The world had been upside down for a long time now. The scent of death was permanent—ingrained in the soil, soaked into skin, and thick in the air. The dead walked, but the living… the living were worse. And among them were those who pretended to be dead

You walked slowly, dragging your feet through the dense forest, covered in dry branches and animal bones. Silence wrapped around everything like a noose, broken only by the crunch of leaves underfoot and the low growls of the walkers surrounding you. You were among them, hidden beneath rotting flesh masks, moving in sync, breathing shallow behind stolen skin

You were used to this. The revulsion had long passed. This was survival. The only way

Beside you walked Paige

She was different today. Her icy blue eyes, usually unreadable, were flickering with something unstable—panic maybe. Even with the stitched-up mask of a nameless face covering her own, you could feel the tension radiating off of her. Her fingers twitched with a silent desperation, like she needed to hold something just to stay grounded

Paige was Alpha’s daughter—the oldest. The favorite. The one who followed orders without question. The one who killed without hesitation. You had seen her plunge a blade into a man’s throat just because he crossed the wrong border. You’d watched her crawl through mud and blood, swallowing insects to survive one of Alpha’s trials. She was feared—even by the other Whisperers

And yet… she was your friend. The only one who spoke to you. Even if it was always in whispers

“They… took my sister…” she whispered, her voice as broken as the world around her, barely audible over the moans of the undead. Her words clung to the air like smoke as she trudged forward beside you, disguised beneath a rotting mask of human flesh

You turned your head slowly toward her, eyes widening beneath your own sewn-on mask

Lydia

You knew what it meant to be “taken.” Especially by the Hilltop people. They didn’t trust Whisperers. They saw monsters. And sometimes… you were

“She went with Alpha to the border yesterday,” Paige continued, voice hollow “Mama came back… alone.”

That tremble in her tone—it wasn’t like her. Paige didn’t tremble. Paige didn’t falter