Chapter Text
ル ˖ ♡ ₍ ᐢ..ᐢ ₎ 📍 ࣪ . ›
Shadow Milk slammed the heel of his palm against the steering wheel as the line of rusted cars crawled another pathetic inch forward. Red brake lights drowned the entire street in a bloody glow, stretching across the old town like a river of warning signs. Rainwater dripped from crooked rooftops and slid down the windshield in slow crooked lines while somewhere outside a man screamed at another driver through an open window. Horns blared nonstop. Engines coughed smoke into the freezing evening air. The whole damn town smelled like gasoline, wet concrete, and exhaustion.
“Move already...seriously...move! UGHH!”
Shadow Milk dragged both hands down his face hard enough to leave red marks across his cheeks. His curls were a mess from constantly tugging at them all day and the dark circles under his eyes looked almost bruised beneath the flickering streetlights. Work had been hell from the second he stepped into the office. Too many people. Too much noise. Too many idiots talking over each other while he smiled through clenched teeth pretending he wasn't one inconvenience away from biting somebody.
Then Pure Vanilla had called him.
The irritation melted for exactly five seconds.
Shadow Milk reached toward the passenger seat where his phone rested beside a white paper bag soaked slightly from the rain. Takeout. Extra spicy noodles for him. Dumplings for Pure Vanilla because his husband always forgot to eat properly whenever the hospital buried him alive in overtime shifts.
A small tired smile tugged at Shadow Milk's mouth as he replayed the memory of the call.
“Can you pick up dinner...? I might be home late tonight.”
Pure Vanilla had sounded exhausted. Soft too. That gentle voice always slipped right through Shadow Milk's ribs no matter how horrible his mood got. Even half asleep Pure Vanilla still sounded like warmth wrapped in blankets.
Shadow Milk exhaled slowly and rested his forehead against the steering wheel for a second.
“I just wanna go home already...”
Outside the car an ambulance screamed past the intersection fast enough to splash dirty rainwater across the sidewalks. People immediately started shouting. Someone dropped grocery bags in the middle of the road. A dog barked violently from inside an apartment above the bakery.
Shadow Milk lifted his head with a sharp frown.
The ambulance didn't slow down.
It almost swerved into another car.
“What the hell are they doing...?”
His fingers tapped anxiously against the wheel now. Fast. Restless. A nervous rhythm he didn't even realize he was doing. Something about tonight felt wrong. The air felt wrong.. Like the entire town was holding its breath waiting for something terrible to crawl out of the dark.
Then his phone buzzed.
Pure Vanilla.
Shadow Milk immediately grabbed it and answered without hesitation.
“Finally! Please tell me you're done saving lives because I'm two seconds away from abandoning this car in the middle of the road and walking home!”
Pure Vanilla’s soft laughter crackled through the phone speaker warm and breathy enough to loosen the knot sitting inside Shadow Milk’s chest. In the background Shadow Milk could hear distant hospital noises. Metal trays clinking together. Fast footsteps echoing through hallways. Somebody called for a doctor loud enough to nearly burst his eardrum.
“I am done actually,” Pure Vanilla said gently. “One more hour and I’ll be home!”
Shadow Milk leaned back into the driver’s seat with a dramatic sigh and rubbed his eyes hard with two fingers. “One hour? That place is stealing you from me. I should sue the hospital for stealing my previous husband.”
Pure Vanilla giggled again quieter this time. The sound dissolved into a sudden coughing fit.
Shadow Milk straightened immediately.
“Vanilla?”
The coughing got rougher for a second. Wet. Strained. Like Pure Vanilla had turned his head away from the phone trying not to make it obvious. Shadow Milk’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel as his eyes narrowed toward the rain covered windshield. “You okay?”
“Mhm...” Pure Vanilla cleared his throat softly. “I just choked on air.”
Shadow Milk made a low suspicious noise under his breath while drumming his fingers against the wheel again. Pure Vanilla always did that calm little voice whenever he was hiding something. Exhaustion. Pain. Stress. He treated his own body worse than his patients treated theirs.
Outside the car the traffic finally lurched forward. Tires splashed through puddles while old neon shop signs reflected across the wet streets in smeared colors. A cyclist nearly got clipped by a taxi and screamed loud enough for half the block to hear him.
Shadow Milk ignored all of it.
“You better not be dying without me there,” he muttered while steering the car ahead slowly. “That would actually be offensive.”
Pure Vanilla let out a tired hum that sounded dangerously close to another cough. “I would never. You’re far too annoying to leave behind.”
“Oh wow!! So cruel.. Afterwards, I lovingly secured dinner for us too.”
“You remembered the dumplings?”
Shadow Milk scoffed loudly and placed a hand over his chest like Pure Vanilla could somehow see the gesture through the phone. “Who do you think I am? Of course I remembered!”
For a moment everything felt normal again. Just them. Just the familiar teasing bouncing back and forth like it always did after long days. Shadow Milk could practically picture Pure Vanilla smiling softly to himself somewhere inside those cold hospital halls while brushing pale strands of hair behind his ear.
Then Pure Vanilla spoke again quieter this time.
“I love you, honey.”
The tension in Shadow Milk’s shoulders melted instantly. He smiled without even realizing it and tapped his thumb against the steering wheel to the rhythm of the rain. “I love you more.”
Right as the words left his mouth the line of cars finally started moving properly. Engines roared awake one after another while the traffic slowly untangled itself down the narrow old town streets.
Shadow Milk barked out a laugh.
“See? Talking to you literally fixes my life!”
Pure Vanilla smiled so brightly Shadow Milk could hear it through the phone. A soft little kissing sound echoed from the speaker followed by a quiet laugh that melted straight into Shadow Milk’s bloodstream.
“See you later, love.”
Shadow Milk instantly grinned like an idiot. He puckered his lips dramatically and kissed the air back several times loud enough to make the old man in the car beside him stare in disgust.
“Drive safe!” Pure Vanilla added warmly.
“You too! Try not to be late again.”
Pure Vanilla laughed again under his breath and the call finally ended.
The silence inside the car felt gentler afterward. Shadow Milk tossed the phone onto the passenger seat beside the takeout bag and rolled his shoulders while easing the car farther down the narrow street. Rain still drizzled against the windows in thin silver streaks while old buildings leaned over the roads like tired giants watching the town decay year after year.
Shadow Milk hummed absentmindedly to himself while tapping the steering wheel with his fingers. His mood had improved completely now. That was the annoying thing about Pure Vanilla. One phone call and suddenly the world stopped feeling unbearable.
Streetlights flickered overhead one after another as he drove deeper into town. The sidewalks looked strangely empty tonight. Usually this area stayed loud until midnight. Drunk people stumbling out of bars. Teenagers doing…well more family friendly stuff unlike him in his teenage years. And just a pretty loud neighborhood. But tonight was just so strangely quiet…creepy!
Shadow Milk raised a brow and glanced around slowly. “Hm...pretty strange.” A crooked smile spread across his face immediately after. “There must be a party somewhere..”
Honestly it made sense nobody invited him or Pure Vanilla anymore after the incident last month. Shadow Milk snorted to himself at the memory.
.
.
.
Pure Vanilla had sleepily told him that morning “You always set my heart ablaze.”
Shadow Milk unfortunately took that as inspiration. Technically the fire was an accident. Mmh…Mostly…
The kitchen curtains had caught flames first. Then half the dining room. Then somehow the neighbor’s decorative fence too. Firefighters had flooded the entire street while people screamed and ran around carrying buckets like they lived in the medieval era.
Meanwhile Shadow Milk had been sitting on the hood of the ambulance with Pure Vanilla trapped between his arms kissing him senseless while smoke billowed behind them into the sky.
Some poor firefighter had shouted “YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!”
And Shadow Milk without breaking the kiss yelled back “I KNOW!”
.
.
.
A laugh escaped him again but it slowly faded as his eyes drifted back toward the road ahead.
Still too quiet! Shit did the apocalypse happen? It's the end of the world??
Even the convenience stores looked empty. One of them had its front door hanging halfway open while fluorescent lights buzzed violently inside.
Shadow Milk’s smile weakened slightly as his fingers slowed against the steering wheel. “...Okay that’s actually weird…gotta get home fast.”
Shadow Milk finally pulled into the driveway with a long exhausted sigh escaping his chest. The headlights washed over the front of the house, illuminating the rain soaked porch and the flower pots Pure Vanilla kept insisting were still alive despite looking half dead year round. The neighborhood remained eerily silent around him. No couples arguing through open windows. No music drifting from nearby houses. Even the streetlights buzzed softly like they were nervous.
Shadow Milk narrowed his eyes for a moment while gripping the steering wheel.
“Creepy...”
Still, home was home.
He carefully parked closer to the left side of the driveway, leaving enough room for Pure Vanilla’s car beside his. He always did that automatically now. Some habits settled into the bones after marriage. Shadow Milk grabbed the takeout bags from the passenger seat and stepped outside, immediately shivering as cold rain mist kissed his cheeks.
The front gate creaked when he pushed it open. Somewhere far away a siren echoed through the town again. Longer this time. More frantic.
Shadow Milk glanced toward the dark streets behind him before shutting the gate with his foot.
“Not my problem tonight.”
The warmth inside the house wrapped around him almost instantly after he unlocked the door. The familiar scent of vanilla candles and laundry detergent drifted through the air while soft yellow lamps illuminated the living room. Their home always felt cozy in a slightly chaotic way. Books stacked crookedly across tables. Blankets tossed carelessly over the couch. One of Pure Vanilla’s cardigans hanging from the kitchen chair because he constantly forgot where he left things.
Shadow Milk smiled tiredly and kicked his shoes off near the entrance.
“I’m home! Unfortunately!”
Silence answered him.
He snorted softly to himself and headed into the kitchen. Even if dinner was takeout he still liked arranging everything properly. It mattered to him for some reason. Maybe because most of their lives felt rushed lately. Work. Bills. Stress. Long shifts. Coming home exhausted enough to collapse face first into bed.
Little things became important after that.
Shadow Milk unpacked the food containers carefully and placed them onto plates instead of leaving them in cheap plastic boxes. He even reheated the dumplings because Pure Vanilla always got distracted and forgot to eat while they were still warm. Steam curled into the kitchen air while rain tapped steadily against the windows.
For a few peaceful minutes everything felt painfully ordinary.
The kind of ordinary people never appreciated enough until it disappeared.
Shadow Milk eventually wandered upstairs after eating half his noodles directly from the plate while standing in the kitchen. He showered quickly, letting hot water pound against the tension trapped in his shoulders all day. By the time he stepped out, his curls clung damply to his forehead and his skin glowed baby blue from the heat.
A few minutes later he dropped dramatically onto the bed wearing his ridiculous black wolf print pajamas. The fabric was soft and oversized and Pure Vanilla secretly adored them even while pretending they were ugly.
Shadow Milk grabbed the remote and flipped through TV channels lazily while sprawling across Pure Vanilla’s side of the mattress on purpose. Crime report. Cooking show. An old movie. Some loud emergency broadcasts glitching across the screen for half a second before disappearing into static.
Shadow Milk blinked.
“Huh?”
The TV crackled loudly again. The image distorted for a brief moment before returning to normal programming. “I should call the people who deal with television…I don't pay for useless channels.
Pure Vanilla grabbed Shadow Milk tightly by the wrist before he could start another argument. His fingers felt cold. Unusually cold. Shadow Milk stared at him while being dragged toward the living room, confusion written all over his face.
“Vanilla, you are seriously starting to scare me.”
Pure Vanilla still said nothing.
The television continued hissing with static across the dark room while pale blue light flickered over the walls and furniture. Rain battered the windows harder now. Wind howled somewhere outside the old town streets, rattling tree branches against rooftops.
Pure Vanilla dropped onto the couch beside Shadow Milk and immediately snatched the remote. His movements looked rushed and jerky, completely unlike his usual calm graceful manner. His blond hair clung messily around his face while the sienna star on his forehead disappeared in the shifting TV light.
Channel after channel flashed by.
Static.
Cooking show.
Static.
Emergency alert screen.
A man crying hysterically outside a hospital.
Static again.
Shadow Milk leaned closer slowly, his sharp mismatched eyes narrowing. The pale claw scar around his eye stretched slightly as his expression tightened.
“What happened at the hospital...?”
Pure Vanilla swallowed hard but before he could answer the screen suddenly stabilized onto a news station.
A woman appeared on screen wearing a wrinkled blazer smeared slightly with blood near the shoulder. Her makeup had run from sweat or tears. Behind her people rushed wildly through the newsroom while alarms blared faintly in the background.
Her voice trembled despite her obvious attempts to sound professional.
“This is an emergency broadcast. Citizens are advised to remain indoors immediately and avoid all contact with infected individuals.”
Shadow Milk blinked once.
“Infected...?”
The reporter continued speaking rapidly while papers shook in her hands.
“There has been an outbreak of an unidentified virus spreading across multiple districts. Victims display extreme aggression, violent behavior, loss of cognitive function, pale discoloration of the skin, and severe dental mutations. Medical personnel have confirmed that the infected attacked non infected civilians on sight.”
The screen abruptly switched to shaky footage filmed somewhere downtown.
People running.
Screaming.
A woman slammed against a police car while something humanoid tackled her violently to the pavement. Its skin looked grayish white stretched tightly over its bones while blood covered its jaw completely. When it lifted its head toward the camera its mouth opened too wide revealing rows of jagged broken teeth snapping wildly.
Shadow Milk physically recoiled.
“Oh what the fuck?!”
Pure Vanilla instinctively grabbed his arm tighter.
More footage flashed across the screen.
Hospital hallways covered in blood.
Doctors barricading doors.
A man convulsing violently on the floor while nurses screamed around him.
Then the camera zoomed close enough for the infected man’s face to become horrifyingly clear. Pale skin. Veins blackened beneath flesh. Eyes clouded over almost white. Sharp bloody teeth tearing into somebody’s throat while the victim shrieked.
The reporter’s voice returned shakier now.
“These infected individuals are not behaving like ordinary violent patients. They display cannibalistic tendencies and abnormal physical strength. Citizens must not engage them directly under any circumstances.”
Shadow Milk’s mouth slowly fell open.
The woman on screen inhaled sharply before continuing.
“Authorities warn that infection speed varies from person to person. Some victims deteriorate within minutes while others may take hours before symptoms fully manifest. Current symptoms include fever, coughing, aggression, delirium, loss of appetite, blackened veins, and—”
Pure Vanilla immediately muted the television.
The room dropped into silence except for the storm outside.
Shadow Milk sat frozen beside him staring at the screen with wide eyes. The playful energy he always carried had completely vanished from his face now. Even his usual sly grin disappeared leaving behind something raw and unsettled.
After several long seconds he finally turned toward Pure Vanilla very slowly.
“…You’re telling me zombies are real?”
Pure Vanilla’s composure finally shattered.
A shaky breath escaped him before tears suddenly spilled down his cheeks all at once. He grabbed onto Shadow Milk’s shirt with trembling hands, fingers twisting desperately into the soft fabric of the wolf pajamas like he needed something solid to keep himself grounded.
“I’m scared...”
His voice cracked horribly on the last word.
Shadow Milk’s entire expression changed instantly.
The sarcastic grin vanished from his sapphire blue mouth while panic flashed through his mismatched eyes. Seeing Pure Vanilla cry always hit him somewhere deep and ugly inside his chest. This wasn’t normal stress. Not work stress. Not exhaustion. Pure Vanilla looked genuinely terrified.
Shadow Milk immediately pulled him into his lap and wrapped both arms tightly around his thin body.
“Hey...hey, no, no, look at me.”
Pure Vanilla buried his face against Shadow Milk’s neck while his shoulders shook. His blond hair brushed softly against Shadow Milk’s jaw, still damp from the rain outside. The scent of hospital antiseptic clung faintly and alcohol to him beneath the familiar vanilla perfume he always wore.
“I don’t wanna die...” Pure Vanilla whispered weakly. “I don’t wanna become one of them.”
Shadow Milk’s heart twisted painfully.
Without hesitation he cupped Pure Vanilla’s face between both hands and started kissing him everywhere frantically. Forehead. Eyelids. Cheeks. Nose. Anywhere he could reach.
“You’re not gonna die.”
Another kiss.
“We’re surviving this.”
Another kiss against the corner of his mouth.
“And if the world explodes anyway then guess what? We’ll be dead together. Married to the very end. Super romantic.”
Pure Vanilla let out a wet laugh through his tears despite himself.
Shadow Milk smiled softly at hearing it. He brushed his thumbs beneath Pure Vanilla’s eyes carefully wiping the tears away while holding him impossibly close.
Outside the storm continued rattling the windows while the muted television flashed horrifying images silently across the room. Bloody hospitals. Crowds running. Emergency warnings crawling endlessly across the bottom of the screen.
Pure Vanilla swallowed hard and glanced nervously toward the dark windows.
“Will our house be safe...?”
Shadow Milk immediately straightened slightly like somebody had activated the problem solving part of his brain. His usual chaotic confidence slipped back into place fast, probably for Pure Vanilla’s sake as much as his own.
“Oh! Cameras!”
He practically lunged for his phone on the couch and unlocked it quickly. Pure Vanilla shifted closer against him immediately, almost curling into his side while watching the screen with wide anxious eyes.
Shadow Milk opened the security app and pulled up the outside cameras one by one.
Front gate.
Empty.
Driveway.
Empty.
Backyard.
Only rainwater dripped from the fence.
The old street outside looked abandoned beneath flickering lamps. No people. No screaming. No monsters clawing at the windows. Just wind carrying trash down the sidewalks.
Shadow Milk relaxed slightly and held the phone out toward Pure Vanilla.
“See? We’re okay.”
Pure Vanilla stared at the screen for several seconds before his breathing finally slowed a little. His body softened against Shadow Milk inch by inch as the panic loosened its grip.
Then one of the cameras crackled violently with static for half a second.
Shadow Milk’s smile faded.
Shadow Milk slowly lowered the phone from their faces while the camera feed continued flickering faintly across the screen. The playful confidence he usually carried so naturally looked thinner now. Forced. His fingers tapped restlessly against the side of the phone before he finally locked it and shoved it into his pocket.
“We should go upstairs.”
Pure Vanilla nodded immediately.
The house creaked softly around them as they moved through the dim hallway gathering whatever supplies they could think of. Bottled water. Snacks. Flashlights. Phone chargers. A kitchen knife Pure Vanilla awkwardly carried despite clearly hating the feeling of it in his hands.
Shadow Milk noticed anyway.
“You know if you stab yourself by accident I’m legally allowed to laugh.”
Pure Vanilla gave him a tired look while clutching the knife closer to his chest. “I’m trying to survive.”
“And you’re doing amazing already.”
Shadow Milk leaned over and kissed the top of his head quickly before grabbing extra blankets from the hallway closet. Even while afraid he kept talking. Keep moving. Kept filling the silence because the moment things became too quiet his mind started spiraling into ugly places.
By the time they reached their bedroom both of them looked exhausted.
Rain hammered harder against the roof now while distant sirens screamed somewhere far across town. Occasionally headlights flashed outside the curtains only to disappear seconds later down the empty roads.
Shadow Milk immediately pushed the heavy closet toward the bedroom door with a strained grunt. Wood scraped loudly across the floor while Pure Vanilla hurried to help him despite clearly lacking the upper body strength for it.
“Push harder, Vanilla.”
“I am pushing!”
“You push like a kid!”
Pure Vanilla shot him an offended look before shoving harder against the furniture.
Eventually the closet slammed firmly against the door. The room fell silent afterward except for both of them breathing heavily.
Shadow Milk wiped sweat from his forehead dramatically. “If zombies break through that then honestly they deserve us.”
Pure Vanilla didn’t laugh this time.
That made Shadow Milk’s chest ache again.
Pure Vanilla slowly wandered toward the bedroom window afterward, carefully pulling the curtain aside with trembling fingers. Pale moonlight spilled across his orange tan skin and illuminated the soft exhaustion carved into his face. His heterochromic eyes searched the street below nervously while his reflection trembled faintly against the glass.
The town looked dead.
Streetlights flickered weakly through the rain. A bicycle lay abandoned near the sidewalk. One car door hung open farther down the street while something dark stained the pavement beside it.
Pure Vanilla immediately stepped back from the window.
Shadow Milk noticed how tightly his hands were shaking.
“Hey.”
Pure Vanilla looked toward him slowly.
“Come here.”
His voice softened instantly now. Gentle and safe.
Pure Vanilla exhaled shakily before walking over to the bed and climbing underneath the blankets beside him. The mattress dipped softly beneath his weight. Shadow Milk wrapped an arm around his waist almost immediately, pulling him close against his side until Pure Vanilla’s head rested against his shoulder.
“You should sleep a little,” Shadow Milk murmured while brushing his fingers through Pure Vanilla’s creamy blond hair. “I’ll stay awake and keep watch.”
Pure Vanilla hesitated. “You promise?”
Shadow Milk tilted his head down and pressed a kiss against his forehead star. “I promise.”
Pure Vanilla finally nodded and curled closer beneath the blankets. Within minutes his breathing slowly started evening out though every distant siren outside still made him tense in his sleep.
Meanwhile Shadow Milk sat against the headboard with the phone glowing in his hands.
News sites.
Emergency forums.
Videos flooding social media.
People screaming.
People bleeding.
People eat each other alive.
The sapphire grin slowly disappeared from Shadow Milk’s face the longer he scrolled.
At some point during the night Shadow Milk accidentally fell asleep sitting upright against the headboard with his phone still loose in his hand. The screen had long gone dark against his chest while Pure Vanilla slept curled against his side beneath the blankets.
The storm outside had weakened into soft rain.
The house sat in complete darkness except for faint moonlight slipping through the curtains.
Then Shadow Milk’s eyes snapped open.
A sound.
Low.
Wet.
Somewhere outside.
His body immediately went rigid.
For a second he stayed perfectly still while listening carefully. Years of restless sleep and unstable moods had turned him into an annoyingly light sleeper. Every creak of the house felt louder now. Every shift of rainwater outside. Every tiny noise.
Then came another sound.
Dragging footsteps.
A strange choking groan.
Something slammed faintly against metal somewhere down the street.
Shadow Milk slowly lifted his head from the pillow without disturbing Pure Vanilla beside him. His mismatched eyes narrowed sharply while his breathing quieted instinctively.
Another growl echoed outside.
Not human.
Not normal.
“Oh no...”
He carefully leaned toward the window beside the bed and pulled the curtain aside just enough to peek through.
The second he looked outside his stomach dropped violently.
People.
No.
Not people anymore.
Shapes staggered through the street beneath the flickering lamps. Their movements looked wrong. Jerky. Broken. Some limped while others dragged limbs behind them across the soaked pavement. Pale skin glistened under the moonlight stretched tight over bones and blood stained their mouths black in the dark.
One of them slowly lifted its head toward a nearby porch light.
Its jaw hung unnaturally wide.
Shadow Milk physically recoiled from the window.
“Oh shit...oh shit...”
More of them wandered between the houses now. One scratched violently at a neighbor’s front door while another crouched in the middle of the street chewing on something Shadow Milk absolutely did not want to identify.
A horrible wet crunch echoed through the night.
Shadow Milk immediately looked back toward Pure Vanilla. “Vanilla,” he whispered urgently while shaking his shoulder gently. “Vanilla wake up.”
Pure Vanilla stirred weakly beneath the blankets with a sleepy confused sound.
Shadow Milk kept his voice low but tense.
“We have guests.”
Pure Vanilla blinked awake slowly at first until he noticed Shadow Milk’s expression. Then panic hit instantly. “W-What happened?!”
He sat upright too fast and immediately grabbed Shadow Milk’s arm tightly. His pale yellow and faded blue eyes darted around the dark room while his breathing turned shaky.
Shadow Milk pointed carefully toward the window.
Pure Vanilla hesitated before inching closer.
The second he saw movement outside his face completely drained of color.
One of the infected suddenly slammed itself against a car across the street hard enough to dent the metal. Another creature stumbled directly beneath their window while growling low in its throat, cloudy eyes twitching violently beneath the streetlight. Pure Vanilla slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from making noise. “Oh my God...”
Downstairs something scraped faintly against the front gate.
Pure Vanilla’s breathing started coming apart completely.
His hands shook so badly the blankets rustled around him while he stared through the crack in the curtains at the creatures roaming outside. One of the infected dragged itself across the wet street using only its arms while another violently smashed its head against a mailbox over and over with a horrible hollow sound.
Pure Vanilla grabbed Shadow Milk’s sleeve hard enough to wrinkle the fabric.
“What do we do?!”
Shadow Milk immediately turned toward him and cupped his face with both hands. His fingers pressed firmly against Pure Vanilla’s cheeks forcing him to focus.
“Hey. Deep breaths.”
Pure Vanilla’s chest still rose too fast.
“Vanilla. Look at me.”
Those mismatched eyes locked onto his finally. Cyan and cerulean glowing sharply in the darkness while rainwater reflected faintly through the window behind him.
“Yes zombies are outside,” Shadow Milk whispered quickly. “But panicking right now is gonna get us killed faster than the ugly cannibal convention downstairs.”
Pure Vanilla let out a weak horrified noise.
Shadow Milk brushed his thumbs beneath his eyes gently.
“We can still leave. We get to the car and drive somewhere safer.”
Pure Vanilla swallowed hard before forcing himself to inhale deeply. His voice came out shaky.
“How...?”
Shadow Milk’s expression shifted instantly.
That dangerous spark of reckless confidence returned to his face.
“We distract them.”
Pure Vanilla blinked nervously.
Shadow Milk immediately jumped off the bed and started looking around the room while muttering to himself. His long glossy hair swung behind him chaotically as he opened drawers and shoved random objects aside.
“Need something loud...something annoying...something that screams ‘come eat me.’”
He finally grabbed an old ticking clock from the bookshelf near the desk and grinned.
“Oh perfect.”
Pure Vanilla stared in disbelief.
“You’re using a clock?”
“Trust the vision.”
Shadow Milk hurried toward the barricaded door and shoved his shoulder against the heavy closet. Wood scraped loudly across the floor while Pure Vanilla immediately flinched at the noise downstairs.
A distant growl answered from outside the house.
Pure Vanilla’s face went pale again.
Shadow Milk grabbed his hand quickly.
“When I say run you sprint straight to the front door. No stopping. No looking around. No dramatic sacrifice scenes because I will literally haunt you.”
Pure Vanilla nodded rapidly.
Shadow Milk crouched near the window and quickly adjusted the clock timer with shaky fingers. Tick tick tick filled the silent room painfully loud now. Every second sounded like a gunshot.
Outside one of the infected stopped moving.
Its head slowly tilted upward.
Shadow Milk froze.
The thing sniffed the air violently.
“Oh I hate that,” he whispered.
The clock started ticking faster.
10 seconds.
Shadow Milk unlocked the bedroom window carefully and cold rain immediately blew inside. Wind whipped through his azure sidelocks while groans echoed from below the house.
10.
9.
Pure Vanilla clasped both hands tightly against his chest trying not to hyperventilate.
8.
7.
Shadow Milk raised the clock in his hand like a baseball.
6.
5.
The infected outside started turning toward the house.
4.
3.
2.
….
The ticking exploded loudly.
Shadow Milk hurled the clock through the open window with all his strength. Glass shattered somewhere far down the street as the clock crashed against the pavement still ticking violently.
Every infected nearby snapped toward the sound instantly.
Now they ran.
Pure Vanilla’s blood went cold watching dozens of pale figures sprint unnaturally fast toward the noise.
Shadow Milk grabbed his wrist hard.
“GO!”
They bolted from the bedroom.
Footsteps thundered down the stairs while Pure Vanilla nearly slipped against the wood floor in his panic. Shadow Milk yanked the front door open violently while fumbling with the locks fast enough to scrape his fingers bloody.
Behind them something slammed against the side of the house.
Both of them sprinted toward the driveway through the freezing rain.
Pure Vanilla’s lungs burned horribly while Shadow Milk practically shoved him into the passenger seat before throwing himself behind the wheel. His hands shook wildly while jamming the keys into the ignition.
“Come on come on COME ON—”
The engine roared alive.
Shadow Milk slammed the gas pedal instantly.
The car shot down the street just as several infected creatures burst back around the corner behind them screeching violently into the night.
Pure Vanilla curled forward in the passenger seat gripping his chest while trying desperately to breathe.
Shadow Milk’s hands clenched the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned pale blue.
Outside the old town looked like hell.
The car tore through the rain soaked streets while Pure Vanilla sat stiffly in the passenger seat gripping the edge of his seatbelt so hard his knuckles looked pale beneath the dashboard lights. His breathing still came unevenly. Every distant movement outside made him flinch. Every abandoned car they passed looked like a trap waiting to happen.
The old town had become unrecognizable in only a few hours.
Storefront windows were shattered open. Street signs bent crookedly into the roads. A bus had crashed halfway into a bakery while blood smeared across the glass doors in thick dark streaks. Somewhere in the distance screams echoed through the storm followed by gunshots.
Then silence.
Shadow Milk’s jaw tightened but he kept driving fast, weaving around wrecked vehicles while windshield wipers fought uselessly against the rain. He glanced sideways toward Pure Vanilla again and immediately noticed the way his husband’s entire body remained painfully tense.
Pure Vanilla looked like he was waiting for death to crawl through the windows.
Shadow Milk softened instantly. “Hey.”
Pure Vanilla blinked toward him slowly.
“The reason we survived back there?” Shadow Milk pointed toward him briefly with one hand before grabbing the steering wheel again sharply around a corner. “That was you.”
Pure Vanilla frowned faintly.
Shadow Milk continued talking quickly, almost urgently now like he needed Pure Vanilla to understand this.
“You stayed calm enough to lock every door and window before those things even reached the house. You thought ahead. The alcohol thing too? Genius actually.”
Pure Vanilla stared at him in surprise.
Shadow Milk nodded while gesturing animatedly despite actively driving through apocalypse traffic.
“Most houses we passed had broken windows already. Open doors. Panic everywhere. But ours didn’t smell normal because you masked it. Those freaks probably couldn’t track us properly because of that.”
Outside the car an infected slammed itself against a streetlamp while screeching violently into the rain. Pure Vanilla visibly flinched again.
Shadow Milk immediately reached over and squeezed his knee reassuringly. “We got out alive because you kept your head together.”
Pure Vanilla lowered his gaze toward his trembling hands resting in his lap. He looked overwhelmed in a completely different way now. Not terrified…important and needed.
A small shaky smile slowly appeared on his face despite everything happening around them. “You really think so...?”
Shadow Milk barked out a disbelieving laugh. “Vanilla, I would've absolutely died in that house without you. I would've opened the door to fight one and gotten eaten immediately because I’m gorgeous but not intelligent.”
That finally pulled a weak laugh from Pure Vanilla.
The sound instantly eased something inside Shadow Milk’s chest.
“There he is,” Shadow Milk murmured softly.
Pure Vanilla leaned back against the seat slowly, still nervous but no longer spiraling apart. Rain reflected across his heterochromic eyes while city lights flashed over his tired face. He looked exhausted. Frightened. Yet hearing Shadow Milk praise him had grounded him again little by little.
Then both of them noticed the massive line of abandoned cars blocking the road ahead.
Shadow Milk’s smile disappeared the second he noticed the traffic jam ahead.
Cars clogged the entire road in a twisted metal mess. Some had their doors hanging open while others sat abandoned with headlights still glowing weakly through the rain. One vehicle had crashed directly into a traffic light pole hard enough to fold the hood upward like paper.
No movement inside any of them. Pure Vanilla slowly leaned forward in his seat, his eyes widening nervously. “Oh no...”
Shadow Milk immediately jerked the steering wheel and swerved onto another street before they got trapped between the wrecks. The tires screeched against wet pavement while the car fishtailed slightly around the corner.
“Absolutely not. I am not dying in traffic twice in one night.”
The new road looked narrower and darker. Old apartment buildings crowded close together while overflowing trash bins rolled across the sidewalks from the wind. Neon signs flickered weakly above closed stores casting red and blue reflections across puddles.
Shadow Milk reached toward the dashboard and turned the radio on with a sharp click.
Static exploded through the speakers first.
Pure Vanilla jumped slightly. “Sorry.”
Shadow Milk twisted the knob carefully while weaving around another abandoned car. Different stations crackled past one after another. Music. Static. Somebody is crying. Emergency sirens.
Then finally a strained voice broke through the noise. “...repeat, all civilians are advised to avoid heavily populated areas...”
Shadow Milk immediately lowered the volume slightly while both of them listened closely.
The radio host sounded exhausted and terrified at the same time. Papers shuffled frantically in the background while distant shouting echoed somewhere behind him.
“Infected individuals appear highly responsive to sound and movement. Military containment has failed in several districts. Citizens must remain hidden whenever possible and avoid direct confrontation.”
Pure Vanilla slowly pulled his sleeves over his trembling hands while staring out the windshield.
The broadcaster continued shakily.
“If bitten or exposed to bodily fluids from infected persons seek immediate medical attention...although at this time hospitals are no longer considered safe zones.”
Shadow Milk let out a humorless laugh.
“Well that’s comforting.”
The signal crackled violently again before another voice suddenly interrupted much louder this time.
“DO NOT TRUST ANYONE SHOWING FEVER SYMPTOMS!”
Gunshots rang out somewhere in the background of the broadcast. Then screaming!
The transmission abruptly cut back into static.
Pure Vanilla’s face tightened with fear again while he curled slightly inward against the passenger seat.
Shadow Milk glanced toward him before forcing his tone lighter. “Okay! Great news! The radio guy sounds alive enough to scream so society hasn’t collapsed completely.”
Pure Vanilla looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
Shadow Milk grinned weakly despite the tension clawing through his chest. “What? Morale is important.”
Outside something suddenly sprinted across the street ahead of them fast enough to blur through the headlights. Shadow Milk slammed the brakes instinctively while Pure Vanilla grabbed the dashboard with a sharp gasp.
The creature disappeared into an alley. Both of them froze.“Maybe a cat…”
‧˚꒰🐾୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
The car kept moving through the dying city while the night stretched longer and uglier around them.
Hours passed beneath flickering streetlights and collapsing silence. Sometimes they drove past fires still burning inside abandoned buildings. Sometimes they passed bodies lying motionless beside the road while infected creatures crouched over them like starving animals. The farther they got from the old town the emptier everything became.
Pure Vanilla had stopped asking questions a while ago.
He simply sat curled slightly against the passenger seat with his knees pulled close, watching the world unravel outside the rain streaked window. His pale yellow and faded blue eyes looked exhausted now, half lidded from fear and lack of sleep.
Meanwhile Shadow Milk still gripped the steering wheel like he intended to fistfight the apocalypse personally.
His sharp mismatched eyes darted constantly between mirrors, roads, alleys, rooftops. Every muscle in his thin body remained alert despite the dark circles forming beneath his eyes. The city terrified him too. Pure Vanilla could tell. But Shadow Milk handled fear strangely. The worse things became the louder his confidence got.
At some point Pure Vanilla quietly turned toward him.
“ Honey...”
“Hmm?”
“Can we pull over somewhere for a little while?”
Shadow Milk immediately shook his head before he even finished speaking. “Nope.”
Pure Vanilla blinked tiredly. “You didn’t even hear the rest.”
“I know exactly where this is going.” Shadow Milk pointed dramatically at him without taking his eyes off the road. “You wanna drive.”
Pure Vanilla looked mildly offended. “I was going to say you look exhausted.”
“And I appreciate your concern deeply,” Shadow Milk replied while swerving around an abandoned ambulance. “But in case something happens I need to be the one driving because I will absolutely hit the gas pedal hard enough to send us into another country.”
Pure Vanilla couldn’t even argue with that.
A weak smile finally tugged at his lips instead. He leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss against Shadow Milk’s cheek. His lips lingered there for a second warm against rain chilled skin. “What would I do without you...?”
Shadow Milk immediately grinned.
“Oh I’d survive obviously.”
Pure Vanilla let out a quiet laugh under his breath while shaking his head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m also correct!”
The tension inside the car softened slightly after that. Not gone. Never gone. But lighter enough for Pure Vanilla’s eyes to slowly drift shut from exhaustion. Eventually he curled closer against the seat using Shadow Milk’s jacket as a blanket while the low hum of the engine lulled him into sleep.
Shadow Milk glanced at him several times throughout the drive afterward.
Even asleep, Pure Vanilla looked tense. His brows furrowed faintly while his fingers twitched occasionally against the fabric near his chest. Shadow Milk hated seeing him like that. Hated that the world had become dangerous enough for Pure Vanilla to look frightened even in sleep.
By the time sunlight finally started bleeding weakly across the horizon the storm had mostly passed.
The city looked even worse in daylight.
Smoke curled from distant buildings. Cars littered the streets in crooked lines. Storefronts stood shattered open with broken glass sparkling across sidewalks like ice.
At some point exhaustion finally forced Shadow Milk to stop driving.
When Pure Vanilla woke up again warm morning light spilled through the car windows. For one peaceful second he forgot everything. Then he realized the car wasn’t moving. Pure Vanilla blinked sleepily and sat upright fast. The driver seat was empty. Panic slammed into him instantly. “S-Shadow Milk?!”
His breathing quickened while his eyes darted wildly around the area outside. The car had stopped near an old roadside café half hidden by overgrown vines and cracked concrete walls. The place looked abandoned at first glance.
Then Pure Vanilla spotted movement outside. Relief hit him so hard his shoulders nearly gave out.
Shadow Milk stood a short distance away beside the café entrance talking to a woman Pure Vanilla had never seen before.
She was beautiful in an unsettling almost dreamlike way.
Misty pink dough glowed softly beneath the morning light while elegant pale dress flowed around her graceful figure untouched by dirt or blood unlike everyone else they had seen since the outbreak started. Her bubblegum pink eyes curved gently downward giving her a perpetually sleepy expression while white lashes fanned delicately across snow colored eyeshadow. She smiled at Shadow Milk warmly.
Waaay too warmly! Pure Vanilla narrowed his eyes immediately from inside the car. “Hmph.”
ル ˖ ♡ ₍ ᐢ..ᐢ ₎ 📍 ࣪ . ›