Chapter 3- Lacey

My mind is in a fog as it slowly comes out of the drugs. I was captured by zombies, just fucking great. I’m not sure I want to wake up unsure of what the hell I’ll find myself in. I imagined one of them was Ryan. There’s no way it was him. The drugs must have played tricks on my mind. 

Slowly I open my eyes. My body is sore. I panic when I realize I’m strapped to a bed. My arms and legs are restrained to the bed posts. What the hell? What is going on?

“Easy, Love.” Ryans' voice fills my ears before he appears next to the bed. 

“Ryan?” I ask in disbelief. Maybe the drugs weren’t playing games on me. 

“Yes. I know I had to drug you pretty hard to get you here, but I assure you it’s me.” 

“Where am I, and why I’m restrained?”

“I restrained you because I wasn’t sure what state you would be in when you woke up. You are in my home.” He informs me as he starts to undo the restraints. When he is done, I sit up quickly, which was a mistake because now I’m dizzy. “Easy, Love. You’ve been drugged for days. It will take some time for the effects to fully wear off.” 

“Why did you drug me?” I inquire as I put my throbbing head on my knees as I wrap my arms around my legs. Wait, my legs are smooth. Did someone shave me?

“It was easier that way.” 

“Easier for who?” I counter. Definitely not easier for me. Fuck! What did he drug me with, and what exactly happened while I was drugged? 

I hear Ryan chuckle. “Easier for me. The effects will wear off fully by tonight. You might feel groggy for a few days because of how much I had to give you.” I groan my displeasure. The bed dips, and I look up to see Ryan sitting facing me on the edge of the bed. 

His black hair is still styled the same, just with white tips at the end. Dark circles surround his eyes, and I’m not talking about the kind that you get from lack of sleep. It almost looks like someone took black eye shadow and lightly spread it around his eyes. The dark circles make his dark blue eyes a bit darker and deeper. His skin is so pale. If I didn’t know he was living dead, I’d be concerned. 

“I’ve missed you, Love.” Ryan states as his cold hand brushes my cheek. He’s ice cold. 

I don’t say anything. I can’t find words right now because I don’t know if I miss him or not. Part of me does. It’s the same part that hoped he would actually come back for me. The same part of me that longs for his touch and his presence. The very part of me that hates to admit I still fucking love him. 

Then there is the other part of me who doesn’t miss him. The part of me that hates him for lying and deceiving me. The part that hates him for leaving me knowing exactly what world he was leaving me in. A world he helped create. It’s the part of me that hoped he never came back for me. 

I’m torn between loving him and hating him. I don’t know which one will win. I don’t know why he even bothered to come back for me. I can’t fit into his world. Not now.  I never fit in his world, and I didn’t realize it because I didn't know the truth. Whatever reason he has for coming back for me, keeping me here and alive, it’s not for my benefit but for his. 

My thoughts scatter when Ryan kisses me. His cold lips against my warm ones is strange yet exhilarating sensation. I don’t know why I’m kissing him back. Is it because he’s familiar? Because the part of me that missed him and longs for him is the part winning? 

The next thing I know, we are lying on the bed, Ryan slightly on top of me. I’m losing control to him just like I did before. Whatever part of me wanted to fight back is losing. How can I lose control to him so easily? After all, he’s done, and I still bend to his will like a fucking slave. What is wrong with me? 

His cold hand slides between my thighs as his knee moves my legs apart. Isn’t this how he seduced me last time? His fingers slide between my folds which is when I realize I’m not wearing panties. Of course, I’m not. It makes it easier for him to play with me like his fucking toy. I’m surprised I have a thin black cotton nightgown on. 

Ryan rubs my clit before two of his fingers plunge into my entrance. I gasp at the rough intrusion, which breaks our kiss. “Still tight, I see, which means you haven’t been whoring a round like some humans do.” 

Yeah, because sex is the first thing on my mind when trying to run for my life. I’m trying to survive, not get fucked. I know some humans whore themselves out for supplies, food, or whatever they might want or need. I’m not like that, and I never have been. Hell, I was a virgin till Ryan took my virginity like it belonged to him. 

“I haven't been with anyone since you, Ryan,” I inform him, knowing he will ask. “Sex really wasn’t a top priority for me while I was running for my life.” 

“Good. at least I don’t have to hunt down and kill anyone who touched what is mine.” He responds. 

That’s his response? Totally ignored the part about me running for my life. What does he mean I’m his? I am his? Do I want to be his? Oh, great. Here come the torn thoughts of what the fuck do I feel for him now. 

There is a knock at the door. “Boss, we got to go.” 

“Shit, duty calls,” Ryan states as he kisses me again before pulling away from my body and standing up. “I’ll be back later with food. I take you are a vegetarian like the rest of the humans now?”

“Yes,” I reply. As if I would trust any meat given to me by zombies. Hunting and killing a deer, yeah, I’d at that. I don’t trust zombies. So yeah, here I’m, a damn vegetarian. 

“There’s a bathroom through that door. Feel free to shower. I did have them clean you up and groom you, but this room is yours. You can do whatever you like here. I’ll be back later.” Ryan says before he walks out the door. I hear the door lock. 

Great, now I’m his prisoner. So much for freedom. I lay down in the fetal position, confused by emotions. I start to feel tears stream down my face. I’m crying because I know I’m trapped here. There is no escape. If I’m truly at Ryan's home, that means I’m in his territory, which means I’m surrounded by zombies. Even if I got out of this room, I’d never make it out of his territory. I’d be captured or killed before I could even reach the gates.

I don’t know what’s worse on the run and fighting for my life or stuck a prisoner to a zombie. Sure, Ryan is a zombie, I know, or at least I think I know. He did lie to me about who he was. He never told me or even tried to tell me what he was. What are his plans? He destroyed our world to better it for his people. 

Torn between love and hate, desire and fear, wanting to be here and not wanting to be here. I was afraid of Ryan before, but now I’m terrified of him. I don’t know the person he’s become or his intentions. It doesn’t matter because whatever they are, they benefit Ryan, not me. This is his world, and I’m merely his pawn.