Falling for the Monster

Ivy had just turned twenty when the first reports began to surface about a catastrophe in a laboratory in Russia. Scientists had revived an ancient virus buried deep within the permafrost. At first, it only infected animals, causing them to rot from the inside out. Their flesh decayed, and their eyes turned cloudy like the fog of a cold autumn morning.
It became a true crisis when the virus started infecting humans.
Ivy ran. Alone. Even her own parents had fallen into the madness. She survived the first few weeks by herself, relying on instinct and intelligence rather than strength.
Then one day, she was cornered by a horde of infected. She had never been the strongest, but she had always been smart. So instead of wasting her last breath fighting, she let the crowbar slip from her hands.
And then, like an angel, a man appeared behind the horde.
What Ivy did not know was that he could just as easily have been the devil-arriving not to save her, but to make a pact.