Leah had managed to hide them both out in the in-between of the upper and lower city. It was a small place which was considered too low for those living upper, but too far away from any dealers to live for those in the lower city.
So it was left completely alone to waste away until somebody was able to live in it, with nothing but the bones to be sustained. She used it often as a nice little hiding place - nobody even thought about looking for her in there.
Leaving the place and upper city unseen, therefore, was easy, as was travelling from there into the deeper parts of the lower city. Ryan didn't hesitate for a second, looking forward into the depths of the city, trying to avoid the way that Leah would come.
Getting away from the general area of the shack and Heather and everything that had kept his attention the last few days. He glanced that way for a moment, wondering if she'd be back any time soon. Hoping that she wouldn't - so that she wouldn't be able to keep up even if she tried to.
Time went by pretty quickly. He was able to avoid the main lanes and streets, using only the alleyways as a way to get back to the wall. Getting there being the easy part. The way out into the city was still invisible when he noticed it.
But there were guards who were so close that only glancing in that direction for a second too long, they would be able to see it.
The goons that stood with their guns were larger than Ryan anticipated; the weapons were old and rusted, but there wasn't a doubt in Ryan's mind that they worked and that their wielders wouldn't pause in cutting his head off. He noticed the belt that the three of them wore had a sheathe that held wicked blades that had decomposing edges thinner than a cloud's silver lining.
They weren't as bad as they looked. Just because they had a gun didn't mean they knew how to use it. Or, at least, that's what Ryan hoped.
He gave himself three seconds.
Three.
The men put down their guns, leaning them against the concrete wall; they started to relax themselves for a night ahead of boring watch duty. One started to make pointless small talk.
Two.
Ryan's hands were hovering close to his holster, with the rusted knife he still had waiting for him to grasp, eyeing the left one as he approached the middle one. Senses alight, on the balls of his feet, watching their movements, analysing their weaknesses.
One-
He ran towards the first, smacking the middle guard with her elbow first hard in the neck, making him choke and grip his throat almost immediately. Using Leah's knife he cut his leg, making him fall down crying out loud, taking his gun with the other hand.
Behind him he heard movement of the others reacting, trying to reload and fire their guns but he was faster, turning and taking the shot at the thick chest to muffle the noise. Ryan then slit the last one's right arm before he could reach for his gun or his sword, making him cry out for a brief second before he kicked him hard in the stomach, making him incapable.
The final man hit the ground, seeing his comrades with him - one dead, the other thoroughly knocked out. His hand was shaking while he held tightly onto his abdomen, breathing a seemingly difficult challenge, face paling and already beginning to sweat.
Ryan bent down to his level, looking at the fear in his eyes, drinking the begging words he tried could barely speak:
"Wa-wait. Please. I-I ha-ave a family. Let me g-o, let me go. I ne-eed to-"
He was about to walk away, turning his back on the man. In that second he had mercy.
"I-I just need the g-girl. I ne-eed the bi-bitch to fe-eed them. To feed them. Gi-give me her and we can split the-e mone-money."
The boy leaned down, his knife still in hand, venom in his eyes, growling protectively. "Don't you dare fucking call her that."
"I-I'm-"
"Shut up." Ryan crossed over his body and went to the other man he'd cut. The guard was crying, asking for forgiveness that he would never, ever give. He bent down with the knife in his hand, staring down at the weak and the petty. At the dead.
There was an image behind his eyes. It brightened and distorted, twisted and turned the dimension around him. His enemy beneath him having the dark, soulless eyes of a murderer. His skin grey and dusty, worthless.
And his throat slit.
Blood poured from his neck onto the street, he drowned in it, trying to breathe as he normally would but creating small bubbles out of the wound Ryan inflicted. He did not flinch for even a second. He went back to the other man, coming down to his level and looking straight into him - murderer to murderer.
And he smiled. At the life draining. At the chaos.
"Ryan."
He turned. His knuckles white from gripping the handle so tight - anticipating the rivers of red. His breath short from the excitement.
"Stop."
He recognised the name and the voice. He paused. The knife stayed at the exposed neck of the goon, his eyes were white with fear. He wanted to turn, to see if it was really her. But he couldn't be sure. He was never sure anymore.
"Fight it."
He followed it.
"Fight it!"
It was strong; coaxing him with the images of killing the men that lay before him. Exposed. He could smell the blood that would come with their deaths, the satisfaction. He pressed the knife in his iron grip now at the man's neck hard enough for blood to begin to drip down the man's throat. A smile coming to Ryan's lips.
Leah came down with him, seeing the pressure that he was under, taking his hand. He felt the warmth of her skin heat his own like a bonfire. The veins in his head bulged in the pressure that he was under, resisting the infection. Holding the knife and the fist being held in her hands, feeling the strength he was withholding.
"Let him go, Ryan. Let them go."
He closed his eyes and concentrated. His hands that should've been shaking if not for hers that guided him, holding them close within her own. It took every ounce of his determination - each inch of his courage - but his hands retracted.
"She saved your life."
And the man stared at her. She stepped over him, escaping through a crack which he could not see.
****
"What're you doing here? Why're you following me!?" Ryan said behind him, walking faster in an attempt to lose Leah and the wall that towered behind them.
"You said yourself: we're friends. And they don't just back out on each other. Besides, you've got my knife."
He threw it to the ground in an attempt to slow her down. "Well you should."
"I know I should but that doesn't mean I'm going to."
"Are you retarded or something? I'm infected, I could turn at any second and rip your fucking head off."
"Yeah, and the alternative is going back to Boss or hiding out with Heather."
"What's wrong with Heather?"
"Nothin', she just doesn't need me right now."
"And I do?"
"Yeah. You really do."
"Boss could come after you."
"No, he will come after me. But it's just nice to be-"
"Stop it, it's not like you don't have a choice!"
"I don't-"
"Well he won't get near you. Not while I'm around."
"Hah!" She scoffed. "You underestimate him."
"And you underestimate how strong I am now."
"No, I know that you're an overconfident prick. And that you think he won't kill you on sight."
"Oh, I'm sure he will. If he can."
"Really? You really think you have a chance against him?"
"Anyone can have a chance. Except... For me."
Leah couldn't speak after that. Thinking about what he was saying, what he was talking about. He seemed to cover up his wrist more in retaliation. She noticed, but didn't mention it.
They both left the city far behind them, already at least a mile away. If they turned and saw what was left of it, there would be little to see; just a shadow on the horizon. Leah didn't say anything to Ryan since that time, partly out of lingering annoyance of him being such a pretentious jerk by trying to leave her alone again. But also out of fear.
He was losing himself. He would've killed those guards so emotionless, so careless - she didn't really know what to think of him anymore. Whether this was the bite or his true nature? The question that seemed to scare her more than anything else. Nothing could be said between them.
"What's wrong, Leah?"
She didn't answer straight away. She didn't feel that she needed to, her mind was too deep in thought.
"Come on, you can tell me. I'm only a deadman walking, who am I gonna tell?"
"That was... You would've killed them, wouldn't you?"
Ryan paused, allowing the mood to suddenly turn grey. "Yes. Probably. I don't really know."
"Didn't you? Because I saw you. You had the same look when I was under that dead guy."
He stopped, trying to remember what he would've looked like. "I did?"
"Yeah. As if you would've torn apart the world to get him, if he was stupid enough to run."
"I..." He glanced at his hand, also feeling a blush start to heat up. Was he really that protective of her? A girl he barely knew?
It wasn't entirely about protectiveness. But that was partly the reason which Ryan took the next several minutes trying to figure out.
Leah noticed. Wondering how it would change him. How far it would really go before he... "I don't know."
"What?"
"How long. I don't know how much time you have."
He smiled, hearing the words of wisdom echo from beyond his Dad's grave. "Does anyone?"
"No... I guess not."
All was silent around them, although they listened, nothing could be heard. Not the rustle of a zombie's foolish feet nor their groans in the light. This was worrying - where were they all? Leah knew some of the places that were west, but soon they were all lost behind her.
This was not a place she usually went, and she felt more vulnerable here than she ever did in the city, which was probably crazy. But the life she lived was full of crazy.
"Where are they?"
Ryan shrugged.
"They should be everywhere, shouldn't they? Even three or four, but not even that much? I don't know what's normal 'round here, but even I can tell that this is weird."
"Yeah. Yeah this is definitely weird."
She unsheathed her knife, a long thing that looked like it could slice of limbs in a slingle slice. An intact machete, barely rusted at all, still silvery. Ryan hadn't seen one like it in a long while.
"Damn, where'd you get that?"
"From a friend."
He laughed, then the back of his throat burned furiously and quickly. He buckled over and started coughing way louder than he would've preferred; when he opened his eyes after the fit was over specs of blood could be seen on the pavement. Leah was watching him and, when he was done, gave her arm to help him back up again.
"You alright?"
He nodded, his voice hoarse. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"No." He breathed in for a moment, wondering if it would start again. "I mean for coming with me. For not lettin' me do this alone."
Leah didn't answer immediately. "Ryan, I doubt I would've let you do this alone. Nobody deserves to go through this."
"When it happens-"
A groan woke Ryan up, making him look into the white eyes of one with barely any jaw left. His tongue lolled to the side of his ripped cheekbone as it clawed for Leah's shoulder. She screamed when it grabbed at her, and he cried out.
He lunged for it quickly, throwing off her and tumbling over with it as it landed on top of him. He expected to be eaten, the zombie to rip pieces of his flesh off one limb at a time in an instant. Life over.
But it didn't. He could see into the eyes of the dead man, watch the drool and black blood in his skull, yet he didn't kill. He only took a second to take in his scent. Then tried to get up, to go for Leah again and this time make her an early dinner. He made sure that the dead man stayed down, stabbing through the neck, then upwards, slicing enough of the brain for the zombie to stay down.
It was all skin and bones, it never had much of a chance.
Leah was gasping, in fear, in anxiety. She couldn't even say his name, call to whether he was okay or even comprehend what she was seeing. She felt her shirt torn against the pressure of the dead man's hands, and the ache of an oncoming bruise, but not the warmth of blood. She was okay, for now. She would live.
Ryan pushed it off of him, wondering how he really got through it all.
Then, in an instant, it hit him.
"It could... smell me." He looked at his bite. "It knew."
She didn't speak. She couldn't.
"I... I don't- How long do I have? How long?!"
"Ryan-"
"No, stay away from me!" He backed off, feeling his voice croak. Feeling fear unlike any other. Fear of what he was capable of, what he would become. Another corpse on the ground.
Leah didn't let him get far, she ran to him, holding him tightly in her arms. She smelt him. It wasn't any different - still musky, still thick with sweat and blood. But then there was always something beneath that; a tiny, little thing that she was addicted to.
Not that she would ever admit that.
A smell unlike anything else she had encountered before. She held him tighter, wondering how long he really had. The back of her mind imagining him chewing into her neck at this perfect opportunity.
"Listen to me," She commanded in a soft, but forceful voice. "If... when it happens. I'll can do it. I'll never, ever let you turn."
"Just because you can doesn't mean you will."
"Yeah. I will." She smiled sadly. "I've had this conversation before, Ryan. I know how it goes."
He didn't answer. Curiosity took over any expression he might've had before and Leah gladly answered:
"I had a friend once, y'know. Before all this." She told him. "We were sent there to get some stuff, me and him. Like a test for new soldiers of Boss, seeing what slaves had the spark of war. We got some bits separately, but he was too careful - wasn't going anywhere near where the overrun places were. Didn't get nearly enough. So we joined forces, gathered what we could and it worked for the first few days. He was nice to me, actually gave a shit whether I died or not, which is a big improvement on what the rest of the world thought of me.
"But... He was slow. He was bitten within the fourth day and we had to get back to the City in five. There was no way we'd both be able to make it. I wanted to shoot him, told him it was the only way to do it, to stop the change, but he didn't want me to. He was scared.
"So I left him. He had his gun and a bullet that he could take himself out with, but that was it. I made it back to Boss - the only one who ever got back - and... he congratulated me. He patted me on the back and sent me on my way back to training. Like I made a fucking father's day card with glue and sprinkly shit... Like nobody was murdered. I decided then. That I needed to get out."
"And you did."
"It wasn't easy."
"I bet it wasn't. But you still did it, despite everything that happened to you, you did it. And you're helping these kids, too. Helping them live without needing to die out here for food."
She took a moment to let herself feel a little more for him, to let the compliment seep into her heart. But she didn't reply.
"It's getting late."
"Yeah." Leah looked at the sun, already going behind the horizon, she shivered prematurely. "Know anywhere we could stay?"
There was a moment of thought. Of conflict. He had stopped in his tracks. "Can I trust you?"
He was more serious. Much more than she had ever heard him before. Leah stopped as well, looking back at him, almost offended at the question which she thought was obvious.
"I don't know, do you?"
Again there was uncertainty. She stood waiting the seconds it took before he, at last, nodded to her. "I know a place which is safe."
He stepped ahead of her, leading her through the remnants of the decomposing city.