Tucker’s POV

  Everything was going fine—until Ellie decided she didn’t like me, and Harley decided we weren’t good enough for his group.

  “What do you mean you want us to go?” I asked Harley, disbelief in my voice. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “I just… I mean, we just think you’re more of a burden than a help,” Harley said, crossing his arms. “Olivia and John could’ve been in serious trouble. You two were the closest to them, yet somehow the last ones to get there. And on top of that, you came back with no supplies.”

  Great. So this was about what happened when Ellie and I were… busy.

  I glanced at Ellie, trying to get a read on her emotions, but her face remained impassive. She stared straight ahead, her expression cold and unreadable.

  “You’re crazy,” I said, standing up. “I don’t even want to be in a group that would kick me out at a moment’s notice. Ellie, come on.”

  She didn’t move. Didn’t even look at me.

  Frustrated, I turned to see what had caught her attention.

  Then I saw it.

  Olivia.

  She was sweaty, red-faced, and sick-looking. She had been like this since the store, but now… it was worse.

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  Much worse.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?!” Ellie screamed.

  She lunged, tackling Olivia to the ground. Straddling her, she pressed a knife to her neck.

  “You’re infected, aren’t you?” Ellie hissed.

  Tears streamed down Olivia’s face. “I… I was scared. Please don’t kill me.”

  Ellie’s face didn’t soften. She shook her head. “Honey, you’re already dead.”

  And then she drove the knife into the side of Olivia’s head.

  She yanked it out with a sharp, guttural yell, then stood up, breathing heavily.

  “You knew she was infected, didn’t you?” Ellie snapped, pointing the bloodied knife at Harley. “You wanted us gone so you could what? Try to save her?”

  Harley’s face twisted with rage.

  “You monster!” he roared, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Ellie. “For your information, bitch—I worked for the CDC before all this.” He sneered, voice dripping with malice. “There’s a cure. And I was going to get it for her.”

  Ellie’s expression hardened. “There’s no cure,” she said flatly. “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not,” he laughed—manically. “I was the lead scientist on the operation to create a cure. And I succeeded. But look around—no government. No one left to enforce rules. We’re free to do whatever we want. And this—” he gestured around, at the lawless world they now lived in—“this was what I wanted.

  “So I told the people above me that a cure couldn’t be made. Kept the research at my house. That’s why we need to get home. I was gonna cure Olivia. Keep a little extra—just in case.”

  He smirked. “But I don’t need either of you getting in my way. That’s why I want you gone.”

  I saw it—the slow movement of his finger toward the trigger.

  And finally, I snapped out of my trance.

  I lunged.

  A shot rang out.

  I didn’t stop to see where it went.

  I plunged my knife into Harley’s chest, straight through his heart.

  He gasped, his body jerking violently before he collapsed to the floor, lifeless.

  For a moment, there was silence.

  Then Ellie gasped.

  I followed her gaze—

  Deb.

  She was leaning against the wall, blood pouring from a gaping wound in her side.

  That’s where the bullet had gone.

  “Did you know about this?” I asked her, my voice barely above a whisper.

  She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. “No… I—I would’ve wanted the cure to be distributed…” Her voice cracked. “But I still loved that man… and I want to die with him.”

  None of us moved. John was still kneeling beside Olivia’s corpse, sobbing.

  “GO!” Deb suddenly screamed.

  I hesitated—then bent down, grabbed Harley’s car keys, and turned toward the door.

  Ellie was already following.

  We climbed into the car.

  I shoved the key into the ignition, started it, and drove.

  For a long time, neither of us spoke.

  Then Ellie finally broke the silence.

  “…What the hell just happened?”

  I exhaled sharply. “I don’t know.”

  But then I glanced at her, a thought solidifying in my mind.

  “You do know what we have to do now, don’t you?”

  She turned to me. And then, for the first time since this nightmare began, she smiled.

  “Find the cure.”