Destroy the Head, and they Stayed Dead

She came running straight at the fence and jumped at me. I was high enough that I was sure she wouldn’t be able to reach me, but then she jumped much higher than I expected. Until then, the infected had only seemed capable of biting, running, and throwing themselves at anything alive. Seeing one actually jump made me freeze long enough for her fingers to close around my ankle.

She dragged me down with a strength a teenage girl definitely should not have had. I hit the concrete badly, and before I could even get my bearings, she sank her teeth into my shoulder.

Jumbo King immediately started barking and growling from the other side of the fence. “Shh. Jumbo, please,” I cried, terrified that the noise would attract infected to his side too.

I could feel the girl’s teeth pressing harder against my shoulder as I swung the metal bat wildly with one hand. Two of the infected crowding around me stumbled back when I managed to hit them, giving me just enough room to move. I grabbed the girl by the hair and tried to pull her off me, only for part of her scalp to tear away in my hand.

I screamed and shoved her away instead, kicking her as hard as I could until her teeth finally released my shoulder.

“Jumbo King, get away, boy. Please.”

He didn’t move. He stayed on the other side of the fence, barking and growling at everything trying to get near me.

By then I was crying so hard I could barely see. Tomi and Chloe had left me. The baby was his. John was dead. I had ignored his warning, and now I had been bitten by the exact thing he had told me to avoid.

Then gunfire erupted from the alley the crying girl had come from. Whoever was shooting knew the infected only stayed down when their heads were destroyed, because the bullets started hitting the ones surrounding me one after another.

I forced myself to move with whatever focus I had left. The bite on my shoulder had started to burn, but I kept swinging the bat and pushing the infected away from the fence. If the crying girl could jump that high, I had no idea what else the virus might eventually let them do. Maybe climb.

Jumbo King clearly had not considered that possibility. He was still on the other side of the fence, barking and growling at anything that came near me, stubbornly refusing to leave no matter how many times I begged him to run.

A tall figure emerged from the alley where the gunfire had come from, and for a second I forgot about everything around me because I came face-to-face with the reason I had left Rye in the first place.

Art was still as tall as I remembered, if not taller. His blond hair was longer now, his face sharper than it had been four years ago, but I would have recognized him anywhere. His eyes found me first, then Jumbo King on the other side of the fence, and whatever surprise crossed his face disappeared almost immediately.

The crying girl suddenly twisted toward Art and launched herself at him, but I still had enough sense left to react. I gripped the bat with both hands and put whatever strength I had left into swinging it at her head.

The impact knocked her sideways, and this time she stayed down.

Relief washed through me almost immediately. Whatever the virus had done to her — however much faster, stronger, or more coordinated she had become — it had not changed the one rule we had already learned.

Destroy the head, and they stayed dead.

I smiled at Art when we finally had enough time to just stand there among what was left of my twice-dead neighbors. He had only taken a few steps toward me when my stomach suddenly turned. I stumbled forward and vomited what little I had managed to eat that morning onto the concrete.

The bite on my shoulder was still burning, and now that I had enough time to look at myself properly, I realized it wasn’t the only one. Teeth marks covered my right hand, and another bite had torn through the sleeve over my left forearm.

“Fuck,” I managed when the vomiting finally stopped. I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and looked at Art. “Take Jumbo King. He’s on the other side of the fence.”

Art’s eyes dropped to the blood on my clothes, and his expression changed.

“Please,” I said before he could speak. “Kill me before I become like them.”

“Well, hello to you too, Baby Gronk.” Instead of granting my dying wish, the first man who had ever broken my heart pulled me into a hug.

I let out a weak laugh at the stupid nickname, trying to hold on to whatever lucidity I still had left. Jumbo King was whining on the other side of the fence now, and hearing him made my chest hurt even more.

“I’m sorry I ran away like a coward,” I started, tears finally spilling down my face. Maybe that was why the crying girl had still been crying too. Maybe some part of her had understood exactly what was happening and had been terrified of dying.

“Art, listen.” I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer until my face rested near the crook of his neck. “I love you. I’m sorry I ran away like that. I’m sorry I abandoned you guys — ”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save John,” he interrupted softly. “And I loved you too. Still love you, actually.”

He was smiling now, which somehow made me cry harder.

“Don’t worry, Baby Gronk. Me and Jumbo King will take care of you now.” My fading consciousness struggled to understand what he meant before my whole body suddenly started convulsing. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for Art to finally grant me the mercy I had asked for, but instead I felt his lips press against my forehead and heard fabric tearing somewhere close to my ear.

“No, are you insane?” I tried to protest when I realized what he was doing. Whatever he was planning was dangerous, especially if he actually intended to survive whatever came after this.

“I’m not losing you twice, Patricia.” His voice stayed steady as he tied the strip of cloth over my mouth. “I’ll find a cure. I will. Don’t worry.”

That only made me cry harder. Even after I had abandoned him for four years, even after I had been bitten three times and was already losing control of my own body, Art was still refusing to give up on me.

Please, God. If time travel is real, give me another chance.