My heart leaps through my chest and tangles within my brain, thumping loudly behind my ears. My eyes grow wide and shift towards Jasper. We share a terrified look and break off into a sprint –twigs abandoned behind us. 

I unsheathe my sword as I run towards the direction of the scream. Jasper races behind me, fiddling with his gun. I grit my teeth as my body shivers with a dull, yet annoying ache; centered in the balls of my feet and slowly swimming upwards, fanning out to the rest of my limbs. The muscles in my legs tighten and twist with adrenaline abuse and my grip on my sword becomes vice-like for precautionary measures. 

We tear into the area where we left Monique and Sebastian, only to be immediately assaulted by a mass of spitting zombies. I swing out with my sword -hacking through anything that so much as twitches. Jasper shoots into the mass of undead corpses repeatedly and bodies fall to the ground with sickening thumps. 

Another ear splitting scream rips through the air, sending a stark chill racing up and down the length of my spine. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight and my skin prickles with goose bumps. 

"Monique!" Sebastian shouts, voice cracking with pain. 

Jasper and I turn to see a large pile of zombies, groaning and moaning in a large dog pile –like a bunch of injured football players. At first, I don't understand it. It doesn't register in my brain. And then, when Jasper fires into the mass and Sebastian swipes at them with his mace, I see it. 

And my stomach lurches. 

"Oh god," My knees begin to shake violently. 

The zombies hiss at Sebastian, who is the closest, but he doesn't hear them. He smashes their skulls with his weapon and then disconnects the head. The zombies scatter, rushing into the trees to get away from his wrath. Something winds around my waist and a loud, terrified scream rips through the air. 

It takes me a moment to realize that the scream came from me and that Jasper is holding me up because my knees have caved. 

"It is okay, Scar," Jasper rasps, sounding just as shaken as I am. "Don't look." He scuttles back and whips me around so I face him, "It's going to be okay." 

I sink against him, numbly. My body is a giant pile of jelly. My nails dig into his sleeve, into the skin of his arms, and I stare at a small splotch of white on his shirt –unable to shut my eyes. No matter how hard I try, I can't get the horrifying image out of my mind. It stays there, planted in the center of my vision, as if someone had slid a translucent image of it between my eyes and the rest of the world. 

"Oh my god," My voice cracks, sounding high strung. 

That thing was not human. 

Despite the thick shock of mahogany hair that piled around its bone white face and the ripped, dirty clothes, it was not Monique. 

Its face had been shredded. Small patches of dark colored skin still clinging to the bone in several places, flapping softly in the still air with each movement Sebastian and the zombies make. There were no eyes -at least none that I could see. Large, gaping black holes dotted its body, as if the zombies had taken a cookie cutter to its limbs and torso. 

"Mo!" Sebastian shrieks. 

"Sebastian, come on!" Jasper shouts hoarsely. "We can't do anything for her now. We need to leave before they realize we're not fighting." 

Sebastian lets out a loud, antagonizing sound. My neck cranes around so I can stare at him, bewildered that such a sound could come from a man as composed and stoic as himself. I am completely amazed that such a sound could be possible, period. 

I am also deeply chilled by the sound. It's not human, not normal. I never want to hear it again. 

My gaze is glued to Sebastian. And I watch, helplessly, as he breaks. 

His whole being seems to shatter. 

He kneels before Monique's mauled form, doubled over in pain. His body shakes violently and his left hand draws back. He begins to pound his fists into the charred earth, fist after fist, hit after hit. Tears stream heavily down his cheeks, once beautiful face a bright blistering red and scrunched up with pain. 

I find myself reaching towards him; no one should experience so much pain. But my back slams against Jasper's chest. Air whooshes in and out of my mouth, never quite reaching my lungs. Suddenly the world spins. I rasp out a yelp and my arms curl tightly around Jasper's neck. My legs dangle limply over his left arm, moving with each bound he takes. 

"Sebastian," Jasper snarls, blue eyes narrowed dangerously, "Let's go, now!" 

He hastily moves around Monique's remains, keeping his back to it and my face angled away, and nudges Sebastian gently with his foot. Sebastian gasps, gulping in air like a fish out of water. 

Jasper repeats his words and he sobers. 

Stiffly, he reaches into the remains and yanks something shiny out. A small silver locket dangles from his fingers; the one Monique wore everyday to school. With tears still streaming heavily down his face, Sebastian holds the locket to his chest and stands numbly. 

And then we run, just as another hoard of zombies step into the area. 

Jasper pants heavily, heart beating erratically inside his chest, with the effort of running and carrying me at the same time. My cheek presses against his chest, ear trained on his heartbeat. It's keeping me sane, tearing my mind off of what just happened. 

If I trusted my legs, I'd make him put me down –he's already carried me enough to last a lifetime. But honestly, I can't even feel them. If I weren't looking at them, I'd wonder if a zombie got to the stupid, useless limbs. 

After several miles of random trees and grass, Sebastian still doesn't look too good, the necklace still clenched tightly in his hands, and Jasper steadily starts slowing down –panting heavily. For a celebrity, he's not very athletic. 

"Okay, we need to stop." Jasper stops. He carefully sets my feet down, right arm locked tight around my torso to hold me up. I cling to him like a wet cat, trembling and yet trying to push away, to stand on my own. Sebastian slumps against a nearby tree. For a few long, antagonizing moments, he stares blankly at the locket in his hands. Then, slowly, he hunches over and rests his head in his palms. 

I whimper, "Sebastian?" 

"Leave him alone." Jasper whispers softly to me, pulling me away. I sag against him and he takes a deep breath. Carefully, he helps me sit and I prop myself up. My palms dig into the ground painfully and Jasper sits across from me, legs stretched out to my left. His eyes are downcast, a somber look twisted into his features. 

I feel sick. 

Oh god. Monique.

I swallow thickly and look to Sebastian. He's crumpled in such a way it leads me to think he thought - felt, really - more for Monique than he really let on. I feel so bad for him, so bad that I feel sick knowing that there's nothing I can do to fix this. 

Jasper seems to be the only level headed one right now, and that's because he seems to have come to terms with that small, measly little fact: there's nothing we can do to bring her back. 

She's gone.