Shadow of Nevermore

by Lilly Black

  "Does it hurt?" he asked, softly running his fingers over her left cheekbone.

  "Uh-huh," she said in a childlike whisper, then she collapsed, crying against his chest. He folded his arms around her and kissed her softly on the head, and what began as an attempt to comfort her abruptly burgeoned into a primal need, both operating on instinct as their lips found each other. Reid wasn't even consciously attuned to the fact that he had long considered Amina one of the most beautiful women in the world anymore than he was aware that he was cheating on his wife. The desire within them transcended all else because what they did here tonight would never matter to anyone anywhere as they were soon to become just another pair of corpses in the teeming mass outside the office door.

  But the kiss...it was magical, transporting them far away from the terrible racket of the dead. They heard only the sound of their own breathing as Reid laid her back on the carpet along the wall, his lips tracing their way down her neck. He unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it open, exposing beautiful, firm breasts spilling out of lacy b-cups. He folded them down, swirling his tongue over her tight, pink nipple, and when she thrust her hands into his hair, he took it as an invitation to go lower, kissing down her belly as he slipped her skirt over her hourglass hips. His lips made it to the top of her panties when she stopped him.

  God! Amina wanted what he was offering. She could almost feel the sensation of his warm, wet tongue on her clit as he looked up at her from between her legs, but she was too embarrassed to let it happen. Her last shower was at 5:00 AM, and she'd been running and sweating since Kenny attacked her.

  "Come here," she whispered as she reached to pull him back up, but given their circumstances, he couldn't imagine why she would be turning it down. He gave her a surprised look, and programmed to be unduly concerned about her taste even in what she thought were her last moments alive, she lured him into compliance. "I need you inside me."

  Though he could tell it was killing her to say it, he didn't push the issue because no means no even if he suspected that her reasons were silly. Olivia could be silly like that. She always insisted on showering before oral.

  "Can I at least touch you there?" he asked.

  "You can touch me anywhere you want," she said, her eyes flashing as she stared at him, and he smiled, licking his fingers as he came back up, his tongue finding her mouth. He swirled it over her lips, his fingers massaging her clit, mirroring his tongue to give her the closest approximation he could, and as her eyes closed, she moaned into him. Quickly, her feedback became constant, and he moved to her neck, allowing her to lie back and imagine that the two sensations were one until he made her cry out in ecstasy, forgetting all about the monsters just outside the door. He moved to lie by her side, leaving her panting and tingling, sated and wanting more as he kissed her softly.

  "Fuck me," she urged him impatiently, wondering why he wasn't on top of her already.

  "I don't carry condoms," Reid said.

  "I don't care," she breathed, pulling him into position. She could feel his cock through his jeans and couldn't get them unzipped fast enough as he worked with her, and as soon as they were down far enough, she grabbed him, guiding him inside.

  "Oh, God, yes!" she growled at his first thrust, and for a few, fleeting yet intense moments, they forgot about everything - the zombies, the end of the world as they knew it, Reid's wife, even the fact that this was probably the last act of their lives. All they could hear was the pleasure in the sounds coming from each other's throats as Reid fucked her like no man ever had, knowing just what to do to find and hit that perfect spot inside her in a way she had never experienced before, and she knew if they somehow survived this night, she was never going to let this man get away, even when he cried out his wife's name in response to the orgasm she gave him.

  "I am so sorry, Amina," Reid said immediately afterward, still balanced atop her with his hands on the floor on either side of her head. He leaned in and gently nuzzled his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry."

  "It's okay. Really, it is," she said as she kissed him quickly then rolled him onto his back so he could hold her, and she honestly believed that it was okay. They weren't having sex because they were in love. They were doing it because they were about to die horribly. "So, Olivia's your wife, I take it?"

  "Yeah," he said.

  "Lucky woman," she said with a crinkle of her nose.

  "I'm a lucky man," he said. "Or at least I used to be. I guess now I'm just a dead man walking."

  They shared an awkward laugh, then Amina got a serious look on her face.

  "Hey, Reid, I just want you to know, if by some miracle we survive, I have an IUD. And I'm tested, too. I haven't even had a boyfriend in over a year."

  "You don't have to worry about me, either. I've been faithful to my wife for over fifteen years, so..." he trailed off, his expression growing pensive as he sat up and placed his head in his hands. "I just hope she would forgive me."

  "Of course, she would," Amina said, rubbing his back as she sat up beside him. "Do you know how bad it's going to hurt when they rip us apart with their teeth? At least you have some endorphins in your system now. If she loves you, she wouldn't only forgive you, she would have encouraged it."

  "Knowing Olivia, you're probably right," he said, turning to face her and smiling.

  "So, what are we going to do now?" she asked. "I was hoping we would find a gun or at least some pills in one of these drawers, but...."

  "Well, I guess we could cut our wrists with that dull letter opener over there," he joked, knowing the knife in his pocket was sharp enough to do the job.

  "Or we could jump out the window to our deaths," Amina suggested.

  "Nah. We're only on the second floor. We'd just break our legs and make it easier for the zombies."

  "Oh, so now you believe me?"

  "I don't know what I believe," Reid confessed, "but whatever they have is contagious as hell, and it's going to suck when they break down the door and..."

  Reid stopped abruptly when they heard an explosion accompanied by a flash of brilliant light outside the window. They jumped to their feet and rushed over to see a huge fireball down Washington Street in the direction of Route 21, and it was drawing the attention of the dead as well, their silhouettes ambling toward the source in rapidly growing numbers. Amina walked across the room to the window overlooking the store to find that it was starting to clear out as the corpses stumbled back through the broken glass and into the street, and soon they realized they could no longer hear the dead outside the door.

  Then as quickly as that sound had disappeared, it was replaced by another. Someone was twisting the knob.

  "Who's there?" Reid called out as he and Amina quickly began to dress, and when he was answered by a human voice instead of the groans of the dead, they were both overcome by a joyful sense of relief like none they'd experienced before, only Reid's was tempered by guilt as this new chance at survival meant he had just cheated on his wife.

  Day 54

  Alek & Amina

  "So, they rescued you?" Alek asked Amina as they lay beside each other in her room at the Deadfall.

  "No. They didn't even know we were up there. They had been trapped in the men's room downstairs."

  "Then who caused the explosion?"

  "I don't know who was responsible for that one. It was still pretty early on, but later, because Charleston got overrun so fast, some local government idiots got the bright idea to blow up or block off every road into the city. So, maybe it was the first phase of that plan or just some random pyromaniac who gave them the inspiration for it," she said. "It was fucking stupid either way. Zombies don't need roads; cars do! We couldn't even take a boat because they set up blockades that basically herded the dead into the Kanawha River. We couldn't get near the docks. I don't know what they thought was going to happen, but all they really did was trap people like us in the city. Maybe that was their point. I don't know. I just wish they had tried to spread the word
beforehand because we didn't know there was no way out when we invested so much time and energy into a plan that ultimately proved futile."

  "What were you planning?" Alek asked.

  "The new people had come upstairs because they knew about the fenced in area just outside the office window. There was a delivery truck under the tin awning, and they were planning to soup it up to make a getaway. After we barricaded the broken window and cleared out the last of the dead, we turned the hardware store delivery truck into this really kickass vehicle that would plow right through herds of corpses. We honestly thought we were home free, but we couldn't get the damn thing out of Charleston. Reid and I ended up leaving on foot and just running from place to place most of the way here."

  "So, how did Reid lose his phone?" Alek asked. "About a week ago, a girl called us from that same hardware store saying that she found it on a corpse."

  "I guess it fell off of him when we left the store," she said. "We were never really sure exactly when he lost it. Once we got out of Charleston, we tried to find another working satellite phone but never could."

  "Was it just you and Reid after that?"

  "For a while, yeah," she said.

  "And you guys were sleeping together the whole time?"

  "No. As soon as it looked like we might survive, he felt guilty and put the brakes on, but eventually, he realized that we were falling in love. There wasn't anything he could do about it unless he wanted to split up, and since we were out on the road risking our lives every day, he just had to hope his wife would forgive him if he ever made it back to his family."

  "Of course, she would have. Plus, he had no way of knowing if she was still alive either. Anything could have happened here," Alek said.

  "Exactly what I told him, but while Reid chose to believe Olivia was alive, I had to believe she was dead. It's the only way I could make myself go on because I knew if she was alive, I would lose him as soon as we got here, and let's face it. I've lost him. I may get to sleep with him half the time, but she's the mother of his child. I'll never measure up."

  "It's not like that," Alek insisted. "Olivia isn't like that. Do you know what she did for you that first day?" Amina shook her head. "The first thing Reid was concerned about was knowing you were safely inside the walls, and once you were, all he wanted to do was make love with his wife. You can't blame him for that. I don't blame her for wanting the same, but when he tried to go down on her, she stopped him and asked if he had ever done that to you. She wasn't jealous. She was thinking that out on the road, maybe you all never felt clean enough, which was apparently the case, and when he admitted that he was about to do things to her that he'd never been able to do to you, she told her husband he should go to you first. She didn't do that for me or Reid or herself. She did it for you because you'd been out there fighting to survive while she was in here safe with me."

  "I had no idea," she said, surprised by the story. Reid hadn't told her about it, probably because he didn't want to admit that he couldn't wait to get between his wife's legs, but Amina understood what a sacrifice it was, especially now that she had experienced Reid's talents. "Well, you must be really, really good if she was able to turn him down because he's...oh, my God! He's so...." Amina's eyes rolled back in her head as she moaned in lieu of searching for the right words to describe what Reid could do to her.

  "So, I've heard," Alek said.

  Literally, he thought, amused, but it also reminded him of what Olivia was probably doing at this moment, which began to conjure images of her and her husband in the bed where he had slept since the beginning of the apocalypse. He had to push it out of his mind for his own sanity.

  "Anyway," he said, "I just wanted you to know that about her. She's really trying hard to make this work. In fact, she'd be pissed off at me if she knew I tried to sleep on the couch."

  "Yeah, Reid said he'd feel better about the whole deal if I fucked you."

  "Olivia said pretty much the same thing," Alek admitted.

  "Then perhaps we shouldn't disappoint them," Amina said in a seductive purr.

  "Is that really what you want?" he asked.

  "I've always thought you were hot, Alek, and now I have the perfect excuse to do something about it," she said, and when he hesitated, thinking she was just stroking his ego to get her way, she added, "You can call me Olivia if it makes you feel better."

  "I would never do that," he said.

  "You sure? Because I might accidentally call you Reid," she teased, making him smile and shake his head.

  "Shut up and take your clothes off, woman," he commanded, and Amina's eyes flashed with excitement.

  "Yes, sir," she breathed, and even though Olivia was all he could think about, Alek gave Amina what she wanted. As he fucked her, she couldn't help but notice how similar it was to fucking Reid. She wondered if it was something Olivia had taught them or if it was just a happy coincidence that both of the queen's men had the same techniques. Their cocks were even practically the same length and girth. It was bizarre in a deeply delicious way. She could feel only two slight differences. Alek was clearly uncircumcised, and Reid was clearly the man she loved, which made the sex somehow better. Alek was reacting much the same. It felt incredible, but Amina was not Olivia. Regardless, as long as the people they loved were fucking each other, Amina and Alek would continue to fuck when they were together. It had to be done.

  Day 54 evening

  June

  "Why do you have to go to the prison?" June demanded of Ravi as they sat in her living room after the boys had gone to bed.

  "Because I want to do my part," he said. "Don't worry about me. My shooting has gotten so much better thanks to General Navarro."

  "Ugh, don't call her that. She's just Liana," June said, rolling her eyes.

  "To you, maybe."

  "To you, too, Ravi. You're one of the original members here. You knew her when she was still sitting scared to death in the back of the limo while Olivia and Alek took on that herd coming down the hill where we picked up Jobe. In fact, you should be one of the founders."

  "I think technically, the rules state that I am now," he said with a smirk, referencing the rule about significant others.

  "You're not my boyfriend, Ravi," she said.

  "What am I then?" he asked.

  "The guy who promised me an orgasm but keeps trying to date me instead," she teased, and he laughed.

  "It's for your own good. I thought you'd be more comfortable if we got to know each other better," he lied. Of course, he wanted to be her boyfriend, but there was more to it. There was no way he was going to just carry her into the bedroom right that minute like she may have wanted.

  "Maybe I don't need it," she said, trying her hand at being seductive.

  "I disagree, and while we're on the subject, it would probably be best if you figured it out on your own first."

  "Now, you're sounding like my ex. I mean, he never cared if I had an orgasm at all, but if I was going to, I damn sure would have had to figure it out on my own."

  "You misunderstand my intentions, dear lady," he said, scooting closer to her on the couch and looking down into her eyes. In the dim light, his irises were as black as his pupils, and the faint scent of a masculine body wash filled her head with excitement as he spoke. "When you're just lying back allowing me to worship at your altar, it will be different and so much better, but first, I think it would be good if you try using your fingers or a toy because when you fall in love with me I want it coming from your heart, not your clitoris." He leaned back, a satisfied grin on his face, and she giggled because she didn't know what else to do.

  "We're not falling in love, Ravi," she insisted.

  "You just keep telling yourself that, lady."

  "Besides," she said, swallowing hard as she forced an uncomfortable confession out of her mouth. "I've already tried it, but I can't make it happen."

  "Tell me more," he urged her. "Are you sure you're not just giving up too soon?"

&nbs
p; "I don't know. I don't think so. I feel like...like I just hit a plateau and can't go any further," she said shyly, embarrassed to admit this to him but somehow emboldened by his presence. There was something about this cocky, younger man that made her want to please him even if that meant divulging truths she wouldn't even share with her closest friends.

  "When that happens, what do you do? Do you keep trying the same thing or do you vary it?" he asked. "And what are you thinking about when you try it?"

  "Ummm..." she trailed off, not wanting to answer that last question; it wasn't something he would want to hear. As her eyes avoided his, focused on a random spot on the opposite wall, Ravi smiled because he knew the answer already. It was Alek, but he also knew that his face would soon replaced Alek's in June's fantasies.

  "Come here," he said, patting his thigh, and hesitantly, June moved to sit in his lap. He positioned her so her legs were spread, then he pulled her head back against his shoulder. He pushed her long, cotton skirt inward until it showed the outline of her thighs and wrapped his hand around hers from behind, extending two fingers to work with. Slowly, he began to tease her through the fabric with her own hand as he whispered in her ear.

  "You're letting yourself get stressed over this, June. I want you to relax. Clear your mind of all your worries, then focus only on the thing that turns you on the most. It doesn't matter what it is, who it is, how wrong it is. It's just a fantasy, and no one but you will ever know, okay?" She nodded as she leaned against him. "Good. Now, I want you to start off slow at first, and just let your body tell you when you need more pressure or speed."

  He began guiding her, following nonverbal cues that she wasn't even aware of herself, and June realized that she had never felt so turned on in her life. As always, guilt started to seep in, but she forced herself to block it out because like Ravi said, no one would ever know what was going through her head. She allowed herself to get lost in the fantasy, then she heard a moan escape her own lips and froze.