When All is Lost

Chapter 56

I woke up to my side feeling as though it was on fire. A fine sheen of sweat covered my skin, but I was shivering in the arms that held me. I was starting to untangle myself from Ian when he pulled me back against him, gently squeezing me close.

"I'm cold," I whispered.

I could almost feel him smile into my shoulder behind me. "Me too."

With that, he let me go and I hurriedly began to dress. "How long have we been out?"

"Only an hour. Maybe two," Ian answered as he pulled up his pants. "I heard the horde go by."

My head snapped to him. "You're sure?"

He smirked. "I know you were pretty distracted, but they went by a while ago."

I narrowed my eyes at him, choosing to ignore his statement. "Did anyone else go by?" When Ian simply shrugged, I let out a long sigh. "We shouldn't have fallen asleep."

"You needed it."

He wasn't wrong. I had been running on fumes. My brain still lightly pounded, almost begging for me to sleep a little longer. "Maybe." I waved him off. "But then you should have stayed awake."

I was teasing more than anything as I slid my shirt on, trying to ignore the way it clung to my clammy skin. He was busy looking down at his boots, so he missed my body flinch when my shirt grazed against my wound.

"Maybe," Ian answered in return. "But I guess I needed it too."

He stood up straight and I raised an eyebrow at him. I needed to put my shoes on but I didn't want him to watch me do it. I knew it would hurt. Luckily for me, he turned away to pick up his coat.

"I was looking for you," he stated.

My fingertips stilled on the top of one of my discarded boots. It was one thing to have believed he was looking for me, but it was an entirely different thing to hear it.

Almost as if he could sense my astonishment, he carried on. "I think this was the first time I slept since you were grabbed." When I continued to stare, his expression became amused. "Did you think I just magically came upon a zombie with your hair?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh, yes?"

Ian snickered as he put his backpack on his shoulders. "I saw it through the front window of that house yesterday and thought it was you. Thing damn near killed me."

"Why didn't you kill it?"

Ian shrugged.

"Was the hair-" I was cut off by a bang coming from somewhere in the distance.

I hurriedly got my boots on my feet, zipped up my coat, and picked up my knife. Nothing was more motivating to get moving than the sounds of screams – and that was what we heard next. The sounds of pain and panic strangled the last of the air out of my lungs.

Ian stood motionless listening to every sound as I watched him with wide eyes. "What is it?" I mouthed silently, not even daring to breathe.

Ian shook his head.

Zombies?

The Judge's group?

Something else?

Somehow not knowing was even worse. But we weren't going to have to worry about that for too long – the sounds were getting closer.

At first, I was torn about what to do. People were clearly in distress and so long as Ian and I stayed where we were, there was a chance we'd go unnoticed. It wouldn't be hard. All I had to do was raise my hands to my ears and it would be as if nothing was happening.