by Marcus Sloss
Three hours of dragging trees with them in the back working out their issues. I was yawning a lot and my Gpad was pinging with bedtime invites. I mentioned I had Slister and Nancy in the back talking. That earned me a pass for a while. I was too tired to let them keep going. I kept constantly yawning. When I stopped at the mansion, the girls hugged.
“Goodbye Sammy,” Nancy said, using Slister’s first name. “I will be a good friend.”
“Awe Lavaun, I am sorry it turned out this way. You are the best and I will miss you.”
They both exited the truck. Nancy frowned when I drove away. I went to the charging area. She followed the truck to help drag out the power cord.
“I am glad you got closure, Nancy,” I said honestly.
“Thanks for letting us talk. So…” Nancy paused with a grin. “You crushed the fuck out of that woman’s neck. Becca is doing great; been monitoring her vitals and I would release her if you can. She is stuck on your orders. The mom is away and being monitored with her baby. I told her we buried her husband. Which we did. The grave is separate from the flapion grave. I told her she can make a cross or headstone when she is ready.”
“That is great to hear about the mom. We really need to pull together to help in situations like that. Punching in Becca’s release, and done. I killed her, that conning bitch. Fuck her, she deserved to die. Torrez gave her an option out and forced me into a decision I do not like. I have to come to grips that we are no longer pirates fleeing savages. I didn’t tell Willow or Perci, but my inner demons sang in glee as she suffered,” I said, hooking up the truck to charge. “You coming to bed?”
“A girl like me waits a long time to hear that from a man like you!” Nancy said in a hushed eyebrow dancing tone. She was teasing and merely happy at her closure. “You should tell the girls. They deserve to know.”
“Aye, they do. I plan to. After they have the backstory to go with it. The dark tales of despair will give them more understanding of my sadistic side. Speaking of honesty, I told them how you visited me after masturbating and woke me with your fingers under my nose. Well not the last part,” I said and she went full crimson. We shifted around to the rope at the back of the house. “I am trying to open up to them. I really am.”
“That was one time only. I respected your wishes after that.” She swatted my arm. “Those were private, vulnerable moments, Eric.”
I stopped before ascending the rope. “Nancy I am not an idiot, you love to tease men. Yet, you never slept with any of the men during our escape. You also never woke any other man up aside from me with your dripping desire. Plums. I remember plums. The smell would entice -”
“The date fruit, god that was all I ate. My tits went down a size and I lost my hips. Can you kiss my forehead and tell me I am beautiful on the inside?”
I squirmed in uncertainty. “You are a dear friend, and I find comfort in our connection Nancy Lavaun,” I said and kissed her forehead. She folded into me with a pitiful embrace. She eeked when I hauled us up the rope. Perci was waiting for us on the balcony. She dried Nancy’s teary eyes and led her into our room.
I tossed the rope back down, tip-toed over the bodies, and arrived at a full bed. There was Jacky and an unknown blonde almost on top of each other crammed beside Bonnet, who gave me a death glare. My smirk was not appreciated. We had seven hundred people trying to sleep at night. It was going to be rough until we got more infrastructure put in place. I realized I was the only man in the sheeted off section. I went to the shower room and people with face masks and earplugs were sleeping on the floor outside the shower. While I was fine with that, they clogged the walkway. I went back to the bed and stripped naked with my back to the ladies getting ready.
I snuck into the shower, washed off the grimy day, and returned wrapped in a towel. There were at least five sets of eyes stealing peeks at my body. I tried to find underwear in my pile of clean clothes to no avail. A soft snickering gave the culprits away. I held a hand out. Perci retreated under the covers, trying to contain her laugh. Jacky had enough. She sat up, gave her daughter a stern glare, and I was rewarded with underwear.
I spun, dropped the towel, and stuffed my legs into the boxers. That was one problem solved. There was like four inches of free space on the bed. I hoisted Perci off the bed. I think she was anticipating I was dragging her away for sex. I stole her place between Willow and Nancy.
“I guess,” Perci muttered, trying to get comfy on my chest.
This sucked. I felt Willow clutching at me trying to stay on the bed. I gave up. Victory was not mine. I had slept in some shitty spots before. I grabbed a blanket and a pillow. In my underwear, I climbed down the ladder. Someone's dog saw my pillow blanket combo and became interested. I found a nice spot in the cloudless sky and created a bed. Five minutes later, I was snoring with a dog tucked behind my legs.
CHAPTER 16
I woke up with a tiny hand repeatedly pushing my arm. “Wake up, wake up! Daddy wake up!” I let out a large groan. I raised out of my blankets to prop myself up on my elbows. I saw Perci, five dogs curled up with us, and an empty spot from where Willow must have been. A little girl no older than three was hugging me. Perci cracked an eye with a questioning look.
“Mary!” A mother cried out for what I had to assume was Mary. I waved to the mom who went flush in the face. Willow exited the morning kitchen crowd that spilled onto the back patio. She was carrying something steamy and I remembered we had gotten coffee yesterday.
“Good morning Mary,” I said to the little girl.
Mary grew shy, tucked her chin, and ran for her mom. I think she realized from my voice that I was not daddy. Her mom mouthed sorry before walking hand in hand with her little girl. Perci sighed at their cute image and even Willow gave an awe. I was handed tea. Awe, the tea was still yummy.
“Ugh, this is a lot of dogs. I guess I never noticed them that much. This little English bulldog is so ugly he is adorable,” I said while scratching the bulldog’s ears. I slept through the night without the girls waking me when they piled into our snuggle fest. I was shocked I did not have night terrors. Maybe the dogs fought away my demons for me. “I slept great. When did you girls come out?”
“We are not super soldiers. It took us ten minutes to get out of the room and down the stairs and over the people sleeping in the kitchen. I probably stirred a half dozen people,” Willow said with a soft laugh recalling the situation. “You were snuggled up with this dog. When we came out with blankets, two more dogs joined us. I never imagined I would sleep on grass like a bed without covers. I feel amazing, though.”
“You and me both, girl! Thanks for the tea. I want to pee, but don’t want to fight the morning lines. Come escort your queen to do her morning business,” Perci said and I placed a finger to my chest. Before I could go into the whole ‘girls go potty together without boys’ rant, Willow extended a hand. “Family pee party!”
“You are getting entirely too excited about this,” I said, rising from my butt.
I checked over my Gpad while balancing my tea. Jevon did hourly drone recons to keep the battery fresh. A few low-grade drones had been recovered and the assessment was they were great for day operations. Peterson would need to build her drone team if I was going to need a day and night team. Yup, Peterson had not slept in twenty four hours. I sent our command channel a notice. Anyone who had not slept was to immediately go down.
Jevon had written a note that he learned bunnies are crepuscular. Dalila knew this. Jevon approved her and Tina going onto a special night shift during catching. I saw the note that said ‘but wait, there's more’. I wanted to click it so bad but the girls were dragging me, desperate to pee. I gave in to their demands. I sprinted for the woods while the girls gave snarky words of ‘what part of pee did you miss?’ While I peed against a tree I tapped the note. Jevon was holding a duck. Huh? There was a video I obviously had to watch. Bread crumbs were placed in a trail to a box. The duck found the trail, went under the box, and the stick was pu
lled. An older man retrieved the duck. He went on a long tangent about how, if you clipped the wings, they would be forced to stay. Domesticated ducks would lay one egg a day if fed properly without lots of stress.
“Yes!” I cried out in victory.
“Did you fart while peeing?” Perci asked. I grunted in confusion. Perci giggled before ripping out a fart. “Yes! Ah, see, that does feel good.”
“What!? No! We have a duck. An avid duck hunter said he can catch us ducks. Eggs! Awe the video says this one is a guy. But still! This is incredible. We will persist beyond the MREs if we keep this up,” I said excitedly.
“Catching ducks sounds fun. If you can catch them. What did they do?”
“The box trick with bait. I doubt many waterfowl way up here have seen that many boxes. He even clipped the wings and everything. They aren’t chickens, but darn close!”
“Oh my, you sure are worked up about ducks. What else is there to do today?”
“I was going to go to the Xgate 232. Ours is more like Ygate 232. I want to send the drone team in to see what happened to the puroons after the buxen defeated them. Maybe see if there is salvageable stuff or fruit trees. I don’t know. We have eight plus days until the gates go golden,” I said with a stretch. I then realized if I did not set physical training it would never get done. I was going to need some clothes to get raided. “You girls want to go running?”
“I will boob an eye out without a bra,” Willow said and Perci chuckled. “What, we all can't have fantastic, perky tits.”
“Girls, I want to work out, you coming?”
“Yes let me get shorts, I saw some in the loot,” Willow started thinking about getting clothes and sighed. “Can you do superman rope climbing? Nancy said it is on our training itinerary. Your gear is still up top in our room including your boots. Can you grab me a sports bra and fresh clothes? Mediums will work.”
“Smalls for me,” Perci said.
A half hour later, the day shift was formed up. The night shift was covering the wall while we ran. I led us on a light jog up the river. No reason we went that way... Okay, I wanted to see the ducks. I wanted to offer rewards for captured livestock when I came up with an idea. While we were soft jogging the river trail, I typed out metal nuggets would be exchanged for every animal caught. I then went over how the gates would go golden and we could use the currency to trade. They might even have toilet paper. Even though there were a thousand questions I had no answers to, it was the perfect motivator. I had the majority of the community exploring with me for our daily exercise.
At a slow pace to keep everyone huddled, we arrived at the lake as a group. I think from the season the lake level was higher than normal with a marshy shoreline. The vegetation grew large here and boy oh boy. There was a whole flock of ducks. I stuck my hand into the frigid water and was shocked they would sit in anything this cold. I saw the man from the video holding a duck that was quacking to its friends. The man was tossing bed crumbs to the others. When I neared, the other ducks waddled away with agitated quacks.
“Oh hello there, I got a report from you this morning. I am very excited about the ducks. I am Eric, the king,” I said with my hand out.
“Um… Citizen Patrick, friends call me Pat,” He said and we shook hands. These are mallards. They will lay eggs. I recommend we fatten them up and get them really friendly. Then snip wings when they are used to the food with young already raised. The problem will be the food. We are out of bread pretty much, ate it all before it molded.”
I tapped furiously on my Gpad. Jevon stopped my spamming messages with a call.
“I am tired, are you almost done?” Jevon said grouchily from the wall.
“MRE crackers are to be saved for the ducks.”
“Damn, I never thought we would ever find a use for MRE crackers. Order received. Hurry home, please. Deluxe Duke out.”
“Can I have Citizen Duxpert!?” Pat asked. Perci arrived with an eye roll.
“Done, grow my flock, Pat. You have access to all the MRE crackers. Make it happen. I think there are some older folks that would love this job,” I said with a goodbye shake. I cupped my hands around my mouth, aimed for the mass of morning people exercising, and shouted, “We are running home! You should be warmed up! Follow the same trail back for today to keep it simple!”
I ran by hundreds of citizens going the opposite way. My legs pumped with my boots clomping from the fast pace. The trees glided by me while I waved and gave high fives. The soldiers kept pace with no problem, along with a lot of the runners in the group. The moms with three kids obviously did not. Hopefully, the mother hens would set up some sort of mom freedom childcare time. The trip home had me pondering what the Xgate would bring today.
Jacky greeted me upon our arrival with a warm smile and a steaming bowl of oatmeal. I raised an eyebrow at her.
“This came in from the looting. Eat while I talk,” Jacky said. I found a nice exterior chair that was rarely vacant. I plopped into it with a smile. The spoonfuls of maple brown sugar oatmeal tasted divine. “Funny how the little things taste so good after a while. I want to be your treasurer. I kept finances for -”
“Okay.”
“Perfect. The title is King’s Treasurer. Now that you have established you will pay people for services, expect more people wanting to earn something, anything, for their time,” Jacky said and I grunted. “I do not speak soldier.”
“I approve. Of all of it. I need a daycare run, so those moms can… well, run. They deserve the opportunity,” I said, inhaling the rest of my oatmeal. I handed Jacky the bowl back with a smile.
“They said you were easy going. I suggest limiting pay until the golden trade day thing. Maybe put out an official statement you want to keep half in reserve to at least have buying power for necessities. It will mean more people wanting to forage. Which you need to tax looting. Obviously your soldiers are here for the greater good. The citizens are used to hoarding.”
I rubbed my temples. She had a point, rules would solve the issue though. Perci arrived with a bit of a pant. I gave her a high five and said, “Hey, Jacky is my banker, accountant, and she is the tax collector. She volunteered for the cause. I need looting rules. As in, how much goes to the stronghold vs how much goes to the group. I think we should split it. Not where Jerry nabs a full jewelry box off some mansion and is suddenly the wealthiest man besides the government. That seems fair to me about the group thing. A fifty, fifty might be okay. I want to start paying people, give a sense of hope for the golden gates. Even if they are a dud, we can bring stuff to trade. Maybe take other humans home with us.”
“That was never asked. Jacky is a great choice. I have been swamped with other tasks, so this will help if we’re introducing pay, taxes, and bonuses. It will be a lot of work. You sure you're up for it?” Perci asked flatly. Jacky raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, that came off rude. Do you plan to have a team?”
“Who is being rude to my mom?” Willow said, after lapping the buildings a few extra times and showing up to the conversation late. She gave a slight jostle to Perci to tease her.
“I volunteered to handle money, taxes, pay, and commerce inside the walls. I have a few book worms I can rely on,” Jacky said with a bow. “I will take your leave to start compiling all the valuable loot for trading.”
“Thanks, Jacky.”
We left for our assembled clothes in the middle of the field and a dozen dogs sunbathed on our blankets. I picked up my clothes which I had the foresight to stuff in a pillowcase. Perci, Willow, and I walked to the woods to change. I was not interested in fighting the crowds flowing into the house. There were ropes on every balcony now, and someone had the foresight to build a rope ladder. Little things like that would make a world of difference. It went to show that a different side of humanity still prevailed during a crisis. Humans would adapt. My Gpad pinged with that thought being interrupted.
‘Charlotte killed herself. Removed her tubes before I could save her.’ - Nancy
‘Thanks for the update. Inform Torrez.’
Perci read the news as Nancy put it on the officer channel. I was ready to find Becca and get my stinky scorched gear back. I left the girls who were still getting ready. They were having a nice morning chat and I was not going to stick around. I had a lot to get done. I found Becca resting with my gear piled beside Jevon on a berm by the gate.
“Morning, King Eric. My fever was short lived and I turned out fine. I will leave you two to it. See you in bed soon, Deluxe Duke!” Becca said. She went right into a loud hum after pestering my friend.
“Douglas, get over here,” Jevon ordered a fourteen or fifteen year old geeky looking Asian kid. “Here is your day time drone operator. Give the cave a look, you're welcome. I am exhausted, probably why I am so short. A good night’s rest will do some good.”
“Night DD,” I said with a chuckle. He gave a two-finger peace sign wave as he retreated.
I saw the entirety of our storage problem had been solved. Holy batcave duckman. That was incredible. I could only imagine the amount of work that would have taken. People were setting up beds under the balconies already. I saw a massive pile of trees stacked near the woodworking section. So much for our berm idea. Funny how fast things change. Like the young man standing beside me with drone goggles around his neck.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked Douglas.
“Orders, sir.”
“Perfect, get sight on the Xgate. I am going to send you some coordinates too. They are the locations of -”
“DD gave me them. I hear you are letting people make their own titles…” The young man hesitated.
I seized on the moment. “Wait, is making your own title important to you?”
“Oh yeah, I would love to be Citizen Droneanator, officially. That would be badass!”
“Douglas, you are what, fourteen?”
“Thirteen, sir. Dad says if you are going to swear to know when and -”