Free Flesh Ravenous (Book 1) by James M. Gabagat

Tristan?” Sonya whispered.
    “Not exactly.” Ally rubbed her moistened eyes with her palms. “It was about Charlene.”
    Sonya crawled over to Ally’s bedside and settled on her knees. “Yeah, I have nightmares about her, too. She’s a maniac in my dreams.”
    “I’m serious, Sonya.”
    “I’m serious, too, Ally.”
    “I dreamt I was having a conversation with her about which would make a better pet, a turtle or a koala bear, and, all of the sudden, she started stabbing me.”
    “It was only a dream,” said Sonya. That was the response Ally expected from Sonya. “This isn’t about Charlene, is it? It’s still about Tristan?”
    “I guess so. I guess I trusted him.”
    Sonya lightly ran her fingers through Ally’s hair. “Do you hate him for what he did to you?” She had asked Ally that already. Ally hadn’t responded that time, only sulked in silence.
    “I don’t.”
    “You’re just afraid of him now, aren’t you?” Sonya could be surprisingly empathetic toward people she cared about. To anyone else, she was seemingly a petulant grouch. A real cunt. Most had been wrong about her. “That’s usually the source of nightmares, being afraid.” Sonya lifted the blankets off Ally. “Scoot over, will you?” Ally did so, and Sonya slipped into the covers and lied next to her.
    Ally pulled the blankets up to her neck and rested her head on Sonya’s shoulder. “If Tristan could lose himself like that, then it could happen to anybody, Lawrence, Kasey, and even me.” Ally stopped to think of what she just said. She had already lost it when she pummeled Tristan. During that time, she had felt a strange detachment from her own mind.  “I’m afraid of what could happen if we stay here, trapped in this house.”
    “I’m afraid, too,” Sonya said. “I’m sure everyone is. That’s why we’re gonna make a move out of here soon. Right now, Tristan isn’t your enemy. We all lose ourselves sometimes. Do you regret hurting him, making him bleed, and bruising him up?”
    “Yes,” Ally admitted. She had never caused so much harm to anyone before.
    “Then I’m sure he regrets his actions, too. I know him, Ally. I know he’s really sorry for what he did.”
    “Then why don’t you stop blaming Lawrence for what happened to Kyle?” Ally’s words came out impetuously. She didn’t intend it to be a challenge to Sonya, but that’s what it was. “Lawrence had to do it and it was Kyle’s own decision to head out that night. Don’t blame Lawrence, Sonya, I don’t.”
    “I know I’ve made that mistake.” Sonya’s voice was soft with surrender, and Ally knew there’d be no argument with her. “Lawrence and I never really got along, and that’s how it is. That’s how it’s always been.”
    “You two never got along because you’ve always looked down on him,” Ally’s tone was still challenging. “You’ve always implied that he was a failure. Kyle noticed that, too.”
    “You know what, Ally?”
    “What?”
    “Happy Thanksgiving.”
    Ally giggled. “Happy Thanksgiving, Sonya.”
     
    Sonya
     
    Rather than be a hypocrite to Ally, Sonya decided to pay Lawrence a visit. If he wasn’t visible downstairs, the likely place to find him was the master bedroom, his new thinking spot. It was Kyle and Sonya’s room before and after the global disaster. After Kyle’s death, Sonya moved in with the girls downstairs, refusing to sleep alone. Everyone neglected the largest room over the months. No one spent much time in there or stored any supplies or belongings within. The only real use for the master bedroom was to set empty gallon bottles out in the balcony to obtain rainwater. Now it was Lawrence’s alone-time space, considerably. Ally had Kyle’s Mustang and Tristan had recently taken his old room back. Sonya’s housemates were starting to lean toward isolation, and it made her a little nervous.
    Sonya rapped loudly on the master bedroom door. She had the tendency to handle things with