*** 8. A New Era ***
Life on Cypher Island hadn't changed.
The two former residents slipped right back into running delivery errands, mostly from Veil Shore to the city. Their slave did all the carrying, so they could take on bigger jobs.
There had never been much to do, though.
While the golden sperm symbols were a welcome sight, the trio was still debating if they wanted to go back out eventually – if could afford it. It wasn't a question of money, though, it was just a fact that the Jolly might not be willing to bury the hatchet. Perhaps they never would.
When Perk docked again at Veil Shore, it took no prodding on Cumshot's part. They were all game for a free ride.
But of course, they didn't want to go back to Lightboon or Darkbane, rather they had to stay out of Jolly territory.
The trash punks hadn't forgotten what the scavenger's had done and still wanted revenge, but they had to take it slow and gain power before striking.
Back at the shore, it didn't take more than a few days for them to hear that Gutter Chapel had been cleared out and the Jolly gang was cut in half. Exocage had a lot of new prisoners.
It was a good start.
Going around between the spare hamlets, farms and workshops across the zone wasn't particularly fulfilling work. They wanted something more exciting.
Xyz dared to go into the Buster capital at night, hoping to spot something on the bulletin board they wouldn't have otherwise heard about.
He came back with a flyer.
"Yo, take a fucking look. Someone's offing people on the roads."
"Fuck, that's serious," Cumshot said. "I've never heard of a serial killer in this area. Robbing, enslaving sure. Even drugging guys so you can fuck a sleeping man if you're into that. But murder..."
"Maybe," Dumbfuck said slowly, "we'll be heroes and can stop hiding in the bushes."
Xyz chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Still got to catch the bastard."
As the only non-freak, Xyz looked the least threatening. It fell to him to walk along the killer's usual route and serve as bait.
Meanwhile the other two stayed behind at a distance and tried to move mostly in the foliage.
Three things made it difficult:
One, the murderer struck at random so they had no idea how long it would take to find him.
Two, they couldn't really do any other missions in the meantime, including delivery. This left their funds running low, so they mostly lived off standard protein bar #8. Cumshot didn't mind, especially considering how many flavors there were to try, but the others complained.
Three, NewLaw had established a presence in the area to deal with the killings. The murders had gotten few and far between.
After two weeks of boring roaming along the same few trails every day, Xyz was finally attacked.
A man with a black hip scarf wrapped around his face slid out from the bushes and followed the boy quietly. Xyz didn't even realize.
While the hidden trash punks emerged, too, they saw a second veiled figure follow the first. A killer duo! Both had knives as expected.
Cumshot and Dumbfuck closed in from behind but the first figure jogged ahead and moved to stab Xyz. His skin armor wasn't going to stop the blade, only slow it down if he was lucky.
"Watch out!" Cumshot yelled.
Both killers turned around and the one with the knife raised bailed instantly. The one farther behind hesitated and looked back and forth. It was a fatal mistake.
Dumbfuck jumped the distance and broke the killer's skull.
"After the other one," Cumshot said, unnecessarily. Xyz was already dashing into the jungle.
They followed the veiled figure into the thicket far off the path. The three arrived at a wooden hut, shadowed by large trees. There was no trace of the murderer.
The punks closed in on the hut.
"Yo, here's the plan." Cumshot motioned them to duck. "I climb on the roof and fog the place up. You two go left and right of the entrance. If anyone can spot the guy you wave to the others like this. And if... uh..."
Dumbfuck sniffed. "Your smoke smells weird."
"That's not mine. I'm not making any yet. Why is there fog... it's kinda... I'm so... tired..."
Cumshot dropped first, but the sleeping gas didn't knock him out before he heard the other two sink into the grass as well.
A pink thong... NewLaw...
"...Good thing we kept looking..."
Whose voice was that?"
"So there was a second one. That's the murder case solved."
What were they talking about?
"What do we do with his slaves? Check by the auction house before dropping the killer off?"
"Actually, I know a guy..."
Cumshot moved his tired arm. There was metal around his neck. Then everything faded again.
It was an excavation site. Someone had stumbled over a vault from the precursors which had turned out to be at the rim of a much bigger settlement.
Slaves were needed to dig out any relics. There were important artefacts in those mud sunken buildings.
Stripped of their pouches, the three punks had nothing to their name but the collars and the chastity cages. They were gene-bound to a guy who loved to shout orders, but who otherwise stayed in the background.
Cumshot dug with his shovel under the blazing sun, until it was time for food. Most slaves were fairly new and only just discovered the sensations that came with chastity.
At the side of the flat spot of grass where the slaves ate, the few guards had set up a wrestling match. Ten lucky winners were going to get fucked up the ass by the guards.
Dumbfuck was obviously going to win.
"Yo Xyz," Cumshot said and inched closer to his friend. "You're not entering the little tournament?"
Xyz shrugged and swallowed his nutrition mush. "The losers are being kicked out in front of the fence for ten minutes. I heard the shocks and throat crushing are enough to make you go mad. Not risking it. Maybe when I'm so horny I don't care anymore."
Cumshot sighed. "You think we'll be stuck here? I'd rather get out and hope our tagger is still where we hid it. The Jolly are weaker than ever."
"Dude, I'm not sure anyone's told you, but we're fucking slaves now."
"Maybe the excavation will be over quickly and we'll move on. Maybe even go on adventures again. I heard some gangs consist of a lot of slaves."
"Yeah, maybe it'll be a quick job."
Over One Year Later:
The ancient ruins now rose up around the excavation, the ground a network of trenches.
Cumshot had become a favorite in the wrestling ring. He had been afraid to use his freak powers – afraid he'd be punished for it. But the guards found it entertaining how the chaos his smoke caused could turn the tide of battle.
All three punks were pretty well fucked. Still, they got maybe two anal orgasms per week, leaving them on edge for days at a time.
Most of Cumshot's days was occupied by digging mud and carrying rocks. His frame had gained a lot of definition, even though his weight had barely increased.
The sweat drenched boy hit another rock in the ground. He got down and used the trowel to free it.
"Yo, aren't you a former trash punk?" someone said.
Cumshot looked up.
Olive hair, forearms wrapped. The neon-typical tatts were new and so was the loin cloth, but the face – though slightly less round – was unmistakable.
"E!" Cumshot said. "What are you doing here?"
"Repairing a tent. How did you end up as a slave? Fucked over the wrong guy?"
"You could say that."
"So... Is Dumbfuck here, too?"
"Yeah, about two rows that way."
"Thanks, I'll have a look."
Another Week Later:
"Yo," E said. "I've been talking to Dumbfuck a lot."
Cumshot looked up from his protein bar. "Yeah?"
"He doesn't have much time to fuck and we have to be careful not to be seen or he'll be punished. So... I thought it'd be better if he stopped being a slave."
"Oh... I mean, sure it would be. Keep dreaming kid."
"No really," E insisted. "I can free him. I acquired a few skills and a bit of tech for... reasons. But he said he wanted you both to come with him."
"That's nice of him... uh..."
"Well, my plan was to smuggle him out and free him when we were a little bit away. He'd get the full force of the collar for a few minutes, but I'd quickly rebind him to myself until I could figure out how to drop the collar altogether. Then we'd be boyfriends till forever."
"Romantic. But I'm guessing you can't have three guys leave at once without anyone noticing."
E nodded. "I'll have to do it one by one. See you later."
One day after that, Cumshot couldn't find Dumbfuck anymore. Had the slave really been freed? Hopefully it hadn't taken too long so the brute didn't have to feel the collars punishment for more than a few minutes. It was really that bad.
Two days later, Xyz vanished as well. Of course the remaining slave punk expected to be "kidnapped" next and stayed close to the excavation's fence.
It took a whole week for E to show up again.
"Yo," the boy said from the other side of the wire barrier. "I'm back."
"Wow, I thought you'd leave me behind," Cumshot said and made sure they weren't getting observed.
"Come closer. I have the device right here. But..."
"But?"
"You and Xyz are wearing the new models. I can't crack those. No chance. I can only rebind them. Xyz was okay with being bound to Dumbfuck. The muscle freak is a free man again."
"I guess I'd be okay with that, too. If it gets me out of here."
"Great. Get closer, hold still. Just a moment..."
Dumbfuck had never actually been Cumshot's slave since the brute's collar had never been bound. It was still a weird reversal and would take some getting used to.
At least, they'd be out and about again soon. Dumbfuck the trash punk leader and his two trash punk slave boys. Or maybe E was going to be the leader now? Things were changing, that much was certain.
E did a lot more for the punks than just free them – for a certain meaning of free.
He got them dick pouches so they could be seen in public, gave them a place to sleep (he had his own little workshop now) and joined their talks about the next few steps, supplying information about what had happened over the last year.
The Jolly gang had crumbled but was on the way back up. Most of them would have no recollection of their encounter with the punks unless they saw a freak making smoke to prod their memories.
The trash punks had never really needed a leader between them, but Dumbfuck now took that position. He didn't treat his friends any different but he was the one giving orders and, being gene-bound to him, they couldn't split up.
One thing he found funny was making the other two carry stuff, since that had always been his job. While the strength freak went without baggage, Cumshot and Xyz had to be the ones carrying the group's bags.
Dumbfuck's first order was to find out if Perk was still around.
The captain docked at Lightboon days later and thoroughly fucked the brute after congratulating him on escaping the collar.
The punks wanted to leave but Perk's first station on his next trip was going to be Illusion.
They couldn't tell him why they didn't want to go there, but he was kind enough to grant E a trip for free.
Since E had never seen the tower in the ocean, he was happy about the opportunity.
The boy didn't understand what was so funny about it, but Cumshot couldn't keep the grin hidden. It was just hiliarious that they sent E to Fuck You right after he had helped them out so much.
As expected, the tagged boy never returned.
The trash punks raided his home to get some starting capital and wandered into the jungle. Cumshot's tagger was still where he had hidden it.
"Boys," he said. "It's time to start our revenge on the Jolly bitches."
"Is that necessary?" Xyz asked. "Half of them are new. It's basically a totally different group."
Cumshot grinned. "I won't rest until every last one of them is in Fuck You. We'll send them one by one. I have a plan."
"Yo," Dumbfuck said. "Perk could work with us. If they leave their stuff on the ship when they enter, he can grab it once they're taken to Fuck You."
"Great idea. We can split fifty-fifty. Now, hear me out."
The others moved closer and Cumshot explained. "First step is getting our hands on a thick, black pen that works on skin..."
Scavenging the unexplored parts of the jungle rarely paid off, but the group of three Jolly initiates (marked by one black feather in their mohawk each) had stumbled upon a precursor relic.
Their elder (with a head full of feathers) identified it as a construction vehicle of some type. He oversaw the boys taking apart the pile of rust.
It didn't give much material but it was a whole lot easier than mining raw ore.
Two veiled figures dropped from the trees.
"Nobody fucking move!" yelled one. He had Buster tribe marks on his uncovered skin.
The other one was a Neon but his face was veiled, too. That one decked a Jolly boy.
The elder reached for his knives and found his arm harshly grabbed by a muscle freak – veins popping, black eyes.
"Hand over anything you have," said the Buster guy.
While half the initiates looked like they wanted to fight, the strength freak stepping closer was all they needed to see reason. The few bottle caps they carried were easy to replace with a mission or a robbery.
"The tools, too," said the Buster. His Neon friend collected the Jolly gang's property they used to dismantle findings like this one, which were too big to carry.
It was considered quite evil to take tools of someone's trade away, even when robbing them. You took money, jewelry, food, maybe did some humiliation and that was it. Tools were someone's livelihood. These criminals were unusually brutal.
While the elder observed the Neon guy walk from boy to boy to collect bounty, he tried to figure out how to get revenge. There was no way to memorize them, without a hit of where they were from.
Finally, the Buster said, "Clothes, too."
Well, that was simply unacceptable. Everyone knew you didn't leave your victim's nude. It was a purely symbolic gesture of humiliation, and sometimes done in isolation – but as part of a robbery? Never!
These thieves had no honor and deserved to be destroyed.
When the elder had to hand over his own loin cloth, the strength freak scratched his nose, moving the fabric that covered his face.
A tattoo on the forehead! An eye? Was the freak from that weird sea tower city... Illusion?
As the thieves retreated, the elder saw the Neon guy's forehead too as his loose veil shifted. Another eye. They were from Illusion.
"On your knees," came the order. "Heads down. Count to a hundred out loud."
All Jolly followed the command. The end of the robbery was near.
"Good," said the Buster. "Let's go home boys. The ships waiting."
When the Jolly were alone again, they lost no time to preparations. If they were quick, they'd arrive at Illusion just in time before these cruel assholes had a moment to hide their bounty.
They only had to grab some money and new clothes. They'd get revenge.
"Did you tag them all?" Dumbfuck asked.
"Fuck yeah, I did," Cumshot said. "I'm pretty sure the adult one saw all our foreheads. We'll see what Perk tells us." He rubbed the eye tatt off. "Man, this pen is kinda itchy."
Xyz shrugged. "That's only because we keep redrawing on the same spot. It's the third group this week. You'd think they'd catch one at some point."
Cumshot chuckled. "Whisper was right. Since Gutter Chapel is down, they're not as organized anymore. We should pay him a visit."
"Dunno," Dumbfuck said. "He probably doesn't have that much time as a mayor. But I'd really like to visit one of his bars. I need to get fucked badly."
Cumshot sighed. "I know what you mean. All this crime is exciting me extra hard. I think my pouch has been dripping pre-cum since two robberies ago."
They took a break midway and munched food. With all the stolen money they could afford regular feasts of fresh fruit, vat-grown meat, pastries and even the trendy ocean flavored Hydro-Cola.
Xyz played with his collar. He had that habit now. "Any thoughts what we'll do after the Jolly are history?"
"Dunno," Cumshot said. "It'll be a while."
"Are we really getting all of them? What if the gang falls apart and only a dozen stragglers run around who want nothing to do with it anymore?"
Cumshot shrugged. "Once you got that skull on your face, you're headed for Fuck You. End of story. You heard SLAMMR, they're expanding capacity. Someone's gotta fill it."
The massive leader stroked his neck where his collar had once been. "Bet Madman's real glad to see all his friends again and many, many new ones."
THE END
I thought this was going to be the end of the trash punk saga. Then inspiration struck. The third installment will be called Trash Punk Frontier. Coming soon-ish.
Let me know what you liked and perhaps, if you inspire me, I can find a little more time to write here and there.