Free Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi Page B

smile fading into thoughtfulness. “In theory anyway. Sort of like what we did here in the Walmart, but on a much larger scale.”
    Peyton nodded. “Right. So my dad made me promise that once the doors of the shelter opened, I’d head down to find him. They opened yesterday and so I’m on my way.”
    Tank seemed to consider this. “It’s a nice idea,” he replied after a moment. “But the problem is there’s no way you’d ever make it to Florida. Not with how things are right now. You step out of this Walmart and the Others will have you for dinner and still be hungry for more. There’s just too many of them and you can’t predict where or when they’ll pop up. It’s best not to travel at all, in fact. Just hole up and keep hidden like we are in places of strategic advantage. Otherwise you won’t stand a chance.”
    She bit down hard on her lower lip, silencing her automatic retort at his implication of weakness. She tried to remind herself that he had no idea who she was—what she was. He saw her as a normal, everyday teenage girl, not the warrior she’d become, thanks to her dad.
    “Maybe so,” she replied at last, keeping her voice even. “But I’m not entirely helpless, you see.” She held out her fingers, displaying the zombie-blood-encrusted blades. Ew. She really needed to clean those.
    “Yeah, check it, Tank,” Chase interjected. “You should see what she can do with those bad boys. She took on one of the Others when I first ran into her. Big guy, too.” Chris mimicked her martial arts movements with an exaggerated flair. “Hiiii-yah! Bang! Boom! The thing didn’t know what hit it.”
    Tank let out a another whistle, staring down at the blades, an impressed look on his bearded face. “Damn. Your daddy make you those?”
    Peyton nodded, feeling her cheeks heat under his scrutiny. “I’ve got ocular implants, too.” She pointed to her mirrored eyes. “They allow me to see in the dark, have GPS navigation linked to an old-time satellite, and allow access to special databases he left up and running.”
    “Nice,” Tank said, taking her hand and examining her fingers closer. “I could use a set of these, myself.” He dropped her hand. “So, um, have you actually talked to your father lately?”
    She frowned, not liking the knowingness in his voice. Half of her wanted to lie. Tell him she’d chatted with her dad just yesterday. But what good would it do? “No,” she said at last, staring down at her feet, her cheeks continuing to burn. “Not for a while.” Not since the day the shelter doors closed four years ago, in fact. Not that he needed to know that.
    Tank’s expression stilled and turned serious. “Look, I don’t mean to upset you, but sugarcoating reality does no good, in my opinion. You need to face facts. Your father is likely dead. I hate to say it, but it’s true. And even if he wasn’t, there’s no way you’ll make it down to Florida, Edward Scissorhands or no,” he added, giving her a sympathetic smile as he mentioned the old movie she and Avery used to love. “Why don’t you stay here instead? We could use a kick-ass chick like you to pick up the slack for my lazy, no-good brother over there.” He gestured to Chase, a twinkle in his eyes.
    Chase gave his brother the finger. “Please,” he groaned. “Who catches half the deer around here? And who’s the better cook?”
    “Me, of course,” Tank replied automatically.
    “Yeah, right. The last time you tried to boil water you nearly burned us out of here!”
    “Lies,” Tank said. “If there were any lawyers left I’d sue you for slander.” He turned back to Peyton. “So, what you do say? How about you skip the Magic Kingdom and spread some magic around here instead?”
    She pursed her lips, not knowing what to say. It was nice of them to ask, and it was admittedly more than a bit tempting to agree. To forget everything she knew and just live out the rest of her life here, with Chase, just as they’d