Vampire's bite broke Francesco. The poor man was trembling violently despite sitting a hair's breadth from the blazing campfire. The two blankets I'd wrapped around him didn't help either. I glanced at my savior. She was chatting with the vamp.

"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 put a cup of hot tea to Francesco's lips. He ignored it.

"At least allow him to speak," I called out to my benefactor, seeing her curl up in her sleeping bag at the other side of the campfire. "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.

I poured the warm beverage straight into Francesco's mouth and helped him to lie down. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. Or finally fainted, I wasn't sure.

I moved my bedding closer to the fire and settled down to sleep. I closed my eyes and thought about Milena. She'd disappeared soon after the full-scale outbreak of the epidemics, and neither I nor our mum could contact her. She'd been 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.

But she survived. Those flecking 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 wished Lily had told us where they kept her, but we'd have to wait till morning. I'd go wherever I had to. I missed my big sister.

Milena would do the same for me. 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 hadn't been there. Milena was ten when the scumbag disappeared right after my birth, but she wouldn't tell me anything about him either.

My eyelids got heavy and I fell asleep. 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 much better shape. He sat closer to the fire and, for a long moment, just warmed his hands near the flames.

"So, you're her toy, eh?" he stated without looking at me. I choked on my tea.

The blanket slid from his arm, revealing the red bite marks, as he tugged on his collar.

"No! We... It's not like that. She saved me... Got me out when a bunch of emojis were trying to eat me. That's all," I mumbled, my cheeks heating up.

"You're lucky. She lured the emojis on me and my friends. I was the only one who got out," he said.

"I'm sorry. She probably did it by accident. Maybe she didn't see you," I mumbled.

"Yeah, sure. We were digging graves. We'd found a looted camp. The razing bandits killed everyone. It felt wrong to leave the bodies for the emojis to eat. There were kids..." His voice faltered.

He poured us the tea.

"What's the deal with the lust?" I changed the subject.

"The bitch has the worm," he snapped..

"Doesn't she change? Or spread it?" I asked.

"The docs swore you couldn't catch it from her. They made her a flecking killing machine," he spat, his face contorting in disgust. "She's razing dangerous. You should keep away from her," he added in a whisper, glancing at the yawning woman. She was waking up.

Lily appeared at the barrier. She looked awful, like a zombie. 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.

"Where are we heading?" the bald woman inquired.

Vamp's answer took me by surprise: "To Warsaw".

Francesco flinched. I thought that I'd heard wrong. The capital was supposed to be ruined and overrun by emojis. I wished it were a mistake, but we were heading there for real. The destroyed metropolis was about three hundred kilometers from our current position, which meant no less than ten days of marching, and we had enough supplies for one more day at best. We'd have to scavenge the ruined shops and houses, but I hoped that with the entire area swarming with monsters, there should still be plenty of unlooted locations.

"So, how do I address you?" I asked my savior, thinking about the time we were going to spend together.

She turned to me with a weary look.

"Thirteen, like we all did in the lab," Francesco barked, before she opened her mouth.

"Show respect to your master," Lily hissed and backhanded him across the face, knocking him to the ground. Blood trickled from his nose.

"Raze you! Both of you, flecking monsters," he rasped, scrumbling to his feet.

"Don't ever touch him again, or I'll chop your head off," Thirteen snarled at Lily. "He's mine," she added through gritted teeth. Francesco scowled.

The leech bit her lip. "I won't. I promise," she whined like a wounded kitten.

"And yes, you can all call me Thirteen," my savior sighed.

We set out around midday. Lily strode at the front, straining to maintain a good pace, but the sun was wearing her down. I quickened my steps to walk beside her.

"So... you say my sister is working for you..." I ventured. She glanced at me and nodded. The next question got stuck in my throat when a howl cut through the silence of the empty field we were crossing. I looked around but couldn't spot a thing. Maybe this was just a lone wolf that managed to escape the emojis.

My hope vanished when a massive figure emerged from behind a small hill to our right. Werewolves with the parasite were stuck in their part-animal form. Several smaller, vaguely human shapes encircled the beast. The hair on my neck stood on end. For a moment, I hoped we could still avoid the encounter, but the wolf pointed at us and broke into a run.

A small, dilapidated house stood among bare trees and bushes, just a few meters away from us. We dashed towards the overgrown ruin, Lily lagging behind us. We were at the door when the wolf leaped onto her back. With a high-pitched scream, she collapsed to the ground, trying to squirm free from under the beast. The raging monster bit into her and ripped huge chunks of flesh, as the girl crawled beneath its crushing weight. Human emojis were closing in on us fast.

My benefactor shoved me and Francesco inside, pressing the rifle into her slave's hands.

"Hide," she barked and turned around to face the monsters with her axe ready. I tried to protest, but Francesco hauled me into the little, ruined room. I rushed to the window to check on the women.

Lily lay on the ground, her back mauled and torn. If she were human, she'd be dead by now, but there was still a weak glint of consciousness in her eyes. The bald warrior swung her enormous axe in a whirlwind of blows, fending off the werewolf from the leech's body. The smaller monsters strived to circle the warrior, but the reach of her weapon rendered their efforts useless. Francesco got the rifle ready, cracked open the door, and fired two times in a row, taking two of the emojis down. But that drew the attention of the remaining beasts to us.

Before he could reload, three monsters launched at the door, forcing their way inside the house. Their human faces were void of intelligence, only hunger and rage burning in their empty eyes. I jumped back in panic, trying to find anything that I could use as a weapon. A broken, wooden chair lay nearby, so I grabbed it by the backrest and held it in front of me. A hit with a blunt object, even a strong one, wouldn't really be able to hurt an emoji, but at least it would slow it down. At least I hoped so.

Francesco took a stance before me, wielding the rifle like a club. He swung his weapon fiercely, striking the head of a female monster on the left. The skull cracked, but the emoji just staggered for a second before resuming the assault. From the outside came wet splashes and a dog-like whine. The three monsters that were in the room with us surged forward at once, but Francesco shielded me with his body. The monsters bit into his arms, unfazed by my frantic blows with the chair. They growled at me and were about to pounce when their heads exploded from the swing of the giant axe. Blood and brain splashed on my face, covering my glasses in a red goo. I screamed, and the slime got into my mouth. I brushed at it with my sleeve, only to get more of the metallic taste. I spat, but I couldn't get rid of the disgusting goo, so I spat again and again, until I ran out of saliva. Fleck.

I wiped my glasses and looked around. Bloodied and breathless, my terrifying benefactor was working to staunch the flow from Francesco's wounds. All the monsters were dead.

Trembling, I stumbled to the front of the house. Lily was motionless, her spine visible through her torn flesh. I gagged. She was still alive, if you could say that about an undead. The werewolf hadn't gotten to her heart. But she wasn't healing, and with the sun still high and her consciousness fleeing, she would burn any minute.

I rushed to her, trying to haul her into the building, away from the deadly sunlight. She groaned, too heavy for me to budge.

"She needs blood. And it can't be mine this time," Francesco said, a shadow of laughter in his voice.

Fleck, he'd gotten 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 cut my skin with a shard of glass that was lying nearby. That stung. I cursed and pressed my bloodied hand to Lily's lips. She trembled and sucked. 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.

Dizzy, I tried to pull free, but she wouldn't let me. I told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. Her eyes were glowing red again, the sinister spark in them making me shiver. Nausea hit me, and a small whine escaped my lips.

"Enough!" a woman yelled, and then a sharp thump reverberated right beside me. A heavy boot kicked the vamp in the temple, sending her flying off my wound.

The world swam before my eyes, but I could still hear. A hiss, like from a big, angry cat. A slap. Something heavy hitting the ground hard. Francesco's mocking: "So you really are special, eh..."

Then everything went dark, and I could hear nothing anymore.