Dead World Rising

by Katerina Petrova

  'You've not lost your touch,' she said with a twinkle in her eye. I laughed as I pulled her in for a long passionate kiss, she grabbed me, throwing me down on the bed. Her soft skin on mine, sent shivers down my body. Oh how I'd longed to have her, she kissed her way down my body, stopping for a moment to nibble on my nipples. I grabbed her hair, holding it a little tightly.

  'That feels so good,' I moaned.

  Her fingers slid inside me, making me even more wet than I already was. I panted feeling myself ready to let go, but then she stopped.

  'I don't want you finishing too soon,' she smiled.

  'You are evil,' I laughed. I pulled her close, kissing her with such an urgency. She wrapped her arms around me, as her breasts brushed gently over mine. I looked into those beautiful emerald green eyes of hers, to find the girl I used to know staring back at me. I smiled, kissing her. I ran my fingers down her sides making her squirm, she was still ticklish there. She grabbed my hands, pinning me down. I loved being held down by her, giving over all control.

  'I want you,' I said hungrily.

  'Your mine,' she whispered.

  'I'm yours,' I replied panting. She smiled, letting go of my hands. Nikkita slid down my body, her breasts brushing along my already tingling skin. I moaned loudly, as she tongued my clit and eased her fingers back inside me. I felt myself my body tense as it geared up release all the tension, I screamed, not bothering to be quiet.

  I woke some hours later, to find myself alone. I wrapped the covers around me as I went to look out the window. The sun had just risen, I wondered just how long I'd slept for.

  'Nikkita!' I shouted from the door.

  I heard her bouncing up the stairs, she appeared fully clothed holding some food.

  'I brought you breakfast,' she said smiling.

  'How long did I sleep for?' I asked happily.

  'You slept for almost sixteen hours, I figured you'd be hungry,' she told me.

  'Wow, I guess I must have needed it,' I replied.

  'I didn't want to wake you, you looked so peaceful,' she said as she leaned in to kiss me. 'Thanks.' She down next to me and handed me the tin of sweetcorn, I smiled brightly. She remembered that I loved sweetcorn.

  'My favourite,' I beamed.

  'Ha ha, I knew I remembered right,' she replied happily.

  As we sat eating breakfast the feelings of unease I had yesterday faded away, I still felt sad for losing everyone else, but I knew now that I belonged with Nikkita.

  'What we doing today?' I asked brightly.

  'I think we should start fortifying this place. Now that it's just me and you, we need the added security,' she replied.

  'Okey dokie boss,' I joked.

  'Come on you, get dressed before I throw you down again,' she said laughing.

  'Promises, promises,' I replied lustfully. She smiled and walked out the room, I checked in my bag that Nikkita had put under the bed. The radio Jade had given me was in there, it was in case of an emergency. I felt tempted to talk to Jade, to make sure they were all okay, but I didn't. I needed to let them all go, it would do Jensen no good to hear my voice. I threw the covers on the floor and stretched for a moment letting the sun light warm my body. I put my clothes on and headed downstairs, Nikkita was stood by the front door looking thoughtful.

  'You alright?' I asked, wrapping my arms around her.

  She turned to look at me, there was a sadness in her eyes.

  'Are you sure about this, about us? Your leaving your family behind, in this world families are hard to come by. Are you sure you want to give them up for me?' She replied sadly.

  'Yes I'm sure, I love them and I miss them, but I want to be with you. I lost you once and I'm not going to let you go again,' I told her confidently.

  'But-,' she started to say.

  'No buts, this is where I belong. More importantly, this is where I want to be,' I kissed her before she could say anything else.

  'Come on, lets get to work.'

  She said nothing, she just smiled at me.

  We got to work sorting out the castle, we made a large wooden gate at the other end of the bridge. I felt tired by the end of the day, but it needed to be done.

  'Will this hold?' I asked. 'I think we need to reinforce it a little more, but it'll do for tonight,' she replied.

  'What else needs doing?'

  'I want to put up a fence all the way round the edge of the lake, that way if any corpses wash up, they can't get through,' she said.

  'You sure are putting me to work,' I laughed.

  'I'll put you to work properly later,' she laughed.

  'I'll hold you to that,' I smiled lustfully.

  'Come on, it's time for dinner.'

  I followed her back to the castle, we sat in the large dining room. She'd put all the food we had in there, tonight's dinner was tinned corn beef with a side of tinned veg.

  'I think we should consider growing our own food, if we're going to stay here for any length of time,' I told her.

  'You're right, and I wonder if we should consider approaching other people to join us here,' I said carefully.

  'Hmm, maybe. I'll think about it,' she replied. I got the feeling that she didn't want to be around other people, I wondered what she was afraid of. We sat and ate dinner in silence, I felt full and tired afterwards. We headed up to bed, even though it was still pretty early, I wanted to be up as early as possible to get started on the other fences.

  I was the first one awake in the morning, I took the opportunity to bring Nikkita breakfast in bed, but before I could even get out of the bed she jumped up, knife in hand.

  'Whoa easy, it's just me,' I told her.

  'Sorry, I get startled easily,' she replied apologetically.

  'So much for me surprising you with breakfast in bed,' I said smiling.

  'Thanks for the thought though.'

  I told her to stay put, I went to get us breakfast but as I walked down the stairs, I heard voices from outside, men's voices. I quickly went back to our bedroom.

  'There's men outside, they might be from Nathaniel's group,' I told her urgently.

  'Grab your weapons, let's get out the side entrance,' she ordered.

  I did as she told me, feeling panicked as I ran downstairs. I heard the loud crash, that told me they'd broken the gate. We'd just got out the side door when we heard them come in.

  'They have to be here,' I heard someone shout, I listened and realised that it was Nathaniel.

  'Shit,' I whispered.

  'Come on, let's get away before they find us,' she told me. I grabbed the crossbow that I'd left just inside the door, we fled outside closing the door as quietly as we could. We ran down the hill, taking care not to fall. We ran to where the old motor boats were, we'd never tested them out but I could only hope that they still had some life in them. We reached the waters edge when I heard the voices get louder, I looked at Nikkita with fear in my eyes. If they caught us, we'd be in for a world of pain.

  'What now?' I asked her fearfully.

  'Get in the boat, and let's hope it works,' she replied fearlessly.

  We got in the old rickety boat, I told Nikkita to untie the rope that held it to the pier while I got the engine running. I pulled on the cord, once, twice before it roared to life.

  'Quick take out the other boat with your crossbow before they get here,' Nikkita told me. I nodded as she took hold of steering the boat, I aimed my crossbow at the other boats engine. I fired but missed, the boats rocking skewed my aim. I took a deep breath as I heard their voices getting nearer, I shot once more at the engine and this time I got it. I shot another arrow into the boat itself, making sure it sank.

  'Where are we going?' I asked.

  'There's an island not far from here, we'll hide there until they leave,' she smiled.

  'Oh crap, there's walkers in the water!'

  'Shit, grab your knife while I try and keep us afloat.' I felt the boat rocking as the biters clawed their way up. I stabbed one in the head, then
two while Nikkita pulled once more on the cord making the boat sail through the water. I took out another three corpses before Nikkita had to help. It was miracle that we were still afloat, between us we killed fifteen of them.

  After a few moments the boat stopped rocking, it seemed we were in the clear-for now.

  'I think that's all of them,' I said breathlessly.

  'I bloody hope so.'

  We were halfway to the island when I saw them at the waters edge.

  'I think I can take some of them from here,' I told her. 'Go for it.' There was about ten of them, including Nathaniel. With the wind whipping through my hair and now the rain pelting down, it made shooting really difficult but somehow I managed it. I took out three of them.

  'Where's that coming from?' I heard Nathaniel shout.

  'Over there, boss,' replied a tall dark man who pointed in my direction.

  'Get over there, now!' Nathaniel ordered.

  'We're here, come on we need to hide just in case they do get across.' Nikkita told me. We got off the boat and I crept to the front trees, got out my crossbow out and readied it. I could see a few of them at the waters edge on the other side. I loaded my crossbow and shot the nearest man, he was short with cropped black hair and dark skin. I didn't aim for the head, I made sure to kill him so he'd come back. My arrow hit him straight in the heart, the men around him looked confused. Before they could react, I shot another one.

  A few more men came running out of the side entrance.

  'There's no one inside,' one called.

  'There's people on that island, get your arses over there,' he shouted. About four men attempted to swim the lake, it wasn't all that far to the island but the waters were teaming with corpses, I knew they wouldn't make it. I saw that two of the men that were now waist deep in the water, one of them had been pulled down by walker. The other raced back to shore, I smiled knowing there was nothing they could do to get to us.

  'We can't get across boss,' the tall dark man said.

  'We'll have to go back home, there can't be many people over there, otherwise we'd all be dead,' Nathaniel replied angrily.

  'No doubt they've taken most of the women to Sanctuary,' the dark one said.

  I watched, smiling as they turned and fled.

  'I think we should stay out here tonight, just to make sure their gone,' Nikkita said sighing with relief.

  'I just hope they don't take our food,' I replied worryingly.

  'Same here, but there's nothing we can do today.' We scoured the little island, looking for some way to make a safe shelter. The trees here were sturdy and thick, our best bet was to sleep in them, sleeping on the ground could be dangerous if any corpses washed up. We found many large branches that had broken off, we took the branches and stuck them in the ground by the largest tree we could find. We climbed the tree to ensure the branches were sturdy enough for us to sleep on, thankfully they were.

  'I don't suppose you managed to grab any food?' She asked me as I heard her stomach growl. 'No, sadly not. There must be some edible berries or something to eat on here though,' I replied.

  'Let's hope so.'

  We got to work looking for some form of food, I just hoped that when we did return to the castle that our food was still there.

  'Here's I've found these,' I said picking some clovers.

  'We've no water to boil them, but they taste alright raw,' she replied.

  'At least they'll keep us going until tomorrow,' I told her smiling. We climb up the tree and sat looking out, I could see the lake, the castle and near the front of it. The view was stunning, if someone had told me five years ago I'd be living in a castle, I'd have told them they were crazy.

  'You know, all the crap aside, we did always dream of coming somewhere like this,' I smiled.

  'Ha, you're right. I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather be here with,' she replied happily.

  I leaned in for a kiss and almost fell of my branch, Nikkita grabbed hold of me and pulled me back up.

  'You are still such a klutz,' she laughed.

  'At least I've got you to pull me up,' I said cheerfully. We cuddled together, watching as the day passed us by. I felt at home in her arms, it was as though we'd never been apart. The thought of being with her forever, made my heart swell. She was my life before all of this, and she would be my life until my dying breath.

  Chapter 8

  Jensen

  So much had happened in the last four days, we'd rescued Maggie and many of the other women, Frankie had left with Nikkita and we were all adjusting to life in Sanctuary. I couldn't get over how well supplied this place was, we had fresh breakfast every morning. There were plenty of farm animals here, that gave us our breakfast. Cows, chickens, turkey's and even a couple of pigs. That wasn't the most awing thing about Sanctuary, it was the people, the way they were with each other. While there were a few rough people here, everyone was nice. Every morning someone came to deliver our breakfast and to check on us, I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness of the people. The place itself was gorgeous, the houses well kept and almost posh looking. Our house was pretty big, there was enough room for all of us. A lovely dining room for us to sit in, plus a very comfortable plush living room. The walls were simple, but nice with pale colours in the whole house. The carpets were black all the way through, the furniture would have been new before the outbreak.

  From what I'd seen and heard, my sister had been completely changed by her time in Nathaniel's group. The things Ellen had told me, shocked me to my very core. I couldn't believe it, my sweet sister had killed people, it was she who put the idea in Nathaniel's head to kill Casey's sister. I tried talking to Maggie, but she just told me that she did what she had to in order to survive. I wanted to believe her, but something deep down told me she was lying.

  'Please talk to me, just tell me the truth,' I begged her.

  'Just give it a rest already, how am I supposed to move on if you keep going on about it?' She shouted.

  'But I'm your brother, I'm here to look after you,' I told her.

  'I don't need you, or anyone else to look after me,' she scolded me.

  'Just leave her be lad, she needs time,' Jade answered softly. Maggie ushered me out of her room and slammed the door in my face, I sighed not knowing what to do. She was my baby sister, I just wanted to help her. I walked downstairs with Jade, we sat on the sofa.

  'I know, but she's my little sister. I need to make sure she's okay, I just don't know why she won't talk to me.'

  'I know you do, but you have to understand just how much that place changed her,' she said sadly.

  'This is all just too much, with Frankie leaving and now Maggie. I don't know if I can deal with it,' I replied trying not to cry. 'You'll be alright, your stronger than you give yourself credit,' she smiled. I didn't know if I believed her, I felt like I wanted to hide away. Frankie was the only girl I ever loved, and she was gone. I knew why and I understood but that didn't make it any easier. I longed to just hold her, to kiss her one last time. But I had to move on, as Jade would say, Frankie had her destiny and I had mine.

  'Can you stay here and keep an eye on Maggie, I'm going to get some target practice in,' I said trying to smile.

  'Sure thing, it'll do you good to get out,' she beamed. There was a woman called Bridget who taught a weapons training group, not that I wasn't good at fighting but I needed something occupy my time. The training ground wasn't far from our house, I knew Tamara would be there. She'd had an instant crush on Bridget, I couldn't blame her. Bridget was a tall girl, she was the same height as Frankie. She had short brown hair, blue eyes, naturally tanned skin. She was a muscular woman with a tiny chest, she was loud and fiery but from what we'd been told, she was damn good at training people. I was surprised to learn that they actually had guns here, they'd raided an army base and took all the weapons.

  There were six people not including Tamara and Bridget, at the training ground. Two were young lads, about my age. The others were women, thre
e older women in their forties and one who looked younger than me.

  'Got room for one more?' I asked.

  'Sure lad, come on up. What do you need help training with?' Bridget asked in her strong Scottish accent.

  'I've not had any training with guns,' I told her.

  'Hold on, I'll go and get you an easy one to start off with,' she replied smiling.

  I noticed Tamara checking out her arse as she turned and walked away, I smiled and laughed.

  'Damn that lass has a fine arse,' she said, her accent coming through.

  'Trust you,' I laughed.

  'Oh come on, you can't tell me she's not gorgeous,' she laughed.

  'I don't think she's interested in my kind,' I joked.

  'All the better for me.'

  'How's everyone settling in?' I asked. I knew Tamara had been on hand to help a lot of the women who'd come from Nathaniel's compound, as daft and jokey as Tamara could be, she was damn good at helping people and lifting their spirits.

  'Most of them are alright, but some have mental scars, that even intense therapy can't cure,' she replied sadly.

  'What about Izzy, how's she dealing with Hayley's death?' I knew Izzy was having a hard time.

  When we'd gone to rescue everyone, Hayley had been caught in the crossfire. Both her and her unborn baby had died, Izzy had been hidden away from everyone in her grief.

  'I'm worried about her, she'd been off ever since we met her, but now she'd bordering on psychotic. I'm afraid she's going to hurt someone or herself,' she told me worryingly.

  'That's shit, what is everyone going to do about her?'

  'At the moment she's still in the hospital wing, she's in a room by herself. But Vera said we can't keep her locked up forever.'