Part 9: Unspoken Bonds
Blossom groaned in pain as she was carried through a series of labyrinthine caverns underneath the volcano in the middle of Townsville. She hung limply in the arms of her captors, her blood leaving a trail on the molten rocks. None of the shadows had said anything to her the entire way... it was like their very souls had been constrained within their bodies. It was hard to believe Bubbles and Buttercup were among them.
She looked up as they emerged into a massive cavern, in which no normal human could ever survive. The heat from the floor of molten lava below was enough to melt their skin right off their bones, but it was a minor annoyance for the Whoopass Girl, and was probably unnoticed by the crimson skinned figure that stood on the small island in the middle of it all.
"At last... the final piece of light in my shining crimson world." He turned around, grinning ear to ear as he watched her slump in the shadows' arms. "You knew you couldn't hide from me forever Blossom."
"I don't care what you do to me, I-" Blossom was interrupted.
"You'll never follow me. Yes, I heard." He smirked and shook his head. "You speak as if you have any say in the matter." He floated over the pool of lava, never moving his gaze away from hers as he approached. Blossom pushed herself up to her full height with some effort, standing tall and proud.
She gulped as his claw settled on her head, the points digging slightly into her flesh. Suddenly a scream erupted from her throat as crimson energy surged straight through her brain. It felt like she was on fire, inside and out. And no matter what she did, the flames wouldn't die. That agony buried itself deep into her mind, digging at her consciousness like a hammer.
Finally His claw moved away from her, but the pain didn't end. Blossom was sobbing uncontrollably, wishing for the pain to end one way or another, but it simply didn't happen. Had Bubbles and Buttercup gone through this? "Put her in chains. I'll let her tender up before taking her under my power." The shadows pulled her toward the back. She didn't have the will to fight back anymore.
She looked around frantically, looking for any escape from the searing pain in her mind. She was being carried into a row of cells, with bars seemingly grown out of the molten rock that surrounded them.
She could see a human figure hanging in one of the cells with crimson chains around her wrists. She was somewhat short, with slightly longer than shoulder length blonde hair, wearing a red jumpsuit with a silver belt around her waist. She was hanging unconscious in her chains. The heat wasn't so bad here, probably why they kept the human here. The shadows dragged her into one of the cells and pushed her against the wall.
Chining bands of blood-red light emerged from the rock, wrapping around her wrists and ankles. Blossom looked one of the shadows in the eyes, still sobbing in agony. "I'm... I'm sorry... I... called you... traitors..." She squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn't known what they'd had to go through. She never knew He had the power to inflict this kind of torture.
The shadows left, letting the bars form again out of the molten rock that surrounded her. She pulled at her chains, but she wasn't sure she could have broken them even if she was at full strength. As it was, they didn't even begin to budge.
She broken down and hung limp in her chains, letting the tears flow down her cheeks as surely as the blood still dripped from her wounds. The pain just wouldn't end. No matter how she begged and pleaded to any entity that came to mind, it still dug into her brain like a ravenous parasite, consuming her senses. She couldn't fight it...
Sam walked into the kitchen, pushing the door open and approaching the small pantry near the back. She pulled the door open and blinked. All that was left was a can of ravioli with a drawing of a cartoon character on it. She sighed and grabbed it, pulling it out of the pantry. It looked like her peaceful time with Mandy was gonna have to end... they had to go into the city and find more food. After breakfast at least.
She grabbed the can and poured it into a bowl before sticking it in the microwave. She looked over when Mandy pushed the door open and walked in, yawning and stretching sleepily. "Good morning." She smiled.
"Good morning." Sam replied with a gentle smile. "I hope you slept well last night, we're going to need our energy today."
"Oh? Why?" Mandy asked curiously. The microwave beeped as if on cue and Sam pulled out the bowl, setting it on the table.
"Have some of our last meal." Sam smirked. Mandy sighed as Sam pulled out a pair of forks and handed it to her, sitting in the chair beside her.
"We knew it would happen eventually. Maybe it's not such a big deal, its been a while since this all started. Things must have started to calm down by now, right?" Mandy asked. Sam didn't answer, spearing one of the ravioli chunks with her fork and sticking it in her mouth. "Do you think we'll run into anyone while we're out? You know... anyone who's not completely insane?"
"It's possible I guess." Sam replied softly. She looked over at Mandy, to find that her violet eyes were already staring into Sam's emerald green ones. "But then... anything's possible."
Mandy coughed and looked down. "Including both of us getting killed." She said. Sam didn't respond, watching her as she speared another piece of ravioli and jammed it into her mouth. "Look... in case one or both of us dies... I wanna say... the last few days have actually been the best days of my life."
"I know... in a way... I feel that way too." Sam smiled and wrapped her good arm around Mandy's shoulder. Mandy smiled and leaned against her, still staring up into her eyes with her large, violet orbs. Sam stared back, reaching up to stroke her cheek gently with one hand.
Mandy leaned up toward her, pressing her lips gently to Sam's. Neither of them were lesbians... they knew that. This wasn't about lust, it wasn't even about love really. It was about warmth... compassion... the power of a gentle touch and caress to heal the soul. They gave each other comfort and reassurance as their kiss deepened, sinking into each other's firm embrace.
Time stood still for the two lovers locked in each other's embrace, even as the reddening sun made its way across the sky. Their hearts ached for the passion one could only feel in the embrace of another, and their bodies trembled as a long denied need was finally met. They held each other close, sinking into the large king sized bed in the master bedroom.
They would still have to venture out to find more food after this was over... but for the moment that didn't matter. Their hands caressed their once-tender skin, now made harder and tougher by the weeks of hard living and unbalanced diets. But that didn't matter at all. They moved on the bed together, feeding each other through caresses and kisses the comfort that had been so lacking in recent weeks.
They were both shuddering and panting by the time their energy built to a crescendo, exploding as one and flowing through both like they were, for an instant, the same person. When the sensations settled they found themselves on the bed, lying against each other. Mandy wrapped her arms around Sam, sighing in contentment. They both ignored the sweat running down their bodies to the sheets, and the exhaustion didn't matter. They would recover... and they would be stronger than before, with the strength of them both pooling into one unstoppable force.
Alex was able to hobble over the grass with Helen holding onto her arm, keeping her steady on her feet. Several days had passed, and she was still feeling weak, but she was slowly regaining her strength. Abundant food (the origin of which Helen refused to reveal), drinking water, and exercise sped up the healing process. She was still a pile of barely held together bones, but there was a muscle or two beginning to form.
The sky overhead was growing redder still, though she was relieved to have had Helen tell her that she saw it too. She'd been afraid her eyesight was irreparably damaged or something. Clover stayed with her wherever she went, always hovering nearby and offering pieces of advice every now and again.
"How long have you been out here?" Alex asked with an increasingly strong voice.
"Well now, I s'pose its been a month now hasn't it?" Helen replied thoughtfully. "I was in the middle of a vacation when all Hell broke loose. Stayed out here ever since. Haven't seen anyone else come 'round except fer you."
"I see..." Alex looked around at the grassy plains around them. The wet, chill grass felt wonderful underneath her bare feet. This place looked like paradise except for the strange sky color. "Can you help me get back to America? I kinda failed Geography... I don't even know which way it is from here."
"America? It's right that way." Helen pointed out across the blood washed sea, at the setting crimson sun. "But I dun see why ya'd be so eager ta go back there. It was chaotic enough when there was some sanity in the world. Now it's probably a roving wasteland of perverts and murderers."
"My friends are waiting for me there... I have to go back, I have to find them." Alex stopped and looked up at the taller Irish woman. "They're probably worried about me... I can't just stay here."
"And what makes ya think they're still alive?" Helen asked.
"Nothing... but it doesn't matter." Alex shook her head. "I still have to go back... I just have to." Alex stared up at the taller and older woman with a fierce gaze. Helen stared back until finally she broke out in a broad smile and slapped her shoulder, nearly throwing her off her feet.
"Yer a loyal lass with a lot of spirit." She smiled and squeezed her shoulder. Alex felt like her arm was about to snap, but thankfully Helen let go before it did. "I like that. Alright. Ya got yerself a ride back to America. I'll make the preparations, then in a few days when yer strong enough we'll head out." Alex smiled gratefully, then stopped when she realized something.
"We? You're coming with me?" Alex asked curiously.
"Ya said yer bad at Geography. I can't in good conscience push you out on a boat and say 'good luck'." She chuckled. Alex's face drained of what little color it had regained.
"A... boat?" Alex gulped. She'd been on a boat for the last three weeks or so, she wasn't eager to go back out onto the water. Suddenly staying here seemed like a pretty damn good idea.
"Did ya think ya were gonna fly? I'm no pilot, and there's an ocean between us and our destination." She smiled and patted Alex's head like she was a frightened kitten. "Dun worry. I'll be there, and this one will have an engine. We'll get there in a few days." Alex nodded, trying to quell the sick feeling that plagued her stomach all of a sudden. She hated the ocean; she almost wished she'd let Tim Scam evaporate the whole thing. But if it was what she had to do, then she would do it...
Sam and Mandy's hands clasped together as they marched down the street, both keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. San Francisco was littered with weapons, blood, rubble and bodies lying around on the streets in a gruesome reminder of what the world had become while they'd spent their time lounging about in their small corner of paradise.
Mandy's squeezed Sam's hand tighter as they passed by the body of a young girl lying on the ground, apparently trampled underfoot in one of the initial riots toward the beginning of all this. The body was already beginning to rot, proving that nobody... nothing was safe in this Hell. Even if they thought they were safe in their cabin, Hell would find them.
Sam squeezed back as they reached the parking lot of a nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter. They figured nobody came to Wal-Mart when the world was intact, why would they start coming here after the world was over?
They made their way through the wreckage-strewn parking lot, walking around the few cars that remained. They were all destroyed however, with smashed windows and missing electronics. She supposed someone had thought they could sell the stereos in the chaos. Of course, the irony was nobody now would care about that kind of thing.
They made their way inside. The interior was completely dark except for the red light let in through the scattered skylights. The merchandise lay in random piles all over the ground, and there were undoubtedly human bodies hidden amidst the junk.
Sam and Mandy made their way through the store to the grocery section, keeping their hands clasped the whole time. The smell of rotten food mixed with the lingering smell of blood and rot until they could barely stand up straight, but they pressed on to the canned foods section. The cans lay on the ground randomly, which seemed to be a recurring theme in this damned new world.
"Grab what you can... anything that can keep for a while." Sam knelt down and started gathering up anything within reaching distance, shoving it into a pillowcase she'd brought for just that purpose. Mandy followed suit, glancing nervously at the lumps that lay about the floor.
"You don't think there'll be... like... zombies do you?" Mandy asked worriedly. Once Sam would have laughed, but after all this she truly had no idea.
"Let's hurry up and not find out." She replied. They filled their sacks to capacity and turned to leave, rushing over the piles of bodies and merchandise until they reached the front door and emerged into the parking lot. Sam looked up. The sky was blood red... not a trace of the blue that had once been so comforting remained.
They retraced their steps back through the city, thankfully avoiding any confrontations. The bodies hadn't moved either, negating Mandy's zombie theory. But then, they could always start walking around later. Sam shook her head of that ridiculousness as they reached the beach and walked out onto it.
"God no..." Mandy muttered, her eyes going wide. Sam dropped her pillowcase of cans to the sand, watching as a towering inferno blazed where Mandy's summer home had been just an hour before. Plumes of thick black smoke billowed into the sky, as a man with a straggly gray beard leapt and hollered in front of it.
"Let the old world BURN! Let the fires of God cleanse the world of all sins!" He whooped and hollered joyfully, jumping up and down.
"Our one safe haven..." Mandy stared at the flames in shock, dropping her own pillow case. "Our paradise... it's gone..." When the shock wore off, she growled and stomped toward the crazy old man who was still dancing in front of the flames.
"Uh... Mandy..." Sam rushed after her. This old man could be dangerous.
"And He said unto me, bring this world to the ground, so that it may rise from the ashes and begin anew!" The old man shouted, holding his hands to the sky and staring at the blood red sun. "And I have my Lord! I have!"
"You bastard!" Mandy socked the old man in the mouth, sending him stumbling to the mouth. "Do you know how long this house has been in my family? Since before I was born!"
"The cleansing fires of God will purge this world of sin!" The old man bellowed.
"Sin this!" Mandy slammed her sharply pointed shoe into the man's groin before whirling and stomping away from him. Sam followed behind her, ignoring the old man's frantic squeaking. "That sick little son of a bitch... where are we supposed to go now!?" Mandy exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. "Hell, why not just curl up on the sand? It's as good a place as any!"
"Relax Mandy." Sam put one hand on her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly.
"Well where do we go? Unless you want to just wander around randomly until we find something, we're out of options." Mandy turned to glare at Sam. Sam sighed and looked down at the ground, trying to think of what to do. Their home was burned to the ground... there was nowhere else to go. Even if they found a new place, it would only be a matter of time before that one was either destroyed or taken over by some insane whackos.
"Sam?" Mandy put her hand on Sam's cheek, moving her head so she could stare into her eyes. "What are you thinking?"
"We need to go back to Beverly Hills..." Sam told her. Mandy blinked.
"There's nothing there Sam. All of our homes are demolished, believe me I checked before I pulled you out of your burning house." Mandy smirked.
"We're not going for a place to stay. We need to find something I dropped." Sam replied. Mandy blinked in confusion, but Sam gripped her shoulders. "Come on Mandy, we can't hide anymore. No matter where we go, this whole thing will catch up to us. We have to keep moving... and maybe we can do something about it."
"What... you mean like you and me save the world?" Mandy smirked. "And you always thought I had a big ego."
"Do you trust me?" Sam stared into Mandy's eyes intently, squeezing her arms. Mandy stared back, taken off guard by her intensity.
"Y... yes..." Mandy nodded.
"Then let's go." Sam gripped her hand and pulled her along on her way toward the street. Beverly Hills wasn't too far from here, and from there, with any luck, they would have more efficient modes of transportation than a car.
Professor Utonium stood back and watched as his two remaining spies loaded their new weaponry onto the WOOHP jet. He had been working for days to build it all, and after extensive testing they were ready to use it. Now all they needed was to lure the controlled Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys into their trap. Of course, that feat was easier said than done.
"They wanted Blossom. If we can find her, we should be able to use her to lure them out into the open." Professor Utonium had stated in their meeting that morning.
"Do we have any idea where she might have gone after leaving WOOHP headquarters?" Jerry had asked.
"Do we even know that she escaped? She could have been captured by now." Crimson pointed out. The others remained silent for several minutes before Jerry spoke again.
"That's always a possibility, but until we know for certain we have to take to heart any chance we have." Jerry looked around at Alice, Crimson, and Professor Utonium, whom his gaze settled on. "Where would she go?"
"If she's at all like she used to be..." Professor Utonium said. "She would go back to Townsville."
"Then that is our destination." He turned his gaze to Alice and Crimson. "Load all of our weapons onto the WOOHP jet while I refuel it. We leave as soon as possible." Alice and Crimson nodded, getting up and turning to begin their assigned tasks.
Professor Utonium was snapped out of his half-dazed state when Alice walked up to him, giving him a gentle smile. "We're ready to go Professor. Come on." She put her hand on his arm and guided him toward the jet. He hadn't gotten much sleep over the last few weeks, particularly in recent days, and exhaustion was beginning to play tricks with his senses.
She pulled him onto the jet and pushed him into one of the seats, reaching around to buckle him into it. "Thank you." The Professor told her with a sheepish smile. He felt like an old man who had to be taken care of. Even Jerry was doing more work than he was, and he was by far the oldest person in their group. Quite possibly the oldest person left on Earth for that matter.
Alice sat in the seat beside his, pulling her seatbelt tight around herself and giving the Professor another smile. "Don't worry about it, you've been working hard lately."
"Are you sure you should come? You could stay here. The defenses are still in place, and there are enough rations to last two people for several years." The Professor asked, looking down at her stomach.
Alice looked down slightly, then grabbed his hand and placed it over her abdomen. He could feel movement, as though the child was growing restless. "I couldn't keep this contained to a military bunker, feeding off of tasteless rations... I want him to grow up normal and happy. And the only way for that to happen, is to bring order back to this world." She looked up at him, staring into his eyes.
"It may already be too late for that." The Professor reminded her softly, staring back.
"Then being dead won't be much different than being alive." Alice said solemnly. The Professor stared down at her, then nodded in acceptance. He moved his free hand to take her hand firmly in his. She smiled and squeezed his hand as the WOOHP engines began powering up. They were off to find Blossom... the last ray of hope this planet had left.
Everyone looked in surprise as one of the consoles on the wall of the jet began to beep.
Mandy stood behind Sam, who was knelt down beside a pile of something beside the burned and ruined wreckage of her Beverly Hills home. She seemed to be trying to talk to the pile of small metal pieces, poking it with her finger and occasionally saying the name 'Jerry'. "Um... Sammykins... maybe we should leave and find another place to hide out..." Mandy suggested.
"Damnit... please let something in this pile of junk work." Sam started pounding the small pieces of scrap metal with her fist.
"Okay... you're officially scaring me now." Mandy said. Suddenly the small pile of metal started beeping rhythmically. Sam looked ecstatic, but Mandy was just confused. "What is that? Why is your broken makeup kit beeping?"
"The tracking device is activated... I just hope someone's out there to pick it up." Sam stood up and looked up at the darkening sky overhead. Mandy looked up, but didn't see anything.
"Okay Sam... I'm getting more and more confused, so either explain all of this, or I'm going to officially consider you completely loony." Mandy demanded.
"Before this all happened, I was a spy with the World Organization Of Human Protection." Sam replied. "This was my Compowder... and it has a tracking device. If there's anyone in the organization left, they'll be able to come pick us up by tracking it." Mandy just stared at her, her jaw falling open.
"You... you do that..." Mandy started to back away slowly. "You can wait for some spaceship or something to pick you up, but I'd rather go find shelter."
"I knew you wouldn't believe me." Sam shook her head. "Just wait a few minutes and you'll see."
"No Sam, I have survival issues to take care of. I would love it if you'd come with me... but I'm not sitting here waiting to be killed or raped by the lunatics who are still wandering around." Mandy marched away from her.
"Mandy! Come back! Just wait!" Sam pleaded. She couldn't MAKE Mandy wait... but she didn't want to leave her alone in this place. She would have brought the homing device with her if she didn't think it would turn off the moment she touched it. She was lucky it had activated in the first place. She was so close to being picked up by WOOHP... but Mandy...
Mandy marched with a stiff back, but in reality her heart was breaking with each step. She'd come to depend on Sam since this had all started. Now Sam was going to let her walk off all for some organization that might or might not exist. Was Sam actually cracking? She didn't care... she'd always been cracked really. She just wished Sam would be cracked with her...
Finally Sam broke down and charged after her. "Mandy, wait for me!" Mandy smiled as Sam ran up beside her, panting and wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "Okay... we can do it your way..." Sam said. Mandy put one arm around her waist and kept walking. Life in pseudo-paradise would continue... but become far more difficult.
Jerry stared down at the broken compowder and sighed. They'd been so excited when the homing beacon had activated, but the wind must have triggered it somehow. With a sigh he lifted his foot and smashed the homing beacon. It was Sam's compowder signature, which meant this was Sam's compowder. Out here in this desolate wasteland...
"Rest well Samantha... you've earned it." He lifted his hand in a salute, staring out across the blasted landscape before turning to walk back into the WOOHP jet. Now it was on to Townsville...
TO BE CONTINUED