Surviving the Apocalypse With My Yandere Ex-Girlfriend

Chapter 238: How many more?

Snow exploded beneath every footstep.

Nobody looked back anymore.

The sounds behind them were enough.

Laughter.

Wet, choking laughter.

The frantic slap of bare feet against frozen earth.

Branches snapping one after another as the horde tore through the forest with reckless abandon.

The noise never stayed in one place.

It bounced from tree to tree until it felt as though they were being chased from every direction at once.

Terri stumbled.

Her boot disappeared beneath a layer of powder hiding a fallen branch.

She pitched forward with a sharp cry, both hands catching the ground just before her face hit the snow.

"No!"

The word came out half panic, half frustration.

Her fingers slipped.

For one terrifying second she couldn’t get her footing.

Tears burned the corners of her eyes.

Not because she was hurt.

Because she knew what happened to people who fell.

"Terri!"

Aubrey reached back instinctively.

"COME ON!"

Terri forced herself upright, snow clinging to her sleeves as she lurched forward again.

"I’m coming!"

Her lungs felt like broken glass.

Every breath stabbed.

Still—

She ran.

Nobody slowed down for her.

Nobody could.

Ahead of them, Bill’s people flowed through the forest like they belonged there.

They barely seemed to think.

One vaulted a fallen log without breaking stride.

Another ducked beneath a low branch before it even came into view.

Harry never once looked down.

His boots somehow always found solid footing.

Years.

They’d survived years doing this.

Watching them run...

Aubrey understood something Adrian never had to tell her.

These weren’t just survivors.

They were professionals.

And Adrian...

Adrian had survived them.

The thought hit her strangely.

For just a second...

It reminded her exactly who she was searching for.

Her eyes found Bill.

Even while running, he never wasted movement.

Nothing frantic.

Nothing desperate.

His breathing stayed controlled.

His rifle remained tight against his shoulder instead of bouncing wildly like everyone else’s.

Adrian had only told her pieces.

Canada.

The executions.

The negotiations.

The cruelty.

The intelligence behind all of it.

Watching him now...

She finally understood.

Bill didn’t survive because he was lucky.

He survived because everyone else died first.

Nearly a hundred yards behind them—

The enormous infected stopped running.

His head slowly tilted.

The fleeing humans had become little shapes weaving through white and gray.

His grin faded.

Confusion settled across his ruined face.

Then...

One of the baseline infected sprinted past him.

Laughing.

Arms flailing.

Too focused on the prey to notice anything else.

The giant’s pink eyes followed him.

Something clicked.

His thick fingers suddenly shot out.

They tangled themselves into the infected’s filthy hair.

The creature shrieked in confusion as it was ripped backward off its feet.

It kicked wildly.

Bit at empty air.

The giant stared at it.

Turned it over once.

Almost...

Curious.

Then, with one enormous swing—

He hurled it.

Hale’s chest burned.

The rucksack dug into both shoulders with every stride.

Food.

Medicine.

Blankets.

Almost everything they had left was inside.

Dropping it wasn’t an option.

He heard something moving through the air.

Fast.

Too fast.

His instincts screamed before his mind understood why.

"DOWN!"

Nobody had time.

Something slammed into the ground directly in front of them.

SMASH.

Frozen earth exploded.

Snow burst upward in a white cloud.

An infected rolled across the trail, limbs twisting violently before it somehow scrambled upright again, laughing despite both of its legs clearly being broken.

Hale nearly collided with it.

He twisted sideways at the last possible second.

Naomi caught his shoulder, shoving him clear.

Bill’s people split around the creature without missing a stride.

Saul stumbled.

"What the fuck?!"

Nobody answered him.

There wasn’t time.

Harry’s expression never changed.

But his eyes...

They shifted.

Calculating.

Watching the sky now instead of the ground.

Another whistle.

Different direction.

Harry looked up.

"Oh, shit."

The second body came down harder.

It crashed directly into one of Bill’s men.

The impact folded both of them to the ground.

Before anyone could react—

The baseline infected shrieked.

Its teeth buried themselves deep into the man’s throat.

Blood sprayed across the snow.

"JODI!"

One of Bill’s people instinctively turned.

Bill grabbed the back of his jacket without even looking.

"Keep moving."

"But—"

"He’s dead."

The words came without hesitation.

Without emotion.

The man stared one heartbeat longer.

Then kept running.

Because Bill was right.

Jodi’s screams had already stopped.

"What the FUCK is going on?!"

Saul shouted.

His voice nearly disappeared beneath the roar of the horde.

Cherie risked a glance over her shoulder.

She immediately wished she hadn’t.

The giant infected stood in the middle of the stampede like a child throwing stones into a lake.

Only the stones...

Were people.

He reached down.

Grabbed another baseline infected around the waist.

The creature laughed, completely unaware.

Then the giant spun once—

And launched it high into the air.

Cherie’s blood ran cold.

"It’s the fat one!"

She shouted between breaths.

"He’s throwing them!"

For the first time since the chase began—

Even Bill looked back.

And the smile disappeared from his face.

Bill didn’t even look back.

"LEFT!"

Nobody questioned him.

Not Hale.

Not Harry.

Not Aubrey.

They veered hard through the trees just as another infected came hurtling through the air behind them.

The body slammed into the trunk of a pine with a crack that echoed through the forest.

The infected folded around the tree before collapsing into the snow, twitching violently.

The fat infected laughed.

It wasn’t a roar.

It wasn’t even threatening.

It sounded delighted.

Like a child discovering a new game.

The sound made Aubrey’s stomach churn.

Another baseline rushed past the enormous infected.

A massive gray hand shot out.

The creature grabbed it by the shoulder without even looking.

Its feet left the ground.

The infected shrieked.

Then—

It was thrown.

Bill never slowed.

"DOWN!"

Everyone instinctively ducked.

The infected sailed overhead, clearing them by inches before crashing through frozen branches behind them.

Wood exploded.

Snow erupted into the air.

"What the fuck is that thing?!" Terri screamed.

"No clue!" Saul barked back.

"And I’d like to keep it that way!"

Behind them, another clap echoed through the forest.

One clap.

The horde answered instantly.

Hundreds of feet pounded through the snow.

The trees themselves seemed alive.

Branches shook.

Snow cascaded from the canopy.

Every direction filled with hysterical laughter.

Naomi risked one glance over her shoulder.

Immediately regretted it.

"They’re gaining!"

"They’re always gaining!" Harry snapped.

His voice stayed calm despite the words.

Too calm.

The kind of calm men found when panic became useless.

Hale adjusted the heavy pack digging into his shoulders.

His lungs burned.

Every breath stabbed.

Still...

He refused to drop the supplies.

Without them...

Nobody was making it another week.

Ahead, Bill suddenly stopped.

Not hesitated.

Stopped.

Everyone nearly crashed into him.

"The hell are you doing?!" Saul shouted.

Bill ignored him.

His eyes swept across the terrain.

The frozen creek.

The fallen oak stretched across it.

The narrow gap between two enormous boulders.

Then...

He smiled.

Not because he was amused.

Because he’d found something.

"Harry."

Harry looked once.

Understood immediately.

No explanation needed.

They moved.

Bill sprinted toward the fallen tree.

Harry peeled off to the right without a word.

"What are they doing?" Isabella shouted.

"Trust ’em!" Hale barked.

"Move!"

Nobody understood.

They ran anyway.

Bill reached the log first.

Instead of crossing it...

He planted one boot against it.

Shoved.

Nothing.

Again.

The rotten wood groaned.

Again.

This time it shifted.

Barely.

Harry arrived from the opposite side.

Without speaking, he threw his weight against the trunk too.

The massive oak finally rolled.

Not much.

Just enough.

The frozen creek beneath it cracked.

A sharp report echoed through the valley.

Bill’s grin widened.

"There she is."

The first infected reached the crossing.

The ice gave way instantly.

One disappeared beneath black water.

Then another.

Then six more slammed into them from behind.

The entire front of the horde collapsed into itself.

Screaming.

Flailing.

Clawing over each other.

The narrow crossing became a pile of thrashing bodies.

Bill didn’t stay to admire it.

"RUN!"

The groups took off again.

Even Aubrey felt herself moving faster.

For one impossible second...

She looked at Bill.

Really looked.

He hadn’t been stronger.

He hadn’t been faster.

He’d simply seen something nobody else had.

He’d looked at the world...

And weaponized it.

Her chest tightened.

Adrian did that.

Not the cruelty.

Never the cruelty.

But...

The thinking.

The impossible plans.

The way he’d notice one tiny detail everyone else ignored.

She remembered Chicago.

The hospital.

Texas.

Canada.

Every time everyone else thought they were dead...

Adrian found something.

An opening.

A weakness.

A way.

Her throat tightened painfully.

Maybe...

Maybe that’s why he’d survived Bill.

Or...

Maybe grief was making her see ghosts inside other people.

Another roar snapped her back.

The fat infected stood on the opposite bank now.

It stared down at the broken crossing.

Its smile disappeared.

For the first time...

It looked frustrated.

Its pink eyes slowly lifted.

Locked directly onto Bill.

Neither of them moved.

Two predators measuring one another.

Then the creature slammed the stop sign into the ground so hard frozen dirt exploded into the air.

Bill only smirked.

"You’ll figure it out eventually."

Then he turned.

And kept running.

—

I felt physically sick.

My lips were split open.

Every breath caught against dry, cracked skin.

Salt from my tears had dried across my face until it pulled every time I moved.

I hiccupped once.

The sound caught somewhere in my throat.

My eyes refused to leave the blood spreading beneath Carl’s head.

It kept growing.

Quietly.

Patiently.

The crimson seeped into the ground until I couldn’t tell where the the field ended and the blood began.

Somewhere behind me...

Adira was crying.

I could hear it.

Barely.

It sounded distant.

Like she was underwater.

Like the entire world had slipped several feet away from me.

Everything had become muffled.

Slow.

Unreal.

All I could do...

Was remember.

Chicago.

The first night.

Carl stepping into my path.

That nervous smile he wore even though his hands had been shaking.

"Please... help us."

Not himself.

Us.

Everyone.

He’d believed I could.

Why?

My jaw tightened.

Why did he have so much faith in me?

What had he seen?

I couldn’t save anyone..

Not these people Miriam had under her spell.

Not the ones in Texas.

Not Carl.

Hell...

I couldn’t even save myself.

A shadow fell across me.

I barely lifted my eyes.

Miriam.

She stood over me for a long moment without speaking.

Her expression wasn’t victorious.

It wasn’t cruel.

If anything...

She looked disappointed.

"I know," she said quietly, "there must be a great deal running through your mind right now."

Her voice remained soft.

Measured.

"I understand that."

I laughed.

The sound came out broken.

More air than humor.

"Go..."

I swallowed hard.

"...go to hell."

The words barely escaped my mouth.

I didn’t have the strength to scream anymore.

Miriam regarded me for another moment.

Then she slowly crouched until we were eye level.

"See..."

She folded her hands together.

"That’s the thing, Adrian."

Her voice never rose.

"We’re already in hell."

I stared at her.

Yeah.

Because of you.

She seemed to read the thought anyway.

"Because people like you..."

She paused.

"...refuse to accept that your world already ended."

Something stirred inside me.

Not anger.

Exhaustion.

"What..."

My voice cracked.

"...people like me?"

"The people still clinging to what came before."

She gestured quietly toward Carl’s body.

"The people who keep asking others to die for ideals that no longer exist."

I couldn’t even answer.

My chest hurt too much.

She continued anyway.

"The old world failed."

"There are no governments."

"No laws."

"No humanity left to preserve."

Her eyes searched mine.

"And yet..."

"You continue sacrificing everyone around you trying to rebuild it."

The words landed like stones.

Carl.

Jennifer.

Everyone.

My fingers curled weakly against the floor.

Miriam leaned just a little closer.

Not threatening.

Almost...

Compassionate.

"Please, Adrian."

Her voice dropped to little more than a whisper.

"I am asking you..."

She glanced once toward Carl’s body.

"...how many more people have to die believing in you?"

I stared at her.

Unable to speak.

Unable to breathe.

Unable to stop seeing Carl’s face.

The room fell silent.

And for the first time since arriving...

I wondered if the weight on my chest would ever leave.