Tales of the Apocalypse: A Dystopian Anthology
Author: Alexis Taylor; Aster North; Jaya Moon; Beth Hendrix; Joely Sue Burkhart; B. B. B. Publishings
Date: 2020-06-12 22:13:42+00:00
Description: Are you prepared? It may be the aftermath of the apocalypse, but the stories don't end just because the world has. Come read these tales of those left trying to survive everything from zombies to plagues to fire and brimstone. The Apocalypse is coming. Are you ready?
Publisher: Independently published

Tales of the Apocalypse

A Dystopian Anthology

Jaya Moon

Alexis Taylor

Beth Hendrix

Aster North

Joely Sue Burkhart

There is always hope, even in the darkest of times.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental

Copyright © 2020 by BBB Publishings. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact BBB Publishings.

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition May 2020

Created with Vellum

Contents

The Rage

Chapter One

About the Author

Apocalyptic Holidays

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Alexis Taylor

Other Books by The Author

Beth Hendrix

Other Books by The Author

The Day Death Died

Shay

Shay

Soren

Chris

Shay

Soren

Shay

Shay

Chris

Soren

Shay

Shay

Chris

Soren

Shay

About the Author

Other books by Aster North

On Death’s Wings

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

About the Author

A Note from BBB

The Rage

By

Jaya Moon

Chapter One

The whites of the mangy sheepdog’s eyes are red. Bloody. Damp trails run down the sides of his muzzle. It makes him look like he’s crying, and maybe he would if a dog could shed tears, ’cause he’s got… It.

I begin to take a step back slowly, at the same time reaching toward my shoulder-slung pack. I’ve gotten sloppy, should have my gun within easy reach, but it’s been days since I’ve seen anyone or anything that was a threat to me.

I could move with the silence of a breath and as slow as the creep of sand across a desert without a breeze, and it wouldn’t make any difference. The skin of the dog’s muzzle lifts, exposing his inflamed gums and yellow teeth. I know the madness of the rage that comes before death, seen bloody murder in the eyes of people who had forgotten who I was and wanted me dead.

He snarls.

I freeze.

“Hey boy.” I say the words quietly, gently.

He snarls again, this time extending his head forward as the hackles on his back rise and his eyes narrow.

“It’s okay, boy. It’s all going to be okay.”

It’s not okay. It’ll never be okay again.

His shoulders relax a little, his lips more a quiver than a snarl. Perhaps somewhere in his mind there is a memory of the world we lived in before it all went to shit. But memories are just that, and this new world has no place for caring or compassion.

I try to be fast as I grab at the open side pocket of my pack where I holster my semi-automatic pistol. In the time it takes my hand to connect with the cold metal grip, the dog charges the short distance between us and leaps. There’s no time to point my gun before his body slams into mine. We fall from his momentum, and the gun flies from my hand as his jaws clamp down on my left arm. I scream above his snarling as he tears at my flesh; I kick uselessly with my legs and beat at his head with one fist. All the while with my right hand I grasp at the ground.

Where is it? Where is it? There!

I don’t think. Just lift the gun and fire, hoping to get his head and miss myself. The shot makes my ears ring. The dog yelps and lets go of my arm. That gives me enough time to push him off me and shuffle back crablike, raising dust as I do, before I scramble to my feet.

Now I’ve got the gun pointed right where I need it to be.

He looks up at me whimpering, like he’s remembering who he was—a good boy, a pet with a loving family. Like he wishes I would put him on a leash and lead him home.

I pull the trigger.

My ears ring again from the sound of the shot.

For a long time I stand and watch his blood pool on the ground, until I feel something warm running down my hands and dripping from my fingertips. Only then do I notice my arm.

Fuck. “FUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKK.”

* * *

It’s been two hours since I first slumped against this tree and took up watching the farmhouse and the picture-book two-story red barn with white trim. Normally I’d wait until the sun goes down before I make my move, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll stay conscious.

My body is ablaze with fever. Even my eyes seem hot, and there’s a growing pain in my head, like someone is slowly driving a spike through my forehead into the center of my brain. If only it was the dog bite making me feel this way. If it was, I could find a town that hopefully hasn’t been ransacked, get some antibiotics, and be on my way. But my mauled arm is the least of my problems. The bandage I made from an old t-shirt after washing my wound in a stream is as effective as a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. I know in my heart what I’m experiencing is the effects of the virus now pumping through my veins.

To stop myself from thinking about what that means, I stand and steady myself against the tree with my hand as the world spins, then force myself forward with stumbling steps, moving as fast as I can. The house might be a nicer option—a bed with sheets and blankets, perhaps a tin or two of food someone else hasn’t found, and a little comfort of the mind as I immerse myself in aspects of a life I once had—but there’s always the risk someone’s holed up in there. Despite my impending fate, I still have the will to live until there’s no fight left in me—I still have things I need to do—so I head for the barn.

When I get to the door, I wrench it open and collapse against the wall after I close the door behind me. It’s late afternoon and shafts of light pierce through the holed roof. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut several times in an attempt to clear my swirling vision while my whole body begins to uncontrollably shake. There is a ladder that leads to a loft, and I can see there’s still straw up there. A safe place to hide. To, hopefully, recover enough to keep going before the rage comes and I forget who I am.

Navigating the ladder with slow, heavy steps and holding onto the rungs so tightly my knuckles become white, I make it to the loft and fall onto the straw. Once it might have smelled of summer fields. Now it only stinks of too much time. With the last moments of strength I possess, I make myself a nest as my head pounds and my body burns.

My mouth is so dry. I have water in my pack, but I don’t know where my pack is and I have no strength left to find it.

I’ve heard sometimes the rage takes over within days. I’ve known some who lasted months. I need it to be the latter.

I’m not giving up. I’ll find you, Nate.

* * *

“Sim, look at this.”

The male voice startles me awake.

It’s now night. For a moment I’m thankful we’re close to a full moon because at least I can see a little in the darkness, but then I realize if I can see, whoever the voice belongs to can also. My body is still on fire and my mouth dry. The back of my throat tickles and I know I’m going to start coughing if I don’t drink. I reach around, looking for my pack.

“What is it?”

That’s a different male’s voice. Two men. I’ll have little chance against them if they find me, especially if they’re infected and they’ve got to the point of the rage.

I need my pack. Not only for the water, but so I can arm myself with my gun. That’ll give me a fighting chance.

“Not much in it,” says the first male. “But…look.”

“Sweet. Any ammo?”

As the second man speaks, I know what they’ve found. My pack. My gun.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Whatcha found?”

This is a new, deep voice. Three men. I might start crying in fear over my predicament if I hadn’t stopped crying a long time ago. Now the only chance I have is if they don’t find me. If I bury myself deeper in this straw….

As I wiggle, dust rises and the cough I’ve been trying to suppress bursts from my mouth. I hear the scramble of feet, a clatter of something made from metal. Then there’s a standoff of silence.

Perhaps they’re as wary of strangers as I am. Perhaps they’ll go away.

“We’ve got your stuff,” one of them eventually calls out. “We’ve got your gun.”

I stay quiet as my head throbs with each fast, thundering beat of my heart.

“We know you’re up there. So let’s get this over with,” calls another in a stern, no-nonsense tone. When I don’t answer he adds, “NOW.”

There’s only one other thing that might save me from this. “I wouldn’t come up here if I were you. I’ve got it.” I leave that to sink in for a moment before I continue, “Are you going to risk coming near me when I’m infected?”

One of them laughs.

God help me, they’re infected too. There’s no way they’d find my diagnosis funny unless they had nothing to fear from it… Unless they think they’re calling my bluff.

“I’m serious,” I call out.

My senses are heightened in the near-darkness, and I hear the steps of one of them moving toward the ladder and the thunk of a set of feet that begin to climb up to the loft.

I’ve seen what the rage does to people. Since I left the place that was a sanctuary to me and my family for three years, I’ve witnessed men and what they do to women. I’ve watched helplessly, hidden, as though I was trying to demonstrate my solidarity, provide solace to them as I witnessed their fate. But every time, I ended up shutting my eyes against it and clamping my hands to my ears, abandoning them. Even then, their pleas and screams got through the tiny spaces between my fingers. Some nights it’s their begging cries that keep me awake.

I wonder if I’ll finally cry when it happens to me.

As the footsteps get closer, I try to maneuver myself so I can at least attempt to kick the head of whoever appears at the top of the ladder, maybe make him fall off. Perhaps that will infuriate the other two enough they’ll shoot me before they have time to think about doing anything else.

I’m sorry, Nate. I’m so sorry.

It isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I can hardly move—from fear, from the virus…who knows what is near-paralyzing me—so I’m not ready when the man’s head appears. I’m still trying to pull my legs free of all the straw I’m buried in.

He holds up a hand and small bright sparks break the darkness with a shick schik shick sound as his thumb flicks the lighter to make a flame. Is he going to burn me alive up here?

I struggle against the straw again, but I’m going nowhere fast.

When the flame finally takes, it pools him in light. He looks a bit older than me and his expression isn’t crazed like someone with the rage. It’s gentle, actually. As his lips pull into a line, the light catches his eyes, making them look warm, and they’re not blood-red, which is a common symptom if you have it. In fact, he looks quite normal. Even his hair, blonde and hitched up in a topknot, makes him look normal…like someone I might have hung out with before everything changed.

“I’m serious. I’m sick,” I say, now thinking perhaps he and his friends don’t have it and they’ve made a mistake getting close to me. “So I’d stay away.” I’d never wish this virus on anyone.

“I’m Jonah.” He smiles. No teeth, just an upturn of the corners of his mouth. “Are you okay?”

Now I think he’s plain stupid. Maybe he’s trying to lull me into a false sense of security so I’ll come down, and then he and his mates can have their way with me.

“I told you! I’ve got it. So no, I’m not fucking okay.”

He extends the lighter so its flame is closer to me. It goes out for a second, but he lights it again fast.

“You haven’t got it.”

“What are you? A doctor?” I say it bitterly. If I wasn’t feeling so sick perhaps I could decipher the game he’s playing, but I feel like I’m going to pass out and just want him to get over and done with whatever he has planned. “I have it. I got bit by a dog with the rage.” I hold up my arm. “If you don’t have it, I suggest you get the fuck away from me.”

“That rash on your face…”

Normally I’d be mortified by a guy pointing out my weird acne. It’s a smattering of bumps across my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. It almost looks like a butterfly with its wings unfurled.

The lighter goes out. When he relights it, he’s moved the flame so it’s now right in front of his own face.

“What…?” I can’t believe what I’m seeing. There’s no mistaking the bumpy pattern of outstretched butterfly wings.

“You don’t have it. Neither do I. At some stage you came in contact with someone who had the virus, but your immune system fought it off. You might have felt a little unwell for a day or two, but that was probably it, apart from the rash. That’ll stay. It’s a marker that shows you’re now immune.”

I try to let his words sink in. I’ve had it and not become ill and eventually been gripped by the rage?

“And no, I’m not a doctor, but you look real sick, and your arm’s a mess. How many days since that dog bit you?” The lighter goes out.

Is what he’s saying true? I’m immune? I know I should feel grateful, happy…something…but I don’t feel anything except that I’m on the verge of losing consciousness.

“How many days?” the guy asks again.

I don’t know. One? Two? Could be a million. I stopped counting things a long time ago. The days since the virus was first detected. The days since my community’s first case. How many days since my parents contracted it? How long between that and when they died? How many days since…

“Nate…”

“That’s your name?”

I sense him rather than see or hear him climb into the loft and crawl close to me.

“Is that your name?”

No, that’s not my name. That’s…

“Don’t be falling asleep. Stay with me, Nate.”

Nate, why didn’t you stay with me?

* * *

My eyelids flicker until eventually I can keep them open. Pinholes of light illuminate where I lie. It takes me a minute, two, until I remember where I am.

There’s a tightness around my arm. I lift it slowly and see there’s a clean, bright white bandage around where the dog bit me. That’s when I remember the guy with the lighter.

My instinct is to sit up quickly, survey my surroundings, and find out where he and the other two are, but when I try, the world spins like I’m on a carnival ride. So I move my head to the right first. A few feet away, curled on his side, is the guy I spoke to—Jonah, was that his name? He’s taken his hair out from his topknot, and a veil of shoulder-length strands hang across his face, hiding his features. From the faint rise and fall of his chest, I can tell he’s asleep.

I turn my head in the other direction slowly so I don’t make a sound. There’s a male I haven’t seen before. His blue t-shirt is ripped in places, revealing hints of hard pectorals and defined abs. His biceps, even when relaxed, promise strength I wouldn’t have a chance against.

My eyes move to his face. His hair is black and raggedly short, like it’s been hacked off with a blunt blade. There’s a scar that starts at his left eye, runs down his cheek and across his lips, ending at the right side of his chin, but there is no mistaking the other mark he has: a butterfly rash.

What Jonah said comes back to me, and without thinking I whisper, “Immune?”

The guy’s eyes flash open and he stares at me with wide green orbs in such an intense way I want to run from him. But I know I’m incapable of moving, so I close my eyes, hoping maybe he’ll let me pretend I’m still asleep—that would give me time to think about what to do.

“Jonah. She’s awake.”

I hear a deep hum from the other side of me, and Jonah mumbles, “What?”

“I said, she’s awake.”

There’s rustling beside me, and I move my head only enough to make out Jonah’s shadow from beyond my closed eyelids. He’s close to me now.

“Nate? Are you okay?”

My eyes open fast. “Nate?” I smart because I haven’t heard Nate’s name spoken since I left the farm. Hearing it now makes it all seem so new again. Besides, how does he know Nate?

Jonah is looking down at me. “Isn’t that your name? You said it the other night.”

I don’t remember saying that at all. “Not Nate. Bell.”

He looks like he wants to ask me who Nate is. I can see it in his searching amber eyes, but he holds off.

“Bell. Nice to meet you…again.” He smiles. “And this,” he gestures to the guy I know is on the other side of me and who has been silent, “is Simeon. But you can call him Sim.”

“Simeon is fine,” Simeon corrects.

There’s something about the way he says it that makes me think we’re alike. That maybe he’s not into making friends lightly, not trusting…anyone.

I turn to him. “Sure, Simeon. And I’m Isabella.”

There’s a tiny twitch across his lips. I may have missed it if it wasn’t accentuated by the movement of the scar that runs across them.

“And Mathus is out keeping watch. You feel better?”

His simple question sparks in me memories of what things used to be like. When people cared for other people. When people cared about me. Maybe his simple act of compassion would have made me cry, had that part of me not died a long time ago.

“A bit better.” I’m not hot like I was, and the way I’m feeling is more akin to weakness from lack of food and water. “I could do with a drink.”

Jonah nods, sits up, and looks behind him. When he turns back he has a red metal flask in his hand that I immediately recognize as mine. It reminds me they have my pack. And my gun.

I take the flask from him and start to drink.

I’m not entirely sure how safe I am, even though they’re being nice enough. But if they weren’t any danger to me they’d give me back all of my stuff. Jonah’s eyes haven’t left me, so I meet his gaze after I lower the flask and raise my eyebrows in a “where’s the rest?” way.

“She wants her things,” he says to Simeon while still watching me.

Surprised by how intuitive he is, I decide there’s no point drawing out my distrust. “I want my gun.”

The water has made me feel a little less lightheaded, so I sit up and look from Jonah to Simeon, who’s still lying there like he doesn’t have a care in the world. His eyes narrow. “Who says you’re not going to blow our brains out the moment we give it to you?”

He’s the type of guy who has notes of arrogance in his tone, which evokes a degree of snarkiness in me. “Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. Still, it’s mine and I want it back.”

Jonah laughs openly, a happy sound. Something I haven’t heard for a long time.

Simeon rolls over and digs into the straw, then throws me my gun. It’s missing the ammunition magazine. I know he’s seen the way I’m looking incredulously at the useless piece of metal, because he shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll give the other bit back once we know we can trust you.”

“Trust? How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t. But we don’t know you, and there’s no way I’m giving you a loaded gun so I can find out how trustworthy you are.” He stares at me like he’d like to kill me. “Now we’re done talking; we’ve been here looking after you for three days with no food, so if you’re coming with us you need to get up so we can get going.” Simeon doesn’t wait for an answer as he rolls onto his stomach, grabs his hiking pack, and moves on all fours across the straw to the ladder.

I hear an annoyed grumble from Jonah. “Easy does it, Sim. Give her a bit of time.”

“I’m not lying around here starving to death while we wait for her.” He reaches the ladder and moves his feet onto a rung. The last thing I see is his eyes glaring at me before he disappears from sight, shouting, “Mathus. We’re moving.”

“Do you think you can walk?” Jonah’s voice is gentle and light.

“Ever think I might not want to go with you?” He doesn’t deserve my icy tone, but I’m uncertain. It’s been months since I’ve spent time with other people, and I don’t know if I want to be tied to a group of strangers, especially with Simeon who either doesn’t like me or doesn’t like anyone. Besides, I have a goal and maybe they don’t. Maybe they’re wandering aimlessly, surviving day by day. But until I can get my ammo back, what choice do I have? I need my pistol. I might only have four rounds left, but without a working gun I’ve got little chance of survival if I stumble across someone with the rage. And the other thing to consider is with three more people, our combined efforts might make finding food easier. I haven’t had a proper meal in weeks.

“Come on,” Jonah coaxes. “I’ll help you down.”

He’s made a decision for me, and for some reason, right at this moment I don’t have a problem with that. I drink more water before Jonah pulls from behind him my pack and hands it to me. I shoulder it and go to the ladder. Jonah holds onto my arms to steady me as I swing one leg after the other over onto a rung. He guides my hands to make sure I have a tight hold and speaks words of encouragement as I navigate my way down and try not to let my lightheadedness take over. Once my feet touch the dirt of the barn floor, he follows me. By the time he’s at my side, I’m close to falling over from weakness.

Fishing in his bag, he draws something out. “Here.” He holds out a Hershey’s bar. It’s a weird shape like it’s been melted and reset a thousand times. “Been saving it for a special occasion.”

My mouth bursts with saliva. The last time I had chocolate was soon after the world started going to shit, a month or two after the lockdown. Since leaving my home, every time I’ve had enough good fortune to come across a house with some food left, I’ve never found any chocolate. And I know from the look of that Hershey’s bar Jonah probably hasn’t either.

“No, I can’t.” The act of kindness should evoke in me something other than that statement.

“Course you can. Been a long time since we’ve met anyone friendly on the road. I’d say that makes this a special occasion.” He waves the bar at me. “Go on. You know you want to.”

And yes, I do.

I reach out. I intend to take it from him slowly, open it like I’m unwrapping the last chocolate bar in the world—because it might be—then offer him some, more than half, before savoring every bite. Instead, I find myself snatching it from his hand, and the moment after I’ve ripped off the wrapper I’ve shoved half of it in my mouth. The taste is exquisite, better than I ever remember despite its obvious age. It’s sweet, so creamy against my tongue, making my mouth deliciously claggy. I chomp at it and thrust the other half in my mouth before I realize what I’m doing. When I look up at him, mouth full, he laughs.

“Sorry,” I say as best as I can with my mouth stuffed.

“You’re welcome.”

We watch each other as I chew, and though I feel bad about what I’ve done, his amber eyes are bright and his smile wide. “I think watching you eat that was more exciting for me than what eating it probably felt like for you.”

“You’re only trying to make me feel better.”

“No. Really. I’m not. But do you feel better?”

“Yes.” That’s the truth. And it’s not just the chocolate.

* * *

The sun is high, so it must be at least midday. Simeon is waiting for us, arms tightly folded across his chest like he’s pissed off. Next to him stands the third of their group. Mathus. He’s younger than Simeon and Jonah—maybe a year or two younger than me—and looks all skin and bone. He doesn’t have any of his companions’ confidence. When I nod at him, he looks at his feet and runs his hand through his short mousy-brown hair. It’s hard to tell because his face is so grubby, but I’m sure he has the same rash across his face as the rest of us.

It reminds me, once again, they’ve said they’re immune and that I am, too. If that’s the case, does that mean Nate is? I try to think back. Did I see the same rash on his face before he left? When did I first notice mine?

“Let’s go,” Simeon says, and Mathus turns on his heel, heading in what must have been a direction predetermined between the two of them. Despite the state I was in when I arrived at the barn, I can tell where they’re heading isn’t the direction I came from, so I’m happy to follow, at least for the time being. As long as I’m going forward and, I have always hoped, in the same direction Nate went.

Simeon and Mathus meet each other’s stride heading out in front and following the dirt road lined with oaks, as Jonah and I take up the rear. There’s a bulge at the back of Simeon’s jeans, a gun shoved down his pants, covered by his t-shirt.

At least one of us has a working gun.

We walk in silence, and despite my pressing questions about the immunity they claim we have, no conversation is fine with me. Being quiet is better than drawing attention to ourselves, even though coming across strangers has been rare since I left my family’s home. And besides, I’ve probably forgotten how to have proper conversations, given I’ve only had myself to talk to for so long. The chocolate incident is testament to that—any social finesse I had has long gone.

The trees soon give way to fields on both sides. Once they would have been ploughed and had crops, but now they’re just weeds and grass. At least we have sight of everything around us for miles and there’s nothing and no one.

A short time later we reach a T-intersection with an asphalt road stretching out to the left and right. Mathus takes out a thick, square piece of paper from his pack and unfolds it. It’s a map.

“Where are we?” Although I’ve traveled a path I’ve had in my mind, it’s been a long while since I knew exactly where I was.

“About 150 miles from Rysdon.” Mathus’ voice is deeper than I imagined it would be.

“Hang on. Did you say Rysdon?” We can’t be that close to Rysdon. I’ve been walking for six months, and our family farm was 250 miles from Rysdon. And I was heading in the opposite direction. Where had I gone wrong? “Fuck.” I say it slowly. “Fuck.” This time louder. I want to punch something, but the only thing to punch is one of the three guys I’m with, and I’m not stupid enough to do that. Instead I throw my pack to the ground and storm off the road into the field. Obscenities fly from my mouth. I scream them so loud each word feels like it’s tearing my throat.

“Shut up,” Simeon shouts at me.

I keep screaming.

Next minute I’m crash tackled to the ground. I know it’s Simeon from his brute strength and the hardness of his muscled body against mine. Even though my impact with the ground makes all the air burst from my lungs, I give as good as I get, fighting against him with all my strength, but I’m no match for him. He pins me to the ground, hissing at me, “Shut up.”

“Get off me!”

He moves my arms sharply above my head, pins me by my wrists with one hand, and then clamps his other over my mouth. “I said, shut the fuck up.”

I open my mouth and bite at his palm, finally connect with one of his fingers and latch on hard. He pulls his hand away, and in the next second it’s become a balled fist coming down toward my face. He only stops millimeters from slamming it into me. Fright and fear silence any other noise I might make, but both Jonah and Mathus are now yelling.

“Get off her, man.”

He may not have the rage, but the look in Simeon’s eyes is one that makes me think he’d like to kill me. “Don’t push me. You don’t know the things I’ve done.”

I bare my teeth at him. “And you have no idea what I’m capable of.” Only I know the depths of my darkness. And Nate.

There’s a change in the way Simeon looks at me, as though he’s sizing me up, wondering the degrees to which he and I are the same.

“Sim, get off her.” It’s Mathus. He’s standing over us. “Get off her.” A heartfelt plea.

Simeon glares. “Next time you shout like that, you’re on your own.”

He climbs off me and is gone, leaving me to stare up at the clear deep blue sky.

“Bell, you all right?” I think it’s Jonah speaking to me, but I don’t know and don’t care.

How can we be so close to Rysdon? How have I gone so wrong?

* * *

We spend the night in a wooded area and resort to eating earthworms and bugs after finding nothing better. Each bite is hard to swallow, not because of what’s on the menu. It’s not the first time I’ve had this kind of meal and it won’t be the last, but keeping myself alive right at this moment is a bitter pill to swallow. Since the crossroad, I’ve been unable to pull myself away from thoughts that I’ve fucked up. I don’t know where Nate went, but from the moment I started after him I chose to believe he would head in the direction I had chosen. He would go straight forward until he came across whatever it was he was looking for, and I’d find him there. Until that happened, my path was always one of going forward, never going back—never looking back—and moving away from Rysdon. Now I know I’ve probably been going around in circles for months.

Jonah tried to talk to me earlier in the day when we sat to have a break, but I was too consumed by my mistake to have any time for him, and so it became them and me, as though I was a spare wheel for a well-oiled machine.

Mathus watches me and eventually comes over. He stands above me and I can tell he’s waiting for permission to sit down. I nod and he squats.

“Your arm okay?”

I look down at the bandage. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“I’ll take a look at it anyway.” He makes eye contact with me for the first time. Even in the dying light, I can see his eyes are a brilliant blue, like the sky I was looking up at only hours ago.

He removes the elastic clip and unwinds the bandage before lifting the pieces of gauze to expose my wound. It’s a mess, my flesh ripped, in some places deeply, but there’s no unpleasant smell wafting from it, so it’s not infected.

“I’ll be back.” Mathus goes to his pack, rummages in it and collects several things. When he returns I can see he’s got a bottle of antiseptic, a fresh bandage, and a few other things. “Probably could do with a wash, but this will do for now.” He pours the antiseptic on my wound, flaring pain up my entire arm. I gasp and he says, “Sorry,” looking me briefly in the eyes before going back to his work. He places fresh gauze onto the wound and covers it with a clean bandage. Then he holds out to me a bottle of pills. “They’re antibiotics. I’ve been giving them to you at night since we found you. You probably don’t remember.”

I don’t, and for some reason I thought it was Jonah who had tended to me when I was unconscious. “Thank you.”

He glances over his shoulder back at the other two, who haven’t said a word to me since they decided on this place to rest for the night. “We’ll find them.” I know he’s talking about Nate even though all I’ve done is spoken his name. But he said “them”. I can hear the heaviness in his voice and know it well. He’s looking for someone too, and desperately trying to convince himself they’re alive and can—or want—to be found.

With a crooked smile, he goes back to Jonah and Simeon.

I sleep terribly, curled up on the cold leaf-littered ground several feet from where the three of them bed down, and in the morning I decide to apologize to Simeon for what I did the day before, at least to get rid of the tension between us.

When they stir I get up and brush damp leaves off my clothes before I walk over to them. I offer Jonah a wan smile and turn to Simeon. “Where are you all heading anyway?”

“Rysdon,” grunts Simeon.

“Rysdon,” Jonah repeats in a much nicer tone.

“What’s there?”

Rysdon is a large town which, last I knew, had little going for it except its new stadium, finished a few months before the virus started being reported on the news.

“Because that’s where my family is,” Mathus replies.

Both Jonah and Simeon glance at him, as though I’ve poked something I should have let alone.

“That’s right,” Jonah finally says.

Are they all searching for people like I am? “Is that where your families are too?”

“Mine are dead,” Simeon replies so matter-of-factly it makes me flinch. “All dead from the rage.” His green eyes catch mine for a moment with that unsettling intensity they have.

What he says reminds me I haven’t discussed with them this immunity they say we have.

Before I can bring it up, Jonah adds, “My parents died two years before all this started. Car crash.” Jonah pauses, staring into the distance. “Probably better off they did.” He chuckles but there’s sadness to it. “I became a bit of a loner after that.” Again he chuckles, this time seeming to find actual humor in his thoughts. “The virus was the best thing to happen to me. Made me get out and meet new people.” He gestures at Simeon and Mathus, and both of them huff a laugh. It’s a window into the type of people they maybe were before everything went to shit.

“So you didn’t know each other beforehand?”

“No, we didn’t,” Simeon snaps. “Now, shall we stop this what’s-your-story session and get moving? You know, go find some food before we all starve to death.”

Jonah’s lightness makes me want to joke, say something about Simeon being “hangry”, but I doubt Simeon’s in the mood. Instead I concentrate on what’s important. “Before we go. This immunity…”

“And your family?” Mathus asks so quietly I hardly hear him.

“Mine?” I don’t want to answer his question. I don’t want to speak the truth, but they’ve been open with me. The words are hard to assemble into thoughts, let alone say out loud. “My parents? The rage. They…I…” How do I tell them what happened when I can’t even admit it to myself?

“And Nate?”

The sound of his name, once again spoken by Jonah, makes my throat tight. “He’s my brother.”

“Where is he now?” Mathus asks cautiously.

I can’t tell them the truth. I can’t say I don’t know. I can’t admit that I’ve been aimless in my quest to find him after he left. And I can’t tell them that he left after my parents died because I know they’ll want to know why. And even I don’t want to admit I know why he went.

They’re waiting in silence for my answer. I even have Simeon’s attention now.

I bend down and grab my pack. “Shouldn’t we get going?”

Simeon, who was staring at me with narrow, questioning eyes, blinks. “Yes. It’s time to go.” I’ve never heard him speak so gently.

* * *

We’ve followed the road through the forest all day and now it’s late afternoon. The sun is beginning to get low enough that the light is being cut out by the trees, and it’s starting to get cold.

Like the day before, we’ve hardly said a word to each other as we’ve traveled. I have used the time to hatch a plan to get the magazine for my pistol and get away from them. It’s been nice to have some companionship, but so far there hasn’t been strength in numbers—we haven’t found any food. And ever since our conversation this morning, an uneasiness has been building inside me. I’ve been more than capable of surviving on my own, and that’s meant all I’ve had to do is move forward day after day. Now, with them, I’m starting to think about things I had tried to stop thinking about. My parents. How they died. Nate and why he left. It took a long time to move beyond the point where all that didn’t haunt me. Now it’s back like it only happened yesterday. Instead of my thoughts only being about one foot in front of the other, food, water, sleep and doing it all over again, I’m back living in the past I want to leave behind.

I need to move forward. I need to focus on what’s important. I need to find Nate, even though I don’t know where he went or where he is now.

The only thing that’s stopping me from leaving is waiting for an opportunity to search Simeon’s bag and grab my ammunition. Tonight, while they’re sleeping, I’ll try.

“How about down here?” Mathus pulls out his map and unfolds it. “Looks like there might be a house somewhere at the end of this track. Might be worth checking out.”

Simeon nods. “Fine.”

It’s a half-hour walk before we come across a log hunting cabin hidden among a forest of trees whose leaves are beginning to transition from their dark rich greens of summer to the oranges, yellows, and reds of autumn. Steps lead to a small porch, and the door is open. It looks like one of those cabins where your worst nightmare might lie inside—that part in a movie where you whisper urgently at the television screen, “Don’t go in there!”

Simeon pulls out his handgun from the back of his pants—one similar to mine. As we wait—half expectantly, half gripped by the unease of not knowing if someone’s inside—he goes in to take a look. When he appears again in the doorframe he doesn’t need to say a thing—there’s nothing in there worth finding.

“Least it’s clean.” Simeon turns his back on us and returns into the cabin.

We follow, and he’s right. It may have been ransacked at some stage—the kitchenette cupboards are all wide open and empty—but it’s not as bad as some of the houses I’ve been in. Often furniture is upended, in the bedrooms the wardrobes opened and clothes strewn everywhere, dresser drawers pulled out and thrown aside, mattresses cut open and the stuffing pulled out as though there was food to be found inside. Instead, everything looks like it’s where it should be. Even in the back two bedrooms—one with a queen, the other a bunk bed—the beds are made, with blankets neatly folded at the ends, as though someone knew we were coming to stay.

Simeon drops his pack to the floor and the rest of us do the same as he walks off toward the room with the queen bed. “Wake me the fuck up when there’s something worth living for.”

It’s the first time I’ve heard him sound defeated.

He slams the door behind him.

“Want me to keep watch?” Mathus asks Jonah.

I might be as hungry and defeated as they are, but I’ve been hungry before, and I always keep my mind sharp. “I’ll do it,” I say before Jonah can reply. “You two rest. I’ll wake you if I get tired.” If I can get them all to go to sleep, I can get my magazine from Simeon’s bag and be on my way.

Jonah tilts his head. “You sure?”

“I am.” I want to add even without a gun to protect me, but that might give them a hint of what I plan to do.

“Thanks,” Mathus mumbles and heads off to the room with the bunk.

“Yeah, thanks,” Jonah repeats, and he brings his hand to my shoulder and squeezes it.

In that moment I almost experience a second of regret that I intend to leave. Is it so bad being with them? Do I want to be alone again? Maybe not, but you need to be.

“Come get me any time.” He follows Mathus into the room and pulls the door half closed.

I wander outside and walk the length of the short porch, my boots clunking on the timber until Simeon yells, “Shut up out there!” So I walk down the stairs—making sure my footsteps are real heavy just to annoy Simeon—before I step onto the leaf-littered ground. Doing a lap of the cabin seems the best plan to become familiar with my surroundings. I turn left.

The cabin is tiny, so there’s not much circumference to navigate, but I do it slowly and take my time looking off into the darkening forest. In the distance a bird calls, but it’s not an alert cry, rather the bird merely saying goodnight.

Next moment the toe of my boot catches on something, and I trip and fall hard onto my hands and knees, pain shooting up my wounded arm from the jolt. The sound as I hit the ground is…weird. Metallic and kinda hollow. Even beneath my knees it doesn’t feel right. I brush my hands across the ground, clearing a thick layer of leaves, and beneath that I see steel. I keep scraping away the ground cover exposing more metal until I find a hinge. A hinge means a door, doesn’t it? I work in the opposite direction, until I expose the length of whatever is beneath me. Then I’m furiously scraping and scooping and removing everything until I’ve revealed the entirety of what I’ve found. A rectangular metal door lying on the ground. A hatch?

I get to my feet and yank upward on the edge opposite the two hinges. It pulls open. The air that comes from inside is stale, but it’s not putrid. There are steep stairs with a handrail that lead down into darkness. I want to go down there, see what’s inside, but I haven’t got any light, and going into dark holes by myself when I don’t have to would be dumb.

I run back and almost trip on the lip of the porch as I burst into the house. Jonah and Mathus are already out of their room, probably thinking I am being pursued by someone. The door of Simeon’s room flies open, banging against the wall. He’s holding a gun at me.

“No, no, no.” I wave my hands at him. “It’s okay. I’ve found something!”

“For fuck’s sake.” Simeon lowers his gun.

Jonah and Mathus let out a collective sigh.

“Seriously, it’s worth getting up for.” I’m as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, even though I don’t really know what I’ve found. “We need a light.”

“For what?” barks Simeon.

I don’t answer him and dash back outside. They follow. I’m hoping what I show them doesn’t lead to disappointment. When I reach the hatch, I do a “ta-da” gesture with my arms, and I can tell by the look on their faces all three are now as excited as I am.

“I haven’t been down, but it was hidden under all that stuff.” I gesture at the piled leaves and dirt I’ve pushed away. “So…maybe…just maybe…”

Simeon pulls a zippo out of his pocket and lights it. Gun in one hand and the wavering flame in the other, he doesn’t hesitate once he sees the stairs.

His steps are hollow sounds echoing from whatever is below.

Mathus’ legs jiggle a bit, and Jonah looks at me, his eyes full of optimism. I hold my breath.

Please let there be something good down there.

Simeon’s words are drawn out and choked. “Fucking hell.”

* * *

We’re all sitting bathed in yellow candlelight on the queen mattress we brought down earlier. Except Mathus. He’s lying on his back on a single mattress, rubbing his stomach. I kinda want to do the same because I’ve eaten too much. Around us are the remnants of our feast: open cans now empty, bottles of soft drinks half drunk, wrappers from chocolate bars including Hershey’s, the first of which I handed to Jonah because, I said to him, “I owe you one.” Then there’s the bottle of whiskey we’re now passing around, taking swigs from. We’re cheap drunks since none of us have had alcohol for a very long time.

Surrounding us are shelves stacked with food and drink. A prepper’s parlor of delights undiscovered over the years. I’d forgotten the diversity of tastes in the food we once had, the delight in sugar rushes, the comfort of a full belly, and the ache of one overstuffed.

“So, we’ll stay here for a while?” Mathus asks in a cautious tone. It sounds like they’ve found places like this before, but the others haven’t wanted to stay…or, at least, I’m guessing Simeon hasn’t.

“I don’t see why not. Hell, let’s stay until the food runs out.” Simeon has a lightness I’ve never seen or heard before, as though not being hungry has allowed him to be more of what he once was. But I know it’s more than that. It’s the prospect of not spending day after day trekking and always being on edge, wondering who’s around the next corner, where your next mouthful of food will come from or where you’ll next lay your head. Here, we can probably stay hidden for a while if we can find a way to disguise the hatch. Plenty of food. No stress. An opportunity to relax, recharge, maybe even become a little more human again.

“I’d like that,” I say without thinking. My plans to get my ammo and leave have obviously been thrown by the wayside. My alcohol-fogged brain isn’t interested in things like that right now.

Jonah reaches over and touches my leg. “I think we all would.”

We’re silent for a while until Mathus rolls onto his side. “You’re trying to find Nate, right?”

In any other circumstance I might snap that it’s none of his business, but our comradery through food and booze has also blunted that pain, even if it’s only for tonight.

“Yeah. I am.”

“How did you get split up?”

And suddenly I want to talk. They’ve probably shared their stories with each other, maybe more than once, but I’ve never shared mine. For so long I’ve tried hard to move past what happened, but it’s never really gone. It’s like a weight I drag around with me every step I take. Perhaps it will feel less if I unburden myself to them, even if I don’t tell everything.

I pull my legs up and place my chin on my knees. “We didn’t get split up. He left. Because he was angry with me.” Angry? Hate would be a better way to describe how he felt. “Once it started spreading, Mom, Dad, Nate, and I holed up at our small farm. We’d always grown our own vegetables, had fruit trees, hens, a few milking cows. And we were lucky. Before things got too bad, we stocked up on staples. So we were a lot better off than others.” I know I don’t need to explain to them what it was like for the people in the big cities and the living hell many found themselves in. “For a long time no one disturbed us, except for a few of our neighbors who we bartered with. Then, one day, some strangers came.” They’d walked down our road late one afternoon. “We could tell they were sick. We’d heard about the rage, but at that point they weren’t consumed by it. Just had the blood-red eyes and the fever. Dad went and got the shotgun, told them to move on. But they wouldn’t.” They were defenseless—no weapons—so what was my dad going to do? Shoot them? He wasn’t that type of man. “Eventually we offered them food. After they got that they left…or at least we thought they had.” We’d kept our distance, only Dad had gotten close to them and, even then, it wasn’t too close. That saying six feet of distance defines our existence was a bare minimum to my father. But they must have slept in the barn, or done something, contaminated something somehow. “Seven days later my dad got sick. And soon after, Mom. It was weeks before the rage took them.” For a while we kidded ourselves their fate wouldn’t be like all the others, but... “It was overnight. We woke to a sound…” They were no longer human. They were animals. “My dad….” And now I know I’m going to tell most of it. “My dad had taught me how to use a gun, the one I carry with me. And he had told me when…when…”

Simeon lets out a hiss.

I snatch a look at him. His eyes are glassy and he’s tracing a part of his scar with his index finger. “So you led them away and abandoned them?”

At first I can’t see how he’s made that connection, and I almost want to yell at him and ask if he’s stupid. Does he need me to spell out what I did? But that’s when I realize what he’s doing, that he’s giving me a gift, a way out of speaking the truth I don’t want to speak. Because he knows. Is that scar on his face a reminder of something he prefers to forget? What had he said? You don’t know what I’m capable of. Is it the same as what I did?

I hug my legs and close my eyes. My throat is choked, my chest heavy. “Nate…” The venom in those few words he spat to me echo in my mind: I’ll never forgive you. I can never forgive myself. “I woke up the next morning and he was gone. He’s only thirteen. He shouldn’t be on his own.”

I’m rocking back and forth. Normal people would cry after remembering all that, even though I’ve omitted details and been spared of speaking the ultimate truth, but I don’t because normal people don’t do what I did.

I still see my mother’s face…

An arm wraps around me. It’s big and firm. I know it’s Simeon before I open my eyes. He runs a hand through my hair, down the side of my cheek, and then a finger curls at the bottom of my chin. “It’s okay.” He lifts my head and searches my eyes with his. “It’s okay.” When he leans in and presses his lips against mine—once, twice, a third time—it’s like he’s trying to kiss all my pain away.

I feel a hand on my leg—Jonah, Mathus?—and whether it’s the erasure of inhibitions from the alcohol, or my sudden need to feel close to people after so many months of being alone, I don’t shirk away. Instead I kiss Simeon back and let him unbutton my shirt and peel it off. One of the others guides my legs away from their protective huddle against my chest. As Simeon unhooks my bra and lays me back still kissing me, I feel fingers at the button of my pants, and then hear the slide of the zipper. I lift my backside up so they can peel my jeans down and pull them from my legs. Simeon’s mouth leaves mine, and another replaces it. Jonah, his tongue hot and urgent. When lips come to my breasts brushing against my nipples, I know it’s Mathus. He’s cautious. Perhaps it’s his first time? His breath rushes hot out of his mouth before he sucks my nipple into his mouth and rolls it against his tongue. There are hands at the hem line of my panties. They’re yanked down and Simeon’s buries himself between my thighs before I have time to think twice. A moan escapes my mouth into Jonah’s as Simeon tastes me and groans.

In that moment, I feel young, carefree. Alive and not alone.

* * *

I am caught up in a tangle of arms and legs beneath a blanket, all three of them surround me protectively. The candles have gone out, but there’s a faint wedge of predawn light from the open hatch, illuminating the stairs.

The night before races back to me with a pang between my legs. I’m not sure why I don’t feel embarrassed. Three guys at once, all together? I smile to myself. The world really is a different place now, and this “place” is somewhere I want to be. Not only because it felt so good. Because I never thought I’d ever feel close to anyone again—physically, emotionally.

My bladder is full and I desperately need to pee. I pull myself away from the tangle slowly, trying not to wake them, but the moment I move Simeon opens his eyes.

“Gotta go use the bathroom,” I say. I wish I could see his expression in the darkness. I want to know what he thinks of what we all did last night. Does he have regrets? Was it something they did because they were drunk, and now that they’re sober we’re back to me being the spare wheel?

“Don’t take too long,” he replies with a smile in his voice, and that’s all I need.

I feel around, find a t-shirt that isn’t mine, pull it on, and climb away from the three of them.

Barefoot, I walk up the stairs and come out into the cold morning air. The ground is damp with dew. I tippy toe across it, a little away from the hatch, squat, and let go.

When I’m done, despite the chill, I wander a bit farther away from the hatch and stare up at the patches of sky I can see through the tree branches. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. Am I happy? Do I have the right to feel like that?

There’s a crack of a branch beneath someone’s foot. I turn. “Is that you, Sim—”

I don’t have time to count the strangers standing behind me. All I see is one swinging something at my head.

* * *

Voices. So many voices.

My head is… God my head hurts.

And there’s a strong acrid stench coming from… Everywhere.

I try to open my eyes. They feel like they’re glued shut with mud. Through slits I can barely pry open, I see flickering light—a lot of it—and shapes moving, but my vision is blurred and I can’t make sense of it

Where am I?

I try to lift a hand to touch my head because it hurts so bad, it’s like someone has hit me hard with a baseball bat and split my skull open…so maybe this isn’t mud gluing my eyes. Maybe it’s blood. But that’s when I register something is biting sharply at my wrists and realize my hands are tied behind my back. Despite all the pain I try to orient myself. My face is flat against hard ground so I’m lying down. I move my legs and discover my ankles are also bound.

Where the hell am I?

I force my eyes open further. Whatever is gluing my eyelids shut tears at my eyelashes, and the pain in my head is trying to shatter all my other senses, but I’m determined to see.

When my eyelids finally rip open, I think I’m dreaming.

There are hundreds of people. More? It’s a sea of light and movement; people talking, shouting. They sound like kids. It’s night, but I can see them because they stand around fires of all sizes—some small, others larger, most belching smoke with the stink of burning rubber. Some of the fires look like they’re rising up into the sky, until I realize we’re in a small stadium, and there are people in the stands clustered around little infernos.

Rysdon. I must be in Rysdon.

Way off there is chanting; somewhere in the distance I hear what sounds like a firecracker, but it might be a gun; and every now and again there’s a scream—more than one—that isn’t excitement. It’s the type of sound I used to clamp my hands over my ears not to hear. The sounds of nightmares—of women’s fear.

“This one’s awake,” a voice says near me.

Rough hands grab my arms and I’m wrenched up between two men. No, they’re not men. They’re boys. Young but strong.

I think about struggling against them, but my head is splitting in two and all I want to do is vomit. My head lolls and I can’t lift it.

They drag me between them, the backs of my bare toes scraping against the ground. It would probably hurt more if everything else didn’t hurt so much.

The last thing I remember races into my mind, and too late I try to look back, to see who else was there with me. I had been outside the hunting cabin. I’d heard a noise. Turned… Had the people who discovered me also found Simeon, Jonah, and Mathus? Were the three of them lying near me bound and unconscious?

“Simeon?” I scream despite it making my brain feel like it is being torn in two. “Jonah? Mathus?”

One of the kids dragging me giggles.

I try to look up and catch the eye of someone, anyone, who might help me, but it’s as though they’ve seen this a thousand times before—a young woman dragged around this place is nothing out of the ordinary. They continue to talk, laugh, and dance. It’s like a demented apocalyptic party. I don’t understand it. After months of fear, there’s a place where people don’t seem to have a care in the world.

We come to a halt and I drag my head up. In front of me is a wooden platform, like a low stage, and on it is a chair. More than a chair. It’s an enormous throne assembled from things that are snow white, untainted by the glow of yellow firelight. My eyes trace the objects. I know what they are, but my mind doesn’t want to connect the dots—refuses to—until I come to the skulls, and then I can’t deny what I see. A throne of human bones.

On it sits a kid. I want to think maybe he’s an adult with youthful looks. But I know that’s not true. He’s twelve, maybe thirteen, and flanked by two older boys who stand on either side of the throne of bones.

There’s a girl in front of us. She’s a few years older than the throned kid, and she begins to ascend the steps of the stage. As she does, strange large animals, white and bloodied, tethered to chains, leap at her. The chains stop them from reaching the throned boy and give a clear path of only inches for the girl. They pull their chains taught, clawing and frenzied. And I’m blinking my eyes hard because what I’m seeing can’t be right. They’re not animals. They’re… They’re…

…naked humans with the rage.

I start to shake. “What is this place?”

The throned boy says loud and clear in a high-pitched tone—he’s so young his voice hasn’t even broken yet—“What have you brought me?”

The girl holds out a sack, which is taken by one of the attendants standing at the side of the throne. After a brief inspection, she’s handed it back and it shakes as she trembles.

“King of Bones.” Her voice wavers. “I’ve brought you heaps of things.” She draws from the bag an object and extends it out to him with a quivering hand. “Batteries.”

The king takes it from her.

“Some antibiotics.”

The king looks bored.

“I have tins of sardines.” The girl’s voice is rising, fear in every word as she frantically digs around in her sack.

“And that’s it?”

“No. Look. Vodka!” She holds it out to him.

He takes the bottle from her and inspects the label. “Cheap vodka.” She doesn’t have a chance when he lobs it at her. The bottle hits her square in the head. She folds to the ground and falls to one side, within the grasp of those chained with the rage. Three of them dive onto her.

My hands are bound behind my back. I can’t clamp my hands over my ears. Her screams should shatter the sound of those around us, but they don’t. Everyone close by continues doing what they are doing except me. I vomit. It rushes up my throat and spews from my mouth in great heaves as those things rip that girl apart, and when they finally stop –when she stops—I can’t control my shaking.

I’m dragged up the stairs. The things on my left are preoccupied. The ones on the right strain against their chains, claw at me and make sounds I’ve never heard a human make.

“What is this?” The king’s tone is like he’s talking to a small child. “Look at me.”

I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to look at anyone who would do such a thing to another human being. But if I don’t, that might be my fate. I try, but my head is full of the weight of pain and of what I’ve just witnessed.

One of the boys holding me grabs me by the hair and yanks back so I have no choice but to meet the gaze of the boy king.

He stands and steps up to me slowly before he grabs my cheeks roughly with his thumb and two fingers and leans in.

“A butterfly.”

As close to him as I am, I can see he, too, has the same rash as me. His eyes inspect me from head to toe. Only then do I remember I’m only wearing a t-shirt and nothing more. “A sexy butterfly, or she would be if she wasn’t such a fucking mess.”

The hands of the boys holding me tighten, probably thinking of what their king might do to them for presenting him with a soiled woman.

“Clean her up, then take her to my rooms.”

“What for?” I didn’t mean to speak the words out loud. I only realize I have when he laughs.

“For an audience. With your king. And,” he grabs me hard in the crotch and I gasp as his grubby fingers violate me, “with his cock.”

I should be laughing. A little kid thinking he’s going to fuck me? But I know that’s what’s going to happen, whether I want it or not. And then after that?

The king lets go of my face and squeezes between my legs even harder before he lets go of that, too.

I close my eyes against the torn body of the girl who came up onto this stage before me, and against the pain in my head, shoulders, dog-mauled arm, wrists, ankles, and toes as they drag me away. I try to block out the fate I’ve been presented with and replace it with memories of the night before. When I was young again and without a care in the world. When I experienced, maybe for the last time, the kind of life a normal twenty-year-old would have had if the world hadn’t gone to shit.

I can only hope Nate didn’t end up here.

* * *

They take me under the stadium seating and into a walkway dully lit by candles here and there. My lungs fill with the stink of sweat and piss, and as my eyes adjust, I realize it’s full of makeshift sleeping places for some of the people who live here. The candles burn near figures who line the walls, sitting in small groups, some sleeping on cardboard and beneath old tattered and dirty blankets or sheets. None of them pay us any attention.

Eventually I’m dragged through some doors with NO ENTRY spray-painted on them and into a room to the left which was once a locker room. There are padded benches lining the walls and in the center of the room. Beyond that, there are shower cubicles with buckets in them and some toilets. Two armed boys stand at the door with handguns. Their presence is a reminder I’m not going anywhere.

The two holding me let go and I fall to the floor. One cuts the bindings from my ankles. “Once I remove the ties around your wrists, you’re going to take that off.”

“That? Off?”

“Your t-shirt.”

“No.” I don’t think about that answer. They can shoot me here, because I’m pretty sure they intend to try me out before their king does.

“Then don’t take it off.”

He nods at the two armed boys, who step inside and close the door.

I scrabble at the floor, trying to get up and make a break for it despite my arms still being behind my back. They’re not going to do to me what I’ve seen others do to women. I want them to raise their guns. Shoot me…shoot me…shoot me… But they don’t. They laugh and grab me.

They may be boys, but against four of them I don’t have a chance.

Still, I fight. I kick as I’m dragged backward. They slam me face down onto one of the padded benches and pin me there, laughing like they’re possessed, one crooning, “Look at that sweet pussy,” as I struggle and strain. Holding me down hard against the bench, I feel one of them grab at my hips.

Gunshots fill the room. One of the boys collapses onto me. The others have fallen silent and their hands are no longer on my body.

“Bell? Bell?”

I recognize Jonah’s voice and turn my head. Behind him stands Mathus, and behind him is Simeon. The moment Simeon sees I recognize them, he turns so he’s facing in the other direction, gun raised like he’s waiting for trouble.

My chest fills with something I can only imagine is the welling of sobs, but they don’t get beyond that.

Jonah is now at my side. He pushes the lifeless boy off me and cuts the bindings from my wrists before drawing me into his arms. “We’re so sorry. We’ve been following, but this is the first time we had a chance to get to you.” He squeezes me tightly.

“Quit the chitchat. We need to get out of here. Now.”

Simeon’s lack of emotion pulls me back to where I need to be—straight thinking. I can process this nightmare later. For now, he’s right, we need to get out of here, but my head hurts like hell. Every part of me does. And the shock of what could have happened to me in here starts to set in.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Simeon barks. He comes into the room and picks me up in his arms. “Mathus, give her her gun.”

Mathus pulls from the back of his pants a pistol and holds it out to me. It’s mine, with the magazine loaded.

“Mathus, front. Jonah, rear. Come on. Let’s go.”

I hold out my pistol. It may only have four rounds left, but I’ll use every one of them now if I have to.

“No. Keep it hidden unless you need it,” Simeon hisses.

I cradle it into the crook of my arm and we head out of the double doors I was brought through earlier and into the stadium walkway. I thought we’d move with stealth, or at least run. Instead, they walk like we’re part of this hellish world, with a “nothing to see here” stride and confidence in every one of their steps.

I press my face against Simeon’s chest to block out the reek of the people we walk past. His body scent is strong and bitterly sweet, just like he is. When we get outside, even though there’s the acrid stench of the burning tires, it’s a welcome relief.

We move through the crowds. Close up and immersed in it, the crazed, mad world I first thought this was reveals its true self. Beyond the excitement of the King of Bones and all those around him, I witness the grim reality of this new world. Children with vacant looks in their eyes, thin as sticks. Dirty. Lost. Some alone. One girl I see cradles in her arms a little boy who can only be three. He’s dead. Some children are sobbing, others lie there rocking. Some are butterflies. Others not.

“Put me down.” I struggle against Simeon’s hold.

He grasps me a little more firmly. “We’re not stopping, Bell.”

“What about Nate?” Is he here? Among all this? I need to know.

Simeon lets out a long breath. “Not now. Okay? We need to get out of here. Find somewhere safe to come up with a plan.”

“I can’t leave him.” In my heart I know he’s here, somewhere.

“We won’t,” Mathus reassures. “We’ll come back, Bell. We’ll come back. I need to come back. My family might be here, too.”

Of course, they’re right. I don’t even think I have the strength to look for Nate. Could I even walk? And I know Mathus wants to find his family as much as I want to find my brother.

“Okay.”

* * *

We reach the edge of the playing field and start along the circumference until we find one of the player’s tunnels and stop.

Jonah strains his head forward, looking into the darkness. “Think anyone’s down there?”

“If it’s anything like the way in…” Mathus shakes his head in thought. “They probably let you in easier than they let you out.”

Simeon takes in a deep breath. “Do you think you can walk, Bell? Might need all the firepower we can get.”

I want to say I can’t, but I remind myself it’s never been my way to give up, and in the past I’ve pushed myself time and again when I’ve thought I’ve had nothing left.

“I can.”

He tightens his hold for a moment, like he wants me to know he’d keep holding me if he could, before he lets me slip from his grip.

“Stay between me and Mathus. Jonah, let’s go.”

We start down into the dark mouth of the tunnel. Our footsteps echo and I can even hear our breaths. I hold out my gun, although I’m not sure how that will help me in the darkness—I could shoot Jonah or Simeon if I’m not careful. At the end of the tunnel there are walkways to the left and right, more people, more candles, and the stink of their terrible lives. But immediately in front of us are a set of large closed double doors.

Mathus goes to one of the push bars and leans into it. The door opens. He sticks out his head and looks, then steps out. “All clear,” he calls quietly after a long pause, but I can hear his uncertainty.

We join him outside and the door closes at our backs.

A parking lot stretches out in front of us, although it’s more like a junkyard. There are cars everywhere, none of them in designated parking spots. There are also several semis with shipping containers. Beyond is what I think is Rysdon. There are no lights there—there’s been no power for a year anywhere—and in the moonlight we can only see the outlines of the buildings. Apart from that, there’s nothing except the rising hills around the town.

It’s too quiet. Too still. Too easy, and all three of the guys know it.

“Something’s not right,” Mathus mumbles.

Jonah shrugs. “Maybe they’re just a bunch of stupid kids.”

“Stop talking. Get moving.” I can hear tension in Simeon’s tone. He knows something’s off.

Mathus glances back at the stadium. “Do we go around and retrieve our packs? Is that the plan?”

Simeon shakes his head. “Let’s get distance between us and this place right now. We can talk plans later.”

Guns raised at the near-darkness, we start navigating our way through the cars.

“Hey!” The booming male voice startles us and we all turn wildly in circles, holding out our guns, trying to work out where it came from. Whoever it is and wherever they are, they’re not a kid. It’s someone closer to our age. “Where are you going?”

Simeon grabs my arm and pulls me over to an SUV for some cover. Jonah and Mathus do the same at a hatchback two up from us.

“No one out after dark.” This is a young woman. “Step out. Hands up.”

Mathus moves his hand in a “stay low” gesture followed by a fist. He wants us to stay put.

Simeon shakes his head doing the “stay low” gesture followed by creeping two fingers in a walking motion.

“Step out. Hands up,” repeats the male.

Jonah now gestures with his hands, but I have no idea what he’s trying to say, and then all three of them seem to be getting into a nonverbal argument, fingers fast and urgent.

“Last chance,” croons the female in a way that puts a stop to everyone’s hand movements. There’s something ominous about her tone and none of us like it.

“Whatever you do. Stay with me,” Simeon whispers.

“Release!” calls the male.

Release what?

Loud clangs of metal against metal ring out in the otherwise silent night. After that I hear muffled sounds. Inhuman sounds. The rage.

“Fuck. The containers.” Simeon isn’t quiet when he speaks. “They’ve got people with the rage in the shipping containers. Get the fuck up.” He grabs my hand and yanks me. “Run.”

As we take off, I hear metal creak and groan, and Simeon slows slightly as we both look in the direction of the sound. Someone on top of one of the shipping containers is opening the doors. The sound of the rage fills the night air. Bodies fall out from the open doors, and I pray they’ll stay down, but they pick themselves up and start flooding around the cars in the parking lot, looking for something to tear apart. Searching for us.

There’s no way we have enough bullets to shoot all of them.

“Come on, Isabella!” Simeon yanks me away from them.

Now it’s just him and me running for our lives, because I don’t know where Jonah and Mathus are.

We weave among the cars, Simeon’s grasp of my hand tight. My feet are bare and the parking lot surface stings against my soles, but fear propels me.

Reaching the edge of the parking lot, we race into surrounding parkland. My head pounds with my heartbeat and my legs begin to lose all strength. Simeon’s pace is still fast. Too fast.

“Slow down. Slow down.”

He doesn’t slow, and I’m dragged after him with the inhuman noise of those pursuing us close, but not as close as it was.

We run through the park, leaving the sounds behind. Still Simeon doesn’t stop. “Come on. Come on.” His breathing is labored, and I know he’s saying it as much to himself as me.

I intend to keep moving, but my legs give way and I fall. He nearly yanks my shoulder out of its socket and I yell out. Our hands part as I grab at the pain, and my pistol flies from my reach. Simeon’s still running but tries to stop his momentum as he looks back at me. He doesn’t see the tree he careers into at full speed. There’s a thud from his impact and another as he hits the ground.

Breath races from my mouth, and at first I think the thudding noise I hear is still my pulse thundering in my head—until I realize it’s the sound of someone coming at me fast with heavy, bounding steps.

I roll onto my back so I can see. From the form I can tell it’s a male. Jonah? Mathus? It’s not until he gets close enough in the moonlight and I can make out more of his features that I know it’s neither of them. It’s someone infected with the rage.

Propelled by his fury, he looks like he’s flying when he lunges at me. I roll away from him just in time and he collides with the ground hard. He has no care for the damage he’s doing to himself—the impact does nothing, and in seconds he lunges at me again. I roll away, but he’s too fast, and then he’s on top of me, his face in my face, saliva raining down on me as he snaps and snarls like he wants to tear me to pieces. His palms press on my shoulders and I scream in pain and terror, pushing my hands up into his chest to try to get him off me.

In the dim light it’s hard to see anything. He’s a smudge of impossibly fast movement, but when I scream out, “Help me!” he suddenly becomes still.

Our eyes lock.

God. No. No, no, no, no, no.

“Nate.”

Is it him? He’s not the young boy who left our parents’ farm in the middle of the night without a goodbye. He’s bigger. Stronger. His face has no youthful roundness. It’s more chiseled, and soft tufts of hair sprout from his chin and above his lip. He’s all grown up. And he’s infected.

Nate snarls at me, and for a moment I have to fight him again as he tries to bite my face.

“Nate. Nate!” The words explode from my mouth as I thrash and strain to keep his face away from mine. “It’s me! It’s Bella.”

Abruptly he stops and his brow fills with furrows.

I know somewhere buried deep within his rage-filled mind there’s a memory of me. Somewhere in there, there’s still my brother. I’m sure of it. The night I woke to find our parents had transformed into people who no longer knew who we were and wanted us dead, there was one second—one second—when I saw in my mother’s eyes recognition of who I was. It was the moment right after I put a bullet through my father’s brain. The moment before I did the same to her. And Nate had seen it, too. I didn’t know he was standing there behind me.

“She was okay,” he had howled at me. “She. Was. Okay.”

She wasn’t okay. It was only a single moment in what would otherwise be an existence of unstoppable rage. There was only one choice: her or us.

“I’ll never forgive you.” How many times had he screamed those words before he went into his room and slammed the door. How long had I sat outside listening to him sobbing? Why did I eventually go back to my room instead going in and trying to explain?

“Nate. It’s me,” I whisper.

Why isn’t he immune? I should have been the one to get the virus and the rage. Not him.

His hold relaxes and he sits up, still straddling me.

A single gunshot rings out. Nate makes an “oomph” sound and grasps close to his heart. I don’t really understand what has happened until I see Simeon staggering toward us with his gun raised.

“Don’t! Don’t! It’s Nate!”

I look back at my brother. If it was me, suffering from the rage or not, I’d be bent on attacking the person trying to kill me. Nate, however, only continues to sit on me, his hands where he’s been shot, looking down at it as though he’s merely been stung by a bee.

Moonlight catches trails of blood that run from his eyes down the side of his nose. It makes him look like he’s crying.

“Nate?” My chest is tight with blossoming sobs. “Nate?”

His eyes latch onto mine for a second time, and in that moment Simeon places the muzzle of his gun to my brother’s temple.

I want to scream at Simeon to take it away. I want him to leave Nate alone. To leave us alone, but I know why he’s doing it. I knew I had to kill my mother because her clarity wouldn’t last and the rage would once again consume her. Simeon knows at any moment Nate will try to kill me again.

“I’ve been looking for you.” My voice trembles. Not from fear. “And I’ve found you.”

“Bella?” Nate’s focus is solely on me. “I’m sorry.” His breathing begins to quicken. “I know now. I know why you…” He bares his teeth at me so hard I hear them crack. “What’s happened to me?” His voice is a little boy’s, the one I grew up with. The one who would slip his hand into mine as we’d walk home after the school bus dropped us off. “Bella, can we go home?”

Every emotion I have refused to feel in the last six months breaks free in one long sob. “I’ll take you home, Nate. I’ll take you home.” I reach up and slip a hand into his. “Simeon.”

Simeon fires.

* * *

With the rising of the sun, I look back on the stadium down in the distance. As we sit together, Simeon holds me in a protective embrace, and I am resting my face against his chest. I hear and feel the rhythmic beat of his heart.

He carried me when I couldn’t walk, talk, or think, when every second I was consumed by my grief.

I did what I needed to do, what I wanted to do—I found Nate. It was supposed to be a happy ending when we were reunited. Instead all I got was the reality of this new world as I witnessed the absolute end of the life I once lived. I sobbed for all that and more as Simeon carried me. For my mother’s apple pie and my father’s beery scent. For schoolteachers I loved to hate. For friends, summer breaks, and swimming at the waterhole. Binge-watching Netflix. Long hot baths, fresh milk from the fridge, and Oreos.

Now, here on a hilltop looking down on Rysdon, I am resigned to this new life stretching out before me, and for now, I have no more tears left to cry.

I look up at Simeon and trace my finger along the scar on his lip. “How’d you get this?”

He grimaces. “My sister. A knife.” His eyes glass slightly, and I know his pain. I always knew there was something that connected us. I don’t need him to elaborate. Just like I know he doesn’t need me to thank him for ending Nate’s pain because it’s something I couldn’t have done.

Simeon pulls my head close to his chest again and we watch the rising sun.

“Look. There,” he eventually murmurs as he stands.

I see off in the distance what he’s spied. Two figures walking our way.

Simeon knows them. So do I.

“Jonah! Mathus!”

They stop for a minute and look around as Simeon waves his arms madly in the air before they wave back and start in our direction.

Simeon extends a hand to me and I take it. He carefully pulls me up from the ground. I don’t let go as we start down the hill.

I may have found and lost Nate, but I also found them. The void my brother has left would be unbearable without Simeon, Jonah, and Mathus. With them, perhaps there is some hope for me in this new world. At least, for the time being, I know where I’m heading: wherever they go.

About the Author

Jaya Moon lives in Australia on the coast with her husband, son, two cats, one dog and six chickens. She writes by night and digs holes during the day (literal ones…figurative ones, too, probably).

In her spare time, she eats chocolate, reads every reverse harem book she can find, and binges on Netflix while eating more chocolate. Once in a while she goes outside, just to make sure the world still exists beyond on her front door.

Jaya’s debut book can be found on Amazon: books2read.com/AwokenJayaMoon

To contact Jaya, stop by her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JayaMoonAuthor/

Apocalyptic Holidays

By

Alexis Taylor

&

Beth Hendrix

To our babies who encourage us to reach for the stars even in the darkest times.

P.S. To all the teachers….We salute you.

Prologue

Looking down from the clouds, I have a moment of hesitation for what I am about to do. I was never born, like the humans, I stared down at, I came into existence in the exact form that I am in now. My role in heaven is a guardian angel, or at least it was.

For as long as I could remember, I have watched over and protected the mortals. Every time I watched them envy that I shouldn't feel would start to grow. It grew to the point that I was willing to join the rebellion. I knew that our decision to fall from grace would affect humans in some way, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. I wanted to be like them. To have choices, find love, or make stupid mistakes and learn from them but you can't do those things here.

Here I was stuck in the endless loop of helping the mortals, being a part of their world in a sense, but not at the same time. I could reach out and touch them to help, but never just because I wanted to graze their hand. Never being able to hold my charge when they were crying, or hug them because they were happy. I was on the outside looking in and I just couldn’t do it anymore.

“Are you ready, Sariel?” Raphael said behind me, jerking me out of my thoughts. My moment of hesitation ended because I knew I was going to go through with it.

“You realize that our father knows what we are doing, right? He knows all.” I whispered, thinking about our father. I knew that there would be consequences for our actions, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

“Do you care?” looking him in the eyes, I shook my head. Nothing was going to stop me unless I was forced by our father.

Turning back to look at our home, I said goodbye and told our father that I was sorry. I loved him, truly I did, but I had to go.

Throwing myself backward, I fell through the sky until excruciating pain burned my back and the last thing I saw before blackness was the ground hurtling towards my face.

Chapter One

“It's Christmas day, sissy.” My younger sister Kayra yelled in my ear, wrenching me awake. Grunting and opening my eyes, I knew that it had to be the crack of dawn outside due to the fact that there was only a little bit of light streaming in my window. Damn, I just wanted to sleep in. Was that too much to ask?

“Come on Kay. Let me sleep just a little bit longer. The sun's not even completely up yet.” I replied, groaning as I attempted to turn away from her.

“No Bernie. You have got to get up now. There are pretty lights outside. Santa left presents everywhere. Please, please, please wake up.” The more she talked the higher her little voice got. There was no way she was letting me go back to sleep.

Looking at her, her straight blonde hair was a mess, her bright blue eyes were wide and shining. She really was a beautiful little girl. Smart too, at only 9 years old she was number one in her class. She was also spoiled rotten. As much as I would like to blame that on my parents, it was also my fault.

She was my parents' miracle baby. They had tried to have another baby for years after they had me. When I was 9 they had given up and by the time I was 10 I had a baby sister on the way. Everyone always talks about how they fight with their siblings and such, but we never had that problem. I was just as excited about the baby as my parents were.

“Fine, I’m getting up, but you know that we can’t open the presents until Mom and Dad are awake.” Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I grabbed my sweatpants off the floor. I had never been able to sleep in pants, for some weird reason they made my legs feel constricted.

“I don’t care about the presents, Bernie. Come look at the pretty lights.” She was now jumping up and down like she couldn’t contain her excitement and ran to my bedroom window. “Oh my gosh. There is more now. Hurry up.”

What in the world could she be talking about? I headed to the window and what I saw left me in utter shock. These weren't pretty lights falling from the sky. They were flaming balls of something. There were so many off in the distance. I stood riveted at the scene that told me the end was coming even as I tried to rationalize what I was seeing to no avail.

“Mom! Dad!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. My dad was a light sleeper so I knew that he would be running in any minute now.

Sure enough a few seconds later, he showed up at my door. I could hear his breathing, that was the only way I knew he was there because I was stuck staring at the sky falling.

“Is everything okay? What’s wrong?” he said. His footsteps bringing him closer to the window.

“Something is falling from the sky,” I replied more than a little numb at the fact that I just knew our whole world was about to change.

“What are you talking about….” His words trailed off as he looked outside. I knew that he must be feeling the same way that I was. “Lisa! Look out a window now!” He yelled at my mother, who must have still been in their room.

“Aren’t the lights pretty, Daddy.” Kay broke the silence, once again bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I wanna go play with them.”

“No, Hunny. I don’t know what is happening. You do not leave this house. No matter what, do you understand me?” He kept his cool better than I would have because I would not be letting Kay out of my sight. She may be older, but she was still a kid and I couldn’t help but want to care for her and keep her safe. “I’m going to go try and make a few calls. See if I can’t figure out what is going on.”

My dad was the Governor of New York, so maybe one of his many government contacts would have an idea as to what was happening. The balls of fire just kept falling and moving closer and closer to the house.

“Kay, come downstairs. You can open some of your presents while Dad is on the phone,” my mother yelled. I knew it was only because they were worried and wanted to keep her busy and not thinking about going outside.

I stood in the same spot staring out the window for what felt like hours. Watching houses and cars being slammed by the fireballs, I watched the world go up in flames until I saw one of the flaming balls land in my backyard. Another took out the neighbors house, it was sickening how it crashed through as if the house was butter.

I might as well check the backyard and see what the ball is. I would like to know what is going to kill us off. I thought, which I knew was a stupid idea, but I had to know. I crept down the stairs stepping over the one that creaked when you stepped on it. I could see my mother and Kay in the living room. Kay was showing Mom a new toy she had gotten in one of her presents.

“How the hell can you not know what is going on?” My dad yelled from the kitchen. Yup. I knew this was the end. If the government didn’t know about it then it had to be.

I kept sneaking along until I reached the back door. Pausing as I put my hand on the door, I was afraid of what I would see when I opened it. We had a pretty typical backyard. There was a wooden shed, that held all of Dad’s tools and the lawnmower. A wooden swing set that we had gotten when I was six, and an inground pool off to the side. Which now should have been covered in inches of snow.

The swing set had seen better days because now it was in pieces on the ground around what had fallen from the sky. There were no flames, but the ground was singed as if the fire had attempted to spread. Everything else was covered in snow, if not for the burnt hole and the falling skies it would have been beautiful out.

Taking a deep breath, I headed over to where the ball had landed. The closer I got, the more my body started to tremble. I wasn’t going to lie, I was terrified. My gut told me that what I found in the hole would change my world forever.

Getting to the edge, I looked down confused by what I was seeing. A girl was laying in the middle of the hole. Her white dress marred by the destruction around her. Her dark hair obstructed her face, but her skin looked like marble.

What the hell is going on? Why would there be a woman falling from the sky? I stood there staring and debating whether or not I should go down and check on her. Knowing I should probably hightail it into the house and tell everyone what I saw, I just couldn’t leave her there.

Climbing down, my foot caught on something that sent me sprawling down until I landed on top of the woman with a groan. I pushed myself up into a push-up position getting ready to set all the way up when I found myself staring into a set of shining green eyes.

Chapter Two

Jumping back as far away from her as I could, I watched as she attempted to push into a sitting position. What stunned me most was the fact that I could now see her back, which had two singed vertical holes in it. It looked as though something had been ripped out of her. There was blood oozing from them and some kind of white things on it. If I wasn’t in denial, I would know that they were feathers and the woman in front of me had wings at one point.

“Are you okay?” My voice hitched as I whispered the words. I was absolutely terrified by this small waif of a woman.

“Help me.” She pleaded, her voice was soft and so serene that I almost didn’t catch the words she uttered before she fell back into a heap on the ground.

Well, shit. It's a good thing she is a small woman. I thought as I went over to her to check for a pulse. It was beating so fast that she was sure to stroke out, but then again I knew nothing about what she was so that could be a normal rhythm for her kind. What to do? What to do? Fuck it, I can’t leave her out here.

I took my hand and slid it back under her small body until my hand could grip her other side. Pulling up on her, it was a miracle that I somehow ended up with her over my shoulder. She was heavier than I thought she would be, but I was a stout girl who would never be classified as skinny. Somehow I was able to pull her and myself out of the hole and make it into the house. I thought about taking her to my parents, but I was more than a little afraid that they would try to harm her in some way.

Somehow managing to make it to my room without being seen, I laid her on her stomach on the bed. I was still in denial about what was going on with her back, but I decided it would be best to clean the wounds. Maybe I would be able to get her awake so I could figure out what the hell was going on.

Heading to the bathroom, I questioned my mental status. Right at this very moment, I had an unknown laying in my bed. I knew she wasn’t human, that much was clear. Grabbing the alcohol and swabs out of the sink cabinet, my reflection in the mirror caught my attention. My strawberry blonde curly hair was poofed up everywhere from where I hadn’t gotten the chance to do anything with it this morning. My normally bright chocolate eyes looked dull with the dark circles under them to match. All in all, I was a mess, and the crazy thing was how much I didn’t care.

Taking a deep breath to clear my thoughts, I went back to the woman laying on my bed. Opening up the swabs and dousing one of them with the alcohol, I went to clean the wound. My hand trembled when I ran it over her ravaged back.

When I was done, I just sat there staring. What was she? Who was she? The questions were on repeat in my head. This was all just so confusing, and terrifying.

"Bernie! Get down here now!" My mother yelled, sounding frantic.

Wasting no time, I ran down the stairs not caring that I was leaving the unknown alone upstairs. Finally making it to the living room, I noticed that my whole family was riveted on the TV. When I looked to see what held them frozen, I could see why.

The news people were in the helicopter giving us an aerial view of the cemetery. What kept us all entranced was the fact that there were people digging their way up out of the graves. There were so many of them. It looked like something out of those popular zombie movies. I had to pinch myself to make sure this was really happening. Yup, the world was ending.

"What does this mean?" my whispered question boomed through the room. Everyone was so still even Kay.

"I don't know, but I do know that it's not good. I have to go make a call." My dad replied before hauling ass out of the room. Everyone's face reflected the terror that they felt, It was quite unnerving.

Without another word, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. My dad was yelling at someone on the phone, but I didn't have time to worry about that. It was time for some answers, and the only person who could tell me what was going on was currently in my bed.

Walking back in my room, the first thing I noticed was that the girl was no longer in my bed. She was now standing in front of the window staring out at the carnage that had been done.

"We did this.” Her words filling the silence in the room giving me chills.

"What do you mean? Oh, I brought you some water." My voice trembled as I spoke, which made me want to kick myself, but I couldn't help it. I mean, I had just watched people crawling out of their graves. I think I deserved to be terrified. I froze as she turned towards me and I got my first good look at her.

Her black hair made her green eyes and pale skin that much more striking. She had a small button nose and full lips. She was so small, but I could see the curves that the plain white dress threatened to hide.

"Thank you for your kindness. I don't deserve it. We fell from heaven, I didn't know the damage that our decision would cause. I just wanted to feel, I could never feel anything there. This was our punishment. We fell and now you all get to pay for our mistake." Her words left me cold. There was no denying it now. The end was here and it was all the angels' fault.

Chapter Three

We sat there in silence after her admission, while I attempted to make sense of what she had just said in my head. It wasn't working. The angels did this to us? What did this mean? Was the world really over? Could we fix this? All these questions and more raced through my head.

"Is that why dead people are crawling out of their graves? Did you know this would happen? How do we fix this?" The questions spewed out of my mouth before I could stop them. I needed to know what was going on and my brain was having a hard time comprehending everything that she had just said.

"The dead are rising? In our desperation to be like you, we ended the world. We didn't mean for this to happen. I don't know if we can fix this." The tears in her eyes made it really hard for me to doubt anything that she was saying. She looked completely broken and I wasn't sure why but it made my heartache.

"I think we need to go downstairs. My family is down there and they need to know what is going on." This was just too much for me to figure out alone.

"Okay. I am so sorry." She replied before following me out of the room and down to the living room where my family was still sitting around the TV watching the world end.

“Hey, so I may have gone outside and found what fell from the sky,” I said as the angel walked into the room. My parents stared at the woman, waiting for her to break the silence.

“My name is Sariel. We caused this. I just wanted to be like you all. I don’t know if that's why the others did it, but there were a lot of us that fell. Our consequence must be the dead rising, which means that we started the end of the world. I would take it back if I could.” She said looking so broken that once again my heart ached for her. I couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to have caused the apocalypse.

“I don’t even have a reply for that right now. The only thing I am worried about is protecting my family, and we have a shit ton of dead people heading this way to do lord knows what to us. So if you have any input on the best way to do that. Let me know. However, I will be keeping my eyes on you. If it wasn’t for the fact that we may need you, I would be kicking your ass out. If you harm my family though, all bets are off.” My dad replied in his usual matter of fact fashion

"I am clueless as to what to do. The end of humanity wasn’t supposed to happen for another hundred years. I just came here for the human experience, but your daughter took care of me. So I will do whatever it takes to keep you all safe. I would never harm anyone intentionally." She said with so much conviction that it was hard to not believe her.

"Fine, but I am watching you. Nonetheless, We need to get to the farm. At least there it is secluded and we can fortify it. Everyone go pack a bag of things you need. Bernie when you get done help Kay get hers ready then meet up down here." My grandparents lived on the farm for years until they passed away at the beginning of the year. The deed went to my dad, but we hadn't been up there once since they died.

Nodding my head, I went back upstairs to my room. I noticed Sariel was following me when I stopped because she bumped into my back and almost knocked me down.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused as to why she was following me around.

"You took care of me, and now I have to do the same." She replied back to me, leaving me even more confused. All I had really done was clean her back, but apparently, that left her feeling indebted to me or something. It was very strange and I really didn't know how I felt about it. It must be some kind of angel thing, so I left it alone. Grabbing my backpack, I packed an extra couple of outfits, my drawing pad and pencils, and some other odds and ends.

I noticed that the alcohol and swabs were still sitting on my night table. Grabbing them and putting them in my pack, I went and grabbed the rest of the first aid stuff from the bathroom as well as some deodorant and dry shampoo. There was no telling what was going to happen on our way and I wanted to be as prepared as I could.

Heading into Kay’s room, I giggled as I noticed that she was in the process of shoving multiple stuffed animals into her backpack. Surrounding her was also coloring books and other kids’ things that she wouldn’t be taking with her.

“Hey, hun, we have to take things that we need and you don’t need all of that. How about we take one stuffed animal and one coloring book? That way you have some stuff to play with.” I said trying to reason with her without making her feel stupid for packing all the things that she wanted.

“Okay, Bernie.” She replied taking all of the stuff out of the pack except for a stuffed bear and a princess coloring book.

I walked over to her dresser and set out a couple of extra outfits for her to pack. Trying to think of anything else we might need, I grabbed some small towels, rags and a bar of soap. If this was something that happened for a while there was no telling when the next time we would be able to get any of these things.

Sariel stayed on my heels the entire time as I went back downstairs to see that my dad was packing the back of the van with all the food in the house. A gun on his hip caught my eye as he picked up another box that looked like it was full of other things.

“Girls, come put some food and water in your backpacks as well. Just in case, you never know what is going to happen. I have a pack for Sariel as well. Will you get her some stuff in it too? That way if something separates us or she wants to go on her own she has the things that she needs. She can wear your mother's clothes.” He said before going back to packing the van.

“Come with me. Let’s get you into some regular clothes.” I said heading into the house no doubt in my mind that she was behind me.

On Mom’s bed were two pairs of sweatpants with matching shirts and sweatshirts with a pair of tennis shoes. I assumed that Dad had told her to lay some clothes out for Sariel.

“You need to change into these. I know you were an angel, but we don’t know if you can get sick or if the weather affects you. This way if it does you will be warm.” Everything I said was true. We really didn’t know what was going on with her and I had a feeling that she didn’t know either so I would rather us be prepared.

Grabbing the clothes that Sariel didn’t choose, I put them in the backpack before hearing a blood-curdling scream. Dropping the pack I ran outside, Kay was standing by the van screaming and pointing. I couldn’t see what she was screaming at until I ran over to her and had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming myself. There were people limping off in the distance, but what was so disturbing was the fact that the people who lived in the last house on the left were currently being ripped apart. Blood splattered out everywhere as we stood there in stunned silence watching them be torn limb from limb and I would say that the things ripping into them were eating parts.

“Dad, Mom! We have to go now!” I yelled picking up Kayra and putting her in the van before sprinting in the house.

Sariel was out of the room and on my heels again before I made it to the kitchen. Watching my parents grab the last boxes of the food, they ran out of the house with me and Sariel behind them. Climbing into the van, I watched the creatures through the back glass as we drove off. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to call them zombies. Some were so desiccated that they were literally just skin and bones.

I did know without a doubt that I would never forget this moment.

Chapter Four

Surprisingly, we made it to the farm without seeing any more of the zombies. However, we saw plenty of other atrocities. There were people looting stores, fighting, and fornicating everywhere. It was like hell on earth.

We had to go off-roading on parts because people had abandoned their vehicles in the road and there had been more than a few wrecks. If I had any faith in the human race before this had happened, I didn’t have much now.

“Bernie, Sariel, I need you both to help me get everything in order. I think we should get some wood together and nail it over the windows and check out the fence. That way we can find any weak points. Those things are coming and we need to be ready.” Dad said startling me from my thoughts. Sariel was already up and standing beside him ready to go.

“Alrighty. Let’s get this done,” I replied sharply. I didn’t mean for it to come out with as much attitude as it did. I was just scared and wasn’t sure if I could take seeing those things again when every time I close my eyes I see that couple being torn to shreds.

Nobody commented about it though so they must all be thinking about the same thing that I was. It had been a hard day and everyone was high strung. It was Christmas for fuck’s sake, the worst thing that was supposed to happen today was you not get the gift you wanted.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I followed them out of the door and to the barn. It was a wonder the place hadn’t been run down in the amount of time it had been since anyone had been here. There was a fine layer of dust over everything, but there was still hay in the back stalls and 2x4’s stacked neatly over in the corner. Dad grabbed two hammers off of the tool wall and turned towards us.

“I am going to go check out the fence. Both of you get the wood in the house and start nailing down the windows on the 1st floor. Make sure you use more than just two nails. We want it to be hard to get through. Keep the hammers with you even when you are done. You never know when you are going to need to protect yourself.” He said before opening up the drawer with the nails and heading out to check the fence.

“So I think the best way for us to do this is to put the nails in this pouch and tie it to my jeans and put the hammers in our pockets. That way our hands are free to carry the wood to the house. Sound good?” I asked. I really think she was still in shock because she hadn’t spoken much since I had found her.

“Yes, that sounds good to me. I will do whatever's needed to fix this or help out.” She replied still looking broken. The words had come out mechanical and sort of like you would imagine a robot would talk like. So I just let it go. We really didn’t have time to fix her right now. I would have to shelve it for later as much as I hated to.

Putting the nails in the bag, I tied it around my belt loop and slipped my hammer in my pocket as Sariel stood by the wood staring aimlessly out the door. I really didn’t want to feel pity for her or have any feelings toward her at all, but I couldn't help myself. She just looked so….. lost.

“Hey, you ready? Once we get this done, we are going to have to have a talk. You can’t blame yourself for this. You didn’t know it would happen.” She nodded as I finished speaking and bent down to grab the other end of the small pile of wood.

It took us about an hour and two trips back to the barn to get everything boarded up. The strange thing was that Dad hadn’t ever come back from checking the fence and I was starting to worry. The fence wasn’t really big so it shouldn’t have taken anywhere near this long to check.

“Did Dad come in at all while we were working?” I asked Mom, who was in the kitchen cooking while Kay colored at the table.

“No, I haven’t seen him since you all left earlier. Oh my gosh! I need to go look for him it’s been way too long.” My mom's voice got more panicked as she realized just how long he had been gone.

“No, You stay in here with Kay and finish dinner. Sariel and I will go look for him.” I left the room as I spoke the last words, not giving her a chance to argue. Looking back, I was glad to see that Sariel was still behind me following me out of the house.

“Stay close and get out your hammer. Will you be able to help protect everyone if needed?” I asked because I needed to know that if she was at my back nothing would sneak up on me.

“I won’t be happy about it, but like I said I will protect you,” she said raising her hammer in a way so that she would be ready if something jumped out at us.

We made it to the front gate, which was thankfully still shut and locked. We headed left and figured we would circle our way around the fence first then look elsewhere if we hadn’t found him by then. Everything looked in order until we made it halfway around the fence and I noticed there were blood spots on the ground.

I motioned to Sariel to be quiet and followed the trail as quietly as I could. The small spots getting bigger the further I went until we saw Dad standing with his back to us staring at the house.

“What happened out here? Are you okay?” I asked as I saw a corpse with its head beaten in at my Dad’s feet. He didn’t respond just stood there in silence like a statue. I made my way around him to where I could see his front and screamed.

His neck looked as if it had been chewed on to the point that I could see the bone. Blood poured down his front, but the worst part of it was his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes were now completely black. Our eyes locked as he made a strange guttural noise that was between a moan and a growl. Sariel finally made her way to my side just as he started to run at us.

I couldn’t move though, I was frozen. Was I dreaming? I asked myself. Knowing I should run or do something, I still just stood. Sariel, on the other hand, had her hammer at the ready and as soon as Dad was close enough she brought it down on his head with a crack.

He went down like a sack of potatoes and I cried out running to him. I felt for a pulse and came back with nothing. My dad was gone. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that it had been Sariel who had killed him. I had seen enough zombie movies to know what happens when you get bit.

Tears fell down my face as I realized that this was real and that life was about to get really really hard.

To Be Continued...

Alexis Taylor

Alexis is a mother of three, who can usually be found bossing around and annoying her soul mate. She has always wanted to write and got lucky when her best friend forced her to give in and write with her, and it is now something that she loves to do. She loves all things horror and is a huge mystery buff. She can be found trolling Instagram for hot guys for inspiration, arguing with her young demons, obsessing over Averi Hope & Victoria Schaefer’s covers or falling into random things because she is ridiculously clumsy.

If you want to keep up with Alexis, Join her group Alexis and Nikki’s Hellions group on facebook. You can chat directly with her, and get first looks at her new books/series.

Alexis and Nikki's Hellions

Other Books by The Author

Hell’s Wrath Series

Waking the Demon Within

Heart Of Stone

The Mystery Of BBB Academy

Shorts and anthology stories

Terror

Unleashed (found in the My Demon Guardian Anthology)

Infernum Academy ( found in Tormented: A bully Romance Anthology)

Little Thief (found in Hate To Love You Anthology)

Rites Of Passion (Found in Land of Nightmares Anthology)

Aaliyah’s Surprise

Beth Hendrix

Beth is a single mother of two, who has worked in a custom cabinet shop since she was young. She always has so many ideas flowing in her head but never thought that writing was a reality until some other amazing authors pointed out that she could. She loves all things paranormal and has a very unhealthy obsession with chocolate and doughnuts. She can usually be found chasing after her kids, typing like a madwoman or lost in a book.

If you would like to stalk… I mean follow Beth and her crazy antics, she can be found here.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BethsDemonicReaders/ Facebook Group

Other Books by The Author

Demon Exchange Series

Hoodwinked

Rise of the Morphling Series

Of Blood & Twisted Roots

The Mystery Of BBB Academy

Heart Of Stone

Underworld Falling

Nightmare

Shorts and Anthologies

Unlucky Mates

Polymorphic Passion

My Dirty Secret (found in the Tormented: A bully Romance Anthology)

Little Thief (found in Hate To Love You Anthology)

Rites Of Passion (found in Land Of Nightmares Anthology)

The Day Death Died

By

Aster North

Shay

I’d watched all of those shows and read all of those books. You know the kind; the fantastical, outrageous stories where vampires lived forever and shifters became immortal because someone chewed on their arm like a dog toy. Coleen and I had even entertained the thought of what it would be like. Our wild musings hadn’t looked anything like what really happened when people refused to die.

It all began one seemingly innocent afternoon. Coleen and I were working the evening shift at a little diner. Because it was a slow day as Tuesday nights usually were, we studied for upcoming tests in between the rare customers that came through. Both of us were in our final year of college, but again, that wasn’t unusual, either.

No, the odd things began happening after a group of frat boys entered and sat down. Their loud voices and boisterous behavior irritated the shit out of me, but it perked Coleen up. She jumped up, fixed her hair, and whipped out her order pad before sauntering over to them.

Used to her antics, I only shook my head before burying myself in Environmental Geochemistry. I spent four years working my ass off to study the fucking Earth, and it was almost over. With only one month to go, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Coleen and I would be able to eat more than leftovers and ramen noodles. Well, maybe. If we found good jobs and our student loan payments didn’t take our whole checks.

As if thinking her name signaled her, Coleen let out a peal of laughter. It was the same laugh that said she would be going home with someone. I glanced up with the intention of seeing which one she’d chosen. My bet landed on the frat boy that desperately needed a haircut.

I never did learn which one elicited Coleen’s mating call. Instead, my eyes locked onto the chaos visible on the large flat screen behind them.

Blue and red lights flashed, competing against each other and the panicked faces of everyone on the television. A blond with a short bob spoke animatedly, her painted red lips moving rapidly, though I couldn’t hear anything. Her darting gaze and flinches drew me in and sent a chill down my spine.

Once I was able to tear my gaze away, I studied the background and found more sights that pushed me to yell at Coleen. “Hey!”

Startled, she and the table of boys snapped around to see who dared to interrupt their very important flirting routine. When she found only me, her lips pursed and her hip cocked to the side. As her mouth opened, ready to suck in a deep breath so she could launch into a lecture, I pointed behind her.

“Look. Something’s happening at the hospital. Something big. Turn it up.”

She spun around, and two of the guys followed her lead a second later. The third, the roughest looking one out of the whole group chose to stare at me instead. I brushed off the crawling sensation that came with his scrutiny and tried to concentrate on whatever the breaking news was.

The reporter’s words increased in volume as Coleen stood on her tiptoes and pressed the button with her outstretched finger. Blaring sirens made it difficult to understand all of the reporter’s words, but we got enough to get the idea.

“Yes– right. Peo– dying but– walking. Doctors can’t– baffled,” she managed to say between the noise.

“I’m sorry, Paula. We’re having a difficult time understanding you with all of the commotion behind you,” the stiff studio anchor said.

Paula stuck one hand over her ear, presumably to hear him better.

“What’s going on, Shay?”

I jumped, banging my bare knee on the tabletop. Coleen stood only inches from me, and I hadn’t noticed her drifting back towards me as I tried to pick out the clues in the background.

As I rubbed my knee, I murmured, “I don’t know.”

We watched the two news people try and fail to communicate with one another for a few more minutes before the reason for the pandamonium became clear. An old man stumbled towards Paula. She didn’t see him. She couldn’t.

But her cameraman did. He shifted and zoomed in on the confused-looking being. Since it was live television, there was no blurring of his nakedness, no covering of his dangling bits. His skin appeared ashen and his curly short hair stuck out around his head. Shifting eyes and shuffling steps alluded to the fact that something was not right.

Even without all of the signs we’d already seen, the cracked, open chest he displayed drove home the point that something was very, very wrong. No one could survive with their heart peeking out, could they? Where one expected blood to be gushing out, there was nothing. Just his pale skin and that gaping hole where doctors had cut him open and cracked his sternum.

Pain exploded in my shoulder, and I jerked back, only to find Coleen’s hand coming with me. She’d gripped me so hard that my movement didn’t even dislodge her.

“Shay. Do you see that? That’s not possible, is it? How’s he walking around? Why haven’t they sewed him up? What’s happening?” Her questions grew more rapid and shrill as she spit them out, and I had no answers for her.

The siren’s ‘whoop whoop’ cut off suddenly, leaving the diner eerily silent. I shivered as a chill washed over me, leaving tiny beads of sweat in its wake. This was a big, life-changing event.

After prying myself free from her color-leached fingers, I drifted towards the screen, trying to find the clues that would explain how I was seeing what I saw. Obviously dead, the man bumped into the reporter, drawing a shriek from her as she glanced back.

The camera zoomed in, giving us a very up-close view of the inside of his chest. Where we should see a bright red, pulsing mass, only an ashen blob remained. It didn’t beat at all.

“Is that a fucking zombie?” The voice came from one of the frat boys, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away to find out which one.

“I think so,” I whispered and took another step.

“Paula, are you okay?” the anchor asked with stumbling words.

“I’m fine, Robert. Are you seeing this?”

“We are. Can you explain what’s happening? That man has to be dead, right?” Robert’s voice seemed strained as if he couldn’t quite believe what had just come out of his mouth.

To be fair, neither could I. Despite seeing it with my own eyes, my mind just couldn’t work through the problem.

“I believe so.” Paula cleared her throat and tried to compose herself for a moment before starting again. “The doctors here at Saint Mary’s have been avoiding our questions, but this does seem to confirm the rumors we’ve been hearing outside. From what we’ve been told, patients have been declared legally dead. Hours, sometimes only minutes later, they get up as if nothing happened. We were told that they do seem to be confused at first, but eventually regain some mental facilities.”

“And the hospital hasn’t issued a statement? Do you know if they plan to release one anytime soon?” Robert asked as the camera jerked back to the ER doors.

There, another man shuffled out, but this one wore one of those horrible hospital stripper gowns. The fabric slipped down on one side, revealing his bare shoulder and the stark white electrode pads stuck to his skin. Nearly as pale as the pads, nothing else seemed to be wrong except for that dazed look and stuttering walk.

“Think he’s dead, too?” I heard from behind me.

I shook my head, unsure of what to tell Coleen.

“What’s going on out there?” Walt, the cook, asked as he peeked through the pass-through.

Without pulling my gaze from the television, I waved for him to come out and see for himself. There was no way he would believe me unless he saw it with his own eyes.

After he joined us, we got comfortable at the table with the frat boys. Well, got as comfortable as one could be when everything one has ever known was being challenged in spectacular fashion.

Why did we sit with the three strangers? It just seemed like the right thing to do. It wasn’t a conscious decision. I slid down into a seat, and Coleen and Walt followed. Maybe I wanted to surround myself with other humans, to not feel as alone as I truly did right then. Whatever the reason, the six of us remained stuck in the uncomfortable seats long past time for closing.

The light flickered overhead, and the fluorescent bulbs buzzed, leaving us all bathed in the stark, awful lighting. None of us got up for a drink, and the frat boys didn’t even ask for what they’d originally come in for.

Instead, we watched as more and more hysteria grew around the country. Paula was quickly replaced by a canned shot from some hospital in New York City, then Philadelphia, then Los Angeles, and so on until it was clear that this wasn’t some one time, random occurrence.

By the time the sun rose, the President made a statement that didn’t tell us anything. We’d remembered our phones and checked social media, searching for any real answers. Nothing but a lot of speculation and wild videos of panicked people could be found.

Eventually, the boys left, and we cleaned up quickly before leaving. So, when I’m asked where I was on the day Death died, the scent of burgers and old grease coats my nose. Coleen’s grip becomes a phantom pain, and my stomach swirls, just like it did that night.

Shay

Coleen and I remained holed up in our small apartment for days after that. People freaked out, claiming that we’d just begun the zombie apocalypse or that the rapture was near. Stores were wiped out. Looting began. College shut down. Martial law ensued.

It was wild, and all of it fueled by social media and the lack of concrete information. No one could tell us what was actually happening. Coleen and I both stayed locked onto various sites, searching for any scrap of when everything would go back to normal. Our ramen noodle stash grew dangerously low.

Hell, beyond our obsession over finding news, it didn’t seem like anything more than some weird spring break. We even joked about it; bad, corny jokes to try to lessen our growing concern. Finally, the government admitted that yes, dead people were walking around.

Life got really scary then. Before, it was all out there, but when the banging on our door began, it became real. Just a peek out the window revealed people breaking into cars and stealing shit from anyone that happened to be out. The National Guard patrolled, scaring off the criminals for a moment, but they would come back as soon as those trucks turned the corner.

And soon, even the soldiers weren’t enough. People began attacking them, getting shot, and then popping back up as if nothing happened. They would shuffle down the street. Not all of them, of course. Some laid there on the sidewalk until they were collected as dead bodies should. The walking ones? They didn’t have the courtesy to reanimate elsewhere, and it only made Coleen hyperventilate every time it happened.

The news showed cities all over the world burning as the citizens tried to ‘cleanse’ it. Morgues, funeral homes, and even hospitals were prime targets. Grassroot organizations sprang up and began attacking the soldiers. They claimed that it was God’s will, and the soldiers were only hampering the return of Jesus.

Eventually, only a couple of weeks after the initial report–a time full of uncertainty and fear–things grew worse. People were becoming hungry, and the government was overwhelmed. I’d read somewhere that we were all only a few meals away from anarchy. I believed it. I watched it.

Grocery stores and restaurants became a thing of the past. Even power and water became spotty.

I suppose it would be hard to work when dead bodies just walked in. Besides, with the rumors flying that it was contagious, no one wanted to be out. I know Coleen and I certainly didn’t show up for our shifts.

The last thing our government did for us was to begin a war that no one won. They somehow found ‘evidence’ that it was a manufactured weapon later unleashed by some terrorist group. Then suddenly, that terrorist group was being backed by a few different nations. Trade stopped one day, and the next, we were admitting to assassinating leaders of their governments.

Television shows no longer ran. Instead, wall to wall news played on a loop. We watched them when we were lucky enough to get any power. Then that, too, stopped.

Bombings began, both on the streets and from above. The world outside became nothing but blasts and screams and gunshots. The heavens burned, and our apartment became our own hell.

Coleen and I cried from our hunkered positions under her bed. It wouldn’t have saved us, but it didn’t feel right to sit on the old couch like it was merely a lazy Sunday. We didn’t know what else to do. So, we did nothing.

Until one night when we were woken from our sleep by what felt like an earthquake. The building shook, her cheap metal-frame bed creaked, and our eyes opened to darkness.

As soon as Coleen and I locked eyes, she burst into tears. When I tried to pull myself from beneath our poor excuse for shelter, she lost it and began to dig her fingers into my hips and calves.

Suppressing the urge to kick the shit out of her, I paused, contorting my body until I faced her.

“Let me go,” I whispered into the eerie silence that filled the pauses between her sobs.

“No. Don’t leave me here,” she pleaded in halting bursts.

“Then come with me. We have to see what’s happening.” I extended my hand, willing her to take it.

We couldn’t remain there. Not when the explosions were growing closer each day. Not when I knew that the people outside would eventually beat down our door. Even with almost all of our furniture piled against it, you could still see the vibrations from the force they put into trying to rob us. Or worse.

“We need to leave, Coleen. I feel it. If we stay here, we’re going to die.” The instant I said the words, I knew it was true.

Certainty settled into my gut, and the hard rock it had become transformed into a chasm of urgency as time ticked by. My breathing sped up, my heart raced, and my stomach bounced as my entire body begged me to just leave her behind. I needed to leave.

But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. So my mind fought with my body as my hand trembled, hanging an inch above the dirty floor as she decided our fate.

“Okay,” she finally whispered. A jerky nod broke our stare, and louder she said, “Okay. We go.”

Soren

Shit was getting scary. We’d been trying to ride it out at the house until we could find a way out of town. At first, it freaked us out, but the government would take care of it. The CDC or WHO or someone would figure it out, and things would go back to normal. At least, that’s what we thought.

When the whole world became fucked, we started planning. Our problem was we didn’t have a way out. Only Chris had a car, but a car was useless without gas. I’d tried to siphon some from the cars around the neighborhood but found that someone had beaten me to it.

We thought about walking, but we missed our chance for that. Gangs roamed the streets, and sure, we weren’t scrawny, but there were only six of us and we didn’t have guns. They did. Some of the guys were smarter than we were. They took off at the first hint of trouble. Then we lost Jason when he snuck out alone one night, probably to find some food. I say we lost him, but I’d seen him outside, wandering around with a bullet hole to the head.

That really freaked us out. Now Blake and Corey were going to try to make it out of town and head up north, back to their hometowns.

“You sure you three don’t want to come with us? It isn’t safe here,” Blake said.

Tension laced the air as he stood there, his hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground. I hated that fucker, but he wasn’t wrong. It was the opposite of safe.

“Nah. We’ll figure something out,” Mike answered and stuck out his meaty hand.

I scoffed as they shook hands, and Blake cut his eyes towards me before quickly looking away. That’s right, motherfucker. Better look somewhere else. I should fuck him up anyway. See how he makes it home on a couple of broken legs. Bastard.

That fucker was why we were stuck. I didn’t have anywhere to go, but Chris did. His parents lived west of us. It would have been a hell of a walk, but we’d hoped to happen upon a vehicle or two once we got further from town. Hell, maybe even a horse or two.

But that asshole’s selfishness and incompetence got Chris injured. Then he had the nerve to run back to the house without Chris. Just left Chris on the fucking street, unable to walk. What kind of person did that shit? A fucking dead man, that’s who.

Mike wouldn’t let me kill him, though. Said we couldn’t devolve into animals or some shit. I’d become an animal a long fucking time ago. Still, I’d just stormed out, found Chris, and hauled his ass back home. It was probably a good thing they were leaving because I knew if Blake stayed, he would be out there with Jason before too much longer.

“All right, well, good luck. Maybe we’ll meet up again someday,” Blake offered as a weak parting remark and threw on a backpack full of supplies I found.

“Fuck off, Blake,” I growled, needing him to leave.

Blake backed out of the living room, but I didn’t hear the front door open. Corey patted my shoulder but didn’t say anything before going to slap Mike on the back.

“Hey, Corey,” I called out. When he paused and turned towards me, I jerked my chin towards the front door and said, “Be careful. Watch yourself.”

He nodded as his lips became tight. Corey was all right, but his folks were in the same direction. He’d figured leaving with Blake would be better than going alone, but I wasn’t convinced. I stared straight ahead until I heard the click of the door and the succession of locks being flipped by Mike.

After they left, I helped Chris hobble over to his makeshift bathroom and then back to the couch. The lanky bastard was heavier than he looked. All of the utilities had gone out, and with it growing dark, we had nothing to do except sleep.

We did have a few flashlights, but we tried to reserve the batteries as much as possible. But, as I hefted the heavy Maglite and knelt by the couch, I flicked it on anyway.

“Gimme your foot, asshole,” I told Chris.

“Should’ve done this in the light, dipshit,” he retorted, but he pushed himself up and swung his leg around. “Fucking Blake.”

“Yeah. Fucking Blake,” I murmured as I studied the side of his calf.

It didn’t look good. Red streaks were beginning to make a ladder-like pattern from his swollen ankle to just below his knee, following the line of the deep gash inflicted by remnants of the previous explosion. I hesitated, wanting to delay what I already knew, before placing my hand on the back of his calf.

I paused, trying to weigh what I needed to say, but Chris wasn’t having it. Footsteps grew louder behind me as Mike came to investigate, but the sound was covered by Chris’s sigh.

“I’m fucked, huh? And I didn’t even get a goodbye kiss,” he said before chuckling weakly.

“Nah, man. You’re fine. Quit being such a Tara.” I tried to sound firm, though it came out all wrong.

He was right. He was fucked if we didn’t find some antibiotics for him. His skin burned, and even though he tried to cover it up, I saw him shivering. Infection had set in, and it was a bad one.

“That’s a low blow. You said you wouldn’t mention her again,” he said, shaking his head so hard his blond curls slapped against his face.

“Hey, you were the one that dated the human version of a spider monkey.”

Mike cleared his throat behind me, and when I clicked off the light, he spoke. “I think we need to find you some meds. Chris, why don’t you get some sleep, and Soren and I will try to decide on a plan.”

I nodded and waited until I heard Mike back off before standing.

“Sure,” Chris said. “You know if you two want some alone time, you just have to say so. No need for excuses.”

“Go to sleep, dipshit.” After whacking him lightly, I jumped back and laughed when I heard him curse. “Gotta be faster.”

I hunted down Mike. That was harder than you might think in the dark, but I finally found him in the kitchen. The moon was full, and that lent a little light, enough that I could see him sitting at the table with an old, stained map spread out before him.

“We’ve got to get him some antibiotics or he’s going to be dead soon. That shit looks bad. At least it’s not stinking yet. I’m thinking we can try some of these stores on the other side of town. Maybe it’s not as bad over there, and it’s on the way.” Mike finally stopped talking, but he still didn’t look at me.

Instead, he leaned even closer to the map, so close that his nose nearly touched the surface. His short brown hair looked spiky like he’d been running his hands through it over and over.

“I’m not leaving him here. And I don’t think he’s going to be able to march all the way to your parents. Hell, I don’t even think he’ll make it off the fucking porch.” My fingers curled in as I talked, and rage began to stoke the fire inside. Suggesting that we leave Chris was fucked up.

“We’re not leaving him. We’re not going home, either. Last time I talked to my dad, he told me about this bunker he worked on for some rich, paranoid asshole. We just have to get out of town, and then go a little bit longer.”

“He can’t walk that far, and you know it.” I jerked the chair out and dropped into it.

I wanted to punch him in the face, but Mike always had some crazy ass plan. Everyone thought I was the bad influence. Shit, they didn’t know Mike. Thing was, I usually got caught. That’s why they thought that. All of the bad shit we did with Mike at the helm went unnoticed by anyone. Devious bastard.

“I know. I’ve got that handled. We just need to find these pharmacies. Hell, even herbal shops would be fine. The sooner we get to them, the better.”

We stayed up, him pouring over the map while I found an old phone book and read off the addresses of the shops he wanted. When we had enough to satisfy him, I tossed everything we could use into backpacks while he left to do whatever his crazy mind had cooked up.

Chris

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked as I stood on one leg like a fucking penguin. Wait, no, flamingo. I’d become a fucking one-legged, pink flamingo.

“Get in the wagon, asshole,” Soren ground out and pointed.

“It’s not going to hold me,” I whined, sticking out my bottom lip in an overexaggerated pout. When Soren didn’t change his face, I turned to that asshole, Mike. Pitching my voice high, I batted my eyes and said, “Can’t you carry me, you big, strong man?”

“Get in the fucking wagon, Chris. We’re wasting time. I want to be out of town before daylight hits.”

Well, Soren seemed grumpy. I hopped on one leg, gritting my teeth so the pain induced by the movement didn’t show. Each bounce sent an already throbbing ache to levels that brought tears to my eyes. I really needed some antibiotics, and I needed them soon.

My feverish skin felt even hotter against the cold metal of the wagon. Yes, I’d been stuck in a kid’s tiny red wagon. Embarrassing for sure, but I knew if I tried to walk, I’d only hold us up, leaving us prey for the gangs that ran through town.

“Let’s go then,” Mike announced and bent to grab the handle.

Soren tossed a backpack into my lap, hitting me right in the gut. At least it wasn’t lower.

We rolled through town, the darkness mitigated by the bright moon overhead. The whole thing felt odd. One day, I worried over whether I’d forgotten to do a paper, and the next, dead people walked around. Even that was better than what followed.

I loved where we lived. Coming from a tiny town out in the middle of nowhere to the larger, busier city made me happier than I’d ever been back home. The depressing air of people who’d given up combined with the oppressive, unspoken rules of small-minded people urged me to leave before I’d ever even reached high school. College had been my escape, my chance to be myself without worrying about the rumors and gossip that seemed to be the lifeblood of small towns.

But as I studied the streets of my new home, it looked very little like it had. I wasn’t even sure why it was being destroyed. It wasn’t a seat of power, and it didn’t have anything to do with the government. Hell, I didn’t understand any of it, anyway. Why they thought world destruction would solve the problem was well beyond me. It only made more of those walking corpses.

We ran across a few of them as we ducked into alleys to avoid the increasingly feral living. Mostly, the dead seemed to just wander around. None of them tried to eat our brains, so I was leaning away from the whole zombie thing. Still freaky because whatever the reason, they kept functioning. Some of them stayed outside, but I’d seen others go into their homes like they were merely coming home from work.

The litter that lined the streets made it harder for the wagon, and I hated how hard Mike had to work to pull me along. Probably should’ve suggested that they leave me behind, but I really didn’t want that. I’d be dead in days.

Nausea rolled through me, and my mouth began to water, signaling that I was about to be sick. When I parted my lips to speak, to tell Mike and Soren to stop for a minute, I forgot all about the trivial problem of vomiting.

That unmistakable sound of an explosion was born somewhere behind us, far enough away that we weren’t affected. Yet. My wagon and I began bouncing hard as Mike took off in a run, trying to find cover for us. Soren’s head whipped around, and his pack slapped against his back, making a rhythmic external version of how hard my heart thumped.

My breathing sped up, and a cold sweat coated my skin. I wanted to scream, to disappear, to hide beneath my mother’s apron. None of that happened, of course.

Instead, I spoke the first word since we’d left the frat house. “There!”

Jabbing my finger to my right, I pointed towards an apartment building that seemed sturdy. More importantly, it didn’t seem to have a buzzer system, and that meant we could hide in the lobby. If I could get my slow ass inside, that is.

Soren ran ahead, shoving the doors open, and relief washed through me. Too soon. We’re not inside yet. Mike’s feet pounded on the pavement, and I bounced along behind him, my fingers gripping the sides of the tiny wagon.

When we reached the steps, I was grateful for my death grip. The wheels slammed into the bottom step, and my body jerked forward, only stopped by my hold.

“Fuck, Mike. I’m already injured,” I complained even as I tried to scramble out onto the steps.

There was never just one bomb. It was fucking amazing that they still had any weapons left. Unless it was homemade. We’d seen that, too. People using stolen dynamite and shit to get inside secure places in hopes of finding something useful.

Either way, a little break from having my ass banging into that metal sardine can wouldn’t be a bad thing. If I could survive Mike dragging me across the steps, that is.

“Fucking A, Mike. It won’t do me any good to get inside if you kill me first,” I bitched, and he finally stopped long enough to let me stand.

I don’t think I went fast enough for him, though, because he began yelling for Soren who came running. After lifting me up like a toddler, they carried me inside, my shoes scraping against the concrete. Just as the door slammed behind us, the building shook as if it were a dog shaking off water. Mike tackled both Soren and me, shoving us down on the dirty lobby floor.

Last thing I remember was a sudden pain razing my mind and oddly, the single sock I spotted dangling from one of the mailboxes.

Shay

“Here,” I said as I shoved Coleen’s bag at her. “Fill it up.”

“Where will we go?” she asked, wrapping her fingers around the strap but not actually taking it from me.

Shaking my head, I answered her. “I don’t know, but we’ll have to find something.”

She pulled the backpack to her chest and crossed her arms over it as if it were some stuffed animal. With her head turned towards the now cracked window, she nodded absently and whispered, “Yeah.”

I bit my lip, torn between getting the hell out and trying to soothe her. My body wanted to go, but my mind knew she wasn’t really in a place to be just left like that. The explosion had been too close. The shrapnel flying through the air was what cracked the window. It probably would’ve shattered if it didn’t have mesh sandwiched inside the glass. Oh, sandwiches. I miss those.

Padding closer, I raised a hand and lowered it onto her shoulder. “Hey,” I breathed out, keeping my voice low. “You know we’re going to be fine, right? We can do this. Just need to get out of here before scavengers come see what they can get.”

She inhaled, holding her breath for a few seconds before blowing it out hard. “Yeah. You’re right. We’ve done everything else by ourselves, so why not this?”

After glancing up at me, she squared her shoulders and pulled away. I stared after her for a second before shrugging and heading towards the dresser. Socks would be important. Wouldn’t they? I’d definitely need underthings.

Just as my hand closed around her balled-up socks, I heard a sniffle behind me. Twisting so I could see her, I spotted her digging into the bottom of her closet.

“Hey, we’re going to go find a nice farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. One in foreclosure or something. Maybe we can find some horses along the way.”

“Or a dog?” she asked, a slight wobble in her voice.

“Maybe a couple of dogs. And a cat or two to kill the mice,” I offered.

I knew she would take control of the conversation then. Get her talking about animals, and she’d be busy all day.

She chattered the entire time we stuffed our bags full. We layered clothes to keep ourselves warm in the chilly night air, but it also saved space for what little food we had left. I tossed in the half-full box of bandaids and whatever else I could find that I thought might be useful. Soon it grew too full, and I struggled to zip it up.

“Well, all we have left is finding a weapon. You want to use the broom again?” Coleen nodded, already on her way to get her makeshift staff. “Guess I’ll carry the knife then.”

It was a poor excuse for being armed, but it was the best we had. When we both found ourselves standing in front of the door, just staring at the piled-up furniture, time seemed to stop. The moment seemed huge. As soon as we twisted that knob, we weren’t hiding any longer.

I turned my head to see how Coleen was doing, and she did the same. Fear shone through her eyes and traveled through her body with visible trembles.

“I’m scared,” she whispered even though there was no one to disturb.

“Me, too,” I whispered back.

It wasn’t a lie. Weight pressed on my chest. We were purposefully leaving our home, our haven, our prison so we could go out into the crazy world. And we had no plan, nowhere to go.

Sucking in a deep breath, I stepped forward and grabbed the sides of a chair. “Let’s go do something stupid.”

There was a pause followed by a chuckle. “Let’s go fuck some shit up,” she said, referring to our usual pre-night out ritual.

“Yeah.” If only it were a night out.

Soren

Chris lay on the ground, his body limp. No matter what we did, he didn’t respond. My insides were chaotic. Everything buzzed and swirled while fear played with my cells.

Mike tried to wake him, but it didn’t work. We knew he was still alive because his heart still beat and his chest still rose, but we had no idea what was going on inside his head. His blood ran over my fingers as I tried to staunch the gushing flow that just kept coming. My eyes locked onto the red coating my skin.

“I don’t know what else to do,” Mike said before sitting back on his heels. With furrowed brows, he checked Chris’s pulse again. “Seems to be fine. I guess we just have to wait.”

“Get me a rag or something. This isn’t working,” I bit out, my concern turning my tone bitter.

As Mike found something, the crinkles of the bag were the only sounds I heard before a shirt slapped me in the face. I jerked back, letting the cloth fall onto Chris.

“What the fuck?” I asked, a growl seeping into the words.

“Watch yourself. Don’t take your shit out on me.”

I opened my mouth, intending to apologize, but before I could say anything, a screech made our heads snap up.

Mike rose slowly, but I hesitated. Chris would be unprotected if I left him. Not to mention his head wound still flowed freely. I sucked in a breath, letting the pressure build in my chest while Mike snuck closer to the stairs.

That pushed me into action, and my hands moved from Chris’s head to his armpits. I dragged him out of view of anyone as they came down. We left a trail of smeared blood, but I didn't have time to clean anything up. Instead, I balled up the shirt and stuck it onto his forehead. Using my bag to keep it in place, I stood and crept over to where Mike waited.

We heard footsteps, light and cautious as they descended. I glanced at Mike, and he held up two fingers. Since I agreed, I nodded and readied myself. It wasn’t an overreaction. We’d seen what people could do at times like this. Hell, we’d already lost someone to it and were damn well on our way to losing a second.

Someone stumbled and cursed quietly causing me to cock my head. Something about the voice caught my attention even though I didn’t hear it very well. My mind tried to puzzle it out, but it snapped into place just about the time she came into view.

With her hair bound up into a ponytail, a woman brandishing a filet knife appeared. The darkness of the lobby allowed me to see a little, but it wasn’t exactly bright enough to make out a whole lot, and I didn’t want to startle her with a sudden spotlight being turned on her.

But then she spotted us. Her hunched back and careful steps disappeared as she threw up one hand towards someone still hidden behind the wall that blocked the staircase. The other hand jerked up with the knife pointed towards Mike. Those dark eyes skipped between us while she planted her feet.

Rustling on the stairs indicated that someone was moving, following her unspoken warning. Her chin lifted and defiance wafted off her. She didn’t speak, though.

Seeing that her eyes stayed on Mike the longest, I edged forward. I didn’t blame her. He was a big, ugly fucker, but it was kinda insulting, too. Get the fuck over it.

I took another step and a slight tremble entered her fingers. She glanced at whoever remained hidden before looking back at me.

“It’s OK. We aren’t here to hurt anybody. Just needed a place until the explosions stopped,” I said, keeping my voice even.

“They’re over. You can go now.” The knife jerked towards the door and returned to its original position.

“Actually, we can’t. Our friend hit his head, and he’s still lying on the floor bleeding, so if we could get through this bullshit, I’d appreciate it.” Backing away, I reached out and grabbed Mike’s shirt without ever taking my eyes off the girl. “Feel free to go. We have other shit to do.”

I knew us being so close would only scare her more. If we gave them enough room, they’d probably stop feeling like they were being cornered. Didn’t mean I’d stop watching them, though. We still didn’t know who hid or what they had planned. For all I knew, she was bait. Wouldn’t be the first time a team used the woman as a lure to rob stupid guys.

When we reached Chris, I switched the light back on and trusted Mike to keep a lookout while I checked the wound. After I pulled the shirt away from Chris’s head, I pushed out an exhale. It seemed that the gush had dammed itself to a trickle. At least we had one positive sign, but when I took a look at his eyes, they were still shut and his face remained slack.

“Is that the guy from the diner?” a new voice asked, and my head whipped up.

A second dark silhouette followed behind the first woman but she carried some kind of long stick and seemed more timid.

“It doesn’t matter,” the first woman answered while she continued easing towards the door.

Mike clicked on his flashlight, blinding the pair as he aimed it in their direction.

The new girl raised one arm to block the light while the first one took a step forward, her trembling hand jabbing that knife out in front of her.

“Oh, calm the fuck down,” Mike said drolly. “Nobody here plans on doing anything to either one of you. Look.”

When he turned the flashlight up so that it shone over his own face, the girls blinked.

“How can I look when you blinded me like an asshole?” the louder one asked.

Mike sighed and waited until they quit that rapid blinking shit.

“It is the guy from the diner, Shay. Remember? They were at the table when we watched the news of those men at the hospital,” the shorter one explained as she started to step forward.

She didn’t make it very far because her friend’s arm smacked across her chest, holding her back.

“Doesn’t mean we know them. Come on.” Shay pulled at her friend who wasn’t having it.

“No,” she said as she ripped away from Shay. “They said someone is hurt. We can’t just leave them here.”

“We could have,” Shay mumbled. Louder, she said, “Fine, but if I have to stab someone, just remember, you started it this time.”

“I started it last time, too, so nothing new.” The shorter woman laughed before bouncing towards us. “I’m Coleen. I was the waitress from the diner…”

She trailed off as she tried to calculate how long it had been. Wasn’t hard to place her, though. We hadn’t been to any diner since the first reports came in.

“Right. We remember you. Don’t we, Soren?” Mike asked with that light still aimed at his chin like a child telling ghost stories.

“Yeah, sure. Either of you have any medical training? Maybe some antibiotics?”

I didn’t care about Mike’s obvious attraction to the girl. His voice always changed when he got around some girl he thought was cute. All I worried about was whether either of them might know something. Maybe they were nursing students or in med school. Did med school let you work?

“Shay has taken some basic first aid classes. No drugs, though. Sorry,” Coleen answered as she dragged the other woman forward.

Shay glared at her friend and kept her weapon in her hand but she lowered it to her side. Better than nothing. Wary eyes watched me as she skirted around Mike, keeping out of his reach.

When she reached us, the knife twisted in her grip. Kneeling, she said, “I will cut you. You stay over there. I just need some light.”

I nodded and tuned out the inane babbling going on between our two friends. Instead, I concentrated on her hands as she leaned forward and lifted the shirt I’d pressed against his head.

“Looks like it's stopped bleeding.” Her fingers pressed against the edges of the cut and for some reason, I followed them. “He probably needs stitches, though. Can you sew?”

She peered up at me, her brown eyes searching mine. I shook my head, raising my arm to push my hair off my forehead with my arm. I had no fucking clue how to sew. Probably a useful skill at the end of the world.

“I don’t either, but Coleen can. His skin’s burning up. What else is wrong with him?” she pressed.

“Cut on his leg. We need to get him some antibiotics. That’s where we were going when all of this happened.” I gestured.

She looked back down and fiddled with him some more. Eventually, she asked for the flashlight and did other stuff. I didn’t pay much attention, though. Her fingers were oddly fascinating and the tiny crease between her eyes gave me an easy measure of her concern.

I’m not sure why, but when she frowned deeply, I burst out with, “Where were you two heading?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just not here,” she answered without ever looking up.

I could tell she hadn’t really heard my question. It was just one of those automatic answers that slipped out while she became engrossed in what she was doing.

“Want to help us break into a pharmacy? Mike knows where a nice bomb shelter is, too. We were planning on riding out the next several weeks there.”

“Mmhmm. Sure.” Her absentminded tone remained. After a few minutes of me cursing myself inside my head and watching her, Shay announced, “I think he just knocked himself out. When he wakes up, keep an eye on him. Vomiting is bad. Sleeping is bad. I think those were the important things. They mean concussion. Not sure what you’d do for it, anyway. Not now.”

She slapped her thighs, grabbed her knife off Chris’s belly, and stood.

“Well, nice meeting you, but that’s about the extent of what I can do. Hope your friend gets better.” She backed away, but hesitated before she reached Mike. “If you need it, our apartment is open. It’s a hike up, but if you need somewhere to hide while he recuperates, it’s there.”

She disappeared behind Mike, then reappeared pulling her friend towards the door.

Coleen tried to shrug her off as she said, “Mike said he knows where a bunker is.”

“Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

Shay

We argued for a while, our voices rising as Coleen dug in her heels. Eventually, I gave in. I remained wary, even as we broke into a small pharmacy and ransacked the shelves. Especially while we traveled through forest paths with Chris hopping along and past houses that became fewer and farther between.

But when we came upon the bunker, I felt a bit of relief. Gaining entrance wasn’t easy, either. A huge, burly guy came out once Mike beat on it enough. After an eternity of posturing and threats, we finally got in. Some older guy came out and recognized Mike’s father's name.

Apparently, he’d been the one to draw up the plans which explained how he knew about it. The older guy had been the supervisor over the construction of it. The burly guy, who we later learned was named Foreman, had been the foreman.

Once we got inside, the owner was nowhere to be found. According to Foreman, he’d died shortly before the world came to a halt. A couple only a few years older than Coleen and I had a few kids running around the bunker, and a small group of guys sat together playing cards. The final couple consisted of a man that appeared to be in his fifties and his newly ex-girlfriend, a total bitch named Sheryl.

The bunker itself wasn’t anything like I’d imagined. All of the time we struggled with Chris and during all of the walking we’d done, I’d pictured something like a storm shelter, maybe a cellar if we were lucky.

This one resembled a complex. It contained a gathering room in the center that connected to another circular kitchen area. Spokes split off the outside of both circles, forming hallways to various parts of the building. Some held bedrooms, while others contained storage areas and even a hydroponics room.

It had a generator that still ran, but that wouldn’t last forever. Foreman said it was also hooked up to solar panels, but even that wasn’t sustainable. Still, I had hope that it would keep us safe until things could be controlled.

Except as days passed, we didn’t see any control. No military knocked on the door telling us it was safe to come out. Nobody came to claim the land. Time passed, and we spent a lot of it telling stories and playing games. Then Barry began to run out of his prescription, and we had to go into the little town nearby. We’d gotten low on a few things, so those were added to our list.

To be fair, we drew straws. I picked one of the short ones, and when I glanced over at Coleen, she grimaced. A quick peek at her straw showed a long one.

Soren, Chris, Foreman, and Sheryl also picked the short ones. We gathered what weapons we could find: kitchen knives, a bat, a fireplace poker, and a brick. It was a disheartening collection, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t survived with a filet knife.

We crept outside and nothing moved. We feared that the war had escalated to nuclear bombs while we were below and in the dark. The silence was deafening but expected since we were in such a remote place. Though months of growth made it difficult to travel, we made it through to the city in the valley.

When we reached the outskirts of town, we heard the first bit of noise. Just a clang, but we all jumped and then squatted down. Our heads swiveled around, searching for the source.

"There," I whispered as I pointed down towards the highway. A lone figure wobbled across the road. The woman, at least I thought it was a woman, wasn't really doing anything but trudging along. Still, we weren't really sure what the zombie people would do to us. The television conveniently left out whether they tried to eat brains or not.

We watched her until she crossed the street and wandered down a sidewalk where a building blocked her from our view.

"OK. Let's go. Remember, stay together, keep up, and be quiet. And don't let one of them touch you. Who knows how this stuff spreads, if it even does," Foreman whispered harshly. I nodded and glanced around at the others as they did the same.

Foreman took the lead with only a knife in his hand. He was a big guy, pretty stereotypical of what most people thought of as a construction worker. He was bald, and the top of his head seemed permanently sunburned even though we hadn't seen the sun in weeks. He told us that he was a foreman of a crew and laughed about how his last name fit so well with his job title. We'd heard the joke many times since we'd entered the bunker, but it seemed to be a running joke he enjoyed repeating.

Chris followed him with the bat in his hands. His blond hair that started out styled now layover to the side, often falling into his ocean blue eyes. He’d regained his health, mostly anyway.

Sheryl was in the middle carrying the empty bags. I didn't care for her. She complained too much and did too little. Her sobbing and shrieking after Barry broke it off with her didn't help. What did she expect when she admitted she had cheated on him with a bunch of different guys? Since then, she spent nearly every minute eyeing the rest of us women as though we were going to swoop in and steal him. She schemed more than she worked, only doing things when he looked her way. She was the one I planned to trip if the zombies came after us.

I came next in line and carried my filet knife and the brick. An empty bag banged against my back as I glanced around, my head on a swivel. I felt better being outside of that bunker. Over the weeks, I'd started developing feelings for Chris and Soren. Each day became more and more confusing. Unfortunately, even out here I was stuck with both of them.

Soren followed behind me, knife and poker in hand. Soren was tall, towering over me. He started with close-cropped mahogany hair but it had grown some and stuck up in some places. It was kind of cute. Like floppy ears on a growling puppy, I thought.

We marched across the divide in a line. Everyone one of us with our heads twisting this way and that. My muscles were tight and my knuckles were white as I gripped the knife in my hand. The silence was eerie and any little sound any of us made caused me to jump. We picked our way down until we reached the first building. There the line collapsed as we pressed ourselves against the wall.

One by one, Foreman waved us around him. When my turn came, my heart beat so fast that I wasn’t sure I would even survive the next few steps. I was positive I would drop from a heart attack, or not drop rather. It was all so confusing. My head moved back and forth as I scanned the empty street. Taking short, quick strides, I crossed the street and flattened against another building, watching, always watching.

Our target was a small mom and pop shop that was only a block into the town. It was a general store type of thing that carried a little bit of everything.

Though we all remained tense, we didn't have any trouble making it to the store. A few of the dead sat on benches or walked around, but none of them seemed very interested in us. Thankfully, the store appeared to be empty as well and hadn't been locked before the owners went wherever they were now.

“Wait,” I said as everyone was preparing to leave. “There’s a storage room. Shouldn’t we at least look so we’ll know whether it’s worth coming back for or not? And there’s still a lot of stuff we can get in here. Like the lights. They’d be great for the bunker. Those will burn out, and we’ll run out of replacements.”

Foreman ran his scarred knuckles through his beard, his eyes focused on the storage room door. I knew he didn’t want to open it. We’d talked about only going places that were in sight before we went into them. The shop had large glass windows that we could scan before stepping inside. The dirty windows were why he picked that particular store in the first place.

He nodded slowly, his hand tensing as he reached for the baseball bat he found behind the counter. “You’ll open it, though. It was your idea, so it’s only right that you take the risk.”

I was fine with that. Soren was not. Before I even took a step in that direction, he jumped in front of me and blurted out, “No. I’ll do it. She’ll stay right where she’s at.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he shook his head. His eyes implored me to let him do it, to listen to him. I relented, though I didn’t like it. I sighed and gestured towards the door. When he rewarded me with a grin, it nearly blinded me, causing my belly to flutter.

With all of the drama over who was opening what, there was nothing behind the door but a stock room with boxes. When no one started screaming or running, I pushed through. The room was divided down the center. To one side, rows of metal shelves sat, mostly filled with boxes or stacks of product. On the other side sat a small break room and a partitioned office. I hung back and let everyone else go first.

When I finally strode through the door, I noticed everyone pilfering the shelves and trying to stuff their nearly full backpacks with even more items. I just shook my head and went to the cabinets in the break room area. Bags of coffee, sugar, bottles of powdered creamer, packages of crackers, and a few other snack type foods were waiting to be used. I didn’t dare open the small fridge. Not after all that time. I also rifled through the office area snagging pens, pencils, paper, and some tape. The best haul was the coffee pot, though. Ours had gone out weeks before, and some people weren’t dealing with the lack of caffeine very well at all.

I also found a small wagon by the rear door. It sat as dusty as the rest of the items, the blue paint nearly obscured by the film of abandonment. I bent down and examined it, checking to make sure that it would be able to handle the trek back to the bunker. Large, worn wheels that were still intact was a welcome sight. The only thing I could find wrong with it was a long crack running down one side of the wooden panels that made up the sides of the cart. We were all cracked, and we still worked, so I thought the little helper would fit right in.

“Hey, guys. Look what I found,” I called out.

Sheryl’s head popped around the side of a shelf, and her eyes widened just before she cut around the corner.

Making a beeline for my prize, she sighed and said, “Oh, thank goodness. My feet hurt so bad.”

Then, to my confusion and horror, she plopped down right inside of it.

“Um, Sheryl, I’m not pulling you anywhere. Get out of the cart,” I said, making it as firm as I could.

She didn’t move. She just rolled her eyes, pasted on what I guessed she thought was a flirty smile, and said in her high pitched baby voice, “Soren’s big and strong. He can pull me, can’t you, sugar?”

Soren flinched back, shaking his head.

A smirk crossed my face, and I said, "Get the fuck out."

She scowled and made a big show of it, but she got out. We had to endure her whining for the rest of the trip. I kept waiting for something to stumble upon us, so I could push her into them. Hopefully they would eat her.

It was a good find, though, and allowed us to bring back even more. By the time we made it to the bunker, we'd skirted a few of the zombie people. Other than that we didn't have any issues.

Even though we were supposed to rotate out, I ended up going on every run from then on out. Not surprisingly, either Chris or Soren ended up making sure at least one of them went with us. Dating rules of the apocalypse, I suppose.

Shay

We had a few runs go bad. One of those was supposed to be an easy one. Ditzy Sheryl ended up having to go, and she was not happy. She let us know the entire way there by complaining about everything. Her feet hurt. It was hot. Her back ached. She even asked Foreman if he would carry her. Bitch.

It was because of her we had our first serious incident. We were scavenging through a hospital two towns over when we ran into a group of people doing the same. They were the first large group of living people we’d come across since everything fell.

Stupid Sheryl trotted over to them, swinging her hips like she was heading towards a stripper pole. I had nothing against strippers, but I really didn’t find it appropriate for confronting a group of feral-looking men.

“Sheryl,” I hissed, trying to stop her but she ignored me and kept walking.

“Hey, baby. Where are y’all from?” she asked as she placed her hand on the dirty-looking man at the front.

He stared down, first at her hand. Then his gaze moved towards her boobs. I had no idea what she was thinking. She’d already tried to sink her claws into every male in the bunker, but none of them had worked out. Maybe she wanted out, away from her ex. Or maybe her stupidity ran deeper than I thought. It was a tossup.

Two more men joined the five we’d stumbled upon in the small downstairs pharmacy. I’d hoped to find at least a couple of usable bottles of antibiotics, some birth control, and most importantly, a refill on the heart medication that Barry needed. We’d stolen all that we could from the tiny pharmacy located near the bunker, but he was nearly out.

“Sheryl, get back over here,” I said in a harsh whisper.

The big guy looked up from Sheryl to find me. Something in his eyes sent a chill down my back, and I took a step back. Fuck Sheryl. My feet wanted to leave that bitch there and run. I didn’t like her, anyway.

Wait, no. Bad brain. Right?

I cut my eyes over to where I thought Soren would be, only to find him edging away from me. Mike stepped forward, drawing my attention as he tried to chat with the other group, but they weren’t really looking to talk. As soon as Mike asked them where they were from, the fight began.

One of their guys ran towards me with some kind of wild look in his eyes. Soren rushed to meet him while Chris grabbed me. He jerked me backwards and blocked my sight just as Soren and the other guy crashed together.

Our side surged forward. Their side met them in the middle. I got stuck in the fucking corner. What kind of shit is this?

I whipped out my knife, but I didn’t try to dart into the fight. I might have been fuming, but I wasn’t stupid. With absolutely zero skills, I’d just be in the way. Getting one of them to teach me something probably would have been a better use of my time than annoying Sheryl and embarrassing myself with my poor ability to flirt.

My mind drifted to the time I tried to be cute and do what Coleen suggested. Instead of laying my hand on Soren’s arm, I pitched forward and ended up whacking my face on the chair.

A strangled sound drew me out of my highly inappropriate daydreaming. Jason, one of the construction guys, staggered back with a knife sticking out of his chest. He paused and stared down at it. His mouth gaped, and his hands shot towards the knife.

“No!” I yelled. His head jerked my way, and I waved my arms as I hollered, “Leave it in.”

I’d watched enough TV to know better than to remove it. What we would do for him later, I didn’t know. But at least he would have a later, and we would have time to form some kind of plan.

The grizzled man who’d stabbed him didn’t seem too keen on leaving him alone. If he got his hands on Jason, that would be the end. I found my feet rushing me towards the man that was at least three times bigger than me. My mind went blank, maybe hiding from my own idiocy.

Just before he reached Jason, I jumped in front of my fellow bunker dweller. My knife was ripped from my hand as the big man walked backwards, taking my weapon with him as it remained lodged in his gut.

The opened mouth and wide eyes forced my gaze away from his face, down to where his hands were beginning to close in on my knife. My brain was still on vacation, but I lunged forward and yanked it out of his protruding belly before he could use it against me.

The tiny red spot around the slit in his shirt became a waterfall as the blood poured out. He glanced back up at me, rage contorting his face.

“You bitch,” he growled and raised his arms.

I retreated as he lumbered towards me, sticking one hand behind me as I tried to wave Jason away. Eventually, he backed me against the wall, and I had nowhere to go. I could only wait and try to jump to the side. Sweat dripped down my face, forcing me to blink rapidly while my eyes burned and blurred.

At the last second, I dove to the side. A crash followed, but it wasn’t the one I expected to see when I looked back. Instead of the big guy running into the wall, I found him on the floor with Soren covering him. They grappled with each other, both of them giving and receiving blows.

Taking a second to glance around the room, I found them all in battles of their own. The only thing we had going for us was superior numbers. Unfortunately, those numbers included the idiotic Sheryl and the injured Jason. And me.

Looking back to where I’d last seen Soren, I found that their positions were reversed, and he lay beneath the big guy. I wanted to help but what could I do?

Flexing my fingers reminded me that I still had the knife. After I ran towards them, I winced at the crack of his fist against Soren’s face. Then I stood behind them. My arms raised above my head, and I plunged the knife between the big guy’s shoulder blades.

He paused and tried to reach around but couldn’t get it. Soren took advantage of the pause and pushed him. That forced me to jump away as the guy fell backwards, burying the knife even deeper.

Soren jumped up and blood dripped from his face. I stood there staring down at the writhing man until Soren snatched me off my feet. Thrown over his shoulder, I bounced along as he ran out of the room, dropping me off at the stairwell.

His hands cupped my face, and he filled my vision. “Shay, go downstairs. Find somewhere to hide until we come out. I have to go back to help.”

I shook my head, and his fingers dug into my skin.

“Yes, you will.” To my surprise, he ended his command with a quick peck on my lips.

I blinked, and he was gone, jumping back into the fray.

Chris

We struggled to get back to the bunker, didn’t manage to get the medicine we needed, and couldn’t save Jason. It only took a few hours for him to “wake up” again and begin wandering around.

Sheryl was lost in the fray, and after voting, we decided to leave her to her fate. Sounded cruel but we didn’t have the resources to fight gangs over a woman who started too much shit.

We made changes to how we went on runs after that, too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the medicine Barry needed.

It didn’t take too much longer before Barry had a major heart attack and died, too. We don’t know how long it took him to get back up because we carried him outside before he could begin walking around again.

Life went on. Well, if you could call it life. Between being stuck underground bored to tears and the stress of being above ground, tempers and emotions were everywhere. The fact that both Soren and I were interested in Shay didn’t help. Mike had already started dating Coleen. Those two were glued together the third day into our new life.

So, it became tense between the two of us, but when one of the shit stains started hitting on Shay, everything blew up. The day started like most others; slow as fuck.

When I walked into the community area where we ate breakfast, I spotted Waylan hovering around Shay. As I eyed him while getting my bowl of oatmeal, he touched her about fifty times. Oh, it wasn’t anything big. Just him laying his hand on her arm, resting it on her shoulder, pushing her hair back, corny shit like that. Pitiful.

I sat beside Soren. He seemed to be angry eating, shoveling in the overcooked mush while glaring at Waylan.

“He doesn’t stand a chance,” I said before beginning my own angry eating.

Soren cut his eyes towards me. “Are you being an asshole? I can’t tell sometimes.”

“Nah. Not this time, anyway.” Using my spoon, I pointed. “See how she keeps leaning away?”

He paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. It took a few beats before he did exactly what I thought he would and jumped up. I stood, much more calmly, and followed the stomping Soren.

He muscled his way between Shay and Waylan, plopping down into the space that he created. A smile touched my lips before I schooled my face and slid into the spot on the other side of her.

“What the fuck?” Waylan asked, a growl lacing his voice.

I threw my arm around Shay’s shoulder, forcing her to look at me. She turned her head and leaned in. If it came to blows, I wanted to be able to grab her out of the way in time. Besides, I had a feeling it was about to devolve into things she wouldn’t want to hear.

“What’s with the caveman act?” she whispered as she fought a grin.

I tilted my head forward until our foreheads touched. “Why? You into cavemen? Because I don’t mind a bit of roleplay.”

She pushed against me, and something between a sigh and giggle came from her lips. “You know what I mean.”

“We noticed you didn’t look that comfortable. Figured if we came to rescue you, it might improve our standing,” I answered truthfully.

“Standing? What? Like I have a roster now?”

“I’d prefer it if that roster remained with just two names, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to add names just because you aren’t attached to anyone.”

It was shitty but until she started gutting people or dating someone who didn’t mind doing it for her, she would be a target for all of the guys who were beginning to realize their hands were their only real options. Society wasn’t what it was just months ago. The hospital proved that. Even if I did want her to just choose me and only me, I knew that Soren wouldn’t hesitate to kill for those he cared about. That was one of the biggest reasons he’d been allowed into the house without having any prior connections. Well, that and because he had the ability to procure the best party favors.

Shay started to turn her head, so I glanced to see why. Soren stood up. So did Waylan. Time to distract her while keeping my eye on the situation.

I raised my arm, cupping her cheek to pull her back to me. Her mouth pursed, no doubt ready to question me. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to hers. She didn’t jerk back. It wasn’t our first kiss, after all, but it was our first in front of everyone else. To my relief, she seemed to forget everyone else.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but watching those two ugly bastards slipped my mind, too. That is until Soren sat back down and began rubbing her back. She pulled away from me and dove on him like he was a candy bar. We hadn’t found chocolate in weeks, so that should explain exactly how she latched onto him.

I stood and stuck one arm beneath her legs while wrapping the other around her back. Pulling her away proved to be a bigger problem than I thought since those two didn’t seem to want to separate.

“I’m not disappearing with her. Shit. Let go, Soren,” I bit out.

I just wanted to take it out of the public view. Besides, it was time for a chat. He released her, hesitantly, and she latched onto me. Our procession caught everyone’s attention but because Shay stared up at me, I had to behave. Instead of looking at them, I smiled down at her. Surely, Soren could do the scary glaring thing by himself.

Soren

Fuckers. I knew that Shay was the only female around that wasn’t guarded by Mike or a husband, but damn. The choice to be together needed to be made freely on both sides. These fuckers seemed to think they could press themselves onto her and that would be good enough.

Some of the construction guys seemed decent, but a couple of them worried me. Still, it wasn’t my place to decide anything for her. When Chris pointed out how she kept leaning away from Waylan, I was both happy about that and pissed all at once.

Chris led us down the hall where our rooms were located. When we’d arrived, the five of us chose to take over a hallway of our own away from the other denizens of the bunker. When Chris paused by her door, I stepped forward and turned the knob, pushing it open when I heard the click.

“And what are we doing in my room?” Shay asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Chris.

“We’re having a chat,” he answered. “Of course, if you decided that you needed to get undressed first, it could wait a few minutes.”

I shook my head. What an idiot. And then she laughed, and I could only sigh. Chris had an ability to make his idiotic statements sound like jokes. They weren’t.

“I think I’ll keep them on for now. So, what are we having this very important discussion about?” She wiggled out of his arms, dropping down onto her feet before plopping on the twin-sized bed.

The utilitarian rooms were fairly sparse, but she’d made racks that were covered in rocks of various kinds. I picked one up, turning it over in my hand as I tried to figure out why she always came back with a pocket full of the things. They didn’t really look like anything special.

I heard Chris answering her, but he trailed off and she popped up beside me. Her fingers closed over mine as she pulled the grey rock from my grasp.

Her eyes locked onto it while she flipped it over, revealing the bottom. “You know, I spent almost four years studying my ass off. Right before all of this happened, I was getting ready for finals. Anxious if I would get into my choice school for yet more stress. It’s funny how much I’d forgotten what I liked about the field.”

She lifted it so I could see the small impression from some long-dead creature. I glanced at it, but I wasn’t the rock lover. Instead, I found her eyes. They told me everything she felt, but I didn’t get to decipher anything. She only stared down at that reminder that things once died.

“I’d forgotten the weight of my favorites in my pockets and that fleeting moment of excitement when I found a new treasure.” She sighed and placed it back in its designated spot.

We stood there for a moment before she looked up at me, her lips curling into a grin. With a yank, she pulled me towards Chris who sat on her bed watching us.

“So, what’s this about?” She fell beside him and patted the other side, her gaze locked onto mine.

“Don’t look at me. This is his meeting,” I answered and shrugged. I really didn’t have a clue.

Shay and I turned to stare at Chris. When he shifted and cleared his throat, I smiled. Fucker.

“Well, I think I can speak for both Soren and myself,” he paused when I coughed.

“Let’s see if I agree after you spit it out. I don’t want to tie myself to your ideas too soon. They aren’t always the best.”

Shay laughed and turned to me, reminding us of the time Chris thought it would be a good idea to be lowered into some well with a really old rope. It snapped. I laughed but not at the story. No, it was Chris’s glare that I found so funny.

“Well, fine. Now that my feelings are hurt, can we move on?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes as Shay twisted to pat him. “So, as I was saying, I speak for myself when I say that I think it would be a good idea to get some idea of what’s going on between us.”

I rubbed my chin, trying to decide which way to go with that. “Yeah, I guess he does speak for me on that.”

“Well, that’s such a relief,” Chris said dryly. “I just think it would be nice to talk about where we stand with whatever this is that’s been going on. Those guys aren’t going to stop as long as they think you’re open to their advances.”

And there’s my opening. “Not that I would pressure you into deciding anything before you wanted to. If you want those advances, that’s completely up to you.”

Just when I thought I got some brownie points for saying the right thing, she turned, a slight sheen growing in her eyes. Shit. Why did my chest hurt so much?

“So you don’t care if we just stop seeing each other? Well, that’s nice to know now,” she huffed.

“No. No, that’s not. No. I just meant that it’s your choice,” I spit out. Fuuuuck. “I certainly don’t want this to end. If it were up to me, we would already belong to each other.”

Wait, I didn’t mean to say that. Not that I didn’t mean it. I did. But I didn’t mean to reveal so much.

“Same here. I would’ve already gotten some awful tattoo with your name on it,” stupid Chris chimed in.

I sat there frozen, unsure if I’d just messed everything up, and he was over there making idiotic jokes. How did he become my competition?

We both knew that she had been ‘dating’ both of us, and we both knew that the other had already become invested in the relationship. We simply ignored it, but he just had to bring it up. What if she dumped us both? She hadn’t said anything. Shit, she was dumping us both. I would kill Chris. Then toss him outside with a blindfold on.

“I don’t know,” she whispered and looked down at her twisting hands.

Silence fell over us. I had no idea what Chris thought, but my mind raced as I tried to figure out what that meant.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” Chris broke through the terrible thoughts in my head.

Time passed slowly as we both waited for Shay to find her words. When a tear dripped from her chin, my head snapped up, and I glared at Chris. I was definitely killing that motherfucker.

Shay

I felt torn. They wanted me to decide between them, but I couldn’t. Since we’d joined the bunker life, I’d found things in both of them that I didn’t want to give up.

When we’d arrived, I’d helped Chris through the infection that made him so sick. The entire time, he only tried to make me smile. Well, when he was lucid enough to do so. He kept life from being so doomed. He kept me from losing it, and his sweet gestures made my heart flutter.

And Soren. If Chris embodied light, Soren reveled in darkness. When I was with him, I had no doubts that he would do whatever it took to protect me. He gave me a safe place that called to something inside that I never knew was there. The primal part of me craved him.

How could I decide between two halves of myself?

Soren growled and started to rise, just like the violence that vibrated against my skin. As it grew between the two men, I knew I had to say something. But what?

“I can’t. You two can’t ask me this!” I yelled and jumped up.

I couldn’t breathe. The room became too small, and my thoughts bounced too much. My feet took off, and I let them carry me away from the voices behind me. The smack of flesh against flesh was the last thing I heard before I ran down the hall, through the community area, and outside.

I wandered until dark, and even then, Coleen had to come find me. All day, I’d tried to choose, but as the temperatures began to fall and I found myself twirling a rock between my fingers, I still hadn’t settled on either one. Coleen let me cry on her shoulder for a while before making me come inside.

She threw her arm around me and escorted me to her room, glaring at the sources of my trouble when we passed them. They tried to speak, but I couldn’t even look at them. I felt like a horrible person, as though I’d led them both on. Surely, they were hurting too, but no matter what I did, someone lost. But who?

We entered Coleen’s room, and she tucked me into her bed before climbing into the one Mike brought in. She grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly.

“Won’t Mike need a bed?” I whispered.

“Nah, he’s taking yours tonight. Want to tell me what happened? Want me to have Mike accidentally lose them both on the next run? I will, you know,” she asked.

I laughed, the sound bitter and flat. “No. It isn’t anything they’ve done. They wanted me to decide, to stop playing with them. I couldn’t.”

Her eyes narrowed, and her nose scrunched up like it always did when she thought really hard. “Have you been playing? That doesn’t sound like you.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t mean to. At first, it was just being friends. Then it was just a couple of kisses. No big deal, right? But when they asked, I realized it wasn’t just a bit of kissing. I really like them both. What do I do? Which one should I pick?”

I looked at her, hoping she would solve my problem, but my hopes fell when she shook her head slightly.

“I can’t tell you that, and you know it. You’re going to have to tell them what you just said. No, no, don’t talk back. Just listen. This is the end of the fucking world. We make our own rules now. So, you grow up and have that conversation with both of them tomorrow. Tell them what you told me and let them decide what they can handle.” She must have seen my scrunched up face because she answered my unspoken question. “Who says you can’t have them both?”

“You mean date both of them? At the same time?” I gasped out, my eyes glazing over as I let the possibility run through my head. “No, that won’t work. Won’t one get jealous? People don’t do that. Do they?”

My voice must have revealed the kernel of hope in it, because she gave me a small smile and said, “People have done that since the beginning of time, hun. As long as you all decide to put in the work and you all agree, I don’t see any reason why you can’t date both of them. Sure, there will be some adjustments at first, but if you three want to try, I’ll be behind you all the way. Wait. I’ll be in front of you, spitting on anyone who says anything different. No, wait, maybe not in front of Soren. He’d run me over as he tried to stab whoever said it.”

I laughed, picturing that whole scene. She was right. He would stab them or, at least, beat the shit out of them.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, I really think so. Now go to bed. You look like shit,” she said and laughed as I slapped at her.

“Bitch.” A small smile crept up on my lips as I allowed my mind to begin to picture life with both Soren and Chris.

“Yeah, I love you, too.”

A thought hit me. “Wait. Which bed do you and Mike…”

Her smirk made me throw my covers back as I scrambled up and dove onto her. She laughed so hard, she couldn’t even fight back. Thank God for friends, especially her.

Shay

When I woke up the next morning, Coleen had already gotten up, visited Mike judging by the grin on her lips, and rummaged through what little clothing I had.

“Here. Get dressed,” she said as she tossed my best outfit onto my head. “And no, we didn’t use your bed.”

“Thank fuck for that. I love both of you, but not that much,” I teased as I yanked my top off and slipped the new one on.

When she didn’t sass back, I took a closer look at her face. It didn’t quite look right. Something weighed on her shoulders, something that hadn’t been there the night before.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” I asked, shimmying out of my pants.

She shook her head, pasting a brittle smile on her lips. “Nothing. It’s a big day, so get dressed. I’m sure they would appreciate you without pants, but it might be too distracting.”

I jerked my pants up. Each second she spoke, my heart fell and my mind began to imagine terrible things. If she wouldn’t tell me because it would upset me…

Walking over to her, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her stiff body against mine. My hand brushed down her hair as I whispered, “Tell me.”

I felt a second of stiffening before she hiccuped a little sob and pressed fists into my back. Frankly, that shit hurt, but I kept my mouth shut as she started to cry in earnest.

“Cry it out. That’s right. I’m right here. Always will be.” I kept running my hand over her head and back until she slowed.

When she did, I turned her, directing her towards the bed so she could sit. I took the spot next to her, and with one arm wrapped around her shoulders, I pulled her closer so she could rest on me. We sat in silence as I waited her out. She would speak whenever she got ready to. We were opposites like that. She had to make me say my problems, and I had to simply be there waiting for her to freely offer hers.

“When I went to get your clothes this morning,” she began, her voice growing stronger with each word. “I dug through your things. I wanted to make sure you felt confident, you know?”

I nodded, keeping quiet.

“Well, I found your little stash of monthly supplies.”

I held in a laugh at her phrase for tampons and pads. She had issues just saying the words.

“Do you need to borrow some? I don’t mind,” I said, hoping the conversation wasn’t going where I thought it might be.

“No,” she wailed before she broke down again.

Shit. We rocked back and forth.

“Did you tell Mike?” I whispered when she calmed enough to hear me.

She shook her head and pulled away enough, so she could look up at me. “I counted. I’m definitely late. What am I going to do?”

Tears rolled down her face, and I reached up, placing both of my hands on either side of her face. With my thumbs, I wiped the tears away as I told her, “We make our own fucking rules, remember? We will get through this. Mike will be happy. Well, after he stops panicking. You will be a great mother, and I will spoil the shit out of my niece or nephew.”

“I’m scared, Shay. I wanted babies, but I wanted epidurals and formula and diapers and cute shoes. This world isn’t safe. What if something happens?”

“Then we figure it out. And next run, I’m getting so many baby things, Mike will break his back carrying them all back.” I nodded, and relief hit me as the corners of her lips turned up. “Now, take these hormones to Mike. He should get used to them now.”

“Oh, shit. What if he’s mad?” she asked, her eyes welling up again.

“Then we’ll kill him in his sleep. Face it. He’s a big fucker. We wouldn’t stand a chance unless he was asleep.”

Thankfully, she laughed which I’d hoped for.

“Right. Him being a big fucker is what got us in this spot in the first place.” She grinned as I gasped, pretending to be too innocent for such talk. “Now, go get you a couple of your own while I go freak out the one I have.”

I sighed. Despite standing and straightening my back like I actually had a clue how to handle things, I really wanted to run and hide. With one last glance back at my friend, I ducked into the hall. Shit. At least I wasn’t pregnant, I guess.

Chris

My head drooped over my breakfast. I hadn’t really eaten any of it, but it seemed like the thing I was supposed to do. My spoon kept dipping into the mushy oats. Then I’d pick it up and watch them drop back into the bowl as I tilted the spoon. My appetite was nonexistent.

Why I’d tried to push things, I would never know. Well, maybe I’d wanted her to pick me, but I certainly hadn’t wanted to make her cry. Didn’t want those punches from Soren either. My eye still hurt. But maybe I deserved it.

Soren slammed his bowl down beside me, but I didn’t jump at the sound. Too far gone inside my head, I didn’t even pay him any attention until he spoke.

“You dumb fucker,” he growled.

I nodded.

“As soon as she gets up, I’m going to go try to fix this shit.”

My head bobbed again. At least one of us might be able to do something.

“You’re coming with me.”

I jerked up and twisted, shaking my head. “She isn’t going to want to see me. I made her cry and then run away. I doubt she wants to even see me right now.”

“I don’t give a shit,” he said, an edge to his voice I didn’t like.

“Don’t give a shit about what?” Shay’s light tones hit my ears, forcing me to turn again.

When I saw her sitting down in front of me with a smile on her face, I dropped my head again. She gasped and reached forward to jerk my chin up.

I watched her face grow stormy as I berated myself the entire time. Why had I said anything at all? Things were fine before, weren’t they?

“Soren,” her voice held a warning.

“Hey, he hit back, so I don’t want to hear it.”

Why was he acting like this was any other day? Were we pretending that it never happened? My back straightened, and my face pulled out of her hands. I could do the pretending thing.

“Eat up. We’re going shopping after breakfast. And you might want to hurry before Mike gets out here,” she said before shoveling some of the gruel in her mouth.

Instead of doing as she said, I watched her lips. Until she noticed, anyway. Then she stuck her spoon in my bowl and forced the gross tasting mess into my mouth. She gestured for me to continue, so I did what she said, not tasting anything.

We finished quickly, and just before we got outside, Mike’s yell echoed through the entire complex. “What?”

Shay laughed and ran out. She led us down into the little town closest to the bunker, a place we’d picked clean early on.

As we hunkered behind the line of cars, trying to observe if anything had changed, Soren whispered, “What are we doing here?”

“We need some things. Some stuff we left behind the last time. Plus we need to talk,” she answered back before jumping up and running towards the first building.

Soren and I looked at each other. I gulped, and he glowered. When he squinted his eyes and pointed at me, I jumped and ran, too. I was so dead.

Soren

We ended up in a little clothing shop. Shay ran ahead of us so she was already picking through things when I entered.

“What do you think?” she asked as she held up a tiny dress, one small enough for a baby.

“Um, it’s cute?” Where was this going? I do not want kids right now.

Chris looked a little green, and he stumbled and gripped the counter.

“It’s not for me.” Shay rolled her eyes and lifted another tiny outfit.

It took a second but my brain kicked on and connected the dots. Oh, shit. “Mike?”

She nodded, dug a little more, and sighed. When she glanced up, I tilted my head, trying to be patient. She sighed again and looked at Chris. When she sighed for the third time, I asked, “So, what’s wrong?”

She looked relieved for a second before her cheeks flushed and her eyes became glued on those clothes.

“Well, I don’t know that it’s something wrong. I’m just not sure both of you will think it’s a good idea. If you don’t then that would be bad. I think. But maybe I shouldn’t really suggest it. Maybe we should just–”

I stepped forward, ignoring the longing on Chris’s face as I pulled her towards me. “Just say it, Shay. Whatever it is, it’s not as bad as your brain seems to be working towards.”

“Right,” she said as she looked everywhere except me. My worry grew until she spit out, “I can’t decide.”

I froze, and she took advantage, yanking away from me so that she could turn away from us both. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see her face, but she seemed less tense that way so I held back. It was also the perfect time to shoot daggers at Chris.

“What if–” She broke off and started pacing, but still refused to look our way.

Time ticked by, and my gut felt like it was chewing on itself. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I asked, “If what, Shay? Just ask us. Neither of us are going anywhere, and neither of us are going to embarrass you or get mad about whatever you’re planning on saying. I swear it.”

Even though I knew I didn’t need to because Chris might be a dumbass but he was a good guy, I emphasized my point by jabbing my finger at him. He held up his hands.

“What if,” she hesitated again before finally relieving me of the worry growing in me. “If we kept things like they were, but more? Like if I dated both of you?”

My heart stopped for a minute. What did that mean? My mind went blank, unable to come up with any answer for the thousands of questions running through my head.

Chris recovered first. “You mean, you keep dating both of us? Like until you decide?”

She glanced between us and shook her head. Her words came out as a whisper, “I mean like until forever.”

I turned to look at Chris and found him staring at me. Searching his eyes, I found a bit of hope in them. Could I handle knowing that she would be fucking him? Going to him when she needed his goofy ass?

“How does that work? One of us dates you on even days and the other guy gets the odd days?” I bit out as I turned back to her.

Her face fell, and tears entered her eyes. Fuck. God, why was I so stupid? Now, I felt like shit.

“No. I don’t know. I just…” She wrapped her arms around herself, protecting herself. Goddamnit. Her gaze clashed with mine, ensnaring me in her pain. “I can’t decide, Soren. Chris is my light.”

That hurt. Was I too young to be having a heart attack? I rubbed my chest and kept feeding the hurt by watching her face brighten when she looked at him. Then she turned to me, and her expression morphed into something darker, wilder, but no less captivating.

“You are my dark. How am I supposed to just pick between you two when I need you both?”

My heart leapt and squeezed at the same time. Forcing her to pick between us would destroy her. I pulled my gaze away and found Chris. We’d been friends long enough that I could read him. He wanted to try. My head began to bob, and his followed.

When I turned back to her, the relief on her face nearly had me rushing across the room to snatch her up, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I understood.

“So, how does it work? I’m serious. I need some guidelines here.”

“I really don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead because I wasn’t sure you’d even hear me out, let alone agree. The whole odd and even thing, I don’t want to do that. Can we play it by ear for now until we figure out where the problems are?” The hope in her voice had me nodding.

“But I think we all need to agree right here, right now, that when someone has a problem, we call a meeting or something. Not just sit back and let it simmer inside,” Chris spoke for the first time since we’d left the bunker.

“That works, I guess, but I won’t be hiding shit. I’m not going to be in a relationship and still sneaking around like I’m doing something wrong,” I said, my voice firm.

I wouldn’t be the shameful secret, hidden away and used when it was convenient. I’d done that before, but I refused to do it with her.

“And I’ll try to make sure that I’m not ignoring one of you for the other. And I’ll listen anytime one of you has an issue with something. We’ll just have to work together,” she promised.

“I can’t swear I won’t get jealous,” I warned them both.

I had no idea how I’d react when I heard those little sounds coming out of her mouth, but I wasn’t the one causing them.

She nodded. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Chris? Any other concerns?”

He shook his head, his smile wide and goofy as hell. Apparently, he’d gotten over his bout of depression because he rushed forth and snatched her up. I watched as she wrapped her legs around his waist and their lips met.

I waited for the anger to rise up, but it didn’t. A seed of jealousy did begin to bloom, but then I noticed how relaxed she seemed, how just happy she appeared. Chris wasn’t even on my radar. All I could see was her.

And when he released her and her eyes locked on mine, the relaxed posture disappeared as she slunk towards me. No longer languid, her muscles tensed just before she ran at me. She leapt, and I caught her.

Those bright brown eyes searched mine for a second before she gave me a wicked grin and dug her fingers into my hair. “Kiss me, Soren.”

Who was I to say no?

Shay

The transition to becoming a double couple? Was that the right word? Probably not, but whatever our relationship was, it came with drama sometimes. Probably more than just a couple, but it also came with a lot of happiness.

We each had our individual relationships: Soren and I, Chris and I, and Soren and Chris. But we also had to consider the dynamics of the three of us together. All four relationships were more fulfilling than I’d ever thought I’d find. Even though they were also a lot more work, I never doubted that we would find our way.

Growing up, I’d had an awful example, and I’d always assumed I’d get married and be miserable until I couldn’t take it anymore. My two guys saved me from that.

The first one I slept with was Soren. We’d gone on a quick run that turned out to not be very quick. We had a close call and nearly didn’t make it back to the bunker alive. With the adrenaline rushing through our system, we fucked before we got home. It was wild, violent, and perfect.

My first time with Chris was almost the complete opposite. Even though it was weeks later, I could tell he’d put a lot of thought into it. He even scrounged up some tiny chocolates. On a blanket beneath a full moon, we made love. It was slow, sweet, and brought tears to my eyes.

We even had a first time as the three of us. It was more of a special occasion thing, but I didn’t mind. I loved it, anyway. Honestly, it had surprised me that they felt comfortable enough to do so.

We did all sleep together in the same bed each night. With me in the middle, of course. Though I did find it hilarious when I’d sneak out of bed early and watch them wake up in each others’ arms. They finally caught on to my game and stopped giving me any reaction, forcing me to find other ways to torture them.

Coleen did have her baby, a girl. The birth was difficult, but everything seemed fine until the girl grew. Something was missing from her. She always seemed so hollow. Her conscience was absent, and I doubted she could love. Coleen and Mike continued on, and both were amazing parents. In the end, nothing they did affected her.

But by the time I realized it, my own baby grew in me. Our family of three became four, then five, then six. Each of them became just like Trini, Coleen’s girl.

We tried to instill humanity in them, but we failed. Despite their obvious deficits, we loved them. How could we not? When they got old enough, each of them ran away. They would come back, but they never stayed. Each time broke me just a little more. Even worse, I could see how it destroyed Soren, Chris, Coleen, and Mike. If we hadn’t had each other, I would’ve gone insane.

Then Mike died, and Coleen shattered. She became obsessed with searching for him. She would disappear for weeks on end as she hunted for his body, and each time she returned thinner and thinner. Nothing we said or did could convince her to stay with us. Finally, one day, she simply didn’t come back.

Soren went next, murdered while we were outside working on a small plot of food. He sacrificed himself to save Chris and me, but just before we passed through the doors, I witnessed his fall. Silencing the wails ricocheting through me to keep Chris safe cracked something inside. I lost myself and couldn’t connect with reality anymore. Even Chris could pull me from the depths of my soul for only short periods. The pain in his eyes as he watched me pushed me even deeper inside of myself as I sought out a respite from the pain. It wasn’t that I loved him any less. I just couldn’t seem to find the will to live with only half of my heart.

And still the children, now grown, kept showing up, chipping away at me even more. I died in my sleep, curled up next to my Chris. There just wasn’t enough of my heart left to sustain me any longer.

When I woke in his arms, my soul felt wrong inside of my body. It felt so wrong as though chains kept it in place, chains I’d never noticed before. I left him there, unaware that I’d gone.

As the sun rose, his scream could be heard across the Earth. He joined us not too long after, and his body looked so thin that I was sure he’d joined us on purpose.

We clustered together as we found each other, constantly walking the land until we began to fall apart. The moment the last of my old trappings fell away, the relief I felt can’t be captured in words. It finally felt right. Our children never joined us, leaving us heartbroken.

Together, our souls waited. On what, we didn’t know. Until one day, I spotted a glowing white woman crest the hill. She stared back at the town for a moment before speeding our way.

The hope I’d long since lost clawed its way up, and I lifted my hand.

Want to find out who the symbol of hope was? Read Zella’s story in Forgotten Essence.

About the Author

When not writing, Aster North is running the homestead with her husband. She is the mother of two kids and sometimes an adoptive mom to cows and goats. Naps, cheese dip, and Dr. Peppers seem to keep her alive. She also collects creative curse words, so if you have one you think is unique, feel free to drop her a message. Please consider taking a moment to add your opinion of this story at the place where you bought it.

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Other books by Aster North

The Anomaly Series

Twisted Flames

Blazing Petals

Ashen Feathers

Igniting Bonds

The Anomaly Series Box Set

Foxy Witch Series

Box of Puppets

Soul Fiend Series

Forgotten Essence

On Death’s Wings

MYTHOMORPHOSES

By

Joely Sue Burkhart

For my Beloved Sis.

Thank you to my comma warriors and beta readers:

Sherri Meyer, Stephanie Cunningham, Lydia Simone,

Bibiane Lybæk, Kaila Duff, and Jennifer Swan

Chapter One

Waking up was like razor blades shearing off my eyelids. I blinked away the pain, trying to remember where I was. I couldn’t see anything.

The smell of something rank filled my nostrils, making me gag. I’d never smelled anything so wretched before.

I tried to lift my arm, but I was pinned. I couldn’t even feel my fingers.

Panic ripped through me in a hot flash of terror. What happened? Where am I?

I could taste that smell. Death. On my tongue.

Bile bubbled up but I swallowed it down, determined not to add yet another horrible smell to the mix of sewage and rotting flesh.

“Help!” At least my voice worked, though it sounded like more of a croak than an understandable word.

I focused on my body, trying to categorize what I could feel. I could wiggle my toes. I wasn’t paralyzed. My chest felt so heavy. I could barely draw in a breath. Maybe I had pneumonia. But why the fuck couldn’t I see?

A muffled voice filtered down to me. I couldn’t understand the words, but I could tell it was a man.

“Help! Down here!”

The voice came again. Closer. A foreign language, I thought, but not one that I recognized.

“Please!” I screamed harder, even though my throat ached with strain. “I’m here!”

Something shifted above me. I could feel things moving incrementally. Scant more light. A little less weight on my chest.

“Hold on,” the voice said in English this time. I couldn’t place his accent. His voice was gruff and low, but it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t going to die here. Yet.

The darkness lightened another shade. A crack appeared. Blue sky above. Sunlight.

A face. Thick, dark glasses covered his eyes, giving him a bug-like appearance.

I would have wept with relief, if there’d been any moisture left in my body. Even if he wasn’t human.

He was one of two alien species who’d come to Earth—months or years ago. I couldn’t remember when they’d arrived, though I’d seen constant news coverage of their ship’s shocking appearance. I couldn’t remember where I’d seen the shows, or what I’d been doing at the time.

I couldn’t remember my name or what had put me at the bottom of this stinking pile of refuse, but my mind fired fact after fact at me, lightning fast.

He was a Thracian. He wore the thick glasses to protect his sensitive eyes from our sun’s powerful rays. His otherwise human appearance was misleading. He was a shapeshifter species. Supposedly a winged dragon-like creature with fur rather than scales, but I’d never seen one in person. At least I didn’t think I had. I couldn’t picture the animal-like form in my mind, though I recognized the special glasses.

But why couldn’t I remember my name? Had I suffered a serious head injury?

He tossed something aside with a heavy grunt. “Almost there. Fuck, human. Who’d you piss off to end up buried alive? Or are you just looking for your keys?”

I blinked up at him. Buried? I was buried?

The smell.

I swallowed. Hard. Willed my eyes not to look anywhere but the man’s face. I didn’t want to see what he was tossing aside to free me. He didn’t have a shovel. So it wasn’t dirt. And if I was buried…

Another male spoke somewhere out of my sight. His voice sounded like music. If I closed my eyes, I could float away on the complex symphony in each tone.

Another alien, this one a Nyxosi. With their graceful, slender forms, the media had dubbed them elves for their beauty and musical voices. The two species had arrived together. That was important, but I didn’t know why. My brain… hiccuped, rattling like an engine skipping gears.

Buried. Alive.

How? Why? What the fuck had happened?

In desperation, I focused on him, letting the gentle melody of his voice soothe me, even though I had no idea what he said. I brought up all the facts I could remember about their species. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. But it was better than thinking about the body-sized shapes the first alien tossed over his shoulder.

There’d been five ships, but only one had come to the US. The President had spoken on television several times to assure the public that everything was under control. Our visitors meant us no harm. They weren’t here to obliterate us. And they hadn’t. I remembered that much. They’d started dying first.

How do I know that?

Another low grunt drew my attention back to the alien. He was closer now. Leaning down over me as he heaved another body aside.

Oh god. Oh fuck. A body. I could see the tattered, stained clothes. Blue shirt. Long blonde hair. The red on her lips wasn’t lipstick. Vicious teeth—way too many to fit inside her mouth—glinted in the sunlight. Razor sharp canines lined up like ivory swords.

“Hey,” the alien growled. “Don’t look at that. Look at me. What’s your name?”

I focused on him, his face only a few feet away now. His ebony skin gleamed in the sunlight. No hair. Just the round shape of his head. The strange goggle sunglasses. Black shirt, too tight across the shoulders, like it’d shrunk. Or he’d borrowed it.

I refused to consider it might have been stripped off a dead body.

“My name’s Kharon,” he repeated. “What’s yours?”

Kharon… “Like from Greek mythology?”

He grinned and heaved another body aside. “Yeah, that’s right. It seemed fitting since he’s a ferryman. You humans couldn’t pronounce my real name.”

“You’re my navigator.” Even in English, the other alien’s voice rang with musical tones and bells. “Not a ferryman.”

“Same difference. So what’s your name, human?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

I closed my eyes, reaching back… trying to remember anything. But it was blank. Not even a hint or a foggy area. My memories were gone, wiped clean like an empty, brand-new whiteboard without a single streak or shadowed letter to decipher.

“All I remember is waking up here.”

Wherever here is.

With a low grunt, he threw another heavy body aside and squatted down closer, giving me a quick once over. Then he offered his hand. “Let’s go.”

I lifted my right hand up and grabbed his. At least I could move. I couldn’t feel his skin against mine, but I felt the firmness of his grip as he squeezed my fingers.

“Wait,” the other alien said. “What if she’s injured?”

“She doesn’t look hurt.” Though he did pause and give me another once-over. “What say you, human? Do you want Hades to climb down here and give you a checkup first? Or would you rather get the fuck out of this graveyard?”

Of course the other one was Hades. I had to snicker. It was better than running screaming like a madwoman. “Get me the fuck out of here.”

Kharon grinned and hauled me up effortlessly, tossing me over his shoulder. “Close your eyes, human. Don’t look. Unless you want nightmares to keep you up the rest of your short, fucked-up life.”

I had to look. I couldn’t help it.

I had to know what I’d come from. Maybe there was a clue. Something that would remind me of who I was.

But then I looked, and I wished to god I hadn’t.

Dead. Bodies. Everywhere.

I stared in horror as he clamped his arm around my hips, keeping me locked firmly in place, and started climbing.

Up bodies.

A mass grave.

Actually, just a mangled pile of corpses with no rhyme or reason. None of us had been truly buried, just tossed into a ravine like so much rubbish. The pile stretched down behind us as far as I could see. An endless pile of the dead.

I couldn’t even begin to assess how many bodies. Not all of them looked human, either. Not after contracting the virus that had decimated the visiting aliens before we could develop a vaccine.

Then it had jumped to us.

How do I know this? Am I doctor? A scientist? But how did I get here?

Facts and data waited in my head. I even knew mortality rates once the mutated virus jumped back to the human population.

The survival rate had dropped to five percent once exposed. Literally just being in the same room with the virus had been deadly.

After infection…

Nobody survived. Not one.

For all I knew, I was the last human in America. On Earth. I had no idea.

How? How am I still alive?

Maybe I hadn’t been exposed.

A sound escaped my lips. Raw, jagged laugher. I’d just been buried beneath several feet of exposure.

“I told you not to fucking look.” Kharon heaved us up the last few feet and let me slide down to the ground beside him.

I couldn’t stop looking, my mind trying to comprehend. To count the bodies. Hundreds? Thousands? More?

“Do you know this place?” The other alien asked.

Even here, staring at what might be the largest mass grave ever to be used on Earth, I couldn’t resist the melodious tones of his voice. I glanced up at him, wordlessly trying to convey my horror and shock.

His long silver hair glinted in the sunlight like real metal, though it floated around his shoulders. His slight frame and delicate features definitely resembled an elf. He wore the same large sunglasses and dark clothing, though his sleeves were long to fully cover him. Actually, the only bit of skin exposed was his face. His cheekbones were angled and sharp, giving his face a triangular shape, though it didn’t detract from his beauty.

“She needs clothing.”

Until he said it, I didn’t realize I was naked. Honestly, I didn’t even know that I was female. I looked down at myself as if I’d never seen my body before.

Because I hadn’t. At least… not that I could remember.

I was slightly chubby and unfortunately pale, like I’d never gone outside in my life or done anything but push pencils or sit in a cubicle somewhere. I could already feel the sun heating up my skin. I’d have a terrible sunburn to rival the aliens’ delicate skin if I wasn’t careful.

But I had no memory of ever being outside. Had I never gone to a lake or a beach, where I’d needed sunscreen before? “Why can’t I remember anything?”

Kharon dug around in a pack and threw some clothes into my lap. “Shock. Trauma. Give yourself some time, Eve.”

Dragging on the pants, I grumbled beneath my breath. “I’m not Eve.” The pants were huge, but at least I could cinch up the drawstring to keep them from sliding off. The T-shirt smelled surprisingly good, though strange and vaguely furry, as if a cat had used it for a pillow. “Eve was the first woman. I’m surely not the last. Am I? Have you seen other humans?”

“Not a one,” Kharon replied. I glanced up at him, relieved to see he’d turned around to give me some privacy. So had his friend. Chivalry wasn’t dead, even if the rest of the human race was.

I looked down at the chasm again and shuddered.

I had been buried alive beneath people who’d contracted a horrible alien virus that had killed them. Even now, that virus had to be attacking my cells. There was no way that I couldn’t be contagious.

I was dying. I just didn’t know it yet.

I dragged my gaze away from the pile of dead and searched the horizon. Mountains rose in the distance. We were in dry, arid foothills, but nothing seemed familiar. It could be South Dakota or Arizona or New Mexico. Or maybe even Utah or Montana. I had no idea.

I shaded my eyes against the sun, looking for any sign of life. Lights from a city. A landmark. Anything that I might recognize.

But not even buzzards wheeled above this gigantic pile of dead.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to wail and pound my fists on the dirt and throw my head back and scream with rage at the unfairness. The cruelty. So many dead. So much suffering. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it.

Even though I was alive, I felt like I’d swallowed a ticking bomb. Any minute, I’d start feeling the effects of the virus.

I’d die. It was inevitable. I’d seen enough to know.

Even if I didn’t know where.

Clenching my jaws, I turned away from the gorge. “Why did you risk exposure to pull me out of there?”

Kharon snorted. “Risk exposure? Really? Like being stranded on this fucking nightmare of a planet isn’t already exposure?”

“I sensed your life force,” Hades said. “In a place where nothing else is alive. Of course we had to investigate it. What would you prefer for us to call you?”

I waited for some indication of my real name to filter up into my mind. Sally? Rebecca? Heather?

Nothing.

Hades. Kharon. They’d chosen names that were associated with the underworld. They’d pulled me from death. So it was only fitting that I choose a similar name.

“Thanatos.”

Kharon smirked. “That’s more like it, though I like Eve too.”

I shrugged. “Eve Thanatos, then. I don’t really care. Where are we headed?”

The two aliens looked at each other a moment, some silent communication passing between them that spoke of a long friendship.

I got it. They didn’t know how much to tell me. Whether they could trust me.

I wouldn’t trust a person who was magically alive in a pile of dead bodies either.

Chapter Two

We walked until my feet were bleeding. I didn’t care. I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything. Even the sunburn on my cheeks and lower arms didn’t hurt, though now I understood why Hades wore long sleeves and kept a hood up over his face.

Mile after mile, I kept trudging along, searching for anything familiar. Dust. Thin, scraggly grass and weeds. A low windblown shrub. A rusted-out car.

Wait, a car.

I scanned the front bumper, but there wasn’t a license plate. Racing around to the trunk, I found a bent scrap of metal attached by one rusted screw. I had to swipe off the thick layer of dust to read it.

“Missouri? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Kharon shoved the partially opened door wider and leaned in to rummage for anything salvageable. “Why not?”

“This isn’t Missouri.”

“That’s one of your states, right?” Hades asked. “Is this Missouri someplace you know?”

I turned slowly, scanning the countryside again. “When I think of Missouri, it’s not desert like this. Or rocky, steep mountains. Maybe it was a tourist’s car. There could be a hundred reasons a car from Missouri is here in the middle of nowhere.”

Kharon grunted, leaning over the backseat. “Nothing here, skyr.”

I didn’t know what skyr meant, but it sounded like a title, not a name. Hades replied in a musical string of words that made no sense to me.

They didn’t trust me.

Again, not that I could blame them. I didn’t trust me either.

Someone had tried to pry the trunk of the car open. The edge was dented, though the lock still held. There could be something inside. Maybe some water.

Yeah. My body liked that idea. My lips had cracked and my tongue felt like a wad of cotton.

I slipped my fingers into the crack and pulled. The metal gave with a vicious screech and I threw the trunk lid up. Something was here. I could smell it. I shoved the spare tire aside and found a backpack. There was food inside. I fucking knew it. Chocolate. Nuts. Caramel. Heaven on earth.

Some idiot had left a candy bar in this rusted old car.

I flopped down on the ground and dug around in the backpack until I hit the jackpot. I tore into that candy bar like a starving animal.

Oh. My. God.

Chocolate had never tasted so fucking good. My mouth filled with drool with the first bite.

I glanced up and both men were staring at me.

Oops. I broke off half and held it up to Hades. “Sorry,” I said around a mouthful of chocolate. “I’ll share.”

He shook his head slowly, pushing the hood back off his head. “You don’t even realize what you did.”

I glanced over at Kharon, who had given up on searching the car. He’d taken his glasses off, revealing golden eyes that flashed in the growing darkness. “I don’t know what the fuck you are, Thanatos, but you’re as human as I am.”

My hand fell down in my lap. “I really am sorry. I don’t mind sharing. You saved me. I should have let you have some first, but I didn’t realize how hungry I am.” Then his words sank in and I scowled at him. “I’m human. You’re the aliens.”

Kharon came closer and squatted down between me and Hades. “You ripped that trunk open.”

I shrugged, not sure why that was a big deal.

“Didn’t you hear the metal tearing? It was still locked, but you opened it like it was nothing. A human couldn’t do that.”

“It was rusted.” My voice rose in pitch. I hated sounding defensive and scared, but maybe he was right. I hated not knowing what had happened to me.

Maybe I wasn’t human. Maybe I was an android.

The more I thought about it, the more it made a weird kind of sense. Why else would I be relatively unscathed in a mass grave? I couldn’t feel anything. I recognized that my bare feet had been torn up by rocks and sticks all afternoon, but I didn’t actually feel pain.

Aliens had visited us. Why couldn’t we have androids that were so well-made that it might think it was human?

I registered Hades’s musical voice, and Kharon’s deep, growly reply, but I couldn’t understand the words. I didn’t think they were speaking in their language again. I just couldn’t make myself focus on their words to understand.

Kharon growled out a sharp reply and then pushed up to stride away.

I fully expected Hades to follow him.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, unwilling to look up and see the doubt and suspicion that would be on his face. Numbly, I carefully wrapped the last half of the candy bar and stuck it back in the bag. “I mean it. You didn’t have to pull me out of that pile. I understand.”

He sat beside me, making me twitch with surprise. “What do you understand?”

Relief welled up inside me, making me sniffle. My throat ached. I rubbed my chest absently, trying to ease the band tightening around my ribs. They’re not leaving me alone. Yet. “You should leave. Get away from here. You don’t know me.”

“You don’t know you,” Hades replied mildly. “Where else would we go?”

I made myself breathe. In. Out. Even though it would be easier to lie back, look up at the darkening sky, and just stop.

Stop breathing. Stop walking. Stop trying to come up with explanations and reasons for why I was still alive when everyone else was dead.

“Home?” I said it hesitantly, surprised at a surge of emotion inside me. Not yearning or homesickness, but a black wave of what I could only call rage. “You could go home.”

He made a low sound that rang like a sweet, clear bell. It took me a moment to realize he’d laughed. It was a mesmerizing sound, even though I could hear darker notes like blots of ink.

“How can we, when we can’t locate our ships?”

“Wait, what? What happened to them?”

He drew his knees up and braced his chin on crossed forearms, staring off into the thickening shadows. “We split into groups once we arrived. Some remained with the ships, while others went as ambassadors to your people, so we could share information and learn more about your planet. I was one of the first ambassadors, and thus one of the first to experience your unfortunate virus. Once the epidemic broke out, we were quarantined.”

A flash of white filled my mind. A white room. Stainless steel tables. White curtains. Biohazard suits and masks.

Me. Looking out of plexiglass.

It’d been a fucking case of measles that started it all. One ignorant, self-righteous parent who’d refused to vaccinate their snot-nosed kid. They’d come to see the aliens as they passed on the street. With cameras clicking nonstop, one of the aliens had bent down to speak to the child. A friendly gesture. A show of good faith.

The kid and the alien had made a great photo op. The resulting rash and fever had not made the news rounds.

Not until people started dying. And worse, mutating.

“For our own safety, of course,” he continued. Though his voice was still soft and gentle, I could hear the bitterness. “I suppose that quarantine saved us, if nothing else, from the rioting humans who blamed the pandemic on us. Though your medical techniques were barbaric torture, we did survive, while so many others of my people died.”

“The vaccine.”

His head whipped around, silver hair fluttering about his shoulders like delicate wings. He didn’t physically touch me, but I felt… something. My skin prickled with goosebumps, even though I hadn’t sweated in the grueling sun today. “You remember.”

I fought not to drop my gaze. I couldn’t see his eyes, but he radiated intensity. The beautiful elf with the musical voice suddenly had me locked in a vise.

“A white room,” I whispered hoarsely. “I was there. I guess I was a scientist or doctor of some kind. I don’t know what we did… but I saw the room.”

Slowly, he reached up and removed his protective eyewear to reveal gleaming mercurial eyes that shifted with all the colors of the rainbow like oil splashed on pavement. “You—speaking generically of the team of human scientists—called us patients zero. You used us to develop a vaccine since we had survived. But it was too late for my people, and too late for most of yours. By the time Kharon and I found our way to freedom, we were unable to locate any of the ships that had brought us here. Evidently, they were confiscated or destroyed.”

I swallowed hard. “But some did survive?”

He grimaced, lifting his shoulders in an elegant shrug. “If you can call this survival.”

“And no,” Kharon’s voice echoed from the darkness. I could barely see his shadow prowling around the perimeter. “You’re not a fucking android. You’re a stinking human.”

“How did you know I was thinking that?” I retorted. “I didn’t say it aloud. Besides, how can you be certain? I mean, I didn’t know aliens existed. Why not an android?”

He let out a barking laugh as he came closer. “Because you stink. Literally. I could smell you for miles. No computerized machine could duplicate that stench. If you don’t want us to know your thoughts, then you shouldn’t broadcast them so loudly.”

I opened my mouth. Shut it. I didn’t think I was broadcasting my thoughts… but maybe the aliens were telepathic?

“Build a tower in your mind,” Hades said. “Shelter within the peace and quiet inside those walls. Then your thoughts will remain your own.”

Kharon dropped down behind Hades and stretched out flat on his back, arms crossed beneath his head. “All clear for now. I didn’t sense anything but us for miles and miles.”

I started stacking bricks in my head, but it took forever. I finally imagined thick steel walls that snapped shut around me, blocking out the world.

“Ahhh,” Hades whispered as he dropped back to rest his head on Kharon’s lap. “Thank you. That’s ever so much better.”

Staring at them, I was thankful I’d figured out the tower wall before he’d laid back on the other man like that. It was so casual. So…

Beautiful.

It wasn’t sexual, though I could see them together in that way too. Hades rolled over slightly, pillowing his cheek on the other man’s thigh as he looked at me.

Had they found solace in each other before the pandemic? Or only as a result of being stranded here and surviving hell on earth? I didn’t feel like I had the right to ask such a probing question of them.

“So there are things still alive out there in the night?”

Kharon grunted with disgust. “Alive is debatable.”

“Yes,” Hades added. “Contaminants still roam the countryside.”

I huddled in on myself. That word carried several layers of meaning. Contagious humans. People who’d contracted the virus—and their DNA was now compromised by the alien DNA the virus had picked up as it mutated.

As they mutated into something… not human. Before dying a horrible, painful death.

I couldn’t remember much of the details about the vaccinations and studies we must have done in that white laboratory, but I knew that once the virus had a foothold in its host…

Death was imminent.

I wouldn’t mind dying. I’d actually prefer a quick death rather than suffering the virus. Maybe I could find a gun somewhere before…

How long did I have? A few days? A week? I didn’t know. The virus had gone through several mutations, each time becoming more efficient.

I felt my forehead, trying to tell if I had a fever yet.

“You don’t have any symptoms.” Hades’s soft voice wrapped me up in a gentle lullaby. “Get some rest.”

Throat aching, I laid on my side facing them, but curled up tight in a ball.

Kharon’s eyes flashed golden in the darkness and I felt a sharp nudge in my mind.

:Yes.:

I blinked, searching his face. His mouth hadn’t moved.

:If it becomes necessary, I’ll kill you when it’s time. Clean. Quick. Easy.:

Relief welled inside me. I closed my eyes and let the soft notes of his friend’s voice lull me to sleep.

Chapter Three

A vivid dream illuminated the night with strange colors. Deep purple. Flares of liquid silver. Crashes like thunder. Explosions. The snarls and howls of beasts.

It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a dream at all.

I lurched to my feet and staggered over to crouch behind the rusted-out car. My heart pounded, my ears ringing with the noise and clamor. Something wasn’t right. My vision swam. My hands trembled. Maybe fear.

Or maybe the first stages of the virus were setting in.

Which only made my hands tremble harder.

I didn’t have a weapon. Fuck, I didn’t even have shoes. I couldn’t run far.

Peeking out around the rear of the car, I tried to see what was happening. Hades and Kharon were both gone. The next flash illuminated a pack of snarling, tangled animals. It sounded like fighting wolves, but the shapes were much larger. Grizzly bears? In the desert? That didn’t make sense.

Another silver flash lit up the sky, drawing my attention to its source.

Hades. On the slight rise back the way we’d come from the gorge, he stood illuminated against the night sky. Head thrown back and arms outstretched.

Silver light rolled from him. I didn’t know what kind of weapon he had, but it was badass. The energy sliced into the howling beasts and one of them yelped. Another. One of the creatures pulled back. Monstrous teeth bared in a vicious grin, it looked at me with an unholy glee that made me shrink and duck down behind the car.

My mind reeled, unable to reconcile what I’d seen. The teeth and jaws had definitely been wolflike, but the eyes…

Were very human.

The fur was patchy across the face, revealing human-like cheeks and a sloped brow. Longer fur around the top of the head could have once been hair. It moved with a strange lurching gait completely unlike a natural wolf.

Like a cartoon werewolf. A person, in a wolf suit.

My stomach quivered. The chocolate bar I’d scarfed earlier rumbled around like I was going to spew, but my starved body refused to give up those precious calories.

The virus had done that to a person.

It was doing it to me. This very moment, my cells were transforming. Mutating. My DNA was combining with alien DNA.

I was becoming a monster.

Shivering, I made myself peek back over the trunk. I had to look. I had to know what I was becoming.

In the darkness, I couldn’t see anything. Hades had stopped lighting up the night with his silver, though I could still hear the howling and the occasional yelp of pain. Who was winning? How many had attacked? Where was Kharon?

Then it dawned on me.

One of those shifted animals had to be the other alien. One Thracian, against a mass of six or seven enraged monsters. Maybe more.

Another pulse of liquid moonlight poured over the snarling fight. It was weaker, as if Hades’ weapon was almost out of juice, but it was enough for me to get a better count. It was bad. Ten. Maybe more.

The man who’d pulled me out of a mass grave was in that biting, clawing pile. Ten to one. Even with Hades trying to help him, he was losing.

They needed help.

I felt around on the ground, trying to find something to use as a weapon. A stick. Anything. Someone had tried to break into that trunk earlier… There. My fingers wrapped around cold steel. A crowbar. It was better than nothing.

Keeping low, I raced closer, trying to decide how I could help. A simple distraction wouldn’t be enough. I had to get all the beasts to focus on me so Kharon could at least escape.

I was dying anyway. I might as well make myself useful.

“Hey!” I yelled, wincing at the raw sound. My throat and mouth were so dry. Just moving my lips made them crack and bleed. “Get out of there, you mangy beasts! Leave him alone!”

The snarls changed to high-pitched yips that made me think of hyenas. Of course, the fuckers were laughing at me. The stupid, helpless woman. A hapless human with no shoes, no food or water, no shelter. No weapon but a crowbar.

Rage pulsed in me.

I hated feeling helpless. But more, I hated feeling useless.

A sound rolled out of my chest that scared the shit out of me. A bellow of fury that no human throat would ever make. I charged forward, swinging the crowbar left and right. Blindly. Wildly. I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but I could hear their panting breaths. I could smell them. A sharp, dangerous musk that no natural animal would have. That scent made the hairs quiver on my nape.

I need light. I need to see!

Brilliant blue light swept across the ground, illuminating the closest beast. I swung the crowbar with all my strength at its head. All my rage. All my fear. The senseless unfairness of billions of people suffering and dying. The horror of waking in a mass grave. All of it.

My arm thudded, the crowbar digging into my palm. Dark, wet fluid splashed me. Bone crunched. The high-pitched yip turned to a squeal of pain. A warning to the others as its head caved in.

I staggered off balance, overpowered by the might of my swing. Something fiery hot raked over my ribs. Whirling toward it, I pushed more power into the crowbar arcing through the air and connected with another body. Another heavy thud. A strangled howl of pain.

I lifted the crowbar again, cocked over my shoulder like a baseball bat.

I definitely had their attention, though three or four of them still had Kharon down on the ground. He was bigger than all of them, but they’d pinned his wings, trapping him. Wings. Holy fuck. They battered against the ground, trying to break free. So at least I knew he wasn’t dead yet.

“What the fuck are you?” The nearest beast asked in a garbled voice like metal shrieking on a chalkboard.

This wolf-monster had once been human. He still possessed enough intelligence to communicate and speak, despite the mutations in his body.

Something flipped in my mind. A light turned on, illuminating a corridor lined with three-ring binders. Years of research.

My research.

“You’re nearing stage four,” I said calmly. “It’s impressive that you’ve managed to retain your speech for so long. Most subjects lose that ability during stage three.”

As if he didn’t have vicious claws and teeth that could tear me in half, I stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes. “Interesting. Your pupils have enlarged considerably. Are you mostly nocturnal? Or have you adjusted to daylight, unlike our alien friends?”

“Sun. Hurts.” He shook his head up and down vigorously. “Still go.”

More of the beasts edged closer to me, away from Kharon. Perfect. Though he was still down on the ground. I didn’t turn my head and look for Hades, but I could only hope he was smart enough to figure out that I was trying to make a crude diversion.

:I am.: His musical voice tinkled in my head. :You forgot your shields.:

:Sorry. Get him out of here.:

:What about you?:

Ignoring him, I focused on the beast crouched before me. Even hunched over on all fours, he towered over me a foot or more. His shaggy, misshapen head ducked down closer, making my heart leap up in my throat. But I kept talking in my calm doctor’s voice.

“Your pulse is quite rapid. Are you feverish? It feels like your body temperature has risen at least three or four degrees. I wish I had my medical equipment to run some tests. Do you know when you contracted the virus? How long have you been in stage four?”

The beast reared up on his hind legs and roared. “No tests!”

I shrank back a step before I caught myself. If he was mostly animal now, then I couldn’t risk showing any fear. Not until the aliens slipped away. Two of the beasts still had Kharon pinned on the ground. One on each of his wings. :Are you alright?:

He huffed out a disgusted groan. :I’m afraid my pride is in tatters, but I can port us to safety.:

I had no idea what that meant, but with a snarling, slobbering beast glaring with red beady eyes, I didn’t ask for an explanation. “No tests, no tests,” I said soothingly, lifting my hands. “I only want to help. Did you see some doctors before?”

“Cage,” he growled, shaking his head back and forth. “Bad.”

“How long ago? Do you know where you were?”

“City.”

Hope soared inside me. A city—with people. Scientists. Maybe we hadn’t lost everything yet. If he’d been in a cage before reaching stage four… that could have been recently. I still had too many gaping holes in my memory to pull up all the statistics on the virus yet, but I knew it acted quickly. “Which city? Are there still people there? People who aren’t sick?”

“Dead.”

That quickly, he destroyed my hope that somewhere, civilization still existed.

:Come closer to us,: Hades whispered in my mind.

I shook my head slightly. :That’s not how diversions work.:

:It’s not a diversion. It’s an escape.:

“Why were you hurting my friend?” I asked the beast.

“N…” He grimaced, showing a dark maw of ginormous stained teeth. “Na…”

Growling with frustration, he snapped at my face. I gritted my teeth, refusing to back down. If I showed fear…

Instead of being buried beneath dead bodies, I’d be at the bottom of a snarling pile of monsters.

Silver suddenly flooded the space in front of me, searing my eyeballs. The monsters howled with pain. Something grabbed me. I didn’t realize it was Kharon—back in his human form—until he growled out, “Navigator, motherfuckers.”

And then the world fell away from my feet.

Chapter Four

Time stopped. Here, in this perfect moment, nothing mattered.

I stood in the eye of a hurricane, only it wasn’t winds circling around me. I caught glimpses of places, even other planets. Red skies, purple waters, giant green trees… mixed with deserts and ice, burned out cities and shimmering oceans. I had a sense of entire worlds so far away that my mind couldn’t even comprehend the distance. Time seemed stretched out before me, a road to travel. Go forward in time. Go back.

Infinite possibilities.

Futures. Pasts. Lives that didn’t—couldn’t—exist in my current plane. It was like standing in a funhouse and seeing myself projected hundreds of thousands of times, over and over, with slightly different mirrors. Only instead of taking my image and distorting it, these mirrors were openings.

:Parallel universes.: Kharon’s distinctive low, rough voice was already familiar, even in my head. :Gateways to the unknown. Maybe one’ll dump us into a boiling lake of acid on a distant planet with an unbreathable atmosphere. Or maybe just a cave in the mountains that’s relatively safe.: He huffed out a laugh. :Only the navigator knows which door to use. But you’d better have enough juice to hold the door open, or it’ll suck you into an endless black hole.:

I’d only known him and his friend a few hours, but I held on to his voice like a life preserver in a raging sea.

He’d been willing to dig through a stinking pile of infected, mutated corpses to save a stranger. That sealed it forever for me. I could trust that he wouldn’t turn his back on me when things got bad, because what could be worse than that mass graveyard? He’d already braved that and told a joke while doing it.

I couldn’t see Hades, but I felt him in the void. Pure silver light and music, against leathery wings and fur.

Something else was here with us. It bled a deep indigo light around me, flowing between iridescent purple and blue. For some reason, it reminded me of wings. Not Kharon’s dragon-like wings though.

:Like I said before,: Kharon drawled. :I don’t know what the fuck you are, but you aren’t human. No human has ever stood in the Spiral. Let alone radiated a power signature like a Nyxosi.:

My mind ground and skipped like a junky, rusted-out jalopy. :What are you talking about? Me? That light is me?:

:It’s beautiful,: Hades whispered like a wind chime. :I’ve never seen this aura color before.: His silver flowed closer, and I could feel it gliding through the indigo light.

As if that light was an extension of my body.

My knees trembled. I clenched my jaws, fighting back a sob or a scream or a plea. I wasn’t sure which. My mind buzzed with static, too fast. Too high-pitched. A generator approaching a red-line explosion.

I was in the white room again.

But it was different. Colder. The light was so damned bright. Tears kept leaking from my eyes, even when I kept them squeezed shut. I was so cold. I was going to shatter my teeth if they kept chattering so hard.

The light shifted away, letting me see through watery eyes. It took me a moment to realize I was on my back.

I was on the table. Looking up at the doctor. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew him. His name was right there… slightly out of reach. I knew him well. Someone I trusted.

Then why did my stomach clench so hard? Why did I fight the straps holding me down?

Because I would rip off his face with my teeth if I could.

Falling. The whirling hurricane swept me away into a roaring deluge. I windmilled and tumbled, sliding ever further into infinite space. A black hole had me. I was lost forever.

But… I gritted my teeth, straining to right myself. I can’t. Fail. Not until I’ve had my revenge.

I had no idea why it was so important to me.

Only that I couldn’t give up. Not yet.

Something warm caught me. Soft fur. Kharon. He smelled like leather.

:And you smell like a fucking corpse,: he growled in my head.

I didn’t even care. I didn’t have the energy. With his warmth wrapped around me, I couldn’t seem to open my eyes. I couldn’t lift my head. I had no idea where we were going. What had happened? What the fuck was the Spiral thing he mentioned? The aura?

The blue light had seemed a part of me. I didn’t know what that meant.

He shifted me and something else filled my nose. I inhaled deeply, trying to place the scent. It was familiar, but foreign. It triggered a reaction deep inside me, as if I’d smelled it before, even though I’d never met Hades until they’d pulled me from the grave. So how could I recognize his scent?

He smelled… woodsy. Like a man’s typical aftershave, but no tree scent that I’d ever smelled before. It was musky, spicy, but also herbal and fresh. I really had no idea what it was, other than he smelled good, as good as his friend.

I finally managed to crack my eyes open, somehow surprised to see that we still stood in the center of the swirling worlds. The way my stomach had dropped and my head had spun, I had been falling. I was sure of it.

Hades held me in his arms, while Kharon manipulated the spinning worlds. Hands up, palms out, he worked his hands in front of him, pulling the mirrors closer and then sending them away. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but finally he let out a low grunt of satisfaction and turned to face us.

:Take my hand, Thanatos. See through my eyes so you know what you’re capable of.:

I laid my fingers against his.

The spiral of worlds suddenly stilled, frozen in place. The mirror shimmered before us, large enough to step through. I couldn’t see much but a dark interior on the other side, but as Hades stepped closer to it, the mixture of silver and blue light bled into the space, illuminating rock walls.

:This place is only known to me,: Kharon said. :It’s where we’ve been hiding out since we escaped MedCorp.:

That name made my stomach heave and my skin crawl.

:Now you know where it is,: he continued. :You know how to get there from anyplace in the universe. The door is open to you.:

:How? I don’t understand.:

Squeezing my hand, he stepped through the mirror, Hades carrying me right beside him. :You’re a navigator too.:

:With a Nyxosi power signature,: Hades added. :A human with both alien powers.:

The world snapped into place around us, though my mind lagged, stuck back in that whirling hurricane. For a moment, I existed in two places. There… and this distance place. It felt like hundreds of miles stretched between, while my brain struggled to reconcile the two.

Kharon grunted, a soft growl that echoed in the cavern. “Somebody cooked up a human mixed with not one but two alien species’ DNA. No need to guess who.”

My head swam. I wanted to vomit again. I couldn’t breathe.

Bodies were stacked on me again. Miles and miles of dead.

And I was at the bottom.

MedCorp. I had been there. I had been their lead scientist. All the tests and trials and simulated recombinants.

I had been there. I had fucking led the vaccination trials.

Me.

Chapter Five

Sick and weak, I faded in and out over the next few hours. Days. I wasn’t sure.

I tried to tell them. Warn them.

I was guilty.

I was a monster, worse than any of those poor unfortunate creatures who’d attacked Kharon. But I could only manage incoherent mumbles.

I still couldn’t remember everything, but I knew that I had been at the heart of MedCorp’s research. How I had been contaminated and left for dead in that mass grave, I had no idea.

I carried something inside me that was even worse than the pandemic virus that had decimated Earth’s population. For all I knew, I was still contagious. I could be the equivalent of Typhoid Mary, sent out into the few last stragglers trying to carve out a place of safety in a savage world of contaminated human shifters who were losing their humanity day by day. I carried a ticking bomb inside me. A cocktail virus of alien DNA.

If Hades and Kharon contracted this new strain from me…

I woke from a fever dream, drenched in sweat. So weak I could barely turn my head. I was still changing. Hyper-aware, I could feel cells firing up inside me. Others dying. Killed and devoured by the virus ravaging my body.

I had to get away from them. Before I killed the two people who’d saved me.

It took all my strength to roll over. Panting softly, I lay there in the darkness, listening. My senses were heightened. I could feel body heat radiating to my left. I turned my head slightly, and in the darkness, I could see the heat flaring up from the two men’s sleeping bodies. It was like I’d put on thermal-imaging goggles. Kharon ran hotter than the other man, bright red and orange against purple blue. They were wrapped together, legs entwined. Hades’ head was on the other man’s chest, his hair spilled out like a silken blanket.

Looking at them made my throat tighten. Tears burned my eyes. They were so fucking beautiful. They’d risked everything to drag me up out of that gorge.

If they knew what I was… what I had done…

A sob escaped my cracked lips.

I have to get away. Before it’s too late.

I inched forward on my stomach. My arms trembled, so I didn’t try to push up on my hands and knees. It was pitch dark. No strange blue power. Maybe I’d hallucinated the whole thing.

I don’t know how long I slowly made my way across the rock floor. Long enough that sweat dried. I started to shiver again. Pausing a moment, I laid my cheek against the cool stone and rested.

“Hey.” Hades gently swiped hair off my face. “Where are you going?”

“Away,” I croaked. “I have. To go.”

He rolled me over and cradled my head, so Kharon could tip a slender cylinder to my lips. “We’ll help you.”

Water. Sweet and pure and good. I hadn’t seen any fountains, rivers, or drinking faucets anywhere, so I knew it had to be a precious commodity. I tried to take only a few swallows, but it was so good. Better than any medicine. I instantly felt better, enough to sit up without much help. I looked back where we’d been sleeping and wanted to scream with frustration.

I’d only managed to make it a couple of feet away.

“I’m sorry,” Hades said. “We should have given you water immediately. Drink more. We have plenty.”

I glanced about doubtfully at the cave. I couldn’t see much other than their heat signatures. While I was grateful for shelter, I didn’t imagine they had many resources here.

“For fuck’s sake, Thanatos.” Kharon pressed the cylinder into my hand. “Drink the whole fucking thing. I can port us anywhere on your miserable planet in a heartbeat.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Hades replied. “Besides, we have a perfectly good spring at the rear of the cavern. There’s no need to port anywhere right now. I won’t have you tax yourself needlessly.”

I took another sip of the water and held it in my mouth, moistening my lips. I could feel my cells expanding like thirsty little sponges. In the darkness, my other senses came to life. My nose wrinkled at the wretched smell rising from my skin. I caught myself closing my eyes, thinking fondly of a bubble bath and a glass of wine.

Those days were long gone. For all of us.

Hades cupped his hands in his lap and a small silver ball started to glow, illuminating his and Kharon’s faces. My heat-seeking vision immediately switched back to normal.

My stomach clenched. Everything was spinning out of control, faster and faster. I couldn’t even control the way my own fucking eyes worked.

Humans didn’t see heat. Humans didn’t radiate indigo light. Or stand in a swirling tornado of alternate worlds.

What am I?

You already know, the voice replied in my head.

I swallowed the sip of water and met Hades’ gaze. “I used to work for MedCorp.”

His head cocked slightly. “I surmised as much.”

“I don’t know what happened, but I was a scientist. I was conducting major research. I very well could have been on the main team researching the pandemic from the beginning. When I was talking to the contaminant, I saw a hallway loaded with my research. It could have been years’ worth.”

“More likely, a shit ton of cases,” Kharon drawled. “It’s only been three of your years since we arrived.”

That didn’t seem like much time, but I didn’t need to run a computer-generated impact study to know what a virulent virus could do in a month. Let alone three years.

Civilization as we knew it had forever changed in such a short time span.

“Are there any cities left?” I whispered hoarsely. “Did the vaccine work?”

“There are cities and the vaccine did work.” But the grim slant of Hades’ mouth told me it wasn’t good news. “The vaccine wasn’t made widely available, and only the very wealthy could afford to purchase it.”

“The rich. The beautiful. The famous.” Kharon grunted with disgust. “MedCorp decided who lived or died, and then started building biodome cities to house their perfect survivors. Everybody else was left to fend for themselves.”

My stomach pitched queasily. “How many died?”

“If you count the contaminants still roaming the countryside? Billions.”

Bile burned my throat. Every fiber of my being recoiled in helpless horror.

Doctors dedicated their lives to saving people. Medicine was created for the common good. For everybody.

Medical care wasn’t something sold off to the highest bidder.

The thought that the world’s trillionaires sat in some distant, safe sanctuary while the world dissolved in chaos around them made me so furiously ill that I almost started frothing at the mouth. My skin tingled like a million fire ants marched up and down my body.

And indigo light flared around me.

I closed my eyes, but I could still see the contaminated people. Twisted by the virus. Losing their humanity. Slowly turning into ravenous beasts, killing each other.

“High emotion brings out your power,” Hades said calmly. “You don't know what you're capable of yet, so try to keep your emotions in check.”

I made myself count to four as I breathed in and out. “What am I capable of?”

Kharon and Hades stared at each other a moment, as if silently arguing. I didn't sense or hear their words in my head this time, but I could almost feel them, like a tickle in the back of my mind.

Evidently Kharon won. Grinning, he seized my hand and dragged me up to my feet as he stood. “There’s one sure way to find out.”

Chapter Six

Kharon led me deeper into the back of the cave. I wasn't sure how far it went, but I felt a heavy sensation above, as if we were miles beneath the surface. The darkness was absolute, yet I could still see. My eyes adjusted effortlessly, following the red-hot glow of Kharon’s body temperature.

I smelled water. Lots of it.

“The upper spring is for drinking.” He pointed to the right, where the cool blue of the tunnel continued to wind beneath the earth’s surface. “It’s colder and tastes better. This water is a bit sulfurous for my taste but it’s fine for bathing.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I stripped off the borrowed clothes without hesitation. The pool shimmered slightly purple, warmer than the air. Not exactly hot-tub warm, but it felt so incredible on my skin that I couldn’t help but sigh.

I could feel my skin drinking up the water as it gently leached some of the sunburn heat out.

Kharon dug in his pack and tossed me a flat bar of soap. I scrubbed myself head to toe until I was raw, but I could still smell death clinging to my body. I’d probably never get that stench out of my nose.

I was rinsing my hair after a second wash when the two aliens joined me in the water. I kept a wary eye on them, but other than holding out a hand for the soap, neither of them tried to touch me or even looked at me.

They were too busy taking care of each other.

Kharon’s red-hot lips pressed to the cooler blue-tinged skin of the other alien’s neck, leaving warming trails of green. Across his shoulders. Down his pecs.

“Lie back, skyr,” Kharon whispered. “I’ve got you.”

Hades turned his head toward me as he leaned back into Kharon’s waiting hands. “My energy is running low. The blasts I fired trying to get the contaminants off him drained me, and then he needed a little extra juice to bring us all here.”

I dropped lower in the water up to my chin. “What does skyr mean?”

Kharon knelt in the water, his arms cradling the other man’s floating body. “Prince or lord.”

Holy shit. Hades was an actual royal personage? What would his people do when they realized what had happened to the explorers they’d sent to Earth? Maybe they would exterminate us after all.

“The navigator sees and opens the gates,” Kharon continued. “But my energy fizzles out after a single trip and it takes forever to recover. But with him feeding me energy, we can go further and quicker.”

My brain buzzed with a thousand questions. Were all of Hades’ kind considered princes by Kharon’s? Did they power the ship with that same kind of energy? If Kharon could see the multitude of worlds waiting in the Spiral, why didn’t they just leave? Why stay here?

“Power, Thanatos.” Hades floated closer, his silver hair tickling my arm. “Neither of us have enough juice to make a port that far. And no, not all Nyxosi are skyr. Only the true royals carry that title, though Kharon forgets that our queen effectively disinherited me by sending me here.”

Oops, I forgot my shields again. I grimaced, shaking my head at him. “Telepathic aliens are damned inconvenient.”

Kharon grinned, a show of teeth. “You ought to be the telepathic alien dealing with human cockroaches.”

I winced, but he had a point.

“Peace, my drakon,” Hades chided. “She means no harm, and she may be part of the answer we’ve been seeking.”

I tensed, unsure and suddenly very suspicious. “I carry a cocktail of DNA soup inside me and I don’t know how that happened. I’ll probably contaminate you both with a new strain.”

Even flat on his back in the water, Hades managed to shrug elegantly. “Probably. We were dead as soon as the Megaskyr sent us to your planet, though she expected her assassin to take care of the deed rather than a human virus.”

He managed to flip my suspicion back to curiosity. “Is the Megaskyr your queen that you mentioned? Is she your mother? Why would she try to assassinate you?”

He shuddered, sending a ripple of water cascading over my arms. “Not my mother, thankfully, but yes, she is the Nyxosi supreme ruler. She wanted me dead for many reasons, both political and personal.”

“Fuck, Thanatos,” Kharon growled. “Do you really want us to give you a complete Nyxosi history lesson, or would you rather see what kind of latent powers lie beneath that tantalizing human form?”

My eyes widened.

Me? Tantalizing? She of the pasty office skin and pudgy figure? Yeah, right.

I choked on a laugh. “I don’t even know my name, but one thing I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that I’m not tantalizing in any way, shape, or form.”

Hades dipped his knees down to the ground and straightened so he could look me in the eye. His silver hair still glinted like metal even though it was wet. Long sparkling strands coiled around his neck and shoulders. His skin seemed translucent and delicate, though maybe that was just my heat-enhanced vision. I could see the lingering spots on his neck where Kharon had kissed his throat. Only now those spots were more yellow, because the rest of his skin had heated to green.

“You don’t even know what you are, do you?” Ever so softly, he coiled a strand of my very plain and boring brown hair around his index finger. “Why do you think we called you Eve as soon as we found you?”

Oh. Heat flooded my face, and I averted my gaze. “Sure, yeah. The last female alive suddenly becomes the first again. I guess anything would be attractive then.”

Kharon growled again and surged toward me.

I didn’t think. I reacted. I whirled in the water, wet hair whipping my face. I dodged slightly aside to avoid his attack, but then used my momentum to thump him so hard in the back that he belly flopped in the water. But I didn’t stop there. On his back, knees hard in his kidneys, I wrapped my forearm around his throat and held his head beneath the water. Thrashing, he rolled like a crocodile, taking me under with him. I kept my thighs wrapped around his waist and tightened my grip on his throat, determined to ride him to unconsciousness.

Silver power flowed around me, coiling around me like Hades’ hair. I shivered, my skin prickling, even underwater. I could feel the stroke of his energy crackling along my skin. A promise, not a threat. He made it very clear that he could use that power to haul me off his friend if need be. Though he’d much rather…

I didn’t know. And that’s what made me release Kharon. Curiosity, again. I wanted to know what he could do with that power.

What I could do. Because now that he’d touched me with his energy, indigo blazed around me, lighting up the underground cavern.

Slinging water like a dog, Kharon rose up out of the water and snatched me up against him. I thought he’d be pissed. Maybe yell at me. Curse me. Flatten me with one of those big fists.

Instead, he crushed my mouth beneath his.

And suddenly, all I could think about was sex. Reckless, passionate abandon. The world had ended. Almost everyone was dead. My life was over. We would likely die. Tomorrow, in hours, a week… I had no idea.

But if I could fuck him, and then his friend, and then probably them both again and again—

Kharon’s chest rumbled against mine and he lifted his head. “That’s more like it, Thanatos.”

My cheeks blazed with embarrassment. Shields, again. But at least I wasn’t beating myself up for my rather lackluster appearance. They wanted me, at least for now. I might as well enjoy them before we died.

Hades slipped up behind me, his skin wet and cool against mine. A stark contrast to the furnace blazing in Kharon. “The quickest way for me to refuel is through sex. The more we touch, and the more pleasure we have, the better. There are other ways to re-energize…”

Kharon let out a low chuckle. “But why waste time eating and sleeping for weeks when a good fuck is all you need?”

“That’s why Nyxosi and Thracians work so well together. He needs more power to travel. I can give that power, but I need to be refueled. So together, we make quite a team.”

“And fuck a lot.”

I tried to build the stone walls in my head, but I couldn’t concentrate. Not with them both pressed against me. I was comfortable with sex. I knew that. But had I ever had sex with two men before? Let alone aliens.

I had no idea. No memory sparked in the dark recesses of my mind.

“But there are limits to the amount of pleasure that two males can raise together, though granted, Kharon is an impressive specimen. With a female in the mix…” Hades’ breath skated over my ear and every muscle in my body clenched. Hard.

It was a good thing my vision had switched back to normal once his power had risen. Because I was sure that I gleamed liked white-hot supernova.

Maybe it was a side effect of the virus mutation I carried. It gave me a vivid indigo power signature… and an equally powerful libido. It’d be easy to blame the alien DNA I’d picked up for my elevated desire, for relative strangers who just happened to also be aliens, no less, but I was pretty sure I’d feel like this whether I carried a virus or not.

Life as I’d known it was over. We were all about to die, but right now, in this place, we were safe. Why the fuck would we not take solace in each other, just for a little while?

I leaned in and sucked on Kharon’s bottom lip, digging my teeth in slightly before letting go with a pop. “Do you have any strange alien customs I should know about?”

“All kinds,” he replied with a wink. “But we’ll take it easy on you to start.”

Chapter Seven

Kharon closed his hands around my waist, easily lifting me off my feet and turning me around to face his friend.

Looking deeply into my eyes, Hades bent down so our noses almost touched. “Do you trust us? Really trust us? Because I am going to feed on you. You’ll feel me pulling on and draining your energy, even if I’m not touching you. I’m going to wallow in the pleasure Kharon gives you. I’m going to drown in it, breathing in your pleasure until I can’t hold any more. And then, if you wish, I’ll take a turn while Kharon rests. But if you’re afraid…”

I reached up and combed my fingers through his hair. The silken strands clung to my fingers as if they were alive. “I’m not afraid. You pulled me out of an early grave and brought me to a place of safety. Why wouldn’t I trust you?”

“Because I’m alien. Not just as a species, but in all aspects of life as you know it. I could accidentally drain you too deeply and you won’t be able to recover, especially since you were human. But I’ll do everything I can to control myself and minimize that risk. It’s just so unexpected to find someone with Nyxosi power, whom I can trust…”

His words sparked my curiosity again. “So there are Nyxosi still alive that you don’t trust?”

Kharon groaned and nipped my ear. “Fuck you, Hades. Will you quit giving her ideas and let us get down to business?”

“I do have one concern, though,” I said, watching the way Hades’ eyes flickered like prisms, catching our combined glows and sparkling like crystal gems. “Well, perhaps more of a request than a concern.”

“Ask and it shall be done, if it’s at all in the realm of my ability to do so.”

I laid my palm on his chest and lightly stroked my fingers over the planes of his upper body. His skin was velvety soft, his frame slender, but not frail. I tried to find his heartbeat, but his anatomy must be different. Or maybe his heart beat slower and fainter, so I couldn’t sense it without equipment. How many degrees cooler was his body temperature?

My brain kept throwing up question after question. But with Kharon’s heat against my back, and his powerful hands spread wide on my waist and hips, not even anatomical differences in our species could distract me.

“Instead of taking turns, I’d rather have you both at once.”

His eyes went dead and dark, as if a black hole spread in his gaze rather than the crystal prisms. Worried, I started to open my mouth to say never mind. Evidently, I’d insulted him. Gravely.

Kharon laughed, releasing a deep chuckle that vibrated against my back and rang in the cavern.

“What’s so funny?”

Still chuckling, he dropped his chin against my shoulder. “One way or another, we’re going to teach you to keep your shields up, Thanatos. You didn’t insult our skyr. You fucking turned him on even more than you already did just by being here.”

“I did?”

My gaze wanted to roam down Hades’ body and check out his package, but I was pretty sure that would be rude.

This time, even Hades quirked his lips. “It’s never rude to evaluate a potential partner’s paraphernalia to make sure they’re acceptable. Though I assure you, neither Kharon or I are lacking in that regard.”

To emphasize his words, Kharon stepped closer, tucking my ass back against his groin. And yeah, hello, he was very VERY happy to see me. Like freakishly happy. I was almost afraid to see…

Kharon guffawed again, which made the tips of my ears crisp with embarrassment.

So yeah, I dropped my gaze to Hades’ dick, which was just as elegant as the rest of him. Somewhat more slender than Kharon’s felt against my ass, but plenty long to fill me up and then some.

Eyes still dark and heavy, Hades tipped his head back, shaking his shining hair back over his shoulders. Every inch the princely alien elf. “Let’s get out of the water.”

Immediately, Kharon swept me up in his arms and carried me out of the pool. Turning in his embrace, I kissed his throat and smoothed my hands over his shoulders. He was built thicker and shorter than Hades, his muscles bulging with explosive, animalistic power. He was hairier too, though not excessively so. I breathed in his scent and my stomach flip-flopped.

He’d given me his shirt to wear earlier. I recognized that musky animal scent.

He gripped my nape, spreading his fingers wide to palm my head. “I wanted to mark you with my scent from the first moment I saw you. Even buried beneath corpses and smeared with filth.”

Throat aching, I stared up into his eyes as he lowered me back in the blankets. This time, on his and Hades’ side of the cave. “Why?”

He stretched out beside me and drew me up onto his chest. Keeping a firm grip on my head, he didn’t let me sit upright, but kept me close to him as Hades came down against my back.

I shivered between them. Sensation poured over me. The rasp of Kharon’s body hair. The gleaming coolness of Hades’ velvety skin. The glide of his hair like silk on my back. The tingling flow of his energy lapping against mine.

Finally, it dawned on me. I was actually feeling again. I could feel them both. Touching me. Overloading my senses.

Kharon growled. “Because when you find something beautiful and precious amongst the death and horror, you take it. You fucking cup it in your hands like a delicate butterfly with paper-thin wings, and you shelter it. You keep it safe.”

Hades rubbed against me, his dick sliding effortlessly between my cheeks. I could feel the coolness of his skin, but also a slicker sensation, as if he secreted some kind of oil instead of pre-cum. The analytical side of my brain recognized and appreciated such an alien trait. The animal side of my brain burned with lust, as if that secretion was an aphrodisiac that inflamed my senses.

Their scents rose stronger and hotter with their desire, inflaming me. Leather and fur. Woodsy green spice. Thick muscle beneath me. Silken hair trailing like a curtain. Long, elegant fingers gliding over my skin. Demanding fingers pulling my lips back down to Kharon’s. Hands. Too many hands. So wonderful.

Still gripping the back of my head, he slowly pushed inside me. My body instinctively arched, grinding my clit against his thick shaft as he teased me, ever so slowly. Hades hummed softly against my ear, a sweet melody that broke goosebumps down my arms. I dug my fingers into the thick muscle running down Kharon’s shoulders, fighting to contain my need.

I’d never felt like this. So out of control. Desperate. I wanted to sink my teeth into that thick slab of muscle and grind against him until we both shouted with release.

“Fuuuuuuck,” Kharon muttered against my lips. “Get ready.”

I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me or his friend as he pulled my head down against his shoulder.

Yes. Muscle against my mouth. Scorching hot skin. I sank my teeth into that rock-hard muscle, gripping him tighter. Marking him with my teeth. Deeper, nearly breaking his skin. I wanted to leave an impression of my teeth on him like a tattoo.

Hips jerking upward, he roared with release. Surprised, I started to pull back. I’d never imagined in a million years that a simple love bite would make him come. But he gripped my head tighter against him, refusing to let me lift my mouth from his skin. And he tasted so fucking good. Better than chocolate, his essence melting on my tongue and sliding down my throat.

I could taste his musky scent, as if he’d spurted into my mouth. He moved inside me, and it was like his winged beast had crawled into me, winding through my organs and tickling my bones. I could feel him everywhere. The brush of wings and fur where he couldn’t possibly touch.

Fireworks exploded in my entire body, setting off a cascading meltdown. Nerves fired up, screaming with sensation. His dick expanded inside me, pumping me full of semen, but he didn’t relent. His erection didn’t fade.

It only grew with his release.

Bigger. Thicker. Harder.

I couldn’t. Think. Or breathe. He filled me completely, pushing deeper into my womb, though I knew that was impossible. I shattered against him. My brain completely overloaded. All I could do was pant and writhe on top of him, impaled by his impossible erection that gave me no quarter.

Hades groaned against my ear and inhaled a deep, shaking breath as if he could taste my pleasure. Face buried against Kharon’s shoulder, I couldn’t see, but I felt the sudden dip in my energy. Hades breathed me in, taking the flaring indigo power into his body.

My stomach dropped like I’d jumped off a cliff. My head buzzed, ears ringing with alarm. For a moment, yeah, I was fucking terrified. My first instinct was to rip someone’s head off. Fight. Roar. Bite. I had to protect myself before I was too weak. Before I died.

Kharon took the brunt of that instinct. My jaws clamped down harder on his shoulder, my teeth tearing at the thick muscle desperately.

Luckily, he loved it. He arched up beneath me, driving deeper inside me. I came again, or maybe it was the same climax reaching a new, dangerous level. My heartbeat thudded in my skull like a jackhammer and I tasted copper in my mouth. My blood. Kharon’s. I wasn’t sure. If he wasn’t already contaminated…

:He’s fine,: Hades whispered in my head. :I’m fine. We already lived through hell and are still here. So are you, Thanatos.:

With his touch in my head, the sinking feeling bottomed out. My heartbeat steadied. I was alright. I was better than alright. Pleasure still hummed through my body, lighting up my nerves, but even more, I could feel what my climax was doing for Hades. He drank me in just as he’d promised. The stroke and glide of flesh. The heavy throb of my clit. The involuntary clench of my muscles around the massive dick inside me. He pulled every sensation from me, savoring my desire. Kharon’s cum. The sweat of our bodies. The quiver of every muscle.

Suddenly, I was inside Hades, sliding through his mind like an indigo river. A giant tree rose like a sentinel, towering above regular-sized trees that carpeted the hills. The large tree’s trunk and limbs were dotted with glowing lights that looked like fireflies. It took me a moment to realize they were actually windows. An entire city gleamed inside the giant tree, glowing with soft, warm light.

His heart ached every time he thought of that tree. Which was exactly why it was rooted so deeply inside him.

In a hushed whisper, I asked, :Is that your homeland?:

He didn’t throw up thick walls to keep me out. He didn’t backpedal or shut down. His silver power spilled down the giant trunk, lighting up leaves that shimmered like jewels. :Yes. My family’s house and all our people. Lost before I ever stepped foot on your planet.:

:Why? What happened?:

The tree caught fire. Screams and pleas for mercy echoed in his mind. Voices that shredded him. People he’d loved, that he’d been powerless to save. :The Megaskyr happened. She punished them for my failure.:

Flames died down inside him, leaving a burned-out hull. Ash fell from the sky, the forest ruined and blackened in all directions.

Hades walked that scarred landscape, pausing to look back over his shoulder. Offering his hand, he smiled at me, silver hair falling about his shoulders. He wore soft pastel robes that changed colors like his eyes, swirling from mercurial silver to pink and blue and purple. :Now, look what you have wrought.:

I threaded my fingers through his. Bits of green shot up from the ground. Tender grass and trees, growing much too quickly to be real.

None of this was real. I knew that on some level. But it was beautiful just the same.

He turned, his free hand palm up. A delicate butterfly fluttered its wings, as if it had just crawled out of its chrysalis and didn’t know how to fly yet. There were white dots on its blue wings. Narrowing my eyes, I looked closer. Not dots. Skulls.

:You claimed my drakon and marked him as your mate. I ask that you take me, too. Please. I’ll do anything you ask.:

I asked him the same question I’d asked his friend. :Why? Why me?:

The butterfly flew from his hand, catching my attention. Its brilliant blue wings sparkled like stained glass shining in the sunlight. I watched as it danced upward, catching the breeze that sent his hair sliding against my cheek. The butterfly flew straight toward the devastated tree, and when it landed on the charred wood, a geyser of indigo shot upward. A massive amount of power that restored the tree. Instantly.

:With you at my side, I can reclaim all my family has lost.:

:But how?:

:You’re a sarissa, what we skyrs call a spear. You’re a natural weapon, because you magnify power. I’ve never been so strong after a single feeding, and we’ve only just begun to explore each other. With Kharon’s navigation, my skyr power, and your spear, we will actually be able to power the ship once we find it. We can return to Nyxos.: He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, his fingers gentle on my cheek. :Or we can stay here and clean up your planet. Save as many as we can. It’s your choice.:

I didn’t like the idea of being a spear or weapon. Something that was used. Held in someone else’s hand and thrown at their direction.

At his direction.

I didn’t know much about who I’d been before I woke up at the bottom of a mass grave. Maybe the old me would have been perfectly happy to be used to rebuild his home and whatever else he wanted. Like topple the Megaskyr from her throne, since she’d destroyed his family’s tree.

But I liked that he didn’t try to sway me one way or the other. He gave me the choice. Though I could feel the subtle weave of his silver power flowing against me. The gentleness of his fingers on my cheek. The glide of silken hair on my shoulder. I wasn’t naive.

Everything he did had a purpose. Down to the way he’d allowed me to see past his shields in the first place.

This was a dangerous man. A man who recognized that being vulnerable and open was sometimes the greatest attack of all. Or the greatest lure.

:You don’t have to decide now. We have time.:

Though I heard the kernel of doubt in his words. Did we? How long until I died from the horrible virus speeding through my cells? Sure, I had this magical indigo power now… but how long would it last before I entered stage two? Or before I lost the ability to even speak?

Fingers tangled in my hair and jerked my face up.

The vision Hades had shared with me dissolved in a rush. I stared into Kharon’s gleaming golden eyes, his mouth a hard, vicious slant. Hand fisted in my hair, he gave me a little shake. Pulling my hair, making my eyes burn.

Small pain. A show of dominance. It lit the fire in my blood all over again, reminding me of his cock buried deep inside me, still swollen and hard.

“Do you have any idea how fucking rude it is to disappear off into la-la land while a drakon is trying to fuck your brains out?”

I tried to laugh, but it came out a moan instead. I couldn’t laugh with so much dick inside me. “It’s his fault.”

“I take full blame, my drakon.” Hades chuckled, a musical dance of wicked tones that made me shiver. And groan. And sweat. Every nerve ending shrieking with sensation as Kharon thudded inside me. “Allow me to make it up to you. To both of you.”

He pushed against my asshole and my lungs seized. My brain froze.

Kharon twisted his fingers in my hair until I blinked and focused on his face.

“I’d better be bleeding from a dozen scratches and bites by the time he’s fully inside you.”

Chapter Eight

Surely I couldn’t hold any more.

Kharon was so thick and hard inside me that I couldn’t breathe. With Hades pushing his way inside me too…

I dug my fingers into Kharon’s chest. I smelled his blood, but I couldn’t stop clawing at him, holding on for dear life. Goosebumps flared down my arms, making me shiver, which only sent another ripple of pleasure shimmering along my nerves.

So much pressure. So full. My jaws ached with the need to bite. I wanted one of them in my mouth. Not a dick, because I was afraid I’d seriously hurt them. I just wanted to feel them in my mouth and taste their skin on my tongue. A strange urge that I never remembered feeling before. A side effect of the virus? Or did I just have a biting kink that I couldn’t remember?

Or, more likely, was this an element of Kharon’s species coming out to play in my infected DNA?

Pinned between them, I could only gasp and shudder and hope to god I didn’t die when they came inside me.

Locking his forearm around my throat, Hades pulled me up so we both sat astride the other man’s hips. “Look.”

For the first time, his voice growled with deeper bass undertones closer to Kharon’s. I forced my eyes open, wincing at the brightness. Silver and blue gleamed in the cave, illuminating everything so well that I could see as clearly as broad daylight. The power swept around us, a tornado of swirling, colorful flows.

No. Wings. Not feathers, though. The blue power swept along my arms and shoulders like a second skin, as transparent as fine, delicate silk. Curtains blowing in the wind—or gossamer butterfly wings.

“This is your power, manifesting from your spirit. Your true heart and soul. When I sensed your life force today at the gorge of bodies, I saw the butterfly in you. Death on your wings—but beautiful in the midst of the death. You are truly Thanatos.”

“So fucking beautiful,” Kharon whispered. “Fly for us, Thanatos.”

Hades nudged deeper inside me. Everything inside me stretched, hovering at the very edge of a treacherous precipice. One false move…

Gripping my thighs, Kharon pushed up beneath me. And I fell. The ground rolled away. Wind swept around me. Hair in my face, blinding me. Silver hair, silver power. I felt Hades’ arms around me. Kharon’s powerful body lunging beneath me, and suddenly, I wasn’t falling, but soaring. My skin caught blue fire. I screamed as power rolled from me, an indigo hurricane that devastated everything in its path.

I had a moment to fear that I’d slipped my skin and turned into one of the half-animal contaminants. I didn’t want to hurt them. Kill them.

Hades plunged deeper inside me on a low cry of release and I could taste his scent on my tongue. Silver power flowed inside me, a deluge that swept through me and into Kharon.

He roared and bucked beneath me, pushing me ever higher.

While Hades drank us down like a man dying of thirst.

I must have passed out, or at least lost some time. Crushed between them, Kharon’s chest against my cheek. Hades’ hair in my face. Both of them still breathing hard.

“Fucking hell.” Kharon groaned. “If I could walk, I think I could open a gate to Nyxos without a ship. That’s how much power I feel simmering inside me.”

Hades released a soft humming tone that rippled in the air between us. “We can’t risk it. Even if you could port us that far without killing yourself, we need the ship as a bargaining chip. I’m fully restored. No, I take that back. I’m stronger than ever. I will be able to find the ship now. I’m sure of it.”

He kissed my shoulder. “All thanks to you.”

I had so many questions. I wanted to know everything about his past, why the Megaskyr had destroyed his tree, why they’d come to Earth in the first place.

But more…

I wanted to know who’d been experimenting on me. Who’d contaminated me? Why would they do such a thing?

And what the fuck was going to happen to me? How long would I live?

Hades cupped my cheek and turned my face toward him. “You’re not going to die.”

I swallowed hard. “How do you know?”

“Because I won’t allow it. I’ll use every drop of this power to save you first.”

Kharon tucked me closer, wrapping himself around me so I was covered in his scent and surrounded by a protective wall of muscle. “You thought you were dead today. Buried in a mass grave, lost in darkness. But maybe you were simply changing, Thanatos. Somebody planted you in that darkness, but you changed. You lived. Now there’s only one thing left for you to do.”

“Fly,” Hades whispered against my temple.

I closed my eyes, slowly slipping back into darkness. But this time I wasn’t afraid. Not with them holding me. “And kill whoever did this to me.”

About the Author

Joely Sue Burkhart has always loved heroes who hide behind a mask, the darker and more dangerous the better. Whether cool, sophisticated billionaire, brutal bloodthirsty assassin, or simply a man tortured by his own needs, they all wear masks to protect themselves. Once they finally give you a peek into the passionate, twisted secrets they’re hiding, they always fall hard and fast. Dare to look beneath the mask and find love in the shadows.

Read more from Joely Sue Burkhart and sign up for her newsletter.

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