by Angela Foxxe
He led the small family out of the house and away from Shawna who readied the rifle to shoot the interloping bears. After he led them a short distance away, he ran back toward where Shawna was waiting with their gear. He changed back to his human form, put his robe back on, and smiled as he noticed Shawna appreciatively checking his nude muscular form out.
“Just a couple of radbears. They won’t be bugging us. I didn’t want to kill them because it’s just a mom and her two babies.”
“That was kind of you,” Shawna said as she touched his hand.
“They’re just trying to survive like you and me. Let’s go before they change their minds,” he said as he picked up the pack. “We’ll stay on the ground floor. It’s more sturdy and I can drag that metal barrel inside so we can make a fire in it.”
“I like that idea,” Shawna said. “I’m glad I didn’t drag it in for scrap.”
“So am I,” he said as he grabbed the rusted barrel.
Shawna looked at the dilapidated house and decided it would do to keep them out of the night. The roof was partially caved in and the stairs were broken in odd places. There was graffiti on the walls marking it as feral territory.
“Well, let’s hope they don’t come back tonight,” she said pointing at the signs.
“What?” Winston asked, not knowing what the markings meant.
“That paint, those symbols, there’s a gang of ferals not too far from here and they know this place exists,” Shawna explained. “Honestly, just the fact that they know somewhere exists is bad. They can come back if any are in the area and needing a rest,” she said as she started to shiver.
“Nothing will happen. If the mother bear felt safe enough to have her cubs here, the ferals haven’t been around for quite some time. Let’s try to get warm and get something to eat,” he said as he filled the barrel with bits of broken wood and charred paper he found around the destroyed hovel. He then pulled a piece of steel and pyrite from one of his pouches and struck it. A spark leaped from the impact and landed in the metal barrel. It caught on some fluff that Winston had put in there for that purpose and in no time, they had a cheerful fire blazing keeping the darkness, and the terrors within it, away from their tiny camp.
While Winston lit the fire, Shawna laid out their bedrolls. They weren’t much, but it kept their bodies warm through the night and that was all that mattered. She placed hers next to his and sat down.
“So, what are we going to do for food?” she asked as she felt the all-too-familiar gnawing in her gut, accompanied by a sudden thirst.
“I have some dried meat in my pack, along with some fresh water. The water in my home town is still fairly pristine, very little radiation or metallic taste,” he said as he sat down next to her and rummaged through his pack. “It should do us until we find a pig mole or something to hunt and eat.”
Shawna nodded as she accepted the flat piece of dried meat and tore into it. She was amazed at the flavor. “What is this? It’s delicious.”
“Well, It’s pig mole but we grow our own seasonings in the cave so what you’re tasting is what we produce ourselves. I can’t really describe it because I doubt they have any meaning in your tongue, but they do complement the food very well.”
“Thanks again,” she said between bites. She took a canteen of water and unstopped it. She pressed the mouth to her lips and took a sip. It was the cleanest, purest water she had ever tasted. “This is awesome,” was all she could manage to say after she handed it back to Winston who took another swig.
“You’re more than welcome. I think we should start getting some rest. We have a long way ahead of us tomorrow. I have no idea where we can go, but we’ll find a settlement,” Winston said.
“I heard that there’s one in the middle of the salt water and that they don’t care who you’re mated to, as long as you are a productive person,” Shawna replied.
Winston yawned and nodded. “So we go west,” he said as he crawled into his sleeping roll. “Makes my job easier.”
Shawna crawled into her sleeping roll. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, the further east we go, the greater of a chance we run into my people. Not exactly my clan, but other animas, and we don’t really want that.”
Shawna nodded as she lay down in her makeshift sleeping bag. Winston rolled over and placed his arm around her as they both drifted off to sleep. Funny enough, Shawna thought before her eyes shut for the night, I feel safer out here in the open with Winston’s arm around me than in her former settlement. She snuggled right in to his muscular body, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER FOUR
Shawna woke up with a yawn and noticed that Winston had his arm protectively draped over her. The early morning air was cool and crisp, to the point where she didn’t want to get out of the bed roll to relieve herself.
She heard snuffling outside and nudged Winston to wake up. “Hey, something’s out there.”
He groaned and rolled over. “Just a pig mole.”
Shawna sighed with relief. “They’re everywhere now. They’re usually reclusive.”
“Eh, they like to come out in the early morning. That’s when they forage then they go back underground when the heat gets to be too much. That’s why you’re seeing more—you’re actually out of your settlement.”
“I see,” Shawna said as she stretched. “So which way do we go today?”
“We go north then west to the Glowing Hills. I heard there’s a settlement up there that takes in the exiles of other settlements, regardless of race,” Winston said as he sat up.
“That’s really far,” Shawna said as she rolled her sleeping bag up.
“Better than sticking around here and getting caught by our respective clans,” he replied.
“True,” she said as a wave of nausea washed over her. “How fast do you think we can get there?”
“Depends on how fast we travel and if we run into any trouble along the way,” Winston replied. “I say between two or three months, tops.”
Shawna placed her hand on her stomach. “You know that human pregnancies only last maybe four months now, right? If you’re an anima, then it might be less than that.”
Winston looked at her with a stunned expression. “So you believe me now?”
“Yes, I woke up and my breasts were tender and I’m feeling kind of sick to my stomach. I’ve seen enough ladies carry pregnancies that I know what to look for,” she replied.
Winston sighed. “Well we’re going to have to travel faster than I would like. I was hoping to spare you a rough trip, but that can’t be helped now. We need to make it to Traz Island before you birth.”
Shawna tied her bedroll to the rucksack and put it on her shoulders. “I’ll carry the load for half the day and you get it for the other half, that way neither of us get tired,” she said as she poked her head out of the door.
The gray, warty pig mole lifted it’s short, floppy snout toward the woman, sniffing to see if she was a threat. Determining that she wasn’t, it went back to ripping up the brown scrub grass that surrounded the blackened husk of the destroyed house.
Winston stepped out behind her, carrying the two pipe rifles. He handed her one and snaked his arm through the leather strap of the other, carrying it on his back. “All right, let’s get going. At least we’ll have plenty of daylight.”
The couple started trudging north. “You know, I heard that the Glowing Hills is probably the worst place in the area to go into. Nothing lives there, not even wastewraiths,” Shawna said.
“There are many horrors in those hills. In the wreckage of the city, burnt radzoms roam the streets, hoping to come across a hapless traveler that managed to survive the intense radiation. Usually a feral clan runs in there, never to be seen again. The thing is, we need to pass through the destroyed city to reach Traz Island; there’s really no other way except sailing up the coast, and that’s even more dangerous,” Winston explained.
“For someone who’s li
ved away from the general population, you sure know a lot,” Shawna said.
“We have old archives. All the anima clans have them. We took them with us when we fled our bunkers. Old books mostly. We haven’t figured out how to unlock the other things yet. The small plastic pieces. The elders say they are thumb drives and SD cards,” Winston said. “Need computers to unlock them and we don’t have any of those.”
“Yeah we’re lucky to have just built some windmills to generate power in Scav,” Shawna replied. “Can’t imagine rebuilding something as complex as a computer. I remember salvaging the wires and components from some. Lots of stuff there, not enough knowledge left to build it back up, so we use the parts for things we need,” she said. “You know, the magnets, the wires, all that stuff really valuable to help make generators.”
“Exactly. We’ll figure out what the devices hold eventually,” Winston said. “Right now, we’ve got old books. The Glowing Hills used to be San Francisco. Had a huge naval base there I guess, that’s why it was a prime target during the Great War. It used to have a gorgeous bridge spanning the harbor there. Doubt it’s standing anymore, and if it is, it’s rusted to toxic nubs. A shame really.”
“I wish I could have seen it in it’s heyday,” Shawna mused wistfully.
“I saw pictures and it was a really beautiful place, for a city. Many cities in this country were horrifically ugly. The southern crater, that used to be Los Angeles.”
“Wait, that huge crater used to be a city? There’s absolutely nothing left, not even buildings,” Shawna gasped.
“Yes. I guess it took a direct hit from at least five warheads, one of which was friendly and drifted off course. That’s what the archives say anyway,” Winston replied.
“Wait, people were observing this?”
“In a way. See, my ancestors were sealed in deep underground bunkers with scientists. They monitored the radio frequencies and wrote down what they heard until everything went silent,” Winston explained. “We preserved the writings, among everything else, because if we didn’t, who would?”
“Thank you,” Shawna said as she stopped and looked at Winston. “Your people might be the ones to actually help drag our asses out of this mess.”
“Actually, we’re waiting for the rest of humanity to die off before we step into the light,” he said, shamefaced. “Well, that’s what I was told anyway. I didn’t believe it and always wanted to work with the other people of the wastes to help rebuild. The elders and I disagreed on many things.”
“So this was the last straw?” Shawna replied.
“Yep. I should have been sworn in as leader last week, but the council of elders deemed me too problematic and sympathetic to humes, so they delayed it. They were trying to re-educate me, more like brainwashing to be honest, to show me how barbaric humes are and if allowed to survive, history would repeat itself.” He snorted. “Whatever. Too late now,” he said as he resumed his walk.
“You don’t blame me, do you?” Shawna said as she jogged to catch up to him. Winston was a bit taller than her and his strides were difficult to keep up with, even for the nearly-six-foot-tall woman.
“No. It was my choice to save your life, and it was my choice to bring you to our caves. My fate is by my choice and my choice alone. You, however, are a victim of circumstance and spite. Out of the two, you should be the one fighting to stay home.”
“Nah, I’ve always had a wicked case of wanderlust and I couldn’t stand being kept in those walls anymore,” Shawna replied. “Why do you think I chose to scavenge instead of setting up a shop, or finding someone to settle down with and pop out babies until I died?” She laughed bitterly. “I was always told ‘As a woman, it’s your duty to rebuild the human race, stay home, have tons of babies, you can even charge men for the pleasure!’ Totally not my thing. Well, now I’m gonna have to be strapped down to some kid,” she said as she put her hand on her stomach. “Guess my wandering days are coming to an end, huh?”
“Doesn’t have to be that way,” Winston said. “They don’t stay babies forever.”
“You’re right. The way things work in the settlements though, once a woman pops, she can’t stop.” Shawna sighed. “Not until she either dies in childbirth or is lucky enough to live to the ripe old age of menopause.”
“We are more selective with how many children we have,” Winston explained. “We are so interbred that we need to be careful with whom we breed in our immediate circle. Careful genealogic study is done before any pairings are arranged. They deemed my first cousin, Janelle, was my perfect match. I found the whole thing repugnant and refused the match.”
“Really?” Shawna said as she walked next to Winston.
“Yes. She was my first cousin. Her parents were first cousins, and her great grandparents were first cousins. For some reason, it is acceptable to be so close genetically. Our offspring would have been horribly mutated and I couldn’t take that risk.”
“So you brought me in…” Shawna said as she caught on. “It gave your clan a reason to throw you out, and you a way to get your rocks off.”
He hung his head in shame. “In a way, yes, but don’t get…” he said as she stormed off. “Wait, there really is more to it, I honestly did follow you around for years…. That, ugh, that didn’t sound right, did it?”
“Nooope!” Shawna said as she stalked off.
“Listen, I really did want you! It’s that I…. come on, just listen,” Winston shouted as he watched the woman of his dreams walk away from him, carrying his child in her womb. He hoped that her anger wasn’t going to last and that she could forgive him for this transgression.
Shawna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He only used her to get out of his arranged mating and to get kicked out of his tribe. He didn’t give two shits about her, or their unborn child. Such a selfish piece of shit… she silently fumed. Why did she ever think she could trust him? Well, at least he was showing his true colors now rather than later. Let’s hope she could find a settlement that would take her in her condition. She kicked a rock into the scrub and kept walking as fast as she could to get away from Winston. Thanks to him, all she’ll be is a brood woman and confined to a brothel as she pumps out child after child, hoping each one is healthy and not deformed.
Each deformed child is taken away by the midwives and left outside of the settlement to either die of exposure, or taken by the ferals to be raised by them to bolster their numbers, it depended how bad the deformation was. With such scarce resources, only the strong and healthy children were allowed to survive, and Shawna wasn’t strong enough to hand over her children to die, she knew it, so she decided to never have them. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, thanks to Winston.
She just wanted to find somewhere so she wouldn’t be left in the wastes heavily pregnant and on her own. That was the last thing she needed. She slowed down and thought rationally for a moment. Winston really was her only hope for survival out in the barren, hostile wastes, especially as she got bigger. She stopped and turned around and watched him jog to catch up to her. He stood in front of her to catch his breath.
“Well, I guess we’re stuck together. If I don’t want to die, I guess I have to put up with you, since you’re invested in this kid as much as I am,” she told him. “Once we find somewhere to settle down, I don’t want to see your face again,” she snapped.
Winston felt his heart breaking as she essentially walled him off.
“I don’t blame you,” he said as he hung his head and sighed. “I was wrong to do what I did, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect you and make it up to you, please.”
She snorted and started walking. “Come on, let’s keep going; we’re wasting daylight and we will still need to find shelter when the sun goes down.”
“You’re right,” he said as he picked up the pace.
Even if she didn’t believe him, he would make this right with her. He wanted to be in his child’s life when it was born, at the very least, and at the most, he wan
ted her to be his. He couldn’t bear the thought of her being put in some hume brothel to pump out babies. He wanted to tell her so badly that with him, she would only have children when she chose. His race was able to be fertile at will. Males had a way to block off their vas deferens at will. It was a failsafe their creators put in to keep their race from reproducing too much and supplanting their human creators. That is why he was banished. He actively chose to impregnate Shawna, but if she knew this now, all chances of redemption he had with her would be gone.
The couple walked on in silence as Shawna’s belly began to grumble. The sun was getting higher in the sky and the temperature was rising. Sweat began to trickle down Shawna’s amber neck as she kept walking. She stopped and took her hat off, grabbed a loose string from her pants, and used it to tie her hair up off her neck before the sweat made it cling uncomfortably to her skin.
“We should stop to eat soon,” she said as she started to feel weak from hunger and thirst. “Our water isn’t going to last if this heat doesn’t let up.”
“I know,” Winston said as he scanned the area for any source of potable water. “I don’t see any streams. I don’t smell any water either. We need to keep going.”
Shawna nodded as she felt her head swimming with hunger. “Need to eat at least…” she mumbled as she sat down and removed the pack. She rifled around and found a piece of dried meat.
“You might want to drink a bit with that,” Winston said as he handed Shawna his canteen.
“Thank you,” Shawna said as she took a bite of the leathery meat. She washed it down with the lukewarm water and replaced the stopper. “I don’t want to drink too much; who knows when we can find decent water again.”
“That’s kind of you,” Winston said as he took the offered canteen. “But you need it more than I do.”
“Well, let’s get going so we can refill it,” Shawna said, feeling better.
Winston nodded, tied the canteen to his belt once more, and kept moving. She seems to have calmed down since their argument this morning, he thought. Maybe he might have a chance with her this evening if she’s calmed down enough.