It's easy to find zombie-boy. Zeke, or whatever his name is. Tanya must have told him the way out, but he's taking his sweet time. No doubt torn up about his sudden species shift.

"Boo hoo," I mutter under my breath as I keep my distance. Sweat lines my arms beneath my jacket as I pull my hood and mask up. Short hair makes it easy to wear wigs, which is the main reason I cut it off.

He takes the bus, so I take the rooftops. Sometimes I dream about having webs to sling from or wings to soar as high as I'd like, but I'm stuck with claws and a skeleton grin for the time being. Maybe I could find someone who makes hybrids and have them tweak me.

I snort quietly. Yeah, right. As if I'm that desperate for a casket.

I almost miss his curly brown hair exiting the bus. Doesn't help I've run out of roofs, so now I'm on the ground.

He disappears into a two-story house. The outside is bleak and uninteresting with its white walls and brown accents. There's a flowerbed out front, and the door matches the trim. The last time I lived in an actual house was fourteen years ago, after my dad disappeared. He told me I was a monster and left. I've... had the urge to go find him, and the furthest I've gotten was perching like a gargoyle and watching for his sandy blonde hair.

But nothing.

I stand behind a tree, trying to decide what I want to do. I want to talk to him, to maybe make him squirm a little, but I'm not sure how to approach. All I keep seeing is the way he looked at me in the ring. Why does it shake me so much?

And then it clicks.

Aiden used to look at me like that when he unhinged. That's the way he looked at me when I refused to conform to the group. When he kicked me out.

Like I was prey.

My teeth grind as Zeke walks out with a girl. My heart squeezes in the slightest as I take in her imperfections and perfections I'll never have. Dark skin that's been ashened by zombiism, brown eyes verging on dark gray, braided hair down to her waist. Her cheekbones are high, and her facial features are sharp, like she's the unknowing daughter of some super villain.

I immediately dislike her.

"We can make a date out of it!" I hear her exclaim, making Zeke choke. Guys with crushes are dumb, but it's admittedly cute, watching them stumble over themselves. I doubt the way he looks at her would last the rest of their lives.

"A—a date?"

The girl's smile grows, her yellowish teeth gleaming in the sunlight. Zombies are disgusting, no matter how pretty they look. "Yeah, why not? I think it'd be great."

I silently mock her, deciding I'll catch him at the tail-end of this trainwreck. I smirk beneath the mask. It'll ruin the rest of his day. But you know what? He ruined the rest of my life. Consider it payback.

"I... I with we could, but the place is kind of a secret one. I think it's because of the government."

My ears perk up. Is he telling her about the human shelters?

My fingers itch as I prepare to take her out. She can't know about it. She'll rat us out the second she gets the chance.

She pouts "Well that sucks. Then where else would you like to go?"

He blanks as he stares at her. "Are you saying you want to go on a date with me?"

I roll my eyes, missing the next half of the conversation as I wipe sweat from beneath my beanie and reposition it.

When I lift my eyes, he meets them and I laugh quietly to myself. It's ahead of schedule, but it'll have to do. I peel away the face mask and give him a smirk.

The air shudders around him as he bores into me before turning back to her. "I'll get back to you, but we can go this weekend if you want."

"That'd be great."

She says some more things, but I block it out, dissecting the boy before me. He looks about my age, but you can never be sure with zombies. The genetically modified food makes them rot faster. Chemicals don't do well with them.

He turns his back to me as he watches her leave, and I creep around to stand next to him.

"So you have the hots for a zombie. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Why would you go for anything else? You were one, after all."

He stares at me wide-eyed, startled, but I don't miss the embers lighting there. He says, "Yeah, until you turned me."

I give a short laugh, boldly resting my elbow on his shoulder. "Well, if I was human, you would have killed me, so screw you too." I offer a teasing smirk, hiding the strange twist in my abdomen as I recall the look in his eyes as he sized me up. "Oh, and because of you, I can't fight anymore, so my family's gonna go without eating unless I hunt down some humans, but that won't happen, will it? Not unless I take a bite out of my own people. But of course, I could track down some zombies to eat, too."

He turns to me as I cock an eyebrow, enjoying the shock on his face.

"Yeah, we can eat zombies too, dummy," I say as I turn my gaze to where the zombie girl had walked off. "They're like gross junk food, but we can survive off them. Off anything that breathes."

"So go track down a deer," he snaps, "and stop looking at her like that?"

"Like what?" I hum, taking a step back. "Like I'm starving and society is denying me a way to eat by putting a target on my back? I wasn't always a Bleeder, you know. I was an in-the-closet human scratched by some kid at the playground when I was five. Accidentally massacred all the kids there and my own human mom to feed my bloodlust." I bat my eyelashes as that incredulous cloud shadowing his countenance grows. "you could say I come with some baggage, but you're gonna have to lug it around with me, too?"

"And why is that?"

My grin widens. "Because, per Tanya's request,we're gonna be best friends." I smack him on the back as I bite my tongue. IfI have to suffer, then so do you. "See you around, pal."