1. Taryn
CHAPTER ONE
TARYN
“How much farther?” Lila groaned, adjusting the pack on her back.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know. Until we find a safe place to sleep, I’d guess.”
I doubt she appreciated my sarcasm, but she’d already asked the same question twice before.
Having traveled since just after nightfall, we were both exhausted, and the time had to be close to seven in the morning.
I’d waited for Adrian and Beck to return after investigating a town we’d heard was now a refuge. Yet, it had been days or even weeks since we had any contact with them. Time had blurred somewhere along the way, days bleeding into each other until I stopped keeping track.
I knew something must have gone wrong. That was par for the course these days.
Max growled low, even as I heard a quiet shuffling.
I froze mid-step.
“What’s wrong?” Lila whispered.
“I’m not sure.” I tilted my head, listening harder. The faint sound was just enough to set my nerves on edge. “I think it’s infected. Stay here while I check.”
Lila nodded and crouched behind a tree.
I pointed at Max. “Bleib. Wach.”
He gave me the sad puppy eyes, but when I walked off, he did as he was told, standing protectively at Lila’s side.
I was so thankful I’d rescued him from the shitty biker gang Beck used to be part of.
Max had been invaluable in keeping watch over the children, especially after Ben helped me train him with German commands.
He explained it mattered because it reduced confusion and kept strangers from issuing orders.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I couldn’t think about my dad right now. Any distraction could be deadly, and that was a major one.
Taking a deep breath, I refocused my attention on what I was doing.
The closer I got to the sounds I’d heard, the quieter everything grew: no birds, no wind, just that faint shuffling and the dragging of feet among the trees.
I crept slowly through the brush until I saw them.
A group of five infected milled at the edge of the road, their movements jerky and off, as if their bodies weren’t quite working the way they should.
Five wasn’t a bad number.
Several months ago, it would’ve been, but things had changed.
I stayed low, letting the brush swallow me as I circled wide, keeping the wind in my favor. They drifted along the edge of the road, heads twitching, bodies lagging half a beat behind themselves.
I slipped the knife from its sheath, testing its weight in my hand, then shifted the bat along my back just enough to free it if I needed it. The wood felt smooth where I held it, and I’d made the head much heavier by driving nails through it.
I waited for a straggler; there was always one.
When it broke off a few steps from the others, I moved.
Fast.
Way faster than would’ve been possible months before.
One of my hands hooked the back of its collar, the other drove the blade up and in, straight through the eye. It went slack and folded into me like a puppet whose strings had been cut. I dropped it to the ground.
I made a face. “Fucking disgusting.” Gagging, I wiped the blade on its tattered shirt and edged forward again.
The second turned at the wrong moment, mouth opening on a wet, broken sound that never made it out.
I was already there, closing the distance before it could finish the thought, the knife punching in just under the jaw and up.
It shuddered, fingers scraping uselessly at my sleeve before going still.
Three left.
They were much closer together.
“Annoying,” I muttered under my breath.
I eased back into the trees, heart steady, breathing evenly, letting them drift until one lagged behind the other two.
There.
I stepped out just enough to let it see me, then slipped back as it followed, slow and stupid, feet dragging across the gravel. When it stepped into the brush, I met it head-on; the blade sliding home, quick and deep.
Two left.
The last pair shifted, heads snapping in my direction, as I came up behind them.
Too late.
I reached for Guts & Glory, affectionately shortened to GG.
Yes, I named my bat.
No, it wasn’t Lucille. Even if I had found it romantic when I binge-watched The Walking Dead for Negan to name his bat after his dead wife.
Who knew that show would become more of a how-to series instead of entertainment?
Beck had carved it into her for me. We’d thought it was funny, but Lucas had sneered when he caught sight of it, being his usual prickish self. I didn’t give a single damn what he thought.
At least that’s what I told myself.
I gave it a test swing and loved how the familiar weight felt in my hands.
“Come to Momma.” I taunted the two rotten corpses. “I promise you’ll have a banging time.” And Beck thought I wasn’t funny.
Faster than the rest, the first infected lunged, and I swung. With a sharp, wet crack, the bat hit, causing it to drop. The nails dug in deep, momentarily catching before I yanked them out and brought GG down again... and again.
The last one arrived, arms reaching out and jaw moving.
I stepped into it.
Closed the space.
Swung hard.
Done.
Five dead infected. Easy as pie.
Silence settled back over the road as if nothing had happened.
I stood there for a second, chest rising and falling, not from exhaustion—but from the excitement of the kill.
I was starting to enjoy it…that probably should’ve worried me more than it did.
That hadn’t always been the case.
I’d put in the work, and it showed. As long as the infected didn’t catch me by surprise (which wouldn’t be easy now), I disposed of them without a problem.
It was the hordes that you had to worry about. I shuddered at the memory of the last time I’d faced one.
Wiping the blade clean, I slung GG back into place and turned toward where I’d left Lila and Max.
Max spotted me first.
His head lifted, body going still for half a second before his tail gave a short, controlled wag—like he’d tried to catch himself before letting it happen.
Lila straightened from where she’d been crouched, relief flashing across her face. “You’re alright?”
“Yeah.” I stepped back into the small clearing, scanning out of habit before letting myself settle even an inch. “There were only five.”
“Only five,” she repeated, as if she wasn’t sure whether that should make her feel better or worse.
I shrugged. “Let’s get moving.”
She didn’t argue or drag her feet this time.
Max fell into step beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him, his shoulder brushing my leg every few strides like he needed the contact just as much as I did.
We moved through the trees in silence, both of us keeping an eye on our surroundings. I could have moved much faster without her, but she’d caught me leaving and insisted on coming. The truth was, I appreciated the company, even if she held me back.
I adjusted the strap of my pack, fingers brushing the handle of GG as I did, the carved letters rough against my skin.
This bat has been with me through some tough times, some worse than others.
I swallowed hard and tried to clear my head, but the memories came anyway.
Gunfire.
Loud.
“Move!” Ben’s voice cut through everything, sharp and commanding in a way that left no room for hesitation.
The gate — no.
The gate was already down.
Bodies pressed against it from the outside, hands clawing through the gaps, metal bending where it shouldn’t.
“There are too many—” Beck shouted.
“I’m going to cover y’all,” Ben snapped. “Get Taryn out!”
Lucas and Adrien grabbed my arm.
I tried to jerk free. “Don’t.”
“I’ll knock you out if I have to.”
And then—another sound.
Not gunfire, but much closer.
Then screaming...
I stumbled half a step before catching myself.
“Taryn?” Lila’s voice broke me out of my thoughts.
“I’m fine,” I said automatically, even though my chest felt tight and my pulse was racing.
Max pressed even closer, a low rumble building in his chest—as if he knew I lied.
I exhaled slowly and scratched behind his scarred ear. “Let’s hydrate, then keep moving. We’re losing daylight, and I want to be somewhere secure before nightfall.”
We all had nightmares now and memories we didn’t want to face. The key to surviving them was never to stop moving.
“Do you think we’ll reach the town by this afternoon?” Lila took a drink from the bottle of water she’d removed from her pack.
I followed suit, then poured some into a small bowl I kept for Max.
“Probably. But I want to wait until dark to check it out.” I let Max drink his fill, then put everything back in my pack. “We’ll find a safe place to rest and regroup.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Lila readjusted her pack, then glanced at me. “Do you think Ethan is mad?”
I started walking, and she followed. “I have no doubt. His new girlfriend snuck out without telling him. Wouldn’t you be pissed?”
She frowned. “I couldn’t let you go alone. That wouldn’t be right.”
After everything fell apart, my house had become the safest place any of us had.
Ethan had no parents left, and Lila’s parents were away and hadn’t returned when everything collapsed. Lane and his sisters were the last to arrive because he didn’t want to risk moving his father.
Sadly, an infected broke into their house and his father ordered him to focus on getting his sisters to safety. Lane wouldn’t discuss what happened next, and we didn’t push him.
Lucas tried to rescue Jonah, who had been with him when he escaped the school, but he and several others on the block didn’t survive. Adrian and Lucas ah no choice but to put them down.
We’d all experienced unspeakable things by now.
Ben hadn’t exactly welcomed the extra mouths with open arms, but even he understood there was safety in numbers… as long as everyone followed his rules.
Lila and I had grown close over the past few months. Much of that was due to our proximity. Being stuck in a small house without internet or a phone made it hard to keep my distance. Our relationship evolved from her being merely an asset into a friendship I deeply appreciated.
I sighed. “You know, I would’ve been fine on my own.”