Page 67 of My Undead Love Life

“It knows where we are,” he finished.

A chill crawled down my spine. “But how are snow leopards in the city?”

“Zoo, remember?” Oxi reminded me of what Luck had told me before.

I closed my eyes. “Fuck.”

The infected animals. I had forgotten for five stupid minutes that the world wanted us dead.

“We’ll figure this shit out,” Oxi said. His arms came around me again, and I clung to him because I needed one more second before we turned this fear into strategy.

My face pressed against his chest, and I inhaled shakily, enjoying that clean scent that somehow belonged only to him.

“Okay?” he asked softly.

“Okay,” I agreed. “But only because we have no other choice.”

“That’s the motto.”

I laughed. “Your encouragement needs work.”

“I’ll add it to my self-improvement list. For now, we need to wake Luck and Mad and tell them.”

“We do,” I murmured.

His hand settled at the back of my head. Mine stayed fisted in his coat.

Somewhere beyond the door, an undead predator knew we were here. As if the horde of undead wasn’t enough to worry about.

13

LUCK

“Keith!”

Spencer’s scream ripped through the mall hard enough to rip me straight out of a deep sleep.

It echoed off the high ceiling beyond the jewelry store, bouncing against all the empty space until it sounded like more than one person screaming. I reached for my shovel before I remembered we were in bed, buried under a mess of blankets and comforters in the back of an old jewelry store on the third floor of a mall surrounded by the undead and snow.

Spencer bolted upright in the middle of us, dragging half the blanket with her. Her red-and-white-streaked hair had come loose from its braid, wild around her face, and her brown eyes were open but unfocused, fixed on something none of us could see.

Oxi was already halfway up with his cane sword in hand. Mad had already jumped out of bed with his axe before I fully got my eyes open. I fumbled for the shovel again before realizing it was leaning against the bed near my feet.

The dim gray light filtering through the mall skylights barely reached the store, leaving everything washed in shadow.

I slid closer to Spencer and wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders. “Spencer, hey, it’s okay.”

Her entire body trembled against me. Sweat dampened the straps of her bra despite the temperature, and when her shoulder pressed into my chest, I could feel how fast her heart was beating.

“Spencer…” Oxi eased back onto the mattress on her other side. His hand settled between her shoulder blades, rubbing slow circles over her skin.

Mad shifted in front of her on the mattress, the springs creaking under his weight. He gently cupped her face between his hands, forcing her gaze up to his. “Spencer, breathe,” he said firmly. “It was just a nightmare. You’re safe now.”

Her chest hitched violently. “But it happened!” she cried, and her voice cracked apart on the words. “It happened, and he’s dead, and I⁠—”

The rest dissolved into another broken sob.

Fuck.