Robert wasn´t exactly the most careful, so when the zombie apocalypse came around you would think he would at least try to take extra precautions to ensure he wouldn´t get bitten. Especially living in the big city he used to call home, Bakersfield.
Of course, while it was hard to stop his old habits, he still messed around from time to time not being able to help his curiosity or adventurous, risk-taking traits. He took every precaution he could to stay safe, to stay alive, for Bella´s sake.
His best friend Bella meant everything to him, even before the zombie apocalypse.
They met in elementary and it was clear that they had a sort of connection to each other which led to them becoming friends, in high school they became best friends fully trusting each other and becoming inseparable, and when they were seniors they planned on moving in together and becoming roommates.

They had their whole lives set ahead of them.

Others constantly tried to separate them, telling them that their relationship was weird, or abnormal, yet that never stopped them. Simply making their friendship grow stronger, making them closer.
Since elementary, they promised each other that they would stay together forever, no matter what happened. They have broken this promise ever since. Still keeping it to this day.

So why was he running back to their base?
Blood trickled down his arm from under his hand as he held the sleeve of his shirt over the bite mark trying to hold down on it as hard as he could, hissing in pain when he pressed too hard but never letting go of it.
He ran as fast as he could, trying to get back to the base. He knows this isn´t what he should do, he knows what they agreed on if they were to get infected.
They would isolate themselves to prevent harming each other, and then if they could, they would end their lives right then and there. So they wouldn´t have to live as an infected, but he couldn´t help it. He needed to get to Bella and tell her what he truly felt about her before it was too late.
For this painful secret, he had been hiding this entire time, emotions that felt like they were about to burst out of his mouth whenever she was around would be silenced forever.

His legs were burning and sore from the constant running but he never stopped, he seemed to run faster even when he felt like his legs were about to give out right from under him. He could barely tell if the pain was coming from the infection, which was now spreading throughout his bloodstream, or from the endless running. He didn´t think too much about it though as he arrived at the base, he quickly ran inside and closed the door so that zombies that might´ve potentially been following him wouldn´t get in, before looking around for Bella.

¨Bella!..¨ He called out, frantically looking around. He needed to find her fast before it was too late. ¨Bella, where are you?!¨. He yelled out.

He turned the corner quickly and saw something that made his still human heart swell with joy,

¨Bella! I was looking all over for you!¨ he smiled widely, ¨where were you?¨. He tilted his head slightly smiling a little but it slowly shifted into a frown when he saw how she stood.

Her posture was odd. Her back was turned to him and her joints seemed stiff. Something was wrong. But before he could ask if she was alright she slowly turned around facing him, looking at him straight in the eyes and his heart dropped into his stomach, feeling extremely nauseous. Her eyes had a glaze over them making them appear slightly white. This was a sign of the infection.

¨Robert..¨ She spoke softly, her voice was frail, and just hearing it shattered his heart. He began to tear up and walked over to her, ¨Bella-¨ he began but his sentence was cut short when she shushed him.

She slowly wrapped her arms around him and backed into a wall so her back was supported against the wall, taking Robert with her never letting him go. She pulled away from the hug looking at him with sadness clearly in her eyes. She spoke softly, singing… It was the song that her mother had sung to her when she was a child whenever she was scared, ¨We´ll Meet Again¨ by Vera Lynn. Who was probably wandering the streets, like the others who had fallen victim to this wretched virus, ¨We´ll meet again…¨ her voice weak making the song sound eerie yet adding a deeper sense of sorrow to the whole situation.

Robert knew the song as soon as the first line was sung, he always loved listening to her voice. Normally he would be too embarrassed to sing, but as he studied her face…he could tell she was terrified of turning. He knew that one of her biggest fears was death. His stomach twisted more and his heart felt like a stress ball being squeezed till it couldn´t anymore, he looked down at his arm and slowly took off the bit of shirt that was covering the bite mark.

¨Don´t know where…¨, he sang softly, his voice deep and buttery. As Bella´s eyes widened letting out a quiet gasp, tears slowly welling up in her eyes but Robert continued, ¨don´t know when…¨. He took her hands into his and held them as tight as he could but the blood loss was slowly getting to him making him weaker than Bella and light-headed, yet despite the stinging pain in his veins, he still wanted to let Bella know that she wasn´t alone. ¨But I know we´ll meet again…¨, he let go of one of her hands and lifted his free hand to hold her cheek as he looked into her pale ghosty eyes, ¨some sunny day…¨

Bella felt something spark inside her when his hand touched her cheek and she slowly melted into his touch, leaning into his hand, closing her eyes finding a sort of peace in the moment. Robert smiled softly and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her tightly and Bella returned the favor hugging him back as tight as she could, burying her face into his shoulder.

¨I…love you, Bella Smith…¨. He trailed off.

After hearing that, her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest and fall to the floor. But just when she was about to reply to his confession her heart dropped when his arms loosened around her and he leaned his body into her, limp and cold.
Bella devastated. Shut her eyes tightly letting out a chocked sob. She wasn´t ready. She wasn´t ready to look.
She hugged him tighter searching for any warmth, hoping he was just tired and just leaning on her because he fell asleep just like he used to do whenever they were sat next to in class. That´s what she hoped but it was clear he was gone. Dead from the untreated blood loss, which in a sense made her feel like it was her fault.
She was so caught up in the moment that she didn´t think to treat the wound immediately.

Slowly she took a deep breath and, opened her eyes. Finally gaining the courage to look.
She saw that Roberts's eyes were closed. He looked so peaceful… tears fell from her eyes, they rolled down her cheeks burning her eyes like acid.
Carefully, she laid his body down looking at all of his features. Her back slid down to the floor till her butt hit the ground, her eyes never leaving Roberts's face. She let out a choked sob but quickly composed herself and looked at his pale face for a little longer before leaning over and giving him a gentle tender kiss on his forehead.

¨I love you too…¨ She croaked out, her voice cracking.

Slowly she smiled faintly as she started to cry, ¨I´ll see you soon… my love.¨
She held his cheek and caressed it, gently before letting go of his face placing her back on the wall again looking up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and cried silently.
All of a sudden, she heard a low moan. Breaking the silence and her eyes shot open, she heard it come from Robert´s direction. When she looked down at his lifeless body her blood went cold.

Robert started to convulse as his veins became darker and his skin pale, Bella looked at him with fear but also a sense of longing. When Robert stopped moving he slowly looked up, his eyes fully white looking like a starved rabid animal, Bella glanced over and saw the small handgun he used to carry around while on patrol just a foot away from her. She thought about ending his misery but when she reached out to grab the gun she hesitated. Bella just couldn´t bring herself to shoot Robert.

Slowly Robert started to crawl over to her but instead of trying to get away, she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes gently waiting for Robert to take his first bite as a zombie. She was ready to die, she was going to either way. There was no point in trying to escape the inevitable.

So when she heard Robert groan in front of her, she shut her eyes tightly preparing herself for the pain she was about to feel. But instead of feeling Robert´s teeth sinking into her skin, she felt a hand in her own.

She paused and opened her eyes looking down at who the hand belonged to. Once she found who´s hand was in her´s they widened in shock as she sat there stunned. The sight brought a tear to her already sore eyes. Robert was in front of her holding her hand, it was a firm grip but nothing that brought any pain or discomfort to Bella.

Bella looked at him astonished, tears began quickly welling up in her eye as Robert let out a soft growl as if trying to speak to her. Her heart melted, and she felt another spark inside of her. The same one that she had felt since the first day she met him. She had wondered if even in this infected state if Robert could feel the same thing.

The feeling made her stomach flutter with butterflies. Robert seemed to still have his memories which seemed impossible, yet here he was. Holding onto Bella's hand and not looking at her like she was prey but instead someone he loved dearly. Of course, it was strange that she was feeling this deep love for a zombie. But this wasn´t just any zombie… it was Robert…infected or not. She loved him.

Slowly she shifted her hand in his, making their palms touch, then she moved her fingers to fill in the gaps between his and clasped down. Robert grunted staying still for a moment as if processing the motion and slowly he copied her movement and clasped down locking their fingers together.

He moaned a bit, and for a moment she could imagine what their future would´ve looked like if they hadn´t gotten infected and managed to survive long enough.

They would find survivors who wouldn´t be trying to kill them for some twisted reason. Free of zombies lurking every corner. Perhaps some of the military and government were still alive and they launched an attack wiping out every zombie that staggered through the streets

In the heat of the moment, Robert would probably be so overwhelmed with emotions and kiss Bella confessing his feelings to her in a more direct manner, yet Bella wouldn´t mind. She loved Robert, always had and always will. They would venture into the world experiencing unforgettable moments together, falling deeper in love. Finally, they would get married and have children. They would be living life to the fullest even in their 80s. Sharing wisdom together and nothing could separate them apart.

This is the future she saw, the life she could´ve had, yet the dream she would forever be stuck with as a deep sense of exhaustion slowly took over her body. She wanted to fight back but she knew it would be impossible. Her eyes slowly started to flutter shut, and the last thing she saw was Robert, now in her arms, holding her hand with fingers locked so tight she was sure they would never break apart. She saw his love for her, which brought a sense of tranquility as she closed her eyes. Locking her fingers as tight as she can for the final time.

10 weeks later

A group of survivors was walking around the permanence trying to find resources that they could bring along for their journey. They had heard over the radio that there was a bunker, made by the government that promised safety and security. The survivors were thrilled to hear the sounds of a fresh start to their lives. One where they can sleep at night without a zombie attacking them, Ocean was one of the survivors in this group. She was looking around holding a rifle she had stolen from a nearby base, lucky for her it was loaded. She was looking for food or any sort of medical resources, suddenly she heard a twig snapping, a couple feet away from her and swiveled her head to look in the direction of where the sound came from, and that´s when she saw the zombie.

It was a woman, her skin looked like it was rotting and when the woman saw Ocean she began to growl and looked ready to pounce on the prey she had just spotted. Ocean lined up her gun ready to shoot the zombie, putting her out of her misery but she stopped when it seemed like the zombie's arm got slightly tugged on by something and she stopped abruptly.

Out of nowhere a male zombie who looked a bit more intact slowly stood up. Ocean got a bit nervous thinking he would attack her, but the male zombie just stared at Ocean before turning his head to the woman and moaning at her softly before nudging his head into her which the women seemed pleased by. Ocean was getting a bit weirded out and she was going to take the shot but she saw something that made her freeze. The zombies were holding hands together, their hands were locked in place and it looked like if you tried to pull their hands apart it would be impossible.

It seemed like the male zombie still had some of his consciousness, but it confused her even more. Why isn´t he running away? Doesn´t he know I could kill them?... She wanted to question further but what she had witnessed left her dumbfounded.

She was shocked, to say the least. Since the apocalypse, she had only known zombies as monsters who were controlled by their hunger to kill. Yet here she was, watching two zombies clearly show affection to one another and for a moment, her heart melted over the two.
One of her teammates came up behind her and saw the zombies, he was just about to kill them both.

¨Hold your fire.¨ She spoke slowly, then after a moment of silence. Thinking about whether to let them live or not. ¨Leave them be…¨

Her teammate looked at her weirdly, ¨But- their zombies? Shouldn´t we just kill them and let them escape this miserable life?¨ He spoke in a stern tone.

Ocean looked up at him and smiled softly ¨Don´t worry about them, they look pretty content with each other¨. She looked back at the zombies and so did her teammate as they watched the two nuzzle each other showing a love so strong that even after death, would never die.