There were too many of them – far too many of them. Thumping against the barricades, grunting and howling, there must have been a hundred of them and…
My eyes quickly scanned the room. With me, Tashi and Jennifer, that was three armed combatants and nine civvies, clutching whatever implements they had found to arm themselves with. Frightened people who’d holed themselves up in this apartment complex waiting for this to all blow over. Well, it wasn’t, and without us they weren’t getting out of this. Orders were coming in to bomb the city and be done with it, orders that in a few short days had fractured the states into smaller nations already showing cracks. So much for the United States – this was quickly becoming a free for all.
Twelve of us. Three armed, limited ammunition, cornered in a maze of locked doors and darkened hallways– each of which could have more hosts hiding inside, waiting.
“Alright.” I began, gathering the attention of the group. “We move out the back, follow Elm over to Harwood, then take Main right out of here. I hope you like walking.”
I strode over to Tashi, motioning for Jennifer to join me. Among the lot of them here, we were among the youngest. The difference was, we’d been training for situations like this all our lives, from army camps as teenagers and scouts as kids, we’d been wanting to serve in what way we could. These people had plenty of warnings to get out. The elderly and infirm I could understand, those with families scattered across the country, but looking at this group there were plenty who could have helped themselves. It wasn’t my place, but I judged them for the misinformation they’d probably been reading online. Some had even pinned this as the coming of judgment day; walking out there to face the rapture, only to find their flesh as host to another one of those parasites.
“Tashi, you take point with Jennifer. I’ll bring up the rear.” I slid my eyes over to her. The bangs she wore drooped beneath her nurse cap, and those twinkling brown eyes belied the situation we’d gotten ourselves into. “Ready, people.”
Tashi and Jen started to shuffle the band of people out of the apartment we were in, the home of one of these people and the last room on the top floor. I could see them all down there bashing against the doors, people with jobs and lives just a few days prior. People with families, children, parents, hopes and dreams. They still wore the same clothes they were taken in, the same jewelry, and at least their wallets helped identify who they used to be. They knew we were here; they could smell us. I could smell them too – the overly sweet, disgusting smell of freshly rotting human flesh followed everywhere they went.
In my hand I held a bottle of vodka, the cheap stuff that people buy in bulk to drown whatever sorrows they don’t have the balls to face. The apartment’s owner had already made it halfway down, but it’d do. I’d added in a sock from one of their drawers, and with my lighter I torched the end. It’d be a shame to waste a perfectly good grenade on these things, but I’d rather take as many out as I could before they get to somebody else.
With the window rolled up I tossed it out. A few seconds passed before it reached ground, smashing and splashing across a small portion of the group who instantly went up in flames. Some of their number retreated, a few more stepped right into the flames and others paused, confused.
The eleven had already started making their way single file down the ladder, Tashi first with his AR and Jen holding at the back, her rifle raised. When I made my descent, we began to move as one large group at a steady pace, watching the windows and alleyways, always ready for them to show up when you don’t want them to. It’d only been a few days since this had gone on, but we had the briefing. I didn’t want to kill anybody still right in their mind, but we had the clearance to shoot on sight. This wasn’t a city anymore; it was a graveyard. A battle zone. Anything moving is to be considered a possible hostile.
The sound of the horde grew ever more distant as we forged our way along Elm, our spirits raising as we saw the intersection to Harwood. Skeletal remains of people hung from burned out cars scattered and clustered about the street as people tried to make their escape, glass from shattered shop windows twinkling as we moved by. Some gold chains and a watch lay scattered on the pavement, the hands still ticking away, and looters had helped themselves to wine and food in the early hours of the confusion. Some still tried their luck, but most wouldn’t make it back out alive.
The group suddenly stopped moving, holding still for a moment as a band of hosts screeched their way across the street in front of us searching for that distant scent of living flesh on the wind. They knew where we’d been. Waiting with bated breath until the sound of their excited screams had faded, we made our move again. Harwood led to a subway maintenance tunnel that we knew would connect with the main, if we could actually get in. It would be quiet enough in there that we should be able to make it through easily enough.
With quick, quiet movements we made our way down the street further. I kept an eye behind us in case we were being followed, my shotgun raised, but everything was silent. What had once been a lively, thriving city only days before was now desolate, deserted, and all too deadly. The silence was unnerving – it made your thoughts far too loud, it let fear set in.
Harwood eventually led to a tunnel that ran under a street. Clearly a lot of people had all had the same thought. Cars piled up bumper to bumper, some with doors left open and their contents abandoned as people moved on foot. Rioters had burned a few of them out, and with the power out in the city the tunnel had gone completely dark save for the heavenly glow from the other end twinkling across the chrome.
“Stay quiet – silent. They might be in the shadows.” I whispered to the group. I’d been briefed about this; resting, or sleeping, nobody knows – groups of them just hanging around in the darkness, slumped against walls or cars. I moved up with Tashi and Jennifer to take point, the civvies sticking close behind us. We hugged the left wall and then I saw it in the beam of my flashlight, the door we needed.
Tashi and Jennifer watched both directions on the outside of the group of survivors, scanning the cars for anything that might be hiding while I tried to pull it open. It was supposed to be locked, but I’d been provisioned with an E-tool for this eventuality. Supposedly for digging, turned out it was great for breaking open both doors and skulls as well.
I pulled and pulled, eventually raising my foot up to the wall to give myself extra leverage. When it finally gave, its hinges screeched as it swung open. Dust cast up into the air and swung against the wall with a hollow thunk. It was too noisy. Collectively we held our breath again, listening for any movement in the darkness that might have been alerted to our position. Moments passed without a sound, but then there was something – a thud reverberating off the walls of the tunnel.
“Go – go!” I hissed, motioning Tashi inside as I raised my shotgun, the Benelli M4 – only 8 rounds. I’d best make this quick. The civvies began to pile their way through the door, squeezing into the tight hallway within. A groan followed in the distance, and a curious yell from the other direction – closer than the others. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something climbing over the car we were closest too, I could’ve sworn I saw surprise in its face as I squeezed the trigger. With a flash, it slumped back down without a face.
As the shot called out down the tunnel, the hosts replied in droves. Screams, growls, guttural bellows all rang across the walls to wake their brethren, who responded quickly as they began to pour their way over and around the vehicles.
I knew to only make the shot if it would kill; ammo was scarce enough as it was, and I only had a few spare shells with me. Jen’s XM5 called out from my right in single shots, and the last few civilians were making their way through the door.
They were right under our feet the whole time we walked through the tunnel, right behind those cars. How did we miss them? I cursed myself in that instance. I didn’t want to turn my back for a moment, but Jennifer had around twenty fast approaching from all angles – climbing over cars, sprinting around with their arms raised and ready to rip and tear at her and I wasn’t about to let her go easily. I put a few more down as they poured from every crack in the darkness, but there were too many. One appeared from her side and tried to push her down – I ran over as fast as I could while still shooting, but as she fought back it was too close a shot to make without catching her in my fire.
“The door!” I yelled, beating the beast off her with the butt of my shotgun. Another immediately took its place, pushing her back against the wall and eliciting a scream from deep within her lungs. This time there was no missing. I raised the barrel to its head and squeezed my finger as it moved to bite down on her, blasting its skull right open into a spray of viscera.
I tried to grab hold of her to pull her towards the door, but in my efforts to save her I found a pair of cold hands around my shoulders. I immediately swung around to try and get it off me but it clung on tight. Backing it against the wall with all the force I could muster, I hollered out in pain as two rows of teeth sank into the base of my neck.
“Get off me, you fuck!” With it pinned behind me, I rammed the end of my rifle behind my shoulder into its head. Again and again, until it finally released me with the crunching of bone against metal in my ear.
Half blinded from a face covered in blood and brain, Jennifer’s shots still met their mark but they still kept coming. Panting now, we backed off towards the door and slammed it shut.
“Jen – are you ok?!” I sputtered, checking her over. She was bent over, repeatedly spitting and wiping her face on her sleeve.
“It got in my mouth, it got in my eyes!” She wailed, her tone half nervous and half disgusted.
With repeated thuds that echoed in the service corridor, the hosts outside grumbled and groaned, scraped and scratched against the metal. Jennifer righted herself and made a labored movement forward, motioning for us to catch up to the group.
“We need to get back to the base – you didn’t swallow any did you?” I asked, moving up alongside her.
“I don’t think so, fuck, it tastes awful.” She said, spitting again. I could tell by the look on her face she was worried. The way her eyebrows bent across her face, the skin bunching up between them, I knew that she’d heard me. She already knew what had happened.
The path soon came to another door, one that led to a disused station platform that would take us up to Main street. As we made our way through, there was still no sign of Tashi.
My breaths had become labored and every time I looked around there was a delay like I was watching it after I’d made the movement. Worse than that, I could feel my skin itching around my neck. I couldn’t move any further.
“Hold on – I need to catch my breath.” I huffed out at her, slowing my pace to a stumble as I slumped into one of the old benches for passengers back when the station was still in use. She joined me, crouching down on one knee and opening a pouch on her side.
“… where’d they get you?” She muttered, avoiding eye contact as she flicked through her supplies.
With a sigh, I craned my neck to the side and pulled away the collar of my trench coat and the uniform beneath. Just from the look in her eyes I could tell it wasn’t good. She didn’t say anything to me as she raised herself up, applying a disinfectant spray to the area and wiping the wound clean. God, it stung. Whatever it was they gave her was powerful stuff, but all it could do was buy us time while we were out here.
“Let me patch you up.” She whispered as she gently applied an ointment, rubbing it in with tender circular motions using the tips of her fingers before applying a gauze and bandage.
My breaths slowed to long huffs, heavy pants that rattled in my throat and before I even realized it, I slumped down against the wooden slats, my vision fading to darkness.
I woke up with a gasp, my eyes peering around me as I adjusted to the light. I had no idea how much time had passed, though Jennifer was still lying next to me, panting as well. I turned over to her, asking, “how are you feeling?”
“I don’t know.” She said, “my head’s a little dizzy.”
“It looks like we won’t make it after all.” I sighed. “I just…” I couldn’t even face her. “I just thought we’d be able to make it out of here.”
“Me, too.” She said, rolling over to face me.
I mustered the courage to ask her a single question, one I had been considering since this whole shitshow began, “I was wondering if you’d grant me a wish.”
“Oh?” She asked, looking a little intrigued. It brought color in her skin, though that quickly faded away again.
“Do you think we can… uh, make love?” I tried to say it as tactfully as possible.
“You want to fuck?! Right now?!” she said. “We’re both in the middle of being infected by zombies!
“Well, why not? We don’t have anything to lose,” I knew I was making some sort of sense.
She looked pensive, and I wondered if I had expected too much from her. I was shocked when she nodded, and began taking her dress off. I shook my head, stopping her halfway as I used the rest of my energy to crawl on top of her. I gently lifted her dress up, though made sure it was still on just in case we could muster running again. She was sweaty and covered in dirt, but none of it mattered to me. I just wanted one last chance to feel pleasure before my demise.
I wrapped my mouth around her breast, sucking it deep into my mouth as I licked. She immediately reacted, grabbing my hair to pull me tighter against her. I reached my other hand to play with her nipple, twisting and pinching it as I felt it harden beneath me. “I should tell you William… I’m a virgin.”
I stopped my ministrations at once, looking up at her in shock. “Are you sure you still want to do this?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. I agree with you, it’s our last chance to feel something.” I smiled, agreeing with her. I knew I would have to make her first and last time as good as I could possibly make it. I moved upwards, and began kissing her, pushing my tongue into her mouth as I felt her kiss me back. She moaned, and I made my way between her legs, grinding between it as she slipped her tongue in my mouth.
For a virgin, she was quite an extraordinary kisser. I couldn’t help but push into her harder, wanting to feel as much of her skin as possible. I let go of her lips, leaving a trail of saliva behind as I began giving her small kisses down her neck. Despite the sweat from the battle, she smelt sweet, like some sort of flower I couldn’t quite place. I moved past her dress and down to her breasts again, and was pleased to see both her nipples were already hard for me.
I continued to lap and suck at them, this time moving my hand down to feel her panties. I moved them aside, curling my finger between her folds to feel her. It was incredibly warm and soft, and I was pleased to find she was already wet for me. I pushed a finger inside, and groaned when I discovered how tight she was. Of course, I had expected her to be… but this was too much. I began fucking her as I sucked on her tits, curling my finger upwards to hit her G-spot. She began moaning and grinding against me, meeting me for every thrust. Fuck, I wanted to enter her right away, I was already so fucking hard for her. I hadn’t realized how desperately I needed this.
I unzipped my fly and took my cock out, and was pleased to see her looking at it with a wondrous expression. “I promise I’ll make it hurt as little as possible.” She nodded, looking like a doe caught in headlights. “You’re already so wet for me, so it’ll make it much easier.” I pulled my finger out and pushed it into my mouth, sucking it in front of her, “and you taste delicious.”
“Oh my god,” she said. “That was so hot.”
I grinned and looked down past her belly, to where I could see her simple white panties. I shifted it to the side, and aligned my cock against her entrance, pushing her legs apart to get better access. “Ready?” I asked.
She nodded, still making eye contact with me. I was feeling more and more exhausted, and I knew she was, too. We were both trying our hardest to just stay awake. I thrust into her, feeling myself enter partway. She gasped out loud, and I looked down at her, concerned. “Is it too painful?”
“It’s a little painful,” she admitted, her pussy clenching around me as she flexed.
“Do you want me to stop?” I asked, desperately hoping she would say no.
“No, I want to experience this,” she said determinedly. I pulled out of her and thrust into her again, making her gasp once more. This time, I was almost all the way inside. I could feel how tight she was, as well as the surface of her walls. Fuck, it felt even better than I imagined. I tried to contain myself, but it was difficult not to start fucking her until I passed out.
I pulled out again, this time thrusting harder and all the way inside. I could feel her hymen tear as I pushed past a barrier, and I paused for a third time to let her adjust. “You can start moving now,” she said. “Thank you for being so patient.”
I was glad she finally let me go, because I desperately needed it. I began fucking her, thrusting my cock in and out of her like my life depended on it. Really, with this situation, it felt like it did. I was thrusting into her so hard her bangs flew forwards, covering her eyes. I was too deeply in the moment to care, and didn’t bother brushing her hair away. I could hear noises coming from her, shifting from gasping to moans, and I knew she was starting to enjoy herself.
It seemed to be too much for her though, because as I continued to slam into her, I felt her squeeze tightly against my cock, so much so I thought she was going to push me out. Then, I saw her body slump slightly, like she lost control of it. I was worried for a second, but she seemed to snap back into it as she began squeezing me again. Her hips lifted and thrusted up towards me, encouraging me to fuck her even harder.
“Fuck, you feel so good…” I moaned, feeling myself get close to orgasm. I could feel her body jerking, like she was shaking from too much sensation. I suddenly felt wetness underneath me, a large amount of it heating up my cock as it sprayed out of her. Was she squirting from an orgasm after having sex for the first time? The thought alone put me over the edge, and I groaned loudly as I came inside of her, unloading what felt like months of pent up sperm deep into her as I thrust as hard as I possibly could.
It seemed like my body couldn’t take it anymore though, because my consciousness faded from me again, my vision completely fading to black.
Again, I had no idea how long time had passed. I groaned, even more confused this time around. Fuck, I couldn’t believe I was still alive, though dying after an orgasm would be quite the way to go. I was resting on her chest, with Jennifer still not moving underneath me. I was about to ask her if she was okay when I felt her twitching and jerking below, quite unusually. Did this mean she was finally being taken over by the infection?
“Jennifer, are you okay?” I was about to pull out of her, but she began pulsing around me again, her pussy even tighter than before. The compression alone was making me hard again, and I realized she might’ve wanted more - maybe a second orgasm. My mind wondered, imagining her moaning and thrusting against me a second time. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I realized Jennifer must’ve been thinking the same, because she began pulling herself up and down on my re-hardened cock, fucking herself on me despite the difficult position. She suddenly flipped me around so she was on top of me, and held onto my hands as she began riding my cock. I moaned, loving how she was taking control.
She began making noises as well, and her pleasure alone made me even harder.
I could feel her hot breath as she panted, a new sheen of sweat coating the previous layer. Gods, I couldn’t believe we were fucking right here in the open, where we could be attacked or spotted at any moment. “Gods, you’re milking me like crazy.” I moaned. She was much quieter than usual, though she was probably too exhausted to speak at the moment. I wanted her to moan even louder, to scream with every one of my thrusts. Again, it seemed like she knew exactly what I was thinking, because with each hit against her cervix, she seemed to cry out even louder.
Good, I didn’t care if anyone heard or saw us at this point. I knew we would be dying like this, and it didn’t scare me for a second.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, I heard a rattling, and looked upwards to see a human walking towards us. At first, I assumed it was a soldier, maybe even Tashi. Then I realized he wasn’t walking normally. No, he was one of the infected. “Fuck!” I yelled, looking down at Jennifer, though she didn’t seem like she noticed. “We need to go. Now.” I was glad I had thought of this earlier, and decided not to strip down with her.
I still had some strength left in me, and I knew I wouldn’t be giving up the fight. I would fight for Jennifer and I until our very last breath.