Chapter 24

Note from the author:

Hello all of you patient, understanding, and might I say physically attractive readers!

It’s that special time of year when I finally manage to upload something! I actually finished these chapters months ago but apparently something went wrong when submitting them here and they never actually got added, so ... oops! Sorry about that!

I had really hoped to stick to a monthly schedule, however I unexpectedly ended up returning to college to get a second degree. That, on top of my full-time job and other life obligations have made finding ample time (and motivation) for writing a bit of a trickier situation than I’d hoped. I won’t lie to you all, I’m definitely experiencing some serious burn out here - not just in my writing, but in pretty much all creative outlets of mine. However, I’m determined to push through and keep going without compromising on quality. It just means I take some extra time to find the energy and discipline now and then to keep delivering content I’m happy with.

So thank you for sticking with me through all this as the story continues :) As always, thank you for reading and for your feedback!

Sarah and the others watched from the shadows as the unexpected group of strangers moved down the mall walkway in precise, practiced movements. They kept to a tight triangular formation while checking their surroundings, guns at the ready. Some of them wielded assault-rifles, while others simply held handguns, but all of them seemed comfortable with their firearms. Sarah wondered why they even bothered carrying such weapons given how ineffective they were against the Krinis, but perhaps it simply bolstered their courage.

Despite them all wearing bulletproof vests, face bandanas, thick layers of sleek, water-proof clothing, and other concealing, defensive garments, their body shapes and movements suggested that the group was composed of four men and four women. Each of them also carried large canvas duffle bags over their shoulders, all of which were so bulging with items that their zippers were threatening to burst.

As the squad filed past the windows of the shoe store, the man at the front of the formation meticulously checked the corners ahead of them all. Instead of speaking, he gestured to the rest of the group with various, swift hand signals. The rest of the strangers followed him silently, matching his steps as if he had several shadows.

The formation leader finished surveying the area, and, apparently satisfied that the zone was clear, gave a sweeping hand motion to direct the group towards an outdoor seating area that was well-hidden within a circle of trees and decorative structures. Their hushed voices could just barely be heard through the broken window near Sarah’s head.

“Shit, what the hell happened?” One of the men whispered angrily in a strained voice. “We snuck by the ‘Behemoth’ no problem, so why did it suddenly send out an alarm call?”

“Could there be other survivors around?” A woman replied. It was hard to tell if her tone was worried or hopeful.

“More likely to be other raiding parties,” another man responded gruffly. “I hope it got ‘em; less competition for us.” He snorted and spat on the ground.

“It may be related to that loud crash in the woods we heard earlier,” the man who was leading the group scowled. “Though no need to waste time on conjecture. What’s certain is that our position has been compromised. We need to return to base immediately. We managed to gather enough supplies to get us through the next week, at least.” He gently placed his duffle bag down and zipped open the top of it, taking stock of the contents, which proved to be a hefty pile of canned food.

“We could just blast all these fuckers away if it weren’t for them morphing to protect their cores,” the woman next to the leader growled. Unlike the other members of her group, she wasn’t wearing a hat or helmet. Instead, she just opted to have her raven-black hair out in the open, done up in a messy ponytail that still allowed several dark strands to fall around her furrowed brows. She spoke with a very subtle Indian accent.

“Cores’?” The first woman stared at her, aghast. “Those are people! Living humans! We should be thankful that they are at least being kept safe while ... imprisoned.” She shifted her feet uncomfortably. The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes and turned towards the group leader.

“Remind me again why we brought the naive new girl along, Cutter?” She asked, impatience building in her voice with every word.

“We already went over this, Priya,” the leader – apparently named Cutter – sighed. “She knows this area better than the rest of us. This is her chance to prove herself useful.” He then pulled Priya closer and the two of them began to quietly argue amongst themselves in low voices.

“What are they talking about?” Zoey whispered, eyeing the strangers warily. “‘Cores’? Surely, they aren’t suggesting killing the humans captured by the Krinis in order to, what, immobilize them?”

“Most likely...” Adam sighed, shaking his head. “I think it’s safe to assume that those guns aren’t meant for the Krinis themselves.”

“Horrible...” Sarah gulped. She couldn’t imagine herself being driven to such a disturbing act.

A’luhr looked away from the others, remaining silent. Not too long ago, she, too, had once contemplated this same strategy. It was effective, efficient, and freed the captives of their fates while protecting others. It had been the go-to method during the early days of the Krinis war back on her own planet.

However, something had changed within her after spending so much time with the humans who cared for one another even if not bound by blood. If it came down to it, she would still need to do what had to be done, but she was now determined to find other ways of dealing with the invaders. Besides, now that the Krinis were evolving to no longer need constant energy from human “batteries”, this strategy would no longer prove effective anyway. She steeled her heart and looked back towards her human companions, nodding in agreement with Sarah.

“The guns are probably for fending off other raiding parties, too,” Steven suggested.

“Huh? Why would people be fighting each other?” Zoey scoffed.

“Obviously you don’t watch a lot of zombie movies,” Steven sighed in a patronizing way. “This is pretty standard stuff.” Zoey clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“Obviously I know what you’re talking about; I just had assumed ... hoped ... that was all just fictitious nonsense to enhance the drama. People can’t really become that uncivilized so quickly, right?”

“In a world of limited resources, lust isn’t the only human instinct that may overpower otherwise rational thinkers,” Sarah replied wistfully. “People are just as easily dominated by greed, anger, fear, or other powerful emotions. Honestly, we’re lucky we haven’t had to experience starvation or any real medical emergencies yet. I’d like to hope that we would keep our humanity even if driven into a corner, but you never know what you’re really capable of until pushed...”

The rest of the group fell silent for a few minutes, contemplating Sarah’s words and mulling over their own thoughts.

“Regardless of what they’re using the guns for,” Adam whispered, breaking the silence, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to just stroll over there and introduce ourselves. Not when we don’t know how they’ll react. People do stupid stuff in times of stress.”

“Agreed,” A’luhr chimed in. “It is best to reduce the variables of our mission. While they may prove to be valuable allies, there are just as many potential scenarios where they may prove to be enemies. Let us continue to observe for now, and if fate would have us cross paths, then so be it. We shall just have to prepare ourselves for such a situation.”

Everyone else murmured in agreement, turning back to look out at the huddled strangers who were checking their weapons while Priya and Cutter seemed to be coming to a close on their argument.

“Look,” Priya continued with a huff. “All I’m saying is that I’d rather Jenna’s little ‘trial by fire’ wasn’t a scenario where her mistakes could get us all fucked!”

“As I said, we don’t have a choice,” Cutter responded with a steely voice. “The areas closest to us have already been picked clean. We can’t just walk around blindly with all the advanced ‘Harvesters’ wandering around these days. It’s best if we-” he suddenly shut his mouth and spun on his heels to look behind him, holding a hand up to shush Priya whose mouth was already open for a retort. “Speak of the devils...” He growled, hunkering low while raising his handgun, finger at the ready with impressive trigger discipline. He quietly gestured for the rest of his group to do the same as he peered out from the foliage surrounding them.

Sarah followed his line of sight and grimaced in disgust as she saw a large slug-like creature nearly the size of a minivan slithered out from an alleyway in the direction the strangers had been headed. Like many other juvenile Krinis forms, it appeared to be made up of a weave of interlocking tentacles that were covered in thick, syrupy orange slime, which oozed behind the monster in a sickening trail of mucus.

The semi-transparent viscous fluid also acted as slippery, ample lubricant for the half dozen or so human cocks that sprouted from the creature’s back like spines, clearly from men trapped within. The glistening erections were all completely coated in the slime, which squelched wetly as small tendrils growing up around them rapidly stroked and swirled around each engorged shaft and spongy glans. The cocks would periodically twitch before spurting out plentiful loads of creamy cum, which the thick slime captured at the tips of each phallus in bulbous, water balloon-like pockets, before being absorbed into the rest of the fluid coating the beast.

Tentacles with brush-like tips began to aggressively scour the over-sensitive cock heads of those who had just ejaculated, forcing even more of the whitish spunk out of the men who were no doubt moaning and howling inside the creature’s slimy, writhing body. The front of the otherwise amorphous mass had four tendrils sprouting out of its “head” like two large pairs of snail eyes, though instead of eyeballs at the tips, each one sported puckered sphincters in their place.

As the slug creature messily glided closer towards where Cutter and his group were hiding, the four sphincter tentacles periodically reared back and clamped tightly around some of the twitching cocks, apparently suckling cum from each swollen shaft while simultaneously re-coating them with a fresh layer of orange goo, which splattered around the monster as the tentacles noisy slurped back up into the air.

Cutter, seeing the nectar-laden slime splashing nearby, motioned for his group members to cover up their skin with their waterproof garments. Before they slid goggles over their eyes, it was clear to see fear and confusion in some of them, likely due to being unfamiliar with this particular Krinis form. Despite the clear unease in their demeanors, they all seemed prepared to defend themselves from the Krinis’s dangerous projectile fluids. However, their levels of experience were blatantly uneven.

As the group braced themselves for the Krinis to pass by their hiding spot, one of the men moved to shift his duffel bag in order to ready his gun, not realizing how close he was to one of the trash cans. The bag grazed the receptacle, bouncing some of the cans within. It wasn’t even loud enough to be heard from where Sarah watched, who herself was covering her mouth and nose to muffle her breathing, but even still, the Krinis slug stopped in its slushy, gurgling tracks.

Sarah felt her companions tense up next to her, slowly reaching for their weapons just in case those four eye-like tendrils suddenly swerved in their direction. The other group was understandably even more on edge. Priya was already aiming her pistol at the creature, the barrel tracking its every tiny movement. Cutter held up a fist, apparently indicating for his squad to hold their positions, while his eyes scanned the area for new exits.

Suddenly, the four tendrils began to wildly wave in the air, spraying even more of the aphrodisiacal slime around the area. Some of the droplets arched high through the air and splattered onto Cutter’s shoulder, who remained motionless as the goo slid ineffectively off of his sleek waterproof jacket.

He breathed a visible sigh of relief, motioning for the rest of his group to maintain their positions as they warily waited to react to whatever the disgusting creature did next. As they watched, the slug ceased its flailing motions, apparently satisfied that there was no prey in the area. However, instead of beginning to move away from the hiding humans, it started to exhibit some different behavior.

The puckered sphincters on the monster’s tendrils suddenly gaped open. At first, nothing seemed to happen, though Sarah continued to observe it intently with both trepidation and wonderment. The group of strangers were all waiting on Cutter to give any sort of signal, but he seemed confused by what he saw, still motioning for everyone to stay put as he tried to analyze the situation.

After a few moments, a thick pink haze began to exude from the slug’s open orifices, swirling down the sides of the creature like dry ice before expanding and rising up to fill the walkway area, slightly obscuring Sarah’s vision through the gas. Even with the rosy filter painting the world outside, she managed to spot Cutter and the rest of the group doing their best to flee from the gas as stealthily as possible, trying to make a dash for one of the adjacent alleyways before the pink mist could catch up to them.

Cutter, Priya, and another man, hastily led the group towards the alley, but abruptly halted as they seemed to notice something at the other end. In a controlled panic, they doubled back as Cutter issued hand signals, leading them into the nearby Fiestaville just as the pink haze was about to engulf them.

It initially looked like they had made a clean getaway from whatever potential danger the slug posed, but suddenly, the five people in the back of the group began to act strange. They stood just inside the glass doorway where some of the mist had managed to waft in, and started to tremble madly while grasping frantically at their crotches as if attempting to rip the clothes from their loins.

Sarah couldn’t hear what was being said within, but it was clear that the other three other people were trying to pull the five of them deeper into the store, but their efforts were in vain. The five strangers, who Sarah surmised must have inhaled some of the gas, pushed away from their comrades and burst back out into the walkway, now fully sucking in the whirling gas as if taking their first gasps of air after a long dive.

All at once, the five of them began to rapidly strip off their protective layers of clothing while awkwardly stumbling towards the slug creature that continued to emit the mist. Their bags of food hit the ground, quickly followed by pants, jackets, face masks, goggles, and helmets until they were wearing nothing but their underwear. Not that those garments remained on for much longer either. Boxers, briefs, bras, and panties were all practically torn apart as the now nude strangers lurched towards the slimy monster with unsteady, zombie-like motions, as if their minds were being controlled by the noxious gas they continued to inhale.

Each of them were very fit, all sporting tight, toned stomachs, muscular legs, and firm asses, clearly the results of their active, survivalist lifestyle, The three women had chest of varying sizes, ranging from pert little peaks on one, tender, jiggling mounds on another, and heavy, swaying tits on the last, which bounced as the women lunged forward onto the back of the slug, burying their limbs in the writhing tentacle flesh as they clamored to get at the fountaining cocks on its back.

It didn’t take long before each woman was covered in slime, which mixed with the juices gushing freely from their needy pussies. When they finally managed to position themselves up near the captive men’s manhoods, they slammed their hips down onto their chosen rods without hesitation, desperately shaking their hips up and down while sucking and stroking any nearby cocks they could get their shaking lips and hands on. The orange goo surrounding the shafts messily sloshed up and down around each woman’s slender fingers and moist mouths, further coating their skin with glistening, sloppy slime.

The two men from the group also leapt onto the slug, both sporting impressive erections that were so stiff that their bulging veins seemed ready to burst. Instead of hungrily attacking the other men’s penises, however, they simply seemed to giggle to themselves, giddy expressions on their faces, as they allowed the tentacles making up the creature to slowly absorb them into its flesh until all that could be seen of them were their two twitching members.

Seeing that their companions had joined the rest of the captive men, Jenna took it upon herself to masturbate each of them, one cock in each hand, as she continued to messily ride the thick phallus between her legs, which unceasingly pumped her full of a slurry of cum and slime. Moments later, her fingers were joined by small tendrils that rose up to polish any parts of the men’s turgid flesh that was not yet being stimulated. The women laughed madly while tears poured down their cheeks, looks of horror and disbelief in their reddened eyes even as they continued to madly suck and fuck and cocks they could get near.