In the future the children of Earth would call the saddest recorded day of human life the Great Taking, but for those who went through it, it started the week before the day it happened.
Amy Saunders sat down. She was dressed in tight jeans and a plain red t-shirt. Half the girls at her tables, her posse, was still dressed in their cheerleader outfits, but they were still juniors, sophomores, and Stella, who was the freshman who was an honorary member of the popular club because her sister was. The seniors had only two more games before graduation, the end of high school… The beginning of real life.
“There’s the birthday girl!” they all cheered and Amy offered a smile. “Where’s the party?”
“Beach, where else?” Amy said, looking at her lunch blandly. The future looked bleak. She had been so busy being popular that she had forgotten to learn anything. Now barely scraping by on her grades, and her looks, she had a future ahead maybe at the local Hooters. The real world had no place for cute ex-cheerleaders, and she was scared. Her father was actually excited about her departure and had given her until August 1 to find someplace else to live after graduation. His exact words were… “A slut like you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a couch to sleep on.”
They talked on and on about Amy’s birthday party, boys, clothes, TV and music… All the things she use to consider important. They were so shallow, petty. Her friends didn’t even see that she had gone silent, pulling inward.
Then it happened, the end of the world. Well… The beginning of the end. It was exactly 5:00 PM Greenwich time, noon in Florida at Amy’s High School, but it happened worldwide. There was a commotion. Something happened to the air itself. It grew heavy, as Amy would recall it, all sound muted. Her friends stopped talking as they realized they could barely hear themselves. All the lights went out, and all the clocks stopped. Everything shut down. Emily’s cellphone, which was so commonly placed against her ear you would have thought she was born with it there, turned itself off and wouldn’t turn back on.
“Greetings, people of this planet. We do not wish to cause you alarm, but the time of action has come and gone. A sun in a galaxy you could not find if you knew which direction it was in destroyed itself 3 millennia ago. The shockwave from this distant explosion will have an impact on your own star, your sun, which will cause it to implode on itself. Your governments have been warned decades ago, but chose to save what they considered more important members of your world. We are the Karanians and we want to save as many as possible, despite their wishes. Please return to your places of dwelling and you will be seen to. Good luck, all of you.”
Sound suddenly returned, the air thinned. But no electronics switched back on, even things that ran on battery would never work again. There would be no communication, no media.
“Is this some kind of joke?” someone asked.
A man walked into the cafeteria. Amy figured he was the principal, she had no idea what the principal looked like. “Everyone, please return home. Try to stick to groups. The busses do not seem to be running at the moment, and neither are the phones. As soon as we can get the phones working we will contact your parents.”
Amy sat still in shock. Her eighteenth birthday party was suddenly canceled. She stood up numbly. Everyone had a look of shock. They didn’t panic, she would remember that. That first day… It was so orderly, it was spooky. The riots and panic would come later, but that first day everyone filed out of the school and walked home. Some walked miles, some only blocks. Amy arrived home an hour later. Her dad an hour after that. Her mother was staring at the blank TV.
“Did you see them?” Amy asked, looking at the TV. Her mother shook her head.
“No, just… Static… Then it went off. Then it started talking, even though it was turned off.”
When it all happened, 25-year-old Anne Rogers was… Well, she was busy surviving. A daughter of a broken home, with a mother so hooked on heroin that it was the first thing she injected in her veins in the morning, and an unknown father, Anne had known juvenile detention and foster families when her mother was in jail or in forced rehab, and had behind her a seemingly endless string of school transfers, detentions, and unproved accounts and whispers of Anne selling her body to bring food to her mouth. It was true, but Anne did not see herself as a prostitute. She saw herself as a survivor. Anne’s john was in the middle of the act, his aging, overweight body pressing heavily over her, his erection deeply lodged inside her. Nature had endowed Anne with a well-rounded body, a good-looking face, with fine factions, childbearing hips and a generous C-cup bust. In a cruel irony, though, while bestowing Anne with a fine body, Nature had denied her the possibility to bear children. Her client grunted as he sawed back and forth, sweating profusely in the seedy, red-lit room at a roadside motel near the city’s airport. Then all of a sudden the lights went out.
“Shit” said Anne, “cops are raiding!”
“Uhh… w-whu?” said her john, eyes half clouded with lust. “Whadayamean raid?”
Anne pushed the man off her and covered herself. In the pitch dark, sweat-scented room, Anne shuffled covered in nothing but the thin, rough sheets that used to cover the rickety bed where she had been consummating yet another for-profit carnal union.
“I mean your time’s up, go back to your wife unless you want to spend the night at the precinct.”
Anne’s voice was harder than usual, due to the fact that she was scared half senseless by the dark. Since the man hesitated, she yelled, “J-just… GO!”
Immediately afterwards, the air felt heavy and a disembodied voice spoke. “Greetings, people of Earth…” That was the last Anne heard before screaming in fear. The rest of the speech was lost in Anne’s panicked state.
As the days passed, various governments around the world reacted in different ways. Those who had been privy to the knowledge of their impending doom had prepared. They had built sophisticated ships capable of sustaining life in space, complete with all the best gadgets most people had never even seen in sci-fi movies. And none of it mattered. Without electricity their ships were little more than tombs sitting in dark silos where those who lived and worked underground to build them found themselves locked in the dark, with no ventilation or even emergency lighting.
Looting began the second day. All schools and businesses were closed. People were hurt, beaten, and killed in the riots. Hospitals, without any lights or electric tools, did what little they could with stone age tech and modern chemicals, but there was too little and too many in need. With no vehicles to bring in food and supplies each city and town became its own self-serving island of chaos. Amy and her parents barricaded the door, but her dad went out to forage for food. Her mom was nearly catatonic. When Amy’s dad returned with a new TV Amy wanted to scream.
“We don’t have electricity, what good is that?”
“It will come back, there is lots of stuff, and I found a wheelbarrow. The whole world is for the taking!”
Amy stared at him. “We need to figure out how to get off the planet and you are acting like…”
His heavy hand lashed out and when Amy woke up she was lying against the wall. Her face felt like it had exploded and was throbbing. She went to her room and cried.
On day four her father never returned from one of his “shopping trips.” Her mother had barricaded herself in the bathroom with all the liquor she could find. Amy brought the food and water she could get to her room and watched the riots from 5 stories up. The world was burning.
On day two, among the looting, Anne could scavenge some food and water, where and how she got it… It didn’t matter much, everybody who wasn’t looting was digging in Dumpsters, rich people, poor people, policemen, judges… Everybody who wanted to survive.
On day three, Anne’s mother died from a heroin overdose. There were no ambulances, no EMTs, no fire department. The gurgling made by Anne’s mother as she asphyxiated in her own puke would haunt Anne constantly. People were panicking, destroying everything to survive for one more day. The death count was climbing, but no one had any idea how many had died. The world was ending rife with lawlessness and chaos.
On day five, an armed gang broke into the run-down building where Anne lived. They took their time, using Anne for their pleasure, all twelve of them. By the time they were done with her, she was laying, naked, tattered clothes scattered around her, curled in a fetal position on the dirty floor, with her bruised vagina throbbing in pain, and surrounded by the faint scent of decomposition that was starting to waft from Anne’s mother’s room. There was no more food, and very little water.
On day six the city had gone eerily quiet. Like the hush before a storm, it seemed the world was on pause. There was the occasional gunshot, either from those taking what they wanted or those choosing another way out. The fires raged, none near Amy’s house. She had enough food and water to last 3 days, but tomorrow was it. She spent her time looking up into the sky, not down at the carnage below her. What were those aliens doing? Why even bother warning us if they were just going to sit there?
On the morning of the seventh day, the day known as the Great Taking, there was a great hush in the sky. Once more the oppressive weight, like the air itself took on mass and pushed down on everyone, came over the people and for once, all eyes turned up.
“We gave you a week, and took away your ability for your government to abandon you, and you turned into animals. We watched, and waited. We looked over your race and found it lacking of the right to survive. Yet this is not our way, we must preserve that which we can.”
Amy frowned, then suddenly a bright light hit her, coming from the sky, the world was illuminated in sudden whiteness and then Amy blacked out. When she came to she was in a fog, in her head anyway. It was like being on drugs, heavy drugs. She knew she was naked, in some kind of black tube, she could feel it pressing on all sides. But if she was laying down or standing, or even upside down, she couldn’t tell. Her thoughts were jumbled. She couldn’t focus on any 1 thing long enough to lock down on anything.
“You were found worthy,” a voice said, in her head. Her ears seemed to be stuffed with water. “You will be given a place in the new world. Try to remember the evil of the past and learn from the mistake of your fathers.” She had a sudden realization through the pea soup that was her thoughts that whoever was speaking was speaking to many people at once, thousands? Hundreds? Or just dozens? She didn’t know. But then all was darkness again, and would be for a very, very long time.
On day seven, Anne was laying on a park bench. Her crotch was still sore from the rape she had been victim of, and was homeless, her home run over by a band of starving people who had feasted on the corrupting flesh of her mother’s cadaver. Anne was very weak, when the air grew heavy it pushed her down and a voice rang in her head.
“We gave you a week, and took away your ability for your government to abandon you, and you turned into animals. We watched, and waited. We looked over your race and found it lacking of the right to survive. Yet this is not our way, we must preserve that which we can.”
Anne thought, this is where I die, and with eyes closed she made peace with herself and to that God that some Catholic nuns had tried without much success to make her believe in. A white light engulfed Anne, and she blacked out.
When Anne came through, she felt tubes in her mouth. She was utterly naked, and was swimming in a fluid of some sort. Anne could not see a thing. A voice echoed in her head:
“You were found worthy. You will be given a place in the new world. Try to remember the evil of the past and learn from the mistake of your fathers. Bear witness to the end of your old world, and remember it, lest your race commit the same mistakes again in the new one.” Anne could see in her mind an image of the Earth, and more distantly of the sun. Then the star’s light changed abruptly from yellow to red, it expanded up to the orbit of Venus and then violently imploded upon itself. The shock wave disintegrated the Earth and Mars, halved Jupiter’s atmosphere, and destroyed Saturn’s rings. Where the Sun was, a small, neutron star emitted a pale, white light. The solar system was mostly gone. Anne felt like a punch to her stomach, and blacked out. This was worse than dying. Darkness overtook her, and it would be dark for a very, very long time.
The aliens had no concept of sleep. They had periods where they shut down for a couple hours, but even then they were aware of their surroundings. The concept of dreaming was completely foreign. There were dreams. Hundreds of years, dreaming. Nightmares one couldn’t wake from. Dreams that lasted decades. Bodies suspended in a state of animation, but the minds of Earth’s last residents, one hundred fifty thousand, out of a world of four or five billion, were very active.
Time passed in this sleep state. The aliens unaware of the dreaming, watching over the strange, self-destructive mammals. One ship carried the humans, another carried animals, much like Noah’s ark but with much, much more than two of each. Enough to seed a new world.
And a new world it was, in all senses of the word. Centuries of studying Earth for this precise moment had given them all the data they needed to build a new world for the humans. It has been started three thousand years ago, around a star much like the Sun, but smaller and dimmer, which made for a colder world, but it was finally complete. The aliens scattered the humans in clusters of various sizes, far enough that they could not gather in one large settlement, but near enough that they could, with the means they had around, build independent villages that could trade for resources, given time. For the settlements, though located about sixty to ninety kilometers away, could not be reached in at least two days on foot.
Amy woke up slowly, like many others. The aliens had scattered them across the countryside. Amy sat up, naked, disoriented. It took eons for her to remember her name, to recall what had happened. A man nearby moaned and got to his feet, a young girl, no more than ten, stood up, looking around in confusion. “Momma?” she called out.
Amy sat still, waiting… For something, she didn’t know what. Luckily someone else did. As people started talking, wandering, a woman, she looked in her sixties, clapped her hands.
“Everyone… Please, gather around,” she called out with an authoritative voice. People did, but it took almost an hour for people to finish waking in the field.
“We have all been through a lot, and we have lost those we loved, but we have been given a second chance. My name is Ruth Snow, and we need to find shelter, clothing, fire, food, and water. And we need to stick together, safety in numbers. Does anyone here know any kind of outdoor survival skills?”
Two men came forward. The search was on. Amy would recall those 2 months that followed the awakening as the thoughtless times. Everyone was so busy surviving they didn’t have time to dwell on what had happened. A large cave was found, but it wasn’t big enough. There were around 150 people in the valley they had woken in and it could hold forty cramped.
It was so primitive. Stones were found, sharp ones that were strong but could be broken by smashing them on rocks, the broken pieces formed sharp edged wedges. Axes were made, trees were cut down, and small huts were built around the cave.
A wide river wound through the center of the valley, and in it the fish were thriving. Food was gathered, spears brought in deer, and snares brought in rabbits. A large, bamboo-like plant could be stripped into thin fibers that made good rope and nets brought in fish: Perch, pike, and trout.
Amy was so busy learning how to be a hunter-gatherer that when she realized what they had done it amazed her.
When Anne woke up, her first thought was… “I’m hungry.” She looked around, there was a lavish coastal plain, at the mouth of a river, washed by both river and sea, green and fertile. A lot of people were gathered around, all naked, all confused. Were these all the ones left from Earth? Anne grunted, her head hurt so much.
Someone clapped their hands and spoke with authority. “My name is John Norman. Are there any people around with some skills in survival?” Anne came forward, along with a muscular man and another girl. There were maybe 80 people in the group, and no shelter nearby. “We will need to build shelters, and scout around for game,” said John. “The women are tasked with gathering and hunting small game, the men are tasked with hunting the big game, if we find any.” People started to gather, and jobs were given to everybody according to their skills and capabilities. Anne was tasked with finding edible plants and poultry, she found dandelions and watercress and in a marshy wetland there was a gaggle of geese. Anne picked up some dandelions, and some watercress, and used stones to take down a few geese.
Ruth worked hard to make sure they didn’t overtax the land. Everyone saw her as the kind, grandmotherly type. Amy was a bit disturbed though, Ruth had taken up the mantle of chief of the valley without anyone saying otherwise. Amy had a natural suspicion of authority figures, like most of her generation. And there were times when Ruth wasn’t so grandmotherly. She seemed to get upset over minor details. She especially hated the men and would constantly belittle them, pushing them to work harder than the women.
Then there was Maggie Stone. Maggie was a tall, statuesque black woman. She had been some kind of super model before the Taking. She had immediately latched onto Ruth’s side. It was obvious they had become lovers and Maggie had taken on the role of enforcer for Ruth’s will. As the weeks turned into months, Ruth and Maggie began to gather an inner circle, a group of women who seemed to take delight in pushing people around, making other people do half their work. Men were treated like shit, women who didn’t join in were treated indifferently.
During this time they had found goats to milk and had started trying to herd and domesticate the deer. More people were arriving, wanderers who had woken in the mountains and forests alone. There was talk about looking for other survivors, but no one knew when winter would strike. There was too much work being done storing food and supplies in case winter was harsh and no one could be spared to form scouting parties. It was decided to be put on hold until spring, decided by the inner circle.
John, the self-appointed chief of the coastal plain settlement, was for the most part a fair man. He valued everybody’s opinion and quickly made up a council of both men and women that would decide how to best run the settlement. From the initial 80 people, in the following weeks the settlement gradually increased in size, due to stragglers who had awoken elsewhere and had been drawn to the plains.
Whether by the will of John or by the nature of the people who had settled in the coast, men had a predominating position running the affairs of the group, and women, while equal, were mostly given supporting roles or roles of lesser prominence than the men. Because of her past, Anne did not believe too much in men, but with no quick means of leaving she was stuck in this group for the time being. She performed the duties of gatherer and hunter with diligence, and when the first leaves started to turn Anne was known for being a good hunter and a capable gatherer. On the side, Anne had started to exercise the trade that she had practiced on Earth before its destruction. Being sterile had its benefits. And… She sort of liked to seduce the men, enticing them with her charms for them to bring a little more fish or game in exchange for… Relief. Men had needs, after all.
It wasn’t long before Anne’s side trade was known; its existence raised a new question: Procreation. These tattered remains of humanity, the “remains of our world,” as John would call the group often, had the duty to multiply and bear children. It was decided by the council that when the time was right every woman who could bear children would be mated with a man, while the women who could not were free to offer themselves to whoever wanted them, if they felt like doing so. In exchange for this sexual freedom, the barren women were to become the grannies of the group, aiding in childbirth when it happened and acting as matchmakers. They would also keep all the records, and transmit knowledge, by word or by writing. Essentially, living libraries.
Amy’s greatest relief was meeting Crystal. Crystal, her whole name she had dropped her last name, had been somewhat of a hippy. She was a self-proclaimed Wiccan, a vegetarian, and knew more about plants and animals than Amy did about anything. Crystal was in her 50’s and called Amy her kiddo. Amy went with her on her trips into the woods, gathering bits of plants, moss, and herbs. She taught Amy how to make medicine, how to administer it. Crystal was the closest thing the group had to a doctor, and Amy was her nurse.
As the leaves turned, and the days got colder, and shorter, Amy spent her time hoarding food and medicine, homemade medicine. She was a sponge for information and couldn’t seem to gain enough knowledge. She couldn’t say why this was so important to her, but she knew people would need healers. Already there was a few colds, someone had broken an ankle, and she knew how to alleviate minor things like insect bites.
When the snows fell they came thick and hard. Amy had moved into a hut shared by Crystal and spent most of the cold winter days huddled over clay pots mixing funny smelling herbs and learning everything the aged hippy knew of medicine. Amy was young, bright, and still had the body of an acrobat. Her cheerleading and acrobatics that had gotten her through high school was an incredible asset now. She was fast, agile, and excelled at hunting, able to keep up with prey and weave through the trees like a doe. If only she could actually kill something.
She figured she had been hit on by every guy there, and half the women. There seemed to be no concern with procreation, Ruth had stated it would happen one way or another. Of course she would say that, she was happily involved in her lesbian affair with Maggie. Not that Amy had a thing against lesbians. In fact, since she had woken sex and relationships were the last things on her mind. Crystal didn’t seem to care about it either and the two women had fallen into a comfortable camaraderie.
Winter in the coast was mild, and no snow came down over the improvised, stilted shelters made out of large logs and roofed by large bundles of tall river reeds. Storing food became important, and granaries and smokers sprouted near each shelter. In her quality as granny, Anne heard the stories from the villagers. What if, she thought, one day her memory would start failing? Anne examined the reeds with which the roofs were thatched. They were remarkably similar to papyrus, and after many failures Anne found out how to make a decent sort of paper out of the reeds. It was remarkable how creamy it was. Perfect for writing… If there was ink. In the meantime, Anne made paper, and paper, and paper. It was a time-consuming task, but it was important for the village’s collective memory. With much more experimenting, and after many, many failures, finally Anne managed to make a sort of dry ink out of a mixture of ash and ground coal, which she made fluid with water. Anne’s handwriting was the only thing the nuns had worked hard on, and it showed: Her calligraphy was round, well-formed, and extremely legible. Anne jotted down everything that was told her and all that she remembered, but without ever mentioning her trade on Earth. She would never ever mention that in something that was meant for the village; instead, she kept a separate, personal scroll, where she recorded all that she remembered of her past, including all the salacious episodes in her life that she could remember. That scroll, she kept on herself at all times, along with all the scrolls she hadn’t yet finished. Anne would store each finished scroll with great care in a wooden box, buried underground outside her hut.
One day, scouts spread out from the village, which they had voted to call Hope, to understand the lay of the land and see what other resources could be had. Bartering was starting to sprout, and with it Anne, who was confined to the village by the nature of her job, was able to build slowly a store of foodstuff in exchange for that relief for which men craved for every so often. She had taken to sharing her shelter with Marjorie, another barren woman, taller than Anne, fair-skinned, with a head of long, brass-red hair and statuesquely beautiful. Marjorie had been a high class escort back on Earth, and did not know anything about anything. She was completely dependent on providing sex to men, and like Anne she recorded the stories she heard or whatever she recalled. Too bad that whatever Marjorie recalled or recorded was… Salacious, to say the least.
Days passed, and the scouting parties slowly returned back to Hope. They all reported a good assortment of huntable wildlife, and even scattered herds of pigs, cows and horses. One scouting party, though, composed of a man, Edward Jameson, and a woman, Martha Argerich, which had gone north and east, following the course of the river, had failed to return. Rumors started to circulate, and John called an emergency town meeting to decide what to do about the missing scouts. It was decided that one of the grannies and five others would follow the river: The granny, to record whatever the scouts found, and the scouts, more heavily armed than the ones that had disappeared, to ascertain what had happened to Edward and Martha. Anne was feeling restless, and offered to volunteer as granny for the scouting party. Her partners were Solomon White, a real Hightower-like black man, thirty years old, tall and muscular, and by the looks of it very well endowed everywhere; Robert Eames, a lithe, blonde-haired young boy of no more than sixteen; Tara McEwan, a swarthy, red-haired woman about thirty-two years old, whose three sons had perished when the world ended; Hu Ling, a lanky, forty-three year old Chinese-American who seemed to know everything about how to do things without technology; and Bella Laughlin, a nineteen-year old, brown-haired, statuesquely beautiful, very sharp girl who was paranoid about everything that moved and had managed to make one of the first bows in Hope.
The snows came thick and hard. Two men, who each shared a hut around 4 others each which was common, decided to build a kind of shelter that connected the roofs of their huts. The idea caught on quickly and soon there were many such coverings, creating a large roof over the small village. Things after that settled down to wait out the cold winter. The hunters went out but they didn’t go far or bring back much. There was plenty to keep everyone by until spring.
Not so with Amy and Crystal. With the change of seasons came a change of flora. New plants that were hardy in the cold sprouted and they went far and wide. Their reputation as healers had grown and for the first time in Amy’s life she felt special, important, and useful. “Daddy, I wish you could see me now,” she would think sadly, but in truth her father would have said she was wasting her time. She was still young and beautiful and she should be shacking up with some guy, giving him babies and washing out his loincloth. He had never seen her as much, and now he never would see what she had become.
The nights were so long, and so dark. Firewood was used faster than anyone expected and it was settled down to 3 large fires that would serve the community for cooking and warmth. Amy came up with the idea of heating rocks in the fire and insulating them in bundles of fur, to warm them at night.
Then came the worst day of Amy’s life. She and Crystal had been gathering mistletoe, a poisonous plant despite the nostalgic, holiday belief. There was a loud roar and a huge grizzly bear came out of nowhere. They screamed and ran, but the snow was too deep and it was like trying to wade through water. Amy, ever the acrobat, took to the trees… But Crystal was not so lucky. Amy watched in horror as the bear viciously attacked Crystal and dragged her friend and mentor’s corpse away, leaving a red, bloody streak across the snow.
Amy returned home and cried for days. Someone had remarked that she had lost her lover, no one could understand that Crystal had not been a lover, she had been the mother Amy never knew she needed.
After that Amy became the village healer, which was a lot for a girl who was still a few months shy of 19. One day she was out, alone, gathering some river reeds for a girl who had a fever when she heard a noise. She lifted the spear she now carried and looked up, ready for another bear, and was quite surprised to see a man she didn’t recognize.
“Who are you?” She asked the same time as he said in a strong, Middle Eastern accent, “How did you…”
“Welcome to…” Amy started to say when he turned his head and called over his shoulder. Several men and women, all of them armed with bows, spears, and clubs, arrived.
“We have a village,” Amy said. “There are others. Are you lost?”
“We have been hunting, looking for game and to get a lay of the land,” he said. “Our village is to the west, out of the mountains and near the sea.”
“There is a sea?” Amy smiled. “Far out. Um, come with me, you can talk to Ruth, she is the… Leader, I guess.”
They followed Amy back to the village and there was a huge commotion. Everyone gathered to hear their tale. They had come from a large community that had set up near the edge of the ocean, at the base of the mountains. They said that to the north was a large valley full of horses and the people there was domesticating the horses. They had followed a river into the mountains to see where it would lead. They were extremely happy to learn that the mountain village had a healer, there was so many people getting sick from eating berries and animals they shouldn’t have.
Ruth told him, bluntly, that she could not risk sending Amy out to the sea but they would help any sick who came to the village. The man, named Ahmed, said that they were too sick to travel such a long distance. Amy offered to give them some medicine and Ruth glared her into silence.
“What we have we need, I will not risk my own people for the sake of yours,” she said coldly. “Go on back to your town, you have my answer.”
Ahmed and his people left, without even getting food.
“We have enough to…” Amy started to say.
“I do not care,” Ruth said. “The medicine may be made by you, but it belongs to the village. It is village property. We can use it to trade perhaps, but I won’t let it out of our hands.”
“There are sick people who need our help!” Amy shouted and Ruth slapped her, hard. Just as her father had done so many times.
“The subject is closed,” Ruth said. “Return to your hut.” As soon as Amy stalked away she turned to Maggie. “Keep an eye on her, don’t let her leave the village.”
The party that included Anne continued to walk up the river. The valley had become narrower, and the hills to the river’s north and south had become steeper and higher. At the valley’s bottom, it was getting warm; but in the hilltops the air was still nippy and frost still lingered in the mornings. The air in this part of the river had a dry, sparkly quality that made it feel wholesome and pure. Along this trail, Ahmed’s party was struggling to fight off a pack of wolves. The pack’s howls echoed somberly around the hills, and the yells of men and women betrayed the fact that at least one had been injured. Anne’s party almost stumbled on the wolves. The animals threw themselves at Anne’s party as well, the 5 people and the others from Ahmed’s party that were not injured held off about twenty-five wolves until the animals finally got the idea that they would not be having man flesh spring treats this time. Not that they hadn’t tried: There were four wolves laying on the ground that would never rejoin the pack again.
“Hello,” said Solomon, once all the wolves were driven off, “good thing that we showed up when we did.” Ahmed, who was kneeling on one knee checking on one of the members of his party, stood up. “Thank you, friend. I am Ahmed, and I come from Newtown, a village on the coast.”
“I am Solomon, and these are my travel fellows. We come from Hope, a village on the mouth of this river, and we are looking for two people from our village, who got lost while scouting. Have you seen a man and a woman wandering?”
“No, but we saw some scattered human bones inside a cave. Perhaps they met their demise on account of the wildlife,” said Ahmed.
“I see. Is there anything else worth of interest?” Salomon was cautious, and did not want to spend time scouting unnecessarily.
“Yes, there is a village over yonder,” said Ahmed. “Their leader, though, is somewhat of a bitch. She seems to despise human life, May Allah forgive her.”
“Thank you for the information,” said Solomon. “We’ll pay that village a visit nonetheless.” With that, Ahmed’s party and Anne’s split up, Ahmed’s heading back to the coast, and Anne’s, heading towards Ruth’s village.
“Our first sign of other people, of other people building other towns… And all she wants to do is hoard my medicine… MY medicine!” Amy grumbled, pacing back and forth in her hut. “How could she?” Amy gathered her spear and bag and headed out into the snow, stomping along to the river. She saw Jerry behind her, Maggie’s little lap dog. Jerry was an ok guy, use to be a bartender, but he was so deep up Maggie’s pussy that it was common knowledge that whatever happened around him went right to her.
“What do you want, Jerry?” Amy snapped.
“A date?” he chuckled. “Just kidding. How’s it going kiddo?”
“We finally find out there is more people, a whole village, and she just… Throws them off the mountain!”
“Ruth knows what is best,” he smiled. “Hey, did you hear the good news? Temp and Josie found pyrite down in the canyon.”
“So?”
“That means there is iron… We can make metal things!”
“Metal things lead to weapons and killing,” Amy shook her head.
“And pots and pans! Wouldn’t it be nice to boil up those smelly herbs you gather in something other than that stone bowl thing?”
Amy sighed and nodded. “I am sure the horsemen from the valley or those coast people would be able to use metal too. Are we going to share with them?”
“Well… That isn’t really up to me…”
“Jerry! This is exactly what those aliens warned us of!”
Amy gathered the large, red holly berries into her basket and walked back to her hut.
Just as Amy was walking along the snow, Anne’s party appeared on the top of a hill, not far from the two. Walking down the hill, towards the river, Solomon called out, “Yo! Down by the river! We come in peace!”
Amy froze in place. Jerry turned and looked up, then waved his spear over his head. “Do you think it’s the same group?”
Amy squinted. “I don’t think so, they don’t look the same, but what are the odds of two groups in the same day?”
Jerry sighed. “Maybe they are part of the same group, didn’t like Ruth’s answer and came to start trouble.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “I don’t like Ruth’s answer either, does that mean I want trouble?” Then the waved. “HEY! HI! OVER HERE!”
Anne looked at Solomon. She said, “Let me do the honors, I’m the granny after all” and putting her hands around her mouth, Anne hollered, “HI! IT IS FIVE SCOUTS AND MYSELF! WE COME DOWN WITH LOWERED WEAPONS!” to Solomon she said, “Guys, you and the others, keep your weapons down.” Then, the party went down towards the river, trudging along the late snow. When they were closer, at a close enough range that they could all talk, Anne said, “Hi. I am Anne, from Hope, a village at the mouth of this river. These are Solomon, Robert, Tara, Hu, and Bella, and I am Anne.” Anne smiled, she was obviously unarmed, not so the others, but they were all obeying Anne and kept their weapons lowered, and muttered several variations of “hello”.
Jerry eyed the newcomers warily but he said his hellos and kept his spear down. Amy stared at Anne and felt her heart skip. She was so incredibly beautiful, it was like looking at an angel. Amy tried to speak and realized she had stopped breathing. Good lord what was wrong with her. “I… I am Amy…” she said softly. She cleared her throat and said a little louder, maybe too loud. “Hi, it is…” she turned her voice down… “Nice to meet you. I mean all of you, not just… I am Amy. Oh shit, I already said that.” Amy blushed pink, and looked down, embarrassed. Had she made a fool of herself? Amy tried not to dwell on that, but she kept thinking about how she had acted, which made her behave even more awkwardly.
Anne smiled. Amy’s awkward fumbling reminded her of her own, some time ago, when she was sixteen and her mother had started her downward spiral into meth addiction. Back then, Anne had started to see boys, but not only boys, as ways to survive. She would have done anything to survive, and whether by sucking on a cock, spreading her legs and taking it, or plowing down a slit, Anne had lost her innocence quickly. She had never forgotten how being innocent felt, though, and had held on, perhaps naively, to how being innocent felt. Anne limited herself to smile, and said, “Yes, you did, Amy. It is good to meet you. We met another group about two hours ago, they were coming from this direction and had been attacked by wolves. They were… Unimpressed by your leader’s reception.”
Amy’s eyes widened. “Attacked by wolves? Are they hurt? I am a healer…”
“Amy…” Jerry hissed a warning, which was completely ignored by Amy.
“And if they are hurt I can help, I need to go get my supplies though.” All sense of awkwardness had vanished.
“Slow down,” said Anne. “They have a lot of a head start, you know.” Anne smiled. “However… There were at least two injured, though, so maybe you can catch up to them. You will need one of us, though, to guide you to where we found them.”
“Ruth said that you weren’t allowed to…”
“Fuck Ruth, I am the healer, right? I decide who I heal!” Amy snarled on Jerry and actually brought her spear up and poked him in the chest. “And no one stops me, understand?” She pushed passed him and started walking to the village. “Wait right here, I’ll be right back.”
She went back to her hut, dragging Jerry with her to keep him from going to Maggie, and he was trying. She was showing him what to pack and he was grumbling about going against Ruth’s wishes. Finally Amy and Jerry returned to Anne’s party.
Anne said to Solomon, “you and the others, see if this village wishes to trade for something. We have some of our goods with us, maybe they are interested in our wares and they have things we could need. Keep it civilized, keep it peaceful, and if they ask you to leave, stay near.” When Amy returned, Anne said, “I’ll show you where we found Ahmed’s party, two travel faster than six. Your bodyguard can come with me too. Just to make sure I don’t take you to a cave and eat you.” Anne grinned and looked at Amy with a flirtatious look. Robert would stick around Anne, and refused to budge. “You need an escort, ma’am,” he said, to which Anne could only smile. “You’re a good kid, Robert, thank you,” said Anne. “Go and see if they are willing to trade some extra food and water, then follow us.” “Yes ma’am,” said Robert. He rejoined Anne, Amy and Jerry later in the day, halfway between the river and the place where Ahmed’s party had been attacked.
Amy smiled and followed Anne and Robert along with Jerry, who trundled along unwillingly when he realized he couldn’t let anything happen to Amy. He knew Maggie would castrate him for this. And when another group showed up at the village Ruth would… The little brat was going to give him a very bad day.
Amy followed along beside Anne, walking deep into the woods. It was almost dark when they reached Ahmed’s party, huddled up in a cave. The glow of their fire gave away their presence.
“Hello you in the cave, do you have wounded? I can help,” Amy cried out, walking up to the cave boldly. Ahmed appeared at the entrance.
“You? I thought you weren’t supposed to be helping us,” he said.
“She isn’t,” Jerry remarked.
“I help who needs it, H-Hippocratic oath,” Amy ignored him. “Or… Something like that. Do you want my help or not?”
Ahmed nodded. “It is late, and dark. Too dark to travel. Please come inside, all of you.”
Amy went in and saw the two wounded people. They had been bandaged and she went straight to them. Kneeling, she peeled back the leaves that had been tied with leather straps to try and stop the bleeding, which it did, but 3 of the wounds were red and swollen, infected. She was a jumble of thoughts, trying to remember everything Crystal taught her. She really wished Crystal was here.
Anne looked over Amy’s healing. She was fascinated by how good she was, how skillfully she checked at the two wounded persons. She seemed so sure of herself. Anne felt… Something, something she had never felt, something she could not place precisely. Her survivor instinct was screaming to her, “Run away!” But another part of herself was screaming, just as loudly, “Wait! There’s something here that is new and good, something the likes of which you’ve never felt! Try! Go for it!”
It didn’t take long. Amy gave them some of the leaves that were, essentially, aspirin to help with infection and cleaned out the wounds. She placed a soft fibrous moss against it that had proven to help fight off infection and clean wounds before and wrapped them with the leather strips. As she was finished the rest of Anne’s party arrived. It was pitch black outside, night had fallen.
As a woman from Ahmed’s group served everyone some soup Amy sat cross legged beside Anne and ate.
“The negotiations went well, kind of,” Robert said. “The leader was very abrupt. But she wasn’t outright hostile. She seemed to be very guarded, acting like her little hole was fort Knox, no offense.” He remarked to Amy and Jerry.
“That’s because of the iron,” Amy said and Ahmed nearly choked.
Amy looked as the whole room fell into a hush, looking at her.
“We… We found pyrite. There is iron, they say. We can make metal stuff, if we can figure it out. I am sure she would be willing to…” Amy recalled Ruth’s attitude about sharing the medicine. “Then again… Maybe not.”
Whether Anne was shocked by the revelation that there was iron, she didn’t immediately let it show. She said, “Pyrite. Back in the day, they called it ‘fools’ gold’, because it looked just like gold.” Anne looked at Amy, short, pointed glances, to her face, her eyes, her nose, her mouth, a peek and then away. “We don’t have anything that valuable, but we do have lots of fish,” Anne said after a short pause. “We clean and smoke them, and they stay good for months at a time. Have one, when you are done healing these people.” Anne could not stop looking at Amy. And she was feeling… Something, a warmth in her tummy that she had never felt before. What was it? Why was that happening? Anne was uncomfortable, and shifted. Her cheeks felt on fire, and her breathing became rather shallower than it had been so far.
Amy turned to look at Anne and felt her cheeks get warm. “I would love some fish, thank you.” She took the fish and tried some, she missed fish. Real fish from the sea, not the bland, tasteless minnows they had managed to pull from the stream. She found herself staring at Anne the whole time, blushing and giggling like she was fourteen again. Her eyes kept drifting down to Anne’s cleavage, goddess her breasts were huge. Not like balloon over the top huge, but very prominent. Amy wondered what it would be like to touch them, hold them, and bury her fingers in them. She realized she was staring at the older woman’s chest and looked away.
Anne caught Amy staring more than once, especially at her bosom. Anne was not a particularly self-aware person, but Amy’s stares made her sit straighter, and push her shoulder blades back, so her breasts were a bit more evident. Anne also kept her arms to her sides, and hands on her lap, but in such a position that the arms would squeeze her breasts together and make them appear a bit larger. Her teasing sit was unconscious, an automatic reaction, borne out of years of using her body to entice and seduce; but what Anne was feeling in her tummy was much, much more poignant, and she was having trouble defining or giving it a name. Amy’s giggles were girlish, innocent, and that made Anne smile even more. She loved that innocence, and it lifted her heart to no end to see it again. “Did you like it? We called them grunt fish, because when we take them out of the water they make this grunting sound. It’s kind of unnerving and kind of funny at the same time,” said Anne, explaining what kind of fish Amy was eating.
Amy smiled, looking in Anne’s eyes she whispered. “I love them… It… The fish, I mean.”
Ahmed and his group smiled, as did Robert. Jerry was not smiling however. Amy was, unknown to her, the most valuable person in the village. Ruth made sure her inner circle knew it, nothing was to happen to Amy. Not only was she the only healer, she was young, pretty, and as Maggie put it, breedable. They weren’t so ruthless to lock up the girl and send in men to impregnate her, but they were waiting and hoping Amy would take on a suitor soon. And all the men were hoping it would be them, even the ones who had already paired up with a woman. If Amy was falling for a woman, and on top of that, a woman who was outside the village… That would send Ruth into a frenzy.
Amy was oblivious to Jerry’s frown however. She sat talking about fish, she was a huge fan of salmon, trout, and mackerel, and would have given a years’ worth of aspirin for a single can of tuna. And a can opener. She split the fish Anne had given her and held out a mouth sized piece to Anne.
Anne looked into Amy’s eyes. She said, “thank you,” and picked up the bite sized piece from Amy’s hand, and put it in her mouth. Anne slowly chewed it, and when she finally gulped it down, the sound was a lot louder than Anne would have wanted to. Was Anne falling in love with a girl? Anne had never given even a remote thought to falling in love before the Taking. Love was a folly, but Anne could not deny to herself the way she was feeling. Then, breaking off the revelry, Anne said, “It’s getting late and cold, and keeping the fire going in the cave is not a good idea. Let’s find a huddle partner and try to get some sleep. Anne cast a hopeful glance to Amy.
“I choose Amy,” Jerry said quickly, and Amy smiled at him.
“Nice try, Jerry,” she shook her head. “But in our tribe the girl picks the partner. Remember? Ruth said no girl should be forced to sleep with a partner she is uncomfortable with. And since I don’t know any of the other men, I will pick Anne. If that is ok with you, Anne?”
“Come snuggle with me, big guy,” Ahmed’s cook smiled and drew the man away. “You need a woman to cuddle with, not a girl.” Jerry looked furious a moment, then gave in. After all, Maggie had been all promise and no delivery, and had been leading him on for weeks.
Anne blushed furiously. She said, almost immediately after Amy proposed, “Y… yes, of course it’s okay.” Anne took a large deer pelt and laid it on the cave floor, while the dying fire still allowed anyone to see. Anne laid down, and left more than enough space for Amy to lay down by her side. “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly,” quipped Anne jokingly. Whether Amy noticed how much Anne’s voice was shaking, or how fast her heart was beating, Anne could not say.
Amy giggled nonstop while wrapping 3 rocks from the fire pit into soft doeskin and placing them behind Anne, one had her rump, one at the back of her neck, and the other at the small of her back, then Amy herself laid down. She was a bit shy, and didn’t know how she would fit in with Anne, she felt so small, awkward and clumsy. But the moment Anne’s arms slid over her it was like being home. She snuggled back and somehow she felt it, almost could heard the click like two pieces of a puzzle fitting in together. Amy let out a small gasp, she had never experienced anything like it. She could feel Anne’s breasts, soft and warm, against her shoulder blades, her breathe was soft and sweet on Amy’s neck, and completely clothed Amy felt naked and defenseless, and protected.
Feeling Amy between her arms, and the warmth of the stones behind her, Anne wrapped the other half of the deer pelt around them, covering both, except for their heads, which remained outside. Anne’s heart simply refused to calm down, it felt like a runaway drum, thumping fast inside her chest, being with this young woman was affecting Anne… In more ways than once. It was… Amazing, like Anne was sixteen again, and innocent, and pure, and not a 26-year old whore. Amy’s presence filled a hole that had been in Anne’s heart and soul, replacing that void with warmth, and… Yes… The L word. That pesky, four-letter word Anne had trained herself to never show. Love. Anne was sure of it, though. It was love, and she could not deny it to herself for long. Anne wrapped her arms around Amy, and held her tight. That night, Anne slept like she had never slept before since the Taking, soundly, deeply, calmly, with no dreams troubling her mind.
The next morning, the skies were lead-gray, and low with clouds. It was cold, that kind of cold that back on Earth would have warned everyone that heavy snowfall was coming. Jerry and Ahmed’s cook were rolled up, him on top of her, which was a bit mind-boggling, as Ahmed’s cook was a very robust, black woman, very generously proportioned, and Jerry, an Australian of Welsh ancestry, was as wiry and nervous as wiry and nervous could be. No sounds had come from that direction, how did they manage that? They were the last ones to wake up, but no one said anything.
There were no flakes flying… Yet. Anne opened her eyes, and felt Amy’s warm body tightly pressed against her. They had not moved, not one inch, and the feeling, and scent, of Amy, were both wonderful. Reluctantly, Anne opened the pelt and whispered to Amy, “let’s get up,” and when everyone was awake, Anne asked Ahmed, “Will your people make it through?” Ahmed looked at the two injured members of his party. “It seems so,” he replied. “Thank you.” Anne said, “Don’t mention it. I have to take Amy back to her village. Try to move fast, looks like there will be a snowfall soon.”
Amy opened her mouth to protest, after all she knew this mountain better than most, having been all over it searching for herbs, but having Anne around a bit longer was very appealing to her, so she closed her mouth quickly. Robert insisted on going as well and Tara, who had left the group shortly after Robert the day before and had joined them shortly before dinner, agreed to take the others and make sure Ahmed’s group made it home safely. Jerry, Robert, Anne, and Amy started the trek back to her village. It was mostly uphill and Amy’s eyes swept the ground for any needed herbs, not that much was growing in the snow, and kept a constant chatter with Anne about her life before, making herself out to be an air brained blond who wasted her life goofing off and that the Taking had probably been the best thing that ever happened to her, though she missed her friends, as shallow as they were.
The homecoming was exactly as Amy had expected it to be.
“Where have you been? You have had us all worried sick! We sent out search parties. And you!” Ruth turned on Jerry. “You were supposed to keep her from leaving the village! What would have happened to us, all of us, if we lost Amy?” She stopped, her cheeks flushed with anger, eyes flickering back and forth. She looked really pretty at that moment, anger suit her well.
Amy immediately took a step forward, getting right up in Ruth’s face, something NO one did, ever, and shouted back. “Those people you sent away yesterday were attacked by wolves! I went to help them. The medicine is not yours to control, and it isn’t mine either. It belongs to everyone, Ruth. Everyone, everywhere. And I will help anyone who needs my help.”
Ruth’s eyes flashed with anger, Maggie’s grip on her spear tightened. She wouldn’t harm Amy, but this young girl needed a serious whupping, as her father would have said. Ruth turned to look at Anne. “I am sorry, where are my manners. We will discuss this later, Amy. Go to your cabin.”
Anne looked at Ruth, sizing her up. She did not like Ruth’s attitude towards Amy one bit. However, Anne kept her feelings to herself. “Good day,” Anne said, as impassible as Earth’s best diplomats. “I am Anne, from Hope. I am the records keeper for the village, and my party is looking for two scouts who never returned to Hope. Have your people seen a man and a woman pass through?” Anne looked at Amy as she sulked, chastised by Ruth. Anne gave Amy a discreet wink. She really liked Amy’s spirit.
Ruth immediately became concerned, and she once more was the grandmotherly type who cared. “Oh, good heavens no. Just the group Amy was talking about from yesterday. We haven’t gotten any new arrivals since before the snow fell.” This was genuine, they really hadn’t come this far. Maggie was suddenly very alarmed.
“Ma’am, we can send out scouts when the snow stops, but I don’t think anyone is going to make it through this weather,” she said to Ruth.
Amy looked to Ruth and sighed. “I wasn’t running away, I went to help someone, and that is all. The passes to the east are closed anyway, looks like Anne and Robert are stuck here with us until it melts.”
Ruth smiled warmly. “Of course, you are both welcome to stay. We have more than enough supplies. And your pick of shelters.”
Amy, stepping just outside of Ruth’s eyesight, subtly pointed to a small shack on the far edge of the village, then pointed to herself, smiling to Anne. The movement was not lost on Jerry, however, who closed his eyes, or Maggie, who scowled suspiciously.
“Thank you”, said Anne. “In the meantime” and here Anne gave Amy a slight nod, acknowledging her sign, before continuing, “I would like to propose some trade. We live along the mouth of this river. Fish are plentiful, and we smoke a good deal of them. They keep for months, and if you have something we don’t then maybe we can both benefit.”
“The mountain valley here has given us all we need,” Ruth said sweetly. “Thank you for your generous offer. I am afraid we would have nothing to trade in return, unless there is a shortage of deer or bear down at the other end of the river.”
“Very well, suit yourself” said Anne. Suddenly, Anne held a hand to her forehead and cringed. She slumped, and said, “No…” before passing out. Anne had just recalled her last memory before going into the deep sleep immediately after the Taking: That of Earth being destroyed, as much by its people’s selfishness as much as for their unpreparedness.
Anne woke in a dark room. The wind was howling loudly, screaming outside as the storm kicked up, but the room was warm, and a small flickering light danced shadows on the rounded, dome wall. Anne was naked, wrapped under several blankets, a cool, wet piece of moss was on her forehead. Amy was sitting by the small fire, hunched over one of Anne’s books.
The world came back slowly. Anne’s head hurt… A lot. It throbbed and pulsed, and the cool, refreshing wetness of the moss only slowly made Anne’s head gradually throb less. When Anne’s head was not throbbing anymore, she mumbled, “Ugh…” and flickered her eyes open. There were blankets over her, and… And she was naked under them. Anne gasped, and looked around herself, until she found Amy reading at one of her books. It was her own, personal book, the one where Anne had poured on the pages all of her emotions, her life’s story… Everything, the more… Salacious parts, the bad parts, and the shameful parts. Even the last thing that happened to her on Earth was there, the gang rape that she had been victim of, and the last thing she remembered, the vision of Earth being wiped out by the Sun’s implosion. Anne realized what Amy was reading, and tried to sit up. “P-please, d-don’t…” Anne started to say, trying to sit up, but felt dizzy, and laid back down with a groan. “There are so many things there that I’m… Not proud of,” said Anne apologetically. “Especially what I did back on Earth to survive.”
Amy closed the book slowly. She didn’t look up but the tremor in her voice didn’t need her to. She had been crying. “I… I didn’t mean to snoop. You passed out and they brought you here. I did my best to make you comfortable. And…” wow, your body is fantastic, she wanted to say, but didn’t… “And your books fell out. Books… Do you know what I would give to write down all the stuff Crystal taught me? I could make books on how to make medicine, I could… Travel and find new herbs. And record them. I… Jesus, in school I used to turn in my school books at the end of the year unopened, what I wouldn’t give for a book! So… So I started reading. Anne…… You have got to be the strongest, bravest woman I have ever met. I am talking like… Going on Oprah strong. The kind that people write other books about.”
Amy put Anne’s book back in her pack with the rest of Anne’s things and stood up. Her blond hair was golden in the dying firelight behind her. Amy was wearing a blanket over her shoulders, and when she shrugged it off there was nothing underneath. The light had turned her skin a kind of bronze as she walked forward slowly and slid under the blankets with Anne.
“Amy…” Anne wanted to say, please don’t go on. I’m not strong, I’m a whore; I was the loosest pussy in the Bay area, and the second loosest in Hope… When Amy slid off her blanket and revealed herself to Anne, though, she stopped. “I… I g-guess you were not snooping,” said Anne softly. The orange, flickering light of the dying fire played a dance of light and shadow on Amy’s lithe, acrobatic, naked body. Anne stopped breathing. “I… G-goodness, you’re so beautiful…” said Anne softly, stammering, following Amy as she slid under the blankets with her. Anne’s breathing was fast and shallow, and again she felt that sensation on the pit of her stomach, of a million ants walking all over, that she felt the day before at the cave, and… And a more salacious feeling between Anne’s legs that involved tingles, and warmth, and moisture.
Amy cupped Anne’s face in her hand and stopped her with a kiss. It was soft, and seemed to stretch out forever, then Amy slightly turned her head and parted her lips. The feel of Anne’s tongue when it touched hers was so intense she felt a jolt of electricity shoot down her spine, curling her toes. They kissed so hard their teeth clacked together and Amy thought… You never see that in the movies. Anne’s arms wrapped around her and crushed her body to hers, Amy’s hands slid around Anne’s head and pulling her hair softly, pulling her possessively to Amy’s lips. Amy had never even thought about being with another woman, but right now she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Her long, strong legs opened and trapped one of Anne’s thighs between them. At the same time her leg pushed forward and nestled up against the soft bush of Anne’s mound. The moan that escaped Anne’s throat and slid down Amy’s made the young blond shiver.
Anne had never felt this way… Not ever. When Amy kissed her, the world stopped, and Anne’s heart skipped a beat or twenty when Amy grabbed her hair and pulled her possessively. She had faked love so much, so often, that at some point in life it had borne no meaning to Anne, but… But this young woman, her intensity, her passion, those emotions and feelings flooded Anne, and she kissed back, possessively, slowly, for a good month or two that translated in the real world to about a solid hour’s worth of intense, passionate, mutually pleasing kissing.
Amy’s first sexual encounter. She had imagined it in so many ways, and the moment she saw Anne she knew, without a doubt, that this would be the one. There was an immediately spark that she knew she would never want anyone else. The taste and smell, the softness and firmness, her body was incredible, pressing so hard it was like Amy could crawl inside her. And the way she kissed made Amy lose her mind, literally. Thinking was shut down, it call came to feeling. She wanted to do so much, touch… Taste… She wanted to feel Anne’s nipples in her mouth, she wanted to feel Anne’s orgasm while Amy was feasting on her, but it never did come to it that first time. They were so charged, so in heat that they did little more than kiss and rub against each other before Amy hit an orgasm that left her in a white haze of pleasure. She had had orgasms before, always at the feel of her own fingers, but nothing had ever come close to the intensity of this one. And dammit they hadn’t even really DONE the deed.
Anne’s senses… Touch, sight, taste, hearing and smell… Were charged, amplified by their nudity. That charge, that energy made Anne follow all those emotions swirling in her mind, and all the feelings her body was experiencing… Especially between her legs, where her sex was definitely leaving a trail of moisture on Amy’s shapely thigh. It was all happening so fast and so slowly at the same time that it was confusing, dizzying, exciting, and scary and overwhelming, all at the same time. After God knows how long, Anne moaned throatily, and orgasmed, shivering all over her body, and a genuine orgasm too, her first real one, intense, encompassing the whole body and flooding Anne’s mind with a sense of warmth and pleasure the likes of which Anne had never even fathomed.
Anne had faked orgasms for most of her adult life; this time though, nothing about Anne’s ecstasy was fake. It came from the bottom of her heart, truly felt, and truly experienced, from the tips of Anne’s toes to the end of every little hair that stood on end on Anne’s creamy, supple skin. Anne came to, tightly hugged against Amy, breathing heavily, after the longest lasting ten seconds of her entire life. To Anne, it felt like she had been in that mental high for ten years. The memory of that feeling, of Amy and Anne tightly intertwined, heatedly rubbing against each other, moaning and shivering against each other, and all those emotions that Anne experienced, were seared in Anne’s mind. And the kiss! It was like kissing a cinnamon stick, exciting, enticing, spicy, sweet, tasty, and unforgettable. Anne had fallen for Amy… Fallen hard, irreparably, completely, stupidly in love with her. Nothing else mattered, only Amy’s love.
The intense orgasm had knocked Amy out. She wasn’t sure if Anne had slept or had spent hours holding her. When she came to she was wrapped in Anne’s arms, her head resting on Anne’s soft, large, round breasts.
“I’m a lesbian,” she whispered softly and felt Anne giggle. Amy smiled and kissed her new lover, her new partner, her new life mate. She kissed her again and again. And as the wind and snow howled and raged around her small healer’s hut they kicked off the blanket and in the dark Amy finally pulled away from Anne’s loving arms long enough to slide on top of her. She pushed her wet, virginal pussy down on Anne’s lips and slid her tongue inside Anne at the same time, the flavor was amazing. Spicy and warm, kind of vanilla and cinnamon, but gamy and sweet. There was nothing else like it and Amy took to licking out Anne as deep and fast as she could. She wanted to get all of Anne’s juices and the more she licked the faster it came out. She found Anne’s clit and the sounds Anne made when Amy licked and sucked on that made Amy’s heart race.
When both women came again they moved to a scissor position, curling legs around each other. The slipperiness and friction was the most incredible sensation Amy had ever felt. The heat they generated filled the small hut so much that beads of condensation began to form on the thin, wooden reeds that made up the walls. Their motions were slow, fluid, and then frantic and hard. They held hands and Amy’s nails dug into Anne’s hands as the young, athletic girl put her entire body into the gyrations and came with such an explosive orgasm her back arched and her entire body came off the floor, falling back to the ground with a loud THUMP.
“I… I changed… My mind…” Amy whispered, heart hammering as she nestled back in Anne’s arms. “I don’t think I can be your lover. It is too much, I am going to have a heart attack.”
Anne giggled girlishly. She had orgasmed at the same time as Amy had, each orgasm was world shattering and shook Anne’s existence to its very core. She said, “News… Flash… I had… A couple heart… Attacks…” She was saying it jokingly, both catching her breath and kissing Amy wherever she could. “You’re funny,” she said, finally, in a distinctive, slightly hoarse voice. Anne’s head was resting between Amy’s perky, firm breasts, and Anne’s own full, cushy breasts were pressed on Amy’s torso, under her breasts. Anne was breathing progressively slower, and finally Anne looked into Amy’s eyes. “You feel amazing,” Anne said, “It’s… I can’t put words to it… and… And I don’t want it to ever stop.”
“Can… Can you stay? Just until I get some others trained? I can’t leave Ruth without a healer, there are good people here, but if I can teach others what Crystal taught me then I can go with you. Anywhere you want, as long as I am with you. I never want to leave your side.”
“I would love to stay,” said Anne. “Not that I have a choice, you know.” Anne slowly stroked Amy’s bare back, slowly. “The blizzard closed all the passes, most likely, and until the snow melts, we are stuck here, me and my party. And… There is someone here for whom I care deeply about. I’d never leave without her.” Anne smiled and said, “In case you didn’t notice, that someone… Is you.” Anne paused a moment and said, “Do you guys have river reeds? I can show you how to make them, and I could help you writing everything you need to write down for the others. If you want, of course. I, um, I do require a price for that service,” said Anne, coyly.
Amy giggled. “Who is it that has captured the heart of my true love? I know like seven different poisons and I will get rid of them. Seriously, now… We do have this reed, it’s like bamboo. We use it to make rope. I will show you tomorrow.” The wind screamed and Amy winced, pulling the blanket back up around them though it wasn’t cold yet. “Maybe the day after. I would love to learn how to make books, and paper. I want to keep a journal like yours. And fill it with all the knowledge of how to make medicines, and give it to others. My medicine should be free, I won’t trade for it. I want to give it. Maggie says I am stupid, that it is valuable and worth more than my life. I think Mags is a little crazy.”
“Great,” said Anne. When the wind howled, she huddled close to Amy, and said, “As soon as the weather improves, you’ll show me.” Anne then grinned. “In the meantime, though, you and I get to keep each other warm. At least until the blizzard breaks.”
Amy let out a much exaggerated sigh. “Well…… If we must. That can take days though,” she giggled and climbed on Anne. With one knee beside her and the other leg straight out between Anne’s, her small, wet pussy pushed down on Anne’s and the young girl said, in her sexiest, husky voice. “We better get started.”
It took four days for the weather to break. During those four blizzard days, Anne and Amy made love almost nonstop, and explored positions and new ways to give each other pleasure. Anne was no blushing virgin, but for all the intensity that she felt whenever they made love, Anne might have been one.
On the last day of the blizzard, Anne and Amy were huddled together, reading together from Anne’s journal. It was one of the later entries, one where Anne commented about her feelings towards her junkie mother and her own prostitution. It had been an emotional read, and Anne was resting her head on Amy’s right shoulder, clinging to her. Anne’s eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks were streaked with tear traces. Anne said, “What a fucked up life I had. The Taking was maybe the best thing that happened to me, you know… I’m a record keeper, and… And I have someone with me who loves me for me.” As Anne settled back against Amy, hollers came from all over, calling for a gathering at the largest square.
Despite the overhead shelter, the wind and snow had taken their toll on the village. The wind had driven the snow sideways, blowing right under the overhead and piling up a foot deep in front of the doors. It would have been deeper but the wind had carried most of it through. The paths to the stream and the woods were completely blocked, the whole world can come down to this small village the size of a football field and holding close to 300 people. The weight of the snow had broken holes in the canopy and it took 2 days to get the snow removed and the holes fixed. Plans were set into motion to build a wall on one side to block the wind, and to repair the canopy with slanted peaks to direct the snow off to the side, but for now they could not even do that much.
A town meeting was called. Robert was there, along with Tara, Ahmed, and both of the scouting parties from Hope and Newtown, who hadn’t made it out of the mountains before the blizzard hit and had been lucky to make it back here.
“The food will hold out, but we shall have to ration it carefully. Maggie has volunteered to form a food commission and will be handing out the food we have in an effort to make it last through the rest of winter, though only god knows how long…”
Amy raised her hand.
“Yes Amy?”
“Well… It’s just… See… Anyone ever saw the movie Castaway, with Tom Hanks? He measured the time on the island by marking his cave wall where the light shown through a hole in the ceiling. So Crystal thought to do the same thing. I have been tracking the sun, and it has been staying light out a full 20 minutes longer than it was a month ago. Winter has turned and I think I can estimate about when spring should come, if it comes on time. But math was never my strong suit.” She was embarrassed to mention that she had once joked that shopping was her major in school. “If I show what I have done, is there anyone more intelligent than me who can figure it out? Someone who knows more about math than two plus two equals twenty-two?”
Hu, the Asian, raised his arm, almost shyly. “I could be useful with that,” he said. “I used to be a civil engineer, before.” He looked at Amy and said, in his infinitely polite Asian way, “What do you have in mind?” Amy explained her idea carefully to Hu, who thought for a while quietly before saying anything. Then he spoke in a soft voice, “I think I can make something like what you have in mind. I will need a medium, cubic, soft rock, a hard rock, and… Time.”
Amy showed Hu the markings on her wall, a carefully draw pair of parallel lines that ran from the upper right of the wall to the partway down and to the left. At the bottom, the newest lines, showed that the 2 lines had curved to start running back up the wall.
“Every morning, pretty much since we built this hut, Crystal would mark where the sun’s beam came in according to that hole, right there in the other wall. See it? It faces exactly west. Over weeks and months it started forming these lines see? When… When she died I thought it was important to keep track of this. This here…” she pointed to where it arced at the bottom. “This was the deepest of winter, the longest night… Now see? The sun is going back up… It is amazing, it’s like watching the planet move!”
Hu studied it and nodded. “That is exactly what it is, and if I am reading this right the path will cross here,” he indicated a spot on the wall. “The spring equinox… So… Given the distance between markings… You are right. If spring is on time, it will come in about 3 months, 3 and a half at most.”
Amy looked at Anne proudly. This was the smartest thing she had ever done in her life.
“Well done, Amy,” said Anne, smiling. There was no doubt that Amy was smart. Maybe not book smart, but life smart, like Anne was. Anne learned a lot from what Amy knew and from Hu, and in spare moments she’d record things, the medical knowledge, the building knowledge… Everything.
With the group settled in for the winter Amy took advantage of having representatives from the other 2 towns stuck here. She announced to Ruth that she wanted to teach others about medicine, pointing out that should anything happen to her there would be someone else who could carry on. Ruth readily agreed, but by the time she found out Amy was teaching Anne, Robert, Ahmed, and a few others as well as some of the mountain people she was livid, feeling Amy had somehow tricked her. Still, by then, there was nothing she could do to stop them.
The sundial took a few weeks. The hardest part was finding the materials. Everything was under so much snow no one could even find the creek, let alone the ravine that had all the loose rocks they used to make tools. Mostly people played games, charades, twenty questions, Eye Spy, etc. To pass the time. Stories were told and exchanged of life before the Taking and it became something of a nightly ritual that 3 people would tell their stories.
Amy told hers, once again painting herself as a stupid, vapid blonde valley girl with her head in the clouds and no future. Most her stories revolved around friends and school and she glossed over her family life with vague details.
The nights were spent, for Anne and Amy, wrapped in furs, rolling around naked and panting and groping like teenagers. Anne had never felt so loved, Amy had never felt so complete. Amy kept expecting the other shoe to drop, such as it were. For there to be some flaw in Anne, something for them to argue about. Already there had been 5 couplings that had ended in anger and even some minor bloodshed. But there was nothing about Anne that Amy found even remotely annoying. She tried to not spend as much time with Anne as she was, because she didn’t want to seem pushy or clingy, but the vibes Anne gave off of pain and confusion was enough to draw Amy back to her side.
And that was another thing. There was a vibe between them. Amy imagined it was how twins communicated, a soul connection. Amy knew what Anne was going to say the moment before Anne would say it, and Anne could communicate a whole book with a simple look to Amy. It was all so creepy, scary, and above all exciting.
One night, Anne cooked a good, hearty meal for Amy, and when it was time to lay down, Amy found Anne laying on the deer pelt, covering herself with it, unusually coy and conservative. “I have a gift for you Amy,” said Anne, giggling softly. After she said so, Anne opened the pelt, and showed Amy her body, all of it. They had explored each other enough, but Anne had never actually taken Amy, had never slipped her fingers inside her, and had always respected her virginity. Tonight… Tonight, Anne was planning to do something about that. “Come, let’s lay down,” said Anne, coyly. “Quick, before the pelt cools.”
Amy smiled, studying Anne. Her body language was one of sexual, playful excitement. Amy stripped naked and slid into the pelt. “Please tell me you found a way to shave my legs.” Amy giggled.
“Maybe,” says Anne, giggling, “If we ever find obsidian, I think Hu can make a blade out of it, and with that you could potentially shave. But today…” Anne smiled and hugged Amy from behind, and whispered, “Today, I want to love you like no one has loved you before.” Anne gently rubbed Amy, slowly, all over her body, focusing on her sides, under her bust, her hips, and her thighs. It was a light caress, but very focused, a touch Anne had never used with any one, not even on herself.
“How ironic,” Amy giggled, cooing at the way Anne touched her, loving the million little goosebumps that dotted her skin. “Since you are the only one who has ever loved me.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against Anne. There was never anything boring with this woman, no feeling of the same old thing, Every time they were together, which was every night and sometimes two or three times in the day, it was magical, special, and new. Amy placed her hands on the back of Anne’s and followed Anne’s lead as she felt her all over.
Anne took her time. Her touch was so gentle, and yet so intense and focused. Her fingers lingered on Amy’s slit, caressing her full, blond muff, and teasing oh so softly the outer labia, trapping Amy’s clitoris now and then, and squeezing it ever so lightly. Anne rubbed and rubbed, kissing Amy on the nape of her neck, slipping a finger between Amy’s folds, just enough to tease the inner labia, and whispered in a soft tone, “Amy… I want to…” And then Anne stroked along Amy’s inner labia, and slid the finger a little into Amy, until it just about touched Amy’s hymen. “C-can I?” Anne, who usually was adventurous, this time was shy.
Amy bit her lip softly, pushing her hips forward and she smiled and nodded. “If not you then no one.” She wiggled out of Anne’s reach a moment, but never let go of her hand. She pulled Anne to the bed and laid back, pulling Anne down with her.
Anne was nestled on top of Amy; her hand was nestled between both, a finger just inside Amy; Anne said, almost apologetically, “I’m sorry if it hurts,” and kissed Amy gently, full on her lips. As Anne kissed Amy, her middle finger slipped deeper into Amy until it stretched her hymen. Anne was gentle, rubbing at her lover’s virginal barrier gently and softly. She found the small opening on Amy’s hymen that allowed the monthly flows to come out, and ever so slowly, Anne slipped the finger inside Amy. She then pulled the finger back, and just as slowly she slipped it into Amy again, enough that Anne’s finger was just on the other side of Amy’s hymen, and then back out. This slow, gentle movement was accompanied by gentle, loving kisses. Anne said, in a pause, “Are you ready? I’m going to use two fingers now.” Amy moaned into Anne’s kissing, and whispered, “I… I’m ready.” She had dreaded the moment when she’d lose her virginity, but Anne had been gentle, so it didn’t feel painful so far. A little bit after Amy said that she was ready, Anne slipped two fingers into Amy’s moist sex. She gently stroked Amy’s hymen, still intact, and whispered, “I’m going to put my fingers in,” which Anne did, pushing the index and middle finger inside Amy, past her hymen, and taking her virginity.
Amy tensed and when Anne’s fingers pushed in she bit her lip. There was no pain, Anne had taken her virginity so gently that Amy had felt nothing but the pleasure of Anne’s finger moving back and forth. When Anne pushed two fingers in, Amy clamped down and arched up, gasping as her toes curled. “Ohhhhhhh my gawd!” she squealed.
Anne kissed Amy gently, closing her eyes and tilting her head; her fingers gently sawed their way deeper inside Amy, back and forth, rubbing her passage gently, with care, like someone in love would do it; she whispered, “I’m going to rub a little faster,” and after a little pause, Anne said, “Love.” Anne felt her eyes sting, and her cheeks moist. She had said it… She had said the L word. It was almost cathartic for Anne, and quite overwhelming too. With her fingers still inside Amy, Anne felt a giant weight being lifted from her heart, and even as she wept, Anne kept on making love to Amy, picking the pace of her rubbing, letting Amy feel how Anne felt for her with all the little attentions that a lover would have towards the object of his or her love.
Amy squealed and arched, twisted and pushed on Anne’s fingers. The pleasure was incredible and Amy grabbed Anne’s shoulders and screamed “I love you so much” and then had a mind blowing orgasm that left her breathless. Her tight tunnel squeezed Anne’s fingers almost painfully and finally the young girl collapsed, her eyes wide and starry. “Holy…… Shit……” She whimpered.
Anne never let Amy go, not even when she orgasmed so hard that she almost broke Anne’s fingers with her squeezing. Anne kissed Amy, slowly, lovingly, letting her lover come down from the orgasmic high, gently withdrawing her fingers from Amy’s sex, and holding her closely; then she gently turned, so that Amy was on top of her. Anne blushed darkly, and whispered in Amy’s ear, “I love you,” and took one of Amy’s hands, and settled it between them, the palm resting over Anne’s sex. “If you want,” Anne whispered, “you can do the same to me.” She blushed darkly: Anne had given herself so many times for money, but this was the first time that she was giving herself for love. Not being a virgin, Anne did not dread the pain of her cherry being popped: She had lost her virginity at sixteen, to her next door neighbor, so she could buy some Maruchan ramen for dinner: her mother had just spent all of the money Anne had brought in that week working a minimum-wage job at KFC on heroin. This was different, though. This was not in exchange for anything, but just to feel the joy of being one with her lover.
Amy giggled and immediately rolled over on top of Anne, sliding down Anne’s body she left a trail of warm kisses. Amy liked to do what she called mapping, which was a systematic placing of kisses over every inch of Anne’s body. She usually avoided her breasts and pussy when she was mapping, as those areas caused her to stop mapping and start her feasting. This time she did mapping from the hollow of Anne’s neck through to her navel, covering the inside of each breast and downward. Her hands touched everything, tummy, hips, nipples, and thighs. Anne’s skin was amazing, soft as silk and warm, firm in the right places and soft where it needed to be. One of the students in her healing class had said Anne looked like a supermodel, and Amy had agreed. In truth though, supermodels tended to be too skinny, flat chested, and stuck up. Anne looked like a centerfold, she looked like she stepped out of some high class men’s magazine. She had the body men fantasized about.
As she licked and kissed, she parted Anne’s thighs and pussy lips. This was her favorite part and pre-Taking she would never have dared to lick another woman’s genitals. The thought had grossed her out. Now it was all she wanted. She loved the things Anne did to her, but she loved giving more than receiving, she loved tasting, touching.
She gently licked, focusing on Anne’s clit, moving it around with her tongue, petting the outer lips. All to get Anne wet, hot and excited. Once Anne was glistening she slid a finger inside her lover. Closing her eyes she focused all her senses onto that finger and began to poke in and out slowly, feeling each and every inch. She turned her wrist around and rubbed both sides, up and down the tunnel, pushing lightly. Every inch on the outside of Anne amazed her. Now she was exploring the insides and it was even more fascinating.
Anne’s sex was not tight. It was not loose either, because she was young and in good shape, so even though it was obvious that Anne’s pussy had seen plenty of action, it could still clamp down and squeeze around a finger, like Amy’s, when it entered her. Amy could feel clearly that Anne had no hymen to speak of, Amy would not encounter any resistance or membrane to stop her from plunging her digit straight in, all the way. As soon as Anne felt Amy’s finger inside, she shivered. Anne had done it many times as an act when a john had stuck her pussy with his erection, but this time it was no act. Anne’s body shivered everywhere, and her thighs closed around Amy’s sides. Anne moaned and ground slowly her hips against Amy’s finger, and whimpered and moaned, already very hot from the mapping Amy had done to her. Anne started crying again, it was an impossible combination of emotions; love, need, lust, and a bit of guilt and shame. Anne thought that she was not clean, that she had stained herself by selling her body, even if such a sale had been to survive. Overwhelmed by everything, Anne cried again, and blubbered, “Please forgive me Amy… Please… Oh! I’m so sorry… I love you! I…!” Anne’s stammering grew worse as her excitement and arousal took her, and finally Anne clung tightly to Amy, and the love she felt for the young woman made her forget for the time being all the jumbled mess of feelings and emotions that she had bottled up inside. After some time of loving ministrations by Amy, Anne exploded in a hard orgasm, and let go of her lover, panting hard, flushed, and laughing and crying alternately.
“Amy?” said Anne, holding her lover closely, after their coupling had ended and they were cuddling closely. “I… There is something I’d like you to read…” Anne was both blushed and flushed, and was looking at Amy with concerned eyes as she took a scroll tied together with a black string. “Please… Please read it,” said Anne, “And… Please don’t think less of me on account of what’s written on this scroll…”
Amy took the scroll and unrolled it, “What did you do? Kill someone?” she giggled nervously.
Anne clung to Amy and cried again. She was laying bare all of herself, all of her, with her flaws and her past… Which the scroll depicted in sordid detail, even more salaciously than the scroll Amy had read. Because that scroll contained a full account of Anne’s story, her mother’s descent into heroin addiction, Anne’s resorting to prostitution to survive, and her own feelings about all of it, which were about as jumbled and confused as anyone’s could be when faced with hard choices by life at an age when they were on the whole unprepared to take such decisions.
Amy read it, twice and set it aside. “You have been through so much, my love,” Amy sighed and leaned back against the wooden wall behind her. “It really is true, bad things happen to good people. I was beaten and pushed down my entire life by those who made a promise by bringing me into existence, to protect me. It wasn’t as bad as this. I wish I could take away some of the pain. But this doesn’t change how I feel about you… About us.”
Amy wrapped her arms around her and laid her cheek on Anne’s bare back. “The only good thing about the Taking is that we get a redo on life.”
“We got a redo on life.” Anne leaned against Amy and kissed her cheek. “I just hope that we don’t fuck it up on this planet either.” Exhausted, both women laid down again and slept, tightly cuddled against each other.
In the morning, Anne woke up very early, and shivering all over she washed herself with icy cold water and cleaned her furs. She left Amy sleeping in their pelt, warmed by three stones, and set out towards Ruth’s house. The village was in a frenzy of activity, with everyone running around frantically, like ants did when one kicked an anthill. Solomon was at the stoop of the tent where he slept, dressed and armed. He was frowning. “Morning Anne,” he said with his distinctive, black baritone voice. “These folks have been in an uproar since this morning, they are panicking because Ruth is missing. Maggie too. No one knows where they are. There are others who are missing too. Me and the others are getting our stuff ready, in case they decide to blame it on us and we have to leg it. Anne… Listen, it’s your life and all, but I’d be ready to make a quick exit if I were you. You don’t know what could happen if these guys decide that we’re guilty of making Ruth and Maggie disappear. If you want to take your girlfriend, take her. Hope will need healers soon too, you know. We had a lucky run but that’s bound to end soon.” Solomon knew what was what, and respected Anne as the record keeper, but he had a good grasp of when things could go south. Anne muttered: She had wanted to talk to Ruth… About Amy. The feelings that Anne felt could not be denied, and she wanted to tell Ruth about that. Confront her, if one wanted to be blunt about it.
Amy walked out of her tent to look around and was immediately bombarded by a group of people, most of which were the inner circle types.
“Ruth and Maggie are missing!” Someone said. “That makes you, as the healer, the closest we have to a village elder, someone in charge.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Look, I am just…”
“Amy!” a man named Frost walked up. “There are tracks, looks like someone climbed up over the snow bank and headed for the ravine.”
“The ravine is buried in eight feet of snow,” someone else mentioned, as if that insightful wisdom would mean anything.
“Everyone listen!” Amy shouted, and a hush fell over the entire town as people turned to look at Amy. “The passes are still snowbound. Ruth and Maggie are grown women, smart and resourceful who know this mountain like the rest of us. Do not panic. Wherever they went they had their reasons and will be back shortly. Don’t start any unneeded drama because you are bored. Life carries on as usual. The sun is up, the snow is melting. Diana, you are in charge of food rationing until Maggie shows up, and the rest of you….class is in 10 minutes!”
She made an annoyed shooing motion with her hands and the crowd dispersed, revealing a smiling Anne.
“You handled that well,” she embraced Amy and kissed her.
Amy slid her arms around Anne’s hips and smiled. “Well, if anyone knows about unneeded drama it’s a valley girl….like totally for sure!”
Meanwhile back at Hope, another crowd was gathering. The winter had been a hard, cold one. Food was plentiful because of the sea outlet but the river had all but dried up, what water was coming through had chunks of ice floating in it. John and a group had followed the river north and discovered it had almost frozen through. He scanned the mountains above, dark and cold. They looked inhospitable and sighed softly. He had really started falling for Anne, had hoped to ask her to be his mate. She was lively, beautiful, and intelligent, the perfect girl. He had given up hope on her, Solomon, and the others being still alive.
As he returned to Hope a group had gathered and waited expectantly. “The river is frozen, that is all. Come the spring it will return. However when it does it will come hard. We need to build a levee, block the river from possible flash floods.”
The people of Hope went to work with what tools they had and started preparing for the worst. A large, thin gangly man walked up to John.
“Ben, any news?”
Ben shook his head. “No, and I don’t know if it’s good or bad. No pregnancies, but at the same time we don’t have the means here to….”
“You were a doctor, correct?” John sighed
“Yes but…”
“People were having babies long before there were hospitals and prenatal vitamins.”
“I don’t know what to do for these people,” Ben said in exasperation. “I don’t have the tools to….”
“Do your best with what you have,” John rubbed his eyes.
Ben sighed. “I think the pregnancy issue is worse than we thought. With the lack of any religious structure it is basically the 60’s. Everyone is screwing around with everyone else. Over 70% of the mated couples in the town are engaged in an exclusively homosexual relationship. Without the fear of God to scare them in line people figure they can just have sex with who they want. The lack of pregnancies is probably due to the lack of heterosexual coupling.”
John scowled. “OK….I will have to work on that.”
Ruth and Maggie, along with several others returned 2 days later, excited and out of breath.
“The snow’s melting and freezing created an avalanche on the south wall of the mountain,” Ruth announced. “It has opened up a cave….and inside the cave we think we found iron. We need to find a way to dig it up and smelt it.”
Ideas were passed around and primitive tools were designed and rejected. A group of miners were created and sent back and forth hunting, digging, and carting the iron back to town, but there was little to do to smelt it. Still Ruth was frantic, paranoid that others would learn of the precious metal resource and come to steal it.
The months passed and great things were made. There was now 6 competent healers from the village and the visitors from the other villages had all learned enough to be able to take what they learned back home. The spring came and the mountain was transformed practically overnight. Snows melted in a flurry of rain, cold rain but still not snow, and warm days. The mountain was alive with color and life as flowers and newborn animals flooded the passes. Ahmed and his group left early, before the snows had fully cleared the passages.
Finally the day came, and Amy announced to Ruth her intention of leaving with Anne. Ruth had assumed this would happen and, with the new healers, was ok with it, giving Amy and Anne her blessing and a warm party as a farewell. On the official first day of summer, according to the sundial, Anne and Amy led a handful of others over the passes and down the river.
Anne had been waiting for the day that they would leave the mountain village and start on their way back to Hope. Besides her, Solomon and the others were also anxious to leave, the hostile climate to men in Ruth’s village did not sit well with them, it was too much like a hippie camp from Hell. Jerry, not surprisingly, objected to Amy leaving; this in spite of having Shanikwa, the cook from Ahmed’s party, shacking up with him. Ahmed was not happy about that, not one bit, but had given Shanikwa his blessing to stay.
The party, besides the six people that it originally had, also included Amy, who was very anxious to leave the mountain, and a few men, who had asked Ruth to leave, for roughly the same reasons as Solomon had to get out of Dodge from that place. On the day when the snows had fully cleared the passes, Amy, Anne and the party that came with them, around twelve more people, set out one sunny morning headed south and west along the river bank. It was a good day for marching, and in spite of being laden with supplies, they made a good fifteen miles before they had to stop for a quick meal. Solomon had chosen a grassy knoll overlooking the valley as their stopping point, and their meal, made of dried deer meat and sun dried fruits, was consumed quickly and in silence. In his deep voice, Solomon announced, “We rest an hour and then we move on.” While they rested, Anne seized Amy and eloped with her into the tree copse, where both women spent most of their time making out, and touching, and doing what young lovers do when they don’t have time to be more intimate: Cuddling under the shadow of a tree, and make plans for when they arrived to Hope.
The passages in the areas below the mountain had opened much sooner, and things had been set in motion. Trade had been set up with the fishermen at the coastal town of New Sea, which were busy developing sailing ships, as well as the horse trainers of the valley range south, who lived in nomadic outposts and never bothered to name them.
The biggest change, however, had been concocted by John, Ben, and a man named Hammond, who had been a traveler that had wandered into Hope. Hammond had been moving from town to town, searching in the hopes that family he had lost before the Taking might have also been chosen to inhabit this new world. So far he had seen 7 new settlements, people had begun rebuilding. A group who lived around the north side of the huge sea that Hope and Newsea sat on were trying to use the power of the river there to generate electricity.
Anne’s return to Hope was met with cries of relief and lots of hugs, until Anne introduced Amy.
Anne smiled at the familiar faces gathered around her.
“Did you bring me anything?” Someone joked.
“The river is flowing again,” Someone informed Anne, though she hadn’t a clue what that meant.
“WHASSUP GIRLFRIEND!” Bertha, a large black woman from New York embraced her. “We was so worried. Everyone thought you was dead fo’ sho’. John’s gonna be so pleased. Mm-hmm.”
“Thank you,” Anne said. “I would have been had it not been for the river people. They gave us shelter and food through the winter. In fact, they have medicine! Real, working drugs! This girl makes them, and wants to teach others. Amy, come over here.”
Amy stepped forward, her smile wide and eyes bright.
“You sho’ are a beauty, mm, mmm,” Bertha chuckled. “And a doctor?”
“Well… Medicine woman, in the most traditional sense,” Amy shrugged.
“Ole doc Ben will be happy to meet you. And I am sure, when you are ready, you can have your pick of mates. Look at you girl!”
“You have a doctor?” Amy gasped.
“He was a veterinarian,” Anne said. “Close enough, and she already has a mate. Me.”
That was when everyone got silent.
“You been gone so long you ain’t heard nothin’. There have been some changes since you been gone Anne. No one is allowed to mate with they own gender.”
“What?” Anne and Amy said at the same time, then looked at each other. Finally Anne looked back scowling.
“Under whose authority?”
“The most honorable Prophet, Hammond,” Bertha shook her head. “He claims the aliens who brought us here have been in contact with him and have laid down certain rules. John has accepted them completely. You are allowed to have a female mate as long as you have a male one too, and then you have to share your girl with your man. It’s the new rules.”
Anne rolled her eyes and snorted. “Who’s this Hammond person and by what authority does he impose rules without a vote? The aliens would not impose anything like that, he sounds like some retrograde ass to me” Anne was livid inside but by her tone of voice no one would have guessed it. “Not that it would matter with me, you know, I’m sterile, I’m useless to reproduce, and when I left the rule was that sterile women could choose whatever mate they wanted, man or woman. And I have chosen mine already.” Significantly, Anne put a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “And if Hammond is still around… Well he’ll have to talk to me, cuz as long as anything isn’t recorded… It’s words in the wind.”
Solomon and the others followed Anne to the main area and John came out to see her, a huge smile on his face. “Anne! Welcome back! We thought you were dead.”
“Hello John,” said Anne, “I’d love to chitchat some more but I come to see you about this Hammond guy. What the Hell is he smoking? Forcing heterosexual couples? Before the Taking it didn’t matter with whom you slept, it shouldn’t matter now. Don’t misunderstand me, I can understand that we need to get our numbers up, but saying it’s the will of the aliens… It sounds kooky to me. Besides… I can’t bear children, and while I was out I found my mate. No I’m not sharing her, people can use me if they want, people can use me twice, I don’t care, I’m not a saint, before the Taking I did it to survive, so I can take it… But no one else touches my mate.” Anne stared at John, fixedly. “Accept this or I’ll not record Hammond’s creed.”
“Anne, calm down. I wasn’t sure about this myself, but he has shown proof that the aliens are indeed in contact with him. Apparently there was a lot of things we were doing before the Taking that were wrong, and that is why we were taken, to do it differently. I am sorry Anne, but the law stands. And… Well… We don’t need you to record Hammond’s creed, it was already done. We thought you were dead, so we got a new record keeper, not that we can’t use two…”
He stopped and looked at Amy who was standing nearby. “This is her?”
“Oh, I am Amy, yeah, and no… I am not into this whole… Sharing idea,” she said. “Besides I am here to teach medicine and stuff.”
“And what about the iron?”
Amy frowned. “We…Well, I don’t have any iron. They found some but we haven’t got a way to melt it or anything.”
“We will have to set up a trade, maybe we can help,” Ben said.
Amy shrugged. “I am really not interested in iron, knock yourself out.”
John looked at Anne, then Amy, then back. “I am sorry Anne, but the law has already been written. The best I can do is help you find someone you can trust and mate you both to him. We have to start reproducing.”
“Wait….no one has been reproducing?” Amy asked.
“No, there hasn’t been a single pregnancy since we came here,” Ben said.
“None up at river area either. What about the other communities?”
“Not that we have heard,” Ben said.
“Something tells me there’s either something we are eating that the river community is eating and the others too that makes for natural contraception,” said Anne. “This is after all an alien world, and the aliens who put us here could not possibly know everything about us. Let’s test this Hammond person, if he’s still around. Let him ask why there’s no pregnancies to the aliens. If he comes with mumbo jumbo, he’s a kook, and I won’t accept a kook. If he says something concrete… A root, a plant, a fish, an animal species… Anything real… and if after we stop eating it there’s a pregnancy… then maybe I’ll be willing to believe him.”
“Population control,” came a voice from the back of the crowd. All eyes turned and a man stepped forward. He had a handsome face and a smile that would make women swoon. He was tall, well built, rugged and dark from a life of wandering. He walked up to the group and stared at Anne with soft, blue eyes. “I have heard so much about you Anne. You are one of the aliens’ chosen favorites. They picked you to be a disciple as well, but you weren’t ready. You will be soon. There are many things they have planned for us, but this is their world, their rules. Don’t shoot the messenger, as the saying goes.”
Anne was going to say something, but instead bit her tongue. “the message is phony as a 3-dollar bill and the messenger is a phony,” she mumbled, and after Hammond spoke she scoffed. “Chosen one? Listen, in case you did not notice, we are kind of low on the need for saviors and kind of high in the need for practical things. God can come later, when we can survive.” Hammond said, “Would you defy the wisdom granted to me by the aliens? Hm?” He smirked in a self-sufficient way, and Anne moved forward, as if to get as close to Hammond as possible, eyes glaring. Years of experience in the street told her Hammond was a fake. She said, “I do not believe a word you say, Hammond, Now get out of this village or…”
Amy grabbed Anne under one arm and Ben leapt forward to grab her other. Amy whispered, “Not now Anne, he has support and people will see you as an enemy”
“Perhaps we can continue this another time, when Anne is feeling calmer,” John suggested.
“Yes, of course, I wish only to set her mind at ease,” Hammond said, showing concern for Anne, but with a sly smile on his lips. Ben and Amy led Anne to the large building that had been set up as a kind of hospital. They made her comfortable and Ben checked her over. Amy watched him work, then made up a tea that she hoped would help.
“Hammond is a con man! you have to believe me! He is up to no good,” said Anne. She fumed, revolted at the prospect of having to follow in a path that had led to the Earth becoming the messy, overcrowded, unequal mess that it had been before its destruction. Hammond, she thought, was up to no good, she was certain of it, and if people followed him only grief would come out of that.
Ben and Amy watched over Anne as she calmed herself. Amy said, “I have never seen as angry as she was now.”
Ben nodded and said jokingly, “Redhead character.” Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head at ben. Redhead stereotypes? Really?
“Are they really going to try and keep us apart?”
“No! Look, the law didn’t make anyone happy, true. But it isn’t all that bad. I mean, it isn’t about love, it is about reproduction. All the couples that were together before are still together, there just as to be at least 1 of each gender. John knew it would cause problems, which is why he changed it to allow polygamous relationships. So we would not have to break anyone up.”
Amy nodded. “I just can’t imagine being with anyone but Anne. It’s really funny, I was heterosexual before I met her. At least I think I was.”
Anne paced to and fro, thinking furiously. Finally she stopped. “Ugh, I’m dizzy,” was all she said.
“Serves you right for pacing so much up and down the aisle,” Ben said. Anne’s eyes turned to Amy, and she smiled. “I am… Calmer, at least,” she said, smiling a little. Then, more seriously, Anne added, “Get Hammond and John over. I am going to play a little part. Let us say that I have just opened a direct line of communication with the aliens. It is a ruse, I know, but that will give me time to discover what kind of game is Hammond playing.” Anne grinned and winked at Amy, and nodded to Ben. Ben chuckled, and went to get Hammond and John.
It took some time, but finally both men arrived. Amy and Ben were sitting at a table, 3 books open. 1 was Amy’s book on different herbs and the other was her book on medical practices. Ben had the 3rd book open making his own notes.
“Hey, the gang’s all here,” John smiled.
“You’re a good man, John,” said Anne. “Hammond… I know you were snooping in, you heard my debate with them, didn’t you?” Anne’s question was more of an affirmation than a question, actually. Hammond was caught off guard, and could only mumble, “Erm, uh, busted, I guess”. His eyes though flared with anger. He knew Anne was up to something, but decided to play along. Anne continued, “We need to be examples, I realize that now. The aliens set me right. No religious mumbo jumbo, though. I understand why you used it, but we’re not from the Dark Ages. The people need to know the truth. Ask them, if you want confirmation.” Anne looked at Amy and took her hand. “It will be all ok, love,” Anne whispered to Amy, and then she said aloud, “I was too selfish so see the truth. For now… I have to accept what the aliens want. I’m not happy about it, true, but there is a logic behind it that actually makes sense.” Anne smiled softly. “I choose Robert as Amy’s and my mate, John,” said Anne. Robert, the young boy that had gone with Anne to Amy’s village. Soothingly, Anne said, “It’ll be okay love,” smiling and holding Amy’s hand.
Hammond smiled, and nodded. “Excellent, and Amy, you of course can choose to accept this, if you want. You are in no way forced into any relationship you aren’t comfortable with.”
John’s face was neutral, but the disappointment had left him speechless. He had been sure Anne would choose him.
“Robert’s a nice guy, and if Anne trusts him so do I,” Amy nodded.
“Then it’s settled,” Hammond clapped. “You can tell Robert yourself, once Anne is feeling better. Amy, welcome to the village.”
“Hold on Hammond,” said Anne. “Stay here a while. Why don’t you tell them what they told us? They have the right to know, don’t you think?” Anne looked into Hammond’s eyes for a while.
Amy looked up from her book curiously. “What who told you? Have the aliens talked to you love?”
Anne squeezed Amy’s hand gently. “Yes, love, they did. And whatever they tell me, anyone that has been chosen by them to be their speaker can hear. And vice versa. It’s why I was imprinted with the image of the Earth being disintegrated by the Sun as it went nova. It’s why I passed out at your village, and why I went dizzy a while back.” Anne then looked at Hammond and said, “So, shall I tell them or shall you?”
“I don’t think the messages they shared with me are the same as yours, mine are more of what they expect from us,” Hammond smiled.
“In short, I’m supposed to be the ‘thermometer’ to the actions of our leaders. Whenever someone’s actions lead on the long term to repeating the mistakes that led to the Earth’s destruction, I get a flash of Earth being blown up. I got that when I was at Ruth’s village, so I know she’s doing something the aliens don’t approve of.” Anne stood up and took Amy’s hand. “I am sorry Amy, Ruth is doing something wrong. What is it, I don’t know, I think it has to do with how she wanted to hoard the medicine,” and after a pause she said, “And I also suspect that they are not too happy about her finding pyrite. Mind you, they don’t want us to be primitives. They want us to achieve our fullest potential, and according to them, to do that we have to evolve to a collective civilization.”
“Sounds like you are even more in tune with them than I am,” Hammond said. “My instructions are so complicated. They have great plans for you, Anne.” He was, however, perplexed. Why did she cave in so easily? What was this woman up to? Would she be an obstacle to his true, secret goals? An attitude of wait and see, Hammond decided, would be best.
There was a knock on the door and Robert came in, followed by Solomon. “Everything is ready, John.”
John nodded. “Good, I will head out tomorrow. You boys, and women, have done remarkably well, and have earned a break. Relax and enjoy some time off. Ben, you and Amy work together to get this hospital running well. Anne, I am sure you and Robert have a lot to talk about. Sol, Hammond, let’s give them some privacy. Ben…”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Ben got up and Amy closed the books. As everyone left Robert looked at Anne suspiciously.
“What is going on?”
“Robert… You know that there’s this new law. Basically… Amy and I can’t be together if we don’t also have a man. And… Well, I chose you to be our guy. You’re reliable, and you proved yourself when we were up in the mountains. And you’re young, I can teach Amy the facts of life with a man, and you get to tap me however many times you want… I’m sterile.” Anne smiled ruefully. “At least when Amy isn’t safe and you have needs you’ll still have a playground.”
Robert blinked a few times. “Uh…… What?”
“We want you to be our beau,” Amy giggled.
“I am flattered, but I, no offense, you are both beautiful, but I am not ready to settle down.”
“Come on, Robert,” Anne sighed. “None of us are exactly pleased with this. But we need someone we can trust.”
Robert sighed and then threw his hands up. “Ok, fine. Just don’t call me your boy toy or anything. Dammit, I just got my house set up how I like it… Like Fred Flintstone’s bachelor pad.” Amy giggled. “I won’t make it too girly, I promise.”
Anne was no stranger to giggles, and did some of her own. “I won’t bug you too much either. I promise,” she said. Anne went to find Marjorie, the other record keeper, and showed her where her old scrolls were, carefully buried in front of her old hut, which was now fully occupied by her, who had all but taken over Anne’s record keeper practice.
Anne and Amy moved into Robert’s hut that same evening. Anne was a bit apprehensive about the move, she had never been in a man’s home before. That evening, Anne took Robert and had him lay down. She stripped down, and showed him her naked body, and almost immediately Robert blushed. “Anne,” he said, “I… I’m gay.” Anne smiled and sat down by his side. “News flash, Amy and I are gay too, but this is the law, think it’s the nineteen fifties, I’m sure we’re being watched, so we’ll have to put on a good show. Do you trust me Robert?” He nodded, and Anne, using her wiles, got Robert hard, and rode him, gently, not uncaringly, but clinically, until he was on the verge of coming. Then, she expertly slipped his penis out of her and had him spurt on her tummy. When he had recovered, Anne stroked his head and said, “Thank you for trusting me Robert, I’ll let you rest and then I’ll get you hard again, and if you’re ok with it I’ll let Amy feel your penis inside her, you’d be her first man, you know.” Robert nodded, reluctantly, and Anne waited a few minutes; then, she masturbated Robert until he was hard. Anne called Amy, and had her undress. “Come Amy,” she said, and when Amy came to her, she was blushing crimson, and was looking at Robert’s penis. “Oh my God, he’s so big!” she said in alarm. It wasn’t strictly true, Robert was average sized, but Anne knew that the first sight of a penis could be intimidating. It had been so for her, the first time, and she had almost puked, but want and hunger had quickly subdued her shyness, and had propelled her to ride her neighbor for ten dollars. Anne led Amy through the motions, how to stroke the penis with her hand so it would stay hard, how to get herself wet by rubbing herself and using a little spit too, and how to guide it inside herself. This last part was the hardest, because Amy was nervous and could not relax her pussy enough to let him in. Anne stroked Amy gently and got her relaxed, and when she was, Anne showed Amy how to take the penis inside herself, and guided her with words and gentle assisted grindings on how to grind and rock and saw, and how to discreetly let the penis outside of herself and receive the sperm on her tummy instead of inside while faking the orgasm. With no condoms, that was the best contraception Anne could think of, and if there was anyone listening… The moans would be convincing enough.
On his part, Robert was an unimaginative, and somewhat unenthusiastic lover. Being gay, his sexual encounters with Anne were short and far between, and in the trysts with Amy, though a little more frequent, neither found much pleasure. It was just a role to play. Amy really didn’t want to get pregnant anyway, though the drugs she had created, and kept to herself because they were very potent and had the same effect as heroine, would have made labor a breeze. Sex with Anne was something altogether different and always resulted in multiple, screaming orgasms.
With the creation of paper people started recording more things. At first it was thoughts and memories of old Earth, but then new things and ideas. Marjorie and Anne opened a kind of library, collecting information from around the different emerging settlements. Spring slowly slipped into summer and Amy had found a new calling. She seemed to have a sixth sense with plants and through some trial and error, had managed to find medicines for almost anything. Finally the day came when John announced a mid-summer feast. He had invited the leaders of the five seaside towns to gather for celebrations and food. Although Amy was part of Hope now, she asked why the mountain people weren’t invited, or the horsemen, but no answer was ever given.
John made sure that Anne and the others were kept busy during the celebration, and managed to gather the leaders for the real purpose of the festivities.
“Word has it that the mountain people have developed a way for forging the iron. I sent up some scouts to check and I was informed not only are they using metal tools, they are making weapons.”
If Amy had been there she could have answered the next question… Bears. “Why would they need weapons?”
“Obviously planning a war, against who is the question.”
“I suggest a preemptive strike,” John said. “We take the iron, and the iron mine.”
“You mean you take it,” another said.
“No, I would share it with those who would help me, but only if we can agree not to use these weapons against each other.”
While the meeting was taking place, Anne was in a meadow, not surprisingly with Amy. Robert was nearby, fishing. Anne and Amy were both laying down, cuddling, ostensibly clothed, but under their clothes Anne’s hand was busy stroking Amy’s thigh. Amy’s hand was similarly touching Anne’s thigh, and both were looking into each other’s eyes. “Robert seems to enjoy you more in bed,” said Anne. “I don’t blame him, you’re young and pretty and not… Damaged… Like I am.”
Amy pressed her lips to Anne, touching her hair. “You are not damaged! Look at you! You are beautiful, intelligent, and funny. You are what every man wants, like… Centerfold beautiful.”
Anne’s eyes clouded with sadness and she sighed softly. “How do you feel when you’re with him? Do you enjoy it? Do you like it…? You know… When he fills you? I… I’m not jealous, but… But I don’t feel anything when he takes me, maybe it’s because I’m… I don’t know, I guess I’d have to say I feel unhappy… You know, I remembered something… About me… Before my mother fell prey to heroin she told me once… ‘Making a baby is a blessing Annie, when the time is right you’ll find someone with whom you’ll want to be forever and if he’s good to you, you’ll know if you’ll want to give him kids… It’s a feeling that’s stronger than you, that comes from your womb, you can choose to not hear for a while but if you love your man enough and he loves you back you’ll lose.’ She’d smile a sad smile and say ‘Roger was that man for me, and I gave myself to him, and you were to be our precious little treasure. But… He got killed by a stray bullet during a drive-by shooting. He was an innocent bystander, at the wrong place and at the wrong time. We… We did not believe in marriage, Roger and I, and I was three months pregnant with you when he died. That’s why you don’t have a daddy in your birth certificate. If he hadn’t been killed…’ And then she’d go silent for a while.” Anne looked at Amy and smiled sadly. “I believe my mother got hooked on heroin to forget about him… She loved him very much… And I believe she wanted to be with him, always.” Anne sighed and stayed quiet for a while, and said, “It’s been two months already and I’m still not happy about this arrangement, I mean I don’t have anything against Robert, he plays his role, all things considered he’s decent, but…” Anne was going to say, but I’d be happier if I was able to be just with you, I don’t want to share you, I want to be just with you Amy, but an alarmed yell interrupted her.
Amy sat and listened to Anne’s story, waiting to answer her, but didn’t get the chance as the cry went out. Very quickly, many people were running toward the place from where the shriek had come. Anne stood up and took Amy’s hand; with concern in her voice she said, “Let’s go and see what happened.”
“But… I…” Amy started to say, but Anne was already on her feet and moving and Amy hurried to keep up with Anne’s long legs.
When they got there, there was a sizable crowd already gathered around a place by the river bank. The corpse of a drowned woman was laying there, and by her there was an exhausted man was panting hard, saying, “I tried” like a broken record. The woman was Megan, one of the people who were trying to get an agriculture started. John and Hammond arrived in short ordered, both asking “What happened?” almost in unison. Hammond looked at the woman’s corpse and shook his head. “… Why?” he asked.
One from the crowd said, “She just went in the river and when she was away from the river bank she just dove and didn’t come back up.”
Anne looked at Hammond and said, “I think I know why, Hammond. It’s despair… I mean, think about it, do you remember how it was before being gay was legitimate? Gay men and lesbian women would be in fake, loveless, hetero marriages that would make them unhappy and repressed about their sexuality… In that aspect lesbian women had an easier time, they could always be spinsters with tea friends… But it was repressive, and closeted, married gay people had a very high suicide rate. They could not stand being in a union that violated all that they were. I think that’s what took over Megan, she could not stand the lie. I remember reading once a motto that said, ‘truth even unto its innermost parts.’ Forcing people to live a lie will destroy them. Tell that to the aliens, when they talk to you, Hammond. I sure will.” Anne knelt by Megan’s corpse and said softly, “Rest now Megan, wherever you are.”
John took Anne’s arm, firmly but not cruelly, and drew her aside as everyone talked about what to do with Megan.
“Anne, that was entirely unnecessary.” He growled.
“What? It’s the truth and…”
“It doesn’t matter if you think it’s the truth or not,” John stated flatly, looking at her like a father looking at an argumentative daughter. “I understand you are not happy with this situation, but you just lectured a man who has done nothing but try and help about a rule he didn’t even make. Worse, you did it in front of everyone. No one is happy about this situation, especially since we haven’t had a single pregnancy since the rule went into place. But reminding everyone of their misery was very selfish and irresponsible of you. And all you have done is tell a bunch of unhappy people that suicide is their way out. It could just have easily have been a water snake, or she slipped on a mossy stone under the water, or maybe she was depressed because she misses her children. She was the only member of her family Taken. We don’t know and you are filling everyone’s head with even greater depression.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “We have had other suicides, well… Apparent suicides. And that was even before Hammond arrived. He has taken on the role of a therapist and opened his home to help people, give them a confidential source to talk to about their problems. Megan was obviously disturbed, she had other options. Do not take those options away from everyone else, understand?”
Anne stared up at him and nodded slowly. He turned to see that Megan had been covered in a reed woven blanket and was being carried away. When he turned back Anne was gone.
“Amy… I am sorry if I cut you off,” said Anne once she left the scene of the suicide, “You wanted to tell me something.” Anne sat down under a tree and patted the ground besides her. “Things…” Anne sighed. “I’m not…” Words would not finish coming out of Anne’s mouth, but she steeled herself and said, “Things are not what I’d thought would be, I’m not happy, I feel pressured, stifled, railroaded into something I don’t feel is right… And every fiber of my being is rebelling against this. I don’t know why, but I feel that what John and Hammond are doing… While good intentioned… Will ultimately come to tears.” Anne sighed and laid her head against Amy. “You wanted to tell me something Amy, what was it? You, I’d listen to for hours.”
“Geez, I forgot now,” Amy sighed. “What were we talking about? Oh! Robert, no. He has never made me orgasm, it is just… Like… Going through the motions. It doesn’t feel bad, he is very nice. I remember we had this girl in class, Sue, and she was a slut, by her own admission. And I once asked her ‘how can you have sex with so many guys?’ I mean, she had like 3 boyfriends, and had another 3 what she called ‘fuck buddies’. And that was the boys, I am pretty sure she had a few girlfriends too. She told me ‘it’s fun, it’s just sex. It isn’t anything special, just better than masturbating. When I find the one…’THE ONE’” Amy did a quotation mark symbol with her fingers, “then I will only have sex with that one. Until then, I am on the pill, I use protection, and all the guys I screw are clean, so why not enjoy it?” Amy shrugged. “I have more fun with you, you make me orgasm… A lot… Often… Over and over… With you it is love, and I can feel it, love with a capital L. With Robert it is… Well… Sex… In a strictly mechanical sense.”
To say that Anne was unhappy was at best an understatement. She was furious about how John was condescending, and even patronizing, towards her. Had he nurtured hopes that one day he’d be with Anne? It couldn’t be, he had never said anything to her. Whatever the reason, Anne felt that she had to move on from Hope, and do it soon. Anne withdrew from the public scene and focused on training her replacement, a bright young man called Simon. “You’ll do well Simon, just remember to never stop questioning,” Anne would always tell him. She taught him how to make paper with river reeds and ink from ash and coal, and to always record what he saw or heard as soon as possible. During this time of training Simon, Anne actively avoided John and Hammond, and meditated about what she was seeing, and recorded her thoughts on a scroll that she would share with only with Amy, when they were alone. Both John and Hammond, Anne was convinced, were taking a course of action that would repeat the same mistakes of old Earth. They were trapped in the mindset of old Earth: Power, influence, control. At least Hammond seemed keen on all those, while John seemed to follow along, under the impression that it was what the aliens wanted. Anne had suffered under that model, resorting to paid trysts to survive, and she wanted none of it anymore.
When Simon was ready, and as the bands of people that John and Hammond had recruited for the raid on the mountain village were starting to gather in the plains to the south of Hope, Anne finally made up her mind. She would not stay in a place where her voice would not be heard, not in a place where she’d be forced to live a lie. Quietly, Anne spoke to everybody who felt unhappy about living in Hope. Most had their own grievances, but basically all they wanted was to live free. All in all a bit over thirty people chose to leave Hope and try their luck in a place they could call their own one. The day after John’s militias marched out, Anne, Amy and the other people who had signed up to go departed Hope and headed south along the coast, which soon got jagged and rocky, full of small inlets and bays and gulfs. Further south the weather grew warmer and the coast became flat again, a large coastal plain that went on and on as far as the eye could see, covered in what appeared to be a pink grass. In this plain, life appeared to be more abundant; at least there were more fowl and deer and horses and cows around, even boars, which farther north were few and scattered. After six days of marching, at the mouth of a river, but not too near the coast, Anne stopped atop a low hill that offered a commanding view over the surroundings. It was a good defensive position. She said, “Upon this place we will found a town where freedom is cherished and community counts. Upon this place we will found the town of Providence.”
Amy smiled, and nodded, but her glance kept going back to the mountains in the distance. Ruth needed to be warned, though by now it was too late. Whatever John had planned to do it was done. Amy felt guilt for not trying to warn Ruth. But what would that have done? It isn’t like there was any defenses. Ruth couldn’t possibly hold off against the army John had made.
An army. She sighed and looked back as they started setting up tents and staking out where the houses would be. This place didn’t need an army. It was Eden, paradise, why couldn’t they see that? Why did they have to fight? Why couldn’t Ruth share? Why couldn’t John be happy with what he had? She placed her hands on her hips and looked around. Something told her there wouldn’t be peace, even here. They had learned nothing from the past.
Anne cast a furtive glance to Amy while she looked over the mountains. She felt a pang of pain in her forehead but faked it and after it had subsided Anne said, as if reading Amy’s thoughts, “Do you think we’ll have to set up defenses Amy? I pray that we don’t, but after the last thing John said, back in Hope, I’ve got a sinking feeling that maybe we have to get ready to prepare ourselves.” Anne hugged Amy by her waist and held her close. “What do you think? What are your feelings about all this? About us leaving… Do you feel we did the right thing?”
Amy snuggled up against Anne and sighed. “I don’t think it will matter. If he wants to get payback he will find a way. He has the numbers and the iron. I think our only defense is to give him no reason to look at us.”
The building was slow, the area was flat, water was plentiful and game abundant, but building materials were scarce. With no trees except for miles away and no animals bigger than a rabbit, even building tents proved to be slow going. Worse, without the trees and mountains, the wind swept across almost constantly and rains came usually twice a day.
An old timer named Bernie stumbled on a herd of small ponies. They apparently didn’t grow much larger than a pony but were incredibly strong and docile, almost desperate for the human contact. They followed Bernie home like dogs and playfully stomped around the settlement until they managed to corral them.
With the ponies’ help they were able to gather wood from miles away and bring it back, creating shelters and a corral for the ponies. As summer closed and fall fell to colder days and colder rain, next came the problem of food. They hadn’t had time to plant crops, they had laid down seed but it was obvious to everything there would be no crops until spring. This was going to be a long winter.
“Well, there is plenty of meat, so far,” Anne said one day as the majority of Providence’s population had gathered. “Plants is another matter. Amy says the grass is inedible.”
“Well, you can eat it,” Amy said. “But it will be like eating lawn, it wont give you much in the way of vitamins. It doesn’t have the nutrients we need from green plants.”
“Maybe we can trade?” Someone suggested.
“We might not have enough for ourselves, depends on what the animals do during the winter. We don’t even know if this area gets snow or not. It will be rough, but if we can just hold out until spring…”
Amy got up and returned to her hut. There was something about the grass, she couldn’t tell what, but she knew in her gut there was something special about it. She went back to the bowls and small brazier she had made from clay to try and study more. If only my chemistry teacher could see me now… But Ben had taught her so much, and combined with Crystal’s homeopathic approach to medicine, she was beginning to see a pattern. A way to combine both methods.
While Amy was busy studying the properties of the pink grass and healing those who fell ill to the changing season, and made herself useful tending to the community’s harmony and spiritual well-being, , Anne helped where she could, building and fixing and mending her and Amy’s clothes, and stopping all she did for an hour to soothe a worried woman, and when there was the time, and the energy, making love to Amy, in their slow, unhurried, but deeply connected way, and helping out Amy with all that she could help her with, and learning from Bernie, who knew what to do, as if he had sprouted from the soil itself, who spoke with the calm confidence of someone who had done all he did thousands of times, several times a day, for years.
One evening, as the sun was setting, Bernie said, “I wish there would be babies around. What are we doing all this for, if we have no offspring to carry on? The aliens have a twisted way to toy with us. They save us from destruction, but then they stop us from passing on our legacy. I’m old, Anne, these hands of mine aren’t rough and calloused on account of I was a sculptor, you know. Before, I was a farmer, three hundred acres of prime wheat land in South Dakota, and a small corral with a few cows and hogs for the milk and the meat, and hens for the eggs, and I tell you, there’s something odd about this. Cows drop calves, and horses foal, and birds nest and hatch eggs. It’s the rhythm and inevitability of life. Why aren’t our women getting full bellies and dropping little humans? we need to cypher out why you gals aren’t getting pregnant. God knows it isn’t because of lack of trying, I hear some of the couples near my tent… Granted… Fred and Robert won’t sprout a young one anytime soon, but Alice and Jack, and Mae and Ferdinand, and Babs and Joe… They all do the deed often enough… So why aren’t our gals dropping man cubs?”
Amy shook her head. “But they aren’t, I mean the animals. We, Ben and me, we were watching the birds, and they weren’t laying any fertile eggs.”
“Well the birds here do, Fred and I saw a nest in the trees when we were last gathering lumber. There was a tree we were gonna cut down but Fred saw the nest. Sure enough there were three baby birds, all bulgy eyed and featherless.”
Amy stared at him. “You are joking.”
“No, word has it that the horsemen are looking to breed horses as well, they been dropping colts all summer. And another thing, come with me.”
Anne and Amy followed Bernie to the corral. The ponies came over eager for attention. “That one there, the one we call Dancer. She is with colt as we talk.”
“How can you tell?” Anne asked.
“Thirty years on a farm,” Berny winked.
Amy was staring with a wide eyed look. She look frightened, then sick. But then she let out a whoop and ran back to her hut. She was in there for 3 days, Anne saw her sitting at her makeshift desk working steadily. After those days were up Amy ran up and hugged Anne. “I got it!” she squealed and raced off to find Mae.
“Mae! I need you do test something for me!” she said in excitement.
Mae looked around at Anne and Amy then shrugged. “ok, what do you want me to do?”
“Eat this,” Amy gave her a small, flat cake. “Then go have sex.”
“What?”
“You may be the first pregnant female on New Earth,” Amy whispered. “If I got this figured out right. If not you end up with diarrhea. Please” Amy’s voice was tense with excitement.
Mae laughed, eating the cake, then coughing. “Oh, that is so gross. It tastes like…… Grass?”
“Well, if I had some sugar… Just… Eat it and go get laid! Pleeeeease!”
About a month later, Mae came to Amy, complaining of morning sickness, bloating, sensitivity to strong smells and an unexplainable craving for smoked pike.
Amy squealed and hugged Mae. Then told Anne. “It’s the grass! The birds around Hope weren’t having fertile eggs because there was no seeds from here! Mae is pregnant! I did it! This is so awesome!”
Anne smiled widely and kissed Amy, holding her tight, and congratulating her for her very important discovery. They made love, Anne let Amy do whatever she wanted to her, she usually was more active but today Anne thought she’d let Amy be the active partner. Sex was mind blowing, with multiple, screeching orgasms from both, and later that evening Anne called for a town meeting. When everyone was gathered, she said, “Do you remember when we were in Hope? John made us pair with someone of the other gender so we could reproduce. In spite of that, there were no new births in Hope, and I believed that an arrangement like John’s was… well, forcing things. And it turns out neither of us was right, and Hammond was right, after a fashion. The pink grass around Providence has… Something… We don’t know what yet, but something definitely, that makes females fertile. Mae” and then Anne looked at Mae, smiling at her, “Mae is expecting a child. She got pregnant after eating a cake Amy made with the pink grass that grows all around Providence.” Anne paused a moment to let everyone absorb the information. “It’s an important discovery, and because I don’t want to walk down the same path John did, I want to offer to all the women in Providence the chance whether to be fertile of not. To that effect I’ll ask Amy to bake several cookies, I am sorry about the flavor, according to Mae they taste like grass, but any woman who wishes to have a baby, if they are in a heterosexual couple, can come by to Amy’s and my hut and have one. Women who aren’t in a couple but want a baby can get a cake too, of course. Just be picky about the daddy, ladies.” Anne grinned wryly.
Winter came and times were hard, but compared to the mountains it wasn’t that hard. Meat was plentiful, more so because of the plentiful animal population. They were able to trade for medicine with the horsemen and Amy and Anne traveled to their valley. The nomadic tribes were peaceful and on friendly terms with each other. They knew their horses were breeding but they hadn’t made the connection that it was the grass doing it. Amy didn’t tell them either. She was worried about John finding out and raining havoc on them. She did say she thought she knew how to get women pregnant and offered her herbal cookies to those interested in trying.
The horsemen loved the ponies, but their horses were taller, faster. What the ponies lacked in height and speed they made up for in strength and could pull 3 times the weight the larger horses could. There was talk of trying to breed the 2 types come spring and Anne and Amy left the horse valley with high hopes and bushels of apples, carrots, and other vegetables.
The snows came, and it seemed nearly every woman was pregnant in Providence. The snow never came down as thick as in the mountains but the wind seemed to make it even colder. The mountains had been cold, but with the windy plains of Providence the cold took on a cutting bite that seemed to move right through clothes. Bernie was a saint, he knew how to use the pony’s dung for a fuel source and there was a lot of huddling going on.
One night, at the middle of winter, Anne and Amy lay naked under their furs, with the sweat of a hot, frantic sexual bliss cooling on their skin. Amy kissed Anne’s neck and whispered. “Aside from the fact that you are a lesbian, why can’t you get pregnant love? I know someone hurt you, inside. But….were you told you can’t by a doctor?”
Anne held Amy close to herself. In the flickering firelight, she looked at the thatches over her head and said softly… “You know I was raped before the Taking… But that was not it… That wasn’t why I am barren, I… I was raped before. I was… eighteen… The four men who raped me tore me up inside so bad…” Anne looked up and tried to stifle a sob, and failed at it. “The ER’s gynecologist told me, right after they did the rape kit.” Anne turned to look at Amy and smiled, their faces were illuminated by the small fire in their hearth. “They never caught them, you know. Not that it matters anymore.” Anne touched Amy’s cheek and looked into her eyes. “As for me being a lesbian… let’s say my heart fell for the right person. You gave me love at Ruth’s village, and I couldn’t help but give you love in return. You were… And are… The best thing that happened to me, Amy.” Anne fell silent, and kept looking into Amy’s eyes. Anne’s eyes were moist and shiny.
Amy sighed softly. “I just thought…maybe, they were wrong. It has been so long my love.” Amy smiled and brushed Anne’s hair with her fingers. “You would be such a great momma.” She kissed Anne softly and thought she would give anything for Anne to feel whole and happy.
The months seems to stretch on. Winter seemed to last an eternity, while summer was over in a blink. But soon the snows melted and at the first sign of link grass they planted their seeds and tended their small farms. The ponies and shaggy cattle had managed the weather nicely. Word had come that 90% of the women who Amy had “seen to” had become pregnant. There was a huge feast in celebration and Amy was forced to go. Her and Anne were celebrated, which Amy blushed and waved but spoke little.
As they were heading back Anne stopped and pointed to the north, towards Hope. Far away was a thin, black tendril of smoke stretching up into the clouds.
“That is a either a really big fire, or a really hot one.”
“I wonder what they are doing now,” Amy sighed. The smoke seemed to be a constant, always sitting in the distance for months.
“That can’t be good” said Anne. “Maybe they figured a way how to smelt iron from pyrite, or maybe they went all bat shit crazy and are burning huge bonfires to an ancient god of fire.” Anne shrugged it off, for the moment, but the smoke coming from Hope was a constant tension in her mind, and Anne did not like it one bit. Amy’s words, about Anne being a good mother, had opened a hurt Anne had thought had scarred over a long time ago. She was pensive for most of the afternoon, and then, with Amy’s words constantly swirling inside her head, Anne took a cookie, and ate it. It did taste like grass, but she steeled herself and tried to swallow it all. She managed to, after drinking lots of water. When Anne met with Amy later in the day, Anne said, “I thought about what you told me earlier… About being a momma. I… I want to try, to give myself a chance, maybe they were wrong after all and told me that I couldn’t have kids so I stopped hooking… I… I want to see if it’s true. D-do you mind if I tried Amy?” Anne’s voice was once again shaky, like those first times they had met. “I… I figured, if I do get pregnant… It… It could be our child…” Anne’s voice went soft and then she hushed, and looked expectantly at Amy.
“Of course it would be ours,” Amy smiled. “And I would love that.” Amy had always been scared to death of having a baby, she wanted a baby but not enough to actually carry it. “Think Robert or Fred would be up to the deed?” She got out her cookies, there were 3 left. She decided to make a new batch. “I… Anne, I want to take some cookies to Hope, and up to the mountains.”
Anne touched Amy’s cheek. She said, “Of course love, just be careful, remember that John was planning to go to war against Ruth’s village, and… Well they might be just a bit sore about us all leaving like we did. If you’re going to Hope though you could investigate what is that smoke coming from there that we’ve seen.”
Amy smiled and kissed Anne softly. They made love that night, then Amy took a fresh batch of the grass laden cookies and took Hammer, her favorite pony, and headed north. Anne would be safer here, she was worried what she would find in Hope.
It took days to reach Hope, and it had changed. The small, Stone Age town had grown. There were stone buildings now. The iron had been made, not only into weapons but tools that allowed them to carve the stones into blocks for homes. Amy walked Hammer inside a gate… Not understanding what they needed a fence for, who were they keeping out. The smoke was actually 3, all close together so it looked like a single column in the distance. There were 3 huge forges and the steady clanging from each as ore was smelted and shaped. Horses hauled huge carts up and down the mountain and Amy didn’t have to go up to her home to see what had happened. The mountain people were here, in Hope. It had taken the mountain town and crushed it, probably the people who lived there were miners now, but Ruth and the others were here in Hope.
Amy stopped as she was approached by none other than John and Hammond. Ruth glanced over at her and looked away.
“Well well well,” John smiled. “Look who has come back. Ben will be happy to see you.”
“I am not back, John,” Amy said crossly. “I came back to do what I set out to do in the beginning. I left the mountain to share my knowledge of medicine, and I aim to keep that. I …. I found a way to get women pregnant.”
“Darling, I didn’t think you had the plumbing,” John chuckled and several men around them laughed. Amy’s eyes darkened and her cheeks turned red.
“I found a way, do you want it or not?” she asked.
“How is it that you found a way in less than a year what has taken everyone else 2 years of hopeless trying?”
“Doesn’t matter, let’s just say it’s a matter of perspective. You have to lift the rule of hetero relationships, though. It has to be a willing choice.”
It was Hammond’s turn to darken. “You do not run away with my….with others drawn to false hopes and then come back with some outlandish lie and expect me to just change everything. You do not order me, little girl.”
“Those are my rules, you stupid, ignorant megalomaniac! You and this false puppet over here couldn’t figure it out because you have your heads so far up each other’s asses that…”
WHAM! Hammond’s fist came out of nowhere and hit Amy so hard she saw a flurry of red stars. She was unconscious before her head hit the ground.
Anne had figured out that about two weeks were enough time for Amy to go back to Hope and the mountains, so in that time she spoke to Bernie about what she had done with the cookie, and what she wanted to do. Bernie had smiled kindly to Anne, and had told her “Child, if you want to see if you want to get swollen, you’re welcome, I wouldn’t have thought an old fart like myself would be your first choice though. I’m not the man I once was, even though I put five young ones into the world. Grew up to be a chip off the old block too,” he said. Anne said, “That would be just what Providence needs. More farmers.” And so it was that in a warm mid-summer evening Anne and Bernie got together, and had a slow, gentle tryst, because Bernie was not young anymore. Anne let him unload inside, in spite of his ripe fifty years Bernie was still virile, and his sperm filled Anne at least six times. It didn’t take long for Anne to know, when the time of her flow came and went without her bleeding, that the grass had worked. She got sick in the mornings, and her breasts swelled, and she started to have the craziest cravings. When she told Bernie, he smiled and said, “You’re pregnant, Anne, no ifs or buts about it. I know you have a relationship with Amy, but I’d hope…” Bernie looked down and said softly, “I’d be very glad if you allowed me to be a part of the young one’s life.” Anne held Bernie’s calloused hands, and said, “It’s your right to, it’s your fruit I’m carrying.” At the beginning of the third week after Amy’s departure, Anne sent a scouting party north to Hope to try and find out what had happened to Amy.
Amy woke to the side of her head throbbing in pain. She was lying in one of the huts, but was otherwise ok. The hut was strange, a collection of drawing and maps laid out on paper were tacked to the walls with sharpened twigs. Amy sat up and saw a heavy rope tied around her leg. The other end was tied to the center post of the tent. She tugged at it and then saw a small bowl set on the post at the top. Her movement caused it to fall over, sending a bunch of small pebbles clattering down. The noise must have been expected because she heard a shout from outside.
“Go get John and Hammond,” the shout came. She rolled her eyes. Those two are always together, they should be mated.
Hammond walked in and smiled. John followed him like a lap dog.
“What is this?” she gestured to the rope around her ankle.
“Insurance, you were going a little crazy out there, I needed you to calm down.”
“So you fucking hit me?” She bared her teeth.
“It worked,” he shrugged, then knelt down. “So… What is the secret to pregnancy, and what is with these cookies in your pack? Are they tied to it?”
“You really want to know?” she sneered. “When a man and a woman have certain urges…”
He raised his hand and she flinched, but he lowered it and counted to ten.
“Amy… You know we aren’t going to let you go until we know how those cookies make women pregnant.”
“Men make women pregnant, stupid, the cookies just allow it. The aliens figured it out. It was population control, but it is a natural cycle, not whatever divine crap you were spouting. And it isn’t under your control either. It goes with the seasons, and the population of nature. As it is this is the last batch.”
“Ben says he can’t see what you did to the cookies, just that there is some odd ingredients.”
“Honey, it helped with the taste.”
“I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE FLAVOR!”
John walked in and shook his head. “She is being stubborn?”
“Big surprise,” John grumbled.
“You have bigger problems to take care of my lord, let me deal with the girl.”
“Lord?” Amy lifted her eyebrow. Hammond said, “This problem overrules all others, John. I will see that it gests resolved… Personally.”
John walked out, leaving Amy alone with Hammond.
His face was handsome, and he knew it. He had the body of Adonis, the chin of a hero, and the smile of a used car salesman. He turned his charming smile on Amy, and suddenly it was gone.
“You are going to tell me the secret to those fucking cookies you little shit. I didn’t waste all my time in this piss run hell hole to have my power usurped by you.”
“Guys like you are what got us into this mess in the first place.”
“Bullshit, an exploding star somewhere in Betelgeuse minor or some other fucking place did that. These people needed divine leadership, they need a god to worship, and I gave them one. Now me and you…”
“You and I,” she corrected.
He ignored her. “We are going to give them another divine hope, one that will guarantee that these suckers will see me as the fucking Pope. You are going to give me the secret to how these cookies allow men to make women pregnant.”
“You are one seriously deluded sick fuck,” Amy snarled back. Hammond picked up a cookie and walked towards her.
“Anne will come for you when you don’t return. And when she does she will get a… Not so welcoming return home. Now… I will let you go and warn her to stay away, if you tell me what I want to know. If you don’t, you will stay here, we do this the hard way, and eventually Anne will be tied right there beside you. Or in John’s hut, he always fancied the slut.”
“She is not a….” Amy shouted and Hammond, quick as a snake, leapt forward and jammed the cookie into her mouth, covering it with his hand. She tried to twist her head but he grabbed her ponytail and held her still until she chewed and swallowed the cookie.
“Now…… Let’s find out if it works,” he laughed and pushed her backward on the floor.
She screamed and punched at his side and head, but she was 19 and he was in his thirties and much stronger than her. He blocked her punches and sat on her stomach, causing her to struggle for breath. He slapped her hard, and she felt like the side of her face was exploding, then he slapped her again, and again. She lifted her hands to her face to shield herself and he grabbed both wrists in 1 large hand, pinning them above her head. With the other hand he kept hitting her, just like her father use to.
“Please, daddy, stop!” she cried out deliriously. He just chuckled and tore her doeskin pants down.
He would use her again, later and often, ensuring that she carried his seed, but the first time he raped her it was with them both clothed, open just enough for him to get inside her. It hurt her so bad she prayed for death and at first it hurt him as well. She was dry and it was like pushing into sandpaper. Each thrust was agony, but it was worse for her, until finally her blood did what her own natural juices should have done and gave him the lubrication he needed to get inside her. He pounded at her for over thirty minutes, every time he would come close he held back, stopping and waiting, and then doing it again. By the time he was done she was exhausted, emotionally and physically. He erupted inside her and left her laying there with sperm and blood oozing out of her.
Hours later he came back with some food for her, but raped her again before she could eat. She didn’t have much of an appetite as he came in her and whispered. “When Anne gets here she will be next.”
The next day he force fed her another cookie and stripped her naked, leaving her that way when he was done with her. As he left, pretty sure after three times that it had worked, he told the guards to have fun. She was taken by 2 men she didn’t know, forced in her mouth and in her ass, but both came inside her pussy.
The following day John came in and looked at her sadly. “Please Amy, I want this to stop too. Just tell me how the cookie works and I will let you go home to Anne.”
The young blond girl who had at one time cared nothing about no one but herself glared up at him. “You are a vile, evil, disgusting….” he sighed and turned, leaving.
Amy was starved for 5 days, with no food except for a cookie once a day. She knew there had been 60 cookies. Even if she got pregnant she planned on eating them all. If the entire community died off without offspring she couldn’t care less.
Each day she was raped, often by Hammond, sometimes by others. Always the same faces, Hammond’s little posse. She stopped fighting them, she stopped reacting at all and just stared at the ceiling as they rutted on her. If Anne can do it, I can do it, she thought grimly.
Finally after 5 days she was so hungry she thought her stomach was going to turn inside out. Hammond came in with a bowl of thick stew and her stomach knotted. He motioned between his legs and she hung her head, then crawled forward and took him in her mouth. Using every technique she had learned watching porn on the internet, she brought him off and this time, for the first time, he came in her mouth, making her swallow it all. Then he let her eat.
2 weeks later the party from Providence showed up. They were told Amy had indeed come and was very upset with everyone here. She had shared the cookies and almost immediately the signs of pregnancy showed up. Amy hadn’t stayed to find out though, after she had given the cookies she had left, back to Providence.
When the scouting party returned to Providence, 4 weeks had passed after Amy had left. They sought Anne and told her what they had been told in Hope, and how the town had changed. Anne frowned at the news, and told them, “Amy has not come back here. Something is fishy about what you were told, guys.” She called Bernie up and told him what the scouting party had told her. With no hesitation, Bernie said, “They’re lying through their teeth, Anne. Amy is not here, obviously. We have to assume something happened to her, or that the people of Hope have her captive. Listen, I’m no blacksmith, but if we could get a hold of some pyrite and some coal, we could first make iron, and then make steel. It’s harder than iron, every farmer knows steel cuts through the soil much better than iron. Iron is brittle and breaks easily. Anne… You’re going to hate me for this, but we may have to arm ourselves. Those iron smelts are not there just for pots and pans, Anne. Hammond is an evil man, he gave me an unwholesome feeling whenever I looked at him, that’s why I left. He may well gather an army to come looking for us. Then it’ll be like Hope before we left, only worse, because we won’t be free. We’ll be doing some madman’s bidding, and not our own.”
Anne nodded sadly. “You’re right, Bernie… I hate the idea but we may have to fight to defend ourselves, to protect what I feel the aliens wanted to give us in this world… A chance to do things right.” Anne gathered all the scouts she could and sent them so scour the nearby hills for ore of any kind. It took days to search the hills around Providence, and they did find both. Coal, to the south and east, and iron, due south.
With Bernie’s help, and after a lot of trial error, after a few weeks Providence had an iron smelter. The smelted iron was not used directly, but turned into steel. Steel was much harder to work with, and was much more difficult to obtain, but at last after many attempts Bernie found out the perfect combination of coal and iron to make a particularly strong and flexible steel alloy, and with it they first made pots and pans and plows, and soon after that they made weapons. That day, when the first swords were forged, Anne would not come out of her hut, and cried all day. She knew it was a necessity, but that did not make her like it more.
At last, three months after Amy’s disappearance, and after many days of deeply meditating what to do, Anne emerged from the hut. Her belly was starting to show as a bump on her otherwise trim, fit body. Men and women had been training with the swords, and with spears, and had made shields as well. In all, it was a very small force, under one hundred, but they had trained hard. Anne looked at them, and said: “Brave guards of Providence! I had dreaded this day would come. But it has. The time is coming when we may have to fight for what we stand for. You are Providence’s shield. Defend it to your best, for the sake of those of us who can’t. Proud guards of Providence! I give you one task: Go to the nomads, and beseech for their help. We may need all the help we can get. Do not force them to come, because that is not our way. If they say no, leave them be in peace.”
Amy lay still. She run her fingers over her slightly swollen belly. She hadn’t been outside the hut since she had woken up here. She had barely eaten. The cookies were gone now; allegedly they had been dispersed among the other women. There was talk of so many pregnancies. Everyone was so excited, but John and Hammond were now desperate. With no more cookies this would be the last generation born to Hope. They had to get the information from Amy about the secret of their creation to maintain their power.
What Amy didn’t know was that her disappearance was not exactly a secret. Ruth and Maggie had watched and waited. When Amy never emerged they asked questions and was told she had left, back to her home. But Hammer, the trusted, strong little pony was still there, used by the miners to pull the heavy carts up and down the mountain. She wouldn’t have left without Hammer.
It wasn’t even a secret where she was. Once Ruth realized Amy was still in the village… Well, everyone had seen them take her into Hammond’s hut. Then there were the pregnancies, and with John’s hetero law, over half the population was now with child, but the other half was demanding their right to get pregnant as well. Suddenly there were no more magic cookies. Hammond claimed that the aliens did not want any more people getting pregnant, for the sake of population control. It was quickly pointed out that only the women closest to the inner circle were pregnant and allegations of favoritism were thrown around.
Arguments started, and festered. Debates grew heated, jealousy grew. The women who were not pregnant were angry, feeling jilted. Ruth seized the moment. As charismatic as Hammond and as strong and capable leader as John, she gathered the women and a few of the men into an army, and there was a fight.
In the middle of the night the rebels struck, it was quick and brutal, but hopeless. John’s men were better armed and trained. Maggie managed to free Amy and, gathering whoever was left, fled into the night.
Less than a week later, 300 people from Hope stumbled into Providence, tired and hungry. Amy pushed through the others and wrapped her arms around Anne tightly and cried so hard she couldn’t breathe.
Anne squealed when a ragged, hungry, and pregnant Amy embraced her. Anne’s hug was like a vice, so hard even Anne could not breathe for a while. When she finally looked at Amy, Anne’s eyes were red. “Amy…… Oh Amy, what happened to you love?” said Anne, “I was worried dead about you! I… I have so much to tell you, we are going to have a baby…” Anne took Amy’s hand and rubbed it softly on her bump. “But what happened to you? Are you pregnant too?” Anne’s hand rested on Amy’s bump. Anne took a moment to look up at the group. “Thank you so much for bringing Amy back home,” she said. “Please, rest, eat, and bathe. We can speak after you all have rested.” Anne saw Maggie among the group, and nodded to her in recognition. Maggie nodded back. Ruth was among the injured.
Anne fought to keep back the tears until everyone had left them alone. When they were alone, Anne all but melted in a sea of tears, and held Amy tight, shaking like a leaf.
Amy kissed Anne. “I will tell you later,” she whispered softly, then immediately took command of the other medicine men and women she had been teaching and they saw to the injured. Only after everyone was bandaged and taken care of did Amy relax into Anne’s arms.
She placed her hand on Anne’s tummy and giggled. “That is so great. Who knocked you up? Robert?”
“No, I chose Bernie,” Anne smiled.
“Good choice, I hope it’s a boy, it will be so strong,” Amy sighed. “I was…… Anne… Hammond raped me. Many times. He was trying to get the knowledge of the cookies. I never told any of them it was the grass here. They think it is some kind of chemical thing I came up with. Hammond… He is truly evil. He force fed me cookies and raped me until he was sure I was pregnant, then gave me to his goons. I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have gone alone.”
Anne blanched when Amy told her about her rape and whose child it was that she was carrying. Instead of getting angry, though, Anne kissed Amy’s tummy. “With love and good nurturing, your baby will grow up to be exactly the opposite of its father… Love… I… I am sorry that you were raped, I’m sorry that Hammond did this to you, it’s what takers do, love, they take and take because they are empty in their hearts, and they take to control what’s around them in hopes to fill their heart with something they can own. Only, they never do. It’s not about love and it’s not about procreation, it’s about consuming and diminishing you, and make you an object they own and possess. Rape… Rape is about control, love. As for your child, I won’t have on my hands the blood of an innocent, he is welcome to our home, because even though it’s not wanted, it comes from you, Amy.” Anne pulled Amy close to her, and hugging her tight, she finally let go all the tears she had been holding back.
Amy hugged Anne back and sighed. “If you say so, I feel awful for having it inside me.”
Maggie knocked on the hut’s door and came inside. “Anne, when you are feeling up to it, there is a committee gathered to speak to you.”
Anne nodded and looked at Amy, who wiped her own eyes and nodded. “Let’s go see what they want.”
They walked out to discover nearly the entire crowd, as much could fit together, was there.
“Anne,” Bernie walked up to her, then smiled as he looked over her shoulder. “Amy! You are alive and well I see.”
Amy shrugged and didn’t return his smile. Anne did not fail to notice Amy’s shrug, but dropped it, she’d talk about it later.
Bernie looked at Anne. “We don’t have the room for all these people, but they are willing to help build new homes. There is talk though of war with Hope, is this true?”
“We won’t know until they come,” Anne sighed. “Until then we get everyone trained, just in case.”
“They will come,” Amy said. “They are obsessed with the secret of the cookies. I never told them how I did it and without that knowledge they cannot rebuild their precious kingdom. I walked in there with sixty cookies only, I know Hammond fed me 5 and he dispersed the rest.” Those who had fled Hope and were pregnant nodded. “That means what? 55 people pregnant, 55 babies born in 6 months. What is the current population of Hope? 900 now? We have about 20 of those 55 here, which means they have 35 newborns to repopulate with no hope of anymore after that. 35 to replace 900. They will come.”
Anne frowned. “We are 450 with all that escaped Hope. We have no choice, we must prepare to defend. And we have not been idle either. Hope has iron, Maggie, right?” Maggie nodded. “We have steel. Bernie was an immense help, but we have something that is harder than just iron. I hate the idea, but it must be so. Maggie, do you know good training techniques? Teach them. Providence has, much to my dismay, a corps of guardians. They are a hundred, and if we have any volunteers from those of you who just arrived, you are welcome to train. All I ask is that you give your best.” Anne then said, “Now please excuse me, Maggie, Amy, Bernie and I need to organize what to do to defend Providence.” When everyone had left, Maggie, Anne, Amy and Bernie were left alone. They talked at length about how to protect Providence and do so in such a way that would not pervert the spirit in which it has been founded.
Maggie was a huge help. As much as she was a sarcastic and domineering person, she had been in the military, one of the reasons Ruth had trusted her. She had lots of ideas, she liked that Providence was located on a wide open plain, with a hill that could see someone coming for miles. She had formed a small group and had them dig trenches filled them with water and then placed grass and sod over the pits. Marked by small rocks, the people of Providence would not fall into the pit traps.
She took over the training and all of the women of Hope had volunteered to fight. They didn’t like how they were treated, more and more rights had been taken at Hope. Men were given a crucial say in what would happen to their women.
The time had come for a rebellion, and Ruth had made it happen. Amy worried though, despite having a steel like metal, she didn’t see a positive outcome to this. People were going to die, this was not the world the aliens had wanted. She sat in her hut, oblivious to the training, wanting no part of it. She had been victim to too much violence and ignorance before and after the Taking. She just wanted it all to stop. She wished the aliens had taken her and Anne and just left everyone else. It wasn’t fair.
Anne was unsettled, to say the least. On the day of Amy’s return, too many things had happened at the same time, and seeing her pregnant with Hammond’s baby had been a shock. That night, when they were finally alone, in their hut, Anne cuddled Amy as tightly as her bump allowed her to, and caressed her hair, and kissed her on her cheek, and she said, “Amy… Love, I know what you’re feeling, and while I’m not a mind reader… I have a good idea about what you must be thinking. I’m betting that you’re feeling angry at yourself, for allowing Hammond to rape you, and… And I bet you must be angry at… At the inevitability of a war with Hope.” Anne sighed. “I… I hate it too, I hate war, but sometimes you have to be ready to fight, even if you don’t want to fight in the first place. When… When Bernie forged the first sword, I came here, and I cried. I cried, because I hate wars. My mother’s grandfather fought in World War II and in Korea, and her father fought in Vietnam, Mom used to tell me when I was little how he would wake everybody up in the middle of the night with his night terrors. It was hearing Mom’s stories about her father that I grew up to hate wars. I still hate them, but I won’t let Hammond or John waltz in here and take our freedom away. Especially now after what Hammond did to you.” Anne touched Amy’s bump. “It’s not your baby’s fault to have the father that it has, and it’s not its fault to be the product of a rape. All you can do is to raise your baby… Because this is your baby, not Hammond’s… It’s you who carries it, it’s you who will deliver it, and it’ll be you and I who will raise it. Your baby, our child, just like my baby will be our child, and Bernie’s, because I want him to be a part of its life, and… If you’re ok with it, I’d like it if Bernie was a part of your baby’s life, too. He may not be your baby’s father… But he can be its dad.” Then, Anne held Amy gently, trying to put in her hold all the love she wanted to give to Amy.
Amy smiled softly and nodded. “Bernie will be a good dad,” she sighed and her smile dropped. “I am not so sure how great a mom I will be. I don’t hate my baby for what his father did, I hate the father. You were right Anne, he is a con man, he told me so. He has them all tied around his finger and is using the aliens as a way of putting fear into people to manipulate them, even John. John thinks this alien bullshit is legit. Hammond is truly evil, I thought my dad was once, but after having met Hammond I realize my dad was just mean. Evil is different. And it is more powerful than I thought.”
It didn’t take long at all, but the waiting had been excruciating. John’s army could be seen from quite a distance as it approached. Everyone stood ready to greet them. They were riding horses traded for with the horsemen and John rode forward with Hammond, Ben, and a few of his other important cronies, most of them more loyal to Hammond than John. Anne started forward on foot, Amy, Bernie, Ruth, and Maggie beside her. Both armies stood poised just behind their leaders, ready.
“Anne, you look as beautiful as ever, and you have a glow,” John smiled at her.
“This has to stop, John,” Anne said, pushing aside any banter. “You know the aliens would not have wanted this.”
“Actually the aliens have decreed that this new world was soiled by the machinations of women,” Hammond said. “They have decided that men need to rule, they feel that your emotions, and that of Ruth, have brought humankind to the brink of extinction.”
“Bullshit,” Amy snapped. “The aliens wanted us to work in peace. To start over and…”
“You are right,” John interrupted her. “They do want peace, and this doesn’t have to happen. Give us the girl, or the secret of the cookies, and we will go in peace.”
“Yes, I got what I wanted from her,” Hammond snickered and Bernie placed a hand on Amy’s shoulder before she went after him.
“Consider the children, Anne,” John said. “Give us the secret of creating life and we will turn around and leave, and leave your people in peace. No bloodshed.”
Anne shook her head. “You’re a good man, John, and if you had come here alone, and meant it, I’d have even sat down with you and figured out a peaceful way to end this. But you need to be a better judge of people, John.” Then Anne turned to Hammond, and for the third time in her life she felt hate. She had felt hate inside her after her first rape, and after her second one too. She had bottled it all up, but now she would not bottle it up again, because this time someone she cared about had been hurt. With steel in her voice, Anne said to Hammond, “As for you… If the aliens had decreed that which you claim, they would have made men breed by parthenogenesis. They have the technology to change our genome however they want, so if what you claim was true, they would have brought only males here and modified your genes so humans reproduced without sex. New male humans would sprout all by themselves every so often out of you, and ready to face the world, perfect little genetic copies of their parent. No muss, no fuss, no nurturing and no parenting. But then again you’d not be humans, you’d be plants. You’re a kook and a phony, Hammond. You want power for yourself, you want to take power from those around you, you raped Amy, abused the gift she brought to you as a sign of goodwill, and you have perverted everything about society so you can take more power for yourself and your cronies. I am not a warrior, I do not lust for bloodshed, but I hate that good people like John have fallen to your lies, I hate everything you represent. You’re the past, you’re all that was wrong about Earth and as long as you draw breath to spew out lies there’ll be no secret of life for you or those who follow you.” Facing John, she softened her expression and said, “John, our armies will meet in battle. I hate that it must come to this, but you were played by Hammond all along. Parley’s over, we decide this in battle.” Anne walked back to her side of the battlefield, and as soon as she reached the armies she hollered: “Brave defenders of Providence! Today we fight to cleanse the past and start anew! I do not wish John to be harmed if it can be helped! He is a good man, fallen to the lies and deceit of Hammond! Kill only who you must! However, show no mercy to Hammond! Now we fight! For a new future!”
Anne’s forces yelled to the top of their lungs, and so did John and Hammond’s. Swords beat on shields, and the din was overwhelming. Those who wielded spears shook them, it was like a forest of pointy leaves shining under the sun. The cavalry units from Hammond’s forces rode first; in front of them a line of pikes formed. The first blows fell, men and beasts were injured and some were killed, but just as the battle was getting started there was an ear shattering BANG!
A blinding white light covered the whole plain. Everybody fell unconscious. When the armies came to, Anne, Amy, Hammond, Ruth, Maggie and John were missing. The opposing factions tried to pick up the fight where they had started, but found they were paralyzed.
When Anne, Amy, Hammond, Ruth, Maggie and John came to, they were in a pure white space. They were all together, standing in a circle, and unrestrained. Anne tried to move towards Hammond, but found she was paralyzed. So was everybody else. In the center of the circle, a humanoid figure appeared. It was as tall as a human male, had a pair of legs, a pair of arms and a head, but that is where the similitudes ended. Arms and legs were long and lanky, and the head was larger in proportion of the rest of the body. Its skin was pale gray, and over it there was a tight jumpsuit made out of a shimmery, silver-like material. The alien’s eyes were large, oval, and lidless, and were solid black and lidless. When it spoke, its lips did not move, but everybody in the room could hear it, and understand it:
“Greetings, humans,” the alien said. “I speak on behalf of the Karanians, the civilization who rescued you from your doomed planet. Some of us believed that you were not worthy of being saved. To let a race with potential to reach for the stars go extinct, however, is not our way. We debated for a long time what to do with your lot. Some argued that you should be introduced to the advances our civilization has to offer. Others were more cautious, and wished to guide you to rebuild a new civilization that was free of the barbarity of your old Earth. After much discussion, we decided that we would give you a chance to rebuild on your own terms, in a planet that we primed to house you. We would also set a watch on your lot, and decided that if we saw a return to the barbarity of your old ways, we would intervene. In the small amount of time that we have watched your race once we resettled you, we observed one group of people cling to some of their baggage from the past,” and here the alien stared at Ruth. “While you are a charismatic leader,” the alien said after a pause, “You failed to be inclusive, and did not let those whom you call men participate more in your settlement’s life, choosing to confine them to physical labor instead.”
The alien then turned to John. “You did well as a leader. You were inclusive, and while you favored men, you also had women in your midst.” The alien then made a significant pause. “It all went quickly to barbarism when you started to listen to the man whom you call Hammond.” The alien paused a moment, as if it was conferencing with others. “We will speak of him later. He has stained himself with heinous crimes the likes of which we had not seen in over thirty centuries.” The alien then looked at Anne. “You were the best of the lot. You realized when the man you called John was leaving the path of inclusion, and chose to take those who were close to your ideas to start on your terms a new settlement. For this, we rewarded your effort. We were saddened to see how you chose to arm the village, but in light of the crimes committed by the man you call Hammond, it was an unavoidable path, and you intended to fight defensively, which is the lesser evil war. An intelligent decision in the face of less than optimal choices. Your one fault is that you gave in to negative emotions, but your actions are to be examined under the extenuating circumstance of your partner being victim of several crimes by the hand of the man called Hammond.” It was then that the pale gray skin of the alien darkened, and his voice gained a powerful, choral tone, made of many voices at once. “As for you,” the alien said, “the actions you have undertaken in our name not only were false and contrary to all our civilization stands for, they were aimed to concentrate power in your hands and subjugate one group of individuals to another group of individuals. In addition, you abused of a gift brought to you to force yourself carnally upon the person who brought it to you, causing her to become impregnated with your offspring. All to take for the sake of taking, to accumulate for the sake of accumulating, to conquer for the sake of conquering, to kill for the sake of killing, to rape the society you were accepted in, rape the planet of resources to feed your hoarding spree, and rape all around you, be it a rape of the mind,” and here the alien looked at John, “or of the body,” and he looked at Amy. “Under our law, Hammond, what you have done carries only one possible sentence.” The alien stopped, and his voice grew even more powerful when he spoke again. “Our sentence is utter and total dependence on others.” Even as the alien spoke, a laser-like beam focused on Hammond’s head, and he screamed and writhed in agony as most of his mind –except for what was necessary to eke out the barest of survival – was bombarded by intense heat, rendering Hammond irremediably brain damaged, impotent, amnesiac and unable to speak anything more complex than the simplest requests for food or water.
“Justice is rendered” said the alien. His voice regained its original tone, as well as his skin. “You have borne witness of our justice, humans. We are willing to give you one last chance. Cease the barbaric fighting, cease taking for the sake of taking, build a civilization built on inclusion and equality, and in time your effort will be rewarded. Fall into barbarism, and we will intervene again, this time with an unforgiving eye. Consider yourselves warned.” The cube opened, and Hammond dropped, babbling incoherent nonsense. There was a flash of light, and Anne, Amy, Ruth, Hammond, Maggie and John were transported back to the battlefield. When they came to, both armies were slowly coming back to their senses, dazed and confused. Both John and Anne yelled, “Stop the fighting!” to their respective armies. Hammond, with most of his mind gone, walked haltingly, drooling from his semi opened mouth. “Waaaaterrrr,” he mumbled, “Foooooood,” and wobbled away from both Anne and John, not recognizing either of them. As both armies got back to their own sides, Anne and John exchanged glances in the middle of the field. “Let us mend this, John,” said Anne. “We are the ones who survived, we should be better than to repeat the fuckups of our forebears.” John looked at Hammond hobbling away. He said, “Anne… I can’t undo the damage that was done by Hammond, not in a short time. I understand if you and Amy do not want to come back to Hope. Let our towns stay apart, but I am willing to work with you so both our towns can prosper.” Anne looked at Hammond too, and said to John, “I can work with that, John. You are a good man,” she said. “Just be careful who you trust.” John nodded and said, “I will. We have a stern watchman above us. I don’t want to cross them at all.” Anne nodded, and took hold of Amy. She said, “let’s go home Amy,” and led Amy and her army back to Providence.
That evening, Anne and Amy held first a town meeting, where they told everyone about their encounter with the aliens. The villagers were both in awe and terrified when Anne told the tale of Hammond’s fate, and the warning the aliens had given both Anne and John. Anne ended the meeting with a call for a celebration, in a way it had been their victory, even though it wasn’t really a victory at all.
Later that night, Anne beheld Amy. She was positively glowing, and to Anne’s eyes, she was the most beautiful person in the world. Inside the hut it was warm, so Anne got rid of all her clothing, and laid down on the bed, and looked at Amy with starry eyes. “Come, Amy, I want to…” Anne’s words were interrupted by Amy’s giggles, as she took her clothes off and all but jumped close to Anne.
In spite of their pregnancies, both managed to make love that night, even as the party called by Anne dragged on to the wee hours of the morning, and ended only when the sun started to poke out of the eastern horizon. Both women had slept very little, distracted by the many chances they had during the night to touch each other, and love each other, as they had not done in a long time.
After a few weeks of tense relationships with the town of Hope, relations between the two towns slowly improved to a cordial neutrality. John would visit often, and because of those visits trade between Hope and Providence started to flow. A trickle at first, but as time went by, it grew in volume. Among the items traded were the pregnancy cookies, made in batches of 200.
The aliens, on their part, kept a close guard on the humans. Occasionally, they would intervene punctually, giving hints as to where should the budding civilization head to.
Hammond did not last a month on his own. Utterly dependent, and disliked by everybody, the once ambitious man met his end by exposure during a particularly harsh winter.
Bernie assisted both Anne and Amy to bring their babies into the world. Childbirth changed both women, making Amy’s and Anne’s figures fuller on the hips, and their breasts never regained their original size after a full year of breastfeeding, but maintained a larger, fuller size. He would live four more years, to die peacefully in his sleep, after helping as much as he could to raise Anne’s and Amy’s boys, called Brandon and Kaz. Brandon was the spitting image of his father, down to his character, but he had his mother’s large, hazel eyes and her dark, wavy hair. Kaz instead was the spitting image of his mother, and of his father he only inherited his chiseled chin. While he still lived, Bernie raised Kaz as he raised Brandon, with a sense of wonder and duty, much like he himself had had once, and Amy always told Kaz that Bernie was his father.
Shortly after Brandon and Kaz were born, Anne and Amy announced to the village that their intent to perform a hand fasting ceremony. John came down to Providence on purpose to witness it. They exchanged vows, and promised to honor and respect and love each other to their dying days. John’s time to hand fast would come a year later, after a woman moved to Hope from John’s village, following the rumors of the booming town by the estuary of the Sunset River. He would be elected mayor of Hope for eight more times, until he retired soon after achieving his promise of mending the relations with Providence.
About one year after John’s marriage, both Amy and Anne were outside their hut, looking out to the westering sun.
“So much has happened in this past year,” said Anne, reaching for Amy’s hand.
“We had to be given a spanking by the aliens to see how we were messing up,” said Amy.
“No shit.”
“And sometimes I still have nightmares. About him. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what he did to me,” said Amy.
“It won’t ever go away, love,” said Anne. “It’s a wound that won’t ever close. I sometimes still relive mine, on bad days. But with your love, that past is just that, Amy. A bad memory that one day will fade to a shadow on my brow and a furrow of my eyebrows, instead of night sweats and the desperate need to cling to you.” “I hope that we will find our own peace, Anne,” said Amy. “We sure as Hell deserve it. We are… We are the ones who survived.”
“You are right, Amy, we survived, and now it’s our time to grow and live.”
The sun rose bright, the air clean and cold, but it was spring again and it would warm soon. The hole in the roof, one of many that marked the passage of time, shone a small beam on the wall. Amy had long since stopped marking where the sun rose each morning, and where it would set at night. A figure 8 marked the wall, pointing out different marks that showed the winter and summer solstice, the spring and autumn equinox.
She was a wise woman, which is what Providence called her. She didn’t feel wise, she felt old at 25? 26? She had lost count. She snuggled back against Anne’s warmth and felt Anne drape an arm over her. Of course, the peace and dream of sleeping in was shattered.
“Mom!!!!!” came 2 voices at once, bounding into the tent and leaping on top of the 2 women huddled under the blanket.
“Go away,” Amy moaned.
“Kaz says that frogs are edible, and I said that they are not.”
“You can eat the legs, but there are some that are poisonous, so best not to take chances.”
Brandon turned to his brother Kaz and said. “Tolja.”
“She said you can eat their legs, and that makes me right!”
“You are both right and both freaking annoying!” Amy grumbled from under the blanket.
“Go finish your chores, boys.” Anne laughed and they ran off.
“We have beautiful sons,” she sighed happily.
“Before breakfast I have no sons,” Amy sighed and threw back the blanket, getting up and stretching, naked. “So let’s get some breakfast before they burn something… Again.”
The two women, chief and medicine woman, stepped out of their tent and Amy smiled. Providence stretched from the hill down to the river, and even to the other side. With a population of over 7000 it grew with each spring. The aliens would tell her when to stop allowing pregnancies, they told her as much.
Their sons, Kaz, the son of Amy, and Brandon, the son of Anne, were nearly identical in size and temperament. They were busy herding the cows out to the pasture to eat. Both were growing up to be farmers, like Bernie had been before them. Anne looked at Amy and smiled.
Amy sighed and smiled back. At last they had found peace.