Ravenous-

Maggie stood outside the door, heart heavy. In hand, the gun she was going to use to end her husband’s life weighed even more. But what was the choice? Better her than someone else.

 Behind, Samuel cleared his throat. 

“Maggie, no one would blame you if you couldn’t …”

“I said I would do it and I will.” Straightening her shoulders, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Jake looked confused when she entered the room. He knew someone would be coming, but he didn’t expect this. 

“Maggie, what are you doing?” Then, seeing the gun, he fell silent. His eyes, at first confused, turned to anger. “They can’t honestly expect it to be you?” 

Setting the gun on the table beside the bed, Maggie wrapped her arms around her husband. “I volunteered,” she choked, fighting back tears. 

“Why?”

“Because I love you.” She kissed his forehead. “It needs to be me.” 

Jake laughed. “Babe, you’re strong, but this is a bit much—even for you.” 

Pushing him back, she lifted his shirt. Thick, blood-soaked bandages wrapped his abdomen. “I want to look at your wound.”

“Maggie?”

“If you’re going to die, I want to see the reason.” 

Sighing, Jake carefully unwrapped the wound in his side, revealing a large portion of flesh torn away by one of the monsters stalking their world. A similar wound was higher on his shoulder blade, and Maggie knew from the way his coat hung, slightly skewed, that his shoulder and arm were gone. She tried to remove the jacket but he wouldn’t let her. 

“Billy should’ve let ’em finish the job.”

“How can you say that?” Maggie snapped. “How could you expect him to leave you there and let them eat you?”

“I don’t want this … to be your last memory of me.”

“It won’t,” she whispered. Kissing his neck, she let her hand graze across his belly before curling her fingers into the thick hair trailing down his chest.

 “Maggie, what’re you doing?”

“We only have a little time before you change …” 

Groping at his jeans, she worked to unfasten the button. 

“Maggie!” Jake pushed her away with the arm he had left. “What the hell—?”

“If I’m going to shoot my husband before he turns into a zombie, the least I can do is make his last moments … pleasurable.”

“You’re insane.”

 Chuckling, Maggie leaned her head against her husband’s good shoulder and breathed in his scent. He smelled good, despite the blood seeping through the bandages. Stifling a sob, she kissed his neck, working her fingers into his hair as she pulled him closer.

 “What if I turn?”

“You won’t.”

“I might.”

“Then I’ll shoot you.”

Maggie guided Jake to bed and pushed him on the mattress before helping him struggle out of the jacket. Jake resisted at first, but Maggie always persuaded him to see things her way. Pressing her lips firmly against his, she tugged off the jacket, revealing the damaged stub. 

“I’m surprised they even bandaged it,”he said. “A waste of needed medical equipment.”

“Maybe you’re immune.”

“Right. You get bit, you turn into a biter.”

“Well, you haven’t yet.”Pulling her shirt off, Maggie reached for her husband’s hand, placing it against her right breast. 

“Maggie, I don’t think—”

“Shhh …don’t think. Right now I need you.”

Despite his protests, she felt the swell bulging against his zipper and grinned. He never could refuse. She tugged his jeans off, then settled back down as she took his cock into her hand. Stroking him, she felt his erection grow and guided him inside of her. Closing her eyes, she tried to pretend the world hadn’t gone to hell around them. 

They were newlyweds again, living in a small cramped apartment where the water was never warm enough for bathing and the neighbors argued until three in the morning …but they were happy. The dead didn’t come back to life and try to eat you. Jake wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against him, thrusting hard. Maggie moaned with pleasure, his breath teasing her neck. 

“I love you,”she panted, tears mingling with sweat and blood oozing from the bandage. He moaned his pleasure in tune with her own, continuing to thrust up and into her. Pain shot through him as Maggie’s knee dug in his side. 

“I’m sorry,”Maggie cried, moving to let him up. Jake stopped her, pulling her back down. “Don’t be. I never want this moment to end.”

Groping at her breast, he squeezed her nipple. Maggie thrilled at his touch, gasping as she moved against him, this time trying to be more careful. Flicking his tongue across the taut nub, Jake pulled her nipple in his mouth. He cupped his hand around her breast and let go, taking hold of her ass and guiding her movements. 

Maggie stiffened as the orgasm seized her. She felt Jake stiffen, too, releasing his seed. His nose was pressed against her neck, his breathing labored. Then it changed, his pants coming more ragged. 

 He sniffed her ear, his fingers grasping her hair as a new hunger took hold. Suppressing the scream building inside, Maggie lifted the gun off the table and placed the barrel against his head. 

“I love you,”she whispered, and pulled the trigger.   

****   

She stayed with him for an hour, holding him. Sensing her need for privacy, no one came in to check. Finally, she dressed and opened the door. Samuel was waiting, along with three of the others. They would burn the body. There would be no chance of him coming back.

 “Are you alright?”

Maggie looked at Samuel. “I’ll be okay. I just need some time.”

“Take what you need. We’ll be moving on tomorrow. Chris says there’s a large horde heading this way. We should be okay until morning; they aren’t moving very fast. Unless the wind changes, they won’t pick up our scent.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Maggie took one last look at Jake’s body, and headed to the room she shared with two other women. It was empty …they sensed she needed to be alone. Curling up on the bed, she slept, dreaming about happier times and a baby. When she woke up she felt her stomach. She didn’t know how, but she knew. She was pregnant.

   ****  

 It had been a week since the farmhouse. Everyone was used to picking up and leaving on a moment’s notice. She wasn’t used to the strange swell in her belly. The baby grew fast. She wore baggie clothes, but she worried she might not be able to hide her condition much longer. She sat next to the camp fire, fighting nausea. 

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,”Maggie said, smiling. Barbara had been henpecking ever since Jake, and she wished the woman would leave her alone. 

“You look a little under the weather. I can talk to Sam …see if there’s any medicine.”

“I just need some quiet,”Maggie snapped, and regretted her tone when she saw the hurt in the older woman’s eyes. “I’m sorry …it’s just been …difficult.”

“That’s okay, honey. I do tend to mother a person to death …I mean—”

Maggie stood and glanced around. “I think I’m going to go for a walk.”Seeing Barbara about to protest, she held up a hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t go far.” 

Stepping in the woods, Maggie moved behind a tree and watched the others, making sure no one was going to come and check on her. Barbara surveyed the tree line, worried, but didn’t move. Samuel was talking to Billy about something and hadn’t noticed she’d left …some observant leader. 

She blamed Samuel for Jake’s death. He’d sent him scouting with only a boy for backup. That Billy had managed to kill the zombies attacking Jake, without getting bit himself, was a miracle. 

A breeze blew her way, carrying a scent that made her stomach rumble. She’d stopped eating the rations two days ago. Her baby craved something else. This worried her, but she wasn’t about to tell Samuel. If he knew, he would force her to terminate. This child was all she had left of Jake. She would do what she had to. 

She followed the scent to a rabbit hiding in the brush. It leaped into the open when she approached, but Maggie was quick, tackling the animal before it could escape.

 She ripped its throat open with her teeth, swallowing whole chunks of meat. When done, she followed a narrow path to a stream, and washed off the blood. Removing her shirt, she soaked it in the water, scrubbing at the stains, hoping in the dark, no one would notice the wetness.

 “Well, what have we here?”

Maggie froze at Samuel’s voice. “Ummm …washing up.”

“I can see that. But you shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“It’s safe. Chris and Bradley secured the area before they let us set up camp.”

“Rules are rules. Wouldn’t want what happened to Jake happen to you, too.”

“No, we wouldn’t want that,”she said, fighting back anger. She suspected he’d been hoping something would happen to Jake. He never made it a secret he wanted Maggie. Now she didn’t have a husband standing in his way. 

Looking over her shoulder at Samuel, her stomach growled. Baby was hungry. And she felt another desire building too. She’d never been with any man besides her husband but as her appetite for raw meat increased, so did her craving for sex. She wondered if the two were related. 

Turning to him she smiled, dropping her arms and leaving her breasts exposed. “Of course with you here, nothing is going to happen.”

“Well, well …”Samuel’s hand strayed towards his zipper. Maggie made quick work of his jeans, dropping them around his ankles as she fell to her knees. Inspecting his manhood, she was impressed. She pulled him into her mouth, sucking on his cock while she dug her fingers into his ass. 

Bobbing her head back and forth, she took him in deeper, fighting the hunger. Best to take him at the height of his orgasm. When he let loose his seed, she closed her teeth, biting off his cock in one swift chomp. Samuel tried to scream but nothing came. Maggie spit the severed member from her mouth and leaped on him, ripping his throat open before a scream found its way out of his lungs. 

She ate until full. This time, she didn’t bother washing herself off. The blood could be explained. She ran back to camp screaming zombies attacked her and Samuel. 

Barbara held her while the men searched the woods. There were a few undead not far from the stream; the dead were always around. They killed them, and in the morning moved on. Barbara refused to let Maggie out of her sight.

Maggie was okay with that. The baby was growing rapidly and she wouldn’t be able to hide her pregnancy much longer.

 That was okay, too. The little tyke liked Barbara’s smell …and he’d be needing some food.