"Awe, I wanted to know what option three was," whined Lingyun from beside me as we drove past the checkpoint.

I shrugged from the middle of the back row, squeezed between him and Yuche. "I hadn’t thought about it."

It was technically true. I hadn’t decided if I wanted the earth to swallow the soldiers and half of their makeshift ’base’ first or the barriers standing between us and where I wanted to go.

Either way, Wei probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the experience.

The checkpoint disappeared behind us, and I could still practically feel Wei Guang’s eye stabbing into my back. I didn’t bother to turn around and watch as he shrunk into nothing.

It was almost cute how certain he was that I couldn’t handle whatever was out there.

He thought I was fragile.

The highway ahead was clogged with abandoned vehicles, some crashed into each other while others were just left where they died. Doors hung open and a transport truck had jackknifed across two lanes. There were dark stains baked into the pavement from the summer heat and enough scattered bones around the area that I didn’t look too closely at some of the smaller ones.

Nobody talked for a while as Zhenlan weaved through the obstacles at a slower speed.

Lingyun kept glancing between me and the road like he was still trying to figure out if I had finally snapped while I could feel Yuche approval from where he sat beside me quietly.

The funny thing was that I felt lighter than I had in months.

Not happier.

Just... lighter.

Like something heavy I had been dragging around finally slipped off without me noticing.

"Wei wasn’t kidding about there being an increase in zombies," Chenghai grunted suddenly just as Zhenlan slammed on the brakes suddenly. The move was hard enough that Lingyun swore as the SUV lurched forward.

A wall of zombies stumbled onto the highway ahead of us.

There wasn’t enough to be an actual horde, but it was close. The road beyond them had completely disappeared under rotting bodies and dragging limbs. Some wore military uniforms while others still had hospital bracelets hanging from skeletal wrists.

That was the best thing about zombies and the apocalypse, it was all about equal opportunities. Death didn’t care if you were young, old, rich, poor, already dead or still alive.

Soon enough, everyone was going to be a target.

"What else did you think I was shopping for?" I purred, feeling the excitement in my veins.

Lingyun stared at me. "That was not a rhetorical question."

I leaned over Yuche before he could stop me, reached for the handle, and shoved the passenger door open.

"Rouxi—"

I crawled directly across Yuche’s lap to get out anyway.

He looked up at me as I paused halfway out the door, one of his eyebrows lifting slowly like he was trying to decide if this was a good idea or not.

"Daddy Warbucks here had no problems getting me pretty jewelry," I said with a smirk as I jerked my head toward Zhenlan. "But now I want more."

Lingyun made a choking sound behind me. Chenghai looked like he was reconsidering every life choice that had led him here.

Yuche just snorted softly. "You’re lucky you’re pretty."

"I’m adorable. We all have burdens to bear." I looked down at where I was practically straddling him. I couldn’t hold back the smirk as I leaned my chest against his and whispered in his ear. "And we both know that I am a lot more than just a pretty face."

Before he could get a firm grip on my hips, I was already out the door. The moment my boots hit the pavement, the zombies started to move. Heads snapped toward the SUV and they jerked forward. A low chorus of groans rolled across the highway as they started moving faster, dead feet scraping across broken asphalt while several peeled away from the mass toward us.

Finally.

I reached into my bra while all four men watched me like they had suddenly forgotten how breathing worked.

Honestly, so dramatic. And a little bit fun.

The vine slid into my hand happily, the little leaf on top of its head vibrating so hard it looked excited.

"There you are," I murmured softly, stroking the leaf with my thumb. "Bring me back the first one and then you can eat as many as you want. When you get too full, spit the extras out for me."

The vine nodded.

Actually nodded.

Lingyun blinked. "Wait! What? Where did you get that? And did... did it just agree with you?"

The vine turned its head slowly toward him.

Then it hissed.

Its mouth split open wider than it should have been able to, rows of massive white teeth gleaming as green venom dripped between them. Lingyun jerked backward just before the vine snapped at his fingers, missing him by barely a few millimeters.

"Jesus Christ!" he yelped.

I smacked the side of the vine lightly. "No biting the idiots. You’ll end up getting indigestion."

The vine immediately settled back down in my hands like the world’s creepiest puppy.

Then it launched itself straight toward the horde.

The first zombie didn’t even have time to react before the vine slammed through its skull hard enough to rip the upper half of its head clean off. Bodies started dropping almost immediately after that, the vine moving too fast for normal eyes to track properly as green flashes tore through the crowd.

Lingyun stared.

Chenghai stared.

Even Zhenlan looked stunned.

Yuche just got out to come stand beside me, his arms crossed in front of his chest like he was waiting to see what happened next.

"Okay," Lingyun said slowly as he moved to where Yuche had been sitting. "That thing is horrifying."

The vine ripped through another zombie and dragged something glowing out of its chest before tossing the corpse aside.

"And kind of amazing."

"Mostly horrifying," Chenghai corrected quietly.

Five minutes later, the vine came slithering back toward me through a pile of twitching bodies.

Lingyun immediately leaned across Yuche to try petting it but the vine snapped at him again.

"Why does it hate me?!" he demanded, jerking backward fast enough to slam his head against the doorway of the SUV.

"You keep trying to touch it," I replied, shaking my head.

"That usually works on dogs!"

"My baby is very clearly not a dog."

The vine ignored all of them completely and climbed back into my hand before opening its mouth.

Something dropped into my hand.

"It looks like an emerald," Zhenlan murmured from behind me.

Honestly, that was probably the closest comparison anyone could make.

The crystal resting in my palm was deep green and almost perfectly smooth, glowing softly from the inside like someone had trapped a tiny light beneath layers of glass. It was bigger than any emerald the guys had probably seen, given the fact that it was almost the size of my palm.

"It’s a little small," I sighed.

Four men looked at me like I had finally gone completely insane.

The vine made a whining noise.

"Oh, don’t be dramatic," I muttered before tossing the crystal toward it. "Have a snack."

The vine swallowed it whole.

Lingyun’s jaw dropped. "That thing was glowing!"

"Mm."

"What was it?"

I looked at him for a second before glancing toward the highway littered with corpses.

"Power," I replied with a shrug.

Nobody spoke after that.

Good.

Because I had more shopping to do.