My disgust must have been obvious on my face, because she laughs.
They tie me to a bus in the courtyard to keep an eye on me while the three of them work on theFirefly. Margaret was right, the repairs were done in a few hours. By nightfall, we eat a quick dinner before heading out into the wastelands to get rid of the two vehicles and the four bodies. The two women ride in different cars, Jude and I in the other. It takes us an hour to get to the canyon they had in mind. We drive the two vehicles with the corpses down into the dried-out river. They crash below and the noise echoes in the canyon. I hope there isn’t an old god lurking in those parts.
We all climb into Jess’ truck to get back toGears and Giggles. Jude and I sit in the back.
We’ve been driving for an hour in silence when Jude says quietly, “He used to lock me up in the trunk of his car when I was a kid.” He’s talking about Malcolm. “One day, he forgot about me. Or maybe he just pretended to have forgotten. I spent an entire night crying in that trunk. When the sun rose in the morning, the heat became unbearable. When my mother found me, I was almost dead. My father thrashed him, and his dislike for me grew into hate. Things got worse after that, but I learned how to watch my back.”
Our childhoods, I realize, might not have been much different. I was the scientists’ plaything; he was his brothers and sisters’.
“I should have made him suffer for longer,” I say.
Jude smiles, his eyes on me. “Yes. You should have.”
7
The Bug.
“Here is how the story goes: the McCain couple lived on a boat with their seven kids. They fancied themselves rebels of their time. Then the old gods rose from their slumber, and the McCains were eager to carve their place in the new world. They turned pirates for a time. Until one day, our new reality caught up to them and the Leviathan sank their ship. They ended up stranded on land, with some of their children still too young to even carry a gun. That didn’t stop them. They rallied people around them. People who respected strength and survival above all else, and they slowly conquered parts of the wastelands. Including an oil platform deep in the desert, along with its refinery. It gave them access to fossil fuel, and they became unstoppable. Their followers now count in the hundreds. They chose a name fitting their new lifestyle: the Highwaymen. Listen, if you’re out there in the wastelands like me, avoid the main roads. And if there are tracks in the dust, walk in the other direction.”
Video transcription of a video file shared among survivors, creator unknown, 2058.
Margaret and Jess let us sleep in one of the buses for the night. They have turned it into some kind of guest room for when their son and Perri come over. They tie my chain to the foot of the heavy bed and my hands with heavy handcuffs, ensuring that I have a little room to move, but not enough to try anything. At least Jess insisted on giving me a thin mattress and a blanket, to Jude’s and Margaret’s dismay.
My captor blows out the candles and settles on the large bed above me. And suddenly, an uncomfortable flashback surfaces. Helios used to sleep at the foot of my bunk bed for months before he left me. Many times, I offered to share a bed, but he always said that we were getting too big for that. When, in reality, he was just happy to get away from me at night. He would have preferred to escape my tent altogether.
The realization feels like a knife sliding in a festering wound.
For the better part of an hour, I stare at the dark ceiling. As drained as I am, sleep eludes me. From the rustling I hear on the bed, Jude can’t sleep either. All I can see from where I’m lying on the floor is a shapeless form under the comforter.
But at some point, the noise turns…repetitive.
I growl in the dark. “Are you fucking masturbating?”
“So what? I can’t sleep,” Jude answers. He already sounds breathless.
Lust coils in my lower belly. It’s been a while since I released the tension. It’s been more than two weeks, to be precise. And I fucking hate what the idea of him pleasuring himself does to me.
“Stop it,” I say.
But he speeds up. I can see the comforter rising up and down from where his hand is.
“Why should I stop?” he says. It sounds like a challenge. “Am I shocking you?”
“No. Trust me, it takes more than that to shock me.”
It’s not entirely the truth. I’ve had no serious lovers besides Helios, and we were teenagers. I pined after him for years. Since then, all my experiences have been short and fruitless. Only to satisfy my most basic needs. The inhabitants of Bunkertown liked to spin tales about me. Of how I used the slaves to satisfy my darkest desires. It was never true, but I didn’t rebuke the rumors. They only contributed to my reputation and the fear I needed in order to be respected.
“Stop it,” I repeat, voice dangerously low.
“Make me,” Jude says in the dark.
I shiver and reach for my own erection. I know I’ll hate myself once this is over, but I can’t find the strength to care right now.
Jude hums his approval. “I see that you’re a slut.”
“I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
