The Abandoned Villainess Became a Zombie - Chapter 1

“Kyaaah!”

The moment I came to my senses, a piercing scream rang out, and I stumbled and collapsed to the ground.

“What are you doing, Penelope!”

The man who had been dragging me by the wrist cursed as he yanked me up.

Penelope?

As soon as I heard that name, a flood of memories and information from someone else’s mind poured into my head.

‘Penelope Lloyd.’

The nuisance villainess in the novel In Search of Paradise, and a troll in a zombie story.

Setting aside the confusion and quickly thinking things through, I came to the grim conclusion that I was inside the novel—and I had become Penelope Lloyd.

To make matters worse, thanks to the commotion Penelope had stirred up out of irritation just moments ago, we were now being chased by zombies, running through the mountains.

And just as I accepted that reality—

“Can’t you even run properly?”

The Crown Prince, who had roughly pulled me to my feet with brute force, growled furiously.

But what did yelling matter? What mattered was that he was still holding my hand.

When the metallic scent of blood hit the tip of my nose, I reflexively turned my head and saw a horde of zombies—tattered clothes flapping, moving in grotesque motions—charging toward us. Their eyes were unfocused, and their veins grotesquely swollen all over their bodies.

Frightened that the Crown Prince might abandon me out of annoyance, I ignored the throbbing pain in my ankle and quickly chased after him.

We were running toward a fortress perched atop a mountain.

Its sturdy gates, solidly built outer walls, and tall watchtowers made it an excellent vantage point, and inside the inner citadel was an armory—making the distant fortress a perfect shelter for the zombie crisis. Moreover, since it had once served as a military facility, there would likely be some food stored there as well.

“Lilia, take my hand.”

The Crown Prince, who had scaled a large rock in one leap, held out his hand to Lilia, the heroine of this novel.

But seemingly unable to find proper footing, the heroine slipped, and I hurriedly pushed her up, stomping my feet in panic at the oncoming zombies.

“Aaah!”

Just then, as she flailed to grab the Crown Prince’s hand, the heroine shoved me, who had been standing beneath her. As I fell backward, she nearly toppled too, but the Crown Prince snatched Lilia’s slender wrist just in time.

Kieeeek!

“……”

Having safely caught the heroine in his arms, he glanced at me, sprawled on the ground, but quickly turned his back as if he deemed there was no hope.

“Hey, wait a second!”

Sure, Penelope had been a pain in the neck until now. Yes, she picked fights at every turn and put everyone in danger.

But still—wasn’t this going too far?

I scrambled to my feet and desperately tried to climb the large rock when a zombie’s cold hand suddenly seized my ankle. At that moment, a line from the novel flashed through my mind.

Zombies had followed right up to Lilia’s back after she had fallen from Penelope’s kick.

It was too late. It was impossible to save her.

But his body was already moving toward Lilia.

…You bastard!

The moment the zombie grabbed me, I don’t know where the strength came from, but driven by a single thought—to escape—I hurled myself down the sloped mountain path.

I tumbled down the mountain, rolling over and over.

Crunch!

In the end, I did get bitten on my exposed thigh as I fell.

But at least I avoided the catastrophe of being entirely devoured. Though someone might argue that being bitten by a zombie was the end anyway, anyone who had actually been bitten would understand just how lucky I was.

Wham!

With hands trembling from the pain, I picked up a rock and smashed it hard into the head of the zombie clinging to my leg.

Thud, wham, thud!

Whether it was the searing pain of the sharp teeth sinking deep into my flesh or the sheer terror that everything was now truly over—I didn’t know. But I cried like mad.

“Hhk, hrrrk…”

Only after I smashed the zombie’s head and shed a flood of tears did I start to regret not grabbing the Crown Prince’s hand before the heroine did.

…If I become a zombie, I’ll lose all sense of self and wander endlessly—can that really be called being alive?

Then… am I going to die?

Death. That vague word now loomed right in front of me, and an indescribable fear weighed down on my entire body.

‘I don’t want to die…’

Thud.

That was my last thought before I collapsed. No—before I died.

And how much time had passed?

Krrk!

After a few convulsions, I had become a zombie.

“Ah… this…”

My speech came out slurred, and it was difficult to control my body precisely, but even so, I was still capable of thinking. Maybe it was some kind of perk from transmigration, but whatever the case, it didn’t matter.

I was still conscious. I wasn’t dead.

“…Thank goodness, thank goodness.”

As I felt a deep sense of relief from still being alive, I suddenly heard rustling very close by—near the tree I was leaning against.

After surviving, I couldn’t afford to get bitten again while just sitting there. I braced against the tree and hurriedly tried to get up and run, but something burst out of the dense forest before I could.

Bulging veins jutted grotesquely beneath its thin, swollen skin—just as I feared, it was a zombie.

Krrhh.

The creature sniffed the air, as if it had heard a sound, and turned its attention to where I was standing.

Thud, thud, thud.

I quickly grabbed a stone nearby. If it charged at me, I planned to crush its head just like before.

But the zombie soon turned away, and as if it had lost interest, dragged its feet and moved off into the distance.

‘Ah, right. I’m a zombie now.’

Zombies only responded to the scent of humans—body odor or blood. And I no longer smelled like a human.

My heart, which had been pounding in tension, gradually began to slow down. Huh?

‘But zombies don’t have heartbeats…’

I placed a hand on my chest and felt the thump of my heart.

Or rather, to be more precise, zombies had extremely slow heartbeats.

All of their bodily functions, including their heart, were diminished. They could only act like humans—or exceed human capabilities—when they caught a whiff of human scent, especially the smell of blood.

But that was something to worry about later.

Right now, what mattered most was finding a safe place to hide.

Zombies weren’t immortal. Once the head was destroyed, they couldn’t move anymore.

And this was a forest full of wild animals.

Standing around like an idiot here would just get me attacked by a predator. Beasts didn’t distinguish between zombies and humans. While the sun was still up, I needed to find shelter fast.

‘I have to survive.’

That thought kept pushing its way into my mind over and over.

The pain that wracked my body when the zombie bit me, the sensation of everything ending, the feel of death—they were all still vivid.

My heart had slowly stopped beating, my breathing had been cut off… Just imagining it again made my hands tremble.

‘I never want to die again. I have to survive.’

Why I had suddenly become Penelope didn’t matter. I just didn’t want to go through that pain again. I wanted to live.

To survive wild beasts…

I needed a building. Somewhere to hide.

But unfortunately, the only place around here that could offer shelter was the same destination the main characters were headed to: the fortress.

‘Just a little farther, and I’ll be at the fortress.’

Thinking about the future, staying with the main characters wouldn’t be a bad move. It might take time, but once the Emperor presented a solution to the zombie crisis and things settled down, they’d likely leave the forest. If I was with the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince—who were skilled in combat—I’d be safe from wild animals…

‘But would they really protect me?’

Remembering how the Crown Prince had coldly abandoned me made that hope seem foolish.

Still, for now, there was no safer place than the fortress.

‘As long as they don’t find out I’m a zombie.’

But my arm, visible through a torn sleeve, was already no longer human.

Bulging veins filled the limb, looking like they would burst at any moment.

‘What should I do about this? There’s only so much I can cover with clothes.’

Just then, a shockingly perfect way to join the main group flashed through my mind.

With this, I could deceive them well enough.