Love at the End of the World

by Christiana Miller

  When Liam bent down and kissed her collarbone, a whisper of lips, she shook, knees like jelly, and she reached out to steady herself, hands settling on his hips. The graze of fingers on bare flesh spurred her on and she slid her fingers down, past the waistband of his jeans, and he hissed.

  “You know, I think I need more.” Her whisper echoed, and he tugged away.

  “Really? Then your wish is my command, madam.” His hands settled on the buckle of his belt, his eyes holding hers captive.

  Her mouth dried and the insistent hammer of her heart sped up.

  “Let… Let me.” She brushed his hands aside, even though her own shook madly. She’d only had one other encounter, brief and fumbled in the dark. She’d thought it was everything until now. Now she wanted it all. To see. To experience.

  Elaine’s fingers fumbled on the end of the belt, tugged, and the prong released. The belt sagged and she found the snap of his pants. It took all her concentration to pop it, her fingers unsteady.

  When she reached for the zipper he stopped her. “I don’t want to wait, but if I don’t, I won’t last.”

  She giggled, womanly power urging her fingers to move as his mouth settled on hers and feasted. The rasp of his zipper sounded. Then his arms were back, winding around her, and suddenly she felt the sag of her breasts as her bra came undone.

  With soft hands, he slid the straps down until she was bared at the top, nipples brushing against his chest, and the sensations arced, like electrifying zings.

  His mouth moved down the center of her throat and across her collarbone as he touched and caressed and kneaded, and she followed him. Sliding her hands down his back until she felt his buttocks. Hard, firm, and rounded.

  Her fingers settled on the flesh, and he whispered against her skin.

  Liam grabbed her pants and knickers and pushed them down her legs so she was as naked as he. The air teased her sensitive skin and she hissed, feeling the jerk of his cock against her belly.

  Taking her hand, Liam led her to the bed. He brushed off the boxes except for one, and with his gaze firmly on her, he opened it, pulled out a foil pack, and broke it open.

  “Put it on me?”

  Her tongue felt like it was glued to the top of her mouth. “I… I’ve never—”

  His grin widened. “I’ll teach you.” He placed the rubber on the head. “Roll it down, sweetheart. All the way.”

  Nerves jangled between her legs, and she followed his whispered instructions, rolling her hand down his length until it reached his lightly haired sacs. Liam arched up.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” God knew she’d tried to be gentle.

  He groaned. “No, but I want you so badly now, I almost exploded.”

  She giggled as he pushed her back, one hand sliding between her legs. She stilled, her body aflame for him as he touched her clit. His finger toyed, gliding in the sudden moisture before sliding inside her body.

  God, she was so wet. It was embarrassing, yet he seemed happy, eager even as he sighed and touched. “Ready for me.”

  Elaine’s legs shook as he parted them further, settled her legs over his, and leaned in. He kissed her as he slid deeply within, and she sighed with pleasure.

  He filled her to the hilt, then stayed still as if he knew she needed slow. Needed the emotion as much as the connection.

  The first move was a nudge as his hands found her breasts again, and ever so gently, he rubbed a thumb over one engorged nub. Her clit was tickled by the jutting edge of his shaft, and she shifted, sensations she’d never before known feeding the growing frenzy in her mind.

  The second thrust was harder, more insistent, and her hips moved in time, as if a rhythm only they knew determined her actions. It sucked her deeper into the well of sensuality.

  From there every action grew wilder and faster. He pulled his lips from hers and inhaled deeply as the scent of lovemaking filled the air around them, heady with musk.

  “I’m going to make you come, then again, Elaine. Because this and us? This is heaven.”

  The urgency increased with every slam home winding the pressure up. Her skin was on fire, and her fingers settled on his shoulders, holding on, needing him closer. Her legs wound around his hips, and she gave him everything. The rub of her breasts against his chest heightened her arousal, and she sobbed, “Please, Liam, more!”

  Her body pounded as her heartrate spiked, the hunger growing until it exploded around her, inside her. Spinning her into some kind of bubble where nothing except them and erotic pleasure existed.

  She felt him stiffen, heard him call out, then he shuddered in her arms.

  Her body turned soft, exhaustion filling every muscle.

  Liam collapsed on her. “Holy mother of God.” His words were little more than an awed whisper.

  “Does that mean…” She swallowed, but her mouth was dry. “Does that mean good?”

  His bark of laughter was followed swiftly by, “Better than damned good. Awesome.”

  “Good.” She closed her eyes and smiled.

  Chapter 5

  Liam had never been a morning person, so when day break woke him, he groused and turned over. Something warm was beside him. His eyes opened.

  Elaine.

  Last night.

  Warmth flooded his system. Last night had been so damned good. So very damned good. He’d never experienced lovemaking of that kind before.

  He rolled back, flinging his arms over his eyes. He was in over his head, he knew it and yet… unlike previous relationships and the one that had nearly turned serious, he didn’t feel that odd sense of panic.

  What does that mean? His emotions were certainly tangled. He didn’t want to make a mistake and not take into account the fact that they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but he also didn’t see how what he felt could be reliant on human nature demanding he procreate either.

  Confusion wasn’t a normal state of mind for him, so rather than think and mull, he got up, pulled on his jeans, and headed downstairs to make coffee. In the kitchen he drew up short when he saw Ramon filling the kettle.

  “I wasn’t going to come upstairs in case you were…”

  “I’ll have a coffee and Elaine a cup of tea.”

  Ramon gave him the ‘what gives’ look, but Liam just shrugged, for the first time unwilling to share anything about the night before. This was special. Between him and Elaine.

  “Got the consulting room set up yet?”

  He’d come downstairs to make tea for Elaine so they could begin the day. With his uncustomary chattiness first thing in the morning, he’d just betrayed his state of mind to his brother.

  “Serious, huh?” Ramon said.

  He shrugged again, and Ramon shoved a cup of coffee at him and turned back to make Elaine’s tea.

  “Normally you’d tell me she’s amazing or wonderful. The fact you’re keeping your mouth shut about the woman tells me you’re over your heels for her. She’s well thought of. The others were concerned, and Evans and Forter were heading over to check on her when we arrived at their doors. They’re worried you’re going to take advantage of her.” Ramon pierced him with a look. “So, we’re staying then?”

  The thought of leaving tore him up inside. “Yeah, I’m staying. There’s nothing for us in Queensland anymore, unless you have a woman stashed away. They need me here, and you too.”

  Ramon shrugged. “Women are in short supply right now, so I’ll wait and see what happens next. By the way, apparently there’s a school two blocks over. By my reckoning there’s enough land there to cultivate and run some stock. Evans has a brother who raises cows and sheep. He said if we could make a paddock or two safe for livestock, we could bring the brother and his extended family of nine kids, eight adults, and a good-sized herd in. They could provide meat and milk. A couple of their neighbors also arrived last night at the brother’s house. They have horses and a dozen pigs, plus more hens and roosters. We could be almost self-sufficient.”

  “H
ow did you find all this out?”

  “After you left, Evans’ cellphone rang. The others agree with the plan. They’ll be here tomorrow, so some of the men are heading over there to change the locks, fortify, and get ready. There are spare beds in the houses here, and our friends are planning the layout. We need to be quick though, collecting the medications and so on, because Mrs. Garmin and I think we could take over three of the classrooms. One for a ward, a nursery as we have two pregnant women on the way, an operating theatre and a dispensary slash consulting room.”

  “So, did Elaine get formula, nappies, and the like?”

  “No, I didn’t. But we can go back. Grab those things and toddler items, because we’ll need them,” Elaine replied as she walked into the kitchen. Liam turned and scooped up the tea to hand to her. “We can do that after we get the medical supplies. It also wouldn’t hurt to find furniture. We can scout out some of the houses nearby and see what we can find.”

  The smile she turned on him was full of emotion and he felt six-foot-tall and all male.

  “There’s a furniture store nearby if that would be better, they’ve got a babies and children’s section. If we could find a truck or something, we could set them up with everything they need. Linen too. We could also do with a couple of washing machines, because with babies, we’ll need to launder diapers.” Elaine sipped her drink.

  Ramon nodded. “Might be better to go with new, particularly because we don’t know what viruses we’ll find in any blood or body fluids.”

  “Fine, and more kitchen gear too. It was a primary school, and while there’ll be fridges, I’m not totally sure what they have in the canteen in the way of cooking equipment.” She turned to Ramon. “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be ready to go. We’ll need the utility and trailer for everything you need, and I’m guessing you have the list ready?”

  He handed it over and Liam scanned the sheet of paper with a typed list. “Good thing you printed it, your handwriting is atrocious.”

  “They teach us that in med school so no one can copy it.” With a smirk, Ramon headed for the door. “We’ll meet in twenty minutes out front.”

  * * * *

  They made quick work of the drive, but Elaine’s knees knocked the whole way. What if Mr. Eckerman was still there? She’d grabbed the keys to the office and facility and stashed them in the pocket of her jeans. They drove in the borrowed SUV into the back and she used the small remote device to lift the security gate so they could drive in.

  Only after the gates shut did they open the car doors. “If Mr. Eckerman is here, he’ll be in the office. I’ll go in an—”

  “Not alone, you won’t.” Liam grabbed her hand. “All it takes is a bite or scratch, Elaine. I’m not going to risk you.” He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, cupped it gently, and smiled. “We go in together.”

  “Okay.” She made it to the steps before she heard the sound.

  Liam moved in front of her, his hand on his hip, digging out the tiny pistol. “Stay behind me.”

  His hand was on the door before she could stop him, so she gripped it. “We can look through this window here. See if he’s in there.” Elaine pulled him along the balcony so they could glance in, then wished she hadn’t. “Oh no!”

  Three zombies were inside, feeding.

  Her gut churned, because what she saw was Eckerman, or the remains of him.

  “He must have tried to go out the front. I told him not to. He insisted we should stay here.” Regret colored her words. “He never liked parking in the back because he’d had the business name stenciled on his car.” She didn’t dare breathe too deeply because of the stench emanating from the shamblers, but she firmed her will. “Come on, we should head downstairs to the facility and load up.”

  Elaine refused to look back but said a prayer for the soul of Mr. Eckerman, then set to the task of loading the items Ramon had requested into the vehicle and trailer. They wouldn’t have everything, but they’d come close.

  It was hard work, lifting and sorting. After two hours they’d loaded the autoclave, the sterile surgical kits, heart monitor, humidcrib, lab equipment, and oxygen. They also found and added a couple of IV drip stands and some additional items he’d seen and just had to have.

  “Well, that’s almost everything on Ramon’s list. We should head past a pharmacy on our way back so we can load up.” Elaine folded the list then shoved it into the molded pocket of the car door.

  Ramon grunted his approval, and they tied everything down after covering their stash with the cloths they’d brought with them.

  Once back on the road, she drove to the nearest pharmacy. Liam sat beside her, his pistol resting on his lap. She was dismayed to see the window of the pharmacy had been kicked in. As before, Liam moved in front of her then stood sentinel as they loaded up a couple of wheelchairs, every formula tin they could find, nappies, various analgesics and bandages, dressings and sterilization gear, baby goods, and lastly medications from behind the counter.

  “Good thing you grabbed those cold boxes to throw in with ice bricks, otherwise we’d be compromising everything. Good work too on the vaccines and hypos.” Ramon quickly moved the box into the boot, wedging them firmly as they glanced outside.

  Liam muttered something unintelligible. Even though the roads were still quiet, something felt even more distinctly off than before. Then he growled, “We need to get out of here.”

  She ushered them to the door as she saw a small army of shufflers. “Oh my God. We have to get out of here, now!”

  They jumped into the vehicle, packets shoved to the back seat and into Ramon’s waiting arms while Liam aimed on the small but advancing crowd.

  Elaine gunned the engine and sped off down the road. There were more at every turn, and the liquid in her stomach felt like it had turned to concrete, the weight of it almost too much to bear.

  She drove as fast as she could into the school grounds then parked by the building they’d earmarked. Elaine was about to hit the horn when Liam shook his head. “No. We don’t want to announce ourselves to the zombies. We need to be quick, unload then head off to the next job.”

  Thankfully, the armies of undead hadn’t yet descended on this area, so they moved with speed, unloading and securing the items upstairs where Ramon reasoned they’d be best protected. “They seem to go for the weakest first, like it’s some kind of sense, so we need the sick, injured, and youngest as far away from them as possible.”

  At least they’d had help unloading. The new residents had arrived with trucks, motorhomes, and caravans, their number swelling by nearly forty adults and thirteen children, and they all pitched in.

  “Get the kids upstairs and secure the animals in the buildings that have been cleared,” Liam instructed. “There are zombies headed this way and we haven’t yet increased the security on this site.” Liam gave them his cell number, then they headed back to the community.

  Only when they were settled back in her house did the hideous pounding of Elaine’s heart slow down.

  “I’m almost out of petrol for the car, Liam. We’re going to have to secure a supply if we continue like this. And with more animals we’ll need to find feed and store it in a secure location.”

  It seemed to her that as fast as they solved problems more cropped up, and that included the added issue of housing all the newcomers.

  “Yeah, I know. I don’t have an easy answer for that.”

  She could see the worry settling on his shoulders, so she reached over and rubbed them, hoping to alleviate the tension she sensed. It all seemed so natural to her, dealing with Liam. He wasn’t like Davey, her one and only boyfriend, who’d found her confusing, as he’d put it.

  * * * *

  The meal that night was more subdued as the adults sat in one yard and the children played in another.

  Liam addressed the assembled crowd. “We need more supplies. We need animal fodder, more fencing supplies, ammunition, and gas. Also, furniture. It feels like we�
��re constantly chasing our tails and—”

  “Boy, you three have taken on a lot already. Some of us can do more.” Mrs. Garmin nodded as she spoke. “We’ve been chatting today. Jeff and Stuart can round up men to start the fencing on the main area of the school. They can also arrange for the trucks that brought the animals in to collect the fencing needed. Hell, they can even add in a walkway between the community and the school, safe enough for everyone to come and go. Most of the women are able to lift and carry and can help with collecting furniture and clothing, which we’ll be needing more of. And we’ll find other jobs for the ones who can’t. It wouldn’t hurt to lay our hands on some material and sewing machines and they may be able to sew or learn. We move on a roster, just like Elaine did for the cooking. We’re going to need people to run the show, and it seems to me like you two already have that under control. So delegate and let others go out and do what they can. Us older folk can mind the kids, dig the gardens, and plant. We could even build animal houses.”

  The men and women nodded and murmured their agreement, and Liam felt overwhelmed. They hadn’t known him from a stick a week ago, and now they declared he needed to delegate better. It’s exactly what my sergeant used to tell me.

  “All right then. But you’ll need lists.”

  Elaine was there sliding her hand over his. “I can handle that. I need to know numbers and sizes so we can plan accordingly. Get them to me in the morning and we’ll work out a suitable roster. My house is big enough that we can make it the headquarters for now, until we can arrange something better.” Then she leaned over and kissed his ear. “We’ll be fine, and they’re right, we need to have others do parts of the set up. We’re no longer the only able ones around.”

  Chapter 6

  Elaine stretched until the banging started on the door downstairs then rolled over and groaned. “Ugh, it’s barely any daylight. It’s too soon for visitors.”