"Maybe I made the wrong decision," Claire moaned as she sank gratefully onto her sleeping pallet in the upstairs office.
Achilles chuckled as he began to remove his armor for the night, "Most Initiates think that after their first day under Shaka's iron fist."
Claire had finally gotten clean for the first time in..., longer than she cared to even recall, by bathing in a small creek. Her disgust at the possibility of stepping on a slimy streambed, having fish wiggle on her ass, or being contaminated with sewage was overcome by the stench of her own body. Her embarrassment over being naked in front of others hadn't faded so the bathing was done far faster than she would have liked. Achilles had sped up his own bathing in order to stay with her.
In the woods she had seen the primary encampment of this Clan of The People. Claire's eyes had nearly burst from her skull at Achilles' revelation that there were three Clans of approximately a hundred individuals traveling along the same route. Alexander's Clan, containing the fiercest Warrior-Hunters, scouted the route and made it more secure for the following Clan's to follow. Hannibal's Clan followed at a distance of fifteen miles or so and stayed in contact via horseback messenger. Memnon's Clan trailed fifteen miles behind Hannibal's and was where most of the new Initiates were sent for their conditioning training. Apparently Claire would be staying with Achilles and forced to endure the tortuous training regime of any Warrior-Hunters looking to become a member of Shaka's Guard.
The primary encampment had been an eerily quiet, fireless affair that Claire would probably have passed by if not for the people moving silently among the trees. Here was where the bulk of the Artisan-Laborers slept and worked until it was their turn for a night inside the Home Depot. A dozen mules were used to bear whatever equipment was too heavy for a person to carry on a forced march and a pair of horses for messengers. Achilles had given her a brief tour of the encampment, introduced her to a few of his Artisan-Laborer friends, and let her eat some of the smoked venison from the previous night.
Then it had been back to the Home Depot where Shaka was calmly waiting for them in his bodysuit. Achilles had taken Claire's armor, telling her he would clean it for her just this once, and then given her over to Shaka's torture. The man was a demon and had pushed her, as well as prospective additions to his Guard, through a relentless regime despite the fact that they had all seen at least some fighting earlier. There had been a mile run, another aerobic exercise that Shaka called sprint-jogs, rope climbing, jump rope. Claire had been surprised that there was only a little strength training involved. Shaka had nodded in appreciation of her question when she asked before explaining that, unless you were monsters like Ajax and Alexander, mature zombies would still almost always be a little stronger than a normal person but with training they could never be as coordinated, fast, or agile.
It made sense but it hadn't made Claire like him any better.
Once Shaka's PT class was over, Achilles had let her grab some stew before handing her a handgrip and telling her to squeeze while he started teaching her People hand-code. By the time that was over Claire could barely wipe her own ass when she used the bathroom or grip the bowl she ate her dinner out of. But, finally, she had been allowed to lay back and maybe get some rest.
"Tell me something, Claire Marie," Achilles voice came softly across the dim room, "Why were you out here during The End Time? You don't sound like you're from around here."
Claire blushed furiously, "I was moving to California."
"Really? Why?"
"Uhm... well, there was this guy I met on the Internet and he said that he could get me into a couple of porn movies. I figured it was either that or waste away in the middle of fucking Maryland," Claire couldn't believe she was admitting this.
"How old are you?"
"Eighteen."
"Just graduated before The End Time, huh?"
"Yeah. My guidance counselor was a real bitch and actually told me to my face that I had a choice between being a stripper and a prostitute with my GPA."
"Really? Did you report her? Because I'm thinking that's something she should have gotten fired for."
"Uhm," Claire's face burned furiously.
Sometime during the day, probably during one of her brief conversations with a panting Shaka-victim, she had started looking up to Achilles as though he were some kind of superhuman demigod. Would he turn away in disgust when she admitted the things she had done?
Ha! I think you could tell him you've got a three-foot cock and used to fuck squirrels with it and he wouldn't bat an eyelash. Look at you funny and laugh but probably not bat even half a one. The inner voice that was her own fairly cackled with laughter in her head and, strangely enough, it made her feel better.
"Well, I fucked the guidance counselor's husband and the principal's wife, at the same time at some college kid's party once. We were all high and I didn't remember until some fucktard posted a video all over the schools website. So let's just say that neither one was very happy with me after that."
"Heh," that was how it began, "You've... got to... be shitting... me!"
Achilles laughter thundered in the room and one of the door guards came running into the room. Achilles waved her off and rolled on his bedroll clutching his sides for at least a minute. Claire joined in halfway through, from sheer relief, and even cried a little as she remembered how her mother had reacted.
"So," Achilles said once he stopped laughing, "I guess you liked to have freaky sex."
The grin he gave her made her insides throb but she somehow managed to resist the urge to leap on him.
Okay. The fact that everything, including my vagina, is achy probably helps resist that particular urge.
"Well, not really. I was just really stoned that night and they took advantage. I'd had sex maybe three times before that with a guy that was really good but we broke up when he moved away. My ex-boyfriend was the one that took me to the party and put the video on the school's website. Those were the only two punches I ever threw but they were good ones."
That set Achilles to laughing again and Claire laughed just as hard. It helped Claire's burgeoning hero worship of the man simmer down some, seeing him roll around like a little kid on his sleeping bag, but not the boiling desire to straddle him. She shook her head and reined herself in as his laughing tapered to a stop.
"How old are you?" she asked, wanting to know more about her mysterious benefactor.
"Oh," Achilles face scrunched in concentration, "I'll be twenty-three this November. I almost forgot how old I was for a second. There's not really been much time for birthday celebrations."
"Yeah," Claire agreed with a nod, "Did you have a girlfriend back home?"
"For awhile, back when I was going to school to be a chemical engineer. She was far hotter than I was and she knew it. When I got all weird and philosophical and stopped going to college, she called me a loser and started dating somebody who was in pre-med. I quickly came to the conclusion that she was looking for someone who was going to get rich in order to marry him and suck him dry." Achilles chuckled, "After that, I started getting really spiritual. Mostly Buddhism, some progressive Christian stuff, even read up on Mormonism. So, yeah, wasn't really interested in girls overmuch."
"What about now?" the words were out before Claire could stop them.
Achilles grinned, "I spend pretty much every waking hour, fighting, training, running, or thinking of ways to make myself a better Warrior-Hunter. I'm dedicated to becoming the best fighter I can be so there's little room for libido. You want to know something dirty?"
Claire found herself returning the grin, "What?"
"I haven't masturbated or had a wet dream in almost a month. We usually encourage guys to masturbate at least once a week so they don't give the Artisan-Laborer semen stained underclothing to wash and I hold the record for holding it the longest. Of course, I'm probably due up soon."
Don't say it! Don't tell him you could help him with that!
"That's kind of gross, Achilles," Claire grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.
Achilles face turned serious, "How many times have you been raped, Claire?"
Claire swallowed and her grin faded as well, "Well, I wouldn't call it rape. I wasn't physically forced."
"You know what I mean."
"Uhm... I don't know. At least twice a week."
"Have you had any symptoms?"
Claire shook her head, she knew exactly what he meant, "They use condoms with me because I'm not local. They did the same for Rachel before-"
"Let me guess," Achilles voice grew deeper and rough, "She refused, wasn't local like you, and didn't think they'd actually throw her out."
Claire nodded, "Jay, her ten year old son, got thrown out too and it was the middle of winter. We found their bodies huddled at the bottom of the hill beside the hotel in the spring." Claire choked back a sob. "After that I knew that Richardson wasn't afraid of killing anyone that stood up to him. The locals thought they were safe but he beats them like slaves when he feels like it. I think he picked women who he knew would take the abuse because they all act like it's the most natural thing in the world to have men beat them. So, I did what I had to do to survive. I'm not proud of it, but I'm alive."
Achilles sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She was sobbing loudly in seconds and had her head buried in his chest. A little bit later she felt something wet on her cheek, looked up, and saw tears sliding down his eyes as well. When she looked up she involuntarily flinched because Achilles face was a mask of barely contained hate and madness. His eyes were too big, too dark, and looked like they belonged on some kind of demon.
"Why are you crying?" she asked slowly.
"I want to kill them all. The locals for being weak and Richardson and his men for being cowards. But I can't because it would endanger The People. So I cry to release the emotion before it becomes toxic. It makes me deal with it better afterwards."
"They're not all weak. There's this one woman named Daisy who tried to take care of me." Claire sat up straight, "Hey, do you think she could join The People? She's older but I think she could be an Artisan-Laborer."
Achilles turned to her, his tear-streaked face an emotionless mask, before shaking his head, "I'm sorry, Claire Marie. But there can be no more contact with those Others except for delivering offerings of deer to keep them bottled up."
"Why?"
"It's too dangerous. We learned early on that taking people from enclaves of Others was a good way to get into a fight. Sometimes we can absorb entire groups if their situation is really bad but mostly we take one or two people that seek us out. People get very strange, possessive even, over those they've sheltered for over a year in close quarters."
Claire ducked her head and took a deep breath, "Okay. I understand."
"Good," Achilles squeezed her shoulder and stood to go back to his bedroll, "Goodnight, Claire Marie. Rest well, because tomorrow we start your technique training."
"Goodnight," Claire said, but all she could think about was how nice Daisy had been to her.
Claire felt like she was abandoning the woman.
Claire shifted in the bushes surrounding the little garden she and Daisy had planted behind the hotel. Sneaking out of the Home Depot had been far easier than it should have been. She had only dozed lightly and, maybe an hour before dawn, she had got up and said she wanted to go for an early morning bath. The guards had opened the door without a word and she was running for the hotel in minutes. She knew that Richardson and his men didn't keep a close eye out this early so she was confident no one had seen her sneak around to the back.
Now she just had to wait for Daisy to come out and give the plants their early morning watering from the snowmelt they had collected for just that purpose.
She must have dozed because Daisy's back suddenly appeared in front of her. The woman's dirty floral-print dress and light blue blouse were unmistakable.
"Hey," Claire whispered, "Daisy!"
The woman stood up in a flash and looked as though she would run back to the hotel in a second.
"It's me. Claire." Claire said, not edging out of the bushes. "Come on! The People are crazy but at least they don't beat you. Not all of them have funny names and fight the zombies. Trust me."
Rough hands snatched her from the bushes, scratching her through the body suit, and she found herself face-to-ugly face with Kyle. The man's piggish face wrinkled in a sick smile as he ogled her. Claire smiled back... and head-butted him right in the nose. Kyle dropped her with a squeal as blood gushed from his nose to coat her breasts. He dropped her and Claire kicked him in the balls.
"Run, Daisy! Get to the-" Claire turned to Daisy and the last thing she saw was the water pail rushing toward her face.
Consciousness came and went several times during the following hours. The first time was when everyone in the hotel had taken turns kicking and beating her. Even the kids kicked her. She had finally lost consciousness when someone connected with her solar plexus. The second time she had pulled herself up from the darkness to find Kyle's taped-up nose an inch away from hers as he raped her. She had tried to fight but someone had been holding her down. The excruciating pain in her vagina let her know that he wasn't the first. Kyle had wrapped his hands around her throat and blackness had quickly followed. Claire awoke once more when she was being forced to drink someone's piss and threw it up all over herself. She had blacked out when the person had socked her in the jaw.
Claire opened her swollen eyes and saw that she was bent over a table at the barricade in front of the hotel. She was naked, sweaty, and everything throbbed but what brought a pained grunt to her face was the sight of Achilles watching her with the same tear-streaked expression she had seen on his face the night before. Richardson stood in front of and a little to the side of Achilles with a shit-eating grin on his face. Achilles was backed by Orion, Chun Li, Artemis, Athena, Shaka, and surprisingly, Xena. None of them had their weapons out but, and Claire couldn't be sure because her eyesight kept going in and out of focus, they all looked as though they wanted to tear Richardson apart. Several of The Dirty Dozen stood at the barricade with shotguns trained on Achilles' group.
"Achilles," Claire croaked, and stiffened as she felt a hand grip her hair hard.
Someone's penis started probing at her naked butt but it didn't lower to penetrate her vagina. An uncontrollable grunt issued from Claire's mouth as her rapist penetrated her rectum.
"As you can see," Richardson said, "Claire's decided to enjoy our hospitality a little longer. So you crazy fucks can go back to wherever you came from without her. Unless you want to start a little dance and have those... Risen things crawling all over this place. Ain't that how you put it?"
"Look at 'em crying like a pussy, Boss," Claire was stuck in her own private hell as her insides were viciously pummeled relentlessly so she had no idea who it made that ignorant comment.
Achilles took a single step forward but Shaka's hand held him back. Instead Achilles drew his spear-club and held the point at Richardson.
"Mark this day well, prey, for you have few of them left."
Richardson laughed, " Shut the fuck up, you little pussy, and get the fuck outta here."
"All of you who are listening," Achilles went on as though Richardson hadn't spoken, "Know that on this say your lives became forfeit because of the wrong done to an Initiate of The People. I swear that you will all die by my hand." Achilles fixed Claire with glistening, dark eyes and she forgot all about what was happening to her, "Remember, you are Claire Marie, of The People, always and forever. I will come for you."
Achilles spear-club against his chest, raised it in salute, and then turned away.
Don't leave me! Claire screamed mentally as tears flooded her eyes.
Please don't leave me.