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I’d started the day alone, fully intending to end it that way, too. But holding off on a decision didn’t mean committing to anything.

“Deal,” I said, just as the door opened again.

“Kirby gave me an idea.” Ava came back in, something silver draped over her arm that shimmered with each step. “Childcare centres keep first-aid kits in every room. Thermal blankets in all of them.”

I pushed up to a half-sitting position as she approached.

“They’ll be annoying as hell with the noise they make every time we move,” she said, “but at least we’ll be warm.”

“I don’t care.” Kirby reached out for the first one. “Wrap me up in foil.”

“Thanks,” I said as I took the next blanket.

“It’s better than nothing.” Ava hurried back to the door and flipped the light switch, plunging the room into semi-darkness. She grabbed the mat she’d set aside for herself and came back to us, lingering at the edge of our temporary sleeping area.

Kirby had enough space beside her for another bed, but Ava set up camp next to me, laying her mat so close it almost touched mine.

I stretched out on my back, legs hanging off the end, the silver sheet crinkling as I tucked it around me. Ava settled beside me, putting so much effort into not looking at me that I had to smile to myself.

I shifted a little, adjusting my arm.

Her hand lay near mine, not touching, her fingers moving into the slightest curl.

“Night,” Kirby said from my other side.

“Night,” I said, my voice low.

Ava’s blanket crackled as she rolled onto her side and put her back to me. When she’d settled, she murmured, “See you in the morning.”

I stayed where I was, hands linked behind my head, eyes open as her breathing evened out.

The noise at the fence crept in, and distant moaning drifted through the building.

In the surrounding houses, other people were probably spending their first night being careful and quiet, just like us.

We’d been relatively safe inside a car this entire time. Tomorrow, we’d be thrown into the worst of it with nothing between us and the dead.

Even so, my eyes closed.

At least I wouldn’t be doing it alone.

Five

ava

“How long have you been up?” Luke’s sleep-roughened voice came from behind me.

“Half an hour.” I sent him a smile over my shoulder. He stood at the other end of the foyer near the sign-in desk, dark hair rumpled and jaw lined with scruff. “I couldn’t figure out where I was at first.”

“Bet you were pissed when it all clicked into place.” His footsteps came closer. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just checking the car park.”

“Anything new?” He’d gotten up twice during the night and disappeared for several minutes. I had a feeling he’d been monitoring this exact view.

“Not really. They’re not at the fence anymore,” I said, facing the glass doors, “but they’re still loitering. They don’t seem to move much unless there’s a noise or something to follow.”

One of the infected wandered along the street, keeping close to the driveway, while two more jostled each other beside the car we’d abandoned. A new body lay in the garden of the house opposite, but it hadn’t moved the entire time I’d been standing here.