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  The squads would bring in rare items, foods, medicines and other assorted things that had value and women would trade their services, which included their bodies. Some of the women were the exclusive “girls” of the men; a kind of relationship with clear material benefits. While some had the vestiges of sentimentality about their relationships, others made it all about the money and getting ahead. Only one of the two mothers with the babies had chosen to be chaste and offered no carnal services. No-one had forced the issue to do anything against their will. Besides, the Doc noted both mothers were good milk producers and, on that alone, he had some sense that they added to his survival. The Doc knew the stem cells in the milk were what kept infected bodies from the brink of turning, crossing into the horror of the Divine Virus.

  Given that awareness of the Milk’s importance, and his need to maintain control, he used their choice not to participate in anything but the barter of material things as a device and illustration of people’s “freedom” in the Rock. Nonetheless, it was a jail for the women. They were all in captivity and lived in a warped place run by a very warped man; the Doc.

  Despite the bizarre nature of the Doc, there were controls and standards at the Rock. These controls had been enforced with the leathery hands of Maeve; henchman, jailer and oppressor of the people of the Rock. But Maeve was dead, killed by the infamous survivor, and what little control she enforced had eroded even further. With Leon enforcing things in the post-Maeve management of the Pen, people had become less confident, still holding onto hope that they were better off in the Rock and the confines of the Pen than elsewhere.

  Some of the inmates appreciated order as compared to the absolute anarchy that could have existed on the outside. The stories of one woman who escaped from Sydney had fuelled that fear and added to the Doc’s view; they were far better off at the Rock rather than being eaten, turning or mobbed by marauders. Sydney had descended into utter chaos and was used as a reminder by the Doc when he needed an illustration.

  But on that market day, the Doc had sanctioned a visit from the worst of marauders that lived on the inside: Xavier Karnovic and Squad X. The Doc had a plan to use that squad on a special mission; he had yet to let anyone know except Xavier. It showed the ethics of Kian Penfould; he would do a deal with the devil and not think twice. Xavier had long awaited a return to the Pen and being able to get in amongst people again.

  The Doc was getting sloppy and was running out of henchmen, though. He needed Xavier and he was also asking others to “step up” and take on new duties. Instead of seeking suitable help, he had cut corners again and put Leon on to guarding the Pen during “market day”. Leon was a skinny, bug-eyed man with sunken cheeks and black rings under his eyes. Of a diverse background, Leon had grown up with a free-love, hippy mother of Anglo-Saxon, Pacific Islander, Turkish, Lebanese and South American roots. His father was an Aussie truck-driver with purportedly proud English roots. The truth was he was descended of convict and second-fleet stock that kept up the family tradition; an alcoholic and thief who had a woman in every city and more children than he had known about.

  Leon’s father was the epitome of Australian trash; a real mutt. The result was Leon growing up in a poor, single-parent home in rural New South Wales, without confidence or mentoring. At school and in his neighbourhood, he had been a target for bullies; submissive and anxious. The bullying and being submissive had continued through adult life, into his forties, and beyond the Great Change. He stood there, at the gateway to the Pen, visibly shivering at the responsibility he had been given and the almost certain problems he would encounter with Xavier.

  He was no saint either, and got some secret and not-so-secret pleasure from controlling those women. But he didn’t feel in control on that day. He felt scared, a shot of adrenaline, at watching the women, their veiled encounters with some of the men, the trades, the services. He was hard thinking about it but was scared at the same time. The only difference between Leon and some of the men in Squad X was the confidence to carry out what their minds considered. Xavier, on the other hand, was bold, overt and clearly up to no good.

  There were gasps of fear as the women of the Pen realised Xavier was there, with only Leon between them and being in harm’s way. They bustled about, trying to get into a corner or to look shabby and avoid his eyes, those evil sick, deviant eyes.

  One could see the women of the Pen felt betrayed and exposed to a monster, as if they had done something wrong and were being punished. They were slaves that held onto the hope that their captors would do the right thing once a cure was found. Unfortunately, Maeve had set a couple of precedents where the fine line between trade and rape was crossed; Xavier was her weapon of terror. On one occasion, one woman resisted Xavier and was almost killed. The Doc dismissed the matter. She had produced too little milk and was on a list of “poor layers” anyway, like she was some sort of hen.

  Penfould lived out one of his fantasies with that woman; literally playing doctor and tried to seduce her. He had tried to have his way with her and failed so that immediately put the unfortunate woman on his target list for persecution, forever. He would have had her killed by Barlow had she not been so useful in the squads. That was just one of the hard-luck stories of life in the Rock. It was a bad place, especially in the Pen and everyone was living it on that day.

  Everyone in the room remembered the sad, awful attack and that anything could go down with Xavier in there. Xavier was back, not allowed in there since the last incident and he was hungry for horror. The shocked faces and plain, cold, nape of the neck fear was obvious. But what was worse was the lack of control; Leon was incompetent as a jailer or guard let alone enforcer. Normally, he was a cook and janitor. This time, Leon had been informed that the Doc had made some special arrangement and Xavier was allowed in “one last time”. Leon looked around nervously and wanted no part of it: he was losing his bottle, fast. But, he was doing as he was told and Xavier was let loose like the terror weapon he was.

  Leon had a queue in front of him as he checked the chits of paper, only to scribble and stamp them and hand them back to the excited squaddies. The energy of the squads could be sensed; they were keen to get in there and would roll through him if he wasn’t quick about it. Leon never had control over the situation and, without Maeve, the order of things in the Rock was beginning to fall apart. Leon was just a link in the chain. When the unknown survivor had killed Maeve and her squad at Samsonov’s farm, Leon and many others lamented the passing of hard, tough controls. Things had become more lax since then. Squad 4 and Squad X filed into the room and it looked like a market day. Xavier and his squad were already seemingly up to no good and even Squad 4 felt uncomfortable being with them in the same room.

  Last in line was Rob Chisolm, who sheepishly looked around and ignored the gaze of Leon who knew he was there to see a girl, a special girl in fact. Leon appropriated the chit and nodded for entry. He wiped his sweaty hands and looked around the room nervously. Rob visited his girl for her company, not to trade or get his rocks off. Rob had the most innocent of crushes on one lady but was yet to take things into a relationship with her, although it was naturally forming. Leon had hoped there were some grounds for rejection and hated Rob for cultivating something he couldn’t. He was dead jealous of what Rob was forming with Alicia; a real relationship. But he just administered the process and was on orders to watch that Xavier didn’t take things too far. “Don’t wear her out mate,” Leon said looking intensely at Rob, “Leave some for me.” Rob looked at him with a scowl, irritated at the attempt to play the alpha wolf. He deliberately shoulder-barged into Leon, muttering “Fuckwit” as he passed, shaking his head. Leon felt scared again but he liked the fact he had stepped out of his fearful and retiring nature to get under someone’s skin.

  Leon gave Rob the finger after the strong young farm boy was well and truly in the room. One of the squaddies looked at the reaction and laughed at the deviant. “I’ll tell him about that later,” the man said. Leon
almost shivered. He was a coward and a hypocrite and often masturbated about the power over these helpless women; sometimes in private, sometimes not. He also waited until everyone was inside and busy and found a hiding place to watch others getting it on and wank. He was already feeling frisky and couldn’t wait for the right moment. The fear of having Xavier around somehow added to his warped sense of arousal. But he squirmed a bit like a little boy busting for the toilet.

  Leon stared daggers toward Rob who was already over by Alicia’s space. While Rob had never been intimate with Alicia, he could protect her as “his girl”. But the rules of that hell hole were often down to brute force rather than orders or hierarchy, despite what the Doc thought or said. Maeve had been that brute force, jailer and enforcer and she had kept some order to the disgusting “rock and roll” sessions for the men from the Rock. Rob had recently been elevated from just a foot-soldier to being part of the Doc’s inner circle with Siro and Price. With Maeve gone, the Doc had given him more duties and more privilege over the last few days. He had been patrolling around as a squad leader, trying to find what had happened to Maeve and her squads. While he had essentially failed in that mission, the Doc didn’t care. He was secretly pleased that there wasn’t a cure and hopefully, no survivor after the next mission. He knew his little kingdom there would end if the cure really was found. The Doc knew that where there was smoke, there was fire, however.

  The Doc knew, from Maeve, about the dialogue with the pretender, that survivor on the radio. This matter, and Rob’s work, had helped identify that they were dealing with a canny survivor who needed to be stopped. Penfould intended to find and kill the Survivor; only he needed to know his true intentions. Most had thought the Doc meant to capture the survivor to find the cure: he had them fooled. It was all part of a plan that would keep Doc Penfould in control of the Rock.

  Siro and Price were to take a whole squad in the helicopter and hunt the troublesome survivor. The problem was that the news of this potential saviour, the source of a cure, had sent a buzz across the Rock. Penfould had said to Rob that he thought “the buzz was dangerous and a cure could be as dangerous to him as Divine itself?” Damn right. His private army was in trouble at the hands of that survivor. The squads were fast depleting as was his power-base. Three squads were missing and two squads had to be integrated after a fight killed more men and a woman. A brawl outside in the tent town, where the squads lived, had left three dead, including a milk-baring woman who had been smuggled out for some fun. Things were unsure and the former order at the Rock was falling apart. Rob had a feeling about it as he walked toward Alicia. He thought it could be his last visit to her.

  Rob’s face lit up at Alicia; she was talking to a friend and hadn’t noticed his approach. He was never considered bright but he thought about such things and tried his best to understand what it all meant. But he had an ability to read people. He had seen nervousness in the Doc. In his inner-most thoughts he was unsure of the future held for the Rock. Rob could see a future with Alicia; nothing else mattered to him. He couldn’t see all the details or just how this would happen but he knew if he willed it, worked for it, it would be so.

  Rob smiled more broadly as his girl smiled, waving goodbye to her friend who was off to make a buck with the recent arrivals. Alicia looked a little nervous but still lovely. As he looked at her, he had a moment of thought: he didn’t understand if the Survivor meant a cure or not and his work to establish this man’s existence had awarded him a visit into the Pen to see Alicia. The whole situation was a good thing in his mind. Nothing else mattered as he stared at her and he felt feelings unlike any he had had for anyone else, ever before.

  Rob’s thoughts were full of good intentions but there was a lot he had not seen or considered and he was in a fool’s paradise of sorts. Rob had missed the flag flying on top of Tanny Hill, the white van in the shed, the site of Maeve’s demise. It was clear where his head was as he moved, singular in focus, toward Alicia’s bed. A woman can do that to a man. He couldn’t see all he should have but and he knew he was missing something, fading his smile as he doubted himself and all that was going on at the Rock.

  Chapter 2 – Love is a Drug

  She was sitting there, his hopes and dreams, head and lovely dark hair in her hands, looking down and hoping no-one would find her. Rob scratched his shaved head sheepishly and she looked up to see who was approaching. Seeing him, she smiled a shy, coy smile. His smile returned, magnified in response, involuntarily. “How cute,” she thought. The warmth could be seen between them. Rob had been in more than a few times now and they had struck up a friendship that they both felt went beyond a simple pang of lust or common interests. He was a little simpler than she liked but she was never going to meet Mister Right after the Great Change. In fact, her expectations and hopes had been of Mister Impossible so she would have likely ended up wanting in life prior to the Change. Rob seemed to be nice and when deviants like Xavier were around, Rob seemed like a prince and defender and not the farmer’s son. She liked him; she felt the chemistry and wouldn’t suppress it like she may have due to former society's influence. But she had some baggage to offload before she could think of romance. “Do you know what is happening below us?” Alicia asked him with a barely audible whisper. He looked at her blankly and responded “Nah, Alicia. What do you you mean?” Alicia raised a finger to her lips and he nodded. “There were some people that had been brought in a few months ago,” Alicia whispered, looking concerned. He nodded in acknowledgement and kept quiet leaning for her to continue. “They were in Barlow’s cell but then disappeared. Nothing.” Rob wasn’t getting it. “Yeah, so what? Maybe they left?” he tipped his head and raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s just it, I have had to leave some milk and food at Barlow’s. But no-one was there to take it. I found a note.” Rob was mesmerised. Her smell and breath on his neck and ear almost rendered him senseless. “Are you listening? Do you get it?” she asked with an air of desperation. “Yeah, yeah; maybe Barlow is just eating extra?” he was missing the point. Her hand clasped at his and passed a note. “The milk Rob. Barlow took the milk downstairs. Do you know what that means? Someone is down there. You didn’t hear it from me.” she said, leaning back, pretending to laugh and flicking her hair. He unwrapped the small note and read words written in the Doc’s distinct script. The note read:

  ‘Barlow,

  Administer the usual unit of milk to our guests but withhold food until further notice

  – The Doc.’

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll check it out.” He smiled at her, now realising the implications of what she was saying. “Thanks, its probably nothing,” she forced a smile.

  Rob looked around, worried at their conversation and any possible company, specifically for Xavier or Squad X. He breathed a sigh of relief when the madman wasn’t nearby. He was preparing to sit down next to Alicia, when another squad member tried to rain on his private parade with the young woman.

  Rob was shoved aside by Nasser, a former Cooleman jail inmate. He ignored Rob like some irrelevant barrier and his eyes focused on Alicia. He was a big man, maybe a power-lifter in his day and now just a fat oaf in some prison overalls. Her smile disappeared, replaced with fear as a known, violent, repeat offender showed her interest. He scratched at the front of his dirty overalls and shifted his weight nervously, despite his violent confidence. “Hey there, I have something for you.” He leered at her, bouncing his junk. She smiled nervously and said, “I’m not interested, Nasser,” nodding politely and looking downward. Nasser was due to be on a mission outside of the Rock that was known to be dangerous. Xavier had told him, on the down-low, that they were going after the Survivor. The track-record of squads going after that guy wasn’t good; they all had a feeling they may not be coming back. He wanted some action, just in case it was the last time. He was there to fuck and he had picked her; she had no choice in his mind and he didn’t care. “You want this ring or these vitamins? Just a massage for them and clip my nails?” He
made a pretty unappealing offer as a way of breaking the ice. She shook her head, almost shuddering and looked away again. Rob grabbed him by the shoulder and said “Mate, she just wants to trade gear and chat with me.” His voice cracked a little but he held his ground and the dark gaze of Nasser who turned to face him, smirking. “Look-the Doc says she’s my girl, OK?”, Rob continued. The point was made fairly but not assertively enough. Nasser shoved Rob to the floor with an aggressive push. The weathered young farmer’s son hit his head on the corner of Alicia’s bed was dazed. “Now- where were we?” Nasser grinned at Alicia.

  “Leave him alone!” the pretty young woman’s eyes went wide as she backed up against her bed head with fear. “I can do that, but it will cost ya!” he smirked. It was unusual behaviour, even for one of Xavier’s squad. All of the Squads felt like it was their last days, the demise of the Rock and the uncertainty the Survivor had brought to their world. Nasser was determined to get his rocks off.

  The big-haired criminal unzipped his prison overalls and let them drop, revealing a large, fat, hairy body, sporting G-string undies. He leapt on her and smothered her with his large, sweaty frame. His smell and fat body repulsed her and she kicked and screamed while he began to tear at her clothes, wild eyed. Rob got up and shook himself off. He was frozen by fear as he looked at the frame of the bear-like man on top of his girl. That image kept him paralysed a moment. “Don’t be a fucking coward!” he told himself but the fear had taken over and he began to shake. In the moment of struggle, Alicia had moved position as she fought off her attacker and he caught a glimpse of her face. She looked serene and without emotion as she locked eyes with him. Like no other feeling he had before, his sense to protect welled up and he picked up a metal-framed stool next to the bed and hit Nasser over the head. There was a resounding metallic “dong” coupled with what sounded like a branch snapping in two. Nasser was out like a light. Despite being such a big man Nasser was done; everyone’s skull is pretty much the same. Rob shook, dropped the stool, and fell to his knees, inspecting his work. Blood was everywhere. He fumbled around with the hand and wrist, looking for signs of life. He was concussed and beginning to go into shock as the great fat body of Nasser lay slumped in front of him. Alicia got up from her bed back and came to him. She grabbed him by the shoulder, shook him and took him to another bed and shut the curtains, leaving Nasser for a long sleep by himself. She stroked Rob’s spikey head and put her soft, white arm around him. She was a young adult, without too much life experience, but she tried her best to bring him out of what appeared to be shock. “Hey, you have a tan. Have you been out of the Rock? What have you been up to?” She asked Rob. He turned to her, looking at her lovely face and began to tell her all about his orders and what he had been up to over the past week. Nasser was dead but they had life.