Chapter 3
My legs began to wobble. I was losing balance. Ian caught me just in time, "Paid back your good deed at the store,” he told me.
With his injured legs he steadied me in his arms, taking me back to the car. He grunted as he did.
"I'm sorry,” I mouthed at him.
I stared out the window. I recognized Julian's house. It was green and worn out. "There!” and he stopped abruptly.
"Haven't you heard of road safety,” Ian scolded me.
We alighted from the car but heavens knew even if I was expecting something terrible, the sight I witnessed was nothing compared to what I had braced myself for. **********
I opened Julian's room door, Ian a few steps behind me. The smell hit me first, curling into my throat before my eyes even adjusted to the dim room.
Then I saw her. His mother lay motionless on the floor, her skin drained of every trace of life, her eyes open and fixed on nothing.
My breath caught in my chest. I took one step inside.
That was when I heard it—a low groan from the far side of the room. I turned toward the sound.
Julian was there. My Julian. His back was pressed against the wall, his hands tangled around the waist of an infected woman.
Her mouth hung slack as she pressed herself against him, and for one long moment my mind simply refused to process what my eyes were showing me.
Then Julian looked up and saw me. His eyes went wide. "Elodie..."
My heart cracked—not because I'd caught him, but because he didn't look surprised. He looked afraid.
The infected woman snapped her head toward me, and I stumbled back a step. Ian moved in front of me at once, weapon raised.
Julian shoved the woman away; she hit the floor with a dull thud and immediately began crawling toward us, fingers dragging across the boards.
I couldn't move. I stared at Julian—at his torn shirt, at the blood staining his neck, at the dark veins already spreading beneath his skin—and suddenly everything fell into place with sickening clarity.
He was infected.
My fingers curled into fists. "You..." My voice barely carried.
He tried to step toward me. I stepped back. His face crumpled. "Elodie, I can explain." The words dragged out of him, slow and wrong, his tongue stumbling over each syllable as he gripped the wall, his knees buckling beneath him. "I didn't... I didn't mean..."
I watched his eyes flicker, and for one terrifying second the boy I loved surfaced there, clear and familiar. Then something animalistic swept through his expression and drowned him out again.
I remembered every promise he'd ever made me. Every time he'd sworn I was the only one. Every time I'd believed him without question.
And now he stood before me with an infected woman crawling at his feet and death already spreading through his veins.
Something inside me went cold—not sadness, not fear, but hate, pure and steady as a heartbeat, “System, hand me the gun". [Host requested Lvl 2 Gun]
It appeared in my hand. Julian reached for me. I raised the gun. His hand froze mid-air.
"Elodie..."
My eyes burned, but I didn't lower the gun. "You betrayed me."
His lips parted, searching for whatever excuse he had left, but it died somewhere between his mind and his tongue.
A guttural sound tore from his throat instead. He doubled over, clutching his stomach, and I watched him fight for breath he could no longer properly draw.
Then he lifted his head. His eyes were no longer entirely human.
I tightened my grip on the gun.
"If you become one of them—" My voice shook, but I forced the words out anyway. "I'll kill you myself.”
BANG?!
Ian shot a clean hole through Julian's head. I was stunned. I turned to face him.
Julian's brain splattered on the floor. "What did you do that for?!” I yelled at Ian.
His eyes glanced at me. And then at the window. He took my hand in his and proceeded to make us hide in Julian's closet.
Tears trickled down my eyes. The scent was crisp and familiar. The thought of never having Julian again refused to settle in my stomach.
I kicked Ian in the crotch. He winced in pain. He deserved it.
The windows shattered. Someone had jumped in. And he didn't seem human.
Ian used his mouth to cover my mouth in order to stifle my voice. From the closet slit I saw the man.
He was a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat. He had a cigar in between his lips.
He took a puff and breathed it out, "I guess I was too late,” he sighed and attempted to leave just as he came.
Ian flung the door open. His gun pointed at the strange man. A wide grin tugged at the side of his mouth.
"There are survivors,” he said, walking towards Ian, arms wide.
Ian shot a warning bullet over his head. I rushed to stand between them, "Ian, violence isn't the answer. Let's hear him out," I begged.
He lowered his gun. His eyes darted to the man and then at me, “I don't trust him. Just like I didn't trust that scum…”
"Enough, Ian,” I slapped him. His cheek became bright red. "You killed my lover and I'll never forgive you for that. But right now there's another living person just like us in front of us!” I bellowed at him.
He turned his face away, "Suit yourself,” he scoffed.
The man in the white lab coat began to laugh. He took another puff from his cigar, "It's an honor meeting the both of you”.
I gave him a dirty look. My eyes bloodshot, “What is your name?" I asked.
“I'm Doctor Hunter," he introduced himself, “I am plagued by this crazy stuff that keeps telling me to create an Elixir of some sorts".
An Elixir? It was the same thing the System had asked me to find. “Who are you?" my voice was stern.
He gestured to me to come closer. I didn't. Ian raised his gun again, “You should come to my laboratory. I'm not good at explanations,” he said.
"You'll come in our jeep,” Ian told him.
The man didn't look fazed. "A free ride? Count me in,” he joked.
But neither of us were in a jolly mood. Ian pressed the muzzle of his gun on his back and led him to the car. I followed qu ietly behind them. The man kept trying to make small talk all the way but we weren't interested in entertaining it.