Soulless (A Zombie Erotic Romance) by Cerys du Lys Page B

to my chest and closing my eyes, I lay in
bed.
     
    ...
     
    No one knew what exactly happened, and
least of all Evan. He wished he knew, because maybe that would put
some sense into all of this, but even if he did there wasn't
anything he could do about it.
    News stations reported an accident and
a breakout. Contamination or something, but no one needed to act
concerned. It was best if people remained in their homes and closed
the doors.
    Of course, no one did that. Why should
they? Well, Evan did it, because apparently he was an idiot. That's
what his roommate told him at the time before he rushed out of
their apartment and into the streets.
    It didn't matter if you left or
stayed, though. It was something else entirely. He couldn't say why
it didn't affect him or who it did affect, but it caused people to
change. The virus released from the labs made people slow and
stumbling. They could still talk, but in his experience they
usually didn't want to. Sick and pale, shambling around the city,
looking like...
    Zombies.
    He laughed thinking about it. Zombies,
really? That was some serious movie shit right there. People rising
up from their graves, eating brains, hordes upon hordes of the
living dead.
    This wasn't exactly that, though.
These people weren't dead; they were sick. He tried to tell
everyone that, but no one listened to him.
    "You're not a doctor, Evan," Alex
said. "Just stick to hunting like you're good at. We need someone
like you. It's safer if we stay away from the city unless we need
supplies."
    The city . That's what everyone called it now. No names, no
recognition. They didn't want to acknowledge that the buildings in
the city had names and history. There was no past; it didn't exist.
Maybe it was easier that way. Maybe it helped people cope with
their losses and figure out how to live in this screwed up
place.
    Evan didn't like it, though. He didn't
want to live in a fake city in the middle of the woods made out of
tents. He didn't want to act like none of his past life existed,
and he didn't want to treat anyone like a zombie.
    It didn't matter what he wanted,
though, it mattered what they did. And they--the zombies--killed
people. There was some reason, some gut instinct told him so, but
what? Why would they do it? What was their purpose?
    He wasn't anyone important. He was
just Evan, a man who'd grown up hunting, played football in high
school and college, and worked a respectable job as an EMT while
trying to save up money to continue on with medical
school.
    Yeah, like Alex said, he wasn't a
doctor, but he would've been. And while higher learning had kind of
gone out the window with the mass viral outbreak, if he had any say
in things he'd still be a doctor some day. Maybe he couldn't get an
official degree, but he could study. He refused to let anyone stop
him.
     
    ...
     
    I'm walking through the city,
confused. Why am I here? I can't remember. I need to go to my
doctor's appointment, I'm sure of it, except where is my car? Do I
have my keys? Reaching to my side for my purse, I realize I must
have left it at home.
    My hand, my skin. I stare at my arm,
unsure if what I'm seeing is real or not. My skin is a pale blue
all the way from my fingertips and up my forearm, to my shoulder.
It looks like I've painted my fingernails purple, but I never paint
them that color.
    Then I remember everything.
    I can't remember why I came here or
what I needed to do, but I can't stay. The others shamble around
nearby or lay in a huddled mess somewhere in the shadows. No one
wants to do anything, but I do. I must. Except what?
    Sometimes I find it hard to walk, but
I know that I need to. If I focus on one step at a time I can act
like everyone else; like I used to. Strolling through the street,
looking at the storefronts, I pretend it's just any other day.
There's a shop I like, a small custom-craft wardrobe boutique, and
I stop in front of it and look inside. Someone's broken the window
and upturned the dress dummies