Hardstorm Ahead Ch. 07

Amanda

Outside Hardstorm: July 31st, 2052. 4:34 PM.

Amanda didn't get what they were doing right now. They had just left the burning house and now Travis and sergeant Rodriguez were walking back because it looked like the woods across the street had been driven in. She wondered why they just didn't drive back instead of this. Now she was walking up this damn hill in shorts.

She tried to avoid all of the plants but she grimaced as the first thorn bush lay ahead of her. She tugged on the ammo belt that she had gotten out if the truck as it had slipped down her waist again. The breeze had picked up, but in the woods barely anything made it to the bottom, and the humidity had her sweating at the brief effort.

Her new M4 carbine was annoying. The strap over her shoulder dug into her skin. The tank top was also annoying her at this point. She realized that Travis drilling her about wearing the uniform would actually have helped her now. But wearing long sleeves and pants in this weather was something she avoided at all costs.

"What's the hold up Trickle?" She hated the last name thing just as much, especially from lieutenant Driver.

"I don't know where I'm going." Amanda really didn't know. She was told to climb the hill to set up a defense. She didn't know what any of it meant except for climb.

Sure Travis had them drilling over the last couple of months on shooting, how to patrol, man checkpoints, and what to do in a variety of situations, but she was staring at this bush and couldn't even see the road anymore.

Lieutenant Driver had made her way over to Amanda and looked around for a few seconds. "There is a good spot," she said pointing, "get down low and your fields of fire are here, here, and here. Gabe is above you over there and I will be below you there."

Gabe waved when she looked towards him. He had voulenteered to watch the flank, which she almost recognized from something Travis had talked about before. She took up position where Driver had pointed and looked around to where she had been pointed to. She remembered fire lanes from shooting class but she couldn't see anything.

"Trickle, lower!" Driver shouted at her from her position. Amanda regreted the shorts again as she sat down. "Lower!"

'How can she even see me?' Amanda wondered to herself. She laid down and realized why. She could see the bottom of the hill perfectly from benieth the vegetation. She saw how Driver had seen her as she could see Driver's position clearly from her vantage point, but under cover from the bottom of the hill.

CRACK!

Amanda looked up expecting to see a lightning bolt but didn't. 'That was wierd, it sounded more like a...'

She heard the machine gun open up, soon after that it seemed like everyone was shooting at something, except her.

She looked around for something, for someone, but she only saw the lieutenant and she was shooting at something Amanda couldn't see. She fumbled for the safety and brought the gun to her shoulder like she trained at the cabin, still nothing.

"For God's sake, fire Trickle!" Driver shouted at her.

Amanda looked around hesitantly, she still didn't see anything.

"Fire!"

She shot. At first it was just a random trigger pull she didn't even realize what she had actually shot at, a quick thought passed her mind, 'oh my god, I am shooting atsomeone.' She felt her finger pull the trigger again and again.

By the time she realized she should aim in the direction Driver was shooting her gun was empty. She fumbled to reload and dropped her next mag. It hit a root and bounced out of her reach down the hill. 'Shit.' She went for another mag and this time got it in with no problem, and opened fire towards the way lieutenant Driver was shooting.

Amanda fell into the motions that she had been trained in. 'I'm doing this.' She thought as she reloaded again, this time a lot smoother then the last. She realized that Driver was shooting past where she was shooting at and adjusted her aim. Again she was empty and reloaded again.

About to fire she thought she saw something below her. She paused and looked around. Yes, someone was down there, they looked young to her. He got up and ran to the next tree.

Amanda froze. The man raised his gun to shoot, and Amanda could only watch as he fired. She ducked down when she saw the muzzle flash, 'oh shit,' but nothing happened.

She looked up. The man was still shooting but not at her. It was at Driver. She looked over to where the lieutenant was. Rounds were impacting the ground in front of her and she could see the trees and bushes around her shake and leaves exploding as bullets went through them.

Amanda took her time, she breathed deepely while aiming at the man.

Soon

Amanda had lost track of time, she realized Driver was shouting at her again, "fall back! Fall back!" The command didn't register with her for a few seconds, she was frozen again as she watched Driver get up and run.

"Get out of there Amanda!" She heard Gabe shout behind her somewhere. One look back down the hill back to where the man was. She could barely make him out, she turned and ran back down the hill trailing everyone else.

The root caught her ankle and the next thing she knew was that she was tumbling down the hill.

She grabbed her head and felt the warm liquid. Her ankle was on fire and Travis was shouting at her.

"I tripped," she managed to say. Travis tried to help her up, but her ankle prevented that. Travis tried to pick her up and dropped her.

"Ow," Amanda started but Travis threw his hand over her mouth and pulled her down into the bushes. She looked at him questioningly as he looked towards Gabe's car.

Travis laid on top of Amanda, his uniform camoflaging both of them where they were in the undergrowth and quietly mouthed 'shhhh.'

Amanda was laying on her back could see the concentration in his face, eyes closed straining to hear anything that was said as the men had stopped shooting and gathered nearby. They were in that position for half an hour by Amanda's guess. As she tried to listen also she found herself concentrating more on not crying out in pain. Her ankle throbed with each pulse. She found herself looking at his face and wondering about her and Sarah.

She closed her eyes and envisioned her auburn haired friend. The blue eyes were staring back at Amanda. The feelings from a few nights ago raced through her mind. Amanda and Sarah had been alone at their old apartment they had planned on talking but no words had escaped their lips as they stood close to each other. Amanda had licked her lips and leaned closer. Her friend that she loved was inches away and Amanda only wanted to kiss her.

Amanda opened her eyes as she realized that she had just kissed Travis. He had turned his head towards her and gave her a questioning look. Amanda blushed and looked away.

Travis remained silent as he continued to look at Amanda. She could feel his gaze as she tried to avoid looking at him. She could smell his sweat, the dirt she laid upon, the burning car yards away.

She realized that there were no more voices but an approaching sound scared her. The dull roar of thousands of rain drops hitting the leaves on the trees was getting louder and a minute later she felt the first drop that had missed Travis on her leg.

Amanda turned her head back to Travis. Silently they looked into each other's eyes as the rain crept from a sprinkle to a shower.

"I'm going to take a look around." Travis whispered eventually.

Amanda nodded back as he slowly rolled off of her. The rain hit her in the face and she blinked. She noticed the trees swaying abover her in the wind.

"It's ok, they're gone." Travis still whispered and he helped Amanda sit up. They were both getting soaked quickly. "Your forehead doesn't look bad, just a scrape." He placed his hand under her chin and turned her head looking at her injury.

Amanda felt a shiver as she stared back at him.

"Anything besides the ankle hurt?" Travis still had his hand on her chin but turned her face back towards his own.

"No, I don't think so," Amanda managed to squeak out. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Travis stood.

"Where did your gun end up?" Travis was looking around at the bottom of the hill from where he was. She didn't realize that she had dropped it when she fell. "Do you have any ammo left?"

"I don't know, I was shooting and I didn't know what at, and then..." Amanda turned to her side in time to vomit. She braced herself with her arms as she hurled the contents of her stomach onto the ground.

"It's alright Amanda," Travis kneeled next to her, "I felt the same after my first time."

"How do you deal with it?" She asked between pants, trying to regain her breath.

"I tell myself I did what I had to do." Travis rubbed her back with a free hand.

Amanda regained her composure after a few minutes. She managed a weak smile, "thanks for coming back for me."

Travis smiled back. "Of course I would come back for you." He stood back up. "Stay here, I'll climb the hill and look for your gun."

Amanda noticed for the first time he didn't have his. "Where's yours Travis?"

"In my truck."

Amanda watched him search the hill where she had fallen down. It took him a few minutes but he was rewarded for the effort with her M4.

"How much ammo do you have in your belt?" Travis ejected the magazine in the gun and looked at how many rounds were left and frowned. "Six or seven here."

Amanda searched the pockets of the ammo belt she had picked up. 'There's no way I shot that many' she thought to herself before dejectedly replying, "One."

"What about your pistol?"

Amanda had forgoten about her thigh holster. She reached down to touch it to make sure it hadn't fallen out. "Just what's in it."

"You mean to tell me, that you left this morning with one mag for your pistol?" Travis sighed and shook his head.

"And where the fuck would I put it? My pussy?" Amanda shouted defensively. Travis laughed at that and Amanda couldn't hold back a smile.

She realized she was blushing again trying to hide it she managed, "How about you? How much you have left?"

Travis felt his pockets, "two, and another for my pistol." The magazines for his M8 were different then the M4 but they shot the same round. He sat next to her as he unloaded his and put them into Amanda's near empty one. That made two and another reload from the M8 to the M4 magazines.

"What now?" Amanda looked down at her ankle, it was already swelling badly. She had rolled her ankle plenty of times playing volleyball in high school, she knew a high ankle sprain when she saw one.

"Well, we need to get out of here in case they come back," Travis stood and put the now full magazine in the gun. He checked the chamber for the round already in it. "Some dirt in there, but it should be good. Anyways, if we stay five yards into the woods we can head back and still see the road while anyone driving on it would have a hard time seeing us."

"Do you think they'll come back for us?"

"The other guys? Not likely, not in this weather." Travis paused and looked at Gabe's burning car, "and if I were Sam, I would hold up on the other side of that last bridge and wait for whoever got there first."

"What about the people that live over here?" Amanda asked thinking about all the houses that were on this side of the creek.

"Hopefully Gabe stopped at his place and they could get the word out. Either way we are on our own."

Later

Travis had picked up Amanda and was carrying her piggy back. She clung onto him with her arms around his neck and he held onto her legs as best he could while walking through the forest. Travis had taken off his outer jacket and Amanda draped it over her shoulders to cover her blue tank top the M4 was over her shoulder.

Amanda hadn't minded one bit looking Travis up and down while he took the jacket off. He had on a green shirt underneath of it, the latest generation of under armor. It had kept him dry even though his jacket was soaked. Amanda enjoyed the view as it fit his muscled torso like a glove.

Amanda had time to think as they had remained mostly silent the last hour or so. Travis had said that it was six or seven miles back to Gabe's farm and they might not be able to get there before dark. They had passed another house but Travis said it was too risky to check it out.

It hadn't taken Amanda long to realize that she could practically feel Travis up without him questioning it. She thought back to her shower three weeks ago when he had interrupted her masturbating.

She imagined his cock in her mouth again as she daydreamed.'mmmm Travis, I love this cock.' She sank her mouth onto him taking him deeper and deeper into her mouth. She gagged as it hit her throat. She pulled back to keep just his head in her mouth and sucked him. Her hand stroked his shaft slowly as she started to tease his head with her tongue.

She glanced up to see him kissing Sarah, his hand down her black g-string rubbing her clit. Smiling she decended on his cock again. She wanted to feel his cum in her mouth again, she needed it in her mouth again. Amanda looked up to see that Sarah had stopped kissing Travis and was staring down at Amanda. Travis had kept his fingers on her clit but was kissing her neck. But Amanda and Sarah could only look at each other as she sucked and stroked Travis.

She loved that Sarah was watching her and intensified her efforts. Travis moaned and bucked into her mouth as she felt his cum enter her mouth. She tried her best to hold it in as she kept her eyes on Sarah who was looking at her with hungry eyes.

As she let Travis out of her mouth a drop of cum slid out of the corner of her mouth and down to her chin. She crawled up to Sarah, who licked her lips and reached to pull Amanda's face in towards her own.

They kissed, Amanda let her tongue be sucked into Sarah's mouth. She sucked in it and ran her own tongue across it taking what was left of his cum. More had escaped and was running down both of their faces now.

Travis had withdrawn his hand from Sarah's pussy and was now making its way down Amanda's naked body. He briefly cupped her breast and pinched her hardened nipple before sliding down her taught stomach to her wet sex. His first touch sent shivers through her body as she ground against his hand.

"Are you okay?"

Amanda jolted out of it. Travis had to grab and steady her with his free hand that he was using to push a branch out if his way. "What?"

"You started to squirm," the branch had almost swung back and hit them in the face, "are you uncomfortable?"

Amanda was glad she was behind Travis as she blushed and tried to come up with something to say. She couldn't believe that she let her mind wander so far, "no, I'm... I mean I'm okay, just sore from... my ankle."

Travis didn't reply but moved to put her down. She sat on the log he placed her on and he got down on his knees to look at her ankle. The rain had been steady since they left and Amanda brushed her short black wet hair out of her face.

He tried to turn her leg to look at the side of her ankle and Amanda yelped in pain. Travis stood frowning and looked at his watch. "Maybe anouther hour before dark."

CRACK!

Amanda was startled and fell over. Travis caught her hand but her momentum pulled him on top of her.

BA-BOOM!

The thunder shook the forest. Travis laid on top of Amanda inches from her face again.

"I'm sorry Travis." She managed to squeak out.

"It's ok, you fell and I didn't catch you in time."

Amanda grabbed his wrist as he went to push himself up. "No, I'm sorry about the shower." He stopped, "I really love Sarah and didn't mean to do that to her, just that I couldn't stop myself because I've fantasized about you and her so many times. I..." she struggled to get this part out, "I want both of you actually."

BOOM!

The last bolt was closer, the rain was suddenly coming down harder then before.

Travis was motionless for a tense moment as Amanda regretted saying it instantly. He leaned down and kissed her.

Pulling back he said, "we should keep moving. Finding some shelter before nightfall should be a priority."

Amanda was stunned, she let him lift her back onto his back and he continued walking.

"That's it? Nothing to say?" Amanda said uncomfortably.

"I don't know, Sarah told me what you did for her while I was away," Travis started. "Honestly, I've felt the same about you at times. Sarah said she was going to talk to you two nights ago, what happened with that?" Travis stepped over a log and Amanda had to grip with her legs as he needed both his hands for balance.
Amanda remembered that night clearly. Sarah hadn't really talked with her when she came into the their old house that night. "At times? What do you mean, before or after the shower?"

"Before," Travis paused and stood there holding her, "before I would check you out, but I was with Sarah. She saw me a couple times looking and would even comment on how good you looked too. Well after that and getting to know you better I kind of did like you, and after the shower..."

"I couldn't get you out of my head." Amanda said what she was thinking.

"Right, me too." Travis started walking again. Several minutes passed in silence again.

"Where does that leave us?" Travis said breaking the silence.

Amanda smiled remembering saying that with Sarah. "I guess we'll take it day by day."

Nightfall

Travis crouched at the edge of the cornfield, Amanda sat next to him. They had made it to Gabe's house as the last light was leaving the sky. The occasional lightning bolt lit the night sky as Travis discussed what to do with Amanda.

The house appeared empty. Amanda wanted to go inside to get out of the rain. Travis thought it was a bad idea in case anyone else showed up.

They hadn't said much since admitting their feelings for each other. Travis had picked up his pace to make it here and Amanda's arms were getting tired, it took her all her remaining strength to hang onto Travis over the last hour.

"We need food and someplace to sleep." Amanda was trying to convince Travis to no avail.

"I can go get us supplies from the house and we can sleep out here." Travis offered as a compromise.

"Travis, I'm sitting in a mud puddle." Amanda threw her hands out in disgust motioning at the corn field. "We can't sleep in this."

The wind outside of the forest was more intense. The north south direction of the valley was funneling the hurricane north as sheets of rain pelted them.

"I'll try to find something to help keep us dry." Travis handed her the gun. "Take this and watch for anyone coming up the driveway." He took his pistol out of its holster.

"How are you going to find anything, it's pitch black." Amanda could barely even see Travis when there wasn't any lightning.

"I'll manage something." Travis turned and ran down the edge of the cornfield. It was yards away from the driveway and even if someone was in the house making out his shape in front of the corn would be near impossible.

Amanda lost track of him almost instantly. There was some distant flashes that the clouds reflected, but it wasn't much. She flipped the safety off and back on checking to make sure where it was as she nervously waited. Her ankle wasn't throbbing as much as before but it was swollen to double its size and hurt to the touch.

She wanted to take her boot off to get her wet socks off, but Travis warned her that she would never be able to get it back on from the pain and that she would want to keep her boots on in the woods. She checked the safety again and sighed, she had no idea how to tell how much time had passed.