‘Come on!’ Chase screamed back, knowing that her intent to save Amana was perfectly obvious. ‘I’ll pull you up!’
Amana glanced at Chase’s outstretched hand, then at the drop behind her, and then finally back up at Chase, before cursing loudly and reaching for Chase’s hand.
She had almost made it when the building lurched again, throwing Amana back and almost making her lose her grip. Chase squealed. Amana grit her teeth, forced herself back up and over the ledge, and reached out for Chase’s hand once more.
Chase’s fingers brushed against the other woman’s palm, and within seconds they both felt the reassuring grip of their hands around each other’s wrists. Chase took a deep breath, took hold of the nearest piece of rubble that looked like it would support their combined weight, and pulled with all of her might.
Amana scrambled back onto the floor, and the two of them half crawled and half ran, not stopping until they were safely on the other side of the building, where the floor was stable and they could relax.
The floor where they had been only seconds earlier broke from the rest of the building and plunged to the waterways with a loud splash.
‘Well, that was more exciting than I’m used to,’ Chase commented.
Amana was staring at her.
‘You saved my life,’ Amana muttered.
Chase shrugged.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I guess maybe I did.’
They were both silent then, and Chase quickly turned her attention to recovering her discarded backpack and radio. She picked up the radio and cursed as she realised it had stopped working again, this time for good. It had broken when she had thrown it.
Beside her, Amana let out a much louder curse. Chase looked over to discover that she had also been doing a stocktake of her equipment and supplies.
‘What is it?’ Chase asked.
‘A lot of things fell from my pack,’ Amana told her. ‘Including most of my food and the medicine we scavenged earlier, and I’ve lost my gun.’
‘Well, we can always look for some more supplies tomorrow,’ Chase suggested. ‘I don’t know about you, but I was planning to stay here tonight anyway.’
Amana curled up, wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling them close to her body. She looked surprisingly vulnerable without the weapon she had carried earlier, and Chase realised how small Amana really was. It seemed strange. Amana didn’t act small.
Chase smiled at Amana, trying to encourage her. She was happy when Amana smiled back, even if Chase could tell that it was forced.
‘Well, we’re not going to go hungry at least,’ Chase remarked as she rummaged in her pack. She pulled out the cans of tuna Amana had let her scavenge earlier. ‘I know. It’s not very exciting, is it? Luckily I also have this!’
Amana’s eyes lit up as Chase pulled a whole block of chocolate from her bag. Chase was glad now that she had made the trade. She and Amana definitely needed chocolate after what they had been through.
It wasn’t the worst meal Chase had ever eaten, but it far from glamorous. The cans of tuna needed to be opened with Chase’s machete, and the chocolate had melted a little.
The sun set as they ate, casting over the city a golden pink glow that bounced off the water and the glass surfaces of the buildings. Chase and Amana agreed that it was a beautiful sight. Amana finally seemed ready to be friendly with Chase as well, and as they picked at the last of the chocolate, Chase found herself talking to the other woman as though she was an old friend.
‘So, what’s your story?’ Chase asked.
‘My story?’
‘Come on, every scavenger has a story. How did you get started?’
Amana wrapped her arms a little tighter around her knees.
‘You first,’ she said to Chase. ‘Why did you become a scavenger?’
‘Well, I’m not very good at cooking,’ Chase chuckled, ‘Or at making things, and I’m not really that smart, or good with animals. My Dad was a scavenger. He used to bring me out here all the time when I was little, and he’d tell me stories as we explored the city together. He taught me everything I know about scavenging. When he died I…’
It had been almost a year now, but that didn’t stop Chase from choking up when it came time to speak of her father. She could still see his ginger-bearded face, and his twinkling eyes. Everyone always said she took after him.
‘I didn’t know what else to do,’ Chase concluded.
They were both silent for a moment, and then Amana began to speak.
‘I used to have a partner,’ Amana told her. ‘She was the one that got me into scavenging. We used to sneak down here all the time and see what we could find. We’d spend days away from our families, and away from civilisation.’
‘What happened to her?’ Chase asked.
‘She got pregnant,’ Amana said.
‘Huh? Oh!’ Chase exclaimed. ‘When you said partner I thought you meant-‘
‘I did,’ Amana interrupted. ‘Whatever definition of partner you thought I meant, it was correct. She was everything to me, at least for a while.’
‘But she left you for a guy?’ Chase asked. She looked Amana over again, feeling more than a little shocked. ‘Oh my god. She must have been crazy!’
Chase was afraid she had been insensitive, but Amana laughed, the sound echoing around their encampment and making it feel much warmer than it had a few moments ago.
‘Thanks,’ Amana said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. ‘You didn’t need to flatter me like that but I appreciate the thought.’
‘I mean it, though,’ Chase told her. ‘You’re really pretty.’
Amana shrugged and Chase would have sworn that her cheeks darkened in a blush.
‘Thanks,’ Amana muttered. ‘You’re… you’re kind of cute too.’
Chase felt her eyes widen, and knew from the sudden warmth in her cheeks that she was blushing much more obviously than the other woman. She shuffled closer to Amana, slowly at first, then more quickly when she realised Amana didn’t find the increased intimacy unwelcome, until there was only an inch or two of space between them.
‘So, um…’ Amana muttered, ‘You don’t have anyone waiting for you back home?’
She moved as she spoke and her knee brushed against Chase’s leg.
‘No,’ Chase replied, ‘It’s just me.’
‘Good,’ Amana said.
She leaned forward, and the next thing Chase knew, Amana was kissing her. She kissed her back. Amana’s lips were soft and tasted of the chocolate they had been eating.
Chase felt the other woman’s fingers run through her hair, and didn’t know whether to lean into the touch or further into the kiss. She heard a small whimper and it was a few seconds before she realised that the sound had come from her.
Amana pulled back from the kiss and chuckled softly. For a moment, Chase was worried, then Amana’s lips pressed against her own once more and there was no more room in her mind for worry.
Chase wasn’t sure when or how it happened, but after what could have been mere minutes or entire hours she found herself lying on the floor with Amana on top of her. The kissing that they had been engrossed in was put on hold as several items of clothing were shed and put aside.
Chase ran her hands over Amana’s skin, marvelling at how smooth it was. Her own skin was rough, and covered in freckles and splotches. Amana was curvy in all the right ways too. If Amana was silk then Chase knew she was no more than sandpaper.
At that moment Amana’s lips latched onto Chase’s neck, removing all thoughts and self-doubt from her mind. Amana’s hands drifted lower and as the two women lost themselves in each other’s touches, it was very easy for Chase to forget that she was anything but perfect.
****
The sun streamed through the window and onto Chase’s features. She scrunched up her eyes against it and tried to roll over, until she realised something, or rather someone, was pinning her arm in place.
Memories of the previous day returned to her, and
she slowly opened her eyes to see Amana’s face. She looked surprisingly sweet and peaceful in sleep. Chase reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind the other woman’s ear, as gently as she could, hoping that she wouldn’t wake Amana.
Chase didn’t know whether it was the touch that did it, but Amana’s eyes opened. She blinked a couple of times and then frowned, and Chase wondered if she regretted what they had done.
‘Morning,’ Amana muttered. Her eyes darted over Chase’s body, reminding Chase that she was still very naked.
‘Morning,’ Chase replied, mortified when her voice came out as little more than a squeak.
She scrambled for her clothes. As she pulled her cargo pants back on, she glanced over to find that Amana had not moved from where she lay on the floor, and was watching her as she dressed.
Chase paused with her pants button still undone.
‘What is it?’ she asked Amana.
‘I never thanked you for saving my life,’ Amana told her.
‘It’s fine,’ Chase said, waving Amana’s worry away.
Amana was silent as she got to her feet and also began to dress.
They were quiet for the next few hours as they continued to scavenge. Amana spoke barely more than she had the previous day. Chase wondered if Amana felt as awkward as she did, or whether she was reading too much into the other woman’s actions and the silence that still lay between them.
She tried to remember where Amana had said that she lived. She thought it might have been somewhere north, in completely the opposite direction to Chase’s hometown. After today, they would probably go their separate ways. What did that make the previous night then? A one night stand? A quick, heat of the moment fling? Chase wasn’t used to that sort of relationship, and wasn’t sure how she was supposed to act.
Just after midday, Chase and Amana made their way back down to the streets, where Chase’s boat was still tied up safely. She ferried Amana to where her own boat was tied down. As they pulled alongside it, Chase searched desperately for something to say to the other woman. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. She liked Amana. She really did.
She was about to open her mouth and say something she was probably going to regret when Amana spoke.
‘I was thinking of coming back in a few days,’ Amana said as she climbed into her boat. ‘I thought I might search in that building over there.’
She indicated a tall building on the block next to them. Chase wondered why Amana was bothering to tell her, and then when she realised, she felt her heart skip a beat.
‘That one there?’ she asked, making sure they were on the same page.
Amana nodded.
‘By the time I get home, sell these items off, make preparations and then come back, it should be four days from now.’
‘Four days,’ Chase said, nodding as she made a few mental calculations. Yes, that should give her long enough to take care of everything she needed to.
‘Sounds like a plan,’ she agreed, smiling at Amana.
Amana smiled back, her eyes shining brightly as she looked at Chase. She then leaned towards Chase’s boat, grabbed Chase by her singlet and pulled her in for a brief but passionate kiss.
They soon parted. Amana headed north while Chase headed south towards the wider Brisbane River. As her boat sped towards home, Chase was already counting the hours until she next saw the flooded streets of Brisbane city and Amana, and she smiled.
LEAVING HOME
Susan Beck
Tomorrow, I was leaving.
I was sitting astride one of the farm bikes looking out toward Mt. Warning; a barely-there smudge in the distance from the highest point of our farm. The drone of the cicadas made the air throb in a primitive rhythm. The humidity made my shirt stick to the sweaty skin of my back. Eighteen years I’d called this place home, but tomorrow, I was leaving. I’d be heading up to Brisbane with my best mate, Adam. University beckoned but, to be honest, all I could think about was getting an opportunity to repeat what had happened between us a few weeks ago.
I’d asked myself why I wasn’t I more freaked out by what had happened. I’d never thought about a bloke in that way before. I’d dated Heather since we were 15, and despite the blue balls her no sex before marriage attitude had created, I’d been content to wait for a deeper intimacy with her. I’d assumed that it - sex - wouldn’t feel much different to my hand, but one night with Adam had shown me how very wrong I’d been. The exquisite feeling of tight heat sliding against the skin of my cock was a sensation I was desperate to repeat.
Heather had given me a too-brief preview of that sensation the one time she’d taken me into her mouth. I’d just registered the moist warmth settling around the head of my cock when she’d pulled away with: ‘If we don’t stop now, I’ll take this further than I want to.’
Even Heather’s refusal to finish me off didn’t faze me. Perhaps I was actually gayer than I thought? Oh, don’t get me wrong, at the time I was in serious discomfort and I hustled her home quickly so I could jack off sooner. Getting aroused has never been an issue. In fact, the vibrations of my bike engine were enough for my dick to stand up and make his presence known.
What did trouble me was the driving urge to fuck Adam that now distorted my every waking thought. The last two weeks had been a constant battle to keep my mind on my work around the farm. These days, everything I did turned into a pornographic daydream.
Must remember to fix the back gate; Adam leaning on the top bar looking over his shoulder with a come-hither smile…
Pulling branches out of the creek. Stopping to watch the water cascading over the pockmarked volcanic boulders; Adam kneeling in the waist-deep water. Drops glistening like stars on his chest as he crooks a finger at me…
Constant thoughts of me doing things to Adam had invaded my mind to the extent that I needed to wank at least half a dozen times a day. The image of a kneeling Adam in the creek had made me cum so hard my yell of completion had startled the cattle into a run.
The chirp of my phone broke me out of my reverie. Glancing at the screen, I smiled to see Adam’s name.
‘Yo,’ I answered, picturing a naked Adam lying back on his bed, phone in one hand, cock in the other. Oh god! I was hard again. I eased back on the bike seat to give myself more room, adjusting my now too-tight jeans to give my hardening cock some much-needed space.
‘Ready for tomorrow, Cullen?’ Adam asked, jolting me from my X-rated musings.
‘Yep. I’ll toss the last few things in the ute in the morning, and then I’ll head over. Did you have any hassles moving the furniture in?’
‘Nah mate. All good. Mum sent up one of those sofa-bed thingies when she heard you’d be staying with me, though.’
‘Oh. Um… great.’ I was aching to ask where Adam wanted me to sleep but I didn’t know how to start that conversation. Despite talking on the phone nearly every day since “that” weekend, we’d both avoided discussing what we’d done. Not knowing how Adam felt about us was driving me insane, but I didn’t know how to broach the subject with him.
Adam’s next comment sent a chill from my gut to my scalp where it made my hair prickle. ‘I saw Kate the other day.’
‘Oh? Are you two getting back together?’ I tried to say it casually but I don’t know how successful I was. Anxiety tightened my chest and caused my stomach to churn.
‘No. But I kinda wanted to. Ya know?’
No, I didn’t bloody know. Adam had consumed my thoughts since that weekend in Lennox. Adam, naked and in my arms. Adam’s cock hot and heavy in my hand. Adam’s tongue touching mine as we shared that one kiss. It was difficult to speak. So, instead of telling Adam all that, I simply grunted into the phone.
Adam continued to chatter, completely oblivious to my turmoil. ‘But while we were talking and flirting and shit, well, I kinda wanted you too. Is that fucked up or what?’
‘Yeah, I’ve kinda been thinking about what we did that weekend too; a lot,’ I answered quickly. Adam’s snort com
bined with the fact that finally, one of us had broken the silence, made me smile and I felt my anxiety ease.
‘Fuck off, Cullen! You just want to get in my pants again, you dirty bastard.’
I laughed, but before I could tell Adam exactly what I wanted to do to him, he was talking again. The voices in the background were making it hard to hear Adam’s voice clearly.
‘Got to go and do the family thing mate. See ya tomorrow.’
Before I could answer, he’d hung up.
Tomorrow, we’d have a place of our own with doors I could lock. The idea of getting into Adam’s pants made my cock throb. With a swift glance around to ensure Mum or Dad weren’t near, I fumbled at my zip, rushing to get my cock out. Within seconds, my hand was a blur. Memories from our one night together egged me on. His sighs, his moans and his groans stimulated my mind as the friction on my cock set off the inevitable slide toward orgasm. Remembering Adam’s cries of completion tipped me over the edge. As the first shot of cum arced up onto the gas tank, I heard the unmistakable sound of my father’s steady tread coming up behind me. Despite my horror, I couldn’t stop. My efforts to prevent the orgasm from continuing seemed to trigger a more intense sensation. I found myself curling over the bike, whimpering with the intensity of the contractions and spasms as cum continued to spurt.
Dad came to a halt beside me. I tried to shield my cum-covered hand and still-hard cock with my body.
‘Dad,’ I said with a slight nod, embarrassment heating my face.
‘Oh Jesus, Edward. You’re worse than the bulls, mate. Every time I turn around lately, you’re flogging your log. If you’d put that much energy into fixing fences, we’d have this place bloody perfect.’
Dad turned away, giving me some much-appreciated privacy. Quickly wiping my hand off on my jeans, I tucked my battered and, thankfully, rapidly shrinking cock back into my jeans, its sensitivity making me hiss.
‘Sorry Dad,’ I mumbled. The heat of my face told me my normally pale skin had gone a mottled red.
Dad rubbed at his face, stretching the skin until his eyes were red and sore. ‘Shit a brick, Eddy. What would your mother say if she found you waving your wanger about?’ I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching as he fisted handfuls of his hair in agitation.
Queermance Anthology, Volume 1 Page 2