The air was still, the blood rushing through Xan’s ears as his heart raced. Only the sound of his own heartbeat and the taste of his sister’s sweat on his lips seemed to register in his mind, everything else numbed by the adrenaline that coursed through his once aching body. They had ducked into a broom closet, the dragon twins pressed in close together in fear and exhaustion. It was barely big enough for one of them but they had little choice in the matter, forced to intertwin their limbs awkwardly with each other. His sister’s palm was clasped squarely over his muzzle to silence his heavy breathing so nothing could hear them but it was clear she herself was having trouble keeping her own composure. He could feel her heart thumping against him as her chest pressed to his, every breath long and slow as possible but the hitch in each told him even in the dark of the broom closet that she was crying in fear. He didn’t blame her. He was frightened too, and they had every right to fear. They had run afoul of Virals during one of their daily scavenging missions. Supplies were running low and they had to search deeper in the city than they ever had before, having scoured everything within safe distance. They had both been into zombie movies back before the outbreaks, enjoying the idea of a zombie apocalypse where the walking dead’s only remaining instinct was to feed. They found living in that world far less enjoyable than simply talking about living in it, especially since there were other ancient instincts that the Virals still seemed to remember, much to the dismay of those who were left behind. Many victims were not just eaten, but bred and raped, transmitting their disease like an STD. There was even talk that a woman raped by a Viral may actually be eaten alive from the inside out when their infected children grew enough, but that was an assumed rumor as very few who were caught by a gang of Virals often lived past the encounter. Through the rushing of blood in his eardrums he could faintly make out the slow shuffling footsteps of one of the shamblers they had just barely evaded. They had been prepared for shamblers, the walking corpses easily dispatched with the crowbar that was currently hanging from his belt and digging into his sister’s thigh. No, it was the shredder that they weren’t ready for. One of the viruses little pranks on what remained of the living. As if the walking dead weren’t bad enough, recently some of the dead had begun to mutate with the virus. Shredder’s in particular evolved explosive keratin growth, their nails and hair growing to ridiculous lengths and hardness. Fur turned to quills and their almost comically sized claws would clatter upon the ground as they shambled about, leaving scratch marks wherever they roamed. Usually an area with a shredder was marked clearly from their passing but apparently this one was new in town, with a small cadre of shamblers following close behind it. The blue drake would be wrenched from his thoughts as the sound of blades on concrete scraped over his eardrums like tinfoil on a tooth, his eyes straining in the dark to see his sister who shivered against him as the telltale scraping of the shredder entered the hallway. Xandria would lick at her drying lips nervously, unaware of her own shaking body as she focused only on keeping her brother silent. She held her eyes shut, hoping and praying that this was all just a bad dream. Her mind was flooded with the images of her laid in a bloody mess, stomach burst from where a dozen half formed zombified hatchlings had clawed their way out. She had always hated that rumor and being trapped by a shredder dragged that deep seated fear directly into the forefront of her mind in all of the vivid horror of the old movies they once watched without their parent’s permission. ‘Please just go away...please, just leave us be…’ She’d silently pray to whatever entity would listen to her, biting her lower lip as she wrapped an arm protectively around her brother, trying to hold him closer to her. She’d breathe in sharply and hold her breath as the scraping got closer to the door. She’d feel a pair of claws pry her fingers from her brother’s mouth, the dragoness almost forgetting that she had practically gagged him in her haste to keep them both quiet. Xan would wrap his arms around her as best he could, wondering if this would be his last chance to hold his sister as he kissed her cheek. If these were their last moments, he wanted her to know that he loved her dearly. In the dark he’d feel her lips press to his own cheek as they embraced each other, the scraping just outside of the door now. Though neither spoke, they both silently wished that they hadn’t run out of ammunition for Xandria’s pistol, if only to end their own lives peacefully in that moment. Both would close their eyes and brace themselves, teeth gritting in anticipation. Silence… It hung in the air like a corpse from the gallows… Then from the other side of the door came a horrible sound that made their blood run cold. It wasn’t loud… It wasn’t painful… It was soft and slow like the caress of a lover… It was chuckling...laughing at them. They heard the door handle rattle for a moment before the door would open just a crack, showing the shredder’s horrible orange bloodshot eye staring at them. Xandria would scream as she kicked the door open, knocking the shredder aside with the force of the kick, its quills sounding like nails on a chalkboard as it tumbled across the ground. If the shamblers hadn’t been aware of their presence before, they certainly were aware now as they converged on the broom closet. Xan and Xandria tried to run but the cramped space had doomed them, their legs tangling with one another and sending them crashing to the floor beside the shredder as the handful of shamblers surrounded them. Xan would grab at his crowbar, swinging it at the nearest one as he tried to get to his feet but only succeeded in lodging the hook in the ribs of his target in a vain attempt to get some space between them and the Virals. The shredder slowly got to its feet as its prey was surrounded by the shamblers, shuffling and scraping its way back to the others. The tattered remains of a military uniform still clung to its quills, a memento of its past life that had long lost meaning to the creature that reached out for Xandria, its rasping chuckle somehow cutting through the moans and screams of the group in front of it. The laughter would ring in Xandria’s ears far louder than her own frantic breathing as she pushed a shambler off of her, only for another to clamber atop her. Her tank top tore at the collar as she struggled to push it off of her, her hand meeting little resistance as its rotting chest gave way and spilled its contents over her navy scales. She’d let out a cry of disgust as the shambler’s heart splattered against her now exposed breasts, legs kicking in vain to attempt to gain any sort of leverage against the thing that once had been a semi-overweight feline of some kind. Its decayed maw full of broken teeth and crawling insects would open, letting a rough and slimy tongue glide over her cheek before clamping down, biting through its own tongue and into her flesh where her brother had kissed not moments before. Her scales did little to protect her against its bite strength as muscle tore free from bone, the horrible thing squatting on her stomach as it ground its virus filled scrotum against her chest. Its barbed cock dribbled infected pre-cum onto her breasts as it savored the flesh of her face, humping idly at her tits as she screamed in pain. Another shambler, this one once some sort of wolf but now was too rotted away to truly identify, pushed at the feline for a moment before grabbing at Xandria’s leg. Its claws vainly scratched at her jeans before giving up and just biting into her thigh, tearing her pants open and taking a massive chunk of meat with it. It’d lazily gulp down the chunk of meat, a bit of tendon hanging from its mouth as it pressed its fetid muzzle against her exposed pussy. It’d sniff at her cunt briefly before grabbing her legs and pushing its throbbing cock between her pussy lips. Xandria would shriek as the thing violated her but could only managed to struggle in vain against the two shamblers. This was it, she was going to impregnated by one of these things. She no longer wanted to survive. She just wanted it to end. Tears poured down her cheeks as the shambler-wolf thrust into her over and over again, feeling its putrefied knot force itself in and out of her pussy, making her yelp in pain at each push. The shambler-cat leaned in again, this time taking a piece of her shoulder, and leaving a rotten tooth behind in the gaping wound that now pooled blood around her head, staining her turquoise hair an ugly shade of grey. Xan was not faring much better. The top half of a half-eaten skink with white eyes had bit down on his calf as he tried to crawl away, leaving him unable to fend off the shambling racoon that had bitten down on his tail. The racoon was missing its left eye, only maggots remaining in the socket where it once had been but it did not need its sight to know what it wanted from the scrambling drake. It’s claws pulled at his cargo pants, its fingers losing none of their dexterity yet to the rot that overtook them all, and exposed the drake’s lower half to the open air. Xan would try to kick at the half rotten racoon in protest but the skink kept his leg pinned as it chewed upon the other. Finally tearing a chunk from the drakes tail, exposing bone and sending a spray of blood over its muzzle, the shambler-racoon would ram its cock between Xan’s asscheeks. He’d feel his tailhole tear open at the force of the thrust, sending a shock of pain through his body, making him cry out in pain, nails digging at the concrete as he tried to claw himself away, chipping and breaking and leaving bloody streaks among the countless scratch marks. The racoon would reach forward, gripping the drake’s wings for leverage as its thighs slapped at Xan’s abused rear, its nails puncturing the leathery skin and tearing as he thrashed. Xan’s screams would be cut short however as a large bull stood before him, face riddled with cuts and grazes from where small arms fire had deflected off of its thick skull to the point where there was little left that could be called a face. Gripping the drake by the hair, it’d slap him across the muzzle with its throbbing member before shoving it unceremoniously down his throat. Xan would feel tendons and muscle tear as the oversized shaft forced his maw open farther than it was ever meant to, his cheeks splitting open with a sickening squelch as his jaw dislocated from the force. His jaw hung uselessly from its old moorings as the bull fucked his throat relentlessly. He struggled to breathe through the stench of rotting meat and that assaulted his senses and the girth that now had taken residence in his gullet. He tried to scream but all that came out was a bubbling gurgle of blood and rot. Xandria had closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was happening to her anymore. Her screams filled the air as her hand reached out fruitlessly for her brother’s in vain hope of some sort of comfort before the end. She could not see him hanging limply from the crotch of the bull, being used as a living sex toy by the huge shambler. All she knew was pain and violation as the oversized cat on her chest roughly grabbed at her breasts, pushing them together and titfucking her, its rotted barbs tearing off as they ground against her scales. This did little to slow the feline though, leaning forward to get a better angle and spilling its intestines out over her throat, choking her with the scent of death. She’d feel something sharp glide over the exposed bone where the feline had bitten her cheek, far too sharp to belong to the corpulent cat and its mushy form. She’d open her eyes only to find herself staring directly into the orange bloodshot eyes of the shredder. This close, it was clear it had once been a hyena, the mane turning into a mohawk of quills while the rest of the fur was like a hedgehog’s. Its face was torn into a rictus grin, missing much of the flesh around its mouth as if it had chewed its own lips off in its hunger, and its left eye was dead and glazed over, looking in seemingly random directions. It was still laughing even now, its tongue running over its exposed jaws before leaning in close to her ear. Was it whispering? The thing’s tongue lightly ran over her ear as it tried to speak, her heart dropping into her stomach as she heard its mocking tone. “I’lL tAkE GoOoOoOod CaRe Of HiM…” Xandria didn’t have time to react before the shredder’s talons plunged into her throat, silencing her scream before it had a chance to come from her mouth. With a flick of the shredder’s wrist, a mess of arteries, tendons, and trachea would be torn from their proper place, sending a spray of crimson across the concrete floor. Choking on her own blood, the dragoness would stare in horror at the shredder who turned away from her. She tried to call out for her brother, reaching uselessly to him as the world began to fade around her. ‘Come back...don’t...hurt him…’ She’d feel something press into the slowly numbing wound, as the feline gave up on her breasts and decided to sink its rotting shaft into her open throat, its tip pushing up and into her mouth as it humped at her neck wound viciously. ‘Please...I’ll do anything…just leave him alone...’ The taste of carrion and her own blood filled her mouth as her life drained in a pool around her, the dead cat letting out gurgling mewls of pleasure as it finally came in her torn throat, spilling corrupted seed into her maw and giving a final thrust that would tear her head from its shoulders the rest of the way. ‘Xan…’ She’d remain conscious just long enough to see the feline’s blood and cum soaked cock being pressed into her left eye, a numb popping sound blinding her as she felt its cock pushing into her skull, seed dribbling from her mouth as she drifted into the cold dark. ‘I’m sorry…’ The shambler wolf continued to fuck her lifeless corpse as the feline pleasured itself with her skull, the wolf tearing off her leg in its lust filled rage. Her body twitched and shuddered in its death throes, her pussy clenching and gripping at the shambler-wolf’s cock like a vice and sending it into orgasm, knotting her corpse and blowing its load deep into her womb to infect the clutch of eggs that lay within. The wolf would give the feline another shove, sending it rolling away with its prize as it bit into her gore soaked breast, tearing it free with a single wrench of its head and gulping it down greedily before burying its muzzle into her exposed ribcage. Ribs would snap under the shambler’s impressive bite pressure, allowing it to burrow in and tear at her stilled heart. It’d pull free a piece of her lung and a mess of arteries, much of it falling from its snapping jaws. The commotion had attracted other shamblers who clamored around the fresh corpse, one beginning to fuck the hole in her chest the wolf had made, while others took turns using her neck stump and spilling load after load into her stomach, until it bulged and burst, spilling the foul seed onto the concrete floor to mingle with the blood and rot. Seed spent, the wolf would content itself to stripping the flesh from her legs even as the feline would gorge itself on her burst stomach, cum filled intestines hanging from its maw as her skull sat impaled on its shaft. Xan whimpered as he hung from the bull’s cock like a fleshlight, the giant shambler gripping his throat. He could slowly feel himself slipping away as he lost oxygen, blood dripping from his useless jaw as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The racoon at his ass had already orgasmed twice, the rotten seed spattering upon the ground with every frenzied thrust it made. He was about to lose consciousness when the bull’s semen spilled forth, filling his belly and backing up into his throat, spilling out of the torn corners of his mouth and drizzling down onto his chest. It would grip at his horns roughly, hilting itself in his throat with a groaning bellow. Suddenly the sound of the bull would be cut off as its cock slipped from Xan’s maw, finally allowing him to breathe at last, his jaw flapping uselessly as he vomited up blood and cum onto the floor in front of him. What had stopped it? He’d feel the shambler at his ass suddenly fall over him, limp, finally allowing him to collapse to the floor. Panting in pain he looked to where Xandria was and would vomit again as he saw her, dry heaving as he looked away immediately. She was long gone and what was left was little more than viscera and jizz. It hurt to even look at her. “Aneea….aneaaa…..” He could no longer even say her name. His voice was weak and came out in rasping whines. He sounded no different than a shambler with his ruined throat and jaw. Given a moment a respite, he’d curl into a bloody ball, softly crying for his lost sibling. But what had given him his moment of peace? He’d try to steady himself as he looked to the bull to see what had happened, realizing it had collapsed to the ground. He’d shudder in fear as he noticed its mangled face was now missing. Standing in its place was the shredder, its rictus grin and baleful eye now pointed straight down at him. A wretched feeling would fill his chest, as his face contorted with rage. It was all this thing’s fault… Its fault that that he could barely move… Its fault that he could never speak again.. Its fault that Xandria was dead… He’d push himself to his feet, letting the headless racoon fall off of him before collapsing in front of the shredder. The skink had done its work, severing a few key ligaments before it was murdered by its fellow Viral. Filled with impotent rage, Xan could only scream at the quilled hyena that stood before him, tears streaming down his bloodied face. No words would form but the screams could only have one meaning. ‘FUCK YOU! Just get it over with and kill me already!’ He could already feel the toxic seed in his belly working, shutting down his organs as the slow poison took hold of him. It would only be minutes before he was one of these things. It was inevitable now. Would he see Xandria when he turned? Or would he be stuck in his own corpse? He didn’t know... The shredder would chuckle again as it stepped towards him, carefully sliding its foot beneath his stomach and turning the drake onto his back before straddling his hips. Its maw would open and close softly as if trying to speak but he couldn’t hear what it was whispering. The thing would kneel down over him on its hands and knees, its dead eye flicking wildly about as its orange eye stares unblinking into his own. It’d lean in close, gently running its claws over his exposed teeth as it tried to whisper again. “dOn’T yOoOoOoOu WaNt To JoIn ThE fUn?” He’d feel it grind its hips against his own, its smaller quills scraping at his scales and prickling at his groin. There was something else though...something he could almost smell through the charnel as the toxins warped his mind. The shredder was female...and it wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Still seated on Xan’s groin, the shredder would roll her hips back and forth seductively as she ran a claw down the front of her old tattered uniform, her oversized talons shredding it open with little resistance. The cloth fell from her shoulders slowly and in pieces, conjuring the sickening image of putrefying flesh melting from bone as it slid from her quills. Chest now exposed to the drake she’d lay over him, pressing her modest needle coated breasts against his own scaly chest as he talons rested on his shoulders. Had things been different, Xan might have found himself smitten by the creature before him. She was fit, if a little bottom heavy, and her slow fluid movement spoke not of a shambler but an exotic dancer. He might have thought she had been a stripper were it not for the shredded military uniform that now lay at his side. Only her torn face, awkward claws, and twisted unblinking glare gave any indication that she was a Viral, her mutation seemingly saving her from the decay that claimed most of the infected. However, Xan was in far too much pain to appreciate his tormentor’s advances, her talons slicing open his shoulders despite her delicate touch and only adding to storm of firing synapses that muddled his thoughts as he struggled beneath her. His wounds throbbed and oozed his life onto the floor around him, sapping him of what strength his malnourished frame had been able to muster even as the infected seed that stirred in his insides worked at its terrible purpose. The only thoughts that pierced through the haze were flashes of hate for the shredder and a swelling urge to violate her for what she had done to he and his sister. The lusty Viral would stop her grinding for a moment to peer over her shoulder. Xan could almost swear she had smirked when the object of her attention became clear. His twin horse-like shafts were standing erect behind her, the topmost cock snuggled firmly against her plump and prickly ass cheeks like a hot dog. Another wheezing chuckle would gurgle its way out of her throat as she glanced back to Xan beneath her. “I’lL tAkE tHaT aS a YeSsSss...” The shredder whispered, her faint voice barely audible over the slurping crunching noises made by the shamblers who still fed on Xandria. Raising her hips, the mutant Viral would rest her talons on Xan’s stomach as she carefully steadied herself, letting the length of his upper shaft glide over her exposed pussy, the pants of her uniform torn at the crotch from her own traumatic death weeks earlier. He could feel her quills scratching at his sensitive flesh but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the cramping in his stomach and torn jaw, his cock twitching at the attention. Xan would let out a string of unintelligible noises, his jaw and tongue flapping uselessly as he attempted to protest the treatment. Summoning the last of his strength he’d throw a half-hearted haymaker at the shredder’s grinning face but only succeeded in grazing his knuckles on her teeth. His feeble attempt to fight back was quickly admonished by the creature, her claws flexing at his stomach and piercing his gut. He could feel her talons coiling themselves amidst his intestines before they were pulled en masse from his newly shredded abs, the hyena-mutant draping them over herself like a boa and chewing through any excess that wouldn’t stay put. Xan could only gurgle painfully as his vision began to fade to red. The pain felt so far away now as he began to drift away. The lacerations to his stomach had finished what the shamblers had started and the cold dark seemed so comfortable compared to the writhing pain that he did little to resist its pull. ‘I’m on my way, Xandria…’ Everything faded away, going from red to black as the pain and noise of his life disappeared like the last faint whispers of an echo. He’d be at peace at last. At least that’s what he was hoping... ‘Wait....no...something’s wrong…’ His consciousness was still there, refusing to slip away into the dark despite his desperate wish to disappear from this nightmare. A white hot pain shot through him once more as he was dragged back into his wretched body, his stilled mind feeling as if a syringe of adrenaline had just been injected straight into his heart. He was standing now, the shredder laying at his feet still enrobed in his guts that now spilled from his open belly. It felt as if someone had replaced his blood with white phosphorus, his veins burning with the viral payload that now wracked his body. His once teal eyes had glazed over and gone bloodshot as he stood there, howling in pain. Gripping at what was left of his bottom jaw he’d tear it free in a fit of pain and viral rage, tossing it aside before taking a menacing step towards the shredder, his twin cocks now throbbing with bloody lust as Xan’s mind was lost to the virus. That horrible garbled laughter would ring in his ears again as the mutant looked up at him with delight, slurping up one of his severed intestines as she watched his transformation. His gore stained hair hardened and sharpened into thick quills, running down his back like a neon mohawk. His claws twisted and warped, tearing the scales where his nails met flesh and curling inwards like fish hooks. A thick froth spilled from his throat, his wagging tongue sending the corrupted saliva wherever it flicked as his writhing body stomped forward. His spine and lower ribs were visible now, the gaping hole in his gut now empty save for the blood and infected ooze that dripped from the exposed veins. He could no longer feel pain, not what he had once called pain anyways, as all was replaced by the new sensation that boiled within him. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once, a gnawing and empty burn that tore everything from his mind. All he wanted was for the burning to stop, any sort of relief to end that boiling emptiness that had replaced everything that he had once been. His hooked claws scratched and tore at his skull, his talons shredding what was left of his face. One of his own talons found purchase within his own left eye, splitting it open and tearing it free of its socket as he flailed in frenzied confusion. The gnawing and empty flame that filled his senses seemed to focus in all at once as the chuckling mutant at his feet tried to stand up, the laughter echoing in his brain like an old church bell. She had barely made it to her feet before he was upon her, his hooked claws gripping at her wrists and slamming her face first into the wall behind her, her hardened quills barely saving her wrists from being cut free entirely by the drake’s new meathooks. Her plump rear was once again pressed against his groin, he twisted laughter only growing more erratic and frenzied as she spread her legs in submission, tongue hanging from her jagged grin as she pushed back against him in need. The emptiness beckoned for anything to fill it and Xan could feel the wretched heat inside of him surging as he unceremoniously drove his twin shafts into the shredder. Her long dead flesh gave way easily to his thick cylindrical cocks, pushing deep as he penetrated both her cunt and asshole at the same time. Her insides would spasm against his flesh, the nerves firing with random sparks of viral electricity as he filled her. Her wretched chuckling began to build into a cackle as the hyena mutant rammed her hips back against him, getting exactly what she wanted out of the drake’s hate fueled lust. Her plush prickly ass would slam at Xan’s hips even as he thrusted ravenously against her, some of the quills from her tail slapping at the hole in his stomach and pulling free more chunks of flesh. Xan would snarl as he violently fucked the shredder, swinging his head forward and jamming the fangs of his upper jaw into her spined shoulder, not caring as the longer quills of her mane perforated the roof of his mouth and stuck through parts of his snout like an impromptu bridge piercing. His balls ached for release as every thrust seemed to cause that emptiness to melt away just a little more. More...he needed more. His thrusts became more frantic with every passing moment as his mind slowly began to clear with every push, one of his tips slamming at her cervix before tearing at her decayed insides and pushing into her womb. His cock would bulge her stomach outward, only her hardened quills keeping his dick from pushing further and splitting her belly open with the sheer force of his thrusts. His other shaft stirred her guts with every thrust, and he could feel her lower intestines splitting open at the pressure he was exerting on her body. Letting out a gurgling snarl, the infected drake would give one final thrust, his body flesh writhing as he unleashed a viral payload of infested cum within her. Her stomach would bulge slightly from the sheer amount that now spilled into her womb, her legs shivering in excitement as it coated her insides. Seed would leak in short sharp jets from around the drake’s cocks, as he rode the orgasm, his hooked talons slicing through her quills before digging into her wrists, filling his palms with her quills as her thick coagulated blood oozed down the wall. Feeling the pleasure eat through the emptiness he could almost remember something important to him before it faded away again, replaced only with that horrible burning void. The faint teasing memory infuriated him, the drake roaring in anger before slamming his fist into the back of the hyena mutant’s head. One of her teeth cracked as her face impacted against the wall making her tense up around his cocks as her eager flesh milked him dry. Her cackle faded back into a soft chuckle as she pulled away from him, her cum soaked holes gaping and dripping with his seed as she let it spill down the quills on her thighs. “GoOoOoOd BoY….” Xan could barely understand her words, not even fully sure he heard her as his mind was overcome with the empty fog once more. Something important was missing and he needed to find it. He wanted more… He needed to remember… And then the smell of living flesh slipped past his nostrils. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Fuck, where’d those two go?” Lucy would curse under her breath as she turned her flashlight away from the alleyway she had been inspecting. The horned lioness had been sent out in a small detachment to see what happened to the scavenger team and deal with putting them to rest should they be infected when she found them. Not that they had much luck in that regard though. Only shambler’s in this part of the city so far. They’d have to turn back soon as the sun was starting to set behind the city’s skyline, only faint traces of a blood orange sunset slipping down the roads. It wasn’t safe in these parts after dark even before the Virals took over. Then a soft noise caught her ear. Vermin? A shambler? She strained her ears to hear it. Shutting her eyes as she focused on the sound. It almost sounded like… Her blood ran cold. Scraping…and the sound of flapping wings.