Love in the Time of the Dead

by Tera Shanley

  She scuffled along slowly. She didn’t mean to meander, but the scenery was breathtaking. It was baffling how small groups of happily chatting residents who passed her on the trail could ignore such a view. Would she ever get used to it as they obviously had? Hopefully not.

  The doctor had given her spotty directions to the entrance of the gardens, and after half an hour of bumbling around the wrong trails, she finally stumbled upon a hand painted sign that read This way to Gardens with an arrow. Another pointed to a trail that would lead to the antique sawmill Nick had told her about. Sean was working there. She shook her head like the obnoxious thoughts would leave by way of ear and headed toward the gardens.

  Two armed men guarded an exit to the colony. She pulled up short and looked back in the direction of the sign she had followed. She could have sworn it pointed to the path she was on.

  “You looking for the gardens?” one of the guards asked.

  “Yeah, did I get turned around?”

  “Nope,” he answered. “You’re in the right spot.” He pulled out a clipboard and scanned a list of names. “Laney?” he guessed.

  “That’s me.”

  “Come on through.” He and the other guard opened a tall wooden gate and let her pass. “You’re pretty late for your first day on the job.”

  She smiled. “I like to make a good first impression.”

  “I can tell. Good luck with that.”

  She waved and found herself on a narrow path edged in thick barbed wire fence.

  “I wouldn’t touch the fences,” the guard called out. “They’ll lay you out.”

  “Eeeeuh,” she muttered, pulling her arms in closer to her sides.

  The path led her about a quarter of a mile outside of the colony gates. She scented the air often and scanned the trees for any signs of Deads. The Dead Run River gates had provided a safety she hadn’t felt in a long time. It was amazing the difference when she was all alone, exposed between the electrified barbs. Pausing, she tilted her head back and looked skyward to the top of the wooden fence looming in front of her. Unlike the partial pine fence that was in progress around the colony, this one had been completed. The fence line followed a jagged path, connecting still living trees with rows of felled pines between them. She pushed gently on the gate, but it didn’t give. She pushed again, throwing her weight behind it, and still nothing happened. She stepped back and looked up again. The sun shone over the top of the mountainous gate, a blinding orb that threw rays of light onto the pine needle carpet below.

  “Knocky, knocky,” she called out.

  A latch clicked and the wooden door swung open slowly to reveal two more armed guards. One of them pulled a walkie talkie to his lips. “Yeah, she’s here.”

  “Copy that,” came the static laced voice on the other end.

  “You’re late,” the guard said.

  “Got a doctor’s note.”

  The guard snorted and shook his head in amusement. “You’re supposed to report to Vanessa.” He waited and stared at her as if she should recognize that name and then shake in her boots.

  “Awesome, thanks,” she said, skirting around the guard and into the garden gates.

  She squinted at movement in the distance and headed up a main walking path that cut right through the center of the farming area. When she reached a woman working feverishly with a hoe over rows of small plants, she asked directions to the apparently very scary Vanessa. The woman stood straight up and wiped her sweating forehead with the back of her long sleeved shirt. She took in Laney’s appearance with an expression completely unreadable, and finally jerked her head in the direction of a small cluster of storage buildings.

  “Thanks,” she murmured before she strode down a thin walking path that led to the buildings.

  A woman was bent over three burlap sacks overflowing with some sort of leafy greens. Laney cleared her throat, but the woman ignored her and hoisted a sack up onto a small trailer pulled by a four-wheeler instead.

  “Excuse me,” she said in a tone that dared to be ignored.

  The woman turned around and glared at her.

  “Shit,” Laney muttered as she looked into the ferocious glare of Vanessa. The girl who witnessed the most embarrassing moment of her life to date. The girl who had slammed the door on her friendly wave that morning. The girl who had attached herself to Mitchell’s side like a barnacle almost immediately after their arrival.

  “Vanessa, I presume. Lovely to meet you,” she said cheerily. Or as cheerily as one can manage through gritted teeth.

  “You’re late.”

  “Why does everyone keep saying that? Look, I might as well let you know it won’t be the last time.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Ahh, you’ll have to take that up with Dr. Mackey.”

  “Oh. Got an STD?”

  Laney glared. “Or Mel. You could take it up with Mel.”

  “I saved a special job for you,” Vanessa said. “There is a great big pile of fertilizer over by that building. Make yourself useful and shovel it into the wheelbarrow next to it. Then distribute it evenly over that section over there.” Vanessa jabbed a finger at a plot of land to their left. “The big one.”

  Unamused, Laney asked, “You want me to shovel poop?”

  “I do, and since I’m running the gardens, you get to answer to me. If I feel you aren’t doing your job adequately, and make no mistake, Ms. Landry, I’m not an easy girl to please, then I will, as you recommended, take it up with Mel.” Vanessa smiled as if she were thoroughly enjoying herself. “If you hurry you could be done by Friday.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  LANEY GENTLY FLEXED HER BLISTERED HANDS. The shovel wasn’t a kind tool to those who had never used one before. The only area spared on her hands was the heavily bandaged part that protected her cut.

  The day hadn’t been her best one, but it definitely didn’t go down in the history books as one of her worst ones either. Her side was uncomfortable and itchy as she sweated freely from physical exertion into the tiny wounds Dr. Mackey had made. Her other injuries were screaming with the hard labor she had forced onto her body. Lunch had been called only for her to find out that she was supposed to pick up a sack lunch from the kitchen before her work day. She also was made aware that she was supposed to bring her canteen to work with her own water. Thankfully, a teenaged boy named Nelson had offered her a drink out of his canteen just as she thought she would die of thirst. He was young, awkward, and a little wonky-eyed, but he was nice enough, so she didn’t mind that he spent a substantial amount of his time looking at her chest. He had shared his water and he certainly wasn’t the first pervy glancer she had met. She could throw him a bone, so to speak.

  Shoveling manure had been monotonous and laborious work, but she had done it without complaint. Even the fact that she smelled like a cow tail couldn’t keep away the little shiver of excitement at the thought of seeing Sean at dinner. The downside would be that Vanessa would no doubt be attached at the femur to Mitchell and sitting at her table, but she had learned to take the good with the bad.

  She couldn’t even put a finger on why the girl bothered her so much. Mitchell was a grown man, free to bone whatever ditzy skank he wanted to. Far be it from her to judge his bad taste. She had spent three years searching for Adam Not-Worth-The-Effort Leary. Stones and glass houses.

  “Hey, wait up!” a girl’s voice sounded from behind her.

  She turned on the small path that connected the colony to the gardens. It was the young woman who had given her a towel at the showers. “Hey,” Laney said, smiling and genuinely happy to see Eloise again. After Vanessa’s maiming glares all day, a friendly face was as unexpected as it was comforting.

  Eloise was attractive, with sandy brown hair and a light smattering of freckles across her nose, making her look much younger than she probably really was. “How was your first day?”

  “It was glorious. I have a newfound respect for fertilizer.”

  Eloise lau
ghed. “You’re funny.”

  “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, squinting suspiciously at the girl. “What do you want?”

  Eloise’s face lit up with a crooked grin. “I wanted to know about one of the men you came in with.”

  “Aw, really? You too? What is it about him? It’s the dark hair, right? His jokes aren’t really that funny, you know. He thinks he’s wittier than he really is.”

  Eloise looked at her with such a profound look of confusion that she stopped talking.

  “Not the dark haired one. The other one,” the girl clarified.

  “Sean Daniels?”

  “No, not him, though he is a handsome man too. No, the other one. The quiet one.”

  “Guist?”

  “His name is Guist?”

  “Well, everybody calls him by his last name. His name is Aaron Guist.”

  “Aaron,” Eloise whispered, like she was tasting the sound his name made on her tongue.

  “I have to tell you, this is a first.”

  “What is?”

  “Guist, he just doesn’t really shack up with a lot of ladies when we go to colonies.”

  “Good. Wait, does that means he doesn’t like girls?”

  “No, no.” She shook her head vigorously. “No. He likes the ladies. He’s just shy when it comes to them.”

  “Oh,” Eloise said through a slow smile. She looked embarrassed, and her cheeks turned pink enough to make her freckles stand out even more.

  All right, so she would throw out two bones that day. “Look, if you come by our table at dinner I’ll introduce you.”

  “But what would I say?”

  “I don’t know. Just say some stuff about the importance of pruning or something.”

  “No, not to you. I mean what do I say to Aaron?”

  Laney glanced at her out of the corner of her eye to judge her seriousness, but the girl seemed genuinely lost in thought. She shrugged and waved to the guard at the colony gate as they passed through. “That I can’t help you with. I have zero game. If you want advice on how to swoop into the friend zone, or how to unattract men, or even how to become like a little sister to the object of your affection, I’m your girl.”

  Eloise giggled. “I highly doubt any of that is true. You came into this colony with a harem of the hottest men in the universe, and they circle you like planets. I suspect you have more game than you think.”

  She snorted and held in a retort about said men only wanting to be around her for her zombie-sniffing abilities. Let the girl think what she wanted.

  Dinner wasn’t as eventful as Laney had anticipated. She was the first one there, so she filled a plate and picked a table near the area they sat in at breakfast that morning.

  “Where is everybody else?” she asked Guist as he approached the table with a full tray of his own.

  “Mitchell volunteered to do a night shift tonight. We have to do two a week. He’s back in the room catching some sleep before he has to report for duty again.” He sat down and held up a cloth sack that sagged at the bottom with the weight of its contents. “I’m bringing him dinner after I finish up here.”

  She waited for more information, but he dug into his food instead.

  “What about Sean?” she asked innocently. Too innocently because Guist looked up at her and squinted thoughtfully.

  “I don’t know where Sean is. I haven’t seen him all day.” His gaze lingered on her as she took a drink of her water. “Laney, I’d be careful with that one.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Mitchell wouldn’t like it,” he said in a low voice.

  She narrowly avoided sputtering her drink all down the front of his shirt. “And why would I give a fig what Mitchell would and wouldn’t like?”

  He opened his mouth to answer, but apparently thought better of it and went back to spearing broccoli florets with his fork. The bewildering man had closed up. She would get nothing more from him until he was good and ready. Which could be the day after never.

  A movement caught her eye. Eloise nervously approached their table and waved timidly from behind Guist’s silent figure.

  Laney smiled and waved her over like she had just seen the girl in passing. “Hey, Eloise. You want to come sit by us?”

  Guist glanced behind him.

  “Uh, would that be okay with you?” Eloise asked him.

  Laney had no guess as to what passed between her new friend and her teammate. They stared at each other for a loaded moment before he nodded his head slowly.

  “S’okay with me,” he told her.

  Eloise walked around the table and set her tray down beside Laney before taking a seat.

  “Guist, this is Eloise,” she introduced them, pointing at them each in turn with a forkful of mashed potatoes. “She works at the gardens with me. Eloise, this is Guist.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Eloise said shyly.

  Guist smiled, a rare sight, and cleared his throat. “Likewise.”

  Laney pursed her lips happily and looked from Guist to Eloise and back to Guist. “Well, I’m stuffed.” She lifted her tray and headed to a trashcan nearby.

  “Where are you going?” Eloise squeaked, mortification evident in the tremor in her voice.

  “Lots of stuff to do,” she lied. She cleared her tray and set it on a table beside the trash. Eloise looked partly frozen, and mostly like she wanted to flee. “Enjoy your dinner. See you tomorrow morning.” She waved at Guist who was looking at her like she had lost her mind. “Later, Guist.”

  “Later,” he said suspiciously.

  When she reached the cool crispness of the night, she rubbed the gooseflesh on her arms. What should she do first? Her jacket was in her room, but Mel’s house was only a ten minute trek up the mountain from the dining hall. If she went back for her coat it would take much longer. She had decided she wasn’t above begging for a better job from Mel. One that preferably involved deadly weaponry.

  She could live without a jacket for half an hour, so she marched determinedly up the path that led to the leader’s cabin. The lights were on. Nick must have hooked a generator directly to the cabin, because while everyone else in this colony lived by lanterns and candlelight, Mel was afforded more luxury. Laney knocked. Jubilant voices could be heard from the other side of the door, and Mel was laughing as she opened it to find her on the other side.

  “Laney,” she said in surprise. “What’s happened? Are you all right?”

  Sean and Adrianna were putting their coats on in the entryway. So that’s where they’d been at dinnertime. She dragged her eyes back to Mel. “Yes, I’m fine. I just wondered if I could talk to you about something.”

  “Of course,” Mel answered, sounding concerned. “Sean and Adrianna were just leaving. We can talk in my office.”

  Laney pursed her lips and nodded. “Fine. Yes, that sounds good.”

  “Hey, Laney. What are you doing here?” Sean asked as he noticed her coming through the door.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but Adrianna shrieked and ran to hug her legs, eliciting a surprised laugh from her instead.

  Sean chuckled and turned to the woman holding the door. “Mel, dinner was delicious.”

  “You are welcome anytime, Sean.”

  Gag. Laney zipped up Adrianna’s jacket and stepped out of their way.

  Sean cocked his head to the side and looked at her curiously. He squeezed her bare arm as he passed. “Why aren’t you wearing a jacket? You’re going to get sick, Laney. It’s really important that you take care of yourself.”

  She warmed despite the dropping temperature. He cared. “Come on. If I can survive Dead bites, I’m pretty sure a little breeze isn’t going to do me in.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Mel led Laney into her office. “How do you like your cabin?” Mel asked.

  “It’s fine. Perfect, really.”

  “And the mess hall? Were you able to find it all right?”

  “Ye
s, yes. Mel, why didn’t you tell me?”

  Mel sat behind a huge mahogany desk and motioned to a plush looking chair on the other side. Laney sat and waited.

  “You’ll have to be more specific,” the woman said.

  “Adam?”

  “Ahhh. Well, I wanted to, but I didn’t know how.”

  “Why didn’t anyone send word that he was here? He still looks just like the drawing and his name was on it.”

  Mel sighed. “Look, Laney. Adam just came to this colony a few weeks ago. His home base is in Fairplay. He and his wife came up to have Dr. Mackey deliver their baby. He is the best doctor around and a lot of pregnant women want him to deliver them. They’ll be leaving again after the baby is born to go back to their colony.”

  “You still could have sent word that he was alive.”

  “He requested I didn’t, and my colony members’ privacy is their right. He asked me not to say anything the first time he saw the board. I didn’t have a problem with it because, honestly, I didn’t assume you were even still alive. The Laney Landry I’d heard about was a fighter. You guys tend to have short expiration dates.”

  Laney bit her lip calculatingly. “You could make it up to me, you know.”

  “I can’t give you guard duty.”

  “Why not? I’ve been fighting for three years and my nose could be a huge asset to your colony. I can smell Deads from a distance. I could be the colony’s own personal Dead warning system. There is no reason for me to be working in the gardens.”

  “There is, actually.”

  Laney waited, eyebrows arched.

  “Look, I promised a friend I wouldn’t put you on guard duty.”

  “Sean?”

  Mel nodded. “And part of me agrees with him. You’re important, Laney. We could potentially get a vaccine from you in time and it is too big a risk to put you in life or death situations.”