Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 35: Giving Up

Chapter 35: Giving Up

The feeling of icy water drowning me was enough to force me to wake up as I opened my mouth to gasp for air.

Unfortunately for me, there was no air to be found in the waters of the bayou. As soon as my mouth opened, swampy water full of debris and grit filled my mouth, forcing itself down my throat and lungs as I tried to figure out what was going on.

My mind was too panicked to think straight, and I found my limbs floundering in the water as I tried to get my bearings. I had no idea which way was up; all I knew was that my lungs, throat, and stomach burned as I fought for my life.

My movements in the water caused the creatures around me to become curious, their bodies bumping into me as in continued to try and reach the surface. Feeling something in front of me, I grabbed onto it for dear life as my body tried to expel the water inside of it.

"Hattie!" Pride’s scream finally cut through the cloud of panic in my mind as I felt the edges of my consciousness starting to blur. "Hold on to the gator, Love. We have enough power to get you to the surface in one piece; just don’t let go."

The second Pride told me I was gripping onto a gator; my first instinct was to let go and take my chances back in the water. But this was Pride, and no matter what was going on around me, I would always listen to him.

"That’s right, Pudding Pop," murmured Glut, his voice coming right beside my ear as if he was on the same beast as I was. "The gator is a friend. He’ll make sure that you are safe and sound on shore, or else you’ll be wearing his skin for shoes."

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Gluttony’s joke. I knew he was just trying to calm me down, but the image of me as Papa Noel, riding gators through the swamp, was just too much for me. Hysterical laughter came out of me the moment my head reached the surface of the water.

Between laughing and puking up all the water from my lungs and stomach, I was completely rung out by the time my ride made it to shore.

Collapsing onto the rough bank of the bayou, I stared up at the sky, completely blind. I was alone, in the middle of a predator-infused swamp, without the ability to see. The chances of getting out of here alive were so slim it was laughable.

"We’re here," murmured Greed, his peppermint breath chasing away the sour smell of my own vomit. "We’re not going anywhere."

I hummed in answer, not really saying anything one way or the other. They were here, inside of my head, with limited power to control the outside world. I was in the outside world with limited control over what happened next.

I was, without a doubt, completely fucked.

"Take in a deep breath, Pet," murmured Lust. I wanted to have some type of reaction to his voice like I normally did, but I was just too empty to care. Someone had clearly tried to kill me just now.

I had fallen asleep in Ronan’s arms and had woken up in the bayou hours away from the road. It didn’t take a sane person to understand that this shit was intentional.

What I couldn’t figure out was why someone went through so much effort to make me disappear. It wasn’t like I was sticking my nose into other people’s business. I was trying to be invisible, to not rock the boat, and just be grateful that I was safe and not abused for the first time in a long time.

But I guess that was too much to ask for.

"Humans clearly can’t be trusted," grunted a new voice that I had never heard before.

"Not the time, Wrath," snarled Gluttony. "You have decided to fuck off and live by yourself, so you don’t get to be part of the family again."

The voice chuckled and I was reminded of Dimitri and just how safe I felt the first time I met him. I would have followed him to the ends of the earth and back again.

Too bad I would probably never see him again.

"Are you done with the pity party?" demanded Wrath, his condemnation rubbing me the wrong way. "Stupid humans, always so weak. It’s so much easier to just give up and die than fight for what you want."

Yup, that was me. After 13 years of fighting for each breath every day, I was good and ready to just give up and die. I would make a horrible main character in one of Père’s dramas. The second something inconvenienced me, I would just up and die. You want to kidnap me? Sorry, I’ve scheduled a suicide during that time. Please find someone else to kill to get your revenge.

I have fought for long enough to know when to stop.

I was tired. I was alone. I was done.

The world could just up and fuck itself, thank you very much.

"That is just about enough of that," snarled Greed, and I felt his ghostly hand wrapping around my shoulders, and he tried to shake some sense into me.

But I was allowed to feel defeated. I had everything I would and could have ever wanted, and poof, it was gone.

"You’re not even going to try and get it back?" demanded Envy, the bit to his voice sharper than I deserved. Why the fuck would they care? They were demons. Without me, they would just move on to the next poor soul.

Closing my eyes, I let my body sink into the wet bank, no longer feeling the cold of the November night.

’Is that all you have?’ mused the voice of the creature deep inside of me. The second I had given up, I felt it stirring, waiting for its moment. ’For someone who has fought me as long as you have, you give up the second things become hard.’

"Excuse me?" I hissed, sitting bolt upright, my hands clenched into fists. "You want to try that again?"

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