The Pulse (5 page)

“Show me,” he said.

She froze. “Oh God, what if this is a setup? What if you’re a soldier, and you followed me here to get it?”

Mason almost laughed, but he could tell the notion truly terrified her. “I’m not a soldier. I told you.”

She shook her head. “I can’t show you. I can’t.”

Fine. Let her have her secret gun. As long as she didn’t use it on him. “That’s okay. You can keep your secret.”

“No, the secret’s something else. Another reason why I have to escape.”

“There’s nothing to escape to.”

“What if there is?”

“I told you, I’m fine here. I’m not leaving.”

Emily sighed. “But I am. I’ll sleep here tonight and leave in the morning.”

Mason didn’t want her to go, he realized. He’d gotten used to being alone, but he missed having a woman for company. He only had himself to look out for, and that’s the only reason he’d been able to make it this long. If he started making decisions based on the whims of this woman, he’d die.

Either he’d starve to death or he’d be gunned down by the soldiers. No, he couldn’t go with her. And she couldn’t stay with him.

He looked down at her tangled dark hair. Her breath became slower, deeper. She had fallen asleep in his arms.

Hugging her against his chest, he focused on the feel of her warm little body on his. He had to remember this moment forever, because tomorrow, she’d be gone.

Unless…

On the
Tracks in Grand Central, Jenna picked up her rag and squeezed the cold gray water back into the wash pail. Looking at her body carefully, she scrubbed a speck of dirt off the back of her thigh.

She had grown used to seeing her legs covered with a light coat of fuzz. She barely ever got to bathe properly, much less shave. The powers that be afforded her a daily pail of wash water when most people had to wait a week for one because the soldiers wanted the girls clean.

She still smelled, everyone did. Deodorant wasn’t a priority, and even if it was, the supply was gone.

No trucks came with supplies. The stores weren’t magically filled like they used to be.

The time she used to spend looking at herself in the mirror, before the Pulse, now struck her as obviously overkill. Apparently she was still attractive enough to fuck, even without makeup, perfume, and a blow-dryer, and long after the last of the Botox in her forehead had worn off.

And in Grand Central, being fuckable was pretty much the only thing keeping her healthy and alive. Fortunately for her sanity, she loved sex, though she’d never had a lot of partners before the Pulse.

Not that she didn’t want them—she often fantasized about hooking up with strangers. But society, pre-Pulse society, that is, would have labeled her a slut. Now she labeled herself: a survivor.

Here at the camp Jenna could fuck whoever the hell she wanted without worrying about her reputation. The women were all so malnourished that practically no one got pregnant. The few who did were moved upstairs, off the Tracks. All the more reason to keep having sex with any man around—pregnancy was a rare ticket out of hell. As for spreading STDs, well, no one gave it much thought. It’s not like they had any condoms left, or any STD tests. The very real risk of spreading disease was pushed under the rug and ignored by almost everyone, including herself.

The thought that she might have a sexual addiction had crossed her mind, but if she did, so what? If anything, it saved her life.

Sex was currency here on the Tracks.

Jenna stepped off the stalled subway car onto the underground track and waved to the two soldiers headed her way.

She had met them upstairs while wandering around the main terminal, taking in the bit of sunlight streaming through the huge windows. Down on the Tracks, the numerous garbage fires provided the only light.

She looked at the two soldiers who had come to her subway car with a big smile. Maybe after they hooked up she’d be able to ask if they’d heard anything about Emily.

Her roomie had been missing for days, and Jenna worried about her. She asked around, but no one knew anything… or if they did, they weren’t saying.

Jenna would happily give up eating a full ration to have her friend back. Emily had been like a sister to her since Jenna first came to the Tracks.

“Two of ya, huh?” Jenna asked the soldiers. The thought actually turned her on. She’d never had a threesome with two men before. A woman and a man, yes. But not two men. She felt her pussy clench in excitement.

But, she remembered, business first.

“Whatcha got?” she asked, inviting the men in with a smile.

The taller one wore a nametag on his army camo that said
JOHNSON
. The other one was Pearce, it seemed. Unless they wore dead men’s uniforms, which was also a possibility.

Pearce grinned and handed her two cigarettes.

Cigarettes! She thought they had all been smoked ages ago. “Wow,” she said, impressed. “Thank you.”

“So you cool with this?” Pearce asked, seeming to genuinely care.
That’s sorta sweet.

“Absolutely,” she said, pulling her dirty shirt off and tossing it on the floor of the subway car.

Pearce smiled and both he and Johnson stripped their shirts off.

Jenna felt a rush of heat go through her as the testosterone level surged in the cramped subway car. Wiggling out of her sweat pants, she stood naked before the men.

“You’re beautiful,” Johnson said, his voice tinged with what sounded like awe. Jenna flushed at the compliment.

Reaching down, he touched her nipple, his caress bringing the tip to a hard peak. Jenna arched into his hand, and a moan escaped her lips as Pearce stepped behind her and ran his palms over her ass at the same time.

Oh, that felt
nice
.

“You like my ass?” she purred, looking over her shoulder at him. He smiled in response and gave it a little hard smack. “Go ahead, baby,” she said, urging him on, “I won’t break.”

Pearce slapped her ass, building up a steady rhythm until she writhed under his touch, pressing against Johnson’s hands as he tweaked her nipples.

She moaned, gasping as Johnson dipped his head down and sucked her nipple into her mouth, biting gently.

Pearce dropped his hand from her ass and slid his finger along her slick folds. “Damn, you are
wet
for us.”

He dropped to his knees behind her and she spread her legs wider, feeling his tongue as it licked and kissed her spank-reddened flesh.

He pressed one long finger inside her cunt and withdrew it, lubricating her asshole with her own juices.

Johnson dropped to his knees then too and captured her clit in his mouth, flicking it over and over as Pearce kept fingering her from behind, pressing his fingers into her asshole. She bucked against him, needing even more contact.

Jenna loved having Johnson’s mouth on her pussy, but she needed his cock inside her. She ran her hands over his well-muscled shoulders, scraping them with her fingernails, her knees trembling as he brought her to the edge of orgasm.

With Johnson still sucking her clit, Pearce stood up, and she heard the zipper on his pants go down.

The sound of him freeing his cock made her groan with desire. He pressed his hard length against her ass cheek and she wriggled against it.

Spreading her ass cheeks with his large hands, Pearce pressed the head of his cock against her tight asshole, already well lubricated with her cream.

“Breathe,” he murmured in her ear, and, standing behind her, slowly entered her. The feel of Pearce’s cock inside her ass as Johnson sucked her clit made her come instantly, crying out in pleasure.

Pearce continued fucking her ass and Johnson kissed his way up her belly, swirling his tongue around her navel, bypassing her breasts entirely as he kissed her mouth.

Now that Johnson stood Jenna made quick work of his pants, pulling his cock out and stroking it with her hands.

He positioned himself at the entrance of her cunt and she moaned as he thrust into her, hitting her G-spot. She’d never felt so filled before in her life.

“You’re so tight with your ass full of cock,” Johnson whispered, drawing back and thrusting hard into her pussy again, eliciting a moan of passion from her.

She gyrated her hips, loving the feel of both cocks in her, loving the feeling of a hard muscular chest in front of her and another behind her.

She lolled her head back and rested it on Pearce’s chest, feeling the steady thump of his heartbeat as he pounded into her. He nibbled her earlobe, his wet tongue laving her neck and ear, and she nearly came just from that extra stimulation.

Johnson grunted suddenly and pulled out of her, shooting his come in a hot jet across her belly. The sound of his orgasm must have excited the other man, because Pearce thrust harder in her ass now, grabbing her hips and pounding into her until she climaxed again, nearly falling to her knees.

He pulled out and, turning her around so she faced him, kissed her mouth deeply. He roughly fisted his cock until his come spurted onto her belly. The two men’s come mixed together, dribbling down past her navel.

Panting, Jenna lay down across the subway seats, staring past the two soldiers into the dark of the tracks, watching the flame of the garbage fire.

Pearce picked up her washrag from the pail and gently wiped her belly, cleaning off the evidence of their ménage, and wiping her pussy and asshole clean of her own juices.

She lay still, feeling more comforted by this small gesture than by anything else he would have been able to do for her. Unless he could tell her about Emily, to tell her she was all right.

Johnson put her hard-earned cigarette to her lips. “I can go get a light from the fire out there if you want your cig now.”

Jenna nodded, smiling. It had been too long since she’d had a cigarette. “But don’t expect me to share,” she said, laughing.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He ducked out of the subway car, straightening his clothes. When he left, Pearce sat next to her on an empty seat by her head, stroking her hair. It had gone so long without a proper shampooing that she probably looked like a homeless person, she mused.

But then, she
was
homeless. Weren’t they all?

“Thank you,” Pearce said, “for being cool about the two of us doing you.”

“My pleasure,” she said, the unlit cigarette still dangling from her lips. “Definitely my pleasure.”

Johnson came back then, shielding a tiny flame with his large hand. Carefully, he lit the cigarette in Jenna’s mouth and she inhaled deeply.

She coughed immediately, laughing. “My virgin lungs!” she crowed. It had been way too long since she had inhaled.

The cigarette tasted stale but she got an immediate rush of nicotine, something she hadn’t felt in ages. “We need to start growing tobacco,” she mused.

“That’s a great idea,” Johnson said. “You should tell that to Colonel Lanche.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. She tried to stay as far away from Lanche as possible. “Hey,” she said, sitting up. “You know my roommate, the short girl with the brown hair? Emily?”

Neither man spoke. Did they know something?

“She hasn’t been around the past few days,” Jenna said. “I wondered if anything happened to her. If anyone knew.”

Pearce looked at her with interest. “She’s missing?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Missing.” The word made her shiver.

“Since when?”

“Um, the past few days, I guess. I think. I don’t have a calendar, you know?”

“Hey,” Johnson said to Pearce, “a few days is ago is when the ra—”

“I know,” Pearce said sharply. “Enough.”

The two men looked at each other.
What was going on?

“Good luck finding your friend, Jenna,” Pearce said, standing to leave. “Thanks again for the great fuck.”

Jenna watched them leave, puffing her cigarette in the dark of the Tracks.

Emily awoke in
Mason’s arms, lying on a blanket on the floor of the abandoned hospital. She felt safe here, protected. Like if the army came to get her, he could keep her safe. Before her time in Grand Central, she’d have had no problem standing up to the soldiers. Now that she was free, she had to find that courage again within herself.

Too bad she’d have to go it alone. She wished she could force Mason to come with her, make him see how much better off they’d be if they could get out of the city.

How ironic, that she snuggled in the arms of a man who’d escaped from prison, when not long ago the thought would have terrified her. It still terrified her a bit. She wanted to know what he’d been doing time for.

No—she was better off not knowing.

She wished she could erase the past few days from her memory. If she never met him she’d never know what she would have to leave behind.

Emily would have to just move forward and be strong. The first time she’d tried to make it without help, the army had picked her up after only a short time. The FEMA camp, meant to be a shelter, had quickly become a prison.

How long would it take them to find her this time, especially now that the army had a reason to come get her?