“Did you see her concert?” I asked, cringing hard as a trio of infected people tore through tens of thousands of people in what looked like a blink. I’d needed to turn off the TV.
“Hey, you’re killing the mood,” he declared. Then, deciding on Sinatra, started to sing.
I couldn’t help it.
After a few lines, I joined in.
We sang until our lungs hurt.
And, of course, until one of the zombies got desperate enough to try his hand at swimming. Then hilariously went ass-up in the water, bobbing there in the waves.
“Did we leave all the food on the shore?” I asked, cuddled into his and my shirt since the sun had gone down and the air had taken on a chill.
“Only half of it,” Caleb said, going in search of the rest of the food, bringing it up, so we could have a picnic under the stars.
“I know, man, I just brought the one can of tuna,” Caleb apologized to the cat who was eyeing him like he was being starved to death. “We weren’t supposed to be here this late.”
Unfortunately, though, there were still zombies on the shore. We couldn’t see them anymore, but we could hear their little grumbles every now and again.
We were hoping that they’d be gone by morning.
We weren’t going to be taking chances, though.
The plan was to suit up with weapons with Caleb wearing Toddy on his back in the backpack he’d brought, then getting to shore, and making a mad dash to the car, leaving the boat in the water.
“Worst case, we can run to the water again,” he reminded me when I must have shown some reaction to the plan, even though, objectively, I knew we had to get off of the boat and back to some sort of structure. Then, “Come on, Catie with a C and ie, it’s just an adventure. And, hey, if we have to die, we had fun, and went out with a bang, right?” he asked, brows wiggling.
I had to admit that if the end was near, I was kind of glad to have spent some of my time with his crazy ass.
Luckily, though, we made it back to the car. And the car made it back to the mansion before crapping out on us.
“You’re not leaving,” he informed me as I shuffled my feet in the driveway. “Come on, Catie,” he said, shaking his head at me. “I have this giant mansion here. Where it’s safe and cool and comfortable. Not to mention badass and fun. Why the hell would you go back there?”
And, well, he had a point, didn’t he?
And I was getting too accustomed to being with him, with not being so alone and lonely.
“That’a girl,” he said, throwing an arm over my shoulders and yanking me against his side. “We do have to go back eventually, though. We can’t let that perfectly good pasta and wine go to waste.”
“A man after my own heart,” I said.
Lightly.
I said it lightly.
But it wasn’t long until he truly was.
After my heart.
It also wasn’t long before I was giving it over to him.
Willingly.
Happily.
And it was maybe the biggest adventure of my life.
All thanks to a boy in a graveyard having a silent rave in rubber ducky shorts.