Surviving the Apocalypse With My Yandere Ex-Girlfriend-Chapter 111: From Missouri to Texas

The car bounced over cracked pavement as Aubrey slid something into the radio.

It whirred. Buffered once. Twice.

Then the speakers kicked to life.

Heavy bass filled the car, sharp drums rattling the doors. The beat was loud enough that a few infected on the sidewalk turned their heads as the car rolled past.

Beside her, Julia let out a loud laugh.

"Oho!! This shit is tight! Where’d y’all even get this??"

Aubrey smirked, eyes still on the road. "Got it off some guy in St. Louis when we went there."

Julia turned to her fully. "You traveled to St. Louis? Girl, I remember you was scared to leave even Chicago."

Aubrey chuckled under her breath. "Yeah, well... there’s a lot we need to catch up on."

"Yeah," Julia said, nodding slowly.

In the backseat, Isabella watched them through the rearview mirror.

She had tried to keep her face blank. Calm. Mature.

It wasn’t working.

Julia leaned closer to Aubrey when she talked, her voice rising over the music. Her eyes never quite left Aubrey’s face. Even when she laughed, she kept looking at her like she was studying something familiar.

Something she missed.

Isabella’s jaw tightened slightly.

The music kept playing. The car kept moving. Their laughter filled the space.

It started to feel small back there.

Julia’s eyes flickered up to the mirror and caught Isabella staring.

She frowned. "Yo...?"

Isabella blinked and straightened.

She folded her arms and looked out the window.

Julia leaned a little closer to Aubrey, lowering her voice just enough.

"Think your girl is jealous."

Isabella heard it anyway.

Her eyes widened, heat rushing straight to her face.

"I could sit in the back if you guys want," Julia added with a faint tease.

Aubrey’s head snapped slightly toward the mirror. A faint flush crept across her own cheeks.

"No—," she said fast.

Her hand reached for the radio, turning the volume down until the bass was just a low hum.

"No. We need to talk about a few things first."

Julia raised an eyebrow. "Like—?"

"Like how we’re gonna get that many people out of Chicago after we find Adrian."

The car grew quieter.

"This thing can only hold so much," Aubrey added, tapping the steering wheel.

Julia’s expression shifted, the playful edge fading. She looked out at the ruined street ahead.

"When the time comes, we’ll think of something," she said.

Aubrey didn’t look convinced.

Julia glanced back at her again. "How about we focus on right now, though? Why did you, Adrian and Lila split up in the first place? And how do you even expect to find them with all the shit that’s going on?"

Aubrey’s grip tightened on the wheel.

"Well... A, that’s a long story. And I’d rather not talk about it."

Isabella’s eyes flicked up at that.

"And B," Aubrey continued, "I tracked them down the first time when all this started. I think I still can."

Julia studied her face for a moment, like she was weighing whether to argue.

Then she leaned back in her seat.

"Whatever you say, girl."

Outside, the city stretched ahead of them—burned out, loud in its silence.

Inside the car, the music played low.

No one laughed this time.

—

Lila watched me as I unloaded the supplies, set a gun on the table.

The house was quiet. Boards over the windows. Dust in the corners. It didn’t feel safe, but it was the best we had for now.

I laid everything out carefully. Cleaning kit. Extra magazine. A small flashlight attachment. A suppressor that looked like it had seen better days. A rag. A box of loose rounds.

Lila leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded, eyes following every move I made.

"You seem like you know what you’re doing," she said.

"Who taught you?"

"Hale and Adira. Back at the compound."

She tilted her head. "You mean the baldie?"

I nodded.

I had said all of it casually. Like it didn’t matter.

But my hands slowed.

I checked the chamber again, even though I already had. The magazine was empty. I set the rounds aside and started cleaning the slide.

If I was serious about not going back... then that was it.

No more Terri hovering over the maps, acting like she wasn’t worried about everyone.

No more Carl complaining while still being the first one to volunteer for watch.

Hale correcting my grip with that quiet patience of his.

Adira standing behind him, arms crossed, judging everything but still teaching anyway.

I swallowed and kept working.

I attached the flashlight under the barrel, tightening it with slow, steady turns. Tested the switch. On. Off.

"You miss them," Lila said.

It wasn’t a question.

I didn’t look at her. "They’re fine."

"That’s not what I asked."

I screwed the suppressor on carefully. Made sure it sat straight.

"They’ll manage," I said.

Lila pushed off the counter and stepped closer, stopping on the other side of the table. She wasn’t touching anything. Just watched me.

"You don’t have to pretend with me," she said.

I almost laughed at that.

I loaded the magazine. Slid it in. Racked it once, smooth and clean.

The sound echoed through the small kitchen.

"I’m not pretending," I muttered.

But I was.

Because the truth was simple. If I didn’t go back, I’d never see them again. That very fact felt heavier than I expected.

I tightened the last modification and lifted the gun, weighing it in my hand. Adjusted my grip. Checked the sightline.

Felt safe enough.

Lila’s eyes stayed on me, something softer in them now.

"You’re different when you focus like that," she said quietly.

I didn’t respond.

I clicked the safety on and set the gun back down for a second, staring at it.

Then I picked it up again, firm this time.

"Wanna test it out?" she asked with a smile, nodding toward the front window.

A few infected wandered across the yard outside. One dragged its foot as it moved. Another knelt over something in the grass, whimpering to itself.

Easy targets.

"No," I said after a beat.

She looked at me like I’d just refused dessert.

"We have to use what we got sparingly," I added. "Ammo. Noise. All of it."

I slid the gun into my waistband, adjusting it until it sat right against my hip. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

She raised both hands in mock surrender. "Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Survivalist."

I sharply exhaled through my nose, fighting the urge to smile.

"Sooooo responsible," she continued, drawing the words out.

"Shut up," I muttered.

Heat crept up my neck anyway.

She grinned when she saw it. "Look at you. All tactical."

I walked past her toward the hallway, checking the side window for movement. "You’re the one who wanted me armed."

"Yeah," she said, following me. "Didn’t realize I was creating a monster."

I glanced back at her. "You’re the monster."

She gasped softly, placing a hand over her chest. "Wow. That’s how you talk to the person who saved your life?"

I stopped at the doorway and looked out again. The infected were still drifting around, unaware of us.

"You didn’t save me just so I could waste bullets on target practice," I said.

She went quiet for a second.

When I turned, her smile was smaller. Less teasing.

"Guess not," she said.

The silence between us wasn’t heavy. Not this time.

Outside, one of the infected stumbled into the fence and started gnawing at the wood.

I rested my hand near the grip of the gun, just to feel it there.

Prepared.

Lila nudged my arm lightly with hers. "Still proud of you, you know."

"For what?"

"For not freezing."

I didn’t answer.

But I didn’t pull away either.

—

The woman’s breaths were ragged, chest rising and falling too fast as she stared at the carnage around her.

Bodies were scattered across the loose floorboards. Blood had dried in dark sheets. The air smelled like iron and smoke.

Her eyes landed on the bald woman.

Two bullets in her head. Eyes still open, dull and empty. A metal pipe lay beside her, bent and slick with blood.

Amber pulsed in Annie’s eyes as she stepped closer.

Her teeth clenched. A flash of gold showed as her jaw tightened. She loomed over the body, shoulders shaking once before she forced herself still.

"Who did..." she muttered, barely forming the words.

It came out broken. Incoherent.

"Annie—..?" a man said carefully from behind her.

She turned so fast it startled him.

"WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?!" she screamed.

The amber glow wasn’t enough to steady her. Grief burned hotter. Wilder. It twisted her face into something almost unrecognizable.

First it was Yasmine.

Now this.

The man swallowed and cleared his throat. "It was Adrian. And the blonde infected one. The ones you were looking for. We had them— well... Suzie did. But when we got back she was—"

He didn’t finish.

He didn’t have to.

Annie’s breathing slowed at that. Less calm, more controlled.

"...They came from somewhere," she said quietly.

The man hesitated.

"They have a hole," she continued. "Some place they crawled out of."

"Annie— I don’t think that’s really—well," he tried, like he already knew what she was planning. "That’ll just waste resources, in my opinion."

Her amber eyes snapped to him, feral. "I don’t give a fuck about your opinion."

She turned back to the body, voice low, precise, deadly. "Those rats have friends. People who fed them. Sheltered them. Protected them. If we can’t find them here, then we burn everything outside Chicago. Every last one of their friends."

Her jaw tightened again. The thought settled in her chest before anyone could stop it.

"From Missouri... all the way to Texas. Every compound. Every safe house. Every last one. Nothing left for them to hide in."

The man didn’t speak. He didn’t argue. He only nodded, swallowing hard, watching her.

Annie’s gaze returned to the broken body at her feet for a final moment. Then she straightened fully, Amber pulsing in her arms eyes. She was already planning a war no one could come out of.

Outside, the wind moaned through shattered windows. And Annie was already deciding which fires she would set first.

Adrian’s compound was in deep, deep shit.