I spotted the two kids as soon as we walked into the pathetic little camp set back along the edge of the small cliff beside the small lake. There might have been others about, given the amount of garbage and debris strewn around, but if anyone else was currently calling the place 'home' I didn't see them. Tish and I had made our way north a few days after the most recent violence in New Plains. More than a dozen people had been killed, all of them vagrants like us. It was normal in the years after the Plunge, but that didn't mean I wasn't horrified. We'd escaped just in time, the Marshalls doing what they always did: taking anything of value, killing most everyone, and raping the few they left alive before killing them as well. In my younger days, I'd been one of those left alive to be raped, and through a lot of luck, I'd gotten away before being killed.

Tish had been taken that way, as well, and though she was no longer in her prime, she was still a target. We'd met, if you could call it that, while men took turns on us. It never seemed to matter that I was a young man. There were always plenty of Marshalls who enjoyed the power of what they did to me. It was only when a group of residents in the town had been spotted trying to get away that we got an opportunity to run that last time. We'd been running ever since.

We were lovers, of a sort, Tish and I. Mostly out of a dark desire to not feel so alone. I didn't love her, and she held no such thoughts for me. But we stuck together, moving around to avoid the trouble, but it always seemed to move in on us just as we thought we'd found somewhere to stay.

There was little to eat when we couldn't hunt or forage or scrounge or Trade. Few shelters remained which you didn't need to fight for. It was always rough, and as a result, Tish and I had grown cold. Some might call us evil. Maybe we are. We did what we did to survive, and so did everyone who Traded.

The kids were dirty. Clothing, if you could call it that, was loose and filthy. The boy wore a tank-top three sizes too big for his narrow frame, and his jeans had dozens of holes and tears all over. He was maybe fourteen. The girl was no better off. Her dress had once been white and covered with red flowers, but it looked brown and stained with a dozen different colors now. She was scrawny, sunken, her eyes as dark as her hair. Perhaps she had Latina ancestry. Maybe it was Greek . Who knew anymore? She could have been eleven or thirty. It was hard to tell sometimes.

The boy watched us with a vacant expression. The girl just stared at her feet, knees drawn up slightly. There were two small bags between them. Probably everything they owned in the world. They didn't even seem to have a tent or other protection from the environment.

I dropped my bag nearby and looked at the ruins from a recent cook fire. It was cool at night this time of year. I wondered if the kids even had a way to stay warm. The old me would have felt my heart go out to them. But the years and the rough treatment had long ago beaten from me the ability to be so empathetic. Empathy was vulnerability. Tish and I weren't going to risk giving a shit about another kid or two. We'd seen so many over the years. We'd tried to save them, in the beginning, but it was a fool's errand we no longer attempted.

I watched the kids a moment, then said, “Got anything to Trade?”

The girl shook her head. “Only the usual. Got anything to eat?”

Tish replied. “Maybe. You know the Trade?”

The girl and boy both nodded.

The Trade was how those of us outside the system had learned to barter. It was the worst system except all the others we could try. It meant doing some unsavory things when viewed by those who didn't understand. Taking advantage of those who were disadvantaged, of a sort. But we wouldn't give something for free. If you had nothing else and weren't willing to be part of a Trade, you got nothing out of sympathy. That's just the way things went.

“And you do understand the Trade?” I asked the girl to confirm. Too many knew it because of desperation, but the tiny piece of humanity left inside me still wanted to be certain.

She shrugged, tired and resigned. “I know it well.”

“You're both going to Trade, then?”

“Let us see the food first.”

I nodded and opened my pack, pulling out about half the standard amount for the Trade. It was cruel, I knew, but these two were in no place to barter and Tish and I were beginning to run low. “Two meals each.”

The girl's eyes darted to the dense slabs of nutrition I held in my hand. It was Parishbread, a sort of pemmican-like concoction of flour, oats, dried fruits and vegetables, and the worst cuts of meat which had been first dried and then salted before all the ingredients were pressed and aged. Most of us on the outside used it as currency. It tasted like shit. Well, that's not wholly true, but I'm not about to tell you how I know it wasn't quite that bad.

Tish glanced around, said in her slight drawl, “Anyone else here?”

The boy shook his head. “They left a couple of days ago.”

“Assume you Traded with them?”

He nodded. “Got nothing else we can do.”

Tish eyed me and I tilted my head slightly.

“Then let's Trade,” she told them.

It was all so strange to the part of me which still recalled things before the Plunge. Horrifying, really. Mechanical. Brutally cold-natured. Heartless. But that's what we'd all become. Even these two, I knew, would have done what we did if they'd have been in our situation. That's just the way the world worked.

Tish grabbed a long, dirty blanket out of her pack and spread it on the ground. The light was failing, but enough remained to see the stains on the fabric. I could remember some of them. Blood. Shit. Cum. It had been washed many times, but some of those stains just would not fade completely. My own blanket held a similar collection.

Tish quickly pulled down her jeans, yanking them off her legs, turning onto her back on the blanket, and spreading her thighs wide. Tish's thick, dark bush glistened with sweat, and I knew if I'd have been close enough, I'd have smelled the three days of travel since she'd last bathed. Even with the lake right beside us, she didn't bother with that nicety for the boy.

The youth knew what was expected and shuffled over to Tish's body, settling his face between her legs and began to eat her pussy. He'd clearly licked unwashed cunts before as the boy showed no revulsion at the intense odors and flavors I knew were there.

I tossed the Parishbread to the girl and she quickly pushed it into her pack. Her eyes, dark and sunken, watched me with a silent question there. Did I want her to suck me first, or did I just want her other holes?

I unbuttoned my jeans and pushed them to my ankles before drawing them off. My cock was soft and swung slightly as I stepped to her. I stopped in front of the girl and she instinctively slid my penis between her lips. I knew the taste of stale urine and sweat were all over my flesh, but like the boy, the young girl didn't hesitate to perform.

I began to grow hard. My mind was soft and slow. I'd long ago gotten past thinking about what I was doing. It was a Trade. Nothing more. I got off. She got to eat. We both understood the deal. Cruel, yes, but necessary. One couldn't give things for free. And when a girl has nothing else to Trade, she always had her body to offer.

The girl sucked with some effort. It wasn't a great blow job, but far from the worst. My cock swelled and soon she was using her hand to stroke the shaft while she bobbed at the end. I placed my hand at the back of head and she took her hand away. So young and already understanding what I was about to do.

I pushed forward and she gagged, pulling back to cough, but she didn't fall way, letting me push again. I forced her down my cock until her teeth were set against the base of my penis. “Good girl.” I muttered. “Drink.”

She seemed to understand this, as well.

I relaxed and my cock softened just a bit. I felt my bladder straining and began to let the flow go. The tip of my penis was hanging over her throat and my piss started to stream down into her stomach as the girl swallowed as fast as she could. She knew the various ways the Trade might happen, and she'd clearly chugged piss straight from dicks enough to not choke.

I emptied my bladder into the girl's stomach, letting the last drops squeeze out. “Good girl,” I told her again. I pulled back slightly and her hand returned to my shaft, her head moving once more on the end.

I could hear Tish orgasming nearby, and I glanced over to see the woman squirming from the boy's face between her legs. She'd clearly pissed all over him. His shoulders, hair, and face were coated with sticky urine. I turned back to watch the girl's eyes staring at mine. She was asking silently if I was ready for the next part.

With my hands I pulled her head from my cock and spun her around on her knees, pushing her over onto her hands. I knelt behind her, spreading her thin legs and pushing her skirt over her waist. She wore no panties, which was not unusual. The smell was strong from her crotch, but I'd smelled worse odors between girls' legs.

She had no pubic hair, which suggested she was on the lower end of my estimate. No one shaved any more, at least not those on the outside, and the girl's bald cunny was a sure sign she had not yet become fertile. The tiny part of me which still held onto my humanity, buried deep and largely forgotten, was thankful she wouldn't get pregnant this night.

The girl's slit was slick. It was a natural reaction. I doubted she was aroused, not in the conscious sense. But her body knew a penis would soon be entering her vagina, and it prepared itself for the penetration. I ran my cock up and down a moment.

Despite her having no hair on her pussy, the raw manner of its appearance said everything about the girl's experiences. It had a deep reddish quality that said it had been fucked many times. It looked stretched. Not large, still that of a young girl, but clearly she'd been penetrated often. Her labia were swollen and hung open, something one didn't see in a prepubescent virgin, at least not regularly. Bent over, I could see that her anus was raw and red, as well. It had a small natural gape and looked bruised along one side, like a cock had recently been inside it.

I didn't think more on the girl's past. All that mattered was that I was willing to accept her body in Trade. I plunged into her cunt quickly, not waiting for her to open. My dick sank fully into her vagina and I felt her tense, a cry escaping her lips, one of discomfort. I grabbed her hips and pulled out slightly, then thrust back in hard. Again. Again. I started to fuck the young girl without sympathy for her tight young hole. And despite its appearance, the girl's cunt was tight.

I glanced over to see that Tish had pulled the boy over her and he was fucking my companion steadily, mechanically. Tish's eyes were closed, her hands on the boy's ass, thrusting up against him hard. I turned back to watch my own cock disappear between the girl's legs. Her anus became very inviting and I drooled spit down onto her as we rutted, rubbing it against her butthole then roughly sliding two fingers inside her ass.

Her body tensed again but she didn't struggle. She'd been handled more roughly, I was sure. I fingered her butt a moment, could smell the stinky contents in the air. Pulling out of the girl's pussy, my shaft streaked with white cream, I stroked myself a moment then pushed the head of my cock against the girl's asshole.

She cried out but I kept the pressure up. The head of my dick popped inside and she groaned loudly. I pushed deeper, her anus spreading around my shaft. By the time I felt my groin against the girl's ass, she was panting heavily and grunting through gritted teeth. God, she was tight there! Hot! Sticky and squishy and amazing. Moments like these are the few things in this world which gave me any pleasure. A part of me knew it came at the price of my empathy. My humanity. But I'd sold those parts of me long ago. All that mattered was this young girl's asshole. I literally hummed as I started to sodomize her.

I heard Tish cum again, then she told the boy, “You can cum now.”

“Inside?” the boy asked lightly, trembling.

“Yes, inside me is fine.”

He grunted and in seconds the boy was releasing his seed into Tish's pussy. I'd done the same many times over the years and knew it felt pretty good. He was a lucky boy. She didn't let just anyone cum in her pussy.

It made me instinctively reach under the girl as I fucked her ass. I found her clit, the little fleshy hood pulled back, the hard nub straining. I twirled it as I plowed her, churning her dirty bowels. The girl's cries of pain began to mix with moans of pleasure. As I started to swell in her butt, she orgasmed below me. I filled the girl with powerful spurts of jism, slamming her ass with each release. I held against her body a moment, then slid away, a thick stream of brown cum pouring from the girl's red, raw anus.

She twitched briefly, then collapsed. I fell back onto my side, pulling my pants under me just in time. I breathed heavily. It was no surprise to see the girl only seconds later reaching for the Parishbread and swallowing a couple of large mouthfuls. The boy joined her quickly. The Trade was complete. They were starving. There was no time or energy to waste on thinking about what had just taken place.

I stood and sat down on Tish's blanket. We rested silently, her legs still spread and leaking the boy's cum, my cock still coated with the sticky contents of the girl's bowels. “Good Trade?” she asked me.

“Good Trade.”

More silence as the kids slowed their eating and then pushed the food into their packs, returning to sit in the same basic positions they'd been in when we'd arrived.

The girl looked up after a few moments. “Got any more to Trade? We'll run out tomorrow...”

I looked at Tish. She nodded, understanding.

“We can work something out.”

“Work something out?” the girl asked.

“We're moving north again tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Heard a rumor or two. Want to check them out.”

“So you're just gonna Trade again and then leave?” the boy said.

“Maybe. Maybe we can offer something different.”

“What?” the girl asked.

Tish replied, “Depends on how willing the boy is to do what you just did... with men.”

The boy looked at her, resolute, “I Trade. I know how it works.”

“Fine,” Tish responded. “Then we take you two with us. We think there might be some demand for your two up north. We Trade with you till we get there. Then we Trade you at a better rate than you're getting here.”

The girl looked at the boy a moment, “What's to stop us from just going there and Trading for ourselves?”

“Think you got a good deal today?” I asked evenly.

The girl's shoulders drooped, answering the question before she said, “No.”

“We can get you a better deal. So long as you Trade for all our benefit, we'll all do fine.”

The girl nodded and said, “I'm in if he is.”

The boy looked at her a moment then said, “Okay.”

“Then clean up,” I told them. “It's a long walk, and you'll be more sore and raw if you don't get that mess off your bodies first.”

They stood slowly and started to head to the lake. The girl paused and asked, “Do you think one day there won't be any more Trades?”

I started at her a moment, forcing the humanity trying to rise up to stay buried. “One day, Trades will end. Whether because things change for the better, or because no one wants what you can Trade, or because you're dead. One of those things guarantees there will be an end to your Trades.”

The girls showed more resolve than I could have expected. “Good.” She hesitated. “I don't hate it, you know, not always, anyways” she said resolutely. “I do what I have to do to survive.”

“We all do.”

“Do you hate it?” the girl asked evenly.

My voice was weaker than I'd wished. “Sometimes.”

She squatted down and looked at me closely. “Don't hate Trading with me, okay? That's all I want.”

I'm not sure if I lied when I told her, “I like Trading with you.”

“Good,” the girl replied. She ripped her ratty dress off and started to throw it on the ground. “Got a fire stick?”

I nodded.

“Then I can wash this and dry it.”

Her naked body was too thin, filthy, her ass cheeks reddish from the slapping of my thighs on them, her anus extended and still leaking dirty cum. Still, the girl was pretty, in a way, and I felt my heart flutter just once, a light feeling in my chest, as she slid into the water and started to clean herself near where the boy was doing the same. It was a strange sensation, one I'd not felt in a long, long time.

I caught Tish's eye and saw a similar thought in her expression. “Uh-oh,” I muttered.

Tish replied, “Yeah...”

I wondered how much would change on the way north. Would I be a different person by then? I doubted it. One didn't do what I'd done for so long without losing the ability to give a shit again. Tish and I had an arrangement which worked, but never during our long journey did I feel the flutter I'd just felt for the girl. I hoped it didn't ruin everything. We wouldn't get rich Trading the kids, but if the rumors were true and there was a lot of food and few tempting Trades available up north, and no Marshalls, we'd be doing better than any of the days since the Plunge.

I shook my head. “Might as well get clean, too.”

“Yeah,” Tish replied, her voice returned to the normal disinterest.

The sun set as I slid into the water, keeping my distance from the girl, and succeeding, mostly, from thinking on that single flutter again that night.