Love the Bombshells 3

A Post-Apocalyptic Base Building Adventure

Micky Carre

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2025 by Micky Carre

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

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1

Sometimes a bit of excitement was enough to keep our minds occupied.

That was important since we were recovering from a tragedy. The Druids had come back in full force, sending a total of thirty-seven men to kill us. While we were outnumbered more than three-to-one, we used cover and our superior weaponry to defend ourselves. Well, that and a bit of luck. Okay, a lot of luck.

Plus, you know, Kenny’s machine gun helped.

We radioed the people down in the ruins of Fort Meade, informing them of what happened. Iris, the woman we spoke with, understood that it would take us a bit longer to get down there. She sounded like she was barely holding herself together, though, causing me to worry.

After a night of restless sleep, everyone woke up early, ready to work. If the attack had shown us anything, it was that we needed to stay prepared. We split our numbers, half working on clearing the area and others finishing the watchtower. Kenny and I walked over to the garage to finish the car.

“I think he would have gotten a kick out of this,” Kenny said, looking at the Porsche.

“Who?” I asked

“Matt,” he replied. “He didn’t seem like a very happy guy to many people, but he was just stoic. He enjoyed a lot of different things. Really loved helping kids, especially.”

I frowned in thought. “That reminds me, I wanted to talk to Jess about approaching Tiffany and Will. She said there are some orphans up in Loch Raven that would love to be adopted.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Kenny said. “Accidents happen, and we still get attacked up there, even with our strength. We definitely have some kids that need parents.”

“I don’t know if anything can help them recover from what they went through, but that might help,” I said.

“No, it’s a good thought,” Kenny said. “I totally get it. Helps us, helps them. It’s good all around.” He put his hands on his hips and stared at the Porsche for a moment. “You about ready to try this?”

“Fuck yeah, I am,” I said. “I know our first drive will probably be garbage, but I can’t wait.”

Kenny bent down and examined the car. “Well, the brakes are a mess. We’ll see if they work.”

“I found a box of spare brake rotors over there against that wall,” I said, pointing to them. “A lot of times when they’re new, they’ll have a really thin coat of oil on them to keep them from rusting in the box. If those are still good, we can install them.”

“Good thinking,” Kenny said, grabbing the door handle. “We should probably do that before driving this thing, you know.”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Are we going to do it?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

He grinned. “That’s the right answer.”

We both opened the doors and climbed into the car. I looked around at the dash and saw three switches, which Kenny explained.

“Alright, that switch on the left changes the polarity of things. So, in the up position you go forward, flip it down for reverse.”

I flipped it down, then back up. “Alright. Simple enough. Wait, we’re backing out of the garage, right?” I flipped it back down.

Kenny continued. “I had to put a lot of thought into the next two switches, but I think I found a system that’ll work. So, both switches down means no power going to the motor. In fact, if you’re moving along the road and flip both down, it’ll act as brakes and actually recharge your batteries a touch.”

“Convenient,” I said. “That’ll help extend my range.”

Kenny nodded. “Exactly. Flip the left one up and you’ll get low power; hopefully enough to maintain your speed if you’re cruising along. That was my goal, at least. Leave that one down but flip up the right one and you’ll get more, about fifty percent power. For going uphill or when you need a bit more speed. Flip both up for max power.”

“More like max fun,” I said.

“Yeah, but also max power draw,” he warned. “You don’t have much range in this, but the car being so damn light helps a ton. Also, that motor isn’t very powerful, so that helps as well. Use medium power to get you up to speed, then low power to maintain it. Anytime you need to stop, try using the regenerative braking before the brake pedal, so you can regain a bit of range.”

I nodded. “Sounds easy enough. You ready?”

“I was born ready,” Kenny replied, grabbing his seatbelt and fastening it.

“Oh, good idea,” I said. I buckled my seatbelt as well.

My hand hesitated a bit, then flipped the low-power switch up. With the faint whine of an electric motor, the car immediately began moving backward down the driveway.

“Holy shit!” I shouted. “It works!”

“WOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Kenny hollered out the window.

We weren’t going fast at all; slowly accelerating up to ten miles an hour tops. But doing ten miles an hour in reverse down a driveway can feel quick as hell, especially when you’re used to walking. I flipped the switch down and the car began slowing. I pressed on the brake pedal—which was quite stiff without power brakes—and was rewarded with one of the worst noises I had ever heard.

“Oh god, what is that?” I asked.

“It’s pain!” Kenny said, clamping his hands over his ears. “That’s the sound of pain!”

Yeah, the brakes weren’t in good shape. The rotors were pretty much solid rust, in fact, and it sounded exactly as bad as one would imagine. But, they were good enough to bring us to a halt.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe it,” I said. My heart was actually pounding as we came to a stop at the mouth of the driveway. “We just built an electric Porsche 911. This is incredible.”

“You’re welcome,” Kenny said with a grin. “Let’s pull this thing back into the garage so we can change those front brakes.”

“Yeah, good call,” I said. I flipped the toggle switch to go forward, then hit low power again. With a faint whine, the car slowly accelerated up the driveway. I turned it off halfway and we coasted to a stop. I did have to press the brake pedal a bit. The grinding, squealing noise was simply awful.

“You said you found spare brake rotors, right?” Kenny said as he opened the door.

“Yeah, over there,” I said, standing up next to the car. “There’s a bunch of spare parts there. Most of them relate to the motor though, so we can’t use them.”

“Shame,” Kenny said.

While he sorted through the spare parts, I walked to the open garage door and looked out. Folks were still working on the watchtower; probably working hard to keep their minds clear after our tragic day.

Jess walked over to speak with Stan for a moment. Once they were done she looked my way and saw me. She gave me a smile, then waved. I waved back. What a gorgeous woman.

I still found it hard to believe I had won over such a beautiful redhead like her. She was everything I could ever want: beautiful, intelligent, calm and collected, with a deliciously thick figure that made my mouth water.

And while I couldn’t see her at the moment, Shayla was my other girlfriend. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed catgirl—she hated that word, though—with a sassy attitude, a bad joke always ready, and the body of an athlete. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world with those two women in my life.

And now, I had a vintage Porsche. Living the dream.

“Hey, help me out with this,” Kenny called out.

I turned back to the car and went to help him. Kenny was bringing a heavy floor jack over to the driver’s side of the car. I found a lug wrench and began loosening the bolts. I had to put my entire body weight into it, as they hadn’t been touched in decades.

Kenny whistled appreciatively. “Those wheels sure are pretty.”

I brushed some dust and grime off of the polished aluminum rims. “Yeah, Fuchs wheels. Lightweight, strong, and expensive as hell if you need to buy more. Uh, especially now, I guess. Heh.”

“What did you call them?”

“Fuchs,” I said, drawing out the pronunciation. “Like, fooooooks.”

“How do you spell that?” Kenny asked.

“F-u-c-h-s.”

Kenny rubbed his bearded chin. “Fucks wheels? Mark, it sounds like you’re saying this thing is rolling around on fucks wheels.”

I laughed. “Come on, help me change these fucks wheels.”

Kenny grumbled as he jacked up the car. “Fucks wheels. Strangest damn thing.”

“They were German,” I said.

He nodded slowly. “That’s across the ocean, right? Over in what used to be Europe?”

“Yeah, exactly,” I said. “Where this car was made, too. And that BMW over at my place. They made a lot of great cars. Sometimes I wonder how those countries are doing now.”

“Who knows,” Kenny said. “The entire world has had a hard time with all this. I mean, the war killed off so many people. I’ve heard estimates that half the world's population was killed.”

I got the last lug bolt off and together we kicked at the tire until the wheel came free. Damn thing was stuck on there.

“The more I hear about the war, the more I realize we’re all lucky to be alive,” I said as we looked at the brakes.

The calipers looked to be in good shape, but the rotors, being cast iron, were unusable. We grabbed a handful of wrenches and a hammer and got to it.

“Yeah, we learn about it in school, growing up,” Kenny said. “Something like half the world was killed with bombs and the immediate fallout. Hell, I don’t think anyone will live in India for another two hundred years. China dropped some bomb on them, cobalt or something, that made the place a radioactive wasteland. The entire place is just dead for hundreds of miles around, even the plants.”

“Jesus,” I said.

“Yeah, and then there was a nuclear winter,” Kenny continued. “All the shit in the atmosphere, smoke from the bombs and whatnot. The whole planet just kinda froze, and that killed a lot more people. Most people, in fact. It took decades for things to start warming up, and I’ve heard some pretty awful stories about what people ate to stay alive during those years. Suffice to say, I don’t envy my grandparents.”

“Yeah, Jacob once told me that things have really only been livable for the past twenty years or so.”

Kenny nodded. “I’d say closer to thirty years, maybe even forty, but yeah. And we started from nothing. No factories, no power, no water, no food. Advancements have been slow, but we have enough people in Loch Raven that we’re doing it. We’re getting there.”

“What do you mean?”

He grinned. “We’ve scavenged from everything around: big stores, car dealerships. I told you we raided an old Army base a while ago and got a ton of weapons, right?”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

His grin remained. “We got all types of experimental shit, too. Don’t know how to use it all, but once we figure it out, we’ll be good.”

I handed Kenny a new brake rotor as he tossed the old one aside. It cracked in half when it hit the concrete floor.

“Okay, you can’t leave me hanging like that,” I said. “Come on, out with it.”

Kenny shrugged. “I dunno, to be honest. I just know we got guns on top of guns, enough ammo for a hundred years, and some weird experimental stuff. Hell, we even got some big guns, like from tanks, although I’m not sure if those work. So as we’ve said, don’t worry about putting a gun on the Porsche. We got you covered.”

“Surely you have more than just big guns,” I said.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “Truth is, I don’t even know how to describe some of what we’ve got. I mean, I’ve only seen some, you know, It took us years to get all the stuff out of that base over to the east of us. Some of that shit is heavy, and gas is hard to make. But we got guns, we got armor, we got everything you need.”

“Then why do you wear that crappy old stuff?” I asked, referring to his football helmet with metal strips welded on it.

He shrugged. “To be honest, it’s more comfortable. Plus, I just like it. I could probably get some of the good stuff, but they tend to save it and keep it at home, in case anyone attacks again.”

“In case anyone attacks Loch Raven?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “If anyone does that, they won’t last long.”

“So, what kind of armor?” I asked.

“Ah, you know. We got vests that’ll stop a bullet, helmets, all sorts of things.” He put the wheel back on the Porsche and began tightening the lug bolts. “We got some armor made of metal that moves with you, like it’s powered. That’s the real valuable stuff, but if we take this up to Loch Raven I can probably get you to see it. We got guns taken off of trucks, off of fighter jets. An arsenal.”

I just blinked. “You have mech suits?”

“Huh?”

“A metal armor suit that moves with you?”

“Well, yeah. Probably two dozen of them, maybe more. Batteries don’t last super long and they take a bit to learn. To be honest, they’re a bit outdated. I think they were in development when the bombs fell, so no one ever got to use them. With all the guns we have, plus the armored vehicles, there’s kinda no point to them.”

“Holy shit,” I said. “Mech suits!”

“If we’re able to scavenge enough from around here, I’m pretty sure we can convince the guys to give you a machine gun and plenty of ammo,” Kenny said, glancing up at the fender. He slapped the surface. “Yeah, mount it right here. The belt of ammo could go up there in the front trunk. Probably not as big as what’s on Josh’s truck, but we can get you something that’ll do some damage.”

“What is that thing, anyway?” I asked. “You were cutting down trees with it.”

“Yeah, it’ll do that. It’s a fifty-cal, so it’s got a lot of oomph. Definitely too much for this little car, though.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, then grabbed the jack and carried it to the other side. “Man, this is a lot to process.”

“Well, think about it while helping me with these fucks wheels,” Kenny said.

2

Once we got the front brakes done on the other side, we felt better about driving the car. Although it was in fantastic shape, it had sat for eighty years. Some parts were just plain grimy. I looked around the garage until I found some WD-40 and hit some of the important parts. It was a bit messy, but it would keep things from rusting or corroding, and that was all that mattered at that time.

“Ready to try again?” Kenny asked as he tightened the last of the lug bolts.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” I said.

I pushed the tools out of the way and ensured we had a clear path, then went back to the car. We both climbed inside and buckled up. My hand instinctively went to put a key in, then I laughed. No need for any of that. Just flip a switch.

“Here we go,” I said. I pushed the switch down to ensure we were in reverse, then flipped the low-power switch.

The car hummed quietly as we backed down the driveway. I turned the switch off and gently pressed on the brake pedal. The rear brakes still made some rather nightmarish noises, but the fronts were all better.

“I’m wondering if we should just remove the rear brakes altogether,” I said as I flipped the low-power switch again. “Just let the fronts handle all the stopping. It would save a bit of weight, too.”

Kenny nodded. “Not the worst idea. I didn’t see any spare rotors for the rear either, so it solves two problems at once.”

Once we got to the end of the driveway I turned the wheel and switched the motor off. That would take a bit of getting used to. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the others watching us with open interest. Shayla waved at me and gave me a big smile.

“I wish I could spin the back tires right now,” I said as I flipped the switch to ensure the car was going forward. After that, I pushed the low-power switch and we were off.

Kenny rolled his window down and I did the same. He leaned out the window a bit and slapped the door as we took a left turn.

“Man, this is great!” he said.

Throttle off, gentle braking, left turn. Using a switch instead of a gas pedal was definitely going to take some getting used to, but it was worth it. Once we turned onto Lakeside Drive, I put the car at medium power. It lurched ahead, not with any form of urgency but definitely better than the lower power setting.

“Go ahead and see what she’ll do!” Kenny said, still leaning an arm on the door.

“Alright, here we go,” I said as I flipped both switches up, putting it at max power.

The electric motor only had about fifty horsepower, but in theory we were using all of it now. The light weight of the car definitely helped with acceleration, but we weren’t going to win any drag races. Still, the faint surge in power put a huge smile on my face.

“Holy shit, the speedometer works!” I said, watching it rise.

“Yeah, it’s mechanical and runs off the transaxle,” Kenny replied.

I watched the needle go up to thirty and continue, which made me curious as to the car’s top speed. The end of the road came rather quickly though, so I turned both switches off to test the regenerative braking. It was actually quite strong, enough to surprise me. I barely needed my brake pedal to come to a stop.

“Man, this is incredible,” I said. “I never want it to end.”

“You’re gonna need a lot of batteries, then,” Kenny said with a chuckle.

I reached down and grabbed the gearshift knob, then pulled it out of second gear. Mentally crossing my fingers, I pushed it into third gear. It almost went in.

“If I break anything, you can take it out of my paycheck,” I said, flipping the low power switch on for a split second, just to turn things over.

With only a bit of grinding, the lever went into third gear. My smile grew.

“That sound hurt my heart,” Kenny said, looking down at the gear selector.

“I know, same,” I said. “I’m hoping this will help with range, though. At least, if the car has enough power. It may not.”

I turned it back on and we made the left turn onto Falls Road. In low-power setting, it barely had enough torque to get the car moving. I flipped the medium switch and it began to slowly accelerate. Once again, the light weight of the car helped immensely.

I couldn’t resist the urge. Once we were doing about fifteen miles an hour, I put it at max power again. The speedometer climbed past twenty, thirty, forty. I tried to do some quick mental calculations, estimating the electric motor’s maximum speed and what that would translate to in third gear.

“Fifty!” I shouted. It was definitely climbing much more slowly by this point, struggling for every extra mile per hour. The needle approached sixty and wouldn’t go any further.

“Holy shit!” Kenny shouted, slapping the car door again.

I dropped it back to the mid-power setting and watched as the needle slowly went down. That was enough power to remain in the upper forties, which was good. I tried low power, and on flat ground it looked like that would hold the car around forty miles per hour.

“Man, this is great,” I said, turning the motors off so the car would slow.

I wanted to keep driving, but we were heading straight for Druid territory. And while they were three or four miles to the south, I wasn’t taking any chances.

I gently pressed the brake pedal, wincing at the sound the rear brakes made. Once we were moving at a crawl, I hit low power again and turned the wheel. The car whipped around, surprisingly agile for something that almost certainly had four blown shock absorbers.

“How fast did it go?” Kenny asked as I began slowly accelerating again.

“Fifty-seven or so,” I replied, leaving the car at mid power. “It’ll maintain most of that speed at the medium setting. At low power it’ll hold almost forty. That’ll help a ton when I head down south to get those people.”

“We just need to fix a few more things and we can get you ready for that trip,” Kenny said. “Although I’m impressed with how it’s done so far.”

“It’s a simple, lightweight car,” I said. “Honestly, this was probably the best car we could have found for these purposes. A lot of older cars were big and heavy. After what we’ve removed, this thing probably weighs fifteen hundred pounds or less.”

Kenny whistled. “Yep, that’ll do it. Although when you’re carrying three extra people, your range will go down, you know.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Hope they like sitting on batteries.”

I nodded, but kept my lips sealed. I had some rather dark thoughts on that matter that I decided to keep to myself.

I turned right onto Lakeside Drive without slowing. With barely any body roll, the car zipped around the corner, although the tires squealed and struggled to maintain traction. Kenny hollered in joy the entire time. Well, if he was used to a Toyota Prius and an armored Tacoma, I could understand it. Even with only fifty horsepower, this car was a blast.

I checked the other gauges as we drove down the street. They were all dead, but Kenny said he could rig up one to show how much charge we had left. He still wanted to install a solar panel on the roof as well.

“How long until it’s done?” I asked.

“I can get it done today, no problem,” Kenny said. “It’ll give me something to focus on, which is good.”

“I’m just thinking about that woman down south,” I said. “The one in the old Army base.”

Kenny chuckled. “Ah, a soft spot in your heart for a damsel in distress.”

I shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t want to just let them die. Do you think I’ll be able to leave today, or tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Kenny said. “I wouldn’t bet on today at all. Plus, I don’t think you want to drive at night.” He snapped his fingers. “Which reminds me, we still need to install those LEDs on the front of this thing.”

“And the machine gun,” I said, meaning it as a joke.

“Yeah, absolutely. Some of the guys might go back home today to inform Matt’s family that he’s gone. I can ask them to bring us something.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, then dropped the car into low power mode since our corner was coming up. “Thanks again for all your help. I really feel like you guys are going above and beyond. You’re treating this place like it’s yours.”

Kenny just shrugged. “There aren’t a lot of good people left in the world, Mark. I mean, take Baltimore: half the gangs will fuck you, kill you, and eat you. The other half won’t even bother killing you, they’ll just go straight from fucking to the grill, and they’ll laugh as you’re burned alive. Or maybe they’ll just eat you raw. Sometimes while someone else is fucking you.”

“Jesus christ, enough,” I said. I felt sick after hearing that.

“Point is, those are the kind of men that survived,” Kenny continued. “The ones that were willing to kill and eat others. Those are the men that gathered followers, and grew strong by killing others and taking from them. As best as we can tell, many if not most people are that way, now. People down in Haven were alright, but too far away to really benefit us. But you guys are close. You’re close, and you’re decent people.”

“Yeah, no cannibalism here,” I muttered.

“Having another settlement of decent people so close feels like the beginning of a proper civilization,” Kenny said. “So, as long as you folks continue to stay decent, I think Chris and the others in charge up in Loch Raven will work hard to ensure you survive.”

I thought for a moment. “Wait a minute. Chris is Jessica’s dad, right?”

Kenny grinned. “Glad you caught that. Another reason to keep her happy: you’ll get extra stuff from her dad. He’ll move mountains to keep his daughter happy.”

“Well, I don’t need a mountain,” I said, throwing the car into a turn just a bit too fast. The old, dry-rotted tires squealed, but they held. “I just need a machine gun for my Porsche.”

3

Once we pulled into the driveway, I turned the car off and hopped out. Both Kenny and I were pretty excited, but we wanted to check on the others. We were spending a lot of time in that garage, so we had to make sure we were still in the loop in case anything happened.

“I don’t think that drive could have gone much better,” I said as we walked down the driveway.

“Yeah, same,” Kenny replied. “I just gotta get that solar panel on top so you can charge that thing. But you have to understand that it’ll be slow.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

“I mean like, all day long to charge your batteries halfway,” Kenny said. “Read between the lines, Mark: Bring a gun. Bring two guns, and some food. And then another gun.”

“Fortunately, I know this area better than all of you,” I said. “So I’ll know where to hide when I need to charge more. I’m sure there’ll be some dead areas where we can just park and relax while the car charges.”

“If you take a nap, keep one eye open in case they want to eat you,” Kenny warned.

“What is it with you guys and cannibalism?” I asked.

Kenny shrugged. “I mean, a man’s gotta eat. If all that’s left is another person….” He trailed off and shrugged again.

“Kenny, have you ever eaten anyone?” I asked.

He laughed. “Of course not. We have a ton of food up in Loch Raven. Honestly, I don’t think anyone up there has eaten other people, except for maybe some of the oldest folks, before we really formed the settlement. We’re peaceful folk.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. If Kenny had turned out to be a cannibal, that would have made things slightly awkward.

“Looks like they’re really pushing to finish this thing,” Kenny said, pointing in front of us.

I looked and saw Stan handing a log to Mike and Alex. They were working on the storage room next to the watchtower, building what looked like the framework for a roof.

“Man, those guys work fast,” I said. “I almost feel bad, like I haven’t been doing as much.”

“You helped plenty with clearing and with that guard post,” Kenny said. “In fact, that guard post was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Plus you and me have been working on this car. And while the car isn’t a building, it’s still an important part of this place. Transportation is priceless. So don’t fuck up and get yourself killed down south, alright?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’ll try my hardest. Honestly, I think it’ll be easy. I know they have Green Men and all down there, but they won’t be able to catch me. I’ll throw two of the survivors in the passenger seat, the third in the back, and we’ll take the scenic route back here. Two days with some charging, and we’ll be here safe and sound.”

“You really think it’ll be that easy?” Kenny asked.

“Yeah, I do,” I said. “I’m mobile and armed. They’re on foot. And while I’m sure the Green Men can run pretty fast, they won’t be able to catch me. As well as I know these roads, it’ll be no problem to find my way back home.”

“If you say so,” Kenny said. “Just be careful, alright? People look to you as the leader of this place. It was your idea and we’re all following your plan. It wouldn’t be good for you to suddenly become food.”

“Again with the cannibalism,” I muttered.

“You fellas need any help?” Kenny called out as we approached the watchtower.

“We always need help!” Stan said, waving us closer.

I opened my mouth to ask a question about building a roof, but decided against pointing out the obvious. Instead, I tried to ask something more helpful.

“Hey, you want me to get my wheelbarrow and gather up all the grass we cut?”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Stan said. “It’s not quite thatch, but it’ll work well enough until we’re able to put a proper roof on this thing.”

“Good thinking,” Kenny said to me.

My wheelbarrow was still in the area, since I had never put it back after using it last. I jogged over to where it was—near Jess’s house—and began scooping mostly-dead grass into it.

Both of my girlfriends were there, clearing out Jessica’s front yard. Jacob helped, as did Ellie and her son Richard. I turned and saw Jenna, Arnold, Will, and Tiffany working on that couple’s yard.

“Looks like everyone is busy,” I said as I threw another handful of dead grass into the wheelbarrow.

Shayla saw me and beamed a smile at me. I waved at her and she blew a kiss in my direction. Jess saw that and smiled at me as well.

They were nearly done clearing Jess’s yard, although I had to remember it wasn’t her house any longer. Jess agreed to move in with Shayla and me, leaving this house up for grabs. I figured some of the people from Haven would probably grab it.

Once my wheelbarrow was full I grabbed the handles and turned it around. I watched Will and Tiffany work for a brief moment. The heartbroken couple had been a bit strange since our attack the day before. I got the feeling Tiffany had gotten her first taste of revenge and craved more. I made a quick mental note to keep an eye on her so she’d keep a level head.

I pushed the wheelbarrow back toward the watchtower and emptied it right there on the pavement. It was a clear, sunny day, so the asphalt was warm. I kicked at the grass a bit, spreading it out and ensuring it dried out some more before being utilized.

“Yeah just dump as much as you can right there,” Stan called out to me.

I nodded and got back to work. When I went back toward Jess’s house—or Richard’s house, or Jenna’s house, or whatever—Shayla walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek.

I smiled as I watched her leave. Her cat tail swished side-to-side above her perky butt as she walked away. She glanced over her shoulder at me and smiled again. Having a beautiful woman like her in my life was definitely motivation to keep working hard.

The next time I went there to gather more grass, Jess walked up to me. She still wasn’t quite as openly affectionate as Shayla, but she leaned forward and pecked me on the lips. I reached out and hugged her tightly, and she gave me a delightful laugh as I squeezed her.

When I released her, I looked into her beautiful emerald green eyes for a moment. We stood there, staring at each other for what was probably an uncomfortable amount of time, neither of us moving.

“Kiss her!” Shayla shouted. “Go on, kiss her!”

We both smiled and leaned in for a kiss. I pulled her in close and she wrapped her arms around me, neither of us concerned with how sweaty we were. Our tongues danced and our hands squeezed, and it was all wonderful.

“There,” Jess said, finally releasing me. “Now get back to work.” She gave me a big smile.

“You too,” I said, smacking her on the butt.

Her eyebrows rose and she gave me another smile and a wink. “Careful, I might start to enjoy that.” With that, she turned and walked back to her yard. I watched her the entire time, mesmerized by her beauty.

“How did I get so damn lucky,” I said to myself as I scooped up more partially dried grass and loaded it into the wheelbarrow.

I really wanted to help Kenny with the car, so I moved quickly after that. It took me four more trips, but I got all the grass moved over next to the watchtower so they could use it. After that, I decided to help out with the tower itself for a bit. At one point I saw Kenny carrying the LED lights over to the garage.

I wasn’t familiar with the mortise and tenon method of construction they were using, so I just lifted the logs and hand them to the guys building the roof. Even just that helped a good bit.

“Hey, you need me?” I asked Kenny as he turned to walk back to the garage again, this time carrying a small solar panel.

“Nah, not with this,” he replied. “It’s nothing you know how to do, and to be honest you’ll just get in the way. You can help with the rear brakes later if you want.”

I nodded. “Deal. I’ll be there.”

After that, I went back to helping with the watchtower. Once all the logs were nailed onto the framework, they climbed down and began splitting some in half, lengthwise. I took that time to continue stacking stones on the wall.

We were out of concrete, but Baltimore clay was solid stuff when mixed correctly. It was certainly good enough to hold the stones in place and fill any gaps. Alex took charge of mixing the clay and assured me it would be fine as long as it wasn’t at ground level.

A few hours later, my shirt hung on a nearby branch, the wall was nearly two feet higher, and I was completely soaked with sweat. My hands ached, my lower back ached, but I felt one hell of a sense of accomplishment. There was something about stone buildings that would do that.

They had split enough logs to finish the roof, so Stan and I started passing them up while Alex and Mike nailed them into place. The logs stayed horizontal on the roof, flat side down. Once those were on, they started placing handfuls of thatch up there, expertly weaving them through all the boards.

It was a rather fascinating process to watch. I quickly realized it took about four times as much material as I had initially guessed. With that in mind, I grabbed my wheelbarrow and began gathering more long grass from Jess’s yard. It wasn’t the best thatching material, but it was better than nothing.

“It’ll work as long as the roof is steep enough,” Alex explained. “The key is that there’s enough thatch on here that the water will run off and not soak through. That, combined with the right angle, makes for a waterproof roof that insulates pretty well, too.”

“Neat,” I said, watching them work. I still didn’t trust a roof of grass, but they assured me that when built properly, it would last for decades. Although they also said they would remove it and switch it to roofing shingles once they got the chance. This was just temporary.

“This clay gives me some good ideas, too,” Mike said, looking down where Alex had mixed a batch of clay to hold the stones in place. “You can build cob walls with that shit, you know? Take some of this dead grass and chop it up a bit, then mix it with the clay mud. Build your walls out of that.”

“Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of that,” I said.

“We have a good number of buildings made of that up in Loch Raven,” Mike continued. “The foundation is stone, and so is the first foot or so of wall. After that, it’s all cob. Lasts really well as long as you don’t let it get soaking wet.”

I looked around, trying to think of where we’d need that. Nothing came to mind.

“All I can think of is building a wall,” I said. “A big, thick wall around us to keep us safe. But we’re too spread out for that to be realistic.”

“Yeah, throw that idea in the trash, man,” Mike said. “Best we can do is have some guard posts like the one we built over there and keep everyone armed and ready. Although I think the Druids will leave us alone now.”

We were all silent for a moment after that, as we all remembered what we had just lost.

“He was a good man,” Alex said. “Not always the most pleasant, but his heart was in the right place. Maybe we can all have a drink in his honor tonight. He was a whiskey kind of guy.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea,” I said.

After talking with Kenny, Mike and Alex took their car back to Loch Raven. They were gone for nearly two hours, doing who knows what, but when they came back they immediately got to work on the watchtower again. I secretly hoped they had a machine gun in the back of their car for me.

We kept working until the sky began fading into shades of orange and yellow. After cleaning up, Jacob and Ellie cooked a wonderful dinner for us of hearty stew with big chunks of venison and goose in it. She spoke to Jacob about building a stone oven behind their house and he nodded and said he’d start on it in the morning. What I most noticed was that she described it as their house. Not his.

Shayla sat next to me with Jess on her other side. It was a quiet dinner, but I decided to tease Jacob a bit. After seeing how he and Ellie treated each other, I leaned over a bit closer to them.

“So, when’s the wedding date?” I asked.

Jacob tried to feign innocence, but Ellie rolled right over him.

“I told him he’s gonna blow the cobwebs off my pussy tonight and treat me like a proper woman. One taste of that and I don’t think he’ll be able to leave. We’ll be married within a fortnight.”

I nearly choked on my stew.

4

After dinner we discussed guard shifts for a while. We had dealt a serious blow to the Druids in killing so many of them; enough that we felt they probably wouldn’t try us again. But safety was still a top priority so we had to stay vigilant.

“I’ll take one of the middle shifts,” I said. Being awake at two in the morning was terrible, and I didn’t want anyone else to have to suffer through that, so I always volunteered for the worst shift.

Alex waved my comment away. “Nonsense. I think it’d be better if more people got some sleep. The watchtower is functional, so I think we can start using it now. I’ll take first shift, until midnight. Someone can take a second shift until morning. That way only two people lose some sleep.”

“I’ll take second shift,” Jacob said.

“You have plans tonight, mister,” Ellie said.

“Nevermind,” Jacob said, hiding a grin behind his beard.

“I’ll do it,” Richard said, right as I was about to volunteer. He still spoke slowly but I was glad to see him opening up a bit. “I want to make sure I’m helping as much as I can.” His mother smiled proudly at him.

I shrugged. “Well, I guess you guys can take naps tomorrow while we work.”

Richard nodded.

“Exactly,” Alex said. “Hey Kenny, think you can get those lights wired up before the sun goes down?”

Kenny stared at the watchtower for a moment, stroking his short beard. “Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard. I just need to run some wire up there, which is something I want to do anyway.”

“We can tear wire out of that house,” I said, pointing to the house where my Porsche was parked.

“Perfect,” Kenny said.

I stood, eager to be helpful. Sometimes I felt like these guys from Loch Raven were building this place themselves and I wanted to make sure I was helping as much as possible.

To my surprise, Jacob pushed himself to his feet. “Well, if there’s one thing I’m good at,” he said under his breath. “Hold on, Mark. I’m coming.”

Together we walked over to the ruined house. The days were getting shorter, but there was still at least an hour of usable light left.

“So, how are things going?” I asked.

“I tell you what, I’m enjoying cooking a lot more than I expected,” Jacob replied. “Never thought I’d make something that tasted so good. Always thought of cooking as women’s work, but now I see I was wrong.”

“Nah, I mean how are things going with you and Ellie?” I asked.

“Ah. Yes, well,” Jacob muttered, blushing slightly. He blushed! “I ain’t used to having someone treat me so. It’s been twenty years since I’ve been close to a woman. As I’ve said, I’m just not made for it. I’m good at killin’ and not much else.”

“Well, you’re good at cooking,” I said as we walked into the front door.

Jacob barked a laugh. “Yeah, I suppose I am. Ellie’s a good woman, though. She’s tough. Strong.” Jacob grinned at me. “Tits the size of my head, too.”

“You old dog, you,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Jacob grinned through his beard. “She’s showing me that there’s more to the world than just violence. Actually, all of y’all are. This entire place is a blessing.”

He stopped next to a wall, looking down at an outlet. “Alright, here we go.”

Jacob kicked a hole in the wall, then reached down and grabbed the outlet itself. He twisted, tearing the box from the nails that held it to a wall stud, then we both pulled on it. The wire tore a groove through the rotten drywall like it was wet paper.

We pulled until we hit another stud, then tore out more drywall to gain access. I grabbed a saw from the garage so we could remove several studs that were in the way, but even with that we made fast progress. Especially since most everything in that house was rotten. While Jacob worked on pulling that line out, I grabbed another outlet and did the same. Some of the wood was rotten to the point of being mush, which made it even easier to get to valuable things like wire.

“This is a lot easier than I was expecting,” I said, pulling hard on a length of wire.

A chunk of drywall fell and splattered on the floor. Thick mold caked the inside of the wall, and I grabbed my shirt and held it over my face. One more hard pull got me another good length of wire, but to my surprise part of a two-by-four came out with it. The wood was so wet and rotten it had the consistency of a sponge.

“I don’t like this,” I said. “How is this house still standing? I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

Jacob looked up and stared at the ceiling for a moment. “Well, that’s a pretty good clue,” he said, pointing to the sagging drywall. He gave his length of wire one more hard pull and half the wall came with it.

“Shit!” he said, turning and rushing into me.

“Hey what the—” It took me a split second to realize he was pushing me out of the house.

We crashed onto the ground right outside the front door right as an entire wall fell inside the living room. It made a slopping sound as the wet drywall and rotten wood fell onto the dirt-soaked floor.

“Those walls are in bad shape,” Jacob said, looking through the door. “I think there’s more dirt and mold in there than wood. We need to be careful.”

Just to be safe, I walked over to the open garage. After opening the car door, I hopped in the Porsche and backed it onto the driveway. If the worst happened, I wanted it to be safe.

“Hey, any wire cutters in there?” Jacob called out.

I walked back into the garage, now wary. At least the walls in there seemed relatively intact. It was the rest of the house that had rotted away over the decades.

“Found ‘em,” I called out, carrying a heavy pair of lineman’s pliers. I walked over and handed them to Jacob.

“I don’t think this house has much time left,” Jacob said as he slowly entered the doorway. “One good push and it’ll collapse. I’m amazed it’s made it this far.”

“Might as well get all we can, then,” I said.

Jacob reached up and cut the wire he was pulling, then stood there for a moment. “We’re doing this wrong. Come on.”

I followed him to the basement, and we searched in the dark for the breaker box. Once we found it, Jacob cut every wire there. He pulled on a few that had been stapled to the underside of the floor joists, tearing them free. One ran to a light on the other side of the basement. He snipped it free and handed the wire to me so I could coil it.

We worked for about twenty minutes, following some of the simpler wires through walls. Ultimately, we got more than a hundred feet of wire out of the house before we stopped. The house was so rotten that pulling the wire was shockingly easy.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jacob said, hurrying through the living room. “I feel like we should strip this place and burn it.”

I glanced at a thick patch of black mold on the wall as I left. “Yeah, can’t disagree there. Let’s save the garage but burn the house.”

“I’m sure the boys from Loch Raven will want to pick at it first,” Jacob said. He frowned at the house over his shoulder, then we walked away.

“Yeah, they get to scavenge all this stuff as payment for helping us out,” I said. “That was our original deal. They haven’t tried to capitalize on it yet, though. They seem oddly pleased with just helping us out.”

Jacob nodded. “I’ve noticed that, too. Seems like they’re hoping to offset some of the evil in this world with their goodness. I do believe their goodwill is genuine, too.”

“That’s a relief,” I said, meaning it as a light-hearted joke. “We’d be in a bad place if they decided to turn on us.”

Jacob sucked a tooth for a moment. “Eh. I could kill ‘em. Stan might be hard. He’s a big fucker, and gets nice and mean when he’s pushed hard enough. Not sure if you saw what he did to that Druid.”

“Yeah, I saw,” I said, trying not to wince at the memory. Stan had picked up one of the Druids and smashed his head against the stone wall of the watchtower. He made it look like he was lifting a children’s toy instead of another person.

“Fortunately, I don’t see them turning on us. They’re a rare bit of kindness in this world,” Jacob said. “You still planning on picking those folks up from down south?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Kenny has to fix a few more things on the car and install the solar panels, then I’m heading out. Hopefully tomorrow morning.”

Jacob nodded slowly. “Saving someone’s life is a good way to build some trust. I imagine those folks will be grateful to be here, and they’ll make good neighbors, if you catch my drift.”

He had a solid point: They’d make excellent additions to our settlement, considering how grateful they’d to be. I wasn’t concerned with that, though. I just wanted to do the right thing and save some people’s lives.

“That reminds me, I want to send Will and Tiffany up to Loch Raven tomorrow. Jess let me know that they could adopt a child up there.”

“Good thinking,” Jacob said. “After what they lost, that might be the only thing that could help.” He chuckled. “Plus, it’ll add one more to our population.”

“What are we at, now?” I asked, counting in my head. “Us, the people from Haven, Loch Raven…. Uh, thirteen?”

“We’re getting there,” Jacob said as we approached the watchtower and the rest of our fellows. “Before you know it, we’ll have a hundred people living here.”

“Well, you’d better get to cooking, then,” Kenny said with a grin.

“Got you some wire,” Jacob said, taking the rolled up Romex from me and passing it to the three-armed man.

“Fuck yeah,” Kenny said. He stood with two hands on his hips and the roll of wire in his third hand. “This’ll make it easy. We just have to make sure we keep shit dry until we can put a roof over this thing.” He looked up at the sky. “And the sooner, the better. I have a feeling our clear days are about to run out.”

“What gave you that feeling?” Stan asked. “Was it the gray clouds overhead?”

Kenny nodded soberly. “Call it mutant’s intuition.”

Stan whistled. “You’re like a psychic, reading the weather. This must be a new mutation.”

I handed Kenny the lineman’s pliers and he took them with a murmured word of thanks. I sat back down next to Shayla while Kenny went to work. While Jacob and I had been scavenging the house, Kenny had brought over more LED lights from the Jeep.

“Hey, honey,” I said, putting an arm around her.

Shayla leaned her head against my shoulder. “Hey, Mark. I missed you a lot today. I feel like we haven’t seen much of each other.”

“Agreed,” I said. “And I still need a bath. Ugh, I feel like I need more hours in the day.”

“Well, there’s a simple solution for that,” Jess said, looking over at us. “Let’s go for a swim.”

“Now?” I asked.

“Why not?” she asked. “Nothing wrong with a little nighttime bath.”

“She’s right,” Shayla said, stretching her arms over her head. “Let’s go before the sun sets.”

5

The three of us excused ourselves and left the group. We walked over to our house to grab some things.

“I need to figure out how to do heated baths,” I said. “And the sooner, the better. I don’t think anyone is going to want to bathe in the lake come winter.”

“Well, just add it to your list of other things that need to get done,” Jess said.

“Let’s see, windmill, waterwheel, supply each house with water, oh and run new power lines to each house so we have electricity.” Shayla tapped her lips with a finger. “Hmm, maybe schedule it between finishing the watchtower and starting a new garden.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess I have a pretty packed schedule. I think the basics will be easy, at least; we’ll just bathe the way people did hundreds of years ago. Heat some water on a stove, toss it into a bathtub, and wash yourself.”

“Hot water does sound nice, actually,” Shayla said.

I held the front door open for the two beauties and tried not to stare too hard at their asses as they entered.

“Getting an eyeful back there?” Jess asked, giving her hips a shake.

“Uh,” I said, blinking. Whoops. Caught red-handed.

“You know we see you staring at us, right?” Jess asked.

I shrugged. “You two are just so damn beautiful. I mean, you’re both wonderful in so many ways, but you’re absolute goddesses.”

“Keep talking like that and we won’t make it to the lake,” Shayla said, smiling at me over her shoulder as she turned down the hallway. Jess chuckled happily. Definitely wasn’t a giggle, nope, not her.

“It’s starting to get a bit chilly at night,” Jess said, sorting through the closet. She grabbed a t-shirt as well as a thin sweater that looked close enough to fitting. “Ugh, some of these colors are atrocious. We need to start weaving our own material and making our own clothing.”

“You guys do that up in Loch Raven?” I asked.

“Of course we do,” she replied. “We grow a limited amount of cotton and flax plants and use those to make what we can.”

“I’m starting to think we need to go there soon to check things out,” Shayla said. “Don’t worry, I’m not abandoning our home. But maybe we can get some good ideas.”

“You’re right,” I said, grabbing some clean boxers. I tossed them on the bed along with a shirt, then went into the bathroom to grab clean towels. I was tempted to grab some dirty clothes to wash while we were there, but decided I’d do it later. Some shampoo and conditioner rounded out everything we needed.

We all grabbed our pistols and left the house. Kenny was climbing the watchtower as we walked by. Several of them waved to us and we waved back.

I reached out and took Jess by the hand. She smiled at me for a moment, then swung our hands a few times.

“How are you adjusting to being here?” I asked.

“Have you fallen in love with this place yet?” Shayla asked with a crooked grin.

Jess rolled her eyes, but smiled again. “It has its charms. I just hope we don’t have to worry about any more attacks from the Druids after yesterday. Safety is important to me.”

“I think we bloodied them enough that they’ll leave us alone,” I said. “Jacob seems to think so as well, and I trust his opinion. He seems to know an awful lot about the Druids.”

“Are you still set on leaving tomorrow?” Shayla asked.

“Yeah. Those people need rescuing, and I think I can do it with the Porsche. Plus, with how I know this city, I can avoid all the problem areas and just swoop in and save them.”

“Glad you’re optimistic,” Jess said, but she didn’t sound fully convinced.

I shrugged. “Maybe you guys are just rubbing off on me, with all your kindness and generosity. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

“Just make sure you’re careful down there,” Shayla said. “I just found you, Mark. I can’t lose you. Especially since, last time I checked, Jessica doesn’t have a cock.”

Jess winked. “But I’ve got fingers.”

“Well hello, beautiful,” Shayla said, slipping her arm through Jess’s.

The three of us laughed at that.

“You two really make life enjoyable, you know that?” I said. “Not trying to be overly sappy or anything, but I really appreciate the both of you.”

Shayla placed a hand on her forehead. “Ah, I can’t take it! He’s soooo sappy!”

“I’m serious!” I said, trying not to laugh. “You two are wonderful and you make me happy.”

“Jess, save me!” Shayla said, dramatically falling into her arms. “Quick, slap me or something. Call me ugly.”

Jess thought for a second. “Umm, you smell like roadkill.”

Shayla wiped imaginary sweat from her brow. “Whew! That was a close one.”

“Oh, come on,” I said as we approached the lake. “You know you love my sappiness.”

Shayla rolled her eyes. “Mark, you’re a lot of things but you aren’t sappy. Don’t worry.” She grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. “What you are, however, is dirty. We have to be careful, because the Druids can probably smell your stinky ass from two miles away.”

“Hey, I’m not that smelly,” I said, taking a whiff of my armpit. “Okay, scratch that. It’s bath time.”

Jess laughed, and I slapped her on the butt.

“Hey, what was that for?” she asked.

“For being cute. I dunno, I’m running out of witty things to say.” I set my things down next to the railing adjacent to the lake and began stripping down. After a few seconds, both women did the same.

“Ah, swimming in cold water with two beautiful women,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “Now that takes real confidence.” I stood there, feet apart in a superhero pose, grinning like an idiot.

“You’re ridiculous,” Shayla said, pushing her shorts down around her ankles. She kicked them off, then set her clothes aside.

“And you’re beautiful,” I said, rushing over and kissing her. I wrapped my arms around her, then leaped to the side, right into the lake.

“Maaaarrk!” she shouted as we hit the cold water.

I’ll admit I let out a shout of my own, but I had the decency to do it underwater so no one could hear me. That damn water was cold!

Jess dived into the lake right after us, so that when we surfaced we were just in time to hear her shout profanities about the temperature.

I laughed while the two beauties shrieked at the water. Well, it was quite cold, to be fair.

I grabbed the shampoo and conditioner and tossed the bottles to them so we could clean up. It went quickly, as no one wanted to be in the lake for too long. The women helped lather each other’s hair, which made me smile. I liked that they got along so well.

As for me, I washed quickly. Fortunately I brought a razor with me as well, so I could remove the stubble on my jaw. It wasn’t the most comfortable shave, but a bit of conditioner worked as shaving cream.

And then I climbed out as quickly as possible, because fuck cold water. I grabbed a towel and started drying myself right away, then tied it around my waist so I could help Shayla and Jess.

The redhead swam over to the side of the lake first, and I reached down and took her by the hand and helped her out.

As always, I marveled at her form. She was all delicious thickness and womanly curves, with her massive breasts and wide hips. I pulled her to me, not caring that she was soaking wet, and kissed her.

“What’s that for?” she said after a moment.

“You looked cold,” I said, kissing her again.

“What about me?” Shayla asked as she swam up to the edge of the lake. “I’m freezing!”

I reached down and helped her up. As soon as I got her on her feet, she pulled both of us into a tight hug, kissing first Jess then me.

“It’s been far too long since we’ve been clean, so I want to make the most of this,” Shayla said, grabbing a towel. She dried her hair for a moment, then folded it in quarters and set it on the concrete in front of us.

I opened my mouth to ask what she meant but she knelt down and took my cock into her mouth. Seeing this, Jess smiled and kissed me, our tongues dancing and hands roaming. I grabbed one of her large breasts and pinched her nipple, bringing a soft moan from her.

Shayla kept my cock in her hand, but switched targets and pushed her face between Jess’s thick thighs instead. Jess widened her stance and pushed her pelvis forward, making it easier for the Beastkin woman to please her.

Jess moaned against my mouth while Shayla ran her tongue up and down her pussy lips. Jess suddenly opened her eyes and looked down, causing me to do the same.

Shayla was lifting one of Jess’s legs, helping her raise it. At the same time, my cock was in her other hand and she was guiding it toward the redhead. Jess held onto my shoulders to keep her balance.

“I want to watch you fuck her,” Shayla said, smiling up at me.

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” I said.

I knelt down slightly right as Shayla spat on the head of my cock. She lined me up with Jess and I straightened up, entering her.

I slipped a hand beneath Jess’s knee, holding her one leg up while I gently pushed myself in and out of her. My other hand wrapped around her and pressed at the small of her back. We kissed deeply, both of us smiling as we felt Shayla’s eager tongue licking us. Her tongue ran along my balls, then swirled around Jess’s labia, right as I penetrated her.

“Someone’s having fun,” Jess said, then kissed me again.

“Goddamn right,” Shayla said with a grin. She pulled my cock out of Jess and sucked on it, then had me enter the beautiful redhead again. After running her hands up Jess’s thick cheeks, she spread them and began toying with the redhead’s ass, which brought a new round of moans from Jess.

“Over here,” I said, pointing at the nearby railing.

We shuffled over a couple feet so that Jess could rest her left foot on the railing. That kept her knee up by her chest, which made it rather easy for both Shayla and I to have our fun. I went back to thrusting inside her while Shayla slapped Jess on the ass a few times. Her other hand went to my balls, gently caressing them, but it was too awkward for her to follow my motions so she stopped.

I reached down and grabbed one of Jess’s massive tits and brought it up to my mouth so I could suck on the pink nipple. She moaned softly, almost yelping a few times as Shayla spanked her again.

Shayla suddenly stood next to us and took Jess’s other nipple into her mouth. Jess’s moans echoed my own pleasure, quickly pushing me toward the finish line.

Shayla must have noticed my increased breathing, for she suddenly knelt beneath us again. I held tightly to Jess’s waist, ramming myself into her hard and fast. We kissed just as eagerly, pressing our tongues together and breathing hard. A familiar tingle ran through my body as I approached my climax.

“I’m gonna cum,” I said.

Quick as a whip, Shayla grabbed my cock and pulled it out of Jess. She took the last half in her mouth and sucked hard, right as I erupted. I orgasmed in her mouth, sending rope after sticky rope of semen against the back of her throat. My body tensed and Jess squeezed me tightly, smiling brightly and kissing me.

The second I was done cumming, Shayla pushed my cock back inside Jess. I was spent, but gave her a few quick thrusts with my super-sensitive, post-coital cock. They both laughed as I twitched and practically spasmed.

“Dear lord, you came hard,” Jess said.

“I can verify that,” Shayla said, standing up. “I thought he was going to shoot a hole through the back of my head with that one.”

6

Went spent five minutes cleaning up, then dried off and got dressed. After a round of kisses and hugs, we finally set off for Hope.

We walked down the broken street, the three of us holding hands. In that moment I could forget about the threat of cannibals, of murderous raiders that roamed the countryside, of the Druids that only lived about three miles south. I didn’t think about our lack of running water, or any of those other things. Only one thing was on my mind; how happy I was with Shayla and Jess.

“I really should run back to Loch Raven soon to tell my father and prepare a few things,” Jess said, looking over at me. “He’ll want to meet you, know you.”

“Uh oh,” I said. I had met plenty of fathers before, but never one that was a mayor. Or, for that matter, one that lived in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Would he be far worse, a total hardass that wanted to kill me from the moment he saw me? Or would he be grateful that in this crazy world, his daughter found someone that truly appreciated her?

“A little bit of both,” Jess said.

“Huh?” I asked, then I realized I had spoken those last thoughts out loud. I was getting bad about that. “Ah, yeah. Well, I guess I’ll just have to find out, right?”

“I wish you could have met my father,” Shayla said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“What happened?” Jess asked.

“Drowned Men killed him about a dozen years ago, when I was ten. They started eating him before he was fully dead.”

“I am so sorry,” Jess said. “I understand it, though. My mother was killed by raiders not long after that. It seems we’ve all lost someone.” She turned to me. “How about you, Mark?”

I pursed my lips. “I guess I lost my entire family in the war. It feels almost…. I dunno. Like an abstract concept instead of reality. I know they all died, but considering how many other people died and how long ago it was, it feels like a different universe, a different world than mine. I never experienced that, remember. One day I was nice and happy, the next I woke up here, in what is essentially a completely different world.”

“That is so strange,” Jess said.

“And just think, you were lucky enough to meet me!” Shayla said, grinning at me.

I pulled her to me and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m grateful every moment I’m awake.”

“There goes that sappiness again. I’ve got my eye on you, mister.”

We walked back to our settlement, where people looked to be finishing up for the night. The armored Prius was parked in the driveway, right next to the Porsche. I found that strange, but decided I’d ask about it in the morning.

The sun was setting and only a few people still remained in the area. Stan straddled one of the roof timbers on our storage building and wove a handful of thatch through the boards. He waved at us as we approached.

“Get some sleep, already!” Jess called out to him.

“Yes ma’am!” Stan replied, saluting her. A pile of long grass and stalks was next to him, and he patted it. “Eh, I just want to finish this. I think we’re going to get some rain tonight, and I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Alex appeared from behind the building and looked up at Stan. “Are you saying I’m going to get rained on tonight? Fuck me.”

Stan shrugged. “Sorry, old friend. Your best bet is staying in here instead of the watchtower. We’ll get a roof on it in the next couple days.”

Alex unslung his rifle and pointed it at the sky. “Can I shoot the rain clouds? Is that a thing?”

We laughed and left them where they were. I needed to prepare for my trip, and a good night’s sleep was at the top of my list. The three of us turned and walked toward our house.

“Man, I’m gonna sleep like the dead tonight,” I said as I opened the front door. This time, I openly checked out both women as they entered the house. They both laughed.

“First, you’re going to take care of me,” Shayla said, smiling over her shoulder. The sassy woman swung her hips as she crossed the living room. Her tail swished from side to side, the way it did when she was up to no good.

I was always down for more fun, but as we walked into the bedroom I reminded Shayla that I had just orgasmed. It would take me a bit to be able to go again.

She pulled her shirt off and tossed it on the bed. “I know,” she said with a smile. She removed the rest of her clothes, then slid back onto the bed and spread her muscular thighs. “Like I said, you’re going to take care of me.”

“I’m assuming I’m included in this conversation,” Jess said with an eager grin on her full lips.

“You assume correctly,” Shayla replied. She was all smiles.

Jess’s clothes practically vaporized and she hurried to the side of the bed. Her face was between Shayla’s thighs in a matter of seconds.

Before I was even able to get all of my clothes off, Jess already had Shayla moaning happily. I watched as the two women writhed on the bed; Shayla’s fingers ran through Jess’s red hair, holding her in place. She moaned in absolute bliss as Jess continued.

I knelt next to her and Jess reluctantly moved out of the way. Shayla was already soaking wet, and in her current mood getting her off was easy as could be. I simply focused my mouth on her clit while gently working a finger in her, then doing the “come here” motion against her front wall. She orgasmed in no time.

“Where did you learn that?” Shayla asked, her voice shaky and breathless. “Fuck!” she shouted as a second orgasm hit her.

“Oh, she’s good and warmed up,” Jess said, nudging me aside. “Let me at her.”

We took turns, each giving Shayla an orgasm or two until she could barely move. Honestly, it was a great way to spend the evening. I felt like it was the proper way to take care of a good woman.

“Your turn,” I said, pushing Jess back onto the bed.

Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but she quickly spread her thighs for me as well. I went right to work on her, and it didn’t take her long to climax as well. Shayla was too worn out to do much except lie there on the bed, so I took care of it all. Once Jess hit her fourth orgasm, I stood up and stretched, then went into the bathroom to wash up.

When I came back to the bedroom, the two women were still on the bed, holding each other tightly. Both had fallen asleep. Considering the position they were in—Jess was partially on top of Shayla with her ass facing me—I was tempted to slide inside her, but ultimately decided that sleep was more important. I crawled onto the bed with them, pulled the blanket over us, and promptly fell asleep.

The nights were indeed getting cooler, but fortunately I had two fleshy heaters in the bed with me. And one of them in particular liked to position herself with a thigh thrown across mine and one of her massive tits on my shoulder. The other just kept her ass pressed against me.

Needless to say, I was warm and cozy.

I woke up before them the next morning and for a moment just laid there, enjoying myself. Those two women made me so happy. I gently traced a fingertip along Jess’s upper arm and smiled at the sound of her slow, deep breaths. Shayla muttered something in her sleep and rolled over, resting her head on my other shoulder.

Man, I was happy.

After one long, deep breath, Jess slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me. We both shared a smile, and she stretched up to brush a soft kiss against my lips.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I said quietly.

“Mmmm, do you have to go?” Jess asked, laying her head on my chest.

Shayla snorted herself awake. “Huh? What?” She blinked and looked up at me. “Go?”

“Good morning to you as well,” I said, kissing her forehead.

Shayla laid her head back down on my shoulder. “Ah, shit, that’s right. You’re leaving us today.”

“I’m coming back,” I insisted. “I’m just going to rescue some people.”

“You’re leaving us forever, aren’t you,” Shayla said, pretending to be upset. “You found a Green Woman that captured your heart, and you’re leaving us for her.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that statement, remembering Sharg. The insanely large and muscular Green Woman had wanted to fuck my brains out upon seeing me, but Jacob and I wisely left her alone.

“That’s it, you guessed it,” I said. “I need a muscle mommy in my life, so I’m heading down to find one. Hopefully she won’t crush me between her thighs. On second thought, maybe she’ll just crush me a little bit. Mmmm, muscle thighs.”

“I’ve heard about them, but never seen one in person,” Jess said, tracing a finger across my bare chest. “Huge and muscular but still with curves.”

“Oh, they’re ridiculous,” Shayla said. “I’ve seen a few of them before, and they’re just as you described. Bigger than Stan, but with tits like yours. No, bigger.”

I decided to enter the conversation, hoping they’d get a laugh. “When I first came into this world, and Jacob and I were picking our way across the city, we ran into one. A Green Woman.”

“What happened?” Shayla asked, pushing herself up. She looked around for a moment, then threw back the blanket, exposing my morning wood. “Well, good morning to you as well.” She threw a leg over me and sat right on it.

“Well, Jacob and I talked to her and she let us pass,” I said, not wanting to go into further detail. I wasn’t sure how they’d take it, although they seemed fascinated.

“I’ve heard they like men like you,” Jess said, poking my shoulder. “Clean, polite, and handsome. I’ll bet she wanted you.”

I paused before answering, and that seemed to confirm it in their minds.

“Yeah, look at his face,” Shayla said, wiggling her hips on me. “Something happened. Come on, Mark, tell us!”

Jess suddenly straightened up. Her heavy breasts swung with the movement. “Oh my god, Mark. Did you fuck a Green Woman? What was it like? You have to tell us!”

I laughed. “No, I didn’t fuck a Green Woman. She certainly wanted to, but we didn’t want to risk anything. I think I was afraid of being eaten.”

Shayla paused and leaned down, closer to my face. “Something happened. I can tell. Spit it out, Mark. What did you do?”

“Okay, okay. I kissed her and grabbed her ass,” I said, and both of the women grinned.

“I knew it!” Shayla said, raising her hands triumphantly.

“Uh, I sucked on her tits too,” I said.

“What was it like?” Jess asked. She seemed completely fascinated and not at all weirded out, which I found a bit shocking.

I shrugged. “I mean, she was huge, like you said. Tits the size of my head, which was pretty awesome.” I poked Jess in the boob and she laughed. “She was kinda fun to kiss; she practically tried to choke me with her tongue.”

“Oh, I do that sometimes,” Shayla said with a grin.

I winked at her. “And her ass was huge, too. Yeah, uh, as odd as it might feel to say, it was fun.”

Jess sat up, tapping her lip in thought. “Now I’m curious.”

Shayla wiggled her hips on me again. “It must have been fun. You’re rock hard right now.”

“Can you blame me?” I asked. “I mean, you’re sitting right on it!”

Shayla brought both hands up and covered her mouth in mock surprise. “Oh, am I? I didn’t notice! Whooooops!” She moved her hips back and forth, sliding her wet pussy on me. “Oh, whoops again.”

“Maybe we should pin him down so he can’t leave us today,” Jess said, looking down at me. She leaned over, letting her pendulous breasts hang right above my head. “I can weigh him down if need be.” She dropped a bit, letting one of her massive breasts land on my forehead. “There, now you can’t move.”

Shayla raised herself up and licked her fingers, then wiped the saliva on the head of my cock. She sat back on it, this time slipping it inside her. “I should make you get me pregnant before you leave.” She began moving her hips up and down, slowly riding me.

I was going to tell her I shouldn’t do that, but Jess moved again, this time placing one of her breasts right on my mouth to cut me off. Well, I wasn’t an idiot, so I got right to sucking.

“He hasn’t cum inside me yet,” Jess said. “I’ve never felt that, but I really want to. I believe I’m at the right point in my monthly cycle where I’m safe.”

Shayla pouted for a second, then leaned forward to kiss Jess. “I suppose I could stop being greedy for once. Maybe if you fuck him hard enough, he won’t have any energy left for any of those Green Women.”

Jess grinned at her. “Oh, you are such a delight, you know that?”

She straightened up and kissed Shayla, after a moment wrapped her arms around her. I reached out and grabbed onto Jess’s hips and pulled her to me. Jess immediately lifted a leg so she could straddle my face.

“Breakfast is served,” I said with a grin, and went to work.

Between the three of us we moaned so much it sounded like low-budget porn. I definitely wasn’t complaining, though. Having one beautiful woman ride my cock and another ride my face was just as awesome as you’d imagine.

Halfway through our romp, the two women changed places. They kissed for a moment before Shayla helped Jess mount me. The voluptuous redhead held both breasts and closed her eyes as she sank down on me, taking my full length one inch at a time.

“I don’t think I can ever get enough of this,” she breathed.

I reached down and placed my hands on her ample hips, then began thrust into her. She was soaking wet, so it was an absolute joy. Her breasts shook and bounced with each thrust, practically hypnotizing me. My view was quickly replaced with Shayla’s pussy as the beautiful catgirl mounted my face.

“I expect at least three orgasms, mister,” she said with a smile as she settled on my mouth.

I brought my hands up and grabbed onto Shayla’s muscular thighs and began lapping at her clitoris. She moaned happily and reached down, running her fingers through my hair.

“I could sit here all day,” Shayla said, her eyes closed.

Meanwhile, I was thrusting my hips upward, meeting Jess with every stroke. Her hands rested on my lower chest, supporting herself, and her moans took on a staccato note as I railed her.

Shayla’s thighs tightened on either side of my head, and for a moment I thought she was going to pop one of my eyeballs out. Damn woman was strong as hell. After her second orgasm, I had to take a short break, as my tongue was tired. But, Jess was riding me hard and fast, so I was rapidly approaching my climax.

“Oh, I know that look,” Shayla said, looking down at me and smiling. “Fuck him hard, Jess!” Shayla slid forward, planting her pussy right on my mouth again.

“Mmmph!” I said, half moan, half…something else.

“Oh fuck,” Jess said as her body tensed up. “Cum inside me, Mark! Fill me!”

“MMMMPH!” I shouted against Shayla’s pussy as I came.

“OOHHH FUCK!” Jess called out, grinding and gyrating against me.

My hands clamped down on Shayla’s thighs, squeezing her hard as I orgasmed. She orgasmed a moment later, practically crushing my head again. It was a rather odd sensation, being smothered while orgasming so hard. Not bad at all, but different.

Shayla finally rolled off me and I gasped for breath. Jess remained there, trembles still causing her body to shake.

“Jesus, are you alright?” Shayla asked, looking over at me.

“Yeah,” I said between breaths. “I just couldn’t really breathe.”

“Mark, you could have said something,” Shayla said.

“Oh, I didn’t mind,” I said. “In that moment I definitely preferred being covered with your pussy to breathing.”

Shayla laughed and hugged me. “Mark. I love you.”

7

After cleaning up, my girlfriends helped me get ready. A backpack filled with clothes and a towel, as well as two loaves of Ellie’s bread. My cigarette lighter, of course. I belted on my pistol and brought around two dozen rounds, as well as my over under shotgun and a handful of shells—all buckshot.

“Now remember, if any sexy Green Women try to sleep with you, just tell them you’re too worn out from pleasing us,” Jess said with a laugh.

Shayla walked up and hugged me. “Actually, if you get a chance to fuck any Green Women, I say take it. I want to know what it’s like.” She leaned back. “But don’t get eaten, okay? They’re scary. Probably best to just avoid them. Honestly, we probably shouldn’t even be talking about this.”

“Roger,” I said. “Fuck every Green Woman possible, then let them know that my girlfriends are better.”

Jess tapped her lip. “I’d agree to that, but it would definitely get you eaten.”

“Seriously though. Be careful,” Shayla said to me.

“I promise,” I replied, kissing her forehead.

“Hey, don’t forget about me,” Jess said. “I don’t get nearly enough forehead kisses.”

I leaned forward and planted one right in the center of her forehead. “Good girl,” I said, smiling.

“Oh, that was nice,” Jess said quietly.

Shayla rummaged through the closet and came out a moment later wearing a sundress. It was a shade of blue that matched her eyes, and she looked happy as could be in it.

“How do I look?” Shayla asked, smiling as she turned in a circle.

Obviously, she looked incredible. The athletic Beastkin woman had a figure that was perfect for a sundress. Well, except for her tail. That managed to hold up the rear of her sundress, completely exposing that bubble butt of hers. Both Jess and I openly stared at her pale cheeks.

“Okay, I’ve decided to stay,” Jess said, grinning.

“That good?” Shayla asked, grabbing a pale blue cardigan. She pulled it on and adjusted it for a moment, then posed a few times. “How about now?” She still didn’t seem to realize her ass was hanging out.

“If you keep wearing that around me, I’ll definitely wind up getting you pregnant,” I said with a grin.

Shayla still smiled, but she could tell something was off.

“Feel a draft?” Jess asked.

Shayla reached down, feeling at her dress. Her eyes widened as she grabbed onto her bare ass. “Oh, son of a bitch!” she shouted, and ran back into the closet. A moment later she emerged again, with her tail neatly threaded through a hole in the back of the dress.

“I think I preferred the other look,” I said with a chuckle.

“Well, I’ll save that for when you get back,” Shayla said with a wink. “And I’ll make Jess wear a dress like that as well.”

Jess shrugged, but smiled. “Let’s get you ready, Mark.”

They checked me over, ensuring I had everything I needed for my journey. Jess smiled as she handed me my flaming sword. I leaned my shotgun over my shoulder and left the room with the two women in tow. They both wore their pistols, as we had all agreed to. It was like second nature, now.

We walked through the house and Shayla went straight into the kitchen, while I went to the front door.

“Hold on,” she said.

I paused, and Shayla grabbed three bottles from the refrigerator. She brought them to me with a smile. “Can’t forget water, Mark.”

“Good thinking,” I said, stuffing them into my backpack.

That done, we all left the house. It was a couple hours past sunrise, much later than we usually started our day. But that was fine. Giving my girlfriends a proper goodbye was important. I wasn’t concerned about my safety like they were, but I knew they worried.

“It’s looking good,” I said as I walked up to the watchtower.

Stan stood on the third floor, hoisting up a log by means of a rope tied around the middle. Josh and Alex were there at the base, helping to guide it.

“More hands makes less work,” Stan called out, hefting the log onto the floor next to him. He untied the rope and threw it down to the other men.

“Is Kenny with the car?” I asked.

“Yeah, he and Mike are over there, finishing it up,” Stan said.

“We’re going to get started on clearing things,” Shayla said, leaning up to kiss me.

“My yard will be done today,” Jess said, kissing me as well. “We’re going to help Will and Tiffany clear out their yard after that, then start on some gardens. We figured each house could get a small one.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” I said. “Each house gets a few easy to care for plants, then we have one larger garden that’ll feed the lot of us. Spread out the burden, the responsibility.”

Shayla suddenly threw her arms around me and squeezed me tightly. “Do you really have to go?”

I kissed the top of her head. One of her ears flickered. “Yeah, unfortunately. Gotta go save some people. Love you both.”

“Such a hero,” Jess said, reaching out and squeezing my hand.

I kissed them both goodbye again, then turned and walked over to where my Porsche was parked. The Prius from hell was still parked right behind it in the driveway. Once I got closer I saw Mike and Kenny both working on my car.

“Hey guys!” I called out as I approached.

Mike kept working. Kenny raised one of his arms and waved, but kept working as well.

I got closer and my eyes widened at what I saw. They had, indeed, made excellent progress. A flat solar panel had been mounted on the roof, and trimmed so that it was the same size. Another panel had been mounted on the hood and trimmed to fit as well. Small wires went from each panel to the interior of the car, where they could help charge the batteries.

But what really drew my eyes was the fucking machine gun mounted on the driver’s side fender. Right there on top. A machine gun. It looked like they had removed the stock and pistol grip and used a more permanent mount, bolting it directly to the steel of the car.

“Alright, pull,” Mike said.

Kenny reached inside the interior and pulled on a lever. I watched as a thin metal rod that connected to the machine gun also moved.

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Mike said, nodding. “It’s ready to test fire.”

“Holy shit, guys,” I said, looking down at the machine gun. “I wasn’t entirely sure we were all serious about this machine gun idea. This is incredible.”

“It’s a lightweight car so we couldn’t put anything heavy duty on it,” Kenny said, straightening up. This is just a .223. Or 5.56 millimeters, whatever you choose. It’ll throw some lead at a target, though.”

“How does it work?” I asked.

“Hop in,” Kenny said, stepping out of the way.

I opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. I immediately noticed two extra levers to the left of the steering wheel.

“Lever on the left is the safety,” Kenny explained. “Pushed in like that, it’s safe. If you want to shoot, pull it toward you. Go ahead.”

I reached out and grabbed the lever, then gave it a tug. It moved two inches toward me with an audible click.

“Now, the next lever is the fun one,” Kenny said, grinning. “That’s basically the trigger. You’ll have to pull it and hold it, since it’s spring-loaded. If you let go, it’ll start. Some advice though: don’t fire too much or you can overheat the barrel. Fire in short bursts, like I was on the morning of the attack.”

“Good to know,” I said, touching the lever.

“Go ahead and try it. It’s not loaded,” Kenny said.

I nodded, then grabbed the lever and pulled. It was spring-loaded, so as soon as I released it, it snapped back into place.

“How will I aim?” I asked.

“Oh, that’ll take a bit of guesswork,” Kenny said. “You see, this here isn’t really a precision instrument. It’ll get the point across, though. I mean, if you really want to, you can lean out your window some and look down the sights. At least we made the thing level.”

“You mean so it’ll shoot straight in front of me?”

Kenny nodded. “Yup. Lemme show you the rest.”

I got out of the car and watched as Kenny opened the front trunk lid. To my surprise, three ammo cans sat in there. He opened one of them and pulled out a belt of ammunition, then showed me how to load it into the gun.

“Then just pull the charging handle, release the safety, and you’re ready for a good time,” he finished.

“Hot damn,” I said, gently running my hand over it. “I hope I don’t have to use this, but if I do I’ll be in your debt.”

“We pulled a few strings to get it, but it was no biggie,” Mike said with a friendly smile. “We’re glad to help, man.”

“Yeah, they just had to get it through the inventory guys,” Kenny said. “Rudolph and Chuck are fucking idiots though, so that’s never hard. Those guys just complain about everything. Give them one more thing to complain about and they won’t notice if it’s day or night. You could probably walk out of there with a tank and they’d be too busy whining to even notice.” He barked a laugh. “Morons.”

“What else is there to do?” I asked, setting my backpack down on the driveway. I leaned my shotgun against the side of the Prius.

“Nothing, really,” Kenny said, crossing all three arms. “The headlights were about as simple as could be; just a few wires and a switch. Oh, that’s a new one, on the far right. Just on and off, nothing hard about that. The solar panels weren’t too bad either, just a bit of wiring and getting the voltages right. Honestly the gun here was the toughest, but thankfully we have Mike, who is a mechanical genius.”

Mike shrugged. “It really wasn’t that hard. Just some levers and a few steel rods.”

“Well either way, I really appreciate it,” I said, looking at the car.

A 1981 Porsche 911, powered by an electric motor from a forklift, with a machine gun on the fender and solar panels on top. It was as awesome as it was ridiculous.

I grabbed my backpack and tossed it inside. It was time to get my trip started, and the sooner I left, the sooner I’d get back. After hopping inside, I looked around again.

“Oh shit,” I said. “How did I miss this before? You put the CB radio in here, from the Jeep!”

“Yeah, I figured that would be a good idea,” Kenny said, leaning a hand on the front fender. “It’s already tuned to the station those folks are using, so whenever you want to talk to them, it’s ready.”

“Kenny, I owe you one,” I said, closing the door.

“You owe me forty-seven, but who’s counting?” he replied.

By habit I reached for the key, then stopped myself. That would take some getting used to. Instead, I reached over and placed a hand on one of the power switches.

“Gentlemen, I’ll see you tomorrow, I hope. Two days max.”

“I think you’re a bit optimistic with how quickly those old solar panels will charge this thing, but I’m glad you’re staying positive,” Kenny replied.

“Stay safe, man,” Mike said. He offered me his hand and I shook it.

“He’ll be fine,” Kenny said. “He’ll be moving too fast for the morons out there, and half of them are too braindead to put up a real fight. Just avoid groups of people if you can. And if you can’t….” He reached in and tapped the trigger lever for the machine gun.

“Oh yeah,” I said, grinning. “We’re gonna have a good time.”

“Lemme move the car,” Mike said, rushing behind me.

He hopped in the Prius and started it up, then backed down the driveway. I made sure I had the switches right: one of them down for reverse, then the low power switch up so I could move slowly. That one off to help me slow—I could immediately tell Kenny had removed the rear brakes, as the squealing was gone—and then once I stopped, I flipped the switch into forward mode again.

I leaned out the window and caught Shayla’s eye. We shared a smile and I waved. She nudged Jessica, who turned and blew a kiss in my direction.

“Time for a real adventure,” I said to myself. I flipped the medium power switch up and I was off.

8

Moving along at a brisk thirty miles per hour felt like triple-digit speeds in that car. Was it a world-class sports car? A hundred years ago, yes. Add in blown shocks, dry-rotted tires, a complete lack of sound insulation, and a few odds and ends rattling around and it made for a rather exciting ride. Well, maybe that wasn’t the right word for it. But I definitely felt like I was going much faster than I was.

The important thing was that I had a plan. Was it the best plan? Of course not. This was me we were talking about. But I had a plan, and that was something.

I wanted to get there as quickly as possible, so I decided to cut straight through the city. That would take me through some pretty rough parts of town, but with the limited range on my car, time was of the essence. On my way back, I’d take the beltway around the city, which would take twice as long and I’d have to recharge, but it would keep me safe.

I turned onto Falls Road without slowing. The old tires squealed a bit, but held. It dawned on me that most of the power used would be during acceleration, so maintaining my speed was important. So, if I could take a corner without slowing down, that would effectively make me more efficient. Good excuse for a fun drive.

Well, at least I didn’t have to worry about red lights or traffic.

I did, however, have to weave through some cars that remained on the road. Most of them were in pretty bad shape, except for a Camry that somehow only looked a few years old. Those damn Toyotas, man.

I passed by Ellie and Richard’s old place and decided to contact the people I was going to rescue. Reaching down, I flipped the radio on. I grabbed the hand mic and keyed it.

“Hello, Iris? Are you there? This is Mark.”

Silence. I waited a few more minutes, then tried again. Again, silence.

I reminded myself that she probably didn’t live right next to the radio. I left it on, but went back to driving.

So much crap littered Falls Road at one point that I had to slow down and weave around a rotten log and burned-out cars. Walking that road hadn’t been hard, but now on wheels I had to be careful.

I finally came to the point where I could get on the highway. I turned onto 83 and hit max power for a moment, just to get up the hill and get to a better speed. Once on the highway, I left it at medium power for a while.

I was in Druid territory, I reminded myself. They roamed this area. With that in mind, I did something fairly stupid.

With the car cruising along at around thirty or forty miles per hour, I leaned out the window. My arm wasn’t nearly long enough to reach, so I stood on the seat and halfway crawled out of the car, keeping one hand on the steering wheel so I didn’t veer off the road. While sitting on the windowsill, I leaned forward so I could grab the charging handle. I jerked it back, then released it.

Once back inside the car, I buckled my seatbelt. My heart pounded a bit, hanging out the window like that in Druid territory. A case could be made to use max power to zoom through this dangerous section, but I was worried about my range. Kenny estimated I had around thirty miles. Maybe thirty-two or thirty-three with the solar panels, on a sunny day. I was determined to get as much range as possible.

The highway curved to the left a bit and I knew I was close to Druid territory. Close enough that I had to watch out. I was currently cruising along around fifty miles per hour, with the slight downhill slant of the road helping me out quite a bit. My eyes scanned either side of the road for any signs of movement.

I kept one hand on the power switches, ready to accelerate if I had to. The Druids mostly lived around the remains of Druid Hill Park and Druid Lake, which was coming up on my right. It was my close watch on that side of the road that kept me alive.

The second I saw someone move, I flipped the switch and put the car in max power. It slowly accelerated right as a man stood up from behind a bush. He hurled a baseball-sized stone at me, and I yanked on the steering wheel to avoid it. His aim was spot-on, but I managed to swerve hard enough to avoid taking a rock in the windshield.

Of course, my dry-rotted tires weren’t happy with that motion, so the ass end of my car swung around. I turned into the slide to avoid spinning, and for a moment I was somehow drifting a fifty horsepower car. It quickly recovered and I hurried along. This time, I pulled on the safety lever, keeping my machine gun ready. After that, I kept my hand on the trigger lever.

“There you are, you fuckers,” I muttered as four men hurried onto the road in front of me. Each of them had guns in hand and mismatched armor on their bodies.

I turned the car slightly, trying to visually line up my machine gun with them, and pulled on the trigger lever.

Bap-bap-bap-bap.

Even being smaller caliber, the machine gun shook my entire car. I felt the recoil in my steering wheel, and an ear-to-ear grin immediately formed on my face.

The Druids didn’t know what hit them. Well, one guy did because it was a bunch of bullets, right in his stomach. But the rest turned and scampered away. A few of them fired off a round, but their aim was so far off it wasn’t even a concern.

The man I had shot in the stomach fell to his knees, so I pulled the trigger lever again and turned my car slightly, effectively strafing. A few bullets took him in the head, blowing the top off. After that, I left the car in max power and ducked down, in case anyone had better aim.

I heard the distinct pop-pop of small caliber rounds, and a metallic pling as one hit my car. I cursed under my breath, but kept my car going straight. After only a handful of stressful seconds, I was in the clear. At least, for the time being.

I straightened up and looked around for damage. That one bullet had carved a shallow groove on top of the door sill, just forward of where I would rest my arm. It made me grateful I had the foresight to duck down, otherwise I’d have a bullet in me. And with no healer present, that was a death sentence.

“Not today, assholes,” I said, straightening up. I glanced at one of my gauges, which Kenny had modified to show my remaining charge. It was still mostly full, which made sense as I had only driven about four miles. But using max power would drain it quickly. I went down to medium power and continued down the road, trying not to have such a white-knuckled grip on my steering wheel.

The highway curved again and a low, wooded hill rose on my right. A badly faded exit sign listed Druid Park as the next exit. I took a deep breath and let it out. This was going to be the worst part of the trip.

As I approached an overpass, movement caught my eye again. Two men popped up, quickly aiming their homemade rifles. Without thinking, I grabbed the lever and fired my machine gun. It rattled off a dozen rounds in no time, coming nowhere close to hitting them but causing quite the racket.

Of course, those guys didn’t know I couldn’t aim the rifle. They just heard a machine gun going off, and immediately ducked. I smiled as I passed beneath the overpass, and hoped they wouldn’t try to shoot the rear of my car.

With that in mind, I began gently swerving side to side. My tires were old and rock hard so I couldn’t do much, but I tried to make myself a harder target. Sure enough, several rounds went off behind me. I didn’t hear the metallic ping of a bullet hitting my car, so I thanked my lucky stars and continued on.

“Shit,” I said as I saw all the layered overpasses right ahead. There could be a hundred men up there for all I knew.

I clenched my jaw, left the car at max power—thankfully the road was still going slightly downhill, so I was cruising along at just over sixty—and continued swerving.

My fears came true as heads popped up on the overpasses. I pulled on the trigger lever a few times, rattling off a dozen rounds here and there. I couldn’t hit them, but I hoped at least some of them were stupid enough to miss that point. Many of them ducked as a knee-jerk reaction, and I continued swerving as I passed beneath three overpasses.

Ping!

The sound of a bullet striking my car was loud, especially since I had removed all the sound insulation and most of the interior. Everything still drove like normal, so I pressed on, swerving and sometimes firing my machine gun.

Thankfully, that was the only bullet that hit me, although not for lack of trying. Two or three dozen rounds struck the cracked asphalt around me.

“Fucking hell!” I shouted as I approached the last overpass.

The road rose slightly, causing me to lose a few miles per hour. I went ahead and put it in medium power to save some battery. The worst part was done.

My pistol had been digging into my hip since the moment I climbed into the car, so I pulled it from its holster and set it in the door pocket. It made me grateful I had decided to retain the door panels. While doing that, a man rose from the side of the road and rushed my car.

“Shit!” I said, swerving. I was too late, though.

He wore a bulletproof vest that had once belonged to the Baltimore Police Department, as well as a football helmet. He was a tall fucker, and leaped into the air. He slammed onto the hood of my car and shouted in pain, but held on tightly with one hand. With his other, he reached back and drew a pipe pistol.

Unfortunately for him, his leg was right in front of my machine gun. I pulled the trigger lever and held it, sending blood and gore everywhere. It covered my windshield in a matter of seconds. His screams were loud enough to be heard over the machine gun, which was honestly kind of impressive.

I switched the power off and stomped on the brake pedal. The armored man rolled off my hood, and his leg fell off when he hit the ground. He groaned in pain as his leg rolled away from him.

I accelerated away, wishing I had more power. Without thinking I hit the windshield wiper stalk. Of course, nothing happened. Of course.

“God dammit,” I said, leaning forward and reaching out the window.

It was a small car, so I was able to grab onto the windshield wiper arm. With a grunt, I worked it side to side, smearing most of the blood off my windshield. I’d have to wash that off once I found a good water source, or else my car would stink horribly. Just my luck, some kind of radioactive raccoon would find it and start chewing on it.

“Hell of a way to start my trip,” I said to myself.

9

Once I left the area around Druid Lake I calmed down a bit. Sure, the rest of the city was filled with violent, cannibal gangs, but the worst ones were behind me now.

I took the next exit, which put me on North Avenue. An interesting street, that. It went from being the cream of the crop of Baltimore society to a place so thick with crime and urban blight that it looked like a warzone. There had been some efforts to revitalize it shortly before the war, but nukes had a habit of interrupting things. It was rather surreal, seeing everything covered in plants and vines.

It took me a moment to think of where to go. I needed the fastest way down there, while passing through the least amount of riffraff. That was a tall order, but I had decided that passing through southwest Baltimore—near where I woke up from cryostasis—and hopping on highway 295 was the best route.

After passing over the remains of some railroad tracks, I took a sharp right onto Howard Street without slowing. The rear end of the car swung out a bit, and I couldn’t help but grin as I steered into it. Those rock-hard tires certainly made for an interesting ride.

If my memory served me correctly, I could simply stay on Howard Street, which turned into 395, which merged into 295. That would take me on a rather high overpass though, and I didn’t want to risk that. What if it had been damaged during an explosion? What if it was blocked by cars? I could find myself stuck there, like fifty feet in the air. That was a situation I had to avoid, which meant I needed to pass through more of the city. Ah well. At least I had a machine gun.

My chosen path would take me a bit further west. A few rusted, burned-out cars blocked the road in front of me, so I quickly took a sharp right turn, once again sliding the ass end of the car around. I had to be careful with that, as the bumpy Baltimore roads could blow my tires. But damn, it was fun.

At least some of the street signs were still mostly legible.

“Dolphin Street?” I wondered aloud. I didn’t remember that one.

Fortunately, most roads in this city ran into a handful that traversed it, so I knew I’d eventually wind up somewhere familiar. Sure enough, after a few blocks I found myself heading south on Fremont. That would take me south, right to the stadium, which was exactly what I wanted.

Well, except for the rusted shells of cars blocking the street. I took a quick right turn and used the next block to loop around the roadblock. That, along with the potholes, made for a risky trip. I just hoped I didn’t find a situation where the road was blocked and there was no way around, forcing me to backtrack. My car didn’t have the range for that.

Speaking of range, I checked my gauge and found the car a little under three-quarters charged. Not great, but I knew it would be close.

I continued down Fremont, dodging potholes and wrecked cars. They were spaced far enough apart that I could easily swerve around them, although it still required me to focus on the road instead of the buildings around me. I just hoped no snipers were near. Green Man territory was close, and the Drowned Men as well. Uh, I thought. Hard to envision it without a map.

My lips tightened in frustration as I came to the end of Fremont Road. Cars blocked it, and my left turn as well. I had no choice but to turn right. So, after a right turn, I saw more cars in the way. I had to drop my car down to low power and cruise along carefully.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was being herded. Perhaps this was just unfortunate luck and all these cars had broken down or been disabled by a nuke in this pattern.

But I knew better than that. Especially when I was in the territory of giant men that were strong enough to push cars around.

I slid my left hand over to the trigger mechanism and scanned the area around me. Perhaps it was a bit of good luck that they made no attempt to ambush me.

Two Green Men stood on my left, blocking a narrow alley. Their thick arms were crossed across their chests and they glared at me as I passed. Or maybe that was just how they looked at everything. Either way, I knew I was in danger.

I pulled the trigger lever, firing a few rounds in front of me. That let them know that I wasn’t easy prey, at least I hoped. Three more Green Men stood on my right, blocking that alley. Shit.

I pulled the trigger lever again, and none of them flinched. They just watched me with their beady dark eyes. I set my pistol on my lap, just in case.

Turning off that road wasn’t an option. Every alley or side street was blocked by either a junk car or a green guy that made Ronnie Coleman look small. I saw a few of the women as well. They were equally frightening, although there was a clear feminine softness to their massive frames. Plus, you know. Tits.

That was something I found rather interesting about the Green Men. For all their savage brutality, they seemed to respect their women. At least, from my point of view. Sharg had been out scavenging when I found her. No men escorted her, which was something I would expect of a backward civilization like theirs.

Women stood next to the men, equally large, and apparently equally respected as warriors. Truth be told, they were just about the same exact size, although I noted none of them were as big as I remembered Sharg being.

I finally was able to make a left turn onto Lombard, and I damn near cheered out loud. That would take me right where I needed to go. But only seconds after making that turn, I realized things weren’t going so well for me.

A group of green giants stood in front of the road, blocking it. I switched the car off and let the regenerative braking bring it to a stop. There was a rather strong temptation to light them up with my machine gun, but I’d still have to escape all the monsters on either side of me. And to be honest, I wasn’t entirely certain my car could outrun one of these giants.

I grabbed my pistol and slid it into my holster, then reached over and took hold of my flaming sword. I smiled as I saw that Shayla had packed an additional surprise for me; a small pistol, damn near small enough to fit entirely in one hand. I slipped that in my back pocket as I pushed open the car door.

“Well, at least they’re not stupid,” I said under my breath. “Maybe I can talk my way out of this.” I knew those chances were slim. However, if I could fight one of them and win, maybe they would respect me and let me go.

I strapped my sword onto my back and stood there for a moment, staring down the half-dozen Green Men standing thirty feet in front of me. Projecting confidence in that situation certainly wasn’t easy, but I think I succeeded. Crossing my arms helped to hide how much my hands were shaking.

“I demand passage!” I shouted to them.

One of them, a hulking brute standing in the center, barked a laugh.

“You demand nothing from us, human. Besides, I’m hungry.”

“Why the fuck is everyone out here a cannibal?” I muttered to myself as I walked back to my car.

I reached in and placed a hand on the trigger lever, then raised my voice. “Okay, so I’m gonna pull this lever, and my machine gun is going to cut most of you in half. How does that sound?”

Their leader laughed again. “We will overwhelm you.”

“Yeah, but not before I kill you and some of your friends,” I said, pulling out my pistol. “Whoever comes up on my left side is getting shot right in the face.”

I looked to my left and two massive Green Men stood there, glaring at me. They looked angrier than usual after hearing me say that.

“You might kill me, but I’m taking at least a dozen of you with me,” I said. “How does that sound? I wouldn’t call that a very good deal. Are all you guys ready to die for that asshole?” I pointed at their leader with my pistol.

Dear god, I hoped my bluff worked. I felt like a child surrounded by cannibalistic World’s Strongest Man competitors.

“You got balls, human,” the leader said.

“I’m glad you recognize that,” I said, straightening up. Maybe I really could talk my way through this.

“I eat them first. While you still alive.”

I threw my hands in the air. “What is it with you fucking people, man? Why can’t you just grow some goddamn corn or something?” This guy was going to be a serious problem, and I needed a lot of luck to get through this situation alive and in one piece. A really, really bad plan formed in my mind. I was out of options so I went with it.

“Come here, asshole,” I said, stepping in front of my car. “Yeah, you. The giant green turd with a bad attitude. Get over here so I can teach you some manners.”

The rest of the Green Men chuckled as their leader cracked his knuckles and slowly walked toward me. He didn’t seem fazed at all that I still held a pistol in my hand. In his defense, those guys had thick skin and even thicker skulls. And apparently a lack of common sense.

“Gonna dislocate your hips and rip each leg off,” the giant said as he walked up to me. He had a swagger that would have rivaled Conor Mcgregor, but less douchey.

I took a single deep breath and steeled my nerves. As soon as he took another step toward me and opened his mouth to continue his threats, I brought my pistol up and pulled the trigger. He was close enough that the shot was easy.

He reacted immediately, moving far too quickly for something so massive. He closed the ten feet between us in a heartbeat, but fell dead at my feet. A hole in the back of his head leaked blood and brains.

“Who else wants some?” I shouted. “And let me remind you that you might overwhelm me, but I’m taking as many with you as I can. Who wants to die today?”

It was that threat that caused them to hesitate. I calmly walked to my car and reached in, grabbing the trigger lever.

“You never leave here alive, pink-skin,” one of the Green Men growled at me. “You belong to me, now.”

“Ah, horseshit,” I said, bringing forth the second part of my bad idea. “I belong to Sharg! She’s the only woman strong enough to put me in my place.”

Everything went dead silent after that. I just hoped I hadn’t fucked up.

10

Iheard a few of them whisper Sharg’s name, but no one tried to approach me. In fact, the way they said Sharg’s name made me think….

Yeah. They were afraid of her. And to be fair, I couldn’t blame them. I was absolutely terrified of her.

“You! You live by her. Go get Sharg. She can eat him in front of us,” someone said behind me. Several other giants snickered.

“Man, I just hope she remembers me,” I said to myself.

One of the Green Men in front of me took a step closer and I reached in and grabbed the trigger lever.

“Uh uh,” I said. “Unless you want two dozen bullets where your little dick used to be.”

He gave me a look that promised pain. Provoking these guys was probably a horrible mistake. Maybe if I pissed them off enough, they’d kill me quickly, instead of the prolonged torture they seemed to prefer.

“I seen Sharg pull man in half before,” one of the Green Men said from over on my right. “Grabbed him by leg and neck and pulled. Spine came out of his hips. It was beautiful.”

I tried not to vomit.

“This walking pig not belong to Sharg,” another Green Man said. “She the strongest of us. When she see he shot her brother, she pull his head off and drink his blood.”

Ah, fuck. That wasn’t good.

“Where the mother fucker that called for me?” a deep, husky woman’s voice shouted from behind me. Dear lord, she was as loud as a fucking train horn.

The men around me all began laughing. A few of them had slowly worked their way closer to me. Now they all stepped back and grinned.

I turned around, pretending to be calm. My heart was doing a good impression of a washing machine on spin cycle, and the bit of food in my stomach was close to being sprayed all over the ground.

“I was in middle of bath!” the woman’s voice shouted again.

A group of men stood behind me, and they hurriedly parted to let her pass. I recognized her immediately.

It was Sharg.

I also saw why they deferred to her as they did. She was as big as most of the men, but her legs were twice as thick. They were all huge, but she was nearly a caricature of a muscular woman. Funnily enough, she wore a torn bathrobe. It didn’t cover much of her, but at least it tried.

Sharg stopped ten feet in front of me and her eyes narrowed. “You.” That was all she said. Her voice was flat and completely devoid of emotion.

“He killed your brother, Sharg!” one of the Green Men shouted.

“Fuck my brother,” Sharg said, still watching me. “He weak and overconfident.”

I holstered my pistol and took a step toward her, trying to get myself in the mood. I had one chance to survive this, and it entirely centered on my dick. And while I was pretty confident in my dick’s abilities, this was a rather stressful situation, to put it mildly.

She had strong features, but was by no means ugly. Her face was actually pretty feminine, even if her neck was a bit on the hefty side of things. Plus, she had been bathing, so she was clean. At least, I hoped.

Her robe couldn’t contain her tits, which were the size of my head. And I mean that literally. Those things were huge. And while the robe was tied shut so I couldn’t see her ass, I remembered how glorious it had felt to squeeze it.

Sharg’s eyes narrowed so I spoke up.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” I said to her, taking another step forward.

“About what?” she asked after a moment. Her hands clenched into fists.

I took a deep breath and lowered my voice so the other cretins wouldn’t hear. “You once told me you have the best pussy. I’ve been thinking about it night and day since we first met, and I need to try it.” I pounded my fist on my chest. “I have the best cock. It’s for you.” Holy shit, I felt like an idiot after saying that. And my heart sank when I realized I was going to have to say even worse things.

She took two more steps and stood in front of me, towering over me. Her hands flexed a few times as if she wasn’t certain. As for me, I just stared at the absolutely massive tits right in front of my face and grinned. Okay, so while I was scared shitless in that moment, I was still a man. So, you know. I still wanted to play with them.

“I want to see what kind of woman you are,” I said. I had no clue where I was taking this; I just wanted to stay alive. And so, I grabbed my crotch and gave it a squeeze. “I want your pussy. If I have to, I’ll take it.”

Her eyes widened slightly at that.

“Smell me,” I said, keeping my voice low.

She leaned down until her face was level with mine. We stared, eye-to-eye for a moment. Her eyes weren’t black, but were instead a very deep shade of green.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” I whispered. Taking a huge risk, I reached up and gently caressed her cheek.

“What you doing?” she asked, jerking back. She was back in angry mode again.

“Treating you like a woman,” I said, although I was quickly realizing that was the wrong angle with her.

“I am warrior,” she said, pounding her chest. Of course, that made her massive tits bounce. I openly stared and licked my lips. “You smell good, but you will treat me like warrior. You will respect that, or I will pull you apart and eat your entrails while you scream and cry.”

“Then I will fuck you like a warrior,” I said. “Now, give me that pussy. You say you have the best pussy? Fucking prove it.”

Her eyes narrowed and I realized I had gone too far. I opened my mouth to quickly say something else, but she reached out and grabbed me. She tucked me beneath her arm, the way people sometimes do with their toddlers when they’re playing around. Me, an adult man, tucked beneath her arm. I couldn’t move. Hell, I could barely breathe.

The men around us cheered and shouted as she turned and walked back in the direction she had come from. One of them walked near and reached out for me. She drew back her other arm and socked him right in the face. I could hear the bones crunch.

“This human is mine,” she growled, sounding half-rabid. “You stay the fuck back or I feast on your entire family tonight.”

Everyone took a step back after that.

I tried to get comfortable, but the truth was I felt kind of like a ragdoll. The one benefit was that her massive tit kept bumping me in the face with every step. It kinda hurt, but I grinned like an idiot.

“My house is over here,” she said, still sounding like she was going to murder me.

Several Green Men tried to follow, but one look from Sharg set them in their place. No one would mess with her.

My arms were pinned by my sides, but I was able to wiggle them forward enough to touch her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t touch her ass. So instead, I just caressed her back. She gave me a sharp look, and I winked and continued.

“If you kill me that’s fine, but I want those tits in my face first,” I said.

She glared at me for a moment, then grinned.

My heart leaped in my chest. I was going to live! All I had to do was fuck a giant mutant woman that could break me in half.

She approached an old rowhome and finally set me down. I took a few deep, gasping breaths, but tried to keep my focus on her. I mean, now that I was checking her out, I was pretty excited to do it. I decided to take a gamble.

As Sharg reached for the front door of her house, I reached out and grabbed her ass. That thing was huge; there was no other word for it. I gave it a good, hard squeeze.

“This is a good ass,” I said, nodding my head approvingly. “You’re strong. I like that.”

She just watched me for a moment, then pushed the door open. “Go,” she said, pointing inside.

I entered her house, unsure of what to expect. It was surprisingly clean, although about as sparse as could be. A queen sized bed stood right there in the living room, with enough blankets on it that it was probably soft. One chair stood in the corner of the room. That was about it.

I walked in and went straight for the bed, then began undressing. She walked up to me and stood there, fists on her hips.

“I want to see you,” I said, reaching for the belt on her robe.

She watched me intently as I pulled on the threadbare cloth strip. Her robe fell open, exposing her body. The last time I had seen her, she had still been wearing some clothing. Now, she was almost fully nude in front of me.

And you know what? It was fucking awesome.

I reached up and pushed the robe off her thick shoulders. It fell to the floor and I stared at those massive tits for a moment, then down at the rest of her body. Her hips were surprisingly round, and both her thighs and ass were big, round, and muscular. Between those thighs was an almost hairless pussy.

“Take off clothes,” she ordered me.

I stripped mine off as quickly as possible and went back to admiring her body. Fortunately, my dick was on my side that day, and I immediately became aroused. She looked down and grunted in approval.

“I just take bath,” she said.

“I took one this morning,” I replied.

She reached down and slapped herself on the pussy, as she had weeks ago when we first met. “I have the best pussy.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said.

“You need my—”

“Okay, move around here, and get on the bed,” I said.

She eyed me uncertainly, then walked around me and crawled onto the bed. Watching the curves in her ass as she did that somehow made me even harder. I couldn’t resist, and reached out and ran my hand over her smooth bottom. To my surprise, she flinched slightly.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, rather forcefully.

And then, it dawned on me.

“Sharg, have you done this before?”

Her eyebrows drew down. “Of course. Many times. Tens of times. I have the best pussy.”

“Lie back on the bed,” I said, pointing.

She flipped over and leaned back on her elbows, watching me.

“Spread your legs,” I said.

Her lips tightened, then she spread her huge thighs. I reached out, my hand hovering just above her leg.

“I’m gonna touch you,” I said, and let my hand rest on her inner thigh, right by her pussy.

She flinched again, but relaxed after a second. In fact, her entire body was incredibly tense. It was that clue that made me certain.

Sharg was a virgin.

“Why are the men afraid of you?” I asked, keeping my hand on her inner thigh. Her skin was surprisingly soft, at least right there.

“Because I great warrior,” she said, pounding her chest again. Man, the way her breasts shook when she did that was incredible.

“None of them are good enough for you, are they?” I asked.

“No,” she said after a brief hesitation.

I thought for a moment before speaking again. She had her pride, and I had to respect that. At the same time, I needed to absolutely rail her or she’d probably kill me. I looked down at her pussy and could see that it was wet.

“Every warrior has their first battle,” I said. “You remember yours, right?”

She nodded. “I was ten. I cut man’s arm off and force him to eat it. His face break.”

“Think of this as another first battle,” I said. “But the best part is that we both get to win.”

11

She frowned for a moment, processing what I had just said. Finally, she nodded slowly, although I could tell she still didn’t fully understand.

“How do we both win? In battle, one person wins. The other dies.”

I grinned and gave her inner thigh a gentle squeeze. “Trust me, you’re definitely going to win today.” I looked down at her massive tits, then down at her hairless pussy. “And I’m pretty sure I’m going to win as well.”

“Put that inside me,” Sharg said, pointing at my cock.

“Oh honey, there is so much to do before we get to that point,” I said. I placed my other hand on the inside of her other thigh and gently rubbed them a bit. “First, we have to get you all warmed up and ready.”

“I ready,” she said fiercely.

“Trust me, you aren’t,” I said. “But I will get you ready. Slide back a little bit.”

She scooted back, then remained there on her elbows, her thick thighs spread. I got on the bed and crawled between her legs, ready to give it the ol’ college try. If I was going to fuck a Green Woman, I was going to go all the way.

“What you doing?” she demanded. “No. Put your cock in me.”

“I need you to trust me,” I said. “I’m going to do some things that are going to make you feel really good. Probably better than you’ve ever felt before. Do you understand?”

She was tense, but finally relaxed and nodded.

“I’m going to touch you here,” I said, pointing at her pussy. “With my fingers, and with my tongue. It’s going to feel good, and those feelings will build up.”

Her mouth worked silently for a moment before she spoke. “Okay.”

I licked a finger and gently rubbed the fingertip along her labia. She gasped and tensed up again, then relaxed. I slid my finger down, pushing it partially inside her, then brought it back up and rubbed her clitoris. It was a bit large, but nothing hyena-like. Just an easy target.

She shook slightly when I rubbed her clit, and her eyes widened. “What was that?” She sounded eager.

“That’s the love button, my dear,” I said with a grin. “Now, just lie back and relax. Nothing I’m about to do will hurt.”

She finally nodded, then let herself recline fully on the bed. I rubbed both hands along her inner thighs, ensuring she was ready to be touched, then finally pointed my tongue and went to work.

I ran it up and down her labia, all the way from her clitoris down to her opening. She was quite delicious; she tasted just like a human woman, but perhaps a bit stronger. I ran my tongue up and down her slit a few times, grinning as little trembles went down her legs.

Finally, I grabbed onto her thighs and pushed them back. She immediately reached down and grabbed her legs behind her knees and pulled them back. I pushed my tongue inside her, savoring the moment, then ran my tongue back up to her clitoris.

“Oh!” she said, nearly shouting as I pushed a finger inside her. “Oh, good. That good.”

I moved my mouth up to her clitoris and began gently rubbing it with my tongue, slowly at first. Her stomach trembled and she gasped as I began making a ‘come here’ motion with my finger, rubbing her front wall.

“What are you doing, human?” she asked, her voice shaky. “I feel strange.”

“It’s a good thing,” I said, once she had released her death grip on my head with her massive thighs. “Try to relax and just enjoy it, okay? It gets better and better. Trust me.”

While saying that, I kept my finger inside her, gently stimulating her. Her breathing was quick, so I knew I was doing it right. Plus, she was absolutely soaking wet. I mean, I was at risk of drowning down there.

I went back down and licked at her clitoris again, working at it almost methodically. With a flat tongue I moved side-to-side on her love button while my finger gently rubbed her front wall. She shook and gasped and after a few minutes, reached down and ran her fingers through my hair. I found the gesture oddly gentle, coming from her. I just hoped she didn’t rip my head off.

I kept working at it and she finally moaned, loud and strong.

“Mark!” she shouted.

Hey, I was just grateful she remembered my name.

Her thighs clamped against the sides of my head and her fingers tightened in my hair, but I refused to let that stop me. I kept licking at her clit and her moans crescendoed, reaching a surprisingly high-pitched note.

“Fuck!” she shouted, pulling my face hard into her crotch.

I couldn’t breathe, but I kept licking at her.

“Fuck!” she shouted again. “Mark! Oh, gods! My skin! My body!”

I kept going and she quickly reached a second orgasm. After that I took a breath, both so she could rest and so she wouldn’t crush my skull with her damn thighs. I left my finger inside her though, gently working in and out.

“Mark,” she breathed, looking down at me. A faint sheen of sweat covered her face. “Come here. Come to me.” She reached down.

Now was my time to shine. I was going to fuck a Green Woman and live to tell the tale. I moved up and positioned myself right in front of her, then rubbed the head of my cock against her wet opening. As soaked as she was, I pushed myself right inside.

She was warm and tight and felt just as heavenly as any other woman I had been with. We both moaned loudly as I entered her. She pulled me on top of her and I immediately grabbed one of those gigantic tits and began nibbling and sucking on the large, green nipple. While doing that, I thrust gently inside her, letting her get accustomed to it.

“My body,” she said again. “My skin. I feel so strange.”

“That was called an orgasm,” I told her, pausing for a moment with her tit in both of my hands. “And I’m hoping to give you more of them.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m a guy. I basically get one big one, then I have to rest for a while. But most women can have many orgasms.”

The fierce look on her face melted into a smile and she leaned down. I leaned up and we kissed.

Now let me tell you, kissing this woman was an experience all in itself. She had a long tongue and did her best to choke me with it. I focused on squeezing her breasts and nipples with both hands while thrusting inside her. I still kept my pace relatively gentle so she could get used to the feeling. Plus, considering how tight she was and that I was sucking on the biggest tits I’d ever seen, I didn’t want to blow too soon.

At one point she broke our kiss and tossed her head back, moaning loudly. I pushed my hips forward, burying myself inside her. She reached down and grabbed onto my ass, pulling, ensuring I had every inch inside her. A shudder ran through her body and we continued.

After a moment I straightened up so we could change positions. I wanted her to experience more, but I also needed a break. She looked down at me, upset that I had stopped.

“Turn over,” I said, pulling my cock out of her.

She looked at me for a moment, then rolled over. I struggled not to laugh at the sight of her just lying on her stomach, but that big, round ass of hers halted any laughing. I ran my hands over it, squeezing it and even lightly spanking it. She responded by pushing her hips back, lifting her ass slightly. That was always good.

“Alright, get up on your knees,” I said, gently pulling on her hips.

She grunted, then raised that magical ass of hers. As tall as she was, I could barely enter her that way, so I had her spread her knees pretty wide. That had the added effect of somehow making her ass even rounder, which I didn’t think was possible.

“Dear god,” I said.

“Huh?” she grunted.

“Your ass is incredible,” I said, running my hands on it and squeezing it.

I took my cock in hand and pushed it inside her, which brought another loud moan from her. My hands went to her ass, and then grabbed onto her waist as I began thrusting. She definitely understood what was going on and started backing her ass against me in no time. Watching impact waves travel through that magnificent ass might have been the crowning achievement of my life.

“Reach between your legs,” I told her. “Rub yourself where I was licking.”

My hands went to her ass and I squeezed it and held on for dear life as I began going hard and harder, slamming my hips into her. She began rubbing her clitoris, fumbling a bit at first, and was gasping for breath in no time.

Meanwhile, I was just staring at her little asshole, right in front of me. It was between two of the most amazing cheeks I had ever seen, and I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Did I want to put it in her ass?

Damn right, I did.

But, she’d probably kill me.

So, I did the next best thing. I spat on my thumb and began gently rubbing it on her asshole. She immediately stopped and glanced at me over her shoulder.

“Just trust me,” I said. “Everything has felt good so far, right?”

She grunted in agreement and began pushing back against me again. I went back to thrusting inside that tight, wet pussy of hers while massaging her ass. I spat on my thumb again and decided to go for gold. While she was rubbing her clitoris, I gently pushed my thumb inside her ass.

“Mark,” she said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a whimper.

I began working my thumb in and out of her ass opposite of when I penetrated her pussy. Her fingers moved faster and faster on her clitoris and she began moaning loudly.

“My god!” she shouted. “Oh, Mark! Fuck!”

She orgasmed and I thought her ass was going to cut my thumb off. For that matter, it felt like someone had put my cock in a chokehold. Even more, I wanted to fuck her ass now. But I wouldn’t get the opportunity, because at that moment I blew my load.

I opened my mouth to shout her name, then decided that yelling ‘Sharg’ would sound weird. But hey, this was her first time. She deserved that much.

“Sharg!” I shouted as I slammed my hips forward.

I squirted a huge load inside her while working my thumb in and out. Her entire body shook as she orgasmed again.

I pulled both my thumb and cock out, then practically collapsed on the bed. She immediately flipped over and knelt there, towering over me.

“Come here,” I said, holding my arms out. She raised an eyebrow. “Lie on the bed next to me,” I said.

She finally laid herself down and I tried my best to cuddle her. She was huge, so it was tough, but I did a decent job. We kissed gently and I caressed the skin of her hip.

“What you think?” she asked, kissing me again. “I have the best pussy.”

I chuckled. “Honestly, that’s pretty hard to argue with.”

12

We laid there and cuddled for a while. Sometimes it just felt nice to hold a warm body, even if that body weighed four hundred pounds and was sometimes cannibalistic.

“What now?” Sharg asked.

I laid there for a moment and put my hands behind my head. Not gonna lie, after banging a Green Woman I felt kind of like a king. She was surprisingly enjoyable in bed, and the feeling of conquest was unavoidable on my part.

So, you know, we did it again.

This time I had her lie on her side with one leg pulled up, which really showed off her curves. That helped me get nice and deep as well. I really let her have it that time, with ass slapping, a bit of hair pulling, and of course my good ol’ friend mister thumb-in-the-ass. I couldn’t help it, that thing was just so big and round.

She was rather fascinated with the notion that my cum was inside her, and she wanted more. I mean, no complaints here.

“Where else can you cum?” she asked. “I want you to fill my pussy. Over and over.”

I shrugged mid-thrust. “I can cum in your pussy.” I continued working my thumb in and out of her ass. “I can cum in here. And I can cum in your mouth. Beyond that we get into stuff like feet and armpits, and that’s just not my vibe.”

“Cum in pussy,” she moaned. “Oh Mark, cum in pussy!”

With my thumb buried deep in her ass, my fingers were able to partially wrap around her cheek, so I had a sort of grip on that thing. My other hand went to her leg, the one that was pulled up by her chest, and I pushed it up further. She held onto her thick thigh and I rammed myself into her as hard as I could.

Her moans were louder than before and her pussy was absolutely sloppy wet. It was, quite frankly, amazing. I’d bang this woman five times a day if I could.

I started getting close, so I alternated my thumb in her ass with my cock in her pussy, really giving her the ol’ DP treatment. She moaned and tossed her hair around, even reaching down to hold onto me.

“No, Mark. Cum in ass!”

Jackpot.

I was already close, so I pulled my cock out, spat on her asshole, and pushed myself halfway inside. I thrust very shallowly, not wanting to harm her, and reached down with my left hand. I was just able to reach her clit, and I began rubbing it.

“AHHHHHHH” she shouted as she orgasmed.

I pushed myself all the way inside her ass as I came. We both roared, letting out animalistic grunts and shouts from the force of our orgasms. Her ass tightened around the base of my cock and for a moment I thought she was going to squeeze me right out of her. I grabbed onto her ass with both hands and held myself there, feeling my muscles clench as I sprayed my semen inside her.

“This pussy belongs to me!” I shouted. “And this ass is mine!”

I’m still not entirely sure why I shouted that, but Sharg loved it. She looked at me over her shoulder, pure bliss on her face, then rolled over. She accidentally kicked me in the side, but reached out and grabbed me, pulling me back onto the bed.

“Sorry,” she said, and crushed me in a hug.

“No apology needed,” I wheezed as she practically crushed me against her massive breasts.

Once she finally released me we laid there and kissed for a while again. She really seemed to enjoy the notion of ownership, so I just decided to stay with that angle.

I reached down and slipped a finger inside her pussy. “This is my pussy,” I said to her, then pushed a second finger inside her ass. “And this is my ass. I have claimed them both, and they belong to me. You are my property.”

She let out a soft moan as I worked my fingers in and out of her a few times.

“Yes,” she said, her eyes closed.

Dammit. Leaving her was really hard, but I knew I had to. I got off the bed, then went over to a large bowl of water and used it to wash up.

When I was done, I turned around and saw Sharg lying on her stomach with her hands beneath her chin. She watched me with a big smile on her face. It really made her quite attractive, especially when compared to the glare she usually wore.

“I belong to you,” she said, almost as if tasting the words. “Yes. I belong to you. No other man can do that.”

I was thoroughly spent, but she chose that moment to raise her ass in the air and wiggle it. If I didn’t have people to save, I would have drowned myself in that ass of hers.

Instead, I walked up to her and knelt in front of her. As tenderly as possible, I took her face in my hands and kissed her.

“I like how you touch face,” she said to me, still smiling. “Why you leave?”

“I have to go save some people,” I told her. “That’s why I have my car. Some people are in trouble, and they’re being killed. I want to save them.”

“Who are they?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But they need to be saved.”

She frowned. “But you not know them.”

I cleared my throat. “But you do not know them.”

“What?” she asked.

“I’m helping you,” I said. “Your people don’t always speak so well. But you do not know them.”

She frowned further, but finally said it. “But you do not know them.”

“That’s true,” I replied.

“Then why save?” she asked.

“Then why save them.”

“Then why save them?” she asked again, only slightly annoyed.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I replied. “Because I try to be a man of honor.”

She seemed confused at the concept. “But they weak. So they die.”

“But they’re weak,” I said, then continued. “Yes, they might be weak, but that doesn’t matter. They have done nothing wrong, and they don’t deserve to die. I am going to go save them and give them a chance to live a good life, up where me and my people live.”

“Where you live?” she asked.

“Where do I live? North of here. Near a lake, with a dozen friends. People I care about, and trust.”

“You are their leader?” she asked.

“Kinda, yeah,” I said.

“You fought them and became leader?”

I laughed. “No. We are friends, and don’t fight. I have a lot of good ideas, apparently, and I care about keeping everyone safe. So they have essentially made me their leader.”

She was silent for a moment. “You are strange, Mark the human. But this honor you spoke of. I like. It feels strong.”

“I do think it takes a lot of strength,” I said to her. I knelt in front of her again and kissed her. Beneath the violent cannibal exterior, I thought she was actually kind of nice. “It’s easy to kill someone that’s weak. It’s hard to kill someone that’s strong. But it takes real strength to help a weak person, and make them strong. Or to take a strong person and make them trust you, follow you.”

“You smart,” she said after a moment. “I see why they follow you.”

I was going to comment on their system of leadership, but then she really hit me with a doozie.

“Would your people accept me?”

I froze in place, right in front of her. With no clue what to say, I kissed her again to buy myself some time.

“I think they might,” I said. “You would have to be nice to everyone. No fighting them, no eating anyone. Help out with farming, building houses, cleaning things.”

“No killing at all?” she asked.

“You know the Druids?” I asked her. She grunted in reply. “They live a few miles south. Uh, about an hour walk away from us. They showed up and tried to hurt us. You could kill all of them you want.”

Her eyebrows drew down into a fierce scowl. “I would kill every Druid, if they close. Women hate them. They hurt us. They—”

“Do they do the same with your kind?” I asked. “Uh, kidnap you and force you to have babies?”

She glared at me for a while. Her hands knotted into fists, hard enough that her knuckles cracked. “Yes,” she said.

“Holy shit,” I said. “You can have children with a human?”

“Yes,” she said again, still angry.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Was I about to have a half-mutant kid? Well, at least the second time I came in her ass. That helped. But still. If we had to fight a bunch of Druids that were half Green Man, we were in trouble.

“Who else you fight?” she asked.

“No one,” I said. “Only people that try to hurt us. The Druids, maybe some raiders if they came by. We don’t fight each other. We help each other.”

“And your women?” she asked. “What women you have? You leader, so you have women, right? Many women.”

“Uhh, I guess I have two,” I said. “They aren’t warriors like you, though. One of them is, um. She has ears like a cat. And a tail.” I put my hands on my head, like cat ears.

“Beastkin,” she said.

“Exactly. And the other is a healer. She can heal wounds with her hands.”

Sharg pursed her lips. “You have food? Water? Are all clean and smell good, like you?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, basically.”

“I come with you.”

Ah, shit.

I kissed her again. “My car isn’t big enough. And I have to rescue those people.”

She turned her head aside for a moment as she thought, then turned back and kissed me. “Your people probably not like me. It okay.”

Well, now I felt guilty.

My knees were aching, so I stood up. Of course, that put my penis directly in front of her face, which made her smile.

“I like this,” she said, reaching out and grabbing it. At least she was gentle. “You said I can use mouth?”

“Well, yeah,” I said.

She opened her mouth in a way that didn’t sit very well with me.

“No teeth!” I said, and she stopped. “Just suck, and that’s it. Maybe move your mouth back and forth.”

She stared at me for a moment, then broke into a smile. “You strange, Mark. One day I have your other wives show me how.” She leaned forward and kissed the tip of my dick, then pushed herself up to her knees. “So, you need to go save weak people. Because it right thing to do.”

I nodded. “Exactly. For what it’s worth, if you needed help, I would save you. Not that I think you’re weak or anything,” I hastily added as her eyebrows drew down.

She grunted. “Nice. You very nice. And you smell good. Men here different. They kill to prove strength. Strongest rules, and he takes many women, whether they like or not.”

“But not you,” I said.

She looked offended. “He brother.”

“He was your brother,” I said without thinking.

“He dead brother. But I never like him anyway.”

Our eyes met and we shared a laugh. Sharg only ruined it a bit by suddenly slapping herself in the pussy.

“And now you own the best pussy.”

13

Ifinally left after that. She offered to make me something for lunch, but I definitely didn’t want to eat anything in their settlement. Which, I also learned, was larger and nicer than I would have expected.

When we left her small house, she pointed out several buildings that they used for storing clothes and other goods, as well as breeding birds and several other types of local fauna. I didn’t want to know the cleanliness situation, but at least her diet wasn’t all human flesh.

Green Men watched us as we left. I puffed my chest out and walked with quite the swagger. Anyone that stared for too long got a menacing glare from Sharg, which usually set them on their way.

My car stood in front of us, fortunately still in one piece. A Green Man leaned on it, and Sharg glared at him, too. She shouted at him as we drew closer.

“Get off my man’s car!” she roared.

He flinched at her volume and took a few steps away. When we reached my car, Sharg turned in a slow circle, eyeing everyone.

“I belong to this human. I kill anyone that hurt him. You let him pass!” She delivered that in a roar that could have been heard a mile away.

One by one, the men left. No one had the gall to challenge her, and I didn’t blame them.

She leaned down and kissed me again, quite aggressively this time. I made a big show of grabbing her ass and sucking on her tits right in front of them all. Let them see that I had succeeded where they all failed.

“This human owns my pussy!” Sharg shouted.

I tried not to wince, and I hoped she would just leave it at—

“And he own my ass, too!”

“God dammit,” I said under my breath. Sharg looked down at me and I smiled. “You are one hell of a woman, Sharg. I have to be honest. I’m gonna miss you.”

“You come back,” she said quietly. “Give me better life. Give me orgasms instead of battle.”

She made an excellent point, but it was still a tricky situation.

“You save weak people. You also save strong Sharg.”

Shit. She had me there. I hesitated, and she understood.

“I know I different. You don’t have to wife me. But let me life with your people. With friends. And orgasms.”

I reached out and hugged her tightly. I had a feeling I would definitely see her again. And to be honest, we could use someone like her. She was as strong as four men, which would come in handy when we were building things.

“Okay,” I said. “I need to rescue these people first, then we’ll figure out how to come get you.”

“Who hurt these people?” she asked.

I sighed. “Green Men,” I said. “Your people are killing them. Well, not your people. Further south.” I pointed south to help illustrate.

She frowned. “My people kill much. Too much. Go. Save weak people. But do not kill mine unless you must.”

I nodded. “I promise.”

I reached out to hug her again, which turned into another kiss that lasted ten minutes. Finally, she let me go after one last bit.

“Oh. We not call Green Men,” she said with a hint of a smile. “We not like that name. We call Lakpal.”

“Your people are called Lakpal?” I asked. She nodded. “Well, thank you for telling me that. I’ll see you again soon, Sharg,” I said, going on my toes and kissing her again. The way her face brightened when she smiled was both adorable and fascinating.

I hopped in my car and double-checked everything. I was as ready to go as possible. Sharg leaned over and checked the blood smeared on my windshield.

“You fight earlier,” she said.

“Yeah,” I told her. “Some Druids tried to kill me. I managed to kill a couple of them, then escape.”

She smiled. “You good warrior too, Mark.”

“I’ll definitely take that as a compliment,” I said.

I reached out and took her hand in mine, giving it a squeeze. She squeezed back, painfully, of course. I flipped the medium power switch and I was on my way.

I saw her in my rearview mirror, standing there for a moment like a lovestruck cannibal mutant girl. I reached out and waved to her, and she waved back.

“Wasn’t expecting that,” I said to myself.

I swerved around the dead guy and then turned left. It took a few streets, but I finally started getting back toward a part of town I was familiar with. I had to resist the urge to lean out the window and remind everyone that Sharg’s pussy belonged to me.

“Man, what a day,” I said as I took a right turn.

I tried to put Sharg’s massive tits out of my head so I could focus on my drive. Trust me, it wasn’t easy.

The good news was that I was close. I followed the road for a bit, thankful it was relatively empty, and eventually turned right onto Russell Street, which became 295.

“Fuckin’ finally!” I said. Oh, but it would probably be a good idea to let Iris know I was on my way.

I grabbed the radio and keyed the mic. “Hello? Anyone around there?” I asked, then waited a few minutes.

A loud clatter came over the radio, which turned into several curses and then Iris’s voice.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

“Hey, Iris. It’s Mark.”

“Mark!” She let out a sob of relief.

“Just letting you know I’m on my way to come get you guys. I should be there in an hour or less, then we can leave. I might need to recharge my car, though. If you know of any place that has electricity, that would help.”

She sniffed and continued. “Oh, Mark. You can’t get here fast enough. Things have gotten so bad since we last spoke. The Green Men have killed most of us. It’s only me and Benjamin and Julio left now, and I’m starting to think Julio is losing his mind. We don’t have long. We might be able to get you some power, but I can’t say for sure.”

“I’m hurrying, I promise. You guys are in the old Exchange building, right? Off of, uhh, Reece Road I think it was? By the front gate?”

“Yes, exactly,” she replied. Several gunshots went off in the background and shouting voices came across the radio. “Please hurry, Mark.”

“I’m coming as fast as I can, I promise,” I said. “Alright, I’ll let you know when I get there.”

I set the handset down and focused on driving. Cars still dotted the road, so I had to swerve to miss them at times, but the highway was otherwise relatively clear. The way the road was mostly flat gave me a bit of hope for my car’s range, but I knew I’d still be pushing things.

Other than dodging some cars, it was a pretty boring drive. I alternated between low and medium power settings, hoping to squeeze the most range from my car. It wasn’t a far drive, which was a huge bonus. Maybe twenty-five miles total, give or take a few. Iris said they sometimes got power down there, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped that would happen.

Things grew more and more desolate, which I found a little odd. That area had been heavily wooded before the war. I finally saw the exit up ahead, and felt a rush of excitement. Since I had briefly dated a chick in the Air Force, I was reasonably familiar with that area.

I took the exit onto Annapolis road and entered a hellscape.

Okay, so not a full-on hellscape. More like a diet, caffeine-free hellscape. But shit was fucked. I passed Max Blobs Park Road and laughed. Yeah, it was a guy’s name and all, but it still made me chuckle.

As far as buildings went, they had all been completely leveled and then covered by vines and weeds. I didn’t see any trees either, other than a few dead ones that stabbed at the sky like skeletal fingers. I reminded myself that I was twenty-five miles closer to the site of a bomb, so things would naturally be pretty messed up. DC had been a primary target, so of course it would have been destroyed. Baltimore wasn’t nearly as important.

Or so I thought.

“Ah, shit,” I muttered to myself. “The National Security Agency used to be around here. Of course they got hit.”

After about a mile I let the car slow down a bit so I could stare out my window. A clearly visible crater was on the left side of the road. Nothing grew around it, not even weeds. All buildings had been completely vaporized.

Definitely not a direct hit, but depending on the size of the bomb, everyone would still be dead. Electronics would be ruined as well, due to the electromagnetic pulse.

I passed by one of those mcmansion neighborhoods that populated the area. Every single house had been turned to rubble. At least at this distance, some weeds and vines grew, so it didn’t look quite as desolate.

As I approached the front gate to Fort Meade, things looked slightly better. Oh, everyone would have been killed, just so we’re clear. But this bomb hadn’t been a direct hit. Maybe their targeting systems had been off. Or maybe another bomb hit from the other side. I’d probably never know.

I let the car slow as I checked all around me. The place was dead, but after a moment I saw some movement in the distance. Very distinct movement, as if some very large people were walking.

“Well, here we go,” I said to myself.

14

Iturned right and left the car at low power. About a hundred feet later the road curved sharply, probably so no one could rush the gate. Well, that wasn’t a concern now. The guard house had been leveled, anyway.

My hand went to the trigger lever and I remembered what I had told Sharg. I wouldn’t kill her people if I didn’t have to. That was a tough promise, especially considering I was entering their turf.

I grabbed the handset and keyed the mic. “Hey, Iris. I just entered Fort Meade. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Gunshots rang out in the distance, and I heard them over the radio a split second later.

“Please hurry!” was all she said.

I tried to remember exactly where the exchange building had been. It was right near the entrance, which kept things simple. I remembered this place being covered with trees, and wondered if the dense foliage had absorbed some of the shockwave and protected the buildings. I guess I’d never know.

More gunshots rattled off in the distance. I checked my pistol and made sure it was ready for action.

Trees still grew here, which gave me some hope. It appeared the majority of the base hadn’t received a direct hit, although I expected every window for miles was shattered.

A large parking lot stood on my left. I missed the entrance, so I just drove over the thick grass, laughing to myself as I did so. The car bumped and bounced onto the broken asphalt and I steered around the other cars that were still parked there. Every single one of them had burned to the ground, then rusted into ruin.

But beyond those rust heaps stood the exchange building. As it had been constructed from concrete block and brick, it still stood upright, although all the glass was gone, as I had expected.

A group of green-skinned giants stood in front of me, swinging their fists and grabbing at a group of humans that fought back with homemade pistols. Blood splattered everywhere, and one of the Green Men stood with a human in his hands. He roared triumphantly and took a bite out of the man’s leg. The other Green Men joined in, tearing at the poor bastard’s flesh while he screamed.

I steered my car and pulled the trigger lever. Bullets sprayed just to the left of the group. I turned the car slowly, letting the bullets pass through each of the Green Men. They shouted as their hips and waists exploded, showering the nearby concrete wall with blood and gore. The man fell to the ground, but he died moments later.

I nearly got out of my car just then, but wisely looked around. Nothing on my right. Nothing on my left. I turned and glanced over my shoulder and saw two Green Men charging me.

“Shit!” I said, and put my car in reverse. I flipped both switches for max power and backed straight into them.

They both reacted the same; they reached down, intending to grab onto my car and lift it. Instead, my rear bumper took them right in the shins and knocked them to the ground.

They roared and flailed, beating at my car as it ran over them, and I opened the door and leaped out, pistol in hand. Even bruised and bloodied, those giant bastards worked together and began lifting the rear of my car off of their legs. I thumbed back the hammer and put a bullet in the first one’s temple, ending his fight. The second one got the same treatment.

“I had better not be stuck,” I muttered as I stood up. I couldn’t see any other threats in the immediate area, so I got in the car and tried to move it. My dry-rotted tires spun on their flesh, sending rooster tails of blood across the parking lot, but eventually I drove off of their bodies.

I drove a total of twenty feet and parked the car in front of the old Exchange building. It was an absolute mess, but it still stood. Three cheers for well-built buildings, I suppose. It dawned on me that it was a pretty good place to live, as it had previously sold all types of home goods, clothes, and appliances.

I keyed the microphone again. “Iris, I’m out front. Red car. Let me know if you need me to come get you.”

There was no answer.

“Always gotta do things the hard way,” I muttered as I parked the car and turned it off. I reloaded my pistol and slid it into my holster, then grabbed my shotgun.

I walked into the exchange and immediately stopped. Bodies were everywhere, some chewed down to the bone, some little more than piles of pulp and red mush. A few Green Men were mixed up among the corpses, but there had been a slaughter here, and the humans hadn’t won.

I stepped over a severed arm and raised my shotgun. Noises echoed through the concrete building, and I knew I wasn’t alone. It was like a scene from a horror movie inside this frontal area, a sort of vestibule where small carts had once sold random things. The exchange store proper was on my left, and the wall on my right had once been glass, but was now completely busted.

The entryway of the main store was ahead, and I approached it quietly. Grunts and shouts came from within, and my grip tightened on my shotgun. There had been a lot of death in this building, and there was going to be more.

A woman screamed and I picked up the pace. I had to make it there before they got to her, I told myself. I rounded the corner and looked around.

Many of the steel aisles had been toppled over. Long ago, someone had taken all the goods of the store along with random materials outside and built a rather sturdy shelter inside the store. To my surprise, two rather thick wires exited the top of the domelike structure and disappeared somewhere in the ceiling. It was like an igloo made of junk.

The woman screamed again as two Green Men beat at the ramshackle building. It wasn’t built well, but it was thick enough to hold them off.

One of the Green Men looked around and grabbed a children’s bicycle, then used it as a club and began beating frantically at the building. The other one shouted threats. They didn’t seem smart enough to just pull the pieces apart.

“Meat!” he roared. “Come out, fresh meat! Make death quick instead of slow!”

“Lakpal!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Both Green Men stopped and turned to face me, confusion clear on their faces. I held my shotgun ready, but not quite pointed at them.

“Lakpal, go!” I commanded, even pointing out the door for emphasis.

“How you know Lakpal?” one of them asked, taking a step toward me.

Time to roll the dice. I pounded my chest with a fist. “My woman Lakpal. Name Sharg. Live in city.”

The two Green Men looked at each other, wondering what the hell was going on.

“City tribe,” one of them said.

“Brung, leader,” the other said.

Was that the name of the guy I had shot? It had to be. “Brung dead,” I said, slapping my shotgun. “Too weak to lead. Sharg his sister. My wife. She very strong warrior. No man fight her.”

They both grunted. I felt like a dumbass, but somehow I had lasted thirty seconds without being eaten, so I continued.

“Food out there,” I said, pointing outside the store. “Leave human.”

“Why?” one of them growled. “The weakest feed the tribe.”

“Not her,” I said, pounding my chest again. “I very strong. Many wives.” I pointed at the structure they had been steadily destroying. A woman’s voice whimpered within. “She my other wife.”

One of them pulled a knife from his belt that was big enough to be a sword in my hands. I responded by thumbing back the hammer on my shotgun and raising it. His eyes narrowed, but he was smart enough to know I would win that fight.

I took a few steps to the side, giving them plenty of room to leave. Once again pointing out of the store, I repeated my command.

“Go outside. Food outside.”

“No food outside,” one of the Green Men said, slashing his hand to the side. He pointed in the opposite direction, which would be further in the base, toward the National Security Agency itself. “Dying ground. All that go, die. She last food. We not eat for days.”

“Bodies outside,” I said, once again pointing out into the vestibule.

“Fresh meat taste better,” one of them said, narrowing his eyes at me.

I aimed my shotgun right for his head and he growled, but I saw some of the fight go out of him. In a fair fight, I wouldn’t last five seconds against one of them. Which was why I never, under any circumstances, intended on fighting them on equal grounds.

“Go,” I said, pointing. I took a few more steps away. “Go, lots food out there. Eat arms, legs, heads. Fill belly.”

They both glared at me, so I drew my pistol as well, holding it in my left hand while my shotgun was pressed against my shoulder with my right. Of course, holding two guns like that was ridiculous and borderline useless, but at close quarters I could still put a lot of lead downrange, and that was all that mattered.

“Go,” I said again.

“We find you later,” one of them said as they both slowly approached. “We find you outside. We eat you, human.”

“Say that again and I’ll kill you,” I said, raising my pistol so that it was aimed right at his face. That always got the message across.

They glared as fiercely as possible as they slowly walked across the filthy tile floor. I kept my guns trained on them, ignoring the burning in my muscles. I had serious doubts I could shoot them both before they got to me, but I didn’t let it show on my face.

Both Green Men stood at the entranceway for a moment, then huffed and walked into the vestibule. Moments later I heard the sounds of them chewing on corpses.

I holstered my pistol and leaned my shotgun over my shoulder as I approached the odd structure. It really did seem as though they had piled everything inside the store into a sort of igloo. Well, it held up, so I couldn’t fault them too much.

My eyes went to the wires coming from the top of the structure again and I noticed one of the overhead lights inside the store flickering. With the holes in the roof, enough sunlight flooded the interior that I hadn’t previously seen that.

“Hello?” I called out.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice said back to me.

I looked around, trying to find an entrance. “Uh, hello?”

“Hello?” she said again.

“Hell—ah shit, how the hell do I get inside that thing?”

“Are they gone?” she asked.

“They’re outside, eating the corpses,” I said. “I convinced them to leave you alone.”

“You talked to them? Nukes, how the fuck did you do that?”

I opened my mouth and words came out,” I said. “Seriously though, I’m here to help you guys out.”

After a faint rattling, a sideways door opened near the top of the structure. A helmeted head popped up, glancing at me. She trained a pistol on me for a moment.

“Are you gonna try to eat me?” she asked.

“Gross,” I replied. “No offense. No, I’m Mark, the guy you’ve been talking to. I’m here to take you guys out of here.”

She sighed and lowered her pistol. “It almost doesn’t feel real. We’ve been trapped in here for a week, when the fighting got really bad. We were the last ones left.”

“How many of you are left?” I asked. “Still three? Is Julio okay?”

She shook her head. “They got Ben and Julio. I’m the only one left from our entire settlement.”

I blinked. “How many people were in the settlement?”

She sighed again. “Nearly a hundred people at one point. Everyone’s gone. Well, except for those weirdos in that big building.”

15

Itook a step closer to her. Briefly, I considered climbing up the pile of junk to help her out, but that looked like a sprained ankle waiting to happen.

“What weirdos are you talking about?” I asked, pointing to the flickering light above. “And how do you have power?”

“Are you sure it’s safe out there?” she asked, still hesitant.

“As safe as we can be, until we leave this area,” I said. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

She nodded. “I just need all the questions to wait a few minutes. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine,” I said gently.

She crawled out of the sideways door, then nimbly moved down the junk igloo. Her clothes were strange; a combination of old military uniforms and things that had been scavenged from the store itself. I couldn’t see anything except her nose and mouth, which were both dirty.

After a quick stumble down the pile of junk, she stood in front of me. I couldn’t see her eyes through her helmet, but she took it off a moment later and shook out her hair. She was cute, but it was hard to tell beneath all the dirt.

Iris looked up at me with tear-filled green eyes for a moment, then leaned forward. I folded her into a hug and said nothing as she cried against my shoulder. I made sure to glance around the room to make sure no green-skinned monsters were sneaking up on us, but otherwise I just let her stand there and cry it out.

Perhaps ten minutes later she finally regained her composure. Her body stopped shaking, and her sobs stopped.

“Thank you,” she said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. It smeared dirt along the side of her face. “I thought I was dead for sure. Just like everyone else around here.”

I avoided turning around and looking behind me, where broken bodies filled the vestibule. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Are you alright, though? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you have food and water, or anything you want to bring?”

“Hold on,” she said, going back to the junk igloo. She deftly climbed up and slid into the sideways door. A moment later she returned, holding a steel thermos like her life depended on it.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Water,” she replied. “I’m out of food and ammo. This is all I’ve got.”

“I have a few bottles in the car,” I told her.

She stopped and stared at me for a moment. “How much water do you have?”

I shrugged. “Uhh, three bottles, I think. We have plenty of it where I live.”

Her shoulders sagged. “This doesn’t feel real. I’m waiting for more Green Men to show up and kill me. You have no idea what the past month has been like.”

I looked around. “Hey, I know you wanted the questions to wait, but you said you have power, right? I need some if we’re going to get out of here.”

“Yeah,” she replied in a tired voice. “Most of the outlets work. It’s those weirdos over in the big building, further in the base.”

“Big building?”

“Yeah, it’s big. Like, a giant cube. Most of the windows are broken from the bombs, but it’s still there.”

It took me a moment to realize she was referring to the old National Security Agency building. Of course that thing was still standing. Probably had all sorts of back up generators and methods of making power.

“What kind of weirdos?”

She wiped her nose on her sleeve and paused before answering. “No one really knows, to be honest. We just know to stay away from them. Anyone that goes over there is never seen again. They make power though, and some of it finds its way up here. That’s one of the reasons we settled in this area.”

“And water?”

She pointed up. “We collect rainwater. It’s our only option.”

I paused. “So, what do you guys eat?”

She looked up at me. “Do you really want to know?”

I groaned. “Oh god, you guys aren’t cannibals too, are you? Man, what is with everyone eating people lately?”

She gave me a look of disgust. “People? Gross. No, I’m talking about my melons. Do you want to see them?”

Well, that snapped me back to reality. “Uh, your melons?”

She sniffed and looked around. “Yeah, they’re big and juicy right now. You can taste one if you’d like. I’d do that, since you saved me. Sometimes people eat my buns, too, but my melons are better.”

Was she really offering….

“Um, sure? Maybe we should get you a bath first, though.”

She gave me a strange look and began walking over to the side of the building. I quickly followed. A door was in the side wall and she pushed it open. We walked outside and I found myself standing next to a rather large garden. And sure enough, there were cantaloupes and small watermelons growing there. She reached down and grabbed one of the watermelons and pulled it from the vine.

“I seem to have a natural talent with these things. Something extra. I think it’s a mutation from all the radiation. My melons have made people happy for years, you know.” She knocked on it and smiled. “Plump and juicy. Just right.”

I didn’t think she realized how her words could be taken. Well, I reminded myself she grew up in this area, certainly without a school or anything.

“Do you have any bread?” I asked, hoping to set up a good joke.

Iris shook her head. “I used to make buns, but they’re all gone. My buns never made people as happy as my melons, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, I like it when people eat my buns. But seeing a man smile with one of my melons in his hands just brings me a lot of happiness.”

We stared at each other for a moment and she smiled. She really didn’t get it.

“Iris, your melons are lovely and we should definitely bring some. For now, I need some electricity. Do you have any extension cords out here?”

“Oh sure, we have a bunch,” she said, heading back inside.

She looked around warily and I reminded her that I was heavily armed. That seemed to put her at peace.

Together we walked over to the junk igloo, from which she withdrew two long extension cords. We moved toward the front of the store and plugged one of the cords in, then I handed her my pistol.

“I’ll be right back,” I told her.

I held my shotgun in both hands as I entered the vestibule. On my right, two Green Men sat in a pile of gore, stripping flesh from a human leg. It looked like a woman’s leg.

Seeing me, they stopped and watched me closely. I didn’t want to have to fight them, at least not yet. So, I slammed my fist against my chest.

“Lakpal strong,” I said to them. They grunted in reply and went back to eating.

I dragged the linked extension cords out through an empty window frame and walked over to my car. Being the saint that he was, Kenny had tossed the battery charger in the back of the Porsche. I plugged it in, hooked it up to the batteries, and walked back to the store.

The Green Men gave me another glare as I walked past them, but didn’t stop eating. Man, I hated those guys.

Iris was waiting for me inside the store. She had donned her helmet again, so all that I saw was her nose and mouth. She was cute, but in major need of a bath.

“Alright, I just need some time to charge the batteries in my car and we can go,” I told her.

“How long is that going to take?”

I shrugged. “A few hours, probably. Can we relax in here?”

She looked around. At least a dozen dead bodies littered the floor, but that didn’t seem to bother her.

“I suppose. Are those Green Men still outside?”

“Yeah. I told them to eat a corpse so they’d leave you alone.”

She frowned and looked down at my revolver in her hand. “One moment, please.”

I turned and watched her as she walked past me. She seemed completely calm, but I quickly realized she was walking toward the entrance to the store. I jogged a few steps to catch up to her, right as she turned the corner.

“Iris, hold on,” I said. I didn’t drive this far just to have her killed and eaten by Green Men, after all.

I stepped around the corner right in time. She calmly walked up to the back of the nearest Green Man and raised her pistol, shooting him point blank in the back of the head. Before the other one could even react, she sent a bullet through his forehead. With a nod of satisfaction, she walked back to me.

“Sorry for the noise,” she said. “They killed and ate my family, so I wasn’t comfortable with them being around.”

“Uhhh.”

She looked sad for a moment. “They’re probably the last ones around, you know. We fought for a month straight, us and the Green Men. Unless you shoot them in the head like I did, they’re incredibly hard to kill. They surrounded this building and picked us off, one at a time, sometimes eating people alive so we could hear them scream.”

“Dear god, that’s terrible,” I said.

“My people kept me alive because I’m special,” Iris said quietly. “I’m not like other girls, you see. I have something extra. Not really sure how to explain it. It’s something in here,” she said, placing a hand over her heart. She turned and looked back into the entrance of the store. “Everyone else is dead. It’s just me, now.”

I reached out and pulled her into a hug again. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” I said. “I’m not the best at this stuff, but if you need to talk about it, I’m here to listen, okay?”

“Thanks,” she said, squeezing me tightly. “If you want the truth, I just want a nap. I haven’t slept in two days.”

“Well, find somewhere comfortable and I’ll watch over you,” I told her. “You said that was the last of the Green Men, right?”

“I believe so, yeah,” she said. “We all killed each other over the last month, like I said.” She ran her fingers through her hair and frowned. “I feel terrible,” she muttered.

“Come on, let’s get you a nap,” I said, pulling her further into the store.

Iris walked past a pile of dead bodies and grabbed hold of a pile of curtains and old clothes. It took her a moment to spread them out some, making a sort of bed, but once she did she climbed on top. She looked over her shoulder at me again, fear in her eyes.

I walked closer to her and looked around. A small nightstand was right there, so I set it next to her makeshift bed and sat down on it, then laid my shotgun across my lap.

“You’re safe,” I said gently. “No one will hurt you now. Get some sleep and then we’ll leave here in a few hours.”

She smiled and nodded, then rolled over and curled up. Almost immediately, she started crying again. Full-throated sobs that shook her entire body. She called out the names of half a dozen people; I assumed family members. I couldn’t even imagine the pain she was enduring. After what felt like half an hour, she finally cried herself to sleep.

16

Iwasn’t sure how much time passed; perhaps three hours. Iris slept like the dead. Her eyelids twitched, so I assumed she was dreaming. She whimpered a few times, too. Probably nightmares.

Everyone she knew had been killed and eaten. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that was like. That she still retained her sanity was shocking.

I traced a fingernail along the gilded engraving on my shotgun. It felt strange, having an expensive weapon like that in this world. The thing looked like a work of art, and I used it to kill radioactive mutants and cannibals. Nothing made sense anymore.

When we had first radioed them, only three people were left down here. Deep down, my gut had told me they probably wouldn’t all make it; that was why I felt comfortable taking a small car like the Porsche down here. It was dark, but everything was dark these days.

And Iris was the only survivor. This poor woman. Her entire world had been destroyed. Well, at least I was bringing her back to Hope. Part of me was excited to see how happy she would be in a place like that. It was nice, giving people a sense of hope. Perhaps that’s why we named it that.

I got up and cautiously walked around the store, generally moving toward the entrance. I didn’t want to leave Iris alone, but my ass was falling asleep and I was bored. Plus, time was a factor. As I moved out to the vestibule, I looked both ways, then hurried through the busted glass front. It was a mess in there. Like a nightmare scene from one of the worst horror movies imaginable. Bodies and blood from wall to wall.

I got to the car and checked the battery gauge, which was just the fuel level gauge repurposed. It was about three-quarters full, so I decided to get ready. We had to take the long way home, and I just crossed my fingers and hoped the solar panels would be enough to get me home. Either way, I knew it was going to be a two-day journey.

I scanned everything, turning in a full circle before going inside. The parking lot was empty, except for rusted cars and dead bodies. Not a single thing moved.

Walking back inside, I looked around again just in case someone—or something—was hiding somewhere. Nothing. Just silence. Something about the complete lack of sound was almost unnatural. No birds, no squirrels, just complete silence.

Iris was still curled up on the pile of clothes, in a deep sleep. Her cheek twitched a few times, and she whimpered. I bent down and gently shook her.

“Hey Iris. Time to wake up.”

It took a few shakes, but she woke with a jerk, looking around frantically. Her eyes widened and she scrambled away from me.

“Hey, it’s alright!” I said, raising my hands.

She took a deep breath and blinked a few times. “Sorry. I was having a nightmare.” She sat on the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Life has been a nightmare lately. I can’t remember the last time I actually enjoyed being awake.”

“Let’s grab whatever food you have and get out of here,” I said. “Do you have any guns?”

“Yeah, we have some,” she replied. “But we’re out of ammo, like I said.”

“That’s fine. We’ll bring some guns back to Hope. Maybe a few other useful things.”

“Do you mind if I go outside to my garden? I just want to get away from all this.”

“Of course,” I told her. I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. She felt skinny. “My car is parked out front. It’s the red one. Just meet me out there in about five minutes and we’ll go, okay?”

“Thank you,” Iris said. She hesitated, then leaned forward and hugged me again. “Thank you for everything, Mark.”

Out of habit I almost kissed the top of her head. Well, I didn’t know her so that would be weird, and she was still quite dirty. Instead, I just hugged her tightly, then let her go.

Iris walked out the side door to her garden while I set myself to going through the bodies. I immediately regretted it.

Picking over dead bodies was bad enough. Most of them had large bite marks on them and entire limbs torn off. In some places the tile floor was completely covered with blood that had dried black. In some places, it was still wet and sticky. It was the scene of a slaughter. The smell was bad, too. Like old laundry mixed with rotting meat.

I tried to roll over bodies with my shoe so I didn’t have to touch them. It was awful work and I struggled not to vomit. Another difficulty was finding guns that weren’t soaked in blood. After a few minutes of searching, I had three AR-15s and two semiautomatic pistols in my hands. That was enough, so I took them out to the car. I unplugged the extension cord on my way out.

Iris was waiting outside for me, next to my car. A small backpack was over her shoulder. She turned when she heard me approaching and gave me a smile. In front of her chest, she held three small watermelons.

“Those will be a nice treat,” I said.

“Oh, you’re going to love my melons,” she replied, giving me a tired smile. She looked grateful, but exhausted.

I pulled the lever that unlatched the front trunk and raised the lid. Iris walked over next to me, staring at the car in wonder.

“Nukes, this is incredible,” she said. “I’ve never seen one that actually runs.”

“It took a lot of work to get it here,” I said as I set the firearms inside the frunk. “Sometimes I’m still amazed we pulled it off. The car doesn’t have a lot of range though, so we’ll have to be careful.”

I shut the lid, then walked around to the passenger side. After opening the door, I gestured for her to get inside. She smiled and climbed into the passenger seat, still holding the watermelons.

“Do you want one of my melons now?” she asked.

“Let’s wait until we stop,” I said. “I don’t want to get things all sticky.”

She nodded. “Sounds fair. I brought some seeds as well. They’re in my pockets. And some small jugs in my backpack. I really don’t own anything else that’s worth bringing.” She looked around. “Uhh, do I need to do anything?”

I grabbed the seatbelt and handed it to her, then pointed at where to plug it in. She took it and smiled.

I looked around one last time, then began pulling the extension cords to me. I coiled them up and set them in the back of the car, on the floorboard, then went around to my side and hopped in.

“Hey,” Iris said as I fastened my seatbelt. “Do you have some of that water?” The way she pronounced the word made it sound like some magical alchemy.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, grabbing a bottle. I handed it to her.

She nearly dropped her watermelons in her excitement. After unscrewing it, she sucked down half of the bottle in a matter of seconds.

“My god, that tastes so good.” She closed her eyes and rested the bottle against her cheek for a moment. “That was incredible.”

“Do you not have water?” I asked.

She opened her eyes and looked at me. “We collect rainwater. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but it hasn’t rained in about two weeks. I only have about a cup of water with me, and that’s my last cup. I’ve only had that much per day for the last week.”

“Good point,” I said, looking through the windshield at the sky. A few darker clouds were overhead, but nothing ominous, at least not yet. “Well, let’s get out of here.”

I flipped the low power switch and carefully moved through the parking lot, avoiding corpses and cars. Iris just stared, wide-eyed the entire time. The car really seemed to fascinate her.

“This is incredible,” she said quietly, staring out the window.

“You can roll the window down,” I told her, pointing at the crank handle.

She fiddled with it for a moment, then rolled it down halfway. That seemed to amaze her as well. She looked up at the ceiling and tapped the sunroof.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s a sunroof,” I explained. “That panel opens, so you can see outside and get a nice breeze. Of course, we have a solar panel installed on the roof of the car, so there’s no point now.”

Once back on Reece road, I put the car at medium power and focused on getting the hell out of there. Now that I knew what had happened, I saw more signs. The remains of nearby buildings were often pockmarked, from gunfire. A desiccated corpse was in the grass, off the side of the road.

I turned left onto Annapolis road and left it all behind.

17

Neither of us spoke for a while. I figured she had just survived a nightmare, so I gave her some peace. Finally, half an hour later, she finally said something.

“I’ve never been out here before,” Iris said, watching the trees go by. “It’s beautiful. All the trees, all the plants. So many different kinds.”

“Yeah, it’s very green,” I said. “Well, if you like this, you’ll love Hope.”

She turned to look at me, then smiled after a second. “I almost forgot that’s the name of your settlement. Yeah, I love plants. Trees, bushes, flowers. All the life. I think it’s beautiful.”

She seemed to be doing a bit better, so I decided to pry.

“So, you mentioned earlier that you’re special,” I began. “That something was different about you, compared to other women. Do you mind if I ask about that?”

Iris turned her chest toward me. “Well, I have three big melons. Check ‘em out.”

I glanced at the watermelons, not fully understanding. “Watermelons?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I tried it with my buns, but it’s just not the same, like I told you. They get the job done, but these melons of mine are a better example of what I have to offer.”

I really had no idea what she was talking about.

“Um. Your melons? What’s so special about your melons?”

She smiled. “You’ve got to try them, Mark. They’re big and firm. Look, I have three of them!”

“Okay? Why are they so special?”

“That’s the best part,” she said, setting them on her lap. She began undoing her top and for a moment I thought she was going to flash me. She was just getting some air, though. “Sorry, I haven’t felt fresh air like this in months.” Her neck was dirty, her chest was dirty. Poor woman looked like she hadn’t had a bath in a year. “Nukes, that feels incredible.”

“It’s okay, enjoy it,” I said, swerving around a string of junk cars on the road.

“But like I was saying, my melons are special,” Iris continued. “If you compare mine to another woman’s, mine are usually bigger, firmer, and just better all-around. Same with my cantaloupes.”

“But not your buns,” I said.

“No,” she replied with a frown. “My buns are mediocre at best. That’s just a talent I never quite mastered, you know. Letting the dough rise and everything.”

“Ah, bread,” I said. “So, you’re not good at baking bread.”

She shook her head. “Nope. My buns come out kind of flat and just not that enjoyable. It’s like I told you earlier; my buns will get the job done, but my melons are the best around.”

“And that’s because of….” I said, trying to get more information out of her that didn’t sound like double entendres.

She shrugged again. “I dunno. Something from the radiation, I think. That’s why the garden was mine, and why they saved me for last. Any plant I touch seems to thrive. My garden fed the whole settlement.”

“Ah, okay,” I said, finally understanding. “So you’re just really good with plants.”

“Yes, exactly. If I tend to a garden, the plants are stronger and taste better. They’ll resist diseases, pests, and droughts. The fruits are always brighter and usually larger. I can get them to grow where no one else can. Like I said, my melons are the best around. Tomatoes, potatoes, you name it and I can grow it. It’s like I’m giving extra life directly to the plants, somehow.”

“Fascinating,” I said.

The way the bombs had mutated people was indeed quite fascinating. We had the Beastkin, the Green Men, and now Iris had some almost-magical ability to grow plants. Well, that would certainly come in handy, since we were trying to feed our settlement.

“Hey, you wanna see my jugs?” Iris asked.

“Um, excuse me?”

She grabbed her small backpack that sat at her feet and pulled it onto her lap. After unzipping it, she showed me three water bottles, each covered with stickers. Honestly, it was quite similar to what I remembered back in my day. Some of the stickers were even pretty funny.

“These are some of my most valued possessions,” she said, smiling down at the water bottles. “You have to understand how hard it is to find stickers. They simply don’t last. I managed to find some rather funny ones and kept them on my jugs, here. It’s a little thing, but it brings me happiness.”

“That’s great,” I said. “I’m, uh, really glad for you and your jugs.”

“I have three of them, you know,” she said. “Not too big, not too little. Just the right size.”

“Noted,” I said. “Well, we can fill them once we get home. Say, does your ability with plants extend to animals?”

“Sadly, no,” she said. “I wish it did. I’d save every animal I could, if I had the ability. They’re innocent. They don’t steal and kill, like people do.”

“That’s a good point,” I said. “Hey, I like your name, by the way. Iris.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’m named after the iris flower. It has three petals, which I always found rather interesting.”

“You like the number three, don’t you?” I asked.

“It’s my favorite,” she replied.

The exit for 695 was up ahead, so I veered over to the side of the road. “Hold on,” I said. I wasn’t slowing down, since it would take more power to get back to full speed.

While taking a circular onramp at forty miles an hour wasn’t anything extreme, doing it in a car with dry-rotted tires and blown shocks was a completely different story. Iris squealed and grabbed onto the window frame. I tried to keep the rear end of the car in place, as it kept threatening to fishtail.

Once we pulled onto 695, I calmly set us in the fast lane and relaxed.

“That was incredible,” Iris said, glancing behind us. “And we’re going so fast!”

“Ah, I wish you could have experienced this before the war,” I said. “Forty was nothing. Even the worst of cars could do twice that.”

“Wait, before the war? What are you talking about?”

“Ah, I forgot to tell you,” I said with a chuckle. “I was born before the war.”

“Is this a bad joke?”

“I wish,” I replied. “You see, I was born before the war, like I said. So technically I guess I’m about a hundred and seven years old. But the reality is that roughly eighty years ago, I signed up for a science experiment. They were going to put me to sleep and freeze me for three days, then thaw me out. Problem is, right after they froze me, the war happened. All the bombs fell.”

Iris stared at me for a moment. “I have so many questions. First off, you can freeze people?”

“Yeah, it’s called cryostasis. The idea is that you get the temperature so cold it basically hits the pause button on your life. In fact, that was the name of the company that did it. Pause Button.”

“And second, you’re not joking, are you? Do you actually believe you were born before the war?”

It was a bit awkward, but I raised my foot to show her my running shoes. “When was the last time you saw a pair of these intact?”

She pursed her lips. “Okay, so you found shoes in good shape. I still don’t believe you.”

“I know the city better than anyone else. Well, except for the gangs. Those started well after the war. Uh, these specific gangs, that is. Baltimore has always had issues with gangs.”

Iris continued staring at me. “I’m still not convinced, but I’m glad you saved me.” She suddenly had a knife in her hand. “Just know that I always have this on me, so don’t try to get any crazier and eat me, got it?”

I laughed. “Man, the cannibalism rears its ugly head again. Trust me Iris, I would never eat you.”

“Well, I’m actually a little offended by that. Is there something wrong with me?”

“Other than the fact you look like you haven’t had a bath in a year, no. I just think the idea of eating people is disgusting. I’d rather eat grass, or basically anything else.”

“Well, if you’re nice you’ll get to taste my melons,” she said, smiling again.

I was really struggling not to comment on that. Like, I was trying to be polite. She seemed completely aloof to all the double entendres she was throwing out.

“Shame I can’t eat your buns, too,” I said, seeing if I could push things a little. I couldn’t help it; sometimes my sense of humor was pretty immature. “I’ll bet I’d enjoy eating your buns. Or your beaver! Yeah, I’d love to eat your beaver.”

“Oh, I love eating beaver!” Iris said, perking up. “They’re so nice and juicy. My old friend Rose had a big fat beaver once. Eating her juicy beaver is one of my favorite memories. Her beaver and my melons…. Mmmhmm, that was a good time.”

Was she being serious?

“You’re talking about a beaver, right?” I asked. “Furry thing, big teeth, flat tails, kinda fat.”

She looked at me with slight confusion. “Of course I’m talking about beavers, Mark. What else would I be talking about? There’s beavers all over Fort Meade, you know. I love animals, but they’re kind of a menace.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. Being around her was oddly stressful.

“I can’t think of any safe places for you to take a bath on our trip,” I said. “Worst case scenario, you can bathe in the lake when we get to Hope.”

“You have a lake?” she asked, sounding absolutely amazed.

“Yeah, Lake Roland,” I said. “I had a good friend that worked up there before the war, so I was familiar with the area. A lot of rich people lived there, so everything is pretty nice. It’s close enough to the city that everyone died, but far enough away that the scavengers never got to it.”

“Still trying to get me to believe you were born before the war, I see.”

I rolled my eyes. “How old are you?”

“Twenty. I was born in winter, like the Gojira song.”

“Hold on, what?” How the fuck did she know about a metal band from France?

“Yeah, the exchange sold all kinds of stuff, you know. They had a music section where they sold these things called compact discs.” She pronounced it like it was some alien technology. “Of course we couldn’t listen to any of the music, but we would open the cases and read the lyrics. It was like poetry. Gojira had a lot of interesting lyrics. They really seemed to care about nature, and the planet. I like that.”

“You know, I’m actually quite familiar with that song. Born in Winter. Do you want me to sing it for you?”

Her eyes brightened and she gasped. “Could you?”

“Okay that was probably a mistake. I’m not a great singer.”

“Oh I don’t care. I’ve always wondered what it sounded like.”

I sighed and then began to hum a bit. I tried to remember how the guitars went and did an absolutely terrible job mimicking it with my mouth. I slapped the steering wheel, trying to add the drums in. Then, the singing began, and I was immediately embarrassed. But then I remembered she had never heard anything like that before, and I felt she deserved my best.

So, I tried. She just about jumped out the window when I started yelling the chorus, but I was mostly on key. I remembered most of the lyrics, good enough at least, and to my surprise she jumped in and filled in a word where I missed.

“Nukes, that was incredible!” she said. I couldn’t see through the dirt, but I thought her face was flushed.

“Thanks,” I said. “Like I said, I’m not a singer. I just happen to like that band and that song.”

And that got me thinking about how much was lost forever. All those bands I loved, all that great music they made. Was it just gone? Even if society recovered in, let’s say thirty years. Would anyone ever hear Master of Puppets again? Gangster’s Paradise? Anything at all by Weird Al Yankovic?

18

We made pretty good time that day, but ultimately the battery didn’t have enough range. Also, there were some sections that went uphill, and that really increased power draw. Right around the exit to 795, a short stretch of highway that went northwest from the beltway, I decided to stop for the day.

“We only have a couple miles left on the batteries,” I explained to her. “I’m gonna take this exit and park the car. If I can reach it, there’s an old golf course up here that might be a safe place to stay.”

“I have a blanket in my backpack,” Iris said. “That’s all I need. And you have water, so we’re good.”

“Water,” I said, and a memory came back to me. “Yes, water! Iris, there’s a river by here. Uhhh, Gwynns Falls. I don’t know if it’s safe to drink, but we can at least clean up.”

“Okay, just don’t get any bad ideas,” she said. The knife was suddenly in her hand again.

“Relax, I have two girlfriends,” I said as I took the exit. It was a big, looping offramp that turned into highway 795.

“Okay, first off, how do you know where we’re going?”

“Because I was born before the war,” I said. “I’ve driven this hundreds of times in a dozen different cars. I grew up here.”

“Right. And second, you have two girlfriends? Who are you, Mark? What kind of man has two girlfriends?”

I was a bit taken aback by her question. To be honest, I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry if it bothers you that I have two girlfriends.”

“No, I’m not bothered at all. Sometimes high-value men do that. High-value women sometimes try, but the men usually wind up killing each other. I mean literally, what kind of man are you?”

I shrugged. “I guess I know a lot, since I have that pre-war education. And I lived here, so I really know the place, and how older technologies work. People followed me from Haven up to Lake Roland, where we started our new settlement, Hope. I guess I’m the leader of the place.”

“So, a man with a plan,” Iris said.

“Apparently,” I said, then shrugged. “I dunno, it just kind of happened. Jess came down to our settlement to help, and both me and Shayla liked her, and we convinced her to stay.”

“So, Jess and Shayla? Those are their names?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think you’ll like them. Shayla is a Beastkin, and—”

“What kind?” Iris asked.

“Uhh, cat.”

She nodded. “Okay, that’s good. There are some combinations that aren’t very fun. Anyway, go on.”

I made a mental note to ask about that later. “So yeah, Shayla is a Beastkin, part cat, and quite the sassy one. She tells a lot of jokes. Jess is more calm, and she’s a healer. Did you have those down where you were?”

Iris shook her head. “Not in our old settlement, but I’ve heard of them living in other places. From what I was told ever since I was a little girl, Fort Meade got hit with two bombs. We passed by the crater from one of them. The other hit the south side of base, and I’ve been told it was some strange new bomb, designed to kill, but instead it mutated people. Created things like the Beastkin, and I suppose people like me.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told about those as well,” I said. “Beastkin, even some animals got mutated. Those bombs made the Green Men as well.”

“I don’t think a lot of people are familiar with all the mutations,” Iris said, staring out the window. “Things seem very peaceful up here. I saw a deer on the side of the road just a moment ago. Beautiful little thing. We had deer on Fort Meade, but they didn’t have fur. Their skin was thick, almost like a lizard’s, and they had big teeth.”

“You mean like a dog or cat?”

Iris nodded. “Exactly. And they would attack you on sight.”

I tried to picture a hairless, carnivorous deer but simply couldn’t.

As we started on 795, I flipped the car down into low power and let it slow. The battery was almost dead, so I made sure to park it on the highway, where nothing would block the sun from reaching the solar panels. Kenny had told me they would charge it slowly, but I honestly only needed a few more miles to get home.

“Here we are,” I said, flipping the switches off. Iris looked around and I leaned over and pointed past her, out the window. “Gwynn’s Falls is right over the side of the road. It’s a small river, so we can use it to clean up.”

“I’d give anything for a bath right now,” Iris said. “Thank you.”

I hopped out of the car and grabbed the extension cables. The road was elevated at that point, although not too high. A large light pole was connected to the concrete side barrier and I looped the extension cable around it, using it like rope.

“We can use this to climb over to that tree that’s a few feet away, and take that all the way down.”

“Do you have any spare clothes?” Iris asked. “None of mine were worth bringing, and I wanted to leave everything behind and start new.”

“Uhh, yeah, I’ve got a shirt in here. A towel, too. You can have them both.”

“What about you?” she asked.

I smiled. “I took a bath in the lake this morning. I’m clean. I’ll just hop down there and wash my face.”

Together we walked over to the side of the road. I had parked facing west, so the evening sun was doing its best job of charging the car.

I grabbed the extension cords first and swung myself over the edge of the highway. It was only about ten feet down, and a large tree branch was right next to me. I stuck my leg out and pulled myself to it, then climbed down the tree.

“It’s an easy climb,” I called up to Iris.

As she began shimmying over the edge, I pulled out my pistol and looked around. We were in a heavily wooded area, but the stream itself was only about ten or fifteen feet away. Had I been thinking, I would have brought my machete. Instead, my only option was to trample and tear. So, I did the best I could, stomping on tall grass and ripping out bushes by the roots.

A few minutes later, I had a nice path to the bank of the stream. The water babbled softly as it ran by, and I took a moment to appreciate the beauty. Simple things like that would always make me smile.

“Alright, step aside,” Iris said as she unzipped her top. An old t-shirt was beneath that, so I couldn’t see anything other than the fact she seemed to be large-chested.

“Go right ahead,” I said, stomping on some grass to the side to make more room.

“And no peeking,” Iris warned me, unbuttoning her pants. “I still have my knife with me. I didn’t get rescued just to spend two days with a creep with no fingers, you understand?”

“No, actually I don’t,” I said. “I’m not creeping on you, and I have all my fingers.” I waved a hand at her to illustrate that fact.

She raised her knife. “Well, if you creep on me, you’ll be missing your fingers.”

I laughed. “Relax, Iris. I’m just here to wash my face and keep you safe. Enjoy your bath.”

I found a smooth, flat stone nearby and dropped it at the edge of the water, then knelt on it. That kept my leg dry as I reached down and splashed some water in my face.

Iris finished undressing and stepped into the stream.

“Nukes, that water is cold!” she shouted. “Better than being filthy, though.”

I kept my head down as she waded into the stream, but curiosity got the better of me and I peeked.

She was a skinny woman, but had quite the cute butt. Her bun comments clearly hadn’t been accurate; anyone eating those would be in for a good time. I couldn’t see anything else and I didn’t want my fingers cut off, so I went back to rinsing off my face.

After a few splashes, I dried my face off, then laid the towel over a nearby branch. Without looking at her, I called out Iris’s name and pointed at the towel.

“Thanks!” she said.

“You’re welcome!”

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it.”

I cautiously glanced over to the side and saw her sitting in the water, up to her neck. She had washed the dirt from her face and hair, showing that she was, indeed, quite pretty. She had a youthful look to her, and not just because she was only twenty. Her bright green eyes rivaled Jess’s. The water was almost crystal clear, but she moved too much for me to see anything.

“Tempting, but cold water isn’t my thing,” I said, turning to the side so I wasn’t staring at her. “I’m actually trying to figure out a system for heated baths up at Hope, since winter is coming.”

“Oh, that sounds incredible,” she replied. “Bathing in hot water? I’d never leave! But how would you do it?”

I shrugged. “There are a few ways. The simplest is just heating water on a stove, or fire, and filling a tub with it. There are some other options, like putting a heating element in a water tank to store hot water for everyone. I haven’t figured it out yet.”

“With water being so hard to get, bathing was a luxury for me my entire life,” she said, splashing around a bit. She dunked her head beneath the water again and scrubbed her fingers through her hair. “I feel like I could stay in the water all evening, but I know I’d probably freeze my ass off.”

“Sorry, we don’t have any room in our settlement for people without asses,” I said.

She gave a delighted laugh, then stood up. I remained facing to the side out of respect as she splashed closer to the shore.

“Can you hand me the towel?” she asked as she gently wrung her hair out.

“Yeah, no problem,” I said, turning to grab the towel.

For the rest of my life, I will never understand how I avoided reacting. As I extended my arm and handed her the towel, I looked. Not to be a creep, but just a quick glance to make sure I was handing the towel to her and not three feet to the right. And that’s when I saw.

She had three tits.

Three large, perfectly formed breasts across the front of her chest. Each one was just slightly smaller than one of Shayla’s, meaning Iris had quite the rack.

But three. Three boobs! It was like that scene in Total Recall, but twice the cup size. I wasn’t sure if it was horrible or awesome.

Actually scratch that. It only took about one and a half seconds for me to realize it was incredibly awesome. In fact, it was harder to be more awesome than that. Just think of the possibilities!

I managed to not stare or even directly look at them. I focused on her cute face as I handed her the towel, then quickly looked back to the side.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the towel and drying herself. “Also, thanks for not being grossed out. I imagine I’m a bit different from the women you’re used to.”

I cleared my throat. “Um, what do you mean? Different how?”

She laughed. “Well, you saw me, Mark.” She began drying her hair, causing her three breasts to sway together. “I was absolutely filthy. Not clean, like you guys and your lake. I can’t even tell you the last time I had a bath. But, I’m all better now.”

“Oh, yeah. The dirt. Eh, I don’t care about the dirt at all. You’re fine in my book, dirty or clean.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you. Do you still have that clean shirt?”

I handed her a clean t-shirt and she accepted it with a word of thanks. It was sized for me and she was a petite thing, so it hung nearly to her knees.

“Okay, thanks for being respectful. I’m decent now.”

I turned and smiled at her, definitely not looking at the three bulges in the front of the shirt. Dear lord, my curiosity meter was pegged. I mean, come on. Three boobs! That was like one hundred and fifty percent of pure awesome in boob math.

“Alright, let’s go back to the car and have a bite to eat,” I said.

“Sure, let me just put my boots back on,” Iris said.

Three boobs!

19

We walked back to the tree that leaned against the edge of the elevated highway. I slid my pistol into its holster as Iris began climbing the tree.

“Don’t get fresh or anything, but can you give me a boost?” Iris asked.

“Yeah, I—” I turned to face her and stopped.

Her ass was literally right in front of my face as she was climbing the tree. It wiggled side-to-side as she struggled to get her footing. I could have leaned forward two inches and placed a kiss on one of her cheeks.

“Just give me a push!” she said.

I sighed and reached up. “Okay, I’m touching you. I’m trying to be careful, okay?” I placed my hands on her lower back, which was good enough to help her climb the tree.

Man, Iris was going to give me an aneurysm.

I grabbed onto the tree and started climbing. Every time I looked up, her ass was right in front of me. It was maddening.

“So, what are we eating for dinner?” she asked as she grabbed a branch.

“I have a couple loaves of bread in my bag,” I said.

Iris brightened up at that. “Oh, so I’m going to be eating your buns tonight!”

“Eh, I’m not really into that,” I replied without thinking. “Trust me, I’d much rather eat your buns.”

“Oh, but I’m sure your buns are so much better than mine.”

I glanced up again. “I think we’re proving that one wrong.”

We got to the top and climbed over the concrete edge. I helped her into the car and she pulled a small blanket out of her backpack and laid it across her legs.

“Ah, nukes. I left my old clothes by the stream, I’m sorry. Lemme go get them.”

“Nah, you’re fine,” I told her. “You’ve been through a lot today. Just relax, I’ll get them for you.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Mark.”

I climbed over the edge of the highway again and grabbed onto the tree. With every branch, every step, the image of those three perfect tits flashed in my mind. I mean, holy shit. Three!

“What a strange world,” I said to myself. “A strange, three-tittied world.”

It made me wonder what else I’d see. Were there more women with three boobs wandering about? Maybe a woman with three ass cheeks, because that could be neat. Or a guy with four dongs, or people with two heads? I mean, Kenny had three arms so anything was possible. Maybe something really freaky like hairless bears with six legs?

My imagination created all sorts of weird combinations as I found Iris’s clothes. She had washed them in the stream and hung them on a nearby branch. I grabbed them and wrung the water out, then brought them back to the tree. There was no way to climb without getting soaked, so I just got it over with. I rolled all the clothes up and tucked them under my arm, then made my way up the tree and back to the car.

“Thank you so much,” Iris said, beaming a smile at me as I approached the car. She wiped a few tears from her eyes.

“Hey, are you alright?” I asked.

She sniffed. “Yeah. I’ll be okay eventually. I’ve just been through a lot, Mark. I lost everyone I’ve ever known.”

I took her clothes and laid them on the side of the car. With that, they’d probably be dry by morning.

“You got all wet,” she said. “Aww, Mark, I’m sorry. You should have just let me get my clothes.”

“Yeah, but then you’d be all wet, with nothing to wear.”

She laughed. “Trust me, no one wants to see that.”

I just stayed quiet. I definitely wanted to see that.

“It’s fine,” I said, pulling my shirt off. I draped it on my side of the car, then hopped inside.

“Alright, so let’s see here,” I said, grabbing my bag.

I didn’t have much in there, just some spare clothes, water, and two loaves of bread. At least they were both Ellie’s bread, and she really knew how to make the stuff. The flavor kinda reminded me of sourdough. I grabbed a loaf and set it on my lap, then handed the other one to Iris.

Her eyes widened at the crusty loaf of bread. She tore it in half, smiling at the two small loaves she held. “Mark, I can’t wait to eat your buns.”

“Not my thing,” I said. “Also, you can just call these ‘loaves’ instead of buns. Technically buns are a different thing. You use them for things like hamburgers.”

“Oh,” she said, frowning. “The wrong word. I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” I said. “I’ll teach you anything you need to know.”

She took a bite of bread and looked almost orgasmic. “Did you make this?”

“Nah, a woman named Ellie did. You’ll meet her.”

Iris took another bite. “Ellie’s buns are definitely better than mine.”

“Gonna have to disagree with you on that, but eat up for now. We’re gonna sleep in the car.”

Iris looked around the interior. “Where?”

“The seats recline,” I said, grabbing onto the lever and leaning back. “It’s the best we’ve got.”

“You don’t want to sleep out there, under the stars?”

“Honestly? No,” I said. “Look, you just told me about hairless deer with big teeth. I’d rather be safe and sound inside this car, where no carnivorous deer can eat me.”

She reached down and grabbed one of her small watermelons. “Well, in that case I’ve got dessert for us.”

A dinner of bread and watermelon wasn’t the best, but it hit the spot. And in her defense, those were the best watermelons I’d ever had. That magic touch she mentioned was quite special. It made me wonder what tomatoes would be like with her help. Or, basically anything else.

“Hey, have you ever worked with grape vines?” I asked, suddenly leaning up. “I might be able to get us some.”

“No, I haven’t,” Iris said. “I’ve eaten grapes before. Sometimes people would trade with us, so I’ve been able to experience a few things. Grapes are so sweet, they’re like candy!”

“Yeah, and more importantly we could make wine from them,” I said. “Of course, I’m not sure where we’d get wine bottles or corks, but we’ll deal with that later.”

“Are you going to be cold?” Iris asked, gesturing toward me. I still wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“I should be fine,” I said. “I set our towel on the hood so it’ll be dry soon. I’ll use that as a blanket.”

“You said you had spare clothes. No extra shirts?”

I reached over and flicked her sleeve. “Just one.”

“Oh Mark, I’m so sorry!” she said. “Here, let me give you your shirt back. I can just cover up with the blanket. As long as you promise not to be a creep, we’ll be fine.”

“Don’t pull your knife out,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m fine, really. Relax and get comfortable. As soon as we get a few miles of range on the batteries, we’re leaving.”

She reached down and grabbed the lever, then leaned the seat back. I took her watermelons and placed them in the rear floorboards so they wouldn’t be in her way, and she removed her boots as well.

“Mark? What’s Hope like?”

I leaned my seat back with her and suddenly wished the sunroof worked. “It’s nice. Calm, quiet, peaceful. We have the beginnings of a great garden, so we could definitely use your help there. Jacob hunts sometimes so we can eat deer and geese and duck.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I actually don’t like eating a lot of meat. The killing bothers me.”

“What was all that you said earlier about eating your friend’s beaver?”

Iris shrugged. “Who doesn’t enjoy eating beaver?”

“Good point. Anyway, we all live in a handful of houses, and by current standards, they’re pretty big. Most of the people just left everything behind, so we have plenty of clothes to go through. Men’s and women’s clothes in all kinds of sizes.”

“Do you think they’ll have anything that would fit me?”

“Yeah, sure. The house Jess originally wanted, the previous owner was on the slender side. I think her clothes would fit you.”

Iris paused for a moment. “You know what I mean, Mark. Would anything there fit me?”

This was the first time she had even alluded to her three breasts. Well, I thought they were awesome, so the last thing I wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable. Like before, I just didn’t react.

“Sure, Iris. You’ll find plenty of shirts that will fit you. And I’m sure someone there can sew a bra that’ll fit you.”

She sighed. Her voice was a mixture of relief and sadness. “Thank you, Mark. For…. Thank you.”

I could hear the unspoken words clearly. Thank you for accepting me.

“No problem, Iris,” I said. “We’re all a little different, and that’s fine. No one cares, up at Hope. Work on the gardens, be nice to people, and everyone will get along. I think you’re going to make some great friends up there. Maybe you can find a new family.”

“I think I will. You were telling me what it’s like, though,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks. So there were trees and bushes everywhere. I mean, the place was completely overgrown. We’ve put in a lot of work trimming everything back and making it more open. That helps keep us safe, too. We’re building a tall watchtower right now, so we can see all around in case anyone tries to invade us. And a storage building next to that. We have electricity, at least a little bit. Gotta protect that stuff.”

“Sounds like you guys are working hard to keep things safe. Have there been issues?” she asked.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. We had a run-in with the Druids. Shayla and I. We took care of them, but then they sent a lot more people, trying to overwhelm us. Thirty-seven of those bastards. It was a hard fight, but we were the victors. Now, we’re focusing on building a safe, stable settlement.”

“Wait, Druids? What are those?”

“Are you not familiar with the gangs trying to run Baltimore city?” I asked. “The Druids, Burning Water Tribe, the Drowned Men? And I guess technically the Green Men, although they’re mutants, not really a gang.”

“I’m familiar with the Green Men because I’ve fought them,” Iris replied. “I’ve never heard of the rest. Baltimore is too far away from where I grew up. It’s not safe to walk that far. We’d never make it. So, tell me about these gangs.”

“Oh boy,” I said. “Maybe not the best bedtime story, but here we go.”

20

Iris just stared at me for a moment when I finished telling her about all the gangs.

“Are you serious? Nukes, why are they so terrible?”

I shrugged. “Inbreeding? I’m not sure.”

Iris shook her head. “How can people be so terrible? I mean, things are bad everywhere, from what I understand. But what you described is just plain disgusting.”

She had shifted in the seat so that she was on her side, and now she pulled her legs up and wrapped herself in her blanket. The sun had only just set, but it had been a long day, so I found myself tired as well. All things considered, it had been one of the most eventful days of my entire life.

“People have always been a bit horrible, I think,” I said. “The guys from Loch Raven have told me they’re doing everything they can to help us survive. If nothing else, so we have more good people in the world. If the good people eventually outnumber the bad, we’ll be in better shape.”

“They sound nice.”

“You’re going to like them. They’re a lot of fun, and good, honest people.”

Iris yawned. “I’m a bit tired. Mind if I close my eyes?”

“Of course, go ahead. No one owns you here.”

She gave a faint smile, then pulled her blanket up around her chin and closed her eyes. I reached out the window and grabbed my shirt from the fender. It was still a bit damp in places, unfortunately, so I laid it across the steering wheel and grabbed my backpack. I had a change of clothes in there, but that had been the only shirt. With no other options, I grabbed a pair of jeans and laid it across me like a blanket. It would do.

I rolled my window up almost all the way, then reclined my seat fully and tried to get some sleep. After only a few minutes I felt her reaching out to me. I opened my eyes and saw her watching me.

“Do you mind if I hold your hand?” she asked softly. “It helps with the nightmares. My mother used to do it, but she was eaten.”

“Absolutely,” I said, taking her hand in mine.

In that moment there was a bit of a childlike innocence in the gesture. I had to remind myself that Iris was only twenty years old and had grown up in one of the worst places imaginable. She had probably never known true comfort or safety. Plus, over the past month, she had watched everyone in her life be killed, and in most cases eaten. She had survived an absolute nightmare.

My dreams were a wild mixture that night. I dreamed of Jess and Shayla, like usual, but I also found myself dreaming of Sharg. The ridiculously busty mutant woman had surprised me with the intelligence and desire for peace beneath her murderous exterior. Perhaps in a better environment, she could become a pacifist.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself dreaming of Iris as well. Once she had bathed several months’ worth of dirt from her slender form, she turned out to be quite an attractive woman. And I won’t lie, the three boob thing fascinated me. So many thoughts went through my head, and all of them naughty.

I wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in an old car, so I slept lightly that night. Sounds woke me up; a loud bird, something that sounded like a dog with a sore throat, you name it and it pulled me from my slumber. Pretty annoying, to be honest.

Iris never woke, but on several occasions her whimpers and sobs were loud enough to wake me. She called out for her mother and father in her sleep, clutching my hand hard enough that it hurt.

My heart went out to her. I couldn’t even imagine going through something so insanely dark. But that was the reality of this world, now. Everything was dark. The only happiness was the little bits we worked hard to create. Hope. My girlfriends. The Porsche probably counted as well.

Perhaps Jacob and Ellie could find some happiness together. Richard could finally talk again, so he was making friends and building his own life.

Sometime early in the morning, Iris pulled me to her. She was still asleep and having a nightmare, and apparently a particularly bad one. Well, I was awake, so I slid over toward her. She clutched me tightly, shaking in my grip. I just did my best to hold her until the nightmare passed.

Her eyes opened and she looked at me through a film of tears. Her face was a mask of terror and sorrow. I just pulled her back to me and held her tightly while she wept.

“I want to tell you something,” she said after wiping her eyes. “I just need to get it out.”

“Say whatever you need,” I told her. We still held each other, and her head was on my bare shoulder.

“I was working in the garden with my father when the Green Men came,” she began, her voice shaky. “They’re so big, but they can move silently when they want to. It’s terrifying. Anyway, one of them appeared out of nowhere and grabbed me.”

She moved her right arm up where I could see it. Fresh scars lined her forearm. It looked exactly like deep grooves from sharp fingernails.

“My father was there and saved me. He shot the monster that grabbed me four times, finally making him drop me. Another Green Man joined the fight, though. My father pushed me through the door while they grabbed him and tore him apart.”

“I’m so sorry you had to live through that,” I said.

“One of them ran a knife through his stomach, nearly cutting him in half,” Iris continued. “He was still screaming when they began eating him. His last words were ‘I love you, Iris.’ Then, they ripped him into pieces as I fled through the door and locked it behind me. I left my father there to die.”

She choked back a sob and I held her more tightly. “From how it sounds, you didn’t leave him at all. You couldn’t have fought against something like that. Your father loved you, and gave his life so you could get away.”

“I knew I was going to die,” she said quietly. “Once they showed up in force, I knew it. All of us were going to die. If we left to get food, they would get us. If we left to use the bathroom, they’d snatch us up and eat us alive. It was terrible. And the Green Men were starving as well, so they wouldn’t leave.”

I just held her, letting her say whatever she needed to. Eventually, she sighed and continued.

“You told me earlier that I was going to find new friends and family in Hope. You saved me, Mark. You brought me out of that nightmare. You’re my family now.”

I paused. “What does that mean?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. But you gave me a chance when I knew I was dead. So I’m going to be part of your life, somehow.”

I took a chance and kissed her temple. She let out another sigh.

“Let’s get some sleep. Once the sun has been up a few hours and we’ve charged our batteries a little bit, we’ll head home.”

She nodded and wiped her eyes. “Okay. I’m too scared to sleep, but I’m so exhausted I feel like I never want to wake up.”

“If you want to sleep on the ride home, that’s fine as well,” I said. “And once we get there, you can sleep all day if you want.”

“Honestly, I’ll be too excited to meet everyone and see your settlement. My new home.”

I hugged her again. “Alright. Let’s get a little more sleep.”

She seemed to have fewer nightmares after that. Sometimes, after experiencing something terrible, you just need to talk about it. And ultimately, time was the biggest healer.

I woke before Iris did. The sun rose behind us, bathing the entire land in soft, warm light. It also sent a beam of light into my rearview mirror and directly into my face. Yeah, that’ll wake you.

I yawned and stretched for a moment, then grabbed my shirt. At least it was dry. The same couldn’t be said for the car itself. The entire exterior was covered with dew.

After exiting the car, I quietly pushed the door shut and pulled my shirt on over my head. I twisted to each side, popping my back, then walked over to the side of the highway.

To be honest, I had never pissed on a highway before. Hey, there’s a first time for everything, right? I was just glad I didn’t have to do anything else.

I walked back to the car, thinking a bit about how long it would take us to get home. It quickly dawned on me that the car was facing the wrong way. Sure, I had absorbed some of the evening sun last night, but now the sun was behind me.

As quietly as possible, I hopped it and flipped the lower power switch. After turning the car around, I turned it back off. Fortunately, Iris was lying on her side, so she didn’t get blasted in the face by the morning sun. I did, though.

I pushed the door open and hopped out again, grabbing my pistol on the way. It sat in my pocket, since wearing a holster while in the car seat was incredibly uncomfortable. To be honest, pocketing the pistol was pretty awful as well, so I just held it.

My hand shielded the sun from my eyes as I looked over everything. Some weeds grew along the sides of the road, where dirt had piled up against the concrete barriers, but otherwise the elevated highway was relatively clear. The pavement itself was in halfway decent shape, since it had gone eighty years without cars and semis wearing it down.

Still, the orange sun glowing over the cracked pavement was quite the sight, especially with towering trees on each side. It dawned on me that Baltimore probably hadn’t been that green since the sixteen hundreds. Gwynn’s Falls was certainly the cleanest I had ever seen.

I thought I saw something move in the distance, but it dawned on me that it was probably just a deer or a bird or something.

More than anything, I just wanted to see Jess and Shayla again. I missed my girlfriends. How they felt, how they smelled, Shayla’s bad jokes. I had barely been away from them and I missed them both terribly.

“Mark?” Iris called out, her voice sleepy.

“I’m coming, honey,” I said, since I had still been thinking about my girlfriends. Ah, whoops.

I walked up to the car and got a great view of her slender, shapely legs as she stretched out. In fact, I saw more than I probably should have. I stood in front of the door for a second, giving her an opportunity to get decent.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to call you that. I was thinking of my girlfriends,” I said.

“It’s okay,” she replied. “I thought it was sweet. No one has ever called me that before.”

I found that a little odd since she was twenty years old, but then again considering where she grew up, love might have been in short supply. They probably focused on survival and little else. I heard the rustling of clothes as she got dressed.

“You’ve never had any boyfriends or anything?” I asked.

“I’ve had a few. They just weren’t that nice to me. Instead of being interested in me as a person, they were more interested in other things.”

Well, I could understand that. Lots of women got that treatment. Add in an extra boob and things would only get worse.

“Well, I promise to never be interested in you for any reason,” I told her, leaning down a bit. She laughed, so that was a good sign. “Hey, are you decent?”

“I’d say so, but I’m still half-naked,” she replied.

I chuckled and leaned a forearm along the top edge of the door. “Alright, just let me know when you get some pants on. I wanna check the battery and see if we can start moving.”

“Eager to be home?” she asked.

I looked over to my left. The road was empty as far as I could see. “Yeah,” I said. “I miss home. I miss the people there and I want to help with all the work we’re doing. Honestly, I’m looking forward to introducing you to everyone.”

I looked over to my right and saw something moving again, only this time it was much closer. It was moving pretty quickly, too, which was certainly alarming. Come to think of it, it looked pretty big.

“Hey Iris?” I asked, squinting to better make it out. The sun was in my eyes so it was hard.

“Hold on, I’m zipping up,” she replied. “Okay, you’re fine to come in, unless you’re bothered by feet.”

“I’m not into feet,” I said absentmindedly. Yeah, whatever it was, it was big and coming right for us. “Alright, time to go.”

I yanked the door open and hopped in. Checking my rear view mirror, I got a solid view of it rapidly approaching. The last thing I wanted to do was burn through the little charge remaining in our battery, but we needed to get the hell out of there.

I reached out to flip the power switches and stopped. “Shit,” I said to myself.

“What’s wrong?” Iris said, sounding concerned. She turned and looked out the back window, then her eyes widened. “Oh Nukes, Mark. Get us the fuck out of here and fast. Those bears will rip right through this car to get to us.”

21

Well, I wasn’t stupid enough to mess with a bear, even if that thing looked quite different than what I was used to.

“Bear?” I asked, hitting the medium power switch. “Aren’t bears hairy?”

She looked over her shoulder again. “The bombs changed a lot of things, Mark. If you say bears used to be hairy then I believe you, but most of them aren’t anymore. At least, not down where I lived. Maybe this guy has been roaming around.”

“I have to turn around,” I said, flipping the switch down. The car decelerated, and I turned the wheel, trying to swing it around. Honestly, it only worked because my tires were dry-rotted and had fuck all for traction. Iris squealed as I looped the car in a perfect one-eighty.

“What are you doing?” Iris demanded. She reached out and grabbed my pistol, then pulled back the hammer and started leaning out the window. “Mark, get us the fuck away from that thing.”

“We have to go this way!” I said. “This road is divided for like five more miles. If I kept going, I wouldn’t be able to turn around for a long time and the battery would go empty. I have to turn around and get back on the highway.”

I reached out and grabbed the trigger lever, but my hand froze. We were only going about fifteen miles per hour, because my car had no power. I flipped both switches up, putting it at maximum power, then put my hand back on the trigger lever.

It was kind of like a bear. First off, it was far too large. I mean, this fucker made a grizzly bear look small. Second, it had no hair except a few sparse strands around its face. Just a giant, hairless bear lumbering toward us.

And third, it had six legs! It ran with an awkward gait, but the speed was clear.

I pulled on the trigger lever, sending several bursts toward it. I missed with every bullet, but the sound was enough to startle it. Taking a risk, I turned slightly toward it and pulled the trigger lever again. The giant bear thing let out a massive roar as the small bullets peppered its skin. They didn’t seem to do much damage.

Surprising me, Iris leaned out the open window and took aim with my pistol. It was a .357 so it had some decent power and gave me hope. Iris pulled the trigger twice and one of the bullets hit the bear, but beyond a slight stagger it never stopped charging us.

“Get back in!” I shouted, reaching out and grabbing her pants.

I yanked her back into the seat, then swerved toward the bear. Iris screamed as we sped straight for it, but at the last minute I went left, then right.

At least, I tried.

Yeah, those tires had basically no grip, so the second I did that we began sliding. I still had it set at max power, which was enough to get the rear tires spinning since the car was so damn lightweight.

And so my mind dropped everything to slow motion as we drifted sideways into a bear that probably weighed two thousand pounds. Smoke poured off the rear tires and the bear reared up on its hind legs. Dear god, the thing looked ten feet tall that way, probably more.

“Down!” I shouted, grabbing Iris again. I pulled her toward me and kept my other hand firmly on the wheel, trying my best to steer into the slide.

We slammed into the bear, doing little more than angering it and knocking it aside. That was all we needed, though. The massive bear swiped a paw at us, striking the rear fender. The force of the impact was enough to shove the rear of the car away, effectively straightening us out.

“Go, go, go!” I shouted at the car as we slowly accelerated.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Iris asked, still clutching the pistol. She gently released the hammer but then clutched my shoulder as she looked behind us.

“I’ve only got like fifty horsepower!” I said, wishing the car was faster.

“There’s no horses in this car, Mark!” Iris said.

I made the mistake of checking my rearview mirror. The bear had recovered and was now charging us, full speed. He accelerated much faster than we did. In only a few seconds, he’d be on us.

“Hand me the pistol!” I said, reaching over.

“Nukes, are you stupid?” Iris said, tossing the pistol on the floorboard. She reached behind the seats and grabbed my shotgun, examining it for a second. “Is this loaded?”

“Yeah!” I replied.

She leaned out the window and took careful aim. Not the easiest thing considering the bumpy ride, or taking into account the gigantic mutant bear only feet behind us.

Iris pulled the trigger and the load of buckshot struck the bear right in the face. It roared in pain and staggered, pawing at its face. She pulled the second trigger, sending another round into the base of its neck. That barely seemed to break through the skin, at least from what I could see in my rearview mirror.

“Shit!” she said, pulling herself back into the car. “Please tell me you have more shells for this.”

“We’re outrunning him!” I said, watching as the speedometer crept past forty.

“Are you so certain?” Iris asked dryly.

I checked my rearview mirror again. My eyes widened as I saw the gigantic beast charging us. I always knew bears were frighteningly fast, but this fucker was gaining on us.

“There’s no way he can keep that up,” I said, trying to reach into my pocket. I pulled out a shell and handed it to Iris. “Here, and be careful! After all I went through saving you, I don’t want to lose you.”

“Aww, Mark. That’s so sweet,” Iris said, as if we both weren’t about to die. She leaned over and kissed my cheek, then shoved the shell into the shotgun and leaned out the window again.

The bear caught up to us much faster than I thought possible. It dashed over to my side of the car and Iris cursed loudly.

“Get back inside!” I shouted. “We’re turning!”

“Nukes!” Iris said, but moved back into her seat. She held the shotgun in a white-knuckled grip as we took the on-ramp toward highway 695. Again, nothing special at all, but the dry tires and blown suspension made it quite the roller coaster. The busted asphalt was an adventure as well.

We passed fifty and the bear finally started to fall back, but not enough that I felt safe. Somehow, that huge bastard was damn near matching our speed, even with a handful of bullets in his face.

“Can you go any faster?” Iris asked.

“Barely,” I replied. “We’re about at our top speed right now. I just hope he gets tired before our batteries are empty; using max power like this is going to drain the power fast as hell.”

“Nukes,” Iris said, glancing over her shoulder.

We bumped and swayed across the road, holding our max speed until we got onto 695. I had my work cut out for me, dodging abandoned cars at that speed on tires that felt like they were coated with vaseline, but somehow we made it.

“He’s getting tired,” Iris said.

I checked my mirror again and saw the bear was about fifty feet back. In other words, still far too close.

“How the fuck is he still running that fast?” I asked. My battery gauge was dangerously low.

“We’re lucky he didn’t get us,” Iris said. “Bears are incredibly hard to kill. Most bullets won’t penetrate their skin, and they’re faster than just about anything. They’ll eat anything they can get their claws on, too. Humans, animals, other bears, you name it.”

My heart finally began slowing as I saw the bear drop to a lumbering jog, or whatever the six-legged bear equivalent of that was. It stopped and watched us with beady eyes as we sped away.

I dropped the car to medium power and took a few deep breaths. “Holy shit, I didn’t realize there were things like that around here.”

Iris blinked. “How long have you been here? You said you were born before the war. When did you wake up?”

“Uhh, two weeks ago?” I said. “Holy shit, is that all it’s been? Feels like it’s been months, but yeah, about two weeks. I haven’t encountered a ton of weird animals in that short time. Just like… a regular deer and a regular bear.”

Iris finally leaned back in her seat. “Well, you also live further north, so I assume things aren’t as bad. Most of the big baddies are down where I was and further south. The closer you get to DC, the stranger things get. I’ve heard horror stories of things like giant lizards, twenty feet tall. Of big…things that are like five people melted together. Even trees that will eat you.”

“I felt like I woke in a world where everyone and everything wants to eat me,” I muttered. “And half of them want to fuck me first.”

Iris shrugged. “Yeah, sounds about right.”

I took a deep breath and tried to relax a bit. According to my battery gauge, we’d have just enough charge to make it home. Of course, we were driving toward the rising sun, so my hood-mounted solar panel was getting some good sunshine at that moment.

“You seem to be building a habit out of saving my life,” Iris said to me.

I chuckled. “Yeah. Let’s try to stop that. I just want some peace and quiet.”

“Hey, you got any more food?”

I reached behind me and grabbed my backpack, then handed it to her. “Whatever’s in here.”

Iris dug around for a moment, withdrawing a bottle of water and holding it to her like it was absolutely priceless. Well, in this world, clean water was. She reached in and withdrew a few strips of dried meat, handing one to me.

“Huh,” I said, gnawing on the end of one. “Looks like Jacob made deer jerky when I wasn’t looking. Not bad.”

Iris chewed for a moment, clearing trying to decide how she felt about it. “Not bad. What kind of food do you guys have up there?”

“Eh, nothing special,” I said. “Jacob and Ellie have been cooking a lot, although I think there are enough people that they won’t be cooking for everyone all the time. Stew, Ellie makes bread, Jacob gets geese and ducks and deer. We have a big garden, but we’re still waiting on the plants to grow. Of course, we planted at the wrong time. Winter will kill the plants.”

“I can help with that,” she said.

“Yeah, and I can build a greenhouse to help,” I said, letting my mind wander a bit.

If we stripped the windows from the house where I found the Porsche, we could use those and some of the scrap wood to build a basic greenhouse. Keeping the plants alive during winter would be a godsend.

“Kind of wish we had taken a few more things from my place, but honestly I just wanted to be away.”

I waved it off. “Ah, you’re fine. I don’t blame you. I’d say we have enough of everything in Hope. And the only things we still need, I’m going to focus on building.”

“So, you’re a crafty one?” she asked.

“Nah, I just have a lot of ideas,” I replied. “So, uh, is there anything I should know before we get there? Was life so different down where you grew up that I need to teach you anything? I’m sorry if that sounds awkward. Just looking out for you.”

She laughed. “No, you’re fine. I’m sure we were the same as you and your friends.” She sighed. “And hopefully they’ll be my friends now. You said they’ll accept me, right?”

“Of course,” I replied. “I mean, there’s only about a dozen people in Hope, but everyone is nice.”

She paused. “Do you think anyone will be weirded out by my, uhh…. You know. How I’m different?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I mean, Shayla is part cat and no one cares. Kenny has three arms and no one cares.”

She nodded slowly. “Do you mind if I stick near you? I think I’d feel safer that way.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Although once Shayla and Jess get their hands on you I’m sure they’ll be brushing your hair and picking out clothes for you.”

She looked confused for a moment, so I explained.

“They’re going to like you, and they’ll help dress you and make you happy and comfortable. They’re both very nice people.”

Iris nodded. “That sounds lovely. What do they look like?”

“Let’s see. Shayla is tall for a woman; almost as tall as me. She has blonde hair, and her cat ears are the same color. So is her tail. Her eyes are blue. She’s muscular and strong and can run faster than anyone I’ve ever known. She’s pretty damn funny, too, and absolutely gorgeous.”

“And Jess?”

“Incredibly beautiful, but very different. She’s shorter, just an inch or so taller than you, and kinda thick.”

“Thick?”

I laughed. Of course she wasn’t familiar with slang terms like that. “Yeah, thick. Fleshy. She’s not fat or even chubby, but she’s very curvy.”

“You mean like….” Iris waved her hands over her chest.

“I mean her boobs are nearly the size of your head,” I said. “And her butt is just as amazing, and her thighs, too.”

“Ooohhhhh,” Iris said. “She sounds quite beautiful. No one was really built like that where I came from. We didn’t have enough food for anyone to be, uhh, thick.” She paused. “Will they think I’m pretty?”

I glanced over at her cute face and big green eyes. “Iris, even a blind man would say you’re gorgeous.”

22

Driving on the wrong side of a divided highway definitely made the drive back a bit more difficult. I had to think in reverse, sort of. After taking the exit for highway 83, we started going south. I frowned as I realized we’d have to go a bit south of Hope, almost into Druid territory, and then take Falls Road north.

“Keep your pistol handy, just in case,” I said to Iris.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

I checked my battery gauge. “Yeah, should be. The road home will take us kinda close to some real bad dudes, but only for a minute or so.”

“I feel like there should be a saying for this,” Iris muttered.

“I think there is. From the pot to the frying pan, or something like that.”

She chuckled.

We both scanned each side of the road as we drove south. I had the car in low-power mode since the road was angled slightly downhill. All was quiet on the Baltimore front.

We passed over train tracks right as the Jones Falls River began paralleling the highway. I pointed out my window.

“Hope is right over that way,” I said.

“Can I see?” Iris asked, leaning over me.

“Yeah, hold on,” I said, angling my seat back a little bit.

She leaned further across me, nearly blocking my view of the road. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

“I can see them, through the trees! Oh wow, there’s so many houses! And they’re so big!”

“Alright, I wanna make sure we don’t wreck,” I said. The truth was, her tits were right in my line of sight and it was hard to concentrate on the road with those there.

“Sorry,” she said, moving back to her seat.

“No, you’re fine,” I told her. “I just want to make sure we’re safe. You’ll see everything in about five minutes, don’t worry.”

She was practically bouncing in her seat as we continued south. I kept scanning each side of the road.

“Alright, our exit is ahead,” I said as we approached Northern Parkway. “I’m not gonna slow down much for this turn, so hold on tight. And keep your eyes open for anyone with a gun. We’re in their territory now.”

She fastened her seatbelt and raised my pistol. “I’m ready.”

We took the exit and I flipped the power off for a few seconds, letting it regenerate a bit of energy in the batteries. That also slowed us down a touch for the corner, which I took without touching the brake pedal.

And this time, the car handled it just fine. Old Porsches like this were known for being ass-heavy, which made them tricky to drive at the limit. Well, ditching the heavy motor and replacing it with a smaller electric motor really helped with balance. It went smoothly around the corner and onto Northern Parkway. I turned left onto Falls Road only a moment later.

Iris watched in amazement as we passed copses of tall trees and streets lined with houses.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said in tones of wonder. “Almost all the houses had been destroyed down at Fort Meade. How many people lived here before the war?”

“In the city? Uh, I think about six hundred thousand. If you include the surrounding areas it was about two million.”

“Two million people?” she asked. “How can that many people live in one place?”

“Think about all the houses we’ve passed on our trip,” I said.

Iris nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just hard to imagine. Hey, what’s that?” She pointed at an old pizza place.

“Just a restaurant,” I said. “They made pizza. Pretty decent, if I remember correctly.”

“What’s pizza?”

I stopped. Holy shit, she had never eaten pizza before. No one in all of Hope probably had. Oh man, I needed to teach these people what good food was.

“So, imagine a flat circle of bread. A disc. Cover that with tomato sauce, and then put cheese on top. Cook it until all the cheese melts.”

Iris stared at me for a moment. “What’s cheese? I’m sorry, I don’t know any of these things you’re talking about.”

“No need to apologize,” I said. “Just think of it this way: now we get to try a bunch of new things together.”

She smiled. “You already tried my melons. And I ate your buns!”

“Bread,” I corrected. “And yes, your melons are absolutely lovely. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do with our garden. Hey, that gives me an idea.”

“Does your idea involve my melons?”

I glanced over at the beautiful brunette. “Iris, I have a lot of ideas that involve your melons. Probably more than I should.”

She looked confused so I quickly changed the subject. “There used to be an ice cream place back there,” I said, pointing out my window. “And that was a bookstore. We might want to see if they still have any books. Oh, we could have our own library!”

“What’s a library?”

“It’s a building filled with books of all types. The books belong to the library, but anyone is allowed to come in and read them for free.”

She smiled. “That sounds nice, actually. I like books. We only had a few in the exchange. Most of them were romance books, so I read them over and over.”

I glanced at her and saw her looking at me in the same manner. Did that mean the innocent and slightly aloof Iris actually had a naughty side?

Dear god, I hoped so.

Dark clouds began forming overhead, so I wanted to be quick, but I had a stop to make first.

“Okay, this is where we’re going,” I said, letting the car slow.

After turning into a small parking lot, I veered around a corpse and parked.

“Oh nukes, a body!” Iris said, looking behind us.

“Yeah, that was one of the Druids,” I said. “Ellie shot him. They attacked this place not too long ago and drove Ellie and her son up to Hope. They live with us now.”

“So, why are we here?” Iris asked, looking confused.

“Because they have a garden out back,” I said with a smile. “And you’re really good with plants.”

We exited the car, both of us holding guns, and went toward the old Royal Farms. I pulled the door open and scanned the room, holding my shotgun to my shoulder. I was ready to pull the trigger at the first sign of movement. Fortunately, the interior was calm.

“Oh wow, they trashed the place,” Iris said, walking in behind me.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” I said. I kept looking around but moved toward the back of the room.

“What’s this?” Iris asked.

I turned and saw her looking into a toilet plunger. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me.

“That’s for unclogging a toilet,” I said.

Iris gasped and threw it away from her. “Okay, from now on I’ll just point. What’s that?”

I looked over at one of the toppled shelves. “That’s a KitchenAid stand mixer. Those things are actually expensive as hell. Jacob could probably use it, assuming it still works. Let’s grab it on our way out.”

“So what does it do?” she asked.

“You put a bowl in it filled with flour and water and it mixes it up,” I said. “Good for making bread and stuff. Okay, here’s the back door. The garden should be right out here.”

I pulled the door open and we walked out back. A block privacy wall had once been there, but had long since toppled. In its place, Ellie and Richard had planted a little bit of everything.

“Did someone take a shit on the tomatoes?” Iris asked, wrinkling her nose. “Who does that?”

“We’re here for these,” I said, walking up to the grape vines. They had been hacked up pretty badly, but I saw new shoots growing from the main stalk. “If I pull this up, do you think you can keep it alive?”

Iris shrugged. “Are we planting it again soon? If so, then yes.”

I reached down and grabbed the main stalk of the grapevine and pulled. It took all of my might, but it finally came up, tearing nearly half the roots off in the process. Damn thing was in there deep.

We pulled up three more grape vines and took them out to the Porsche. I decided to just put them in the front trunk. After that, we grabbed the KitchenAid mixer and a few large bowls. Those went in the trunk as well.

“We’re almost there,” I said as we got back in the car.

My battery gauge was almost empty, so I knew we’d be close. But I wasn’t worried. We were close enough to walk, if need be.

I grabbed the CB radio and keyed the mic. “Hey, any of you guys around? Sorry I haven’t been checking in. This is Mark. We’ll be there in about five minutes.”

After that I pulled out of the parking lot and got on the road. I left the car in low-power mode to save the batteries.

When we turned right onto Lakeside Drive, Iris gasped. “A river!” She pointed across me at Jones Falls River. “That’s two I’ve seen now with you. No wait, three. We saw one off the side of the road a few minutes ago.”

“That was the same river,” I said. “When you looked through the trees earlier, you were looking in this direction.”

The speakers crackled and Stan’s voice came over the radio. “Glad to hear you’re still alive, Mark. Come on home.”

“Oh, it’s so beautiful,” she said, smiling at all the trees around us. “Everything looks so peaceful and… healthy!”

I had to remember she had grown up in a place that had been hit with two nuclear bombs and was, herself, a mutant. She had probably seen a lot of weird shit.

I took a right turn just before the lake, then turned into our settlement. Iris gasped again at the sight of the cleared yards and houses. In front of us, the watchtower was nearing completion. The makeshift thatch roof over the attached storage building was complete, which was nice to see.

Instead of pulling into the garage where I had found the Porsche, I drove by and went right to my own driveway. Something about the action of pulling my car into my driveway made this place feel even more like home.

“Here we are,” I said, switching the car off. “Welcome home, Iris.”

She was smiling so hard her cheeks shook. She reached up and wiped a tear, then took my hand and squeezed it. “I owe you my life,” she said quietly.

“Nah,” I said, squeezing her hand back. “I’m just glad I was able to save you. I wish I could have done more, but at least you’re safe.”

Iris looked around for a moment, then back at me again. “I mean what I said, Mark. You’re my family now. We’ll figure out exactly what that means later, but I wouldn’t be alive without you.”

“I just want you to enjoy a peaceful, happy life,” I said.

I reached over and pushed open my door, then stood up and stretched.

“Mark!”

Looking over, I saw Shayla sprinting toward me. And considering how fast the Beastkin woman could run, that was mildly terrifying. She leaped into the air and crashed into me, grabbing me with both her arms and her legs.

“Holy hell, I missed you,” she said, kissing me on the lips, the cheeks, the forehead, my neck, my shoulder, back to my lips.

I laughed and held her tightly. “I missed you too, Shayla. Quite a lot, actually.”

We kissed for a moment, then she finally released me. Jess walked over a minute later, giving me a big smile. We embraced and kissed, then the three of us stood there holding hands.

“So, how did it go?” Jess asked.

“Overall pretty well,” I said, glancing back at the car. Dried blood caked the windshield, the car was dirty, and I noticed bear claw marks on the rear fender.

“We’re just glad you’re back,” Jess said, smiling up at me.

I leaned down and kissed the beautiful redhead on her cheek. “I was able to save Iris. She was all that was left by the time I got down there.”

Iris exited the car and stood up. She smiled at Shayla and Jess and waved happily. “Hi guys, I’m Iris.”

“She’ll need a bit of help finding clothes,” I said quietly. “She’s a bit, uh, special. You’ll see. But I told her you ladies could help her out.”

“Of course,” Jess said, releasing my hand so she could walk around the back of the car to Iris. The two met and briefly hugged, then Jess began leading her toward the front door.

“How was your trip through the city?” Shayla asked.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “You remember how you both told me that if I ran into a Green woman, to go for it?”

“Yes,” Shayla said cautiously.

I took a deep breath. “I think I might have a new girlfriend.”

23

Shayla just stared at me as I gave her a quick run-down of what had happened with Sharg.

“And she wants you to bring her up here?” the Beastkin woman asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah. From what I gathered, she’s one of their toughest warriors. But, after hearing about Hope, she seems to want a more peaceful life, and for people to be nice to her. I think after what we did, she got a taste of happiness and wants more.”

Shayla shook her head. “Can we even teach her to be, you know, civilised?”

“I damn sure hope so,” I said, looking over at the men working on the watchtower. “Can you imagine building things with her? With how strong she is, everything would get done in half the time.”

Shayla nodded slowly. “I see your point. And if any Druids came to visit, she’d tear them in half. But we’d have to teach her how to be nice to people. How to live in a peaceful society.”

“Yeah, it’ll definitely take some work,” I said. “I told her I’d come back and get her, though. And she insists that she belongs to me.”

Shayla smirked. “Well, considering she had you cum in both her pussy and her ass…. I mean, I do the same thing. Can’t fault her for that.” Shayla hugged me tightly. “Sometimes I like the thought of belonging to you, because I know you’ll take good care of me.”

“I worry about Iris, though,” I said quietly. “Everyone she knew was just killed by Green Men. And eaten, for that matter. Sparks might fly if Sharg comes to live with us.”

“Yeah. We’ll have to talk with her.” She looked over her shoulder at the house. “I’ll go help Jess clean her up.”

“Oh, and one thing,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Iris has told me that since I saved her life, I’m her family now.”

Shayla blinked. “Okay, so what does that mean?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Neither does she. But I have a feeling she’ll stay close to me.”

“I mean, she’s a beautiful young woman. There are worse things.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Plus she has…well, you’ll see. Oh, and she’s good with plants.”

“We could use that,” Shayla said. “We planted these at the wrong time. If we don’t get that greenhouse built soon, we’ll have a hard winter.”

“No, I mean she’s special. I know you hate the word, so I’m sorry, but she’s a mutant. When she tends to plants, they grow better, faster, stronger. I got to enjoy her melons on the ride home, and they were fantastic.”

Shayla crossed her arms. “Enjoying another woman’s melons, I see.”

I grinned. “Trust me on this one, you’ll want her melons as well. So will Jess.”

“We’ll see about that,” Shayla said. She leaned up and kissed me again, then walked to the front door.

I opened the front trunk and withdrew the grape vines, then tossed them on the ground next to the garden. We’d get to those later.

More than anything, I wanted to check on the watchtower and my friends. I shoved my pistol in my holster and grabbed the rifles and pistols I had stashed in the trunk, then left the car behind.

Kenny and Alex sat on the roof of the watchtower, hammering away at roof shingles. I blinked at that. When had they grabbed those? I looked over at the dilapidated house where I had found the Porsche and noticed half the roof had been stripped. It looked like a few windows were gone as well. Good; I was glad they were getting some use out of that house.

“There he is!” Stan called out, waving at me.

The guys on the roof waved as well. Even Richard looked glad to see me. I set the rifles and pistols down next to the building and waved back.

A door swung open on the back of the storage building and Mike stepped out. It looked like they were salvaging everything they could from that old house, and I was glad to see it.

“Looks like you’re just in time,” Jacob said from right beside me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. “How the hell do you do that?” I asked once my heart stopped pounding.

He just grinned. “It’s about to rain. That’ll be good; we ain’t had any rain in a while. But we got roofs now, so everything is safe. The boys from Loch Raven brought a few more things, too. We been busy.”

“That’s great,” I said. “There was only one survivor down at Fort Meade, but I brought her back.”

Jacob nodded. “She’ll defend this place with her life, then. Those kinds of people will work hard to keep things safe and happy.”

I paused. “Yeah. Hey, you remember Sharg? The Green Woman?”

Jacob laughed. “How could I forget! Tits the size of my head, and enough ass to make those things look small! I’m still surprised she didn’t eat you.”

“Yeah, about that,” I began. “I, uhh…. Well, I went back there, and I saw her again.”

Jacob’s eyes widened and he lowered his voice. “The fact that you’re here means she didn’t eat you. What did you do?”

I just grinned.

Jacob broke out in wheezing laughter and clapped me on the back. “Oh, you dog, you! You absolute dog!” It took him a moment to catch his breath, but he lowered his voice again. “Look, I don’t want any gritty details, but I have to ask, how—”

“It was amazing,” I broke in. “It was just as fun as you’d imagine, plus a lot more.”

Jacob just stared at me for a moment. “Is that so? Man. I don’t even know what to say to that. You’re certainly the first man I’ve ever heard of to do that. The fact that you’re still alive is doubly impressive. How did she take it?”

My grin faltered a bit. “That’s the thing. She wants to come up here and live with us.”

Jacob’s mouth fell open. “Are you ser—what the f—Mark, hold on. A Green Woman wants to come up here and live with us? Do you mean, with you?”

“They prefer to be called Lakpal, but yeah. She wants to come up here with me. Actually she said I didn’t have to take her as a wife, but she does want to experience love instead of constant fighting. She wants friends and peace.” I shrugged. “Honestly, she seems like she’d just be a regular person if she was put in a better environment. Well, you know. A lot bigger, but otherwise pretty normal.”

“Man, I don’t even know what to say. I’m always down to help anyone start a new life, but some of the other folks might take issue with that. Especially that new gal. Didn’t her people get killed by the Green Men?”

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my chin. “I’m not even sure how I would go about bringing that subject up around her. That’ll definitely be a sensitive one. Maybe my girlfriends can help.”

Jacob nodded. “I still question if it’s a good idea or not, but I’ve learned to trust your instinct. You’ve made some strange decisions so far, but things always work out for the better.” He turned and gestured toward the watchtower as an example.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“I guess it’s about time to see how that roof works out,” I said, looking at the sky. Dark gray clouds were rolling in.

“We could use this,” Jacob said, looking up. “Our gardens need water, and so does the lake. It looked a bit low this morning when I went out there. Been like two weeks since we got rain, maybe longer.”

“Tell Ellie we stopped by her place and grabbed some grape vines,” I said. “They’re resilient. The Druids might have hacked them up, but they’re still alive. Iris is good with plants, and said she could keep them growing.”

Jacob grinned “Well, I’ll be damned. That’ll certainly make her happy.”

I reached out and shook Jacob’s hand. “It’s good to see you, Jacob. Thanks for all your help with everything.”

“Yeah, yeah. You were only gone a day and a half. Don’t get all misty eyed on me.” But his grin never faltered and his handshake was firm.

After that, Jacob went back to the watchtower to help them prepare for rain. Arnold and Alex grabbed the weapons I had brought and stashed them inside the storage room. I went back to my house to see how the ladies were doing.

“Honey, I’m home!” I called out as I opened the door. A chorus of giggles answered me, which I found odd considering the women that were inside.

“We’re trying on clothes!” Jess shouted from the bedroom. I walked toward the hallway.

“Don’t come back here or I’ll shoot you!” Shayla hollered in a voice much too happy for the threat it delivered.

“Uh, okay!” I said.

Ultimately, I wound up relaxing on the couch. Rain began to fall outside, offering gentle background noise. We were fine in the rain, of course. I began to wonder how other settlements were. Certainly this far along, most people would have safe places to live, but I knew somewhere out there, a family was trying to make it in a shack made from junk.

“Okay, she’s coming out!” Jess said.

“You can look now!” Shayla yelled.

I got up and stood there for a moment, then took a few steps toward the hallway.

“Here I come!” Iris said.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was excited. The door opened, and she stepped out. In the dim light—made worse from the rain outside—I couldn’t see much of anything. She stepped toward me, her lithe form becoming more clear as she walked toward the brighter living room.

And then, she stood before me. Slender Iris, in a blue-and-white sundress. The top looked to be snug-fitting, with some built-in support. That came in quite handy, as it was now holding three tits firmly in place.

Iris wasn’t a tall woman, but the dress made her slender legs look longer. She walked toward me, only slightly clumsy, smiling from ear to ear. The other women had neatly parted and brushed her hair as well. When she got to me, she turned in a circle, then stood there clutching her skirts.

“Well? What do you think?” she asked.

I scratched my head. “Is this a trick question? I think you’re beautiful, Iris. I mean, you look amazing!”

Her smile grew even brighter and she briefly moved toward me, almost as if she was going to hug or kiss me. I found that rather charming.

I also suddenly noticed Jess and Shayla standing in the hallway. Both of them were smiling as well, and made encouraging motions with their hands.

“They said you liked sundresses,” Iris said, looking shy for a moment.

Was I—were Jess and Shayla pushing me toward her? I mean, no complaints here. I welcomed the thought of another beautiful woman in my life. Especially one with her talents.

And then it clicked. Iris could keep plants alive. She could be the key to our survival in this hard world. Of course they wanted her. And of course that wasn’t the only reason; she was a beautiful woman with a sweet demeanor, so it didn’t surprise me at all that they liked her.

I reached out and hugged Iris tightly. She squeezed me in return and leaned her head against my shoulder.

“You look incredible,” I said, and kissed her temple.

“I told you I was yours,” she said, looking up at me once our hug was done. “I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant until I got here and met your other partners. Now I know; I want to be one of them.”

“One of my partners?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I know I saved your life, but we don’t know each other yet,” I told her. “I’m flattered, truly, but I don’t want you to be too impulsive.”

“I spoke with Jess and Shayla about it. They approved and welcomed me into the family.”

“If you hurt her, I’ll shoot you!” Shayla said in a far too-pleasant voice.

I looked over her shoulder at my other girlfriends. Jess crossed her arms and grinned. Shayla shrugged and gave me a look that dared me to refuse.

To be fair, I wanted this to happen. I just didn’t want Iris to fall for me because of a trauma bond, or because I was the first person that was nice to her. I wanted it to be genuine.

“Okay,” I said. I took her face in my hands and bent down and kissed her softly. She smiled the entire time. “But we have to go on at least one real date first.”

24

Ihad gotten used to eating with everyone over the past week or so. Jacob and Ellie usually did the cooking for a big group of us. It took me a moment to realize we had to cook our own lunch that day. Well, that was fine. We had a decent amount of stuff in the fridge and plenty of rice and beans in storage, so I was certain I could come up with something.

Right as I walked into the kitchen, Jess started commenting that she was hungry.

“Good timing,” she said. “So, what are you making us for lunch?”

I laughed. “I guess I’m the cook now, right?”

She shrugged. “You gotta pull your weight somehow.”

“Well, what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I grabbed a frying pan.

Jess grabbed a stool and plopped down on it at the kitchen counter. “Well, I heal people. Iris can make plants grow.”

“What about Shayla?” I asked.

“I’m just damn cute, and that’s enough,” Shayla said with a wink.

“Okay, can’t argue there,” I said as I pulled open the fridge. “Uh, nothing special for lunch, but I can probably prepare a nice stew for dinner.”

“With what?” Iris asked. She had grabbed a dark blue cardigan from the bedroom and pulled it on, since it was getting chilly. The sight of those three round breasts in her sundress was simply incredible.

I checked our shelves. “Beans and venison, mostly. Oh, and to be clear, our deer have fur and they don’t eat other deer.”

“Oh, weird,” Iris said. Shayla and Jess just looked confused.

Another thing quickly dawned on me: my lack of a cooking fire. Well, it was getting chilly anyway, so I went outside and grabbed a bit of firewood. After arranging the cut logs in the fireplace, I realized I’d have to make some kind of metal rack to hold a frying pan if I wanted to cook that way. There was an old cast iron grate in the fireplace, the kind that held logs in place. It wasn’t tall enough to really get the job done.

Ultimately I decided to pull the metal grate out and get a small fire going. I used my trusty cigarette lighter and once again felt grateful I had found it. While the women talked, mostly learning about Iris, I waited for the logs to catch and burn.

As soon as they began to burn down, I put the metal grate on top of them. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to work. My saute pan went on top of that. Lunch was cooking in no time, although I had to be careful not to burn it. I opened a window to help keep things from getting smoky as well.

Once that was done, I pulled my pan off the fire and took it to the kitchen. While that cooled, I chopped up some of the remaining venison and tossed it in a stockpot along with some beans and quartered potatoes. That would hopefully make a decent stew, especially if I added a handful of rice about twenty minutes before we ate to thicken it up.

“Smells good,” Iris said with a smile as I scooped our lunch onto four plates.

“What did you guys eat down at Fort Meade?” Shayla asked.

“Whatever we could,” Iris replied. She took her plate with a word of thanks and grabbed a fork in her fist.

“Hold on,” I said. I reached out and adjusted how she held it. Considering where she grew up, there were probably a lot of things she needed to be taught. That was fine.

Iris stared at the fork in her hand. “Why? Why must I hold it this way?”

“Because,” I began, then stopped. “Well, because hundreds of years ago someone decided that was the proper way to hold a fork. I guess it doesn’t make a ton of sense, now that I think about it.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m not upset or anything. I just think it’s strange that people would determine a proper way to hold a fork.” With another shrug, she began eating.

“Delicious as usual,” Shayla said.

“But to further answer your question, we mostly ate from my garden,” Iris said. “Anything we could grow. Tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, beans…and Mark has seen my melons.”

“Her melons are lovely,” I said, grinning around a bite of food. Jess rolled her eyes. Shayla stole a glance at Iris’s chest.

“Mark let me eat his buns in the car,” Iris said, stabbing her fork into another bite. “I like eating his buns.”

“Is that so?” Jess asked, turning to me and raising an eyebrow.

“They were Ellie’s buns,” I explained. “And we use the word ‘bread’ instead of ‘buns.’”

Iris snapped her fingers. “Ah, sorry. I forgot.”

“It’s okay, I was thinking about your melons and how good they were,” I replied.

Iris gave me a sweet smile. Jess opened her mouth to say something but I beat her to it.

“You know, before she moved in with us I used to visit Jess’s backdoor on occasion,” I said in a serious voice. “Jess has a lovely backdoor. I think you’d like it. Her front door is wonderful as well.”

“Sounds great!” Iris said, taking another bite.

“I’m a big fan of Jess’s backdoor,” Shayla said. Jess gave her a sharp look and she shrugged. “What? I mean, I’m not gonna lie.”

“Yeah, but I have the best melons,” Iris said proudly.

“I don’t think anyone would argue with that,” I said. Jess sighed loudly.

“You should try Mark’s meat sometime,” Shayla said, grinning wide.

“He doesn’t have very much meat, though,” Jess said. She popped a bite into her mouth and raised an eyebrow at me.

“I don’t care for meat that much, to be honest,” Iris said.

“Then Mark’s your man,” Jess said. She was struggling not to laugh.

I shrugged. “But it’s good enough for Shayla’s backdoor.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Shayla said under her breath.

“What’s your backdoor like?” Iris asked. “I want to see it! Maybe we can see who has the best backdoor, you or Jess!”

“What if we ate their buns?” I asked, feigning ignorance. “Hmm, I wonder who would have the best buns.”

“Oh, good question,” Iris said.

Shayla burst out laughing, then suddenly reached over and hugged Iris tightly.

“Your innocence is a breath of fresh air,” Shayla said.

Iris just looked confused for a moment.

“So, where are you taking our Iris out for her first date?” Jess asked.

“Good question,” I said. “I wish I could take her to wine country or something, but that option kinda ended with the war. Although part of me wonders how those vineyards are doing, now.”

“Huh?” Shayla asked.

“Nevermind. I’ll think of something, I promise. I need to get a couple things done first, but that’ll give me time to figure it out. At least it looks like the rain has stopped.” I turned and looked through the kitchen window behind me. Sure enough, the rain was done.

“What’s on the docket for today?” Jess asked.

“Water and electricity,” I replied. “We’re all tired of hauling five gallon jugs back and forth from the lake. We need something more central until we can figure out proper plumbing. And that power source we have is great, but it’s barely enough to run our fridge and two lightbulbs. I need to get started on a proper generator.”

“Let me know how I can help,” Iris said without hesitation.

“You’re with us for the day,” Shayla said, taking her arm.

“Yeah, you’ve struggled enough for one lifetime,” Jess said, pushing her empty plate away. “We’re going to take you around and give you a tour of the place. Let the men do the work.”

I raised my eyebrow at that comment and Jess stuck her tongue out at me. In the end, she was right, though. Iris had suffered and struggled her entire life. She deserved to relax for a day or two.

“I need to sew a bra for you as well,” Shayla said. “I found a sewing kit in the desk over in the home office. That’ll help support your chest.”

“Nukes, that sounds like a blessing,” Iris said. “My back gets sore pretty often.” She reached up and grabbed onto her chest. “These things get heavy.”

“Same,” Jess said.

Iris stared at her chest for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

I put our dishes in the sink so one of us could wash them later, then tried to tidy up a bit. The pot of stew was nearly boiling on the fireplace, so I put a lid on it and moved it over to the side so it wouldn’t overheat.

“You have such nice hair,” Jess said, running her fingers through Iris’s dark locks. “There are so many things we can do with it.”

Iris barked a laugh. “Ha! I’m usually just grateful when I get to wash it.”

“Well, you’re with us now,” Shayla said. She leaned forward and took Iris’s hands in her own. “You have a new life; one of safety and love. And one that involves us playing with your hair.”

Iris looked over at me and beamed a smile. I smiled back at her. It was good to see them getting along so well. I was especially glad Shayla and Jess were doing their best to treat Iris with kindness and love. That would help with all the trauma she had endured.

“I’m gonna talk with Kenny about a few things,” I said. I walked up to Shayla and kissed her, then Jess. After a moment, I kissed Iris as well. She looked as happy as could be.

“I think someone’s besotted,” Jess said, smiling at the brunette.

“What’s that mean?” Iris asked.

“It means you really like him,” Jess replied.

Iris turned back to me, still smiling as her eyes searched my face. She reached out and took my hands in hers. “Yeah, I do,” she said. “He saved my life, after all.”

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. What a cutie.

After that, I left the house and walked over to the watchtower. As I had hoped, Kenny and the other Loch Raven guys were relaxing in the storage room. It was a bit humid in there, but they had opened the windows and doors now that the rain was over.

“There he is, the man of the hour!” Kenny exclaimed as I walked in.

“How’s the new gal?” Stan asked me.

“Good,” I replied. “She went through a lot down there; everyone she knew had been killed. And, uh, eaten. She was the only survivor. It’ll take her a while to heal from that, but she’s grateful to be up here. And she has a mutation that helps her grow plants better, so looks like our gardens will benefit.”

“Perfect,” Stan said.

“I wanted to start on a water wheel,” I said. “I had some ideas and wanted to run them by one of you.”

“That’s all Kenny, man,” Mike said. “I just build shit. He’s the one that designs it and works it out.” Alex and Richard laughed.

Kenny shrugged. “Alright, what do you have?”

“Come on, I’ll show you,” I said.

25

We walked over to the crumbling house, the one in which I had found the Porsche. The garage was still usable and filled with good tools, plus there were a few other things in there I needed.

I walked straight to a bicycle that was hanging on the wall and pulled it off. With all the gears on it, I hoped I could find something that would work.

“We’re gonna use these gears to turn the alternator,” I said, pointing down at the rear wheel.

Kenny nodded. “Doesn’t look too hard. We can use the frame to hold everything, too.”

And that was how our idea began. We grabbed a hacksaw and a pile of wrenches and began disassembling the bicycle. The tires were dry-rotted after so many years, but since they had been hanging on the wall and not in use they were in better shape than I expected. The wheels were still perfectly true.

Kenny had some pieces of scrap metal handy, both from disassembling the Porsche and from scavenging the house. We used those to affix an alternator to the rear wheel; the alternator I had removed from that big bucket truck down at the maintenance facility. Damn thing was like a boat anchor, so it took a while for us to safely attach it to the frame, but eventually we got it.

Kenny held the frame in place while I turned the pedals. With that gearing it took a bit of force, but our idea worked. The alternator spun, and that was what mattered.

“Hot damn,” Kenny said. “Now we just have to figure out how to mount this thing in the water.

“Yeah, and I have to build a water wheel,” I said. “All we really have is wood, which will work but I’ll have to replace it as it rots. I wish we had some plastic, or even aluminum lying around.”

“We build from wood now, and we’ll upgrade to something better when we can,” Kenny said. “Don’t overthink it, Mark. It’s better to have a mediocre generator than no generator.”

“You’re right,” I said. “Sometimes that quest for perfection gets into my head and halts me from seeing the basics. Alright, let’s get this started.”

It wasn’t difficult at all, to be honest. Using scrap lumber and things pulled from the house, we were able to build a simple frame that we attached to the crank gears. As I walked into the house, that got me looking around, which got me thinking. And, as I walked into the kitchen, I found the solution to my problem.

Baking sheets! Some were aluminum, some were steel, but they were all lightyears better than cheap pine. I grabbed every one from the kitchen and took them to Kenny and told him my plan. After that, we both left and visited other houses, gathering what we could. In the end, we only needed a handful of them.

We took turns with the hacksaw, cutting the baking sheets in half. After that, a few minutes with a hammer, beating the baking sheet on a piece of wood, made for a nice scooped shape. I didn’t know much about waterwheels, but I knew that was more efficient than just flat paddles.

Kenny built a simple framework with wood, and I used a drill to put holes in the modified baking sheets; it turned out the previous owner of this place had an old drill that actually plugged in, instead of requiring a rechargeable battery. We ran an extension cable to the power supply and went at it.

We found enough screws to attach the metal scoops to the frame, and after a few hours total, we both stood back and admired our work.

A hacked-up bicycle frame with a semi alternator affixed to the back wheel and a paddlewheel bolted to the front crank. It was, to be blunt, comical. But if it worked, that was all that mattered.

Kenny left and returned a few minutes later. “I pulled some power lines while you were out gallivanting. We should be able to use this to run power to a central area. Or, we might just have to run it into a single house for now.”

“If this works, I was thinking we could install a windmill at each house,” I said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.”

Kenny nodded. “And that’s not too hard to wire into the house. On a windy day, you can power two, sometimes three outlets. Enough to vastly improve the quality of your life.”

“That’s all I’m hoping for,” I said, looking around. More ideas spun through my head, of ways we could create windmills. The basic idea was incredibly simple.

“We’ll get there, don’t worry,” Kenny said. “For now, let’s haul this hunk of junk to the river and see how we’re going to install it.”

Of course, we tested it first. Kenny attached a lightbulb to the alternator and I manually turned the paddlewheel as quickly as I could. Sure enough, the gearing system spun the alternator nice and quickly and the lightbulb lit up. Our ridiculous idea worked, and worked damn well.

I grabbed my wheelbarrow and brought it to the garage so we could load the whole contraption into it. Kenny tossed in a few tools and a large coil of wire as well.

After that, we grabbed some scrap lumber and nails and set out toward the river. My mind churned the entire way, trying to think of new ideas with every step.

I wasn’t a prepper or a survivalist; those guys would probably have full power and running water by now. I was just a regular guy that enjoyed working on his house. So perhaps I knew a bit more than the average Joe, but I still felt woefully ignorant when it came to this stuff.

Jones Falls burbled in front of us, the water steadily flowing south. It wasn’t overly deep and the water speed was nice and consistent, so I had high hope our idea would be a success.

“We can make a base of stones,” Kenny said, stepping right into the stream. “Eh, I needed a bath anyway.”

I stared for a moment. “Also we can use some stones to sort of funnel the water toward the waterwheel, to ensure we always have a steady flow into it.”

Kenny nodded. “Good idea, although it seems you just keep finding ways to put me to work.”

I laughed and stepped into the water with him. My shoes were dirty and could use the cleaning. Water was damn cold, though.

Together, we gathered enough head-sized stones to form a large V that guided water to a specific point. Right where they converged, we built two mounds, nice and stable. I went up to the wheelbarrow and grabbed our contraption, then brought it into the stream, where we both held it in place.

“Well, it works,” Kenny said.

The water passed beneath us, catching each curved baking sheet and turning the wheel.

“Alright, let’s mount this thing,” I said.

I hauled it over to the sloping side of the river and set it on the grass, then went back to help Kenny. We had measured for this and discussed it on our way here. Now it was just a matter of building it.

In the end we came up with a simple framework made from logs. It held the waterwheel from each side and even allowed it to swing slightly, in case water levels rose.

“We’ll probably have to replace that in a year or so,” Kenny said, pointing at the branches and lumber. “But it’s perfect for now, just to get it working.”

I smiled at our new creation. It looked a mess, of that there was no doubt. But, the water caught the wheel and turned it, which spun the alternator. That was all that mattered.

“Now I just need to hook it up,” Kenny said. “Uncoil some of that wire and bring it here.”

I grabbed the heavy wire and pulled some over to him, along with the lineman’s pliers. It didn’t take Kenny long to have that attached to the alternator.

“Where are we running this?” I asked, pointing at the wire. “I don’t think we have enough length to make it to the watchtower. Jacob’s house might be our best bet.”

Kenny nodded. “Then let’s do that. We’ll go straight through the woods and into his place.”

I looked around, then grabbed the heavy coil of wire. Without thinking, I had almost run it across the road. It wouldn’t last long with people driving over it, so instead I climbed the nearest tree and looped the wire over a heavy branch.

“Good thinking,” Kenny said.

I dropped the coil of wire and he caught it, then we repeated the process on the other side of the road. We had a good ten feet of clearance, which would be good for just about anything. As I was fixing the wire on the second tree, Kenny hurried away to get my machete. Once he returned, we began hacking our way through the woods.

It was hard work, but we slowly chopped through all the undergrowth and made our way into Jacob’s backyard. I knew leaving the wire on the ground wasn’t a permanent solution, so we looped it over a few branches once we got near his house.

“Now for the fun part,” Kenny grumbled.

He pulled the end of the wire up to the house and began connecting it. Of course he bypassed the meter; no need for that anymore. It was fascinating to watch him work, not only because of how skilled he was, but how quickly he moved.

“Is that it?” I asked.

“No,” Kenny said. “It’s attached to the house, but the voltage is all wrong. I’ll need to go inside and fix that, unless we want everything to suddenly run on twelve volts.”

“Good point,” I said. “What can I do to help?”

“You can make something that’ll cover the alternator,” he told me. “Right now if it rains, the wiring will get wet. Now, I know car alternators are pretty resistant to that sort of thing, but I’d like to be on the safe side. You can even just pull a fender or something off a car and bent it to create a little roof. Anything will help.”

“Sounds easy enough,” I said, looking up. The shadows were stretching out, so that would have to wait. “I say we finish it tomorrow, though. Let’s all grab dinner. I have some stew going.”

He turned to me and grinned. “Now, that’s the best idea you’ve had all damn day.”

26

Once we put our tools up, we walked over to the watchtower where everyone was already beginning to gather. Iris was there, in her sundress and cardigan, smiling from ear to ear.

It was great to see that everyone accepted her. No one commented on her differences, at least not until Kenny arrived.

“Hot damn!” he exclaimed as he walked up to her and embraced her. “Another superior being! Pretty soon we’ll outnumber the normies three-to-one!” He released her and wiggled his eyebrows. “See what I did there?”

Iris was initially caught off-guard, but finally laughed at Kenny’s jokes.

“Jess is one of us, too!” Kenny said. “You can’t see it, but she’s got three asses!”

“And Kenny has three brain cells!” Jess fired back. That got a laugh out of everyone.

Ellie and Jacob set up their usual cooking table and got the camping stove working. I brought over my stockpot filled with stew since I had inadvertently made about four times as much as I needed. I had a bad habit of doing that when rice was involved.

Apparently while they were touring the area, Iris had found some mushrooms. With her mutation and skill with plants, she was able to immediately tell that they weren’t the poisonous kind, so those were added to our dinner. I walked Jacob through a basic recipe that involved sauteing the mushrooms and venison in a bit of goose fat. That went on some of Ellie’s fresh-baked bread. When paired with the stew, it was quite the hearty dinner.

“I can’t believe how well you eat,” Iris said. “And there’s so much! I’m used to one or two meals a day. I’ve never been so full before in my life.”

Stan clapped her on the shoulder and smiled, kind of like a big brother would. Everyone enjoyed seeing her amazement at our basic necessities. It made us realize just how well we had it.

We still needed to finish the watchtower, but enough of it was done that we knew we could rest a bit. And that’s how that evening mostly went.

Kenny told bad jokes while Ellie and Jacob cooked. It warmed my heart to see those two flirting with each other. I had never seen Jacob so happy.

Will and Tiffany sat on the outside of the group, still not feeling very social. Tiffany at least tried to smile and even laughed at a couple of Kenny’s jokes. Slow improvements, but anything was welcomed.

Jess sat next to me with her leg against mine. Shayla sat on the other side of her and the two women held hands. Iris sat on my left and kept flashing me smiles. I felt so surrounded by love in that moment.

Ellie disappeared for a minute, then returned with a bottle of whiskey and an armload of mismatched glasses. She poured a dash in each and passed them around. I wasn’t a big drinker so Jess and I shared one. Iris got a glass and smelled it cautiously.

“Who made this?” she asked, swirling her glass. “I had an uncle that made something similar, but it smelled rather horrible. We mostly used it to sterilize things.”

“It’s from before the war,” Ellie said as she handed a glass to Jenna, then Alex. “We have several bottles of the stuff lying around. We’ll drink ‘em eventually. I figured you being here is a good reason to celebrate.”

Once everyone had a glass, we all raised them.

“To Matt,” Mike said. “May his memory never fade.”

Everyone nodded soberly and took a sip.

“And to Iris. Welcome to your new home.” Ellie beamed a smile at her and raised her glass again.

Iris tossed down the last of her whiskey in a single gulp. “This is a lot better than what I’ve had before.”

I struggled not to make a face at the harshness of the whiskey. For the life of me, I’d never understand how people could enjoy it. I was more of a beer guy, myself. Or even wine, or cider, for that matter.

“Thank you, everyone,” Iris continued. “I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to get a new chance at life, here with all of you wonderful people.”

“Kenny’s not wonderful,” Stan said.

“And Stan has this thing where he stinks terribly,” Kenny replied.

“Hush, you two,” Jess said.

“And Jess has the worst gas,” Kenny added. “Smells like an outhouse after a cheese festival.”

“I do not have gas!” Jess yelled. She pushed herself to her feet and launched herself at Kenny.

“Keep your farts away from me, woman!” Kenny shouted, running away.

We laughed as Jess chased him across the settlement. Kenny made farting noises the entire time. It was one of the most childish things I had seen in a long, long time, and it was absolutely hilarious.

“I gotta teach her to run faster,” Shayla said, sliding over next to me.

“I don’t think she’s really built to run,” I said. “I’m surprised she doesn’t get two black eyes.”

Iris laughed. “I guess I’d get a broken nose too, right?” She looked down at her three boobs and laughed again.

“Hey, I wanted to bring something up,” I said. “Not trying to dampen the mood or anything. When I went to cook earlier, it dawned on me that Jacob is the only one that has the stuff to properly heat a frying pan.”

“It’s just now dawning on you?” Stan asked. Jacob chuckled.

“We can make some outdoor ovens,” Alex added.

Next to him, Jenna nodded. “We had several of those down in Haven. Makes it much easier to bake bread and similar things.”

“The ground here has a lot of clay, so it wouldn’t take long to build a few,” Alex said.

Kenny and Jess finally rejoined the group. Jess punched him in the shoulder and laughed, then the two hugged.

“Well, I have a different project for tomorrow,” Kenny said. “Mark and I are working on that waterwheel.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I want to expand upon that as well. I know we have power going right into Jacob’s house, but maybe we can create a system where it goes into a huge battery instead. Like, the waterwheel and several windmills all filling the battery, and then we connect the houses to it. That’ll give us more capacity and make it where more people can use basic things.”

“What’s a waterwheel?” Iris asked.

“It's, uh. Well, a wheel that’s set in the water.” I tried to use my hands to demonstrate as I talked. “The river turns paddles on the wheel, which turns a generator and makes electricity. A windmill is similar, it’s just in the air instead.”

“Fascinating,” Iris said. “We sometimes got power, but it was patchy and we never knew when things would work. Further in the base they had regular power, from what I understand. It wasn’t safe to go there, though.”

“Yeah, down near the old National Security Agency building,” I said. “I remember you mentioning that. It makes sense that they’d have generators and all sorts of things down there. Guns, armored vehicles. Buildings were probably built to withstand a blast, too. Do you know who lives there now?”

Iris shook her head. “All I know is if you get close, you’ll never be seen again.”

“We could wire up something like what you’re talking about,” Kenny said. “If any of these solar panels still work, we can use them as well. I can use that second forklift battery and combine it with the one that’s currently hooked up to the power station and let that thing regulate all the power. I don’t think it would be that hard. Might take me a few days, though, especially with the solar panels. Unless I….”

He trailed off, muttering about specifics and counting on his fingers. He really seemed to enjoy the complexity of these projects, for which I was grateful.

“Water is next,” I said. “I’m not entirely sure how we’re going to do it, but I want to figure out a better system to purify water and supply it to everyone. Even if only one house gets it, that’s loads better than us hauling water jugs back and forth.”

“Yeah, we’ll figure it all out,” Kenny said.

“Well, at least you know what you’re doing tomorrow,” Shayla said.

“And what are you doing tomorrow?” I asked.

“Taking care of Iris, of course,” she replied. “It would be a crime to do otherwise.”

Iris blushed. “Thank you. You guys have been so kind to me. I never could have even imagined a life like this—and I’ve only been here for a handful of hours! For maybe the first time in my life, I’m excited for my future.”

“I think we all are, a bit,” Stan said. “This place is special. Don’t get me wrong, I miss my home, but this place has a different feel than Loch Raven. Our actions here matter, they truly matter. Everything we do directly affects someone’s life. That’s a nice feeling.”

“Plus, have you seen the size of my house?” Jess asked.

“I know, even having to share a place with Kenny and Josh, our house is huge,” Stan said.

I hadn’t heard anything from Josh in quite some time, so I looked around until I found him. He sat on the ground with his back against the stone wall of the watchtower, calmly eating his dinner. He saw me looking and nodded to me.

“Yeah, I could really get used to things here,” Jess said, looking around. “Especially once we have running water. That’ll really seal the deal for me.”

“So, you’re staying?” Stan asked.

Jess looked over at Shayla, then at me and smiled. “Yeah. I’m gonna stay. I still want to visit Loch Raven as much as possible, but I think this is going to be my new home.”

Shayla reached over and took Jess’s hand and the two women smiled at each other.

“So, what exactly is Loch Raven?” Iris asked. “I keep hearing people mention it.”

“It’s a big settlement to the north of us,” I said. “Not sure if you remember, but when we turned off the highway and started heading south to here, if we had gone the opposite way instead and turned north, that would have taken us to Loch Raven. It’s probably a twenty or thirty minute drive.”

“Oh, so not that far at all,” Iris said.

“Yeah. We should visit sometime,” I said. “Especially now that we know the Porsche works.”

“I forgot to ask, how did things go?” Kenny asked me.

“Overall, great.”

“Come on, come one. Give us the details.” He grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured himself a second glass.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Man, where to start.”

“At the beginning!” Mike shouted.

“Okay. So, I left here and went south. Didn’t take long for me to be in Druid territory. Fortunately, the machine gun you guys mounted on the fender saved my ass.”

Mike, seated near Kenny, reached over and high-fived him. Kenny had one hand on his hip, the other holding a glass, and returned the high-five with his third arm. Everything that man did looked comical.

“Yeah we heard you shooting. Won’t lie, some of us were pretty worried,” Stan said.

Kenny waved it away. “Eh, I knew you’d be fine.”

“Well, I shot a few Druids and used the gun to keep them down while I drove beneath some overpasses. Kinda surprised I made it through there alive, to be honest. I think they’re building up their numbers for something.”

“Probably planning to take over more of the city,” Jacob muttered.

“Once I made it through their turf it was relatively smooth sailing. I still had to dodge a bunch of cars and potholes, so business as usual for Baltimore.” No one really got that joke, but hey, I thought it was funny. “I started going south and found myself being herded in a certain direction.”

“How so?” Stan asked.

“Roadblocks,” I said. “Cars pushed in the way so I could only turn one way at an intersection. I knew I was being pushed toward something so I just crossed my fingers and hoped my machine gun would be enough.”

“Was it?” Kenny asked.

“Well, yeah, actually,” I said.

Kenny and Mike high-fived again.

“Where were you?” Shayla asked.

“In Green Man territory,” I said. Next to me, Iris frowned sharply.

“Ohhhhhhh, is this what you told me about?” she asked.

“Yeah. They surrounded me. I shot their leader, which at least kept some of them at bay, and then demanded to see Sharg, one of their women. Jacob and I ran into her shortly after I woke up in this world.”

“So you actually know a Green Woman?” Iris asked, sounding somewhere between disgusted and fascinated.

“Yeah,” I said. “They prefer the term Lakpal. Well, I demanded to see her and shit got all weird. Turns out she’s the sister of their former leader and tough, even for a Green Woman.”

“So, what did you do?” Iris asked.

“I, uhh, managed to win her support,” I said. Next to me, Shayla coughed. Jess just buried her face in her hands and shook her head.

“Weird,” Iris said. “You’re a strange man, Mark.”

“Well, two things happened. First, she told me she wanted to leave their society and join ours. She said she wants to experience peace instead of constant fighting.” I wisely left out the part about orgasms. “And second, she told the rest of the Lakpal to let me pass.”

“Can you imagine fighting the Druids with a Green Woman on our side?” Stan asked.

Kenny and Mike nodded slowly. I was glad they were thinking the same thing I was.

“Yeah. She’s quite different, but I think she could be a huge help, here,” I said. Iris stiffened next to me, so I reached out and placed a hand on her knee. “I haven’t forgotten what you went through,” I said quietly. “For what it’s worth, she’s from a different area, miles away. She had nothing to do with what happened to your family, and even told me she believes her people kill too much.”

“I don’t like it,” Iris said. “But I don’t make the rules around here.”

“The truth is, we need everyone we can get,” Stan explained. “With more people, we’ll be stronger and safer. Having a woman like her in our settlement will definitely affect our safety. No one in their right mind will mess with her.”

“Yeah, but what if she goes crazy and kills people here?” Iris asked. “Have you thought about that?”

I nodded. “I have. We’ll have to educate her in our ways, of that I have no doubts. And we’ll probably have to help her rein in her temper and learn to use her words and not her fists. But she told me she wants a peaceful life. She wants what we have.”

“And you believe her?” Iris asked, her eyes searching my face.

I nodded. “I do.”

Iris sighed. “Like I said, I don’t make the rules. You saved my life, so who am I to say you can’t save someone else’s.”

“What happened after that?” Richard asked. I was surprised to hear him speak.

“Well, long story short, I drove down to Fort Meade and rescued Iris. I had to fight through some Green Men down there, which was quite unpleasant. But we managed to escape and took the beltway home. Stopped by a river so we could take a bath, and got chased by a bear.”

Kenny whistled. “Sounds like you really put that car through the wringer on your little adventure. Hell of a first drive.”

I looked over at Iris and smiled. “Yeah, but it was worth it.”

27

Our stories and jokes eventually wound down and we all started going to our respective houses. When I left, Jacob and Ellie were the last ones there.

“It’s cute seeing them together,” Shayla said. “I’ve never seen Jacob smile so much, that’s for certain.”

“Sometimes we find love in strange places,” Jess said. She reached out and grabbed my hand.

“How did you guys meet?” Iris asked as we approached our house.

I opened the front door and held it for all three of them. We actually hadn’t discussed sleeping arrangements yet, but it made sense that Iris was with us. She had all but said she was going to be my shadow, after all.

“Well, when I woke up in this world, I wandered around for a few hours until luck brought me to Jacob,” I said. “He was out scavenging the city for useful things. You know, copper, steel, weapons, clothes. We ran into each other and he took me to Haven, where he and Shayla lived. And Jenna and Arnold and Will and Tiffany as well.”

“Haven was a settlement, right?” Iris asked.

“Yeah. South of here, down in the city. Well, Jacob had Shayla show me around, and we just kinda took to each other.”

Shayla and Jess started walking toward the bedroom out of habit. So did I, for that matter. Iris followed along, but I realized we were going to have to figure that out soon.

“He did his best to win me over,” Shayla said, smiling at me over her shoulder. “And he did a pretty good job. Stood up to a couple of tyrants and even took a bullet.”

“What?” Iris asked.

We walked into the bedroom and my girlfriends sat on the edge of the bed, then began undoing their shoes. With a shrug, Iris sat next to them and did the same. I just stood there, although I took my shoes off as well.

“Yeah, I guess if you want the full story,” I began.

“Of course I do!” Iris said. She kicked her shoes off and slid back on the bed, then got comfortable. “This bed is incredible, by the way. I’ve never felt anything so soft and wonderful.”

Just like with Shayla and Jess, I had a sudden desire to take Iris back to my timeline, so she could enjoy all the creature comforts we had. All the things we probably took for granted. I tried to imagine how she would react to seeing something like a movie, or the internet. Maybe there was some way I could figure that out.

“And don’t leave out the part about getting shot,” Iris said.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I got shot. It sucked.”

“The settlement was attacked,” Shayla said. “Everyone huddled behind our walls, so Mark went out and killed them himself.”

“Really?” Iris asked, her eyes widening.

I shrugged. “No one was doing anything. I started to feel trapped.”

“Well, the leadership at Haven didn’t like it,” Shayla said with a sour twist to her mouth. “They accused Mark of several things, including unnecessarily risking his life. But the real problem was when our constable saw him looking at me. He could tell Mark wanted me.”

“Constable?” Iris asked.

“A cop,” I said. “Sheriff, police. The guy that enforces laws. Ol’ Constable Michael was a real asshole and demanded everything go his way with no excuses or exceptions.”

“He asked if Mark liked me. Mark said yes, even though he knew it meant trouble.” Shayla smiled at me as she spoke.

“Why would that mean trouble?” Iris asked.

“Because I was promised to someone,” Shayla said, her smile slipping. “I had no choice. My parents died when I was young, bringing me to Haven. I made a deal with the mayor; I would be raised and allowed to live there, and in turn I had to marry his son at a certain age.”

“What kind of creepy-ass mayor makes a deal like that with a child?” I muttered.

“Don’t get me started,” Shayla said. “Long story short, the constable accused Mark of trying to usurp the mayor’s position, and shot him right in the stomach.”

Iris gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. “Mark, that’s terrible!”

Jess watched me with interest. I didn’t think she had heard the full story before.

I pulled up my t-shirt and showed where the faintest scar remained on my stomach. Just to the left of my belly button.

“It was pretty terrible,” I said, touching the scar. “I kinda just wanted to roll over and let myself die so the pain would stop.”

“But you didn’t, did you?” Shayla asked with a crooked grin. “No, you stood up and faced him down. Even made a bad joke, if memory serves.”

“A joke?” Iris asked. “What kind of joke could you possibly make in a situation like that?”

“Eh, I told him to fuck his mother,” I said.

Iris gasped again.

Shayla rolled her eyes and tried to imitate my voice. “I’ve had wings spicier than your bullets.”

Jess laughed out loud. Iris looked shocked. Shayla just looked at me with love.

“He was bleeding all over the place and would be dead in probably two minutes, but still took the time to piss off the constable,” Shayla said. “I’ll never forget it. And he told me he’d find me, in this life or the next, even though he knew that meant death.”

“Wow,” Iris said.

“And then he shot the constable about half a dozen times and left him there to die on the ground,” Shayla added. “It was…gruesome, to put it mildly. I ran over there to help him and we made it to the healer.”

“You?” Iris asked Jess.

“Oh heavens no, I’m from Loch Raven,” Jess said. “Jenna, that woman you met earlier, was the healer in Haven.”

“After she healed me, we hurried back across the settlement to get my things and go,” I said. “But we ran into the mayor and his asshole son and four of their goons. Jacob saved us that time. Showed us how he got his nickname.”

“His nickname?” Iris asked.

“Jacob the Wicked.”

She paused, just staring at me. “Are you telling me that bearded old man I met earlier that cooked my dinner was Jacob the Wicked?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve heard of him as well?” I asked.

“Of course I have,” Iris said. “Traders would visit us sometimes and they brought stories when they could. More than one of those was about Jacob the Wicked. Toughest man around, they said. Killed more than a hundred men by the time he was my age.”

“None of it surprises me,” I said. “He saved my life on multiple occasions. I owe all of this to him.”

Iris whistled. “This place and you people just keep getting stranger.”

“Well, it’s been a long day,” Shayla said. “And I want to get some sleep.”

“Do we all sleep on this bed?” Iris asked.

We paused at that. It was Jess that spoke up.

“The three of us sleep together on this bed, since we’re in a relationship,” she explained.

“Oh! Okay.” Iris frowned and looked around. “I’ll just sleep on the couch. Or better yet, I can sleep on the floor right here. This carpet—it’s called carpet, right?—is really soft.”

“You…might not want to be in the room tonight,” Jess said slowly.

“I’m gonna fuck his brains out,” Shayla said.

“Oh,” Iris replied. “Oh! Oh, yeah, good point. I’ll sleep on the couch, in that case.” She slid off the bed and stood there for a moment, looking adorably awkward. “Well, goodnight everyone.” After a pause, she leaned over and hugged Jess, who returned the hug warmly. Shayla was next, and then she hugged me. I kissed her on her temple as well.

After one last smile, she left the room.

“What a sweet woman,” Shayla said.

“She’s so innocent for this world,” Jess added. “It’s almost strange, but it’s endearing.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s—”

“Take your clothes off before I cut them off,” Shayla said, pulling me toward the bed.

It didn’t take them long to pounce on me. Although we had only been apart a short while, it felt like an eternity.

As soon as my clothes were off, Jess pushed me onto my back while Shayla sucked on me. The two women took turns, although the foreplay didn’t last long. Jess licked her fingers and wiped them between Shayla’s legs, then kissed her as she straddled me.

Less than five minutes after Iris left the room, Shayla was riding me. We tried to stay silent since there was another person in the house, but the sound of skin slapping against skin was notable.

Jess leaned forward and took one of Shayla’s nipples into her mouth. She slid her hand along Shayla’s round butt, squeezing it while I thrust repeatedly inside her.

“Fuck, it’s been too long,” Shayla said. Her eyes were closed and she just focused on all the pleasure she was receiving.

“Not even two days,” Jess said, smiling up at her. “But I agree. Too long.”

She sucked on Shayla’s nipple for another few seconds, then looked back at me. With a wink and a smile, she shuffled back and threw her leg over my face.

One woman riding my face, the other riding my cock. It would be damn hard to beat that. That position had quickly become my favorite, and when they switched places a few moments later, it was still true.

I never knew who I was going to cum inside, which felt a bit exciting. That time, Jess was riding me hard and fast. I was doing my best to hold on and enjoy the ride, but found myself at the finish line. I squeezed her hips hard and thrust up, filling her with my seed while bringing another orgasm out of Shayla, who rode my face like she was at a rodeo. It was awesome.

“I love feeling you tense up when you cum,” Jess said, wiggling her hips. She remained on me and Shayla did the same.

Once Shayla had another orgasm, she finally rolled off. She flopped onto her back on the bed, breathing hard.

“That tongue of yours is magic,” she said. “I need you to teach me how to do that so I can drive Jess crazy.”

“Gotta keep all my secrets tightly guarded,” I said with a grin.

I reached out and took Shayla’s hand in mine while Jess leaned forward, holding me tightly. We kissed for a few minutes, then crawled beneath the sheets and started drifting off to sleep.

Sometime around the middle of the night or early in the morning, Iris came to the bedroom. I was a light sleeper so my eyes popped open the moment she came in. I silently watched her go through the closet and select a large t-shirt. Her dress went on the floor and I’ll admit I felt a rather notable stiffening in my crotch at the sight of her naked.

She pulled on the oversized t-shirt, stood next to the bed for a moment and bit her fingernail while thinking, then crawled into bed with me.

“Hmm?” I said, pretending to be half-asleep.

Iris turned and pushed herself against me so that we were spooning. I reached my arm around her, holding her tightly against me. She pushed my hand up so that it rested on her ribcage, just beneath her breasts.

She turned her head slightly and whispered to me. “You saved my life, so I belong to you, Mark.” With that, she wiggled her butt against me, got comfortable, and fell asleep.

28

The next morning was a bit strange. I woke up with my hand firmly on one of Iris’s breasts, and one of her hands on top of mine, ensuring it stayed there. I thought I was holding the middle one. Of course, I woke up with morning wood, and through luck, accident, or maybe her sneakiness, my cock was wedged right between Iris’s perky little butt cheeks.

Needless to say, I woke with a smile.

But at the same time, I didn’t have that kind of relationship with Iris yet, and I didn’t want to push myself on her.

She woke around the same time, and promptly pushed her butt against me in that way that women are so good at. Was she trying to seduce me? I mean, it wouldn’t take much, let’s be clear. But Shayla and Jess woke around the same time as well.

“Oh, good morning, Iris!” Jess said from the far side of the bed while rubbing her eyes. “Did you get lonely out there?”

“Um, yeah,” Iris said, blushing slightly.

The sheets were up to her chin so they couldn’t see where my hand was. I pulled my hand away, but Shayla chose that moment to rouse and grab onto me.

“Mmm, gimme that cock of yours,” she said, still only half-awake. She reached around and tried to grab me, but her hand promptly ran into Iris’s butt. That opened her eyes. “Oh, Iris! I didn’t realize you were here.”

“I’m sorry,” Iris said, blushing harder. “I’ll go back into the living room.” She started to move.

“No, no, you’re fine,” Shayla said, yawning.

“No one minds you in here,” Jess said. “We just didn’t hear you come in here last night, so we’re a little surprised.”

“I…I just wanted to sleep next to Mark,” she said.

“He saved your life. That’s perfectly normal,” Shayla said. She leaned back down and put her head against my neck, kissing me. “Plus he’s a pretty great guy.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Iris asked, sitting up.

“Why would we mind?” Jess asked as she stretched her arms over her head. Of course, the way it made her massive breasts look was simply incredible. Iris’s eyes nearly popped out of her head at the sight.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” she said, turning away.

Jess laughed. “It’s okay. We understand you come from a different place and haven’t experienced a lot of things yet. We’re trying to be understanding of all that.”

“As long as you understand that sometimes, I want to jump Mark’s bones,” Shayla said, wiggling her eyebrows. “And that’s a good time for you to leave the room unless you want to get caught up in the storm.”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “Maybe? I’ve never done anything like that. I heard you guys last night, though, and you certainly made it sound like fun.”

“Oh lord, I was just kidding,” Shayla said with a laugh. “Honey, no one is going to take advantage of you here. If you want some advice, wait until you’re ready.”

“Okay,” Iris said. “I mean, I think I’m ready, but I’m not sure.”

“Then you should wait,” Shayla said. “Come on. Let’s get our day started.”

I just laid there and enjoyed the view. Iris wore a shirt, but her three nipples were still rather prominent. Both Jess and Shayla were fully nude, and very comfortable with it. Yeah, I was totally pitching a tent. And Iris was staring at it.

Shayla laughed again when she saw that. “Come on. Let’s get some clothes on so we can start our day. Jess and I will help you.”

I put my hands behind my head and watched them all climb out of bed. Jess’s butt was big and round, like something out of a dream. Shayla had a muscley bubble butt, similar to what I’d expect on an olympic sprinter. Iris glanced at me, then with a hint of a smile pulled her shirt off and tossed it to the floor. Her butt was much smaller, as she was on the skinny side. Still cute, though.

The three of them walked over to the closet and began choosing clothes. Jess had moved some clothes in from other houses, so they all had things that fit their respective frames. Iris was the hardest one, for obvious reasons.

“Oh, you looked so cute in that dress yesterday,” Jess said, tapping her lips with a finger as she thought. She wore a pair of panties and nothing else.

“Didn’t she?” Shayla said. She smiled at Iris. “I feel like we should have you wear sundresses every day since you look so damn good in them.”

Iris blushed. “Thank you,” she said, her voice shy. “I’ve never had a sundress before. I liked it. I felt pretty.”

“Oh honey, you are definitely pretty, no matter what you wear,” Jess said. Not in a flirtatious way, just stating a fact. “In fact, you’re absolutely gorgeous. Wear what you like, but if we have any say in it, we’re gonna dress you up some.”

“What about this?” Shayla asked, holding up a shirt.

It was black and stretchy, with a hole designed to show off some cleavage. Probably a great choice for her or Jess, but terrible for Iris. Shayla handed it to her.

“Will you try it on, please? For me. I just have to see it.”

“Um, sure,” Iris said, grabbing the shirt.

She examined it for a moment, then pulled it over her head. After stuffing her arms through the long sleeves, she began pulling it down. It extended all the way down to her crotch and had a snap there, sort of like a one-piece swimsuit. She didn’t fasten it though. Iris just looked at the single hole, right about where her center breast was.

Shayla reached out, then stopped short of touching Iris. “May I touch you?”

“Of course,” Iris said.

Shayla adjusted the hole so that Iris’s center breast was completely exposed. She crossed her arms and nodded. “Yes. I like it.”

Iris looked down and blushed hard. Jess laughed, I laughed, and Shayla did as well. After a moment, Iris broke out into laughter as well.

“Get that tacky thing off,” Jess said, pulling at Iris’s sleeve. “You look lovely in anything, but no one should wear that shirt.”

“Here,” Shayla said, grabbing a thin sweater and handing it to Iris. “This light green should set off your eyes.”

Iris held the sweater up to herself and looked down. “Okay, if you say so.”

“What are you used to wearing?” Jess asked.

Iris shrugged. “Whatever we could find on base. There were some clothes in the exchange, obviously, but we also reused the old uniforms. Sometimes we’d luck out and find a body somewhere. We’d add their clothes to our stash.”

“Gross,” Jess said, wrinkling her nose.

Iris shrugged. “It was survival.”

Shayla turned and glanced at me. “So, are you going to get out of bed, or are you going to just lie there and continue staring at our asses all morning?”

“Do I actually get a choice?” I asked. “Because I definitely know which one I’d choose.”

Shayla rolled her eyes.

I shrugged. “Hey, can you blame me? Three beautiful women standing in front of me. I’d have to be braindead not to appreciate this moment.”

Iris looked at me for a moment, smiling sweetly. She turned back to the other women and started getting dressed, but kept shooting smiles at me over her shoulder.

Once they were all dressed, they went into the bathroom to clean up and brush their teeth. I decided to finally get out of bed and throw on some clothes. Unfortunately all I had to choose from was boring old dad clothes, but at least they were all functional.

Eventually the four of us were ready to face the day. I definitely felt like I was dragging ass that day. Probably because I woke up in a pile of beautiful women. But as I held the front door for them, I felt a sense of contentment. This strange future I found myself in was bleak and desolate. So much of the world was dead.

And as I stared at the three beautiful women, I had never felt so rich.

“What?” Iris asked, smiling at me.

“Ah, nothing,” I said. I closed the door behind me and went out front to join them.

The four of us walked down our driveway and toward the watchtower. That seemed to be where everyone met each morning to plan the day.

And it was that thought that turned on my brain like a light switch. I had a lot to get done, and I needed to work hard. Fortunately I had Jacob to help me get more materials, and Kenny to help me wire everything together.

“There he is,” Stan said.

He had been leaning against the stone wall of the watchtower, but pushed himself up as we approached. He offered me his hand and I shook it.

“Morning, Mark. We’ve got a lot planned for today. How about you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Kenny and I have a big electrical project we’re working on, and there’s always a million other things to do. I need to charge the batteries in the Porsche. For that matter, I need to make sure I keep the car charged up in case of an emergency.”

“I still need you to drive me home so I can tell my father I’m moving down here,” Jess said. She rolled her eyes after a few seconds. “Ugh, sorry. This is my home now, I know. That’ll take a while to change. But you know what I meant.”

“Yeah, no problem,” I said. “And I’m looking forward to meeting your dad and anyone else you want to introduce me to.”

“Can I come?” Iris asked.

“There’s only two seats in the car,” I told her. “I mean, we could strap you to the roof. You’re pretty lightweight.”

She shrugged. “Well, okay. Just don’t make it too—”

“Iris, I was kidding,” I said. “I’d never treat you like that.”

She smiled, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my waist. “You’re so nice to me.”

Stan saw this and gave an almost fatherly smile. “Looks like someone’s taking nicely to her new life.”

Iris looked up at him. “I love it here. I have more than I ever thought I would. And the houses are so big, and everyone has so much water! This place is incredible.”

He laughed. “Ah, we need to take you to see Loch Raven, where I’m from! Although maybe not. Once glance at that and you might never come back to Hope.”

She tightened her grip around my waist. “I go where Mark goes. He’s my home.”

I kissed the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere, Iris. I’ve put too much work into this place to leave.”

“Plus I’m here, and I wouldn’t let him,” Shayla said with a wink.

People slowly started joining us. Tiffany and Will walked up first. Both of them looked much improved, considering all they had been through. Tiffany, especially.

“Hey, guys,” Stan said. “You ready to make the trip today?”

Will nodded. “We don’t really have anything to pack, so preparing wasn’t exactly hard.”

“I’m ready,” Tiffany said. She sounded determined.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked.

Jess cleared her throat. “I told them about your idea. Of adopting an orphan from Loch Raven.”

“I think it’s a great idea, personally,” Stan said. “Once Josh gets here, he’s gonna take them up north so they can meet some people.”

“Thank you for letting us,” Tiffany said. “And thank all of you for helping us after….” She took a deep breath. “Thank you. And you, Mark. Nothing can replace what we lost, but at least we can help someone. Maybe we’ll all heal a little bit from this. Thank you for thinking of us.”

“Of course,” I said.

“Come on,” Shayla said, tugging at Iris’s sleeve. “Let’s go tend to the garden today. Especially those grape vines.”

“Yes. I’m ready to be helpful,” Iris said.

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with innocence and love. I bent down and kissed her soft lips, just briefly. That put a huge smile on her face.

“You two are cute,” Jess said. “But, move it, woman. That’s my husband.”

Shayla laughed. “Pretty sure I had first claim to him. I may even challenge you to a knife fight.”

Jess pulled a knife from her belt. “Come on, you hussy!” She crouched down and held her knife up.

Shayla, being without a knife, looked around. A short length of rope was nearby, so she grabbed it and held it ready. “I’m gonna tie you up and spank that ass of yours until you beg for forgiveness.”

“I might want to watch that,” I said.

“You’ll watch nothing, mister,” Jess said, waving her knife. “You’re the prize, here.”

I laughed. “You two are ridiculous. I love you.”

Jess finally lowered her knife. “That’s better.” She leaned forward and kissed me.

“Hey, buddy,” Kenny said, walking up to us. Dark circles lined his eyes and he looked like shit.

“Jesus, are you alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had trouble sleeping last night. I dunno why, just couldn’t get comfortable.” He shrugged, then twisted his head around a few times until his neck cracked. “Nothing to worry about. You ready?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s get this done.”

29

After giving Jess and Shayla one more round of hugs and kisses, I was ready to get to work. Okay, so I had to hug and kiss Iris as well. She demanded it, and Shayla and Jess stood right there, giving me that look as if they were daring me to refuse.

The truth was, I liked Iris. She was a sweet young woman that had grown up in a horrifying place, and somehow maintained an odd sense of innocence. Of course she was gorgeous, and there was the whole three-boobed thing that absolutely fascinated me, but I tried not to make my decision based on something as childish as that.

But seriously, though. Three boobs!

Iris had already decided she wanted me, and that was fine. I guess I just didn’t want to feel like I was taking advantage of her in any way. Shayla and Jess certainly liked her, so I should probably have just considered it a done deal.

“You seem awful deep in thought this morning,” Kenny said as we walked through Jacob’s overgrown yard. He had my machete and was doing a good job of hacking a clear path.

“Yeah, I guess. Just thinking about stuff. Women stuff, you know.”

He barked a laugh. “That pretty thing you rescued? She seems glued to you.”

“Yeah,” I said. “And I mean, that’s great. I guess I’m just a little hesitant. Not entirely sure why. I just want us to get to know each other first.”

Kenny chopped at a sapling, then grabbed it and threw it out of the way. “Listen. I know a little bit of your world, at least what survived in books and stories and movies.”

“Hold on, movies?”

“Yeah, movies,” he said. “We have a handful of computers up in Loch Raven that survived. Some of them play these things called DVDs, so we’ve been able to watch a few. We learned pretty quick not to use them for anything other than that, or else their time is limited. I think there’s only one left now.”

“So you got to watch movies growing up?” I asked, still amazed.

“Kinda,” Kenny said. “Only a handful, but enough to understand a bit about your time. You guys worked so damn hard for love, man. It was embarrassing as shit to watch some of those movies. Like, you have to have everything in common or else it’s not worth your time, and then people fight over dumb shit and cheat on each other. You guys overthink things. Are you physically attracted to Iris?”

“Of course I am,” I said.

Kenny chopped through a bush, then kicked it aside. “Is she nice? Does she treat you well?”

“I mean, we’ve only known each other like two days, but yeah. She’s very nice. And no real bad habits to speak of, at least so far.”

“And you said she’s got some kind of mutation, right? Not the tits, although those are damn near magical. But something with plants?”

“Yeah. Any plants she touches seem to grow better. She basically fed her entire previous settlement.”

Kenny nodded. “So, this is just my opinion, but you’d have to be a fucking idiot not to keep that woman in your life.” He turned around and shot me a grin. “No offense, of course.”

“Nah, none taken. I’m just overthinking it. Sometimes I forget, life is simpler now. You’re right.”

“I’d marry all three of them if I was you,” Kenny said. “Alright, here we are. Let’s get this started.”

He handed me the machete and I slipped it through a loop in my belt, then we got to work. Our first step was removing the wire that connected to Jacob’s house. Fortunately, there was a good bit of extra length there, so we dragged it around the side.

“You think it’ll reach?” I asked.

“If not, we’ll splice it,” he said.

Well, we had to splice it. Fortunately, Jacob was working with us. He brought a heavy coil of wire a few minutes later and helped us to attach the two wires. We tried our best to keep it next to the house as we pulled it up to the power station.

“Alright, now I just need to wire this into here,” Kenny said, muttering as his fingers worked.

“How’s the watchtower coming?” I asked as Richard walked by.

He gave me a thumbs up, then paused for a second. Poor guy was still getting used to talking. “Finishing the roof today.”

“Excellent,” I said. “It looks great, man. You guys are doing a good job.”

Richard gave me another thumbs up. Arnold walked by and clapped him on the shoulder, and the two got to work.

“Hey, if you want to be useful, you can start building a cover for the generator,” Kenny said. “Just something to keep the elements off it. You can probably bend a car hood around to cover it.”

“Good idea,” I said. “Well, at least that BMW will finally be good for something.”

“Just don’t touch the seats, Josh wants those.”

I laughed and walked back toward my house. It took me a moment to find the right size socket, but after a few minutes I was removing the bolts that held the hood onto the hinges. Getting the thing off the car proved a bit more difficult, though.

“God damn, how much does this thing weigh?” I grumbled to myself as I wrestled with the car hood. It must have been fifty pounds.

It was nice that the hood was built well, but that was simply too heavy. I flipped it over and checked the underside. All that bracing added up and would make it impossible to shape, so I looked around the garage for a hammer and chisel. That took a while, but I finally found them.

“Sorry about this,” I said as I slid the chisel against one of the spot welds. I felt like I was committing some kind of crime against the hand tool, but a few whacks with the hammer and some prying and that spot weld broke free.

“Ugh. This is gonna take forever,” I said to myself as I went after the next spot weld.

It didn’t take forever, but it did take a solid two hours. Eventually, I had just the skin of the hood in my hands. It was solidly built and still had some weight, but was much more easily workable after cutting the weight down so much.

I needed a place to work, though. I grabbed the hood and a hammer and walked outside, looking for something. Carrying the hood skin was awkward as hell, but I managed. Slipping the hammer through my belt certainly helped.

“Hood?” Mike asked as he walked by. “Weird thing to be carrying, man.”

“Yeah, I was low on hood so I grabbed this one,” I said. He gave me a confused look and I just laughed and kept walking.

All the clearing we had done in recent days had left us with a number of stumps in the area. I selected a fairly large one and set the hood on it, then began hammering it.

It was slow, arduous work. To be honest, I hated it. The hood was made of tough steel and didn’t want to bend. But, one whack at a time, the hood began to curve. I kept at it, pounding it as hard as I could while trying to pull and bend it with my other hand. Eventually, I had the thing bent like a taco shell.

“What is all that racket?” Jenna asked.

“Hey, good to see you,” I said as I put my hammer down. I stood and stretched for a moment.

Jenna reached up and placed her hands on my ears. “You don’t even have to ask. I know you’ve got hearing damage after all that.” A faint tingle ran through me as she healed me.

“Thanks,” I said. “This is to help keep the elements off our new generator.”

She frowned at the bent piece of metal in my hands. “Yeah, I don’t see it.”

“Oh, I still have a lot of work left to do,” I said. “It’s a work in progress.”

She nodded. “Well, thank you for all you’re doing for us.” She turned and looked back toward the watchtower, where they were nailing shingles on the roof. “I know this place is still in its infancy, but I already like it more than Haven. Quite a bit.”

“I promise I’ll keep working to make this place safe and livable,” I said to her. “And with that in mind, lemme continue on this.”

She waved. “Yeah, yeah, sorry to bother. Just wanted to check on you after all that noise. Let me know if you need more healing, okay?”

“Thanks, Jenna,” I said with a smile.

She gave me a friendly hug and we continued on our respective paths. I continued over to the watchtower, where a handful of old power tools sat on a rickety old table. Fortunately, a drill was among them. I tried to estimate where I’d need holes and drilled a few through each side. If they weren’t in the exact spot, I could probably just beat the thing with a hammer until it fit.

“That for the generator?” Kenny asked as he walked by. Jacob stood next to him, a large coil of heavy copper wire in his hands.

“Yeah,” I said. “Trying to shield it, like you said. Car alternators are pretty good in the elements, but shielding it from heavy rain certainly won’t hurt.”

He nodded. “Glad you finally made it. You can probably just bolt it to the wooden frame.”

“That’s my plan,” I said.

I held the taco-shaped hood in my hands and walked across the pavement, toward the house where I had found the Porsche. After a few minutes of searching, I wound up with four large screws, a hammer, and a screwdriver. I’d prefer a drill, but hey, I worked with what I had.

I decided to cut through the woods, taking the path Kenny and I had created the other day. That brought me directly to the beginning of the river, where we had erected the waterwheel.

The water pushed by the waterwheel, spinning it and turning the chain that spun the alternator. I stood there and smiled at it for a moment. It looked rickety as hell in its wooden frame set in stones, but it was providing us with reliable power. Soon we’d build a second one and try to incorporate the solar panels into our system as well.

“Alright, let’s see how this’ll work,” I said to myself, stepping into the shallow river.

We had set a handful of large stones in there to funnel water into the waterwheel, so I stood on those and kept my feet dry. With both hands, I put the curved hood over the alternator. It was long enough that the holes I had drilled reached the wooden uprights, which had been my goal.

I held it in place with one hand while I tried to jam a large screw into the log. I tapped it with a hammer until it was solidly inside the branch, then finished it up with my screwdriver.

By the way, manually cranking a large screw through a heavy piece of wood is one hell of a forearm workout. I don’t recommend it.

Once I got it in there, I did the same to the other side. The hood was too large for the job, of that there was no question. I positioned it so half of it hung off the back. I’d come back later with an angle grinder or something and cut the hood in half so I could use the other part to shield our next generator.

That done, I turned and went back toward Hope. I had a good feeling about today. Everything was just going right so far.

30

When I got back to the watchtower, Kenny was finishing up while Jacob talked with Stan.

“Hey guys,” I said. “How can I help? I wanna make sure I’m doing my share.”

Stan pointed at his house. “We want to use that solar panel and wire it into the system. All of the solar panels, actually. They aren’t much good anymore, but they’re better than nothing. Get enough of them contributing and it all adds up to something decent.”

“Okay, so what can I do?” I asked.

“Do you know how to wire those things into an electrical system?” Stan asked.

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

Kenny popped his head out of the storage room built next to the watchtower. “Best leave it to me, then. You’ll fry yourself with this much electricity.”

Jacob barked a laugh. “There’s no shortage of work, if work is what you’re after. The boys are finishing up the roof on this thing, then we’re gonna keep working on the walls. Will and Tiffany are working on their house, if you still wanted to show them what everything was. And your women are getting the gardens all fixed up.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Keep up the good work, guys. This is looking great.”

After that, I turned and walked over to my house, since it was closest. Iris knelt in front of a grapevine, holding her hands over it while Jess and Shayla watched.

“I can’t really say what I do,” she explained. “I just seem to pour life into the plants, and they respond. Look, there’s a new bud already!”

I walked up and peered at the vine. Sure enough, it had been all but destroyed when the Druids attacked Ellie’s place, but the stump of vine had new buds sprouting all over it now. The tiny buds almost seemed to shimmer and move as Iris’s hand waved over it.

“That’s incredible,” Jess said, watching closely. “They really do respond to your touch. I didn’t think plants could even move like that.”

“They do a lot of things if you let them,” Iris said with a smile.

She reached over and gently ran her finger up a tomato plant, almost a caress. I watched in amazement as the main stalk bent a few inches toward her and some of the leaves twisted, almost as if they were reaching for her hand.

“Once this starts bearing fruit I’ll really be able to help,” Iris said, still smiling at the plant.

“I never thought that was possible,” Shayla said. “When you initially told us, I thought you were exaggerating. Turns out I was wrong.”

“It’s okay,” Iris said. “Hey Mark. What brings you over here?”

“Just wanted to check on you all,” I said. I stepped up to Jess and kissed her on the cheek. “I finished what I was doing, so now I’m just trying to be helpful.”

“I’ve got something you can help me with,” Shayla said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“I’m sure you do,” I said with a wink.

“I’ll give you a hint,” Shayla said, pointing at her crotch in an exaggerated manner. “It’s right here.”

Iris frowned. “Are you talking about your pants? If they don’t fit properly, I might be able to help you sew them. I had to modify most of my clothes for obvious reasons, so I’m decent at it.”

Shayla widened her stance, thrust her hips forward, and pointed right at her crotch. “This. This right here,” she said.

Iris squinted. “Ah, okay. Yeah, I see you have some loose threads there. I can help you with that later.”

Jess threw back her head and laughed.

“Hey Iris, can we go for a walk?” I asked.

“Sure thing, Mark!” she said, pushing herself to her feet. She dusted her hands off and walked up to me. I offered her my arm and she took it, then we left the garden.

“Still liking this place?” I asked as we strolled across the cracked asphalt.

She gripped my arm tightly and smiled up at me. “I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. My entire life has been a struggle; a struggle for food, a struggle against raiders or more recently the Green Men. A struggle for clean water, for clothes, for everything. I spent my entire childhood hungry. But we have so much here!”

“Yeah,” I said, turning to look over my shoulder. Men worked hard on the watchtower, nailing the roof shingles into place in layers since they were so old. Jacob helped Kenny pull wires across the pavement, connecting houses.

“Yeah, we have a lot of good things happening here,” I said, turning back to Iris. “And I think you’re part of that.”

“How so?” she asked. “Wait, are you flirting with me?”

“I’m trying to,” I said with a grin. “Look, I know I’ve been a bit hesitant to let you get too close to me. I think I just have concerns because we don’t know each other super well yet. But the truth is, I think you’re great, and I want you to be mine.”

“I already am yours,” she said. “But do you mean you’re finally accepting it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I want you in my life the same way as Jess and Shayla. Be part of our family.”

“Oh, Mark!” Iris exclaimed.

She pulled me to a halt and then jumped onto me. I staggered back a step, but held tightly to her as she wrapped her arms and legs around me. She covered my neck and the side of my face with kisses, and I heard her sniffle a few times, as if she were crying.

“Hey, are you alright?” I asked, still holding her tightly.

“Yes,” she said, holding onto me as if she never intended to let go.”I just haven’t been this happy in a long, long time.” She straightened up, looking me right in the eyes. “Remember, Mark: you drove through the city just to get me, and rescued me from certain death. I owe my entire life to you. That you accept it makes me incredibly happy.”

She leaned forward and kissed me. I felt both of our lips curve into smiles as we kissed each other. A tear ran down her face and I tasted its saltiness.

“Hey, don’t cry,” I said, wiping her cheek with my thumb. “Everything’s going to be great.”

“I’m just so happy,” she said. “I suppose I should get off you, so you can walk.”

She laughed and hopped off me, landing lightly on the broken pavement. We held hands and continued walking down the road.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, swinging our hands back and forth.

“To the lake,” I said. “I just wanted to spend a quiet moment up there with you, and I also needed to think for a moment about water. Sometimes I think best when I talk about something out loud.”

“Talk all you want; I enjoy listening,” she said.

We turned a corner and walked past the overgrown trees, then turned onto Lakeside Drive. The river bubbled by and I smiled again at the water wheel.

“Oh wow,” Iris said, pointing at it. “So that’s what you guys built?” She walked over to the edge of the river, pulling me along.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Can you tell me how it works?”

“Sure,” I said. “Well, you can see the wheel itself. It catches the water and spins, which turns some gears and a chain. That, in turn, spins an alternator, which is something from a car that generates electricity.”

“It sounds so simple when you explain it,” she said.

“I mean, it is pretty simple,” I replied. “I still need to build a second one downstream a bit, to ensure we’re building plenty of power. And I want to make some windmills also.”

“You have a lot of ideas to fix this place up, don’t you?” she asked.

“I’m trying,” I said. “I’m trying as hard as I can. I came from a world where all of these things already existed, so having to build them from scratch is tough. But I’m doing my best. I want Hope to be the best settlement possible.”

“So, what’s the next step?”

I rubbed my chin and frowned as I thought. “Water. We need clean water to drink and cook with. Of course we have all the water we could ever use right here, but it needs to be purified before we drink it. I have a few ideas in my head, but none of them are simple or efficient. But they’re better than hauling five-gallon jugs back and forth all day.”

“Run one by me,” she said. “You told me you think best out loud, so go ahead.”

I shrugged. “Okay. If we can pull enough copper plumbing out of the houses, we should be able to run a single pipe from the lake to a central location, where we can split off and supply multiple houses. But, in order for that to work, I’ll need something to purify the water right here, then a water pump. And in a perfect world, a large tank to help with water pressure.”

“How would you purify it?”

“At first, just by heating it,” I said. “Although if I can find large enough glass containers, we can build a solar purifier. Leaving water in the sun long enough will kill any viruses in there. It’s simple in process, but requires the right materials.”

“And what did you say about the large tank?”

“Yeah, like a water tower,” I said. “Back in my world we had a really simple system that worked great. Take a big tank of water and mount it like twenty feet in the air, higher if possible. Use a pump to send water into the tank, and then the tank supplies houses. Since the water is so high up, it creates high water pressure.”

“High water pressure? What do you mean?”

“I mean like when you turn on your bathroom faucet, the water doesn’t just dribble out. It shoots out with a lot of force.”

“Oh, neat,” Iris said. “Wow, I can’t even imagine half of the things you had back in your timeline.”

“So, are you starting to believe me now?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly again. “I suppose I do. Everyone else believes you, and you know things other people don’t. Plus, you talk differently than us.”

“Everyone keeps saying that, but I just don’t hear it,” I said.

“And I don’t think I’ve ever met a man without facial scars,” Iris said, looking up at me.

I reached up and touched my cheek. “Yeah, I’ve avoided those so far, thank god.”

I looked down and found Iris smiling up at me. I bent down and kissed her soft lips for a while, holding her tightly and enjoying the feeling of her pressed against me.

She bit her lip and looked down. “Can I ask something?”

“Of course you can,” I said.

“Can we, uh…. Tonight, I’d like to…. You know.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, don’t make me say it out loud, I feel weird,” Iris said, blushing. “You know what I want to do. The same thing you do with Jess and Shayla all the time.”

“Sex?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, looking down again. “I really want to try it. Do you think Shayla and Jess will mind? I mean, we’ll be in their bed.”

I laughed. “I don’t think they’ll mind at all. I mean, if you wanted some privacy you could just ask them to leave. I have a feeling they’d want to join in, though.”

I meant the comment as a joke, but Iris’s face suddenly lit up. “Really? They would want me as well?”

I shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, they do that with each other. And the three of us do stuff all the time. Together, that is.”

“How does that even work?” Iris asked. “I mean, you only have one penis, right?”

“Last I checked, yeah,” I said.

“I suppose I have a lot to learn,” she said, then hugged me tightly again. “We can ask them when we walk back home.”

31

We stayed near the lake for a few more minutes, holding each other and kissing, then finally decided to turn back. Iris and I held hands as we walked away from the lake, just enjoying the autumn weather and the peace of the walk.

“I wonder what winter is like now?” I said. “Before the war, Baltimore had terrible winters. It almost never snowed; just cold rain all winter.”

“Oh, that does sound terrible,” Iris said. “We get plenty of snow now. I’ve heard stories about places up north where they get feet and feet of snow. I think it sounds neat, but maybe a bit too cold for me. We get, I dunno, a few inches at a time. Enough to coat everything and turn the world white. It’s very pretty.”

“Wow, Baltimore with snow,” I said. “Yeah, that’ll be new.”

As we rounded the corner and walked back into our settlement, men and women moved like worker ants. Everyone did something, and I noted many people carrying large coils of wire. What was Kenny up to?

“I can’t wait to work on the second garden,” Iris said. “Jess told me she wants everyone to maintain their own garden, but we can have a few larger ones to ensure everyone gets fed. There’s the one in your front yard, and we’re thinking of planting the second one by the house Jess originally moved into.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I said. “Maybe we can grow a big field of wheat or something, so we can make bread.”

“I have some wheat to plant,” she said. “Remember, I brought some seeds with me. Everything I could salvage. It’s not much, but I want to make sure I’m helping.”

“Can you make plants produce food any sooner?” I asked.

“Well, sure,” she said. “Oh, are you talking about how all of you planted your garden way too late in the year? That wasn’t the best idea, but I can help. You won’t get a full harvest since we’re already entering harvest season, but I should be able to get something for you. For the rest of the plants, I’ll just have them focus on growing nice and strong, so next year we get a big harvest.”

“And we still need to build a greenhouse,” I said. “We have some plans for that. It’ll help us grow in the winter.”

“I think you’ve got it all figured out, Mark,” she said with a smile.

“I’m damn sure trying,” I said as we walked up to the watchtower. “Man, you guys work fast, you know that?”

“Thanks!” Stan shouted from the third floor of the watchtower.

The big man had removed his shirt again, and was busy nailing a basic railing in place. Arnold was on the other side of the third floor, hauling a car hood up by a rope. Probably using that as armor for whoever would be standing guard in there.

Kenny walked by and wiped sweat from his forehead with his arm. He looked to be deep in thought about whatever electrical work he was doing.

“He sure is big,” Iris said, looking at Stan. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so big. Hard to get that size when you don’t know where your next meal will come from.”

Kenny heard that and turned to look at Stan. “Yeah, he’s a big guy,” he said, turning back to us. “We might bring Sam down in a few days to help build things. Now, he’s a really big guy. Both taller and bigger than Stan. One of the nicest, calmest guys I’ve ever met, but don’t ever cross him. He could probably give Jacob a run for his money.”

“A guy even bigger than Stan?” Iris said. “So, is he like the size of a Green Man?”

Kenny nodded. “Yeah. About that.”

“Jesus,” I said.

“No, just a man,” Kenny replied. “He showed up at Loch Raven a few years ago, covered in wounds and scars. He had been surviving out there in the wastes for his entire life. People were worried about him at first, but once Jess healed him he’s been the nicest guy.”

“Well if he wants to live here, we’ll welcome him,” I said. “I mean, the more the merrier. And we need to grow our population.”

“Yeah, I think everyone will like him,” Kenny said. “He’s quiet. Kind. Overall a good fella.”

“How’s the electrical project coming?” I asked.

Kenny looked down at the lineman’s pliers in his hand. “Good. To be honest, it’s pretty simple. Just takes a lot of work. But I’ve got a few guys helping me now. We’ll have limited power, but we’ll have power.”

“I can’t wait,” I said.

“Alright, let me get back to it,” I said. He waved and kept walking.

“I want to go tell Jess and Shayla,” Iris said, suddenly excited.

“Huh?” I asked, but she took me by the hand and pulled me along.

“No, that house is next!” Kenny shouted behind us.

“Oh, I’m so excited!” Iris said.

She pulled me back to the garden, where Jess and Shayla were still standing. Jess had her arms crossed beneath her breasts, and Shayla leaned on a shovel. They both turned to us as we approached.

“You guys!” Iris said as we ran up to them.

“Is everything okay?” Shayla asked.

“It will be!” Iris said. She lowered her voice and leaned forward, almost conspiratorially. “Mark agreed to sex my vagina with his penis!”

Jess coughed loudly behind her hand to cover a laugh.

Shayla’s eyes widened and she grinned at me. “Oh, is that so? Since when, Mark? When did you decide to sex her vagina?”

I shrugged. “Well, a few minutes ago I—”

“And now I’m part of the family, just like you two!” Iris said. She released my hand and ran up to Shayla, hugging her tightly. Shayla laughed and hugged her back.

“Well, glad to have you,” Jess said with a smile.

Iris ran up and hugged Jess as well, although she quickly noted an issue. Both of the women were around the same height and on the busty side.

“We don’t fit together that well,” Iris said, looking down at Jess’s massive breasts smooshed against her own.

“Yeah, I have that problem sometimes,” Jess said. She leaned forward and kissed Iris on the cheek. “Well, I suppose I should welcome you to the family.”

“Thanks,” Iris said, walking back to me. She was smiling ear-to-ear as she reached out and took my hand, then turned to face the other two women again. “I want you two there, also.”

“For….” Jess began.

“For joining the family?” Shayla asked.

“For when Mark gives me a sex,” Iris said. “I know how things work, at least mostly. But I’ve heard you two do it and you make it sound like a ton of fun. I want to experience that, so I’d like to ask for your help.”

Jess’s eyes went down to Iris’s chest and she smiled. “I’m certainly fine with that.”

Shayla shrugged. “Why not? The more the merrier, at least until we break the bed.”

“Yay!” Iris said. She was practically bouncing on her toes. “I’m so happy. Today is the best day of my life.”

I glanced over my shoulder at what the other men were doing. “Well, if our plan goes well, today will get even better. I just wish I could help out more.”

“What are they doing?” Shayla said, peering past me. “They’ve been working like crazy for the past few hours.”

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise,” I said. “Hopefully, we’ll all see once the sun goes down.”

“What sneaky thing are you planning?” Jess asked, crossing her arms again.

“You’ll see,” I said. “It’s something we’ve been working on. Well, it was mostly my idea and I started it, but now they’re doing all of the work.”

“News flash: leaders often aren’t the ones doing the majority of the work,” Jess said. “Do you think my father does hard labor on a daily basis? No. He sits behind a desk and plans things, organizes things, and makes sure the settlement runs smoothly. Don’t be hard on yourself, Mark.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “I just like to feel as though I’m helping.”

“You said it was your plan, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then you helped,” Jess said. She gestured around us. “None of this would be possible without you, Mark. You picked out the location, fought off Druids—twice!—and came up with a bunch of ideas that have made our lives better. Plus, you convinced me to stay here. That’s no small feat.”

“Thanks,” I said. “How is the garden coming?”

“Great,” Shayla said. “Iris wasn’t kidding. All the plants look better, now. Before you walked up, we were talking about exactly where to put a second garden.”

I nodded. “I still need to—”

Shouts from behind me cut me off. My head snapped around and I watched as the house where I had found the Porsche collapsed. It wasn’t as loud as I would have expected; probably because of how wet and rotten the house was. Half of it—fortunately the half furthest from the garage—fell into a pile of moldy wet rubble.

“Shit,” I said, releasing Iris’s hand. I turned and ran as hard as I could over there.

Jacob was in the front yard, pushing himself to his feet. Alex and Mike were with him, looking a bit dazed.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I ran up to them.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Jacob said, brushing his shirt off.

“Holy shit,” Alex said.

“Man, that was way too close,” Mike said. “Holy shit, man. You saved my life, Jacob.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Jacob turned and gestured toward the house. “As you can see, part of the house collapsed.”

I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

“It was on the verge of falling down any minute,” Jacob continued. “We pulled some wiring out of the wall and it started moving. I grabbed these two fellas and we got the fuck out of there right in time. Damn near fell down on our heads.”

“At least we got this,” Alex said, looking down at the wire in his hands.

Mike laughed. “Yeah, man. Always good to see the bright side of things.”

“You guys about gave me a heart attack,” I said. “I’m just glad you’re all safe.”

“Ah, we’re fine,” Jacob said, waving it away. “You know I don’t die that easily. Go on, go back to your women. I think Kenny will be done in about thirty minutes. We’re just pulling more wire out so we can do more tomorrow. At least now it’ll be easy; we just yank stuff out of this pile.”

“Alright. Try not to knock anything else down,” I said, leaving them.

I walked down the driveway, grateful no one was hurt. Part of me was surprised that the house lasted as long as it did; the studs in the walls had been practically rotten mush when I had last gone in.

“Everyone okay?” Jenna asked as she rushed toward me. “I came as quickly as I could but I don’t move that quickly these days.” Richard held her arm, helping her jog.

“Yeah, they’re fine,” I said. “The house was in bad shape and collapsed as they pulled wiring out.”

She pursed her lips. “Scavenging is risky business. We lost plenty of good men and women to it down in Haven. If the gangs don’t kill you, sometimes the houses themselves will.”

“At least the houses won’t eat you,” I said as I walked by.

Jenna laughed. “Ha! Good one.”

I went back over to where Iris, Shayla, and Jess were waiting. The three of us stood on the driveway, right in front of the Porsche, as the sun began its descent. Kenny came up ten or fifteen minutes later, dragging wire behind him. I helped him pull it around to the back of the house, where he connected it.

“How much is left?” I asked.

“Your house was last,” he said. “So, you can unplug your fridge now, and just plug it into the wall. Once the sun goes down a little more we’ll have everyone test it.”

“Thanks,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Glad to help,” he said with a nod.

I went inside and swapped the power cord for the fridge to the wall, then went out the front door to wait by the women. Iris immediately went over to me and held my hand. Shayla and Jess smiled at me, and after a moment Jess walked up and leaned her head on my shoulder.

“You’re a good man, Mark,” Jess said. “Thanks for all you do.”

The sky finally began to turn gray. Kenny walked out to the watchtower and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Alright, go ahead everyone!” he shouted.

“Shayla, can you do me a favor?” I asked.

“Sure, what?” she asked.

I took her hand and pulled her to the front door. After opening it, I stepped inside and pointed at the light switch on the wall.

“Can you flip that switch, please?”

“Sure,” she said.

A smile grew on her face as she stepped inside. She flipped the switch and the overhead lights on the ceiling fan turned on. She squealed with delight.

I looked out the door and saw three other houses with lights on, and couldn’t help but smile.

“You guys, we now have power.”

32

Everyone in the settlement joined in the celebration that night, although to be honest it wasn’t much. Jacob and Ellie brought out another bottle of whiskey and everyone took a swig or two. Well, except for Kenny, who took about five. But, as he explained, he was an experienced drinker. He was just getting warmed up.

A few thick logs had been cut to about a foot in length and rolled into the central area. They made for decent stools until something better could be found.

I raised the bottle when it came to me. “I want to thank Kenny for all the hard work he did. We all have power now because of him.” I held it overhead and everyone let out a cheer.

Well, everyone except Kenny.

“Ahh, bullshit!” he said with a laugh. “This whole thing was your idea, Mark. I mean yeah, I helped, and in the end I did everything. But, you know. The idea was yours.” He grinned and I pretended to throw the bottle at him.

Stan walked up and took the bottle, then raised it. “To Mark! Nothing here would be possible without him!” He took a pull from the bottle, then wiped his mouth on his forearm.

Shayla reached out and took the bottle from him. “To Mark, who led us across all of Baltimore to create this new settlement,” she said loudly. “Mark, who helped us fight off the Druids, twice! Who carried me to safety after one of them shot me.” She drank from the bottle as well. People cheered my name.

“Ah, stop it,” I said. “I feel like I barely do anything, you guys do all the work.”

Iris took the bottle next and held it up high. “To Mark, who drove across Baltimore just to save my life. He managed to talk two Green Men into leaving so I could get out.”

That actually brought on a stunned silence.

“Wait, you talked to them?” Stan asked. “How did you convince them to leave?”

I shrugged. “Eh, I just used some words they like, and told them to get some food elsewhere.”

“Yeah, but they listened to you,” Stan said.

I just shrugged again.

“So, what happened? They just left?” Stan was very interested in that story.

Iris was the one that answered. “Oh, I walked up and shot them both in the head,” she said, then took a long pull from the bottle. “Wow, that’s good stuff.” She thought for a minute, then raised the bottle again. “To Mark, who is making me his family!”

That got some good-natured chuckles and some laughs. But Iris wasn’t done.

“And he agreed to sex me with his penis tonight!”

You could have heard a pen drop. A stunned silence fell over the group of people, until Kenny broke it with laughter.

“It’s about damn time!” he shouted.

Everyone broke into laughter. Mike took the bottle from Iris, fortunately.

“To Matt,” he said, raising the bottle. “He gave his life for this settlement.”

“To Matt!” everyone said.

We sat around, mostly telling funny stories and laughing. Kenny led the march on that; the man was positively hilarious when he got some whiskey in him.

Eventually though, people started leaving and heading to their homes. I stood after a few minutes and offered Shayla my hand. She took it with a smile and let me pull her to her feet.

“Such a gentleman,” she said.

“No, but I play one on TV,” I replied. Dammit, no one would get that joke.

We started toward our house and Iris quickly took up my other hand. She beamed a smile at me, but Jess scoffed.

“So, no hands for me, I see,” she said in mock anger. “I guess I’ll just hold my own hand.”

“You can hold mine!” Iris said, reaching out and taking the voluptuous redhead’s hand in hers.

Jess blinked in surprise, then smiled. “Thank you, Iris.”

Iris brought Jess’s hand to her lips and kissed it, then smiled back at her. “You all mean the world to me, you know.”

And so the four of us walked back to our house, hand-in-hand-in-hand. We were probably quite the sight.

At least Kenny didn’t heckle us.

When we got to our house I held the door for them. Watching their smiles as they entered my house filled me with pride. I had built so much in such a short time since waking up in this post-apocalyptic world.

“What’s got you smiling so much?” Jess asked as I closed the door behind me. She reached up and pulled her long red hair out of a ponytail and shook her head.

“I’m just happy,” I said.

“Hi, just happy, I’m Iris, and I’d like to go to the bedroom now,” Iris said.

I laughed and followed her down the hallway. I could tell from how she walked that she was just as excited as me. Shayla and Jess followed closely behind.

As soon as we got into the bedroom, Iris began tearing off her clothes. I kicked off my shoes and started doing the same. Shayla and Jess were near to laughing the entire time, but they got undressed as well.

And so I found myself standing in our bedroom with three beautiful, naked women. Their bodies were all different, but so beautiful. Shayla and Jess were very comfortable in just their skin; Jess walked over and slipped her arm around Shayla’s lower back. Shayla smiled back at her and the two kissed briefly.

Iris, who had been awkwardly standing there, saw them and perked up. “Okay, I want that,” she said, stepping up to them.

Jess laughed, then reached out for Iris. She wrapped the petite woman in her arms and their lips met in a deep, passionate kiss. Shayla gently caressed Iris’s back, letting her fingers trail down until she grabbed the slender woman’s butt.

“Oh, that feels good,” Iris said against Jess’s lips. “I like how you touch me. I read about it once in a romance novel, but never felt it until now.”

“Which one of us are you talking about touching you?” Shayla asked, her hand paused over Iris’s shoulder.

“Both,” Iris said, then went back to kissing Jess.

I could have watched them make out with each other all night and been happy, but the more I saw their bodies touching the more I wanted to be part of it. I stood up and walked toward them. Shayla saw me and reached out, her gaze hungry, and grabbed right onto my dick.

“I feel like it’s been so long since we’ve made love,” she said, smiling as she kissed me.

“It’s been a day,” I said, kissing her back.

“I know. That’s too long.”

We laughed and continued kissing, but after a minute I felt someone push Shayla aside. I looked down as Jess knelt in front of me and pulled Iris down next to her.

“So, just put it in my mouth?” Iris asked.

“Well, those are the basics,” Jess said, reaching up and grabbing onto me. “But you have to put some work into it. Suck on it, move your mouth back and forth. Like this.”

She opened her mouth and took me inside, sucking hard as her head bobbed back and forth. Shayla kissed me and caressed my body as Jess kept sucking.

“Fuck, that is incredible,” I said, then went back to kissing Shayla.

“I want to try,” Iris said.

“That’s the point,” Jess said.

She shuffled aside and Iris knelt in front of me. She looked a bit awkward, staring at my dick with her hand wrapped around the base, but she just took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and went right to it.

“Oh, wow,” I said as Iris sucked on me.

“Is that okay?” she asked, looking up at me with her big green eyes.

“Yeah, that’s amazing,” I said, and it truly was. In the absence of skill and experience, Iris seemed to be trying to just brute force an orgasm out of me by sucking as hard as she could while bobbing her head back and forth.

“God, seeing that gets me so hot,” Shayla said, looking down.

She stepped back onto the bed and sat on it, then spread her legs and began rubbing her clitoris. Upon seeing this, Jess smiled and moved over to her. She buried her face between Shayla’s thighs and began pleasing her.

“Okay, now I want to try that,” Iris said, watching them. “Oh, sorry, Mark.” She went back to sucking me. “Buh I wah to twy ih.”

I laughed, then reached down and grabbed beneath her arms and lifted her up. “Go ahead,” I said, smacking her on the butt.

Iris knelt next to Jess, eager to give it a try. Jess moved aside and directed her.

“Rub right here with your tongue,” Jess said, gently massaging Shayla’s clitoris. That made the blonde catwoman twitch a few times, which brought a smile out of Jess.

“Okay, like this?” Iris said as she began.

“Less licking, more rubbing,” Shayla said.

“Try pushing your tongue against it and rubbing it side-to-side,” Jess said.

Iris went back to work, and after a moment Shayla closed her eyes and began breathing deeply.

“Ohhhh, that’s good,” Shayla said, leaning her head back. “Oh, Iris.”

“Yes?” Iris asked.

Jess laughed. “She’s just moaning your name. Keep going.”

“Oh. Okay,” Iris said, and went back to it.

“God, where do I fit into this puzzle?” I asked.

“Oh, I’ve got somewhere for you,” Jess said, sliding onto the bed.

She sat right next to Shayla and spread her legs for me. I knelt next to Iris and began pleasing Jess. After a moment Iris reached out, gripping my hand hard in hers.

I was much more experienced than Iris in this, so I brought Jess to her third orgasm by the time Iris brought Shayla to her first. It still felt like a celebratory moment, though. As silly as it sounds, we all hugged and kissed her.

“Now, it’s your turn,” Jess said.

She gently took Iris by the shoulders and had her sit back on the bed, then directed her to spread her legs.

“I want Mark to go first,” Iris said.

“Gladly,” I said, moving in front of her.

Iris was tense, so her first orgasm took some real work. I worked a finger in and out of her while my tongue wailed on her clit, and after a moment Shayla and Jess moved onto the bed and began nibbling and licking on her nipples.

“WOOOAAAHHH!” Iris shouted after a few minutes of that. “Oh nukes, my entire body is turning fuzzy!”

“Let it happen,” Shayla said, then kissed her.

They went back to pleasing Iris’s breasts while I kept working on her pussy. A few minutes later her stomach began to tremble, and I redoubled my efforts.

“Oh, oh,” Iris began to moan, grabbing onto Shayla. “Oh Shayla, this feels so incredible.”

“Enjoy it,” Shayla said, kissing her on the cheek.

“Oh Mark,” Iris said, then her entire body tensed up. “Oh MAAAARRRKKK!”

She wrapped her thighs around my head and I struggled to stay in position, but I managed to keep stimulating her, so she had a second orgasm right after her first. After that, I let her fall back on the bed and relax for a moment.

“Oh, nukes,” Iris said, breathing hard. “Oh, that was just incredible. I never knew something could feel so good. I’ve read about that, too, but I didn’t realize it was so amazing. I thought they were just making up stories.”

“Just wait,” Shayla said, kissing her forehead. “We’ve got more for you. Come here, Mark.”

I got onto the bed, where Shayla directed me to lie on my back. I quickly stacked two pillows and laid back on them.

Jess was on my right side, and she bent forward and began sucking on me. Shayla helped Iris climb onto me, and had her straddle my waist. Jess moved her head out of the way and spat on the head of my cock.

“Just line it up and sit down on it,” Shayla said.

“Okay,” Iris said, looking down nervously.

She cautiously reached down, grabbing onto my cock, then rubbed it against her wet labia. I felt the head slip inside her and she began working herself down, a bit further each time. Soon she was all the way down, seated on my lap.

“Oh nukes, that feels amazing,” Iris said, closing her eyes.

“It only gets better,” Shayla said, gently caressing her.

“Come here,” Jess said, leaning forward and kissing Iris.

The two kissed deeply while Jess’s fingers slid down Iris’s stomach. They stopped on her clit and began rubbing in a circular motion. Iris twitched and let out a shuddering breath, then went back to kissing Jess. Her breathing quickened and she wrapped her arms around the voluptuous redhead, holding her tightly.

I reached down and grabbed onto Iris’s hips, then began moving her up and down. So that I didn’t interrupt Jess’s work, I mostly held Iris a few inches off me while I thrust upward inside her. Her entire body shook and she moaned softly.

“Atta girl,” Shayla said, reaching down and slapping Iris on the ass.

“OHHHHHH,” Iris said against Jess’s lips. She turned and looked at Shayla. “Oh, can you do that again?”

“God, we’re going to have so much fun with you,” Shayla said.

She reached back and gently slapped Iris on the ass while Jess continued kissing her and rubbing her clit. With all that, it didn’t take long to bring her to another orgasm. This time she shouted as her entire body shook. Once she was done, she collapsed against my chest, breathing hard.

“It’s so incredible,” Iris said.

I bent my legs and began thrusting inside her at a more rapid pace. “And it’s only going to get better.”

Iris whimpered against my chest, and her whimpers quickly turned to soft moans. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly for a minute, letting her relax as I did my thing. I wanted the other women to get involved though, so I released her and let her sit up.

“Oh, I love it,” Iris said, riding up and down on my cock. “And I love you, Mark. And you, Shayla, and Jess. I love all of you.” A tear ran down her cheek and she closed her eyes and smiled. “I’ve never been so happy,” she whispered.

“We’re glad. But we’re not done with you yet,” Shayla said, winking at Jess.

They both leaned forward and began licking and nibbling on Iris’s outer breasts. Seeing the perfect opportunity, I sat up and began sucking on her middle nipple. Iris moaned loudly, and her moan peaked sharply when Shayla spanked her again.

Jess pulled her mouth off for a moment and looked behind Iris. “You have a small ass but it’s a cute one.” She slapped her hand on Iris’s butt just as Shayla did the same. I could feel Iris’s pelvic floor muscles clench around my cock each time.

“Do something to it,” Iris said, her eyes still squeezed shut. “Play with it. “I read about that in a book once, too. That woman certainly seemed to like it.”

Jess looked at Shayla and shrugged. She licked her middle finger, then reached behind Iris while going back to sucking on her nipple.

The three of us sucked on Iris’s breasts while Shayla spanked her and Jess fingered her ass. I could feel the added pressure from Jess’s finger. Iris’s body tensed up as she came again and again. It finally pushed me over the edge, and I shouted Iris’s name as I blew my load inside her.

The four of us collapsed into a sweaty mess after that, but Shayla wasn’t quite done. She rolled Iris onto her back and began eating her pussy, licking my cum out of her. The damn woman was insatiable, and I loved it. She brought Iris to orgasm twice more, then we all practically passed out.

Iris laid on top of Jess, her head nestled between her massive breasts with a peaceful smile on her beautiful young face. Shayla was positioned behind her, as the big spoon. All of them looked so happy and content.

There wasn’t quite room for me in that meat triangle, but that was fine. Shayla was closest to me, so I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“I love you,” I whispered into her ear.

After that, I adjusted my pillows and got comfortable. After a hard orgasm like that, I fell right asleep.

I woke up sometime around the middle of the night because I had to pee. As I came back to the bedroom I stopped to look at the women. All three of them, as beautiful as could be, cuddled tightly together.

I was the luckiest man in the world.

To be continued in Love the Bombshells 4!

About the author

Micky Carre is a best-selling author of fantasy and science fiction. Micky lives in Denver, Colorado and writes books when time permits. A lover of heavy metal, cats, and car racing, Micky plans on writing until they nail his coffin shut.

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