The Man Who Knew I Was Dead

I had three questions.

Who the hell was Adrian Cross?

How did he know my name?

And why was he looking at me like a man who had just found something he'd spent years searching for?

Unfortunately, before I could ask any of them, he raised his rifle.

“Don't move.”

I looked at the weapon.

Then at him.

Then at the street behind him, where three zombies had stopped in the middle of crossing the road to stare at us.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “Did you just tell the dead woman not to move?”

His expression didn't change.

“Are you always this irritating?”

“Are you always this fond of pointing guns at women?”

“Only the ones who come back from the dead.”

My mouth snapped shut.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

A car drove past the alley entrance. Somewhere nearby, a dog barked. The ordinary sounds of New York City continued around us, blissfully unaware that I was having a conversation with a man who seemed to know something about my death.

I swallowed out of habit.

“You saw me die.”

It wasn't a question.

Adrian lowered his rifle by an inch.

“Yes.”

“And you just happened to be waiting here?”

“No.”

“Then how did you find me?”

“I was looking for you.”

My skin prickled.

“That is not a comforting answer.”

“It wasn't meant to be.”

I stared at him.

He stared back.

I hated him already.

Not because he was threatening me. I had been threatened by far less intimidating men.

I hated him because he was calm.

The world was about to end, I had no heartbeat, and my sister's name was glowing inside a mysterious murder mission. Yet Adrian Cross stood in front of me as if we were discussing the weather.

“Start talking,” I demanded.

He tilted his head.

“Your left hand is shaking.”

I glanced down.

It was.

My fingers trembled against my thigh, and a sharp ache pulsed through my arm. The black veins around my bite mark had spread farther since I'd first noticed them.

“Is this normal?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“No.”

“Great. Wonderful. Very helpful.”

“You're experiencing an accelerated infection response.”

“I thought I was already infected.”

“You are.”

“I'm also dead, apparently. Anything else you'd like to add to my list of charming new qualities?”

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

Something in his expression shifted.

“Your teeth are changing.”

I immediately covered my mouth.

“What?”

“Open it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Mara.”

The way he said my name made my stomach twist.

Not because it was particularly seductive. It wasn't.

It sounded like a warning.

Like he'd said it before in circumstances neither of us should have survived.

“Open your mouth,” he repeated.

I took a step backward.

He moved faster.

One second, he was standing several feet away. The next, his hand closed around my wrist.

I reacted without thinking.

I twisted, grabbed his forearm, and shoved.

He flew backward.

Not stumbled.

Flew.

His body struck the side of a parked car hard enough to dent the metal.

I stared at him.

He stared at me.

The rifle slipped from his hand and clattered against the pavement.

“Oh,” I whispered.

Adrian straightened slowly.

For the first time since he'd appeared, he looked genuinely surprised.

I looked at my hands.

“Oh, that's not good.”

He picked up his rifle.

“No,” he agreed. “It isn't.”

A notification appeared in front of me.

[ABILITY UNLOCKED: INFECTED STRENGTH — LEVEL 1]

[PASSIVE EFFECT: PHYSICAL OUTPUT EXCEEDS HUMAN LIMITS.]

[WARNING: EXCESSIVE FORCE MAY ACCELERATE HOSTILE INSTINCTS.]

I blinked.

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“The blue screen.”

“No.”

I waved my hand through it.

“It's right here.”

“I know.”

I froze.

Slowly, I lowered my hand.

“You know?”

Adrian's face became unreadable again.

“Get in the vehicle.”

“No.”

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

I folded my arms.

“You don't get to show up, tell me you watched me die, admit you've been looking for me, and then order me into a vehicle. I'm not a dog.”

“Dogs are generally more obedient.”

“And men are generally less annoying when they're bleeding from a head injury.”

He glanced at the dented car.

“You threw me into a vehicle.”

“You grabbed me first.”

“Would you prefer I let you lose control of your instincts and attack the first human you see?”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

“That's a very specific threat.”

“It's a medical possibility.”

“I'm not attacking anybody.”

As if summoned by my words, the couple from earlier walked past the alley entrance.

The man carried a paper bag containing what smelled like roasted chicken.

My mouth flooded with saliva.

I stopped breathing.

The scent hit me with such force that my vision blurred. I could hear the man's pulse beneath the noise of the street.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

I could almost feel the blood moving through his veins.

My fingers curled.

The hunger inside me rose like a wave.

Feed.

The word wasn't spoken aloud.

It appeared inside my mind, dark and urgent.

Feed. Feed. FEED.

I stumbled backward.

“No.”

The woman glanced toward the alley.

“Are you okay?”

I looked at her.

Her throat moved as she swallowed.

I heard it.

I heard the tiny click of cartilage and the rush of blood beneath her skin.

My jaw ached.

I wanted to bite her.

The realization was so horrifying that I slammed my fist into the brick wall beside me.

Cracks spread through the mortar.

The couple screamed and ran.

Adrian caught my shoulders.

“Look at me.”

“Get away from me!”

“Mara, look at me.”

“I said get away!”

He didn't release me.

His fingers tightened, but his voice remained steady.

“Count backward from ten.”

“I'm going to eat somebody!”

“Not if you listen to me.”

“YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “I do.”

Something in his voice cut through the hunger.

Not completely.

But enough.

I focused on his face.

One.

Two.

Three.

The hunger clawed at my thoughts.

Four.

Five.

My jaw trembled.

Six.

Seven.

Adrian's grip softened.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

The urge receded.

I sagged against the wall, shaking.

Adrian didn't say anything for several seconds.

Then he took off his black tactical jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

The gesture was so unexpectedly ordinary that I almost cried.

I pulled the jacket tighter around myself.

“Why are you helping me?”

He looked toward the street.

“Because the last time I failed to protect you, thousands of people died.”

My head lifted.

“What?”

He seemed to realize he'd said too much.

His expression hardened.

“Get in the vehicle, Mara.”

This time, I didn't argue.

Not because I trusted him.

Because I was beginning to suspect that whatever had happened to me was much bigger than a zombie bite.

And Adrian Cross was standing in the middle of it.

The vehicle was a black military SUV parked behind an abandoned delivery truck.

The moment I climbed inside, the System appeared again.

[MISSION UPDATE.]

[TARGET IDENTIFIED: ADRIAN CROSS.]

[THREAT CLASSIFICATION: CRITICAL.]

[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE TARGET.]

[REWARD: EVOLUTION POINTS + 500.]

[WARNING: TARGET'S SURVIVAL MAY RESULT IN HUMAN EXTINCTION.]

I stared at the screen.

Then I slowly turned toward Adrian.

He was behind the steering wheel, checking the ammunition in his rifle.

“Can you read minds?” I asked.

“No.”

“Can you see the future?”

“No.”

“Have you ever tried to destroy humanity?”

He stopped moving.

Only for a second.

But I noticed.

“Why?”

“No reason.”

I looked at the screen again.

TARGET: ADRIAN CROSS.

HUMAN EXTINCTION RISK: CRITICAL.

Well.

That was inconvenient.

The first mission wanted me to kill my sister.

Now the System wanted me to kill the man who had apparently saved me from becoming a walking buffet.

I had been back alive for less than fifteen minutes, and I was already caught between two murder assignments.

At this rate, I would need a planner.

Adrian started the engine.

“Buckle your seat belt.”

I did.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere secure.”

“That's not a location.”

“It's the only answer you're getting.”

I turned toward the window.

New York City looked almost normal.

People walked along the sidewalks, holding coffee cups and checking their phones. A delivery cyclist swerved around a taxi. Two teenagers laughed outside a convenience store.

Thirty-seven minutes.

That was what the System had said.

Thirty-seven minutes until the outbreak.

I checked the time on my phone.

11:53 p.m.

The outbreak was supposed to begin at 12:30 a.m.

Thirty-seven minutes from the moment I'd awakened.

I had no idea why the countdown had started when it did, but the number was burned into my mind.

“Adrian?”

“What?”

“What happens at 12:30?”

His hands tightened around the steering wheel.

For a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer.

Then he said, “The city dies.”

My stomach twisted.

“You knew.”

“Yes.”

“You knew this was going to happen?”

“I knew it was coming.”

“And you were just going to let it happen?”

His gaze flicked toward me.

“You think I haven't tried to stop it?”

I looked at him.

There was something behind his eyes that hadn't been there before.

Exhaustion.

Not the ordinary exhaustion of a man who hadn't slept.

The exhaustion of someone who had watched the same disaster unfold over and over again.

I gripped the edge of the seat.

“Have we met before?”

He didn't answer immediately.

Then he reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a photograph.

He handed it to me.

I took it carefully.

The image showed a young woman standing in front of a white laboratory wall.

She wore a simple gray dress, and her dark hair fell over one shoulder. She looked thinner than I was now, with a faint scar above her left eyebrow.

I recognized the face.

It was mine.

But the photograph was dated three years earlier.

And I had never been inside a laboratory like that.

On the back, someone had written a single sentence.

SUBJECT M.V. — TERMINATION UNSUCCESSFUL.

My fingers went cold.

“Adrian.”

He kept his eyes on the road.

“Explain this.”

“I can't.”

“You can't, or you won't?”

“Both.”

I turned the photograph over again.

There was a second line beneath the first.

MEMORY SUPPRESSION CONFIRMED. REACTIVATION WINDOW UNKNOWN.

My head began to pound.

Memory suppression.

Reactivation.

Termination.

The words seemed to crawl across the paper.

I remembered my childhood bedroom. My first day at university. Vivian stealing my favorite shoes and pretending she hadn't. Daniel kissing me beneath a streetlight on our first date.

I remembered all of it.

Didn't I?

I pressed my fingers against my temples.

A flash of white light.

A glass room.

Someone screaming.

My own voice.

Please don't let me forget.

I gasped.

The photograph slipped from my fingers.

Adrian slammed on the brakes.

The SUV stopped so abruptly that my seat belt locked across my chest.

He turned toward me.

“What did you see?”

I stared at him.

“What did you do to me?”

His jaw clenched.

“Nothing you wouldn't have asked me to do.”

I recoiled.

“That is not an answer!”

“No,” he said. “It isn't.”

He reached for the photograph, but I snatched it away.

“Don't touch me.”

His hand stopped in midair.

For several seconds, we stared at each other.

Then he leaned back in his seat.

“You have every right to hate me.”

I laughed bitterly.

“You're assuming I need a reason.”

Something almost like a smile touched his mouth.

It disappeared quickly.

“There's the Mara I remember.”

My heart would have stopped if it had been beating.

I looked at the photograph again.

Then at him.

“You knew me before tonight.”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

He looked straight ahead.

“Long enough.”

I wanted to scream.

Instead, I shoved the photograph into my pocket and turned toward the window.

“Take me to Vivian.”

“No.”

“She's my sister.”

“I know.”

“Then take me to her!”

“Your sister is not your biggest problem.”

I looked at the System.

The red letters were still hovering in front of me.

ELIMINATE ADRIAN CROSS.

HUMAN EXTINCTION RISK: CRITICAL.

I had a feeling he was right.

And I hated that almost as much as I hated him.

At 12:11 a.m., Adrian drove us into an underground parking facility beneath a building that looked abandoned.

There were no signs outside. No guards at the entrance. No lights in the upper floors.

But the moment we entered the garage, three armed soldiers emerged from behind a concrete pillar.

Their weapons were raised.

“Commander!”

One of them approached the SUV.

Then he saw me.

His expression changed.

“Sir, that's an infected.”

“I can see that, Sergeant.”

“We need to contain her.”

“No.”

“Sir, regulations—”

“I gave you an order.”

The sergeant swallowed.

“Yes, sir.”

Adrian stepped out and opened my door.

I remained seated.

Every instinct I possessed told me not to move.

The soldiers were watching me as if I were a bomb that had developed an appetite.

“Do they know what I am?” I whispered.

“They know what you look like.”

“That's not the same thing.”

“No.”

He held out his hand.

I stared at it.

“You're not going to shoot me?”

“Not unless you give me a reason.”

“That's reassuring.”

“I'm a very reassuring man.”

I snorted.

“You're a walking red flag in military boots.”

This time, he almost smiled.

Then his expression became serious again.

“Come with me. There are things you need to know.”

I looked at his outstretched hand.

The System flickered.

[WARNING: TRUSTING THIS INDIVIDUAL MAY COMPROMISE SURVIVAL.]

I stared at the message.

Then I looked at Adrian.

He was dangerous. I knew that much.

He was keeping secrets. He had a photograph of me in a laboratory I didn't remember visiting. And according to the mysterious voice in my head, his continued existence might lead to the extinction of humanity.

But he was also the only person who seemed to know what was happening to me.

I took his hand.

His fingers closed around mine.

For one strange second, the hunger inside me disappeared.

The black veins on my arm stopped spreading.

And a new message appeared.

[UNKNOWN CONDITION DETECTED.]

[INFECTION STABILITY INCREASED.]

[PROXIMITY TO ADRIAN CROSS: BENEFICIAL.]

I stared at the screen.

Then at our joined hands.

Oh, absolutely not.

I pulled away.

Adrian's eyes narrowed.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Mara.”

“I'm beginning to think your entire existence is a medical complication.”

He studied me for a long moment.

Then he said, very quietly, “You have no idea.”

Before I could respond, an alarm blared through the garage.

Every soldier turned toward the nearest monitor.

A red warning flashed across the screen.

EMERGENCY BROADCAST — NEW YORK CITY.

A woman's voice crackled through the speakers.

“Attention, all residents. This is an emergency notification from the New York State Emergency Management Office. Reports of violent attacks are increasing across Manhattan. Citizens are advised to remain indoors and avoid contact with anyone exhibiting signs of neurological distress.”

The monitor changed.

A shaky video appeared.

A man was attacking a police officer in the middle of Times Square.

The officer fell.

The man bent over him.

When he lifted his head, blood covered his mouth.

The broadcast cut out.

For a moment, the garage was silent.

Then the alarms began again.

One soldier swore.

Another grabbed his rifle.

Adrian's face turned to stone.

“What time is it?” he demanded.

“Zero hundred and twelve, sir.”

12:12 a.m.

Eighteen minutes before the outbreak began.

Except the outbreak had already started.

My gaze dropped to my arm.

The black veins were spreading again.

The System appeared.

[TIMELINE DEVIATION DETECTED.]

[OUTBREAK ONSET: EARLIER THAN PREDICTED.]

[CAUSE: UNKNOWN.]

Then another message appeared beneath it.

One that made every hair on my body stand on end.

[NEW MISSION AVAILABLE.]

[MISSION: SURVIVE THE NEXT SIX HOURS.]

[ADDITIONAL CONDITION: DO NOT ALLOW ADRIAN CROSS TO DIE.]

I stopped breathing.

Adrian glanced at me.

“What is it?”

I looked at him.

The man the System had ordered me to kill.

The man whose touch could stabilize my infection.

The man who apparently had to survive the next six hours.

I forced a smile.

“Nothing, Commander.”

His eyes narrowed.

“You're lying.”

“I'm a very reassuring woman.”

Then the lights went out.

A gunshot rang through the darkness.

Someone screamed.

And from somewhere beyond the garage doors came a sound I would never forget.

Thousands of voices.

All screaming at once.