The men butchered a couple of chickens and grilled them on a barbeque. They were all grouped around the bright coals, drinking beer and laughing. The women were on the lawn, inside the house or at the tables on the patio.

And wow, it all seemed kinda normal.

Like an actual Fourth of July.

Krissy was even there like it wasn’t even the end of the world. Krissy’s parents always had a big Fourth of July blowout at their spacious house in Anaheim Hills. Rebel attended whenever she was in town, making a point of staying connected with her family.

Although, yeah, that was gone just like everything else.

Christian and Rachel both agreed that before the end there’d been a whole village of survivors in Africa who inherited the same immunity gene all survivors of Ruyigi Ebola had, but they’d been slaughtered by a military organization that captured them for scientific study, determined to find out why they’d survived and use them to make a cure. Obviously, it hadn’t worked and all that happened was those poor people died a horrible death.

Maybe she and Krissy, were like that village, a cluster of immunity genes.

Rebel sipped at her soda and shook her head.

“Adam,” Krissy shouted, completely out-of-the-blue and out of context. “Why are you so damn big? Are you on steroids or something?”

Adam played along, lifting one of his arms and bunching his bicep to show it off his physique. Everyone laughed.

Krissy walked over and sat down next to her.

“Don’t hold back, tell us how you feel,” Rebel quipped. “At every moment, anytime, anywhere.”

Krissy threw her new black hair back and laughed, a booming sound that enveloped everyone. “Hey, you know you love me.”

“Bitch,” Rebel whispered.

“Cunt,” Krissy whispered back.

“Krissy. Krissy! Get over here and help us with this. We need someone strong and fast to fill out the team!” Tiana shouted from the lawn. She and Kati and now Rachel and Phoebe were starting a game of football with Josie. It was too cute. Sebastian was walking over too.

“Watch my drink,” Krissy said as she stood up, cracked her knuckles, and sauntered over like she owned the place.

“I cannot believe her,” Rebel remarked.

“You want something harder to drink?”

Rebel looked up at Trevor. Normally she’d be all over that, but now it was all different. She was pregnant and everything was off-limits. She was even drinking a damn no-caffeine soda. “No, thanks,” she answered. “I don’t drink much anymore.”

He crooked an eyebrow at her as he sat down in the chair Krissy vacated. He was obviously having trouble believing that bullshit. He knew her too well.

A knot of guilt formed in her stomach. She was keeping a large part of herself from him. She knew she was, by keeping this secret about the baby. And it was weighing on her.

He leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They were sitting so close their thighs touched. She loved the feel of him. This whole thing, where she was openly with someone and everyone knew and it was okay to touch and she was, in fact, proud to be seen with him…it was so new. She’d never done this with anyone before, acted this free in public. Not since Eric, her fiancé who left her for Evangelene. After that messy, public, humiliating break-up, she’d kept her cards close.

But she could get used to this.

Trevor held her hand. She glanced down at his large, callused hands. Those tats and the veiny forearms. Her mind turned over and over again with the baby dilemma. He was a bad boy on the outside, but inside he was loyal. Like a candy with a tough coating but a marshmallow interior.

Maybe, maybe, he could be trusted.

But, oh god, what if she was wrong? What if Krissy was right? What if he wasn’t the nice man he appeared to be? Could she take that chance? All she had to do was leave with Justin and the other women. It would be so easy to go and never look back.

He leaned into her side. “I could get used to this.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

“It’s like the end never happened,” he said. “None of it.”

Yeah, it was. The afternoon was hot as Hades, but there was still a breeze. The sun was lowering in the sky. Out here in the country, she could forget about the cities. Without so many houses filled with dead bodies close or the threat of those nuclear reactors right there…

And she could stay here, with Trevor, and make a new life with him.

The only changes that were unmistakable in her life were the people she was with and the baby she carried. In fact, she’d had a terrific nap that afternoon, drooling on her pillow, Trevor yet again just accepting it and being nice as hell and accommodating. No one seemed to think much of how much she napped. But it wasn’t normal. And she’d thrown up a few times, managing to hide it from Trevor. Luckily it seemed to hit when she was in the RV with Justin, when no one else was around.

But, oh jeez. Rebel put a hand over her mouth. A sudden wave of nausea hit her hard. She sat up straight.

“What’s wrong?” Trevor asked, concern in his voice.

“I…I…don’t feel so good. My stomach,” she mumbled, her cheeks bright with embarrassment. Jesus, she needed a toilet, fast. “I need to go to the bathroom. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

And with that she hurried away and stumbled inside the main house and found the first-floor bathroom, blissfully empty. She rushed in and fell to the floor before the toilet and threw up again and again.

It wasn’t pretty.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” Rachel asked from behind her.

Rebel slumped against the toilet. Shit, shit, shit. She glanced back. The door was cracked open and Rachel was staring at her with concern in her eyes.

She nodded.

Rachel stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. “How far along are you?”

“A little over three months.”

“About the same as me,” Rachel whispered.

“Yeah, but at least you know who the father of your child is. I don’t have that luxury.”

“Is this a consequence of the rape you told me and Phoebe about?”

“Yes. I was raped, by my friends—well, men who I thought were my friends. Men I’d known. Men I’d worked with for years and trusted, but when civilization collapsed and they knew they could do whatever they wanted because everything was so chaotic, they knew they’d never get caught, or maybe they thought, what the hell, we’re going to die anyway, might as well go out with a bang. Whatever the reason, they broke into my house and raped me, both of them, taking turns. They beat me up and left me for dead, probably assuming I’d die from the virus. But I didn’t. So, as you can see, I’ll never know which of them is the father of my child.”

Tears burned in her throat. She tried her best to keep them back; she’d cried enough over this to last a lifetime, but the tears still fell, trailing down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Rebel.”

Rebel slumped back onto the tile floor. “When I talked to Adam on the radio, I was so excited to find other survivors. The big plan was Justin and I would meet with all of you and possibly move in together if everything worked out. Then, the very next day I peed on a stick and found out I was pregnant. The next day I met all of you. Can’t you see my head is spinning? I haven’t even told Justin yet.”

“Have you told—”

“No. No I haven’t told Trevor. I’ve managed to keep it from him.”

“Why not?”

“Are you kidding? What man wants to be saddled with a woman pregnant with a rapist’s child?”

Rachel sucked in a breath. “Rebel, Trevor isn’t like that—”

“Of course he is. He is like that,” Rebel spat. “He’s like that because all men are like that. When the going gets tough, they get going.”

“But Trevor—”

“Trevor is wonderful, I know. Can’t you see that I know? He’s the man of my dreams.” And now that she’d said it, let those dreaded words out of their box, the rest of it came out in a flood of emotion. “He’s the one, the man for me. And that’s why he can never know. Justin was awake and alert for a while today. He’s getting better. I give it a few days and he’ll be better to travel. Then I have to go before my baby bump starts to show. I’ll go back to Carmel and take care of this myself, with Justin and with the other women too, if they’d like to join us. We can make our own group over there. I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. I always have.”

“You can’t leave without telling him. That’s not right. You have to give him the chance to—”

“To do what? To dump me? To leave me? Why would I give him the opportunity to hurt me? If I leave now, before he knows about the baby and breaks up with me because he can’t handle the responsibility, we leave on good terms. My time here will always be a lovely memory unblemished by the drama of watching the man I admire turn into an asshole right before my eyes.”

“That won’t happen.”

“It’s happened before, so of course it will happen again.”

“Before? What are you talking about?”

“This isn’t my first pregnancy. I’ve been pregnant before.”

Rachel pursed her lips. “Oh.”

“Yeah. It didn’t go well. I was young, too young, only seventeen. My movie career was just taking off. My boyfriend at the time, another actor whose career was also starting, he didn’t want to have anything to do with me once I told him I was pregnant. I entertained thoughts, dreams, of being able to keep the baby. But none of it, the processing what to do, the eventual miscarriage—none of it happened with him there by my side. He wimped out the moment I told him I was pregnant. That was it, our relationship was over and I was expected to ‘take care of it.’ He basically seemed mad that I had gotten pregnant in the first place since he knew I was on birth control. But birth control isn’t one hundred percent. Before I could really decide what to do, whether I wanted to keep the baby or not, I had a miscarriage, so it was moot.”

“Oh, Rebel…”

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago. Ten years. I’ve grown up a lot since then, but I’ve learned my lesson well. Men aren’t exactly trustworthy. I was engaged once too, and he left me for my so-called best friend. Oh, and the icing on the cake, there were the men who raped me. As you can see, I’ve learned that men aren’t people you can count on. Trevor is wonderful. But he isn’t someone who has my back for the long term. I thought my first boyfriend and my fiancé were wonderful men too, until they weren’t. Trust me, the moment I tell him, it will be all over with. I’d like for this to last a little longer, at least until I leave with Justin. If I tell him today, he’ll turn into that other Trevor, that man who will disappoint me, and I’ll have to move out of the apartment and into the RV and awkwardly try to avoid him until I can leave. Please, just let me live my fantasy a little while longer. Just for a few more days.”

Rachel nodded. “Okay, I understand. I don’t agree, but I understand.”

“Thank you. I want you to know, I’m doing everything I can to bring this child safely into the world and to raise it happy, despite the mess this world has turned into.”

“Amen. I’m right there with you.”

Rebel smiled. Rachel had a knack for making people smile.

“Can you please do one thing though?” Rachel asked.

“What?”

“On that last day, before you leave, will you at least tell him? Don’t leave without giving him the opportunity to prove to you that you’re wrong, that he’s a better man than you think he is.”

Tears welled up in Rebel’s eyes again. A better man than you think he is. That hit her hard. “Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll tell him, right before I leave. I promise, I’ll give him that chance.”

“Good.” Rachel squeezed her hand. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up. You’re a mess.”