No one had figured out yet that we were beyond help.
In the middle of the mayhem, I saw a woman lying on the ground being trampled by the crowd. Blood had trickled from her nose and mouth at some point, but it looked like it had stopped flowing and her body lay at an unnatural angle that made it obvious she’d died. While I pushed my way through the crush of bodies to get to her, she rose from the footpath right in front of my eyes. Hands and knees first, then moving to her feet and baring her teeth. I shouted to get the attention of the people around her, but with all the noise the message never got through.
She grabbed the nearest person, sank her teeth into his forearm, and ripped flesh from the bone like it was nothing.
What seemed chaotic before exploded into something I’d never seen in all my life. A frenzy. Complete fucking madness.
It spread across the globe faster than anyone could keep track of and took mere weeks before it became clear we weren’t coming back from the carnage.
“Haruto was a smart man,” I said. "I would have liked him."
Liv chased a noodle around her bowl, concentrating on the task instead of looking at me. “He was the best. He would have liked you, too.”
The crack in her voice had me pausing to give her a chance to recover. I knew she wouldn't want me to make a big deal of it, so I drank some milk, forced down a few more mouthfuls of pasta, and let the silence stretch on until she was ready to talk again.
A while later, her eyes rose to meet mine, and she gave me a hesitant smile. "You have a talent for reading people. You seem to know exactly when to push and when to pull back."
"It's more of a learned skill than a talent. I used to be clueless." We went back to eating in silence, and when she appeared to be okay again, I asked, “Since we’re travelling together, do you have any conditions that need medication or special treatment? Allergies? Depression, anxiety, asthma?”
Liv raised her brows, but I caught the amusement in her eyes. “I take back what I just said. Isn't that a little intrusive for someone you just met?”
“We left that social norm behind, oh...” I glanced at my watch. “About two years ago.”
The small smile she gave me felt like a gift. “No, I don’t have any medical conditions. What about you? Sleepwalking? OCD? Any homicidal or sociopathic tendencies?”
"A homicidal homicide detective? That jumped from harmless to horrific pretty fast."
Her blue eyes turned warm and knowing. “Just keeping you on your toes like you've been doing to me this entire conversation. Do you want to know about my menstrual cycle next?”
A bark of laughter burst from me without warning, and I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my hands down my face as it turned into a groan. I had a feeling she'd be my kind of person before we even spoke, and it made me happy to find out I was right. When I could keep it together again, I pulled my hands away and regarded her with a straight face. “I think we’re good—but I’m not delicate about female-related topics, so if you need anything or you’re not up to physical activity, just be straight with me and we’ll deal with it, okay?”
She held my gaze, and the corner of her mouth turned upward in a sweet smile. “You lucked out and came along right at the end of my period, so you have a few weeks before you get to experience the worst of my hormones.”
I’d met this woman hours ago and now we were sitting around a table discussing her period. Not a single day was predictable anymore, and just when I thought I had it all figured out, something else would come along to tip it on its ass. “Appreciate the heads up. When’s your birthday?” I asked, continuing the light-hearted streak to keep that smile on her face.
“A couple of weeks ago. March tenth. When’s yours—no, wait! Let me guess your star sign first.”
My brows rose, and I smiled, already slightly enamoured by her. “You can tell just by looking at me?”
“I already have a pretty good idea, but let me think a minute.” Her eyes swept over me as she bit into her lower lip, and that single gesture had an internal groan moving through me. Her gaze sharpened when she appeared to have her answer. “Scorpio.”
“What gave it away?”
“Oh, you know, just your entire personality.”
"Is that right?" She was cute. Seriously cute. I’d seen at least a dozen people out on their own since I'd left my home, but after tracking each one and watching how they operated, not one of them had inspired me to approach and get to know them. The second I saw Liv, I knew we were going to meet with the same certainty that she knew I was a Scorpio.
"So, when's your birthday?" she asked as she finished her last spoonful of noodles.
"October thirtieth."
"Hopefully we'll still be alive then to celebrate." Her flippant tone somehow made her comment come off as hilarious. "What do you think of the carbonara?”
“Tastes like cardboard and despair.”
She laughed, appearing entertained by my honesty. "No more pasta for you then."
A commotion outside interrupted our conversation. Our smiles disappeared, and I pushed back my chair to head over to the glass door. Liv got up and followed me, and we stood against the wall, checking out the side view of the street below. With the balcony blocking part of the road, all I could see were flashes of colour as each car raced past. One... two... three. The music blasting from the open windows competed with the engine noise to create chaos around them. They were a bunch of brainless clowns, but large enough in numbers that they didn't need to worry about fellow humans or the dead.
