The Weak and The Damned Read online

  "Were you traveling alone?" William asked the question sharply and the woman jumped slightly at the change in his tone. Not waiting for an answer William rose to his feet, strode rapidly across the bedroom, and grabbed a small two-way radio that was sitting on a night stand.

  "Pull in all of the scouts and double the guards at all entry points." William issued the commands sharply while staring suspiciously at the woman. After his orders were confirmed William returned to his seat and studied the woman through narrowed eyes.

  She looked uncomfortable and began glancing around the room wildly, as though she wanted to escape. William felt the beginnings of a warm flush creeping over his body. In spite of his misgivings, he found her growing fear exciting.

  Walking towards her William spoke again in his original calm, collected, tone. "Who are you traveling with?" William was positive that she was part of a group of survivors. Based on her appearance he was sure it was an extremely well-organized group.

  He was sure that keeping the scouts safe from capture and having a larger presence at the gates would discourage an attack, but William still wanted to find out more about the woman's plans.

  "I'm alone. The last people I traveled with, a couple, died over a week ago in a motorcycle accident." Her voice broke slightly at the memory and for a moment William sympathized with her.

  He'd lost his own share of men to vehicle-related accidents, but he had also lost quite a few to ambushes planned by other survivors.

  "I find that extremely hard to believe." William stood directly in front of the woman now using his superior height and muscular body to intimidate her. As expected, the woman took an instinctive step back.

  Smiling grimly to himself William felt his body becoming aroused by her fear and show of weakness. Reaching out swiftly he grabbed a handful of the woman's thick, lustrous hair and pulled her against him.

  Forcing her head back, William bent and kissed her, long and deep, ignoring her struggles. He found the taste of her intoxicating, and his feelings of unease vanished as his need for her body began to overwhelm him.

  William usually preferred to take his time, to revel in the fear and rage of his victims, but this time he was caught in the grips of a passion so strong he could not control himself. His mind was full of the woman, her scent, her taste, and he felt as though he would explode if he did not take her immediately.

  Dimly he was aware of the woman's struggles and her words. He heard her begging for a chance to explain and her cries warning him that something horrible would happen if he didn't stop.

  It was his plan to stop and interrogate her, but William found himself unable to think about anything other than taking her. His mouth traveled over her neck as his hands began ripping away her clothing.

  At some point she scratched his shoulders, and William was distantly aware of the pain. He half dragged and carried the woman to the room’s large bed, forgetting all of his plans, his fears, and his worries.

  Soon her clothes were ripped away and William could hear himself laughing as he unbuttoned his pants with one hand freeing his erection.

  The woman was still fighting, still crying, still warning him that he would regret this. William brutally kicked her thighs apart and knelt between her splayed legs.

  For a moment, he stopped and looked down into her tear streaked face, savouring the moment. Then, with all of the force he could summon, William slammed himself into her.

  The instant William entered her he felt himself carried away on a wave of pleasure so intense he cried out with pleasure. Something he never did so quickly in a sexual encounter.

  The sounds of the woman's screams of rage and pain faded away, and all he could hear was the distant sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

  Vaguely he was aware of his body continuing to move against her as he thrust reflexively into her body. The orgasm that came upon him was almost a shock, dragging him back to the bedroom as his life force drained into her with a feeling of deep, gratifying, pleasure.

  William rolled off of her and collapsed onto the bed feeling an exhaustion so complete that he could barely move. He lay sprawled on the bed with his head turned to face the large windows with their view of the beach.

  William could not remember the last time sex had felt so completely satisfying. He knew he should get up and have his guards take the woman away.

  The rifle was still in his closet and now she had good cause to use it, but for some reason William could not move. All William could do was stare at the beach and, with a sense of alarm, William realized that he was falling asleep.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Captain William M. Lawson awoke to the sight of the woman, fully dressed, leaning over him. She'd replaced her torn clothes with an outfit William vaguely recognized as belonging to Angel. Realizing that the woman would have entered the closet to get the outfit, William tried to stand fully expecting her to lift the rifle into view at any moment.

  Instead of moving at his command William's body only twitched spasmodically.

  Horrified, William tried to turn his head and realized he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't feel the bed beneath him or the weight of his own limbs.

  Seeing the dawning realization in his eyes, the woman smiled. Her smile was cold and her tear swollen eyes were as flat and dead as any serpents.

  She sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and regarded the prone, and plainly terrified, William coolly. "Everyone thinks that the virus either kills you or brings you back dead and hunger." Her smile turned bitter "They are wrong. Sometimes it makes you sick, and you get better, but you are just a little bit different."

  William tried to move his body away from her, but it refused to respond to his desperate internal commands. Ignoring his twitching body, the woman continued talking in the conversational tone that one would use when discussing the weather with a stranger.

  "Before today I thought losing the last of my friends in that stupid accident was the worst thing that could happen to me." She laughed, and the sound of her laughter chilled William's soul. "Today you showed me that I was wrong."

  She stood up abruptly and William could hear her walking around the room. The sounds of rustling paper reached him and he realized she was going through the maps.

  "This happened once before." Williams' heart was hammering now, he could hear the pounding and it almost drowned out the sound of her voice. "It was a guy I kind of liked, but after we had sex he ended up just like you.

  That is why I tried to stop you." William heard the window open and smelled the salt breeze and heard the crashing waves.

  "I wanted to help you, help everyone here." She was looming over him again, her eyes sparkling and venomous. "Get up and get dressed now!"

  The words were hissed into his face and, to his astonishment, William found himself standing and dressing more rapidly than he would have thought possible.

  While he dressed the woman sat in the chair he had occupied a million years ago. She absently toyed with his two-way radio and gazed at him thoughtfully.

  "Not everything you've done here is bad," She admitted reluctantly "you've organized things nicely and I am sure once the bad elements are gotten rid of the ones who are left will be able to help me rebuild."

  William stood in the middle of the room staring at the woman blankly. She threw the two-way radio to William and he caught it reflexively.

  "You have several orders to give and then you will take me to where you keep the other women.

  When the dead things I've called arrive here I want to be sure that all of your victims are kept safe." As the meaning of her words sunk in William wished himself dead and her dead with him.

  He looked past her and out of the window. He thought he could see something, or several somethings, coming out of the surf. William suddenly realized why the scouts had stopped encountering the undead.

  Somehow this woman could control the dead things, as thoroughly as she was now controlling him. At her silent order
, he found himself raising the two-way radio to his mouth. The last thing he thought of before he began issuing the commands that would doom his men was Angel's pale, tear-stained, face as she stared at the slowly dying body of her lover.

  End