Chapter 13

We headed out into the mountains following the remains of an old road with Red leading along with David and his scouts. We were lucky. The weather held and we got through the mountains without serious incident. We came out on the plains still following the remains of that old road.

Including everyone, we were between three hundred and three hundred fifty people However, Joseph only had eighty-three fighting men left. Jerry was on that list but he commanded only six men all of who had been injured and were not able to ride. They were our wagon drivers. I could tell they were hurt by their status but they did a fine job and worked to think with Jerry how to use the wagons to help their comrades if needed. I had a bad feeling that they would be needed. The Century traveled as one unit with the camp followers and others strung out behind on our back trail. Since they were the bigger group, I somewhat hoped they would attract attention more than the Century that was in front. We traveled in the middle of the Century.

We came to an old area which had been cleared at one time. It had started to grow back but you could see that some things were just not natural. Even trees and plants looked different from any others I had ever seen. The old woman mentioned that possibility and that it meant we were getting close to our goal and that time was becoming an issue. The land was rolling with little vegetation except for this new, ugly, and different plant life.

Everyone was on edge. The attack, when it came, was sudden and violent. Those attacking did not look quite like human beings. They were misshapen, being large, or tiny with skin colors that looked unnatural. Some were gold, some silver, some blue, green, yellow, browns of various hues, and purple. The colors were bright like they were painted on the skin.

They had no clothing and no weapons except those provided by nature; teeth and nails. A couple of them had clubs. Their advantage was in numbers. They came at the side of our strung out line at the rear guard and in front of the followers. The bulk of their initial attack was on the followers and those people were decimated. They were not fighters, had few weapons, and were mostly women.

When the attack started, we saw the rear guard go down and Joseph ordered a wheeling maneuver to counter-attack. Even our wagons joined in the wheel though they couldn't keep pace with the horsemen who waded into the attacking party. Now, it was the turn of the attackers to be decimated. By the time, Joseph and his Fives had his people under control, it was obvious that we weren't fighting normal people. We captured two to return to Miranda for her tender questioning. We had a blue and a yellow. They were tied and gagged. The gags were to prevent them from biting at everyone rather prevent them from screaming for help. None of those fighters ever asked for mercy and they attacked until killed or immobilized. Some were even female though that didn't seem to matter with regard to the fighting.

Miranda took possession of the blue female and the yellow male. She started on the female. "Will you talk to me if your gag is untied?" Miranda asked.

The blue woman nodded slowly. Miranda made a motion and her gag was untied from behind her. She cried, "Kill me! My people will not let me live if I am captured by a lower order. They will know I am defective."

Miranda said, "Who are your people?"

"We are the Gammas. No one can beat us because we have the magic metal that kills or changes."

"Where do you live?"

"In the caverns over there." She motioned with her head roughly in the direction we were going.

"Why would your people, the Gammas, kill you if you are taken alive?"

"We are the fighters and we do not surrender. Your people knocked me out or you would not have me now. We are many. We eat what we kill."

We had some listeners and there was an intake of breath at that statement. Miranda thought for a minute and then said, "Retie her gag. We may still grant her wish."

She went over to the Yellow man and said, "Will you talk with me?" He also nodded slowly and she had his gag untied. She said, "What is your name?"

"I am fighter XR-41 of the Gammas."

"That's a different name. I am named Miranda. Are all your people named like you?"

"No other has my name though there are other XR people. The blues have a different naming sequence as do the others."

"So, a yellow woman could be named XR-40?"

"Yes, and there was one with that name. She was killed in the attack. You have come onto our lands and we are hungry for fresh meat."

'You eat people?"

"We eat the lower orders. Don't you?"

"We have never thought of those who can talk and reason as 'lower orders.' Are you running out of food in your land?"

"Yes, we have eaten every animal available. We search for others while we grow more animal food."

"We may be a 'lower order' to you but we don't allow ourselves to be trapped in your situation through poor planning." Miranda turned to the blue girl. "Are you a virgin?" She shook her head, no. Have you ever been fucked in the ass?" She grimaced but nodded. "Can you take a big cock?" She nodded. Miranda looked over at yellow guy. "Is he big?" The blue girl looked over and nodded. He would be about seven inches long when hard, neither as long nor as thick as Red.

"Let's strap her down and let Red start." She wiggled trying to resist as she was moved to her hands and knees and tied in place with her legs spread. Red came up behind her and dropped his pants. Yellow guy's eyes went wide but our blue girl couldn't see what was happening behind her. Red pushed into her pussy and her eyes went wide as she screamed with pain as she was roughly spread open by Red's cock.

"He's big, but he's not huge." Miranda said. "Lem, show her what huge looks like."

I chuckled and stood in front of her and unfastened my pants and let them drop. My half hard cock was at about ten inches. The blue girl was suitably impressed as she grunted to the thrusts of Red in her pussy.

Miranda said, "If you don't answer completely both of you, you will get Lem's tool all the way in your ass without any lubrication. We noticed then that both blue and yellow faces could become pale with fear. Red pumped a good load into blue girl and pulled out. He went to a nearby creek to wash with Marva in attendance.

They were almost eager to tell us everything about the Gammas. XR-41 and CR-72, the blue female, were willing talkers. They seemed to have no allegiance to their kind or to the other Gammas. The strangest thing about them was their insistence that they had their children from vats rather than normal pregnancies It was obvious that CR-72 wasn't a virgin and, though she looked old enough, she also didn't look like she had had any children being slim almost girlish in her figure. They were both totally hairless.

When Marva returned, Miranda had her take notes and ask more questions while we went to talk to Joseph. Joseph went over the attack and defense possibilities with us and said the captives should be put to death or taken as slaves after they ran out of answers to questions. I told Joseph that we would have to think on it but would probably take them into slavery rather than kill them. We returned to camp after talking over sentry needs and methods. The Gammas weren't smart fighters but they attacked in large numbers which made defending against them difficult.

When we returned, Marva asked one more question and then looked at Miranda and said, "I can't think of anything else to ask."

"Thank you, Marva." Miranda said, "You two get a choice though they're not great ones. However, they're better than some have been given. Your choices are to be put to death quickly. The other choice is that you live and become slaves to our group. Lem is the head with Red and I as his seconds. Do you have any questions before you make your choices?"