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My vision blurred, and I straightened, backing away from him until I’d reached the wall.

His blank stare stayed locked on me, and this thing inside me just kept building.

Guilt? Relief?

How could I know what to call it when I’d never experienced it before?

I steadied myself, palms flat on the bricks, the solid surface grounding me. Dustin’s breathing had gone quiet, and his body was still.

The knife lay close by with his blood shining on the blade.

Footsteps came from inside, moving fast down the stairs.

My heart pounded, and my head lifted as I blinked my surroundings fully into focus.

Luke had finished his shower.

He was only seconds away now, the man who’d always looked at me like he understood me.

This time, I had no idea what he’d see.

Twenty-Two

luke

Ava stood there like she was waiting for a fucking bus while a man bled out in front of her.

It had to be Dustin. There were no bite marks or signs of decay—and she wouldn’t run outside and attack a random stranger for the hell of it.

I burst through the door and went to him first, kneeling beside his body. With my fingers pressed to the side of his neck, I waited for a pulse, but the entire front of his shirt glistened with blood, and his chest hadn’t moved.

He was already gone.

“Is that Dustin?” I asked, moving to my feet again.

Ava nodded, looking anywhere but at him.

“Did he hurt you?”

Her clothes were undamaged, and there were no visible bruises or scratches. “He didn’t get a chance.”

I wanted to ask what she meant, but there’d be time for questions later. “All right, just… stay here while I move him.”

“I can help.”

“I don’t need it.”

I hooked my hands under his arms and dragged him, checking behind me so I wouldn’t trip over the dead bodies we’d left lying around.

He was heavier than I expected, his fancy shoes and pristine pants grating across the ground. I hauled him to the far corner of the lot, stopping to shake off the small stones sticking to my bare soles.

When I’d dropped him where the infected were stacked, I stood over his body, ignoring the freezing concrete beneath my feet.

I’d never spoken to him. Never set eyes on him until now.

The cut across his throat was clean and deep enough to look deliberate.

How did she get close enough to do this to him? The guy had to be a head taller than her. Stronger. She couldn’t have been gone longer than fifteen minutes.