It Took a Zombie Apocalypse

By Jessica E. Subject

Home for the summer, RJ heads to the annual fun hair to see if his hot neighbor has also returned from university. When he spots her at the kissing booth, he can't believe his luck. But even though she never spewed racial slurs at him like the rest of the community, will she grant him a kiss?

Missy is tired of the blatant prejudice she's seen all her life. If not for her brother's plea for help, she never would have returned to the small town of Ostrander. When the guy she's had a crush on since grade school asks for a kiss, she knows it will piss of her parents and leave the entire town talking.

After one kiss, RJ wants another, but a sudden zombie outbreak puts him and Missy on the run. To stay alive, they must learn who they can trust. And even if they can trust each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessica E. Subject
• Release date: Jan 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781988428031

Jessica E. Subject

Jessica E. Subject is the author of science fiction romance, mostly alien romances, ranging from sweet to super hot. Sometimes she dabbles in paranormal and contemporary as well, bringing to life a wide variety of characters. In her stories, you can not only meet a sexy alien or two, but also clones and androids. You may be transported to a dystopian world where rebels are fighting to live and love, or to another planet for a romantic rendezvous. When Jessica is not reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to go to fitness class, listen to BTS, and walk her Great Pyrenees/Retriever her family adopted from the local animal shelter. Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Part I: The Kiss

Part II: The Zombies

Part III: The Others

Thank you!

Sneak Peek at Accidental Romance

Bibliography

About the Author

Part I: The Kiss

RJ strolled through the booths at the fun fair. Another gathering where people either glared at him or pretended he didn’t exist. Growing up in West Vitula, one would think he’d be used to it. But a lifetime of not being welcome in the small town never came easy. Why couldn’t his father have secured a position at a hospital in Ostrander, only an hour away?

Women stood behind rows of wooden tables, selling pies, bread, and jams to other women. Some men gathered in various groups, drinking beer from plastic glasses and telling recycled stories from their youth or checking out the college girls who had returned for the summer. Just as RJ had come to do. Yet, he hadn’t seen anyone worth his time. If not for the anniversary of his mother’s death, he would have stayed away from this town and insisted his father take some time off to visit him.

Kids ran from games to rides to carts selling cotton candy and candy apples, spending their parents’ money like it would never run out. But the longest line was for a booth at the very end of the park. Males of all ages, from kindergarteners to seniors who needed a walker to travel ten feet, lined up in front of a hand-painted sign reading $5 for a kiss, and beside the words, a pair of bright red lips.

RJ bypassed the line to see who was so in demand with the male population. Sidney Flowers, former captain of the cheerleading squad and all-around bitch. The disgusted look she gave the crowd after she’d kissed various men on the cheek proved she hadn’t changed. Yet, no one in line seemed deterred. Only him.

No way did he crave the touch of the girl who’d falsely accused him of killing his own mother and sending his father to the psych ward. All because RJ had caught Sidney helping her boyfriend cheat on a test. Though the rest of the school knew his mother had been killed on the highway by a drunk driver, they seemed to like her version of the story better.

He turned away. He wouldn’t pay a penny to receive a kiss from anyone in this town. Well, except one girl, but he hadn’t seen her yet this summer, not since two years prior when she’d left for Cremshaw without a backward glance.

***

Melissa Ruth Smith, I insist you come back here at once.

Missy rolled her eyes as she stormed away from her father. The man had helped her celebrate her twenty-first birthday yesterday—with a simple birthday cake and a glass of wine—yet still treated her like a child. It’s to help Billy and the band, remember? she shouted over her shoulder. That’s why I came home. Though she wished she hadn’t. Not with only two weeks off between her summer classes and fall term.

But, the kissing booth? Her father rushed to keep up with her. Jesus wouldn’t approve.

The religion card. What a surprise. Jesus wouldn’t approve of half the shit that goes on in this town, especially how you treated that family next door. She spun around and faced her father with her hands on her hips. And you certainly haven’t been struck down yet.

Missy, please don’t talk to your father like that. Her mother hooked an arm through hers and paraded her closer to the booth she was scheduled to volunteer at. It’s just, aren’t you concerned about the germs? The diseases you could catch?

C’mon, Mom. I’m just kissing them on the cheek. She glanced over at Sidney who tapped her watch before kissing Old Man Samson on the small patch of cheek not covered by his fluffy white beard. Besides, you asked me to come home and help with this fundraiser.

I know, but there are other things you could—

I’ve gotta go, Mom. Sidney’s waiting for me to take over. Jogging over to the booth, Missy took her place beside the bench.

Sidney grabbed her purse and left without a word, no different than when they’d attended high school together. Hence, why Missy had fled West Vitula right after graduating high school. No one who stuck around seemed to change.

The line thinned out with the departure of her former classmate, but there were still plenty of cheeks to kiss and a plethora of greenbacks deposited into the jar, money that would help her brother and the rest of the band get to Nationals. And maybe they would see there was life beyond this backward town.

After numerous kisses, her lips burned. She reached into her pocket for her lip balm and took a break to apply it and let it soak in. When she glanced back at the line, everyone had disappeared. All the males except the one her parents would blow a gasket if she kissed. Which made her want to lay her lips on him even more.

***

Fifty dollars for a kiss. RJ held the bill and waved it across the counter. It goes in the jar if I get a kiss from you.

I’d do it for five. She pointed to the paper sign on the jar. But if you’re willing to donate more, go ahead.

He walked into the booth and sat on the bench. You misunderstand me, Missy. I don’t want a peck on the cheek. I want a real kiss, your lips on mine.

Her cheeks reddened, making her all the more adorable, and she stepped back. I, um.... It’s not.... I can’t.

It’s one kiss. He waved the money around again, enjoying her discomfort. The same money you’d make kissing ten old guys with beards, or ten creeps who gawk at your cleavage when you bend over to kiss them.

The flush on her face disappeared. Maybe he shouldn’t have included that last observation.

Hey. He needed her attention back on him. "One kiss, and you never know, you just