The Libido Virus: Crash

The helicopter roared as it moved nimbly through the air. Mason looked down on the scenery below. Brush and weeds already overran the old fields, but the forests had not changed. Tall pines swayed gently as the chopper rushed over them. Beside him, Eli scribbled in a small notebook, struggling to write in the hectic wind of their journey. His voice crackled through their headsets, "Last drop is two med packs, water, and rations. Looks like we're picking up a doctor, too. After that, we're back to base."

The pilot gave them a thumbs up from the cockpit. "That's good news," he said. "We're getting low on fuel. They keep shorting me on every flight. Or they're real fucking bad at math. About fifteen minutes from the drop site. They'll top us off for the ride home."

Mason nudged the other soldier and pointed down into an empty field. Dusk was setting in already, but they could see the dark silhouettes moving quickly through the open spaces. Once the supply runs started, pilots reported the creatures following the choppers. They were fast, much faster than a regular human. Still not fast enough to keep up with the flights, so instead they worked through some relay, tracking the sound and sight of helicopters. Initially people worried the things could follow the supply runs to the refugee camps, but if that was the infected's goal, the creatures never acted on it. Mason had his own suspicions why, believing that the Queens didn't care about the humans so long as they didn't come close to the city centers. Since V was developed, the creatures had become more cautious about attacking humans.

Mason adjusted his rifle. His fingers nervously tapped the cartridge filled with the specialized ammo. A lab in Germany developed the chemical Vexant. The formula shipped out all over the world. Where bullets and bombs failed, a chemical cocktail succeeded. The substance acted as a counter agent to the virus which plagued the world, rendering the creatures inert, if only temporarily. Apparently it hurt like the fucking devil, too. The eggheads speculated even a little bit of pain to a creature who didn't know it otherwise would be a strong deterrent. A few people entertained other ideas that perhaps Vexant could reverse the infection entirely. Mason knew the rumors, but didn't believe them. He couldn't. He'd lost all his friends to the plague and moved on. Entertaining the idea that any of those things could be saved only guaranteed someone else would get turned.

On the horizon, he could see the lights of the settlement. The red zone covered everything east of the Mississippi, west of the Rockies, and the majority of southern Texas. The creatures didn't seem to care for the cold and didn't spread as easily through sparsely populated areas. Through a monumental effort, humanity set up a bulwark against the oncoming plague. It took a while, but eventually the new government was ready to reach out to the other pockets of survivors. When they came asking for volunteers for the supply runs, Mason was one of the first in line.

A grinding screech drew their attention. The helicopter jerked and dropped sharply. They stayed airborne, but the screeching grew louder. The pilot screamed back at them, "God damn mechanics. We're losing our rotor, I gotta put us down. We're going to come in pretty ro—"

They dropped with a sharp jerk and started spinning on the way down. They cleared the trees, and the pilot aimed for a relatively clear stretch of an abandoned road. Eli grabbed hold of Mason's arm, shoving a pack into his chest just as they crashed.

***

Mason coughed, sputtering dirt and grass out of his mouth. His whole body ached, and his head swirled. His sleeve felt wet. His knees burned. Behind the sharp ringing in his ears he could hear shouting, but couldn't focus. I'm dead, he thought. Dying at least. He inhaled and coughed more as smoke and dust filled his lungs. No, not yet. Not like this. Get the fuck up. Mason opened his eyes and peered through the darkness.

As they dropped, the pilot tried to aim for a clear spot, but couldn't steer. Instead of crashing in a field, they'd veered off into the outer edge of a forest. Eli and Mason unbuckled and threw themselves out of the crashing vehicle, choosing to risk impaling themselves on a tree branch than being crushed inside twisted metal. The pack blunted some of the damage during the fall, but as Mason assessed his injuries, he knew he had not come away unscathed. He had a gash in his left arm. Lacerations on his knees and thighs wetted his pants with blood. A twig stuck out from his thigh. Looking at it brought the throbbing pain. Breathing made his chest ache. Bruised ribs, not broken. As he tried to move, the world lurched. He turned his head and vomited. And a concussion. No time for that.

Raising up from the forest ground, he saw the source of the shouting. Eli was tramping through the dark forest, searching for the other soldier. "Here!" Mason called, his throat burning as he spoke. The dark figure responded and made his way over to the wounded man.

"Holy shit, you're alive," Eli said, failing to hide his astonishment. "You were supposed to try and hook on one of the limbs, you fucking idiot, not just go crashing through the whole damn tree."

Mason managed a weak smile, "You grabbed hold of a limb? Sure, climbing down, if you want to be a pussy about it."

Eli's pack survived the fall in tact. From it, he started to produce bandages and other medical supplies. "Gotta be quick about this," he said as he worked. Mason inhaled sharply as a stinging fluid doused the gash in his arm. "Hell, you'll need stitches." Eli produced another odd implement, "This will have to do for now. Push it together." Mason followed instructions, grimacing through the pain. Eli quickly lined the cut with a jelly like substance that hardened rapidly, sealing the wound in a rather messy fashion. As he wrapped Mason's arm, he asked, "Anything else? Can you walk?"

Mason grabbed the small twig jammed in his leg, pulled it free, and slapped a bandage on it, "I'm fine." His eyes finally starting to focus, he looked towards the source of the smog. He could discern flame through the thick forest. "The pilot?"

Eli shook his head.

"What was his name?" Mason asked, embarrassed he hadn't asked before. Names didn't do much good though. Better not to get attached.

"Martin, I think," Eli responded. "Cockpit broke in half on the fall when the fuel went up. Did what he could. Grab as much gear as you can, best guess is we're fifteen miles from the refuge. All that commotion is bound to attract at least a few of the infected."

Mason's heart sank. He been so glad to survive the fall and see Eli still among the living that he forgot that they were deep in the red zone. Struggling to his feet as stiffness left him, he started to gather as much as he could. He found his rifle first, slinging it over his uninjured shoulder. After a few minutes, the pair of men had a few rations, six bottles of water, and three clips of V for their rifles and twelve rounds for each of their side arms. "Looking pretty fucking grim," Mason murmured.

Eli had his back to a tree, breathing heavily as he sipped from one of the water bottles. "The crash will distract them, but once they count the bodies, they'll start looking. As long as we keep quiet and move quickly, we should be fine. No big nests between here and the settlement. We have enough rounds to put down any stray infected we come across."

No sooner had he spoke than a lithe figure appeared across the small forest clearing. Mason hadn't seen one of the infected up close since the Fall. The burning wreckage silhouetted her figure as she moved quietly towards the flames. She looked like so many of them did, as if she had walked out of a pinup magazine with only one notable difference. Her eyes gleamed green in the pale light. She seemed above the world itself, as if even nature itself avoided contact with the unnatural creatures. In the dim light, Mason and Eli could see the creature's sexual perfection. Large, full breasts and a perfectly shaped ass accompanying a slender frame. This one seemed to have raven black hair and unusually puffy lips. Ideal to wrap around a cock.

The thought pervaded Mason's mind for only a moment. Perhaps his head injury would be enough to dissuade the creature's pheromone influence. His hand went to his rifle, but the creature did not turn their direction, instead vanishing into the darkness opposite them as it went to investigate the crash. "More will come soon," Eli said. "Let's go."

--

Despite his sore muscles and aching body, Mason found he could easily keep up with the less injured Eli. They didn't run, but kept a steady jog as they moved east towards the settlement. They each carried a short wave radio and had a brief discussion about calling ahead for help. "Settlements don't open their gates after dark. Hard and fast rule. Asking them to break that and risk the whole colony isn't worth it. Not for two half broken supply runners."

Mason didn't like to hear it, but knew his partner was right. It would have worried him more, but other than the initial infected, they hadn't encountered any trouble in their journey. Hell, other than the impeding doom, risk of dehydration, and possibly bleeding to death, this is a nice night out.

Only the moon lit their path as they crunched as softly as possible through the forest. After they'd been on the move for two hours, both of them began to tire and succumb to the aches suffered in the crash. The forest finally broke when they found a road. "What do ya think?" Eli asked, looking up and down the mostly clear pavement. "I don't know any reason we'd be more likely to run into the infected on the road than off it."

Mason agreed, "May come across a car that still works."

They set off down the abandoned highway, keeping to the forest edge, but making much better time since they no longer had to climb through brambles and avoid fallen limbs. The world had fallen into disrepair much faster than Mason would have thought. The road was littered with fallen limbs and often fully hidden by pine needles. Weeds had taken advantage of the lack of traffic to sprout up quickly through the pavement. After another hour, they started to see road signs. Around a curve, they spotted the a few buildings which were apparently the central hub of a community called, Sardis.

Eli stopped and went to the edge of the wood, finding the darkest spot that he could. Mason crouched down beside him. As soon as he stopped moving, he knew that his body was running on pure adrenaline. If he sat still for too long, he would likely not get back up until morning.

The other soldier rummaged through his bag until he produced at folded map and a tarp. "Here," he said, offering the tarp to Mason. Draping it over the both of them, they huddled together over the map. Eli clicked a small LED light he kept pinned to his lapel and their eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination. The tarp did it's job, blacking out their light from any surrounding eyes. Eli pointed to the map, "We're here roughly. Turns out we were closer than I thought. Settlement is two miles north of this town. Quickest way would be to cut straight through, but we've had reports of infected milling about here. Decent numbers of them, too."

Mason's heart was in his throat. His legs burned from both the abrasions and the three hour hike. "We're running on fumes. If we go around, we're adding another two hours to our trip. The longer we're out here the more likely we're going to get caught or stuck."

Eli frowned, "I don't disagree. At this point, we're running on borrowed time. They sleep. If we're lucky, we can sneak through without any thing noticing us. Five minutes, and we're moving." He handed Mason one of the bottles of water and took another for himself.

They watched the abandon city for any signs of life while they rested. The hollow buildings seemed to harbor nothing but more darkness. While the major cities suffered the carnage of hundreds of thousands of frightened humans, the small communities simply vanished. The lucky people fled to the green zone. The unlucky were happened upon by a stray infected and shared that fate. All too quickly, the time passed, and Eli got to his feet. Mason tossed him back the empty water bottle, and they started down into the city.

***

A few abandoned vehicles crowded the streets. Mason peered in the windows as they passed by, but saw nothing of interest. Most of them had been stripped down for any usable equipment. A vehicle was a wet dream these days, even the ones that hadn't been scavenged were usually worthless either from a dead battery or tire rot. Again, Mason marveled at how quickly the world can go to shit once society stopped taking care of it.

The first part of the town went by quickly. Empty residences, most with broken doors and windows, loomed along the streets, peering down at the unwelcome travelers like eyeless skulls. The world's dead. All along we thought we were the life blood of the planet. Turns out we're fucking parasites. The host died, and now we're left picking the scraps off a bloated carcass. Mason shivered as he passed a small house with a white picket fence. Broken toys and spilled suitcases littered the home's small yard.

As they entered the business district, the buildings grew larger. Store fronts and warehouses once made it a quaint downtown shopping area, but now it was yet another slightly less scenic part of the wasteland. Eli came to a sudden stop, and Mason immediately went still. Holding up one finger, Eli pointed ahead of them to the left. Mason followed the line and saw two faint lights. Not lights. Eyes.

Both men brought their rifles up, but continued to watch. The creature scanned the town with a mesmerizing consistency, panning back and forth as if on a pendulum. As the figure turned away from their direction, Eli quickly dashed over to the cover of an alleyway. Mason followed. As he ducked down behind a pile of debris, he saw a second figure moving quickly down the street. Both men breathed an inaudible, "Fuck." An Alpha.

The behemoth had once been an ordinary man. Now the creature stood almost eight feet tall. Neither Mason or Eli had seen one up close before, but they'd been briefed again and again. The male version of infected had the strength of an ox with a physique more in common with a silver-back gorilla than a man. They also sported a cock the size of a baseball bat. Uninfected women would succumb almost instantly to the presence of an alpha, and the infected seemed to live for their attention. Usually, the males did not stray far from a Queen, but they'd been known to turn up in the middle of no where. To Mason's dismay, he knew how much V it took to bring one down. They'd burn through all their ammo on one, let alone if another showed up.

Eli surveyed their options. The alley dead ended. Ahead of them was an abandoned supermarket and across the street was an empty furniture store. Neither offered much cover for an escape, but if they had to run for it, the supermarket at least had a lot of obstacles that could slow the infected down. Not much slows down a freight train.

They watched the hulking creature slow to a stop in the street. Bright green eyes peered at the place where the soldiers had stopped moments earlier. The alpha moved towards it to investigate further, but the other sentry caught his attention. She approached him slowly, swaying her hips at him as she moved. At first, the alpha paid her no mind, but once she was beside him, running her hands on his arms, his instincts took hold.

The infected moved out of the shadows and into the full moonlight. Mason could see every detail of their bodies, despite the dim lighting. Of course, the woman was astonishingly beautiful, almost indistinguishable from the one they'd seen earlier in the forest, but the male was somehow compelling as well. I can see why those infection cults exist. The chance to become something like that. To be worshiped like a god. The woman moved her body against the alpha, allowing him access to her large breasts. Her hand took hold of his thick cock as it rose to its full length. Jesus Christ.

They were stuck, at least until they were spotted. The sex crazed woman dropped to her knees in front of the behemoth and started to bathe his cock with her tongue. Her hands cupped and massaged the heavy balls, exciting him further and building up his already massive supply of cum. The two hidden soldiers could hear the creature's satisfied grunts at his latest conquest's efforts. Both men found themselves imaging what the transformed man was feeling. Mason thought back to the days before the Fall, days when he lived with Carol. The memory of his girlfriend's mouth slowly taking his cock into its warmth as her tongue massaged the length of it -- it seemed a lifetime ago that anything like that had happened.

The female released her prize cock from her lips momentarily. With a quick turn, she presented herself to the alpha, wiggling her ass in temptation. The alpha sunk his meaty paws into her ass, clearly enjoying the feeling of her soft flesh as his cock pushed into the sopping pussy before him. Who had she been? Someone's wife? Was she an old spinster that had spent her whole life knitting until one of these monsters appeared and changed her? Had she been a man found unworthy of being an alpha and stripped of his manhood? Mason knew of no explanation for how an alpha is chosen. Some men contracted the virus and devolved into yet another beautiful sex pot, but the "lucky" few would morph into the primal force before him.

Wet sounds of coupling filled the air as the two men tried to quiet their own rapid breath. Mason couldn't help but enjoy the scene. They'd been warned, of course. Each supply runner spent hours in training learning to not fall victim to the very trap before him. Visual stimulation increased heart rate, which meant exposure to pheromones manifested quicker as blood pumped through veins dispersing the body's own undoing to each cell. Nevertheless, Mason couldn't look away. He imagined himself in the alpha's position, the woman moaning around his cock as her engorged breasts swung underneath her. Is she going to start leaking milk on the ground? He recalled the depraved individuals driven mad with lust during the Fall, clamoring to the ground beneath the rutting pairs of devils just to suck the transformative milk from the ground.

The beast's pace quickened. Not even that pinnacle of sexual evolution could last long with that slut squirming around his rod. Maybe when they were done they would move on. Or at least be sated enough to fall asleep in some corner of an abandoned building. The alpha grunted again and again until it let out a monstrous roar. Mason knew it was pumping the little whore full of its sticky cum. The same stuff Carol guzzled down while I watched.

"Oh shit," Eli muttered. Mason had been so focused on the pornographic display that he had momentarily forgotten their predicament. Following Eli's gaze, he saw what made the other soldier bring up his rifle.