“You know, this whole apocalypse could’ve been worse,” Rachel said as she weeded the tomatoes.

“How could it possibly have been worse?” Rebel questioned. She sat up and wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. “All of the people any of us ever knew and loved are dead and buried. Our civilization is gone. How could it be worse?”

“This could’ve been a zombie apocalypse.”

Rebel snorted in response. Okay, she had a point.

“Oh hell, no,” Phoebe replied, stabbing her trowel into the soil. “Don’t start that again.” Phoebe’s hair was pulled back into a perfectly sleek ponytail, she wore tiny shorts and a tank top, looking terrific as usual.

Josie had left to join Christian, who was now in the barn. Krissy, Kati and Tiana had gone with her to explore and meet the livestock. Sebastian was taking another shift with Justin in the RV. And Adam and Trevor were out doing a perimeter check.

So that left Rebel gardening with Rachel and Phoebe in the early afternoon. They were in a large greenhouse that, the women explained, had been built last month by Trevor, Adam and Sebastian because of the possibility of future radioactivity from the nuclear power plants. This way they might be able to protect their food from acid rain. It was a smart idea.

Phoebe had explained that they usually gardened first thing in the morning because it was too hot to stay outside. Normally, by this time in the afternoon it was apparently already one hundred degrees and there was no way they could be out there. Today, however, they were able to switch the schedule because the weather was cooperating, and it was breezy and only 89 degrees with clouds in the sky.

Eighty-nine degrees. Rebel was still hot as hell, but the other two were chatting and laughing like it was a glorious spring day. Rachel pointed out that in the Valley eighty-nine degrees was “sweater weather.”

“It’s true,” Rachel continued with her zombie apocalypse logic, “what if we’d had to put up with all those dead bodies reanimating, coming back to life and tearing us apart for food? We’d all be scared out of our minds, living in a fortified city, instead of here, in comfort, on this farm.”

“Or this could have been like War of the Worlds and we’re taken over by aliens,” Rebel threw in. “That would be worse than zombies. What if they’re not only trying to kill all of us, but they’re terraforming the planet to fit their alien biology?”

“Terraforming?” Phoebe asked. “What the hell is terraforming? Okay, you two need to stop it, you’re scaring me.”

“What if the aliens had given us all a virus that turned us into zombies? They were killing us by having us turn on each other,” Rachel returned.

“Oh, then as the last survivors we’d all be hiding on the second story and above on buildings when we went out because—”

“Zombies can’t climb stairs,” they both said at the same time, laughing at their inside joke.

“Oh god, not you too,” Phoebe muttered. “One nerd was enough, now I’ve got the both of you to contend with.”

“Well, I’m just saying it really could have been worse,” Rachel said. “At least in our version of the apocalypse, the dead people are having the decency to stay dead. The virus ran its course, and now everyone who is left alive is immune. So all that’s left is for us to rebuild, and at least we can do that in peace.”

“I don’t know,” Rebel disagreed. “I think it’s pretty bad living in an empty world. It can drive a person crazy,” she said, thinking of her own struggles to remain sane that first month. “It’s an enormous thing, knowing at least billions of people suddenly died around the planet and you were one of the lucky ones to have made it out alive. And they’re all out there, decomposing.”

“I hate that we can’t bury them, give them the respect they deserve,” Rachel muttered.

“We can’t bury all those people. It’s not possible.” Phoebe replied.

“I know, I know,” Rachel responded. “But I can wish, can’t I?”

“Back in Carmel I either stayed inside or only walked the perimeter of the property or along the beach and the paths that Justin and I had already long ago cleared. The bodies are everywhere. It gives me the freaks. I only go into town when I absolutely have to, and if I do go, I go with Justin.”

The cities were nothing but mausoleums, piles of rotting bodies. Hopefully each year it would get better. The bodies would decompose to bones, the weather and the scavengers would do their work. One day she would walk into Carmel and find grass covering the piles of corpses and then afterwards, flowers. But right now, the cities, the whole state, was in summertime prime rotten infested black death. She couldn’t stand it.

“This is what’s good about living out here in the country,” Rachel said. “We got rid of the hidden bodies. Well, except I’m certain there are a lot in all those farmhouses dotted out there in the countryside. But all the bodies that were here, or anywhere on this farm, have been found and burned or buried. The area cleaned up. The road from here to Fresno is clear. And we’ve scouted the best places for supplies with the best routes. This farm is pretty self-sufficient with power and water. It’s not so bad here. There’s more of us to help clear places out. I’m really hoping that you and Justin, and also Krissy, Kati and Tiana, will choose to live here. If not exactly right here on the farm, then in farmhouses close by. We could all be together and help each other.”

“I really don’t know yet,” Rebel hedged. “Like I said before, I have to wait for Justin to recover, and he and I need to talk about it. I don’t want to speak for him, and wherever he goes, I go. We’re a package deal. And about Krissy and the others, you know, I’m just realizing I haven’t even had a chance yet to ask them about their plans. Have you?” Rebel huffed as she pulled a particularly stubborn weed.

“All I know is that they seem to be on some kind of quest to find more men.” Phoebe frowned. “

I really hope that they’re careful,” Phoebe said. “There’s a group of dangerous men living in the mountains.”

“Oh yeah, Trevor said something about that before, that you guys met one other small group of survivors, but they were ex-cons banding together and you avoid them.”

“We definitely avoid them,” Rachel said. “We haven’t heard from them since three of them kidnapped us, and that was what, two weeks ago?”

“Yeah,” Phoebe answered. “Maybe a little longer.”

“What?!” Rebel sputtered. “They kidnapped you? When? How?”

“I was visiting Phoebe, Sebastian and Josie—I’d just met them—when three men broke into the house, tied up Sebastian, and took the three of us. They drove us up into the mountains and stopped at a lodge, well really a former big cat sanctuary, and kept us there. Our men found us there, shot the other men and saved us.”

Rebel had a hand over her mouth, shocked. Speechless. She hadn’t known it was this bad. Here she was, thinking these other men were just annoying, posturing ex-cons, and instead they’d actually tried to hurt people. She dropped her hand. “The three of you were okay? They didn’t hurt you?”

“They raped me,” Phoebe said.

Rebel sucked in a breath.

“They put Rachel in a cage, and I went up to the big house with them. I knew one of them wanted Josie.

Rebel whimpered

I did my best to let them know I was willing, that they didn’t need to bother with the little girl.”

Rebel whimpered.

“Two of them took me into a bedroom and raped me while Josie was down the hall watching a movie. I’m just happy nothing happened to Josie.”

“Oh God, Josie. Rachel…did they rape you too?”

“No. I was next on the list, stuck in a stupid cage, outside all night freaking out, wondering what was happening in the lodge and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help. It was terrible,” Rachel said.

“I do my best to not think of it,” Phoebe said. “It helps if I tell myself if I dwell on it too much, they win. You know?”

“I do know,” Rebel said. “I…” she hesitated. “I was raped too. Right at the end, when everything had gone to hell and people were acting like lunatics.”

“Oh honey, I’m sorry,” Rachel said.

Rebel locked eyes with Phoebe. It had happened to this woman too. She knew exactly what she’d gone through. The pain, both physical and mental.

Rebel took a deep breath and decided to go ahead and talk about it. She felt comfortable talking to these women, and she hadn’t told anyone the actual story yet, but she suspected it would feel good to get it out, like Phoebe had done. “I had a sprained ankle, a busted lip, bruised jaw and eye because they beat me up. I was depressed for a while, mainly because those two guys had been friends of mine before the end. They were part of the industry, part of the crew for a couple of movies I’d worked on. I remember standing around laughing with them and other people at wrap parties. One guy was married with kids! I don’t know, it was just harder because of that. The…the…”

“Betrayal,” Rachel said. “You felt betrayed.”

She nodded. “Like, who the fuck could I trust anymore?”

Rachel and Phoebe exchanged a glance. It was full of meaning, not that she could decipher what the meaning was.