They traveled in silence.
The road east was cracked and littered with debris—abandoned cars, burned signs, pieces of lives left behind. Phileo walked in front, just as Mara had ordered, every step measured, careful not to make noise.
He could feel their eyes on him.
Every time he slowed, they slowed. Every time he stopped, weapons lifted just a little. He didn't blame them. If he were in their place, he'd be doing the same.
The infected appeared now and then, wandering between buildings or standing still in the road. Phileo noticed something unsettling.
Most of them ignored him.
Their heads turned toward Ben's boots, Jax's breathing, the scrape of Mara's bag—but rarely toward Phileo. A few paused, tilting their heads, confused, as if his presence bothered them.
"Don't look at them," Ben muttered behind him.
"I'm not," Phileo said. But he was.
At one point, a single infected stepped directly into his path. Phileo stopped. His heart hammered, but he didn't move.
The thing sniffed the air.
Then it stepped aside.
Jax swore under his breath. "That's not normal."
Mara said nothing, but her grip tightened on her weapon.
They reached an overpass by late afternoon. The wind howled through the broken concrete, carrying distant moans from below. Mara signaled them to stop.
"We rest here," she said. "Short. Quiet."
Phileo sat apart from them, leaning against a pillar. He stared at his hands, flexing his fingers. They were still his. Still human.
He felt it then.
A dull ache in his head. A pressure behind his eyes.
Images flickered—faces that weren't there, sounds that didn't belong. For a second, he smelled his mother's cooking. Warm. Familiar.
"Phileo."
He sucked in a sharp breath and looked up.
No one stood in front of him.
Mara noticed his reaction. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he lied. "Just tired."
The ache faded, leaving him cold.
As the sun dipped low, they moved again. The sky burned orange through the smoke, casting long shadows across the road.
Phileo realized something as they walked.
They weren't just watching him to see if he would turn.
They were watching to see what he would become.
And whatever it was, it scared all of them—including him.