Chapter 12

Desmond sent half of the newly recruited survivors back to Mike's main band which had better facilities to handle the transition. He kept the other half to flesh out his unit because they could always use some extra hands to clean the weapons and to help set up the camp at night. He didn't expect much from them in terms of additional firepower because they had been fairly well indoctrinated by the capturing Looters to remain docile and obedient. It was quite a contrast to the mobile survivor band that he had joined recently with Mike and Diane at the head.

In many respects, the mobile survivor band was just like his band of constantly moving strike force of Looters turned survivors staying well ahead of the sweep teams of Military "cleansing" units that were acting under orders from governmental central command that was looking at the supposed big picture and not at the necessities of day-to-day survival.

The scouts operating on his back trail reported that there was activity back at the recently liberated small town and that the Military units were assembling a strike force larger than any of the sweep teams they had been utilizing to scoop up the survivors and eliminate the Looters with summary justice. Desmond felt the Military was being a bit inflexible in their methods of operation and he had no problem with eliminating the Military threat to his followers. The rumors of the "breeding farms" for the survivor females where the nubile women were confined to concentration camp conditions and subjected to either old fashioned insemination methods or "fertilized" with frozen viable sperm was enough to make the women in his band look fearfully over their shoulders whenever any indication of Military forces in close proximity filtered into the band. He had personally witnessed how they executed the captured Looters both male and female out of hand with no opportunity to offer any statement in their own defense. Apparently, the male survivors were disposed of in a similar manner only it was more in a covert manner and not an overt display of justice being dispensed because the survivor's only crime was to still be alive.

He had seen the yellow buses filled with youngsters being convoyed back to the special training camps up in Nevada and he hoped the wide-eyed children had retained some memory of their last days of freedom because the government would do its best to erase it from their minds.

Fortunately, they had a huge head start and all three columns were across the widest of the east to west river systems before that unit started to assemble far to their rear. Mike left some trace elements of the group to set up ambushes on the far side of such barriers just to insure the Military was slowed ever further. They advanced in their chosen direction but were careful to use different headings to confuse the followers as to their intended destination.

Desmond knew they were heading to a sort of "Promised Land" which would afford them a safe environment from which to operate. It was certain it would not be a land of milk and honey but at least it would be geographically situated to make it virtually impossible for the Military to assault without sustaining unacceptable losses. Mike had told him that they would set up a temporary camp to mislead the Military and then when it looked like they were in a bad spot, they would quickly disperse to the alternate location which was far more secluded and much more difficult to attack or to even locate with certainty.

They were going slower now because the terrain was mostly upgrade and it was necessary to take lots of short breaks because a lot of the group were carrying heavy packs of supplies and equipment as well as heavy weapons and ammo. At a point where they had to traverse a narrow pass, they merged all three columns together and prayed they would not be ambushed in the choke point.

Mike left a detachment of special scouts at the pass to hinder the Military if any of them got that far. Desmond gave up ten of his best people including two of the original Biker gang that helped him escape from Los Angeles.

The night after they made the passage through the pass, the entire force was still together and the camp stretched across acres of woodland circled with outer and inner lines of defense. No fires were allowed because the signature would be too obvious on a high flying drone screen. Desmond had the twins with him and also the woman from the small town Doctor Harris with the striking facial features and the impressive posterior that was a center of attraction for the capturing Looters. Her casts were off and she could walk with someone to lean on. She was getting stronger every day and her attitude had become both friendly and personable. The girls, Bobbie and Billie were taken with her and they buzzed around her like worker bees serving the queen.

Desmond couldn't wait any longer and he mounted one of the twins in the dark. He wasn't quite sure which one it was but in his need, it really didn't matter. The other twin had buried her head in the Doctor's lap and he was certain she was taking liberties with the older attractive woman that caused him to drive deeply into the rump of the twin under his hip-hugging legs. He could hear the tantalizing slurps in the dark and the twin under his body moved every which way but loose gasping her pleasure with almost empty lungs. He paused and held her motionless just before draining into her folds of silky flesh listening to her rasping moans that sounded like a race car waiting for the green light to explode into instant action.

He fell away from her inert form and watched the beautiful face of the Doctor looking down at him in the light of the almost full moon over her shoulder. The other twin must have reached her special spot because she was in the throes of a convulsive orgasm and he could see the emotion flaring from her glowing eyes and listed to the low murmur of her release that escaped her open lips with appreciative response. They looked at each other in the moonlight and Desmond knew that he would soon be exploring her soft and yielding bottom whilst he nibbled on her tender ear lobes and licked her neck with his inquisitive tongue. She knew it was coming and smiled in anticipation of his taking of her favors. It had been a long time since she had a partner of her own choosing and she was ready to perform with the experience of her mature years.

The following day they crossed along the edge of a large open space that looked sort of like an inverted bowl with the lush greenery stretching as far as the eye could see. They stayed inside the high canopy tree cover not wanting to be caught out in a dangerous position in the open. On the other side they filtered into a lush green valley with a small but scenic waterfall at the far end. Some of the small game were startled at their presence and melted into the forest like shadows not quite clear enough to be thought part of reality.