by Darrell Bain
Jamie came back to consciousness a little later as the short lived soporific effects of the pain killer wore off. He found his arm encased in splints, with bandages showing beneath. The side of his face felt raw; he touched it and felt the stiffness of another bandage there. Woggly and Fuzzy Britches were hovering nearby. He hugged them both. Judy was standing by his side, apparently no longer worried by the possibility of more fighting. He got to his feet, feeling preternaturally alert from the analgesic and healing medications coursing through his bloodstream.
“Take it easy,” Judy said. “You'll be all right, but don't try to move too fast; you'll fall on your face. We can take the splints off tomorrow and you'll be carrying a pack again the day after."
Jamie grinned foolishly. It was almost worth getting hurt to be rid of the hated pack for a couple of days. “Where's Kristi? Is she all right?"
“Here she comes, now,” Judy said, pointing.
Kristi had a peculiar look on her face, as if she had just read some directions on a container which made no sense. “No back rub tonight,” she said as she came up.
“I'm beginning to think I'll never get one. What happened? Why were we attacked? Did we lose anyone?"
She held up a hand. “One question at a time. It was bears and feral humans, probably the remnants of an old circus group that stayed together when things went bad. It takes a lot of food to feed a group of animals that size. The humans probably talked them into an attack in hopes of capturing some weapons to make hunting easier."
“Did they get any? I lost my own."
“Probably. We have three missing. There's not much hope for them. Look, Jamie, I have to go. Troy is sending me back for a new briefing. For some reason, they don't want to send it through an open channel on the radio. I just wanted to ask you to let Lady and Princess stay with you while I'm gone."
“Sure,” he agreed. “When will you be back?"
“By tomorrow, I hope. Forsyth is missing. Why don't you and Judy team up for tonight?"
“I'll watch him,” Judy told her.
Kristi gave Jamie a quick hug and ran back in the direction of the floaters. A few minutes later they climbed into the sky. Masters marshaled the new men, gave them their assignments and moved the column forward once again. The bears and their feral humans had broken off the fight with the arrival of reinforcements.
One of the floaters carrying Kristi sheared off from the others as they neared the enclave and dropped her at the nearest landing spot by the security building. She walked the rest of the way, still wearing her gear and pack. She drew some curious stares, but no comments.
Whitmire was waiting and immediately began filling her in on Jeannie's adventures. He looked very tired, but his voice was as strong as ever. “I hope you see now why I wanted to bring you back to relay the information. Tell no one but Captain Masters the whole story, but have him let the rest of the troops in on enough of it that they will know what to expect. Be prepared to go out in the morning as soon as the fog has had time to lift. I'll send the best pilot available to follow the projected route and try to locate them; if not, you'll have to wait for Masters to call in.
“Got it. Anything else?"
“As a matter of fact, there is. Why don't you try to contact Jeannie this evening and see if you can talk her out of joining the expedition? Not that I think you'll have much success."
“Let me call from here. I'll see if I can get her to come to my place. She will want to know about Jamie anyway."
“I know,” Whitmire said wearily. “She's been calling every day asking about him. She's such a sweet, refreshing girl that I can't bring myself to refuse her calls, even when I'm swamped with other things."
“She is sweet. I'll talk to her."
Whitmire raised a cynical eyebrow. “Just talk?"
“Mind your own business,” Kristi said.
“I don't want to see her get hurt."
“You don't know women near as well as you think you do, John. Let me make that call. I'm tired."
Kristi contacted Jeannie and made arrangements for her to come to her own apartment, putting off her questions with difficulty. She shouldered her pack and left, wishing John Whitmire didn't know her so well. On the other hand, maybe he didn't. She had changed a little in the last week or so.
* * *
CHAPTER 17
Kristi barely had time to get to her place and set out drinks with half a liter of vodka and juice before the door meowed at her in Princess’ voice (which she had recorded in preference to the conventional chime). She let Jeannie in, noticing her tight face and lack of the minimal makeup that most Enclave women wore. She was dressed in the conventional coveralls with sleeves rolled up, and her dark hair appeared faintly damp, as if she had just recently showered.
“Hi!” Kristi greeted her. “I hear you've been having as many adventures as we have."
“I don't think I want to talk about that anymore. It's only by luck that I'm still here. Why are you back? Is Jamie all right?"
“He's fine now. Here, sit down and drink this and I'll tell you.” She poured a generous dollops of the vodka into the waiting juice, stirred and handed it to her.
Jeannie took two sips of the drink before the implication of the remark struck her. She turned her face inquiringly. “What do you mean, ‘now'? Has he been hurt?"
“He was injured in a fight we had, but it was nothing serious, just a broken arm and a few scrapes."
“Nothing but a broken arm! Oh, I just knew he'd get hurt! Are you sure he's OK? Are Fuzzy Britches and Woggly all right?"
Kristi thought the more of her for including the pets in her concern. and more of Jamie by implication. “They didn't even get a scratch.” She carefully made no mention of the deaths and other casualties, seeing how upset the young woman already was.
“Thank goodness. Oh, I wish I had been there. Maybe I could have helped. I'm going to join him, you know."
“Yes, John Whitmire told me how you held him up. But Jeannie, please think about it. It's not safe out there. The fight we had with those feral humans and bears wasn't usual, or even expected, but that's why we patrol away from the enclave: to find the unusual before it finds us, and try to cope with it."
Jeannie began crying, unable to help herself. “I don't care, I'm still going. If it's all that dangerous, I want to be with him.” She wiped her face, leaving wet streaks across her cheeks.
Kristi put a comforting arm around her until the emotional spasm passed, then encouraged her to finish her drink. She poured another for her, not quite so strong this time. “Jeannie, would you mind sitting here for a little while and let me get cleaned up a bit? I haven't had a real bath in a week."
“Go ahead—or should I go on home? You must be tired.” She examined the ranger woman as she stood up. Her coveralls were streaked with dirt and other matter, and her blond hair hung in unwashed strands.
“Stay here. I'll enjoy the company. Relax and drink your drink. I won't be long."
A few minutes later Kristi came out of the shower, unselfconsciously nude, her hair straight and still dark with water. She opened a closet and pulled on a thin short robe and wrapped it around her, tying the belt loosely, careless of the considerable cleavage it displayed. She sat down by Jeannie on the lounger and refilled their glasses again, leaving only a little of the liquor in the bottle. She eyed the remains, knowing how long it might be before it could be replaced.
Jeannie sipped at her third drink, still upset, but beginning to relax under the warming influence of the alcohol. She glanced around at the small apartment, thinking how well it suited Kristi's personality and profession. It was larger than her own one-room abode, and touches had been added which made it seem more virile, less feminine, but homey and comfortable all the same. The back rest of the large lounger they sat on was draped with a beautifully tanned deer hide and a spotted wildcat skin graced the smaller one across the room. A large skin she didn't recognize spread over the carpeted floor. Her s
pare laserifle was racked on animal horns set into the wall, with the belt holding her sidearm and knife dangling from a prong. A peaceful forest scene was being imaged across the room from them. As she watched, a young woman as bereft of clothes as any new born babe wandered into view, followed by several scampering kittens. The woman lay down upon a green expanse of moss and began playing with the kittens, giving out little tinkling laughs as they crawled and tumbled over her breasts and belly.
Jeannie smiled at the antics of the kittens. “I'm sorry I got so upset. I feel better now."
“You had a right to be upset, almost being raped and murdered along with worrying about Jamie, but you can relax, now. I promise you he's fine, and so are the pets."
“You're sure? What if something else happens before I get there?"
Kristi turned and put a hand on the back of Jeannie's neck. “I wouldn't tell you they are safe if I didn't think so. I'm watching out for him, and I do care about him, too, you know, even if you are his first love."
She kneaded Jeannie's neck with her fingers. She kept them in place as Jeannie reached forward to pick up her glass. Jeannie finished the last of it, hoping that Kristi was telling the truth, in both senses of the word. As she leaned back, Kristi's arm curled around her shoulders. She accepted the comforting embrace, dropping her head to rest against the warm shoulder and closing her eyes.
Kristi used her other hand to stroke Jeannie's back, feeling out the tensely ridged muscles with her fingers and kneading them into smoothness.
“Mmm. That feels good,” Jeannie murmured, eyes still closed. The unaccustomed alcohol and the deftness of Kristi's strong fingers playing along her spine and under her shoulder blades and on the back of her neck made her feel drowsy and languid and safe again. Her recent experience with Cadena receded as if it were nothing more than a bad dream. She cuddled closer into Kristi's strong arms, enjoying the petting.
Kristi gently kissed her earlobe and the side of her neck and moved to the downy softness of her cheek. Jeannie turned her face in a natural reaction to the touch and felt the feathery softness of Kristi's lips touching hers, tentatively at first, then the pressure increased. As if it belonged to another person, Jeannie felt her hand raise and run up along Kristi's upper arm, then curl around her neck to tighten the embrace. She shifted her body to move closer, aware of what was happening now, but with no will nor desire to resist. She parted her lips obediently in response to Kristi's questing tongue, allowing the warm moistness to enter and explore at will. Kristi whispered a commanding phrase to the lounger and the back rest descended, carrying them with it until they lay stretched out together. She moved her hand down along the contour of Jeannie's waist and over the curve of her hip then back up again to pause at her breasts. Her fingers lingered there, feeling out the seam of the suit. She ran her fingers along it, parting the fabric, then slid her hand inside.
Jeannie shivered at the touch. She let herself be undressed, then lay back while Kristi shrugged off her wrap. She accepted another lingering kiss, the lips sweet and close against her own, tasting faintly of mint, and softer, more resilient than a man's. There was a dichotomy to her thoughts as she moved her hands over Kristi's back and met the liquid dance of her tongue with her own. She was enjoying the comfort and the increasing arousal of her body, but she couldn't help but make comparisons; her experience and orientation had been entirely heterosexual other than a few girlish experiments years ago. When Kristi's hand slid under the slope of her breast and curled to enclose it, her palm and fingers felt as soft as her own might be in places, but callused in others like a man's. Kristi's back was sleekly muscled, but her skin was soft and smooth to the touch.
Kristi's lips moved down to nuzzle in the hollow of her neck, then shifted again. Jeannie gave a small delightful gasp as Kristi enveloped a breast with her mouth. The nipple came instantly erect as Kristi swirled her tongue around it. A warm, tingling sensation spread from her breasts, flowing down across her belly and coming to rest between her thighs. She passed her hands back and forth over Kristi's back, lost now in the urgent necessity for release, differences forgotten. She pulled the other woman over her, parting her legs to let her settle between them, feeling her breasts flatten under the weight. Kristi moved to nurse at her breasts until they glistened with moisture, then trailed her lips downward. Jeannie felt the first, exquisite touch of her tongue, then remembered little else as the heat of her body rose and exploded inside her in a long, continuous burst of fire and flame.
Jeannie slowly came back to awareness with the feel of Kristi holding her in a loose embrace, an arm under her neck and her hand resting like a warm pad on her stomach, fingers playing idly in a light scratching motion. She sighed pleasantly, but didn't quite trust her voice yet, nor know exactly what to say if she did. The experience had been enjoyable and the release certainly satisfying, but she felt a vague uneasiness at having been made love to outside Jamie's orbit, and by another woman at that, but perhaps the odd emotion was simply a reflection of the fact that the other woman had almost certainly made love with Jamie since she had.
“You're awfully quiet,” Kristi said, tickling with her fingers.
Jeannie covered the hand resting on her body with her own. “I feel funny,” she admitted.
“It was your first time with a woman, wasn't it?"
“Yes, but that's not really it. I expected to try it someday—it just came sooner than I expected."
“You liked it though, didn't you?"
Jeannie squeezed her hand. “Yes, I did. It was different, but it felt good."
Kristi moved her hand to Jeannie's breast. “I'm glad. You're a sweet girl; I could fall in love with you as easily as not."
“I like you,” Jeannie said, “but I'm already in love with Jamie. I can't wait to see him again."
“I know that, sweetheart. Jamie is a wonderful guy, one of the few men I really like. He's so unpretentious that it's almost unbelievable, and a considerate lover as well. That's rare in a man. If he weren't already in love with you, he would tempt me to change my luck permanently."
Jeannie turned to face her. “I thought you two would get together. His last girl friend was a blonde, too."
Kristi laughed. “You're still just a tad jealous, aren't you? Don't be. He still thinks of you first, and I suspect he will for a long time to come, but that doesn't mean we can't all stay friendly, or more than friendly, for that matter."
Somehow, Jeannie thought they would. In little more than a week, their lives had already become entangled to a degree she would not have thought possible only a few short days ago. She stretched, reveling at the release of tension she felt, then a thought occurred to her. “Did you—” She lost her voice and felt a blush suffuse her face and neck.
Kristi chuckled and hugged her fondly. “No, I was concentrating on your reactions, but don't worry about it; it was pleasant enough for me."
“Would you like me to—” Jeannie's voice failed her again, and the blush renewed itself, more furious than before.
“Let's turn the question around. Would you like to? That's the only way I could enjoy it."
Jeannie buried her face against Kristi's body, unable to answer, but the softness of the hollow of her neck against her lips made her decide to act. She sought Kristi's lips and ran her tongue into her mouth. She pulled her close, feeling their breasts rub silkily together as their bodies merged. She held Kristi in the embrace for a moment, then shifted just enough to bring her hand to Kristi's breast. She held and caressed it as she liked her own to be touched, then tentatively moved to take it into her mouth. She admired the small pink nipple, so different from her own brown ones. She moved her lips over and around the pebbled softness. A thought entered her mind and she stopped, trying to stifle a giggle.
“Is something the matter,” Kristi asked, puzzled.
“No. I just happened to think, it's sort of like going down on a man, except that it's softer and there's more of it."
Kristi laug
hed. “It's not all soft. Try it again and see."
Jeannie closed her mouth over the breast again, using her tongue this time, and felt the pebbly softness of the nipple grow larger and become slickly erect. After an interlude which seemed both short and deliciously long, her lips moved down along Kristi's smoothly muscled belly and past the little well of her navel. She felt out the widening expanse of her hips, then her mouth was tickled by the first brush of blonde nestled curls. Delicately, she parted them with her tongue. The upwards surge of Kristi's body and firm pressure of her hands on the back of her neck guided her to the point she was seeking, then the sounds and movements of the other woman's body dictated her actions afterwards.
Jeannie slept very soundly that night, snuggled in Kristi's strong arms, fears forgotten.
* * *
CHAPTER 18
The expedition ran into an unexpected bit of luck. Conan reported that he recognized a new stretch of highway which he had traveled on for four days. Masters immediately made plans for an airlift along that stretch, calculating the minimum distance Conan might have traveled so as not to overrun his memory. When the floater dropped out of the sky bringing Kristi back with her news, he immediately sent back a request for enough floaters to jump them forward a full sixty miles, bringing them to within striking distance of the old city of Shreveport, near where he estimated Conan must have begun his journey.
