Chapter 94: Home Sweet Home

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Home Sweet Home

For a moment, Penelope felt something almost resembling relief.

Authority.

Someone was still trying to maintain order.

Then she noticed the dozen terrified civilians arguing over one another.

"Where are we supposed to go?"

"Is there an evacuation?"

"My husband was bitten!"

"Why isn’t anyone answering 911?"

"Are the hospitals open?"

The officers didn’t have answers.

Penelope could see it on their faces.

They were just as confused as everyone else.

They simply had uniforms.

Killian drove past without stopping.

Penelope watched the flashing lights disappear behind them.

The government hadn’t vanished.

The police hadn’t vanished.

The military hadn’t vanished.

But the systems connecting all of them were beginning to fracture under the weight of millions of emergencies happening simultaneously.

Nobody knew who was in control.

Nobody knew what tomorrow would look like.

Most people probably still believed someone would fix everything by morning.

Penelope knew better.

Morning wouldn’t fix anything.

Erik suddenly leaned forward.

"We’re close."

Everyone became alert again.

Penelope looked outside.

She recognized the street.

Then another building.

A familiar intersection.

Home.

Relief came so quickly that her chest tightened.

Kai sat straighter.

Ben leaned toward the window.

Even Erik’s shoulders seemed to loosen slightly.

Killian turned onto the final street.

Their apartment building appeared in the distance.

The entrance remained intact.

Several lights glowed faintly behind covered windows.

Nothing appeared to be burning.

No crowd surrounded the building.

No zombies wandered near the entrance.

Penelope released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

"They’re okay."

"We don’t know that yet," Erik cautioned.

Penelope looked at him.

Erik’s expression softened slightly.

"But it’s a good sign."

Killian slowed the truck as they approached.

A figure appeared behind the glass entrance doors.

Then another.

Someone inside had noticed them.

Penelope leaned forward.

She couldn’t see who it was from this distance.

She didn’t care.

Someone was there.

They had made it back.

Five people had left the building hours earlier.

Five people had returned.

Nobody had been bitten.

Nobody had been scratched.

Nobody had been left behind.

For tonight, that was enough.

Killian guided the truck toward the entrance.

Penelope looked up at the building that had somehow become the closest thing she had to home in this world.

Tomorrow, they would deal with everything else.

Tonight, they were finally back.

Killian parked as close to the entrance as possible before turning off the engine.

The sudden silence inside the truck felt strange.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

There were no zombies charging toward them.

No growls coming from between abandoned vehicles.

No locked doors standing between them and safety.

They were simply sitting inside a parked truck.

Ben was the first to release a long breath.

"I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy to see an apartment building."

Kai looked toward him.

"Give it a few days."

Ben frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"I don’t know," Kai admitted. "I’m too tired to be funny."

Ben stared at him.

"That’s actually concerning."

Penelope laughed softly.

The sound felt good.

Normal.

Killian glanced toward the entrance before reaching for the door handle.

"We should get inside."

Nobody disagreed.

The moment Killian opened his door, everyone became cautious again.

A clear sign of a habit forming.

Erik checked the street.

Kai looked behind the truck.

Ben scanned the area nearest the entrance while Penelope instinctively tightened her grip around her machete.

Nothing moved.

The figures inside the lobby gradually came into view.

Penelope recognized them immediately.

Edward.

William.

Ethan.

Jason.

The four of them stood just beyond the glass entrance.

Edward still gripped a bloodstained fire axe.

William rested one trembling hand against the pistol holstered at his waist, as though he still wasn’t used to its weight.

Ethan held a crowbar streaked with dried black blood.

Jason stood beside him, pale and unusually quiet.

The moment Ethan spotted Killian’s truck pulling into the parking lot, relief flooded his face.

"They’re back," he breathed.

Edward didn’t hesitate.

He hurried toward the entrance, unlocked the doors, and pulled one open just enough for them to slip inside.

"Quickly."

Nobody needed to be told twice.

Killian entered first.

Erik followed.

Kai.

Ben.

Penelope.

The moment everyone was inside, William slammed the door shut and immediately locked every deadbolt.

Only then did the tension ease—if only slightly.

Edward’s eyes swept over the returning group.

Killian.

Erik.

Kai.

Ben.

Penelope.

One by one.

Counting.

Making sure no one had been left behind.

Killian noticed and so did Penelope.

"No bites?" Edward asked.

"No."

"Scratches?"

"None."

Edward released a slow breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

"...Good."

Only then did Ethan finally speak.

"Did you find everything?"

Kai leaned against the wall with an exaggerated sigh.

"We went shopping..." His eyes drifted toward the firearms hanging from Edward’s and William’s belts.

"...Looks like you did too."

The joke didn’t land.

Edward instinctively rested a hand over the pistol.

His expression darkened.

"It wasn’t exactly shopping."

The lobby became noticeably quieter.

William lowered his eyes.

"We ran into two police officers."

Nobody interrupted.

"They’d already turned."

His voice was rough.

"They were attacking a family."

Edward continued quietly.

"We... didn’t have much of a choice."

His gaze lingered on the pistol at his hip.

"I kept telling myself they weren’t people anymore."

A long silence followed.

"But..." He swallowed. "They still wore the uniforms."

No one knew how to respond.

"If we hadn’t stopped them..." Finally, Ethan spoke. "That little girl would’ve died."

Jason’s eyes remained fixed on the floor.

"They weren’t the officers anymore." His voice was barely above a whisper. "They looked like my grandpa."

Silence settled over the lobby.

Nobody could argue with that.

Kai slowly scratched the back of his neck.

"...Customer service still sucked."

This time—

A few strained chuckles escaped the room.

Not because the joke was particularly funny.

But because everyone desperately needed something to break the suffocating silence.

Killian looked toward Edward.

"How bad was it?"

Edward rubbed a tired hand across his face.

"Bad."

He glanced toward the entrance as though he could still see the streets outside.

"Nothing prepares you for killing something that still has a human face."

Killian nodded once.

"I know."

Edward looked at him.

"You’ve fought them already."

"Enough."

"The infected respond to sound," Erik added. "And vibrations. There may be other triggers, but those are the only ones we’ve confirmed."

Edward frowned.

"How sensitive?"

"A car alarm pulled infected from multiple streets away."

William’s face paled.

"We made the right call keeping everyone inside."

"You did," Killian replied.

Edward’s gaze shifted toward Penelope.

"Did you find what you went for?"

Penelope smiled faintly.

"And more."