Cravings of the Dead

Anon: Hehe, thanks :) I'm trying to make it as creepy gross as I can, while still giving it a 'sexy' undertone. I'm glad it's working.
Kat: Aaaah, sorry. I'm not much of a long story writer. I'm breaking my own record limit as we speak. But this chapter is a bit longer then the others. I just don't know how often that will happen.


No.
NO!
No way in hell this is happening to me!
Impossible. Unreal. I refuse to believe this.
I am not pushed against a wall, a dead tongue writhing in my mouth and a horde of bloodthirsty corpses stumbling over themselves to get to me first.
This has to be a nightmare. Or I’m having the most twisted hallucination known to mankind. It has to be.
This can not be reality!
But it is undeniable that the illusionary wall I’m roughly rubbed against is chafing my skin through the sweater’s cloth.
And since when do dreams taste so putrid, the scent and taste is so overwhelming I barely contain the urge to retch.

My eyes widen as I see the first corpse appear over my assaulter’s shoulder. It reaches forward, drool sliding down its chin in anticipation of the coming meal. My molester groans into my mouth, apparently completely unaware of its surroundings. I am all too aware and I gasp in fear as the sinewy monster shoves its head over the shoulder of the one I’ve reluctantly become familiar with.
For a slit second two sets of eyes gaze at me. The difference is startling.
Both convey an endless inhuman hunger. But while one is glassy and empty, the others blurry gaze focuses in an instant as it switches from my face to the personal space invader.

For a fleeting moment I get to taste a snarl on my lips before the other tares its mouth away and snaps its jaws at the other zombie. The other jerks back in what might be surprise or blind instinct.
As my abductor moves itself in front of me and growls menacingly at the first arrivals, I use the moment to slip into the flat my back had already made acquaintance with. I’m becoming increasingly thankful that most doors have been forced open by looters a long time ago.
As I race through the lobby I just hope that this place doesn’t turn out to be a nest too.
It would be just my kind of luck though.

As I run up the narrow staircase, taking steps two at a time, I can hear the echo of steps behind me. I chance a look behind me and immediately wish I hadn’t.
Though not as many as before, a small group is following me on the heels. My dear old acquaintance leading them by a fair few steps.
I quickly run into the first room I see upon reaching the third floor. The door bangs against the wall as I kick my way into the room. Quickly I close and lock it, and as I push it the simple button I know it will never hold.
A quick glance around the room and I spot a large fridge nearly next to the door. I wedge my body between it and the wall and start pushing.
My breath catches as I hear the door being tormented. Whatever faint hope I had of setting up a barricade before the door giving out is swept away as a loud crack sounds. The forced doorway seems to spew my nightmares into the room one by one.

I freeze as the gazes of the corpses are drawn to me as iron is to magnets. And then one turns on the other and harshly bashes it’s skull against the white wall, marring it with red and dirt. Its gaze sweeps over me again; lingering and unreadable, before turning on another body. Chaos ensues as the fight instinct of the zombies is triggered and bodies turn on bodies.
I remain frozen in place, staring at the ruthless display of carnage and attempts at cannibalism. Things rapidly escalate as more and more zombies spill into the room.

The trance is broken when one of the monsters suddenly stands inches before me, before being jealously torn away.
Snapped back to reality I set my feet against the wall and push back against the heavy fridge as hard as I can. Pained metal shrieks as it falls against the door, wedging it shut.
I franticly scramble across the small room to next door, nearly falling over the spilled fridge contents, not bothering to see if I’m being followed or not.

I yank open the door and find myself in a bedroom. The bed I quickly shove against the door and then I manage to tip a tall wardrobe on top of it. If in my right state of mind I might have appreciated the immense strength fear can give someone.
But right now all my mind can bring me to do is; scramble up into the tall closet I spotted in the corner and curl up onto the top shelf, shivering like a frightened rat.
There I slip back into my traumatic trance, my mind engulfed by the growls, howls, shrieks and groans coming from the other room. Tensing each time I hear something make contact with the frail wooden door.

~*~

The room was drenched in darkness now. The fight had stopped a while ago, eerie whimpers and whines echoing through the building in its wake. Those had also ceased after a while. Now all that could be heard was the howling wind tearing at the creaking building.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been hidden up here; it feels like hours. If it were up to me I would gladly stay here forever, but my body is commencing its complaints and I know I must move.

I try to climb down silently and failed pitifully, my sore muscles protesting as I land heavily on the floor. I freeze, fully expecting some monster to pounce at me out of the dark. Images of being shred to pieces brutally flash through my head. The silence of the room pressing in on me; like a heavy, suffocating weight.
When nothing happens I slowly straighten my self, my limbs cramping and tingling madly, and various joints popping loudly.

As I move around I can feel my inner thighs itch from the dried up pee I spilled in fear.
I need to clean myself. I know that if I don’t I’m risking disease. But the water pipes have long dried out. My only hope for fresh water is gathering it from the rain that will hopefully fall tonight.

I futilely look around the room for a bucket, a plant pot, anything that’s water tight. All I come up with is a wastebasket. I open the window and toss its contents out onto the street below.
For a moment I pause there, enjoying the cooling feel of the wind rushing in. There’s a large tree standing next to the building, its branches swiping at the face of the building. Stray twigs and leaves prickle against my skin when I lean out of the window a little.

Next to me I spot a balcony adorned with withered pot plants and some iron furniture rusting away peacefully. It’s the perfect place to collect water from.
My stomach clenches as I realize I’ll have to go through the room to get to the balcony. Well at least I won’t have to get out of the apartment; from what I can see the balcony is connected to the room.

Slowly I edge towards the door and tentatively tap it, waiting for any noise from the other side. When nothing happens I knock a little harder.
When I was satisfied that nothing seemed to be moving on the other side I made my way to the bed and started to push the heavy wardrobe off it. It landed heavily on the other side with a loud crack. For a second I thought I heard another noise in the wake of the crash, but as silence back in overwhelmingly I decided it must have been an odd echo.
I turned my attention then to moving the bed away from the door. It was a lot heavier then I’d expected.

After a few laborious minutes I had moved the bed enough to be able to wedge open the door.
Slowly I slid into the room.

It looked like a war zone. Furniture upturned and bodies littering the floor. There must be about 5 of them lying in the small room. I really thought there had been much more of these monsters.
I carefully make my way to the large sliding door. It’s been broken, and large jagged points reflect the moonlight softly into the room. Blessing my thick soled boots I stomp the shards out of the way so I can make my way onto the balcony.

Suddenly I feel something grasp at my ankle. Startled I turn and kick whatever grabbed me hard. A pitiful whimper sounds as the body curls away from me.
I gaze down at it in vague confusion as I recognize the form as my assaulter. I can see it slightly stare up at me as it lets out a pained sound.

Morbid curiosity forces me on my knees besides it. I carefully reach out, making sure I kept enough distance to jump away if it were to attack.
With a shaking hand I stroked away the hair that half covered its face. It stared at me with eyes that seemed unnervingly aware, before letting the lids fall slowly and softly pressing its face against my hand.
Slowly I feel something wet stroke my skin as it lets its tongue roll out to lick my hand. It so soft and careful it almost reminds me of a puppy.
A heavily kicked and abused puppy I realize, as I stare down its bloodstained body.

Conflicting emotions well up in me as it nuzzles my hand softly. Its touches are so tender, that I can’t help but wonder, is this truly a monster?
I’ve seen it eat flesh, I’ve seen it kill.
But it doesn’t seem to mean me any harm. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it protected me, but its actions undeniably kept me alive.
My chest constricts when I realize that I owe it my life.
Damn my bleeding heart; it will be the death of me one day.

Sighing I remove my hand and place it under arms.
His skin is cold, near corpse cold. It must be my imagination, but its body somehow seems colder them before them.
As I half drag it to the bedroom it doesn’t make a single noise.
Thank goodness it’s a short distance; I don’t know how long my frayed muscles can hold its dead weight. I make a futile attempt to drag it onto the bed, but give up halfway leaving it sprawled half on it.

Tiredly I go back to the other room and gather various buckets, pots and pans and place them on the balcony. As I move back inside I can feel the first fine raindrops touch my skin.

I creep back into the bedroom, and let my eyes roam the room in search of a sleeping place.
I spot a large chair in a corner. That would do perfectly.
As I reach over the bed to grab a pillow for comfort, I am suddenly yanked down.
The impact pushes the air from my lungs and by the time I can gulp in my next breath I find a strong arm securely wrapped around me.

A body presses up behind me and I know immediately who it is. Any other day I might have struggled, but now, my mind and body are just too tired and worn to bother. In a way sleeping here might be safest for me.
I let my body relax onto the soft mattress and subsequently into its arms. My sore body welcomes the relief it brings.
As I try to ignore the way it nuzzled into my neck I forcefully push away the memory of those same lips devouring mine. That must have been a freak occurrence, it wouldn’t happen again, so no use in unnerving myself further.
As my mind slips away into the realms of sleep a murmur caressed my ear.