Page 32 of My Undead Love Life

“Can’t argue with that,” Oxi agreed.

I wondered how many people had taught him that. I wondered how many times he had reached for someone before learning to reach for the axe instead. It sounded lonely, but he had Luck and Oxi, so he trusted some.

Outside the closet, something scraped faintly in the tunnel. The sound immediately killed the moment. Everyone went still until nothing else happened.

“What about the cane sword?” I asked Oxi softly.

“It belonged to my grandmother,” he said after a few seconds. “Never thought it'd actually come in handy.”

“Was she some kind of secret assassin?” Luck asked.

“No.”

“Missed career opportunity.”

“She used it because she was eighty-two.”

“Oh,” Luck murmured. “A badass old lady.”

“Yeah.” Oxi’s voice carried an unexpected affection. “She was.”

I could almost picture some sharp old woman with a cane sword and no patience for anyone’s nonsense. Maybe Oxi had learned it from her.

Mad spoke up carefully. “What kind of gun did Keith have?”

Hearing his name swelled agony up in my heart.

Keith.

Everything inside me tightened as the grief came rushing back.

“An M-4,” I whispered. “He never wanted to use it. But he did when he had to. He did yesterday. For me. For all of you.” The darkness blurred as my eyes burned with tears again. I blinked hard, but it didn’t help. “He's an excellent judge of character. Like he said. He trusted you. So, I've decided to trust you, too.”

“We won't let that trust go to waste,” Mad assured me.

The anxiety in my chest loosened. “To get to the Oasis,” I murmured, “we have to get out of this closet.”

“Then we wait until it’s clear and we leave,” he told me.

It sounded simple and impossible, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. For the first time since I was forced to leave Keith behind, I didn't feel completely alone.

Eventually, their conversation continued and faded into low murmurs. The rhythm of their voices blurred together. I didn’t bother following every word anymore, but the sound of them talking helped ease my nerves. Luck’s low laughs. Oxi’s irritated mutters. Mad’s calm responses.

The warmth around me felt a little safer.

My eyes grew heavy, and despite everything waiting outside that door, sleep dragged me under again.

6

MAD

Blood soaked the concrete outside the service closet.

It was in dark patches that had mostly frozen over, but the metallic scent lingered in the stale underground air. Unfortunately, the blood couldn't tell me whether the animal that had tried to get in was infected or not. Not that it mattered. It wanted to kill us one way or another, so it was the most pressing threat.

Oxi and I stepped over it as we slowly pushed the door open. The hinges gave a long, rusty creak, the sound echoing through the subway corridor far louder than it should have. Every muscle in my body locked instantly. Beside me, Oxi froze, too.

For several agonizing seconds, neither of us moved or breathed. Nothing happened. No movement, dragging claws, groans, or distant shuffling of the undead. Just silence answered us, and it was the type of silence that felt wrong after three straight days of being trapped in that damn closet while the dead dragged through the tunnel.