Heaven (Book 2 of Hell)

Hi everyone!

Read, rate, review and if you like it, TELL ME! Then, head on over to my bio and check out the other stuff I'm getting up to. This is a sequel, so if you haven't read Hell, I strongly suggest you do so. If you have, well... You know what you're getting yourself into and I hope this holds to your expectations.

Take care now!

Monty

Chapter One

The soft tapping of Sarge's talons was drowned out by the voices of those around us. It always went like this, but it couldn't be helped.

"How do we know you're not going to kill us, or take us as slaves?" One of them demanded. A young man, who seemed to squint like he needed glasses.

I sighed and glanced up at the watchtower above the warehouse. I saw a double flash and relaxed. Even with the buzzards flying around everywhere, unless they spotted something close, it was hard to tell what they were circling. We had a simple system. If someone was out and about, they were watched. If the buzzards circled something that was a threat, the tower found it. Two flashes meant it was just someone scavenging, or even a spooked shrieker moving away from our group.

"What, you're not going to answer?" The young man spat.

"Look kid," I turned in the saddle and stared blankly at him. "Believe it or not, once a month a group of you pop up out of the ground. I was part of the first wave, and when I came out of the ground, these things," I patted Sarge on the side of the neck, making him chirp softly. "These things were everywhere and killed hundreds of us. So believe it or not, I am actually trying to help you. But playing twenty questions out in the open where things can kill us, is not a good idea."

There were several soft grunts and a few curses. I heard more than one voice talking about wanting to run. Barb and the few others we'd found since that could ride knew to let them go if they ran. I wasn't in the business of forcing people to do anything.

"What if we don't wanna go with you?" Another voice called out.

"Then leave!" Barb yelled from the rear. "Nobody's forcing you to come with us. But we have food and hot running water back home."

There were at least a few excited murmurs about that. I remembered being pretty hungry soon after waking up and that first shower was the best. I knew the situation when I woke up wasn't the norm, but it always irked me how much the newbies bitched. I promised myself I'd stop, the moment we found her. But Edith was silent on the subject, and she hadn't shown up physically yet.

Cerb leaped over a nearby car and sniffed at something, before letting out a soft growl. I made a note of how far out we were from town. And it was close to the border I'd set up for the patrol route. The hunters were mostly nocturnal, but she never left my side. Claire just about cried when Cerb brought her pups into our room. When Cerb wasn't around Claire got to play mommie. It made her smile, and part of me wondered if we'd be together outside this simulator as well. She'd make a fantastic mother.

Almost an hour later, I was gritting my teeth as Sarge stepped through the gate. Paula was up there with her crossbow. She was speaking to one of her new recruits. The system we had was rather simple, seeing as nobody could really sneak up on us. We brought them in, got them sorted and comfortable, then introduced them to Edith. From there we handed out weapons and tried to work out what their class was. By the end of it, some stayed, and some left. Those that stayed were put to work. Fighters in all their forms were trained and given weapons to use. Ranged skills went to the walls and other skills were put where they needed to be.

Other skilled workers were used as well. The couple dozen that started had ballooned right out to over two-hundred, with each of the small groups spawning in. A little over half stayed with us. On days we weren't escorting newbies, we scouted and explored.

"You're back!" Claire called.

I grinned and swiftly dismounted Sarge as Claire pressed herself against me. She was warm, lovely and smelled good. Her dark brown hair was growing longer now and she'd been talking about cutting it once it reached her shoulder blades.

"You're staring."

"You're beautiful," I replied immediately. She blushed and leaned into me so I could hold her.

"Get a room!" Paula yelled from the wall.

I glanced up and saw her grinning at us. She got a laugh out of the one finger salute I sent her way, but Claire pulled away and nodded.

"Right, orientation."

Pulling away, I smiled as she got into her business frame of mind. We still weren't sure what her class was. But people seemed to want to listen to her when she spoke, and I'd missed something being said more than once while listening to her hum a small tune.

"Alright everyone, if you'd like to follow me, we've got clothing, showers and food this way!"

I let her go, before turning and admiring Sarge with Zena and Sneaky all drinking from the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. I could see many familiar faces now, and many more I didn't really recognise. But each recognised me. Right by the gate, was the tavern. It had rooms to rent on the top floor, but they were rarely used. Most often when someone came to trade, or if a newbie made it known from the start they didn't plan on staying. Otherwise, we'd essentially set up communal living areas. Like the apartments inside the warehouse, they were stacked up and a little confined. Each apartment contained a small bedroom, a toilet and some storage space. If couples developed, we discussed alternate arrangements to accommodate them. But we'd firmly stuck to the idea of communal meals. Even if we now had a small army running the kitchens.

I was dragged from my thoughts as a man tumbled out from the tavern. He hit the ground hard, but scrambled to his feet as Henry stormed out, waving a large hammer.

"What the hell, old man!" The guy yelled.

"I saw where you put your hand, you little shit," Henry snapped.

The young man looked around at everyone watching the commotion and snarled. "I didn't mean any harm!"

"What happened?" I called, making my way over.

There were murmurs from the newbies as I approached, and even a few from some of those that had been here a while.

"I didn't do nothin," the man grumbled.

"Ryan, sir!" A young woman called out to me as she slipped out from behind Henry. "He tried to offer me points for sexual favours. Henry told him to leave and he grabbed me by the chest."

"Witnesses?" I called.

Another half dozen piled out behind Henry, who realised he was blocking the doorway and moved aside to make it easier.

"Aye," "Yes," "That's right," were the collection of responses as they came out to join us.

It wasn't a perfect system, but it worked. When an incident happened, I called for witnesses and tried to sort it out immediately. Petty squabbles were usually done privately, but my distaste for abusers was well known. But that was nothing compared to Polly. The small, submissive woman was a firecracker once you got her going. And as she kicked his feet out from under him, I stepped up before she pulled a knife or something.

Stepping up behind her, I pulled her back into my arms, where she struggled, before realising it was me.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

I reached up and tucked her short dark blonde hair aside and kissed her cheek. Turning her on the spot, I saw Corrine coming towards us with Maiya and Henrietta. Corrine being the diminutive rogue. She was a crack shot with throwing weapons and usually far too quick to strike in retaliation. Maiya, was taller than I and cut a striking figure with long black hair. She discovered she was an assassin after rescuing Polly in an unfortunate situation. Henrietta was my shy blonde. My height and a little softer than the others, I'd seen her put several people in place with the sword she carried at her hip. When on patrol, my fierce knight wore a full set of armour to match.

"Are we killing him?" Corrine asked, as they approached.

I released Polly who quickly joined the others. Claire was watching off to one side with the newbies and I sighed.

"Rope please, Edith?" I requested.

"Certainly Mr. Ryan," she replied happily.

The rope in question appeared at my feet and I scooped it up.

"What's that for?" The man asked, stepping away from me.

I nodded at Henry, who grabbed him quickly from behind. "Out there is Hell," I gestured towards the gate. "In here, by comparison, is heaven. So when assholes like you start putting your hands on people. Especially people who have already told you to knock it off, you're dragging some of that hell into our little town."

He struggled but remained silent while I bound his wrists. With a whistle, Sarge approached and I held out the end of the rope to him.

"Aww, c'mon man."

"The last rapist we had in this town, we executed," I turned to him. "This isn't some fucking joke. And I refuse to have monsters inside my walls. Take him out and cut his ropes."

I heard Sarge squawk, before the rope was yanked from my hands. But that was nothing compared to the pained cry of the man as Sarge sprinted across the courtyard. The man rolled wildly as Sarge swung out the open gate and kept going.

I waited long enough for the man's screams to fade away, before addressing the people in attendance. "This is NOT a democracy!" I shouted. "Follow the rules, or leave!"

"How is he in charge?" One of the newbies asked Claire as she led them off.

She paused and gestured up to where they had a dozen buzzards watching them from the rooves. "Those, along with all the other creatures you see walking around, are all fully under his control. And his control alone."

"How?" Someone else asked.

Claire just smiled and gestured for them to follow, "We'll cover that in orientation after you all get cleaned up and fed."

Meanwhile, I was being mobbed by my ladies. Held from all sides, I was starting to feel better.

"Ryan," Henrietta crooned softly. "It needed to be done."

I looked at her and saw the frown on her face, "Weren't you the one saying the other day, that I needed to think things over more?"

She nodded and smiled, "I meant in relation to you kicking people out because they disagree with you. Just because someone disagrees, doesn't mean they're bad."

"Mr Ryan, sir?"

My ladies pulled away for a moment, so I could turn to the young woman who approached. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she smiled. "I heard what you were saying and... I don't know if he would have actually hurt me. But thank you for making me feel safe while I work here."

"What's your name?"

"Melissa," she replied.

"You're welcome Melissa," I smiled softly. "If that sort of thing happens again, let me know so I can fix it straight away."

"What are we doing with his bags?" Henry asked, hauling them out.

It had been a while since I'd dealt with bags that weren't my own. And I'd forgotten that being able to move them, if not access them was a perk of being in a settlement.

"Drop them outside the gate. He can have them if he comes back for them. Just hug the sides of the path so they don't end up pinned to the middle of the road."

That had actually happened, when we brought back our first group. A young man almost murdered one of his fellow newbies and ran for it. That's how we'd discovered we could move bags of strangers, as opposed to getting permission to access them, like I had with my ladies. Unfortunately, that only lasted as long as you were inside the confines of the settlement. And I was the unfortunate one carrying them when I hit that point. In an instant, the leather bags may as well have been made from lead as they slammed into the ground at my feet. To make matters worse, it was literally the middle of the road. It was three days later when I was able to go collect them for myself. What happened to him didn't matter.

"How are things here, anyway?" I asked, walking with the four of them back inside.

"Clarabelle, and Norman are ploughing that new field today," Maiya informed. "Moo is over on the first field helping pick the root vegetables."

"How?" I asked.

Maiya shrugged, "Henry made it up. Looks like another plough, but smaller. It disrupts the top layer of soil, so the farmers can just plug them out without having to dig."

I thought about the old man and grinned. Claire said he was probably good with his hands, but the old man turned out to be a smith. He could work out how to make something by fiddling with it for a while. And when he was bored he made other things. The best part was when he discovered he could make uncommon weapons. I was one of the first to receive one, in the form of my new glaive. Followed swiftly by the rest of our original group. Then he'd moved onto the crossbows our wall guards used.

Along with that, he'd taken an apprentice. A young man I'd only met once, but had a fondness for armour. His first full set was what Henrietta wore when she went beyond the walls. Since then, he'd gradually made various plate, and luckily for me, scale armour. Luckily, the part of the system that got me used to pole weapons, made plate horribly uncomfortable. But the light scale armour I wore was just about perfect.

We made our way through the warehouse and I sighed at how crowded it was. We'd started with a big empty warehouse, but now there were people everywhere. Not that it was causing problems. It was a small community. Sarge led the other shriekers into their pen, which had been expanded massively to accommodate them. Along with Sarge, Zena and Sneaky, there were another twenty-eight, with three sitting on eggs. Considering the lack of males we'd caught, I wasn't surprised that Sarge seemed to be strutting a little.

Beside the shrieker pen was the mule stable, which was vacant at the moment. Nobody had seen a mule since we'd first arrived, but I was hopeful they were migratory and we'd see some soon. Especially as the days were growing shorter. I knew we were in Australia, but if we were in the Southern half of the continent, that could still mean snow or at the very least frost. Shaking my head to clear the thoughts, I heard Cerb chuff slightly, before she trotted off into the darkened alcove. To anyone unsuspecting, it was a large storage shed that may contain chickens or something. Reality it was a multi-tier set of racks for the hunters. There was room for twenty, to cover the adults and the pups. But if Cerb had many more, we'd need to expand. The den was the only direct opening to the outside and we could lock it from the inside. Even if something was stupid enough to come in, it would be trapped inside the den with the whole pack.

Moving on, we had simple storage. Unused crates were stacked and left open on one side. Then stairs were put in to reach the upper levels. With engine hoists, pallets and boxes we had an adequate storage system. Most of it was for food and building materials and it seemed Maiya was the one in charge of inventory. The stoic woman was well organised and wasn't fazed by telling people 'no' when they came for a request they couldn't fully justify.

On the other side of the storage area, that essentially separated the front to the back of the warehouse, was the kitchen and eatery. It was always busy. Margaret and Lillian kept a tight ship. Margaret was in charge of food prep, while Lillian created helpful concoctions to go along with the stat boosts Margaret introduced. It was usually some form of strength or stamina boost, along with something that accelerated healing or clotting of blood from injuries. It mostly depended on their inventory. While it was possible to simply buy what they needed with points, the points they got in return didn't cover the expense unless we wanted to live off steamed basic vegetables. Thankfully, although only Margaret and one other were cooks, anyone could actually cook. They just couldn't add the buffs. With their help, there was at least SOMETHING to eat at all times of the day. Though meal times had to be staggered to accommodate our growing numbers. I had been concerned for a while, but Margaret assured me it was fine, and going by the nice clothing she wore, she was bringing in the points and happy for it.

"S'cuse me," Barb said, stepping past and heading into the kitchen.

I watched Margaret's face light up seeing her partner and shot them a grin as we moved on. Though I did grab what looked like a small sweetroll in the process. Moving through the eatery, I made a few general nods at the familiar faces. Blake was over on the far side with Annabelle and Grace, who both beamed at me. He just looked uncomfortable. The ladies with him were sex slaves that he was trying to rescue. He wasn't the brightest, but he worked hard and they seemed to love him. So I wasn't going to hold it against him, even if he seemed to.

With a nod and a smile, I frowned as each of my ladies kissed my cheek and turned to head off to their own duties. All of them, except Polly. She seemed to tremble slightly as she led me onwards towards the housing area. This was the heart of the warehouse and most of everyone lived inside. Claire had set up the originals and we'd continued from there. But essentially we'd created self contained apartments with shared amenities floor to ceiling. Unlike the ones outside, these were a little nicer and more secure. So they were useful for when we had people come in that were scared or anxious. That, and for my core group.

Polly led me up the stairs to the very top. It was the last floor before the ceiling rafters. That space had been bookmarked for defenses. But as of yet, we hadn't done anything. This high up though, I was able to see the holding cells we'd had installed, alongside the stairwell that led to the watchtower. I tried not to think about that side of things. While the watchtower wasn't a problem for me, I still cringed thinking about executing Danielle. Since I knew that nobody who died was permanently dead, I made the decision. It was quick, clean and she wasn't conscious for it thanks to a sleeping potion. But I still felt dirty after the fact.

"Hey," Polly caught my attention.

I saw the concern in her eye and stepped into the hallway to give her a hug. She moulded herself to me as I met her lips with my own.

"You're stressed," she said softly.

Opening my eyes, I looked into her soft expression and smiled. "It's fine."

"It's not," she retorted softly.

I frowned, "Aren't you the submissive one who's supposed to agree with me?"

Polly smirked, "I'm the submissive one, who willingly gives you an outlet for your frustrations in order to satisfy our mutual needs."

"You're acting like a brat," I grumbled.

Polly nodded slowly, "Uh huh."

Narrowing my eyes at her, she trembled slightly and lowered her eyes. "Get in the shower."

"Make me."

I froze in place and frowned as she trembled. I'd heard what she said, and she knew it. Reaching up, I cupped her cheek and lifted her face. Her nervous expression looked torn as I kissed her softly. She kissed back and had a dreamy edge to her expression as I pulled away. So my hand pushing down the front of her pants was completely unexpected. She squawked and pressed herself into the wall, but that didn't give her any room to escape. Pushing my hand into her underwear, I found her pussy already soaking. Working my fingers through her lips, I circled her clit as she made soft noises.

Pulling my hand free, I examined the sticky mess that clung to them. I smiled and offered for her to lick my fingers clean, but as her tongue extended, I pulled away.

"I'm taking a shower, you coming?"

The dejected squeal met my ears before Polly raced past and through the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom, she was at the end of the hall. The moment she saw me, she pulled the door open for the last stall and de-summoned her clothes before stepping inside. As I walked up to join her, a small noise behind me, had me turn. Corrine was stepping into the bathroom and shot me a grin, before pressing her finger to her lips in a 'hush' signal. I nodded and de-summoned my own clothing as I stepped into the stall with Polly who was glaring.