We were separated for only thirteen minutes. But in a world where every second was a gamble, that might as well have been a lifetime. She would raid the pharmacy, I'd secure the alley. We'd meet back at the butcher's shop, where the freezer still locked from the inside. But nothing stays simple in the ruins. I should've known something was wrong the moment the silence grew too loud. Even the wind stopped whispering. Then I heard it—shattering glass, a thud, a muffled curse. She screamed my name. A scream that ripped from the core of her being. Like something had taken hold of her breath and torn it in half. The pharmacy door was hanging off its hinges, swinging like a broken jaw. Inside, the shelves were overturned, pills scattered like confetti of the dead. I saw her crouched behind the counter, struggling. A ghoul had her by the leg—bony fingers sunk deep into her calf. Blood streamed down her shin, soaking into the dust-covered tiles. When she saw me, her eyes—those brave, furious eyes—shouted louder than her voice ever could. My axe found the creature's skull before I even processed my steps. It let out a gurgling hiss, then slumped like a puppet cut from strings. She collapsed beside it, gasping. I dropped to my knees. "You screamed," I said. "I heard you scream my name." She nodded, shaking, teeth gritted. "You came." We barricaded ourselves in the back storage room. No time to stitch the wound. I pressed my shirt to it, tied it tight with wire ripped from a busted light. "You could've died," I whispered. "I knew you'd come," she said, gripping my wrist. "I screamed because I knew you'd hear it." That broke me more than the wound ever could. The infected returned, sniffing at the blood trail like wolves. She limped, leaning on me. But her fire didn't fade. "You carried me when I was weak," she said through the pain. "Now let me scream your name in triumph someday." That night, as we reached the butcher's freezer and shut ourselves in, she slept on my chest. Her pulse fragile but alive. The silence returned. It was filled with the echo of her voice. Of the one moment that reminded me we were still human— Still capable of love, loyalty, and response. Because when someone screams your name in this world…