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REED

“F uck!” Viper yells.

I don’t get a chance to look at what’s happening to him when sweat beads down my back as I toss another punch into my target’s kidney. I know I throw a hard punch, but this guy acts like it’s nothing but a fly landing on him. Yanking him forward, I toss the fucker over my shoulder. Swinging around, he twitches but still gets up.

“Jesus fuck,” I mutter under my breath. This was supposed to be an easy job, a simple get-in and get-out. This is anything but. From the moment we walked in ready to take him out, he’s been taking everything I give him.

Flicking my knife out, I widen my stance as he charges at me. I sink my knife into his gut the moment he’s within arm’s reach. Much to my surprise, this does nothing; he grabs at me, his nails digging into my back. I pull the knife out, slamming the knife into his side.

“What the fuck?” I grunt.

Throwing my knife at his head. The blade embeds itself in his mouth. Only this does nothing. My eyes widen, and it suddenly dawns on me that this could be what the news has been talking about. Rumors of people bleeding in the eyes, being hit, and not ending up hurt.

I shake my head, refusing to believe what’s right in front of my eyes. That is until he came sprinting at me one more time, the knife still lodged in his mouth. I take a deep breath. As soon as he’s right in front of me, I twist my leg around, knocking him to the ground. I don’t waste time; tugging the knife out, I slam the thing into his eyes repeatedly. I didn’t stop until he'd stopped moving, and even then, I couldn’t stop.

I drop the knife, my shoulder rising and falling. I hear Viper grunt behind me. Swinging around, Viper has the guy pinned, but the target still claws at him. Sweeping the knife up, I rush over, sliding on my knees, and slam the knife into the guy's forehead. In a matter of seconds, he stops moving. Falling back on my ass, I glance up at Viper, who stares at the dead guy.

“Vi–”

“He bit me.” Viper interrupts.

I bite my inner cheek, unsure what to say. My eyes drop down to his wrist, seeing the clear-as-day bite mark.

“You should go.”

“No, absolutely not.”

Ghost, Viper, and I all had a rule: no man left behind. We might all be hitmen, but they’re my brothers. We might not be blood, but they mean more than my own shitty family.

“Reaper,” he sighs. “We have no idea what’s going to happen. You’ve seen the news; whatever this is, there's no turning back.”

I shake my head, climbing to my feet.

“We also don’t know if anything is going to happen.”

Viper glances away, as if he’s thinking of some excuse to use. But I won’t have any of that.

“Let’s go.”

I hold my hand out, waiting for him to take it. Viper peers up at my hand before looking back at the dead guy.

“I don’t want to turn into whatever this is.” He tells me. Grabbing my hand, I help him up. “Promise me.”

I tilt my head to the side, my brows furrowed.

“Promise me you won’t let me turn into that thing.”

I’m not sure what to say. We don’t know anything about what’s happening. No one does, and the idea of Viper turning into one of them hurts. Even if I won’t admit it to him, I’m not sure what I would do if he turned.

“I promise,” the words slip from my mouth. Even if I don’t mean them, he doesn’t need to know that.

* * *

I take out my phone, scroll to my old friend's contact, and hit the call button while staring down at my brother, who has a knife lodged in his skull.

“Hey man, are you good?” Ghost answers.

“Still breathing. And that’s more than I can say for half the world right now. Did you hear the broadcast?”

“Yeah, we just heard it. Shit’s getting crazy.”

“So I guess you made it in time to pick up your package?”

“Yep. I got you on speaker, man. I’m driving.”

I almost ask if she’s okay, but knowing Ghost, he’d figure a way out to kill me even miles away.

“How far are you from the cabin?” I ask instead.

“Not sure at the moment. Shit just got real fucking real on the east side of the Mississippi River.”

“No shit. Louisiana is a dead zone now. And it's spreading through the south like wildfire. I’ll be at the cabin by morning. I’ll get everything prepped and ready. Cell service won’t be on much longer, so no detours. Make it here alive, Ghost.”

“You too, Reaper.”

I’m almost afraid to ask, but I know I have to. “Have you seen one yet?”

“Yeah, a bunch. Had to kill two.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. Uneasiness dips down my spine as I tell him something I never thought I would have to tell him. “We lost Viper. It was bad, Ghost. I’ve never seen a fever so bad. It got so high, he started hemorrhaging from his fucking eyes. He died, man. I held his hand when he took his last breath. I was digging a grave for him, and he just… got up and came at me. I-I had to put him down.”

“Fuck,” Ghost growls into the phone with the faint sound of him hitting something.

“Just get to the cabin. We’ll be safe there until…” my phone beeps. Pulling it away from my ear.

“Fuck!” I yell. The service dropped, and now my only hope is that he will get to the cabin.

* * *

105.9°.

I stared at the temperature, as if it would change just by me staring at it. This wasn’t supposed to happen. How could I have been so stupid to let him get the upper hand or close enough to bite me?

I’ve been doing this long enough to know better, and yet here I sit, staring down at the bite on my forearm. Willing the thing to disappear. But it’s useless; I’m going to turn into the same thing Viper did.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I grab a piece of paper and a pen from the drawer. Making my way to the dining table, I sit down and take a deep breath.

I hope you made it. Which if you’re reading this, you did, and to be a sappy fuck, you better make it to the end. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save Viper, I tried, but they’re strong, man. You’ve always been the strongest out of us, so I’m counting on you. The cabin is stocked, so you and your girl should be good for a while.

I got bitten. And I wish this wasn’t goodbye, but I refuse to let you see me like this. So I guess this is it for me. Take care of your girl and remember in your own weird, fucked-up ways you love her. Don’t be so hard on her.

Anyways, brother, take care.

Reed