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Good god. I really was insane.

The new guy took a threatening step in my direction, and I attempted to press myself further into the wall.

Nothing to see here. Just wall plaster. I’m just wall plaster.

I squeezed my eyes shut. If I was going to die, I really didn’t want to see it coming. Why couldn’t my death be peaceful? Was that too much to ask? It occurred to me that I deserved this horrific death. Monsters like me got what they deserved in the end it seemed.

I heard the rustling of fabric, but no pain came to me. I dared to open my eyes, startled to see Tam planted in front of me, hands raised in a defensive stance.

The two men went at each other, a flurry of fists and snarls (the latter of which came from Mr. Zombie). I didn’t dare even breathe, afraid that any movement or sound would distract Tam.

A rough hand grabbed my arm, and I jerked away.

“No time, Princess,” a familiar voice said in a breathless whisper. Ronan.

Before I could gasp, he threw me over his shoulder in a fireman carry. My body, aching everywhere, hung like dead weight. Slightly irrational, I couldn’t help but pity Ronan for having to carry my heavy ass. It wasn’t that I was fat, necessarily, but the bandages and makeshift cast on my leg definitely weighed me down.

Not the time, Addie, I mentally berated myself.

Shannon had turned away from her victims, teeth bared as she faced the newcomer. Tamson lay splayed face down on the ground.

I felt a moment of panic before I saw him twitch, and Declan helped him to his feet.

Ronan began to run down the hallway, but with the way he held me, I was still able to see the scene we were leaving behind. I watched Shannon attack the new zombie (because what else could he be?). They clawed and bit at each other, blood coating their skin.

An older woman, who sat on the far side of the room, got up and attempted to walk around them. They paused mid-fight, and in unison, they turned towards the woman, grabbing and beginning to eat her. Actually eat her.

It was something that I didn’t think could happen in real life, only in movies. Their teeth broke through skin.

Stop.

Please stop.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get the words to leave my mouth. Large spikes of terror shot through me, drowning out any surprise I might’ve felt at their actions.

I tried to process everything I had just seen. I tried to put an emotion on the feelings churning in my stomach or the haziness clouding my thoughts. I needed to think coherently; I needed to understand what just happened.

Nothing made sense anymore.

Ronan led me into a new, unfamiliar room and carefully lowered me into a chair.I winced at the pain firing through my leg but attempted to tamp down on my urge to cry. There were more important things to focus on than my stupid injury.

The rest of the guys, and a couple of other people that had been in the other room with us, including Elena and Bikini, ran in behind us. Calax and Declan slammed and held the door shut while Ryder, with the help of Asher, pushed a fridge in front of it. The boys continued adding items to create an makeshift barricade that, hopefully, would keep out the rest of the world.

I didn’t have high hopes.

I’d seen plenty of horror movies. Wasn’t this where we all died? Trapped, confined in a small space, lacking resources, and the only light reliant on a faulty-at-best generator. I mean, at least I wasn’t the bitchy girl. They always died first in those movies.

“Actually,” Ryder said casually, sitting down beside me. “It’s the black guy.”

“I’ll write you a eulogy,” I deadpanned. Ryder tried to smile, but it was clear he had to force it.

With the most pressing, immediate threat neutralized for now, I took the opportunity to look around the room we hunkered down in.

There was a long table in the center, surrounded by miscellaneous chairs that didn’t seem to have a set style: a lawn chair, a plastic one, and even a recliner. The room was relatively barren besides a microwave on the far counter and a fridge. A time-clock was on the opposite wall. There was an adjacent staircase, but with the amount of clutter, I didn’t expect us to get out of there anytime soon.

It was the fridge the guys went to first, still pressed against the door. Empty, mostly, besides for a water bottle and a juice box. Declan grabbed them both.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Elena screamed. She was huddled together with the group of girls from earlier. She no longer was the calm and composed girl fawning over the boys. She looked absolutely terrified just then, her face streaked with tears and hair matted with dry blood.