“Hey, young soon-to-be-mom, are you missing this silver zombie? Or this golden zombie? Or perhaps this one… wuu wuu wuu…”

The river god Alpheus, who had the scholarly air of a bookworm with his squinty eyes, hadn't even finished speaking when I threw a sack over him, effortlessly hoisting him over my shoulder and marching off.

...

I, Elara Vance, a soon-to-be mother who was reborn after the apocalypse, carried on my shoulder the very source of that catastrophe.

In my past life, I discovered I was pregnant just as the zombie outbreak began. To protect myself and my unborn child, my husband, Kaelen Thorne, set out alone to scavenge for supplies, but he was bitten by a zombie. He struggled against the infection, enduring the discomfort before returning with the supplies and then leaving on his own once more.

And there I was, foolishly chasing after him, only to be bitten as well. We made our way back to the dojo, where we waited for our fate as two doomed lovers in a world on the brink of destruction. But things didn’t turn out as expected. Kaelen transformed into a zombie, while I developed an immunity to the virus.

Even as a zombie, Kaelen retained some of his humanity—at least when it came to food, he remained like a normal human. The supplies he’d brought back didn’t last long, however.

Between the stress of the food shortage and the anxiety over my pregnancy, I hadn’t been sleeping well. One night, when I got up to use the restroom, I saw a group of zombies carrying sacks towards the storage room. In a panic, I let out a small scream, and every single zombie turned to stare at me, their blood-red eyes glowing in the dark.

Just when I thought I would become their next meal, Kaelen appeared. With one swift blow to each zombie's head, he roared and hissed for a while before the zombies resumed carrying the sacks, while Kaelen strutted toward me like a king.

Through a long series of hand gestures, I finally understood Kaelen’s plan. Every night, he secretly ventured out to scavenge, and somehow, his skills as a martial arts instructor had survived the transformation. He quickly gained control over the local zombie horde, becoming their leader. So, there we were, surrounded by zombies hauling sacks of supplies at midnight.

With Kaelen now the unquestioned zombie king of the area, my life began to improve. Even during the day, I could stroll the city with him by my side.

But everything changed the day Kaelen fell into a stinking sewer.

“Hey, young soon-to-be-mom, is this silver zombie what you’re after? Or maybe the golden zombie? Or just a regular one?”

A shiny silver Kaelen, a glittering golden Kaelen, and a dripping wet Kaelen were all presented to me by the squinty-eyed Alpheus. For a moment, I almost considered being swayed by the gold. However, with Kaelen's pitiful gaze on me, I chose the real Kaelen, and in return for my honesty, Alpheus generously gifted me the silver and golden Kaelens as well.

Zombies had already emerged, and now, a mythical figure like Alpheus didn’t even faze me. In fact, I was delighted to have two more shiny new husbands, and I even gave them names—Silvus and Aureus.

The arrival of Silvus and Aureus brought a splash of color into my life. The streets were now home to an entirely new breed of zombies, their bodies composed of shimmering silver and gold. After this apocalypse ends, I might just become the richest woman in the world.

The dream of sudden wealth accompanied me for five months until one day, the sound of a helicopter engine filled the sky. I looked up in excitement. It seemed there were other survivors out there.

“Please, all survivors, remain patient and await the arrival of the military. Together, we will proceed to the human base for shelter!”

“Please, all survivors, remain patient and await the arrival of the military. Together, we will proceed to the human base for shelter!”

...

The blaring sound of the helicopter's loudspeaker brought tears to my eyes. Looking at my growing belly, I finally felt relief—no longer worried about how to bring my baby into the world.

I didn’t wait for the military to arrive. Instead, under the escort of Kaelen and his group of zombie minions, I made my way to the base. Upon learning that I had been bitten by a zombie and had not mutated, the base personnel treated me like a treasure.

After some testing, it was discovered that my body had developed antibodies to the zombie virus, and that my baby was likely to be born with these antibodies as well—potentially becoming the savior to end this disaster.

Since Kaelen was a zombie, he didn’t enter the base, but patrolled the perimeter with his minions. The thought that, soon, Kaelen would have a chance to return to being human made me happy. I didn’t even notice that Silvus and Aureus were missing.

Then, on the day I was due to give birth, before I could even lay eyes on my little one, the zombie horde attacked.

A gold and silver tide of zombies crashed against the base’s walls, destroying them in an instant. I watched as Kaelen and his minions fought desperately to hold back the tide, only to be overwhelmed and swallowed by it. I saw gunfire erupt from the barrels, spraying the horde with bullets, but only causing sparks to fly off Silvus and Aureus’s bodies. The bullets couldn’t stop the advancing swarm. Then, their teeth sank into my flesh, and my vision began to blur. I never even got to see my baby.

When I regained consciousness, I realized I had been reborn—back to the day I first met the squinty-eyed Alpheus. This time, I didn’t answer his question. Instead, I tied him up and dragged him back to my family's dojo.

Looking at Alpheus, trembling in the well, I sighed. Without Silvus and Aureus, I thought that all I had to do was go to the human base and wait for my baby to be born safely, and everything would be over.

I was just about to take a break and have a drink when Alpheus trembled and spoke.

“If Silver and Gold aren’t good enough, how about this Diamond Zombie?”

Alpheus pulled out a dazzling, sparkling Diamond Kaelen from the well.

“If that doesn’t work, there’s also…”

“Shut up!”

Before Alpheus could finish, I rushed over, covering his mouth with one hand and desperately trying to shove Diamond Kaelen back into the well with the other.

But my strength was no match for Diamond Kaelen. With one swift leap, he jumped out of the well, landing on the roof of the dojo. In just a few jumps, he disappeared from sight.

My mind went blank until a splash of water hit my face. I snapped back to reality, seeing Alpheus, who had slipped from beneath me, now jumping into the well, leaving only half of his head visible. His squinty eyes glinted with a trace of resentment.

I yanked Alpheus by the collar, shaking him violently.

“Go get him back!”

“I can’t beat him.”

“How can something you created not be able to fight him?”

“I’m just a river god.”

At that moment, my frustration peaked. A zombie let out a fierce growl and lunged at me. Hearing it, I spun around and kicked the zombie to the ground.

“Kaelen! Keep your minions in check!”

It was only after I shouted that I realized Kaelen wasn’t here. I had forgotten him in that disgusting ditch. The growl from the zombie had already alerted the others nearby. Though they didn’t dare approach immediately, what would happen when they figured out something was wrong over time?

I had no time to worry about Alpheus now. I quickly ran to the martial arts hall's main entrance and locked the door. Then, I proceeded to close the windows in every room. Thankfully, I had kept Kaelen’s thugs out of the hall except when moving supplies, so apart from the zombie that had sneaked in earlier, I hadn’t noticed any others inside.

Returning to the main hall, the zombie had already risen from the floor. At this point, it was impossible to throw it out through the door. I scanned the area and, in the end, decided to tie it up and toss it into the well. After the incident with Kaelen falling into the water, I discovered that zombies couldn’t swim. However, the water in this well would be undrinkable from now on.

Just as I was about to reinforce the doors and windows, Alpheus crawled out of the well again.

"Ah, the young soon-to-be mother. Did you toss this silver zombie into the well? Or perhaps... this one?"

Before Alpheus could finish speaking, he quickly retreated under my sharp glare. I vaguely heard some gurgling sounds, but my mind was too occupied with other matters to dwell on it.

After double-checking the supplies in the warehouse, I felt a bit more at ease. We wouldn’t have to worry about running out of resources in the short term, but due to Kaelen’s presence, I hadn’t fortified the martial arts hall for security.

That’s when I remembered that I had left Kaelen in the filthy ditch. He was probably bubbling in the water by now. I hesitated for a moment but decided to leave him there. Retrieving him would require washing him, and water was too precious right now to waste on something so unnecessary.

In my past life, I had been relieved to hide out in the martial arts hall, appreciating the open training area as it gave me more space to move. But now, that same open area was constantly at risk of zombie invasion. Even if I wanted to fortify the hall at this point, there was no way to do so without workers, and even then, the noise would make the hall a target for every zombie in the area.

To ensure the martial arts hall’s safety, I used the weapons inside to create a few simple traps at possible points of entry. Luckily, there were plenty of weapons to work with. As long as it wasn’t a full-blown zombie horde, the hall should hold out until help arrived, just like it did in my previous life.

Once the traps were set, my stomach growled with hunger. I debated whether to have hotpot or instant noodles as I made my way to the warehouse. But when I entered, I was stunned. The warehouse, which had been filled with supplies a few hours ago, was now visibly lacking some items.

Could there be more zombies that had gotten in? Or perhaps other survivors?

In the apocalypse, humans were more dangerous than zombies. As society’s structure collapsed with the zombie outbreak, people had started with reason, but as food grew scarce, that reason was gradually consumed by the primal urge to survive.

I had witnessed this firsthand at the residential building across from the martial arts hall. I saw a group of people searching for food. Armed with kitchen knives, they barged into a small supermarket on the first floor, shoving the store owner into a crowd of zombies. The only reason they did this was that the store owner had initially used drones to deliver supplies to the residents, but when the supply ran out, he stopped, sparking dissatisfaction among others.

Of course, those who had raided the supermarket were now among the zombies roaming outside.

Clutching the large machete that I had forgotten to put away earlier, I decided to search each room. As I approached the training area, I smelled the unmistakable scent of instant noodles. Looking closer, I saw steam rising from the well.

I carefully placed the machete at the well’s edge, and through the reflection, I saw Alpheus happily eating a bowl of instant noodles. My lips twitched. How the hell did this guy manage to get hot water down there?

"Hey!"

Alpheus, startled by my voice, sank instantly into the water, with a few noodles floating to the surface.

"You’re a god, how can you steal things?"

Alpheus popped his head out of the water, half of his face above the surface.