The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles (22 page)

TWENTY-ONE

We were all gathered around the table in the banquet room, Lou, Ajax, Ariabod, Wes, Tyrone, April, and Gordy. Kimball was lying down by my feet. Everyone except for Lou looked like death warmed over. She passed out the power bars and made sure we didn’t devour them too quickly. She did the same with the water. We were all famished, but we were so weak we were having a hard time eating.

“It’s over?” Wes asked.

“Must be,” April said. “I don’t want to eat any of you.”

“Wish you felt that way a couple of days ago,” Gordy said. He was the weakest of us all.

April put her hand over her mouth as if she just remembered what she had done. “Oh, God… I can’t believe…”

Gordy snorted. “Relax. I don’t blame you. I always knew you thought I was tasty.”

April managed a smile.

“So what now?” Tyrone said.

“Tullahoma,” Wes answered. “To look for more comic books.”

I didn’t say anything. I let them eat. As we gained our strength, we managed to actually enjoy each other’s company. It was nice. It was needed. At one point, I saw Wes grab Lou’s hand and gently squeeze it. His eyes were full of tears. She put her arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. I knew then that as much as I wanted to go home, I couldn’t, not if it meant losing Lou.

I would rather spend my life surviving the end of the world with her then go back to living in normal times without her. Real or not, she was my one true love.

The End
of
Book Four