Steve whispered, "I'm here, Peggy, I'm here...", heavy pants mingling between them, staring into each other's eyes, and Peggy whispered, "I know...You're my home too...Steve, I want you too, but we can't...Not soon, anyway, and I'd rather just be pleasured really quietly...that is, if you aren't afraid of a challenge. We're already distant from camp, and the light's going out...", with an impish smile, as the only light is the dim flashlight right now, since the only campfire is flickering on low flames.
"We can do that...", Steve whispered. "Probably have to be quick and quiet though... Rourke would probably have our heads; I can already tell how he's got a bit of an issue with you and Rameriez.".
Peggy whispered, "We were just talking about stuff from the surface, like how different Mexico and England is...I think she just wanted a woman to connect with since Helga is more focused on shouting orders and such. And besides, he is a bit peeved off about Vinny as it's an extra mouth and all, but Jacques is determined to keep him close which is a good thing, especially after that nightmare earlier on the journey here.", referring to one of the hours where Vinny was sleeping near Jacques who was driving and all, and Vinny was screaming in tears when he was deep asleep, causing Jacques to stop his truck to look over Vinny, shaking him up awake, and Rourke was upset that it had held up the convoy, and there was a silent argument between Jacques and Rourke while Vinny grabbed Coney Jr. from his bag, clutching and squeezing him, tears falling as he hugged Jacques.
Rourke gave in, peeved off, but traded Helga to take up the truck, with Jacques taking Vinny to the back covered tent of the truck, and there were many sympathetic looks, with some annoyed looks in the mix.
Steve sighed deeply, "Rourke will have to get used to him. Vinny is part of this now, if he likes it or not.", before whispering huskily, "You're beautiful, Peggy...", as the distant campfire finally went out, using his boot to shut off the switch on the dim flashlight, turning it off, putting them in pure darkness.
He then moved his hand immediately under the rim of her trousers, relieved yet wishing for her skirt, but knew that the expedition is camping and all, and palmed her womanhood through her panties, caressing it quickly yet lovingly.
Peggy gasped quietly, biting her lip, moaning softly, clenching her nails into Steve's skin under his shirt, "Steve...", feeling his lips caressing and nibbling on her neck, and wrapped her legs even tighter around him, feeling her shirt ride up from the slight motion against the Digger's side, with his other hand caressing her skin.
Steve smiled to himself, feeling empowered by the sound of her stifled moans, and he fondled her womanhood even faster for the next several minutes before Peggy can feel the edge of it coming, and whispered, "Steve, squeeze my breasts through the bra, and don't stop down there either...Please...I'm so close!".
"Please... keep it down...", Steve whispered. "Sorry you can't shout about it, but let's not cause a scene with the others.". Peggy nodded as she bit her lip. "Steve, you're so good at this...", she muttered.
Steve smiled softly, whispering, "I have a good memory, and you feel wonderful in the dark, Peggy...", before he took a deep breath as his free hand moved up under her shirt, tentatively squeezing a breast through the bra that feels so hard yet soft altogether, feeling portions of skin under his fingers, and Peggy bit her lip, moaning in pleasure as she hid into Steve's neck, clutching her nails even harder into his back.
Steve then smiled, realizing that she liked it, and became more confident in squeezing her breasts as he kept fondling and caressing her womanhood with his other hand faster, kissing Peggy's neck even deeper.
Three minutes later, Peggy went to bit on the crevice of his neck and shoulder, a muffled cry of pleasure as she came, clenching so hard with her nails on his back, yet Steve didn't care even a bit, awed of his beloved lover, as he can feel her shuddering and orgasming against his body, feeling her panties becoming wet, and he whispered into her ear while taking his hand out from the trousers, "You are amazing when you are bent up...I love you, Peggy...", cleaning his fingers in his pocket, then holding into her as he freed his other hand from the bra, caressing slowly through her skin, lowering her down to the ground while Peggy's mind is slowly clearing from the fog of pleasure, barely hearing Steve's words.
Peggy took a deep breath as she pulled a bit away from him. "Probably the only chance we'll get to do this...", she admitted as he nodded.
"More than likely. I get the feeling we'll probably not have much time to rest as Rourke will want us at our destination as soon as possible... before we run out of supplies and all; especially since we lost so much...", Steve said.
Peggy whispered quietly, "Thank you, Steve...I'm sorry I bit you there and scratched you roughly...", and Steve whispered softly, "Are you kidding me? I'm proud of them, and I will heal eventually. After all, that was the first time I did two things at once for you...I never knew I could do that...".
"Oh, Steve...", Peggy followed her hands around and to cradle his cheeks in the darkness, kissing him tenderly and passionately on the lips for a long minute before resting her forehead on his, "You feel wonderful in the dark too...I don't know about you, but I better get back to my tent and rest up...I owe you one. I really needed that...I never knew how much I would miss someone like you until today...".
"Me either... sleep well, Peggy...", Steve sighed as he decided to go back to his drawings for a little bit longer before he would set up his tent and head to sleep. Someone at least had to capture the Leviathan and what they were seeing in case they made it back.
Peggy whispered softly, "Sleep well, Steve.", squeezing his hands as he wasn't letting go of her, and she smiled gently, whispering, "I know, Steve. I don't want to go either, but we will wake up in the morning and see each other to know that this actually happened, and that we're alive...".
Steve murmured softly, "You're right...", kissing her on the lips tenderly before resignedly letting go of her, searching for the flashlight to turn back on, staying down, while Peggy went around the digger, carefully and quietly walking through camp, using the flickering campfire of the embers to help her along in finding her tent in the darkness, and went into her tent, using the water from her bottle into a damp rag to clean her panties quickly, and knowing that her body warmth will dry herself, she fell asleep.
In another place, Thaddeus, with his gas mask off, smirked as he watched along with Erskine to see Peggy leaving and heading into her tent, "Looks like we're not the only lovebirds tonight...Not that I can blame them...Today was the most terrifying day of my life, and that's saying something since I had been on lots of expeditions for finding artifacts and all...", as he held Erskine in his arms, having a small electric lantern hiding behind one of the equipment boxes, relieved that everybody else was exhausted, having fallen asleep an hour or two after dinner, and that a bit later on, the two pairs of lovebirds were able to stay up and went out of their way to reunite.
"Are you alright?", Erskine asked as he knew that Thaddeus must have been feeling the worst out of everyone about what had happened. Survivor's guilt and all; especially probably the guilt that he may think he was the one responsible for their deaths since if he had never had this obsession with Atlantis or found the Shepherd's Journal in the first place, none of this would be happening.
Thaddeus rested his head against Erskine's forehead, sighing deeply as he felt Erskine wrap his arms around him as they are sitting upon the truck bed, resting against another large box, "I feel right again with you, but I...I feel like we should have warned them sooner...Or...around the Levithan's Lair from somewhere else where he couldn't have noticed us coming...".
"You couldn't have known that thing was still around even to this day... or that it was real.", Erskine told him. "Honestly, nothing could've prepared us for that...".
Thaddeus exhaled slowly and deeply through his nose, closing his eyes, "Still, if that crevice in the seafloor was bigger somehow or if the sub was faster...We wouldn't have to leave them like that...to their families, their friends...They didn't deserve a death like that...Maybe the Leviathan had gone rogue over the centuries...it wouldn't have been his fault for protecting Atlantis more aggressively than he would have been...But still...".
Erskine cradled his cheek, kissing him tenderly on the lips, "Look at me in the eye, Tad...You saw all those ships...You aren't the first one to be obsessed about Atlantis, and hell, the Shepherd's Journal would have been around for centuries before you found it in Iceland...People has led other people here as well, including that U-Boat, and they didn't have you or Milo, or even the Journal...".
Thaddeus took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I just... it's still just hard to think about how at least in this case... the guilt..." Erskine sighed as he nodded, "You're not the only one... I know I probably hold some guilt with whatever Schmidt has done since I was able to escape from him...".
Thaddeus held him even closer, "Hey, it's not your fault that Schmidt didn't listen to you and changed himself into even a more dangerous man of monstrous features and emotions. He just didn't care about the lives he destroyed before he found you, and afterwards as well, for he just wanted to be like a god as you've said about him earlier.".
"I know... just... the guilt of work... we both know it too well now.", Erskine said as Thaddeus nodded, "Well, at least we can bare it together, right?".
Erskine gave a soft, tender smile, "Yes...yes, we do...I'm glad you're here...I love you, Thaddeus...", whispering the last part, even if everybody else is already asleep, with Steve done with his drawings, and heading to his tent to sleep.
Thaddeus whispered, "I love you too, Abraham...You're my heart of my life...", kissing Erskine on the lips passionately yet reverently, and they gently held each other, kissing and caressing each other tenderly for some minutes in the darkness.
"I feel better now, Abram...We better get to our tents and catch some sleep...Today was particularly almost too exciting...Let's hope things settle into a routine for a while on this expedition...", Thaddeus sighed resignedly as he scooted off the truck bed, helping Erskine get off.
"And hopefully without much trouble...", Erskine added. "But I get the feeling there's something more along the way...". Thaddeus nods softly, "I have the feeling too...", before grabbing his gas mask, and so, they kissed one last time, and then went back to their tents in-between minutes of each other.
The expedition went onwards, with the next two days of cliffs, arranging trucks with series of ropes when the trail got too rough on the wheels, with markers every now and then, working double duty on many things including cooking.
On some sneaky mealtimes, Steve managed to cook when Cookie was out cold after a whiskey bottle, with Vinny helping him, and it charmed many people's hearts, especially Audrey, Dr. Sweet, Mole.
And then on the third day, Milo nearly made a mistake with one of the markers which resembled a weeping head of a man in Atlantean style before Peggy saved him in time from the grudge wrath of people.
Things have been going fairly smoothly before then with their movements; decent speeds and being fairly quiet in terms of surprises but that certainly changed when they came to the weeping head.
Milo is reading the Shepherd's Journal as he stood at the base of the weeping head, seeing that the trail has split into two, while the group of 50 waited for his instructions, and after looking certainly positive, Milo was about to say that the left trail is it when Peggy replied, "Milo, maybe you better be 100% sure if you double-check, like reading that page in Atlantean out loud. Just a suggestion.", feeling funny that the left tunnel is technically a bit rougher-looking on the trail, almost like it's not quite smooth like the right tunnel.
Rourke almost rolled his eyes with a sigh, and Helga glanced at him as Milo nodded at Peggy, and went to speak in Atlantean, thanks to practice over the last couple of days when he saw lots of dismayed pillars and all in the cliffsides and small mountains, reading the page again before smiling confidently, "I'm 100% sure that it's the tunnel on our right.".
"Are you positively sure, Mr. Thatch? We have been wasting an hour, and it's not even my permitted time for lunch.", Rourke narrowed his eyes, and Milo looked like he was kicked like a poor dog on the backside, and Erskine spoke up, "Rourke, I trust Milo, and if he says that the right tunnel is the way to Atlantis, I believe him.".
Rourke replied, "Fine. But to be sure, since we can't afford another trap like sardines in a can, as like it was with that damn lobster back there, while most of us check to see if Mr. Thatch's theory is correct by taking the tunnel on the right, I need a volunteer team to check the other tunnel to see if it is blocked, even too much for the digger itself.".
"Third squad, that's us.", a sergeant called out as a few infantrymen that had managed to survive got up to the front. What remained of the troops reorganized themselves into small squads; they were only just larger than a platoon by this point.
"Be careful...", Erskine warned. "Just check ahead and quickly come back.". The sergeant nodded as he and three other men moved forward into the left tunnel. There was silence for a few moments as the rest of the group was getting prepared to start driving again.
"CONTACT!", a voice shouted before gunfire erupted. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING!?", another voice screamed before it was followed up by several more screams.
Everyone's blood ran cold as anyone with a weapon including the truck gunner on Milo and Steve's lead vehicle turned their weapons towards the entrance of the tunnel.
A split moment later, a huge worm-beetle mutated creature in muted yellows and greens, came out, roaring and spitting everywhere, blood on its jaws and its long, spindle-shaped pincer-like arms, and guns fired at the worm creature, including the gun machine, and the worm creature screeched in pain, snarling in rage yet smart to see that the humans are like stinging ants enough to leer into the worm's skin, as it turned around, its tail as the last thing everybody saw, and somber silence was heard when the guns stopped.
Rourke called out, "Rogers, drive now, lead the way into Mr. Thatch's tunnel, and don't stop until the last truck is well in. Remaining people who's walking, take up the last truck!", and Steve took a deep breath in grief yet understanding as he revved the truck, realizing that they can't linger any longer when that worm creature could come back any moment to get back at them when they are exposed out here instead of protected by the other tunnel that wouldn't possibly fit that worm creature.
He can distantly hear Vinny's sobs of fright and grief, and Milo looked guilty, and Steve replied quietly, "Milo, don't...We didn't know...You saved us from going into that tunnel after you double-checked the Journal...I wish they survived too, but the best we could do for them is to keep moving on to live another day...", knowing that he will have to draw that worm creature-like monster in his sketchbook for proof, as he turned on the lights when he saw that the truck is now into the darkness once more, seeing that it's another cavernous valley again, through without cliffs this time, but rather boulders here and there, with remains of rock-like docks, it looks like...
A great port; something similar to places like London or Antwerp but much more advanced. Of course, all that remained now was almost little signs that anything truly existed here; that had been apparently washed away in a massive flood or a titanic wave.
"On the right track?", Steve asked Milo as he nodded, "Looks like it... we might be reaching the outer edge of what may have been Atlantis' borders, or part of a titanic city larger than any civilization in history...".
"Apart from them.", Steve pointed out. Milo nodded, "True...", with a deep sigh as Steve kept trucking on, further and further until finally, to where the last truck is well safe behind them, and Rourke radioed Steve, "Park around the largest boulder, Rogers...We need to count the remains of the ammunition we got, and even if anybody's not hungry, I'll give it this time to have lunch early.".