Conspiracy at World's End Read online

  Max leapt out of the vehicle, staring at the destruction before him.

  That bitch had done. She had eradicated every aspect of the experiment. There were children in that town. He felt guilty for being a part of something so despicable.

  Francis got out of the driver side, “It seems we were too late, old chap.”

  “This is my fault. I did this.”

  “Now, I find that hard to believe.”

  Francis turned to Bettina, “It would seem our friend will be with us a little while longer. Won’t that be just smashing, Bettina.”

  Flip had tracked Titch to the cave where she was being held by Aunt Pat.

  The old woman had no urges to slaughter the girl. She began to feel motherly once more, showing the waif how to cook. Aunt Pat had found a small marsupial to roast.

  Titch didn’t try to escape. She was intrigued to learn about this woman’s obvious psychosis.

  Flip stepped into the cave with Brock.

  The old woman jumped to her feet, reaching for a knife. She waved it before them threateningly, “Come near me and I’ll make satay sticks with your guts.”

  Flip snarled, defiantly, “We’ve just come for

  Titch. We don’t care about you.”

  “No…Flip, you’re ruining everything!” exclaimed the little girl, marching toward them. Even Aunt Pat was startled by this admission. “I need to understand why she does such horrible things?”

  Aunt Pat took exception to this, turning on the girl, “I don’t need a sniveling brat like you getting into my business.”

  Brock leapt between the old woman and the waif, using his body as a shield, “I won’t feel that knife. So drop it.”

  Suddenly, a flood of children swarmed into the cave, staring down the old woman. Flip smirked, “See…there are more of us than you. Now, come on Titch we’re going.”

  The old woman looked defeated, “What’s going to happen to me?”

  “We don’t believe in hurting anyone unless to protect ourselves. So, you can stay here. If you do anything to harm I will know about it,” spoke the teen leader. “I won’t be so easy next time.”

  The children backed out of the cave leaving the old woman to her own business.

  Flip suddenly stopped, frozen to the spot, “Marlin! Something awful is going to happen! It can’t be stopped. His fate is already sealed.”

  Flip felt tears begin to cascade down his face.

  Marlin kept struggling with the rope in desperation, managing to fray the binding. He just had to tug a bit longer and it would come free.

  Winter felt the pain ease, rising from the ground. He no longer smiled, his temper simmering away.

  The man bounded toward Marlin forcing him down to the ground, both men struggling for their own desires, one of freedom and the other for rough sex.

  Marlin’s elbow connected with the bounty hunters guts, deflecting his body.

  Winter never gave up. He descended upon him again, gripping his arms above his head with one hand while the other yanked down Marlin’s pants.

  The tantalizing excitement brewing inside the bounty hunter was almost at fever pitch, his cock rock hard, jutting forward in his jeans.

  Marlin fought every minute that went by, thrusting upward to dislodge him. The man held on, finally forcing Marlin’s head down into the dirt.

  The man was almost choking, dust collecting in his lungs, as a force from behind was thrust inside him.

  He lifted his head, as a hellish cry of unbridled defilement leapt into the air.

  He felt tears collect upon his face, his words begging for the man to stop fucking him. He felt every thrust rip his heart to shreds.

  Santanna heard the cry roll in from across the darkening landscape. She knew it was Marlin. He wasn’t far away. She grabbed her shot gun, and ran. She didn’t stop, her heart tearing at her chest.

  She felt tears for the first time in year, the horror in his voice spoke to the woman in her.

  She knew the sounds of utter desecration. It was similar anguish that Santanna had felt when she had her first trick. It wasn’t loving sex. It was degrading humiliation.

  That is what Santanna had heard, as she ran through the dark, his soul was being ripped out and replaced forever.

  Chapter 7

  By the time that Winter had finished with him, Marlin was in a catatonic mess. He lost all his will power to fight. The man became numb unable to feel. He was grateful for that.

  A gun shot cracked the night air, bringing Marlin back to the real world.

  A figure fell beside him, face down on the ground. Winter tried to speak but the bubbles of blood foaming at his mouth prevented any sound. Was he sorry, in the last moments of his life? Marlin doubted it.

  Suddenly, Winter’s body stopped shuddering and his face become still, his eyes staring ahead, sightless.

  Marlin began to shiver, pulling his legs up toward his body for protection. His ass was hurting, his spirit in tatters.

  Santanna dropped the gun suddenly feeling sick. She collapsed on the ground, ejecting the bile that had risen up her throat.

  Her guts were heaving at the sight of Marlin’s form, pants around his ankles, bare ass exposed.

  “Marlin!”

  Sam’s voice came from behind her; she launched herself at him, pushing him backwards away from the scene, “No! Fuck off! He won’t want you to see him like this.”

  “I can’t just leave him.”

  “Please…listen to me! I know what I am talking about.”

  Sam looked at Marlin’s battered body lying upon the ground, shaking. He wanted to take his pain away,

  make him feel better again.

  “I will take care of him. Now, just get lost for a bit. Okay.”

  Santanna practically pushed him away, forcefully. Sam relented, walking off into the dark. He imagined all kinds of horror.

  Santanna wiped away her tears, composing herself.

  She turned around, marching over to the dead body of the bounty hunter, grabbing a leg and dragged his corpse away into the bush.

  Let the dingoes have him, that’s all he deserved, to be picked over like road kill.

  The children had begun a work force that would defy any post disaster clean-up operation; they had found resources that had escaped the flames. They had used tarp and canvas to build make-shift tents. One group began building fires while another was out looking for food.

  They had all come together to build a new camp.

  Wanda and Manny watched on in amazement. They were like a disciplined platoon.

  After, half an hour of watching a small group trying to erect a tent, and failing, the two Enforcers stepped in to help.

  Flip sat on top of the hill staring in the direction of Marlin’s current location. He was crying, his mind unable to rid itself of the horrible feelings that he had felt in the wake of Marlin’s ordeal.

  Yet the urgency was over, Marlin had been rescued. At least, Flip could relax about that.

  When Santanna returned, she stoked the fire with some fresh wood before going over to where her friend lay. He was so still. She found a knife on the ground. The woman sliced through the rope, gently untwisting it from Marlin’s

  bloody wrists.

  Marlin suddenly gasped as his mind came back to reality. He was free. He began to howl angrily up at the stars.

  Santanna found an old shirt, placing it over Marlin’s naked lower region and then laid down beside him. He backed away, frightened at first but easing when he recognized his friend.

  She wrapped her arms around him, tightly, resting her head upon his shoulder, her tears matching his.

  They lay together for hours, both succumbing to sleep.

  Santanna heard movement about them, suddenly sitting bolt upright, her heart palpitating. She spotted Sam by the fire, making coffee in a billycan.

  He poured the liquid into a steel mug, bringing it over to her, “I thought you could use this.”

  “Fuck! You’re
just too much of a boy scout for this hour of the morning.”

  She accepted the mug, sipping from it, gratefully.

  “How is he?”

  Santanna played with his hair, gently, like the mother she once was, “He’ll need a hot shower and lots of TLC. The rest is up to him now.”

  “What did you do with the body?”

  “I took care of it! That’s all you need to know,” spoke Santanna, rising from the ground, feeling a few kinks in her back. “I’ll go find him some clothes.”

  Sam wanted to feel as close to his lover as the

  woman, feeling a pang of jealousy. They were sharing the moment without him.

  He lay down on the ground facing him.

  Marlin’s eyes fluttered open, his face in pain. Sam took his hand. Marlin gripped it tightly, closing his eyes once more. He felt a little safer.

  Sam rested his lips upon the man’s forehead, feeling his body shudder from the delicate impact after his trauma.

  Flip smiled, his new father was going to be okay. They weren’t going to be coming back for some time. He was sure Marlin wouldn’t forget them.

  Flip climbed down from his vantage point, issuing orders for some fresh wood to be collected and some food supplies to be found.

  Wanda and Manny were startled from their sleep, emerging from a tarp covered shelter they had erected away from the kids.

  “What’s happening? Are they back?”

  “No, so you’ll have to stay with us,” spoke the teen leader, pointed a determined finger at them. “You can get some water and help with the food,” spoke the young leader. “There are no lazy bones in this community.”

  “Fuck!”

  “You shouldn’t be using such language in front of the kids,” put in Flip.

  Flip moved away from them, going to speak to Rusty. They laughed, sharing a joke. Flip had a glint of admiration verging on a crush for this fellow teenager. Marlin had shown him what was possible in this new world.

  Marlin woke up on the bus, for a moment, he thought everything else was a dream until he realized his ass still hurt. The memories came flooding back in as he stared up at the ceiling of the vehicle.

  He felt flat, almost dead inside. He couldn’t cry or shout. He was bone dry of emotions.

  He heard Santanna ranting at the front of the bus, “Those bastards are going to be sorry when I get through with them.”

  “The Enforcers wouldn’t condone what he did.”

  “The reason that bastard was sent in the first place is enough,” spoke Santanna. “So he likes sucking dick, there is no need to send a psycho after him.”

  Marlin sat up, having listened to enough of their exchange, “So where are we?”

  “Well, Sleeping Beauty, we are heading toward West Wy hoping someone will fix this heap of shit,” spoke Santanna.

  “What about the kids?”

  “Those freaks can take care of themselves. We need to keep moving before anyone else comes looking for you.”

  “Besides, Wanda and Manny are with them.”

  Marlin turned to Sam, “That hardly reassures me. They were working for the Enforcers not long ago.”

  “Oh, they aren’t going to be in a hurry to go home.”

  Marlin looked at him, angrily, “Why are you so sure about that? What are you not telling us?”

  Sam scowled at him, feeling as if he was being brutally barrage with accusing questions. They were on the same side, didn’t he get that. Hadn’t the man showed his loyalty by now?

  Santanna noted Marlin’s manner as well, for the first time wishing he hadn’t been so abrupt with Sam. Blondie had been so caring toward him.

  “I don’t know! There wasn’t time to compare notes! I guess they were sent to get me back,” spoke Sam. “I was a deserter after all.”

  Sam turned away from him, getting in a huff. He had to zip his mouth due to the man’s delicate mental state.

  Commander Roth appeared in the control room at Enforcer 6th Squad HQ scrutinizing her charges; it could be any one of these people who had leaked information.

  She was sure the town had been warned, not one casualty, which was unexpected for a surprise attack.

  Those children should have been outside playing as the projectiles fell from the heavens. Bodies would have been littering the streets.

  She paced the room, alert for any signs that might give the perpetrator away. She was no fool. Roth had her suspicions. Her movements brought her to stand behind Cross.

  The woman felt her commander’s presence, feeling a droplet of sweat slide down the nape of her neck.

  Roth noticed this, smirking, “I need to trace for any additional communications devices in this section.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” spoke Cross, as she adjusted controls at her console. “I have initiated a search.”

  “Good. Let me know when it has been done,” spoke the commander, stepping back toward her desk.

  Cross closed her eyes, sighing, hoping her tactic would work to throw off any suspicions. She had managed to hide the communication device. She hoped it would be enough. There were too many people counting on her, for Cross to be found out at this stage.

  Flip and Rusty went to check on the old woman to make sure she was sticking to the deal.

  They ventured, cautiously into the cave. It was empty. The camp fire was cold. She had been gone for some time.

  Flip was shocked by this unexpected hiccup in his plans.

  He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander through the higher plains searching for a thought or a feeling that belong to that horrible mind.

  He could detect not a ripple of a thought wave from her in the immediate area. She had gone.

  He was relieved to know that they were safe.

  The journey to West Wy had been long and silent, nobody bothered to talk aboard the bus. They all had their own issues to deal with.

  Santanna scanned the world around her; buildings were smashed and broken. There were cars tossed about like toys and debris scattered on the roads.

  The storm that devastated this town was part of a super cell that reached this far from the coast line.

  This was just the effects on the outskirts; Santanna shuddered to think what had happened to the Eastern Sea Board.

  She pulled the bus to a halt, to get through this hell hole they needed to remove some of the rubbish from the road.

  Sam looked up, noticing the problem. He soon followed Santanna off the bus.

  Marlin just lay there, unmoving, unable to leave the seat. He didn’t want to go outside.

  Santanna and Sam were moving loose sheets of corrugated iron from the road when a voice called out from an abandoned building, “Fuck, look what slut just dropped in.”

  Santanna scowled, looking over at the ugly mug of Joh Kincaid.

  He had a mischievous smirk on his face that made her blood boil with anger. The Asian dick was still kind of cute though, which made her even more irritated by the man.

  “I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

  “Boofhead got a bad case of the shits so we had to wait out here for a few days,” spoke Joh. “I did tell him that road kill wasn’t right.”

  Boofhead came from inside the building, “No boss, it was the mushrooms. They musta been bad ones.”

  Santanna actually smiled when she saw Boofhead. He was so endearing after everything they had been through.

  Boofhead clambered over the road toward her, wrapping the woman about her waist in his bulky arms, giving her a bear hug that almost knocked the wind from her chest. He was happy to see her.

  “Oh shit…I think Dumbo has a crush.”

  Santanna snarled, “I’d be far more revolted if you did, wanker.”

  Boofhead helped them clear the road for the bus to pass through. When he was done, the hulk rounded them up. He had food for them.

  Sam extracted himself from the guy’s grip, going back over to the bus, tentatively stepping back inside, “Ahh…Marlin…they have food.
You must be hungry.”

  “No…I’m fine. I’ll just stay here.”

  “But you gotta get up! At least take a shower and put on some fresh clothes.”

  “Will you just fuck off!”

  Marlin turned away from him, closing his eyes on Sam’s crushed expression.

  He heard the man walk away. He sighed, feeling stupid for overeacting. He was being silly, but damn, why shouldn’t he be.

  Cross sweated on the outcomes of this report. She could be facing a firing squad and then everything would be for nothing. She wanted to bring down the barbaric state of the Enforcers so she could love her girlfriend in the open, walk hand in hand, free to be who they were, a loving couple.

  Cross hadn’t seen her lover in two years but there was someone else she was equally desperate to see even more.

  She had to put her tiny face aside to concentrate on this mission.

  Suddenly, a ping disturbed her thoughts. Cross jumped to her feet as Roth approached, “What is that?”

  “The signal you were after.”

  “It’s coming from this room.”

  Commander Roth paced the floor, her keen ears drowning out all other noise until she located the sound. She placed her hand on the shoulder of another subordinate in the room, “Give me that device! Now!”

  The young man shook, realizing it was his pants pocket that was pinging. He put his hand inside, suddenly looking shocked to find a radio in there. He removed it from a pocket, passing it to his commander.

  “No…ma’am. That’s not mine. I don’t know how it got there.”

  “Well, you would say that to get out of an interrogation.”

  “I am loyal to the squad. I would never do this,” spluttered the man.

  Commander Roth pulled him from his chair, glancing across to note the reaction of Cross, “Then you should have been more alert. Now move! I have certain questions that need answering.”