THE ALPHAS Box Set (15 page)

VI.

All over the village tensions were running high.

They spent two full nights and the day in between patrolling the wall. In that time there was no sign of Eddie or the Alphas, and Matt, Rita, and Rebecca were kept under house arrest. Matt would have protested louder but everyone who was not on guard duty had been given the suggestion that staying inside as much as possible was for the best.

It was close to midday when the alarm at the front gate sounded. Everyone rushed to their stations where their guns and ammunition waited for them. Damian, Ryan, and Sean took up the key positions over the gate as the man who had come to negotiate for food before came striding up the road again.

“Halt right there,” Damian shouted. “State your business.”

“You know why we are here.”

More Alphas stepped out of the trees. The men were all broad in the chest and heavily muscled. The women didn’t look as strong but from watching Rebecca and Rita Damian knew not to underestimate them. Each of these people posed a serious threat, even without weapons.

“He’s not here.”

“You told us that before and you were lying.”

“He left,” Damian said. Beside him Ryan and Damian hunkered down low and sighted down the barrels of their rifles. “He got into a fight with one of our people, nearly killed him. We couldn’t protect him, not after that. We sent him away.”

“We don’t believe you now.”

One second the people on the road were standing still, the next they were halfway to the wall. Damian cursed. The fight would be over before it started. But the Alphas didn’t seem keen on a quick, clean fight. They ran at the wall, dodging the shots that were fired at them. They tore chunks off the wall and retreated with them, leaving trails of rubble along the road. A second wave followed in a blur.

“They’re too fast.” Ryan had to shout to be heard over the gun fire.

“Stop firing!” Damian yelled. He was waving his arms and shouted over and over again. “Save your bullets. Stop firing.”

“They’re all around us! We’re getting reports from the north and the south walls. They’re tearing down everything we put up. We can’t hit them.”

“Start getting people rounded up,” Damian said. “Get everyone who’s not firing a gun away from the walls.”

The attack paused and a young, dark-haired woman, all legs and lean muscle, stepped onto the road. Like the others she was dressed for ease of movement, solid boots, snug pants and a shirt that wouldn’t catch as she moved through the trees.

“Do you think that’s Atlanta?” Sean said.

She crouched in a runner’s starting stance and then charged the wall. Damian tracked her progress but there was no way he could hit her, but then she stopped dead and stumbled back. There was a dull thud that they could hear even from the wall and then the dust from the road obscured their vision.

“Did you see that?”

“Yeah,” Damian said. “But I don’t know what I saw.”

As the road dust settled they could all see Eddie standing between the gate and the Alphas.

Atlanta snarled and charged again. When Eddie charged in to stop her she jumped. There was no way Eddie could react fast enough to catch her, but this time Damian was ready. At the top of her jump as she paused for a split second in midair, the rifle shot cracked. The silence that followed was complete. Atlanta came down but did not land with grace and did not continue her charge. She stayed where she fell, in a crumpled heap, with a neat hole just below her eye.

Half the Alphas on the road broke rank and ran. The other half charged.

Ryan muttered, “Shit,” and then something blew past them, heading into battle.

“It’s Rebecca and Rita,” Sean said.

“Ryan, you cover Rebecca, Sean, you cover Rita, and I’ll cover Eddie. As they slow the other Alphas down take your shots.”

“Sounds risky, boss.”

“Would you rather just let them all in here?”

Ryan pulled the trigger in response. The shot wasn’t as accurate as Damian’s had been but the Alpha went down clutching his shoulder. Even with the three friendly Alphas running interference the attacks came too fast for them to spare the time to take second shots at those they only wounded. The rest of the men and women on the wall opened fire. Their shots rarely found their targets but the near constant volley of bullets forced the attacking Alphas to dodge and duck, slowing them down.

Pauline and several of the men and women who had no experience with guns sat under cover re-loading clips and handing them up to the shooters. Everyone else stayed in their houses, hiding in corners, as the sound of gunfire echoed through the small cluster of homes.

Eddie crashed into an opponent, the force of their collision sending him sprawling. Damian’s rifle cracked and the bare-chested Alpha with shoulder length black hair screamed and dropped to his knees. Damian went to take a second shot but he was empty.

“Clip!” he shouted. “Quick!”

The Alpha struggled to his feet, one hand over the hole just below his ribs. How the shot had missed everything of vital importance in the man’s body Damian didn’t know, but obviously it had. His face was twisted with a mix of pain and rage. He bellowed and was set to charge again, the whole thing taking less time than it took for Damian to get a fresh clip and reload.

Eddie rolled and lunged, catching the Alpha off guard and knocking him off balance. The two men scuffled.

Damian was cursing and trying to load the gun. He brought it up to sight, knowing it was too late. What he saw in his sight was not a charging super-human but Eddie snapping the other Alpha’s neck. He shifted the rifle and pulled the trigger, catching the Alpha that was stalking up on Eddie square in the chest. From the increased damage he guessed someone had loaded this clip with soft point bullets instead of the solid rounds.

‘Why weren’t we using these rounds before?’

The attacks were slowing now and Eddie, Rebecca, and Rita stood on the road, breathing hard. The leader of the Alphas sneered. He no longer appeared to be a nearly middle-aged man with thinning hair, the full force of his personality and physical strength was evident. He stood tall, taller even than Atlanta, and was nearly as wide as both Rebecca and Rita standing shoulder-to-shoulder. All meekness and deference were gone from his face, replaced with open contempt. His hands were clenched making the muscles on his arms stand out. He stood braced in a fighting stance and looked like he could take on every ultimate fighting champion and professional wrestler at the same time and probably still win.

“You think you’re a match for me?” Khan shouted at Eddie.

Before Eddie could answer Khan’s chest and face were riddled with holes. The noise from the rifles on the wall, all firing in near unity, was close to deafening.

VII.

Everything seemed to move so slowly after the gut-wrenching, mind-bending speed of the attacks. The villagers stepped cautiously from their homes in the silence that followed the fight. On the other side of the wall Alphas stepped cautiously to the edge of the trees, peering from around the trunks and between branches at the guns still pointed in their direction.

“Your leader is dead,” Eddie shouted. “If you still mean this place harm then come on, we’ll deal with you the same way.”

They stepped out from between the trees. “We don’t want to fight,” one young man said. “Khan wanted to fight, Atlanta wanted to fight. They rounded us up, wherever there was a nuclear attack they sent recruiters and brought us all together. They wanted to turn us into soldiers but most of us don’t want to fight. I think you’ve killed all the ones that wanted to fight.”

“Do you surrender then?”

“If we had weapons we would lay them down but Khan didn’t permit them. He said we were weapons.”

The gate creaked open and Damian, flanked by Ryan and Sean, stepped out. “How many of you are there?” Damian asked.

“Two dozen, give or take,” the young man said.

“You can camp here, on the road,” Damian said, “And if you want to stay you’ll have to help with all of the repairs. When the wall is complete we will decide if you can stay here or not. You are free to move on at any time, of course, no one will stop you, but we will not provide you with any supplies if you choose to leave.”

The young man nodded and held out his hand. “I’m Victor and I think I speak for most of the people here when I say we’d rather stay.”

Violet rushed past Damian and leapt into Eddie’s startled arms. “Don’t ever leave again,” she said, choking back a sob.

Damian nudged the bloody body with his foot. “Who the hell was he?”

“His name was Lewis Fleece,” Eddie said. “He worked in the office building with my dad. My dad was crushed when his office collapsed. I was just there to bring him lunch.” Eddie shook his head. “When the dust cleared and we all started to realize what had happened Lewis went crazy with the idea of power. He wanted all of us to choose a new name, thought we should all be named for powerful heroes of history or myth. He was just a middle-aged nobody who was tired of being invisible.”

“What a waste,” Damian said. He turned to Victor. “You can start by cleaning up the bodies. Take them back to the crossroads where you have more space and burn them.” He turned and started back but paused and looked over his shoulder. “Eddie, girls, thank-you for your help today. Come in and get cleaned up. You three will be supervising our new friends while we rebuild. And you can tell Matt that we won so he’s no longer under house arrest.”

VIII.

While everyone else started clearing the broken sheet metal and ply-wood Violet and Eddie snuck back to the house. They’d only been apart a few days but Violet couldn’t stop touching him. It was simple touch, just his arm or his side or his back, nothing overtly sexual, just a reassurance that he was real and that he was back. He scooped her up and carried her up the front steps and all the way to their room.

He laid her down on the bed and kissed her over and over until her lips felt puffy and her chin felt raw. She giggled. “You haven’t shaved since you left.”

He pulled away and ran a hand over his chin. “No, you’re right, I haven’t. Is that a problem?”

She shook her head, “No, you look good like this.” She touched his cheek, her gaze softening and she smiled.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Take your clothes off,” she said. “I want to touch all of you, I want to see all of you.”

They fought their way free of their clothes and he drew her into his arms, holding her with tender care.

“I’m not made of glass you know,” she said, running her fingers firmly down his chest. “You can actually touch me, I won’t break.”

“You might.”

“Touch me, Eddie. I want to feel you.”

At first his fingers ghosted over her skin but the desire to really feel her was too much and he let go of the fear and grabbed her breasts. Her head rolled back and she sighed. “Oh yes, Eddie, touch me, please.”

He caressed and massaged, just enjoying the feel of her, working his way along breasts and stomach and thighs. She spread her legs, a silent invitation, and he rubbed his fingers along the folds of skin, finding she was already wet.

“Touch me.”

He delved two fingers inside of her and she gasped. Encouraged he began fingering her while his thumb worked circles over her clit. She writhed on the mattress, gripping fistfuls of sheets. It was a good thing Ron and Shirley were on clean-up because Violet was soon moaning loud enough that anyone in the house would have heard her.

When she climaxed it was with a shout that went on and on until she lay silent again and panting, out of breath.

He withdrew his fingers and slipped his cock inside of her. He started slowly, marvelling at the wet tightness. When her breathing finally returned to normal she began moving her hips in rhythm with his, her body urging his to move faster and push deeper.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.

“Please. I won’t break. I need to feel you, really feel you.”

“Violet …”

“Then let me be on top this time, let me show you how I want it.”

He’d always controlled their love making out of a deep-seated fear of hurting her, and so he could pull out at the last moment so it was a new experience, watching her straddle him and ride him. She took him deeper than he’d dared to go and from the look on her face she was enjoying every thrust.

Not content with just watching he reached up to touch her body, running his hands over her stomach and fondling her breasts. She grabbed his wrist and moved his hand between her legs. “Touch me here,” she said.

He rubbed her clit as best he could while she moved her body up and down his cock. He sat up suddenly and took her nipple in his mouth. She gasped and it turned into a low moan that went on and on, building in volume as he sucked her breast, his fingers still working tight circles over her clit. The moan turned to a panting and then she was screaming again as a second orgasm washed over her.

He’d never put his stamina fully to the test before, he wasn’t sure she could handle whatever his upper limit was. And her body, lost in the throes of passion, was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He let the sight of her break his control and he started thrusting quickly, bringing himself to the edge of release.

“Don’t pull out,” she whispered. “I want to feel  you, all of you. Please.”

He opened his mouth to protest then shut it again and nodded. When he climaxed he filled her completely and she kissed him hard before collapsing back on the bed in a sweaty heap.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too.”

The population of the village had swollen now to just over five dozen people between the ages of seven and sixty. Every house was occupied now, with some of the single men sleeping dorm style in one of the large shops. With the help of the Alphas they were able to move one of the tractors they had found all the way to the village north of them and they traded it for a pregnant cow and two goats.

Damian and Anne sat on the fence of the pasture where their new animals grazed. “I never expected things to turn out like this,” she said, snuggling against him as much as their precarious perch would allow.

“We’re living in a nuclear future and you didn’t expect there to be mutant super-humans? What kind of nuclear holocaust would this be without mutants?”

She laughed. “What do you think will happen when Violet gets pregnant?”

“You’re not asking about you or Pauline so I’m guessing this has something to do with Eddie being a mutant?”

“I just wonder what their child will be like?”

“I’m betting the child will be happy and healthy and as strong as an ox by the time they're two. I think we’ll be looking at a new breed of humans as the Alphas breed with each other, and with us, over the next few generations. The world will become an interesting place, that’s for certain.”

“It’s not interesting enough for you yet?”

He chuckled. “Oh, I’ve had enough excitement for two life-times.”