CHAPTER 21: THE ZOMBIE IN THE MIRROR

The snow crunched beneath her feet as she crossed the frozen clearing, but Seraphina didn’t feel it. Her bare skin was painted in dried blood and icy water, dark streaks still dripping from her fingertips. There was a long scratch down her thigh, half-healed, and a smear of something like oil clinging to her ribs that she hadn’t bothered to wipe off.

Not to mention the fact that she was completely naked.

The wind howled against the treeline, biting and sharp, but it brushed over her skin like air over stone. Her body didn’t flinch; in fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt cold. Letting out a huff of air, Sera couldn’t help but smile. Not feeling the cold was going to be important in the coming days.

Sera trudged up the porch steps to her cabin and pushed the door open with her shoulder. The familiar creak of the hinges greeted her, followed by the dull warmth of the woodstove she’d left running. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her, locking out the night air.

For a long moment, she just stood there...dripping wet and silent.

Then: "Damn pajamas," she muttered.

She’d liked that pair. Soft cotton. Little moons on the hem. Somewhere between the shoreline and the fight, they’d vanished; either ripped apart or left behind. Maybe she’d dropped them on the ice. Maybe she’d shifted too hard, too fast, and they simply couldn’t keep up.

Sera padded across the floor, leaving faint, wet footprints behind her as she made her way to the bathroom. She moved without effort, without a sound. Her body felt the same, but clearly it was not. The bones underneath felt sharper now, the muscles more attuned. Her vision hadn’t faded with the darkness. If anything, it had sharpened.

She paused in front of the mirror above the sink, braced herself for what she would see, and lifted her head.

Her reflection stared back at her...bare, bloodied, and very clearly unbothered by everything that had happened. Her face was the same shape it had always been. Her lips were pale and chapped, but could easily be pressed together. Her hair was tangled and still dripping with lake water. And her eyes...

Still pitch black.

She leaned over the sink and continued to stare at her reflection, trying to find the monster that took on the beast and dominated it.

There were no teeth showing, no claw marks, no scars. Every part that she could see was covered in smooth skin. Human skin. She still had that faint scar on her chin from falling off her bike at ten. Still had the ghost of freckles over her collarbone.

The creature under her skin wasn’t gone, it was just... hiding.

And at least now, she knew without a doubt what Adam had done to her, what he had injected into her veins. Zombie DNA. He turned her into the perfect weapon... a zombie that looked and acted human.

But she knew for a fact that her outside skin was only a mask to hide what she really was.

And for once, she was okay with that.

"I’ll need more foundation," she muttered to the empty cabin, "and a few more pairs of contacts."

The creature inside her didn’t answer. It didn’t need to.

Her body had healed already. Not a single bruise was left from the impact or the fight, no scratches from the beast’s claws. She should’ve died out there, should’ve frozen or bled out or drowned. But she hadn’t. She’d ripped through the water like a bullet and clawed her way onto the ice like she’d been born there. Like she belonged.

And she did.

Sera found a clean towel from the stack inside the linen closet and wiped off what little blood remained. She moved slowly now, not out of pain or exhaustion, but from the habit of trying to remember what it felt like to act human.

Later that morning, she dressed in dark jeans, a sweater, and a fresh coat of illusion. Foundation masked the unnatural smoothness of her skin. The colored contacts dulled the black in her gaze just enough to pass as normal.

She looked in the mirror one last time.

"Good enough," she whispered with a shrug.

Then she left the cabin.

------

The campus hadn’t changed, not like I really expected it to.

Students rushed between buildings with coffees in hand and hats pulled low. The sidewalks were slushy, the air sharp, and everyone looked tired. No one noticed the girl walking past in a wool coat and sneakers, with earbuds in, and a bag slung over one shoulder. No one stared too long. No one knew what she’d done.

Not even her family.

Her phone buzzed during her second lecture. A message from her mother. Another from her sister. The holidays were coming up. The flights were booked. Country M was beautiful in December, and even better, there was no snow...wouldn’t she please just come?

Sera stared at the screen of her phone, not sure what she should write. Then, she typed her reply slowly, carefully, making sure that no one would be upset by her answer.

Sorry. I have final papers. Exam prep. Too much to do. Maybe next time.

She didn’t write: I never want to see you again.

She didn’t write: I remember everything.

She didn’t write any of the messages that she wanted to. Instead, she bit her tongue and gave the answer she knew that everyone would accept, even if they didn’t like it. After all, it was not okay to skip school, especially not for a vacation. If she made it clear that her priority was school, then her parents would agree.

She hit send and turned her phone face down.

Later that night, Sera returned to the cabin, refusing to share a room with Jodie anymore, and ran.

She left out of the back door just past midnight, barefoot again, her hair loose and untamed. She didn’t need shoes, didn’t need a jacket, and certainly didn’t need a flashlight.

The forest welcomed her now.

She moved faster than the wind—leaping over fallen branches, skimming across frozen earth, chasing the scent of deer and fox and something deeper. Her breath stayed even. Her pulse never wavered.

This was control.

She didn’t need to kill tonight. Not really. But the movement helped. The chase. The way her body flowed with speed and certainty, every muscle tuned to instinct.

This wasn’t just survival anymore.

This was about control and mastery.

No one saw her. No one knew. But beneath her skin, the zombie inside of her pulsed like a second heart, enjoying the run just as much as she did. The two of them had come to a compromise. She could hold it back now, could leash it when she needed.

But when she needed it, and it slipped its leash... then all bets were off.