Mirabelle looked up at him with a smile, then got up and walked over to the gate.
“Hey,” Cal said, handing over the basket.
She nodded at him, taking the basket then setting it down to unbrace the gate, grunting as she tried to open it. She looked up at Cal. “A little help?”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Why are you grinning like that?” she asked, annoyed.
“No reason.” He wanted Rufus to be a surprise for her too.
“Need to get this on some kind of easier system,” Mirabelle complained as they worked together to open it.
“Need help?” Imogen asked, coming over.
“We got it,” Mirabelle said.
Then the gate was opened just wide enough for Rufus and he charged in, startling both Mirabelle and Imogen, the latter of whom stumbled back at seeing the massive beast.
Cal had other problems, namely Rufus nearly knocking him off the path.
He pinwheeled his arms and grabbed for the post next to the gate, thankful that it existed, stopping himself from falling off the cliff.
Heart pounding, he shook his head and entered.
Rufus went right for Eliza but, maybe sensing she was injured, skidded to a halt and instead of slamming into her like he had done to Cal, nuzzled her head gently to wake her.
She didn’t wake at first, and Rufus whimpered, nudging her again, less gently this time.
Her eyes opened, briefly confused, then she squealed in delight when she saw who it was.
“Rufus!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the dog’s thick neck and kissing his face, a few leaf bandages falling off as she did.
She looked at Cal. “You found him!”
Cal smiled, unable to be upset even though Rufus had nearly just accidentally knocked him off the path. She was so happy, and it was contagious.
He nodded. “More like he found me, but yeah.”
Even Mirabelle was smiling, though she seemed to be trying not to.
“What the fuck is that?” Imogen said, clutching a spear.
“It’s Rufus,” Eliza said, scratching the dog’s ears and kissing the bridge of his nose.
“Is that a…”
“A dog,” Mirabelle finished. “Well not actually a dog, obviously. But he acts kind of like a dog. Most of the time.”
“Is he safe? He looks dangerous.”
“Oh you wouldn’t hurt us, would you boy?” Eliza said in a baby voice, ruffling the dog’s head as his tongue lolled happily. “Are you hurt?” she said pushing him this way and that to check for injuries.
“He’s fine,” Cal said, closing the gate.
“Any sign of the snake?”
“No. He must have chased it off or killed it.”
“What a good boy you are!”
Rufus reveled in the attention.
“Careful,” Cal said. “Your wounds. You’re going to open them up.”
“It’s okay, they haven’t closed in the first place.”
“Is he what we heard last night?” Imogen asked.
Cal shook his head. “He doesn’t sound like that. But maybe he found one of the monsters and attacked it, or it found him.”
“And came out uninjured?” Imogen asked
Cal nodded in confirmation. “When we were headed to the doorway, the one that led back to Earth, a snake ambushed us. Rufus there chased it off.”
“And when he says snake,” Mirabelle added, “what he really means is a huge dragon monster. I mean, this thing was taller than he is.”
Imogen’s eyebrows went up. “Taller?”
Cal nodded. “It coiled and lifted up, kind of like one of those pythons or cobras that are entranced by the flute, and even half-coiled it was still taller than me. It was a huge thing.”
Imogen looked skeptically at Rufus, who was currently on his back, grinning and drooling as Eliza rubbed his belly. “And he chased it off?”
13
“Good job,” Cal said, looking down at the progress Eliza had made on his talon-spear.
He picked the weapon up and hefted it in his hand. It was about four feet in length, smooth and black with a sharp point at one end.
“Thanks,” she said.
He looked at the pile of now dismembered bodies, grimaced.
Eliza saw this. “It’s quite interesting, actually. Their organs are nothing like ours. Want to see?”
“No thanks, I’ll take your word. How’s the armor coming?” She had a pile of carapace pieces next to the tree.
“Good. I’m using the ‘teeth’ from their mouths as needles. It’s really hard, but with enough force I can push it through. When we get more cordage, I can run it through the holes so we can tie them on ourselves.”
Cal nodded. “I’ve got more cordage, but I want to use this for getting branches for the palisade. Can you use vines instead?”
“I can, but it will break once it dries.”
“It’s good enough for now. Having armor would be nice.”
“Okay.”
Cal noticed Mirabelle was glaring at him. “Everything okay?”
“Huh?” she asked, seeming startled. “Yeah. It will be good to get armor.”
Eliza stretched. “Not as comfortable as being nude.”
Mirabelle wrinkled her nose. “We going to work on the palisade today?” she asked Cal.
“Yeah. Imogen and I will go out and gather branches while you two stay here and twist that cordage into a rope and add it to what we already have. I want to get at least one log for the palisade today, and it’d be nice if we didn’t have to risk dying to carry it up here.”
“How come you never ask me to join you in hard labor?” Mirabelle pouted.
“Well, I don’t know. I didn’t think you’d like doing that kind of work.”
“You should’ve asked.”
“Okay. Mirabelle, do you want to come break branches with me?”
She pursed her lips, shook her head. “Nope.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “Actually, I’m going to get smaller branches. Use them to roll up the larger ones for the palisade. So it won’t be as hard of labor, if you want to join.”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Still nope.”
“We’ll be back later, then. We won’t go far, so call out if you need us.”
“Roger wilco,” Mirabelle said, pulling out the cordage from the basket and unwinding it.
Cal and Imogen left out the front gate, made their way down the path and entered the forest.
Cal looked for the roundest of branches so they would have to do the least work to make them roll well.
“So,” Cal said as they searched, breaking the silence and trying to make conversation, “what do you think of this place?”
She looked at him like he was an idiot, and didn’t answer.
“Okay then. Don’t like small talk. Noted.”
He thought he caught a glimpse of a smile on her lips, but if it had been there at all, it was gone just as quick as it had appeared.
“We should make a saw,” Imogen said a few minutes later as Cal hung from a branch, yanking down on it, trying to break it off the tree it was currently very strongly attached to.
“This is quicker.” He looked over at her, standing there with her arms crossed, watching him. “It’d be even quicker still if you joined me.”
She sighed, letting her hands drop and walking over to him.
To get a grip on the branch, she had to press her body up against his, their hips touching.
He looked down at her and smiled. “Keep pulling.”
“I am pu—”
The branch snapped and they both went to the ground, him on top of her.
Imogen stared up at him with an annoyed look. “Did you plan this?”
“Huh?” With the little clothing they both were wearing—him in his loincloth and her in her skimpy leaf-outfit—there was so much skin-on-skin contact going on that Cal’s higher brain functioning had begun shutting down
and readying to go home for the night, thinking it was no longer needed. He shook his head to jolt it back online.
“You’re an actor, right?
At his look, she added, “Remember, I listen?”
“Right.” He was still on top of her, and she seemed perfectly comfortable with this arrangement, making no move to get out from under him.
This fact—as well as her body against his—made him begin to harden.
“In those cheesy made-for-TV movies?” she went on. “This is like a scene out of one of them. Fall down together, get tangled up, stare into each other’s eyes. Kiss.” Her eyes flicked down to his lips. “You planned this.”
“I didn’t.”
She moved under him, his loincloth lifting and Richard getting a nice long stroke along her bare thigh.
His brain went blank again and he unconsciously and quite involuntarily pressed himself against her as his partial erection turned into a full one.
Imogen grunted, looking down between them. “Are you going to get off me?”
“Huh?”
“You’re too big and heavy. I can’t get out.”
“Oh. Yeah.” He pushed himself off of her, adjusting his loincloth to try to hide his excitement.
When he looked up, he saw her watching.
She quickly looked away and got to her feet, staring at the branch they’d broken off. “You’re carrying that.”
14
They both awkwardly ignored the fact that Cal’s loincloth kept falling to one side or the other, Richard popping his head out.
Imogen also kept glancing back at him in a way that—at least to him—was highly suggestive, which didn’t help things settle.
He focused on carrying the branch, not that it was particularly hard to do, it was just something to prevent him from watching her hips sway as she walked, from focusing on the brief glimpses of firm buttock her leaf loincloth revealed with every other step.
They gathered up several branches in this manner—though without the falling on one another bit—until they had more than they could carry.
“We’ll come back for the rest,” Cal said.
“You sure you’re good?” Imogen asked, looking at all the branches he carried. She was now loaded up with several of her own as well.
“Fine. That upgrade made me much stronger.”
“Clearly. Maybe I should let you, what did you call it? Upgrade me.”
“Activate,” Cal supplied. “Upgrade comes later. You should if you want. Pretty sure it’s safe.”
“I’m glad you’re such an expert.”
He grinned at her. “Me too.”
She almost rolled her eyes at him, but instead just walked away.
He watched her go, watching her muscular legs flex, her lean back that was covered only by the thin strap of fabric of her top.
Their loincloths didn’t really have much of a side, as they were loincloths, not skirts, and so he could see the side of her muscular butt and—due to the lightness of the leaf—a tantalizing glimpse of what was between her thighs as she turned onto the path that would lead them out of the forest and back to their base.
She glanced back, caught him staring at her. She gave him a strange look, then continued on without comment.
He followed after her, trying not to grunt under the weight of all the branches he was carrying. They were heavy, and as he followed after her he realized he had only loaded himself up with so many to impress her.
He wasn’t sure he’d succeeded.
15
“Shit,” Cal said, looking up at the path to the hilltop.
The front one was nowhere near as steep or precarious as the rear, but they still had to get all the branches up there, and he was already sweating from the exertion of carrying them back here. It was also still damn hot and humid. Like Florida in the summer. Not that he’d ever been.
Maybe Eliza had the right idea. Why wear anything at all?
Imogen dropped the branches she was carrying at the bottom of the path to the hilltop and began ascending.
“Hey,” Cal called indignantly, “what are you doing? You have to carry some too.”
Imogen stopped and looked at him. “You said these are to help get the logs for the fence up, right?”
“Palisade. Yeah.”
She nodded. “Why would we need to carry them up there?”
“Because…” He trailed off, frowning. “Oh. Yeah.” He looked down at the branches she’d dropped. “But they still have parts we need to cut off and smooth.”
“That will happen naturally as we use them to pull logs up.”
Cal chewed his lip, then nodded. “Right-o. Maybe you should be leading us.” He grinned. “You’re pretty smart.”
“Or maybe I only look that way by comparison.”
“Hey, you calling me stupid?”
She grinned back at him. He was pretty sure it was the first time he’d ever seen her actually grin in a nonmenacing way. “No, not at all. I would never do that.” Then she turned and headed up the hill.
Cal set his branches down, realizing as he did that he could see up her leaf loincloth.
Only little flashes, but it was enough to send a jolt of adrenaline through him that went straight to his crotch.
He shook his head and stood up, wondering if Mirabelle would feel up for a little dunk in the stream.
And one or two other activities.
16
Mirabelle squealed as Cal lifted her up and spun her around, kissing her deeply.
Rufus ran around them huffing, eager to join in on this new game.
“What was that for?” she asked when he set her down.
“Happy to see you,” he said.
The dog tried to push between them but Cal pushed his massive head away. “Down boy. She’s mine.”
“Oh,” Mirabelle said, looking at Rufus, “I don’t know about that. He is pretty cute.”
“But can he do this?” Cal lifted her up again, pulling her crotch against his as her legs automatically wrapped around his waist. He easily supported her weight and they kissed deeply again as he grew stiff against her.
Even through their loincloths, he could feel her heat.
“Wow,” Mirabelle gasped when their kiss ended, though Cal didn’t put her down. She looked over at Rufus, who was looking up at them with head tilted. “Sorry boy. You were outmatched.”
The dog huffed as though understanding this and walked away to sulk in the shade of the tree.
“Aw,” she chuckled. “I’m sorry. Don’t be sad.”
“He’ll be fine,” Cal said. He glanced at Eliza and Imogen, who were purposely not watching them. Then, to Mirabelle, he said loudly, “I think we should go wash up, don’t you?”
“Oh definitely,” she said, just as loudly. “You smell very bad.” She pressed her face into his neck and inhaled deeply, a chill of pleasure running through her.
He did the same to her. “Yes, you too.” He set her down. “You two be okay here?” he asked Imogen and Eliza. “We’re going to go wash up.”
Eliza grinned knowingly, Imogen just shook her head and muttered something they couldn’t hear.
Before Cal had even pulled the gate fully shut, Mirabelle had her hands on his loincloth, pulling it down.
“Little dangerous, don’t you think?”
She grinned up at him. “I like danger.” She carelessly tossed his loincloth off the edge where it just missed landing in the stream. “If I lose that, I don’t have another.”
“Then you can go nude like Eliza. I wouldn’t mind that. Or make an outfit from leaves like Imogen if you’re embarrassed.
“I’m not embarrassed. What about you?”
She pulled off her top and tossed it away with a flourish, then did the same with her bottoms.
She stood there naked, grinning up at him, hands on her hips, proudly displaying her smooth, soft, completely naked body. “Nope. Not at all.”
“Um, Mirabelle.”
&nb
sp; “What?”
He pointed.
“Shit,” she said, watching her clothes drift away in the stream.
17
They moved naked as fast as they dared down the path, then Cal had to chase after her clothes as the stream carried them away.
“Maybe we should just let them go,” he panted as they ran after them.
She pushed on his back. “Get them!”
He grunted and ran faster, legs pumping, until he was ahead of them, then dove into the stream.
He came up, holding the two pieces of rough cloth above his head victoriously.
“You dork,” she said with a smile, shaking her head.
“Want to put them on? I know you like wearing wet clothes.”
She ran her hands over her hips as she stared at his crotch. “I don’t need those to make me wet.”
In an instant Cal was out of the water, dropping her clothes on the shore and taking her to the ground, already fully erect.
“That was fast,” she panted as she reached down and took him in her hand.
He smiled. “You make me—”
Then she pushed his cock into her hot wetness and his mind went blank.
He kissed her, pushing his tongue in eagerly as he slowly slid in and out of her.
She wasn’t kidding about being wet. She was soaking, and soon she was urging him to go faster, harder.
He was pretty sure they would be visible if Imogen or Eliza looked over the edge, but he didn’t care.
And Mirabelle didn’t either. She moaned as he fucked her, driving his cock deep into her pussy, moving from her mouth to her large, full breasts, sucking on her hard nipples.
She dug her nails into his back, her legs wrapped around him, pushing down against him on each thrust to drive him deeper inside her.
She was so tight and hot and he was so worked up that soon he was ready to come. “I’m going to—”
“I know,” she breathed. “Just a little longer. I’m almost—” She gasped. “Almost…” She moaned and gasped again, and Cal couldn’t hold back.
He pulled out just in time, shooting his load onto her.
She moaned, watching him come onto her stomach and tits as she rubbed her clit with one hand, tweaked a nipple with the other.
Survivor- World of Monsters 2 Page 5
