Why am I letting him do this to me?
I lick his fingers clean.
Jude rises to his feet and disappears into theFirefly. He comes back seconds later with a bottle of water and a cloth. He cleans my chest and cock dutifully, surprising me with his gentleness.
“There, love, all clean,” he says. He sits back on his heels. “So, how does it feel to be my slave? How does it feel to be reduced to an object to satisfy my lust?” His eyes have turned cruel again.
Electricity rises to the surface, and Jude has enough wit to get out of my reach. He laughs as he gets back to his sleeping bag.
8
Hell.
“There is a town in Arizona, a few miles east of the Colorado River, that is always on fire. The old gods, it seems, dislike fire like all of Mother Nature’s creations, and they avoid it. Which makes it the perfect place for humans to build a small empire. And so it is where the Highwaymen have their base. Hell is a place on earth, and it’s a town built around an oil rig in the desert. The rig broke during the Rise, and the built-up gas caught fire as it escaped the crevices in the ground. It burns still. That, combined with the three man-made flare stacks over the oil rig, ensured that the name stuck. Welcome to Hell, Arizona.”
Extract fromThe Wastelands Gazetteby Francesca James, 2055.
When the sun rises in the morning, my hatred has been simmering all night. But they do say revenge is a dish best served cold, so I’ll bide my time. My wounds are healing, and my power is coming back slowly. Soon, the mere precautions Jude has taken to stay safe from me won’t be enough.
And he knows it if the look we share over breakfast is any guess. It’s only a matter of time before one of us kills the other. He better ensure that we find a hacker to hack into theFireflyquickly so he can put a bullet in my head because his time is running out.
Before leaving the rooftop, he holds me at gunpoint to tie me to the chair in the cockpit. He’s not taking any chances anymore. The way I killed his dear brother Malcolm reminded him that I’m far from the tamed monster he wants me to be.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” says Fyfe. “I have noticed that your movements are restricted. Do you require assistance?”
Jude snorts and answers before I do. “No, Dumdumb. He’s fine. It’s a kink we have.”
He offers me a heated look over his shoulder, and a wink. I glare at him with all my might.
“My data informs me that kinks belong to the register of human intimacy, and that I am not programmed to understand or interfere,” the AI says. “I wish you an enjoyable kink, Mr. President.”
I groan. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Jude bursts out laughing. A real laugh this time. The kind of laugh I had yet to hear from him. It takes me by surprise as it echoes in the cockpit.
To my dismay, I forget for a heartbeat why, exactly, I want this man dead.
We fly over the Colorado River for a few hours to reach Hell. We land on a small mountaintop to wait for nightfall. The dark smoke from the town’s eternal fires can be seen on the horizon. I’ve never come to Hell, but I’ve heard the tales. At some point, I even considered attacking and claiming ownership of the place where the old gods never wander. But I hate fire as much as they do.
“It’s strange,” Jude announces after half an hour of surveying the wastelands with military-grade binoculars he found in theFirefly. “The desert should be crawling with trucks and buggies going in and out of Hell. This place is supposed to be worse than a hornet’s nest.”
Then his brother might have told the truth, and something happened to theHighwaymen’s leaders.
“Where is this hacker of yours?” I ask.
Jude sighs. “In a barrack in the center of Hell. She’s one of theHighwaymen’shighly valuable prisoners.”
“I didn’t know they took prisoners. They usually leave dead bodies behind.”
“They do if they serve a purpose. Marika does. She hacks into vehicles for them.”
“Which means we’re going in tonight,” I say.
“You bet.”
I sigh. One of those days, he’ll really get us killed.
Night gives meaning to Hell’s name. Flames escape the ground from the crevices as we fly above the ramshackle town, and it really does look like the gates to hell have been opened.
