CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Violet looked closely at the small hunter by the window. A shimmer of blond hair could be seen peeking from underneath the hood of her sweatshirt. Hayley was blond. But there must have been plenty of blond teenagers in this town. And there certainly had to be plenty that would fit this teenage girls shoes and clothing perfectly. Right? Okay so maybe the odds were low but to think the small hunter had returned to her pre infection home to nest? That would imply she had some sort of memory from her previous life. That would mean the infection was diverse in its effects and it was very well possible violet had murdered a cognitive person in the previous months.

Violet continued to go through the closet, not really sure what she was looking for. A shoe box fell on her head and made her smile. Hayley kept her letters in a shoebox? How cute. Out of sheer boredom Violet started to read.

Babe,

I don't care what people think. We were meant for each other. I knew the day I looked into your beautiful eyes. I'm so torn because I know loving you will be seen as wrong and I hate the idea of hurting Ellie but that can't really be helped. Hayley you're my soul mate and every minute I spend away from you is torture. I know we haven't even kissed yet but I can't wait until Saturday. Taking you into my arms and holding you all night is my dream come true. Until then my perfect angel

3 B.

Violet shook her head. Teenagers were so melodramatic. Hayley had quite a sap for a boyfriend. And it looked like she was also the other woman. Ellies man was stepping out on her. Hayley you little slut. Violet laughed as the hunter made an agitated noise in her throat. Violet laid Estelle on the bed and settled her in with a bottle of juice. She was confident Estelle would sleep very well. She had a very long day.

Picking up her flashlight, Violet started to read the next letter in the bunch. This one appeared to take place after the anticipated Saturday. This mysterious B was a real sap. He spent paragraph after paragraph describing how blissful it was to hold her perfect bod and smell her perfect hair and kiss her perfect lips and listen to her perfect voice. Good grief this guy was too much. What a freak. What really interested her was a letter near the bottom. Sappy King B got angry at Hayley and wrote her a scathing letter sounding more like an agitated teacher than a boyfriend. Apparently Hayley had been too bold in public and he was concerned the evil ellie would discover everything and his life would be ruined.

The human was sitting on the floor looking at papers. For some reason she didn't like those paper. A low growl formed In the back of her throat. Those papers were bad. She wasn't sure why but those papers made her feel uneasy. The human seemed engrossed in them so she paced back to the window. The familiar smell met her nose and she relaxed. Soon. She had been concerned but things would be right soon.

Violet read the letters and was fairly uniterested until near the end of the stack of letters. Apparently there had been a pregnancy scare and Hayley had been told to be mature. Another letter was so scolding it sounded pretty harsh. The next letter surprised violet. In it was stated that he was married and he couldn't be at her beck and call she needed to stop acting like a child. He was married? My oh my Miss Hayley was a home wrecker? Nice. She stopped dead when she read the end of the letter. It was the usual declaration of love blah blah blah. But the letter was signed "Brennen"

No way. No freakin way! Now the coincidences were getting to be eerie. Vincent and the small one had not only known each other pre infection but they'd been committing adultery together? Really? In a way it was romantic. Even a life altering event like a zombie apocalypse couldn't keep their creepy statutory love apart. They found each other after a strain of rabies ravaged their brains and turned them into flesh eating creatures of nightmares. Yep a classic romeo and Juliet type love story right there.

She had resigned that the small hunter hanging out the window was indeed Hayley. Hayley was very restless. Violet wondered what was bothering her. She mus really miss Vincent. He was all she had. Well, now she had her and Estelle. What a strange family they were. But in this chaotic mess of a world, it was ice to be part of something.