Chapter 2

The room temperature seemed to drop instantly. An invisible fear enveloped us.

Just then, Poppy’s smartwatch, which she had been fiddling with, finally connected to Castiel’s phone.

“Daddy, hurry home! Zombies are in the base!”

Hearing his daughter’s words, Castiel grew impatient.

“Stop spouting nonsense! How could zombies suddenly get into the base? Daddy is busy. Can you please stop bothering me?”

June urgently shouted into the phone, “Castiel, we’re not spouting nonsense! Zombies are already inside the base! Hurry back with reinforcements and save us!”

Hearing her voice, Castiel’s tone grew even colder.

“June, I’ve told you countless times! I know you’re jealous of Liana. But let me make this clear, your petty tricks won’t sway me one bit.

“We’ve found a freshwater source, and I need to protect Liana while she bathes. Stop bothering me with these baseless accusations.”

Hearing this, I felt like I had fallen into an ice cave.

As expected, just as in my previous life, Castiel stubbornly refused to return. He chose instead to believe that June and I were conspiring to deceive him.

What could I do? Was I destined to repeat the mistakes of my past life?

Should I threaten to die to force him back?

Just as I hesitated, Castiel hung up.

Zombies kept pounding on the door, and the bullets in my pistol kept dwindling.

I knew that once the bullets ran out, it would be the end for us.

In my panic, I thought of my fiance, Lucian Jay.

He was the commander of the Northern Base. He could definitely bring people along to rescue us.

With that, I quickly called him for help.

“Lucian, hurry to the Central Base! Zombies have breached the perimeter, and Castiel took all the able-bodied men with him!”

But when Lucian heard my plea, he only scoffed.

“Hah, Eira, you’ll tell any lie to lure Castiel back! You know full well the zombie outbreak puts the Northern Base in danger too, yet you still pull this stunt. Do you really think the lives of the Northern Base’s people don’t matter?”

I tried to explain, but he hung up on me.

I could not give up. After countless failed attempts, Lucian finally answered, but he still did not believe me.

“Castiel called me earlier. He said you and June are jealous that he took Liana to find fresh water, so you’d definitely make up a story about zombies invading the base. Women like you are always scheming and using lies like these to deceive me!”

I was so distraught that I burst into tears.

“Lucian, don’t believe Castiel! Zombies really did invade the Central Base. A Zombie King emerged from among them and led the invasion while the base’s able-bodied men were away!”

Lucian was half-convinced, but the moment he heard the words “Zombie King,” he burst out laughing.

“Eira, do you take me for a fool? A Zombie King? I’d sooner believe Castiel deliberately opened the gates to lure them in!”

I switched my phone to speaker mode, hoping Lucian would hear the zombies’ growls outside.

Lucian not only ignored it, but his voice also turned cold.

“Eira, if you keep acting this way, we should call off the engagement.”

Hearing this, a chill ran through my body.

We had been childhood sweethearts, but after Liana appeared, not only Castiel, but even Lucian changed.

Just because Liana wanted to bathe, Castiel and Lucian led a group on an expedition to find clean water.

But in the apocalypse, water was the most precious resource.

Their expedition provoked the horde of zombies and shattered the fragile peace we had built. The zombies were relentlessly hunting us down.