A mottled lump pushed itself at my face as I back pedaled and stumbled over the trash. A battered beret was tangled in the nest of hair and bone shards that wobbled atop the dead man’s shoulders.
Little brass stars rested on the stained collar, and the hand that had been tangled in my hair had frayed rope tied around the wrist. Nothing else was recognizable; there was just a mess where there should have been a face.
The head wasn’t even the proper shape anymore. I tried not to panic, I really did. But the thought of a zombie immune to headshots totally freaked me out. I started screaming and flailing at the clumpy form.
Bits of grey and brown flew off the roundish mass. Tiny bits of broken bone and teeth sprayed in all directions, scaring the crap out of me.
Billy burst through the door and I almost missed the muffled clang of metal striking metal when I slammed the crowbar into the officer’s head again.
“What the fuck?!” Billy stopped in his tracks and stared while I pounded away at the dead soldier until it finally fell. A tiny bent and battered metal plate fell out of the ooze at our feet.
“He had” pant pant “a metal” pant pant gasp “plate in his head.” I wheezed and gasped trying to get enough breath for a coherent explanation.
Billy just stared at me for a second. Then he began to chuckle weakly. So I hit him. That just made him laugh louder. Which made me laugh. We stood in the kitchen door and laughed until we couldn’t breathe anymore.
He had a nice laugh.
“Okay. Okay, I’ll try.” I whispered and smiled at
Billy, stepping closer.
“Try what?” He asked with a grin.
“To love you.” I didn’t want him to say anything so I kissed
him.
His lips stiffened against
mine, I pulled back a little and nibbled on his lowered lip. His shoulders relaxed and as his lips softened I slipped the tip of my tongue between them and wrapped my arms around him.
Leaning into Billy’s embrace and closing my eyes I pushed all the guilt and all thoughts of Brad out of my head. It was easy to just revel in the pleasant warmth of the long drawn out kiss and forget about all the blood and pain that surrounded us.
Sliding my hands under his winter hat and tugging at his hair made him moan against my mouth and I chuckled a little as I pressed him up against the door and wound one leg around
his hips.
He picked me up and I wrapped the other leg around his waist, letting him carry me inside, never taking my mouth from his. The slam of the door closing behind us made me jump a little. He groaned and thrust his hips against mine, I
rubbed against and sucked the tip of his tongue into my mouth as he laid me down on a metal counter.
I never noticed the cold of the counter or the pain from my wounds as our clothes made a growing pile on the floor. Lust and desperation (not to mention bitter cold) made the sex quick and intense, left us breathless and panting in each other’s arms.
I lay next him, listening to his heart pounding away in his chest. Unable to make my brain focus on a single thought or formulate a coherent sentence. So I just closed my eyes and relaxed.
I woke up later, dressed and covered with a blanket. Molly was shaking my shoulder and trying to hand me a steaming cup.
I sat up and took it, grumbling and not making eye contact.
“Idiot.” Molly muttered and tossed a half empty box of condoms on the table next to me.
Crap.
“Molly, wait. It just happened! We were…” I tried to explain as she stalked away from
me.
“I know exactly what you were doing.” Molly whirled around to face me. “You were being monumentally stupid Liz! There are 18 pregnant women in the other room. Most of them will die in labor. If they last that long!” She sighed and pushed a hand through her hair.
“Liz, the world is different now. People aren’t just going to die from being eaten or shot you know. We’re going to
die of stupid shit. Miscarriages and infections. Babies will die from measles and limbs will be lost from fucking paper cuts!” Molly’s voice rose and rose until she was screaming.
“I’m a fucking NURSE! I can’t save these people! I don’t know how! And now you’re doing something that might kill you!” She sighed and her shoulders sagged, her brown eyes welled up as she looked at her feet.
“I couldn’t save him Liz. I couldn’t save him.” Molly started crying. I’d never seen her cry quite like that; I didn’t know what to say. So I just slid off the counter and held her while she sobbed. I held her as the sobs shook her whole body and she broke down completely.
Molly sobbed and choked and rambled about infection and blood loss and college degrees she didn’t have. It scared me, because she was right. She was right.
It sucked.