Disclaimer: I do not own the 2004 film Dawn of the Dead and this story has no official ties with the film; this is a work of fan fiction. I do not receive any payment or any other type of gain from this fan fiction. All rights belong to Strike Entertainment and New Amsterdam Entertainment, as well as Universal Pictures.

Content Warning: Slight Sexual Content


Chapter Seventeen

Coffee in hand, Angela descended the dim concrete staircase, something that would become a frequent occurrence now; it was the first day of reinforcing the shuttle buses, starting by stripping them both bare. Angela woke this morning to an empty space next to her, knowing CJ had wanted to get an early start on them along with Michael. The first person she had seen this morning was Terry at Hallowed Grounds, already sipping his soy mocha latte with extra foam, which CJ still never let him live down. He had seemed eager to start, only briefly stopping to greet Angela before going down.

A clang of metal greeted her when she entered the garage, a set of bus seats laying in a heap on the floor. CJ appeared through the door of the first bus, throwing another set on the growing pile, scrap metal rolling to Angela's feet.

"Wow, you really did get an early start," she said, kicking it back in the already large pile, taking note of his progression.

Stepping down from the bus, he wiped the sweat from his face, a smile spreading over his face. "Of course, I don't need an extra hour of beauty sleep and a cup of coffee," he said jokingly, gesturing to the drink in her hand.

An eyebrow arched with amusement on her face. "What, like Terry?"

"Hey, I heard that!" a voice shouted from the next bus, causing the couple to chuckle lightly.

"So, what can I do?" she asked, sipping her drink.

Another set of seats flew out from the bus, Michael peering his head from the door, patches of dark sweat littering his shirt. "You can help Ana take the windows out, use box cutters to cut them out."

"Sure you can handle that?" CJ asked, giving her a pair from the toolbox.

Angela slid her thumb over the metal handle, pushing the blade up and back down, her eyes flicking to the man in front of her. "Oh yeah, I'm pretty good with my hands," she replied with a wink, lips pursing around the straw in her drink.

A smirk appeared on CJ's lips when he realised what she had said, crossing his arms over his chest and watched her walk away. Before disappearing behind the bus, she glanced at him over her shoulder, catching his dark eyes still following her. She couldn't help the smile on her face when she met Ana, who placed a glass pane on a table.

"Could you make it any more obvious?" Ana said, having heard her and CJ's conversation.

Cutting blade ready in hand, Angela set down her drink and began slicing at the rubber seal around one of the windows next to Ana, shrugging coyly at her words. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, please," Ana laughed with a hand on her hip, "you can cut the tension with a knife."

"Hm, funny, I was gonna' say the same about you and Michael," Angela said, noticing the blonde's face heating up from the corner of her eye.

The work on the buses continued all morning, Angela and Ana removing the glass windows while Michael and CJ stripped the seats from one bus, Kenneth and Terry doing the same on the other. Tucker worked on removing the emergency exit door on the back of the first bus, ready to replace it with something stronger. Monica and Glen cleared the pile of growing scrap metal while Nicole filtered between odd jobs.

"Shit," Ana muttered after setting down another pane of glass, dropping her cutting knife and rubbing her hands.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked, removing the last glass window on the first bus.

"I've got blisters from those damn cutters."

Seeming to pick up on Ana's distress, Michael suddenly appeared in front of her, removing his thick safety gloves. "Here, let me have a look," he said, softly grabbing her hands.

Watching the two of them, the way Michael's fingers ran over Ana's hands, their bodies migrating closer while they stared at each other, Angela smiled. When she caught Ana's eye, she raised her blade and began cutting through the air, mouthing the word 'tension'. The blonde's eyes widened, Angela quickly returning to her work, laughing quietly to herself.

By the end of the day, the buses had been stripped to their bare bones, all the seats and windows taken out, the emergency doors gone. Angela threw the last of the glass panes in the industrial garbage container, sighing while wiping her hands on her sweatshirt.

"That was a long day."

"This is only the start, we're gonna' be spending weeks working on these buses," Tucker said, throwing in a pile of trash.

"Don't remind me," she said.

"Y'all better suck it up," Kenneth said with a slight grin, walking past with a pile of metal grates in his arms.

"Hey, we're prepared to do this work, doesn't mean we can complain while doing it," Angela replied, rubbing her stiff shoulder.

"Okay, everybody up soon," Ana called, setting her tools down, "dinner will be ready in an hour."

"Ooh, is it chicken pot pie again?" Tucker asked hopefully.

Terry grimaced, dropping the metal sheets he had been carrying on a table. "We had that last night."

"I love me some chicken pot pie," the other grinned, licking his lips.

A murmur of excitement hummed through the group as they cleared up, the hard day obviously working up their appetite. Walking between the buses, Angela peered through the doorway of one, poking her head in a window of the other. Unable to find the man she was searching for, she looked around with a slight frown.

"Anyone seen CJ?"

"He went up to the Auto store," a voice from above said, Angela looking up to Michael on the roof of the first bus, a tape measure in hand, "said he wanted to check something out for an idea of his."

"Thanks," she said, offering the man a casual salute.

Heading towards the stairs, Angela waved to various people of the group on her way out. Before she left, however, she bumped into Ana and Monica by the doors, the brunette having a sneaking suspicion they had waited purposefully for her, by their sly smiles.

"Creeping off upstairs for some alone time, huh?" Monica asked coyly.

"Whatever your dirty mind is thinking, you can stop," Angela laughed, ignoring the blush flaring up on her cheeks, "just wanna' spend a bit of time with him on our own."

Ana nodded with a sarcastic manner. "Yeah, whatever. Just remember dinner is in an hour, so don't be too long with your 'alone time'."

Leaving the two giggling women, Angela couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips, her pace instinctively quickening up the steps. Despite dispelling the two women's comments, Angela's heightened flirting with CJ had been obvious to anyone who looked their way today.

After their first kiss, the tension between them hadn't simmered but seemed to ignite even more, the two gravitating towards each other. Throughout the day, their gazes locked frequently, both finding excuses to brush past each other occasionally. During lunch, when Angela was sure no one was looking, she pulled CJ behind the bus for a quick but fiery kiss, only heating things between them more.

Mind clouded with the various encounters she and CJ had, Angela didn't realise how quick she had walked through the mall until she was stood outside the store. Taking a calming breath, ignoring how her heart fluttered, she pushed the heavy glass doors open, stepping into the seemingly empty hardware store.

"CJ?"

"In the back."

Following the sound of his voice, she walked through the many isles of tools and hardware supplies, finding the man in the very far corner of the store. Knelt on the floor, tape measure in hand, she watched him check the width of a gas tank, pulling a marker from behind his ear to write the number on it. She noticed there were three more tanks surrounding him, all with different measurements on them.

"Care to explain?" she asked curiously, leaning against a wooden works table.

"There's hundreds of those fuckers outside, so we're bound to get into some trouble," he explained, popping the cap back on the marker, "so I figured we'd use these, blow some of them away."

"Create a few explosions here and there?" she asked, impressed with his idea.

"If we're leaving, might as well leave with a bit of style," he said with his usual grin.

The butterflies in her chest grew stronger; she could never resist his wolfish smirk, so with a playful voice, she said, "well, I do certainly like a man with a plan."

Sensing her tone, blue eyes shifted to her curiously and CJ clucked his tongue. "Do you now?"

Pursing her plump lips, she pushed herself to sit on the table, swinging her legs lightly. Fingers curled over the edge of the table, she leant forward with a small hum. "Yeah, someone who works hard – isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, even though he's a bit of an asshole."

Letting the marker drop to the floor, CJ stood with a shake of his head. "You are such a fucking tease."

Feeling a smile creep on her face, she bit her bottom lip, playing dumb. "I have no idea what you're talking about,"

"I think you do." Taking confident steps towards her, Angela straightened her back as CJ came closer, her body tensing slightly. "And you've been doing it all damn day."

Watching him stalk towards her like a predator coming for its prey, Angela's cocky façade melted away. Parting her legs to let the man in front of her step between them, his hands brushed along her thighs, finally resting on her hips. Taking a short and quivering breath through her nose, trying to control her rising heartbeat, her core muscles clenching tightly at his warm touch.

"Glad you noticed," she managed to murmur after a few moments, though never breaking eye contact.

"Pretty hard not to."

Keeping one hand firm on her hip, the other began slowly making its way up her body, fingers dragging along her waist, partially tugging her sweatshirt up. When his palm grazed her breast, thumb sweeping over her nipple, Angela's breath hitched, her back arching into his touch. His hand stopped on her neck, fingers in her hair and thumb under her chin.

The room was suddenly sweltering, Angela's chest visibly raising with every breath; the tension so thick it suffocated her. There was hardly any space between them, CJ's face centimetres away from hers. She didn't know what to say now, whether her voice could even produce any noise – she was so overwhelmed. It had been so long for her, starved of intimacy for years. Now it was right in front of her and she so badly wanted it, desperate for CJ to touch her, to make her feel good, to make her forget everything she had experienced the past few weeks.

Noticing the flurry of emotions crossing over her face, CJ softened his grip, tilting his head. "Angela, if this is too much for you…"

Feeling his body shifting away from her, the warmth and security leaving her, all hesitation and worry disappeared. A hot spike of desire coursed through her body and her legs wrapped around CJ, keeping him close against her. Grabbing the hem of his shirt, she pulled him forward and their lips finally met.

Unlike their previous kisses, which were sweet, this one was feverish. There was force from both parties, hands grabbing at each other, pulling impossibly closer and groping hot flesh. Legs tightening around CJ, Angela moaned into the kiss when their pelvises grinded together. Electric tingled up her spine, her head spinning when they pulled away for air, both their breathing harsh.

Locking heated gazes, they couldn't help but smile at each other. Both of Angela's hands rested against his chest, while CJ had one hand tangled in her hair and the other on her waist, though it slowly slipped away below the table.

"Well, we can either keep pussyfooting around or…"

Reaching into his pocket, Angela heard a soft rustle before his hand appeared again, and between two fingers he held up a square golden wrapper. For a couple seconds she stared at it, mouth dropping once she realised what it was, letting out a bark of laughter. Throwing her head back in disbelief, she continued to cackle loudly, CJ's broad smirk wide across his face.

It felt good for Angela to laugh, it felt natural, any sense of overwhelmingness completely vanishing from her body.

"Seriously, cocky much?" she said, her fit of laughter dying down. "When did you get that?"

CJ shrugged, failing to look innocent. "Grabbed it during lunch, after you practically jumped me behind the bus."

Feeling her face heat up, her voice dropped to a sultry whisper. "You really are such a dick."

"You love it," he replied, a hand brushing through her hair.

Angela didn't deny it and happily leant in for another kiss, this time taking it a little more slowly. Letting her body melt into his, she draped her arms around his neck, CJ unbuttoning his pants.


The next few days continued as such, the group – excluding Steve – returning to the garage to begin the modifications to the vehicles. This included welding the snow plough to the first bus, which was the most difficult job and took a full day to complete, as well as adding chain link fencing and metal grating to the outside of the bus over. Day by day, the buses were coming along, reinforcements making them stronger.

Holding a flashlight in one hand, Angela slowly rotated the screwdriver, attaching the spotlight fixture on the roof of the bus. Monica held the ladder she stood on, Ana and Glen doing the same on the other bus – Tucker had spent the morning wiring everything up, leaving them to be attached.

"Okay, just need to secure them in," Angela said, looking down at the toolbox on the ground, "Nicole, can you pass me the drill?"

Copper hair appeared from the snow plough on the first bus, the sound of a spray paint can rattling. "Sorry, I'm busy!"

Monica rolled her eyes, Angela and Ana sharing the same annoyed frown, something which was becoming a regular occurrence when it came to asking Nicole to do something. The girl was working on mural for the snow plough, something she deemed a necessary job, despite not helping much with anything on the buses, besides following Terry around or playing with the dog.

Angela cleared her throat, asking more sternly, "Nicole, sweetie, the toolbox is next to you, can you please just pass me the drill?"

"Why can't Monica just get it?"

Before said woman could reply with a snide comment, Michael picked the power drill up as he walked past, handing it to Angela. Lowering herself down on the ladder, she whispered to him through gritted teeth, "she needs to start actually helping around here before she pisses people off."

Monica scoffed, "she's already done that."

"She's young, she's doing the best she can," he said, shrugging before walking away.

"That's still no excuse; she can be on clean up duty tonight," Angela said, the curly blonde nodding in agreement, "it's bad enough that Steve's sitting on his ass while we bust our asses."

Monica grimaced at the mention of his name. "Urgh, don't remind me."

"Still want nothing to do with him?"

"Do you know what he did last night?" she asked, elbow leaning on one of the bars of the ladder, "he asked me if I 'wanted to take a ride on the sea captain'."

"Urgh." Face scrunching in disgust, Angela shook her head. "What did you do?"

"Said I'd snap his 'mast' in half if he came near me," she replied, much to the amusement of the brunette. "Did he really think I'd just do that with him after the shit he's pulled? I knew he was a prick but now he's just ridiculous."

"He's a disgusting pig, you definitely don't need him," Angela pointed out, turning her attention back to the light fixture.

"I guess so, it just sucks to have no one. At least you have CJ." Monica's sullen face morphed into a grin, winking up at Angela. "By the way, mind keeping it down at night? I don't think me and Steve were that loud"

Hearing her comment, Angela gasped, squeezing too tightly on the drill's trigger. The drill spun out of control, scraping along the metal of the bus. Monica screeched with laughter, revelling in Angela's embarrassment.

"That's not funny," Angela muttered, aligning the drill with the screw again, successfully tightening it.

"Yeah, it is."

With the spotlight secure, Angela climbed down the ladder, giving the tool to Ana. Once both light fixtures were secured, they turned them on, the white spotlights blinding, Angela admired them proudly. A body appeared beside her and she leant against it, sighing contently.

"What do you think?" she asked CJ.

"They're workin' fine, so I'd say good job," he replied, smiling down at her. "Comin' up?"

When she nodded, a rough hand smacked her rear, CJ already walking towards the stairs.

"I wish you'd stop doing that," she said, rubbing the stinging sensation away.

"You love it."

Not disagreeing with him, she gladly followed him up the stairs. However, another set of footsteps echoed behind them, Terry joining them. To Angela's simultaneous relief and great surprise, Nicole wasn't attached and trailing after him like a persistent, annoying puppy.

"The buses look so badass," he said, falling into step with the couple.

Angela agreed, "I can't wait until we finish them."

"Fuckin' taking us long enough, working on them day and night," CJ said, stretching his arms.

"It'll be worth it," she said, grabbing his hand, "soon, we'll be sailing along the seas, with the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair. We'll be far away from this place and everything will just feel like a bad dream."

Terry's face softened as he pictured Angela's words, a hopeful smile resting on his lips. "There's one thing I'll definitely miss about this place."

"What's that?"

"Video game hour."

Memories of the times she played video games with the young man suddenly sprung in her mind, chuckling, "yeah, I'll miss whipping your butt."

"Oh, here we go," CJ sighed, a hand coming up to his forehead.

"That only happened twice," Terry said, eyes narrowing.

"Three times."

"The third time didn't count, you cheated."

The woman gasped dramatically, putting a hand over her heart, looking back at him. "I never cheated!"

"Bunch of children, honestly," CJ muttered, the other two continuing to bicker all the way up the stairs.


Well, wasn't that an interesting chapter ;) heh heh, sorry for the blue balling, but I didn't want to include a full-on smut in this story. Reason being, I know some people really don't like inclusion of descriptive, explicit smut, especially when the story isn't orientated around smut. However, I wouldn't be opposed to maybe creating a separate chapter or one-shot of Angela and CJ's sex scene(s)..?

Anyway, hope you all liked this chapter!