Page 31 of Her Shadow

It lunged at her faster than she expected, and Sam barely managed to sidestep the attack, slashing her knife across its arm. The creature jerked.

She spun and drove the blade deep into its skull, feeling the sickening crunch of bone as it collapsed in front of her. The thing twitched once, then went still.

Sam stood there panting, blood running down her arm. She felt the world tilt beneath her feet.

As she wiped the blood from her hands, a new sound startled her. This time, the noise was human. Deliberate. But this didn’t make her feel any less anxious. Humans were as dangerous as the infected these days.

A figure approached across the tarmac. It was slow and cautious. Sam’s heart leaped into her throat, instinctively raising her knife. But the shape didn’t move erratically. There didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. Or was that just wishful thinking?

“Kara?” she whispered, blinking against the blur of exhaustion. “No, it can’t be you. I’m dying, aren’t I? You’re not real.”

Kara emerged from the trees, her eyes locking onto Sam. Her face was streaked with dirt, her clothes soaked, but her eyes were just as clear, determined, and beautiful as ever.

“You…” Sam's voice faltered with emotion. “You came to find me? Is that you, Kara?”

But before Kara could answer, Sam’s knees buckled beneath her, and she collapsed onto the rough, hard ground.

“Sam!” Kara ran over to her. “Hold on, baby. I’m here. I followed a trail of blood. I knew it was you.”

Sam flinched, her mind reeling. “Get away! Don’t…don’t touch me,” she gasped, shoving Kara back with what little strength she had left.

“Listen to me,” Kara said, grabbing Sam by the shoulders and shaking her slightly. “I’m not leaving you. Not ever again.”

Sam wasn’t sure if she could trust what was happening. Was Kara even real, or was this some hallucination? She grabbed her knife. “I’m dangerous, Kara,” Sam warned in a frantic voice. “Keep your distance.”

Kara leaned back slightly and raised both hands in a nonthreatening gesture. “I’m not afraid of you. You’re delirious. You’re going to be okay now.”

Sam’s grip on the knife loosened as she met Kara’s gaze. But she couldn’t let go of the fear that she could turn any minute and kill Kara. She would have no control of herself once the infection reached her brain. “You don’t understand. I don’t know if I’m…if I’m still me.”

Kara shook her head and smiled. Sam could see the kindness in her eyes. Instead of comforting her, it only increased the sensation of panic in her chest. “You’re Sam. You’re here. And I’m not losing you.”

There was a brief pause, a tense silence hanging between them. To Sam, it felt as if it was the calm before the storm—the eye of the storm. But before Sam could react, Kara grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her up into a tight embrace. The knife slipped out of her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Kara whispered against Sam’s hair. “I should never have doubted you. I should never have left. What the hell was I even thinking? I won’t blame you if you don’t, but please forgive me. I should’ve fought harder for you. I was scared.”

Sam’s heart pounded in her chest, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe. The weight of everything she’d been carrying was too much—the fear, the loneliness, the heartbreak.

“You let me leave,” she choked out.

Kara pulled back just enough to look into Sam’s eyes. “You’ll never lose me again,” she said, her voice firm. “I’m here. I’m so sorry.”

For a moment, they stood there holding each other, the danger, the fear, the uncertainty—all of it forgotten.

Eventually, Kara pulled back, wiping the dirt and sweat from Sam’s face. “You’re not infected,” she said quietly. “Do you understand? You’re going to be just fine. Well, you may need stitching up, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We need to get you to safety.”

Sam’s eyes flickered with relief, though she still felt the weight of everything that had happened. “I think you’re right. But can we be sure? I fought so many of them. I want to say fifty, but I’m prone to exaggeration, right? I reckon probably between five and ten,” she whispered.

“Listen, I know you,” Kara replied softly. “And I trust you. Do you hear me, Sam? I trust you.”

Sam’s chest tightened with emotion. She didn’t feel like she really had Kara’s trust, not after everything that had happened, but here she was, standing in front of her, offering it freely.“So, what comes next?” Sam asked. “I’m on my way to find my people. I don’t know where they are, exactly, but they were headed south on this road. I’ll catch up with them. But I don’t want to do it alone. Are you going to come with me?”

Kara smiled, brushing a stray lock of hair from Sam’s face. “I have to go back, Sam. You know that. But we can go back together. We’ll be safer there. And they’re taking on board what you’ve been saying.”

“They think I stole from them.”

“Well, they know you didn’t do it now. It was a couple of kids. I found the stash, and I exposed the little fuckers! They’re all sorry.”

“But will that even make any difference? I mean, so what? They accused me with zero evidence. What’s to stop it happening again? They don’t want me there.”

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