Kenzie couldn't hear her own breathing anymore.
Only footsteps.
Only the ragged thunder of shoes hitting pavement and the sounds behind them — snarls scraping through the dark, bodies colliding with dumpsters, something heavy falling and getting back up again.
Her lungs burned.
Barbie whimpered softly inside the carrier, nails scratching against the mesh every time Kenzie stumbled. She pressed one hand against the pack as she ran, grounding herself in the warm, living weight against her chest.
"Keep moving!" Aaron shouted from ahead, voice hoarse.
They cut around a row of abandoned cars, headlights reflecting off shattered glass like broken stars. Somewhere behind them a car alarm screamed to life — high, relentless — and Kenzie felt the entire street shift as more shapes turned toward the sound.
More coming.
Always more.
Daniel ran just ahead, Lucas in his arms, Rebecca half-dragging Sofia beside him. Caleb stayed near the back, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds, jaw tight, eyes wide with the kind of fear that didn't leave room for words.
The air tasted like smoke and rust. Every breath scraped her throat raw. Her legs felt heavy — not just from exhaustion, but from the weight of everything they had left behind in that bank.
And then—
Frank fell.
It happened fast.
His shoe caught on a broken curb, and his body pitched forward hard enough that the sound of impact echoed over the pounding footsteps.
Eleanor cried out, dropping to her knees beside him instantly.
"Frank! Frank—!"
Kenzie skidded to a stop before she realized she had turned.
The group hesitated — just a fraction of a second — instinct fighting instinct.
Aaron shouted, "No stopping! We don't stop!"
But Eleanor wasn't moving.
She cradled Frank's face in her hands, trembling. He blinked up at her, stunned, breath rattling.
"I'm fine," he said weakly, trying to push himself up.
He wasn't.
His leg twisted wrong beneath him, refusing to hold his weight.
Daniel looked back, torn, eyes flicking between the closing shapes and the couple on the ground.
"Come on!" Monica yelled, panic rising. "We don't have time!"
Frank tried again to stand.
His knee buckled.
He fell back with a sharp exhale, pain flashing across his face.
The first corpse reached the edge of the street behind them.
Too close.
Eleanor wrapped her arms around him, shaking her head violently. "We go together," she whispered. "We always go together."
"Ellie," Frank said softly.
The way he said her name cut through everything.
Sixty-five years lived inside that one word.
"You need to go," he told her. "Now."
She shook her head harder, tears streaming. "I'm not leaving you."
"Listen to me." His voice broke, but he forced the words out. "You run."
"I won't," she said. "I won't. Not without you."
Kenzie felt her throat close.
Caleb stepped forward like he might try to lift Frank, but Aaron grabbed his arm hard enough to stop him.
"We can't carry him," Aaron said, voice raw. "We lose everyone if we stop."
"I'm not leaving them," Caleb said.
"You don't get that choice," Aaron snapped. "None of us do."
The dead were almost on them now.
Eleanor helped Frank sit upright against the curb. His hand found hers automatically, fingers threading together like muscle memory.
"I'm tired," he whispered.
She leaned her forehead against his. "Me too."
Frank looked past her then — at the group — at strangers who had become something like family in a single fragile night.
"Go," he said, louder this time.
No one moved.
No one wanted to be the one who turned away first.
The first corpse stumbled into the streetlight behind them.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Eleanor wrapped both arms around Frank's shoulders, holding him close.
"I promised," she said quietly. "Till death."
Frank smiled — tired, soft, the kind of smile that belonged to another life.
"Guess we kept that one," he murmured.
Then the dead reached them.
It wasn't loud at first.
Just hands grabbing, bodies colliding, the couple disappearing beneath movement that didn't slow down or hesitate.
Eleanor didn't scream right away.
She held onto him.
Frank tried to shield her, pulling her closer, turning his body between hers and the reaching hands even as he couldn't stand.
"Don't look!" Daniel shouted.
Rebecca covered Sofia's eyes, sobbing openly now.
Kenzie couldn't look away.
She wanted it to end fast.
It didn't.
The sounds that followed were unbearable — cries breaking into breathless gasps, Eleanor's voice whispering Frank's name over and over like a prayer.
Frank's hand never let go of hers.
Even when his voice faltered.
Even when the group started backing away.
Caleb swore under his breath, eyes wet, fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
"We can't just—" he started.
"We can," Aaron said harshly. "Or we die too."
Kenzie's feet felt rooted to the pavement.
Barbie whined, pressing closer to her chest.
Lila grabbed her sleeve. "Kenzie," she whispered. "We have to go."
Behind them, Eleanor's voice rose once — not a scream, just a broken sound of grief that seemed to rip straight through the night.
Then it faded under the chaos.
Daniel turned first.
He didn't look back again.
"Move!" he said, voice shaking but firm.
One by one, they followed.
Kenzie ran with tears blurring her vision, the sounds behind them chasing every step — the awful knowledge that minutes ago Eleanor had been talking about watch rotations, about tea, about the way Frank still hummed old songs under his breath.
Alive.
Laughing.
Now gone.
The group didn't slow.
They couldn't.
Each step forward felt like betrayal, but stopping meant joining them.
They cut through a narrow side street, ducking behind an overturned delivery truck. The noise faded slightly — distance buying them seconds.
Aaron motioned toward a darkened storefront. "Inside. Quick."
They slipped through a shattered door into shadow.
For the first time since leaving the bank, they stopped moving.
Not safe.
Just hidden.
Rebecca sank to her knees, shaking. Daniel crouched beside her, pulling Sofia and Lucas close as they cried quietly into his shoulders.
Caleb leaned against the wall, staring at nothing, breath uneven.
No one spoke.
They could still hear distant movement outside.
Still hear echoes of what they had left behind.
Kenzie pressed her forehead against Barbie's carrier and closed her eyes.
Frank telling Eleanor to go.
Eleanor refusing.
The way they had held each other like the world didn't matter anymore.
Her chest ached.
"They bought us time," Jade said quietly.
No one argued.
No one said thank you.
Because gratitude felt wrong when it came at that cost.
Aaron finally spoke, voice low. "We find transport. Or somewhere defensible. We don't stay long."
Daniel nodded slowly.
Kenzie wiped her face with the back of her sleeve and forced herself to stand.
Forward.
That was all that was left now.
Behind them, two lives had ended the only way they knew how — together.