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KATE
Like a slow-motion film clip, I see the bullet strike Eric in the chest. Blood explodes outward from his body.
He falls.
“No!” I drop the tape player. “Eric!” I sprint across the fort compound. “Eric!”
It’s one of Rosario’s men. He clawed his way free from a pile of bodies. No one saw him.
And he’s just shot Eric.
The tennis player rounds the pile of bodies, lips pulled back in a snarl. She clubs Rosario’s sniper in the head with her nail-studded tennis racket. A teenage girl wielding a large piece of wood whacks him from the other side.
Eric doesn’t move.
“No!” I close the distance, skidding across the dirt to Eric’s side. “Eric, no!”
Not another one. I can’t lose another one of my kids. I can’t.
I press my hands over his chest. Blood pumps out between my fingers. One lens of his glasses is completely obscured with it.
“Eric,” I sob, watching his eye film over. “No-no-no-no-no!”
He rests his hand over mine. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “Lila says I’m not a con anymore. And she just called me an ass wipe.”
“Eric, don’t you dare die on me! Don’t you dare!”
“Worth it,” he whispers. “It was worth it. Tom and Lila are here, Mom.”
“Tom?” I shriek. “Who the fuck is Tom? Eric, god dammit, stay with me!”
Everyone comes in a rush of color. Ash, Caleb, and Reed—they’re all here. The only one not here is Ben, but that’s because he’s taken up the tape player and is driving back the zombies.
“Do something!” I shout at Ash. “Help him!”
“There’s nothing I can do, Mamita,” she whispers. “It’s a chest wound.”
“Bullshit,” I scream at her. “Do something!”
“It’s okay,” Eric rasps. “It’s okay, Mom.”
His eyes glaze over. The hand on top of mine falls away, thumping softly to the ground.
I lean over, burying my face in his shoulder as I sob.
Reed drops to the ground beside us. I raise my face to look into his ashen one.
“I was out of bullets,” he says numbly. “I was out of bullets, Mama. I couldn’t save him.” Tears leak down his face. “I was too far away.” Reed lets out a long, agonized groan. He pulls at his hair, more tears gushing from his eyes.
Gripping Eric’s body in my arms, I watch my other son’s heart break open.