Chapter 249: The things we do for love
The first thing Lila noticed was how heavy he was.
Not because Adrian had suddenly gained weight.
Because he wasn’t helping anymore.
Before, even when he’d been coughing blood, even when his legs had folded beneath him, there had still been something. Some tiny instinct inside him that tried to stand. Tried to walk. Tried to meet her halfway.
Now...
Nothing.
His body sagged completely against hers.
His head lolled onto her shoulder, his cheek cold against the side of her neck.
"Adrian..."
No answer.
She swallowed and hooked both arms beneath his, planting her boots deeper into the snow before pulling with everything she had.
His body shifted only a few inches.
The effort nearly knocked her off balance.
"...Come on."
Her voice came out smaller than she’d intended.
"You’ve carried me before."
She laughed once under her breath.
It sounded miserable.
"My turn."
She adjusted her grip and pulled again.
His boots carved two uneven trenches behind him, filling with loose snow almost immediately. Every few steps she had to stop and hitch him higher against her shoulder before starting over again. Her thighs burned. Her lungs stung from the cold. Her fingers had long since gone numb.
She didn’t stop.
She couldn’t.
The forest behind them wasn’t quiet.
Nothing out here stayed quiet for long.
Far behind them, gunshots cracked through the trees.
One.
Three in quick succession.
Then screaming.
Not frightened screaming.
Agonized screaming.
It climbed higher until it broke into laughter.
The kind only the baseline infected could make.
Lila didn’t look back.
She tightened her grip around Adrian and kept dragging him forward.
"You’re not dying here."
The words escaped before she realized she’d spoken.
"Do you hear me?"
His head rolled slightly with every step she took.
She hated it.
It looked...
Wrong.
Like he was already gone.
"No."
She shook her head immediately.
"No."
She stopped walking and grabbed his face between both hands.
His skin was freezing.
His eyelashes were dusted with melting snow.
Blood had dried in thin lines around the corner of his mouth.
She wiped it away with the sleeve of her jacket.
It only smeared across his cheek.
"...I cleaned that already."
Her voice cracked.
"You always make a mess."
Nothing.
She searched his face anyway.
Waiting.
Praying.
Anything.
A twitch.
A breath.
A complaint.
He always complained when she fussed over him.
She would’ve given anything to hear him tell her she was being annoying.
Instead...
Silence.
Her jaw trembled.
She pressed her forehead against his.
"I know you can hear me."
She didn’t know if that was true.
She needed it to be.
"So listen."
Her breathing hitched.
"I’m not leaving."
She squeezed his face a little tighter.
"I’m not letting you die because your stupid body decided to stop working."
She laughed again.
Another broken little sound.
"I don’t care if I have to drag you all the way across the country."
Her eyes stung.
"I will."
The wind shifted.
The smell reached her before the sound did.
Blood.
Fresh.
Too much of it.
Then came the distant shrieks.
Closer than before.
Lila lifted her head immediately.
The infected weren’t wandering anymore.
They were converging.
Whether they were following the blood Adrian had left behind or simply being drawn toward the chaos at Miriam’s compound, she couldn’t tell.
It didn’t matter.
She slid one arm beneath Adrian’s shoulders and forced him upright again.
His legs folded uselessly beneath him.
"Seriously?"
She stared at him for a second, almost offended.
"You pick now?"
She sighed through her nose.
"Fine."
With a grunt she shifted him onto her back.
The weight nearly drove her into the snow.
"Oh..."
Her knees buckled.
For one terrifying second she thought they were both going down.
She caught herself at the last moment, boots digging deep into the frozen ground.
"...You’re heavier than you look."
No answer.
"Don’t let it go to your head."
She took one step.
Then another.
Every movement felt like walking through wet concrete.
Her muscles screamed.
Her breathing grew harsher.
Still...
She walked.
Because there wasn’t another option.
Because somewhere behind them, something was hunting.
And somewhere ahead...
There had to be somewhere safer than here.
There had to be.
Otherwise everything she’d done...
Everything Adrian had sacrificed...
Everything Carl had died for...
Would end beneath these trees.
And Lila refused to accept that ending.
Lila didn’t move until the voices disappeared. Until the sound of boots and gunshots slowly faded away into the snow.
Even then, she waited.
One minute.
Maybe two.
Long enough for the forest to swallow them again.
Only then did she slide an arm beneath Adrian’s shoulders.
"...Come on."
He was dead weight again.
She gritted her teeth and forced him upright.
Every muscle in her body protested.
Her hands shook.
Her breathing had become ragged.
She hated how weak she felt.
She hated that she couldn’t simply carry him forever.
Had she not been infected—
With this strength not granted to her from the pathogen, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that they both would be dead.
The snow became shallower as the trees thickened.
The wind wasn’t cutting through the forest as harshly anymore.
Something changed.
A smell.
Wood.
Something like old smoke.
Lila slowed.
There.
Half-hidden beneath a blanket of snow sat a small hunting cabin.
Its roof sagged beneath the weight of winter.
One shutter hung crooked.
The chimney was black with soot.
It had been obvious that no one lived there for a long time.
Or...
Someone still did.
Not even Lila could tell.
She lowered Adrian carefully against a pine tree, careful of his head.
She brushed the dirt, snow and grime off of his shoulders with tender care.
"I’ll be right back."
No response.
She drew the knife from her belt.
Her grip tightened.
One step.
Then another.
She approached the front porch without making a sound.
The boards creaked beneath her boots.
She froze.
Nothing.
No movement.
She reached the door.
Pressed her ear against it.
Silence.
Her fingers slowly wrapped around the handle.
She pushed.
The door groaned inward.
Darkness.
Cold.
Dust.
A table.
A fireplace.
Old blankets piled into one corner.
Empty.
Lila exhaled.
"...Thank God."
She stepped inside.
Only one step.
Then stopped.
Something...
Dripped.
Not water.
Wet.
Slow.
Her eyes shifted toward the back of the cabin.
A second room.
The door stood slightly open.
She frowned.
"...Hello?"
Nothing answered.
She nudged the door wider with the tip of her boot.
The smell hit her first.
Blood.
Rot.
Human waste.
Her grip on the knife tightened.
The room beyond wasn’t empty.
It was occupied.
A woman sat against the far wall.
Late thirties.
Maybe older.
Her cheeks had sunk inward from starvation.
Her wrists were tied together with extension cord.
Not tightly.
Just enough.
She looked up slowly.
Her eyes were bloodshot.
Exhausted.
Empty.
For one impossible second...
She smiled.
"Oh..."
Her voice rasped.
"You’re people."
Lila didn’t lower the knife.
"What happened here?"
The woman laughed.
It wasn’t a happy sound.
More like someone remembering happiness.
"My husband..."
She glanced toward the opposite corner of the room.
"...Thought we could survive."
Only then did Lila see him.
A man.
Middle-aged.
Sitting in a chair.
Except...
He wasn’t sitting.
He was tied there.
His arms.
His legs.
His chest.
Bound tightly with rope.
His head hung low.
His breathing came in slow, uneven pulls.
Lila frowned.
"Why is he—"
The man lifted his head.
Her stomach dropped.
His eyes were red.
Not human.
Not baseline.
Intelligent.
He smiled at her.
Far too calmly.
"I’m trying," he whispered.
His voice sounded almost normal.
"So..."
He swallowed.
"So hard..."
His entire body trembled.
"...Not to hurt her."
Lila’s expression didn’t change.
But something inside her did.
The woman noticed.
"He hasn’t eaten in four days."
Her smile returned.
Fragile.
Proud.
"I only feed him..."
She rolled up her sleeve.
Fresh bite marks.
Still healing.
"...When he starts crying."
Silence.
"He begs me not to."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"But..."
She looked at the man.
"I’d rather lose pieces of me..."
"...than lose him."
The intelligent infected closed his eyes.
"I told her..."
His voice cracked.
"...To leave."
"I won’t."
The woman answered immediately.
Never looking away from him.
"I made vows."
Lila stood perfectly still.
The room suddenly felt much smaller.
Much colder.
The infected opened his eyes again.
They landed somewhere behind her.
On Adrian.
Still unconscious outside.
His nostrils flared once.
Recognition.
Then horror.
"...No."
His voice came out barely above a whisper.
"...Get him away from here."
The woman frowned.
"What?"
He looked directly at Lila.
For the first time, genuine fear crossed his face.
"If he’s..."
He swallowed hard.
"...Bleeding..."
His entire body began shaking against the ropes.
"Please."
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"...Go."
"I..."
His breathing hitched violently.
"...I don’t know..."
"...How much longer..."
"...I can keep winning."
Outside...
Adrian coughed.
A wet, choking sound.
And every person inside the cabin froze.