Isaac slammed the accelerator to the floor, and the engine responded in kind. It bellowed out in a building, mechanical whirr, followed by a roar as the boost kicked in. The bloodbath was quickly being left in his dust.
Carlos let out a shaky breath, gripping his seatbelt. Isaac shifted gears, a sharp pssht of air escaped from its blow-off valve.
The canyon road unraveled beneath them, tight curves giving way to wider streets. Pines and dirt vanished, replaced by concrete and flickering streetlights. The deeper they drove, the more everything just seemed like a bad dream.
The RX-7's engine hummed steadily, almost gentle now that Issac was slowing down. He was confident he had put enough distance between their attackers now.
When the WELCOME TO ANAHEIM sign swept past the windshield, Carlos's shoulders finally relaxed.
Emmy shoved him, hard. "You asshole! You left her!"
Carlos didn't look at her. He instead rummaged for his inhaler. Unable to find it in any of his pockets, he slammed his hands on his chest before thinking of Lexi's last words
"You would've done the same."
He said it once more to himself. As he turned away. He searched out the window fogged from his breath.
The teens stayed quiet, unable to look at each other for the rest of the ride. Isaac wanted to get them safe at his home ASAP, his eyes darting from the road to the slumped-over model sitting in the back.
Streetlights passed in slow, rhythmic flashes, painting their faces in brief amber streaks before plunging them back into shadow.
Natalie sagged in the back seat, her head lolling against the window, each exhale shallow and uneven.
Emmy pressed a balled up dirty microfiber towel harder against Natalie's arm. Blood had soaked through twice already. The metallic smell mixed with the car grease and sweat, clinging to the air no matter how wide Isaac cracked the window.
No one wanted to admit she was infected. In fact how could she be, all the others had turned immediately. They kept telling themselves she would be fine as they pulled into the garage of the multilevel apartment.
Carlos and Emmy lifted Natalie and limped all the way to Isaac's apartment. Refusing to look at each other let alone talk about what happened. Carlos's eyes kept sneaking quick peaks at Emmy. She could say something anything, when she got like this with him was always so unbearable.
The front door slammed shut behind Isaac as he stepped into the dimly lit living room of his apartment, exhaling sharply. His shiba inu ran up to greet him, its tail wagging vigorously.
"Hey not right now girl, we have guest," he said while leading her to his bedroom. He shut the door, examining the blood and dirt splattered on his clothes. He bit his lip; the thought of losing his friends left him weak at the knees.
The three remaining teens stood near the entrance, their eyes darting toward the windows, restless, searching for any sign of danger.
"You can crash here till morning," Isaac said, tossing his keys onto the counter as he approached. "By then, hopefully, this whole thing will die down."
Carlos scoffed, arms crossed. "We need to get home. Our families, my mom..!"
"Are in the same place those things are," Isaac cut in, his voice even but firm. "You really think running back there changes anything? This is the safest place you've got."
Silence stretched. The tension was thick in the air, but Carlos knew he was right.
Emmy turned then, her voice hesitant, trembling with anger. "Carlos..."
He met her gaze, and for the first time all night, his bravado finally cracked. He knew what she was going to say before it came.
"We're done."
She thought to herself. She could forgive his panic. She could even forgive him freezing up. What she cannot forgive was his calculated betrayal.
Those words and her cold tone were like a right hook to his cheek.
Carlos dropped his shoulders in disbelief, the color draining from his worn out features. "Emmy, come on!"
"No." Her eyes welled ready to burst in tears. "You threw Lexi to them." The tension between them was thicker than pea soup. "She was your friend, our friend, and you left her."
Carlos took a step forward, anger flashing across his face, but Isaac's presence at her side made him stop. His hand brushed the stubble forming on his face, his jawline clenched so tight he could feel the strain on his teeth.
"Fine," he muttered, turning away.
Carlos leapt back on the loveseat, staring at the ceiling. He sat there staring at the popcorn ceiling contemplating.
She was wrong. She had to be.
Lexi was dead, sure. But it wasn't his fault.
Was it?
He forced his eyes shut, but the image of her crumpled on the pavement, eyes wide, mouthing that one word... Why? It played like an old movie in his mind over and over again.
His eyes twitched. His breath came slower, heavier. The scene wouldn't turn off as he sank into slumber
He felt heavier. And heavier until he was in the clutches of the sandman.
"Looks like your boyfriends out cold," Isaac said surprised, how anyone could sleep like that after all this was beyond him. "You should sleep too, you can use my room and I'll kick it out here."
Emmy didn't answer right away. She stood a few feet away, arms wrapped tight around herself, staring at Carlos like she was seeing him for the first time.
In sleep, he looked kinder. Softer. Almost innocent.
The tension she'd been holding trembled in her chest, threatening to bubble up to the surface. Tears began to form in her eyes.
Isaac glanced at her, reading the silence. "People do stupid things when they're scared," he said quietly. "Doesn't make it right. But it doesn't always make it who they are either."
In that moment she almost lost her composure. She spun away quickly wiping her eyes with her fingers. She told herself to keep it together. To be strong before rejoining the conversation.
"I'm not forgiving him," Emmy said. The words shot out straight from her heart. The conclusion of her internal struggle with herself a dozen times on the drive over.
Isaac nodded, accepting it. "I'm not asking you to." He turned his back, already moving toward Natalie. "Just… don't decide tonight."
A low, strained groan pulled his attention fully away.
Natalie shifted on the couch, fingers gripping weakly into the fabric beneath her. Her skin gleamed with sweat, face pale beneath the streaks of dried blood along her arm.
Isaac knelt beside her, checking her temp across her temple with his own forehead.
"You're burning up," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. He tore open a packet, soaked gauze with alcohol. "This'll sting."
Natalie barely reacted in her sleep as he cleaned the wound. Her breathing disturbed with a slight snorting in protest. Her eyes moving all around behind the curtain of her eyelids as if searching for the source of pain in the dark.
Behind him, Emmy's lip pressed in a small line.
"I... I can take the couch," she said finally. "It's fine."
Isaac didn't even look back. "I'm not making a lady sleep out here after tonight."
She opened her mouth to argue.
"You can shower. Put on something clean. They'll probably be too big, but they'll have to do." He paused, then added more gently, "You need rest too."
Emmy watched him thinking about how to reject his proposal. the way he checked Natalie's pulse without panic, the quiet resolve in his movements.
"…Thank you," she said softly in defeat.
Isaac gave a short nod.
She turned toward the hallway, moving carefully for his bedroom. She found the bedroom after a few wrong doors. She cracked the door open, moonlight spilling out just enough to make out shapes within.
As she pulled the door open, the prisoner within bursted free forcing its way through the door.
"Holy shizballs!", she yelped out in surprise.
A blur of tan and white shot past her legs, the jingle of a collar announcing its freedom down the hall.
The shiba inu burst into the living room like a missile, tail wagging, ears perked, nose already sniffing the air as if the night itself had followed them home.
Isaac swore under his breath with a smile.
"Not now baby, come here" he said in an energetic baby voice, scrambling to appease his child as the dog jumped with glee at its master.
Emmy clearly embarrassed retreated into Isaac's room, slamming the door behind her.
Natalie turned onto her side, curling into herself. Her body trembled, an unnatural heat settling under her skin. The rain outside began tapping against the windows, soft at first, then growing heavier.
For a moment, the sounds around her felt muffled like she was under a vast ocean. She thought she could make out Isaac's voice, the hum of the refrigerator, even her own breathing sounded distorted.
She stirred, fingers twitching weakly as something warm and wet dragged across her fingertips.
The shiba inu whined once, tail wagging as it licked her knuckles, insistent, worried.
Natalie's eyes fluttered open.
The television across the room cast shifting light over the dark glass of its screen. In the reflection, her pupils dilated.
Normal.
Then red.
It bled in slowly, crawling outward like food coloring in water, fading away only to then return even stronger.
She closed them once more, praying she wouldn't lose herself to the urges beginning to take over her mind.