"Emilia!" I snap, whirling back to see the busty blonde with wide eyes, clothes clutched to her chest, frozen in place. "Fucking move!" I yell and she instantly springs into action, reality slamming into her as she slips out of Heidi's top. I barely have time to appreciate her incredible body before she's covering it with a bra... Focus, Zac!

Turning away, I rush into the falling-apart-kitchen, daylight streaming through the enormous hole in the roof, making this place look even more run down and dilapidated than it did last night. Myles is looking out of the glassless front window, Heidi standing next to him, a gun held tightly in her hands.

"Where are they?" I ask, grabbing onto Jen's shoulder as she rushes past me.

"Right out the front!" She gestures towards Heidi and Myles.

"Alright." Jordan walks into the room. "I've looked out the back, there's no-one out there. We need to go."

"Is Anna up?" Sam asks, hauling his rucksack onto his back.

"Right here!" Anna walks into the room, far more colour in her cheeks than there was last night. Kieran follows, two bags in his hand before he passes one to Anna.

"They're approaching," Myles says suddenly, Jen paler than she normally is just as Emilia appears in the doorway, her hands wrapped around her hair as she hauls it into some sort of updo, keeping it off her face.

"Has anyone seen my bag?"

"Right here." Sam smiles at Emilia, passing the rucksack to her.

"Does everyone have their weapons?" Jordan asks, cocking his own gun as he looks back at all of us. Kieran hands me a gun and I nod gratefully to him as Jen wrenches the back door open.

"Yeah," Anna confirms for all of us.

Kieran follows Jen outside just as Sam pulls Heidi away from the window, shoving her to the door. I reach for Emilia's hand and she gives me a small smile before accepting it, the two of us ducking out the house before letting go and setting off in a run.

Outside we can hear the shouts of the Slayers from the front of the house, Emilia glancing back over her shoulder with a fearful expression.

Jordan pulls the back gate open and pokes his head out, gesturing that it's okay to proceed. Edging out, I take up the rear, constantly glancing behind us as we run down the length of the houses towards the main bulk of the town.

As much as I'm against running towards the Slayers, even I know that us heading up the hill behind the houses will put us on display like strippers on a damn pole.

We're running for over a minute before Jen stops at the front of the group, gesturing for all of us to halt. Jen and Kieran peer around the building beside them before I hear a sudden shout. Heidi stuffs her hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from crying out, Emilia's head dropping to her chest. I pray we haven't been spotted, leaning against the wooden fence beside me, my gun rising in my arms, eyes on the lookout for any danger.

We're standing, silent and frozen, for over a minute before Jen glances back, urging us all to run forward. I follow the others, glancing down the road as I pass it, seeing a couple of Slayers as they disappear around the corner at the other end of the road. We're safe.

The safety is, as expected, short lived, all of us on our hands and knees just two minutes later, attempting to crawl past a low brick wall, a Slayer resting his gun on top of it, facing the other way. Fucking hell, how many of these pricks are there?

Stopping at the corner of the next road into town, I peer around the corner, a group of five or so Slayers in the middle of the street, spears in hand as they peer into one of the shops next to them.

"How much further?" I ask quietly, Kieran gazing down at the map.

"Only a couple more streets and then we should have a clear path to the woodland."

I can see Emilia visibly shaking as she exhales, and I reach out, placing my hand on her shoulder. She looks up, the fear in her eyes startling me. She usually keeps her emotions hidden, always masking them with sarcasm or false smiles.

I guess there's only so much you can hide when you're faced with so much danger.

I'm glad she's finally giving away her emotions to me, showing me that I'm not an idiot for feeling the same way. My heart is racing in my chest at the situation, pure and utter fear sitting low in my gut. I lower my head towards my wife, pecking her on the lips.

"As soon as we're safe, I'm fucking you like there's no tomorrow," I promise softly and she can't help but giggle, swatting my hand away from her chin.

"So romantic," she retorts and I grin as Jen starts moving once more.

"You got this, baby," I say and she nods, gripping onto her gun as she turns away, following the group. I wait for Sam and Heidi to pass me, eyes scanning the area behind us before I trail after the others.

From what I've seen, the Slayers aren't looking for us, they don't have a clue that anyone is in the town. They're stopping by on their way to who-knows-where. As long as we stay hidden, we'll be fine.

A sudden yell has me whirling back around, spotting one of the Slayers stepping into view. With a subtle hiss, I gain everyone's attention, all of us sinking to the floor, pushing ourselves back into the hedge behind us as much as we can.

I keep my eyes on the Slayer, his arms raising into the air as he looks around, gesturing behind him. A second person steps into view, clattering the first one over the head with his gun, the victim instantly falling to the ground. Jesus Christ, if they treat their own like that, I can't bare to imagine what they'll fucking do to us if they see us.

The still standing Slayer turns away from his fallen friend, heading back into town and escaping out of view, all of us breathing out a loud sigh of relief.

"Let's go," I hiss, jumping up, every single one of us moving quicker each time we encounter more Slayers.

Thankfully we make it to the trees, all of us then setting off in a run, following Kieran and Jen at the front as we try to get as far as possible from the Slayer-ridden town.

Emilia nearly stumbles and I reach out, steadying her back on her feet before we continue, all of us driven by fear and adrenaline, not even stopping to think about the mere hours of sleep we had last night.

Eventually stopping, I bend over, my hands on my knees as I attempt to catch my breath.

"I doubt there will be any this far into the woods," Jen says, glancing around us warily.

"That was crazy!" Heidi exclaims. "There must have been at least twenty of them in that town!"

"I told you." Jen shrugs. "They travel in packs."

"We should keep going," Myles speaks up, his voice low. "They could be heading this way."

"He's right." Jen nods.

"Are we ever going to be safe?" I hear Heidi mumble to Sam as they begin to follow Kieran.

"Maybe we'll find safety in London," Sam replies, hooking his arm over his wife's shoulder. 

Maybe. Or maybe it's just another shitshow of what just happened, thousands of Slayers having taken over the city.

Coming to the South may have been the worst decision we ever made.

Emilia reaches for my hand, smiling softly. I grab hold of it, the two of us walking in a comfortable silence as we continue the already disastrous walk South.

*~*~*

My legs are aching like hell, stretched out in front of me on the floor as Jordan attempts to light a fire beside us. Anna and Sam are scouring the place, keeping lookout as Emilia and Heidi dump a load of wood next to Jordan.

Kieran and Jen are still pouring over the map, attempting to plan our next move for tomorrow. Twenty nine miles today, that's what Kieran said ten minutes ago. How we managed it is beyond me. I guess leaving that house just before eight, coupled with terror, adrenaline and panic, meant we travelled further than we thought. After all, we only took three breaks throughout the entire day.

Everyone looks shattered, absolute walking zombies as they step around each other, not even caring what anyone else is doing. A decent night's sleep is needed, yet I highly doubt we'll get any of them in a long time.

Sitting down beside me, Sam starts pulling items out of his bag, handing me a can before turning to everyone else.

"This is all I managed to swipe from that house," Sam says as I look down at the out of date beans. "It was locked away in the cellar."

"Thanks, Sam." Jordan smiles and I nod appreciatively as Emilia falls down beside me, a tin of spaghetti in her hands. She offers me a mouthful and I accept, letting her take some of my beans in return. A nice, varied dinner. Not.

"So, did the South ever have anyone governing them?" Heidi asks, looking over at Myles and Jen over the fire.

Jen shakes her head. "The remaining members of government were killed within the first few days of the war being over. That's what we've heard anyway." She pauses. "We come from Oxford. We've never seen what happened in London."

"So people just turned into monsters?" Anna scoffs, standing by a tree to the left of us, gun in hand as she stands watch.

"It took a while." Jen shrugs. "Most people remained pleasant, but you're always going to have those people who want to ruin it for everyone else. People started looting the shops and that just caused panic. Oxford was on fire by the end of the first month. We fled as fast as we could, heading up North, wondering what was beyond the wall." She smirks. "Of course, we could never get through."

"You don't want to." Heidi scoffs.

"Hey! The East and West could be pretty good," Emilia points out and Heidi nods in admittance.

"True."

"People turned greedy, only looking to live for themselves." Jen shrugs. "It's what happens. Myles' best friend tried to kill him over a chicken."

"That's awful!" Heidi exclaims, looking over at the silent man.

"It's the way the world is," Myles replies, finishing his tin of meatballs before standing and walking over towards Anna, his own gun poised and ready.

"We should get some sleep," Jordan mutters. "Stick close to the fire."

*~*~*

Half an hour later, I lie with Emilia in my arms, a thick blanket over us. She's been playing with the fabric of my top for fifteen minutes now, clearly unable to sleep and keeping me up in return. 

I can hear Jordan's snores from here, Kieran's own loud breathing audible to the entire camp. Sam and Heidi are curled up under their own blanket, Jen and Myles facing away from each other, each clutching a corner of some fabric, their eyes shut.

"Are you okay?" I ask softly, Emilia's head instantly rising from my chest, turning to look at me, her blue eyes visible in the light of the orange fire.

"Zac," Emilia replies quietly, her hand suddenly moving to the bottom of my shirt, sliding underneath. I suck in a breath at the feel of her on my bare skin, my dick instantly hardening in my pants.

"Emi." I smile, whispering as her hand moves from my abs and down towards the waistband of my jeans. "What are you doing?" I ask huskily, turning my face, angling it down to look at hers.

"What does it feel like?" she retorts and I can't stop the grin from spreading across my face before I claim her lips with mine. She eagerly accepts, pushing her head up higher and sliding her tongue into my mouth, caressing it against mine. There's no fucking feeling like it, my dick as hard as it can get. I reach down, grabbing onto her hand and placing it over my erection, pushing her against it.

She gasps, pulling her mouth away from mine. I swipe my tongue out, grazing it along her lower lip, a small moan leaving her mouth.

"Do you feel that?" I mutter, my hand still holding her to me. "Only you can do that."

She says nothing, crashing her lips against mine once more. I let go of her hand but she keeps it there, roughly palming me over my jeans. I struggle to contain a moan, reaching up and grabbing hold of her hair, angling her head back and deepening the kiss as much as I can, desperate to heighten the feeling for both of us.

At this moment, I don't care who's around us, don't give a shit that they would all hear me if I took Emilia right here.

I need her, and I need her right fucking now.

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I'm completely unsure on this chapter if I'm honest! I always find it hard to get the right level between action and feelings...

But hey... they escaped a few more Slayers without anyone dying, so that's got to count for something, right?!

I would be ridiculously grateful if you give me a follow on here, and on Instagram, so that you're able to keep up with everything I'm up to as an author! I have some exciting things coming and I'd love to share it with you... after all, you're the reason I'm still here 💚