“So what’s the plan?” Vermin asks.
Hyena and Swaggat look at each other.
Swaggat speaks for them. “You all will stay here for the night. When it’s dark I’m going to go out and get some support amongst my people. We will attack Vinson and the Rashers in the morning.”
Vermin looks at Hyena. “I thought we were going to kill the sea beast.”
“The plan’s changed,” Hyena says.
“But Slayer said—”
Swaggat cuts her off. “I can’t allow you to kill the sea mothers. They are important to my people.”
“Those creatures are important to your people?” Vermin asks. “But why? They are responsible for so much death.”
“You don’t understand,” Swaggat says. “The sea mothers and my people are the same.”
Swaggat explains the evolution of his people.
“The sea mothers were once females of my people,” Swaggat says. “As my people get older, we become more squid-like. But the males of my species stop changing once we reach puberty. Females, on the other hand, continue to become larger and more squid-like every year they are alive. Once a woman is in her late fifties, she usually has mutated so much that she is no longer able to survive on land and must go into the sea. There she grows into one of the large creatures who control the sea worms.
“Women try to have as many children as possible before their transformation. They especially try for as many sons as they can get. A sea mother’s sons spread their seed into the world. Everything they have sex with becomes infected with parasites that their sea mother controls. The females their sons infect will infect other animals which will infect other humans and other creatures. This is how our sea mothers obtain their prey.
“Before a female becomes a sea mother, the worms inside of her sons are dormant until she goes out to sea. They can infect people with their worms but the mother won’t be able to control them until after she matures in the ocean. My sea worms are forever dormant, because my mother died when she was still young.
“Those infected with dormant sea worms, such as Hyena, are immune to all other worms. A brain can only be in tune with one sea mother. The brain will not be able to connect with other parasites, even if the original sea mother dies and loses connection.”
“What about the Rashers?” Hyena asks. “Where do they fit in?”
“The Rashers are neither male nor female,” Swaggat says. “They do not reproduce themselves. The Rashers are the children of the sea mothers. Before the women go out to sea, their husbands impregnate them one last time, which often costs the husbands their lives. Nine months later, once the sea mothers are fully matured, they crawl on land and lay dozens of eggs. These eggs hatch into small legged fish creatures that crawl back into the sea, grow to adulthood within a year, then return to dry land and join the ranks of the Rashers.
“The Rashers have only one purpose. They protect the sons of the sea mothers.”
“Are they immune to the sea worms?” Hyena asks.
“No,” he says. “None of my people are immune unless they carry dormant sea worms. But the Rashers are not in danger of being eaten by the sea mothers. A sea mother can inactivate sea worms in any creature if she wishes it. Sea mothers do not wish to eat the Rashers, so she will not control infected Rashers. Likewise, she will not eat any of my people who are infected with her sea worms. Unless she wants to.”
“The sea mothers sometimes eat your people?”
“My people treat our women with respect. Not just because they will one day become the sea mothers that keep our society alive, but because if you’re not kind and respectful to a woman while she is a human she will eat you once she becomes a sea mother.
“Those who are in the most danger of being eaten are the wives of a sea mother’s sons. Women in my culture are always very caring of their mothers-in-law. Because once a wife begins to have children with her husband, she becomes infected with his sea worms. They are dormant only until the mother-in-law goes into the ocean. If the sea mother doesn’t like her daughter-in-law she will eat her with no remorse. A wife often becomes an obedient servant to her mother-in-law until the mother makes her transformation. However, those who are in the most danger are the ex-girlfriends. If a girl breaks a boy’s heart and is infected with his worms she has to pray his mother dies before she becomes a sea mother. A sea mother’s first meal is usually all the young women her sons have slept with, especially the ones she didn’t like.”
“I take it that not many of your women live long enough to become sea mothers?” Hyena asks.
“This is true. Only about ten percent of our females make it out to sea.”
Hyena nods at Swaggat’s story, mildly interested in his culture.
“My people are similar to your people,” she says. “Our women also go through transformations, from woman to wolf. But when we become large hungry creatures like your sea mothers, we only eat men. We don’t discriminate. We eat all men.”
Swaggat leaves at nightfall. He drives without his truck lights, knowing that the Rashers are patrolling the area.
Vermin and Hyena sit in silence, wagging their tails, grinding their teeth, until Swaggat’s aroma fades from the room.
“I like him,” Vermin says, curling her lips around her bottom teeth.
Hyena wipes the moisture from her fur. “Are you going to be ready to fight tomorrow?”
“I’m always ready,” Vermin says.
“We’ll be fighting a lot more of those shark men,” Hyena says. “Your darts aren’t very effective against them.”
“I’ve got lots of the venom,” Vermin says. “I’ll just triple dip the darts and aim for arteries. They should go down faster.”
“You’re going to have to learn how to fight on a motorcycle,” Hyena says. “You are worthless as a knight otherwise.”
“I’ll get used to it. I’ve learned how to shoot while running, then while jumping. It shouldn’t be hard to learn to shoot while riding.”
Hyena nods. “Learn quickly.”
Vermin was never known as a capable fighter or hunter. She was good at setting traps and hunting small animals like rabbits and squirrels, but she was rarely seen on the battlefield. This was because Vermin was always hidden. After the great battle of McDonaldland, people thought of her as merely a survivor of the battle, not one of the heroes who brought them to victory. But the truth is that Vermin killed more mutant soldiers than any of her sisters.
Vermin knew she couldn’t stand up to many enemies in hand to hand combat, so she preferred to kill her victims before they even knew she was there. She crept through the shadows of the battlefield, going from crushed-car to crushed-car. She would fire a poison dart at a mutant, sprint toward him on all fours, cut his throat and disappear into the shadows before anyone saw her.
Although it was not yet night, the great hermaphrodite wolf, Kroger, and the large city wall around McDonaldland cast long shadows across the battlefield, giving Vermin plenty of places to hide. She went from mutant to mutant, picking off those who were fighting solo or had momentarily separated from their fighting squad. It didn’t matter what they were armed with; machine guns, flame throwers, chainsaws. Once she hit them with her darts, they didn’t stand a chance.
The only time she was in any real danger was the time she decided to take on six mutants at once. They were in the back of a truck that had lost its engine in the jaws of the giant wolves Talon was commanding. The six mutants were in the center of the battlefield, protected by armor plating surrounding the truck, firing at all the wolf women who came near. Several of Vermin’s wolf sisters were falling to these gunmen. Even though she was one of the youngest warriors on the battlefield, she knew it was up to her to take the men down.
The first one was easy. As a mutant stood up to shoot at Slayer riding by on her motorcycle, Vermin put a dart in the back of his chubby neck. It took a while for the other five to realize what was going on. They found the dart in his neck, then l
ooked back in the direction Vermin had fired. But Vermin was not there anymore. As they put a spotlight on the shadows in that direction, Vermin scuttled like a wolf spider quickly around the other side of the vehicle. She hit the one manning the spotlight in his neck and he dropped out of the truck. She cut his throat before disappearing beneath the vehicle.
When the mutant’s friends saw his blood gushing out of his neck as he choked on his last breath, they began to panic. They thought they were fighting a ghost. They aimed the light across the battlefield, but didn’t see anything. By the way they shouted at each other, Vermin could tell they were beginning to get scared. This was part of Vermin’s plan. The more they feared her, the more control she had over them.
But it all didn’t go according to plan. The next time she fired at them, she missed. The dart hit the truck between two of the mutants. Before she could hide in the shadow of a nearby wrecked vehicle, they saw her black ratty tail. The mutants fired at her, shining the light on the vehicle she was using for cover. There was no way to sneak away. She was trapped. In a shootout, one blowgun was no match for four men with machine guns.
Vermin believes that there’s always a way to win, no matter the odds. She just had to be clever enough to figure a way out of her situation. She couldn’t outgun them. They were too close for her to run away. And with the spotlight on, she couldn’t sneak away. As pressure built in her lower belly, she got an idea. She knew it wasn’t a very good idea, but it was the only idea she had.
The ratty wolf girl had to take a shit, so that’s what she did. She shit into her hand and tossed it at the mutants, hoping to hit the spotlight. Without breaking cover, she didn’t aim well and the shit splattered on the bed of the truck. When they felt it hit their ankles, they recoiled in surprise. Then another handful of shit was thrown at them. It hit the edge of their barricade, splattering all four of them. The mutants wondered why the wolf woman was tossing mud at them. But then one mutant tasted a droplet of the mud that had gotten into his mouth.
“It’s shit,” he cried.
As another splatter of her wet shit hit one of them in the face, the four men ducked for cover, whimpering at the rancid odor. Vermin made a break for it. With a handful of diarrhea, she charged around the side of the truck and covered two-thirds of the spotlight in the crap, rendering it useless. The second she was hidden, she shot a dart at one of them, through a crack in the barricade, in an ankle. Three were left standing.
One of them went to wipe the shit from the spotlight with his third hand. But he only spread it around more. Then a dart hit him in the forearm.
The other two fired into the shadows until their guns were empty. As they were reloading, Vermin held her blowgun in her teeth, climbed up the back of the truck and stabbed them with two poisoned darts. One of them didn’t go down right way. He punched her in the face so hard that she fell down in the mud, dazed.
As she tried to get up, the mutant reloaded his clip and aimed it at Vermin. He shook his head and blinked his eyes as the poison spread through his system. He tried to aim down at Vermin but he couldn’t keep his balance. Before he passed out, he slipped on a piece of Vermin’s shit and broke his jaw against the edge of the truck’s metal armor.
As Slayer rode by on her motorcycle, she saw Vermin cutting their throats and retrieving her darts. Slayer gave the girl a nod of approval and rode on. Even though it was just a quick nod, it made Vermin very happy. It was the first time she had ever been acknowledged as a warrior by one of her sisters. It was all the acknowledgement she needed.
She spent the rest of the battle fighting in the shadows, but not a single Outlander or wolf woman saw a trace of her again until the war was over.
Whimpering and growling noises come from the next room. Hyena goes to the barracks and finds Slayer, wriggling and turning in her sleep. She’s having a wet dream. Swaggat’s arousing fragrance is still in the room and is affecting the wounded wolf woman.
Slayer’s thighs press together, rubbing her oversized clitoris. Her fur fluffs out as she reaches orgasm. Then her body mutates, turning her just a little bit more into a wolf. The only difference Hyena notices is the lengthening of her teeth and tail.
When she’s done, Slayer wakes up panting. She looks down at her crotch, and says, “Damn it . . .”
Then she looks up to Hyena, “Where’s my cup?”
Hyena gets her clothes. She hands over the cup first, which Slayer quickly straps to her crotch.
“I don’t know how you manage with that thing,” Hyena says, pointing at her oversized clitoris. It’s so large that it’s visible through her fur.
Slayer speaks with deep breaths. “It’s been bothering me even more lately. Damn thing brings me nearly to orgasm just by walking around, even when wearing my cup.”
“Ever think of cutting it off?” Hyena asks. “It’s not like you need it for anything. You don’t have sex.”
Slayer looks down at it. She shakes her head.
“It’s a part of me,” she says. “It keeps me on my toes.”
Hyena doesn’t push it.
“Plus . . .” Slayer begins. “I’d like to have real sex someday. At least once before I turn.”
“It’s not really that big of a deal.”
“Maybe,” Slayer leans against the wall of her bunk. “But I’d rather see for myself.”
After she recovers from her orgasm and transformation, Slayer puts her clothes back on.
“So how are you feeling?” Hyena asks.
“I’m okay,” Slayer says. “I think my orgasm helped a little. The change added some muscle and sealed up my wounds. I should be ready to go in the morning.”
“I’m sorry,” Hyena says.
“For what?”
Hyena squats down, the weight of her furry butt on her feet, and looks up at Slayer.
“I’m sorry for fucking everything up,” she says. “You were right about Nova and Marrow. We shouldn’t have brought them. They nearly got us all killed.”
“We made it through okay,” Slayer says. “We had no idea it was going to be this difficult to accomplish the mission. We’re lucky any of us made it out alive.”
“Still,” Hyena says. “Talon made you the leader because she knew you were best for the job. I had no right questioning your decision. I bullied you into doing things my way and this is what happened. I’m a horrible second in command.”
Slayer squints her eyes at Hyena.
“No,” she says. “You’re doing great.”
“How can you possibly believe that?”
“You’re supposed to challenge my decisions. That’s your job. If my decisions are strong enough then I won’t crumble beneath the challenge. You didn’t decide to take Nova and Marrow with us. I did. I was not confident enough in my choices. You did what you were supposed to do. Not only that, but you were able to take command when I fell. You saved our lives. I couldn’t have asked for a better right hand.”
“Are you sure about that?” Hyena asks. “I also disobeyed your orders and took Swaggat’s deal against your wishes. I’m leading his people in the revolution tomorrow.”
Slayer closes her eyes for a moment.
“I guess we have no choice then,” she says. “We’ll do it. But you’re not leading. I am.”
“Are you able to fight?”
“I told you I’ll be fine in the morning.”
“Okay then. You lead.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Swaggat? Of course not. He’s a man. But he saved my life, and yours. We owe him. And if there’s a chance he can cure Talon and the others, I think we’ve got to take it.”
“He better not fuck us over. I’m not risking any more of my sisters’ lives for nothing.”
Hyena nods.
Slayer rolls onto her back. “I’d like to be alone now. I need to think and rest.”
Hyena gets to her feet.
As she leaves, Slayer says, “One more thing.”
Hyena turns to her.
Slayer says, “If you ever disobey my commands again I’ll break your legs.”
Hyena snickers at her words, but quickly realizes that Slayer isn’t joking.
In the morning, Hyena wakes to a room full of Zoners. There are about ten of them in green robes. Swaggat isn’t with them. They sit in a circle around the room with solemn expressions on their faces. Slayer and Nova are awake, sitting amongst them. Vermin is in the corner chasing her own tail.
“Where is he?” she asks them.
They look up at her through their hoods. Their eyes glossy and fish-like.
“He’ll be here shortly,” one of them says.
Then they continue their silence. It has always been forbidden for them to speak to outsiders. Even though they are the revolutionaries of their people, they still want to stick to their traditions. They don’t feel comfortable speaking with the wolf women.
The air is so thick with the fish men sweat that all four of the wolf women squirm in their seats. Vermin’s tail wags rapidly. Saliva builds in Hyena’s mouth. Nova doesn’t last long before she goes into another room to masturbate. Even Slayer has to adjust the cup in her pants every few minutes. The fish men don’t know what is wrong with them. The group sweats and whimpers, impatiently waiting for Swaggat’s return.
By the time Swaggat arrives, Hyena’s jaw aches from grinding her teeth. Her muscles are sore from keeping them so tense. The sight of Swaggat relieves her of some of the tension, because she knows she’ll be getting out of there soon. But she’s slightly annoyed that the squid man only brought six people with him.
“This is it?” Hyena asks him, pointing at his six friends.
“There are more in the villages,” Swaggat says. “We will spearhead the attack. Then they will join us later.”
Barbarian Beast Bitches of the Badlands Page 20