What Souls are Made Of

Chapter 13

I didn't sleep; I couldn't rest. The thoughts pounded in my head relentlessly. It had been too easy to escape. I had something that Sarah wanted, and she never let go of what she wanted. My hand absently stroked over Millie's hair, hoping my anxious thoughts would not spread to her as she slept on my chest.

"Why did you take the salt?" She murmured in the darkness.

"We may need it; you may need it," I soothed.

"I have the tin; we didn't need the rest." She pulled herself up my body and reached for the nightstand lamp, filling the room with yellowish light. "They'll come for us."

"I know."

For all the valid reasons that I could have taken the salt, I knew the real reason. It wasn't because I wanted the insurance should something happen to Millie, and it wasn't because I didn't want Sarah to increase her conscious soldiers. It was because I needed to have something Sarah wanted. If she didn't want me, she would want the salt.

"I'm sorry," Millie whispered as she settled back onto my chest as my thoughts continued to swirl like a tornado through my mind.

I didn't respond; I just let my hand continue to smooth over Millie's hair. She was so close that I could pretend the beating of her heart was my own. I could fill myself with delusions that I was alive and not a villain. Or I could give in to the temptation. It would be so easy to crack open her skull like the porcelain shell of an egg. Then I could join Sarah; be welcomed by her side.

I let a finger draw a line from Millie's temple. Her eyes didn't flutter, and her heartbeat remained calm and steady. She didn't even suspect the wicked thoughts that were growing inside me. She didn't sense the temptation of the sweet nourishment she possessed.

"She's not the same Sarah you knew," Millie added after a long silence, "and you aren't the same Seth she knew."

"What?" I tried to pull my mind from the gloomy thoughts.

"You know how when a person becomes a zombie; they get faster, stronger, and more agile."

"Yes, I think I may be aware of something like that?" It felt good to tease and naturally drew my finger from the potential crack it traced back to a gentle caress of Millie's head.

"Well, what if it affects your personality too? I mean, the brain is a muscle. What if it takes your attributes and heightens them?"

"So... I am even more pathetic as a zombie?"

"Oh, stop," she playfully swatted at my chest. "No, you are more protective and thoughtful."

"And Sarah is..."

"A bitch." Millie finished without hesitation before she added a quick "sorry" in reaction to my wince.

"She wasn't a bitch before; she was just driven."

"Well, maybe that drive has resonated as a ruthless overlord in her zombie brain."

"Ruthless overlord," I mumbled to myself. The love of my life was now a ruthless overlord.

"I'm sorry. I'm being mean, Sarah just..."

"Tried to kill us; laughed in our faces... no, I would say ruthless overlord certainly belongs on her business cards. And you are right; she will come after us. We should leave first thing."

"Where will we go?" She asked as her head dropped back to my chest.

"What do you think about Nashville? Finn has family there," I offered.

"Never been, but I'm in." She shifted further into me and added, "good night, Seth," through a yawn before drifting off to sleep.

I still didn't fall asleep. I continued to lay awake with one hand smoothing over Millie's hair and the second tuck beneath my pillow, allowing my thumb to glide over the cool metal of my gun. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon when the expected knock finally came. It wasn't a loud banging; it was an unassuming civil rap. Sarah knew she didn't need to impose her force with an unnecessary display; she was already in control.