Marauder Ramses (10 page)

I
reach
the peak of the high ground overlooking Grius’s camp. The wind has picked up, and it’s blowing snow everywhere. I can’t see the camp from here, but I know from the map I saw that it is less than two kilometers away.

Even with my bioglove, walking blind into the camp is a terrible move. I need to at least let the wind die down long enough to get a mental picture of the camp’s layout. Ideally, I can observe long enough to get an idea how many Marauders and Seraphim there are and which tents they are in. If I can figure out where they keep Elise, I could simply obliterate every other tent with plasma blasts from this hill.

And then I see an explosion cut through the wind.

“Elise!” I shout over the wind. There’s an orange glow from where the camp should be, and I start to run down the slope toward it.

A few moments later, there’s another explosion. It’s in the same spot as the first, but it’s larger, and it sounds like a chain reaction more than a single blast.

It’s too early for Sara to have arrived...so what could it be?

I race down the slope, wasting no time to think. If shit is exploding where they are keeping Elise, I need to be there. And now.

As I near the bottom of the slope, I see two shadowy figures appearing from through the thick haze.

I drop immediately onto my stomach to lower my visibility. The likelihood that one of these people is Elise is incredibly low, but I have to be certain it’s not her before I kill them both.

I watch them moving, and I spot the familiar silhouette of a giant sniper rifle. It’s Kain.

And the second figure...is smaller than any Marauder or Seraph. I badly want it to be Elise, but I can’t yet be sure.

I can kill Kain though, that much is certain. I can’t risk using anything that might hurt Elise as collateral, so I decide to shoot out some tendrils from my bioglove, pull Kain into close range, and kill him with my bare hands. It’s almost too good a death for him. More than he deserves.

I raise my biogloved hand toward him, and launch two tendrils – one for each of his ankles.

He’s almost two hundred meters away, but the tendrils snake around his ankles in moments, and then I pull.

Kain falls hard onto his back, but he doesn’t let go of his gun.

He slams the rifle into the tendril – which I can feel – as I pull him toward me. When he’s halfway toward me, he points the rifle right onto one of the tendrils and fires. It breaks off, but I keep dragging him by one foot with the remaining tendrils.

He raises the gun up toward me, but now I can see the whites of his eyes.

“Ramses!” he shouts, “Wait, I have Elise –”

I throw him up into the air and kick him in the gut with all my strength. He hits me upside the head with his rifle just as my foot connects, and I fall backward with my head ringing as Kain drops to the ground.

My tendril is still holding tight to his ankle, so I pull him back in toward me.

But my head is still ringing, and Kain gut punches me as I fling his body into mine. His rifle must have fallen on the ground somewhere, so it’s barely a fair fight.

I blast out several more tendrils and pin Kain down. I drop knees first onto him, and start to punch his face over and over. I slam my fists into him until I feel his nose break, and blood starts coating my hands.

“Ramses!”

It’s Elise’s voice.

“Kain saved me! Please let him go!”

“What?” I say, looking down at Kain. I punch him in the face, again. “He saved you?”

“Yes!”

I punch him again. “You’re sure?” I punch him two more times, then look back up at her.

“Yes,” she says. “Positive!”

“Should I stop punching him?” I ask, shouting over the wind.

“Yes! Please!”

“All right,” I say, looking down at his bloodied face. I punch it again. “We’re even now,” I say.

Kain starts laughing, and I reach down and help him up.

He spits blood onto the snow as I run toward Elise.

She jumps onto me and wraps her legs around me. I squeeze her back, afraid to ever let go of her again.

“Ramses,” she says, “I’m so glad we’re both safe...I didn’t know if you’d live –”

“I knew he would,” Kain says, walking dazedly toward us.

“You look like shit, Kain,” I grunt.

“I look better than you did when I left you. Speaking of, it looks like you’re not even injured. And how the fuck did you get a biosuit to function on Atlantis?”

“You knew, didn’t you?” I ask.

He grins at me. “I had some hunches. I didn’t think whatever field is being projected here to shut down technology could keep running for millennia...unless someone was still here to run it. And my father had some document. It wasn’t in any human language...he kept it secret. Even from me.”

Elise tugs on my arm. “What are you guys talking about?”

“The Atlanteans,” I say. “They are still alive...but they live underwater.”

“I knew it!” Kain says.

“Can they get a message to Earth before Sara arrives?” Elise asks.

“I don’t think so,” I say. “The only reason they showed themselves was to get me to agree to take down Harmony. They want to keep themselves secret from it...broadcasting a message to Harmony is the last thing they’d do. It would expose them.”

“The bomb is in orbit,” Kain says. “On one of our lander pods. I don’t know which one.”

“How do we get into orbit from here?” Elise asks.

“We could wait,” I say. “Until Sara lands.”

“It’s a risk,” Kain says. “Reinforcements are already en route from Darkstar and Earth.”

“Are all those ships one-way?” I ask.

Kain smiles. “No. Good thing you’ve got that bioglove.”

“Let’s go in now,” Elise says, “while they are still disoriented.”

“No,” Kain says. “We need to wait for the reinforcements to land. If we go in now, they will be able to spread out, or they may not land at all. Right now there are no ships that can take off again, but I know they are sending a handful. Old clunkers that don’t need any computers to make it back to orbit.”

“So we’ll make camp,” I say, “and watch for those ships coming in.”

“As soon as we attack,” Kain says, “they could just launch the bomb toward Earth. It can hit Earth in just over thirty-six hours.”

“Then we can’t risk attacking at all,” Elise says. “We have to –”

“If we don’t attack...if we just sit here,” I say, “Sara will attack without us. The same thing will happen when she shows up, but they’ll see her coming from even further away. At least our attack will come as a surprise.”

“As soon as we get something in orbit,” Kain says, “we can warn Harmony. She’s cunning enough to intercept the bomb before it’s in range.”

I sigh. Working with Harmony makes me feel queasy, even if it’s to save the whole planet and everyone on it.

“Let’s find a place to set up camp,” I say. “Preferably on the high ground.”

W
e go
up into the mountains, and just when I think my feet are going to freeze off, we find a nice space with rocky ridges on all sides. There’s no cover from above, but it’s a necessary sacrifice, as we need to be able to see the drop pods and Darkstar ships breaking atmosphere when they arrive.

Ramses gets a fire going, but it’s lit only with the wispy twigs, and it gives off little heat.

“We could use another giant spider right now,” I say, holding my hands over the weak flames.

“Giant spider?” Kain asks.

“They seem to live around the ridges...camouflaged against rock,” Ramses says. “They don’t taste great, but the ichor is great for fueling fires.”

Kain nods. “I’ll go get one.” He hoists his rifle over his shoulder.

“Do you need help?” I ask, grabbing the submachine gun.

“No,” he says. “I like to hunt alone. Rest up.”

He walks through the narrow pass leading into our shelter, and disappears.

“You really think we should trust him?” Ramses asks.

“I guess we have to,” I say. “I can’t see what other motivation he’d have had….”

Ramses puts his hand on my waist, then moves it to my stomach. “They told you?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I can hardly believe it….”

“It’s a gift,” he says. “Among all the horrible things that are happening...this child is a gift.”

I feel my stomach jumping, full of butterflies. “We never talked about this,” I say, “It just kind of happened, and –”

“We didn’t need to talk about it,” Ramses says. “It happened for a reason.”

“We know the reason,” I say, “Harmony wanted to –”

“Fuck that,” Ramses says, shaking his head. “That’s not our reason. This happened because….”

He puts his hand on my face. It’s warm, and his eyes stare deeply into me.

“Because?” I ask.

“Because we’re meant for each other,” he says. “I know it’s only been a few days...but I feel it.”

I nod. I feel it too. “It’s been a long-ass few days,” I say, laughing.

“We can tell our kid,” Ramses says, “that we had Chicago hotdogs on our first date, and an Atlantis giant spider on our second.”

“Ew,” I say. “Eating the spider counts as a
date
?”

“At least the giant spider wasn’t covered in hot pepper,” Ramses says.

“I thought you were tough and could handle it?” I say, raising an eyebrow.

He grunts and crosses his arms. “Maybe I didn’t like it. Not because it was too hot, but just because I didn’t like the taste.”

I scoff at him. “Whatever.”

He kisses me, and I grab hold of him in response. I dig my nails into the back of his jacket, and he throws it off onto the ground.

I pull off his shirt, and he reaches for mine.

“It’s too cold,” I say.

My nipples are pointing out like swords, and the fire is barely doing anything.

“You won’t feel cold when I’m done with you,” Ramses says.

He pulls me up to my feet, pushes me against the rocky wall, and starts pulling my clothes off layer by layer.

When I’m totally naked and shivering, he pushes his own naked body up against me, and it’s hot like a furnace.

And his cock is hard as a rock, and impossibly warm.

I moan in pleasure, and he presses his cock between my legs, then rubs it back and forth against my outer lips. I’m already wet, but as his cock massages my clit and pussy lips, I drip wet on his big teal rod.

His cock starts to vibrate, and he adjusts himself until he’s rubbing slowly back and forth along my clit.

His hands run up and down my body as his vibrating member massages my nub of nerves. He cups my breasts and rubs them until they are so warm that I forget entirely we are in a frozen wasteland. He squeezes and tweaks my nipples.

“One advantage of the cold,” he whispers into my ear.

“Don’t tease me,” I moan.

“I will tease you as much as I like,” he says. “Though I know you like it, too.”

I give up arguing. His cock slides back and forth, dripping with my juices, and my clit is throbbing and swollen against his veiny dick.

Ramses kisses along my neck and up my chin, and he bites and nibbles along my ear. His tongue runs gently along my earlobe, and I can feel his hot breath on my skin.

“Elise,” he whispers into my ear, and I nearly melt just from the sound of his voice and from the way he says my name.

I try to say something back, but I just moan as he licks and bites me.

I reach down and run my hand up and down his shaft. I cup his balls and play with them, and he moans into my ear.

“You like that?” I ask.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I say.

He spins me around, pushing me until my breasts press against the rock.

He slides his steely rod up against my clit, but then he presses his arm onto my back and bends me forward. My hands are flat against the rocky wall, and my back is nearly parallel to the ground.

I look back at him, and he’s staring down at my ass, his soaking wet cock in his hand.

He pushes his dick into me, sinking it into my wet pussy.

I gasp and look forward again, gripping the rock with my fingers. He slides deep into me, and I’m so gushing wet that he readily goes in steadily and deeply despite his enormous girth.

Every part of my body feels warm now, except for my hands against the cold rock. But I’m so hot everywhere else that this one point of coldness comes as a relief, a contrast to the burning hot furnace that is Ramses’s rock-hard body.

As his vibrating cock sinks deep into my wet pussy, he fills me up from the inside with his incredible warmth. There’s no need for a blanket when you have a red-hot Seraphim buried inside you.

Ramses grips my hips and starts to pump me for all he’s worth. I scream out as he thrusts in and out of me.

He pushes me forward until my body is up against the rock, but I keep my ass stuck out so that he can keep fucking me raw. He reaches around and fingers my clit as he drives into me.

“I want to see you,” I say.

He slides his cock out, and I look down and see it covered white in my juices.

He turns me around and pulls me up onto him. I wrap my legs around him and dig my heels into his back. He presses my back against the rocky wall and fucks me hard from the new angle.

We lock eyes with each other, and he leans in and kisses me. His tongue slides into me, and his warm lips press against mine. At the same time his cock slides in and out of me, and his rock-hard body and bulging muscles press against me. My tits press into his chest, and I dig my nails into his chiseled back.

It’s like riding a bull – not that I’ve ever done that – but I imagine it’s a similar feeling: I’m clinging onto this powerful force of nature, and it’s all I can do but hold on and not let him completely overpower me. But if I lose the struggle and he
does
overpower me...it will be an amazing orgasm rather than being bucked off and tossed onto the ground.

I bite his lip as his cock fills me up and my pussy tightens all along his dick.

“So tight…,” he mumbles, never stopping his rhythmic thrusts.

My pussy tightens and pulses around him, and he starts to fuck me harder and faster. I can feel his balls slap against me with each thrust, and I squeeze my legs tighter around his studly body.

When I begin to come, he goes so hard and fast that the sound of our wet slaps fill the entire enclosure – that and my loud cries and euphoric moans.

I feel his cock start to pulse inside of me as incredible warmth overtakes me, and then even more warmth begins to fill me up. Each time his cock pulses, I feel thick wetness filling me up inside.

When he stops thrusting, his cock twitches a few more times, and I feel his seed spilling and leaking out of me.

“I guess if you weren’t really pregnant before,” he says, panting, “you are now.”

I laugh, and he lowers me down. We collapse together against the wall, and he takes my hand in his.

Sweat is dripping down my forehead, and I wipe it off with my free hand. “I’m burning up.”

“I told you,” he says.

“What?”

“That you wouldn’t feel cold when I was done with you.”

I grin at him, and he twitches his ears at me.

“We should probably get dressed, though,” I say.

He looks down at me and lets out a satisfied breath. “Why?”

“Because we
will
get cold,” I say. “The fire is nearly dead.”

I grab my clothes and start to dress, but Ramses just stands naked and watches me. His eyes probe me up and down, and he licks his lips as I clasp my bra.

When I’m fully dressed, I throw his clothes back to him. “Come on, you need to keep warm. We don’t know if Kain will even be able to find any food.”

I hear footsteps from the path, and Kain’s shadow casts across the entrance. And then I see Kain himself, holding chunks of giant spider roped all along his back.

He throws the pieces of spider down on the ground. “Who’s hungry?”