Alice Jacobs is Dead (21:10)
Dust; IMDb; official website; Short of the Week; Vimeo; YouTube

This 2009 short film was presented by Alter in 2021, but I first saw it on Short of the Week.

Dr. Ben Jacobs is a renowned scientist who found a treatment that helped end a zombie epidemic. It's not a cure, but it can halt the progress of the disease in its early stage. Many people died in the course of his research, including his wife, Alice (Adrienne Barbeau). At least, that's what the world believes. But Ben lied about his wife having died. Instead, he's been keeping Alice alive, locked up in their house for the past two years, by giving her regular injections of his serum. But that won't hold back the effects of the disease indefinitely, it's only slowed the process. Meanwhile, he and a fellow scientist named George have been searching for a full cure (though George is unaware that Alice is still alive). Ben and Alice do their best to maintain some semblance of normalcy in their life together, but the knowledge that their time together is limited weighs heavily on both of them, especially Alice.

It's a very dramatic film, as you can feel how deeply Ben and Alice love each other, how desperate Ben is to save her, and how scared Alice is of what will inevitably happen to her.