The streets were quiet that morning. Too quiet.
Every step echoed off broken glass and empty walls like the city itself was whispering back at us. I'd been walking for hours with Jordan, Maya, and Leo — our boots crunching through the dust of what used to be people's lives. Cars sat rusted in the middle of the road, their doors hanging open, as if everyone just vanished mid-scream.
Zane walked ahead of us for a while, scanning rooftops, his movements sharp and deliberate. Then, halfway through an old shopping district, he stopped.
"I'll scout ahead," he said flatly, his voice colder than usual.
I knew what that meant. He was staying away because of the humans. The smell, the sound — they reminded him too much of what he used to be. I wanted to say something, but before I could, he was gone, melting into the shadows like smoke.
We kept moving.
Maya pointed at a group of shambling shapes down the street. "Five… maybe six."
Jordan unsheathed his katana, Leo swung his bat against his shoulder with that half-cocky grin he always had before a fight.
"Let's clean up," Jordan said.
We moved fast and silent.
Leo cracked the first one across the jaw — bone shattered. Maya ducked under a grab and shoved a knife through a skull. Jordan's blade sliced through the air, clean and deadly. I handled the last two with the machete, my muscles moving on instinct from weeks of Zane's training.
When it was done, the street was silent again — except for our breathing.
By dusk, we reached the edge of what looked like a massive park. The trees were still alive, green even, and walls made of cars, scrap metal, and wooden planks surrounded the area. Smoke rose from a few fires inside.
Leo whistled softly. "Looks like someone beat us to it."
As we got closer, voices called from the walls. Guns aimed down.
"Identify yourselves!" a man shouted.
Jordan raised his hands. "Travelers! We're not infected!"
After a tense moment, the gates opened.
Inside was something I hadn't seen in months — life. People talking, cooking, patching tents. Maybe forty or fifty survivors in total. Children laughing. Adults building. Hope.
We were given food, a place to rest. Maya smiled for the first time in weeks. Leo helped some of the guards reinforce a wall. Jordan talked to their leader — a woman named Grace who looked like she'd seen more hell than any of us combined.
For a few days, it almost felt normal.
But every night, I'd look out at the dark horizon, waiting for that familiar figure to reappear.
Zane always came back.
He always did.
But this time… he was taking longer than usual.