If my words hurt Merdon, he didn’t show it. And that made me even madder. Averting my gaze as if he wasn’t there, I headed home, seething and fighting not to throw up.
Sweat coated my skin when I let myself inside and found Emily pacing the living room. Her worried expression turned more so as she watched me take off my jacket. I could imagine how I looked. Like shit because that’s how I felt. I didn’t understand why I was sweating when it had been cold outside. The shaking I was used to popping up on occasion. A drink usually steadied me. But that was out, thanks to Emily.
The nausea was the worst, though. I couldn’t even tell her off for staring at me as I made my way upstairs. Closing myself into my bathroom, I barely made it to my knees in front of the toilet before I emptied what little there was in my stomach.
Again and again, I heaved. The muscles ached from the bruising force. By the time I stopped, I had no energy left in me and collapsed to the floor.
“Hannah?” Emily’s voice came through the door. “Do you need anything?”
A tear slipped from my eyes. She knew damn well what I needed.
“Fuck you. Go away.”
The words were barely more than a rasp from my raw throat. Why couldn’t I just die already?
Oh, right. I hadn’t suffered enough yet.
Chapter Eight
Panic suffocated me, making my heart race and squeezing the air from my lungs.
The moans of the infected rang in my ears, and their rancid smell of decay filled my nose. I ran, knowing we were almost out of time. I ran even as I knew it was pointless.
In front of us, the trees stretched endlessly, providing no protection.
“Hannah,” Katie panted from behind me. “I can’t.”
Her fingers were barely grasping mine as I pulled her along. She wasn’t keeping up like she should.
“Keep going,” I said.
I glanced over my shoulder even though I desperately didn’t want to. I already knew what I’d see. Katie’s wide, desperate eyes locked on me, silently pleading for me to help her. The white ring around her lips and the exhaustion pulling at her features.
Behind her, the infected were closer. Less than ten yards now. We were both going to die.
She stumbled.
Her hand started to slip through mine. I tightened my hold, but the weight of her pulled at my arm as she completely lost her footing.
Her wide eyes were still locked on mine.
I knew what was next and screamed.
Screams tore through me, and I flailed violently, trying to pull myself free from the memory.
“Hannah, it’s okay.”
Hands clamped down on my wrists, holding me in place as I opened my eyes and blindly tried to focus on my surroundings. The image of Katie’s eyes didn’t immediately fade, though. I trembled with a force that made my bones hurt.
“It’s okay, Hannah. It’s okay.”
The voice penetrated the pain.
Blinking, I looked up at Emily.
“Get the fuck away from me,” I said thickly.
“Why? You’d rather stay flopping around in your own vomit?” She stood and held out a hand to me.
I slapped it away and stayed right where I was, giving her my answer.
She shook her head and started for the door.
“I hope you didn’t throw away your earplugs,” I said before she got too far, “because things are going to get intense. Unless I’m a considerate roommate and just try to stay awake all the time, again. I mean, that worked out well last time. A little sleep deprivation is way healthier than a few drinks, right?”
She paused in the doorway, her back to me. Instead of having the guts to admit she’d screwed me over and apologize, she left the bathroom.
I lifted myself from the floor and peeled off the clothes that I had indeed vomited on at some point. Not bothering with a shower, I walked back into my room and grabbed something clean, dressed, and sat on the chair in the corner of my room. It was dusk. Time for sleep.
I refused to do that to myself.
Instead, I stared at the stars through the curtain and tried to think of nothing. The memory was too close to the surface to allow that, though. Thoughts of my mother crept in. After seeing Dad shuffle through the yard, she’d wanted to go out to him. Katie and I had pleaded with her to stay and watch first. Together, the three of us witnessed what an infected would do if they