Burning Man Ch. 10

She thought Cody would be closer. Elise was cold in the high desert wind and snow was falling as she huddled against herself on the highway. There were no lights apart from the random passing vehicle. She stuck her thumb out for all the good it did her. They couldn't see her. Coyotes yipped and she heard the phantom rattle of snakes and insects all around her. Apart from those natural sounds it was completely still. No wind and after another mile there was a pristine coat of snow covering everything with her tracks disappearing behind her. The snow covered cactus made the little scenery she could see with the moonlight appear alien. It was like wandering through a Dr Seuss book. By noon it would be nearly ninety and the snow would be gone, but in the moment her hands and face were growing numb.

She stopped and looked up at the sky. The stars and constellations danced above her and the moon was ripe. The reflection of the snow revealed more about her location and she saw a shack in the gloom. It was an L shaped building with a corrugated metal roof. Dingy traffic signs and bones decorated the outer walls. There were two cars parked outside of it, neither new or in good condition. A small neon sign for beer told Elise it might be a business. It hardly looked big enough, but she hadn't ever been to a bar before so she had very little frame of reference. Another ribbon of cold brushed her cheek and made her decision for her as she walked towards it.

She could hear old country music as she got closer to the structure and found another vehicle parked in the snow next to it. The exterior neon lights lit up the snow like cotton candy as she reached the door. Inside was warm and smelled of something sickly sweet, like molasses and rubber mixed together. It was bathed in red light with smatterings of green and blue from poker machines set along the far wall. A prune faced woman sat behind what could only be a bar. Liquor set out behind her in her horseshoe shaped bar and a single customer with a can of beer in front of him. He looked young if unshaven and dressed in a mechanic's overalls. They both stared at her as she stood just inside the door. "You lost?" The bartender croaked and Elise nodded her head unsure of whether she should move deeper into the bar or run away.

The young man's face was split with a smile as he got a good look at her. "Course she's lost, probably got stuck in the snow," he beckoned her to the bar. "You need a ride somewheres?"

"Shit Deke, you ain't driving nowhere. Likely just pass out in your car again."

He shot her a menacing look, "You ain't got to tell everybody my business."

She scoffed, "business? Pulling catalytic converters ain't a business, it's just theft," she looked back to the girl, "Come on in and sit down for a minute."

Elise nodded and stepped up to the bar. The bartender poured her a cola and put it in front of her with a straw. "Thank you."

"You got a phone, hun?"

Elise nodded, "I do, but the battery died about an hour ago."

The bartender grabbed the phone from behind the bar as Elise sipped at the drink. It didn't have much syrup and was mostly just carbonated water, but it was a welcome sensation on her tongue. There was a flavor she didn't recognize, but she disregarded it as she picked up the phone. It had a rotary dial on it and looked caked with decades old dirt. She started dialing her parent's number, but stopped when she heard a toilet flush and a loud gruff voice cough. "That's just Jesse, don't you mind him," the bartender assured.

Elise continued to dial only to be subjected to three high pitched squeals. An electronic voice answered, "The number you dialed is disconnected or no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again." Elise scrunched her brow and tried to remember her house number. Her thoughts felt like they were moving through mud.

"Hey, Jesse, look what walked in."

Jesse towered over her and smiled. He had a shaved head and a trail of black tears tattooed under his right eyed and he wore a leather vest with several patches and his name embroidered on the lapel. "I like her, help me get her in back Deke," he ordered.

Elise's eyes glazed over as she stared between Jesse and the phone. "What?" She asked and turned to the bartender.

"Well sweetheart you just so happened to get here when my boys and I were figuring what to do with our night. What with the snow and all. But, don't you worry, you'll have the time of your life."

"Shit," was all Elise said before Deke scooped her out of her chair. She gave no resistance as he escorted her through what looked like dry storage to a back room with a bed and a chair.

The bartender knelt next to her and spoke softer than she previously seemed capable. "Now you just think of love of your life and feel yourself getting all worked up and wet in all those good places."

Elise heard the woman's words and thought of Cody the last time they made love. He hated the phrase, but Elise kept using if for no other reason than to piss him off. She was lost in the dream and felt her pussy moisten as he kissed the nape of her neck and gently massaged her tits. They had so much sex when they first met and convinced themselves it was a magical act. She didn't disagree, sex with Cody felt like a religious experience. She felt his weight on her and she responded by kissing his lips. It tasted different, but it was still Cody.

His hands moved to her sex as he started rubbing her clit. Elise moaned and quickly inhaled as a finger pushed inside her. She could smell some kind of chemical burning, The smell was sharp and made her cough. She opened her eyes and saw bald Jesse with his tear drop tattoos above her. She started to panic. "Hush girl, you was flirting at the bar with Jesse. You like him," the bartender said into her ear.

She looked at Jesse as he slowly moved in and out of her. She felt the words altering her thoughts and started to remember flirting with him. He had a nice smile. She moaned as he pushed in again. She liked him and wanted to fuck him obviously. "Mmhmm," she nodded and closed her eyes again.

"You a little slut ain't you?" Jesse asked.

Elise moaned in response and heard the bartender hiss. Elise tried to picture herself as a slut. In her eighteen years on the planet she had only had sex with Cody. Slutty Elise would dress different, talk different, act different. Elise knew she was hot, Cody told her what the boys said about her in the locker room, body built for fucking. That phrase caught her and lingered. Why shouldn't she fuck anyone and everyone? Her body was built for fucking and she was a little slut. All the boys she wanted to fuck before she graduated made brief cameos across her mindscape as Jesse's cock filled her up. Cody taught her how so why not enjoy herself? Cody was gone after all and he wouldn't want her to pine forever. Being a slut was definitely the move. The more she thought about it and the harder Jesse pushed into her the more she realized it was true. She was a slut. It was liberating. It was the truth. Elise the slut getting fucked by a skin head in the back room of dive bar. She moaned loudly and looked at the face of her new lover. She said one word in an almost reverential whisper, "harder."

Jesse complied and thrust deep and hard. Her head banged into the wall behind her, but she didn't care. All she cared about was that cock in her pussy. She bit her lip and clawed at Jesse's back. He grunted and said, "Get on top."

Elise scooted up as they switched positions. "You're fucking it up Jesse," the bartender said.

"What?" He asked as Elise mounted him and barely acknowledged the old woman. She grabbed his thick cock and eased it into her as she lowered onto him with a shudder. "You like it dirty!" Jesse declared.

Elise nodded and rubbed at her clit. The disgusting room around her transformed from a slovenly hovel into a palatial suite for her. She was a filthy slut after all, why not fuck in this dirty bed with people watching her. She leaned down and kissed Jesse as she started really getting into it slamming herself wildly on his cock. "You might break her damn head idiot!" The bartender stood and left at that point. Elise was glad of it, she liked dirty, but that old raisin faced woman was putting her off. Not Deke though, he had a cock. She pictured herself sucking him off as Jesse continued to ram into her from behind. She shivered at the thought.

Deke was in the corner smoking from some kind of glass pipe as he watched the show. "He can join if he wants," Elise gasped.

"Nah, too much meth," he paused as they made out while she rocked against him. His hands explored her tits before they moved to her hips where he started directing her rhythm. "Oh, fuck, he just likes to watch."

Jesse sat up and scooped his hands under her ass, "I'm a little slut," she said like a mantra.

"Yeah you are, you're my slut."

"I'm your slut."

"You love my cock."

"I love your cock inside me."

"How much do you love it?"

"Fucking God, so much!" She was bucking onto him with abandon. Cody's name all but disappeared from her thoughts except where it pertained to fucking Jesse, her new favorite cock. The transformations and alterations were coming from her as each new thought passed and became part of her.

"Tell me, Christ almighty, tell me how it feels?"

"Like you're splitting me open. God it's so big! Your cock makes me feel like a woman for the first time in my fucking life!"

"I'm the best fuck ever!"

Elise couldn't help but agree as she leaned forward and pressed her tits against his face and pushed him against the wall. "Best fuck ever," her mission was abandoned and this was all she wanted.

* * *

Belinda was pissed off as she drove into the desert. "This is the last time I do this, I swear," she said to herself as she turned up Johnny Paycheck on the radio. It wasn't the drive that irritated her, it was more not being allowed even a moments rest by spirits. They started the moment Key left and rose in volume until they were yelling loud enough that it covered the sound of traffic outside. Twenty five minutes out of town she got caught by the snow as she ran headlong into its path. "That's about right," she shook her head as the roads became slick.

The spirits were guiding her gently down a long stretch of desert road for another thirty miles until they went apoplectic. They whipped around her car so hard that she ran off the road and into the scrub. Her car clunked over a barrel cactus and stopped as the mushy material was pulled into her wheel well. She tried backing away from it, but the car was stuck in place for the moment. Belinda got out and looked at the damage. She kicked the car, "Motherfucker!" When she crossed back to the driver's side she saw the shack with a neon beer sign in the window and a few cars parked in front "Well I'll be damned."

She smelled the bar one hundred yards from the front door. The combination of meth and weed coupled with some kind of sickly sweet smell permeated the atmosphere in spite of the chill air. She felt a pang of reluctance as she reached for the antler bone door handle, but sucked it back as she entered the bar.

"Busy damned night," the bartender said as she entered.

"Had a little accident and the car got stuck."

"Deke'll be out in a bit he can tow you anywhere you need to go ma'am."

"Really?" Belinda cocked her head, "That'd be great, thank you."

"You want a drink?"

"I'm good right now, actually I'm looking for a girl, you had any other visitors tonight?"

"Yeah we did. You just missed her. She came in, warmed up, then left."

Belinda watched the woman's haggard face and knew she was lying. She didn't need to be psychic to see her turn her head to the back when Belinda asked the question. She pushed her senses out to the world around her and could feel the rush of arousal, a man and a woman. "She's back there," Belinda said as she gently nodded her head, "and you drugged her."

The bartender's demeanor shifted from congenial to sinister as she spoke, "you might want to mind your business."

"She is my business and you are so damaged you don't even realize what you did was wrong. Your life must've been so hard out here, surrounded by all those horrible men."

With a panicked look on her face the bartender's hand reached for a shotgun below the counter. Belinda ran forward as the old woman lifted the gun and tried to aim it at Belinda. She pushed the gun towards the ceiling where it blew a football shaped hole in corrugated metal. The bartender tried to pull the gun away, but Belinda was stronger and wrested the gun from her hands and pointed it back at her.

Deke ran into the room quickly and Belinda quickly stepped back so she could get them both in her sights. "Take me to her, Deke," Belinda ordered as she crossed to him with enough distance between them that she would certainly cut him in half if he made a move.

Deke looked to the bartender who nodded at him. Belinda didn't look at the bartender as she spoke, "Please don't move from that bar, I don't want to shoot you, but you best believe I sure as hell will if you give me cause to."

The bartender nodded at her. "If you hurt them I'ma make you use that."

"Well I'm glad we had this talk. Now Deke, get your hands up and lead the way," Deke did as he was ordered. Belinda saw Elise straddling the skinheads face while she bobbed her head on his cock gagging herself as she did it. He happily lapped at her pussy and was totally unaware of her entrance. "Stand over in that corner, Deke," Belinda ordered and he obeyed. "Hey there, You might want to put your twat away 'cause we're leaving."

Elise let the dick pop out of her mouth as she looked up at Belinda. "Who the hell are you?" She asked through glassy eyes.

"Cody sent me."

Cody's name seemed to break through the drug's hold. Elise said, "Cody?" like she was searching her memory. She shook her head and looked at Belinda again. Jesse stopped eating Elise out and watched the red head in a green tracksuit holding a shotgun. His face was a mixture of anger and apprehension.

"Yes ma'am, now get your clothes."

Elise shook her head again, "I want to keep fucking," she pouted.

"Hey scumbag, what the hell you give her?" Jesse persed his lips, "oh you wanna try me, Jesse? I know where you hid that twelve year old girl's body. Little native girl named Ember, right? You should admire the restraint it's taking me not to gun you down out of principle."

"Love Slave," he breathed out as Elise got off the bed.

"Shit!" Belinda spat out. "That stuff you're playing with is magically charged. You might've fucked this girl up for life."

"So what?" He hissed.

"So what?" Belinda echoed as Jesse pulled a revolver from below the mattress and Belinda fired. The buckshot shredded Jesse's chest exposing his ribcage. Elise and Deke both screamed at the ear splitting bang and the carnage that followed. "My restraint only goes so far," Belinda shoved her back against the door as the bartender started relentlessly banging at it. Belinda leveled the gun at Deke. "You ready?"

He shook his head as Belinda stepped away from the door in time for five gunshots to splinter it. Two of the shots caught Deke. One in the shoulder and the other in the stomach dropping him to the floor. He wasn't dead, but from the sounds he made he was in tremendous pain. The old woman bashed through the door and howled at the scene. "My babies!" She turned with fire raging in her eyes and raised her hand gun. Belinda's gun fired first and caught the bartender in the face. Deke howled on the ground grabbing at his stomach wound. Elise was curled up in the corner of the room covering her ears and rocking herself.

Belinda leaned her head against the wall and dropped the shotgun. After her ears stopped ringing Belinda got Elise off the floor and dressed then left. Belinda took Jesse's car an old Black F150 and drove off towards the next stop. After a Hank Williams tune and half a Willie Nelson song Elise asked, "Why do things like this keep happening to me?"

Belinda pondered the question before answering. "Something tells me when Cody was taken by that demon in him you were marked. You can expect these sorts of things to happen from now on, 'cause the spirits seem to like playing with you."

"Am I just a, ah, a slut forever?"

Belinda shrugged, "I'm not sure. That stuff they gave you is supposed to be permanent, but who knows? Magic is a fickle thing."

"I just feel empty and all I can think of is the next time I get to suck a cock."

"You might have to get used to that."

The conversation died while Belinda sang along to a Patsy Cline song. "Where are we going?" Elise asked after the song finished.

"To save Cody."

* * *

Noami and the other girls found their way out of the compound, but never found a van or any other workable vehicle. Instead they were walking outside in the cold desert night in various states of nudity. Noami herself was only dressed in a thong. Her pink reverse mohawk was miraculously still sticking straight up. She smiled to herself as she thought of her outfit as a Linnea Quigley cosplay. It must've looked like quite the parade, like sexy living dead, Noami thought to herself. "Brains," she said quietly and laughed. The fresh air and the distance from demons and mind controllers was clearing her head with each step. Noami found herself wanting to regret blundering into Key's world, but she couldn't bring herself to. The world felt suddenly so much bigger then it had been even a few days before.

Noami was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the police pulling up on her until she looked up to see the blue and red lights. Two police SUVs stopped in front of them. The cops that stepped out had big stupid grins on their faces. The first cop was even chuckling as he spoke, "You ladies going for an early morning stroll?"

The women reacted instantly to the male presence and moved towards them seductively. Even Noami felt the weird draw to flirt with the men in front of her. She smacked herself on the side of the head. "Hey now, back it up," the second cop put his hand for them to stop.

"I know what this must look like," Noami explained. "These women were, um, drugged, sort of, and kidnapped," Noami tried to explain, but every word that came from her mouth sounded ridiculous to her. "I got them out."

"What's wrong with them?" They had gotten close enough to the cops that one of the girls had her hand on the first cop's crotch.

"They want to fuck you," Noami stated matter-of-factly. She could see the wheels turning in their heads. They looked to each other, shrugged, and seemed to be deciding whether or not to fuck the sex zombies. "Really?" Noami asked and they turned to her. "It's feezing out here and they have some serious Stockholm Syndrome, could you maybe call someone?"

The police got swept up in the sweet caresses of nubile women around them for what seemed like a stupid long time. Noami shook her head at the men and thought to pull Candy away from the impromptu porn about to take place. She seemed to be enjoying herself as she whispered dirty talk into one of the cop's ears and she felt him up running her hand from his crotch to his chest. Noami made a loud coughing sound with her throat and finally one of them spoke into his radio and asked for ambulances.

The spell was abruptly broken when an explosion blasted from the roof of Collodi's compound. The blast looked like fire, but at its core there was a sickly blue light that made Noami feel queazy. The blast was a column of fire that reached high into the atmosphere turning the night into day.