this is kinda like an intro chap? I've been writing this chapter all day and I'm tired. I get out chapters so fast, but I feel like when I'm in like a certain hyper fixation, all I do it write about it. So enjoy this chapter guys!
It happened so fast.
Cleo had barely even registered it. One moment she was exploring, her heart racing with excitement at the thought of seeing what was outside the walls. She'd heard the stories, seen the way people talked about the world beyond. It was dangerous, terrifying, and unknown—but she was determined. She needed to see it for herself.
But then the sound. That horrible, guttural clicking. Her blood had turned to ice the moment she heard it.
A clicker.
She had panicked, scrambling for her knife, heart thundering in her chest as the clicker came at her. The fight had been a blur—slashing, shoving, kicking. Every instinct she had screamed for her to survive. Her body moved on its own, driven by pure adrenaline.
And then, somehow, she had won. The clicker lay dead at her feet, its body limp and grotesque in the moonlight, blood pooling around it. She stood there, panting, chest heaving as her mind tried to process what had just happened.
It wasn't until the adrenaline began to wear off that she felt it—the sharp, searing pain in her hand.
Cleo looked down, and her heart stopped.
A bite.
She had been bitten.
Blood oozed from the wound, the skin around it already turning a sickly gray. She blinked, staring at it, disbelief and terror crashing over her like a tidal wave. No. No, no, no. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.
But it was. She'd been bitten. The infection was already in her blood, crawling beneath her skin.
Cleo's breath came in shallow gasps, her mind racing, panicking. She had to go. She had to get out of there. She needed to think, to figure something out, anything. There had to be something she could do, right?
Without thinking, she turned and ran.
The walk back to the QZ felt like a nightmare, her thoughts a chaotic mess, her heart hammering in her chest. What was she going to do? What was she going to tell Avi? He would know something was wrong—he always knew.
He could read her like an open book.
She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the growing pain in her hand. She had wrapped it with some torn fabric, hoping it would hide the bite long enough for her to figure out what to do.
Avi couldn't know. Not yet. She wasn't ready for the way he'd look at her, the way he'd panic. The way he'd realize that there was no way out of this. That she was already as good as dead.
She slipped back through the crumbling alleyways, the familiar sight of the QZ walls looming in the distance. Her entire body was shaking, cold sweat dripping down the back of her neck as she snuck past the guards at the gate. She had learned to move like a shadow, silent and invisible. It was a skill Avi had taught her—how to stay hidden, how to survive.
Survive.
The word felt like a cruel joke now.
Finally, she reached the door to the apartment they shared. Her hand hovered over the doorknob for what felt like forever. She couldn't go inside. She couldn't face him.
But what choice did she have?
Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned the knob and slipped inside, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible. The apartment was dark, the only light coming from the small crack under Avi's bedroom door. She could hear the faint rustle of him shifting in bed, hopefully asleep.
