Mutual Protection

"Almost there!" he whispered, as he pulled Iole close on a patch of soft grass and caressed the slit between her legs, "Perhaps half an hour. I want to fuck you one last time before we are there!"

"Last time?"

Iole frowned, even as her hands grabbed Melvin's erect dick and guided it home to her well lubricated pussy.

"I mean, one last time here, Outside. When we are Inside, you can live in my house, and we can even fuck in a real bed!"

"Oh. Good. A bed sounds good."

Iole stopped talking as her breathing got faster and heavier while Melvin thrust his rod hard in and out of her young body.

Chapter 23: Home

"Madam Commander?"

"Yes, John?"

"We pick up movement Outside. It seems to be approaching our walls."

"Mutants?"

"Not sure. They do appear to have human form, but there are just two. One man-sized and one that might be a boy, if they are mutants."

"Strange. They normally always attack with hundreds at a time. Keep watching until they come closer."

"Madam Commander?"

"Yes, John?"

"You might want to take a look yourself. I'm not sure if I can trust my eyes."

Emilia Dawkins moved to the watch station to look at the screen.

"What? Is that..."

"Looks exactly like him, right!"

"Yes, you are right. It looks exactly like Melvin. And an unknown mutant woman."

Commander Dawkins took a few seconds to think. Then she knew what to do.

"Melvin went Outside more than two weeks ago. His crawler had energy and air for five days. His suit could have bought him two more. Plus, what you see there does not even wear a suit."

"Do you mean...?"

"Yes, John. That's exactly what I mean. That there is not Melvin. Melvin is dead. We know that. Only mutants can survive Outside. That must be a mutant."

She snickered.

"Also, you know Melvin. He would never take a mutant here. At least not a live one!"

John sat still, gazing at the screen, in shocked silence.

"We know that mutants are developing new powers. This must be one. It must be a shape-shifter."

"So, what do we do, madam Commander?"

"It's clearly an attack. They copied Melvin, thinking we would fall for it. We won't. We do what we always do when mutants attack. We shoot."

Just as John's hand hovered over the button, he saw on his screen that the shape-shifter mutant raised his hand. Speakers sputtered to life as the Outside microphones picked up a voice. Even the voice was exactly the same as Melvin's had been.

"Hold fire! Don't shoot! I'm Melvin Scott, and I want to..."

John pressed the button.

"Send soldiers Outside. I want the shape-shifter brought in, in an isolated research area. We need to analyze its cell structure, to see what caused this new mutation."

"And the woman?"

"She's just a regular mutant. Burn her corpse, somewhere far away from Base."

Epilogue: Fate

"Still no results?" Stevenson asked his head biologist.

"Nothing, sir," she admitted.

"Keep searching. Just keep searching, damn it! One day we will find the secret."

The shock had been great when cell analysis and DNA samples proved beyond a doubt that the alleged shape-shifter mutant had, in fact, been Melvin. Commander Dawkins had eventually been cleared of all charges. Traveling in company of a mutant had been Melvin's death warrant, the judges all agreed. If he had come alone, then she should have acted with more caution. The woman by his side was enough to clear her of all charges.

"Can I get additional funding, sir?" the head biologist asked.

"Of course! You know you can! The governor was clear. All means available, unlimited funding. We must keep researching Melvin's remains. We must find out what enabled him to survive Outside without protection. That's the key to our survival."

"Yes, sir!"

"Just two, maybe three more generations," Stevenson mumbled to himself as the head biologist left the office, "before we run out of energy and perish. And the mutants also seem to be past their peak, their numbers are decreasing too. We must find Melvin's secret, if we want to have a fighting chance to save the human race."