Finding her way into an alley she crawled into an old flea infested box and spent the next six days in a nearly life ending, self-induced withdrawal. High fever, chills and nearly dead, she crawled out and made it to where someone spotted her. Twelve days in a charity ward and another in a halfway house for ex-junkies. Finally she realized that she was nowhere near her home, nor state…and then it began. When the world as Sue always said; “turned to shit”, she headed back to her home, but this time it was to see if her family was alive. The city she was in began to fade into darkness as reports of invasion abounded, then there were reports of monsters, aliens, horrible flying things; and Sue knew she had to find her family.
Somehow with others, and alone, she managed to scrape and fight her way across three states to find her house destroyed and her family gone. On the door was a notice that the house had been cleared and the family taken to an emergency shelter…and that scared the hell out of her.
She had come across two shelters during her long trek, the first had been torn apart by these things that seemed to come out of thin air, and the destruction was unimaginable. The second was a scene of horror as she watched from afar. What appeared to be a thousand humans that were shoved into a warehouse complex. Through a pair of binoculars she had taken out of a shop, she watched as people fought over the last scraps of food, women and children trampled as gangs of men fought over totally useless things, and the few remaining guards in makeshift towers shot into the crowds trying in vain to keep them apart.
Sue knew what would happen when night fell, whether this night or another, the grinders would come…and they would kill. With the chaos below her, she knew that shelter didn’t have a chance, so she once again fled.
Sue continued on as quickly as she could. These days no one moved after dark, and no one ran during the day…the chances of running into a swarm of swarmers was just too great.
Swarms were almost as bad as the grinders, or so she had been told by some couple that had hunkered down in their own well-built home.
Swarms came close to the same time the grinders did, they were some sort of new insect that looked like giant hornets. Ranging from three to five inches in length, Sue was told that they injected some sort of paralyzing venom and as the victim lay on the ground their sharp mandibles would tear the flesh and they would eat the person alive while their victim watched. Guessing that the victim would either bleed out or pray some vital organ would fail to end their horror, she did not want to meet swarmers. But over the course of the next year, Sue would meet both and through just good old determination, escaped every time. Knowing that at some point her luck would run out, she tried even more desperately to find her family.
In another town she was told to try to make a farm where a man had figured out a way to move around without a car. This was good as her car that she had stolen had just run out of gas a few miles back and as night was less than a few hours away she moved toward the farm the families had pointed to. As she approached, a swarm came in her direction and she ducked into bushes and prayed that they hadn’t seen her; they had.
As swarms usually numbered between one and two hundred of these giant insects, Sue figured it would be over quickly and stood, closed her eyes and awaited her fate. She pleaded aloud that one or two would sting her before they started eating.
“Jesus Christ girl, why on earth would you want that?” a man’s voice boomed behind her.
“Duck!”
Out of instinct Sue ducked as a large overweight man in overalls stepped over her and let loose with a homemade flame thrower. The approaching swarm instantly burst into flame as he swung the nozzle left and right. The roar of the fuel spraying out of the nozzle and the flames erupting from the swarm was nearly deafening, but when it stopped her ears actually popped as air rushed into the mass that had burnt so violently. As she looked around the last of the swarm was falling to the earth in flames as they burnt. She rolled on her side, the rotund man reached down to help her up.
“Damned fool, standing up like that. Pretty little thing like yourself tryin’ to die…pitiful!” he looked disgusted that she had given up so easily.
“I thought that maybe it would be over quicker that way.” she replied as she staggered a bit upon reaching her feet “They told me about the venom and…”
“And I suppose this ‘they’ also told you that many times a swarm doesn’t use the venom and just eat ya alive? Hell girl, if ya ever get caught by them don’t stand there; run, swing, make them sting ya…” he looked down at the shapely petite woman “now git yer ass over ta my barn.” He pointed toward a faded red barn in the distance.
“What if another swarm comes along?”
The farmer shook his tanks and frowned “Not enough fuel oil to burn a lot, guess we’ll have to squeeze in that.” Sue watched his hand as he pointed it around behind them to what looked to be a six and a half foot high screened in, round cage.
“Made from lightweight aluminum, some aluminum grating and good old metal screen. One person can push up on the bar inside and move it along the ground. Those things can’t chew through the grating and screen mesh, so if we don’t move they just pass by…making a shit load of ‘um fer the town folk.” he spit a wad of tobacco on the ground “Motherfuckers…” he tipped his dirty old baseball cap “beggin’ yer pardon miss, the town folk don’t give away nothing fer nothing.” he laughed and winked at Sue “So ya see missy, I make these things and trade them, grow some crops wearin’ one of these if needed and they trade me things I need.”
The older farmer hooked the nozzle on his belt and opened a door on the cage.
“Go ahead and try it miss, there are handles on the side for…uh…shorter people that can’t reach the top bar. All ya hafta remember is if a swarm comes make sure the cage bottom is on flat ground.” he chuckled softly “Or at least as flat as ya can get, otherwise y’all will be a stompin’ anything that comes under.”
“Thank you for saving my life…I’m Sue.”
“Aw, just call me Al…that’s the nicest thing people around here call me. Useta be called old drunk, town drunk, other names, but since all this seems like I sobered up a bit.”
Sue gave him a sweet knowing smile “That I can relate to Al.” she raised the cage and it was surprisingly light and well balanced “I’ll carry this back to your barn for you.”
“Thank ya little lady, I appreciate it.” he tapped on his tanks again and nodded toward the barn “Ok missy, let’s go and get some supper…by the looks of it you could use a bite or two.”
Sue smiled “I could, it’s been nearly three days since I had some food, did find a stale candy bar yesterday morning…or was it…” she looked at Al “I can’t remember.” As they neared she wondered at the inventiveness of the friendly farmer.
“You have crops, and water.” she smiled sweetly “can’t imagine what the townsfolk would have that you need.”
“Well I ain’t nuttin’ but veggies, those mothers killed all the livestock…or them things that wander around in the night, but my barn is galvanized steel and they ain’t getting’ in here.” He patted the steel wall and pulled open the sliding door. After letting Sue in and closed it behind her and locked it “Windows are screened, grating over that, and one inch steel bars over that to keep those ugly bastards that come out at night…out and moving on.” he grinned with chewing tobacco stained teeth.
“If you’d like the people in rehab taught me how to cook some pretty amazing dishes.”
“Naw, little lady, I’m old and set in my ways. Nuttin’ too fancy or I cain’t eat it. Give me some fuckin’ gas…pardon…and it ain’t purty smellin’ either.” Sue chuckled and sat on a chair that Al had motioned to as he began pulling out pots and pans.
“Gonna be nice cookin’ fer someone else. Gets kinda lonely out here by myself lately. Oh, I had someone, but she passed a while back.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that Al.” Sue replied, but Al just merrily chopped and stirred his pots
and pans as he made dinner.
Al cooked up a storm from piles of fresh goods he had stocked up on from his garden and a plethora of canned goods on long rows of metal shelves. “The muss’us showed me to can stuff, glad she did now. Got plenty of wood out there in the forest past the field…my muss’us got eaten by one of them blue things the first few months all this happened. Damned things jist dropped from the air, they did…hell the poor gal never had a chance. I shot one of those bastards…took four of my five shots and then that fuckin…pardon…purple thing came after me. I shot it with my last shotgun shell and ran in the house to get more.” he wiped his sweaty brow “It came around the corner of the house and walked right by me and I was standing in the middle of the winder like an old fool. That thing stopped and looked out at my cows and I shot that fucker in the back of the head…it flew forward, picked itself up off the porch and came at me. Hell girl, I emptied my shotgun at it…hit it every time and only staggered it, but long ‘nuff fer me to reload. I got that bastard that time; Jesus girl, I shot out my own winder, kin ya be magining that?” he laughed as he laid a plate in front of the famished woman.
That’s when I decided to git all the supplies and move into the barn…been livin’ here since.”
Sue shoved food into her mouth and sighed as Al reminded her to be careful that she didn’t choke “Ohhh, this is soooo good Al.” she held her hand in front of her mouth to keep it from spilling out “Thank you for being so kind to a stranger.” she swallowed “Sorry about your wife, I feel your loss as I’m trying to get to my family. I know my dad is dead, but my mom and little sister were taken to a shelter near Parkerville, do you know if I’m close?”
Al swallowed and told Sue that she was only twenty miles from the shelter that was in the mountains.
“Had some of those soldier boys stop by and ask me if I wanted to go, hell I told them I was ok here. Found their truck a piece down the road, all dead, fuckin…pardon…gad damned bugs got ’em. Picked to the bone, that’s when I figured I had to make something to protect myself. Flame gun ain’t big ‘nuff to hurt a blue, but raises hell with the bugs.” he chuckled “They tend to go up like they’uns be made of gas themselves.”
Sue chuckled “So I noticed.”
Dinner was finished and Sue turned down seconds as she joked about losing her girlish figure. Al laughed and refused to let her do the dishes. He had a hand pump from his well in the barn and even had installed a shower in one of the rooms. He warned her about having only a small water reserve and if it ran out, she’d wind up drying off covered in soap.
Sue dried her hair and put on clean clothes that she had taken out of a shop two days before. It was easier to just carry around a few changes and take something new, rather than carry and wash dirty clothes. Sue walked into the living area of the barn and smiled at Al as he finished putting things away.
“I can never thank you enough Al and for taking me in for the night.”
“That’s quite all right missy. A tiny little thing like you out on the road like this needs to find some place safe.” he chuckled over his shoulder as he put the last plate away.
“But you can do something fer me.”
“Happy to Al.”
“Thank ya darlin’” Al turned around to reveal that he had unhooked his coveralls that dropped to the floor and wore no underwear as his erection clearly showed. In his hand he held a six shot pistol and it was aimed directly at Sue’s head.
“Now ya jist take off the purty little blouse and show me whatcha got under it and ya kin maybe work me with yer hand a bit.”
Sue was in shock, this gentle older man that had saved her, now wanted her to…
“Look Al, I’m no saint, but I got my life back in order and…”
He cocked the pistol “Gittin’ mouthy on me are ya…” he pointed it at arm’s length “Dead or alive don’t matter ta me, but dead yer only good for a one time hump…NOW TAKE IT OFF!”
A strange thing happened Sue began to tremble and felt tears form in her eyes. It hit her even at the lowest point in her life, she had never cried. Now just as she picked herself up and turned her life around this was happening. She wore no bra and Al drooled as she pulled her top over her head. “I’ll not give him the satisfaction of crying.” she repeated over and over in her mind. She had lain with worse, but never had been raped, so she tried to imagine that she was back prostituting for money to buy drugs, she laid her top on the table next to her.
“Ok bring it over here.”
“Changed my mind bitch, ya got mouthy with me, take them fancy blue jeans off and lay on the floor next to the table…I’m gonna show ya what a big man can do to a little lady.”
Fighting revulsion Sue stood, and slipped off her jeans and panties and lowered herself to the floor. “Sounds like you’ve had experiences with little ladies.”
“Yeah…” he stepped out of his overalls and slowly walked toward the naked Sue “Got the town folk to trade one of their women to me…bitch couldn’t handle me and bled all over the place,” he snorted indignantly “died a few days later. Hell, I didn’t know they wanted her back.” he grinned “Bastards wouldn’t give me no more women, but said they’d send me any that came along if’in I keep trading with ‘em.” he looked down at the trembling woman “Damn you are one fine piece of pie.” Al stood at her feet and licked his lips again “Now spread that hairy thang fer me.”
To his surprise Sue complied…and as wide as she could “You’re so huge maybe if I spread wide enough it won’t hurt too much.”
“Hell little lady, I’ll be gentle to ya…hate ta break ya the first night. You do me good and ya can stay.” he got to his knees keeping the pistol aimed at her head “Do me bad and I’ll blow yer god damned brains out while I’m pokin’ ya.”
Al put one hand on the floor next to her arm and began to lower himself.
“Please Al, before you put it in, kiss me?”
“Hot damn! Little lady sounds like she wants it.”
“It has been two years since I had a man and now that you are going to rape me…” Sue moaned softly and then purred “I’m getting so wet and excited…kiss me!”
As her arms came up to enclose behind his neck Al lowered himself to her waiting lips and he felt her rise slightly as his tongue entered her moist mouth…it was so warm, wet, and salty…and full of warmth.
“Salty? Warm?” his mind became confused as he pulled back with a strange puzzled look on his face to see Sue was covered in blood. She pushed blood out of her lips and turned her head and spit. With her left hand she wiped what blood she could from her face as Al began to feel strangely weak.
With a hand on his shoulder she struggled to push Al off and he was getting furious but when he tried to speak…something was wrong! His eyes fluttered as she rolled him off her and onto the floor. Sue, still naked from head to toe, covered in blood, stood and looked down at Al as she slowly held a small, short, razor sharp screwdriver that dripped with his blood, not only had she stabbed him, but also slit his carotid artery. The lusty rapist was gushing blood from his neck as well as pouring out of his mouth.
“One of my whore girlfriends showed me how to kill a John that tried to do any rough stuff. Right in the side of the neck, she said a John would never feel it because it’s so sharp and besides, all they are interested in is shoving their dicks inside.” Sue spit some more blood out “On the bright side, you get to die faster you fucking bastard.” she spit again.
Al somehow was still alive and gurgling blood as he tried to speak. Sue gathered up her top, jeans and panties and started to go, but turned and walked back to the heavily bleeding farmer. She smiled, pulled back her foot and kicked him in the groin as hard as she could. As he gave a massive grunt a volcano of blood erupted from his lips.
“And that’s for the other woman you told me about, you bastard.” She bent and wiped the blood off her screwdriver on his dingy grey socks.
“I’ll bet you were trying to get one last look at
my…” she looked to see Al’s eyes were rolled back into this head and spat on his blood splattered chest.
“Not so hard now are you, you bastard.” She stopped, turned and got the gun from his dead hand, put it to his temple and fired. She tossed the gun on the table and glanced over her shoulder.
“Just making sure, you old fart; would have hated to find you coming into the shower with me.”
Showering and getting every little trace of blood off of her, she dressed and went back out into the living area and covered the body with an old tarp. Al was a large man and she could barely roll him off of her, let alone drag him out in the morning. As rotting bodies wasn’t what Sue wanted, she decided that after a few days’ rest that she was going to go. At first she was going to tell the townsfolk, but then remembered that they had ‘lent’ a woman to him for goods… “No dammit, I’m leaving now.” she snorted “Let them rot too.” she said as she packed up what supplies she could, tucked the pistol in her belt and grabbed the small handle on the outside of the swarmer cage so she could carry it like an oversized suitcase. She had been amazed at how light it was, but even better old Al had made this one with hinges so it could be carried flat and like a suitcase…granted it was taller than a cello case, but should swarmers spot her, the sweat she was putting into it now, would pay off.
She looked back inside and nodded at the tarp covered body “Thanks for the cage Al…and the food and water…, oh yeah…and rot in hell.” and with that left the door unlocked for whom or whatever came along. She grinned as she thought of one of the townsfolk coming around to find him rotting and wondered if they would take over his fortress, but she didn’t really care, she’d be long gone before those cowards got brave enough to venture out this far.
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