She stood at the top of the stairs. Torn sari. Blood on her hands. Eyes milky white.
"Priya," Reyan whispered.
She turned toward the sound. Her mouth opened. That terrible groan.
"Reyan, don't" Samir started.
But Reyan moved anyway. "It's me, Priya. It's Reyan. Please."
She groaned, reaching for him.
"Please," he sobbed. "Please, not you. Anyone but you."
She was three steps away. Two. One.
The knife found her heart.
He'd promised to protect her. Promised on their wedding day, in sickness and in health. Till death do us part.
Death had them parted now.
She gasped, and fell into his arms.
Reyan sank, clutching her. His cries echoed down the stairwell.
Samir and Taj stood back, giving him space, their own eyes wet.
"I'm sorry," Reyan whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry. I promised I'd come home. I promised."
But promises didn't matter anymore. Not in this new world.
After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, Reyan gently laid her down. He stood on shaking legs, his face wet with tears and blood.
"The fifth floor," he said numbly. "We keep going."
They climbed past her body. Reyan didn't look back. Couldn't.
Wing B was at the end of the hallway. Three more infected blocked their path. Reyan killed all three without hesitation, without mercy, without feeling anything at all. Samir and Taj followed, weapons ready, but Reyan barely needed their help. Something had broken inside him when that knife entered Priya's chest.
His apartment door came into view. 5B-7. The number plate was still there, slightly crooked because he'd never gotten around to fixing it. The doormat his daughter had picked out, bright yellow with a cartoon sun, sat outside, spotted with blood.
The door was closed. Locked.
Reyan's heart leaped. Locked meant safe. Locked meant someone inside had locked it. Someone alive. Someone who could lock doors and think and plan.
"Please," he whispered. "Please let her be okay."
He knocked. Once. Twice. Three times.
He knocked. "Hello? It's me. Reyan. Please, open up."
Silence.
Then, a voice. Deep. Male.
"Who's there?"
Reyan froze. "Who are you? What are you doing in my home? Where's my daughter!?"
"Identify yourself!"
"I said, this is MY home!" Reyan shouted. "Where's my daughter!?"
Behind him, Samir and Taj raised their weapons. Whatever was about to happen, they were ready.
A security chain rattled. A brown eye peered through the gap.
"Reyan Sharma?"