Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World (32 page)
Epilogue
Five Weeks Later
THE SUN IS so bright that it nearly blinds me when I step out. I shield my eyes, and at my side, Axl does the same. I’m hardly focused on him, though, because I’m too busy adjusting the sling so the fabric is covering Megan’s face better.
“It’s getting hot,” I say, my eyes still focused on the sleeping baby.
“Yup. Pretty soon we’re gonna be more glad than ever that we got electricity. Imagine livin’ here with no AC.”
“I don’t think I can be any more thankful for electricity than I already am,” Lila says, coming out of the building behind us. “A shower is something I’ll never take for granted again.”
“I’m with you on that.” Al grins down at the girl as he slips his arm around her shoulders. “Especially when you’re with me.”
Lila gives him a scowl that barely conceals her smile as she elbows him playfully. Al, of course, just grins.
“Can’t you two ever be serious?” Axl asks, shakin’ his head.
“Just because you two have gotten old and boring doesn’t mean we have to,” Lila says, but she smiles my way. “I don’t plan on growing up just yet.”
“Good,” I say returning her smile. “Stay young. Take advantage of this place as long as you can.”
Lila’s smile wavers at the unspoken meaning behind my words. This could be temporary. It’s there, always following us, even if none of us have acknowledged it out loud yet. As safe as this place seems, we all know it might not last. They haven’t created a vaccine yet, and it could still be months or years before they do. Until then, we’re in hiding. Doing everything we can to pretend life is normal even though just outside the walls of this city, zombies wander the earth. Even if I’m able to occasionally forget it during the day, the reality never escapes me for long. It comes back in terrifyingly vivid detail at night when I go to sleep.
“We’ll never take this for granted,” Lila says, leaning into Al.
Axl nods and slips his arm around my waist, and together we start walking. The day is bright and the roads clear of the dead, and people walk up and down the street like life is normal. It doesn’t feel that way, but I’m hoping that eventually it does.
“What time is this thing supposed to start?” Lila asks after a few minutes of silence.
“Ten,” I say.
“Am I the only one who thinks it’s crazy to have a schedule again?” Al asks. “All these months with no watches, and now I have to keep track of where I’m supposed to be and when. How do we even know they have the correct time? And what’s the deal with dedicating a building? It seems stupid.”
“I think they just want to be able to make things feel real again.” Lila shrugs, but the little smile that curls up her lips tells me she likes the idea.
“That’s part of it,” I say. “But I also think they are trying to bring us together.”
“Still stupid,” Al mutters.
At my side, Axl lets out a little chuckle. We had the exact conversation the night he came home from work and told me they were done and that they were going to have a dedication.
The former office building comes into view, and so does the crowd in front of it. Hundreds of people, which I still can’t believe. More come in every day, and with them, the need for housing grows. We can’t expand the wall any more than we have, and until the zombies are wiped out, it’s too dangerous to live anywhere else. So we have to renovate what we have.
“Axl! Vivian!” Joshua calls, waving. He pushes away from the crowd and jogs over to join us, shaking his head. “I can’t believe they called me out of work for this. I have patients.”
“It’s a big day,” I say, not looking at him but instead focusing on Megan. She’s asleep, but I can’t stop looking at her. If I had the energy, I’d stay up all night long just so I could watch her sleep.
“It’s silly,” Joshua says.
“Parv here?” Lila asks. “I feel like I barely see her anymore.”
“There.” Joshua points up, and we all turn.
Twenty feet or more above us, Parv sits. She has her bow on her lap and her eyes on the gate like she’s waiting for it to burst open and for zombies to come pouring in. It has to be a boring job, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Peaceful is what she called it.
“Ugh. I’m glad I’m not good with the bow,” Lila says. “I’d hate being up there all day long.”
Al and Joshua nod, but Axl’s eyes are on Parv still.
“Hey,” I say, elbowing him. “What about you? Do you wish they’d assigned you to patrol or made you a guard?”
Axl shakes his head, and when he rips his eyes away from Parv, he smiles down at me. “I’m good with construction. It’s what I did before, and it’ll make a difference. Make this city into something real. Plus, I think I was out there long enough. Now, all I wanna do is be with you and Megan. Keep you safe.”
“We are safe,” I say, leaning into him.
He nods. “We are.”
The hum of a speaker cuts through the surrounding conversation, and a hush falls over the crowd. Somewhere, too far away for us to see it, someone steps up to a mic and clears their throat.
“Thank you everyone for being here!” A feminine voice echoes through the air. “Look around you. At the people next to you, at the wall around us, at the building at my back. These are all things that most of us never thought we’d see again. Community. That’s what today is about. It’s about building something that will last. About starting over, and about moving forward. That’s why we’ve asked you all to be here today, so you could witness what is a big step forward for us. We’ve taken an office building and renovated it, making room for more people….”
The woman in front of the crowd keeps talking, but I can’t hear her. I’m too focused on the people around me. On Parv, who sits above us, ready to defend this city if necessary. On Joshua, a man we ran into by chance who works every day in the hospital now, putting his medical knowledge to use so we can start over. Al and Lila, who started out so very different but have now come together in a way I never imagined possible. Then there’s Axl and Megan, my family and my reason for life. All the people who are most important to me in this world are here, but it isn’t just them I’m thinking about. It’s all the loved ones we’ve left behind.
“I miss them,” I whisper, just loud enough for Axl to hear me. “Jon and Ginny and Winston and Darla and Trey. Angus. They should be here too.”
Axl’s arm tightens around my waist, and he pulls me against him. He presses his lips against the top of my head and says, “They’re here.”
He’s right. They may not be here physically, but there isn’t an inch of myself that hasn’t been changed by the people I met on this journey. They’ve all helped change me into the person I am today, and I’ll always be in their debt for that.
Kate L. Mary
is an award-winning author of New Adult and Young Adult fiction ranging from Post-Apocalyptic tales of the undead, to Speculative Fiction and Contemporary Romance. Her Young Adult book,
When We Were Human
, was awarded the Silver Medal for YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fiction from the 2015 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, and her
Broken World
series has been an Amazon best-seller since the release of book one in 2014.
You can find out more information about Kate L. Mary by following her on
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Check out these other titles by Kate L. Mary:
New Adult Romantic Mystery
Available now on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
Some secrets are better left untold…
When eighteen-year-old Kara Jones gets into a car accident on the way home from college, she’s left with more than a few bruised ribs, a busted cell phone, and a totaled car. After a slip-up at the hospital, she’s shaken to discover that her family isn’t all it seems. And now her mother’s strange behavior and willingness to do anything to protect her secrets—including pulling Kara out of school—have Kara floundering in the dark.
Enter Derek Miller, a former classmate who’s dealing with family issues of his own. His nerdy charm is too much for Kara to resist, and she’s even more amazed when he agrees to help her dig into her mother’s past. Together they investigate her mother’s old friends and boyfriends, hoping to discover who Kara really is. Instead, they find disturbing connections to the dark history of Kent State University, and an ever expanding maze of mystery surrounding Kara’s birth.
As Kara and Derek chase secrets, she realizes he’s the only person she can trust. But as they get closer to the truth, the disturbing answers reveal a web of evil far darker and further reaching than they’d imagined, leaving Kara to wish she’d never asked the questions in the first place.
The List
(College of Charleston, #1)
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Available from Lyrical Press
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The List. Twenty things every girl must do before she turns twenty. . .
Body piercing
Get drunk
First kiss
But thanks to her crazy, over-protective father, Annie Roth is way behind schedule. Good thing it’s her first semester of college, because Annie is more than ready to start checking off items. . .
Fake ID
Skinny dipping
Road trip!!!
Where it gets complicated? Ryan and Chris. Best friends. Both sweet, funny, totally hot, and totally into Annie.
But there are some things on The List that Annie only wants to do with Ryan. . .
Lose it
Get Heart Broken
Fall in love