The fire snapped, spitting up a brief flare.
When Felicity blinked, Victor was closer. She had not seen him move. It was as if distance itself bent for him. "You nearly died back there," he said quietly. "It's not going to happen again." She tried to laugh, but it came out uneven.
"It's probably going to happen again. That seems to be my thing. I'm pretty clumsy."
He shook his head. The universe seemed to tilt as he reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair from her cheek. His hand was rough but careful, as if touching something both sacred and fragile. "Not if I can help it."
His thumb lingered at her cheek, and she leaned into that tiny point of contact.
The moment stretched between them, delicate and balanced and terrifying. Felicity's pulse roared in her ears. Her fox ears swiveled forward, tuned to his breath, his presence. Time blurred. The world narrowed to two points of gravity.
Herself, and Victor.
He cupped her jaw, his palm large enough to cradle the side of her face. She thought he would say something more, another warning or reassurance, but instead he bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead.
It was not chaste.
It was not lust.
It was a promise,
as old and binding as blood.
Her heart fluttered as his lips brushed her skin, gentle as a whisper. Her whole body trembled. Every inch of distance between them felt charged, fragile, easily broken. When he drew back, she caught his hand in hers, clutching at him like he was the only solid thing left in a liquid world. Words spilled from her, raw and unfiltered.
"Don't leave tonight."
He huffed softly, something like a beast finally settling. "Not going anywhere."
He shifted, pulling her into the shelter of his lap, wrapping her in arms that could crush but only held. Her cheek pressed to his chest. Beneath it, his heart beat steady and unyielding.
For the first time in a long while, Felicity slept without fear.
Grey dawn peeled back the sky, thin and cold and merciless. Victor's arms were still around her, his chin resting atop her head. The fire had burned down to ash, but she was warm. She stared into the new day as something inside her softened. Victor stirred. His eyes opened slowly. He did not move at first, only looked at her, as if fixing the weight of her in his memory.
"Morning," she said, daring a smile before blushing and looking down at her hands.
He squeezed her once. She squeaked, startled, earning a low chuckle from him. Then he released her, letting her rise, though the echo of his arms lingered. They gathered their things and set out along the ruined riverbank. Finch and Rose bickered ahead, their voices carrying. Felicity and Victor walked in quiet step behind them.
His hand rested at the small of her back, guiding her without a word. She knew then that she never wanted to walk alone again. In this dead world, she finally felt alive.
They had gone less than half a kilometer when the first real test came.
Felicity clung stubbornly to the hem of Victor's shirt, gripping it like a child clutching a security blanket. But she no longer walked with her head down. Victor noticed. Pride stirred in his chest as he realized she was turning to him for comfort.
Finch led the way, scanning the terrain with predatory focus, while Rose trailed just behind, humming softly, eyes bright in the washed out daylight. The river narrowed at a bend. The water flickered green over sharp stones. Overhead, the canopy thickened. Shadows gathered.
Victor caught the scent first. A subtle shift in the air, iron and rot and old decay. Instinct flared. He dropped back at once, guiding Felicity behind him with a single silent motion, his hand firm against her lower back.
"Finch," he whispered.
The polar bear beastman froze mid step. His ears flicked, fur bristling as he breathed in.
"Ambush," Finch said flatly.
Rose did not hesitate. She flipped open the knife she had sharpened the night before and slipped to Felicity's side.
"Stay close," she murmured, smiling faintly.
Felicity nodded, heart pounding. The forest had gone deathly still. Even the mutant animals had fallen silent. Then something moved.
From the rocks emerged a shape that was wrong in every way. Not a beastman. Not anything that should still exist.
A dog thing zombie staggered forward, skin peeling, jaw crowded with uneven teeth, eyes cloudy and dead. More followed. Hunched. Lipless. Drool stringing between snapping mouths.
A pack.
Starving.
Desperate.
Too close.
"Fucking zombies," Finch muttered.
And then they charged.
Victor stood loose limbed but ready, his body angled to shield Felicity. Without turning, he addressed her. "When they rush us, you go. Don't stop. Run with Rose. Got it?"
She swallowed, mouth dry. "What about you?" "I'll be right behind you." His voice left no room for argument. The pack stalled, eyes twitching, nostrils flaring, weighing the odds. The largest, a matriarch with a skull like a battering ram, let out a sound that was almost a laugh. The pack surged as one.
Victor's massive eagle wings unfurled as he launched skyward. Time slowed as his talons extended, frost crystallizing along their edges while flames licked up his forearms. The first zombie leapt toward him, but Victor snatched it midair, his grip crushing its windpipe. Ice spread across the creature's throat as Victor's other hand ignited, superheating the air. With a single powerful motion, he slammed the beast against a boulder, the competing elements causing its body to literally explode on impact. Meanwhile, Finch darted between attackers, his wind enhanced speed leaving only blurred afterimages. Each punch he landed carried the force of a hurricane, shattering bone and pulverizing muscle. Blood painted the sand crimson beneath their feet.
Rose took Felicity's hand, yanking her down the path as the rest of the pack scattered, some in pursuit, some circling to flank. They ran, feet flying over roots and rocks, adrenaline a sweet poison in their veins. Behind them, Victor tore a jaw from a writhing zombie, whipping it aside as another lunged for his back.
Felicity's vision tunneled. She could hear Rose's breath, frantic and raw. They rounded a bend and nearly crashed into another pair of zombies, only to see Finch arrive first, a blur of muscle and teeth and giddy laughter. He eviscerated the first with a single swipe, caught the second, and flung it into the river without breaking stride.
"Come on!" Finch whooped, beckoning.
They ran, the four of them, moving as one. Up ahead, the path narrowed to a choke point between two enormous trunked trees. Rose squeezed Felicity's hand and pointed. "There!" Victor caught up to them before she realized he was there, blood sluicing down his arms, painting his silver hair in macabre streaks. He looked at Felicity just for a second, but it was enough. She saw, in that flicker, animal satisfaction and something warmer too, pride.
Finch paused, panting, then grinned wide. "Well, that was a wake up call."
Rose, half laughing, half weeping, wiped at the blood splatter on her cheek and wrapped her arms around Felicity, who surprised herself by giggling, high and clear and verging on hysteria.
Felicity's voice trembled as she addressed the group, her eyes still wide from the near miss. "I don't know about you all, but I'm not ready to become zombie food. Let's be more careful next time, okay?" Victor checked them all, eyes lingering longest on Felicity. "Anyone hurt?"
"No," said Rose. "We're okay. We're really okay."
Victor ignored them, focusing on Felicity. At his touch, gentle and precise, she trembled.
"I told you I'd be right behind you," he murmured, and the low, rough timbre of his voice was a balm to her nerves.
They stood there, breathing hard among the steaming remains. In that moment, Felicity realized she was not just surviving anymore. They were learning to live together, ferocious and alive.
"Victor," Felicity said, "let me try something."