I Am the Zombie Queen, and My Lover Is the One Sent to Kill Me Chapter 04

I Am the Zombie Queen, and My Lover Is the One Sent to Kill Me Chapter 04

The infected opened its blood-smeared mouth and sank its teeth hard into my neck.

Searing pain exploded behind my eyes.

I screamed and shoved at it with everything I had, but it wouldn’t budge.

It lunged to bite me again.

I couldn’t fight it off. I shut my eyes in despair and gave up.

But the second wave of pain never came.

Instead, something warm splashed across my face.

I opened my eyes.

The infected that had been on top of me a second ago had its head blown apart.

Blood sprayed everywhere as its body dropped stiffly beside me.

I was too shocked to move.

A strange man stood in front of me with a golf club in his hand.

He frowned at me, then his gaze dropped to my neck.

That was when I finally reacted and slapped a hand over the wound.

Too late.

Blood kept pouring through my fingers.

“You got bitten.”

His face was grim. “You’ve got about a week before the virus fully takes over.”

He looked me dead in the eye. “Run. Or I’ll kill you right now.”

My whole body shook as I stumbled to my feet.

The infected’s corpse was still pinning one of my legs down, and I had to kick it away with all my strength.

“W-where am I supposed to run?” My voice shook so hard I barely recognized it.

“Anywhere,” he said. “Just get the hell away from me.”

I nodded and climbed out through the shattered window, half falling as I went.

Glass sliced open my palm, but I barely felt it.

Then I started running.

No direction. No destination.

I just ran.

Past ghost-town avenues and skeletal car wrecks, past the stiffening remains of people who hadn’t been fast enough.

I had no idea how long I kept going before I finally couldn’t anymore.

I collapsed in a corner, wrapped my arms around my legs, and buried my face in my knees.

The wound on my neck was still bleeding, but I couldn’t make myself care.

I just sat there in a daze.

I’d been bitten.

I was going to turn into one of them.

The scrolling pings were a blur of static and noise:

[??? Wait, the villainess got bitten already??? I’m not even halfway through my boba yet.]

[Guys, that wound looks brutal. My neck already hurts from secondhand pain.]

[No but seriously, why was the heroine stopping the male lead back there?? What if he could’ve pulled off some miracle save??]

[Be real. You think the male lead’s Superman or something??]

[Okay but… watching the villainess get dragged away like that actually made me kind of sad.]

[Oh please. Sad for what? Plot necessity, hello? If the villainess doesn’t get killed off, how are the leads supposed to get closer?]

[LMAO the same people calling her dead weight five minutes ago are suddenly feeling bad for her now.]

I stared at the words, numb with despair.

I didn’t even know if I’d still have my own mind after I turned.

Probably not.

By then I’d just be a walking corpse that bit people.

A monster. Nothing else.

I stayed crouched in that corner for a long time.

Long enough for the blood on my neck to dry.

Long enough for the sky to go inky and cold.

I should’ve found somewhere to hide.

But I didn’t want to move.

After getting bitten, it felt like even my will to survive had bled out with me.

I was still sitting there blankly when I heard the soft scuff of shoes not far away.

I looked up.

A little girl stepped out of the shadows and stopped in front of me.

She looked maybe ten or eleven, with a ponytail, and when she saw me, her eyes twinkled with a strange warmth.

Quietly, I tugged my scarf higher to cover the wound on my neck.

“Are you all by yourself?” she asked, tilting her head.

I hesitated, then nodded.

“Then come with us! My dad’s over there!” She pointed into the distance.

A man walked over a moment later.

When he saw me, his voice was warm and gentle.

“We’ve still got a little food left. Come back with us and eat something. You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”

I was about to refuse.

Then, right on cue, my stomach growled.

I was starving.

…Fine. Just a little.

I’d eat, then leave. I absolutely couldn’t drag them down with me. I definitely couldn’t hurt them.

I followed the father and daughter into an old walk-up apartment building and stopped with them on the third floor.

The man pulled out a key and unlocked a door.

It was heavy, with an iron security gate welded onto the outside, and the windows had all been boarded up from the inside.

“Go on in,” he said, stepping aside.

I stood in the doorway, and for no reason I could name, a chill of unease ran through me.

The little girl seemed to notice my hesitation. She reached out, took my hand, and smiled up at me.

“Don’t be scared. Go inside.”

Her hand was soft.

Warm.

Before I could decide, she pushed me into the apartment.

The room was dark.

In one corner, I thought I saw a hunched shape. A pair of eyes glimmered faintly in the dark, staring straight at me.

Then the little girl’s sweet voice piped up behind me.

“I’m sorry, miss… we lied to you.”

“But Mommy’s so hungry. She needs something to eat.”

I didn’t even have time to process what she meant before the door slammed shut behind me with a bang.

And when I finally saw what was standing there, every drop of blood in my body turned cold.

…It was an infected.

A real one.

This family was keeping an infected in their apartment.

My skin prickled all over. I backed away frantically until my spine hit the door, then fumbled wildly for the knob behind me.

It wouldn’t open.

The infected moved toward me with a jerky, mechanical gait.

Its movements were slow and jerky. It had probably only turned recently.

In my panic, I spotted an old folding chair in the corner.

I found a reservoir of desperate strength, swinging the metal frame with a primal scream.

The plastic back shattered into pieces.

The infected let out a piercing shriek and staggered backward.

Outside the door, the man’s voice called out.

“What happened?”

Then I heard a key turning in the lock.

I held my breath and flattened myself behind the door.

The second it opened a crack, I slammed into it with all my weight, careening into the hallway.

“Mommy—!!!”

The little girl’s scream exploded through the hallway.

I couldn’t help glancing back.

The door was wide open. The infected was on top of the man, tearing into his shoulder with its teeth.

The little girl lay off to the side, eyes wide open, completely still.

Blood ran from her forehead and spread across the grimy tile floor.

I didn’t dare look again.

I just ran down the stairs as fast as I could.