I didn't sleep; I couldn't rest. The thoughts pounded in my head relentlessly. It had been too easy to escape. I had something that Sarah wanted, and she never let go of what she wanted. My hand absently stroked over Millie's hair, hoping my anxious thoughts would not spread to her as she slept on my chest.

"Why did you take the salt?" She murmured in the darkness.

"We may need it; you may need it," I soothed.

"I have the tin; we didn't need the rest." She pulled herself up my body and reached for the nightstand lamp, filling the room with yellowish light. "They'll come for us."

"I know."

For all the valid reasons that I could have taken the salt, I knew the real reason. It wasn't because I wanted the insurance should something happen to Millie, and it wasn't because I didn't want Sarah to increase her conscious soldiers. It was because I needed to have something Sarah wanted. If she didn't want me, she would want the salt.

"I'm sorry," Millie whispered as she settled back onto my chest as my thoughts continued to swirl like a tornado through my mind.

I didn't respond; I just let my hand continue to smooth over Millie's hair. She was so close that I could pretend the beating of her heart was my own. I could fill myself with delusions that I was alive and not a villain. Or I could give in to the temptation. It would be so easy to crack open her skull like the porcelain shell of an egg. Then I could join Sarah; be welcomed by her side.

I let a finger draw a line from Millie's temple. Her eyes didn't flutter, and her heartbeat remained calm and steady. She didn't even suspect the wicked thoughts that were growing inside me. She didn't sense the temptation of the sweet nourishment she possessed.

"She's not the same Sarah you knew," Millie added after a long silence, "and you aren't the same Seth she knew."

"What?" I tried to pull my mind from the gloomy thoughts.

"You know how when a person becomes a zombie; they get faster, stronger, and more agile."

"Yes, I think I may be aware of something like that?" It felt good to tease and naturally drew my finger from the potential crack it traced back to a gentle caress of Millie's head.

"Well, what if it affects your personality too? I mean, the brain is a muscle. What if it takes your attributes and heightens them?"

"So... I am even more pathetic as a zombie?"

"Oh, stop," she playfully swatted at my chest. "No, you are more protective and thoughtful."

"And Sarah is..."

"A bitch." Millie finished without hesitation before she added a quick "sorry" in reaction to my wince.

"She wasn't a bitch before; she was just driven."

"Well, maybe that drive has resonated as a ruthless overlord in her zombie brain."

"Ruthless overlord," I mumbled to myself. The love of my life was now a ruthless overlord.

"I'm sorry. I'm being mean, Sarah just..."

"Tried to kill us; laughed in our faces... no, I would say ruthless overlord certainly belongs on her business cards. And you are right; she will come after us. We should leave first thing."

"Where will we go?" She asked as her head dropped back to my chest.

"What do you think about Nashville? Finn has family there," I offered.

"Never been, but I'm in." She shifted further into me and added, "good night, Seth," through a yawn before drifting off to sleep.

I still didn't fall asleep. I continued to lay awake with one hand smoothing over Millie's hair and the second tuck beneath my pillow, allowing my thumb to glide over the cool metal of my gun. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon when the expected knock finally came. It wasn't a loud banging; it was an unassuming civil rap. Sarah knew she didn't need to impose her force with an unnecessary display; she was already in control.

I tried to slide from beneath Millie without disturbing her but failed.

"Where are you going?" She whined through the fogginess of her sleep.

"I'm just going to get some coffee; I'll be right back."

I don't know why I lied. If Sarah was near, Millie should be awake. She should be on alert for the danger she was in, but part of me still wanted to save Sarah.

"Hello, Seth," Sarah's voice washed over me as I closed the motel room door. The rising sun behind her illuminated her in a way that I almost didn't see the greenish hue to her skin, but the unmistakably black eyes replaced the blue ocean waters I once spent hours memorizing.

"Hello, Sarah."

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I was taken off-guard by your appearance."

"Taken off-guard," I nodded to myself. "It presented as more; murderous villain. It was particularly striking considering I thought I was finding the love of my life."

For a moment, I thought she was going to laugh again, but she stifled the sentiment and instead added, "things are different. I am doing what I must to survive."

"Survive? What you are doing is not surviving. Building an army of zombies, ruling over the area with a fist of fear; that's not surviving Sarah, that's not you."

"What is me, Seth?" Her eyes were wide now as if they were eagerly waiting to accept what I had fallen in love with not so long ago.

"You are gentle and kind. You were always driven but did not lose sight of your integrity."

"Really?" This time a laugh did escape her lips. "I was going to leave you, Seth, for a partner at a law firm with political aspirations."

"What?" Shock surged through me at her cruel admission. There was no need for her to tell me this unless it was to hurt me. "Did you love him?"

"No, of course not. But he was going places, places I wanted to get. I was never the woman you thought I was. This is who I am. I saw an opportunity, and I seized it."

My head spun at her callous honesty.

"And now I need the salt, Seth."

"So you can expand your army."

"Yes, exactly for that reason."

"No," I spoke defiantly as I dramatically kicked out my feet for a more defensive stance. As I did so, I allowed my heel to bang against the door. "I'm not giving you anything, Sarah," I raised my voice so it could easily be heard through the thin walls of the motel.

"It would not be a gift. I took care of your bill here as payment," a sickly smile crossed her lips.

My eyes twitched to the clerk's office, where his body lay strewn across the floor with his head gaping open and empty.

"I didn't ask you to do that," I stammered.

"I know you would never ask. You are too weak to take advantage of your new life. You are a superhero but choose to live like a meek gnat."

"We're not superheroes; we're monsters that shouldn't exist."

"But we do, so why not have a little fun?" Her eyes twinkled. "Oh, that's right, you still cling to your humankind. You even have that little pet of yours. Don't you find it funny that you brought your new plaything to save me, the love of your life?" Her tone mocked me. "It hurt my feelings," she sickly cooed.

"Leave Millie out of this. We aren't"

"Millie," she giggled as she cut me off. "Even her name is average. No, bother. You are free to live your pathetic life with your pathetic pet. Just give me the salt," her voice turned stern and demanding. It must have been a cue of some sort because the teen from the mansion appeared at her side as she spoke.

"Who's this; You're new pawn? Here to do your bidding, so you don't have to get your hands dirty?" I spat at them.

"Mmhmm, isn't he a delight?" She playfully tousled the teen's hair. "Benji, Seth here is refusing to give me my salt," she whined.

"I'll help," he eagerly smiled, captivated by Sarah. Without taking his eyes from her face, he pulled a gun from his belt. When his lanky arm stretched towards me, the barrel of the weapon was barely an arm's length away from me. There was no dodging this. "Do you care for him?" Benji asked as though I was not there.

"No," she giggled. "Go on," she prodded with a smile.

I didn't need the bullet; I was already dead; my heart had stopped beating months ago. With no hope of Sarah and the love I had been clinging to, I had nothing to keep me going. I closed my eyes and waited. I heard the shot but didn't feel anything. Perhaps, since I was a zombie, I would not feel the bullet burrow into my head. Maybe my skull wouldn't shatter; I would just simply stop. But I hadn't stopped.

I opened my eyes to see Benji slumped into Sarah. A black ooze seeped onto her white dress like oil spilling from a car.

"Seth," Millie whispered behind me as she poked at the gun tucked into my waistband.

"You little bitch," Sarah screamed as she pulled Benji's gun from his limp hands and let his body fall to the pavement. She lifted the gun, but not to me. Sarah had her gun pointed directly at Millie.

"Don't you dare," I roared as I lifted my gun to Sarah's head.

Sarah laughed at me. "You don't have the balls."

The trill of her laugh had once been so captivating. It had once danced on the lightest of breezes pulling an easy smile to my lips. In the months we were apart, it was her laugh that kept me close to her. I could close my eyes and hear it slipping easily from her lips. But now, that same laugh soured in the air. It stabbed into me, deflating any delusions I had about this woman.

"I loved you," I murmured before my finger tensed on the trigger, and Sarah slumped on top of Benji. My eyes linger on her for a split moment before turning to Millie. "Are you okay?" I allowed a hand to flow over her hair as I inspected her face. "What's wrong?" I prodded.

"You just... but that was... you just..."

"She was a monster; I just saved more lives than either of us will ever know. I saved her from herself." I didn't let the thoughts linger. "Do you have the salt and the keys?"

"Um, yeah," Millie stammered.

"We have to go; I am sure they were not alone."

I pulled Millie along to the car as I avoided the storm of thoughts building in my head.