by Misty Vixen
“You made lunch, I’ll clean it up,” Evelyn replied with a kind smile. “Go.”
“Thanks.”
David gave Evelyn and Ashley kisses, then went to grab his gear and head out with Ellie.
…
“You think she’s okay?” David asked as they approached the bridge that would take them over the river.
“Cait’s a big girl, she can take care of herself almost as well as I can,” Ellie replied, but he thought he detected a little note of worry in her voice. Another moment went by before she spoke up again. “How do you do it?” she asked.
“Do what?” he replied.
“Maintain a relationship with three women. Two of them different species. I mean, I’ve never found it particularly hard to relate to someone based on their species...unless it was a human. No offense, but in my experience, it seems like inhumans see seven different species across the land, and humans see...well, humans and not-humans. They lump everyone not like them into one category, if that makes sense...again, no offense...”
“No, I get it. I mean, I’ve seen that, too. I know what you’re talking about. If anything, I’ve found that I relate to inhumans more than humans. Which I guess makes it sound a little along the lines of what you just said, but I don’t see everyone that way. I’ve learned to be far more concerned with what people do, versus what they are, you know?”
“Yeah, me too.”
“As for how I do it? I don’t fucking know. I still feel like I’m stumbling through every day. I don’t know if I’m doing a great job or a terrible job. I’m just...trying to make everyone happy, and take care of them, and engage with them.”
“And fuck them,” she murmured.
“That too, obviously. They are all...really horny. Especially Cait. Good fucking God I’ve never met such a sexually needy woman. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Oh I know you’re just in lust with Cait, I mean, who isn’t? She’s the most attractive woman I’ve ever seen, and I think most people would agree with that.”
“She’s...something else. I don’t know what she sees in me or why she felt the need to go forward with a relationship...”
“Well, I don’t know why she felt the need to jump the gun there either. I actually asked her about that...” she hesitated.
“And?” he asked.
“I need to stop telling you this stuff,” she murmured.
“Too late now, Ellie. Spill it,” David replied.
She laughed. “Okay, but only because I don’t think the answer will cause problems. She admitted she didn’t know, she just liked you so much, and felt compelled to be a part of your life. Personally, I think she’s lonelier than she’ll admit to anyone, even herself. Especially herself. Only she didn’t really realize how lonely she was until she met you. But as for what she saw in you? I mean, it’s obvious. You’re kind, you’re patient, you’re honest and trustworthy and you know how to communicate and you’re really good at eating pussy.”
“I guess that makes sense,” he replied.
“You’re a good guy, David. Don’t...let how I’ve handled our friendship, you know, make you think less of yourself. Please don’t do that,” she said.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Ellie. I’ve been questioning and depreciating myself long before you arrived on the scene,” he replied.
She laughed. “Well...good to know.”
Up ahead, he finally saw the bridge they were to cross. He opened his mouth to say something else, but froze and clammed up as he saw something up by the bridge. From the way Ellie stiffened and froze as well, he figured she had seen it too.
“What is that?” he whispered finally, his hand resting on the butt of his pistol. He’d opted out of taking his SMG again, partially because he’d chewed through a lot of ammo, but also because he’d been a little paranoid in the other direction before leaving, thinking that maybe something might happen at home, and now he wondered if he’d regret that. Something was slinking along the ground near the bridge in an entirely disturbing and creepy fashion.
“I don’t...know,” Ellie whispered. “I think-”
Whatever it was, it stopped abruptly and suddenly shot upright, standing on two legs. It was sleek and grayish and had a somewhat bulbous head. Its silhouette struck fear, powerful and freezing fear, into his heart. It twisted around to face them suddenly. Its face was a visage of pure terror. It had two huge black eyes and a circular mouth stuffed full of teeth. Those huge eyes came to rest on the pair of them, and it issued a piercing shriek.
Both David and Ellie cried out as half a dozen other bulbous heads suddenly appeared from around their surroundings, and they shot to their feet and began coming right towards them, the seven monsters rushing towards them in a frenzied manic stampede.
“Vipers!” Ellie screamed suddenly, and opened fire.
David ripped his pistol from its holster, took aim, and opened fire. His first few shots went wild, but he forced himself to get a fucking grip, aimed at one of those big, round heads that was running straight for him, and squeezed the trigger. The shot connected and the thing lost its footing, going down like a puppet with its strings cut. It flopped on the ground a few times before going still, and something about that turned his stomach. He shifted aim and fired again, managing to catch another one in its big, ugly head and punching a hole through it. Dark gray blood flew on the air as its brains were ejected from its body, and it flopped to the ground, too.
They kept on firing, frantically trying to put the creatures down before they got a chance to reach them, get in close, and do some real damage. He fired every shot he had and finally managed to bring a third one down after shooting it twice in the chest and once in the neck. Ellie was at least more precise with her shots, but he could tell she was a bit shaken as well.
“Holy fuck!” she hissed after a few seconds.
“These are vipers!?” David replied, his voice harsh but quiet. He had heard of vipers, but as far as he knew he’d never actually seen one in the flesh.
And he was deeply grateful for that fact, because these things were fucking horrifying.
“Yeah,” Ellie murmured, reloading her pistol. He shakily did the same thing. “Squids that have been turned by the virus,” she whispered. “Haven’t seen any of those for months and months now. Fucking hell, I hate these damned things. Something’s wrong, though.”
“What?” he asked.
“They shouldn’t be this far inland. We’re a good two miles from the lake. If they came this far up the river, either it’s a fluke or...something’s very wrong.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. But come on, we should hurry.”
They set off towards the bridge, keeping a wary eye out for more vipers.
CHAPTER SIX
David felt relief tentatively begin to edge in as he caught sight of the doctor’s outpost, the building that they had converted into both hospital and home. Although it was a relatively short walk once they got across the bridge, it still seemed to take forever. But now they were on approach. He just prayed that everyone was actually okay. He and Ellie jogged up to the front door and skidded to a halt as someone appeared in the window overhead.
“That’s close enough-oh, hi, Ellie,” a woman said.
“Hi, Katya. Everything okay here?” Ellie replied.
David found himself staring up at a brutally attractive woman with a scar down one side of her face and short brown hair.
“Not exactly,” she muttered, sounding annoyed.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked, alarmed.
“Oh, I mean, nothing immediately dangerous. Come inside.” She paused, looked at David. “Hmm. You must be the David I’ve heard so much about.”
“Uh...from who?”
“First Jennifer. Now Cait. I’ll let you in.” She disappeared.
“You’re popular,” Ellie murmured as they approached the front door.
“Apparently,” he replied.
A moment
later, the door opened up, though it wasn’t Katya who opened it, but a familiar face.
“Jennifer!” David said, happily surprised.
“Hi, David,” she replied with a small smile.
He opened his arms. “Hug?”
She nodded and stepped forward, hugging him. He hadn’t seen her since they’d parted ways the night after they’d slept together for the first time, though not intentionally. He would have seen her gladly if he’d had the time.
“How have you been?” he asked as he held her to him.
“Busy,” she replied. “When I wasn’t snowed in. You?”
“Same.”
She pulled back slightly and stared at him with her bloodshot, gray eyes. “I’ve missed you,” she said, and then she kissed him on the mouth.
“I’ve missed you, too,” he replied when the kiss ended. “A lot.”
“Yeah, I imagine so after what happened last time you two spent some time together,” Ellie said with a smirk.
“Hush!” Jennifer snapped at her.
He studied her. She was just as beautiful as he remembered: a little taller than average for a human woman, thin and trimly built, her skin as pale as snow, shot through with dark veins. Her black hair was chin-length, down, framing her beautiful face. She was a wraith, the only wraith he had ever really known.
Certainly the only wraith he had ever had sex with.
“Yeah...I guess I can see it.”
He looked over and spied Katya, standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, hands clasped together in front of her. She was smirking.
“See what?” he asked.
“The appeal. There must be appeal if Cait and Jennifer are fucking you. And Ellie, from what I hear,” she said, her smirk broadening.
“Shut up, Katya,” Ellie replied.
“Oh yeah, you’re definitely riding his cock.”
“Eat me, bitch,” Ellie growled, flipping her off.
“Been awhile,” Katya replied with a shrug.
“Where’s Cait?” David asked, looking around the room. He only saw a few of the people who lived there, he couldn’t remember their names, but he remembered their faces at least.
“She’s through here,” Katya said.
“Is she okay?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Why are you so worried?” Katya replied.
“We ran into a pack of vipers on the way here. They came from the river, at the bridge.”
Katya stiffened. “Vipers? All the way up here?”
“Fuck, that might explain what happened,” one of the others in the room, a stern-faced, red-furred jag that he recognized from before, said. Her name started with a J, he was almost certain.
“What happened?” Ellie asked as David began heading for the door.
“We’re running low on a particularly unique supply...” the jag began to explain, and David left them to it for now, wanting to check on Cait. He stepped past Katya and into another room with a row of narrow beds and several tables that had a lot of medical supplies set up across them. This was likely their main infirmary. Cait and the man he recognized from before, the one who headed up the group, with graying brown hair and glasses, Donald, were standing across the room. He was talking quietly to her, and she was staring at him, seated on one of the beds.
She looked…
He wasn’t sure what her expression conveyed, if it was good or bad.
Then she saw him and her eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet. “David!”
“Hi, Cait. Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Um...” she glanced at Donald. “Yes, just fine.” She whispered something to him, and he glanced at David, then nodded and put on an awkward smile, then she crossed the room quickly and wrapped him in a hug. “Hi! Are you okay? Why are you here?” she asked. “Not that I’m unhappy, I just...thought you and Ellie were going to wait for me.”
“We were. We got worried,” he replied, hugging her back.
“I’m okay. And Jennifer’s here already! And, uh, they need our help,” she said.
“I heard some of it in the main room...” David replied.
“Yes, please, let’s all go to the main room and discuss this. We could very much use your help again, I’m sorry to say. Not that we don’t appreciate the help! I just wish that we had fewer problems, or that we were more capable of handling them on our own...” Donald said.
“It’s fine,” Cait replied. “We can help. Come on.”
She led the two of them back into the main room, where Ellie, Katya, the jag medic, and a goliath woman were gathered. The goliath woman was as intimidating as she was attractive. She looked a bit older, maybe in her late thirties, and had short hair so blonde it was almost white. Her eyes were a frigid blue and shone in her pale face, making her look almost ghostly. She was a bit taller than Evelyn, and well-built. She looked like she could lift a truck. She leaned against a wall with her arms across her chest, wearing a dirty hoodie, cargo pants, and big, black boots. She looked at David with an appraising, if intimidating, gaze, and smirked just a little as he looked back at her. She must be the other person who provided security, he surmised.
“Okay, okay,” Donald said as they came in. “Let’s, uh, let’s talk about this. I’m not sure if you’ve met the rest of our team. They were absent when last you were here. This is Katya, our, um...” he hesitated.
“Combat medic, doc. Told you that already. I’m a combat medic,” Katya said.
“Yes, I know, I just...with Lima Company in the region and how tense things are with them, I worry about possible connections people might draw between that phrase and them...” Donald replied uncertainly.
“I’ve never been with Lima Company,” Katya said, looking at David. “I was a soldier for ten years. Basically, I put people back together under fire.”
“Wow. You must be extremely skilled and brave,” he replied.
“I am.”
“Indeed. This is Vanessa. She’s our...security expert,” Donald said, looking at the goliath.
“More or less,” Vanessa said. She had a somewhat deeper, but very smooth voice. “I fuck people up when they fuck with us. Among other things.”
“Yes...quite,” Donald murmured. “Anyway. Our, ah, issue. One of our most precious resources is blood. We keep spare blood chilled, on site, so that we can give a transfusion if it becomes necessary. Typically, if it is necessary, time is a factor. That was largely what you were helping us maintain when you were here last. Now, as to our current predicament, it’s not exactly an emergency per say, but I feel it does dovetail nicely with what Cait has been telling us so far. Typically speaking, when it comes to giving blood, there are different types of blood. Type A, Type B, Type AB, so on. Usually, you must match these types between donor and recipient. Which makes it more complicated. However, there is one blood type that can be put into anyone: Type O Negative. While that made it useful before, it is far more useful now, as that remains true even across the human-inhuman spectrum. Anyone, be they goliath or jag or even nymph or squid can safely receive Type O Negative blood. This makes it valuable. To complicate matters, it is rare. Or, at least, around here it is.” He hesitated as, somewhere far off, they heard a gunshot echo across the land.
They all waited, tensing. Nothing else happened.
With a soft sigh, Donald continued. “We have found exactly one person with this blood type, and so far he has been rather accommodating, agreeing to donate once every two months.”
“That seems...less often than you’d think,” Cait murmured.
“There are health risks associated with donating more often than that, and even that often makes me nervous. The point is, we’re out, and he was due here two days ago. We haven’t heard anything from him, and we were going to investigate, only we’ve had increasing difficulty with stalkers. One got into the building yesterday...”
“Shit, that’s terrifying,” David muttered.
“Yes. We were lucky,” Donald replied. “Thi
s man in question, Elias, lives in the fishing village at the edge of Indigo Lake.”
“Yeah, and we think we might know what it could be now,” Katya said unhappily.
“What?” Donald asked.
“We ran into a pack of vipers at the bridge on the way here,” Ellie told him.
“Oh dear. That’s...very problematic,” he muttered, looking down slowly at the pitted and scarred wooden floor in concentration. “This region seems to be growing more dangerous.”
“Something we’re hoping to fix,” Ellie said.
“Oh yes. Cait mentioned that you were going after the thieves that have been harassing us all over the past few months,” he replied, looking back up.
“And we wanted help. I want Vanessa and Katya to help with the assault,” Ellie said.
“I’m sorry, that’s out of the question,” Donald replied immediately. “As it is, I’m reluctant to even dispatch one of them, as much as I agree with your cause and hope it succeeds.”
David sighed softly, but noticed Ellie looking intently at Katya and Vanessa. She raised her eyebrows. Neither of them looked necessarily like they were on the same page as Donald. Finally, Vanessa spoke up.
“As much as Donald has an overabundance of worry and anxiety about every little thing...he’s not wrong this time. The stalkers are becoming a real problem. But listen, Ellie, deal with this problem for us, I promise I’ll be there with my big gun and a hearty desire to kick ass.”
“Why do you get to go?” Katya asked petulantly.
“Because I’ve got seniority here. I’m pulling rank,” Vanessa replied in a tone that brooked no argument.
Katya just sighed and crossed her arms.
“So it’s settled then? We find this Elias, get him to donate blood, and you’ll help us attack the thieves?” he asked.
Vanessa nodded. They looked at Donald. He sighed softly. “Yes, we have a deal.”
“Okay, then. We’ll be back just as soon as we figure out what’s up with this guy,” Ellie said. She turned and began walking towards the exit.
“Can I come with you?” Jennifer asked.