LaPorte Caves – Chapter 20

Written by circes_cup :: [Sunday, 19 March 2017 15:46] Last updated by :: [Sunday, 26 March 2017 22:03]

CHAPTER 20


SYNOPSIS TO THIS POINT

A wrong turn in a Kentucky cave dropped Julia and Howard into a world run by amazons who derive their extreme power for a drink called Nourishment. Initially, the couple wanted only to return to earth. But then, Julia found her own lips on the Nourishment, and soon found herself in a body imbued with immense strength, intelligence, and pleasure. And Howard, although initially set on returning to Earth, didn’t take well to her suggestion that the amazon world might just be too much for him to handle. There was nothing Howard liked more than a challenge. He intends to prove his resilience and endurance to her – and himself.

DISCLAIMER

This story contains adult sexual content, and violence. If you are not of age to read this stuff, don’t. No resemblance between these characters and real people on Earth is implied or intended.


Howard could see through the window of the house. Julia was sleeping. That was a relief.

He needed to step into the kitchen just enough to make the vendor drive away. Then, he could go somewhere, hide, be alone, think.

He stepped onto the porch gingerly, silently applauding himself for remembering which boards creaked and which did not. They can hear the beat of your heart, the vendor had said, the rustle of the wind through your hair. Howard heard the truck start again. Good, Howard, thought, vehicle noise from that road was constant, not a reason to wake. The vendor was leaving.. Howard took another silent step forward.

Then, the silence was shattered.

“Hi honey!” The door swung wide, revealing Julia. She was attired in a skin-tight, tiffany-blue one piece – so tight that every magnificent swell of her muscles, every tiny notch between them, was displayed in sickening detail. The fabric clung in sharp relief to her rock-hard nipples, which were pointed at his head like the muzzles of two pistols. Her body was a column of pure power. Built not for appeasement of men, the museum had said, but for the domination of them.

“I thought you were sleeping?” he asked, with regret.

“I was woken up by your scent. The window was closed but I could smell you through the cracks in the floorboards. Isn’t that cool?”

“It’s actually … it’s actually a bit scary.”

“Don’t be silly. My sense of smell is the only thing that kept you from being lizard food.” She inhaled deeply, her mammoth breasts rising like a tsunami in his field of view, and emitted a sigh. “Even when you’re dirty and sweaty, the presence of you is somehow … invigorating to me.”

Howard backed away slightly from her breasts, newly aware of what they could do to him.

“How do you feel?” she chirped.

“Physically?”

“Let’s take a look at you.” Julia picked him up by the armpits and rotated him back and forth to get a better view, dangling Howard’s feet a full four feet above the ground. “Wow, just flawless. Arm looks straight. All your cuts and gashes are healed. No outward signs of a concussion. My girls did a great job.”

Yes, they did. From above, Howard had a bird’s eye view of her ‘girls’, two immense orbs capable of destroying his body from the inside out. Built for domination, the museum had said.

“Howard, honey. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is everything ok?”

Howard breathed a sigh of relief as she returned him to the ground and released her powerful grip. “I got a lesson today in … social studies. It was … eye opening.”

“I’ll have to get one of those, too. I want to make sure I know everything that is expected of you and me in this society. The role you’re supposed to play. The role I’m supposed to play.”

“There’s no rush,” Howard suggested.

The wind stilled for a moment, and his girlfriend paused. She crinkled her nose. And then she smiled. “Sallan. Is he here too?”

“I ran into him at my market stall, downtown,” the vendor explained as he rounded the corner of the house. “He … said some things that could have caused him some trouble. You should be careful about letting him wander the city with an attitude like that.”

Howard watched the cords on Julia’s neck tense as she took in this new information. The cords tensed further when Sallan elaborated on what Howard had said, and how many women had heard it.

“Thank you for bringing him back, Sallan. You are a good friend.” Her voice then filled with dark authority. “Now, leave us.”

Sallan responded like a man who did not question his subordination, dipping his head slightly and quickly stepping away. Howard could hear the sound of the man’s truck leaving. The brown of his girlfriend’s eyes was no longer warm.

She walked a half dozen paces toward the water. When she turned back to him, her face was wild with anger.

“Howard, what the HELL?” she shouted.

The sound of her voice echoed across the beach like the firing of a cannon. Howard could actually see a shock wave cross the sand, like high-speed ripples racing across a pond. His eardrums screamed in pain. That chill – the one he had felt in the museum gallery – it returned in full force.

“You really said that shit?”

“Doesn’t this culture have some notion of free spee—”

“DAMN IT, Howard!” The cannon of her voice shook Howard’s insides.

It took all of his will power to open his mouth. “I’m an adult,” he almost pleaded. “Shouldn’t I be able to go where I—”

Julia kicked a large piece of driftwood, her leg an angry blur. Before meeting his girlfriend’s foot, the driftwood log had been the size of a small car – thick like a sequoia trunk. Upon her kick, log simply exploded. Howard shielded his face with frantic arms as he was assaulted by a hail of wood shrapnel. That log must have been hundreds of pounds, and she had demolished it – totally blasted it to shreds – with a single kick.

Her voice seethed between grit teeth. “You went into a public area without a Claim. AND you insulted the culture here. That was EXACTLY what I asked you not to do!” She crossed her arms, log-sized muscle piling on top of log-sized muscle. “Yesterday, some of the neighborhood women suggested that I break a few of your bones. They said it would teach you a lesson.”

Howard felt a warmth on his leg and realized that it was his own piss. He tried to say something but his jaw was trembling too hard.

He watched her close her eyes, like a battle tank shutting its view ports. Perhaps it did not intend to fire its weapons? She approached him with a calm stride, pulling the shoulder straps of her one-piece down over her arms. The skin-tight fabric peeled off her gargantuan breasts. They sprang free – pert, full, swollen with their terrifying power.

“I’m not going to break your bones, honey.” She said as her nipple traversed his cheek to his mouth. His trembling lips felt the nub swell to a menacing size. “I’ve got something better in store for you.”

Howard tried to free his mouth – to talk with her, to plead her back to some sort of sanity. But his mouth was full of her flesh. He dug his fingernails into her arm, but it was like trying to scratch solid steel with toothpicks.

When the jet of milk came, it hit with such force that Howard could have mistaken it for a thumb being pressed into the back of his mouth. The milk tasted different than before, and luckily, the assault on his digestive system was shorter. In only a few moments, he was free and gasping for breath.

“I’m keeping you close for the rest of the afternoon,” his girlfriend’s voice announced. “Go inside, put on your swim trunks, and join us on the beach.”

Howard felt a wave of calm overtake him. And for the first time in a long time, he didn’t question her.

==============

When Howard emerged from the house, Julia and Mindy were in the beach chairs. On a rack in front of them were a half dozen small screens, full of something resembling static.

“What are those?” Howard asked. His voice sounded thin and tired, even to him.

“Summer beach reading,” Julia replied. “Mindy picked the stuff on the bottom three screens; I picked the stuff on the top.”

“You’re reading six books at once?”

“I’ll be back in my own body soon enough, so I might as well enjoy it while I can. Poetry, fashion, political discourse, science, and of course, trashy novels – I never imagined I could assimilate so much material, so quickly, and in such detail. You’d think that several hundred pages a minute, on each of six screens would cheapen the experience. But my gosh, Howard, the appreciation I’ve developed for the books I’ve read this afternoon is so much deeper than they way I understood books back home. I have such a better grip of their subtleties, the connections they are trying to make. And I’ve done that with 125 books today.”

“That’s … impressive.” Or intimidating, but Howard didn’t want to say it.

“Having a brain like this is like nothing I ever could have imagined. I feel like I’m driving a sports car, when all I used to have was a go-cart. I wish you could experience it, Howard.”

Howard felt his go-cart slam into the sand bags on the side of the track.

“How was your run this morning, hot shot?” Mindy asked the waves, her eyes, too, glued to the screens. She was in a white slingshot suit similar to the one Julia had worn on her first Nourished day.

“It felt good,” Howard replied, sheepishly. “I think I went about sixteen miles.”

“Sixteen whole miles?” she asked absently. “That’s pretty good for a man.”

“Mindy, babe, don’t be like that,” Julia chastised. “That’s very good for a man.”

Mindy pouted. “I thought I WAS being nice.”

“I’m not sure you know how,” Howard observed.

“Howard!” The seething in Julia’s voice was back. “I’m disappointed in you. She is our host.”

Disappointed … the word hit him like a ton of bricks. Life was suddenly robbed of its meaning. Emotion flooded his spirits and pushed them down, like a … tsunami.

“What the hell is happening to me?” Howard whispered. We’ve argued plenty of times before, but now, I can’t stand the thought of her being unhappy?

“I wish you could see the confusion on your face, sweetie,” Julia giggled. “I had no idea the effects would be so strong.”

“The effects of WHAT?” Howard’s heart pumped with furious force. His blood felt like it was on fire.

Julia suppressed another giggle. Mindy didn’t try.

“What?” Howard begged. “What is going on?”

“Obedience. I gave you just an ounce, but it ought to hold you for twenty four hours.”

Obedience? Howard’s mind was a hurricane of emotion. But the eye at the center of that hurricane was stable and immutable: he wanted nothing more than to please her. “You … your tits? Did this to me?”

“You need to cool it off and stay out of trouble. This will help. It’s not a big deal honey. Just relax.”

At the word ‘relax,’ a wave of calm overtook him. What the fuck?

“It will wear off in about twenty-four hours. But at first the effects may be quite … intense.”

“I think I need some time alone,” Howard admitted. “If it’s OK with you. Maybe a walk in the woods.”

“No, you don’t want to go to the woods,” his girlfriend clarified. “I want you to stay close this time.”

Howard could feel his own wants aligning with that. No, no woods. It had no appeal anymore.

“He can make us lunch,” Mindy proposed.

“Yea, that sounds good,” Julia confirmed. “Bring some for yourself as well, Howard.”

Before Howard fully knew what was happening, he was exiting the kitchen with three plates of lunch in his hands. He remembered going to the kitchen, throwing sandwiches together. But he didn’t remember deciding to do it. In fact, the majority of his attention was consumed with getting the sandwiches right, and hoping that she would be pleased.

“Nice sandwich,” his girlfriend confirmed.

Howard felt flush with happiness as the knowledge that she was satisfied, and then disgust at the knowledge that those feeling were not truly his own.

“Want to have dip in the tub while we eat?” Mindy asked. “It’’s refreshing on a hot day like this.”

“Sure,” Howard replied.

“I wasn’t asking you, dumbass. I was asking your mistress. It’s for ladies only.” The girl stood on the lip of the tub and tugged at a knot in the back of her slingshot suit. The entire suit snapped off of her hard body like a rubber band breaking. Only nineteen years old, and she was ‘stacked’ to a degree of which porn stars could only dream. And those domes were more than just stuffing for a bikini, Howard now knew. They were chemical weapons, capable of reducing him to a pain-wracked ball, or even a corpse, with a single thought. He found himself wishing she would put her suit back on, as minimal as it had been. At least it would have obscured those particular weapons from view.

“Why can’t he go in the hot tub?” Julia asked, turning off the electronic screens.

“It’s not a hot tub. It’s a cold tub. We use liquid nitrogen.”

Howard approached the edge. She was right. The thick clouds of vapor were frigid against his skin.

“Some dude fell into a tub last year and slipped trying to get out. Froze his ass solid. No joke. Took them a whole week to thaw him out before they could straighten his body enough for the coffin.”

Julia was standing by the tub now, peeling the one-piece off to reveal her twin mounds of power, her six-pack abdominals, more muscles than he could name or even count.

Howard tried to hand Mindy her plate of food. But being that close to the liquid – it made his hands shake. A few loose grapes rolled off the plate into the liquid nitrogen. When they hit the surface, the grapes froze so quickly that they actually exploded with a POP, floating to the surface as ruptured, blue-skinned globs of ice. Howard could only imagine what would happen to his arm, if he slipped.

Mindy took the plate from him, mercifully, and Howard backed away. As his girlfriend descended into the horrifying liquid, Howard watched the water sloshing up the endlessness of her sculpted legs.

“Oh! It’s giving me goosebumps!” She announced. “Are you sure this is dangerous for him? It feels so … invigorating!” Her breasts went from pert to rock-hard, pointing straight ahead of her like oversized headlights.

When she reached the bottom, Julia settled into a sitting position with a PLUNK, tiny droplets of liquid nitrogen spraying across the tub. Howard could feel some of the droplets land on his skin: it was like being stabbed with sewing needles. He brushed the liquid off frantically. Tiny blisters had formed wherever the droplets had hit, and the blisters were oozing blood.

“What’s the deal with him?” It was Mindy’s voice. “Alone, downtown without a Claim?”

“It’s a matter of principal.” Howard was still wiping the blood off his arm.

“Shush,” Julia ordered. “Her question was for me. Follow the local rules: when two women are talking, do not interrupt. It’s for your own sake.”

Howard wanted to object, but his jaw may as well have been sealed shut with steel wire. Every cell in his body wanted to obey her.

Julia turned back to the other amazon. “I love him to death but he can be such a fool.”

“Did he think he could just mouth off and not get hurt?” the teenager asked. “Does he not get it how weak he is?”

“No, I think he finally gets that. But he can be rebellious sometimes. It’s actually sort of cute.”

Julia was swishing her arms through the deadly liquid, clearly enjoying the feel of temperatures beyond his imagination. It Howard had been in her place, the gentle swishing sound would have been replaced by his screams, which would themselves have been replaced by silence once his body had transformed into a frozen block. But for his genetically superior girlfriend, it gave her only a case of goosebumps.

Built for domination, Howard remembered. He needed a space to clear his head – to get away from all the absurdity.

“Honey, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Julia’s voice wafted out of the thick clouds of nitrogen vapor. “Is this a little overwhelming for you? Maybe you do need some time alone, after all.”

His gaze became lost in the distant horizon, Howard nodded slowly.

“If you want to explore something, you can go to that coral atoll.” Julia jutted her chin at the horizon. “I went there the other day at dawn. It’s a really cool place to be unwind and think,” Julia suggested.

“What atoll?”

“The one right in front of us,” Mindy offered.

“He probably can’t see it Minday.” She turned to her boyfriend. “It’s about a mile out. You could take a male jet ski.”

Howard peered off into the distant ocean. If anyone else had suggested it, he wouldn’t have been interested. But coming from her mouth, it was sheer brilliance.

“But no side adventures, mister un-Claimed. I don’t want you running into strange women.”

After those words left her lips, a side trip became the last thing on Howard’s mind. At that moment, nothing on Earth or Weald could have been as repulsive as disobedience.

“If you want to go, we have a whole bunch of man jet skis out back,” Mindy offered. “The orange one is faster but less comfortable. The blue one is better with maneuvering but also less comfortable. The green one has a big cushy seat and good range, but is not as high-performance.”

“Maybe the blue jet ski? I don’t know.” Howard turned to find that Julia had disappeared.

Moments later, his girlfriend returned from behind the house, still dripping the freezing water, with the whole twenty-foot-long rack in her hands, holding six jet skis in all. “You didn’t sound sure so I decided to bring them all.”

“How much does that weigh?” Howard asked.

“The male jet skis are only about 800 pounds a piece,” Mindy announced as she sloshed out of the tub.

Howard counted six jet skis, plus the rack. Five thousand pounds. The equipment didn’t quiver in the slightest as his girlfriend held it aloft, her herculean muscles indifferent to the burden. Built to be the dominant gender, Howard reminded himself.

“Howard. You look like you’re in shock. You’ve seen me lift a lot more than this. It shouldn’t be a surprise anymore.” Julia’s voice was sweet. She shifted the burden to one arm so that she could see him better, the 5,000 pound mass doing little to swell her terrifying biceps and triceps. “Are you OK?”

Built to humiliate his body with her power. Built to subordinate his body to her sexual needs. Built to force his obedience and servitude. Built for domination.

“Honey, your face is losing color.” She put the jet skis down, their impact on the sand so great that Howard could feel it through his feet. “If you’re scared to go out on the water alone, I can take you out later. I won’t let you get hurt.”

Unless you decide to hurt me yourself, he thought. “No, I’m fine, thanks. I’ll just take the orange one.”

She carried it into the water for him. He found himself treading water while she was still on solid ground. That, at least, put his eyes on the level of her chin rather than her chest. “Everything I’ve experienced over the last day – it’s all been you, hasn’t it? How fast I healed, how much I slept, how little of the accident I remember – and now, how much I want to obey you. You control everything about me, don’t you?”

Julia’s chin was motionless. “It was for your own good.”

“Prisons always are. That’s why they are called ‘correctional facilities’.”

“You have nothing to complain about. You’ve never been in prison. But another outburst at the boardwalk and you might just have your chance. In fact, for an un-Claimed, prison is one of the better outcomes of pissing off a Nourished. The other outcomes are too frightening to name. That’s why I’ve got you on a tighter leash now, why I want you to get Claimed. It’s for your own good.”

The chill from the museum returned yet again, and this time, it was frigid. “It’s so unfair, Julia. You could put me on your tit right now and kill me. And the police would think it was just another case of food poisoning.”

“Howard, I’m offended.” Julia’s eyes narrowed. “If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it any number of ways. I could have torn your arms off and let you drown. The eels would have found you before the police did. But if you think I would ever do that, then, well, we really don’t belong together in the first place.”

In Howard’s tortured mind, the fear of losing her approval easily crowded out the fear of having his limbs torn off. He knew it was the Obedience coursing through his blood, but the knowledge of it changed nothing. The emotional force of her disappointment took the life out of Howard’s limbs. He felt his head sinking into the water.

Julia let the jet ski float free and grabbed her boyfriend by the armpits. He felt himself hoisted clear of the waterline and up to the level of her eyes. “Howard, I love you. Since the moment you hurt yourself on that dive, everything I’ve done to you is because I love you. And I will keep doing everything in my power to keep you from harm.”

Their lips met. Hers were full and lush and forceful, pulling his mouth into a deep kiss. She tasted of berries. His spirits soared – part affection, part Obedience, it didn’t matter. He was happy.

“Go now. Give yourself a chance to think, to put some distance between your inner compass and all the magnets.”

Howard left the shore as fast as the jet ski could carry him. The water was turbulent, and Howard had to work to keep the watercraft upright.

Inside Howard’s gut, emotions, too, sloshed forcefully about. There was the terrifying cold he felt as he listened to the displays at the museum, seeing his girlfriend giggle her way through a liquid nitrogen bath like it was soap suds, feeling the elation of knowing she loved him, and then knowing that some of that elation may have been chemically induced.

The atoll that his girlfriend had seen so easily from shore was only now coming into view.

One thing was for sure, Howard realized. His fate was entirely in her hands. She could take him home, detain him here, sustain him or ruin him – all with only an offhand thought and no consequences to her. Survival was no more complicated than keeping his girlfriend happy.

But girlfriends, themselves, are complicated, Howard reminded himself.

He looked back at the shore. She and Mindy were just specks now. And the swimming fins, further back, were just big specks. But if the little speck girls put on those big speck fins, they could overtake his jet ski in no time, he knew. They were that powerful.

I’m entirely beholden to her, Howard realized. What if she changed her mind about returning to Earth? What if she grew tired of me while we are here, or worse, angry with me? Romantic relationship rarely end harmoniously, and on The Weald, there was little question who stood to lose if he and Julia broke up. No, survival, for me, means staying in her good graces.

But how does one stay in the good graces of a girl who has no need for me, who exceeds me in every way, Howard wondered? Julia didn’t fall in love with me because I was dependent and timid and all-too-aware of my inferiority, he reasoned. No, she fell in love with a man who was strong and capable and, most of all, fearless. I need to keep being those things.

If I don’t, I won’t survive.

Howard felt his skin scrunch into goosebumps. The sun was still out, but thick grey clouds had gathered as well, consuming more and more of the sky as the afternoon wore on. It was only a matter of time, he realized, before the sun’s warmth would be gone.