Chapter 8

Daisy's POV

"All HQ's gonna give us for turning this in is credits."

Jamie's voice carried over to me.

"Supplies are only gonna get harder to find. Once prices shoot up, those credits won't be worth shit."

He kept going. "What about Amber Collins from Bravo? Believe me, I don't want to see her either, but she's got a spatial mutation too. Supposedly she's got a ton of room. She'd keep half for storing it, but at least we'd get the other half. HQ would just give us credits."

"Look, it's not like we're being disloyal. HQ's a mess right now. Everybody's hoarding supplies. If we don't put some aside, we're screwed later. Nobody wants to work on an empty stomach."

Jamie sounded stressed. Then he spotted me, and his eyes lit up.

"Hey, Daisy. Can't believe you turned too. You're still the prettiest zombie I've ever seen, though." He winked and gave me a thumbs-up.

Carter burst out laughing. "She's judging the hell out of you right now."

Jamie scratched his head. "Aw, come on. You're embarrassing me."

I saw Ezra coming back from the other side.

"Three in the canning warehouse. Two meat, one fruit."

He lifted a hand to adjust his glasses, touched nothing, and paused. Then he laughed.

"Ezra used to wear glasses," Carter said. "He doesn't need them anymore. His mutation enhanced his eyesight. Turns out that's a hell of an advantage for a sniper."

"Let's see how much is in there before we decide what to do with it."

Carter handled me like I weighed nothing. One minute I was in his arms, the next I was tucked under one of them or slung over his shoulder.

Just another piece of gear.

Jamie bounded after him. "Can't Daisy walk on her own? You've been carrying her everywhere. Why not set her down for a few steps? I want to see if she walks like the other Zs."

Most zombies dragged themselves around, then lunged the second they saw someone, suddenly fast and out for blood.

Me? I was tucked against Carter's neck, clean from head to toe and still in my pink bunny pajamas.

Carter looked down at me. I was looking around.

"Who knows? We'll set her down later and find out."

"Sure," Ezra said. "I'd say someone can't stand to let go. Why should she walk when you're happy to carry her?"

Carter's ears went red.

"Shut up."

Jamie ducked his head and snickered. "What's with the blush, Cap?"

They kept it up all the way to the warehouse. Then all three stopped smiling at once. Their faces went sharp and serious.

Jamie went on alert while Ezra opened the door. Carter walked straight in with me, and the other two followed.

The place had to be at least several thousand square feet. Cases of cans were stacked high everywhere I looked.

"That's ... a lot."

Jamie gave a low whistle. "You'd need a spatial awakener to move this much."

Carter nodded. "The awakeners who can see the future say there'll be fewer than a thousand spatial awakeners worldwide by the late stage. That's how rare the ability is."

"Behemoth's the strongest spatial awakener we know of," Ezra said. "That's his codename. He can even divide his space into sections."

Carter tapped his wristband. "We've each got a storage card built into our wristbands. Mine holds a hundred eighty cubic feet. Ezra and Jamie, you've got a hundred each."

"Weapons and rations go in first," Jamie grumbled. "Doesn't leave us much room to stock up."

"The cards draw on Behemoth's ability," Carter went on. "They're not private. He can see everything we put in them."

Ezra's voice went flat. "That's how HQ keeps us from going rogue. We can't hide anything we store."

Carter looked over at the stacks of crates. "These cards aren't easy to get. We wouldn't have all four if Alpha Squad wasn't top-tier and I hadn't awakened wolf mimicry."

Jamie groaned. "Look at all those cans. God, I wish we could keep them all. Why don't we have anyone with a spatial ability on the team?"

"There's only gonna be less from here on out. The guide says we'll all be drinking nutrient slurry eventually. Just thinking about it makes me sick."

He stared at the mountain of cans like he was about to give up.

Ezra took his time thinking it over. "There's not much contamination here. The farther out we go, the harder it'll be to find supplies. I say we take as much as we can."

Carter was weighing it, too.

My brain worked slower now. Everything took an extra beat to sink in, but I understood what they were saying.

And if I wanted to stay alive, I had to be useful.

The only reason I was still here was that I wasn't like the other zombies. If I'd tried to bite anybody, Carter would've shot me back at the apartment. He sure wouldn't be carrying me around now.

I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the cans.

"Uh ... urr ..."

As soon as I heard that guttural noise come out of my mouth, I shut it again.

Jamie was the first to notice. "Holy shit, Cap, Daisy made a sound! God, even her groan is cute! Ow—"

Ezra smacked him upside the head. "She's cute? Who says you get to call her that?"

Carter looked down at me. "What is it? You want to go over to the cans? Can you eat canned food?"

He sounded shocked, too.

How did their brains even get there?

I rolled my eyes inwardly and kept tapping his shoulder, motioning for him to go over.

Carter sighed and carried me to the cans. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I've never heard of a zombie caring about canned food."

A second later, my fingers brushed the cans.

The whole row disappeared.

Nobody said a word.

Then all three shouted "Holy shit!" at once.