“Is everyone like that?” Mirabelle asked, twisting her skewer over the fire to evenly cook the disks. “In the future I mean.”
“I may be a bit less concerned than others. Been in a lot of commercials wearing not very much at all. Plus, I’ve never been self-conscious. We had a pool growing up and I always used to swim naked, then run around afterward until I dried off. And our backyard didn’t even have a fence.”
“I guess I’d be showing off too if I had a body like yours,” Mirabelle said.
“It’s not showing off, it’s being comfortable with myself. And body like mine? What about you? You look like a goddess.”
“Whatever,” Mirabelle muttered, staring at her roasting tuber.
Eliza scooted over next to her, placing an arm around her shoulder. “You do.” She looked up at Cal. “What do you think?”
“I think everyone here knows how I feel about how she looks.”
“Yes,” Imogen said dryly, “we’ve all heard you two.”
Even in the firelight Cal could see Mirabelle’s cheeks flush. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Let’s play a game,” Eliza suggested.
Mirabelle shrugged. “Sure, whatever.”
“I’ll start. Truth or dare?”
“Whoa,” Mirabelle said, looking up. “We’re not playing truth or dare.”
“Why not?”
“Because it always turns…” She trailed off, too embarrassed to finish.
“Sexual?” Eliza asked, an eyebrow arched.
“Yes.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.” She looked to Cal. “You have a problem with that?”
“None whatsoever.”
She looked at Imogen. “What about you?”
“I’m not playing.”
“Great, spoilsport. Don’t have any fun.” She looked at Mirabelle. “So, Mirabelle, truth or dare?”
“I’m not playing either.”
Eliza sighed. “Fine. Cal, truth or dare?”
He looked around, settling on Rufus for some reason.
“He’s not going to help you,” Eliza chuckled. “Now come on. Truth or dare?”
He sighed. “Dare, I guess.”
“You guess? You aren’t sounding very much like a superhero.”
He shrugged.
“Fine. Dare.” She tapped her lip, thinking. Her eyes lit up, a mischievous grin crossing her face. “Let’s start easy. I dare you to kiss Mirabelle.”
“I said I’m not playing.”
“Come on, don’t be a bad sport. Besides, not like you haven’t kissed him before. We all know just how much you have and have enjoyed it.”
“In private.”
“Oh, honey, it’s not private at all.”
Mirabelle set down her skewer and threw up her hands. “Whatever, fine. Go ahead, kiss me. Not like I can be any more embarrassed.”
Eliza laughed. “You are so cute.”
“Thanks,” Mirabelle said, half grudgingly, but also half appreciative.
Cal moved over to her and gave her a quick kiss.
“What is she, your sister? Give her a real kiss.”
Both Cal and Mirabelle groaned, but they did, starting to giggle as they made out.
They finally broke apart and Cal went to sit back down.
“All right, my turn,” he said.
“I bet I can guess what yours is going to be,” Imogen muttered.
Cal paid her no heed. “Eliza, I dare you to make out with Mirabelle.”
“That’s not how it works. You have to ask truth or dare.”
“Damn. Was hoping you wouldn’t notice. Fine, truth or dare?”
Eliza grinned wide. “Dare.”
26
They all sat around the fire, silently cooking their potatoes.
Eliza and Mirabelle had at first kissed quickly, but then Cal had used the same line Eliza had used on him about them being sisters.
So they’d started really making out, both giggling uncontrollably at first.
But slowly the giggles subsided and it turned into something more, perhaps because Eliza was already naked.
Eliza’s hands had gone to Mirabelle’s face, but Mirabelle’s had sought out other parts, settling on Eliza’s bare buttocks as Eliza settled atop Mirabelle’s lap.
Soon Cal and Imogen were just staring as the two women made out for several minutes, hands moving over bodies, groping and squeezing.
When they finally pulled away, both were breathing hard, their cheeks and chests flushed.
Now they all sat staring at each other.
“Wow,” Mirabelle said. “That was…”
“You kissed a girl and you liked it,” Cal said.
They all looked at him and he realized none of them were from a time period where they would get the reference.
Back when he was just starting out as an actor, he’d gone to some big producer’s house for a party. Somehow, he’d ended up the only one left at the end of the night. The producer sat with him on a sofa, drunkenly relaying his life story. At one point, he’d spent a good twenty minutes lamenting about his new wife’s—who at thirty had been a good twenty years younger than him—lack of awareness of pop culture from when he had been growing up.
Now Cal knew how he had felt. Though instead of it being from a large age gap, it was due to circumstances more out of his control—namely time travel, even though that explanation still felt wrong to him.
Mirabelle’s eyes flicked down to Cal’s crotch, then back up to his face.
He looked down and realized Richard had poked his head out for some fresh air.
He quickly covered himself, saw Imogen looking, then looked at Eliza, but she was just staring at Mirabelle.
“I think I like you,” Eliza said to Mirabelle.
Mirabelle covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God. This is so awkward.”
“So,” Imogen said, trying not to grin. “Who’s next?”
27
Cal couldn’t get his mind off Eliza and Mirabelle’s kiss, and thus had to keep one hand in his lap to keep things covered.
When they finished and the time came to decide on who would keep watch, Cal was happy to let Imogen do it.
He and Mirabelle went to their moss bed on the other side of the tree, out of sight and also not lit by the fire.
Cal moved to get on top of her.
She pushed him away. “What are you doing?”
He grinned at her and pulled off his loincloth.
She shook her head. “I don’t feel like it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? After that?”
“I know you’re all from the future and it sounds like it’s different, but that was weird and uncomfortable for me.”
“Uncomfortable? Didn’t seem uncomfortable.”
She sighed. “I know. That’s the problem.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I liked it.”
“So?”
“So that makes me uncomfortable.”
Cal moved off of her. “All right.” He rolled onto his back and looked up at the tree canopy, trying to ignore his erection.
“You can still hold me,” she said imploringly after several moments.
Cal almost didn’t, but that would be petty and childish, so he rolled onto his side and draped an arm over her. He pressed his nose into her neck and inhaled.
She giggled. “That tickles.”
He kissed the back of her neck and she pressed herself against him.
They spooned together, Mirabelle not saying anything about his erection pressing into her.
And though he really wanted to have sex, he soon drifted off to sleep, comforted by her warmth against his body, the rise and fall of her chest, and the quiet sounds of her breath.
28
Cal woke suddenly, his heart racing, adrenaline coursing through his body, but at first he didn’t know why.
Then he realized Imogen was screaming something.
He shot up from bed, Mirabelle blearily getting up as well, and moved around the tree to see Imogen fending off one of those monsters.
“Get your bow and arrows,” he told Mirabelle, then dashed over to the spears and grabbed one, saw Eliza getting up and going for a spear as well.
He rushed over to help Imogen and roared as he rammed the spear at the monster, but it leapt away, jumping high into the air.
Then kept going.
His mouth dropped open as he realized what he was seeing.
This creature looked just like the other monsters, except for one key difference: In place of those long talon-tipped limbs jutting up from their backs, this one had wings.
“Oh shit.”
Something whizzed by overhead and an arrow bounced off of the monster’s carapace. It screeched, but was uninjured, the arrow falling harmlessly to the ground.
Mirabelle came up beside them, nocking another arrow, but the monster flew away, ducking out of sight behind the gate and palisade before she could get a shot off.
“What the hell?” Cal said. “Where’d that come from?”
“I don’t know,” Imogen answered.
Cal saw Eliza had joined them, looking half-asleep. “Do either of you have a message in your interface?”
Both Mirabelle and Eliza shook their heads.
“There might have been one,” Eliza said, “but they go away after a bit, so we wouldn’t have seen it. It’s never happened while we’ve been sleeping. Not that I know of.”
Cal rushed over to the gate and peered over it, but didn’t see anything.
He turned to look back at the women. “Looks like it was just that one.”
“Makes sense,” Mirabelle said. “Whatever that was, could fly. The others—”
She stopped, her eyes widening, and Cal turned to see now not one, but four of this new type of monster flying toward them.
Another arrow flew into the pack but as one they split apart and it passed through the group without hitting.
Mirabelle cursed. “This bow’s not powerful enough.”
Cal looked over the gate again and now saw monsters coming up the path. “Incoming!” he shouted. “Get ready. I’m going to check the other side.”
They formed a defensive line as he ran to the front path, dodging around an impossibly still-sleeping Rufus, and peered over the gate.
Nothing there. At least this time they’d put their defenses on the rear path. So far that was the only way the monsters had come up, even though it was the steeper of the two ways to get to the hilltop.
Cal ran back as Mirabelle launched arrows at the incoming flying monsters. It was slowing them down, but none were piercing their carapaces.
“Aim for the wings,” Imogen suggested.
Mirabelle nodded firmly, adjusted aim, and let loose.
The arrow pierced one of the creature’s wings and it let out that metal on metal screech as it began losing altitude, chaotically spiraling down.
Right toward the four humans.
29
The other flying monsters let out screeches of sympathy and dove, but these were controlled descents, unlike the first.
“Look out!” Cal shouted and dove out of the way as the creatures divebombed them.
The three uninjured monsters pulled up at the last moment and went to either side around the big tree, but the fourth with the damaged wing collided into the ground.
Cal pushed himself up and ran over to it, hopping back as the thing lashed out, scrabbling to get to its feet.
But with the spear, his reach was longer, and he jabbed it down at the monster’s head.
It skittered off of its hard carapace and went into the dirt.
He cursed and stabbed at it again, this time aiming carefully for its eye.
He hit his mark and the monster screamed out.
Cal grunted and put all his considerable and upgraded strength into forcing the spear all the way through, feeling, as well as hearing, the crack as it pierced the other side and sunk into the soft soil of the hilltop.
The spear snapped from the force, but the creature now lay still and silent.
Dead.
He turned to go grab another spear, but Eliza had already gotten one. “Catch.”
He caught it and turned, scanning the sky for the others, but didn’t see them. “Keep an eye out for the flying ones,” he said, moving to the gate to check on the ones that had been coming up the path.
He cursed at what he saw. The monsters were prevented from trying to climb the gate by the spikes they had added, but they wouldn’t be for long: they were using their talons to hack the spikes away.
So these things weren’t entirely stupid then.
He got on the steps beside the gate to give him a longer reach and stabbed his spear down at the nearest of the monsters, aiming at a gap around a joint.
He felt a satisfying pop as the spear sunk in and the creature screeched and pulled back, yanking the spear from his grasp as it lost its footing and tumbled back down the steep path.
They could only fit two abreast, and so this caused it to smash into the ones waiting behind it, knocking them to the sides.
He had a brief glimmer of hope that they would fall off the sides, but they dug in their talons, catching themselves before they could.
Even the one he’d stabbed righted itself, shook its head, knocked the spear out from where it was stuck near its shoulder, then charged back up to the gate to join the one still left, as behind it the others came back as well.
Then he frowned. There were only five monsters here. Where were the others?
Four flying ones… So if this wave had again doubled and there were sixteen total, then with the five here, that left seven unaccounted for.
He stared down at the monsters as they grew closer to the gate, now having cut almost all the spikes down or yanked them out.
Were the others flying ones as well? he wondered, and started to look up.
Then someone screamed.
30
That answered where the other seven were.
They had come around the front.
Two were now climbing over that gate as Eliza shouted and threw her spear at one of them.
Her aim was true and the spear thumped into the thing’s chest just as it was about to make it over.
It was knocked back and twisted into the second one that was climbing over, causing them both to fall off.
But another quickly took their place.
Imogen cursed and both she and Cal launched their own spears, but they were no Eliza when it came to throwing and only Imogen’s hit, and even then only grazed the creature.
Still, it was enough to cause it to stumble as it fell into their base.
Its momentum carried right into Rufus, who until this point had been asleep despite the commotion, his own snoring possibly drowning it out.
He popped his head up sleepily, eyes barely open, a thick string of drool trailing down from his closed mouth, his tongue poking out the side.
He huffed, then realized what had just hit him and instantly leapt to his feet and pounced.
“Rufus!” Eliza shouted, her voice laced with fear.
The alien dog sunk its huge jaws into the monster’s chest. There was a loud crack and an explosion of ichor splattered his blue fur and the ground around them as he easily pierced through its hard carapace.
“They’re back!” Mirabelle shouted and Cal turned to see the flying ones divebombing again.
Imogen knocked into Cal. He was big and strong, and so the move didn’t knock him far, but it was enough that they avoided being taken out by one of the divebombing flying creatures.
Mirabelle—having herself gone to the ground and now lying on her back—took aim with her still-loaded bow, leading the creature as it pulled up, then let loose just as it slowed to change direction.
The arrow flew true, landing in what looked like the thing’s ass.
By the screech it let o
ut, Cal thought that this might just be where it had landed.
The creature screamed as it fell from the sky, disappearing beyond the edge of the hilltop, and a moment later a thud echoed up to them from it crashing to the ground below.
Two flying ones down, two left. With the one Rufus had killed, that left thirteen total remaining.
He popped to his feet and saw Rufus had moved to the second alien that had made it into the base and was now facing off with it as it lashed out at him.
It was fast, but so was Rufus, and every time it slashed at him, he dodged back, growling that diesel-engine rumble the whole time.
Eliza stood ready with her spear raised, waiting for an opening to throw it at the monster where she wouldn’t risk hitting Rufus. Most of her leaves had fallen off, and Cal saw blood running from the wound on her lower abdomen.
“What the hell,” Imogen said in confusion and annoyance.
Cal turned to see monsters now climbing the rear gate.
“They chopped the spikes away,” Cal explained, then rushed forward to the currently unguarded rear gate to keep out the newcomers.
“Eliza,” Imogen said, “you guard the front gate with Rufus. Mirabelle, take out the flying ones. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“Got it.”
Imogen moved to join Cal as he fended off the ones trying to climb over the rear gate.
They managed to take out two, but then a third one leapt over their heads and for a moment Cal thought it could fly, but no, it just had strong legs.
He didn’t understand. The ones that had trapped him and Mirabelle in the tree on his first day here couldn’t even jump far enough to leap up the seven or so feet at the lowest branch.
These looked exactly the same, but had they perhaps gotten stronger too?
No time to dwell on it now. He turned to deal with the intruder only to find it already leaping at him.
Survivor: World of Monsters 2 Page 8
