The Hunter's Pet (12 page)

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, they made camp. Sarah gathered branches to weave into a shelter while William made a fire. They worked in silence, each feeling the heaviness of the day deep in their souls.

“I am sorry,” she said as she pushed the shelter into the branches of the trees, creating a canopy that would protect them from the elements. William’s armor would protect him for a time, but the ambient radiation was a threat nonetheless. She could see waves of the stuff rolling across the valley, settling more thickly in the lower lying areas.

Crouched next to the glinting fire, William did not acknowledge what she’d said. He was struggling with a loss greater than she could imagine. Being removed from the wilds had been traumatic, but she had always known the wilds were still there awaiting her return. She could not conceive what it would have been like if the wilds had exploded in one terrible second. Moving closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and put her head close to his. For long moments, he did nothing. Then his hand rested on hers and she knew he understood what she was trying to do.

They lay down together, limbs entwined in the glow of the fire. They did not eat, for they were too weary to cook the bird. With hungry bellies and saddened hearts, they took refuge in sleep, trusting the fire to keep predators at bay.

* * *

The following morning, Sarah de-feathered the bird and took it upon herself to hunt down a couple of jackrabbits in addition. She did so without her armor, figuring she would move faster without it. She was ravenous and she figured William would be just as hungry. Though eager to prepare food, she was also careful to store the feathers and the down from the bird along with the fur from the rabbits. If they were going to survive the wild, both would come in handy in the future.

William was still deep asleep, his features surprisingly peaceful as the sun began to glow through the canopy, casting dappled shadows over his handsome face. She kept watch over him as the food cooked, feeling a newfound tenderness toward him. He had never been vulnerable before. He had never needed her. Perhaps he did not truly need her even now, but she knew that he would appreciate waking to cooked food. There was none of the convenience of a refrigerator in the wilds.

As the scent of cooked meat made its way through the air to William’s nose, he made a grumbling, groaning sound. Then his eyes opened and he looked at her with something like surprise.

“Good morning,” she said. “Breakfast will be ready soon.”

“You’re still here.”

“Of course.” She turned the bunny meat slowly. “Where would I be?”

William sat up, shrugging. “I don’t know. Being free?”

“I can’t leave you alone out here,” she said. “You can’t see the radiation and where we are going, those maps of yours won’t help you. You need me.”

He nodded, scratching the growth of dark beard that was sprouting on his chin and cheeks. “I figured you’d leap at the chance to be rid of me.”

“You did?” Sarah felt a little pang of hurt.

“I ripped you out of this,” he said. “I took you to another world practically and I made you live a life you never wanted. This is the perfect opportunity to be free of all that. You could go now and I’d never find you.”

Sarah turned the rabbit, ensuring it was crispy on all sides. “So that’s what you think of me. You think I’d leave a man to die lost in the wilds?”

“I would not die.”

Sarah made no reply to that. William was a fine hunter and a strong man, but his knowledge of the terrain was limited and his armor made him less agile than he needed to be. Sure, he had his weapon and he could probably hunt food on his own, but he was used to the knowledge that civilization was only a few hours’ walk away. Now that civilization was gone, there would be no restocking supplies, no repairing armor. If he hurt himself, it would be game over.

“I’m talking to you, Sarah.”

She nodded and kept tending the food. It was almost done. Their stomachs were both growling and they were both still tired and very stressed.

“Here,” she said, presenting meat to him on a leaf. “Eat something.”

He looked at her, and for a second she thought his male pride was going to make him refuse it. But the scent of the cooked protein must have overcome his pride, for he thanked her and began eating.

“It’s good,” he said after a few bites. “Every time I cooked food out here it came out dry and tasteless.”

“There are herbs you can rub on the meat to help the flavor. And it doesn’t dry out if you sear it first then cook it slow.”

“Huh.”

Finishing the meal seemed to improve his mood. He leaned back against a tree trunk and breathed deeply.

“I suppose this is life now,” he said, looking around. “Nights by the fire. Slow mornings.”

“We need to move to higher ground,” Sarah said, dousing the fire. “The radiation is less dense up there.”

“We have no decontamination abilities out here,” he pointed out. “I’m going to be eating irradiated food, drinking irradiated water. There is no medical treatment available. If I can’t take the radiation, it doesn’t matter.”

“It will matter if we can get to another city.”

“The nearest one is a month away at least, and there are mountains in the way.”

“There are tunnels,” Sarah reminded him. “Underground. Free of radiation. You’ll be exposed less down there. I can bring you food and travel with you.”

William shook his head curtly, rejecting that idea. “A month of stumbling around in a dark tunnel, hoping not to get hit by stray transports.”

“If we could get you on one of those transports, you could be at the next city in days, not weeks.”

“Or…”

“Or what?”

William scratched his beard. “Maybe I can survive in the wild. There was a scientist who thought that slow and repeated exposure to radiation could lead to a certain resistance to it.”

“I don’t know what a scientist is, but that sounds like a bad idea to me.”

“I’ve never had any ill effects from the radiation, even when I’ve spent several days in the wilds. It’s possible I have some natural resistance to it.”

“It’s also possible that your armor and the regular decontamination saved you from sickness,” Sarah said pragmatically. William’s sudden desire to take risks with his health struck her as strange. He had always been so careful, so compulsive about anything to do with safety.

“I’d rather live above ground and hunt and live than scuttle through tunnels in the hope I get to another city.”

She did not understand why he was insisting on what seemed to be a suicidal strategy. “But…”

“No arguments,” he said sharply. “We’ll keep heading north.”

“Why? Is that where you want to be buried?”

“Don’t you give me attitude,” he growled. “The cities have failed. It’s time to survive as best we can in the wilds.”

Sarah would have argued, but she realized there was little point. William seemed determined, and given the trauma he must have suffered seeing his home summarily vaporized, she could understand how he would prefer not to return to another city.

What he did next shocked her thoroughly. He began pulling at the straps of his armor, removing both the vest and long pants, leaving only his thick brown cotton pants and vest underneath.

“What are you doing?”

“Embracing nature.”

“But…”

“No buts,” he said firmly.

She was worried about him. She had never seen the effects of radiation, but given that the city people had blocked themselves away from it with thick walls and mega domes, she gathered it was not a pleasant fate.

“If you want to kill yourself, you should just do it,” she said abruptly.

“Excuse me?”

“You’ll die without your armor. You’ll die if you try to live wild.”

“Your parents didn’t.”

“My parents carried the mutation.”

“They carried it, but it’s recessive. It was expressed in you, but not in them. And they survived long enough to make sure you got to adulthood.”

He had a point, she supposed. But having seen the horror with which city folk and William in particular had regarded radiation exposure, she had a hard time accepting that he had genuinely simply stopped worrying about it. It was more likely that he felt lost, and being lost, figured his life did not matter as much. Grief did strange things to people, made them reckless. She would have to keep a close eye on him, lest he hurl himself into the jaws of a big cat or try to swim in rapids.

“And just so we’re clear,” he continued, “you’re still mine.”

She snorted with amusement.

“I mean it, young lady. You’ve made your choice to stay with me. The rules haven’t changed.”

“Yessir, of course, sir,” she said without really meaning it.

His brow rose at her. “You think you can get away with attitude?”

Something low in her tummy tickled with excitement. He was keen to assert his dominance, every part of his body was testament to that. He stood up, his shoulders back, his chest thrust forward, his dark eyes locked on her with the intensity of a predator.

A little giggle escaped her as he came around the fire and made a movement as if to catch her. He certainly was more agile without his armor, for although she made to scuttle away, his hand came down on the back of her neck hard and strong.

“You are a little brat,” he said, drawing her toward him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against his body, the thick ridge of his cock prominent through his pants. She squirmed instinctively, feeling that hard thickness attempting to slide between her cheeks.

Growling, William pushed both their leggings down and thrust forward, ramming himself deep inside her. The intrusion was sudden, but welcome. Her body was already wet, had been since the tension in their conversation rose. William thrust deep inside her, the thick length of his cock plundering her tight channel with fast, hard thrusts that left her panting and moaning for more.

They were as two wild beasts, the female subdued and penetrated by the rampant male. William pushed her down and forward onto her hands and knees and continued thrusting, spreading the walls of her pussy stroke after stroke.

Leaning over her, William fastened his teeth on the back of her neck. Her pussy spasmed in response, his large frame completely dominating her as his cock plunged in and out of her tender cunt, spreading her juices over the length. Releasing her neck with his jaws, he put one hand on each of her shoulders and began drawing her back and forth along his dick, riding her like a filly.

His grunts and growls mingled with her feminine moans of pleasure, filling the clearing with the sounds of their lovemaking. Sarah surrendered herself entirely to the moment, giving herself to him completely. He came quickly and without regard for her orgasm. She felt her pussy quivering as he unloaded his essence inside her, filling her up, claiming her completely.

“Are we clear?”

Panting, Sarah nodded. They were very clear. Even in his relatively weakened state, William was in control. She felt a sense of calm slipping over her; even though she had been denied the orgasm, she had been shown that she was still safe, still protected. Still his.

“Good.” He slapped her bottom and squeezed, causing a little more of his semen to slip out of her well-fucked pussy. “Let’s get going.”

* * *

They traveled another three days north, until William was satisfied that they had cleared the fallout zone and Sarah said that the radiation was light. A more permanent camp was set up outside an empty cave. Sarah thought it would be nice to live inside the cave, but William was not satisfied with cave dwelling. He insisted on building a house.

“As our ancestors did,” he said, striking two rocks together to create a sharp edge. “A wooden cabin will provide better protection from the elements, and we can incorporate stone as a foundation and as a fireplace.”

“Or we could live in the cave,” Sarah suggested. “Because the cave is already made.”

“We will not live in a cave any longer than we have to, now do your weaving.”

Sarah had been entrusted with the task of weaving a fibrous stretch of material, which William intended to use as the base of a bed. The base was already made, fallen logs lashed together in a large rectangle, over which the weaving would be stretched.

“We could sleep on the ground,” Sarah suggested. “Save our labors for necessities.”

“A good bed is a necessity,” William replied, his bare biceps rippling as stone struck stone. “Now no more arguments from you, please, we are setting up a proper home. We will not live like savages.”

“You think me a savage?”

“I think you lazy,” he said, giving her a look that brooked no dissent. “You want to do as little as possible.”

“And you want to fill our days with back-breaking labor.” She cast the matting down and scowled at him. “There are plenty of comfortable hollows to curl up in.”

“And there are plenty of green branches I could use to whip your lazy bottom.”

“I don’t think I have to worry about that. You’d spend three days making sure it was precisely the right branch and whittling it to perfectly fit your tender hand.”

“My tender hand?” he guffawed. “You want a whipping, don’t you.”

“I want to enjoy the day. I want to have some rest. You never stop working.”

William wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Alright,” he relented. “We’ve made some good progress. Once I get this axe made, we’ll make even faster progress. I’ll have these trees down and we’ll have a home of our own.”

“Yes, because there’s nothing city folk like more than cutting down trees.”

“You really are riding for a hiding, aren’t you, girl.” William gave her an even look, wiping his hands on his thighs.

Maybe she was. She was feeling very prickly and annoyed. It was the work. Being a hunter’s pet was one thing. It meant running about, looking for food. It was at least interesting and in between hunts one got to rest. This homesteading garbage was different, a never-ending daily grind. She was not made for domestic chores.