Secondary idea: use a framework of girlfriend remembrances, humor, etc. to trick reader into expecting that the zombie had been the handlers true love, flip about at the end to reveal that Nope! Still alive! Burst of humor/hope, then do something tricksy and dark foreshadowing (but very small).

Gah. I'm already brainstorming this against my will. Perhaps this will be one of the few that actually gets written.