Page 22 of My Undead Love Life

“Good thing you found a new home,” Oxi murmured.

Something painful tightened behind my ribs at the wording.

Home.

Keith was my home.

“We’ve been looking for one for the past couple years,” Maddox admitted. He crossed back toward the door and slowly cracked it open just enough to peer outside.

Cold tunnel air slipped through the opening alongside distant groans. After a few tense seconds, he shut the door carefully and locked it this time. The metallic click echoed softly through the closet.

“Large number of zombies,” he muttered. “We’re stuck here for the night at least.”

“I figured,” Luck sighed dramatically, gesturing toward the pile of sleeping bags.

Mad rolled his eyes. “I was hoping you’d be wrong. I don’t like that this room only has one exit.”

“Calm down,” Oxi grunted while nodding toward the far shelves. “There are extra supplies in the corner. Canned food and shit.”

Luck immediately fist-pumped. “Score!”

A chill suddenly swept through me. The temperature underground had dropped significantly now that night had settled. Cold seeped through the concrete walls and floor, creeping through my clothes and into my bones.

Luck, Maddox, and Oxi settled together onto the floor bed Luck had made, shoulders pressed close beneath layered blankets and sleeping bags for warmth.

I stayed in my corner, pulling my cardigan tighter around myself. Silent sobs shook through my body while I pressed my forehead against my knees. My chest hurt unbearably with every breath, and no matter how tightly I wrapped my arms around myself, I still felt empty.

Keith was gone.

The thought repeated endlessly in my head. It couldn’t be real. He couldn’t be gone.

At some point, grief gave way to numbness. The candlelight blurred and the distant groans outside faded. Eventually, exhaustion dragged me under.

4

LUCK

“Ireally didn’t think we would make it,” I broke the silence with a whisper.

The candle had burned low enough that the tiny flame barely pushed back the darkness anymore. Weak orange light flickered across the cramped service closet, casting long shadows against the walls.

Outside the locked door, distant groans echoed through the subway tunnel alongside the occasional scrape of dragging feet. Now and then, something would bump against the wall outside, making the metal shelves rattle softly.

I hated it. I hated the zombies, and I hated the feeling that we'd survived by pure chance.

“We wouldn’t have,” Mad admitted from where he sat on the floor bed beside me. His gaze shifted toward the sleeping redhead tucked in the corner of the closet. “Not without...”

“Her boyfriend,” Oxi finished flatly. The candlelight reflected briefly in his bright green eyes before he looked away again.

“Yeah,” I agreed quietly. “Without him, we wouldn't have had a chance.”

The city had been completely swarmed in a second. I’d never seen anything like it. Not even during the early years of the outbreak. My stomach tightened just thinking about it.

“We got lucky,” I muttered.

“Luck had nothing to do with that,” Oxi snorted.

“Hey!” I protested. “I helped.”