Sometime in the middle of the night, Simon was awoken. Not by the sound of zombies overrunning the pce like he’d expected, though, but by Freya crawling into bed with him.

  “I had a nightmare,” she whispered. “Do you think that I could… maybe…”

  “Sure, fine,” Simon answered, yawning. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He scooted over as much as he could on the narrow twin bed, and Freya crawled uhe twedy quilts he was sleeping under along with a burst of cold air. There was no way he could not touch her, but Simon rolled over to avoid any misuandings, and promptly fell back asleep.

  He was somewhat surprised when he woke up ter in the night and found her ging to him while she slept like a drowning victim. It was both adorable and creepy, and Simon y awake for almost an hour appreciating it. It had been a long time since he’d hugged a his parents, and he hadn’t been in a bed with a girl this pretty since his freshman year in college. He’d fotten how soft and warm they could be, as well as how good they could smell.

  Simon fell asleep again sometime before dawn, and when he woke up, she was gohat realization made him bolt upright protectively, but as soon as he smelled the familiar sts of breakfast, he calmed down.

  “Everything is fine,” he told himself. “Hedes probably just hasn’t found the time to fuck you over yet.” It was funny, he reflected as he got dressed and came downstairs. He’d had oiny little taste of normald a brief human e, and suddenly he was worried it was all going to get jerked away from him.

  Breakfast was fried potatoes and sausages. “I’m sorry that we’re out of eggs,” Freya apologized. “We ran out of those a few days ago.” That statement sparked a versation that sted lohan breakfast. She’d been trapped in here lohahought. Over a week now, and though there had been ten people here at first, as of a few days ago she was the only o. It sounded like there was a lot to that story, but Simon didn’t want to pry.

  After breakfast, Simon busied himself methodically searg the inn from top to bottom as he opened every door and cupboard o a time. This led to some strange looks from Freya, though Simon ighem until she finally asked, “What is it you are doing?” Freya demanded. “If you need something, I show you where—”

  “I’m looking for a way out to the floor.” he said simply, not b to stop what he was doing.

  “Way out? floor?” She asked again. “There is no way out. We’re trapped here until the king raises an army to sy the dead.”

  “No,” he said dismissively. “Not a way out of the building. That would be suicide. I’m looking for a way out of this level and on to the one. You could e with me if you want.”

  “Level? You’re sg me, Simon. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she answered. That’s what finally made him close the closet that held extra stools uhe stairs and look at her. She hadn’t picked the knife back up yet, but the look in her eyes showed him that she wao.

  That cold, fused look suddenly made him feel very small. There was no C could uand what he was talking about. Not that Freya C exactly, but the parallel was still a good ohere was no way she would uand. Not until he found what he was looking for, and he showed her.

  “It’s fine,” He said, trying to py it off. “I just wao see if maybe there were any old crawl spaces aps between the levels we might be able to use to get to the neighb buildings to try to get more supplies.”

  She that expnation, and cimed to believe him, she looked at him strangely for hours afterward.

  That night at bedtime, she didn’t even try to get into her own bed. She just looked at him expetly until he relutly nodded and said, “alright, e on.”

  She still gave him a look as she crawled into bed and said, “Thank you… but that doesn't mean we’re doing anything besides sharing a little warmth. You keep your hands to yourself, or you’ll regret it.”

  Simon nodded. He khe drill, but this time their cuddling was iional, and he fell asleep with the smell of her hair, and the feeling of her body pressed against him as they spooogether while she started sn softly o him. It was a moment that was so perfect that it brought tears to his eyes as he reflected on how alone he’d felt for so long. Not just all the time he’d been i, either, but before that too. The games had filled the whole that the missing people had left in his life, at least he thought they had. He obviously hadn’t beeirely right about that, but he hadn’t known that until he held a beautiful woman like Freya in his arms.

  Simohe few days looking for a way out, but increasingly he was ing to the clusion that it had to be in one of the nearby buildings. This zombie level would have been much too easy otherwise, he decided. Even if that made perfect sense for the goddess, though, he wasn’t really ied in looking. Increasingly the best part of his day was waking up o his barmaid and listening to her tell him stories about her strange world, and sidering that even if he found the way to the level, the only reward that awaited him was some new awful way to die, he was in no hurry to find it. Not wheill had plenty of food to eat ao drink.

  On the fifth night they got well and truly drunk the first time to celebrate the fact that they were out of bread. It started off with Sim to expin to her that beer was inally known by the a Sumerians as liquid bread, and it quickly went out of trol from there.

  “You're funny,” Freya said, leaning unfortably close to him after he went off on another rant about pces she’d never heard of. Simon found that distrag, but not as distrag as whearted kissing.

  Simon hadn’t kissed a girl like this in years, aween the way she tasted, and the way she smiled at him, he would have been sure that he was in love from that first moment, if he believed in stupid things like that.

  “What was that for,” he asked dumbly when the moment was over.

  “Well, you’re the herht?” She asked sweetly. “That’s what the hero is supposed to get in all the stories, anyway.”

  Simon's mind was rag as he tried to process all the unfamiliar emotions that were rag through his mind, and sat there like a deer in the headlights. A note of disappoi crept into Freya’s voice at that response. “Why didn’t you like—”

  He was quick to stop her from finishing that thought, at least, and kissed her back as hard as she’d kissed him. After that, the rest of the night became a blur as they stumbled back to their dark room and their small bed. This time, at least they didn’t go to bed fully clothed, but they didn’t have sex either. Simo would be wrong to take advantage of Freya while she was intoxicated, as much as he might want to.

  He feared that in the m things might be weird, but she seemed as upbeat as ever. Wheried t up ter that day once his hangover had cleared up, she dodged the question. “A girl’s gotta do whatever she has to, to keep you from talking about bread, all night, doesn’t she?”

  Simon ughed at that, only mildly offended. She robably right. He could get a bit lost in all of his useless trivia once he’d had a beer or two. Still, taking a little verbal abuse was wetting to see her breasts st night, he decided, and he was happy to let her tease him the rest of the day while he followed her around like a puppy.

  After a couple of days, it practically became their routine. Sleep in te, rex during the day while they tried to ighe fact that death was stantly waiting for them just oher side of every door, and the drunk and make out for a few hours. Simon could quite bring himself to go all the way, because he felt like he didn’t know her well enough for that, but that was fine. He erfectly happy with the way things had blossomed between them, and didn’t want it to ever end. All he knew was that when he left this pce for the level, he was going to take Freya with him. This was just the start of his party. It was one more advantage he was going to have over everyone else that had gone before him.

  Simon didn’t even have a on on him as he heard the back dive way. They were just sitting in the on room while they waited for the st of the sausages to boil. Simon should have thought that roblem, but they were running low on firewood, so he didn’t really care. Like he’d been doing all week, he was just enjoying Freya’s pany, falling for her a little more, when the sound of splintering wood ehe moment of peace. Thinking fast, he grabbed Freya by the wrist and yanked her to her feet, as he ran towards the stairs.

  Simon had checked the windows earlier, but he’d hought that they might be able to bust down the backdoor itself. That was actually a real problem because it was closer to the stairwell than they were at the moment. It was only when they got to the hallway, Simon could see that they were too te. There was no way he was getting past the half a dozen zombies that had already gotten ihout his armor and his mabsp;

  “This way,” he said, relutly retreating towards the door that led to the basement. In the long run, it was a terrible position to be in. There would be no way out, but in the short run it was the sturdiest door that Simon could put betweewo of them aaih.

  “How did they get it?” Freya asked, still trying to process what was happening.

  “The back dave way,” Simon said, making sure that the basement door shut behind him. That made it close to pitch b here without a ntern. The only light came in through the cracks between the floorboards, but that was still better thaernative. At least that’s what Simon thought at first. Ohe dead started to fill up, the tavern en masse. Not only did that blot out most of their remaining light, but the way that zombies milled about, and the creeks that the flave in protest, were terrifying.

  “Are we going to die now?” Freya whined, overwhelmed by fear and sadness, not that Simon could bme her.

  “Why would we die?” he asked rhetorically. “They ’t get us down here, and while there isn't much food down here, there’s plenty of beer. We live for weeks off that, until someone rescues us.”

  It was all teically true, but he sidered it pretty unlikely. That just wasn’t the way that zombie movies ended. Pretty much every zombie movie he’d ever seen ended with everyone dying. Sometimes a couple would escape while the rest of the group perished, but he had her a helicopter nor a boat to get them to safety. He didn’t even have a horse or a window to climb out of. All he had was a beautiful woman to protebsp;

  Which was one more thing than he usually had, he thought, hopefully. No, Simon was sure he could figure a way out of this… at least until he started to smell smoke.

  At first, he hoped it was in his imagination, but when Freya added, “Something’s on fire,” he khey were in trouble. Looking towards the kit, he could see immediately what had happened. One of the zombies milling around the kit had knocked over the meat they were cooking and scattered hot coals across the floor.

  Simo around for a keg that was actually tapped, and then took off his shirt a. “Put this over your mouth.” he said. “It will keep the smoke out.” With any luck, the cook fire would just smolder for a little bit, and then go out on its own.

  Luck wasn’t with them, though, and mier the celr was filling with smoke. The damp cloth was helping some, but not enough, and they were both coughing almost stantly now. At least they were until Freya passed out from smoke inhation. “I’m so sorry, Freya,” Simon whispered as he cradled her unscious body in his arms. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”

  Passing out from onoxide poisoning was definitely less painful than most of the ways he’d died so far, but even if his life wasn’t precious, hers was, watg it slip away one slow heartbeat at a time was worse than anything that had happeo him so far.

  (Author’s Note: I feel like maybe this chapter should be lengthened and split into two chapters, but I didn’t want to dwell on Simon’s love story too much. Let me know what you think. Does it need more?)