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If this place is sacred, then this is our offering, a glowing act of carnal worship to whatever supernatural entity might take pity on our helpless selves. I want to be with Orion. I want to be his.
He reaches forward, his human hand taking hold of my hair and pulling my head back. His grip is demanding, dominant, and sparks the final stanza of this mating.
Orgasm overwhelms me, a reaction spurred by those dominant thrusts which slide all the way to the very depths of my sex before drawing free again, I pant and sweat and scream release.
Chapter Seven
Josie
Another day, another ride. This time we’re coming through a series of small towns, places I remember fleeing through with my mother. The closer we get to Pa’s ranch, the more the memories of the past seem to come alive, overlaying the world around me with the rich misery I felt the first time we came this way.
WELCOME TO LASTSTAND
Another sign welcomes us to another little town with the bare minimum of stores. General store. Ammunition store. Barber. Saloon. Doctor. Jail. All six buildings line the same small strip of road, three on each side. This is not the sort of place I thought would have attracted Imperium attention, but there’s an Imperium transformer on the outskirts, a building bigger than any of the others. I don’t see any guards, but I soon realize I don’t need to. The Imperium doesn’t need to have long arms when it has far-seeing eyes.
“Shit.”
“What’s that, girl?
I point to a glowing sign hanging off the side of the jail. It’s six feet wide and three feet tall, displaying two faces I know very well. One of them I know because it’s the one I see whenever I look in the mirror. The other is Orion’s face. “They have billboards. And we’re on them. You and me.”
“Well,” Orion says. “So we are.”
He doesn’t seem worried, but I’m terrified. Those boards turn everyone around us into the equivalent of one of the birds in the sky. Orion and I are kind of conspicuous. His arm can be be hidden in a long sleeve and a glove, but nothing hides his raw presence.
“We’ve got to blow those boards up.”
He laughs. “Wow, we’re worth a thousand dinari each. You’ve got yourself a serious bounty, girl. Congratulations.”
“Why aren’t you more worried? These people couldn’t make a thousand dinari in their entire lives. They’ll turn us in for sure.”
He holds up a finger to me, turns to his horse, and gets on the radio. “Boys, if you’re hearing this, I want you to start reporting sightings of the two of us in every town you have. Put it on the network. I want the Imperium checking every rock for us.”
Orion smiles as he turns the radio off. “People can turn us in here if they want. But they’ll be one of dozens of reports, hopefully hundreds.”
“But what if the Imperium see us themselves?”
“They’re not going to see us themselves…”
“Orion.”
I interrupt him with his own name, but he’s not listening.
“This is a foolproof plan. You’ve got to remember, Atticus only has so many men, and they can’t be everywhere at once.”
“Orion…”
Orion
I really don’t like being interrupted, but it seems she’s not going to quit until I pay attention to her. “Well, what is it?”
Josie lifts a trembling finger toward the general store. She’s gone white as a ghost and I know before I even look what, or rather, who, she has seen.
How did that sonofabitch find us?
It’s too late to run. He’s looking dead at us. I see the same expression of surprise on his face that is on Josie’s. It’s Sheriff Bunch. And he’s not alone. He’s got a good half dozen of his men right with him. We couldn’t have walked straight into this anymore if we’d just turned ourselves in when this all started.
“Well, damn,” I say, flicking my hat up out of my eyes. My other hand is on the gun at my hip, fingers curling around the butt of the weapon. I should draw it and shoot right now, but I know if I do, the pair of us will be riddled with rounds the very next second.
This is an old fashioned Cabbage Patch standoff. No weapons are drawn, but I know there’s only a matter of time before we are surrounded and covered from above. The moment he saw us, an invisible timer started counting down. I have to think, and quickly.
“Orion STEELBANE!” Atticus Bunch declares my name to the salt ridden dust of the day which blows in whirls between us, momentarily obscuring our faces, then revealing them again.
If this is coincidence, then it’s unlikely. If it is fate, then she’s a bitch.
“Atticus,” I growl.
“And here I was thinking I’d have to hunt you down. Instead, you’ve walked right into my arms. You always were a stupid criminal, Orion.”
