The Undead World (Book 1): The Apocalypse (14 page)

“
You don't think I'm kinky?” Sarah asked. When Veronica nodded, Sarah slumped. “I'm not…I don't really know how to be, like I said. I can do all the normal stuff, it's everything else that I wouldn't know where to start.”

“
There's something you could do that could help us both out,” Veronica replied, shifting her eyes away nervously. When Sarah only waited patiently for the girl to explain herself, she added, “It's what every guy wants…”

Sarah shook her head not understanding. Guys seemed to want a lot and nothing in particular sprung to mind that is until Veronica reached out and touched her arm very softly. She then ran on her fingers higher until Sarah gasped.
“Oh, that! I'm not…uh, I'm not into girls. You're very pretty, I'm just not…”

“
I'm not either,” Veronica said, quickly. “And I know it's...it's freaking crazy to even ask, but if you want to be picked, I think this would do it.”

In truth Sarah didn
't want to be picked at all, she wanted to go running and screaming back into the past and never leave it. That past was a happy place. Who knew that she would be considering faking a lesbian relationship in order to sexually satisfy a man she considered no better than a Nazi, in order to keep her and her family safe from zombies?

Her face went a light pink and she said,
“I don't know how.”

“
Me neither. Though I suppose if I do to you, the things that I like and you…you know do the same to me, that ought to do it. I don't think there's anything more to it. Except…”

It felt like Sarah
's ears were on fire as she asked, “Except what?” She was afraid of the answer and all sorts of crazy thoughts went through her head.

With her own face a glowing red, Veronica answered,
“We'd have to practice. I mean if we're fumbling around like idiots, it's not going to be sexy. It'll just look stupid and we only have one shot at this.”

“
Oh…practice,” Sarah said and it felt as though she would choke on nothing. It wasn't that Veronica wasn't appealing, she was very pretty, but the idea seemed to hang up within her, as if her soul rebelled against. She fought it back and nodded, though her head wobbled on the X axis when she did.

“
We'll practice tonight, when Cindy is out. I'll send Bobbi on an errand and then…” Veronica finished by taking a deep breath and Sarah was right there with her.

Veronica used her pull so that they were able to hold their practice session in private. Bobbi wanted to go find some friends that she had come in with anyways and then the two women were alone. They took one look at each other and giggled like teenagers.

“And that is why we have to practice,” Veronica said. She then held out her right hand and said, “And look, I'm shaking. Isn't that stupid?”

“
Me too,” Sarah admitted. “Though for me it's all in my chest. Like it's my first time. I could use a drink.”

“
The colonel doesn't allow alcohol on the Island, which means we're just going to have to do it.”

“
Ok,” Sarah said with a shake of her head. She began to peel off her shirt and Veronica stopped her.

“
No. Wrong. You don't shake your head like it's a chore. The colonel would be turned off in a snap. And don't tug your clothes off. We undress each other, but slowly. Remember, this is a show. This is theater and we are performers. Even if you don't feel it, fake it.”

Minutes later, after Veronica ran one of her hands beneath Sarah
's hair and to the back of her neck, while the other slid up her thigh beneath her dress, Sarah was surprised that she wouldn't need to fake it. Veronica's lips were softer and more alluring than any man's had ever been, and her hands knew exactly what to do.

“
You're so wet,” Veronica purred and Sarah's eyes opened wide at the thrust of the small fingers within her. She grabbed the woman's wrist and didn't know if she wanted to pulled the fingers out of her or grind them deeper. Veronica paused as well and they stared for a second into each other's eyes.

“
This is when you should kiss me,” she told Sarah. Veronica had lowered her back onto one of the cots and now Sarah reached up and pulled the woman down to her; their tongues met and crossed and Veronica's was so soft and delicately warm that it sent a thrill down her back. And then the woman's fingers began pumping in and out of her and Sarah threw her head back and moaned.

The hand kept going and Sarah couldn
't help herself and she thrust her pelvis with each move and her breath grew heated.

“
Just like that?” Veronica asked, her lips brushing Sarah's.

“
Yes,” Sarah said, practically begging. “Yes…” and then she couldn't speak as the orgasm rocked her. Though the feeling was fantastic and completely surprising, Sarah knew she wasn't a lesbian because just then she wanted a cock in her badly. It wasn't the colonel that flashed into her mind, it was her ex-husband, Stewart. He had good thick cock that filled her…

The thrum of her muscles went on and on and then her mind slipped from
Stewart and went to Brit and the orgasm shut down like a switch had been thrown.

“
Ok, that's good. I think it should be your turn,” Sarah said, withdrawing, mentally.

Veronica eyed her and saw that the heat had gone.
“Ok, but first I have to do this.”

“
Do what…oh that. Really? You don’t.”

“
Yes,” the woman said. She went to her knees so that she was at the level of the cot, and then with gentle pressure spread Sarah's legs. “Don't lie all the way back. Go to your elbows and lift your legs, like you're inviting me,” she instructed. “Yes, just like that.”

Veronica kissed her inner thighs and took a playful nibble and then used her tongue—and immediately Sarah giggled despite the weirdness of it all.
“Not so light. That tickles. That's better…that's…” That was too good for her liking, especially with her mind dwelling on her daughter. “Ok, you did good,” she said breathing heavily after a few minutes, pushing Veronica gently away.

“
All right, but tomorrow you just let me go. Now you do me.” She sounded eager to Sarah, who had to remind herself that it was all for show…except Veronica didn't look like she wanted a practice session. Before Sarah really had an idea what she was going to do, her partner took her hand and brought it up her thigh and up and up until it wouldn't go any further.

And then she groaned as Sarah
's hand explored, and again Sarah was surprised at her own level of excitement. Veronica wasn't much of an actress, she was hot and wet, and her muscles twitched and…

Just then voices came from outside the tent and the two girls jumped apart.

“And these are my tent-mates,” Bobbi said, coming in. “Oh it's dark. Is there a light?”

“
We try not to light the light…I mean waste light…I mean waste electricity,” Veronica stammered as she straightened her clothes. Her jabbering seemed to suffice as an explanation and Bobbi waited outside the tent for them. “You could've used just a bit more practice,” Veronica whispered to Sarah with a wink. “Another minute or so and you would've been an expert.”

“
I'll go first next time.”

“
Next time will be tomorrow night, I hope,” Veronica said pensively. “I haven't been picked in three days and if this doesn't work, I'm afraid I'm going to be sent to one of the platoons.”

“
It'll work. It has to for both our sakes.”

“
You is such a pussy,” a cold voice spoke. It was the black girl they had been traveling with. She had picked up a gun from one of the dead bangers and had it pressed hard against his head. “And a back-stabbing son of a bitch. These were your friends!”

Ram shrugged and said,
“They weren't. And they weren't your friends either.”

“
Yeah but they kept us clear of the zombies, didn't they? Which is more than I can say for a gutless piece of shit like…”

“
Drop the gun,” Julia ordered. She had crept halfway down the stair and had her shotgun aimed steadily despite that her red hair hung in her face and her chin dripped with tears.

The black girl put up her hands and said,
“It's all good, cracker bitch. Be cool. I'm putting the gun down. There it goes.” She tossed it on the carpet and kept her hands up.

Picking up the gun, Ram nodded toward the door.
“You still have one of your friends left and if you hurry you can catch him. You can take a gun with you.”

“
Naw,” the girl replied. “You may be a pussy but I'll take my chances with Annie Oakley. She looks like she got some kick to her.”

“
That's enough,” Julia said. “Mister, can you look at my mother? She's been shot.” When Ram started for the stairs Julia added to the black girl. “Have you considered the fact that I may not want you around? I don't like your mouth or your cheek.”

That she used the word
'cheek' had Ram giving her a closer look as he passed and now he noted that she was older than he had first thought. She was a woman of about thirty with thin delicate features.

However old her mother was, she wasn
't going to make it to her next birthday. The poor lady had been shot through the gut and the bullet had exited her body through her right kidney. Had there been an actual operational hospital nearby, she could’ve lived. There wasn't one. Ram inspected the wounds and felt the woman's pulse; it grew quicker and lighter with each passing second. It was a sure sign that she was bleeding internally.

Ram took Julia into another room.
“Your mom is not going to make it. The bullet took out one of her kidneys, and she had massive internal bleeding. I'm sorry.”

“
How long?”

He could only shrug. There were too many variables; one of the chief of these was a person
's will to live. Julia left him and went to sit on the stairs next to her mother, uncaring that she sat in a puddle of her blood.

“
Julia, we're going to be right down stairs cleaning up,” Ram said in a soft voice.

“
I'm not cleaning up shit,” the black girl announced.

Ram looked at her for a long time until she
turned away and then he asked, “What's your name?”

“
Cassie. It's short for Cassandra. And I ain't make none of that mess and I ain't gonna clean it up.”

“
My name is Ram. It's short for Ramirez. And I know you didn't make the mess, but if you help clean it up. I'll make sure you get food and water. And if you don't, I'm going throw you out of here. I think that's fair, don't you?”

She gave a sullen shrug and then went about collecting the weapons and ammo from each of the bodies. She also checked their pockets for anything interesting.
“This one was married. Ain't that something? He looks so young. He look younger than me. Can I keep his ring?”

“
Stealing from the dead is bad luck,” Ram said. He didn't know if this was true, but he found the idea repulsive so he just threw that out there.

She kept the ring, as well as any odds and ends that she found desirable.
“I ain't never been lucky anyway,” she explained. “Can I have some water now?”

“
You're alive when most of the world isn't. I'd say that was pretty lucky.” They went to get water and they found that the taps in the house still ran and each drank until they were unpleasantly full. Ram brought two glasses up to the second floor. “You thirsty?”

“
Why did you guys do this?” Julia asked as new tears ran down the tracks laid by previous tears. She touched her mother's shirt and then the skin of her face. The woman didn't stir. “You killed her. You killed my mother. My only family left in this world. Why did you do it?”

Ram wanted to proclaim his innocence. After all he didn
't kill the lady and he had risked himself to protect her daughter, but that wasn't the real truth. “Because I'm weak,” he said in a choked voice. “I used to be strong…I use to be very strong, but then something just broke inside of me. It was all the zombies. They never, ever stop. Every day they came more and more, and I just broke. I should have stopped those bangers. I should have stopped them, but I couldn't, not until it was too late.”

“
Because you pussed out is why,” Cassie commented. “I watched you all this time and I can see you wanting to say this or that, but you never did. You just puss out all the time. Like when they did their thing on me. You shoulda done something but you up and pussed out instead.”

He nodded because that was the truth as well.

Julia sat there and her face was empty, yet she heard everything. “Are you still weak?” she asked, staring blankly at the wall with its red splatters. “Because I don't want you around if you're still weak. My mama was the strong one. She held it together as all the men around here died and became zombies…is that what they are?”

“
It's a virus,” Ram said, thinking about the terrorists for the first time in…weeks? Had it been only weeks and not months? If felt as though the nightmare had been going on and on, day after day, hour after hour for longer than possible. It had been going on since the Iranian and Shelton and…”Shelton. Whatever happened to Shelton?” he asked suddenly and his face slipped into its hated grimace, and his mind felt like a record player that had hit a bad groove.

“
Who is that?” Julia asked, looking around with a little more interest in the world. “Another one of your friends?” The word friends came out in disgust.

“
No, a partner. My partner. My best friend, really, so yeah. We were in L.A. and there was a terrorist, he had the virus and we caught him but it was too late, but, but what happened to Shelton?” He looked to Julia, though his eyes were in another time and place. They stared at a world where there were still men fighting; real men and Ram had been one of those men. And so too had been Shelton.

“
I don't know who that is,” Julia answered, looking at him sharply; her eyes were simultaneously blue and red. They beguiled Ram so that he couldn't think straight.

“
Andra Shelton. He was with me before. He was there before Glendora. Before I got this,” Ram said holding up the M16. Where had the Shelton gone after that? He was there and then he wasn't. Just then Ram’s memory had the consistency of smoke.

“
So much for you being strong,” Julia said, standing. Her face had been misery, but now it was stiff with anger as she looked down at her mother. “I have to shut up the house. They come mostly at night.” She left and Cassie went with her, wearing a sneer for Ram.

“
I was strong,” Ram said to the corpse. Julia's mom was a ginger, like her daughter and she was thin as well, but the older woman had been weathered by the sun. Her skin had the leathery look of an old smoker. “I was strong when I thought I could stop the virus and I was strong when I thought we could win. When I thought if we could just hold out for another day that people would come for us. That reinforcements would arrive. They kept promising us reinforcements, only they never came.”

But what had happened to Shelton? His face kept popping up. Shelton had only his Smith & Wesson to fight with.
“He didn't like it,” he told Julia's mom. “And he wasn't the best shot, you know. So he always hung back, but that was ok, because when the stiffs would get close, he always was there. He'd hang back but he wouldn't run. He would step up and if there was a stiff coming at me that I didn't see, Ol' Shelton would get him. He was tough in his own way and he never ran.”

“
You ran,” Julia's mother said, though her lips didn't appear to move. She was still slumped against the wall and now her blood was dry, looking black in the dark.

It was only then that Ram noticed that the sun had long since gone down.
“A lot of guys ran,” he hissed. The way her chin hung to her chest and how her hair fell forward made him nervous. Was she watching him? Had she turned? He brought his gun up with the growing certainty that she had.

“
I'll shoot. I swear; I don't care whose fucking mother you are.”

“
Then shoot,” the corpse whispered.

Ram pulled the trigger. The safety was on. The gun did nothing; it just sat there in his hands cold and useless and now Ram began to back away from the corpse, sliding on the hardwood, kicking with his feet, as his hands fumbled desperately to figure out how to get his gun to shoot before it was too late before…

“Are you alright?” Julia asked from lower down the stairs. She shone a flashlight his way and for some reason he felt embarrassed and hugged his gun to his chest. He squinted around the light at her, making sure that she was still alive, making sure that her milky skin had not gone over to grey. She was fine, but the mother wasn't.

Mama was dead, dead, dead. But would she come back? Had she moved? Had she even spoken?

“I'm ok. I guess. We should move this thing. It's got to be burned. We can't trust it.”

The light seared into his face again and he held up a hand. Julia kept it there regardless, studying him.
“That's my mother you're talking about, so show some damned respect. We'll bury her in the morning. She deserves a proper burial. However, those friends of yours? They'll go into the pit with the others just as soon as the as the sun rises.”

“
Is it nearly morning?” Ram asked. Time seemed a concept beyond him just then. Time was only the interval between killings. He would kill and eat and sleep and kill some more…except everything he killed was already dead. Just then Ram felt his soul as a jittery illusion, and his mind wanted to break into little pieces. His hands shook and the tears were back so he made an excuse to rub his face so Julia wouldn't see, but she kept the light on him.

“
You're not ok, are you?” she asked.

“
No he ain't,” Cassie said from further down the stairs. “He be talking to himself, sometimes. He never thinks none of us sees him do it, but I see. And his eyes are all crazy.”

“
I'll be alright,” Ram said, trying to convince them. “Just it's…it's worse than it had been, before. You know? It's worse than when I…” He stopped talking. He had almost admitted that he had ran away, but that was his secret. His and Mama's. She knew. Somehow she knew that he had run and left men to die.

Julia held out her hand to him.
“Come here. Let's go get something for you to eat. Mama made a pie yesterday. There's plenty left. And then maybe you should get some sleep.”

“
He talks in his sleep too…” Cassie began.

“
Why don't you hush!” Julia snapped. Softer, she said, “It's a wonder we all aren't bat-shit crazy. I know I'm close day to day, so I won't hold it against you Mister…”

“
He calls hisself Ram though I think sheep be more like it,” Cassie answered.

This earned her another hard look from Julia, who then turned softer again.
“Some food and some fluids, that will do you well. Mama can rest here until morning.”

Despite that her mother had just been killed, Julia pulled herself together remarkably. She fed two of the people who had been associated with her mother
's murder and made up guest beds for them. She then went around and secured her home, drawing shades of black velvet and locking the heavy doors that had kept her safe.

Ram didn
't think he would be able to sleep with the corpses in the house for fear that they might turn, but he dozed lightly until midnight when dreams came to him of them walking about the house like shadows…and then a dark figure crept into his room. He went from sleeping to wide awake in a blink and he had his gun pointed into the bare breast of Cassie before her mouth could even fall open.

“
Can I sleep with you?” she asked in a whisper.

The words didn
't jibe with his state of mind; in the dark he had been sure she was one of the undead and then a second later she was alive. Had that been a dream?

She didn
't wait for an answer and climbed into the bed, naked. Her hands went to his body and he pulled back, confused. “What…what are you doing?” he asked, grabbing her hands.

“
It's ok,” she said. “You don't need to share me no more. I know how some boys don't like that. Come on, I'll take care of you.” Her hands became insistent on him and he had to grab her roughly for her to stop. “What? Is you a racist?” she demanded. “Is that your problem? You'll stare all over that skinny, cracker bitch, but you won't give me the time of day? Well, fuck you.”