A World Forever Changed

[SexyChele]

The year is 2084, and the world has been forever changed. Hatred and terror had reached global proportions, and countries had few, if any allies. In one last great blast the United States has been destroyed – its cities lie in ruins, its population decimated. Before the massive explosion had entered the air space covering the United States, other countries had been hit equally hard. And now, the world lies bleeding and damaged. There are, however, scattered pockets of survivors. People who had, through luck or design, managed to find the shelter needed to survive the blast that left so much in ruins.

Can these people rebuild? Can trust be re-established? Or will they still forge hatred in their hearts, desiring to destroy all remaining civilization?


Danica slowly can to the realization of being awake. Her body tensed, and she feared opening her eyes, fearful of what she may or may not find. Slowly, carefully she opened her eyes, and with a sense of relief found herself securely in the bunker that had been built specifically for the advent of destruction.

Rising slowly, she winced as a sharp pain stabbed through her brain. Rubbing the offending spot, she glanced around and noticed a piece of wood that had fallen from the cabinets that lined the room. Yes, now she remembered. She had been pushed into the shelter but for some reason had wanted out and struggled with the door. Then everything had gone black. This piece of wood must have hit her.

Danica sat for a moment, her eyes closed, attempting to get the pain to ease. She rose and stood on her feet shakily and looked about. The bunker was underground, built to withstand blasts and war. The walls were of metal, and there were beds and cabinets stocked with supplies. If she had to, Danica could survive here for months, possibly years. The bunker had been built to enable 6 adults to be accommodated. However, Danica was alone. A chill ran through her. Was she the only one left? Did she dare go outside?

She made her way to the radio and turned it on. After several attempts at trying to reach some one, anyone, she gave up. Either there was no one left, or they were not communicating. Danica glanced up at the door and shivered. Yes, she could stay here in this bunker for a long time – but what good was that? What if there were people up there? What if attitudes had changed? How long had she been out? And where was Markus, her lover? She remembered him pushing her through the door, then turning to fight off a scavanger, one who would kill them both simply for the supplies in the bunker. Since he wasn’t here, was he alive?

Danica opened one of the cabinets and found the gun that Markus had left for her. He had taught her well how to use it, and she made certain she had adequate ammunition before she turned to the door. She made her way up the stair and place her hand on the release lever. She could hear nothing through the thickness of the door, but she took a deep breath and opened the door. She felt a rush of air, tinged with the stench of sulfer, and she gagged slightly. Danica held her hand over her nose and mouth and slowly made her way up the stairs. Cautiously, she peer over the embankment and her eyes filled with tears. The landscape was devastated. Buildings lay around her in ruins. Vegetation looked like burnt kindling. But the worse part were the bodies lying around here, some already beginning to bloat with decay. Soon this area would not be safe to stay in. But was it safe to leave?

Danica wandered around the fallen bodies, searching for Markus. She did not find him. Could he still be alive? Or was his body rotting somewhere close by? As she took in the scene around here, Danica was suddenly struck with not knowing just where to go. She had depended so much on Markus, she had no plan of her own.

South. She would head south. Markus had mentioned that in case of disaster, they needed to head south. But what about supplies? Should she leave her bunker? She scurried down the stairs and shut and secured the door. The place she had in mind was not that far away, and if things didn’t work out, she would simply return here. Yet, as she looked at the bodies around her, she wondered if supplies were needed that badly.

Just as suddenly, a stiff breeze picked up from the east, and Danica turned her face towards it. The smell of sulfer was still strong, but it felt good to feel something, anything. She felt the breeze stir her long blonde curls, and her full lips smiled at the feeling. She looked up towards the sky – amazing that it was still so very blue. Markus had often said her eyes were the same color. She felt those eyes well up and choked back the tears. She must survive. With the gun firmly in her grip, and taking care to watch for strangers, Danica began her journey. But where would it end?


OOC: To be honest, I have no idea where this might go. This is my first attempt at trying to roleplay futuristic sci fi, so a patient partner is appreciated. Also, to be fair, I will be gone over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, and will not have access to a computer at all. So, again, an understanding writer is much appreciated.

Thank you for your interest!

Edited to add: I would like encourage another female writer to join in, if there are any interested.

 

[Subo97]

Markus

OOC: It'd be pleasure to join you if I may. I'm assuming the journey starts somewhere in the Northeast, correct me if I'm wrong. I'll be off for the long weekend myself, so there's no problem there.

IC:

Markus stumbled through the corpse littered landscape half in shock.The bunker,Got to get back to the bunker, to Danica He had protected her from the scavengers, had he left her to die alone? He had fought off the first one, bashing his head against the ground, but he could fight them all. so, when Markus heard the dead man's companions calling for him, he stuffed the body behind a woodpile and lured them off. They chased him for the better part of a day, finally cornering him in the sub- basement of an office building when the final attack came. The building collapsed and Markus accepted the darkness as his death, but there was no light to go to, only darkness, and he had survived. He didn't know how long he was unconscious or how long it had taken to dig himself out, only that it was long enough for the bodies to begin to bloat.

Danica he had to get back to her, find her, at least to bury her. Had she survived? Had the scavengers found her? If she was alive, they had to move south, south to his brother's farm, if it still existed. At least there was no radiation in this post atomic age, the new weapons had made them obsolete, had the new weapons made man obsolete? Would death have been better?

Danica They had made love when they were last togethersweetly, passionately almost in defiance of the world of hate that surrounded them, and had lain clinging together until the scavengers had sent them scurrying for the bunker.. Was he never to see her eyes, kiss her lips, hold her hair in his hands? A sob choked in his throat as a wind blew fom the east, stirring dust and pushing against his back.His jacket flapped in the wind and he turned to the West, toward the bunker, toward Danica

 

[ozme52]

Aaron

Aaron put down the binoculars. He'd seen the girl emerge from what looked like an underground bunker. That meant supplies.

Aaron picked up his rail gun and checked the capacitor. Good, a full charge. Those mini-reactors were virtually inexhaustible.

He adjusted his pack and began approaching the bunker. Though heavily loaded with munitions, Aaron hardly noted the load. At 6'10" of burly muscle, Aaron was a giant of a man. He had been in the new revitalized army, trained to be a "super-soldier" complete with cybertech implants and gene therapy enhanced senses.

But the last congress had reversed itself, cut funding, and inexplicably, somehow decided it was appropriate to incarcerate the "experiments" as they had dubbed Aaron and his kith.

So Aaron was used as a guinea pig in a number of experiments, the latest a new kind of field generator that had shielding properties. Most of the others had died as they fired high velocity weapons into the shields and making adjustments. Most died from energy flash as the shields shed the absorbed energy. But they must have gotten it right finally. Aaron was looking down the barrel of a rail gun, in fact the very rail gun he now carried, when the war began.... and ended, in a flash. Everything and everbody at the lab was destroyed in a matter of milliseconds. Everybody that is, except Aaron.

And now, days later, he'd killed a few scattered survivors, mostly vermin who would prey on the weak. Their mistake for assuming him weak.

The girl had gone back down into the bunker. Aaron wondered if there were others. How to gain intelligence. He needed to gain access and obtain those supplies. He had plenty of firepower but was running short of consumables. He contemplated how he might lure them out.

Aaron's karma was good again. The girl came back out. He could hear her at the bunker entrance and could hear her locking it. That meant she was likely alone, or any others remaining inside were in need of concealment. He shouldered the rail gun and pulled his combat knife and crouched above and behind the camoflaged entry.

The girl came out and looked to the sky. Aaron looked up but didn't detect any hostile threats. Looking again at the girl he noted her eyes glaze as they filled with her tears. She took a step and Aaron had the gun in one hand and his knife at her throat.

"Quietly! How many others?" the girl tried to struggle in Aaron's grip but it was clearly useless.

"I asked you a question! How many others in the bunker?" She shook her head.

"Is that a refusal to answer or do you mean none?" She nodded. "You're alone?" Again she nodded. "Are you military?"

"No" a whisper. "What's your name?" "Danica."

Aaron looked at the pistol and almost laughed. 20th century low velocity slug thrower. Not even an automatic. Practically a relic. He emptied the cylinders and tossed the gun.

"Down the stairs. Open it!" She hesitated.

"Look Danica. This is how it works. I don't have any particular need to kill you. I also don't have any particular need to keep you alive. It's up to you. Be useful or be dead. I can blast open the doors without your help."

Danica went down the stairs and opened the locks. Aaron pinned her against the tunnel wall, pushed open the door and threw a camera-ball in. Empty. Good, she hadn't lied. She might survive the day.

Aaron pushed the girl through the door, shut it behind them and threw the interior bolts. She sat on a bed and watched him as he inventoried the supplies. Mostly food, some medicines. A well stocked shelter, though she was just lucky to be alive. It hadn't been built deep enough and showed signs that it hadn't held up all that well to the blasts. A well head. That was good thinking, assuming the water table had survived and not drained away. A radio, useless, no one was broadcasting. He was also surprised at the lack of weapons. Civvies, no sense. If you're going to take measures to survive a war, why wouldn't you include weapons.

"Danica!" Getting her attention.

"Strip!"

 

[SexyChele]

OOC: Welcome to both Subo and Ozme! Hopefully we will have another female writer join us on this journey!


IC:
He seemed to come from nowhere, and Danica felt certain she had survived the war only to be killed by some rogue soldier. At least she assumed him to be a soldier, as she watched his actions upon entering the bunker. Methodical movements and advanced technology made her realize just how powerless she was.

As she sat on the bed and watched absently as this stranger rifled through the cabinets, her mind turned to Markus. Was he alive? He couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t! Somehow, she knew she would feel it if he had not survived. Was he looking for her now? She had heard the bolt slide into place, and wondered if Markus did arrive if he would be able to gain entry. Maybe there might be a way she could slip around this, this stranger. After all, Danica was short and small, and could see herself possibly manuvering around this giant of a man. But she glanced at his well-built arms and knew instinctively he would have no trouble crushing her throat should he happen to catch her.

She hoped he would only be looking for supplies – food, possibly. And then move on. It was the most she could hope for.

As he called out her name, her head snapped around to meet his. At his single word, “Strip”, she began to shake. No, this couldn’t be happening to her. Markus’ face swam before her, and she pleaded silent to whatever gods were left in this world to make him appear as if by magic.

She gasped when she felt his hand grab her arm painfully. She looked into eyes that somehow didn’t seem human, and felt tears fill her own.

“I’m not going to say it twice!”

“P-p-please,” Danica begged. “You can have anything in these cabinets. There is food! And, and, there are extra blankets over there! This is stuff you can bargain with.” Danica realized she was rambling, attempting to stall for time. Obviously, this man would take whatever he desired, her permission be damned.

She watched in horror as he lowered the weapon and pointed it directly at her chest. Fully crying, her brain unable to seize on a clear thought, she slowly began to undo the clasps of the form-fitting top she wore. As more and more of her skin was exposed, Danica blushed a deeper red and could feel the man’s eyes boring into her. When she had finished, she glanced once more at his weapon, before sliding the material from her shoulders, exposing her heavy breasts. She thought she heard a grunt, but the blood was pounding in her ears, and she tried to think of Markus to escape her humiliation.

Undoing the waistband of the pants she wore, she wiggled slightly to slide them over her hips and down her legs. Sitting on the bed, she removed her boots, then fully removed her pants. Danica hung her head forward, letting her hair stream around her, hiding her shame. The bunker was cold, and she began to shiver.

“Please, Markus,” she whispered, “please come to me if you are out there!”

 

[Subo97]

Markus

Stumbling westward through the wreckage of what had once been a great city, Markus felt his hopes rise a bit. There were other survivors, though most were to be avoided. What had once been a population of millions was now cut to hundreds,with some cosmic luck Danica might be one of those.

It was difficult to find his way, most of the landmarks had been blasted and burnt, and he had to take several detours to avoid the human vermin that had crawled out of the rubble. The raised mound that had once been the interstate highway was a helpful guide, and markus slowly weaved his way to Danica.My sweet Danica Her eyes haunted him in his mind, accused him of leaving her to suffer her fate alone. Anger swelled in his chest, at the madmen who created this holocaust, at himself for leaving her.

 

[papillon24]

Adeline

I stumbled from my hiding place in the old basement of the church and stood in shock at the carnage around me. I remember the sounds of cries as I hid during sunday mass which was feircly interupted by the blast.

Bodies eyerywhere. All my family and friends lay in piles around my feet. My small form backs away and head back into the basment. I must leave this place of distruction. I grab by bag asn head for the unknown. I had a few peices of bread and fruit left from the picnik items I was going to take to the lake after church. I quickly tied my choclate brown hair back in a band

"Why God?" I cried to the sky as steped over all the ones I loved. I had never been alone before and hope I could survive after 18 years of being compleatly dependant.

I headed to where the city used to be. The tears flowed from my eyes as I saw more of the carnage and distruction that had surrounded the church. I watched as a man wanderd though all the reckage. I wasn't alone. There was at least one other in the same predicament.

"HELLO!" I called over to him andI climbed over the chunks of metal in my way. "Where are you going and could I follow? No one survive in my area." My grass green eyes looked up at him. I grasp his arm with my delicate fingers "Please I have no where else to go"

 

[ozme52]

Aaron

She offered Aaron her supplies, pleaded to not be made to strip, but finally she doffed her clothes, sobbing as she did so.

Danica had big tits. Aaron ran his hands over them, Danica recoiled from his touch. He hefted each in turn. Lifted her arms. Ran a finger, bumping down her ribcage.

"Turn around, let me see your ass. Spread your legs, bend over!" Danica slowly became more and more pliant, obeying Aaron's directives with less and less hesitation

"You've got a pretty pussy, girl!" Danica blushed at the unwanted and vulgar compliment. Aaron reached and slipped a finger between her legs, insinuating it between the lips of her vagina. She began to sob again. His finger came away dry.

"You've got to make a decision and you don't have a lot of time to make it." Danica looked at Aaron, confused. "What decision?" she asked, uncomprehending. What did she have to decide?

"You appear to be healthy, no sores, rashes, no scars or obvious signs of being dependent on drugs or medications. No meds in the shelter but first aid supplies. So I'm willing to take you with me." Danica was clearly stunned.

"Before you refuse, you should know there's a band of scavengers about 90 minutes behind me. More like an hour now. You will undoubtedly be discovered, if not by them then by others, and if you're lucky, if you're very lucky, they'll kill you before they realize you're a woman. If not, anything you might have thought I was going to do would have been a delight compared to what they'll do to a beautiful woman like you."

"We'll have to take as much with us as we can and destroy the rest. No reason to give them any advantages. It'll keep them busy looking for supplies too. Slow them down a bit."

"A couple of rules if you decide to come with me. If I tell you to do something, you do it! No hesitation! No matter what I tell you to. No matter if you understand why I ask or not. Any hesitation could get us both killed. Anything I ask. You'll just have to trust me."

Danica weighed her options. He had caught her so easily, what would she have done if he had been a scavenger? And he hadn't raped her like she thought he would. She had been so relieved, though he had humiliated her in retrospect. "If I go with you, where to? I was going to look for someone south of here."

"South, east, west, it doesn't matter. It's worse to the north so south is good. You won't find him, or her. The chances are virtually nil. But it doesn't matter to me. We can go look. But the ultimate goal is to find someplace we can defend and try to outlast what are going to be some very dark times."

Danica agreed. Aaron made her wrap her chest in a bandage to hide some of her figure. And instead of her regular clothes, he provided her with some fatigues. He used duct tape to tailor them a bit to her smaller stature, but he left them baggy to further hide her figure. He told her to cut her hair short. Very short. Danica began to say something and Aaron reminded her he had a reason for everything and to just consider it her first lesson in obeying orders. When she was finished, Aaron smeared her face with some suet and camo paint from his pack.

"Just to wipe some of that pretty off of your face." he said and smiled. Aaron loaded his pack with as much food as possible as well as a couple of canteens of water. He made up a pack for Danica and filled it to a weight he felt she could bear up to over a long period. She said she could carry more, but Aaron insisted it would be a long walk. She'd be glad later.

The last thing Aaron did was to dismantle and hide the well head and booby-trap the shelter. As they walked away he said to be on the watch for a shoe store or a body with better shoes that she could wear.

"Oh, and one more thing Danica. At some point I'm gonna want to fuck you. Try to at least act like you're enjoying it."

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Dr. Jesse Ledbetter

He was stuck lying horiaontal in a magnesium tube, about two feet in diameter and five feet long. The walls of the tube were a foot thick of almost solid iron-nickel alloy, and that's waht had saved him from being crushed when the rest of the hospital had collapsed around him. He managed to get his arms over his head and push some of the debris away and coughed as the stench of burned flesh and plaster and natural gas from the ruptured lines reached him.

He didn't know how long he'd been in the MRI machine. He remembered now leaping into the tube as the floors of the hospital came pancaking down on top of him, knowing instinctively that this was his one chance of surviving. And he had survived. Smart boy. Maybe it would have been better to have died.

He was just finishing his internship at 26. ANother threee months and he was going to go into private practise, or maybe go on to specialize, he hadn't decided yet. Now he wouldn't have to.

He climbed out of the machine, brushed the plaster and brick dust out of his black hair and beard, and dragged himself out of the tangle of iron and concrete and gushing water that had been Mercy General Hospital.

Hours--days?--before he'd been working in the emergency room treating the victims of the panicked exodus from the city that had begun just hours before the bombs fell. People crushed, with broken bones, shot, stabbed, hysterical, suffering heart attacks, or just mad with fear, all had swarmed into the emergency room, overwhelming the staff and the national guard troops sent to help keep order. It had been as close to hell as Jesse ever wanted to get.

But now he staggered out of the crater and looked around at the utter devastation. Lifeless, dark, and destroyed. It was such a scene of total destruction that it did not register. He found a slab of concrete and just sat down for s long time.

Idly, as if remembering something of little consequence, he wondered if he might now be exposing himself to lethal doses of radiation. It might be good to check. The nuclear medicine lab had been next door to the MRI unit, and kicking around in the rubble he found an ABC or garbage counter that had survived the blast. He turned it on.

There was some alpha. That would probably get worse as the fallout increased. No gamma, but a shit load of beta radiation generated by the atomic explosions. That was bad. When he pointed the meter towards the former downtown, the meter screamed.

Jesse ran and stumbled the other way, away from the city center. When he had managed to put a few still-standing walls between himself and the souce of the radiation he relaxed slightly, and when he relaxed, that's when it hit him, and he just went numb.

He sat there until he realized that it was getting evern darker. The air stunk of burning rubber and charred wood and burnt meat, plaster dust and natural gas and all the stench of everything that had been buried underground buit had now risen to the surface like resurrected corpses: sewage pipes and gas lines, septic tanks and garbage. The pall of smoke was now visible not a hundred feet overhead and soot--radioactive soot--was raining down everywhere.

Jesse got up, took his garbage meter and started walking, hardly seeing where he was going. In the distance he saw another human figure and, without thinking or expecting much, he headed in that direction.

As he picked his way through the ruins of the world he'd known, an old childhood chant began to repeat monotonously and senselessly in his brain:

I'm Abraham Lincoln I'm bringing the news,
I'm walking through the jungle in my combat shoes
Walking through the jungle with my cock in my hand
I'm the meanest Motherfucker in the Congo land

It was a girl, and she seemed in worse shape then he was. She came scrambling over to him with a wild look in her green eyes.
"Hey! Please!" she said. "Can I go with you? I've got nowhere else to go!"

She was young. Not even 21, he'd guess. She still had that girlish high school look about her. Their eyes met and it was as if he'd just found the only other human being in the world. For what he knew, maybe he had.

"Yeah, sure." he said. "I've got nowhere else to go either. Let's go."

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Dr. Jesse Ledbetter

Jesse and the girl walked along together, not speaking. They walked through the middle of the streets where there was less rubble, and they walked until they reached a part of town where there were still some buildings standing. There were fewer bodies here. It was a better neighborhood, and probablythe people had managed to get in their cars and leave beofre the blast hit them and fried them at their wheels.

They walked for some time before Jesse stopped in front of a shoe store.

"Hey!" he called to the girl. "You want some shoes?"

He picked up a chunk of concrete and hurled it through the window. The glass shattered and fell, and Jesse knocked out the bigger shards with a board. He stepped inside. The girl followed him.

For some time they just tried on shoes and walked about, as if they were shoppers on a normal business day, though it was dark in the shop. They both picked out some shoes and put them on.

Jesse thought of leaving money. He had plenty of money in his wallet. He looked at it now and though he might start crying. It seemed so solemn and so familiar. He didn't leave anything and they left the way they had come.

It appeared now that they were in some little shopping district. Jesse had the presence of mind to break into a convenience mart and take some canned food. The girl stayed at his side. He wondered if she might be in delayed shock. He wondered if he might be as well.

It was quite dark now, with neither lights nor moon to show their way. The air was dank and damp, but heat lightening flickered on the horizon as the thermals set up by the bombs descended and bled off their tremendous static charges back to the ravaged earth. An evil, stinking breeze arose that felt like no breeze he could ever remember. It felt like the breath of doom, rank and fetid.

"We'd better get inside." he said.

One house was as good as another. He broke the kicthen window in a ranch house and climbed in, helped the girl in the same way. There were no bodies in the house, but the feeling of being invaders was strong. He would have liked to shower, but of course there was no water. He found a can opener and opened some cans of stew and they ate cold stew and drank warm soda.

He led her into the bedroom. "I think you'd better stay with me." he said. He really saw no reason for them to use separtate bedrooms. Sex was the last thing on his mind.

He thought again about getting a gun, some sort of protection, but he knew it was stupid. He wasn't going to engage in a battle for survival and he doubted anyone else would either. The fact was that mankind would either swim together, or sink by themselves. It was ever thus, despite what the warmongers had said. And the idea of arming himself after what had just happened--which was nothing but the result of nations arming themselves for protection carried to its logical extreme--seemed obscene.

He automatically reached for the light to turn it out and then realized that the lights didn't work. There was no light. There would be no more light for a long, long time.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

OOC Jesse Ledbetter

OOC: Sorry, people. I misunderstood the premise of the game, and barged in perhaps prematurely. I'll be leaving the game, so pease disregard my posts.
My apologies again.

--dr.M.

 

[Subo97]

Markus

"Please, I have nowhere else to go"[/I

The young girl clinging to Markus's arm looked up to him, pleading. He could hardly take care of himself, how was he going to take care of another? I'm no Natty Bumpo , he thought. Pulling the girl to the lee of a half broken wall, Markus kept watch while she told her story. "You don't know me, girl" he said, "I might cut your throat just to steal your bag, or worse" Her youthful bodywould b a real prize for the scavengers. They'd use her over and over. Watching tears well up in the girl's eyes, Markus could think only of Danica. Was she in similar straits? Who was helping her? who was abusing her?

"Okay" he told the girl, "I'm heading South to my brother's farm, assuming it's still there. You can go along, but first, we have to try and find my girlfriend. Keep your eyes open and be as quiet as you can"

 

[papillon24]

Adeline

The thought had never crossed my mind of what else could happen. I was only thinking of how to get away and surviving.

I nodded at his words as I started to follow. "I have one question sir." My voice in a hushed wisper. "What exactly happened to our world.?"

 

[Subo97]

Markus

"What happened? Madness, I suppose, mixed with greed and intolerence. It's hard not to be bitter when you're walking in the rubble of civilization. As to what did this? Ever since we moved into post-atomic weaponry, it's become less frightening to use. At least with nukes there was the possibility of self destruction to keep one's hand off the button. When they took the radiation away, leaders in bunkers stopped being scared. They've been playing with fusion weapons that suck everything in instead of blowing it up, sonic weapons that shout us into oblivion, lasers , fasers, masers, God only knows what."

Markus had let his voice rise and harden as he talked, his bitterness escaping. He stopped and wiped his face with his hand. "Anger is a stage of grief," he mumbled, "I guess I'm past denial. Hard to deny a pile of bricks that used to be a city"Danica, where are you "What is , is, the question now is where do we go from here, those of us who are unlucky enough to survive."

How to survive? If the farm still existed, they could grow and raise food, maybe have to fight to keep it. It would be hard work, maybe ending in death soon, anyway. Markus looked over at the girl, she was pretty, if she caught the eye of a good strong man, she'd be all right, but she'd have to use her body to survive, they all would

 

[ozme52]

Aaron & Danica - traveling south

This was not going well. Aaron and Danica had been moving south for about two hours and had barely made 5 miles. Slightly slower than a walking pace. Some of it was the debris, some of it was Danica. She kept stopping to look, in denial or disbelief, and stumbling. And she was drinking too much water.

"Slow down on the water. You don't know when we'll find another supply. No telling what the weather will be like either. They may have fucked up the whole system."

They walked on a bit more and Aaron saw them up ahead. Two figures. He stopped and zoomed in on them. One of them was talking while he waved.

Suddenly Danica shouted, waved and started to run forward. Aaron grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her to the ground. Raised the rail gun and fired.

Danica screamed at him, jumped up and grabbed Aaron's arm. He threw her back down and continued firing. Seven shots. Six kills. The other a miss, when Danica grabbed him.

"Don't ever do that again! If I put you down, stay down, dammit! And don't go attracting attention to us. Not unless I tell you to. You made me kill them. It might have happened anyway but you gave me no choice."

Danica spluttered something about civlized behavior and swearing she was going to kill Aaron if he'd hurt Markus.

"That wasn't your Markus. Not unless he's taken up with bushwackers."

Aaron showed her the trap they'd set for them. The two decoys and the four lying in ambush. They'd opened fire when Aaron raised the rail gun. Inaccurate at their range, they had only gotten off a few shots. The rail gun had reached out and snuffed them out.

One was wearing an energy pistol. The others had a variety of modern hunting rifles. Aaron took the pistol and holstered it in place of his own blaster.

He gave his to Danica.

"Don't do anything stupid! Please?"

He took out some plastique and destroyed the rifles.

Danica was staring at the blaster she'd been given. Aaron stripped the holster from the dead bushwacker and strapped it around her waist, tucked the gun in and buckled the coversnap.

"Let's go."

 

[Subo97]

markus

His worst fears had come true. Pulling the girl down, Markus pressed his fingers to his lips. They had made it to the bunker and it was still intact.Danica! But four scavengers were between him and his lover, prying open the door to the shelter. He ad left her with a pistol, his only hope was to catch them from behind when she opened fire. "Stay here," he told the girl, "whatever happens, don't show yourself till I come back out."

Picking up a brick, markus began to inch forward as soon as the scavengers got the door pried open. If he crushed the skull of the last one when Danica shot, they'd have the other two trapped in the stairs. More than likely, they'd die together. But there was no shot!No, Danica, shoot Markus opened his mouth to shout, "Danica..........." when the world exploded again, flinging him backwards. The ground erupted where the bunker was buried, a huge ball of flame escaping the stairwell. In a moment, his world was gone again.Danica, oh my sweet Oblivious to his singed hair and clothes, markus stumbled back, dropping his brick and darkness engulfed him.

 

[papillon24]

Adeline

I stood close to the well watching as he went toward the bunker. I watched as he searced for the one he wispered about.

The explosion took me by surprise. A scream escaped my lips as I watched him fly back. and flames engulf the place.

I ran too him dropping to the ground where he sat watching insurprise. "Are you ok?" Looking over him and seeing the singe marks on him. I let my hand rest upon his shouder as if trying to comfort him.

The hurt reflected in his eyes and he was lost. "I'm sorry...I knoe how you feel" came from my lips in a wisper.

 

[Subo97]

markus

Markus came to with the young girl looking down at him, cooing soft words to him. For a moment he thought she was Danica. As she leaned over him, her blouse opened, almost baring her breast. As it hung before his eyes, he started to whisper, my love and move his head p to kiss it. Many times Danica had lowered her full breast to his lips as he lay in her arms. But the girl was smaller and Markus stopped himself as his head began to clear.Oh God, Danica he sobbedand lowered his face in his hands.

"What do we do?" asked the girl, her pleadings slowly pulling him out of the fog that had enveloped him. They had to move, to move was to live. The girl needed his help, Danica never forgive him if he didn't help her.

"South," he said, "South to my brother's farm" Painfully Markus lifted himself to his feet, leaning on the young girl's arm, her petite breast pressed against his sore ribs."Just keep moving"

 

[papillon24]

Adeline

I watched him stumble as he got up. The pain blurred his eyes. I could tell. Only a few yards we got before I stopped him.

"Your hurt, I'm not letting you go anywhere till you've rested" I laid him back onto the gound where we were hidded by bushes. Reaching into my bag I pull out a small bottle.

"I have all the things in my bag I use for babysitting. I was to look after the childeren at the church piknik. It's just rubbing alcohol." I ripped a small peice of my shirt and poured a bit of te liquid onto it and dabbed it onto his burns.

 

[Subo97]

Markus

The evaporating alcohol cooled his burns. Her earnest face was intent on her task and once again her small breasts were open to view as she bent over him. A flush of shame flooded his face and he turned his head. Only this morning he had let his lips travel down the curves of Danica's breast, awakening her with kisses till she arched her back and pulled him between her thighs. Lost, all gone Now he was alone in a devastated world. Not exactly alone, the young girl's swabbing of his burns attested to that. Sighing, he lay back for one minute and allowed her tender hands to give him some peace.

 

[papillon24]

Adeline

I let the cloth sooth his burns. "There, that should keep them from swelling." i closed up the bottle and put it away.

I leet my fingers caress his face as I felt him relax in my lap. "Just relax. Ill keep watch for intruders. Are you hungry? I have a little bit to spare" I pulled and apple from my bag and handed it to him also taking a small peice of bread and drawing it to y own lips.

 

[SexyChele]

Danica

As Danica stumbled behind this, this, this person, she felt the tears well up in her eyes. She quickly wiped her hand across eyes - she wouldn't let him see her cry! And when she pulled her hand away, she looked at it. That goo he had smeared on her face! To "hide" her, he had said. From who? The land was so barren that the could see anyone coming from a great distance, easily. As had just happened with those scavengers. Danica looked back once more. Had they truly been scavengers? Had her Markus been among them in reality and now lost forever to her?

She stumbled over a rock and fell heavily to the ground. A searing pain etched into her left hand and her right knee hit gravel. She whimpered and looked at her hand. Cut by a sharp rock, it oozed a small amount of blood. Yet, it was barely visible through the film of tears in her eyes.

"Get up! You need to watch where you are going - we are losing time!"

She was afraid to look at her "captor" for fear he would see the tears on the brink of falling. Had he no heart at all? Had he never loved? Danica scrambled to her feet, favoring her knee yet trying not to let him see. Quickly, she grabbed at the hat she wore, afraid it had come askew when she had fallen. She didn't know what his reaction might be, but she knew it wouldn't be good if he discovered that she had not cut her hair. She had managed to twist it up into the cap, but one wrong move and it would come tumbling down. The cap was secure, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, by the time he noticed she had not done as he had said, they would have found Markus.

Quickly, Danica caught up with him and he turned his back to her and began walking. After a few moments, her tears subsided, and she felt her voice would once again be steady.

"Um, you never did tell me your name. What are you called? I mean, it seems as though we are going to have to put up with each other, and you know my name, so it's only fair to know yours, right?" Danica knew she was talking too much, yet somehow talking was like a cathartic experience right then. "And please, I do know of a place south of here I need to try to get to - if you have a heart at all inside of you, you would understand that! You talk about having a place to go to to defend, well that could be jus the place!"

Danica made a conscious effort to keep her mouth shut and to stop her incessant talking. Yet, she still continued to scan the horizon in hopes of seeing Markus. She remembered where the farm was - Markus had made sure she memorized the way there until she could find it in the dark. If she wasn't at the bunker, and he was still alive, she knew he would head for the farm. If only she could convince her captor of the same plan.

 

[Subo97]

Markus

Markus took a bit out of the apple, a Red Delicious, it's sweet juices soothing his parched throat. It was tempting to devour the whole thing, but he handed it back to Adeline, "Finish it," he said, "You need to keep your strength up."

"We need to move south, I have friends down there, if they're still alive. We'll paralell the interstate for a while, see if we can't scrounge the rubble for some more food. I doubt if we can risk a fire, that's just asking for trouble, but we need to rest. We'd be harder to see if we travel by night, but I'd prefer being able to see others by day. Just keep your eyes open."

"So, we know the price I paid for staying alive," he said, looking over at the remains of the bunker, "what about you? Who have you lost?"

 

[ozme52]

Aaron

"Get up! You need to watch where you are going - we are losing time!" Aaron could smell the faint tang of blood soon after Danica fell and was surprised she didn't mention the injury. The scent quickly subsided, so Aaron kept walking.

Aaron was also glad the girl hadn't taken a shot at him. The pistol he'd given her was keyed to a micro-transponder in his belt and wouldn't have fired if pointed at him. Yes, a test, but also a way she could protect herself and to add to their collective firepower if necessary.

Aaron didn't know how he would have felt if he'd had to kill her now. Just marching together made them comrades and it was now a part of his genetic wiring to feel protective of his comrades. And Aaron was slowly, unconsciously, changing his perspective of Danica.

"Um, you never did tell me your name. What are you called?" A reasonable request.

"Aaron, designation AA-001." There wasn't much more that Aaron could tell her. That was how Aaron thought of himself, on those rare occassions he even thought in the first person.

She told him again about wanting to go south. And that was more or less the direction he'd been taking them. But now the sun was halfway down the sky. Aaron looked for a possible shelter and saw some semi-intact structures to the southwest, about two hours away.

"We'll make camp in about two hours. Then we'll head south again tomorrow." He turned and scanned the horizon for traps, pifalls, and scavengers.

 

[SexyChele]

Aaron, she thought, rather a nice name, though she didn't understand the rest of it, it didn't matter.

Her left hand began to throb, but at leas the blood had stopped. As they walked, she tried to clean out the dirt, but it was difficult keeping pace with the man who was leading her. Somehow, instinctively, she knew if she said something, she might incur his wrath and she didn't want that. She hoped that when they stopped for the night, she might find water and properly cleanse the wound but until then she would try to think of something else.

And that something else was Markus. Was he out here somewhere? She looked at the buildings Aaron pointed to. They seemed a horribly long distance away, yet two hours of walking didn't seem that bad - providing they didn't meet anyone who would be an enemy to them. Danica fixated her eyes on the buildings, but it was torture when they seemingly didn't get any closer. Instead, she concentrated on the ground, making certain her footing was secure and not to stumble again. Occasionally, she looked up and scanned the horizon. If they were heading south, then surely, if Markus were alive, their paths would cross. She began to concentrate on that like some mantra that matched the steps she was taking.

The silence surrounding them eventually became overwhelming to Danica. As she realized this man, this Aaron, was not going to kill her outright, she began to feel more comfortable around him.

"Excuse me, but don't you think it would be a good idea to get to at least know each other a little better? Like where you are from? Are you in the military? You are human, aren't you?" Danica smiled at the last question - of course he would be, but she wanted to get him talking.

Stoney silence greeted her, and she began to think she had made a terrible mistake. She could only concentrate on the road in front of her, and look up at the buildings which did indeed now seem to be closer. However, the sun was sinking fast, and she worried if they would make it.

And she wondered if Markus would see these same buildings and decide to stop there as well. It was too much to hope for, but it was the only hope she had.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

OOC:

Did you get my PM Chele?