Sorrow's Gift

Part I: The Guardians / Chapter One: Zoe

PART I: THE GUARDIANS

Chapter One: Zoe

The last of the sun's light lingered like a halo above the city.

Zoe hated this time of day. Everything looked warm and beautiful, but as the night came, it turned cold and horrible. It was a betrayal of the worst kind, like giving hope to someone on death row.

She didn't like watching what came next, but this stupid suite had so many windows. When they'd first checked in, she'd thought they were lucky to get a room with such an amazing view of the city and a balcony.

Now, she despised it. She had a front row seat to all the destruction and death. The fires that had spread throughout Central Park. The cars piled up in the streets where desperate people had rammed into each other, trying to force their way out of the city.

And worst of all, she could see hundreds of those things as they shambled and limped along the sidewalks and streets below, their clothes covered in blood and their jaws snapping hungrily.

She shuddered just thinking about it.

It was almost dark again. The small groups that wandered the streets during the day were nothing compared to the large packs that took over during the darkest hours.

Soon the undead would emerge from the shadows, their hungry mouths ringed with blood. The sound of their moans would echo in the streets below. Sometimes, she could hear people screaming.

But the screams were less frequent now.

Zoe wasn't sure if that was because there were no survivors or if the ones who were left were hiding, like her. Waiting for something—or someone—to come save them. Zoe hadn't seen more than a handful of survivors all week.

In the first few days of the awakening, she had seen thousands of frightened people traveling in groups during the daytime, scrambling to escape the city. After the sun had set, she sometimes liked to imagine those people had made it somewhere safe. Somewhere the rotters didn't exist. Someday, those people would come back for her and take her to a city that had running water and electricity. Maybe Parrish would be there waiting for her.

But tonight she didn't have the energy to pretend. She knew it was a fairy tale.

No one was safe anymore. No one was coming for her.

Maybe she was the only person left in the entire world.

Every once in awhile, she caught the flutter of a curtain in the window of a building across the street. Sometimes she'd wave toward them, hoping they could see her. Longing for some kind of human connection. But she never saw their faces. For all she knew, it was a trick of her imagination. Maybe she really was all alone in this world.

She hadn't left the safety of her hotel room in more than a week. One of those things was trapped in the hallway just outside her door. She could hear it pacing the floor, roaming from one side to the other in an endless loop. It never seemed to get tired or want to sleep. It just walked and walked and walked.

Her father was one of them now, too.

When he'd first gotten sick, he had locked himself away, only talking to her through the door of his bedroom. He'd told her to stay safe and cover her mouth if anyone came into the room. He'd told her everything was going to be okay.

But a couple days later, he'd stopped talking. He'd stopped coughing.

It was the weirdest feeling to hear nothing on the other side of that door and know there was nothing she could do about it. He was dead and there was no doctor to call. No police or ambulance to help.

There wouldn't even be a funeral. Before the power shut off, she'd seen on TV that there were so many dead now they had started putting the bodies into mass graves. She'd thought maybe someone would come to collect her father's body. But that was before the dead started walking around and attacking people. After that, the TV stopped reporting news and just started showing endless reruns until it finally cut off altogether.

She was alone now, her dead father's hungry moans the only thing keeping her company.

Zoe had moved a few things in front of his door, just in case. Things she could carry. Her suitcase. A chair. She'd managed to push a table in front of his door, but everything else had been too heavy for her to move. She lived in constant fear, plagued by nightmares about her father pushing through that door and coming after her.

She'd seen what the rotters do to the living.

The thought of her father...

A tear rolled down her cheek. What was wrong with the world? How could something like this be possible? Why wasn't someone coming to save them?

She turned away from the brilliant colors of the setting sun and ran the back of her hand under her runny nose. No one was coming, because there was no one left.

Zoe glanced longingly at her violin case on the bar. God, she wanted to play so badly her fingers ached. She needed something to drown out the endless moans. The sorrow and death.

The light was almost gone, and the tears began to flow. She hated the night. And right now, she had the thought that she wasn't even sure she could survive it. Not again.

Her heart ached. She ran her fingers along the rough edges of the black case and wished they'd never left their home in Virginia.

She wished she knew if her mom and Parrish were still alive.

If anyone was still alive out there.

Zoe brought a hand to the silver necklace she wore. Parrish had given it to her the day she left for New York. An infinity sign with both their birthstones.

Parrish promised she was coming to get her, but even that was just a fairy tale. Even if her sister was still alive, there was no way she'd make it through the city. It was hopeless.

Zoe reluctantly closed the curtains as the last of the pink sunset disappeared on the horizon. In the darkness, she walked over to the bar and pulled her violin from its case. It was too dangerous to play at night. Noise agitated them and drew them closer. She needed to stay as quiet as possible and wait for morning.

But the thought of another endless night with nothing to do but listen to the sound of their moans nearly broke her.

Maybe it would be better to just invite them in and let it all be over.

Crying, she lifted the instrument to her shoulder and rested her face against the cool chinrest, closing her eyes as she slid her bow effortlessly across the strings. The sound made her heart soar and expand, hope blossoming inside her for the first time in days. It was dangerous, but she didn't care. She needed something. She needed to feel okay for a little while.

She heard the orchestra in her head and imagined the conductor leading them as an entire hall full of people listened. She clung to the memory of the music.

Sobs shook her shoulders as she played, knowing a rotter could burst through the door at any moment, lured by the sound of her violin. She didn't care. Let them come. All she cared about was this one thing that told her she was still alive.

This one thing that proved the whole world was not lost.

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