“We have to get her inside. Can you carry her?” Natalie’s voice was thick and pleading as she climbed out of the car, Samantha’s keys in one hand, her medical bag in the other.

  Adam scooped Samantha up as gently as he could. The wet warmth of her side pressing against his stomach made him flinch and the blood was already soaking through his shirt. She was breathing, but barely, her lips bubbling with blood with each strained breath.

  Natalie rushed ahead and unlocked the door, holding it open.

  Adam took the short flight of stairs two at a time and carefully navigated the cramped storeroom, stepping over boxes and stacks of books. He kicked through the door to the lobby and laid Samantha on the nearest table, trying not to jostle her more than he had to.

  "I'll be back." He started toward the door, eyes darting across the poorly lit interior.

  "Where are you going?" Natalie asked, but her focus shifted immediately to Samantha. She leaned in to take her pulse, shaking her head as a fresh glint of tears rolled down her cheek.

  “I need to make sure it’s safe. There’s no point saving her from bleeding out just to have us torn to pieces by something hiding in the bathroom.” He didn’t look back or wait for an answer as he made his way to the car.

  Adam grabbed his bat and backpack from the front seat, then reached into the back for Natalie and Samantha’s packs.

  He paused beside the car, staring at it for a moment.

  It was half-destroyed, windows shattered, and sides riddled with bullet holes. He was surprised it was still running, but there was no way it would last much longer. They'd need new transportation soon.

  If they made it through the night.

  Adam stepped back through the storeroom and dropped their bags on the counter. Natalie was still bent over Samantha, silently crying as the wounded woman struggled to breathe.

  He pushed through the small lobby, moving quickly but trying to keep focused.

  When he flipped the light switch, the power came on. It struck him as strange, but he shrugged it off and kept going. There would be time to wonder after they were out of danger.

  He eased open the door to the women's bathroom. It was clean, empty and untouched.

  The men's bathroom told a different story.

  Blankets and bags lay scattered across the floor, as if someone had been sleeping there for days. The air smelled faintly of stale sweat and he wrinkled his nose. Someone had definitely been hiding here, but there was no sign of them now.

  Back in the lobby he checked the front door. It was unlocked. He swallowed his growing sense of unease and turned the bolt with a loud click.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Adam returned to the table and looked down at Samantha. Her face was even more pale, her lips tinged blue and flecked with bloody spittle. Each breath was shallow, strained, and her hair was matted with sweat. Natalie kept constant pressure on the wound, but blood still leaked between her fingers.

  "I'm going to lose her," Natalie sobbed, her arms shaking violently as she pressed down on the wound. She looked up at him, eyes wide and pleading. "I can't. I can't lose her."

  Adam placed a hand on her back, trying his best to offer comfort. The three of them had become fast friends, bound by the trauma of this shared nightmare, and he couldn’t imagine losing either of them.

  It was hard to believed it had only been a week.

  A week since the world collapsed.

  A week since he’d been struck by lightning.

  A week since he died.

  "You can save her."

  The thought hit him like a jolt, and he grabbed Natalie's shoulder, turning her toward him.

  "You can SAVE her. Like you saved me."

  Natalie stared at him, her expression exhausted and afraid. "I don't know. I don’t know how." Her voice was a hoarse whisper as she looked back down at her dying wife.

  "I think you do."

  Adam tried to keep the doubt out of his voice. He had no idea if she could do it, but he sure as hell wasn't going to say that out loud. Samantha was on death's door, and nothing else but a Hail Mary was going to save her.

  "You have to try, like you did with me. I was dead, remember? Samantha's still here."

  With that, Natalie's face broke, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. Then her expression hardened. Her jaw clenched and her eyes filled with intensity he’d never seen as she looked down.

  She tore away the bandaging and pulled out the packing. Samantha moaned once and then went still, blood surging up in fresh waves out of the open wound.

  Lacing her left hand over her right, she spread all ten figures across Samantha's pale, blood-soaked skin. She closed her eyes and began to murmur softly.

  Adam watched, desperately willing the impossible to work, but silently fearing the inevitable.

  Samantha's breaths became increasingly shallow, each slower than the last. Even without medical training, he could see she didn't have much time left. Her chest and stomach gleamed red under the fluorescent light, slick with blood.

  His vision blurred as his own tears welled up, burning at the corner of his eyes. She was dying, killed not by a monster, but senselessly by other people.

  Other survivors.

  He reached out and took her ice-cold hand, holding it in both of his.

  Adam looked up at Natalie. Her face was lined with stress and nearly as pale as Samantha's. Her jaw was clenched so tightly he worried she would crack a tooth.

  He said nothing, just willed her on, silently praying she could do the impossible, even as every instinct told him it was already too late.

  Then came a sound he would never forget. Samantha took in a slow, gasping breath, her chest rising a fraction of an inch at a time. For one impossible moment, she held on. Then it slipped out with a long, soft sigh.

  And then there was silence.

  It was the loudest sound he had ever heard.

  The moment stretched, long and unbearable as he held the limp hand, tears continuing to stream down his cheeks.

  Finally, he released her hand, placing it gently at her side.

  "Natalie... she's gone," he said softly, settling a hand on her shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze. "I'm so sorry."

  "No." Natalie's voice was like iron, unmoving and resolute. "I have her."

  Adam looked at the woman, hands still pressed to Samantha's lifeless blood-soaked body. Her face was just as pale, every muscle in her neck stood out in stark relief, and her teeth were bared in a silent snarl.

  He felt equal parts pity and respect. She deserved her moment of hope, or denial.

  They both did.

  His gaze dropped back to Samantha's still form. She looked peaceful now, death having smoothed the lines of pain from her face, and he was ashamed to find he envied her, even if it was just a little.

  He slowly lifted her hand from where lay on the table and placed it over her chest, the barest flicker of movement catching his eye as he let go.

  He frowned, glancing from Natalie to Samantha, his mind either unable or unwilling to process what his eyes saw.

  Samantha's chest rose, just slightly, then fell, rising again a moment later.

  She was breathing.