Porn Star (27 page)

“That’s another thing, you have a lot of
acne, almost like you’re going through puberty again.”

That statement made Dennis stop and think.
What if he really was going through puberty again? What if those
eggs were transforming him into something new?”

“We got to go,” he said. “Put on some
clothes.”

“Don’t you care about what’s going on?” she
asked.

“I don’t have time for that now, we need to
get out of this village as soon as possible.”

“How are we going to get past the
guards?”

“I can walk right out no problem, it’s you
that we have to worry about.”

Cassidy sat and thought while she got her bra
and shirt on. “How far is it from this place to the edge of the
village?”

“Not far, about a hundred feet.”

“Let’s just walk out. Wait till dark and
nobody will know the difference.”

“That is four hours away, what if someone
comes knocking for that asshole?” Dennis asked. “They know he lives
here.”

“What do you want to do? Leave now?” Cassidy
asked.

“Yeah, we can think of something, how hard is
it to walk that far?”

“Very hard, I’m not bullet resistant,”
Cassidy replied.

“We could put his uniform on you.”

“He’s almost six feet tall and weighs two
twenty, that thing would never fit me. And what are we going to do
if we do make it to the woods? Is it better out there?”

“Nobody’s raping you out there,” Dennis
replied.

“Not that we know of,” Cassidy replied.

“Nobody’s hanging from the rafter’s dead out
there either.”

Once Cassidy was dressed, Dennis waved her
over to the front door. They both looked out and didn’t see anyone
on the street. “We can do this,” Dennis said. “Ready?”

Cassidy nodded and together, they stepped out
of Schlickman’s home and headed down the street towards the woods.
It was then they realized they were being watched by a dark shadowy
figure hiding under the awning. “Don’t look,” Dennis said, “Keep
walking.”

Cassidy immediately cocked her head back and
took a look at the figure in the shadows. She didn’t recognize the
shape. But it was huge and misshapen. “What the fuck is that?” she
asked as she made quick steps towards the woods.

“Don’t speak, don’t look, just walk,” Dennis
said.

“That thing is creeping me out.”

“Shut the fuck up and keep walking!”

“It’s following us,” Cassidy said in a
panic.

Dennis turned around to see what looked like
was a six hundred pound hairy shape wearing a hat and using a cane.
He turned back when he realized they were at the edge of the woods.
There was no going back and it would be very difficult for anything
that size to follow them into the woods. At this time, it was a
good forty feet behind them and once they crossed into the woods,
it would be easy to lose it as well.

“Once we hit the woods, we need to take off
running,” Dennis said. “I want as much space between us and them as
we can get.”

Two and a half hours later they reached the
border of the woods and the tall grass. “Now where?” Cassidy
asked.

“I can help,” a voice called from behind.
Both Cassidy and Dennis turned around to

see the huge creature standing next to a tree
leaning against a cane. It had a huge head, a huge mouth and was
covered in hair from the shoulders up.

“I’m not sure we want your help,” Dennis
said. “What are you?”

“Just a friendly stranger passing through,”
the creature replied.

“You’ve been following us since the village,
this is no accident, what do you want? Are you here to rob us?”

“I have all I will ever need, I need nothing
from you,” the creature replied.

“Why are you so up on helping us? You don’t
know who we are.”

“Oh yes I do, you are Dennis the photographer
and your companion is Cassidy Rayne the porn star.”

“You some sort of stalker? How do you know
that?”

“I don’t know how I know it, but I do,” the
creature replied.

“Who are you? I didn’t catch your name?”
Dennis asked.

“You can call me Matt.”

“You don’t look like a Matt, more like a
Reginald, or a Barry.”

“Whatever you prefer,” the creature
replied.

“I’ll call you Belvedere,” Dennis said.

Cassidy spoke up, “No, call him Baxter.”

“I knew a guy from college named Baxter, he
was an odd ball. Why can’t we use your real name? You hiding
something?” Dennis asked.

“Where I come from, names are not important.
I was never given one,” the creature replied.

“See what happens when you do that? You spend
half your time coming up with a name just so you can have a
conversation. You should really pick one out and use it,” Cassidy
said like a smart ass.

“Not where I come from, we have no need for
such silly identification. I can get my point across to anyone
without addressing them by name. Only you silly humans need to do
that.”

“Ok, I think we’ve figured out that we need
to come up with a name for you. Let’s go with Matt.”

“That is fine with me,” Matt said shifting
his weight on his cane.

“How can you help us if you can’t help
yourself?” Dennis asked looking at the cane Matt was using.

“You should have seen me a month ago, this is
nothing. I can take care of myself just fine,” Matt replied.

“A month ago? What happened?” Dennis
asked.

Matt paused not wanting to spend all days
telling tales of his life to these two people he had just met, but
he realized it would make them feel more comfortable. “I was
walking along the rim of a large crater searching for clams when I
lost my balance and fell in. I tumbled down the rocky hill for over
seventy feet and landed on my face at the bottom. I was injured so
badly that I was forced to eat insects that happened by just to
survive. At one point I killed a vulture that came to feed on me, I
fed on it instead.”

“That sucks, then what?” Dennis asked.

“You’re empathy is overwhelming,” Matt
replied and continued. “It took me six weeks to heal from my wounds
before I could attempt to climb back out of the crater.”

“Wait a second, did you say you were
searching for clams? On the rim of a crater?” Cassidy asked. “I
have relatives that live in Louisiana and they do all their
clamming in the mud by the river. Clams don’t live that high
up.”

“They are crater clams, they do live that
high up,” Matt replied.

“What kind of crater is this? This isn’t the
moon, we don’t have a lot of craters let alone any crater clams.
Are you a fucking psycho?”

“Anyway, back to my story, after several
attempts to climb out of the crater, I decided that I would lie
down and die. That was until I was visited by an angel.” Matt
shifted again on his cane and tried to get comfortable. “The angel
told me that I would get out of the crater if I would only try. I
told him that I had been trying and I failed every time. He then
asked me why I didn’t just use the road out instead of trying to
climb the steep side. I told him that I thought the road was just
for emergency vehicles only. He said I was a dumbshit and pushed me
towards the road. I survived.”

“How are you going to help us? You sound like
a fucking retard with a cane,” Dennis snapped back. “Are you sure
you aren’t a bandit? Holding us here till your crew can come and
kill us for our loot?” Dennis asked. “If you are, you’re in for a
treat, I have special powers and I’m not afraid to use them on your
ass.”

“What I have to offer you need, trust me,”
Matt replied. “I gained much knowledge from my experience and am
much wiser now.”

“You’re here to give us advice? I need a four
wheeler and a gun,” Dennis said. “And maybe some directions back to
South Dakota.”

“South Dakota?” Matt asked with an ominous
tone in his voice.

“Yeah, South Dakota, why the tone?”

Matt turned away and looked to the ground for
a moment. He rubbed his nose and scratched his chin as he tried to
think of a way to say what he was about to say. “South Dakota is
gone,” he said and waited for a reaction.

Stunned, both Dennis and Cassidy stood in
silence realizing their home was gone forever along with their
families and loved ones. Cassidy got a tear in her eye.

“How? When?” Cassidy asked.

“About three years ago, in a nuclear attack,”
Matt replied.

“What the fuck?” Cassidy asked like a pissed
off bitch. “I’ve only been gone from South Dakota for a week. It
was there when I left it. What kind of bullshit are you
selling?”

“There is something you don’t realize, it has
been over ten years since you left, time travels at a different
speed here than it does back where you came from. You’re South
Dakota is nothing but a wasteland.”

“It wasn’t more than that when I lived
there,” she replied. “Who did it? Was it the Russians?”

“No, it was North Dakota, they declared war
on South Dakota, it quickly escalated from a ground war to a
nuclear war in a matter of months. Both states were destroyed.
Almost ninety percent of the United States buffalo population was
destroyed.”

“How do you know this?” Cassidy asked.

“My job was in a missile silo. I was one of
the two men that turned the key, set the code and fired
missiles.”

“Is that why you look so fucked up? Was it
radiation fallout from the war?” Cassidy asked.

“No, I was born this way, my mother sniffed
glue while she was pregnant, and she

also fucked a lot of aliens.”

“Were you fighting for the North or for the
South?” Dennis asked bored.

“The North, I was a Yankee.” Matt
replied.

“You son of a bitch!” Cassidy yelled. “You
killed my family!”

“I may have, I apologize for that, I was only
following orders.”

“Following orders my ass, you shot off your
missiles while my family burned, I should kill you right now where
you stand.”

“I understand your frustrations, but I was
just a pawn in a huge machine. It would have made no difference if
I would have refuse to fire the payload, someone else would
have.”

“Nice excuse asshole, tell that to my
grandma. She’s ashes now.”

“Like I said before, I apologize.”

“How did you survive?” Dennis asked.

“I lived in the silo for years waiting for
the fallout to become safe and stable. I lived on rations stored in
the facility, and ate the flesh of my fellow soldiers as the passed
away from starvation.”

“You’re a cannibal?” Cassidy asked.

“I’m not proud of it, but yes, I am a
cannibal,” Matt replied.

“Ok, enough back story, how are you going to
help us?” Dennis asked.

“I can take you to a place where you will be
safe,” Matt replied.

“Maybe you’re taking us to a chili cook off
and need some fresh meat?” Dennis asked.

“That was not fair,” Matt replied. “I did
what I did to survive.”

“And maybe now you decided you like it. I bet
we look like two cows to you.”

“I know you have trust issues, but I assure
you I can take you to a safe place.”

“What’s this place called?” Dennis asked.

“Rusty’s custom meat palace,” Matt
replied.

“That sounds like a butcher shop.”

“It is, they make the best sausage ever,”
Matt replied.

“Out of what?” Dennis asked.

“It’s custom, they make it out of whatever
you want.”

“Like dog? Or bat?” Dennis asked.

“Yes, but you have to bring it in fresh.”

“Which begs the question, why do you want us
to go there? We’re fresh.”

“I told you, which was a long time ago, I was
starving.”

“Did you make them into sausage before you
ate them?” Dennis asked.

“No, I made jerky.”

Dennis looked at Cassidy and gave her a look
that said they needed to speak in private. She gave the same look
back. “We need to discuss this in private, do you mind?” Dennis
asked Matt.

“No problem,” Matt said, “But you might want
to hurry, the grasslands turn deadly at night and you might want to
get to a safer place.”

“Is that some sort of intimidation? That shit
don’t fly with me, I can handle myself.”

“Do you know what lives in this tall grass?”
Matt asked.

“No, tell me,” Dennis asked annoyed.

“I’m not going to tell you if you cop an
attitude with me.”

“What do you expect? You want to lead me to a
butcher shop for God’s sake. You admit to being a cannibal at one
time. I can put two and two together. You want to make us into
sausage.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Gotcha!” Dennis yelled. “I knew I could get
you to admit it!”

“I was tired of playing your childish word
games. I admit nothing. Either accept my help or die out here in
the tall grass by morning. It’s up to you.”

“So how can you help us?” Dennis asked tired
of the stupid banter.

“I can take you back to where you sort of
came from,” Matt replied.

“Sort of?” Dennis asked.

“Obviously North and South Dakota are gone,
I’d have to send you to a place that still exists.”

“How about my family?” Cassidy asked, “My
children and my husband?”

“I have no idea if there were killed, I don’t
know who they are, they may be safe somewhere.”