As she spoke, her orgasm raced through her body, shaking her deep to her bones, the most intense one she’d ever had. She knew it was because she’d made the connection from sex—however excellent it may be—to love.
“I love you, too. I think I’ve loved you for months. I’ve loved Ghedi for months, too. I never thought I’d be so lucky as to find the two people I needed to complete me,” said Arthur, pressing kisses to her neck then turning to kiss Ghedi.
“Yeah, me, too. It’s just amazing that we all came together like this, and I’ve found love with two people,” said Ghedi. Just then, Arthur pounded up into her, and Adena was filled with the hot bursts of Arthur’s cum. She grabbed his cock with her still-rippling cunt and held him tight as she felt Ghedi power up underneath her then sigh.
Adena let her body relax into their arms. She’d told them what needed to be said. Even more exciting was that they all felt the same way. The three of them were not just married and enjoying great sex, but also they loved each other. Life didn’t get much better than that.
Chapter Four
It was late the next day, and they were driving through an area that almost looked as if a mini-tornado had passed through it, and not that long ago either. Small trees had been pulled up or broken down, and a shallow lake they passed not far from the road seemed to have had one of its sides crushed, so the water had drained almost out of it.
“This is not a good time to stop and change drivers,” said Arthur.
“No. Something’s definitely gone wrong here,” agreed Tau.
“Move up next to Ruby so I can tell her to keep driving until we’re out of this area,” said Arthur to Zuri, who was driving the truck he was in.
At least the women are driving which leaves the men available to do any fighting.
Just as Zuri pulled the truck up level with Ruby in the lead vehicle, Tau called out, “Movement in the bushes. People. Lots of people!”
But it was too late. Their trucks were totally surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of men and women, even children. Ruby and Zuri had no choice but to stop. If they’d continued driving, they would have risked killing dozens of unarmed people.
The back doors of the truck were opened, the three people resting were hauled out, and Arthur saw their mattresses, their food, and the bags of grain rapidly disappearing. It pained him to watch it happen, but what pained him more was wondering what would happen now. Surely they weren’t going to be killed. These people were unarmed. Hopefully once their possessions were looted they’d be allowed to go on their way. Although if they took the trucks as well, he didn’t know how the hell they’d find another vehicle to get them home. And what about fuel for the trucks? Dammit. This was a mess. They couldn’t possibly walk home from here. It’d take weeks! Where would they find a truck to steal? Assuming they could even make one go if they did find it. Fuck! What was he going to do now? He was the leader, but how the hell could he lead them out of this catastrophe?
What had once been a convertible car, and was now an open-roofed carriage pulled by two horses, appeared. In it was a huge, fat man, three beautiful young women, and a bunch of children ranging in age from babies to about seven or eight years old.
Arthur pulled himself together as fast as he could. This must be their leader.
In the sudden, complete silence the man spoke. “Where is my ten percent?” he asked.
Arthur was confused, but four men raced up and handed over two bags of rice. Another man dragged a mattress up to the carriage.
The fat man nodded, and the men loaded the grain and mattress into the vehicle. Arthur didn’t know how the items could possibly fit in. It seemed to be overflowing with people already, but the mattress and rice disappeared inside. Perhaps the children sat on them. He shrugged and focused on the leader.
“I am the Prince of the South, and you are now my subjects. You must pay me ten percent of everything you make or find. You will be left with food and fuel for your people for two days. Everything else belongs to those who captured you after they pay me. As my newest subjects, your place is the lowest one in the land. You may fight or use your intelligence to improve your standing. The one rule is that I always get ten percent of whatever you acquire. Understand?”
Arthur nodded, then said, “Yes, Prince.”
“There’s a farmhouse about two miles ahead. We camp there tonight,” said the prince.
The crowds surrounding them disappeared like magic, presumably racing ahead to get to the farmhouse. Arthur stood on the empty road looking at the ground. If they left one truck here, the fuel would last twice as long. Of course it meant they’d have less space to sleep in and less storage for whatever they found—always assuming they could find anything at all after the horde of people ahead of them had passed through. Still, they were unharmed and were used to living on short food rations. Two days food supply would easily last them for four days. But what then?
No, they needed to escape from the prince and head home by a much faster, more direct route. But that meant going through part of the city. They were still north of where they needed to be to go directly east and home.
“They’ve left us two mattresses, four blankets, most of the fuel, and they’ve been fair about the two days’ worth of food,” said Adena.
“Tau, bring the two mirrors here please,” said Arthur.
Tau got the mirrors, while Arthur collected the maps, and then he and Koby hunched on the ground with the others standing around them facing out, and Tau and Udo using the mirrors to make sure no one approached them from the other side of the trucks.
“I’m assuming no one wants to join the prince? We all would rather go home?” asked Arthur. He was sure that’s what they’d want, but felt he needed to verbalize it first before making plans.
Everyone nodded or said yes.
“Okay, so we need a road to take us south then east, hopefully one that will cut off sufficient distance, so that we have enough fuel to make the journey. You’re sure they didn’t just leave the empty fuel cans?”
“Only two cans have gone. We’ve got plenty for one truck, likely enough for two,” affirmed Adena.
“It’d be safer to just take one truck. We can take the tires off the one we leave behind and drain the fuel tank. That way they can’t follow us in it. I reckon they’re mostly on foot, but we can look at their camp and find out for sure later,” said Koby.
“We’re used to not eating much. I suggest we go on half rations, which means we have four days to get away from them, and by then we should be able to find some food ourselves,” said Arthur.
“If they’re on foot, we should be out of range inside two days easily,” said Udo.
“I bet they drained that lake so they could catch and eat the fish,” said Zuri.
“Smart woman. I expect you’re right,” said Tau, giving her a hug.
Arthur nodded. That was reasonable, whereas just smashing down one side of the bank didn’t make any sense at all.
“I think we should go to their farm and chat to the people. Make like we’re going to join up or whatever. Watch what they do and say. Find out everything we can about them. You can drain the tank of the truck you decide not to keep and take the tires off it, quite openly saying that way the fuel will last longer. That’s all as logical for traveling with them as for going our own way. But we may learn important things about them. Like where they’re headed. Maybe they’re coming toward our valley,” said Adena.
“Gods! I never thought of that,” said Pagan.
Zuri wasn’t the only smart woman with them. Adena’s idea was a damn good one. And they really did need more information about this group. Just running away wasn’t necessarily the best option. But they did need to plan their journey. “All right. But no one is to give anyone the faintest idea we’re not staying. No one is to mention routes, or journeys, or the valley, or anything like that. Just as we’re collecting information, they will be, too, and we must protect the valley at all costs,” w
arned Arthur.
“You can use our story. We used to live in the city but noticed the food supplies have stopped arriving, so we decided to travel around looking for them. It’s true enough and doesn’t even hint at the valley,” said Ruby.
“Good idea. Now, let’s look at the maps,” said Arthur.
He and Koby traced several routes with their fingers, going just a little farther south then cutting east as soon as possible before heading south again to meet up with the road to the valley.
“Pagan, look at this route. That may be close to where the motorcycle gang was heading to that winery a few years ago,” said Koby. Arthur handed the maps over to Pagan, and he and Koby poured over them, talking earnestly. Finally Koby said, “I reckon we can go through the forest there to that farm, then down to the winery. There should be some animals at the farm we can kill for food if we have to, and it’d be good to check out the winery. It’s a long time since the bikers were there. Either they didn’t take it over, in which case we may be able to ask them if they know where the food manufacturing has gone to. Or else the gang will have gone long ago, and maybe we can take some vines back to the valley and see if we can grow grapes. More fresh fruit would be good for the people.”
“What if the gang is still there?” asked Tau.
“That would mean they’ve settled down and are growing crops. Basically turned into normal people. Maybe they know where the food comes from,” replied Ruby.
Arthur laughed. He supposed gang members did grow up and become responsible people sooner or later though. Ah well, that was about as much as they could plan for one day.
“Let’s go to the prince’s farm then. But remember, stick to Ruby’s story, and no one goes anywhere alone. Always move around in twos or threes,” he said.
“Ask people questions. Once you get them talking about themselves, they’ll be happy and won’t ask you so many questions in return,” said Ruby.
Arthur laughed. Yes, these three women were all smart. No doubt about it. Thank God the prince didn’t want to hurt them, just steal their possessions. Talk about a con man. Ten percent of everything. Not a bad deal really for doing nothing.
* * * *
Adena, Ruby, and Zuri decided to go visit other women around midmorning. “Maybe someone will offer us a cup of coffee or even something to eat,” she said, well aware of her empty stomach. How quickly she’d forgotten the awful, grinding emptiness of hunger. They’d decided to have just one meal, in the middle of the day, to conserve their rations, and already her belly was complaining about the new system.
“Or maybe some fish. They couldn’t possibly have eaten all the fish in that lake yet, surely,” said Ruby.
But hospitality definitely wasn’t on anyone’s to-do list. A group of women were washing clothes around a campfire, but using the most primitive of methods with only warm water and no soap that Adena could see. The clothes were draped over bushes to dry, not even strung on a piece of rope tied between two trees.
It definitely seemed as though Koby was correct, and explained why almost none of their fuel was taken. Nowhere did Adena see a truck, car, or any motorized vehicle. There were a number of horses and mules, a few cows, but a lot of wheelbarrows and pull-carts. Even a rickshaw and a handful of pushbikes. Still, it didn’t explain why the women had no rope to make a line to hang up their laundry. A hank of rope wouldn’t take up much space in a wheelbarrow.
The camp was spread out over several large fields, and the three women walked from end to end of all of them without being invited to visit with anyone. Ruby smiled and said hi to a lot of women and some children. She got smiles in return but no welcome to stay or talk. One thing Adena’s rumbling stomach made her notice in particular was that no one was eating, which was very interesting indeed. She knew for a fact that somewhere there were twenty-three missing bags of rice, as well as their other supplies. Even though there were a lot of people here, maybe as many as two hundred, they couldn’t possibly have eaten all that rice in a single night.
And a damn uncomfortable night it’d been, too, with only two mattresses and four blankets for nine people. At least they weren’t cold. They’d been pressed up close to each other to fit on the mattresses and stay under the cover of the blankets.
A group of children was sitting lethargically under a tree at one side of the farthest field. Zuri led the women up to the tree and sat down. After a while she spoke gently to the children, who all looked dirty and thin. Rather like their village children had looked a year or two ago, Adena thought.
“My name is Zuri. What’s yours?” she asked the oldest girl.
All the children stared at Zuri openmouthed.
“You’re the daughter of the prince?” gasped one.
“No. My father was an ordinary man,” said Zuri.
“But how could he afford to have so many children?” asked the oldest child.
“Only the prince has more than two or three,” added another.
“I don’t understand,” said Zuri.
“Every time a woman has a child, she has to name the father. The father of the baby pays the prince ten percent of what he finds for twelve months to pay for the child,” answered a boy.
“On top of the regular ten percent,” added another.
Wow! That ensured the prince plenty of income.
“But what has my name got to do with that?” asked Zuri.
Yeah I don’t understand that part either.
“The first child has a name beginning with A. He’s Adam, I’m Amy. The second child’s name starts with the letter B. If there’s a third child, his name will start with C. Zuri starts with Z, right. So you have twenty-five brothers and sisters. How can your father afford so many children? He must be incredibly rich and have many wives.”
“Where I come from the children are given any name starting with any letter of the alphabet the mother chooses. I have no brothers or sisters. My mother chose the name Zuri because it means beautiful.”
The children seemed a bit doubtful about this system, but began talking in a more relaxed manner. When the conversation began to dry up, Adena asked them if they knew how to play “rock, paper, scissors.” None of them knew what scissors were, but they accepted her explanation that they were sort of like a knife. By the time a group of mothers came to collect their children, they were playing the game happily, so the mothers stayed to watch and learn, too. Much to Adena’s disappointment though, they got no more information about these people from anyone.
In the midafternoon, Adena watched as groups of men brought out measured amounts of food, including both fish and rice, to various cooking fires, and the women set about preparing it. The portions seemed fair, she thought, but if they were only eating one meal a day, they’d need to be. Her own stomach was happy again since they’d eaten at midday, but she knew by tomorrow morning she’d be wishing they could eat breakfast.
She also wondered at what time and in what manner they’d depart. She supposed the prince would make an announcement or something. Arthur had said they’d follow at the end of the community and simply take a detour where they could cut across to a road, and drive off as fast as possible in the bad conditions. No horse could keep up with them for long. But there must be some motor vehicles somewhere, or else why keep some of the fuel? That was a worry. If the prince had a fast car or motorcycles, they’d be tracked quite easily in their much slower truck.
* * * *
Ghedi knew Arthur had agonized over the decision of which truck to take, Koby’s or their own. But the facts were that Koby’s truck was newer, bigger, and in better condition, so it was the obvious choice. Besides, they still had the transporter, the bus, the delivery van, and the high-sided utility trailer back in the valley, so it wasn’t like they’d be unable to get around without it.
It was very interesting these people didn’t seem to have motorized vehicles though. He wished he knew why they’d done that. Was it the difficulty of finding fuel wherever they went? Or w
as there some other reason? Or were there a few vehicles hidden away somewhere?
The men removed all the tires from the valley truck, drained the fuel tank into one of the empty fuel cans, and also took some of the engine parts, to keep for future use as replacement spares. Then while three stayed behind with the truck, the others wandered around to see what they could learn about the prince and his people.
To Ghedi’s complete and utter frustration, the answer was nothing. Absolutely nothing. No one would talk to them. Since they’d been told their group was the bottom of the pecking order, he could only assume no one wanted to be associated with those on the bottom of the ranking list.
The people did seem to be divided into smaller groups, and when it came time to begin cooking the evening meal, each community seemed to eat as a group. Several men brought out a measured amount of food and gave it to the women to cook. That implied the food was kept locked up somewhere, which made sense, since the prince had practically told them they could steal from other people if they were hungry.
Only after he’d come to that conclusion did he notice a group of men in one area guarding a small tent and a similar-sized group of men in another area surrounding a tree. He’d have liked to continue walking around to see if he could discover how many separate groups of people there were, but didn’t want to make anyone angry with them. Tomorrow they wanted to disappear quietly, not have a horde of angry people chasing them. None of the men seemed to have weapons, but they could be hidden with the food, Ghedi guessed.
“One hundred seventy people. Six distinct groups, not counting however many are with the prince inside the farmhouse,” muttered Tau as they reached their trucks.
“What else did you learn?” asked Arthur.
“Apart from the fact that they guard their food because they’re scared someone will steal it? Nothing,” sighed Udo.
“No soap to wash their clothes or lines to hang up their laundry,” contributed Adena.
Raw Future [Embrace the Future 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
