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Vanishing Manhood: Part 15
Vanishing Manhood:
Part 15
Israel Jenkins and the Last Real Man on Earth.
Based on ‘One In Ten’ by FinalStand. Listen to the
► Podcast at Explicit Novels.
Your
mind is your arsenal, fortress, and armory. Your words are potential weapons
you give to your enemies to assault the citadel of your soul.
In a final act of feminine superiority, Dimples had
destroyed Western Civilization. She had to share credit with the T2 virus for
the rest of the global catastrophe and I was sure she was okay with that. For
me, it was the start of my flight to freedom. I could do no more damage there.
That wasn't really important because at this stage of the disaster, Capri had
been willing to use her stun gun on me and drag my ass to the elevators if I
hadn't cooperated.
"Ladies, I have to run. Take care and be good to one
another. I wish you all the best of luck," I signed off. "The Final
Word for today is 'Resilience.’" The presidential staff cut her
connection. Maribel nodded good-bye and returned to her job. She was telling
the audience that GNN would start running continuous updates on plague
outbreaks and work toward a cure.
What else could she say? No one chased Capri and me to the
elevators. No one on this floor was jumping ship. In a sad reversal of fate,
they were the ones realizing there was nowhere for them to run while I had finally
found a way out. Special Agents Fraklos and Vabishi met us at the elevator.
They must have made it up seconds ago.
"Time to go, Israel," Fraklos gave me a weary
half-smile. "We are going to try and bluff our way out the back. For some
reason there are over a thousand young ladies gathered out front."
"What?" I gasped.
"Less impressive sex, Bitch," Capri muttered. Her
phone rang. She saw the number and groaned.
"Hi, Mom," Capri plastered on a happy face.
"Honey, did you overnight that shipment?" Mom got
straight to the point.
"Oh, I tried Mom, but he fountained so much into me
that I gagged. I ran to the bathroom, threw up and accidently hit the sensor,
it all got flushed down the drain, all three loads," Capri sniffled.
"You What!" her mother snapped.
"I know Mom, I've let you down again. I know I'm a
failure, but I promise to try harder. I can go down on Israel right now,"
she turned the phone my way for a second. "I'll suck him off before the
elevator makes it to the ground floor and, I don't know, spit it into my purse
and send that to you," Capri pleaded.
"Ah, I'll call you back," Capri's Mom stammered
and the connection went dead.
"Whore," Capri griped. Her phone rang again.
"Damn it," Capri growled. "This is new," her tone changed
when a video of an ambulance appeared. It took Capri a second to figure out who
the driver was.
"We need to get here," Capri showed the screen to
Fraklos and Vabishi.
"That's straight through the mob," Vabishi looked
at her dubiously. "We won't make it." I was paralyzed by the thought
of me in a sea of female bodies tightly packed together. I had done this. Since
Monday, I had done all this to myself.
I was an emotional masochist. I hurled my fractured psyche
at the very things that I knew would tear me up inside and chisel away at what
little mental reserves I had left.
Angel.
Angel's eyes, her smell and the way her lips parted slightly
before she spoke. How her eyebrows came close together before she unleashed her
anger at me, often deserved.
The way my heart felt when I cried while she held me, the
absence of my shame and her lack of condemnation, or pity. She wouldn't always
like me. She did love me. I couldn't give up my faith in that belief. Not now.
"Angel is with Roni," I spoke up. "We are
going to the ambulance."
"Israel, I'm not sure we can get you there,"
Fraklos observed.
"That's okay, you are not coming," I grinned at
her. "Capri and I have a better chance on our own and quite frankly, if I
don't go for Angel, she'll come for me. I might as well make it easy on her for
once in our relationship."
"Israel,” Vabishi started to try and talk some sense
into me.
"Give it up," Capri sighed. "He loves her.
He's going. I'm following along because I have jack-all for job opportunities
now." Capri really liked me, or maybe she was remembering her promise to
kill me once we survived all this chaos. I preferred to think she liked me.
"We'll run interference with the police and reservists
while you two make a break for it," Fraklos shrugged. "It hasn't been
a pleasure in the slightest and thank you for making my life long dreams and
ambitions totally irrelevant, Israel Jensen."
"Stick with Dimples. She'll see you through," was
my only advice.
The elevator doors opened and a half dozen female faces were
looking our way. Barring strict protocol or routine, if someone acts like they
know what they are doing, people tend to accept that they know what they are
doing. That was the scenario Fraklos and Vabishi were playing out. The
Metropolitan Police and the Army Reservists had orders concerning me.
To the police, "this was a Federation matter.” To the
Army, "the President had just been arrested for treason so they had to go
back up their chain of command to figure out if they had valid orders or not.”
They were FBI, they were elite FBI. Could they be mistaken? Could they be
helping a male fugitive from responsibility make his escape through a mob of
girls?
That was crazy talk. Besides, I didn't look like a man about
to make his bid for freedom. I looked almost catatonic. That was because I was
nearly catatonic from fear. Less we forget, I was gang-raped by a bunch of
girls close to the age and social make-up of the ladies outside, right down to
them being interested in me because of the sexual favors I had willingly given
to another.
I had no internal hero to call upon. I never viewed myself
as heroic. I was a victim and an exceptionally unfortunate one at that. There
was no shard of my psyche that could do this.
'You are free to do whatever you want', bunny hop with a
smile, 'you were that man before you came here', holding hands, 'thank you.’
I had not given up the will to live for 87 days. I had
exited that sorority to graduate at the top of my class. I walked into a sea of
policewomen to save the life of a boy I had never seen and would, most likely,
never know. I was not a coward. I was a survivor and a good man, a good human
being.
I was a survivor. Survivors were rarely respected. I wasn't
a hero, but I could pretend to be one for as long as it took to make it into
Angel's arms. They only tore heroes apart after the fact. We walked out into
the light downpour. Capri opened my umbrella. I didn't need it. I needed to be
seen and I was. They called out my name and pushed forward against the line of
patrolwomen.
The reservists had an answer for that. Those hexagonal
devices I had noticed coming in were sonic crowd suppression devices. They
ruined your equilibrium and made you vomit. From both ends, the women at the
controls began working over the mob of young women. Two ranks beyond the cops,
women began going down in droves.
The soldier closest to us operating the device was suddenly
showered with shrapnel. She received a few painful lacerations to her upper
arms, but was okay. She was still trying to figure out what had happened to
cause the near-total destruction of her weapon when the device on the other end
of the column shut down.
The rotator assembly had exploded, fortunately sending
slivers of composite away from the woman operating that weapon. That soldier
was going 'what the fuck,' when the
first one figured it out.
"Sniper!" she shouted over her com-net and ducked
down into her vehicle. The reservist sergeant in charge of this detail didn't
panic.
She starting figuring out what kind of casualties she was
looking at, none, and where the fire was coming from. The first sonic
technician was doing those physics herself. It took her a few seconds to work
the trajectories and she didn't like what she came up with. She should be dead,
as should her comrade controlling the other device.
That sniper hadn't missed. She'd hit exactly what she was
aiming at without killing any of the soldiers involved.
"Sergeant, rounds coming from the south, down Marlowe
Avenue. She must have at least five meters of elevation, if not more," she
said. That was only a few acres of real estate.
Right about then, the fifteen seconds those sonic devices
effected someone after they had been subjected to the attack wore off. The
policewomen had easily held back the closest two ranks of girls the devices had
not affected. Now those girls behind those two ranks were getting back on their
feet, covered in their own vomit. Those girls were very, very angry. They
surged forward.
The policewoman in charge gave the order to use tasers while
calling all units to rush to the scene. Patrol cars had been coming this way
since the growing number of girls was detected. They had been moving in
cautiously so as to not incite an incident. It was a slow escalation of force.
Now they turned on their sirens and came running.
More cops would have come running if not for another
calamity a few kilometers away. Keverich mobsters had attacked and killed the
Mayor and most of her entourage. That was what the reports were saying anyway.
Beyond that, the police were still rounding up and detaining thousands of men.
They were stretched thin.
The police went to tasers, a few girls went down, and then
one girl countered with wasp spray. In many ways, it is worse than pepper
spray. For starters, it has a longer range. This girl dowsed the cop who just
tasered her friend. This woman closed her eyes and got an arm somewhat in the
way, she was partially incapacitated.
The girl then turned the stream on the cop to the left with
the same results. The patrolwoman on the right had her eyes wide open when the
spray hit her face and went down screaming. The police cordon collapsed. This
was not the Arena. The ladies wanted their plight to be recognized, or their
support of me to be known.
There was anger, not bloodlust. The blinded policewoman was
picked up by a group of girls, carried forward to one of the light transport
vehicles and told to stay put. Cops were taken down fighting. A few tasers were
stolen, no firearms. They wanted GNN to come out and record their voices and
witness their defiance.
The reservists were putting a second, smaller, line together
when I shouldered past them from behind and ran into the press of girls. Even
those who weren't here to support me recognized me. Capri and I were quickly
engulfed. I could feel the last sands of my resolve falling through the
hourglass. I had to hold on just a little more.
I scanned the group of girls closest to me, seeking the lead
lioness.
"I have to get to that ambulance," I shouted my
appeal. She seemed worried and confused. "My girlfriend is there," I
explained. There was that tinge of jealousy. There was also that spark of
romance, a modern day 'Tale of Two Cities.’
This lead lioness began shoving other girls, getting their
attention and forming a protective knot around me. My words came back to haunt
me.
"We have to save one life, just one life, His!"
she pointed at me. "Come on ladies, let's go." This group of total
strangers forced a path against the tide, working toward the rear of the mob.
I never let go of Capri's hand. I couldn't have made it this
far without her and I wouldn't have been worthy of continuing on if I let her
go. An eternity later, the pressure eased and we emerged on the far side of the
mass of humanity to see Roni and Angel outside the ambulance, waiting for me.
Angel took two steps toward me, I took a few steps toward
her, I was losing the ability to count.
"She seems awful old," the lead lioness remarked
boldly. I doubted Angel cared.
"Love is timeless," I turned and told my unknown
saviors. "Thank you."
"Come on, Ladies," that girl laughed. "Let's
go get them," and she led that dozen young ladies back to their chance to
be famous.
"Come on, gang," Roni shouted over the noise. The
reservists were using their middle vehicle's grenade launcher to bounce tear
gas grenades off the surrounding buildings thus disrupting the crowd.
"Capri, you and Israel get in the back," Roni helped me along. I saw
Angel get in the driver's seat.
We were hustled into the rear of the ambulance, Roni shut
the doors and ran back to the front passenger side. The vehicle rolled away,
only accelerating when we were clear of the chaos. For a second, I thought of
Doyle Crane. I wondered if he was finally living the life he'd always wanted,
upholding the long tradition of investigative journalism and unrelenting social
commentary.
"You did it, Israel. You made a difference," Capri
comforted me. "I think a vacation is in order." Mouth agaip, I stared
at her then I started laughing. It was my crippling hysteria; it was a deep
vibrant echo of a former life. "What's so funny?" Capri studied me.
"I haven't had a vacation since I was ten and my Mom
and I spent a few days at a rustic little bed and breakfast in upper
Minnesota," I enlightened her.
"After that, it was all summer camps, therapy, college
and finally here," I shook my head. "I've never had 'nothing' to do
since 'that night'," referring to the night the Aurora Slasher took me.
"Nothing?" Capri chuckled. "Can you take a
sexual joke?"
"I'll do my best," I sighed.
"When you get tired of sitting around 'doing
nothing'," she 'quoted' with her fingers, "I think there will be a
few women around who can help you with that." I wanted to joke back with
Capri. She was fun. Those mental reserves? Those last grains were slipping
past. I couldn't muster the strength to do anything more than keep my eyes open
and my mind receptive.
Angel drove the ambulance to an abandoned, pre-Plague
warehouse west of the city. We switched to a passenger van that Angel had
liberated from Police Impound. As the women were transferring the medical equipment
from the ambulance to our new ride, I overheard their quiet discussion.
Someone had to retrieve Venus and Samantha. Roni had
contacted Samantha and those two were going to the Farmer's Market and wait to
be picked up. They were coming to the conclusion, with Capri's urging, that
Capri take Angel's personal vehicle. Roni was a paramedic with a skill set our
group desperately required. I needed Angel to be there when I mentally returned
to the world.
Capri joked that she was a lawyer; a profession that was
about to be rendered useless. I wanted to say something except their logic was
unassailable. Capri was right, Roni and Angel were correct in agreeing with her
and I couldn't volunteer myself. I was in no shape to make the drive even if
the other three would let me go. I knew they wouldn't.
I wasn't going to make a false declaration when I knew the
outcome and the sacrifices being made on my behalf. Venus had rubbed everyone
the wrong way at least once. Samantha, Samantha was the Quiet One. She didn't stand
out, sparkle, or shine. She was steady and unspectacular. They were also part
of us and the tribe had decided to not leave anyone behind.
Capri left in the car, going south. Angel, Roni and I headed
west for a few more kilometers. We came across a home off the beaten path,
decent acreage, mostly wood covered with the dwelling not clearly visible from
the road. As we turned down the gravel driveway we saw a sign; 'Trespassers
will be', with white tape over the bottom word(s) and the addendum 'use your imagination'
finishing the warning.
The house was a sprawling one-story affair that didn't look
fabricated. It looked woman-made, except that woman had an incomplete knowledge
of architecture and home construction. Angel pulled around to the side of the
house. It appeared we had been told to park there.
"Where are we?" I murmured.
"Kuiko and Aniqua's co-worker's home," Angel
informed me. "I understand he's disreputable, if not downright
criminal."
"We figure people won't know to look for you
here," Roni added. We piled out of the van, gathered, then approached the
door.
There were two hand-made, woodcarvings on either side of the
main, side door. One was 'Jethro McFarlane' and the other was 'If the cunt
ain't fresh, I ain't interested.’ Kuiko's information came flooding back.
Still, who said shit like that? Angel drew her sidearm, put it behind her back
and knocked on the door. Aniqua answered fifteen seconds later.
"Hey," she smiled with some relief, "you made
it. Where is Capri?" My mind was rattling along as best it could. Aniqua
didn't know about Capri because they were keeping their phone chatter to a
minimum, that made sense.
"Israel, Israel?" Aniqua repeated.
"Huh?" I managed.
"Why don't you come in and take a nap?" she
offered. "Get a bite to eat maybe?"
"Going down the home stretch," I muttered while
trying to sound upbeat. That was it for me. My mind informed me I was out of
gas by shutting down. My demons would always exact their toll and I was all out
of the 'soul' currency they craved.
The End of the Day
I woke up in a strange bed with no recollection of how I got
there. It stank. I was putting definitions to what smelled as I raised my head
and looked around. Whoever lived in this place liked to kill animals, as
witnessed by the stuffed animals and animal head wall ornaments, and had an
all-consuming aversion to housework in any of its forms. There were clothes on
the floor, every piece of furniture was stacked up with something.
On the wall the bed was pushed up against were animal horns
of various kinds of creatures and every prong had a pair of women's panties
dangling from them. I could almost touch them. When I moved I realized the
ceiling above the bed was covered with a huge circular mirror. This made sense
because the bed was circular too. Where the fuck
was I?
I almost missed the eyes at the 'foot' of the bed. They were
big brown eyes, slender eyebrows, a smallish nose bridge and bangs over the top
quarter of the light brown or yellowish forehead with the rest of the hair
pulled back.
"Hey, Kuiko," I smiled and breathed a sigh of
relief.
The entirety of her head popped up.
"Hello Israel, are you feeling okay?" she asked
compassionately.
"So-so, I guess," I shrugged. I had pushed myself
up on my elbows. "How long have you been there?"
"About twenty minutes," she grinned. "I had
to wait until everyone else was pre-occupied."
"Did everyone get here okay?" I maneuvered up to
waist level.
"Yeah. Capri came in with Venus and Samantha a few
hours ago. They brought most of your clothes," she related. "Jethro's
bimbos made it too. They have some stupid names, Paisley and Lavender." I
reached out and gingerly tapped the walls of my mental collage.
"Is Mistress Sano displeased?" I teased her. Kuiko
rose higher. I imagined she was on her knees. She was also really happy. I was
playing a game with her which suggested I was recovering from this morning's
psychic marathon. She shook her head. "I'd really like a hug if it isn't
too much trouble, Kuiko Sano."
Her teeth shined white-bright. Kuiko crawled up the bed. I
thought she was trying to be non-threatening, so she slithered up the bed to be
level with my lap. She placed the side of her head to my stomach and slowly,
tenderly hugged me.
"Can I ask a favor?" she whispered.
"I'll do my best," I offered.
"Please stop trying to hurt yourself so often. Make an
effort to avoid danger instead of running straight at it," s
View all episodes
By Steamy StoriesVanishing Manhood:
Part 15
Israel Jenkins and the Last Real Man on Earth.
Based on ‘One In Ten’ by FinalStand. Listen to the
► Podcast at Explicit Novels.
Your
mind is your arsenal, fortress, and armory. Your words are potential weapons
you give to your enemies to assault the citadel of your soul.
In a final act of feminine superiority, Dimples had
destroyed Western Civilization. She had to share credit with the T2 virus for
the rest of the global catastrophe and I was sure she was okay with that. For
me, it was the start of my flight to freedom. I could do no more damage there.
That wasn't really important because at this stage of the disaster, Capri had
been willing to use her stun gun on me and drag my ass to the elevators if I
hadn't cooperated.
"Ladies, I have to run. Take care and be good to one
another. I wish you all the best of luck," I signed off. "The Final
Word for today is 'Resilience.’" The presidential staff cut her
connection. Maribel nodded good-bye and returned to her job. She was telling
the audience that GNN would start running continuous updates on plague
outbreaks and work toward a cure.
What else could she say? No one chased Capri and me to the
elevators. No one on this floor was jumping ship. In a sad reversal of fate,
they were the ones realizing there was nowhere for them to run while I had finally
found a way out. Special Agents Fraklos and Vabishi met us at the elevator.
They must have made it up seconds ago.
"Time to go, Israel," Fraklos gave me a weary
half-smile. "We are going to try and bluff our way out the back. For some
reason there are over a thousand young ladies gathered out front."
"What?" I gasped.
"Less impressive sex, Bitch," Capri muttered. Her
phone rang. She saw the number and groaned.
"Hi, Mom," Capri plastered on a happy face.
"Honey, did you overnight that shipment?" Mom got
straight to the point.
"Oh, I tried Mom, but he fountained so much into me
that I gagged. I ran to the bathroom, threw up and accidently hit the sensor,
it all got flushed down the drain, all three loads," Capri sniffled.
"You What!" her mother snapped.
"I know Mom, I've let you down again. I know I'm a
failure, but I promise to try harder. I can go down on Israel right now,"
she turned the phone my way for a second. "I'll suck him off before the
elevator makes it to the ground floor and, I don't know, spit it into my purse
and send that to you," Capri pleaded.
"Ah, I'll call you back," Capri's Mom stammered
and the connection went dead.
"Whore," Capri griped. Her phone rang again.
"Damn it," Capri growled. "This is new," her tone changed
when a video of an ambulance appeared. It took Capri a second to figure out who
the driver was.
"We need to get here," Capri showed the screen to
Fraklos and Vabishi.
"That's straight through the mob," Vabishi looked
at her dubiously. "We won't make it." I was paralyzed by the thought
of me in a sea of female bodies tightly packed together. I had done this. Since
Monday, I had done all this to myself.
I was an emotional masochist. I hurled my fractured psyche
at the very things that I knew would tear me up inside and chisel away at what
little mental reserves I had left.
Angel.
Angel's eyes, her smell and the way her lips parted slightly
before she spoke. How her eyebrows came close together before she unleashed her
anger at me, often deserved.
The way my heart felt when I cried while she held me, the
absence of my shame and her lack of condemnation, or pity. She wouldn't always
like me. She did love me. I couldn't give up my faith in that belief. Not now.
"Angel is with Roni," I spoke up. "We are
going to the ambulance."
"Israel, I'm not sure we can get you there,"
Fraklos observed.
"That's okay, you are not coming," I grinned at
her. "Capri and I have a better chance on our own and quite frankly, if I
don't go for Angel, she'll come for me. I might as well make it easy on her for
once in our relationship."
"Israel,” Vabishi started to try and talk some sense
into me.
"Give it up," Capri sighed. "He loves her.
He's going. I'm following along because I have jack-all for job opportunities
now." Capri really liked me, or maybe she was remembering her promise to
kill me once we survived all this chaos. I preferred to think she liked me.
"We'll run interference with the police and reservists
while you two make a break for it," Fraklos shrugged. "It hasn't been
a pleasure in the slightest and thank you for making my life long dreams and
ambitions totally irrelevant, Israel Jensen."
"Stick with Dimples. She'll see you through," was
my only advice.
The elevator doors opened and a half dozen female faces were
looking our way. Barring strict protocol or routine, if someone acts like they
know what they are doing, people tend to accept that they know what they are
doing. That was the scenario Fraklos and Vabishi were playing out. The
Metropolitan Police and the Army Reservists had orders concerning me.
To the police, "this was a Federation matter.” To the
Army, "the President had just been arrested for treason so they had to go
back up their chain of command to figure out if they had valid orders or not.”
They were FBI, they were elite FBI. Could they be mistaken? Could they be
helping a male fugitive from responsibility make his escape through a mob of
girls?
That was crazy talk. Besides, I didn't look like a man about
to make his bid for freedom. I looked almost catatonic. That was because I was
nearly catatonic from fear. Less we forget, I was gang-raped by a bunch of
girls close to the age and social make-up of the ladies outside, right down to
them being interested in me because of the sexual favors I had willingly given
to another.
I had no internal hero to call upon. I never viewed myself
as heroic. I was a victim and an exceptionally unfortunate one at that. There
was no shard of my psyche that could do this.
'You are free to do whatever you want', bunny hop with a
smile, 'you were that man before you came here', holding hands, 'thank you.’
I had not given up the will to live for 87 days. I had
exited that sorority to graduate at the top of my class. I walked into a sea of
policewomen to save the life of a boy I had never seen and would, most likely,
never know. I was not a coward. I was a survivor and a good man, a good human
being.
I was a survivor. Survivors were rarely respected. I wasn't
a hero, but I could pretend to be one for as long as it took to make it into
Angel's arms. They only tore heroes apart after the fact. We walked out into
the light downpour. Capri opened my umbrella. I didn't need it. I needed to be
seen and I was. They called out my name and pushed forward against the line of
patrolwomen.
The reservists had an answer for that. Those hexagonal
devices I had noticed coming in were sonic crowd suppression devices. They
ruined your equilibrium and made you vomit. From both ends, the women at the
controls began working over the mob of young women. Two ranks beyond the cops,
women began going down in droves.
The soldier closest to us operating the device was suddenly
showered with shrapnel. She received a few painful lacerations to her upper
arms, but was okay. She was still trying to figure out what had happened to
cause the near-total destruction of her weapon when the device on the other end
of the column shut down.
The rotator assembly had exploded, fortunately sending
slivers of composite away from the woman operating that weapon. That soldier
was going 'what the fuck,' when the
first one figured it out.
"Sniper!" she shouted over her com-net and ducked
down into her vehicle. The reservist sergeant in charge of this detail didn't
panic.
She starting figuring out what kind of casualties she was
looking at, none, and where the fire was coming from. The first sonic
technician was doing those physics herself. It took her a few seconds to work
the trajectories and she didn't like what she came up with. She should be dead,
as should her comrade controlling the other device.
That sniper hadn't missed. She'd hit exactly what she was
aiming at without killing any of the soldiers involved.
"Sergeant, rounds coming from the south, down Marlowe
Avenue. She must have at least five meters of elevation, if not more," she
said. That was only a few acres of real estate.
Right about then, the fifteen seconds those sonic devices
effected someone after they had been subjected to the attack wore off. The
policewomen had easily held back the closest two ranks of girls the devices had
not affected. Now those girls behind those two ranks were getting back on their
feet, covered in their own vomit. Those girls were very, very angry. They
surged forward.
The policewoman in charge gave the order to use tasers while
calling all units to rush to the scene. Patrol cars had been coming this way
since the growing number of girls was detected. They had been moving in
cautiously so as to not incite an incident. It was a slow escalation of force.
Now they turned on their sirens and came running.
More cops would have come running if not for another
calamity a few kilometers away. Keverich mobsters had attacked and killed the
Mayor and most of her entourage. That was what the reports were saying anyway.
Beyond that, the police were still rounding up and detaining thousands of men.
They were stretched thin.
The police went to tasers, a few girls went down, and then
one girl countered with wasp spray. In many ways, it is worse than pepper
spray. For starters, it has a longer range. This girl dowsed the cop who just
tasered her friend. This woman closed her eyes and got an arm somewhat in the
way, she was partially incapacitated.
The girl then turned the stream on the cop to the left with
the same results. The patrolwoman on the right had her eyes wide open when the
spray hit her face and went down screaming. The police cordon collapsed. This
was not the Arena. The ladies wanted their plight to be recognized, or their
support of me to be known.
There was anger, not bloodlust. The blinded policewoman was
picked up by a group of girls, carried forward to one of the light transport
vehicles and told to stay put. Cops were taken down fighting. A few tasers were
stolen, no firearms. They wanted GNN to come out and record their voices and
witness their defiance.
The reservists were putting a second, smaller, line together
when I shouldered past them from behind and ran into the press of girls. Even
those who weren't here to support me recognized me. Capri and I were quickly
engulfed. I could feel the last sands of my resolve falling through the
hourglass. I had to hold on just a little more.
I scanned the group of girls closest to me, seeking the lead
lioness.
"I have to get to that ambulance," I shouted my
appeal. She seemed worried and confused. "My girlfriend is there," I
explained. There was that tinge of jealousy. There was also that spark of
romance, a modern day 'Tale of Two Cities.’
This lead lioness began shoving other girls, getting their
attention and forming a protective knot around me. My words came back to haunt
me.
"We have to save one life, just one life, His!"
she pointed at me. "Come on ladies, let's go." This group of total
strangers forced a path against the tide, working toward the rear of the mob.
I never let go of Capri's hand. I couldn't have made it this
far without her and I wouldn't have been worthy of continuing on if I let her
go. An eternity later, the pressure eased and we emerged on the far side of the
mass of humanity to see Roni and Angel outside the ambulance, waiting for me.
Angel took two steps toward me, I took a few steps toward
her, I was losing the ability to count.
"She seems awful old," the lead lioness remarked
boldly. I doubted Angel cared.
"Love is timeless," I turned and told my unknown
saviors. "Thank you."
"Come on, Ladies," that girl laughed. "Let's
go get them," and she led that dozen young ladies back to their chance to
be famous.
"Come on, gang," Roni shouted over the noise. The
reservists were using their middle vehicle's grenade launcher to bounce tear
gas grenades off the surrounding buildings thus disrupting the crowd.
"Capri, you and Israel get in the back," Roni helped me along. I saw
Angel get in the driver's seat.
We were hustled into the rear of the ambulance, Roni shut
the doors and ran back to the front passenger side. The vehicle rolled away,
only accelerating when we were clear of the chaos. For a second, I thought of
Doyle Crane. I wondered if he was finally living the life he'd always wanted,
upholding the long tradition of investigative journalism and unrelenting social
commentary.
"You did it, Israel. You made a difference," Capri
comforted me. "I think a vacation is in order." Mouth agaip, I stared
at her then I started laughing. It was my crippling hysteria; it was a deep
vibrant echo of a former life. "What's so funny?" Capri studied me.
"I haven't had a vacation since I was ten and my Mom
and I spent a few days at a rustic little bed and breakfast in upper
Minnesota," I enlightened her.
"After that, it was all summer camps, therapy, college
and finally here," I shook my head. "I've never had 'nothing' to do
since 'that night'," referring to the night the Aurora Slasher took me.
"Nothing?" Capri chuckled. "Can you take a
sexual joke?"
"I'll do my best," I sighed.
"When you get tired of sitting around 'doing
nothing'," she 'quoted' with her fingers, "I think there will be a
few women around who can help you with that." I wanted to joke back with
Capri. She was fun. Those mental reserves? Those last grains were slipping
past. I couldn't muster the strength to do anything more than keep my eyes open
and my mind receptive.
Angel drove the ambulance to an abandoned, pre-Plague
warehouse west of the city. We switched to a passenger van that Angel had
liberated from Police Impound. As the women were transferring the medical equipment
from the ambulance to our new ride, I overheard their quiet discussion.
Someone had to retrieve Venus and Samantha. Roni had
contacted Samantha and those two were going to the Farmer's Market and wait to
be picked up. They were coming to the conclusion, with Capri's urging, that
Capri take Angel's personal vehicle. Roni was a paramedic with a skill set our
group desperately required. I needed Angel to be there when I mentally returned
to the world.
Capri joked that she was a lawyer; a profession that was
about to be rendered useless. I wanted to say something except their logic was
unassailable. Capri was right, Roni and Angel were correct in agreeing with her
and I couldn't volunteer myself. I was in no shape to make the drive even if
the other three would let me go. I knew they wouldn't.
I wasn't going to make a false declaration when I knew the
outcome and the sacrifices being made on my behalf. Venus had rubbed everyone
the wrong way at least once. Samantha, Samantha was the Quiet One. She didn't stand
out, sparkle, or shine. She was steady and unspectacular. They were also part
of us and the tribe had decided to not leave anyone behind.
Capri left in the car, going south. Angel, Roni and I headed
west for a few more kilometers. We came across a home off the beaten path,
decent acreage, mostly wood covered with the dwelling not clearly visible from
the road. As we turned down the gravel driveway we saw a sign; 'Trespassers
will be', with white tape over the bottom word(s) and the addendum 'use your imagination'
finishing the warning.
The house was a sprawling one-story affair that didn't look
fabricated. It looked woman-made, except that woman had an incomplete knowledge
of architecture and home construction. Angel pulled around to the side of the
house. It appeared we had been told to park there.
"Where are we?" I murmured.
"Kuiko and Aniqua's co-worker's home," Angel
informed me. "I understand he's disreputable, if not downright
criminal."
"We figure people won't know to look for you
here," Roni added. We piled out of the van, gathered, then approached the
door.
There were two hand-made, woodcarvings on either side of the
main, side door. One was 'Jethro McFarlane' and the other was 'If the cunt
ain't fresh, I ain't interested.’ Kuiko's information came flooding back.
Still, who said shit like that? Angel drew her sidearm, put it behind her back
and knocked on the door. Aniqua answered fifteen seconds later.
"Hey," she smiled with some relief, "you made
it. Where is Capri?" My mind was rattling along as best it could. Aniqua
didn't know about Capri because they were keeping their phone chatter to a
minimum, that made sense.
"Israel, Israel?" Aniqua repeated.
"Huh?" I managed.
"Why don't you come in and take a nap?" she
offered. "Get a bite to eat maybe?"
"Going down the home stretch," I muttered while
trying to sound upbeat. That was it for me. My mind informed me I was out of
gas by shutting down. My demons would always exact their toll and I was all out
of the 'soul' currency they craved.
The End of the Day
I woke up in a strange bed with no recollection of how I got
there. It stank. I was putting definitions to what smelled as I raised my head
and looked around. Whoever lived in this place liked to kill animals, as
witnessed by the stuffed animals and animal head wall ornaments, and had an
all-consuming aversion to housework in any of its forms. There were clothes on
the floor, every piece of furniture was stacked up with something.
On the wall the bed was pushed up against were animal horns
of various kinds of creatures and every prong had a pair of women's panties
dangling from them. I could almost touch them. When I moved I realized the
ceiling above the bed was covered with a huge circular mirror. This made sense
because the bed was circular too. Where the fuck
was I?
I almost missed the eyes at the 'foot' of the bed. They were
big brown eyes, slender eyebrows, a smallish nose bridge and bangs over the top
quarter of the light brown or yellowish forehead with the rest of the hair
pulled back.
"Hey, Kuiko," I smiled and breathed a sigh of
relief.
The entirety of her head popped up.
"Hello Israel, are you feeling okay?" she asked
compassionately.
"So-so, I guess," I shrugged. I had pushed myself
up on my elbows. "How long have you been there?"
"About twenty minutes," she grinned. "I had
to wait until everyone else was pre-occupied."
"Did everyone get here okay?" I maneuvered up to
waist level.
"Yeah. Capri came in with Venus and Samantha a few
hours ago. They brought most of your clothes," she related. "Jethro's
bimbos made it too. They have some stupid names, Paisley and Lavender." I
reached out and gingerly tapped the walls of my mental collage.
"Is Mistress Sano displeased?" I teased her. Kuiko
rose higher. I imagined she was on her knees. She was also really happy. I was
playing a game with her which suggested I was recovering from this morning's
psychic marathon. She shook her head. "I'd really like a hug if it isn't
too much trouble, Kuiko Sano."
Her teeth shined white-bright. Kuiko crawled up the bed. I
thought she was trying to be non-threatening, so she slithered up the bed to be
level with my lap. She placed the side of her head to my stomach and slowly,
tenderly hugged me.
"Can I ask a favor?" she whispered.
"I'll do my best," I offered.
"Please stop trying to hurt yourself so often. Make an
effort to avoid danger instead of running straight at it," s