6Please respect copyright.PENANAbDbPrGLa6g
In a world where the dead outnumbered the living, Alex and Mara found each other among the ruins. He was a weary scavenger, she a sharpshooter guarding an abandoned bookstore. Their first meeting was tense—rifles raised, trust nonexistent—but hunger and loneliness softened their edges. Over weeks of whispered conversations and stolen moments, love bloomed in the cracks of a dying world. They built a fragile sanctuary, growing more terrified of losing each other than of the undead clawing at their doors. One night, Mara was bitten. She begged Alex to leave, but he refused. Instead, he held her as the fever took hold, whispering stories of the life they could’ve had. When dawn broke, her eyes had turned, but she didn’t attack. Somehow, somewhere within her decaying body, she remembered him. Trembling, Alex pressed his forehead to hers, whispering, “If you stay, I stay.” And as the world burned, he chose love over survival—holding her hand as the infection took him too.6Please respect copyright.PENANAkJTnjKWDUV