Posted by Extranjero on April 20, 2007 at 15:13:22:
DOLL SOLDIERS (Part 8)
Leilani’s fingers tightened round the pistol. She didn’t have a hope in hell, but she was going to try.
The blonde girl’s trigger finger tensed. She narrowed her green eyes. “Go easy,” she said dryly, “we’re the only friends you’ve got.”
Leilani frowned uncertainly. She fought against a wild urge to pounce. The silenced sub-machine gun didn’t waver. Her firm tits would be full of holes before she laid a finger on the bitch.
The girl’s tanned flesh was grubby and her hair as limp as flax. A pair of goggles hung around her neck. The corners of her pretty mouth quirked upward naturally, but her fresh young face was watchful and unsmiling.
She gestured briefly with the gun. “Both hands behind your neck.” Leilani let her pistol drop, and knelt up cautiously. Her eyes flicked to the girl’s bare tits. They were the sweetest pair she’d ever seen. She felt her own grow taut as she complied with the demand. “So what about the sniper?” she asked dully.
“Nicky just took care of her.” The blonde glanced quickly over at the house. Leilani looked as well, and saw another girl emerge. She was wearing khaki hotpants and a pair of bandoliers across her breasts. A mane of dark red hair spilled round her shoulders. An M16 was braced against her hip.
As she hurried down the track, Leilani heard the scuff of boots behind her. She twisted round instinctively. A third girl had appeared around the jeep. This one wore an army blouse, unbuttoned over pearl-white bra and briefs. The camouflage contrasted with the red of her beret. Her desert boots crunched dryly in the dirt.
Something told Leilani that this girl was in command. Her face was hard but handsome, with a sullen mouth and smouldering brown eyes. Her fair hair was tucked neatly underneath the scarlet cap. A heavy pistol dangled from her hand.
“You get the bitch?” the first girl asked. The redcap nodded grimly. She too had the look of several days out in the field, with her threadbare shirt and grime-discoloured skin. The girl in bandoliers arrived, one nipple peeking out beneath the belts. Her heart-shaped face looked pleasant, but her pale blue eyes were wide.
“A couple of Boars are on their way - I saw them from upstairs.”
“Right, let’s find some cover,” said the redcap evenly. She came up to Leilani. “You’re a dirty-mind as well?”
Leilani blinked. “Whatever. We escaped from them this morning.” She glanced at Wendy’s body. “There were five of us, and now there’s only me.”
“We’ve been living in the Zone. I guess that you could call us Doll Deserters. My name’s Jo, and this fine pair are Nicola and Danni.”
The other two smiled wryly at the obvious double meaning, then started moving off into the grass. Danni kept her finger on the sub-machine gun’s trigger; it was a special-forces MP5. Leilani watched her buttocks flexing in the tight black shorts. “Did Danni use to be a Guard?” she asked.
“Yeah, until she realised what this whole thing was about. Now she kills the bitches and keeps score!” Jo took Leilani’s arm and pulled her upright. “Get moving – they’re just over the next ridge.”
“I’ll be right there,” Leilani said and scurried over to the armoured jeep. The Japanese girl’s sword, still sheathed, was lying in the back. She shouldered it and took one of the dead Guards’ M16s, then followed Jo into the longer grass.
“What is this thing about?” she gasped.
“Possession of the world,” the redcap said.
She gestured and they bellied-down like panthers in the grass. Leilani thought the road looked much too close. Jo took off her scarlet cap and glanced across at her. “Don’t even think of firing, by the way.”
Leilani shrugged and listened to her heartbeat. After a pause, the distant moan of engines reached her ears. The urge to pee grew stronger and she squirmed uncomfortably. “What if they know we’re here?” she asked, dry-mouthed.
“Eighteen is a free-fire range – they don’t always observe it.”
Leilani envied Jo her calm. She swallowed, trying to lubricate her throat. The two jeeps came in sight a minute later. One was like the Boar they had escaped in, but the other had a bulky metal box behind the cab.
The vehicles slowed down. She watched them chugging to a halt. A cloud of pale dust faded on the breeze. Four Guards climbed out of the first and checked the silent jeep, then scanned the ground on both sides of the track. Leilani didn’t blink: she was convinced they’d catch her eye. But the rifle-toting bitches looked right through them. The box-truck rumbled forward and another two got out. “What’s that?” Leilani whispered.
“The Doll’s Hearse.”
One of the Guards went round and swung the box’s back doors open. The sunlight gleamed on metal implements. Leilani caught her breath and felt a churning in her stomach. A row of meat hooks dangled in the gloom.
“They’ve got this new embalming process,” Danni’s low voice said. “It keeps the bodies warm and soft … They patch up any holes … And then they ship the corpses out, as sex-dolls for the male battalions.”
“Jeez …” Leilani whispered, staring numbly at the road. The Guards stripped Wendy’s jacket off and lugged her body over to the truck. The stronger of them hauled her up and sank a hook between her shoulder blades. Wendy slumped and dangled with her tits stuck out, her head tipped to one side. The red splash on her left breast matched her panties perfectly. Leilani glimpsed a damp patch on her crotch.
There were other bodies hanging in the cool interior: the nubile harvest of a different Range. Leilani’s fingers twitched around her gun. Her dark eyes blazed. Then the doors were slammed again. The box-truck lumbered round and drove away. The other jeep stayed where it was, its Guards still on the prowl.
“Right, then,” Jo said hoarsely, “let’s get going.” The four of them eased back on knees and elbows. The ground began to fall away, until they’d slipped into a gentle valley. Then they moved off in a crouch, Leilani looking back over her shoulder. The bowl of grassland screened them off. The whole world seemed deserted. But part of her was in that truck and weeping over Wendy, while Wendy’s bosom bounced with every jolt.
* * *
As darkness fell, they moved into an area strewn with shattered vehicles. One was being chewed by flames, a beacon in the dusk. Leilani thought they’d stay well clear, but the others settled in the nearest hollow. She watched them gather wood and light a fire from the wreck. There were trees around the rim, but little cover.
“Don’t worry,” Jo said dryly, “it’s the last place that they’ll look. As far as they’re concerned, we’re just more wreckage.” Her London accent made her sound robust and down-to-earth. She took a swig from Nicola’s canteen.
A noise arose from somewhere in the distance and the dark. It sounded like a heavy JCB. Leilani’s fine hairs stiffened as she turned her head to look. She heard a squeak and clatter through the roar.
“Christ, what’s that?” she muttered. There was nothing she could see.
“Recluses, heading back to base,” said Nicola beside her. She saw Leilani’s doubtful look and gestured carelessly. “The automated tanks they use. Recluses – like those spiders in their holes. This is a tank range, but we’ll be safe if we just stay out of their way.”
Leilani nodded, doe eyes wide, and listened as the noise passed right to left. Eventually it faded and she sat down wearily. “So what are we all doing here?” she asked.
“We got conscripted for a war we never knew about.” Jo paused to light a half-smoked cigarette. “One day I was working in a shop; the next, I was parading in my panties! They were training us so hard that girls were dying every day. But there were always more to take their place.”
“From what I heard,” said Danni, “there’s been fighting on the fringes everywhere. We thought that life was comfortable when we were in the World, but no-one said the house was burning down! If you survive the training, you’re shipped off to fight and die. The outlook isn’t hot for girls our age.”
Leilani nodded dumbly as she tried to take that in. Of course she’d been as carefree as the rest. A preening, pleasure-loving girl – intelligent but shallow. She took a hard look at herself and shifted with discomfort.
The small fire crackled fitfully and glowed on their bare skin. The night was warm, but she could feel a chill. On impulse she got up and drew the Japanese girl’s sword. The steel was light. It balanced perfectly. She took the weapon in both hands and swished it back and forth. The other girls sat watching her, intrigued.
Leilani slashed the darkness, and then blocked a phantom blow. Her muscles rippled in the firelight. Her instincts had been honed, and they were warming to the weapon. She swung around and thrust the sword out straight.
“It suits you,” murmured Danni. “And you look like you’ve got ancestors from there.”
Leilani flicked her hair out of her eyes and gave a shrug. “My mother’s Filipina, but I don’t suppose that counts.”
The night was deep and silent now. She hunkered down again. “So do you, like, resist the Guard?” she asked.
“Uh-uh. We just scavenge round the Ranges. Keep our heads down. We’d have no chance if they came after us.”
“Guess not,” said Leilani. She sat brooding, then looked up. “How many brainwashed girls are in the town?”
“Maybe fifty at a time,” said Danni.
“Fifty soldiers … psyched to kill. So the Guards are sitting on a powder keg.”
“What’s your point?” Jo murmured warily.
The sword was on Leilani’s knees. She turned it, and the keen edge caught the light. “They’ll be expecting us to run – so what if we go back and light the fuse?”
The others simply stared at her. Then Danni shook her head. “You’re kidding, girl. That’s total suicide!”
“Maybe,” said Leilani. “So you want to live for ever?”
The ex-Guard eyed her thoughtfully, then glanced down. “Not like this.”
Leilani felt adrenalin start fizzing through her veins. She glanced around at Nicola and Jo. Anxiety and eagerness tinged Nicola’s expression. But then she nodded sharply. “Yeah … why not?”
“How about you, Jo?” Leilani murmured. “Are you going let those bitches keep you down?”
Jo was gazing at the flames. She gave a twisted smile. “What is it they say?” she mused. “Live fast, die young … and leave a good-looking corpse.”
Leilani glanced at Danni and her sumptuous bare tits.
“I reckon we can manage that,” she said.
* * *
The Sanctum was in shadow. The Commanders were just shapes. They sat around the ring like giant chessmen. Jaz knelt naked in their midst, her heartbeat thudding quickly. The candles glimmered on her warm brown skin.
The air beyond the ring of flames was thick with gloom and incense. The red eyes glowed like embers in the dark. She doubted the Commanders even had a sense of smell, but the ancient rituals could still placate them. Thus, in the forgotten past, the Old Sumerians had appeased their demons.
“How did the inferior come to enter our domain?” The voice was a thick slur. It chilled her heart. Jaz’s dark hair was unpinned to spill across her shoulders. Her skin was prickling from their scrutiny.
“Security was breached, my Lord. My flesh is yours to do with as you will.”
She spoke with her eyes lowered, arms submissive at her sides. There was no point trying to beg the things for mercy. One Commander’s eyes flared up, and stinging pain engulfed her naked breasts. Jaz grimaced and clenched her fists. The eyes grew dim again.
“Another lapse will not be tolerated,” said the voice. “Now leave, and be attentive to your duties. Our rule is still resisted. We need warriors for the field. THIS ARMY MUST BE READY TO MARCH OUT.”
Jaz bowed deeply, forehead to the floor, and then withdrew. She felt their evil gaze against her back. Out in the cool corridor, she paused to get her breath. Her heart slogged thickly underneath her ribs. At length she put her robe back on and tied the belt as tight as she could bear. Then she padded back along the dim-lit passageway, her bare feet scuffing on the marble floor.
Vincent was waiting in her rooms, his handsome face as chilly-eyed as ever. He wore a linen suit and open shirt: no soldier he. The Eye of the Commanders was a pin on his lapel. He knew the threat, but wasn’t fazed by it.
He handed her a glass of wine. She downed it in one swallow. “They want results, right now,” she said. “So how’s the programme going?”
Before he could reply, there was the sound of boots outside. A pale and nervous-looking Guard was marched into the room. She gave a galvanised salute. Her escorts waited silently behind her.
“You were Watch-Keeper today?” Jaz asked her silkily.
“Yes, Battalion Leader.” The girl moistened her full lips.
“So tell me, how did these recruits escape?”
“I’m trying to find out, Battalion Leader. The duty section leader was the first Guard at the gate. She opened fire on them, but missed. I’ll have her disciplined.”
“I think you need some discipline yourself,” said Jaz, and jerked her head. A cord looped round the girl’s neck from behind. She clawed at it, eyes widening in panic – then grunted as the loop was twisted tight. Jaz saw her nipples stiffen through her tee-shirt. The girl squirmed vainly, sticking out her tongue. Vincent watched her writhing with a clinical cold interest. She gave a final gurgle and went limp.
Jessika eased the body to the floor and straightened up. Her eyes were luminous with satisfaction. Jaz nodded curtly to her and returned her gaze to Vincent. “So how’s your army doing, then?” she asked.
“Everything’s in place to run tomorrow’s exercise. That’s seven battles over thirteen areas. The ones who come through that will be all ready for the front. The Dolls are all psyched up. They’ll fight like furies.”
“Excellent,” Jaz murmured. “What’s the code name?”
“I’ve called it Operation Iron Angel.”
“Good.” She glanced at Jessika. “Take your demoted colleague to the Doll’s House. She always was a brainless cow, but at least we’ll put her body to good use.”
Jessika saluted and Rebekah dragged the body from the room. Outside in the passageway, the two of them examined the slumped corpse. Rebekah poked her tongue out mockingly, then glanced across. “So what about the duty section leader?”
“If the bitch had learned to shoot, we would have saved a lot of casualties. How many Guards got killed in the escape?”
“Twenty-three, Spearhead Leader.”
Jessika glanced down at the garrotted girl and shrugged. “What the hell – let’s make it twenty-five.”
* * *
The first thin light of dawn was coming up over the Zone. The bulky Doll’s Hearse rumbled down the track. A red sign at a junction warned of the Recluses’ range. They almost missed the stray Doll Soldier’s corpse.
The girl was face-down in the grass. She wore a red beret. It showed up in the fading lights and caught the driver’s eye. The truck came squeaking to a halt and two butch Guards climbed out. “I guess she crawled out here to die,” said one.
Danni sat up in the grass behind them. Her MP5 was set to three-round bursts. She squeezed one into each girl’s back – a spitting cough that dropped them where they stood. Jo was scrambling up before their bodies had stopped moving. Leilani and Nicola emerged between the trees.
Nicola went round and pulled the Hearse’s back doors open, her rifle levelled in her other hand. Leilani’s stomach tightened, but the body store was empty. The meat hooks glinted in the growing light.
Jo came round to join them and they climbed into the truck. The store was cold. It smelled of dead girls’ flesh. Leilani pulled a face and sat beneath the dangling hooks, her sword and rifle ready at her side.
Danni climbed into the cab and laid her weapon on the seat beside her. The driver’s shades were folded on the dash. Her own dust goggles hung around her throat; she fingered them -then slipped the shades on, blanking out her stare.
The Doll’s Hearse revved and rumbled slowly forward. The wicked hooks clinked dully in the back. Danni’s pert lips flattened in a grim, determined line. As her companions checked their guns, she steered towards the distant citadel.