Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness Ch.37
Title: Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness
By: Pink Rabbit Productions
Chapter: 37
Date: 25 October, 2010
Rating: R (for sex and violence)
Disclaimer: Hmmm, characters, not mine, situation, mine, though with the proviso that certain scenarios owe a major debt of gratitude to George Romero. Sex? Likely. Genders involved? Likely all female (at least anything on camera). Also there are likely to be very bad things in this story. I'm not one for prodigious amounts of gore, but this is horror and there is likely to be ickiness and things that might disturb some folks. Seriously. If it's gonna bother you, move along.
Summary: When the dead rise, civilization falls.
Author's Notes: Awhile back, just for fun, I did a faux movie poster that set Otalia in a horror setting and used some elements from an idea I've had running around for ages (what can I say---it was the Halloween season). See the poster here: http://altfic.com/artgallery/otalia/glafterworld01b.htm . Sooo, at some point, it seemed like fun to take a gander at writing them in that universe. I've quite deliberately tried to break away from my usual style and make it a bit faster moving, with frequent chapter breaks, deliberate cliffhangers, shorter scenes and more directed pov. We'll see if I can keep to one pov per chapter (well, they are short chapters...lol).
Dedicated to: My mom. Seriously. All of my growing up years, she would constantly throw me these what-if scenarios and press me to figure out logical ways to survive/get out of various emergency situations. Now, she never mentioned the zombie apocalypse, but I'm sure that was just an oversight or a desire not to scare a little kid (because, really, I grew up as the daughter of a top secret type during the cold war...I already had enough fear issues), but really, that odd little game was the genesis of...well...not just this story, but a lot of my love of writing. So, thanks mom.
Previous Chapters: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34 | Chapter 35 | Chapter 36 |
Author's Note: Some real life stuff going on at the moment. Hopefully all will go well, but some stress and things to take care of, so if I don't reply as often as I have been, all comments are still much appreciated, I'm just focusing whatever extra energy and time I have on writing (of course, I may become a chatty cathy too...who knows).
Afterworld:
Into the Arms of Darkness
Chapter 37
Friend.
Natalia repeated the word in her head as she settled into the couch, her body sore and exhausted. The strangest part was that, in spite of everything, she was sincere. Maybe it was just because they'd been caught together in such desperate straits, but she trusted the other woman in a way she hadn't trusted anyone in a long time. There was a drive to protect her and make sure that nothing ever harmed her again. Why else would she be lying there, their contrasting body temperatures leaving her feeling as though she was trapped in a sauna, but at the same time, like she was right where she belonged?
If she was honest, it was mostly because she couldn't imagine being anywhere else if Olivia needed her.
If anyone had told her that such a horrid beginning could end up where it had, she would have laughed at them.
If there was anyone left to laugh at.
As their hands separated, Olivia sank into the couch cushions with a soft sigh and Natalia pushed up on one elbow to stare down at the other woman, carefully studying shadowed features. Her bone structure, like her body, was lush and elegant: full lips, aquiline nose, strong jaw, high cheekbones, steeply arched brows. Not an easy face, but rather one that challenged and seemed almost too suited to the world in which they found themselves. On first look, it was tempting to read her as hard and cold, but Natalia had seen enough to know she was anything but. Reaching out, she ran the back of a finger along the line of her cheek. Olivia Spencer's skin was as soft as her eyes could be hard.
Good silk velvet. The thought went through Natalia's head as she slowly stroked her finger along the line of underlying bone.
She was unsurprised when the Olivia guided her hand back down until her palm was resting on the other woman's chest. She felt the soft, reassuring thud and found herself fascinated by the steady rhythm. "It's beating," she assured Olivia, her voice soft and sepulchral in the waxing darkness.
Green eyes opened to peer up at her, reflecting a tiny pinpoint of the waning light in the room.
"And your temp's still up...though I don't think it's climbing as quickly." That was something of a relief really. There were limits to how high a body could stand.
"So you're saying you think I'm hot?" Olivia drawled, a teasing note in her voice.
Natalia felt her cheeks flame at least as hot as the body under her hand. Hot? Yes. The woman was borderline volcanic in a way that had nothing to do with her burning fever. Raw, sensual, knowing, appealing, intimidating, charismatic. She could have easily used any of those terms and a dozen more to describe her. Her mouth worked and she tried to come up with some kind of pithy remark that would be mildly disapproving and at the same time challenge Olivia Spencer's equilibrium without playing into the strange chemistry in the air.
She came up with nothing. The perfect line would come to her in an hour or two, but she'd never been good at that kind of wit under pressure.
"Talk to me," Olivia suddenly pleaded, going from seductive vamp to frightened child in a blink.
Olivia did that a lot.
If she'd been asked, Natalia would have sworn that sort of behavior would annoy the hell out of her, but in this woman, she found it strangely appealing. "What would you like me to talk about?" she questioned.
"Anything," Olivia responded, continuing to hold Natalia's hand over her chest, though she began probing, measuring, testing, investigating the length of bone and cording between her knuckles and wrist.
Natalia felt her pulse pick up in response to the slow-motion explorations as she searched for a response. She knew what she wanted to say, or rather ask. The kiss. Why? A different riff on the constant, teasing sexuality, an impulse driven by whatever was happening to her, or something more, and if more, then what?
Because it hadn't felt like a tease or a taunt, and there'd been nothing of death in that kiss.
Which made it much too dangerous to ask about.
Olivia was still toying with her hand, moving on to the length of her fingers. The contact seemed to reassure her somehow, or maybe it just kept idle hands busy. "Please," she added, sounding stressed and a little shaky. "The quiet is...hard...really don't want to think."
"Anything, huh?" Natalia exhaled mostly to utter some kind of comment in the face of the plea directed her way. She briefly considered a question about Ava and Jeffrey only to decide it wasn't the time, curious though she was. However... "Can I ask you a question then?"
Olivia nodded to indicate a yes.
"How did you get here?" Surviving out in the world just seemed so utterly impossible. Most of the people they'd seen come through in recent months had been swaggering machos armed to the teeth, often military, but always hard and demanding and ready to kill or steal to get what they wanted. Despite her hard edges, Olivia wasn't those things. And Emma was about as sweet and thoughtful a child as she'd seen. So...how?
"Slowly and carefully," Olivia murmured with a touch of grim humor. "We started at my hotel in D.C.... just getting out of the city without getting killed by the dead or picked up by the military took more than a week...had to move slow, avoid being noticed, duck the blockades." She shook her head slowly. "From there it was just a matter of constantly readjusting to the lay of the land...lotta back roads and sometimes overland. Thank god for four-wheel drive." She snuggled a little deeper into the cushions, still toying idly with Natalia's hand. "We were also lucky...some really good people helped. I think sometimes they saw Emma and just..."
"Wanted to make sure she was okay?" Natalia murmured when Olivia didn't immediately continue.
"Most people see a kid and they want to help," Olivia agreed. "Plus Emma is...Emma. She makes people care."
"That she does," Natalia agreed. The kid had a sweetness about her that made her nearly impossible to resist. Turning her hand under the fingers exploring the rise of her knuckles, she tangled their fingers together. "Her mom doesn't do too bad either."
"You'd be the first person to offer that opinion in a long time." Olivia stroked Natalia's inner palm with the pad of her thumb.
"I doubt that," Natalia disagreed. Despite the other woman's initial hardness, she'd proven herself better than first impressions might have indicated.
"Don't," Olivia said very softly, her tone deadly serious. "I can be a cold bitch when I need to be..."
Thinking of the protectiveness and caring Olivia had shown in Blake's house, Natalia shook her head. She'd seen plenty of people cut and run when it came down to it, but she'd known Olivia wouldn't. From the first moment she saw the other woman, Natalia had been certain that if she could deal with their attackers, she would. "Maybe," she said very softly and felt the woman in her arms tense. She turned her hand again, releasing her hold on curious fingers and once again laying her palm over Olivia's chest. She could feel it accelerating with stress. "But I don't think someone who was truly cold would have raised the kid you have...or given a damn about me."
"I needed you alive to protect Emma," Olivia ground out, her tone forbidding.
Perversely, the badass tone just made Natalia smile because, even as she sounded hard and tough, Olivia continued to very gently explore every inch of her hand. "You didn't have to be kind to get that," she pointed out, then took a breath. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask about the kiss. She had the words all planned out. "You didn't have to-to care," she stammered, chickening out at the last second.
Olivia didn't immediately respond, just looked away, seemingly uncertain.
"Why...did you?" Natalia asked after a beat, the question just ambiguous enough that she could get it out. She heard a gasping sound as Olivia exhaled sharply.
"For Emma," she responded when she finally answered, though Natalia had a brief sense that she started to say something else.
Clearly, Emma was a big part of it, but not all. "But-" she started to say something, not even sure what, but Olivia cut her off before she could do more than begin.
"Do you have to question everything?" the other woman demanded, sounding tired and impatient and more than a little grumpy.
Natalia tensed and her eyes flashed. Her voice was crisp as she snapped, "Sorry if I'm-"
"No," Olivia broke in as she pushed into a sitting position. "I'm sorry." She scrubbed her face with her hand, ending by pinching the bridge of her nose with a tired sigh. "The bitch part of Reva's accusation was probably true enough." Her shoulders sagged into an exhausted, defeated slump.
Feeling her momentary temper fade in the face of Olivia's pain, Natalia pushed to her knees behind the other woman. Despite the hard façade, she had to be scared to death. No small wonder being grilled had left her on the grumpy side. "No big deal," she sighed and draped an arm around Olivia's shoulders as she leaned against her back. "We're both beat to hell...on edge..." Resting her chin on a solid shoulder, she wrapped her other arm around Olivia's body, unsurprised when the other woman caught her hand and guided it into position over her chest. It had become their default position. The tactile contact and quiet confirmations that her heart was still working seemed to be a security blanket. Spreading her palm and fingers, Natalia felt the steady, thudding rhythm. "It's beating," she whispered and felt Olivia relax ever so slightly.
"Why are you being so kind to me?" Olivia questioned after a long moment, sounding confused and a little lost.
"Someone needs to be," Natalia responded, her voice rising ever so slightly in question, uncertain the other woman would believe her. "And I don't see anyone else around to do the job." She leaned her head against Olivia's feeling the silk of auburn hair against her cheek.
"Rumor has it, it's not an easy one," Olivia muttered as she was rattled by another hard shiver.
"Never been one to listen to gossip," Natalia dismissed.
Olivia was silent for a long moment. Lacing her fingers with the ones spread over her chest, she held on tightly. "It wasn't just for Emma," she whispered after another long moment of quiet comfort.
"I know," Natalia sighed, but didn't press for anything else, too overwhelmed and confused by her own emotions to be up to dealing with the other woman's. This was enough for now...
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TBC