Page 18 of Demon Shock

“Um. Okay. Thanks, I guess? What cities have you been through? My sister’s name is Kylie. She was living with my mom, Stacy, and helping care for our grandpa, Charlie, in the Shakopee area, southwest of Minneapolis, a big city south of here.”

“We’ve avoided all the big cities. The bombing makes them hard to navigate with the trucks, and the remaining infected make them unsafe to travel without the trucks. But your family was probably evacuated with everyone else.”

“Yeah, I guessed that already, but I was still kind of hoping you’ve heard of them.”

I hated seeing her sadness, so I said, “There is a woman named Stacy at Tenacity. But Bram said it’s common for humans to have the same name.”

“So don’t get my hopes up, right?”

“Angel says that hope keeps people alive.”

“Angel sounds pretty smart.”

“She is. She just had a baby. Daisy is perfect. She’s smaller than Pete and lies still like Repeat when she’s held.”

Ava glanced at Pete in my arms, then at me.

“You like kids?”

“Yes. My brothers and I never saw any before coming to the surface.”

“Never? Didn’t you say you were reborn in your world whenever you removed heads?”

“Yes. We were reborn in the waters but exactly as we are. Only, without any hair.” I reached up and rubbed my hand over my shorter hair.

“You know, the more I learn, the weirder this all sounds,” she said.

“Mya didn’t believe many things at first either. When you meet her, you should ask her about watching our rebirth.”

“I think I might have to do that.”

Ava’s questions didn’t end there. She asked about the world I’d known before coming to the surface. She seemed very interested in the animals who had lived in the caves with us and was sad to learn that many of the animals on the surface had run away and were hard to find now.

I carefully asked questions of my own, avoiding the ones I knew I shouldn’t ask—like asking what her pussy tasted like or if she had a boyfriend or husband. Instead, I asked about where she grew up and what work she did before she went to the cabin. Emily, another woman in Tolerance who was helping my brothers and me find females of our own, said those were safe questions. Ava responded well to both.

My fascination with her grew the longer we talked. She was funny and smart and interesting. I learned she’d been living independently for years. She hadn’t dated seriously, whichmeant she had no boyfriend or husband. I tried to think of a question that would lead her to admit the flavor of her pussy.

The radio crackled.

“Are there any homes Ava wants us to check before we leave Silver Bay?” Will asked.

“I didn’t really know anyone from around here.”

I relayed that to Will then leaned forward to look up at the sky before speaking on the radio again.

“It looks like it will snow soon.”

“We’ll let you know when we need you in front,” he responded.

“What did he mean by needing you in front?”

“New snow will make it harder to see where the road is. I’ll run ahead of the truck to ensure Will doesn’t drive off the road.”

“Why you?”

“I don’t get cold like humans do.”

She glanced at my shirt. “I guess not. What did you do before coming here? Not to this area but here on the surface?”

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