The Day Love Betrayed Me and Never the Plan 17

It was clear that the residents of the two units had taken the supplies left at the door. 

Once Chloe closed the door, her legs gave out, and she sank to the floor slowly. 

She’d been running on empty for three days straight, barely staying alive thanks to the zombie cores she’d absorbed. Without them, she would’ve dropped dead from exhaustion. 

Now that she was finally home and safe, Chloe collapsed onto the floor like a deflated balloon. It took her a long time to catch her breath, and the first thing she did was rush to the bathroom to scrub off all the dirt. 

Luckily, the water was still running. Even though it was contaminated by the zombie virus and unsafe to drink, it was good enough for a shower. 

An hour later, Chloe came out of the bathroom in her cotton pajamas, feeling refreshed and much less drained. She curled up in bed like a lazy cat, the warmth of the electric blanket easing away the last bit of tension. She fell asleep instantly. 

Late that night, loud banging echoed from the door. Chloe checked the peephole and saw a big, burly guy outside, hacking at the door with a huge kitchen knife. 

Chloe only glanced at him. Without a second thought, she covered her ears, rolled over, and went straight back to sleep. 

***** 

When Chloe woke up, the morning light was pouring in. The banging at the door had stopped, and the big guy had disappeared without a trace. 

She grabbed two big pieces of bread and ate until she was nearly full. Then she entered her spiritual space to check out what she’d collected over the past few days. 

To her surprise, she’d actually managed to fill up the last empty floor of the mall. 

The mall was huge, about the size of a town, with eighteen floors packed full of all kinds of supplies. Chloe couldn’t help but smile for the first time in a long while. 

She looked out across the white–pebbled clearing, and everything was the same. The pile of emeralds in the corner had lost all its energy and looked like regular rocks. 

A timer hovered above her. The daily increase had gone from three minutes to three minutes and one second, thanks to those emerald stones. Now, she could stay in her spiritual space for a full five minutes. 

Chloe hurried out, not wanting to waste a second of the time she’d saved up. 

Back in bed, Chloe finally remembered to turn on her phone. As soon as it powered up, notifications flooded her screen. There were numerous missed calls and WhatsApp messages, 

She reached to tap one of the messages, but before she could, the phone rang. Her finger accidentally hit the 

answer button and a frantic voice came through. 

15:06 Sun, Dec 21 

Chapter 17 

“Chloe, are you okay?” Rosalie asked. 

“What do you want?” Chloe replied. 

& D 

35 vouchers 

There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Kiera’s loud, impatient voice came. “Why are you wasting time with her? Tell her to hurry up and bring us food. Niko’s starving!” 

Chloe’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Where are you guys now?” 

Rosalie let out a shaky sigh of relief immediately. She said in a shaky voice, “Chloe, we’re at home. There’s nothing to eat. Can you bring us some food? Niko won’t stop crying.” She sounded really pitiful. 

“Sure, just stay home. I’ll bring you some food,” Chloe said, but as soon as she hung up, she scoffed to herself. There was no way she was going out. 

Next, she called Linda to let her know she was okay and then opened WhatsApp. She saw she’d been added to many new group chats, each with over 99 unread messages. 

Just as she was about to open the resident group chat, her phone rang again. It was Shawn, sounding eager and sweet. “Chloe, you finally picked up. I’ve been so worried about you!” 

“Oh, really?” Chloe replied. 

“Chloe, I remember you stocked up on a lot of stuff. Can you share some with me?” Shawn asked. 

“No,” Chloe answered immediately. 

Shawn faltered for a second and then added, “Chloe, is there some kind of misunderstanding between us?” 

At that, Chloe smirked, almost amused. She leaned back, sinking into her blankets. “Oh? What misunderstanding could there be?” 

On the other end of the line, Shawn softened his tone. “Chloe, I really like you. Just listen to me, okay? It’s super dangerous out there. Zombies are everywhere. I think the apocalypse is here.” 

Chloe raised an eyebrow. ‘Like I didn’t already know that,‘ she thought. 

“Chloe, please stay put, okay? Where are you right now? Don’t go outside. Let me come get you,” Shawn pleaded. 

If this were her previous life, his sweet words might have meant something. But now, it just made her sick. 

Suddenly, she lost interest in mocking him anymore. She hung up, tossed her phone aside, and headed to the kitchen to cook herself a steak, pouring a glass of red wine to go with it. 

***** 

Not long after, the door was hammered again. To be exact, it sounded like something was trying to break it down. 

Chloe peeked at the pinhole camera and saw that a zombie had somehow made its way to her door. Instantly, 

15:06 Sun, Den 21 

Chapter 17 

the snapped to attention, fully an alert 

It was the hinh day since the apocalypse began Thanks to the holidays, most people still had some supplies at home, but water was numming dangerously low. 

The top water was contaminated with the zombie virus. With one sip, a human would become one of them. The entire building felt like a death trap. For all Chloe knew, my of her neighbors could have already turned into zombies 

She grabbed her phone and checked the resident group chat on WhatsApp. It was blowing up with messages popping up non stop as everyone freaked out over the zombies. 

Her phone chimed again. It was WhatsApp messages from Kyler. 

Kyler (Chloe, are you out of your mind? There are zombies everywhere, and we’re almost out of food. Now is the perfect time to show everyone what a good person you are l 

Kyler Shawn will totally be impressed. He might be your boyfriend. Don’t come crying to me if you screw this upl 

Chloe snorted coldly as she read the message. Kine, beg for food if you want, but don’t pretend you’re doing, me a favor. People like this make me want to smack them, she thought. 

She knew exactly what was going on. Kyler and Shawn lived in the same apartment, and this was just their way of trying to get some free supplies. 

Chloe: But really don’t have much left. It’s barely enough for me. 

On the other end, Kyler and Shawn exchanged a look, clearly not buying it. 

Shawn said, “I saw her stock up on a ton of stuff. There’s no way she finished it all in just five days” 

Kyler nodded and sent another message. [You really don’t get it, do you? The government is coming to save us in a few days, so suck it up and skip some meals. You’ll be happy if you can land Shawn. No guts, no glory, right?] 

Chloe snorted again, laughing even harder. [What can I do? Shawn already has a girlfriend, Sophie, the hottest girl in the sophomore year. At the mention of Sophie, Chloe felt a stab of bitterness in her chest. 

At that, Kyler shot Shawn a glare. “Dude, are you out of your mind? Why the hell would you tell her you’re into Sophie at a time like this?” 

Shawn panicked, grabbed his phone, and messaged Chloe. [Seriously, there’s nothing between Sophie and me. You’ve got it all wrong.l 

But Chloe didn’t respond. Shawn was so frustrated that he nearly smashed his phone.