Tragic Love Imagination Short Stories & Apocalypse Novels

It is the third year of the apocalypse. All water sources have been thoroughly polluted, making even a single bottle of clean water extremely rare. Every base has to send out search teams to find new water sources for all. My husband, Jasper Curran, is a geologist, and so, he is able to locate water sources that are still pure and unpolluted. However, when someone holds a knife to my throat for the last bottle of water—thinking that he will do anything to stop them—he hands the only bottle of clean water to Avery Grayson, the person who claimed she was my parents' real daughter instead of me. "Ave is thirsty. She's been suffering since she was little and she even had her parents taken by you, Arianne Grayson," Jasper says. "Just let her have the water." Jasper's expression is too calm and collected, as if my life is not on the line because of him. "They're just trying to scare you. You've enjoyed so many years of being spoiled with a luxurious lifestyle anyway. So what if you get bullied a little?" The people then kick me to the ground in a fit of rage as I watch Jasper huddle Avery into his arms and disappear into the desert. I get beaten up so hard that my chapped lips crack and start bleeding once again. I look at the menacing faces around me and quickly exclaim, "Wait, wait! I can help you find clean water too!"

Before the world turned to ice, her family came knocking, ready to negotiate the terms of our marriage. They wanted more than commitment. They wanted three million dollars and three luxury homes. My parents shut them down immediately. It was ridiculous. Then, the storm hit. The blizzard sealed us inside the house. With numbers on their side and no mercy to spare, her family took control of everything. The food. The heat. Our chances. When we fought back, we lost. They dragged us outside and left us in the snow. We froze. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back to before it all began.

In 2300, a virus swept across North America, turning huge numbers of people into zombies and giving a few survivors special abilities. I stayed behind to cover the retreat of my fiancé, Adrian Walker, and the Federal Defense Force from Old Saint Clair. During the fight, a high-tier Mutant bit through my neck. Everyone believed I had died in the Surge. But I hadn't. I had become the Zombie Queen and somehow kept my human mind. I could control nearby low-tier zombies, but my face was ruined, and I could no longer speak. I'd always cared about my appearance, so I couldn't bring myself to return to the human fortress. I hid in the basement of an abandoned lakeside villa, cleaning the engagement ring on my left hand every day with my still-intact right hand. Adrian had put the ring on my finger himself just before the evacuation. Two weeks later, he finally came looking for me. I was so excited that I almost forgot what I looked like now. I was about to step out of the shadows when I saw him by the shattered fountain, placing his black combat jacket around another girl's shoulders. Her name was Erin Bell, an Awakened healer who had recently joined his team. She pointed at the zombies behind me, her eyes lighting up. "Adrian, that high-tier zombie's energy core is so pretty. Can you get it for me? I could make it into a necklace. Everyone at the fortress would be jealous." Adrian adjusted her collar, as if he was worried the cold wind would hurt her. But when he looked at me, his eyes were filled with disgust. To make Erin happy, he ordered his team to search the entire ruined city for the high-tier zombie. He had no idea the monster he was hunting was the fiancée he'd been searching for these past two weeks. I slowly backed into the shadows behind a crumbling wall. Adrian gripped his thunderblade, its blade glowing white in the darkness. I tried to call his name, but only foul black blood came out of my mouth. "A... Adr..."

During a zombie-extermination mission, I end up getting infected with the zombie virus for the sake of protecting my squad. But Emilia Campbell, the team captain as well as my girlfriend, decides to give the only antidote to another team member, who has secretly run away from the squad, only to get infected. Her excuse is that she should avoid being partial. With red-rimmed eyes, she promises me, "Trust me, Zack. I'll definitely find another antidote for you during the three-day incubation period of the virus." I can only nod in response while enduring the scorching pain flaring from my body. On the second day, Emilia actually returns with an antidote. But the second she's about to inject it into my bloodstream, Dustin Nott, a member who has never left the campsite, suddenly frowns. "My head hurts so much, Em… What if I'm already infected with the virus?" Emilia doesn't hesitate to pass the antidote to Dustin in front of everyone else. "Dustin is a part of the team as well. It's my fault as the captain for not taking care of the squad if anything happens to him. "Zack, you're the vice leader as well as my boyfriend. I must be impartial." That's when I notice the smugness crossing Dustin's eyes as well as Emilia's righteous expression. Fury bubbles within me at that moment. She must be impartial, huh? Fine. Emilia will soon understand that the squad would never have survived to this point without me. After all, I'm a perfect evolved specimen—a human being that only has a 0.1% chance of overcoming the zombie virus and evolving into a powerhouse in this apocalypse.