 
                       Chapter 4: Prisoner of War
 
Chapter 30
 
Prisoner of War
 
_ _
 
_            _Ron was working on some plans for trying to find out the
real headquarters of the FC when Jill interrupted him.  He looked up in
irritation, as he had asked not to be disturbed.  When he did, his mood
changed immediately to astonishment.  He thought how silly he must look
with his mouth hanging open.
 
            “Dawn?” he asked hesitantly.  Her clothes were tattered,
her face was dirty, and her hair was matted, but it was her.  She
carried Nathan protectively in her arms, but he, too, was filthy.  Ron
turned to Jill.
 
            “Go get my mother and sister.  Now.”  Jill quickly left the
room to do as she had been bidden.  He stood up and approached his
sister.  He could *feel* the terror in her.  “What are you doing here? 
Where’s Peter?”
 
            “Peter’s dead,” she responded with no inflection in her
voice.
 
            He guided her to a chair, as it looked as if she were about
to collapse.  “What happened?”
 
            “This war is what happened!” she suddenly screamed.  “This
war *you* started!  What did you think, the rest of the country would
be left alone?”  Her eyes were wild with hysteria and panic.  “They
came after us!  They attacked us without end!  We’ve been running for
*months!*  We finally made it back to town a couple of days ago, but
then they *really* came after us!  Peter hid us as best he could, and
then he led them off on a chase.  He was on his way back to us, when I…
he told me… in my head, he told me… that he wasn’t going to be able to
make it back.  I felt his scream in my head!  I felt him die!  Damn
you, Ron!”  She broke down in tears, and then Nathan, who had been
quiet throughout her story, began to cry.  Ron pulled the child away
from her, and she collapsed into the chair, curling up into a ball and
weeping uncontrollably.
 
            Ron looked Nathan over while he had the chance, and the boy
looked unhurt.  He was obviously in need of a bath, and he was probably
hungry.  He had quieted down almost instantly when Ron had taken him,
and now he sat on Ron’s lap quietly, looking around the room with
interest.  He was nearly three years old, yet Ron could tell that his
intelligence was beyond that.  Just then, his family came in the room,
accompanied by Kim.
 
            “Dawn!” cried Sandra, as she rushed to her daughter’s
side.  Nikki stood back, looking from Dawn to Ron and back.  Finally,
she walked over to Ron and picked up little Nathan, who smiled at his
aunt and giggled as she bounced him in her arms.
 
            “I’ll get him cleaned up, Ron,” Nikki said quietly.  He
just nodded, keeping an eye on Dawn as his mother tried to rouse her
from her sobbing stupor.  Kim kept her distance, unsure of what to do,
or whether she should even be there.  Ron gave her a slight smile and
nodded his head lightly, indicating that it was okay for her to remain,
so she did.
 
            Ron waited calmly for Sandra to settle Dawn down, so that
he could ask her a couple of questions.  Once she’d gotten quiet, and
her mother was sitting beside her, holding her and lending support, she
asked the first question.
 
            “Where’s Nathan?”  There was a sense of fear and distress
in her voice.
 
            “Nikki’s giving him a bath.”  When he saw that this answer
was acceptable to his sister, he began his own questions.  “Why didn’t
Peter call us?”
 
            “He never had a chance!  We were always hiding.  They were
hounding us day and night.  We’ve been all over the country, but I
guess they were keeping us away from you somehow, because we never
encountered any of the PPA troops we’d read about in the papers that
we’d managed to get.  The only times we were able to stop moving was
when we were hiding, hoping they would go away.  They never did.  And
Peter didn’t dare give away our position by trying to contact you. 
There were just too many of them!”
 
            “Okay, okay, shhh…” he said soothingly, not wanting to set
her off again.  “Do you know how many people were chasing you?”
 
            “I don’t think it was always the same bunch, but there were
always at least six or seven of them… the few times I saw them,
anyway.  Usually, we moved when Peter told us they were getting close,
so we didn’t actually see them very often.  I don’t think Peter slept
for more than fifteen minutes out of any given day for the last two
months.  Our lives have been a nightmare!”  She shuddered, and stopped
talking. 

            Ron seethed at the pain Zinaida had put his sister
through.  He knew they were after Nathan, but he really didn’t know
why.  He had assumed that Peter, who was supposed to be at least as
strong as Ron himself, would have been able to protect her.  That he
had been wrong infuriated him.  He had to set that aside, however, to
deal with his sister, who was more emotionally unstable now than when
she had left.  There was one question, however, that finally occurred
to him
 
            “How did you get away, then?  Surely they didn’t just leave
after they killed Pete…”
 
            “Some of your goons showed up and scared away their goons,”
Dawn said, the anger in her voice evident.  Ron just nodded
impassively.  He wasn’t about to try to convince his sister of the
truth of what was going on.
 
            “Are either you or Nathan hurt?”
 
            Dawn shook her head, trying to regain her composure.  “No,
I don’t think so.  I mean, we’ve both got little aches and pains, but
that’s probably from sleeping on hard surfaces for the last three
months.”  Ron realized that it *had* been three months since he’d last
heard from Peter.  It had not occurred to Ron that this was a problem:
he had been too involved in the war effort to understand the
significance of the lack of communication.  He’d lost another friend
because he’d made *another* mistake.
 
            “Well, that’s all I really need to know for now.  Mom will
help you clean up, and we’ll get you settled in.”  Ron moved over to
his sister and knelt before her.  He took her hands in his, and she
made no effort to stop him.  “Sis, I’m sorry.  I never meant to hurt
you, or Nathan.  I’m sorry this all had to happen.  I wish I could take
this all back, and we could start again.  But I can’t, and now we’ve
just got to live with all the stuff I’ve fucked up.”
 
            Dawn saw the pain in his eyes.  She understood what he was
trying to say, even if the words weren’t coming out as he wanted them
to.  She still loved her brother, and she didn’t know, anymore, why
she’d left him in the first place.  She leaned forward, and they
embraced, both of them crying softly, but nobody said a word.
 
 
 
            In the next several days, Dawn and Nathan settled into life
in the house.  Because of all the people already there, things were a
little crowded, and had to be rearranged, but nobody grumbled about
it.  Nathan was excited to get to know all his relatives, and to wander
about getting to see all the people in the facility.  Dawn rarely let
him out of her sight, however, and didn’t like him to toddle off too
far.
 
            She was with him in the study when Kim stopped by, looking
for Ron.  She paused for a moment, watching them interact, as Nathan
was looking at flash cards and telling his mother what was on them. 
Dawn looked up abruptly.
 
            “Who are you?” she said suspiciously.
 
            Kim blushed slightly.  “Excuse me.  I am Kimberly. 
Everyone here calls me Kim.  I was looking for Ron.”
 
            “Well, *Kimberly*,” Dawn said, emphasizing the use of her
full name, “He’s not here, obviously.  You’re another one of *them*,
aren’t you?”  Dawn’s eyes flashed accusingly.
 
            “Excuse me?  One of whom?”
 
            “Like Ron.”
 
            “Oh.  Yes, I am a psionic.  I am leading one of the units
under Ron’s command.”  The emotions present in her voice were not lost
on Dawn.
 
            “So, he’s ensnared you, too, huh?  Geez, I thought he only
fucked his family.”
 
            Kim grew crimson at that remark.  “Ron and I have not… ‘had
relations’.  Although I’m not… I mean… I…”  Kim stopped, her statement
just wouldn’t come out right.  She tried another tack:  “I love your
brother.  I wish to be with him.  Does that bother you?”
 
            “Do what you like,”  Dawn spat back.  “I can’t stop you,
anyway.  Nobody can stop you people.  If I tell you not to be with my
brother, you’ll just force me to accept it, anyway.  Not that I care if
you’re with him or not.”
 
            “Actually, Dawn,” Kim tried, “I don’t have the abilities to
control people that your brother does.  I am only a third-order adept…
what I guess your brother would call a psion-14.  I’m strong, but not
nearly as powerful as your brother.”
 
            “Fine,” Dawn harrumphed, “But, as you can see, he’s not
here.  So, why don’t you leave me and my child alone, so we can get
back to his studies.  He’s all I’ve got left, and I’d like him to grow
up knowing what the world is all about.”
 
            Without another word, Kim left the room, and Dawn returned
to Nathan’s cards, watching over him as he correctly identified the
animals there.  *Too bad there’s no way to show him what a psionic
looks like.  Then he could stay away from them.*
 
 
 
            Ron was in the planning room when Kimberly caught up with
him.  Once again, he looked up in irritation at being interrupted, only
to change his demeanor upon seeing who it was.
 
            “What can I do for you, Kim?” he asked.
 
            “Well, I wanted to give you today’s readiness report… but
there is another issue I think we need to discuss.  However… Ron, this
may appear to be speaking out of turn.  It is not my place to tell you
what to do on personal matters…” She let the sentence die.
 
            Ron looked at her curiously for a moment, then said, “Hey,
everyone else tells me what to do, you might as well throw your hat
into the ring.  What’s up?”
 
            “Ron, you need to do something about your sister, Dawn. 
She has… a… very unhealthy attitude toward you, and psionics in
general.  She still blames you, and all of us, for this whole mess.  I
fear that she is not entirely stable.  And how she might raise Nathan…”
 
            “You let me worry about Nathan.  As to Dawn… well, she was
here the first time the Russians attacked.  She didn’t deal with it
well.  I guess the last three months have been rough on her, and… well,
just give her some time.  She should come around.”
 
            “Perhaps if you gave her a little… ‘encouragement’?” 
Kimberly asked, suggesting a little bit of mind-alteration.  She did
not expect the heated response this generated.
 
            “Absolutely not!  I can’t… no, I *won’t*, do that to her. 
I’m sorry I ever messed with her in the first place!  If I could ever
undo what I’ve done to her, or my mom, I would, in a heartbeat!  You
know,” he said, calming somewhat, “They’re the only two family members
I ever messed with, except for my… uh… ‘slaves’.”  Ron still didn’t
understand why he was embarrassed about that in front of Kim.  “Nikki,
Tammy, Linda… they all came to me.  I mean, I’m sure I unconsciously
did something to them… but there’s nothing I can do about that sort of
thing.  I undid my programming on Nancy when she left: I hear she’s
found a nice man and settled down… as much as one can settle down in a
war zone.  No, I *will not* mess around inside my sister’s head.  God,
how I wish this whole thing had never begun in the first place!”  Ron
slumped back into his chair.
 
            Kimberly instinctively reached for him, placing her hand on
top of his without any conscious thought.  “Ron, you’ve done the best
you could.  Most guys – I’ve seen it happen – they go a little berserk
when they realize they have the power.  You… have shown remarkable
restraint.  And, with a few exceptions, everyone you have been with is
a happy person.”
 
            Ron’s eyes thanked her for her words, though he said
nothing.  She reluctantly removed her hand and straightened.  “I think
the readiness report can wait.  I’ll be in my room if you need me.” 
Before he could say anything, she turned on her heel and strode out of
the room.  *I wonder if he’s ever confided that to anyone else.*
 
 
 
            Ron had finished his duties for the day, having sent off a
few more recon teams and worked out a new idea for defense.  He was
mentally tired, but his body was restless, having been stuck indoors
all day long without any ability to move around or loosen up.  Now he
was walking through the house, trying to make sure everything was
buttoned up for the night.  He had guards posted, of course, but he
always felt the need to make one final check of things for himself
before he settled into his room and tried to sleep.
 
            Sleep was something that was hard in coming for Ron
lately.  The war was going badly, he was losing a lot of psionics, and
he didn’t even want to think about the number of normals already dead. 
He wondered if there would be anyone alive to appreciate their victory,
assuming they won this war.
 
            He paused outside the door to each bedroom in the family’s
part of the house, checking mentally to see that everyone was settled. 
He paid special attention to Dawn’s room, but he felt that both she and
Nathan were sound asleep and resting comfortably.  He worried about
what Kim had said, that Dawn was not recovering as he had hoped she
might.  But he wasn’t about to go rummaging through her mind again. 
He’d done enough of that to her already.
 
            He worked his way along the hall, noting that Linda and Kim
were still talking quietly in their room.  He did not listen in, but
moved down the hall.  He stopped when he came to his mother’s room, for
her door was open.
 
            He looked in, and saw her reading a book by her bedside
lamp.  She was lying on the bed in a robe that stopped above her knees,
for her swollen belly took up much of the fabric.  When she realized he
was there, she looked up and smiled.
 
            “Hi, baby.  I’ve been waiting for you.  Can we talk for a
minute?”
 
            Ron stepped into the room, instinctively knowing to close
the door.  He moved over to the bed as his mother slid over slightly,
making room for him to sit down.
 
            “What’s up, Mom?”
 
            “Ron, Linda was talking to Kim earlier.  You know how us
girls are, we don’t keep secrets.  She said you were unhappy with the
things that you’ve done to us.”
 
            Ron had not expected that conversation to have
repercussions.  He should have known better.  He had not asked Kim
*not* to mention it, and he knew that the girls in the house discussed
everything that went on.  It didn’t surprise or annoy him that Kim had
felt the need to talk to someone about it; he just wished that he’d
been expecting it.
 
            “Mom… I should never have started this whole thing.  I
mean, messing with you and Dawn, then fiddling with Jessica, Kumiko…
look how many people I’ve hurt over my own selfishness.”  He bowed his
head, thinking of all that had happened in the last few years.
 
            His mother sat quietly for a few moments, then said, “I
notice you didn’t mention Nikki…”
 
            He looked up, his face reddening in embarrassment.  “Uh…
well, that’s because I never… um… ‘messed’ with Nikki in that way.  I
never told you how that started… and I’m not supposed to tell you, even
though it hardly matters anymore.”
 
            His mother nodded, understanding that he’d made a promise,
and he wouldn’t break that promise, especially not one to his little
sister.  She studied him for a moment.  “And Linda?  Nancy?  Tammy?”
 
            “Well, Linda… I didn’t have to change.  Nancy’s not here
anymore, so I don’t think about her a lot… and Tammy… well, I never
really did much to Tammy that she didn’t want done anyway.”  He smiled,
remembering back to Tammy’s nervous admission that she was interested
in his sister.  He had later delved into her mind and found that she
had, in fact, harbored those feelings for his sister, but would not
have acted on them without his prompting.  All in all, he felt this was
one of his more worthy uses of power.  “To tell you the truth, Mom, I’m
not very proud of myself.  I’ve done an awful lot of things I shouldn’t
have done.”
 
            Sandra understood her son this evening.  He was having
feelings of regret because he knew that things he’d done had turned out
badly for others.  But some things hadn’t, and she needed to set him
straight on those.
 
            “Ron, honey, I know you think that you messed me up, that
somehow I’ve become a… oh, I don’t know what you may think to call me. 
But sweetheart, I’m *happy* the way I am.  You know, back when you told
me what you did, I tried to figure out if I really cared that I’m not
who I used to be.  Then I realized that the old me was stressed out,
frazzled, tense, and miserable most of the time.  Since you’ve been
taking care of things… well, there have been a few bad moments, but for
the most part, I live a peaceful and quiet life.  I’m a lot happier
now.  Your father’s gone, so I don’t have to worry about that abuse,
and you’re here to protect us from everything else.  And, best of all,
you’ve given me another child: a small life to care for.  Ron, maybe… I
don’t know, but maybe all of what you’ve done wasn’t all bad. 
Personally, I wouldn’t change a thing about our new relationship.”  She
reached out, and pulled him into her arms.  He went willingly, seeking
the comfort that she offered.
 
            He felt her hands run across his back, massaging the knots
of tension she felt there.  Her fingers danced across his skin, trying
to soothe the tired muscles.  She kissed him softly on the cheek, until
he turned his face to her and their lips met, pressing lightly to each
other.  Her hands worked up to his shoulders, and then she pushed him
away, gently.  

            As he looked at her quizzically, she turned her body and
pressed him firmly but slowly back onto the bed.  “Now,” she whispered,
“I’m going to show you just how happy I am with the arrangement.”  Her
hands slid across his chest, moving to the zipper of his uniform
jumpsuit.  Slowly she pulled it down, revealing his chest beneath.  Her
free hand slipped inside, running over his muscular chest, lightly
teasing his nipples.
 
            Finally, the zipper completed its journey, and his mother
then pushed the jumpsuit apart, forcing it off his shoulders.  Ron had
no choice but to help her, sitting up slightly to get the garment off
his arms.  She continued pulling on it, forcing it down his hips.  She
left it bunched at his feet, not wanting to bother with the damnable
boots he wore these days.  She slid back up his legs, her breasts and
enlarged stomach sliding seductively along his skin, nightie or not. 
She pulled gingerly at his briefs, and he lifted his hips as she drew
them off.  They joined his pants at his ankles, and then she sat up on
her knees, and removed her nightgown.  She paused for a moment when she
saw his eyes roaming her form.  Even in her extremely pregnant state,
she knew he found her arousing.  That was evident by his growing
erection.
 
            To take care of that issue, Sandra bent back down and
gently took his engorged member into her small hand.  She moved her
fingers softly along its length, and lightly kissed the very tip.  She
felt it twitch in her hand, and smiled.  She let her tongue slip out of
her mouth and roll over the entire head of his dick before retreating
back behind her lips.  She looked up momentarily to see that Ron had
closed his eyes, his breathing heavy.  She knew he was not asleep, as
much as he might look it.
 
            She returned her attention to his shaft, slipping the head
between her lips, and sliding it into her warm mouth.  She slipped down
some distance, and then pulled her mouth completely off his prick.  She
felt his upper body move, and knew he was curious as to what she was
doing.  Again, her head dipped, and his cock slid between her lips, but
again, she pulled all the way off.  He was watching with interest now.
 
            Sandra continued this treatment for some time, but then she
sat up, once again giving Ron a full view of her distended belly and
swollen breasts.  Seeing the look on his face, she said, “I just wanted
you hard.  I know you’re tired.  Let me do the work tonight.”
 
            As his head lay back on the pillow, she shuffled forward on
her knees until her pussy was resting on his rigid dick.  She took his
dick in hand as she lifted herself upward, and she placed his head at
the entrance to her cunt.  She let her ass drop, slowly, down to his
hips, impaling herself fully on his cock.  She mewled in pleasure, and
he sighed with the feeling of it.
 
            Sandra ground her pubes in small circles, keeping full
contact between her clit and his body.  She leaned forward slightly,
resting her weight onto her arms, and looking into Ron’s eyes.  She saw
the love he felt for her there.  His hands moved to caress her abdomen,
where their child was growing.  The child moved slightly, and they both
felt it immediately.  Ron’s hands massaged that skin, tracing light
circles with his fingertips that sent shivers down Sandra’s spine. 
Finally, his hands moved to her breasts, which had grown to an
impressive size with her pregnant state.  Knowing that she was very
tender in these areas, Ron kept his touch light and soft.  It was still
enough to highly arouse his mother, who was moaning with his touch, and
grinding herself harder into his crotch.
 
            Suddenly, Sandra couldn’t take any more of this, and she
began moving on his prick.  Her swollen body moved slowly, but
passionately, against his as he continued to massage her tits.  Her
cunt slipped along his entire length with each stroke, nearly pulling
off him more than once.
 
            Ron’s excitement was high now.  He began thrusting back
into her, and his hands moved still tenderly, but making more contact
now.  When he sensed her legs were beginning to cramp from their
current position, he immediately lifted them both into the air and
assumed the responsibility of motion.
 
            Sandra had not been treated to this sexual pleasure in a
while, and she sunk back into the sensation of floating, as if being
nuzzled by a cloud.  She was tilted onto her back, and Ron was almost
standing, though some feet above the floor.  He took hold of her hips,
and began sliding into her, keeping the pace she had begun.  His
extension reached across her breasts, sliding around, over and between
them.  She moaned when she felt the sensation.
 
            Ron pumped into his mother more rapidly now, their noises
filling the room.  As she was approaching her orgasm, he spun her
around, so she was now face-down, and he was pounding her from behind. 
He had barely missed a beat when he did this, and it thrilled his
mother to feel the spinning sensation in her pussy.  He reached down
and fondled her breasts again, letting his extension stray down to toy
with her clit.
 
            Sandra finally screamed out her orgasm, writhing amidst her
son’s embraces.  Her pussy rippled along her son’s dick throughout her
orgasm, and he kept slamming into her, fucking her for all she was
worth.  It prolonged her orgasm, and she thrashed her head about with
the pleasure.
 
            Finally, her climax eased, and Ron slowed his pace
somewhat, but he did not stop.  He pulled her up to him, his chest
pressed against her back, his dick still mostly buried within her
velvet glove of flesh.
 
            “I love you, Mom,” Ron whispered in her ear.
 
            “I love you, too, honey,” his mother responded
breathlessly.  “But I thought I was supposed to be doing the work?”
 
            Ron chuckled lightly.  “I can’t let a pregnant woman do all
the work.  You raised me better than that.”
 
            Still feeling his erect member in her cunt, she smiled
wickedly and said, “I seem to still have you raised, sweetheart.”  She
pulsed her muscles against his shaft.  “How shall we deal with this
problem?”  Before he could answer, she had lifted herself off his cock,
and spun herself around.  She had long ago learned how to move within
his extension, so that she could actively participate in these
sessions.  She slid herself down… or was she sliding him up?  She
didn’t bother to find out.  Once her mouth was level with his dick, she
slid it between her waiting lips.
 
            This time, she did not tease him.  Her tongue and lips
worked in conjunction, sliding over the flesh of his cock.  She sucked
him all the way into her mouth, and then slid back up his shaft,
letting her tongue make contact throughout.  Her pace quickened,
sending shivers throughout Ron’s body.  She allowed her teeth to make
very light contact with his skin, and he grunted at the new sensation. 
Her mouth was pistoning along his length now.
 
            Ron could take only so much pleasure, and then he let
loose.  His cum burst forth from his balls, and spilled into his
mother’s mouth.  She kept sucking him, swallowing as rapidly as
possible.  Her lips worked him over until she’d collected every last
drop and ushered it down her throat.  Her tongue slid over his length,
cleaning as it went, until her mouth slipped off his dick.  She let her
tongue slide over any missed areas, and then kissed his shaft tenderly.
 
            Ron moved them both slowly over to the bed.  His extension
removed his boots and clothing before he settled them both down onto
the bed, where they lay quietly, his mother’s back pressed against him,
his arm draped over her.  They slept in that position, and for the
first time in a long time, Ron had a dreamless night’s sleep.
 
 
 
            Ron was rudely awakened the next morning by a hand roughly
shaking his shoulder.  He was very tempted to blast whoever it was
across the room with his extension, but figured he should find out who
it was first.  He opened his eyes.
 
            Cindy stared back at him with some trepidation, for she
knew he didn’t like to be roused from a sound sleep.  She also knew he
had not *had* such a sleep in a long time, and liked waking him even
less for the knowledge.
 
            “I’m sorry to wake you, Master, but Lars said it was
urgent.”  Lars would not dare come in here himself.  Not into a room
where one of Ron’s girls might not be properly attired.  Ron mumbled
something about getting up, and Cindy quickly departed.
 
            As Ron got out of bed, he looked again at his mother, her
sleeping form lying peacefully, her chest moving with her breaths.  Ron
dressed himself silently; a task made easier by the use of kinetic
power.  He left the room without so much as a kiss, lest he disturb her
sleep.  He knew she needed it as much, if not more, than he did.
 
            He stalked the hallways of his home, moving toward the den,
where he knew Lars would be waiting.  He found Kim and Karen waiting
with him.
 
            “This had better be good,” was all Ron said to them.
 
            “We received a message, about twenty minutes ago, that the
President wishes to see you as soon as possible,” Lars said simply.
 
            “The bastard wants me to fly all the way to D.C.?  Why?”
 
            “Actually, sir,” Karen threw in quickly, “Shelly tells me
he’s in Irving, Texas today.  Some kind of campaign thing.”
 
            “Hmph,” Ron muttered.  “Well, at least it’s not all that
far from here,  Kim, you want to tag along on this one?  It’ll at least
get us out of the house.”  Kim had been kept on a short leash by Susan,
who feared that she was not yet fully healed.
 
            “Sure!” she said, a little too enthusiastically.  For some
reason, the only person who didn’t catch the implication was Ron.
 
            “Okay.  We’ll leave in… oh, a half hour, I guess.  I need
to eat something if we’re going to fly down there.”
 
            “You sure that’s wise, Ron?” Lars asked.
 
            “I’ve been cooped up in this damned house too long.  The
last mission I went on was that damned failed raid, and that was three
weeks ago!  I need to get out and move around.  And, Susan’s caution be
damned, if we don’t get Kim back into the action soon, she’s going to
get as rusty as *I* am!”
 
            No one dared argue with those points, both because Ron’s
anger was showing again, and because he happened to be right.  He left
the room to go find his breakfast.  As soon as he left, Kim couldn’t
bring herself to look at either of the other people in the room.  She
kept her eyes averted as she, too, departed.  *Is his concern merely
for my military capability, or does he really care?  Dammit, I still
can’t tell!*
 
 
 
            The flight down to Irving was completely uneventful.  Ron
and Kim were able to survey the damage that had been done to this part
of the country along their trip route, and they noted with despair that
only the smallest towns in this area were untouched.  Most cities had
some kind of damage, and the bigger cities were completely wiped out.
 
 
 
            Belarev watched the two psionics fly away from the
headquarters building.  He was several blocks from the facility, hidden
inside a house.  He and his men had worked hard at positioning
themselves in the city without being discovered.  However, with the
amount of psionic energies concentrated in this area, they realized it
was unlikely that they would be recognized before they took action.  He
sent a swift message to Sakov, his partner.
 
            *<One hour, Sasha.>*
 
*            <Understood, tovarishch.  We will succeed.>*
 
 
 
            Ron and Kim landed a hundred yards away from the parked
Secret Service vehicles, visible from a considerable distance as they
were the only vehicles that looked as though they’d been washed in the
last six months.  Ron and Kim approached, basically ignoring the Secret
Service detail, walking right to the President.  They were both
somewhat curious as to the surprised expression on his face.
 
            Ron came to full, rigid attention.  “General Chaffey,
reporting as ordered, *sir*!” Ron barked in his best grown-up voice.
 
 
 
            *<Now, Dmitri!> *Sakov’s message blared in Belarev’s mind.
 
            The Filitov Council’s forces emerged from the local
buildings surrounding the PPA base, and converged.  Four hundred troops
commenced an assault on a base with no more than one hundred fighting
troops.  All the rest were either on patrol or in battle elsewhere. 
The Filitov Council had made sure that many small skirmishes were going
on at this time, to keep the PPA numbers small.
 
            The first shot was fired by Belarev himself.  He took out
the guards at the front gate before they even had a chance to shout a
warning.
 
            It would not have mattered.
 
 
 
            The President looked at him in curiosity for a moment, and
then said, “I didn’t send for you.”
 
            “What?” Ron queried in confusion.
 
            “I didn’t send for you.  I don’t have any need to speak
with you at this time… unless you have new information for me.  And I
figure if you did, you’d have given it to me already.  No, General, I
have no reason to distract you from your work.”
 
            “Then what…  We received a message saying you wanted to
speak to me ASAP… Who would…”  Ron looked at Kim, and Kim looked back,
and both of them said at the same time:
 
            “The house!”
 
            “Jesus fucking Christ!” Ron swore.  “We’ve got to get
going.  Um, sorry, Mr. President, for the disturbance.  I believe I am
needed elsewhere.”
 
            Without another word, or even waiting for a reply, both he
and Kim took to the sky, moving at their maximum velocity for home. 
Now that they were focused on it, they could feel the attack happening
already.  Both of them tried to push even harder, but there was only so
much speed even a psionic could attain.  It would take them an hour to
get home.
 
 
 
            And that hour turned out to be twenty minutes too long. 
Ron and Kim arrived home – or at what was left of home – long after the
Filitov soldiers had left.  The buildings were smoking ruins.  Ron
trudged into the debris, fearing the worst.
 
            He found the family where they should be, at the back of
the house in a small, protected room.  It had not been protected well
enough.  The walls and ceiling were gone, only stubs of the wooden
studs inside the walls remained.  He looked around in shock, hoping to
see all the important faces in his life.  Some were not present, and he
dared not dwell on what that meant.
 
            His immediate attention, however, was drawn to a prone body
lying on the ground.  Susan was kneeling over the body, hiding from Ron
the piece of information he so desperately needed, and so horribly
dreaded.  As she stood and turned to him, her body continued to block
the identity of this person.  Susan shook her head sadly, and moved
off.  Ron quickly knelt to see…
 
            It was Megan.  Her breathing was labored, and her eyes were
closed.  He took her hand gently, and brushed her singed hair out of
her face.  Her eyes slowly opened, and they struggled to focus on his
face.
 
            “Mas…ter…” she uttered quietly.  “I’m…sor…ry.”
 
            Ron was weeping openly, the tears blurring his vision as he
tried to speak, tried to say something, *anything*, to the girl before
him.  His throat was constricted, and his words would not come.
 
            *<You have not failed me, Megan.  You have done well.>*  He
didn’t have any clue what had happened at the house, but he was certain
it wasn’t her fault.  He took some joy in seeing the expression on her
face clear, if only momentarily.
 
            “I… love… you… Ron.”  It was the very first, and last, time
she would ever call him by his real name.  Her eyes faded, and closed,
and her breathing stopped.  There was nothing more anyone could do for
her, except weep, and this Ron did.
 
 
 
            “Linda was hurt, but not badly.  She twisted her ankle when
Megan pushed her down.  Had Megan not acted, it would have been Linda’s
life.”  Karen was relaying the report as professionally as she could,
but Ron could still feel the grief, the anger, and the hurt that poured
off of her.  He also felt her shame, as unwarranted as it was, at
having failed her leader.  He nodded for her to go on.
 
            “Cindy was very severely injured.  She’s under Susan’s care
now, and we’re not sure if she’s going to survive.  Jill suffered only
minor injuries, but she was instrumental in keeping the civilians calm
and coordinated.  Your mother is fine, as are both babies… Linda may be
going into labor sometime later today… and I wouldn’t be a bit
surprised if your mother followed her.  It would be a little premature
for Sandra, but not dangerously so.  Tammy is distraught, but unhurt. 
Nathan ran and hid when the attack happened, we just found him a few
minutes ago, and he doesn’t appear to have been injured.”
 
            Ron knew she had been giving the “good” news first, which
meant that the bad news was… something he didn’t want to hear.  But he
had to.
 
            “Okay, out with it,” he ordered.
 
            Karen opened her mouth, and then closed it again.  She
tried once more, and failed.  Finally she managed, “There are some…
MIAs.”
 
            Ron’s blood ran colder than arctic ice.  His eyes narrowed,
and burned.  He said merely, “Who?”  It was not a question so much as
an order.
 
“Dawn… and… Nikki.”  Karen feared Ron’s wrath, she expected to see his
rage.  What she had not expected was to see… nothing.  She could
discern no emotion at all in Ron’s countenance.  His body went
completely slack, though he remained standing.  It was as if something
inside of him had turned off, and Karen wondered just what she had
witnessed.  But he did not give her time to ask; he left the room
without another word, his movements stiff, almost mechanical.
 
            Ron wandered about, not seeing or hearing anything that
happened around him.  He found himself down with the civilians, in the
shelter.  Jill had done a marvelous job to get everyone collected into
the safe area.  It was not her fault that some had not had a chance to
get here, but she was taking it hard anyway.  Ron was too deeply into
shock to be of any comfort to her, and his words of praise were hollow
at best.  He moved off, amid the people, still not really focusing on
what was happening around him.
 
            Now, it is a foolish person indeed who comes after a
psionic *twice*.  But grief makes for foolish actions.  The man who had
complained during the relocation of Tammy charged at Ron, gripping him
by the shoulders.  Ron was so out of it that he made no immediate move.
 
            “My niece is *dead!*  This place was supposed to be safe! 
How can you call yourself a leachhkkkk-“ the man’s voice was choked off
by Ron’s hand encircling his throat.  Ron’s fingers squeezed tighter,
and he used his extension to lift the man off the ground, but still by
the throat.  The man’s face turned a very unhealthy purple color.
 
            Ron spoke, and the voice was one from the grave.  “You lost
*a* niece?  Today, I have already lost one dear lady, and I face losing
another.  I have a lady injured, and pregnant.  And I have two missing
sisters.  Would you care to compare our grief, *comrade*?”  The use of
the normally-Soviet term shook the man almost as much as the rest of
the speech had.  He understood the implicit threat: challenge the
authority here, and you would be left to the Russians, unprotected and
alone.  The man shook his head, but Ron’s fingers tightened their
grip.  The man was about to pass out from lack of oxygen.
 
            Suddenly, Kim was beside Ron, her hand on his arm.  She had
witnessed the entire event, and the sudden break from shock to rage
scared her.  She knew that, at this very moment, Ron was not sane.
 
            “Ron, don’t do this.  I know, I know you are upset, and
hurt, and angry, but this man is *not* your target!  I know you *long*
to hurt someone, but you will regret what this will do to you! 
Please!  You don’t really want to do this.”
 
            Somehow, Kim’s words penetrated the dense fog of anger
clouding Ron’s judgment.  It was as if someone had turned on a bright
lamp, and the fog dissipated, fearing the light of reason.  Ron took
one more look at the man in his grasp, and tossed him to the floor. 
The man landed a good ten feet from where Ron stood.  Ron’s words were
nearly a whisper.  “Don’t come near me ever again.”  The man nodded
vigorously as he backed away, still on the floor.
 
            Ron turned to Kim.  She expected him to either chastise her
or thank her for stopping him, but though his rage was gone, Kim feared
that his sanity had not yet returned, for the look in his eyes was one
only of anguish.  He didn’t speak to her, and she feared for the
thoughts that were running through his head.  Feared not for herself,
but for Ron, because it was clear that he was losing control of
himself.  

Ron walked past her, out of the room, and she hurried to follow him. 
He reached the ground level of the house, and walked past his family,
who stared, dumbstruck, as Ron moved almost robotically, not even
acknowledging their presence.  Kim stood with them as they all stared
in disbelief as he walked out the front door and down the walk,
eventually disappearing around a corner.  He had uttered not a word,
but they all knew instinctively not to follow.  Their real concern was
that they didn’t know when – or if – he would be back.
 
 
 
            Ron wandered aimlessly, without concern or consideration
for where he placed his steps.  His mind continued to keep him safe,
but no thoughts or line of reasoning came into his consciousness.  He
stared ahead, unthinking and barely aware of his surroundings.  He
walked for the rest of the day, and well into the night.  At some
point, he stopped, and sat down against a tree.  Whether he slept, or
simply was unaware of the passage of time, he couldn’t tell.
 
 
 
            Ron’s departure threw both the family, and the PPA, into
chaos.  Lars had a long argument with Lt. Saunders about whether or not
to inform the President about Ron’s departure, which resulted in Lars
threatening her with mental manipulation, and her confining herself to
her own quarters.  Kim was utterly inconsolable, for she felt that she
was somehow responsible for Ron’s departure.  Though even Lars told her
that this had been a long time coming, she didn’t believe it in her
heart.
 
            “Sandy, how could I have done that?  How could I have
yelled at him at a time like this?”
 
            Jill had related the event to the rest of the family with
remarkable clarity, and so Sandra was perfectly aware of the event
about which Kim was speaking.  “Kim, you didn’t yell at him.  You
prevented him from killing someone.  That’s not why he left, anyway.”
 
            “Then *why*?  We need him!”
 
            “I don’t think even he knows why he walked away, Kim.  I
think the strain of being in command, on top of all of his other
responsibilities, finally was too much for him.”  Sandra was working
mightily at controlling her own emotions, for her son was out *there*,
and out there was where people were dying, and he shouldn’t be there
alone, and *someone* should have stopped him from leaving, but they all
knew better than to do that, and why didn’t she say something before he
left, and…
 
            Both women wept in each other’s arms.
 
 
 
            The next day for Ron was very much like the end of the
first.  He arose at some point after dawn, feeling neither rested nor
fatigued.  He felt… nothing.  His body moved on, his eyes kept him out
of trouble, but his thoughts were empty.  He had not dreamed the
previous night, and even now his mind would allow only a single
thought, and that only rarely, before it would once again slip back
into utter silence and despair.  He walked on, now into the
countryside.  He had no idea where he was going, or even why.  He only
knew that he was walking.  One foot forward, then the other.  Arms
swung as pendulums, eyes traced back and forth to watch for trouble. 
The sun moved, and Ron walked.  He stopped once, for water, but he ate
nothing.  And on he walked.
 
 
 
            For the next few days, the PPA headquarters was busy with
re-establishing order.  Much had been lost in the attack, but not very
many people.  There hadn’t been a large number of soldiers at the HQ,
and the civilians had not been easy targets, thanks to the shelter Ron
had constructed.  Lars was running himself ragged, trying to put things
back together without his leader.  He would never have admitted to
anyone just how much he needed Ron at this moment, but Karen knew
anyway.
 
            *<<We need him back, baby.>>* she said.
 
            *<<Yes.  But not in the condition he was in when he left. 
We can only hope that he discovers whatever he is looking for, and
returns to us before it is too late.>>*
 
*            <<Can we win without him?>>*
 
*            <<I doubt it.  I wasn’t sure we were going to win *with*
him, but I’m damned sure that we can’t do it without his leadership. 
We’re going to give it our best damned shot, though.>>*
 
*            <<Maybe we should go look for him?>>*
 
*            <<Pointless.  He could be anywhere by now, and none of the
trackers have been able to locate him.>>*  Lars had immediately given
two orders after taking charge:  Follow Ron mentally, and keep an “eye”
on the President.  They didn’t need another misdirection like the one
that had caused this mess.  But Ron had proven impossible to track. 
The trackers never gained contact with him, which was strange, for they
had always been able to know instantly where their leader was at all
times.  No one understood what that meant, and few dared to speculate.
 
 
 
            On and on Ron wandered, passing farms and houses.  He had
wandered through two villages in the first week, but spoke to no one. 
The look on his face did not encourage people to greet him, but they
did give him food.  It was the only application he made of his Ability,
and he wasn’t conscious of doing it.  His mind was keeping him alive. 
For what purpose, he didn’t bother to guess.  Perhaps it wished to
punish him further for his follies.
 
            His mind was once again regaining the capacity for thought,
but it was a dark, abysmal pit that arose, his thoughts emerging from
the deepest, inkiest recesses of his psyche, goading him forward,
pushing him onward.  Toward what, he did not know.
 
 
 
            A week after Ron disappeared, the PPA soldiers regrouped
into larger units, and left the headquarters compound.  Each unit was
independently led, and Lars would remain with the small planning team
to try to coordinate their efforts on a nationwide scale.  The units
moved off, out of the city and into the countryside.  The PPA was now
in hiding.
 
 
 
            Kim, along with a few other select officers, were left to
guard the civilians and Ron’s family at the remains of the house.  They
all spent some time trying to clean things up, until they realized that
was impossible, and the family moved down into the shelter with the
others.  By now, Cindy had also passed away, beyond Susan’s ability to
heal her.  Linda had given birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl with
bright blue eyes and the cutest little nose.  They had managed to hold
back Sandra’s labor, for it would be better for the child to be born in
a couple more weeks.
 
            Kim was working “topside”, as they had started calling the
above-ground area of their home, trying to salvage anything that might
have been of use.  It was now two weeks since Ron had left.  She was
sorting through what had once been a storage room, when she felt a wisp
of something brush by her leg.  She ignored it, and continued searching.
 
            When she stood back up and turned around, she nearly
dropped what she was carrying.  Sitting before her was the large – she
had never seemed so large – white cougar.  Kim swallowed twice to get
her heart started again.
 
            “Jessica!  You startled me!”  Kim went to walk around her,
but the cat blocked her way.  She stepped in the other direction, but
the mountain lion was obstinate, and would not let her pass.
 
            “What is it, Jessica?”  Kim found this unusual, because
she, like the rest of the family, was still not aware of who the cougar
really was.  The cat looked over its shoulder, and Kim glanced that way
as well.  She saw nothing, but she quickly realized that they were
looking in the *exact* direction that Ron had left.
 
            Kim’s blood ran cold.  She knew that animals were capable
of sensing things that people could not.  She depended on this as a
Hunter for the ShadowDragon, often when she was trying to find someone
in a forest, she would pay attention to the animal sounds, to forewarn
her of other human presence.  If this mountain lion was trying to tell
her about Ron, then something bad had probably happened.
 
            “Ron?  Is it Ron?” she asked the cat, not really expecting
an answer.  The animal sat down again, and did a credible impression of
nodding its head in the affirmative.  “You want me to go with you.” 
Not a question, but again the cat answered yes.  “Okay.  Let me tell
the others I’m leaving.”
 
            The cat followed her down into the shelter, and Kim found
the family.  “Sandy, I’m going after Ron.”
 
            Linda, who was nursing her new daughter, said, “Are you
crazy?  You’ll never find him!”
 
            “Kim,” Sandra started, “We don’t want to lose you, too.”
 
            “I have to go, Sandy.  Jessica thinks something is wrong. 
I know this sounds crazy, but I think she can lead me to him.”
 
            Sandra was quiet for a moment.  Although she didn’t know
the truth, she knew that the cat and Ron had a special bond of some
kind, and it was certainly possible that the cougar could find him. 
“Be careful, Kim.  Bring him back to us.”
 
            The three of them hugged, and then Jessica led Kim out of
the shelter.  Kim knew that Jessica could travel faster than Kim could
walk, so she decided to fly instead.  As Kim lifted off, Jessica began
moving at an easy lope, moving along the same path Ron had two weeks
previous.  As they left, Jill watched them go, and wished them luck.
 
            *Bring him back to us, Kimberly.  Please.*
 
 
 
            Hidden inside a forested area several hundred miles away,
Lars and the command staff of the PPA were struggling to hold together
what was left of their forces.  Though they still had thousands of
troops, they were now divided into many smaller units, and were more
easily defeated.
 
            Lars, who was faced with command of what he felt to be a
sinking ship, was bowing under the strain.  He was not ready for this
level of command, and he felt that he was letting the soldiers down.
 
            “Sir, we have reports in from some of our field units,”
said a junior officer, acting as a communicator.
 
            Lars almost sighed audibly, but caught himself.  “Very
well, let’s have it.”
 
            “Three companies were engaged yesterday, Baker, Tango, and
Zulu.  Baker Company held up pretty well, but Tango and Zulu lost with
heavy casualties.  Zulu Company is RTB as a non-functional unit, sir.”
 
            “Damn.  Anything else?”
 
            “Uh… yes, sir.  There is a report here from the MASH unit
that Colonel Chandler has gone missing, sir.”
 
            “WHAT?” Lars bellowed.  The young lieutenant cringed, but
carried on with his report.
 
            “There was an attack on the MASH unit directly last night. 
Right after the battle, Colonel Chandler could not be found.  A search
has not turned up her body, either.  Sir, she either deserted, or she
was captured.”
 
            “Fuck me,” the General said to himself.  “Very well.  I
will send Colonel Pritchart over to fill in until we figure out what
happened to Susan.  Is there anything further?”
 
            “No, sir, that’s all… oh, one other thing.”  Lars’ eyes
darkened, but the officer carried on quickly.  “Apparently Kimberly has
left HQ in search of Ron.  She is in the company of the white cat.” 
The officer did not understand why the General’s eyes widened at that
comment.
 
            “Shit!  Why the fuck didn’t *I* think of that?”  Lars, of
course, was aware of who Jessica was, but had agreed not to tell the
family.  That Jessica would easily be able to locate Ron was something
so simple as to be overlooked.  He cursed himself for the oversight. 
“Very well.  She went alone?”
 
            “Yes, sir.”
 
            “I hope she’s careful.  Dismissed, lieutenant.”
 
            The officer came to attention and saluted before departing.
 
            *Good luck, Kimmie.  And be careful.*
 
 
 
            Lars needn’t have worried: Kimberly was very cautious in
her journey.  She avoided all human contact, for she had brought food
and water with her.  She stayed in the wooded areas where possible, and
she stayed off roads.  Of course, her path was mainly dictated by the
puma, but Jessica understood intuitively the need for secrecy.
 
            The pair traveled on for several days.  It was monotonous,
and somewhat tiring, at least to Kimberly.  The cat never seemed to get
tired, although she did curl up next to Kim at night when they slept. 
Kim wondered if this wasn’t more to protect her than to give the cat
rest.  *I hope we find Ron soon.  *

 
 
            She was, in fact, closer to him than she could guess.  Only
a mile away, but he would walk throughout this night.  His mind was
functioning again, but it focused on the blackness of the world around
him.  Whole cities were destroyed; the countryside was laid bare;
people were dying in the millions; the United States was being
devastated.
 
            *And it’s all your fault, slick.  You should have been able
to stop it.*
 
            And his sisters were missing.
 
            This is where his thought patterns formed into something as
far beyond despair as ecstasy is beyond contentment.  His wonderful
sisters were now in the hands of the enemy.  Were this a movie, very
bad things would be happening to them.  He didn’t want to contemplate
what the truth of the matter might be.  Instead, he walked on, running
from something that had already raced before him, and come back to walk
alongside of him, keeping him company in the way of such things.  It
had been nearly three weeks, and he was weak, and his gait faltered now
and again as he stumbled over a root or stone.  He barely noticed as
his body automatically corrected, and he walked on.
 
 
 
            Upon waking, Kimberly had to remember where she was, and
why her pillow was furry and breathing.  Once she regained that bit of
information in her head, she stretched out.  Jessica immediately moved
away from her, and sat down, waiting for her to finish her morning
rituals.
 
            Having taken care of the activities that are rather
unpleasant when in the woods, Kim sat down to eat her breakfast, such
as it was.  She was running low on food.  She once more offered some to
the cat, who declined even to sniff at it.  Kim had never seen Jessica
eat.  She ate her meal in silence, and then stood up.  Jessica moved
off immediately, and Kim had to struggle a little to catch up with
her.  It was difficult to fly in the forest, what with low-hanging
limbs and all the leaves and twigs and bushes.
 
            The pair traveled, in three hours, the entire distance that
had taken Ron ten to traverse.  Jessica stopped abruptly, and Kim
floated back to the ground, still not seeing Ron anywhere.  The cat
motioned, with her head, through a set of bushes.  Kim moved quietly
through them, and saw Ron standing, looking over the valley before him.
 
 
 
            Ron thought the scene before him was familiar, and when he
recognized it, a shiver ran down his spine.  The morning fog, the green
valley that rolled gently away from the ridge where he stood, the lack
of sound, it reminded him too strongly of Kumiko’s dream world.  Though
the bright sunlight beat on his back, his heart was engulfed in
blackness.  He fell to his knees, no longer able to walk.  Staring off
into the distance, he hoped for… what?  As he had not eaten in the last
four or five days, and hadn’t bothered drinking anything in over a day,
it seemed as if he were hoping for death.  But would death bring a
conclusion to his struggle?  No.  For he had been told that all of his…
followers… would be with him in the After Realms, and so he would have
to face them sooner or later anyway.
 
            He felt, more than saw, a presence beside him.  He felt
that presence kneel.  Without seeing, he knew that something was being
pressed to his lips, and he took it in, chewed it, and swallowed,
without a single thought.  If someone were poisoning him, would it
really matter?
 
 
 
            Kimberly choked back her own tears at seeing his
condition.  She had packed a special high-energy, high-nutrient meal
for him, that she had not touched on her journey.  Now, she fed it to
him as quickly as he would take it in.  His body was eager for the
nourishment, and his mouth worked without conscious intervention.  It
was a fairly large meal, and she was astonished to see just how quickly
his body recovered.  She could actually see a difference in him before
she had even finished feeding him.  She then gave him something to
drink, which would replenish his fluids, and some other nutrients.
 
            After she was finished giving him food and drink, she sat
beside him for a while, hoping he would speak.  He didn’t.  He didn’t
even acknowledge her presence.  He simply sat there on the ground, his
legs stretched out before him, his hands resting on his legs, his eyes
unfocused and unseeing while his mind tormented itself over she knew
not what.
 
            It took the greatest amount of courage she had ever
mustered, but she reached out and took his hand in hers.  His hand was
cold, in the winter weather, but the touch itself still held warmth.
 
            *<I am here.  I am with you.  I will not leave.>* she said
to him.  That was all it took.  The dam broke, and a heart-wrenching
wail echoed across the valley below.  Kim pulled him to her, hugging
him tightly as he sobbed uncontrollably in her grasp.  His body was
shaking mightily, as if it were trying to tear itself apart.  Kim held
on throughout it all.  Ron cried for nearly an hour, wearing himself
out, and finally collapsing, exhausted, and she laid him in the grass
to sleep.  Jessica reappeared from wherever she had been, and lay down
next to him.  Kim moved off to collect some more food.  They would both
need it when he awoke.
 
 
 
            Ron awoke around midday.  Kim was sitting against a tree,
watching over him.  Jessica had once again disappeared into the
forest.  It was odd that the cat did not seem to want to be around Ron
just now.  Ron looked up at Kimberly, and attempted a smile.  It was
bleak, it was an utter failure, but it was the grandest smile she had
ever seen, compared to the blankness on his face when she’d arrived.
 
            He struggled to sit up, and she rushed over to help him. 
She stayed close to him for a while, and when she tried to move away,
he wouldn’t let go of her hand.
 
            *<Thank you,> *he said.
 
            *<Don’t mention it.>*
 
*            <Without your help… well, I might have died right here.>*
 
*            <I couldn’t let that happen.>*
 
            Ron didn’t ask why she couldn’t.  At that point,
conversation stopped again.  He struggled to his feet with her help,
and they walked down into the valley.  They didn’t say a word to each
other, they merely walked, holding hands, down into the remains of a
small village.  The houses looked to be intact, so they didn’t know why
this town had been abandoned.  For hours, they wandered from yard to
yard, from store to store, looking for clues as to why the people
left.  As night fell, they were walking down a row of houses.
 
            *<Perhaps we should go in one,>* Kimberly suggested.
 
            *<That would be trespassing.>*
 
*            <Only if there’s someone there to say so.>*
 
*            <True, I suppose.  Which one?>*
 
*            <Preferably one with an unlocked door.>*
 
            The first house they tried fit this criteria, and they went
in.  The power still worked, which they found odd, but for the time
being, they set it aside.  By unspoken consensus, they each found a
bathroom and cleaned up a little, and then met in the kitchen.  Ron
slumped into a chair while Kim looked in the cupboards.  She checked
the stove, which worked, and so she cooked up a meal of chicken, rice,
some beans, carrots, and some soda from the fridge.  It wasn’t the
greatest, but it was fairly nutritious, and they both needed the
energy.  

            The meal passed in silence.  The two of them said little. 
Ron kept quiet because his thoughts were far too dark to share.  Kim
remained silent because she was still afraid to share her thoughts with
him.  She knew that she must, at some point, tell him, but was now the
time?
 
            After dinner, they cleaned up their mess, just in case
someone was coming back, they didn’t want to be seen as slobs.  Then
they walked through the house together, still holding hands.  She
wondered if Ron just wanted a lifeline to what he would consider the
“normal” world, but she wasn’t about to object.
 
            After they had visited every room, they found themselves in
the master bedroom.  This was the only room with a mess.  Dresser
drawers were open, and clothes were tossed on the floor.  It was
apparent that whoever had lived here had left in a hurry, taking only
some essentials with them.
 
            Ron sat down on the bed, while Kimberly wandered around the
room, taking it in.  She could feel his eyes on her as she moved.  She
turned to face him, to see what he would do.  His eyes met hers, and
stayed there.  She moved to him, standing before him, not sure what was
happening.
 
            Her hands, almost of their own accord, moved out to touch
his face.  They moved slowly along his cheeks, and along the line of
his chin.  His hands came up to rest lightly on top of hers, and then
she turned her hands outward, and their fingers interlaced, their hands
palm-to-palm.  The intensity of the energy now flowing between them was
almost overwhelming.  Ron stood, slowly, bringing his eyes up to meet
hers.  There were mere inches between their bodies, but their hands and
eyes had already connected.  It was at this point that something deep
within Ron emerged.  It was something he had tried to bury, for it had
hurt him time and again.  He didn’t want it there, but right now, at
this moment, he needed for it to engulf him, to restore to him the
strength to carry on.  And he was aware that it had been released by
this very precious woman before him.
 
            He wasn’t sure whether he leaned in, or Kim did, but
however it happened, their lips met.  Mental sparks flew as they shared
their first kiss.  Each mind reeled with the invading thoughts of the
other.  Kim was astonished to first see only blackness, but soon found
that the wall crumbled quickly, and she was emerged in his essence, his
very presence of being.
 
            Ron was awash in Kim’s love for him.  She hid nothing in
this embrace.  It was as if he had fallen into a warm, buoyant ocean
that enveloped him and carried him along.  His doubts and worries, his
cares and fears were drawn away from him; he was immersed in a
wonderful, caring sea of emotion.
 
            As their minds enmeshed, their kissing grew more
passionate.  Kim’s tongue snaked its way into Ron’s mouth, caressing
his tongue and teeth.  Their bodies had moved together, and they could
feel the contact.  Kim’s breasts pressed firmly into Ron’s chest, and
the physical part of his mind marveled at just how good that felt.  Kim
could feel Ron’s dick pressing into her, already fully erect.
 
            Their minds continued to flow, back and forth, until the
currents became one.  Ron’s strong emotions flowed into Kim’s warmth
and caring, and the two emerged as something both greater than, and
wholly different from, either feeling.  Both felt light as a cloud as
their minds journeyed together, exploring each other’s consciousness,
as their bodies responded to their interaction.        

            Ron lifted them off the floor, and both struggled to remove
their own clothing.  It proved impossible to do this without breaking
contact, and so clothing was torn from bodies until they were both
completely disrobed.  Now, Ron felt her tits poking into him.  They
were hot and firm, and they called for his mouth’s attention almost as
much as her lips did.
 
            Kim was fully aware of Ron’s erection, now resting against
her abdomen and throbbing, wanting to be inside somewhere warm and
wet.  She was well beyond warm, and her juices were seeping down her
leg.  She broke their kiss only long enough to say, “Take me, Ron!”
before her lips engulfed his once more.
 
            It was no simple task to maneuver his lower body without
moving his upper body, but Ron played a few kinetic tricks, and soon
his cock was resting at the entrance to Kim’s pussy.  Her lips parted
as he pressed into her, and she moaned into his mouth as she felt the
head of his dick slip inside of her.  He slid into her steadily, and
she never felt any pain as his shaft finally filled her, taking her
virginity at last.  They paused momentarily, as the physical sensations
added to the mental glory, and the colors and patterns of their
thoughts became more vivid, more vibrant.  

            Their bodies moved as one, Ron thrusting into her, and Kim
pushing back to force him further inside.  She finally threw her legs
around his waist, making access much easier.  The further body contact
only heightened their awareness of each other.  Soon they were rutting
together, not as animals, but as a single animal, performing a single
task.  Their minds and their bodies had become one: even their
extensions had merged to hold and move them.  They began to turn in the
air as they continued their coupling.  Soon, they were turning fast
enough to be a blur, but neither of them even noticed.
 
            As they approached their climax, they broke their kiss as
each cried out in ecstasy, joy and exhilaration.  Ron bent down and,
with the help of his extension, took one of her nipples into his mouth,
wrapping his tongue around it and licking it aggressively.  Kimberly
screamed in pleasure.  She used her extension to fondle his balls, and
he groaned in delight.
 
            As their bodies moved, their minds merged until neither
could tell where one started and the other ended.  They were, at that
moment, a single being, feeling all the joy and pain, the hates and
loves, the doubts and hopes of the other as if they were their own. 
The colors and patterns of these thoughts grew so brilliant that it was
almost painful just to absorb the thought.
 
            Finally, in an ultimate explosion of dazzling mental color,
and with a visible spark of light, the pair came in a loud,
mind-wrenching orgasm that, had they not been able to hold their
extensions, would have flung them to opposite corners of the room.  The
sheer power of their joining was more than either of them could take,
and each passed out in the other’s arms, and fell unceremoniously to
the bed, which was, luckily, beneath them.
 
 
 
            The two slept for nearly a day and a half.  Their
exhaustion, both physical and emotional, was so great that when they
did awaken, neither was sure if it had actually occurred.  It would
have been easy to imagine it as a dream, if they were not laying in bed
together, naked, with the remnants of their clothes lying on the floor.
 
            Ron arose first, looking for and finding clothes that, with
a little mental help, fit him well enough.  Kimberly did likewise,
grabbing a sundress from the closet that needed no alteration.  They
didn’t speak until each had taken care of their physical needs, and had
stepped outside to take in the morning.
 
            In an empty village.
 
            That thought hammered home to Ron, and his face darkened
again.
 
            “You shouldn’t, you know.”  It was the first time either
had actually *spoken* since Kim had found him.
 
            “Shouldn’t what?”
 
            “Love me.  Everyone who does gets hurt.  I don’t want you
to get hurt.”
 
            *Is it really that simple?  He’s been keeping his distance
because he is scared?*  “Well, it’s not something I went looking for. 
I fought it tooth and nail, and now that it’s beaten me, I’m not going
to try to fight it off again.  So, whether I should or not, I love you,
Ron.”
 
            “Yes.  I can understand that, I guess.  Very hard to keep
fighting something as vicious as love.”
 
            “Yes.”
 
            “Oh, well.  I guess we’ll just have to admit it, then.”
 
            “Admit what?”
 
            “That we’re in love, and that neither of us can do anything
about it.”
 
            Her heart skipped a beat or four when he said that.  It was
the first time he’d admitted, even obliquely, that he had similar
feelings.  She’d felt as much during their… but until he consciously
said it, it was somehow unreal.
 
            “I don’t want to lose you like this ever again.  If you go
running off, next time, take me with you.”
 
            He looked at her, and for the first time in weeks, he
smiled.  “Okay, Sweetheart.  Whatever you say.”  He leaned in and
kissed her, while his hand rested gently on her ass.  She loved every
microsecond of it.
 
            When he broke the kiss, he had a curious expression on his
face.  “By the way, there is something that’s been bugging me since…
well, since I’ve actually been able to *think* rather than mope.  Just
how in the world did you find me?”
 
            Jessica took that moment to stride around the corner of the
house.  Neither of them had known she was in the area.  Kimberly just
pointed.  “She found you.  I just followed.”
 
            “Fuck me!” Ron said, both in astonishment at the immediate
thought that occurred to him, and frustration that it hadn’t occurred
to him three weeks ago.
 
            “I believe I already did that, didn’t I?  Would you like me
to do it again?” Kim responded seductively.
 
            Ron looked at her, and in that moment realized that he had
never loved someone so much as he did her at that moment.  It was the
kind of response *he* would have given.  “Not right now… maybe later.” 
*‘Maybe’ my ass…*  “I know how we can find the girls… but we need our
own clothing before we go searching.  Let’s get home.”
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
