Apocalypse Rebirth: The Chubby Wife Has A Shopping System

Maya

"This is a terrible idea. Why am I the only one seeing it? I can't leave Lydia here," I spoke for the fifth time.

I had been standing in this spot for the past thirty minutes, trying to reason with the group I had been moving with.

Five years ago, the world as I knew it changed. The sky turned red, which was closely followed by acid rain. Then came the dead who wouldn't stay dead.

For two years after the apocalypse began, my husband, my best friend Lydia, and I did all we could to survive.

I did most of the searching, plunging myself into danger for scraps.

Three years ago, we had been fortunate to meet this group, ten other people we moved with.

I had come to love these people as my family and would do anything to ensure they all remained alive.

My eyes moved across the room. We were in an abandoned bookstore, with toppled shelves, torn pages scattered across the floor, and broken glass crunching underfoot.

"If we leave anyone behind, they will not survive. Using someone as bait just so the rest of us can survive would weigh on my conscience for the rest of my life," I said.

We had been stuck in this room for the past two days.

"No one cares about your conscience, Maya. All I care about is survival, and the only way to survive is if one person stays back and distracts the zombies while the rest of us go through the back door," Paul said.

He stood close to the glass window, his back facing the horde of infected that were slamming against the glass, their teeth snapping hard against each other and drool dripping from the sides of their mouths.

"She's only saying this because Lydia is her friend," a woman named Harley said, her hands crossed over her chest.

"That's not what I'm-"

"Save it!" Harley snapped loudly, lifting one hand in the air. Her voice was so loud that it made more zombies who were lurking around rush toward the window.

Shelves had been placed behind the door for extra support, but at this rate, it was only a matter of time before it collapsed.

I glared at Harley. Being loud was a luxury we couldn't afford, and we all knew it.

Gritting my teeth, I walked to the corner where Lydia was standing and placed one hand on her shoulder.

"I will help you. I won't let them-" I stopped speaking when Lydia took a step away from me.

Lydia couldn't look me in the eye and kept her gaze lowered. Then she stepped closer to Lucas, so close that her body was pressed into his side.

I didn't have time to process what I had just noticed when Davis, the leader of our group, spoke.

"Maya, some changes have been made, and I think you should be made aware of them right away."

Every pair of eyes in the room turned to me. They stared at me with cold, guilty silence.

I immediately turned wary.

Lydia wasn't meeting my eyes, and I watched as Lucas snaked his hand around Lydia's waist and pulled her to himself.

Something cold and heavy sank in my stomach, and I knew I wasn't going to like what came next.

I forced myself to look away from them and squinted in Davis's direction. My heartbeat had increased, and I was beginning to feel nauseous.

But it wasn't Davis who spoke. It was Lucas.

"A second vote was carried out a while ago." I blinked, surprised at this new information. "The person we'll be using as bait won't be Lydia anymore."

I felt relieved, but that only lasted a second before Lucas crushed it. "It's you."

He continued, "I'm in love with Lydia, and I can't live without her. If she dies here, the rest of my life would be useless."

Lucas's hand moved downward, settling on Lydia's ass. He held her so intimately, and when he stared at her, I noticed that his gaze was filled with love.

There was no need for any further explanation. My shoulders sagged in defeat, the color drained from my face, and I stared at them in deep disbelief as the pain of the betrayal tore through my chest.

"This is for the best, Maya. You've always claimed to want the best for us, and it's your time to prove it," Harley said.

"Why should I-"

"You are fat, you slow us down, and you eat too much. If anyone should be bait, it's you. With your size, you'd be able to buy us more time. Before the zombies finish with you, we'd have gotten away," Davis said.

I stared at the group, stunned beyond words.

Sabrina, the girl I had been closest to after Lydia, the same girl I had always shared my own ration of whatever food I was given with because she was a big eater, had her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't look a bit sorry for me.

It felt as though the group was closing in on me.

One thing was clear: everyone was in agreement. I would be used as bait; I would be left here to die while the rest of the group escaped through the back door.

This realization sent fear down my spine, but my pain and anger at the betrayal of the two most important people in my life triumphed over that fear.

My eyes were lifeless as I stared at Lucas. "When did it begin?" I asked, my voice coming out small, broken.

"Maya, please, don't make a scene about this. Everyone here knew these two have been in love since forever. You were the only one stupid enough not to notice," Sabrina hissed impatiently, keeping one eye on the door.

"Lucas, please, answer me," I said.

"Since when did you fall out of love with me? When did you start sleeping with my best friend?"

"Maya, please don't be mad at Lucas. He fell for me after your first anniversary. I knew you would be angry and heartbroken. That's why we kept it from you."

She made it sound like she was doing me a favor by fucking my husband behind my back.

Lydia continued, "But we love each other too much. We can't bear to be apart from each other. If you truly love Lucas like you claim you did, and if you see me as a friend, then you should be able to make this little sacrifice for us."

My hands curled into fists at my sides, and a short, hollow laugh escaped me, because the people I had thought loved me the most were asking me to die for their happiness.

"Maya, don't take this the wrong way. It was bound to happen," Lucas said, looking anything but sorry.

If anything, he was glad to have finally been able to do away with someone he considered to be a burden.

He could finally focus on Lydia.

"Please, let's get this over with. We have to leave," Davis said, taking a step toward me.

Maybe I should run, but I knew it was useless.

I wanted to struggle as they held me down and tied me to a shelf, but I couldn't. There were more of them, and their grip together was stronger.

Before they hurried through the back door, someone pushed off the shelves holding the door.

Thick rope bit into my wrists, but I barely felt it.

The real pain was somewhere deeper, a raw, hollow ache that spread through my chest until it hurt to breathe.

Every memory of Lucas and Lydia now felt like a lie.

The pounding on the door grew heavier, each blow rattling the frame, until the wood finally splintered and gave way. The door swung open, and the infected poured in.

The stench reached me first. It was like rot and old blood and something sour that clung to the back of my throat.

Their eyes were milky, and they sniffed the air hungrily. They shuffled forward, dragging broken limbs across the floor, hands stretched forward, drool stringing from their cracked lips.

I didn't beg. Strangely, I wasn't afraid of them at all. What were they, compared to the people who had just walked out of that back door?

The monsters here only wanted to eat. The ones who had left had chosen to do this to me.

The first bite sank into my shoulder, and the pain was sharp and blinding. Another came at my arm, and another at my leg, and the weight of them pulled me down against the shelf until the rope cut deeper and deeper into my skin.

A loud, raw, broken sound that echoed through the empty bookstore escaped my throat.

My scream wasn't only for the pain. It was for every year I had given them.

My vision blurred, and the room slowly faded into gray before everything went black.