Trapped (Part One) - BWWM Dark Romance - Zombie Apocalypse

Trapped (Chapter 2)

Then he nudged her back to life, helping her into the vehicle.

Following her, he closed them in securely.

Serena didn't know where to start as she took in the mounds of food supplies.

"Well, go ahead," Steven said, and then put his hands on his stomach. "I've already had my fill."

Serena began with a few granola bars since they were the closest. She tore off the wrappers, unashamed at the pace and ferocity she attacked the food with.

* * *

Steven watched Serena stuff herself in satisfaction. It warmed him to be able to do something for her—to be able to protect her and to feed her. To have the chance to take her to safety.

What he was supposed to be doing was tracking turned humans and mowing them down, taking out as many as he could. But he couldn't go on without knowing where Serena stood—if she was okay. Once he knew that there was a chance she was still alive and normal, he knew he had to save her.

He was so happy when he realized that she was still untouched, and then he felt a crushing guilt about his best friend. Not only did he not have the heart to tell Serena that Gregory had turned, he didn't have the heart to take Gregory out when he had the chance as he came upon him a few miles from their current location.

Steven witnessed the degenerated form of his ex-best friend, the animalistic hunger in his filmy, coated eyes, but he failed to act.

Steven's duty for the past fourteen years of his life had been to the U.S. military, his country, and the safety of the world, and now his duty to humanity involved taking out creatures like Gregory so that they couldn't keep spreading the disease that turned human beings into Morphs—single-minded creatures of destruction. His training since high school included building the fortitude to pull that trigger when needed. Hesitation—or worse: refusal—was never an option.

But at that moment of locking eyes with his old buddy, he couldn't do it—all he could see, when he looked at his friend's ghoulish form, was the guy he had known since third grade. All he saw in those clouded eyes was yet another change to see him through—like a passing emotion, a seasonal phase. So Steven let him go and left to find Serena, knowing that he could be responsible for the turning and ultimate death of others.

Guilt gnawed at him.

He didn't have the heart to do the right thing at that moment, and he still didn't have the heart to tell Serena that her husband was gone forever.

And he definitely couldn't tell her that part of him was glad to finally have her all to himself.

Steven couldn't deny it any longer and didn't bother to try.

He didn't have the mental space to think about how much he wanted Serena while worried about her safety—his top priority then was making sure she was alive.

He had already lost everyone close to him, and he couldn't imagine that she could be gone too—she was his last tie to caring about anything.

All those times he had thought he was becoming more machine than man as he returned from places where nightmares came to life, he thawed out in the company of his friends and family, and he discovered that most of his hardness was just an armor, a temporary shell. He eventually melted back into teasing, laughter, and silliness. He became nearly fully human again.

But in the past year, his family had stopped bringing out the humanity in him as it became clear that they were just waiting for him to die so that they could claim all of his belongings, properties, and the bank accounts full of pretty pennies paid for his life.