Chapter 9

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He puts Rae back on the cement, and just as he is about to perform CPR, not wasting a minute, an explosion of water comes from Rae's mouth as she gags and coughs, until the water runs out.

"Kevin…."

Kevin pats her back as she turns around, throwing up into the water. She begins to cry, as Kevin holds her trembling body.

Thank the good Lord...

"Kevin…" Rae coughs.

"Rae, my sweetheart…" Kevin says, squeezing her.

She is soaking wet and cold.

"Kevin I thought I was going to…" she says weakly.

"Shhhhhh…" Kevin whispers, nuzzling his nose in her soaking wet hair, as a tear wells up in his eye.

They sit for a moment until Rae gains some strength. He would never let go of her hand again. The thought him losing the one and only thing he had left in his life was the most terrifying thing he could ever imagine. The thought made him sick to the stomach. She is still trembling cold and a little shaken up.

"Kevin I'm so cold"

"Can you walk?"

He helps her to her feet.

"Come on Rae, let's get out of this city"

He looks at her for a moment more, wiping the water off her face, running his hands through her hair as she looks up at him with her big, green, tired eyes.

"Rae I love you so much, I promise I will never let go of you again. I will not take my eyes off of you. When we get out of here Rae, I am going to buy you a house and give you everything you could ever want. I love you more than anything. I didn't mean to let go of your hand, I'm so sorry sweetheart." He says, stroking her hair.

"Don't be sorry Kevin, I love you. It wasn't your fault."

He picks her up and pins her up against the wall, holding her tightly, kissing her passionately and pressing his waist hard against her. She wraps her legs around him tightly. And after a prolonged make out session, they separate for breath.

"And I'm going to take up that offer." She laughs shakily.

"Good. You won't be disappointed. I love you."

"And I love you Kevin Ryman." She says, kissing him once more

He reluctantly puts her down, and grabs her cold little hand.

"Where's everybody else?"

Kevin turns around and looks toward the canal.

"They must have jumped to the other side. I'm sure we'll meet up with them again." He says

"I hope they are OK."

Kevin puts his arm around her as they make their way through the tunnel. There are many rats, some of them feasting on a less fortunate member of their own clan. Rae crinkles her nose at the sight of it.

"That's disgusting."

"I wonder if they have the virus too, look at their eyes." Kevin points.

The rat's eyes are glowing red as they sniff their way along the sides of the tunnel, stopping momentarily to lick puddles of slime from the cement. A small skinny rat comes along limping with one leg, trying to catch up to the others.

"Awww" Rae says, pointing.

Kevin notices the small rat too as they stop for a moment to watch it.

"I used to have a pet rat named Ickis. He was twice the size of these guys." She smiles.

Suddenly the other rats notice the small one trying to keep up. In an instant they flock over to it and begin biting it. It tries to wriggle free, squeaking very loudly. Rae covers her mouth as a large rat comes over and grabs the struggling rat by the face, biting down with a crunch, as the others begin to feast, tearing the animal to pieces in seconds. When it is over, the rats continue down the path with wet, red faces.

"Oh my God." Rae says, shaking her head as they continue down the tunnel.

"Great, zombie rats, whatever will they think of next." Kevin says, letting out a gruff laugh.

"You know it's sad that I have more pity for a rodent than I do most people."

The reach a large ladder and leads to the street above. Kevin goes up first to make sure its safe, and then pulls Rae up with a big, muscular arm. They discover that they are in front of the Apple Inn. There are no zombies, just the moans beyond the crashed cars and debris. Rae pulls her soggy cigarettes out from her pocket.

"Just my luck." She says, throwing them on the ground.

They continue to walk on the cluttered streets, hand in hand.

"Geeze its dead out here, no pun intended" She says, beginning to shiver as a slight breeze picks up.

"We need to get you out of those clothes."

She nods and looks up at him. He has that dirty smirk that he often got on his face.

"Is that all you think about?" She says, smacking his plump chest with the back of her hand.

Kevin thinks to himself for a moment.

"Ummm no?"

She smiles and looks up at him.

"Your right I am pretty wet, aren't I"

"Mmm hmm." He says looking the fabric clinging to her body, biting his bottom lip.

"See that is all you think about!" she points at him, laughing.

"And I'm about to throw you in the back seat of that car and warm you up myself."

"Hmm just like in the squad garage?"

"Ohhhohoh my God, that was terrible, let's do it again."

She laughs and looks up at him, batting those big beautiful eyes.

"Keep your pants on stud muffin."

"Hahaa. It hasn't been easy babe."

They both laugh and continue down the street. Before they know it, they reach a crowd of survivors, most of them not doing so well, and another fellow officer who was rounding up people in swat vans.

"Dorian!" Kevin shouts.

They run up to Dorian, a blond fellow who was beginning to bald. Rae had only remembered him vaguely.

"Kevin!"

"Hey, did you see a big security guard, or a blond woman wearing stripes?"

"Or maybe a dizzy bitch wearing a red suit?" Rae chimes in.

Dorian looks at the two.

"Hey aren't you the secretary at the R.P.D.? What are you two doing together?"

Kevin looks at Rae.

"Ummm.."

Suddenly George comes running up to them. He is looking very tired and is soaking wet.

"Kevin, Cindy died, I tried to save her, but she was just too weak." He says huffing.

"What? How did it happen, George?"

George sits on the bumper of one of the vans, regaining his strength.

"When we got out of the water, she went into convulsions. They wouldn't stop no matter what I did. It was violent. She passed shortly after."

Kevin puts his head down. Cindy was one of his only friends. She was one of the sweetest women he had ever known. In the past, when nobody understood Kevin, she did. She was always there to talk to him. Kevin takes a deep, deep breath. Rae squeezes his hand.

"I'm sorry Kevin, I did everything I could. I know you two were close. She was so beautiful." George says with is eyes completely full of tears.

Kevin walks up to George and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"George, I think it was just too late.

George nods his head and looks at Kevin in the eyes. Kevin could tell that George was a genuine person. He knew he would have been the one for Cindy.

Dorian approaches them again.

"Well if you guys want to get out of here you better hop in the van."

Kevin nods and takes Rae's hand again. Dorian looks at them for a moment and turns around shaking his head. Kevin winks at Rae.

"Coming with George?"

George rises to his feet, wiping a tear from his cheek. He felt as if he failed. As a doctor, he was very hard on himself whenever he couldn't help somebody. He brushes himself off, and joins Rae and Kevin in the back of the van with a look of sorrow and exhaustion.

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