Thirty
sadie
“I’ve got this one.” An elderly woman shuffled across the foyer, pink slippers leaving faint streaks of blood on the tiles.
For a split second, I wanted to protect her from the violence and guide her back to whatever cosy house she’d come from, but survival instinct took over.
I planted my feet and took a swing at her head.
The axe struck with a crack, and I wrenched the blade free, stepping aside as she crumpled. Her body landed half draped over one that Theo had taken down.
My third kill this morning. His second.
It was getting easier, almost routine now, and I tried not to let that bother me.
“Fucking Dustin,” Theo muttered. He stepped over a fallen body and drove his sword through the skull of an athletic man in a blood-stained police uniform. The man’s belt was stripped clean of weapons, his chest torn to shreds.
We’d only come downstairs to load the last of our supplies into Theo’s car. Then we saw what Dustin had done and hit pause on our plans.
“He’s barricaded himself inside his apartment,” I said, flicking a glance in that direction. His broken door was braced with something heavy on the other side—a couch or a fridge, maybe. “He must have overheard us talking about leaving today.”
The glass entrance doors had been propped open using the armchairs from the foyer, letting every infected pour in off the street. Eight were in here now, wandering around with their empty eyes and bodies in varying degrees of ruin.
If we couldn’t get the doors closed soon, more of them would join the herd.
A teenage girl limped toward me with blood-drenched hair and half her face missing. With her slight body and delicate features, she reminded me too much of Ellie and Willow, and I winced as I struck her down. Another swing, and her body stopped moving.
I exhaled hard and rolled my shoulders. When I turned and faced the next threat, my foot hit a slick patch of blood.
“Oh, crap—” My leg slid out from under me, my stomach dropping as I lost my balance.
I fell straight on my ass, and the axe clattered from my hand, skidding across the tiles.
“Shit.” Theo’s voice broke through the chaos, sharp with fear. “Sweetheart. Get up.”
Sweetheart? Smack in the middle of danger, this man could still make my heart pitter-patter.
“Don't worry. I wasn't planning on getting comfortable down here.” I flattened my palms on the floor and scrambled to my feet, breathing through the panic. The stink of decay grew stronger, and I looked up as two of the dead were closing in on me.
Adrenaline surged in my veins.
Don’t overthink. Just move.
I shoved the closest one back with my forearm, keeping clear of its grinding jaws. When I had a moment to regroup, I wiped my damp palms on my jeans and spotted my weapon over near Theo’s feet.
He hacked at another of the infected, then kicked my axe toward me. The handle collided with the side of my boot, and I swooped on it.
“Got it.” With a tight grip on the handle, I pivoted and ended a guy with an eyebrow tattoo, jumping clear before he took me down with him.
Theo's boot met the knee of a heavyset man, and he finished him with a sweep of his sword.
The sight of him taking charge did things to me I refused to examine while we were at risk. I shifted my focus to another elderly woman who’d locked onto me, her eyes cloudy as she worked her jaw.
The last of the dead in the foyer.
Her permed grey hair had been ripped from her scalp on one side, and her cardigan hung off her shoulder. I shut down my sympathy before it could take over and lifted my axe to split her skull.
“Wait!”
Owen’s voice echoed through the space.
My arms froze mid-swing.
Breathing hard, I stumbled backward a few steps and caught Theo’s eye.
“I need to know something before you take out the last one,” Owen said, calmer now.
He stood three steps up from the bottom of the stairs, a bag hanging from each hand. They dropped from his loosened grip as Theo and I joined him.
“What the hell happened?” he asked. “The doors were locked.”
“Dustin.” Theo looked me over, rubbing something from my cheek before giving his full attention to Owen. “Asshole tried to stop us from leaving—or wanted to take a few of us out before we could go.”
“The girls could have come down here,” Owen said absently.
My gaze skimmed the massacre—the blood and fluids, the bodies. Not long back, the cops would have been barging in and arresting us. “What did you want to know?” I asked, catching my breath.
The woman’s sensible shoes scraped across the tiles as she came toward us, her low moan drifting through the space.
“Whether they can climb,” Owen said.
None of us said a word, but in unspoken agreement, we moved up another couple of steps into a safer zone.
We’d already learned plenty about them, but I didn’t know the answer to this question.
My fingers tightened around the handle of my axe, and Theo kept his sword half raised. The air grew tense, and my gaze briefly shot to the open entrance as a trail bike flew past, the bleat of its motor fading fast.
The woman reached the bottom step and lifted one foot, her sole scuffing against the edge. My stomach clenched, and I forced myself to breathe. If they couldn’t follow us upstairs, we’d have safe spaces to hide. A chance to escape their relentless hunger without having to track every movement.
“I don’t think she can,” I whispered, even though the volume didn’t matter.
As she clawed at the air and tried to latch onto one of us, her balance wavered.
Even before the virus had ravaged her body, she would have struggled to stay upright at that angle.
Now, with no working brain cells or coordination, she slumped forward and landed on the stairs, her forehead slamming against the edge.
Her jaw opened and closed as if on autopilot, that little detail hitting me harder than anything I'd seen so far.
No one moved. I held my breath as we waited.
Seconds later, she tried again, her fingers reaching and curling inward.
As her glazed eyes stared up at me, veins showed through her paper-thin skin. She peeled back her lips as if to take a bite, her gums purple, her tongue a strange brownish hue. All she could do was swipe at the air and moan her frustration.
Owen was the first to speak. “Guess that answers that.”
Theo’s hand brushed mine, the small touch spurring me into action. “Let’s clear out the bodies and close the main doors before more come in here,” I said.
Theo stepped down to the woman’s level, keeping back from her grasping hands. “We’ll figure out what to do with Dustin after we’ve cleaned up.”
I nodded, appreciating having practical tasks in a completely illogical world.
Then he lifted his sword and plunged it through the woman’s temple.
“Well, what do you say? Are we making this snappy, or dragging it out and getting messy?” Laura yanked up the zipper on her puffer jacket, hair in a low ponytail and mouth set in a firm line. She tried not to show her nerves, but I caught the tremble in her hands.
We were all packed. Theo and I had shut the doors on our apartments for the last time, and everything that meant something to us had been stowed in the back of his Ranger, the tub packed to capacity.
The foyer reeked of bleach, but it beat the stomach-rolling smell of rotting corpses that had clung to the walls and furniture after our battle. We’d all shared cleanup duty, dragging the bodies out to the back of the residents’ car park, then scrubbing the tiles until our arms ached.
Theo had the foresight to roll an abandoned car in front of the building’s entrance, blocking the doors from the outside. Dustin couldn’t pull another of his stunts anytime soon—and Tim and Varesh would be in a clean, secure building while they waited for my sister.
“Let’s get messy.” I stepped away from Theo and dragged Laura into a hug, refusing to pretend this didn’t matter to me.
She’d helped me stay sane during the long months of lockdown, providing a voice of reason, a spark of brightness in the gloom.
I’d miss our chats. Her humour, her strength.
Knowing it would be the last time, I held on tighter and tried to keep it together.
It only took a few seconds for her to loosen up and throw her arms around me, hugging me back just as hard.
We clutched each other for one long, anguished moment, her breath stirring my hair as a tremor ran through both of us.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I pulled back and forced a smile.
“Just so you know, I’m going to imagine all of you living long, happy lives in Darby Downs—so take care of yourselves. I need that to be true.”
Laura nodded as her eyes shone. “Make sure you do the same,” she said, sniffling. “Take it easy and think every situation through when you can. No rash decisions.” She paused and looked away, clamping her lips together.
“We’ll be fine,” I said, rubbing her upper arms. “Two hours on the road, and we’re there.
” I’d simplified it, of course, only throwing out the best-case scenario.
Anything could go wrong for us between here and the farm, but I had to believe we’d make it.
“I just wish I could call you and tell you we’re safe. ”
We locked eyes in silent understanding, tears welling, my stomach twisting at the thought of the unknown. I only had to look out for myself and Theo. She had her daughters.
“You and Theo… it makes my heart happy knowing you’re together.” Laura looked behind me, then brought her gaze back to me. “Thank God you stopped being idiots and finally talked to each other. Just in time, too.”
“Idiot coming through.” Theo affectionately nudged me aside and swooped in, wrapping Laura up in his arms. His silliness had her laughing when she otherwise might have cried.
He lifted her from the floor and swung her around, taking care not to clip the armchairs we’d moved back to the centre of the foyer.
I sniffed and moved away, leaving them to chat in private.
Tim and Varesh were waiting near the rear door to walk us out to the car, and I was conscious of not taking too long.
Owen stood over by the mailboxes with the girls on either side of him, his arms resting protectively across their shoulders. It settled my nerves knowing they were in such good hands.
Ellie looked older now, serious and alert. Willow had her lower lip clamped between her teeth, her chest shuddering.
I crossed to them, my heart pounding harder with each step.
Before I could reach them, Ellie broke away from her dad and met me halfway, her eyes fierce. She didn’t utter a word. Just threw her arms around my waist and squeezed.
My throat tightened as I hugged her back, my eyes filling until I closed them and squeezed the tears free.
Willow made a small, desperate sound that broke something in me, then ran over and joined us.
I drew her into a three-person hug, keeping them close for the last time.
All those endless hours we’d spent together in my apartment or on the rooftop, laughing, watching music videos, sharing reels. It was over.
“I feel like I’m saying goodbye to my little sisters.” My voice thickened as I breathed them in, knowing their softness would disappear soon enough—if it hadn’t already started to fade.
“I hate this,” Ellie said. “I wish you could come with us.” She squeezed me once—hard—before stepping back and swiping at her face with her sleeve.
“So do I.” I kept hugging Willow and stroked her hair, sifting the silky strands between my fingers. The dampness on her cheek seeped through my t-shirt. “If you’re lucky, you might meet another big sister when you get to your aunt’s place.”
“Probably not,” Willow said. "It’s just farmers and sheep and horses.”
I smiled at the surly edge in her voice. “Well, that sounds pretty peaceful.”
Theo moved onto the girls, so I patted Willow’s hair one last time and turned my attention to Owen in our production line of goodbyes.
None of them were nearly long enough to encapsulate all we’d been through together.
His dark eyes caught mine, then he gave me one firm, brief hug, keeping hold of my shoulders after he’d pulled back.
“Take care of yourself, Sadie,” he said.
“I mean it. I don’t want to think about you two struggling out there.
Keep your head in the game. Eyes up. Don’t get complacent for a second. ”
My chest grew heavy, and my eyes stung. I nodded quickly, willing myself to stay in control for a little bit longer.
“Promise me,” he insisted.
“I will.” I blinked and ran my forefingers under my eyes. “You too, okay? Don’t turn your back on the infected. Keep that sword handy,” I said, smiling through the sadness. “Good luck with the drive to Ro’s.”
We parted ways, and I shot a glance at Dustin’s apartment.
He hadn’t appeared since the incident this morning, following his usual pattern of causing trouble, then hiding from the fallout.
Whatever he’d used to secure the door looked to still be there, and no sounds came from inside.
He must have been using the window to come and go.
“What do you want to do about that?” I asked Tim, tipping my head towards the door. “You’re the ones stuck here with him.”
With his hands in his pockets, he shrugged and sent Varesh a sideways look. “Haven’t decided yet. We’re not even sure he’s still here. His car’s gone.”
“Want us to sort it out before we leave?” Theo asked, slotting in beside me. “I don’t mind working off some energy. We can check and make sure he’s moved on.”
His comment plunged me back into memories of the way he’d worked off energy with me this morning, and I coughed to create a distraction—as if anyone could know what was going through my mind.
Theo slipped his arm around me and planted a kiss on my hair.
Okay. Maybe one person knew.
Varesh repositioned his glasses. His gaze bounced from Theo to me, and heat rushed to my cheeks. Make that two. God.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tim said. “We won’t be here much longer. If he hasn’t left yet, he can rattle around in the empty building all on his own.”
I didn’t need to ask them to protect Ava from Dustin when she arrived. I knew they’d do whatever it took to keep her safe.
“We should get moving then,” Theo said, brushing my shoulder with his thumb.
A fluttering sensation stirred in my stomach, but I dragged in a shaky breath and turned, taking in the group that had become my family during the end of the world. I gave them a small wave and locked the image in my mind.
Then Theo took my hand, linking his fingers with mine, and together we followed Varesh and Tim out to the car park.