Love in the Time of Zombies by Gadziala Jessica

Author:Gadziala, Jessica
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

“Catie with a C and ie, do you copy? Over,” a familiar voiced echoed through my makeshift home, making me lift my head from the tile floor I was currently spread across in an attempt to cool myself down.

I always thought that I liked summer.

Until, of course, I had to endure it without the luxury of air conditioning.

I’d been sprawled out on the cold tile floor in my panties and bra since the sun came up, baking my home that didn’t have nearly enough ventilation to make it even remotely tolerable.

And water was such a luxury since it needed to be gathered and then filtered, a process that was dangerous and arduous, so I wasn’t about to use it to spritz over myself for relief.

I was half-sure I was hallucinating from my brain frying. The science behind that was unknown to me, but my head sure felt hot enough to actually start cooking braincells.

“Come in, come in, Catie with a C and ie. Over,” the voice called again, and that time I folded upward.

Over.

No one said over.

Unless…

I didn’t even think about it.

I flew up off the floor and through the building toward the Ham radio Caleb had set up in my kitchen.

I grabbed the little microphone thingy like a lifeline, pressing the button.

“Caleb with an x and qt, is that you?” I asked. Then, when he didn’t respond, “Over.”

“It is I, fair maiden,” he responded. “Over.”

“Is your brain frying from the heat too?” I asked. “And I think we can skip the whole over thing since it’s just the two of us.”

And what did this man do?

Start humming Just the Two of Us.

I was half-tempted to join in.

That was how giddy I was that he was still alive.

“Nah, Apocalypse Barbie. Rich dude has this place rigged up to stay cool in the summer. And I have the basement in the worst case. Stays a solid sixty there, no matter how hot it gets. You suffering?”

“If you call lying on the stone floor in my underwear suffering, then yes.”

“Which brings me to my idea.”

“Your idea?” I prompted when he didn’t go on.

“Well, actually, it was Toddy’s idea,” he clarified. “He thinks we should have a beach day.”

“Your cat wants to have a beach day?” I asked, smiling at the absurdity.

“Don’t stereotype him. He is a feline of refined and varied tastes. So what do you think?” he asked.

I thought it had been a solid two weeks since the whole rooftop incident. During which I’d beat myself up in every possible way. And then spent far too much time worried that he wasn’t still alive.

And now he was just going to call me up and invite me to the beach? Was I really going to just… say yes to that?

I mean, this wasn’t like friendships or dating back in the world-before. It wasn’t like anyone was going to judge me for being lured into his trap, being pulled into his games.

No one was around to know how tempted I was, how badly I wanted to say yes, how much I’d been obsessively thinking about him.

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