The First ~10K~ (book 3)

15.) It Hurts to Love

Zoey POV—

I didn't have nightmares very often, but when I did they consisted of Pete and his fists.

That's what this one was.

He was mad at me, over something stupid I did. What? No idea, but anything could set him off.

His fists connected with my face. I could feel the pain of his knuckles connecting with my cheekbones even through the dream.

I fell to my knees, pain taking over all parts of my body. I looked up, watching his shadow loom over me like a dark cloud filled with dozens of storms.

I tried to plead for him to stop, but my voice wouldn't work. My lips felt glued shut.

I couldn't see his face or his eyes. He was just a shadow, getting closer and closer to where I was.

I suddenly felt cold. He was getting closer. The closer he got, the colder I got.

He was inches away from me, my body frigid with coldness. I looked up into the dark face over me and let out a muffled scream.

His booming laughter chilled my to the bone. Every part of me was shaking.

He raised his foot to stomp on my head when my eyes shot open and a scream left my mouth.

Cold sweat beaded on my forehead and ran down my arms. My shirt was drenched in sweat. The blankets I was covered in were now tossed around and flung about the bed.

I gasped for air, placing a hand in my chest to calm down my racing heart.

'Just a dream,' I said to myself. Relax, Zoey.

I swung my legs out of the bed and got up, walking to the door and slid on my shoes. I needed some air.

I opened the door quietly and grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter before heading out the back door.

We had been on the road for a few days after the camp. We found this small suburb with decent looking houses. After checking the area out, we seemed to be in the clear. We took the house that was the furthest from the other ones, which was also to smallest, so we were hoping this one would be less of an attraction.

There were more zombies in this area, but nothing we couldn't handle. Tommy spent some time training Ashlyn with his sniper and the other times with me. He even thought me a few tricks with sniping, and it made me even more in love with him.

The cool night air blew against my skin and I shivered. It felt nice, but chilly against my sweaty skin.

I sat on the porch steps and rubbed the sleep away from my eyes. The crickets were loud around here, singing and chirping like nothing in the world could stop them.

I heard footsteps inside getting closer to the door. It creaked open and I was immediately relaxed by the presence of Tommy. It was kind of sad how my body knew it was him before my mind did.

"You okay?" He asked, joining me on the step. He sat close to me, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles.

"Just a nightmare," I replied, resting my head on his shoulder.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked gently, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb.

I was silent for a minute. It was hard to talk about my relationship with Pete. It made me feel worthless and pathetic. Nobody knows what it's like until it actually happens to you.

"It was about Pete," I ended up saying. I could feel Tommy tense up at the sound of his name. "He was just a shadow but it still hurt when he hit me. It felt so real...like I was back in time with him."