Heartbeats of Love

Victor and I were nothing more than a pair of sworn enemies married inside the camp. He hated me for handing over my frail sister to the research institute, all so they could extract the antiviral serum from her blood. And I hated him for never seeing anyone but her, even in the apocalypse, when she could barely lift a metal rod.

For the ten years of the apocalypse, the words we said to each other most often were, "Die a miserable death."

…

However, when the zombie horde finally broke through the last line of defense, he chained me to the modified mech truck and went out alone to face it.

"Live…"

I watched as the tide of corpses swallowed him whole, the crack of breaking bones mixing with the sound of flesh being torn apart. On the edge of death, he pulled out my sister's faded photo and placed it over the one clean spot on his chest. "This life is yours. But if there's a next one, don't go near her again."

…

That night, when I returned, I blew up the camp.

When I opened my eyes again, I went to the zombie king.

His razor-sharp claws closed around my throat, and I smiled as I took hold of his hand. "Let's make a deal. Give humans five more years, and I'll willingly be your queen."

Last time, he gave his life to save me. This time, I'll be the monster—so they can all get what they want.

The Choice

"Anyone who dared lay a hand on Anya would have to kill me first!"

Victor Lorant's voice cut into my ears like a blade. I jerked my head up and saw him standing protectively in front of my sister, glaring at me with murderous eyes.

My heart clenched hard. He was supposed to be dead. He had already given his life in the zombie tide to save me.

"Victor, let it go… If sacrificing myself could save everyone, then I'm willing." Anya Quinn's frail body trembled as she spoke through quiet sobs.

Victor's eyes glimmered with pain as his fists tightened, his knuckles turning white. "No. I won't stand here and watch something happen to you."

The standoff hung in the air until the head of the research institute stepped toward me. "Chief Quinn, Ms. Anya was bitten by a zombie, but for some reason, she hasn't turned. If we could study this, we might be able to develop an antiviral. That would be a contribution to all of humanity." His eyes gleamed with a fanatical light.

In my last life, Anya had died in this same institute, and still, the antiviral had never been created.

I pressed my lips together and looked up at the two of them in the distance.

Victor's gaze carried a solemn promise. "Anya, don't worry. I'll protect you. If anyone dares to touch you, they'll have to trample over my body first." His dark eyes softened with tenderness as he looked at her.

The three of us—Victor, Anya, and I—had grown up together. But the whole time, she was all he could see.

I had trusted the institute's lies in my last life and delivered my sister into their hands, only to watch her die in agony. In the end, Victor had died for me.

When his eyes met mine now, all I saw was hatred. "Anya is your sister. Do you even realize what you're doing? I've never met a woman in this world as vicious as you! Do you even have a heart?!"

He had always been so gentle, yet the words he threw at me cut like knives.

"Fine. Let her go," I heard myself say.

"I'm warning you, if you so much as lay a finger on Anya—" He stopped midway, as if suddenly realizing what I had just said. "What did you say?"

"I said I'll let her go."

Victor froze, disbelief written all over his face. "Zoe Quinn, what are you trying to pull now?!" He pinned me with his eyes, unwilling to believe a single word.