Chapter 2

Matt threw Kaden in the passenger seat and quickly ran around to hop behind the steering wheel. He sent Ryan an annoyed glare as he pushed into the backseat with Kylie on one side and Skye on the other. "Cash ain't gonna like this none."

"Cash ain't gotta hear about it none, you got me, Matt. Not a single God damned word or else."

"It just ain't right, that's all I'm saying."

"And you said it now, shut the fuck up and drive."

The sounds of the dead were loud. There were a lot more of them clustered around the big four-wheel-drive, pawing and slapping at the windows trying to get in.

Skye shuddered at the sight of them, their dead, cold, glazed eyes glaring at her, wanting to get to her, lusting for the taste of her flesh. She'd felt an utter abhorrence of them since the beginning and had done everything she could do to keep away from them. This was way too close for her peace of mind. Though she might have rather been out there with them instead inside this truck with these two predators. She rocked in the seat, unable to quit staring at one woman, her eyes dead, her neck ripped open. The woman was staring in the window next to where she was seated, moaning and slapping at the glass.

It wasn't that Skye was scared of them, more that they gave her the creeps. If necessary, she would kill them and not even think twice about them. She'd put enough of them down that she knew how to quickly deal with them.

Matt put the truck into drive and hit the gas. The engine roared loud enough to wake the, well, the dead. The zombies in front of the truck were sucked down beneath the huge wheels; the rest quickly fell behind bellowing their anger at losing their quarry so quickly, within minutes they would be back to their restless pursuit of finding more warm flesh to sink their rotting teeth into.

"Don't burn too much of that go-juice, Matt. It's not growing on trees, you know."

Matt grumbled some more but finally settled and let up on the accelerator. The ride was bumpy and Skye was having the worst of the problems. She still had her wrists bound behind her back, keeping her from settling into the seat. Her bra was still tucked below her breasts, to her complete humiliation. She glanced up at Kaden, her stepbrother, and saw his eyes roaming over their firm beauty.

His eyes barely glanced at his sister who was now fighting off Ryan's unwanted attention.

"You like that, baby? You like my big cock, don't you? You want to suck on it like your sister did? She liked it. She swallowed my load and slurped for more." He wrapped a hand behind Kylie's head and started to shove her down.

"No!" Skyla snarled, slamming her shoulder against Ryan as hard as she could. "You leave her alone. You said if I did everything you wanted, you'd leave them alone. I did what you wanted, now you leave them alone!"

Ryan glared. "Do you have any idea what happens to mouthy, belligerent, loud-mouthed slaves where we're taking you? We have a very special place to put them. It's not very pleasant, bitch."

"And what do they do with child molesters? Let me guess, now that the Zombies rule half the planet, you men think you deserve to rule the other half. So women, children, anything weaker than you are less than nothing now. It's like we're back in the stone-age, stuck with a bunch of Neanderthals and cretins."

Ryan laughed and reached out, grabbing her chin to hold her still. "You know, little one, I'm going to enjoy fucking the mouthiness out of you." His eyes roamed over her bound body and the nipples that he'd enjoyed torturing. "Yep, I'll fuck that sweet pussy and then your plump ass. I might take a bite out of you myself." His eyebrows rose and he leered, grinning at the look of disgust on her face.

Matt glanced in the rearview mirror. "I think that might take a while, she's been out there for a couple years. I bet she's never gonna lose it."

Ryan glared at Matt. "Who asked you, boy? I'll bet I have it fucked out of her in two weeks, easy. Give her a taste of this," he grabbed his crotch to emphasize his point, "in her ass and she'll be begging me to keep her." Ryan puffed his chest up like he was God's greatest gift to women and had no doubts he's win the wager.

"I'll take that bet."

Skye looked up, staring at Matt in the rearview mirror. She nodded and mouthed the words "You'll win."

"If you win, you can have a piece of one of these two. You'll have to wait until I decide which one I want to keep. You know the other one will have to go Mama Rosa's. Maybe they'll let you have the boy. I bet he'll clean up pretty."

"Never," Kaden stated, his loathing easily heard in his tone. "You'll never touch me like that. Ever!"

Kylie tried to reach for her twin, wanting to soothe the fear and disgust she could feel in him.

They had always had an almost eerie connection, knowing what the other was feeling or thinking, able to feel the other's pain and sorrow to the point it was a bit creepy at times. It seemed that Kaden could always tell where Kylie was with an uncanny ability that it even amazed Skye, though she'd seen him do it for years. Kylie was more able to sense his feelings even from miles away.

"We'll have to table this discussion," Ryan growled, though he reached forward and slammed Kaden's head into the heavy dash, ignoring the way both girls screamed and tried to reach him. "We have more pressing business to discuss."

"What business?" Skye was determined to protect her siblings. She couldn't let them be hurt. They had trusted her with so much for so long, she couldn't let them down now.

"The fence up there starts the border of our compound. It's the beginning of a new section Cash is constructing. You won't come close to it." He grinned down at Skye and watched as she took in the height and thickness of the wall that was going to corral her and her siblings in with the perverts like Ryan.

"We have a certain percentage we have to pay of everything that we bring in to our leader. So he always gets first pick of everything, including slaves. You three are going to have to do what he says so that he can choose. If he doesn't like either of you girls, you stay with 'Papa' Ryan."

He groaned at the thought. His hand slid down both girls' front from their shoulders down over their breasts to skim over their taut stomach. "Then I can fill these bellies. There is a huge market for breast milk. They'll pay big bucks to suck it right out of these. We'll be rich, Matt."

"But we'll drink some of it too, right from their udders?"

"What do you think we are, cattle?" Kylie tried to jerk away from the hand that was playing with her nipple through her shirt. When she couldn't get away, she leaned down and bit into the back of his hand, hard enough to make him bleed.

"You bitch!" he screamed, yanking away and shaking his hand. He balled up a fist and cold cocked the young girl so she hit her head hard against the window and went limp. He had knocked her out.

"Kylie! You son of a bitch, what right do you have to do any of this? We aren't commodities that can be used for money. We're people, same as you. Though I hate to lump us in the same disgusting ooze of shit that you're in."

Skye growled when Ryan kept her from reaching Kylie. Kaden looked over the passenger seat, his hands reaching out to touch his twin's wan face and the lump growing against her jaw. "Kaden, is she..."

"No," he growled low in his chest. She'd never heard him sound so fierce, so angry. He pulled his hand away and there was a smear of blood across his fingers.

Skye growled at Ryan. "You said if I did what you wanted you'd leave them alone. I sucked on your disgusting, rancid penis. I let you cum in my mouth, I even swallowed that shit. I did what you wanted and you hit her. That's not leaving her..."

"That bitch bit me. You really didn't think that I would keep my word. You're slaves. I will do whatever I want to all three of you. I could castrate your brother or have your tits ripped off and no one is going to say shit about it. If I decide to keep you, trust me, you'll pay for your insolence on your knees. But lucky you..." he paused for effect..."I'll probably keep her. I've had a taste of you and you—sorry to say—weren't much good at doing something simple like suckin' cock." He laughed when her heated eyes glanced over at him before returning to Kylie."

"You sure as hell orgasmed pretty damn fast for me being terrible at it, you disgusting pervert. And you're not keeping any of us, you piece of shit rat bastard. I'll kill you before you can get your fucking hands on her."

"Listen to the mouth on this one, Matt. I think we need to wash it out for her. My ears can't handle that shit." Ryan laughed again and lifted up Kylie's unconscious body, drawing up the front of her shirt and grabbed her nipple after pawing the soft mound free from her bra. He played with it, his eyes daring Skye to do anything about it.

He ducked his head and suckled the pretty pink flesh, leaving it reddened and hard. He pulled her over his lap and pushed his bleeding hand into the front of her loose jeans, growling as he cupped her pussy, pressing his finger in deep.

"So, ... I'm waiting."

Kaden started to reach back, to hit Ryan when he pulled a gun and pointed it at him.

"Sit back, boy. You mean about as much as dog shit that I'd have to scrape off my boots. Now you listen, and you listen good, the both of you. You are now slaves, legally captured, in the great expanse of the Zombie lands. You belong to our leader, Cash Nichols. He will decide how to divvy you up. You will keep your mouths shut, your eyes down and you will stay right next to me."

Kaden snickered, even though he looked pretty terrified. Skye glanced back over at him and couldn't stop the grin that crossed her face. She still managed to glare at Ryan when he growled at her. "What's so fucking funny?"

"Cash Nichols? You're kidding, right. Who would name their kid that?"

"Dirt poor parents?" Kaden whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. He snorted.

Skye coughed, trying to hide her laughter.

"Oh this is just priceless." He glared at both of them when they both fell back laughing. Kaden snorted again which made them laugh even harder.

"Priceless? Really? Fuck, this isn't funny." She tried very hard to straighten up; refusing to look at anybody as they pulled up next to a little shack like those that could be found in any number of different lumber discount stores. It sat at the front gate of the huge compound gates. There was a door that split in half and could be locked from the inside as well as the outside.

A man got up from the card table inside, leaving his solitaire game to come to the door. "Whacha got?"

"We got more bottled water and some pharmaceuticals, bandages and the like. And we got these three."

The man at the gate leaned out, his eyes ogling Kylie before he looked at Skye and seemed shocked to see her breasts exposed. She tried to hide them by rounding her shoulders then realized there was nothing she could do. Instead she sent the man a "fuck you" look and turned to look out the front of the SUV.

"Nice, you plannin' on sharin'?"

"Could be, depends upon which one and what you got to trade. You'll have to wait until I get my share out of them too. These little honeys ain't been touched. And this one, well, she has a mouth to her that definitely needs seeing to." He laughed as the man at the gate almost drooled at Skye. He leaned down and pressed her toward the open window. "Want a little taste?"

"Fuck yeah!"

"Sit up and move toward the window, bitch. Give the nice man a taste of them titties. That's right, push them right through the window."

Skye shook her head in disgust but then looked at Kylie's pale face and did as she was bid and gritted her teeth as the man plucked at her nipples. Then she felt his mouth surround one, nipping hard enough to sting. She jerked and tried to pull back inside the truck only to feel Ryan's hand pressed against the middle of her back. She wanted to fight the lips that were sucking on her nipple. They felt slimy like meat left out on a sunny window, and when he started pulling, she shivered in disgust.

"She's got some nice titties. You planning on breeding them?" The man pulled her nipples out, tugging and twisting. He grinned when as Ryan nodded. "Let me know when I can get my hands on the blonde. I always had a thing for blondes with hand size titties. Oh, Cash is going to be glad to see you. He's in the square."

"Aww, hell." He flinched and pulled back a bit. "What's his mood like?"

"Let's just say I'd hate to piss him off today. Rory earned three stripes."

Ryan whistled between his teeth. "Shit, Cash never punishes his favorites that harshly. What did he do?"

"It doesn't take much since Stella walked on him. I'm just warning you, watch your tongues. Don't provoke him."

"Thanks Jimmy. I'll keep that in mind. When I get the new rubbed off the blonde, she's yours for a night." He pointed and Matt drove slowly through the gates. Just past the main gates was another fence, this one made of wood and had sharpened spears sticking through it at certain intervals. The wooden gate slowly creaked open and the truck passed through.

There were nice houses, not mansions but close to it, in rows that were situated in blocks. The house grew thinner and then a huge square was in the center of town. There was shrubbery and flower boxes filled with brightly colored blooms. In the center, a large white fountain stood. Water flowed from three white ladies holding some kind of pitchers through which the water flowed through.

Skye stared at the water, watching as it poured out. She was almost salivating. It had been forever since they'd found water enough to get cleaned up. They'd barely found enough to drink.

Her skin almost itched to feel that water streaming over her, washing the dirt and zombie ick and whatever else had taken up residence on her body. Her eyes watered with need.

Across from the beautiful fountain, a large man was being strapped up between two thick posts His shirt was ripped from his broad, muscular shoulders, baring his tattooed arms and back to the huge man standing behind him.

That man was almost half again the size of the man being roped up. He held a terror inducing leather whip which he cracked and a glass on a table exploded to dust. He stroked the handle of his whip lovingly, sending it along the grass as if it were a living, breathing thing. Just the look on his face, the one of pure adoration, scared the bejesus out of Skye.

Skye gasped loudly.

Ryan grinned, reaching up to grab her chin. "That's Damien. He's kind of the resident ghoul, Cash keeps him around to do all the bloody work. He's something to watch when he gets warmed up. I've actually seen him skin a buck with one slash of his knife. Don't upset him. Cash doesn't like it when slaves try to run away." He stared at her turning her back to stare at Damien again. "He'd whip the flesh off your back in strips the size of your pretty little fingers and enjoy doing it. I'll take you where he keeps his practice dummies and let you watch him some time. It'll be eye opening." He chuckled as she paled.

Skye's eyes grew wider and she swallowed convulsively. Pissing Cash off, that would be one thing she would not do.

"Ah, there's Cash." He waited for Matt to park the truck and then motioned for Kaden to get out and then Skye, holding on to Kylie and sliding out of the truck, carrying her.

Kaden tried to take her from Ryan but one growled word had him stepping back. He walked alongside Skye, reaching up quickly to pull her dirty white tee shirt back over her breasts, his eyes steadfast on the unconscious form of his sister even when she whispered her thanks.

"Cash," Ryan called.

"Ahh, Ryan. Good hunting?"

Ryan walked forward and suddenly Skye could see the man sitting above the others on some sort of raised dais, like something they'd used when she'd been in choir, so long ago, almost like it was in another world.

She heard a low male voice say softly with a very melodious voice, "You have now entered the Zombie Zone, please keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times or your dumb ass might find yourself in the market for a bucket full or three of brains."

Skye snickered and glanced toward the voice and saw a handsome, young man not much older than herself standing over to the side. She stared at him for a moment, watching his eyes grow large as he noted her perusal. He shooed her along with his fingers, urging her to catch up with her party, and then Kaden called her name. She hurried forward and then looked back and saw the boy smile at her and act like he was doffing a cap. Then he turned around and picked up a bucket of water and walked away.

A very commanding voice brought her back to herself and she stepped up next to Ryan who still held her sister.

"What did you bring me?" Cash slowly rubbed two huge hands together, hands that looked the size of her mother's silver tray she always used at Thanksgiving dinner, or damn close to it. He was a big man, he was built like a lumberjack, tall, with muscle stacked on muscle, but he had a sense of being comfortable with his bulk and with his position of leader of this ragged group living large inside this compound. When he moved it was with a grace that was natural and beautiful. One look and Skye tensed.

Her heart was racing and she began to feel hot and cold shivers down her spine. She stared up at him and found herself lost in the bold turquoise blue of his eyes. His hair was dark, a rich, deep brown with golden highlights that could only come from working under the sun, and was thick and wavy to fall past his collar almost to the wide breadth of his shoulders. He wore a flannel shirt, over a dark tee shirt, and a pair of jeans that were almost obscene with the way the worn fabric cradled his c ... package. She'd never thought she'd be jealous of a denim cloth before in her life, but da-yum, with the emphasis on 'yum'.

Ryan had been speaking while she was caressing the sexy golden god on the dais with her eyes and she almost missed what was being said.

"These three were nothing but trouble, Cash. This one thought to steal our truck so we cuffed her hands behind her back."

"That's not true. You're lying! You forced me down and shoved that rancid stub of flesh you call your dick into my mouth. You made me swallow that slimy shit. You perverted asshole, you should have it cut off and shoved down your fucking throat!"

Ryan reached out, meaning to cuff her for her disrespect but quickly backed off when Cash snorted, then chuckled and scratched at the day's growth of whiskers on his chin. "Seems she's got you pegged, Ryan." His eyebrows rose as if daring him to talk back.

She would so love to scratch that square jaw for him. She almost moaned at the thought of how thick and soft it would be running over her skin and the prickle of it sweeping across her nipples, it sent shivers down her spine and her pussy clenched.

"Girl! Are you listening to me?"

Skye straightened up, and forced herself to look at the man who, she knew, would star in a lot of her hot and heavy dreams for a few nights to come. He now held their lives in his hand. She knew if she was left with Ryan she probably wouldn't live much longer and what little life was left would be absolute hell. She couldn't even bear to think of how she would be tortured and what he would do to finally kill her.

But she also couldn't let Kylie or Kaden stay with him. A terrifying sensation settled over her heart as she knew what she would have to do. A shudder shivered through her as she realized what the rest of her life was going to be like. She squared her shoulders and faced her future, no matter how dismal it might be.

This was the exact reason they'd shied away from any and all outposts and civilizations. Man had taken a huge step backward from technology as well as basic human compassion and respect. Falling victim to someone like Ryan would be horrifying. Terrifying ... but she had to do it.

"Yes, sir. I'm listening." Her tone had changed. Maybe, just maybe, this Cash would be more of a gentleman than either of their two captors had been.

"Then get your sweet ass up here." He reached into a slender sheath on his belt and pulled out a huge jackknife. For a single second, she felt a rush of panic but then he motioned for her to turn and quickly slit through the plastic zip-tie that had bruised and cut into the skin of her wrist. Blood was slowly dripping down her arm but it wasn't a wound that she would worry about. There was much more to worry about now.