Her generals were here, all but Trunk who was constantly coming and going in his hunt for Grinder. It was growing tiring, but Letha understood his hunger for that bitch’s death. Her generals, her army, and her warlords all were present. She was no longer just one of them, but a level above them, and she meant to own it.
All heads turned to her as she proudly stepped out into the light, and said, “Fireshot’s out there preparing for the war, and so shall we.”
Brink and Kale, seeing what was happening, ran up to stand at her side. She nodded her appreciation, scanned her audience to see Redwood staring at her with passion and curiosity, Aisha at her side, and past them stood Aero and Nurse.
It was time.
“Viewers at home,” she announced with a wink to a nearby camera drone, “you want a war? We’re going to give you the biggest, highest level battle you’ve ever seen, the raid of raids! Before we begin, we ask you to consider what this war’s worth to you. Do you want to see us come out of this alive? Want to see us blow that motherfucker to smithereens? Maybe chain him up against a wall and tear his skin off one piece at a time like string cheese? Fine, but first, get us there.
“Ask yourselves what else you’d like to see, what of a more…” she reached up and undid the strap of her shirt, lowering it so that the top of her right breast was exposed down to the edge of her nipple, “…a more sensual nature.” She licked her lips, staring right into the camera.
“Oh, shit,” Kale said, a wide grin spreading across his face as he joined in. “She just called you out, viewers.” He slipped off his shirt, and his abs were even more defined with the shadows from the sun above. When he gave the camera a smoldering look, lower lip pouting and eyes narrowed, Letha had no doubt the message was received.
“So… How about it, viewers?” she asked, moving over to Brink. She shoved her ass against his hips, rubbing her ass up and down against him. Letha then turned and put one of his fingers into her mouth, sucking it as she winked at the camera. “What’ll it be? The whole camp is your playground. Play.”
Screens popped up in a flurry as bids came in, and Letha could already imagine herself bathing in Fireshot’s blood as a shower of money poured in. Her own screen popped up and the bids were insane. The one she accepted involved her and a shocker, but not the general at her side. She smiled as she read it, and then motioned Redwood to the stage.
A screen appeared in front of Redwood, and Letha came up behind her, kissing her neck as she undid the woman’s shorts and slid them from her body. As she kissed her tight ass, she rose to read the screen.
“Select that one,” she said, guiding Redwood’s hand up to select the option of going down on Brink. But Brink was there, and he gently repositioned her hand to the one that suggested Kale instead, motioning the other general over.
“I’ve got my own bid to go do,” he laughed. “This is like a teenager’s wet dream of ‘Truth or Dare’ on stims, you know that?”
“That’s why it’s so much fun!” Letha said. She pushed Redwood down onto one of the tables and started fingering her. The woman grabbed Kale and slid his cock into her mouth with her head upside down. What a sight that must be for the viewers, Letha thought with a chuckle. The way he was fucking her mouth meant his balls were slamming into her nose or almost reaching her eyes. What a sight indeed.
“Bend over,” Brink said from behind. Her shorts were lowered, and she felt his hands near her knees. At first she was confused, then his moist tongue pressed against her asshole and she squirmed, squealed, and then stuck her pinky into Redwood’s ass. She laughed as the woman nearly bit down on Kale’s cock.
The drone slowly rotated, showing the entire camp in similar states of sodomy and playful bliss. One man stood on the shoulders of another, both nude, as women did the same and they started trying to push each other off. It wasn’t all sexual. Letha saw this too, and in a twisted way that made her laugh again. She remembered the tongue in her ass and pushed Brink away. Done with her first bid, she was glad to find one that said, “Face-fuck the hell out of Brink, because that’s just what she had in mind.”
When he had a screen pop up that said to crow like a rooster every time he came up for air from eating her pussy, she started giggling and tried to stop, but soon she was squirming in delight and rolling in laughter. He held on, trying to move with her as he alternated between eating her out and crowing.
Others were watching now and laughing too, and then another warlord stepped forward with a screen at his side that said, “Kill them all.” He showed those nearby, hit reject, and found one that said to try to do a flip. He made a good effort, but, landed right on his tailbone and groaned in pain. Two women took their own bids with him and dragged him off to make him feel better. The whole camp began getting all manner of silly bids, some as ridiculous as mimicking their favorite previous champions, others as crazy as pretending to fuck the drone camera so that the viewers got an up close and personal view.
Even for Letha, this was amazing. In her five plus years of being on Planet Kill, never had she seen something like this. Noobs everywhere were staring in shock, some cautiously trying out the bidding system. A few were really getting into it, like the women Letha had picked up, who had apparently each formed their own small harem of Noob men. On the other side of Letha, a man walked by trying to juggle three rocks while a couple of girls played at juggling his balls. Another guy had an electric baton sticking out of his butt, with the electric end away of course, and was running around trying to hit people with it.
Letha checked her credits and it was like watching coins flying at her as those numbers rose faster and faster. More bids kept coming in.
“We should do this every day,” Redwood panted. She had scratch marks on her back, bite marks on one breast, and held a leash with the other end around Brink’s limp dick. Brink just shrugged.
“If we did this every day, I think we’d die of exhaustion,” Letha said.
“Or our heads would just explode,” Brink added, then pointed at his cock. “Especially this one.”
She laughed and then saw a new bid pop up. “Go into the tent, and call out ‘Osiris’ as you touch yourself. Gently, slowly, make it count… all the way to climax.”
First she was going to ignore it, but then she saw the bid. It was higher than most of the raunchier bids she was getting. And that name, Osiris. She knew it from mythology, of course, but also from somewhere else. He was one of the names associated with the paradise planet she had her eyes on! Could he have placed the bid? Even if he hadn’t, this could get his attention, and maybe that was a good thing.
Shrugging, she hit accept and then waved at the closest camera to follow her. She passed others and watched a man’s cock moving in and out of a woman, his balls bouncing with each thrust. Another woman approached and hit accept, slid a finger into his ass, then smiled invitingly at Letha, but Letha already had a bid that she’d accepted.
With a shake of her head, she turned and entered her tent. She was already mostly nude, but the unfastened top was still hanging on by one strap. She removed it the rest of the way, then lay back on a cot, staring into the camera. Somehow this made her more excited than all of the moments with others. Here there were no other people to distract her, to divert her attention. Here it was just her and the universe. All eyes on her, her spread legs, and her fingers that slowly worked their way across her mound, down to spread her labia and find her clit, and then gently rubbed it. Her free hand slid along her breasts and she closed her eyes, letting the first “Osiris” come as a whisper, then louder, then louder still, until finally she was screaming it as she squirted out across the cot.
She opened her eyes, smiled at the camera, and let her eyes flick over to the screen as it appeared again. It showed a hefty bonus in addition to the promised bid. Holy fuck, she was rich.
She lay back, panting, and listened to the laughter, moans of orgasm, and yelps of men and women getting fucked. If there was a hell, they were all damn
ed for sure, but right now? Right now they were in heaven.
After a while, the noises died down. Brink found her to bring her the pants and shirt she’d left outside.
He stood above her a moment, his eyes moving across her glowing nudity, and then bit his lip before he turned to leave.
“Come here,” she said.
“There are no bids now,” he replied.
She sat up and reached for his arm before pulling him over so that he was standing right in front of her, his cock inches from her face. She leaned forward and nuzzled his dick with her nose, laughed, and then took it in her hands, feeling it, enjoying it. So soft, so warm.
“Nothing, still? Even after all this?” she asked.
He hung his head, but she stood, hand never leaving him, and shook her head. “No, don’t ever be ashamed. You are who you are.”
“I kill for you. I do what I can.”
“And you do it beautifully,” she said. “Now, I’m hungry as hell and I’m ready to hit up the upgrade station. Can you help me with those?”
“Gladly,” he replied and peered down. “Can you give me my dick back?”
She laughed. “If I have to.”
When he left, she sighed. She dressed and joined the others to find a feast in progress. Some of the others from the camp were already finished and had either retired for the evening or had gone to replace the guards. Others were like her, and just starting to dig in. Several were still enjoying the flesh like earlier, though their bids were also long gone. Now it was just for fun, for those who were there to enjoy each other, to act on passion. She had to respect that, and licked savory grease from her fingers as she watched a man and women kiss each other on the far side of the table, taking short breaks to feed each other before returning to it.
“This is what they needed,” Kale said, and took a seat across from her. He didn’t have his own clothes on, but had a nurse’s shirt tied around his waist to cover himself.
“Oh, not her,” Letha said with a laugh. “Tell me you didn’t.”
He shrugged. “We can’t be so picky here, especially when our goddess is in the tent by herself.”
“Fine, I’ll give you that.” She accepted the chunk of bread he broke off for her, ate it and some more chicken-like game, then took a gulp of water.
Finally, she had the level, and she had the credits. While she would have loved to be able to buy that new gun Fireshot had acquired, she knew what she was getting instead, and it was better.
When she arrived at the upgrade station, the sirens watched with lust but didn’t dare approach her. Word had spread much too fast for that, and everyone knew what she was about to do. She pulled up the screen, selected her air strike scanner, and hit purchase.
Nothing had tasted so sweet in quite some time.
26
Mercy
Planet Kill, Open Lands
Armed with his mini-gun, Pierce trekked into uncontrolled territory. Both Letha and Dregg had cautioned him not to go into this region, especially not alone. The lone wolves like Grinder mostly attacked from here. It was the perfect environment for them to venture out for a kill, retreat, and hide, enjoying their spoils.
They didn’t have to worry about alliances, which meant Pierce’s arrangement with Letha meant nothing here. The best he could hope for was that he wouldn’t run into the Dark Mark or Grinder. As vast as the region was, there was a chance he’d pull that off. At the same time, if he met no one, then he had no further leads in finding Mara.
If Rodrigo’s wide eyes were to be believed, then the uncontrolled territory was where he would find his wife. He needed to find the lone wolves. Not because he wanted to, but because they were the only ones who could help him.
He trudged up a dense hillside, having no choice but to let the branches and leaves slap him as he pushed through since he couldn’t afford a knife. Once at the top, he looked around, taking in the beauty of the least populated area on the planet. It was pristine. He could see a massive waterfall nearby, a mountain peak just beyond that, and swath after swath of mostly untouched and lush rainforest trees, some as tall or taller than the hill he was on now.
“If a random traveler landed here from space,” Pierce said out loud, “they would think they’d found paradise instead of a battlefield.”
His words were followed by distant birdcalls. Pierce slumped to the ground, overwhelmed by the vastness of the terrain. It would take him more time than he had to find anyone out here, and he was searching for people who didn’t want to be found.
The first idea he had was to mark his position as clear as day, and hope someone would come to see if he had anything to trade. He didn’t, but they didn’t know that. He was beginning to doubt his own abilities to accomplish his mission. It would have been better to rush to his stealth ship and get supplies even though it wasn’t anywhere close to his current location, but he needed to save that for a more dire situation. He decided against the desperate act.
He pulled out his mini-gun and pointed it high in the air. “Let’s hope this isn’t taken the wrong way,” he muttered. He fired a single shot, leaving him with only six bullets.
The tiny gun packed a bigger kick than he’d expected. Since he’d shot straight up, the kick knocked him to his ass. There was no smoke or anything, but the shot had been loud and reverberated across the forest. They’d know he was here now.
Hours passed, and nothing happened. Pierce set up a circle of stones and threw some dry twigs and grass in the middle. He began rubbing a couple of sticks together between two stones. It took him a while, but eventually smoke billowed up in small puffs. The fire was slow in coming. Another fifteen minutes passed before a spark finally emerged.
The grass caught fire and wrapped around the twigs. It had worked. His stomach grumbled, so he pushed himself up off the ground and stalked into the trees hunting for any kind of wild beast that would sustain him through the night.
About fifty yards deep, he spotted movement in a small clearing. “Please don’t be a fark,” he whispered. “Please be something that I won’t have to hold my nose to eat.”
As he snuck closer, the rustling ceased. He knew he’d lost his prey. Just as his shoulders slumped, he was struck from behind.
His ears rang as he tumbled to the ground. He scrambled for a stick or rock to throw back and preserve his bullets. After all, he wasn’t here to kill anyone. He was here to ask questions.
But when he looked up, his eyes fell upon the most harrowing thing he’d seen to this point. A human-sized lizard with the face of a dragon stared down at him
With a whimper, he edged backward. “Please, don’t let that thing breathe fire.”
The beast took a few steps forward and sniffed, sizing him up. Its nostrils flared like a bull’s. Out of its mouth came a rumble.
No charge came, though. It just stayed there in position, waiting for something, keeping Pierce captive. Several more seconds passed, and Pierce was still helpless. A feral woman emerged from behind the trees. The dragon-like beast didn’t attack her. It seemed to purr at her arrival, like a cat.
Pierce narrowed his eyes and peered closer. Under the muck, she had a heart-shaped face and delicate features, but her hair was frazzled. She smelt like a fark.
“Hi there,” Pierce said, awkwardly. “Nice to meet you.”
The feral woman marched over to Pierce, stood with her legs shoulder length apart, and leered down at him. She exuded confidence. “Were you sent to assassinate me?”
“Uh, what?” Pierce asked.
“Don’t be an imbecile,” she said and pulled his sleeve up to reveal Letha’s mark. “Are you an assassin?”
Pierce chuckled at that. He hadn’t realized he should have covered the mark somehow. If he’d been warned that others knew to check for this kind of thing he would have.
“You think this is funny?”
“Yes,” Pierce said. “I’m anything but an assassin. I agreed to find information on a Warden for Letha. In exc
hange, she lent me her mark and some credits so that I’d have a chance to find what I came here searching for.”
The feral woman stood back, scrutinizing him. She began pacing back and forth, unsure what to do with him. With that huge beast for a pet behind her, she had all the time in the world to decide.
“I didn’t spare you,” the feral woman said. “I was going to cut you up and feed you to Drake, just not until after I found out what that bitch’s plan is.”
“Honestly, I don’t think you’re as big a part of her plan as you think,” Pierce said. “She’s more concerned about some guy named Ulric. You might have just gotten caught in the middle of it, like I am now.”
The feral woman went to her beast and scratched his head. The creature’s eyes flickered and it moaned.
“My name is Grinder,” she said. “Do you know of me?”
“I’ve heard you’re not to be messed with. I’ve also heard from someone who might be your friend, Rodrigo, that you may be able to help me find what I’m looking for.”
Grinder’s eyes lit up at the mention of Rodrigo’s name. “You’ve seen him? Is he alive? Did that bitch kill him?”
“No,” Pierce said. “She’s taken him in.”
“What? No. She took him in? But he’s one of us,” Grinder said.
Pierce nodded and shrugged. “Fine, I don’t have much to offer right now. But I will, eventually. I just need a little information. In exchange, I’ll owe you a favor.”
“It’s called a debt.”
“Sure, a debt. I need to find someone who doesn’t belong here. Someone who was taken against her will. I’m here to find her and bring her home.”
“You came here for someone else?”
“Yeah, this place hasn’t changed me yet. But I imagine in another few days, and who knows…”
“I don’t make deals. I make corpses,” Grinder said. She flicked her necklace. It was made of bones.
Planet Kill Page 21