Chapter 3 Making Friends

Albert Street, I had memories of when I was young, being cold watching a Christmas parade, going cruising with Dad down to Wascana Park. Watching a lot of traffic drive up and down the road. Most if not all of those people were dead now. The world had changed and those of us left had changed with it. I felt lucky, my Dad had been prepared for something, and his foresight had seen us through the first tough couple of years. Now, this was my world, and I was one with it.

I was at the train overpass on Albert street. Years of dirt and dust had filled it with enough material to allow plants to take hold. I was walking on the right side of the street going through the brush when I heard the scream. It was ahead but being under the tracks could cause confusing echoes. I shouldered the Henry and made my way up the slope, I heard another scream, it sounded young and female but it is hard to tell with children.

The noise was coming from behind the Canadian Mental health building, a structure that had seen its better days long before the Change. I drifted past the Robins Donuts Burger King building and walked along the north side of the mental health building. There was a small area on the west side where cars could be parked and then a small alcove into the building, a sort of a half courtyard. I recalled a broken old picnic table there. It was now the source a what was clearly a girl yelling “No-no.”

I angled out enough to see two men were holding down a girl, who looked a little older than she sounded. They had her top ripped off and were laughing and grunting as they tried to remove her bottoms. I drew a bead on the first one and shot, the 22 short flew out at 720 feet per second and entered his skull before blowing out a hole in the back.

As his partners, blood and brains dripped down on the man who was kneeling as he struggled with the girl he looked up and swore just in time for my next shot to enter his mouth and blow out the back of his neck.

Knowing he was dead already even as his body tried to struggle to its feet I moved in a grabbed the girl and pulled her away from the pair of renegade rapists. Once I had her around the corner I removed my spare cloak from my pack and wrapped her in it. She was in shock but I could tell she was tough, we all were or we would not be here.

Turning I walked back and had a closer look at the two. I had reacted fast and not noted any details but something had jagged my attention. Looking at the two bodies I realized it was the two idiots Dave and Jeff. Laying there dead with their eyes staring empty up at the grey sky. I doubted that they had left anyone behind who would miss them. Still, at one time, they were babies being held by parents who loved them, or maybe not. Really, how the hell would I know?

I bent down and looted the bodies finding two knives and a Norinco NZ85B 9MM with a two-tone chromium slide. A fricken Norinco, it was a Chinese made copy of a Czech made CZ85 9MM, thanks to my Dad for all those old gun magazines I had picked up a lot of useless knowledge plus they had pretty pics and were useful as TP when needed. I racked it only to find that it was empty, so I put it into one of my pockets I had sewed into my cloak and the then turned to the two packs.

The first one held a few dirty clothes and some travelers bread, the second pack surprised me with a Dominion Arms Raider 12 Gauge side by side shotgun pistol. I quickly broke it open and found it held two shells, noting that they were solid slugs I whistled, this pistol would pack a wallop. In the old days, Dad had said that video games would show people getting repeatedly shot and not being hurt. He had called it BS and taught me that a 12gauge shotgun slug would take down any mammal in the world if it hit a vital. It would take down most without hitting a vital.

Reaching deeper I pulled out a case of 18 shells, pocketing it all I thought these guys had managed to break into a home that had not been looted yet and somehow had found the 9MM and the Raider. Walking back around the corner I knelt in front of the girl and waited, she looked at me and then nodded and said, “Thank you, those men would have done…” She could not continue as tears formed in her eyes.

“I know what those men would have done, but you are safe from them. They won’t be bothering anyone anymore unless a Lich finds them. How did they get you and what are you doing this far away from F-depot?”

I waited and observed her as she thought of what had happened to her. I had originally thought that she was young, but once I had observed her I realized that she was probably in her late teens. She had fully developed breasts and her hips were that of a woman. She was small but curvaceous getting to the time where her family would have been looking to marry her off to collect the dowry. Yep, all that old stuff was back.

“My name is Leeann and I am a level 4 healer, a priest actually. Pretty funny how we are called priests but have no God. At any rate, I am on my own, I was trying to get through the city to F-depot, I am heading West. I am from White city village, and to be honest, once my dad passed the local bigshot Mayor Walle as he calls himself came calling. He did not understand that I was not interested in what he had to offer, the bastard. I managed to stun him and then tie him up but I knew I had to flee. He controls the local militia and once he was done with me he would have thrown me to those dogs.”

I nodded, it was a tale that I had heard to often, the NWMP could only do so much and some of the stronger villages and town had their own militia. They were hit and miss, the leadership could be good but many times they became despots. “So, what is out West, the Vampires control Moose Jaw and it is a long way to Swift Current. Then Medicine hat is the next city that is still alive, but it is a tough town. Unless you have family there it would be best to not stay there.”

Leeann spoke up and said, “I am not staying on the Great Northern Plains, I am heading to the kingdom of B.C. people say that Revelstoke town has gotten the trains working, the big museum there had several of the old steam trains and they modified them to go on the tracks. Word is that they have made it to the coast and they are coming East sometime soon.”

I nodded, I had heard the same rumors a couple of years ago but rumors were just rumors. Still, who am I to pop someone’s balloons? “Alright, I am glad that you have a plan, the question is what am I going to do with you right now. Regina has some problems, and to be honest I would not give you much of a chance to make it to F-depot from here. I am impressed that you made it this far from White City, but the monsters are stirring here, I am not sure what is what, that is why I am out scouting.”

Leeann looked at me with confidence and said, “Take me with you, I know that you are capable, and I won’t be a burden, besides maybe you will need a pocket priest.” She smiled at me and suddenly I could see the girl behind the mask, alone, scared and not really capable of dealing with the wild all by herself. She was damn lucky to have made it this far. I stared at her brown hair and her brown eyes and suddenly I did not feel like being alone, at least not today. Knowing I might be making a mistake I nodded and said, “Listen up Leeann, if you come with me you will have to listen to me and do what I ask. I am not a perv and you will be safe, but weird things are happening here, actually from what I understand the whole world is going strange, stranger than it has been.” I thought of meeting the new God of this world and what he had told me. Yep, a shite storm was coming.

Leeann nodded and then stood, dropping my cloak she took off her ruined shirt and stood there calmly as she asked me for a spare shirt. I made an effort to ignore her breasts, they were clearly showing the result of the cold weather. Her nipples were a dark brown and her breasts had no sag. One of the changes in people was that generally, we were all better specimens than before the change. Maybe not supermodel looks but for someone to be unattractive they had to have worked at it. The other change was no one really was sick anymore, we could be injured but would not get sick. Unless it was magical. Like Leeann's breasts. Defying gravity, they were larger than I would have thought, at least a 36 D. Realizing that I was staring I looked at her and grinned.

“Sorry, it has been a long time since I have been this close to an attractive girl. I don’t mean to stare, you kind of caught me by surprise.” I then reached into my pack and pulled out my spare shirt and handed it to her.

Leeann smiled and said, “I am glad that you noticed, I was not sure that you liked girls, I can usually tell but something is different about you. Don’t worry about it, there is no room for modesty in my life. Just know this, If I say no I mean no.”

I watched as the small knife appeared in her hand and then with a small shrug disappeared. It was cool, and a good reminder even the prettiest flower could now be deadly.

We left the Canadian Mental Health building and went west a couple of blocks. There was a park one block south where the trees had taken hold. It was a little forest and I had a little fort there, it is where we would spend the night. Leeann proved to be a good companion, she had some bushcraft and with some tips from me, she soon was almost as quiet as a mouse.

Once we made it to the park I followed my secret path as it led us to the middle. The small shed was still there, with the door still locked. I grabbed the key from the hiding place and then opened the door. There is the old double bed and a small camp stove, a shelf with a few books and a basin sitting on a countertop, and a sturdy box that contained a few rations. On the headboards shelf was a box that held 100 9MM rounds and 100 22 longs.

We entered the cabin and shut the door, the evening was fast approaching and the light from the skylight was fading fast. The far wall of the cabin was piled high with wood cut to the right size to fit the camp stove. Leeann walked over and grabbed some kindling and without my asking began to build a fire. I settled my pack down and then grabbed the bedding and took it outside to shake it off. The temperature was falling fast, winters in Regina could be damned cold.

Once back in the cabin I made the bed and then going over to the countertop I placed all my weapons down along with the ammo. Leeann came over and stared in surprise at the 5 knives, the Henry and the Norinco 9MM along with the Raider 12 gauge pistol. Reaching into my cloak I pulled out the box of slugs for the raider. All told it was a pretty significant group of weapons, people had been killed for a lot less.

Going over to the bed I grabbed the 9MM rounds and put then next to the Norinco. Turning to face Leeann I said, “This is going to be your gun, I would give you the raider but the recoil would be too much for you. The 9MM will drop a man or beast if it hits the head, heart or balls. Can you shoot? I mean have you had any real training in how to fire a firearm safely?” Leeann was standing next to me and I could smell her, and that was distracting but I focused on what I had to teach her.

“I have not had any real training, Dad would always say just load it and then shoot till it would not shoot anymore. So I would guess that means no. Would you teach me?” Leeann was looking at me and I could tell she wanted to learn how to use the weapon, she needed to know to feel safe.

Damn straight I will, I thought. “I am going to show you how but I ask you to be careful, there are a few rules. Do not point a gun at anything unless you are willing to shoot the gun if needed. Keep your trigger finger off the trigger at all times until you are ready to take the shot. Know your safety and how to use it without thinking. Always keep the weapon loaded. Never hand over your weapon to anyone.”

Leeann nodded and we spent the next two hours going over gun handling. She was a natural and I felt pretty confident that I would not have to worry about her accidentally discharging the gun into my back. The little shed cabin had warmed up to about 35 Celcius by now and I had removed my outerwear and now took off my shirt. I was wearing a muscle shirt and as I turned around I heard Leeann gasp as she saw the tattoos I had on my arm.

I glanced at my arm and noted that the markings had now spread and were now around my neck and down my other arm. Leeann looked at me and said, “The tattoos are all over your back and both your arms. I have only seen old tattoos, where did you get these? I thought that tattoos did not work anymore.”

Leeann had also removed her outerwear and had somehow tied her ripped shirt into a loose-fitting halter top that showed more than it hid. I smiled at her as she changed, she truly did not mind me seeing her breasts. Catching my smile she smiled back and suddenly the room felt different, we were no longer strangers but rather two people who were sharing a moment. Maybe even becoming friends.

I thought of what I had seen in my old house and then thought why not and sat down on the bed and began to tell her everything. She was very interested in the Succubus and kept coming back to Lilith wondering why she had followed me and what she would have done. By the time I was done talking I felt like I had been talking for hours, which I had. The conversation had drifted and we had both shared about our lives and the things we had gone through.

With both of us yawning I finally said, “Time for bed, in the old days I would have given you the bed and slept on the floor. Those days are long over, if you want to sleep with me there is room. I will respect you and not mess around or you can have the floor.”

Leeann answered by walking over to the bed and taking off her bottoms. She was wearing pink panties which were quickly covered by the blanket. “If you snore I will elbow you,” she warned. I smiled as I let my pants down and went under the blankets. Before I could move Leeann grabbed my arms and then spooned into me.

“Girl, sleeping like this is going to cause me to have a physical reaction to your presence, I don’t want you to be offended by this fact. It is just something that happens to men and women. I heard her giggle as I felt her hips press back against me and I knew that I would be having a sleepless night. As she turned my left hand slid onto her breast and I left it there for a moment. It felt good being this close to a woman. I did not pay to play as a lot of men did in the larger towns. So it had been a long time.

As I went to move my hand from her breast she reached up and held it there. Then turning her head up Leeann whispered, “Just hold me for a while, Omachiw. Just hold me tight.” How could I refuse as I laid there with her smooth body pressed tight against mine and my hand gently cupping her breast? Eventually, her breathing deepened and I knew that she was asleep. I tried to move away but every time I shifted she moaned a little and pressed against me. After a while, my eyes grew heavy and I too fell asleep.