Now the group had split into two, Reuben was reporting back to Dave and Travis every hour as well as Ayla, but he restricted himself to clicks. He’d only speak if he really needed to. They’d also agreed to conserve their resources as much as possible, although Travis had been certain the batteries wouldn’t need recharging in the three months they were scheduled to be here.
“This is not too heavy a load. I reckon we could take all the food and water this trip. Or at least, almost all of it,” said Yuri, looking at his pack and the amount of supplies left.
“I agree. Q Team has done an excellent job of packing things as light and compact as possible. It’s a pity the Army didn’t have them on board,” said Reuben.
“God yes. All those damn cans we carried, way back when,” added Kenan.
“Okay, let’s do it. But you have to be able to get to your weapon easily at all times,” Greg warned.
It took a little rearranging, but Yuri decided it’d be worth it to make fewer trips back and forth. Every time they broached a cache made it more likely someone would sense where they’d been and find their stores. The water was the heaviest item, but the food was comparatively light, so that made up for it.
“It’s within the standard load limit,” said Kenan, hefting his pack.
“I agree. Let’s go,” said Greg, checking the cache was well hidden once again.
Yuri led, and they made good time to a place they’d all earmarked as suitable for them to sleep. With only four of them, they weren’t prepared to light a fire, needing to keep their night vision intact and not wanting any scent of cooking food in the air either.
They quickly ate some raw fruit and vegetables and some cereal, and then Greg and Reuben slept while Kenan and Yuri took watch. Two hours on, two off was a punishing rhythm, but for a few days they could all cope with it.
Heavily laden, they couldn’t make such fast time, so they decided to stop when they found a safe sleeping place.
“There’s somewhere suitable near here,” Kenan breathed softly, taking the lead from Yuri.
Yuri nodded and dropped well back, his eyes never still, watching, watching.
About half an hour later Kenan signaled to a crack in the rock. They followed his lead, and the crack opened into a cave. The first cave led into a second cave, and in the second one was a fire pit that had been used, although not recently.
Yuri was instantly alert, shrugging off his packs and checking all the walls and even the roof, while Greg checked the floor. There were no other entries or exits, and it as obvious nothing had been touched for months, but it was still the first positive sign of other people they’d found.
Kenan and Reuben checked the outer cave again, finding nothing.
“I wonder whether this is a splinter group from Edu-Tech or whether they’ve gotten themselves a real leader at last,” murmured Kenan.
“Hard to tell. But it’s the first time there’s no hint of desperation or abandoned equipment. They obviously came and left in a reasoned, orderly fashion,” said Greg.
“It gives me hope that they—or at least some of them—are alive and safe,” added Reuben, snapping a few quick photographs to show the rest of their team and send back to Travis and Dave.
It was around noon the next day when the small group met up with Gideon and Lucas.
Yuri looked around through his sniperscope but saw no sign of Ruth. “Where are the others?” he asked.
“We’ve already checked the next tributary. It’s the cleanest water yet, but not completely pure. They’ve gone on to find us a good campsite. I’m guessing you four will need a decent night’s sleep tonight,” said Gideon.
The fell into line and kept marching, Yuri always watching for trouble. His instincts were not warning him of danger, but finding the fire pit was a warning of sorts. A disciplined group could be even more dangerous than a rabble. At least with a bunch of crazies they would likely give themselves away and just attack. A coordinated ambush by a sensible group might be a lot harder to defeat.
It was about an hour later when Yuri saw a rock formation that looked like the opening to a cave. He checked through the sniperscope but couldn’t be sure. However, when they got closer, Ayla silently appeared on the ledge and waved, then disappeared again.
Yuri stopped and scanned all around. If anyone was watching them…But he felt no other presence, and surely Ethan and Jed would have discouraged her from appearing if they’d seen danger. Nevertheless he found his pace automatically speeding up as they climbed up the path away from the lake.
And Ruth, he’d missed her quicksilver personality. Although they spoke only when necessary while on the march, she constantly flashed them all quirky looks and glances, nodding to rock formations or other things they passed. He’d missed her. He’d really missed her. His gut clenched and his dick hardened at the thought of seeing her soon.
* * * *
The cave was perfect. The entry was so narrow and low they had to crawl one at a time to get in, and the men had to remove their packs to fit through. The tunnel extended about six feet, opening into a small cave, just big enough for the ten of them and their equipment. Yuri realized why Ayla had been their messenger. She and Ruth would fit through the tunnel most easily of all of them, although he found out Ruth had been lying behind her with a rifle as Ayla’s backup.
When they were all inside, Yuri, Greg, Reuben, and Kenan gratefully removed their packs, while Ethan and Jed rolled a huge rock over the entry, wedging the narrow end of it into the gap and letting the bulk of it completely cover the hole.
“We only need one guard at a time. He sits on the rock, and even if he falls asleep on duty, anyone coming in has to move the rock, which is certain to wake him up. I think we should stay here two nights so we can all catch up on our rest. It’s the safest place we’ve found yet,” said Gideon.
“That sounds good,” said Greg, stretching his arms up high and wiggling his shoulders.
“Yeah, we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep, and I bet you got even less,” added Lucas.
While they were talking, the women had lit a fire of driftwood and were placing potatoes and meat on sticks over it.
“Where did the wood come from?” asked Greg.
“We found a small dead tree up the tributary we checked while you were gone and brought it back with us. There should be enough wood for us to cook with for two days, so it works out perfectly,” said Ruth.
They sat in a circle and unpacked the backpacks then repacked them, redistributing all the supplies while the food cooked.
Ruth was keen to see the photograph of the fire pit, but it gave her no extra information. Ethan said, “It looks like it was built by someone who knew what they were doing, but that may mean Boy Scout, not necessarily military.”
“Exactly,” said Gideon.
As soon as they’d eaten, everyone retired to their sleeping bags, watching the fire die down. Ruth snuggled into Yuri’s arms, breathing into his ear, “I missed you,” and pressing her pelvis against his.
Yuri’s dick instantly hardened, and he wanted her with a need that was almost pain. But the cave was quite small, and everyone else was close by. Could he take her in this situation?
Once again she rubbed herself against him, pushing her pussy against his cock and her nipples into his chest. She reached down inside his briefs to cup his erection. Well, it seemed like she knew what she wanted, and his dick sure wanted it, too.
He rolled her onto her back and tugged her shorts down. She kicked one leg free of them and pulled on his hips, bringing him closer to her. With relief, he held his tormented, aching dick at her cunt and drove into her. He had to bite his tongue not to moan with delight at her hot, wet welcome for him.
She linked her legs around his waist, digging her heels into his lower back, clasping him tight with her legs as well as her arms.
Encouraged, he slid out and pushed in, out and in, faster, harder, almost mad with the need to have her. Her hips met his every thrust, her legs and
arms holding him to her, her mouth pressed into his shoulder.
He wanted her so much, needed her so desperately, he knew it was going to be over very fast. But it seemed she wanted and needed him just as much. Ruth’s inner muscles grabbed his dick as she came around him, bathing him with her hot cream, milking him so hard he erupted inside her like a volcano.
Chapter Four
Their rest day was wonderful. After breakfast, as soon as the fire had died down and there would be no telltale smoke, Reuben and Kenan moved the rock away, and Yuri lay in the tunnel checking the area carefully through the sniperscope before going up onto the ledge to survey the area from there.
From then on they left one guard on duty lying almost totally in the tunnel, with just his head and the sniperscope outside for a good field of vision. Just before evening, Ethan, Lucas, and Greg patrolled the area, with Yuri on guard. There was no sign anyone had been around, so they returned inside, blocked the tunnel, and cooked a hot meal before having another early night.
Rested and refreshed, they set off again the next morning looking for the next tributary.
It was three days before they found another small stream feeding into the lake. Once again they followed it, but this time Ruth felt a sense of excitement and happiness. She couldn’t explain it. There was no logical reason why she felt the bubble of happiness, but nevertheless she was like a child before Christmas. She just knew something good was going to happen.
Around midmorning Reuben stopped them and pointed. He quickly snapped off a photograph of a tiny green plant near the water. Half an hour later there were some small patches of grass, and half an hour after that, a few tiny, straggly bushes.
Ruth found herself smiling constantly with happiness, sure some of the people would be found soon, safe and well.
It was Gideon who reminded them all, “If these people have made a home for themselves, they may not welcome visitors. They may think we’ve come to steal their supplies and shoot on sight. Be alert.”
Soberly, Ruth agreed he had a point. She would not appreciate someone breaking up her new community, especially as the people in charge when she’d been there had not shown much in the way of genuine leadership skills.
They walked on, following the tiny stream, and rounded a corner of rock walls. There in front of them was a small but very pretty waterfall, with grass and even small trees at the foot of it. It also seemed much too light for night vision goggles. Ruth pulled hers down, letting them hang around her neck, and realized she wasn’t just seeing phosphorescence from the water, but there was definitely light coming in from somewhere. She tilted her head up to the top of the waterfall and saw there was more light up there.
While she’d been watching, Ayla had tested the water running beside them. “One hundred percent pure,” she said happily.
“Do it again,” ordered Greg.
This time Jed stepped forward, collected the tester kit, and took a sample. “She’s right. No contaminants,” he reported.
“Well, we’ve found the right place, but are there people?” asked Kenan rhetorically.
“More to the point, if there are people, will they shoot us or talk to us?” said Ayla.
“Yuri, Greg, stand guard. Reuben, Ethan, check out behind the waterfall. Ayla, Ruth, guard all the packs. Lucas, you check right for a path upward, and I’ll check left,” said Gideon.
Kenan and Jed also took up guard positions while the others started their searches. Reuben and Ethan came back soaking wet but convinced there was no pathway behind the waterfall.
It was Lucas who found faint traces of people having been there. Some rock chipped away, a plant that had been broken but was growing again. “It’s probably been a few months, but people definitely came this way,” he said.
Gideon stared at the cliff. “Hmm. It’s not an easy climb, but it’s doable. I’d suggest hammering some spikes into the cliff and using our rope ladders, but that would make it even more obvious we’d been here, which is likely not what these people want. So we’ll just have to do it the hard way. Rope together and climb. Strongest climbers first and last, weakest in the middle.”
Ruth was an experienced rock climber, but was quite happy not to lead. After a bit of discussion, Jed led, and Greg brought up the rear. Ayla was tucked away in the middle between Ethan and Kenan, but Ruth was second last, after Lucas and before Greg.
It wasn’t a difficult climb. The knobby rock surface made finding hand- and footholds the correct distance apart not too difficult. Less than an hour later they’d reached the top and were looking around. They’d all removed their night vision goggles before climbing. Although the light was not bright, it was good enough to see clearly, rather like the level of light on a dark, rainy winter’s day. Except that the temperature was a pleasant one, not too warm for the physical effort of climbing with packs, but not too cold when standing still either.
In fact, thought Ruth, this would not be a bad place to live. The most important thing, clean water, was readily available. There was evidence plants would grow, so settlers would have food security. And after the darkness of the earlier parts of the cave system, the level of light here was perfectly adequate. Now, where were the people?
The men had spread out to search for any signs of a community of people, so they walked forward, following the small river, ever alert. It was more than an hour later when they reached what appeared to be a blank rock wall. Reuben waved to one area that was a darker color of rock, and everyone followed him. Yuri and Lucas were both hyperalert, their sniperscopes at their eyes, their gazes constantly moving around, but Ruth still had a bubble of happiness inside. Somehow she just knew all would be well.
Gideon signaled them to wait while he and Reuben checked the dark rock. Ruth guessed it would be the entry into another cave or part of the cave system. The river went through right near there, so that was the way to go, she was certain.
She sat on a rock, letting her pack slide to her feet. Even though the men had taken the bulk of the extra supplies, she was noticing how much heavier her pack was. Of course, now they’d found fresh water, they wouldn’t need to carry so much water, but they’d still need enough to get back to the cave exit to go home, so she had to continue to carry it.
She wiggled her shoulders and stretched her arms and her back. These few weeks of daily walking had been great for getting her fit again. Back before the end of the world, she’d loved hiking. In some ways she was really enjoying the walk, although worrying about being shot was rather different from worrying about seeing a scorpion or rattlesnake, previously her biggest concerns. Also, she was getting a lot of very acrobatic sex. That had to be keeping her toned and fit, too. She giggled quietly. Despite the circumstances, the men had managed to make love with her a surprising number of times, mostly one at a time, although several times she’d had one in her cunt and one her mouth. She was looking forward to being in a bed again though, so she could just cuddle with them all at once. And triple penetration—that was the ultimate possession, the most carnal of all erotic experiences.
Gideon was signaling again, so she stood up, pulling her pack on again, and took her place in the line moving toward the rock face. Just as she’d expected, the darkness was sharp turn where a narrow passage did an S bend before opening out into—a grassy field!
Wow! It was unbelievable. They were deep underground, and this was like something from a movie scene. Then she realized it wasn’t grass. It was a crop of some kind. They had found the survivors. Well, their crops anyway.
Ruth tilted her head right back and looked up. The cave ceiling was a long way up, three or even four stories, she guessed, and the roof seemed quite light, almost white, or pale yellow, with cracks where much brighter light shone through. Could they actually be near the surface? Surely not. There’d been no sense of increasing elevation apart from the one cliff they’d climbed by the waterfall. Of course, they had been going upstream from the lake, but it was hard to believe they’d be at surface l
evel yet. Although the light coming through from the roof seemed to contradict her general feelings. Maybe they were back almost to the surface.
In that case, shouldn’t the ground be polluted by nuclear debris from the radiation cloud that passed overhead? Ruth wished some of the scientists were with them instead of back at Lilyward One. She was coming up with far more questions than answers here.
With the men in guard positions, they moved on through the valley or cave or whatever it was, and Ruth understood they were gradually rising although the land itself seemed relatively flat. But she was pretty sure the ceiling wasn’t getting lower, so the ground had to be rising.
The green crop ended, and they came to a series of raised vegetable beds with tomatoes, corn, and beans growing. There was a sort of aquifer here, too, with a tiny spout that had a stopper at the end, where water could be poured out into narrow channels between the crops, irrigating them.
“Damn, that’s clever,” said Ethan softly.
“Well, if they weren’t smart, this community would never have survived. But I wonder if it’s Edu-Tech people or locals from this area,” said Jed.
“We’re about to find out,” warned Yuri.
A group of children was running toward them chattering and waving. They all had short hair and wore jeans and T-shirts, so Ruth didn’t know whether they were boys or girls, but she remembered Sharon, from Edu-Tech, had come down here with her brother Joel, her sister-in-law, Cicely, and all their kids.
Ruth pushed her way through the group to stand beside Yuri at the front of them. She heard Lucas and Jed muttering at her but ignored them.
As the children got closer to them, she waved and said, “Are you Sharon and Joel’s children?”
“I’m Mike. Joel’s my dad. Who are you?”
“Hi, Mike. I’m Ruth. I used to work with Sharon at Edu-Tech.”
The smallest child said gravely, “Mommy said the people at Edu-Tech are fucking lunatics.”
Ruth hid a grin. “Yes. Some of them were pretty stupid. Can you take my friends and me to see your folks, please?”
Brown, Berengaria - Raw Want [Raw Claiming 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
