by Lisa Acerbo
They sat on the front steps, enjoying the stillness of the night, broken only by the occasional wind-driven, fallen foliage.
His fingers intertwined with hers, and she rested her head on his shoulder. A few minutes passed. He caressed her back and neck, and then drew her in for a kiss.
Jenna’s stomach warmed, and with the meeting of lips, she understood his love.
Caleb lifted her and sat her on his lap. His kisses continued, first light and playful, but soon demanding more. And she desired more from him too, her hands roaming over his shoulders.
Sitting back, his gaze returned to the overripe clouds. “We should go inside.”
“It’s so beautiful out here tonight. Where is your sense of adventure? Let’s take a walk.”
“I’ll be adventurous in bed.”
Jenna stood. “Coming?”
“If I must.”
The two traipsed down the stone stairs and out into the meadow. Cat met them in the field, loud purr disrupting the peace. The feline twined between their feet.
“Do you see this? He’s intentionally trying to trip me,” Jenna said. “He has an evil side.”
“You’re telling me, I got you a devil cat.”
He was teasing her of course, but it brought forth shreds of her dream.
Something wicked is inside you. Just a dream. She shook off her unease.
“I never know what your evil mastermind plan is. World domination. New Racers taking over.”
His brow furrowed.
“Too soon?” She asked.
“Too soon to joke. But if you must have an answer, my master plan is to make you happy.”
“Works for me.”
Caleb grabbed her hand. And together, she meandered through the meadow with him. “I’m so happy you’re better. I miss you every minute you’re not by my side. And I was so scared. Actually, you had everyone worried.”
He drew her into hug, and she found the closeness comforting. His warm lips fell to hers, and his hand traced the curve of her spine. His kiss was home, and she wanted more. Her arms encircled his neck, then twined in his hair.
An owl’s hoot made Jenna jump.
Broad pine trees perched a few feet away. Dark foliage beckoned. One part of her worried she and Caleb shouldn’t be alone in the woods. It was reckless and stupid without a weapon of any kind, and they should turn back.
But Caleb’s gaze was ravenous, and she couldn’t wait. She wanted to live for the crazy, wonderful moments that could be. And this moment could soon be one of the most memorable ones.
He drew her back into his arms and reclaimed her lips. She didn’t stop him, enjoying the longing and intensity building. His hands caressed her curves.
“I love you so much. I need you now.” He stroked her in the darkness. “Let’s go back to the inn.”
A grin spread across her lips. “Where’s your sense of adventure? Where’s the daredevil I know and love?”
“I’ve had enough adventure to last a lifetime.”
“You have to admit, you’re having fun. Just say it. Say—I like kissing you in the field. Say it, and we’ll go back inside.”
“I don’t have to admit anything to you.”
“I’ll admit I like this moment. I appreciate the thrill of being outdoors on a cold night, warming each other up in the best of ways. Why can’t you say it? Chicken?” Her smile spread at the same time her nails raked against his thigh.
Caleb grabbed her arm and attempted to usher them back toward the inn, but she planted her feet, drawing him back.
“You’ll be the death of me.” His hands traveled along her curves. When they reached her shoulders, he began to gently knead them.
Tension dropped from Jenna’s body. She closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of grass and pine. “You’d be my masseuse in our alternative reality, and I’d get massages every day.”
He didn’t release her. “What’s in it for me?”
“What do you want? Keep doing what you’re doing.”
“How about I do more?” His hands dropped to her midriff and slipped under her sweater. They were cold against her skin, but fire ignited elsewhere.
“I’ve got an idea.” She murmured against his chest.
“What’s this brilliant idea?” His fingers traced the line of her hipbone before exploring upward.
Her heart pounded. “Catch me, and you’ll have your way with me.” Jenna ran into the forest, ducking behind a tree, but making it easy for Caleb to find her.
He made it fun, letting her get away a few times, pretending to stumble around in the dark searching. Jenna staggered over roots and branches, not paying attention to the direction she headed. Light from the moon winked out.
She ran back the way she thought led to the meadow but staggered into a mossy thicket instead.
The smell of death assaulted her.
Jenna screamed. Caleb was by her side. The clouds moved away, and they noticed the thing perched against a tree. The clouds released rain and hail with a force of gun blasts. The thing in the trees showed no reaction. Jenna mopped the bangs from her forehead.
Caleb crept close. “It’s not moving. It’s a corpse.”
“They’re all corpses,” Jenna followed. The undead were a blur in the night, but she covered her nose with her sweater sleeve to limit the odor of decomposing flesh. The slumped, putrid dead sent a shiver through her.
A reminder that mere existence was never going to be normal. She’d never regain the life she lived prior to the pandemic. Her hope for starting a new one was stupid.
Caleb stepped forward and kicked the exposed flesh, boot making a soft thump. The two Streakers lacked any signs of animation. Returning to Jenna’s side, he grabbed her hand, and she followed him back to the inn. Once inside, she led the way, informing the group. After setting up a meeting, Jenna returned to her room to change. She pulled on dry clothes and plopped in a chair, depressed by the evil that would never let her be.
The urge to cry overwhelmed her, but she forced the tears back.
This was not the time.
She didn’t want to join the conversation, jaded as she was but would. Every voice counted.
A few minutes later, Caleb knocked on the door and stepped inside her room without waiting for an answer from her.
“Don’t you wait for an invitation? I could have been naked.”
“That would have been a pleasant surprise.”
“What?”
“We’re going to meet downstairs soon to discuss what we found.”
“I’m not even sure what it was.”
“Two dead Streakers close to the inn.”
“Can you be certain? I couldn’t see well in the dark.”
“I’m sure.”
“How’d they’d get so close.”
He shrugged. “Don’t know but something stopped it, and then left them for us to find. We need to figure out what’s going on. The weather’s stormy, and there’s obviously no immediate danger, but we’ll investigate. You’ll have to show people the way in the morning.”
“Okay.” Jenna stared at the floor.
“What’s wrong?”
“I believed my life would change. It’d be better now.”
“Things are different. We’re happy together.”
“We’re never going to live in peace.” Her hand thumped the chair.
He lifted her from the chair and carried her to the bed, ignoring her squeals.
She landed on her back, and the springs groaned.
“Never doubt I’ll make you happy.” Caleb moved over her and claimed her lips.
She jerked her head to the side. “We should talk.”
“About what?”
Planting her palms against his chest, Jenna pushed. “Our future.”
He refused to budge. “What about it?”
She pushed again.
Caleb settled on his back in the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“I thought we were safe,” she said.
“We can’t go back. We’ll never live in a world without Streakers.” His brow furrowed. “You have to accept it and acknowledge this new world. I love you, and I want to be with you in the here and now and for forever.”
“I love you, but what if I lose you? I wouldn’t be able to go on.”
“You’re much stronger than you imagine. You survived the last few years, and you’ll keep surviving. It will just be more fun now that you have me along for the ride.”
How could she explain the ominous premonition something bad was going to happen?
There was nothing she could do to change her situation or to make Caleb understand the dreams when she didn’t. They could be nothing, but she was unable to dismiss them. Caleb was right about one thing, she needed to learn to enjoy the here and now, especially if something worse than Streakers and Tundra was on its way.
She loved Caleb. Loved him with her entire self, and she wanted to show him tonight in case there wasn’t a future for them.
“We should go to the meeting in a few,” Caleb said.
She yanked him on top of her. “Let them wait. You’re not going anywhere. I need you more than ever.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
Caleb placed a kiss on her forehead. “Let’s not waste any more time.” His fingers traced the curve of her cheek, and his lips met hers.
She pressed herself into Caleb. Heat built between her body and his, and soon, it flared and became an inextinguishable wildfire.
Both she and Caleb wore smiles on their faces when they entered the meeting late. With little to do thanks to the stormy weather and the late hour, the group put off investigating until morning, but extra patrols were set up inside. Caleb took one of the first watches.
Jenna, exhausted, made it back to her room and quickly fell into a deep slumber.
When she woke, a remnant of a dream filtered through her mind but faded when she sat and stretched. She grabbed a T-shirt, threw it on, and watched the dust dancing through the air.
Was the room dirty? Had the dust in the air always been so visible and had such a strong smell?
She needed fresh air and opened the window, inhaling the scent of plants from the garden. She sneezed.
What was going on with her?
Needing an escape from both her thoughts and the confinement of the room, she decided to check on the horses. The animals calmed her, and she needed that now. Jerking on jeans and boots, she headed to the front door, ignoring whoever she encountered.
Outside, the breeze churned the loose leaves, littering the driveway while a drizzle splattered the walkway.
Jenna had not brought a coat, but her skin still burned. She sloshed through the mud the earlier storm had caused, not caring about the filth seeping into her boots and jeans. The outline of the barn was dim in the early light, but Jenna could see it clearly and arrived to find the barn door open and the horses taking refuge in the stalls. While they were free to spend the night either inside or out, they usually preferred the safety of the barn at night.
She checked on Moon and Star. Both horses were at ease, water buckets filled. Jenna laid a cheek against Moon’s mane. Chills ran through her, and her head began to throb.
Dizzy, she left the stall shivering.
“Caleb.” The words spilled from her lips, and she sank to the ground, weightless.
The world faded in and out of view, then went dark and when Jenna awoke, everything had changed.
Sneak Peek of Book 2
Placeholder for book blurb.
1
Sometime in October . . .
Jenna’s eyes flared open. She wheezed, sucking in large gulps of air. The dream receded, scratching and clawing as she forced it deep into her subconscious. Struggling to sit, the room flailed in a dizzying spiral around her. She fell back against the sheets and stared at the dull-streaked ceiling.
She scratched at aching eyes. More pain surfaced, making rolling into a fetal position the only option.
The squeak of a chair had her squinting at the moving figure. A guy dropped to the corner of the bed. Black hair escaped the edges of a hoodie.
How are the horses? She wondered, the last memories of leaving the High Point Inn to go check on the Clydesdales in the barn rushed back.
“Caleb?” she croaked like a frog.
“You were having another nightmare.” He brushed dark brown, damp bangs off her forehead in a gentle caress.
“What happened? Where am I?” Trying to sit, nausea erupted. Sinking back down, questions instantly forgotten, Jenna dry heaved over the side of the bed.
His hand caressed her back. “You had me so scared. Everyone here is worried about you. Are you okay?”
Her rumpled t-shirt was soaked with sweat. When her stomach stopped rebelling, she sputtered, “What happened?”
This feels anything but all right.
“Don’t you remember?”
She curled in a ball and tried to think. Memories were slow to emerge. “Wait. I couldn’t sleep and went to visit the horses in the barn.
The animals provide comfort in this awful world like nothing else, except maybe Caleb.
“Here.” He handed her some water.
Sipping it, she waited for an explanation, but he said nothing. She bit her lower lip and continued to wait.
He wore his favorite hoodie and snug jeans. Although the hoodie was large, it did not hide the muscular physique and muscles underneath.
“Are you not telling me something?” she waved a hand in front of him. “I remember feeling sick and sleepless and going outside to check the horses. What else do I need to know?”
“Billy found you there in the morning, unresponsive. We don’t fully understand what happened, but you’ve been out of consciousness for close to three days.”
“Three days? Can’t be.” She shivered, tried to sit again, but fell back, muscles aching. “All I remember are my dreams.”
“What dreams?” His eyes were a vibrant dark red—a trademark of the New Race. At this moment, those beautiful eyes regarded her with both love and concern.
“The one where Eric is alive and calling for help.”
“You can’t feel guilty about his death. He chose to fight.”
“He was only a child.”
“Childhood is a thing of the past. He was strong and able and willing to help fight Streakers.” Caleb moved closer and placed a cold cloth from the nightstand to her forehead, then grabbed her warm hand in his cool one.
She rested for a moment, disheveled bangs over her eyes, gulping a few deep breathes.
“Enough coddling me.” She pushed his hand with the cloth away.
Normally self-confident to the point of being smug, the man next to her appeared nervous and unsure of what to do.
Too weak to laugh at this image of Caleb, perched like a mother bird protecting her young. Who knew he was such a nurturer?
His hair, straight and shoulder length, highlighted the worry in his face.
Jenna could never get enough of what she considered an art masterpiece: straight nose, angular cheeks, and most importantly, kissable lips. Lips, right now, set in a straight line.
“You’re not a dream, right? I’m awake now?” She reached out to caress Caleb’s cheek, her fallen angel sporting clothes Jenna was sure he hadn’t changed for days. His midnight black hair was disheveled, and he was very much in need of a shower, maybe as much as she.
“Feel any better?”
“You’re stalling. I can tell there’s bad news and you’re trying to sugarcoat it.”
“Tell me more about the dreams. Was it only the one about Eric or were there more?” His hand grazed the overzealous stubble on his chin. “You’ve been having them often, sometimes crying out. Most nights, you call out for Eric, but you also called for Lilly, which is odd.”
“The dreams are so life like. They’re terrifying, but when I wake, sometimes they fade away too quickly to remember. Eric keeps calling out for me to save him
. I can’t forget that.”
“Do you remember details?” His fingers stroked her arm, sticky with feverish sweat.
“I saw him in the dream. He seemed like his old self, but different. In the dream, he’s stronger, grown. There were these things surrounding him. Not Streakers.” Jenna paused, tilted her head thinking about how to describe it. “Some new evil. Shadow creatures. They circled him, then engulfed him. He’s calling out for help. I yell, ‘I’m coming for you. I haven’t forgotten. I didn’t leave you!’”
“What do you do in the dream?”
“Nothing. I kept screaming at him, telling him not to move. But when I finally got close and peered into his eyes, well, he’s dead. His eyes scared me more than anything.” She shivered. “They held a world full of malevolence. Evil.”
“It’s only a dream.”
“There’s this stupid bird too. A crow or a raven.” Her fingers twined together in a restless motion. “I think the dream meant something. Maybe Eric’s alive.”
“Don’t go there.” Caleb gathered her into his arms. His solid frame should have radiated heat, but it was cool. “You need to eat. That’s priority number one. A few days in bed and you’ve dropped too much weight. You feel skeletal.”
As one of the New Race, Caleb survived the pandemic that decimated the world. It hadn’t killed him, or turned him, but had not left him unscathed.
“Way to cheer up a girl.”
“I want to run and get you food right this moment.” His eyes spiraled into crimson orbs. “Are you hungry?”
“Not hungry.”
If only blood sustained me like it did Caleb.
Although most of the poor souls killed by the virus returned as Streakers, zombie-like creatures, a few humans had changed in other ways. They weren’t quite human but tended not to gut and disembowel people. They survived off the blood of living, breathing creatures, the same as the Streakers. However, they didn’t kill humans for their blood.
“Thirsty,” she squeaked.