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Ethan and I were together for seven years.

But after he chose Annie, he treated me like a zombie that needed to be eliminated.

To save Annie, he threw me to a pack of zombie wolves. Her brother even shot me through the head.

Five years later, I woke up and joined three “crazy” people who had been abandoned by the survivor compound.

They treated me like family.

Then Ethan appeared. His attack killed my new family—and awakened the Zombie King’s power inside me.

He confessed his love while kneeling in a pool of blood.

Then Annie told me she was carrying his child.

That was when I finally understood:

There was nothing left in the human world worth staying for.

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Everyone used to say Ethan Cole was stupid in love with me.

Then, three days after our last fight, he got together with Annie Clark, the pretty underclassman who had been chasing him for years.

Bad timing, really.

That was the day the world ended.

I was bitten before sunset. I turned before I could even decide whether I wanted to cry about Ethan or laugh at myself for dying single.

After that, I drifted.

No hunger I could name. No pain I could understand. Just gray sky, ruined streets, and the dull pull of living flesh somewhere ahead.

I did not truly wake up again until I saw Ethan carrying Annie through the wreckage like she was something breakable.

Drew Lawson, one of Ethan's friends, looked around and said, "Aren't you worried about Maya?"

Ethan's jaw tightened.

"Don't say her name to me," he said. "She was stubborn enough to get herself killed. If she turned, that's on her."

Then he turned his head.

His eyes met mine.