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Chapter Twenty-Four
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Ari sauntered up to the bench where Kendra sat reading a book. “Is it good?” she asked as she slid onto the seat next to her. When Kendra made no move to acknowledge her presence, she added. “For crying out loud, Kendra. It’s been a few months now. You’re married to my brother and carrying his child as well. That connects us. We’re family. Sisters. When are you going to stop ignoring me?”
“Maybe when hell freezes over,” Kendra said as she turned a page of her book while never taking her eyes off of it.
“You didn’t strike me as being so hateful when we first met.”
“Maybe you’re not as good at reading people as I am. I distrusted you from the start and I see that I was right in doing so,” Kendra said as she slowly closed the book and turned to face Ari. “Let me say this as clearly as I can so that there is no misunderstanding. I don’t
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Olga leaned against the tree trunk as she rummaged for her water jug. The day felt excessively warm with a high humidity factor. It was the humidity that she found the most difficult to deal with. Normally, the atmosphere was almost desert dry, but this new country that they were walking through had an abundance of plant life which promoted the humidity. It was almost as if they’d entered a different world; or a different dimension at the very least. As she seized the opportunity to rest, she thought back over the last week.They’d taken a few days to deal with the carcasses of the zombies that had wandered into the compound and then reinforce the fencing. During this time, Olga explained to Rex that she’d inoculated him against the zombie virus. Upon his shocked response, she divulged that she, her brother, and his wife were the scientists who were involved in the creation of the virus. Felix and Kendra knew about her brother and his wife&
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Kendra stopped short in the middle of her afternoon walk and cocked her head to the side as she watched Ari lead her mare across the center greens toward the stable. She’d left the village on assignment again.Even though she was married to Baelil and he was well respected, Kendra was still looked upon as an outsider who hadn’t proved that she deserved to be included in village information. Kendra didn’t care about that because she didn’t want to be a member of the community. She wanted to go home. But, the fact that they were careful with what they said around her made it difficult for her to learn things about where she was and how she might escape.It took her several months of slow, afternoon walks where she’d nonchalantly meander past a few citizens and eaves drop on their conversation as inconspicuously as possible and a few clever chats with Ari -who seemed almost desperate for her friendship- to learn that there was som
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Getting past the evening patrols on her way to the stables wasn’t as easy as Kendra thought it would be. The energy of the village changed drastically from the casualness of her afternoon walks. Besides the fact that the patrolmen were far more alert when the sun went down, there was no crowd for her to blend with. She was about to let panic take over when she saw Ari saunter over to a tall, slender, young looking patrolman that was pacing outside of the stable entrance and strike up a conversation with him. Seizing the opportunity, she quietly slipped into the stables and hid while she listened to Ari and the guard’s jovial interaction.Mild annoyance replaced the panic in her as she counted the seconds of unnecessary small talk between Ari and the patrolman. Thinking she was on a failed mission, her mind worked double time to come up with a way to accomplish escape without Ari’s help. She was about to slip back out of the stab
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Kendra’s body felt locked in position by the time the storm passed and she was able to crawl out from the pseudo protection of the thicket. She was miserable. Her clothes were wet and clinging to her flesh, her muscles were tight and sore, her head felt like someone was beating the inside of her skull with a sledge hammer, and her stomach was bellowing as loud as it could in its demand for food. To add to it all, the baby was protesting her decision to leave the comfort and security of Center Land Village by kicking at her ribs and doing flips like a circus performer. The only positive factor was that it was a warm and balmy morning so that, although uncomfortable in wet clothes, she was at least not freezing and at risk of getting sick. She did, however, take a moment to remove her tee shirt and hoodie to ring them out as best as she could.After putting the damp tee shirt back on and tying the hoodie around her waist by its sleeves, she p
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The trip back to the compound took longer than they would have liked, but neither Rex nor Olga wanted to push the very pregnant Kendra. Realizing how close she was to the end of her gestation time, Olga feared that excessive stress could bring on an early birth. She actually expressed her concern to her niece about the fact that she’d run away from her captors so close to the delivery date, but Kendra was adamant that she had to seize the opportunity when it arose. Olga couldn’t argue with that logic. Not one bit.They encountered a few stray zombies on the two day walk home, but Rex handled things quickly and without mishap. It was as if dealing with walking corpses had become second nature to him. Kendra thought about mentioning the look in the eyes of the zombies who had surrounded the tree that she’d climbed into for safety, but then thought better of it. That conversation could wait for another day.The compound had
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Rex paced the porch as he processed the story that Olga had just shared with him. A myriad of emotions surged through him like angry ocean waves slamming against a rocky shore. The thought of that snake, Baelil, forcing himself on his poor Kendra ripped him up inside. Thinking of her being forced to parade around the room naked for his months of pleasure was torturous. He slammed his powerful fist into the palm of his hand as he visualized punching Baelil’s head right off of his body.He could understand why Kendra would agree to the marriage in order to avoid being placed into a breeding rotation. Even though it was a made up reality for those in Center Land Village, such a set up was very, very real within the alien governed part of the world. It made sense that Kendra would believe it without question.He closed his eyes as he struggled to maintain control of his faculties. In the months that he’d been a member of this
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Rex said nothing to Kendra about the fact that Olga had shared her story with him. He thought it best to wait and see how much she wanted to tell him and at what intervals. He knew that she dreaded telling him anything, but he trusted that she would eventually share all. He held her close through the night and whispered his undying love to her, but made no move to touch her intimately. It wasn’t because he didn’t want her. After all of those months of searching, to finally be behind closed doors with her was extremely tempting. His need to touch every inch of her loveliness and assure himself that she was still his was almost overwhelming. But, the last thing that he wanted to do was to make her feel like she was forced into making love. She’d had enough of being forced into doing things; both sexually and non-sexually. When she was ready, she’d make the initiative. Until then, he’d do his best to be patie
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“I can’t believe you let me sleep through it all,” Rex grumbled as he ran his powerful fingers through his long dark hair before pulling its thick strands up into a man bun. “I could have helped you.”“You were exhausted,” Kendra said in a soft voice as she cuddled her newborn son close to her breast while it nursed. Since she had nothing to swaddle the baby in, she’d removed her tee shirt and was using that. This left her hoodie to cover herself with, but, at the moment, both of her breasts were bare, with her long, silken hair covering the breast that the baby wasn’t feeding on. “We need to head back and one of you had to be rested to pull the cart.”“So, I’m the family workhorse, eh?” he said in a mildly teasing tone that made it difficult to tell if he was serious or truly teasing.“I shouldn’t have sent that horse back to Ari,” Kendra lamented.&ldqu
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Kendra moved amongst the fallen zombies and men, salvaging what arrows that she could from their corpses. When she came upon Baelil’s lifeless body, she was amazed at how accurate her aim had been in such poor lighting. It just showed what a driving force hate could be. Determining that the arrow was too damaged by the bone that it had shattered on its way to his heart to be of any further use, she moved away from him without a backward glance.The movement of a zombie that was felled but not killed caught her eye. She walked over to it, pulled out her knife, and drove it deep into the creature’s skull. Memories of looking into the human-like eyes of the zombies that had surrounded the tree that she’d used for safety floated through her mind as she wiped her knife clean and returned it to its holder.Making her way back to the house, she could see Rex and Olga casually leaning against the railing on the porch. Had t
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An eerie silence greeted Felix as he rushed into the house. “Auntie, he’s invisible. Get Eugene! Hurry! He’s after Eugene!”As he raced across the great room with his eyes focused on the nursery door, he tripped over something and tumbled to the floor. Picking himself up with an urgency, he scowled as he looked in the direction of the object that had caused such havoc. The words of frustration and anger toward the object that were on the tip of his tongue were quickly replaced by gasps of shock and worry when he realized that it was Olga’s arm that he’d tripped over.He lifted his torso from the floor and was just getting to his knees when he saw Eugene being carried out of the back door. Baelil was still invisible, so it looked like the baby was floating, but he knew better.Blood oozed out of Olga’s temple as she groaned out the words, “Go after him.”“I’ll be back,” he
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Denai cocked her head and scowled. “They have someone who is psychic with them.”“Truly?” Baelil said in an off-handed manner. He’d allowed Kendra’s taunting to get under his skin and was struggling to keep from charging the house and putting her in her place.“I think it’s a male, but I can’t be sure,” Denai continued with a worried whisper. “Whoever it is has strong energy. My magic is being blocked too.”Denai considered herself an average psychic with a few magical tricks up her sleeve. She’d let them believe that she was far more powerful than she was. She didn’t actually say it in so many words, but she also didn’t deny it when they praised her for her powers and skills. It had been good fortune that since she joined the populous of Center Land Village there had been no one to challenge or put her abilities to a serious test. Everyt
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The days that followed saw a significant improvement in both Felix and Kendra’s physical and emotional health. Since Kendra looked upon Felix as a brother and she trusted him explicitly, she asked him to help her with the baby so that she could resume the duties that she’d performed for the family over the years, which included hunting. He was nervous and hesitant at first, but quickly took to the new role to the extent that Kendra was hard pressed to have time with her son. She’d often joke that if it wasn’t for the fact that she was the one with the breast milk, she’d never get to hold him.Seeing how much the new role of pseudo father perked up Felix’s spirits, she gave him the honor of naming the baby. It took several days of extreme consideration on Felix’s part before he settled on the name Eugene. Although, not a name that would have made it onto her baby naming list, Kendra smiled and thanked him
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Other than the fact that pulling the cart was physically demanding and taxing, the journey home was uneventful. Although still weak, Felix was feeling more like himself and was able to get out and walk short distances, as did Kendra; giving Rex and Olga brief intervals of reprieve. By the time they reached the compound, they were ready for a hot bath, a good meal, and a long sleep. In that order.Olga insisted that Felix meet her in her special room so that she could better tend to his wound with herbs and sutures that she just didn’t have with her on the trip. He resisted, but was glad that he eventually gave in to her insistence when he almost immediately felt a reprieve from the throbbing pain that he’d experienced in his groin since Baelil and his men had attacked it with what he was certain was a dull knife. He smiled his thanks and promised to just do a sink wash before heading to bed so that he didn’t jeopardize the stability of the soothing her
Where Zombies Walk (Book 1 Kendra's Journey) Chapter Thirty-Two
“I can’t believe you let me sleep through it all,” Rex grumbled as he ran his powerful fingers through his long dark hair before pulling its thick strands up into a man bun. “I could have helped you.”“You were exhausted,” Kendra said in a soft voice as she cuddled her newborn son close to her breast while it nursed. Since she had nothing to swaddle the baby in, she’d removed her tee shirt and was using that. This left her hoodie to cover herself with, but, at the moment, both of her breasts were bare, with her long, silken hair covering the breast that the baby wasn’t feeding on. “We need to head back and one of you had to be rested to pull the cart.”“So, I’m the family workhorse, eh?” he said in a mildly teasing tone that made it difficult to tell if he was serious or truly teasing.“I shouldn’t have sent that horse back to Ari,” Kendra lamented.&ldqu
Where Zombies Walk (Book 1 Kendra's Journey) Chapter Thirty-One
Rex said nothing to Kendra about the fact that Olga had shared her story with him. He thought it best to wait and see how much she wanted to tell him and at what intervals. He knew that she dreaded telling him anything, but he trusted that she would eventually share all. He held her close through the night and whispered his undying love to her, but made no move to touch her intimately. It wasn’t because he didn’t want her. After all of those months of searching, to finally be behind closed doors with her was extremely tempting. His need to touch every inch of her loveliness and assure himself that she was still his was almost overwhelming. But, the last thing that he wanted to do was to make her feel like she was forced into making love. She’d had enough of being forced into doing things; both sexually and non-sexually. When she was ready, she’d make the initiative. Until then, he’d do his best to be patie
Where Zombies Walk (Book 1 Kendra's Journey) Chapter Thirty
Rex paced the porch as he processed the story that Olga had just shared with him. A myriad of emotions surged through him like angry ocean waves slamming against a rocky shore. The thought of that snake, Baelil, forcing himself on his poor Kendra ripped him up inside. Thinking of her being forced to parade around the room naked for his months of pleasure was torturous. He slammed his powerful fist into the palm of his hand as he visualized punching Baelil’s head right off of his body.He could understand why Kendra would agree to the marriage in order to avoid being placed into a breeding rotation. Even though it was a made up reality for those in Center Land Village, such a set up was very, very real within the alien governed part of the world. It made sense that Kendra would believe it without question.He closed his eyes as he struggled to maintain control of his faculties. In the months that he’d been a member of this
Where Zombies Walk (Book 1 Kendra's Journey) Chapter Twenty-Nine
The trip back to the compound took longer than they would have liked, but neither Rex nor Olga wanted to push the very pregnant Kendra. Realizing how close she was to the end of her gestation time, Olga feared that excessive stress could bring on an early birth. She actually expressed her concern to her niece about the fact that she’d run away from her captors so close to the delivery date, but Kendra was adamant that she had to seize the opportunity when it arose. Olga couldn’t argue with that logic. Not one bit.They encountered a few stray zombies on the two day walk home, but Rex handled things quickly and without mishap. It was as if dealing with walking corpses had become second nature to him. Kendra thought about mentioning the look in the eyes of the zombies who had surrounded the tree that she’d climbed into for safety, but then thought better of it. That conversation could wait for another day.The compound had
