Undying Hearts (Apocalyptic Hearts #1)

Chapter 1

A Wedding to Remember

Olivia

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”

Those are not the words I expected out of his mouth.

“What?” My voice is high pitched and filled with panic as I stare at Gale, my soon-to-be-husband. Beside us, the minister shifts uncomfortably while the rest of our guests whisper amongst themselves.

“I meant what I said, Olivia. I can’t do this; I can’t marry you.” He sighs and shakes his head, already sounding exasperated with me. As if I’m being the unreasonable one.

I stand there and stare at him, my brain refusing to comprehend what’s happening. He’s not serious, right? He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying. This has to be a joke.

My brow furrows. “I don’t understand. I thought we were happy together.”

“Come on, Olivia,” he scoffs. “You can’t be that fucking stupid. You know as well as I do that this marriage is doomed to fail, so I’m doing us a favour and saving us from divorce.”

I shake my head. I always knew he was a pessimist, but I didn’t think he’d condemn our entire marriage before it’s even begun.

“Fine. I didn’t want to say this to you, but if you won’t listen to reason…

” Gale sighs heavily, like this is a hardship for him.

As if he’s not the one currently ripping my still beating heart from my chest and crushing it in his hand.

“I thought your issues would get better. That I wouldn’t have to constantly put my life on hold for you because you didn’t want to get into a car that day or your nightmares kept both of us awake that night. ”

Each word is like a knife to my heart. Pain and grief tighten my chest, squeezing me until I’m barely able to breathe as I stand there staring at him in dismay. But he’s not done.

“I mean, really. How do you think I feel? I’m a doctor, sleep is important to me and I can’t keep catering to you because your parents died in a car crash.

It happened over ten years ago, Olivia. Get over it!

And that’s without mentioning that you won’t get a proper job.

Training animals all day isn’t a job! And don’t get me started on the fact that we’d never be able to have kids.

” He shakes his head. “No. This relationship isn’t going to work and—”

The church doors burst open and several people shuffle inside. They look like they’ve just walked off a horror film set; covered in blood, wearing tattered and ripped clothing and deep gouges and bites in their skin.

“What the fuck?” Gale turns away from me to glare at the newcomers. “Can’t you see this is a private wedding?”

I almost snort at that. Not really a wedding anymore, considering you were verbally ripping me apart just five seconds ago.

The newcomers ignore him as they pile into the church and meander around the back pews.

Gale’s mum, a stout woman with a permanent scowl on her face, stands from her seat at the front and marches toward one of them. “My son is talking to you,” she announces with an indignant sniff. “You’re not allowed to be in here. This is a private event.”

As one, the newcomers turn toward her and it’s then that I finally see their eyes.

They truly embody the phrase; the lights are on but nobody’s home.

Gone is the usual spark of humanity that every person has.

Instead, they’re glassy, shining with an inhuman hunger that so feral and alien it causes a shiver to run down my spine.

A sense of foreboding slithers down my spine and I grab Gale’s arm. “Gale, I think there’s something wrong with them.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Olivia,” he says with a scoff as he shakes me off and strides towards his mum.

However, before he reaches her, one newcomer launches themselves at her and delivers a savage bite to the side of her neck.

Gale’s mum shrieks and collapses to the ground as blood bursts out from the wound on her neck.

Everyone in the church gapes in horrified shock at the display as Gale’s mum is mercilessly attacked.

And then the church explodes into chaos.

Gale sprints toward the horror film extra gnawing on his dead mum as he shouts for her while the rest of the newcomers launch their own attacks on the rest of the wedding guests.

Cries, screams and moans fill the church as guests run for their lives, only to be chased down and brutally bitten and eaten.

I stand at the altar, gaping, because this can’t be what I think it is. And yet I watch as a guest has their throat torn out and is left dead in a pool of their own blood. Only for them to jerk back awake with those same gleaming alien eyes and attack another guest.

Holy shit. This is real. The zombie apocalypse is actually happening on my fucking wedding day!

I shake myself out of my horrified stupor and force myself to move.

There’s pandemonium around me as people scream and fight for their lives.

Gale has only just got to his mum, who’s still getting chomped on by the first newcomer—zombie—and is trying to push the guy off her.

The zombie snaps his eerie glowing gaze to him, moans, and lunges at him with an open maw.

I reach them just in time to grab Gale by the back of his suit jacket and yank him back. Gale curses as he stumbles back and glares at me over his shoulder. “What the fuck are you doing?” he demands.

I roll my eyes. “Saving your life apparently,” I mutter before dragging him further back away from the dead man still intent on biting him.

“What… We can’t just leave my mother!” he says as he yanks himself free of me. “I know you never liked her but—”

“Gale, she’s dead.” I grab his arm to haul him away.

Even though he ripped my heart out only a few minutes ago, I still kind of love the asshole, so there’s no way I’m going to let him die in this church.

However, before I can make a move toward the side exit, someone slams into us, causing both Gale and me to stumble to the ground.

My head bounces painfully off the side of a wooden pew, causing agony to ricochet down my spine.

Gale’s arm disappears from my grip and I fight to stay conscious as I look around, trying to figure out who tackled us like we were on a rugby pitch.

Only for my breath to catch in my throat when a pair of alien eyes find mine.

The zombie groans and launches themselves at me. Yellowed teeth embedded in blackened gums snap at me as it tries to bite. I swallow down a terrified scream as I struggle against the creature, only for it to be hauled off of me moments later.

A hand appears in front of my face. “Liv, take my hand!”

I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to hear my brother’s voice than I do in this moment.

I grab onto the hand like a lifeline and my brother, Tobias, hauls me to my feet.

His wife, Lauren, stands trembling and terrified by his side.

They’re both unharmed, much to my relief, aside from a few splatters of blood on their clothes.

I tear my gaze away from them to see the zombie that attacked me is getting off the floor and Gale is nowhere to be seen.

Tobias sees the zombie is almost on its feet, curses and turns to me. “Give me your shoe.”

I just stare at him.

“Now, Liv!”

I scramble to do as he says, handing him my left shoe.

He takes it from me before shifting back to the zombie.

He adjusts his grip on the shoe, pulls back his arm and slams the heel into the side of its head.

The heel sinks into their skull with a sickening crack and squelch and immediately the light dims from their alien eyes as they collapse to the ground.

Screams and moans echo around us from the other church guests as all three of us gawk at the dead body at our feet, the shoe still embedded in their skull.

Lauren mutters, “oh my God,” under her breath, her body trembling.

My stomach roils with nausea. “Holy shit.”

Tobias swallows hard, his green eyes wide and haunted as he tears his gaze from the corpse to me. “I did what I had to,” he says, a slight tremble in his voice. He sucks in a sharp breath and grabs both mine and Lauren’s arms, his grip firm. “We need to move.”

He doesn’t wait for either of us to reply and instead drags us toward the side church exit.

I stumble, finding it difficult to walk with only one shoe, but there’s no way in hell I’m going back for the other one.

When I try to stop and remove my remaining shoe, Tobias jerks me forward, refusing to let me.

So I hobble with him as best I can while praying I don’t break my ankle.

The icy January air bites against the bare skin of my arms, face and bare foot as I’m marched through the small cemetery and toward the street. Only to gasp when the road in front of the church comes into view.

It’s like stepping onto a horror film set.

Corpses and severed limbs lay strewn across the tarmac with large pools and splatters of blood.

A few people are bent over corpses, their bodies obscuring the view, but from the sounds, it doesn’t take a genius to guess what they’re doing.

Cars sit abandoned, some mounted on the pavement while others are left in the middle of the road, their doors wide open and painted in gore.

Several buildings are on fire, smoke billowing from smashed windows and flames dancing and crackling as they lick up the side of brick walls.

Sirens wail in the distance, along with sharp cracks of what sound like fireworks.

Dispersed between the bangs and sirens are low, inhuman moaning and bloodcurdling squeals and screams of people.

“What the fuck?” I whisper, panic and dread tightening my chest. Glancing around, I half-hope to see any sign of Gale, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

A sharp bang followed by moans fill the air from the church behind us.

Tobias, having looked over his shoulder, curses. “Shit, we need to go.” He yanks Lauren and me down the street toward where he parked their car.