Girlfriend in the Zombie Apocalypse Day 03

Day Three:

I had nightmares that night. I don't remember the details, just flashy images. Blood, darkness, violence. You would be forgiven for assuming bad dreams were common place these days with the world the state that it's in, but for me nightmares were always a rarity and a bit of a shock.

I lay there in the dark, trying to calm myself and working the pins and needles sensation from my fingertips and toes, while listening to the distant groans from the zombie hotties that seemed to be mirroring the rush of the wind in the trees outside and trying to remind myself that I was safe. That the chair was still under the door handle securing the only entrance to this bedroom and that the chains I had slung criss-crossing the hall from the bathroom door handle to the living room door handle, as a makeshift early warning system, were still in place and were blissfully silent.

I must have eventually drifted off back to sleep.

*****

Because of the nightmares, I ended up sleeping in late and it was mid morning before I was up, fed and got my equipment together.

I'd lay in bed for a while, fighting the desire to fuck and distracting myself from my lust by working out a plan to transport the girls from the house without putting myself in danger. Once I had the plan sorted in my head I got up and started moving around the house gathering up the things I would need.

After giving them as big a breakfast as I could get down them, I freed and then carefully re-chained the two babes individually. And then using chains like a lead, I took the two hotties out into the woods with me.

I positioned them face to face around a tree using the handcuffs to keep them together and then tied them to the broad trunk with a length of washing line.

However, I deliberately only tied a basic loose knot which with a little zombie wriggling and writhing, they should be able to escape from in a few minutes.

Finally, I unfastened the hand cuffs and Cat's ring gag and backed away quickly, leaving them to it and satisfied that I had helped them and paid off my self imposed debt.

*****

I set off through the woods again, heading due north. I walked for a while, stopping in the late afternoon at the stream to cool myself off, wash and replenish my water supply.

I've found continued cleanliness goes a long way to aid with personal morale as well as with physical health.

I felt like I should be stopping for something to eat but I didn't feel the need, I didn't have any appetite and felt energised and alert and buoyant so I pushed on through the twilight.

*****

It wasn't long after sunset, that I started to notice the scent of wood smoke somewhere off to my left and I diverted my path toward the smell.

These days wood smoke meant one of two things. One, a natural fire, which could be dangerous. Though on this occasion there wasn't much wind and there had been less than a week (as far as I could remember, the days tend to pass as a hazy blur these days) since the last heavy rain fell so natural bush fire wasn't likely.

The other option was a camp. Which could also be dangerous and simultaneously, strangely un-ignorable.

I was cautious and stealthy. I hid my backpack under a fallen tree and advanced lightweight, just weapons, medicine and water.

You never knew what you would come up against with a camp. Could be nice peaceful people willing to share food and news and company, or it could be wild scavengers who would kill you for your supplies as soon as look at you.

I could see signs of recent movement through the undergrowth, it was a trodden path, wide and obvious and there was a scent in the air of death, rotting flesh and open sores. Zombies.

The first thing I heard was shouting, deep, male, desperate, angry and afraid.

Then I heard the screams and recognised Emily's voice, loud, high pitched. It was stark in its terror and panic.

I couldn't believe it was them and that we had crossed paths again so quickly. I supposed that they must have ventured off course the previous day and they hadn't made much progress either.

I threw off the stealthy option and started running through the undergrowth, drawing one of my Katana swords as I threw myself into a sprint.

They had set up their camp in a clearing in the woods. The small two person tent was up and a small fire was burning a few feet away from it.

I couldn't see either Emily or Dean at first glance but I could see seven zombies.

Four of them were over by a large tree to the western side of the clearing. I could hear Dean cursing and yelling from over there too, sounding like he was in a near panic. But really I was only interested in Emily.

The other three were lumbering towards the tent. That meant that was where she had to be.

Then I saw her, or at least I saw the business end of the shotgun pop out from the mouth of the tent and a huge blast of flame-shot white smoke filled the space between the tent and the first zombie. She aimed low but recoil threw the muzzle high and took off the head and shoulders of the undead attacker in a noisy cloud of red gore touched with off white bone dust and shrapnel.

"Dean! Deeean!!" She screeched as she pumped the shotgun and racked another round.

I sprinted into the fray and took off the head of the rear most zombie going after Emily. I aimed my sword cut right through the base of his skull, cutting right through the cerebellum and ending his animated state in a split second, but with the angle I wasn't able to carry through and complete the decapitation.

I know all too well about the kind of cloying suction that human innards are capable of, especially on bladed weapons, so instead of wasting precious seconds trying to free the sword from the corpse's skull I left it embedded there and drew my second blade instead.

Emily was kneeling in the entrance of the ruined tent, looking terrified, with eyes like saucers, but she had the shotgun in her hands and was aiming it at the last zombie, so I turned my attention to Dean.

I could see that he was done for before I even got within range of using my sword. One of them was ripping mouthfuls of bloody gushing flesh from his bared calf while he screamed. The other three were on him, crouching down, pressing against him with their collective weight and all the while writhing in their desire to pull his clothing out of the way and get at the hot, wiry flesh and muscle and sinew beneath.

I saw him trying to claw at the head of one of the undead as it dipped down. His hand grabbing the zombie's scalp, which all but came away with loose hair, and rotten flesh and wriggling maggots. The exposed skull zombie didn't acknowledge the injury, just burrowed further into the mass of struggling bodies and then Dean's curses and panicked, desperate, yells degraded into a shriek of sheer unadulterated terror, the shriek almost instantly floundering into a horrible, wet, bubbly, gargling noise.

The zombie had chewed into his throat and was making his way south, while Dean choked on his own hot blood flow, dying slowly in his blind terror. Held down and eaten alive.

I used the sword hard and fast, taking the small amount of technique I remembered from the Samurai films, a few books on Japanese swords and my own experiences with the blades to cut through rotting flesh and bone.

I fought the suction this time, dragging the blade free of the sticky flesh and the hardness of the bone beneath and cut through necks and skulls and brain matter, not caring that a half dozen of the cuts and slashes bit into Dean as well. He was dead either way.

Once the four undead and Dean were stilled, I turned back to Emily.

It finally occurred to me that I still hadn't heard that last shotgun blast that would have confirmed her safety.

Emily had the shotgun at her shoulder and ready to fire, but her hands were shaking so much she couldn't do anything about the large ex-bodybuilder type zombie lumbering towards her and groaning with desire.

She finally got the shotgun under control and took her shot at point blank range.

Unfortunately, she aimed too low this time, the shot cut the undead man in half just above the waist. Blasting the upper half away, a couple of feet through the air and leaving the legs upright for a moment before they toppled backwards like felled trees.

But the top half of the zombie just kept on coming, hands clawing over the earth to drag its torso toward Emily, reaching for her, gnashing its teeth in its desire for her flesh.

I bit back the surreal moment of contemplation that myself and the zombie were alike in at least one respect and ran across the clearing to help her.

"Take its head off! Aim for the head!" I shouted desperately, whipping the sword blade back over my shoulder.

If I timed it wrong I'd get a face full of buckshot too, so I went for an over the head pinning strike. A skewering attack.

The zombie had reached close enough to get a hand onto Emily's booted ankle and she screamed and kicked out, her own panic rising like a shaken bottle of champagne.

I threw myself forward, desperately trying to get my blade into the monster and stop its murderous advance before it got its teeth into the woman I desired.

It proved unnecessary and too late as Emily got hold of herself, took a calming breath, readjusted her aim and then blew the zombie's head right across the clearing.

There was a moment of shocked quiet. The calm after the storm.

Emily clambered out of the tent, rattling backwards away from the gore that surrounded her and looked around with wide, unblinking eyes. Her whole body was shaking, the shotgun felt from her grasp.

Dully she turned, looking for Dean not able to voice his name or acknowledge her fears.

She spotted the pile of bodies by the tree and started numbly towards it, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, she almost looked like she was sleep walking.

"Don't Em." I said gently. "There's nothing you can do. We can't help him."

"Dean..." She murmured, hesitating, half heeding my words. Seemingly unable to come to a decision.

I left her for a moment, keeping one eye on her but hurrying over to the tent to gather up her things. We had to be on our way as soon as possible. Leave this nightmare behind us.

I grabbed her backpack and the shotgun and then remembered my own things hidden under the fallen tree and ran out of the clearing to the east to pick them up. It only took me a minute there and back. I came back to her side.

She was still standing there, staring at the carnage at the base of the tree, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, her whole body quivering.

"He's gone sweetie... We can't do anything for him now. We have to go." I said as gently as I could.

"Dean." She muttered in what could have been a sob. "We have to bury him."

"We don't have time Em. The shooting could bring every Zombie in earshot down on us any minute. Or it could bring scavengers."

"Dean. I'm sorry... I... Dean." Then she broke down.

I hugged her for a moment, but kept a close eye and ear on the woods around us. We really were in danger staying put.

Then I did the only thing I could. I cut through her grief brutally. Slapping the backpack onto her shoulders and forcing the gun into her hands.

"We're going now. C'mon. We don't have time to grieve, we don't have to to stand around. We're going now. C'mon Em... C'mon. Now... Emily, shift your arse... Now!"

I physically turned her and shoved her to the north, marching her with my hands, pushing her forward ahead of me. And she took my instructions with a dumb, sleepiness, she was out of it. Zombiefied by her shock and grief.

*****

An hour later we were walking slowly but steadily northwest, back on track, in silence. Emily moved at pace but her head hung low. She had stopped crying and shivering. I hoped she wasn't shutting down. I'd seen that before. The horrors get too much for someone to bear and they cut themselves off psychologically, become an empty shell. And then they give up. And then they die. I wasn't about to let Emily go down that path, but for the life of me I didn't know how to stop it.

Fortunately, she was much more resilient that I initially gave her credit for.

She turned to me, red eyed but dry eyed. All cried out for now.

"I knew you wouldn't really have left us, Jay. But what took you so long? Dean's died."

It sounded like a statement of fact rather than an accusation and that was how I chose to take it.

"Actually, I had left you." I replied as gently as I could. "It's only 'cause you were heading in the wrong direction that our paths'd crossed again."

"Oh." She said sullenly.

She fell silent for a long time and I watched her head dipping again, the weight of the day on her. Pulling her down.

"I'm gonna die without him, I just know it! Without him...!" She was more or less talking to herself but I took offense at it anyway.

"What, do I not exist or something? I'm not gonna let that happen am I? Your life is more important to me than my own is, Em."

"Thank you. I... I'm just..." And the tears started to flow again.

"I know. You loved him and you'll miss him. I'm not blind to that. But I'm still here and the plan's still a good one."

She was silent again for a long time and it grew dark. The only light that filtered down was from the full moon and fortunately the umbrella of trees wasn't all that thick above our heads and gave us light enough to see by.

When she spoke again, she was different, grim but determined. Stoic.

"Okay. You're right, Jay. Thank you." She said, nodding her head and even managing a smile.

Then I bit the bullet, throwing caution to the wind and ignoring tact and appropriateness and Emily's feelings. I don't know why I said what I said at that particular time. Maybe I thought if she reverted to her grieving state again I wouldn't have the guts to go through with it at all.

"My help isn't free though, Em." I said, my heart hammering behind my ribs. "You realise that don't you? There's a fee to pay. You know that don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know why I stuck with you and Dean. And now he's gone you're relying on me. It's only fair that you give something in return. It's mutual need isn't it? You need me to help keep you alive and safe, at least, as best as I can. And I need you to give me a reason to stay."

"We're friends aren't we? Isn't that reason enough?"

"When it suits you, Em. Friends won't cut it now. It's not reason enough. You know what I want, and now Dean's gone..."

"Oh. I don't know. I don't like you in that way."

"Like I said it's mutual need. If I'm to stay with you, you have to give me a reason to."

I could see it in her eyes. The frustration, knowing what she wanted and what she needed weren't matching up this time. It hadn't happened to her in her love life before, at least not since she was in her teens.

She was grieving and still loved the man she had just lost. But at the same time she knew she needed me. And knew what I wanted from her. Knew I had waited and fought for it in my own way. It was her choice but she didn't really have one.

She was too tired and numb to feel much of anything. She stood there in quiet contemplation for a while, looking at the monochrome woods, illuminated by moonlight and listening to the whispering of the wind through the trees.

"Jay," She said with a heavy sigh. "I know that if it wasn't for you I would be dead too. Or another Zombie, roaming these woods. Maybe I would have turned first and been the one to kill Dean. Part of me wishes for that, that I had died along with him and this nightmare would be finished. But I know in my heart that I want to live."

She wiped away tears and then looked at me. Her stoicism remained and she appeared neither offended or angry with me.

"And I'm not blind, Jay. I realise you were the one keeping us safe. Dean gave me confidence, I relied on him, but we both relied on you, for directions, for food, for safety. That was nearly all you. Dean didn't like to admit it and I followed Dean. But underneath I knew. And of course, I know why you stayed with us all these months. You love me and you have for years. But I've never felt anything like that for you."

Part of me wanted to let her off the hook. Part of me felt like I was cheating her, coercing her into a sexual relationship. But the rest of me understood that this would be my one and only chance. We could both die tomorrow or she could meet someone and be swept off her feet all over again. She would have used me and cast me aside with little more than a 'thank you'. It was my chance to get what I wanted for a change and I wasn't about to pass it up.

"I'm not stupid Emily, I'm not expecting you to love me, you've only just lost your partner of what is it, seven years? But I do expect you to treat me like a boyfriend from now on. That's the deal. We're together now. Like a couple."

Emily didn't reply. She just hung her head, her cheeks flushing crimson, beneath the salt-tracks of her tears.

I took it as a 'yes' and led her on into the night.

*****

The woods gave way to a field after another hour of night-time walking. And beyond the field's hedgerow boundary was a small farmhouse. We headed for it.

There were a few zombies. Three outside eating a pig that had somehow managed to survive by eating the contents of the overgrown front garden. I had Emily climb a tree while I destroyed the undead and then checked out the house.

I found two undead inside, who I'm assuming had been the farmer and his wife. One was standing still in the middle of the kitchen, while the other was dormant, lying on the floor in the living room. I got them to follow me out of the front door and then killed them both with my sword, before going back inside and going room to room and making sure everything else was clear.

Once I knew we'd be safe for the night I collected Emily and brought her inside.

I found an attic room with a spare bed, a sofa and an old, still useable, open fire and decided that would be safest.

There was a verandah across the front of the house and its tiled roof provided a quick and relatively safe emergency escape route from the single, small, attic window.

The first thing I did was to grab some thick sticky tape and stuff a couple of pillows into the small window frame then tape a piece of cardboard over the window, then shoved an old wardrobe over it too, to try and block any light from escaping to the outside. Smoke from the fire might not be noticeable against the darkness of the night sky but any light from inside a house could be seen from miles away.

Next, I found some wood in the back garden and lit the fire using old newspapers and my fire-steel. And then, once the fire was going properly, used some tin foil to heat up a couple of tins of sausages and beans that were in the kitchen.

We ate and drank water. And then I double checked that all the doors and windows were locked and secure, placed chairs under the front- and back-door handles and under the door handle of the attic room I had chosen for us as added security.

I didn't want to push things too quickly for Emily, even though I was desperately horny for her and this was just about the first time we had been alone together and certainly the first time Dean hadn't been in the picture. However, she surprised me.

She was waiting for me when I came back into the secured attic room and using the light from the roaring fire, she looked me deliberately up and down, her eyes travelling over my body, then she held my gaze with her lush blue/green eyes.

"C'mon over here." She said, her voice soft but touched with a hint of nerves or maybe reluctance.

She was down to trousers and a rugby shirt, the trousers I was familiar with, they were chino style and loose at her legs but the sheer black fabric hugged her hips and made her arse look great from the rear.