Elias hated mornings. They always started with some dumb hope the world hadn't earned.
The church was dead quiet as usual when he kicked the rotted door open and stepped out. Ivy followed, silent, her boots crunching the brittle weeds growing through the cracked stone.
Dawn hadn't broken yet, but the sky was turning that miserable grey that meant another sun-scorched day was coming.
"Let's move," Elias muttered. "Before something with a death wish shows up."
They walked for hours.
There was no car in sight. No food, not like they needed some.
Just the sound of wind and Ivy's soft breathing beside him. Elias kept one hand inside his cloak; the other clenched around a rusted dagger he had taken from the ritual room.
The more he walked, the more his mood got fucking worse.
"We better find something to move us quickly or we'll spend the night on the street,"
"I'm sure God will send something to us,"
"Yeah, he should," he mumbled under his breath.
It wasn't up to fifteen minutes when they saw it.
Then he saw it.
A car.
More importantly, a fucking working car.
"Well, holy shit," he said under his breath, stopping near a rusted lamppost. "Either I'm hallucinating or your god's in a good mood for once."
Ivy's lips curved into a smile.
A man was stepping out of the vehicle, parked right in front of a busted-up disco shop, one of those old pre-apocalypse places that probably sold junk no one needed even before the world ended. Tools hung behind the cracked windows. Maybe the guy was scavenging, or the owner dealt with something illegal.
Illegal?
Pfttt
Elias watched him, with a frown on his face. He was sure he came from somewhere nearby, judging by how clean his coat was and also the confidence in his walk.
"Get ready," Elias said, voice low. "If he runs, I'll cut his knees."
Ivy tensed beside him but nodded.
"Are we going to beg him for a ride?"
"Beg? Tsk!" He smirked. "I'm going to steal his car,"
Ivy gasped in horror, but she should have expected it.
The man disappeared inside the shop.
Elias didn't wait.
"Now!"
He moved fast, boots pounding the dirt, closing in on the car. He yanked the handle.
It was unlocked.
Idiot.
He slid behind the wheel like it was fucking Christmas, reached under the dash, and checked the ignition; no tricks, no traps.
Power flickered to life. Ivy jumped in beside him, and Elias slammed his foot down.
Tires screamed as dust roared up behind them.
They were gone.
"Fucking finally," Elias said, laughing like a man on the edge. "Maybe the universe doesn't hate me today."
"Don't jinx it," Ivy muttered.
"Too late."
.
.
The air tasted and smelled different.
It wasn't thick with rot or blood or that constant copper stench of decay. No, this was cleaner. Dry.
Elias squinted through the cracked windshield, the scorched sun casting dull orange light over the cracked asphalt.
Three days.
He'd driven nonstop for three fucking days.
The car, which they had stolen, had finally given up a mile back. Ivy hadn't complained once. She just sat in the passenger seat, quiet, lost in her own storm.
Her bruised neck had mostly healed thanks to her half-zombie body. Still, Elias noticed how she kept her collar high like she didn't want to remind him.
"What do we do now? The car isn't going to come up. It probably has run out of battery,"
"We walk! Get out!" He ordered.
They both alighted from the car and started walking towards wherever. They didn't speak to each other. Just boots on dust. Buildings in the distance stretched up like broken teeth, the faint glow of power still pulsing between street lamps.
.
They walked and walked and walked...
Till...
"Is this it?" Ivy asked softly, adjusting her cloak as a gust of wind kicked up ash.
"Yeah." Elias stopped at the edge of the old highway. Ahead, the city gate rose from the sand, metal, reinforced, automated. A checkpoint that looked like it hadn't seen action in years. "Welcome to Sector Ten."
"How do you even know this place? I thought you've been in Ghostpoint since like... forever,"
"No question now, Ivy." He replied, not ready to spill any secret.
He looked at the city and folded her hands. It didn't seem exactly like paradise, he thought, but fuck, it was better than the miserable place he was from.
.
Elias and Ivy entered with no problem. There were no security guards and no drones. Just an old scanner that flickered blue as they passed.
Elias kept his cloak low. Ivy did the talking... said they were travellers, scavengers, nothing important.
Inside, the city pulsed with life.
Hover carts zipped through the air, machines wheeled by selling water and scrap tech. Neon signs buzzed with advertisements for skin grafts, augmented limbs, and painkillers.
No zombies, no screams, just people... surviving and living their daily lives.
It was the first time in days Elias didn't feel like he needed to kill something just to breathe.
"Look," Ivy whispered, nudging his arm. "That bar. We should eat. You look like hell."
"I always look like hell," he muttered but followed her in any way.
The place was dim and cold. Machines manned the counter, arms clicking as they mixed synthetic booze and stirred it with artificial grace.
A few people scattered around the bar. A screen on the far wall played static music over silent headlines. The usual shit.
Elias didn't care.
He just found a place to settle with Ivy until he saw them.
Three men.
Military gear stripped down to vests. One had a scar on his neck, Elias knew that one so well.
Sergeant Colburn. He almost jumped on him.
The other two were familiar too. They sat near the back, laughing, slamming cups together. Elias froze near the counter, remembering that he wasn't human. He couldn't approach them.
"Shit," he muttered.
Ivy looked up. "What?"
"Nothing... just order anything cheap or free. A drink or something,"
He angled his back toward them, hunched low. But he heard their voices...
"Kael?" one of them said. "Fucking idiot deserved it. Running into that hellhole for some girl? Heh. Should've left his dick at the border."
Elias froze.
"Guy always thought he was better than the rest of us," Colburn sneered. "Mister perfect. Now he's zombie chow."
Elias's jaw clenched so tight he thought it might snap.
He remembered them. All of them. They'd been on the same team the day he died. The same mission. They were the ones who bolted when the zombie hoard rushed toward them. But these bastards didn't even sound like they gave a shit.
Ivy nudged his arm. "You okay?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached out and clenched the edge of the counter. His knuckles turned white.
The rage boiled slowly as he remembered how he died, trying to save himself and others. He wanted to walk over and tear their fucking throats out. He wanted to show them that he wasn't dead.
But he didn't.
Because dead men didn't walk into bars to order a drink.
They stayed dead.
So he sat up. Quiet. Breathing steady. Ivy was still staring at the menu screen.
"You knew them," Ivy said quietly.
"Did I stare too much?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry for prying,"
"Let's leave..."
Ivy stared at the men. Her fingers twitched like she wanted to do something about it. But Elias caught her wrist and shook his head. It was because of them she wasn't able to have a date, no, dinner with Elias.
"I said, Let's leave," he muttered. "They are not worth it. I know a way to punish them,"
He said and walked over to them. Ivy furrowed her eyebrows, watching as Elias bumped into them and walked away. He walked back to her and just brushed past her.
"Let's go,"
"Okay?" She answered, not sure what he just did. But she just followed without complaining.
.
.
Outside, the city lights began to dim. It was nightfall, and curfew bots hummed as they scanned corners and alleyways.
Ivy yawned, brushing dust off her sleeves.
"Where are we going next?"
Elias didn't respond immediately.
"We'll find somewhere to sleep before we get caught by the curfew bots,"
"Sleep? We can't pay for that..."
"I've got it covered," he said, walking away. She wondered if you trust this zombie or not...