Katherin Hassan-Clarke and Esther Quinn, young lovers living on the coast of Riga, Latvia, face the terrifying realisation that their home is no longer safe when a deadly zombie pathogen ravages Eastern Europe. Fleeing their home before they are for...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"We're going to have to breach a government facility to do that," Morgana spoke softly.
She stepped through the doorway; red hair still damp as she pulled it into a tight bun. A baggy t-shirt hung low over Morgana's thighs. The apartment that she had chosen belonged to a morbidly obese man. She hadn't even thought to look for clothes at the shopping centre; too preoccupied with finding enough food to ensure the survival of their group.
Morgana would have to search through the other apartments for clothing. There would be clothing in a size 6. Rich men wanted to date petite women. There'd be plenty of small women living here.
"Morgana's right," Esther murmured. She pressed her manicured nails against Katherin's grimy chest; ignoring the thick sludge seeping into her fingertips. "We haven't had access to the internet for days, weeks even."
Katherin sighed; shrugging out of Esther's embrace and stalking out of the room. Her footsteps echoed as she weaved her way through apartments, eventually halting in front of a barred window.
Small rays of sunlight shone brightly through gaps in the wood. Katherin pried at the rusted nails. It didn't budge. Katherin crouched to peer through one of the gaps.
The fog remained thick over the town they were living in; a gentle reminder that the group had sought refuge by the water. A minuscule boat rocked gently over the lapping waves.
Katherin hadn't remembered seeing it the night before. Perhaps it had drifted across the ocean and towards the shoreline. It didn't matter, anyway. The boat wasn't large enough to support one person, let alone the entire group.
Had someone tried to escape on that small fishing boat? Katherin shuddered at the thought. The person might have drowned. Zombies might have tipped the vessel. Even if the person had survived; sharks would have been attracted to the scent of blood.
Was Ttod alright? Katherin squinted; adjusting her circular frames as if Ttod's boat would appear in the corner of her vision. It didn't. Katherin sagged in defeat. She had hoped that Ttod would have returned for them by now. If not for them, would he not return to save Morgana?
"He's not coming back, you know," Morgana's voice was deathly quiet; as if someone had sucked the life out of her bones.
Katherin whirled around; fingernails gripping onto the wood as she faced Morgana. How had she known?
Morgana's hair had almost completely dried. Wisps of red hair had fallen from the tight bun and into her eyes. Katherin noted briefly that Morgana had changed clothes; now wearing a simple yellow dress. It was rather comical.
They could die at any moment and Morgana looked as if she was heading to a dinner party.
"You shouldn't be so calm about this," Katherin responded.
"I know."
Morgana crossed the room. She pulled at a rusted nail; yanking at the wood and revealing her phone stashed atop the windowsill. Ttod's shirt was there too; folded neatly into a square.
Morgana must have been wearing it when she ran to the meeting point.
Katherin tried not to look surprised. It was as good a place as any to keep belongings; especially when intruders could break into the complex at any time.
Morgana pressed her thumb against the phone's home button. It opened to reveal her Instagram page. Images of herself and Ttod littered the screen; group shots of her friends sprinkled in between. Morgana's hair was dyed several different colours as the slides progressed. Last summer, Morgana had black hair, followed by blonde and then red. She was a natural brunette. No one would know from looking at her now, though. Too many years of bleaching and dying hair had left Morgana with grey streaks in her hair.
She was too young to be growing grey hair. The doctors had said that it was partially due to stress. Katherin wouldn't be surprised if Morgana was completely grey by the end of this torment.
Morgana's thumbprint pressed harshly down on the home button. Instagram closed immediately. Katherin let out a shuddered breath. There was something unsettling about looking back into their past; gazing at Ttod's laugh and Rebeka's embarrassed smile.
Ttod had left them behind. Rebeka was dead.
"We shared our location before the internet cut out, just in case we needed to find each other. Ttod's internet didn't crash until the night we met up. This suburb must have been lucky, I guess. Point is, he had left the morning before we'd even planned to meet up."
Katherin frowned. What was Morgana's point? They had seen Ttod's boat the night before. It was unmistakable; daisies glowing bright white on the side of the ship.
"We saw the boat in the distance. He couldn't have left that long ago."
Morgana smiled thinly; lower lip quivering slightly. Katherin glanced away. She couldn't bear to see Morgana cry.
"I traced his movements that day. He made it to the nearest island and back before we even caught sight of the boat. Ttod came back for us, but something scared him. He's not coming back."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hi everyone!
How did you find this chapter? What's your opinion on Morgana?
Thanks to sky_is_limit and doctorcolubra for voting on this story! Both of these beautiful people have written some great novels. Check them out!
