The place is potentially dangerous although less so than the streets full of soldiers. It reeks of the poverty of the people who live under the ruins. People who were never assigned housing by the Patriot authorities. The plumbing in Starville is inadequate. Here it’s non-existent. However, there are usually more people around in spite of the stench.
Poncho growls and urges me to move. Fear races up my spine, and I’m about to run away when I hear someone whispering. Not my name. Not even “Layla.” Someone whispers my Comanche nickname. “V-girl. Come over here, V-girl.”
The voice comes from behind a thick tree next where the grass grows tall and some flowers are showing. I hesitate. It could be someone from the Comanche group. They could be in trouble.
The hesitation costs me a precious second and someone takes me by my arms and brings me to the ground, crushing the orange flowers. I lie flat on my stomach with a gigantic body pinning me down to the jagged area. I can’t see my attacker, but I know the likelihood of beating him is zero. Because my attacker isn’t normal. His strength is not human.
I’m under the weight of a soldier.
Chapter 24
Poncho is all over the soldier, snapping furiously. His powerful jaws keep closing and twisting on the soldier’s armor. Pieces of it fall next to me.
My dog’s attack forces the soldier to release some of his pressure off my body to search for his gun, but he never reaches it. Poncho is incredibly fast. His teeth don’t let go, and only the soldier’s armor prevents Poncho’s fangs from entering his skin.
The soldier releases me and in a fast movement, wraps his legs and arms around Poncho. They roll in a deadly embrace.
I’m on my feet and ready to flee when I hear something that freezes me.
“I know what you are trying to pull, cunt, and if you dare, I’ll make sure your sister Azalea services the cocks of the whole battalion.”
Panic freezes me on the spot. This soldier knows my family. “Order your dog to behave. NOW!”
I whistle, and Poncho breaks the deadly embrace to run to my side. I scratch his ears and run my hands over his muzzle, not taking my eyes off of my attacker. His Patriot army uniform is falling apart, revealing hints of a round belly. An old soldier. He’s getting up slowly, his back to me.
“Long time, no see, V-girl,” says a drawling voice.
I recognize that voice. It’s not possible. How is he even here? “Gary,” I whisper.
He finally turns, and he’s pointing his gun at me now. “So you learned my name? I can’t say the same about you.”
His other hand goes to his slacks and in a minute he has his shaft in view. No! Fear paralyzes me.
“You’ll cooperate with me, V-girl, or your siblings will end up in a canteen. Your brother is the perfect age for a eunuch, and your sister will be very popular among the troops. Even your crippled father will serve the troops. Some soldiers are not picky at all.”
Disgusting asshole. I’ll kill him as soon as I can.
Gary laughs. “You would like to kill me, wouldn’t you?”
I’m giving away my emotions, and this bastard will use them against me. I try to hide my disgust and fear under a neutral face.
“Not happening, virgin. I’ve been on high doses of tonics lately. I’m as strong as a soldier, and I’ll take you as a Patriot soldier should.”
No one will hear my screams here. No one will care. This bastard attacked me before in front of dozens of Starvillers and no one gave a damn.
I feel sharp pain when he forces me to kneel in front of him. “You better keep your dog meek and do as I say. I don’t trust you, so this little friend,” I hear the pistol click, “will remain pointed at your little fucking head while you and I enjoy private time.”
Poncho isn’t trying to attack Gary, but he keeps growling at him. “Poncho, quiet please.”
“In my time, it was forbidden for us cops to marry, fuck, even look at a Nationalist woman. But copulation without conversation doesn’t constitute fraternization.” He chants his last words several times. “Do you want to know who taught us those words of wisdom? Every single Nat soldier we met. You Nats love rape, too.”
The pain dulls my senses when he hits my head with the butt of the gun. “But, you know what? Thanks to the recruitment bill, I’ll have any kind of fraternization I want with you.”
He harshly pulls my hair to force me to look at him. I suppress a scream of pain.
“Stupid whore. You don’t qualify as a person. You aren’t subject to international human rights,” he spits out. “You aren’t more human than a bitch in heat. You aren’t better than a sow. Do you know why?” I don’t answer, so he slaps me. Hard. “Because the country where you were born doesn’t exist anymore. America is nothing but a fantasy.”
I almost gag at the sight of his erection. He keeps rubbing his shaft up and down. The sight of the white creamy liquid at the tip makes me want to vomit. I don’t want it inside my mouth.
“You’ll thank me for this later, when your face gets covered with my cum.”
I used to wonder why victims of rape like Divine didn’t bite the men violating them. Now I know. I can’t ignore his threat to my family. I’ll endure whatever this asshole wants to do to me if he leaves my family alone.
“Open up your mouth, cunt. I know you want it.”
Fighting the repulsion that threats to overpower me, I clench my fists and open my mouth wide.
Chapter 25
The clamor of multiple voices approaching makes me look to the right. Even Gary looks startled.
“Fuck! It won’t be today, virgin. But I’ll give you something to remember.”
In a heartbeat, he forces my body to the ground with his. My head hits the ground hard. The surprise of his weight over me keeps me immobile while he gropes my legs forcefully before biting my left breast. The pain is nothing compared to the repulsion. It’s over in a few seconds, but I feel as though it was an eternity.
Poncho has resumed his barking and Gary looks at him maliciously. “You better train your dog to obey me. He’ll be useful when he becomes my pet.”
His face is so close to mine that his saliva sprinkles me with each word. “You won’t let anyone but me to take your virginity, you hear me? Don’t cross me, or I’ll make sure your whole family ends up in a canteen. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, little cunt? You’d let your crippled father fuck you if you could.”
I can’t take it anymore. I spit on him. His face contorts in surprise and disgust. He slaps me again, and the pain is nothing to the fear. This impulsive, almost involuntary act will bring the damnation of my family. But before I can regret it, he stands up.
“One more thing,” he says as he looks around, as though fearing someone might appear any minute. “Don’t get fooled by Prince Aleksey. He likes to possess things and women. You’ll only be another one of them. He’s a soldier and a rapist and …”
The voices interrupt him. They’re almost here.
“Why don’t you ask him, virgin? Ask him about the South Metropolis episode. Ask him about Clavel. See if he dares to answer. We’ll meet again soon.”
He races toward the woods.
I force myself to get up, shaking uncontrollably. I don’t fear for my life. I fear what this asshole will do to my family.
In a remote corner of my mind, I notice people passing me by, ignoring me. A procession. They’re heading to Sara’s wake. I barely register them because a dizzying combination of fury, fear, and nausea threatens to knock me out. But another emotion keeps me standing and eventually forces my mind to work: hatred. That asshole will hurt my family. He has even ordered me to turn Poncho against us.
He has to die. My mind keeps repeating that mantra when I notice someone has grabbed my shoulders.
“V-girl! Snap out of it!” says Joey Waters, shaking me slightly. Divine and Cara are with him, looking at me worryingly. They must have been part of the procession. I wonder what they see in my eyes that has put them on
the edge.
I put my index finger to my lips to shush them. Gary seemed to know about my attempts to lose my V. How? A hunch makes me run my hands through my hair. I refrain from taking my knife to cut my hair because the three Comanches keep looking at me as though I’ve lost my mind.
A bug. He might’ve put a bug on me. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. I keep searching through my bushy mane until my hands finally find it. When I raise the louse shaped device for the others to see it, they look aghast.
Starvillers used to spread rumors about Gary. I never paid attention to them, but now I know they had a ring of truth. Gary Sleecket is a spy that might be working for the Patriot government. A spy I’m determined to hunt and kill.
Right now.
Prince Aleksey:
Gary attacked me today. I’ll try to track him and kill him. If I don’t survive, please, PLEASE don’t let him hurt my family.
I hope you’ll never forget me.
Sincerely,
Lila Velez Tcherkassky
P.S. Thanks for everything.
Chapter 26
“I insist that we should’ve waited for the Priest,” says Divine quietly as we climb down a steep slope toward the woods. The tall trees cover the moonlight, and we’re advancing at a turtle’s pace. The ever-changing weather has treated us with a scorching night, and we’re sweating.
“I insist that you shouldn’t have come,” I retort. I’m acting rather impulsively here. No plans, no strategy, so what I least wanted to do was drag anyone else into this.
“No time to wait,” says Joey. “I couldn’t find the Priest anywhere. And this is a now or never situation.”
Now or never. That’s an understatement. Gary didn’t look like he had the Patriot’s support. His armor was fake; his behavior was fearful. But if there’s a slim possibility that he’s a menace, I’d rather finish this now than give him time to act against us. Although, I might not survive my attempt to ambush him. An armed ex-soldier under the effects of the drugs will be difficult to kill. I rather die than let him rape my family.
Mine was supposed to be a solo attack. A suicide mission, I know. But Cara and the lovers were impossible to get rid of. Especially Cara. When I told them what happened, it turned out Gary had touched Cara and Holly inappropriately, too. They’d felt relieved when Gary disappeared, and now that he’s back, Cara insists she won’t have peace until we take care of this. After preparing some alcohol balloons at the clinic, I followed Poncho’s lead into the woods. These three followed me. Armed and ready to fight.
I pat my dog. “Don’t get killed, little Poncho.” I haven’t trained Poncho for tracking, but he has acute senses and modified genes that tell him what to do.
I look at our painfully rudimentary weaponry, feeling apprehensive. A wooden sword, boomerangs, knives, and slings. Because drug-filled soldiers don’t tolerate alcohol, we’ve brought some small balloons filled with alcohol. In combat, Gary will have the advantage. An average person wouldn’t have recovered so soon after Aleksey’s bestial attack. He must have used tonics during his time in the hospital. To make things worse, he’s armed.
My family didn’t notice I was saying farewell when I hugged them earlier. I’ve left a note for Aleksey asking him to protect my family from Gary’s threats. A threat is only as strong as the fear of the threatened. My fear isn’t clouding my judgment anymore, so I can look through Gary’s lies. I’ve been on high doses of tonics lately. As if! Patriots are possessive of their drugs. Additionally, there are hundreds of different tonics and they are used according to the level of genetic manipulation of a soldier. Using the wrong one means a painful, slow death. Same goes for stealing the drugs. No wonder he was so on edge this afternoon.
The bug in my hair is a more worrisome threat. If those bugs reached the museum ruins, it’s not only the Comanches who are at risk. The entire town could face the same fate as Midian.
We reach a clearing surrounded by elms and oaks, and we’re forced to crawl through it.
The moonlight is so powerful that any hope of concealment is lost. If Gary is on the lookout, he’ll see us.
Our best fighters are Poncho and Cara. She’s good at making bows and arrows for TCR, and she’s the only one who has mastered archery at fight level. Crawling under the moonlight, her blond hair in a ponytail, she looks like a lioness defending her cub. She’s a cunning, skillful fighter. At the moment, she’s an alert hunter, her bow already taut with an arrow. Poncho has sensed the danger and growls at an unseen enemy that only his acute hearing can detect.
I get my knives ready. Somebody is coming in our direction.
My heart beats at inhuman speed. I don’t have time to wish the danger comes from a bear. Poncho barrels against something I can’t see at the same time Cara shoots an arrow above Poncho’s head.
As if repelled by an invisible force, the arrow rebounds and falls to the ground. Cara shoots a second arrow at the same time that we hear the banging sound of a gunshot.
I press my head to the ground and roll over to avoid the bullets. Whoever is shooting is perfectly camouflaged, probably under a soldier’s cape. A loud thud tells me that Poncho has collided with the invisible attacker.
I raise my head to look up and fear washes through me. Gary and a young-looking soldier stand near the edge of the clearing. Poncho’s attack makes them lose their camouflage capes. No wonder we couldn’t see them.
If we don’t defeat them, they’ll rape us. I fight against my fear and advance toward them, crawling and rolling as fast as I can.
Poncho is all over the soldier, biting and twisting, but the soldier’s armor doesn’t budge. Gary raises his gun, aiming for Poncho, but my knife reaches his hand before he can shoot. He drops the gun and howls in pain. I always soak my knives in alcohol. Divine and Joey throw alcohol-drenched rocks against Gary with their slings. Incredibly, we’re making him step back toward the trees.
Cara shoots another arrow against the soldier, and it almost hits Poncho because of the way the soldier is rolling on the ground with my dog. She shoots another against the soldier’s foot. It gets stuck in his boot and breaks with another rolling movement of the soldier, who is still struggling to overpower Poncho.
Our only advantage at the moment is surprise. Gary and company weren’t prepared for this. Soldiers wouldn’t imagine a few primitive, uneducated Starvillers may pose a threat.
I’ve gotten close enough to Gary to throw a balloon full of alcohol above his head. Joey uses his boomerang to make the bag burst open above Gary’s head. The cop ducks and avoids most of the liquid, but the few droplets that reach him make him scream.
The ex-cop uses his uninjured hand to shoot at us, but his aim is suffering from his pain. The fight has kept us advancing and now we’re surrounded by trees.
I’m trying to dodge the bullets and I manage to throw another balloon. The soldier gets out of the way, and the balloon bursts, spilling its contents on the ground.
Gary seems confused when one of Cara’s arrows hits him, disarming him. Divine catches the gun and shoots Gary, but he manages to dodge the bullet.
My balloon reaches Gary’s head, and when the liquid drenches him, he wails loudly. He loses his balance and falls head first. Divine shoots him at the same time that Joey’s stone reaches its target.
We don’t have time to see if he’s dead because the soldier, even with Poncho’s powerful jaws enclosed in his arm, has managed to shoot at us. We seek refuge behind the trees, barely avoiding the incessant fire. We can’t attack. Divine’s skill with guns is limited to theory and instinct. She has Joey, though. A silent message passes between them.
Joey’s sling tosses stones toward a nearby tree deceiving the soldier into shooting in that direction. He repeats this tactic several times. His final stone gives Divine the respite to shoot while the soldier shoots in the wrong direction. The bullet reaches his forearm, which, thanks to Poncho’s attack, isn’t covered by armor. Even though his groan tells me he’s
in pain, it’s pretty much as though nothing has happened to him. He doesn’t look any less dangerous.
Cara and I climb the trees. I throw another balloon. Joey throws a stone to burst the balloon in the air, and the alcohol soaks the soldier’s head. The soldier staggers for just a second in which Poncho finally throws him to the ground. Cara and I aim at him again. Some of Divine’s bullets bounce, but even so, our combined force becomes too much for the soldier. He stops moving.
Adrenaline and a feeling of triumph washes through me, making me smile. We did it! We defeated a soldier!
I climb down the tree at top speed. Alcohol evaporates and soldiers are resistant. Gary doesn’t have the full powers of a soldier, but he must have recovered by now. I find him crawling, trying to escape. I kick him. Repeatedly.
Joey restrains and gags our prisoners with torn pieces of the soldier’s shirt. The soldier is unconscious and thoroughly beaten, but still alive.
I kneel beside Gary and take out my knife and turn back his own words at him. “You don’t qualify as a person. You aren’t more human than a bitch in heat. You aren’t better than a pig. Do you know why?” I point my knife to his heart, but I intend to hurt him with my words. “Because your penis is ridiculously small.”
I laugh maniacally. The three Comanches look at me as though I’m crazy, but I’ve guessed what Gary’s weakness is. If I’m right, my words will get through him as much as my knife.
I reach for his groin and squeeze forcefully. He suppresses a scream. “You’re not as big as your comrades. Prince Aleksey is twice your ridiculous size. The Accord Unit knew and made fun of you all the time, not to your face, but you knew. I laughed at you too.” I laugh again. Loudly. “You’re small. You’re an excuse of a man.”
I’m not an expert, but Joey leans toward the small size and he’s fantastic in bed so size shouldn’t be that important. I don’t care about size. But Gary tried to rape me twice, and I noticed his reluctance to show his body in front of Rey. His size must be his Achilles heel. Besides, cops are far from their countries. From their wives. They must get worried at times that their women aren’t faithful. Extra pressure to perform well in bed.