Doomsday Hunter 2, page 19
part #2 of Doomsday Hunter Series
I looked around desperately for anywhere we could progress in the shadows. Finally, I saw a cluster of trees next to a bungalow house ripped straight from my time period.
I guess this must have been one of the “vintage” parts of town.
“To the tree line!” I commanded, and then Natalie and I dashed off into the trees.
They didn’t really provide us with much cover, but they at least got us off the main path, and we moved through the tiny forest out into an open grassy space filled with benches, playground equipment, and lamp posts.
The Scavenger and I hurried across the open space, and we took care to duck behind any trees or freestanding structures we could find. Finally, we emerged onto a street with a few more buildings than before.
We promptly ran into the closest alleyway we could find and then began to navigate through the urban area via the grimy corridors. After about ten more minutes of winding through the outskirts of town, Natalie, Tracey, and I found ourselves back inside the city limits of Utopolis.
“Do you think they followed us?” Tracey asked as I set her down on her feet.
“I doubt it,” Natalie admitted as she looked up at the sky cautiously. “If they knew where we were, there’d be a drone on our asses right now. I think we may be in the clear for now.”
“Thank goodness,” I sighed. “Let’s get back to the hotel before that changes.”
I stepped out onto the side of the street as I attempted to flag down a taxi. They were few and far between at this time of night, but finally a geometric vehicle with the checker pattern pulled up to our position.
The three of us hopped in, told him to take us a street down from the Lofts, and then apologized in advance for the mess we were going to make in our car. Our clothes were still completely covered in soot and ash, and I realized I was going to need to give this guy a really good tip for his troubles.
The taxi got us to our destination in no time flat. I tipped the man handsomely, and then the three of us stepped out onto the main drag of Utopolis. As our taxi sped away, I looked around shiftily to see if there were any Deltacorp agents around.
Thankfully, at this time of night, there really weren’t too many people out and about. The ones who were, however, didn’t seem to want to be noticed, either.
“Couldn’t he have just dropped us off at the hotel?” Natalie questioned.
“No way.” I shook my head. “If Deltacorp gets their grubby mitts on that guy, I don’t want him to give away our exact location. This way, he’ll just tell them he dropped us off somewhere on Harmon street, instead of saying he took us to the Lofts.”
“Clever thinking,” Tracey admitted. “I definitely wouldn’t have thought of that.”
“That’s why Hunter is our leader,” Natalie purred as she batted her blue eyes at me. “He’s like, next level when it comes to coming up with these sorts of ideas.”
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “They don’t just let anyone become a Pest Control Technician.”
The three of us hustled down the street, turned around the corner, and followed the sidewalk down to the Lofts. Then, once we were there, we snuck around to the back side of the building, and waiting for us was a small single door made out of glass and black steel, guarded only by a black lock box above its handle.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out my room key, and pressed it up against the box, just underneath the blinking red light. It turned green in an instant, and then there was the sound of the locking mechanism turning. I grabbed onto the handle, pulled open the door, and ushered my friends inside.
The back stairwell was right there next to the door, so we made our way up to the second floor. Then, once I looked out and saw the coast was clear, Tracey and Natalie followed me down to our room. Finally, I swiped the key, popped open the door, and then slipped inside.
As soon as I heard the sound of the door latch clicking behind me, I let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Holy crap,” I laughed. “What a day, huh?”
“You can say that again,” Natalie agreed. “I don’t know about you guys, but there’s nothing I want to do more right now than to just plop down onto the bed and crash for the next six or seven hours.”
“Natalie,” I mused, “you have no idea how great that sounds.”
“I’ll crash on the couch,” Tracey announced as she headed toward the sleek white sofa on the westernmost wall.
“Hold on,” I implored as I pointed around to all of our clothes. “We can’t sleep on all this white furniture with ashy clothes.”
“I’m fine with sleeping in the buff.” Natalie shrugged. “In fact, I kinda prefer it.”
Tracey’s face turned beet red, which told me she definitely wasn’t okay with that choice of attire.
“Let me check the closet,” I offered as I walked over to the thin door across from the bathroom. “Usually these nice hotels have some sort of bath robes or something to toss on after a shower.”
“It’s fine, Hunter,” Tracey reassured me, “I can just wrap myself up in a blanket or something.”
I opened up the door and observed the miniature closet. It was no bigger than the kitchen pantry I had at my apartment, but it was way fuller.
There was an iron and fold-out ironing board against the wall, behind the bar that held the clothes, and hanging from the bar itself were four fuzzy black robes, each one with the Lofts logo embroidered onto the breast.
“There we go!” I announced as I snatched them up three robes, walked over to my team, and handed each of them a garment. “Added bonus is these things look reeaaallly comfy.”
“On second thought, I think I will take that shower,” Tracey spoke up.
She then plucked her robe out from my hands and dashed off into the bathroom. She slammed the door shut behind her and left Natalie and I alone in the room as the sound of running water erupted from the other side of the threshold.
“You know,” the blonde Scavenger mused, “I’m starting to wonder how you’re going to impregnate this Wayfarer when she’s too shy to get naked in front of you.”
“That’s not unreasonable for this dimension,” I explained as I pulled my shirt off and threw it to the side. “People aren’t required to mate with any healthy member of the opposite sex here. In fact, there are plenty of people who never have children.”
“Huh,” Natalie mused as she also took off her clothes.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door creaked open, and Tracey sauntered out. The programmer was very bashful as she walked with her hands wrapped around her waist, almost as if she didn’t want anyone to see her.
However, it was impossible not to.
Now that Tracey was out of her frumpy business clothes, the curves of her body were accentuated by the tight-fitting robe. Her hourglass figure was prominent, a slender waist just above a shapely ass. The woman’s breasts threatened to bust open the upper half of the robe, which was probably why she was holding it together with her hands. Because Tracey was so tall, the bottom of the garment hung down only a few centimeters down her thighs, and her long legs were completely exposed.
“I think I’m going to go to bed now,” Tracey mumbled, and then she scuttled away to the couch.
She snatched up a nearby blanket, plopped down onto the couch, and threw it over her body.
“I think it’s our turn now, Hunter,” Natalie purred as she led me into the bathroom.
Inside was a beautiful waterfall shower with dark black tile and a large glass door.
In an instant, the Scavenger removed her ashy shirt to reveal her firm, plump breasts underneath. They were engorged, and I suddenly wanted nothing more than to run my tongue against their thick nipples.
I probably would have, too, if Tracey wasn’t in the other room.
Natalie and I both removed our pants, threw them into a heap on the floor, and then entered the shower.
We washed each other’s naked bodies sensually as we hosed the ash and grime off our skin. My manhood throbbed at the sight of the wet, naked Scavenger in the shower with me, but we were both way too exhausted to try anything.
Especially something as risky as shower sex.
When we finally finished, we got out, dried ourselves off, and then slid the robes over our bodies.
For a cheap hotel robe, the garment was actually pretty comfortable. Its fuzzy cotton fabric was like a pillow against my skin, and it fit around my body in a snug but not uncomfortable way.
“We may have to steal these and take them back to our dimension,” I joked as I tied off the string around my waist. “Cotton’s an organic material, right?”
“I don’t think we can just go around wearing these for the rest of the mission,” Natalie noted with a frown. “They’d leave us way too exposed to the elements, and they’re a huge liability in combat.”
“Then we’re going to have to figure out a way to wash our clothes,” I reminded her. “Because walking around with ash on our garments is about as incriminating as going out with blood stains.”
“In the morning,” Natalie chuckled. “Right now, I want nothing more than to sleep.”
Natalie and I walked out of the bathroom and immediately headed toward the large, circular white bed at the room’s center. As we laid down onto the mattress, I let out a pleasant sigh. Then we covered ourselves up, nestled into the pillows, and passed out.
The next thing I knew, the smell of something burning filtered in through my nostrils.
My eyes sprang open as I sat up straight in bed and looked around. Natalie and Tracey were nowhere to be seen, and I noticed the sun was now shining into our room through the massive, wall-length windows.
I threw off my covers, shot up to my feet, and headed toward the direction of the strange smell. Soon, I realized it was coming from the bathroom and was accompanied by an odd buzzing sound.
When I opened up the door, I saw Natalie and Tracey standing there. Tracey was holding up my long-sleeve Deltacorp shirt while Natalie moved a blow-dryer around it furiously.
“Good morning!” Natalie announced when she saw me in the doorway. “We’re just doing some laundry.”
“Laundry?” I mused.
“I’m a fairly early riser,” Tracey admitted, “so I decided to wash all of our dirty clothes in the bathtub. Unfortunately, I had to use those little complimentary bottles of shampoo in lieu of laundry detergent. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Why the hell would I mind?” I grinned. “You have no idea how thankful I am.”
“And I helped,” Natalie interjected. “Or, at least, I helped as much as I could. By the time I got in here, all of the garments were washed and simply needed drying.”
“Teamwork, dreamwork.” I winked. “Remember?”
Suddenly, my stomach let out a loud growl that could scare off a small animal.
“Good lord, Hunter,” Natalie snickered. “You got a bear underneath that robe?”
“Just hungry,” I admitted with a shrug. “I’m surprised you aren’t, too, Natalie. I think those burgers were the last thing either of us ate.”
“You gotta remember I was a Scavenger,” the blonde woman reminded me with a shrug. “We would go days with only a fish or two in our system. Even with this whole pregnancy thing, I can still go for hours without feeling the need to eat.”
“Wait?” Tracey gasped. “You’re pregnant?”
“Six weeks along.” Natalie nodded. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“It’s not healthy to not eat,” I warned. “For you, or for the baby…”
The Scavenger just shrugged. “I’ll pig out once these clothes are dry and we can go down to the buffet.”
“Screw that,” I chuckled as I walked over and picked up the small black menu from our nightstand. “I can’t wait that long. Let’s order room service.”
Tracey’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, but Natalie just quirked her head to the side.
“Is that… some sort of sex thing?” the blonde woman gasped as her blue eyes sparkled with delight.
“What?” I shook my head. “Noooooo. It’s where you call up the front desk, and then they send somebody up to--”
“I’m not gonna sleep with a total stranger, Hunter.” Natalie shuddered.
“It’s not a sex thing!” I rolled my eyes. “It’s food. They bring up food for us to eat, so we don’t have to go down to the main lobby. I figured it would be easier than waiting for all our clothes to dry.”
“Oh.” Natalie shook her head and grinned. “Well, in that case, sign me up.”
I flipped open the menu and saw it was about time for breakfast to be over with. The Lofts’ lunch menu was much less diverse than their breakfast one, though it had a bunch of really interesting options.
“I think I’m gonna do the chicken bacon ranch panini,” I explained as I handed over the menu to the two women. “Just let me know what you guys want, and I’ll call it in.”
Tracey’s eyes darted around the menu for a moment before she proudly made her selection.
“I’ll do the turkey and avocado wrap,” she proclaimed, “with some hummus and chips on the side.”
Natalie was up next, and the pregnant Scavenger didn’t disappoint.
“Let’s see here…” the blonde woman trailed off as she looked up and down the menu. “I think I’ll try the ‘tor-til-a’ soup. And the club sandwich. And an order of nachos, if that’s not too much to ask for.”
“When it comes to you, there is no such thing as ‘too much,’” I promised the Scavenger, and then I picked up the phone and called in the order.
As soon as I hung up, I felt Natalie’s soft arms wrap around me from behind.
“You’re the best, my love,” she purred into my ear, and it took every inch of my willpower to keep my manhood from rising.
“That was a pretty big order,” I remarked in a playful tone. “I thought you just said you Scavengers didn’t need as much sustenance?”
“I blame Hunter Jr.,” the blonde woman continued. “He’s the one who wanted the nachos.”
“Hunter Jr.?” I retorted. “We don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl yet.”
“It’s a boy,” Natalie reassured me. “We made love outside, under the moonlight. According to Scavenger folk tales, that means it will be a male.”
“Not to interrupt you two when you’re being all lovey-dovey,” Tracey cleared her throat as she shuffled her feet nervously, “but all this talk of pregnancy is making me think back to the first time I met you two…”
Oh, boy. I knew this was an awkward topic, but I assumed I’d have a little bit more time to figure out how to breach it properly.
“I meant what I said,” Natalie reaffirmed as she stared the woman down. “In order to ensure this dimension’s survivability rate is ninety-nine-point-eight percent, Hunter must impregnate the Wayfarer who resides here.”
“So, that wasn’t a joke?” Tracey blushed. “Hunter, please tell me she’s messing with me right now.”
“I--She’s not,” I gulped, and my heart beat as fast as a snare drum. “According to Dr. Nash, the best way to assure the dimension is saved is by completing the assigned task while also impregnating and removing the Wayfarer from the timeline.”
Tracey raised her eyebrows at us, and then she burst out laughing.
“Is that the pick-up line he used on you?” she asked Natalie. “Because it’s a really, really good one. I’d almost buy it if it was, like, making a bond with the Wayfarer or even just removing the Wayfarer from the timeline. But impregnating her? What happens if the Wayfarer’s a dude?”
Actually, I’d never thought of that before.
“I always just assumed the Wayfarers of the other dimensions were women.” I shrugged. “Though I suppose that’s something I should probably ask Dr. Nash about when we get back.”
Tracey’s laugh faded away into a sharp frown. “So, the plan really is to take me back to your dimension?”
I nodded somberly. “It is. We need to make sure your dimension survives even after Dr. Merrick is neutralized. I understand it can be hard to leave the dimension you’ve known for your whole life, Tracey, but I promise this is for the greater good.”
Tracey scoffed, though she was smiling as she did so.
“It’s not like there’s a lot left for me here, anyways,” she sighed. “My parents are both dead, and I’ve devoted my entire adult life to serving Deltacorp, so it’s not like I even have kids or a spouse or even a boyfriend that’s keeping me here. It was just my career, and that’s obviously not a thing anymore.”
“So, you will come back with us, then?” Natalie perked up.
“Let’s leave it as a ‘tentative’ yes.” Tracey frowned. “Though I’m still sure the whole ‘impregnation’ thing is some sort of fetish you both are shoehorning into your missions.”
“I’d never do that.” I raised my hand and made a “cross my heart” sign over my chest.
“I don’t know why you’d be hesitant,” Natalie chimed in. “It’s actually pretty damn great. Hunter treats me very, very well since I have become the mother of his child. He’s also a very generous lover, and he’s got a giant--”
“Heart!” I interjected before the Scavenger embarrassed Tracey even more. “I just love everybody way too much, that’s my problem.”
“I’m glad you two are so in love,” Tracey chuckled. “It’s actually really cute, and I’m sure you’ll make great parents. But I’m gonna take a “pass” on that stipulation.”
Natalie opened her mouth to say something else, but I shook my head to stop her.
Naturally, Tracey was not into the thought of jumping into bed with a guy she’d just met who was also fucking another woman. Still, if we wanted to truly save this dimension and make her a part of this team, it was going to have to happen sooner or later.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door.
Room service had arrived.
So, I dashed over, threw it open, and then greeted the man with the room service cart.
The server was a burly looking man, clean shaven and plump. His double chin squished out over the neckline of his purple collared shirt, which itself looked like it was only holding on by a few buttons. Any semblance of hair he may have once had was gone, replaced with a few wisps of a black comb over. He wheeled the three-tiered cart into the room and then picked up each platter, one-by-one, and set them down on the table.
