Wake the Dead (21 page)

“You truly are stunning,” Alex said to her as she walked over to him slowly and bent low. She removed his boots one at a time, and tugged at his jeans, pulling them off. Then she climbed on top of him and guided his solid erection inside. He moaned as the warmth enveloped him.

Alex was completely overwhelmed by this woman and her confidence, her beauty, and her aggression. He leaned back and allowed her to do the work, which she seemed more than willing to do, grinding back and forth on him. She even wrapped her hands around his head, cupping it gently, so that it did not bang against the wall during their lovemaking.

“This has to go,” she said, tugging on his beard with her free right hand, and he could not help but smile beneath it. The smile eventually faded under the sensation of being inside of her, Selina taking him in fully and holding it for a long time.

She leaned in close, her breasts rubbing against his cheeks and lips as she moaned in the thralls of their intimacy. She progressed faster and faster, leaning in and kissing him deeply until she threw her head back and climaxed. She remained there, unmoving and staring into his eyes, kissing him again and repeating her actions. She rotated her hips to and fro, front to back, and then side to side, gently, tugging on him until he too moaned under the influence of a powerful orgasm.

She held herself in place for a long while until Alex looked up to see her smiling at him. She slowly rolled off him and lay staring at him, evidently drinking in her accomplishment. Alex barely noticed as he closed his eyes, trying to savor the experience. She was right in her earlier statement he realized in that moment, more so than ever before, that they might not be around even later tonight in this crazy world.

When he opened his eyes he caught sight of her as she tossed the remains of her shirt into a wastebasket behind the counter.

“Gonna have to replace that,” she added with a smirk as Alex slowly refitted his own attire. “I hope Alexis won’t be mad.”

“I don’t think she’ll care, do you?” Selina frowned at him and he realized she was being sarcastic.

“I want to find something more my style.”

“ Let’s take care of that, then. I could probably stand some new clothes, too,” he admitted, looking over his own shirt, a ratty gray tee soiled with numerous stains, and a pair of ratty jeans.

“Shorts would be nice this time of year,” Selina said, sliding back on her pants. Alex watched in respect of her physique, her bare breasts firm, and her tummy very tightly kept. Hers was the personification of womanhood in that instant, as he shook away the thought…slowly but surely.

“What kind of guns did they have?” Alex asked, as he tied his second bootlace.

“I don’t know what kind, but they’re over there. One had a silencer.” Selina pointed to the top of a battered glass case where she had deposited the men’s weapons. Alex made it to his feet and surveyed the guns, while Selina disappeared into the area containing both men and women’s clothing.

Alex inspected the first weapon, which was a Glock 21. It was the one with the silencer.

They might have taken it from a cop
, he thought, now believing the men to be felons, most likely even before the zombie plague claimed the world. Holding the gun also triggered a memory that Alex had lent his pistol to Ben only a day ago.

He shook away the thought and inspected the second pistol, which was a Smith & Wesson of some kind, a closer look indicating it to be an M&P 45. It was a heavy weapon and held .45 caliber rounds, too. Both guns were powerful weapons commonly used by law enforcement these days, he recalled, having discussed that recently with his hunting group. They had all read the same article and discussed it one night at the pub. He had fond memories of that evening, arguing back and forth about 9 mm and .45 rounds.  Alex sighed, knowing that he would never again hold a conversation, disagreement or otherwise with his friends about that subject or any other, and that saddened him.

After a long moment of recollecting fond memories, Alex looked and found the section of the store dedicated to clothing. He surveyed the area quickly and caught sight of her, holding up and showing him a new shirt. As he got closer, she had already donned a pair of shorts, a bra and shoes.

“Nice,” Alex complemented her. “That was fast.”

“Yep. I know what I want,” she said, raising her eyebrows and smiling coyly at him. “I'm taking a bunch of this shit. And I grabbed you these,” she added, tossing him a pair of jeans and shorts. “They should be your size.”

“You work in fashion or something before?” Alex asked, inspecting the clothes and nodding.

“Not for years, but I am a woman who liked shopping!”

“This it?” Alex asked, holding up the two pistols and shrugging.

“Well, yeah, but if you wanna to look around, I'm sure we can find their car. Maybe they have supplies, too.”

“Let’s just get the humidifier and we’ll drive around to see if we can find their car. If it’s swarmed over, me and Shadow are in no shape to fight,” Alex said with a frown, wiping sweat from his lengthy beard.

“That thing is itchy, I bet,” Selina said, wrinkling up the left side of her face.

“Yep. But I'm used to it.”

“They have razors and trimmers here…and back at the castle…if you wanted to, that is,” she added, looking at him hopefully. “I said that it needs to go!”

“Yeah, all right,” he agreed with a laugh. “If we come across one in the humidifier aisle, let’s grab one.”

“You okay to walk, Lancelot?” Alex simply fixed her with a rigid stare. “All right.
Alex
,” she corrected. “I won’t call you that anymore.”

“Sure you won’t.”

“Whatever you want. Seriously,” she said, all signs of levity absent from her expression. “I owe you.”

“You call me whatever you want,” he said, looking over his shoulder and smiling.

“You might regret that…,
Lancelot
,” she said, not so much as even glancing back at him.

“Here, take this,” Alex called to her.

When she did look back, he tossed the Smith & Wesson to her and held the one with the silencer, checking the magazine and chambering a round, rubbing the grip in his right hand.

“Got anything bigger?” she asked sarcastically, testing the weight of the gun in her hand.

“Nope. Be careful, it’s got some kick.”

Selina gathered her pack, retied the scabbard around her waist, stowed the gun in her belt, and grabbed the sword in both hands.

Alex watched in surprise at that moment as Selina suddenly began to assault the two dead men, chopping limbs off and then severing both their heads. When she was done, she leaned over and took a few minutes to catch her breath. Alex said nothing at first, understanding that she had to release that pent up anger. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

Selina did not even acknowledge the comment, and Alex was curious if she had done it for his benefit or hers. “You won’t need the silencer,” she finally said. Alex shouldered his pack, quiver and carried the bow in his left hand. “We made a hell of a racket in here. If there were any jokers, they’d have been here already.”

Alex took a step into the next aisle and froze. “Is that so?”

Alex stopped in front of a section of the store that had been blocked off by fallen racks, held in place with a forklift. There were at least a dozen zombies inside the area, clawing and moaning, trying to get at them.

The area that held them looked as if it were walled off, except for the entrance where someone had knocked over a few steel racks, along with the accompanying merchandise, trapping the zombies within that space. The forklift looked as though it wasn’t needed, but someone left it anyway.

“There’s our target,” Selina said, pointing to an adjacent fixture. Alex made his way over, grabbed a humidifier, and returned to Selina’s side.

“Shall we?”

“Not yet,” Selina said, disappearing around an adjacent aisle for a moment. Alex could hear her rummaging through merchandise. She returned a moment later holding up an electric razor and an extension cord. “Now I'm good.”

Alex laughed and as they turned to exit, his mirth was deprived him by the sound of a loud crash. He quickly understood that the barrier of steel that stood between them and the zombies had shifted slightly, perhaps under the weight of them collectively pushing against it. It seemed as though one small section had cracked, the wooden shelving, allowing a gap for them to get through. Alex removed the gun and began to fire down the corridor at the onrushing undead. One, two and then three fell simultaneously as he accurately connected with headshots, and then the gun jammed.

“Dammit!” Alex cursed, dropping it and removing the bow from his back quickly, causing his vision to blur under the sudden adrenaline rush. His head was suddenly fuzzy again, and he tried to focus on the surging zombie mob through blurred vision. His legs were unsteady, too, as he felt a hand on his back.

“I’ve got this,” Selina said, moving forward and standing between Alex and the zombies. She waited, allowing one to come out at a time and not giving them any room to do otherwise in the aisle. She chopped them down one at a time, methodically.

Alex knelt and rubbed his head and eyes, trying to focus.

The next thing he remembered was Selina helping him to his feet. His eyes fell over her and her lithe form was covered in zombie gore.

“We can go now. I think I’ve blown off enough steam.” Alex managed to take in the carnage unleashed upon the undead by Selina’s anger-driven blade and nodded.

She put an arm under his, leaning some of his weight on her as she helped steady him. She handed him the fallen gun. “You can work on this later. And I'm driving…Lancelot.” Alex couldn’t help but laugh against the pain and misery of his current condition.

***

Alex awoke as the mini-van hit a bump in the road. He didn’t even recall getting into the vehicle.

“You’re awake again. That’s good. Remember me?” Selina asked him. He wasn’t sure if she was joking.

“Yeah, I remember you. I keep saving your life. Remember?” Selina chuckled at that as they gazed outside the windows to see more zombies mulling around in the fields there. “Did you find that asshole’s car?”

“Yep.”

“Not a good scene?”

“Was surrounded by jokers,” Selina said regretfully. “I wasn’t going to try anything with you unconscious, Shadow and I both injured, and us needing to get back with the damn humidifier.”

“Gotcha,” Alex agreed, looking at the increasing amount of zombies wandering all about the nearby fields and parking lots. “Where the hell are they all coming from?” Alex shook his head, looking into the rear of the van where Shadow sat serenely, chewing on a shoe.

“I don’t know where he found that,” Selina said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Right, well he seems to enjoy chewing on shoes,” Alex mentioned, looking from Shadow back to Selina. “So, we got the humidifier. Mission accomplished,” he said, rubbing his head gingerly. “This still hurts like hell”

“I imagine it’s going to hurt for a bit,” Selina added with concern. “I'm wondering how many jokers we’re going to see before we get back to the fair.”

“I'm wondering if these ‘
jokers’
are part of the mob that was chasing us?” Selina chewed her lip and nodded.

“Maybe. Probably. They’re all over the place.”

“Or they could be part of the group that was inside the Renaissance Faire, you know, the ones I let out,” Alex countered.

“Right, but that was to save my ass. Let’s not forget that important detail,” she said, staring at him and smiling. “Worth it,” she added with a wink.

“Or they could just be ones that are simply wandering. If everyone who dies comes back as one of these, then their numbers will continue to grow while ours dwindle. Every one we kill, it seems like two more take their place.”

“Hmmm,” Selina uttered, turning onto the street where the familiar filling station stood. “No jokers around.”

“Then maybe the ones we saw there had wandered through the trees that border the two highways,” Alex suggested, fiddling with the Glock pistol. He was taking it apart as the mini-van continued along its course. He tested the weapon and the trigger seemed to be unstuck now, but without a round in the chamber, he wouldn’t be a hundred percent certain about it.

“How do you wanna try to get back into the fairgrounds?” Selina asked, looking at the dash clock that was stuck at zeroes. “We really need a watch or something.”

“Agreed.
Of course,
the clock on the dash is broken…. We might have been gone for a few hours, based on the sun’s position,” Alex suggested, having paid attention to that more than ever before these past few months.

“But, its summer now, so the days are longer,” Selina countered logically, running a hand through her hair. “I think we’ve been gone over half the day.”

“Could be,” he said as the Renaissance Faire came into view. Only a few zombies were around now, running after their vehicle. “Pull up to the other van. Wait…,” Alex countered, scanning the field and the parking lot across the way. “No, go for it.”

Selina stepped on the gas and drove the vehicle past the parking lot, drawing the attention of over a dozen more of the living dead, chasing after the mini-van at varying speeds.

“Bring ‘em past the van a bit, so we can take ‘em out quietly,” Alex added. “I don’t want to rile ‘em up if we can help it.”

“What do you need in the van?”

“I left a bag there with extra .45 caliber rounds and extra arrows.”

“All right. We can go back to the SuperMart, too, later if you want more. I saw a ton of archery stuff there,” Selina added, staring into his eyes a little longer than normal. “Might want to pick up a bow myself, have you teach me a thing or two.”

“Yeah, we could probably do that. Pull over here,” he instructed. “I wanna test this weapon.” Selina pulled the mini-van to the side and she and Alex exited the vehicle, leaving Shadow in the back, though he stood and howled. Alex opened the side door and let him out. The bandage and towel were both dry and he seemed to be moving without discomfort. That made Alex happy, feeling less guilty about having tagged him accidentally earlier in the morning. “Stay,” Alex ordered, and Shadow sat behind him obediently.

“Maybe you should shoot him more often,” Selina said jokingly, drawing a blank look from Alex as he chambered a round and removed the safety. “Sorry,” Selina offered as she removed the sword, holding it in both hands.

The mob of zombies rushed toward them closing the gap and Alex and Selina both walked in unison toward them. As they got to within fifty paces or so, Alex unloaded the weapon, firing round after round into the heads of the charging undead. Shot after shot hit the mark, as zombie heads exploded under the heavy slugs, tumbling to the grass and asphalt collectively.

Then Alex heard a sound from behind and to his left. Something was emerging from the tree line. The barrel of the Glock rotated toward those latest sounds as Selina stepped up, and even Shadow moved forward, pouncing on a  zombie and taking it down.

“Hold up there, chief,” said a voice, which Alex recognized as belonging to Bryan. Both Liz and Phil, all exiting the brush and moving to join him, flanked Bryan. The combined force of the group took out the zombie mob quite easily, blades severing heads and limbs alike, Bryan’s mace crushing skulls, and Alex continued to test his new weapon, pleased with the results.

Moments later, the zombie mob lay in bits around the group, staining the ground with gore and body parts.

“Have you found him?” Alex asked the group collectively. They all shook their heads, saying nothing. “What about the car he used to lure them away?”

“We found that. There were blood stains inside, but couldn’t tell how old they were,” Bryan answered, removing a towel from his belt and cleaning the head of the mace rather intently.

“I'm sure he’s still out here,” Selina added, bending low to inspect the wound on Shadow. “He seems to be fine, Alex.”

“Good to hear. My van is only up the road a bit,” Alex added. “You guys wanna come or wait here?”

“Lead on,” Phil said with a smirk. Alex stared at his arm, noting what looked to be an inflamed red area emerging from the edges of the bandage that covered his wound.

The group headed off toward the van and as they neared, Alex stopped, removing the keys from his chain and watching as Shadow began sniffing around and growling. But, Alex could see nothing. He waved the others over and held his ground, remaining with the wolf. “You’re a strange bird sometimes, you know that?”

“Why is he doing that?” Selina asked as Phil and Liz walked past them, heading toward the van.

“Could be some more zombies around,” Bryan suggested, looking at Shadow curiously.

“Maybe,” Alex said as Shadow sniffed Bryan’s legs, causing the man to fidget a bit. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Show fear. He smells it,” Alex cautioned. “Just stand still and he will back off.”

A blood-curdling scream was heard in the distance.

“No!”

It sounded like it had come from Liz. Alex glanced over to see her as she backed away from the van, stumbling and eventually doubling over. She vomited and then fell to her knees as Alex and the others rushed to her aid.

“What is it?!” cried Bryan, his voice filled with worry.

“Are you all right?” Selina asked as she made it to her side, trying to steady her.

Bryan gasped and Alex finally arrived to them, as Phil shoved away a zombie, knocking it to its seat onto the ground beside the van.

“Mother…,” Bryan whispered.

As Alex made his way to stand beside Phil, who remained motionless to this point, he witnessed the reanimated figure of what was once Ben, glasses askew, and several sections of flesh torn away.

Their undead former friend stood again and Phil simply knocked it to the ground, looking over his shoulder and shaking his head, his face a mask of agony, a lone tear running down his right cheek. “No,” he whispered repeatedly.

“Alex backed up and made to retrieve Shadow, standing beside the wolf and staring into his eyes again, “stay,” he kept saying as Shadow eventually sat before him. Selina moved to stand beside Alex, as Liz got to her feet and joined Phil.

Alex peeked over his shoulder to see that the pair implemented their standard formation, using their shields in conjunction to hold their one-time friend at bay. However, they also came to understand that Ben was very strong in his current state.

“He probably only recently turned,” Alex whispered to Selina. She looked down to him and he witnessed tears upon her face, too. “What are you going to do with him?” Alex asked as he stood, staring into the eyes of Bryan, who was also experiencing his own profound grief over this newest horror with which they now faced.

‘I—I don’t know,” he admitted in a dejected tone. Alex could empathize with that mindset all too well and knelt again, experiencing his own grief with memories of fallen friends and loved ones.

“They’re going to have to put him down, right?” Selina whispered to Alex.

“I'm not sure what they are thinking,” Alex admitted, standing once more. His thoughts were suddenly of Sara, recalling the brutal way in which she died at his own hands and he patted the right front pocket where her photo remained.

Then more recent memories came to bear as he recalled putting a bullet in Olivia. He fell to his backside and rubbed his eyes, trying hard to stem the sorrow of his own losses.