Chapter 1

The crack of the shot was deafening, the body fell at her feet and she jumped back, staring with wide eyes over her shoulder. "What the fu..."

"Such language..." The man laughed from a few feet away, startling her all over again. "Maybe you should keep your eyes open a bit more?" He strode toward her, his automatic weapon pointed toward the ground. Standing over the rotting, dead thing that he'd kept from biting her and infecting her with the deadly virus, he pulled the trigger one more time, his bullet blowing open the dead things head. "It's not really a good idea for a girl like you to be out here."

She pulled her pistol from the holster on her hip and searched the area. Was he alone? It was startling to think that a stranger, something that was as incredibly dangerous in this strange world they now lived in, could sneak up on her the way this one had. Living life in La Vida Zombie, you weren't given many chances.

"Th-Thanks." She tucked a lock of dirty hair over her ear. Her mind wandering to when she'd last had enough water to actually wash the oily, heavy mass. She should just hack the stuff off, but she had never had the guts. She nodded once at the man and then turned away and pulled her pack back over her shoulders.

"Where you heading?"

She pointed toward the north, keeping the safety off her pistol. Taking a step forward, she kept her face turned toward him. "Thanks again, mister. Good luck to you."

"Are you alone? Do you have a group ... a man or men?" The stranger was good looking, totally rocking the end of the world scruffy hair and thick whiskers.

Skye Black glanced around, trying to decide what to tell him. She wasn't alone, or at least not exactly. Her little step-brother and step-sister were supposed to be waiting for her, hiding out in an old school bus that still had working doors and windows. They wouldn't come looking for her unless it was an emergency. She'd been scavenging in some of the abandoned cars just a bit further down the highway from the bus.

They hadn't eaten in a couple of days and Kylie, her sweet-as-pie eighteen-year-old sister was growing weaker. She hadn't taken the whole 'zombie thing' well. She'd always been naïve and sweet, and definitely less capable than her twin, Kaden.

Kaden had been upset at getting left behind today. He'd tried to pull the 'I'm a big strong man routine'. It hadn't worked before so she couldn't think of why he'd think it would work now. She was just lucky that she could use Kylie to keep him where there wasn't much danger and they had shelter.

Skye had been just shy of eleven when her father had surprised her with a new mom. The twins had been barely nine and more a pain than the friends and playmates her father had thought they'd be. Rack that one up to being a man. Her new mom, Amanda Tanner, or Mandy as she'd bidden Skye to call her, had become more of a friend and she couldn't hate her father for surprising her the way he had.

But now, she was dragging around these United States-- if they were even called that anymore--with the two of them, responsible for their health and welfare. Even the thought now, two years after the-day-the-earth-turned-zombie, being responsible for them still sort of terrified her.

"Uh ... yeah." She left it at that. She wasn't a very good liar. Every time she tried, she always ended up flushing, growing red and blotchy. She was her very own lie detector.

"Where are they? You look hungry. Me and my partner," he nodded at the man that was coming down the road toward him. The stranger carried the exact same make and model of weapon that the first man had, carrying it across his shoulder. "We've got plenty. We don't mind sharing."

Skye stared at the man and then glanced at the other man strolling toward them, both looked well fed, well rested and clean. "We're fine," she said quickly and then blushed as her stomach decided to take that moment to growl her hunger to the world at large.

"I don't know. You certainly sound hungry. Where are your people? Should you be out here by yourself?"

"Hey, Matt. What'd you find?"

Matt smacked his friend across the shoulder, good naturedly. "Be nice, Ryan. We were just getting to the introductions. I was just asking if..." he paused so that Skye could supply her name. "Skye, very pretty name. If she had friends and where they might be."

"They're around. Uh ... listen, thanks for..." she nodded her head toward the body of the zombie he had killed..."that shit. I've got to go." She nodded to both of the men and then turned away.

Ryan reached out and plucked her hand gun from her small fingers, deftly unloading and then ejecting the clip. He tucked everything into a small pack he wore at his waist, chuckling as the pretty girl cursed at him. "Little girls shouldn't play with guns. Didn't anyone ever tell you that? And that mouth. You ever hear anyone with a mouth that foul, Matt?"

"Fuck no, Ryan, I surely have not." Without warning, Matt grabbed Skye, wrapping a zip tie over her wrists and cinching them behind her back. "Now, I'll ask again, where are your friends?"

Skye struggled against the restraining plastic before spinning around to try and run. Matt snickered and easily wrapped a thick forearm around her waist, plucking her off the ground completely and with an ease that was surprising. "What ever happened to old fashioned politeness?" he asked Ryan, making the man chuckle. "It's a simple question, Skye. Answer it or ... Well, we'll enjoy getting the answer from you."

She struggled against the big man, her starving body quickly tiring. "Please..."

Ryan reached out and pushed her tee shirt up, tucking it under her bra strap so that he could expose the slender waist and generous breasts of the girl. "Nothing we'd like more, little girl." He tucked her bra cup under one heavy globe and played with her dark pink nipple. He pinched the tip, hard, laughing as she screeched.

"No! Please..." She tried to jerk back, kicking out at him as he grabbed at her heaving mound, digging his fingers in.

"Hold still, firebrand, and I'll quit squeezing. You're going to learn to do exactly as we say when we say. It'll make your life a hell of a lot easier, sweetheart." He caught Matt's eyes and chuckled. "Of course, if you don't like easy, we don't mind being hard."

"She does have gorgeous tits, so big and round. I can't wait to get her all cleaned up so we can see what we got. I bet she's got pretty hair when it's clean."

Skye shuddered at the tone of his voice. He sounded so depraved and obsequious, so different than before, as he happily followed every word that came out of Ryan's mouth.

She sobbed, standing still as the rough man kept playing with her nipples, finally leaning forward and suckling on one dusky pink tip. "Please ... my brother and sister. They need me. Please don't hurt me."

Ryan smiled enjoying the sight of her tears. "So this sister, she look like you?"

She's just a kid." Skye felt her breasts jiggling as she tried to regulate her breathing. "They're both just kids." Panic had her pulling at her wrists even harder, trying to get away.

Matt smiled. Skye felt a sudden flash of terror and a wave of nausea flooded her, causing a red flush to stain her cheeks, traveling down her throat to cover her breasts. "I done some of my best work on 'just kids'." He nuzzled his nose against her ear. "I could have some fun with them and leave you to him," he chuckled, the sound too scary for words.