Apocalypse Slaves

***

Author's Notes: In these stories, I'm attempting something somewhat new, darker, grittier, and going a little bit further down the proverbial rabbit hole than I've gone before. I'm putting all of the tag/trigger warnings (that I can think of) here in the beginning so that you can see some of the elements that are contained in this story so that if this is not your cup of tea, you can move on instead of leaving me flaming comments at the end. "Apocalypse Slaves" is intended to be a digest style story with no real end planned out. I'll finish some of the girls' stories and then move on to other girls that are introduced along the way. So who knows for certain where this will all lead to? If you have ideas and/or suggestions I will entertain them so long as they are within reason and within the boundaries of what I'm willing to write. And if you do decide to email me though the Literotica system, please leave an email so that I can respond. I promise that I don't bite... much.

Of course, as with any story, a hero needs to appear. I've alluded to Caine in my past installments and now we get to see him in action. I've taken much of my inspiration from Author Mike Resnik's

Santiago: Myth of the Far Future

. I've loved the story and the idea of Santiago and have been itching to tell my own version for some time now. The book that is constantly referred to in Henry Bailey's collection is this book. I've also drawn inspiration from Jack Campbell's

The Lost Fleet

series and the character of Black Jack Geary in writing Caine.

Tags for this story include, but are not limited to, and not necessarily in this order: non-consent, reluctance, science fiction, sci-fi, apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, slave, slaves, bdsm, volunteer slaves, dystopia, dystopic, bondage, abduction, forced sex, blackmail, ravishment, kidnapping, dominance, maids, submission, capture, captive, captured, enslavement, fetish, punishment, fucking machines, MILF, Cougar, gangbang, mind break, mind-breaking, mind control, control, blackmail, threesomes, foursomes, group sex, double penetration, triple penetration, revenge, rescue, chasing, misogyny, reluctance, humiliation, escort, prostitution, courtesan, coercion, oral, anal, toys, and... well... you get the point...

In case anyone is wondering; I am taking story ideas and inspiration from various models and/or picture sets that I've found on the internet. For Part 5 here my model inspirations include actress Veronica Lauren (Days of our Lives, American Pie, Homeward Bound) from the previous installment, Jessica Zelinske (Playboy Hot Housewives Cover Model), Claire Sinclair (Playboy Playmate and headliner of Pin Up Las Vegas, and the part of Caine being Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, Mission Impossible 3, Dracula). As usual, chapter numbering just continues from previous parts for continuity purposes.

Now that the usual fair warning and acknowledgement are out of the way, on with the story.

***

"I'm waking up to ash and dust. I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust.

I'm breathing in the chemicals...

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus.

This is it... the apocalypse..."

-Imagine Dragons, "Radioactive"

*

"It isn't important to come out on top. What matters is to be the one who comes out

alive

."

-Mr. Slick, Los Angeles Survival Tips

*

PART 5: CAINE

CHAPTER 39: Extinction Level Event

Some Time Ago:

Seventeen Minutes... That was all the time that the Earth had left. Eight and a half from the moment the Betelgeuse Nova to pass by the planet to go to the sun and another Eight and a half for the sun to throw out its violent retaliatory fit back out.

A mere year ago, scientists started observing the Betelgeuse Star doing some weird things. Of course, due to the sheer distance in light years, such events happened well over five to seven hundred years ago, and the light of the event was just now getting to Earth. Astronomers were having wet dreams as they got to witness 'the nature of space in all of its splendor'. After a couple of months with every telescope on the planet looking that way, everyone started feeling uneasy about things. A few months after that, their worst fears were confirmed in that the closest star system to our own was going haywire and that it was going to go up in the largest celestial fireworks display possible.

They were calling it a Type 1-A Supernova.

While the geeks worked up the numbers and confirmed that Betelgeuse was going to blow, everyone on the planet went into emergency mode as it came out exactly what it would do to Earth on the way by. Arks were built and thrown out into the heavens with humans crammed in them in a hope that the species would survive. Bunkers on Earth, Mars, Luna, and even the moons of Jupiter, the furthest human colony to date, were created. Every and all contingency plan was called into action while the light from Betelgeuse flickered and grew more erratic by the second. The scientists all agreed that when Betelgeuse went dark and the night sky suddenly lit up as if the northern lights were on all over the place, then the planet had, roughly, seventeen minutes to live as that was the shockwave hitting them and passing by on its way to wreak havoc on the sun.

The sun was another problem. No one had any idea how Old Sol would react to such punishment. Speculation ranged but everyone wasn't taking the chance. If one couldn't get into one of the large bunkers or onto a spaceship to hide behind a planetary object, then they'd be forced to ride things out the old-fashioned way.

The night skies over Asia and Australia lit up and the countdown started for those on the dayward side. People who missed the advanced memo that came in from the colonies, or those who simply wanted it to end for them quickly, on the night side got rewarded by the most spectacular light display ever seen for the last few moments of their lives before cosmic radiation overwhelmed the ozone and blew them into atoms while the wave passed by. The ozone opened up for a mere fraction of a second when it got bombarded but it was enough to take its toll on living matter.

The clock was then ticking as scientists in bunkers studied the data and figured that the sun was going to have a mini-nova of its own to try and stabilize itself. If the sun failed at that, it wouldn't be long until all the inner planets were cooked to perfection.

Sixteen minutes now remained.

Caine Douglas was jostled in line as he followed his parents into the underground ark. The moment the very first warning came in from Jupiter and the news reports showed that the departing generational and deep freeze ships were moving behind Saturn to protect themselves from the incoming wave, they were in the car heading for the nearest shelter. They didn't have the money for a personal bunker on their property but they did manage to get in on the 'first come, first served' list for one of the cryogenic bunkers near their home. The trick was beating everyone else there. Being a family of preppers, they were ready to go at a moment's notice. There were no words. All they did was grab their Go Bags, pile into the car, and head out while the rest of the families in the neighborhood either waffled about or tried to pile as much of their stuff as possible into their cars before leaving, therefore wasting valuable time. They made it to the bunker when the wave hit on the night side and washed over the rest of the planet. Only one spot, from what reports have said, got shielded because of the moon. It was unknown if any of the Lunar colonies weathered the storm or not.

The Douglas' were not the first to get to the cryo bunker but they were close to it. The cryo vault was an old converted ICBM facility in the middle of nowhere. Caine wondered about his best friend, Henry Bailey as they shuffled down to the lowest level of the facility that was arguably the safest. His geeky, astronomy-loving friend was probably getting a kick out of this. Caine only hoped that his buddy would be able to get into some kind of shelter before the worst happened.

If all goes well, my friend, hopefully I'll see you on the other side...

It was a somber thought but it was all he had.

A glance at a large, red, LED countdown clock on the far wall told a grim story; Ten minutes remaining. In about three minutes the wave would be hitting the sun. The world would know soon who was going to be right and who was going to be dead. Caine followed his parents down the winding metal staircase down with a steady stream of people before him and behind him. No one said anything. All they did was listen to directions because to do otherwise would spell certain death for everyone. These were the smart ones. As the clock ticked down, they could already hear the shouts and the cries of the desperate far above them as they tried desperately to get into a cryo unit.

At eight minutes, the Douglas' were being directed into their individual units. A man was shouting at them. "Liquid Atmosphere will fill your units the moment the door closes. Breathe it in normally. Yes, you will feel like you are drowning but don't fight it. Once you're breathing the liquid the cryogenic process will start," the man in a lab coat was saying. "Put personal effects into the locker next to it quickly and get in! We're told that the wave has just hit the sun!"

Caine did as he was told and found another LED clock. Eight minutes. If the sun was doing anything it was already on its way here. With a set jaw, he gave one last hug to his parents and they exchanged 'I love yous before getting into their unit.

It's not fair...

Caine thought bitterly as the door closed in on him.

At nineteen, I should have my whole life ahead me... this fucking sucks!

The door closed with a hiss, encasing him in total blackness, and red liquid began to pour in, rapidly pooling up at the bottom and filling up fast. Fair or not, this is where his life was now at and this is what he'd trained for over the past year. Here's hoping that there'd be a planet for him to wake up to in the future.

At least I'll be unconscious when the wave from the sun hits... if it does...

he said as he took some deep, calming breaths while laying back against the elevated seat. With any luck, he'll be thawed out within a few hours after the danger has passed. If not, who knew how long he'd be out.

The red liquid now filled up past his neck, and then his chin. Out of instinct he tried to keep his head up. Even though he knew what to do intellectually, basic human nature kicked in and his survival instincts went into overdrive. He panicked and tried to get out. He looked for an air pocket as he held his breath. Another three minutes gone by and his lungs had no choice but to override his brain and try to breathe on his behalf. The liquid flooded his lungs and Caine choked, his body went into a fit of spasms, and then drowned in the stuff. When he got another breath of air, he was breathing in the gunk. He heard another hiss as the cryogenic process started.

I wonder how much time is left?

He wondered as his body settled into a deep, hibernation sleep.

One minute remained on the clock.

***

CHAPTER 40: Thawed out.

A beeping noise roused Caine from his deep slumber. He blinked his eyes open as warmth pooled in from all around him. The door was still closed and so he was still in total blackness.

Was that it? Is that all there is to it?

He wondered as he got his bearings. Another hiss and the door was opening and he blinked as the piercing light came in while the red liquid poured out of the cryo unit taking him out along with it. Caine felt his legs go weak out of him and he barely caught himself as he crashed to the metal deck underneath of him.

Then the coughing fit began as there was no more liquid around him to breathe. His lungs ejected the gunk and began to breathe normal air for the first time in... how long? How long were they in cryo?

Caine ignored the sheen of red liquid atmosphere that was covering his body and looked around. The red LED clock that he'd seen going in was now out and covered in a layer of dust. In fact, it looked like it hadn't operated in quite some time. Around him, other cryo units were in the process of opening as well and their occupants coming out in coughing fits just like he did.

He managed to get up onto unsteady legs and stumble over to his parents' units. That's when he noticed that they, like a few units here and there, were not coming open. He pounded futile fists on the outer shell of his mother's unit and then looked for some kind of readout. There was one right next to it and it responded to touch just like his pad back home. There was a medical bio reading and it was all registering zeros and no action inside. "NO!" he yelled, hitting it again to refresh the data repeatedly. Each result was the same; Subject Expired. Caine went over to his father's unit and got the same results; Subject Expired. He let out a wail of anguish, pounded again on his father's unit, and sank back down to the floor to let the tears of frustration and anger flow. It wasn't fair. What was the point of coming here if all they were going to do was die?

Caine was acutely aware of similar scenes playing out around him. Husbands called for wives, wives called for husbands, children called for parents, and parents called for children. One in about every five families, it seemed, managed to survive intact.

Don't just stand there feeling sorry for yourself!

Caine's father's voice seemed to pierce his mind from one of the countless times they'd drilled their evac from their home.

Get up! Move! If something happens to us, then you stay alive! Got it?

"Yes, sir," Caine answered his father's drilling through grit teeth. They'd prepared for this possibility if one or more of them didn't make it. They'd all promised in the car ride out here that they'd do what they could to survive without the others or else their sacrifice would be in vain. Caine's gaze turned hard to the other people around him who were not recovering as quickly as he was.

The people who do not move become quick and easy prey. Don't be the Prey! Be the Predator.

His father's voice told him again.

With that, Caine was back on his feet, grabbing for the stowage lockers where they'd put their Go Bags in. He grabbed his and his parents' bags. His bag he put over his shoulder facing forward and his parents' bag then went over one shoulder each on his back. Then he was moving back up the metal staircase as fast as he could go. It was a long way back up the silo but he had to go quickly or else he might be bogged down by more of the survivors coming out for the shocks of their lives. The wailing and gnashing of teeth of those grieving the loss of their loved ones started to fill the bunker to a cacophony that was nearly deafening.

Caine kept on moving.

Move now, grieve later!

His dad had said during one exercise when they simulated that mom had been killed by looters. Caine remembered being upset at that prospect. Sure, he was a bit of a mama's boy at times. But that was now a lifetime ago. He'd barely finished high school when the first reports of the incoming devastation were released. Instead of going out to college and then going to look for a job, like Henry had done, Caine focused his efforts during the first years out of high school on preparing and learning how to survive the impending apocalypse.

It took him awhile and he managed to be the first one to the top level. He was a bit winded as he'd never anticipating going up ten levels of an old missile silo before. He'd have to work on his endurance a bit. Caine let out a hollow laugh, "Find out what makes you... SPECIAL," he said in a mocking tone, reminiscent of that old survival game that he used to play all the time on Playstation. He retraced his steps from what he remembered coming in. It felt like he was just up here but it could've been a while.

How long?

He wondered.

Days? Weeks? Months?

He then shuddered.

Years?

He couldn't imagine them being down in that silo THAT long but he also didn't think that the cryo units would've failed on a whim either. He chalked it up to damage sustained from the one-two punch that Earth got followed by some time of neglect and lack of upkeep.

The main stairway that he remembered coming in was blocked by debris and rubble. It was like the place caved in after they got in here. Caine looked every which way. "There's gotta be an emergency ladder or something around here." He muttered. "Bingo!" he spotted a red EMERGENCY EXIT sign off to one side with an arrow that pointed up and to the right. His ticket out.

He took one step and something went crunch under his sneaker. That's when he paused and looked around... and instantly regretted doing so. He was standing amid a sea of skeletons that were all clustered off the main path to the doorway that he'd been on. A lot of them posed in their final moments of life. Some looked like they were crawling their way in. Some were bunched together, clutching one another as death came on. There were a couple that had bullet holes in the sides of their skulls and dropped weapons to their sides where they decided that suicide was the preferable option. Caine spun in place as he took in the stripped bones. All flesh was gone from them as they'd since decayed.

Unable to help himself, Caine found the closest corner and threw up the last meal he'd had just prior to going into the freezer. The red goo from the cryo unit was now all either dripped off of him, or dried and caked on him to the point that it was flaking off. That was now a distant thought as the sight of those who were not fortunate enough to get to a cryo unit before they filled up.

"Get up. MOVE!" he growled at himself after he was done heaving his guts out. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, spat out more of the red goo that had coagulated on his lips in the process, looked up at the Emergency Exit stairs, and ran for them. He wasn't going to die down here today. Caine dashed up the stairs and found the outer door to the exit. It budged a bit but didn't open. He hit it with his shoulder a few more times and the door finally creaked open as whatever blocking it on the other side gave way.

Stumbling out, Caine found that there had been a few rocks and small boulders that had tumbled down. That, and the rust on the hinges didn't help matters. He cambered up and up until he reached the top of the hill that housed the exit and looked out onto the world.

"Holy Fuck..." he breathed as he peered into the harsh sunlight at what used to be his home state. He had to hold his hand up to shield his eyes against the sun.

Was it actually brighter out here?

He wondered as he looked at the devastated landscape. What used to be rolling hills, endless agrarian landscaping, and patches of green forests was now a dry, parched, desert looking land that could've been a backdrop for

Mad Max

or any of the

Fallout

games.

There was a flash off in the distance as light glinted off of something reflective. Dropping to one knee, he fished out a pair of binoculars from the backpack strapped to his chest. He peered in that direction and found what had caused the flash of light; a scrap built truck from the looks of things. There was a cage where the bed of the truck was and people wielding patchwork armor and crude looking pistols and rifles. In the back, inside of the cage, he could see terrified looking naked women. On any other day seeing a bunch of naked women tied up together like that would get his cock to rise but this was a survival situation and he couldn't afford to be distracted even if it was by sex.