Chapter 4

The girl sank her rotten teeth into Jeremy's neck, barely able to break the skin with them.

He slammed his elbow back, sending her flying across the room.

Outside, the rain had stopped, meaning the only thing cutting through the quiet night air was the zombies' snarling.

Unfortunately, that meant that any sound we made drew them closer.

"We need to kill her. Now." I straightened, stepping on a broken family frame.

In it, the four members were smiling at the camera, with no idea this was where their lives would end up.

Instead of feeling guilt, I forced myself to feel relief. Because that meant we'd dealt with all the zombies.

"And here I was thinking you were a zombie empath," he groaned as the zombie charged at him.

She had to have been turned for a long while, because her body had definitely adapted to new abilities.

Unfortunately, lack of food had worn it down and degraded it.

A zombie snarled outside, banging its head against the wall.

I grabbed a cloth from the table, rushing to her. "Hold her in place."

He hummed, pulling her arms tight behind her.

I wrapped the material in my hand around her head, not only to swallow the sound of her snarls, but also to disorient her.

"System," I whispered. "Do they see us, hear us, or smell us?"

[They see. To an extent, they can hear and smell you, but not fully. You are carriers of the virus. That corrupts your scent.]

"What do we do with her?"

My gaze shifted to Jeremy before moving back to the girl.

The knife in my hand trailed up her body before settling on her throat. I drew it back and slammed it down with all the force my arms could muster.

The body stopped struggling soon after.

"We're spending the rest of tonight here. Leave the bodies. Let's just find a room to stay in for now."

I turned toward the stairs, dashing up without waiting to see if he was following.

It felt uncomfortable to sleep in the beds of a family that had met their final demise at my hands, so I settled on the bean bag sitting on the floor.

I'd expected him to go to another room, any room really, to sleep. To my surprise, a heavy body settled next to me after the door slammed shut.

He sighed, turning over to face me. "So what's the plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do we just keep doing this? Breaking into houses, falling asleep on cold floors... We need a plan. A purpose."

"Go to sleep, Jeremy. We'll head out in the morning and try to find a radio. Who knows, maybe there are more people out there without mush for brains." I let my eyes flutter shut.

Minutes later, his breathing evened out, letting me know he was asleep.

My eyes snapped open, fixing on him and then trailing around the room.

Maya and Jason had stolen my supplies. If they had half a brain cell functioning between the two of them, they'd try to use the radio in their car to get help.

If there was any help nearby, it was much better than driving around in a car that could break down any minute.

A radio would help us find them. And while I had no intention of telling this stranger that, it was my purpose.

Finding Jason and Maya. Not to help them, or forgive them, no.

My final purpose would be to be the one to infect them with the very virus they betrayed me to escape.

I fell asleep smiling at the thought of sinking my teeth into Jason's neck and transforming us both.

The sound of a heavy yawn and water splashing against tiles woke me up.

The sun had risen, and from where I slept, it almost matched any normal day I woke up after sleeping on the floor in Maya's room.

"Morning, sunshine," Jeremy said a second later, walking out naked as the day he was born.

I turned away immediately, my face flushed.

"Don't tell me the girl who kills zombies so easily is actually shy right now?" The amusement in his voice was unmistakable.

"Quit flattering yourself and get dressed."

I pulled myself off the ground, stretching out my stiff body.

My gaze carefully avoided his body as I dashed to the bathroom.

Still, the image of him naked had completely plastered itself to my mind, an unforgettable memory that somehow shone over everything else.

My breathing was erratic as I quickly washed myself, coming out to see Jeremy fully dressed.

He gestured at the clothes on the bed that had to have belonged to that girl.

"I'm not wearing someone else's clothes. Certainly not hers."

"Morality is out the window, Arya." He shrugged. "Your choice. I'm heading downstairs."

I pulled the towel tighter around myself and quickly dressed while he was outside.

Then I joined him. The clothes were surprisingly comfortable.

"So what now?"

"Let's head to the supermarket downtown." Jeremy picked up his gun, checking the bullets before shoving it back into its holster.

"Right. The radio."

He shook his head. "Forget that. It's nine in the morning, and I haven't even had breakfast!"

My eyebrows drew in, and a moment later, the joke settled, drawing a much-needed laugh from me.

My fingers paused against the door, though, sensing something off.

The system chimed moments later in its cold, metallic voice.

[Threats outside. Threat level: mostly C-grade zombies.]

"We can take a few Cs," Jeremy mumbled.

[Numbers: one hundred and sixty-seven.]

My gaze shifted up to meet his. "Still think we can take them?"