Palm Shadows at the Zombie Pool

Maya sat at the edge of the infinity pool, her toes dipped into water that felt too perfect—chlorinated and chemically balanced to reflect a turquoise that didn't exist in nature. The company retreat. Three days of forced camaraderie and trust exercises designed to make them forget they were all being quietly laid off in six months. She traced her palm against the rough concrete, feeling the cracks and imperfections that the resort tried so hard to hide.

A cat appeared—a scrawny, orange thing that slunk between the lounge chairs like it owned the place. It reminded her of Barnaby, waiting at home in her studio apartment. Barnaby, who didn't care that she hadn't had a meaningful conversation in three months. Barnaby, who would be waiting at the door regardless of whether she came home with her dignity intact or completely hollowed out.

"You look like a zombie," said David, sliding onto the chair beside her. David with his carefully unbuttoned collar and predatory smile. The same David who had suggested the layoffs in the first place, framed as "streamlining." The same David who'd been finding reasons to touch her shoulder in meetings since Tucson.

"Just tired," Maya said, not looking at him. "The pool's nice."

"The pool's artificial," he said, waving toward the horizon where the ocean should be. "Everything here is." He paused. "Unlike us. We're real, Maya. What we have... that's real."

Maya finally looked at him. At his sun-weathered skin and the way his eyes flickered over her bikini. At the absolute confidence that he was entitled to everything he saw.

"I have a cat at home," she said.

David laughed, short and dismissive. "What?"

"A cat," she repeated, standing up. "His name is Barnaby. He's the only thing in my life that doesn't want something from me. And I realized..." She looked out at the fake pool, the fake palms, the fake people. "I'd rather be a zombie with my cat than be alive with you."

She walked away, leaving him staring at her retreating figure. The orange cat wound through her legs once before disappearing into the shadows, and Maya didn't look back at the pool or the man who thought he could buy her soul with a smile and a title.