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│ Surviving The End
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│Cast aside by a world that mistook her for infected, Aisha now sees the crumbling of humanity's reign over their miserable world. It's time for something new, som...
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The trees around us blurred together in shades of gray and green, the sky above a smudged canvas of ash and pale light. We'd been walking for hours. Maybe more. Koda never stopped. Never looked back. Just kept marching ahead like he was afraid to stop moving—like if he did, the truth might finally catch up to him.
I didn't speak.
Not to him. Not anymore.
My shoulder ached, the dried blood tightening where my shirt clung to it, but I didn't slow. Pain was easier to deal with than silence.
Drex stayed close behind me. He didn't say much either, but at least he didn't pretend I wasn't falling apart.
Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.
I dropped my voice, quiet enough that I thought maybe Koda wouldn't catch it—though that was probably wishful thinking.
"You said I was gone," I murmured.
Drex glanced at me, cautious.
I tried again. "You said I was dead. Or close. How did you know?"
He was silent for a few seconds. His eyes shifted forward, toward Koda's back.
"I didn't see it," Drex said finally. "I wasn't there. I only heard what happened."
I stared at him. "So you don't know what I did?"
He shook his head. "Only what I was told."
"And that was enough to make you scared of me?"
Drex didn't answer.
Which meant: yes.
I bit the inside of my cheek, hard.
"So why did Koda protect me?" I asked. "If I'm some kind of... ticking bomb, why is he playing bodyguard-slash-asshole instead of just finishing me off?"
That got Drex's attention.
He looked at me sideways, and I could see the answer forming behind his eyes—something too complicated, too dangerous to put into words. Something heavy. Something old.
But all he said was: "Because that's Koda."
Which told me nothing. And everything.
Ahead of us, Koda's voice cut through the air without turning around.
"Keep your voice down, sunshine. My hearing's still good."
I stiffened.
He had heard me.
Drex grunted. "Of course he did."
I didn't say another word. Neither did he.
But my mind was racing.
Why had Drex been so sure I was dangerous, if he'd never even seen me? Why did Koda look at me like I was made of glass and gunpowder? Why had he shut me down every time I got close to the truth?
And why, in the rotting hell of a world, was he still trying to protect me?
What the hell am I?
What was I to them?
The silence that followed didn't answer me. But it didn't have to.
Because for the first time since I woke up, I realized something terrifying:
They knew the answer. And they weren't going to tell me.
