Chapter 5

Daisy's POV

I quietly pressed a hand to my own heart. Nothing.

No beat.

I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come.

No one was coming to save me.

For everyone else, the rescue team showing up meant hope.

For me, it meant my turn was up.

And just like that, I went calm. I pulled my knees in and curled up on the bed, not making a sound, not moving, just staying there in the corner.

Downstairs, gunfire and explosions started up, and all over the building survivors were cheering.

I don't know how long after that it was.

They started clearing my floor, bursts of firefight drifting up from below.

A voice came through the wall. Familiar.

[Bayview Apartments, seventh floor, clear.]

The word clear went through me and I shuddered.

They were almost to my floor. Was I about to die?

My body was going wrong on me. I wanted to cry, but zombies don't have tears.

Footsteps came from the other side of the wall, unhurried, pressing down on the floor, walking right into my ears.

Bang. A gunshot.

A zombie snarled next door, and then it cut off.

"Damn, this one's ugly. Howling right in my ear. Put a bullet in it. Ezra, what about you? Wrap it up, let's go eat. I want barbecue. The kind with a whole rack of ribs."

The voice was lazy and cocky, bright, running on and on without stopping.

It sounded familiar.

I'd had my head buried against my knees, playing dead. Now I lifted it.

"I'm nearly done here too, half an hour at most. Hank, get the trucks over. We've got survivors to move. ... Why is this door so hard to open?"

I flinched again.

Familiar or not, I was done for.

I almost let out a howl, then remembered this guy complaining that the one next door was annoying with all its howling. I clapped a hand over my mouth and sat on the bed shaking, waiting for someone to come collect me.

Yeah.

I didn't have the guts to finish myself off, so I'd let someone else do it. That would look better than whatever came later, because I wasn't human anymore.

At that thought, something in me just quit.

But when the door got kicked open, my body still shook.

Only then did it hit me — how much force would it take to kick a door like that open.

"Damn, this door is a pain to kick. ... Huh? Nobody home? Place is spotless. Like a model home out of a magazine."

He didn't stop. He kept walking in.

I put my head back down and shook, waiting for the verdict.

He went past the closet, past the kitchen, straight for my room, every step landing on my nerves.

I was about to snap.

Bang.

The bedroom door opened.

Then the click of a round going into the chamber.

The voice came again. "Any open wounds? Have you been bitten? How far along is the mutation? Answer honestly."

I kept my head down, still playing dead, and seriously considered crawling under the blanket next to me.

He let out a breath, and his tone hardened. "I asked you a question. Alpha Squad. We're an official search-and-rescue unit, ma'am. If you don't answer, it's your own rescue that gets delayed. You understand — huh?"

I was still wondering what the huh was about when he crossed the room in one step and hauled me up off the bed.

I shook with fright, eyes shut, playing dead.

Then I heard him speak, a little amused. "Daisy Harlow?"

I opened my eyes and looked at the person who'd come to take me.

And there was a face right up close, the two of us staring at each other.

Before he could say anything, his earpiece blew up.

"Who? Daisy Harlow? Carter, have you lost your mind? You that hung up on her?"

Carter silenced the earpiece with the back of his hand, looked me up and down, and asked again, hesitating. "Daisy Harlow? Holy shit ... no, wait. How have you not changed at all in all these years? "

I froze, my slow brain finally placing him.

Carter Raines was my classmate back in school. Fancy running into each other like this.

Carter was wearing a tactical vest. Still that tall. The boyish softness was gone from his face and the bones had filled out, handsome enough that people turned to look in the hallway.

Back then he'd been the best-looking kid in school and the worst troublemaker.

I wanted to say hello with a completely flat face, but all that came out was a guttural groan, uhh-uhh-ahh, stuck in my throat.

So I said nothing.

Carter leaned in like a big dog, sizing me up.

He looked closely, closely enough to notice I was cold.

His brow furrowed.

A second later, his fingers pressed against my neck, feeling for something.

For a moment I thought he was going to strangle me.

Later I understood he was checking my pulse.

That little sting under my nose — I couldn't name what it was.

The guy who never turned in his homework was on the federal payroll now, and in special forces.

Pretty impressive.

Mr. Delgado would get a kick out of that if he knew.

"Seriously, you were the smart one. How'd you not make it through the first wave?"

He looked genuinely sorry about it.

Sorry in a way that made me want to hit him.

My eyebrows came down and I glared at him, exactly like I used to when I chased him down for his homework.

Carter laughed.

"Right, almost forgot the actual job."

He started looking around like he was hunting for something.

I started shaking again, sure he was picking a spot to do it.

So I shut my eyes and played dead again.

He made a full circle, found nothing he could use, grabbed a blanket offhand, and turned back to find me with my eyes shut, shaking hard.

He sighed and tied me up, blanket and all.

Even with my eyes shut I knew I was being tied up.

I figured he was afraid I'd thrash and make an ugly death of it, so he was giving me some dignity.

I opened my eyes and gave him a grateful look.

This guy was actually all right.

He stared at me for two seconds, his expression going strange, like he had no idea what I was so happy about.

Then he scooped me up sideways, wrapped the blanket around me, and stuffed me into the closet.

"Stay put. I'll come back for you later."

He said it quietly, then gave me one last look.

I was looking up at him with big eyes.

Carter's ears suddenly went red.

"Quit making those sad puppy eyes at me. You're a zombie."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Not long after, a string of kicked doors, gunshots, and excited shouting from survivors came down from upstairs.

I sat in the closet spacing out, my slow brain working on it — I wasn't dead? He really hadn't put a bullet in me?

I didn’t get it.

I looked down at the thin blanket tied around me and gave it a try. Tight.

Forget it.

I just slumped sideways in the closet and lay there with my eyes open, waiting for time to pass.

I don't know how much later it was when there was finally noise outside again.

"Everyone downstairs, single file. Buses are coming to take you to Survivor Base."