Necropolis 2 by S. A. Lusher Page A

anyone could get the job done, it was Cage. The man was an unstoppable force, or so it seemed. Greg was more cautious as he peered back out into the corridor this time. He needed to focus himself, blend caution with speed into a cocktail of survival.
    This time, the corridor was empty. Greg wasted a few seconds trying to figure where the now very dead zombie had come from, but realized it could have been from anywhere. He led the others back up and across to the detention block. They headed back up to the observation deck looking out over the vast area.
    “ We should secure this space.” Greg pointed out the handful of zombies still milling about below. “Lock down the exterior entrances. Then start releasing the prisoners, apprising them of the situation.”
    “ How about I stay up here? Be your spotter?” Billings suggested.
    Greg stared at the Sergeant for a moment, sensing that there was some kind of sub-textual reason for this splitting up. Billings' eyes flicked to Kyra. Oh, duh. Of course. Greg hadn't had a moment alone with her and, well, now would be as good a time as any.
    “All right, good idea. Let's go.”
    He and Kyra descended the stairwell, opting to make a slow circuit through the corridors, killing off the half dozen or so zombies that remained. Quick and easy, with enough time to have at least a brief talk with Kyra.
    “So, Kyra,” Greg said as they entered the first corridor. It was zombie-free, but would bring them around to another hallway where a pair of zombies resided, presumably chewing a corpse. Kyra glanced over at him.
    “ Yeah?”
    “ Well, this may not be the best time to ask, but what are we? I mean, like, where do we stand? You and me?” Kyra stared at him for several seconds.
    Greg looked away for a moment. “I mean, I'm sorry if it's weird or anything-”
    “No, Greg. No. It's not. It's just...I dunno, I've had a lot of shitty relationships. A lot. Bit of a serial dater for a couple of years. I guess I just got used to the idea that if I fucked a guy and didn't straight up tell him to leave after, he just assumed we were serious. I agree we should be up front and clear about our intentions.”
    Here, she took a breath. They rounded a corner and she let it out, raising the rifle she'd taken, having left the shotgun and the other rifle back with Billings. Greg spied zombies up ahead. He let his shotgun hang, pulled out his pistol and aimed. They both zeroed in on pale Undead skulls at the same time. Triggers were squeezed, bullets exploded from muzzles at terminal velocities and blood sprayed the corridor walls.
    Two corpses dropped.
    “ So, as I was saying, I like you, Greg. A lot. I trust you. I trust you enough to sleep next to, and that's not easy for me, but if I'm being blunt, I'm kind of damaged goods, psychologically speaking. I don't exactly have time to get into the whole damned mess right now, but...well, I guess, if you'll have me, then yeah, I wouldn't mind you being my boyfriend and keeping this thing going until you get sick of me.” She gave him an unsteady smile.
    Greg wasn't sure how to react to that. “Well...if you can put up with my memory loss, I'm certainly willing to try and make the relationship work, provided we make it out of this fucking nightmare alive.”
    Kyra laughed then. “Good. Come on, let's get to blasting zombie skulls.”
    They progressed through the center, following Billing's quick instructions, blowing away the remainder of the zombies that haunted the corridors. They stopped by one of the exits and Greg spent a moment figuring out how to lock it down.
    “What are we going to do after?” Kyra asked.
    “ After what?” Greg replied, staring at the keypad and slot next to the door.
    “ After we secure this place. We escape this place. I don't know, how do we ever go back to being, you know, normal?”
    “ I honestly have no idea, Kyra. Go into hiding? Change our names? Maybe we'll be able to dig up some dirt on these assholes,