Lord of Ends

by Sam Ryder

  Within moments, Gehn pulled my pants down and ran her tongue up and down the shaft of my cock. I laid on my back staring at the underside of the cart’s canvas tent. This was a hell of a way to christen our new ride.

  The more she licked and rubbed, the harder I got. Then, a glow filled the cart.

  Her horns fired up again, glittering in the darkness. With both hands, I stroked them. This spurred her on, and she excitedly sucked harder. I squeezed both horns and pulled her in, which she seemed to enjoy. It made her suck a little deeper.

  I wasn’t sure if I would be up to fucking with my knee in its current state, but that didn’t seem to bother her. While most women would have asked that I return the favor, she just kept sucking away. It was like a little “thank you” for coming with them, and I wouldn’t say no to this gorgeous woman, Ender or no.

  My legs tightened up. I was getting close. Her horns were beaming at this point, and I hoped that nobody walked past, curious about what was causing the light.

  But everything felt too good anyway. I didn’t care.

  She pushed herself up onto her knees, staring at me with those beautiful gray eyes that flickered in the glowing lights bouncing off the cart’s walls. Gehn slipped her top down over her shoulders, releasing her pert nipples. I ran my right hand up her side. She moved it to her tit, guiding me to squeeze.

  I massaged her breast while she closed her eyes and arched her back. With her free hand, she jerked me hard, sliding her palm up and down with a tight grip.

  My climax built. Before I exploded all over the cart, she quickly wrapped her mouth around the head of my cock and took it all down her throat.

  The glow grew a little less intense, but still cast a dim light on the canvas as she crawled over and put her head on my shoulder. I rubbed her back, and we laid there in the silent afterglow.

  “Loyalty is hard to come by in the Ends,” she said. “Especially from the Rising. I appreciate you and what you’re doing for me and Hannah.”

  “You’re worth it,” I said, wanting her to know that this was more than just a paid gig for me at this point. I didn’t know if I could become exactly what she wanted me to be, but I would sure as hell try to make this world better for women like her.

  I wanted to return the favor to her, but my knee was throbbing and I wasn’t certain I would be able to. Thankfully, she just laid there, hugging me. So I let her. Her tits rubbed up against my chest, and we almost fell asleep there.

  “We should get up and see if Hannah is ready to go,” I said.

  She agreed and sat up to pull her top back over her tits. I gingerly hopped off the cart, landing on my good leg, and then grabbed her by the hips to guide her down.

  Once she hit the ground, Gehn smiled and kissed me again, pulling me in by the back of my head and running her fingers down my shoulder blades.

  We walked around the side of the building, and I patted my thigh to call Chuck. The dog eagerly followed, and the three of us quietly made our way back inside.

  Chapter 17

  Flight

  All the comfort that had been provided by Gehn’s body in those few stolen moments vanished when we stepped inside Barley’s tavern and Gehn stopped like she’d run into a wall. She grabbed my arm, her grip like a vice. “We need to go,” she said. “Now.”

  At this point, I would trust her sixth sense with my life. “Go get Hannah, you’ll be faster than me.”

  She nodded and released my arm, leaving burning fingerprints in my skin. She took off up the stairs just as Barney came around the side of the bar, having been doing something in the back storeroom. “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Sorry to drink and run,” I said, but apparently leaving is more urgent than ever. Thank you for all you did for us.”

  He extended his hand and I took it. His handshake was like iron, something I respected. “You’re welcome. I hope we can share a drink under better circumstances the next time we meet.”

  “Deal,” I said. “I’m buying.”

  Harried footsteps on the stairs preceded Gehn and Hannah’s arrival, toting our packs of measly supplies. Barley, though he’d done plenty already, handed Gehn another pack. “I threw in a few chunks of dried meat,” he said.

  Hannah, to his surprise, hugged him and kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”

  Barley was fully flushed now, looking embarrassed by all the attention. “Don’t mention it. Safe travels.”

  Gehn was pacing, looking white as a ghost. “You feeling any better?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

  “No, I feel worse,” she replied.

  Oh, good. “Let’s go.”

  We slipped out the back into the cool night air. My skin pricked with goosebumps, though I hadn’t felt cold outside a few minutes earlier.

  We rounded the alley corner, where our ride was hidden away. We stopped short in unison. Four men milled about, surrounding our cart. Thankfully, the mule was still tied up and the old boy seemed okay. The wagon was still intact. But they were searching the area. We had kept nothing in the wagon that night, so there was nothing for them to find but an old mule chewing on the contents of a feed bag and an empty cart.

  Still, I didn’t like the looks on their faces. And judging by Gehn’s shaking, I assumed this had something to do with her feeling of dread. We could’ve snuck back inside and hoped they went away, but I had a feeling they were fixing to search Barley’s place next, and I didn’t want him to have to deal with hiding us. Who knew what they would do to his joint, smashing shit up like a bunch of raging rhinos.

  “Can I help you boys?” I asked, stepping forward, my voice even.

  The foursome froze and turned in my direction, brows furrowing. Two guys had bushy beards, scraggly and unclean. The third guy, near the back of the wagon, wore a douchy handlebar mustache surrounded by stubble. The fourth dude was clean-shaven but had a dark look in his eyes that spoke of nefarious deeds committed over the last ten years of his life, if not previously, before the world had even got down the shitter. He wore a black top hat.

  “We’re on orders from the Council to bring you in to be judged for your crimes,” the latter one said, his hat tilted to the right.

  “You’re in luck,” I said. “You can tell the Council we’ll be out of your hair tonight. So if you’ll excuse us, we’ll take the wagon and get out of here.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” the man said. “You ain’t going anywhere.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because you committed crimes in our peaceful city. We only allow vermin like her”—he gestured to Gehn, which made my blood boil—“in our city if they don’t stir things up. They’re okay to stay if they stick to their own kind.”

  Ah, so that’s how it was. That was the real problem with us being here. It wasn’t that we’d beat the shit out a few low lifes. It’s that humans were hangin’ with an Ender. It was all suddenly clear, harkening back to the dark days of our great nation, when slavery was accepted, and then the intervening period when ‘separate but equal’ was the accepted mantra.

  Fuck that.

  “It’s not your concern who I associate with.”

  “Sure as hell is,” he said. “We got rules around here.”

  “This is Geneva,” I replied. “Fuck the rules. We can all get along, can’t we? Live and let live, right? Or is that all bullshit?”

  “Let’s find out,” he said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. His cronies followed suit, fanning out on either side.

  Though it was dark, my eyes were adjusting, and I noticed all three had bracelets fitted with three studs apiece. These douchbags were Guild members and yet they were on orders from the Geneva Council? Shiiiiiiit. Was anyone independent anymore?

  In any case, I feared nothing from a few Thirds, even injured. They were just insecure little men, trying to push somebody around to feel like big shots. I wanted no part in feeding their egos.

  “
With all due respect, sir, I don’t give a shit about your rules. Now get away from that cart so we can leave.” It was meant to be a last warning, though I knew it would fall on deaf, ignorant ears.

  “I’ll say it again,” the guy said. “You... ain’t... going... anywhere.” He stepped up and stared me down, nose-to-nose.

  “We paid for this wagon,” I said. “We’ll do whatever the hell we want with it.”

  “Then you leave that Ender here,” he said, glancing over to Gehn. “We’ll call it square. She can take the punishment for you lot. Don’t worry, we’ll take mighty good care of her. We’ll treat her the way she deserves.”

  I’d been shielding both women with my body, but now Hannah exploded out from behind me, releasing a torrent of obscenities in a single breath. “You fucking asshole motherfucking bastards, I’ll fucking tear you limb from fucking limb…”

  I grabbed her to hold her back, but my knee twisted a little in the process. I did my best to hide the pain, but I couldn’t help wincing.

  “Whoa, we got a live one,” the top hat guy said, chuckling. “Hold back your bitch, yeah.”

  Hannah was still squirming in my grip and I suddenly wondered why I was stopping her. To protect her, or to protect these men. Fuck it. I released her and it was like firing a slingshot. She shot forward, raking a hand across the man’s face, digging her fingers into his eyes.

  Not it’s on.

  The other three were drawing weapons, but I launched myself forward, feeling my knee start to buckle, but then held, barely. I headbutted one right in the nose, smashing his face to bits. He went down, clutching his face and howling in pain.

  The other two pulled their guns and began to bring them to bear, but before they could pull any triggers, I whipped Beta out from her slumber, dove to the right and fired two quick shots in succession, hitting them both center mass. One of them had managed to get off a shot but my evasive maneuvers had ensured it flew well wide of me. Plus, this was fucking amateur hour.

  The son of a bitch I headbutted to the ground could see just well enough around the blood to throw a steel-toed boot square into my abdomen. Even the toughest, hardest man wouldn’t be able to handle that. The waves of pain that shockwaved into my stomach doubled me over.

  I couldn’t breathe. The blood rushed to my face. The man Hannah had been clawing at managed to get some leverage, using his superior strength to his advantage. He now had her by the throat, holding her at bay while she continued to kick and claw. The guy lying on the ground with the broken nose aimed another kick at me, this time shooting for my junk.

  “Ahhh!” he screamed, a bloodcurdling sound that could wake the dead. Chuck had clamped his jaws and teeth down on the man’s midsection. Like any good guard dog, he swooped in to save the day, latching his fangs on the man’s penis, ravaging it like a bone.

  Though I was still gasping for breath, I rolled hard to the right and kicked at the leader’s knees while he continued to choke Hannah. His leg gave way, bending in the wrong direction and shattering a hell of a lot of bones in the process. He dropped Hannah and squealed, falling to the ground. I enjoyed watching him writhe until the fifth guy, who we didn’t even know was there, presented himself, delivering a swift kick into my throat.

  I couldn’t breathe at first. Chuck couldn’t help me, still tearing up the guy on the ground. Hannah couldn’t help—she was on the ground, fighting for her own breath after the chokehold that had left fingerprints around the circumference of her neck. As I sucked at the air, he pulled me up by my hair and delivered a devastating blow to the side of my head.

  My vision went fuzzy and I was almost out cold. Even in my daze, though, I saw something glowing in the dark. Two somethings.

  The sound that arose was so animal I half-expected to see a wild beast emerge from the darkness, and it wasn’t far from it, Gehn growling as she leapt on the man just as he was about to deliver another blow, one that would’ve knocked me into the next town.

  He released me, shouting something, and I stumbled back, still seeing stars but managing to take in Gehn’s form in between the flashes of light. She bit deep into his throat, jerking her head back and ripping out a chunk of flesh, blood flying, dripping from her teeth and chin. Squealing, he toppled under her feather-like weight and she landed on him, pressing her knees into his chest.

  She reared back, and with sickening glee, drove both glowing horns directly into his chest. He convulsed once, twice, then went still.

  Holy fucking shit.

  I could tell Gehn was about to tear into him with her teeth again, but Hannah had managed to recover enough breath to scrabble over to her and grab her from behind, dragging her away. Gehn fought her, still growling, but Hannah whispered something in her ear and the Ender woman sagged into her, the fight leaving her in an instant. A moment later, she began sobbing, her tears mixing with the man’s blood on her face.

  I fought for breath, finally getting a good one, which helped. Though Gehn had told me about her ‘violent urges’, I hadn’t seen this coming, the violence at an entirely other level. I was shocked, but not disgusted. She’d saved our asses. Business wasn’t finished, however, because two of the men were still breathing, though they were in a world of hurt. One, even if he had the chance, wouldn’t be able to get any woman pregnant. The other may never walk again. And yet that suffering wasn’t enough. Men like these soiled this world. Men like these deserved to die. And I didn’t need some made up Council to mete out justice. All I needed were Alpha and Beta.

  I fought to my feet, staggering slightly but not falling. These men were a waste of a bullet, but they couldn’t live. They were mewling like kittens, looking at me. They must have seen the intention in my eyes, because they began to plead for their lives as they tried to drag themselves away, whimpering. I shot the first between the eyes and the other in the temple. They slumped down, finally quiet.

  I checked all their pockets, coming up with some serious spoils—about five bucks in loose change. My lucky day. Unfortunately, I came up with something else.

  Dammit.

  A picture of a kid. A cute girl, perhaps eight or nine, with one dimple, blue eyes and golden, curly locks of hair spilling onto her brow. She was looking at the camera with such childlike innocence. He had a family—at least, at some point. I knew how that felt. I knew what that looked like. And I knew how that affected a man. But even if he’d lost them at some point, that didn’t justify the monster he’d become.

  It was why I kept to myself. When everybody was a stranger, I could do what I needed to do to survive. I had gotten too close to this one. This guy wasn’t a stranger anymore—now he was somebody with a family. Or at least someone who used to have a family.

  He wasn’t just some dirty son of a bitch who tried to kill me for hanging with an Ender. He was, but now he was a human.

  Fuck.

  I sighed to myself, tucked the photo back into the wallet, and slipped it back in his pocket. Looters would come by as soon as nightfall and go through everybody’s shit. I knew somebody might take his wallet anyway and throw it out later, along with the picture.

  But for a few minutes more, he could hold onto that picture and remember his loved ones. Even if the guy was a piece of shit for trying to mess with me and my companions.

  Hannah continued to hold Gehn as she sobbed, a growing pool of blood surrounding them. Barley stuck his head around the corner. “Everything okay?” he asked. “I heard shots.” His eyes widened as he took in the carnage.

  “Nothing we couldn’t handle,” I said. I didn’t want him to see more and judge Gehn for what she’d done—although it was completely warranted—so I hobbled over to him and led him back around the corner. I handed him a few more coins. “To clean up the mess,” I said.

  “You don’t have to—”

  “Just take it,” I said, pressing the money into his palm. He nodded and then turned and went back inside.

  I helped Hannah lift Gehn up, though either of us could’ve
done it on our own considering how little she weighed. We laid her in the wagon and covered her with a blanket. Her eyes were open, but they were staring blankly, not seeming to see us. I offered Hannah my hand and she took it, using the leverage to deftly vault into the back and take up position beside her sister, stroking her hair. I checked on our mule, patting his back and scratching behind his ears. He seemed content, as if there hadn’t been a bloodbath all around him.

  I scooted up onto the cart and Chuck bounded up after me.

  Scratching him behind the ears, I smiled at him. “Atta boy,” I said. “You saved my ass. I’m going to make sure you get an extra helping of whatever we eat tonight.”

  Chuck wagged his tail wildly again as I patted him on the head. My face was swelling from the haymaker I’d taken, and my abs were sore as hell. Not to mention the throbbing in my damaged knee. Hannah had chokemarks around her neck and Gehn wasn’t injured physically but seemed to be going through some kind of PTSD. We were off to a great start.

  But hey, at least we had a ride.

  I snapped the reins and the mule grudgingly responded, taking a few steps forward and then, slowly, picking up the pace, carrying the creaking cart out of the alley and onto the main thoroughfare through Geneva.

  We were headed into the heart of the Ends and whatever awaited us. We were on the road to Rome.

  Chapter 18

  Road Trip

  The ride was bumpy as hell, which didn’t help my injuries much. Not that it surprised me. The wheels were wood, the road was nonexistent, and the terrain was uneven. I knew it would be rough—but it was hella better than trying to make the trek on foot.

  The small mule didn’t make for a fast getaway, but apparently no one was very interested in coming outside at night after hearing a series of gunshots. In a city that was supposedly peaceful, it would’ve scared the bejesus out of the locals. Soon we’d left the city limits and made our way into open land, navigating west toward Rome.