After Tomorrow: A CHBB Anthology

by Samantha Ketteman

  “Bring them to the ground!” Lily fired her first and second arrows across in quick succession. She aimed for the same zombie, hitting it first in the chest and then the side of its head. It fell down, but she could see it wasn’t dead. They were at a bad angle, and the wind didn’t help them any either.

  Across the river, the girl attacked and managed to kill the two who had separated from the group first. The oryx continued on into the water, but kept turning his head back to check on his friend as he swam.

  “Nadim’s in the water!” Danny called, but Lily had seen.

  “Help the girl, that’s what he’s counting on,” she directed. She was torn, wanting to watch Nadim’s progress but needing to keep firing arrows across.

  The arrows maimed and slowed the zombie group right down, giving the girl easy access to knife them all in the head.

  “She’s good,” Santo commended the stranger.

  When all the zombies were dead, the girl jogged back to the river’s edge and shielded her eyes, watching the oryx, now in the centre of the river and moving steadily across.

  “He’s drifting with the current. We should move down to the right more to meet him when he gets to our side,” Lily suggested and the boys moved with her to another clear patch on the bank to wait.

  “Hey!” Santo called to the girl. “You okay?”

  “Yeah! Thanks!” She waved back. “I won’t cross on my own. Too dangerous. I’ll return to our group once I see Nadim is safe.”

  Nadim was almost across. It was all Lily could do not to jump in and drag him the rest of the way, but she could see he was strong enough on his own.

  “How many in your camp?” she called across.

  “Eleven all up. You?”

  “Thirty-nine, including some kids. We have a safe camp here, you should come join us.” Lily didn’t hesitate to extend the invitation, and the two boys nodded. Nadim’s group got an automatic pass. And from the girl’s appearance, they had it tougher but knew how to survive.

  The oryx pushed out of the river then, and the three of them helped pull him onto the dry grass.

  “Buddy!” Danny slapped the oryx’s back good-naturedly. “Never thought I’d see this fella again.”

  Tears streaked Lily’s cheeks and she found herself frozen to the spot. The oryx shook his back to dry off, and then turned away for a second. Its body shivered again once before shifting back to a human form.

  Nadim stood there, naked and glistening, his dark skin still wet. Tears filled his eyes but he gave them all a huge grin.

  “It’s awesome to see you guys. I can’t believe it!”

  Santo took the clothes from Lily’s backpack and tossed them to their old friend.

  “Get some clothes on man, so I can hug you.” Santo laughed and Lily saw him wipe one eye.

  Nadim pulled the clothes on while he spoke. “Thanks for these, and thanks for helping Megan. I didn’t want to leave her behind, but the current was stronger than I expected.” He stood up and waved to Megan, who was gathering the re-usable arrows from the zombie corpses.

  “Megan! Go back to the others and if I don’t return tonight, meet us here tomorrow morning. We’ll figure out what to do from there,” Nadim called to her.

  “Got it! You take care!” Megan waved again and disappeared into the tree-line. To Lily, Megan didn’t seem too bothered letting Nadim go, and she felt hope blossom in her chest that they were just friends.

  Nadim, Santo, and Danny had a guys’ moment, hugging and punching each other in examination of their physical changes and growth since they last met. Lily watched on smiling, remembering the fun times their tight group of friends had enjoyed back when life was simple.

  Santo grabbed Danny’s arm. “Come on, let’s go find Dean and tell him about Nadim’s group.” Turning back to Nadim he continued, “Dean’s our unofficial leader, but I know he’ll be cool about you joining us. We’ve got vehicles too. We could look at crossing over White Oak Bridge and picking your people up.”

  Nadim nodded. “That bridge is still passable. We have a bus, but the engine’s dead. We were heading to your camp, actually, when it blew a few days ago.”

  “How did you know we were here?” Lily asked.

  “There are three more shifters in our group, and two are hawks. They scout ahead for us and spotted your camp. I had no idea you guys were here, but then yesterday I recognised Mrs. Turner and Elaine Price from our school. It gave me hope. Then I found your note last night, Lil. I…god, I still feel like I’m in a dream.” He smiled at her, that old spine-tingling smile she had adored. She was dying to hug him, but was waiting for the other boys to give them some privacy.

  Danny gave Santo a meaningful look and jerked his head. “Well, it’s not a dream, the old gang is back! San, let’s go make some room for all the new folks.” He winked at Lily and she smiled back in thanks.

  When the two boys had walked a few metres away, Nadim held his arms out. Lily tightened her arms around his waist and felt his head fold down on hers.

  “I never gave up, Lil. I knew you would keep yourself alive and take care of the boys as well.”

  Lily laughed into his chest. “Don’t tell them this, but I owe them big time for saving me. I wouldn’t have made it without them.”

  “Then I owe them too, for keeping you safe,” Nadim whispered. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t find you sooner, but the city was a freakin’ nightmare. I mean, I know it was bad out here too, but I couldn’t just leave all those people alone to fight. Then, in the middle of it all, I found more people like me. Together, we made a difference.” Lily had heard horrendous stories about violence in the cities, where it wasn’t just humans against zombies, but men against men.

  She wanted to ask about his family, but there would be time for the painful news later. Instead, she focused on the joy of having him back.

  “I’m glad you did,” she replied. “We lost a lot of people here, people we loved, but it was over faster than in many other towns. We’ve slowly made a life here and feel safe again.”

  “That’s great, Lil. Really. You’ll like my group, I hope, and they’ll all contribute.”

  “I saw your hawk-friends yesterday. What’s the other shifter you mentioned?”

  “Oh, Harris is a boar. He’s bad-arse,” Nadim laughed. “The hawks are twins, Renee and Nicola. They’re twenty-one.” Nadim pulled away then, and looked down at Lily. His eyes saddened as he stroked her hair from her cheek. “Lil, Nicola’s my girlfriend. I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” Lily squeaked. She had relaxed after realizing Megan wasn’t a threat, but this was far worse. Nadim had not only found a new girl, actually a woman, but she was a shifter like him.

  “I never stopped loving you or believing I would see you again, but those feelings didn’t stop me from connecting with someone else. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t know what will happen now, but I want to give this a chance. All of us, surviving together and being friends again.” Nadim looked at her hopefully.

  Tears fell, but Lily nodded. “I didn’t stop loving you either, but I can’t be mad that you found someone to be happy with. Don’t worry. We’ll all get along great. I won’t make it hard for you and her.” She wiped her face with her sleeve.

  “That wasn’t what I was saying,” Nadim scolded. “You don’t have a mean bone in your body. But what about you? I thought maybe you and Santo…?”

  Lily shook her head. “No, just friends. We could have, I suppose, but it never seemed right.” Santo had broached the subject of them dating a few times, gently, but she hadn’t been ready. And after a hard year of fighting alongside him and Danny, they had become more like siblings than anything else. There were moments though, she admitted only to herself, when she wanted to open her heart again, she just never had the courage. She hadn’t wanted to betray Nadim either. Santo, being the awesome guy he was, had understood.

  “Well, I’m so happy to see the three of you, and anyone else I know here.” Nadim squee
zed her arm and smiled.

  Lily nodded, accepting the change in conversation. “I’m sure you’ll all settle in well. Come on, I’ll give you the camp tour and let’s have some breakfast. Then we can go get your people later this morning.” Lily tried to be cheerful, even with her heart breaking. She was oh-so-happy he was alive, but she had waited for his love too. It was going to be painful to see him every day with someone else.

  Chapter Three

  It took several hours to get the two vans ready and plan a safe route to Nadim’s camp, but they were on their way before noon. They reached the old pump station where Nadim’s group had set up base, surprisingly without any trouble from the undead. Lily guessed that the herd they had culled the day before had picked up a fair number of stragglers in their area, definitely a bonus.

  On arrival at Nadim’s camp, everyone got busy packing up their basic gear and food supplies, extinguishing the camp fire and raiding the pump station office for any usable items. Lily was introduced to Nicola, along with the other group members, but didn’t have time to talk to her properly until the group was ready to return to Lily’s camp.

  As the humans were boarding the two mini-vans, Lily noticed Nadim, Harris, and Renee standing some distance away and having a heated discussion. Nadim looked angry, while the other two seemed to be arguing on the same side. She watched a little longer but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  “Hey, Lily.” Nicola came up beside Lily, pulling her attention away. “You’re Malaysian, right?”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Lily answered with a smile. Discovering that Nadim had a girlfriend had been a shock, but Nicola had an honest warmth about her. Like the other women in Nadim’s group, Nicola’s ash-blonde hair and clothes were a bit ragged, but she had a healthy glow to her skin and projected a positive energy that made Lily feel comfortable immediately.

  Nicola opened the tote bag she was carrying to let Lily look at the contents. “Great, you might be able to do something with these then.”

  “Wow, you have Asian groceries and sauces?” Lily pulled out a bottle of tamarind sauce and was surprised to see cans of lychees, powdered coconut milk, plus some small sachets of different seasonings.

  “There was an older Vietnamese man in our group until recently and he sometimes cooked Asian dishes for us when we could get the fresh meat and vegetables,” Nicola explained “But sorry, I have no idea what your pantry is like. If it’s basic and you don’t want this stuff, I’ll leave it behind. It might not be edible anyway.” Nicola sniffed at the open bag and shrugged.

  “No, no. I want it!” Lily reassured her. “Our camp has been settled for about a year now, so we grow some vegetables and keep a lot of non-perishables too. We catch fish in the river and we have plenty of rice at the moment. I have a few basics like soy and chili sauce, but these extras will make cooking actually fun for me. Thanks a lot.” Lily hugged Nicola lightly, grateful for her kindness.

  “My pleasure. I love to cook myself, so maybe we can prepare dinner together one night?” Nicola suggested.

  “Absolutely!” Lily agreed. “I think it’ll be…” her words would cut short by a familiar whistle. Both women turned to follow the sound and Lily smiled as Santo and Nadim jogged over to join them in the shade. The afternoon sun had brought a surprisingly warm wind with it, and most of the group had been working in only short sleeves and were looking for cool places to rest before heading back home.

  “How’s it going, ladies?” Santo asked, wiping sweat from his face with the bottom of his t-shirt.

  Nicola trained her eyes down to Santo’s exposed abs, then she looked up and mouthed to Lily, ‘He’s hot!’ with a naughty grin. Lily blushed. She had, of course, noticed Santo’s growing muscles, earned from all the hard work he did to help build their camp, but she had programmed herself not to look at either Santo or Danny in that way. It never helped that practically every woman in their camp, single or married, ogled Santo in the same manner.

  “Hey, San.” Lily tried to distract her thoughts. “Is everyone ready to go?”

  “Yep. The blue van is full, but there are enough seats in the white van for the four of us,” Santo confirmed.

  “What about Renee and Harris?” Lily asked, looking around for the other two shifters.

  “They aren’t coming with us,” Nicola replied “They decided to keep scouting south, to look for more survivor camps. I can fly out in my hawk-form regularly to keep in touch with them and report back if they find anyone, or any useful supplies.”

  Nicola seemed fine with the plan, but Nadim still had a tense smile. Lily frowned too, knowing Nadim must be torn between the two groups now.

  “It is a good idea,” Santo agreed. “The furthest south we’ve been is about twenty kilometres away, but we didn’t find any survivors. That was a few months ago. We’ve been getting our supplies in a small town west of here.”

  “Nadim, are you worried about them?” Lily asked. “I’m sure they’ll be careful out there.”

  “I know, I just don’t like the group splitting up.” Nadim placed his hands on his narrow hips and kicked at the dirt absently with the toe of his sneaker.

  “Nadim finds it hard to believe that some people actually like the nomadic life,” Nicola said with a sweet smile all for her boyfriend. “With his Bedouin blood, he should be one of them, but he’s definitely the picket-fence type.”

  Nadim scoffed at Nicola’s words, but his eyes revealed his true feelings.

  They were in love, Lily saw it so clearly. She felt jealousy prickle her skin, but strangely it wasn’t because Nicola had Nadim, it was more just that they had something together that Lily had given up on. She had told herself she was waiting for Nadim, but it had really just been an excuse to cut off her emotions, a way of coping with the turmoil and death surrounding her. Others in her camp had been open to the prospect and had found love again.

  Then there was Santo. Out of everyone she knew, he was the least changed by everything. He still had the open heart and passion for life he always did. He looked beyond surviving to having a real future and a family with someone, and even though he talked about it so often, Lily hadn’t really understood.

  The world they lived in was wild and unsure. Strangers were now families and children were soldiers, but as each month passed, the future seemed a little brighter. They weren’t just surviving anymore, they were living. There was hope.

  Lily looked up at Santo then and found him watching her. A shiver tingled her spine and she felt aware of him in a way that until then, she had largely ignored. Nadim’s return changed everything for her; it was the trigger she needed to give herself permission to be emotionally free. What would it feel like now, she wondered, to let someone close to my heart again? To go from caring for a friend to loving someone?

  Santo smiled and reached out a hand to her. “Want to ride up front with me, Lil?”

  Realizing that Nicola and Nadim were already arm-in-arm and walking towards the blue van, Lily shook herself back from la-la-land.

  “Sounds great,” she answered simply. She fell into step beside Santo and immediately he loosened his grip on her hand, as a friend would. But Lily squeezed a little tighter and tilted her face up shyly towards his. She didn’t want to let go this time.

  “Are you okay, Lil? If you’re upset about Nadim and Nicola you don’t have to hide it from me,” Santo reassured her. The kindness in his eyes reminded her again that she was loved, and by a wonderful, patient man. A man! That was the first time Lily had thought of Santo as one.

  “You know, I’m really okay. Nadim’s alive, and look how happy he is. I like Nicola too.” Lily sighed, letting the heavy knot in her heart loosen. “It feels like a new start, doesn’t it?” She felt silly for saying it, but Santo quickly agreed.

  “Yeah, that’s what I said to Nadim before. It’s like, how the four of us talked about moving to Melbourne for university together,” he spoke passionately. “We would all be there now if this shit hadn’t
happened, wouldn’t we? Anyway, I like Nadim’s group too. It’s gonna be fun having new people around.”

  They reached the van and Santo released Lily’s hand to open the passenger-side door for her.

  “Right!” Lily agreed. “What a cool way to look at it.” It was a good time to mark their transition to adulthood—they weren’t the sixteen-year-old kids they had been before; they were adults, hardened by world devastation like they never had imagined.

  She also looked forward to getting to know Nadim again and felt she would have some kind of closure on a long-open wound, that the hole in her heart could be filled. She was finally ready.

  Chapter Four

  As they headed back to camp, Lily couldn’t help stealing little glances at Santo while he drove the van, wondering if she should talk to him about her feelings that night, or not. He had been interested in her at one time but hadn’t broached the subject of them getting together for months now; Nadim returning may have been changing Lily’s perspective, but there was no guarantee Santo still had any feelings for her. For all she knew, he could have been interested in one of the new girls joining them from Nadim’s group. Besides Sarah, there were two other girls near his age and they were all sweet.

  “He doesn’t want sweet.” Nicola’s voice, just the softest whisper in Lily’s ear, made Lily jump in her seat.

  “What?” She practically squeaked back over her shoulder. How the hell did Nicola know what she was thinking about?

  Nicola’s green eyes shone with mischief. “Sorry, I try not to listen to human thoughts, but your mind and heart are so open right now. Plus, I’m sitting right behind you.”

  “Nicola!” Lily scolded as quietly as she could. Suddenly the van was very hot and she wound her window down further. “Can Nadim hear my thoughts too?” She asked Nicola, panicked. If he had ever done so before, he hadn’t told her.

  Nicola shook her head. “He could if he tried, but it’s not a skill he wants to develop. He only likes to use telepathy with other shifters.” Nicola patted Lily’s shoulder. “I could teach you to talk to me, with your mind I mean. You seem receptive to it.”