Chapter 2: Daniel... Lillian... Why...

The hound's eyes, man, they weren't just yellow.

They were sick yellow, like a jaundiced sun right before it sets.

And the smell? Don't even get me started.

Rotting meat mixed with something… metallic. Old blood, probably.

It hit me like a punch to the gut, this would have made me gag, but that is currently the least of my worries.

My knife felt like a toothpick against that monster. I swear, its teeth were bigger than my hand. And behind me, through that stupid window, I saw them.

Daniel and Lillian. Together. Still going at 'it'… Like they were having a picnic while I was about to become hound chow.

The thought twisted in my gut worse than the hunger ever had.

My heart beat erratically, sometimes two quick beats together, sometimes with a long pause in between, as if it were trying to process the betrayal and sorrow that had struck me.

The hound lunged. No warning, just snap.

One minute it was there, the next its teeth were sunk into my thigh. I yelped, a sound that ripped from my throat, loud and desperate.

It didn't even feel real, the tearing. Like my jeans were butter and its teeth were hot knives. The pain was… blinding. White-hot, sharp, like someone had shoved a branding iron into my leg.

But even that agony was nothing compared to the ache in my chest. Because through the haze of pain, I could still see them.

Daniel's hand resting on Lillian's waist, her naked body leaned against his. They looked… comfortable. Happy.

They hadn't just sent me out to scavenge for medicine they clearly didn't need.

Daniel, brushing my hair back from my face, his eyes all soft. "Forever," he'd whispered. "It'll always be you, Amanda."

The hound yanked me down, hard.

My head smacked against the pavement, the world exploding in a flash of white.

Stars danced in front of my eyes, blurring everything.

I taste blood… my blood… thick and coppery in my mouth. It pooled beneath me, a dark red stain spreading on the cracked concrete.

And then I heard them.

The moans.

Closer now, drawn by my scream.

Like I'd just rung the dinner bell for every zombie within a mile radius. Great.

Lillian, holding my hand at Mom's funeral. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "I'll always be here for you, Mandy," she'd promised, her voice tight. "Always."

I scrambled for my knife, my fingers clumsy and slick with blood.

I managed to get a grip and stabbed at the hound, again and again.

The blade sank into its rotting flesh, but it barely flinched. If anything, its grip tightened, the tearing in my thigh getting worse.

The sound was disgusting, wet and crunchy.

I tried to scream again, but all that came out was a broken sob.

I was going to die here.

Alone. Eaten alive.

And then I heard it. A shuffle of feet, dozens of them. The regular zombies, the slow, shambling kind, were coming.

My scream had been a beacon.

They were all coming to feast. The hound kept at me, shaking me like a damn rag doll. Each shake was like a fresh wave of fire through my leg.

"I love you, Amanda," Daniel had said, that stupid family ring winking in the bright light of the bank… My fellow workers all gathered and cheered. "You're the only one for me."

Lies. All of it. Every single word.

They were just waiting. Waiting for me to be out of the way. Waiting for the right moment to… what? Be together? Start a new life? My blood ran cold, colder than the marble floor of the bank where we used to sleep.

How long has this been going on between them?

Before they apocalypse perhaps… it still doesn't make sense.

The first zombie stumbled into view. Mr. Henderson, from down the street. He used to wear a suit to work every day.

Now, his suit was ripped and stained with… God, was that… yeah, definitely dry and rotten blood. And behind him, more of them. Lurching, moaning, reaching. Too many. Way too many.

The hound was still clamped to my thigh, pinning me down like a bug under a microscope.

"Best friends forever," Lillian had squealed back in high school, flashing those stupid matching bracelets we'd gotten. "Me and you, Mandy, always."

Mr. Henderson dropped to his knees beside me, his rotting fingers twitching, reaching for my arm.

I tried to stab him, but the knife slipped from my bloody hand and fell onto the pavement.

More hands grabbed me… my legs, my shoulders, my hair.

The stench of death was overwhelming.

It was in my nostrils, in my mouth, coating my skin. Through the tears of pain and betrayal, I looked up at the window one last time.

And they were there. Watching. Both of them.

Daniel had his arm around Lillian's shoulder, like they were watching a movie. They stared down at me, their faces… blank. No guilt. No horror. Just… nothing. Like I was some bug they were watching get squashed. Like I was nothing.

The first bite came from my left. My shoulder. Teeth tearing into my flesh. Then another, on my arm. And another, on my stomach.

The pain was beyond screaming now.

Beyond thinking.

But through the haze of agony and blood loss, one thought, one truth, burned in my brain, clear and bright: This wasn't the end. No way… I refuse this end.

I didn't know how. I didn't care. But I swore, right there to every entity I can think of, with every last breath I had, that this wasn't over.

Daniel.

Lillian.

They'd won. they'd gotten rid of me. But as the darkness crept in from the edges of my vision, as my blood painted the street red, I made them a promise. If I ever get a chance, I'm coming back.

And when I do… they'll regret everything.

The world went black. The pain faded. The moans of the dead grew distant, like a radio being turned down. Then… nothing.

Until…

My eyes snapped open. Light. Too much light. Not the dim, yellow glow of the bank's emergency lights. These were… normal lights. And the figures around me… they weren't the undead. They were human. Impossible.

I was dead.

I felt myself die.

What the hell was going on?