Chapter 113: Unfamiliar

I was starting to think I had insomnia.

Maybe it was the trembling infected outside. They wandered through the dark streets, clawing at the boarded-up doors, laughing or muttering profanities to themselves. Even through the wood and nails, their voices carried. Made something as simple as sleeping feel like a gamble.

Or maybe it was the fact that no one had been keeping watch.

Lila rested beside me, her arm draped across my stomach like she always did. According to her, it was for warmth.

I knew deep down I couldn’t swear that was the only reason.

The room was quiet except for the wind pushing against the loose boards on the windows. I stared at the ceiling, wide awake, thoughts refusing to settle.

Something felt wrong.

Not loud. Not obvious. Just a faint itch in the back of my mind.

The kind of feeling you get when you’re running and suddenly realize your shoelaces might be untied, but you’re too busy to stop and check.

I told myself it was nothing.

The apocalypse had trained my brain to expect the worst. Every sound. Every shadow. Every creak of wood in an old house.

Sometimes things weren’t actually as bad as I imagined. And when that happened—when nothing terrible followed the tension—I felt something warm coil in my chest. Relief, I guess.

Still…

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to check.

Better than lying here wondering if that noise downstairs was a rat. Or something that used to be a person.

Carefully, I sat up. The mattress shifted under my weight. I rubbed my eyes and leaned slightly over Lila.

My hand hovered over her mouth for a second before I frowned.

“Lila,” I whispered. “I know you’re awake.”

She didn’t answer.

But her nose twitched.

Like she was hoping I’d believe the act.

“Lila.”

She let out a quiet sigh and opened her eyes, stretching her arms before looking up at me.

“What happened?”

“I want to check something downstairs.”

I swung my legs off the bed. The floorboards creaked the second my weight touched them.

Lila frowned but pushed herself up anyway, copying me. Her feet met the floor with another soft groan from the wood.

“Shhh,” I whispered, glancing at her.

She looked back at me, confused, but stayed quiet.

For a moment we both listened.

The infected outside were still wandering the street. Their distant voices drifted through the night.

But that wasn’t what had woken me.

The sound came again

I gestured for Lila to arm herself with a ply board that rested on the door while we crept downstairs. I frowned as she showed me a makeshift shiv that I wasn’t even aware she made.

Couldn’t even feel it in her pocket while we cuddled.

Whatever.

My grip tightened on the gun as I made sure my feet were quiet.

When we got down, the first thing I was able to see was an open window— unboarded.

One that I was sure I hadn’t left unopened.

We both immediately crouched under something.

Then I finally caught the sound. Faint footsteps.

One. No…two. Three??

And they seemed too coordinated to be baseline infected. Could be the ones high on amber.

No…no I would’ve smelt it.

Could it be—?

No, it doesn’t matter.

I wasn’t interested in finding out what it was. Threats were threats, infected or not.

I gave Lila a quick look and nodded. She moved first.

Lila slipped out from behind the cabinet and grabbed one of the figures from behind, pressing the shiv against their throat before they could react. I stepped forward at the same time and locked my arm around another one’s neck, pulling them back while keeping the gun ready.

Struggling followed immediately. Shoes scraped against the floor as they tried to pull free, muffled grunts filling the room.

Then someone panicked.

“Wait wait wait! It’s us! It’s us!!!”

Regardless of the dimlight, I was still able to pinpoint that exact cadence and voice. Familiar. One I hadn’t heard in a long time.

The woman flicked on a flashlight, illuminating her features.

Dark locs that tied behind her head. Dark skin. Eyes staring right back at us.

I blinked.

Then I realized the person I had grabbed from behind wasn’t her.

It was Aubrey.

I stepped back immediately, letting go of her like I’d touched something hot.

My eyes went back to Julia and before I could stop myself, I pulled her into a hug.

For a second neither of us said anything.

Then she hugged me back.

“Miss you, Adrian,” she said quietly.

—

Behind them, Aubrey dusted herself off as she watched the two embrace each other. She couldn’t help but feel something akin to jealousy.

What was she expecting…? A hug from him too?

She had been the one to abandon him.

She noticed Lila beside her, one that Isabella was slowly backing from. She was too busy watching the two embrace as well to acknowledge her gaze.

Her fists tightened, corneas burning red then reverting back to its regular white color, over and over again. Like a red light being switched on and off. She blinked once. Twice.

Aubrey frowned at that.

—

Breathless, I looked back to the rest of them. Aubrey, who…well, I wasn’t too hot on seeing. Isabella too. I never really knew how to feel about her. In the end— she had picked Aubrey over us…

But who wouldn’t, right?

Familiar faces. Though— they seemed like strangers all the same.

“Where did you guys—?? How did you—??? When did you even—!?”

“Turns out Aubrey here is the expert tracker.”

I turned to Aubrey with a frown as Julia said that. She looked away— not seeming too keen on tooting her own horn.

“Damn near surprised even me.” Julia added.

A beat passed and Julia’s eyes settled on Lila.

Her smile lit up immediately at that. Lila’s was the exact same. And…for some reason, I wasn’t able to tell if it was forced or not.

Julia closed the gap in a single motion.

Aubrey was quick to speak—

“Julia—…”

They hugged anyway, Lila closing her eyes as she embraced her. Julia doing the same.

“God damn…I miss you two so much.”

She pulled away at that.

“Look’s like the gang’s all back together!”

Aubrey stood there for a second longer than she should have.

Her shoulders were stiff, her eyes fixed on the two of them like she was trying to replay the moment in her head and make sense of it.

She looked… stunned.

Not just surprised.

Dumbfounded.

Like she couldn’t figure out if the hug she had just watched was real.

It couldn’t be.

That’s what I thought too.

Hell, even Isabella looked thrown off. She kept glancing between Julia and Lila like she had just missed an important piece of the conversation.

A quiet beat passed between all of us.

Julia was the first to notice.

She frowned.

“The hell’s wrong with you guys?”

I blinked and forced myself to move again, rubbing the back of my neck as the moment snapped.

“Oh, uh… yeah,” I muttered. “Good to see you all again, I suppose.”

The words sounded awkward the second they left my mouth.

Julia raised an eyebrow.

“That’s it?” she said. “That’s the reunion speech?”

I shrugged.

“It’s three in the morning and you broke into my house.”

“Your house?” she repeated with a grin. “Look at you getting territorial.”

I didn’t answer.

My eyes drifted back to Aubrey.

She still hadn’t said anything.

She stood near the window with her arms folded, avoiding my gaze like the floor had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the room.

Same old Aubrey.

Except… not really.

She looked thinner. Tired. There were new scars on her arms that I didn’t recognize.

She finally noticed me looking and shifted uncomfortably.

“…Nice place,” she said quietly.

I almost laughed.

“Yeah,” I said. “Real luxury. Comes with keeping away from people who’re so willing to stab you in the back.”

Aubrey grimaced at that, trying to keep her mouth shut.

That earned a look of confusion from Julia, as her gaze flickered from me to Aubrey.

Isabella stayed quiet, still watching Lila.

Actually… staring.

I noticed the distance between them. Isabella had backed away earlier and hadn’t moved any closer since.

Lila didn’t seem to mind.

She stood beside me with the same calm expression she always had, arms relaxed at her sides.

Too calm.

Julia clapped her hands together once.

“Alright,” she said. “Now that the awkward reunion part is done, can someone explain why you two are living in a haunted house?”

“Safehouse,” I corrected.

“For who?” she asked. “The stupid infected outside who only know how to scream and kill?”

“For people who don’t climb through windows in the middle of the night.”

She grinned again but didn’t argue.

Aubrey finally stepped forward.

Her eyes moved around the room, taking everything in. The boarded windows. The barricaded doors. The supplies stacked along the walls.

“You’ve been here a while,” she said.

“Long enough.”

She nodded slowly.

Then her eyes shifted toward Lila again.

For a split second, I saw something flash across Aubrey’s face.

Confusion. Suspicion.

…Something else.

Before she could say anything, Isabella suddenly spoke, her voice quiet and careful, like she was afraid she’d set something off.

“…Lila.”

Lila turned her head slightly.

“Yeah?”

Isabella swallowed.

Her eyes were locked on Lila’s face like she was searching for something.

“Are you feeling… okay?”

The room went quiet again.

Lila tilted her head.

“I’m fine,” she said.

Her voice sounded normal.

Her expression looked normal. Not twisted and pychotic like usual. Like what I was used to.

I could’ve sworn all hell would’ve broke loose when I hugged another woman, but…it didn’t.

Isabella didn’t relax. If anything, she looked even more tense.

Julia frowned. “What kind of question is that?”

Isabella didn’t answer right away.

Her eyes stayed on Lila.

Then she said something that made the air in the room feel colder.

“…Your eyes.”

Everyone looked at Lila.

Including me.

For a moment nothing seemed wrong.

But when Lila blinked— that’s when I saw it.

Just for a split second, the red flickered in her eyes again.

And this time… it didn’t disappear immediately.

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