Dystopian Girls

by Rodzil LaBraun

  "Okay, don't use it unless I say."

  "We're coming out!" I yelled to the zombie like bitches outside. "Get away from the door!"

  Alexa reported that they were eventually following my repeated instructions to vacate the front porch as she watched through the nearest peep hole. Jada and I exited first, then Riley and Alexa. My size, gender and spear seemed to intimidate them a little. Jada's confident stance combined with her spear and axe helped as well. The smaller two girls each just carried a baseball bat and lacked any capacity for intimidation.

  "Alexa, are they scared of us yet?"

  "Some of them are, but not all. I think the red-haired woman in the middle might be the closest thing they have to a leader."

  "Red!" I shouted at the pale redhead that Alexa pointed out. She clearly knew that I was talking to her. "You and your horde need to leave. I can give you some crackers to help with your hunger, but no more. Do you understand?"

  "We take all we grunt grunt," she replied, as best as I could tell. With that she took two steps forward. Half of the other skanks did the same, but some were clearly hesitant.

  "I don't want to have to kill you," I said as I pointed my spear directly at Red. She was still a good eight feet away.

  Red then pulled a bowie knife out of her thick leather belt and growled through missing teeth, "Kill you!"

  Two of the rancid women then stepped forward as if given a command, one on each side of us. The petite skank on the left had a shiny iron golf club. Why were these things so popular as weapons? She also had short black hair and a shitload of tattoos. Her left arm was kept discernably close to her torso and had a nasty cut from her wrist to her elbow. Other than that, she looked reasonably healthy. The one on the right was a much heavier girl with long brown hair and a wicked scowl. She banged together the two rocks that she held in her hands like a clapping toy monkey. She limped a little, but not enough to keep her from rushing us.

  Jada was to my right, so she prepared to deal with the bigger girl. The inked-up chick reached me first though. I dodged the swing of her golf club and responded by striking her head with the butt end of my spear. The blow was hard enough to more than knock her off her feet. She practically did a cartwheel before landing on the ground. She was dazed, but not unconscious.

  I turned to see what was happening with Jada as I heard the disgusting guttural noise of her victim. Jada had plummeted the spearhead deep into her belly. The big girl dropped her rocks and clutched the shaft of the spear with both hands as blood came from her mouth. Some of the remaining skanks were in utter shock, but not Red. She ran right at me with two more of her friends right on her tail. I tried the same maneuver as I used on the previous girl, hesitant to deliver a fatal blow. She deflected my spear with her baseball bat and continued until she struck my chest with her shoulder. Perhaps she thought that she could tackle me. I barely took a backwards step before bringing my weapon down across her back, crosschecking style. She screamed as she dropped to the ground on her hands and knees before me.

  Alexa swung her bat and completely missed her weaponless attacker. Instead, that girl dove at my sweetheart with claws extended forward. She barely made contact before I harpooned her in the back, causing her to arch up and withdraw from her attack.

  Riley stood motionless with her wooden bat raised straight up in front of her, more like a shield than a weapon. Her eyes grew large as the skank launched herself with a battle cry right at her, swinging the tree branch in her hand. Than Jada's hatchet nearly took the stinker's head clean off. She managed to kill Riley's attacker while still holding the spear that was stuck in the heavy girl's bleeding gut. Ignoring my instructions to minimize the killing, Jada had clearly snapped into warrior mode. Considering the surprising strength of our enemy, it was a good thing.

  When Red clutched at my legs and made to start biting my ankle, I brought the pointy end of my weapon down with great force directly through her heart, pinning her and my spear to the ground. Jada then used her foot to pry her primary weapon out of the big stinker's belly causing the woman to tumble backwards clutching her wound. Once again, she had two weapons ready.

  The tattooed girl had gotten back to her feet but obviously had no interest in rejoining the battle. With one hand to the side of her head she backed away slowly. Half of the remaining skanks did the same, while the rest of them scurried off as quick as their afflicted bodies could take them. We had won the battle, as I expected. But we had four dead skanks at our feet. The stench was already almost unbearable. It would only get worse.

  As if on cue, Alexa started to puke. Riley was struggling to fight back the urge herself.

  "Back inside, girls," Jada ordered them before I had the chance. "Mason and I will get this cleaned up."

  "No," Riley responded, covering her mouth with her hand. "I will help."

  "Alexa? Are you hurt?" I saw blood on her arm but didn't know for sure if it was hers. The beautiful blond wiped her mouth with one arm as she looked where I was pointing on the other.

  "Oh God!" she muttered just before she passed out. Jada and I caught her together before she could hit the ground. We carried her inside and placed her gently on the sectional sofa as Riley barred the door. Jada then ran to get a couple bottles of water and a wash cloth. Using one of the bottles to wet the cloth she started wiping Alexa's face, then addressed the wound on her arm. I was still holding my wife's hand when she woke up to see Jada cleaning her injury.

  "How bad is it?" Alexa asked.

  "Not as bad as your leg was cut," I answered. "You healed remarkably fast from that. I'm sure you'll be fine."

  "Yeah, but this cut came from a skank," Jada said. "Do you think that Alexa got contaminated with anything?"

  "Oh no!" Alexa cried.

  "Relax," I said. "Remember, they are not zombies or vampires. There is no reason to think they can contaminate a victim with a scratch or a bite. Thanks Jada. That's all we need right now."

  "Sorry," she replied earnestly as she bandaged Alexa's arm. Alexa didn't seem completely convinced yet, but my logic was solid. She would see soon enough when nothing drastic happened.

  With that done I decided to switch our focus to the task outside. "Let's get those bodies far from the house before they stink any worse, if that's possible, or draw wild animals to us. Jada, do we have anything we can wear for masks to keep us from getting nauseous?"

  "I can get those," Riley offered, jogging gracefully into another room. She would soon be taking over the responsibility for our supplies. It was good to see her jumping at the opportunity.

  "I want to help clean up," Alexa stated as she stood up. She didn't appear shaky. As long as she didn't start throwing up again, she could feasibly be of valuable assistance. The injured arm was not enough for me to exclude her.

  "Are you sure?" I asked. Alexa nodded.

  "That's my strong girl," Jada said as she gathered our weapons by the door. Alexa gave her friend's back a stare like she felt the condescending tone. Riley returned with paper masks designed for keeping out paint fumes, and some handkerchiefs. A minute later we were all geared up like doctors or bandits to go back outside.

  "We all need to carry our weapons and be on guard. The skanks might not have wandered far."

  As soon as we stepped outside the odor hit us like a slap in the face. Even the masks couldn't make it bearable for long. We would have to do this thing quickly, but not carelessly. I grabbed a heavy tarp from the garage to minimize how much we would have to handle the corpses, and two sets of garden gloves. Jada and I worked together to lift two bodies onto the tarp. The worst part was picking up any chunks of decaying flesh that had fallen off the body. It was even more than disgusting than it sounds.

  Jada and I then walked backwards pulling the tarp as the other two girls lifted the trailing end to minimize drag. Any weapons that we couldn't carry we tossed onto the tarp with the bodies. Our goal was to take this mess as far as the tall grass on the perimeter of the property. I guessed it to
be about three hundred feet. Our method eased the process, but the smell just made everything more difficult.

  I had us stop for a break after the first hundred feet. I scouted the area for any skanks that might think that was a good time to re-attack. Nothing so far. I wished I had thought to bring the binoculars. Riley thought that she saw movement over by the neighbor's large house, but whatever it was must have moved on before I could see it. Hopefully it was an animal that had not been infected. I had enough of killing for a while.

  Eventually we made it to the tall grass and dumped the putrid bodies. Still two more nasty corpses to go. I wanted to quickly add them to the pile before scavenger beasts started showing up. Riley caught some movement again as we headed back to our house. This time I was able to catch a glimpse as well. Neither of us were able to make out any details, though. It appeared to be a human form at quick glance. Best hurry up, just in case.

  Though we were tiring quickly I urged the girls to put everything they had into the task at hand. I promised them a fun relaxing time back inside the house after this nauseating chore was complete. As we dumped the two remaining bodies Alexa perked up, beautiful blue flashing on her face the same brilliant color as her big eyes. However, I knew the meaning of the scene was undesirable. She was sensing someone nearby.

  "What's up?" I asked her.

  "People," she said, turning to look where we had seen the movement earlier. We all followed her lead and looked at the hill upon which the next house was built. Four people then stood there, unafraid, weapons in hand.

  "Skanks?" Jada asked, hopeful. Regular or gifted people would be much more of a challenge.

  "No," Alexa replied. "It's another clan, I think. They are not afraid of us. Some are eager to fight."

  "At least it's just four of them." Jada said.

  "No, there are more!" Alexa declared. "They are trying to surround us!"

  "Grab the weapons. Run!" I yelled, dropping the tarp. All four of us headed for our house as quickly as we could. I started to run ahead to give me time to undo the rigging we had set up in the door to slow down any intruders while we were disposing of the bodies. I was still at least fifty feet from the building when I saw the others. Five more attackers came around the left corner of our house, then four more around the right. The people we had spotted next door had started jogging in our direction when we bolted and were nearly upon us as well.

  "Thirteen," Jada counted for us once everyone was caught up and standing by my side. Perhaps she was calculating our odds or forming her own defense strategy. Stating the number of attackers, however, simply clarified for me that we were completely overwhelmed. They were not skanks, nor were they simple-minded beasts. This was an experienced clan with members skilled in combat.

  "Alexa?" I queried. "Do they just want to talk?"

  "No," she replied, trembling from fear and the emotions she was picking up. "They intend to kill you Mason."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

  "I imagine that they want to kill us all," Jada said.

  "No," Riley replied. "That is not the way of things these days. They would ultimately prefer to eliminate Mason and adopt the three of us women into their clan. They won’t hesitate to kill some of us if they must. However, they want to leave with something of value. Some of us must be spared to make the risk of battle worthwhile."

  "She's right," Alexa added. “Us girls are the spoils of war.”

  Thirteen enemies versus us four. The numbers were not good at all. Chances were, they had much more combat experience as well. It was unknown what special powers they might have, unless Alexa could pick up on something. Perhaps we could stall enough to get some clues from their actions. The opposing clan was approaching cautiously. That might be to our advantage.

  I did the quick math in my head. The odds of me surviving this conflict was slim to none. I was certain that Alexa and Jada would unselfishly give their lives fighting for me. Maybe Riley, too. It might be better to let them have the girls to save their lives. These aggressors might let me walk away. Or, I could run and use my dodging skills to get away alive. Only thing, I seriously doubted the girls would go for it.

  "I think the three of you should consider surrendering. There is no need for you to die."

  "Shut up!" Alexa blurted out. "Don't even think that! I wouldn't want to live without you."

  "She's right," Jada added. "There is no chance that I'll surrender either. I'll fight to the death to protect you. Riley?"

  "I'm in as well," Riley answered confidently.

  Ok, that was not an option then. It made me feel good that these wonderful, beautiful women would give their lives for me, but awful that it would likely happen. I would have to do my absolute best to keep them all alive longer than me. They could reconsider their options after I'm dead. But how would I manage that against all these attackers? Could I bring myself to make a suicide run to protect them? I couldn’t stand for that to be the last thing this world remembers me for.

  Though there were three groups of enemies, the two groups on the right were almost close enough to be one large group of eight. That made the five people on the left the smaller group. But it wasn't that easy. Weapons, special skills, and even physical size had to be counted in to the strategy. We needed to determine the strongest adversaries and the leader. Alexa should be about to help with that.

  "Give up your women and we'll let you go," the pistol toting man to the right of the house yelled out. He was a small guy with a long black beard coming to a gray point in the center of his chest. Since he spoke first, I assumed he was the leader.

  "Is he in charge?" I whispered to Alexa.

  "I believe so. But I don't think he intends to let you live if you agree. Don't do it Mason."

  "Okay. As their leader, let's assume that he has a special ability in addition to the gun," I told my women. "The voluptuous woman in the sexy dress beside him has no weapon, so she definitely has an ability to watch out for."

  "She's one of the most confident," Alexa added.

  "And one of the women on the left is also empty handed."

  "Well?" the bearded guy yelled again.

  "How do I know that you'll let me live?" I asked the little shirtless guy in dirty khaki shorts. I needed to stall while we planned. He no doubt wouldn’t wait much longer before attacking. He had the numbers and his clan was clearly prepared for battle.

  "You don't" he replied with a smile that was then shared by many of his clan. "But what choice do you have?"

  The four people that we spotted first on the hill were then on our far right. One was a large man in bib overalls carrying a hunting rifle. I believed the odds were best in favor of us focusing on the five to the left. We would then be going away from the gunfire of the two males.

  "Alright," I told my supportive and beautiful clan. "We're going to charge the five on the left. Riley? Can you do mini bursts of speed, so you don’t use up all your energy at once?"

  "I can try," she answered.

  "Good. You go for the small girl that doesn't have any weapons. Your possible immunity could make a big difference if she’s gifted. Jada, you go for the big woman while I go for the tough looking guy. They both have swords, so I'll try to deflect their swings as we attack."

  "Sounds good," Jada answered.

  "What about me?" Alexa asked, obviously nervous.

  "Our attack will leave one woman on each side. They both have baseball bats. They'll likely attack one of us while we're distracted. Pick one and whack the shit our of them with your bat."

  Just then a gunshot got our attention. The clan leader had fired a shot into the air. "You have five seconds to decide!"

  "Okay!" I yelled back. Then to my girls, "All three of you together, slowly reach down and grab those decorative pebbles at our feet while we pretend to lower our weapons. When I say so, toss them to the right and take off running for your target on the left." Then again, to our foe, "I give up! Let me put down my spear!"

  I slowly dro
pped down in unison with the girls. I hoped it looked like we were going to surrender. Once they all three had a handful of pebbles I gave the command, "Now!"

  We apparently succeeded in surprising them. None of them had their weapon ready as the girls threw the small beige rocks to our right. With a wave of my arm I deflected them at high speed toward the eight enemies in that general direction. As we sprinted for the clan members by the left corner of our house, I heard two gunshots. I did my best to push them upwards as they approached, though I couldn't be sure where they were headed. Quickly after that were a few screams. It was in the distance, so I deduced that some of them fuckers were struck by our barrage of pebbles.

  The first four of our targets braced for battle, startled by our rush. The fifth was a young lady that was standing a little behind the other four all along, obviously less enthusiastic about fighting. She dropped her baseball as soon as we started her way and took off running in the other direction. Cool, that left us at just four on four.