Dead Clinger (Zombie Reverse Harem) Book 1 Of 2

Day Zero - World Population 7.8 Billion

She let me sit there just staring out of the window into the rain until closing and when she spun the open sign on the door to closed she joined me in the booth with a coffee and another hot chocolate for myself.  She became a sounding board for my troubled life for the next eleven years.

From that day, every time I ran away, I only had one place I could or would go.  She did apply to become my foster parent but was refused due to her age and her single status, which totally sucked balls.  She was ten times the parent than the bastards they were putting me with!

Salvation came on the day of my eighteenth birthday, when I was finally free'd from the foster system.  I collected my meagre belongings that were kept safe by the state (mainly my baby blanket and Onyx locket) and walked into Ed's Diner where I was given a job in the kitchens and the spare room in Val's quaint two bedroom house.

After a few months of saving for books and supplies, I finally had enough to begin classes at the local community college where I studied to become a veterinarian.

And that brings me back to where I am now.  Twenty one.  Freshly graduated, my new one bed apartment and an apprentice job to walk into come Monday morning at the local vets office.

Surveying my living room, cluttered with stacked boxes and second hand furniture donated by Val and a few of the regulars from the diner.  There wasn't much, but it was everything I could possibly need.  A slightly sagging and faded chequered brown sofa.  An old television, missing the remote and kitchen essentials from the diner.  Val, kindly let me take the bedroom set from her spare room, which consisted of a queen sized box spring, a tall set of drawers and a beside table.  It had a vague musty smell and there were a few brown stains on the ceiling that I didn't want to think about too closely, but I was home and ready to begin my life as Val and I had been dreaming up on those nights in the diner. 

There was one more box in Ed's old pinto downstairs, luckily I didn't have to return his car until Monday. I was totally exhausted from dragging my belongings up to the third and top floor and I didn't have the energy to drop it back at the diner across the far side of town and then have to walk the few miles back. 

This box had all of my toiletries in and if it wasn't for the unrelenting urge to soak in that glorious claw foot tub that sold the apartment to me, I would just leave it exactly where it was.  But just the thought of resting my aching bones in almost too hot water and an indulgence of bubbles had me moaning aloud.  I could almost feel the slight sting of the water on my skin.

I set the water flowing, letting the rusty water run clear before fitting the plug.  From my calculations, I had enough time to make it to the car and back with plenty time to pour a glass of wine and light a few candles. 

Grabbing my keys, I headed out of the door and made my way down the stairs already dreaming about the forthcoming bubbles.

Once in the foyer, I ran my hand over five mail boxes attached to the wall near the double doors of the entrance as I passed.  One was Mrs Penbrook's, a little old lady that lived in the only first floor apartment who had introduced herself to me from my very first visit to the building.  There were two apartments on the second and third floor, but I had yet to meet the tenants from the other three apartments.  From what Mrs Penbrook told me the three tenants are all good friends and are such nice boys who always helped with any odd job she needed doing.

Pushing out of the double doors on to the sidewalk, I inhaled the fresh, crisp September air.  Smelling the garlic aroma from the little Italian take out place on the corner.  My stomach growled from being ignored.  I had skipped lunch, choosing to keep moving my things to get in the apartment as soon as I could.  A take out menu had been pushed under my door that morning and I vowed to put in a supper order after my soak.