I Am the Zombie Queen, and My Lover Is the One Sent to Kill Me Chapter 01

I Am the Zombie Queen, and My Lover Is the One Sent to Kill Me Chapter 01

The gecko had bitten hard enough to draw blood from the web of my thumb.

I stared at the wound, my mind going blank for a few seconds.

I was a coward by nature.

I could never have eaten a lizard under normal circumstances. Hell, I didn’t even dare kill a fish.

But twenty-eight days ago, the outbreak had swallowed the whole city.

The water was off, the power was gone, and the grid had gone dark.

We’d run out of food a long time ago.

Nolan had gone out looking for supplies, and he still hadn’t come back after two days.

I hadn’t eaten in forty-eight hours.

Hunger was a hollow ache, clawing at my ribs until it felt like my stomach was devouring itself.

That was the only reason I’d set my sights on his pet gecko. When people were on the verge of starving to death, who had the luxury of keeping a pet?

But those floating comments made me hesitate.

Would Nolan really throw me out?

Would I really wind up as just another rotter?

I was still stuck on that when the door suddenly opened.

Nolan stood in the doorway with several fresh cuts across his face.

The second he stepped inside, he locked the door behind him and braced himself against it, breathing hard. Then he looked up at me, his brows knitting together.

“What are you standing there for?” he said, his voice rough. “Help me up.”

I hurried over and caught him. He slung an arm over my shoulder and leaned so much of his weight onto me that I nearly staggered.

Then he buried his face in the crook of my shoulder and stayed like that for a long moment without lifting his head.

He had to be exhausted.

I didn’t dare move. I just let him lean on me until his breathing slowly evened out.

After a while, he finally straightened and pulled two packets of hardtack and a chocolate protein bar from his coat pocket.

“This is all I could find,” he said quietly. “Eat something for now.”

He tore one open and held it up to my mouth.

My throat tightened. “Did you eat?”

His eyes dropped. His throat bobbed once.

“I did. Hurry up.”

I nodded and took a bite.

He smiled, pressed the ration bar into my hand, and turned toward the living room.

But the second he got to the terrarium, he stopped, then looked back at me.

“Where’s Pickles?”

That was the gecko’s name.

My heart lurched. I choked on the ration bar and sprayed crumbs as I coughed.

“M-maybe he, uh, got out?”

Nolan stared at me with an unreadable expression.

I didn’t dare meet his eyes.

I just lowered my head and kept chewing.

The comments drifted across my vision again.

[This is killing me. That guilty look on the villainess’s face? No way the male lead doesn’t suspect something.]

[He’s way too smart not to know what she was about to do.]

[Just wait. Supplies are this tight, he’s out there risking his life to bring her food, and now she was about to eat his precious pet too? He’s done with her.]

[She’s nothing but dead weight. The sooner she gets killed off, the sooner the real heroine can take her place.]

How was I dead weight?

A few days ago, Nolan had come back with two infected right on his heels, and I’d been the one who hauled him through the door and bolted it just as their teeth snapped at the air.

I was… useful sometimes. Wasn’t I?

Nolan searched the apartment, but after he failed to find Pickles, he gave up.

He pulled out the first-aid kit, and began tending to his cuts with clinical efficiency.

“We can’t stay here anymore,” he said without looking up.

“Everything nearby’s been picked clean. Tomorrow I’m taking you out of here. I heard there’s a refuge camp in Ridgefield.”

“Out… outside?”

My heart skipped.

Ever since the outbreak, I hadn’t stepped past that door even once.

I was terrified, but I knew he was right.

If we stayed, we’d die trapped here. If we left… maybe we still had a shot.

Silently, I wrapped up the leftovers and set it back on the table, then walked over to help him with the bandages.

We were down to the dregs of the antiseptic and a single, lonely adhesive strip.

Seeing the look on my face, Nolan lifted a hand and tipped my chin up.

Then he pressed a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth.

“Don’t be scared,” he murmured. “I’ll protect you.”

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

His gaze dropped to the blood still running from the web of my thumb. His brows drew together, and he was just about to say something.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound came out of nowhere.

He and I looked at each other, and for a second, neither of us breathed.

At a time like this… who the hell could possibly be at the door?