Surviving the Apocalypse With My Yandere Ex-Girlfriend-Chapter 92: No right

The door clicked shut behind the woman.

I watched Lila’s knuckles tighten.

Then it was just us.

Just me and her.

The room felt smaller without anyone else in it. The air thicker. My throat closed up before I could stop it. Tears burned behind my eyes no matter how hard I tried to keep them back.

"L—Lila, I—"

She moved.

Fast.

I barely had time to react before she slammed me into the wall. The back of my head hit concrete. Pain rang through my skull.

Her hand shot up and grabbed my face, fingers digging into my jaw. She forced my head still.

I looked at her through blurred vision, trying to read anything—anger, relief, hatred.

Nothing.

She was unreadable.

She tilted my head to one side despite my resistance. Then to the other. Studying me like I was something she found on the street.

Her eyes widened just slightly.

"You smell like her."

My pulse spiked.

Her fingers trailed down my neck. Cold. Not the way I remembered her touch. My lattice hummed under my skin, reacting without my permission.

"Hickeys, huh?"

My stomach dropped.

Oh, shit.

She let go of my face. Took a step back. The look on her face shifted into something I couldn’t name.

"So it’s true," she said quietly. "You wasted no time replacing me after you thought I died."

The room smelled metallic. Or maybe that was just the guilt rising in my throat.

"Lila... that’s not— I tried looking—"

She cut me off.

Her lips crashed against mine.

Hard.

My eyes widened. My hands hovered for half a second before instinct took over. I grabbed her waist. Then her face. She kissed me like she was trying to prove something. Like she needed to.

This was wrong.

I was with Aubrey.

But it had been so long. So many nights thinking she was dead. So many things I never got to say.

What the hell was I doing?

When she pulled away, there was barely space between us. Our breaths mixed. A thin string of saliva still connected our mouths before it broke.

"Here’s a little gift you can bring back to my replacement," she said.

She shoved off me and turned away.

"Seven months," I blurted.

She froze.

"I spent almost a year looking for you," I said, voice breaking. "I didn’t just move on. I didn’t just forget. I thought you were dead. I searched until there was nothing left to search."

Her fists tightened.

"I never meant to abandon you. I was confused. I was in a bad place. I thought I was protecting you."

"You shut the fuck up."

She spun around and pulled a gun from her waistband.

It was in my face before I could think.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

"The Lila you knew is dead," she said. "You killed her."

She pressed the barrel against the side of my jaw.

I grabbed it.

Not to push it away.

Just to hold it there.

"If I could take it all back, I would."

Her jaw trembled.

"Every night I thought about what you said," I continued. "Every night I thought about how weak I was because I couldn’t fix you. I imagined our future over and over. I missed you so much it hurt."

Tears filled her eyes.

"I failed you," I whispered. "I’m sorry."

Something flashed across her face. Fury. Grief. Resolve.

She pressed the gun harder into my skin.

I closed my eyes.

The shot went off.

Glass exploded beside us.

Outside the room, the woman lip’s curled into a smile after hearing the deafening gunshot.

"I knew you had it in you."

When I opened my eyes, the window behind me had shattered. Cheers echoed from outside. Infected voices, wild and high.

Lila stood frozen.

Her chest rose and fell too fast. The gun trembled in her hand.

Her eyes weren’t furious anymore.

They were empty.

"I don’t need you," she whispered.

Again.

"I don’t need you."

It didn’t sound like she was telling me.

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

"I don’t need you... I don’t need you... I don’t need you..."

She kept saying it like a prayer.

Like if she repeated it enough, it would finally become true.

My heart sank as she turned away from me. Her shoulders shook once, then she stumbled toward the table near the wall. Her movements were frantic. Desperate. Drawers slid open. Metal clanged against wood.

"What are you doing?" I asked, already afraid of the answer.

She didn’t respond.

She was searching for something.

My pulse started to pound in my ears as she knocked over a small tray and then—

There.

A half-full syringe.

Amber glowed inside it, thick and almost beautiful under the weak light. It caught the reflection from the broken window and shimmered like liquid fire.

My stomach twisted.

Terri’s voice echoed in my head from the lab. About dependency. About what it did to the brain. About how it rewired you until you weren’t you anymore.

I didn’t think.

I moved.

I lunged forward and grabbed her wrist just as she brought the syringe toward her arm.

"Stop!"

She yanked her hand back, clutching it protectively to her chest.

"Don’t," she snapped, panic flashing across her face. "Don’t touch it."

"I won’t let you hurt yourself like this," I said, gripping her wrist tighter.

She struggled, twisting hard, trying to pull free. She was stronger than I remembered. Or maybe she was just more desperate.

"Let go!"

The syringe slipped between our hands.

For a second it hung in the air.

Then it fell.

Glass shattered against the concrete.

Amber spilled across the floor in a glowing puddle, mixing with dust and shards.

"NO!"

She dropped to her knees instantly, hands hovering over the mess like she could scoop it back up. Like she could push it back inside the broken glass.

The liquid spread thin. Useless.

I stood there, breathing hard, staring at what I’d just done.

I didn’t know if I had saved her.

But I knew that stuff wasn’t saving her either.

A tear fell from her face and landed on the broken glass.

"Lila," I said quietly.

She shot up so fast I barely had time to brace myself. Her hands slammed into my chest and shoved me backward. I stumbled once.

Her face—

She looked furious.

And shattered.

Like I had just ripped away the only thing holding her together.

"That’s poison," I said. "I couldn’t let you keep doing that to yourself."

"You don’t get to decide that!" she screamed.

She shoved me again, harder.

"You don’t get to walk back into my life and suddenly act like you care!"

Her voice cracked on the last word.

"You left. You were gone. And now you come slithering back into my heart like a snake and start telling me what’s good for me?"

Each word hit harder than the push.

"This isn’t fair," she said. "None of this is fair."

She shoved me again—

But this time she didn’t.

Her hands stayed on my chest.

Her head dropped forward.

And she broke.

Her shoulders shook. Her fingers curled into my shirt as sobs tore out of her.

"Why?" she cried. "Why did you leave me? How could you?"

I didn’t hesitate this time.

I pulled her into me.

She didn’t fight it.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. My chin rested on top of her head. Her short hair brushed against my jaw as I ran my fingers through it slowly, the way I used to.

"You have every right to hate me," I whispered. "I was an idiot. I thought I was doing the right thing. I wasn’t. I hurt you. And I’m so sorry."

She kept crying into my chest, fists gripping my shirt like if she let go, she’d fall apart.

I held her there, feeling her shake against me.

For a moment, the chaos outside didn’t exist. The amber didn’t exist. Aubrey didn’t exist.

It was just us.

The girl I lost.

The girl I failed.

And the space between who we used to be and who we are now.

I didn’t know if this was a win.

It didn’t feel like one.

It felt fragile.

Like one wrong word could shatter it all over again.

The moment between us didn’t last.

It shattered the second the door creaked open.

The sound cut through the room’s once fragile peace.

My arms were still around Lila when I looked up. The woman with the mullet stepped inside. Her shadow stretched long across the floor, crawling toward us.

Her eyes flicked down to where Lila’s hands were still gripping my shirt.

Her mouth twisted.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" she snapped. "You’re supposed to be enacting your revenge. Giving this asshole pay back for abandoning you. Not cuddling up to him like this."

The word cuddling sounded filthy in her mouth. Accusing.

"He’s the enemy."

Lila stiffened behind me.

I felt it.

The tension. The shift.

Before she could answer, I stepped forward and pulled her fully behind me. My body moved on instinct.

"Plan’s changed," I said.

My voice came out steadier than I felt.

The woman’s eyes slid to me slowly. Then back to Lila peeking from behind my shoulder.

A grimace stretched across her face.

"I should’ve known," she muttered. "You were never strong enough."

Her hand dropped to the weapon at her side.

My stomach dropped with it.

"I’ll show you how it’s done."

My eyes widened.

Everything slowed.

The slight tilt of her wrist.

The way her finger tightened around the trigger.

The flicker of hesitation in Lila’s breathing behind me.

I moved—

But not fast enough.

The shot rang out.