Chapter 2

Just as the blade was about to come down on my head, tires screeched outside the villa.

Three heavy-duty SUVs crashed through the broken gate and stopped in the courtyard. Several Awakened in Federal Defense Force uniforms jumped out.

I struggled to look up, unable to believe who I saw.

Mark Bennett, Daniel Price, Jonas Reed. They had all been members of my strike team.

The day Old Saint Clair fell, I stayed behind to hold the line. I used my psychic power to clear an escape route for them. Once they were safely inside the armored vehicle, a high-tier Mutant dragged me into the Surge.

Hope rose inside me. I tried to make a sound. If even one of them recognized my signal and stopped Adrian, I might survive.

But Mark barely looked at me before running over to Erin. "You're not hurt, are you? Adrian didn't let you get close to that thing, did he?"

Daniel grinned. "Future Mrs. Walker, leave the dirty work to us. You're the best healer at the fortress. We can't let a monster hurt those hands."

Future Mrs. Walker.

I froze. My heart barely beat anymore, yet those words sent a sharp pain through my chest.

Two weeks. It had only been two weeks.

The soldiers I'd risked my life to save were already treating another woman like she belonged with Adrian.

Erin blushed and tugged at Adrian's sleeve. "Don't say that. Adrian still hasn't forgotten Layla. If she comes back and hears you joking like this, she won't be happy."

Mark scoffed. "She fell into a top-level Surge. There's no way she survived. And even if she did, who cares? All she ever did was make us train, punish us for being late, and put us on night watch. Every day on her team felt like punishment."

"Erin is different." Daniel smiled at her. "Whenever we got hurt, she stayed with us in the infirmary. She never yelled at us or gave us that cold look when we made mistakes. If the captain chooses her, at least he won't get bossed around all day."

My whole body went cold.

I made them train because one mistake on the battlefield could get them killed. I took the most dangerous night shifts and stayed behind to protect them so they could return to the fortress alive.

But to them, I hadn't been protecting them. I'd been controlling them.

Yes, I'd been strict. But I'd also risked my life for them. Now that I was gone, they only remembered me as an annoying captain.

I lowered my head and stared at my rotting hands.

Maybe they were right. I was a hideous zombie now. No one would want to come near me.

I closed my eyes and used my power to summon the low-tier zombies nearby. I didn't want to hurt my former teammates. I only wanted the zombies to block them long enough for me to escape.

I was already in so much pain. I didn't want the man I loved most to be the one who killed me.

Several low-tier zombies stumbled over and formed a barrier between me and Adrian.

Mark sneered. "This freak can control other zombies. Perfect. We'll kill them all together."

He summoned a ball of fire and burned the nearest zombie to ash. Then he pulled out his energy pistol and aimed at my head.

"Adrian, leave this to us. We'll get Erin her gift."

A gunshot rang out. A flaming bullet shot straight toward my forehead.

I jerked aside. It grazed my cheek before flying toward my left hand.

No.

Without thinking, I twisted around and took the hit on my right side. Adrian's ring was on my left hand. Even if my whole body rotted away, I wouldn't let anything happen to it.

Suddenly, Adrian's lightning struck the bullet out of the air. The lightning then slammed into the right side of my body.

Erin cheered. "Adrian, you're amazing!"

I lay face-down, coughing up black blood. The right side of my body was badly burned, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

I hid my left hand under my chest, protecting the last thing I had left.