[26] A Week

Ethan didn't say anything until the sound of the motorcycle had completely disappeared.

Even then, he waited another few seconds.

Celeste walked beside him with both hands loosely hooked around the straps of her bag, keeping her eyes on the road ahead. 

Their shelter was only another block away.

The road they were on ran behind two rows of three-storey commercial units. The shops themselves faced the main street on the other side, leaving only their service entrances here: loading doors, kitchen exits, storerooms, compressor cages and narrow concrete bays marked with old unit numbers.

Ethan turned into the gap between two buildings.

It was barely wide enough for a delivery van.

The lane ran straight for about forty metres before bending around the back of another row. On one side were recessed loading platforms raised a few steps above the road. On the other, the buildings sat almost flush with the lane, broken up by roller shutters and metal service doors.

Farther down, close to the bend, the road split around a concrete ramp that descended into a lower service level running back beneath much of the row. The entrance below was dark from where they stood, its old loading bays hidden underneath the buildings and service road above. A narrower access road also cut between two of the units near the bend, just wide enough for a single vehicle to pass through to the next street.

Their place was halfway down.

A grey door beneath an old loading canopy, three shallow steps above the asphalt. Beside it was a wired-glass window they had covered from the inside with a dark sheet. Two blue plastic drums sat beneath the window, and an abandoned pallet jack had been left diagonally across the bay since before they moved in.

From the mouth of the lane, the door was almost impossible to notice.

From here, Celeste could already see it.

Ethan slowed once they were out of sight of the wider road.

"About that guy. ...Maybe don't tell Linda too much about him."

Celeste looked at him as he continued walking, his eyes fixed ahead.

"I mean... just don't make a big deal out of it." He sighed.

"...He helped us," Celeste muttered.

"I know."

"So what...?"

"Linda—"

"—Can you shut up for once and let me talk?"

Ethan stopped.

Celeste took another step before turning around, half teary-eyed.

"I'm sick of this. I'm sick of all of this. Are we supposed to just keep doing this? Keep running from one place to another?" Her voice tightened. "Are you going to keep running away too?"

"...Celeste."

That soft tone only made it worse.

"Look, Ethan. I just... I can't with you right now." She looked away, struggling to get the words out without raising her voice. "We're friends. We've been friends for years. And you just... left me."

Ethan's expression changed.

"I can't trust you, Ethan. Not after that."

"Celeste, I—"

"Maybe Voss is right. Maybe there really are shelters somewhere. People who can actually help us." She rubbed at her arm and looked past him. "And right now... I think I trust some stranger I met today more than I trust you."

For once, he didn't immediately try to defend himself.

His grip tightened around the strap of the food bag before he looked away.

"...I know."

Celeste's brows pulled together.

"I know, okay?" His voice came out rougher this time. "You think I don't know what I did?"

"Don't."

Ethan frowned. "What?"

"Don't start doing that thing that makes me feel bad for you."

His expression tightened.

"You left me, Ethan. I was standing there calling for you and you ran." Her voice shook now, more from anger than anything else. "And now you're telling me how horrible you feel about it?"

"That's not what I'm trying to—"

"—Then what are you trying to say?!" Celeste snapped, the words coming out louder than she intended. It was the first time either of them had heard her raise her voice like that.

Ethan opened his mouth, but Celeste kept going before he could answer.

"Because I'm the one who had to stand there and watch you leave! I'm the one who didn't know if you were coming back!" She looked away, jaw tight. "If Voss hadn't shown up, I could've died there. ...And that would've been on you...!"

That shut him up.

Celeste took a breath through her nose and started walking again.

After a few seconds, Ethan followed.

"I know saying sorry doesn't fix it," Ethan said.

"No."

Celeste turned away from him.

"So stop talking and go back to Linda already."

She barely made it another step before Ethan caught up and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

Celeste jolted so hard her shoulders shot up. Her breath caught, both hands flying to his forearms as her whole body went rigid against him.

"W-what are you doing, Ethan?!"

"Just... stay there for a second."

"No, let go...!"

Those words only made him hug tighter.

"Yeah, we've been friends. For years."

"I-I get it... Get off me for now..."

"Do you remember... when we got stuck in school until almost eight because you refused to leave until we finished that stupid project?"

"What? Ethan, what are you—" Her face was already burning. Having him pressed this close only made it worse.

"—You got pissed at me because I kept messing up the slides."

Celeste tugged at his arms again, though there was less strength behind it now.

"You were messing them up."

"And that time you waited outside the staff room for me because I got held back after class."

Celeste's fingers were still hooked around his forearms, trying to pull them apart.

"Ethan—"

"You said you were waiting for someone else."

Her grip weakened.

"And then you followed me all the way to the bus stop anyway."

"That was because—"

"And the bus."

Celeste stopped.

"You fell asleep on me."

Her face burned hotter.

"Stop... Stop..."

"You stayed there almost the whole ride."

Ethan kept going.

"And when you got sick before exams, you still came to school because you said you didn't want to miss the revision session."

Celeste's hands shifted against his sleeves.

"And that time during camp, when everyone else went downstairs and you stayed in the room because I said I didn't feel like going."

A fond memory resurfaced. The two of them sitting on opposite ends of a bed, talking about absolutely nothing while the rest of their classmates were somewhere downstairs making noise.

Ethan's voice dropped closer to her ear.

"And every time you said you weren't hungry, then ate half my food."

"..."

"And when you used to wait for me after PE class, even though yours ended almost an hour earlier."

"Ethan..."

"And when you kept asking Linda whether I was going to the class outing before you said yes."

"... ...W-What are you trying to say?"

Ethan was quiet long enough that she could hear his breathing behind her.

"You know..."

His arms remained around her.

"Linda told me."

Celeste's eyes trembled, her stomach dropped before the words came.

"About how you feel about me."

Her hands stopped moving completely.

"I know I screwed up," he said quietly. "I know saying I was scared doesn't make it better."

Celeste's fingers remained curled around his sleeves.

"Everything's been going to shit for weeks. We keep moving, we barely sleep, half the time I don't even know if we're going to have food the next day." His hold around her loosened slightly. "I'm trying, Celeste. I really am."

He swallowed.

"And I shouldn't have left you. I shouldn't have run."

Celeste's eyes lowered.

"I'm sorry."

There was no excuse after it this time.

Ethan shifted one hand and placed it over hers where it rested against his arm.

"If you still feel that way about me..."

Celeste stiffened again.

"Give me some time."

He hesitated.

"No. A week."

Her eyes flicked towards him.

"...I'll give you an answer then."

Celeste stayed there for another second, then pushed his arms away.

Ethan let her go. She walked ahead without looking back, climbing the three shallow steps towards the metal door.

Her hand reached for it. Then she stopped.

"You promised."

Ethan looked up, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Celeste kept her back to him.

"A week."

Then she knocked on the door.

"You guys are finally—holy shit, is that all food?"

Linda had barely pulled the metal door open before her eyes dropped to Ethan's swollen school bag.

Ethan stepped inside and slipped it off his shoulders. He lowered it onto the workbench, the bag sagging sideways under its own weight.

Linda was already beside it.

"No way."

She pulled the zip open and started going through everything. Tins of tuna, corn and beans. Packets of instant noodles. Crackers. Bottled tea. Whatever else Ethan had managed to squeeze into the gaps.

"This is actually a lot."

"Yeah."

"How did you even carry this back?"

Ethan rolled one shoulder. "...We got lucky."

Linda kept digging until she seemed to remember there had been two of them.

She looked over at Celeste.

"Wait. Where's yours?"

Celeste paused near the door.

Linda's eyes dropped to her empty hands.

"Don't tell me you lost the whole bag."

"It got caught."

"Seriously?"

"It wasn't her fault," Ethan cut in.

Linda looked at him.

"The shutter came down on it. We couldn't get it free."

"So all the food just—"

"We were getting chased, Linda. What was she supposed to do?"

Linda's mouth closed.

"I told her to leave it. ...The shutter was coming down and we had things behind us. I told her to drop the bag and run."

Ethan's expression hardened.

"So if you want to blame someone for losing the food, blame me."

Celeste settled down with a sigh.

"That's just how it is. There's no point choosing food over our lives." She glanced at Linda. "You would've done the same, right?"

Linda looked between them for a moment before giving a short nod.

"Yeah. Sure. Of course I would." She turned back to Ethan's bag and started taking the remaining tins out. Still, it was easy for Celeste to say that when Ethan was the one standing up for her. Linda pushed the thought aside and set another tin on the workbench.

"Whatever. We still got enough back."

"Exactly," Ethan said. "So let's just eat before this turns into another argument."

Linda gave him a sideways look but didn't object.

Ethan started setting aside what they would use for the meal, and Celeste moved over to help without saying anything more.

By the time they were halfway through the meal, the earlier tension had mostly drained out of the room.

It wasn't anything special. Crackers, opened tins shared between them, bottled tea and one packet of noodles split three ways. Still, having enough food in front of them made the room feel different.

They were sixteen. Still growing in a way that never seemed to match how little food they had been living on lately. The meal today had satisfied their growing appetites. 

Celeste picked at the last bit of tuna on her plate. Linda leaned back against the workbench with her plate balanced on one knee. For a little while, the only sounds were plastic forks scraping against plates and the occasional rustle from the open food bag beside the workbench.

Ethan reached for his bottle of tea. "Don't get used to this, we'll ration the rest. If we're careful, this should last us a few days."

"Maybe longer," Linda said. "Depends how much we eat."

"We're not starving ourselves just to make it last," Ethan reassured them. "If anyone really wants a fill, we can work something out."

Celeste looked towards the cupboard where they had started keeping the rest of their supplies. "...But we still need water."

"Yeah."

"And somewhere better eventually."

That quietened them.

Linda lowered her fork.

"About that..."

Ethan looked over.

She glanced towards the covered rear window.

"There were people outside while you two were gone."

Celeste stopped eating.

"What people?"

"I don't know. I... didn't see them properly." Linda shifted her plate aside. "I heard two guys talking somewhere down the lane."

Ethan sat straighter. "You should've told us earlier. ...How close?"

"I could hear them through the window."

"What were they saying?"

Linda frowned, trying to remember.

"Uhh... it's like something about a group near the junction? Ah, there was one guy who said they were moving this way."

Celeste looked towards the dark sheet covering the wired glass.

"Moving here?"

"I don't know. Don't take my word for it." Linda frowned. "He might've meant this whole area."

Ethan set his bottle down.

"Did they say who?"

"Don't think so." Linda hesitated. "But..."

Both of them looked at her.

Linda seemed a little apprehensive at her next words.

"The other guy said they burned a shop... like yesterday."

Ethan's expression tightened.

"Burned it?"

"That's what I heard."

Ethan leaned back slightly.

"...Those people."

The girls looked to him for an explanation, then he continued.

"You guys remember, right? The ones we've seen around before. That supply run a few days ago? Those guys near the old carpark."

Linda's brows drew together, recalling a vague memory of those strange people.

Ethan looked towards the window. There had been a group occupying the sheltered loading area across the road. Too many of them for the three to risk getting close.

"They had bottles lined up on the ground. Rags stuffed into them."

Linda's face changed.

"Then isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't we leave?"

Ethan looked towards the covered window.

"We're not sure if it's them, but...yeah."

Celeste watched him.

"But not now," he added. "If those people are really moving around nearby, walking out blind is worse."

Linda shifted uneasily. "So what do we do?"

"We wait."

"For how long?"

"Tonight." He leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees.

"Tomorrow, once it's light, we'll scout around properly. Find somewhere else before we move anything."

Linda looked unconvinced, but nodded anyway.

Celeste looked between them. "...We should find somewhere farther this time."

"Yeah," Ethan said. "Somewhere away from all this. So we don't have to keep running every few days."

Linda gave a tired little sigh.

"That'd be nice."

...

Maybe jinxes really were a thing. 

A deep boom tore through the buildings outside.

"What the fuck!" 

"Is it them?!"

The wired-glass window rattled violently in its frame. Something struck the rear wall, and all three of them flinched as dust shook loose from somewhere overhead.

Ethan was already on his feet.

"What the hell was that?"

Linda pushed herself upright, one hand braced against the workbench. Celeste had gone still with her fork halfway back to the plate.

Another crash sounded somewhere down the lane.

Not as loud this time. Metal scraping across concrete, followed by several voices shouting over one another.

Ethan moved towards the covered window.

"Be careful, Ethan! Don't stand in front of it," Linda cried out.

"I'm not. It's okay, it's okay."

He stopped beside the frame and hooked two fingers into the edge of the dark sheet, pulling it aside just enough to look through the upper corner. The service lane was still there. For a second, that was all he registered.

Then smoke drifted across the far end of it.

Something orange flickered beyond the bend to their right, mostly hidden behind the next row of buildings. A man ran past the opening carrying something against his chest. Another followed farther behind, shouting at someone Ethan couldn't see.

"What is it?" Celeste asked.

"Fire."

"Here?"

"Not yet."

He let the sheet fall.

Linda stared at him. "What does that mean?"

"It's nearby."

The smell reached them a few seconds later.

Burning plastic first. Then something heavier underneath it.

Celeste wrinkled her nose. "That's getting stronger."

Ethan looked towards the metal door.

Their rear room had only two useful ways out. The service door behind them, or the barricaded route through the old shopfront towards the main road. If the fire spread into the row itself, sitting inside and waiting to find out which side became blocked first was a terrible idea.

He grabbed the metal bar they kept beside his mattress.

"I'm checking outside."

Linda's face tightened. "You literally just said we'd wait until tomorrow."

"I said we'd wait before moving shelters. I'm not sitting here if the building next door is on fire."

"I'll come," Celeste said.

Ethan looked at her.

"You don't have to."

"I'm not staying in here if you're going out."

Linda glanced between them. "And I'm supposed to do what?"

"Stay by the door," Ethan said. "If we tell you to close it, close it."

Linda folded her arms.

"Great..."

Ethan ignored the tone and crossed to the rear entrance. He moved the tin alarm aside first, then eased back the simple brace they'd wedged beneath the handle.

The metal door opened onto the loading platform.

Heat met them immediately. Not enough to burn, but the two could feel the difference in temperature outside.

Ethan stepped out. The platform ran along the rear of their unit, raised three shallow steps above the service lane. The old concrete canopy overhead covered the door, the wired-glass window and part of the loading area before ending above the two blue drums below.

The smoke was thicker now. Celeste came out behind him.

"Stay up here."

She gave him a look but didn't argue.

Ethan moved to the edge of the platform and looked right.

He still couldn't see the source of the fire directly. The lane bent behind another unit about twenty metres away, but the smoke was pouring across that opening now, grey-black against the late-afternoon light.

A bottle shattered somewhere beyond it.

Flames climbed immediately afterwards.

Ethan's stomach tightened.

"Crazy bastards...!"

Celeste stepped down one of the shallow stairs, worry creeping into her voice.

"Ethan?"

He raised a finger to his lips, signalling for her to keep quiet.

Another shout came from beyond the bend.

This time he caught only pieces.

"—move!"

"—inside!"

Then a gunshot cracked between the buildings.

Celeste flinched.

Ethan looked back towards the door.

"Linda, get the bag ready."

Her voice came from inside. "We're leaving?"

"Get it ready, quick!"

Celeste had reached the bottom step now, trying to see farther along the lane.

"Don't go any farther, don't risk it!"

"We can't see anything from here!"

She moved past the two blue drums and continued along the edge of the lane, keeping close to the building. The bend was still blocked by smoke, but another loading bay farther ahead gave her a better angle.

"Celeste!"

"I'm not going far!"

She had already passed the next two loading bays by the time Ethan realised how much distance she had put between them.

Ethan opened his mouth.

A second explosion swallowed whatever he was about to say.

There was no warning this time. A white-orange flash burst somewhere beyond the bend.

Celeste had just reached the recessed loading bay farther down the lane when the pressure wave tore through it. She barely had time to turn before the concrete sidewall beside her took the worst of the blast, throwing her sideways and out of Ethan's sight.

The rest of it slammed into the rear of the building.

The main structure held, but the rear service area had already taken weeks of punishment. Old cracks ran through the loading canopy and the concrete around their loading bay, sections of masonry had been chipped loose by earlier blasts, and one of the support brackets above the platform had been bent for days.

The canopy jumped.

A fracture tore through the concrete beneath the service lane.

Something gave with a sudden snap.

"E-Ethan!!!"

"Celeste!!!"

The blast threw Ethan backwards through the open doorway. His shoulder struck the floor first, then the side of his head, the metal bar skidding across the floor and coming to rest near the doorway.

Linda screamed.

Something shattered above them.

For several seconds Ethan heard nothing except a high, thin ringing. He gritted his teeth as his vision swam.

Dust rolled across the room as Ethan pushed himself onto one elbow.

Linda was on the floor beside the workbench, one hand over her head. Plates, tins and half their meal had scattered across the concrete.

"Linda—" His own voice sounded distant in his ears, but Linda reacted to it, pushing herself farther upright.

Ethan twisted towards the rear door next.

"Celeste!"

The opening was still there.

Outside, dust swallowed most of the loading bay.

The platform immediately outside their door was still there, but everything beyond its outer edge had changed. A section of the concrete canopy had torn away from the wall and crashed across the steps, bringing part of the steel railing and several lengths of pipe down with it.

Beyond that, part of the service lane itself had collapsed.

The asphalt ended in a jagged break several metres across, exposing the lower loading level beneath the block. Broken slabs hung at angles inside the opening, some still attached by twisted lengths of steel.

One of the blue drums lay crushed beneath the fallen canopy. The pallet jack had been thrown onto its side beside the doorway.

Ethan stumbled towards the doorway.

"Celeste!"

Nothing.

He climbed over the threshold, but stopped when another chunk of masonry broke loose above the platform and disappeared over the shattered edge in front of him.

A second later, it crashed somewhere below.

A sharp shriek came from the other side.

Ethan's chest loosened so sharply it hurt.

"Celeste! Are you okay?!"

There was a pause.

"...Ethan!"

Several coughs followed, then a pained groan.

"I... I think so."

More coughing.

"My arm hurts. I hit the wall when I fell."

Ethan leaned forward, trying to see through the dust.

"Can you stand?"

"I think."

Something scraped against concrete on her side.

Celeste groaned again.

"My knee's bleeding... and there's glass everywhere... ugh..."

"Anything broken?!"

"I don't know...!" Her voice shook.

Ethan could make out her shape now, crouched against the wall on the opposite side of the lane, one hand pressed against it for balance.

"The road's gone!" she cried out.

Ethan leaned farther out to hear her.

"What?!"

"There's a hole between us!" Celeste looked down towards the collapsed section, then immediately stepped back from the edge. "The whole road between us fell in!"

Dust still rolled out from below. Broken pipes and slabs crossed the gap at crooked angles, but none of them formed anything close to a path.

Another cough.

"There's smoke coming from the bend."

Ethan's stomach tightened.

"Stay where you are."

Celeste looked back towards him through the haze.

"I don't think I can go anywhere anyway."

The daylight had begun to thin while they ate. Now, with smoke drifting between the buildings, the far end of the lane was already turning murky. Ethan could still make Celeste out clearly enough, but the deeper alleys beyond her were losing detail by the minute.

Something moved through the smoke.

Celeste saw it first.

Her head snapped towards the bend.

"Ethan..."

A figure stumbled into view farther down the lane.

Then another. Neither moved like someone running from the fire.

"Shit...! At this time, are you fucking serious?"

Ethan's hand tightened against the edge of the doorway.

"Get away from there!"

"W-Where?!" Celeste backed towards the wall.

The first zombie turned at the sound of his voice.

Celeste's eyes widened. She clapped both hands over her mouth at once, cutting off whatever sound had been about to escape.

But it was too late. It had detected her presence.

Its head jerked towards her.

"Shit, shit! Hey!" Ethan leaned as far over the edge of the loading platform as he dared. "You fucking zombie! Look here! Hey, heyyy!!!"

He slammed his palm against the metal door. The crash echoed through the lane.

"Come on! Over here, you shithead!"

The zombie paused.

For one hopeful second, its head twisted towards him.

Then Celeste shifted against the wall.

Its attention snapped straight back.

"No, no, no..."

It stumbled towards her.

A second shape emerged through the smoke behind it.

Then a third.

Celeste backed away until her shoulder hit the wall.

"Ethan..."

"HEY!"

Ethan grabbed the loose metal bar beside the doorway and slammed it against the surviving railing.

CLANG!

"LOOK AT ME!"

He struck it again, the noise ringing through the service lane.

One of the zombies turned.

The other two didn't.

Ethan looked down.

One of the fallen slabs leaned from the broken edge of the service lane into the opening below. Its far end rested against another piece of concrete, forming what looked like a narrow bridge across part of the gap.

Maybe he could cross it.

He put one foot onto the slab.

"Ethan, don't!" Linda grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Let go!"

"There's nothing under you!"

"Celeste's over there!"

He shifted his weight forward.

The slab moved.

A metallic snap sounded somewhere beneath it.

Ethan threw himself backwards as the far end dropped away, disappearing into the lower level with a crash that sent another cloud of dust through the gap.

The nearest zombie was already closing the distance.

Celeste's breath came faster behind her hands. She looked left. Smoke and the approaching dead. Right, the lane narrowed past more fallen debris. The side access farther ahead was already behind the zombies.

There was nowhere she could reach before they reached her.

"Ethan... I'm scared... I'm scared..."

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot, his jaw locked tight as the situation closed in around them.

"Shit! This is not real! Fuck!!! Celeste! Celesteee!!!"

Through the haze, the first zombie reached for her.

Celeste screamed.

A gunshot cracked through the lane.

The zombie's head snapped sideways.

It dropped at her feet.

Celeste froze.

Another shot.

The second folded before it could turn.

Then came the engine.

Low at first, swallowed by the ringing in Ethan's ears, before it rose into a hard mechanical roar somewhere beyond Celeste.

A red headlight flashed through the smoke from the narrow access road behind the zombies.

Something black shot into the service lane.

The motorcycle came around fast, leaned almost impossibly low before straightening beside Celeste.

Ethan recognised him immediately.

Voss.

The third zombie lunged.

Voss shot it once through the head.

Silence followed for barely a second.

The engine idled beneath him.

Voss killed it, swung off the motorcycle and moved over to her.

Celeste was still pressed against the wall, staring. Her breaths came too fast and too shallow, chest rising sharply as she tried and failed to steady herself.

Voss turned his helmet towards her.

"Bitten?"

Celeste blinked and shook her head quickly, too breathless to answer properly.

"Scratched? Bleeding anywhere else?"

That got her moving.

Celeste forced in a slower breath, then another, until the panic loosened enough for her to speak. Almost obediently, she started listing everything at once, the way she might have to a school nurse after a bad fall.

"My... my arm. And my knee."

She looked down at herself as if only just remembering to check. A scrape below one kneecap was bleeding freely, though she was still putting weight on it. One sleeve was scuffed grey from where she'd hit the wall.

Voss crouched briefly in front of her.

"Anything feel broken?"

Celeste shook her head.

"I don't think so."

"Good."

"Celeste!"

Ethan's voice came from somewhere behind him.

She turned.

Celeste finally looked past Voss towards the shelter. The metal door was still there, along with a narrow section of the loading platform directly outside it. Everything beyond that had dropped away.

Several metres of the service lane had collapsed into the lower loading level, leaving Ethan stranded at the broken edge beside the doorway. The canopy had partially followed it down, its remains tangled amongst bent railing, broken pipes and slabs of roadway several metres below.

Ethan stood at the outer edge of the surviving platform beside the doorway.

Linda was farther behind him.

They were barely more than a dozen metres away.

But there was no ground connecting them anymore.

Three or four metres below, the lower loading level was buried beneath pieces of the road that had fallen through. One slab had landed almost upright against a concrete pillar. Another lay broken across what used to be a loading bay. Water sprayed from a severed pipe somewhere underneath, running across the debris before disappearing into the dark.

"Ethan..."

"I'm here!"

He stepped closer to the edge.

A piece of concrete broke loose beneath his shoe and disappeared into the gap.

Ethan immediately pulled back.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I think so."

"You sure?"

"My arm hurts. My knee too, but..." She looked herself over. "I'm okay."

Ethan stared across the gap at her.

The steps led nowhere now. There was no intact stretch of road beyond them. Nothing connected the two sides anymore.

Ethan looked past Celeste towards Voss, with a complicated look on his face.

"Hey! Can you get her over here?"

Voss glanced down into the collapsed section.

"No."

Ethan's expression tightened.

"What do you mean, no?"

"The deck's gone."

"I can go around!"

Voss turned his helmet slightly towards the bend.

"Not from this side."

Ethan followed his gaze. Smoke was still pouring between the buildings beyond Celeste, thicker now than it had been only minutes ago. Somewhere farther off, another gunshot cracked through the district.

"I'll go out the front," Ethan said. "Circle around the block."

"No."

Ethan stared at him, indignant. "Buddy, she's right there!"

Voss let out a long sigh through the helmet.

"First of all, kid. I don't like the way you're talking to me after I just saved your friend."

Ethan's mouth shut for a moment.

Voss tilted his head towards him.

"I understand you're worried. But don't start ordering me around like I'm the reason she's stuck over there."

Ethan looked away, visibly biting back whatever he had been about to say.

"Second..."

Voss raised a hand and pointed past him.

"Look behind you."

Linda stood just inside the doorway, one hand against the frame to keep her weight off her injured leg.

Voss continued.

"You leave through the front, you're taking the main road. Whatever started that fire is still out there. So are the infected."

"...I can make it!"

"Listen to reason, you idiot. You're going to leave your injured friend in there alone?"

Ethan went quiet.

Linda's face tightened.

"Ethan..."

He looked back towards Celeste. She was watching him from across the gap, one arm held close against herself, still forcing her breathing into slower, steadier pulls. Voss stepped between her and the smoke farther down the lane.

"It's getting dark. More infected are going to come towards that blast, and I don't know how long that fire's going to stay contained."

Ethan's jaw locked again.

"So what, I'm supposed to just leave her with you?"

Voss's shoulders shifted with a small, irritated breath.

"You stay inside. Barricade the front and rear as much as you can. This girl... well, I'll take her somewhere safe for tonight."

Ethan's expression changed immediately.

"What do you mean, for tonight?"

Voss gave him a long look through the visor, then slowly turned his helmet towards Celeste before looking back.

"You're taking her somewhere? Hey! Dude!"

Voss's head snapped towards the darkness behind Celeste.

His pistol came up.

A single shot cracked through the lane.

"Hyaaa!!!"

Something dropped heavily onto the asphalt several metres behind her.

Celeste jolted and spun around.

Ethan stared.

He hadn't even seen it.

Another zombie had wandered out from between the buildings, almost completely swallowed by the deepening shadows. Now it lay face-down beneath one of the loading bays, a dark hole punched cleanly through the side of its head.

Voss holstered the pistol.

"That's why she's not staying here."

Ethan's mouth closed.

Voss pointed past the buildings, towards the main road beyond the next row.

"You know the pedestrian bridge two blocks north? The one over the main road?"

Ethan hesitated, then nodded.

"Tomorrow morning. Once there's enough light to see properly, take your friend and wait underneath it. I cleared that stretch on the way in, and the bridge keeps the approaches open enough that you can see anything coming before it gets close."

He pointed again.

"Don't come through this lane. Go out the front, follow the main road and approach from your side."

Voss lowered his hand.

"I'll bring her there."

For a few seconds, Ethan said nothing.

Then his expression tightened.

"...You better. And... if I find out you did anything to her..."

He paused, like even he knew how empty the threat sounded from across the gap.

"You're dead."

Voss raised both hands in mock surrender.

Ethan, pretending he didn't see that, looked past him towards Celeste instead.

"Celeste, I'll be there first thing in the morning. Okay?"

His voice softened.

"So just... stay safe for tonight. I'll come get you."

Celeste looked at him across the broken stretch of road.

Something in her chest settled a little more firmly.

She couldn't quite put a name to it yet.

Maybe she didn't want to.

But hearing Ethan say it—hearing him finally accept that she would be leaving with Voss tonight—made whatever had been quietly taking shape inside her feel just a little more certain.

"...Okay."

Linda moved up beside Ethan almost immediately.

"Ethan! You hit your head...!"

"I'm fine."

Linda reached up and brushed the dust from the side of his hair, her other hand settling around his arm as she leaned in to get a better look.

"Linda, seriously. I'm fine."

"Hold still."

There wasn't anything particularly strange about it. Linda had always been the more openly affectionate one between them. Still, Celeste noticed how close she was standing. How her hand stayed around Ethan's arm even after she'd finished checking him.

Linda looked over towards her then, almost as if she'd only just remembered Celeste could see them. Their eyes met across the gap. For a moment, neither girl said anything. Then Linda tightened her fingers slightly around Ethan's sleeve.

"We should go inside," she said. "Before something else happens."

Ethan glanced across the gap towards Celeste.

Then, almost absently, he eased Linda's hand off his arm.

He looked back towards Celeste one last time.

"Tomorrow morning."

Celeste only nodded.

Voss glanced down the lane again.

"Alright. Get back inside before something else comes wandering over."

Linda was already guiding Ethan backwards by the arm.

He let her this time.

Celeste watched them retreat into the shelter together, Linda still pressed close to his side until the dust-streaked metal door finally began to swing shut between them.

A small, unpleasant knot formed somewhere in her chest at the sight.

The door closed.

Voss waited another second before turning towards the motorcycle.

"Come on."

Celeste looked at the Nightstride, then at him.

She already knew what to do. Voss mounted first and steadied the bike while she climbed on behind him, moving a little more carefully this time because of her injured knee.

"Hold tight. We're moving." The Nightstride came back to life beneath them.

At first, her hands settled around him much the same way they had before.

Celeste glanced back towards the shelter. The metal door was shut now.

Something stirred quietly in her chest. Her arms tightened around him almost without thinking.

This time, the feeling in her chest was different.

She shifted closer against his back and held on a little tighter.

Another bottle shattered somewhere beyond the bend. Flames flashed against the walls, followed by distant shouting and two quick gunshots. Whatever was happening farther down the road hadn't stopped just because part of the block had come down.

The Nightstride dipped beneath them as Voss eased it forward, tyres crunching over loose grit before the engine climbed into a low mechanical growl. A smaller boom sounded behind them as something else caught in the fire, nowhere near as violent as the blast that had torn through the service lane.

Voss swung the Nightstride towards the narrow access road he'd come through.

Then they accelerated out of the service lane.

Celeste tightened her arms around him again as the ruined row of shops began to fall away behind them.

After a while, she let the side of her head settle against his back.

Through the layers between them, she thought she could just make out the faint, steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

She closed her eyes and listened. Little by little, the last of the tension still wound through her body began to loosen.