Torn Ch. 2 - The Struggles of War & Love
#3 of Torn Series
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| | | Torn - Ch. 2 The Struggles of War & Love DISCLAMER: Alright, to you young whippersnappers, don't read this, I know you will, I did when I was 16, so when you do, please dear god, lock your door, don't want to give your grandma a heart attack when she catches you fapping... (although there's not gonna be THAT much to paw to in this story) I'll shut up now before I start rambling... oh and you know...ROCK ON >=] The heavy steel front door of the presidential suite fell to the floor with a thunderous boom. Jackie had managed to duck into the bedroom closet. Matt stood up and put his hand on the S&W 500 crammed in his belt. He could hear the two Humanist goons who blew the door down searching the main room, finding nothing, they opened the bedroom door, to look down the barrel of the big S&W staring right at them, a maniacal grin split across Matt's face, seeing no weapons other than the Springfield Arms XD .40 one of them carried, a couple under armed Humanist punks, Matt though, quickly sizing them up. The older of the two, a dark haired man in his mid to late 40s, whipped his handgun out and got off a shot off, falling back a second later, the sharp roar of the .50 cal round of Matt's handgun filled the room, a dark red patch of blood growing on his chest and the floor, bits of his left lung and heart peppered the wall behind him. The other one was younger, about Matt's age he assumed and looked very nervous to see his comrade dead, Matt turned his way, walking up to him, the revolver pointed between his eyes, he stopped with just a mere few inches between them. "Don't kill me, I didn't do anything...I swear" the kid whined, looking down the barrel of Matt's gun. "Bullshit, you're a Humanist and a pussy of one at that, look at yourself, you just pissed your pants, you deserve to die" Matt replied in a cold tone. Indeed the kid had pissed himself, a dark patch forming on the groin of his jeans. "I am just doing what God would have wanted me to do." "Oh, really, God wants you to kill innocent people!?" Matt nearly screamed in rage. "PEOPLE, you call those fur covered abominations people!?" Hearing enough of the dumbass's pitiful excuses, Matt cocked the hammer on the revolver and said, in a dark voice, "Tell Satan to hold up that poker game for me, dumbfuck!" Pulling the trigger, the top half of the blonde haired kid's head was sprayed against the wall behind him. Matt holstered the gun and started cursing himself for killing them coldblooded. Looking towards the closet, he reminded himself he didn't do it because he wanted to, but for her. Walking up to the closet, he cracked the door to look in and see a very scared Jackie, "Stay here for just a second, I'm going to check the hall for others" he said quietly. "Alright, do you think there are anymore?" she asked, her voice trembling. "I don't think so, they would have been attracted to the gunfire or the commotion at least" he lied to her, trying to calm her already frayed nerves. Matt stood up and grabbing the M-16 off the bed, walked past the bloody corpses, out into the main room to see they had apparently abandoned the battering ram and used plastic explosive to blow the door out of its frame. Pointing the muzzle end of the M-16 out of the door, he jumped out fully expecting to have to mow down several pissed off people. Much to his surprise though, the hallway was empty. Turning back around, he headed back to the room and opened the closet door, "It's clear Jackie, we're leaving this hell hole" he said, offering her a hand up. "Thank goodne..." her phrase was cut short when she saw the two men in the corner of the room, dead, lying in pools of their own blood. "Matt...how...why" she stuttered, staring slack jawed in complete shock. "It was either them or us" he replied, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders as she buried her face in his shoulder, obviously scared out of her wits. "But, but what about their families, what about the ones who loved them?" she asked, now openly sobbing into his shoulder, the shock of the situation, along with her personal situation that had put them in that room to begin with, completely unraveling her. "What about ours?" he asked in a solemn tone, effectively ending the conversation. Matt handed Jackie the M-16 and hefted the .50 cal onto his shoulder. By the time they had made it down to ground level, the downpour had not let up in the least, leaving both of them soaked to the bone by the time they made it to the HUMVEE. Matt started the engine and without a word, climbed back out and walked over to the old olive drab Toyota truck he spotted, it had not been sitting there earlier. Climbing back into the HUMVEE several minutes later, Matt jumped on the throttle and headed towards the outskirts of town. "What were you doing?" Jackie asked, calmer, seeming to have collected herself somewhat. "Taking anything of value off their truck, I grabbed a couple radios, several cases of fragmentation grenades and about sixteen pounds of C-4 plastic explosive along with the detonators required to set the plastic off." As the HUMVEE roared past the city limit sign at 70+ MPH, without warning a massive explosion shook the ground, several seconds later chunks of debris could be heard raining down on the streets. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Jackie nearly screamed, Matt simply smiled. "Guess the C-4 works" he replied with a chuckle. "What the hell are you talking about?" "I packed about a pound of plastic explosive in between each rim and brake rotor of that truck back there, I guarantee there are chunks of that truck that went through the windows of nearby buildings" Matt said, letting off the throttle. "Um, why!?" she asked sharply. "Three reasons actually, first was to disable the truck, eliminating the possibility it will show up at our doorstep carrying a load of people who want to kill us, second, it was the perfect way to test the C-4 and the last and least important reason, I just like blowing shit up!" he said in reply, in a matter of fact tone. "Yea, believe me I know you do, I seem to remember decimating several hundred plastic army soldiers with you when we were younger, I also remember hiding the M-80s in the freezer when we heard the police sirens" she looked at him and smiled, fondly remembering the day when they were no more than nine or ten years old, both with a slightly rebellious streak that never quite left either of them. That's when she noticed the wound on his right side, just above the beltline. "Matt, did you cut yourself on that truck?" she pointed at the shallow gash. "No, shit that bastard's shot must have just grazed me earlier, that's weird, I didn't even feel it until now, shit that hurts." "Adrenaline probably, earlier your body was running in overdrive, you're less likely to feel pain, or much of anything else in that state. It doesn't look bad at all, I'm just going to stitch and bandage it when we get back home, to keep it from possibly getting infected." "Can I shower first?" "Yea, I need to take one too, we're both soaked to the skin, although for you, that's not too hard!" she said in a teasing voice. "Hey, not fair, it's not my fault I'm not covered with fur!" "No, just a rugged, hansom stature" she licked her lower lip slightly. "Wow, um...crap, I don't know what to say in this situation" he said, stuttering heavily. "Oh, please, you can't tell me you've never thought of what to say to a girl." "It's not that, I just never expected to hear it from you." "No?" "Nope, can't say I have, I've always seen you as the sister I never had." "You can't forget though, we're not blood related." "You're still like a sister to me." "And you're like a brother to me, albeit a very attractive one!" "Ok, what's gotten into you goofy, you've never acted like this towards me." "That's what I needed to talk to you about before we got interrupted, I'll talk about it later" Jackie said, hastily adding, "I need to sort myself out some". Matt rolled into the brakes, turning off the highway onto the dirt county road. He was thankful for the heavy rain, it would conceal the tire tracks of both the HUMVEE and Ferlin's pickup truck. Slowing down, Matt pulled into the driveway and grabbed his two way, "Hey Ferlin, Matt here, we're pulling onto the drive, come on". "Ten four." Five minutes later, Matt pulled up to the garage and called Ferlin, and radioed him to open the door. The door opened and Matt pulled in, managing to squeeze between the wall and Ferlin's truck. Walking in, the two were hit with the smell of fried eggs, mashed potatoes, gravy and steaks. "Something smells good!" Jackie exclaimed, her tail wagging. "That would be steak and eggs, one of my personal favorites" Ferlin said, walking out of the kitchen in nothing but a pair of shorts. "Suits me" Matt said, "Dude, where's your shirt?" he asked, seeing Ferlin. "Get's warm in here when you fire the stove up when your furry, you're lucky you called before walking in" he said with a grin. "Do I even have to guess why I'm lucky?" "If you guessed I wasn't wearing anything, then no." "Why, just why, anyway, how long until supper's ready?" "Because the house was empty, why not. You got a few minutes, why?" "I REALLY need a shower and some medical attention." "Oh, what happened?" "Stop being overdramatic Matt, Ferlin, he got grazed by a stray bullet" Jackie said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, again, what happened?" "I'll explain over supper, anyway, I'll be back down in fifteen minutes" Matt said, heading up to the master bathroom. "Shootout?" Ferlin asked Jackie still standing in the kitchen. "Yep, but like I said, I don't know the specifics, other than Matt getting grazed, now, I gotta go upstairs, take a shower and patch him up". "I'm pretty sure he can do it himself". "Eh, I'm a lot better at this kind of stuff than he is, that's why I stitched you up, besides surgery is something one shouldn't practice on himself." "Dinner will be ready by the time you guys are done, I'm not waiting either!" "You better wait!" Jackie pointed a finger at him in mock sternness before heading upstairs for a shower. Matt climbed out of the shower and headed back into the master bedroom. "WHOA! Jackie, what are you doing in here?!" Matt exclaimed, seeing her sitting on the bed, wearing a silk robe and a smile. "I just finished a quick shower and was going to patch you up, just put some pants on first" she said, surprised by Matt's complete lack of clothes. Sitting down next to her, he said, "Alright, get it over with". "Can you please put on some pants, I feel weird having to ask you twice." Slipping into a pair of shorts, Matt sat down next to Jackie again. "Alright, this is going to hurt a little, so hold still" she said, pulling out a needle and medical thread. "Oh crap" Matt looked at the needle and swallowed hard. That was the one thing he really didn't like! Five minutes of squirming later and Matt was stitched and bandaged up. He put a t-shirt on and Jackie changed into a pair of shorts and a shirt that did a very good job of showing off her every curve, before meeting Ferlin downstairs for supper. After loading their plates with supper in the kitchen, the three sat down around the small table and vigorously dug into the filling meal. "So Matt, what exactly happened earlier?" Ferlin asked, setting his fork on his now empty plate. Matt explained the incident, both Jackie and Ferlin flinching slightly at some of the more gory details. "So, that little bastard really said that about furs huh?" Ferlin asked, cocking his head to the left a little. "Yea, most likely brainwashed by some bigoted fool" Matt said, standing up and collecting the plates. "Probably, anyway, I'm going to work on networking the pieces of the security system I already have in place, then I'm going to bed" Ferlin said as he sat down in front of his computer, switching on some Guns & Roses. "Alright, see you in the morning, Jackie and I never really got a chance to talk, so that's where I'm off to" Matt said, following her upstairs. He followed her into the master bedroom and sat down on the bed as she shut and locked the door. Sitting back down on the bed, she looked at him, a nervous and slightly pained expression distorting her face. "Alright Jackie, what's bothering you, spit it out." "Matt, I'm going into my first heat" she said, looking into his piercing blue eyes. "When did it start?" "Um, I noticed something different this morning, it wasn't this strong though but it's been getting stronger. Shit this is going to suck" she slapped a hand to her forehead. "Hate to say it, but that's life, you'll pull through." "What else can I do, ya know?" she shrugged, sheepishly smiling. "If you need anything, I'm here, if you need to talk or whatever, even at two in the morning, don't hesitate to wake me up, I'd rather be sleep deprived than see you miserable, my door's always open for you, you know that." Looking at the clock, reading 10:30, she said, "I'll keep that in mind, now I'm going to catch some shuteye, a long day, a filling supper and the onset of heat has me feeling like a zombie, see you in the morning" she wrapped him in a tight hug before getting up and heading to her bedroom across the hallway. "Don't eat my brains." "What?" "You said you feel like a zombie, don't eat my brains" he said with a smile. "Good night you weirdo." "See ya in the morning." Half an hour later, Matt was sitting in bed, reading a 4x4 magazine when Ferlin knocked on the door. "Come in." "Hey Matt, can't sleep?" Ferlin asked, sitting down on the beanbag Matt found. "Here's your sign, no, give me about fifteen minutes, I'm fading pretty fast. What do you need man?" Matt closed the magazine and tossed it on the floor. "Just wanted to see if you were up for some MW2?" "Not tonight man, I'm beat. Oh and Jackie is coming into her first heat, so, you know, try not to be too much of a horndog, I REALLY don't want to see her neuter you with a rusty spoon!" Matt said with a chuckle. "Oh and please, whatever you do, don't mention it to her, I don't want to lose my nads in the same fashion!" "Dude, a rusty spoon? That's pretty fucked up" Ferlin said, unable to hold back a laugh. Changing to a much more serious tone, he said, "You know I'd never make a pass on her, I know how much she means to you." "Yea, I didn't think you would, just had to warn you and yes, a rusty spoon, I wouldn't put it past her." "See ya in the morning." "Yea, night man." Ferlin left the room, leaving Matt to drift off into a deep sleep, mentally and physically worn out. Meanwhile, Jackie tossed and turned in bed, falling asleep occasionally, only to wake up a few minutes later, feeling like she was burning up, yet she was in a cold sweat, her body's natural urges making sleep impossible. She looked at the clock after what felt like an eternity, it was only 12:09 am. Slipping out of bed, she stepped into her bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face, it did little to help cool her down. Knowing there was only one thing that could put a damper on her heat and inherent arousal, she headed across the hall to Matt's room. Slipping near silently into the cozy room, she stopped at his bedside and decided against waking him, instead, she just curled up next to him. "Whoa, who's there?" Matt asked groggily, still half asleep. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up" she whispered. "Jackie? Whatcha need?" he asked turning to face her. "Erm, god this is embarrassing, Matt, there's no better way to put it, I need you" she said shyly. "Oh, well no need to be embarrassed, I understand." "So, will you help me?" "Err, I'm pretty uncomfortable about this, but ok." "What aren't you comfortable with?" "Well, you know how I view you as a sister and a best friend I just don't want to hurt you." "I can understand that, but Matt, you must know, by not doing anything, you'd be hurting me more." "I know and that's why I'm going to help, just stop me if I hurt you in any way." "Matt, I have full faith in you, I trust you, now please, I can't take it any longer!" she whined in pain. Finding the hem of her nightshirt, he took no time in peeling it up and off her perfect, curvaceous form, exposing her pert D-cup breasts and flat stomach, almost instantly, Matt could almost instantly feel his cock hardening to its full seven inch length. Wasting no time, her shorts ended up at the end of the bed with her shirt. In one smooth motion, his boxers were on the floor. He rolled her over and positioned himself over her. Looking her directly in the eyes he asked, "Are you ready?" "Yea, just nervous as hell" she said, shaking slightly. She gasped slightly when he pushed forward, splitting her swollen, sensitive virgin folds. Stopping when he came to her hymen, he looked down upon her, she nodded and whimpered, "Please". Pulling out slightly, Matt thrust back in more forcefully than he intended to. Jackie let out a loud yelp when he broke though, her whole body tensing up as the tears started. "You want to stop?" "No, Matt, just give me a minute, that hurt like hell" she whimpered, her tears matting down her cheek fur. "Well, ok" he said, apprehensive, feeling like he had hurt her pretty bad. "Matt, if we quit, I'll be even worse off." "Oh, ok then." Feeling her relax a couple minutes later, he completely hilted himself, bringing a whimper from Jackie, this time from the immense pleasure she was feeling. Working themselves into a fast paced, hard rhythm, they filled the room with slick, wet sounds of sex along with the moans, grunts and howls of pleasure. Within a few minutes, Jackie was on the brink of orgasm, her inner walls quivering, Matt not far behind her. He hilted himself as far as humanly possible, with a loud howl, she fell over the edge, her pussy walls clamping down on his iron hard cock, some juices making it past his cock, staining the sheets, causing him to erupt in 4 hot, sticky ropes. Finally, the edge had been taken off her heat. Still buried in her and hard, Matt rolled both her and himself over, allowing her to rest on top of him, her light weight not affecting him in the least. "Thank you Matt... you have... no clue how... much better.... I feel" she panted, smiling down on him. "Jackie, you know I can't stand to see you in pain" he said starting to rub her back slowly. "Yea, I know." Waking up the next morning, she looked down on him, still sleeping, neither had moved an inch through the night. A sly grin crossed her face as she licked a finger and gave him the classic wet wilily. "No, I'll have the money....OH, JESUS, Jackie..." feeling his ear, "...thanks a lot!" he grumbled. "You're welcome" she said with a cheeky grin. "Smartass." "How else would you want me, anyway, I'm going to take a shower to clean up the mess we made" she said, getting up and putting some panties, the fur on her nether regions and inner thighs matted down. "Yea, ok, I'll start breakfast" he said, making no outward effort to get up. "Shower first, you reek of me!" she gathered up the rest of her clothes. "I can't smell it!" he remarked, getting up, looking for a pair of pants. "Still, you should clean up some" she turned tail and walked out of the room, leaving Matt to stare, slack jawed. Taking her advice, he showered and changed into fresh blue jeans. Donning a cutoff t-shirt, he waked down to the kitchen and started breakfast, coffee, bacon and pancakes. Ferlin sat down at the table with a bottle of Jim Beam and two shot glasses. "Where in God's name did you find that" Matt asked, pointing at the bottle. "Basement this morning, you were still in the shower." "And you're going to drink with breakfast?" "Both of us, time to celebrate." "Celebrate what?" "Finally getting in her pants" he said, opening the bottle and pouring two shots. "Only because her heat was driving her up the wall!" Matt said gruffly. "Still, you two made the beast with two backs, which constitutes a drink my friend." "Dude, how'd you find out, anyway?" Matt asked, setting a plate laden with food on the table. "Your room, it reeks of sex." "No shit?" "Yea, either you need to close your door or spray some Frebreeze, otherwise you're going to hear very unpleasant sounds coming from my room." "Whatever fapping you do is your own business, just clean up afterword, don't need the place smelling like cum, now about that drink" Matt said eager to take his first drink of whiskey. "Oh yea, here, this should wake you up" Ferlin pushed one of the glasses across the table, "Here's to you getting laid". "Whatever." The glasses were raised and the well aged whiskey was downed. "Shit, that's strong stuff man, burns a little" Matt said, making a wide eyed, tongue out expression, sliding the empty glass back across the table. "You like it? This brings me back to my freshmen year in college." "Not really, could get used to it though. Now how are we going to explain this to Jackie?" "No need to explain boys" she said cheerily, wrapping her arms around Matt's shoulders. "What!?" they asked, surprised, in near perfect unison. "You really think I care if you have a shot of whiskey, just don't get stupid drunk" she released Matt and sat down, loading her plate. Stabbing a chunk of pancake, Ferlin pointed it at the other two and said, "Alright guys, I'm capping this bottle here and now, it stays capped until this thing is over". "And then what?" Matt asked through a mouthful of food. "First off, swallow before you talk man and for your answer, when this war is over, we uncap that bottle and get piss drunk in celebration" Ferlin said, sticking the last strip of bacon off the plate on the middle of the table and popping in his mouth. "Works for me, but let's make one little change" Jackie said, grabbing Matt's glass, she poured herself a shot and threw it back like the amateur she was, "AAAHHHH IT TASTES LIKE BURNING!!" she coughed, surprised by the drink's strong taste. "Ya ok there?" Matt asked with a laugh, Jackie's face all twisted up, the liquor not agreeing with her taste buds. "Other than the taste of gasoline in my mouth, I'm fine, thanks for your concern, who's the smartass now!" she gave him that, 'you lose' grin. "...Damn" Matt said in mock poutiness. "Um, what was that about?" Ferlin asked, coking an eyebrow. "Matt here called me a smartass earlier." "You, deserved it" Matt said in mock cockiness. "And what could I have possibly done to deserve it?" she asked, acting innocent. "You stuck a wetted down finger in my ear, I was still sleeping damnit!" "That's funny" Ferlin remarked, unable to keep a laugh down. "You're not the one who woke up with a claw tickling your brain" Matt snapped back, glaring at him. "Yea, like I said, it's funny" Ferlin said, collecting the empty plates and dumping them in the sink. The downpour of the previous day had slowed down to a lazy drizzle, nobody wanted to go outside, not only was it raining, it was chilly. Ferlin sat in front of his computer at the kitchen table entertaining himself, shooting the living dead online. Jackie and Matt flopped on the couch to watch The Outlaw Josie Wales, Matt's favorite Clint Eastwood western. Ferlin eyed them suspiciously, noticing them getting closer and closer the few times he came into the living room during the movie. Matt had told him he only slept with her because of her heat, Ferlin knew there was something more there, maybe Matt just didn't know it yet, he thought to himself. By the end of the movie, Jackie was half asleep, her head resting on Matt's shoulder. Looking at her, he reluctantly nudged her and said, "Sorry gotta make you move". "Why?" she asked, seemingly saddened, sitting up. "So I don't piss myself" he said hurriedly, running for the bathroom, the coffee from breakfast hitting him like a ton of bricks. Walking back to the living room, Matt saw Ferlin's tail from behind the refrigerator door. "Toss me a couple Pepsis would ya?" Matt asked from the hall. "Sure!" two cans of pop come sailing out of the kitchen, Matt caught the first one, the second one clobbering him square in the groin. "Oomph!!" Matt dropped to the floor with a thud, one hand automatically clutching himself, the other still holding the caught can. "Dude, are you ok?" Ferlin asked looking over the refrigerator door, hearing the thud. "Jackass, a flying pop can just assaulted my happy place, what do you think?" Matt replied, groaning as he grabbed the guilty can and got up slowly. "Hey, you said toss them." "Yea, toss, not hurl at my crotch!" Matt hobbled back into the living room, the pain slowly subsiding. "You gonna be ok there?" Jackie asked sarcastically. She was sitting in front of the TV, changing the DVD to Dawn of the Dead. "I'll be fine, thanks, just don't open that for awhile" he groaned, flopping down on the couch. "Heeeyyyy, you stole me seat" she pouted, standing up, sauntering over to the couch. "Snooze ya loose" he smirked. "Yea, whatever, I'll just sit on you then." "Least I won't have to get up." "Lazy." "Nah, I like to think of myself as a typical guy" he said, winking. "Oh, you were serious" he huffed as she laid down on him, her head resting just below his chest, facing the TV. "Of course I was." "Should've known." "Whatever." Ferlin popped in towards the movie, flopped down onto the easy chair and seeing them, smiled and gave Matt two thumbs up, Matt gave him the middle finger in return. By mid afternoon the rain had dissipated, the sun shown bright through the waning clouds. "I'm gonna go get the driveway alarm set up" Ferlin called from the hallway. "You got your .357?" Matt replied, still on the couch under Jackie. "Always, I still got an M-16 in the truck, too" Grabbing the keys, he was out the door and rolling down the gravel driveway in his pickup. Jackie blinked a few times, woken up by the closing door, groggily she asked, "What was that?" "Ferlin went to get the driveway alarm rigged up" Matt replied, tapping the power button on the TV remote, turning it off, then switching on the radio, static, the war had knocked out the stations, he hit the CD button, a mixed rock album started playing. Without warning, Jackie reached for Matt's jeans, "WHOA!!" "I need you again!" she panted. "Again?" "Yea, heat's not a one night affair, bud." "Well, alright, hope to hell I don't knock you up." "Nearly impossible." Easing her onto her back, Matt undid her jeans, leaving her in nothing but her shirt and a pair of thin, white cotton panties, a wet patch making them stick to her skin, the outlines of her wet folds easily visible. Hooking a finger under the waistband, Matt peeled them off, a wave of her unique scent slowly permeated the air, Matt could smell only a hint of it, hindered by his low, human sense of smell. Matt lined himself up and thrust forward with force, taking her missionary style. He worked himself into a hard, fast paced rhythm. The living room was filled with the wet, slick sounds and grunts, moans and occasional howl of sex. The smell could only be described as an intoxicating haze. Keeping up the pace, they didn't even show signs of slowing down for nearly fifteen minutes, until Jackie cried out in orgasm, clamping Matt like a vice. The increased pressure on his cock skyrocketed the pleasure he was feeling tenfold. Ramming her as hard as he could one last time, hilting himself, he came, plastering her insides with four hot sticky ropes of cum. He pulled out of her, a mix of pussy juice and his cum leaked out, onto the couch. The two of them lay there half asleep for nearly half an hour. The rattling diesel engine of Ferlin's pickup pulling into the garage was barely audible to Matt, Jackie on the other hand, heard it clearly. "SHIT!" she exclaimed rather loudly, startling Matt, half asleep underneath her. "What?!" "Ferlin's back!" "Oh, yea, shit's right!" They scrambled to clothe themselves before Ferlin walked in, or tried to anyway. Jackie managed to get into her panties, Matt was struggling with his jeans and ended up tripping on them and falling flat on his face when Ferlin walked through the door. "Got the alarm working...WHOA DAMN!" Ferlin blurted, getting a solid whiff of the sex laced air inside the cabin, "Umm, Matt, Jackie...OH SHIT, ON THE COUCH, REALLY?!" he exclaimed, walking into the living room, the scent much stronger there, Matt and Jackie still fumbling with their clothes. Finally getting his pants on, Matt just left his shirt on the floor, not really caring. Jackie managed to slip back into her jeans. Ferlin booked it for the den, not at all expecting to see the two of them in that state. "Um, I'm gonna take a shower" Jackie said hastily, bolting upstairs. "Oh thanks a lot, leave me to talk to Ferlin!" Matt yelled up the stairs in mock anger. Instead of talking to Ferlin, Matt followed Jackie's example and ran off to take a shower, luckily for him, Jackie had decided to use her own. Matt just stood under the hot water, allowing the sweat and smells roll off his body, all the while in deep thought, having weird feelings about him and Jackie, what were they doing, it didn't feel right to him, even if it was just to help her out, she was his best friend, not his lover, he thought to himself. He knew he'd have to talk to her about it. Dinner was eerily quiet, the only sounds being forks and knives on the plates, Ferlin not wanting to say anything to either of them, slightly mortified. Matt was too consumed in thought to talk or even eat much, only eating half of his plate. Jackie was just plain worn out from their earlier activities. After dinner, Ferlin left to finish up getting the security system linked to his computer, giving him complete control over the system. Jackie and Matt stayed back to clean up the dishes, he washed and she dried. She noticed a distant look on his face and set the last plate she was drying down, wrapping her arms around him from behind, she quietly asked, "what's wrong?" "Nothing, just thinking" he replied, even his tone seeming distant. "About what?" "Us." "What about us?" "What we've been doing, seems weird to me." "Weird, why?" "Well lets see, we took you in, you're like a sister to me and on top of that you're my best friend, we shouldn't be sleeping together." "Why not?" "Because we're just friends not lovers." "Why can't we be both?" "I'm afraid of what could happen to us." "Oh?" "I've seen great friendships such as ours, fall apart from a relationship." "What makes you think I'd give you a bad relationship?" "Nothing, I just don't want to risk our friendship." "Then let's take a risk, what's the worst that could happen?" "We could end up hating each other." "I could never hate you, after all you've done for me." "I know, I'm not one to hate either, you know that, but relationships can change people." "They change people who aren't really in love." "I don't know if I'm really in love, that's the problem?" "Why not?" "I don't know exactly what love is." "It's caring deeply for someone through all their highs and lows, facing the storms of life by their side without fault." "We'd better get some sleep, we've got work to do tomorrow" Matt said, trying to change the subject, not wanting to talk about it right now. "Should I sleep in my own bed tonight?" Jackie asked, feeling she already knew the answer. "Yea, that would be probably be best for the time being, ok?" "Alright" Jackie said quietly, her ears low, feeling dejected. Watching her walk away, Matt mentally kicked himself, he knew what he said hurt her, badly, exactly what he didn't want to do. After killing all the lights, Matt climbed the stairs and walked past Ferlin's room on the way to his own, snoring could easily be heard. Walking up to Jackie's door, he put his ear up against it, a silent tear fell from his eye, he could hear her crying inside. He wished he could just tell her that he loved her, but how could he if he didn't know himself. Sleep didn't come easy for Matt for hours, knowing how bad of shape Jackie was in was killing him. When he finally did succumb to exhaustion, he slept deeply though. Waking up the next morning, Matt crossed the hallway to Jackie's room and knocked on the door. He heard her claws on the wood floor before the door slowly creaked open, revealing a fresh out of the shower Jackie, wearing nothing but her fur. Matt hung his head and quietly said, "Sorry". "Don't be". "I am, I acted like a jackass and hurt you because I'm afraid of a relationship." "Relationships can be scary, add in the stress of what's happened in the last month, that can unravel a person pretty easily." "What about you? You seemed to take the idea of us together in stride." "My hand was forced, I never really thought about it before my heat started, I looked at you and saw a person who's always been there for me, someone I could trust and I realized my true feelings for you." "I know how you feel for me, I wish I could say I felt the same, but I just don't know." "I know you don't know, but you will, so when you figure it out, I'll listen." "Any ideas as to when I'll know?" "Not a clue, that's something you won't know until it happens." "Ah, man, why does life have to be so complicated?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. "If it wasn't, what fun would it be?" she asked, smiling gently for the first time. "Touché. Are you ready to go?" "Yea, I just need to get dressed." "Ok, I really need a shower." "Alright, you go take a shower then, I'll get Ferlin up and get breakfast started" she said, spinning around and closing the door behind her. Matt headed back into his room and ran a hot shower, the steam and hot water working to loosen muscles stiff from a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Jackie had changed into a pair of baggy camouflage pants and a black tank-top and strapped a combat knife and her Glock 17 to her thigh, the dangerous looking ensemble and her reddish orange fur and jet black head hair giving her a downright sinister look, she grinned evilly to the full length mirror in her room. Before leaving her room, she slung a pack on her back, it contained extra ammo, a small amount of food, water, an LED flashlight, spare batteries and emergency medical supplies, Matt and Ferlin carried similar packs. Matt walked back into his room and ran up a hot shower, trying to wake himself up, afterword changing into a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and blue jeans. Jackie grabbed a megaphone she'd found in town and her video camera procured at the electronics store, before leaving her room and she tiptoed over to Ferlin's door and called out into the megaphone, "Ferlin, time to get up you big baby!" "Damnit, thanks for waking me up, my dream was just getting good too" he grumbled from under his sheets. "Well hurry up and rub out a quick one, Matt wants us on the road in a half hour" she snickered. "Fuck you!" Ferlin yelled through the door. "No, thanks" she said cheekily, walking away to put the megaphone away. A smile crept across her face, she'd have to show Matt that video later. Half an hour later, they were all sitting at the dining room table, munching on breakfast. Ferlin spoke up, "So what's the plan for today Matt?" Finishing off his coffee, Matt responded, "Stockpile food, we're running pretty low on normal food and we're not eating those military rations if I can help it, possibly get more guns and whatever else we may want. You two ready to go, we'll take care of the dishes later, oh and Ferlin, I want you to follow me in your rig, I don't know how much we'll be able to find, but I want to carry as much as possible in the event we strike it rich". "Alright, I'm ready whenever you guys are" Ferlin said, dropping his plate in the sink. "I'm ready" Jackie said, tossing Matt his keys from the counter. "Lets go" Matt said, checking his M-16. The two trucks were backed out of the garage and turned around and driven out to the main road. Roaring into town, they pulled up in front of the supermarket, their number one objective being food. Walking inside, their mouths hung agape, the shelves had been picked clean. "Fuck, now what are we going to do?" Matt asked to no one in particular. "There's a town about seven miles up the highway, about one third larger than this one" Ferlin answered. "Alright, saddle up, you take the lead." Ferlin slowly pulled up to Matt's HUMVEE and stopped, waving goodbye to Matt and Jackie, the wolf floored it, the back tires broke loose, leaving two long back strips on the pavement. Not one to be outdone so easily, Matt followed suit, dropping the hammer, the 400 horsepower of the Caterpillar diesel launching the HUMVEE forward like a rocket, cramming both of them into their seats, the rear tires howled around a corner, the whole back end of the vehicle sliding, following the F250. Bring Your Daughter...To the Slaughter, roared through the HUMVEE'S custom stereo as Matt cranked it as loud as it would go. "JESUS CHRIST MATT, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Jackie screamed, clutching her armrests with a death grip, ears pinned back, Matt's driving scaring the living hell out of her. "Just having fun, calm down" he said, nervously eying her bared sharp teeth, her lips curled, a low growl rolled from her muzzle. "I'll calm down when you slow down!" she snapped back. True to her word, Jackie didn't calm down, she just sat there and stared daggers at Matt until he caught up with Ferlin and pulled back to 65, from 95 MPH. From a distance, things looked normal, save for the occasional burned out car. Rolling into the small city, the evidence of the ravishing war became apparent, shattered glass on the sidewalks, several buildings had blood smeared on the inside of the windows, all three of them knew that had to be the blood of furs, at work, innocent people who died at the hands of extremists. Finding the supermarket, they pulled up to the front doors and walked inside. "Alright, how should we do this?" Ferlin asked. "Ferlin, find nonperishable items, Jackie, you're in charge of getting drinks, bottled water and some pop, I'm going after the soup isle, there's something I've always wanted to do and soup's always good to have. After that, take a look around the other side of the store for anything you may want" Matt said, pulling out a few carts. Ferlin started hoarding any and all nonperishable items he could get his paws on. Matt found the soup isle, stuck his arm behind the cans and started running, rapidly filling his cart with any and all different kinds of soup, several of the cans bouncing off the cart and landing on the ground, laughing like an idiot, he kept going until he found the end of the isle, cart heaping with soup and very, very heavy. Jackie started loading her cart with several 24 packs of water and some cases of Pepsi and other assorted soft drinks. Rounding the corner, she found the alcohol isle, grinning to herself, she grabbed a couple twelve packs of Coors light bottles. They met back up at the front doors an hour later, Ferlin was wearing an Indiana Jones style cap, modified for a morph's ears. Matt found a pair of aviator sunglasses and some half finger driving gloves, while Jackie had scored some Converse hi-tops. Pushing their carts to Ferlin's truck, they spent nearly an hour unloading the three carts, Matt's soup cart taking the longest by far. Ferlin looked into Jackie's cart when they got to it and pulled up one of the Coors cases, "ooh, didn't know this was on the list" he smiled. "It wasn't, no reason we can't have the occasional beer though, smart thinking Jackie" Matt replied, loading the other case of beer into the bed of the truck. With all three carts loaded, Matt grabbed a tarp out of his HUMVEE and had Ferlin help him tarp the bed, loaded with foodstuffs. "Hey Ferlin, you have any ideas where we can find some cool guns in this place?" Matt asked. "Yea, I've heard there's a place that's got some pretty wicked stuff" Ferlin said, starting his truck. "Where's it at?" "South side of town I've heard, you guys ready?" "Yea!" Matt and Jackie yelled over the clatter of the two diesel engines. Driving deeper into the town, evidence of the war became even more apparent, more burned out cars, businesses and apartment buildings, more bloody windows. Charred remains of dead bodies lay on the sidewalk in some spots. The whole scene was morbid. Ferlin stopped next to a small building on the outskirts, down a backstreet and called on the radio, "Think this is it guys, doesn't look like it's been disturbed." Shutting the trucks off, they climbed down and walked up to the front door. It was locked, Ferlin plastered a small amount of C-4 on the latch and remotely set it off, blowing the door in with ease. He walked in and found the light switches and started switching them. "Holy... SHIT!" Matt exclaimed. The lights revealed the inside of what looked like a small armory. "Alright guys, take anything you can find ammunition for and take all the ammunition you can" Ferlin instructed. The back of Matt's truck was loaded up with several AR-15s, AK-47s, among other random tactical rifles, a massive Browning .50 cal turret gun. They also took a .30 cal machine gun and some combat knives. Jackie stumbled upon some tactical gear, adding, night vision goggles and EOTech optic equipment among other goodies to their collection. Matt found several Colt 1911s, loaded them, jammed one in his belt and handed Jackie and Ferlin each one. The other four were stowed away in the HUMVEE. He also found a short barrel, Mossberg pistol grip 12 gauge tactical shotgun, after loading 5 shells into the magazine and 6 onto the loops on the left side of the receiver, he slipped it into a sleeve on his pack made just for that purpose. Ferlin snatched up a bolt action .30-30, Jackie chose a similar one, chambered in .22-250. Every round of ammunition they could possibly fit in the two trucks was loaded up, .223s, 7.62x39 NATOs, .30 cal and .50 cal machinegun belts, 3 inch 12 gauge shells loaded with BBB steel buckshot, .30-30, .22-250 and jacketed hollow point .45 ACPs. "Well guys, what do you think, I think we have enough to keep us safe, or entertained for a few days" Matt said, smiling at the collection of guns and ammo taking up the bed of his truck. "Nah, we need more" Ferlin smirked. "So what now?" Jackie asked, leaning up against the HUMVEE and cracking her knuckles. "Well, it's getting dusky, I'm tired as hell, so what do you say we stay here for the night?" Matt asked. "Alright, I'm pretty tired myself, there should be a place to stay here somewhere" Jackie remarked. "Let's go then, my back's sore from toting all the weapons and ammo" Matt said, climbing up into the HUMVEE. Across town they found a nice looking resort with an underground parking garage tall enough for the HUMVEE to fit in, after Matt folded the antennas down. They drove down to the lower level and parked them for the night. "Alright, arm up" Matt said, pulling the Mossberg from his pack. Jackie and Ferlin grabbed their bolt rifles out of Matt's truck. After locking the vehicles, they headed for the elevator to head up to the main floor. "Hey hey, check it out!" Ferlin exclaimed, grabbing the room keys for a very posh suite, jumping back over the counter. "Sweet, lets go!" Jackie yipped, pulling her rifle off her shoulder. Finding their room on the top floor, they closed all the curtains and used the dimmest lights possible to minimize the chance they would be spotted by any possible Humanists in the area. The door was closed and bolted. "Alright, see you two in the morning." "See ya in the morning man, sleep with one eye open and a hand on your gun" Matt said as Jackie slipped into the other room. "What's wrong?" Jackie asked, concerned, hearing a sharp groan from Matt as he sat on the bed. "Nothing, back's just a little sore, that's all." "Oh, how 'bout I rub it then?" Jackie asked. "That's alright, I'll just sleep it off." "No, you won't, now, you're going to lie down and let me work the knots out of your back!" Jackie ordered sternly, knowing he would only be worse in the morning. "Alright" Matt said submissively, lying down on his stomach. "Where are you sore?" Jackie asked, sitting next to him, resting a furred hand on his shoulder. "Whole back's sore" Matt said tiredly, wore out. She started with his shoulders and slowly worked her way down his back, finding several knotted muscles along the way. He slowly relaxed as she worked, by the time she finished, he'd fallen asleep, exhausted. Looking at his sleeping form, she smiled and laid down next to him and slowly drifted off to sleep. The next morning's dawn light mutely lit the rooms through the beige curtains. Matt slowly woke up to see Jackie still sleeping soundly, hearing a toilet flush from the other room, he knew Ferlin had to be up. Rubbing her shoulder, Matt said softly, "Jackie? Time to get up". "Huh, who's there?" she asked groggily. "Just Matt, we need to get going, ok?" "But this bed's so comfortable" she whined. "Still, we need to be going." Half an hour later, they met Ferlin in the main room and headed down to their rigs to head for the cabin. Matt took the lead, making it to the entrance of the parking garage, he scanned the area for possible threats and pulled onto the main road out of town, Ferlin following him several truck lengths behind. Neither truck stopped through either town, blowing several red lights along the way. By mid noon, they had the trucks unloaded, a huge pyramid of soup cans sitting next to the island in the kitchen, the pantry chock full of anything easy to make, the gun vault was full and several of the long guns sat propped against the den wall, next to a massive stack of ammo crates. Sipping on a can of Dr. Pepper, Ferlin said distantly, "I need to go back to our town". "Why?" Matt asked, finishing off a bottle of water. "Personal reasons and before you ask, I'm going alone." "Oh, ok, watch your back, ok." "Yep" he said, grabbing his keys and walking out the door. Looking for something to do, Matt called out to Jackie, "You want to go have some fun?" Walking into the kitchen from the living room, she said, "Sure, what was on your mind?" "That town we were in, lets go check more of it out, all we saw yesterday was a grocery store, a small armory and a hotel room." "Sure, when did you want to go?" she asked, grabbing a bag of Fritos. "Lets go now, nothing better to do." They got into the HUMVEE and rolled down the driveway and onto the back road just in time to see Ferlin's truck pull onto the main highway into town. Pulling onto the main road Matt kept his distance for a few minutes, slowly closing the gap between them. "Hey Jackie, what do you say we blow his doors off?" Matt asked, gripping the wheel tightly, getting ready to hammer down. "What?" Without answering, Matt floored the throttle, the HUMVEE rapidly accelerating to nearly 100 MPH in a matter of seconds. Matt grabbed the radio and called Ferlin just as he was about to pass him, "Coming around you on the left man!" "What are you doing here?" Ferlin called back as he looked in his mirror just in time to see the HUMVEE pull up alongside his truck, Jackie looked at him, sticking her tongue out in a cheeky grin. "We're just going into the town we were in earlier to look around" Matt responded as they roared past, the HUMVEE now topping 100. Putting some space between him and Ferlin, Matt slowed down to about seventy, blowing through town and into the next town. They drove around for a little while, finally pulling up to the shopping district that sat mostly undisturbed. "So, now what?" Jackie asked. "I don't know, look around, if there's any fancy clothes or anything else you want you want, you'll find it all here." "Hmm, now that you say that, I wouldn't mind some more clothes." "Women and their clothes, I swear" Matt remarked, shaking his head. "Watch it there mister, or you'll end up wearing your ass for a hat!" she snapped back. "An asshat, wonder how that would look on me?" Matt asked, striking the classic hand under the chin thinking pose. Jackie just rolled her eyes, following Matt into the store. Meanwhile back in his hometown, Ferlin found his house, what was left of it, windows were shattered, bullet holes peppered the front side of it, the door missing. Running quietly through the rooms, he looked for his parents. He found their charred remains in their bedroom. Silently he started crying, not able to remain any longer after a few minutes, he ran back out the front door and left, heading next to Bass Pro, to look for his sister, looking around inside, her body was gone, all that remained was a dried patch of blood, along with two .45 casings, he collected them and said a few words in prayer, before walking back out to his truck to head for the cabin. On the drive back, he looked in the mirror at himself, he was the only member of his family to survive, he thought to himself. A while later, Matt and Jackie were tossing several bags of clothing for both of them into the back seat of Matt's truck. Walking towards a big electronics store they decided to raid, Matt felt his legs give out from under him, falling to the ground, a boot heel struck him square on the back as he fell, sending a sharp pain across his back. TO BE CONTINUED... | | |
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