GalaxyZombicus (3 page)

Chapter Three

I must have drifted off because I woke some time later to
find a shadow standing at the entrance to my room.

“Janeece, it’s me.”

I jerked upright, smothering a scream. “Benson?”

The lights on the walkway were too dim to see his
expression, but I heard horror in his voice. I got out of bed and approached
the doorway. Benson stood just beyond the force field, his blond hair sticking
out at all angles. I thought I saw a bare spot where a hunk of it might have
been pulled out. His eyes were wide with terror.

“Benson, what happened? Are you—” I couldn’t bring myself to
ask if he’d been bitten.

He shook his head. “I’m okay. It’s just…it’s just awful down
there. Those people, they’re not…
people
anymore.”

It occurred to me that in working on a quarantine planet,
where everything was controlled, even the broadcasts viewed by inhabitants,
Benson might not have seen the horrors on the news firsthand. On the feeds,
mobs of rabid zombies raged down streets while whole cities, countries and
planets fell to the hordes. With the drugs and the monitored environments, he
wouldn’t know how quickly things could go from normal to too scary to
contemplate. He didn’t realize how swiftly a person could lose their humanity.

He had no idea what
I
would become.

“Is it really that bad out there?” His eyes searched my
face.

My shoulders slouched. Not long ago I’d been thinking about
how good the two of us would feel together. Now I’d been dragged back to the
worst day of my life. Of course I’d seen the news feeds as well, but I really
hadn’t
believed
it could happen to me. Until, of course, it had. “Yeah,
it’s bad out there,” I admitted. “Probably worse than it is downstairs.”

His eyes had lost that shadowed look. We all did that. Once
we got past the initial horror of it, all we thought about was how to survive.

“I had no idea. I thought things were rough downstairs. We
hear stuff, you know. But I hadn’t seen…”

“I know.” I’d watched the virus creep across the planet. Via
the news feed, I’d seen it breach my country’s borders. I’d heard rumors of the
first cases hitting the city. But until that night at the club, I really hadn’t
seen
, either.

The screams from downstairs had stopped for the most part,
with the occasional loud moan or shriek echoing up the rock face. But
management had clearly released the guards back into the rest of the facility.
I reached out a hand to Benson, missing the force field but feeling its power
vibrating the air around me. “Do you want to come in?”

He nodded and lowered the field. “I shouldn’t be here. I
need to do my rounds.”

I peered out into the walkway. The curious faces from
earlier had gone back to their beds, realizing there wasn’t anything to see.
“It seems quiet enough out there.”

He glanced down the hallway. When he turned back, some of
the shadows had vanished from his eyes. “It
is
quiet.” A slow smile
crept across his face.

I smiled back. “So, you coming in then?”

“Shh,” he said, stepping into my room. He offered me his arm
and together we walked to the bed, sitting down.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered as his lips
brushed mine.

“I shouldn’t either.” That wasn’t entirely true. I wanted
nothing else than to be here with him to explore the growing lust between us.
The fact that time was running out for me was very much on my mind. Still, I
didn’t want to do anything that might ruin Benson’s career. Or even worse, turn
him into something like myself.

It was common practice in the galaxy to inoculate against
sexual diseases during puberty. I’d also recently had my yearly shot to protect
me from pregnancy, so at least we didn’t have that to worry about.

I stopped thinking about
shouldn’ts
and other worries
when Benson’s mouth pressed to mine. I tasted the tang of alien and exotic
spices. They mixed with the heady scent of his soap, which conjured visions of
lush forests and made me long to visit the planet that spawned such an alluring
aroma.

Benson kissed me softly at first, then with growing heat.
His tongue parted my lips and slid inside. That gentle intrusion brought to
mind a stark image of what he could do to other parts of my body. I arched
against him, demanding more. He responded by running his hand up over my rib
cage until it closed on my breast. I suppressed a moan as his fingers teased my
nipple through my shirt. The friction from the material brought it to a hard
peak and tingles rippled all the way to my sex. I couldn’t stop a soft sigh
from escaping.

This time I intended to give as good as I got. My fingers
strayed to the clasp of his loose pants. The button popped open and my hand
slid inside. Benson groaned softly and I felt the vibrations against my mouth.

My fingers closed around his thick erection, bringing
another stifled sound to his lips. He pulled away from me and glanced out into
the walkway. Nothing moved. The lights had long ago dimmed for sleeping.
Whatever had been going on downstairs had ended. Silence reigned in the
facility, broken only by the sound of another guard’s footsteps on some floor
down below.

Benson reactivated the force field with the palm-sized
device clipped to the waistband of his trousers, effectively locking us in. He
kicked off his boots and we reclined, pulling up the blanket to hide us from
view.

I shimmied beneath the tent formed by the material. Benson’s
hands seized the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head. I returned the
favor by yanking his shirt from his waistband and undoing the buttons. His
fingers seized my trousers and tugged. The fabric stretched, allowing him to
pull them off, my panties going with them.

For a moment he stared at me in the dimness, his gaze moving
over my body, drinking me in. No one had ever gazed at me with such hunger. I
bit my lip as I imagined what that desire would feel like unleashed and
smothered a gasp as his hands began to follow the path his eyes had taken.

His calloused palms slid over my breasts, bringing the tips
to attention once again. I arched my back as those teasing hands continued
down, mapping the contours of my hips. He lingered there for a moment, making
me wonder what he’d do next before sliding a finger between my folds to tease
my clit. Slowly he circled the sensitive nub while I writhed on the bed, trying
to stifle moans of pleasure. I felt that delightful tension wind tighter
inside.

But I didn’t want to come that way. I wanted to feel all of
him against me, within me. It didn’t seem fair that I was completely unclothed
while he still had his pants on. It took every ounce of control I had to pull
away long enough to bunch my hands in the material of his trousers and yank
them from his body.

Once freed, Benson rolled to claim the top. His weight
pressed me against the mattress just as it had in my fantasy. I thought of how
that fantasy had concluded and I moved eagerly against him, positioning his
hard erection at the juncture of my thighs.

“Janeece,” he murmured. He gave me another of those
demanding kisses. Then he moved slightly and I felt the broad head of his cock
nudge my entrance. I angled my hips, taking him inside.

Gods, he felt good. He was larger and warmer than anyone
else I’d been with. And with everything that had been happening, what with the
zombies and lockdown and all, it’d been a long time since I’d gotten any.

He rolled his hips and the movement touched every sensitive
place inside me. Demanding more, I circled his broad back with my arms, hauling
him closer as we rocked together, trying to move as quietly as possible and not
make any noise that might bring another curious guard to our door.

My body clenched, anticipating the rush of pleasure sure to
come. Benson moved faster, thrusting hard, his hand moving to my clit, and I
wrapped my legs around him to press him even deeper. He uttered something in
his own language before stiffening. Those fervent words brought me to the crest
of my own pleasure and I tumbled down into my release.

We lay together beneath the blanket, trying to get our
breathing back to normal. Benson pulled away slightly and smiled down at me in
the gloom. “That was amazing.”

“Amazing,” I echoed. I wanted to ask when I’d see him again,
how many times he thought we could get away with this illicit activity before
we got discovered. But before I could say anything, the shift-change claxon
sounded out in the hallway. The night was drawing to a close. The day shift was
getting ready to take over.

With a regretful sigh, Benson reached for his pants. “I have
to go. If I don’t swipe out they’ll think something happened to me and come
looking.

I stretched against him. “You’d better go then. If you’re
caught, it’ll mean the end of all…this.”

That made him laugh. “Wouldn’t want that.” His lips brushed
my forehead before he pulled away to get dressed. He gave me one last lingering
look before heading to the entrance of my room. “See you later,” he whispered.
I heard the
zzzt
of the force field deactivating then reengaging,
followed by Benson’s footsteps disappearing down the walkway.

I turned over and pressed my face into the pillow that still
smelled like Benson.

Who knew my life would get
better
after I’d become a
zombie?

* * * * *

I slept like the dead, pun intended, until they roused me
for another round of tests. Just thinking about my time with Benson the night
before made all the blood drawing and needle sticking bearable. No one said
anything about a cure being imminent though I don’t know what I was hoping for.
Maybe that five minutes after I’d arrived, one of the scientists would go
running through the place screaming, “Eureka, I’ve found the cure!” And then
we’d all go home.

Still, my depression lifted a bit. The shock of being bitten
was at long last wearing off, and while I should have felt despondent about
possibly spending the rest of my life in this facility, instead, hope soared
inside me. I’d come to the end of the road and found a friend and a lover.

After the needle poking, we were released into the
recreation bay. An array of exercise machines fancy enough to rival those in
the best gyms stood at intervals around the room. Security personnel stood just
inside the doorway, but other than a couple of bored-looking guards we were
pretty much left to enjoy our leisure time.

The yellow-skinned woman was busy running on the treadmill.
I waved, but she was working out too hard to maintain a conversation. I decided
to work the leg press. Thighs were my trouble spot. I hadn’t really given them
much thought since I’d been bitten, but after last night I figured I’d better
get back to my regimen.

The red-furred woman, who I now knew as Gryl, sat down at
the machine beside me.

“Hey. Missed you at breakfast,” I said in my best attempt at
the galactic trading language. We all spoke it with varying proficiency. We
learned it in school. If you intended to go into business of any kind, you
needed to know it. And it was useful if it was the only common language you
shared.

“Hi,” she said back tiredly.

I had to admit she didn’t look herself today. Her normally
glossy fur was matted and dull. When her gaze centered on me, I caught a flat,
lifeless look.

“You okay?”

She shook her head. “Feeling down today. It’s this place. I
can’t bear the thought of living here for…” She shrugged. I guess she didn’t
want to say “forever”. Or “the rest of my life”.

“Have you talked to medical? Maybe there’s something they
can—” I stopped talking abruptly.

In the blink of an eye, the expression on her face had
slackened.

Just as quickly, her blank gaze took on a predatory gleam.

I got up slowly from the leg press and started edging away.
I looked quickly beyond Gryl, in the direction of the guards at the door. They
appeared to be engaged in an animated discussion. Likely the galactic games
that had begun the night before. They didn’t so much as glance our way.

“Um, guys?”

Gryl lunged.

I jumped backward, falling over another exercise machine.
Still no attention from the guards.

The normally friendly expression had vanished from my
assailant’s face, replaced by a feral sneer. Her teeth parted. Claws extended
from the tips of her fingers. I frantically tried to scramble away.

She perched for a moment on top of the machine nearest me,
her teeth snapping together.

Just because I couldn’t be reinfected didn’t mean I wanted
to be eaten alive. I screamed. Loudly.

That finally captured the attention of the guards in the
doorway. One drew a weapon and fired.

The beam caught Gryl mid-leap and she collapsed in a heap
mere inches away from me. Her limbs twitched. It didn’t seem as if the blast
would hold her long.

The guards raced toward us. With calm efficiency, they
shackled her arms and legs before one pulled a muzzle from his pocket and
snapped it on over her head. Awareness had apparently returned to Gryl, because
she thrashed her head back and forth, trying to dislodge the muzzle or perhaps
bite the guards through it.

As they dragged her away to the bowels of the facility, I
realized I was shaking all over.

For a long moment no one did anything. Everyone pretty much
stood in place, frozen in an appalled tableau. Finally, more guards arrived to
set the exercise equipment upright again. A pair of female guards took up
surveillance at the door.

Were they just going to stand there pretending nothing had
happened?

Apparently so, because no one said anything.

I sank back down on the leg press. I couldn’t summon the
will to work out anymore, so I merely stared into space. The yellow-skinned
woman came to sit beside me.