Page 85 of My Undead Love Life

Oxi didn’t seem to mind. Luck had been nervous but open to it. Mad wanted me. I knew that. He’d told me so. But he was still holding something back.

“No leopards or hordes in sight,” Luck added, scanning the area below with narrowed eyes.

“Just stragglers,” Oxi murmured.

I nodded, and my grip tightened on my katana. Thankfully, not all of the infected had gotten smarter. The ones left behind by hordes were normally slower, and they were easier to kill. Still dangerous, though.

“Let’s go,” Mad said.

We left the roof quickly. We’d packed up all our belongings and everything we wanted to bring last night, so we were prepared. All of us had transferred our supplies into bigger, newer backpacks we found in a camping store. We had two filled water bottles each, extra socks, a few cans of food, ramen, protein bars, matches, rope, blankets, scavenged knives, and enough small things shoved into every pocket that my body felt twice as heavy carrying it all.

The weight of supplies sat heavy against my shoulders. It was comforting and suffocating all at once.

Leaving the jewelry store should have felt like freedom, but when Mad unlocked the chain gate and lifted it, the metallic rattle made my chest hurt. The store had been our unconventional home for two months.

Our boots hit the hard floor as we silently moved to the first floor.

I hated the escalators. Their metal steps were warped and uneven, with dried blood coating the ridges. Each step down gave way with a metallic clang that echoed through the hollow mall.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

The sound traveled all the way through the mall.

I kept my eyes forward, forcing myself not to look too closely at the layers of dried blood beneath my boots.

As we reached the first floor, the rotting scent rolled over me. It was hard not to imagine all the people who had been here when the apocalypse started. There were dark stains smeared across the tile and prints of dragged hands along the walls. Like people had been pulled.

My stomach twisted. How had it emptied like this? There should have been bodies of some who died from the carnage rather than being turned. There should have been something. It was possible that they had all turned and left with the horde.

The front of the mall loomed ahead. The few glass windows that were still intact were streaked with frozen blood. Snow had drifted up against them, sealing the lower edges in white. Beyond the glass, the parking lot stretched wide and pale beneath the heavy sky.

“Just because the horde is gone doesn’t mean we’re safe,” Mad reminded us as he and Luck moved toward the heavy slab covering the hole we’d come in through.

“No shit,” Oxi muttered from beside me. “It’s the zombie apocalypse. Of course we aren’t safe.”

Mad gave him a flat look.

Luck and Mad strained as they shifted the heavy slab we’d used to seal our entry point. It scraped against concrete with a horrible grinding sound before a dull, heavy thud echoed as they moved it aside.

I flinched.

“Could that have been any louder?” Oxi asked.

“Probably,” Luck grunted.

“Let’s not test that theory.” Mad slipped through first.

Luck followed.

I crouched and crawled through next, my gloved hands finding traction on the frozen ground as I pulled myself forward. Cold air hit my face immediately, sharper than the stale chill inside the mall. It smelled like snow, rust, old rot, and open space.

“I’ve got you.” Luck grabbed my arm and hauled me up.

“Thanks,” I murmured.