by Marcus Sloss
“So next golden portal we might have captured humans popping out of Denver Xgates, assuming they risked death and did not give in to a contract?”
“Anything is possible. More likely they are running from the Xgates as of twelve hours ago. What portals did this Denver place get?”
“Pigri and XLroaches. I forget the other. The—”
“Those XLroaches are nasty. Our tribes would band together to stop their spread. They do not take prisoners. The pigri are a great species to contract. They normally raid based on the orders of a master,” Daphne said while wagging a finger in the air.
“This information makes me want to go to Denver now. We will wait, though. Tomorrow morning. So, Daphne… if we allow you to build towers for homes, we allocate resources to help daily tasks and give you full citizen status… will you contract to not leave the community for a new home?”
“Not how it works. But I will talk with my crixxi. They will probably agree that this is a fine new home worthy of staying around to improve and thrive with. Most seem very happy here already,” Daphne said before hugging Perci. The short woman was folded into the crixxi. “I love how cute you humans are.”
“Let us know what you decide; until then, keep on working. Thanks for the information, Daphne. I would like it if you could help our big brain team we call S2.”
“Sounds easy enough. I will go construct this bathhouse. Sounds like my kind of place.”
“I think she winked at you— Yup, she is sashaying her hips. What is it with you and women, Eric?” Perci asked with a snicker and bouncing eyebrows. “Some quick updates: Jill decided to stay with us in the RV even though she felt like she should leave.”
“Huh? Why would she need to leave?”
“She is a married woman hitting on a man with three lovers. Some might say she was voraciously hungry for master’s cock,” Perci said, grabbing my left ass cheek roughly. I kissed my feisty little minx. “We laughed about it, she cried. We soothed her and she is staying. Really, we love having her around. I get some women view the sharing-their-man thing as audacious blasphemy, but we are happy and content. Her stone control has her head straight, as she put it. Side note, did you notice my boobs?”
“Um… no. Guilty here, when I looked over at you and Jill talking, I saw both you girls fighting. She has that new bust, but yours seems smaller now—”
“My implants fell out,” Perci blurted. I comforted her with a hug. She pulled me tighter. “I am fine with it. I noticed your muscles are mighty yummy. You've been hitting the gym, soldier?”
“Changes. Now, tell me about my tavers officer,” I said choosing to hold her in the middle of the path. Norm and Tina walked by for the farm field. We exchanged high fives. The two were rapidly talking with playful interactions. “They seem happy. Did she go in for stone control?”
“Nope, Derek is super happy too. The tavers officer is between three choices. Here you go.”
“Give them all an eight-hour shift. Best producer wins.”
“You want them to compete?” Perci said, mulling over the idea. She rapidly tapped out a text line. Her Gpad pinged a few times. “Okay, the Mother Hens approve. Done. Hmm… What else? Oh, I got like seventeen applications for defense manager. I asked for their proposals. Every one of them said to push the wall further south or add a second wall.”
“Sure, a big, unwelcoming stone wall. Taller than the mountain cliffs. I want it to wrap the entire valley.”
“Honey, do you want to be the defense manager?” Perci asked with a light cackling laughter.
“I guess, but I should let it go. Just pass it on to whoever has the best idea. I want two stone walls filled with dirt or gravel in the middle. So if there are punches in the outer wall they have a ton to go through. Also, the front wall can have anti-ground, and the back wall can have anti-air, and—”
Perci kissed my cheek and left me there. Okay, maybe I would need to coordinate with whoever was granted the job. I literally turned it down, then kept talking about it.
I saw Torrez and Maria watching Jasmine play with her dino toys. A mozala was watching her intently with a tilted head of curiosity. The fluffy creature rotated its neck to inspect my loud footsteps.
“Jasmine, can you help me try to understand something?” I asked, and Maria rolled her eyes.
“She is three, Eric,” Maria said.
“Three and a half, Mommy! I can help you understand,” Jasmine said with her tongue out.
“I wonder where she gets her—” Miguel’s sentence was silenced by a stern finger-pointing from his wife.
“How about we place the toys by the mozala here? Oh, since he… she… Huh. Since the mozala is new, you get to name it.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” Jasmine asked the obvious question that I happened to not know the answer to.
“Lifted its leg to pee on that truck tire.” Torrez pointed at a truck tire with a darker black stain on it. “Either a boy or it was mimicking a dog. Give it a boy name, Jasmine.”
“Theo the koala.”
I preferred Ranger, but I let her name the animal Theo for a reason. “Great. Place your toys close to Theo, please.”
The mozala watched patiently, its hind legs bound at the ready. The toys were placed down. Jasmine retreated. Theo grabbed both of the toys and bolted away with them. Jasmine let out an angry scream.
“Get back here this instant, or you will be in big trouble with my daddy,” Jasmine shouted with clenched fists. Her pigtails danced while letting out her little girl fury.
“Way to go,” Maria said.
I waved them both down and pointed. In the bed of a truck, a small crixxi girl was being contained. Almost like a playpen, the child ran to the edge at the commotion. The little mozala handed one toy to the little girl. The two started to play fight with the dinosaurs. While some saw a cute animal playing with a kid, the darkness in me witnessed a future where a mozala was carrying explosive-sized toys to pinned down enemies.
“Thank you, Maria and Jasmine. They are our new family. I would hope they would do the same for you. I need to rip some trees out of the ground. You want to drive?” I asked Jasmine. Maria scoffed.
Jasmine screamed for joy to the point where Mary came over with Jill. Torrez calmed his wife while I scooped the two little girls up. I found Jevon’s truck fully charged, ready to go. Mary sat on the middle console with Jasmine in Torrez’s lap. The ladies tried to join us, but the doors were locked before we rolled away. I checked the rearview to see Jill giving a friendly wave while Maria fumed.
“She needs a break. We got, what, two hours?” Torrez said.
“On it,” I replied.
My Gpad connected to the truck. Thankfully, Jevon had given me full permissions. A large holo-screen tried to project under Mary’s bottom. I set her in the back seat for a moment while the display played the intro to their favorite movie. I fished two water bottles from under the seat and let them bounce off the back cushions.
“Jasmine, Mary, we are going to work. Under no circumstances are you allowed to leave the vehicle. You may get away with whining to Mommy but we are not playing that game. Those are the rules. Do you understand?” Both three-year-olds nodded. Perfect. “If you want to watch, do so from the back windows. If you get bored, your movie is playing.”
“I have seen a lot of plans recently hitting the command net for that defense position. I know this may come as a surprise to you, but I like math. The dirt road takes a half hour to drive down. You listening, girls?” Torrez said as we jostled out the gate. The guards waved and pointed at Jasmine’s determined driving. She was very focused, almost as much as Mary was on the intro of her movie. Both girls ignored Torrez, causing him to chuckle. “A half hour there, thirty miles an hour. About halfway to the county road, the valley widens. Seven or eight miles deep and then a mile and a half wide of forest, river, and underbrush. That needs to be where our new wall goes. All the trees between this spot and that location should come down.”
“I submitted with a caveat: I did not want to leave my supply job. Maria shifted over to help me after Willow’s mom arrived. We enjoy seeing each other while not smothering each other. Alright, slowing down to let the Cap out. He needs to hook up a chain. Remember watching only?” The dad tone was very serious on the last line.
I hopped out of the truck with brisk movements. The chain was coiled on the truck bed waiting from the last time I did this. I wrapped the chain around a medium-sized tree, hooked it to the truck, and hopped into the passenger seat. The entire process was done in less than two minutes.
“So what else did you add besides the new defensive wall further south?”
Torrez smirked. Jasmine had hopped into the back seat to watch her movie. “A theater room, a bouncy-house maze, an expanded playground, a swimming pool with a splash area, a dodgeball court, and, you know, other basic things.” Torrez chuckled. We rolled past the guards slowly to ensure our tree followed us through without issues. “Where the crixxi have more children than adults, we have far more adults than children. Our sanity will rely on establishing some fun activities. We have lots of space, Cap. Time to invest some energy and resources into our children. Oh, school too. All the fields after the first crops should be moved to this area between the walls. We keep a great long kill zone corridor while changing our living area. I even drew up walking pathways among the farming to let us exercise. We need to keep the tavers’s trees as is too, so stripping these will help with that also. We tend to have spare time in the supply area.”
“How much of this is your idea?”
“What do you mean? Like the Mother Hens stopping by to casually chat my ear off about base changes?” Torrez asked with a smirk that was followed with a shrug.
“Mhm.”
“They want you to see the value of the children. Jacky, especially. She asked if we talked to you yet. She wants her new babies to grow up active. The virum will take care of the health part.”
I winced knowing Willow was going to be moody when she found out she was having siblings.
“Children are our future. We have enough places to sleep, our food is in a good spot, and we have time to prepare for the next grand market. I definitely want to start adding support buildings. Quality of life ones too,” I said with a pause. I did a rapid search on my Gpad. “There was a bouncy house right outside Denver. In a neighborhood called the Village of Five Parks. Never been, but looks ripe for electronics and self-storage spots. I was not originally planning on getting that far tomorrow but we may bypass the first homes, hit that, and then backtrack.”
“Ha! I will literally secure them to an RV roof if we have to. They deflate fine, but still take up a lot of space to move. You will be a hero—hell, we’ll all be heroes if we install a bouncy house maze!”
“Kind of strange how the apocalypse arrives and we’re super concerned about kids’ toys.”
Torrez shook his head. A long string of questions erupted from the back. Out of all the cool things we talked about, the word toys triggered the girls’ curiosity. They asked to go play, with Torrez giving up the driver seat. I waved goodbye as they went to play. I eased the truck forward for the ever-growing tree pile. I was starting to wonder what was next when I got a ping on my Gpad. Single speeding Bronco truck coming from Denver.
“They will reach Gpad range in a few minutes. Mobilizing in case they do not,” Jevon said over the command channel. “Joining Bonnet’s team. I have command.”
“You have command,” I replied.
My slow roll of steady progress to the tree pile continued. I gazed out the window to watch the colorful array of the setting sun. Stronghold Mansion was normally busy at this time, when shifts swung from day into night. With the Cornerstore residents, the crixxi, and less sleep being needed, the area was a buzz of activity. The open-spaced dining hall was packed, which confirmed a theory of mine: It was time to expand our eating space. I knew I did not want two; I loved seeing the community coming together. Might even need to remove the first longhouse to do so. To me, the loss of a single home to keep everyone eating together would be worth it. Not to mention the first longhouse was built crudely. We were desperate for space at the time. I sighed; we still technically were. Into the task folder it went.
While I watched the joyful people interacting, I couldn’t help but wonder. What was the car speeding from or to?
CHAPTER 11
I had been ambushed before. The inner arrogance inside me believed I could always see it coming, or at least feel the hairs on my neck rising before the opponent's trap snapped shut. I was heading back out to yank another tree out of the earth when I was halted at the gate. I expected some vehicle to come screaming in or a convoy to go rushing out. Instead, the doors were unlocked by an admin and three ladies hopped into the truck. My head tilted in confusion until the dots connected. That crafty Perci.
Willow smirked from the passenger seat. Perci and Jill gave devious grins from the backseat. The guard waved me forward. Checkmate.
“Carson! You convinced Carson into this scheme. I saved his life twice, and you get him to halt me. If it were anyone else besides you, Perci, I would be irate. This feels like an intervention. The grins, hard stares, and with the impressive ambush,” I said with a scoff as we rolled forward for the treeline. The sun had officially set and the headlights flickered brightly while we jarred over the pebbled road. The western half of the cleared area was being tilled, planted, and sectioned off with a stick fence. “Norm has been busy. Torrez said we should plant in the southern trees once they’re cleared and the second wall is up. I like that idea. Can the crixxi farm?”
Willow shrugged. She did the girl maneuver where she removed her bra with her shirt still on. A moan of pleasure escaped her lips.
“Perci will know that one. I am all for virum giving me a sexier body. I wish I had worn the right clothes for it,” Willow grumbled. She picked her large tits up only to let them fall back. She groaned happily while adjusting to get comfy in the seat. “My underboob feels like it's velcroed to my body with the bra being too small. I went from a large D to a large DD and am milking now. When I see a baby, I get instincts I never knew I had. Everything is so sticky.”
“I never wear a bra. Call me a hippy but I have always been a tiny-breasted woman. When I was trying to impress boys, I would wear tight shirts to show off my nipples. A pointy set of nipples fires up a man’s loins. However, I am a dating kind of girl, for the most part. Nipple covers became a thing for me after too many unwanted offers,” Jill said with a sigh. “Now my breasts are more than tiny mounds. I passed a B cup for a C a few hours ago.”
“I know Eric loves hearing about boobs. What man doesn’t?” Perci said with a giggle from the back seat. “The crixxi can farm, yes. They do vine-fruit farming on Crixonia. When I thought alien grapes would be boring, I was wrong. Anyway, we figured it was time. We even caught up Jill.”
“Um… time for what? And why Jill?” I had an inkling what we were doing but wanted to be certain.
“Your story of getting home from Saudi. Jill, because her body might be rejecting her stones. It makes—”
“Are you okay?” I asked in concern.
“Oh, it was horrible. Brief but far worse than birthing Mary. They are still in there for now. When you guys came back from ripping out trees, Mary went on a tangent about how awesome her daddy was. She remembers Jarod, we both know she does. Mary is a very bright little girl. She said you are her daddy,” Jill whimpered, and Perci comforted her. “This led to me having insane cramping. When it subsided I talked to Daphne. She said if I was subconsciously desiring to mate, then I would be more likely to reject the stones. Perci joined up and mentioned you are not the perfect man. I know no one is. However, she said you have a darker past. One that may ease my urges
. You promised Willow and Perci to tell the tale of your return trip home out of Saudi Arabia.”
“Becca too,” I commented.
“She’s busy with Jevon working the Bronco issue. We will get a briefing soon. Summary: there is a new resident family incoming with very little out of Boulder,” Willow said in her stern military tone. I smirked, she patted my cheek.
“Alright. I guess I can acquiesce to your request. Did they fill you in on the first half?”
Jill nodded before placing a hand on my shoulder. “Summary, though, please. From your perspective.”
“Okay, Willow, hook up this tree while I summarize.”
“Yes, Cap.”
“What a marvelous ass. You girls are really shaping out with the virum figures. I find myself more and more distracted,” I said while watching Willow’s booty bounce.
“It might be a sex thing. When did you last have sex?”
“Blowjob a few hours ago,” I said with a light chuckle
“On a mission, impressive. Was it good?” Jill said and then tossed her head into her hands. “Don’t answer that. I am horny even with the stones. You are doing the opposite of what I need right now. Make me run for the hills, you brute.”
“Sorry, not sorry. It was great; Nancy said my jizz tastes like frosted vanilla cake. Yeah, I bet the virum increases libido. No ED medicine needed with reproduction enhancers in your body. Hey, what are you doing?” I asked when Perci put two fingers in front of my face.
“Lick them.”
“Strawberry tarts. My favorite dessert. We got them one day a year in prison, on Valentine’s Day,” I said, getting lost in the thought. Funny how even prison celebrated the fakest holiday of them all. Of course, I preferred my dick attached to my body, so I would never trash Valentine’s Day in front of my ladies.
“Jill, for science.”
Willow closed the door after wrapping up the tree. “Science for what?”
“Eric is horny. My wetness tastes like strawberry tarts. We are mated. I went on a hunch after Nancy said his cum tastes good. I don’t even spit normally, I let that stuff fly onto my tits or the wall. Not a fan of jizz, but if the virum gave us yummy flavors it could mean a lot of fun. Now Jill needs to try. For science, of course,” Perci said.
