I woke up the next morning, confused to be alone; Nugget and Zombie were no where in sight.

I blinked a couple times, trying to adjust my eyes to the bright sun shining through the window. The light was deceiving; the cold air from the outside penetrated the glass, chilling the inside of the hotel.

Honestly, it'd been winter for far too long. I was ready for spring.

I pulled the blanket back, sitting up.

It must've been at least mid afternoon. How had I slept that long? And why hadn't someone bothered to wake me up?

"Zombie?" I tried, my voice barely above a whisper.

It took me a second, but then I quickly pushed myself off the ground, rushing out of the room and into the hallway.

Maybe something was wrong. The hotel was surprisingly quite- even the rats seemed to be having an off day.

"Nugget?" I called. "Zombie?!" I said louder.

"Hey, hey. It's ok, we're here," Zombie said, emerging from the doorway a couple rooms down.

I let out a sigh of relief as he came over.

"You were sleeping, I didn't want to wake you," he said quietly. "But good news - Cassie and Evan got the bomb out."

I shook my head once, surprised. "They got it out?" I paused. "And Megan is still alive?"

How long exactly had I been asleep?

He nodded. "Yeah. And I think we've found a way to detonate the bomb."

I shook my head again. "What? Why on earth would we want to detonate the bomb?"

I was fully awake now. We had just gotten the bomb out without Megan blowing the entire hotel to Dubuque. And now they wanted to do exactly that. What had I missed?

Zombie was about to respond but I started to nod quickly, understanding. "If we set off the bomb then the Others will think their plan worked."

Zombie nodded, confirming my theory. "We're going to take some CO2 canisters from the diner across the street," he said. "From the soda fountains."

I crossed my arms, slightly irritated. I didn't know why I was as annoyed as I was, but the rest of the squad had extracted a bomb and formulated a whole plan in the couple extra hours I'd slept. As petty as it sounded, I felt left out.

I coughed. "Ok, and once we have the canisters, how exactly are we going to set the bomb off without killing ourselves?"

"We're setting it in the elevator shaft!" Dumbo called from down the hall.

I looked around Zombie to Dumbo. So everyone knew but me. Ok.

I nodded. "Alright, thanks Dumbo!"

He nodded, giving me a small wave.

"Dumbo and I are heading out to the diner now. You want to come?" Zombie asked.

"Sure-"

"Actually, I'm not going," Dumbo said. "Megan needs someone to look after her - she's still not doing well. And God knows Cassie and Evan aren't focused on her right now."

That explained why their door was shut.

"So just Canary and I then?" Zombie said loudly, giving time for anyone to object before nodding. "I'm going to grab the gun-"

"Wait. Why the hell are you going?" I asked Zombie, lowering my voice so Dumbo couldn't eavesdrop. Through everything with Evan waking up and the bomb, Zombie's condition had completely slipped my mind.

I jammed a finger into his chest. "Have you forgotten that your wound is infected? You can barely walk."

"The medicine you brought has helped," Zombie said quietly. "It's better. And I'm pretty sure I can make it across the street."

I pursed my lips. I was thinking about protesting but reminded myself that Zombie would be Zombie. Once Zombie put his mind to something, there was no stopping him.

"Fine, but if you fall down or something, I physically can't pick you up and drag you back. You'll just have to lie there or crawl."

A smile split Zombie's face and he reached down to brush a few strands of hair away from my face.

My eyes widened. There was no doubt in my mind that I was sporting the most horrendous bedhead.

"I'll be fine. And I'm pretty sure you'd take care of me if anything were to happen," he smiled.

I rolled my eyes. Of course he was right. There was no way I'd leave him if something were to happen. I'd lie down next to him before I'd let myself walk away.

~*~*~*~

Five minutes later, after Zombie had grabbed some supplies and I'd fixed my hair (as much as it could be fixed in the alien apocalypse), we were on our way to the diner.

I had to slow my pace for him a little bit as we maneuvered our way across the street, which was mostly rubble and had been taken over by weeds.

He stumbled once, but quickly managed to regain his balance, continuing to walk as if it had never happened.

By the time we got to the diner, Zombie was out of breath and we were both on the verge of becoming human popsicles.

"Shit," Zombie huffed, hobbling inside to lean heavily on a countertop.

I set my bag on the counter, deciding to try and dislodge the CO2 canister from the soda machine as Zombie tried not to die.

I bit my tongue, wanting to shout I told you so in his face. I knew he wasn't physically capable to come and I was right.

But I wasn't too interested in getting into another argument with him- especially when we were on a mission to detonate a bomb- so I didn't say a word. I kept my mouth shut, afraid that if I opened it even a little bit, we'd be here for hours engaging in a full fledged shouting match.

I moved over to the machine, trying not to pay too much attention to the Coca Cola and Fanta labels.

It was the small things that I seemed to miss the most.

I unplugged the machine (not that it was working in the first place) and attempted to push it around to expose the CO2 tanks.

"Here, let me help you with that," Zombie said, appearing at my side. He reached over my head to push the top of the machine.

I heard him grimace as he shifted the machine so that we could see the CO2 tanks.

I took my hands off the machine for a moment. "Listen, Zombie," I said, pausing.

"Yeah?" He said, looking down at me.

"You need to stop," I said, holding my hands out.

He took his hands away from the machine, crossing his arms. "Stop what?" he asked.

I looked up at him fleetingly. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his lips were still pale from the cold. His jaw was clenched, probably from pain, and there were prominent circles under his eyes.

"Stop...just stop doing things, " I said, frustrated.

I was frustrated at him for continuing to push off his recovery and being too stubborn to admit that he was hurting. He was being stupid and careless. He did realize how much the squad needed him, right? He did realize that if something were to happen to him, we'd fall into disarray. 

"What things?" Zombie asked slowly, clearly confused.

"You need to just sit still and not move," I said defiantly. "You're panting. And every other second I hear you grimacing and in pain. I've tried putting up with it, but I really think you're in denial about your condition at this point. And that's not good. I can't have that."

Zombie shifted to his good leg and leaned against the counter.

"Canary," he said, sliding his hand against cheek. "We've gone over this before. I can't sit still with everything going on-"

"Yes, yes you can," I said fervidly. "You can sit still. Sit still and get better."

Zombie bent his head slightly so his eyes were level with mine.

"I will. I promise," he murmured, searching my eyes. "After this whole thing with Megan blows over, I'll stop...doing things."

"Zombie-"

He pressed his lips softly against mine, pulling back before I had the time to process what was going on. 

He dropped his hands and was turning back to the machine before I reached out, gripping his shirt in my fist to stop him.

"Zombie-"

He turned back to me.

"I'm serious." I said firmly.

"And I'm serious about my promise," Zombie said. "Now come on, let's get these back to the hotel," he continued, turning back to the machine to hand me a canister.

I took it, biting my tongue for not the first time that day.

He was so stubborn it was annoying. 

I took the canister from his hands and headed for the door. 

The sooner we got this over with, the sooner Zombie could get better. And the sooner Zombie could get better, the sooner I could stop worrying that he would just keel over and face plant in the snow. 

~*~*~*~

"Just put the damn things in the elevator," Flint said, standing with his arms crossed in the doorway.

I looked up from my place on the elevator's molding carpet to glare at Flintstone.

Zombie and I had just recently returned from the diner; Zombie had handed me the canisters and was now speaking with Cassie and Evan in their room. That had left Flintstone and I to setup the CO2 and bomb in the elevator. Except, apparently Flintstone had decided to supervise instead of actually help. 

"Easier said than done," I spat. 

"Just put that-" Flintstone pointed at the canister "Right there," he directed, pointing towards the back corner. 

I let the canister drop to the ground, its clang echoing through the elevator shaft. 

"Do it yourself then," I said, making sure to bang my shoulder against his as I pushed past him.

The whole exchange with Zombie had sent me to a point of pissery that could not be returned from. I was ticked off and everything about my attitude made that blatantly clear. 

I heard Flintstone mutter some profanities as I walked away and I turned back around, with full intent on giving him a piece of my mind. But stopped mid-step after hearing the slightest creak of a floorboard. 

I took a look up and down the hallway. 

No one. 

It wasn't Flintstone. He was in the elevator. 

And everyone else was in the room a few doors down. 

It was just me. And whatever or whoever else had made the noise. From what I'd learned so far, no where was safe. And with Megan here, it only confirmed the fact that the Others were on to us. I couldn't be too careful. 

I took a daring step towards the stairs, sliding a knife out of my belt. 

I peered down the stairs cautiously. Still, no one. 

Maybe I was being too overdramatic about this, but I quickly came to the conclusion that I should tell the others what I'd heard. 

I moved to walk to the room where Evan, Cassie, and Zombie were, turning my back on the stairs for a split second. 

Abruptly, my feet were knocked out from under me and a fist came down, striking my face. 

I tried to scream but hands made their way to the my throat, blocking my airway, ultimately forcing me to suffer in silence.

And then someone was on top of me. 

My eyes grew wide. 

I thought we'd dealt with her. I thought she'd died. 

I struggled against her grasp. My hands were pinned to the ground and my feet frantically scuffed against the floor as I tried to do something, anything to fight back. 

"You thought you could escape me? How cute," Grace sneered, spitting down on my face. 

My heart pounded against my chest and my throat ran dry. 

Tears started to cascade down my cheeks. 

I wanted to yell. I wanted to pound her head against the ground. I wanted to reach the knife that had clattered to the ground a few feet away. 

But I was useless. I was like Megan before the bomb had been extracted, with seconds left to live and an outside force sucking life away from me. 

<><><>

Hey everyone! Please please continue reading the author's note! I have some important things to catch you all up on! 

** If you haven't already, please check out 's 2017 Fiction Awards and nominate Perish for best fan fiction if you think it's worthy! Make sure to follow all directions and comment here once you're done! **

Sorry for the very overdue update. The past couple weeks have been busier than anticipated. I had to find a full time job so I could work over the summer to pay for college, so that took up a lot of my time. I just recently got a job, and I'll be starting this coming monday, working 8am-5pm M-F. Which means, it'll be harder for me to work on Perish. 

However, I'm going to try everything in my power to get updates out at least once a week. 

I know you're saying "Girl, you've been saying that for the past like gazillion chapters." 

Yes. I know. 

But I'm really going to try and get the updates out for you all. So just try to be patient with me in responding to private messages and comments and stuff. 

This is one of the last chapters to Part 2 though so get ready for some action in the next few chapters! 

I'm also in need of someone to make a trailer with my new actress for Canary for Part 3: The Last Star. So if you're talented in trailer making and would be open to making a trailer for me, please contact me via pm! I'll shout you out in Perish and post your trailer. 

As always, any graphics for Perish are welcome! I'm looking for new covers for all my books as well so again, please contact me if you'd be open to making some. I'll make sure it's worth everyone's time. 

Questions/Comments about Perish? Let me know below! I'll do my best to respond to any and all questions! 

Love you all and rock on!