CHAPTER TEN-WITNESS

"We had too much wine." Jess said as Chess placed her on the couch beside Julia.

"You had too much wine." Chess pointed at her.

"I had a bad day." Jess frowned. "How many zombies did you kill today?"

"Shhh, stop, Jess." He said.

"I killed the first one ever."

"That's good babe. I'm happy for you."

"I beat it till it was dead." She said quietly to Julia. "Those boys wanted to run and hide in that attic and I told them, Julia and Jay would fight and that's what we did." Jess was proud of herself.

"Chess, just leave her." Julia waved him off.  "Come on, Jess. Settle down."

"I'm not a kid, Julia. I'm not a kid anymore."

"I know, babe. I know." Julia told her, putting her arm over her shoulder.

"Whatcha writing there?" She slurred.

"Stuff, Jess. About our day. Everything we did today. No secrets." Julia answered, taking a sip of her wine from the glass beside her on the table. Jess laid down and took the book from her, holding it and reading out loud a minute or two. "God, that's boring."

"When you write it down, maybe." Julia laughed. "It was all very exciting, gathering frozen foods all day. Till we met Bob."

"Bob didn't wanna come with us?"

"No. Not everyone will." Julia told her, closing her book and placing it on the table. Jess climbed on top of her and sat on her lap.

"I'd follow you anywhere." Jess grinned.

"You are drunk, Jess."

Jess reached over and handed Julia her glass of wine. "You need to relax." Jess told her, straddling her lap and watching her take a drink.

"Jess, what the hell. Don't spill it." Julia cautioned annoyed at her drunk friend. Jess leaned and caught her mouth with a kiss, which was a surprise. She didn't push Jess away, but she kissed her back till she stopped, still holding up the glass to avoid a spill. Jess's hands held her shoulders. "Yep, you're drunk."

"Why aren't you?" Jess smiled, kissing her across her face and down her neck.

Julia reached for the table, the glass clinking against the wood table top. "Jess, I don't need to be drunk to be close to you like this."

"Oh, you don't want to-"

"I do, Jess. I'm just saying I don't need to be drunk. Do you?" She asked as Jess small lips kissed her below her ear. She let Jess continue her gentle sucking and kissing around her neck.

"I didn't know you would want to if we weren't drinking, Julia." Jess whispered in her ear.

"Umm, could you stop, Jess?" Julia asked her, watching Jess pout as her face met hers.

"Well, sorry." She pouted, feeling rejected.

"It's not you, Jess. There's too many people down here for this." Julia told her, holding her hands. "I want to, but not here."

Jess looked around, the guys all at the table playing poker, women in the kitchen, kids still running around. "Oh, we shouldn't cause of them." She sounded relieved. "But you want to, right?" She asked, bouncing on her lap.

"Jess, I want to. Yes." Julia laughed.

"Cause I wanna take our clothes off." Jess giggled. "Like we did-"

"Shhh, Jess. Jesus Christ, Jess."

Jess scooted off Julia's lap and sat beside her, holding her hand. "Chess told me."

"He told you what?"

"That you'd want to do it again."

"How's he know anything like that?" Julia laughed, turning her head to look at Jay across the room.

"He said Jay told him." Jess answered. "Did he make that up?"

"No, he didn't. You wanna go upstairs?"

Jess hopped to her feet. Julia followed, taking her glass of wine along with her.

"What about the boys?" She whispered.

"Just us. Go."

 Julia closed the door to their room behind her. Jess turned on the lamp beside the bed. They sat on the bed and started taking off layers as they kissed. "I've thought about this too, Jess." Julia told her, laying her down on the bedspread. Her red hair spread out over Jess's chest. They lay beside each other, kissing awhile and talking in their bras and panties. Hands explored each other's bodies.

"You're so pretty, Julia." Jess smiled, playing with her hair.

"Thanks. I feel like a beast though." Julia laughed. She reached for her wine and finished it off. Jess kissed her to get the taste in her mouth. "We shouldn't have to be drunk if we want to be close to each other."

"I've wanted to." Jess said. "But I was scared you'd say no or reject me."

"Never, Jess. I wouldn't if that's what you need. I've thought about it too. The things we did and how we felt that night."

"So we feel the same way."

"I do."

"And the boys?" She asked. "I love Chess."

"I love Jay. Do you want them to come up? Or-"

"No, no. That's not what I mean."

"What do you mean then?" Julia asked, sliding her hand over Jess's belly. "Tell me."

"I mean that I -" She quieted a moment as Julia touched her over her panties. "I just want you sometimes too."

"Sometimes, too." Julia teased her, rubbing her fingers over the moist cloth that restricted her fingers from going inside her. Julia's mouth dipped to Jess's breasts. She thought about what Jay had said about her having a sweet pussy. "Take them off, Jess." Julia laughed because she'd never seen underwear come off that fast. Jess guided Julia's hand back to her and covered hers as Julia's fingers slipped inside her wetness. She played with her the way Jay would. Jess made her little familiar groaning noises, little gasps and moans slipped through her lips as Julia playfully sucked her nipples, moving from one to another. Jess's hands held Julia's shoulders, pushing her downward. "You want me to go down on you?"

Julia started her descent. Kissing and licking her way over Jess's abdomen to blond V between Jess's legs. Her legs parted wider as Julia moved downward. She felt a little self conscious at that point, never having explored that region with anything other than her own hand. Jess didn't seem to mind though and only urged her on. She went off the only experience she had and that was from her lovers and the pleasure they'd given her. She started at the top, on the clit and pretended she was Tavin as she sucked it like it'd pop off in her mouth if she tried hard enough. Then she'd back off and literally try to lap up every bit of wet that was inside and on her pussy. She put her fingers inside her like Jay would as she licked her top to bottom and back again, all the while working her fingers in, out and around her. She felt Jess grinding against her, her muscles inside clenching and her body shaking as she came. Where Jay would back off her when she came, Tavin went all in so that's what Julia did, sucking her clit and fingering her until she was a sweaty and noisy hot mess. Julia didn't stop till she stopped and then wondered if she was alive and breathing.

She sighed out of breath.  "Oh, wow. That was amazing."

"Jay was right. You do have a sweet pussy." Julia told her, her hand still resting between her thighs, fingers slithering through her sticky wetness.

Jess couldn't speak for a moment. "You never did that before? You're a God damned liar."

"I swear. Never." Julia told her, pulling Jess to her, kissing her again and again. She pulled a blanket over their legs as they snuggled together. "I guess that was out of the Keller book of sex."

"I don't think I'll be able to do all that, but I can give it a try." Jess giggled.

"Cool, I'd like that. But first I'm gonna go check on the troops and get us something to drink. Ok."

"Sure. Go."

"Jess, we got all night." Julia smiled, pulling on her pants and her tee.

She went downstairs and from the look of the place, someone had taken the kids to bed. Tatia was sleeping on the sofa where she and Jess had been sitting earlier. She covered her up and went to the kitchen for a drink.

"Thought you went to sleep?" Jay said, looking over his cards at her. She had an odd look on her face, then licked her sweet lips.

"Nope." Julia answered. She approached the table and leaned in to Jay, giving him a kiss on his cheek. He could smell her, but it wasn't her odor. Jay laughed, shaking his head.

"Want company up there?" Jay asked.

"Not yet." Julia answered, pulling the wine bottle off the table with what was left of the red juice of the Gods. "But soon." She told him walking away from the table.

"Soon? How soon?" He asked.

"Jay, man it's your turn." Tavin urged him.

"Soon." Jay smiled, looking back at his cards.

Julia leaned against the headboard and watched Jess licking at her. Jess was doing her best to please her with her mouth, and it sure felt good, but she wasn't moving the earth like Julia had done for her.

"Jess, hon, it's all good. I came." Julia told her, pulling her up to sit beside her.

"Oh, I suck." Jess laughed.

"It'll take some practice. I liked it." Julia said, taking a swig from the wine bottle. Jess looked defeated. "It's not over, pretty girl." Julia told her, pushing her hair away from her face. She kissed her again, licking around Jess's lips, tasting herself.

"I need to read the Keller book of sex then." Jess giggled, getting on  her knees in front of Julia.

"You need to read the Tavin Keller chapter on pussy eating, then read Jay's chapter and then combine the two. And you have to want to..."

"I do- I did!" Jess yelled, advancing between her thighs with her upper half of her body. She made out with Julia some more.

"You're a good kisser. I'll give you that and you do a lot that I love, Jess. Quit worrying. You please me. And you excite me. And you make me wet just touching me."

There was a knock at the door. "I brought the baby up." Jay called through the door.

"Thanks, Jay." Julia told him. They waited for him to move or open the door.

He turned the knob, cracked the door a bit, peeked inside. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just sitting here talking. Did you tell Chess I fucked his girl?"

"No." He replied, looking over Jess's naked little body. Breasts bouncing. "Are we invited to the party or no?"

"Go tell him. Bring him up."

The girls sat, waiting till the knock came on the door. They rolled their eyes with Jay and the knocking. "Geeze, just come in." Julia whined.

"Listen, I know Tom told you about the farm-" Tavin said, pushing the door open. He turned as the girls grabbed a blanket and covered up.

"Is he supposed to be here, Julia?" Jess looked confused. "I didn't know he was coming too."

"Shut up, Jess." Julia kicked at her. "Uh, we thought you were Jay. What were you saying?"

"He told me about you two and I didn't believe him."

"You and me, we are not having this conversation?" Julia said, shaking her head. "But Tom did tell me about the farm, yes, and I asked him to take me in the morning."

They could hear Jay and Chess coming up the steps over the conversation. Tavin continued though, "I think we should still keep looking."

"I didn't say we wouldn't, but he has some good ideas and I want to let him tell me. He's a carpenter, a builder. He has this vision about it."

"It's falling apart, Red."

"If I've learned anything the last few weeks it's to go with my gut." Julia told him. "He feels strongly about it. I think he's an important part of this group and this is his area of expertise."

"There's no animals, Red. You wanted animals."

"I'll drum us up some animals somewhere."

"You will huh?" Tavin laughed.

Chess and Jay slid past Tavin into the room. He watched his brother and cousin unload their weapons onto the dresser top across the room. "What are you talking about?" Jay asked, kicking off his boots.

He pulled the hair tie from his long hair and unbraided his hair, letting it fall over his shoulders and down his back. Julia giggled, knowing he was going for Jess. Julia never wanted all that hair hanging in her face while Jay was on top of her. It tended to get tucked into crevices and it annoyed him as much as it annoyed Julia. But Jay, without his shirt on and with his hair down was a vision unto itself.

Tavin started to feel uncomfortable, like there were too many persons in the room and the too many meant him.

"Yeah, I will." Julia told him. "Get out, Tavin."

He put his hand on the door knob, "We're not done talking about this vision, Red." He advised her, pulling the door shut.

Jess and Jay took the mattress on the floor that lay across the end of the bed.  It obscured them a bit, which Julia was grateful for. It also obscured her and Chess. Julia thought a moment she was more into his girl than she was into the idea of having Chess again. She let his skinny body beneath the sheet with her and he positioned himself between her legs. She didn't want to kiss him and moved when he went in for the kiss. "You alright?" He asked. She nodded, then peeked around him to make sure no one was watching them. He looked with her. "They're not paying us any mind." He told her, reaching to turn the lamp off. He felt her loosen up beneath him. He pressed his skinny frame against hers and kissed her neck. "Do you want to do this, Julia?" He asked in her ear, pressing his erection between her legs.

She cupped his ear with her hand. "Yes." She could feel his length on her. She had to get in the right frame of mind because she knew what was coming. At first it was the most unpleasant ordeal ever and she wondered if they were going to be successful or not. She wondered how Jess managed to do this all the time. Compared to Chess, Jay was a walk in the park. She liked the way Chess took it easy, knowing how big he actually was and that she wasn't drunk off her ass and numb. She liked the way he made love, which was what it felt like. It felt good, it felt easy. He teased her with his length, moving in and out slowly, working her up to an orgasm as he moved a little bit faster each time, then backed off a little until he felt her tensing up and releasing. When she was coming he started fingering her, making her as wet as possible so when he went all in she could handle it and he could finish for himself.

Chess pulled out and laid next to her, kissing her shoulder.

"Could you turn the light back on now?" Jay asked from the mattress at the end of the bed.

Chess turned the light on as asked and lay back beside Julia. They drank the rest of the wine. A few drops drizzled onto her chest, which he quickly licked off her white skin. They lay together, listening to Jess and her whimpering, her ooh'ing and her aah'ing. Chess kissed her face, around her mouth, over her cheeks. "You smell like her." He noticed as he lightly bit Julia's bottom lip.

"I went all in." Julia blushed.

"Did she?" He asked, still kissing softly around her mouth, continuing to nip at her lips. Julia finally just kissed him, which he'd been hinting at.

"Yeah." She answered when she pulled away from him.

They kissed and fondled each other till Jess and Jay finally came up for air. Chess was hard again and ready to go, and Julia was about to let him. Jay stayed sitting on the mattress looking over the end of the bed, watching as Chess entered his girlfriend. Julia let out a little sigh of satisfaction. He watched Chess move beneath the sheet and Julia meeting him with her waist. Her leg over Chess's side.

Jess crawled over the bed to them, wedging herself in between them and separating his dick from Julia's vagina. Chess took over with his own girl as the girls kissed and played with each other. Chess rolled onto his back, taking Jess with him, which left Julia on the bed watching them. She still held Jess's hand though and she pulled Julia to her, kissing her while she lay on top of Chess. Her front was exposed. Her breasts and her patch of brown hair between her legs.

Jess said something to Julia that Jay didn't hear.  Julia laughed a little, then moved on the bed, getting between both of their spread legs. Julia looked at Jay, brushing her hair over her shoulder, then knelt between Jess's legs and started licking at her like she did earlier. Julia extended her hand to Jay and guided him onto the bed to watch as Julia gave Jess a mind blowing orgasm. When she licked downward, she met with Chess who was inside her still, so she licked at his shaft as well. She heard the both of them make this guttural groan that caught her off guard, but she didn't stop.

Julia took Jay's hand again as he was hypnotized by her face in another's girl's pussy, face damp. She guided Jayson behind her and his familiar erection pulsed at her crotch as she eased back on him. With him out of the way, it allowed her to focus more on Chess. She didn't mind him watching her lick at Jess, but did feel a bit self conscious about going in on Chess in front of him. 

Julia gave Jess another orgasm before she backed off the both of them, turning toward her boyfriend and moving them off the bed onto the mattress by the foot of the bed.

Julia took him in her mouth and blew him till he came.

"Come on, babe, let's go get a shower. I feel dirty."

She led Jay to the bathroom and started the shower. She scrubbed everyone off her next to Jay who scrubbed everyone off him. While they dressed in the steamy warmth of the bathroom there was a knock at the door. "Be right out." Julia called, brushing her hair, waiting for Jay to pull on his clothes.

He reached for the brush.

When they opened the bathroom door, Tavin stood there waiting. "Tom and Daphne are sick."

"I have a cold sick? Or infected sick?"

"Red, come with me."

Tavin took her to the first to the bedroom with Tom inside. She went to step inside and he held her back. He handed her a mask and gloves. She knelt next to the bed with Tom laying in it. He lay beneath blankets and shivering. She touched his forehead, heat she could feel before her hand met his skin. "Tom," she called. He responded to her hand on his head.

"I'm still here." He tried to smile.

"Hang in there. Ok? I'll be back."

Tavin led her to Daphne who wasn't as well off as Tom. Tavin showed her how to remove her gloves safely, which she mimicked. She donned another pair. Daphne was not responding to touch or her name being called. "Shit." Julia mumbled. She was burning up as well. The heat radiating off her was like a fireplace. She wasn't moving and didn't appear sleeping.

Julia looked at Tavin and Callie. Julia had no clue at this point what to do or say.

"What? What are we doing now? I don't know what to do." Julia removed her gloves and tossed them in the trash can by the doorway. She walked back to the bathroom and washed her hands. Tavin and Callie followed her.

"Tom is still responsive. That's a good sign." Tavin told her. "Daphne, on the other hand, doesn't have much time left."

"She looks like death, that's for sure." Julia mumbled.

"How would you know?" Callie asked.

"My mom died of cancer. We had her home on hospice." Julia answered. "When she dies, is she coming back?"

"Most likely. If that's what's killing her." Callie answered.

"The problem is everyone in this house needs to be checked out." Tavin told her. "Roommates first."

"Where are they?"

"Down stairs. And I want them separated from those two. The one Daphne's in will need to be cleaned like Jess cleaned the living room today."

"Should we get her outta there now or-"

"When she dies we wrap her in the linen and we take her out like that."

"You and Callie have to tell me what to do."

 Tavin and Callie went to work downstairs. They checked everyone and gave them a clean bill of health. Recheck them in the morning, he'd told Julia. Callie sat quietly, writing furiously in her very own notebook. She'd done what Julia had asked of her, detailed histories on everyone except for Julia, Hayley and Kevin. Each had their own section in several different notebooks. Tavin sent Rey and Andy to the truck and fetched all the extra blankets and pillows they would need for sleeping downstairs. They'd have to spread out like they did on Green Street at least overnight.

Next they went to the attic and evaluated everyone up there, saving Tatia for last and Tavin did her check without waking her somehow. Julia sat with Tavin and Callie at the table after everyone else had their turn. Callie asked her medical history.

"I don't have one." Julia answered.

"Everyone has a medical history. Allergies?"

"No."

"Surgeries?"

"No."

"Are you or have you ever been pregnant?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Are you on the pill?"

"No. I have the Mirena implant, a couple months ago after..."

"After what?"

Julia looked at Jay. She hadn't thought about the baby in awhile.

"Julia, you with me here?"

"I had a miscarriage. I was pregnant." She replied.

"I'm sorry, Julia." Callie said, taking her hand.

"They said it happens. It's ok. It's-thanks, Callie." Julia felt the tears, then wiped them away. "Nothing else. No medicines or anything."

"I thought you guys were careful." Tavin said to Jay.

"She stopped taking the pill when we broke up, didn't tell me and then-"

"Started taking it again when we got back together. I didn't even think that it would make a difference."

"Why'd you break up?" Callie asked.

Jay stifled a laugh.

"That's not part of her medical history." Tavin informed Callie.

"It's not?" Julia asked, staring at Tavin.

"No, Julia. It's not."

"Maybe she's asking because she's just interested in hearing the story?" Julia teased him.

"Are you planning on sitting here and telling her that very long story right now?"

"Depends." Julia replied. "You haven't told her? I thought that you might have talked about your brother at some point in time."

"I didn't make your break up a priority in my relationship." Tavin replied.

"There's nothing else, Callie." Julia finished it.

Cass had been posted outside Daphne's sick room. She called downstairs when Daphne stopped breathing. Tavin and Callie hurried upstairs with Jay and Julia not far behind. Tavin felt for a pulse, she didn't have one. Julia could see from the doorway that Daphne was lifeless. Her eyes were empty, the room felt different with a dead person in it as opposed to an alive one.

"There's no blood, Tavin." Julia mentioned, observing Daphne from the bedside. "The others, when they were infected all vomit blood, like they bleed out their insides through their mouths, their eyes, their noses. She's just dead."

"We can't take the chance." He said as he began to pull the bed linen off the corners. Julia put on gloves and started on the other side of the bed, removing the corners. They wrapped her up in the sheets and she looked like she was wrapped in a beige cocoon.

"Let's move her out then." Julia suggested, grabbing the sheet at her feet. She could still feel the heat radiating off Daphne through the sheets.

 She, Tavin and Jay carried her through hall, down the back steps to the back door and then outside into the yard. They lay her at the bottom of the steps and Julia stayed outside, sitting on the step next to where she lay on the cold earth. They called to her to come back inside. But Julia sat in the darkness by her, waving them away. She sat what seemed like forever when Tavin came back outside with a cup of hot coffee for her. He took a seat on the step next to her.

Julia took the cup from him and sipped the hot black liquid. "Thank you."

"What are you doing out here exactly?"

"Waiting to see if she stays dead, Tavin. You aren't the least bit curious."

"I've seen it, Red."

Julia removed the linen from Daphne's face, which had taken on a bluish hue, then placed it back. Tavin sat beside her and waited with her. He admitted to her he withheld the details of his fling with Julia. Callie didn't need to know. They'd only seen each other a few times when he and Julia had last been with each other. He wasn't aware of Callie's past and didn't need intimate details of he past. "I think it's great you and my brother are close enough and trust each other with every single detail of each other, good and bad, but I don't do that."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, but when Jay and you got in that fight on the day of the funeral, didn't she ask why?"

"It's family business. That's all."

"She was ok with that lame answer?"

"She had to be."

"Just remember that everyone here knows your family business even if it's history."

"She knows I've been with other people. A lot of other people."

"So when we did our thing,"

"We weren't exclusive, Julia. I had a life at home. No one special, but I didn't sit there waiting."

"I see." She frowned. He put an arm around her shoulders and they sat by Daphne. He joined her as they waited for the change, which he knew was unavoidable. Bloody end or no bloody end, Daphne got sick too fast and died too fast with a raging fever. Tavin had seen this before in Pittsburgh. The infection sets in, the high fever upwards of 104 and then the death. The transformation takes place on the inside of the body. Sometimes it's released little by little and sometimes it's released all in one eruption of blood, a massive post mortem hemorrhage from every orifice. Eyes, ears, nose, throat, bladder and bowel. The fever boils you inside while you actively die. "Let's move back." He advised as he saw the sheet moving slightly over the abdomen. He and Julia moved to the top step and watched as Daphne's beige sheet turned a dark and ominous red. Wrapped tightly she was not moving far in her bloody cocoon. The guttural growls came next, the sound of blood and intestines that had liquefied and exited her as a goopy and malodorous emesis.

When Julia turned, thinking she was going to vomit from witnessing the hemorrhage, Tavin withdrew his knife from his leg strap and descended the steps. He ended Daphne before she could unknowing harm anyone. He should have before she voided her organs in the lawn. He wiped the knife on what was left of the cleanest part of the sheet, tucked it back inside his leg strap and sat back next to Julia. She said something to him, accusing him that he knew that was going to happen. She wanted to witness the unnatural revival for herself. It wasn't his first or his last. The hospital halls, ER's and streets of Pittsburgh had been littered with the dying, bleeding out in the streets, reviving themselves in the streets, self replicating as they attacked anyone. There was not one person spared from their hunger. No one got away alive or without their memory scarred forever.