When I looked up to see who had fired—
My heart dropped.
It was him.
The man with the grey eyes.
He stood halfway down the snowy slope, his long coat shifting lazily in the wind as smoke drifted from the barrel of his pistol. He wasn't imposing because he was armed.
He was imposing because he looked… detached.
Like he'd already seen how this ended.
The intelligent infected spread out behind him without a word.
One to the left.
Two to the right.
Three more disappeared into the trees.
Not surrounding us in a rush.
Closing exits.
Closing options.
Closing hope.
Lila lowered herself instinctively.
Her knife came up near her cheek, her weight settling onto the balls of her feet. I'd seen that stance before. She only stood like that when she intended to kill.
Her breathing slowed.
Mine didn't.
Something inside my chest tightened.
The lattice…
It wasn't screaming.
It wasn't warning me.
It wasn't telling me to run.
It wasn't urging me to fight.
It…
Stopped.
