Rewound

“Come and get your love! Come and get your love!” The three of us sang along with the song as we pulled into a gas station. We worked together like a well-oiled machine as I pulled up to the gas pump. They got out and ran inside to see if there was any food still worth salvaging, as I got to work rigging the pump to work without authorization from the cash register. It was something I learned how to do a year or so into the apocalypse, and now it came as quickly and easily as a professional locksmith opening a door.

Sophia, Maria, and I were enjoying our road trip to see if her sister was still alive, and we’d be gone for the next few days at least, that was if we found her. There was a good chance we’d spend a week or two looking and find out she had died. It was incredible how quickly the weather changed. Both Sophia and Maria were dressed in short shorts, wiping sweat off their foreheads because of the heatwave.

I could hear them giggling and playing around inside as I smiled and watched. There was a chance someone was inside the bathroom, but as I made a cursory inspection before they went in, it should be safe enough. I was worried they would be hurt, but both had combatant powers. The only reason Sophie died in the first timeline was that she wasn’t on alert; we were well in our own territory, and the attack came from someone who should have been friendly.

Sophie had a danger sense. I had seen her hit the floor a moment before gunfire would have ripped her apart in the first timeline; she had more perception than a normal person, on top of being able to command animals. Maria gained both a stronger and tougher body, on top of being able to fire a ball of energy as a weapon.

I didn’t think it was enough for her to survive a buckshot from a shotgun, but it would be much easier to shrug off damage compared to a normal human. It meant they were far safer than two abnormally attractive(non-powered) women frollicking about. They were beyond normal levels of attractiveness, and women like them had a name in the first timeline. Bandit bait.

When you saw them, they were normally in trouble, but the moment you went to help them, or worse, the bandits would show up to make you regret that decision. I heard a truck rumbling down the road toward us and yelled out a warning to the two. “We got company coming. Get behind some cover in case they’re dumb.”

The apocalypse was in full swing. It meant there was a real chance that these people heading our direction were the rescue squad from another survivor camp… Or… Far more likely, people are coming to kill us and steal our stuff. It wasn’t as overblown as Mad Max… But it very well could be, depending on who ruled the survivor base.

As I heard gunshots and men wooping and hollering, I knew it was the ladder. I could only sigh as I thought of how to deal with them. The truck was loud enough that I could hear them before I saw them, and as they came into sight, I could see about a dozen men all packed into a truck, some hanging off the sides as they were making fools of themselves.

One finally noticed me, he started to point a shotgun in my direction, and that was my sign to stop them from being such stereotypical villains. A bone spike formed as the man fired. It was birdshot, small beads, not buckshot, thankfully. Even if they reached me, they wouldn’t be strong enough to do more than ruin my clothes. I fired the spike at the tire of the truck.

It went without saying that they were driving far beyond the speed limit, risking their own lives already, as the truck began to tumble, launching them out of the back, some flying dozens of feet into the air before coming down, all of them dead or in the process of dying by the time the truck comes to a standstill back on its wheels. I called out to the girls. “Alright, it’s time to get back on the road. We got a few more hours before it gets dark.”

The song was still blaring as the two looked out in shock and fear at the suddenly dead people, and I just began singing again. “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, come and get your love!”

…

Ester’s Point of View

I sat drinking a cup of fresh blood from one of my more unfortunate thralls. He was in a gunfight earlier and was struck by several bullets. Before he died, I drained the blood from him so it didn’t go to waste. One of my other men, one of the leaders too smart to be made dumb by turning him into a thrall, came into my impromptu throne room.

He knelt and waited for me to acknowledge him; that was why I kept him the way he was. He was already loyal enough to pass and knew what would happen to him if he didn’t treat me like the queen I was. He sat on his knee until I slowly finished my blood wine, as I finally asked. “What is it?” He twitched at the sound of my voice; he had seen what I did to those who went against me, so there was going to be some fear of me.

“T-the… *Ahem* The leader of the largest survivor camp left earlier today. Our scouts have said that he’ll be gone for the next few days.” Once again, after informing me, he waited quietly on his knee for my response. “Hmm. Well, that makes things interesting.” I knew who the man was; I had met him twice already. Once, before I gained my powers, and again as I spied on the gates to check for any weaknesses.

He didn’t even recognize me. One moment, he was walking, yelling out about big men being bodyguards; the next, he was stopped in front of me, staring at me as if I were a slab of meat. I would have reciprocated him, perhaps worn him down before discarding him, but I felt sick when I looked at him; I felt fear as I instinctively knew how dangerous he was.

That was why we were living in this motel instead of the cluster of mansions. Because I knew he was more prepared for this than I was, the weak men protecting the gates were far too numerous for me to do anything by myself. That was before I counted all the smaller in number, but still just as dangerous, women walking around, all of that on top of the man who made me want to run away.

There was nothing we could do… Except now, now there was. Not themselves… But all it took to break them would be a spark. A spoken word here, a bribe there, and a thrall to run forward and get gunned down, and we wouldn’t have to do anything but sit back and wait for the refugees to do the work for them. I spoke out loud, we would need to begin preparing while gathering more information, and we didn’t want the man coming back before the plan could be implemented.

“Go… Tell the others to find out when he’ll return; if they can’t, find out how many of the women inside the gates there are. We need to gather as much information as we can before I take what I deserve as the new Queen of this world.” I couldn’t help but smile; the look of horror on the man’s face as he rushed out of the room was something I would have to ignore from now on.