The knife plunged straight into the infected man’s eye.
Naomi didn’t hesitate. She didn’t flinch or even make a face. The blade sank deep enough that the infected’s body imdiately went limp before collapsing against a shelf stocked with motor oil and dusty automotive supplies.
Blood splattered across the floor, streaked across her sleeve, and dotted the side of her jacket.
Naomi simply ripped the knife free.
The corpse hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Then she wiped the blade clean against her coat as if she were cleaning dirt off a kitchen utensil rather than a weapon.
"Naomi! On !"
Cherie’s voice echoed throughout the gas station.
The older woman was already in motion, swinging a crowbar hard enough to crack an infected across the face. The impact sent the creature staggering into a display rack before Naomi stepped forward and finished the job without missing a beat.
All of this was for gas.
Just gas.
Granted, it was the only gas station we’d seen in miles, but that didn’t make the situation any less ridiculous.
Apparently every infected in Vermont had collectively decided this place was pri real estate.
I honestly didn’t even know what Vermont had been known for before the world ended.
Maple syrup?
Mountains?
Hell if I knew.
Now it seed to be known for infected.
Lots of infected.
And unfortunately, every single one of them had decided to stand between us and the fuel we desperately needed.
I ducked beneath a lunging infected and brought my knife up.
Before I could drive the blade into its neck—
BANG.
The infected dropped.
I froze.
The creature twitched once before collapsing onto the pavent, and when I turned, I found Lila lowering her pistol.
My eye twitched.
"Lila."
She imdiately smiled.
Not just any smile.
That smile.
The one I’d been seeing all week.
The one that sohow managed to be affectionate and annoying at the exact sa ti.
"Just sit tight, sweetie," she said while holstering the weapon. "I got this."
Sothing settled in my chest as I looked at her.
A realization.
Oh.
I see how it is.
She was trying to make dormant again.
Not physically.
Not directly.
But every single ti danger appeared, she stepped in front of . Every single ti a fight broke out, she handled it before I could. Every single ti a problem showed up, she tried solving it herself.
It had started subtly enough that I almost hadn’t noticed.
Now it was impossible to ignore.
Unfortunately for her, there was absolutely no chance I was letting that happen.
Still, it felt weird.
There wasn’t really another word for it.
It felt like showing up to work only to discover sobody else had already done your job before you got there.
Like being told you were still useful while constantly being given less and less to do.
"ADRIAN!"
Hale’s voice cut through the chaos.
I turned imdiately.
He was near the pumps with several infected closing in around him.
"MOVE YOUR ASS!"
He pointed.
"NOW’S YOUR CHANCE!"
I understood instantly.
Terri.
The truck.
The pumps.
Without wasting another second, I took off running.
As I moved, I caught the briefest glimpse of Lila out of the corner of my eye.
Her smile disappeared.
The expression that replaced it wasn’t anger.
Not exactly.
It looked more like irritation.
Like sobody had interrupted sothing she wanted.
I didn’t stop long enough to think about it.
I just moved.
The lattice surged through my body, flooding my muscles and sharpening everything around .
Distances beca clearer.
Movent beca easier to track.
Even sound seed crisper.
An infected lunged at .
I slipped around it.
Another grabbed for .
I ducked beneath its arm.
The lattice did most of the work.
I simply followed where it wanted to go.
Bodies blurred past .
Growls.
Gunshots.
Screaming.
All of it beca background noise.
The truck finally ca into view.
Terri sat behind the wheel looking one second away from a complete breakdown.
An infected slamd itself against the passenger window.
Another clawed at the windshield.
Cracks spread across the glass.
Then she saw .
The relief on her face was imdiate.
"ADRIAN!"
I kicked one of the infected away from the driver’s side hard enough to send it stumbling backward into two others.
"You okay?"
Terri nodded so fast it looked painful.
"Y-yeah."
Good enough.
—
I imdiately turned toward the gas pump and grabbed one of the nozzles, shoving it into the Guzzler’s tank.
Please.
For once, just let sothing go right.
I squeezed the handle and waited.
Nothing.
I frowned and looked down at it.
Then I waited again.
Still nothing.
The realization hit a second later.
Empty.
Fucking empty.
Every bit of fighting.
Every bit of effort.
Every risk we’d taken to get in here.
For nothing.
I felt my stomach drop.
Yet before I could even open my mouth to tell anybody, movent flashed at the edge of my vision.
An infected lunged at .
But—
Wait.
Lila?
The infected barely made it halfway.
Lila was already there.
The knife flashed once.
The infected collapsed.
I stared at her.
She stared right back.
Smiling.
Of course she was smiling.
I frowned.
"You’re supposed to be with Aubrey, Lila."
She just looked at .
Smiled.
And continued smiling.
Like the words had entered one ear and imdiately left through the other.
At this point, I genuinely couldn’t tell if she didn’t understand what I was saying or if she simply didn’t care.
Honestly?
Both possibilities felt equally likely.
I opened my mouth to say sothing else.
The lattice scread a warning.
Another infected was coming from behind .
I knew it instantly.
My body was already beginning to turn.
Yet before I could do anything—
BANG.
The infected dropped.
I froze.
Then slowly looked back at Lila.
She lowered the pistol.
My frustration imdiately boiled over.
"Lila!"
I marched toward her.
"We don’t waste bullets!! Got it??"
My voice ca out low and steady, ripping the gun out of her hands.
The way Hale would’ve said it.
The way sobody says sothing when they’re trying to make a point stick.
Trying to make a rule feel important.
Trying to make sobody listen.
Unfortunately, one look at her face told none of it was working.
Not even a little.
She wasn’t intimidated.
Wasn’t guilty.
Wasn’t apologetic.
She just stood there looking happy that I was talking to her.
"God fucking damn it, Lila."
Her smile widened.
"Can you please just listen to ?"
"You’re so cute when you’re passionate about things," she cooed.
"You know that?"
My jaw dropped slightly.
Actually dropped.
For a second, my brain completely lost track of what I was trying to say.
Because what the hell was I even supposed to do with that?
Yet before I could figure out a response—
"ADRIAN!"
I imdiately turned.
Hale.
He was wrestling with an infected several yards away.
The bastard had sohow gotten hold of a knife and was trying to drive it into Hale’s chest while Hale fought to keep its arm pinned.
"IT’S EMPTY!" I shouted.
The words echoed across the gas station.
Everything seed to pause for a second.
Cherie looked over.
Naomi looked over.
Terri looked over.
Aubrey looked over.
The disappointnt hit every single one of them at once.
All this fighting.
All this effort.
All this risk.
For absolutely nothing.
For a brief mont nobody said anything.
Hale simply stared at .
Then he looked at the infected.
And imdiately slamd it onto the concrete.
The back of its head bounced against the pavent.
Hale stomped down.
Once.
Twice.
Three tis.
Long after he needed to.
Not because the infected was dangerous.
Because he was pissed.
Honestly?
I couldn’t even bla him.
The truck slled like sweat.
Blood.
Exhaustion.
And disappointnt.
Mostly disappointnt.
Nobody talked for a while.
Nobody really wanted to.
The failed stop hung over all of us like a storm cloud.
Aubrey sat near the back breathing hard.
Every now and then she’d wipe her face with the sleeve of her jacket before imdiately doing it again.
God damn it.
Hale drove in silence.
One hand on the wheel.
A cigarette hanging from his mouth.
The other hand tapping impatiently against his thigh.
Then suddenly—
BANG.
His fist slamd into the steering wheel.
The horn blasted through the cabin.
Several people jumped.
I looked at him.
He kept his eyes on the road.
Completely expressionless.
"You know," Aubrey finally said from the back, "we wasted a good amount of gas on that goddamn detour."
Nobody answered.
Her voice hardened.
"And for what?"
The silence continued.
Lila looked toward her but didn’t say anything.
That alone surprised .
Normally she would’ve had sothing to say.
Anything.
"Look," I finally spoke up. "All that matters is that we tried, okay? We’ll just hit another one."
"Easy for you to say."
The words ca out sharp.
Imdiate.
"You didn’t do much of anything."
The temperature inside the truck dropped.
Anger imdiately flared inside .
"What?"
I twisted around in my seat.
"What the hell is that supposed to an?"
Aubrey looked right at .
I pointed at myself.
"I was the one who—"
"Enough."
Hale’s voice cut straight through the argunt.
It wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Everyone imdiately shut up.
He kept his eyes on the road.
"Everyone just shut up, alright? Arguin’ ain’t gon’ change nothin’."
I sank back into my seat with a scoff.
Aubrey folded her arms.
"You just don’t get it, Hale."
That finally made him glance into the rearview mirror.
"The hell I don’t."
"The truck is our only chance of getting back to Illinois."
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody even looked away.
"Carl and Adira still aren’t answering."
Her voice cracked.
Just slightly.
But I heard it.
"They haven’t replied to anything."
The truck remained silent.
"And it’s like none of you even care what’s happening to them."
"Aubrey."
Hale’s voice had beco firr.
More serious.
"Everyone inside this truck cares."
She looked away.
"Could’ve fooled ."
"Everyone inside this truck cares," he repeated. "Just as much as you do."
Aubrey rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat.
"Like hell y’all do."
Nobody responded.
Because honestly?
There wasn’t much to say.
The silence stretched.
Heavy.
Awkward.
Uncomfortable.
Then—
"Adrian."
I looked at Hale.
An eyebrow rose.
What now?
"What?"
He kept driving.
For a second I thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Then he finally spoke.
"Got any ideas?"
I frowned.
"What do you an?"
He shrugged.
"You’re usually the one with the bright ideas that gets us outta problems like this."
I imdiately looked at him.
Really looked at him.
Yeah.
I was.
At least I used to be.
Before everything got complicated.
Before leadership beca a problem.
Before every decision turned into an argunt.
Before what I privately liked to call the great shift in judgnt.
Courtesy of Aubrey.
Yet strangely enough, she wasn’t saying anything now.
Not when Hale brought that up.
A petty part of imdiately wanted to say sothing.
Sothing smart.
Sothing sarcastic.
Oh, I’m not the leader anymore.
Why ask ?
Figure it out yourself.
But the thought never made it out of my mouth.
Because despite everything—
I wanted to see Carl.
I wanted to see Adira.
And the longer those radios stayed silent, the worse the feeling in my stomach beca.
So instead of arguing—
I started thinking.
Actually thinking.
And for the first ti since we’d left the gas station, the truck wasn’t completely silent.
It was waiting.
Waiting to hear whether I still had an answer.
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