The Eros Plague Epoch Pt. 09

"Leave me dripping you down my thighs, give me our baby!" Unable to stop myself, I pushed forward, my whole head sliding into the tight, soaking, passage of Allie's womanhood, and I luxuriated in the feeling of her slowly stretching to accept me as she moaned and gasped at my invasion... a burst of hot, searing warmth exploded in my hip.

"Aaaooow, mother fuck," stitches in my hip tore, searing pain and a warm gush of blood. Allie bolted up and leapt to my bloody hip, eyes wide in terror, she called for Wendy loudly.

Wendy burst into the room, "oh hell no, goddammit Allie, he's got a gunshot wound in his hip!" She ran to the bed, and Allie leapt away.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry, oh God, Calvin, I'm sorry!" I tried to reach for her to calm her, but moved too quickly and tore stitches in my arm.

"Aah dammit," I cursed as both Wendy and the pantsless Allie worked to spin me, laying me back to my spot in the bed, regretting ever waking up only to see Allie's eyes change as she looked at Wendy touching me, a cold steel crept into her grey beauties, and she lunged at Wendy, shoving her off of me.

Wendy looked at her in shock and rage, "what the fuck, Allie? I'm a doctor, you need to let me work on him." Immediately, rebuffed again, Allie covered her face and raged a shout into them.

"I know, I... I don't know why I can't-"

Wendy waved a hand in front of her face, "no, you need to get out of here. You two are like goddamned horny teenagers. You'll just do it again."

Crying, Allie stood as Wendy began to work on my torn wound, glaring at me, "and you, you're like forty-two, you can't get injured like this and lay pipe a few days later. You almost died as it was."

Allie, weeping, raced to the door when Wendy looked at her bare ass, "Allie, honey, put some fucking pants on. The children are out there. Send Luis in to help me."

Luis came in and helped Wendy patch me back up. He stayed for a few hours too, Allie and I were no longer allowed to be alone together, though she'd come in with the kids and visit, but Wendy kept a close eye on us, promising me, "as soon as you won't tear yourself to pieces doing it, I swear to god I'll send her in here with nothing but a smile, okay?"

Luis hung out with me a lot the next few days. We read my old comic books and Mad Magazines, reminiscing about movies and super heroes. He was thirty-five, and ticketed plumber and electrician. He'd been grabbed by the bandits hiking the road as he tried to find a safe place to hole up on the lake.

"I figure plumbing's always a good trade, but what I heard about the feds shutting down the power plants... well, I guess that electrical cert is busted," he sighed. "Shame, it paid great."

I thought about what he'd said, "they shut down the power plants?"

"Oh yea," he answered nodding vigorously, "leave 'em alone to long and they'll blow. They took a ton of soldiers off the camps and labs to do it."

"That how you got out of the camps," I asked him. He nodded.

"Yeah, spent a week dodging Redeyes and soldiers, only to get picked up by some assholes slavers."

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It had been another three days, and my gunshot finally closing up to her liking, when Wendy finally let me walk go further than the bathroom. Allie kept her distance, afraid that we might set each other off again. After days of Wendy fussing over me, I had to admit that I was glad she had. I hated to be apart, but I discovered that my desire had relaxed without her so close at all times. Wendy expected that my body was spending that energy healing.

She was also spending her nights in the guest cabin with Luis. You could see it when they looked at each other, the laser focus, the sway of her wide hips, and how he stood straighter.

Wendy was loud too, encouraging him with vigorous moaning and grunting, wanton moans, maybe a bit of an exhibitionist too, leaving the windows open. I was hearing their vigorous fucking on the breeze of the night, and it was killing me.

Between the distance from Allie, and the constant sounds of Wendy and Luis enjoying each other at night, I'd begun thinking of Daniella often. I'd promised her I'd return to her. Maybe I could bring her, June, Michael, and Faith back here? Their farming skills would be more than worth the effort.

But then there was Allie. How would I navigate that? I'd never been a relationship guy, and now it was starting to look like I'd have to choose.

Four days later, I was finally moving more freely. Luis and Allie had begun going to a the nearby islands to look for supplies. It was becoming a worry. They'd noticed more Redeyes along the shorelines south of us, whether that meant that the Slead's Landing pack had moved, or another had come in to the area, it was impossible to say. We'd seen that they were shitty swimmers, so as long as supply runs focused on islands, I was hopeful they'd be okay.

They did bring back lots of simple food the first day out. Cans of spam, corn, peas, and fruit, pickles in brine, crackers that were still sealed, and r ice and pasta. We'd need to start figuring out sustainable food at some point, but we'd have a chance if enough cabins had similar stocks.

So, with them out on a run that day, I was sitting at the southern edge of the island on the great bald rock that made up the peak at that end. Across the channel, grandads old boat was moored at a small island that had a boathouse with a little watchtower attached. The island was flat, a small house at the middle, and I could see them walking around, carrying a few small boxes to the boat.

I scanned west, spotting a little rowboat not too far out. A woman who I'd've guessed was in her sixties by her long hey hair and weather beaten skin was rowing steadily, smoothly, a few small packs with her.

I grabbed one of the walkies I'd taken from the bandits, speaking into it, "Allie? Come in."

Moments went by, and finally she came back. "Calvin? Is something wrong?"

Even through the static of the radio, she sounded sweet.

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They headed after the older woman in the boat, just about scaring the life from her, but otherwise it went well enough. She was a survivor, heading north to find safe harbour at a camp on Hudson's Bay. She'd heard rumours on the radios before they went to static.

All of the adults sat around the table, the kids peeking in from the upstairs balcony in the stair well as she told us.

"You can stay with us a little while," Wendy offered, we're only starting out, but we're doing okay here."

The older woman shook her head. "Nope. Too close to the cities. The border. Too many folk down this way just wandering. Too many Americans like to be with arsenals. Besides," she took a breath and sipped at the bottle of cream soda Allie had offered her. "This is no better than my neighbourhood. There'll be some gang that crops up just like back home, goes raping. Pillaging. It's like some Wild West story."

We adults exchanged looks, frowning. Could this be close? Did we need to worry?

"Whereabouts is that, ma'am," I asked leaning forward to hear her.

"Oh, near Pittsburgh and Ellisville," she replied.

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I was in no shape to use the rifles, but I could still aim the colt. I threw it in a bag with one of the 30-06's just in case, a few clothes and supplies, waving Wendy off as she protested.

Allie chased me to my room and grabbed my backpack, trying to pull it from me. "You can't do this, Calvin! You're not strong enough yet," she grimaced at me as I snatched my pack back from her.

"I have to. I promised," I spat back. I rescued that girl from the highway crew, and I told Danni I'd be back."

Allie threw an old hairbrush of my mother's at me, and it slammed into the wall just above my head and behind me. "What about all of us, Calvin? What about us," she gestured to me, pulling her hand back to her breast, repeating. "You say this woman might be carrying your baby, where does that leave you and I? After all this time, we were going to be a real 'us."

Stopping, I hung my head, she was right. This would change the things. But honestly? What could I do.

"I know, Allie," I tried to reach from her but she twisted away, "please, I understand why you're upset. I see how you've been with me, not just the physical," finally grabbing her wrist I spun her to me, crushing her to my chest, running a hand along her temple lovingly, "nothing will ever change how I feel about you. I just could never live with myself if I didn't go, these people helped me."

Allie twisted, trying to get away, "because you made a promise? Are you a child? What if she is carrying your baby, will you just set her aside? I know you better than that, Calvin. You play at being a man-slut, but I would lose in that math!"

She was shouting now, the whole house could hear it, I looked dumbly at her, the words on my lips, and I willed myself to not say it, but they came unbidden anyway.

"How would you know that, Allie, didn't you tell me just a week ago that you'd gotten all the perks of having a man with none of the responsibilities and relationship?"

She stomped her foot, slamming into the wooden floor of the bedroom, shaking the space on its mooring. A Hummel figurine on my dad's dresser tipped over, falling to its side. "That is exactly how I know, durak," I knew that one, 'idiot.' "I spend the last three years with you coming for dinner and talking about books and the news with me, holding me and watching monster movies when I have a breakup. You help my Katerina with her homework, watch her for me when I have appointments, you talk to her and play games, you show her what a man is, not the pig that was her father and she loves you as a daughter!"

Allie stormed back up to me, pushing her extended index finger into my chest, an accusation, "in all this time, you have never had one serious woman in your life, my straight friends, our coworkers, they threw themselves at you and you only had eyes for me! I ALWAYS knew it was because of me! You were in love with me, you wanted to be Katy's father, you wanted us to be your family and I was too afraid to admit I began to feel that too!"

I stared at her like a fool, speechless, lost in her rage at me. "Bah," Allie shouted and stormed away from me cursing in loud, angry Russian.

Nevertheless, I packed myself up.

Bailey sat at his parents graves reading one of my dad's old childhood adventure books. He was a good reader, his mom had told me that he was two grades advanced, he'd be reading adult books soon. Bailey had spent a fair bit of time with me, reading out loud, while I was still confined to my bed.

"Hey big guy," I sat down and put a hand on his shoulder. "Reading to your folks?"

Bailey looked up at me, closed the book, and put it down on his crossed legs, "yeah."

I looked around, Bailey wasn't the most verbose kid, but one syllable wasn't much of a reply by his standard. "So... you doing okay?"

"I'm okay. Are you really leaving?"

I stared at the graves, thinking of when they started to date, smiling at them getting caught by mom back here when Hannah first came to visit. He'd taken her to this very spot at sunset to make out, shielded from the house by a few trees. Hannah'd been going down on him when Mom snuck out to take a picture and got a lot more on film than she'd intended.

"Just for a couple days, Bay, I promise."

He leaned against me, I hugged him tighter. "Uncle Cal?" Bailey's voice was plaintive, unsure.

"What's up, Bay?"

"What if you don't? What if something happens like with Dad, or Mom? I'll be alone."

My heart twisted in my chest. I was Bailey's only relative now, I had to make sure I didn't get into trouble on this trek. There and back. Fast.

"I won't pal, and no matter what, Allie will be here. She'll take care of you. But I'll be back tomorrow, the day after at the latest."

He looked at me balefully, "I heard her yelling at you."

I shook my head and motioned confusion with my hands, "sometimes people that love each the most shout the loudest at each other, Bay," I tried to reason to him. "She'll still take care of you while I'm away."

He sighed. "Okay."

I had Wendy drop me with the fishing boat. I hated to use the gas, not that it was going to be good too much longer regardless, but the chances of my truck being damaged or inaccessible, leaving me stranded near the Redeyes in her family's place was too high otherwise. She didn't say much to me as we rode over. When I got back, I'd signal them with the walkie from the camp site further down the road.

I got lucky, the truck was still in working order, and the spare tank of gas was still in the back. There was a Redeye in the flatbed, but it was easy to handle. The truck started, and I pulled out of town, a couple of them leaping after me from hiding spots, but otherwise safe.

Knowing where I was going helped. This part of the journey had only taken a couple of hours, and I planned to loop around to less conspicuous roads quickly. Once I was away from the Redeyes, I stopped to fuel up, and hit the gas.

An hour in, coming up to the farms and small hamlets on the outer edge of Ellisville, I saw what the old woman had meant. There were obvious signs of recent fighting. Burnt-out buildings, hastily made car-barricades across property entrances, even a burnt corpse displayed on a town sign. Someone was trying to make a mark. In the distance, I heard a motor cycle roaring in the distance.

I turned off to a side road. I wanted to avoid any conflicts that I could, knowing fully well that I might not be up to them. It took longer, almost another forty minutes along the old farmers road to the farm, but it was quiet.

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I stared at June's farm in horror, tears streamed down my face.

The front of the house looked like the scene of a 1930s mobster shootout. Every window was smashed, every wall splattered with bullets. The crow's nest had been hit so hard the roof had fallen, smashing into the second floor. Doors hung open, old chairs had been tossed through windows. The place was a wreck.

All four milk cows were dead in their stalls, their heads a mess of bone and blood. I left my truck parked in the north gate, the same one I came through with Faith only a few weeks ago, and walked through the mess in the middle of the farm.

There had been three vehicles. That was certain. Shots had been fired at them, tearing up the road, and the splatters of blood looked like a couple had been hit. A dead woman lay in the road, picked over, but by her clothes and position, and being short, I knew it wasn't June or Danni.

There were two larger blood stains on the pavement, closer to the house and farm. One might not have been fatal, the other, near the house, certainly was. By the void, I had to guess that was June. Fear welled in me. Drag marks headed back behind the house, flattening the ling grass.

"Danni," I called, my heart pounded and worst case scenarios hit me in waves, "Daniella!"

Fighting panic, I circled the barn. Nothing but flies and dead cows, some farm equipment. "Daaaaaannnnni!"

I circled around the house, following the heavy drag marks. The family cemetery had two new plots, wooden crosses atop them. June and poor Mikey lay next to their family. She must have been alive to bury them, maybe Faith too. There was no sign of either of them in the house, just rummaged drawers.

Standing at the graves my fear washed over me. Had they set out to find me? Anyplace safe? They could have been spotted and caught, they might be setting up a new home, new people... the worse options filled my mind. Then the guilt. This all had only happened days ago. Days where I'd been laid up because I rushed in, got sloppy and got shot.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!"

Snapping to the source of the call, I looked out over the fields, toward the large pond that Danni had told me about camping nearby as a child. In the distance, a person was running, long dark hair bouncing behind them.

I ran through my limp as quickly as I was able, holding my hip. The long field grass, waiting to be tilled after a year untouched, whipped at my legs as I hurried. She'd come around the pond and was running full tilt toward me.

Danni raced through the field, her dark eyes lighting up against her sun-darkened red-tan skin, wearing a long-sleeved sport top with a light cutoff sweater over top exposing her midriff, a couple of shades lighter than her face. Danni's impressive breasts bouncing as she bolted to me, her legs, long and curvy, pumped against her cargoes.

"Cal," she spoke as I loped toward her, keeping her pace all the way to me, only barely slowing as all five-nine one-forty of her slammed into me, nearly carrying us both off our feet.

It had been five days. Just five days since the gas station raiders came looking for Faith.

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They'd rolled into the front of the house, three trucks, the one I'd dealt with, Joseph, in the lead of two teen boys and five women. Danni watched from the crows nest, rifle in hand. They shouted, looking for Faith, blaming her for their dead boys. June went out to talk to them, it had gone poorly, and they'd shot her dead on the spot. Mikey charged at them from the barn. Danni had gotten one of the women in the arm, and then shot one of the boys fatally - the body in the drive.

The gang turned their guns on the house, and Danni found herself pinned in the cupola while the group trashed the house looking for Faith. Desperate, she'd dropped to the roof and slid down to the back porch, nearly catching Faith at the door. One of the gang grabbed the girl, and Danni narrowly avoided being shot. With a new hail of bullets, she was forced to flee into the fields.

Alone, Danni had run and hid in the forest beyond the pond until the last of the gang gave up on searching for her, and had been hiding out at a small campsite in the woods for the last few days, burying her mother and brother in the meantime, and eventually getting what she could from the family home for supplies and clothing.

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"I was a day away from trying to make a run to try to find you," Danni told me as we sat down on a log that looked over the cold stones of an old fire pit.

"I'm so sorry, Danni I would've come sooner, but," I held up my shirt so she could see the bandages from my gunshot wound, "things got interesting when I found Bailey."

Danni smiled sadly, leaning into me, "I'm sorry I almost tore the stitches." She'd leapt onto me when we came together in the field, normally something I would have enjoyed, but the shot of pain as I took her weight awkwardly had been enough for me to cry out, startling her. "I'm just glad you found your nephew... poor kid."

I put my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, "it's okay, they didn't rip, and he's a tough kid."

She leaned into me, just a little, turning her head to nuzzle my neck. "Thank you for coming back. I didn't think I'd see you for weeks, if at all."

"Hey," I kissed the top of her head, she smelled of soap and pond water, "I promised I'd come back."

Danni rested her head at the nape of my neck. "My mother said you'd be back. I told her that you wouldn't be the first to say it and not do it. She just smiled and said 'not that one."

We sat silently for a few moments, just holding each other. Her body was warm against mine. The field was cool, the wind picking up as it blew through the grass.

"I'm sorry about them. Your mom and Michael. I wish I'd been here sooner. I wish I'd come and got the four of you."

"She would've never left, and your nephew needed you. Your friend and her daughter needed you. Those other people they needed you. If you'd come back sooner, they'd all be gone or dead."