The fire had burned low, its embers pulsing like dying stars in the quiet darkness. The night was heavy around them, the distant moans of the undead blending into the wind.
Leila sat with her back against a log, rolling her sore wrist absently. The rush of the night's battle still lingered in her veins, but now, in the stillness, exhaustion crept in.
Kai sat close—closer than usual. His arm rested lazily on his knee, his knife glinting in the firelight as he flipped it between his fingers. He wasn't watching the flames. He was watching her.
"You should rest," he murmured, voice low. "You took a hit back there."
Leila scoffed. "So did you."
Kai smirked, but he didn't argue. Instead, he shifted, his knee brushing against hers.
The contact sent a shiver through her, a reminder that she was still alive. Still breathing. And so was he.
The tension between them had always been there—simmering beneath the surface, crackling like the embers at their feet. But tonight, it was different. The adrenaline, the victory, the knowledge that they had outplayed Jace and Ellie... It all fueled something deeper.
She didn't know who moved first.
One second, the air was thick with unspoken words, and the next, Kai's lips were on hers, rough and demanding.
Leila didn't resist.
She couldn't.
His hands were firm, calloused from years of survival, gripping her arms, circling her waist, pulling her closer. The heat of his body pressed against hers, anchoring her in a world that had long since lost its stability.
She let herself melt into him, fingers threading through his hair, nails scraping against his skin.
This wasn't soft. It wasn't gentle.
It was hunger—desperate, primal, fueled by the knowledge that any moment could be their last.
Kai pushed her back against the ground, the dirt cool beneath her. His lips traced a path along her jaw, her throat, his breath hot against her skin. As Leila arched into him, she felt his hand slide down her side, grazing over her hip before he slipped between her legs. He rubbed circles on her clit with his thumb, quickly finding a rhythm that made her gasp and moan. She felt a rush of wetness between her thighs as his fingers massaged and teased.
The world outside didn't exist.
There were no zombies. No enemies. No war.
Just them.
Just this.
With one hand still firmly on her waist and the other at the apex of her thighs, Kai carefully positioned himself between Leila's legs. She wrapped them around him as they shared a heated gaze before he pushed inside of her. Their bodies found a rhythm together; slow at first but building in intensity and urgency. She could feel every inch of him filling her up and pulling out again. The sensations pulsed through her body like electricity.
And when it was over, when their breathing finally slowed and the fire had nearly burned to ash, Kai pulled her close, his hand resting against the small of her back.
For once, Leila didn't pull away.
She let the warmth of him lull her into the first real sleep she'd had in weeks.
By the time dawn broke, they were back in motion.
Jace and Ellie were desperate—Leila could see it in the way their group moved, in the way they scavenged frantically for supplies, their eyes sunken with exhaustion.
It was time to end this.
Kai had already scouted the perfect location—a collapsed overpass with a narrow alleyway leading to what looked like a secure hiding spot. The only problem? That alley led straight into a dead end.
And the dead were waiting.
"They'll go for it," Kai said, crouching beside Leila as they observed from a nearby rooftop. "They're running out of options."
Leila nodded, fingers tightening around the binoculars. "We just have to make them think we're offering a way out."
And so the game began.
She made sure they found the supplies—just enough to lure them in.
She made sure they saw the trail—just subtle enough to make them think they were outsmarting her.
And then, at just the right moment, she made sure they had nowhere else to run.
Jace and Ellie scrambled into the alley, panting, desperate.
Then they saw the truth.
The barricade. The undead waiting beyond it.
The moment realization dawned in their eyes, Leila stepped into view, standing on the rooftop above them, arms crossed.
Jace's face twisted with rage. "You bitch—"
Leila tilted her head, expression unreadable. "I told you. You should've walked away."
Ellie clawed at the walls, searching for an escape, but it was too late. The moans grew louder, the dead closing in, drawn by the scent of sweat and blood and fear.
Leila turned, stepping back toward the ledge.
She didn't stay to watch.
But the screams followed her long after she walked away.
Kai met her at the street below, watching her carefully.
"You okay?" he asked, voice unreadable.
Leila hesitated.
It should have felt like victory.
Instead, it just felt like another weight added to the pile of sins she carried.
She exhaled sharply, shaking off the thought. "We move out in ten."
Kai didn't push. He just nodded, falling into step beside her.
And as the echoes of the past faded into the morning light, Leila forced herself to focus on the future.
By morning, the remnants of warmth between them had faded into something unspoken.
There was no time for softness.
Not when the final move was already in play.
Jace and Ellie were running out of food. Out of patience. Out of time.
Leila had made sure of that.
The trap was perfect.
An old overpass near the industrial district—a narrow stretch of road, cluttered with abandoned cars, with only one real escape route. Or at least, that's what Jace and Ellie would think.
The alleyway just beyond the wreckage was a dead end.
And behind it?
A swarm of the undead.
Lured there over the past few days with carefully placed sounds and the scent of old blood.
All they had to do was sit back and watch.
Kai crouched beside her on the rooftop, his gaze fixed on the figures moving below. Jace's group was smaller now—half of them either dead or gone. They were on edge, scanning the ruins with suspicion, but they had to move forward.
They had no choice.
"They'll take the bait," Kai murmured.
Leila didn't answer.
She already knew they would.
Because desperation made people blind.
And Jace and Ellie were about to learn that the hard way.