by CC Bridges
“I think I can handle that,” Gabe finally said, managing to hold in his laughter.
“Finish practice first.” Jeff motioned toward the rifle. “I’d like it if you could actually hit a target.”
Gabe nodded, his expression now determined. For a moment Jeff saw a different look on Gabe’s face, one that was fierce and warlike. Maybe this was the last thing the demons saw before being put down. He almost shuddered at the idea of Gabe facing demons. As long as he could, Jeff would keep Gabe safe from them.
KAYLA’S OWN workshop operated on a much smaller scale than her father’s. Like his, engine parts, wires, and plastic tubing covered every available surface. She had a lavender toolbox with her name painted on the lid in a silver metallic paint. The tools inside shone without a trace of dirt, clearly well cared for.
From the doorway Gabe watched Kayla complete her lesson for the day. The teacher AI appeared on the viewscreen that hung on one wall, asking questions that must be related to what she’d just taught. He bit his lip to keep from smiling as Kayla rolled her eyes when she answered.
“The three largest corporations are Heaven, Texico, and the USC.” Kayla touched something on her control panel and the screen went blank.
Trixie yawned and stretched out her paws from her place at Kayla’s feet. Apparently the lesson had been just as exciting for her.
“Done for the day?” Gabe asked. He’d left Jeff working on the wing, unable to watch any longer without getting antsy. Gabe admitted he wanted the thing to be done now so he could try it out.
Kayla made a face as she went to the tiny fridge in the corner and pulled out two nutridrinks. She offered Gabe one before she answered. “I have to finish the geography module. It’s stupid because they don’t even talk about downside.”
Gabe twisted off the top of his bottle and took a long sip. He winced as the too tart orange flavor hit his tongue. “They probably don’t even have that info up there.”
Kayla pulled something out from the rubble on her worktable. It was flat and shaped like a pentagon with an opaque circle in its center. She held it in the palm of her hand. “They should. I’ve got every demon’s territory mapped out.”
The device flashed, and then a 3D grid map appeared above Kayla’s hand. Gabe moved closer, marveling at it. He hadn’t seen any holoimages down here and didn’t think they’d managed to steal that tech from Heaven yet.
“The area in red is Luca’s.” She pointed and the map shifted in response to her finger motion. “Blue is Lord Algon. Green for Lesha.” The map continued to zoom out, the terrain taking on a shape that seemed familiar to Gabe.
He saw his home state, the almost J shape in the angles of the coast. It had changed in two hundred years, of course it had—the edges were more jagged, the ocean much closer than it had been. Still, the map brought back memories about taking that stupid local history course in college.
“And that?” Gabe pointed. His old school would be smack in the middle of the grayed-out territory.
“Oh, that’s unclaimed by any demon as far as I know.” Kayla clenched her hand and the map disappeared.
Gabe blinked. “As far as you…? Kayla, did you program that map yourself?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that hard. I just overlaid the demons’ names on the existing map, which I pulled from the net and compiled into 3D.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Trust me, Kayla, I don’t think there’s a child in Heaven who can do that.” One without a chip in his head, at least.
“You sound like Dad.” She put the device back down among her pile of projects.
“Well, he should be proud of you,” Gabe told her. He understood Jeff’s rationale for teaching her so much. Kayla would need to learn every skill she could just to survive downside. Gabe was discovering the hard way just how many essential skills he lacked. “I couldn’t do that. Heaven above, there are plenty of things I can’t do.”
To his surprise, she touched his arm, causing Gabe to meet her dark eyes. “I can teach you.”
Gabe smiled. “I’d like that.”
Kayla grinned back, looking so much like her father in that moment. “But first I think Trixie needs some air.”
“I bet she’s been bored, sitting in here all morning.” Gabe didn’t let the smile creep onto his face. Trixie wasn’t the only one who was tired of being stuck inside.
Trixie barked, as if understanding his words. Kayla grabbed a red rubber ball from the corner of a cabinet. “She needs exercise.”
Gabe guessed Kayla did too. Kids weren’t meant to be trapped inside at the mercy of their teacher AIs. He only wished she had some real sunshine to play in. “Me too.”
Kayla paused at the door, just before following Trixie out. “Gabe, you are gonna stay with us, right?”
Now he did smile but felt the blush rising in his cheeks. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
“I hope it’s a long time.”
Now that, Gabe thought, was entirely up to Jeff.
GABE CAME awake suddenly, knowing that something wasn’t right even before he sat up to observe the darkness in his bedroom. Light normally filtered in through his window from the junkyard lamps, but he’d pulled the shade before falling asleep. He waited and wasn’t disappointed when the scratching noise came again.
The door swung open slowly, revealing Jeff outlined in the light from the stairwell. “Kayla’s asleep,” he whispered. “Do you mind?”
Gabe had to laugh. “It’s better than quickies in your workshop.” He pushed off the covers and patted the other half of his mattress.
Jeff shut the door behind him and crawled into bed with Gabe. He wrapped his arms around Gabe’s waist and pressed his lips against Gabe’s. “Been waiting for this all day.”
He smelled fresh, like he’d just come from the shower, and his hair was a little damp. Gabe found he missed the scent of metal and oil normally on Jeff’s skin. Breathing deeper, he tried to find Jeff’s own essence.
“First time in a bed.”
Jeff snickered as he pulled at Gabe’s shirt, sliding his hands along Gabe’s torso. His callused fingers sent sensation all along Gabe’s abdomen. “Don’t care if we were on the floor.”
Well, they nearly were. If either of them rolled off the mattress, they wouldn’t have far to fall. He couldn’t help grinning at the thought as he moved forward to strip Jeff of his clothes. In the dim light seeping in from the window, he could barely see Jeff’s body. Gabe wanted to explore now that he had the chance to have Jeff naked beneath his fingers, not just up against the wall with his pants around his ankles.
“Wait right here. Naked.” Gabe pressed a kiss to Jeff’s lips before darting away to pull up his shade, letting in the full light from outside. He had to step over his little collection—books from the salvaged crate, a wooden stick Trixie had brought him, a stylized lighter from Lick, and the tiny music player Kayla had given him. It hadn’t taken him long to start making a home here.
When he turned back to the bed, Jeff had settled in the middle of it, arms tucked behind his head, one leg propped up, almost as if he were posing for Gabe. The light suited him, illuminating the flat planes of his stomach, the dusting of chest hair on his pecs, the shadowed form of his cock, thick and heavy against one long thigh. Gabe swallowed. His own arousal coiled within him.
“Come on.”
Gabe didn’t need to be told twice. He slipped out of the baggy pants he wore to bed and climbed onto Jeff, straddling his waist. His dick thumped against Jeff’s, causing them both to moan. Gabe grasped Jeff’s cock, marveling at the differences—Jeff had foreskin, his shaft thicker and darker than Gabe’s own. He couldn’t resist skimming his fingers along the head, catching the droplet waiting at the tip.
Jeff bit at his fist to contain his groan. It sent a wave of something through Gabe that he had that kind of power to make Jeff cry out against his will.
Gabe leaned forward, hissing as his cock slid against Jeff’s. He nuzzled under Je
ff’s jaw, enjoying the feel of Jeff’s beard beneath his lips. Then he trailed a line down Jeff’s chest, stopping only to suck on one nipple.
“Torturing me here, boy,” Jeff growled.
With a chuckle, Gabe sat back. For once he didn’t deny being Jeff’s boy. “Just like this,” he said, rolling his hips.
Jeff arched against him. Gabe could hold him down, keep Jeff still beneath him. But he liked how Jeff squirmed, how he bucked his hips. “Yeah, c’mon.” Jeff gripped Gabe’s waist, holding tightly but letting him drive.
With a smirk, Gabe licked his own palm before wrapping it around both of their cocks. He began to rock back and forth, searching for that flawless rhythm. Gabe moaned when he found it, that perfect combination of slick and slide. Jeff’s grip got tighter just before he came, spilling over both of them.
Gabe cried out, biting his lip at the last moment to keep quiet. He couldn’t wake Kayla. His orgasm flowed through him, a rush of sensation that took him away from everything for a brief blissful instant.
“You all right?” Jeff asked.
When Gabe opened his watery eyes, he saw Jeff looking up at him, his forehead wrinkled. “Yes.” He moved off Jeff, wincing at the sticky mess. “Just intense, I guess.”
Jeff grabbed a corner of the sheets and wiped them both off. When he moved to get up, Gabe threw an arm over his chest. “Stay? Just a little bit.”
He shouldn’t be thinking about Rocky right now. Gabe knew that. But that had been the last time he’d ever felt anything so strong. He remembered nights like this—stolen time in his dorm room, clutched together so tightly on the tiny twin bed. Rocky had felt as warm as Jeff, so pleasant to curl up against.
Jeff slid his arm down Gabe’s shoulder, slipping into that place on Gabe’s body, between where one wing folded against his shoulder blade and the tattered remnants of the other marred his skin.
“Soon,” Jeff said.
Gabe let his head fall on Jeff’s chest, trusting the other man to figure it out. There seemed to be little Jeff couldn’t craft with his own hands.
Something about the quiet of the night, how nothing stirred but the soft sounds of their breathing, had Gabe thinking of old ghosts.
Gabe kissed Jeff’s skin, just above one nipple, before he spoke. “I think I went to college not too far from here….” Thoughts of Rocky were heavy on his mind, but Gabe couldn’t speak of him, not yet.
“Oh?” Jeff sounded puzzled. Did he even know what college was? There was no reason for a university if a chip in your brain could give you all the knowledge you needed and then some.
“If here—Old Trent, I mean—is where I think it is.” He realized he wasn’t clarifying his original statement at all and tried again. “Kayla showed me the map of the demons’ territories. If I’m reading it right, my school isn’t in any of them.”
“Unscavenged territory?” Jeff pushed himself up on his free arm.
“I guess.” Gabe lifted one hand and let it fall. “It was in the suburbs, so I can’t imagine anyone ventured out there.”
“What kinds of things did you have at this college? Machines? Metal? Anything I could use to make neural nets and power cells?”
Gabe thought for a moment. Everything would be over two hundred years out of date, but then again, downsiders seemed to have no problem mixing old and new. “We had a new science complex,” he offered. “State of the art when I was—” Human, his mind supplied, but rather than share that insecurity with Jeff he only finished with “—there. I’m sure you could find something useful.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone scouting.” Jeff sounded wide awake now, all traces of sleepiness gone from his voice.
Gabe didn’t know what to make of the change in tone. “Why do I suddenly think that suggesting this was a very bad idea?”
Jeff laughed. He rolled onto his side, sliding his hand along Gabe’s hip. The touch sent shivers along Gabe’s skin, causing him to shiver despite Jeff’s warmth. “Ready for round two?”
“I suppose I should bring up scavenged tech in bed more often.” Gabe twisted to give Jeff better access. Jeff swallowed his laughter with a kiss and then made Gabe forget everything they’d been talking about.
Chapter Thirteen
JEFF MADE sure to tweak the truck’s propulsion systems before they left. He doubted there would be any decent roads on the way, so they’d need to rely on the hover mechanism. After thinking about it for a moment, he packed an extra fuel cell in the bed. That was with the rifles, food, and jugs of water. He also grabbed a few pairs of shaded goggles since he wasn’t quite sure what to expect of the sunlight out there.
He hummed under his breath as he worked. It had been years since he’d been on a run outside known territory. Part of him felt this was what it meant to be a downsider—facing the unknown, discovering what humanity had lost. Jeff couldn’t help the thrum of excitement that ran through him. He hadn’t looked forward to something so much since, well, the last time he’d jacked in and discovered a whole new part of the net. This, however, he could share with his daughter, wanted to share with her, not hide away like he had his addiction.
“I plotted a route.” Kayla waved a portable tablet in his direction before climbing into the truck. Trixie hopped in beside her, both of them in the back seat together.
Gabe came around the truck, dressed in the heavy leather jacket that suited his thin frame. Jeff swallowed at the sight of him. Even dressed like a downsider, Gabe couldn’t hide his beauty, the perfection of his features. It was hard to believe anyone could mistake Gabe for anything but what he was—a fallen angel in shabby clothing. Of course, Jeff might be a little biased on that point.
Gabe jerked his head toward the truck. “You sure about them coming?”
“Kayla’s a better shot than you.” Jeff grinned. He slapped a hand on Gabe’s shoulder and kept it there. “Besides, she’s never been scavenging. ’Bout time. When I was her age, it was all I did.”
Because he had to. Even though Ma was still alive back then, Jeff was required to pull his weight. Everyone in the group had needed to contribute, or they’d have all starved. Demons had just begun to creep up to barter with, but life wouldn’t get much easier for years.
He couldn’t look back on those years fondly, but Jeff never realized how much he missed the prospect of exploration, of finding something that had been buried and hidden for ages. Plus, it gave Jeff and Kayla the opportunity to get away from Old Trent for the day, leaving Luca and his demons behind. Jeff couldn’t think of anything else that could make him feel so light.
“I’m worried this whole trip will end up being disappointing.” Gabe shrugged. “I mean, how much could have survived two hundred years?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Jeff said. “Come on, we need all the daylight we can get.” He slid into the front seat of the truck. Gabe sat next to him, looking taken aback to find himself in Kayla’s usual place.
Kayla leaned over the back of the bench seat. “For the most part we can follow the old highways. Start out on the one that follows the river, heading north.” She touched her map panel and nodded, as if confirming her own words.
Jeff grinned as he slid his hands over the truck’s control panel. “Hold on.”
They sped out between the junkyard’s gates, which slid shut behind them. A flick of his wrist had the alarms and shields set before they had gotten very far. Then they were out on the road, still traveling familiar territory for now.
About twenty minutes into their journey, Kayla had him turn away from the river, though they kept going north. Jeff followed an old highway, the cracked and peeling roadway getting worse the farther they drove, with weeds and tiny trees breaking through large crevasses in the earth. Then the asphalt abruptly dropped away, leaving them hovering in midair. All that remained were tall pillars and pylons, giant concrete monuments supporting bridges that weren’t there anymore.
Gabe leaned out the window, not speaking as he took in the rubble to
either side of them. The farther they got from Luca’s territory, the more nature set in, trees and bushes encroaching on what used to be roads. All of the buildings they spotted were in ruins, probably what happened without newer tech to shore them up.
“I’ve never seen so many trees,” Kayla whispered.
“You’d think they wouldn’t be able to grow,” Gabe said in a low voice. “With the sunlight so obstructed.”
Jeff shrugged. “They adapt.” Just like humanity had. Well, the ones stuck down here anyway.
“People used to live here. There were houses with large yards….” Gabe turned away from the window to look back at Kayla. “Have we left the demons’ territory yet?”
“A while ago,” she said. “There are no official borders. Nobody’s keeping us in the city. Not like there’s anything out here. You’d have to go west for that.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff caught movement just in time to lift the truck into the air, over the creatures that pranced across the cracked and split road. They all jerked in their seats until Jeff righted the truck.
“What the hell?”
“Deer….” Gabe laughed. “I guess this is where they get the meat for the market.”
Jeff shook his head. “I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.”
“There are so many of them.” Kayla pressed against the window as Trixie let out a series of barks.
“You’d think there would be more people hunting out this way,” Gabe mused.
Jeff got them back on their route. “Why, when we have plenty of nutricubes? You don’t have to skin those.” Of course, if things continued to get tight, if the demons couldn’t keep the supply line open, then Jeff might get more familiar with hunting than he was entirely comfortable with. So would everyone in Old Trent.
“Turn up ahead,” Kayla burst out. “There should be a road leading in, but it could be covered up.”