Chapter 6
The shuffling noise grew closer, grew louder until it reverberated every part of her mind like a haunting echo repeating the arrival of her imminent death. Claire held her breath and felt the trickling of her sweat tickle her spine as it slid slowly down the length of her back. Her hand was still grasped tightly on the store entrance's handle and it quaked from the terror streaming through her nervous system. The vibrations from her hand shook the chains on the opposite side of the door, reminding Claire of Jacob Marley's haunting warning to his friend Mr. Scrooge in a timeless classic. She couldn't help but smile at the track her mind had taken off on and presumed anybody who was near death would dwell on the first silly thought to cross their mind.
A soft breeze blew behind her and ruffled the small hairs on the nape of her neck. Strangely, the soft wind woke up her brain's synapses and awoke her with a determined reminder of the promise she had made to K-Mart the first time they had met. Her mind flashed back to the memory and it lingered there for a while as she once again envisioned the tears in K-Mart's eyes dazzling the light shade of green irises staring back at her. The tears reflected the sorrow in her soul - a sadness no young girl K-Mart's age should be familiar with, and it elicited a deep sympathy from Claire. She held K-Mart's shaking hand in her own steady one and promised her with all her heart and soul, she would look after her - that she was going to be her new family. The girl smiled after hearing Claire's reassuring promise and her sad eyes were replaced with bright happiness. Claire fell in love with K-Mart at that moment. She would never admit it to herself, but she loved K-Mart instantly after seeing her smile. The memory drove her back to reality and gave her a new kind of courage she never believed she had.
With a new resolve, Claire took in a deep breath to steel herself and spun around, ready to take on anything she was to come face-to-face with. Her heart stopped as her body turned and she was still shaking uncontrollably, but the newfound strength gave her the courage to face the unknown threat. Immediately, she locked eyes with an abomination. It was a monstrous deformed zombie with oozing flesh which was slipping off its body. Some fell with a splat to the ground and she nearly gagged at the sight, but the worst of it was its split face which was so hacked, Claire could barely make out its gender, but it certainly didn't matter anymore for it was dead or undead for that matter. It lumbered more than walked and dragged its lumpy leg behind it making a hushed sound from its lifeless limb being dragged on the ground behind it. The face held no expression for it was cut in two (an attempt by the last victim it encountered) and the lips of the mouth hung like dried bits of beef jerky, but inside its mouth was a tentacle-like spear which waggled like some kind of twisted worm - it looked deadly with its razor sharp end and Claire knew the sick extension was the zombie's main weapon. Claire could no longer stand analyzing its features - her stomach could not take in any more gruesome details.
The zombie was quickly gapping the distance between them and Claire sidestepped over to the counter to make sure K-Mart was still behind it. Claire quickly got on her tiptoes to peek behind the counter, but only saw the blanket K-Mart had been lying on. She gasped in horror and assumed the worst. Had the zombie already got to K-Mart? Her blood froze in terror and she felt all valiance leave her body as quickly as it came. No. It just couldn't be, she assured herself. Her eyes swiveled back to the zombie and it now had one arm upraised towards her as its useless leg continued to drag and make the same haunting sound.
Claire felt devoid of energy after seeing K-Mart gone as the zombie lunged forward. Claire was too slow to react in her state of stupor and fell to the ground as the zombie toppled her easily with its bulky weight. She fell with a grunt and felt the wind being knocked out of her instantly. Her head hit the ground hard and caused her ears to ring incessantly with a tinny noise - deafening her to the zombie's enraged howls. She wanted to scream, but the lack of air in her lungs made it impossible. The zombie's drool or bile - whatever it was - covered Claire's face as it loomed over her like a predator on top of its prey. Claire gasped in both horror and disgust as she struggled to push the heavy zombie off of her, but her efforts proved useless. The zombie thrashed her relentlessly with its body as the tentacle lurched forward in an attempt to stab her chest, her face, any part of her it could take aim at. Claire was quickly losing the battle and she knew it. Her hand frantically searched for the pistol she usually kept at her hip and attempted to release the hold of the holster, but the zombie's bile made her hands too slippery to unfasten the slip.
She prepared herself for death and braced herself for the pain she was soon going to feel when the sharp edges of the tentacle pierced her flesh, but then a loud bang erupted throughout the small convenience. The zombie was struck hard as Claire felt its body rattle violently on top of her. It fell forward and its dead weight nearly crushed her, but K-Mart's voice brought some life back in her muscles.
"Claire!" her high voice sounded even higher from fear. "Are you alright, Claire!"
"Yes! I'm okay!" Claire responded when she gasped in a large gulp of breath back into her lungs as K-Mart helped her throw the defeated zombie off of her. As the zombie slumped lifelessly sideways, K-Mart's worried face appeared in its place. Claire breathed a sigh of relief and felt a surge of happiness overwhelm her tired body. K-Mart grabbed her hand to pull her up and Claire immediately wrapped her arms around the girl. K-Mart nearly toppled backwards from the force of Claire's embrace, but returned the hug by wrapping her lithe arms around Claire's neck.
Claire breathed in K-Mart's uniquely sweet scent and felt the urge to never let her go again. "I thought you were gone," Claire sadly whispered into the crook of K-Mart's neck, sending delightful shivers through the smaller girl's body.
"I'm here, Claire," K-Mart simply said, and smiled as the older girl hugged her even tighter. Claire's grip crushed her ribs slightly, but the pain was worth it for Claire had never hugged her like she was now.
But suddenly, Claire released her hold on her and lightly punched K-Mart's shoulder.
"Ow!" K-Mart said, and nursed the tender spot with her fingers. She pouted and said, "What was that for?"
"For making me think you were dead," Claire simply said, trying her best to hold back her tears. She could not and would not cry in front of K-Mart. "Where were you!" Claire yelled as she crossed her arms in an attempt to stop herself from bursting into tears.
"I was hiding in the back after I saw this ugly thing coming after you. Did you see what was back there? Dozens of rotting, chewed up bodies. Ick!" K-Mart made a disgusted noise and stuck out her tongue to emphasize her disgust. "Crazy what must have went down here, huh? Do you think that thing has been eating those poor bodies back there? What is it even doing here?" K-Mart was going off topic and rambling again as she always did whenever she wanted to make Claire forget her anger towards her.
"When did you even wake up?" Claire retuned them back on topic.
K-Mart turned her eyes upwards as she thought and placed a ponderous hand on her chin as she mused. Any other time she would look adorable to Claire, but Claire was too angry at K-Mart for making her worry to fawn over her cute pose. "Hmm, I guess I woke up when I heard you jangling the door. Those chains can really echo in your head even when you are passed out," she said, and pointed to the locked door.
Claire tried her best to control her temper and reminded herself that K-Mart had just saved her life although she hated to admit it. Claire turned her eyes to the floor and felt pathetically weak - she was the one who was supposed to be K-Mart's protector not the other way around. She shuffled her foot and felt uncomfortable at the thought of a ditzy teenager being her savior. She felt herself blush from shame and hung her head low to try and hide the redness on her cheeks away from K-Mart's sight.
K-Mart cocked her head curiously to the side at seeing Claire begin to act uncomfortable and stepped closer to towards her for a better view of her face. Claire turned her head as far as she could to her right, but K-Mart would not give up. K-Mart moved her head at an angle and saw the blush stain Claire's cheeks with blotches of red. K-Mart felt a smile creep on her lips and she suppressed a delighted giggle. Claire was embarrassed by the fact that she had to be saved by K-Mart and K-Mart reveled in the switch of their roles.
Claire clenched her jaw as she saw from the sides of her eyes K-Mart smiling like an idiot. She gulped and awaited the barrage of teasing which was always inevitable from K-Mart, but K-Mart did not say anything. Instead, she felt K-Mart kiss Claire's blushing cheek and she turned her eyes back towards the girl.
K-Mart smiled softly and had a look of soft understanding in her eyes. The blonde girl placed a chaste kiss on Claire's lips and laughed softly as Claire flinched from the unexpected contact. K-Mart felt her heart swell with adoration at the endearing nuances which made her love Claire - how such an outwardly strong woman could be so easily reduced to someone shy and adorably awkward. K-Mart placed a longer more forceful kiss on Claire's lips and urged Claire to allow her entrance in her mouth.
Claire felt the taste of pink bubblegum overtake her taste buds and she nearly swooned from the sweetness coating her own tongue. She felt K-Mart's body push close up against her and she gasped in the younger girl's mouth. K-Mart smirked against their kiss and roved her gloved hands over Claire's curves making Claire feel weak and strangely vulnerable. She was too tired to push K-Mart off of her - the guilt of taking advantage of a much younger girl seeping out of her morals. All Claire wanted was to relish the moment she was sharing with K-Mart.
K-Mart removed her lips from Claire's and looked at her with lustful eyes and Claire gulped audibly from K-Mart's determined stare - a look that made her look older than she was. K-Mart smiled and moved her head to Claire's neck to nip lightly then forcibly on the soft flesh. Her teeth scraped teasingly down the length of her neck, sending shockwaves of pleasure to Claire's core.
Claire arched her neck to allow K-Mart more access as K-Mart's legs moved in between Claire's legs and pressed upwards. Claire gritted her teeth to suppress a moan, but it appeared K-Mart desired to hear her vocalize her pleasure. K-Mart's legs pushed even further upwards as she continued to suck on Claire's neck, leaving Claire no choice but to moan out loud. Claire realized it was an inopportune time to be doing such things, but K-Mart was being too hard to refuse. Claire swiveled her head to the side and caught sight of slight movement. K-Mart was now sucking even harder on her neck and Claire did her best to ignore the pleasure throbbing in strong waves throughout her entire body and settling below her abdomen. Another catch of movement and her eyes quickly lit up with focus as they locked on to the zombie pushing itself back up for round two. There was a gaping hole in its back where K-Mart's shotgun had made contact, but it amazingly was still mobile - its slack face turning towards them and heading towards their direction.
K-Mart had not noticed and was now squeezing her hands on Claire's waist where she was most sensitive. Claire couldn't stop gasping and panting as her eyes widened with fear. She couldn't take her eyes off the reanimated zombie as K-Mart left her breathless with her kisses and squeezes.
"K-M-mart, w-wait," she struggled to gasp out, but K-Mart was ignoring her. Her thigh was rubbing relentlessly against Claire's core and Claire squeezed her eyes tightly as she struggled to calm herself, but K-Mart would not allow to herself to do so easily. The zombie was making its way closer each passing second and Claire stared wide-eyed at its split face as she struggled to battle the feelings of both pleasure and terror in her body.