Carrie sat next to the girl who was previously, only moments ago, a zombie. The girl was sitting in the back corner of the cot, leaning against the wall with her head down.

"What's your name?" Carrie asked gently, trying to get her to speak.

The girl didn't move or show that she had heard her.

The blond stood up, giving up on getting her to speak. "I'll get you something to eat," Carrie told her, then disappeared to find her some food.

The girl looked up, just enough to see her surroundings, and watched her leave, then put her head back down. She didn't want to be recognized. There were enough humans in the room that the chances that one of them would recognize her were high. She had an unmistakable feature that would give her away.

She wanted her mate to return. She couldn't explain the way she was drawn to him. When she was infected, trying not to eat anyone, he was the only one who made her forget her hunger for flesh. With the toxins out of her bloodstream, she didn't have that hunger anymore. She was grateful for that. Being what she was and craving something she didn't want was torture.

She had fought the urge to consume live flesh for months. She had succeeded, never consuming any of it the entire time she was infected. She was probably the only zombie on the planet that could say that.

After the pain had ended and the toxins were gone, her mate had brought her to the cot and whispered things to her. He told her she was his mate. He explained the mate bond, and he told her his name. His name was Merrick. She liked his name.

She heard what the younger human said. It sounded like they were all fighting a corrupt leader. One of them, the girl they called Alice, was mated to another leader of some sort. She didn't know yet. She would have to listen for a while longer before she knew for sure that she was safe. As long as they didn't try to take her boots from her, she would be fine.

Her boots were specially made. She didn't want to lose them. Unconsciously, her fingers stroked the hidden pocket that housed her razor-sharp weapon. There was a matching one on the other side. She needed her weapons if one of the creatures tried to turn her again or eat her. She didn't want either.

While she listened to the conversations around her, she heard they were calling them zombies.

The blond girl came back with a plate of meat and cheese. She couldn't help but look at the plate with disgust. She didn't eat meat or dairy, and that was all that was on her plate. Unconsciously, she cringed back, barely noticeable.

The blond girl set it in front of her and pushed the plate closer. "You need to eat something," the blond girl pleaded. Her voice was gentle, motherly. She could tell that the blond was around the same age as her sister.

Trying to keep her eyes hidden, the girl narrowed her emerald-green eyes at the plate of food and slowly pushed the plate away, not wanting it close to her. She was going to vomit if it stayed there for too long.

Another girl, an alien, walked up to the blond girl. She had a handful of fruit. "How about one of these?" she asked her, putting her hand out and offering her the fruit.

The girl took it and slowly took a bite. The fruit was sweet and juicy. It wasn't anything she had on earth. It had to have been something brought with them from the alien planet. She missed fruit.

After the invasion, she found nut trees and abandoned gardens, but none of the fruit trees or berry bushes had anything on them. She had studied bushcraft before the invasion, so she was able to know what plants were edible and how to tell if they weren't. She had been lucky so far, not accidentally eating something poisonous. She liked rice and beans too, but they were too hard to come by.

The alien girl watched her eat the fruit. "She didn't want what you brought her?" she asked the blond girl. She sounded concerned.

"No, I would think after being a zombie, she would jump on the chance to eat the meat, at least." The blond girl stated.

The medic appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. At least, that's what she thought the tall alien was who had drained the toxins out of her bloodstream. He held a small device in his hand, waving it across her body.

"Still no toxins," he stated. She could hear the smile in his voice. It pleased him that what he did was successful. "Do we know her name yet?" he asked.

The blond shook her head, still studying the girl. "She hasn't spoken yet. She didn't even speak to Merrick."

"Being a zombie couldn't have been good for her; maybe she can't talk," said another human who had wrapped her arms around the medic. From where she was on the cot, she could see that the woman's belly was pretty large, about to spit out a baby.

The alien who gave her fruit disappeared, and reappeared minutes later with a plate full of fruit and vegetables.

Pulling some of the fresh produce from the plate, the emerald-green-eyed girl ate slowly, savoring the taste. She liked this alien woman. She was smart enough to realize that animal products wouldn't be touched. Seeing her eat what she had brought, the alien woman smiled.

The girl sat on her cot, keeping her head down, trying not to let anyone see her face. She was afraid that someone in the room would recognize her. She wanted to leave and find Merrick. He would be angry if she did, though, so she would stay where she was. He had told her that he would return for her when it was safe. She hoped it was soon. She felt cooped up wherever she was.

The girl listened to everything. When you don't talk and look like you don't understand anything, people and aliens, as it seems, talk in front of you, not caring that you might be listening or that she was not like what she seemed.

Listening carefully to every word within earshot, she discovered that this was a group of humans, some of them with alien mates. They were in hiding from the aliens' leader. Someone they called Council Leader Tosh. One girl in the room, the one named Alice, is the Fleet Commander's Mate.

She also discovered that several aliens lived in homes that surrounded the tunnel entrance in the dome city. They were placed strategically to keep an eye on the tunnel and keep the hidden bunker hidden. 'Hmm...so I'm in a hidden bunker,' she thought.

She also heard that they wondered how she got into the dome. They debated whether she was hiding inside before they erected it or if she had escaped the tunnels when it was chemically flooded. She didn't know what that meant, but it sounded bad. If they hadn't been forewarned, they would all be dead.

She had never been in these tunnels. Not even when the invasion started. She had come through the dome. The dome wasn't as secure as they had thought. It was remarkably easy to enter the city.

She was glad they weren't all dead, or she would still be a zombie.

When she was first spotted by her mate and the man who followed him, they thought she was timid. She's nowhere near timid. At the time, she was fighting her urge to eat them. It was an all-consuming urge that she fought anytime she smelled living human flesh. If there were no humans, she craved the aliens.

Before the invasion, she had been a vegan. She had been her entire life. Her parents raised her that way. It was most likely the reason she could keep the cravings for human flesh at bay. The thought of eating flesh disgusted her. She had fought both the urge to eat it and the disgust at the thought of it touching her lips.

She shivered in recalling it.

The small group looked at her, seeing her shiver. One of them brought a blanket over and wrapped it around her, thinking she was cold. She wasn't cold.

She didn't dare move as they wrapped it around her. They needed to continue to think she was a timid little girl who was traumatized by being turned into a zombie.

The group continued to talk about the situation between the alien leader and his men and the hidden tunnel city. The girl listened to everything, soaking it in. She wanted to know everything.

She flinched when one of the men stared at her. "She looks familiar. Where have I seen her before?" he asked.

"Fuck," she whispered to herself. "I sure hope he doesn't realize who I am."

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