[Best – Camp Outskirts, Old Park Service Road – 3:05 p.m.]
I saw him.
Right there, in the middle of the collapsing camp—Dean.
He wasn't running. He wasn't fighting. He was walking.
Smiling.
Zombies moved around him like he belonged there, like he was one of them. They didn't lunge. They didn't snarl. They parted, slow and deliberate, giving him space.
And the worst part—
Some of the Locusts weren't just ignoring him.
They were following him.
Not randomly. Not mindlessly. They shifted when he moved, heads twitching in the same direction, bodies adjusting like they were listening to something I couldn't hear.
My breath caught.
"What the hell are you…" I whispered.
"Breach is widening, we can't hold!"
Major Rattanakorn's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and final. Gunfire cracked from every direction. Screams followed.
He shoved a spare rifle into my hands so hard it knocked the breath out of me. "Move! West! Go!"
I didn't argue.
I ran.
I broke through the east fence with a handful of survivors, but we scattered almost immediately. Panic did that. Everyone choosing their own direction, their own chance at survival.
I went west.
I didn't know why.
I just… did.
My legs carried me forward, past smoke and screams, past soldiers who were already losing the fight. The path opened into the old park service road, cracked asphalt cutting through thinning forest.
And through it all, one thought kept pounding in my head.
Not again.
My grip tightened on the rifle as I ran.
"I'm not leaving you again," I muttered under my breath. "Not Win. Not Palm. Not this time."
The memory hit hard—
Palm laughing on the rooftop, sitting cross-legged as he sharpened a blade like it was nothing.
Win, quiet as always, giving me that small nod when I helped reinforce the barricade.
Lin, steady hands, calm voice, holding everything together.
Kao's axe swinging clean and precise, never wasting movement.
They were my people.
And I had climbed that ladder while Kao fell.
The guilt burned just as sharp now.
A Basic stumbled onto the road ahead.
I raised the rifle and fired.
The kick slammed into my shoulder. The zombie dropped.
Another lunged from the side, jaws snapping. I swung the rifle first, smashing its face, then pulled the trigger at point-blank range. The shot echoed through the trees.
My lungs burned. Sweat stung my eyes.
I kept running.
Dean's face wouldn't leave my mind.
That smile.
Too calm.
Too wrong.
He had been one of us. On that rooftop. One of the people we tried to protect.
And now…
Now he walked through the dead like they answered to him.
I rounded a bend and stopped hard.
Five of them.
Three Basics. Two Locusts clinging to a fallen tree.
The Locusts turned toward me at the same time, heads twitching with that unnatural click.
I raised the rifle, forcing my breathing to steady the way the soldiers had taught us.
One shot.
A Basic dropped.
Second shot.
Another fell.
The Locusts moved.
One launched straight at me.
It hit my shoulder, claws digging into fabric and skin. Pain flared across my collarbone.
I slammed the rifle butt into its face, then fired upward.
It dropped, twitching.
The second Locust came from the side.
I turned, pulled the trigger—
Click.
Empty.
"Damn it."
I dropped the rifle, yanked the sidearm from my belt.
One shot.
Two.
The Locust fell.
The last Basic lunged.
I grabbed the rifle again and swung it down, smashing its head, then stomped until it stopped moving.
Silence.
I stood there, chest heaving, blood on my hands—some of it mine.
The road ahead was clear.
Then I heard it.
Voices.
Human.
My heart slammed harder.
I moved forward, faster now, rifle back up, hope rising in my chest even as something inside me twisted tight.
What if they're not there?
What if I'm too late again?
The voices got clearer.
Familiar.
My steps slowed for just a second.
And then I saw them.
Win.
Palm.
Kao.
And three others I didn't recognize.
They were turning toward me, weapons raised.
Win's eyes met mine.
He froze.
For a split second, something flickered across his face—shock, disbelief… and hesitation.
Like he wasn't sure if I was real.
Or if I deserved to be.
"Best?" he said.
Palm let out a sharp, breathless laugh. "You crazy bastard. You made it."
I lowered the rifle slowly.
Everything from the last hour crashed into me all at once.
I closed the distance in a few quick steps and pulled them both into a rough hug, one arm around each of them.
"I thought I lost you," I said. My voice came out rough, uneven. "After the helicopter… after everything…"
The words caught in my throat.
"I saw Dean," I forced out. "In the camp. He just walked through them. The zombies—Locusts too—they weren't attacking him. Some of them… they were following him. Like he was controlling them."
The silence that followed felt heavy.
I pulled back slightly, looking between them.
"I left you once," I said, quieter now. "On that roof. I'm not doing it again. Even if you don't—"
I stopped.
Didn't finish it.
Didn't need to.
Win was looking at me, something unreadable in his eyes. Then, slowly, he stepped forward and grabbed my arm—firm, grounding.
"You made it," he said.
That was it.
No blame. No anger.
Just that.
Something in my chest loosened.
Palm hit my shoulder again, not gentle this time. "Idiot. You think we'd let you off that easily? You're stuck with us."
I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.
Kao stepped forward.
I met her gaze.
For a moment, all I could see was that rooftop. The push. The fall.
"I saw it happen," I said. "I couldn't stop it."
My jaw tightened. "I'm sorry."
Kao held my gaze, calm as ever. Then she gave a small nod.
"You didn't push me," she said. "That's enough."
It wasn't forgiveness.
But it was something.
I glanced at the others—three strangers watching us carefully.
Palm clapped my back again, lighter this time. "We're moving. Figuring things out as we go. You in?"
I didn't hesitate.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm in."
I fell into step beside Win and Palm as the group started moving again, the road stretching ahead toward the distant skyline.
Dean's smile lingered in my mind.
The way the Locusts had moved for him.
Followed him.
Something had changed.
Something wrong.
We were together again.
But whatever Dean had become—
It was waiting for us somewhere ahead.