Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 410: A Different Story

Chapter 410: A Different Story

Luca looked around at the world that seemed to have both changed and remained the same. He remembered walking this road before, when they were trying to get into the Sanctuary, but there was no way Hattie would go back there.

Not when the house was finally back to normal.

It had almost been an entire day since they had last noticed Hattie. Chang Xuefeng had told them that she was fine, and that Tank was with her, but that didn’t really make Luca calm. Anything could have happened to her, and yet, no one seemed to care.

Letting out a controlled breath, he continued to follow where he felt Hattie was. Because he hadn’t offered up his soul to her yet, he couldn’t track her that way, but he still had an uncanny ability to hunt her down.

Fighting against the need to hurry up, Luca continued to look around meticulously. Maybe one of the reasons why he was so upset was because he was feeling guilty. When he had undergone his test, he had made the commitment in his head to be a better partner to Hattie, but he knew he had fallen short.

Out of the jungle and back in the familiar environment of the house, the words of offering seemed to stick in his throat every time he opened his mouth.

Now, it had taken him hours to realize that she wasn’t even in the same house as him.

The road in front of him vibrated, kicking small rocks and dirt up, causing Luca to choke on a cloud of dust. Looking up, he saw a jeep rushing toward him, the dust it was picking up obscuring his vision of whatever was behind it.

But based on the earth’s rumbling, it had to be more cars.

Stepping off to the side, Luca waited for the jeep to pass.

But instead of it continuing on its way, it stopped right beside him.

"Luca?" called out a woman’s voice. The back window rolled down, and a woman stuck her head out of the vehicle. "I really didn’t expect to see you here."

Her smile was bright as she opened her door and walked toward him. "You aren’t looking too well, can I help with anything? Do you need food or water?" She spoke so fast that Luca couldn’t answer her.

"I’m fine, Alicia," replied Luca, stepping back just a bit so that she wasn’t so close. "I have water if I need it."

"Silly man," Alicia replied with a tsk. "Take the water. You don’t need to worry about anything with me here." Reaching out, she placed her hand on Luca’s arm. Luca, about to fling her arm away, hesitated for a moment before nodding his head.

"I am tired," he muttered, his brows furrowing with confusion. How did he get so tired so fast?

"And thirsty," agreed Alicia with a nod. Pulling a water bottle from her space, she quickly opened it and handed it to Luca. "You are so thirsty, I don’t know how you are still standing. Take a drink and then get in the car with us."

The smile on her face was kind, and Luca tried to remember exactly why his skin was crawling under her touch. A pounding came from inside his head, but he quickly dismissed it as dehydration and chugged down the entire bottle of water.

-----

"What?" sputtered Luca. Ever so slowly, he opened his eyes. He was inside a moving vehicle, his head in a woman’s lap. Why couldn’t he remember how he got here? Where was here? What was going on? Why couldn’t he remember anything?

"Hey, Sleepyhead," smiled the woman as she looked down at him. "Did you have a good nap? You must have been more tired than we thought if you passed out as soon as you drank your water. But that’s okay, it’s understandable.

"Alicia?" murmured Luca, the pounding in his head nothing short of excruciating. "What happened? Didn’t I just see you at Réne’s party last week?" His head was spinning so badly that Luca honestly thought he was about to puke.

Alicia’s eyes widened an instant before she smiled back at him. "We haven’t had a party in a long time," she replied, stroking his hair. Taking her hand, Luca removed it from his head. "You’re Réne’s fiancée, you shouldn’t be touching anyone else, let alone have a man sleeping in your lap."

"Luca," said Alicia, looking confused. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Luca furrowed his brows as he tried to think. However, every time he thought he grasped something, some memory or smell, it danced out of his reach. "I don’t know," he said at last, the pain in his head making him give up the fight.

"Do you remember our..." she started before quickly stopping herself. "Do you remember the zombies?"

"Zombies?" scoffed Luca, sitting up in the back seat of a military style jeep. "I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink. Either that, or you and Réne have watched too many horror movies. There’s no such thing as zombies. At least, not in real life."

This time, the surprise on Alicia’s face wasn’t fake at all. The fact that Luca couldn’t even remember things that had happened four years ago was better than she had expected.

The man wouldn’t remember fighting them at the Dragon’s lair. He wouldn’t remember that bitch who had turned him away from her... the Luca from before might have been completely unattainable, but this one, sitting next to her...

Well, he was a different story.

"Oh, Sweetheart," purred Alicia, stroking Luca’s face. "I think you might have hit your head when you collapsed harder than I thought. Zombies are very real," she continued, her voice, her power, and the Puppet formula that she had put into his bottle of water weaving a spell over the second most powerful man she had ever met. "Let me tell you everything."

----

Luca stared out the window as he listened to Alicia telling him everything that he had forgotten in the past four years. Apparently, zombies were a real thing, he was a space power user, and the convoy was on its way to collect a bunch of supplies that the survivors needed.

"One last thing," sighed Alicia, looking around like she was going to tell him the biggest upset of all. "You and I have been in a relationship for the past four years. Réne doesn’t know, but we just couldn’t stop ourselves. But it’s okay, if you want to continue to keep me a secret from your best friend, I don’t mind. Not as long as you don’t leave me."

"Never," vowed Luca. "I will always be by your side...however you accept me."