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“Prick,” Iris muttered under her breath, leading Renee back to her post on top of the mangled car for the night. Iris’ dark brown eyes stared right into the location where all the lights had been, but now it was only darkness. “I heard you say something about the sea of stars,” she said in a hushed voice.

As much as Renee felt like her parents hadn’t been supportive of her and navigating life with an impairment, her parents did have the best of the cochlear implants at the time surgically inserted. She couldn’t recall the details of the procedure but was told the length of the array and the sound encoding surpassed the quality of all other implants at the time. The surgeon had assured Renee her hearing was as close to natural as possible. Renee always thought her parents had supported the surgery because they couldn’t accept their daughter was defective. Since they had paid top dollar and got her cochlear implants that were years ahead of other options available. Now she was able to manage even in the middle of an apocalypse, sometimes picking up on hushed sounds and voices.

Renee wasn’t feeling confident anymore. Part of her wondered if she had lost her mind or imagined it. “Yeah… I saw…”

Iris turned to her. “Mark is an ass, but he knows about the stories. It’s only been a couple of years since sightings of the seas of stars started, but each time there’s a survivor, it’s always the same. They, or someone in their group, witnesses it and then they all die.”

“Then why did he ignore me?”

She stretched her neck, popping it before she replied. “He thinks you’re either pathetic or nuts.”

“Why would I lie about something so important?”

Iris patted her shoulder. “He doesn’t see you as anything but a kid. You’re younger than the rest of us, and you’re… different. Most people still alive aren’t the greatest people, Renee. They’re all hard and cutthroat, they had to be to survive this long. You’re not.”

“I don’t see how that makes any difference.” Renee wasn’t sure if Iris had just insulted her or not. While Renee didn’t want to be considered ‘cutthroat,’ she knew she was a survivor, she had to be given the world’s current condition.

“It means when you see something violent or bloody, you still react like it’s the beginning of this mess and freak out. If you see someone hurting or alone, you want to help. Even when you understand they might be setting you up for a trap, and then you spoke about the books…”

Renee gritted her teeth. Again, people were judging her for what she liked to read. Why was it so terrible that she liked romantasy? People made jabs at her attempt to escape the terrible reality they were all living in.

The world was horrible.

All day.

Every day.

She couldn’t fathom that no one she’d met didn’t want to lose themselves in a book. Especially books with not just beautiful characters that were better than people, but were located somewhere else, not in their bloody and broken world. Usually, the setting of the books she enjoyed was a different realm or planet with wondrous things that didn’t exist in the hell she lived in.

Iris made a cross over her chest and whispered something in Spanish, but Renee didn’t speak the language. However, her tone of her words sounded like a prayer. “The only book anyone still talks about is His word. We’re all forsaken, made to exist here until He returns. I hope to be worthy this time.”

Renee frowned. She understood Iris was very religious and believed that her sins caused her to live through what she called trials and tribulation to prove to her god she should be taken when he returned. Perhaps Renee was too cynical, but she was fairly certain that no gods existed, regardless of religion, given the atrocities she’d witnessed over the years. But Iris was her almost-friend, and she didn’t want to take Iris’ spiritual source of comfort from her. Even though the others had mocked her about her fantasy books with fae and magic, Iris hadn’t. She hadn’t commented at all. Renee liked to believe that it had been intentional, versus her being at a loss for words.

“The horde Ty spotted… I’ve seen them. I passed them a couple of years ago when I came east. It was big, even then.” Iris said as her features sharpened and her gaze became intense, studying the darkness.

“How do you know they’re the same group?”

“You’ve heard of tailgating, right?” Iris glanced at her.

Renee nodded. It was a brilliant but dangerous idea that some survivors did when traveling long distances. A person would identify a larger group of undead and follow them. It helped mask their presence and cover the things that might get them caught by other zombies or humans. They’d follow just close enough not be seen or draw the horde’s attention. When done correctly, the person could follow for long stretches and stay relatively safe. If they buggered it up… they became a snack for the zombies.

“I followed them for weeks.”

“But how do you know it’s the same horde of zombies? Wouldn’t they have decayed by now?” Renee cocked her head to the side.

Iris narrowed her eyes at the darkness. “That’s the thing I found out. No.” She turned her head and leveled her gaze at Renee. “I don’t know why, but the entire time I followed, only a few of the shamblers dropped. The rest remained. The group was …” She grimaced. “They found people often and never, ever left survivors. Sometimes they’d eat until there was nothing but bones and then, occasionally, for whatever reason, turn on each other.”

Renee shivered. The group Iris was talking about had to be the same one. Except all those years ago… no. It was a coincidence. “Isn’t that what all zombies do?”

Iris shook her head. “Before I found myself on the east coast, I traveled with many groups, saw a lot of zombie hordes - they were… disorganized compared to that one. That one seemed,” she paused and shuddered, making a cross again. “Evil leads that one. A demon controls it, demanding nothing remains but bones and dust.”

“But how can you know that?”

“I don’t, but He,” she pointed to the darkness above them, “agrees. That group is more dangerous because they aren’t just zombies, not like the others. They have an intelligence about them.”

Renee pinched her lips. She was pretty sure no god talked to Iris. However, if Iris was right… that was the group that had been there the same day her parents… her brother. She shook her head. There were so many undead at that time and they hadn’t started grouping up yet. It was only a coincidence. There was no way the bodies in her hometown could have been ravaged so quickly, and this specific horde… it couldn’t have existed yet.

Not ready to ponder the circumstances that landed her in her current situation any further, Renee changed the subject. “How many groups have you traveled with?”

“This is the sixth.”

Damn, about half the number of groups Renee herself had been a part of. Knowing Iris, she’d fought until she couldn’t any more to protect her groups. She probably hadn’t run like a coward every time, or anytime, for that matter.

“Why?”

Renee lifted a shoulder.

Iris stared into the inky night. “I don’t see the stars… but I did once when I followed that group. The sound of their attack when they found a small settlement,” she swallowed. “I’ll never forget. Part of me wanted to help, but by the time I’d put it all together - it was too late.”

“Do you think it’s the same group? Do you really think we accidentally caught up to them? Ty was making sure they were farther ahead.” Renee’s stomach twisted with her words.

“I think… they sensed us because there’s too many of us.”

“Then we have to run.” Renee reached for Iris’ arm.

“No. I think they’ve moved, or we would have seen, heard, or smelled them. It doesn’t make sense, but maybe they’re headed to the city.”

Renee hugged herself around her stomach. “We’re supposed to go into the city tomorrow.”

“I’ll talk to Mark when we switch shifts for night watch. I know we need supplies, and I can’t figure out why they would be headed to the city, but my gut is never wrong.”

“We’ll die if we go there after them,” Renee whispered.

“Yes, but I’ll make sure the scouts check the perimeter before we move towards the outskirts. The zombies don’t hide or plan, so it will be easy to spot them.” She patted Renee’s shoulder. “I know a devil leads these undead, but it’s not like when we encounter a group of violent people who can use weapons and plan strategy.” Iris’ voice softened, which was meant to comfort Renee, but the knot in her stomach wouldn’t go away.

“I don’t want to be with another group.” The words tumbled from her lips before she could stop them. Although most had talked about their pasts over the last few months of traveling together, Renee had never admitted how many groups she’d traveled with or that she was always the lone survivor. And she knew Iris was so close to befriending her; she really wanted to have a friend in her isolated, tiny world.

“It will be alright. We will be cautious and make it to the safe zone. Perhaps there we can both be something different, something better, than what we are now.” Iris’s features shifted as a contemplative expression covered them.

“Better than what we are?”

“Yes. If we get to Nantucket and surround ourselves with other humans, we will be safer. If there isn’t a church there yet, I’d like to start one, so that all can find salvation and comfort in His grace.”

Iris wanted to start a church? Considering how important her god was to her, it made sense, but it also seemed like such a huge thing to do. Renee frowned; the only plan she’d had since this began was to find a secret that would eradicate the zombies. Beyond that, her only aspirations were to find an untouched library or bookstore, take a huge amount of food and water in with her, and set-up her new home. She wouldn’t mind being alone so much if books surrounded her.

“Finish your watch. Lila will be here in a few hours to relieve you. I’ll make sure the scouts check the outskirts before we go in. If everything goes to plan, we should be in Nantucket in two weeks. Focus on that.” Iris gave her a small smile before she retreated.

Renee climbed back onto the wrecked car, leaning against the pole again.

Liam, I… don’t want to be alone. I’m afraid of where my thoughts are going to take me. Stay with me.

Of course, princess. I’ll never leave your side. I’m your knight commander, remember?

A tug pulled the corners of her mouth up despite him mentioning their childish games. Maybe she was pathetic and not cut out for this world. Or perhaps she was a genius who had found a way to cope in a way others hadn’t.