Moonweezle9

with Dēda and Magnus Emendator

Apocalypse

Chapters 9-10

Chapter 9
Donny

Awful visions of chaos and death filled my dreams. As I slept, I saw my innermost sorrows come to life. I saw my family being destroyed over, and over again. I finally woke from my nightmares around 4 a.m., and sat up in the dark in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. I sat there a few minutes as I regained my breath and calmed down before breaking out in silent tears. I felt such sorrow over losing my family, and my old life, to the invasion. I wept quietly to myself, so I wouldn't wake the others, but Lucky was right there at my side in the darkness. I felt his warm tongue licking my wet cheeks; a loyal friend.

I grabbed a flashlight and flipped it on to gain my bearings. As quietly as I could, I stood up and exited the room with Lucky, and headed outside to take a quick leak. I stood there in the cool night air, still naked, and pissed on my usual tree, as did Lucky.

As I stood there, in the back of my mind, I sensed a faint presence. It seemed very far away, but the most important thing was that I believed it was human. It didn't have the feeling of being alien to me. I felt its fear, love, and sorrow emanating from afar. Closing my eyes and concentrating on that feeling of connection, I imagined opening my eyes as if to see through the eyes of another, and it worked. I could see what they were seeing, but I couldn't control what I was looking at, they had total control of that. I could see from them glancing around what seemed to be a dark pit or hole with a cage-like lid on the top of it.

Wherever this was, I was sensing it must be a prison of some sort. The more I concentrated on this person, the more I realized they were young, younger even than me, and the others inside the mine. Then as they looked up to see a bright light coming from the top of their prison, an overwhelming feeling of terror washed over me, and the connection I had to the kid was gone.

"What the hell was that?" I thought to myself. I stood there naked in the darkness, wondering if I was just dreaming, or if what I had just experienced was real. Reason would tell me I was imagining it, but in my gut, I knew it was real. I called to Lucky and we ran back inside the mine.

"Guys, guys, wake up!" I yelled, as I ran back into the safe room. The three sleeping boys jumped, as I startled them from their sleep. Adam grabbed for the first thing he could get his hands on, which was a shoe, and held it ready to hit something.

"Guys, it's just me, chill, but wake up; I got something to tell you," I told them.

"What is so important that you had to wake us up at this time of night?" asked Chris, yawning.

"There's someone else alive out there," I stated simply. The three of them looked at me in disbelief.

"Where? Outside the mine?" Josiah asked, excited.

"No, no. The dog and I went out to take a piss and I got a weird feeling, like a presence, not real close but in the distance. I know, it sounds weird, but I concentrated real hard on that presence, and somehow, I could see what they saw. It was as if I was inside them or something, seeing through their eyes. I think it's a kid younger than us, and I think the monsters have him," I said.

The others looked at me as if I just went loony [mental] on them.

"Guys, I know it sounds weird as hell, but you have to trust me on this; I think if we don't try to help this kid, they're gonna die," I told the younger boys. They could all see I was being dead serious, and meant what I was saying.

"So, what do we do?" Chris asked.

Truthfully, I didn't have a clue as to what to do about it.

"Um, well, I can try to link back up with the kid to see if I can communicate with him or something. The last thing I felt from him was a feeling of total fear," I replied.

"I dunno, Derrik. I mean, we're kinda safe here. Who knows what could happen to us if we leave to go and look for someone that we aren't even positive is out there," Josiah said, making a point.

"You have a good point there, Joe, but guys, think about it, we may be the only other humans still alive who can help this kid. Also, we have an edge over anyone else that might still be alive. Remember, we have our special abilities now, so who better than us to help this kid?" I asked.

The boys could see the logic in my answer, but I could also see the fear and wonder on their faces. AJ looked straight at me with his onyx eyes and said, "I'm in. Let's go for it,"

Chris, too, reluctantly agreed to help.

"How about it, Joey; you gonna help or stay here alone?" AJ asked his cousin.

"Aw, man. Ok, ok, I'll help," answered Josiah. "But I got a bad feelin we're gonna regret this,"

Now in total agreement that we were going to help this kid, we all got dressed. We quietly filed out into the pitch black of the night. Once we got to the mine entrance, we turned the lights off for a minute 'til we were sure it was safe.

"I don't hear or smell anything," Chris said.

"Yeah, it looks clear, too," said AJ.

We flipped our flashlights back on and scanned around. I told the guys to be quiet and let me concentrate so I could try to re-establish my earlier link to that scared kid. This time I only caught flashes of sights and sounds. I wasn't getting a clear enough connection this time.

"I got an idea; let's go up as high on the hill as we can," I told the boys.

We all climbed to the top of the hill where I tried the connection again. This time it was much more intense. I fell to one knee as I felt the kid's mind.

"Oh man. I think the kid's in deep shit, guys," I said.

I sat down, this time determined to make a connection with the kid. I clenched my eyes shut and focused all of my thoughts on this kid. The harder I focused, the more strain I felt in my mind. I finally broke through what seemed like an invisible barrier in my mind.

God, please help me, I sensed the kid begging.

Can you hear me? I thought to this kid.

Yes. Is that you, God? Or is it an angel? Please let me die already, the child begged.

No, I'm not God, or an angel. My name's Derrik. I know this sounds weird, but trust me, I'm not an alien, I have what you could call special abilities that are letting me communicate with you. I want to try to help you. Do you know where you are? I asked.

I'm in a hole. The monsters have me and they're gonna eat me. Please help me. PLEASE! begged the kid.

By this time, I had sensed that it was a younger boy that I was in communication with. He was scared, alone, and didn't know what to do.

Ok, here's what I want you to do. I want you to think about the last thing that you saw before the monsters grabbed you. Think about it as hard as you can, as it may be the only way we can find you and help you, I thought to the boy.

He was sending me visions of things I had seen once before. I wasn't quite sure where I had seen them though. Then he sent a vision I recognized.

"He's near Kingston! He just showed me a vision of the post office I stayed at there, when I found AJ," I said, snapping back from my trance.

I dove back into the depths of my mind to ask the boy, Kingston, is that where you were when they took you?

Yes, he thought back to me.

We are coming for you. Try your best to stay alive and we WILL find you, I swear it, I promised the boy.

With that, I disconnected my thoughts from him and spoke to the boys I was with.

"Guys, if we don't get to Kingston and try to find this kid, he's toast. We all know what those things do. We can't let that happen to him," I told the group.

Now we were in unanimous agreement that we were going to help save this boy from a cruel evil fate.

"AJ, look around, since we're up here so high, and see if anything stands out to you," I said.

He scanned around the dark horizon and stopped when he was looking in the direction where the alien ship had crashed.

"I can see the aliens' ship, the one that crashed, from here; it's over that way, maybe four or five miles [6-8 km] away," he said, pointing.

It just so happened that the direction he was pointing was also the way to Kingston.

"Ok, guys, let's get back down to the mine and get ready for war," I said, making the boys gulp with anticipation.

Back in the mine, we packed as many supplies as we could into backpacks and crammed as much as we could onto the trailer and the ATV. We each took two guns and as much ammo as we could carry. While the boys finished loading it up, I dumped the gas I'd gotten in town into the tank. By the time we were ready, the ATV and trailer were heavily loaded down. For the moment, we had just enough room for the four of us, and Lucky, to fit on the ATV, and then it would be full.

The plan was to head for Kingston and stop at the crashed ship along the way. We were going to check for survivors and anything useful in the ship that we might find, and then head on to Kingston. I fired the ATV's motor to life with Adam literally riding shotgun while holding said weapon, so that he could be my night eyes in the dark. As we set out, I could only see just so far ahead of us with the head light, but he could see much further and clearer. We rode along with Chris keeping an ear out for any noises out of the ordinary.

It seemed like no time at all before we had ridden the five miles or so [8 km] through the woods in the dark to where the alien ship had crashed. It appeared to have come down hard since it was scattered all over the area, in pieces. We dismounted the ATV with our guns drawn, on our guards, just in case we were taken by surprise. As we approached the wreckage on foot, we found the partially charred remains of three of the pale-skinned aliens, the friendly ones. We went further into the wreckage and looked for any signs of life. We only found two more dead aliens inside, though. We were walking cautiously through what was left of the ship when we came to a room that looked important to me.

"Hey guys, let's check this room out," I told them.

"Why?" asked AJ.

"Well, because the sign next to the door says Armory. Maybe there's something in there we can use," I replied.

We walked inside and looked around the room. There were all kinds of strange things in there. Everything seemed to be made out of some kind of polished, shiny metal. The only bad thing was almost everything in there seemed to have been damaged in some way, possibly from the crash. One thing that did catch my eye was a device that looked like some kind of glove. I picked it up, slid it over my right hand, and instantly felt a tingly sensation in my hand. I held my hand out with the palm up and small bolts of electricity began to flicker from my fingertips. The boys were all in awe as they watched the glove. I decided to try something; I balled my hand into a fist and concentrated on the thought of a shock wave blowing out away from me. As I thought this, a huge burst of energy erupted from my fist, knocking the others on their asses.

"Holy, shit!" I was dumbfounded. I apologized immediately. "Sorry guys, I didn't know it was going to do that," when I saw what I had done just by thinking it.

They all got up in total amazement and began searching for devices to use for themselves. We were disappointed when we couldn't find anything else in the room that still worked, or that would help us in any way. We did have the glove, though; the Glove of Doom as Chris jokingly named it. All of the others tried the glove, but had no success in activating it. I guess my mental abilities were the controls to work it so the glove ended up becoming mine. I stowed it in my backpack and we went on exploring further into the ship.

We eventually found our way to what seemed to be the command center of the ship. Inside were two more dead aliens. I ran to a control panel and looked for some way to activate it. There weren't any buttons or knobs to work the device that I could find, so I tried something different. I placed a hand on the console and thought about what I wanted to see, and sure enough, the display popped up. I thought about where the monsters were, if they were close to Kingston, and where possibly they might have prisoners, or food, stashed. The screen showed what looked to be a small camp set up about 2 miles [2½ km] north of Kingston. The device told me that this was a food processing facility, a place where the monsters took their prisoners to be made into their food. If this truly was where the boy was he didn't have much time left. I took my hand off the console, shutting it off, and it shorted out, shooting sparks all over the place.

"Well, I guess that's it for that thing; it's junk now," I said. "Come on guys we have to get a move on. I just found out that the kid is in a food processing camp. Those THINGS are gonna eat him if we don't get him out of there," I stated.

"What the hell are we waiting for then?" Adam said.

We continued back to the large hole in the hull where we had entered. As we exited, we saw the sun just starting to peak over the tree tops above us. By 7 a.m., we had made it to the edge of the woods next to Kingston.

"Ok, boys, we go on foot from here. We don't want them hearing the ATV motor. AJ, I think you should lead the way, I mean you used to live around here and you can see things we can't," I said.

We concealed the ATV in some brush, and put the leash on the dog, then proceeded on foot towards Kingston. As we walked into the town itself, Chris began to sniff the air, as did Lucky.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Smells like something dead," Chris replied.

We walked farther into the town 'til we encountered our first sign of the aliens.

"Oh shit, guys, hide!" I said, quietly but sternly.

We all ducked for cover in an alley. I peeked around the corner to see one of those robots hovering in the middle of the street ahead of us.

"You think it saw us?" Josiah asked.

"Dunno, but let's not take any chances," Chris said.

An idea then struck me. I took my pack off and dug the Glove of Doom out of it, and slid it on, covering my hand and forearm.

"Guys I'm going to see what this thing can really do," I told them. I pointed my hand towards the robot and thought of an extremely high amount of lightning. A bolt of electricity shot from my fingertips to the robot and instantly fried it. The robot fell to the ground shooting sparks out all over the place.

"Wow," was all we could say. The glove was indeed a powerful device to behold. Fearing I might set off some sort of unknown power in it, I removed it and stowed it back in my bag, then we moved on. Adam led us to the northern most part of town at the base of yet another hill covered in trees.

"Stop! Shh!" Chris exclaimed. We froze instantly. He listened intently in the silence that was all the rest of us could hear. "Something's coming, coming down the hill towards us. It sounds like two sets of footsteps, and whatever it is, it's bigger than us," Chris said.

"Monsters?" Josiah asked, worried.

I again dug the glove out of my bag and slid it on. Just then, Lucky's ears perked up and he began to growl.

"Guys, whatever you do, don't shoot unless you absolutely have to. If there are more of them around they'll be on us like flies on shit if they hear a gunshot," I stated.

I had the boys and the dog bunch in close to me like before and I activated the cloaking shield to hide us. We stood there in a tight huddle and waited for the creatures to lumber down the hill to us. Hopefully, they would just waltz right on past us without ever being aware that we were standing there. Chris reached down to muffle the dog's growls as the sounds grew close enough for us all to hear. Sure enough, it was two of the hideous monsters stomping through the woods. As they got closer to us, they began to slow down until they stopped completely right in front of us about 30 feet [10 m] away. One of them began to sniff at the air. I gulped in fear and anticipation of what was probably getting ready to happen. The alien that was sniffing turned and looked in our direction and continued to sniff. It then let out an ear-piercing sound that scared the living hell out of us. I knew then it was time to strike first.

I flipped of the cloaking shield and exposed our position to the monsters. They both roared loudly, and began to charge at us. I raised my gloved hand and the only thing I could think of was a huge shockwave to push them away, and then a burst of energy emitted from the glove and flung the aliens high into the air. They got right back up and came at us once more. This time I thought of torching them and a wave of intense heat flew from the glove, engulfing the aliens in flames.

"Shit, look out!" Chris screamed, as another monster snuck up on us from behind and grabbed AJ.

"Adam, no!" Josiah screamed out and, with all his might, punched the alien in the chest sending it soaring through the air. It slammed against a tree with a bone-crushing thud.

"Holy shit! You killed it!" Chris said in amazement.

"WOW! Thanks, cuz," said AJ.

"Well, well; looks like you had some unknown powers on top of the self-healing. That's cool, we can use some superman strength," I stated.

Josiah was totally amazed by his newfound ability. Then he looked at the alien he'd blasted against the tree and took on a sorrowful, worried face.

"I never killed anything before," he said, looking like he was about to cry.

"Dude, if you hadn't he would have killed me," AJ said to his cousin, as he hugged him for saving his life.

"Ok guys, enough talk, let's get our game face back on; there might be more of them out there. You hear anything Chris?" I said.

He listened for a moment before saying, "No. If they are out there, they're being super quiet."

We trudged on then in the direction of the alien base. Chris and Adam walked up front, as I draped an arm over Josiah's shoulders behind.

"Don't feel bad for killing that thing, dude. It damn sure was intent on killing us. Do you remember when it made that shrieking sound? It was calling to the other ones that it had found food. You actually did us a favor," I said to him, making him feel somewhat better about it.

By the time we crested the top of the hill, we were pretty well worn out. As bad as I didn't want to do it, we decided to hide in some bushes and take a break from the walking. We ate a quick snack, and then AJ poked his head out from the bushes to keep watch. I sat and closed my eyes to concentrate on the boy in the pit.

Are you still with us? I ask him.

Yes, please hurry, please! he begged me.

Don't worry, we're coming for you. We will be where you are soon, just try to stay alive, I thought to him.

"Derrik, come here," AJ said, excited. I crawled over next to him. "I can see the base from here. It looks like there are three aliens there and one ship. I can see six holes in the ground, too, and� oh, God!" he said, almost gagging.

"What? What else do you see?" I asked.

"A pile of bones and body parts," he said, trying not to gag. Three aliens remained between us, and the freedom of whoever was down there that might still be alive. "Wait," he said then. He took his sunglasses off and looked harder at the base. "They're all getting into the ship. Ok, it just took off. The place is unguarded right now," Adam said in excitement.

"Guys, on your feet, let's go!" I said, as we all sprang to our feet and ran the mile or so from the hilltop to the alien base.

We ran as fast as we could to try to get there before the aliens came back. It took about 20 minutes to get there due to bushes and other obstacles we had to run through and around to get there. Once we got close, we slowed to a turtle's pace with guns drawn and on our guard.

"Eyes open, guys. This could be a trick," I told them.

On we walked into the camp's confines and straight to the pits. The first one was empty. Next one had what looked to be dead deer and other large woodland animals dumped in it. Third was an open-toped pit full of processed meat for the monster's food that stunk badly. The fourth had the caged top closed and it appeared to have a few dead people in it, same for the fifth. We all slowly walked to the rim of the last pit. Its lid was also closed.

"This is our last chance guys; he has to be in there," I said.

The boys took up a defensive stance with their guns pointing at the lid to the hole. I bent over and looked down through the grill to the inside.

"Are you in there? It's Derrik. Can you hear me?" I yelled into the dark hole.

"Help me!" a small boy screamed from deep in the hole.

"Wait a minute!" AJ said.

He lowered his gun and walked over to the pit. He removed his sunglasses and looked into the darkness.

"DONNY! OH, MY GOD, DONNY!" he screamed frantically.

He dropped his rifle and tried with all his might to open the cover to the pit, the whole time screaming the name Donny.

Then Josiah said, "Donny? Holy shit it's my little cousin; it's AJ's brother!" before running over to the hole. By now, Adam was franticly screaming his brother's name and crying as he tried, to no avail, to open his prison.

"Put those new-found abilities to the test, Joe, and see if you can open that lid," I told him.

Chris and I had to literally drag the screaming and fighting AJ away from the lid so that Josiah could try to open it. I wrapped my arms around AJ to restrain him.

"Adam, let Josiah try to open it so we can get him out. Calm down, he's going to be ok now. We got him now," I said in his ear, calming him down some. We sat and watched as Josiah grasped the lid with both hands and strained to open it.

"It won't open guys. It's locked somehow," he said, sending AJ back into hysterics.

I was starting to get mad. I yelled at AJ, "Calm the fuck down, dude. Freaking out like that isn't helping us any and it's not getting him out of there any faster."

He realized what I said was right and calmed down a bit. I examined the locking device on the cage lid. I still had the glove on so I tried using it. I placed my gloved hand on the lock and thought of extreme freezing cold. Frost began to emit from the lock as the glove froze it.

"What the hell did you freeze it for?" Chris asked.

"This is why," I said, as I smacked the butt of my shotgun against the lock, shattering it into a million pieces. "Cold like that makes things break really easy," I explained to him.

Once more Josiah tried to open the lid. This time his strength paid off and the lid creaked open as he strained his small body to lift it. He dug deep down inside and, with one final grunt, flung the top all the way open.

"Tie this rope off to that tree," I said, as I wrapped the other end around my waist. I then began to descend into the pit. At the bottom was a young, very dirty, boy. Once I shined the light on him, I knew instantly he had to be AJ's brother. If he were older, he could be AJ's twin.

"Ok little buddy, I'm going to get you out of here," I told him.

He had almost no strength left at all to help me get him out as I lifted his dirt-covered body and tied the rope firmly around both of us. Then I wrapped his arms around my neck and held him belly to belly, while Josiah hauled us back up to the surface. As we approached the surface, AJ was right there waiting.

The small boy took one look up and instantly began bawling, "AJ, it is you!" he cried.

The guys pulled us out of the hole and Adam engulfed his baby brother in a tight bear hug and they both cried like babies.

"Oh God, bubby, I thought I lost you forever!" AJ cried to his baby brother.

"Guys, I don't mean to ruin your reunion, but we need to get the hell out of here. They know we're here now," I told them, as I sensed that some sort of force was approaching us from afar.

"Here, Adam, let me carry him. It'll be no sweat for me," Josiah said.

Reluctantly, AJ released the hold on his brother and Josiah scooped his little cousin up in his arms.

"Let's get the fuck out of here, now!" I said, wanting to get home.

We made a mad dash in the opposite direction from which we came into the camp, and we were on our way home. The run back to the hill was harder than it was going to the camp. We got to the area where we had encountered the aliens and their dead bodies were gone.

"Oh shit, that's not a good sign," Chris said, getting worried.

We ran a bit further on, 'til Chris warned us, "I hear something out there guys, and it sounds big."

Still, we kept running 'til we came upon what Chris had warned us of. Stopping us dead in our tracks, and standing on its hind legs, was a huge grizzly bear. The other boys grew scared, while I, on the other hand, felt a connection with the animal. I walked closer to the bear and stood directly in front of it.

"Derrik, no, it's gonna kill you!" AJ yelled.

I stared the bear right in the eye and it dropped down to its normal 4-legged position. Now it sort of whimpered, then turned and ran off. The boys stood there in total awe that it hadn't maimed me or worse.

"What the fuck was that?" Chris asked in amazement.

"I connected with its mind. I told it we weren't trying to hurt it and we were friends. It was scared is why it reared up the way it did. Once he understood we were friendly, he left. He also said he dragged the monsters off and left them in the bushes. They were fucking with his territory and he didn't like it," I said, giggling.

Once our encounter was over with, we continued on to Kingston. Somewhere in the middle of town, Donny found his voice and began to cry for his mother. He was so out of it, he had no idea what was going on, probably due to being dehydrated and not eating for so long.

"Guys, let's go in there and take a break; we need to give him a good checking over," I said to the others, as I pointed to a half-demolished house. Josiah carried his young cousin into the house with AJ right on his heels, worried about his little brother. I made a makeshift pillow from my backpack and Joe laid Donny on the floor, resting his head on the pack. Chris was one step ahead of me, thinking about taking out the first-aid kit.

"Good idea, dude, we might need it," I said, looking at Chris.

He knew I had read his mind and took the kit out of his pack. I checked the boy over thoroughly, checking for broken bones and other injuries. For the most part, he just had scrapes and bruises, but he did have a nasty gash on his inner thigh that looked like it might be infected a bit. I took his temperature and he did have a slight fever.

"He's sick, guys. He has a fever and that cut looks infected. We need to get him back to the mine. We have stuff there that might help him. There's not much we can do with this first-aid kit," I told them.

"Please, Derrik, help him. Don't let him die, PLEASE!" AJ begged me.

I placed my hand on his tear-stained cheek and assured him I'd do my best. We tried to give Donny some water and he happily sipped it, but slowly, since he was so weak.

"Let's get him back to the mine. I think we're pushing our luck being out in the open like this so much," Josiah said, making a valid point.

As we were reloading our packs and getting ready to head to the ATV, Chris interrupted us, "Shh. I heard something. Sounded like a gun cocking, but quietly," he said.

"A gun cocking? That means there's someone else alive out there," Adam said.

"Yeah, maybe, but we don't know if they're friendly or not, so be on your toes," I said, as Josiah scooped Donny's little body up and we left the ruined house.

We trekked on to the woods on the far side of town with our guard up, looking for whatever had made the sounds Chris had heard. We were about 100 feet [30 m] from the edge of town when, from behind us we heard, "Don't move."

I spun around while raising my gun and pointed it. There stood a man holding a deer rifle, pointing it at us.

"Drop the guns," he yelled at us.

"No way, dude, you put yours down," I screamed back.

I wasn't about to put my gun on the ground. The other boys were a bit more shaken by the man than I was. AJ and Chris slowly lowered their guns to the ground and raised their hands.

Again, the man yelled, "Put the damn gun down, now!"

Still I wasn't going to do it. Josiah, being in fear, lowered his cousin to the ground and as he raised back up, BOOM, the man's gun blasted. I turned to see Josiah fly backwards from a gunshot wound to his chest.

"NO! JOEY, NO!" AJ screamed at the top of his lungs, as he ran to his cousin.

At that point, I saw red. I still had the glove on and I threw the gun on the ground. I raised my hand and, with all the fury, anger, and might in me, the glove discharged a lethal blow to the man, picking him up and flinging him backwards through the air in a way that no living thing could survive. He was thrown at a neck-snapping speed over the treetops as far as the eye could see. My attention was then turned to Josiah. He was lying on his back and gasping for breath, spitting out blood.

"Oh. fuck. Hang on, Joe, don't die on us," I said, starting to freak out a bit.

Chris sat next to him holding his hand and bawling his eyes out. I took AJ's hand and placed it on Josiah's chest over the bullet hole. "Keep pressure on it," I told him. He pressed down on it and began to pray for his cousin not to die. I dug through one of the packs looking for the first-aid kit again.

"Joey, NO!" I heard AJ scream.

I ran back to him and he had stopped coughing up blood and had closed his eyes. It looked like we had lost him at that point. The three of us all broke down in tears as we looked at his body lying still. Then… surprise! He opened his eyes wide and sat up.

"That fucker ruined my shirt," Josiah said.

The three of us sat and looked at him in wide-eyed disbelief. Coughing a little, he spit out a big mouth full of foamy blood, cleared his throat, and pulled his shirt off. Realizing he was alive and ok, Chris rose to his knees and engulfed Josiah in a huge hug, kissing him all over his face. AJ sat still in disbelief. I called his name and he didn't move. He just sat and stared at Josiah.

"Adam, are you ok?" Joe asked him. Still he stared. Worried, I walked over and crouched in front of him, and then I lightly smacked him on the cheek. He began crying like a baby then.

"You didn't have to hit him that hard," Chris said, complaining to me.

"I didn't hit him hard Chris," I responded. "Adam, look at me bud. Are you ok?" I asked.

He nodded his head as he cried. I took him into my arms and he cried into my chest like a baby.

"Why is all this happening?" he said, between heavy sobs.

"I don't know bud, but it is happening, and we have to get through this together," I said to him.

As I held AJ, Josiah crawled over and gave his cousin a hug.

"Adam, I'm ok. Remember, I got those healing powers. It hurt for a second when he shot me, but it was as if I fell asleep then woke up. And when I say it hurt, damn, did it," Joe said to his cousin.

I let loose of AJ then, and he grabbed his cousin in a tight embrace.

"I love you Joey, please don't ever leave me," AJ cried. Just then, Donny began to cry again.

"AJ? Mommy? Daddy?" he moaned.

"Go to your baby bro now," Josiah said, releasing his cousin's hug.

Before tending to his brother, AJ kissed his cousin on the cheek, and smiled with teary eyes. Josiah sat there then, shirtless and smiling at Chris, who was just happy his friend was still alive. He then crawled back over to Chris and planted a good wet kiss right on his lips. I was just as glad as the boys were that Joey was still alive. I lay down on my back and took a breather. I was so drained at that point, I didn't know how I was going to go on.

"You ok Derrik?" Chris asked.

"Yeah bud. I'm just worn out. This whole thing is taking a lot out of me. I feel like I could sleep for a month, but I know I can't yet," I replied.

We rested for a bit, totally off our game at that point. Anything could have walked up on us and we wouldn't know it was there. What snapped my tired mind back to reality was when rain drops started hitting my sweaty face.

"Come on boys, let's get to the ATV, and get back to the damn mine," I said, feeling like something inside me wasn't right. I was somewhat scared, but I wasn't going to tell the others yet.

Again, Josiah carried Donny and we proceeded to the ATV. It was right where we had left it. We all piled onto it and motored on back to the mine. The trip back was much faster than the trip coming since it was daylight and we knew the way we came. About an hour and a half later, we were climbing the hill up to the mine entrance.

"We're home dudes," I said, getting little cheers from them. I stopped the ATV in front of the entrance. The dog jumped off and ran straight to the closest tree to relieve his bladder. By now, my head was pounding with the worst headache I'd ever had.

"Guys, can you unload the ATV and trailer, then unhook the trailer? I need something cold to drink," I told them, before I went ahead into the mine. Inside the safe room, I opened the cooler and pulled out a can of Pepsi from the mostly melted ice. I cracked it open and took a big drink, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back looking up at the cave roof.

"Guys, come quick, something's wrong with Derrik," I heard Josiah yell, just before I passed out.

"Derrik, Derrik, can you hear me? Come on man, wake up," I heard AJ say, just as I opened my eyes. I found myself lying in the bed, naked and clean now.

"What the fuck happened? Last thing I remember, I was drinking a pop. Now I'm in bed naked," I said.

"You passed out, dude. We're not sure what happened," Joe said.

"Yeah, remember you said yesterday that you felt tired and worn out, and when we got back home, you passed out," Chris said.

"Wait, wait, wait; yesterday? What the hell, how long was I out?" I asked.

"You've been out cold for almost 20 hours. You scared the hell out of us," Adam said.

I sat up and got my wits about me and noticed the guys all had shorts on.

"Ok, what gives with the shorts? I thought we agreed naked was ok when we're in here," I asked them.

"Well, we kind of didn't want to spill the beans to the little one yet," said Josiah, referring to Donny who was sleeping a few feet away from me.

"How is he? Has he woken up yet?" I asked.

"No, not really, he just pops up like yesterday, every now and then," AJ said, worried.

I got out of bed and stretched my now sore body. As I stood up, I noticed the others' eyes transfixed on my goodies. "Gees, like you guys never saw my dick before," I said, laughing at them.

"Well, it's just been a few days since we did anything is all," Chris said, referring to naked play time in the mine.

I walked the few feet to Donny and checked his now squeaky-clean forehead for his temperature. He felt a bit cooler now than he had yesterday so I figured his fever had broken. I then checked his leg and saw the boys had dressed it with some clean bandages. As I was inspecting his little body, I noticed that he, too, was now naked. He had a cute, slight little body resembling that of Adam's, only smaller. His small two-inch [5 cm] limp pecker, lying above two marble-sized balls, looked yummy enough to eat, but now sure wasn't the time.

"Hmm. Looks like AJ's got a mini me," I said, giggling.

"Shut up," AJ replied, laughing too.

I checked his temperature with a thermometer and it read slightly above normal, but not much.

"Guys, I'm going to try and connect with him like I did before we found him. He might wake up then," I told them. I placed my hand on his smooth cheek and temple and concentrated on him.

Can you hear me Donny? It's me Derrik. Remember me? the one who found you in the hole? I thought to him. Just then, his eyes sprang open.

"I sure do remember," he said in a sleepy little boy's voice.

"Bubby!" AJ said, as he embraced his baby brother in a hug. "Oh god, I thought you were dead. I should have come looking for you," AJ said, before starting to cry again.

"Adam, you couldn't help it; you were trapped under that house. You can't blame yourself like that," I told him.

"Yeah, just be thankful we found him alive," Josiah said.

"Joey? Is that you?" asked Donny, wide-awake now.

Joe smiled and came over to greet his little cousin. AJ took his sunglasses off to wipe his teary eyes and that's when Donny noticed his eyes.

"You're not my brother! You're another monster! HELP!" Donny began to scream and cry, fearing his brother was not real.

"Donny, it is me. Who taught you how to swim and ride your bike?" AJ asked.

"Y-You did," Donny answered.

"Bubby, it is me. It really is. I know my eyes look weird but it's a long story. If you calm down, we will tell it all to you," AJ said, holding his brother's shoulders to keep him still. "Don't be scared of my eyes; it's still me underneath. I can see a whole lot better now with these eyes, but I'm still your big bubby," AJ said to him.

He then leaned in and said something to him that only they could hear and Donny answered, "Yeah, I remember," then he grabbed his older brother around the neck and began to cry tears of joy. The moment truly touched me seeing the two of them reunited. It also made the other boys feel good since they were now teary-eyed, too.

Time went by as AJ and his brother told each other their stories of what had happened to them in the last week or so. I sat trying to take it all in as my mind wandered in a million directions at once. It had seemed like I'd had to grow up all at once, but I wasn't sure of how I was going to do this. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to. The other boys had come to depend on me as being the oldest of the group, but sometimes I wondered if it was too much pressure for a kid my age.

"Derrik, you ok?" Chris asked me again.

I opened my eyes to see him staring me in the face. "Yeah dude, I'm ok, just letting my mind drift is all," I replied.

He began to giggle and said, "Well, from how hard your pecker is, I think you got a lot on your mind." I looked down and sure enough, I had a raging boner.

I laughed and said, "Oops, I guess I do," Donny looked over and saw me and began to giggle too.

"He's got a hard one bubby, look," Donny said, laughingly to his brother.

"Don't make fun of him Don, it's not like you haven't seen a boner before," AJ scolded him.

That statement stirred my interest so I peered inside of Adam's mind and I picked up on something that I never thought I would. AJ was thinking about how he used to bathe and have fun with his little brother in the bathtub, the naughty kind of fun that is. I dove even deeper into his mind then and saw a memory of his of how he used to suck his little brother off in the bathtub when they took those baths. I didn't want to say anything to AJ about it, but now knowing this got me even harder than before. I noticed that the others had taken notice to my cock being hard. Their dicks were all hard now, too.

"Adam, can I talk to you a sec in private?" I asked.

He nodded and we walked out into the mineshaft to talk.

"Wassup?" he asked.

"Sorry, but I kinda invaded your mind. I'm sorry, and I hope you're not mad at me now, but I know about the bath-time fun," I said.

He stood there silent, not knowing what to say.

"Guess you think I'm a perv or something now, don't you?" he said, looking like he was getting upset.

"Not at all dude, I think you're a loving big brother who just wanted to make your little bro feel good," I answered. He smiled then and hugged my still nude body. I could feel his partially hard cock poking me in the thigh through his shorts. Then he looked into my eyes, smiling as I planted a small kiss on his tender lips. "You think baby bro might be up for some fun with the bigger boys?" I asked.

He smiled and said, "Maybe, but I don't want to force him or rush him into doing anything with you guys. I mean, I know he would with me and probably Joey, but he doesn't really know you or Chris yet," he said.

Seeing his point, I just said ok and we went back in the safe room. It was nearly nighttime by now and the little bit of light in the mineshaft that came from the entrance was fading.

"Guys it's getting late out there and I'm fucking hungry as hell so let's eat," I announced, and Donny fully agreed.

He gulped down two cans of Pepsi and inhaled two cans of soup, and then he burped loudly in the way only a boy of nine could, long and gross, but it still made us all laugh. We didn't want to give him too much solid food yet since he hadn't eaten any in a long time. The liquids ought to be better on his stomach, I thought. Chris and Josiah had started to play their video games while I checked through the information device we got off the dead alien.

AJ and his brother were sitting and chatting to themselves. I tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but I couldn't help but hear a little of it. I heard AJ telling his brother about how we had our 'fun' time, and how we all slept in the same bed area together, naked. I also heard Donny telling his brother that he didn't care because they use to sleep like that, too, sometimes.

After a little while, I noticed AJ's eye lids begin to get heavy as he was chatting with his brother. Donny, on the other hand, seemed wide-awake, probably from all the pop he drank having gotten him wired. I found a file in the info device that said holo-display. I opened the file and a huge hologram appeared in front of me, displaying information stored on the device.

Donny's eyes lit up in amazement. WOW, he mouthed without actually saying it. While I looked at the hologram, I noticed AJ sitting up against the wall, asleep. I motioned for Donny to come over and sit by me. He shook his head, no. I sensed he didn't want to because he was still naked.

"It's ok little dude, I'm naked too. You'll see all of us naked in a little while, and besides, I already saw your wiener," I told him, laughing.

He finally said, 'what the hell', slid the blanket off him, crawled over, and sat his little naked body next to mine. He looked up at me and smiled, blushing.

"Little bud you can do just about whatever you want now. There's no adult to tell us no now. So if you want to be naked all the time you can," I told him.

"Ok, but maybe not all the time, 'cus this floor is kinda cold," he said, giggling.

I couldn't help but notice how much he looked like his brother when he smiled, aside from AJ having the devil-eyes. Donny had beautiful blue eyes, similar to the green ones his brother once had. I showed him how to mess with the hologram to make it move around and change shape, then I went over to his big brother.

"AJ, hey bud, wake up and get undressed so you can lie down," I told him quietly, as I shook him gently awake.

He stretched his body and began to undress then. Donny's eyes were locked on his brother as he stripped naked to lie down. As soon as Adam's head hit the pillow, he was softly snoozing. Poor kid had had a rough day. I hoped that was all it was. Then I noticed Chris yawning, which seemingly was contagious since Josiah then started to yawn as well.

"Guys, why don't you get ready for bed," I suggested.

Not about to disagree, they both began to undress for bed. Chris stood up and slid his shorts and undies down and stretched as he stood back up with is arms over his head. Donny's eyes were locked on the other two boys now, as they took their clothes off for bed. He noticed me watching him stare at the others and then got red in the face, as he grew embarrassed.

"Nothing to be shy over, little dude, we all stare at each other, and then some," I said, poking him gently in the ribs making him giggle. He seemed to like being tickled since he squealed like a little toddler as I poked his ribs. He got to the point where he was short of breath and I stopped to let him catch his breath again. "I gotta pee now," he said, still half giggling.

"I'll take him, I need to go myself," Chris volunteered. "C'mon little guy, let's go pee on a tree," Chris said, smiling.

"Are we gonna go naked?" Donny asked.

"Why not? Not like any one is going to see you out there," I mentioned.

Donny took Chris's hand then and the two of them ventured out into the dark mineshaft. Outside the entrance, the two of them stood next to each other and pissed on the same tree.

"It's scary out here," Donny whispered in the dark.

"It's okay little guy. If someone or something was out here, I would hear it. I got super sensitive hearing and I can smell stuff better than you and the others can, too," Chris explained.

Hearing Chris explain that, Donny felt reassured about the dangers of the night. They walked back into the safe room to see the rest of the boys lying in the bed. The bed was barely big enough as it was for the four boys, but now with Donny it was going to be cramped.

"I think a trip to town is going to be a must tomorrow," I said.

"Why's that?" Chris asked.

"Well we need to get Donny some clothes for one thing. We can't have him running around naked all the time. Plus, we need to expand the bed a little bit more now, too," I told them.

Chris lay down in his usual spot and Donny stood waiting to be told where he would sleep. He looked so cute standing there nude with his milky skin and cute face looking like the cat that ate the canary. He looked good enough to eat, especially his tender 2-inch [5 cm] limp mushroom hanging over his small tight little ball sack. The sight of him standing there like that got me hard very quickly. Donny noticed my little friend spring to attention and began to giggle.

"Your wiener got hard again," he chuckled, pointing at my dick.

"So? Get used to it, kiddo; you'll probably see a lot of stuff like that with us," I explained to the younger boy. He simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Ok, now I guess we need to get you a place to crash, don't we. How about you sleep next to your big bro?" I suggested to him.

It seems he thought it was a good idea because he walked over to the far side of the bed and lay down next to AJ, on the small bit of bed area left. As soon as Adam felt warmth against his body, he draped his arm over his little brother and pulled him against his chest.

"Love you," I heard him say in his sleep. Somehow, he knew his brother was now with him, even in his sleep.

I messed up the little guy's hair then, and pulled the blanket over them. Once I was in my spot on the bed, it was indeed a tight fit for us. I lay on my side and snuggled up to Chris who was on his way to dream land. I couldn't help but give his small tool a quick squeeze just to let him know I still cared. He smiled instantly when he felt my grip. I was going to give him a bit of a thrill, but exhaustion was winning me over at that point so I gave him a few short strokes then released him.

"Maybe tomorrow," I whispered in his ear, making him smile again. I kissed him on the cheek, and then we were off to sleep ourselves.

Chapter 10
New Clothes… and Illness

Beep, beep, beep, my watch called out in the morning, waking me from a very deep slumber.

"Fuck, 8 a.m. already?" I groaned, as I shut the alarm off. I flicked a flashlight on and sat up trying to get my wits back. Lucky saw me and began to whine. He needed his morning time outside with his favorite tree.

"Gotta go out boy?" I asked, and he whimpered.

I got out of bed and was going to the door when I heard Donny say, "Can I go too, I need to pee."

"Sure, come on kiddo," I told him, lighting the way for him to walk over to me. Naked, we walked out to the entrance of the mine with the dog to relieve our bladders from the night. Lucky, of course, went on his favorite tree, while Donny and I stood next to each other and pissed.

"Guess where we're going today?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders. "We're going to Walmart to get you some clothes and stuff. I know their clothes suck, but it's all we got right now," I said to him.

"Cool. Can I get some toys?" he begged.

"I guess so, as long as it's not a bunch or anything big. We only have so much room on the ATV to haul stuff," I explained to him. He was all smiles then. "We're also going to get some more stuff to make our bed bigger, unless you want to make a bed of your own. You don't have to sleep with the rest of us if you don't want to," I told him.

"It's ok, me and bubby use to share a bed all the time," he explained.

Made me wonder what else the brothers shared in life. I watched then as he shook the last few drops off his pecker, half-hard from having morning wood. He looked to be maybe about 2.5 to 3 inches [7 cm] long if he was fully hard. Just the thought of it made me bone-up all the way. He saw it and giggled at me.

"What? It's just morning wood," I said, laughing.

"I know, bubby has it all the time, too, when he wakes up. I do, too, sometimes," the little guy told me. Hearing how his cock would get hard sometimes made me even hornier.

"Hey, why don't you go back inside and wait on the other guys to wake up. I'm going to stay out here with Lucky for a few minutes so he can finish his business," I told him, pointing to the dog as he was squatting to drop a turd. He agreed and walked back in the mine with the flashlight.

My real reason for wanting to stay outside was so I could relieve the built-up pressure in my cock from seeing Donny's hot little nude body. I wrapped my fingers around it and began to pound away at it. I stroked as fast as I could, thinking about how good it would be to taste Donny's little pecker sliding into my mouth. In no time, I tensed up and spasms of pleasure ripped through my body. I had to grab a nearby tree branch to keep from falling to the ground when my legs got all wobbly. I stood there as the orgasm wave washed over me and I drifted back to my senses.

"Holy shit, that was great!" I panted, and I now knew I had to have the small boy's dick. I had to figure some way to get him alone with me for a long enough time. Damn, why didn't I think of that before, I thought to myself. The trip to Walmart would be perfect to get to know Donny a little better.

Just then I heard, "Hey Derrik," from behind me, making me jump a little.

Josiah and Chris came walking outside, naked, to relieve themselves as well. As they pissed next to each other and yawned, I told them, "Guys, I'm going to take Donny into town today and get him some clothes and things. I'm also getting some more blankets and stuff. It's starting to get chilly around here at night."

"Who all is going with you?" Chris asked.

"Just me and the little guy, there's no need for everyone to go. Besides, I figured you two and AJ might want to have some fun while we're away," I said, winking at them. They got the hint instantly and smiled evilly. Back in the mine, AJ had woken up but felt lousy.

"What's wrong, Adam?" Josiah asked.

"Don't know, I just feel rough for some reason," he replied.

"Ok then, you better just relax for now. Are you hurting or what?" I asked him.

"Yeah, a little, my stomach hurts," he replied.

"Ok well, I'm going to take your little bro to town to get him some clothes and some more bedding. I guess I can stop by the pharmacy and get you something for your tummy ache, too," I said, as he lay back down.

The other three boys just dug through our food stores to find a quick breakfast as I chatted with AJ, then I knelt down next to him and told him, "Dude, don't get real sick. I don't know what I can do for you if you do. I was gonna take your brother with me so you and the other guys can have some fun together. I know you guys have been through hell the last few days so you need a bit of pleasure. Just don't overdo it while I'm gone," I said, quiet enough so only he could hear me.

I know Chris also heard because of his super hearing, but he respected us and didn't say anything. I then patted him on the head to let him know I cared and went to get up. Before I could though, he grabbed me around the neck and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you for finding Donny. I don't know how I can ever repay you," he said, now with tears in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, dude. Just get some rest and take it easy," I told him. Then I had a few words with Josiah and Chris. "Guys he doesn't feel very well. Don't let him over exert himself while I'm gone. Oh, yeah, one last thing; why don't you two show him a good time while I'm gone, too." They instantly got the hint and started to grin.

I dug through our clothes and found the smallest pair of shorts that Chris had.

"Ok, Donny-boy, let's see if these fit you. Chris is the smallest one next to you, and these are the smallest clothes we have," I told him.

He stood in front of me, still naked, and stepped one foot at a time into the shorts. I pulled them up around his waist and let go. Just as I thought they would, they fell straight to the floor, since they were too big. The other boys were a riot, laughing. Donny got an embarrassed look on his face then.

"It's ok, big boy, they're just jealous 'cus your pecker's bigger'n theirs," I told him, making him smile.

The others were giving me weird looks as if I'd insulted them. I looked at them and winked, and they finally got the point that I was joking to make him feel better. I pulled the shorts back up around Donny's waist, and he held them there this time, as I took some tape we got from the hardware store and wrapped it around his waist to hold the shorts up. This time when he let go, they stayed on him. They hung half way down past his knees they were so big. Normally they were at Chris's knee-level. For a shirt, we just put one of Chris's t-shirts on him.

Then I got dressed, and in no time, we were heading down the hill on the ATV, and into town. As we rode through town, Donny couldn't believe the devastation the aliens had caused in our world.

"Wow, everything is all tore up. All the houses are knocked down," he exclaimed, in awe and horror.

"Yeah, they really did a number on the Earth, from what we can tell. But it's not all bad, we have some friends out there," I told him.

"Friends?" he questioned, so I went on to tell him about the good aliens, and about how the other boys and I had gotten our special abilities.

"So that's how my bubby got those weird eyes?" he asked. I nodded yes. "Wow, wish I had super powers," he said, sounding a little jealous.

"You do. You have more will power than any person I have ever seen before to survive in that death camp as long as you did," I told him.

"Really? You think I got special power?" he asked.

"Yep, you have one of the most special ones of all," I told him, making him smile.

Soon we arrived in front of the Walmart. As we went inside, it was clear to me that someone else had been there besides the boys and me. All the cash registers had been broken open and had no money in them. I wondered what kind of moron would take money, of all things, now that it meant absolutely nothing; it was worthless now. I kept this to myself as we walked further into the store.

"Ok, dude, let's get you some clothes first, then some shoes, and then on to the goodies in the toy aisles," I said, making him jump for joy.

First stop was the underwear. Being only nine, he still preferred tighty-whiteys, so we had to figure out what size he wore.

"Go ahead and drop those shorts so we can try these on you," I told him, as I opened a pack of undies. He yanked the shorts down and stepped out of them, but was still covered up by Chris's shirt, since it was as long as a nightgown. "Ok, I guess you should probably lose the shirt, too, 'cus it's just gonna get in the way," I told him.

"What if someone sees?" he asked, being modest, since we were in public.

"Donny, there's no one else here to see you, besides me," I pointed out to him.

Looking around first to make sure the coast was clear; he pulled the shirt up and over his head, rendering him completely nude. Seeing him naked like that made my dick grow a little in my shorts. I knelt down in front of him and helped him with the briefs.

"These are too tight," he said, sliding them back off. I grabbed another pack next up in size and we tried again. I slid them up to his groin, and then with a little help from my wandering fingers, got his tender little two-incher [5 cm] to slip inside them. He giggled as I adjusted them on him.

"What?" I asked.

"That tickled my wiener," he responded, but he didn't sound like he minded it too much. Deciding to take a chance, I reached out my fingers and began to tickle the small lump in the front of his new briefs. He giggled a bit, then stopped, and just smiled broadly at me.

"Like it?" I asked. He nodded yes and kept smiling. I kept on rubbing him and he grew to his full size inside the undies. "Can I see how big it is now?" I asked. He nodded and placed his fingers in the waist of the briefs and pulled the front down. There before me was a beautiful mushroom-headed three-inch [7 cm] boner. I wanted so badly to sink it into my mouth, but I held myself back. Instead, I reached up and massaged the tip a bit with my fingers. His smile didn't fade completely, but it was replaced with a look of relaxation. I could tell the little AJ clone loved it.

"Feel good now?" I asked. Again, he nodded yes. Now I stopped for a sec and he opened his eyes as I pulled the briefs back down to his ankles. He stood there waiting as I again began to massage his stiff boy-tool. This time I wrapped my fingers around his skinny shaft and gently stroked him.

"Gosh, that's better than when bubby did it," he mumbled. I knew it! He just let the cat out of the bag, I thought to myself, since he had just confirmed that he and AJ had had some sort of sex play together in the past.

Now I began to speed up my stroking and his breathing became deeper and a bit faster. He was definitely getting into it now. When I looked up and saw his closed eyes and his half-open mouth, I couldn't help myself any more. My fingers took his rod by its base and I sank my mouth over it. He moaned slightly as the warmth and tightness of my lips met the tender skin of his boy-cock. His hands instantly found the top of my head and I guided his dick in and out of my mouth. I had my hands on his smooth butt cheeks, gripping and forcing them forward to thrust his member into my mouth.

"Oh my gosh, I gotta pee!" he started to say, just as an orgasm wracked his small body with waves of pleasure. He forced his dick as hard and deep as he could into my mouth as his body tensed up from the pleasure. Five more times he forced it into my mouth 'til he almost collapsed to the floor, as the last wave swept over him. I held him in my arms as he breathed hard and deep with his eyes closed.

"Oh my gosh," he repeated, "what was that?" he asked, referring to the orgasm.

"It's called an orgasm; wasn't it great?" I said. He nodded yes, with his eyes still closed trying to catch his breath.

"Can we do it again?" he asked.

"Not just now. Maybe later on, if the time is right," I said, laughing at his question. His first time getting off and he's already hooked on it. We sat there on the floor a while, with him on my lap, as he came back to earth.

"So, little buddy, how'd you like that?" I asked.

"I loved it. I never felt nothing like that before. Me and bubby use to play around in the shower, but he never sucked on me that way before," Donny replied.

"Glad you liked it," I told him, as I gave his now limp pecker a tickle, making him squeal. "Ok, kiddo, let's get these undies back on you and get you some clothes of your own," I said.

About an hour later, we had a cart full of new clothes, just for him. He'd picked out new shoes, shirts, shorts, etc. Then it was on to his favorite part of the store, the toy department.

Much to the little guy's dismay, the roof had collapsed on top of the toy department.

"Oh, man! Now I can't get no toys!" he whined. We picked through what shelves we could reach and he scavenged a few things he wanted and tossed them in the cart. Now that I had Donny's shopping done, we went to find more blankets and padding to make the bed in the mine bigger. By the time we were through, the cart was piled over the top with free merchandise.

"Come on, Donny, let's get out of here," I told him, as we headed for the entrance to leave.

***

Back at the cave, the boys were having a little free time to themselves. Not feeling so hot, AJ was napping on the bed while Chris and Josiah were starting to feel a little frisky.

"You wanna do it?" Joe asked.

"You know it. Let's suck each other," Chris answered him.

With that, the boys smiled in agreement, and got into the classic 69 position. In seconds, they had each other's hard little tools in their mouths. This went on for a few minutes before the obvious sucking and moaning sounds woke AJ from his nap.

"Hey, no fair; I wanna do it, too," he whined, as he rapidly got hard

Chris popped Joe's dick from his mouth and said, "Ok, I got an idea. How about we all suck each other at the same time?"

The cousins, not seeming to mind the idea, agreed to it and the three of them got in a circle, laying on the bed, and formed a daisy chain to suck each other off, with Chris sucking Josiah, Josiah sucking Adam, and Adam sucking Chris, all at the same time. This was a new experience for them and they loved every second of it. The thrill of all of this seemed to do its trick and all three boys seemed to start their orgasms at almost the same time. They forced their hard boy-cocks into each other's mouths, moaning heavily, as the cocks twitched in their mouths. They all collapsed in a heap on the bed, panting and heaving, and coming back to earth from the great pleasure they had just given to each other.

"Holy hell, you can suck good!" Chris told AJ, smiling at him.

"Yeah, so do you Joey," AJ told his cousin.

"Yeah and Chris is never bad," Josiah said, giggling.

They laughed and joked for a while, lying on the bed in a naked heap. About an hour into this, they decided to copy the activities of earlier, only changing position this time so they sucked the other boy. They sucked away on each other, and just like the first time, got off in each other's mouths very intensely. This time, however, the giggling and carrying on was cut short.

"Oh… Ow!" AJ cried out.

"What's wrong Adam? You ok?" Josiah asked his cousin.

"My stomach, oh, god it hurts!" he cried, with tears forming in his eyes. He lay on his side clutching his mid-section tightly. Not knowing what to do, Chris and Josiah tried their best to help and comfort AJ 'til Derrik got back, feeling bad somehow, because they thought they had caused his pain by having the sex play with him.

***

Coming through town with Donny on the ATV, we made one last stop at the drug store to find something for AJ's tummy ache. I grabbed anything on the shelf that was stomachache-related and tossed it into a big bag. Not really knowing anything about medicine myself, I grabbed a bunch of medical books, too. As I was walking out the door, I decided to grab two more items that were small, but special indeed. I got back on the ATV and tossed the bag full of meds in the back.

"Why did you go in there?" Donny asked me.

"To get your brother something for his upset tummy; he wasn't feeling good when we left. Oh yeah, I got us a special medicine, too," I answered him. Then I reached into my pocket for the two things I had grabbed on the way out.

"Cool, a sucker!" Donny cheered, as I pulled the candy out, one for him and one for me.

"It'll be our secret, ok?" I told him. He nodded as he happily unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth.

We rode back through the woods on our way back to the mine, and as we got closer, I picked up a sensation of great pain.

"Something's wrong," I said out loud.

"What?" the little guy asked.

"We have to get back to the mine fast," I said, as I pushed the gas pedal on the ATV to the floor. I had never driven the vehicle at that speed but safety was not on my mind as we tore up the hill to the mine entrance. As we came up to it, I slammed on the brakes, jarring Donny, and turned the engine off.

"Come inside, now!" I told him, as I grabbed the bag of medicine and ran inside. "What's wrong?" I said loudly, as I ran inside the safe room, there to see two naked boys hovering around a prone third, and looking very worried.

I ran over to where AJ lay in great pain on the bed, with tears streaking down his cheeks.

"What's wrong with my bubby?" Donny asked, as he began to cry.

"Joe, I want you and Chris to get dressed and take him outside with the dog. He's scared, and I know you guys are too. He doesn't need to see his brother like this, and I have to figure out if he's going to be ok," I told them quietly.

Donny stood in the doorway crying his little eyes out, while I tended to his brother.

"Come on Donny-boy, let's take the dog out. AJ will be ok, now Derrik is here," Josiah told his cousin, as he took his hand to lead him out of the mine. I wished that these guys wouldn't put so much pressure on me to come through for them all the time. I wasn't that much older than they were.

I knelt down next to AJ and asked, "How're you feeling, bud?"

"My stomach hurts so bad; it feels like someone is stabbing me or something," he answered. I grabbed the bag of goodies from the drug store and dug out one of the books. I thumbed through it and found the section on stomach pains. As I read it, I asked AJ questions. One question seemed to answer all for me though.

"Have you eaten anything unusual in the last day or two?" I asked.

"Yeah, I ate some berries a little while before we found Donny," he told me. He described them to me and the book said they were poisonous.

"Fuck dude, those were poison berries. That's why you're hurting so bad. The book says we need to get them out of your system. Have you thrown up or anything?" I asked.

"No," he cried, with a scared look on his face.

"Well, bud, we need to get you outside so you can puke those things out," I told him, as I helped him to his feet. I helped him to go outside the mine so he could empty out his stomach. The others were all sitting on the ATV, looking worried about Adam, when we came out. Donny, being scared for his brother, ran to his side.

"Bubby, bubby, are you ok?" he whined.

"Yeah, Donny, just go sit with Joey, I'll be fine," he tried his best to say, braving through the pain. Donny did as his big brother told him and we lumbered over to a tree.

"How do I do this?" he asked.

"Open your mouth," I told him. He did, and before he knew what to do, I stuck my finger in his throat making him gag and throw up. He heaved a few more times and just as he told me, some undigested berries came out. I sat his naked body down, and leaned him against another tree, as the puking ordeal had tapped his strength. He was breathing heavy, now, and trying not to cry. He wanted to look strong for his brother.

"Chris, run inside and bring out some clean water," I ordered. In a flash, he ran in and retrieved the water. "Here, drink this; we need to get some fluids back in you. I'm afraid you're going to have to do it again. We gotta get all those berries out," I told him, wiping the sweat off his pale forehead. He drank the water but didn't want to throw up again. I told him there was no choice. Again, I helped him up and as before, he puked from my gagging him with a finger in the throat. This time, mostly water with just a few more berry fragments, came out.

This time the throwing up weakened him so much he nearly passed out. He dropped to his knees and fell into my arms.

"I got you; I got you, dude," I said, holding onto him. Then I scooped his sweaty, naked body up, and carried him back inside. He had zero strength left and his body was like a rag doll. I laid him down on the bed and saw that he looked very pale. I got some Pepto from the drug store bag, and poured some in his mouth.

"Come on, dude, I know it's gross but you have to swallow it," I told him. He complied and swallowed it all. Then I sensed the most dreadful thing coming from him.

"No, you're not gonna die. We're not gonna let you. You can't die 'cus you got a reason to live now; Donny," I told him, after reading his thoughts of passing away. I tried my best to be the tough guy, but inside I was dying knowing he'd wondered such a thing.

Minutes went by, turning into hours, as we kept watch on Adam. He would fall in and out of consciousness periodically, due to being so weak. We kept watch on him and kept his body wiped off since he was sweating so badly. Donny never left his side after we got him back in bed. He even fell asleep next to him. Seeing the two of them sleeping next to each other like that made me think about how much the two of them looked alike and how they truly did love each other. It also made me think about my own family and all the friends I'd never get to see again. It broke my heart to the point that I had to leave the room.

I walked outside the entrance and broke down into tears. The thoughts and feelings of losing every single person and thing I loved was a lot for a kid my age to take and I guess I had reached the breaking point. I sat on the ground and just cried like a baby, not knowing what else to do. It was bad enough having to survive after what had happened to the World, but having to help these other kids to survive was a lot to ask of a kid like me.

"You ok?" a voice said, as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I knew it was Chris. I didn't know what to say to him. I just looked at him through the tears in my eyes, my chin still quivering.

"I know it's hard Derrik. I feel just as bad as you do, but I can't change what's happened. All we can do now is live and try to be happy with our lives," he said, kneeling next to me. Hearing him, I knew he was right, but the pain would always be there. I wrapped the smaller boy up in my arms and we just held each other and cried together. He felt my pain and knew what I was thinking. Sometimes I thought he was the one that got the sensory gift from the alien and not me.

"Thanks," was all I could think of to say to him. After a period of sobbing and holding each other, I pulled myself together and dried my eyes. I sat with him and chatted for a few minutes until Josiah came out to join us.

"How's he doing?" Chris asked about AJ.

"Sleeping; Donny's still lying with him," he answered. While we were enjoying the fresh air, thoughts of other problems from the present began to creep into my mind. Thoughts of needing to replenish our food supply, thoughts of what to do when the weather turned cold, thoughts of avoiding the monsters now that they were aware of our being in the area. Not to mention all the other hormone-driven thoughts racing through my mind that were driving me crazy.

"Guys, I think that alien is going to end up making me insane with the ability he gave me," I said to the boys. "I can't get my mind to slow down for ten seconds so I can just chill out. I'm always thinking about something. I mean, it doesn't even stop when I try to sleep. I keep having these visions or bad dreams or whatever they are," I went on, telling them.

"Visions of what?" Joe asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if it's things that have happened, things that will, or just my damned imagination making me crazy. I keep seeing worlds that those monsters have destroyed and things like that," I answered.

The boys and I went on about our problems for a while just relaxing outside the mine. About an hour later, Donny came out to join us rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Hey little cuz, how's AJ?" Josiah asked him.

"He's still sleeping," Donny said, as he came to stand directly in front of me. "Is my brother going to be ok?" he asked me, with a serious look on his too young face. It seemed we were all growing up too quickly.

"He should be little guy. He ate those berries yesterday and they were poisonous. Now that we got some of them out of his system, he should be ok in a day or two," I told the nine-year-old.

Nodding thanks, he went and sat down next to Josiah, and leaned against him. My guess was that Joe and the brothers were very close by the way Josiah and Donny were acting.

"Guys, I'm going in to check on AJ. Chris, keep an ear out for trouble," I said, before going back in the mine.

I checked Adam's temperature and it had dropped a bit more. He was no longer sweating. I pulled the blanket back up over his tummy to his chest and sat down next to him on the bed. Apparently, he was sleeping well, since he had a nice-looking tent going where his dick would be. I smiled as my own dick swelled a bit from the sight. I thought for a second about pulling the blanket down to give him a great-feeling dream, but decided not to so he could rest. I closed my eyes to rest for a moment, next to him on the bed. The next thing I knew, Chris was kneeling next to me, shaking me.

"Derrik, wake up! Dammit, wake up!" He was speaking sternly, but not yelling.

"Wha… what? Huh?" I muttered, not knowing what the hell was going on. From my perspective, I had just closed my eyes for a second. In actuality, I had fallen asleep and been there for nearly two hours next to AJ. I glanced over at him and saw that he was now awake and looking better.

"Derrik, wake up!" Chris said again.

"I'm awake. What is it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure what it is, but I hear something coming. It sounds like it's walking on two feet. I heard crunching sounds like leaves and twigs being stepped on," he answered. I went from partially awake to full-on alert in a second.

"Boys, show time, get the guns. Joe, stay in here with AJ and Donny. Chris and I are going to wait in the entrance," I gave AJ a pistol and Josiah grabbed a shotgun. Chris and I both took rifles and I also grabbed the Glove of Doom, then headed for the mine entrance.

"Hear anything?" I asked Chris in a low tone.

"Yeah, lots. Whatever it is, it's not trying to be quiet. It sounds like it's running; and dude, it's on two legs, so it's not an animal," he answered, cocking his rifle, getting ready to fire. I slid the glove on and instantly felt a tingly sensation in my body.

"Chris, I got an idea. I wonder if this thing can make like a force field that looks like the side of the hill to hide the mine entrance," I said.

"Cool idea; let's see if it works," he said.

I concentrated hard on what I wanted the glove to do and the next thing I knew, the light coming through the cracks of the boards covering the entrance became shaded.

"Looks like it did something," Chris said.

It definitely did something. I felt a bit of strength being sapped from my body. Then Chris raised his gun to a firing position, and pointed it towards the entrance. I could hear the footsteps growing close, myself. It walked right up to the entrance and peered through the cracks in the boards. What I saw then, left me in shock.

NEXT PART (not edited yet)