Jenny turned her head sharply, staring at Rose in utter disbelief.

At first, the idea sounded completely absurd.

An actual demon walking among them in the middle of a modern city? But as she replayed everything she had seen over the last twenty-four hours, the pieces snapped into place.

Rose didn’t act like any zombie they had encountered. She wasn’t rotting, she had complete control over her body, and most importantly, the other undead treated her like an absolute authority.

She stood at the very top of their food chain.

When you factored all of that in, her claim wasn’t crazy at all. It was the only explanation that made sense.

In the front seat, Aadav kept both hands glued to the steering wheel and kept his mouth firmly shut.

Whether she was an evolved zombie or a literal demon from hell didn’t change the bottom line: Rose was ridiculously strong, completely dangerous, and wouldn’t think twice about ripping his head off if he crossed the line.

Staying silent was his best bet at staying alive.

"A-A... demon? What is a demon?" Vivienne asked, her voice trembling as she voiced the confusion gripping everyone in the car.

Rose hummed softly, tapping her chin as if deciding whether the question was even worth answering.

Before she could open her mouth, Fredrinn calmly stepped in, cutting through the heavy tension and steering the conversation somewhere else entirely.

"Is that the bus you were talking about, Vivienne?" Fredrinn pointed through the windshield.

Up ahead, resting near the curb of the boulevard, was the school bus.

It was a modern, bright yellow transit model with dark tinted windows and rooftop air-conditioning units, looking in surprisingly good shape.

The only real damage was at the front bumper, where the driver had slammed into a municipal fire hydrant.

A steady stream of pressurized water sprayed into the street, mixing with thick pools of dark blood to form pinkish puddles on the cracked asphalt.

Dozens of bodies were scattered around the wreckage. Most were high school students, with a few adults mixed into the carnage.

Attracted by the low rumble of the Camry’s engine, several wandering zombies stopped pacing and turned toward the vehicle, shuffling forward with dull, milky eyes.

Vivienne stared at the grim scene, the color draining completely from her face. She recognized several of the dead teenagers lying on the pavement. But what hit her hardest was one particular zombie shambling near the front of the group.

Aadav shifted gears and revved the engine, his foot hovering over the gas pedal. Now that they had located a functional bus, the car was expendable. He was fully prepared to plow straight through the crowd and turn them into roadkill.

Seeing him get ready to accelerate, Vivienne jerked her head away, covering her mouth as a muffled sob escaped her throat.

The girl walking toward them had been one of her brightest students from another class. She was a polite, sharp-witted young woman with an incredible sense of ethics and a gentle personality.

She had her whole life ahead of her, and she didn’t deserve to end up like this.

Even as an infected monster, the girl stood out from the rest of the horde. She didn’t drag her feet or lurch awkwardly, and her school uniform wasn’t torn to shreds.

There was no dried gore smeared across her skin—only the pale, jagged bite mark on her forearm where she had been turned.

"What’s wrong, Vivienne?" Fredrinn asked in a low, gentle voice, noticing how badly she was shaking.

Vivienne shook her head frantically, wiping at her eyes. "N-Nothing, please don’t mind me. It’s just... someone I know. I don’t want to watch her get crushed like that. She was my student, one of the brightest in the whole school."

Seeing her crumble, Fredrinn leaned forward from the backseat and pulled her into a hug over the headrest.

The angle was awkward and somewhat uncomfortable with her in the front and him behind, but he didn’t mind the contact at all.

Her full, heavy chest pressed right against him, giving him a clear feel of her softness as she leaned into his shoulder for support.

Her assets were so bountiful that it felt like he was pressing himself onto clouds. Rose was big and perfect, but Vivienne was fucking humongous.

Fredrinn gently stroked her back with one hand, letting the steady rhythm calm her ragged breathing.

Sitting beside him, Rose watched the whole display with a small yawn. Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly as she studied Fredrinn’s posture.

With her newly boosted intelligence, she was finally starting to connect the dots behind his behavior.

She would still need some private time alone with him to confirm her suspicions, but she was definitely catching on.

And while she still hated the sight of another woman pressing against her man, she knew that flying into a violent rage and ripping the teacher apart would only make Fredrinn disappointed with her.

She didn’t want him to hate her.

Brute force wasn’t the answer here. Instead, she decided to try out a concept she had seen humans use: empathy.

"Actually, I may be able to save her," Rose said casually.

Her words cut through the quiet car like a sudden gunshot.

Vivienne froze instantly against Fredrinn’s chest. The sobbing stopped dead. Slowly, the teacher pulled back, turning around in her seat to stare at Rose with a wild mix of horror, shock, and desperate hope.

"What?" Vivienne gasped, her voice cracking in disbelief.

Rose didn’t bother looking back at her. She reached down, pulled the door handle, and pushed the rear car door wide open, stepping out onto the wet asphalt.

"It’s quite simple," Rose explained in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, looking straight at the approaching student zombies. "Though she will not be that intelligent at first. In fact, she’ll be even worse than Charlie until she evolves and gains some intelligence."

Vivienne gulped down her saliva, looking back at the front as she stared at the zombie.

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