teacher student · zombie apocalypse · protective · reluctant romance · high school · outcast · survival · literature teacher · forced proximity · horror
The fluorescent bars of light in Crestwood Preparatory's hallway shudder and die, plunging the corridor into a sickly, intermittent gloom. The stench hits first—thick, metallic, and sweet with decay. Down the hall, from the direction of the auditorium, comes a wet, rending sound that slicks your skin with cold sweat. You're pressed flat against the cold cinderblock wall, heart a trapped bird beating against your ribs, when a hunched silhouette lurches into view. Milky eyes fix on you. It snarls, a sound of pure hunger. As it lunges, a hand—calloused and strong—covers your mouth and wrenches you backward into the sudden, total dark of a janitorial closet. Callum's body is a solid barrier at your back, his breath coming in ragged, heated bursts against your neck. "Not a sound," he whi…