Reborn After My Husband Left Me to Die

Ivy's POV:

The night the zombie outbreak began, I died outside the iron gates of Damon's estate, carrying his child.

The streets had completely descended into chaos. Several houses were burning at once, and blood-covered zombies were chasing people through the darkness.

I clung desperately to the eleven-foot-tall iron gate, telling Damon over and over through the bars that I was pregnant.

I begged him to open the gate for just a few seconds.

Just long enough to let me inside before shutting it again.

But he never moved.

Because there was already another woman standing beside him.

She was wearing his coat, one hand protectively resting over her swollen belly.

And when I stood on the other side of that gate telling my own husband that the baby inside me was his too, Damon only looked at me.

Then, in an almost disturbingly calm voice, he said,

"You're lying."

A second later, a zombie lunged at me from behind.

The moment its teeth sank into my calf, I was still gripping the gate.

Even as I was dragged to the ground, I still couldn't believe it.

The man I had been married to for three years would rather stand safely behind those gates and watch me die than open them for me even once.

But when I opened my eyes again, the zombie apocalypse hadn't happened yet.

And Damon was coming home with divorce papers in his hand.

...

I jolted upright on the couch, my hand immediately flying to my calf.

The skin was intact.

No bite marks.

No blood.

There were no screams outside. No streets burning in the distance.

Only the lamp beside the couch was still on.

Several cards covered in my handwriting were scattered across the coffee table.

I looked down at one of them.

Damon, I'm pregnant.

I had actually written several different versions of the same sentence.

Before falling asleep, I had still been seriously thinking about how I should tell my husband the news.

Should I just tell him directly?

Or should I ease him into it first?

Damon had been getting busier over the past few years, and our relationship had grown more distant.

I had even worried that telling him too suddenly might leave him unsure of how to react.

But looking at those cards now, all I felt was bitter irony.

Because just moments ago, I had already seen the future with my own eyes.

He would leave me outside those iron gates for another pregnant woman.

That hadn't been an ordinary nightmare.

It was the future.

A future that hadn't happened yet.

At the thought, I instinctively pressed a hand to my stomach.

My heartbeat had barely begun to settle when I heard the lock turn.

Damon was home.

I looked up as he walked into the living room wearing a dark coat.

There was a navy-blue folder tucked under his arm.

The instant I saw it, I knew tonight was unfolding exactly the way I remembered.

He didn't take off his coat.

Clearly, he wasn't planning to stay long.

He walked over to the coffee table and placed the folder down, accidentally covering one of the cards that read, "I'm pregnant."

He didn't see it.

Or maybe he simply hadn't noticed anything else on the table.

Damon told me that several months ago, he had undergone a medical examination.

The results were bad.

He wasn't going to die immediately, but he had far less time than he had expected.

And according to the terms of his father's estate, if he didn't have a legal heir, both the company and the family assets would be affected.

So he needed to deal with our marriage as soon as possible.

When he finished, he pushed the folder slightly closer to me.

Divorce papers.

After hearing all of that, I was calmer than I expected.

I asked him directly,

"Another woman is carrying your child, isn't she?"

Damon didn't answer.

But that brief silence was enough.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

The woman I had seen in the future hadn't appeared after the zombie outbreak.

She was probably already part of Damon's life now.

I was simply the wife who had been kept in the dark.

The most ridiculous part was that I had planned to tell him tonight that I was pregnant too.

Instead, he had come home first with divorce papers.

Damon didn't explain any further.

He only said that everything needed to be handled quickly.

He had already arranged the division of our assets.

There was nothing we needed to fight over.

Once everything was signed, things would be easier for both of us.

I looked down at the folder.

One of the cards I had written for him was still trapped beneath its edge.

All I had to do was pull it out.

I could tell him right now.

I'm pregnant.

Maybe this baby would make him reconsider the divorce.

Maybe the gates in that future would open because of it.

The thought lasted only a second before I forced it away.

Because I had already tried that.

In that future, I had knelt outside those gates with zombies closing in behind me.

I had even used our child as my final reason for him to save me.

And Damon still hadn't opened the gate.

If he could choose another woman over me while zombies were right behind me, what was the point of using a baby to keep him now?

More importantly, I already knew the zombie apocalypse was coming.

Compared to saving a marriage that was already over, I had far more important things to worry about.

Food.

Water.

Medicine.

A secure shelter.

Weapons.

And somewhere absolutely safe to survive.

Last time, I had placed my final hope in Damon's gates.

And that was why I died.

I wouldn't make the same stupid mistake twice.

I picked up the pen and turned directly to the signature page.

Damon visibly froze.

He probably hadn't expected me to agree without even arguing.

But I didn't give him the chance to ask.

I signed my name where it was marked, closed the folder, and pushed it back toward him.

"It's signed."

He looked at me as if there was something else he wanted to say.

But I was already standing.

I left every card with "I'm pregnant" written on it exactly where it was, still partly buried beneath the divorce papers.

If this child wouldn't be enough to make him open a gate for me in the future, then there was no reason to use the baby to keep him now.

When I reached the door, Damon finally called my name from behind me.

"Ivy."

I didn't turn around.

I opened the door, and cold wind rushed against my face.

I paused for only a moment before placing my hand over my stomach again.

My baby was still alive.

And so was I.

Most importantly, the zombie outbreak that would turn the entire city into hell hadn't started yet.

This time, I wouldn't need to beg anyone to open a gate for me.

Before the first zombie appeared, I was going to build a safe home for myself and my child.