That was how the next few hours went. We swam. We blew up floats and sun bathed on the water.
We laughed.
We sang, forgetting half the lyrics but absolutely none of the enthusiasm.
And it wasfun.
I hadn’t known fun since before the virus.
Actually, I probably hadn’t known much fun before then even.
“Okay. Picnic?” he asked as he hauled himself up onto the boat.
“Yes. I’m starving,” I admitted.
“On the boat, or on the beach with our toes in the sand?”
Clearly, he had a preference.
And, well, I wouldn’t mind playing in the sand a little bit either.
“Load up my float and I will swim it to shore,” I said.
With that, we got everything we would need, sans Toddy who was passed out with his belly up, and set up an actual picnic on the beach.
Like it was normal times.
Like we hadn’t a care in the world.
“Okay. You digest. I will start packing up,” he offered, folding up.
And I absolutely did not watch him as he moved around, as his muscles flexed, under skin that had been made a bit more golden in the unrelenting summer sun.
I was convinced that was how I missed it.
Until I heard the grunting right behind me.
“Caleb!” I shrieked as I lurched forward onto all fours, scrambling to try to grab one of the weapons we’d brought to shore for just this reason.
A hand closed around my ankle, yanking backward, making me faceplate in the sand.
I watched it unfold like it was in slow motion as the terror gripped my system.
Caleb turned back, seeing the zombie, and somehow in the same turning motion, leaning down, grabbing his machete he’d packed, and rushing forward.
He planted his legs wide in the sand, cocked back, then swung forward, taking the zombie’s decaying head clean off his shoulders.
“Behind you,” I gasped, my hand reaching out for a knife as Caleb didn’t seem to loose his cool at all, just ducked low, then sliced upward, cutting the zombie from the groin and up.
I was just getting up onto my knees again when I felt something grab me once more, making another shriek escape me.
I was caught too off-guard.
I wasn’t on my game.
I was slow and loud and helpless.
Luckily, Caleb wasn’t quite so afflicted.