1; They Ate Me

Serelyn’s POV

The steel door did not move as I slammed both palms against it again, ignoring the pain shooting through my injured wrist.

“Darian!”

My voice cracked as it echoed through the empty street, “Darian, please open the door!”

Beyond the reinforced glass, I could see them.

Five people, the very five people I had spent seven years protecting. Darian stood closest to the door, his face pale under the emergency lights. Behind him were Mavelle, Orlan, Rhett, and Lysenna.

They were warm, well-fed, and were safe. 

And I was freezing to death three feet away from them. Snow clung to my hair and eyelashes. My clothes were stiff with ice, and blood had soaked through the bandage around my thigh. I had been outside for hours searching for medicine after one of the shelter’s remaining antibiotics ran out.

I had come back with nothing.

But I had come back.

“Please.” I pressed my forehead against the freezing glass. “Darian, I’m not infected. Look at me, see I swear, haven’t been bitten.”

He didn’t move.

“Darian!”

His eyes finally lifted to mine. For one second, hope surged through me. Then he looked away. I swallowed hard.

“I brought most of the food in there,” I said. 

“Remember? I bought the rice. The canned meat. The water. I paid for the generator. I used my money to secure this shelter when everyone said it was too expensive.”

My fingers trembled as I touched the glass, “You can’t leave me outside.”

Lysenna slowly stepped beside him. My gaze dropped to her stomach. She was pregnant with her hand resting protectively over the small curve under her coat. I stared at it.

For seven years, I had been the wife who wasn’t enough. The wife who couldn’t give Darian a child.

Mavelle had called me barren so many times that the word had eventually stopped sounding like an insult and started sounding like a verdict.

Now Lysenna was carrying the child they had all been waiting for.

“Darian,” she said softly, “she can’t come inside.”

I shook my head, “Lysenna, please don’t do this.”

“She was outside with the infected.”

“I wasn’t bitten.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know my own body!”

My voice broke across the street. I looked at Darian again.

“Check me yourself. Search me. Look at every inch of me if you have to. Just open the door.”

Lysenna tightened her fingers around her stomach, “I can’t risk the baby.”

Mavelle immediately stepped forward, “Darian, she’s right. You can’t risk Lysenna’s child, my sweet grandchild.”

That sentence hurt more than the wound in my leg.

Lysenna’s child.

Not the woman who had spent seven years emptying her savings account for this family. Not the woman who had gone hungry so Darian could eat. Not the woman who had sold her jewelry to buy the generator. I stared at Mavelle through the glass.

“You called me barren.”

Her lips pressed together.

“You said I would never give this family a future.”

She didn’t answer. I looked at Darian.

“Are you really going to leave your wife outside?”

His jaw tightened and I waited, Seconds passed. Finally, he lowered his eyes.

“Serelyn…”

“Say it.”

His voice was barely audible.

“I’m sorry.”

I stared at him. Then I laughed. It came out weak and broken.

“You’re sorry?”

He didn’t answer.

I stepped back from the door, “You’re my husband.”

“I know.”

“You promised me you would never abandon me.”

His shoulders stiffened.

“I know.”

“Then open the door.”

He remained where he was. The steel door stayed closed and something inside me finally understood. They had already chosen.

I don’t know how long I lay outside. The cold eventually became dull. My hands stopped hurting. My body stopped trembling. I remember looking at the shelter one last time and wondering how I had spent seven years believing those people were my family. Then the door opened. I heard the heavy mechanism groan.

My eyes opened and Darian stood over me. For one stupid second, relief flooded through me.

“You came for me.”

He didn’t answer. Orlan and Rhett grabbed my arms. I struggled weakly, “Wait.”

They dragged me across the threshold. The warmth inside should have felt wonderful. Instead, the expressions on their faces made my stomach twist.

No one looked relieved to see me. They looked hungry. I froze.

Lysenna stood near the table, her face pale. Mavelle was holding an empty food container.

“There isn’t enough left,” she whispered.

I stared at her, “What!”

Lysenna looked at Darian, “We can’t survive much longer.”

My mouth went dry, “No, no.”

Darian stepped toward me. I backed away.

“No.”

“Serelyn!”

“No!”

I tried to run, but Rhett;Darius brother caught me. I screamed.

“Darian!”

He grabbed my shoulders. I fought him with everything I had, “You can’t do this!”

“Stop fighting,” he said.

“You’re going to kill me!”

His grip tightened, “Serelyn, listen to me.”

“Let me go!”

“I said stop!”

Tears burned my eyes, “I loved you.”

The words came out like a plea, “I gave you everything.”

Darian’s face twisted, “We need to survive.”

I stared at him. Mavelle looked away. Orlan said nothing. Lysenna turned her face from me.mThat was when I understood. They weren’t going to save me.nThey were going to eat me. I screamed until my throat burned.

I begged and reminded Darian about our wedding.

About the house I sold. About every meal I skipped. Every bill I paid. Every time I chose his family over myself.

“Please,” I whispered. “After seven years, you’re doing this to me?”

Darian’s eyes met mine, “You should understand that survival comes first.”

Something inside me went quiet. Not because I accepted it. Because I finally understood him. He hadn’t loved me for seven years. He loved what I could provide. The moment I became something he had to sacrifice instead of something he could use, I stopped being his wife.

I became food. The last thing I saw was the knife diving into my stomach. The last thing I heard was Lysenna laughing softly. Then everything went black.

******

I woke up screaming. My hands flew to my stomach.

Whole, no wound, no blood, no cold. I was lying in a warm bed. I stared around the room. My old bedroom. The cream curtains. The wooden dresser. The lamp I had bought before I married Darian. Beside me, someone shifted. Darian was asleep, young, uninjured and alive.  My breath caught.

“No…”

I stumbled out of bed. My legs nearly gave out beneath me. This couldn’t be real. The apocalypse had been a nightmare. It had to be. Then I saw the date on the digital clock. I stopped. My fingers curled around the edge of the dresser.

Seventy-three days.

Seventy-three days before the collapse.nThe memories came back all at once. The shelter. The snow. Lysenna’s pregnancy. The locked door. The knife. Darian’s hands holding me down. My death. I covered my mouth as a sob escaped. I had wanted it to be a nightmare but it wasn’t.

Darian stirred behind me. I looked at him. This was the man I had spent seven years trying to please. The man I had once believed would choose me.

My grief didn’t disappear. It simply changed. I walked quietly to the window and picked up my phone. My banking app was still open. The account balance stared back at me.

It was the same account I had once emptied to save Darian’s family. I stared at the number for several seconds. Then I whispered, “Seventy-three days.”

I looked back at the sleeping man.

“This time, I won’t spend a single one saving you.”