Early the next morning, as dawn broke and thin slivers of sunlight slipped through the window to brush against my closed eyelids, I jolted awake.

  I lifted the tattered curtain and peered outside. The monsters had retreated into their familiar corners—back into the dark, hollow bellies of the houses.

  Click. Click. The wooden door to my room rattled.

  "Lily."

  I remembered the girl at once. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since she was bitten. In Iberia, that was more than enough time for the infection to take hold and complete its gruesome transformation. But what about here, in the freezing silence of Ethar? I didn’t know, and there was only one way to find out.

  I grabbed my hunting rifle. My breath hitched as I reached for the doorknob.

  "If I turn, you have to shoot me. I don’t want to be one of them!" I closed my eyes, recalling her words.

  Creak—

  I yanked the door open. Lily stumbled forward, nearly falling. She let out a small gasp of surprise, then busied herself picking up a can she had dropped. I recognized the label: "Stewed Beef." A wave of shame washed over me, thick and suffocating. I had been ready to kill her, while she was only thinking of feeding me.

  I leaned my hunting rifle against the vanity and helped her up. She was smiling as if nothing had happened.

  "I brought you breakfast," she said.

  "Thank you, Lily. Thank you so much."

  She shook her head and did a little twirl, showing off a dainty pink dress.

  "It’s so beautiful," I murmured.

  "My mom made it for me a long time ago. It still fits... isn't it pretty, Annie?"

  "Yes... but where are your parents?"

  I stopped instantly. The words were a mistake I should have known to avoid.

  "I'm sorry," I said quickly.

  "It’s okay," Lily replied, a flicker of sorrow crossing her small face. "They’re gone. They were bitten and... the people killed them."

  "The survivors?"

  "Yes... the living. Sometimes they’re crueler than the dead."

  I was speechless. I pulled her into a hug, aching at how life had forced such aged thoughts into such a young mind. She was right. The living chose to be cruel.

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  Sighing, I lifted her onto a wooden chair. "I need to see your bite," I said.

  I had to do something more meaningful than just sitting around waiting for the inevitable. No matter how slim the chances, I had to try. Lily obediently pulled up her sleeve and held out her hand. I leaned in to examine the small limb.

  "That's strange," I whispered.

  Unlike Kael or any other victim I had seen, Lily’s wound wasn't bruised or swollen with sickly green veins. There were no oozing, blackened tissues. It was just a small, dull bruise with patches of pink, new skin beginning to form. It looked like an ordinary injury.

  "Are you sure a monster bit you?" I asked, bewildered.

  Lily nodded. "Yes. It was... eating someone." She shuddered. "Then it saw me. It attacked and bit me. Other survivors arrived in time to shoot it... then they started hunting me, too."

  "This is impossible," I said, gently checking her eyes. "No green streaks. You don't look infected at all."

  "Really?" Lily’s voice rose with hope.

  I immediately regretted it. If my amateur assessment was wrong, the disappointment would shatter her. But the thought had already taken root. Maybe she wasn't turning. Maybe her blood carried something.

  Are you just giving yourself false hope, Annie? Yet, I couldn't suppress the surge of excitement. If she wouldn't turn, we might have found something else. A thread of hope. And Kael... something told me that by saving her, I was finding a way back to him.

  "Do you know any doctors in the city?" I asked, gripping her shoulders.

  Lily flinched. "No. I won't go to them."

  "Listen to me. This might matter. You have to trust me. I promise I won't let anyone hurt you. But we need a doctor—someone who can test your blood."

  She looked at me, eyes clouded with worry. "You promise?"

  "I promise."

  "Okay," Lily whispered. "South of here... six blocks away, there’s a grocery store. A doctor named Brian is there. He was my family's physician. He was still there a week ago... I don't know about now."

  "We’ll try," I said. "If no one’s left, we’ll come right back. We should make it before dark."

  Lily nodded and gathered her things. Half an hour later, we slipped out of the house and into the biting snow, heading south. But a strange sensation crept over me—a feeling of being watched. Hidden eyes followed us from the shadows, waiting.

  Two hours later, we reached Presley Street. The grocery store was just across the way.

  "Wipe that frown off your face. Let’s go say hello," I said affectionately.

  Lily stayed tucked behind me. Her fear of her own kind wouldn't vanish easily. I loaded my hunting rifle, then checked the automatic I had salvaged from the Iberian military barracks. I never imagined I would be carrying these weapons as protection against the living.

  Five minutes later, we reached a large building fortified with trucks and chain-link fences. A massive sheet of steel served as a gate.

  "You're sure this is it?"

  "Yes," Lily replied.

  I tucked the automatic into my waistband; I didn't want to appear openly hostile. "But if they try to hurt you," I whispered, "I won't stand by."

  I chambered a round in my hunting rifle and knocked on the steel gate. Voices murmured inside—hesitation and surprise.

  "Hello? We're alive!" I called out.

  The steel sheet slid back. A man rushed forward and hugged Lily as if he had found his own daughter.

  "Where have you been?" Brian asked urgently.

  "At home... with her." Lily pointed at me. "She saved me."

  Brian stood up and offered a rough hand. "Thank you."

  I shook it. "It’s what I had to do. You're a doctor, right?"

  "I was," Brian said bitterly. "But no one wants to save the wounded anymore."

  Lily hid her hands behind her skirt. I grew wary, my hand drifting toward the weapon tucked behind my back.

  "I have something to tell you. Something important," I said.

  Before Brian could respond, someone burst out of the store, a pistol aimed straight at Lily.

  "You little bitch! You won't get away this time!"

  BANG!

  The shot echoed through the desolate street. I stood frozen, my heart stopping as Lily let out a scream and collapsed to the ground.