"Undying Hearts" Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Lily’s finger inched back the yellowing lace curtain, her fingertips skimming along the cool glass. She peeked out the window, between the thin plywood boards shielding them from view. Darkness settled in the sleepy neighborhood. The world around her was quiet except for the never-ending moans of the infected roaming just outside the house.

An infected shuffled past the window, its pale blue smock streaked with dirt, blood, and diseased flesh that dripped down its clothes like muddy jelly. Behind the walking corpse, moonlight glinted off a car window. Stars sprinkled the blue frosted sky above. With no streetlights, no lamplights, and no candlelight, the rest of the neighborhood was black and invisible.

“Mommy?” Sammy asked. “Can you read me a story?”

“In a minute, sweetie. There are a few monsters outside. I have to take care of them first. Remember what we practiced?” Lily shot her daughter a pointed look, one she’d perfected over the years—a listen-to-your-mother stare.

Four-year-old Sammy sighed with exaggerated disappointment. Her mess of red curls fell forward as she slouched her shoulders. “Yes.” Her little voice sounded like a deflated balloon as she stood and dragged herself the steps.

Lily heard the bedroom door shut, then the waist-high bolt lock slid into place.

Her daughter was safe for now. Safe if she didn’t come back.

But Lily always came back.

She peeked through the old curtains one last time. Three infected roamed around the street and their moans were soft and distant. No hordes waiting for her in the darkness. No surprises.

“You’ve got this,” she murmured to herself as she dropped the curtain back into place. She reached down for the machete at her feet and she slid it from its homemade aluminum foil holster.

Careful not to make much noise, she walked toward the front door and peeked outside the peephole. The world stretched out before her in a tiny bubble. The porch swing swayed even in the humid summer air.

Lily checked beyond the swing in the corner, past her mother’s rose bushes which were beginning to grow a bit wild. She stared harder. A thin strip of scarlet streaked across her view. “Damn,” she murmured, yanking the stray piece of hair behind her ear.

She checked again. No infected at the front door.

The door chain jangled as she unlocked the door. She paused, twisted the doorknob, and stepped out into the night.

A wall of humid air slammed into her, moist heat sticking to her skin like sweat. Her hands gripped the machete tighter as she surveyed the street, at least what she could see of it. She missed streetlamps.

Her stomach rolled as adrenaline pulsed through her system, ramping up her senses and flooding her body with a weird high—she liked it.

To the right, a soft moan grew louder like a choking animal. An infected wandered up the front gate toward her. The walking corpse wore a mailman’s uniform, caked with congealed blood and bits of decaying skin. Its glossy, dead eyes stared at her as it hobbled toward her.

Lily stepped off the porch steps, raising her machete in the air.

Whack!

Lily’s bicep stiffened as blade met bone.

The infected chocked on its last moan before crumbling to the ground at Lily’s feet. Clotted blood dripped off the blade, still half-raised where the skull had been a moment ago.

“Gross,” Lily winced as a chunk of decayed yellow bone fell from the tip. The smell of death churned her stomach like that liquid pink stuff her mother used to give her when she had indigestion.

She stepped over the corpse in search of the other two infected she knew were wandering near her mother’s house. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” she taunted to the empty night sky.

Another moan echoed further down the block, steadily coming toward her. Lily whistled as she walked along the white picket fence, getting closer to the infected moving toward her. Its tattered plaid t-shirt whipped in the summer air around its rotting torso. Dried blood and chunks of flesh stuck in its long beard.

“The lumberjack look doesn’t suit you.” Lily raised her blade and sliced downward, the machete cracking its skull with a loud thunk. “Like splitting a coconut,” she said to the corpse as it fell in front of her. Clotted blood and bits of decayed brain oozed from the gap. “Like splitting a nasty, diseased-ridden, dead coconut.”

Lily hummed “Put the Lime in the Coconut” as she continued to roam around the front of the house, careful not to stray. A shimmy of movement caught her eye and she stopped walking. A fresh wave of adrenaline rushed through her veins.

The third corpse hobbled out behind an SUV parked right in front of the house. Its left ankle twisted at an odd angle. It limped toward Lily with outstretched arms. The guttural moans gargled from its throat as dead eyes stared at her. The nametag on the pale blue smock read “Heidi.”

Lily’s gasp echoed in the thick air as surprise punched her in the gut.

Heidi had been her mother’s favorite neighbor. The young woman visited Lily’s mother often when Lily and Sammy moved away from Ohio and out to sunny California. Heidi and Lily had been childhood friends. They’d played hopscotch and gone to school together.

Heidi had been the person Lily called when her mother didn’t answer the phone. Heidi had been the one who found her mother dead on the sofa, watching the news about the infection and the world going mad.

This infected Heidi bore no resemblance to the bright, youthful woman Lily remembered. Instead, a walking corpse with decaying skin and a broken ankle stumbled around, moaning and wearing Heidi’s nametag.

All infected used to be people.

“I’m so sorry.” Lily raised her machete again and froze.

Two headlights flashed into view on her street.

A car.

Another person.

The infected turned its attention to the lights and away from Lily. She stepped forward and plummeted the machete deep into Heidi’s skull.

“Fuck,” Lily said again as the machete stuck in Heidi’s head, the corpse dropping to the ground and pulling the blade down with it.

“Damn it, Heidi,” Lily murmured, ducking below the SUV and trying to jiggle the blade from Heidi’s skull.

The lights faded away. The engine died. The door slammed.

Whoever was out there had seen her, and her only weapon was four inches deep in her childhood best friend’s skull.

Lily let go of the handle, careful to keep herself ducked down below the SUV’s windows.

The front door to her house was unlocked. If whoever was out there didn’t notice her, she could—

“Hello?” A deep voice rang out in the dark like a church bell in the otherwise quiet neighborhood. A man’s voice.

“Oh hell no,” Lily mouthed to herself. No one was going near her or Sammy, especially not a strange man.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard her mother’s cheery voice. Don’t talk to any strange men, Lily. And remember, all men are strange.

“You can come out now.” The voice sounded closer, the bass tone rippling over her skin. Fear pricked the back of her neck like a mosquito. She heard the crunch of his boots as he stepped over the dead lumberjack in the street. He was moving closer to the SUV and further away from her front door.

Lily knew it was now or never. She’d have to run.

With a start that would have impressed her old track coach, she launched herself from behind the SUV and darted toward her front door.

“Hey, wait!” His heavy steps sounded on the concrete behind her, but she wouldn’t look back. She burst through the front gate, leaped up the porch steps, and grabbed the handle, twisting the knob. She hurried through the front door.

“I just want to talk to you!” The man’s voice was right on top of her.

Lily slammed the door shut behind her, fumbling at the chain to lock the door before he could—

The door flung open with such strong force Lily had to step back before she lost her balance.

A tall figure filled the doorway. A sword shone in his hand as he stared down at her with gleaming sapphire-blue eyes.

Eyes that were very much alive.

“Mommy?” Sammy’s voice floated from the top of the steps.

Lily’s heart pounded faster. Sammy had left the bedroom. The stranger knew Sammy existed.

“Get away!” She growled at the figure, but the man froze, glancing between Lily and Sammy.

“You have a daughter.”

“Sammy, get in your room and lock the door,” Lily said as she rushed toward the steps.

A strong arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her down to the floor as the man’s weight crushed her.

Pain shot through her knees as she fell to the floor. Her hands scratched against the old rug.

“Mommy!” Sammy shrieked.

Lily flung her head back into the stranger’s chin with a hard thump.

“Ow! I don’t want to hurt you.” He released Lily and took several heavy steps backward that seemed to rattle the entire living room floor.

Lily panted as she turned on all fours.

Her heart lodged itself in her throat. The steady thumping reached into her brain as she watched Sammy jump off the bottom step toward the stranger.

“Leave her alone!” Sammy said, stomping her foot only two feet away from the man.

He paused, staring down at the little girl in front of him. Lily’s heart hammered out of her chest as the man smiled down at her daughter. His teeth gleamed in the dull moonlight. “Well, hello there. What’s your name, princess?”

“I’m Sammy McLaughlin,” she said, placing her hands on her hips as she frowned at the stranger.

“Hi, Sammy. My name is Flynn.”

Sammy gasped. “Like in Rapunzel?”

“Yes, just like in Rapunzel. Sammy, is this your mom?”

Flynn’s sword gleamed in his hand as he pointed the tip toward Lily. Even in the darkness from several feet away, the weapon seemed razor sharp. Moonlight glinted from the tip. Red drops of thick, clotted bloodstained the cutlass.

His hand reached out toward Sammy, moving closer.

“Get away from her!” Lily screamed and launched herself toward him. Flynn’s head shot up, his gaze locking with Lily’s. He froze in place, his hand inches from Sammy’s mess of red curls.

Sammy spread her arms out, protecting the stranger from her mother. “No, Mommy,” she cried, “don’t hurt the prince.” Sammy flung her arms around the man’s waist, wrapping him in a tight hug to keep him safe.

Lily froze, fear choking her as her throat tightened.

He had Sammy. Her daughter was hugging a man holding a bloody sword.

An invisible fist squeezed Lily’s throat and panic rose in her belly, making it almost impossible to breathe. “Let her go,” she pleaded, her heart pounding so loud she could hardly hear herself speak.

The stranger stood frozen, sword in one hand, the other still suspended in midair. Through the darkness, Lily could still see his blue eyes blazing, locks of dirty, black hair shielding half of his face from view.

Panic pulsed through her veins as she wracked her brain for an idea.

The sword.

If she had his sword, she would have a bargaining chip.

“I’m not going to hurt her.” His deep growl of a voice pierced through Lily like a lance. The roughness in his voice made her shiver.

“Let her go,” Lily said again.

On the floor, less than five feet from her was a long, silver candlestick that held a half-melted taper. The metal might not be heavy, but a blow to Flynn’s head would hurt him enough to distract him. Lily inched closer.

Following her gaze, the stranger moved with her. Sammy still clung to his waist. “I wouldn’t do that, Sweetheart,” he taunted.

Lily lunged for the candlestick.

Flynn shoved Sammy from his waist and rushed toward Lily to stop her.

She was faster.

Lily grabbed the candlestick. The taper clattered to the floor and rolled under a couch. She glanced at the candlestick in her hand, to the stranger who stood still, only a few feet in front of her. He stood between the girls, sword still in hand.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” he said, his voice echoing around the living room. He slid his cutlass into a sheath that belted around his waist, like a modern knight. He held up both hands in surrender. “See, now I’m unarmed,” he paused. “You wouldn’t hurt an unarmed man, would you?”

“You touched my daughter,” she growled. Red blurred Lily’s vision as she lunged, her arm swinging downward with a tight grip on the candlestick.

The stranger’s hand flung out and caught her wrist, dragging her closer to him.

Lily’s grip loosened in shock and the candlestick dropped to the floor with a loud bang.

His arms twisted, turning her around and pressing her spine to his chest, her arms pinned in front of her. “Now, I said I wouldn’t hurt her. I don’t want to hurt you either, but you’re making this extremely difficult.” His breath tickled her ear, shivers of awareness slithering down her back. His hard chest was like granite as he pressed her body closer to him. Even caked in blood and dirt, he smelled like sandalwood and something tropical.

Her blood boiled under her skin, frustration mounting as she struggled to break free. She writhed in his grasp.

His grip on her tightened with each movement.

She swung her legs, trying to kick him, but she couldn’t seem to reach her target. “Get off of me, you son of a bitch!” She could feel his cock stiffen and grow against her bottom. Was this getting him off?

Lily fumed.

“Let go of her,” a small voice shouted behind them.

With a loud “Ouch,” the stranger released her and crumpled to the floor. “She kicked me,” he murmured in surprise as he fell to one knee.

“Sammy!” Lily called to her. Sammy ran behind her mother and clung to her leg.

Lily reached down and pulled the sword out of its sheath, pointing it between the stranger’s eyes. She should do it. It was the only way she knew they would be safe. He knew where they were hiding…

“Mommy,” Sammy’s weak voice crackled behind her. “Don’t hurt the prince. He didn’t hurt us.”

Suddenly the sword seemed a hundred pounds heavier in her hand. Sammy was right. Her four-year-old daughter was better at keeping a level head than her.

Lily sighed and stepped away, allowing the stranger enough room to rise off the floor. He wobbled and stood, leaning against the wall. He kicked his leg out once, twice, before finally putting some weight on his injured knee.

“Smart girl you’ve got there,” he said.

“What do you want?” Lily snapped, keeping the sword held in front of her.

“I saw those zombies moving toward the house. Then I saw you. I haven’t seen another person for weeks now.”

“Why did you follow me?” Lily asked.

“Like I said, you’re the first person I’ve seen in a long time.” He paused. His powder blue eyes gleamed through the darkness as his gaze bounced between Lily and Sammy. “Did you really think I was going to hurt your daughter?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “I don’t know you. You don’t know us. You’re the first face we’ve seen in almost two months. I wasn’t sure anyone else was… out there.”

Lily glanced down. Sammy still clung to her thigh, tiny fingers gripping her tight.

Lily shook her head. “I’m not talking about this in front of my daughter.”

He nodded like he understood her concern. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Lily thought for a second. Should she tell him? Why not? It’s not like she had to worry about some stranger identifying her on the street or stealing her identity online. There was no online. Strangers didn’t roam the streets anymore. Only infected could walk outside freely.

“Lily McLaughlin,” she said.

He smiled, his white teeth catching in the moonlight. “Lily,” he repeated, testing her name as if he was deciding something. Lily couldn’t figure out what though.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Flynn Irving,” he said. He started to hold his hand out for a handshake, but Lily pointed the tip of the sword toward his arm. “Okay, so we’re not friendly yet. Point taken,” he pulled his hand away. “No pun intended.”

Lily fought back a small smile.

Flynn sighed. “Lily, I’m alone. I’m not looking for trouble. You have me unarmed and at a serious disadvantage. I was scavenging supplies on my way to a refugee camp and—”

“Wait,” Lily stopped him. “There are others? Alive?”

Could it be true? Were there other people who survived the disease?

“I’ve seen signs along the highway,” Flynn replied. “I can’t guarantee their legitimacy. They could be Trojan horses for all I know, but I figured it’s worth the risk. My plan was, if they’re a real camp, perhaps I could persuade them to take in an outsider. I have some knowledge about cars. I built hot rods as a hobby before the infection spread. I guess I’m a mechanic by the loosest of terms.”

He glanced at the tip of the sword again before glancing back at Lily. Those startling blue eyes caught her off guard. “I was a history professor before the disease. Medieval history. Clearly, that’s not very useful to anyone right now.”

“Was it really useful to anyone before all of this?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Flynn tossed his head back as he let out a bark of a laugh that boomed like a gunshot through the house. “Touché, Lily.” He glanced at the sword again. He pointed. “That is a prized cutlass from my personal collection. It was the only weapon in my collection worth taking. The only thing worth bringing. Most of the other swords were too large and bulky. Maces and battle axes are poor weapons against the infected. Too much blood flying about. Too easy to get it in your eye or your mouth and turn you.”

“You can get turned without them biting you?” Lily asked. “I thought it was like in the movies where they had to bite you to become infected?”

Flynn shook his head, locks of dark hair swooshing along the edge of his jacket. “No, I saw someone get a bit of infected blood in his eye and within twenty-four hours, he had turned. His wife—” Flynn shuddered. “His wife shot him in the back of the head. Instant kill. The poor woman turned the gun on herself afterward before they could stop her.”

Sammy whimpered.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “We shouldn’t be discussing this in front of your daughter.”

Lily froze, her mind whirling. Why did he care about what Sammy heard? That seemed so…human.

“As I was saying,” he continued, “I was on my way to a refugee camp when I passed through here. Driving on the back roads is better than trying to use a highway. Too many jammed-up cars. Too many infected.”

“Where’s this camp?” she asked.

“Out near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I far, but right now, it’s my only option. It’s that camp or wandering around until I find something else, assuming there is something else.”

Flynn paused before a grin broke out over his face. “Come with me.”

Lily tried to hold back a laugh, but she couldn’t help herself. The harsh sound burst from her chest like a gunshot. “What?” She lowered the sword to her side, careful to keep a safe distance between the bloody blade and her curious daughter.

Flynn smiled. “There’s safety in numbers. You’re not safe here.”

“You broke into my house,” Lily began. “You pointed a sword at me. You scared my daughter. I don’t know you from Adam.”

“Well, my name’s Flynn, so you know that.” His smile shifted into an easy grin that was almost…charming?

Lily’s stomach fluttered in a strange way. “How do I know I can trust you?” she asked.

“You don’t. Not yet, anyway. Let me stay the night,” he suggested.

“Let you stay? In my house? With my daughter? You’re insane.”

“No, I’m not,” he said. “Besides, I know where you live. I know what you have. I know you don’t know how to use that sword. You can barely hold it in front of you. Your grip is all wrong. Oh, I was a fencer in college by the way. Notre Dame. Add it to the list of marketable apocalyptic skills.” He chuckled, but when Lily didn’t laugh, he kept talking.

“You can make me leave, but who’s to say I won’t come back in the night? If I wanted to hurt either of you, I could have done it a hundred times by now. Obviously, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Lily stayed silent, observing him. It was like studying a lion in a cage. She had him trapped, but he was eying her with a restrained hunger she couldn’t quite understand.

Flynn’s hand rose, running his fingers through his dirt-slicked hair. “Look, as I’ve said, you’re the first person I’ve seen in a long time. Probably about a month since my old camp broke up. There was a horde that came and we scattered. I haven’t seen any of them since. I have no interest in hurting either of you. Honest. I was looking for a safe spot to sleep and maybe find some food when I saw you. A woman, wandering the streets alone, killing infected. I was curious. And relieved to see another living person. Come with me.”

Lily paused, weighing her options. On the one hand, he was right. She couldn’t just kill him. How could that protect Sammy, watching her mother become a cold-blooded murderer? On the other hand, she couldn’t let him leave. He knew too much. She needed time to think, to mull over her options. What better way than to keep him here right under her nose for a few hours while she thought? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

But was he really an enemy?

“You’ll have to stay in the bathroom,” she said. “I’m going to lock you inside. There’s nothing but a straight fifteen-foot drop onto the ground if you try to get out. And I’m a light sleeper.”

“Thank you,” he breathed out in relief. “My cutlass?” He reached out a hand for it.

Lily pointed the tip toward him again, the blade inches from his outstretched fingers. “No. This is mine for now. Until I say so.”

Flynn shielded himself with his hands and laughed. “And though she be but little, she is fierce. Alright, your house, your rules. Now, where’s the bathroom?”

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