The door clanged shut with an echoing metallic bang and the pair looked at each other for the first time in hours.

"We left them," the woman said, her voice lifeless.

"That ain't what happened," the man replied, placing a warm hand on her back.

"Ellis. We left them." Her voice cracked with emotion this time as she stared into his concerned face. "Oh god." She broke away from him and began to pace the floor of the small room, breathing ragged, muttering the words softly.

"Listen, darlin'. Ain't nothin' else we coulda done. The tunnel collapsed. You heard 'em on the other side; they were alive and fightin'. Said they'd find another way through." He stepped in front of her, blocking her path and placing a hand on each of her shoulders, "Ro, they's tough guys. They'll make it through."

She looked up at him again, hope beginning to burn in her eyes. There was a thud at the door and they both jumped. A moment passed before they reacted, enough time for two more thuds to reverberate through the steel door.

"Guys?" Ellis ventured, stepping towards the small viewing window set into the door. Milky white eyes stared back at him. The infected bared its blood stained teeth and let out a sickening gurgle, crashing itself against the door in an attempt to reach them. Ellis flinched before quickly raising his rifle and shooting the creature.

"Was it alone?" Rochelle asked, peering over his shoulder into the darkness.

"Looks like. Musta been a straggler." Ellis finished his appraisal of the situation outside the door and turned back to Rochelle. She had turned white and her breathing had sped up again, making her shoulders bob with effort. She began her litany again.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god. We left them. Oh god."

He took her by the arms, attempting to placate her with words, to no avail. Growing more frustrated, he shook her, pushing her backwards.

The backs of her thighs connected with the edge of a table, and Ellis's continued advance forced her upper body back against the wall. The shock of this registered with Rochelle, who was instantly silent, staring at Ellis for the fraction of a second before their lips crashed together.

Immediately, her fingers clawed at him; pulling him closer and pushing him away in the same moment. His cap was knocked to the floor and she twisted her fingers in his hair, trapping him against her.

His hands were working swiftly between them, unbuttoning the fly of her jeans and shimmying them over her hips to rest at her ankles. Ellis untied the arms of his overalls and let them pool at his feet, before lifting Rochelle easily onto the edge of the table and positioning himself between her legs.

Their kiss broke then and, forehead to forehead, they looked into each others eyes. Without warning, Ellis thrust forward, buring himself inside her with a grim smile. Rochelle cried out, clawing at his back, as if wishing she could rip his flesh like the creatures outside. His head dropped to her shoulder then, rasping at the skin there with his teeth, not quite daring to break through.

He picked up a fast rhythm, pushing himself into her, the table knocking against the wall with every thrust. With one hand he braced himself against the wall, the other found her cheek, caressing with a brief, unexpected tenderness before falling to her hip for leverage.

Rochelle's legs, constricted by the jeans that still clung around her ankles, squeezed either side of Ellis's hips encouragingly, spurring him on. She grabbed his hair and jerked his head back; her kisses were vicious, taunting.

His thrusts became erratic and his fingers dug into her hip painfully. A string of rumbled expletives in his Southern drawl signalled his climax; he stilled, panting, but still inside of her.

Forehead to forehead again, they surveyed each other. He strained forward and placed a quick kiss on her lips, grinning lopsidedly at her.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught Rochelle's attention. An infected stood just outside the barred safe-room exit, staring in at them, swaying gently.

Rochelle picked up her pistol, aiming quickly. The zombie's head exploded as the bullet pierced its skull. Ellis shook his head.

"Fuckin' perv."