red hill - jamie mcguire

over my shoulder, seeing Ashley at the door, wondering where Nathan was, if he was angry with me.
If I had a type, Nathan was not it. I knew right away when he showed up in a loose tie and slacks. The
day before our lives changed forever I would have appreciated his body for a few moments before
dismissing him. Until I’d gotten to know Nathan, I thought a man that spent too much time in the gym
was either vain or had self-esteem issues. I preferred men with dark hair, eyes that you couldn’t look
away from, and at least a head taller than me—even though I dwarfed Andrew when in heels. If
Andrew had taught me anything, it was what I didn’t want in a man. Sometimes I used my strict list of
musts to push potential interests away. It worked for me. As a single mother, it was my job to be
picky. After failing Jenna and Halle so many times, I owed them that.
Even after half or more of the population had been wiped out, it wasn’t a good enough excuse to
throw away the list—regardless of the strange excitement that I felt every time Nathan was in the
same room.
We weren’t a mile away from the entrance of the ranch when Joey tapped me on the shoulder and
pointed to the field on our left. It probably wasn’t the best idea, leaving that early in the morning with
the sun in our eyes, but I could still see her, limping across the knee-high wheat stalks.
“Ted, ten o’clock,” Joey said, alerting the others.
We approached her carefully. She’d noticed us right after we saw her, and instantly turned in our
direction, her low moans signaling her excitement at the prospect of a meal. She reached for us as she
walked, and I held the hatchet tightly in my hand as I charged her.
I lifted the wooden handle of the hatchet high in the air, and just before I was within her grasp, I
brought it down to her skull, letting the weight of it work with me. The steel pierced bone, and then
slid easily into the softer part of her brain. She instantly froze, and then fell to the ground.
I bent over, steadying myself with my foot on her head, and then pulled, releasing the edge of the
axe from her head. Joey, Cooper, and Bryce were all watching me, their expressions ranging from
disgusted to awestruck.
“What”
Joey glanced at the other boys and then back at me. “I’m not completely convinced at this point that
you needed us with you for anything other than chitchat.”
I laughed once, and continued on. “Come on. She isn’t the ted I saw from the porch. There is
another one out here. To the south.”
We crossed the field in search of the large male I saw lumbering across the wheat. He met the
same end as the previous ted, but then I wanted to return to the road. The girls only knew how to get
to the ranch from Halle’s song, so the roads were what needed to be cleared first.
We had eliminated a dozen or so teds by lunch time, when we stopped to rest and snack on the
potato chips I’d stuck in my pack.
“So . . . Nathan . . . ,” Cooper said with a smile.
“What about him” I said, taking another gulp of water.
“He seemed really worried about you. You guys are getting along pretty well.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and then raised an eyebrow. “Are you really trying to
play matchmaker right now”