Chapter Three

“Another cat?” Olga said with a smirk of delighted surprise as she stood in the cave’s opening with her hands on her hips.

“I’m going to be sick from the smell of sweat and sunbaked blood,” Kendra groaned as she wiggled out from beneath the bulk of the cat and heaved it onto the hook that was driven into the rock specifically for such purposes.  Her mood had only slightly improved during the journey home.  “It was a long walk.”

“You’re limping,” Olga observed.

Kendra pulled off her blood crusted shirt and tossed it to the ground.   Then, she limped to the nearest stump so that she could sit and remove her boots. “The cat was heavy and I bruised my foot on a boulder cluster.”

Olga disappeared into the cave and returned with a fresh shirt.  Tossing it at her niece, she barked, “Cover yourself before the boys come out.”

“Why are they home at this hour?  Don’t they have chores and errands to tend to?  Am I the only one killing myself to help you take care of this family?”  Kendra asked as she pulled the tee shirt over her exposed torso.  “It would have been nice to wash before I had to put this on.  I stink of blood and sweat.”

“That’s a whole lotta drama for so early in the day,” Olga said as she picked up the soiled shirt that Kendra had just shed. “I have another clean shirt for you to put on once you’ve cleaned up. You still have to skin this thing.  From the sound of it, there’s been a good deal of time since the kill.  It won’t do to leave it for later.  Fresh meat of this nature is a pearl to be cherished.”

When her aunt lifted the cat’s head and looked into its lifeless eyes, it struck Kendra that she was so rattled by her encounter with the mysterious flaxen haired beauty that she’d forgotten to mutilate the cat enough to disguise its purity. She’d been overly distracted by that girl, combined with the worry of making it home in that intense sun with her paining foot. She groaned inwardly as she took a deep breath and steadied herself for the lecture that she was sure would come.

 “Where did you find this cat?” Olga snapped.

“It was a good distance from here,” Kendra defensively replied.

“This cat is trouble,” her aunt said with disgust.

Kendra’s brows raised with surprise as she stood.

“I don’t understand,” she lied. 

She knew very well that killing a beast that was in its pure and original state was a heap of trouble, but she was willing to risk it as much as her aunt was not. Especially since she encountered the cats in the middle of nowhere on the edge of zombie land.  The only person around was Ari, and since the girl offered to help her clean her kill as well as help her bring them home, she was fairly certain that the cats didn’t belong to her.

Olga sounded regretful as she asked, “Did you get yesterday’s cat from the same location?”  When Kendra nodded, she shook her head and sighed. “These aren’t wild cats, dear niece.  They’re domestics.  They were someone’s pets.”

“How can you tell?,” Kendra wailed with dismay.

Olga pinched the cat’s neck until the tracking chip protruded through the skin. “This is a tracking chip.”

“What would domestics be doing wandering this far from civilization? There was no one in sight when I shot them,” Kendra nervously explained as Ari’s image flew into her head.

She was telling the truth.  Ari didn’t appear until after the cat was killed.  Had she been aware of the girl’s presence, she wouldn’t have taken down the oversized feline.

She should have known that there was something wrong when she made her first kill.  Finding a pure beast in those parts was almost impossible. Finding one with as much meat on its bones was even more so.  To find two… well… she should have realized that something was wrong. Her greatest hope whenever she went out to hunt was that her kill would be only slightly altered and mostly edible.  Her excitement at the prospect of a supply of unaltered meat and easing the pressure of hunting from her days for a while drove out all other thoughts.

Were the mountain lions actually Ari’s domestics? If so, why did she offer to help clean her recent kill as well as help her get it home? Why didn’t she say something? Claim it? Shout at her for killing it? Shed some tears over her loss? Threaten to report her to the authorities? 

The thought suddenly struck her and she swallowed hard. Was Ari’s reasoning for wanting to give her a ride home to find out where she lived so that she could send the authorities? Was her decision not to accept the offer impressed upon her subconscious by the gods to protect her?  She leaned against the wall as her legs went weak while she processed the possibilities of what atrocities could have happened to her and her family had she been foolish enough to accept Ari’s offer of friendship.

“I met a girl who looked to be about my age today when I killed the cat.  I don’t think it was hers because she offered to help me clean it and then to give me a ride home,” Kendra confessed. “I didn’t accept either.”

“Do you think that she followed you?”

Kendra shook her head. “I kept close watch for drones and people. I saw neither.”

Olga sat on the stump that Kendra just vacated.  She wore a look of defeat. “It’s done now. Let’s just hope that chip didn’t lead anyone here.  It’s been my plan to sit you down and explain a few things for some time now.  I just kept putting it off because there was always something that needed my attention.  Now, it might be too late.”

“You aren’t making any sense, aunt,” Kendra complained.

“Tend to the meat and then wash up,” Olga said with resignation. “There’s no sense in wasting such a fine supply.  I’ll make us a hearty meal.   Then, we’ll all sit down after dinner and I’ll explain everything.” She stood and looked at the cat one more time before shaking her head and going back into the cave.

Kendra’s hands trembled as she skinned her kill.  Knowing that it was someone’s pet changed everything.  It took an extreme force of will to remove its butter colored coat and then carefully portion out the meat.  Two hours later, she had delivered a meaty bone to her aunt and had sliced, seasoned, and laid out thin slices of meat to dry in the sun.

With her task completed, she made her way to the nearby stream. After stripping off her soiled shirt and pants, she quickly washed away the blood, sweat, and dust from her hunting trip from her body and hair.  With water still beading on her flesh, she put on the fresh clothes that her aunt had supplied and then sat down on a small boulder that was worn smooth from use.  Her hands stroked its surface as she immersed her bruised foot into the water’s depths.  It felt cool and soothing on her discolored flesh.

She tried not to think about the fact that she’d slaughtered someone’s pet, but the thought just kept creeping in anyway.  Her stomach lurched on more than one occasion as she struggled with both her conscience over the act and her fear of what would come of it. 

“I didn’t know,” she said aloud as she swirled her foot in the water.  “Had I known…”

“What didn’t you know?” Felix asked as he limped up to sit next to her.

Kendra shrugged. Felix was like a brother to her, but there was still a thin wall between her that kept her from completely trusting him and pulling him into her total confidence.  The same went for Rupert.

Of her two cousins, she preferred Felix.  She knew that, if he wasn’t handicapped by his club foot, he’d be right out there with her on the hunt.  Rupert, on the other hand, was not only lazy, but had a crush on Kendra that was so extreme that Kendra was repelled by it. Olga considered it unhealthy. With his hormones raging and females a scarcity in his world, Rupert had repeatedly insisted that he be allowed to mate with Kendra.  His reasoning was to help replenish the world’s population.  Since they were third cousins, he saw nothing wrong with it. Kendra’s refusal to consider it, along with Olga’s lack of supporting him in his quest to make, left him angry and frustrated most of the time. 

When they were in need of acquiring information or supplies from the rest of humanity, Rupert was careful to disguise the fact that he was in perfect health so that he wouldn’t be taken or even monitored by the authorities.  He’d managed to get his hands on the armband that was worn by humans who were mutated, but who had volunteered to be sterilized in order to assure that they wouldn’t reproduce and pass on that mutation.  By doing this, they were allowed to live their lives in peaceful servitude.

On his last trip, he’d learned of the new law for breeding and had threatened to go to the authorities to be included on the program.  To her relief, Olga’s stories of terror over the years always kept him from acting upon those threats.  She could understand a young man’s need to accommodate his hormonal desires. She could even understand the need to repopulate the planet with healthy humans. But, if he brought attention to the fact that they existed, she could only imagine the chaos and repercussions that would rain down upon them.   

More than once, Olga found the need to step in and prevent Rupert from badgering Kendra about mating.  The girl got so frustrated that she finally started to wear her knife full time for protection.  It was no way to live, but Olga had no idea what to do about it. She doubted that Rupert would do something that warranted Kendra wearing a knife, but if it made her niece feel better, then so be it.

If she was to think on it with intelligence instead of emotions, it was only natural that a young man of nineteen would want a mate and, since Kendra was a beautiful young seventeen year old who was genetically removed enough to make mating legal as well as the only young woman in his life, it made sense that he would desire her. She suspected that Felix also had desires for Kendra, but was thankful that he didn’t act on them; especially since they were first and not third cousins.

 The air was thick inside the cave from a combination of the stillness of the hot summer’s evening and the tension between Kendra and Rupert as she sat as far away from him as possible in the limited quarters.

Hostility over being rejected dripped from Rupert’s words. “You killed not one, but two domestic cats.”  When Kendra’s eyes went wide, he made a face that resembled an evil smirk and added, “What? You thought that our aunt would keep it to herself?  How special you must think yourself to be.”

 “I…,” Kendra managed to utter before Olga barked for them to cease before they started as she positioned herself on the only sturdy chair in the small cave.

Felix sat next to Kendra and smiled as he placed his hand on the center of her back. It was enough to make her forget her other cousin and sit calmly to await Olga’s talk.

“This is a conversation that should have taken place a long time ago,” Olga said as she sipped on a cup of freshly brewed pine needle tea. “A good deal of sweat, blood, and tears went into making this a safe haven for us.  I guess I just didn’t want to bring up something that could change things.”

“What could change things?” Felix asked with trepidation. “Change things how?”

“Maybe the fact that our dear cousin fed us someone’s pets for supper?” Rupert snipped. “You know they had to belong to someone important.”

“Who just let them freely wander on the border of zombie land,” Kendra barked.

“You were hunting on zombie land?” Olga gasped.

“I didn’t go far into it,” Kendra assured her.

“Gods give us strength,” Olga sighed.  She wore a scowl as she looked directly at Kendra. “We’ll discuss this later.  I don’t want to get off track with our talk.”  She turned to her nephews. “We are all from the same clan and you children are all related, but, even though I have raised you as my own, I am only related to Kendra by blood.  Her father was my brother.  Her mother was your mother’s sister, Felix, and the cousin to your mother, Rupert.”

The three sat and stared at Olga as if she had two heads.  Was she really calling a meeting to give them a genealogy lesson? Their lineage was something that they already knew.

“I have kept Kendra’s family name secret for a reason,” Olga continued. “Kendra may not venture to the areas where there are people about, but you, Rupert, do. Because of your constant agitation and unreliability and now the recent threats to go to the regime and enroll in the breeding program, I’ve made it a point to keep it from you.  The safest and most assured way was to just not tell anyone.”

“Why is he here now?” Kendra asked. “If he couldn’t be trusted before, why now?”

“What’s the deal with her last name?” Rupert grumbled. “Don’t tell me that she’s someone special.  She’s already too full of herself.”

Olga took a deep breath. “The world was already at war before the alien invasion.  The invaders took advantage of this and paired up with some of the underhanded world leaders. Sadly, Kendra’s father and mother were bio-chemical scientists who were working with the world leaders who were trying to preserve life as it was. They were assigned to a laboratory that focused on germ warfare.  As a last and desperate attempt to keep the enemy from gaining control of the free world, they were ordered to launch a virus that they’d created into enemy territory.  This virus causes the body to mutate.”

“Are you telling us that the mutants and zombies are their fault?” Rupert bellowed.

“Partly,” Olga offered. “The mutants are a result of the nuclear bombs that were released, but the zombies are from the virus.”

Rupert snarled at Kendra. “Nice.”

“It’s not my fault,” Kendra hissed.

“It’s no one’s fault,” Olga firmly said. “Kendra was a babe in arms when all of this went down. It’s ridiculous to try to lay the blame on her.”

Kendra stuck her tongue out at her cousin to help emphasize her aunt’s words.

“I still don’t understand why her last name is such a secret,” Felix mused.

“It’s not just her last name.  It’s my last name too,” Olga said.  “It’s a secret because they’re looking for us.  When the cyborgs killed Kendra’s parents, they had no idea who they actually were.  They were believed to be the high priest and priestess who were breaking the law by practicing a forbidden religion.  By the time their true identity was known, they’d been executed.”

Kendra emitted a gasp of sorrow at the mention of her parent’s execution.

“I’m still not following,” Felix admitted.

“They created the virus. They also created an antidote.  It’s believed that the formula for the antidote is hidden away somewhere,” Olga explained. “With them dead, the authorities are searching for any relatives in hopes that they know the location of their notes.  My brother never shared where he hid the notes with me and Kendra was just an infant, but the ways of the authorities are brutal.  They won’t believe that we can’t help them and will torture us until we’re dead.  It’s imperative that our identities be kept hidden.”

“I don’t understand.  If my parents had an antidote, why didn’t they release it? Why did they let the zombie virus spread?” Kendra asked.

Olga looked at her niece’s painful expression with sympathy and understanding.  She often saw her brother in Kendra’s expressions, but never more so than at that moment. “It was their hope that the aliens would be susceptible to the virus.  They were waiting to see if that was the case before they released the antidote.  They made sure to inoculate all of us against it while they waited to see.  Sadly, they were killed before they had their answer.”

Her large, dark-brown eyes locked with Rupert’s beady grey ones. “If they knew that you were related to Kendra and me, they would seize and torture you as well.”

“Great,” he hissed as he stood up to leave.

“Where are you going?” Olga barked. “The meeting is not yet over.”

“I’m leaving,” Rupert said with a firmness that surprised his aunt. “I want out of this mess.  Forget that you know me and, trust me, I’ll definitely forget that I know you.”

The cave was so silent as Rupert gathered his belongings that, if someone dropped a pin on the dirt floor, the shifting of the soil could probably be heard.

When, at last, he’d disappeared into the night, Kendra said, “Good.”

“I heard that!” Rupert bellowed as he raced back into the cave with amazing speed and knocked Kendra onto the flat of her back.  Before anyone could grasp what was happening, his powerful hands had ripped the front of her tee shirt in half to expose her well-formed breasts and was tearing at the waist of her Jersey shorts. Fully aware that she carried a knife, it was the first thing that he disposed of.

“I think I’ll take what should have been mine long ago before I leave,” he snarled.

Olga was practically frozen with disbelief as she watched her nephew pin her niece’s arms above her head as his mouth consumed the rosy tip of her meaty breast while his free hand finished pulling her sweat shorts far enough down to give him easy access to her womanhood.  Her heart literally ached with confusion and shock.

Rupert not only towered over Kendra, but he had double the strength. When he slammed her onto her back, her head hit the hard-packed dirt floor with such force that she was temporarily witless. With Kendra’s defenses removed and his aunt and cousin taken unawares and in shock like they were, he was accomplishing his mission in record time.

He’d managed to free his manhood and was positioning himself to take her when Felix came to his senses enough to act. His roar echoed off the walls as he pounced upon his cousin.  The force of the impact of his lean body slamming into Rupert’s muscled one knocked Rupert off Kendra just enough to free her legs. With her wits returned enough to act and mindless of her injured foot, she pulled her knees up to her chest and planted her feet against Rupert’s powerful body. He’d removed his mouth from her breast and was focusing on pummeling Felix’s face with his massive fists. Summoning all of her strength to straighten her legs, she managed to finish what Felix had started and pushed is body off of her.

Rupert may have had size and strength in his favor, but Kendra had agility, athletic speed, and outrage on her side. Free and as angry as a bull, she rolled to her feet with the rapid fluidity of a wild animal that was accustomed to escaping precarious and life threatening situations and quickly retrieved her knife.  Within seconds, she was behind him with her blade to his throat.  A look of surprise came over him before he immediately regained his composure and replaced it with a cool and confident smirk.

Her voice took on a steely tone as she placed her mouth next to his ear and hissed, “Try that again and I’ll slit your throat so deep that your head will roll off.”

“You have tasty tits,” Rupert said with an arrogance that made Kendra shudder with hate. “I knew they would be.  Tasting all of you just might be worth dying for.”

“You disgust me,” Kendra said as she added more pressure to the knife. “Get out of here and don’t come back or I will kill you.”

“I leave a happy man,” Rupert said as he raised himself onto his knees and proudly tucked his bulging manhood back into his pants. His actions caused her knife to pierce his flesh, but he ignored the blood and the pain. “One day I’ll finish this.”

“Get out!” Kendra bellowed as she leapt back from him.

 Rupert stood and slowly consumed her naked body with his beady grey eyes while he licked his thin and cruel looking lips for emphasis. “It didn’t need to come to this. You should have just mated with me, cousin. You’ll regret it one day.”

Kendra stood defiant and proud; mindless of the fact that her shorts were down around her slender ankles and her bulbous breasts were exposed.

No one spoke as Rupert turned on his heel and exited the cave like a king before his court.

Felix groaned as he struggled to his feet.  His face was red from both blood and embarrassment as he took in Kendra’s state of undress.  Realizing her condition, she quickly pulled her shorts back up and gripped the front of her tee shirt back together.

“What just happened?” Olga gasped when she finally found her words.

“He’s a beast, aunt,” Kendra hissed.

Olga emitted a moan of despair. “I’m so sorry.  I should have expected something like this from him.  He showed all of the signs.  I raised him like my own.  I guess I just didn’t want to think him capable of rape.”  She wore a dazed expression.  “I should have done something to stop him.  It all happened so fast,” she worriedly mused. “It was in slow motion but happening fast at the same time.  I’ve never…”

“Did he hurt you?” Felix interjected as he limped to Kendra’s side.

“Only my pride,” Kendra admitted as her fingers inspected the back of her skull for a bump that might surface from when her head slammed into the hardened cave floor. “It’s good he’s gone.”

“No. I hate to say it, but it’s not good,” Olga said with remorse as the shock of the situation wore off. “I’m not saying that what just happened was okay, but it would have been better if we could have settled it and calmed him down. He’s stormed off, both angry and humiliated. That’s never a good combination; especially with Rupert. If the lad can turn his back on us so easily, he can’t be trusted.  I’m afraid we’ll have to move.”

“What?” Felix and Kendra said in unified dismay.

“I don’t trust that boy. I don’t think he’ll turn us in for your parent’s actions. At least, I hope he won’t. He risks himself if he does. Plus, he’d have to prove it and without your last name or any photos of my brother and his wife, that could be difficult. He may not know your last name, Kendra, but he knows about the mountain lions and he’s determined to make you pay for rejecting him.  You know how he is when he sets his mind to something.  He’ll either come back and take you by surprise and actually rape you or he’ll tell the authorities about your kill,” Olga explained. “It’s no longer safe to stay here.”

“This is our home. It’s been our home since forever. Where will we go?” Felix asked with a voice filled with emotion.

“We’ll ask the gods to guide us,” Olga replied in a voice that indicated that her mind was already miles away.