I feel like the infected, once-human greyskins are on top of me. When a pair of hands grab my shoulders, I expect a set of teeth to sink into my neck and end my life where I sit.
But when I turn my head, it’s Ethan.
“Waverly!” he says. “I know what he meant to you, but we’ve got to go now!”
“I can’t leave him,” I say. “I could have saved him. I knew this was going to happen!”
“Waverly! Come on!”
Despite my resistance, Ethan reaches down and pulls my legs off the dirt, and carries me toward the SUV. Gilbert revs the engine, warning us to get in the vehicle or get eaten. The greyskins are closing in.
I should have saved Lucas. The warning was there. I saw his future.
Ethan shoves me into the back seat and yells for Gilbert to drive. If we had been seconds later, the greyskins would have torn us apart. I look out the back of the shattered window and see a herd of greyskins chasing the SUV, and all the others chasing the smell of blood.
After today, there will be nothing left of Lucas. In the same way, I feel there is nothing left of me.
Chapter 2 – Remi
“Remi,” Gabe calls out to me as I walk toward my apartment. The sound of his voice makes me grin, but I quickly make my lips fall into a straight line before I turn to look at him. I hate that my heart skips a beat when I see his face. It’s a feeling I don’t want or need, but it’s there regardless. He has shaggy, brown hair that falls down the sides of his cheeks. His strong jaws are covered by several days of stubble and it suits him. His blue eyes never leave mine as he walks toward me carrying a rifle slung over his shoulder.
“You aren’t here to arrest me, are you?” I ask as he walks toward me. The sound of my voice comes across as flirtatious, but I don’t mean for it to. He is very handsome, but I decided a while ago that love was out of the question for me — at least until someone finds a cure for this greyskin problem.
“I don’t really have that power,” Gabe says.
“You have a gun,” I answer back to him as I start walking again. He keeps the slow pace next to me. “That’s already a lot more power than I have.”
“I guess,” he says. “But I’m not too sure Paxton would approve of me arresting people. He might take my gun away.”
“Just like he took mine,” I say. This time my tone is whatever the opposite of flirtatious is…angry? Turned off? It is still a sore subject with me even though I have been without a weapon for nearly three months.
I’ll never forget the feeling I had that day. The mixed emotions were like being on a roller coaster. First, the elation I felt at finding Crestwood nearly overwhelmed me. I had been through so much crap it was ridiculous. I know my story can’t be much different from a lot of people’s, and there are plenty of others with a worse history than mine, but it didn’t matter. Seeing the town felt like the best thing that had ever happened to me.
The guards let me in, but then they took my gun and knife away from me, and then frisked me. Gabe had been part of the welcoming committee and I remember hating him for it, but now I know he was just following the rules of Crestwood. Then there was the meeting with Paxton, Crestwood’s leader. You talk about a guy with an authority complex. I had already been questioned by the guards, but Paxton came in with some questions of his own.
I had been in some holding cell for the better part of the day. I didn’t complain, though. I was safe. Or at least I felt safe. There was a mirror on the wall across from me. My long, dark hair was in tangles, and my skin looked dark from being out in the sun so much. My green eyes looked paler than they had three years ago. Maybe that was because of the endless nights where I did nothing but cry for the first year. I used to think that my nose was too long and pointy, but such a dumb observation didn’t matter to me anymore. What struck me the most was how skinny I looked. My skin clung to my bones so tightly a small cut might have split me wide open. Just from seeing my reflection, I couldn’t imagine going back out into the world. My biggest fear was that someone was going to tell me that I couldn’t stay, and when Paxton finally came into the room, I just knew this would be the news.
He sat across from me with a folder and pen in his hands. He had a nicely trimmed, black beard and dark hair. I remember thinking he was so tall that he had probably not encountered too many people that were bigger than him. He wore a flannel shirt and jeans, so I hoped this meant he wouldn’t be a complete jerk.
He sat back and crossed one of his legs over the other, ignoring the folder and pen on the table in front of him. My eyes went to Gabe who stood next to the door, and then back to Paxton when he spoke to me.
“Your name is Remi?” Paxton asked me.
I nodded. His voice was deep and gravelly. I couldn’t help but notice the sweet smell of cologne. It must have been the first time I had smelled anything like it in three years.
“I’m guessing you don’t know much about Crestwood,” he said.
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about it, but it looks safe.”
Paxton smiled.
“Is it?” I asked.
“Is it what?”
“Safe?”
“Of course it’s safe,” he said as his eyebrows lowered. It seemed like my question had somehow offended him, that it was preposterous to even ask such a thing. I already didn’t like this guy.
“Why are you alone?” he asked me.
“Just like I told him,” I said, nodding to Gabe, “I’ve been alone for the past year now. The group I was with is gone.”
“And you haven’t been looking to join with anyone else?” he asked.
“I’ve already answered these questions,” I said.
“Well, I’m asking you again.”
“I mean, I’ve come across a few people here and there, but most people are dangerous.”
“How old are you?”
“Your boy didn’t write it down in the file?” I said, again nodding toward Gabe.
“How old are you?” Paxton repeated. I was quickly losing any chance I might have had of getting to stay in the town. Paxton’s cheeks started to turn red, and I could tell he was getting agitated. But I was agitated too. I hadn’t eaten much in the past couple of days and I had just encountered a large group of greyskins only hours before. I was tired.
“Twenty-two,” I answered.
“Where are you originally from?”
I sighed. “Oakridge.”
Paxton shook his head. “But that’s only a two-hour drive north of here. How is it you just now learned about us?”
“A two-hour drive is a lot of space to cover on foot,” I said. “Besides, any town I’ve come across has been overridden with greyskins. And I wasn’t in Oakridge when the outbreak happened. I was at Elkhorn.”
Paxton’s face went from a uneasy look to an almost excited look. “Elkhorn?” he repeated. “The Epicenter.”
I lifted an eyebrow and nodded. I hated the fact that he was so interested. I usually kept that bit of information to myself when I came across someone because it always just brought up unwanted questions.
“That must have been interesting,” Paxton said.
“It was hell,” I said. “Imagine waking up in the morning, ready to go to class only to find that they’ve all been cancelled because people were eating other people.”
Paxton cleared his throat and looked down at the table. I remember noticing his eyes starting to water only briefly. “My daughter was in Elkhorn,” he said.
“Then I’m sure she’s told you all about it,” I said callously.
Paxton shook his head and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “I haven’t seen my daughter in four years.”