Undead Tango

UNDEAD TANGO

ALEXIS MARTIN

Copyright © 2013

Chapter 1

From the roof of an abandoned warehouse, Will Archer watched the lower streets through the optics of his high-powered scope, the sniper rifle resting comfortably in his hands. Skye Radly was beside him, spotting with range-finding binoculars.

Cody Jacobs kept a keen eye on the only roof exit with a snub-nosed revolver. “I don’t like this,” he declared. “It’s been too long.”

Skye could tell the young man was getting anxious. He was the newest member of the team and the youngest. She understood that he had a strong attachment to Vander Lundgren. Vander had saved him from a mindless group of ruthless zombies that had cornered him in a shack about four months earlier. Since then Cody looked up to Vander as a son would a father.

“I am going after him,” he continued, walking toward the door.

Skye hastened over and gripped his shoulder. “Vander will be fine. He is like one of those cockroaches that are hard to squish. You are staying up here until he returns on his own. He’s the one that had a hankering for candy bars.”

“I need to make sure he is safe.” He pulled away from her and went to the door.
Damn he was strong
.

She latched onto the back of his vest and whirled him against the concrete wall in the stairwell. She pressed her weight against him and flattened her hands on his chest. The boy was muleheaded, and she had to think of something to make him want to stay. It was far too dangerous to head out there alone.

“Get off of me,” he grunted, attempting to wiggle out of her grasp.

“Vander needs no one,” she argued. Countering his shove, she drove hard against him, her breasts mashed into his chest. She purposefully brought her thigh into his crotch and held it there. She moved her lips over his ear, nudging her thigh harder into him. She managed to still all of his movements.

Finally she had his attention. She lightly kissed the lobe of his ear and pecked his cheek with another kiss. “You stay with me like a good boy, Cody, and I promise you one hell of a birthday gift—a night you won’t ever forget,” she promised seductively. Then she felt what she was striving for, a sudden firmness against the top of her leg.

He snaked his arms around to clasp her bubbled ass cheeks and leaned in close to kiss her. Their lips barely connected, and she pushed his chin away with a single finger. “Settle down, tiger,” she said. “There are still a few months before your birthday. I wouldn’t want you to get too excited yet.”

He grinned and almost laughed. “Actually my birthday is in three days. I’ll be twenty-one real soon.”

“Good for you. Now get your ass back to the rooftop.”

He saluted, still wearing a cheesy smile, and marched up the stairs. Crap! She had no idea it was so soon. Anyway, she kept him safe for now.

“Vander is in my sights!” Will shouted, followed by two distinct thumps of his silenced sniper rifle. “He has company.”

Skye and Cody raced to Will’s side. Sure enough, Vander was jogging down the main street with a backpack dangling from his side and sawed-off shotgun swinging as he moved. Six infected were hot on his tail, limping along at a steady pace behind him. They were gangly and usually sluggish in the daylight. A fast-paced jog could normally outrun any of those creatures, but Vander seemed to be making a game of it. Will Archer’s rifle went into action. Within forty-five seconds all six zombies were dropped, their heads exploding into empty mushroom forms from expertly placed bullets.

Will smiled and shook his head. “That only leaves me with twelve rounds. Vander’s little excursion just became expensive.”

“Damn fine shooting though,” Cody commented while giving Will a friendly tap on the shoulder.

“Don’t get too excited. I need a million more bullets to make a difference.”

Several moments later Vander busted through the door, red-faced and sucking in huge gulps of air. “All out of shells,” he huffed, tossing the backpack of supplies onto the roof floor. “Ran into a nest of about twenty of those suckers. Scary bastards when you’re out of slugs.” Then he smiled at Will. “Never thought I’d say this to another man, but damn, I think I love ya. You saved my ass once again.” He gripped Will’s hand and pulled him into a bear hug.

Will winced. “I swear to God if you try kissing me the next bullet will be through your brain.”

Vander laughed aloud, dropped Will, and scooped up Skye in his massive arms. He sloppily kissed her cheek and spun them in a circle. “This is the only one I will kiss around here.”

“Bite check,” she said flatly with no humor in her voice.

“You have got to be shitting me. Right now?” he asked, allowing her feet to touch the roof.

“It is the number one rule. You know this. Take off your clothes.”

“I didn’t get munched on by any zombies, Skye. Trust me.”

She unsnapped her holster and smoothly drew her 9mm Glock then pointed the weapon directly at Vander’s forehead. “Remove your clothes now, or I will shoot you where you stand.”

“Jesus Christ, Skye,” he grumbled while slowly slipping out of his shirt and pants. “You sure are a heartless bitch sometimes.” She placed a finger on the trigger. “But I mean that with the utmost respect humanly possible of course.”

“Right.” She had seen Vander naked about a hundred times, but his massive body never failed to impress her. From head to toe his body was rippled with corded muscle, and his cock, even in a flaccid state, was thick and veiny.

She could already feel her flesh warm and heart race just at the sight of the rather large instrument hanging low between two muscled thighs. He certainly wasn’t bashful either. Vander stood in front of her proudly and swung his hips in a suggestive motion. At one point Cody and Will turned away.

“Well?” Vander asked tossing up his hands.

“Well what?” she whispered. Oh shit, she was still cock gazing.

He lifted his dick with two fingers to show her the underside of his shaft. “See no zombie blow jobs for me. I can
guaran-damn-tee
that nothing bit or sucked me down here. If you want a closer look you’ll have to get on your knees.”

God! She was still eyeing his thingy. She tore her lingering stare away and tried to focus on his face.

He winked. “Satisfied?”

“Almost. Turn around.”

He did a fancy spin move and flexed his rock-hard ass in the process. “No bites,” she admitted. “You can get dressed.”

“Nope. I need some sun. And hell, I’m already naked.” He waltzed over to the broken aluminum chair, propped his feet on the ledge of the building, and reclined back. Skye knew he was doing it out of spite. She holstered her weapon and latched the metal fire escape door with a steel bar.

Will and Cody were already rummaging through the supplies, trying their hardest to conceal their laughter. “What are we having for dinner?” she asked them.

Will shrugged. “Looks like Ding Dongs, potato chips, and beef jerky.”

“For the love of God, Vander!” she yelled. “This is the last time you go shopping alone. All of it is junk food.”

“Sorry there, sugar pants, but I really didn’t have time to browse or use the coupons.”

Will moved in close to Skye and lowered his voice. “How did you get the kid to stay up here with us? He was hell-bent on going after Vander.”

She wanly smiled. “I promised him sex when he turned twenty-one.”

That elicited a chuckle from him. “You used all the dirty tricks on that poor kid.”

“It’s no trick.”

* * * *

It was nearing dusk, the darkness closing in over the haunted cityscape, before Vander dressed. They enjoyed a modest meal in silence, and Skye spread her sleeping bag out. Will graciously offered to take the first watch. All of them were well aware that the infected were much more active at night and had an attraction to lights and loud noises.

Skye rolled to her back and peered up at the celestial blanket of stars that dotted the heavens. In two months she would be twenty-five and should only be concerned with hanging out with friends, crazy parties, and maybe college, but not now, not after the great infection of 2015. Everything she once knew and believed in was gone. No more friends and no family. It was only her and three men that forged an unlikely partnership out of a single necessity, survival.

First, it was only William Archer. He had been a police officer that was assigned to the SWAT team as a sniper. Together they met Vander Lungren. He was wearing a bright orange prisoner uniform. With his legs shackled, he carried a crowbar in his hands and was doing a good job of keeping about eight zombies at bay by wielding the blunt object with devastating power, smashing skulls and cracking heads.

It was not until later that they discovered that Vander had been a prolific bank robber and was sentenced to forty years in a maximum-security prison. Will and Vander butted heads for the first few weeks, but after a few close calls they became inseparable. A cop and a convict, Skye almost found some humor in that.

Cody Jacobs was the last one they found in a small, rural community. He had barricaded himself in the tower of a church. It took Vander and Will’s negotiating abilities to talk the scared kid out.

Will had to teach them all how to shoot, except Vander. Being an ex-con, he already knew how to handle weapons. Skye didn’t have a clue how to hold a gun at first. She was a student and did some modeling for extra money in her spare time. But after Will’s brief lessons she was confident that she could outshoot most men.

So there they all were, stuck on some old roof in a town she had already forgotten the name of. The emergency radio had not transmitted anything for weeks. She missed the sound of the monotone man with a deep voice giving instructions to safe zones for the survivors and un-infected. But now, the voice was gone and every day seemed slightly bleaker than the last.

Where were all the survivors? There had to be more out there. The last survivor they found was an older man in his eighties rocking on his front porch with a shotgun in hand. He had generously offered them food but declined to travel with them. Said he was too old to move and had plenty of shells left to take out a few more before he goes. His front lawn had been littered with mutilated infected bodies.

No one really knew the cause of the outbreak that spread so rapidly through every corner of the world. Some theorized that it was a biological weapon that fell into the wrong hands, while others believed it was a prophecy from the Bible—the end of days. Whether it was or not, it managed to throw Skye the biggest curveball of her life. It was very clear to Skye that everyone here, this small group of survivors, had suffered through incredible losses, some too dreadful to mention. All they had was each other to lean on and a slim hope of something better. They were all searching for a pocket of resistance in order to start a new life, to maybe rebuild the shattered pieces of their existence.

Cody lay next to Skye and ghosted an arm around her stomach. She tilted her head toward the young man to see those large, brown eyes beaming back at her. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.”

“No need to court me, Cody. I will make good on that promise.”

“I just can’t wait, Skye. These next few days will be long ones.”

There was a sadness etched onto his soft features. The boy in him was coming out. “What’s wrong?” He shook his head, yet a lone tear escaped the corner of his eye. Skye thumbed it away. “Shhh, tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I…I had to kill my own uncle,” he reluctantly began. “His eyes were red and skin white as a ghost when he charged me. He tried biting me again and again, snapping like a wild dog. I stopped him with a pickax, my own uncle.”