The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia

by Lake, D. K

  I ran my hand over Lane's biceps, during the four months here, Lane's physique had changed to beyond hotness. Before he was toned without doing anything, now there was defined muscle and he'd even got a slight tan. It was hard not to gawk when he took off his shirt. He had been helping out a lot outside, securing the fences and he got along with Luke, they played ball games outside, and it was safe enough to walk around the prison grounds as the high fencing kept the zombies out. It was the safest I had ever felt.

  I knew I should get up, but I was enjoying the warmth from Lane's body too much. We'd hardly spoken for nearly three days, then I wake up this morning and find him in my bed, this was becoming a pattern. We'd argue, he'd get jealous over Josh (even though there was nothing going on), and I didn't help with my 'Meghan' remarks. I didn't like her and she didn't like me because she wanted Lane. From what I could tell he wasn't helping the situation, he never told her to leave him alone, to be honest, I think he liked all the attention, what guy wouldn't? I knew it was only a matter of time before he ended up in bed with her, but he made the situation even more confusing by climbing into my bed every other night. I didn't question it, I had gotten used to it, and if I was honest I slept better with Lane beside me. No one really knew what was going on between us, even I didn't really know.

  The cell door started to move, Jasper popped his head in and grinned at me. He was still in his pajamas, looking for Lane. He slid the door shut carefully, then lifted the other end of my covers, and climbed in before I could stop him.

  “Your bed is so much comfier.” Jasper said, wriggling his way under the covers.

  His feet ended up in-between me and Lane. I was already squashed up to the wall as it was. “That doesn't mean you can get in it wherever you want.” I said, playfully kicking him. He lifted the covers to look up my legs and I tried my best to hold them back down. “At least you're wearing panties this morning.”

  “Ew! I don't wanna hear that.” Stacey said from the top bunk.

  I didn't mind Jasper that much, he was twenty, and our personalities got on well together, his humor was on the same level as Lane and me, we all said inappropriate things and found it funny, everyone else, not so much. Stacey was only sixteen and still impressionable, I found myself watching what I said around her, she was always asking me about the most cringe-worthy topics to do with sex. She was still a virgin, I don't know how long that would last, though. She had a crush on nearly every one of the guys here, but unlike the guys back at the Lab the ones here had more morals. Jasper was one of the few guys she didn't have a thing for. I think seeing him in his Simpsons lounge pants might have put her off, and he also had a habit of sticking his finger in his ears and itching them all the time. She was still young and immature, and I was always scolding Jasper for his crude language and gestures around her. I also had to watch my own language around Ozma now, she was at that age where she thought it was funny to repeat random words.

  “Oi, Lane, you planning on getting up anytime today?” Jasper asked.

  “What time is it?” I asked, not able to reach my watch.

  “11.20am.”

  “Wow, Ozma must have really worn herself out yesterday.”

  “And Lane,” Jasper said.

  Yesterday Tammy and I had taken the kids outside and Lane had played ball with Ozma, chasing her up and down, she loved it, she had become so attached to Lane. I wasn't sure whether he was just trying to get back in my good books or whether he really wanted to play with Ozma, I think it was the latter. I think he had grown attached to Ozma as well, which wasn't hard, she was adorable, happy and playful, and full of love for us. Night time hugs had become my favorite part of the day. She called me Alley, it was easier for her to pronounce than Alex, that and she'd heard Lane calling me Alley a number of times, and just two weeks ago she'd called Lane dada, he hadn't corrected her either. Neither one of us had really talked about what we were going to do with her. Lane and I were the two main people in her life. Even though Lane was off doing his own thing most days he always made time for Ozma at some point in the day, yesterday morning he came and collected her and took her down to breakfast without telling me so I could sleep in.

  Lane grunted and stretched, and Jasper tickled his foot.

  Lane's eyes shot open and he frowned at me, it took him a moment to realize they weren't my feet on the pillow, I wasn't that flexible.

  “Ugh, get them away from me.” Lane said, pushing Jasper's feet toward me.

  “Gross,” I said, pushing them back.

  Stacey stuck her head down, hanging upside down.

  “Hi, Lane, did you get lost again on the way to your cell? Do you know the one I'm talking about? Five cells down with all your stuff in it.” she teased.

  “Not now Stacey, we've only just woken up.” Lane said.

  “I was just saying...”

  “When are you ever not?” I said.

  She smirked at me and Jasper tried to pull her pigtails, but she moved back up to the top bunk before he got the chance.

  “Okay, I'm getting out. This bed isn't big enough for the three of us.” I climbed over Lane and he tried to grab my waist to pull me back into bed.

  “No, I need to get washed and dressed before little miss wakes up.” I carefully trod on the floor and Lane scowled at Jasper.

  “What?”

  Lane grumbled and threw the covers over Jasper, and stood up. I quickly gathered my wash things. Stacey sat on the top bunk, painting her toenails.

  “Stacey-” I started.

  “It's fine, I'll watch her, you go and get showered.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I'll come with you, I'll just get my stuff.” Lane said.

  “Um,” I started to speak, but Lane was already out the door.

  Stacey raised an eyebrow at me and Jasper smirked before lifting himself onto the top bunk next to Stacey. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled, looking at me.

  “Have fun in the shower.” she said.

  “You two are as bad as each other.” I said, walking out of the cell.

  Jasper waved bye and held out his foot for Stacey to paint his nails. He was so weird sometimes. I made my way to the shower room. The only rules we had regarding the showers was males on one side and females on the other side of the wall (more like a half wall that you could see over), it wasn't unusual to see male and females in the shower room at the same time. I think everyone here thought there were more important issues to worry about than a bit of nakedness. I usually took my shower in the evenings when there was no one around, but last night I had been helping Tammy with the other children and I couldn't be bothered to have a shower so late. When I arrived I was pleased to find there was no one else inside the shower room. I quickly stripped down and dashed into the showers. I was still getting used to the shower arrangement. The only other person that had ever seen me fully naked was Lane, and I wanted it to stay that way. I was sure if anyone else walked in I would exit the showers automatically. And I would most certainly die of embarrassment if Josh walked in and saw me naked and covered in bubbles, I would never hear the end of it. He walked in on me changing one time, I was thankfully still in my underwear, but he hasn't forgotten about it, and still reminds me of my strawberry shaped birthmark on my inner thigh. I quickly lathered my hair, I had just started rinsing it out when another body appeared in the showroom.

  Lane laughed at the expression on my face and my attempt to cover myself with my hands. “It's not funny. I thought you were someone else.”

  “You can uncover yourself, it's nothing I haven't seen before.” he said, trying not to laugh, still standing in his underwear.

  My cheeks flushed, and I angled my body away from him, rinsing the rest of the shampoo out my hair.

  Lane didn't care about the wall dividing us, he was going to shower beside me whether I liked it or not, but I didn't mind, I felt better when he was in the shower, probably because if anyone else came in I could use him as a shield.
>
  “Nice ass.” he said, pulling his boxers down.

  I tried not to look... believe me, I tried.

  He was in a different mood today, he was actually smiling, and talking to me. I missed this... alone time with Lane.

  He caught me checking him out over my shoulder, and he spanked my butt.

  “Ouch!”

  “You love it.” he said, sticking his head under the shower beside me.

  I conditioned my hair and soaped myself down, I was just rinsing off when Lane slipped a hand around my waist and pulled me against him, he then kissed my shoulder, up my neck, and nibbled my ear. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. Believe it or not, we hadn't done anything like that since before we arrived at the prison. There had been a few heated kisses and his hand finding its way under my T-shirt, but we never got the chance to go any further. Even though this place was huge and there weren't that many living here, we were never alone, not like this. We both shared cells with other people and the rest of the time I had Ozma with me. We'd tried to sneak off together, but we usually got interrupted, once by Josh who had walked in on us and found Lane feeling me up on the couch in the games room. I had been wondering whether we should get our own cell now, but I didn't want to bring it up first. From day to day I didn't know what was going through Lane's mind. But right now it was obvious.

  He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him and pushed me back against the wall. He dipped down to kiss me, it was quite a reach from Lane's height, he quickly lifted me up to him, and pressed me back against the wall again, exploring my mouth with his tongue as I ran my fingers through his hair. A deep moan escaped my mouth, Lane pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled back and went to kiss him again... but stopped when I heard Jasper calling Lane, causing our smiles to evaporate.

  Grrr! Jasper.

  “C'mon, you've been in there ages, it doesn't take this long for a guy to shower. What, is she, like, giving you a facial as well?”

  Lane reluctantly put me back down on the floor. He stuck his head under the water one final time before grabbing his towel.

  “Don't make me come in there. I will. I'm dying to see Al naked. I hear she has this cute little birthmark on her-”

  “Jasper,” Lane warned.

  Josh may have told a few people about my birthmark, and Lane didn't like it.

  Lane gave me an apologetic look and left me alone to finish getting washed.

  Later that day, during dinnertime, Ozma was refusing to eat anything, even my best airplane and train sound effects weren't working. She remained tight-lipped and turned her face away every time I moved the spoon toward her. Stacey had wormed her way onto Luke's table, and I was left sitting on my own. Lane and Jasper hadn't come down for dinner yet, I kept looking around for them, but the next time I looked up I saw Josh headed my way.

  He sat down beside me straddling the bench, with Ozma in-between us.

  “Is she not eating?” he asked.

  “Not today. I may have given in and let her have half a packet of cookies earlier.” “Let me try.” he said, taking the spoon from me.

  “I'm telling you, she won't eat... huh,”

  Ozma opened her mouth straight away for Josh, and happily took the spoonful of mushy stuff we called dinner.

  “Wow, you're really good at that.” I said.

  Josh was always good with Ozma, he was friendly with the other children, but when it came to Ozma he was always interested.

  “Where's Lane?” he asked.

  “I don't know, I think he's with Jasper somewhere.”

  “He's always with Jasper, or in the gym.”

  Uh oh. I knew where this conversation was going.

  “He's still a teenager, he likes to do his own thing.”

  “And just because you're the girl you get stuck with looking after the kid?”

  “It's not like that. I'm the one that's taking care of her, I'm not going to force him to help out. He's nineteen I don't think he's really ready for kids.”

  “And you are?”

  “I don't have a choice. I think it's obvious she sees me as a mother figure and I've accepted that.” “Alex,” His hand moved across the table and rested on top of mine. I looked at his hand, then my eyes landed on Lane, standing by the serving area, glaring at us. I quickly pulled my hand away. “Don't-”

  “I just want you to think about it. If Lane's not ready to step up and be a responsible father then I want you to know you have other options.”

  By options he meant him.

  I grimly smiled and nodded. I could feel Lane's eyes boring into me.

  Josh finished feeding Ozma for me, making cute little animal sounds, making her laugh and giving her mouthfuls in-between. When he had finished he set the bowl down and leaned over her, toward me.

  Oh, my God... what is he doing?

  I turned my face away and looked down at my own half eaten bowl of food. He placed his hand on the back of my head and kissed the top of my head. It was a friendly gesture, but it felt oddly intimate. He stood up, patted Ozma on the head and left without saying another word. I didn't dare look up, afraid of the accusing looks Lane would most certainly give me if our eyes connected. I lifted Ozma onto the floor, gathered our bowls and walked back to the kitchen. Then I had to chase Ozma to catch her, I scooped her up into my arms and Stacey followed us out into the corridor. “Slow down, Speedy Gonzales,” Stacey said, catching up to me. “What did GI Joe want?” “Nothing,” I replied too quickly.

  “You know, when you say nothing it means it was probably something really juicy that I want to know about. And what was with that weird top-of-the-head-kiss? Has he done that before?” “No.”

  “Do you... do you like him?”

  “He's a nice guy.”

  “A nice guy?”

  “Okay, okay, he's kinda great, funny and-”

  “Hot!” Stacey interrupted.

  “We get along, he's only four years older than me, and he loves Ozma...”

  “But?”

  “This is a really complicated situation.”

  “Well, if you stopped fighting and bickering over stupid things it wouldn't be so complicated.” she said.

  “Since coming here things aren't as clear, Lane is his own person, I'm not sure I'm everything he wants anymore.”

  “Then why is he always staring at you when he thinks you're not looking? Why do I wake up and find you two sharing a bed? Oh, and not that I like to gossip, but I hear you two like to shower together.”

  “All right, you can stop there. I'm not about to go into the complex details about mine and Lane's relationship. We're not Romeo and Juliet.”

  “Didn't they die?”

  “Okay, not the best example. I'm just trying to say relationships are messy, you're young-” “Only by three years.”

  “Still, you've never been in a proper relationship and neither have I for that matter, and with everything else, zombies, babies, it gets confusing. I'm still a kid too.”

  I put Ozma down and she ran along the corridor and into the playroom.

  “Do you think things will ever be normal again?” Stacey asked.

  “I don't know, but if things ever change it's going to take a long time for the world to recover from this.”

  “So you're saying I probably won't be getting a burger and fries from Wendy's anytime in the near future.” We both laughed. “I think you should do what makes you happy.” she said. “I have spent so long pushing Lane away that I've sort of built up this tolerance to him, and because of it, we end up fighting over the smallest of things.”

  “I know, I think everyone's noticed... or should I say everyone's heard the pair of you.” I stopped in the doorway and watched Ozma as she crawled into a box.

  “You going to stay in here for a bit?” she asked.

  “Yeah, until it's her bedtime, which shouldn't be too long, she looks really tired.” “I'll stay with you. I'll just go get my make-up bag.” she said, eyeing my fac
e.

  “Ugh, do you have to?”

  “Yes, your eyebrows need to be tamed.”

  “They're not that bad.” I said, running my fingers over them.

  “You're more likely to attract a bear than a man looking like something that belongs in the wild. You might want to shave your legs soon as well, I caught a glimpse the other day and-” “You can stop talking now. Just go fetch your bag before I change my mind.... and I'll borrow your razor later.”

  “Where's yours?”

  “Lane took it.”

  “You two are like a married couple.” she said before disappearing down the corridor.

  Three Hours Later. After I had got Ozma down for the night and made a much-needed trip to the bathroom to sort my hairy legs out after Stacey had compared me to Bigfoot, I wandered around in search of Lane. I found him in the gym, mercilessly pounding the crap out of a punching bag.

  There were three other guys in the gym, I smiled at them and one waved as I made my way over to Lane. I walked past him and leaned against the wall.