Omega Days (Volume 1) - By John L. Campbell Page 0,85

a damned shame.” TC punched her in the side of the head and danced away. The girl groaned and turned towards him. He hit her three times in the lower back, making her stagger, and when she spun he batted away a flailing arm and gave her an uppercut that would have dropped a grown man. The corpse’s head rocked from the force of the blow and she stumbled backwards, but only fell down on her butt because the hit put her off balance. She started to get right back up.

“Goddamn porn star, man! Look at them!”

“She had nice tits,” Carney said.

“They’re still good, man. Nice and firm. Must be implants.” As she got to her feet he reached in and grabbed a handful of breast, giving it a squeeze. The creature, quicker than she looked, grabbed him by the wrist and sank her teeth into his hand.

The bite didn’t penetrate the mesh-reinforced corrections gloves.

TC rabbit-punched her with the other fist, three fast blows to the face which crushed her nose and fractured an orbital socket. He ripped his hand out of her mouth and kept circling and punching. The girl rotated and grabbed, her head darting forward as her teeth snapped.

“Carney, you think I’d get infected from her cooze?”

The older man flicked his cigarette away and scanned the parking lot. Nothing else was moving. “Brother, I catch you fucking one of these things and I’ll beat you like a piñata.”

TC laughed. “I just won’t let you catch me.”

“Man, I know you’re hard up, but that’s sick. She’s dead.”

“Pussy is pussy, right?”

“No, it’s not. If you can catch HIV or the syph that way, you can sure catch what she’s got. Your shit would turn black and die.”

The younger inmate laughed again. “Zombie dick!” He grabbed at the other breast and gave her a shove, knocking her back down. “Look at those titties! C’mon, man, you hold her down, we’ll gag her so she can’t bite, and-”

“TC!”

He stepped away at once, turning to face his cellmate, eyes wide.

“Goofing with them is one thing, but I’m not kidding about the sex. I will fuck you up.”

He frowned. “Okay.” The play went out of him, and he walked to a sledge hammer leaning against the side of the vehicle, carrying it back to where the corpse was struggling to its feet. The muscled inmate handled the sledge as if it was a tack hammer. He used a boot to kick the rising corpse back to the asphalt, and then crushed her head with a single blow. He stood with his head down, facing away.

Carney let him stand there for a while, then shook his head. He produced a joint from a chest pocket and lit it. “C’mere, TC.”

The younger man shuffled back slowly, still looking at his feet, but he caught a whiff and looked up, his face brightening as Carney held it out for him. He sucked in the smoke, held it, and then smiled as he hissed it out between his teeth. “Thanks, brother.”

Carney grinned and slapped him lightly on the side of the head. “Asshole.”

TC gave him a shy smile. “I wouldn’t really try to fuck one. I was just kidding.”

“I know,” Carney said. They were both lying.

The scavenging had been prosperous. In addition to the weapons and riot gear they had taken from the training facility, the back of the Bearcat was filled with more rifles, shotguns, handguns and ammunition collected from a gun shop which had already been looted, but not completely. They didn’t even have to kill anyone to get it. An assortment of shopping centers provided them with canned food and dry goods, cases of water and soda, sleeping bags, pillows, flashlights and tools. They had rope, a radio (it picked up only static, but played CDs,) walkie-talkies, a good pair of binoculars, road maps, cartons of cigarettes, toilet paper and an impressive collection of jerk-off magazines TC took from a 7-11. Spare cans of diesel, extra water and more food was strapped to the roof under a blue plastic tarp. There was a little booze, not too much, and Carney kept a tight grip on it.

Shortly after getting into the outskirts of Berkeley, they found a medicinal marijuana shop. TC was like a five-year-old in a toy store, but Carney held the reins, only taking a little. He maintained control over that as well. TC didn’t object, just like he didn’t object to being reminded to wash up and brush his teeth, go easy