this and have it go further, I think we need to leave before any more find themselves in here and make things worse. Right now, I can handle a few infected and stay unnoticed by the other assholes, but if this building gets swarmed with the motherfuckers, we’ll have a problem, especially since I don’t have a gun.”
His voice was so low, so deep, that she felt it down to her very soul. He groaned something unintelligible then tightened his hold on her hair and kissed her again. With one final sweep of his tongue along her bottom lip, Collin pulled away.
She wanted him to continue kissing her, to hold her close. She had been alone, dodging shady humans, killing infected, and making sure she wasn’t bitten or scratched so she wasn’t infected, yet she felt like no one else was around. She was always alone, so utterly, heartbreakingly alone.
Having Collin so close, even after just meeting him hours before, made her feel as though she could get through this ugly, hateful world. It was illogical to feel this way, to want him like she did. Was she so desperate that she was looking for comfort from the first person, the first man who had come along and didn’t try to take something from her that she wasn’t willing to give?
Her thoughts were halted when the sound of more metal scraping came through. She pushed herself up and looked over the haystacks. Another corpse was finding its way through the opening in the wall, the same way the other corpse had gotten in.
“We need to go now while we aren’t overrun,” Collin said gruffly. “Pack up what you can carry.” Then he was moving away from her and grabbing his items.
She got up and grabbed her jacket, put it on, and started shoving anything and everything she could into her backpack and tote. She couldn’t carry everything, and as she looked around at her little makeshift stove, at some of the extra weapons she kept up here just in case, a part of her grew disappointed that she was leaving her safe haven. Or at least it had been safe.
Rebecca watched as Collin grabbed the ladder and, as quietly as he could manage, lowered it. There was some banging as the wood hit the loft, but the infected who was already inside didn’t take notice, because the other one was still trying to get through the side of the wall, and the noise it made drowned out everything else. But that noise was also causing the sick outside to get more restless, and that was why they needed to leave.
Collin went down the ladder first, and once he reached the bottom, he quickly made his way over to the roaming corpse. She watched from the loft, knowing he wanted her to stay up here even if he hadn’t specifically said so, and saw him take out the man who groaned out low.
It was a quick stab to the infected man’s skull, and then Collin went over to the woman who was still trying to get through, clearly stuck halfway in the wall’s opening.
The contaminated woman was struggling to get her arm free, as it was stuck between parts of the wall. Even from this distance and height, Rebecca could make out the skin and muscle being torn from the corpse’s body as she struggled to get through to them. But the infected woman was oblivious to anything aside from the fact that Collin was close by. She reached out with her other arm, trying to grab him even though he was feet from her.
She opened her mouth, made this low, wet, and filthy noise from the back of her throat, and became more frantic to get through. Her flesh continued to tear from her arm, and dark blood oozed onto the ground. But the walking corpses felt no pain. Collin moved over to her, grabbed a chunk of her hair, and tilted her head back.
He plunged his knife into her eye socket, and when the infected slumped forward, finally dead for good, he removed the blade and wiped it on the tattered and stained shirt she wore. Rebecca couldn’t breathe.
Collin had taken those two out without any emotion on his face. He had been like a machine—a well-oiled, dangerous, and heartless machine. But in this world, that was how someone survived.
He walked over to the window and looked out of it.
“We need to leave, Rebecca. Now.” He turned from the