Love in the Time of Zombies

by James, Jill

  Like magic, the rest of our clothes were off and flung across the tent. Our sweat-slick skin slid together until his hardness found the wetness between my thighs. Heat engulfed me as he thrust inside. Warmth built with each glide back and forth, until molten heat filled me. My legs tightened around him. I never wanted to let go.

  Our groans filled the tent as we came together. He collapsed on top of me for a second, before he turned to fall on the mattress, keeping his arms about me. We snuggled as a breeze found its way through the mesh window at the back of the tent. It faced away from everyone, so I could leave it open for air and light.

  His fingers tangled in my hair as he swept it back from my eyes. He gazed at me and I saw something other than satisfied lust in his eyes. His next words confirmed it.

  “I could stay right here forever.”

  I swallowed deeply, dryness coating my throat. Thinking the same thought was not like saying it aloud. “There is no more forever. You know that, right?” My heartbeat was racing, thumping hard. “We don’t even know if there will be a tomorrow.”

  His hand slid down and cupped my cheek. “There will always be a tomorrow. The sun will rise. The sun will set. The Earth will go on spinning.”

  I tried for lightness. “The sun could go supernova or something. Like they used to show on those Discovery Channel programs.” My voice hitched to a stop as the twinkle left his extraordinary greenish-brown eyes.

  He grabbed my hands, massaging my fingers. “Don’t do that, Em. This isn’t about me getting my rocks off. You are more than that.”

  I pulled my hands back and covered my breasts with a blanket. “I don’t want this to mean more than that. Just sex. Can’t you understand that? There is no future. Not for us. Not for the world. Not for anyone.”

  Seth moved closer until I had to stop or fall off the mattress onto the rooftop. His fingers grazed my chin and raised my face. The warmth had returned to his eyes.

  “There used to be a saying when I was younger. There are girls you fuck and there are girls you marry. You, Emily Gray, are not one of those just for fucking.”

  He laughed; his head thrown back and a twinkle in his eyes. “You should see your face. I’m not proposing marriage or anything close. But you are better than a one-night or several nights stand. You are special, Emily and I’d like to be with you until one of us doesn’t want to be. Can you do that?”

  I dropped the blanket and launched myself at him. We fell backward on the mattress. Tears filled my eyes and dripped onto Seth’s face. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”

  ♦♦♦

  Dawn broke and the sun rose over the Streets of Brentwood. Commander Jack Canida rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. He hadn’t gone to sleep yet. The news continued to filter in from Concord Hospital and Jed Long, the ham radio operator there. Survivor camps were continuing to fall all over Concord and Pleasant Hill. One by one, they were calling for help over the static-filled airwaves, and then falling silent. Jed mentioned the squeal on the radio from each location but damned if Jack knew what it all meant. His MOS in the army had been artillery, not communications.

  He looked up when Paul Luther entered the communications trailer. A nod and he turned back to where Beth was delicately turning knobs to find one of the small communities they talked to each week for an update.

  “Sunvalley, come in. This is Streets of Brentwood. Sunvalley, are you there?”

  Jack’s fists tightened at his sides. The Sunvalley group was bigger than their own. Over five hundred people were using the mall roofs of the shopping center in the heart of Pleasant Hill. He’d visited there once in the early days to set up communications between the groups.

  “Streets of Brent—wood. This is Sun—ey. You’re breaking up. We are having trouble reaching several groups here. College Park is off the dial. Nothing but that low hum we are getting all over the airwaves.”

  “Sunvalley. Please describe the hum.”

  “Streets group, it is a low-level squeal. Comes and goes on the dial. High-pitched. Sets my fillings to aching,” the voice laughed.

  Jack looked to Paul who just shrugged. He leaned over Beth’s shoulder. “Try to get the College Park group.”

  She turned the dials to the setting on her piece of paper. Nothing there, but the static and the low hum. Beth rubbed her cheek with the heel of her hand.

  “It does make your fillings ache. I’ve only got the one, but it’s like biting a fork when you eat.” She shuddered. “I hate that.”

  “Keep trying, Beth. Go down the list and mark who you reach and who you don’t.”

  He tapped Paul’s arm and jerked his head. They both stepped outside of the trailer. The stairs creaked with their weight. Jack moved away from the trailer and Paul followed.

  “I don’t know what to think. Do you think we’re seeing an influx from somewhere else? Walnut Creek, or further out, Danville maybe?”

  Paul scratched his chin. “The groups have been reporting low numbers of zombs. A small group here and there, same as we are. Nothing like a horde big enough to take on a well-armed group of humans. You think they got out of San Fran? Swam across?” Paul laughed and stopped abruptly as if at the thought of zombies being able to swim.

  Jack shuddered, a chill running up his spine. “Swimmers? Damn, that is all we need. They’ll be floating down the San Joaquin and running over Antioch in no time.” If a whale could do it, why not zombies?

  He stared north, as if he could see through the buildings, across the short distance to the river north of Antioch. He ran numbers in his head. Only a little more than ten miles by car separated Brentwood from the river. If the creatures got out of downtown Antioch and hit Highway 4, they could be in Brentwood in a couple of hours, even shambling along.

  “We need someone to run recon by the river.” Jack turned to Paul. “Do you think the way is open enough for Seth and his truck?”

  Paul stared over his shoulder. He turned. “Speak of the devil,” Jack whispered.

  ♦♦♦

  Goose bumps rose up on his arms. Like someone stepping on his grave, his mother would have said when he was little. Seth stared at Commander Canida and his buddy, Paul. They had grim smiles on their faces that promised anything but a happy day.

  Sweat formed on his hand, the one holding Emily’s. He tried to pull away and she gave his fingers a squeeze and held on tighter. Tension seized his shoulders. As if his mother knew what he’d been doing with Emily. He stood taller and strode to the men’s side.

  “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

  Paul stepped back and Jack slid his hands to his back and assumed parade rest.

  This was official Streets of Brentwood business. He took a deep breath and relaxed. Has nothing to do with Emily and me.

  Jack coughed and cleared his throat. “We need you to drive down to the river in Antioch and see if we have a problem with floaters or swimmers. This isn’t an order, just a request. But we think you have the best chance of making it with your truck since you make runs all over the area.”

  “And I’m not a member here, so I’m expendable?”

  The commander stepped back as if Seth had yelled instead of the soft voice he’d used. “I’m sorry, Jack. That was uncalled for. Of course, I’ll check out the river for you. Anything else?”

  “Yeah, Seth. I’m sorry, but we really need you to run to the Concord Hospital. We’re hearing some disturbing things.”

  Emily spoke up. “Do you need me to leave?”

  Seth pulled her to his side. “No. I’m sure this concerns all of us.”

  Jack nodded. “It does. I don’t want this spread about yet, but the camps and groups in Concord are falling off the grid. Communications are going black. The people at the hospital are vulnerable. I don’t need to tell you that, Seth.”

  No, he didn’t need to be told that. His mother was there, oblivious in her coma. With one arm, he squeezed Emily closer to his side.

  “I’ll check out the river, check in,
and then I’ll head to the Concord Hospital. I’ll take Emily with me.”

  She jerked away from his side. “Excuse me. You’ll take me with you? Whether I want to go with you or not?”

  Jack and Paul coughed and looked away. “I’ll leave you two to it. Just let me know when you’re leaving so we can discuss radio frequencies,” Jack added and the two men walked away.

  He looked at Emily. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if you wanted to go. I figured it didn’t matter if you stayed, anyone can do your job, and you could get away for a while.”

  If anything, her look had gone from angry to pissed off in the second it took to get out his sentence. What did I say? He ran his fingers through his hair and fiddled with his lucky shamrock earring.

  “I don’t need to get away for a while,” she threw his words back at him. “This is my home now. I have a job to put down zombies and I do it damned well. I’m not some arm candy to make you look good, Carl.”

  Her cheeks flashed bright red and she looked away. “I don’t know where that came from. I’m so sorry.”

  Seth stepped closer and caressed her shoulders. “I’m not your husband. I just thought you might like to go somewhere else for a while. Spend some more time together. Guess I was wrong.”

  Her head came up and her eyes flooded with tears. “Guess you were,” she whispered, pulling back.

  He shrugged. “I’ll get my stuff and get out of your way, then.”

  Not looking back, he left her standing there.

  Chapter Eleven

  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death,

  and Hades was following close behind him.

  — Revelation 6:8 King James Bible

  Concord Hospital

  Concord, California

  General Martin Peters rode in the reinforced Jeep, the behemoth of an armored school bus casting a shadow over the smaller vehicle. Speakers mounted on the bus’s roof broadcast the drone signal. The sound had numbed his teeth miles ago. The high-pitched whistle barely noticeable after the hours spent listening to it except for the incessant throb at the base of his skull. He’d have a headache tonight. But it would all be worth it.

  They’d rounded up the undead as they traveled. Captain Gomez set the signal to repel the horde before them, rolling along slow enough so they didn’t run over the slowest shambling creature. A journey that in the past would have taken an hour, maybe, now consisted of most of the day to travel a simple twenty-five miles.

  Martin cracked his neck, moving in his seat to get the kinks out of his back. They’d spent last night on the freeway, just before the city limits. Antonio set the speakers to a tone that put the zombies into a swaying stupor, and he and his men slept like babies for the first time in a long time.

  He wanted to hit the hospital in daylight. He wanted the people to see him coming. He wanted them to know he was King of the Zombie Horde.

  They’d hit the mall last, hitting a small strip mall and a community college first to see how it went. It had gone like clockwork. The zombies swayed in their stupor and his crew fitted them with suicide bomber vests. He growled. The only good thing to come out of the years of the war on terror was thinking like the terrorists. And you didn’t even have to promise these guys seventy-two virgins.

  Not since the plane crash of ’85 had the mall sustained such damage. The zombies piled on each other against the walls, pressing the front row into the cement barrier. Martin had pushed the detonator button and laughed as rotting body parts and bloody debris rained down on the parking lot. The whistle drove the zombies further and further into the building like lemmings off a cliff. More explosions rang out and the roof collapsed, taking zombies and humans with it. His men shot anything left moving, stumbling out of the debris dust cloud.

  Now they sat up the road from the hospital. He got out of the Jeep and stared at the sun. They had a few hours until sunset. Plenty of time to take the hospital, get a few doctors or nurses for the compound, and all the drugs and medical supplies they could carry.

  Antonio walked to his side with Tanya in tow. His fingers itched to touch her. He fisted his hands at his sides as the man started talking and his wife hung onto his arm. He pushed down the growl in his throat. The bitch knew exactly what she was doing. Her smug smile said it all. She thought she could have her husband and string him along on the side. No damned way. Antonio was going to have an unfortunate accident as soon as his usefulness died. When it happened, he’d make the bitch watch. He’d take her right there, before her husband’s corpse turned cold, or turned undead. He hadn’t decided which yet.

  He grabbed the binoculars Antonio held out and scanned the building.

  “The western wall would be the easiest to breach. Looks like offices and stuff. It’s the one with the Dumpsters parked up against it.”

  “I know which way is west,” he huffed, with a quick glance to the sun.

  He stared through the binoculars. “I only want to take out a small section. Then we send in the creatures on fire and have the whole hospital in a panic. We might lose some, but we’ll round up most of them and sort out who we need and kill the rest.”

  “Just because they aren’t doctors or nurses, doesn’t mean we don’t need them,” Antonio stuttered. “There could be cooks, repairmen, or someone we need. We’ve lost many men to the zombies.”

  Martin lowered the binoculars and glared at his captain. “I don’t need to explain myself to you. All you have to do is follow orders. We have too many mouths to feed now as it is. Inventory says we have three months tops before we start rationing or starving. This trip has been to see if we could take something as big as a mall. After that demonstration at Sun Valley we should take this hospital like a walk in the park. Then we strike at The Streets of Brentwood group. That location is an over-ripe plum waiting to fall in our hands. Along with everything else Brentwood has, food, water, and women, we’ll be sitting pretty when winter comes.”

  Tanya glared at him out of her husband’s line of sight. He’d known that last remark about women would get to her. He had orders for the woman as well. “Mrs. Gomez, I want you to be in charge of Miranda.”

  He pulled a leash from his pocket and handed it to Tanya. “Stay close to the bus and keep an eye on her. She’s been trying to run away lately, and I’ll want her later.”

  Tanya snatched the leash out of his hand and stomped off. Beside him, Antonio cleared his throat. “Don’t say a word. You could still work your machine minus a tongue. We all have our jobs to do. Miranda’s is to keep me happy. Yours is to direct the horde. Let’s get to it.”

  Antonio did his job well, albeit with shaking hands. Martin smiled. Good, remember who is in charge here. He stood beside his captain, keeping one eye on the control board and the other on the advancing horde.

  Row after row of undead advanced on the hospital. Their nonexistent perimeter of piles of dirt and cement blocks fell in mere minutes. The few outlying guards were overwhelmed by rotting flesh, and then turned quickly to join the horde. They doubled their numbers in minutes.

  He stared as a man had his arms ripped off, only to rise a moment later to shamble in the direction of the building. All this power was his. He would own California before next summer. Straightening his spine, he jammed his hands on his hips. Hell, the whole North American continent could be his.

  Explosions rocked the area as the first wave reached the wall. More and more undead piled against the cracking wall until it collapsed, taking the first group with it.

  “The fire zombies next,” he ordered Gomez.

  The man’s fingers danced over the controls and the horde stood still yards from the fallen wall. Peters’ men rushed forward with torches and lit up the swaying zombies. Antonio’s fingers flew to set the undead, now aflame, moving toward and then inside the hospital.

  Panicked screams rose above the moans of the undead menace. Martin bounced on the balls of his feet. Soon! He glanced at his watch and returned his g
aze to the hospital. Flames crackled as curtains flared on fire. Live people streamed out the doors, clothes on fire. They fell to the ground with whimpers. The creatures fell upon them and soon they rose to join their undead brethren.

  He lifted the bullhorn. “This is General Peters. Surrender and you may live. Resist and you all die.” Faces appeared at the windows on the upper floors. “You have minutes to live before the zombies reach you.”

  Clicking off the bullhorn, Martin turned to Antonio. “Make them stand still so the men can move in.”

  Antonio did his stuff and the undead stopped in their tracks, swaying to music only they could hear. Martin waved his arm and the men moved in. Screams erupted from the building. He smiled. The zombies were still not moving. His men were having their fun. He would give them a couple of minutes, and then he was going in to pick who lived and who died.

  ♦♦♦

  Jed Long’s fingers twisted the knobs on the ham radio. Nothing came in except for the barely audible screech on all frequencies. A few moments ago, an explosion had rocked the building. Plaster dust had fallen on his head and the radio. He’d looked outside to see hundreds of rotting undead swarming the hospital, more than he’d seen since the Z virus struck months ago. The far western end of the building collapsed on the horde.

  The pieces were falling into place. He rushed to the window again and gazed down on an army of zombies just standing in place. His ham radio hummed. Grabbing a recorder, he held it to the speaker and pushed the record button.

  The smell of smoke wafted up to his room just as the door slammed open, hitting the wall behind, and slamming shut again. Dr. Shannon Drake stood there, gasping for breath, tears running down her face. Screams echoed through the hospital.