3 comments/ 24959 views/ 6 favorites Huddled Together Ch. 01 By: WritersUnblock Chapter 1 – Companionship Outbreak. ***** Note from the author: This is my first attempt at an erotic story. I've had wonderful feedback from my Literotica editor, KatySweetCandy, and a big thank you goes to her for her support. I would love any feedback that the readers would take the time to write, and greatly enjoy hearing what parts people enjoyed and why. This is a slow story, and as detailed as I could make it. There is some gore, but far less than would be expected in a current zombie movie. Please be aware of this before starting the read, there isn't much however. I assure you it is worth the time to read. More chapters to come if the feedback points to everyone wanting more. Enjoy the read. Writers Unblock ***** John moved into the exit lane that marked John's River, in the beautiful Mid North Coast of Australia. He had always loved coming here as a child, at first he loved that the place had the same name as he did. His family also loved bush walking, swimming in the beautiful waters of the rivers, and all random activities that they would get up to on family holidays together. They would stay in one of the farm houses up in the hills to the west of the town in a property owned by friends of his parents. Fond memories came flooding back to him of the long hot summers where the temperature would get above 40 degrees Celsius for weeks on end. He remembered the various ways that they would try and beat the heat. All sitting in the creek until their fingers were pruny beyond belief. Or he and his siblings heading deep up Flanagan's Track to where the old Aboriginal cave was. The cave went so deep into the hillside that they had never been to the end of it even with all the dares that they would put to each other. It was always nice and cool in the cave, a nice escape from the endless heat of the Australian summer. It had taken them a few years to even find the cave, as it was off the main track, but once they had discovered it had become a secret among his sister, brother, and he. The sun was high in the sky as he turned off the new highway. The old highway was a single lane road which passed straight through the township of John's River, which had built up around it to be a couple of dozen houses. The new dual carriageway went around the majority of the town to the west, but there were about a dozen houses to the west of the newly dividing road. The heat radiated off the dashboard of his old Camry station wagon, he never got round to putting air conditioning into her as he enjoyed the warmth of the country. The music on the crappy old radio was interrupted again by the local news radio broadcast. There had been so many since the hype had started out of China, 'bird flu's big brother' they called it - or H1N3. Millions of people had died in Asia, and more and more reports out of Europe, the America's, and almost all parts of the world now had reports of deaths. The disease was spread through contact, human to human contact. It was a very infectious, but had not become air born thank goodness. The radio announcer was confirming the first cases found in Sydney. "I'm on holidays now, I don't need to worry about this." He said to himself. He tuned the dial to a happier station playing some old rubbish music from the 90's, as he headed up the sealed road to the property. It took about 15 minutes from the main highway to get to the front gate of the property. The road out of town headed west along the river flats, good cow country, for 8 kilometres. After that, he took the next road for a couple of kilometres which ran to the North East up into the hills. There was the mail box made of a blue jerry can along the road to mark it, you couldn't miss it. The dirt track which was the driveway was a five minute drive through small hills, up to the house. John undid his seat belt as soon as he turned into the driveway, more happy memories of travelling along the dirt driveway with seat belts off as kids. It was a special treat that his father would allow only on this driveway, as they would only drive slow. Dense bushland covered the whole property except for the main paddock around the homestead. Passing through the nice quiet bush with the windows down, radio off, made him smile. Once through the hills and down across the small river flat, he could see the house on the small hill where it lay. A nice old Federation style home of two stories and a veranda that went around the whole homestead. The veggie garden to the side that was in desperate need of care, the large Jacaranda tree with flowers in full bloom. It was just how he remembered it from his youth. He pulled his car up out the front of the main steps and killed the engine. He stepped out into the Australian bush's silence. Well mostly silence, the cicadas were starting up for the day in the heat that was building. The sun bore down on him sharply as he started pulling out his luggage from the boot. He'd brought enough clothes, food and drink to last him all summer, he didn't like going to town once out here at the property, he liked the solitude. He'd lost his job last week, and the house was kindly offered to him for the summer. Why not take a good long break, he'd earned it. Years and years of service at the timber mill until it had closed down. He had lost all his long service leave, all entitlements, everything. The timber industry around the entire country was the same, moving offshore to Indonesia and China to import the cheap stuff. Working that floor, putting thousands of tonnes of timber through the mill. It had given him a good work ethic however (and a nice body if he did say so himself), and he loved working with his hands. Opening the door to the house, the air from inside hit his face. Warm, very warm and musty from the doors and windows being closed for who knows how long. He dumped his luggage in the doorway, holding the front door open. He went around the house opening all the windows to let him the fresh summer air. As he worked, John was pleased with himself that he took the time to come up here and relax. He moved all the luggage upstairs to the master bedroom, and unpacked his eskys of food and drinks into the fridge. "Time for a nice cold beer or two" he said out loud to himself for a good job done. He headed outside and parked himself on the reclining bench under the Jacaranda tree, and drank and napped the afternoon away. When John woke it was to the feeling of the heat of the day seeping out of him. The sun had gone down behind the hills and the warmth of the day was heading out into the darkening sky. He got up, leaving the empty beer bottles where they lay, and went into the house to shower. As he was preparing dinner he turned on the radio to try and find some music, but all he got on all the stations were news broadcasts. The announcers all sounded very urgent so he picked one of the stations and listened; "... is why the airports are now closed. Major trucking movements are now minimised to move essential goods only and are to be approved by the Government before departure. All people are urged to travel only if absolutely necessary..." John switched off the radio. It sounded as if the sickness was getting quite bad out there indeed. He was glad that he had enough supplies in the house already to be here for the summer weeks, it sounded as if he might need it. "I think that's enough radio for now." he said out loud to try and comfort himself, and continued making dinner. His thoughts moved to his family. His parents had both passed away a few years ago in a car accident, and since then his brother, sister and he dropped out of communication. Not from dislike of each other, it's just what happened in their adult years with no parents to tie the family together, it saddened him but it's hard growing up sometimes. The next morning when John woke up he noticed that the bedside clock was turned off. Odd, he thought to himself. There must have been a blackout overnight and the power is still out. He headed down stairs and opened the fridge. The dark contents confirmed it, no power. He took the contents out of the fridge and put them back into the eskys. All the ice had melted by now, so he headed down to the river to put them in the cool waters. The stream was nice and clear with clean stones covering the bottom, and very cold. John put the eskys into the shady part of the stream and piled rocks around them to keep them there. "That will do nicely", he said happily to himself. He grabbed a beer for the trek up to the house again. It had taken him a few trips to get all the eskys down to the river which was at the base of the hill the homestead was on. He was ready for a nap. He headed back upstairs, checked that the fridge hadn't turned on to spite his morning of work; it hadn't, and fell into bed. John woke to the sound of the front door being knocked on loudly. He sat up in bed and went to the window, glad that he had locked the door from habit of living in the city for so long. He leant out the window and called out. "Hello, who's there?" A tall man, good looking man in his early twenties walked back off the front veranda clearing the awning, and looked up to his window. He had blonde straight hair, nice trustworthy looking face, and the body of a man that worked the land. He said with a big smile; "Tom's the name mate, from next door. Saw your car heading up to here yesterday. Just came to say g'day." "No worries, be down in a sec." John chucked on his shirt and headed down stairs, opened the front door and offered Tom to come inside. "Thanks mate, bloody hot out there I tell ya!" Tom came in and took off his hat, "Haven't got a cold one do you?" John smiled; he seemed like a nice enough character. "Down in the creek I do, power's been out since this morning. Let's head down there now if you like hey?" "Sounds good mate, we've lost power at our place too since last night." Tom said with an even bigger smile at the sound of a cold beer. The two headed down to the creek and sat down on some large river rocks in the shade. John fished out two beers and handed one to Tom, who accepted it thankfully. After downing half the beer in a go, Tom started talking. "Ahhh! That hits the spot! Cheers! So, pretty weird stuff that we've been hearing on the wireless about this sickness." "I heard a bit over the last couple of days, sounds like things are getting a bit crazy out there; glad to be up here away from it all for sure." John said. "Folks down in Sydney and Newcastle are starting to go a bit crazy, food riots, and people dropping off all over the place from this disease." Tom went on as he gazed into the creek watching the water slowly go by. "Word is that the sickness is spreading, a lot of people are dying, and some are even dying and coming back..." John chocked on his beer, "What? Dying and what? Are they dying or aren't they?" "Heard it from my cousin in Sydney yesterday, reckons that people are dying in the street of the sickness, and that some are getting back up again after a few hours and hunting the living. It's happening all over the world. True zombie shit I tell ya..." Something about the way that Tom was telling this story let me know that he wasn't pulling his leg. For one, he had stopped drinking his beer and was just holding it while staring into the creek. Tom continued talking eventually; "They're attacking the living people John, they don't come quick, but they don't stop for anything. We were watching the news just last night, before the power went out, police emptying rounds into these walking dead and they not even slowing down. Once they catch the people they are after, well, there's nothing else to call it but they are zombies." John and Tom sat in silence for minutes. Eventually John spoke. "So, so what do we do?" Tom finished the other half of his beer and chucked the bottle into the river. He reached for two more from the nearest esky. He passed one to John. "Well, first of all is that we have another couple of these..." ------ A month passed. They worked out that Tom should move into his house, as it was further from the road and unlike his, hidden from passing traffic or people - alive or dead. Tom had a heap of supplies at his house, a true farmer that only goes to town once a month even when the world isn't ending. He had a good stash of food, fuel, and a couple of weapons too. Nothing too impressive, a couple of rifles, but enough ammo to last a long time and the tools to make more. Australia isn't known for its guns, but out on a property owning a rifle is a must. All the mobile phone reception died the same day that the power went off, so John couldn't contact his siblings to find out if they were ok. His sister lived in Byron Bay, about 8 hours' drive north, his brother was in Sydney 5 hours south. Tom lived by himself on his Property and made a living off the land. His parents too had passed away years ago and he had no siblings. Tom had a wind up radio which came in handy. The Government was broadcasting twice a day, at sunrise and sunset when the air was at its stillest so the signal would travel further. It sounded bad out there. All the major centres were abandoned of hope; it was every man for themselves. The walking dead were now confirmed, worse than the original sickness that killed millions, some of the dead were walking around attacking the remaining living. It was the same around the world in every nation. Looks like globalization help spread the disease in no time at all, and the walking dead were clearing the earth of any survivors. The custom broadcasts changed to be a default message last week, repeating over and over that people should stay indoors and not come into contact with others, etc., etc. Every broadcast was this repeated message now, almost as if no one was at the other end to make new ones... It was the end of December now, almost the New Year, and bloody hot during the days. The two had been taking turns, one walking around upstairs looking out the windows on all sides looking for surprise visitors, while the other worked the vegie garden to try and get the food supply to be a constant source before supplies ran low. It was the middle of the afternoon when John saw him walking over the hill. It was aimless, sort of wandering without purpose - until he saw Tom. John let out a descending toned whistle as soon as he saw the man coming towards them, nothing else to call him but a zombie. Slowly shuffling down the hill through the light scrub with blood and body bruised all over. Once he had seen Tom working in the field he had picked up the pace slightly, and was making loud knurling sounds that John could even hear 100 metres away. At the sound of the whistle Tom dropped his shovel, picked up his machete, and ran to the front door. John heard him locking the door and bolting it with the blocks of wood they had built into basic dead locks. They had barricaded the entire house over the month; all the downstairs windows were sealed up with either wood or bricks that Tom had in a spare pile at his property. The house could withstand an assault from any army of the alive or dead. John heard Tom head up the stairs and run up behind him breathing heavily from the unexpected excitement, and the run up the hill. John had his rifle leaning on the window sill and already locked and trained on the zombie's chest. As soon as he heard Tom was safe behind him, he squeezed the trigger. Boom. One single round to the zombie's heart. John was a good shot with one of these, he and his siblings had practiced every summer up here when they were teenagers with their father's rifles. John was always the best shot, the most patient with his aim. He had never fired at a living, even sort of living, thing before however. The bullet hit its mark, straight into the heart of the dead man. It barely slowed him down. He stubbled a bit from the force of the large 323 round hitting him, but he kept on coming. "The brain dumbass!" Tom yelled out, "Zombie's need you to hit their brain to drop 'em!" John cursed his stupidity, of course, the brain. He'd watched enough zombie movies that had come out over the recent years that he should have known that 'fact'. John had already reloaded the chamber out of habit, so was ready to fire again. He moved his site up along the zombie's body to his face. The man's lower jaw was exposed and rotting away, John could see his teeth clearly, all bloody and knurling. His eyes were crazed and focused on the house where his victims were, he could see him up in the house's top window. Boom. Another round let off, this time straight into the zombie's face. That dropped him quick smart. The two men waited and watched the zombie lying in the field for 15 minutes. Tom had picked up his rifle in that time and they sat in the top windows watching for signs of movement from the dead, dead man. Also scanning the ridge line and checking the other sides of the house. After 30 minutes and with no other movement from any side of the house they met back in the master bedroom overlooking their first zombie kill to decide what to do. "Well we knew that if this zombie story was really true that we would eventually see one." John started. "Hmm true. Still gave me the heebie geebies being out in the field by myself with them able to just walk out of the damn bush as they please." The shock of it all had cooled down in Tom and it seemed to be hitting home finally. The two sat in silence for a time. Finally Tom spoke again. "Walls. We need walls." "We already have walls, and all the windows and doors are barricaded." "No, we need walls around the property, all the way around the bottom of the small hill that the house is sitting on. That way we can grow our food in safety." Tom put forward. John thought for a moment, and then said, "Well it sounds like a lot of work and there are only two of us. The distance you are talking about building a zombie proof wall is a good 200 meters or more." They sat in silence for a time, until Tom finally stood up, "Well then we need to find more people to help." ------ They sat up in the main bedroom where they could see the dead zombie's body for the rest of the afternoon. They spent their time planning out the fortress style setup that they could turn the property into. It was quickly agreed that they could not do without walls around the food supply; if a zombie attack happened they would eventually run out of food in the house and have no other option then to fight it out. They also decided to call the zombies 'Walkers', from Tom's favourite zombie TV show 'The Walking Dead'. They also decided that the two of them could not build this wall defence by themselves. One would have to do the work while the other guarded if more people couldn't be found to help. There was plenty of timber around them to use for materials, but more people meant a faster built defence. The nearest township to them was John's River back on the main highway; they would leave the next morning. The trip by car was 15 minutes, or 10km's, but they quickly decided that taking a car was too loud and attention grabbing. From seeing how quickly that Walker had turned and picked up the pace once it saw Tom, the two did not want to grab the attentions of the Walkers if they could avoid it. And if they walked, then they could go as the crow flies which would save a few kilometres from that distance. Silence overcame them when the sun went down. They were focusing on the job ahead tomorrow. They cooked dinner in silence downstairs by a single candle, and ate up in the main bedroom in the dark. Neither of them would admit it, but the events of today had rocked them a bit. Nothing was thought of it when it came time to sleep, Tom closed the main bedroom door, locked it, and the two slept in the master bed together until morning. Huddled Together Ch. 01 ------ John woke with a hairy arm wrapped around his chest. He opened his eyes. The room was exactly as it was when they went to sleep, door still barricaded, and the window the same. The only difference is that Tom and he were now spooning, and John was the little spoon. The other main difference was the feeling against the small of John's back. Tom was sporting some serious 'morning wood', and it was lying right against him. The two were sleeping in their boxers only for comfort, but from the feel of it Tom's did little to hide his morning groin 'stretch'. "Good morning beautiful." Tom whispered into John's ear. John jumped out of bed, and Tom started laughing quite loudly at poor John's 'deer in headlights' startled look on his face. John got into the swing of the laughter soon however. "Haha! You bastard!" John said happily, "It's been a bit long between having a woman's touch for you I think!" "Well, that's true enough," Tom sat up in bed while clearing out his eyes from sleep, "But from the look of it, you haven't had one yourself for a while." John looked down. He was at attention himself, morning wood for all. "Fair enough." John smiled as he grabbed his machete and headed out the door to the bathroom downstairs, checking that the house was still secure from the night as he did. When John emerged from the bathroom Tom rushed past him for his turn in the bathroom, "Coffee's on mate". Sweet, sweet coffee. Tom had a lust for good quality coffee, so he was sure to bring his supplies from his house when they moved the goods over to here. He headed into the lounge room towards the smell of coffee brewing over the fireplace fire that Tom had started up, made two cups, and settled down into one of the arm chairs. As John was sipping his delicious morning wake up juice, he could hear Tom in the bathroom; it was next to the lounge room separated by only one wall. Not the noises that you'd expect to hear from a trip to the bathroom, rather grunting noises. These continued for a few minutes then stopped. Tom came back in after a bit looking much more relaxed, grabbed a cup from John's offer, and the two sat back around the fire in the armchairs in their boxers. After a while, John looked over to Tom. "You rubbed one out didn't you?" John finally said. Tom turned slowly and had a big grin on his face. "Well we've got a big day today, man's got to be relaxed and focused I reckon." Tom gave a wink with a cheeky smile. John sat stunned. Stunned, but he started realising that he too was quite damn horny. It had been a long time since he'd been with a woman, and since Tom had turned up and they had been focused on defending the house and organising supplies and food, 'cleaning the pipes' was the last thing on his mind. Well until now. They sat in silence for a few moments, Tom with his big cheeky smile still on his face as he sipped his coffee. John sat there looking into his coffee as if asking it what he should do. He eventually put it the cup up to his lips, finished the contents, put the mug down with a bang, and headed past Tom to the bathroom. "Bastard." John said playfully as he walked past Tom, hitting his arm. John closed the bathroom door behind him, took off his boxers, and grabbed the sink to look into the mirror. He was a good looking guy, especially naked. His broad chest slightly covered in dark hair. His toned arms pleased him the most. A month of working here in the sun had given him a nice tan that he wasn't used to from working inside the timber mill for all those years. In his late 20's and looking good, he thought to himself, and now fighting for the survival of the human race. No worries. He walked into the bathtub and pulled the shower curtain back, it was one of those shower/bath combination ones. The house had solar hot water, and they had rigged up a diesel generator down in the basement that kicked in when needed for water pressure. John started the water and when it was nice and hot stood under it to relax. It would be a long hard day trekking into town with many unknowns, might has well enjoy as much water as he wanted. His thoughts turned to 'helping himself'. He looked down at his cock; it laid hanging between his legs minding its own business. He had always liked the look of it, large enough at 7 inches, circumcised, and quite thick. The hot water was running little streams down its sides; it looked clean and ready to be used. He placed it in his left hand (he was a lefty) and started stoking slowly. Now, what to think about? *** His mind wandered back to his last girlfriend, Missy. She was a real beauty, golden hair, fantastic tits and a real crazy girl in the sack. He remembered the best night that they ever had together, he came home from work after a long day, and she needed him. No other words for it. He barely had walked in the door when she raced up with that big smile of hers and jumped on his waist, wrapping her long smooth legs around him. Kissing him deeply, grinding her pelvis against his. He quickly took control, just as she liked it. Dropping his bag and keys to the floor, kissing her roughly and with purpose, walking them both into the bedroom and throwing her off onto the bed. He torn off their shirts and she sat up to undo his pants as quickly as she could, she wanted what they were hiding away from her. Biting her bottom lip as his cock jumped out to greet her; she looked up into his eyes and then swallowed him whole without breaking her piercing gaze. He loved that sight, her big eyes locked onto his as he could see his cock disappear into her nice warm mouth. It was a bit of a stretch as she was a small girl, but she was the only girl that he had ever known that could make it down all the way so fast. Amazing. *** He was pulled out of his fantasy memories as the shower curtain at the end of the bath behind him moved open, Tom stepped in. John spun his head around trying to hide his now full erection. "What the fuck are you doing?" Tom kept his big smile on his face, and his eyes locked onto John's. "Come on man, this could be our last day alive. Let's enjoy what we can, hey?" John looked at Tom with the 'deer in the headlights' expression for the second time this morning, not knowing what the hell he was talking about or was propositioning exactly. Tom took this as an opportunity, and moved forward behind John, their shoulders lining up against each other. Tom was a good looking man, but John had never in his wildest dreams ever imagined doing anything with another man. He was sure that he was straight, sure curious from time to time, but not enough to ever try anything in the real world. But I suppose this wasn't the real world anymore, the old rules weren't applicable anymore. Here they were, stuck in this house together and could be killed today. John's penis had gone down a bit from the shock of Tom's appearance in the shower. Tom moved his left hand under John's armpit and around onto his chest, pulling him close against his body. His right hand onto his hip, but didn't stay there very long. It slowly moved forward until he had John's cock wrapped by his fingers. To John's surprise, up he went again in no time. The mix of not having 'cleaned the pipes' for quite some time, and this new sensation given from Tom's presence was exhilarating. He could feel Tom's penis laying limp against the back of his leg, he guessed it wouldn't be up for a bit since Tom had just 'helped himself' earlier. Tom continued his reach around and started stroking away. Nice long even strokes, moving the skin up and down just the right way a man likes. John's balls swung freely into the hot water on the off strokes. Tom tilted his head and rested it on John's shoulder as he continued to pump away. John could feel the familiar sensations rising in his loins as he approached the point of no return. A few more moments passed in this silent embrace, steady jacking off movements the whole time. John could hold back no longer. He leant in more against Tom's shoulder as hot cum pulsed out of him and into the bath below. His brain was filled with the sweet chemical release, and his knees gave way a little. Tom held him up as he faltered. Another few minutes passed in silence. Tom had moved his hand down to cup John's balls, and was slowly rotating them around with his hand as if they were Chinese stress balls. John could feel Tom's erection growing against his leg, slowly growing up into the crack of his ass. John built up his courage, "When in Rome." He thought to himself, and turned around. Tom's smile was still there, but it was mixed now with horniness. John grabbed him and turned him around under the shower head. Nothing original came to mind, he was still groggy from having cum, so he just repeated the actions that Tom had just performed on him. His right hand under his arm and onto his chest to bring the two close together, his left hand wound around his waist and gingerly grabbed his penis. He had never touched another man's penis before, his own plenty of times sure, but never someone else's. It felt the same as holding his own in a way, but Tom had his foreskin. Not knowing what to do about the foreskin, he gently pulled it down off the head of his penis. He looked over Tom's shoulder down to his cock, it was a little longer than his but also a little thinner. He realised this due to his fingers fitted a bit further around its girth than when he held his own. From there he just winged it, started stroking the way that he liked it, the same way that Tom had just performed on him with nice long steady strokes. It didn't take long for Tom to get fully aroused, and John actually found himself enjoying the excitement and thrill of playing with another man. Nothing was said between them the whole time, just the soft grunts coming from Tom in time with John's pumping as he crept closer to cuming. Then it happened. Tom let out a louder grunt and moved his hands backwards to hold onto John's legs, gripping tightly. He put his head back onto John's shoulder with his face raised to the shower head. John could feel Tom's penis swell slightly as he came, he changed his strokes to be lower down his shaft and shorter, avoiding touching his cock's head as it shot out cum. He watched it flow out of him in pulses as he slowed his stroke to a stop. It hit the bathtub floor and down the drain as Tom's cock slowly went limp in his hand. They turned off the water and stepped out of the bathtub. Tom passed John a towel and they dried off in silence, passing a slight smile when their eyes caught. They headed back to the main bedroom to get dressed for the day, then back to the lounge room chairs with another cup of coffee each. The two men sat in silence finishing their second coffee of the day, both now focusing on the days task of heading into town and find some survivors. Huddled Together Ch. 02 Chapter 2 – Survivors. ***** Note from the author: This is my first attempt at an erotic story. I've had wonderful feedback from my Literotica editor, KatySweetCandy, and a big thank you goes to her for her support. I would love any feedback that the readers would take the time to write, and greatly enjoy hearing what parts people enjoyed and why. This is a slow story, and as detailed as I could make it. There is some gore, but far less than would be expected in a current zombie movie. Please be aware of this before starting the read, there isn't much however. I assure you it is worth the time to read. More chapters to come if the feedback points to everyone wanting more. Enjoy the read. Writers Unblock ***** Tom spoke first, "Ok so how are we going to do this thing? The sun's been up for an hour now and by my estimate it we should give it 3 hours each way to walk it." "We need our weapons, and food for a couple of days in-case we get stuck in town. The creek heads from here right through to John's River, so water won't be a problem." John added. More silence as they tried to think of any more things they needed to do. Nothing was said. "Righto, let's do this." Tom stood up and said. They headed to the kitchen and crammed into their small backpacks some jerky, bananas, and some muesli bars. The two worked silently loading their rifles and packing spare ammo. With their guns over their shoulders, they picked up their machetes and walked to the front door. John leant his ear against the door. He strained as hard as he could, but couldn't hear a sound. He gave a nod and Tom removed the wooden planks from the door. John listened again, still nothing. John nodded again, and with machetes at the ready Tom opened the door. The sun was coming up over the hills to the left of the house, and the morning sunlight was starting to reach their vegetables. Nothing moved except a couple of birds slowly moving across the sky, off to find some breakfast. They gave it a ten count and walked out into the yard. This had been the way they started every day since they met over a month ago now. "Looks good" Tom said, as he lowered his weapon to his side. "Let's head to town then." John took point and headed down the driveway with his machete on his shoulder. It was a nice enough walk, there weren't many properties around these parts, every couple of kilometres they'd come to a homestead in the paddocks but they were all empty. No sign of the occupants or any struggles. After the 4th empty house, the 5th had obvious signs that someone had been there to find food, but nothing else was amiss. The country was beautiful, it had been a nice wet Spring and all the fields were very green, the summer heat was starting to burn off some of that green, replacing it with tinges of brown on the tips of the long grass. Cows and sheep wandered in the paddocks as they always did, the men noted out to each other that there would be plenty of meat to be had, and that they should make their fortress big enough to include some domestic animals for food. More people would have to be found to help to herd and manage them. It was 11:30am before they came across the western group of houses of John's River town. They could see the overpass continuing over the National Highway, but the main township was hidden by embankments and trees. They were lying on the side of an embankment by the side of the road about a kilometre from the dozen houses on this side of the highway, spotting them with the rifles. "She looks empty in the street." Tom called out in a whisper to John. "And I can't see any movement in the windows." John was scanning the buildings too, "Wait a minute," he said, "3rd one on the left and the one beside it, the windows are boarded up." Tom moved his scope to double check, and then they sat back into the bottom of the ditch to discuss. "It could be occupied by survivors" Tom said hopefully. "It could be the same people that raided that house a click back. John stuck his head up again and looked with the scope for any sign of movement. Still none. "Well it looks like our best bet. The other houses have nothing on the windows at all." John crawled back down and said. The two nodded and started back up the road, keeping off the tarred road for safety. They reached the end house and pulled out their machetes, and shouldered their rifles. Not a sound was heard. Inching forward down the front of the houses with their machetes at the ready, they reached the front door of the 3rd house, the one with the boarded up windows. Tom crept up to the door and listened against it. As his head touched the door, it slowly pushed in. It was unlocked, not a good sign. Tom recalled back once the door opened beside him, but moved forward once his courage returned. He pushed the door slowly fully open with his machete, blood started running out the floor of the house and onto the top step. Not a good sign at all. John stepped up and peered into the house through the open door. Blood was all over the floor and walls, with human hand prints which looked to be clawing at every surface. The two knelt down beside the door in the front yard and whispered what to do next. "Well something's definitely been in there and got whoever was hiding in here." Tom whispered first. "I think we should still head in and see what we're dealing with here, we don't know much about what is going on yet." John stated. Tom nodded, and since it was John's idea he headed in first. John slowly and as quietly as he could step up the couple of steps up into the house. Sure enough there was blood everywhere, and it only got worse. From what he could tell there must have been at least two victims. One body spread over against the far side of the room near the doorway to the kitchen. Foot marks in the blood on the floor suggested that there was more than one Walker that made the attacks here. A trail of blood went down the hallway to the right; the second victim must have tried to get away. As John inched into the house he could see, and smell, the body of a large man who had been torn apart. He was, and those foot marks went out the door past where John was now. That was good in a way; it meant that the house might be empty of Walkers. John motioned for Tom to come in, who was keeping guard outside. Tom crept in watching behind him that they weren't followed in. He closed the door behind him so that they were not surprised from behind. Tom took in what he saw in the lounge room, and John motioned silently that he was heading down the hallway to investigate. With machete at the ready, John crept up to the entrance of the hallway. The blood trail went into the first bedroom to his left, the door was slightly ajar. Tom joined him on the other side of the hallway entrance. John headed slowly as possible to the first door, where there was almost certainly the other victim that was attacked. He pushed open the door even slower than he walked, millimetre by millimetre. He could see another corpse come into view, the same as the other one, male and his body mutilated by his attackers. John noticed at this point that the bloody footsteps passed back away from the room, back past him, which gave him a bit of relief that the room might be empty of Walkers. He pushed the door open completely and this confirmed that the room had no one else in it. He motioned for Tom to join him, who walked carefully up behind him and peered over his shoulder. Tom whispered in John's ear, "Looks like this didn't happen long ago, the blood is still fresh, it hasn't dried at all." John nodded and whispered back, "Let's make sure no one is here and decide what to do from there." Tom nodded and motioned that he would take the last room on the right, and for John to take the room on the left at the end of the hallway. They both passed the bathroom on the right, which was empty and made their ways to the last rooms. Both doors were closed. Tom turned the handle of his door first. Another bedroom appeared as he slowly opened the door; at least whoever owned this place had oiled the hinges well, they all opened smoothly. The room was empty except for a bed and a heap of empty cans of food, and some candles that were almost completely burnt down. Light streamed in through the cracks in the boarded up windows. It was John's turn to open the next door. With his heart still pounding in his ears, he turned the door knob. About half way through slowly opening it, it started squeaking on its hinge. He stopped straight, fear rising in his stomach, he looked at Tom. He was looking down the hall, and turned when he heard the squeaking door. The look on his face said that John should stick his head in, fantastic. John moved closer to the door frame and slowly stuck his machete and head through the door at the same time. It was another bedroom that was same as the others so far. More empty cans, some full still, and a built in robe. John motioned for Tom to come into this room with him, and walked in, making sure that the area behind the door was clear of surprises. The two gathered next to the far side of the room to work out what to do from here. "Well this house is clear of the living and the dead." Tom said. "Should check out the other house I suppose, there could be..." John was cut off by the tiniest of sounds; "He... Hello?" It was a woman's voice and very quiet and nervous. Tom motioned his machete to the built in robe that was beside them. There must be someone alive in there? John nodded that he too heard the voice from the robe and whispered, "Hello, is someone in there? It's safe to come out." The door to the built in slowly opened and carefully a woman appeared from inside. As she emerged John could see that she was terrified and visibly shaken. She sat in the corner near the door she had come out of, glancing quickly between the two men and the door to the hallway. Tom headed back to the door to the hallway to stand guard, as John put his machete down on the floor to show that he wasn't being aggressive to the woman. She was pale, most likely in her early 20's, blonde. Her hair was shoulder length and matted to her face in sweat, her eyes blue and piercing when they flicked into John's. If she hadn't been spending days in that cupboard she could have the 'girl next door' kind of look, but skinnier from obvious lack of food. "Hi there, my name is John. And that is Tom," John carefully said "You know, saying that out loud almost rhymes!" he chuckled. The woman didn't laugh, just continued to look worried. "Anny." She whispered, her eyes darting between the two, "My... my name is Anny." Tom looked back into the room, "We need to decide what we're going to do here. It's a long way back home." John turned to Tom and nodded, then back to Anny, "Anny, we have a safe home to go back to, would you like to come with us?" Anny paused for a time, gazing into John's eyes, and then looking up at Tom. She turned back to John and nodded in shy agreement. "Are they all dead?" She was almost in tears as she whispered. "There are two men dead. One in the lounge room and another in the first bedroom" John told her. "Where are the others? Are they here too?" "You're the only person alive we've found in the house, are there others somewhere else?" John tried to encourage the information out of her. "There were more of us, she seemed to struggle to remember who. We were outside trying to find food two days ago when these crazed bleeding people came towards us. They... they came around the side of the house before we could get back in and close the doors..." Anny took a moment as John could clearly see that she was recounting the horrors again. She took a moment before she spoke again, "I could hear Jack and Tony behind me as we ran in here... They killed them didn't they...? I ran into here and hid in this wardrobe, and haven't been out since. That was two days ago." She broke down into tears. John got up and went to Tom by the door. "We need to search that other house for survivors" John whispered. "Agreed, we came here to find people to come help us, so let's check it out". John headed back to Anny and crouched next to her. "Now Anny, we need to check the other house to see if there is anyone in there." "Please, please don't leave me here alone. I can't be in here alone any longer." Anny pleaded. John paused, and then said, "Ok, but you have to stick by my side at all times, do you understand? And as we head out of this house you need to keep your eyes closed." Anny nodded. John grabbed her hand gently and helped her stand up, and then they headed to the door. Tom headed out into the hall first and a few moments later John led Anny out, making sure her eyes were shut. They all continued forward back down the hall and to the front door. As they got to the lounge room towards the smell of the body in there, John felt Anny squeeze his hand tighter, if that was even possible. Tom opened the front door carefully and peered outside. He gave a wave of his hand to follow him out, so it must be clear outside. Anny opened her eyes to get down the steps and the three headed around the small picket fence that separated this house from the other boarded up one next door. They all stopped dead when they heard a startled bird off in the distance, it screeched off into the sky angrily. They picked up the pace and headed onto the veranda of the boarded up house, sitting against the wall of the house, to the left of the front door. The veranda had a solid fence around it, and only covered the front of the house, so it felt a bit comforting. John quickly scanned the street again, but there was no sign of any movement. He nodded to Tom who was closest to the door, and Tom crept up to the door. As last time, he carefully put his head against it to hear for anything inside. This time the door did not open when touched – a good sign so far. Tom pulled back towards John, "I can hear something moving around in there. What should we do?" John thought for a moment, "Well, if they're alive, then they will understand what a knock on the door means." Tom nodded, built up his courage and headed back to the door. He carefully checked the door knob, but it was clearly locked. Leaning up against the wall and reaching his hand over to the door, he knocked softly but loud enough for the occupants to hear. Knock, knock, and knock. John had put his ear to the wall of the house just before the knocking, and could hear the slight shuffling sounds inside. When Tom knocked, they stopped straight away. Then he could faintly hear one set of feet carefully heading towards the front door and stop. John heard Tom whisper, "We're here to help. We've saved Anny from next door. Please open the door." A few moments later after a pause which felt like whoever was on the other side of the door was consulting with others in the house, came sounds of boards being removed from the other side of the door and eventually the lock. The door swung open carefully. Keeping low, Tom headed inside. John squeezed Anny's hand and pulled her around in front of him and passed her into the house. He made one more visual sweep of the street and headed inside too. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, changing from the blazing summer sunshine of outside to the dark interior of the house. He could make out two people huddled together in the corner of the lounge room. Tom was to his right watching him come in. Another person was holding the door open for John, an old woman. Her grey hair fell half way down her back; she was frightfully thin and looked fiercely into John's eyes as he walked in past her. Once John was inside she closed the door behind him, locked the door and put up wooden blocks that were make-shift barricades. She was certainly strong for a woman her age and size. "Were you followed?" the old woman instantly enquired as she had finished with the door, in her frail old voice. John spoke up, "No we weren't. We haven't seen any Walker's around at all." "Walkers?" "That's what we call those zombies out there." "Sure, whatever you want to call them. They didn't make it into this house when we were attacked two days ago, but it sounded like they did next door, except for Anny here..." Her voice trailed off as she presumed that the other two men had been killed, holding back tears. John introduced himself and Tom, the old woman introduced herself as Meredith – Merry as her friend's knew her. The other two people came out from hiding against the far wall. Skye was in her 30's, and short, she wouldn't have been 5 and 1/2 feet tall, dark haired woman with a strong looking face. Thin too, like they all were. They must have been hiding in these houses eating canned food since the outbreaks started. The other woman was Anny; she had obviously run across the room to be with Skye as soon as she got in the door. They all sat down at the dinner table which had been moved into the lounge room. A candle was lit so they could all see each other and talk. Merry, who was quite clearly the leader of the group, told about how they were stuck in their houses when the disease came to town just under a month ago. It was spread by people fleeing the cities, heading up the coast. The Walkers had killed so many people in the town, the sickness itself didn't even pale in comparison to what they did to the living. Everyone was in separate houses to begin with, and as the Walkers ruined the town of the living, the survivors gathered together. This group of houses to the west of the main highway was a bit safer than in town where there had been a couple of hundred people before this all began. The two men that were dead next door were Merry's husband, Jack, and a local boy, Tony. Anny started crying when he was mentioned, it turned out he was her brother. John explained why they were here, that they had a safe house with food and shelter and wanted to find other survivors to join them to make the place a proper fortress to protect against the Walkers. He offered them to come with them back to the house. The women looked at each other with tears in their eyes from recalling all the events of the last few weeks. Eventually Merry turned to John and said, "Please." They had taken too long with searching the first house and talking with the women to make it back home before dark. They would have to all spend the night where they were. The house had been barricaded up well. It was a small house with only one bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and lounge room. All of the women slept in the one bedroom, they explained that they had occupied the two houses when there was more of them, but as their numbers fell they had made this one house their home. Their food supply was very low, a can of beans and half a can of beetroot. The guys emptied out their backpacks of all the food and offered it all to the women, who downed it eagerly; they would need their strength back for tomorrow's hike back up into the hills. "We didn't know what we were going to do after tomorrow. These cans would have only lasted us another day or two." Skye said with a mouth full of banana. Once all the food was done with, and the can's saved for breakfast, they rostered up a watch. Each person would stay up in pairs, with Merry being able to sleep through the night. Reluctantly she accepted this, as her full stomach reminded her that she was very weak from lack of food. Tom would pair up with Skye, and John would be with Anny for first watch. Tom, Skye and Merry headed into the bedroom and sounded asleep within 10 minutes. It was late in the afternoon, but John could tell that the sun hadn't gone down yet, by the small sliver of light that came in under the front door. Huddled Together Ch. 02 Anny went off to the bathroom; John blew out the candles and sat on the sofa with his rifle and machete by his side. He'd gotten used to watch duty, and enjoyed the silence of the task, and with no open windows to look out of it should be easier than usual. When Anny came back into the room she walked gingerly up to him on the sofa. "Can... can I join you please?" She said carefully, still obviously shy around John and shaken from the last couple of days. John could barely see her face in the dark room, but he could see that she had cleaned up her hair a bit since this morning. He patted the empty space next to him on the sofa with as warm a smile as he could make trying to comfort her. She quietly folded down into the comfy couch next to him. She pushed his arm around her and snuggled against his chest, her legs up on the chair beside her. John remembered a blanket that was down beside the arm of the chair next to him, and pulled it up with his other hand, and wrapped it around them. They sat there in silence for what seemed like hours. Nothing needed to be said; she needed to feel safe and protected, feelings that John felt proud in providing. He heard her breath get shallow as she drifted off to sleep. "She needs it more than I do", he thought to himself as he enjoyed another human's touch and warmth for the first time in ages – well since he and Tom had shared that awkward night and morning... ----- It had been 4 hours into the watch, John could tell from the clock silently passing the time up on the wall near the kitchen, its hands moving so slowly for him as he sat there nice and warm against Anny's body. She was sound asleep still, just making light breathing noises as she slept. There was a soft scraping noise of something outside that John picked up on first. Something was on the front step. Another noise, this time slightly louder, of floor boards squeaking pressured by something walking on them. The sofa they were sitting on was next to the boarded up window to the left of the front door. It must be a Walker he decided. He heard the Walker slowly moving from the front door along the veranda. Anny started squeezing John tighter around his chest, she had woken up. John put his hand down over her ear and pulled her other against his chest, while silently picking up his machete with the other. He could hear moans coming from the Walker outside, man, they were exactly like the movies 'foretold'. The Walker moved past the window and reached the end of the veranda with a 'bump'. Another louder groan and he started shuffling back the way he came. Eventually the floorboards stopped squeaking, and John heard the Walker heading down the stairs. After a few minutes of silence passed until John moved his hand off Anny's head and back down onto her side. She didn't let go at all from his chest, but seemed alright and definitely happier that she had John there to protect her. The two sat in silence for another couple of minutes, John lay his head down onto the top of her head to rest. A few minutes later Anny's hand started to move down his chest. Slowly and nervously down from his heart, trailing down his stomach to end up on the front of his pants. She undid his fly with a little struggle, as John squeezed his arm into her tighter bringing her in closer. He smelled her hair deeply, enjoying the feel of a woman against him again, and especially one that was opening his fly. With his fly open, her little fingers reached into his pants and found his semi erection. She pulled it out through his fly and started to slowly stroke it, using her finger nails up and down the entire shaft. That woke it up quickly, and he was at full attention in no time at all. Her hand gripped onto the middle of the shaft and started pumping up and down with gently increasing speed. John's breath became heavier as she went, his hand moving from her waist up her side to the side of her breast. He gave her breast a warm squeeze, and she responded by squeezing his cock with the same timing. More and more pumping on his cock, and he was groaning heavily, yet quietly so as to not wake the dead – which wasn't very loud these days. Anny's head slipped from under his, under the blanket and down his chest. Her warm mouth found what he was hanging out for. Her stroking stopped with her hand at the base of his cock; he could feel her warm breath pause just above the head, just for a few moments. He thought he was going to explode right there from the anticipation. The moment passed, her courage built, and he felt her lips pass over the tip of his penis that was shortly followed by her warm moist tongue and mouth. John was in heaven. Nothing could beat this feeling, this beautiful young woman, clutching to him for her survival and wanting to be so close to him, be part of him. She worked her mouth half way down in the first move, then up again to the tip, then down again a little further. Her hand moving off his shaft and cupping his balls, gently squeezing them as she filled her mouth more and more. It was so careful, so gentle, and so perfect for the situation that they were in that they silently huddled into each other. From the angle that she was now, he could reach more of her body. He moved his hand down from her breast, carefully down her stomach, lightly over her crotch, and gripped onto her inner thigh. He squeezed her leg with his large strong hands, and could feel the heat radiating from her crotch against the finger closest. He heard her moaning around his cock quietly as he began his massage. Her mouth started moving faster now along his cock, and sucking stronger. Her hand squeezing and rolling his balls, it wanted cum to come out of them now. He moved his hand up her thigh so that his palm fully against her mound. The pants she was wearing did little to hide how excited she was, the heat coming out of her sex was undeniable. He started rubbing his hand up and down, and her hips reciprocated with small grinds of their own. John felt the rising of his cum stirring in his loins, he wouldn't last much longer. Somehow he knew that Anny knew this, her sucking and strokes down became shallower and turned into a steady rhythm. He held out as long as he could, enjoying every second of what was happening to him, but eventually he felt the release. Cum ran out of him, Anny gripped his balls firmly as she felt it rushing into her mouth. She stopped sucking, but kept her lips wrapped around the head of his cock. It took everything that he could to stop himself making a noise, the Walkers outside might still be close enough to hear. He arched his head back in pleasure and grabbed his hand against her crotch, while his other had already put down the machete, and now gripped into the hair on her head. His mind slowly came back from the fuzzy chemical flushing that it just received, and he slumped down in the sofa. Her lips stayed on his cock until she felt the last pulse of semen come out, then released it with a soft 'plop'. He heard her swallow his cum she had collected in her mouth, better not to waste any calories I suppose. She left his cock hanging out of his pants, now quickly returning to being limp, and moved her body back up onto his chest. Her hand releasing his balls and wrapping back around his stomach, her head resting on his heart as if its beat gave her comfort in this crazy world they now lived in. His right hand moved back up onto her waist, the other to the arm of the chair. He rested his chin onto the top of her head. Neither of them said anything. They lay there holding each other, the cooling moisture on his cock making it feel a nice contrast to the warm blanket over them both. The remainder of the watch would be a bit harder to stay awake for. ----- Midnight eventually rolled around. Anny had gone back to sleep 15 minutes after the events from earlier, her light shallow breaths gave it away. He could also smell the scent of cum on her breath as she slept, John had always enjoyed that smell on a woman's breath, and there was something incredibly sexy about it. He sat there enjoying the memories of what she had done to him to pass the time. No other sounds happened outside which John was thankful about. John gently shook Anny's shoulder to wake her. She stirred, and looked up into his eyes. Even in the darkness he could sense her eyes looking deep down inside him. She moved her hand up from his chest, along the side of his neck, and up behind his ear. She pulled his head down to hers and they locked in a long, slow, sensual kiss. She then wriggled up off the sofa and stood in front of him. She leant down and grabbed his hands, helping him to his feet. When they were standing together, John was a full head taller than she was, she let go of his hands and put them on his penis. He started to come to attention again, but she put it back in his pants and pulled his zipper up. She stood on tippy toes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then took him by the hand and started for the bedroom. He pulled back to make her pause as he picked up his rifle and machete in his other hand, then followed. John crouched down next to Tom and woke him. After he was awake enough, he led him out to the hall and told him about the Walker that had done a pass of the veranda. He didn't mention anything that happened between Anny and him. Tom accepted the news with a nod, just as Skye came out rubbing her eyes still from Anny's wake up call. They said good night to John and went into the lounge room, John headed back into the bedroom. It was even darker in there, if that was even possible, but he could make out the four single mattresses on the floor. It looked like Merry was asleep in the far corner, and Anny was just falling into bed to his left against the wall. He started to walk past her to one of the other mattresses, he wasn't sure if she wanted him in bed with her or not. As he passed, she stuck out her hand and gripped down on his shirt. He looked down to her face. "Please" was all she had said. John put down his weapons beside the bed, and lay next to her. He put his arm under her head, their legs intertwined. He reached down with his free hand and pulled the blanket up over them. As warm as the summer days got, the nights cooled down a lot here near the coast. They settled down together, protecting her from the empty room by holding her there between the wall and his body. John rested his chin on the top of her head, and they went to sleep. Huddled Together Ch. 03 Chapter 3 – Hard Road Home. ***** Note from the author: This is my first attempt at an erotic story. I've had wonderful feedback from my Literotica editor, KatySweetCandy, and a big thank you goes to her for her support. I would love any feedback that the readers would take the time to write, and greatly enjoy hearing what parts people enjoyed and why. This is a slow story, and as detailed as I could make it. There is some gore, but far less than would be expected in a current zombie movie. Please be aware of this before starting the read, there isn't much however. I assure you it is worth the time to read. More chapters to come if the feedback points to everyone wanting more. Enjoy the read. Writers Unblock ***** John didn't dream, which he considered to be a good thing given the things that he and Tom had seen yesterday. When Tom woke him at 7am, John turned to see his warm smile looking at the two of them there together. He patted John's arm once, the sign they had made up to tell each other silently that all was OK, and headed back to the lounge room. John lay there enjoying the smell and warmth of being there with Anny. His arm was a little wet from where she must have drooled a bit on him in her sleep. It had been a long time since holding a woman for this long; he missed the closeness that a woman can bring to your life. He started gently rubbing her arm to wake her; she stirred and greeted him with another long kiss good morning. Reluctantly they got out of bed. Anny went to wake Merry, and John gathered his weapons. They all headed into the lounge room together. Skye had divided up the food between them all, as Tom lit a candle on the dining table for them to eat by. John could see some light coming in under the door from the morning Sun. Everyone sat down at the dinner table. A can of beans and half a can of beetroot divided five ways... John and Tom both offered their portion to the women, which they decided that Merry should have the majority of to try and build her strength for the day's long walk. All the women looked like they needed a good feed when they got home. Once breakfast was done and the bowls licked clean, the men passed their backpacks to the women, who headed into the bedroom to put as many clothes in as they could. They join the men at the front door in single file and waited. John and Tom put the back packs on and shouldered their rifles. With machetes at the ready, John volunteered to check that the coast was clear. He walked up and put his ear against the door. He strained his ears to try and hear for anything at all outside. Nothing. Nothing at all, it was almost as scary as hearing a Walker strolling by. John gave a nod and Tom moved forward to help him take down the wooden barricades as quietly as they could. With them out of the way, John unlocked the handle and turned the knob. The door inched open, and John strained to see out against the gap it was making between it and the wall. More nothing. With the door now fully open, he stuck his head out slowly to view the veranda, while at the same time scanning the street and houses across the road. There were some slight dusty marks on the veranda, and some drops of blood. They must have been left there from the Walker last night, but no sign of him now. It looked OK out there. He looked up as he heard a couple of Kookaburra's in the distance heading across the sky, taking turns between them to laugh at the plight of the humans below. With machete at the ready, John stepped out onto the veranda. The floorboards made the same noise that they had with their late night visitor. He reached the top step and stuck his head out to view the rest of the street that was blocked from the outer wall of the bedroom to his left. He took his time, but could see nothing. Without turning around he pushed his arm back behind him and gave Tom the thumbs up. He then heard Tom come forward and head down the end of the veranda to look around the side of the house. After he was satisfied, Tom headed back to John and gave him one pat on the shoulder, all was clear. He then headed back inside, and the women came out single file. With John taking lead, followed by Anny, Merry, Skye, then Tom, they started down the stairs and into the yard. They kept low with Merry being helped along by the other women. Stopping at every cover they could reach, and scanning the houses and street constantly to avoid nasty surprises. It took them a good half hour to get clear of the house, and back to the ditch where the two men reached yesterday 100 metres outside of town, where the bush started getting thick again. The men hide the women behind the rise and John climbed back up to scan the town to make sure they weren't followed. He raised his rifle and went left to right, nothing moved still. One more pass and they would go. He raised his rifle again from left to right. As he panned across the road that ran through the houses, he saw the Walker. It was limping in the middle of the road slowly in their direction, shit, how had he missed it? To the side he could see some large bushes in front yard of a house that was two down from where they had just left. The group had timed it perfectly, any later in the day and they would have strolled straight into the Walkers gaze. John quietly whistled out the single descending tone that meant that a Walker had been seen, just loud enough for Tom to hear the 20 metres away down the bank where the group were hiding. He heard Tom scrambling back up the bank behind him and lay next to him on the bank, pulling his rifle up to his eye. "Right there in the middle of the damn road, a single Walker. I've just scanned the rest a 3rd time and can't see any more of them." John whispered angrily. By now the Walker had turned around and was heading back down the street away from them. "Looks like he isn't on our trail, he's headed back the other way." Tom whispered. They retreated back lower on the bank so that their heads couldn't be seen from town. "He's not after us, so let's take that luck and move on." John said. "If we take him out from here it might give away our position to more of them, and we don't know how smart these things are yet." Tom nodded in agreement, and they headed back down into the bushes to where the women were. They were huddled beside a large gum tree, all quietly whimpering. The men picked them up and reassured them as much as they could, and they continued their trek home. John took the lead with the three women beside each other helping Merry along while Tom covered the rear. ----- It was a nice quiet trip, considering. Merry was by far the weakest of the group, and they all took it in turns helping her along. They passed through the fields, on the edge of where the bush was cut back to, well away from the road. They had raided one of the empty homesteads along the way for enough food for lunch, and at midday they stopped to eat by the creek where there was some nice tree coverage. The water was clear as glass, very cold, and quick running. John and Tom sat back up on the bank with their backs on either side of a tree to eat their lunch, watching all sides for any surprises. The women had theirs down near the creek, refreshing themselves with the water. They rested there for some time, John occasionally stealing glances down towards the women, Anny in particular. She was beautiful. She was tying her hair into two pigtails, one on either side of her head, her eyes happy as she chatted with Merry and Skye. And that smile. That smile was melting his heart. She had removed her shirt and was rinsing it in the cool waters, using it as a wash cloth to clean her body off. He was mesmerized by the way that the water streamed down her chest as she wiped the scrunched up shirt on her neck, little veins of water running between her breasts and onto her pants. He was brought out of his stolen glances by Tom starting to talk. John changed his focus back to the bush where it should have been. "Well we didn't exactly find anyone to help with the hard labour of building this wall." It was true, the main aim was to find people to help build the defences, but finding these women might be even better in the long run. "True," John added, "But they can look after the food and water at least while we are building. And, it can't hurt having women around in times like these... we might need to rebuild the human race..." John almost stopped himself from saying it out loud; he had been thinking it the whole morning's hike, thinking about all the time that they would get to spend with these women in the future. Tom let out a laugh, which grabbed the attention of the women down by the creek. They looked up, saw that we were chatting happily, and continued enjoying the waters with a smile. He leant around the tree and punched John's arm playfully. "Now that's the spirit mate! Eye on the prize!" loud enough for only John to hear and turned back to his sentinel duty, John could hear the smile in his voice. "So, you and Anny 'ey?" John looked back down at her briefly, she was laughing at something that Skye had said. Her eye flicked into his for a brief second, then away again. Her face started turning red in the cheeks, then more giggles towards Skye. It made John smile, and he turned back again to the bush. "Well, there are worse things to think about that's for sure." John said. "True that, guess that leaves me with Skye then hey. She looks like a little fire cracker, I love the short ones anyway." The women started back up the bank at that point, they were done freshening themselves up by the look of it. The men stood up, Tom scanning the bush, and John scanning Anny. Her shirt was wet from its job of being used as a wash cloth, and its wetness made it grip her body tightly. John felt fire starting in his loins, "God damn" John thought to himself, it would be along walk back. ----- The group stopped in at the nearest empty homestead to their home. It hadn't been raided by anyone, so they got the women to wear all their clothes that were in the backpacks, so they could fill them with tins of food. They continued their journey, looking a bit odd. The women in half a dozen layers of clothes each, and the men crouching over struggling with full backpacks of goodies. All plugging away through the countryside in the Australian summer heat. They were nearing the house, and the afternoon was wearing out, the sky was starting to fill with purples and reds. The house was visible from the top of the ridge where they were, above the creek that wound along through the property. Both men brought up their rifles and scanned the property, with the women close. They were hoping to reach the safety of home well before sun down, but Merry's pace had deteriorated quite substantially as the afternoon wore on. They scanned the house, the hill below, across the creek, and the entire bush around the hills that tucked the house away. Nothing. Looking good. Tom stood up and turned to the women, "All looks good, let's head out." The men put their backpacks back on and John started to take the lead. The next events were quite blurry to John's memory. All he could remember was a fierce stinging pain around his ankle, then falling down the tall embankment with screams of his name ringing in his ears. He must have become unconscious from the fall, what had happened? His head was pounding, his left leg throbbing in pain. The next thing that came to him was that he was lying uncomfortably in the creek facing up into the sky, his body cold from the water around him. His backpack was still on, and cans were pushing painfully into his spine and ribs, but the extra height of wearing the backpack had saved him from drowning. As his mind checked through his body's pain points in descending order, he also realized that he huge weight on his chest. It was the body of a Walker lying on top of him. Its head was caved in, what was left of his face a contorted mess looking blankly into his eyes. He passed out again. ----- More screaming, whoever it was, was close to him. Eventually his mind turned the sounds into words, his name. Someone was calling him. He tried to open his eyes but couldn't. There was the feeling of the dead Walker being moved off his body, the grabbing of his arms, pulling him out of the water. He passed out again. ----- Pain was shooting up his leg caused him to wake the next time. His legs were being dragged unceremoniously along the grass, passing now over gravel. Across floorboards. He was dumped to the ground. A bunch of yelling and footsteps. A door slammed. ----- He wasn't sure how much time had passed. Had everyone survived? What had happened? Where was he now? His body started to talk to his mind about the state that it was in. His left ankle was giving off a biting pain that ran up his leg. His back was generally numb from a dull sensation, at least there weren't any more cans pushing into it. His head was throbbing, but a cool washer was now placed over his forehead. He tried to open his eyes, but he struggled trying to see out of the pain that was flooding his vision. A soft voice came to him, "Shh, rest now." It was Anny's voice for sure. Soft lips kissed his cheek; they brought him comfort amongst the pain that seemed to be his entire world at the moment. He went back to sleep. He woke a few times over the next couple of days. Each time he was fed some warm soup slowly by Anny, it seemed that she didn't leave his side the whole time. Then he would pass back to sleep. ----- After three days he was able to open his eyes fully and wasn't feeling too bad. His leg still hurt like crazy. He looked down to investigate, but they were covered by a blanket. The room was dark except for a single candle, the windows were boarded up. He was in bed and the décor of the room told him that he was in the downstairs bedroom. He looked around the room and came upon Anny's face. He looked into her eyes. She looked tired and scared, but a bit of relief came back to her face when their eyes locked. She got out of the armchair and knelt down beside the bed, and carefully wrapped her arms around his chest. It was a bit tender still, but her touch far outweighed the discomfort. "I'd thought I'd lost you." She whispered to him, her head resting on his chest, she breathed him in for comfort. "We all thought you were gone, and then that Walker..." She trailed off. The Walker, what had happened? He tried to recall any other details about that day, but struggled. "What..." his voice came out raspy and weak, he pushed it harder, "What happened? I can't remember anything except the creek. Is everyone OK?" John collapsed back from the effort of speaking. "Everyone's fine. We'll get to the rest in a moment," an old woman's voice spoke up from the other side of the room. It must have been Merry's. He turned his head to confirm it. "We need to check that you haven't broken anything now that you're awake." She continued. "This might hurt a bit..." Merry walked up to the side of the bed. Anny moved off him while Merry checked his body from head to toe, poking and prodding him to check for any broken bones. It hurt quite a bit, but nothing that he couldn't bear. He was tender, but healing well, as Merry put it. She got down to his legs, to his left leg that was still clearly the most painful part he had. "It was a rabbit trap." She said when she got to the wound. She took the covers off his legs and removed the bandages that were lying on top of his ankle. "You stood right on it; someone put it in the bush and obviously forgot about it. Who knows how long it'd been sitting there. That and the food in your backpack put you off balance and down the embankment you went." Anny continued the story as Merry worked on tending to the wound. He had lost balance and fell down, as they screamed out his name as he fell, the sound had attracted a Walker that was in the bush close to where they were. They had just started heading down to come help John, when it attacked. Tom had struggled with it, eventually killing it, but in the struggle its body had fallen down embankment where John had just gone down himself. It wasn't the only Walker they saw during the rescue. When they did finally reach the creek and pulled John's unconscious body up, they could hear the sounds of more in the darkening bush. Everyone helped dragging John up the hill into the house. When they had almost reached the veranda, Merry had spotted two crossing the creek 100 metres behind them and closing. That gave them the energy needed at that point to haul them into the house and barricade the door quick smart. Merry finished up tending his ankle with a new dressing and gave the news that nothing was broken, just bruised from the fall. It was great news, and John was feeling much better than he could recall from the last couple of days. Merry gave him a warm smile and left the room; Anny went back to hugging him across his chest. They lay there quite a while. John moved his hand and started gently rubbing her head, moving her hair around over his chest. He felt Anny melting into him, savouring him being awake and alive. She started making soft content noises as he continued the light head massage. Eventually she brought her face up to his. Their eyes locked for a long time, he felt so amazed by her, enthralled. She smiled back into his eyes. He ran his hand around her cheek, to her chin, and pulled her up to his lips. They shared a long, slow kiss, the same as they had done back in town as they fell to sleep together. Her tongue gently prodded into his mouth, his tongue reciprocated, playing with hers. He exhaled contently. His body was sore, but having her close to him and kissing him deeply helped push the feelings out of his mind, she was better than any drug. His hand moved down from her face to her arm, gripped it as firmly as he could muster, and started pulling her over his body. He was too weak still to have moved her himself, but she realized what he was trying to do, and stood up and swung her leg over his hips. She was wearing a skirt that came down just above her knees; it flipped up slightly from the movement she made. John stole a glance of as much of her legs as he could when this happened. Their hips were together as she sat on top of him smiling down, her face framed by her beautiful blonde hair. The light from the candle jumped over her pale skin as he moved his hands slowly up her arms, bringing them to her shoulders. He took hold of her shoulders and pulled her gently forward, down towards him. She put her hands on either side of his head, to hold her weight off his body but lowered herself down onto his chest, touching it enough to feel in contact. They started another magic kiss together which lasted the longest time. John's body was beaten, but Anny's touch seemed to draw the pain away. He could feel that his crotch was operational at least, nothing but good feelings coming from there. Anny started slowly grinding her loins against his in long slow movements, and it didn't take long at all for him to have a nice hard erection. He was only wearing his boxers, and the covers were still down from his examination earlier. Anny broke the kiss with a deep smile into his eyes, and sat back up on top of him. Their fingers intertwined playfully, their eyes locked together. She eventually untangled her fingers and they moved to the bottom of her shirt. His hands moved to her thighs, massaging gently under her skirt. She paused, gaining courage, and then peeled it up over her body and clear of her head. Her flat stomach and full round breasts greeted him. They looked even more tantalizing in the candlelight. He moved his hands up her legs, up to her stomach, and started tracing around the bottom of her bra not quite touching it. His hands started grabbing her torso underneath her breasts, teasing that they were so close. Huddled Together Ch. 03 She gave off an inescapable slight moan, closed her eyes, and rolled her head back towards the ceiling. He continued her tease until her hands moved behind her back to remove the bra clasps. She pulled the ends of the bra forward, and removed the shoulder straps. Her hands held the bra in place for a moment, then, looking into his eyes again pulled the bra away, discarding it to the floor. John had always been a boob man himself, and his eyes lapped up Anny's greedily. His hands started moving up her torso ever so slightly, inching their way under, then around her full firm breasts. He gave them as firm a squeeze as he could muster, much to Anny's pleasure. Anny started grinding their loins together again. Her panties and his boxers were warm with friction and body heat. A minute of this and Anny moved her hips up his body slightly. She reached down and worked his boxers down just far enough that his cock was set free, it sprung into the air and found itself between the cheeks of her ass. She moved back down again and pulled his penis forward so it was at her front pointing towards the sky. Their sexes were meeting again, only separated now by her panties. He could feel the excitement damp on the front of them. He moved his hands down to her sides and pulled her forward slightly, Anny responded by placing one hand down to her panties, and moving them to the side exposing her sex. John lowered her as slowly as he could, her lips parting slowly as he started to enter her. His cock had her juices flowing down it by now, her body telling him how much he wanted him inside her. She put her hands back on the pillow either side of his head and lowered her face to his for another amazing kiss. They kissed deeply, the feeling of being one already flowing between them. Wrapped in this embrace, Anny slowly lowered herself onto his cock. She slipped down with little resistance; she was so wet with excitement. John could feel the warmth guiding down around his cock as he went deeper and deeper. After what seemed like a lifetime, their pelvises met. She had taken all of him in one long drawn out penetration. He could feel her juices still running out of her, slowly dripping down his balls. They lay there for ages, entwined together like that. John moved his hands over her back, holding her close and trying to draw her even closer onto him if that was physically possible. Anny started to pull up from having him in her entirely. She moved three quarters up the length of his cock, then down again all the way to the bottom. She repeated this again and again, building speed with each stroke. John was in heaven. Had he not survived the fall after all and this was heaven? He was lost in the sensations passing between the two lovers, their sexes grinding together with greater heat and passion than he had ever experienced. The bruising on his body distracted him little as everything he now was, was Anny and the passion passing between them. She continued thrusting away, evening out her speed when it had built to a decent pace. Her breasts were pushing into his hairy chest as they clung together, riding as if they were the only thing in the world. Anny started soft grunts in his ear as she broke the kiss and moved her face down into the pillow, nuzzling his neck. He could feel her hot breath running down his neck onto his shoulder. She sounded as if she was as wrapped away in the sensations as he was. Her grunting got louder as she picked up the pace. The mix of pleasure and slight pain was amazing, the pleasure was at the forefront, but mixed with the dull pain coming from John's body made him seem to last longer than he usually would, especially with an experience as intense as this. They continued like this for what seemed like ages. Anny moved her arms underneath his neck to bring them closer still. The heat and friction between the two was in stark contrast to the cool night air around them. Anny's grunting picked up pace, she was getting ready to cum, and he could feel it in her body. Perfect timing too, John was just about ready to lose his mind and his load. He tried to hold out, the feeling of his sperm taking flight entering his mind. The chemicals started to flood into his brain. Anny's body tightened as she came, her vagina clamping down, pulsing around his cock, it was too much for John to resist against. His sperm raced out of him as Anny took one last deep thrust onto him. His cock shot the sperm out of him, buried as deep as he could go into her. There was pulse after pulse, the feeling that his life was escaping out of him and pouring into her. It was the most amazing feeling he had ever experienced. They held like that together for what seemed like ages, their breaths finally slowing to normal pace. As Anny's vagina calmed and relaxed, John could feel his cum starting to drip out of her, down his cock and over his balls. He had always loved that feeling, of having so much cum in there that it was overflowing out of her. Anny stirred; she had almost gone to sleep on him. Without a word she held her body still except for her pelvis which she raised until his cock fell free, landing wetly onto his pelvis. Her hand wandered down lazily to bring a blanket over them, crawled under his shoulder over his arm to settle in. They lay there the entire night together, just as they had fallen. Huddled Together Ch. 04 Chapter 4 - Recuperation. ***** Author's Note Many thanks to my amazing editor – T Boy. You are a diamond in the rough my friend. ***** Morning came. John woke to Anny's warm body having moved down beside him, nestled against him with his arm wrapped around her. He woke her gently and they kissed again, remembering the exchange they had shared the night before. Anny helped him out of bed as he felt up to it, and needed to pee badly. She put herself under his arm and helped him into the downstairs bathroom. He was still stiff from having lay down for so long, and the bruises from his fall, so she offered to help hold him standing while he pee'd. That was a strange thought for John, he had never let a woman watch him while urinating. He always had the bathroom door closed, even with old girlfriends that he'd lived with. Reluctantly he agreed, and he let her stay to help. Anny put a hand on either side of him, one on his chest and one on his back, with his arm still over her shoulder. He lifted up the leg of one of his boxers and pulled out his cock, it still smelled of sex from their escapades last night. He aimed towards the bowl, and started urinating, once he stopped thinking about her right there watching and relaxed. It took a long time, he had been holding on since Merry's examination last night, and was distracted by Anny's advances. Anny was looking down at his cock while he went. "I've never seen a man pee before." She giggled, never taking her eyes off the stream coming out of him. "Ah, yeah. I've never had someone watch this intensely either." John added. She giggled again and smiled, but continued to watch him go with fascination. He finished up, gave it a few shakes for good measure, and put himself back into his boxers. Anny then helped him to the sink where she sat him down on a stool in front of the mirror. John looked at his body for the first time since the fall. He had a few bruises here and there, and a nasty looking bump on the side of his head, but all-in-all not too bad from falling down such a steep embankment. Anny started the hot water tap in the sink and fetched some towels out of the cupboard below. She plugged up the basin and let it fill with hot steamy water, and wet a face washer. Once ready she turned around and helped him out of his boxers, leaving him sitting naked on the stool. She picked up the washer and set to work. Starting at the top of his head, she rinsed out his hair as best she could, moving down his face next. He stared at her while she worked. She occasionally stole glances into his eyes with a smile, he returned them all with his own warm smiles. Down his neck, shoulders and arms. The hot water felt so good against his skin, and refreshing as it cooled when she had completed an area and moved on to the next. Down his stomach, and moved around to his back. Letting the water drip down him and onto the floor as she squeezed the washer occasionally. She moved back around and continued down his legs. He strained internally that she missed his crotch, but hoped that she would return to it soon. She washed down his good leg first, and gave his foot a good clean and rub which felt good. She repeated down his other leg too, but went slowly and carefully as she removed the bandage over his wound. He got to see the damage for the first time as she took it away, it wasn't as bad as he had feared. Turns out that his boot had slowed down the rabbit trap to the point that it had only gone into his skin a few millimetres. She rinsed the wound with a separate washer, and picked a fresh dressing from the cupboard behind him, fixed it over the injury, then continued down to his foot with a nice foot rub. He closed his eyes as she finished rubbing his foot, enjoying the sensations. As she finished rubbing his foot, he kept his eyes closed, reminiscing of the good feelings from her beautiful massage. He heard her shuffle higher onto her knees, and rinse the washer again in the sink. The next sensation John felt was of a nice warm washer being pushed under his half erect cock, and being wrapped around it completely. John opened his eyes and smiled down into Anny's face smiling back at him, her fingers wrapped around the outside of the washer around his now full erection. With her other hand she wrapped the rest of the washer around his balls. The warmth alone felt amazing, and she complimented the sensations even more with gentle rolling of her fingers and hand around his balls. Her other hand started stroking the shaft of his cock over the washer, the warmth and friction felt amazing. John put his hands on the back of the stool, and eased his head back to stare at the ceiling. God, Anny was amazing! After a minute of this treatment, Anny pulled the washer away from his cock as the cool air greeted him for only a moment; before being warmed again by her mouth. The temperature changes making his cock surge with excitement. He looked back down as Anny went to work on his cock. She took him all into her throat until she gagged slightly, it made John smile. She still had at least 2 inches of him left to take - he liked that he was big enough that she couldn't take him too easily. Anny started working up and down, faster and slower as she felt like it. John could feel his balls sagging into the washer due to the heat, Anny was tugging slightly on them as if to encourage them to hang lower still. A few wonderful minutes passed just like this, until John could start to feel the tell-tale sensations of his orgasm approaching, he moved his left hand and tangled his fingers in Anny's hair. She understood what this meant and started keeping the same pace up and down with her mouth. He closed his eyes and rolled his head back, and pulled her head down onto his cock as far it she could go as he came. Anny pulled gently, yet firmly down on his balls as she felt him releasing his seed into her waiting mouth. She let all his cum sit in his mouth until John's cock stopped twitching and started going limp in her mouth. He slumped slightly on the stool and looked down at Anny, who slowly pulled away from his cock, releasing it from her mouth with a soft 'plop'. She looked up into his eyes and gave a sneaky smile, then quickly tilted her head back and swallowed his cum. She then stood up and they embraced each other in a long warm hug. ----- After they had finished up, they headed out into the lounge room where the others were, John still in only his boxers. Merry was in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone, while Tom and Skye sat on one of the couches together chatting, Skye with her legs up over Tom's. When they saw the two enter the room, they sat up and came over to check how John was doing. "Nice bath mate?" Tom asked with his usual cheeky grin. Skye slapped Tom on the arm playfully, as Merry chuckled from the kitchen. It was obvious that everyone knew what they were up to in the bathroom before. "And yeah, I'm feeling ok too, thanks!" John smiled back at Tom, as he and Anny shuffled past to sit him down on the couch. All in all, John was starting to feel ok, the couple of days of rest had done him good. Merry came in with breakfast for all, and they all picked a couch to sit on to eat. Meager rations, but John downed it as if it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. "Well it was pretty bloody scary out there man," Tom started once he had started his meal. "Fucking zombie walked right out from behind some lantana, right where we were sitting scouting the house. In a way it was a good thing that that trap got you and made a noise, otherwise he would have walked straight into the middle of our line as we passed. You probably saved one of the girls having stood on that trap." Tom continued the story of the last couple of days. Two Walkers had followed them up to the house as they were getting to the door. They made it inside safely, but they had banged on the door all night long. He had killed them eventually by sitting upstairs the next day and throwing clothing out the window until they walked over to the movement, and shot them. "So what do we do from here?" he added to the end of the tale. John thought for a moment, as he slowly moved his body, checking the aches and pains. "Well I'm going to need a couple of days to get back to fighting fit I think." John finally said. Skye joined in the conversation, "Well we have enough food here for a long time, so staying inside won't be a problem at all." "I don't mean to be sexist, but we will have to start working to everyone's strength's", Merry added in. "I'll teach the women all the domestic chores I know, and the men will have to be the main protectors of the house from those creatures." There was no arguing with this idea. Anny and Skye were in no shape to start taking on these crazed Walkers, they were quite thin from their month of ordeal in town, and the men would be both back into health very soon. "Agreed," John said, "But we will all help out where we all can." ----- After breakfast was done, Tom helped John up the stairs into his bedroom, with Anny in tow with his clothes that she had cleaned downstairs. John's leg wasn't feeling too bad at all, and didn't need too much help moving across the flat floor. The sponge bath and breakfast had done him a world of good. Tom headed back downstairs and left John and Anny in the room. John shuffled over to the seat by the window, the one that he had been in when he'd killed his first Walker. Anny came over and sat on the wide window frame. They sat there for a long time, Anny's moved her legs out the window and was swinging them over the veranda roof in the warming summer breeze. John was looking out the window - but mainly stealing glances at Anny's tanned legs dangling. She eventually turned away from looking out to the empty front yard and the empty bushland, and at him - catching him staring up her legs. It was surprising how even with the acts that they had done together already; he still got butterflies in his stomach as she caught him stealing glances at her body. Anny smiled and turned back out to the window, and seemed to do a quick pause in thought, then in one quick motion crossed her arms in front of her, gripping the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it over her head. John smiled as her beautiful body sprang into view. Her amble breasts bouncing down into her bra as her arms lowered, dropping her shirt to the floor. His eyes moved down her torso to the curve of her waist down to her perfect hips. The skirt she still wore stopped just above her knees. She kept looking out the window however, her chest rising up as she breathed in deeply, as if to draw in the sunlight that now draped over her body. She exhaled slowly, her chest moving down to its normal resting place. John could see an open invitation when one was presented to him. He pulled himself out the chair and moved up behind her. He placed a hand on each of her shoulders and started to massage them gently, yet firmly. They were slightly warm from the sun, and he could feel her relax her shoulders into his grip. Anny leant her head lean back against John's naked chest, and he could see that she had closed her eyes to focus on enjoying his touch. He moved his massage to her neck, and up the back of her head, running his fingers strongly into her. It was clear that she had had a rough couple of weeks, and was enjoying his strong yet caring attention to her. John was given the best of views from where he was standing. Her beautiful face was bathed in the summer morning sunlight, down her front to her breasts, gently moving up and down in time with her breathing. Her skirt hid her legs now from this angle, as she had stopped swinging her legs to focus on enjoying the massage sensations. After easing some of the tension out of her neck and shoulders, he moved his hands down her front, sliding under her breasts and giving them a firm squeeze. Anny responded with a little sigh from her mouth. John focused his massaging now on her torso, his big arms wrapped around her, his head over her shoulder and hers resting against his. One hand always on one breast at least, the other moving over her body, never letting go of contact with her for even a second. He loved the way that he could feel the warmth her bare skin was taking from the sun's rays, her skin so delightful to touch. Her body was resting more and more into his, giving his arms a greater reach of her body. He paused only for a moment to bring the chair up behind him so he could sit while he played with her body. He resumed his gentle groping. Anny let her head rest backwards on his shoulder, and John moved his gaze down her front again, moving his nose against her exposed neck and breathing in deeply to inhale her scent. It was pure intoxication. One hand massaging her breast, he moved the other down to start massaging her thigh over her skirt. He massaged slowly down her leg, and gently under her skirt at the knee, then moving back up again. Anny's breath deepened as she could tell where he was heading. John moved his hand onto her other leg, but back down slightly towards her knees, moving away from the massage that Anny was really wanting. He could feel the slight disappointment in her body as his hand moved just that little bit away in the wrong direction, her body moving deeper against his chest and her breathing getting slightly shallower. He massaged her thigh upwards again, further this time. Once a little higher than on the other leg, he did the same maneuver again, changing to the other leg slightly lower that where he left. This 2 steps forward, 1 step back, was clearly having the affect he was after. It was driving her into him and she was nuzzling her face into his neck, biting him gently as if to ask him to please - PLEASE go higher. John let out a small, satisfied laugh under his breath as he moved his mouth down and bit playfully into her shoulder, telling her without words that she would have to be a good girl and wait for his playful torture to continue to completion. John kept up the massaging of her thighs, always higher, moving slightly back with each change of thigh touch. His other hand moving against her chest, grabbing at it strongly so that it felt as if she was melting into him. Her breathing was getting heavier as his hand was finally closing in on her sex. He could tell that she was not wearing any panties when his fingers reached her pubic hairs. He could feel the heat coming out of her, even with the morning sun warming them both nicely. He moved his hand around so that it was hovering above her mound, and stopped both his hands from moving. Anny held her breath. It seemed like an age before John moved again, but just the right amount of time that her expectations were at their peak. He breathed lightly down her neck and shoulder, then took his middle finger and slowly pressed it in past her labia. She was so very wet. They soon could smell the fragrance of her juices coming out of her as he played. He did not enter her with his fingers, not yet anyway. He moved his middle finger slowly, up and down against her entrance and on the top of her clit. Anny's body melted even more into his as he started his slow rubbing. One finger became two, playing around her lips, and around her clit. Anny was clearly in heaven. John slid one finger into her, curling around inside her, while his thumb took position over her clit. A slow see-saw action started between the two fingers, and Anny was becoming more and more vocal, letting John know what he was doing was just right. John's other hand moved under her bra and gripped onto her naked breast, and started rolling her nipple between a thumb and finger. He would pinch harshly occasionally, which brought more moans of desire out of her. Anny's mouth was open and she was almost panting. Her breath started evening out and slowing as John kept up with his hand playing to-and-fro. "This girl is amazing." Was all John could think in his mind, and he put it to his hands to make that feeling known to her. Her body responded. Anny's breaths quickened as her orgasm approached. John noticed and picked up the pace slightly with his fingers inside her, then evened out with a constant pace. He started randomly changing his thumbs actions to sideways motions as well on her clit. Her body started to arch out from his. Her head was leaning heavily backwards onto his shoulder, her mouth letting out an in-escapable cry. Her hips were bucking against his fingers, pleading them not to stop. Finally her release came. She shook in John's arms, he held onto her tightly, and slowed the pace of his fingers inside her until he knew it was time to stop. He left them there enjoying her body spasms and slowly returning to normal as she came off her high. After a few minutes he moved his hands and wrapped his big arms around her waist and chest. Anny dropped her head into his neck, and started giving him lazy light kisses. John smiled. If this was the end of the world, it wasn't going too fucking bad so far. Huddled Together Ch. 05 Chapter 5 – Lower Your Defences. ***** Author's Note Many thanks to my amazing editor – T Boy. You are a diamond in the rough my friend. ***** John's eyes opened to see the deep red light of a dying off summer day. It passed through the open window and onto the bedroom floor, where he had played with Anny earlier this morning. They had spent the day in his room, only Anny heading out to find food occasionally. They had made love many times and relaxed for the day as John started to get his strength back. Their last copulation had caused them both to doze off in a warm naked embrace. They were spooning each other, with John as the big spoon. John stared along Anny's body, enjoying the curves as he went; her beautiful feet, her legs, her womanly hips that were just the right proportion to give her a real feminine look that he loved. Her waist, her arm; which draped sleepily over her breasts as she slept on her side. Her hair was behind her ear, so he could see the outline of her cheek as she faced away from him. He nuzzled his head against her cheek and gave her little butterfly kisses to try and stir her awake. She eventually stirred, and rolled her head over to meet his kisses with her lips. They shared another long amazing kiss. John had never felt such a connection so quickly to a woman... he could feel himself falling in love with this girl. "Good morning sleepy head," John whispered into her ear after their kiss broke, his mouth continuing down her cheek to play with her ear. "Mmmm, more like good evening I suppose." Anny replied with a sleepy smile. "I suppose we should go downstairs and see how everyone is doing down there." John said reluctantly. Anny responded by rolling her whole body over to face him, kissing him again deeply, and forcing him onto his back as her hips mounted over his. John's cock starting to rise up into the crack of her ass. Anny rolled her hips out and down to bring the head of his cock into her, and started slowly lowering herself down. "Mmmm," was all John could muster, "Or we could not..." ----- After another nice slow love making session, they eventually found some clothes and headed down to see the others. Merry and Skye were in the kitchen surrounded by all the food they had, looking as if they were planning out rations. Tom was in the lounge room at the dining table with maps, paper and pencils drawing plans. Anny went into the kitchen to see if she could help there, while John joined Tom at the table. "Hey man," Tom looked up and greeted John as he sat down across from him, "Have a good day up there?" John just smiled and replied, "Almost as much fun as you it seems; what are you planning?" Tom scurried through the papers and brought up a map of the local area. It was an aerial photograph that his father had commissioned from the airport in Port Macquarie 10 years ago. It showed the local area almost wide enough to see John's River town. "This is where we are here," he said pointing to the location of the house, "And my property next door. I've marked out the other homesteads that I know of, and thought we could extended our supplies if we raid all the farmhouses around. We might even find more survivors." John looked it over and agreed. Tom pulled out some different paper which he had been drawing the house and the land around it. He had drawn an outline of where the Walker proof wall should go. It went right around the bottom of the hill that the house stood on, including going right past the creek line. "I was thinking that we should build it against the creek, so that if the buggers trap us in, we can still drop buckets on ropes down in the creek for water." It was a good design; an eight foot high fence around the entire hill, about 200 meters in total length. Around the top of the wall was an elevated foot walkway so that they could see down to the bottom of the wall on the other side. "Put in plans for a gate where the road comes up to the house, and it looks to be a good plan, my friend." John said with a smile. "Ah yes, a way in and out would be helpful." Tom added with a soft laugh and a smile, realising that his plans kept them very safe, with no physical way in or out at all. They would need a tractor to do the moving of the trees, and it would still be a lot of work, but with John's know how in the timber industry it should work fine. ----- A month of hard work passed and the wall was more than three quarters complete. The men cut down trees with axes in the morning and afternoons, opting not to use chainsaws for the huge amount of noise they created. They had brought back an old tractor from Tom's farm, which they used only during the middle of the day, to drag the fallen trees to the construction site. Over that time they shot a couple of Walkers that would come to the noise of the tractor, but with the women helping as lookouts when they were using it, they always saw them in time. It seemed that the low population density of the area was helping keep away the hordes of dead that the cities must surely contain. On days when they would need some rest from cutting down massive trees, the men would head out to the other properties to find supplies. They were not sure where all the occupants of the farms had gone, but there was no sign of struggle at any of them, and plenty of canned goods in the cupboards. ----- "Look out mate, here she goes." Tom called out as he stepped back from the tree that it had just attacked with his axe. They had used all the large trees that were in view of the homestead, so they had started down the other side of one of the hills. The men ran in the opposite direction the tree was falling, as it gave a mighty crack and groan as accepted its fate and came down to earth. It landed with a loud 'thud', and bounced a few times before coming to rest. The men knew the drill, once the tree had settled. One would start cutting it to length, while the other cleared the log of branches. As John was cutting the branches off; he suddenly stopped as he felt something was wrong. The bush had quietened to an uneasy silence. Tom noticed that John had stopped still, and ceased his work too. No sounds at all, no birds, no breeze, nothing. Rising screams broke the silence; female screams. The men took off up the rise towards the house. As the house came into view they could see Anny running back into the house, and slamming the front door closed. Skye had been cut off from retreat to the house, and was running up the hill towards where the men were with complete terror in her eyes. Behind her were two Walkers, their hungry screams calling out over the valley as they abandoned their attempts to get Anny, and had turned their attention to Skye. "Come on!" John called out to Tom, as he grabbed his axe tighter and started down the hill. Tom was right beside him as they ran down to meet the terrified Skye running as fast as she could towards them, tears streaming down her face and sobbing uncontrollably. Tom took her into his arms and yelled to her so she would understand the importance; to sit down where they were and not to move. Skye fell to the ground on her knees where Tom pointed, and held herself as she continued to crying uncontrollably. John and Tom gripped their axes tighter again, and headed at walking pace down the hill. "I've got the one on the left." John commanded, Tom acknowledged that he would take the other on the right. As they approached their new foes, John could see what had put the horror into Skye. The Walker that he was squaring up against was a big man, his intestines hanging out his stomach; low enough that he would occasionally trip on them. He was covered in blood from head to toe. His eyes were crazed, his mouth giving out ravenous snarls which showed his jagged teeth. He quickly looked to the other Walker, and he was of slightly smaller stature and missing an arm at the shoulder, but was just as horrible and dangerous. John and Tom picked up the pace into a slight jog as the closed in, and raised their axes. John started a war-like scream, which Tom added his voice to. This would be a fight of life or death. John reached his Walker first, his weeks of experience cutting down trees with the axe paid off; he slammed the blade into the Walkers forehead. It split open, as the blade sunk deep into the beasts' brain. A slight gargle of pain rose out of its throat, as the Walker sunk to his knees. John was put off balance as his axe buried so deep into the Walkers head, that he could not recover it in time before it fell onto its back, pulling the axe from his grip. John recovered his footing and turned to see Tom meeting his foe with a double handed sideways swing of his own axe, which met the Walkers neck with such force that it cut his head clean off. The men spent their evenings sharpening their axes ready for the next day, and today it had definitely paid off. Tom sidestepped out of the way as the Walkers' as its body completed the step that it had already begun before being decapitated, then fell in a heap to the ground. The Walkers head rolled over to John's feet, its face was still 'alive' and looking up at John with gnashing teeth and rage. John headed down to his victims head, put the soul of his boot on its chin, and worked his axe free of its skull with a few see-saw actions. He then turned back up to the second Walkers lonesome head, and smashed it open with the blunt end of the weapon. Tom took off back up the hill to retrieve Skye, who had already started down the hill carefully; tears streaming down her face, after she had witnessed the attack's completion. They met, and Tom dropped his weapon and greeted her with a hug big enough to lift her off her feet as he tried and console her. John took deep breaths as he calmed down, as he scanned the rest of the property; he could not see any more Walkers. When Tom and Skye joined him again, they headed quickly up to the house to check on the others. ----- A week later, the final tree fell into place in the wall. The local Koala population would be thankful that their tree cutting down was now at an end. The boys had made a fine art of using the tractor as a dead weight, and hoisting the trees vertical with ropes and pullies. The people that built Stone Hedge would be proud of their efforts. As the tree reached up to complete their newly protected farm and land, they all cheered. Anny raced up into John's arms, and Skye into Tom's. The two pairs had really hit it off together over the last couple of weeks, and Merry was happy as could be. The new walls were impenetrable and would bring some much needed security to all their minds and lives. The men had brought back about a dozen chickens, and a few lambs on their journeys out to other properties, which were now living happily in the yard. Merry declared that she would prepare a chicken for dinner tonight to celebrate. There was another round of cheers from them all; the chickens started looking slightly worried... ----- Warm cooked chicken and veggies from the garden, warm smiles and conversation, and cool wine for all filled the dining table as the group enjoyed a little excess food and drink for once. John had pulled out a few bottles from the basement and they were all enjoying themselves, knowing that they were safe behind their new wooden fortress. They could make as much noise as they wanted for once, without fear that any Walkers would be knocking on their front door. They talked about old times, where they grew up, and their families. Only happy memory stories were allowed this evening, they had already spent a lot of time worrying and fretting about where their families would be now. Merry was the first to call it a night. She tried to head upstairs, but was a too bit wobbly from the wine she had downed. The couples giggled encouragingly to her as she attempted the stairs, gripping the handrail tightly as she waved back towards them that she was fine! Eventually she accepted her state and chose the downstairs bedroom to crash in. Not drunk at all! Ha! The evening was a nice warm one, and the four of them where only wearing shirts, the men in shorts, and the women in above knee skirts. John was across from Anny, and Skye was by her side. He glanced over to the two women past his wine glass as he downed more of the tasty beverage. The candlelight flickered across their bodies, showing they were both covered in a fine layer of sweat, which was making their small shirts cling to their bodies. The two were definitely at least tipsy, and were giggling at each other. They would put an arm around the other occasionally and laughing, rosy red in the cheeks from the wine's effects. John and Tom were very happy with their efforts, tired and sore, but their efforts had been worth it just to see the increased looks of ease in the women. They all decided to head to the couches in the corner of the lounge room with the remainder of their drinks so they could relax. The men relaxed lazily into a couch each and the girls on the floor near their feet. Tom picked up his guitar that was beside the wall, and started playing casually. The women were leaning against each other as they closed their eyes to relax and enjoy the music washing over them. The tune changed to one that sounded kind of Spanish in flavour, faster and spicier than the previous song. Anny turned her eyes and looked straight into John's, who was melted against the back of the seat by now with relaxation. She gave him a sly smile, which he returned to her, understanding that it meant she was feeling in the mood. He could see her pause in thought for only a second, then she turned to Skye, picked up her chin with her hand, and the two started a long, hot kiss. John couldn't believe it! His eyes opened more and more to sink in the view, and his hand slapped out to reach Tom's strumming arm, causing him to mess up part of the song, but to also help him turn his attention from the guitar to the two women making out in front of them. The women stopped once the music stopped with a devious smile towards the two men. "Hey, don't stop the music!" Skye said towards Tom, who started the Spanish number again hoping that it would charm them back into action. "Looks like they enjoy our little show," Skye continued as she turned back to Anny, "Let's see if we can do a bit more for these hard working lads." She grinned and pulled Anny to her feet with her. Tom's playing increased in raunchiness, his playing trying to coax some more intimate moments out of them. The two women picked each other up and started to dance together to the hot music and night. They were grinding against each other, moving around, kissing here there and everywhere on each other's bodies with giggles and passionate smiles. Anny moved behind Skye, who was facing towards the men. Skye continued to grind to the music against Anny behind her, as Anny wrapped her hands around her waist and started to slowly lift her shirt towards the ceiling. Skye looked into the eyes of the men in turn as her shirt came up freely, and eventually leaving her in only her skirt, her breasts coming into full view. John had not seen Skye like this before; sure they had all been so close in this house all together, but had not seen her naked breasts. The way that the light danced over her exposed skin was just as provocative and tantalizing as the way the two women were moving now against each other. "For the love of God, don't fucking stop playing that guitar." John called out to Tom, not for a second moving his eyes away from the show that was playing out before them. Tom was open mouthed, needed no encouragement to keep playing. Skye broke her gaze with them and giggled towards Anny as she kissed the back of her neck, and moved her hands around from behind to underneath her breasts. Anny pushed them up slightly while giving them a nice long massage with her hands. Skye was a little shorter than Anny, but her breasts were just fantastic, that perfect size for getting a good handful which Anny was demonstrating nicely. They didn't stop moving to the song being played the whole time. Eventually the two started kissing again, as Skye started to turn back towards Anny. Something was whispered to Anny, who blushed slightly as Skye maneuvered herself behind Anny. They were going to repeat the show with Anny as the main attraction by the look of it. The pair kept up their dirty dancing, with Anny swaying her arms towards the ceiling. Skye reached down to the bottom of Anny's shirt, and lifted it so very slowly. John knew what a treat they were in for, but Tom struggled to focus on playing the guitar, and the amazing exposure of Anny's body coming into view. Anny didn't have a bra on either, as her shirt passed over her breasts they bounced free to their natural lying place. The shirt continued its journey north, and then off onto the floor. Anny moved her hands behind her so she was rubbing Skye's back; Skye brought her hands around Anny's front and began a slow sensual massage across her stomach, and up to her breasts. John was raging hard by that point, and couldn't help himself to open his fly and take himself out, it didn't matter to do this as the only person that hadn't seen his cock in the room was Skye and he was sure she wouldn't mind at this point. Tom glanced over to John and cursed him; he couldn't do the same, as he had to continue playing the guitar so the women had something to dance to! Anny and Skye turned to each other, side on to the boys, and continued their kissing and fondling. Their breasts squishing together; John could see their nipple hardening with the friction. Eventually the girls broke their drunken making out haze and turned to the men. They smiled to see John relaxed back into the seat still, slowly massaging his cock. And poor Tom there, mouth open wide and clearly struggling to keep playing. Anny whispered into Skye's ear, they both smiled and laughed at what was said, and then headed for their men. Skye reached Tom first, she went down onto her knees, pulled his guitar away, and unzipped his pants. His cock sprang free; clearly the women's show had the same effect on him that it did for John. Skye wasted no time in taking command of his cock with her hand, and downing it into her waiting mouth. Tom let out a relaxed groan as he reclined into the couch as she went to work on him. By that time Anny had made it to John, and was down on her knees too. She looked up into his eyes with the naughtiest of looks; her face was blushed with red from the wine, heat, and stimulation from the dancing. The candlelight continued to dance across her face and body, as she grabbed his cock and helped it into her waiting mouth. The feeling was absolutely amazing. She started sucking just on the tip of his cock as tightly as she could, then relaxing her mouth to dive her mouth down onto it, then back up again to repeat. She took it out of her mouth and let it rest in the middle of her face as she licked lavishly around the spot where his cock and balls met; God that one felt amazing! She headed lower and started taking turns sucking each of his balls into her mouth and licking around them with her tongue, while working his cock with her hand; then started the whole experience again from the start. He looked over to the other couple. Tom had his head back on the couch with his eyes closed. Skye was giving him just as much enthusiasm as Anny was putting in for him. Hazy endless time passed in this amazing way. The alcohol helped make the time stretch longer, and for John to last longer against Anny's amazing talents. Anny eventually released John's cock from her warm mouth with a soft 'plop' and turned to the others, "Let's head upstairs shall we?" Huddled Together Ch. 05 Skye stopped working on Tom, and agreed. Tom let out an unhappy groan as she stopped working his cock. The women grabbed their men by the hand, grabbed a candle each, and lead them upstairs. When they reached the point where it was time for the couples to head left and right to their respective bedrooms, Anny pulled her and John towards the other couples room. Skye giggled, and called Anny a 'hussy'. John and Tom just smiled at each other as they were in tow. Once in the bedroom, the men hurriedly grabbed their own clothes and threw them to the floor, as the girls put the candles on the night stands, and lay on the king bed. The girls started up their fondling and kisses to each other again. Without interrupting their play, the men grabbed their skirts and panties, pulled them down their legs, and discarded them. John got his first look at Skye's naked body. It was amazing by itself, but coupled with Anny's nakedness right beside, the site was unbelievable. John moved himself between Anny's legs and started soft kisses along them. Tom joined in the same, moving up Skye's legs copying John's approach. The men simultaneously started returning their oral favours on them. The girls responded by starting moaning gently into each other's mouths. John found Anny's sex and his tongue got to work. He grabbed her thighs with each of his hands and held them around his head, making sure that he was perfectly positioned to work on her. As he licked up and down her entrance, his nose would rub gently against her clit. He would change occasionally by moving his mouth up and giving her clit the occasional light sucking and lick. Anny was responding by moaning louder, and Skye was starting to match her now too as Tom was eating her. The girls continued groping each other, getting rougher and rougher with their breast grabbing and nipple play. John was dipping his tongue deep into Anny and flicking it around inside her. The wetness of her body's desire was on full display to his tongue as he drank her in. Her hips couldn't stop themselves bucking up to try and get more of him inside her. John could hear Skye getting louder; she must be approaching an orgasm he thought to himself. He moved his tongue to Anny's clit to help her towards hers, moving one of his hands under his chin and slipping two curled fingers into her heated sex. His mouth switched constantly between lapping, sucking, and flicking against her clit, while his fingers drove in and out of her faster and faster; curled upwards to massage her g-spot as he did. It was driving her hips into frenzy. Skye was the first to cum. John couldn't see what was going on, but could hear her call out with ecstasy at Tom's culleningus. She had calmed down just as Anny approached her own orgasm. John began lapping at her clit at a repetitive pace like he was a dog drinking water; he knew this would get her there. Soon enough he could feel the change in Anny's body. She arched her back off the bed, her hips forcing her pelvis hard onto his face. She cried out with her own orgasm, her legs locking around the back of his head as she came hard from his actions. She slumped onto the bed and released her legs grip from his head; John slowed his licking down to soft slow licks, moving eventually up her pelvis, turning them into little kisses as her legs eventually let him free. John glanced over at the other couple. Tom had moved up between Skye's legs and had his cock already buried in Skye in a classic missionary style. He was leaning on his arms that were on either side of her body, with Skye holding onto his forearms. Her body was being thrust up and down on the bed from his long slow entries into her. John resumed kissing up Anny's stomach and breasts, moving his cock up to rest over her mound as he moved. He started kissing her neck, Anny clearly still in the come down from her orgasm still with her head relaxed and eyes drearily half shut. He shifted his hips out slightly and his cock found where it wanted to go. The bed was being moved already underneath them by Tom's thrusting, as he eased himself into Anny's beautifully warm entrance. John used the movement of the bed to help slowly ease his cock bit by bit into Anny's waiting warm vagina. Her body responded to the new invader and her arms wrapped around his back to keep him close as he fucked her. John bottomed out inside her and waited there, enjoying the sensations of her vagina stretched to accommodate him, clenching tighter on occasion around him as she enjoyed her invader filling her up. He rolled his head over to see what the other couple were up to. Skye was looking up at Tom with lust in her eyes. She had started clawing against Tom's chest with her finger nails as she grunted with pleasure, leaving red marks down his broad torso. She turned to smile at John with a mix of grogginess from having cum, the wine in her veins, and Tom's nice hard fucking she was on the receiving end of. It seemed that everyone was enjoying making more noise than they were used to, thanks to the new fortifications around the property. He turned back to Anny, who had recovered enough to open her eyes and focus on John. "Mmmm." She cooed to him, "Give me a nice long fuck my man." He sat up so that he was on his knees and he put his hands under her thighs to raise her hips. In this position started giving her some nice deep, long thrusts into her. Both women's breasts were bouncing up and down in response with the men's thrusts. They had half closed their eyes and had started kissing each other again; moaning with pleasure into each other's mouths. John looked over to Tom, he had never seen anyone fucking in front of him before, and having them both doing this at the same time was exhilarating. Tom was pinning Skye down into the bed as he thrust into her, it was amazing to watch and she was clearly enjoying the sensations too. John continued thrusting up against Anny's g-spot as his cock ground into her raised hips. Tom grinned at him, with sweat covering his forehead. John smiled back, and then returned his focus to the women. Their hands were all over each other again, never breaking their sensual kissing. It was the hottest thing that John had ever seen! John could feel himself getting closer to the point of no return, and let Tom know. Tom nodded back and said that he too was getting damn close. Anny broke the kiss with Skye and smiled up to them, "I want you to cum on our faces boys!" They needed no more encouragement. The men stopped their fucking, and moved back off the bed. The women jumped down off the mattress and onto their knees, mouths open, and tongues out and at the ready as the two men started masturbating themselves over their faces. Skye reached up and started playing with Tom's balls and looking up into his eyes and Anny copied the same with John. It was too much for John to take, the view of these amazing girls begging for them to release cum all over their waiting faces, the heat, the grog, their whole situation. John felt the semen rise through him as his brain rewarded him with sweet chemical release. He watched as his cum pulsed out of his cock and over Anny's face. She flinched slightly as the first wave hit her, but relaxed into the following waves of cum pulsing out over her face. He could see Tom cumming on Skye's face a few moments later. John felt like he had emptied his entire balls out all over Anny, some fell in her mouth and some left white trails over her face. Skye was much the same. After the two men stopped twitching from their release, the girls smiled and swallowed what had fallen in their mouths. They then turned to each other and started licking cum off each other's faces. It was amazingly hot, even in their post-orgasmic haze. John ran his fingers through Anny's hair as the girls looked as they licked each, playfully licking here and there to get cum off, and swallowing what they found. John was thoroughly enjoying the scene before him, and took a break to look over to Tom, who returned his look with a smile. They should have finished building that damn wall sooner. Huddled Together Ch. 06 Chapter 6 -- A Type Of Freedom. John had a dirty thought, gave a sly smile, then moved forward and slapped his flaccid cock hard against Anny's cheek. Her face was now clean of his cum thanks to Skye having licked up the long thick ropes of it he had put there a few minutes ago. Anny turned and looked up into his eyes with a dirty smile, and quickly sucked his cock into her mouth with a loud 'slop'. She sucked him in so hard it caused John to lose his balance and tip forward slightly; he recovered his stance by putting a foot forward. She released him from her mouth, amid the laughter of Tom and Skye. "You're such a strong cock sucker Anny." Skye called out, just as Tom walked forward with a big smile on his face and repeated John's action on Skye. As he slapped her on the cheek with his semi hard cock the girls both laughed; it was Skye's turn to look challengingly up into Tom's eyes. She rolled her head around so that the tip of Tom's cock was resting on her bottom lip, with her mouth wide open and waiting. She paused, gave him a wink, then took a big gulp; sucking the whole thing into her mouth. She had put Tom off balance too with the sudden sucking action, and it was John and Anny's turn to laugh. "Now look who's talking!" Anny laughed back at her. Skye couldn't reply to her mocking, as she had decided to continue her blowjob on Tom who had moved forward so that she could get better access to his cock. As he was only semi hard, she was able to get him entirely into her mouth. She rolled her tongue around it, making loud slurping noises. Tom ran his hand along the side of her face and gripped onto the hair on the back of her head with his fingers, forcing his cock in and out of her wanting mouth. John walked past Anny, grabbing her hands as he passed. "Come with me." He said to her as he helped her off her knees. John lay down on the bed and pulled Anny up on top of him. She straddled over his hips and rested her mound down onto his waking cock. She slowly ground her hips on him, using his cock to ease her lips apart. John could feel her juices starting to lubricate him, his cock surging back to life as she ground her wet, warm sex against him. Skye paused with her blowjob work and turned around to notice the other two on the bed. She stood up, led Tom over to the bed, and pushed him down next to John. He landed with a bounce from the force Skye had put into him. Before he had even stopped bouncing, Skye was on top of him. "What you doing there?" Skye asked Anny, as she tried to peer at where John and Anny now were joined. "Mmmm, just grinding away to wake up this man up again." She replied. "I like it. Maybe I should try it on my man here." Skye said as she reached down and grabbed Tom's cock, placing it between her outer lips, and started moving her hips up and down against him. Tom groaned in approval. "You're such a copy cat! I bet you'd even copy this." Anny proclaimed as she leant down and took John's nipple into her mouth. She gave it a good suck and flicked it with her tongue. It was John's turn to groan out loud with pleasure. Skye laughed and accepted the challenge; she leant down and took Tom's nipple into her mouth. They swapped nipples on the men for some time; John was rock hard again in no time. "Mmmm, I need your cock in me now." Anny said to John as she sat up and ceased her nipple play. It had driven John mad with desire; he loved getting his nipples sucked. Skye sat up also and said to Anny with another dirty grin, "Let's fuck these guys at the same time and see which one can cum first. The winner gets a prize." Well that sounded like the best fucking contest in the world to John! Anny agreed with Skye, they would start on the count of three. "Come on big boy, let's show 'em what we've got." Anny said to John with a mixture of lust and grog in her eyes. "One, two, three!" John called out as quickly as he could say the words! In one slick movement, Anny and Skye flipped their hips up, reached down with their hands, and guided themselves down onto their men. Anny was so very wet from all the fun they had all had together already. John could feel the muscles of her vagina stretching happily to accept him inside her, her warmth was surrounding his cock more and more as she descended. She only got about three quarters the way down him however, he was a little too big to take in one go. Anny put her hands flat against John's chest and raised her hips so that just the tip of his cock was in her, then proceeded with some serious pumping. Within a few strokes John was able to feel that awesome sensation of bottoming out into her. He loved how he could feel her get tighter the farther he went in. Anny closed her eyes, lifted her head to the sky, and involuntarily bit her bottom lip as she focused all her efforts on pumping as hard and deeply as possible. John rolled his head over and looked at the other pair. Skye had gone a slightly different approach; she had picked up Tom's hands and was forcing them to grope her breasts as she drove herself deep onto his cock. It looked like Tom was enjoying the competition so far. John turned back to Anny and focused all his attention on her. She opened her eyes as he turned, a sexy look coming out of them piercing into John's eyes. God, Anny knew how to work a cock. Having just cum a short while ago, John was lasting much longer than he normally would have against this kind of assault. Anny leant back and was massaging her own breasts and groaning out loud with pleasure; John moved his hands up to rest on her thighs as she bounced on top of him. John had an idea how he could win this, one position that never failed him. With one swift action, John raised his legs, then rocked up onto his feet; spinning Anny around. She squealed with delight as he flung her around. He laid her on her back with her ass just hanging over the edge of the bed. He hurriedly grabbed her ankles and forced them together so that all he could see of her now was her legs together, and his cock buried in her sex. God, he loved that sight. "Hey! No fair!" Skye called out, having seen the two change positions. "Get up and let me change too." Tom called out. Tom moved his arms around under Skye's thighs and pushed her up over his body, so that she landed near Anny's face. He then ran around and mounted her in a doggie-style position. Skye's face was over Anny's, as the four of them made one long fuck line on the bed. John and Tom looked at each other over the women being fucked below them, smiled cheeky grins, and started ploughing into their women. Both girls cried out in pleasure as they used them as their own personal fuck toys, fucking them as hard and fast as they could to try and be the first to cum. It was an incredibly erotic sight from where John was. All he could see was his cock diving in and out of Anny, her luscious tight legs being held together; Skye making out with Anny, her womanly curves down her back; and finally Tom holding onto her hips and fucking her without reprieve. The girls had started kissing each other as they were fucked, only stopping occasionally to let out an inescapable moan or grunt. Anny broke the kissing session with Skye as her grunts changed; she was fast approaching an orgasm. John didn't let up with his vicious ploughing of her, as her arms splayed out onto the bed sheets, her hands gripping on tightly as she rocked through a screaming orgasm. Anny's vagina clamped down tightly onto John's cock, then started spasming as she moved through her orgasm. Normally John would slow down his thrusting at this point, but since there was still a bet to be won, continued fucking her as hard and fast as he could. Anny cried out to the heavens with pleasure as John continued with her. She quieted down from her orgasmic high, then after a short time started building up to a loud groan again; she almost sounded as if she was going to cum again! John could feel his balls start to tighten as he could feel his orgasm approaching. He looked up to Tom to try and tell how close he was; it looked like it would be a photo finish. He put one foot up onto the mattress so that he could really start hammering down into Anny's deliciously wet vagina. In this position he was pounding so deep into her that it was almost hurting his balls as he bottomed out in her. John felt the familiar rise of chemicals in his brain just as Anny suddenly screamed out and doubled forward, she was cumming again! Her vagina pounded all around John's cock urging his cum to please, PLEASE come out for her. He let out a loud groan as he reached the point of no return, his cock swelled slightly as he drained himself into Anny's hungry vagina. Skye looked up as she heard John cumming and cried out, "Nooo!" Tom groaned loudly too as he exploded with his own orgasm into Skye at the same time she called out the defeat. John slumped forward as he started to come down from his high. He looked down at where his cock was still buried at full length into Anny; her vagina calming down but still massaging all the cum it could get. The girls were panting heavily as they calmed down from the vigorous sexing they had just received. John started to withdraw from Anny, and squeezed his cock from the base up with his fingers as he pulled out; making sure to empty all his cum into her so that not a drop was wasted. Tom had already pulled out and was now lying on the bed exhausted. John joined them all on the bed once he was out of Anny, the girls lying between the two men. It was a long time until anyone moved. They all lay there panting and recovering. Skye was the first to make any action. She rose up onto her hands and knees, still slightly panting, and moved over Anny's body. She positioned herself in a 69 over Anny, and started to lap John's cum out of her with slow little licks. Anny let out little gasps as she took to Skye's oral play, and eventually reciprocated the favour by pulling Skye's hips down towards her waiting mouth. John watched as she used her tongue to gently coax Tom's cum out of her, it was an incredibly erotic sight to see. Tiny little licks past Skye's outer lips, moving deeper on occasion; and the white cum was starting to dribble out. He could see Skye squeezing her vagina to help get more out, and presumed that Anny was probably doing the same thing. The men watched the girls playing like that for what seemed like ages; it was a wonderful way to pass the time. Slowly Anny started to make soft contented noises, Skye started too. They were bringing each other down the road to orgasmic bliss, with John and Tom happy bystanders. From where John was laying he could only see Anny as she worked her tongue and lips all over Skye. Anny would pull her head up so that her nose was right against her ass, and force her tongue as deep as it would go into Skye's waiting vagina, then back down again to her clit where she would thrash her mouth around over it and suck on it greedily. Anny would pause her cunnilingus on Skye occasionally when obviously something so amazing was being done to her that she couldn't focus on anything else. Soon enough she would be reminded of the task in front of her, and begin her own oral play on Skye once more. Skye's breathing changed, her hips ground lower onto Anny's face; forcing Anny to eat into her as her orgasm approached. "Ooooh fuuuuck meeee!" Skye let out to the heavens, as she flicked her head back and firmly planted herself onto Anny's waiting face. John could only guess what Anny was doing in there, but Skye was sure enjoying it. Skye calmed down after a nice long cum and lifted her pelvis off Anny's face slightly; Anny's face was glistening with Skye's juices. John could see the look on Anny's face change once Skye resumed eating her. He leant forward and started kissing Anny on the lips. The taste of Skye's juices, mixed with the slight smell of Tom's cum, that she had eaten twice now, was intoxicating and drove him to roll his tongue around her mouth more and more. Anny started kissing back with a heated passion, but it started to wane as her main focus shifted; John guessed that she was getting close to her own orgasm. John sat back again and watched. Anny had wrapped both arms around Skye's legs and was holding on for dear life. Her eyes glazed over and fixed onto something far beyond the ceiling. A combination of feelings quickly hit John. The times and closeness that he had shared with Anny over these last couple of weeks, how quickly they had formed a strong bond together and looked out for each other instantly, and the end of the world that they were now living through. John leant forward again and whispered in Anny's ear just loud enough that only she could hear, just as he could see her starting to cum, "I love you." Anny didn't have time to respond, as her orgasm crashed through her. "Oooooh Goooood!" Anny struggled to let out, as her own orgasm rocked through her body, her knuckles turning white as they gripped onto Skye's legs. Her body arched off the bed, pushing into Skye's; until she finally fell back down in a blissful daze. Skye spun herself around and the two girls hugged each other tightly. The men joined in hugging from each side so they were all huddled together. As Anny's brain came out from behind the cloud of chemical release it had just enjoyed, she entwined her fingers in John's closest hand, and turned her head towards him. Her eyes danced into his as the two looked deep into each other. Anny silently mouthed so the others wouldn't hear her proclamation; "I love you." ----- Tom's room was on the south side of the house, so the sun didn't come blaring in through the windows as it did in John's room on the other side of the house. It was a nice change, and meant that the four slept in a bit. It helped them recover from the drinks they had consumed the night before. The only light that came in was reflected from the sun touching the gum leaves on the trees that were still standing on the hill behind the house. John woke. Someone had obviously been a bit cold during the night, and had pulled a blanket over them all. Anny's body lay snuggled into John's. Her arm was draped backwards over his hip, his arm was wrapped around her chest with his hand cupping her breast gently, and he noticed his cock was lazily draped against her hip as well. His mind drifted back to the night before, giving him time to process the nice memories running through his head. John recounted finding the courage to lean forward and whisper those words to Anny last night. True, it wasn't the most romantic of situations, but the whole experience felt so right and the connection between them was undeniable. They had spent many weeks together here, talking, laughing, and getting to know everything about each other. Eventually he noticed Anny stirring, and nuzzled his nose down against her neck, placing little kisses here and there. She hummed happily as she woke, and turned to look up into her man's eyes. They smiled at each other and kissed. "Good morning, my love." Anny whispered to John as their kiss ended, and she looked up into his eyes. John smiled back, it was the first time that she had said the word 'love' out loud to him, and the sound made his heart sing. He pulled her closer into him. "Morning, my love," he said back warmly. "Let's go get some breakfast." She suggested with a smile. The two slipped quietly out of bed so to not wake the others and headed downstairs. John sat down at the breakfast table and started reading his book, as Anny prepared them some breakfast. John was in his boxers, as the heat of the day was already starting to have its effects on the house. He would occasionally be rewarded with glimpses of Anny as she came into view through the kitchen door. She was wearing a small white t-shirt and panties, showing off her body in ways that made John stir with excitement; God those legs went for miles. As Anny went back out of view yet again, he thought to himself that they should take down the barricades from the windows and doors on the house today. The perimeter wall was now complete, and opening up the house would allow some fresh air into the home. He looked up from his book to see Merry walking out of the downstairs bedroom. She had red eyes, but not red from being hung over; John could tell they were red from crying. "Hey, are you ok?" John said as he stood up and headed over to Merry. She broke down crying as he reached her, putting her arms around him. He led her to the couch and they sat down, just as Anny came in looking for who was crying in the room. They all sat down together, Anny took over hugging Merry as they tried to coax out the reason for her tears. "Oh... It's nothing, really." Merry started off saying, but with Anny's persistent careful questioning she got the real reason out of her. She had heard the couples upstairs last night, and was missing her husband being around. He had been killed in the first house the men had explored when they rescued them in town. She broke down sobbing when she spoke his name out loud. Anny took Merry's head against her shoulder and looked up at John. He was feeling sorry for Merry, and sorry that there was nothing they could do about her husband's death. "I don't even have any photos of him with me. What kind of wife doesn't have a photo of her husband?" Merry continued with tears running down her face. Tom and Skye came downstairs together at this point and they were filled in with what was happening. Once Tom had heard that Merry had no possessions, he added into the conversation. "You and Jack lived only a few clicks out from my place didn't you?" He asked Merry. She nodded; their farm was only three or four kilometres past Tom's place, away from town to the north. "Well we could go and pick you up some things on one of our trips perhaps? We haven't headed to the north yet scavenging, so we might as well bring back something for you when we do." Merry's eyes lit up with happiness, and she rushed over to Tom, then John, thanking them profusely for the offer. John didn't mind, they would be heading out anyway, and picking up a few photos wouldn't hurt. ----- The group had some breakfast together. It was slightly awkward knowing that Merry had overheard their activities from the night before, so they downed their breakfast quickly and got to work outside. The women tended to the veggie garden. It was starting to look quite good after the month of tender loving care. Now that the wall was complete, the group's main aim would be to turn the majority of the yard into productive food land, Merry leading the way with her knowledge of how to grow all the vegetables from the seed packets they had found so far. The men checked the status of the wall. It was solid as a rock. They had done a thorough job with it, the smallest of the trees was a foot in diameter, and they all were at least 8 feet out of the ground. Not one of them showed any sign of moving against the men's combined pushing. Once satisfied that the entire wall was still sound, they turned their attention to the outside of the house. The windows were covered with boards, outside and in, and the doors had large dead bolts made of large tree limbs. They could all go now, and the wood used in the building of the garden beds. ----- The sun reached its apex and everyone sheltered inside for some lunch. It was nice to be able to open the windows again, as the men had finished their work freeing the house back to its original state. Although a little unsettling at first, the light and breeze coming through was a relief. Their defensive wall could be seen out of all the windows, standing strong at the bottom of the hill to protect its occupants. Huddled Together Ch. 06 John headed upstairs to the bathroom for a much needed shave. He kept the door open, and after a few minutes Merry greeted him in the doorway. "John, can I speak with you a moment please?" She asked. "Sure come in, what's up?" John replied as he continued his shave. Merry waked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bath, behind John, so that she could see his face in the mirror. She gained her courage to ask her question, and started; "I want to come with you and Tom when you go to my home. I need to see it just once more." He stopped shaving for a moment, halfway along an up stroke under his chin. John was taken aback. What she was asking was a huge deal, having to look after a woman in her early 60's as they trekked across the Walker infested countryside. He eventually rinsed his razor in the water in the sink, and continued. It took some time before he spoke. "That's not an easy thing to do." He said still continuing to shave, not turning to look at Merry. "I know it is a lot to ask." She replied. "I can't make the trip on my own, and I have been carefully thinking about it the last couple of weeks. It's something that I need; it will bring me some closure." It turned out that Merry had not even seen Jack's body after they were attacked in town. They had been separated by the Walkers that attacked when she and Skye ran into one house while Jack, Anny, and Anny's brother had headed into the other. John finished his shave without another word as he processed the request. Once he was done, he picked up a hand towel and patted down his newly shaven face before turning around and leaning back against the edge of the sink. "It would be a two day round trip to reach your place and back you know, walking the whole way." Merry nodded her head. "I'm at full strength now after our time here; I can walk that far with no trouble." John paused and tried to think of another reason he could use to convince her that this was a terrible idea. "If we're attacked, you can't really defend yourself against a Walker." John said; his last attempt to try and change her mind about wanting to go. She was much stronger than she had been when they found her and the others in town, but she was still over 60 years old and couldn't take on a full-blown crazy Walker. "I'm aware of that." She said humbly. "I know you and Tom will try to protect me, but I accept whatever happens to me while I'm out there." They stayed there in silence for a long time. John looking up to the ceiling, contemplating how difficult this would be, while Merry looked anxiously at him waiting his answer. "Fine" is all he said. They went downstairs to talk to the others about her request. Tom took a lot more convincing than John had, he wasn't happy with the idea of 'babysitting' Merry while out in the unknown. Merry pleaded her case, while the other women stayed silent. It took a good 20 minutes of conversation, but Tom eventually agreed to her tagging along. The only way he would agree to it was if it was agreed out loud that Merry was second priority to the safety of him and John; having the men stay alive if the shit hit the fan was more important than having Merry around. Skye blew up at him as he said that and the two entered into a heated debate; Skye furious, saying that he was 'inhuman' to even say that; Tom replying that she was acting based on a world that didn't exist anymore. Eventually Skye backed down a little and Tom got the last word in. She wasn't happy about it, but she wanted Merry to get her closure, and the two men were the only way that she would get it. ----- Night fell and everyone headed back inside. Everyone had spent the rest of the day apart from each other for once; it was a nice change from having to buddy up together for protection. Tom had calmed down about Merry's request, and Skye too had calmed down from her anger at Tom; she still didn't agree with him entirely though. The day had been spent organising lists of what was needed to turn the entire yard into a food production area. Merry settled down in her room early to compile the various lists into one. They would go 'shopping' for it at Tom's place, where he had a heap of spare wire, wood, tools, etc. They would head out tomorrow at first light so that they could make it all the way to Merry's house. Anny and Tom were in the kitchen doing the dishes as it was their turn. John and Skye were in the lounge room on a couch together. Skye was reading her book, leaning back against John's arm with her legs dangling over the arm of the couch. John was nursing a whiskey, staring up at the books on the shelf as he was lost in thought. His mind went through the next couple of days; they would be travelling a hard road. He was starting to regret agreeing that Merry could come; he and Tom were a much better team on their own, without having to babysit another. But he had made a promise, one that he couldn't back down from now... "You know, you and Anny did win the contest last night." Skye said without turning or looking up from her book. John's focus returned to him as he processed her words. He smiled, "Hmm, yes we did. What was the prize again?" Skye dog-eared the page that she was on and closed her book. She rested her head back against his shoulder. "Good question..." she replied as her words trailed off in thought. They sat there in silence for a long time. John could feel the warmth of Skye's body where it came into contact with his, he could sense Skye's mind racing through what he hoped would be sexy ideas as a reward for his and Anny's win. John's cock was also starting to wake in response to what he imagined Skye was conjuring up. The silence continued for the longest time, what would Skye suggest? Huddled Together Ch. 07 Chapter 7 – One For All. ***** Authors Note: A big warm thank you to my very talented editor: CaptainsSiren. A very talented person indeed. ***** Tom and Anny had finished their chores and headed into the lounge room. Anny sat down on the other side of John, and Tom sat on the floor facing towards them all. "What's happening here?" Tom asked. "Well I'm trying to think what reward John and Anny get for winning the competition last night." Skye replied with a cheeky smile. "Ah yes." Tom trailed off, with a smile on his face too as he remembered last night's activities. John could see Skye continuing in thought, so he lifted his other arm up and put it around Anny, bringing her in close for a nice kiss. He knew Skye had made up her mind when she headed down to the floor next to Tom. "You don't mind if Anny and I play with John for a little while do you?" Skye asked Tom. "As long as I get some fun at some point I've got no problem with that." Tom agreed. John's cock twitched with anticipation. Skye grabbed Anny's hand and pulled her down onto the floor next to her. "Ok Anny, time for us to give the winner John here his prize." Skye said as she leaned forward and started pulling down John's boxers. They all wore very little these days around each other, as it was so hot still, and because they were all becoming quite close. John's cock was at full attention before it even came into view. As his boxers moved past it, his cock sprang up to meet the summer air. Once John's boxers were clear of his legs, Anny moved forward on her knees and pushed John's legs wide apart. She looked up into his eyes as she moved her mouth over the top of his cock, let it pause there for the briefest of seconds, and then quickly descended down its length. John groaned with pleasure. Skye moved up beside Anny between John's legs, and used her hand to start massaging his balls. John had never had the attention of two girls at once before, but he could tell that he was going to enjoy it. Skye dipped her head in below Anny's chin, and sucked one ball into her mouth at a time, rolling her tongue around each one as it entered her hot mouth. Anny shifted so that she was higher up, allowing Skye more room to work. John looked at the two women working him to such pleasure; it was quite a sight to see them playing and sucking his cock and balls together. He couldn't decide which feeling he liked more, Anny's sloppy blowjob actions, or Skye sucking on each of his balls in turn. It was combining to be an amazing sensation. John looked over to Tom for a second; he had moved to the other couch and pulled his cock out of his boxers to start slowly stroking it to the show the girls were putting on. John rested his head back so that he was looking at the ceiling; he wanted to focus on the attention his body was receiving. Anny started rubbing her hands over his legs as she tried to bury his cock deeper into her throat, and Skye moved down below his balls and started licking his perineum; the spot between his balls and anus. Now THAT felt amazing. John had never had someone lick him there before. Skye was pushing her tongue into the skin and massaging up and down. At the same time, her nose was rubbing into his sack, playfully rolling his balls back and forward. John couldn't hold out, the feeling was too intense. An orgasm started rising through him, and he let out a long groan. Anny brought her actions to a stop with her mouth locked around the head of his cock with gentle suction applied. This allowed John's mind to focus on the sensations Skye was giving to him. As Skye felt his balls tighten with his release, she pushed her tongue into his perineum as hard as she could. Cum surged through him, and emptied in hard spasms into Anny's waiting mouth. The feeling of Skye's tongue pushed in as it was, made for the strongest orgasm John could remember. As his cum pumped out and straight into Anny's warm mouth, John collapsed into the couch; his mind flooding his reality with sweet chemical release. Once his cock had stopped twitching, Anny pulled her mouth up over the head of his cock and let it fall free, her lips remaining closed to contain his cum inside her mouth. Anny grabbed Skye's head and pulled her down onto the floor so that she was facing up at Anny. Anny pushed on the bottom of Skye's chin to open her mouth wide, and started dribbling cum from her mouth into Skye's. "Wow," was all John heard from Tom, who was captivated at the scene the girls were putting on before them. This caused John to focus back into reality again and he tuned in to the hot display between the two women. Once all the cum had drained out of Anny's mouth into Skye's, Skye pushed Anny down on the floor and sat above her, drooling his cum back into Anny's mouth. Skye let out a giggle as the last of it fell into Anny's mouth. Anny smiled with her mouth full of cum and swallowed the contents in one gulp. She let out an 'Ahh' sound, as she stuck her tongue out to show everyone that she had consumed all of John's tasty gift. Skye leant down and started kissing Anny heavily, as if to try and recover some of goodies that were now deep inside her. John's eyes caught sight of someone standing off to the side; it was Merry. She had come back out from her room, and was standing there with her mouth slightly open in shock of what she had just seen. "Merry!" John called out. Anny and Skye stopped their kissing, sat up, and went a bright shade of red each from being 'caught'. Tom, the eternally modest man he was, never stopped stroking his cock. "I'm so sorry!" Merry blurted out, as she turned to head back the way she came. "Merry come back!" Skye called out, as she jumped up and chased after her. Merry stopped, and turned back cautiously to face the group as Skye reached her. "Why don't you join us?" Skye continued with a smile. "I... I don't know! What do you want me to do?" Merry asked gingerly, not moving from where she was by the doorway. "Come on." Skye said reassuringly as she took Merry's hand and led her back into the lounge room. "Poor old Tom here hasn't had any fun yet, let's see what we can do for him." Tom looked up at Merry with a surprised smile on his face. John looked at Merry for the first time in a different light. Although she was in her 60's, she had a lean body and had obviously kept in shape her whole life. He could tell that forty years ago she would have rivalled Anny and Skye in appeal. John could tell from the look on her face that her mind was racing through if she wanted to join in. Skye pulled them down onto their knees between Tom's legs. The look on Tom's face changed to one of anticipation and hope that this led somewhere good. "See, he doesn't bite." Skye said as she slapped Tom against the leg with a cheeky grin on her face. She then leant forward and gave Tom's exposed cock a lick up its entire shaft. Tom's cock jumped with excitement. Skye grabbed Tom's boxers and pulled them off his legs, then moved up to give him a hot kiss. They were going at it heavily, as Merry gingerly raised her hand towards Tom's cock. She paused many times on the way, but eventually her fingers reached it and started tracing up and down its length very lightly. Tom' groaned into Skye's mouth at Merry's touch. Anny got up off the floor and headed for John on the couch. John shifted around so that his back was against the arm of the couch, and Anny was lying between his legs with her head resting on his chest, facing out so that they could both watch the show developing. Merry had gained some courage from Tom's groans of pleasure, and had wrapped her hand around his cock, slowly pumping it up and down. Skye kept kissing Tom, but brought one of her hands down to fondle Tom's balls at the same time. She rolled them around in her hand, giving them slight squeezes on occasion. John's cock was stirring back to life, and starting to stretch against Anny's spine. She leaned her head back so that she was looking up at him, and then raised her hands to tug on his neck. He tilted his head forward and they began kissing upside down. John's hands started roaming down her body, strongly squeezing her breasts, teasing her nipples between his fingers, and working down farther. John kept one hand at play with Anny's breasts, while the other danced down over the hem of her skirt and slid down her inner thigh. When they reached their goal, John was pleased to discover she wasn't wearing any panties. He whispered to her to watch the others while he played with her and their eyes turned to the others at play. Merry was stroking Tom's cock quite fast now. Skye had removed her clothes and was straddling Tom's chest. She had Tom's hands pushed up against her breasts and was helping him heavily grope her; John was coming to realise recently how much Skye liked that. Merry used her hand that was working Tom's cock to pull it down so that it was aiming towards her mouth; she leant forward then slurped it inside. John was quite amazed that she would go that far, but never the less, here she was starting to make Tom's cock disappear down into her throat. She moved her hand off his cock, so that she could go lower down his shaft, and in a single action downed Tom's entire cock. She started shaking her head left and right as she gagged on it. Tom was not a small boy and she was showing off her cock sucking skills having taken it all in one go. She pulled his shaft out of her mouth as she ran out of air, a trail of saliva extending from her lips to the end of his cock. She spat the huge amount of saliva that she now had in her mouth onto his cock, and then proceeded to ram it down into her throat again. She brought a hand up to his balls and started giving them a grope at the same time. "Fuck me!" was all that Tom could let out, as Skye leaned forward to kiss him again. Skye rolled her hips down Tom's chest and positioned her waiting vagina just above Merry's head. Merry still had Tom buried completely in her throat but eventually released him and realised what Skye wanted her to do. John could see Tom's cock shining from its saliva coating. Merry grabbed Tom's cock with one hand and Skye's hip with the other, then guided Skye down so that Tom started to enter her. Skye lowered slowly, and John could see her outer lips parting to accommodate the nicely thick cock. Merry's saliva coating mixed with Skye's abundant juices, and he slid easily into her. John turned his attention to his play with Anny. She was breathing heavily, stimulated by the show so far and at the light play that he had been doing to her outer lips, so he moved his fingers in deeper. His middle finger dipped inside her, to coat itself with her slick nectar; then moved up to find its target, her clit. His now slick finger rubbed the tip around her little bud, changing on occasion to rub its entire length up and down across it. Anny's body responded by grinding into his finger; he could feel his cock rubbing onto either side of her spine as she gyrated. His cock was at full attention again and it felt like it was straining, wanting to get inside her. John moved another finger into play, now two fingers headed down and curdled up inside her. He started finger fucking her, and Anny's body writhed. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders. John varied the pace of his penetrations into her, while he looked up at the others again. Skye was riding Tom in nice slow, long up and down motions. Merry was altering between sucking on Tom's balls, and licking at Skye's slit and puckered anus as it came down towards her. "Mmm, that is crazy hot." John whispered to Anny, who could only nod as she was starting to lose focus on the others as she climbed towards an orgasm of her own. John noticed this, gave a smile at his dirty thought, then whispered down to her; "You are not to cum until Tom does, understand?" Anny was almost too lost in pleasure, and didn't let out a response to John's question. John stopped his finger play, took his other hand off her breast and nipple and put it around her throat. She grunted with excitement at his bold forcefulness. "I said." He leaned forward to her face, "Do you understand?" Anny nodded her head as best she could, "Yes! Yes I understand!" she panted. "Now, don't stop watching." John whispered in her ear, and Anny let out a little satisfied whimper, as he lowered her head back down a little so the others came back into her view. John started playing with her clit again, but kept his hand around her throat; not tight enough to cut off airflow but snug enough to remind her who was in control. The two were enjoying more and more of this kind of 'rough' play recently, and John loved how it made him feel in control while still sharing the sensations together. Skye suddenly stopped on an up thrust and Tom's cock fell free from her. "Lick it clean, Merry." Skye called out. Merry complied, letting Tom's balls 'pop' out of her mouth and started attacking his cock with her mouth. She swallowed it deep into her mouth and rolled her head left and right again, her cheeks sucked in from the pressure she was generating. Eventually she released it with another 'pop', and pulled Skye back down onto it. Skye's vagina greedily accepting the cock again, she continued with her pumping. Tom sounded as if he was starting to reach his orgasm. John focused more of his attention on Anny's clit; keeping an even paced rub up and down while still looking over at the others. "Ahhhhh!!!" Tom cried out as his orgasm started. Skye kept up pace with her bouncing up and down on his cock as he started to cum. Much to John's surprise, Merry slid a finger inside Tom's anus and started finger fucking him. He guessed that she was massaging his prostate. It made Tom even louder. "Holy shiiiiiit!" Tom cried out, as the prostate play was obviously having extra effects on him. As Skye slammed her hips down onto Tom's cock to accept his seed into her, John bent his head down next to Anny's ear and whispered; "Now." Anny took a few seconds; then she cried out with her own orgasm. John kept playing with her clit at the same pace, as he could feel her body convulsing against his, her hands gripping onto his shoulders tightly as if holding on for dear life. As her orgasm subsided, he slowed his clit play down to a stop, and released his hand from her throat. She collapsed, completely spent, over his body. John looked up to the others again. Skye was leaning forward and she and Tom were lazily kissing. Tom's cock had fallen out of Skye, and was now being licked clean by Merry. She was lapping at it like a lazy dog drinking water, and would lick any cum that would trickle out of Skye's vagina onto Tom. Tom stayed on the couch completely drained, as Skye shifted off Tom and pushed Merry onto her back on the floor. She undid the buttons of Merry's blouse, exposing her bra and breasts to the group. With a sly grin she forced Merry's arms above her head and sat across her chest, her legs squashing Merry's ample breasts out over the top of her bra. Skye slid a finger into her well-fucked vagina, and started pulling Tom's cum from its deepest recesses. It took a few deep curls with her finger, but eventually the remaining cum fell out of her and she smeared it over Merry's breasts. Once Skye was satisfied that no more could be retrieved from inside herself, she shuffled down Merry's body and proceeded to lick the cum off her chest. Anny had recovered from her orgasm, and was looking at the scene the two women were putting on. John's cock was still rock hard against her back. She eventually looked up at John; rolling her spine over his erection she whispered to him; "I want you to fuck us all." "What?" John asked, slightly confused about just exactly what she meant. Anny just gave him a cheeky smile, and headed over to the women. She climbed on top of Skye's back, so all three women were 'stacks on', their waiting vagina's all aiming out towards John. Skye slipped forward to offer her breasts for Merry to suck on; while Anny kissed all over Skye's back and reached under her to play in Skye's dripping outer lips. 'Holy shit', was all that came into John's mind and he jumped up quickly to accept the challenge. He started with Anny; she was nice and wet from her orgasm only moments ago. He slipped in easily and started with nice, quick strokes inside her. She moaned with pleasure and turned her head back to give John another sexy smile as John ploughed into her. John pushed as deep into her as he could and let out a contented sigh; he loved being inside his woman. After a couple of minutes of deep, easy fucking stokes into Anny, John left the warm inviting place that Anny's vagina was; and moved down to Skye. He had not fucked the other women before, but he was still eager to give them a try. John looked up at Tom to check that he was ok with what he was about to do. Tom just looked back lazily, still recovering from his orgasm, and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. The tip of John's cock slowly parted Skye's outer lips. She too was nice and wet, but from a mix of her own juices and Tom's remaining cum. He pushed slowly inside and he could feel her opening to accommodate him. Skye let out a groan into Merry's mouth; as the two were kissing passionately. John worked in slow short thrusts; with each stroke going slightly deeper. She felt just as good as Anny but in a slightly different way. John eventually bottomed out inside her. He pushed down on Anny's hips; fucking Skye stronger and stronger; the pile of women swaying slightly in response. A few minutes of nice slow fucking commenced. Skye was clearly enjoying John's performance; she was getting wetter and wetter and grunting loudly into Merry's mouth. John was quite happy where he was but wanted to complete the tower of female pleasure that lay before him and moved out of Skye and down to Merry. The tip of his cock fell down and rested against Merry's opening. John sank fully down onto his knees and pulled Merry's legs up onto his own, then started to run his cock up and down her outer lips. It was Merry's turn to start gently moaning into Skye's mouth as John started pushing inside her. Although the other women were definitely tighter, Merry's vagina accepted him with intensity; and she worked her PC muscles around him in ways that he couldn't believe. John repeated the short stroke fucking that he started Skye with, but quickly built up to a nice strong fuck. Anny looked back at John as he was thrusting deep inside Merry, and called out, "Having fun there?" John was gazing at the three welcoming vagina's before him, Merry's taking the full force of his fucking at that moment; and looked up at her to give her a big smile. She squealed as he leaned forward and blew on her slit, then gave it a swipe with his tongue. He loved the taste of her. His full attention was quickly drawn back to Merry when he felt her legs tense on his. Her vagina clenched around him as she cried out her ecstasy; the pile of women quaking with her. He could feel his orgasm approaching; the multiple sensations that the women had provided him was getting to be too much. John pulled out of Merry, stood up, and started stroking his cock. Anny started to get up, but John used his other hand to push her back down, keeping her on top of the others. John's cum rose up through him; he let out a loud groan as he sprayed all over the small of Anny's back. He could feel his balls tightening as the last spurts trickled out of him. When he was done he stepped back from the group and said with a smile; "Ok, someone clean that up." Huddled Together Ch. 08 Chapter 8 – You Should Never Go Home Again. ***** Note from the author: A big thank you to my author; CaptainsSiren, for her wonderful editing work. Please be aware this chapter contains some gore towards the end. Reader discretion is advised. ***** After a few more sexual favours shared everyone went to bed together in John's king bed upstairs sated and happy. John was woken by Tom at sunrise; Merry was already downstairs getting ready. They left the girls asleep so they could prepare for the journey ahead. John, Tom, and Merry had had breakfast, and silently packed their backpacks with provisions for two days. They would pick up more food on the journey, so they didn't want to overload themselves too much. The men put their rifles over their shoulders, and picked up their hand-to-hand weapons; machetes and an axe each. By the time they were done, Anny and Skye had woken and come downstairs. Anny looked up to John, with tears forming in her eyes. They embraced in a long hug, which said all that could be said, "Be careful, I love you." Tom and Skye also had a long hug, and once it was over everyone hugged everyone else. They headed outside; all was quiet in the yard, at the fence, and into the bush beyond. The only movement to be seen was the chickens in the yard, and a single dark bird drifting along the skyline. John took a long, deep breath, sucking in the cool air of the morning. He took a moment to mentally prepare himself for the journey, and then led the group down to the gate. Anny held onto his arm tightly, he could feel her body pleading him to stay and be safe; but he had to keep going. The men took up removing the large straight tree branches that bolted against the gates. Tom walked through with Merry, and John closed the gates behind them. He, Anny and Skye then put back the branches so that the gates were securely closed. He turned to Anny and gave her one last kiss goodbye. Their arms wrapped around each other, their tongues entwined and bodies pushed together with the passion only found between lovers. John made himself pull out of the embrace, even though his mind and body screamed for him not to; they had a job to do. He turned, gave Anny's hand one more squeeze then climbed the wooden ladder that they had erected near the gate, which led up to a small landing. From there he lowered a rope ladder down the other side, which he used to join Tom and Merry in the outside world. Anny had climbed up after him, and she pulled the rope ladder up after he was clear. John and Anny's eyes locked once more, and then with a smile and a blown kiss, the three headed down the road. ----- John took the lead, followed by Merry, and finally Tom. They walked silently along the dirt road, watching the bush for any signs of movement. The quickest route to Tom's place was to head into the bush about half way down the driveway road, but they wouldn't be taking that route as Merry's house was on the opposite side of the main road. The walk continued easily enough. Merry was true to her word, and after three hours of walking she was still keeping pace. They had reached the main road, and were making their way north along it when they decided to stop at a small stream to freshen up; the heat of the day was rising. The three kept close together as they rested and splashed water over their faces and arms. Merry was the first to speak. "I can't thank you enough for letting me come with you guys today." She said as she looked at them each in turn. "It's fine Merry." John replied, "You're doing really well." "I just hope I can repay you two one day, it really means a lot to me to be able to see my home one more time." The men smiled at her, she was a good companion, good in conversation, and knew a lot about how to work the land. They were both glad that they had her expertise in their small group. ----- They continued along the road after their short breather. They only came upon one car, and it was crashed off the road. There was a smear of blood in the middle of the road, and a few metres farther down a dead kangaroo. It was a large male, would have been well over six feet high when it was alive to stand up. The car had obviously hit it and crashed. The men approached the driver's door cautiously. The car's doors were still closed, so they guessed that the driver's body would still be in the car. Unlucky way to go, John thought, the end of the world and this poor sucker is in a car crash. John approached the smashed driver's door window. The bonnet of the car was crumpled up against a large gum tree; whoever was inside couldn't possibly have survived. He could see a body in there, bent over the steering wheel with blood all over it and the interior of the car. It was a man by the look of him, his arms lying on the dashboard starting to dry out from sitting in the sun. John turned back to Tom and held up one finger, then ran it across his neck, which was the symbol to show the number of people, and that they were dead. John turned back to see the body staring back at him. The man started making gnarling noises and his arms were trying to get at John, who immediately jumped backwards. "Holy shit!" John cried out as he stepped back; Tom quickly joined him at his side. Tom went a bit closer to inspect the Walker, and then returned to John. John motioned for Merry to come forward; she had been waiting in the middle of the road about 20 metres back from them. The three stood together while the Walker tried in vain to reach out at them. His arms were getting cut badly on the broken window shards as he strained to get at them, but he was pinned into his chair by the steering wheel on his chest. "Well, what are we going to do about our friend here?" Tom asked. John took a deep breath to calm down from the surprise, and then approached the car. He took his machete out of its makeshift belt holder, and rammed it straight into the Walker's eye. He pushed deeper and deeper into its brain until the Walker stopped making any noise or movement. He worked his weapon free of its head, and wiped it off on the ground below. John walked back to the others, and started on down the road. As he passed them he said, "That's what we're going to do about him." ----- It was 3pm by the time they reached Merry's house. The men scoped the building with their rifles from the top of the ridge above the house, and saw no movement at all. The homestead looked intact and might possibly not have been raided. They descended the hill and approached the house. Merry was to stay outside while the men made sure there was nothing dangerous inside. It was Tom's turn to take the lead with this house raid; John had led the last one. They walked up to each side of the front door, weapons at the ready, and then Tom led them in. As John headed inside he was hit with a wave of hot air that had built up in the closed house during the day. It came rushing out past the men to be free in the cooling afternoon outside. A musty smell followed it, but John noticed that there was no smell of the dead lingering in it. He was unfortunately becoming attuned to identifying that particular smell. After they had cleared the house, Tom called Merry in. She had tears in her eyes as she walked up the steps to the porch. She looked very cautiously at the house as she entered, then made her way in to start gathering some personal treasures. John realised that there wouldn't be enough light to get them back to Tom's place today, so they would have to stay here for the night. He checked the rooms, but none were secure enough to be used for the night. He mentioned this to Tom, and after consideration Tom suggested they sleep in the roof. It was a good idea, safe and out of the way. John found the man-hole in the ceiling and climbed up into it with Tom's help. The ceiling cavity was very hot from the day's accumulated heat, but it had a solid wood panel floor in the back corner where there were some boxes stashed. They could move the boxes out to sleep there comfortably and safely. The men locked the front door so that no surprises could simply walk in, and told Merry about their plans. She agreed, and continued to go through her photo albums. ---- With their task complete, piles of blankets, sheets, and pillows were arranged for as comfortable a sleep as possible; they all climbed up into the roof and settled down with some rations for dinner. They used an old oil lantern for light, which they hung up on one of the rafters. They sat together, John leaning back on pillows against the wall which made the 'A' frame at the end of the roof, Tom and Merry sat crossed legged, all sticking into their cans of food. They chatted about things they had seen during the rest of their trip, about the photos that Merry had collected, when she and Jack had bought the property, and more. She thanked the men again for letting her come with them, repeating that she could never repay them enough for their help. Tom laughed out loud, "Well last night was a pretty good thank you!" They all laughed. It was nice how close all five of the group were becoming, and the wonderful thing was that there were no feelings of jealousy with the partner swapping they did. The home they were building together, the events they had all been through, and the safety their new walls brought were combining to make them a very close-knit group. They all settled in for the night together; there was just enough room that they could lie side by side and share pillows and blankets. When they were all comfortable, John reached up and turned down the lantern. ----- John woke to Merry tossing and turning. He realized she must be having a dream, and it was causing her to move around restlessly between the men. He noticed that her shifting around seemed to have had an unconscious effect on him as he slept; his cock was now at full attention. John found his torch, covered it slightly and turned it on, dimly lighting up the attic. He listened for any signs of trouble from Walkers; nothing. Merry had her back to him, so he gently grasped her shoulder and shook her awake. She woke a little dazed, but not fearful. "What? What's happening?" Merry asked groggily as she came out of her dream world. John's tug on her shoulder caused her to roll back slightly into his body. "You were having a bad dream by the look of it, so I woke you." John replied quietly, he didn't want to wake Tom if he didn't have to. Merry was quiet and her focus turned in as she tried to recall what the dream was about. John felt her move closer to him. It took him a moment to realise what was happening, looking down to where her body was moving the blankets around. As she tried to recall her dream she had unconsciously started to slowly gyrate her hips against his wide-awake cock. When her dream came back to her, she blushed slightly and whispered to him, "It wasn't a bad dream; it was more of a combination of what happened last night and memories of Jack." He looked up to her face and met her eyes; the two shared a look that said all that needed to be said. Merry moved her hand around behind her and put it between them, massaging his cock through his shorts. He tilted his head down and nudged her face away with his nose, so that he could start nibbling lightly behind her ear; she nuzzled back against his play. John moved his hand around onto Merry's hip, and slowly started his fingers up her torso; drawing little soft lines along her as he went. He reached just underneath her breasts, paused, and then grasped her firmly. Merry gave a light moan as his hand cupped her and brought her closer into his body. John was impressed as Merry started undoing his fly and the button at the top of his shorts single-handedly. He released her breast from his grip to push his shorts and boxers down and off his legs. While he was busy with this, Merry slipped out of her skirt and panties. John wrapped his arms around her again and resumed massaging her breasts; pulling her in tight against his body. Merry was breathing heavily now as she settled into John's arms and took pleasure from John's cock between her legs, resting against her outer lips and slowly grinding against her. He could feel her juices starting to lubricate the top of his cock; the heat given off from her sex was incredible. Merry shifted her body; still lying on her side she raised her leg as she moved her hips backwards to welcome John's cock into her waiting vagina. It was John's turn to groan with contentment. Merry's body was hungry for him as she gently moved herself around him, burying his cock slowly deeper inside her. They coupled together deeper and deeper. When John was inside her completely Merry turned and gave him a deep kiss; which John eagerly returned. John pulled part way out of her, and then began nice, slow, rhythmic thrusts into her. "Mind if I join in?" Tom whispered over. John's thrusts stopped still, a little surprised that Tom was awake. Merry broke off their kiss, turning to face Tom. She answered by giving him a long kiss. John recommenced fucking her. It was warm enough in the attic for no blankets, especially with the warm exercise that they were partaking in, so John threw off the blanket that was covering them. He could see that Merry had already freed Tom's cock from his pants, and was giving him a nice double-handed handjob. Merry broke her kiss with Tom and called out softly, "John, lie on your back." He withdrew from her as she rose up and rummaged over her head for the bottle of hand cream that she used every night to stop her hands from drying out. She found the bottle and sat up over John's knees. She opened the bottle and started applying a liberal amount of the cream onto his cock. "So what's the plan here?" John asked quietly. "Don't worry; I've done this a couple of times before. You guys will love it." Merry replied to John, as she grinned naughtily down at them both. Once Merry had John's cock completely covered in the cooling hand cream, she stepped over his legs and turned around so that she was facing his feet, then started lowering her hips down towards John's cock. John took his cock in one hand and rested it against Merry's outer lips, however Merry reached down with her own hand to take over his cock, and aimed it at her other entrance. John was a little stunned. He had only had the ass once in his life; it was an embarrassing accident with an old girlfriend that only lasted one short thrust. Merry eased herself down lower; John's cock 'popped' into her to the point that his entire cock head was in. "All ok there?" He asked. Merry replied, "Mmmm, sure am." Merry let her legs lower her ass down further onto the waiting cock; John could feel her anal muscles opening to accept him as he watched as his cock disappear inch by inch into her. When she was completely impaled on him, Merry sat up straight and looked over her shoulder at her anal invader. John could feel her pubic hair as it met his balls; she had taken him entirely into her ass in one long, remarkable stroke. John looked over to Tom, who had an astonished look on his face and a rock hard cock in front of him. "Come here stud." Merry waved to Tom as she lay back onto John's chest; his cock still buried completely in her ass. Tom got to his hands and knees and moved closer to Merry, not sure exactly what she wanted him to do. She grabbed his arm and guided him between her legs. "I want you both in me at the same time." Merry demanded looking up into Tom's eyes. John looked up at Tom, who gave a deviant smile; then grabbed his cock and descended towards Merry's willing vagina. John was floored; he had never in his life done this kind of thing before, but he was sure it was going to be good. Tom's cock brushed up and down Merry's lips, and started to ease into her deliciously warm wet vagina. John could feel him entering her, the two cocks only separated by the thin membrane inside Merry. Tom took his time as he pushed. Merry said that she had done this kind of thing before, but the two men weren't tiny and they could hear Merry breathing deeply and slowly as she focused on relaxing to take them both. Tom pushed himself further inside her; John could feel, through Merry, Tom's cock head moving up along his shaft. It felt fantastic. As Tom delved deeper, Merry's anus became tighter and tighter as she was filled with the two men's cocks. Finally John felt Tom's balls touching his own; Merry now had them both filling her holes. "Dear God..." was all that Merry could mutter as Tom finished his long thrust into her. Tom gave her a grin, and then started to pull out of her just as slowly as he had entered. When only the tip of his cock was left inside her, he started heading back in again. Merry groaned with pleasure as Tom started long smooth fucks into her. John was immensely enjoying the sensations of Tom's cock rubbing up and down along the length of his own cock while he was sitting buried in Merry's ass. After Tom had found his pace fucking Merry, John started to withdraw from her. Merry put her hands down beside her onto the floor to give John some room to move. Just before the head of his cock could pop free, John began pushing back into her. John eventually bottomed out again inside her, then started working on Tom's off thrusts to fuck Merry's ass. Merry always had at least one full cock in her at all times, and was crying out with pleasure from the double fucking that she was now receiving. John moved one hand up over her mouth; they were safe up in the attic but couldn't afford too much noise to be made. John and Tom built up the pace to really thrust into Merry with all they could. Merry responded by screaming out her enjoyment into John's muffling hand. Soon, John felt Merry's body change as they continued to pump their cocks into her. She flicked her head back, her chest was heaving up and down. Her legs started shaking as she was forced into a long, shuddering orgasm. John could feel the involuntary tightening of her vagina and ass; causing the men to slow their strokes as she became too tight to keep up their pace. Merry's body relaxed and she collapsed down onto John, leaving him without enough freedom to keep fucking her. Tom increased his pace however, obviously keen to give her a nice hard fucking as her mind mulled in post-orgasmic haze. John felt Tom's cock pounding into her as fast as he could; and felt Merry quivering as his thrusting triggered aftershocks of her release. The combination kept his cock twitching with desire. Tom pulled his head back and thrust himself as deep in Merry as he could go. John felt Tom's balls tighten and cock swell as his seed dumped into Merry's waiting womb. Spent, Tom withdrew and lay down beside John. John grabbed onto Merry's hips and lifted them up far enough that he could start thrusting into her again. Merry was still slightly groggy from her prolonged orgasm and the fucking that Tom had just given her, but he heard her let out a soft groaning sigh of pleasure as he slowly resumed fucking her ass. Soon John raised his hips off the floor and put all his energy into fucking her tight channel. His hips built up to such a speed that they were becoming a blur; causing his balls to swing around wildly enough that they slapped against Merry's slit. He had never fucked anyone this hard and fast before in his life and Merry's ass was taking it in stride. Tom's cum was leaking out of her and dripping down his cock and balls; only adding to the lubrication as he stroked into her. Tom reached over and slid a hand down between her thighs, pressing his palm against her mound. Her clit ground into his hand with every thrust John ploughed into her ass. Unaware of Tom's role in their growing passion, John felt the tension in Merry's body mount as she roused to the added sensation, then felt her tighten around him as she built to another orgasm. Huddled Together Ch. 08 John kept as quiet as he could when he came; his cum roaring into Merry's waiting ass. She had regained enough focus that her release was triggered when she felt John cumming inside her and she squeezed his cock with her anal muscles; milking all that she could get out of him. ----- Light peeked through the cracks in the tiles above John's head. Walker wise it had been an uneventful night; sex wise it had been a fun night indeed. John sat up and looked over at the others. There was just enough light coming into the ceiling that he could make out Merry snuggled up against Tom, Tom's arm around her. John shook them awake, "Come on guys, we're burning daylight." After the men double-checked that the house was still empty, they helped Merry down out of the roof, and then they collected their belongings and headed outside. It would be another cloudless day; it seemed this summer would never end. They paused on the veranda to scout their surroundings. When nothing moved but the leaves on the top of the trees, they headed off. As they reached the top of the hill, Merry gave one last look back to her home, shed a silent tear, and then continued along in line. ----- A hot day of walking followed. With their backpacks full of cans and dried goods from Merry's it was a harder walk than the day before. They passed the crashed car with the dead Walker; refreshed in the stream again; and headed off the main road down Tom's driveway. They would pick up as many supplies for the veggie gardens as they could carry and take them home. They reached the start of Tom's yard and did their usual scouting of the buildings. No movement in the house, no movement in the sheds, all good. They headed into the shed first and started collecting into piles the wire, tomato stakes, and all the goods they needed to expand their gardens. They had been there for a couple of hours. John was up in the storage bay in the roof of the shed collecting spare wood when Tom called out that he was heading into the house to grab some old sheets; they needed them to assemble crude sun shades that the leafy greens needed to survive the harsh summer sun. "You right mate?" John called out, a bit concerned that he was heading off on his own. "Yeah, no worries, all clear down here still." He called back, and headed off out of sight. "Merry?" John called out. She came into view down below, "I'm here John." "Stay in my line of sight while Tom's away please." He called down, and went back to work selecting timber. After several minutes of work John heard a scream, Merry's scream. He pulled himself quickly out of the pile of wood that he was currently in, and looked down to the ground below. He could see Merry running into the shed doorway towards the ladder that led up to where John was, but straight away he knew she wouldn't make it up the ladder out of reach of the Walkers. "Merry! Quickly!" John called out as he reached the top of the ladder. Three Walkers had snuck up on them; they were in the shed with them now and he could see them chasing her. Fear filled her eyes as she looked up at John and screamed his name. She reached the bottom of the ladder and started to climb. He made a quick call, he couldn't grab his rifle in time to shoot all three of the Walkers, and if he jumped down from this height he'd break his legs and be no use as well. He lay down and stretched his arm down as far as it would reach. Merry had only made it two rungs up the ladder as the first Walker reached her. John couldn't believe it, what happened next was horrible. Within a second, the other two Walkers had reached her as well; she was still a foot out of John's reach. They pulled her back down and she landed heavily on the floor. She looked straight up into John's eyes with complete terror as the three Walkers started eating her alive. Her scream was the most terrible thing John had ever heard. "NOOOOO!!!" John cried out. He could see that Merry had gone into shock. Her eyes were glazing over into the abyss, as her attackers pulled her body apart. Tears started forming in his eyes but his mind snapped him back into survival mode. Merry was beyond his help now, and the Walkers hadn't seemed to notice his presence. Where was Tom? He picked himself up off the rafter floor and raced around to a window facing the house; at least two dozen Walkers were all around the house. Just then he saw Tom come running out of the door of the house, machete in hand. The look of terror in his eyes showed that his fast escape was caused by being chased; John could only presume it was by more Walkers in the house. "Tom, look out!" John yelled out as loud as he could, but it was too late. Tom ran straight out the doorway and literally ran into another Walker, bouncing Tom to the ground. The Walker didn't fall as he was a very overweight man, but rather turned and screamed at Tom as he descended in attack. The Walkers that were chasing Tom out of the house came out the door only a couple of seconds after Tom had. He was surrounded. He was doomed. Tom held his machete out in front of him to try and slow the closest Walker down, but only managed to impale it up to the hilt in the Walkers chest. John watched as his best friend was pulled apart by the Walkers. Tom screamed out with pure pain as he was murdered before John's eyes. John couldn't hold back his tears anymore, and fell down to the floor sobbing. He wept like that for a long time, overcome with anger, grief and fear, only his survival instinct keeping his agony and rage as silent as possible. How would he escape now? He was completely trapped up in the rafters; surrounded by too many Walkers to count. It took an age before he came to his senses. He carefully crawled over on his stomach so that he could see where Merry's body was. The three Walkers were still there, digging into Merry. He decided to stay low, to hide amongst the timber and hope that the Walkers didn't know how to climb, or that they wouldn't think to come up there to check. It was the worst experience John had ever been through. Seeing Merry pulled to pieces, then his best friend meeting the same fate shortly after, and now cowering in a corner to the sound of humans eating other humans. ----- The Walkers wandered around the property all day and through the following night as well. John didn't sleep at all the entire night; just lay huddled amongst the wood with his machete at the ready. Only the next morning did they start to head off, seeming to move as a pack almost. John guessed by the position of the sun that it was 10 or 11 o'clock before he spotted what he hoped was the last Walker leaving. He was starving; his backpack was down with the rest of the supplies they had been accumulating, and he dared not head down to grab it. With the last Walker out of sight for a good hour, John built up his courage and started down the ladder. Merry's body was at the bottom. He had to jump off the last step to avoid landing on her. As he landed, he saw Merry's head turn towards him. She had turned into a Walker but her body was so badly mutilated that she could only move her head slightly. John looked down at her, choked back his tears, and ended her existence. He scouted around as best he could before heading to the backpacks and greedily digging into some much needed sustenance. He put as many supplies into his one backpack as would fit from the others, then headed cautiously up to the house to check on Tom. Tom's body was there too, but in worse shape than Merry's had been. John walked over to him. As he came into view, he could see Tom's eyes follow him. He had turned also; he had to finish his friend's pain. "Sorry mate." He said. He raised his axe and brought him to rest then dropped to his knees and started to cry. He looked up into the sky, wanting rescue from this hell that was now on Earth. As his tears began to subside, he heard the unmistakable 'snap' of a twig behind him. Huddled Together Ch. 09 Chapter 9 – For Who You Love. ***** Note from the author. The biggest thank you to my wonderful editor, CaptainsSiren. All one could ask for in an editor and more. Reader Warning. Please be aware that this chapter deals with sexual non-consent. Please check the story tags before reading if you are not sure if you are ok with the subject matter. ***** The next thing John knew was a piercing pain in the back of his head, then darkness. ----- John woke to water being dropped over him. He tried to open his eyes through the blinding pain that was now his mind. He guessed that someone had beaten something into the back of his head, forcing him to black out. He struggled with the effort of trying to open his eyes, but finally managed to force them open far enough to take in his surroundings. He was inside a room he recognised; it was the kitchen in Tom's house. The kitchen was built of stone so it was much colder than the heat of the day outside. A slight shiver ran through him as the cool air combined with the water running down his body to chill his skin. John went to wipe the water from his face and realized that he was sitting tied to a chair. He struggled to move his arms and legs, but was met with complete resistance, and a cold laugh from the other side of the room. John forced his neck muscles to bring his aching head up so he could see what was going on. A big man stepped forward carrying a rifle. John also saw another man sitting at the kitchen table digging into food from John's backpack. "Well g'day mate, welcome back. What's your name?" The man with the rifle asked him. John struggled to get an answer out through the pain. The man pulled the barrel of the rifle under his chin and forced his head upwards so that he was looking straight into his eyes. "I asked you a question fella, and I expect quick answers." He threatened. "Jo... John." He spluttered out as fast as he could. "Now, that's better John. I'll forgive you that slight delay as you're coming to, but don't make me ask twice from here on, you get me?" John nodded as best he could with the rifle jammed under his chin and replied, "Yes". "Good!" The man said loudly, as he headed back over to his partner, grabbing a can off the table and shovelling up a spoonful of cold baked beans. "Now, what do we need to know?" "My name's Steve, and that there is Tony." He continued when his mouth was full. Tony looked over and waved 'hello' without stopping eating; the two men looked sunburnt and lean from lack of food. John's mind raced with what these men could possibly want from him. Food? Shelter? Would they make him take them back to his house? He would never give away the location of their home; the protection of Anny and Skye was the most important thing in the world to him now. "So what's your story, friend?" Steve asked, pausing on the word 'friend' to make it sound sinister. He picked up the can he was eating from and sat down on a chair close to John. John tried to quickly get his story straight in his mind, but the pain was making it too hard to concentrate. He tried to construct a lie as he went. "My... my friend Tom and I escaped from Newcastle down south, and have been roaming around trying to find somewhere safe to stay. We found a woman, Merry, in John's River and let her come with us. Two days ago when we got here we were overrun by Walkers..." John said, his voice trailing off as his mind started wandering back to that day. Steve stood up and punched him hard across the face, causing John's head to fly to the side; and for his mind to snap back into the present as his mouth filled with the bitter taste of blood. He spat it out with several coughs. "Maybe you didn't understand me. You might have heard me ask you to make up a bullshit story and feed it to me." Steve yelled as he hovered above him. "We've checked the dead people outside, and your friend 'Tom', looks a shit-load like the person in the pictures around this house. So I'm guessing that you guys weren't running north, and that this is his house." Steve continued. John tried to focus again, and cursed himself for being so stupid. The lie he made up didn't make any sense in the surroundings they were in, and Steve was smart enough to pick up on it straight away. He continued to spit out blood as his mind raced for the best course to take. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Was all he could muster to try to buy himself more time. "Well I'm sorry too friend, because that's strike two. One more and I will be ending your shit-hole of an existence right here and now." Steve continued yelling; eventually returning to his chair and his can of beans. "Now, please, tell us what you three were up to here. You weren't running; you were scavenging building supplies together. You obviously weren't holed up in this place, so do you have a safe house around here somewhere close?" he continued calmly as he took another spoonful of food. John had no way out. He wouldn't give away the location of their home; he had to keep Anny and Skye safe no matter what. "Well mate," John stated, "I believe that you can go fuck yourself." Steve and Tony burst out laughing, spitting the contents of their mouths out onto the floor. They laughed and laughed at John's boldness, even John couldn't keep himself from having a little chuckle. The situation was so serious, and his bold statement to his attackers could have just gotten him killed. When Steve had finished wiping the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand, he stood up and approached John. Steve leant forward and whispered, loud enough that Tony could still hear, "Well John, since you made us both laugh for the first time in fuck knows how long I won't be killing you at this second for that remark." John swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. Steve grabbed John by the shirt and pulled him up onto his feet, showing just how much larger and stronger he was than John. He threw John down onto his stomach on the kitchen table with a 'thud', knocking the wind out of him. The chair was still attached to him, so he was bent over oddly at 90 degrees with his feet on the floor and the chair sticking out into the air. Steve grabbed the rope holding his left hand to the chair, untied it, and then tied it to the leg of the table above John's left shoulder. Tony cleared the food out of the way then quickly returned to his meal. It was obvious that Tony knew what was about to happen. Steve repeated the same action with John's right hand; then untied his legs, throwing the chair away. He then tied his ankles to the remaining legs of the table, so that John was bent over and unable to move. "What the fuck are you doing?" John called out when his breath finally returned to him. "Whatever... the fuck... I want," was Steve's slow and cold answer. Steve stood up near John's face, and pulled out the biggest knife John had even seen. "If you make this difficult, I will kill you. Do you understand?" Steve said quietly to John's face, twisting the knife into the table between their faces. John could only nod in agreement, his eyes wide open, staring at the threatening weapon before him. Steve moved behind John and slipped the knife under the back bottom of his wet shirt, then ran the blade up his spine, just barely touching the skin. John could feel how sharp the blade was, and held as perfectly still as he could. Steve pulled the knife up and back toward himself, cutting John's shirt in half easily. He cut away at the sleeves and pulled the entire shirt away. The cool table met John's damp, naked chest and began to steal warmth from his body. Steve had to work harder to cut away John's shorts and boxers, but in no time at all John was naked, lying spread-eagled and helpless against the table. "Quite a nice specimen we have here." Tony called out from the chair that he had seated himself in behind John. John couldn't see the man anymore, but could feel the men's eyes leering over his body; his cock and balls hanging freely down below his exposed ass. "You've got to be kidding me!" John called out, shocked by what he could then imagine the men were going to do to him. Steve replied by pushing the tip of the knife into John's ass cheek just hard enough to just puncture the skin. "I said keep your mouth shut and don't make a fuss." John could feel blood starting to seep out of the knife wound and focused his entire mind on keeping his mouth shut tight. "You want first go with this one Tony?" Steve called out. "Nar mate, I'll finish my beans. You go at it." John could feel Steve pausing in thought. Eventually he said out loud; "You know what John, this is going to be your lucky day. Since you're such a funny bloke and you have so much food here with you, I'm going to make this good fun for all of us." John didn't know what he meant by that exactly, and waited in a tense state for his fate. He heard Steve pull up a chair behind him and sit down. "That's a pretty nice package you've got there, Johnny boy." John could feel Steve's gaze on his genitals. Steve took the broad side of his knife and started lightly slapping it against the sides of John's cock. John was terrified and helpless, but couldn't stop his cock from hardening at the sensation from the cool, steel blade. "Seems he likes it dangerous," Steve called out to Tony, who responded with a dry laugh. "Now John," Steve continued, "I'm going to give you a nice hand-job here, and I expect you to show a little appreciation. If you don't cum in the next four minutes, then - well then you don't want to know what I'm going to do back here. Tony, start the clock." John couldn't believe it. What would he do if he couldn't cum in time? His mind quickly raced through possibilities, all of them fearful from the large knife being used to torment him. The knife slapping stopped, and was replaced with Steve's fingers wrapping around his cock. Once he had wrapped his whole hand around John's shaft, he began stroking it as if he was milking an animal. John was horrified. Here he was, tied spread-eagled for these men to do whatever they wanted with him; his cock was being milked for their own sick pleasure. Steve stopped for a moment and John felt the brush of denim against his naked ass as Steve reached to rummage around with some cans. At the reprieve, John forced his mind to quiet down so that he could focus on getting off. "This should make it a bit easier for you John, my friend." Steve said as he applied something to his hand and resumed stroking John's shaft. John could only guess what lubricant Steve had just found. Both men were eating cans of baked beans, so he deduced it had to be the juice that came in those cans. The extra lubrication added to the friction and sensations, as Steve's stokes increased in pace. John tried to relax and let his primitive brain take over and give in to the unwelcome stimulation of his cock. He felt his dangling balls drape over Steve's hand with every upstroke; the extra motion fuelled an instinctive thickening of his cock. John couldn't prevent himself from starting to make quiet grunting noises as he was involuntarily brought towards his orgasm. "Getting close there John?" Steve called out. John didn't want to anger him again, so let out a soft; "Yes." Steve picked up the pace and focused his stroking on the end half of John's cock. He brought his other hand up and started massaging his balls gently. John could feel his cum starting to rise in him; his orgasm started working its way into his mind. His mind let out a small internal rejoice, and he grunted out with pleasure as he started to cum. As he did, Steve put his thumb over John's urethra which stopped any cum from escaping his body. He removed his other hand from John's balls; and then removed his thumb from holding back the cum. John had never experienced anything like that before, it felt weird yet amazing with the torrents of cum building up the length of his penis, and then spurting free all at once. He could feel it all leaving him at once. John was coming down from his orgasm, vaguely aware Steve had let go of his cock completely, and grateful that he had been able to perform quickly to avoid whatever terror awaited him if he hadn't. He felt Steve's hand brush up over his ass and then something warm and sticky being wiped onto the crack of his ass. Still gathering his thoughts, he realized it must be his cum, collected by Steve rather than spent on the kitchen floor. Steve had proceeded to push the cum, bit by bit, into John's anus with one finger. John's mind slowly turned to the intrusive finger; 'What the fuck is he doing that for?' flashed through his mind. "Good work John. Now, I suggest you try and relax, my friend." Steve said with a clear smirk in his voice. John quickly came out of his remaining orgasmic haze when he heard Steve stand up and remove his belt and pants. Steve started snorting loudly into his throat for several seconds, as he built up a heap of saliva, then he was quiet again. John could feel him spitting warm saliva onto the small of his back; and sense it dribbling down over his anus and eventually down over his balls. John was stunned that this was happening to him, but he was defenceless to stop it. He felt Steve's cock rub up and down between the cheeks of his ass as he lubricated it with his spit, then felt the tip press against his virgin hole. John closed his eyes as he felt Steve start to push inside him. His focused all his energy on trying to relax his ass muscles so that Steve didn't do too much damage. At least he was pushing into him slowly, and stopped once the head of his cock was buried inside him. John could feel his ass stretching to accommodate its invader. As terrible as the entire situation was, he was more disgusted that the loudest part of his mind as well as his body betrayed him, enjoying the sensations. Steve started pressing deeper into John's ass. John could feel his sphincter muscles gently fighting to stay where they were, then eventually relenting to accommodate the penis as it pushed past. To John it seemed to be the thickest thing in the world; the only saving grace was that his own cum stuffed in his ass seemed to help ease Steve's cock inside with less resistance. John focused as best he could at relaxing throughout the entire down stroke driving Steve's cock into him. Eventually their balls pressed together, as Steve bottomed out. "See, not too bad now is it mate?" Steve laughed down to John. "I don't usually go for the guys, but these days pickings have been a bit sli..." Boom. The noise of a gunshot filled the air, immediately followed by the sound of glass raining onto the tiled kitchen floor. It was very loud, and John recognised it as the sound of a shotgun. John felt Steve's cock quickly withdraw from him; shortly followed by a second shot filling the air. He heard a body fall and hit the ground hard. He strained his head around trying to see what was going on. "You okay in there?" A female voice called out. John tried to clear his mind, and replied; "I am, but I'm tied up." The door that led from the kitchen to outside kicked open. John strained his head around again to look for his rescuer. He could see that the glass pane in the kitchen door was the source of the raining glass, as his saviour had shot through it. John could see a woman step through onto the broken shards with her large boots. He couldn't make out any of her features as the sun sitting low in the western sky was silhouetting her in the doorway. He could make out that she was reloading her double barrel shotgun with shells as she walked forward into the room. "Hang on a sec there." was all she said as she walked behind him and shot both men again. ----- John was released from his bonds by the mysterious woman, and the two went down to Tom's bedroom to find him some clothes. She sat down underneath the window and faced the door with her gun for cover. Once he had put on a shirt and shorts, John sat down against the adjacent wall and she introduced herself. "Name's Mira. What's yours?" "John," he replied. "I can't believe my luck that you came along when you did!" "Wasn't luck, I've been tracking those two barstards for a week now. They've kept too good a watch until now for me to sneak up on them and finish their fucking lives." Mira snarled out the last few words. John was startled by the amount of hatred coming out of her towards them. "You know those guys?" Mira continued to watch the doorway but her eyes focused out into space, as if she was remembering some horrible memory. She snapped out of it after a minute and looked to him. "Yeah, you could say I know them. They slaughtered the rest of the group I was in; I was out in the bush hunting at the time. By the time I came back all I could do was watch as they finished off my brother with a bullet to his head..." Mira trailed off. They were quiet for a long time. John didn't know what else to say but "I'm sorry." Mira continued her tale; "They had raped the women before killing them... All I had was a hunting bow at the time and I couldn't have taken them both on. So I waited, tracked them like the animals they were. Over the last week they caught two other men on their own, raped, and then killed them too." Mira started stroking the barrel of her gun slowly, "I found my gun here hidden amongst the last dead man's stuff that they missed when they headed off again. When I peered into this place and saw them starting to do the same thing to you too, I had to take my chance." Mira looked down at her gun, as if asking it if what she had made it do earlier could be forgiven. "Well I am eternally grateful to you Mira." John said. "I have a safe place near here that you are welcome to come to. Two others, Anny and Skye, are there now." John quickly told her about what had happened at the property here in the last couple of days, the horrible things that had happened to his friends, and then looked out the window. "We won't make it back there before dark. We'd better hide up in the shed for the night." He concluded. ----- The two headed into the shed. They carefully moved Merry's body out of the path of the ladder, and then headed up into the rafters to hide amongst the wood, as John had done the night before. John felt much more secure with the extra guns they now had. Steve and Tony had a handgun each and a couple of boxes of ammo for each gun. The short-range guns would be a welcome change from having to kill the Walkers with axes and machetes. John took the first watch as Mira was exhausted from having tracked the men for over a week; sleeping up in trees to avoid being Walker food while she slept. John's thoughts drifted back over the horror of the last couple of days, and eventually shifted to looking forward to seeing Anny and Skye again. They would be devastated to learn of Tom and Merry's deaths. He didn't know how he was going to break the news to them tomorrow. ----- John woke to Mira shaking him awake. "Time to go, John." As they descended the ladder, John looked down and noticed the sun's rays hitting the ground. The light was deep red, much redder than it should have been. They walked outside carefully, the coast was clear, and John looked to the sky. The sun was pouring blood red light down onto the Earth as it rose into the sky. "Bushfire." John said. Huddled Together Ch. 10 Chapter 10 -- Abandon. Fear rose in John's chest; "We have to get home." John and Mira threw their backpacks on, and headed off into the bush. John stole one last look back at Tom's place before it went out of view; at the location where such horror had taken place the last couple of days. With a quiet sigh, he turned his focus back to getting home. Dry gum leaves and sticks crunched under foot as they ran; they were running through a landscape of fuel. ----- "John! JOHN!!!" His name came floating on the breeze and hit his ears; it was Anny's voice. He scanned through the few remaining trees to the wall; spotting her at the top of the wall with one of the spare rifles, her spare hand waving him in. She dropped the rope ladder over the side of the wall, and was jumping on the spot as she waited for their arrival. John picked up the pace, and the wall got larger and larger before him. He could hear Mira's footsteps close behind him; and could now see the confusion and fear on Anny's face at seeing his new companion and the lack of Tom and Merry. The two reached the wall and John let Mira go up first, covering her with his rifle in case they had been followed. Nothing moved on the tree line, so John clambered up directly after her. He reached the top and was instantly embraced by Anny. Mira stood to the side while the two tried to hold each other more closely than their arms could manage. "We've been so worried!" Anny said through soft tears, "Where are the others?" John had been dreading this moment, and could hear Anny's voice trail off with the question that she already knew the answer to; he could tell she didn't want it to be true. Skye had coming running down from the house by now and was looking up at the group on the wall with the same worried look on her face. "They..." John swallowed the lump in his throat, "They're dead." ----- John did the best he could to console them both; tucking each woman into a shoulder of his with an arm around them to hold them close. Anny was very sad, and crying into him; but Skye was much more distraught. John huddled them all up inside the house; stealing a look over his shoulder before they entered at the wall of smoke on the horizon. Once they were seated in the lounge room, he proceeded to tell them what happened over the last couple of days. When he got to the part where Mira had saved him, his eyes pleaded into hers; silently begging her not to reveal what she had found the men doing to him. She stayed silent as John told his modified version of his rescue; nodding along as he spoke. Anny and Merry broke their hugs with John to hug her in thanks for saving John's life; tears still streaming down their faces. As sad as Anny and Skye were, John had to move the conversation to the pressing matter of the bushfire that might be coming their way. "We didn't know what we were going to do!" Anny said. "We prepared five backpacks full of supplies ready to go this morning when we saw the smoke. We were hoping and praying for you all to come back today before we had to flee..." Anny trailed off as she was obviously remembering that Tom and Merry wouldn't be joining them ever again. John summed up their discussion; "Well we don't have a choice, we have to leave. The smoke is definitely getting closer since we left this morning. I know of somewhere we can go. We'll have to leave our home and hope that it survives if the bushfire comes this way." Everyone nodded in agreement, and headed to grab a full backpack each; one pack left on the table to wait for an owner that wouldn't come. John grabbed a large torch from the top of the fridge and stowed it into the top of his bag, then quickly grabbed a smaller torch from the second drawer in the kitchen and jammed it in his pocket. Mira had already started leading the women outside, when John heard his named being screamed out for the second time today. He raced out to join them on the veranda. "Holy shit..." he let out in shock, his mouth dropping open. The horizon was being licked by flames. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" John shouted. The group hurried around the back of the house and ran up to the rear gate in the wall. They all helped to move the logs away that were keeping the gates closed. John led them out with only the briefest of checks to see if the coast was clear; they didn't have time for more. The air got warmer and warmer as they ran. The breeze was coming from directly behind them, which aided their running; it was also helping the flame front rush towards them. John's breathing was heavy from running as they reached the top of the first hill. He turned around briefly to make sure the others were still with him. They were, and he could also see a huge wall of flames licking at the far wall of their fortress. "Come on!" John yelled out, trying to renew everyone's effort. They started down the side of the hill and John felt the temperature drop slightly as the hill came between them and the fire front. "It's going to catch us John!" Mira called out breathlessly. He feared she was right. The cave was three hills beyond them and he didn't know how they were going to make it. It was an hour trek on a calm day without carrying the heavy packs. Running for their lives with them on would be a very hard task, but surviving without supplies would be even more so. There was nothing they could do but keep running. Ka-Boom! That was the sound of my poor old Camry exploding, John thought; the fire had obviously reached the house now. They reached the first gully and started up the other side of the hill. Suddenly lady luck smiled on them; the wind snapped around and hit John's face hard. It laboured his pace down noticeably, but it was a life-saving gift that nature had given them. The high force of the wind would now be slowing the roaring pace of the fire. They still had a shot. "Ha-ha!" John screamed out about the wind, "We still have a chance! Come on!" As they started up the next hill, a Walker shuffled out from behind a large tree, drawn by John's shout; his face twisted in hungry horror, eyes crazed, one arm missing at the shoulder, and blood caked down its side. John hurriedly signalled the group behind him to stop, raised his pistol, and shot the Walker in its face, dropping it to the ground in a heap. "If there are more of them nearby, they will have heard that shot. Let's get moving!" He called back to the others. The longest and hardest hours of John's life commenced - constant running with a full backpack; the roar of the bush fire behind them; the air filling with ash and heat; the occasional Walker to shoot dead; all while watching out that everyone behind him weren't falling behind. With his legs feeling like they were burning hotter than the fire behind them, John finally saw what he was looking for. Near the top of the hill they were climbing was the grand old ghost gum; towering into the sky proudly even though life had long since left its branches. John knew that hidden at its base amongst the boulders that littered the hillside, was the entrance to the cave. John led them past the gum and into the seeming maze of giant boulders. Even though more than a decade had passed since he'd been here last, John could never forget how to get to the secret cave; a good thing since they were in the race of their lives to the only shelter that could save them. After running left and right around a series of boulders, there stood the entrance. John didn't stop to check the situation behind or in front of them. Any possible dangers inside the cave were secondary to the real dangers of the heating air around them and the fire's relentless advance toward them. The air shifted and started blowing from behind them again; it got much warmer and drier. John stole a glance towards the sky he could see framed by the boulders; embers were drifting above them like an alien invading force. They finally reached the mouth of the cave. The light from the flames cresting the hill behind them penetrated a short distance beyond the entrance. John quickly reached for the torch that he had thrown in his pocket, and led them all deeper inside as fast as they could move. The cave went straight into the hillside for 30 metres, and then began winding left and right. The air was exhaling out of the cave past them to be fed into the fire; as if the cave itself was trying to blow a giant birthday candle out. The air started to roar louder and louder around them as the fire came across the cave's entrance. The wind was so strong in their faces John couldn't see where they were going. He reached backwards and pulled Anny down to the side of the cave, screaming to the others to follow suit. They all huddled together while the air rushed around them, sucked out by the hungry flames. John hoped they were deep enough that they wouldn't be burned alive or suffocated. The immense roar lasted for long minutes, before slowly dying off as the fire front passed by them. As the wind calmed down from its great escape, John rummaged in his backpack and pulled out the larger torch. He checked everyone was okay, then helped them up and started leading them farther into the depths of the hill. The cave was dry, save for a few places where water was leaking down the walls into puddles. After a good 20 minutes of walking down the passage, they met a natural 'V' in the tunnel. "This is as far as we ever got when we were kids." John whispered to the others as they joined him at the fork. John moved his torch light down each tunnel; they both looked the same to him. "There!" Mira whispered out excitedly, pointing her finger to the left hand tunnel. "On the wall, there!" John moved closer with his torch for a look; a crude directional arrow was carved into the stone. "Someone's been down here, and marked a path." He whispered back to the others. "I think we should follow it." The others were nervous about the decision, but agreed. John made sure everyone had their weapons at the ready. He and Mira had the handguns, Anny and Skye had their axes. John led the way. They walked carefully and slowly for about half an hour, meeting at least six or seven more 'V's in the path, all of which had markers for the direction to take. John started guessing that there was someone local who had known about the cave's existence and taken refuge inside during the zombie infestation outside. They took the journey as quietly as possible, concerned for what may lay ahead. As they delved deeper and deeper into the cave, John could feel the apprehension growing more oppressive than the tonnes of rock above them. John stopped dead in his tracks and held his hand up to stop the others. He could see something lying on the ground, just coming into view around a bend of the tunnel. Holding his gun up with his torch, he suddenly realised that if there was danger, firing off a round was probably more dangerous than whatever he was trying to kill; who knows if the sound would cause a cave in... He quickly switched to his axe, and whispered out; "Hello? Hello, is anyone there?" Silence... Weapon in one hand, torch in the other, John eased around the corner. It was a blanket on the ground that had caught his eye. A small, shallow room came into view; it was a dead end. Someone had been living there, but John couldn't see any signs of life, death or deathly aliveness... After he had scouted the dead end for danger, he whispered for the others to join him. Once they had, John got Mira to cover their only way in or out while they looked around. There were a couple of blankets and pillows; some cans of food that were still in date; some candles, matches, and clothes. It looked like a couple of people must have been living there, but there was no sign of a struggle or other indication to tell where they might be now. John guessed the occupants must have been outside and couldn't return due to the fire, and if so, they would at least not be returning until it was over. Completely exhausted from their harrowing, headlong run to get here, they decided they would sleep the night and work out what to do in the morning. The dead end meant they only needed one person at a time to cover the tunnel. Mira volunteered for the first watch, and lit one of the candles to save her torch's battery. The bedding would provide a comfortable sleep as they rotated off the watch; and John, Anny, and Skye snuggled down near each other with it at the end of the cave. The cave was cool, but not overly cold; a light sheet and Anny's body warmth against John's was more than enough to make him comfortable. He reclined onto his backpack against the cave wall. Anny hugged Skye as she felt her friend begin to tremble; the best she could offer her to comfort her tears. Skye's breathing eventually changed to shallow slow breaths as she drifted into sleep. Anny rolled over and snuggled down under John's arm, hugging his chest tightly for safety, security, and to tell him she could never let him go again; John tightened his arm around her. He could see dancing shadows on the cave wall as the candle Mira was using in the entrance moved with a slight breeze, and her silhouette watching down the cave for any intruders, her axe by her side ready to be relied upon for its support. John rested there with his eyes closed for a long time. He couldn't get to sleep however; the day had been too eventful for his mind to calm down enough. As Anny's body lay wrapped against his, he could sense that she wasn't sleeping either. Anny's fingers started light drawings across his chest, making small 'love heart' shapes. She nuzzled her head into him, silently asking if he was awake. John responded by giving her a slight squeeze with his arm and bringing his head forward to place a gentle kisses on the top of her head. She looked up at him and paused, watching his eyes as he gazed down at her, soaking in her features. She brought her face up slowly to his, eventually locking them together into a long, gentle kiss; tongues entwining around each other's in a magically sensual dance. John brought Anny's body closer with the arm he had wrapped around her, and she shifted her weight and with one gentle movement lifted her leg over him so that she straddled his lap. As they kissed, they embraced; their bodies melting into each other as they tried in vain to be closer than was physically possible. John's hands roamed over Anny's back, his touch saying all that needed to be said. Anny slid one hand around the back of John's head and wove her fingers into his hair; the other caressed the back of his neck, as they continued their lover's dance. John pulled their sheet over their heads causing the sheet to glow from the dim candlelight; soft light fell down upon them. Now that they had a little privacy inside their makeshift tent, Anny reached down and unzipped John's fly; their breaths now low and shallow with need. John's cock was wrapped by her fingers as she pulled it free of its material confines. Anny released his cock from her grip, made a slight shift of her panties, and then eased her hips down so that he was at her entrance. It was very clear that she wanted him without delay. John wrapped his arms along her spine, and holding her tightly against him started easing her down onto his throbbing manhood. Anny left out a soft moan, her mouth opening over his as he felt her outer lips parting around his shaft; her moistness warm and inviting. They were completely caught up in their task of joining together. He could feel Anny slowly opening around him as she descended; the silkiness of her warmth encompassing him. Once he was completely inside her they held there, still kissing passionately, pulling their bodies as close together as they could get. It was more than sex; it was complete coupling of two beings into one. The air under the sheet was starting to heat from their presence, only adding more intensity to the passion they were sharing. John looked up into his soul mate's eyes, finding them gazing straight back into his. Anny started gently raising her hips up only an inch or so, then back down again; her womb not wanting to lose the sensation of being completely filled by her lover. John could feel Anny's deep internal massage as he lay completely enclosed inside her; he could tell that she never wanted to let him go. Warm juices started escaping her, falling down onto John body; as the slow lovemaking continued. The sensations between them were piercing; the air charged with lust and yearning. They stayed locked together in this slow sexual dance for what seemed all of time, completely wrapped in each other. Their bodies broke out in a thin sheen of sweat, as they toiled. John was reading Anny's body as if it were his own; she was approaching the sweet release of orgasm. Her body pleaded with his, inviting it to help get her to that magical place that is only reached by true lovers. John's body responded; running his nails at varying strengths into her skin, over her legs, along her hips; up her back and through her hair; his shaft grinding into places he knew would help bring her release. The air was thick with heat, their minds thick with chemicals, their body's thick with lust. Anny involuntarily shuddered as the build-up neared completion. John changed their motions to rock back and forth, pivoting at the hot, slick junction of their sexes. He felt the changes in Anny's body as she started her release; her mind now helpless. A slight shake started deep inside her legs, her fingernails involuntarily changing pressure into his back and neck, the slight pauses in her deep laboured breath, and finally her most inner muscles started to spasm as they thanked her lover's invader for being there. Orgasm flowed through Anny's body, and it surged into John's; he was now helpless to avoid joining her in the sensations. John and Anny's sexes danced in rippling unison as they came around each other; swells and contractions, seed and acceptance. Their bodies slowed to stop and their breathing eased as their conscious selves returned to the land of the living. Anny held her lover with all she could, her arms, her legs, and her being. John remained inside her as his cock slowly relaxed; his arms cradled her into his body. After a time, he could feel his seed escape from Anny as they lay; the warm essence dripping down over his thighs. They remained wrapped around each other for a long time. John thought they would fall asleep that way, each unwilling to disturb the blissful peace they had been able to find. Anny eventually picked her head up from John's chest and rested it on his shoulder. She paused as if in thought, then with her courage gathered whispered in his ear; "John, I'm pregnant." Huddled Together Ch. 11 Chapter 11 -- To Safety. Anny's bare feet slapped heavily on the hot pavement as she ran; her legs jarring and her skin burning as it came into contact with the ground. She was running for her life. Walkers were all she could see; they were approaching her from all sides of the street. Where was she? There were so many of them... How did she get here? It didn't matter now, she had to escape. Hungry screams filled her ears as they called for her flesh from all sides; mouths crying out with their harsh demands seeking to end her life. Fear filled her chest as her mind screamed at her legs to pick up the pace... Someone was ahead of her calling her name, it was John's voice. "ANNY! ANNY!!!" One of the Walkers reached her arm and pulled her back violently. She screamed as she was pulled, desperately searching ahead of her in a panicked haze, but couldn't see him. ----- "Anny!" John whispered her name again slightly louder, as he gently shook her awake. Anny woke with a jolt and started desperately to take in her surroundings. John could tell on her face as she realised she must have been having a bad dream, still feeling the fear and panic from the nightmare. "It's ok, it's ok." John cooed to her. "We're in the cave, we're safe." Anny started calming down, her breathing returning to normal from its rapid pace; "Oh John, I was having a horrible dream. We were in a town, Walkers were all around me. You were somewhere ahead of me, calling to me; I wasn't going to get away in time..." John pulled her close into his body, whispering; "It's ok my love. It's alright, you're safe, you're with me. We are going to be just fine." Anny huddled into him; "It... it was so real..." she whimpered. ----- Aside from Anny's nightmare, it had been an uneventful night. Mira had finished a three hour shift on watch, followed by Skye, and finally John. He was just finishing up his shift when Anny had started thrashing about restlessly in response to her dream. Anny had regained her senses and was clinging onto John; the other two women had already woken and were covering the cave passage. Sitting watch had given John a lot of time to process the information Anny had given him last night; 'Anny's pregnant' had chanted in his head over and over again. They hadn't been using any protection since they met, as there was none around to use, and now he was going to be a father. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was pregnant, but she had told him that she was always on time with her period; which was now a week and a half late. This morning John felt a little in awe at the wonder of it all. After the hours of thinking it through, while he sat watching the candlelight dance shadows across the cave walls, John's heart and mind were now filled with courage; courage and determination to find them a safe place where they could bring up their child. The fire had almost definitely destroyed their home and its protective border walls, but they would have to check if it was a lost cause and deal with that scenario if need be. For breakfast, they all shared the food they found in the cave; there was no point going through their own supplies if they didn't have to. They ate as much as they wanted, and they needed a big meal for whatever the day would bring. No one spoke over breakfast; John kept Anny close to him as they ate, an arm draped over her leg for comfort. Skye, Anny and John were still recovering from the loss of Tom and Merry, and Mira was apparently the silent type. She was clearly a strong woman; having hunted down and killed the two men that had taken John captive. John was very glad to have her in the group especially now that Tom was gone. Once they had completed their meals, they packed up their belongings. Their bodies were still sore from the hard trek yesterday, but John roused them all up and took the lead, followed by Anny, Skye, and finally Mira. A silent hour of walking later and they had made it to the mouth of the cave. The smell of smoke and charcoal hung thickly in the air. John left the women in the cave while he did a bit of scouting. He walked out and climbed up onto the closest tall boulder he could scale. The landscape came into view; every inch of the ground was burnt black, and all the trees had been assaulted by flames. Slowly rising smoke emitted from the larger trees, as they were obviously still on fire deep in their hearts. John had never been this close to the aftermath of a bushfire. The Australian landscape needed fire to release certain seedlings from the flora, so he guessed eventually life would return to this wasteland. At the moment though, it seemed to be one more attempt from Mother Nature to try and rid herself of the infestation of man. John scoped completely around him with his rifle. Nothing moved. He let out a whistle, letting the girls know it was ok to come out. When they came into view, he jumped down from his perch, and they continued their trek home. ----- It took them the morning to make it back to the top of the hill above the homestead. They sighted down to the house below; all they could see left was burnt stumps and scorched sheet metal lying scattered in the yard. Parts of the fortress wall were burnt all the way to the ground; others still smoking as the more recently cut timbers were still green. They headed down to the wreckage to give it a proper investigation. Nothing was salvageable. They pushed around a few timbers, lifted some of the roofing tin to check underneath; but there was nothing left to recover from their home. "Where are we going to go?" Skye asked quietly, her face distraught. They were silent in thought for a long time. John threw a piece of burnt timber he was holding onto the heap as an answer finally came to him; "We need to get off the mainland." ----- The best place to find a boat would be Laurieton; the nearest coastal town, at least a day and a half's walk from where they were now. Before the apocalypse, Laurieton had been a sleepy retirement village with a couple of dozen boats parked there at any one time; the town being a favourite with international hobby sailors. Directly between them and the town was Middle Brother Mountain, one of three large mountains that were synonymous with the region. North Brother Mountain had the town of Laurieton at its feet next to the river; very close to the ocean. John decided that he would lead the group directly north from where they were, and follow the road around Middle Brother, and then aim for the coast. It was a quiet road, with only two small townships on the way. ----- More burnt landscape met them as they started the next leg of their journey. After half an hour they could see Middle Brother coming into view, its bulk arching into the sky. The fire seemed to have only destroyed half the bush that covered it. The fire must have died down naturally in places leaving erratic patches of greenery untouched. They came across a few burnt people as they travelled, but the fire had ended their existence; there was no way to tell if the people had been alive or Walkers. The landscape changed from burnt wasteland to still green and brown bushland as they found the main country road which led around the base of the mountain. They walked straight down the middle of it, the summer sun making the black bitumen sizzle; but they dared not stray from the black path into the long grass on either side of the road, in case Walkers were wandering there. It was a long, hot, and hard journey. John didn't mind too much though. It was made easier by the pleasure of walking along hand-in-hand with his love, swapping smiles and swift, sweet kisses as they went. ----- The light was dying as the day neared its end. John pulled his rifle's scope away from his eye. He hadn't seen any movement around the houses they had come to; the west end of the town of Kendall. They needed to find somewhere safe to spend the night, and he had spotted where they could possibly stay. On top of the ridge that went through the middle of the town was a house hanging off the edge of the hill on stilts, its contents hidden from the rest of the valley below by its wide verandas. They headed up the ridge, crouching low from cover to cover as carefully and quickly as possible through the town; racing the dying light of the day. They came across partially eaten bodies in the street; but at least the bodies didn't move. The house was now just up ahead. John ducked down behind an abandoned car on the side of the road; the others joined in line behind him. A single Walker slowly meandered on the crest of the road about 100 metres up the road. It hadn't noticed them by the look of it, but they couldn't make it to the front door of the house without it seeing them. John searched his mind for what to do, but was interrupted by Mira whispering loudly to him; "We've got company, two Walkers behind us." John spun around to see two Walkers shuffling up the hill to get them; they were already closer than the single Walker was up ahead. "Come on, we need to get indoors before many more of them notice us." John whispered as he started leading them out from behind the car. They ran as low as they could up to the front gate of the property, opened it, and then ran across the raised walkway that led to the front door; it was the only way in or out of the house. Mira shut the gate as she passed through it last, and they all met up at the door. John tried the door handle, but it was locked. "Stand back." He commanded, as he backed up; ready to kick the door open. As soon as he raised his foot, the door swung open to reveal a smiling man standing there. He was lean, tall, and had a shaggy beard. "Well hi there, come on in friends!" The group stood there stunned for a moment, before the snarl of the approaching Walkers behind them quickly brought them back to reality. John lowered his foot as the man stood aside with a welcoming sweep of his arm to invite them in. As they rushed into the house, John noticed that the man was armed with a loaded crossbow in his other hand. Once the group were past him, the man stepped outside casually, raised his crossbow to shoulder height, and shot a bolt into the eye of the first Walker that reached the gate. Its body collapsed over the top of the low gate and hit the concrete path; the second Walker a few metres behind him snarling with hatred. With the task done the man casually stepped back inside the house, closed the door, and placed large blocks of wood across it. He turned to smile at the bewildered group. "We'll take care of the rest of those later. Now, cup of tea anyone?" asked as though what he had just done was perfectly normal. ----- John and the women followed the man into the main room. It was a combination kitchen, lounge room, and dining room; with a large wall made of glass that led out to a balcony and a wonderful vista of the green valley below. They couldn't see the houses of Kendall below, as John had predicted, so it was a perfect place to spend the night free of attracting Walkers; as was clearly demonstrated by their host living here. "Damian's the name, what are yours?" Damian asked as he lit a small camping stove on the kitchen bench and put a tin full of water on top. John introduced everyone in the group, and then asked what Damian was doing here. "Good to meet you all, it's been quite lonely up here for the last couple of weeks." Damian replied as he started preparing enough mugs for them all; his eyes flicking up at each of them in turn as he set to his task. He continued without answering John's question, "So what's your story?" John gave him a very brief rundown; that they had been living in the house down near John's River, it burnt down in the bush fire, and that they were now looking for somewhere to stay. He withheld telling any more information than that, as he didn't know or trust Damian yet... there was something about him that John didn't like... "Sounds like you had it pretty good down there at your place until that bush fire, and the company looks like it wasn't too bad either..." Damian trailed off as his gazed started to shift from setting up the mugs, to drifting over the women. Anny, who was standing slightly behind John, gripped his arm a little tighter as Damian's gaze crossed over them. Damian seemed to regain his mental composure and returned his focus to putting tea bags into the mugs. "Me, I've been up here for the last couple of weeks by myself, just living off what I find in the houses around here. There's the odd zombie around, but they're manageable." "Where were you before this then?" John asked, trying to get as much information out of him as possible; he needed to figure out what bothered him about the man. "Ah, well a couple of fellas and I were living off the land as the shit hit the fan in the world. I got separated from them by a herd of zombies, and I've been on my own since. We had some crazy times together, but don't know where they are now..." Damian's focus shifted out beyond the horizon as he seemed to be thinking back; a slight smirk crossing his face. "Annnnnyway, it's good to have some company again!" His smile turned sly as he looked back to John and the others. John dropped his backpack to the floor and sat down on the nearest couch; the others did the same. Anny sat and snuggled in beside John. He wrapped an arm around her in a hug and left it there. John smiled at Skye and Mira, trying to make the situation feel more comfortable. Damian brought everyone their cups of tea when they were ready, and told them to relax; he'd be back in a minute once he'd finished off that other Walker out the front. ----- The evening passed in uneasy conversation, and John's lack of trust in Damian didn't improve. John held Anny closely to him on the couch, needing to feel her warmth, to know that she was safe. Damian invited them to have the spare bedrooms; there were three in the house, all with queen size beds. Damian was in the first room. He suggested Mira and Skye take the second, and John and Anny, the last. Damian also let them know that there was enough hot water for all due to the rainwater tank and the solar hot water heater on the house. John and Anny's room had an en-suite; the others could use the main bathroom when they needed it. Damian called it a night, wished them sweet dreams, and then headed into his room; shutting the door behind him. The others decided to turn in as well, going down the hallway to their rooms with Mira and John trailing the group. The women traded happy smiles at the thought of hot water and being truly, thoroughly clean. Anny continued down the hall as Skye headed in, followed by Mira. John grasped Mira's arm before she disappeared into their room and whispered to her; "Keep alert tonight ok, I don't know about this guy." Mira nodded in agreement with a sombre look on her face, gave one last glance back up the hall, and then closed her bedroom door. John heard the lock on the door 'click', and then walked down the hall to join Anny in their room on the other side. ~~~~~ Anny walked into the large bedroom and smiled. Despite its size it had a cosy cabin look and feel. Moonlight was flooding in through large glass windows that overlooked the valley. It was such a beautiful, peaceful sight; she was drawn to them, enchanted by the view. Anny felt the tension begin to ease in her neck, and the edginess of the evening start to dissipate. She heard John come into the room, close the door, and turn the lock. Reluctant to turn away from the soothing night scene, Anny only heard John put his gun on the bedside table and kick off his shoes. As she felt him near, Anny sidestepped in front of John, wanting the feel of his arms around her, but still needing to take in the quiet moment of a seemingly normal world before her. She felt John put his big hands on her shoulders, pulling her back slightly to rest against his chest. Anny rolled her head back so that it nestled under his chin, let out a soft exhale of relief, and relaxed into his touch. She felt the soothing stroke of John's hands go down her arms and slide underneath her shirt; coming to rest on her stomach. It was exciting to know that their baby was inside her at that very moment, growing bigger and stronger each and every day. Anny's hands slid up over the back of John's as they both stood there, in the middle of the end of the world, but with the start of a new one in their hands. They stood a while, gazing outside and swaying gently in the moonlight to music heard only in their hearts. Butterflies stirred inside Anny as she felt John starting to unbutton her blouse from the bottom up. She sighed when he caressed her breasts over her bra. His hands were gentle, but firm and intent on their task. Anny curved her back into him as John teased her hardening nipples; she was happily surprised to feel how quickly his manhood stiffened and tucked into the cleft of her bottom. Anny registered the familiar tension in his body; recognized it as need rather than fear. It only added to the desire stirring in her as well; but she had already set her mind on a hot shower first. There was no way she was climbing into bed covered with all the dirt of their travels and smelling of the world's largest campfire, when she had a choice to do otherwise. "Come on love, we're getting clean before anything else." Anny laughed, as she turned to face him. She searched for John's eyes in the dark; finding them filled with the need she had already felt in him. A shiver coursed through her in response; her laughter paused between parted lips. Anny watched, breathless, as his hungry gaze poured into her eyes, his mouth lowered slowly to hers. John's mouth tangled her own in a kiss full of passion that roused her heart, and danced even more sensations through her body. Anny eagerly responded, wrapping her arms up around his neck. She felt him draw her in tightly to his chest. Her body stretched like a cat as John's hands stroked down her back to cup her cheeks; a tingle following them down to settle between her thighs. Anny heard John groan as he squeezed her cheeks, pulling her hips up into him. She pressed her mons against his fully erect shaft, and she felt a trickle of warm wetness seep into her panties. John's hands swept upward, roaming over her bare back under her blouse, searching for the clasp of her bra. The spell of his kiss weakened, and finding herself unable to help get either of them undressed, she pushed on his shoulders, dragging her lips from his. "Shower, now." she ordered John in a husky voice. She reached back and unhooked her bra, ducking quickly under John's arm as he reached to free her lightly bouncing globes. Anny snagged his hand, pulling him round with her as she headed to the en-suite. She let out a playful squeal at the pinch he gave her ass as he fell into step behind her; and gave a brief thought of thanks they didn't have to venture down the hall in their condition. They shed their clothing; leaving bits wherever they landed like breadcrumbs being left on the path to the bathroom. Anny reached in and turned on the shower, and checked for soap and shampoo. She felt John's hands and lips on her body become more insistent as she adjusted the water's flow and temperature. His desire was driving hers upward, her breath coming quicker, the heat of passion flushing her skin and cheeks. She let John pull her under the cascading water, and they revelled in the feel of it as they kissed and fumbled for the shampoo. The room transformed into a mix of steam, soap, shampoo, cleaning, kissing, rubbing, and nibbling. Anny grasped John's soapy cock and stroked it; enjoying the husky moans she drew from him. She stroked down to the base and back up, reaching her other hand underneath to caress his balls. It gave her a little thrill of power to see the effect she had on him. Huddled Together Ch. 11 John rested one hand on the wall beside her head, as he pumped his hips forward with each stroke. The fingers of his other hand tightening on her slippery nipples, making her cry out softly. The water had softened John's work-roughened hands; the change adding to the heightened awareness Anny had of them gliding over her skin. Everywhere he stroked her, it seemed her awareness followed; and as he stroked, the arousal built between her slippery thighs. Anny's hand was trapped between them, wrapped around his throbbing shaft, as John pulled her closer. John's muscles were smooth under her other hand, but she still detected a coiled tension in them. She felt the tingle in her taut, pink nipples as they rubbed against the curly chest hair of her lover. The tingle flowed down her spine, chasing down between her cheeks as John's hands tugged them gently apart, his fingers rubbing the soap into the cleft, pressing gently at her little puckered star. Anny groaned at the sensation, and felt John's cock jerk in her hand. As he continued to rub over her cheeks, cupping underneath and separating them, Anny felt another rush of heat flow through her sex, and a curious burn reach the soles of her feet. She nipped at the brown peak of John's nipple, making his whole body jerk this time. A loud groan met her ears and she found herself being lifted. John's hands were under her thighs, wrapping her legs around him as he pressed her back up to rest against the smooth marble shower wall. ----- John couldn't hold out any further; he had to have her, now. His hands were under Anny's thighs, and he had forced her up against the wall of the shower. John could feel her body tense slightly as it came into contact with the slightly colder surface, but relax as he continued intensely kissing her neck and shoulders. John could hear Anny's breath deepen as he brought the tip of his manhood up to her waiting entrance; he paused long enough for the remaining water to flow off his member, and started lowering her body down onto his. A fulfilled sigh escaped Anny's lips as she easily welcomed him inside her. John could feel Anny's internal heat taking over from the steamy water around him. John was tired from the day's trek, but he didn't need to inspire his arms to start lifting Anny's body up and down; plunging him deeper and deeper inside her with every stroke. Anny lowered her face down to John's shoulder as she was thrust up and down in the air; nibbling here and there to encourage her lover to take her harder, faster. Her hands roamed through his hair, as her legs bounced up and down in response to his athletic fucking. Anny was breathing hard and laboured as they continued their urgent connection; John could tell she needed this as much as he did. John could feel his release approaching, and could sense that Anny's had just started; Anny's fingers gripped on so tightly into the back of his head, and into his shoulder blade. Anny's finger nails involuntarily dug in deeper into his back, her womanhood convulsing stronger and stronger around him. His body demanded release into her right now, it couldn't wait any longer; it needed to possess his love with all he had. John's legs stiffened as he dropped her down onto his thighs; burying himself into her as deep as he could go. Cum came surging out of John and ejected straight into his waiting Anny. Minutes passed as the two came down together from their highs. Eventually they began kissing lightly over each other's bodies, as their senses came back to them. Huddled Together Ch. 12 Chapter 12 -- True Coupling. ***** Note from the author: This is the second last chapter of the 'Huddled' series. A huge thank again to CaptainsSiren, a wonderful editor and co-author on this chapter. ***** Anny was still slightly dazed from having cum moments before, and also at the ferocity of their coupling. It felt so raw, so primal; she hadn't known that depth of need before. The slight, tired ache between her legs was a pleasurable one as she dried John's back with a thick, soft towel. She felt sated in one way, but restless in another. She still felt tension in his body, even after the incredible climax they just shared; but there was tiredness in him too. She turned him around to dry his front, the two smiling into each other's eyes as she completed her task. John picked up a fresh towel and reciprocated; taking his time to gently remove all drips of water from her front. He took her hand as if they were dancing, twirling her to face away from him; a slight thrill of excitement spreading in Anny's belly at the silent dance between them. John continued to dry off her back and legs when she stopped facing away from him. When his task was complete, she turned to him, tilted her face up, and rose up on her toes; kissing him softly. As Anny drew back she looked into her love's face and eyes. His constant strength was on display; but subtle nuances that only she could have picked up let her see a weary look lurking behind his strong facade. She smiled warmly at her man, and quickly scavenged through the drawers finding a fresh toothbrush and some paste. They shared the toothbrush, she went first, then he; not for a moment losing touch of each other. As she led them out of the en-suite, she considered the last several days that had pushed John to this state. He had always been strong for them all. He and Tom had rescued Anny and her friends from probable death in town. He had worked hard with Tom to provide her, Skye, and Merry with a safe home, and food to eat as they awaited the growth of the garden's long-term food supply. Then last week, Tom and Merry had been taken from them by the Walkers, brutally, in front of John's eyes. He had endured capture; rescued by chance when Mira caught up to his keepers, men she had been tracking for several days. The day Mira had come back with John, they all had been forced to run from their home, and John had again led them to safety. Now, with the destruction of their haven by the bush fire, John had led them yet again to shelter. Anny felt a single tear slip down her face, the sorrow of lost friends breaking through briefly before the pride and love she felt for this strong, caring, resourceful man flooded her heart and mind. Anny chased thoughts of the past away. She was grateful and happy to have found such a remarkable person to love her, and father her child. She resolved to bring him comfort tonight, and let him put down for a while the responsibilities he had chosen to carry without question. As they reached the edge of the large bed, Anny recalled seeing something in the bathroom that would aid her mission. Too much for their still heated bodies, they folded down the blue and white quilt, and John slid into the cool, soft sheets. Anny squeezed his hand, and with a quick, teasing smile, turned back to the en-suite bath. She retrieved the baby oil from the medicine cabinet, and the butane lighter from one of the drawers. Grabbing a hand towel, bath sheet, and the pair of old candles from the shelf near the tub, Anny headed back to the bedroom. She drew the curtains and lit the candles from the bath; as well as a few more she found in the bedroom on the dresser. The soft yellow candlelight was warmer than the moonlight, soothing in a way different than the moon's glow had been earlier. John eyes were on her, watching with appreciation as she approached him. Anny felt a small smile on her face that echoed happily in her mind at seeing his expression. Anny pushed the covers back as she climbed onto the bed. When John reached for her, she ran her hand down his arm and pushed at his shoulder. "On your stomach, love. You've had your way with me. Now, it's my turn." Anny told him with a wicked little grin. His eyebrows arched in questioning surprise, but he complied and settled himself on his stomach. Anny admired the play of muscles in John's back as he moved. Her eyes roved down over his body. She always enjoyed the sight of his tight buns under his clothes, the bare cheeks before her were testimony to the reason and she smiled even wider. Anny reached down for the bottle of oil and the towels she had discretely set on the floor beside the bed before lighting the bedside candles. She picked them up and placed the folded bath sheet on the upper corner of the bed, then shook out the hand towel and dropped it near the crook of John's elbow. Anny uncapped the bottle, poured a small palm-full into her hand to warm it, and recapped the bottle, laying it on the small towel before straddling John's body just at the base of his ass. John squirmed a bit at the tickle of her curly little patch as she settled over him. Tipping her hand slightly, Anny drizzled the baby oil from the base of John's neck down the length of his spine, zigzagging along until the oil stopped flowing. She rubbed her hands together, coating them both with the remaining oil. Laying a hand flat on each side of John's spine at the small of his back, Anny started to smooth the oil outward with slow movements, palms pressing gently into the muscles as her thumbs rubbed more deeply along the ridge of his vertebrae. She heard John sigh loudly; felt him start to relax and enjoy the feel of her hands flowing across his skin, moving upward until her fingers curled over the top of his shoulders, her hips raising off him as she went. Anny put some more oil on her hands, and used it to gently knead the tight muscles in John's shoulders. She worked her fingers up along both sides of his neck to the base of his skull, massaging the muscles into a more relaxed state. Anny could visibly see some of the tension drain from John's body as she worked his neck and shoulders. A little more oil; Anny stroked and kneaded her way down John's right arm, taking time to massage his palm and fingers before smoothing her way back up to his shoulder. Anny repeated the massage along John's left arm, to his hand, and then rubbed slowly back upward, ending with several deep, kneading movements on both shoulders. "Mmmmm..." John let out into the bed, clearly enjoying the generous attention that Anny's hands were pouring into him. He started to stir on the bed, trying to get up; "I should be the one massaging you though, love." "Relax love, you've earned this," Anny said softly, pushing one hand into the middle of his back to coax him back into the bed. John let out a satisfied groan at her demands, sinking back down. Anny leant in to lick along his ear before giving it a nibble; her firm breasts rubbing against the warm, oiled skin of John's back as she did. "Besides, I have plans to take advantage of you once you're putty in my hands," Anny whispered teasingly, then ran her tongue around his ear and along his chin before kissing him lightly on his temple. John turned his head back slightly, as if asking what she had in store for him, but quickly relaxed back into the bed. Anny sat upright again, smoothing her hands down John's back as she did; her hips settling against him. She felt the feathery movement of the short curly hair of her mound over his skin followed by the awareness of how wet she had become when her sex nestled against John's thighs. Anny rode him with a few easy rocking motions, rubbing herself along his skin, feeling the drag of her outer lips tugging her sex open and closed again. She gave a quiet groan as she pulled herself away from him and felt John's hips rise with her. Anny slapped his ass lightly and shifted herself to kneel beside him. She grasped the corner of the hand towel and dragged it, along with the oil, down the bed as she moved to John's feet. Anny pushed his feet and knees apart and knelt between his legs. She had an enticing view of John's body; muscular legs, a cute ass, and a lean waist leading up to strong shoulders and arms; all of it toned by the hard physical work of providing a life for them in their bizarre new reality. She felt her heart swell with love for the wonderful man she knew him to be, as she also felt the heat build between her thighs at the sight before her. Bending John's left leg at the knee; Anny raised his foot and massaged it with both hands, rubbing the oil from her hands into the calluses. She lowered his foot and poured another small palm-full of oil, then drizzled it up John's left leg ending near the top of his thigh. Anny worked her way up his leg just as she had his back, with smooth, slow, forceful strokes; coaxing his muscles to relax. Near the top of his thigh, she slid her hands to the outside so her left hand ran along the side; her right slid over the back and up over his cheek, pressing deeply into the muscles. Anny used the same process on John's right leg; massaging the foot, oiling and massaging up his leg, until she was raised to her hands and knees, with her left palm kneading into his cheek as her right hand massaged his hip. Once again, Anny settled back and picked up the bottle of oil, putting a smaller amount in her hand this time before closing and laying the bottle back on the small towel, then rubbed her hands together so they were generously coated and slippery. A hand's span below the curve of John's ass, Anny placed a hand on each of his thighs so that her thumbs lay on the tender inside flesh. She pushed her hands firmly upward and slightly outward as they moved over his skin causing his legs to separate farther and his cheeks to spread slightly with each stroke. Anny's thumbs slid along each side of his crease, spreading them even more exposing the tight puckered star hidden there. With a warm thought for Skye, Anny remembered John's reaction to Skye's ministrations the first night their little band had all enjoyed each other not so long ago, and decided to try it herself. Once Anny had eased John's legs far enough apart to suit her needs, she allowed her fingers to dance across his scrotum and wrapped her fingers around his balls. Her thumb moved up and started massaging his perineum. John had been quietly enjoying the massage until this point, with only an occasional sigh escaping him as Anny worked over his prone body. He was making different sounds now, and his hips started subtly grinding lower to try and get her thumb to press even harder into him. Pleased with the signs of his enjoyment, Anny continued her ball play; massaging her fingers as if she was playing a piano scale up and down. John was now shifting his torso left and right; clearly trying to get more comfortable with a growing erection pushing into the mattress. Anny's own excitement began to drip down her thighs, so she eased her play to a stop. She took a moment to enjoy the sight of his oiled skin, the sheen of oil in the candlelight giving relief to the sculpture of his form. Stretching up over John's body, she reached for the bath sheet and laid it out next to him. Anny moved from between his legs and tugged on his hip. "Time to pay a little attention to the front." Anny said with a sexy slur in her voice; tugging again. John rolled over in earnest; his back coming to rest on the towel Anny had put there so the oil wouldn't stain the sheets. As he turned, she was greeted by the fruits of her massaging labour; his thick shaft pulsed at attention as he lay there admiring Anny's naked form. Anny quickly straddled John's legs; her pubic hair just barely touching against John's waiting erection. Her breasts glistened in the candlelight; oiled from contact with his skin. Anny could see John's admiring eyes enjoying them, so she brought her arms forward and together; swishing her bountiful breasts together, her nipples peeking out the edge of where her arms were touching them. "So, you like?" she asked with a cheeky grin, fully knowing the answer. John could only nod in agreement, his mouth involuntarily opening slightly at her display; his hands moving up to her thighs and starting to massage her. Anny felt the excited tingle of being risqué with the presentation of her body, but also completely comfortable being before her man. Anny slowly traced her hands up her stomach; taking her breasts into her hands. She leant her head back and let out a sigh of contentment as she massaged her orbs; giving John a very favourable display. She flicked her nipples around in the gaps between her fingers; enjoying the stimulation as she watched John's intense gaze follow her movements. When Anny saw John lick his lips hungrily she decided to step up the seduction, and wiped her hands clean of the oil on the spare towel. She draped her hands around his cock in a gentle grasp; it jumped at the start of her touch. They locked eyes as she started long, slow strokes of his wanting cock. She continued to stroke him as she leant down over his body. They locked in kiss. Tongues dancing, John's hands started rubbing across her back. Anny moved her hands off his cock and brought them up to support her over his body; her nipples playing through his chest hair as she rubbed up and down with slight rhythm. She brought her hips forward and placed her outer lips down onto the top of his burning hot manhood; her wetness falling down around him. John groaned into her mouth as she continued rubbing her body over his front; trying to angle his hips down into the bed to allow the tip of his cock to begin in her waiting entrance. Anny smiled through the kiss as she could feel his want. John's hands felt tantalizing to Anny as they came around to caress her breasts. She let out a soft cry as his fingers gently pinched and rolled her nipples, and she felt them tighten at the attention, the feeling spreading deeply through her. Anny teased John's nipples in return, then felt her body flush in delight as he tweaked her dusky pink buds sharply, then moved his hands to milk her breasts firmly, while rubbing his thumbs over their taut peaks. Anny felt the yearning building even higher in her body as she slid John's shaft along her aching slit, pressing it against his abdomen. The sensation of John's hard manhood wrapped in its soft skin was teasing her from desire to true need. Each pass back and forth rubbed the fat edge of his shaft along her swollen clit, sending waves of heat from it through her groin, down the back of her thighs, and all the way to the soles of her feet. Anny's need to have him inside, have him fill her with his presence, overwhelmed her and she lifted her hips slowly allowing John's cock to rise upward. She eased her way up, feeling the head of his shaft glide along her wet folds until she felt its tip near her entrance. Shifting her hips slightly, Anny captured him; her breathing paused as she felt John's manhood begin to slip inside her. As she started to lower herself onto him, Anny felt the satisfying stretch of her opening as she welcomed his thickness. She felt almost high as John's cock started to fill her, driving away the empty ache coming from her loins. She focused her entire mind on the sensations of her lover easing inside her. Anny started gently rocking her hips left and right as she continued to part around John's manhood; causing her slick vaginal muscles to stretch, and tingles of delicious pleasure to spread through her groin as his hard shaft's varying angles stimulated every inch inside her. John's hands moved down her frame, followed her curves, and rested on her hips. John brought his mouth up to hers and they started soft kisses. She felt John's hips buck upwards slightly as he finished her long plunge onto him; his hands pushing down on her hips until she felt their pubic bones meet. Her juices seeped out of her onto her lover as they lay there completely coupled. A sigh escaped her lips as she luxuriated in the fullness of him inside her entirely. John's hands moved up to her back again, and started a roaming massage. Anny rolled her hips forward; their stomachs not parting, as she freed a couple of inches of John's cock from her. She slowly buried it back in however; not wanting to be parted from him for too long. John and Anny groaned into each other's mouths as she descended again; she loved the way that their feelings were reciprocated with such a strong connection. Anny pushed herself up and placed her hands on John's chest; his cock slipping slowly out of her as she lifted. When just the tip was still inside her tight, hot tunnel, she looked deep into his eyes, and sank back down onto him completely. She let out a satisfied moan as he filled her up again; before she repeated the process. They indulged in a nice, long, slow fucking. John brought his hands up to her breasts, gripping onto them firmly as at the end of every down stroke, Anny would let herself 'fall' the last inch; gravity helping bring John's cock home inside her, their thighs slapping together softly. With his cock buried completely inside her, Anny dropped her hands to either side of John. She ground her pelvis against his; her clit being delicately rubbed by the mix of their pubic hair and skin friction. Anny bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, as she felt the amalgamation of sensations taking their effect on her. She kept a constant pace rocking and shifting her hips so John's cock was pressed nicely everywhere deep inside her as she rode him. Tingles started spreading out from her sex; down her legs, up her stomach, prickling up her spine, and into her brain. Orgasm flowed through her; the muscles of her slick tunnel clenched around John's thick shaft as her hips bucked involuntarily in little wild movements. Anny's whole body trembled with the waves of warm delight, and for just a bit, she didn't even breathe. Her sex quivered around John's cock; slowly, slowly subsiding until her breath resumed with an unavoidable sigh leaving her lips. Anny fell down onto his chest, her hair scattered across his neck and shoulders. After a time, John brought his arms around Anny's back, and rolled them both over so that he was now on top of her. Anny's mind was in a warm haze from her orgasm, and she was only barely aware of being moved; but soon she could feel John moving his hands. He placed one above her shoulder, and the other nestled under her neck; his fingers entangled with the hair on the back of her head. Her attention started to regain focus as John held her like this; as he slowly withdrew from her then pushed his hips forward again, burying his manhood deep inside her with accelerating thrusts. Anny brought her hands up to his hips; wanting to feel the flexing muscles as he pressed into her. John levelled off at a decent pace, finding a rhythm that allowed their pleasure to build steadily as their bodies rocked together. Anny moved her hands up the side of John's body, over his shoulders, and gripped onto his upper arms; she loved the feeling of his muscles working deep inside as her man took her. She looked up his chest through half-lidded eyes; his hard body was completely at the task of fucking her. Anny pressed her knees outward farther, lifting her pelvis and opening herself up even more for him. She could feel John's cock delving more deeply inside her, his body rubbing harder against her stiff, sensitive little clit, sending currents of pleasure streaking through her core.. John's grunts started to change and his pace backed off slightly; he was approaching his release. Anny raised her legs up and locked them around his back; her hips moving upwards with them. As the angle of John's cock inside her changed with the movements, he could hold out no longer. Huddled Together Ch. 12 She felt him tense with orgasm; then John gave one last thrust inside her as deep as he could go. Anny could feel his cock swell and pulse strongly as he released his seed into her and she crashed over the edge into her own bliss; her legs drawing him even deeper, her sex milking his pulsing shaft. Coming down from her high yet again, Anny could feel the muscles in John's back, still taut with his release, begin to relax. John eventually leant his head down to bury his face in her neck. Anny felt the gentle pump of his hips in her thighs as John's cock gave out the last pulses of his release; one every couple of seconds or so now. They were both still out of breath; Anny breathed heavily into the nape of John's neck, and she could feel John's breath hitting the sheet of the bed and warming the side of her neck. She could feel that John was still holding himself up slightly, obviously not wanting to crush her with his full weight. They stayed like that, gently swapping kisses, as their heart rates came back down to normal. They didn't move from that position for the longest time; except for John's cock slowly starting to relax inside her. Anny could feel warm cum starting to drip out of her, down her ass, and onto the bed as he shrunk. "I love you." whispered into her ear. "I love you." was whispered back. ----- It was the middle of the night as John's eyes snapped awake to a loud 'thud'. He pulled his arm out from underneath Anny, quickly stood up, and grabbed his gun. In only his boxers, he stood with his head next to the door to try and hear more. Another 'thud' from across the hall entered his ear. "Joh... John?" Anny called out as she woke enough to realise that he was out of bed and at ready with his gun. "Shh!" John put a finger up to his lips to silence her. "Stay here." Anny nodded back, as John changed his focus and turned the handle, easing the door open. The dark hallway greeted his eyes with just enough light coming in from the main room to let him know that they were both empty. Another quieter thud came from Skye and Mira's room. Fear filled John's stomach as he raced up to their door and tried the handle - it wouldn't open. John took a step back and slammed his shoulder into the door with all his might. The door surrendered to his assault and flew open. John quickly recovered from his dramatic entry into the room and raised his gun. Mira was on the floor, restrained by duct tape around her hands and feet; her mouth taped also so that she couldn't make any noise. A small trail of blood coming down from her hair line let John know that she had been attacked. On the bed was Skye, crying out against the duct tape across her mouth, her arms and one leg had been tied to the bed posts; with Damian working on restraining her last leg to the post. He scrambled to stand up as John had entered the room. "Now, John..." Damian started, as he moved one hand behind his back as subtly as he could. John noticed however, moved the aim of his gun to Damian's face, and pulled the trigger. Huddled Together Ch. 13 Chapter 13 – No Question. ***** Note from the author: This is the final chapter of the Huddled Together series. It is with great sadness that it comes to an end... I would really appreciate feedback if you have enjoyed this story. A huge thank you to all the editors that worked with me. ***** Damian had waited until Mira went to the bathroom during the night to sneak into their room, and attacked her as she came back in. After everyone had recovered from the ordeal, they pulled the mattress from Damian's room and put on the floor in John and Anny's room against the door. The three women slept together on the main bed to comfort each other, while John slept with his gun at the ready on the mattress on the floor. They needed to get what sleep they could; it was too dangerous to leave the house before sunrise. John had no qualms about what he had done to Damian; he slept well for the rest of the night. At daybreak they looked out the windows for Walker activity, but it seemed that the gunshot had rung out through the valley enough that they hadn't honed in on where it came from. Gathering their belongings, the group began the next stage of their journey. ----- The scorching sun was heading into the cloudless afternoon sky as the group reached the outskirts of Laurieton; it made John wonder if this summer would ever end. They had left Kendall at sun up, killed a few Walkers here and there, and managed to sneak around the small town of Kew uneventfully. It was only the beginning of the afternoon, so they had made Laurieton in good time. They had decided that they would take a vessel and aim to sail to Lord Howe Island, an Australian island about 600km directly to the east of the mainland. It would be a dangerous journey; none of them had tried to sail and navigate open water like that before, but they lived in hope that if they made it, the island hadn't been touched by the zombie plague. As the women drank and freshened up by the river in the shade, John laid in a ditch on the side the road that led into town. He was scouting Laurieton's main street where there were a lot of Walkers meandering around freely, eventually he backed down off the road to join the others down by the river. "Well, there are far too many of them to try and sneak through town." He informed the group. They sat in silence as they rested from their morning walk, contemplating how they could get to the marina on the other side of town. John's gaze followed Anny's fingers in his hand, up her arm, and was caught by the droopy leaves of a nearby gum tree. The leaves were gently dipping in and out of the river, pushed by a gentle breeze. His gaze continued up along the grey bark branches, and down the trunk into the yard of a house that backed onto the river. It was there that he noticed a small tinny sitting in the backyard. He looked back to the river, registering that it was on its way out to the ocean, flowing straight past town... ----- Hiding under blankets and tarps, the group floated gently down the river in their commandeered vessel. John was steering at the back of the boat with one of the paddles, while Mira was at the front peering out to see where they were heading. Mira would whisper needed changes in direction to Skye, who would pass the message to Anny, who would pass it to John. It was a quiet and effective Chinese whispers way of getting past the town without attracting the attention of the Walkers. The marina was 100 meters down the hill below the main street, so they decided to try and land between some of the boats that were moored there to help disguise their presence. As they approached the cover of the boats, John stuck his head out just far enough so that he could navigate their vessel to a safe spot. The tide quickly pushed them too far to the left for John to correct in time, and they landed beside a large fishing trawler with a loud 'bang' resounding from its metal hull. Everyone held their breath. John popped his head up to see if any Walkers had noticed their loud landing. He couldn't see any, and after a few minutes he whispered towards the front of the boat, "Ok Mira, you're up." He pulled his gun out to cover Mira as she climbed out of the front of the boat and pulled herself up onto the dock. After a minute, she whispered back down to them that the coast was clear. They all climbed out of the boat and crouched down behind some dumpsters for cover. John looked over the boats that were still in the marina. Only one would be suitable for a voyage out for them all. It was a white yacht about 40 feet long with a large sail; the others were too small to live on for any length of time. "Does anyone have any experience with boats like this?" John whispered out to the group, pointing to his selection. "I do," nodded Skye. "My parents used to take us sailing on smaller ones on the lakes when we were kids. I should be able to get us going at least." John took another look around for Walkers, and then motioned for everyone to follow him to the boat. They climbed aboard and headed down below to check it over and decide what to do next. They checked the cabinets for supplies. The cupboards were bare, but the gas tank was half full (John was forever the optimist). "We definitely need more supplies before heading out to sea, some fishing gear, and some more food if we want to live out there for any length of time." Mira announced. "There's a supermarket in the middle of town." Skye said, "And a fishing supply shop at this end." It sounded like a good plan, but with daylight heading on they would need to split up into two groups to get the supplies fast enough. They needed the light to navigate out of the river and into the sea safely. John reluctantly divided the group up for their tasks. Skye would stay with the boat to recover as much fuel as possible from the other vessels and prepare their boat for travel. Anny had spent her childhood learning to fish from her dad, so she and Mira would head to the fishing store to get what they needed. John would check out the supermarket in hopes of gathering up as many supplies as he could carry out. They all had their missions. They all dropped their backpacks in the galley; John emptied his so that he could bring more goods back. Then they all prepared their weapons. It tore at John's heart to separate from Anny, but it was for the good of the group; they needed to move quickly at their tasks. As they headed for the door, John pulled Anny towards him by her arm. Their arms wrapped around each other with urgency; their eyes locked as John looked down deeply into his love's soul. He moved his hand up and caressed the side of her face; his other moved to the small of her back, bringing her body closer. They kissed, softly at first, then passionately, a declaration of their love for one another. Eventually, John forced himself to break their clinch, and get moving; Anny leaving a lingering tingle on his lips, and deep in his heart. They headed back onto the dock and checked the coast was still clear. Mira and Anny headed to the left, up the wide road that led up to town; while John headed up the other side. John kept stealing glances over to Anny and Mira as they sneaked up either side of the road; his heart aching again as he came to the alley he needed to head down. He glanced back over his shoulder as he started down the alley; and then forced himself to pay full attention to the task at hand. He crept along behind the shops, and was relieved to see that the alley was empty of Walkers. He raced along the alley until he came to a wide loading dock; figuring that this must be the supermarket back entry. He checked the side door, but it was locked. Looking around, he noticed that the shop next door had a fire escape ladder that went up onto its roof. He decided he should be able to climb up it and jump across to the roof of the supermarket. He set to his task. When he was not even half way up the ladder he heard it; BOOM. The sound of a gunshot burnt through the air. The hairs on the back of his neck instantly rose up; his heart started racing. He dropped to the ground in one jump, and ran back down the alley as fast as he could, his gun ready in his hand. A scream came floating on the air; it was Anny. BOOM. BOOM. Two more shots. Fuck! Something had gone very wrong. ----- John got back to the road where he had seen Anny and Mira disappear. He saw Anny come running back into sight from behind a building. She was closer to the main street than he was, and a large group of Walkers were starting to slowly pour down the hill after her. "JOHN!" She screamed out in terror, as she ran towards him. "COME ON ANNY!!!" John screamed out. John started running up the hill towards her, the screams of the undead filling the hot summer air. John raised his gun and shot the closest couple of Walkers to Anny, the downed bodies seemed to not even affect the bulk of the line approaching them. As Anny reached him, John ordered her to get back to the boat; pushing her with one hand to start her down the hill. Anny nodded through her tears, and continued down the hill behind him. John turned and picked off a few more of the closer Walkers before turning to run after her. Anny was 50 meters in front of him as they ran back down towards the marina. John's heart filled with utter terror as he saw Walkers coming out onto the path that ran across the front of the marina; they were about to be cut off from their escape to the boat. His mind quickly raced to determine how many bullets he had left in his two guns. The moaning cries of the Walkers were interrupted by the sound of a boat engine. He could see Skye starting to reverse the boat to the end of the jetty, obviously getting it ready for a quick escape when they arrived. Anny kept running towards the boat; John could see however that the Walkers closing on each side of her would reach her before she got to safety. John quickly realised that he could only do one thing to save her - a choice he didn't even think to question. He would stand his ground, and pick off enough Walkers to ensure Anny could make it back to the boat safely. With his ears filled with murderous screams, and his resolute heart filled with love; John stopped running, parted his legs into a stable base, raised his gun up with both hands, and let out a calm exhale. BOOM. BOOM. He quickly dropped the two Walkers closest to Anny. She screamed as their heads exploded, their bodies falling to the ground around her. He finished off the rounds of his first gun into Walkers, discarded it, and pulled out his last weapon. He took his time with the remainder of the Walkers that were aiming for his love. He didn't bother with the ones that had decided to start up the hill towards him. He fired off the contents of his gun until he heard the 'click' of its empty chamber. "Shit!" was all he could think as he heard that sound; but his mind was quickly comforted by the sight that no Walkers were now following his love. John jumped up and down while waving his arms, trying to make sure all the Walkers focused on him. He yelled out at the top of his lungs, "KEEP GOING ANNY!" He could see her quickly turn her head as she ran, and realise that no more Walkers were chasing her. She paused as she saw that there were still plenty aiming for John. Her eyes filled with tears as she realised what he had done. John stopped jumping around to look at his true love. She let out an involuntary scream through her tears; "JOHN!" John gave her a reassuring smile, as he yelled out his last demand of her, "GET TO THE BOAT, ANNY!" He paused as he choked on the fact that the following would be the last time he would say this to her; "I LOVE YOU!" Skye had run up to Anny, and was now pulling her back along the dock. John could see Skye struggling to make her move to the waiting boat. He could hear Anny sobbing; "No, no, no..." before she broke out into even louder sobs as she finally relented, and through her tears she cried out loudly; "I love you, John!" Skye pushed her onto the boat, where Anny dropped to her knees as she reached out to her love over the handrail. John heard the throttle being pushed wide open as they headed off. John looked down momentarily at the Walkers in front of him; they were impenetrable and almost upon him now. He looked back up to Anny weeping on the deck of the boat. His heart filled with an eternal longing he knew would never be filled. He knew he would never again feel her touch... never run his fingers through her hair... never again wrap her up in his arms... Hands grabbed John from behind, pulling him down. A smile spread across his face. He had done it. She was safe.