Z 2134

would surrender anything to help her father. Jonah sighed, growled, then stuffed his best judgment into the deepest parts of his body and ran toward Egan.
    There were still four zombies surrounding her father. Egan hadn’t managed to kill a single one since Jonah last looked, though he had managed to stay alive.
    Jonah brought the first one down just seconds after jumping into the fray, bringing the metal pipe hard into the side of the first zombie’s face, hard enough to tear through its brain. It shrieked as though the skin was ripped from its body, then fell to its knees as Jonah’s second swing landed hard in its neck. It wailed again, then tried standing as Jonah beat its head, smashing repeatedly, shocked that the zombie kept rising even though he’d seen the same thing on City screens hundreds of times.
    The zombie lay in a pile of red-and-white goo, flecks of frozen ice blending in with the syrupy blood. Jonah looked up and caught Egan’s eyes, confused, horrified, and still fighting for his life. He swung the butt of his rifle into a zombie’s open mouth, ripping its jaw clean off before smashing in its skull.
    Jonah swung his pipe hard, bashing, poking, stabbing, as both he and Egan fell into an insane rage together, until there was nothing left but them, breathing, panting, covered in blood, and staring at each other.
    Calla approached, trembling. “Are they all dead?”
    Egan looked down and nodded, then glared at Jonah. Neither said a word. Jonah had no idea what would happen next.
    Egan snarled, then threw his empty rifle into the snow and charged at Jonah, swinging his fist. Jonah swerved, dodging the assault and throwing his body into Egan. He didn’t want to fight, especially in front of the man’s daughter, but Egan was leaving little, if any, choice.
    The two men wrestled in the snow, with Jonah hesitant to strike Egan in front of Calla, fighting him off just enough, but mostly letting Egan punch him repeatedly, even though his entire body was already bruised and battered by the man.
    Every blow, to his chest, face, head, and ribs felt like Egan was tearing him apart, bit by bit. Jonah relaxed, allowing the man to do his worst.
    “Go ahead!” Jonah yelled. “Kill me! Get it over with!”
    “Stop!” Calla screamed, earning her father’s startled attention. “Stop it! You can’t bring ’em back!”
    Egan froze, his left hand curled into Jonah’s collar, his right hovering a foot from Jonah’s face. Without warning, Egan slid off of Jonah, fell into the snow, then broke into shuddering sobs, burying his head in his bloodied hands.
    Jonah sat, rose to his knees, then wiped the blood from his broken face as Calla dropped to her knees beside her father.
    “He saved me,” Calla said, crying into her father’s chest. “He could’ve escaped, but he came back for me. And — for you.”
    Egan’s eyes meet Jonah’s, still brimming with anger, but softening with a gratitude he clearly couldn’t help. After a long moment, longer in the wind’s frozen whistle, Egan said, “Thank you.”
    Jonah nodded, then said, “Can I go save my daughter now?”
    Egan shook his head. After a horrible second, he finished with “No.”
    Jonah’s gut twisted into a knot.
    He was going to have to kill Egan — beat him to death in front of his daughter — then leave her alone in the snow so he could go and find his.
    Egan saved his own life by saying, “Come back with us. I’ll give you something to help you find her.”
    Jonah, at a loss for words, mustered only, “Yeah?”
    “Yeah.” Egan nodded, pulling Calla closer to him. “But then I want you the hell out of my life forever.”
    Jonah nodded, knowing that nothing was ever that easy.

CHAPTER 31 — Anastasia Lovecraft
    A na couldn’t stop staring into the back of Liam’s head as he and Duncan walked side-by-side through the network of catacombs, lit only by the light of Duncan’s liberated orb, hovering above and lighting the path.
    When they first entered the catacombs, Duncan explained that they ran under the woods and would lead past The Darwin Games borders. The catacombs had been built before the plague and were filled with mostly empty spaces for coffins. They also connected to the train tunnels, which would eventually lead to their destination.
    Duncan then fell quiet, and the trio walked in silence since — thick like fog, but harder to see through.
    Ana figured Duncan had seen Liam’s confession, like everyone in City 6,