PART I
Word spread fast that the government had issued a stay-at-home order. We probably should have been paying closer attention to the news. If we had, we would have been more prepared. Lorraine and I had been arguing for a couple of days about whose turn it was to go to the grocery store, but it was now moot. We couldn’t leave the apartment and we didn’t have much left to eat.
“How long do you think this will last?” Lorraine asked, her gaze directed at the open kitchen cabinets.
“A week or two, tops,” I told her, with all the authority of someone who doesn’t watch the news.
That first week went by slowly, but without incident. Our need to go grocery shopping was less desperate than it seemed before the lockdown. Those things we deemed “essential”–ingredients for favorite meals, the latest magazines, perishables–made way for cans from the back of the cupboard and books we bought that we always meant to read.
At the start of the second week, looking at the calendar, I asked Lorraine–“You okay on…”
“On what?”
“You know.” She did know. This was why we’d had the argument over whose turn it was to go to the grocery store. I knew it was probably my turn, but hated buying tampons. The clerk, male or female, always gave me a knowing nod. They knew what this meant. I lived with my wife or girlfriend and I wasn’t getting any at the moment. They were right on the second part–I wasn’t–but not on the first. Lorraine and I were merely roommates.
“Oh, no, I’m good,” Lorraine informed me. “Thank you for your concern.”
“If this goes on for a month or more…?”
“I’m on the pill now. No periods. And I have a ninety-day supply.”
“Okay, just checking.”
“Thank you, Teddy. My uterus appreciates your concern.”
We returned our attention to the television.
“The pill, eh?” I channeled the vibe of the knowing grocery clerk.
“Yes, Teddy. I’m seeing someone. Or at least I was.”
I found her confession vastly more interesting than the daytime soap opera we were watching. “Do tell.”
Lorraine’s cheeks flushed, in sudden contrast with her pale skin.
“There’s not much to tell. We just started dating.”
“Yet somehow you’re already on the pill.”
“Well, I didn’t say nothing happened.” Lorraine’s cheeks turned pink again, as if she was thinking about her boyfriend and what they’d already done together. “Just nothing much.”
Despite sharing the common space of our apartment for two years, we’d never particularly delved into each other’s private lives. This soap opera, though–geez. “Details?”
Lorraine turned and looked at me with her deep brown eyes as if assessing whether or not she wanted to cross this threshold with me. It could turn into a precedent.
“Normally I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Oh, of course. Special circumstances. I understand. It’s a national emergency, after all.”
“Right. National emergency. There was some kissing.”
“Just kissing?”
Lorraine slapped my playfully on the arm. “No, dummy. Not just kissing. I don’t need the pill for kissing.”
“Hey, I once had a friend who thought she may have gotten pregnant from dry humping.”
“Well, I’m not your dumb friend.”
“No, you’re not.” I don’t know what came over me in that moment. Despite sharing the space as long as we had, I had never been physically closer to Lorraine. “You’re much prettier,” I told her, then winced.
Lorraine shifted her ample hips away from me on the sofa. “Uh, thanks, Teddy.”
The awkward tension between us became unbearable, even as we both pretended to be absorbed by the soap opera. I excused myself to my room.
* * *
By the end of the second week, with no announced end to the lock-down, we realized that we needed to ration our remaining food. And pretty severely at that. One night for dinner we split a can of expired French cut green beans. Neither of us had much of the will to do anything anymore. We either laid in bed in our separate rooms or lounged together in front of the television. Lorraine stopped her daily workout regime, and also, I noticed with keen interest, stopped wearing a bra.
“Are we gonna make it, Teddy?”
“I think so. I mean, there must be others in our situation.”
“Others?” she slumped over onto my shoulder and tilted her head back, hitting me with those big brown eyes at close range.
“Yeah. People like us.”
“It’s hard to imagine anyone else.”
I tried to pull my head back as far as I could so I didn’t feel like I was invading her space. “What about your… dude?”
“I don’t know. There’s nothing to talk about. I don’t think he’s my type.”
“No? You seemed pretty enamored a couple weeks ago.”
“I just wanted sex. I wasn’t looking for a husband.”
I took a quick glance down at my lap to see how noticeable my tented pants were. “Oh, okay.”
“And you, Teddy? When was the last time you got laid?”
“Well, Lorraine. It has been a fair few months.”
“Mmm,” Lorraine responded, closing her eyes and nuzzling into my neck.
“Uh, tired? Maybe you should turn in.”
“No.”
I could feel her lips and breath on my neck, giving me goosebumps. I slowly shifted a throw pillow into my lap.
“Teddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Should we?”
I knew what she meant. Or at least certain parts of my anatomy did. My brain tried to find other logical explanations, but none of them fit. I decided to be even more vague with my answer than she was with her question. “Yeah, sure.”
“Mmm,” she said again into my neck. Then I felt her lips come together on my skin in what was unmistakably a kiss.
I had given my consent verbally, but was also too weak to resist physically. I was surprised she had the energy. But as her kisses moved up to my ear, then across my cheeks to my lips, I could feel her accelerating, feeding off desire. I turned toward Lorraine and put my left hand on her hip, just resting it there at first. I extracted my right hand and draped it over the back of the couch. My sister had suggested to me a similar move when I went to her for advice–the good old yawn and stretch. You fake a yawn, stretching your closer arm above your head, and then let it come to rest–ever so subtly–across her shoulders.
We leaned into each other for support, our kisses growing deeper… lips parted, the tips of our tongues dancing. I feared for a moment that, out of hunger, she may literally try to eat my face, tongue-first, but I knew I wouldn’t stop her. I didn’t want to. Instead, I devoured her, our needy bodies pushing against each other, back and forth.
Lorraine threw her right knee across my legs and shifted her body into my lap, displacing the throw pillow. She was wearing yoga pants, despite abandoning her exercise regime, and I was wearing a pair of loose sweats. I could feel her warmth like a furnace as she slid back and forth against my member.
I slipped a hand between us to feel her breasts. They were a comfortable C-cup by my estimation and I could feel her nipples straining at her lavender tank top.
“Mfff” she moaned into my mouth, then leaned back, crossed her arms in front of her, grabbed the hem of her top and whipped it off in a smooth motion. A flash of lavender blocked my vision for a moment, then, as if a set of curtains had parted, I saw a beautiful scene. Her areola were rose gold and the size of dollar coins. For a moment I just stared, my hands extended on either side, afraid to touch. I looked up at Lorraine’s brown eyes and I could see them smiling first, then checked her full lips to confirm. As if I needed more encouragement, she then grabbed my head in both hands and buried my face between her breasts.
My hands thawed and grasped at her bare back as I luxuriated in her flesh. The only skin finer than tit flesh is the silkiness of the inner thighs–and I suspected I would get there soon enough. I sucked on each nipple, flipping them like toggle switches, though regardless of direction, my movements only seemed to turn her on.
I felt Lorraine’s hands at my lower back, fumbling with the hem of my t-shirt. Without lifting my face, I leaned forward, tilting her back, so she could get a grip. I only reluctantly lifted my face and hands so she could relieve me completely of my shirt.
We resumed kissing, now bare breasts against bare chest. I stroked my hands up and down her back, occasionally digging my fingers into the hem of her yoga pants. Lorraine responded by moaning into my ear and nibbling on my earlobe.
“Oh, cannibalism!” I whispered into her ear. I could feel her hard nipples bob up against my pecs as she giggled.
“You hungry?” she asked.
“Yeah, I could eat.”
She laughed again before dismounting, turning her back to me, and pulling her skin-tight pants and underpants down to the floor. As she did so, I was treated to the sight of her juicy, fleshy lips peeking out beneath her cheeks. “Like my can?” Lorraine asked, wiggling her rear at me.
“You’ve got the most delicious-looking canned goods I’ve seen all week.” While I was free, I yanked my own sweatpants down, and kicked them to the side.
“No underpants? I’ve always wondered whether you were boxers or briefs.”
The idea that Lorraine had even thought so far beneath my clothing to underpants sent a shiver through my body. “Who has time for laundry? Don’t you realize this is a national emergency?” I leaned forward, spooning her standing dishwasher-style, and stroked her lips with my right hand and my burgeoning cock with my left. I slicked up my index and middle fingers with her juices and slipped them inside of her.
“Mmm, Teddy… that feels good.” She began to sway forward and back, fucking herself on my fingers. Her stomach growled and we both laughed. “I guess I’m hungry for you,” she admitted.
“As the man of the apartment, I demand to eat first!” I switched hands and sucked my fingers clean.
“Bon appetit!” she shouted over her shoulder.
I got off the couch on to my knees next to her and used both my hands to nudge her onto her back, taking every opportunity to feel her curves–shoulders, breasts, slender belly, hips, thighs. I lay over her and kissed her on the mouth, dropping my chest just far enough to make contact with her breasts. Then I kissed my way down those same curves I’d already explored with my hands–shoulders, breasts, belly, hips, thighs. Oh, the thighs! Silky thighs! And back up again to the main course.
I slipped my index and middle fingers in again for a stir, then tasted the delicacy delicately with the tip of my tongue probing to her clit. I latched on to her peach, sucking the nectar from the source. I reached my free hand forward to fondle her breasts one at a time. I love the shape and feel of a suspended breast. I pinched a nipple and Lorraine lurched backward into my face, slapping my cheeks with hers. I steadied myself by grabbing her hips with both hands and digging my fingers in.
“Oh, God, Teddy!” Lorraine shouted, rubbing her clit against my rough tongue like it was a scratching post.
I drank in all I could, desperate for nutrients, as Lorraine’s taut body collapsed from front to back into the living room carpet. I rested my head on her rear as I hugged her right thigh, unselfconsciously rubbing my erection against Lorraine’s ankle.
“Are you seriously trying to fuck my ankle right now?”
“Uh… I guess?”
“I think I have some better ideas about where you can put that thing.”
* * *
This was turning into some national emergency.
Week two of God knows how many to go, and here we were, two heretofore platonic roomates, hungrily fucking. We were back up on the couch now, soiling it with our sweat and fluids. The stains would always be there, reminding us, refusing us entry back to who we were to each other before this moment.
But fuck it. Fuck her. Fuck me. Fuck us both. I slid my thick cock in and out of her hot hole as Lorraine moaned and pinched her nipples. My legs were getting weak, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I was close to coming, or because I was malnourished. I watched Lorraine’s face contorting with pleasure, her lips pursing as she looked at me with those brown eyes.
“I think… I’m gonna… come,” I spat out between pants.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Teddy!” Lorraine shouted at me, adding a contrary angry twist to her orgasm face. “Do not waste protein. We’re on rations.”
“Oh, uh. Good point.” I sat back on my haunches, my member withdrawing covered with her nectar.
Lorraine dropped to her knees in front of me, taking my cock in her mouth, then pulling it out again to lick it on all sides from base to tip like she was keeping ice cream from dripping down to the cone. She braced herself with a hand on the front of each of my hairy thighs as she swallowed me whole. Her throat was even tighter than her pussy and I could hold back no longer. I grabbed the back of her head as I held her with my cock down her throat. Her eyes looked up at me, tears falling from her eyes as she ached equally for breath and come. I blasted my load as I released her from my grip. We collapsed in a sweaty heap.
“That was your rations for the day,” I told her.
“That’s it? But I’ve been really good today. I think I deserve double rations.”
It only took another look into her eyes to convince me that she was right. And after all, it was a national emergency.
PART II
Lorraine and I kept the windows shut and the shades down. It wasn’t even that we were afraid a neighbor would see us, even though we now just walked around naked and took each other in passing like animals, in any room, on any piece of furniture. We blocked out the world because it had gotten crazy out there, too. We heard the screams. Gunshots. Cars crashing. Those with less efficient methods for exchanging proteins had been starved out of quarantine, but no stores were open, at least not officially. When we heard a knock at our door, we froze, mid-fuck, knowing that whatever temporary respite we’d made for ourselves was about to end.
After a moment’s silence, I resumed pumping my cock into Lorraine. Her eyes were wild with need and it made her difficult to resist. We tried to be quiet, but neither of us could control our rasping breath. Another knock and we froze again–then a third knock came more rapidly than the second, followed by a woman’s voice: “Lorraine? Lorraine? Are you there?”
“Who knows you’re here?” I hissed, driving into her to punctuate my question.
“Only anyone who knows I live here, dummy.” Lorraine grabbed at my backside, holding me inside of her.
Even just a few weeks after the quarantine began, it was already difficult to remember that we’d been here before all of this. We’d had a life–two, separate lives. Other than the television, which we didn’t bother to turn on any more, and the sounds that filtered through from the street, it was easy to forget that there was a world out there. It had nothing for us, so it simply didn’t matter. The walls of our apartment had become the boundary for our awareness, and the social walls between Lorraine and I, as roommates, had to be destroyed to survive in such a small space.
“Lorraine?” Another knock. “It’s Alsace.”
“Alsace?” I asked, as if confirming that I knew this person I’d never met. Lorraine released me and turned her body over until she was resting on her knees. I placed my hands on her hips as I prepared to drive back into her. “Huh. Alsace.”
“Alsace!” Lorraine shouted, escaping from my grasp.
I couldn’t remember Lorraine being this far from me, at least not naked, and I saw the damage done by weeks of starvation, her ribs visible through the flesh of her back, her hips jutting out like a terrace. She fumbled at the lock and flung open the door while I stood stupidly stroking my cock. “Hmm. Alsace.”
And there she was, Alsace.
* * *
Alsace was both hippier and bustier than Lorraine and somehow had maintained that figure so far through the quarantine. She was clothed, though, so final judgment must be reserved. She wore combat boots, stockings, a knee-length denim skirt, and what appeared to be a camouflage angora sweater. Her hair was dark brown, like Lorraine, but a shade darker and cut in a tight bob.
“Uh, Lorraine,” Alsace said, explaining to my desperate lover her hesitation to return the hug. “You’re naked.”
Lorraine loosened her grip and took a step back to look over our visitor. “Yeah, we’re pretty casual around here.”
Alsace finally noticed me, standing by the sofa, still stroking my cock. “I see that. Very casual.” As Lorraine closed the door, Alsace took a step toward me to get out of the way, but did not break her gaze with me. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Alsace. Lorraine’s cousin.”
“Hi,” I replied, waving briefly with my left hand because my right was still very much occupied. “Cousins. Identical cousins.”
“Well, cousins. Not particularly identical. I mean, for one, I’m dressed. So we should be pretty easy to tell apart.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, recovering my diminished social graces. “I’m naked.” I stroked a few more times as I stared at Alsace’s full, blushing lips. “Clothes?”
My slow train of thought was interrupted at a crossing by Lorraine’s speeding bus. “Alsace, this is Teddy, my roommate.”
“Oh?” Alsace lifted a razor-thin eyebrow. “Just a roommate.”
“Well, times being what they are… you know, for utilitarian purposes…”
“Oh, I get it, girl. I certainly recognize the utility.”
I looked around the room, as if I was at least making an attempt to locate pants.
“How did you get here?” Lorraine asked. “It sounds terrible out there.”
“Yeah, it is. But I was going stir-crazy uptown all by myself.” Lorraine walked around the end of the couch and sat down barely two feet away from me, apparently unperturbed, which is more than I can say for my member. “It took me a few hours. I was really hoping you guys would have something to eat, but by the looks of you, I’d say you’re doing worse than I am.”
“Well,” Lorraine said. “We manage. Don’t we, Teddy?”
“Uh-huh.” I hadn’t realized how much the hunger had affected my brain function until someone new entered the picture. The only part of my brain still working was imagining Alsace as naked as me and Lorraine and participating in our last remaining pastime.
“I ate everything in my kitchen, and even some houseplants. What do you do for protein around here, anyway?”
Before I could connect the dots, Lorraine was dropping to her knees in front of me, swiping aside my hand and assuming control with her own. She turned and looked up at her cousin, who had a front-row seat for what was about to happen. “Let me show you.”
I watched Alsace’s green eyes widen as she saw her cousin’s tongue trace my shaft, then take my erection into her mouth up to the hilt. There was a little extra zip to her usual starved depravity that I chalked up to our new audience. Alsace wasn’t walking out on the show, either. As Lorraine slobbered my knob, I could see Alsace getting comfortable, settling into the sofa, her hands beginning to wander. I couldn’t decide who to watch. Lorraine was naked and giving me pleasure I was soon to return, but Alsace was an unknown quantity, this third, and I wanted to see how her addition would sum up.
Alsace slid forward on the sofa pushing her denim skirt up her hips, revealing the thighs above her stockings, held into place with garter straps. A garter seemed kind of fancy for an apocalypse, but I soon discovered that wasn’t the only news in the underwear department. What I at first took to be peach-colored panties I realized was a cleanly shaven mound. Of course! This was a new age. Why waste energy washing panties. I couldn’t recall the last time Lorraine or I had done laundry–probably back in that first week of the stay-at-home order. Here we were, three weeks in, and it seemed like a different time altogether.
I watched Alsace’s eyes glaze over as she started rubbing her clit. Soon her gentle moans overdubbed the sound of Lorraine’s sucking. It was a fucking symphony. Lorraine took my cock out of her mouth, straightened her back, and traced her areolae with the tip. She looked over at her cousin, captivated. Alsace’s eyes came into focus to meet Lorraine’s glance. I’d been assuming, or at least hoping, for the past few minutes that I would soon be going down on Alsace, introducing a little variety to my diet, but now it appeared I might have to wait my turn.
Lorraine let my cock down gently as she turned her body and closed the distance between her mouth and Alsace’s pussy. Alsace continued to rub her clit, but shuddered as her cousin closed in. I hadn’t been able to believe my lock that I’d been locked in with an able, willing, and frankly ravenous young woman, and had never imagined her enjoying the delights of another woman.
I took a seat on the sofa next to Alsace to get a better view of my roomie going to town. Her eyes were closed and her brunette hair collapsed around her cheeks like a curtain, but I could hear the slurping sounds that told me her tongue was entering deeply. I ventured a hand over to Alsace’s chest, cupping a breast through her camo angora top. Just as I suspected–no bra, either. I’ve always been fond of the feel of a woman’s breasts through a sweater–as far as feels go, it ranks up there in my book with the silkiness of a woman’s inner thigh.
Alsace turned her face to mine, and grasped my face in her hands–the fingertips of her right still slick with her juices, and pulled me in for a kiss. Our tongues danced, but even with my eyes closed, I could still hear, and paired those sounds with the mental image I hoped to keep on file forever of Lorraine between her legs. I let my left hand drop to the hem of her sweater and work its way underneath and back up, palming a C-cup breast and tracing the length of her nipple with my thumb.
“I guess I’m overdressed,”Alsace murmured to my lips. We interrupted our kiss so she could pull her sweater off, dropping it carelessly over the back of the sofa. Before I could move my hand back in place, Lorraine swept up from below and took Alsace’s breasts in hand, sucking on one nipple, then the other.
“You greedy little bitch!” I shouted. “Rations! Rations! You can’t have both!”
Alsace laughed and met me with a smile. “She’s left you an opening elsewhere, Teddy. When opportunity knocks…”
“Lick a pussy?”
“I think that’s how it goes.”
I started to shift Lorraine’s legs out of the way to get at Alsace, but then realized that I had access to a double-helping. It was almost too much. Almost. It took some doing to work my way through the tangle of legs, though as you can imagine, I enjoyed squeezing past four silky inner thighs at once. I felt like a cock, smoothly pushing through the labia. Once inside, my entire field of vision was filled with pussy. Alsace’s, down below, shaven clean, and Lorraine’s above neatly trimmed in brown fur. I loved the sweet-tangy taste of Lorraine’s juices, but I couldn’t wait to try Alsace, and having been warmed up by Lorraine’s tongue, she was wet and ready. I easily slid three fingers into her, pulled them out, and licked them clean one by one. She had a similar taste to Lorraine, but stronger. The difference could have been in diet–it was certainly likely that she’d consumed something other than come these past few weeks. I dove in for a taste right from the source. I could hear her moan somewhere beyond Lorraine’s body. As I tongued her clit, my fingers wandered up Lorraine’s silky inner thigh, tickling her enough to make her laugh, and started rubbing her button.
Perhaps this was how the early astronauts felt, trapped in a confined space, pressing buttons simultaneously, though I doubt they ever dared use their tongues. It didn’t take long for Lorraine’s juices to start flowing and I alternated between the taps, fingering one cousin, while tonguing the other. Maybe it was my French-German heritage, but I felt at home in this territory.
Lorraine came first, thrusting her body forward onto her cousin and rubbing her clit up against Alsace’s pubic mound. As she seemed to be taking care of herself, I concentrated on bringing Alsace up to speed, pumping my fingers in and out while chasing her clit with the tip of my tongue. I sensed that she was getting close, and then suddenly a blast of warm liquid washed over my hand and across my face. With Lorraine’s legs wrapping around my head at the same time Alsace ejaculated, I felt for the first time since the quarantine had started, that I was in mortal danger.
When the tide of Alsace’s orgasm subsided, I slid down her thighs slicked-up like river rocks. Above me, Lorraine was collapsed on Alsace, their bodies now a single autonomous region.
* * *
We must have all slept because it was dark when I awoke, and although Lorraine had rolled off to the side, she and Alsace still held together in a naked embrace. I tried to stand, but being weak from hunger I stumbled and fell on top of the cousins. I nestled my head onto Alsace’s chest and circled my arms around her waist to anchor myself in place.
Alsace stirred with an “Mmmm…” and opened her eyes. Their green was startling at this distance. She leaned her head down and kissed me on the forehead. I read it as a thank you, but it seemed very intimate. I’m not sure what I expected after what we just did–was she going to send me a card? Lorraine slept on next to us, and although she and I had never had any conversation about being in a relationship, it seemed like cheating to do anything with her cousin behind her back. Or at least next to her while she slept. But laying on top of Alsace while we were both naked? That’s just hospitality. Like offering her a blanket.
Alsace shifted under me with a groan, pulling an arm out from under Lorraine. “Arm’s asleep,” she explained, shaking it out. Her jiggling had unforeseen impacts, my waking member slipping along her inner thigh as it grew, huddling toward her warmth. I moved my own body in response, pressing the tip of my cock against Alsace’s labia, while simultaneously doing my best to nudge Lorraine awake to assuage my guilt. Alsace grabbed my butt cheeks in her hands and pulled me up into her while doing her own earnest best to poke Lorraine with her elbow. She succeeded in getting Lorraine to open her eyes just as I made my entrance.
Lorraine’s yawning smile and Alsace’s wandering hands constituted the consent I sought and we entered into trilateral agreement. I turned back to Alsace as her eyes seemed to relax into her skull. She shuddered in fulfillment as I started into a steady rhythm. Lorraine watched with interest, but evidently wasn’t ready to jump in just yet.
Alsace’s hands wandered up my back to my head and pulled me into a long kiss. Our tongues danced, settling into a tempo complimentary with my pumping pace. I caught on quickly that she was using my tongue as a joystick of sorts, prompting me when to go faster, when to go harder. She groaned around my mouth as her fingers tore through my hair. Her body was new to me, fresh, and in the excitement, I forgot myself, and as she orgasmed, I emptied inside of her.
“Teddy!” Lorraine yelled, suddenly awake and cognisant of what had happened. “No waste!” She shoved me off of Alsace and onto the floor and quickly knelt between her cousin’s legs, making a slurping sound like she was eating an oyster from a half-shell. Then, a moment later, she climbed Alsace’s body and dripped some of the precious protein into her waiting mouth.
This ritual breaking of bread, so to speak, inspired me to plan a sequel. I knelt down behind Lorraine and began rubbing at her clit. I heard her moan, in response, into the echo chamber of Alsace’s open mouth, eerily amplifying the sound. After a moment Alsace joined her, an octave lower, creating an eerie polyphonic sound of mutual satisfaction. I briefly wondered what effect this sound would have, amplified further, and pumped out into the streets.
I parted Lorraine’s lips with my fingertips and ran them along the inside of her labia, seeking the moisture I knew lay beneath the surface. Soon, my fingers were pleasantly shiny. Lorraine rubbed her mound against Alsace’s, triggering her, and increasing the volume on the polyphonic cousin moan to the point where it very well could have been heard outside. I don’t know about any passersby, but this certainly had the expected impact on me. I knelt behind Lorraine and eased inside of her, playing their moan like a slide trombone.
As I began to pump I heard shouts and wails from the street woven into the intense sounds of pleasure emanating from the mass of flesh filling my field of vision. Something momentous was happening–perhaps the order had at last lifted–but there was no stopping us now. I fingered Alsace as I worked Lorraine over with my member. As their volume increased, so did the cries from outside. The blood flowed from my brain to my cock, my vision blurred, and the two sources of sound became indistinguishable. At times it sounded as if the crowds were moaning and Alsace and Lorraine crying out. One thing was for sure, we were all getting close to the end.
I came, throwing my head back and screaming, punctuating the droning sounds of pleasure and pain that filled the air. I heard foot stomps down the hall, then fists on the door, begging to join us. Lorraine and Alsace fell silent. The door frame splintered, but it was too late. We had already crossed the boundary. We were already gone.