Apocalypse Harem Book One: MFFF Contemporary Harem Series (Apocalypse Harem), page 7
It wasn’t a portal; I’d have heard the speakers going off in the radio room. Something must have come north from down toward town. I downed my coffee then jogged back into the house and snagged my rifle from the kitchen. The wolves were getting louder, howls and barks, and when I listened carefully, I could just make out snaps and crunches beyond the southern treeline, something moving quickly through the woods.
I quickly unpacked the DJI Mini-3 drone then went back outside, turned south, and sent the drone into the air. Keeping a close eye on the drone’s monitor, I guided the drone slowly toward the south at a decent altitude to get the broadest possible view.
I studied the southern treetops for a moment. Right there, movement, by a birch tree. Some dogwood bushes around the tree swayed, something weighty hustling through the foliage. I guided the drone to keep pace with the shrouded figure – moving large and bulky and dark through the undergrowth – then spotted something odd. More movement behind the first figure, another shape giving chase, smaller, yet faster, darting through the bushes and bounding around the trees.
“Bobby?” Morgan asked, standing at the back porch.
“Get your shotgun,” I said quietly. “Something’s coming.”
She grinned, already holding her weapon. She pumped it once, then turned toward the southern woods.
The shapes approached the treeline, with the second, swifter figure closing in on the first. The first shape would make it through the treeline out into the clearing just south of the house before the pursuer would overtake it, however.
I let the drone hover then set the controller aside and took a knee, my rifle trained on the treeline. Just to be on the safe side, I pulled the small bottle of holy water from my back pocket and smeared some on the rifle bore.
A dark knight burst forth through the trees, clad in heavy black armor but wielding no visible weapon. It stumbled into the clearing and its helm tumbled off its head, revealing ashen-gray skin and a face that was vaguely elven – bald head, pointed ears, angular and somewhat androgynous – and spun, looking back where it came.
“What the hell is going on?” I grunted.
The dark knight was groveling quietly in its strange language – perhaps praying to some deity for mercy – and it scrambled back to its feet, trying to cast a fireball spell. A roiling, floating orb of fire began to take shape between its upraised hands, growing in intensity as the creature powered up the spell.
I cursed then got the dark knight in my sights; I didn’t know what the hell the creature was fleeing from, but I didn’t want it to set the woods on fire with an overpowered fireball. Before I could get my shot off, though, a separate gunshot cracked through the trees.
The dark knight staggered backward – the bullet struck its heavy black chest plate, denting it but not cracking it – and the fireball effect vanished. A smaller, swifter creature in mismatched light armor darted out of the trees, a smoking pistol in its hand.
The lightly armored figure wore a strange leather mask wrapped tight around its head, two thick glass lenses over the eyeholes. The smaller figure got off another two shots, both pinging from the dark knight’s heavy armor – it had raised its heavy gauntlets over its head for protection – then the smaller warrior ditched the pistol to unsheathe a longsword from its hip, silver steel glinting gold in the morning sunlight.
“Is that little thing using a gun!?” Morgan asked, dumbfounded.
In the five years since the world ended, I hadn’t once seen a monster attempt to fire a gun. I’d seen orcs or goblins pick up discarded rifles to use as makeshift clubs, sure, but to actually fire one…?
The smaller figure gripped the hilt tight and swung its rippling steel. Even with the dark knight holding up its gauntlets protectively around its head, the blade cleaved smoothly and bloodily through the heavy armor. The dark knight’s hands came off at the wrists. Bright red arterial blood sprayed from a wide gash in its throat. The smaller figure spun deftly, avoiding the blood spray, then wiped the blade clean on its thigh before slipping the blade back into its scabbard as the other creature fell dead into the grass.
I raised my rifle again, pointing at the figure.
It spun toward me – suddenly noticing Morgan and I – and cocked its head curiously to the side.
Before I could fire, the figure raised its right hand and waved.
“Don’t shoot!” shouted a muffled, feminine voice through the tight leather-wrapped mask.
“The hell?” Morgan asked.
The figure pulled the mask off. Long black hair tumbled down, slightly frayed from the mask, but with a natural, full-bodied sheen. The young woman had tender, lightly freckled skin, fair and smooth. Despite her savagery in combat, she regarded us with a shy, almost mouse-like look, with a tentative smile as she pulled a pair of thick wireframe glasses from a pouch on her hip.
She slid the glasses on, fixing them just so, then laughed awkwardly. “Oh geez,” she said. “You guys are…people? Real, actual people?”
I lowered my rifle, chuckling. Morgan did the same.
“We are people,” I answered. “Real, actual people.” I jerked my thumb toward the house. “Welcome to our home.”
About the Carley Hitchens
Carley Hitchens writes stories about everyday guys – sometimes in not-so-everyday situations -- trying to get out of the daily grind of modern society with the help of ladies who love to share. She hates writing about herself in the third person.
More From Carley
College Harem
One quiet everyman. Three gorgeous college roommates who love to share. They're about to make a home together.
After inheriting a scenic farmhouse and leaving the corporate world behind, 29-year-old Billy Watson enjoys a quiet life. He works a stress-free job on a delivery truck and spends his evenings by the pond with his dog, Bandit. For Billy, life couldn’t get any better…until a chance encounter with Evelyn, a gorgeous co-ed with an eccentric sense of humor and some very adventurous roommates.
What begins as a whirlwind flirtation with a woman he thought was out of his league quickly becomes a passionate affair…and then Billy realizes that Evelyn and her roommates aren’t just close friends, but they love to share.
College Harem is a relaxing and realistic slice-of-life depiction of MFFF contemporary harem relationships that includes group menage scenes with multiple partners, all from the straight male main character’s POV. The women in this novella are exploring both their emerging bisexuality and their shared desire to build an unconventional life with the main character.
Book One and Book Two available now…with Book Three coming soon!
Carley Hitchens, Apocalypse Harem Book One: MFFF Contemporary Harem Series (Apocalypse Harem)
