War of the Worlds 2030 (12 page)

Zane ran his hand along the line of Janis's back. The morning sun had heated the room to the point where covers were unnecessary.

“Hum.” She nestled back into him. He held her. His right side felt the warmth of her body. His heart loved her. She made him feel whole again.

“I wish I could tell you,” he whispered to his sleeping love.

“I know,” she replied.

“Janis? I.”

She rolled over and kissed him. “Shh. We won't get a chance to see if we could grow old together. That's okay. We have right now, and if we win, it's worth the price.”

“Janis, I love you.”

“I know.” She kissed him and reaching down took his penis in hand.

“I think I need a little longer before he's willing to play again.”

“Getting old?”

“You are simply insatiable.”

“Advantage of being a woman. Okay, let's talk. You know you never told me about you and Candy.” She released his penis and ran her fingers across his chest.

“It's not a story you want to hear.”

“Yes, Zane, I do. I want to know everything about my husband. Including why he got married and divorced in less than a year.”

“Candy couldn't handle my cybernetics. That's all.”

“Zane, I'm not jealous of her. The little fool chose to leave you, her loss. I want to hear the story though. You still call her name sometimes when you sleep.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. I think it's an open wound though. Silly, all things considered, but maybe you should close it. Just in case there's something after all this.”

Janis gestured vaguely towards the boarded over window.

“Okay. I really love you, you know? You are so strong.”

“Look where I'm lying, it's easy to be strong.” She caressed the skin of his good arm that was wrapped tight around her.

Zane took a deep breath to steady himself then began. “When the
Darmuks
attacked I was with Richard. He'd called me over to help research a disease that was killing the original bio-mind. The one that was a mass of alien nerve tissue. Ashley had gone to the
Darmuk
embassy to help download the data from their system to the human one before the construct died. We'd found a stopgap, that would delay the construct's death, and were racing to the embassy in Richard's SUV. We were three blocks away when we saw the battle-apes. You know how that was.”

“It was like there was a solid wall of them moving down the streets, killing everything in sight.” Janis shuddered. Zane held her tighter. She snuggled into him. “Go on.”

“Richard did a one-eighty and put the pedal down. He was like an Indy driver. I wanted to get you and Ash, but the battle-apes had cut the city in half and you were on the other side. Ash was already trapped in the embassy.

“We hit the highway at a hundred and ten then sped up. The Colonel called in the attack. By then the mother ship was bombarding Washington with microwaves. Cooking the population where they stood.”

“I listened to that on the radio. It was a good thing they had those space tugs with the lasers to drive it out of Earth orbit,” said Janis.

“General Flanders thinks the modified I.C.B.M.s did more than the tugs. Of course Admiral McMilan says it was the missiles on the asteroid defense platform.”

“It really doesn't matter. What matters is we forced the damn thing out of orbit.” Janis nestled even closer to her lover's warmth.

“And into orbit around the moon. If it wasn't for that accursed news broadcast that they put out to re-assure the populace we might have destroyed the damn thing. The president was an ass to say we had contingencies before attacking the ship.”

“Politicians are asses, my love. With all those people being turned into killing machines by
Darmuk
symbiont cures people needed to hear that there was something we could do. I watched Mrs. McPherson from down the street stab her son to death with a kitchen knife. That sweet, little old lady.” A shudder ran through Janis.

“It's past. All the symbiont cures have either been killed or deactivated.” Zane squeezed her around the waist.

“You and Richard were on the highway,” she prodded.

“Richard wanted to get Wendle out of LA. All I can say is thank God Doc bought a new car. That old rust wagon he used to drive would have fallen apart with the way we were shaking. By the time we were halfway to LA we had a dozen cops on our tail.

“By the time we reached Wendle's they'd all been called off to fight the
Darmuks
. For all the good it did.

“Wendle and Stanley weren't home. They'd rented the place out to a guy who made porno movies. Candy was the star and looked it. Blue eyes, blonde hair and cleavage you could ski down.”

A harsh expression crossed Janis's face. “Zane, I can do without certain pieces of information.”

“She couldn't hold a candle to you. Breasts are nice, but too big looks silly. Yours are just right,” Zane demonstrated by caressing the body part in question.

“I'll forgive you. This time,” Janis kissed him. “Go on.”

“Richard kicked the door in right in the middle of them shooting a scene, told the producer what was happening. The jackass wouldn't believe him. Candy turned on the radio. It was all over the news. She was dressed and in our back seat in two minutes. Richard grabbed a portable battery pack and solar charger unit Wendle had in his garage and hotwired it into the SUV's power pack. We were running flat batteries by the time we reached Wendle's.

“Battle-apes were already hitting LA by the time we were back on the freeway. It was completely blocked. Richard took us off road to an old wash and called for a helicopter pick up. General Flanders had arraigned for us both to have reserve commissions, which he activated.

“For the next three days we did nothing but work out weakness in the
Darmuk
warriors. Candy started helping out, doing the secretarial stuff, making coffee.” Zane looked down and the right side of his face was touched with shame.

“You have to understand, love. We thought everyone behind the lines was dead. I was torn to pieces over you and Ash. Doc too. Candy just kept busy because if she stopped to think she'd breakdown over her mother and sister. We were all scared silly. Things happened. At first I think it was more just comfort. Two warm bodies clinging to each other to keep fear away. Later I think there was a kind of love. Candy and I did care for each other. At least I cared for her, in a way. Never as much as I felt for you, but she was there, and I wasn't sure.”

“It's okay, Zane. If it helps. You weren't the only one who was scared and needed support.” Janis shifted position and kissed him before snuggling back into his warm embrace.

“In a way it does. I'm glad you weren't alone. Though I don't want details.”

“We're only human.”

Zane nodded. “With Richard and I spotting weakness in the
Darmuk
bio-forms our guys were able to stall them in the mountains.

“Candy just gravitated into a position as Richard's secretary. She also knew how to work a camera and started joining Richard and I when we went to the front to eyeball the new bio-forms the
Darmuks
kept coming up with.

“Accidents happen. Candy got knocked up, we got married. It was four months later that we were in a trench on the Nevada border with Richard. Candy always looked cute in camouflage, though she hated it.”

“No need for added commentary,” said Janis.

“She could never hold a candle to you. You look cute in nothing at all.”

“Feeling ready to play. Finish the story first.” Janis stroked his human cheek.

“I'd begged General Flanders to keep her behind the lines, but this was still early days for the war. The research division was short staffed. We were shooting footage of a battle-grizzly. You ever seen one of them?”

“No.”

“They didn't function too long. Very susceptible to a modified brain parasite. They pulled them off the front pretty quick after we worked out a counter measure. They had a tendency of going mad and slaughtering their own side. Big suckers, bipedal with paws modified into hands. Otherwise they look like a grizzly bear and are almost as pleasant to be around. They dressed in Kevlar jumpers that made them bullet proof.”

“Sounds nasty.”

“They are. A mixed company was attacking. Bullets were taking out the battle-apes. We were using gas grenades against the Scoripine; you know how weak the respiratory systems of those six-foot bug types are. A battle-grizzly pushed through the line. Nothing was stopping it. It had a captured flamethrower and took aim at Candy. She didn't see it, I did. I leapt, knocked her out of the way and took the flames myself. She grabbed a fire extinguisher from our ATV and put me out, but it was a little late.”

“I don't remember what happened next. I've been told Richard smeared crazy glue onto a grenade and threw it at the battle-grizzly. It caught the grenade and tried to throw it back, couldn't then boom.

“Anyway, they rushed me to the medevac and they managed to keep me alive. When Candy saw me it was too much. She demanded I resign my commission and we use my disability status to go to Australia. I couldn't. Richard and General Flanders had already offered to build me a cybernetic left side. I couldn't live as half a man if I had the chance to be whole. She used my injured status to get into Australia then served the divorce papers over the internet.

“I've never even seen my son. She's sent me a couple of pictures. She's remarried. A Hydrologist. Little Zane calls him daddy. She hasn't told him any different. In a way I don't want her to.”

“What a selfish bitch!” said Janis.

“Would you have raised Betty in a war zone with a man you couldn't bear to look at?”

Janis held him closer, hearing the sorrow in his voice. “You're a lot more generous to her than I am.”

“Hey, I think someone wants to play now.”

“You.” Janis kissed him and pushed him gently onto his back. His penis was still flaccid but there were the beginnings of an erection. She trailed kisses down his right side, pausing to run her tongue over his nipple. He ran the fingers of his good hand through her hair.

“Janis.”

“Hmm.” She looked up from where she was running her tongue around his navel while she ticked his scrotum.

“She could never have been half of what you are to me. You are the greatest love I have ever known.”

“What happened to the boy who always said the wrong thing with girls?” she asked.

“He saw too much and lived too long to ever be a boy again. A man needs a woman, not a girl. You're everything to me.”

Janis moved up his body and kissed him. Her hand stroked the left side of his face as lovingly as it ever stroked the right. She stared into his eye and saw the love there. Her body pressed against his. His erection grew between them. She lifted off him just enough to caress it.

His fingers played through her hair. His tongue licked the edge of the scar on her jaw. His left hand stroked over her back, abrasive yet stimulating. He rolled her onto her back then kissed down her body to her breasts, suckling each. He kissed and licked the skin around the scars on her chest.

Janis sighed, his touch made her feel young. His loving caress made her forget the marks that her battles had brought.

Zane positioned himself and entered her. She was his and his alone. He moved slowly, savoring every second. The creases by her eyes intrigued him. So much living, so much learning. He kissed her eyelids. She opened her eyes and stared into his face. He faltered. He'd seen the image in the mirror and Janis usually kept her eyes closed. He'd come to expect it.

He gazed into her face and saw only love, acceptance, and respect. A tear gathered at the corner of his eye and she brushed it away with a fingertip.

“My husband, my love,” she whispered.

Zane's heart filled. He continued to love her but more as an excuse to hold her than from a sense of passion. He wanted to be as close to her as he could and this was it. He lay his torso over hers and kissed her.

They orgasmed together; a long slow release that filled them with warmth.

Zane lay on his love, holding her, staring into her face.

Janis smiled at him then she laughed.

“What?” Zane looked confounded.

“I just thought. Could you have imagined Betty's reaction to us being married?”

Zane let his jaw drop and made a choking sound followed by “Like, Mom, find your own leftovers.”

They both laughed then sobered.

“She would have wanted us to keep living,” said Janis.

“We have. This proves it.” Zane kissed her shifted to her side and held her close.