Francesco was trembling violently when I sat him near the fire and wrapped in a blanket. Blood loss and fear weakened him to the point he was barely conscious. I glanced at my savior – she was chatting with the vamp, seemingly oblivious to the devastation she caused to her prey.

"Sweet. I hope he's as good for you as he is for me," I overheard Lily say. What did she mean by that?

I tried to give Francesco some hot tea, but he was in a kind of stupor.

"At least allow him to speak," I cried to my benefactor. "Please," I added after a moment. Better to stay on her good side.

"All right, you can talk to your heart's content," she answered, already half asleep. She must have been really tired. I poured the warm beverage straight into Francesco's mouth and helped him to lie down. He immediately closed his eyes and I think he fell asleep. Or finally fainted, I wasn't sure.

I slid into my sleeping bag near the fire. Days were still sunny and worm, but nights were freezing cold. I closed my eyes and thought about Milena. For the last two years I was sure she was dead. She disappeared soon after the full scale outbreak of the epidemics, and neither I nor our mum could contact her. She was in Warsaw when all hell broke loose, in the epicenter as far as I was able to tell. The whole Iris office, with everyone in it, was blown up when the emojis flooded the streets of the capital.

And now I learn that she's alive. Those damned bloodsuckers must have captured her to make her work for them. They probably took her somewhere safe, far from the mess in the big city. I wish Lily told us where she was, but we'll have to wait till morning I guess. I don't really care how far that is, if in the end I can get to Milena. I miss my big sister.

She always took care of me, together with mum. We had different fathers, but they were both gone – hers died in a car accident, mine... Well, mum never wanted to talk about that. He just wasn't there. Milena was ten when he disappeared right after my birth, but she wouldn't tell me anything about him either. I think he was just a scumbag that left his woman when she got pregnant.

My eyelids got heavy and I slipped into oblivion. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, shivering in the cold. I rekindled the fire and started boiling water for the tea. The tea somehow made everything easier, always. I think it felt like home, just a little bit.

Francesco woke up in a much better shape. He sat closer to the fire and for a long moment just wormed his hands near the flames.

"So, you're her fuck boy, eh?" he stated without any introduction. I choked on my tea.

"No! We don't have this kind of relationship!" I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks go red.

"So what's with her nursing you like a hen?" he asked, staring me in the face.

"I, I don't know. She saved me... Got me out when a bunch of emojis was trying to eat me. That's all," I stuttered.

He wasn't convinced I think.

"What's the deal with all this lust, you and the vamp keep talking about?" I managed to ask.

"The bitch has the worm. But a different kind, a fucking mutant," he almost spat out. "She's not contagious, or at least that's what they said in the lab. She's stuck in the first phase," he paused theatrically. "So she just wants to fuck, like all the time," he snorted.

"But that's not the worst. She doesn't care for anyone but herself. I was camping with a few of my friends. She lured a horde on us. Only I made it out alive. You saw what she did to me when I was looking for shelter last night, She's dangerous as fuck. You should keep away from her," he whispered, glancing at the yawning woman. She was waking up.

Lily appeared at the barrier. She looked awful, like a walking corpse. But she was awake under the rays of early morning sun, and that was some feat for a leech. She ignored me and Francesco, speaking only to my savior.

"So where are we heading?" she inquired.

The answer took me by surprise, "To Warsaw". I noticed Francesco flinch, but he didn't say anything. At first I thought that I heard wrong. The capital was supposed to be ruined and overrun by emojis.

I wish it was a mistake, but no – we are heading to the capital. It's some three hundred kilometers from where we are, so at least ten days of marching. If we're lucky and don't run into any bigger swarms of emojis. We'll have to take care of supplies as well – from what I saw, they would be enough for one more day at best. Not many animals were left in the emojis territory, so we'll have to look in the ruined shops and houses. With whole area full of monsters there should be plenty of places still not robbed.

We got walking when the sun was already high up. Lily was at the front, doing her best to keep a good pace. The sun was visibly taking its toll on her. I quickened my pace to walk by her side.

"So... you say my sister is working for you..." I started tentatively. She glanced at me and nodded. "I thought she died when the Iris offices were blown up. It was vamps that got her out?" I asked, trying to read anything from her tired face.

"She wasn't at the offices," the leech's answer surprised me. "We recruited her long before the big boom," she added after a long pause. What the hell?

"What for?" I kept pressing her for information.

She sighed, "We knew about the parasite much earlier than you blood bags. Wolves were attacking, losing the temper and we investigated," she wasn't particularly keen on filling me in on my sister.

"Milena must have been scared out of her wits, when a vamp approached her," I mused. "She had no idea you even existed", like we all, I added in my mind.

"Don't be naïve. You think they got the idea for the worm from where? Your big sis was playing with the supernatural long before this whole apocalypse," the bloodsucker sneered. "Wish she hadn't – she understood shit and now we have the fucking worm", she added angrily.

I looked at her in disbelief, hoping she was just teasing me. But no, her stern face and now visible fangs told me she was being serious. The next question got stuck in my throat when a howl cut through the silence of the empty field we were just crossing. I looked around but couldn't spot a thing. Maybe this was just a lonely wolf, that managed to escape the emojis.

My hope was lost when I saw a massive figure appearing from behind a small hill to the right of us. Werewolves with the parasite were stuck in their part animal form. Around it there were several smaller, vaguely human shapes. I felt the hair on my neck stand on ends. For a moment I thought we could still avoid the encounter, but the wolf pointed at us and started running.

There was a small ruined house not far from where we were standing. Without second thoughts we sprinted towards it, Lily hardly managing to keep up. We were almost at the door, when the wolf jumped her from behind. She screamed, falling to the ground, helplessly trying to wriggle from under the beast. Human emojis were closing in on us fast.

My benefactor pushed me and Francesco through the door, handing him the rifle.

"Guard him with your life," she barked and turned around to face the monsters with the axe ready. I tried to protest, but Francesco grabbed me and hauled me into the small, ruined room. I ran to the window, to see how the women were doing.

Lily was still on the ground, her back mauled and torn. If she was human she'd be dead by now, but I saw a weak glint of consciousness in her eyes. The bald warrior was swinging her enormous axe in a whirlwind of blows, feigning off the werewolf from the leech's body. The smaller monsters were trying to circle her, but the reach of her weapon made their efforts useless. Francesco got the rifle ready, cracked open the door and fired two times in a row, taking some of them down. But that got their attention to us.

Before he could reload, three monsters jumped onto the door, making their way inside the house. Their human faces were void of any intelligence, only hunger and rage gleaming in their eyes. I jumped back in panic, trying to find anything that I could use as a weapon. A broken, wooden chair was nearby, so I caught it by the backrest and stood at the ready to hit any incoming monster. A hit with a blunt object, even a strong one, wouldn't really be able to hurt them, but at least it would slow them down.

Francesco stood a little in front of me, I guess trying to shield me. He held the rifle like a club now. He swinged it fiercely and hit the head of a female monster on the left. I heard the skull crack, but the emoji just staggered for a second before reassuming the assault. From the outside I heard wet splashes and a dog like whine. The three monsters that were with us jumped all at the same time. Francesco stood in their way, to stop them from reaching me.

The monstrosities bit into Francesco's arms, despite my desperate hits with the chair. They growled at me menacingly and were about to pounce at me, when their heads were crushed by an unbelievable swing of the giant axe. Blood and brain splashed on my face. I think I screamed. When I wiped my eyes I saw my benefactor, all bloodied and panting, tending to Francesco's wounds, trying to stop the bleeding.

I looked around – all monsters were dead. I stumbled to the front of the house and saw Lily on the ground – her body was so torn that I could see her spine. I gagged. She was still alive (If you could say that about an undead). The wolf didn't get to her heart. But she wasn't healing and with the sun still high and her consciousness fleeing her she would burn any minute.

I ran to the vamp, trying to haul her into the building, away from sunlight. She just moaned, too heavy for me to move her. Shit.

"She needs blood," I heard Francesco say. "And it can't be mine this time," I heard a shadow of laughter in his voice. I turned to face him and saw his bandaged hands. Shit, he got infected.

Without a second thought I held my left arm to Lily, "Drink". She didn't want to or didn't have enough strength to bite me. I grabbed a shard of glass that was lying nearby and cut my skin. That stung. I cursed and pushed my bloodied hand to Lily's lips. She trembled and sucked at my wound. It hurt, but I clenched my teeth and waited. It didn't take long for her wounds to start healing, her flesh regrowing right before my eyes.

I felt dizzy and tried to pull away from her, but she held my hand fiercely. I told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. Her eyes were glowing red again, something sinister in them making me shiver. I felt nauseous, a small whine escaped my lips. "Lily, enough!", I heard a woman's voice shout and then a sharp thump. A heavy boot kicked the vamp in the temple, sending her flying off of my wound.

The world swam before my eyes. I heard a hiss, like from a big, angry cat. Than a slap and something hit the ground. Hard.

"Soyou really are special, eh..." I heard Francesco say and everything went dark.