Kissed him.

The daily routine of two people living together tends to become predictable. Because they know each other so well, even the slightest change can be noticed without a word being spoken.

Liam was making soup when he realised that the bathroom had been quiet for over ten minutes and Jack still hadn’t come out. He turned down the heat and walked over to knock on the door.

“Jack, are you nearly done? Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Yeah, almost.”

Jack’s voice sounded subdued, which Liam found unusual, but he didn’t ask any questions.

Rescue work wasn’t exactly uplifting. Constantly facing death and witnessing the darker side of human nature could leave anyone feeling miserable. It was only natural for Jack’s mood to be affected.

Another ten minutes passed before Jack finally emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts that reached his mid thighs.

He walked straight over to Liam, wrapped his arms around him from behind and leaned close as Liam worked at the stove.

“Cooking can wait. Let me kiss you first.”

Before Liam could respond, Jack turned him around with a hint of force and captured his lips in a passionate kiss.

“Mmh…”

Liam was startled at first, but he soon melted into it. His hands wandered over Jack’s chest and abs.

Damn, they felt incredible beneath his palms!

When the kiss finally ended, Jack took a deep breath and pulled him closer.

“Liam…”

“Jack… what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

Like a fish gasping for air, Liam rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder, panting heavily. The sudden intensity had left him a little overwhelmed.

Instead of answering directly, Jack kissed his cheek again. His voice was low and rough.

“I was worried you might get bored at home and recklessly open the door to help someone.”

Since the apocalypse began, he had witnessed far too many examples of human cruelty. Even though he knew Liam wasn’t the sort to play the bleeding heart, certain things still made him anxious.

Liam chuckled and patted him reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I’m very well behaved. If you told me not to leave the bedroom, I wouldn’t even step into the living room.”

He guessed Jack must have encountered another case of someone refusing to appreciate kindness and making trouble for the person trying to help them.

Sigh.

Jack said nothing. His hot breath brushed against Liam’s ear and neck, sending tingles across his skin.

Liam instinctively tilted his head away, only for Jack to seize the opportunity to nip at his neck.

“Ow!”

Liam gave him a playful growl. After enduring his clinginess for a little longer, he finally pushed the overgrown puppy away.

“You’ve been working all day. Let’s eat first.”

If this continued, they would skip dinner altogether and go straight to devouring each other.

Honestly, how could anyone resist a rugged man acting this clingy?

“Mm.”

Only then did Jack release him and move to set out the bowls and chopsticks.

Liam’s face was flushed as he turned off the stove and served the dishes. He felt just a little aggrieved.

Seriously? Before we’ve even eaten? Doesn’t he know I can’t handle it when he flirts with me like this? Honestly, men!

If he hadn’t been hungry, he would definitely have taught his boyfriend a lesson right there in the kitchen. The space was barely large enough for two people to move around comfortably, making it the perfect place to test his skills.

After dinner, Liam was about to clean up when Jack took over the task. Since there was nothing left for him to do, Liam gave up and went to shower instead.

By the time he returned, Jack had already cleaned the apartment and taken the rubbish into the hallway.

Holding a clean towel, Jack stood beside the sofa and casually pulled Liam towards him to dry his hair.

Liam sat cross legged on the sofa, facing Jack’s smooth, well defined abs. Tilting his head slightly, he asked, “We’ve kissed, and we’ve eaten. Now, are you going to tell me why you were in such a bad mood?”

As he spoke, his restless hands naturally wandered over the tempting body right in front of him.

Damn, it’s all just flesh and muscle. So why does Jack’s feel so good to touch?

Jack was already accustomed to being groped by his boyfriend. After drying Liam’s hair for a while, he stopped, sat down beside him and finally explained.

“There’s a residential building in the eastern part of the new district with three apartments opening onto each landing. One family owned two apartments facing each other. They tricked the newlywed couple living opposite them into opening their door, then killed them and stole their supplies.”

“The woman was pregnant. They killed two people, all because they knew the couple had plenty of eggs and cured meat.”

“In another neighbourhood, a man had a wife and three children who were all alive just a few days ago. He killed every one of them and threw their bodies off the building. Yet he continued collecting rations for all five family members. We only discovered what happened after someone reported him.”

“He refused to admit anything. He claimed his wife had taken the children and gone off to die somewhere on her own!”

“…”

By this point, Jack was furious.

Even though they worked alongside official personnel, there was very little they could do about such cases. Some offenders even claimed they would rather be arrested, because being in custody guaranteed them food and protection from zombies.

The whole thing was fucking absurd!

Jack wanted to kick those bastards straight into a horde of zombies. Unfortunately, rescue teams weren’t allowed to harm civilians at will. Taking the law into their own hands without proper judicial procedures would only make the situation worse in the long run.

And the most infuriating part was that there was no effective way to punish these murderers under the current circumstances.

It made his blood boil.

Liam sighed helplessly and shook his head.

“When survival is at stake, human nature has no bottom line. Things like this will only get worse.”

He had experienced it himself. His own family had betrayed him, and he had been tortured to death by the very people who should have protected him.

By now, he felt almost nothing when thinking about it.

With social order collapsing and morality breaking down, the entire world was being put to the test.

And human nature had never been particularly good at passing such tests.

All they could do was hope that scum like those murderers would be wiped out by zombies sooner rather than later.

“I know. It just doesn’t sit right with me.”

Jack rubbed his face in frustration.

In the apocalypse, death had become commonplace. Most people could accept zombies killing and eating humans, but watching human beings deliberately murder their own kind was another matter entirely.

To Jack, protecting one’s own kind should have been an instinct deeply ingrained in humanity through evolution. Even animals rarely turned on their own kind without reason.

“Nobody feels okay about it. But we can’t stop this chaos now. Order will only gradually return once the rescue bases are established. Until then, we can only rely on ourselves.”

As he spoke, Liam remembered how offenders had been punished at the bases in his previous life.

They were shackled and sent to work on infrastructure projects at the far edges of the bases. They received limited food and no wages.

Minor offences carried fixed sentences, but serious crimes such as murder meant life imprisonment. The offenders were forced to work until they died, after which their bodies were dumped outside the base.

Nobody pitied them.

Ding!

A new message appeared on Jack’s phone. It was an announcement from the command centre concerning new measures to prevent people from fraudulently collecting rations on behalf of dead family members.

From then on, rations had to be delivered directly to the individuals entitled to receive them. Family members were no longer allowed to collect supplies on someone else’s behalf.

If a person could not be located, the supplies would immediately be reclaimed.

It was the only practical way to prevent this kind of fraud.

After reading the announcement, Jack switched off his phone and tossed it aside.

Then he picked up Liam, who was still lost in thought, and carried him towards the bedroom.

“Time for bed.”

He wasn’t going to let the day's unpleasant experiences ruin their time together anymore.

Jack seemed to read his mind. Liam tapped a finger against his chest.

“Calling it a night already?”

“By the time I’m finished taking care of you, it’ll be about time to sleep.”

With that, Jack laid him on the bed and leaned over him, pinning him gently against the mattress.

“Even when Jack plays dirty, he’s still handsome!”

Liam beamed.

Taking the initiative was sexy.

Jack caught his hand and kissed it.

“Of course. You should trust your own taste. You worked so hard to win me over, after all.”

Liam had been attracted to his looks from the very beginning, so Jack couldn't help feeling grateful for his own good appearance.

Liam chuckled softly, his laughter gradually melting into a long, breathy moan as Jack kissed him.