Chapter 59 - 58: Campfire (2 )
But for the first time since they’d met, he saw past Cassandra’s nervous chatter and awkward attempts at conversation.
Underneath it all was fear. Not the sharp panic of immediate danger. The quieter kind. The kind that stayed with someone long after they had survived.
The silence stretched between them, broken only by the steady crackle of the fire.
Outside, the last traces of daylight disappeared beyond the broken buildings. Darkness settled over the abandoned road, leaving only the warm glow of the flames to fill the small shelter.
Cassandra kept her eyes on the fire. "I ran."
The words came quietly, almost as though she were speaking to herself instead of him.
"I think that’s the part I remember most. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t making a plan. I just... ran." She drew in a slow breath and rested a hand over her stomach.
"The strange thing is, I don’t think I was scared for myself. Not at first." A faint, weary smile crossed her face. "Everything in my head was screaming that I had to protect the baby. Looking back, maybe that’s just what happens. Maybe your priorities change before you even realize they have."
Her fingers absently brushed over the fabric covering her stomach.
"I made it back into my room and locked the door behind me. For a second, I actually believed that would be enough." She shook her head. "Then she hit it."
The memory seemed to play out behind her eyes.
"The first bang startled me. The second made the whole frame shake. By the third..." She swallowed. "The door came off its hinges."
Alexander’s hand rested loosely around the silver coin. He didn’t interrupt.
"I grabbed the first thing I could reach." Cassandra let out a quiet laugh that carried no real humor. "It was a fireplace poker. I’d never held one before. I remember thinking that people in movies always make those things look useful." She looked into the flames. "They’re heavier than they look."
Another brief silence settled over the room before she continued.
"I don’t even remember deciding to fight. One moment I was backing away, and the next I was screaming." She rubbed the bridge of her nose, clearly embarrassed.
"I’ve never handled emergencies well. Some people stay calm. Some people think clearly under pressure." She smiled at herself. "I scream."
Alexander glanced up.
"You don’t seem surprised," she said.
"No."
That made her huff a quiet laugh. "I appreciate the honesty." The amusement faded as quickly as it had appeared.
"I swung the poker once. I don’t even know if I hit her properly. She kept coming." Cassandra paused, remembering every frantic second. "Then she grabbed me."
Without thinking, her arms folded protectively around herself. "I panicked. I shoved her as hard as I could."
She stared into the fire. "That’s all I did." She made a brief pause. "I pushed."
Alexander noticed the slight tremble in her voice.
"And she went through the window."
His eyes lifted from the coin.
She caught the movement immediately "Yeah." A humorless smile touched her lips. "I pushed her off the third floor." She said fingers trembling
Alexander’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before returning to the fire. A fall like that should have been fatal. For anyone.
"I remember rushing to the broken window," Cassandra continued quietly. "I thought I’d killed her." Her voice dropped even lower. "I looked down expecting to see a body." She shook her head. "There wasn’t one."
Only the flickering fire answered her.
"There was ash." The words barely rose above a whisper. "Just... a pile of gray ash scattered across the ground like she’d never existed."
The silver coin caught the firelight as Alexander slowly turned it between his fingers again.
"And then," Cassandra said, " a white screen appeared."
She laughed softly, though the sound carried more disbelief than amusement.
"Honestly, I thought I’d finally lost my mind. After everything that had happened, a floating white window seemed like the most ridiculous thing I’d seen all day."
She exhaled through her nose.
"Then it started explaining things." A faint crease formed between her brows. "Not everything."
Her gaze remained fixed on the flames. "Just enough to make me understand that the world wasn’t going back to normal and also something about me killing a level 2 infected."
Neither of them spoke for a while. The fire settled into glowing embers before another piece of wood cracked and shifted. Eventually Cassandra leaned her head against the wall. "I couldn’t stay there anymore."
Alexander looked toward her.
"There were too many people on the estate. The staff... the gardeners... the drivers... the housekeepers." She gave a small shake of her head. "I kept hearing noises from different buildings, and every sound made me wonder who had changed next."
She hugged one knee closer. "I wasn’t going to wait to find out."
Another quiet stretch passed before she smiled to herself. "You know what the first thing I thought was after deciding to leave?"
Alexander waited.
"I need diapers." She laughed, genuinely this time.
"Can you believe that? The world’s ending, monsters are running around outside, mysterious white windows are floating in front of my face... and all I could think about was buying diapers." She rubbed her stomach with gentle affection. "I guess motherhood starts earlier than people realize."
Alexander didn’t comment. For some reason, that only made her smile wider.
"So I started throwing everything I could think of into my storage space. Baby supplies, bottled water, documents, medicine... basically anything that looked useful." She paused, her expression becoming thoughtful again. "That’s when I found the safe."
This time, Alexander’s attention shifted immediately.
The movement was small. Barely noticeable but cassandra caught it anyway.
"There it is," she said with a grin, pointing at him. "I’ve been talking all this time, and that’s the first thing that’s actually made you look interested."
Alexander looked back at the fire.
She laughed quietly. "I couldn’t open it because I didn’t know the combination. After staring at it for a while, I got annoyed and wondered if my space could just... take the entire thing." She spread her hands. "It could."
"I wasn’t expecting that." A sheepish smile crept onto her face. "For about five seconds, I felt like the smartest woman alive."
She chuckled at the memory. "Then a system prompt popped up and asked if I wanted to sell it."
Alexander’s fingers stopped turning the silver coin.
Cassandra pointed at him again, looking far too pleased with herself. "There. That look." Her smile softened. "I knew that would get your attention."
Alexander looked away from the silver coin and back toward the fire.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
The flames crackled softly between them, their warmth pushing back the chill that had settled over the abandoned warehouse. Outside, the last traces of daylight disappeared beyond the broken windows, and night finally claimed the empty road.
Somehow, after everything Cassandra had shared, the silence no longer felt awkward.
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
The fire crackled quietly between them as darkness settled over the abandoned buildings outside.
After a while, Cassandra broke the silence again. "So... are we actually heading somewhere? Or are you just walking until you figure it out?"
Alexander kept his eyes on the darkness outside. "I’m heading home."
The answer was calm and certain.
Cassandra studied him for a moment.
"Is someone waiting for you there?"
He was quiet long enough that she assumed he wasn’t going to answer. Then he spoke. "My family."
Only two words nothing more.
Yet something shifted behind his usually unreadable expression.
For the briefest moment, the firelight reflected in distant memories instead of the window before him.
The tall iron gates, His father’s steady voice, His mother’s smile, Benjamin, Caleb and... Iris.
He remembered her standing in the hallway before everything had fallen apart, telling him something was wrong, asking him not to leave just yet. At the time, he’d believed he was making the logical choice. He would move first, gather information, and return before anything serious happened.
Instead, the world had ended. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly before the memory slipped away. Across the fire, Cassandra noticed the change but chose not to ask.
Some silences deserved to remain untouched.
She rested a hand over her stomach and looked into the flames. "I hope they’re all okay."
The words weren’t really directed at him. They were spoken to the empty room. To the darkness outside. Perhaps even to herself.
Alexander continued watching the window. "So do I."
The quiet reply surprised both of them. Neither mentioned it.
The fire slowly burned lower, glowing embers replacing dancing flames. Minutes slipped by unnoticed. Cassandra’s replies became shorter, her eyelids heavier with each passing moment. She tried to suppress a yawn, failed, and laughed quietly at herself before another escaped almost immediately.
"I’m sorry," she murmured. "I guess today finally caught up with me."
Alexander gave a small nod. "Sleep."
It was the closest thing to permission he had ever offered.
A few minutes later, her breathing settled into a slow, even rhythm.
She was asleep. "I’m not crazy..." The words slipped from her lips in a sleepy murmur, barely louder than a whisper.
Alexander didn’t react.
The shelter fell silent again. Alexander remained awake, sitting against the wall with his knife resting within easy reach while the last embers cast a faint orange glow across the abandoned building. Beyond the cracked window, darkness swallowed the empty road, concealing whatever still roamed the ruined world.
Time passed. Then movement caught his eye. A large silhouette emerged beyond the broken fence and crossed the road with slow, deliberate steps. It was taller than any infected he had encountered before. A second shape followed several seconds later, moving with the same steady purpose.
Neither creature wandered aimlessly. They seemed to be traveling, heading somewhere.
Alexander stayed perfectly still, watching until both silhouettes disappeared behind the abandoned buildings and melted into the darkness beyond.
Only then did the road become silent again. Morning was still hours away.
Alexander never closed his eyes. He simply kept watch, waiting for the first light of