Guns and Dust

Asher seemed almost manic as he made quick preparations for the hunt. He’d pulled on his pants and boots but hadn’t even bothered with a shirt, a grin now a sudden, permanent feature of his face.

Adina’s hazel eyes followed him, his expression making her smile as she sat on the ground brushing her long, dark hair. She pulled it back behind her ears and tied it into a loose ponytail. “You really like hunting.”

He stopped what he was doing, neatly stowing the last of their camp supplies. “We train by hunting from the time we’re little.” He hopped down out of the side hatch and stood up fully, the morning sun shining on his short gray-white hair and close-cropped beard. The light’s angle and color were particularly suited to show off his hard-muscled torso, scars and tattoos.

He seemed to have entirely forgotten the wound on his shoulder and the scabbing abrasions on his shoulder and elbow.

He gestured around them. “Out here, we only hunt out of necessity, alone. We never get to hunt with a group like this.” The boyish smile split his face again. “It’s like being back home.” He pulled what Adina had thought were stowed awning poles from where they were strapped to the outside of the bearcat. After leaning the half dozen two-and-a-half-meter poles against the bearcat’s exterior, he pulled a box from one of the storage compartments and withdrew a spear point from it. It was over a foot long and had barbs at the base that would prevent it from being pulled out. He held it up for her to see and winked with a devilish grin and glint in his eye.

She stopped mid-motion as she was standing up, staring from the poles to the spearpoints and back to his expression. Boars were feared by caravans and small communities alike – and anyone else with a lick of common sense as far as she was concerned. Large boars weighed more than a thousand pounds; massive, angry, four-legged mounds of muscle that didn’t see people as anything more than another mobile protein source in the landscape. They were terrors. Even small herds could destroy an entire camp, killing and maiming large numbers of people. And this herd was larger than any she’d ever heard of.

“You’re going to hunt boars with a spear?” She couldn’t help the way her voice sheared up.

He fixed the point to one of the shafts, smiled and nodded. “You’re going to drive.” He didn’t even seem to have heard her.

She finished standing, her joy at his boyish excitement suddenly shot through with anxiety. “Drive?” She glanced at the bearcat and the spears. “What are you talking about?”

“It’ll be simple. You drive close, get alongside one, keep us steady and I’ll lance him.”

Adina stared at him open-mouthed. “Lance him? But wha…”

Asher stepped to the heavy passenger side door of the bearcat and pulled some pins, two from the hinges. Then with a groan and strain of effort, lifted the heavy door off the hinges, leaving the passenger seat of the bearcat open. His back and shoulder muscles bulged under the weight of the armored door, each clearly defined, right down to the striations as he hefted it into a set of storage brackets aft of the now wide-open door.

He’s out of his sun-touched mind!

After securing the door in place he pointed to the passenger seat. “See. All you have to do is get us close.” He grabbed the lance and climbed up into the passenger door well, hanging onto the door frame and raised the lance. “It’s easy.”

She just gawked at him.

“What… what if you fall…” Where he stood wasn’t too high for one of the big boars to reach with its eighteen-inch-long dagger tusks. “or if the boar turns back… or…” Now she was just sputtering words.

“Wow!” a voice cried, and Adina turned. Devon’s younger son, whose name they’d learned was Nat, stood frozen at the front of the bearcat where he’d just come around the corner. He stared at Asher wide-eyed, adoration painted across his face.

Adina could understand his reaction. Asher stood in the open passenger door like some kind of golden god, the morning sun streaming on his skin, his unintentional pose with the spear like he was one of the statues she’d seen faded pictures of.

“Are we ready to go?” Asher asked, dropping out of the door and onto the ground, his boots making a small dust cloud. He leaned the spear next to the rest and fixed a point to the next one.

Nat just stood there for a moment before collecting himself enough to answer. “Yes, five men will be on the chase truck.” He stared at the spears. “You’re going to hunt… with those?”

Asher tossed the completed one to him and Nat barely caught it. It almost smacked him in the face. Nat ran his fingers over the smooth weapon then the lethally pointed head. He carefully ran a finger over the edge. “It’s so sharp!”

Asher finished affixing the rest of the heads. “It has to be to get through their hide,” he told him confidently.

Adina was still trying to figure out a way to express how… mad the entire concept was. “But you have the big rifle… You could just shoot them. You wouldn’t have to get anywhere near them.”

Asher took the spear from Nat, set it with the others and then turned to her. His grin now a slightly maniacal, boyish smile again. He stepped close and untied the sash that held her arm to her side. “Now where would be the fun in that?” Then he undid the sling, freeing her arm and clambered into the back of the bearcat. “I guess you’re out of shoulder prison now.” He tossed both sash and sling aside. When he came back out, he was carrying the smaller bolt-action hunting rifle she’d trained with in the rift along with a bandolier of rifle cartridges. He handed her the rifle and bandolier.

Nat whistled at the finely made rifle.

“But you should keep this at hand in case of emergencies.”

She looked at the rifle and bandolier in her hands, to Asher, then Nat, and back to Asher again, unsure if this was some kind of elaborate joke.

“You’re serious? You’re going to hunt boars with… spears.” She threw her hand with the bandolier out toward the spears. The bandolier swung heavily from her motion. “While you’re hanging out of the side of the bearcat like some kind of raider?”

“Wicked,” Nat breathed.

She turned and narrowed her eyes at Nat. “Nobody asked you.”

Asher gave her a distracted a kiss on the cheek. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be fun!” Then he turned to Nat. “How long before we’re ready to go?”

“Uhh… half an hour or so. They’re still getting the truck rigged.”

Asher nodded. “Alright, tell them we’ll be ready.”

Nat didn’t move, still staring at Asher, the spears, the bearcat.

“Go on,” Asher coaxed.

Nat turned and bolted for the rest of the caravan. Thirty seconds later Adina heard Nat hollering. “Asher’s going to hunt the boars with a SPEAR!”

As they rolled across the desert, hot, dusty wind whipped in through the open door of the bearcat. Adina was going through the sequence of events trying to make sense of what they were doing. It had all happened so fast. She’d cleaned up the inside of the bearcat right after waking up. It had been anything but thorough, but still… She glanced at the thick cloud of dust now billowing inside and sighed. Then she’d changed Asher’s dressing. It and he were now coated with dust, like everything else. She raked stray, windblown strands of dark hair out of her face and focused on the parched landscape in front of them.

This is insane…!

But Asher’s excitement hadn’t ebbed in the slightest and it was hard to not be swept up by his frenetic energy. Her heart was pounding. Excitement… or sensible terror? she wondered.

The whole camp had been in an uproar as they left. She couldn’t be sure how much excitement would have normally been there for a hunt, especially after the caravan’s losses. But Nat’s town crier performance had brought everyone out to stare. Asher stood in the open passenger door; a spear gripped in his hand as she drove them to where the preparations on the chase truck were being finalized. He was still bare-chested, the rest of the spears standing neatly trapped between the dismounted door and armored exterior of the bearcat. He never seemed the sort to want to draw attention, but she could tell he was thoroughly enjoying himself as they rolled through camp. He called to the other hunters, cajoling them and shouted to the rest of the caravan, working them up for the hunt. It was like he’d become a completely different person. He projected fierce, unbridled, joy and easy confidence.

Adina couldn’t help the smile that kept tugging her cheeks, her emotions pulling to and fro.

Even Priav was excited. It was more than matronly leadership, motivating the caravan for the dangerous hunt to come. She stood on top of one of the vehicles, leading a stomping, clattering chant, seeming caught up in Asher’s energy too. It could have been normal for them; Adina had no idea. For long minutes, people banged on metal holding the rhythm, others clapped and used their voices, some people danced. It was a stomping circular dance where the participants thrust their arms down and then up again every few beats, spinning and throwing their arms wide. Adina had never seen anything like it. Asher howled and banged the exterior of the bearcat along with everyone else. The celebratory atmosphere felt strange, given all that had happened. But as someone once told her – That was yesterday, we don’t live in yesterdays, only today.

Then as they drove off, Priav threw her rifle high over her head leading the ululation as they rolled away. The rest of the caravan would follow along their route.

Adina had her rifle safely stowed in a vertical holder just to the left of the steering wheel. She’d made sure she checked every part of it and the eight rounds in the magazine before storing it. If she needed to use it, there wouldn’t be time for anything to go wrong.

What if Shoah, or the Ghost Eyes are out there?

But that thought seemed to have been completely forgotten by Asher and the rest of the caravan – at least on the surface.

“Stay on this line!” Asher called down out of the cupola. He was standing up in it, scanning the horizon for the herd. Adina looked right. The other chase truck was roaring across the desert twenty yards away, their hunters hanging all over it. They too had stripped off their shirts following Asher’s example. The energy of the whole thing felt disconcertingly like how she perceived raiders might feel, but she was a part of it now. Her heart was pounding again. She was excited in a way she could never remember being. Everything was sharper, more in focus, every sensation more intense.

There was a blast of noise from the chase truck and they veered away. She looked and the hunters were gesturing and pointing.

“They see them! Follow them!” Asher hollered. He clambered down out of the cupola and grabbed the back of her seat as she turned the bearcat. He gave her a rough kiss on the cheek, smiling like some kind of fiend and climbed over the console to the passenger seat. “Here we go!” He pulled the lever on the center console and a moment later the air siren howled to life.

“There!” he pointed.

She could just make out the dark dots against the beige landscape. The entire herd broke into a run, away from the sound of their vehicles. The thought suddenly crashed through her head again. This is insane!

“Swing left! We want to keep them between us and the chase truck!”

Adina stepped on the accelerator. As they passed the chase truck he gestured and hollered. “TAKE THE RIGHT SIDE! WE’LL HOLD THEM BETWEEN US!”

The driver waved and they pulled away.

It was hard for Adina to tell how large the boars were as they closed rapidly on herd’s dust cloud. Asher was standing outside the door now, his left hand hooked on the handle above the passenger seat. She heard the clatter as he grabbed a lance.

The herd was less than a hundred yards ahead of them. She heard the first report of a rifle from the chase truck.

“They’ll never hit anything from this far away in all this dust!” Asher yelled back into the cab.

Fifty yards. Adina had never seen, or even heard of a herd this size. There were more than thirty animals – a lot more. She could see that even through the billowing dust. Most were smaller, maybe two hundred pounds. Then there were others, larger, but still not the monsters from the stories. Then as they got closer, she saw them. The big males, hulking monsters, half a dozen of them running at the head of the herd. Nothing about this herd made sense. Big males kept harems of females and drove off rival males. They certainly didn’t work together.

“There they are!” Asher hollered triumphantly. “Look at them!” He turned, smiling fiercely. “Put us right on top of them!”

The whole herd suddenly swerved away from them, the chase truck had fallen behind, the herd turning ahead of it.

“Stay with ’em, Adie!”

She smiled widely as his shortening her name struck home. This was a different Asher than she’d ever seen before. More just… him. All the constructs and rules that seemed to define him had fallen away. The crease between his eyebrows had vanished completely again. Everything about him pulsed with unbridled self-expression, no governors, no restrictions, just pure joy and life.

“Get ’em!” he encouraged.

As she turned the bearcat, it tore up the hard packed, hoof-turned earth beneath them. Asher leaned out, into the motion, part of the machine’s movement.

Something felt like it broke loose inside Adina. Fierce joy surged up through her, hot and primal. She threw her head back and a loud ululation erupted from somewhere deep as she leaned into the turn, swinging the bearcat wide, her eyes fixed on the leading edge of the herd.

“Perfect! Bring us in!” She glanced right, she could just see the chase truck, a huge cloud of dust rising as they almost side-skidded turning hard to keep the head of the herd from getting around them. She heard gunshots, three in rapid succession.

“That’s one!” Asher shouted, his head swiveling to the chase truck then to the head of the herd again, leaning all the way out. He adjusted the spear in his hand.

“Closer!”

Adina focused on one of the big males, chasing him, edging closer and closer, the other boars turned away.

You’re mine… She brought the bearcat up behind him, he tried to turn across her path, but she pushed the accelerator and he faded back right.

“Almost there!” Asher hollered. “Steady…! Steady…!”

Asher rose up, his arm with the lance disappearing above the door frame.

The boar disappeared, falling back along the right side, in front of Asher.

“WHOAH!” Asher dodged back into the door and Adina saw the boar’s massive head as it hooked its wicked tusks up, trying to reach him. “Slow!” he shouted. “Ease right!” She couldn’t see the boar at all now. She had to rely on Asher’s directions. The boar reappeared suddenly in front of them on her right again. Adina lined up on him, bringing him down the right side.

“That’s it! You’re right on him!” Asher shouted.

The boar disappeared again. Even craning her neck, she couldn’t see him.

With a loud shout, Asher threw his body down, plunging the spear downward.

Adina decelerated trying to see the boar again.

“Did you get him!?”

“He’s a strong one! He needs another lance! Right! Turn right!”

She did and the whole rig suddenly leapt upward from the back. Adina fought for control as the back of the rig slammed back down, everything inside rattling and crashing from the impact. “What was that!”

Asher was still in the open passenger door, swaying from the violent motion, but still leaning out as if he was welded to the rig. He looked back. “It’s alright! You hit one of the smaller ones, it went under the back wheels!” He pointed as she held the turn, the back of the bearcat skidding around.

In the rising dust, she could see the big boar again, the lance jutting out of it’s back. It was still running.

“He’s a strong one!” Asher hollered; his voice ringing with fierce approval.

Adina heard more gunshots as she lined up on the boar again. It was slowing. She heard the clatter as Asher grabbed another lance. She pulled up behind the boar, carefully adjusting her speed. Now that she’d done it once and knew what to expect, it was easy to pull left, letting the animal come down the right side, in front of Asher again. He rose up once more and with a shout, hurled the lance downward. He turned watching behind them as she maneuvered into open space again. “That got him!”

Another ululation tore from her as if it had a life of its own as her heart thudded loudly, her hands and arms shaking with adrenaline as she gripped the big steering wheel. The hurtling armored machine felt like nothing more than a part of her now.

“Hard right, back into the herd!”

She turned, skidding the bearcat as Asher grabbed another lance. Seconds passed as she chased another big boar through the thick dust clouds raised by the herd and the trucks.

“GOOD! Right on him!” Asher rose up again and hurled another lance.

It felt like it was over so quickly. Adina stood on top of the stopped bearcat, heat waves rolling off the barrel of the rifle as she ejected the last spent casing. It tinkled onto the metal where the other seven spent casings glittered in the blazing sun. Her excited breaths were slowing, but her heart still pounded in her ears. The dust was clearing as the rest of the herd trotted away. There were ecstatic whoops and hollers from the chase vehicle, stopped a hundred yards away. Between them and scattered along the path they’d come; more than twenty boars lay dead.

She squeaked in surprise when Asher grabbed her around the arms from behind and picked her up, planting a kiss on her neck.

“You were amazing!”

She leaned into the kiss and when he put her feet back on the bearcat, she turned and smashed her lips against his, pulling his dusty-caked, sweaty chest against her.

She was smiling so fiercely when they finally parted that her cheeks ached. She hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d thrown the first lance. “You killed three boars with spears! You’re not so bad yourself!”

He smiled and gave her another kiss, his gaze moving to the fallen animals. “I guess the fun’s over. Time to get to work.”

She ran a hand over his sweaty chest, feeling the dust and grit stuck to it. “I guess so.”

Half an hour later the rest of the caravan caught up. The hunting group was well into slaughtering the boars by then. All of the hunters, both in small groups and individually had come to compliment Asher on his prowess. While he clearly enjoyed it, he was self-effacing, pointing to her and saying, “She actually killed more of them than I did. I was just having fun. Besides, the big males aren’t much good for eating.” It was true. She’d killed four boars with the rifle. It had taken all eight rounds to do it and none were the monsters that two of Asher’s kills had been, but him making such a point of giving her credit made everything in her chest warm.

Asher looked like he’d been bathing in blood when Priav finally caught up to them as they were skinning out one of the large kills. Priav scanned around the field where everyone was busily working.

“You are – and are not – a surprise, Myrmidon,” she announced, squinting at him in the glaring sun. She walked up and patted him on the burly shoulder. “You are a good man. I am glad we have met.” Then she approached Adina.

Adina could see the curiosity working behind her old brown eyes. Priav suddenly leaned forward and gave her a long, affectionate kiss on her blood-streaked cheek, smiling widely. Priav sighed, taking a long time to look at her features. “You would have made such beautiful babies.” Then there was a particular twinkle in her eye, and she leaned close. “But if you don’t have to worry about being pregnant,” she glanced wryly at Asher. “You are lucky. I wish you all the joy you can have.” She made another knowing face, an eyebrow slowly climbing up. “I had nine children. Sex isn’t so much fun after a while.” Priav leaned back again and scanned the work around them. “They said you took four. What will you do with them?”

Adina was still recovering from the old woman’s affectionate kiss and direct sexual comment about Asher. “Well, I… We… certainly don’t need four.” She picked up some dirt and scrubbed her hands and bare arms to knock off the worst of blood-sticky boar hair. She’d stripped down to a sleeveless shirt for the bloody work of skinning and butchering. She nodded to everyone who was now working. “I hunted them for you.”

Priav narrowed an eye, and after a beat, a corner of her mouth came up again. “Not naïve maybe… or stupid. We will have to find something to trade for such a fine gift.” Priav glanced at Asher again and laid a hand on her arm. “Just kinder than we’re used to.” Then she walked away without another word.

Adina watched her go, pride brimming in her chest. It wasn’t that she was unused to being recognized for things she’d done. She was very good at making shoes. But this was… different. She couldn’t help the smile that pulled her cheeks again. She watched the caravaners work, skinning and butchering the kills.

“You’ve made an impression,” Asher called, shoulder deep in the boar carcass.

She turned to him, still smiling. She cocked her head and threw a hip out, putting a dusty, slightly less sticky hand on it. “Me? I’m not the one running around with his shirt off killing boars with spears!”

Asher pulled out a big bloody organ with a satisfied sigh, looking it over as he rolled it between his hands. He blew out through his nose trying to knock loose boar hairs sticking there. “I was just having fun.” He wiped a forearm across his nose leaving a smear and looked at her, taking in her posture and grinned. “You helped people you didn’t have to. People you didn’t really know. It feels pretty good, doesn’t it?”

It did feel good. She felt powerful, and Priav had recognized it.

Asher held up the organ. “I hope you like liver.”

They’d feasted wandering from one group to another until Adina couldn’t eat anymore. They’d eaten more meat that night than she would have consumed in months in her previous life. And she was definitely meat drunk.

It was mostly organ meat; fresh, rich and often bloody. It wouldn’t keep the way other meat would. It wasn’t something she was used to. Organ meat rarely made it back to camp. It was a benefit they and the hunters she remembered now shared. Anything that they couldn’t preserve with just heat and the sun had to be eaten or go to waste. So tonight, and the next days, they would gorge themselves on the rich meat until it was gone or went bad.

There were still those among the survivors who were badly injured and people who isolated themselves in their grief, but the mood of the rest of the caravan was celebratory. It took all day to harvest the boars, begin drying the meat and processing the hides and other things that were useful. Guards were posted to watch for scavengers as much as for Shoah or his Ghost Eyes. If a fifty-strong herd of boar could live out here, then other things certainly could too.

Adina thought about Asher’s admonition. “Rats are a good indication there might be people around. Dogs are better…”

As they wandered back to the bearcat, she leaned against him. He was back in his shirt and long coat. They’d washed off when the worst of the work was done, rinsing away blood, sticky boar hair and dust, but they picked the dust up again as soon as they touched anything.

She gazed up past Asher’s face to the blanket of stars above them. “I’ve never seen a caravan or community hunt like this. The caravans and communities I’ve been in had small groups or families whose work was hunting.” She turned, listening to the creak of his leather coat and the happy bustle of the camp around them. She gestured back to the rest of the camp. “I’ve never seen a whole group shift over to hunting the way they do.”

“The whole community didn’t share work?” he asked, his head turning as he scanned the landscape around them.

“Well yes, but not quite like this.”

They reached the bearcat and he pulled open the side hatch. The smell of fresh meat wafted out. Every surface that could support it was hung with drying strips of meat, along with racks outside made from the spear shafts and anything else handy. The big hides were laid out on top of the rig, packed with dry earth until they could be properly tanned.

She stopped him and pulled his arm so that he faced her, smiling. He was the hero of the day; everyone had come to talk to them at one time or he another. Devon visited several times on various excuses, her top loosened ‘from the heat.’ She smiled and bent showing off her cleavage to one or the other of them, her invitation to join them obvious without her having to say anything. Adina couldn’t blame her or anyone else who stared at him shirtless or complimented his prowess. He was like nothing they’d ever seen.

A few hours ago, the thought crossed her mind that she couldn’t look at other men the same way anymore. He’s ruined me, she’d thought with a grin as she cut big pieces of meat into strips. Everything below her belly button felt like it squeezed, making her chew the inside of her lip and squirm.

It’s only been… two weeks? That thought had been there too. It was hard for her to imagine that so little time had passed since she’d woken up in his camp. Before then, she’d never seen anyone like him either. She couldn’t imagine another man measuring up now.

It wasn’t just that he was heart-stoppingly handsome, which he was. He listened to her, made her laugh and of course the sex was amazing. He was so confident… He didn’t do things to prove he was strong, or masculine or anything else. Instead he went out of his way to make her feel strong, smart, powerful. And, of course, pretty.

She pulled herself against him in the open hatch of the bearcat. “Every woman in camp wants you,” she told him as she unbuckled his belt and pants. “I want you more.”

He smiled at her. “I’m not interested in any other woman in camp.” He pulled her into a kiss, unbuckling her belt and lifting her shirt up. She was trying to get his pants open when he pushed her bra up and his lips were on her nipple, kissing and sucking.

“Ohhh… Asher…” She ran the nails of one hand through his hair, holding his head to her breast, her other still working on his pants. She abandoned the thought and shoved her hand inside grabbing his cock. “Mmm… this is what I want.”

He pulled her shirt and bra off and she was able to get his pants down. She pushed him down on the step into the bearcat, throwing his shirt up and kissing his naked chest. He threw off his coat as she kissed and licked down his chest onto his belly. He was pulling his shirt off when she cupped his balls and pushed her mouth down on his hard eight-inch cock.

His hiss of pleasure was met by her excited moan as she tasted his saltiness, working her mouth up and down lightly squeezing his balls with one hand, her other exploring the feeling of his muscular abs.

He sat up and pushed her pants down while she worked on his cock. She stood up and wiggled her pants down, shoving off her boots as he did the same. Then she pushed up against him again, leaning into him where he sat, her breasts at his face. He wrapped his strong hands around her ass, pulling her cheeks apart a finger playing at her anus while those of his other hand worked forward to her already soaking pussy.

“Should we go inside?” He asked.

“No,” she breathed, bending and kissing him hard. “I don’t care who sees or hears us.”

She felt his smile as she kissed him. “Feeling territorial?”

She smiled fiercely. “Fuck yes I am.” She put a knee on the bearcat’s hard metal step, and he adjusted up onto the deck properly. She followed, pressing her tummy against his, then straddling him. She reached down and grabbed his hard shaft and put it against her opening. “I don’t want you thinking about Devon or anyone else.” She pushed him inside her.

He groaned as she slid down onto him. “You don’t have to worry about that, Adina.” He grabbed her hips and thrust up into her. She took a huffing breath as he filled her. “You’re the only one I want.”

She pushed him onto his back, putting her hands on the deck on either side of him, then lifted up to draw his cock most of the way out of her, then slid back down on it. “Good.” He cupped her breasts, fondling her nipples as she rode him. Adina bit her lip, her senses filling with the stimulation of him playing with her nipples, his cock slipping inside her and the satisfying pressure as she ground her clit against him at the bottom of each stroke. She rolled her hips with him buried in her, pumping her clit against the base of his shaft, then leaned back. “Should I just call you Myrmidon? A great hero of the ancient world.”

He sat up, a hand under her ass, his other wrapped around her back to hold her steady as he kissed her neck and ear, her long dark hair cascading over her shoulders. She shivered at the light prickling of his beard against her neck. “You can call me whatever you want.”

Adina wrapped her arms around his neck, riding in ecstatic joy, her body twitching and shuddering at his touches, his kissing and sucking her nipple, his finger playing on her anus.

Asher hooked his arms under her legs and before she realized what he was doing, he’d stood up, letting her body weight drive his cock up into her. She was all but sitting on her clit. Her tummy curled instinctively as she moaned and bit his shoulder, words forgotten. He lifted her and dropped her again, his cock seeming to be the only thing holding her up as she rolled her hips to keep him inside her.

“You like that?”

She could only moan, ‘Uhh huhh…” and nod, biting his shoulder, trying not to bite too hard.

Adina wasn’t sure if it was him suddenly and sharply starting to drive into her rapidly, or just the constant pressure on her clit that made her cum. But she was sure that being held off the ground, helpless to do anything but hold onto him as the orgasm clenched her muscles into trembling cords was what made it last so long. She tried to hook her feet behind him to get some control, some purchase, but her legs wouldn’t work as her orgasm rolled through her again and again turning her legs into shaking, useless appendages. When her spasming finally eased, he laid her down on the deck of the bearcat. She kissed his neck, and successfully hooked her feet around his waist, panting. “You’re not done, are you?”

He pulled back so she could see his face. “Are you?”

She smiled, all of her flushed, watching his lapis blue eyes. She shook her head, “No.”

She was standing barefoot on the dirt, holding onto the hatch of the bearcat when her next orgasm nearly took her off her feet. The intense sensation of two of Asher’s fingers pushed deep into her ass as he took her from behind was just too much. It was only him pulling his fingers out and grabbing her by the hips that kept her from collapsing as her legs turned to shuddering noodles again.

She was still cumming when she felt the head of his penis at her ass. All of her senses were jumbled, overwhelmed as he penetrated. She bit her lip hard at the stretching pain, still in the final trembles of her waning orgasm. She felt her fingernails snap against the hard metal of the hatch as her anus stretched to accept him.

“Are you alright? Do you want me to stop?”

She shook her head and nodded in a confused motion, unsure how to answer the opposed questions.

“No…” she panted; her voice pitched high as she tried to talk. “Don’t stop.”

Asher pushed in deeper and she groaned. It hurt and excited her so much at the same time. And as always, how badly Asher wanted her was one of the most arousing things she could imagine. She scooted a foot up to get more firm footing putting a hand between her legs, slipping her fingers along her swollen clit. “Earth and sky!” She held her hips rolled back to accept him, but everything felt like it was going to spasm. “Yes… I want to feel…”

He pushed in further and she yelped in pain, squeezing her eyes shut. “Wait!” She grabbed his hand. “Too much!”

He held still, just letting her relax. She was trembling and couldn’t catch her breath. His other hand reached around, pushing her hand aside, his fingers finding her clit, stroking it lightly. Then he rolled it again. He knew just how to touch her. She sucked in a deep breath as her back arched. And with his cock partly in her ass, hanging onto the bearcat’s hatch and his fingers playing on her clit, she came again. This time there was no standing, she collapsed down onto her knees, his hand on her hip and belly keeping her from falling hard. Her palms hit the dirt, then her cheek as her clenching muscles forced him out of her.

Her legs were still trembling, and she was taking shuddering breaths when he asked, “You don’t really want to lay in the dirt do you?”

She could almost see his smirk. She would have given him a look if she’d been able to. She waved an uncoordinated hand at him as he helped her back up onto the deck of the bearcat. “Shut… shut up…”

Half an hour later, he lay panting next to her after his own orgasm. She’d recovered enough to clean off his cock and pull him on top of her. “I want to make sure you cum too.”

He’d driven her across the deck in his passion until she was smashed against the wall of the bearcat when she finally felt his hot release, his sperm filling her. After they’d finished, she pushed away from the wall. The ribs on her right side were tender. She smirked to herself as she looked at the shelf she’d been pressed up against. I’m going to have a bruise from that.

“We’ll have to go slow with my ass,” she said into his chest after they’d caught their breath and were just laying under the blanket, staring out the hatch at the stars. Her knees were a little raw from riding him without anything under them on the deck and hitting the dirt, but everything inside her was so blissfully calm now.

“Alright.” He kissed her sweaty hair.

“I want to do it.” She blew out a breath. “It really excites me.” She was a little shocked she could even say it. “It’s just… new.”

Asher kissed her again. “We’ll go at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. You’re alright?”

She smiled and an embarrassed giggle boiled up. “I’m going to have a bruise.” She rolled so he could see her ribs. “From the shelf.” She nodded to it.

He kissed her ribs, which were already darkening red. “I’m sorry.”

“And I’m going to walk funny tomorrow.” She pulled his cheek so she could kiss him. “Part of that is just how hard you make me cum.”

He kissed her deeply and then smiled, watching her eyes. “Glad I can be of service.”

She narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

He gave her another kiss. “Always.” He held her eyes intently. “Always.”

She cuddled up against him again and let her eye close.

The next morning was all work, packing up, finishing processing the boars for transport to Priav’s larger camp. And Adina was sore, as she expected. Priav eyed her at one point with a smirk.

How much noise did we make last night?

She and Asher had been jokingly calling the bearcat the meat truck because of all the drying meat hanging everywhere as the caravan moved slowly back along the route they’d been on. The slower pace was so that the vehicles, which were laden with drying meat and parts of carcasses, could keep their hard-earned rewards intact.

It was a long day of driving and it was far past dark when she finally saw the glow of the caravan’s main camp. It was larger than she’d expected. There were probably two or three hundred people in the ‘camp.’ As they got closer, she could see it was perched on the side of what had once been a quarry. The bluff on the far side of the quarry was warmed by the camp’s firelight.

It was also well organized. There were perimeter watch towers and a wall was under construction.

“It looks like they are building a permanent settlement.”

Asher nodded. “If there’s a permanent water source, then there’s a good reason to. That would also explain there being so many boars. But if Shoah and the Ghost Eyes find it, there won’t be much left, unless they have a lot better resources in that camp than the caravan had.”

They pulled up to what was being set up to become the gate of the settlement. The caravan stopped and Asher stood, holding the reattached passenger door open. He watched for a few minutes and then leaned in. “Don’t shut down, keep us angled in case we need to break away.”

Adina looked out, she couldn’t see much, the rest of the caravan was in front of them, in the way. “Is there trouble?”

Asher attached his sword to his pistol belt and climbed into the back, locking the hatches. “I don’t know but stay here.” He stopped before stepping out. “I don’t think it’s anything, they probably are just being careful, but you never know.”

He stepped down, closed the door and she heard it lock.

Adina watched as best she could, but most of what was happening occurred directly in front of the lead vehicle where she couldn’t see. She could see Priav and some people from inside the camp. The bearcat’s rumble made it impossible for her to hear anything. Uneasy minutes passed, then she saw Asher again, coming back. She climbed over and unlocked his door. He climbed up inside. By the time he was in his seat, the front vehicle was already moving.

“We’re alright,” he told her. “We’re just strangers and they’re rightfully wary.” He patted the door. “They saw the bearcat and thought we might have seized the caravan.”

“But it’s okay now?”

He nodded with skeptically raised eyebrow. “As good as it can be. They still aren’t going to trust us, but Priav was singing our praises when I got there. And apparently, she carries some weight. At least with the people who were there.”

Adina followed the truck ahead of them when it started moving. “This is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

“Yeah, it is.” Asher peered up at a guard tower as they passed. “But they still aren’t very well defended.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t put money on this camp being here in a year.” There was something in the way he said it. It wasn’t disappointment. Maybe weariness?

“What is it?”

“I’ve just seen this before.” He scanned the encampment as they followed the other vehicles. “It ends badly so often.”

“You don’t sound very confident of these people.”

He nodded. “Yeah… It’s prejudice. It’s hard to see something like this as a permanent place after living in the city states.”

Adina looked at the encampment and what they were building. She’d been in much larger towns, walled settlements that were well defended. Some of those had been razed by raiders. These few hundred people with their cobbled together towers and defenses looked paper thin by comparison. “Hope builds…” she said.

Asher turned to her. “What was that?”

“Hope builds, despair destroys. It was something someone used to say.”

“Hope isn’t a plan…” he countered. “is something we say.”

She felt a sudden tickle down deep. “But what you do is based on hope, isn’t it?” She found herself grinning for some reason. “Going out into the wastes looking for things to help try and build a world from nothing?”

He narrowed an eye at her and cocked his head, then looked out again. “I suppose you’re right.” He gestured at the camp around them. “This… just isn’t what we’re trying to build.”

“It’s not yours.” She nodded outward. “It’s theirs.”

Adina woke the next morning feeling strangely good. She peered out through the bearcat’s windows and from the portholes in the cupola. She could see the glow of fires and smoke rising from camps. It was just before dawn and a few people were moving around, starting their days. Her chest tightened as she watched them. She remembered her own morning routine in camp before the attack. Before everything changed. The tedious, repetitious, menial daily tasks…