself of a sweat mustache, then took the folded envelope from her pocket.
“Oh, a letter?” the courier said. He held his hand out for it, but Aixa only unfolded it and looked at it for a while. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Aixa said. “I think so. It’s just missing something.” She stared at it a second longer. The courier looked behind him; clouds were rolling in. It might rain, it might pass. “I know,” Aixa said, and took the pen from her pocket, hunkered down, and set the letter on the sidewalk so she could write across the front:
to: my future pen pal
anywhere, USA
from: the girl by the side of the road
new los angeles
“There,” Aixa said, then handed it to the courier.
He took it, squinted at it, then put it in his bag. “Who’s it for?”
“Take it to the smallest town farthest from here, and give it to someone my age.”
The courier scratched the back of his neck. “Kid, we don’t usually… Fuck it. I’ll do it.”
Aixa smiled from ear to ear. “Thanks!”
The courier nodded and disappeared into New L.A. Half an hour later he came back out. He stopped in the street before Aixa, staring down at her. “You all right?”
Aixa smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yeah. I just have this feeling like everything is going to be okay. Not now, but soon.”
“Well, I’ll hope so for you, kid,” the courier said, then went on his way.
Afterword
In the Lone and Level Sands wasn’t planned with a sequel in mind. Getting it off the ground was a lot of work, and any ideas that didn’t fit were either scrapped or written as short stories for After the Bite. However, while editing that book, other ideas began to form. My co-author and I had created a world with unique zombies bound to their own set of rules, and I wondered how things would be once the zombies and the survivors had gotten settled in. Our zombies are, after all, not immortal—they too would need to worry about things like food and shelter.
I also wondered what our survivors would be up to a few years into the zombie apocalypse. Specific questions arose: How would people go about raising children? What if some people saw zombies as the superior form of humanity? What dangers are posed to people who have hunkered down and survived for two years, how would I apply a sense of peril there?
These questions poked at me at first, and then fanned themselves into flames I couldn’t ignore. I started writing a sequel very tentatively, mostly wanting to get on the right track and see if it was one worth following. Several thousand words in, I decided it was.
My best friend Seth Thomas, who co-wrote the first two books, had some ideas as well. Very good ones. He had planned story arcs for a few characters returning from the first book, and several new ones. Unfortunately, he never got around to hammering them out. Over the years his desire to work on them diminished, and eventually he dropped out entirely. It’s strange continuing without him, and his arcs would have provided a better balance to mine, almost all of which are set in the same area and directly intertwine, but it just didn’t happen. Also dearly missing from our little crew is Laura Soret, who created the wonderful cover art for the first two books. Our schedules didn’t quite line up, so the shabby cover you see on this book is a photo manipulation I threw together myself. In the end, Seth might get around to finishing his own sequel in the future, but for now this book and its cover will have to do.
I started writing it shortly before putting the final touches on In the Lone and Level Sands. I had a storm of ideas brewing, even though I wasn’t sure I’d finish the work. Now the opposite is happening: This book’s epilogue leaves things wide open for another sequel, which I haven’t written a word of. I don’t know for sure that I ever will; I tried to make the ending as emotionally unambiguous as I could, just in case, but there is an open door there. I’ve caught a few glimpses of what might be beyond it, but I haven’t taken the first step through just yet.
Before that happened, I had come up with a title for a potential third book: In the After, a line from a song. There’s apparently already a post-apocalyptic novel with that title, so I had to let it go. Now, based on the ideas I have, I think a third novel would probably be called In the End of All We Are, and it would likely be the last. There might also be another short story collection or two, but otherwise, these are the plans for this series at the moment.
It’s been quite a journey writing and publishing these books. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them, and if there’s a future here, I hope to meet you there.
David J. Lovato
May 2015
About the Author
David J. Lovato was born in California in 1988. He spent his life moving around the country, eventually settling in Kansas City, Missouri.
Also part of the Zombiemandias series:
After the Bite, a collection, available in print and through most eBook retailers. (Co-authored with Seth Thomas.)
In the Lone and Level Sands, available in print and through most eBook retailers. (Co-authored with Seth Thomas.)
Also by David J. Lovato:
“Hole”, a short story, available for free through most eBook retailers.
Dark Things, a collection, available through most eBook retailers.
Six and Seven, a novella, available through most eBook retailers.
The Ones Who Follow the Water, a novel, available in print and through most eBook retailers.
Permanent Ink on Temporary Pages, a poetry collection, availab
le in print and through most eBook retailers.
A Note About Reviews
Thank you for reading this book. Please consider leaving a review of it on Goodreads and/or the store where it was purchased. Reviews are crucial for authors, and a few moments of your time can go a long way. Thanks again for reading!
Zombiemandias (Book 2): In the Year of Our Death Page 30