“Gods, Stellan was right… You smell like death,” he says.
“That’s because I almost died,” I retort.
“Oh, stop whispering sweet nothings to me.”
I glare at him and he laughs.
He half carries me half drags me to the fancy little toilet at the back of theFirefly. The President wasn’t expected to shit in nature.
Surprisingly, he gives me some privacy and goes back outside. I hold on to the metal rails so not to fall headfirst as I pull my torn pants down. Once I have done my business, I let myself slide to the floor. I wait, out of breath, for what feels like an eternity. I know there are weapons in the many cupboards, but Jude wasn’t dumb enough to let me get access to them. He has locked them up; I’ve seen the set of keys around his neck.
After a moment, he comes back to check on me. He drags me outside this time. I land heavily on the cave’s floor. Before I have time to complain, he pulls me farther into the cave.
“What are you doing?” I ask, panic rising.
“Giving you a bath. I can’t stand to share a space with your rotten ass.”
He leaves me near a natural pool deeper into the cave. He goes back to theFireflyand brings back a solar lamp, a bar of soap, and a pair of scissors. He takes off the shirt Perri gave me with care, but cuts my pants right off my legs. He doesn’t hesitate to cut my underwear, either. He stares at my cock for a moment. I know I’m really big, even when soft. But what caught his attention must be the darker veins that converge to the head of my dick, turning it almost black.
“Are you done ogling?” I say.
“As if you have anything to tempt me.”
Without warning, he rolls me to the side, and I plunge into the cold water.
5
The cave.
“At the beginning of the Revival Project, we needed not only DNA from the old gods, but also the genetic material to create a human being. So, we looked around for healthy men and women, and took their eggs and spermatozoids. The soldiers who were working to protect us were a good gene pool to use. Of course, we never told any of them which material ended up being used. We grew the embryos in our labs, in tanks. But some of our mutant children looked so familiar, there was no hiding their origins to our teams.”
Testimony from Allan Rickford, a scientist who worked on the Revival Project, 2056.
Panic explodes in my chest as I fall into the cold water. My genes might want me to like dark and humid places, but they’re not strong enough to ignore past trauma. I fucking hate being submerged. It reminds me of all the times the scientists dropped me into the jellyfish tank. My arms thrash feebly, but I’m too weak to swim. My gills start working automatically, allowing me to breathe underwater.
Without my electricity, I can’t see a thing. But thirty seconds later, Jude joins me in the water. He pulls me to the surface and sits me on a rock, half immersed. I offer him a glare full of hatred.
But my eyes widen when I realize he’s naked, too. The solar lamp’s blue light outlines his body in artful lines. Water drips from his short ginger hair, then slides down his freckled shoulders and slim body. He’s fucking beautiful.
He’s similar to the jellyfish who haunt my past and my dreams, I realize. Beautiful but deadly when you get too close.
“Who’s ogling now?” he says with a wicked smile.
I send him a weak punch, and he dodges it easily. He laughs and bends over the side of the natural pool to grab the soap. I get a premium view of his backside. The hateful bastard is gorgeous, and I hate him even more for it as I feel my cock give a happy twinge. It’s certain now, I’m not on death’s door anymore.
Without asking for consent, Jude rubs the soap all over my chest, arms, face, and hair. It stings like a bitch. My eyes are burning.
“Look at us,” he says. “I’m giving you a fucking bath in a cave. Who would have thought?”
I try to bite his hand as it gets close to my face again. He swats me away easily.
He washes me in silence for a while, and I stop resisting. I won’t lie, it feels good to be finally clean.
“Your wounds are closing up. It must be nice to be a mutant. And you’re in luck; I’m taking care of you better than you ever did your slaves,” he says.
His voice has turned cold. Without warning, he pushes my head underwater. I try not to show fear as he rinses my hair. He’s taking longer just to be mean. Now the soap stings my gills. They’re hidden behind my ears. He touches them with his fingers a few times without noticing.
He pulls me up at last, higher on the rock, and slides the soap to my dick. I gasp against my will.
