Probably not.
Don’t think like that.Don’t think at all.
Yes, a glass of wine would do her good. She pulled the earbuds away and frowned. Was that a sound at her door? Something…something there just as she removed the earbuds. More an echo of a sound than a sound itself.
Was she crazy?
It couldn’t be an infected. The infected didn’t make soft noises. They bellowed and staggered and crashed into things.
She walked slowly to her door, pushing at the items she’d placed near the threshold. Studying the infected from the window, it seemed to her that their eyesight diminished but their olfactory sense was amped up. A couple of times she’d observed an infected stop, nose up in the air to sniff, then take off in another direction.
Just as a precaution, in case the infected had a new ability in their sick heads to smell the uninfected, she’d placed scented candles and potpourri around her door and had sacrificed half a bottle of Miss Dior around the frame. Maybe it was that, maybe it was the whim of the gods, but so far no infected had beat at her door, the way she’d heard them beating at other doors on her floor and downstairs.
Suddenly, there was the softest of sounds, a gentle rap-rap-rap. Someoneknocking!An infected could never knock, they’d just beat themselves bloody against the door. Heart pounding, Sophie rushed to the door, tapped out the security code to unlock it just as she heard a deep male voice saying, “Dr. Sophie Daniels?” There was another sound now, a deep bellow, the sound of a heavy body crashing against something.
Oh God, an infected!
The monitor came to life. Most of the wall sconces had been ripped away but a couple still functioned. There was a little bit of light, enough to show a tall man outside her door. Very tall.Too tall for her monitor. She could see a strong chin with blond stubble and not much more. He brought his mouth close to the intercom at the monitor. “Dr. Daniels? I’m Jon, Elle said?—”
Jon!Oh God, not dead! Alive, right outside her door!
On the monitor, his head swiveled to the right. There was another bellow, pounding footsteps…
Sophie pulled the door open, yanked the man in, falling backward. A ton of man fell right on top of her. He kicked out and slammed her door shut. It automatically locked just as the thuds of an infected’s fists could be felt as well as heard. From what she’d seen on the street, the infected could beat themselves to death against doors and walls, like the bonobos. Butting their heads, banging fists and feet until they broke bones and teeth. It was terrifying to see.
One of the infected seemed to be doing just that. Massive thuds and terrifying screams, sounds no human should ever make, filtered through the heavy door. Vibrations carried through the floor, though arguably Sophie was the only one feeling it. Jon was on top of her and the only thing he was feeling was her.
Another massive thud, two, and the infected sped off, screaming. Presumably he’d seen another victim.
Sophie let out her breath in a rush, realizing that the danger was over. She shuddered. It had been such a close call. When she’d pulled Jon in, the infected monster was reaching out and had almost touched Jon’s shoulder. The man who was lying on top of her was heavy with muscle, visibly strong, but infecteds didn’t fight fairly. One bite and Jon would be gone.
So he was here on top of her by a split second miracle.
Breathing andalive.
All those hours staring out at the window at the world ending, wondering where Jon could be—and here he was.
A living, breathing ray of hope in a world where hope had fled.
She could feel her body pulse with hope, could feel the blood rushing to her face.
“Jon,” she breathed, tears springing to her eyes. “You made it!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder to hide the tears.
It was no time for tears. Tears were weakness and weakness killed.
His body was stiff for a second, the tension of battle. The tension left him in a rush. He relaxed his body and hugged her back.
The world was burning outside her door but inside her apartment, right now, for just a second, there was life and hope as she and Jon held on to each other desperately.
Oh God, he was so big, so strong. The strongest man she’d ever touched, ever seen. She was touching something hard, resistant. It was only when he tapped something on his forearm and hard panels fell away with a thunk that she realized she was feeling body armor.
But—even after the body armor fell away, he was still seemingly just as hard, muscles thick and unyielding. Her arms couldn’t meet around his enormously broad shoulders. He was wearing some kind of slick flight suit that did nothing to hide the muscles underneath. Every inch of him was huge, hard as steel.
Something else was huge and hard, too.
He’d fallen backwards, but had flipped in midair onto her. In the twisting, turning movements, somehow she’d opened her legs and he was now lying on her in the most intimate fashion possible, mouth to mouth, breasts to chest, hip to hip. If they hadn’t had clothes on, they’d be making love because he had the biggest erection she’d ever felt.
That flight suit was probably for protection and might even be made of Balist, a new ballistic material she’d read about that could withstand bullets. But it was thin and underneath he couldn’t be wearing much because she could feel every hard, muscled inch of him and could especially feel that steely erection. All of it.
