Chapter 1

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..."

Chapter 1

Adrian's lightning struck without mercy.

I dodged on instinct. Even as a high-tier zombie, I couldn't withstand the full force of his lightning. A bolt grazed my left shoulder, tearing open the rotting flesh and filling the air with the stench of burning flesh.

I curled up in the rubble and screamed like an animal. Still, I used my intact right hand to protect the ring finger on my left hand.

My silver-white engagement ring was still there. Even as my body rotted, I cleaned the dust and dried blood from it every morning.

Erin clung to Adrian's jacket and hid behind him. "It actually dodged. This zombie is smarter than the others. Its energy core must be really powerful. Don't let it get away."

Adrian's dark eyes reflected my wretched form.

Just two weeks ago, those eyes had looked at me with love. That day, White Pine Training Camp was evacuating the last civilians. Adrian had pulled me behind the helipad and knelt in the dust. Then he slipped the ring onto my finger.

"Layla, once this mission is over, we'll get married in New Avalon. I don't care how small the wedding is or how many people are left. Just come back to me. I'll protect you for the rest of my life."

I smiled and said yes.

Now, he stood in front of Erin to protect her. "Don't be scared. It's just a zombie. It won't get away."

Just a zombie. Those words made me tremble harder than the lightning had.

I struggled to my feet as black blood dripped from my mouth. I wanted to tell him that I was Layla. I tried to give him our old safety signal: one finger to the heart, then two taps on the wrist. It meant "I'm still alive."

But my hand was no longer the one he knew. My arm was bruised and rotten, and my nails had become long black claws. Even I could barely recognize myself.

Erin suddenly screamed, "Watch out! It's going to attack you!"

Adrian's face turned cold. "You asked for it."

Another bolt of lightning struck my knee.

Bone cracked. I dropped to my knees, unable to feel my legs. Black blood filled my mouth, stopping me from saying a word.

Adrian stared at me like I was nothing but rotting flesh. He was New Avalon's strongest lightning Awakened and the Supreme Commander's only son. Yet all he cared about now was the healer beside him.

Erin looked out from behind him and covered her nose. "It reeks. Just kill it. Everyone's waiting for us. I promised I'd bring a high-tier energy core back to the fortress and show everyone."

Adrian nodded and slowly walked toward me with his sword.

The blade scraped against the broken stones with a harsh screech.

It sounded like a countdown to my death.

I dragged my broken legs across the ground, leaving a trail of black blood. But Adrian kept coming. Nothing about me seemed familiar to him.

He raised his sword.

Chapter 2

Just as the blade was about to come down on my head, tires screeched outside the villa.

Three heavy-duty SUVs crashed through the broken gate and stopped in the courtyard. Several Awakened in Federal Defense Force uniforms jumped out.

I struggled to look up, unable to believe who I saw.

Mark Bennett, Daniel Price, Jonas Reed. They had all been members of my strike team.

The day Old Saint Clair fell, I stayed behind to hold the line. I used my psychic power to clear an escape route for them. Once they were safely inside the armored vehicle, a high-tier Mutant dragged me into the Surge.

Hope rose inside me. I tried to make a sound. If even one of them recognized my signal and stopped Adrian, I might survive.

But Mark barely looked at me before running over to Erin. "You're not hurt, are you? Adrian didn't let you get close to that thing, did he?"

Daniel grinned. "Future Mrs. Walker, leave the dirty work to us. You're the best healer at the fortress. We can't let a monster hurt those hands."

Future Mrs. Walker.

I froze. My heart barely beat anymore, yet those words sent a sharp pain through my chest.

Two weeks. It had only been two weeks.

The soldiers I'd risked my life to save were already treating another woman like she belonged with Adrian.

Erin blushed and tugged at Adrian's sleeve. "Don't say that. Adrian still hasn't forgotten Layla. If she comes back and hears you joking like this, she won't be happy."

Mark scoffed. "She fell into a top-level Surge. There's no way she survived. And even if she did, who cares? All she ever did was make us train, punish us for being late, and put us on night watch. Every day on her team felt like punishment."

"Erin is different." Daniel smiled at her. "Whenever we got hurt, she stayed with us in the infirmary. She never yelled at us or gave us that cold look when we made mistakes. If the captain chooses her, at least he won't get bossed around all day."

My whole body went cold.

I made them train because one mistake on the battlefield could get them killed. I took the most dangerous night shifts and stayed behind to protect them so they could return to the fortress alive.

But to them, I hadn't been protecting them. I'd been controlling them.

Yes, I'd been strict. But I'd also risked my life for them. Now that I was gone, they only remembered me as an annoying captain.

I lowered my head and stared at my rotting hands.

Maybe they were right. I was a hideous zombie now. No one would want to come near me.

I closed my eyes and used my power to summon the low-tier zombies nearby. I didn't want to hurt my former teammates. I only wanted the zombies to block them long enough for me to escape.

I was already in so much pain. I didn't want the man I loved most to be the one who killed me.

Several low-tier zombies stumbled over and formed a barrier between me and Adrian.

Mark sneered. "This freak can control other zombies. Perfect. We'll kill them all together."

He summoned a ball of fire and burned the nearest zombie to ash. Then he pulled out his energy pistol and aimed at my head.

"Adrian, leave this to us. We'll get Erin her gift."

A gunshot rang out. A flaming bullet shot straight toward my forehead.

I jerked aside. It grazed my cheek before flying toward my left hand.

No.

Without thinking, I twisted around and took the hit on my right side. Adrian's ring was on my left hand. Even if my whole body rotted away, I wouldn't let anything happen to it.

Suddenly, Adrian's lightning struck the bullet out of the air. The lightning then slammed into the right side of my body.

Erin cheered. "Adrian, you're amazing!"

I lay face-down, coughing up black blood. The right side of my body was badly burned, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

I hid my left hand under my chest, protecting the last thing I had left.

Chapter 3

Adrian ignored the others' praise.

He walked toward me with his sword, his face grim. The soldiers spread out around us, leaving Adrian to finish me off.

Erin followed right behind him.

Adrian turned to check the zombies I had summoned. As soon as his back was turned, Erin stopped beside me and looked down.

Her sweet expression disappeared. Her eyes filled with triumph and cruelty.

She bent down and whispered so only I could hear, "I know it's you, Layla."

My head snapped up.

She knew.

Erin looked at the way I protected my left hand and smiled. "I knew you didn't die in the Surge. You kept protecting that ring even after becoming a zombie. You looked like an abandoned dog that still couldn't let go of its owner."

A low growl escaped my throat. My black claws dug into the ground.

She kept smiling. "Too bad Adrian only trusts me now. I helped him look for you after you disappeared. I healed his wounds and stayed with him every night he couldn't sleep. Everyone says I'm a better match for him than you are."

She pulled a piece of bloodstained fabric from her pocket.

I recognized it at once. It came from the gray tactical vest I'd worn the day I disappeared. I could still see the white stitches I'd sewn along the edge.

How did Erin get it?

Before I could figure it out, she spun around and screamed, "Adrian, look!"

Everyone turned to her.

Erin held up the fabric. Tears immediately filled her eyes, and she swayed as if she were about to faint. "This is from Layla's clothes. I just found it in the basement where this zombie was hiding. It's covered in her blood, and the zombie's scent is all over it."

She pointed at me with a trembling finger. "This thing killed Layla and ate her!"

Everyone fell silent.

Adrian stared at the fabric. He had spent two weeks searching every street in the old city for me. Now, all he had found was a bloodstained piece of my clothing.

Mark gasped, his eyes turning red. "This zombie ate Captain Hart?"

Daniel gripped his weapon and said through clenched teeth, "Kill it. We may have had our problems with Captain Hart, but she saved our lives. We can't let this monster eat what's left of her."

The other soldiers raised their weapons and shouted at Adrian to avenge me.

I lost my mind completely.

Erin knew exactly who I was, but she was using my clothes to convince everyone that a zombie had eaten me. She wanted Adrian to kill me so I could never expose her.

Somehow, I found the strength to lunge at her, dragging my broken legs behind me. I wanted to expose her lies in front of everyone.

But I couldn't even reach her jacket.

A boot covered in lightning struck me in the stomach.

The impact sent me flying into a broken wall. Bricks and concrete crashed down and buried me under the rubble.

Erin quickly hid in Adrian's arms, crying and shaking.

Adrian didn't comfort her.

He grabbed the bloodstained fabric from her. His hands shook so badly that he could barely hold it.

"Layla..." His voice was rough and broken.

I was the woman he had promised to marry and protect with his life. But now, he believed that all that remained of me was this bloodstained piece of cloth.

Adrian slowly turned toward me. His eyes were red with rage. Lightning crackled around him, and streetlights exploded in the distance.

He stared at me under the rubble. "You ate her?"

Chapter 4

Thunder rumbled across the sky.

Storm clouds covered the night sky within seconds. Lightning flashed inside them as strong winds swept through the ruins, sending glass and dust flying.

Adrian used Thunderstorm, his strongest attack. He had never used it in a normal fight before.

Even Mark and the others could barely stand under the pressure. They quickly backed away as someone shouted, "Clear the area!" But behind Daniel, Erin was trying to hide a smile.

She thought I was about to die. Once I was gone, she could take my energy core and replace me in Adrian's heart forever.

I lay trapped beneath the rubble. Almost half the bones in my body were broken.

A high-tier zombie could heal quickly, but Adrian's lightning stopped my body from healing. Instead, my wounds were burning black. With every breath, black blood poured from my chest.

I looked up at Adrian, floating in the air with lightning surrounding him.

That was my fiancé.

He was about to kill me to avenge my death.

How absurd.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My shoulder, my knees, and my burned body weren't what hurt the most. It was my heart. Even now, part of me still hoped he would recognize me.

Adrian once told me he could recognize me anywhere, no matter what I wore or how many people were around. We had trained together for eight years. He knew all my habits. He knew I rubbed my ring finger when I was nervous. He knew I always protected my left side first when shielding my teammates.

But now, I had protected the ring again and again. I had given him our secret signal again and again. He still didn't recognize me.

He believed Erin's tears. He believed a random piece of fabric. But he couldn't believe that the monster desperately trying to reach him might still have a human mind.

Suddenly, I didn't want to fight anymore.

For two weeks, I had hidden in the ruins like a rat. I was too afraid to go out during the day or approach the fortress at night. Whenever I heard a vehicle, I hoped it was Adrian coming to find me.

I kept believing that once he came and saw the ring, everything would be okay.

He finally came. But instead of saving me, he was going to kill me.

I slowly lowered my right hand and closed my eyes.

"Die!"

Adrian's roar echoed across the night.

His thunderblade came down, filled with all his remaining power.

The blade pierced my flesh with a sickening sound.

It went straight through my chest and shattered the core keeping me alive. Lightning exploded inside me, tearing through my entire body.

My body jerked violently before collapsing backward.

Maybe my heart had already died, because it didn't hurt as much as I expected.

As I fell, my left hand slipped from my chest and landed palm-up. A beam of light broke through the clouds and fell across it.

My hand was covered in blood and badly mangled, with several bones exposed.

But the engagement ring was still on my finger, completely untouched.

The silver-white ring caught the light and glowed brightly. Inside were our initials: A and L.

Adrian had asked the only jeweler in New Avalon to make it for me. The ring had a biometric lock linked to my blood and bone structure. No one else could remove it unless they cut off my finger.

Adrian's hand froze on the hilt.

He stared at the ring. All the anger and hatred disappeared from his eyes. In their place was pure terror.

The thunder stopped.

The wind stopped too.

Adrian slowly looked from the ring to my ruined face.

The sword slipped from his hand and fell onto the rubble.

"L-Layla?"