Last time on Lovin’ in the Apocalypse!
The camp’s defenses held back a mob of infected with minimal casualties. Rachel struggles to accept new people into her heart and Kelsey begins to face a harsh reality.
An outside threat in the form of barbaric raiders looms up to challenge the strength of the encampment.
How will the distressed and battered survivors handle so many negative setbacks? Can Tom and Rachel settle in or will their past drive them into loneliness? Find out now!
Chapter 4: Boiling Point
Rachel splashed cool water on her face several times. She felt exhausted after a long night of broken sleep and haunting dreams. She did feel a little more together today, despite the lack of deep rest. The flighty mood was starting to fade although she was not yet convinced they should stay here. Rachel was concerned for her own mental health and knew she was on the edge of disaster. There were times when she felt so blank that it scared her. No emotions at all, just the repetitive thought to keep breathing. In those moments, a small voice would question her stubborn refusal to just join the rest of her dead family. Those thoughts were sometimes more frightening than the monsters that would eat her alive.
As Rachel looked at her miserable features in the mirror, a face tried to swim up to her awareness. A small face with a toothy open mouth smile… Rachel gripped the metal sink tightly and clamped her cheeks between her teeth. She bit down hard and the immediate pain forced her mind to clear. She cried out a bit as she tasted blood and slapped a hand over her mouth. Too late.
“Are you okay?” Tom called out from behind a shower curtain.
“Yeah. Just bit my tongue.” Rachel spit blood into the sink.
“Damn. Are you okay?”
“Yes Tom. I’m not that fragile.”
Tom was silent for a second too long. “I know.”
Rachel glared at the shower curtain through the mirror and felt annoyed. Though she guessed he was justified in the doubt, it still stung to know he thought she was weak. She had let too much of her worries and fears out. She would have to reign in her feelings. Tom already spent too much effort on making sure she stepped in the right spots. If he began to steer her anymore, it might drive her totally bat shit. She put up a mental wall and swore to do better at keeping her emotions in check.
“I’ll prove it when you’re finished. Come give me your best shot, I bet you can’t even make me whimper.” Rachel gathered up her belongings and left the bathhouse. Rachel felt a ball of energy sitting in her stomach that was like a ticking bomb. When Tom finally makes it to the shack, he will be in for a surprise.
The morning sun was coming up over the mountain tops and bathed the camp in a peaceful orange glow. Other survivors waved and greeted Rachel as she walked back to their shack. It was strange to see how normal everything looked. The attack was a few days behind them and most of the corpses had been disposed of but seeing smiles and hearing happy words was too strange to accept. She glued a smile on her face and returned the gestures as she made her way home.
When Tom came in, he found Rachel naked and laying back on their bed with her legs open. She was looking at him with a stern and challenging expression. Her right fingers were moving in slow circles on her clit as she warmed herself up. Tom could tell this was going to be no gentle love making. Nor would this be one of those affirmation filled sessions that could get energetic. Every now and then, they would have this kind of sex. The kind that made certain hard physical acts somewhat acceptable. She wanted to fight him. Literally.
Tom let his mood sour. She has been nothing but counterproductive since they got here. What in the fuck did she expect anyways? That he would want to just leave here to live alone on the road again? That was ridiculous. She needed to pull her shit together before she got them kicked out. Tom let the towel wrapped around his waist fall to the ground. He saw Rachel’s lip twitch as if she wanted to bare her teeth at him. He felt his pulse quicken as his recent frustrations oozed to his current thoughts.
Tom did not touch her sweetly as he approached her body on his knees. He glared back at her hateful expression as he positioned himself above her. He pushed without hesitation into her body, not allowing her the moment she usually got to adjust to his invasion. She hissed the stinging feeling in her pussy out through clenched teeth and refused to break eye contact. “You won’t make me whimper.” Rachel challenged Tom when it looked like his aggression was going to fade.
Tom’s eyes narrowed as he assessed his wife’s face. “No?” He thrust into her hard enough to move her body up the bed. Her head hit the wall of the shack. “Not a whimper? How about a whine?” He thrust hard again, pushing her more firmly against the wall. “How about another fucking complaint?”
Rachel’s head began to hurt as Tom fucked her into the wall. She asked for this and felt energized by the pain. It drove away all her anxiety and fear. This would not be pushed away like the faces of loved ones. Pain demanded her immediate and total attention. She drank it in like water but found her thirst to be too great. She wanted more, wanted to feel it all over her body. Rachel struck out like a coiled snake, her right hand was a blur as it shot forward. Her palm connected with his jaw with a blow that was intended to be a slap but ended up being an open hand punch.
Tom felt his jaw click as Rachel hit him. A flash of red hot pain blurred his vision as a ringing in his left ear started. He forgot he was inside his wife for a moment as he moved his jaw experimentally. The blow jarred him out of thought but as the pain began to radiate, Tom felt angry. He did not deserve to be beaten like that. He did all he could to keep them safe and alive. She could not even be grateful. Tom looked at Rachel, her face reflected his own feelings. He slapped her back, not as hard or wreckless as she did to him but enough to get his own look of shock. True to her promise, she did not whimper and he began to fuck her with the intention of driving her through the wall.
“Fuck you!” Rachel hissed at him. She hit him again, this time with a closed fist on his chest. She wanted to elevate this but did not know where she wanted it to go. Instinctively, she knew he would not go overboard but wanted to get him to that edge. She wanted his control to slip even just a little. “You treat me like a dumb bitch so fuck me like one. Teach me a lesson.” She hit him again, harder this time.
Tom grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the wall. His aggressive thrusts were forcing Rachel into a position that would not let her strike out. She was a lot smaller than him but she was also more willing to draw blood. He did not want to let her get worked up that high so he aimed to just restrain her. This was a mistake. He was not really on the level of her mood. Slapping her earlier took most of the edge off his anger so when she came at him more violently, Tom was caught off guard.
Rachel felt the knot closing as Tom leveraged his height advantage. She did not want to be held down and fucked until she calmed down. She wanted to fight. She wanted him to fight back. Tom had her right hand pinned so she aimed for his right side. Rachel pulled her foot in and planted a hard heel kick right into his chest.
Tom grunted sharply as the blow forced him back. He unbalanced and fell back on his ass. His wet cock flew out of her and slapped his stomach. “Fuck me!” He cried out as just stopped just short of falling off the bed.
“Exactly!” Rachel shoved him.
Tom hit the ground pretty hard and the contact nearly knocked his breath out. He barely had time to react before Rachel pounced on him. This was not the first time in their relationship that aggressive sex happened. Living with a person that suffered from bipolar disorder was tough even when access to medicine was simple. It helps to have thick skin and for the most part, Rachel’s mood swings rarely got violent. When it happened, it was short bursts that would be over quickly. Something about this felt different. Tom started to worry about how far this would go. They just got started and Rachel was throwing serious shots. Ones she used to instantly apologize for.
Rachel came off the bed with fire in her eyes and her wet hair hanging down her face. She straddled his waist and roughly grabbed his cock. Tom froze, scared of what this crazed woman would do next. She sank back down on him just as aggressively as he took her earlier. She took a few good long strokes on him, her motions were almost gentle but the aggressive energy crackling off her was palpable. There was a purpose in her that was building. The anxiety in Tom’s head was not matching the pleasure she was putting on his cock. He was scared and at the same time so excited that he felt like he was going to cum at any second. Rachel seemed to sense the rise and stopped while he was buried deep.
“You bastard!” Rachel slapped him again and grabbed his chin with her thumbnail dug in. Her nipples were hard and looked huge on her b cup breast. She was so aroused and worked up that she was losing control of her words and actions. “You don’t get to act like I am not strong enough to survive!” She threw her hips against him, grinding more than thrusting. “You aren’t as strong as you think you are!” Rachel raked her nails across his chest, carving shallow cuts into his flesh. “People didn’t die under MY watch.” The last was a stab that felt immediately over the line. Rachel wanted to provoke him but that was too far. Before she could take it back, Rachel got the reaction she fought to get.
Tom bucked his hips up fast and hard. He pushed her waist at the same time, effectively throwing her over his head. Rachel was not expecting it and just barely blocked her face from hitting the floor. She instinctively crawled while her mind reeled from the shock of moving that quickly. The reflexes honed over the last couple years told her to move away from the danger and they fired at once. It was not enough. She felt a tight grip close on her left ankle just as she started to scramble away.
“No!” Rachel growled and threw a wild kick with her free leg.
Tom caught it and easily pinned her ankles together. “Those the new rules, huh?” He dragged Rachel’s whole body back towards him and she was powerless to stop him. She tried to fling her body around to face him but Tom pinned her shoulder to the floor. Rachel tried to squirm in the opposite direction but found out how close they were to the wall. Her face was shoved against the ground as Tom positioned her how he wanted her. Rachel’s shoulders and face were pressed against the ground but her hips were turned sideways. He pushed his long cock back inside her from behind and she just barely stopped the whimper from escaping.
“We can do and say whatever we want to each other as long as it’s just sex? Right?” Tom began to fuck her far harder than necessary. Her cheek began to sting as the grit on the floor dug in.
Rachel spit and tried to say something but Tom thrust and she could not get the words out. Tom grabbed her hair and pulled it hard enough to pull many stands out. She grunted and turned it into a growl to keep any weakness from her voice. Her pussy was taking a beating and she loved the deep ache. However, she was beginning to worry about what was coming next. Tom was far beyond any line they crossed before. This fear was exhilarating. No matter how far this went, he would not eat her alive. Or would he? Strangely, She wanted to find out.
“That’s right.” Rachel struggled to get her words out. The angle on her neck from his hair pulling made it hard to talk. “Do. Say. Whatever you want.” Her pussy was thrilled with the permission she just granted. “Anything. Just, no marks. That I can’t hide.”
Tom hesitated slightly, taking in her words. This was a crossroad moment and he swore to himself to keep it reigned in. He would push a little farther, what she said before earned her that much but Tom knew this could be a slippery slope. The bad thing is, the idea of it was exciting to him. A small voice in his head whispered to him, urging him to take her deal. Rachel’s pussy was absolutely soaked and she was ready to take anything. Anything?
Tom smiled down at her as he finally saw some inspiration. She wanted him to hit her or cut her up like she did to his chest. But he was worked up in a different way. He did not want to fight, he wanted to dominate. Tom pulled his cock out of her pussy and in one relentless motion, pushed it into her ass. Her body only resisted him for a moment, she did not have time to tense up.
Rachel squealed as he took her ass entirely. She could not get away, could not stop it from happening. Tom asked several times in the past and they made attempts from time to time but it never went well. Eventually, Tom stopped asking and she assumed the matter of anal was over. “UGH! Fuck! Tom, my ass! God dammit!”
Tom could not believe how good it felt to be inside her ass. At long last. It was so hot in there. Hot in a way that was more direct than a pussy. Her muscles were contracting like crazy and he realized she was trying to push him out. It was incredible. “That’s right, Ray. Your ass is mine!” He growled back at her.
Tom began to move his cock in and out but was not too rough. He did not want to hurt her too badly and the pleasure he was feeling was driving him towards the edge. “You pushed me this far and wanted me to, what hit you? No. I’ll just take what I want and since you can’t stop me. Go ahead and try.”
Rachel felt humiliated. Here she was, on the floor and pinned to a plywood wall while her husband fucked her in the ass. Her body hurt, her mind was a static field of shame and pleasure and she could not move. It was incredible. On a deep level, this felt like punishment. Something she deserved for being a pain in Tom’s side and for the other shortcomings. But on the surface she felt blank. The knot that was usually in her chest was gone. She was just an object, a warm place for Tom’s cock and there was nothing to be anxious about. The clarity in her mind was like an orgasm itself.
Rachel was squirming and trying to thrash but her efforts were half hearted. He knew she was stronger than this meaning the swing episode was probably over for her. He took a few more strokes inside her ass, feeling his balls boiling with the monster orgasm coming up. He used her body to tease it out and when he finally let it go, Tom threw his head back and groaned loud enough for the neighbors to hear. The scalding tightness of her ass made the orgasm seem far more intense. He felt each deposit from the base to the moment of release. It was the best orgasm Tom had in years.
Rachel did not whimper but did squeal a few seconds after Tom pulled out of her ass. She quickly closed her legs as she got up and frantically put her gym shorts back on. She just remembered to grab a shirt as she waddled out of the shack and towards the bathhouse as quickly as she possibly could. It was a close call but she made it just in time. It was a blessing in disguise. When Rachel got back to their shack, they laughed about her near miss.
The air was clear and fresh between them for the first time in a long while. In that clarity, they talked about the things that have been buried by circumstance. At some point in that morning, Rachel realized that the only reason they had the opportunity to talk like that is because they were not having to run. For several days now they were in one place. It felt wrong to be stationary but it could feel good too. There is always a middle ground.
“I swear you guys and timing are something else.” Cameron shook his head. “Got cabin fever, huh?” He wiped sweat off his forehead with a cloth rag and glared up at the summer sky. He hated summer days.
“You know, I couldn’t think of what to call it but yeah. Something like that.” Rachel chuckled.
“What do you mean about timing?” Tom asked.
“Gregg just transferred to the deterrent unit. They handle the more aggressive missions. So that leaves Kelsey and I down a member. Wanna join the scouting team?”
Tom felt a little uneasy about the offer. He was beginning to like being inside the camp. However, Rachel was excited to finally have a job.
“That sounds great! We’d love to.”
“Fantastic!” Cameron shook Rachel’s hand. “Glad to have you on the team. I hear you’re pretty good with a bow.” Cameron smiled while shaking Tom’s hand.
“I’m not bad. Out of practice but I’ll get back there.”
“We’ll find you a good one in the armory. Gonna miss having Gregg around though. That man could shoot a fly off a cow’s ass.”
Rachel noticed Kelsey flinch slightly at Cameron’s words. The young woman was standing nearby, twirling her thin dreads with a finger and acting like she was too bored to listen. It was a subtle reaction but it told Rachel that there was something beneath the surface of this seemingly sudden transfer. “Tom is being modest. He’s a great shot.” Rachel squeezed her husband’s hand.
“That’s good to hear. But listen, Kelsey and I were about to head out on a little two day look around. It’s a place we’ve cleared before, just gonna check to see if we left anything behind. When we get back, we can start your training.”
“Why can’t we go this time? You know we’re capable of handling ourselves out there.” Rachel seemed anxious to get on the job as soon as she could.
“Well, I just guessed you’d want time to wrap your head around a new job but you haven’t been here that long, huh? Hard to get used to the walls after being outside so long, we understand. Uhh, lemme take care of something real quick. I’ll be right back.” Cameron hurried off to the building that the councilors used as a meeting place.
Rachel gave Kelsey an appraising look. The young woman was far less energetic and talkative than she had been when they met. Her aura was dim and Rachel sensed that she might have recently gone through a break up. Rachel was privately amused that even now in these times, people still have to suffer young love. Kelsey sensed Rachel’s attention and gave her a challenging look. She responded with a kind smile and a micro shrug. Kelsey rolled her almond colored eyes and looked away.
Cameron came back a few minutes later. In one hand he held the straps of two loaded backpacks. In his other was a bow that looked brand new with a quiver full of fiberglass arrows. “All clear! You guys are welcome to join us.” He held the items out for Tom and Rachel.
Tom’s jaw dropped at the sight of the bow. It was the exact Hoyt model that he used to hunt with before shit hit the fan. Next to his Mustang, that bow had been his most prized possession. He took it from Cameron as if it was a religious artifact. “Baby. It’s her. It’s Ol’ Betsy!” Tom beamed at Rachel who quickly tried to arrange her face to be as excited as he was. She did not recognize the difference between that one and the one he used the night before.
“Ready to go?” Cameron spun a key ring around his finger, looking entirely like a dad before a family trip.
*
The ragged voice of the mob floated through the tunnels, echoing around in a fear inducing wailing. A woman coughed, expelling more of her life out. “You’ll. You’ll keep him safe?”
“Yes!” A man sobbed, holding her close with his eyes squeezed shut. He could not look at her. Too much of her was gone. Too much torn away. He felt her warmth running out fast.
“Ken?”
“I’m here baby.”
“You keep him safe?” Her eyes were looking through him, through everything. Who she had been was washed away in a sea of agony. All that was left is the circling thought of her son. He needed to be safe. It was all that mattered.
“I’ll keep him safe. I promise.” Ken cried as he rocked back and forth. A young boy sat next to him with the wide eyes of a trauma victim. The boy seemed incapable of emotion or expression as he stared at his mother.
“Ken?” Her voice was a whisper. “Safe?” Her body tensed and then went entirely limp. Kenney cried silently as he shook his wife’s body. Her blood and his tears joined the stink and grime of the uncaring sewer.
Kenneth woke up in a state of sweaty panic. He reached out, as if to snatch his wife from the nightmare. His hands only found empty air and with a deep, wrenching gasp, Kenneth realized where he was. He sat hunched over in his bed, his bare chest was slick with sweat. His heart was racing and he tried to calm himself down with deep breaths. Finally, his breathing regulated and his heart resumed a more relaxed rhythm.
Kenneth used a towel to wipe the sweat off his body as he walked over to a cracked door. He gently pushed it open to see the shape of a small body laying under a blanket. He watched the shape for a few moments, first seeking then monitoring the rise and fall of the boy’s breathing. Kenneth closed the door gently and walked to the kitchen to start his day. He lit a small wood stove that had been added to the square living space. Kenneth sat staring at the flames for a long while without even realizing he was zoning out.
Just after sunrise, a quiet knock came from Kenneth’s front door. He opened it to see a large bearded man in dark clothes made mostly of motorcycle leathers. His dark eyes were always appraising and his stature was enough to intimate most people. The man looked ill tempered but that was pretty regular for the old bike gang leader. Kenneth knew this man was sharp witted and capable of making good choices under pressure. Kenneth stood aside and let the hulking man into his room.
“Good morning, Bruce. I don’t think you’d have good news this early in the morning.” Kenneth removed a steaming kettle off the flat top of a wood stove and poured the boiling liquid in a French press with coffee grounds in the bottom.
“Morning, Bossman. It’s not really good or bad yet, just important.” The wooden chair creaked under the weight of Bruce as he sat at the small table. He thought he might get here early enough to see the big man disheveled by the early morning but Kenneth was already dressed in his typical button up shirt, tucked inside blue jeans with his short brown hair neatly combed. The man was always on. “The three stooges are back.”
“Damn. So soon? Didn’t they leave a week ago?”
“Two weeks ago but, yeah. They said they found something big. A settlement that was able to fight off and deflect a huge mob. They say the group is strong and well maintained.”
“Hmm. I wonder if they’re maybe too strong. I doubt our people would survive that kind of attack. Do you believe them? How could a group that big escape our notice this long?”
“Dave said they got themselves set up off the road. They got a walled off campground placed nicely on top of a little mountain. The only way they found them was by following a vehicle that went there.”
Kenneth poured dark brown coffee into two mugs and passed one to his burley friend. “Would you mind going out and taking a look? Those three have a reputation of exaggerating things. If this is real, we might have a serious problem on our hands. Especially if they survived an obvious attack.”
“Yeah, I’ll go look.” Bruce pulled a flask out of a pocket on his leather vest and spiked his coffee. “Do you want anything else in particular while I’m out?”
“No, not really. We do still owe Jess though so if you get the opportunity to grab her something, that would be good. I hate the way she holds shit over my head.”
“I hear that.” The big guy took a sip of coffee. The mug was tiny in his brutish hand. “The trial is set up and ready. Got damn near everyone there to watch.”
Kenneth nodded as he thought about the chore. He hated the necessity of certain things but in these times, he needed to make the hard choices. His son and other people were depending on him to be strong. “I guess we’ll go get that over with. People don’t need to spend all day waiting on that. It’ll distract them.”
After letting the young woman who looked over Jack into his room, Kenneth and Bruce left for the common room that was on the ground floor of the 6 story hotel. The stairwell was full of hanging clothes and other signs of civilization. An intricate pipe system was set up to move water easily between the floors. No one has personal water flow in their rooms but having access to it on their level was as good as it could be. The metal steps had all been covered in patchwork carpeting for comfort and utility. Some of the younger survivors used paints and chalk to decorate the stairwell, making it colorful and less oppressive. Other lingering survivors moved aside as the two men passed, hurrying to stay out of their way.
In the common room, a series of tables and chairs were arrayed like an old-fashioned courtroom. The room was full of people, all waiting to watch the trial. It was the best entertainment they were going to find. Kenneth moved quickly to the head chair that was elevated by a platform. He secretly hated the way everyone’s eyes followed him but he knew that was the price of his station. One of many. This trial was several days in the making and the excitement in the crowd was palpable. Today their judge would hand down the long awaited sentence. When Kenneth was seated, a man with a gun on his belt dragged the prisoner into the room.
The man was thin and haggard looking. Patchy facial hair covered his cheeks. His swollen jaw and bruised eye suggested he tried to fight against coming here today. He murmured and sniffed as he was forced to his knees in front of Kenneth’s seat. Kenneth felt sorry for the man. He wanted more than anything to let this sad fool go free but that was the worst thing he could do now. The rules were there to keep them safe, to keep Samuel alive. Anyone who goes against those rules must pay the price.
“Billy,” Kenneth put as much authority in his voice as he could. “You have been accused of stealing food from our stores. You have had three chances to prove your innocence and have failed to do so. If you have any last arguments to make, this is the time to do so.”
Billy sniffed loudly and tried to look up into Kenneth’s face. “Please sir. I was so hungry. I couldn’t keep going.”
“You were starving? Was someone withholding your daily rations?”
“No sir. It wasn’t enough. I was working so hard, I needed more.”
“And you could have bought more. Everyone is given credits for luxuries. Were yours being withheld from you?”
“…no sir, but-.”
“And Katie says you actually built up a little debt in the canteen. You promised double credits for single portions but never paid up. She is quite upset about having to cover your bill. What were you doing, Billy? Your credits were going somewhere, why not to the food you were willing to steal?” Despite himself, Kenneth was getting upset.
Kenneth knew why this sad man had no credits. Someone in his community was manufacturing a drug. The uptick in theft and other small-time crimes was proof enough. As of now, they could not figure out who was doing it. So far, the ones who got caught seemed to have enough sense not to spill any information. If this problem ran rampant through his people, they would surely succumb to the death this world wanted for them. The availability of this mind altering “stuff” is no doubt something the survivors would be interested in. But that would become their purpose. To make and use the drug. Surviving needed to be their only goal.
“Well? Got nothing to add?” Kenneth prodded the silent man who only sniffed and continued to cry. “Fine. Your punishment will be the loss of a hand, the standard punishment for this crime. If you survive the amputation, additional credit deduction will be taken until you’ve paid the debt. Oh and, you may choose which hand.” Kenneth addressed the crowd as his men closed in on Billy. “I only want us to be strong. Taking his hand weakens us but so does stealing our supplies. We can not allow just one of our own people to make the collective weak. Go now, do your best to keep us strong. We’re in this together.”
The armed guards dragged the crying man away and as Kenneth left the courtroom, a high pitched scream came from the back room. He felt sick but refused to let his face show it. He walked out into a cloudy day and let the surrounding sights fill him with renewed purpose. This fenced in sanctuary was here because of him and his willingness to make the hard choices. Choices that sometimes felt cruel and pointless. But without a strong hand to guide, these people would all die. They needed to be shown the way like children too scared of the dark to move. They all needed to survive. The more people he put between the hungry infected and Samuel, the better. Kenneth made a promise he intended to keep. No matter the cost.
*
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/tbkdol/lovin_in_the_apocalypse_ch_04_apocalypse_survival