Chapter 2
Outside the tent, Hannah's soft sobs drifted in. "Joseph, it's all my fault. Is Isabelle mad at me? Maybe... maybe we should just give the medicine back to her. I'll be okay."
"Nonsense," Joseph snapped, though there was a hint of concern in his tone. "Your safety comes first."
"But—"
"No buts. She's just dead weight. Her death doesn't matter," Joseph said.
I lay curled up in my freezing sleeping bag, listening to their conversation outside. The cold in my body was nothing compared to the emptiness in my heart.
The fever made everything fuzzy, my thoughts slipping further and further away.
It felt like I was back in the days before the apocalypse.
Joseph was still that untouchable CEO, and I was just his unnoticed assistant.
He'd take off his expensive coat and wrap it around me when it rained, remembered my period, and awkwardly hand me painkillers with a glass of water.
He once embraced me in front of everyone and said, "Isabelle, you're the only woman I've ever wanted to marry."
Those passionate promises, thinking back now, just felt like bitter irony.
Time blurred. Then, a piercing alarm suddenly went off outside. "Zombie horde! It's a zombie horde! Retreat!"
The chaotic sounds of footsteps, screams, and zombie snarls intertwined.
The tent flap was thrown open again, and Joseph stormed in, yanking me out of my sleeping bag.
I thought that he wouldn't have the heart to abandon me.
I grabbed Joseph's arm, my voice trembling as she pleaded with everything I had left. "Joseph, please... take me with you... Please..."
Joseph didn't say a word. He just dragged me out of the tent.
The overwhelming stench of blood slammed into me, and outside was hell on earth.
Countless zombies surged in from every direction, a suffocating tide of darkness with no end in sight.
The flashes of supernatural powers scattered through the night, but were quickly swallowed up by the sea of zombies.
"Joseph! Over here!" Hannah was waving desperately from a nearby SUV, terror written all over her face.
Joseph pulled me along, sprinting toward the SUV as if our lives depended on it.
A handful of zombies lunged at us, but Joseph didn't even glance back. He blasted them with a thick bolt of lightning, leaving nothing but charred corpses in his wake.
The car door was almost within reach.
I saw a flicker of malice flash across Hannah's eyes.
Right as my fingers brushed the door handle, a powerful shove slammed into my back.
I was hurled forward, powerless to stop myself, landing right in the heart of the densest zombie horde.
I hit the ground hard and looked back, catching a glimpse of Joseph's face, an expression of pure coldness.
Without hesitation, he dragged Hannah into the car and slammed the door shut, locking me out, with the zombies swarming right behind me.
He said, "Isabelle, sorry.
"For Hannah, for the team, we have no choice but to sacrifice you.
"You'll... be remembered as a hero."
His voice came through the glass, blurred, but seared into my mind as my consciousness faded.
The SUV's engine thundered, disappearing into the night.
I lay on the ground, watching the car vanish into the darkness, and laughed.
Hero?
No, I was just garbage, thrown away without a second thought.
The next second, soul-shattering pain exploded through every inch of my body.
Rotting hands clamped down on me from everywhere, sharp teeth pierced my skin, ravenously tearing at my flesh in a frenzy.
My consciousness was overwhelmed by agony, fading fast as the pain consumed me.
The last image burned into my mind was Joseph and Hannah inside the car, their cold, emotionless eyes meeting mine through the rearview mirror as my vision blurred.
Hatred.
Endless hatred, like black flames, devoured what was left of my mind.
If... I ever got another chance, I'd make you pay blood for blood.