by SM Olivier
“I think we should call him Goliath,” I stated as I ran a hand over the massive head of the black beast that had taken residence between our bucket seats.
“Goliath was arrogant and got taken down by a mere boy,” Axel scoffed.
Axel tried to act dismayed when the black, seventh month old pitbull and Neopolitan Mastiff mix had chosen me. He immediately called him a horse and informed me he would not be cleaning up after him. But as the miles passed, I observed him reach down and pet him several times.
I had taken Duke’s advice, letting the dog choose me. Formerly named Prince, the black beast had picked me. I knew immediately he was mine and I was his. Despite being an older puppy, he had no issues following us out to the vehicles and had immediately jumped into our van without any urging.
“Then you come up with something better,” I challenged him.
It was strange, bantering back and forth with Axel. It was almost like we were a real couple. Around the others, he still behaved a certain way, but when we were alone, he slipped back into the man that had seduced me on a couch in the back of a pharmacy.
“Deogee,” he replied with a straight face.
It took me a moment to let the name roll around in my head. “Ugh, no!” I slapped at his arm playfully. “Seriously? Who names a dog, D-O-G? Could you get a little more creative?”
He smirked at me. “What? I like it. He’s a dog, and I think Deogee fits him.”
I rolled my eyes at him and drew my legs up to my chest, hugging them to me with my arms. I noticed his appreciative gaze on my legs and couldn’t help but feel…pleased. Even with my “war wounds” from last night, he was checking me out!
Liza had insisted that even though it was the zombie apocalypse, I could still look cute, and I secretly liked feeling more womanly. She had given us a large canvas bag full of cute clothing. Nothing practical, but I was sure I could find some time to wear them.
Currently, I was wearing a pair of light jean cutoffs with frayed ends, and a black off-the-shoulder crop top that showed a decent amount of my tanned midriff. She’d also given me a fitted, lightweight leather jacket. On my feet was a pair of black gladiator sandals.
At the women’s insistence, I had even left my hair down. It had been some time since I’d felt so feminine. It was all well worth it, though, whenever I noticed Axel's gaze on me and all the looks that followed.
I only had one brief, awkward moment when Jules, Liza’s sister-in-law, commented on my beauty and told me I should have been a supermodel, telling me how much I looked liked the legendary Isabella Harris. Danika, Liza’s daughter, then chimed in, saying I reminded her of that girl that was on the cover of last month's Cosmogirl.
I then had to admit my relationship with Emery and my famous mother. They almost seemed starstruck, and it made me… uncomfortable. It was one thing to garner attention for my athleticism than for my looks; I much preferred to be known for something I had worked hard for than something I had been born with.
“How about Onyx?” I said with pursed lips.
“You want to name our black dog after a black stone?” he queried with a raised brow.
A thrill ran through me at his reference to the dog− formerly known as Prince− as our dog.
“It’s fitting,” I grumbled.
“So is Deogee,” he smirked. “Bane?”
I actually liked that name. “I’m not sure I want to name him after a character that was a comic book villain, but the name fits.” I smiled. “What do you think, bud, wanna be called Bane?” I asked the dog.
He looked up with his big pitty smile. He had the shape of a pit bull’s blockhead, but he was bigger and had the excess layer of skin that most Neos had.
“I think you like it, too, huh?” I grinned as Bane nudged my hand.
“How do you know about Bane? The movies?” Axel ran his hand over Bane’s smooth fur.
I scoffed. “I may or may not have gone through a comic book phase.”
He laughed. “First, a Salutatorian and now comic books.” He shook his head. “Next you’re going to tell me you were a mathlete.”
“Science club.” I sniffed.
He let out a surprising roar of laughter. “You’re pulling my leg!”
“B!” I yelled to the back.
“Yes, A?” he called back.
“What did I do in high school?” I turned slightly so I could see BJ better.
“Umm, what do you mean?” he asked as he leaned forward with a confused expression.
“What clubs, sports, that sort of thing was I in?”
“Oh.” He smiled with understanding. “Let’s see. Tae Kwon Do, Basketball, Yearbook Club, and Science Club.”
I turned back to Axel and gave him a smug smile.
He laughed once more and shook his head, then lowered his voice, leaning towards me. “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten out a geek before. Now I know why I lost the taste for pussy. It hadn’t come from the right place. I need another taste soon, see if it’s as good as I remembered.”
I felt warmth infuse my cheeks. But then my eyes narrowed as I realized he was purposefully riling me up.
I peered in the back, to make sure we weren’t being heard, then looked back at him. “JS Tacka, you shouldn’t start a war you can’t, or won’t, win.”
He smirked. “There’s a reason I was the youngest appointed Team Lead ever at twenty-four,” he said smugly. “I doubt you can beat me.”
I did the math in my head. He said he had been with the JOpS since its inception. If he had been twenty-four then, he was now thirty. He was almost eight years older than me. I had to admit the age gap was kind of thrilling.
I gave him a sweet smile. “Oh, how the mighty will fall.”
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“What are you doing?” he husked as I knelt beside our seats.
Bane had curled up at my feet to sleep about twenty minutes ago, opening up the area for me to utilize.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I asked him as I grabbed his belt and began to undo it.
He bit the bottom of his lip. “The boys can see you,” he husked out.
I had occasionally been checking in the back for some time now. I saw that Josh and BJ were getting more and more tired as the miles passed. About twenty minutes ago, we had pulled onto a stretch of country road. BJ had stretched out a sleeping bag and was currently lying on the floor between the shelves and laundry bins, his new dog curled up against his legs. Josh was stretched out on the bench seat with his puppy on his chest, the dog’s head tucked under Josh’s chin.
I may or may not have grabbed a Polaroid camera with a lot of refills from the store. And I may or may not have snapped a picture of the guys in rest. Also, I may or may not have already labeled their names on each photo and tucked them into the pocket of my new backpack.
My therapist long ago, had suggested I pick up a camera and start taking back my power. She thought if I was the one taking the pictures, I could learn to heal. Surprisingly enough, it had helped, and I actually became fond of photography.
“The boys are sleeping.” I smirked, using his word for the guys. I thought it was funny, him calling them that when he himself couldn’t be much older than Josh, and BJ was nineteen, not exactly a boy.
I unbuttoned his pants and slid his zipper down. He was already hard.
“Lift your hips, big man,” I commanded him.
He hissed out and lifted his hips slightly. I shimmied his pants down over his narrow hips, down to his thick thighs. I wasted no time in freeing his cock out from his red boxer briefs. He really was massive, like frighteningly so. I grasped the warm, smooth, hard flesh appreciating the feel of his length.
He stifled out a moan, and I knew I needed to have him in my mouth soon. I didn’t want the guys to wake before I helped him find his release and was thankful for the bins hiding me from the back. If either one of them stood up, though, they would easily see me.
I watched as a drop of precum appeared on the ti
p of the head. I wasted no time licking it, and his thighs bucked against me. I hummed in approval at the taste of his saltiness against my tongue. I continued licking him, drawing power and confidence from his stifled grunts and groans. When I felt like I had lathered him enough with my salvia, I lowered my mouth down over him.
He hissed once more, muttering my name. I continued to lower my mouth until he hit the back of my throat. I tried to open my throat up wide to accept more of him. There was no way I could swallow the whole length of him, but I was going to try. I flicked my tongue out against him.
His muffled noises let me know what he liked, and I felt myself getting wet, knowing I pleased him. I began to bob my head up and down on him. My fingers couldn’t completely wrap around him, but I still mimicked the motions of my mouth anyway. I increased my rhythm, nearly choking on him as I took him deeper.
His fingers found their way through my hair, and he began to tug gently. It incited me on ever further as I purred against him in pleasure. He muttered a curse and his legs began to shake. I felt him tense beneath the hand I had braced on his thighs.
“I’m going to come… swallow all of me, Avery. Don’t you dare waste a drop,” he commanded with a thick, raspy voice.
“Fill my mouth with your come, choke me with it,” I mumbled around his cock.
He groaned out. With fevered movements, I continued to pump him into my mouth. His shaking increased against me. I took the hand I wasn’t stroking him with and gently cupped his balls, playing with its heavy weight, applying enough pressure without it being painful. I felt his balls draw up hard and tight.
He jerked against me, made a deep sound in the back of his throat, and began to come. He spilled copious amounts of his seed into my mouth, and I swallowed down every last bit of his salty but sweet substance.
His breathing was coming in heavily. He cursed long and low as the shaking in his legs subsided. His cocked jerked one more time, and I waited a few seconds. When I knew he was utterly spent, I took one long last lick, finishing at the tip.
He let out a surprised laugh and a protest at the same time. I knew his tip was super sensitive and smiled at myself. It was payback for what he had done to me earlier. When I looked up at him through my dark eyelashes, I could see the knowing smirk on his face.
I popped up, smiling, like I hadn’t just gone down on him. “So, do you want vanilla, mocha, or white chocolate frappuccino?” I asked him, referencing the bottled Starbucks coffees I had in a cooler for us.
“Mo−” he cleared his thick throat. “Mocha,” he finally said.
“Coming right up, JS Tacka.” I gave him a saucy wink as I slipped into the back to grab the drinks.
Chapter 11
“Hey, Ax?” Josh called up in a groggy voice.
“Yeah?” Axel called back.
“I think we need to pull over.” He moved up, so now he was situated between the two seats. Bane hadn’t moved from the spot curled up at my feet. I didn’t know how the seventy-pound dog found comfort in such a tight space. “Felix keeps flashing his lights at us.”
I looked out of the side view mirror, and sure enough, Felix was turning his lights on and off. It was somewhat difficult to notice in the bright light of day. Axel sighed but pulled over.
We should have already been in Sanctuary over three hours ago. We had hit a town that wouldn’t allow us to pass through. We could have easily overpowered the little podunk civilians running the roadblock, but we didn’t want to cause any trouble. That detour had caused us an extra half an hour.
As we approached another town, Axel's sixth sense had kicked in. He thought it looked like a trap had been laid up ahead. With his past, I wasn’t going to doubt his instincts or experience.
He had decided to go around that one too. That added another forty-five minutes, at least, but we were thankful to have taken it, because we ended up getting shot at and chased after. They finally gave up as we exited the road running parallel to their town and the original highway we had been on.
It had confirmed Axel’s suspicions that the town was laying traps for any travelers that moved through their town. The car that had been chasing us down had an odd symbol spray-painted on its hood. We saw similar painted vehicles on the opposite highway traveling the other way, and they too tried to make us crash. I didn’t know what their ultimate purpose was, but it couldn’t be good.
If not for Axel’s and Felix’s expert driving, I wasn’t sure we’d have escaped unscathed. Once we had reached a safe distance between them and us after several miles, we had finally pulled over. The kids were hysterical, and we had to calm them before we could get back in the vehicles.
We ran into one other stretch of road that we chose to avoid because all the dogs started acting strangely, and we knew then to trust them. That deviation wasn’t as long, but it was time we still didn’t want to waste.
We had just left the city limits of the closest civilization to Sanctuary. It marked the last thirty to forty-minute drive to our distination. BJ had just woken up, and I could see the excitement in his eyes and feel the anticipation that radiated off him.
A feeling of excitement and sadness had been warring in me. I was excited because Sanctuary indicated safety and had so many happy memories attached to it. But I felt a deep sadness because, for the first time in nearly twenty-two years, Nana and Pop-pop wouldn’t be greeting us after our long journey. I knew their memories would linger everywhere, along with regret. I longed for Nana’s warmth and nurturing way and Pop-pop’s indulgent and wise ways.
Sanctuary was where I’d spent many summers learning a lot of life lessons, where I ran barefoot for a whole three or four weeks. It was where showers were optional and not required, and where the smell of sunscreen and sunshine clung to us like perfume everywhere we went.
At Sanctuary, competition thrived. Relays were held to see who could swim the fastest and furthest. We went fishing to see who caught the most fish and the biggest. Tournaments were conducted to see who the best shot of the summer was. It was no wonder I was so competitive.
Sanctuary Lakes Campground was the epitome of everything great about summer. Some people preferred the winters there. They had high hills to go sledding or tubing on, and the hunting was excellent. Me? I thought winters paled in comparison to the summers.
“What’s up?” Axel asked out the window as Felix pulled up beside us.
Felix looked agitated, edgy even. “Easton’s Tahoe was back at that shopping mall, along with Burn’s Jeep.”
“Did you see Amy?” Josh interrupted from the back. I turned to see his eyes wide with fear.
“No, man,” Felix answered. “They were too far away, and there was a group of infected pouring into the building. I think they’re trapped, man.”
I looked at Axel.
He closed his eyes and cursed silently. “A shopping mall? Why such a large, heavily populated area?”
Chad leaned over from the passenger side. “I smell Jade and Natalie all over this. I guarantee they went inside and the guys went to bail them out.”
“Let’s go,” Axel clipped out, his jaw tensing as he started driving again.
Moments earlier, he had been riding high from the blow job I had given him hours before. Sure, he had been irritated when we had to deviate from our original route, but he had still been in high spirits. Now his leader persona was back in place, and Axel Tacka, the man, was no longer visible.
“Shit.” Josh slapped the van floor. “Who the hell invited Jade and Natalie? The paperwork was submitted for their reassignments weeks ago! Trouble follows them wherever they go. They’re not team players, and they’ve put our teams in danger time and time again. They should have been kicked out of as JOpS long ago. I swear to all that is Holy, if Amy has so much as a scratch on her because of them, I’m wringing their fucking necks.”
His eyes were wild, and I could feel his panic rolling off of him in waves. I was surprised by the mild mannered man's outburst. I wondered if Amy w
as the girl they shared on his team, minus Cal and Joe.
“Joe’s always treated the girls differently,” Axel murmured enigmatically. “He has a soft spot for them.”
“You don’t treat Amy any differently,” Josh sneered. I knew his scorn wasn’t directed at Axel but Joe. “Maybe Joe needs retraining, too.”
“Deep breaths, man.” Axel gripped the other man's shoulder with the hand that wasn’t driving. “We’ll get them out. You forget Amy’s mine, and my boys are in there.”
My brows rose, but I remained quiet. I knew Alpha Team was currently a team of six. They had just lost their other members a few months ago to reassignment. I guessed it surprised me that a woman rounded out their team.
Axel’s comment seemed to deflate the other man’s anger. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll fix this.”
“Are our weapons loaded?” Axel asked Josh.
I had personally watched Axel reload and check the weapons before we all rolled out, but I could see he was trying to give Josh a purpose, redirecting Josh’s fear and panic. It only solidified my belief that Axel was an observant leader.
“I’ll check,” Josh mumbled.
We pulled up to the shopping mall, and from our vantage point, I could see precisely what Felix had seen. The mall was large and sprawling. It was foolish even to attempt going in there with a small team, JOpS or not. There was too much room inside for the infected to hide, and the place was too big to defend or procure any items we might have needed. Whoever had made the senseless decision to go in there had been acting irrationally.
There were three vehicles parked near one of the entrances, and already the infected were pouring through the open doors. I counted at least fifty of them filing into the opening.
“BJ,” Axel called.
“Yeah?” BJ asked as he moved forward in the van.
“The boys told me you hit twenty-two out of twenty-four shots last night,” Axel stated matter of factly. “What did you shoot in the academy?”