All Chapters of The Zombies Apocalypse Brought Me Back To My Fiancee : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Neither of them answered the call.They stood there in the garage for a long moment after the screen finally went dark on its own, the words DO NOT ANSWER seared into Vanessa's memory whether she looked at the phone or not. Adrian took it from her without a word, powered it down, and pulled the battery out entirely, the kind of gesture that said more than any sentence could have."We're telling Victor," he said."About the folder, or the phone call, or both?""Both. Tonight, if he's awake. Tomorrow at the latest.""He's going to ask how we got the number.""Then we tell him that too."She'd expected an argument out of that, some elaborate plan to keep her father in the dark a little longer, the way they'd been doing for weeks. Instead Adrian just looked tired, properly tired, the mask of calm slipping enough that she could see the exhaustion underneath it."You're scared," she said."I'm cautious.""That's the same thing on you."He didn't deny it.***Victor summoned them both to his

"Lights are on," Vanessa said, stating the obvious because her brain hadn't caught up to anything more useful yet."I see that.""Victor said it's been dark for six days.""I heard him say that too.""So either someone's inside who shouldn't be, or the dead agent developed a sudden interest in interior lighting."Adrian killed the engine fifty yards out, rolling the last stretch in neutral, the car coasting to a silent stop in the shadow of the treeline. "We go in quiet. Assess before we engage.""Define engage.""Fighting. Shooting. Anything loud.""I know what engage means. I'm asking if we're doing it.""Not if we can avoid it.""That's not a no.""It's a conditional no."They moved through the trees in a low crouch, the kind of movement that came back to her body faster than she expected, old training reasserting itself like it had never actually left. Adrian moved beside her, silent, economical, every step placed with the precision of someone who'd done this a hundred times in wo

The scream cut off as fast as it started, replaced by a scraping, muffled sound, like the phone had been dropped or shoved into a pocket mid-struggle."Miriam!" Vanessa's voice cracked against the car window. "Miriam, talk to me!"Nothing. Just breathing, ragged and close to the receiver now, like someone had picked it back up with shaking hands."I'm here," Miriam said, barely a whisper. "I'm here, I'm okay, I just— something fell. It's fine.""It is not fine. You screamed.""I stubbed my toe. On a crate. It's fine, Van, I promise, just—" A shuddering breath. "I don't have long. Please just listen."Adrian had pulled the car fully into the garage now, engine off, both of them leaning so close to the phone that their shoulders pressed together and neither one pulled back."Where are you," Vanessa said. "Just tell me where you are. I'll come get you myself.""I can't say. If I say it out loud on this line, they'll—" She stopped herself. "I can't say. I'm sorry.""Who's 'they'? Is it Ha

Vanessa didn't sleep. She sat on the floor of her room with every page Adrian had photographed spread out around her, the incident logs, the handwritten warning, the blurry photo of the man in the Sterling uniform, trying to force some kind of pattern out of it through sheer force of will.Adrian found her there at four in the morning, still in yesterday's clothes, staring at a photo like it might start talking if she glared hard enough."You should sleep," he said, sitting down across from her without being invited, which she'd stopped minding."I can't. Every time I close my eyes I hear the phone hit the floor."He didn't try to argue her out of that. He just picked up one of the pages instead, scanning it again like a fresh read might shake something loose that four previous reads hadn't."Your father's going to take days," Vanessa said. "Days we don't have.""I know.""So we do it ourselves."He looked up at that, something careful in his expression, the particular caution of a man

"Floor it," Vanessa said, twisting around in her seat to keep eyes on the sedan."I am flooring it. This is a sedan built for soccer moms, not evasive maneuvers.""Soccer moms deserve better options.""That's not helpful right now."The dark car behind them matched every turn, staying two lengths back with the kind of patient, unbothered precision that made it very clear they weren't trying to catch up yet. They were herding."They're not rushing," Adrian said, eyes flicking between the road and the mirror. "That means they know this area better than we do. They're pushing us somewhere.""Pushing us where?""I don't know. I'd rather not find out."He cut the wheel hard right at the next junction, no turn signal, tires screeching against old asphalt, and the sedan behind them overshot the corner by a full second before correcting."That bought us something," Vanessa said, bracing against the door."Four seconds.""Four good seconds.""Four seconds doesn't buy groceries.""It's not supp