Page 3 of Burning Love (The Lost World #5)

3

ALEX

T he forest was eerily silent as Alex led her patrol forward through the darkness. Every rustle seemed amplified, and Alex was reminded that when there wasn’t a sound to be heard out in the wild, it didn’t always mean they were safe. She knew that her three-person team had razor-sharp senses and that she could count on them to scan every inch of the surrounding area.

We have to find them. Oh, God, Miller? Where the fuck did you go? Shit!

As a range of scenarios flickered through her mind, a cry pierced the quiet. It was distant but unmistakably human. But it didn’t sound like Miller or any of the youngsters he’d taken out of with him. No, this was a high-pitched, desperate scream. She recognized it immediately. She’d heard it many times. It was the sound of someone fighting for their life—a woman. Alex raised a hand high into the air; the signal for her team to stop in their tracks. She turned her head, her ears narrowing in on the source.

“Follow me, you guys. It could be one of ours.”

Without even a second’s hesitation, she started moving with purposeful and determined strides. Her small team fanned out behind her. They knew to be quiet and efficient. They had been in this situation more than enough times already, and in case they had forgotten, Alex had spent hours drumming it into them before they’d left the compound. The screams grew louder as they neared a small clearing. In one swift motion, Alex broke through the underbrush and into the open space.

Although she should have been, Alex wasn’t quite prepared for the sight that met her. In the clearing, a young woman stood alone, bent over with a lone zombie on her back, its arms around her neck. It clawed at her throat, grabbing her with its rotting fingers as she tried to fend it off with what looked to be little more than a twig. Her face was twisted with terror. She made a series of strangled gulping noises as she tried, and failed, to jab at what once had been a young man, the twig doing very little to hold the creature at bay.

“Hey! Get off her,” Alex cried out, her voice loud and authoritative despite knowing full well the undead thing no longer had the ability to understand her.

The woman’s head snapped sideways, and Alex recognized the flash of hope in her eyes. The creature lunged, snapping its teeth mere inches from the young woman’s arm. Alex was already running straight into the chaos, her hand gripping a baseball bat with an ease that surprised her, seeing as she had only ever been trained with firearms. With a mighty swing, she struck the creature on the back of the head, sending it into a backward spin. As the zombie’s body collapsed at her feet, motionless, she whacked it in the head one last time.

Finish him, Alex.

The woman was shaking from head to toe, clutching the twig like a lifeline. Alex stepped closer and reached out her hand. “You’re safe now. Come on, you can come with us. Don’t be scared. It’s over.”

The woman’s wide eyes searched Alex’s face as if trying to make sense of what had just happened.

“It’s never over,” she responded in a whisper, her fingers cold and shaky as they slipped into Alex’s hand. As Alex pulled her closer, she noted how slight she was… almost skin and bone. The second thing she saw were cuts and bruises almost wholly covering the woman’s skin.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Alex asked, keeping her tone kind, almost soft as if coaxing a frightened animal.

“Sophia,” the woman said, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She dropped Alex’s hand quickly, wrapping her arms around herself as though trying to hold in her terror. “Thank you. I thought I was done for. That one… He killed someone over there, right in front of me. He just ate him. I swear?—”

“You were pretty incredible, you know that? You were giving it a go! You were defending yourself. That’s more than most could do out here,” Alex said, her expression softening before she turned to Jeremy, one of her soldiers, and barked an order, “Go find the other body and get back here ASAP. I need to know what we’re up against.”

As Alex turned and held Sophia’s gaze, she could see the young woman’s cautious eyes. But at the same time, she felt something stir within her—a strange, immediate connection, like a thread of understanding between them.

You know I won’t hurt you. My God… I can’t believeyou’ve made it this far. Look at you…afraid, beautiful, with such deep eyes.

It was only a fleeting feeling but also one she hadn’t experienced in years. Alex had spent so long in military training that most of her feelings, good and bad, had long been buried to make way for honing her survival instincts. She shook off what was, for reasons that baffled her, a pleasant feeling building up in her chest and forced herself to stay focused.

“Are you out here alone?” Alex asked, her voice careful. “What are you doing here, Sophia?”

Sophia’s shoulders slumped as she gave a slight nod of her head. “I-I… I’ve been on my own for a while. I don’t really know how long. I guess since the beginning?”

Alex could detect the weariness in her words, each one heavy with exhaustion and fear. She knew that feeling all too well—the kind of loneliness that gnawed at your insides. She gestured toward the path. “You’re not alone anymore. Let’s get you out of here. Come on, let’s follow Jeremy and assess the damage.”

“Ma’am! Stay back! You’re not going to want to see this. It’s Spike. I’ve finished him off,” shouted Jeremy, his voice echoing through the trees.

“Shhhhh! Don’t holler like that!” replied Alex angrily. “Get over here!”

“There’s no sign of the others. Just Spike. He was… He was in a bad way. But he’d turned. I finished him off.”

“Does he have family back at the compound?” Alex asked urgently, her mind trying to picture which kid was Spike.

“No. No family. And even if he did, we can’t take that body back for burial. The state of it is…” Jeremy stuttered over his words, unable to finish his sentence.

“Fine. Leave him where he is. Let’s go. Maybe the others found their way back. We can’t stay out here. It’s getting dark,” Alex said matter-of-factly.

Her approach was blunt, hard and cold, but there was no other way to survive in this new broken world. They began walking, carefully moving through the underbrush. Alex realized that Sophia’s steps were unsure and that she was struggling to keep up. Possibly she was still in shock, or maybe she just needed a good meal and a good night’s rest.

“Are you okay?” she asked, slowing down the pace a little.

“No, I’m not. Who’s Spike? Did you know that boy? You don’t seem the slightest bit bothered about what just happened,” Sophie said as she looked down at her feet.

“I am bothered. But no, I didn’t know the kid. He lives on our compound, but we weren’t close. There’s a lot of them now. I can’t keep track. He was out with some of the others, looking for food… and unfortunately this kind of shit is to be expected, right?”

“Right.”

As they continued, Alex glanced at Sophia from time to time, taking in her disheveled appearance—the filthy streaks on her cheeks, the mud-caked tangles in her hair, the purple and red bruising peeking out from under her ripped clothing. Her posture was tense and guarded, but there was still a resilience in her eyes that Alex found intriguing. It was odd that she had survived alone for this long. Most of the people who turned up at the compound were in pairs or threes. It was rare to find a lone survivor. Someone uninfected. The people who tended to show up at the compound were rarely related, but they’d formed groups. It was only natural, thought Alex.

“So, where were you headed when we found you?” Alex asked, trying to keep her tone casual.

Sophia shook her head. “No clue. Nowhere, really. Just… away. I’m always just trying to get away. I don’t know where to go anymore.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, each word feeling like a confession. She let out a bitter laugh, glancing at Alex with a flicker of vulnerability. “I don’t think I have any plan. I’m just… trying to get out of here.”

Alex laughed gently. “I know that feeling all too well.”

They walked in silence for a few more moments; each lost in their own thoughts.

After a while, Sophia spoke.

“Listen, thank you very much for saving me. I honestly don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been there. But I’ve got to go now. If that’s alright, I’d like to go now.”

“Go?” Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something significant about Sophia—something that pulled at her despite the hardened walls she had built around herself. It wasn’t just Sophia’s vulnerability that stirred her; it was the quiet strength beneath it, the way she carried herself even amid exhaustion and fear. Even though she sensed that the girl wasn’t trusting in her whatsoever. “Go where, Sophia? You got places to be? People to see?”

“No, but I’ve been just fine. I’m fine. I’ve got to get back to?—”

“To England? I love the accent, by the way. But you know you’re not making any sense right now. Have you gotten a look at yourself lately? Are you really sure you’re fine? Because I think you were about to get squashed by a rotter just then.”

Sophie made no reply as she continued to put one foot in front of the other as if on autopilot. Alex finally broke the silence. “Listen, lady. There’s a compound nearby. It’s not much, but we’ve got it more or less secure. I’m happy for you to stay for as long as you need to. Get washed up, have a bite to eat, sleep on a mattress in a real cot for the night, but we have rules.”

Sophia turned her head to look Alex straight in the eye. “Rules?”

Alex nodded. “We do our best to work together to keep it safe. Everyone contributes something. No one freeloads. Well, not usually. Let’s say the rules might need tightening up. Basically, you’ll have to pull your weight if you decide to stay.”

Sophia seemed to consider this, her gaze drifting back down to her feet. Alex thought for a moment that she looked as if she might refuse, her mind weighing unknown fears and hopes against the reality of life out here.

After a pause, she whimpered, her voice still on the shaky side of normal. “Alright. I’ll come and take a look, I suppose. And I’ll obviously follow your rules. I can leave at any point, though, can’t I? I have to get home at some point, you see. It’s a lot to trust that you won’t hurt me either.”

Alex allowed herself a small smile. “That’s right. Good choice, Sophia. I’m not feeling too optimistic about getting back to England. Not anytime soon, at least. But we’ll take care of you in the meantime. How does that sound? I have no intentions of hurting you.”

As they continued, Alex explained some of the basics of compound life. Sophia appeared to be listening intently, her expression clearly showing her obvious apprehension. But Alex thought she also spotted a slight glimmer of trust in the woman’s eyes, a willingness to believe that Alex might just be offering her a lifeline.

The sun cast a deep glow over the compound as Alex led Sophia through the barren terrain, the grit under her boots grinding like bone on stone. The air was carried on it, and it was the faintest acrid tang as if someone had been burning something. The distant sound of muffled voices sounded harsh and uninviting.

“In this hangar, we have a few cots, but it’s what we use as the main hall,” Alex said, her voice flat as she gestured to the vast, cold-looking structure. Its walls were scabbed with peeling paint, and the concrete wasrough and pockmarked. The inside, Alex realized, as if looking at it for the first time, wasn’t much better. Rickety tables and mismatched chairs sat in uneven rows, their surfaces scratched and scarred. Several people were huddled in clumps, heads bowed, their voices low and strained.

They know already—the boy.

Alex’s eyes moved slowly across the room, her expression hollow. “Are Henry and the others back?” she shouted out to nobody in particular, but her words hung in the air. A young woman with a gaunt, her eyes ringed with exhaustion, gave her a brief nod.

“Okay. We’ll debrief later. This is Sophie. She’ll be joining us for now,” she said, her sentence falling on deaf, uninterested ears. She turned to Sophia and attempted a smile. “I think everyone’s feeling pretty low. It’s to be expected, given what happened. Look, this place is… it’s functional,” Alex explained, her gaze lingering on a corner where a group of youngsters sat in silence. “We sometimes eat here. Talk when necessary. I’m trying to set up regular get-togethers. I guess it’s all about keeping things moving.” There was no pride in her voice, only a grim acknowledgment of their situation.

The tour continued, the compound revealing more of itself in stark, brutal lines. The doors, windows, and walls bore the evidence of hurried repairs, and the scent of damp clung to their clothes as they made their way from building to building. Alex’s steps faltered at times and her shoulders tightened as she tried to imagine what Sophie must be thinking.

The younger woman followed, her silence speaking volumes. Alex understood precisely what this place must look like to a stranger. Every corner of the compound reeked of desperation masked as endurance. It was survival stripped bare.

They stopped by the supply room, where Alex showed her the essentials they had managed to gather. “We’ve got some food, although nowhere near enough. That’s what Miller and… well, you know the score, right? We have some medicine and other supplies. We have plenty of blankets, for example. I think that’s about the only thing we have plenty of. Other than people,” she scoffed, pointing to the shelves lined with thick woolen bedcovers.

Sophia nodded, her gaze sweeping over the provisions with a mix of gratitude and disbelief. “It all looks very… organized. It’s pretty incredible. You’re doing a great job here. I never thought I’d find something like this after what is left out there.” Her voice carried an undercurrent of emotion.

Is she kidding? The place is the fucking definition of a shithole.

“Well, like my grandpa used to say, you can only piss with the dick you got, right?” she replied, immediately regretting her coarse language. She’d gotten so used to banter with her army buddies over the years that she had forgotten how it was you were supposed to talk to people who weren’t soldiers. “You’ve got to adapt. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Alex left Sophia in the capable hands of Laura while she found a place for Sophia to sleep.

She found it in one of the quieter corners of the smallest hangar. A narrow frame with a sagging mattress would have to do. It wasn’t much, but she had pulled some of the cleaner-looking blankets from storage, shaking out the faint scent of mildew before folding them onto the cot and tucking them in carefully at the corners.

Alex returned to where she had left Sophia and showed her the way to her new quarters.

“I think this might work for you,” Alex said, her voice steady, though her chest tightened at the way Sophia hesitated before stepping closer. The dim light caught on the strands of Sophia’s hair, illuminating the soft curve of her jaw and the tension in her frame. “My bet is you’ll sleep well tonight. Did someone give you something to eat yet?”

Sophia traced her fingers along the bedframe, her movements tentative. “Yes, I had some soup. It was amazing. And this bed looks perfect,” she murmured, her voice carrying a vulnerability that made Alex want to reach out and touch her pale, delicate skin. But she stayed rooted to the spot and clasped her hands together in front of her.

“Good,” Alex managed to splutter through half-gritted teeth. “Well, goodnight, Sophia. It was nice to meet you. Um… under other circumstances, it would have been nicer. I mean… I don’t know what I’m saying. Just that I’m glad you’re here. Here’s a screen for a little privacy, okay?” The tension between them was palpable now, an unspoken current that only seemed to grow in the enclosed space that Alex fashioned as she placed a screen around the bed. “You’ll be safe here. If anyone upsets you, you come to me, okay?”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Sophia said, glancing over her shoulder, her lips curving in the faintest hint of a smile before it faltered. She sank onto the edge of the bed, the mattress creaking softly despite her weighing next to nothing. Her gaze lingered on Alex, the shadows deepening in her eyes. “You’ve really gone out of your way to help me, and I appreciate it.”

Alex sat down on the cot next to her. She was surprised at herself and wondered inwardly how she’d managed to think up such a bold move, all the time hoping that Sophia wouldn’t find it unusual. “You’ve been through a lot,” she said quietly. “I just wanted to make sure you were comfy. I know it’s not the Ritz, but I don’t want you to be scared.”

Sophia’s breath caught, her chest rising and falling in a rhythm Alex couldn’t help but notice. The air between them felt thick. Alex’s eyes traced the line of Sophia’s collarbone, the way it disappeared beneath her torn shirt, and she found herself gulping for air.

“I feel safe. And where’s your bed, Alex? Are you nearby?” Sophia whispered, her voice almost breaking. Her fingers played with the hem of the blanket, a nervous gesture, but her gaze was steady now, locked on Alex’s. “I think I’d feel better knowing you weren’t too far away.”

Alex caught the faint scent of Sophia’s skin—earthy, warm, human. She hesitated, her hand hovering near Sophia’s knee, her own pulse a deafening drumbeat in her ears.

“You’re perfectly safe here. Laura is just a few feet away. She’s with Marco, a guy who’s in a pretty bad way. She’s watching over him. If you need anything, you can ask her, or tell her to alert me and I’ll help you get settled,” Alex murmured, her voice rougher now. She didn’t miss the way Sophia’s lips parted, the soft exhale that escaped them. “I don’t sleep in this hangar. And anyway, I’m on duty until 4 a.m., so…”

For a long moment, neither of them moved. The silence stretched taut between them as Alex fought the urge to close the distance between them. She could feel it building—something raw, something inevitable.

I want to hold her hand. Would that be weird? Yes, it would be super weird. For fuck’s sake, Alex.

The moment hung in the air, fragile and electric, before Alex finally stood up. Her fingers curled into a fist at her side, resisting the pull to stay, to linger in the quiet closeness of Sophia’s presence. A feeling that seemed so far in the past. A feeling that seemed impossible in this new world.

“Get some sleep,” Alex mumbled, the sound coming out croaky and strained. She forced a grin. “And tomorrow, we’ll look at getting you out of those clothes.”

Sophia’s eyes lingered on Alex. “Huh? What was that?” she asked in mock surprise.

“Oh… I mean…” Alex mumbled, feeling the burn in her cheeks as she tried to joke her way out of her Freudian slip. “We’ll try to find you something else to wear. We don’t have a whole lot of options, so don’t go expecting some on-trend little London-Fashion-Week combo, okay? But I can sort you out.”

Jesus. I’ve just done it again. What’s wrong with me?

“I’m sure you can,” Sophia smirked. “Goodnight, Alex.”

“Yeah, goodnight, Sophia.” Alex nodded in return, then turned and left the hangar. The door banged shut behind her, the sound echoing in the stillness of the compound. She walked across the courtyard with slow, measured steps.

Okay. Get to work. Stop thinking about her.

But in the early hours of the following morning, after her shift, Alex moved restlessly in her cot. Her chest ached, and her thoughts spiraled as she tried to make sense of what she was feeling. She had spent so long building walls around herself. A lifetime, in fact. But Sophia... Sophia made her feel exposed in a way she hadn’t allowed herself to be in longer than she dared to calculate.

Her fingers brushed against the cool metal of her dog tags. She breathed in deeply, trying to force herself to lay still, though her heart continued to thud in a rhythm she couldn’t ignore.

Eventually, exhaustion claimed her. But even in sleep, Sophia lingered in her mind—a vivid and inescapable presence.