S A N C H A

A gunshot cracked, knocking the Walker off my head. Its claws were curled around my mask. I breathed hard, lowering the bike and raising my free hand to the metal plates on my forehead.

I released a sigh when my fingertips dipped into the tiny tooth-sized dents. "Thanks."

Ala shook her head, raising the handgun. The trigger clicked, jammed.

I whirled back to the Walkers just in time for one of their toddler necks to explode. The bullet ricocheted off the pavement, slamming into its brother's face.

I glanced over at my sister. Ala cocked an eyebrow and raised her arms. Look, sis! No hands!

A tree shivered some fifty yards away. Two figures walked onto the road — too far for me to make out their features — and began to walk toward us.

My sister moved to my side, motioning at them with her head.

I scowled. "We didn't need their help."

She gave me that infuriating, patronizing Ala-glare. She bent down, pried my mask from the dead Walker's hands, and passed it back to me.

"Fine," I grumbled, propping up the bike. The masks's elastic band snapped against the back of my head. "But we don't owe them anything."

The closer they came, the better I could size them up. They were both adult males, one lean and wiry and the other squat and scruffy. A coyote and a starving rabbit, respectively.

The coyote man was barefoot and clad in thrift store clothing. A red-and-white Día De Los Muertos skull mask hid his face. The old rabbit had salt-and-pepper stubble and a long black coat with only one remaining sleeve.

I frowned under the Iron Man mask. There was something familiar about both of them—

Pain flared through my head, frying my brains into a pink goop.

0110000000011011001101000000100111010011001001001001111010000101000100

"AUGH!"

My legs spasmed, and my body dropped like a rag doll. Ala caught me before I hit the ground, screaming incoherently. Tiny sparks of lightning threaded the skin on my face where flesh met metal.

The skull man broke into a sprint, his bare feet slapping against the concrete. He grabbed me around the shoulders, trying to pull me from Ala's grasp.

She bashed his face with the handgun, cracking his mask. "Get away from her!"

He shielded his face with his arm, grabbing me tighter. "Let her go, she's Infected!"

"She's not Infected! She has a brain disease!"

"Is it called the Walker virus?!"

"Not that one, dumbass!"

I shook my head furiously, shaking off the braintech lag.

"Will you both just shut up?!" I shove them away from me, staggering for balance. I straightened, crossing my arms with a scowl. "God! I'm surrounded by idiots!"

Ala pulled me into a rib-snapping hug, bawling like a baby. "Your brain's on fire and my mouth is owie owie owwww—!"

"Stop it, Ala," I hissed under my breath. My ears and neck flushed red. Humiliating. "I'm fine."

"Y-you sure?"

I muttered something incoherent. She sighed in relief, her grip finally loosening.

The skull man scratched his head. "I had a sister once."

"Shut up," my sister and I said simultaneously.

One Sleeve Man finally caught up to his friend, gasping for breath. He doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees as he wheezed. My sister and I stared at him, politely waiting for him to have a stroke. The skull man looked away, desperately trying not to be associated with him.

"So... so fast..." He lifted a hand and flapped it around like he was trying to shake it off his wrist. "You guys... Superman... whew!"

The skull man coughed into his fist. "Sorry about, uh, that."

"Oh, no," said Ala, shaking her head. "He's... fine."

"I meant thinking Iron Girl was Infected."

"Oh."

"Iron Girl?" I scowl. "Wait a minute. You're—!"

The Carrier unshouldered the shotgun on his back, handing my precious back to me. "You left this behind."

I tear it from his grasp before he can pull it away. "You stole it from me!"

"You attacked me with it. I wasn't even bothering you. And I was unarmed."

"I was unarmed after you stole my gun."

The Carrier shrugged. "Adapt or die, girly."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Ala raised her hands. "Sancha, what did you—?"

"You're welcome for saving your lives, you thieves!" announced One Sleeve Man, snatching the handgun from Ala's grasp. "Give me back my bike!"

"You guys know each other?!" Ala and the Carrier shouted at the same time.

"You tried to rob me," the Carrier protested, pointing at One Sleeve Man. "And waddaya mean 'we'? You didn't even do anything!"

One Sleeve Man placed both hands on his heart. "Unkind! I gave you moral support!"

"We didn't ask you to—!"

"That's ENOUGH!" I screamed.

The Three Stooges fell silent. I slung my precious over my shoulder, glaring at them all through my Iron Man mask.

"All of you are stupid." I waited for them to deny it. Worryingly, they didn't. "And you are a Carrier."

The Carrier clicked his tongue, pointing finger guns. "Un-Walking and still talking."

I turn to Ala. "I saw him run away at the Market and followed him to a cat farm in the forest."

"Cat farm?!"

"Shut up. I attacked him, he overpowered me, and he used my precious to snipe Walkers from a tree. Walkers he probably Infected."

Ala whirled to the Carrier in horror. "How could you—?!"

"I didn't—"

"That was Rudy," said One Sleeve Man, "actually."

I couldn't even think of anything to say to that. Ala spoke for all of us.

"Who the fuck is Rudy?!"