Free State of Decay (Omnibus (Parts 1-4)) by Peggy Martinez

. The hell with it! I raised my chin and removed my naked self from Jude’s now-soaked body. His eyes widened as he watched me straighten myself out and stand in front of him without any—well, too much —shame. He got up off of the floor and probed his neck with his fingers. I hadn’t broken the skin. I wanted to run for cover, to shield my body from Jude’s now hungry gaze, but I wanted to look tough a whole lot more, so I stood my ground.
    “I’ll be ready in a minute, but I think I can find my way to my room,” I said hoarsely. A slow, devastatingly handsome smile lit up his face and I could feel myself blush. It ticked me off. I marched forward and began pushing him out of the room. “Get out, before I cut your throat for the fun of it,” I snarled. I felt the vibration beneath my hand as he chuckled loudly. When he was out the door, I turned to shut it. Jude stuck his foot in the crack of the door and pushed it back open.
    “Melody …” he murmured. I shivered slightly at the sound of my name rolling of the tip of his tongue. Damn. “I am sorry about all that upstairs. I had to think about everyone’s safety down here first,” he said sincerely just before he began grinning wildly again. “Though, I gotta say … this …” he gestured to my body, “this made it all worthwhile.” I could feel my face flaming.  He smiled at me again, his eyes scorching every part of my body and I realized for the first time since he’d stuck a gun in my face, just how sexy Jude was. If I had met him under different circumstances, back before the end of the world, I would have been itching to run my fingers through his short, dark brown hair, to taste his sensual lips … but this wasn’t under normal circumstances and I wasn’t a naïve little girl anymore. I smiled widely at Jude then and the change in his face was instantaneous. His pupils dilated and his hand came up to push a strand of my black hair out of my face. I opened the door just a little wider and then put a hand on his rock-hard abs and gave a little push. He stumbled a step back out of the doorway.
    When my fist flew, he never saw it was coming. His head jerked back and he sprawled on his ass as blood spurted from his nose.
    “What the hell?” His outraged yell made me feel more like myself.
    “Apology accepted,” I said as I slammed the door and locked it.
    I considered it not only a payback for terrifying me and stripping me of all my defenses, but also a lesson for the future … never let your guard down during a zombie apocalypse . Guys, sex, and love were a thing of the past. Besides, I’d take a zombie showdown any day of the week.
    And lucky for me, there was a plethora of them just waiting for me to kick their undead asses. And I planned to do just that.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
    M y breath fanned out before me in a small cloud of frigid air. I inhaled sharply and my lungs inflated painfully from the freezing cold. I pressed my back against the trunk of a tree that I’d quickly ducked behind. All around me I heard sounds, sounds I hadn’t heard just a few moments before. Groans, shuffling, and the tell-tale gurgling of the undead surrounding me in the forest. I wiggled my fingers that held my blade in a death grip. Even with the gloves on, they were stiff and nearly frozen. How far was I from my campsite? Half a mile? Maybe less. Which put these zombies wandering in the woods further out than any had in over five months. I’d been foolish to think the cold would slow them down or keep them out of the woods. I just felt so fucking tired all the time. I was always looking over my shoulder, always sleeping just enough to keep me going another day—afraid to sleep too long or too deeply and wake up with a zombie tearing into my throat.
    I pulled my gun out of my holster slowly and considered waiting until I knew how many I was up against or at least what my odds were, but I had stood still for too long. I was beginning to worry