“Through most of it,” he said, oblivious to my icy tone. “When shit started hitting the fan, I bought this house in the hills with a bunker underneath. It was me, my bassist, his girlfriend, and a friend of mine from high school.

“I asked my mom to stay with us.” His voice got lower as he went on. “But she was at home in Toledo and didn’t want to fly out. And at first, I think we went in the bunker almost as a joke. We didn’t think it was really as bad as they were saying. We didn’t think …” He trailed off.

“What happened after you left the bunker?” I asked.

“They all died.” Lazlo shook his head, trying to shake it off, but his voice was thick. “Within a week. The only good thing is that they were all killed. None of them ever got infected.”

“How did you survive?” I asked. To be honest, I was a little shocked that he had been the brains of the operation.

“Don’t know,” Lazlo shrugged. “Luck. I hid out in an old recording studio for a while. I left to scavenge, and I found Blue last week. Without him, I wouldn’t have made it this far.” When I didn’t say anything, he smirked at me. “He’s Canadian, you know.”

“I did not know that,” I said, but I wasn’t sure why it mattered either.

“Listen for when he says ‘about.’ It’s a hoot,” Lazlo grinned. His abrupt shift in emotions bugged me, so I turned back to the kitchen. “Where are you going?”

“The kitchen. I was gonna throw this away and get some water.” I held up my empty can.

“No, I meant, where are you headed in life?” There was something sad in his eyes when he looked at me. His happiness might be more of an act than he let on.

“North,” I said, wishing I had a better answer. “My brother is in a government quarantine, and I have to find him.”

“We’re looking for a quarantine.” Lazlo brightened. “Maybe we should go with you.” I didn’t answer right away, so he added, “There’s safety in numbers.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, and I wasn’t sure if I’d live to regret my decision. “We’re gonna rest here for the night and go in the morning.”

“That sounds good,” Lazlo said and went back to staring outside.

Ripley climbed out of the pool and shook the water off, her chain crashing loudly against the stone patio. I went into the kitchen to get water, and then went upstairs to the master bedroom. Blue had cleaned Harlow’s feet and wrapped them up. With new socks, hopefully they would hold up better tomorrow.

I stole silk pajamas from the dresser drawers, knowing that I would have to leave them here to conserve space in my messenger bag. Grabbing a candle, I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Once I took off my clothes, I inspected my entire body for scratches, and I only found a bruise. When I turned on the faucet, dirty water sputtered out, but it was better than no water at all. Using a washcloth, I did the best I could to clean myself up.

When I came out, Blue had gone, and Harlow had changed and crawled into bed, but she wasn’t asleep yet. I called Ripley, and once she finally came in, I locked the door behind her. Ripley lay on the bedroom floor, licking herself clean from her swim, and Harlow was asleep within minutes.

Sleep didn’t come that easy for me, though. After tossing and turning for a while, I gave up, snuck into the bathroom, and shut the door. I sat on the floor, burying my face in my arms, and sobbed harder than I had in months. My whole body shook.

I cried for Beck, who I had cared for way more than I should have. He deserved so much more than this, and I had just turned and ran away, leaving him to die. Leaving them all to die.

I hadn’t wanted to leave Sommer alone and terrified like that, but I didn’t know what choice I had. Letting her follow me had been a mistake, but it wasn’t worse than staying in the quarantine. Everyone had died. All the soldiers who stayed behind to try to save them, and all the people trapped in small rooms as the monsters broke in.

And I cried for Max. I didn’t know where he was or if he was all right. It was my job to protect him, and I hadn’t been there. Maybe he’d made it to a new quarantine. Or maybe he had never even made it out at all.

But I couldn’t think that. I had to believe that Max was still out there and that I would find him. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to him.

But right now, in the bathroom, it was all I could do to keep from screaming.

When I had myself under control, I went back out and climbed into the huge bed, lying on the far side from Harlow. I was too exhausted to lay awake any longer.

I woke up because I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating, and Ripley growled. I opened my eyes to see her face right in front of mine.

– 5 –

Over two-hundred pounds of jungle cat sat on my chest, crushing me. Someone knocked at the bedroom door, and Ripley growled again. Using all my strength, I pushed her off me and gasped for breath. She leapt onto the floor and did another low growl/roar at the door.

“Hey, are you guys awake?” Blue asked when he stopped knocking.

“Yeah!” Harlow shouted and came out of the bathroom. She glanced over at me, still catching my breath. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head, refusing to tell her that Ripley almost killed me in attempt to wake me up.

“So, are we all going together then?” Blue asked through the closed bedroom door. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and my feet groaned when I stood on them.

“Going where?” Harlow looked at me.

“North,” I replied vaguely and hobbled to the bathroom.

“What? Why? Why can’t we just stay here?” Harlow asked.

“I have to find my brother,” I told her.

“Okay, well, I’m making breakfast,” Blue said, when neither of us really answered him. “So you guys should come downstairs, and we can all talk about this.”

When I went into the bathroom, I slammed the door behind me. I’d been plagued by horrible nightmares all night long, and then the lion nearly suffocated me. I did not want to fight with Harlow.

“I don’t want to find your brother!” Harlow shouted from the other side of the door.

“Okay! Stay here!” I groaned. I couldn’t even pee in peace.

“We slept in a real bed last night, not just a stupid cot!” Harlow continued. “And I wore real pajamas! The closets are full of clean clothes!”