Zombie
Author
Rowan Cody
Reads
15.3K
Chapters
47
Rayna Lincoln was only eight years old when the zombie outbreak shattered the world she knew. Now grown, she survives in a grim new reality where cities are sealed off and ruled by the infected, and stepping into their streets is a death sentence. With no family left, Rayna grows up in the camps outside the cities, where survival comes at a brutal cost and soldiers treat her as little more than a plaything. When she finally loses faith in humanity, an unlikely savior offers her refuge. But safety is never free in a broken world. Has Rayna truly found a haven—or is she being held for a far darker fate?
Chapter 1: The Zombie Gene
RAYNA
I knew I couldn’t hide from the soldiers for much longer. Davis was on patrol tonight, and he made it his life’s mission to find me almost every single night he worked. I wondered if this would have been different if my parents had survived the plague.
I had grown up in a fairly well-to-do family. My mother had been a nurse at the local hospital, and my father had been a very well-known, well-respected lawyer. Yet none of that could save me when the shit hit the fan.
People argue about where the plague originated. Some blame the military, some the government, others swear it was aliens. Whoever was responsible, they hit fast. Several large cities around the world experienced the first attacks at exactly the same time.
The press had called them zombies, although they were nothing like what the word zombie made you think. The infected were superhuman, able to withstand major trauma. They had an insanely exorbitant amount of pent-up rage that seemed to take over everything else, yet they were calculated about their attacks.
There was no moaning. No walking slowly.
They could communicate and run faster than an average human. My mother had called them the elite.
The military had managed to block them off, keeping them contained in the cities, but not before thousands upon thousands of lives were lost. My parents had been among those lost. Mom had been the first to go. She had simply gone to work during the first couple of weeks of the outbreak and never returned.
We found out through a news station broadcast that the hospital she worked at had been overrun. My father had died right before we had made it to the border. I sometimes wondered if he had turned and was still roaming inside the gates. Did he have any memory of me?
The zombies seemed to forget everything that had ever mattered to them after they turned. The infected fed on flesh, but now isolated in the cities, they still seemed to thrive. The authorities couldn’t figure it out but were too afraid to open the gates and go in to see what was happening.
I knew people snuck into the city all the time. Sometimes they made it out, but most of the time they didn’t. The ones that did claimed the zombies had formed a civilization and were living by their own set of rules.
“You haven’t seen Lincoln, have you?” Davis asked.
I hunkered down between the flats of water I was hiding behind. I wasn’t ready to face Davis again. Not after the last time. He was becoming rougher and rougher each time he forced himself onto me. I felt the humiliation wash over me as I closed my eyes.
I had been nothing more than an object to these soldiers.
Unfortunately, some of the soldiers seemed to thrive off taking advantage of the weaker ones. I had avoided being the center of attention until I turned sixteen. The minute Davis had set his greedy eyes on me, I was as good as toast.
You learned very early in the camps that you obeyed the soldiers or they found a reason to get rid of you. Over the years, I had seen it too many times to count. I was beginning to think I’d rather be thrown to the zombies than have to suffer another round with Davis.
He had been forcing himself on me for the last five years. While I prayed that he’d find someone else to force himself upon, I also knew if he was with me, the younger girls in the camp were safe. Or at least that was my hope.
I listened to the steps fade off into the distance before I finally allowed myself to breathe again as I closed my eyes. To me, Davis was no better than the zombies on the other side of the fence. At least they would just kill you and get it over with.
Davis would use me until I had nothing left to give. There were others, but Davis was the worst.
For a while, a nice sergeant, Andrews, was stationed here. While he took me to his tent, he didn’t force himself on me the way Davis did. At least with Andrews I had a soft cot to lie on, and he didn’t spit on me when he was done. Davis had left me alone for the most part when Andrews took an interest in me.
The minute Andrews left, Davis picked things right back up, only worse. Some of the older women had told me I should be grateful that Davis had taken such an interest in me. That maybe he would get me pregnant and take me away from here. I wasn’t naive enough to believe that.
In fact, I had been using what little money I had to buy outdated birth control. So far, it was still working, but I hated to think I would ever bring a child into this world from rape.
The girls who got pregnant here in the camps either went missing or had their children taken from them at birth. While the outside world still pretended to be normal, the camps lived by their own rules.
At first, the camps were a good idea. The ones who had no homes to go back to, the ones who had no money, they were allowed to stay in the camps. You had to work for your keep, but it was somewhere safe to go. The camps weren’t supposed to be a permanent home.
It was too close to the city, too close to the zombies, but no one had ever come to rescue us. Resources were growing smaller all the time. Some other countries didn’t fare as well as America. One country overseas had bombed all its major cities and ended up wiping itself out in the process.
I knew I would have to go back to my tent sooner or later as I peeked my head out from my hiding spot. Davis would punish me and accuse me of sneaking into the city if he didn’t find me soon. Why was he working tonight? He should have the next two weeks off.
There was a chance if I made it to my tent, he would leave me alone. There were more people who might see what he was doing. Not all the guards were bad, although none had ever stopped him from raping me if they happened upon us.
I took a deep breath as I stood up, stepping out into the cool night. If I could just get to my tent, I would be fine. Seeing my tent, I quickened my pace. I let out a breath as I walked through the flaps. I had made it.
That relief was short-lived. I jumped as I felt his grip on my arm not even two steps into the tent.
“Were you hiding from me, Lincoln?”
I pulled a bottle of water out of my pocket as I shook my head. “No, sir, I was just getting some water. I missed dinner.”
It was true I had missed dinner, but I also knew he could easily punish me for stealing water. I squeezed my eyes shut as one hand gripped my arm tighter and his other moved, ripping my shirt open, sending buttons flying.
“You haven’t learned your lesson yet, have you, Rayna?”
I hit my knees as I cried out, knowing what he wanted. I still had bruises from our last encounter, so I didn’t even try to fight him.
Instead, I sat up on my knees and unbuttoned his trousers, pulling his hardened length out and licking the tip. His hand sank into my hair, gripping it tight.
“That’s it, you little whore. Show me what that mouth can do.”
I hated him. I hated every single thing about him, but this was better than getting another beating. At least this way he would take it easier on me. If I was lucky, he would be satisfied with a simple blowjob.
I concentrated on him as I used my hand to pump his length. As he came closer, he began thrusting his hips into me, gagging me with each forceful thrust forward.
When he pulled from me suddenly, I knew what he wanted, so I automatically opened my mouth, letting him spray his seed all over my face and into my mouth.
“Fucking whore,” he spat, zipping his now flaccid dick back in his pants.
I opened my eyes, watching him walk off. Tonight I was lucky. I rarely ever got off this easily.
Walking to the flaps of my tent, I pulled them down, tying them shut. Pulling my clothes off, I walked over to the washbasin in the corner to wash his semen off my face. I felt filthy, but no amount of soap and water would ever be able to wash him off me.
Once I had changed clothes, I lay on my cot, staring up at the roof of my tent. I wished the lights could be turned off every once in a while. There weren’t many dark spaces, and my tent was right under one of the light poles.
Rolling to my side, I pulled the covers up over my face. Why did zombies have to turn out to be real? Why couldn’t the knights who rescued fair maidens be real?
Sighing, I knew that in this dark fairytale I was nothing more than an object to be used.