Goblins.
by Vanderbilt.
Chapter Three.
Rachel lead the way into the darkness, Beth with Juli, Sam and Maria following close behind. Water dripped from the ceiling of the fetid tunnel. Sharp little tap-tap-taps that jabbed at Juli’s nerves.
Rachel froze; they all felt the pocket of musk shifting against their skin. It made a new kind of sweat bead down Juli’s spine.
“Kill the lights,” said Rachel. She had a small military backpack strapped on her back. Her long athletic form crouched then vanished as the flashlights died.
Juli could feel Beth’s warm curves pressed against her thigh, suddenly intensely aware of the redhead’s big soft breasts. Beth had been helping Juli move down the space between the old rail tracks, so they already had their arms around each other. Behind her, Juli heard boots scuffle and scrape as Sam and Maria crouched.
“Shit.” Maria. “My boots st . . . .”
Sam’s shush sounded preternaturally loud in the inky-black.
Juli wondered if the two girls were clinging to each other for comfort. Or maybe for something more. She imagined goblins waiting for them somewhere up ahead, silent and naked in the dark. She bit her lip against the spike of arousal. The scent hung in the air around them.
“It get’s to you, don’t it,” whispered Beth. Her lips nuzzled against Juli’s ear. Juli pressed into her instinctively. “I’m sorry,” said Beth. “I’m not myself.”
“It’s okay,” said Juli.
Crossing through the tunnel under the river to reach the island had been muddy, but straightforward. The only scare had been the short hop above ground to the nearest subway entrance from the old downtown train station. Juli had imagined abandoned cars strewn in the streets, but instead empty vistas yawned between the tall buildings. They’d skirted the solid slab of the old post office building, heads and weapons flicking spasmodically despite cover of night, before descending with relief back into the true dark below ground. However, in the subway, half the tunnels had started to flood, making progress slow.
Every now and then, pockets of the scent drifted down from the streets above, filling Juli’s mind with the memory of Rowan’s white eyes and soft surrendering moans. She reached her hand up to stroke Beth’s red hair, turning her head to press against the other woman’s skin.
“Keep alert, soldiers,” said Rachel.
Rachel’s head-torch flicked on again, pointing at the damp ground under her boots. She shuffled backward towards them, gun pointed forward, the dim outline of the old third rail on her right. She crouched and glanced back when she got to Beth and Juli. If she felt anything at the sight of the two of them clutched together, she didn’t show it.
Rachel spoke quietly, “Come with me, Doctor. . . . Sergeant, keep your weapon ready.”
“Yes, Lieutenant,” said Beth. She unslung her rifle from her left shoulder and pointed it into the dark in front of them.
Rachel’s hand on her lower back made Juli feel light-headed. She let Rachel guide her to turn, putting her arm over Rachel’s shoulders to take her weight. A prickle of pin needles shot up from her ankle, momentarily clearing the fog in her head. Rachel had scavenged a pair of rubber boots and a rain jacket in the old condo building for her, but other than that Juli still wore her sweats. Her arousal didn’t dim an iota, if anything the closeness of Rachel’s hard body made it leap. Some part of her told her Charlotte wouldn’t have minded. Charlotte would have wanted her to move on.
“Ready, Doctor?” said Rachel.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” said Juli. Rachel’s hand squeezed Juli just above her hip and then they moved in step in a slow, steady time. She could hear Maria and Sam’s heavy breathing in the dark.
Sam knelt with her arms around Maria, stroking the back of her head. Maria’s hair had plastered across her face. Her breath hissed through her teeth. Sam had obviously taken off Maria’s backpack.
Rachel’s small ring of torchlight played across Maria’s right boot. It had got trapped in a pothole just beside the rail. Juli’s nose wrinkled as a smell of something foul momentarily tainted the air. A rat scuttled past, disappearing behind one of the wooden blocks on which the rail sat.
“She can’t move it,” said Sam.
“Fucking ankle,” said Maria. “Broke it twice playing soccer. It’s always this fucking one. . . . It won’t move.” Juli could see Maria’s lips twitching in the torch shadows, teeth starting to chatter despite the heat in the tunnel. She knelt down and touched Maria’s cheek.
“What position did you play, Maria?” she asked. Rachel squeezed Juli’s shoulder and stepped around to get a closer look at the stuck boot.
“What? Oh. Center-forward,” said Maria. Sam sat back, but kept her hand on Maria’s left arm.
“Uh-huh? How many goals you get?” Juli smiled, leaning forward.
“Um . . . ,” Maria’s forehead creased, “Ten. I scored a hat-trick in the city finals.”
“Awesome, I played goalie. We should play some time,” said Sam. Maria’s eyes lit up. Sam leaned forward and kissed her cheek, then suddenly dropped her head, twitching self-consciously. Rachel scraped at the mud around Maria’s boot with a little pen-knife.
“That’s really great,” said Juli. “I used to play soccer myself. Lonnnnng ago.”
“I think we just need to untie the boot,” said Rachel. “Then you should be able to get your foot out, okay, Maria?”
Maria nodded. Rachel pulled the laces apart and Sam shifted to give Maria some room. The girl twisted, “It’s not fucking coming ou. . . oh. Cool.” Sam laughed.
Rachel pulled the boot loose. She smiled as she handed the boot over, “Okay, good job, soldier. Let’s watch our step a bit more in future.”
“Yes, Lieutenant,” said Maria. She started to pull her boot back on. The musk in the air had faded a little.
Rachel stood and spoke so Beth could hear too, “Let’s take five then start moving again. Keep your lights off till then.”
Rachel helped Juli back towards Beth. As they shuffled back, Juli turned her head in towards Rachel’s. “You didn’t need me for that,” said Juli.
Beneath the light from her torch, Rachel’s black eyes smiled at her, “I needed your bedside manner, Doctor.”
“Oh, right,” said Juli. She thought. “Well, if you need it, you’ve got my bedside manner any time you . . . uh. . . . No problem.”
“Thank you, Juli,” said Rachel. Beth still crouched with her rifle diligently pointing into the darkness. Rachel helped Juli ease down beside Beth and then sat down next to her.
Juli felt absurdly happy for the first time in an age.
The tunnel under their feet started to climb up a gentle slope. Beth and Juli had settled into a rhythm with Juli’s left foot moving in time with Beth’s right, Juli’s toes gingerly taking a little weight. Occasionally, a rat squeaked in surprise at the unexpected visitors to its domain and then there would be a sudden rush of scratchings in the dark around them.
“Any idea how far we got to go?” whispered Beth. “You lived here, didn’t you?”
Juli saw the torchlight on Rachel’s head turn slightly up ahead. She shrugged. “No idea. Somewhere on the blue line I think. I’m sure, Rach . . . the Lieutenant knows.”
Rachel’s head turned forwards again. Juli didn’t know if she’d imagined a smile on Rachel’s face. Possibly.
“Juli, where’d ya live?” asked Sam from behind them.
“Midtown,” said Juli. “My grandmother got it in the forties. Rent stabilized.”
“What’s rent stabilized?” asked Sam. Maria giggled and started humming a tune.
They’d come to an old station. The torch batteries had started to die, but Juli could see the base of the iron pylons separating one side of the station from the other. The edge of the platform occasionally popped up over to her left as Beth’s torch bobbled its fading beam around.
“Start spreading the news,” sang Maria.
Rachel stopped and turned, silhouetted by her torchlight. Juli could sense her annoyance just from the set of her shoulders. The singing sounded loud in the open space of the station. Juli pointed Beth up to look at the pillars she knew had to be on the platform. She saw the station name; did the math.
“We’re at the park,” Juli said. Beth grinned. Rachel shook her head and waved for the group to keep going.
Juli joined in the song, “I want to be a part of it. . . . Come on, Lieutenant.”
The station smelled of damp mud and decay. The air circulated better inside the station space, making the heat that little bit less oppressive. In fact, better than that—it felt deliciously cool compared to the rail tunnels. Beth’s light played across the platform, between its pillars, and Juli thought about the times she’d got out there on the way to the opera with Charlotte, pushing together through the crowds.
Beth and Juli approached Rachel where she stood in the middle of the track. Beth still grinning, her big green eyes joyful in the moment, started singing too. She squeezed Juli’s side, practically lifting her along in step. Maria and Sam’s voices lilted in something approaching the tune behind them.
“If you can make it there,” they all chorused.
Rachel stretched her neck from side-to-side with deliberate care. Her black eyes stared at Juli, high cheekbones and full lips standing out in the torch shadow. Her lips twitched ever-so slightly at one corner, head tilting forward a little.
“You’re encouraging insubordination, Doctor,” said Rachel. “I can’t have that.”
Juli opened her mouth. Rachel raised an elegant eyebrow and Juli felt her stomach hollow with the sudden hot flush of desire. Not the kind that came from the musk. The kind that came from honest-to-goodness lust. God, it felt great.
I’ve been a very bad girl. I’ll take my punishment now, Ma’am. Please.
“It’s up to you,” sang Maria, Sam and Beth, getting to the big finish.
Light slammed down on them from an overhead walkway.
Rachel reacted first. Rifle coming to her shoulder.
“Move! Move!”
A goblin jumped at the bottom of the far stairs as the bullet took it in the chest. More of them jumped over the body, the muscles in their pale limbs rippling, the purple lesions running up their sides blurred in the puddles of dark and light made by the pillars. Too many.
Sam and Maria started backward. Hands clutched to mouths in reflex shock. Juli felt frozen, her brain trying to process the lights shining down from above, illuminating them on the rail tracks. The goblins came between the pillars in long graceful strides; the first two leaping at the edge of the platform, arcing to crash into Maria and Sam.
“No!”
Beth’s rifle opened up. Juli fell to the track, her ankle shooting white pain as it unexpectedly took her whole weight. A hand grabbed the back of her rain jacket, hauling her to her feet. Guns flashed. She stumbled and turned. The high-pitched whine of bullets ricocheting from brick and metal bit through the air.
“Keep going! Keep going!”
Rachel’s voice screaming.
Juli saw Sam struggling on the tracks, a slender bald goblin wrestling on top of her trying to force its way past the hands in front of Sam’s face. Saliva spraying from its tongue. Its head suddenly snapped to one side and it dropped off the girl. Sam scrabbled upwards. Beth hurtled forward to grab the girl’s arm.
Juli’s ears rang. She couldn’t seem to move her limbs.
A goblin dropped into the track behind Beth, curling its arms around her neck. She saw Beth butt her head back, breaking the hold, then turning to run, yanking Sam along with her. She passed Rachel.
Rachel dropped her rifle and drew the black pistols from her hips, white flashes spitting out into the goblins. They scattered. Rachel looked up at the walkway and shot out the floodlight.
“Juli! Come on!” Beth howled, pausing for a moment to spin Juli around. They ran into the dark.
Juli saw Maria in her mind’s eye, arching her back, arms and legs splaying, in spasm beneath the goblin’s kiss.
“Inventory,” said Rachel. She sounded breathless.
“I’m out,” said Beth.
Juli held Sam in her arms, sitting against the tunnel wall. The girl cried into her shoulder, making soft little sobs. Juli rocked her. She heard Rachel moving in the dark close by.
“I have another set of clips for the pistols. And we’ve got Sam’s rifle.” Rachel gently pried the rifle from Sam’s shoulder, Juli lifted her arms to let her get it loose. Juli hugged the girl tight again.
“Lieutenant,” said Beth. “What was that? They used lights.”
“Don’t know,” said Rachel. “It never happened before.”
They listened to the dark. They could hear the goblins’ soft moaning at the ends of the tunnel. Coming from either side.
Beth sounded shaken, “What are they waiting for? Why don’t they just come down here to get us?”
Juli heard the click as Rachel checked the rifle’s mechanism.
“My guess is they don’t want to get shot,” said Rachel. “They’re going to let the musk drift down to us. Give it time to climb inside our heads and hope we’ll just lie down and spread our legs for them. . . . Sergeant, here’s the rifle.”
“Thanks,” said Beth.
Juli kissed Sam on top of the head. Her brow creased, “Rachel, what do you mean this never happened before?”
Water dripped from the ceiling. A rat squeaked. “Rachel?”
“Centcom has no reports of it,” said Rachel. “They’re instinctive, driven by appetite, act as a collective, but not . . . not technological.”
Juli licked her dry lips, “You got that from Centcom? Where did you say they are?”
She heard Rachel moving in the dark again. “Doctor, I need you to . . . .”
They heard somebody stumbling towards them from the direction they’d come. The first touch of the musk washed over them. Juli felt her body responding, her pussy disobeying her mind as it started to drip.
“Oh, shit,” said Beth. “Here it comes.”
“If you think you have the target—shoot at will,” said Rachel.
The stumbling sounded louder now, getting closer.
“It’s coming along the wall,” said Rachel. “Doctor, please move Sam back.”
Juli ignored the pain in her ankle as she tugged Sam up and back. The adrenaline running through her had dulled it anyway. She discovered a shallow alcove in the wall and rested Sam in it. Her head rested back against wood. Juli’s nostrils dilated drinking in the musk hanging in the air. She heard Rachel’s boots scrape on the ground next to the wall.
“I’ve got this one,” said Rachel. “Just a little closer.”
Juli imagined the goblin stumbling forward in the dark, its hand against the wall. Driven by instinct and appetite.
Juli’s nipples stiffened as Sam moved against her. She’d stopped sobbing. The girl’s lips came up and pressed against Juli’s. She kissed back.
The stumbling sounded very close now.
“Got you,” said Rachel.
“Don’t . . . ,” a voice husked. “Don’t . . . shoot.”
Sam stiffened and sat up, breaking the kiss, “Omigod, Maria.” She stood up. Juli felt the loss like a void.
“She got away!” said Beth.
“No,” said Rachel. “She didn’t.”
“Please . . . oh, god, it’s sooo good,” said Maria. “Please . . . She wants me to talk to you before . . . my thoughts melt away.”
“Stay where you are,” said Rachel. Her torchlight flicked on. Juli levered herself up against the side of the alcove. Juli heard Sam gasp.
Maria stood against the wall about ten feet away from Rachel. Her skin had turned deathly pale, her black curls framing solid white eyes. Juli could see the marks starting to form on the sides of Maria’s neck. Her small, high breasts stood out, with thick dark nipples upright. Maria’s left hand rested against the wall to guide her in the darkness. The other drifted across her right breast, the back of the fingers brushing lightly across the swollen tip. The musk licked a wicked tongue inside Juli’s pussy, the soft moaning floating to her ears suddenly making it thrum.
“What the fuck do you mean ‘She’ wants you to talk to us?” Rachel pointed her pistol at Maria’s chest.
Maria’s head rolled lightly from side-to-side. She hummed a high-pitched note that teased between Juli’s legs. She saw Maria’s hand drift downwards, out of the torch light for a moment, then the circle of light followed it down. They watched Maria part her dark labia, her fingers opening herself up and slipping inside.
“My thoughts are melting . . . it’s bliss.” Maria’s fingers dipped, spreading her pussy lips open. “It’s so incredible. . . . I can feel . . . Her.” Her glistening middle finger traced up to her clit.
“She’s deep inside . . . beneath the surface. . . . Oh god,” Maria’s voice husked. “Sam, I want you to feel it.” Juli heard Sam’s soft, excited gasps.
She’s touching herself.
“I want you to feel what it’s like. . . ,” Maria exhaled slowly. “Surrendering to Her.”
Maria’s finger moved in a slow rhythm, tracing the path along her dripping cunt. Juli heard somebody sobbing in the darkness, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t look away. She watched Maria’s fingers stroke and touch, in and out. They all did. Teasing the entrance to her pussy then rising to play around the hood of her clit.
Juli let her own fingers push down inside her sweatpants. She bit her lip as she found her bud.
“It’s . . . like melting into the sea.” Maria brought her hands up to her small breasts, squeezing them. Her hard nipples stood out between her spread fingers.
“I can feel myself . . . .” She sighed, “Slipping away. . . .” She let her breasts go, sliding her hands under them, then onto her flat stomach.
“And I want it.” Her voice broke, “Oh, god, I want it so much.” Bringing her hands back down to her molten core.
Rachel’s pistol hung by her side. Juli could see her shoulders moving, breathing deeply, her light playing over Maria’s slow movements. Watching Maria’s fingers move up again to trace around her belly button in small circles, before bringing both hands back down to deep between her thighs. Maria arched forward, her hips undulating.
Juli could hear somebody sighing in time to Maria’s beat. Maybe herself.
She saw Rachel’s left arm moving in the dark, her hips flexing. An intense rush of heat ran through her as she realized they were both touching themselves. Giving in to the heavenly scent, wanting to be obedient, wanting to feel what Maria felt.
Juli heard ragged gasps close by her, one of the others making themselves cum. She pressed her fingers in deep and moaned as her thighs shook.
Oh, god, Maria’s right. It feels so good.
“She wants you all to feel this, Rachel.” Maria’s palms slid down her inner thighs, parting them. “She’s . . . our Queen. . . .” Her puffy labia glistened in the light, Rachel’s hips jerked in two sudden violent thrusts.
“All the pain, all the memories, they’re . . . going away, Sam. . . .” Maria’s pale neck arched, the purple lesions become visible on its sides. Sam sobbed out loud.
“She loves you . . . Juli. Saw you under the tree.” Juli’s wet cunt vibrated. “She knows you . . . want to be with Her.” Juli shut her eyes, her thighs clenching again around her slick fingers.
“Beth . . . She.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Beth’s voice jerked Juli out of her fugue. Rachel’s torchlight left Maria and turned on Beth. She had her rifle up, pointed at Maria. Juli could see tears running down Beth’s cheeks.
“Sergeant . . . Beth, lower your rifle, this is still Maria,” said Rachel.
“Not for much longer,” said Beth. She didn’t lower the weapon. “It’s casting a goddam spell on y’all.”
“It’s-ss true,” said Maria, her voice slurring. “Getting hard to . . . to . . . Sam, pleas-ssse . . . .”
“Beth, please, don’t,” said Sam. “Please.” She put her hand on the rifle. Pressed it down. Beth let her.
“We shoot her, but only once she’s gone,” said Rachel. Sam cried out.
Juli shut her eyes. She felt a breath of air against the side of her face through a hole in the wood. Explored with her fingers. Had an adrenaline-fuelled epiphany.
“I think this is a service tunnel,” said Juli. “This alcove.”
Rachel’s torchlight swung across her, “Stand out of the way, Doctor.” Juli moved and the pistol flashed twice. “Everybody in.”
Beth took Juli under the arm.
“I’m not going.” Sam had her flashlight on. “I’m staying with her.”
The goblin moaned. Sending shivers licking down Juli’s spine. It smiled at Sam in the torch beam, reaching up to twist and pull its nipples. Its tongue darted out across its lips.
“Sam . . . ,” said Rachel.
Sam shook her head, “She won’t hurt me. . . . And when it happens . . . it’ll be better than this.”
Rachel nodded. “Good luck then, soldier.”
The goblin walked towards Sam, ignoring them. It reached out slowly and she took its hand.
“Move out,” said Rachel. They hurried into the service tunnel. Behind them the light died, they could hear the goblin singing to Sam.
For a time, Sam’s wordless, ecstatic cries came to them as they fled through the mud.
The service tunnel came out near a subway entrance. Daylight came down the stairs.
“They’re going to be coming up through the tunnel after us soon,” said Rachel. “Can’t wait for night. Best bet is to keep moving and get into the park.”
“Then what?” said Juli. Beth nodded agreement; they both looked at Rachel.
“We know they have a Queen,” said Rachel. “So the mission stays the same, but the goals have changed. We’re not just looking for intelligence on the outbreak. We’re looking for her.”