to leave...

The whole day, Ambra’s naked body flashed through my mind. Fuck, had she become stunning. But her attitude and posture had changed too. She was a lot more confident, she held her head high, her back was straight, not in the least ashamed of her body. Yet, I doubted she thought of herself as beautiful. Perhaps the women had told her, but I doubt her abusers had given her a lot of compliments. Instead they had **** her, **** her to obey to their perverted wishes, punished her with food and sleep deprivation, and twisted her image and world view as one of pain and cruelty. When we rescued her she was extremely skinny, we could count the number of her ribs through her pale skin. Now she had a healthy skin color, long blond hair, firm breasts, hints of a toned stomach, well defined thighs and calves, without any fat, and an ass to die for. A bubbly round petite ass that made my mouth water just thinking about it. In fact I was thinking a lot about her drop-dead gorgeous body.

Then again, I would have no problem to restrain myself, I loved her to ****. We had just started our relationship and were still in the phase of discovering each other. I was extremely gentle to her, I had never changed my behavior towards her. I didn’t tease her, I didn’t spontaneously kiss or hug her, like I did with my other girlfriends. I always asked for permission, with a word or gesture.

I heard my girlfriends whisper to each other, exchanging looks, but the content of their non-verbal communications I couldn’t guess. I was sure, however, the pool of information had become deeper again, and nudges or actions would follow after the two shower incidents.

Elfie was shy that day on the few occasions I saw her. She was accompanied by one or two of my girlfriends, Kate or Kara. Sometimes I even heard them giggling. It looked like Kara had set a plan in motion. But I was happy for her. She smiled again. Brightly and often. With a naughty twinkle in her eyes when she looked at me.

The troops were conspiring again. I knew it. But I had no control over it, so I let it happen. It had become part of our relationship culture. And for better or worse, I had grown accustomed to it. If they overdid it, I would...

Hmm... Focus, Alex...

I would have leverage. And they knew it, and however much they complained about it, they liked me striking back. It provided passion in our relationships, spontaneity, playfulness, fire and continued teasing.

“Can they finally shoot at moving targets, Sophia?”

“Finally, he says... You hear that, Clara? Like we are the bad teachers...”

“I didn’t say that...”

“Yes, most of the women in the village can shoot on moving targets. Perhaps one or two have potential to be a sniper. I sent them to Didier.”

“He will be happy... More women...”

“Am I hearing correctly from Kate, that you dared to give the two men relationship advice?”

Uh-oh... Say nothing, Alex... This could end up bad very fast...

“Mmh.”

“Well done, Alex... Kate was getting fed up with Tom’s ranting. He started dating them individually, though I am not so sure about his chosen method to motivate them. A sex strike... Jesus... What has the world come to?”

“Hmm...”

“Don’t get any ideas, Alex, or would you really want us to crank up our seduction activities...? It has been so long since I did real efforts to conquer a man... I had to resort to... No, never mind...”

“Hmim...”

“See, you already are groaning at the thought...”

“Leave him alone, Sophia... Poor man gets scared easy enough these days... Especially here, with the Birds. See how they throw him their looks...? I swear if it wasn’t ice cold, they would start showing skin...”

“Thank the Fates for the winter... at least something good about it. Well, good work, carry on, start explaining them how RPG’s and AT-launchers work.”

“Wow... A compliment from the commander... Clara, we must have done exceptionally well.”

“Or his mood is still in the air after seeing Ambra...”

“Right, I hear it’s time for me to leave...”

“Thank you, Tom, for not divulging I was the one giving you the idea of the denial access scheme.”

“I had ****. If they found out you were the source, they would have tried harder to overrule it. It was extremely difficult, Alex, I don’t have your natural resistance to it. Whenever a beautiful women tries to seduce me, they see my weakness and attack without mercy. I have no idea how you do it.”

“Hmm... Not sure if I am that successful. How is the sheriff-thing going?”

“You would think with such a low rate of crime, there wouldn’t be much to do. But no, oh no... It’s even worse with women... talk, talk and talk... But no thieving, no murders, no vandalism... Just a lot of stress related disturbances: ****, god knows where they find it, ****, pills,... The men still left here... are either too old to bother with, too fat, too lazy, too stupid or too handicapped. But I am a bit worried about the whereabouts of Gina’s ex. Where the hell is that guy? Scouting delivered no results so far. Lots of suicides, lots of radiation poisoning, accidents, the occasional **** and no food whatsoever. No man or woman to be found alive around our area.”

“Hmm... if that fucker found a group of survivors in the cities, tells them of the good life here... I agree, it is worrisome.”

“Or even worse, if he makes contact with Russians, as a captive...?”

“We have patrols all around... but he knows we have patrols... Ours are getting better, but still, one fuck-up... I’ll ask Ella to figure something out... And ask Kylie to upgrade the scouting. We need more intel. Ideally we should know before anyone comes even remotely into our direction. Perhaps primitive watch towers...”

“Alex, Didier wasn’t too happy about the sniper recruits... He sent one to me. She’s good, but very... lonely... and lovely...”

“Four, Tom?”

“Aheum... Yes... What am I going to do? How do you do it? I can’t restrain myself... And if I do it once, I’m stuck with them...”

“I have no idea, Tom... If I knew, I would have told you. How did the dates go?”

“Ending up in sex, but at least I get to know them better.”

“Are the women in the villages mingling with each other already?”

“How did you know?”

“Emma had a theory about it. And I see it with my girlfriends too.”

“Well, she is correct. But not all women prefer it to be open relationships. There is in-fighting, jealousy and sometimes outright aggression. You would think a cat-fight is pleasant to watch, until you have to get them to stop.”

“Role reversing... I see. Women roles will become men roles and vice versa. And with women filling in the roles of soldiers, it won’t get any better. Perhaps more disciplined, but watch out for cruelty between women. They have their own methods for dealing with transgressions...”

“No need to tell me that... They need to respect each other’s boundaries, and so far I see little of that. Privacy violations will be the new crime around here. I need new laws. New punishment policies.”

“Talk with Mia, perhaps she has some ideas, she is way too smart to be left unused. So far she has taught the women in the villages, she is now busy with figuring out how to generate electricity, but she can easily take up some more projects.”

“Alright, will do. See you Sunday.”

“If I make it...”

“So three, Didier...”

“Fuck, Alex, did you have to send them to me? I barely got rid of one. Wasn’t my type, but still...”

“Sophia sent them... We need more snipers. It’s not my fault if you don’t have the resistance.”

“I lived all my life as a frustrated teenager, Alex, you think I have learnt any self-control?”

“Don’t worry, it gets better when you grow older...”

“But then it will be too late!”

“At least you know what to learn your kid if it is a boy. Self-control. **** self-control.”

“Very funny, Alex. Your jokes are getting worse.”

“You think I have it so easy? And I am the one with self-control. More or less.”

“That’s the point! Tom and I don’t!”

“Future generations will thank you for the lessons you provide them.”

“Fuck off, Alex. Next time, let Sophia send them first to you, and you decide who you send to us.”

“Hmm, okay, but you’ll have to tell Sophia. I am a bit **** to go to the Birds.”

“You think we aren’t?”

“You could always learn how to frown.”

“Like that helped you so much...”

“Ah... true, Didier, true... Well, you’ll have to wait for the next batch, then we can send the next batch after that to them. Do I see you on Sunday?”

“If I make it, yes...”