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No Matter The Costs

SETH

What do you do when you know the person you trust the most in the world is lying through their teeth? I knew my sister. Over the two decades of her life, she’d been nothing shy of a terrible liar. The issue I found myself having on hand was what exactly she was lying about.

A good liar lies through omission, while a great liar will sprinkle in small truths.

I’d never gotten away with much as a kid. Our father had a way of knowing my tells. I don’t know what haunted her most nights these passing months, but I was damn scared to find out. Family was everything to me, and Reina was the final thread left hanging.

Trust is a fickle thing.

A lifetime to build and only a moment to disappear. It was why I refused to let my mind wander to such a place that would make me question her. Reina had a good soul—it was what everyone loved about her. Surely if she had chosen to keep things to herself, there’d been a good reason to do so.

So I refused to pry my nose where it didn’t belong. Perhaps she was protecting herself and her own mental being. She was my sister, and keeping her safe was my responsibility. I couldn’t do that if my questioning sent her into a frantic spiral. Her emotions had been all over the place as of late. Asking the wrong question on the wrong day had resulted in weeks of setbacks heading back north. It would be better this way—to let her work through whatever happened back home at her own pace.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to our family. To our home. Giving up on Hunter being okay meant giving up on our family. I felt him out there, knew in my soul he was alright. A twin would know if their other half was gone. That’s what people always said, right? Hunter was tough as nails. A skilled outdoors man. Surely he’d made his way northeast as planned.

A creak sounded on the wooden steps of a long abandoned cabin we’d found on a back road. With the boarded-up windows, I couldn’t see shit outside, but the horses were quiet. I peered back at Reina still asleep on the couch, brushing off the noise as mother nature at work. Having enhanced senses had its perks, but I would never miss the quiet of the past. Before my body had changed, before I could hear everything from everyone and everywhere. At least listening to the inner thoughts of the surrounding people took significant effort. It was hard to do without people sensing I was there. It’d been a shock when it first happened, a shout within Reina’s mind when I’d thought the worst had happened and she’d answered back.

A storm was brewing. The wind had picked up on the ride here. There was a chance it would pass over. If not, then we’d be stuck here for God knew how long. With only the supplies we’d managed to frantically toss in a pack, we’d taken advantage of the world around us before depleting our resources. When dawn broke, I’d have to check on the traps before Reina woke up.

The horses shuffled near the tree we’d tied them to for the night. I stiffened, listening for any disturbance in the area. Before things had changed, our father had taught us to use the forest as a tell for danger. If the world went silent, then it was time to get the hell out. That wasn’t the case anymore. The colder it got, the fewer critters and nature we found around.

Still, I could listen for the trees. A snapping of a twig. Maybe the bristling of leaves. Or the clicks and groans of the decaying remains of what were once people. My fingers clamped around the barrel of my gun. We were down to our last rounds of ammo. Even with the conservative use of what we had, it hadn’t last us long at all. One would have thought such a commodity would be easy to find around these parts. It appeared everyone else had thought the same. While food and clothing were plenty to find and left for the next, weapons were not.

A higher-pitched groan came from the east of the cabin near the horses. They whinnied with fear. Glancing at my still sleeping sister, I pushed to my feet and made my way to the door. Two zombies were on me at the quiet clasp of the door. They latched down with their teeth, finding nothing but hide and layers of fur to clamp onto. The hunger in their movements shook the rifle from my hand.

Pain seared through my head as their uncoordinated weight slammed me into the door, my temple exploding with flashes of white stars. The door opened, Reina’s terrified scream on the other side. Attention on me was abandoned as zombies entered the room. There were more than I initially assessed, following after my sister. Reina scrambled behind the couch, searching for one of the few arrows she’d carved out until falling victim to sleep. They were on her before she had a chance.

A hard, cold body fell atop me. I pushed up in an attempt to create some distance. Shrill screams rang out from across the room. Terrified. My sister sounded terrified, but it went further than that. Her cry for help was filled with the dread of death. And I’d be damned if that happened under my watch.

Kicking out, my boot collided with the chest of the zombie still trying to claw its way through my face. It reared into the wall with a thud. The hard impact did nothing to stop it from resetting for another attack. I glanced around the room for a weapon. Anything I could use to my benefit. Locking onto the lamp on the table next to the couch, I swung down. Sticky, tar colored blood splattered across my face at the connection to its skull.

Its body dragged with the effort it took to pull free from its head. Reina’s panicked, tear-filled stare met mine in between the heads of three remaining zombies. She shook her hands to find no relief. Her magic would not answer her call. When I lost sight of her under the zombies, the only thing I saw was red and black.

Launching myself at the undead, I grabbed the nearest one’s head and twisted with full force. Its bones crunched under my grip. With a fierce slam, I drove its head into the wall and watched as it crumpled with a lifeless thud.

“Behind me, Reina.” I offered a hand to my sister, who stared up at me with wide blue eyes. Moore eyes. Possibly the only Moore left. “I got you.”

My sister straightened against the blood stained wall, her hands trembling as she passed an arrow to me. I took it, my hands slick with gore, and aimed for the eye socket of the next zombie. It broke with the pull out and left me defenseless against the final one gnawing in our direction. My fists pounded into rotting, cold gray flesh. Rage surged through my veins—a searing, stinging feeling that was all too familiar. I would protect my sister, no matter the costs.