It was well into the small hours of the morning before the truck came to a stop. Kas was too exhausted to carry on driving. Jay thought about taking over from him, but instead decided on everyone resting up. They happened across a large house on a hill about a mile away from a sizeable town. Jay figured the house would be a good base to rest up to then go and explore the town the next morning.

Gratefully, everyone piled out of the back of the truck. Jay’s men led the way into the house to ensure there weren’t any undead surprises lurking about. Satisfied it was clean, everyone filtered in and found a place to rest.

There were a host of bedrooms, so most people had a proper bed to sleep in. Failing that, there were couches. Nobody was wanting for a place to rest.

Ryan and Georgina made no secret of the fact that they wanted a room of their own. There were no questions or complaint from anyone; It was more or less an accepted fact that the pair were a couple in all but title.

They both refreshed a little after the long and humid journey, sharing a bottle of water and a snack.

“How was the journey for you?” Ryan asked.

“Bumpy and boring. As much as I love the docs, they’re not the most interesting company!”

Ryan grinned. “I guess it must be hell when you’re surrounded by boffins and your specialist subjects are shoes and makeup.”

“I know right? I want to talk about making the body beautiful, not performing experiments on it,” she joked back.

He looked at her affectionately. “A beautiful body is something you’ve never had to worry about.”

Georgina gazed at him for several seconds, her chest swelling as it had in the hotel room. She rushed to him and almost bowled him over as she began frantically kissing him with passion.

Ryan had no intention of holding back either. It was reminiscent of the first time they’d ever met and the lust was so intense it was almost physically visible.

They undressed one another and came down on the bed. The next few hours were spent doing everything they could think of and neither one of them were dissatisfied by it.

---

Georgina lay with her head resting on Ryan’s chest and looked at him admiringly.

Ryan was aware that she was staring at him. “Give over. You’re making me feel self-conscious,” he teased.

“You’ve never felt self-conscious a day in your life!”

“I resent the implication. Everyone knows I’m the shy, retiring type.”

She decided to shut Ryan’s teasing up with a kiss and reached up to do so. She then rested her ocean-blue eyes on his and smiled. He’d never looked more perfect to her than he did right then. “I love you Ryan.”

He smiled. “I love you too babe.”

“I don’t want to think any more about what happened between us in the past; all that matters is right here, right now. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this apocalypse has brought the best out in you. The man you’ve become is the man I always knew lived inside you somewhere. Thank you for introducing him to me.”

He thought about his musings in the truck earlier and felt a pang of remorse. He knew he’d happily kill everyone in that house if it ensured his survival, perhaps even her, though he’d at least feel a little guilty about the latter. “You’re welcome. Things will be different from now on. I’m going to take care of you no matter what it takes.”

“I believe you, and you know I’ll always be there to fight for you too.”

“That’s what people do when they love one another. It’s us against this whole goddamned world!”

“True, although let’s not forget the people with us.”

“They have their purpose to serve—for now! Eventually, we’ll have to look at spreading our wings.”

She moved away from Ryan slightly and looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Why would we need to spread our wings?”

“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’?”

“I have, but what reason would we have to feel any contempt towards those guys? Jay and his team are hardened soldiers; the others are medical geniuses who could be on their way to creating a vaccine for New Black Plague. I think we’ve got the perfect people around us to be honest. It would be much wiser to keep them close than drift away from them just because there might be a few personality clashes from time to time.”

“That’s one of the things I love about you, George. You always see the best in people. I’m a little more cynical than you. I know what bastards people can be if things don’t quite go their way. Take Mel for example. Jay as well; just last week he flung me halfway across the room because I disagreed with something he said. There’ll always be people on a power trip and we have to be careful not to get suckered in by more grand plans for fame and power.”

“Jay went for you?”

“He was angry at me for getting drunk with you the night before.”

“I can appreciate that; it’s no excuse for him to get violent though”

“It’s not a problem now. We’ve sorted it. That doesn’t mean something similar won’t happen again if I don’t stay a good little boy and do as I’m told. We’ve seen what doing as I’m told can do; me and Kas almost died the other day. Keith did die. For what? Another big plan gone wrong! It’s becoming a recurring theme for self-appointed leaders.”

“What can we do about it though?”

“Perhaps it’d take for somebody impartial and without an agenda to assume control.”

Georgina smirked. “You mean yourself?”

“I don’t think I could do any worse than those we’ve been under so far.”

“I probably wouldn’t go pushing your agenda just yet. Everyone here likes and trusts Jay. You’ve got to be diplomatic about it.”

“Diplomacy is my middle name.” He sat up suddenly and began to kiss Georgina. He then pulled her down and positioned himself on top of her. “Enough talk. Tonight is about us!”

TO BE CONTINUED

Check out chapter twelve now!