I force my eyes to meet his.
“I can’t save her, but I can save you, and you will always come first, hear me?”
I nod.
“We need to run. Can you run?”
I nod again.
“Stay with me.” His thumb brushes my cheek. “Every step. Promise me.”
“Ju—”
“Promise me!”
“I promise.”
Behind us, a crash echoes, followed by Amelia’s shouting, high and clear.
Drawing them away. Giving her life for mine.
A sob catches in my throat, but I swallow it down.
I need to run.
For her. For the life she’s buying with her own.
Cameron pumps his shotgun. “Stay together.”
Sienna grips her knife, knuckles white around the handle. “Ready when you are.”
Julien intertwines his fingers with mine, anchoring me to the present when all I want to do is shatter.
We run between cabins, ducking low and moving fast. His grip on my hand is so tight it should hurt, but my body’s numb, thoughts fractured.
Ramirez leads, checking corners before waving us forward while Cameron and Sienna guard our flanks. Every shadow looks like death waiting to spring. The moans behind us shift, growing fainter. Part of the horde changes direction, following Amelia’s voice rather than us.
Whatever she’s doing, it’s working.
“Faster.” Ramirez picks up speed. “I don’t know where those wolf things went.”
As if summoning devils by speaking of them, a black shape emerges from between the trees on our side. Then another. Their distorted silhouettes unmistakable even in the dim pre-dawn light. Behind them, regular zombies stagger forward.
“Shit.” Ramirez raises his rifle. “Run!”
The wolf zombies drop to all fours, moving with that unnatural loping gait that’s too fast.
“Go!” Julien places his body between me and the approaching threat.
I sprint, knife clutched in my hand.
Ramirez fires a few shots at the wolves, slowing them down. The path slopes steeply. I slip on wet pine needles and would have fallen if not for Julien’s hand steadying me. The boathouse appears ahead. A weathered structure jutting out over dark water. The sky has begun to lighten, the dock stretching into the lake, two motorboats tied at its end.
And between us and safety.
More zombies. They emerge from the trees to our right, at least a dozen shambling forms with grasping hands and vacant eyes.
“Fuck.” Sienna raises her knife.
