Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/10140260.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Rape/Non-Con, Underage, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character
      Death
  Category:
      F/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Mad_Max_Series_(Movies)
  Relationship:
      Slit/Toast_the_Knowing, Capable_(Mad_Max)/Original_Male_Character(s),
      Capable/Nux_(Mad_Max), Toast_the_Knowing/Original_Male_Character(s),
      Cheedo_the_Fragile/Original_Male_Character(s), Cheedo_the_Fragile/Morsov,
      Capable_&_Toast_the_Knowing, Capable_&_Cheedo_the_Fragile, Morsov_&_the
      Ace, War_Boy(s)/The_Wives_(Mad_Max)
  Character:
      Capable_(Mad_Max), Toast_the_Knowing, Cheedo_the_Fragile, The_Organic
      Mechanic, Morsov_(Mad_Max), Nux_(Mad_Max), Slit_(Mad_Max), The_Ace_(Mad
      Max), Original_Male_Character(s), The_Splendid_Angharad
  Additional Tags:
      Alternate_Universe_-_Dark, Forced_Pregnancy, Gang_Rape, Breeding, Lima
      Syndrome, unwanted_arousal, Forced_Orgasm, Unexpected_Arousal, Held_Down,
      Self-Sacrifice/Enduring_Rape_to_Protect_Friend/Lover/Family, unexpected
      tenderness, Post-Coital_Cuddling, Knifeplay, Threesome_-_M/F/M
  Series:
      Part 2 of Darkness_and_Light
  Collections:
      Mad_Max_Kink_Meme
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-03-06 Updated: 2017-05-31 Chapters: 31/? Words: 52560
****** Darkest Before Dawn ******
by redcandle17
Summary
     AU. The escape fails and Immortan Joe punishes the Five Wives by
     giving Capable, Toast, and Cheedo to the Citadel's War Boys. In the
     aftermath, Capable tries to induce Lima Syndrome in the War Boys,
     Morsov begins to understand the horror of what he's done, and Toast
     is just angry.
Notes
     I started this as a fill for the kink meme prompt The Wives are
     caught in the act of escaping. Joe locks Angharad and Dag back up
     because they're already pregnant with his potential perfect sons, but
     won't let the other's betrayal go unpunished. He gifts them to his
     War Boys, instructing them that they're to give him Pups through his
     former Wives.
***** Morsov I & Capable I *****
Morsov had killed the most Buzzards on this last, aborted run so he got to go
first. Cheedo the Fragile had been crying when they’d discovered the Immortan’s
wives hidden in the rig, she’d cried all the ride back to the Citadel, cried
when Immortan Joe divorced her and Toast the Knowing and Capable and sentenced
them to breed new War Pups, and she was crying now. He’d be awed at how much
water she had to waste if her crying didn’t make him feel unsettled.
He’d fucked breeders before, but never one so shiny. All that crying would make
her rust though. Morsov wiped away her tears as best he could with just his
bare hands.
“I don’t want to,” she said. “Please don’t make me.”
He shook his head, not unsympathetically. “You shouldn’t have made the Immortan
angry.”
These three are yours now, my boys. Use them to give me strong pups to grow
into loyal War Boys, the Immortan had commanded. War Boys lived to serve the
Immortan, and Morsov was no exception.
He hooked a booted foot behind her bare ankles and swept her off her feet,
sending her sprawling onto her back, and then he forced her legs apart so he
could position himself between them. He tore away the cloth covering her cunt
and then reached up to tear away the one covering her breasts too. She tried to
cover herself with her hands and Morsov had to pin her wrists down.
“Don’t do that again,” he warned, “Or I’ll have to tie your hands.” He should
tie them now, but he suspected it’d make her start crying again and he wanted
to avoid that.
She nodded understanding and, hopefully, acceptance. Morsov wasn’t yet hard
enough to breed with her, so he began playing with her breasts. They were
small, but he knew they’d grow bigger as she grew a new pup inside her belly.
But first he had to plant one there.
He found his lube in one of his pockets and lubed up his cock. He was lubing up
her cunt when she started crying again. He did his best to ignore it and worked
his cock into her. She was whimpering like a hurt pup, but her cunt felt so
good.
Morsov made it last as long as he could, but it felt like too soon before he
was coming. The important thing was that he’d filled her with his seed, he
reminded himself. His pleasure was just incidental. He kissed her forehead
before climbing up off of her. Maybe she’d have his pup since he’d been first.
It’d be a good, strong healthy pup, maybe even full life like her. Maybe it’d
grown up to be an Imperator.
“Where’s Ace?” he asked, realizing that the Ace wasn’t among them.
Elvis looked around, apparently not having realized the Ace was missing until
now. “Maybe he liked one of the other breeders better.”
That must be it. The war rig crew had been given Cheedo the Fragile, but if the
Ace wanted to fuck Toast the Knowing or Capable instead, none of the other War
Boys would object. He was almost like a second father to them all, after the
Immortan.
Sprockets was fucking Cheedo and he kept trying to kiss her, but she kept
turning her head away. She was sobbing louder. Morsov turned away abruptly.
“Going to look for Ace,” he said.
 
She’d been numb with grief for her hope of freedom, as well as for Furiosa,
since they’d been recaptured. One of the other wives had suggested they all
kill themselves in the brief moment they had before they were dragged out of
the rig by War Boys. Capable didn’t remember which of them had said it. It
might have been her.
But now pure terror filled her as she realized Joe was serious. He was really
going to give them to his boys. Cheedo was dragged away as a reward for a
specific group of War Boys, and Joe and his imperators retreated and allowed
the rest of his army to engulf her and Toast. She screamed and screamed, but
even her screams and Toast’s couldn’t drown out the excited chatter of their
rapists-to-be.
“Shiny and chrome.”
“So soft.”
“Me first!”
“I want this one!”
“Not you, your pup would be as weak as you. My pup will be strong.”
There were hands everywhere. Ripping her clothes off, tugging at her hair,
pulling her legs apart, holding her arms, and touching every part of her they
could reach. Their faces were horrible, all freshly painted bone white for the
brief pursuit, with their eye sockets darkened by engine grease. Demons from a
nightmare.
One of them bit her breast, and she screamed.
“No damaging them!” another admonished him.
She heard Toast scream in pain and then heard War Boys laughing.
“Idiot, that’s not where you fuck a breeder. Won’t breed any pups there. I’ll
show you how it’s done.”
It was a small mercy that most of them were overly excited and didn’t take more
than a few thrusts to climax. But there were so many of them. Capable was
afraid that she was going to die like this. She wondered if they’d even notice
she was dead, or if they’d carry on raping her cooling body.
It might have happened too if the Organic Mechanic hadn’t waded through the
crowd of War Boys. “Let me through, boys, let me through.”
He looked at her and shook his head. “Sorry, boys, gotta put an end to the fun.
Can’t have them damaged beyond repair.”
“I haven’t gone yet!”
“I’ve only fucked one, I want to fuck the other one too!”
“They’re our breeders!”
“A breeder’s no good if you damage her breeding parts. You boys have fucked
them good and proper. You’ve got to stop now if you want pups.”
Some War Boys kept arguing, but the one on top of Capable crawled off her and
no one came to replace him. Her hands were numb from someone holding her wrists
too tightly, her breasts ached from being mauled, and the pain between her legs
was terrible. She didn’t even have the energy to sit up or try to cover
herself. She just laid there, hoping it was over and terrified it wasn’t.
“Throttle, Bolt, carry them to the Blood Shed for me.”
“Makes you almost glad Furiosa turned traitor, doesn’t it?” one of the two
confided to the other as they carried Capable and Toast wherever they were
taking them.
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Ah, you know every Boy’s thinking it too. This was our lucky day.”
***** Toast I & Morsov II *****
Cheedo hadn’t spoken since. Two dozen days had passed and their bodies had
mended. Toast and Cheedo had bled since, but not Capable. Capable was pregnant
and wouldn’t have to endure another round of rapes, not until she either lost
the baby or birthed it and it was time for her to breed another warrior for
Joe’s army. Toast envied her.
The Organic Mechanic might have stopped the gangrape, but it clearly had only
been so that they wouldn’t die or be permanently damaged. He reminded them
every day with a leering smile what their new purpose was. He was their
caretaker now. Miss Giddy had been tortured and killed for her role in helping
them escape. Toast didn’t know who was taking care of Angharad and the Dag up
in the vault, but they wouldn’t be harmed physically while they carried Joe’s
babies.
She saved her worry for herself. She and Capable and Cheedo now lived in a
small cell near the Organic Mechanic’s Blood Shed. Toast found she was grateful
for the bars that kept her penned in because those bars also kept War Boys out.
There had been plenty of complaints about not getting to rape the ex-wives
again. She was pathetically grateful that the Organic Mechanic held firm and
insisted that they had to heal up first. Toast thought carefully about her
situation. There was no hope of escape now. She didn’t want to cooperate, but
she didn’t want to endure another gangrape and she wasn’t certain that Cheedo
could survive another.
“It’s inefficient,” she blurted.
“What is?” the Organic Mechanic asked, without turning to look at her.
“Having us raped by so many War Boys that we’re damaged and they can’t try to
breed more battle fodder for Joe until our bodies have healed. Just one a day
would be more efficient.”
“Yes,” Capable chimed in. She was holding Cheedo in her arms, comforting her.
“You could use it as a reward for particular War Boys.”
The Organic Mechanic liked the idea. “I’ll run it by Joe,” he said.
Joe must want them to survive and endure their punishment for a good long time,
because he agreed. They were to be raped by one War Boy every day instead of
another gangrape. She was actually relieved when the Organic Mechanic told her.
This was what her life had come to.
~
The Ace had been acting funny since the Imperator-turned-Traitor had almost
stolen the Immortan’s prize breeders. He was only present when duty demanded
it; at most other times, he could be found drunk in his bunk. When he could be
found at all.
Morsov had admired Imperator Furiosa, and when he was new to her crew he’d
fancied himself in love with her for a few dozen days. But since her betrayal,
he thought of her the way he thought of the breeder and sire who’d given him
life: not at all. Or at least he tried.
When he was a pup, sometimes his bunkmate would tell him he’d been crying out
in ‘Buzzard’ in his sleep. Sometimes he’d awaken to other War Pups hitting and
kicking him, and calling him Buzzard-spawn. He never remembered speaking
Buzzard. He only remembered calling out for his mother and his father.
He dreamt sometimes of the day he’d been taken up into the Citadel, but it
wasn’t the sweet dream it should have been. He was afraid and crying in the
dream. Luckily he rarely dreamt this dream.
At least until the day Imperator Furiosa turned the rig onto the fury road as
she tried to flee the Immortan.
He dreamt the dream that night, after her attempt at traitoring the Immortan
had been foiled. He was afraid and he was trying to find his mother. But
instead of his mother, he found Cheedo the Fragile. She was weeping too. He
tried to stop her crying, so she wouldn’t rust, but she recoiled from him like
he was a Buzzard and then she cried worse.
He felt awful when he heard that the prize breeders the Immortan had given them
were damaged. Most War Boys did.
“She was fine when I was fucking her!”
Except for the crying.
“It’s your fault. You must have damaged her, you were last.”
“I didn’t damage her!”
The Ace’s bitter laughter shocked them all. Morsov glanced around and saw that
the rest of the war rig crew looked as unsure and slightly worried as he felt.
Then they all looked at him.
“Ace?” he said.
“Finish up with this engine, then go to the Blood Shed,” the Ace ordered. “The
Organic Mechanic wants to examine each one of you and make sure you haven’t
stuck your cocks in diseased filth and caught anything you could pass to the
breeders.”
The Ace didn’t have an actual room with a door like the imperators had, but he
had a nook all to himself and no War Boy would intrude on him. Except this was
necessary. Morsov was worried about him.
“Ace?” he called tentatively. The Ace had always been there. He should have
died of sickness ages ago, or gone to Valhalla, but he remained, as constant to
generations of War Boys as the Immortan. Morsov immediately quashed that
blasphemous thought and vowed to spend the evening on his knees in prayer
before the altar of V8 to make up for it.
“What do you want?”
He was taken back by the Ace’s tone, and hurt. The Ace had always been kind to
him even back when he was a mediocre pup.
He eyed the bottle in the Ace’s hand. The Ace always said liquor was for fools,
and indeed every War Boy learned for himself that the short-lived exhilaration
it caused was not worth the sickness that followed.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
The Ace laughed harshly. “What’s the matter?! I put a bullet in the head of the
woman I loved, boy. And still better that than witnessing Joe shredding her.”
Morsov didn’t know how to respond.
“Oh, Furiosa.”
Imperator Furiosa had gone from hero to traitor in the blink of an eye. She’d
betrayed Immortan Joe and that made her the worst person in the world. But
before that she’d been the most feared and respected imperator, the second best
person in the world. The Ace had known her a long time, and Morsov told himself
it didn’t make him soft or almost a traitor himself if he didn’t curse her and
spit after saying her name.
The Ace continued, more softly, “Furiosa, what were you thinking? Why? Why
now?”
He took several swallows from the bottle, then a moment later he retched it all
up.
Morsov hurried to offer him what was left of his day’s ration of Aqua Cola.
The Ace waved it away and laid down on his bunk. He closed his eyes.
Morsov stood watching him for a while. He didn’t know what to do. He’d never
seen the Ace like this, and his first thought was to get Imperator Furiosa, but
she was gone and a traitor.
He asked, in a near whisper, “Ace? What do we do about the wives? We just got
them and they’re already broken.”
It seemed like the Ace hadn’t heard him, or wasn’t going to answer, but at last
he said, quietly, “Be nice to them.”
***** Capable II & Toast II *****
Chapter Notes
     The prompt that inspired this was not mine, but it's become a mild
     obsession. Please let me know what your reaction was, so that I can
     gauge whether or not I hit the mark I was aiming for.
The Organic Mechanic didn’t usher her back into the cell when he’d finished
examining her, so Capable went to stand by it. “Did you forget something?” she
called to him.
“The boys know you’re knocked up and off-limits now,” he called back. “Make
yourself useful and give those blood bags their morning drink of water.”
She should have been relieved to get some measure of freedom, but Capable felt
only terror. There was nothing to stop War Boys from seizing her and forcing
themselves on her again. She gripped the bars of the cell, clinging to the last
semblance of protection, nevermind that she was on the wrong side for it to do
her any good.
Toast was mouthing the word “weapon” at her.
Capable shook her head. She might be able to get hold of a weapon, but there
would be no opportunity to use it on Joe. Injuring or killing a random War Boy
or the Organic Mechanic would make no difference and change nothing. It would
only tempt her to use it on herself.
She put a hand over her still-flat belly. Our babies will not be warlords,
they’d painted on the floor of the vault before Furiosa had snuck them out. No,
her baby would have an even worse fate. Her son would be mere battle fodder.
And if she had a girl, her daughter would be used as a breeder.
She should do it. She should find a knife and stick it in her belly. She should
save this baby from the fate that awaited it.
No, not yet. There was still a smidgen of hope. Angharad still carried Joe’s
baby. If the baby was born healthy and a boy, Joe might be happy enough that
he’d heed Angharad’s pleas. Capable had no doubt that Angharad was begging
mercy for her, Cheedo, and Toast nonstop. She only hoped that Angharad wasn’t
blaming herself for not sharing in their fate.
Capable let go of the iron bars. She picked up the bucket of water and the
ladle, and moved between the poor souls being kept in cages to be robbed of the
very blood from their veins. She was about to give water to a man with a muzzle
over his face when one of dying War Boys bolted up from his rocky bed and
staggered between them.
“Don’t get near that one. He’s feral. Bit a Boy’s finger off before they got
the muzzle on him.”
Capable stared at him speechlessly. They’d captured this man, branded him,
stuck him in a cage, and drained his blood - and they called him feral?!
The captive was looking at the bucket, licking his lips. He opened his mouth
wide.
“He needs water,” Capable said.
The War Boy took the ladle from her and poured water into the man’s mouth.
The other ‘blood bags’ were all scrawny and weakened, and seemed mentally
broken. This one must not have been a captive long. He still looked strong and
wasn’t broken yet.
“What’s your name?” Capable asked him.
He grunted, but he didn’t speak.
The War Boy, however, seemed to think Capable had been addressing him. He said,
“Chev.”
He was too sick for anything now, but his health might have been better a moon
ago. Had he been one of the War Boys who’d raped her, or had he raped Cheedo,
or Toast?
Capable turned away from him. She felt queasy and it seemed like her breakfast
was about to come back up. She went to sit on the ground outside the cell,
leaning back against the bars. She closed her eyes.
“Is it moving yet?” asked an eager masculine voice.
She opened her eyes to find a pair of War Boys looming over her. One of them
crouched beside her and reached out as if to touch her. Capable slapped his
hand away, and was surprised when he didn’t just grab her and pin her down.
“Can I feel it?” he asked.
Capable stared at him, confused.
“You idiots,” hissed Toast. “It’s only been twenty-nine days. It’ll be well
over a hundred days more before there’s movement.”
She was shocked at first to realize what they wanted. Then she felt a sudden
sadness at their ignorance. Did they really know so little? Did they really not
know that a human pregnancy lasted nine moons? Surely even animals had an
instinctive knowledge of such basic, vital matters.
“A hundred days?!” the second War Boy exclaimed, dismayed. “That’s forever!”
“And then another hundred and fifty days before it’s born,” Toast said. There
was a bitter and spiteful tone to her voice. War Boys didn’t live long. Most of
them were slowly dying - their parents having been poisoned by radiation before
they were even conceived - and that fact spurred them to spend their lives even
faster, seeking a violent death in service to Immortan Joe.
“I can breathe fine,” stated the crouching War Boy. He glanced at his friend.
“And if I Witness Block before then, I’ll tell the pup all about him.”
Capable didn’t know how much time she’d have with the child she carried. She’d
been pregnant by Joe once before and miscarried. And if she did carry this
pregnancy to term and delivered a living baby, it might very well be taken away
from her as soon as it was weaned. But these War Boys probably didn’t know that
if they didn’t have any idea of how long pregnancy lasted.
“I’ll tell my baby that its father was one of Joe’s mindless battle fodder and
pray that he or she escapes the same fate.”
The War Boys didn’t take offense. To Capable’s surprise, they both nodded.
“Yeah,” said the one who was apparently named Block. He knelt and placed his
hand on Capable’s stomach. “He’ll be full-life and rise to Imperator.”
Capable thought about grabbing his hand and bending one of his fingers further
back than it was meant to go - breaking it, like Toast and the Dag would have
done - but she felt an odd pity for this… this… boy. She couldn’t think of him
as a man - Joe had intentionally made sure that his warriors were War ‘Boys’
and he was the only one afforded the status of man.
She put her hand over the War Boy Block’s and gently pried his hand away. “And
maybe he’ll have an even better and more fulfilling life than that. Maybe he’ll
be free.”
~
A War Boy came right up to the bars of their cell one morning and stared at
Cheedo. Cheedo huddled in the far corner. Capable went to her and held her,
trying to shield her from the War Boy’s attention. Toast glared at him, wishing
she could gouge his eyes out.
“They’re still not ready, Morsov,” the Organic Mechanic said. “Soon though.”
“I know,” the War Boy Morsov replied. “I just wanted to see Cheedo the
Fragile.”
He dug into one of his numerous pockets and took out a small strip of red
fabric. Toast stared at it. Brightly colored cloth was rare in the Wasteland.
The clothes from Before had all long faded and lost their original colors, and
dye for new cloth was an unthinkable luxury not even Joe would waste resources
on. The War Boy must have found his scrap while scavenging or raiding out in
the Wasteland and hoarded it.
“I wanted to give her this,” he said. “For her hair maybe.”
Toast didn’t know what the hell was going on. The Organic Mechanic was
snickering. Capable went to the bars and accepted the fabric from the War Boy
Morsov, and then she offered it to Cheedo.
“He brought you a gift,” Capable said.
Was that what happened?
Cheedo glanced at the War Boy and cringed. She stared at the red fabric without
making any move to accept it.
“Leave her alone,” Toast snapped. “You bastards broke her. You gangraped her
and a piece of pretty cloth is supposed to make up for it?!”
The Morsov War Boy seemed surprised by Toast’s vehemence. “The Immortan wants
you all to bear pups.”
Toast laughed in disgust. “Yeah, you’d jump off a cliff if he told you, I
know.”
She felt a hand on her arm and looked to see Capable shaking her head at her.
“Thank you,” Capable said to the War Boy. “Cheedo hasn’t spoken since that day,
but I’m sure she’ll like your gift.”
The War Boy went away finally.
Toast turned to Capable. “What was that about?”
Capable had a thoughtful expression. “He’s sorry he hurt her.”
“And that’s supposed to make it better?!”
“No, but it means he knows it was wrong even though it was what Joe wanted.
Maybe other War Boys feel the same way too.”
Toast had to bite her tongue to keep from telling Capable she could afford to
be so understanding because she wasn’t about to be raped again in a few days.
Cheedo was crying silently. Toast and Capable both went to her and hugged her
between them. They couldn’t protect her, all they could do was try to comfort
her.
***** Toast III *****
Chapter Notes
     Thank you to everyone who commented or left kudos. I'm nervous about
     this fic, and feedback would be much appreciated so I can gauge
     whether or not I'm conveying what I intend.
“Feeding time,” the Organic Mechanic announced as he brought them their morning
meal. “And later on it’s breeding time!”
“We’re not ready,” Toast said desperately.
“Sure you are. Healed up perfectly. Nice and tight.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised. The Organic Mechanic had seemed pleased when
he’d last examined them. If anything, it should be a surprise that the rapes
hadn’t resumed then.
“And you should be ripe for breeding today by my count. You want me to examine
you to be sure?”
“Don’t touch me.”
He laughed. “Saving it all for the boys, eh? I know just the pair to start you
girls off.”
The two War Boys he brought to them later were apparently his favorites, though
the taller, thinner one didn’t seem to return his affection.
“It wasn’t right that you boys weren’t rewarded,” he said to them. “The Ace
never would have known what the traitor had done if it wasn’t for you two
catching up to the rig and shouting it.”
“Ace deserves to drive the rig,” the thin one said. He evaded the Organic
Mechanic’s attempt to pat him on the back.
The other one disagreed. “Organic knows what’s what. You deserve to drive the
war rig, and I deserve a pursuit vehicle, and we both deserve our own personal
breeders to fuck whenever we want.”
Toast could feel herself shaking. Their escape might have been successful if
not for these two War Boys. It was insult to injury to be raped by them, too,
and forced to bear them children. For a moment she was too angry to be afraid
of what was about to happen.
Then the shorter War Boy - shorter only in comparison to his friend, he was
actually much taller than her - looked at them huddling in their cell and
grinned. Or maybe he didn’t. There were scars running from the corners of his
lips almost to his ears, giving him a sort of permanent gruesome smile. He was
muscled, and scarred, and had several knives on him, and altogether he was one
of the scariest things Toast had ever seen.
Their gazes locked for a moment and now she was certain he was grinning. He
pointed at her. “I want that one.”
“I was hoping you would,” the Organic Mechanic said. “She’s gotten as mouthy as
the Dag lately.” He looked at his favorite. “Unless you want her, Nux?”
The Nux War Boy shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. They’re all so shiny and
chrome.”
A War Pup sprinted in breathlessly and started tugging at the Organic
Mechanic’s trousers. “Organic, Organic, you gotta come quick! Sparky fell and
he says he can’t feel anything!”
The Organic Mechanic tossed a ring of keys at Nux. “Don’t get too carried away,
boys.”
The more scarred War Boy snatched the keys away from his friend and opened
their cell. He dragged Toast out and carried her over to the metal table where
the Organic Mechanic did most of his work.
“You bit me last time,” he said conversationally. He was undoing his belts.
“You just gonna lie there this time? What’s the matter, we fuck all the fight
out of you?”
It was so awful, so cruel, that Toast reacted before she could consider the
wisdom of her action. She slapped him, palm striking his stapled cheek so hard
that it left her hand stinging with pain.
He laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s more like it.”
She was desperately relieved that it seemed he wasn’t going to hit her back. He
could do a lot more harm to her than she could do to him without a weapon. She
resolved not to hit him again. It wasn’t smart, and, besides, it seemed to be
what he wanted and she refused to give him anything more than what she couldn’t
stop him from taking.
His cock went inside her more smoothly than it should, and she realized he’d
coated it with something slippery. It was still uncomfortable though. Toast
tried to just count her breaths and wait for it to be over, but her attention
was caught by the scars on the War Boy’s torso. It wasn’t random scars like
she’d thought, it was a pattern like a drawing. Crazy. They were all crazy and
evil.
He reached orgasm, and Toast bitterly hoped his seed took root. The sooner she
got pregnant, the sooner the rapes would stop. The War Boy put his forehead to
hers. “Immortan be praised, you feel so fucking good, breeder.”
Toast expected him to let her go back to her cell now that he was done. But he
pinned her down when she tried to slip out from under him. He rubbed his face
against her neck and chest. “Not done with you yet, shiny breeder. I’m going to
fuck you again.”
Toast could feel herself on the brink of breaking. It took everything she had
to stay whole. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t because if she did, she’d
break apart. She had to do something to distract herself from the feeling, to
make herself feel something else. The War Boy’s ear was within easy reach.
Toast bit him as hard as she could.
He growled in surprise, and then bit her neck in retaliation. He bit her a
second time, then offered his own neck to her. She wanted to tear his throat
out. She drew blood and savored the taste of it, not caring that his groan
wasn’t one of pain.
“I wish I could stick each of those knives into your belly and watch you die
slowly,” Toast said quietly.
“I’d let you try, but can’t risk damaging you.” He kissed her jaw. “You can
talk, good. I wasn’t sure. They say one of you can’t talk now.”
“I can talk. I can tell you how much I hate you and how much I hope some other
bastard in the wasteland shoots you in both kneecaps and leaves you for the
carrion birds. I hope they shoot your arms too so you can’t even crawl.”
He grinned. “I like the way you think.” He was tugging at one of her nipples.
The jolt of arousal shocked her. It got worse when he started chewing her
nipple.
“Ah,” she exclaimed.
Fortunately, the War Boy assumed it was a cry of pain. He heaved a sigh of
disappointment. “I forgot how fragile you breeders are.”
He rubbed the nipple gently as if trying to soothe the hurt, apparently under
the impression he’d almost damaged her. Toast hated that it felt good. To
distract him into doing something else, she made an attempt to grab the knife
dangling from his belt. He caught her wrist before she could do anything with
the blade, and took it away and returned it to his belt.
But apparently the attempt was enough to excite him. He grabbed her hips and
slid her down to the edge of the table, pulling her onto his cock as much as he
pushed it into her. He fucked her more slowly this time.
That was to be expected.
Toast wished it hurt. She looked around, searching for something else to focus
on. But the War Boy didn’t like being ignored. He grabbed her jaw and leaned
forward, bringing his face close so that his terrible face was all she could
see. He was downright leisurely as he fucked her, seemingly in no hurry to
come.
He was still fucking her when the Organic Mechanic returned.
“Damn, Slit, not done yet? That’s some stamina. Having fun, Toast?”
“He’s on round two,” the other War Boy called, as if to correct the Organic
Mechanic’s misassumption about his friend’s stamina.
“You had a good time, Nux?”
“The best,” the War Boy Nux replied. He sounded guarded rather than boastful,
as if it wasn’t something he cared to discuss with the Organic Mechanic.
Toast tried to block them out, but it only served to make the sensation of the
scarred War Boy’s cock thrusting in and out of her more intense. She wanted
this over. She tensed her muscles and squeezed down on him.
“Fuck,” he swore.
Toast squeezed again.
He climaxed, and then, while panting into her ear, he whispered, “Even better
this time.”
***** Capable III & Toast IV *****
Chapter Notes
     Thank you to everyone who gave feedback. It's much appreciated.
“What’s the matter with her?” the painfully thin War Boy asked. There was mild
concern in his voice, but he sounded more curious.
Cheedo had her knees drawn up and was hugging her legs and rocking slightly as
she wept silent tears. Capable felt a helpless bitterness, along with an almost
overwhelming sense of despair. Cheedo was going to be violated once again and
there was nothing she could do to stop it.
But the Organic Mechanic wasn’t here at the moment. Maybe if she acted quickly,
she could spare Cheedo another rape just this once. Capable grabbed the War
Boy’s arm and forced herself to smile at him. “You don’t want her. I’m much
more fun.”
He looked down at her and Capable remembered seeing those striking blue eyes
above her during the gangrape. She kept what was surely a grotesque parody of a
smile on her face and stroked her fingers down his chest and stomach all the
way down to his belt.
“You already have a pup in you,” he said uncertainly.
She nodded. “Maybe your pup.”
He got a joyous look on his face, as if he’d never considered before that he
could be the father of the baby growing inside her. Capable massaged his groin
through the heavy fabric of his trousers.
“You’re real shiny and chrome,” he said, touching her hair lightly.
She let herself crumple to the ground and pulled him down on top of her. She
cupped his face between her hands and closed her eyes to that strangely
innocent and happy gaze as she kissed him. She expected him to take control and
do what he was here to do. She just wanted to try to let her mind go somewhere
else.
But the War Boy was strangely hesitant and Capable had an epiphany: this was
consensual sex from his viewpoint and it was probably the first time he was
having sex with a woman rather than forcibly raping one. The thought made her
want to cry.
She guided his head to her breasts. “Here. There’s no milk yet, but you can
still suck.”
He looked doubtful at this, but he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked
hard. Her involuntary moan seemed to delight him. He kept sucking and seized
her other nipple between his fingertips. She moaned again to encourage him, but
the tug of arousal low in her belly was real, much to her surprise.
She had to hurry. The Organic Mechanic could be back any moment. Capable pulled
at the War Boy’s belts impatiently.
He undid his trousers, but instead of shoving himself inside her immediately,
he stopped to smear something from a small bottle on his cock. “Organic says we
have to use lube, to make sure we don’t damage you again.”
Capable tensed at the reminder of last time, and despite her earlier arousal,
it was not pleasant to feel him force his way into her. She remembered to keep
up the pretense, though, and she wrapped her legs around him.
“Glory be,” he murmured.
Capable noticed the lumps on his neck - and the smiling faces drawn on them.
The urge to cry returned and she kept it at bay by reaching up to plant kisses
on each smiling tumor. Then she kissed the other side of his neck for no
reason.
“Capable,” he panted, and she realized she didn’t even know this War Boy’s
name.
He finished with a wordless groan and Capable held him in her arms. She doesn’t
feel any of the anger or disgust she expected to feel. She thought about the
War Boys who’d come to see her and talk about her ‘pup’ and that War Boy who’d
tried to give Cheedo a gift. Joe gave her to his boys to punish her and
Angharad, but maybe Capable could use this to change them. It’d take time, but
maybe she could plant seeds of thought and emotion that Joe wouldn’t like at
all.
The War Boy propped himself up and smiled down at her. “That was real shine.”
“Wasn’t it?” she murmured in an agreeable tone.
He kissed her cheek before he climbed off her and let himself out of the cell.
Cheedo came to her after he was gone and hugged her. “I’m sorry,” she said, the
first words she’d spoken in dozens of days. Her voice was hoarse. “I’m sorry
you had to suffer that for me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m not as brave as you.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Capable lied. She rocked her soothingly. It was worth it if
it brought Cheedo’s voice back.
~
As far as Toast was concerned, Capable should have waited until the War Boy was
almost inside Cheedo and distracted, and grabbed his own weapon and killed him
instead of letting him rape her instead of Cheedo.
“Killing one War Boy wouldn’t change anything.”
“It’d mean one less of them to rape us.”
“We could try to change them. Teach them. Talk to them.”
And sure enough, the next day, Toast saw her talking to the War Boys lying
around the Blood Shed at death’s door. Toast was watching her hold a wet cloth
to one’s forehead and thinking how if she was in Capable’s place, she’d smother
the bastard, when the Organic Mechanic brought that day’s rapists to the cell.
“I had Toast the Knowing already,” one of them says. “I want Cheedo the
Fragile.”
“I want the Fragile too.”
Cheedo whimpered.
Toast grabbed the belt of the one who’d said he’d ‘had’ her before, and smiled
up at him as she swiftly kneed him in his balls. He doubled over, cupping his
groin and moaning in pain.
The other War Boy laughed. The Organic Mechanic laughed too, but he strode into
the cell and grabbed her by her arm. He dragged her out and shackled one of her
hands to the bars of the cell.
“Bad Toast. Now I have to find another Boy for you.”
He ushered the War Boy she’d kneed away and left with him. Capable came to her
and held her free hand.
“Please don’t,” she heard Cheedo say.
“Why not?” the War Boy asked her, sounding surprised.
“I don’t want to.”
“You have to.”
She heard what was probably the War Boy pushing Cheedo down and lowering
himself on top of her. Toast refused to watch. She stared intently at the
ground, barely resisting the desire to cover her ears as well.
“Be gentle,” Capable said, presumably to the War Boy raping Cheedo. At least
she was realistic enough to know she couldn’t talk him out of it.
“I am being gentle,” the War Boy protested. “I know she’s Fragile.”
Toast had to look to see what his idea of gentle was. He was on his knees
between Cheedo’s legs, touching her face and chest almost reverently - but he
was still inside her when Cheedo had told him she didn’t want him.
***** Morsov III *****
Elvis was already fucking Toast the Knowing, but Morsov had yet to touch Cheedo
the Fragile. Every time he reached for her, she cringed away from him. The look
of fear on her face made him feel bad in a way he didn’t understand. He wanted
to hold her and whisper soothing things like he would for a very small pup who
needed comforting.
But that wasn’t going to get her pregnant. There was only one way to do that.
He should just do it and get it over quickly. But the way he felt with her
looking at him teary-eyed and afraid rendered him unable to breed. He rubbed
his scalp, frustrated at his dilemma. He wished the Ace was here so he could
ask his advice.
Morsov didn’t know know what to do. In desperation, he asked, “How can I make
you stop being so afraid?”
“Promise you won’t touch me.”
He was surprised. “How can I fuck you if I can’t touch you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want you to.”
If he didn’t fuck her, Organic would send another War Boy to her after he left.
Maybe that was what she wanted. Maybe she didn’t want him to sire her pup.
“I’m a real good lancer,” he told her earnestly. “My pups will be strong, I
know it.”
“I remember you. They said you’d killed the most Buzzards and that’s why you
were first.”
So she did remember him and that was why she was afraid.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you. I tried not to.”
“You did hurt me, and your friends hurt me too.”
“We weren’t trying to hurt you, that’s the only way to grow a pup in you.”
Tears began to brim in her eyes again.
Morsov looked around helplessly. The Organic Mechanic wasn’t watching, but he
was there and didn’t show any indication of leaving. “All right,” he whispered
desperately to Cheedo. “What if I promise I won’t fuck you today?”
“I don’t believe you,” she said.
He held up his right hand solemnly. “May the gates of Valhalla be closed to me
forever if I break my promise.”
She looked wary.
“I won’t try to breed with you today, but you have to let me get close to you
so Organic thinks I did.”
She considered this and then nodded.
Morsov carefully stretched out beside her and then gently pulled her against
him. She stared at him and he stared back. He felt he should say something, but
he realized he had no idea what to say.
“Do you dream?” she asked.
He blinked in surprise. What a strange question. “Of course, I dream. Doesn’t
everyone?”
“What do you dream about?”
He dreamt about her sometimes, about the day Imperator Furiosa turned traitor
and the Immortan gave three of his wives to the War Boys of the Citadel. He’d
awake from those dreams with the same bad feeling he felt when he saw her
afraid of him. But he didn’t think he should tell her that.
“Sometimes I dream I’m flying in the air like a bird and looking down at
everyone, and sometimes I dream of doing war. Once I dreamt I was sent to Gas
Town and had to follow the People Eater everywhere and scrub his feet, that was
a nightmare.”
“Oh.”
Her hair felt soft and nice where it rested over his hand, and he wanted to
stroke it, but he didn’t want to frighten her.
“What do you dream about?” he asked her.
“About green things covering everywhere, like in the pictures.”
Morsov had never seen pictures like those. He wished he could.
“I dream of it even when I’m awake,” she added. “About finding some place where
there’s still green all over.”
He was puzzled. There was plenty of green at the top of the Citadel, where
she’d lived when she was one of the Immortan’s wives. “There’s green here,
why’d you have to dream of somewhere else?”
“Here I’m a breeder,” she said sadly. “There must be some other place where
nobody will force me to breed if I don’t want to.”
It was such a strange idea. Bizarre. He’d seen women among the Wretched baring
their breasts and begging to taken into the Citadel as milkers or breeders, and
the breeders he’d fucked before had seemed content. He’d never have imagined
that the prize breeders hated breeding. He tried to imagine what it must be
like to be one of them.
A blasphemous thought occurred to him and he felt terrified to even think it.
He put his lips to Cheedo’s ear. “Is it breeding you all hate, or breeding with
the Immortan?”
“He never… I was too young, but the others hate it. They hate him. We hate him.
Angharad’s his favorite, but she hates him the most.”
For a moment, he could only worry what might happen if anyone heard her talking
like this and him listening. Then he realized the implication of what she’d
said. He felt pride at having been the first to have a prize breeder not even
the Immortan had had, but he also felt ashamed. And he was disturbed by the
knowledge that the Immortan had considered her a pup but had still sentenced
her to breed more war pups and like that. Gangbanging a War Pup was
unthinkable, so it didn’t seem right to do to a breeder pup either.
“Morsov, I’m getting bored. I’m done and this breeder refuses to talk to me. If
you’re going to stay here and cuddle yours all day, just say so, so I stop
wasting my time waiting for you.”
He hadn’t realized Elvis was finished. Part of him wanted to stay and keep
holding Cheedo like this, even though she said terrible things and made him
think disturbing thoughts. But he knew better than to do anything that would
draw attention to them and maybe raise suspicions.
He got to his knees and pretended to fasten his trousers before rising to his
feet. He held his hand out to Cheedo, to help her up. She hesitated for a
moment, but then she gave him her hand and let him pull her to her feet.
“What a gentleman,” the Organic Mechanic called, laughing.
***** Capable IV & Toast V *****
Sticks was shivering.
Capable went over to the cell. “Cheedo, please hand me my blanket.”
Cheedo picked up one of the blankets and passed it through the bars of their
cell.
Toast was staring at her in disbelief. “Capable!”
Capable mouthed ‘remember the plan’ at her before making her way back over to
the dying War Boy. She draped her blanket over him and laid her palm on the top
of his head.
He tried to pull the blanket off. “No,” he said weakly. “It’s for you, so you
and the pup don’t get damaged when it gets cold.”
Capable firmly tucked the blanket around him. “I’m not using it at the moment.
I’ll take it back before I go to sleep tonight.”
“So maternal,” the Organic Mechanic commented. He chuckled.
Capable ignored him. She hurried to Riker, who’d prodded the ‘feral’ captive
with the electric stick.
“You don’t have to hurt them more than necessary,” she admonished.
“It’s necessary,” he protested. He swung the cage and released the latch,
causing the captive to fall out and dangle upside down. “He broke free while we
were branding him and it took a dozen Boys to catch him and put him down. ”
Capable considered this information. If she could manage to release this
captive, then maybe… But no. There was no way to get down from the Citadel and
flee to relative safety without a vehicle and there was no way they’d be able
to get one.
“Capable!” The blue-eyed War Boy she’d spared Cheedo from smiled at her and
leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek.
Capable blinked in surprise, momentarily at a loss for words.
The War Boy sat on one of the smooth rock benches and Riker inserted a needle
into his arm, beginning the process of transfusing the ‘feral’ captive’s blood
into him.
Finally, Capable said, “I don’t know your name.”
“Nux,” he stated happily.
He seemed so happy to see her that it made Capable pity him even though she
felt sick every time she looked at those blue eyes. She had to do the best she
could for everyone’s sake, though, so she forced herself to sit beside him.
“How are you, Nux?”
He looked like no one had ever asked him how he was before. Then he grinned at
her. “I’ll be great when my top-up’s done. This blood bag has real high octane
blood.”
Capable cringed. “He’s not a bag, Nux. He’s a man.”
Nux simply stared at her like she’d spoken a different language.
She took one of his hands between her hands, noting absently that his hands
were twice the size of hers. “He’s a person, just like we are.”
“He’s not like us,” Nux said, sounding puzzled. “He’s a feral.”
How could she explain to him and to the others the horror of what they did in
hunting down strangers and keeping them in cages to drain their blood
regularly? But even if they could understand, maybe they’d prefer not to, since
that stolen blood prolonged their own short lives.
She sighed. “How would you like it if a Buzzard caught you and kept you in a
cage like that?”
He shook his head. “Wouldn’t happen. I’m the best driver in the Citadel and my
lancer’s real shine at lancing.”
She grimaced, both at the reminder of his lancer who’d raped poor Toast twice
in one morning and at his lack of empathy. She was contemplating how to get him
to understand what it was like to be a victim when he tried to kiss her.
Capable jerked back. “No,” she said, louder than she’d intended.
Riker hurried over to them and jabbed the electric stick at Nux threateningly.
“Don’t try that with Capable. You know she’s already got a pup in her belly.”
Capable squeezed Nux’s shoulder in a silent warning before he could say
anything that would give away that she’d let him have sex with her. “He’ll
behave from now. Won’t you, Nux?”
“Yeah,” he said, looking very confused.
When Riker was satisfied that Nux wouldn’t try to attack her again and had
moved on, she leaned in close and whispered, “It’s our secret, Nux. Just you
and me.”
She stood up and forced herself to kiss his cheek. “It was nice to see you,”
she lied. “But I promised to tell the Pups a story.”
~
Capable was chewing her lips, which Toast had learned meant that she wanted to
say something but at the same time, didn’t want to say it.
“Just spit it out, Capable,” Toast said to her. She scooted over to sit beside
her. Cheedo was on Capable’s other side, lying with her head in Capable’s lap.
“Maybe you should try talking with the War Boys and not try to grab their
weapons and injure them.”
Toast restrained herself from uttering aloud her initial reaction. Capable did
know exactly how it felt to be raped endlessly. Instead, she asked coldly, “Was
the one I stabbed this morning one of your new friends?”
“No,” Capable replied. “But hurting them doesn’t do any good. We have to get
them to stop seeing us as things to be ‘bred’ and get them to care about us.
Unless Joe has a change of heart, the only thing that’s going to save us from
War Boys is themselves.”
She understood what Capable meant, but Toast refused to accept it. She might
not be able to stop them from raping her, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to
befriend her rapists.
“Or death,” Toast said darkly.
“I think maybe you’re right, Capable,” Cheedo spoke up. “Maybe some of them
might be nice to you if you talk to them.”
Toast felt her jaw drop. “Talking doesn’t stop them from raping you, does it?”
she demanded.
“It did with one of them,” Cheedo confided. “Morsov.”
Toast couldn’t have been more shocked. Morsov visited the Blood Shed every day
to come stare at Cheedo; Toast couldn’t believe that he’d passed up his chance
to rape her again. But it made sense that it was why Cheedo would go stand
close to the bars and whisper to him. Toast had assumed she was doing her part
to aid Capable’s plan.
“How come?” she asked curiously. Cheedo must have spoken some magic words.
“He said he wanted me to stop being afraid.”
“Oh.” Toast rolled her eyes. “You killed his boner. At least it has a
conscience.”
“Toast,” Capable said, in a reprimanding tone.
Toast sighed. “Cheedo, keep saying whatever you say to them. And I will keep
doing what I do.”
Feeling that she was being watched, she glanced up to see the Organic Mechanic
looking at them and frowning. That didn’t portend anything good.
“Conspiring again?” he asked them.
“Yeah,” Toast replied sarcastically. “Conspiring to cut off your cock and feed
it to you.”
He didn’t reply, which was unusual for him. He just gave her a nasty grin.
He wore the same nasty grin the following morning when he appeared with the War
Boy with the extra scarred face and another one she didn’t recognize.
“It can’t possibly be his turn again already,” Toast exclaimed indignantly.
“After you nearly killed Block yesterday, I had to get a Boy who can handle
you, didn’t I?” the Organic Mechanic replied. He pulled Cheedo out of the cell.
“Chip, make sure no one but you touches this one.”
Scar-face stepped inside the cell and the Organic Mechanic locked it behind
him.
“Have fun, Slit, but don’t do anything to her that won’t heal in a few days.”
Toast felt pure terror at those words. Still, she tried to be brave. “I take it
you’re here to punish me for wounding your friend.”
“Block? That mediocre excuse for a War Boy? Not my friend. Still can’t believe
he let a breeder stab him. Immortan should cast him down among the wretched. He
doesn’t deserve to be a War Boy.”
He was being unfairly harsh to the other War Boy, as Toast had waited until he
was mid-orgasm to grab his knife and stab him. She doubted it would work with
this one. This one knew to expect her to try it. He moved towards her, and
Toast darted to the other side of the cell.
There was nowhere to run and it wasn’t long before he seized her. Toast tried
to gouge his eyes, but he protected his eyes with his hand and let her claw at
his face. He made a wordless exclamation of delight.
“You’re almost as fierce as a feral even though you’re so tiny,” he said, and
it was clear he meant the words as a compliment. “I wish I could chase you
through the whole Citadel and give you a blade.”
Toast growled in frustration. Her attempts to defend herself was foreplay to
him. In fighting back against him, she might as well be stroking his cock. It
went against her instinct, but Toast stopped struggling. She let her body go
limp.
“Tired already?” He sounded disappointed.
Toast just glared at him. She didn’t resist as he removed her clothes and laid
her on the ground. It was difficult to do nothing when he drew one of his
knives and place the tip of the blade at the hollow of her throat. He moved the
knife down her chest, tracing patterns over her skin. She could feel how sharp
the blade was, but he had impressive dexterity and he wasn’t slicing her skin.
Not yet anyway.
Eventually he seemed to grow bored by her lack of reaction. He sheathed the
knife and just stared down at her for a moment. Toast held her breath, fearing
what he’d do next.
What he did wasn’t what she’d expected. Her nipples had reacted to the cold
steel of the knife, and he drew one into his mouth and sucked.
She gasped in surprise at the sudden pleasurable sensation.
He released the nipple. “Nux wasn’t lying, least not about this,” he said,
pinching her other nipple. “You breeders like having your teats sucked like
they were cocks.”
He grinned at her, making his face look even worse.
Toast raised her hand to slap the smile off his face.
“Ready to play again?”
She put her hand back at her side without hitting him. Bastard.
His mouth latched onto her nipple again.
Toast had always loved having her lovers use their hands and mouth on her
breasts, but this was not a lover. She hated that a War Boy - and not just any
of them, this particular one who was extra terrible - was causing the jolts of
arousal shooting down her belly like there was some direct line between her
breasts and her cunt. She tried to shove his head away, but he pinned her
wrists down and kept on sucking her nipples, alternating between them.
Toast had never begged War Boys, or Immortan Joe, for mercy, because she knew
they had none and her words would fall on deaf ears. Begging them not to
inflict pain and humiliation on her wouldn’t have spared her a second of pain
and would only have increased her sense of humiliation. This one wasn’t hurting
her, not physically. Yet it somehow seemed worse.
“Stop.”
He glanced up and met her gaze to show that he’d heard her, but he didn’t stop.
No, of course not.
She was starting to wonder if her body could orgasm from just this. It felt
like it might. She decided to try using his name. “Slit, stop please.”
“Stop and I’ll suck your cock,” she offered in desperation.
He did stop at that. “Shiny breeder, you think I’d trust your teeth near my
cock?” He laughed. “You should try that on Morsov, though. You could probably
bite that mediocre idiot’s cock clean off.”
He resumed tormenting her.
Toast wrapped her legs around him, silently urging him to fuck her. He’d have
to leave her breasts alone then; he was too tall to keep his mouth on her
breasts and keep their groins together.
It seemed like it had worked. He stopped - finally - and took his cock out of
his trousers. But then he put his hand between her legs. She didn’t catch the
words he exclaimed at discovering how wet she’d gotten. She was already so
aroused, the slide of his fingers over her clit pushed her over the edge.
“Fuck,” he said. “Shine as fuck.”
Toast came down from her orgasmic high angry at herself and wishing she could
kill him as he began fucking her. Even though he was fucking her too hard, she
was experiencing it as pleasure rather than the pain it should have been. Her
body traitorously wanted her to rub her clit and help it to another orgasm.
Toast needed to express her rage.
So, even though she knew he’d probably like it, she put her hands around his
throat and squeezed as tightly as she could. He didn’t stop her. She was still
choking him when he climaxed and collapsed on top of her.
At least he was conscious of his much greater size and weight and surprisingly
considerate enough to roll off her immediately. Toast shifted away, trying to
put some distance between them, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her on top of
him. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her to his chest.
“Where are you going?” he murmured. “Organic’s given me all day with you, shiny
breeder.”
***** Morsov IV & Capable V *****
“Hello, Morsov,” Capable said to him, and she smiled.
Morsov smiled back at her. She was sitting on the ground, with one of the
smallest War Pups in her lap and three more sitting around her. The Pups had
told him that Capable told the best stories, that she told stories they’d never
heard before. The Ace had gotten a funny look on his face when he heard a Pup
telling some Repair Boys one of the stories Capable had told him.
Toast the Knowing was pacing back and forth in the cell. She looked angrier
than usual. Morsov was pretty sure why too. The Organic Mechanic was letting
that asshole Slit breed with her every couple of days. Plenty of Boys had
complained at how unfair it was, but Organic claimed Slit was one of the few
who could fuck her without getting himself damaged by her. Boys had suggested
that he restrain her before having them breed with her, but Slit and Throttle
and the others who liked being hit and bitten by her had argued that a War Boy
who couldn’t handle one breeder didn’t deserve to breed.
Morsov had to admit that was hard to argue against. Besides, he’d been afraid
that if Organic decided to chain down Toast the Knowing, he might do the same
to Cheedo even though she never even tried to damage anyone.
“Morsov,” Cheedo greeted him. She was trying to smile, but she looked sad.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
Her eyes started getting teary. “The War Boy with Joe’s brand all over him…”
She was talking about Bolt. “What did he do?”
“He said I was like sticking his cock in a warm corpse and he pinched me. And
when I started crying, he said to stop crying or he’d really give me something
to cry about.”
Morsov was outraged, then enraged. He was going to beat the shit out of Bolt.
He stroked Cheedo’s hair. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t do that ever again,” he
assured her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He wished the bars of the cell weren’t there. He wanted to hold her. But he’d
asked the Organic Mechanic before if he could, promising he wouldn’t try to
breed with her, but he had said no. Morsov wasn’t one of Organic’s favorites.
Organic liked a certain type and he didn’t match it.
“Is it tomorrow you’re leaving on that four day trip you told me about?”
Morsov nodded. Ace had said they couldn’t capture the depot from its owner
without destroying it and everything inside, so the Immortan had decided to
trade a whole tanker of Aqua Cola for what he wanted. “I’ll miss you,” he told
her.
“I’ll miss you too,” she said. She put her hand on his chest, and he felt a
strange warmth there.
He could still feel it later when he headed down into the fighting pits.
Throttle and Slit were arguing. Slit had started bragging recently that he’d
made Toast the Knowing come dozens of times - though Morsov noticed he didn’t
offer any details as to know exactly he’d accomplished the supposed feat - and
now Throttle was calling him a liar to his face.
Slit’s driver, Nux, meanwhile was admitting that he was a liar and saying he
was sorry he’d lied and told everyone that Capable asked him to fuck her.
Morsov liked Nux, but he couldn’t imagine why Nux had made up such a ridiculous
lie in the first place. No one had believed him.
“She’s as shine as the sun and I’m so sorry I said that about her.”
“You should be,” someone said.
“If I’d thought it was true, I’d have kicked the shit out of you. If you’d
really done it, you could have hurt my pup.”
“It might be my pup,” Nux replied.
Morsov didn’t stop to talk with Nux’s group. He strode past several of his
crewmates too, not stopping until he spotted Bolt. He jabbed a finger in Bolt’s
face. “You and me.”
He didn’t wait for Bolt’s response. He drew back his fist and smashed it into
Bolt’s face before tackling him to the ground and pummeling him. Bolt managed
to throw him off. Morsov kicked him in the face and then stomped on one of his
hands.
Bolt stopped fighting. “Ow, fuck, that’s my throwing hand.” He looked at Morsov
bewilderedly. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
“Yeah, you hurt Cheedo and made her cry.”
One of Bolt’s friends was examining his hand and shot Morsov a nasty glare.
“She’s always crying!”
“That is true, Morsov,” Sprockets said, though he’d come to stand next to him
in case Bolt’s friends ganged up on him. Elvis was making his way over too.
“But he pinched her! And he insulted her and threatened her!”
“One pinch wouldn’t do any damage,” argued one of Bolt’s friends.
“Well, Immortan did name her the Fragile,” somebody called, “So it might have.”
“Don’t any of you hurt her or be mean to her,” he said loudly. Not only was he
a pretty good fighter, but he had backup from his crew. And everyone knew he
was the Ace’s favorite - though not like Organic had favorites.
~
“Got a nice surprise for you girls today,” the Organic Mechanic announced one
morning. “You’re going to get to take a nice bath.”
He opened the cell door and ushered them out. “Come on. You, too, Capable.”
He lead them out of the Blood Shed and through a series of corridors and open
caverns. Repair Boys who’d never seen them before gawked and War Boys who
spotted them began congregating into an entourage. Toast seemed annoyed at the
unwanted company, but Capable knew she was paying close attention to everything
despite it. Cheedo was looking around curiously, too, though she’d clutched
Capable arm fearfully once she realized how many War Boys were following them.
The destination turned out to be a huge natural pool underground. A group of
younger War Pups were in the water, looking rather glum. “Are they making you
bathe too, Capable?” one asked.
She couldn’t help smiling. “Yes.”
Toast stripped with rough, angry movements and climbed into the water
immediately. Cheedo undressed more slowly, clearly wishing she didn’t have to
in front of an audience. Capable waited until she was finished before removing
her own clothes and getting into the pool. She almost yelped when she felt how
cold the water was.
But it felt good to be able to get thoroughly clean again. Since their re-
capture, they’d only been given buckets of water and a cloth to wash
themselves. She tried to ignore the War Boys watching, but more of them kept
streaming into the cave, as if word had spread.
The Organic Mechanic had stopped War Boys from following them into the water
when they’d first arrived. But now he seemed to have changed his mind.
“Hey, Nux,” Capable heard him call. “Get in and I’ll wash your back.”
The speed with which the War Boy multitude got out of their boots and trousers
was amusing. A few tripped and fell. It was less amusing when they surrounded
her, each wanting to help her bathe.
She heard a yelp of pain, then heard Toast say, “I’ll break all of your fingers
if you try again. I don’t want your help.”
“Boys, no touching them,” the Organic Mechanic shouted. “Or I’ll make all of
you leave.”
Nux forced his way to the front of her group of War Boys. “Capable.”
“Nux,” she greeted him, trying to look at him without having to look into his
eyes.
But he seemed to realize it and stuck his face even closer to her, trying to
catch her gaze.
Capable gave in and looked at him fully. She watched his look of worry
transform into joy. There was an almost childish sweetness to him, a strange
innocence that somehow coexisted with the evil of raping women and kidnapping
men to keep in cages for their blood. Capable kept looking into those big, blue
eyes, looking for something to help her understand.
“Our Nux has very pretty eyes, eh, Capable?”
His eyes would have been the most beautiful she’d ever seen if she didn’t
associate them with fear and pain and unrelenting horror.
He glanced at the Organic Mechanic briefly and she saw his eyes flicker with
irritation and dislike and something she recognized but hadn’t expected to see
in a War Boy. She looked at the Organic Mechanic and saw him looking at Nux the
way Joe would look at Angharad. It raised a new set of issues to figure out,
foremost among them how Nux could have done what he’d done to her knowing fully
well how it felt to be victimized that way.
He probably didn’t see it as the same thing, she concluded, like with his blood
slave. She’d been a stranger to him, just like the captive he called his blood
bag. People he didn’t know weren’t people to him.
“Organic!”
Capable recognized the voice of Joe’s Prime Imperator.
“You’re about to cause a riot down here.”
“Aww, Prime, I’m just letting the Boys take in a nice show.”
The Prime Imperator was not amused. “War Boys,” he shouted, “Out of the water!
Back to your duties!”
He stood waiting with his arms crossed as the War Boys scrambled out of the
pool and back into their trousers. Some of them just gathered up their
belongings and ran out naked. It would have been funny if Capable’s heart
wasn’t still beating too fast. She hadn’t realized how true it was until the
Prime Imperator had appeared to stop it.
The Organic Mechanic enjoyed his power over the wives and the War Boys alike.
He’d enjoyed getting the Boys worked up into a sexual frenzy, confident he
could control them and keep them from acting on their desires. Over-confident,
apparently.
Cheedo hurried out of the pool and raced after the Prime Imperator as he left.
She caught his arm. “Prime, how’s the Dag? Tell me, please. Please.”
“She has not been harmed,” the Prime Imperator said gently. He touched the top
of Cheedo’s head briefly. “Rictus misses you.”
The Imperators and Rictus had been fond of Cheedo, despite knowing that she was
there to be raped by the vile old man as soon as he deemed her old enough.
Cheedo, in her innocence, had been fond of them too. The Dag and Angharad had
tried to teach her not to trust them, that Rictus, despite his childish
simplicity and sometime sweetness, still had the body of a man and was the
reason Joe kept the chastity belts on them.
And, sure enough, they’d done nothing when Joe had that sweet young girl they
were so fond of gangraped by his army.
Capable was in the darkest mood she’d been in since the earliest days after the
failed escape. She tried to identify what had gone wrong. But it just seemed to
be a matter of luck. Bad luck that Joe hadn’t taken longer to realize they were
missing. The good luck of that innocent monster in catching up to the war rig
and telling its crew that Furiosa had betrayed their Immortan and stolen his
prize breeders.
The Organic Mechanic had been sulking at having his fun ruined, but as they
approached the Blood Shed, he started grinning. “Time for the surprise, girls.”
The cell was gone. Instead there were now three cells, spaced well apart. The
cells had cots, so they would no longer have to sleep on the ground. But
Capable would have slept on the sharpest pebbles if it meant remaining with
Cheedo and Toast. They were being separated.
“Can’t have you girls hatching another treason, can we?”
***** Toast VI & Morsov V *****
He lifted her up and held her pinned between the wall and his body. Toast hated
that her legs had wrapped around him seemingly of their own accord. She put her
hands on his shoulders briefly, just to steady herself, before sharply jabbing
her thumbs into his throat. He retaliated by biting her neck.
They were both on the edge of orgasm, when the hum of everyday noise was
pierced by a panicked male shriek.
“I DIDN’T HURT HER, I SWEAR! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO DAMAGE HER!”
The Organic Mechanic, his War Boy assistants, and Capable were rushing to
Cheedo’s cell.
The War Boy who’d just finished raping Cheedo was loudly insisting that he
hadn’t done anything, that he’d used lube and he’d been gentle. He sounded as
if he was about to start crying.
Toast craned her neck, trying to get a clearer picture of what was going on.
The War Boy Slit must have heard the commotion, too, but he didn’t seem to
care. He didn’t let it distract him from finishing, nor from his post-coital
routine. “Shiny breeder,” he was murmuring, nuzzling her. He’d dropped to his
knees, taking her down with him, and turned to sit with his back to the wall,
pulling her into his lap.
Toast struggled against him impatiently. “Let go. You’re done.”
“Not done,” he replied, nipping her ear.
The Organic Mechanic was laughing. “Aww, Chip, she’s not damaged, she just
isn’t knocked up.”
Toast realized what must have happened. Cheedo’s moon bleeding must have
started and the War Boy must have thought he’d damaged her. The relief she felt
at realizing Cheedo hadn’t been badly hurt was replaced by a weary
hopelessness. Cheedo wasn’t damaged, but she’d continue to be subjected to rape
daily for at least another moon cycle.
She dug her fingernails into Slit’s arm. Surely his penchant for fucking her
multiple times a visit had increased her chances of getting pregnant. It had
to.
He was running a hand up and down her thighs, causing her body to remember
she’d interrupted it before it could get off. She was tempted to shift her
thighs apart and hope his hand found its way between them, but she refused to
give in to the temptation.
“I’d love to work on your skin,” he murmured.
Considering the state of his own skin - with drawings carved into his flesh -
Toast had a very good idea of what that meant. For a moment, she was thankful
to Joe for at least limiting what his War Boys were allowed to do to her.
Then Slit added, “Thought about doing it when Organic said Immortan said to
lightly damage you for stabbing Block.”
He was tracing patterns only he could see, but with his fingertips instead of
the knife he usually used. It felt like her skin was straining for more,
wanting increased intensity. She didn’t understand how it was possible to still
be aroused despite knowing what he wanted to do to her.
“But you’re already perfect, shiny breeder. It’d make you less chrome, not more
chrome.”
Toast was wondering at his failure so far to ‘lightly damage’ her as he’d been
instructed to do. He was probably just waiting until it suited his mood.
“Sorry to interrupt the cuddling,” the Organic Mechanic said, coming over to
Toast’s cell. “Toast, you bleeding too?”
“No,” she answered.
“Hmm, you could just be late due to your stressful situation and all,” he
mocked. “A few more rounds of breeding won’t hurt, until we’re sure there’s a
war bun in the oven.”
~
Morsov had already spoken with Cheedo, so when the Organic Mechanic was done
checking over the war rig crew, he started to leave with the others.
“Morsov, Elvis, you two stay for breeding.”
He’d finally get to hold Cheedo again. He wasted no time in getting to her
cell. But Organic didn’t come to unlock it.
“Which one of you fucked which breeder last time?”
“Morsov fucked his beloved Cheedo, of course,” Elvis answered Organic, giving
Morsov a teasing grin.
But Morsov had a bad feeling about this.
Organic muttered to himself and used his fingers to count something several
times. Then he said, “Switch this time. Elvis, you take Cheedo.”
“Why?” Morsov demanded.
The Organic Mechanic looked annoyed. “To improve the chances of conceiving a
pup.”
“But you’re letting Slit breed with Toast the Knowing almost every day! It’s
not fair!”
“That’s none of your concern. Shut up and go fuck Toast.”
Elvis patted his shoulder. “I’ll be real gentle with her, okay?”
Morsov nodded. He stared at Cheedo, who looked just as disappointed as him.
Then he made his way across the Blood Shed to Toast’s cell. The door was
already open. Morsov approached Toast the Knowing warily. She’d once almost
killed a War Boy who’d been breeding with her, and she’d left gouged eyes and
broken fingers on lots of others.
“Please don’t hit me,” he said.
Toast looked astonished. Then she laughed. But she didn’t sound amused, she
sounded bitter.
She was very shiny and chrome, and he would happily fuck her if he could be
sure that she wouldn’t stab him while he was doing it.
“Are you waiting for an invitation?” she said. She pulled off her clothes. “Get
it over with.”
Morsov touched her breasts, half-expecting her to head-butt him or kick him in
the balls at any moment. But it was the Organic Mechanic who startled him.
“Hey, Toast, Morsov here was your girl Furiosa’s best lancer. But our boy Slit
says he’s the best lancer. Let us know which of them is better at lancing,
would you?”
The Organic Mechanic was leaning against the bars, leering.
Morsov really wished he wasn’t watching. But being reminded of Slit and his
pathetic insistence that he was the best lancer kindled enough competitive fire
to give Organic a good show.
Toast seemed furious when he was done, but fortunately she seemed angrier at
Organic than at him.
“Well, Toast,” Organic said. “What’s the verdict?”
Toast didn’t say anything, she just glared at him. Morsov had no doubt that if
he gave her the little pistol from his pockets, she’d empty the whole clip into
Organic. He was almost tempted to do it. But they only had the one Organic
Mechanic. They needed him even if he was an asshole.
***** Toast VII *****
“She’s as mediocre as you, Morsov! All that sniveling. I’ll make her fucking
scream.”
Toast recognized the War Boy Slit’s voice before he strode into the Blood Shed
along with several others. Cheedo’s Morsov was trying to lunge at Slit and
being held back by two other War Boys. Behind them came the Organic Mechanic
and the old War Boy who’d killed Furiosa.
Capable had been sitting in her unlocked cell, having her hair braided by one
of the War Pups. She sprang up and hurried to place herself in front of
Cheedo’s cell. Toast would have done the same if she could.
“No, you will not,” Furiosa’s killer snapped at Slit. “You are forbidden all
contact with the wives.”
“No, he’s not,” the Organic Mechanic contradicted.
“He drew a blade on another War Boy,” the killer said. “He tried to kill
Morsov. Denying him breeding privileges is the least of the punishment he
deserves.”
“Fight just got a little too heated, that’s all.”
Toast could see that both Morsov and Slit looked battered, and Morsov was
bleeding from a deep cut across his torso. From the look of it, Slit had been
trying to slice him open instead of trying to stab him, luckily for Cheedo.
The Organic Mechanic finished cleaning and stitching up the wound. “Off you go,
Morsov.”
“Ace,” Morsov said pleadingly, to Furiosa’s killer.
The killer and the Organic Mechanic stared at each other. It was clear they
loathed each other.
“War Rig crew, get out of here. Go cool off,” the Organic Mechanic said. “Let
me deal with Slit.”
“I’ll inform the Prime Imperator about this,” the killer said to Slit. He shot
a final look of contempt at the Organic Mechanic before he helped Morsov’s
friends drag him away.
The moment they were gone, Slit rounded on the Organic Mechanic. “How could you
let him stick his mediocre cock in my breeder?!”
“Just wanted to check that you weren’t going soft.” He tried to put his hand on
Slit’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off.
He was practically vibrating with rage. “You know what a mediocre piece of
Buzzard-spawn filth he is. He’s defiled her!” He snarled into the Organic
Mechanic’s face, “How could you do that to me, Organic?!”
“Watch it, Slit,” the Organic Mechanic said warningly.
“You owe me, Organic,” Slit said, less aggressively. “Let me fuck his weepy
breeder and see how he likes it.”
“Fine,” the Organic Mechanic agreed.
Toast didn’t understand how Slit could feel so possessive of her and be driven
into a jealous rage over a War Boy he hated fucking her. But she couldn’t let
him take his anger out on Cheedo. Cheedo wouldn’t survive it unbroken, and
Toast knew she could.
“No!” she shouted. “Leave her alone. Come to me. I’ll do whatever you want.”
He hesitated, stopping halfway to Cheedo’s cell.
“I’ll fight back. If you want me to pretend to like it, I’ll do that too.”
“She’s as mediocre as Morsov anyway,” he said dismissively of Cheedo. He strode
back to the Organic Mechanic and held out his hand.
The Organic Mechanic looked at him for a long moment.
Slit didn’t say anything, just glared at him.
Toast didn’t know what passed between them in silence, what history they had,
but the Organic Mechanic gave him the key to her cell.
He let himself into her cell and then he just stood there, looking at her.
“Well?” she said, waiting to be told what he wanted her to do. His anger seemed
to be dissipating, but for the first time she was having difficulty reading
him.
His voice was uncharacteristically quiet when he asked, “Why didn’t you damage
him? Why’d you let him fuck you? He’s too soft to get you pinned down like me
or Throttle, so you must have let him.”
Toast punched him, without having made a conscious decision to do so. She
belatedly remembered that he had permission to ‘lightly’ damage her, and her
hand probably hurt more than his face did. Still, she couldn’t believe he’d
dare say that to her.
“I haven’t let any of you,” she hissed.
Slit’s mood seemed to improve instantly. He pulled her against him, and that
was familiar, but the almost hesitant way he touched her hair wasn’t. He forced
her onto her back and hovered above her, but then he was pressing his mouth to
hers almost tentatively. Toast was astonished. He was already pulling back
before she realized he’d expected her to kiss him back.
She grabbed his head and leaned up to kiss him. It was a lot less tentative and
a lot more forceful when he kissed her this time. It left her breathless. But
it wasn’t unpleasant. Quite the opposite.
When it stopped, she thought he was going to tell her what he wanted. But he
didn’t speak.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“I don’t want you to just lie there, but I don’t want you to fight me either if
you don’t feel like fighting.”
“You want me to pretend I like it?”
“No.” He frowned. “I want…”
He didn’t seem to know how to articulate what he wanted. Toast was anxious he’d
become frustrated and turn violent again. She rubbed his back in an attempt to
soothe him.
“I want you.”
“You have me,” Toast replied, puzzled.
“Not like any War Boy can have you. I want you different than the others can
have you.”
Toast thought he meant that he wanted to fuck her where it wouldn’t lead to
pregnancy. She prepared herself mentally to endure it. “Okay.”
But Slit didn’t move. He was still frowning. “Capable likes fucking. She begged
Nux to fuck her even though she already had a pup in her.”
Capable had done that to protect Cheedo, same as Toast was trying to do now.
Toast had asked him if he wanted her to pretend to like it and he’d said no.
She was confused. And then she realized: he didn’t want her to pretend.
“You want me to want you,” she stated. It was such a shock, she didn’t even
know what to feel.
“Yeah.” He’d stopped frowning. There was a much softer look on his face. The
scars on his face made it difficult to identify at first. It was the same look
she’d seen on the face of Cheedo’s Morsov and on the War Boys who came to talk
to Capable.
He was infatuated with her. She’d never have guessed. Up until a few moments
ago, he’d certainly never acted like she was anything but his favorite thing to
fuck. Except, she realized, that wasn’t quite true. She recalled his odd
compliments and his habit of addressing her as “shiny breeder” in a way normal
people uttered endearments. Today had confirmed her suspicion that he was a
bastard even by War Boy standards, so she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised
that his version of romance was twisted.
She knew what Capable would advise her to do, and she knew that he was very
likely to go hurt Cheedo if he couldn’t get what he wanted from Toast. And she
might be able to find some advantage later in keeping him infatuated with her.
She just had to do something that made him think he was getting what he wanted
from her. She kept stroking his back. His skin was pleasant to touch; even the
horrid scarifications added an interesting texture.
“I’ll try,” she said. “Give me a few moments. Let’s just lay here like this for
a little while.”
“It’s better after fucking.”
Toast wondered if that was why he always fucked her at least twice each visit,
if it was so he had an excuse to linger and keep touching her after he finished
fucking her the first time.
He shifted his weight and scooted lower, settling his head on her breasts. “But
this is shine too.”
It was bizarre to be holding a War Boy like this, like he was her lover instead
of one of her rapists. Toast closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was
somewhere else and he was someone else. But she just couldn’t do it.
She simply couldn’t pretend she was anywhere else or that he was anyone but a
War Boy. So she tried to pretend he was just a random War Boy, one who’d never
touched her before. But that was no good either. The best she could summon for
a random War Boy was indifference. Slit, at least, goaded her into antipathy.
He was easily the most exciting thing in this miserable and boring life forced
upon her.
“Just kiss me,” she said, trying to keep the weariness and frustration out of
her voice.
His mouth was on hers before she’d even finished the words. She focused on just
the physical sensations, analyzing them. She realized that he was, objectively
speaking, a good kisser. And she already knew he’d be a good sex partner; he’d
taught himself how to get her off and he loved doing it. But as he kept kissing
her and began squeezing her breasts, Toast realized that as pleasant as the
sensations were, the excitement he normally elicited from her was missing.
Toast felt like crying at the realization that she’d enjoyed being raped by him
more than she could enjoy the pretense of normal sex. No.
No.
It wasn’t the illustration of consent that made this different; it was the lack
of violent foreplay. She would have to analyze what it meant that Slit was
apparently willing to forgo his twisted foreplay for her sake, but later, not
now. Now, Toast let herself resent him for causing his twisted version of
foreplay to become hers as well.
Unbeknownst to him, he’d already gotten what it was he wanted. She’d wanted him
against her will. All she had to do was stop hiding her reaction to him from
him.
He was nibbling at her neck. Toast grabbed his head with both hands and brought
his ear to her lips. “It’s better the way we usually do it, isn’t it?” she
whispered. Then she bit him.
***** Toast VIII & Capable VI *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Toast had been lying on her back with her legs raised and spread obscenely wide
for too long. She gritted her teeth and restrained herself from kicking the
Organic Mechanic. He’d been peering inside her and prodding at her for what
felt like ages. “Well?” she demanded impatiently.
He straightened up and gave his gloves an exaggerated snap. “You’re knocked up
alright.”
Toast exhaled in relief, welcoming the reprieve from daily breeding and being
kept confined in a cell in all day, though she avoided thinking about the baby
and its eventual fate.
“Back in your cell you go until I put the word out that you’re with pup.”
She returned to her cell without complaint and laid on her cot. She tried to
sort out how she felt towards the ‘pup’ she was carrying, whether she should
hate it for the crimes of its fathers or whether she could love it. But Toast
realized what she actually felt towards it was simply nothing.
“Got your message, Organic. What’d you need me for?”
She recognized Slit’s voice, but dismissed it. She wouldn’t have to worry about
that bastard for a couple hundred days at least.
But the Organic Mechanic was strolling towards Toast’s cell and waving the key.
“Figured you might want one last go at your girl before I declare her off-
limits.”
“Thanks, Organic!”
“You sadistic asshole!” Toast reached through the bars, trying to get her hands
on the Organic Mechanic. “It stops when we’re pregnant, those are the rules!
I’m supposed to be a breeder, not a sex slave.”
He laughed at her, and handed the key over to Slit. “I’m going to let Joe know
you’ll be giving him another War Pup.” He winked. “Enjoy the conjugal visit.”
Toast backed away as Slit advanced towards her. “You’re going to make me lose
this baby.”
“Fucking’s not going to kill it - it didn’t kill Capable’s pup.”
“It will the way you do it.”
He realized the truth of that. But it didn’t deter him. “Guess I’ll have to
keep you pinned down so you don’t damage your pup, trying to damage me.”
She was surprised he didn’t claim her baby as his. She’d have thought his pride
would have him insisting he must have been the War Boy to impregnate her. The
odds had certainly been in his favor.
Toast wanted to lash out with all the rage she felt at being subjected to a
rape that wasn’t even considered ‘necessary’ by the Citadel’s own twisted
mores. But she didn’t want to risk a miscarriage, since it’d mean yet more
rapes until she was pregnant again. She didn’t resist as Slit laid her on the
ground and held her wrists down.
She was angry enough that her body went cold and she felt nothing as he nipped
at her neck and sucked on her nipples.
It didn’t take him long to notice her lack of reaction. “What’s the matter?”
His face was too close to hers for her to even get the leverage to head-butt
him and break his nose. It didn’t stop Toast from trying. “What’s the matter?
You’re asking me what’s the matter?! Are you insane, or retarded?!”
“Your pup won’t get harmed like this,” he said, looking confused. Then he
seemed to think he’d figured out what her problem was. “You need to damage me
to get your engine started?”
“Oh, yeah, give me one of those knives and let me add to your artwork.”
He looked at her like she’d uttered the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. “So
chrome,” he said. He planted a light kiss on her lips. “Can’t have you stabbing
me and damaging anything vital though - be mediocre to die like that.”
Then he sprang to his feet suddenly and rushed out of the cell and over to the
Organic Mechanic’s work table.
Toast strode out of the cell. She considered running, but there was nowhere to
run to, and, not only would Slit enjoy chasing her, she risked being hurt
enough to have a miscarriage if another War Boy who didn’t know she was
pregnant caught her.
Capable had been sitting in her open cell with a gaggle of War Pups. She got up
and started towards Toast, looking concerned.
Slit found what he’d been looking for among the Organic Mechanic’s things and
held it up triumphantly. It was a razor blade, perfect for causing the surface
damage he wanted without allowing her a way to kill him… unless she was quick
enough to slice open a major artery before he could stop her.
Toast felt a flood of excitement. She smiled nastily at Slit.
“Toast,” Capable said. She looked very worried, glancing back and forth between
Toast and Slit. “Slit, please…”
Toast went to Slit before Capable could move between them. He wrapped his arms
around her, the razor still clutched in his hand, and lifted her up off her
feet and carried her back into her cell.
~
Capable was sitting on her cot, having her hair combed by Kip, her favorite
little War Pup, when the War Boy Nux finished receiving his transfusion and
eagerly came to her cell.
“Can I do that?” he asked. “What the Pup’s doing.”
She wanted to say no. But she reminded herself that she needed to nurture any
‘softness’ in War Boys. She turned to hug Kip. “Go play with the others. I’ll
tell you a new story later.”
Nux stared at the comb when she gave it to him. “Not sharp enough to shred
anyone,” he observed critically.
“It’s not meant to be, it’s not a weapon. It’s a comb, Nux, it’s for keeping
hair untangled.”
“Oh, for keeping your hair looking so shiny and chrome.”
She half-expected him to tug her hair and gouge her scalp, but he was very
gentle and combed her hair carefully like it was a very important task. “How
have you been, Nux?” she asked.
He happily began to tell her about improvements he was making to his car,
though Capable didn’t know enough about mechanics to understand even half of
it. She let her attention wander, gazing at the people going about their
constricted lives in the Blood Shed.
Cheedo was stretching in her cell, doing the ‘yoga’ exercises Miss Giddy had
taught them. Chev was shovelling food into the unbroken captive’s mouth with a
long-handled spoon. Riker was hooking another blood slave up to a newly arrived
War Boy.
And Toast was pacing angrily, still imprisoned within her cell. The Organic
Mechanic had declined to give her the limited freedom he’d given Capable once
Capable’s pregnancy had been confirmed, declaring that Toast couldn’t be
trusted not to inflict damage on War Boys - or War Pups. His insinuation that
Toast might hurt the Pups had killed the spark of sympathy War Boys like Riker
had had for her, though Capable had argued and pleaded that Toast would never
harm a child and she wouldn’t attack War Boys if they left her alone, though
she wasn’t entirely sure of the latter herself.
She was still disturbed by what Toast had done to the War Boy Slit, nevermind
that he’d wanted her to do it and seemed downright proud of the cuts she’d made
on his chest. She fully understood why Toast was so angry, but she was worried
that their situation was poisoning something inside Toast. She’d watched them
out of worry, ready to scream and beg the other War Boys to intervene if Slit
went too far. She hadn’t expected to see Slit letting Toast cut him and she
certainly hadn’t expected to see Toast lick the blood she’d spilled and kiss
Slit, behaving as though she was aroused by what he’d gotten her to do.
“Your lancer,” she said to Nux, “Tell me about him.”
“Slit? He’s extra annoying lately,” Nux said, with a mix of fondness and
irritation. “Been in so many fights with Boys sick of hearing him brag ‘bout
how he’s Toast the Knowing’s favorite War Boy and he’s got her mark to prove
it.”
He added, with a hint of jealousy, “Why’d you ask about him?”
“Just curious.”
“Capable, I’m your favorite War Boy, right?”
“I don’t have favorites,” she replied. The word itself had become distasteful
once she realized it wasn’t just Joe who used it to refer to the person he most
enjoyed victimizing. He’d created a whole society in his own sick, twisted
image.
“Oh. But I thought you liked me more than the others. I’m the one you…”
Capable turned to watch him glaring jealously at the other War Boys in the
Blood Shed. He’d shifted so easily from being sweet and friendly to being ready
to hurt other people who might have something he wanted for himself.
She clasped his face between her hands to recapture his attention. “You’re the
only one who’s gotten that from me, Nux,” she assured him.
She felt emotionally drained when he finally went away. She was about to gather
up the Pups loitering around the Blood Shed for a cuddle pile when her
attention was caught by a War Boy pleading with the Organic Mechanic.
“Just one more top-up, Organic, please.”
“You know the rules, Benz. No more top-ups once you reach this state.”
Capable realized that the War Boy had reached the point where he was so ill,
that the Citadel would no longer expend blood transfusions on him. He was truly
dying.
“Just one top-up from that high octane feral, please!”
“The feral just topped up Nux. He can’t give another top-up today, would kill
him. That’s a universal donor, Benz.”
The War Boy Benz bowed his head dejectedly. Then he raised his head and caught
sight of Capable.
She stayed still as he came to her and dropped to his knees and wrapped his
arms around her middle. She wasn’t sure whether he was seeking comfort from her
or from the ‘pup’ he might have fathered. She stroked his shaven head
hesitantly.
An older War Pup came sprinting into the Blood Shed. “Organic,” he panted,
nearly breathless. “Immortan says come now.”
Capable didn’t find it meaningful, not until night fell and the Organic
Mechanic still hadn’t returned. Angharad should be due any day now. Capable
didn’t sleep at all, too worried about her best friend. What if the baby was
stillborn or unhealthy and Joe cast Angharad down to be subjected to the same
brutality she’d been subjected to, or what if the birth killed Angharad.
Capable wasn’t even sure which fate was the worse one.
It was almost morning when a War Boy came to spread the news. “Immortan Joe has
a new son! The Splendid Angharad birthed Immortan a healthy son!”
Chapter End Notes
     If you're reading this but you don't use Tumblr, take a look at this
     awesome Toast pic drawn by our very own FancyLadySnackCakes: http://
     brimbrimbrimbrim.tumblr.com/post/158330676063/partly-inspired-by-
     redcandle17-and-her-hardcore
***** Capable VII *****
The Organic Mechanic had never actually forbidden Capable from leaving the
Blood Shed. She’d simply never considered trying to leave before. She’d been
too afraid of War Boys and had assumed she was safer in the Organic Mechanic’s
presence. But there were enough War Boys interested in her baby and protective
of it, that she thought she should be fairly safe among them. There might be
some who didn’t care that she was pregnant, but she felt confident that others
would help her if she screamed for help.
So one afternoon while the Organic Mechanic was busy sewing a finger back onto
a War Boy who’d lost it in a training mishap, Capable cautiously ventured out
into the rest of the Citadel. War Boys and Repair Boys looked surprised to see
her alone, but they didn’t bother her. Some called her name in greeting.
A pair of War Pups she didn’t know spotted her and rushed to flank her like
bodyguards. They chattered excitedly at her, wanting her to come see the very
first thunderstick they’d made all by themselves.
Capable liked all the Pups. They were as sweet and friendly and eager to learn
as any children, and it was easier to influence them and rid them of the
institutionalized cruelty of the Citadel. None of the Pups came to the Blood
Shed to use the blood slaves as punching bags anymore since she’d told them she
was very disappointed in them for being so mean.
She allowed this pair to lead her to one of the training areas, and though it
saddened her that this was what they were taught, she praised the weapon they’d
made. Other Pups wanted to show her their weapons too, and she feigned
admiration for them all, though she had to fight back tears when one who
couldn’t be any older than fifteen hundred days brought her a club.
“Capable, want to see our den?!” asked one Pup, and others chimed in, begging
her to visit their quarters.
One of them slipped his hand into hers and Capable held his hand all the way to
their ‘den’ which turned out to a cave with hardly anything in it. She surmised
that they all slept huddled in a pile for warmth and comfort.
They were eager to show her around the rest of the Citadel, too, though Capable
declined their offer to take her to the War Boys’ barracks. There was playing
with fire, and then there was dousing herself with gasoline and lighting a
match. Going into their barracks would be like begging the whole army of them
to ravage her again.
“Perhaps another day, my sweet ones. I have to go back to the Blood Shed.”
“Made it back in one piece, eh?” the Organic Mechanic commented, when he saw
her. But he didn’t say anything else and he didn’t seem to care.
Apparently she was free to come and go. Which reminded her of Toast’s
confinement. She felt guilty for not being confined too, though she knew it was
irrational, just as it’d been irrational to feel guilty for not being beaten
too when Joe beat the Dag.
Asking Toast how she felt would be a stupid question. Instead she asked, “Did
anything I should know about happen while I was gone?”
Toast shook her head. “Not unless you count one of those morons deciding the
Organic Mechanic stitching his buddy’s finger back on was ‘chrome’ and having
to be talked out of cutting off his fingers to get them reattached.”
Capable reached through the bars and Toast allowed her to stroke her hair in
silent comfort for a moment.
“Did you learn anything useful out there?” Toast asked.
Any War Pup will happily give you a weapon if you ask him. But that knowledge
would lead to nothing good for Toast or the Pups or anyone else. “Too soon to
know,” she said.
The next morning, the Organic Mechanic told her to go bathe and wash her
clothes. “Can’t have you taking germs into the vault, can we?”
For a moment Capable thought she was going to be sent back to the vault
permanently and she didn’t know how to feel about it. But the Organic Mechanic
was taunting Toast and Cheedo, saying that Angharad didn’t care about them, and
Capable realized she was going to be taken to visit as Angharad’s reward for
giving Joe a healthy male child.
She was reluctant to go to the underground bathing pool alone. The last thing
she wanted was to go to an isolated place and take off her clothes and hope
that any War Boys around had the self-restraint not to try anything. If she
encountered Nux and found herself alone with him, he’d expect her to have sex
with him again and she might not be able to talk him out of it.
Capable solved the problem by gathering up a group of War Pups to accompany
her. She washed her clothes first, and asked if one of the Pups would take them
up into the sunlight to dry. Three of them carried her clothes away like she’d
granted them a great honor. As she bathed and washed her hair, she told the
remaining children about the vast, unimaginable bodies of water that had
covered the land Before and about the animals bigger than even the war rig
who’ve lived in it.
“And there were others that weren’t quite as big that had lots of very sharp
teeth and would attack and eat a person if they caught one.” She chose that
moment to grab the leg of the nearest Pup in the water.
He shrieked, first in fright, and then again in delight at the prospect of
monsters lurking at the bottom of the pool.
“What’d they call them, Capable?”
“Sharks.”
By the time her clothes were brought back, there were a dozen Pups pretending
to be sharks and ducking beneath the water to bite their friends. Another half
dozen were crowded around Capable, asking for more stories. A handful of Repair
Boys had wandered in, but none of them approached her, content to ogle her from
a distance.
She returned to the Blood Shed without incident, and just past noon the Organic
Mechanic led her up to the vault.
“Angharad!” She rushed to embrace her friend.
“Capable!” Angharad drew back and studied her intently. “You look well, but Joe
told me what he had his War Boys do to you and Cheedo and Toast. He told me
over and over, and he’d demand to know if I regretted trying to ‘leave him’. He
described how badly you’d all been hurt, trying to get me to say I was sorry we
escaped.”
“Aw, Angharad, why do you have to bring up the past? Dad’s forgiven you.”
Corpus was in the main room with them. Of course. Joe couldn’t have them
conspiring; he’d left his stunted son to spy on them. Capable ignored him, and
Angharad did too.
“Where’s the Dag?”
Angharad gestured to a corner of the vault that had been sectioned off to
create a room. Its door looked like solid metal. “He only allows her out an
hour a day.”
Capable was aghast. It was even crueler than Toast’s imprisonment; at least
Toast could see other people and speak with them.
“He was so happy to get what he wanted, he told me I have could anything
‘reasonable’ that I wanted.” Angharad added bitterly, “But apparently it was
unreasonable to ask him to not keep the Dag locked up like that.”
“I’m not bad off, and he isn’t going to show any mercy to Toast after she kept
fighting back against his Boys and almost killed one. Do what you can for
Cheedo.”
Angharad nodded. “I’ll beg him to forgive her and take her back. He’ll like
that.”
Cheedo herself had begged Joe for forgiveness when they’d been recaptured. He
might have forgiven her, if not for the fact that he knew how close she and the
Dag were. The Dag had spat in his face, and while he wouldn’t risk a
miscarriage by physically hurting her, giving Cheedo to his War Boys had been
her punishment as much as Cheedo’s.
“He won’t take her back after his Boys have had her. But he might be convinced
to let Rictus take Cheedo as his wife.”
Corpus chortled, and Capable longed to fling him down from the cliff.
Angharad looked absolutely shocked that Capable would suggest such a thing.
But Capable had had to become pragmatic. There were no good options available
to them, only the lesser of evils. With Corpus listening, she couldn’t tell
Angharad that Cheedo might be able to, if not control Rictus, then at least
influence how he treated her. She couldn’t tell her that Cheedo had gotten one
of her first rapists to become protective of her, and she’d likely be able to
do no less with a simple-minded creature like Rictus, who’d always liked her.
She said simply, “It has to be better than being raped by so many different
men, Angharad.”
Angharad nodded. She squeezed Capable in a tight hug.
Capable stroked her hair as she felt Angharad begin to sob, wishing she had
some words of comfort for her. But there were no reassurances for any of them.
It was only when the Organic Mechanic was leading her back down from the vault
that Capable realized she hadn’t asked about the baby and Angharad hadn’t
spoken of him either.
***** Morsov VI *****
“Right on time, lover boy,” the Organic Mechanic called, when he saw Morsov.
“Lucky for you, Immortan Joe’s a big softie. He’s decided to let your girl
Cheedo choose which War Boys get to fuck her.”
Morsov was confused. The Organic Mechanic liked to mock people and spoke
irreverently even of the Immortan. Morsov didn’t know whether this was one of
his jokes or whether the Immortan had really decreed that Cheedo, not Organic,
would choose War Boys from now. He’d only come to see her, like he did every
day, nobody had told him anything about breeding.
“Morsov,” Cheedo called softly.
He went to her cell, reaching through the bars to touch her hair.
Organic came over and unlocked the cell, and when Morsov didn’t immediately
step inside, he pushed him. “All that time you’ve spent wooing her is about to
pay off.”
He must have looked as confused as he felt, because Cheedo put a hand on his
arm.
“Joe’s letting me pick who can breed with me from now on, but I have to breed
with at least six different War Boys.”
She let him wrap his arms around her, and she whispered, “I have to get
pregnant. It’ll go on and on until I do.”
Then she pulled away from him, and gave him a fearful look he hadn’t seen in
days and days. “You have to do it.”
She laid down and spread her legs.
If she’d been just another breeder, that would have been enough. He wouldn’t
have given it another thought and just fucked her. But this was her, and it
bothered him. It felt wrong.
He laid down next to her and turned to look at her without making a move to
touch her. “Cheedo? I can’t just… I can’t like this.”
“Oh.” She sounded surprised. Then she said matter-of-factly, “You want to see
my breasts and touch them.”
Morsov felt ashamed at being reminded of the first time. “Yeah,” he said. “Can
I kiss you first?”
She looked surprised, then pleased. She nodded.
He pressed his lips to hers tentatively, afraid of scaring her or of not being
gentle enough. But then she kissed him. He wondered briefly who she’d been
kissing before if not the Immortan. Probably one of the other wives.
When she removed the cloth covering her breasts, he touched them with his
fingertips, as lightly as he could. Her nipples hardened, but she’d grown
tense, as if bracing herself for something unpleasant. Maybe he was thinking
about this all wrong. Maybe he had to think of her as he would another War Boy.
If he was with another War Boy for the first time, he’d figure out what his
spot was. Everyone had a spot. Not the spot that you focused on during the
fucking to make them come; the spot that made them want to fuck. Morsov decided
to try the most common spots first.
He nuzzled Cheedo’s neck, then kissed behind her ear. He nibbled her earlobe
gently, then sucked on the pulse point of her throat. Some Boys liked having
their nipples pinched, but he was too worried about hurting Cheedo to do more
than gently brush hers with his thumbs while he kissed and licked every inch of
her neck and shoulders.
“Oh! I didn’t know War Boys knew how to do that.”
He wanted to say “of course we do” but he was afraid she’d ask why he’d just
shoved her to the ground and shoved his cock in her after fury road.
He lifted her onto her knees and moved behind her. He brushed her hair aside so
he could kiss the back of her neck. That was it. Even before his lips touched
her, she shivered in reaction to his breath on her skin and her own
anticipation. He licked at the brand on her neck, tracing it with his tongue.
She sighed.
He kept his hands on her breasts, hoping the combined touch of his hands and
his mouth gave her what she needed to want it instead of merely allowing it. It
seemed to be working.
“Morsov, I…” Instead of continuing, she put her hand over one of his hands and
guided it between her legs.
He touched her where she wanted him to. He wasn’t sure exactly how to touch
her, though, so he let her touch herself with his fingers. He was thrilled with
the wetness he felt there. He wouldn’t even need to use lube.
“Ready?” he whispered.
He felt her tense, but she said, “Okay.”
The moment he felt that tight, wet heat on his cock, he wanted to immediately
bury himself fully inside her. He forced himself to go agonizingly slow.
Gentle.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she said, sounding surprised.
“It shouldn’t unless you want it to.”
She shook her head. “I don’t.”
“I know.” He kissed that spot on her neck.
It was both a torment and a pleasure to stay like this, needing to fuck her but
afraid of hurting her. Finally he felt her rock back against him. He didn’t
know whether she’d done it intentionally or out of instinct, but he gratefully
took the cue.
He could take being fucked harder when the War Boy fucking him jerked him off
while fucking him. He figured maybe that might be true for women too. He placed
a hand above Cheedo’s cunt. “Show me how to touch you. Like before.”
She moved his forefinger in a circle around a fleshy spot and gasped at the
feeling it gave her. She didn’t seem to notice he’d started moving in and out
of her faster. She started to fall forward, but he braced her upright against
him. It’d be easier to fuck her if she got onto her hands and knees, but it’d
also be easier for him to lose control and hurt her. Besides, he liked having
her close like this.
He didn’t realize at first what was happening when he felt her cunt clenching
him tighter. But then her head fell back and he saw her mouth open in a silent
scream. He barely had time to feel pride at a job well done before he was
coming too.
“You’re so quiet,” he told her afterward, chuckling. “Quietest person I’ve ever
fucked.”
“We had to be,” she said. “We couldn’t make a sound or Joe would find out and
be angry. And then he put the chastity belts on us and we couldn’t.”
He didn’t understand what belts she was talking about. It couldn’t be the kind
he knew because you could unbuckle those. He didn’t want to ask her about it,
though. He knew it would be something horrible. He’d always assumed Immortan
Joe treated his wives like the treasures they were. He’d accepted that that
wasn’t true, but he just couldn’t understand why.
***** Capable VIII & Morsov VII *****
Capable knew it was unseemly, but she’d watched Cheedo and Morsov yesterday.
She’d been curious to see what would happen, to see how a War Boy would treat a
‘breeder’ he knew and liked. War Boys had claimed they’d been gentle with
Cheedo before, but Morsov had been patient with her.
She’d wondered how Cheedo was able to forgive Morsov for his part in the
gangrape, but the answer was obvious. Morsov was sorry. But in order for him to
be sorry, he’d had to have realized that he’d done something to feel sorry for.
None of the others seem to realize that they had done something they should
regret.
Perhaps she needed to tell them quite clearly, in a way they’d understand. She
decided to try it with Nux first. When he came to the Blood Shed, she asked him
to come sit in her cell with her.
“Nux, would you ever hurt me?”
He shook his head. “Never. Of course not. Never, Capable.”
“But you hurt me before. You and the others hurt us all very badly the day Joe
gave us to you.”
He looked stricken. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said defensively. “Toast
neither.”
“But you did. I still have nightmares about it.” I see your eyes in my
nightmares, looking like you were having the best day of your life while I was
having the worst of mine. “I think about it all the time. I don’t know how you
all could have done that to us.”
“I was just really happy to get to fuck the Immortan’s own prize breeders. Such
a honor! And it was almost like getting close to the Immortan himself, you
know?”
Capable wanted to vomit. She actually had to lean over and take deep breaths to
keep from losing her morning meal. Not only did he have no remorse, he still
considered it an honor to have raped her.
She shouldn’t be surprised. He’d done what his god had not merely sanctioned,
but commanded. He and the other War Boys couldn’t realize they’d done something
evil because they were incapable of conceiving that anything Immortan Joe did
could be wrong.
But Morsov had.
“He’s the exception that proves the rule,” Toast said, when Capable discussed
it with her later.
Capable refused to accept that. She just need to figure out what made Morsov
different and use it to reach other War Boys.
Toast was playing with the book Capable had brought her, tossing it from one
hand and catching it with the other. “I finished reading this,” she said.
Maybe Capable should have brought one of the thick encyclopedias from the vault
- Angharad had insisted to Corpus that his father wouldn’t find it unreasonable
of her to lend a book to her friends - to provide more hours of occupation, but
she’d chosen a novel titled The Thorn Birds, thinking that Toast might want to
escape from her own life for a bit.
“Guess I’ll re-read it. Unless you or Cheedo want to read it?”
Capable shook her head. Toast needed the distraction more than she and Cheedo
did. She spotted Morsov arriving for his daily visit to Cheedo, and got to her
feet. “I’ll stop by again later, okay?” she said to Toast.
Toast nodded, and turned back to the first page of the book, disappearing into
it again.
“You and Chip are the only ones I like,” Cheedo was saying to Morsov, as
Capable crossed over to her cell. “I have to breed with a different War Boy
tomorrow and I don’t know which one to choose.”
“None of my friends would hurt you,” he replied. “You could choose one of
them.”
“Okay,” Cheedo said. “You choose one for me, but you have to come with him.”
Capable chose to focus on the relief that Morsov wasn’t psychotically jealous
like Nux’s lancer Slit, instead of on the heartbreak of the whole awful
situation. “Morsov,” she said, “May I accompany you about today? I want to
learn more about you War Boys.”
He looked surprised, and he glanced at Cheedo before he replied, “Sure.”
Capable attracted attention from everyone, but she tried to be as unobtrusive
as possible, not engaging anyone in conversation or asking questions. She
wanted to observe War Boys and see how they behaved with each other. She needed
to listen to what they said, and how they said it, to try to understand their
thought process.
Morsov was popular with his fellow War Boys. He seemed well-liked by everyone.
Well, almost everyone. When he entered the main lancer training area, with
Capable trailing behind him, Slit took immediate notice and said something to
those near him that caused them to break out in raucous laughter.
Morsov ignored it, as if he was used to it and considered it unworthy of a
reaction from him. He led Capable to a group he introduced as part of the war
rig crew.
Capable tried to memorize their names and their distinguishing scars and
tumors. She tried not to dwell on the fact that they’d turned on Furiosa and
killed her, and ruined the wives’ chance to escape the Citadel. From their
perspective, their commander had betrayed them and god himself.
Later, Morsov took her to a repair bay where the rest of his crewmates were
working on the war rig. “This is the Ace,” he said to Capable, indicating the
old War Boy who’d shot Furiosa. She could hear the respect - and the affection
- in his voice.
The old War Boy looked dismayed to see Capable. “What is she doing here?” he
demanded.
“She wanted to learn more about us,” Morsov replied. He seemed confused by the
Ace’s reaction to Capable.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not?” Capable asked him directly.
He didn’t answer her. He just looked at her, and at Morsov, for a moment, and
then he abruptly turned and walked away.
Morsov seemed shocked. He and the other War Boys exchanged confused glances,
and then he gave Capable an apologetic look. He leaned in close to her and
whispered, “Sorry. The Ace is usually real nice.”
He lowered his voice further. “He just hasn’t been himself since fury road. He
still loves Furiosa.”
~
Morsov had assumed that Cheedo wanted him there because she trusted him to keep
Sprockets from doing anything she wasn’t okay with. He was surprised when she
draped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
He kissed her back for a moment, savoring it, before reminding her, “You said
you had to breed with someone else today. I brought Sprockets for you.”
“He can breed with me when I’m ready,” she said. “I want to kiss you first.”
This was possibly the most arousing thing Morsov had ever imagined. If he’d
known this was what Cheedo wanted, he’d have chosen Elvis, or maybe Dred, who
wasn’t on the war rig crew. He and Sprockets didn’t really see each other that
way.
He smoothed his hands down her back and held her waist as he resumed kissing
her. She’d closed her eyes, but he kept his open. He could see Sprockets
hovering behind her, reaching out but not daring to touch her, lest he was un-
chosen.
He broke the kiss and stroked Cheedo’s hair, until she opened her eyes and
looked at him. “Cheedo, will you let Sprockets touch you?”
“Touch me how?” she asked uncertainly.
“I’ll tell him how. I promise you’ll like it. He’ll keep his cock in his
trousers until you say otherwise, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed.
He gestured to Sprockets to move up until Cheedo was sandwiched between them.
She looked alarmed. Morsov grabbed the back of Sprocket’s head and pushed his
face into the curve of Cheedo’s neck.
“Sproc, just kiss and touch her like I’m doing.”
Morsov kissed the other side of her neck to demonstrate.
“Oh,” Cheedo exclaimed.
Morsov kissed the spot right beneath her ear, then nibbled on her earlobe.
Sprockets copied him on her other side.
It didn’t take her long to realize that letting them both touch her could be
doubly pleasurable for her. “Could you both put your mouths on my breasts?” she
asked, sounding shy, which somehow made it even more arousing.
He nodded. “Yeah, we can.”
Sprockets had already grasped her middle and turned her halfway towards him. He
eagerly began to suck at one of her breasts. Morsov rolled the other nipple
between his fingertips before bending to take it into his mouth.
Cheedo moaned. Morsov felt her hand on the back of his head, clutching him to
her chest. She was clutching Sprockets too.
He slid his hand between her legs and touched her cunt the way she’d taught him
to. She moaned his name, making him wish he was the one who was going to fuck
her today.
“Morsov,” she said again. She drew his head up so she could whisper into his
ear, “Do you think your friend would use his mouth between my legs while you
kiss me?”
He was going to need to jerk off. “Ask him.”
She seemed embarrassed, and didn’t look at Sprockets while she asked,
“Sprockets, would you put your mouth between my legs?”
Sprockets dropped to his knees instantly, like he was going to praise Immortan.
“What do I do?” he asked Cheedo. “I’ve never done this before.”
“You just lick everything down there and I’ll let you know which spots feel
really good.”
Sprockets pushed her thighs farther apart and stuck his face between them.
Morsov moved behind her and she turned her head so he could kiss her. She’d
pull away every so often to tell Sprockets “there” or “like that” when he did
something she liked.
Then she said, “I’m ready.”
Sprockets sprang to his feet and began unbuckling his belts.
Morsov let go of Cheedo, intending to step away. But she pulled his arms back
around her.
“I want you to hold me like this. Please?”
“Whatever you want.” He kissed the back of her neck.
Sprockets lifted one of her legs and worked his cock into her. He went slow and
gentle, as Morsov had reminded him to do a dozen times. He didn’t seemed
offended or hurt that Cheedo kept her attention on Morsov.
Morsov slid his hand down her stomach to her cunt, intending to try to help her
come.
“No,” she said. “Don’t do that. I want to wait until you’re the one inside me.”
He hadn’t realized she intended to breed with him too, though he was already
more than hard enough for it. “You can come now and come again later.”
“I don’t want to,” she said.
“Okay,” he said, settling his hands back around her waist, though he didn’t
understand why she or anyone else wouldn’t want as many orgasms as they could
get.
Sprockets tried to kiss Cheedo when he was done, but she turned her head aside,
and Morsov pushed him away so he wouldn’t upset her. Sproc did look hurt at
that, but he left without complaining.
Cheedo turned to face Morsov and put her arms around his neck. “You can take me
now.”
She and the others had gotten damaged the day of fury road because too many War
Boys had fucked them. He didn’t want to cause her any damage. “Are you sure?”
he asked.
She nodded.
The bars of the cell were perfect for her to hold onto, but Morsov didn’t think
Cheedo would want everyone in the Blood Shed having such a clear view of her
body while they fucked. He’d rather not have everyone, including Pups and even
blood bags, watching them either.
He turned Cheedo away from him and guided her to place her hands on the back
wall of the cell. He pressed a light kiss to the back of her neck, and
hurriedly freed his cock.
She moaned ever so softly as he slid into her.
“You’ve already met your War Boy quota for the day, Cheedo. This one’s all on
you.”
It sounded like the Organic Mechanic was right outside the cell. He must be
bored today. He wasn’t usually very interested in Cheedo.
“How do you think the Dag will react when I tell her you’ve developed a liking
for War Boy cock?”
Morsov could ignore Organic, but his taunts had distressed Cheedo. “Forget
about him,” he whispered in her ear. He nuzzled her neck, and reached around to
stroke the fleshy bit just above her cunt. “It’s just you and me, Cheedo.”
When they’d finished fucking, when Cheedo had wrapped her arms around him and
put her head on his shoulder, and he was stroking her hair, she said, “But what
if he’s right and she thinks I’ve betrayed her?”
Morsov didn’t understand why the other wife would be upset to hear what Cheedo
had done with him. He couldn’t imagine ever being mad at any of his special
friends for fucking other people - that’s simply what everyone did. But maybe
it was different for breeders. He didn’t know what to tell Cheedo to make her
feel better, so he simply held her.
***** Capable IX *****
Capable knew she’d made a mistake the moment she entered the vast cavern War
Boys calling the fighting pits. She knew what they did there, but she hadn’t
expected the atmosphere to be so strongly permeated with violence and male-
ness. It was worse than if she’d gone into their barracks. And there were no
Pups here, only grown War Boys.
She knew she stood out. Her hair, her white clothes, her female body - she was
utterly conspicuous. Yet she turned to leave, hoping she’d gone unnoticed.
“Capable!”
She kept walking.
“Capable!” A different voice.
War Boys hurried ahead of her and blocked her way.
“Capable!” Several voices now.
They sounded friendly, but that meant nothing. The ones in front of her were
chattering excitedly, their voices blending together so that she couldn’t make
out distinct words and actually understand what they were saying. Or perhaps it
was just her, perhaps she was too panicked for her brain to function properly.
She took two slow, deep breaths. Trying to flee would only spur them to capture
her. If she acted like nothing was wrong, then perhaps nothing amiss would
happen. She turned and headed back into the cavern, trying very hard not to
show the fear she felt.
Nux was one of the tallest War Boys and she spotted him easily as he began
shouldering his way through the crowd towards her. She glanced around, hoping
to see Morsov, or Riker or one of the others who assisted the Organic Mechanic
in the Blood Shed, but they didn’t appear to be present.
“You just missed witnessing me beat Throttle and Slit, Capable!”
“He didn’t, just evaded them ‘til they’d tired themselves out beating each
other.”
“Can I touch your hair? I heard it’s good luck.”
That helped center Capable. When she’d first been allowed out of the cell, War
Boys used to come up to her and touch her hair all the time. One of her
earliest successes was getting them to understand that it displeased her and
that they needed to ask before they touched her.
Unfortunately, Nux couldn’t seem to learn that lesson. He finally reached her,
and seized her into a tight hug. “Capable!”
It was her own fault. Sometimes Capable thought she might have done the wrong
thing in giving herself to Nux to keep him from ‘breeding’ with Cheedo. If she
hadn’t, perhaps Cheedo might have gotten pregnant that day. Perhaps in trying
to spare Cheedo one rape, she’d only condemned her to dozens more. Or perhaps
she was regretting it for her own sake.
“Why do you get to hug her?” grumbled another War Boy. “Capable, why does he
get to hug you?”
“He doesn’t,” Capable replied. “Nux, you know I don’t like it when you Boys
touch me without my permission.”
He looked abashed. “Sorry, Capable. I was just so happy to see you.”
“Want me to beat him for you?” someone asked her.
Before Capable could respond, Nux had turned and head-butted that War Boy,
knocking him to the ground. He kicked him several times, and then turned back
to Capable, looking hopeful, like he expected her approval or more of her
attention.
Capable walked away.
She made a slow circuit around the cavern, taking in pairs or small groups of
War Boys pummelling each other while other War Boys watched and called
encouragement or shouted insults. They also seemed to be wagering things or
favors on the outcomes of the fights. They’d been conditioned for violence
their whole lives, so it made sense that when there were no outsiders for them
to direct their aggression against, they’d get bored enough to simply brutalize
each other.
A War Boy lifted another War Boy into the air and slammed him flat onto the
ground just inches in front of Capable. Uncaring that his opponent seemed
dazed, he straddled him and punched him in the head.
Capable grabbed his shoulder. “That’s enough.”
“Capable, will you kiss me if I can beat a dozen other Boys?” asked one of the
watching War Boys.
“Yeah!” shouted several others.
“Every man for himself, and winner gets a kiss from Capable!”
Capable had had enough. She was disgusted by the violence they inflicted on
each other as entertainment, and repulsed by them seeking to have her reward
them for it. “No,” she shouted. “I will not kiss any of you. This is horrible.
I hate that you do this to each other.”
They’d all fallen quiet to listen to her, and the silence continued after she’d
finished speaking, as if they didn’t know how to respond.
Then a War Boy she didn’t recognize said, “But, Capable, we’re War Boys. This
is what we’re supposed to do.”
She wanted to scream in frustration. It was no use trying to explain to them
here and now that Joe had made them this way for his own benefit and that they
didn’t have to be this way. She was sickened by the idea that her baby would
grow up to be one of them - if it was a boy. If it was a girl, she’d have an
even worse fate.
“Perhaps,” she replied simply. “But I don’t have to watch it.”
She strode purposefully, and they stood aside to clear a path for her, allowing
her to exit the fighting pits.
Capable was exhausted. She couldn’t return to the Blood Shed yet, not until she
could be strong for Cheedo and Toast. She considered going to curl up with the
Pups in their den. Their innocence made their company one of the true joys in
her life. But right now she could only think about what they would become.
She found a repair bay already abandoned for the night, and tucked herself into
an alcove, and cried. Capable hadn’t cried in a very long time. Usually,
comforting others served to also console herself. But this was too much and too
hopeless. She cried until she had no tears left.
Her head hurt, and her scarf was filthy from using it to blow her nose, but she
was okay now. She felt empty, and that was a vast improvement over how she’d
felt before.
She was making her way back to the Blood Shed, about to turn from one hallway
into another, when she heard a voice she recognized. She stopped and listened.
“Ace, you have to stop drinking like this.”
“Liquid courage, that’s what they used to call it, remember?” The Ace laughed
harshly. “Prime, he’s destroying what he built. He let his emotions get the
better of him.”
“Ace, you’re going to get yourself in trouble. Go sleep it off. I’ll help you
to your bunk.”
There was the brief sound of a scuffle, as if the Prime Imperator had tried to
physically lead the Ace away and the Ace had resisted.
“There was a reason he only allowed women in the Citadel as breeders and
milkers, and it wasn’t because women can’t fix cars or fight. There was a
reason War Boys weren’t allowed contact with breeders except to fuck them, and
a reason they didn’t get private, one-on-one time with them."
“Yes,” the Prime Imperator acknowledged. “But-”
“But nothing. He let his wounded pride cloud his judgement when he gave those
three prize breeders to the Boys. If he wanted to demote them to regular
breeders, they should have been taken to the breeders’ pen and kept there. The
way things are now…” Another harsh laugh. “It’s a ticking time bomb.”
The Prime Imperator sighed. “This is about her. Immortan Joe made her the
exception, and she turned around and betrayed him.”
The Ace didn’t say anything.
Capable heard the Prime Imperator say gently, “I’ve got you,” and heard what
sounded like he was physically carrying the Ace off.
She waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before she resumed
walking. She processed what she’d heard, considering all possible meanings. She
was heartened by the Ace’s criticism of Joe, and yet bitter because it meant he
wasn’t brainwashed - he was knowingly and willingly complicit in the Citadel’s
moral crimes.
She had been the one to realize that instead of begging Imperator Furiosa to
help them simply for their sake, they needed to remind her of her past and make
her feel guilty for helping Joe to do to them what he’d once done to her.
They’d appealed to her desire to redeem herself, and that need for redemption
was what had convinced her to take them with her and flee the Citadel, after
half a lifetime of serving it.
Perhaps if she and Angharad had been less persuasive, Furiosa would be alive
today. The Dag would not be locked away and deprived of all friendly contact,
and Toast wouldn’t be confined without even the luxuries of the vault as cold
comfort. And Capable wouldn’t have endured the horror of gangrape.
But she couldn’t bring herself to regret trying to escape. Furiosa was dead,
but at least she’d died seeking redemption. That was surely better than dying
while waging war in Joe’s service. And Capable had a chance to effect change in
Joe’s War Boys. It was a real chance, not just her desperate hope and wish, or
else the Ace wouldn’t be concerned about his Boys’ contact with her and the
other ex-wives.
***** Morsov VIII *****
“I wish you could stay and sleep with me,” Cheedo murmured sleepily. She was
laying with her head on his chest, and both times he’d moved to get up, she’d
asked him to stay a little while longer. “I don’t like sleeping alone. It’s so…
lonely.”
Morsov was ready to fall asleep himself. It was late, hours past nightfall. The
war rig had left early that morning to make supply runs to both Gas Town and
the Bullet Farm, and they hadn’t gotten back until sunset. He’d come straight
to the Blood Shed, practically dragging Nike, who’d seemed bizarrely
uninterested in breeding with Cheedo. Morsov had even had to lend him a hand to
help him get his cock up.
He’d meant to tell Cheedo all about the day’s events once it was just him and
her and they were done fucking, but he was very tired and it felt so
comfortable to lay here cuddled with her. He wished he could sleep with her
too. Most nights he fell asleep thinking about how nice it’d feel to have her
there in his bunk with him and Elvis.
“You could ask Capable to sleep in here with you,” he suggested.
“I thought about it,” she said. “But she doesn’t seem to mind being alone, and
she’s already done so much for me. I don’t want to ask her in case she doesn’t
want to because she’d agree for my sake.”
He wouldn’t have hesitated to ask the Organic Mechanic if he thought there was
any chance he’d agree. But he was certain that not only would Organic refuse to
let him spend all night in Cheedo’s cell, he’d make jokes and nasty comments
that would upset her.
Morsov reluctantly disentangled himself from Cheedo and kissed her forehead
farewell.
By the time he reached the barracks, however, he was wide awake. He wouldn’t be
able to sleep if he went to his bunk. Usually when he couldn’t sleep, he’d tire
himself out fucking or fighting. But he’d already expended his desire for
fucking with Cheedo, and he didn’t feel like going down to the fighting pits.
It wasn’t his body that wasn’t ready for sleep, he realized, it was his head.
He used to have wrong thoughts back when he was a mediocre pup who hadn’t yet
realized how fortunate and blessed he was to be allowed to serve the Immortan
and earn a place in Valhalla. He’d learned to keep those bad thoughts to
himself, and eventually he’d stopped having them. But back then, although the
Ace had told him “you shouldn’t say that”, he’d never beaten Morsov for saying
bad things. Once, when the other War Pups had beaten him up and forced him out
of the den, the Ace had even carried him to his bunk and let him sleep with
him.
The Ace preferred to be alone these days, but Morsov thought he’d forgive him
for disturbing him.
“Ace?”
The Ace looked up from the shotgun he was cleaning, and raised an eyebrow, as
if silently asking Morsov what he wanted.
Morsov didn’t know how exactly to say it. He didn’t want the Ace to think he
was a coward.
“You don’t want to die and leave the girl.”
How had the Ace known?
“I want to die historic, Ace, of course I do. I want to take the Immortan’s
enemies with me in a glorious death so he opens the gates of Valhalla for me.”
The Ace gave him a skeptical look.
Morsov confessed, “But not now. Cheedo needs me. I was thinking about her after
that feral’s arrow grazed me. If I die now, I couldn’t stop Boys from being
mean to her. And she’d be sad and miss me.”
The Ace sighed deeply. He seemed very weary. “Of course you would sooner be
with the woman you love than die, Morsov. That’s normal and sane.”
Morsov was shocked that he hadn’t even bothered to lower his voice or look
around to be certain they were alone before he’d spoken such blasphemy. Morsov
shouldn’t listen to it. But the Ace had helped him realize why he didn’t want
to die and leave Cheedo.
No War Boy was sad when another War Boy died unless he’d died soft. You knew
you’d see your friends who died historic again in Valhalla and spend eternity
with them, riding shining and chrome. But Valhalla was only for War Boys.
Though the Immortan had told them that they would have everything they wanted
in Valhalla. Would Cheedo be allowed into Valhalla if Morsov really, really
wanted her there with him? Those denied entrance to Valhalla were doomed to
wander the Wasteland forever. Cheedo was full-life, and she was safe in the
Citadel, so it would be a very long time before she died, thousands and
thousands of days. But Morsov would be lucky to last another thousand days, and
it hurt to think of never seeing her again after that.
The Ace didn’t reply immediately when Morsov confided all this to him. He just
looked at him oddly, like he pitied him. Then he said, “No living man or woman
knows what happens after this life. Anyone who says they do is lying or
deluded.”
For a moment Morsov was horrorstruck to realize the depth of the Ace’s
blasphemy. But no, he’d misunderstood him. The Ace wasn’t referring to the
Immortan. Immortan Joe wasn’t an ordinary man, he was a god.
He bid the Ace a good night and went to his bunk.
It was noon when Morsov went to the Blood Shed the next day, but Toast the
Knowing was still sleeping. He’d noticed lately that she was always sleeping.
“What’s wrong with Toast?” he whispered to Cheedo. “Why is she always
sleeping?”
“What else is she supposed to do?”
Cheedo had a length of cord in her hands and she seemed to be weaving it into
something.
“What’s that?” Morsov asked.
“Dexter had it.” She looked at him oddly, glancing up at him through lowered
eyelashes. “I told him I’d weave it into a bracelet so he could wear it on his
arm until he had to use it for something useful.”
Morsov felt a spark of jealousy, but he pushed it away. He was quite sure she
liked him most of all War Boys, and it was good that more Boys were being nice
to her, even if some of them were only doing it in the hopes that she’d choose
them for breeding. “Oh, that’s good.”
Cheedo frowned slightly, and her lips shaped into a pout.
“Come closer.”
She took a step forward, but she hung back just out of his reach, and gave him
a teasing look. “Why?”
“So I can kiss you.”
Her teasing smile grew wider, but she remained out of reach. “What if I’d
rather kiss another War Boy?”
The spark of jealousy flared like guzzoline had been poured on it. He
restrained himself from trying to grab her through the bars of the cell, both
because he knew he wouldn’t be able to reach her and because he didn’t want to
hurt or frighten her. “Alright,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll be me you feel like
kissing tomorrow.”
Cheedo’s merriment vanished. She looked unhappy.
He didn’t understand her reaction at first. Then he thought he did. “Do you
want me to be jealous?!” Morsov asked incredulously.
“I want you to care,” she replied.
“I do care.”
She had a weird look on her face, like she was afraid of being hurt - but not
bodily hurt. Vulnerable, that’s what Morsov thought it was called. It made her
look almost like a pup.
He started to say a word but realized it was a Buzzard word - and it was stupid
to address Cheedo as ‘baby’ - so he bit the word back, and just said, “Come
here.”
She stepped right up against the bars, still wearing that strange expression,
and when he stroked her hair, she closed her eyes.
He kissed her gently, and she reached through the bars to slide an arm around
his neck. Nothing else mattered for one long, wonderful moment.
Then a heavy hand slapped him on the back, hard. “She told you the good news,
eh?”
“You haven’t confirmed it,” Cheedo said to the Organic Mechanic.
“Too soon for that, but you’ve always been regular - bleeding every twenty-
eight days as sure as the sun rises and sets. Been thirty days, so I think it’s
safe to say that you’re knocked up.”
The Organic Mechanic winked. “Though if you want to keep taking cock, I won’t
stop you. Wish your girl Dag could see how much you like it, though. She
doesn’t believe me when I tell her. Bitch spit in my face when I told her how
partial you were to getting double-teamed.”
Morsov didn’t understand why the Organic Mechanic acted like Cheedo ought to be
ashamed of enjoying fucking. But he was always successful in upsetting her
whenever he targeted her for his favorite pastime of being an asshole to
everyone who wasn’t one of his favorites. Morsov had told her repeatedly to
ignore him and not show him any reaction, but she seemed unable to do it.
“Are you going to open the cell or not?” he asked Organic, as neutrally as he
could.
The Organic Mechanic laughed. He unlocked the cell and winked at Cheedo again.
“No need for breeding anymore. Any cock you get now is ‘cause you wanted it.”
Cheedo wrapped her arms around him as soon as the bars were no longer between
them, and began to cry silently. Morsov could only hold her and wish the
Citadel had another organic mechanic so he could kill that one.
***** Capable X *****
Capable was very worried about Toast. She tried to spend as much time as she
could sitting by her cell and speaking with her, but War Boys and War Pups
demanded an ever-increasing amount of her time, and Capable felt it was
important to give it to them. She’d borrowed vehicle repair manuals - which
were the only books War Boys had - for Toast, but Toast had already read them
all twice or thrice.
What Toast needed was to be let out of that cell, even if it was just for a
little while. Capable had pleaded with the Organic Mechanic numerous times,
using every argument she could think of.
“It’s not healthy for the baby.”
He’d laughed, and for once he’d sounded angry rather than mocking. “Our
Splendid Angharad says the same thing about the Dag’s baby, but she doesn’t
seem too concerned about her own baby. You girls just didn’t know how good you
had it, did you? Bunch of ungrateful, spoiled bitches.”
Capable had gathered that Angharad tended only the bare minimum of care to
Joe’s as-of-yet-unnamed heir, and, in fact, had tried to refuse to have
anything to do with him until Joe threatened to have Capable and the other ex-
wives punished for her defiance. Joe could have had the Milk Mothers and his
servants take care of his infant son, but he had a perverted sense of family
and she wasn’t surprised he was trying to force Angharad to play along with his
notion of daddy, mommy, and baby.
She was trying to think of a new angle to argue from, while allowing Nux to
braid her hair while he received his blood transfusion. He was babbling
excitedly about a recent scavenging sweep he’d been on, but Capable wasn’t
listening. Even if she was able to see Angharad again and let her know about
Toast’s mental state, it didn’t seem like Angharad would be able to do anything
to help without having to give in further to Joe and it wouldn’t be fair to ask
that of her.
There were the imperators, but while they might have been willing to do
something for Cheedo, none of them cared about Toast in the slightest. Capable
would speak to the next imperator she saw, but she knew it’d be futile.
Persuading the Organic Mechanic was the only option. She just needed to think
of the right argument.
“And, of course, Slit thinks he should have been made driver of the new pursuit
vehicle. He started fights with Pierce three nights in a row until Imperator
Rex told him he’d send him to guard the mall if he kept it up. Mall’s got lots
of chrome things, but it has to be so boring just waiting there in case
anyone’s stupid enough to try to steal from the Immortan.”
He paused for a millisecond to breathe, and continued, “He’s terrible at
driving. I told him and he tried to fight me, so I had to beat him. He’s really
good at lancing, though, so I’m glad he hasn’t gotten promoted. I don’t want to
break in a new lancer. But don’t tell him I said that, Capable.”
The notion of her telling that particular War Boy anything was ridiculous, and
Capable was about to assure Nux of that, when she realized the solution to her
current problem. She leapt up and kissed his cheek. “I have to go speak with
someone, but it’s been nice seeing you, Nux.”
The Organic Mechanic disliked the ex-wives and wives. He kept them physically
healthy, but he’d never do more than that. There was nothing Capable could say
to him that would help Toast. But perhaps he’d listen if someone he actually
liked advocated for her.
“Not interested, breeder,” Slit said dismissively, when Capable approached him.
“You only look shiny and chrome - you’re mediocre. Soft and weak. And you’re
making the Pups soft too. I don’t want to fuck you.”
Capable was shocked and repulsed that he thought she wanted to proposition him
for sex. He was the last War Boy she’d ever allow to touch her. Then she
noticed that the newer scars on his chest weren’t random or abstract. The
letters were crudely carved, but clear: T O A S T.
She had to believe that Slit had specifically demanded it, that it hadn’t been
Toast’s own idea to etch her name into his flesh. But Capable reminded herself
that it wasn’t Toast’s fault even if it’d been her idea. Joe, his War Boys, the
Organic Mechanic, the whole damn Citadel had crushed Toast into that state.
“I don’t want to fuck you either,” she replied, with more anger than she
usually allowed herself to show towards War Boys. “I want to speak to you about
Toast.”
“What about her?” He added, with a hint of concern, “She lose her pup?”
“No. But she’s not very well. You like her, don’t you?”
“Yeah. She’s real chrome - she doesn’t just look chrome - and she’s mine.”
Capable ignored the insult he’d directed at her, and focused on the
possessiveness he felt towards Toast.
“You take good care of your things, don’t you, Slit? You wouldn’t allow your
knives to dull?”
“‘Course not,” he said. “My blades are sharper than anybody else’s.”
“Well, you say that Toast is yours, but Toast is dulling.”
He looked alarmed, but then he said, “Organic wouldn’t let a prize breeder
rust.”
“Her body isn’t damaged,” Capable admitted. “But she’s damaged inside, in her
mind and her soul, and he isn’t treating it, he’s letting it fester.
He looked suspicious, and Capable thought he was going to deny that the Organic
Mechanic would do such a thing. She added, “You know he doesn’t like her.”
He frowned, but he didn’t say anything.
“Toast needs fresh air and sunshine or even just a change of scenery. How would
you like it if you were kept in a cell like that?”
No, wrong argument. She’d forgotten that War Boys had no empathy. She had to
appeal to his selfish base desires. She hoped Toast would understand and
forgive her.
“He let you do whatever you wanted with her, and as often as you wanted, Slit.
If you want to take her out of that cell…”
She could tell that reminding him of what he’d done to Toast had rekindled his
lust. But that wasn’t enough, it’d only lead to him raping Toast in her cell
again.
His ego, that’s what she had to appeal to. “I’d have thought you’d want Toast
to see how good you are at fighting.”
“Yeah!” he said excitedly. “She knows I’m the most shine War Boy, but she
should witness me beating the snot out of the others.”
She watched him stride away without a word of farewell to her, talking to
himself gleefully, as if it had been his own idea to get Toast free to observe
and participate in his pitiable life.
Capable sighed.
She caught a passing War Pup and snuggled him.
The Pup happily hugged her back, but asked, “What’s this for, Capable?”
“No reason, my sweet. But will you remember something for me when you’re grown
up?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Kindness isn’t weakness. It takes much more strength to be kind than it does
to be cruel. Will you remember that?”
“I’ll remember, Capable, I promise.”
***** Toast IX *****
“Organic, let me borrow Toast!”
The voice caught her attention before the words actually registered in her
brain. Toast had been staring listlessly at the back wall of her little cell,
but she almost rolled over when she recognized Slit’s voice. She didn’t.
Borrow.
Miss Giddy had told her about libraries, whole buildings filled with books
where anyone could go to read - or to borrow books to take with them, to enjoy
at their leisure. Toast sometimes daydreamed about what it must have been like
to visit a library. As horrifying as her life had become after being taken
captive and made one of Joe’s slave-wives, as worse as things had gotten when
he’d given her to his War Boys, she’d never imagined that she could become
something for someone to borrow.
“Borrow?” the Organic Mechanic sounded surprised at his pet War Boy’s demand.
“Have at her, Slit, but you know I can’t let you take her out of here.”
“I want to take her down to the fighting pits so she can witness me beating
other Boys.”
“A treat she’d enjoy as much as I do, no doubt,” the Organic Mechanic replied,
without a hint of sarcasm. “But she doesn’t deserve it. Toasty has to stay in
her cage as punishment for being a bad girl.”
Slit scoffed. “It’s stupid to punish her ‘cause some Boys were mediocre enough
to let themselves get damaged by a breeder.”
“Maybe,” the Organic Mechanic conceded. “But I can’t let her wander free, she’d
cause too much trouble.”
“I’ll keep her from damaging anyone.”
The Organic Mechanic laughed, sounding surprisingly warm and genuine. “You,
Slit?! You’d enjoy watching her cause mayhem.”
“Yeah,” Slit admitted. “But I promise you, Organic, I won’t let her.”
“Aw, buddy, you know what makes you happy makes me happy, but if she seriously
injures another War Boy, Immortan Joe is going to hold me accountable.”
“Please, Organic. Let me have this. You know it wasn’t fair the imperators
passed me over and gave that new pursuit vehicle to Pierce. I deserve this at
least. And I’ll get Nux to help me control her.”
She should have been outraged at the way they were talking about her, and
terrified of Slit’s plans for her, and perhaps a little excited at the prospect
of getting out of this cell. Instead Toast felt nothing. She closed her eyes,
trying to drift to sleep.
“Hot damn,” the Organic Mechanic said. “I’d love to watch you two double-team
her. It’d probably be too much for her to handle now, though. Maybe after the
pup’s born and it’s time to breed her again. Or Capable.”
“Sounds good,” Slit agreed. “But can I borrow her now?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Toast didn’t react to the sound of the cell being unlocked or the heavy
footsteps approaching her cot.
“Wake up,” Slit said, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her.
“Go away,” Toast said simply.
He grabbed her chin and turned her face towards him. He looked almost
concerned. He scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder.
Toast didn’t look to see where he was taking her. What did it matter. Whatever
was going to happen, was going to happen, and there wasn’t anything she could
do about it.
The cold water was a shock to her senses even before she inhaled a lungful of
it. Toast struggled to her feet, coughing. Slit had dumped her in the bathing
pool. She glared at him. “You asshole.”
He just grinned. “Knew that’d wake you up.”
Toast climbed out of the pool. She was cold, and wet, and angry. She advanced
on Slit, intent on inflicting pain on him, but he kept backing away, smiling,
like it was a game. When she did finally reach him, the light from the torches
mounted on either side of the entrance were shining brightly on him, making the
word scarred into his chest impossible to miss.
Toast knew she should be ashamed, and she should regret doing it, but she
wasn’t and she didn’t. It pleased her to see her name carved into a War Boy,
marking him, not unlike the way she was branded as Joe’s property. Pity Slit
had actually wanted it. She touched the scar and traced the letters.
She glanced up at him and saw him looking happy. He was so emotionally warped
that he seemed to have taken her carving her name into his body as a
declaration of love.
He bent to kiss her. “Missed you, shiny breeder.”
Her body had missed him. She didn’t try to struggle. She only bit his lower lip
and continued kissing him, as he lifted her off her feet and held her up.
He pinned her against the wall and reached between them to fondle her breasts.
“Slit, what are you doing?”
Her immediate reaction was irritation at being interrupted. But before she
could begin to feel the appropriate shame and fear, Toast realized it was a War
Pup who’d interrupted them, not a War Boy. There was a gaggle of young War Pups
come to bathe, supervised by a harried-looking War Boy.
“You’re hurting her pup,” said another War Pup, accusingly.
“I’m not,” Slit denied. “She’s not weak. Getting fucked isn’t going to damage
her or her pup.”
It was good that they believed sex alone could trigger a miscarriage; it might
save some other woman from rape one day. She twisted Slit’s ear - for the
benefit of the watching Pups - and shoved at his shoulders until he set her
down and stepped aside.
Toast began walking away from him, but he quickly grabbed her wrist and strode
ahead of her, leaving her with no choice but to follow him.
“Wait,” the other War Boy called. “Help me bathe these pups!”
Toast ignored him, and so did Slit.
He led her outside to an outcropping of nice, flat rocks, and finally let go of
her.
Toast was shielding her eyes with her hand, unused to direct sunlight after
more than three moon cycles in the Blood Shed. It took her a few moments to
notice that Slit had reclined on a rock and looked very comfortable, as if he
had no intention of moving any time soon.
“What are you doing?” she asked, confused. She’d assumed he’d brought her here
so they could fuck without being interrupted.
“Resting.”
“You look like a lizard.”
“Can you imagine a lizard as big as me? It’d be so fucking chrome.”
Toast sat on the rock next to his. “There were, you know. Crocodiles and
iguanas and komodo dragons. They died with most of the rest of the world when
our parents were children.”
“Yeah, no kidding?”
“No kidding. Joe has a skull of one in the vault.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. Pity your Immortan won’t let anyone who isn’t part of his family see all
the things he’s collected.”
It wasn’t because of simple pettiness or selfishness either. No, it was worse
than that. Joe had become the most powerful warlord in the wasteland because he
was intelligent and obscenely ruthless. Other warlords had armies just as
vicious and almost as well-trained as Joe’s. What gave him the advantage over
other warlords was the cult he’d created around him. He commanded the
unquestioning, unconditional loyalty of hundreds of men who believed that he
was god and only he could offer them salvation from the misery of life.
With his War Boys, he controlled not only the Citadel and its water, but Gas
Town and its oil refinery, and the Bullet Farm and its mining operation. He had
a perfect war machine. He couldn’t afford to risk that by allowing War Boys to
see things that would inspire a sense of wonder, couldn’t risk having them ask
questions he couldn’t bullshit.
Toast sighed. “What are we doing out here?” she asked Slit.
“Capable said you needed sunshine.”
She felt betrayed. How could Capable talk to him about her. But no. Capable
thought she was helping them and their babies by trying to get War Boys to care
about them. And she had succeeded in getting Toast a respite from her
imprisonment.
Toast took off her wet clothes and laid back on the rock, savoring the feel of
the sun on her skin. There was a slight breeze too. It all felt wonderful.
She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, Slit was shaking her
and the sun was setting.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll carry you if you want, but we’re going to the
fighting pits now.”
Capable had told her about her visit to the cavern the War Boys called the
fighting pits. Toast would rather not be around War Boys hyped up and flooded
with adrenaline. They had orders not to damage her, and so far they’d refrained
from raping Capable again - out of fear of harming her baby - but it seemed
like an environment in which they could easily forget about orders and babies.
“I’ll walk,” she grumbled, though Slit still kept hold of her arm.
She was hungry. But she’d sooner miss her evening meal than ask to be taken
back to her cell.
She reluctantly accompanied Slit to a repair bay where the War Boy Nux was
tinkering with the car he’d been driving the day he ruined her and the others’
escape. It looked different without a living human being bound to the front of
it like a grotesque hood ornament.
“Come to the pits with me,” Slit said to him. “I need you to keep Toast while I
fight.”
“Organic let her out? Capable must be so happy. I’m going to go see her.”
“No! Organic only let her out because I promised I wouldn’t let her damage any
mediocre Boys. You have to help me.” He added grudgingly, “I’ll owe you a
favor.”
“Fine,” Nux agreed.
Toast could almost smell the testosterone when she entered the fighting pits.
It increased her fear that they might turn all that aggression on her… But she
was also suddenly eager to watch them beat each other senseless.
“How does this-” she gestured to the crowd - “Work?”
“If a Boy pisses you off, you can beat the shit out of him down here and the
Imperators won’t mind,” Slit answered. He scowled. “Or at least they’re not
supposed to.”
“Or if you just want to stay in shine fighting condition, you can ask someone
who’ll give you a good fight,” Nux said.
“Like dancing,” Toast commented.
“What’s ‘dancing’?” Nux asked.
Toast was trying to figure out whether it was the word he didn’t know or
whether the concept itself was unknown to him, when Slit released her arm and
pushed her into Nux.
“Hold her,” he said. “Don’t let any of those mediocre excuses for War Boys
touch her.”
Nux wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her pinned to his chest.
Toast couldn’t even be upset about it. She was actually relieved. She’d
attracted the attention of every War Boy the second she entered the cavern, and
not all of the interest was sexual. Some War Boys were looking at her like they
wanted to simply beat her, not rape her.
She elbowed Nux.
“Ow,” he said. “What’d you do that for?”
Because she didn’t want the hostile War Boys to see that she was afraid of
them. Because she resented that she had to rely on a War Boy to protect her
from other War Boys. “Because I can.”
“No wonder Slit loves you.”
Slit was storming through the crowd of War Boys, looking for someone.
“Throttle,” he bellowed. “I brought Toast the Knowing to witness me kick your
ass.”
A War Boy every bit as big and mean as Slit himself pushed his way past the
others to confront Slit. “You just get to have her all the time because you’re
one of Organic’s favorites. She’d like me more if I got more time with her.”
Toast was dumbstruck to realize that Throttle shared Slit’s belief that Toast
liked him and he was jealous.
She wasn’t a stranger to violence as entertainment - her family had passed
through Bartertown once and gone to the Thunderdome - but this was insane. How
could Capable hope that War Boys could learn compassion when they didn’t even
have mercy for each other or even their own selves?
And yet there was something darkly enjoyable about watching them fight. They
were good at it, and watching their bodies strive against each other was almost
arousing.
“War Boys!”
The Prime Imperator’s voice silenced the chatter and laughter of the entire
crowd.
Slit and Throttle stopped fighting. They were well-matched, but Slit had been
winning, and Toast saw the flash of annoyance on his face before he began
shouting in unison with the others.
“IMMORTAN! IMMORTAN! IMMORTAN!”
That repulsive name, and the sickening way they chanted it, not to mention the
sheer volume, made Toast want to cover her ears.
Most of them had dropped to their knees. Nux had let go of her to kneel, and he
scooted forward on his knees, trying to get closer to Joe. He wasn’t the only
one.
Joe strode into the center of the cavern, flanked by the Prime Imperator and
Imperator Rex. Rictus followed behind him, carrying a baby.
“My half-life War Boys,” Joe greeted them. “Daddy loves you.”
“I love you, Immortan!”
“We love you!”
Joe basked in their adoration for a good long while, before holding up a hand
to silence them. “Today I present to you my new son, my perfect, healthy son.
My heir.” He took the infant from Rictus and held him up high. “War Boys, pay
homage to Adam Moore!”
The ones who’d remained standing, like Slit, knelt at this, and some of the
ones already on their knees bowed their heads low enough to touch the ground.
Toast had to stand out, Joe had to see her, but he gave no indication that he
recognized her or that her presence was unusual.
“You will worship him as you worship me.”
The War Boys began to chant, “Adam!”
Joe handed the baby back to Rictus - who cuddled his brother and kissed his
head - and gestured for silence again.
“When my son is grown, you War Pups will follow him as you follow me.”
Toast glanced around, belatedly noticing that the War Pups had been brought to
the fighting pits and assembled for Joe’s speech.
“And your pups will follow him and serve him as faithfully as you serve me.”
That set off another round of chants. But when it’d quieted, some War Boy
asked, “What about our girl pups?”
Capable’s words out of a War Boy’s mouth.
Joe had to be even more stunned than Toast, but credit where credit was due, he
was smart. He hesitated for only the briefest of moments before he thundered,
“Your daughters will be wives to my own son and bear me grandsons! My blood
will mix with yours, my War Boys!”
The War Boys roared. It was more deafening than their earlier chants. Joe had
said the very thing that not only allayed whatever concern they had for their
future female offspring, but he’d made it so that they would probably be
praying for daughters now.
Toast turned and walked out of the cavern, and wandered until she found her way
back to the Blood Shed. The Organic Mechanic demanded to know where Slit was
and what she’d done to him, but Toast ignored him. She laid down on her cot and
turned to face the wall.
***** Morsov IX & Capable XI *****
Morsov was very proud of being the lead lancer of the war rig crew. It was a
post that went to the lancer considered the very best in the Citadel, and
Imperator Furiosa had chosen him for it. His driver was the best too. Nux might
be more kamicrazy, but Elvis was more consistently reliable and had once
circled around the whole convoy so Morsov could grab a fallen Boy’s body and
still managed to race back ahead so they could intercept an enemy driver who’d
been trying to collide head-on with the rig.
So he was very disappointed that Cheedo wouldn’t come see the new heavy machine
guns the Immortan had given the crew. As soon as he’d finished mounting his on
Elvis’s car, he’d gone to the Blood Shed to invite Cheedo to see it.
Her cell was left unlocked now and she could leave whenever she wanted and go
wherever she wanted, but Cheedo only ever left the Blood Shed to go bathe with
Capable. She’d told him that she hadn’t heard of anything interesting enough to
be worth the danger.
“What danger?” Morsov had asked, puzzled. “No one will hurt you. Not even Slit
would harm a pregnant breeder.”
She’d given him a look he didn’t understand or like. “They might not think they
were hurting me, but they would hurt me.”
He hadn’t understood that, but he’d accepted that she felt safest and most
comfortable within the confines of the Blood Shed. Since she wouldn’t come
visit him, he continued to come see her every day.
Morsov had been certain, though, that she would make an exception for him
today. His new .50 cal was beautiful, no rust at all on it. She had to see it.
“Angharad doesn’t like guns.”
Morsov stared at her, confused. He didn’t care that the Splendid Angharad
didn’t like guns; it wasn’t her he wanted to show his to. “What does that have
to do with anything?”
“I don’t think I like them either.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re only for killing people.”
Of course they were. Morsov couldn’t comprehend her reasoning, until he
realized it wasn’t actually the guns she disliked, it was the killing of ferals
and enemies of the Immortan. But that didn’t make much sense either.
“If we didn’t kill them, people would steal our stuff. And the Buzzards would
eat us.”
“Did you eat people when you were a little Buzzard?”
Morsov recoiled. He felt like she’d slapped him. No, worse, like she’d kicked
him in the balls.
But she looked as if she was waiting for an answer, not like she’d just been
insulting him for no reason.
“I don’t remember,” he replied.
Most War Boys had either forgotten that he’d been taken from Buzzards as a pup,
or they didn’t care because he’d proven himself as a War Boy. But there were
some who thought he was tainted, who refused to be friends with him or fight
beside him. Those War Boys - and some Repair Boys, who weren’t even good enough
to be War Boys themselves - called him Buzzard to his face still whenever they
were feeling brave enough to have their teeth knocked out.
Cheedo was sitting on her cot with her knees drawn up, hugging her legs. The
way she was looking at him wasn’t a look he’d seen from her before. It was
almost hostile.
He crouched before the cot. “Why are you mad at me?”
She shook her head. “I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. You won’t come see my new crew-serve weapon and you called me a
Buzzard. Did I do something you didn’t like? Or did you want me to do something
that I didn’t do?”
He couldn’t think of anything he’d done or failed to do that would make her mad
at him, but he must have.
“I’m not mad at you,” she said. But she didn’t sound very convincing.
Morsov raised his eyebrows skeptically.
“Well, I am a little mad at you for calling your gun beautiful, though, but
only calling me ‘shiny’ or ‘chrome’.”
“You’re jealous of my gun?” he asked doubtfully. That made even less sense than
hating guns.
“Of course not. I just wish… never mind.”
Morsov didn’t understand why she was acting so strange lately. He supposed it
had to be because of the pup growing inside her, it was the only explanation.
He put a hand on her leg, because he needed to touch her. “Are you okay?”
Instead of answering, she asked, “Are you mad at me for not going to see your
new gun?”
“No, just hurt that you won’t. It’s the most shine thing I’ve ever had - except
for you - and I want all my friends to witness it.”
She smiled suddenly, and there was something strange and almost sad about the
smile. “I’m sure all your other friends will be impressed enough to make up for
me.”
“It won’t be the same; you’re special.” He planted a kiss on her knee, and then
rose to leave.
“You can kiss me before you go. If you want.”
Of course he wanted to kiss her. He always wanted to kiss her. Kissing her was
so different from kissing anyone else. It made him feel weird feelings. She
just made him feel weird feelings in general. She made him want to take care of
her like he tried to help take care of the very young pups, but he also liked
speaking with her and fucking her as much as he liked his driver. And he also
hoped that it was his pup she was having. It was a weird mix of feelings to
have for one person.
He stopped kissing her while it was still easy to stop. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
okay?”
She pressed one last kiss to his mouth. “Okay.”
~
“He’s an old man and he’s sick,” Capable said quietly to Toast. “He isn’t going
to last long enough to see his heir reach adulthood.”
“No,” Toast agreed. “Although he’s spiteful enough to outlive us all.”
The significance of the name Joe had chosen for Angharad’s son was lost on most
of the Citadel, but not on his ex-wives. Adam was the name of the first man,
according to the beliefs of the culture Joe had been born and raised in, a
god’s perfect creation. Joe intended to pass the mantle of his false godhood
down to Adam along with the Citadel and the rest of his fiefdom.
“When he dies, it’ll be the Imperators ruling until Adam is old enough.”
Toast nodded and sighed. “Maybe instead of convincing Furiosa to take us away,
we should have waited until Angharad gave birth, and convinced her to arrange
to have Joe and the Prime Imperator assassinated. She could have taken control
of the Citadel on the baby’s behalf.”
“Angharad wouldn’t have agreed to it, and I wouldn’t have either, back then.”
Toast arched an eyebrow at her. “And now?”
Trying to flee without hurting anyone hadn’t worked. And if there was anyone
whose untimely death was deserved, it was Joe. “Now I think it’s necessary. But
even if we could arrange it, Furiosa is gone, and the imperators would just
keep things the way they are now.”
They were both quiet for a long time. Then Capable said, “Toast, this is it for
us, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Toast looked brittle.
The only time Capable had ever seen Toast cry was the day their escape was
foiled and Furiosa was killed. She was strong, but no one could remain strong
forever without hope, and Toast had lost all hope on Fury Road.
Capable reached through the bars and took her hand and squeezed it. “But it
doesn’t have to be like this for our children. Adam doesn’t have to be like
Joe.”
“He will be. Joe will make sure he is.”
“Joe isn’t his only parent.”
Capable gave Toast’s hand one last squeeze, and regretfully left her alone. She
began checking on the sick War Boys lying around the Blood Shed. There was
nothing anyone could do for them, but her attention seemed to comfort them, so
she’d made it her duty to speak to each of them every day and give them a hug
or a kiss on the forehead.
Once that was done, she began the next stage of her daily rounds. She went
through every part of the Citadel that wasn’t restricted by guards or locks,
observing the daily life of its people and allowing War Boys to see her and
speak to her.
Her belly had begun to grow round, and the War Boys seemed utterly fascinated.
Her skin still crawled whenever one of them touched her belly and asked about
the well-being of ‘his’ pup. They didn’t seem to realize that they were
admitting to having brutally raped her. She wanted to scream at them,
sometimes, and demand to know how they could act so friendly, after what they’d
done to her. But it would do no good. All she could do was encourage their
affection, so that when - not if, but when - the time came for them to rape her
again, they’d be less brutal.
She was tired by the time she returned to the Blood Shed. She consumed the meal
Riker gave her, and went to sit on her cot. She needed to figure out a way to
get to visit Angharad again. If Angharad hadn’t yet realized how important it
was that she play the role of supportive wife and doting mother to Joe and his
son, Capable needed to let her know.
If Angharad knew how badly Capable needed to speak with her, she’d do whatever
it took to get Joe to agree to let them see each other. But how could Capable
get a message to her?
“Capable?”
Cheedo was standing outside Capable’s cell, looking like she needed her.
Capable gestured to her to come sit next to her.
“Capable, I like Morsov.”
“I like him too. He’s decent for a War Boy.”
Cheedo gave her a look Capable couldn’t read. “I used to only pretend I liked
him so he’d be nice to me and protect me from the really mean War Boys. But,
Capable, I like him. I like him the way I like the Dag.”
Capable wasn’t entirely surprised. Cheedo was used to having someone take care
of her, of being coddled and treated as though she was fragile and precious.
And she was very young. It was only natural that she would develop feelings for
the person who made an effort to spend time with her every day and who seemed
willing to simply hold her when she wanted to be held.
She hugged her. “Oh, sweetheart.”
“I wish his whole crew had died on Fury Road before they discovered us, but not
him. I can’t make myself wish he’d died - it makes me sad to think of him
dying.”
She didn’t doubt that Morsov loved Cheedo, too, but he was still a War Boy and
he loved Immortan Joe more. War Boys loved Joe more than they loved even
themselves. If Joe issued an order to harm the ex-wives, they would obey it.
Cheedo knew that as well as Capable did. No matter how much any War Boy liked
them, none of them would help them in what they really needed help with.
At least not knowingly...
***** Capable XII *****
Toast was smart. All of Joe’s wives had been educated, but Toast had a special
passion for gathering knowledge. She’d voraciously consumed all the books and
papers they were given to read, and she’d asked questions of Miss Giddy that
Capable and the others hadn’t thought to ask. Joe called them idealists and
said they knew nothing of the real world, but Toast’s idealism was tempered by
her experiences in the wasteland and even Joe respected her intellect, giving
her the moniker ‘the knowing.’
Keeping her locked in that cell wasn’t just cruel, it was wasteful. Capable
tried to convince the Organic Mechanic of this. “She can be useful. You can
find something for her to do. You’re always complaining about the War Boys and
Pups the Imperators assign to help you - so train Toast! She can be your
assistant.”
The Organic Mechanic threw back his head and laughed long and loud. Every time
he seemed to be stopping, he broke out into another fit of laughter.
Capable was tempted to seize a thunderstick from a passing War Boy and whack
him with it. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to stop.
“Help?” the Organic Mechanic gasped. “You mean, help War Boys into even earlier
graves.”
“There was an oath healers used to take. Toast will swear the oath.” Capable
hadn’t discussed it with her, but she was certain Toast would do what she had
to.
“Even if I decided what the hell and let bygones be bygones, even if Joe gave
the okay, you think any War Boy would trust his life in her hands?”
“She wouldn’t necessarily have to tend to them. She could care for the rest of
the people in the Citadel, like the treadmill climbers and the grub diggers. I
know neither you or Joe care about those people, and they’re easily
replaceable, but you’d get more work out of them if they got some basic care.”
“So you’ve appointed yourself play school teacher to the Pups and priest to the
deathbed Boys, and you want me to make Toasty a nurse.” He gestured with his
thumb towards Cheedo, who was listening - or pretending to listen - to a trio
of War Boys who were excitedly telling her some story about their narrow escape
from Buzzards. “What about her? How’s she going to earn her keep? Entertaining
the troops?”
“Leave her alone.”
“No, no, Capable. You’re the one who persuaded me you breeders ought to be
making yourselves useful.”
“She could help Angharad with Adam.”
The Organic Mechanic snorted. “Nice try. She gave up the life of luxury when
you girls decided to run away. She’ll have to work for a living now.”
Capable gritted her teeth. She should have foreseen that the Organic Mechanic
would find a way to turn this around on them. “She can help me with the Pups
and the deathly sick Boys.”
“Eh. I suppose so. I still think her true calling is servicing the Boys.”
She wanted to slap him, but Capable made herself say, “Thank you.”
She went to Cheedo and dispersed the War Boys by gently implying that they
needed to go spend more time training so that their future encounters with
Buzzards would yield more impressive results.
“Come with me,” she told Cheedo.
She explained the latest development in their situation to her while they
exited the Blood Shed. Cheedo was cautiously optimistic for Toast, but she
didn’t seem enthused about taking care of Pups. Capable couldn’t fault her for
it. She was still a kid herself, scarcely older than the oldest War Pups.
Capable called a halt to the day’s storytime and told the Pups she’d see them
at the bathing pool at sunset. She decided to take Cheedo on a tour of the
Citadel and introduce her to everyone she knew. This was life for the
foreseeable future, and the more they could adjust and carve a role for
themselves, the less awful it would be.
The tour didn’t get off to a good start, however. Because they’d only had brief
glimpses of her before, the Repair Boys were too interested in Cheedo, and
their interest frightened her. They didn’t try to touch her, but they stared
openly and made comments about her to each other, causing Cheedo to cling to
Capable fearfully.
“It’s okay,” Capable whispered. “They wouldn’t dare touch you, they’re only
Repair Boys. Joe gave us to his War Boys specifically.”
“That’s the war rig over there,” Cheedo said, pointing. “Let’s find Morsov.”
Morsov wasn’t at the war rig, but a War Boy named Sprockets told them where
they could find him.
They located Morsov and his driver Elvis working on their car, and when Morsov
spotted them, he shouted Cheedo’s name and seized her in an embrace.
Capable was concerned about the way Cheedo hugged him back and kissed him in
front of everyone. She herself was careful to avoid doing anything that made it
seem like she favored some War Boys but not others, aware of the potential
dangers. However, every War Boy was already aware that Morsov was Cheedo’s
favorite. The only reason it hadn’t caused conflict among them so far was
because the war rig crew was considered to have a greater share of ownership of
Cheedo than the average War Boy, and within the crew, they ranked Morsov the
best of them and were therefore okay with him being favored by her.
“Will you walk with me when I’m ready to go back to the Blood Shed?” Cheedo
asked him.
“Whatever you want,” Morsov replied. He slung his arm around her shoulder, and
Cheedo molded herself against his side.
Capable raised an eyebrow at Cheedo pointedly.
“I can stay here, Capable,” Cheedo said to her. “So you don’t have to spend all
day looking after me.”
“All right.”
She wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about her entirely, but it was a relief
not to be the only person responsible for keeping her safe. Cheedo would be
okay for now. She, on the other hand, felt frustration rise quickly as she
turned her mind back to the biggest problem she had at the moment.
How was she to get a message to Angharad?
“Capable!”
She tried to pretend she hadn’t heard, and walked faster, but Nux chased after
her and easily caught up.
“Hello, Nux.”
“Capable, come look at my car.”
“Perhaps another day.”
His expression changed from happy and eager to utterly crushed. “But you looked
at Elvis’s car.”
“I scarcely noticed it,” she said, struggling to keep the impatience out of her
voice. “I was helping Cheedo find Morsov, not looking at cars.”
He dropped to his knees suddenly and threw his arms around her hips. “Capable,
tell me what to do so you’ll love me more. I tried going to see you every day,
like Morsov does with Cheedo, but you actually spent less time talking to me
the more I was with you. What do I need to do?”
He was looking up at her with those big, blue eyes filled with worry and
neediness. Capable clasped his face between her hands, her thumbs caressing the
scars on his high-boned cheeks. He’d sweated off most of the ghastly white
paint, exposing pink skin and red lips. He was beautiful. If he’d been born
female and healthy, he would have ended up in the vault for sure.
It was getting harder to be caring to War Boys, not easier. The better she got
to know them, the more painful it became. It hurt that they wanted affection
from her but that not one of them had said he was sorry for what he’d done to
her.
“I see your eyes in my nightmares,” she told him, for his ears only. “I don’t
love you at all.”
He looked confused. “But…”
“I only had sex with you to keep you from raping Cheedo. I’m kind to you
because it’s the only way I have of trying to keep you from tearing me apart.
Do you understand?”
He still only looked confused. “I wouldn’t harm you, Capable. I love you.”
“But you did harm me, Nux. I’ve told you before and you wouldn’t admit it.”
“You were a gift from the Immortan.”
“A person can’t be a gift. A person can’t be a treasure, or a prize. Joe can
give you a car or a gun - those things don’t care, they don’t have feelings,
they’re things. I’m not a thing, I have feelings. Joe might have given you and
the others my body, but he can’t give you me. And I won’t give you me.”
She watched his confusion give way to devastation, and she felt devastated
herself because she could tell by the way he was looking at her that he was
devastated not to have what he wanted from her, not because he’d realized the
magnitude of what they’d done to her.
She decided to make one last attempt to reach him. “Imagine yourself trapped
with a hundred Organic Mechanics who do whatever they want to you and you can’t
stop them.”
He made an expression of distaste, but that was all.
Inspiration struck her. No War Boy was the least bothered by the fate awaiting
his unborn children; sons destined to become War Boys themselves and daughters
destined to become Joe’s son’s wives. To them, that was the best possible fate
anyone could have.
Capable caressed the back of Nux’s neck and stroked the sensitive skin behind
his ears. “Imagine how happy the Organic Mechanic will be if I have a boy and
he’s as beautiful as you.”
She brushed a finger across his lips. They must have been so soft before he’d
scarified them. “He’ll grow up to be Organic’s favorite for sure.”
Nux flung himself away from her, falling backwards into an ungainly sprawl. He
was staring at her with utter horror on his face.
Capable gave him a falsely cheery smile. “It was nice chatting with you, Nux.”
***** Morsov X *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The hall of hanging green things wasn’t off-limits, but War Boys didn’t have a
reason to be there and Morsov had a feeling that Cheedo shouldn’t be there
either. But she’d asked him to escort her and he couldn’t refuse.
“It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?” she said. “Occasionally he’d let us out to walk
here if he was in a really good mood. I’d pretend I was in a forest, though
Miss Giddy said this isn’t anything like a forest.”
“What’s a forest?”
As he listened to her tell him about giant green things that once covered the
land as far as the eye could see, he tried to imagine it. But he just couldn’t.
He’d seen the occasional skeletons of trees out in the wasteland, but he
couldn’t quite picture even one living tree. He wished he could see the photos
the Immortan had shown to his wives.
He spotted Rictus Erectus at the other end of the hall, and Morsov again
wondered if he and Cheedo should be there. But he wasn’t too worried. Rictus
was all right, as different from Scabrous Scrotus as day from night.
Even Cheedo wasn’t afraid as Rictus headed straight for them, calling her name.
“I heard you were hurt. I asked Dad to forgive you - it couldn’t have been your
idea to traitor him - but he was real mad and he forbid me from looking for
you.” Rictus was staring at her and his huge hands were hovering in the air
between them, as if he wanted to touch her but knew he wasn’t supposed to.
“I’m okay now, Rictus,” Cheedo said. She was still holding Morsov’s hand, and
she squeezed it tight. He didn’t know whether she was lying or not.
“Have you seen the Dag lately? How is she?”
Rictus shook his head. “Only Betty, this old breeder Dad got to replace Miss
Giddy - ‘cept she’s real mean - sees her. Her and Organic. Dad doesn’t even go
‘cause he says he might do something he’d regret.”
Rictus lowered his voice to a whisper, though it was still ridiculously loud.
“She still says bad things about Dad. Why does she do that, Cheedo? Why does
she make him mad?”
Morsov could feel Cheedo’s fingernails digging into his palm, and he was sure
she wanted to say more than what she eventually said, which was simply,
“Because she’s very brave.”
Cheedo put her other hand on Rictus’s arm. “Will you tell Angharad something
for me?”
Rictus looked dubious. “I’m not supposed to talk to her. She hates me. She
yelled at me, and then Dad yelled at me and told me not to aggravate her.”
Cheedo patted his arm. “She won’t mind this. It won’t make her mad and she
won’t complain to Joe and make him yell at you, I promise. Just tell her that I
said that Capable misses her very, very much. Will you do that for me, Rictus?”
Rictus nodded.
Cheedo sighed when he’d gone and she and Morsov were alone. She turned to
Morsov and leaned in against him.
Morsov hugged her and stroked her hair, hoping she wouldn’t cry. He was sorry
about her friend the Dag. It was too bad she didn’t have the Ace to tell her
not to say aloud every thought she had.
“We should go before the Immortan comes by.”
It was the Immortan himself who’d given Cheedo to Morsov and the other War
Boys, but it was clear now that he’d wanted them to hurt her and Capable and
Toast, and Morsov was afraid that he’d be mad that they weren’t doing it
anymore. He was afraid, too, that if the Immortan saw Cheedo, he would decide
to take her back. Surely he regretted divorcing her now, no matter how mad he’d
been at the time. She was the most precious thing in the wasteland.
They were crossing one of the bridges between towers when Cheedo stopped in the
middle and just stared at the sky.
“You okay?” Morsov asked her. She’d been very nervous the first few times he’d
taken her over the narrow rope bridges instead of through the underground
tunnels, but he’d thought she’d gotten used to it.
“I think I know why you prefer this way even though it’d be very easy to fall.
It feels free.”
“I guess so,” he said. “But it’s just a lot quicker.”
She let go of the ropes and put her arms around his neck. He thought she was
going to kiss him, but she just stared at him strangely.
He stared back at her, trying to figure out why she was looking at him like
that and why here and now. What she said wasn’t always what she meant, so he’d
learned to look into her eyes to try to understand her.
She pressed her lips to his briefly, then she said, “Take me somewhere private.
Somewhere we can be alone. Really alone.”
Morsov had to think hard. There were always Boys and Pups everywhere. He
couldn’t remember ever being truly alone and he never wanted to be. But he
wouldn’t mind being alone with Cheedo.
There was a cavern where a rusted water main had burst and flooded hundreds of
days ago. The Repair Boys hadn’t been able to drain it completely, so they’d
just closed it off. Morsov shoved the barrier out of the way. It was only there
to remind the littlest Pups that they shouldn’t play here. He lifted Cheedo up,
mindful of her bare feet and not wanting her to have to walk through cold
water. He carried her into a side cave where the ground sloped higher and it
was dry.
“Now we’re alone,” he said.
The light from the nearest lantern didn’t really reach in here. It was almost
pitch-black. He couldn’t see Cheedo, but he heard the shy tone in her voice
when she said, “Do you want to make love?”
Morsov didn’t know what she meant. But he felt her hands on his chest and going
lower, and he thought he understood what she wanted. He’d just never heard it
called that before.
“Yeah, of course. It’ll be great not to have the Organic Mechanic watching us.
Or jealous Boys either.” He didn’t mind being watched by jealous Boys and
envious older Pups, but he knew Cheedo didn’t like them staring at her.
He felt her forehead bump his, and he realized she’d nodded. Then she kissed
him.
Not being able to see caused his other senses to heighten. Morsov could hear
Cheedo breathing, and each of her occasional soft sighs sounded as loud as the
war rig’s horn. She felt more solid in his arms, too, and his skin felt almost
like it was burning - but in a good way - where she touched him.
She touched him a lot more than usual, smoothing her hands over his shoulders
and down his back as they kissed. And when he unbuckled his belts, she reached
into his trousers before he could, and took out his cock. It was the first time
she’d ever touched it. Which was kind of odd, considering how many times they’d
fucked before.
He knelt and lifted one of her legs over his shoulder so he could kiss and lick
her cunt.
“Come on,” he urged her. “There’s no else to hear, just you and me. Let me hear
you scream.”
She laughed shakily, and he felt her stroking the back of his head. She’d told
him once that it was a pity War Boys shaved their heads, that she’d have liked
to run her fingers through his hair. She didn’t scream, but she moaned his name
when she came, and that was even better.
When he rose back up and kissed her, she hooked a leg around him and guided his
cock into her cunt. It was awkward fucking her like this though. He picked her
up and felt along the cave walls until he found a smooth patch to brace her
against, so he had leverage to fuck her properly.
“Oh!”
He froze, silently cursing himself for getting carried away. “Sorry, I’m
sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She kissed the top of his head. “I was just surprised, you didn’t
hurt me. In fact, I think I like it. It feels different.”
Morsov cautiously allowed himself to put more strength into his thrusts. Cheedo
really did seem to like it. He might even have been able to make her come again
if he’d been able to keep from coming himself.
He almost slid down to rest on the ground, but he didn’t want to release Cheedo
and he didn’t want to drag her down with him, so instead he leaned into her,
breathing hard.
Her arms around him felt so nice. He wanted to stay like this forever.
“Cheedo?” Maybe it was because of the dark, but Morsov found himself confessing
something he’d never admitted even to himself before. “I’m sorry for what I did
the day Immortan Joe gave you to me and the other Boys. I should have been
nicer to you, and it’s my fault only that I wasn’t. I’m really sorry.”
She didn’t say anything, but he could feel her hand caressing the back of his
head.
Everything seemed different afterwards, though he couldn’t identify what it
was. It felt like the air itself had changed somehow. Morsov felt extra good.
Cheedo still refused to go anywhere without him or Capable, so he had to walk
her back to the Blood Shed. He didn’t mind. He cherished every moment with her,
and not just because all the other War Boys wished they were in his place. Time
spent with her was valuable no matter what they did.
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him when they reached the Blood
Shed. She looked as happy as he felt, and she didn’t seem to notice the glare
Toast shot them or the Organic Mechanic’s lewd gestures.
Morsov was in a very good mood as he headed to the war rig’s garage. He found
himself humming a tune he didn’t remember ever hearing the Doof Warrior play.
He dimly recalled hearing a woman’s voice sing it, but Imperator Furiosa had
never sang, so it had to be the voice of the Buzzard breeder who’d birthed him.
Mother, he reminded himself. Capable had almost cried because Dexter referred
to her as the breeder of his pup and then she’d told them all that she was its
mother.
“Hi, guys,” he greeted the rest of the crew.
“Hey, Morsov!”
“Where’ve you been?”
The Ace, however, was frowning at him like something was wrong. He seized
Morsov by his upper arm and dragged him away from the others.
“What’s the matter, Ace?”
“I can smell her on you. Go take a bath. That smell is going to aggravate the
others without them even knowing why they’re aggravated.”
Morsov didn’t smell anything unusual, but if he did smell like Cheedo to other
Boys, he wasn’t going to wash her scent off. It was beyond chrome.
“No,” he said. He wrenched his arm free of the Ace’s grip.
The Ace looked shocked. “No?” he said, like he wasn’t sure he’d heard Morsov
right.
“No,” Morsov repeated. “I won’t.”
“Don’t be stupid, boy. You’ll get yourself in trouble.” He shook his head.
“You’ll get her in trouble. I know you don’t want that.”
The Ace was right. The Ace was always right. But Morsov was angry at him. Or
maybe not angry, maybe sad because of him. Disappointed.
“Is it true that-” Her name was forbidden now. You were only supposed to call
her the Traitor if you had to talk about her at all. “Imperator Furiosa was
once one of the Immortan’s wives?”
It had been rumored that she used to be one of Immortan Joe’s wives as far back
as he could remember, but there had been a lot of rumors about her, and once
he’d become part of her crew, Morsov had learned most of them weren’t true. But
this rumor...
“Yes.”
Morsov rubbed his scalp. He was feelings things he knew he shouldn’t feel.
Worse, he was thinking terrible thoughts.
“Yes, Morsov, that’s why she betrayed him. She knew the truth, and I guess she
just couldn’t be part of this all anymore.”
“You killed her.”
“It was that or have to watch them shred her.”
That was true. But Morsov couldn’t imagine killing Cheedo, knowing that she
might not go to Valhalla. As a traitor, Imperator Furiosa had surely been
denied entrance to Valhalla. There must have been something else the Ace could
have done. “You could have let her flee.”
The Ace reacted like Morsov had punched him in the gut.
Morsov was immediately sorry. “Ace…” he said.
But before he could apologize, the Ace turned and walked away. The rest of the
crew called to him, but he ignored them and kept walking.
The others gathered around Morsov. They all looked concerned. Morsov was a very
good Boy, and he’d never done anything to make the Ace upset before.
“What happened?” Elvis asked.
“I don’t know,” Morsov replied, and he wasn’t even lying.
Chapter End Notes
     Comments would be very appreciated. I'd love to hear your impression
     of this chapter.
***** Capable XIII *****
“I’d sooner stab them all in their bellies than help prolong their miserable
lives.”
Capable tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. “Toast, it’s the only
way you’re going to be allowed out of that cell.”
Toast’s mouth settled into a grim line.
“Don’t think about the War Boys. Think about us. You could help me and Cheedo.
And you could help all the other slaves in the Citadel. They need someone to
take care of them. The Organic Mechanic doesn’t even bother to help most of
them even though he could.”
Toast looked conflicted. And beneath the stubborn defiance and the anger, there
was something else. Capable realized Toast was afraid.
“You’re afraid of being out here,” she stated.
Toast didn’t deny it.
“It’ll be okay,” Capable told her gently. “They haven’t done anything more to
Cheedo or me. They won’t harm us for now.” Not until the babies were born and
weaned and it was time to breed more.
“They all like you,” Toast said. “And Cheedo has her devoted War Boy to keep
the others from doing anything to her. But me… well, I’m pretty sure there are
several of them holding grudges against me.”
Capable chose her words carefully. “There are a few War Boys who like you very
much, and they are among the most dangerous ones. They’ll protect you from the
ones who want revenge.”
“I hate relying on my rapists for protection from my other rapists.”
“I know.” Capable reached through the bars and put her arm around Toast’s
shoulder, trying to hug her. “But we have no other choice for now.”
Toast sighed. “I’ll do it. I’ll be his assistant, and I’ll swear not to harm
any War Boys except in self-defense.”
Capable kissed her cheek, and then went to inform the Organic Mechanic.
“How generous of her to deign to help me,” he said. “I should leave her to rot.
She’s lucky Joe likes the idea of you girls earning your keep.” He winked.
“Even if Cheedo’s earning hers by keeping up our star lancer’s morale.”
She wasn’t surprised that he’d noticed the way Cheedo looked sometimes when she
came back to the Blood Shed. The afterglow of enjoyable sex was obvious to
anyone who knew enough to recognize it. Capable had contemplated speaking to
Cheedo about it, but she’d decided against it. Between the chastity belt and
the rapes, Cheedo had suffered enough of other people controlling her sexually.
No one else should have a say in what she did with her body, and that included
Capable.
Capable went to the War Pups’ den, where a large group of them were waiting for
their daily story. She seated herself on the ground and they formed a
semicircle around her, eagerly begging for stories about their favorite topics.
Little Kip crawled into her lap, and Capable cuddled him while she told them
about various events from the second world war.
They liked stories about war best, and so much of recorded human history was
the history of war, that she had yet to run out of stories they’d like. She
tried her best to de-glamorize their fascination with warfare. Joe
indoctrinated them to believe that the greatest thing a man could do was die in
war, so Capable made sure to emphasize that most of history’s war dead hadn’t
wanted to die, that the vast majority of them would rather have returned home
to their families and lived out their lives in peace.
“It was all so terrible,” she concluded, “That a thousand days later leaders
from all over the world met and agreed on something they called the universal
declaration of human rights. Does anyone want to guess what it was?”
“They agreed everybody should have their own slaves?” one Pup suggested.
“No, but that was a good guess.” She smiled encouragingly at the Pup, so he’d
feel safe and confident to speak again, even if he was wrong. “In fact, they
agreed that nobody should ever be a slave.”
She began to list the articles she’d memorized and explain their meaning,
making sure to pause and ask them questions in order to gauge how much of it
they understood.
When they’d absorbed as much as they could for the day, and their attention had
begun to wander, Capable called an end to storytime. “Can you keep a secret?”
she asked them.
“Yeah,” most of them shouted. They were all nodding enthusiastically.
“What I’ve told you about those human rights, that’s a secret between you and
me, my sweets. No telling it to grown up Boys and especially not to Imperators,
okay?”
“What about the Immortan?” one of them asked. He added importantly, “I help
powder him.”
“Not even the Immortan,” Capable replied. “He already knows all this. He told
me.”
It wasn’t even really a lie. It was Joe who’d had her and his other slave-wives
educated in everything about the world he’d inhabited before its self-
destruction. She wondered sometimes why he didn’t keep them as ignorant as his
Boys and why he didn’t try to brainwash them too into worshipping him. She
supposed whatever scrap of decency remained within him wanted the truth to be
known and remembered - though only by those powerless to use it against him.
“But you can tell them all about the war,” she told them, so they’d have
stories to happily relate to anyone who’d listen, as they liked to do.
A small Pup approached her shyly after the group dispersed. “Capable, can I
have some of your hair?”
Capable knelt and smoothed her hand over his bald scalp. “What for, my sweet?”
“I dunno. Zippo asked me to ask you.”
“I’d give you a lock of my hair if you wanted it. But Zippo already asked me
himself and I already told him no, so the answer is no.”
“How come you’d give me some of your hair but not him? He’s a shine black-thumb
and he’s teaching me everything he knows.”
“I’d give you because you are one of my little sweethearts and you make me
happy, but he hurt me and he’s not sorry.”
The Pup’s eyes grew very wide. “He hurt you? How?”
He was very young, so Capable didn’t give him the answer she would have given a
War Pup approaching puberty or already entering it. It wasn’t something she
should have to talk to a small child about. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
She kissed his forehead and sent him to join the others, before seeking out the
Pup who served as one of Joe’s pages.
“Will you speak with me?” she asked him.
He flung himself against her and threw his arms around her, happy to be singled
out for personal attention. Capable petted him while she waited for the other
Pups to drift out of earshot.
Joe’s War Pup attendants sometimes accompanied him to the vault. Capable had
previously considered asking one of them to speak to Angharad for her, but
she’d decided against it out of fear that she’d get the Pups in trouble. There
was no telling what Joe would do if he caught them delivering messages for her.
“Have you seen Immortan Joe with Angharad lately?”
The Pup nodded. “Every day. Immortan likes to watch Adam suckle mother’s milk.
Sometimes he suckles from the Splendid Angharad too, but she’s mean to him.”
Capable’s stomach heaved. She felt terrible for Angharad, but she also wondered
if that was something she herself would have to suffer. It seemed very likely.
War Boys already tried to get everything they could out of her.
“Will you tell him something for me? Tell him I’m sorry I was ungrateful and
I’ll tell Angharad how lucky she is if he wants me to. Tell him when he’s with
her, if you can.”
The Pup must have wasted no time in delivering the message, because Capable was
summoned to the vault the very next day. She went there alone, the Organic
Mechanic having decided she didn’t need an escort when she went everywhere else
by herself.
Joe was sitting in his throne-like chair, holding his infant son. Angharad had
been standing by the windows, looking out, but she ran to embrace Capable.
Capable hugged her tightly. She knew Angharad would be able to figure out the
real meaning of what she was about to do. Time to give Joe his performance.
He’d love it if she knelt, but Capable couldn’t bring herself to kneel. She
bowed her head submissively. “Forgive me, Joe.”
“So much unpleasantness could have been avoided,” he replied. “At least you’ve
learned your lesson. I’ve been pleased to hear that you’re being a better wife
to your new husbands than you were to me.”
She wanted to spit in his face. Instead, Capable tried to look contrite. “May I
hold the baby?”
He might want to believe she’d been broken, but he didn’t trust her, not with
his precious healthy male heir. “You’ll have your own baby soon enough. You
could have had a prince, Capable.”
She’d thought it would be difficult to cry on command, but the tears came
easily. Too easily, in fact. It felt like a damn inside her had broken.
Angharad hurried to put her arms around her, but Capable twisted out of her
embrace and threw herself at her feet.
“Angharad, you don’t know how awful it is down there. Joe’s just one man. You
can’t imagine what it was like having dozens of them force themselves on you.
You can’t imagine what it’s like to know that any sons you bear will be just
like them, and that any daughters will suffer your fate too.”
She was sobbing. “I remember Joe promised to make you his queen if you gave him
a son and you said you’d sooner be fed to Buzzards than be his queen, but
Angharad, I wish I was his queen. You’re so fortunate. If I was the mother of
his son…”
“You see?” Joe thundered at Angharad. “The others know now what you refuse to
acknowledge.”
“Be a good wife, Angharad,” Capable urged. She squeezed Angharad’s leg and
stared up at her meaningfully. “Be a good mother to Adam.”
“Oh, Capable.” Angharad bent and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. She was
stroking her hair and looking more pained than Capable had ever seen her.
Even if she didn’t understand fully now, she would eventually. Capable rose and
gave her a final hug.
“I’ll go back to where I belong now,” she said humbly to Joe, not taking her
eyes off him until she’d backed up to the vault door.
Capable felt tired, but triumphant. She’d plotted treason right in front of Joe
and his own ego had kept him from seeing it. Hopefully it wouldn’t take
Angharad long to figure out why Capable needed her to pretend to be Joe’s
loyal, loving wife and loyal, loving mother to his son. This would take much
more time, and they would all have to be very patient, but there was so much to
hope for now.
***** Toast X *****
The Organic Mechanic shifted the magnifying glass so Toast could see into their
patient’s mouth. “The root’s still in.”
This War Boy had come to the Blood Shed complaining that he’d lost a tooth
during a fight days ago but that it still hurt.
“We’re going to have to cut into the gum so we can get it out,” the Organic
Mechanic said to Toast. “Should be lots of fun for you.”
The Organic Mechanic was wrong. If this particular War Boy had ever done
anything to her, she wasn’t aware of it. He was just a random War Boy. She
might not feel sympathy for his pain, but she didn’t revel in it either.
She paid close attention to the way the Organic Mechanic cut, committing it to
memory. Next person to come in with tooth pain, she’d handle it under his
supervision.
Then it was time to get the tooth out. The Organic Mechanic yanked and twisted
for a good minute before pausing for a break. “You’ve got strong teeth, Kel.”
The War Boy Kel had been pounding the heavy metal table he laid on with his
fists, but he stopped. He stopped screaming too. Capable would probably have
held his hand and tried to comfort him. Toast was holding his head in place so
the Organic Mechanic could pull. “It’s almost over,” she lied.
Bedside manner, that’s what it was called. The Organic Mechanic’s bedside
manner was shit. She was determined to be better than him in every way.
The Organic Mechanic caught his breath and resumed the extraction. The War Boy
began screaming again.
A distant memory of her grandmother speaking came back to her. Treat others the
way you want to be treated. A noble sentiment, but a relic of the past, from
the days when it’d cost nothing to be kind.
Damn.
The other wives had hated Furiosa when Joe first set her to guard them. She’d
seemed like just another brutal monster of the Citadel. But Toast had
understood that Furiosa was only doing what she had to do. Toast was doing the
same thing now. You had to be hard to survive here. But would she find herself
realizing one day that she’d gotten too hard, that she’d gone from merely
surviving to being a true denizen of the Citadel?
She’d kept her distance from the other women in the vault when she’d first been
imprisoned within it. She hadn’t spoken to them, and she hadn’t had any
interest in them as people, though she’d observed them carefully as a means of
gathering the knowledge she needed to survive. And yet after Joe had finished
raping her for the first time, Capable had come to her and put her arms around
her, even though she herself was going to be raped later that very night.
Capable treated others the way she wanted to be treated, despite everything.
She would never lose herself. No matter what Joe had done to her and what he
allowed others to do to her, he hadn’t been able to darken her soul.
Toast reluctantly let her fingers stroke the sides of the War Boy’s face.
“Shh,” she murmured gently. “It’ll be over soon.”
Then it was over. The Organic Mechanic held up the broken tooth triumphantly.
The War Boy Kel turned his head and spat out blood. “Fuck, Organic,” he said
weakly. “Felt like you were breaking my jaw.”
Toast retrieved a bottle of alcohol from the cabinet and handed it to him.
“Rinse your mouth with this after every meal for the next few days. Don’t drink
it. It’s to kill bacteria and prevent infection while your gum heals.”
The Organic Mechanic put it in War Boy terms. “It’s not for getting drunk, not
unless you want your mouth to rot and sicken you so you die a mediocre death.”
He turned to her after the War Boy had left, grinning. “You going soft, Toast?
Slit will be so disappointed.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s Slit’s job.”
She was tempted to ask whether he was referring to Slit fucking her or Slit
fucking him. But he might actually tell her and she really didn’t need those
images in her head.
One of the scavenging crews had brought in several bottles of vitamin pills and
iron supplements recently. Toast would have thought that the pills would have
degraded into something harmful by now, but the bottles had still been sealed
so the Organic Mechanic thought they might be safe. He was testing the vitamins
on the treadmill slaves. He was certain that the iron pills were safe, though,
so he was already giving them to the blood slaves.
Toast gave the pills and their mid-day allotment of water to the slaves in the
Blood Shed. Well, the slaves in the cages, that was. The Organic Mechanic
wasn’t so certain of the pills’ safety that he wanted her and Capable and
Cheedo taking it, lest it harmed the unborn war pups.
She left the captive War Boys called ‘the feral’ for last and remained beside
him after he’d swallowed the pill and drank the water. He still looked strong
and healthy, despite being robbed of blood almost daily. Toast was surprised
Joe hadn’t put him to stud to sire babies who might inherit his remarkable
health. Then again, maybe the Organic Mechanic hadn’t told Joe about him. Maybe
he didn’t want to risk losing his best blood bag, the one whose blood desperate
War Boys would do anything to get.
“Do you have anything to say today?” Toast asked him.
She hoped he didn’t think that she spoke to him as a form of mockery. He was
the only blood slave whose eyes weren’t dull, who wasn’t already dead inside,
and Toast wanted to keep it that way. She wanted him to know that not everyone
had forgotten that he was a person and not a thing.
He’d yet to speak to her. He’d grunted once or twice, but he hadn’t spoken
actual words yet. Until today. He cleared his throat and enunciated clearly,
“No.”
Toast stared at him in astonishment. Then she smiled. “Maybe tomorrow, eh?”
She went over to Cheedo’s cell. Cheedo was sitting on her cot, brushing her
hair, while a War Boy sat at her feet, babbling at her.
Toast had noticed the brush before. A comb had been among the few things given
to the three ex-wives when they were moved to the Blood Shed, but not a
hairbrush. The hairbrush had appeared on its own, presumably a gift from
Cheedo’s Morsov or one of her other admirers. Capable would have told Toast if
one of her War Boy admirers had given it to her.
“Guess who just spoke to me?” she said.
“Who?” Cheedo asked.
“The ‘feral’ captive.”
“Really?! What did he say?”
The War Boy looked shocked. “He can talk?”
Toast stared at him. She’d seen him around Cheedo before, but she’d never
really paid attention to him beyond deciding he wasn’t a threat. She hadn’t
realized it before because he was tall and broad, but he was very young,
probably Cheedo’s own age. “Did you think he was a mute?” she asked him.
“I didn’t know he knew how to talk. He just grunted and snarled when we caught
him.”
“You’re surprised he acted like an animal when you treated him like one?” Toast
shook her head and sighed.
He turned to Cheedo with a pleading look, as if begging her to save him from
Toast.
“Well, Chip, did you try to talk to him?” Cheedo asked reasonably.
“No,” he admitted. He stood up and prepared to flee. “You’ll come listen to
Coma play later? It’s the first time he’s playing for Boys since I became one
of his drummers.”
Toast remembered the cacophony of the Doof Wagon providing a thundering
soundtrack as Joe and his war party caught up to the waiting rig and its crew
presented Furiosa’s body to him. Furiosa’s body and the five runaway slaves.
Joe had, as the saying went, killed two birds with one stone. He’d punished the
wives and rewarded his War Boys’ loyalty by giving Cheedo to the crew.
“I’ll ask Morsov if he wants to go,” Cheedo replied.
Toast thought her policy of not leaving the Blood Shed without Capable or her
War Boy lover was very sound. Though she would never understand why Cheedo had
awarded that status to Morsov. He did seem genuinely sorry for what he’d done
to her, but there was a big difference between forgiving him and happily taking
him as a lover.
Increasingly, Toast wished she had one or two War Boys she could use as
bodyguards. The likes of Slit and Throttle might keep other War Boys away from
her out of jealousy and the belief that others were undeserving of her, but
there was no one to keep her safe from them. So mostly she stayed within the
confines of the Blood Shed except when she went on rounds with the Organic
Mechanic or went to bathe with Capable and Cheedo.
But sometimes she felt so starved for sunlight or solitude that she cautiously
ventured out to the isolated spot Slit had shown her. So far she’d gotten lucky
and she hadn’t encountered any War Boys there. The worse she encountered were
War Pups who pestered her to tell them stories.
Usually Toast could convince them to go away, but this batch was particularly
persistent.
“I bet you know even more stories than Capable. That’s why Immortan named you
‘Knowing’ right?”
“Please, Toast, please. They say you’ve read all the word-burgers.”
She sighed. “One story, and then you all go away and let me have this spot to
myself for a while.”
The story she told them wasn’t something she’d read in a book or learned from
Miss Giddy. It was a story she’d heard when she was their age, at a campfire
shared by travelers from the other end of the wasteland.
“His name was Max,” she said, concluding the tale of the lone road warrior who
wandered the wasteland righting wrongs.
“That’s not real,” said one of the Pups indignantly.
Another seemed genuinely confused. “But why would he help them for no reason?”
“He must really love doing war,” said yet another.
“Yes, it’s real. And he helped because he was a hero. Now, shoo.”
They made a token demand for another story and then they went away obediently.
Toast laid back on a rock. She put her palm flat over her belly. It was now
starting to swell. She’d thought she’d felt movement once or twice, but she
wasn’t certain. Capable and Cheedo seemed to assume that they would get to keep
their babies and raise them, but Toast doubted it.
The Imperators and the older War Boys were almost certainly the fathers of some
of the War Pups, but nobody knew who or which ones. They’d had no contact with
‘breeders’ except to rape them and they had no contact with children until the
boys could walk and talk and begin training as War Pups. They felt no personal
connection to the littlest pups and treated them all the same until they grew
older and distinguished themselves by merit.
But War Boys would know which of the ex-wives’ babies was possibly theirs and
which couldn’t be theirs. They’d favor the children they believed to be their
own over other children. That was human nature. If she was Joe, she wouldn’t
allow that to happen. But maybe he’d grown arrogant enough in his old age and
with the birth of his long-awaited healthy son that he no longer saw the need
to guard against his War Boys developing conflicting loyalties.
Toast heaved herself up with a sigh and reluctantly left the spot she’d started
to think of as hers. Time to head back into the darkness.
She found Slit waiting for her in Blood Shed. He was chatting with the Organic
Mechanic, but he headed straight for her as soon as he saw her.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“Up in the Dome giving Immortan Joe a blowjob for old time’s sake.”
He looked jealous, as if he believed it was true.
Toast scowled at him. “I don’t suppose you’re here to have your teeth pulled
out?”
He bared his teeth at her in response. He still had all his teeth and they
looked healthy too. Maybe the Organic Mechanic had been motivated by more than
just favoritism to let him have so many extra chances to breed. He had some
tumors, but they had to be benign or he wouldn’t look so strong. She’d learned
to gauge how sick a Boy was and how long he had left by sight alone, and Slit
seemed to be very healthy.
Now that she thought about it, so did Throttle and a couple of the others who
were particularly nasty. Almost as if they knew instinctively that they were
the natural equals of Joe and his lieutenants. An interesting thought...
“You want to eat with me and Organic later? He always has lots of food and
today he has a whole roasted lizard. A big one.”
Ah, the privileges of being the only trained medic in the place. Once she
learned everything the Organic Mechanic could teach her and she’d gotten better
at it than him, she would be valuable for more than just her womb. She’d have
leverage to bargain with, be able to negotiate her treatment and living
conditions.
Normally Toast wouldn’t spend a moment more in either of their company than she
had to, but she decided this was an educational opportunity. The Organic
Mechanic seemed to genuinely like Slit as a person - probably because they were
kindred asshole spirits - and he might reveal things he wouldn’t normally
reveal to Toast.
“Who can say no to lizard?”
The meal went alright. The trouble came when it was over.
“Time for dessert,” the Organic Mechanic said, leering. “You can use my bed.
Don’t worry, Toast, you’re not my type. I’ll just watch.”
She’d known that sooner or later Slit would demand to be allowed to fuck her
and the Organic Mechanic would grant him permission to do it. But she
absolutely refused to be used for his entertainment. “No,” she said firmly.
But consent didn’t matter to either of them, so she made it a challenge. “How
about I watch?”
“I’d rather fuck you,” Slit said. He locked his arms around her. “No offense,
Organic.”
“None taken,” the Organic Mechanic said.
Slit had already begun nipping at her throat.
Toast grabbed his head with both hands and made him look at her. “Not in front
of him. I’ll give you what you want, but not in front of him. If you do this to
me in front of him, I’m just going to lie there.”
Slit looked almost comically distressed. He knew she was serious. He turned to
the Organic Mechanic and whined, “Organic!”
“She might think she could just lie there, but she doesn’t know how creative we
can be,” the Organic Mechanic said darkly.
To her total surprise, Slit spared her before she could figure out how to save
herself. “Not her,” he said, and he let go of her.
“Thanks for the chow, Organic. Going to go down to the fighting pits. Wanna
come watch?”
“Yeah. I love watching you work. You’re a fucking artist.”
Toast sat alone in her cell afterwards, feeling shaken. The Blood Shed was
practically empty. There were only two dying Boys in residence and they both
seemed to be asleep. And the caged blood slaves were quiet as always. She
wished Capable was there.
But poor Capable was already overburdened with the emotional demands of most of
the War Boys and all of the War Pups. She tried to take care of Cheedo and
Toast, too, but Toast knew it wasn’t fair of them to lean so hard on her. Maybe
that’s why Cheedo had turned to Morsov the way she had.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for Toast, even if she’d been willing to
accept a War Boy as a friend or more. She brooded about it until she fell
asleep and then she suffered a series of awful nightmares.
She woke up in a bad mood the next day, but the Organic Mechanic set her to
cleaning the teeth of the three youngest groups of Pups and by the time she was
finished, her mental state had returned to normal.
She heard the drums signalling a convoy’s return, so Toast knew to expect them
when the war rig crew filed into the Blood Shed. They were in high spirits,
which meant that some desperate souls had tried to rob the transport and given
them a good fight. Their crew chief wasn’t with them, but that wasn’t unusual.
He rarely came here; he seemed to loathe the Organic Mechanic as much as she
did.
There were no injuries out of the ordinary. The Organic Mechanic began work
immediately on the most seriously wounded, a War Boy with a crossbow bolt
sticking out of his chest - it couldn’t have penetrated anything too serious or
he wouldn’t still be alive - while Toast triaged the rest. She didn’t realize
anything was amiss until Cheedo approached them.
“Where’s Morsov?” she asked.
Toast realized Morsov wasn’t among them. That was strange. He was usually the
first one here, in a hurry to see Cheedo.
A couple of the War Boys gave V8 salutes, and a few others shouted,
“Witnessed!”
“It was historic!”
Cheedo stared at them blankly. She had to know what it meant. She’d lived down
here among War Boys for two hundred days. Toast watched her delay the
recognition of what had happened.
Damn it. And Capable wasn’t even here at the moment. Cheedo was going to need
her. Toast finishing popping a dislocated shoulder back into place. A sizeable
area of skin had been scraped off when the War Boy fell from the rig, and she
had to wash off the sand and disinfect it.
“Cheedo,” Toast called.
Cheedo didn’t seem to hear her. She was staring at a particular War Boy now,
the one they called Elvis. “Where is he?” she asked.
“Valhalla,” he answered her. He added happily, “It was so historic. Wished you
could have witnessed it.”
Another War Boy began to babble on about the gory details, seemingly oblivious
to the horror on Cheedo’s face.
“Cheedo,” Toast called again. “Come here, please.”
Cheedo just stood there.
The War Boy Elvis retrieved a pistol from one of his pockets and offered it to
Cheedo. “There wasn’t much left - we gathered up everything, though, wouldn’t
leave Morsov for carrion-feeders - but I got this. He’d want you to have it.”
Toast stared at the gun excitedly. Was it loaded?
Cheedo, however, recoiled from Elvis’s attempt to give it to her.
And the Organic Mechanic intervened. “Elvis, she’s got no use for it. Keep it
or give it to another War Boy.” He shot Toast a hard look, making sure she knew
he’d noticed her interest in the weapon.
Toast handed the bottle of cleaning alcohol to the War Boy she’d been working
on. He could douse himself. She went to Cheedo and put her arm around her. “Why
don’t we sit down, okay?”
She snapped her fingers at a War Pup. “You, find Capable and tell her she’s
needed here.”
She led Cheedo into her cell and urged her to sit on the cot. She sat beside
her and held her tightly. “It’ll be okay.”
Toast was generally of the opinion that one more dead War Boy was always a good
thing. But Morsov had been decent compared to the others and it was a pity that
he was gone while so many others remained.
***** Capable XIV *****
“Thank you, Capable. But I want to be alone, please.”
Cheedo had never wanted to be alone before, not here and not in the vault.
Capable tried to respect her wishes, but she grew worried when Cheedo rebuffed
her concern again the next day.
“Cheedo, please talk to me.”
Cheedo looked at her with eyes red from crying. “Everyone who’s nice to me ends
up suffering for it.”
Capable hastened to dissuade her of that notion. “That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is,” Cheedo insisted. “Remember what Joe did to the Dag because of me?
Remember what you and Toast let War Boys do to you so they wouldn’t do it to
me? Miss Giddy and Furiosa died because they tried to help. And now Morsov…”
“None of that was because of you, sweetheart. This is just a terrible place,
controlled by a terrible man, and terrible things happen to people here every
day. And Morsov’s death had absolutely nothing to do with you. He was a War
Boy. Their lives are at risk every time they go out. They’re warriors… And
they’ve been taught to seek out ‘historic’ deaths.”
Cheedo shook her head. “I know War Boys want to die violently because Joe’s
made them believe it’s the price they have to pay so he’ll allow them to go to
a nice afterlife. That’s why I made Morsov promise he wouldn’t, that he’d
always come back to me. Morsov kept his promises. I’m sure it must have made it
worse, dying when he was trying not to die.”
Oh.
Capable searched for some way to console Cheedo. “Then he died as yours, not
Joe’s.”
“But he’s still gone. I want him back, Capable.”
Capable could only hug her.
“What’s wrong with her?” Riker asked.
War Boys did not mourn their dead. They celebrated them, and deaths as
spectacularly violent as Morsov’s were especially admired and seen as something
for the others to aspire to. They genuinely could not understand why Cheedo was
upset by it.
“She misses Morsov,” she said simply.
“He was very shine,” Riker said. “But there are other shine Boys too.”
He crouched beside them and put his hand on Cheedo’s shoulder awkwardly. “I’ll
tell the most shine Boys I know to come and you can choose a new favorite.”
Cheedo stared at him like he’d grown a second head.
Capable was aghast. She knew he meant well and he was trying to be kind, but it
was one of the most callous things she’d ever heard.
“You War Boys aren’t interchangeable! Don’t you know that? You aren’t like a
car part you can swap out and replace when the current one reaches the end of
its lifespan. She wants Morsov, not another War Boy. I pity you all so much for
not realizing that each of you is unique and special and when you die the world
loses something irreplaceable.”
Riker seemed alarmed, as did the other War Boys who’d heard her. Nux was
hunched in on himself and giving her a wary look. He hadn’t tried to talk to
her since the day she’d pointed out to him exactly what would happen to her
sons.
Capable sighed wearily. She took Riker’s hand and held it for a few seconds.
“I’m glad you’re concerned for Cheedo. She and I appreciate it. Will you please
get her some water?”
Cheedo wanted to be alone after that, so Capable went to her own cell for a
moment’s peace before she had to go give the Pups their daily history lesson.
She sat with her eyes closed and slowly breathed in and out, trying to let all
negative feelings drain away.
She felt someone watching her, though, and she opened her eyes to find Nux
staring at her. He’d finished receiving his transfusion, but he was still
sitting on the same bench across the Blood Shed. She beckoned to him.
He would have eagerly bounded over to her in the past, but now he approached
her slowly, almost cautiously.
“What is it, Nux?”
“You were lying, right? You don’t really think we’re special, you don’t like
us...”
“I wasn’t lying. Everyone is special. Every person, including the ones you
refuse to acknowledge as people, like the poor man whose blood you just took
for your own veins.”
“I’ll die soft if I don’t get top-ups,” he said. There was a long moment of
silence before he spoke again. “I wanted to die historic on fury road when the
Traitor traitored Immortan Joe, but I didn’t get to.”
Capable felt so tired. She didn’t know what to say to him. But she had to say
something. “If you’d died then, you never would have met me.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t have gotten to fuck you and you wouldn’t hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, Nux.”
“You don’t?!” He looked much happier.
“No, I don’t. You and the other War Boys don’t know anything but what you’ve
been taught. I hate the men who taught you that other people were things to be
used. I hate the men who have the power to make life better for everyone but
instead choose to make it worse.”
“Immortan Joe is making it better for us! We’d be wretched if not for him. He
lets us live safe here in the Citadel as Pups, and he gives us Aqua Cola, and
when we die, if we’re worthy, he opens the gates of Valhalla for us.”
It was no use. As long as War Boys believed Joe was a god, they would refuse to
accept any criticism of the way things were. They had to be made to see that he
was no god, just a man, just a liar. But only his death would destroy the myth
of his immortality. She and everyone else would just have to wait until old age
claimed his life because it seemed there was no way his death could be
hastened.
Capable had reached the point where she would gladly wring the life out of Joe
with her own hands - killing him was very, very necessary - but she would never
have the chance to do it. She’d never be able to get close to him unguarded.
Would Angharad ever… No. Whoever killed Joe had to be ready to sacrifice their
own life because his imperators would see them brutally punished for it.
“I’m almost jealous of those Boys who died soft since you’ve been here though.”
He meant because Capable comforted the dying. He wanted to be close to her. It
made her feel like a heavy weight had been settled onto her shoulders.
“Come here, Nux.”
He drew nearer, looking hopeful.
“Sit down.”
Capable massaged his shoulders briefly. “Feel that? I want you to do that for
me.”
She turned her back to him and waited.
He put his hands on her shoulders but he hardly squeezed, too gentle to do any
good.
“Press harder.”
He obeyed, and Capable sighed in relief as the tension in her muscles were
soothed away.
“What’s this do?” Nux asked.
“It relieves stress, and it also just feels good.”
“Oh. So does a blowjob. Want one?”
Capable laughed, startled. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Sure it is. I heard from the Boys Cheedo chose to breed with her. They
wouldn’t all lie.”
“Ah. It’s not called a blowjob when it’s being received by a woman.”
“What’s it called?”
It was a word in a book to her. It wasn’t something Joe had any interest in and
she’d never been with anyone else until he’d given her to his War Boys. But the
books that had been meant for entertainment rather than education had used
different words.
“Cunnilingus. Or ‘eating pussy’ or just ‘eat out’.” Now that she thought about
the subject matter, she could think of a lot of terms for the act.
“Do you want me to eat out you?”
Yes. She wanted to know how it felt. His hands felt good on her shoulders and
they’d probably feel good on the rest of her body. His mouth would feel good
too. At least, as long as he didn’t say anything that reminded her of his
devotion to Joe.
But she was wary of doing anything else with him that would make him think he
was special to her or cause him to become even more emotionally attached to
her. There was no telling how he’d behave, whether he’d be like his lancer.
Slit’s jealous rages over Toast were not something Capable wanted to deal with,
not with Nux or any other War Boy.
“No, Nux, but thank you for offering and thank you for rubbing my shoulders.”
“I should thank you. You’re so chrome. Touching you is almost like touching the
sun, Capable.”
Yeah, that was definitely enough. She sought a way to gently dismiss him.
Capable twisted around and kissed his cheek. “I have to tend to the Pups, and
you have cars to work on, don’t you?”
But no sooner had he left than half a dozen War Boys entered the Blood Shed in
a tight group and clustered in front of Cheedo’s cell. They were nudging each
other and whispering among themselves.
Capable hurried to see what they wanted.
“The Ace sent us.”
“He made us come.”
“Go away,” Cheedo told them.
“Ace said we had to take care of you for Morsov.”
“But we don’t know what to do,” said one of them, very earnestly. “Tell us what
to do.”
“Go away and leave me alone.”
“Are we supposed to do what Morsov used to do with her?” one War Boy asked
Capable doubtfully. “I don’t think she’d like that. She’s never let me kiss
her.”
“You heard her,” Capable replied. “She wants to be alone for now.”
“But…”
So the Ace had told them they were responsible for taking care of Cheedo, had
he? “Why didn’t your Ace come himself?” Capable asked.
The war rig crew all seemed surprised. Then they exchanged confused looks.
Finally, the one she thought was named Elvis answered, “I don’t know.”
“I’ll ask him,” Capable said grimly. It was long past time she spoke with him.
She marched through the Citadel without stopping until she found the Ace
instructing a group of older War Pups who were taking turns trying to stay atop
a car being driven around a huge cavern. Capable went right up to him and
jabbed her finger in his chest. “You have some nerve.”
The Ace looked like he wanted to be somewhere far from her.
“You told your crew to take care of Cheedo? Now?! Why didn’t you tell them that
before they gangraped her? Where were you then?”
The War Pups had stopped training and weren’t even pretending not to listen.
“But it’s not about her, is it, it’s about Morsov. You only care what happens
to Cheedo now because he cared about her. I thought it was nice at first that
one War Boy had something like a father, but actually it’s weird that you chose
Morsov. He was taken from Buzzards, so he can’t possibly be your son, but some
of these other Boys and Pups probably are your actual sons. Why don’t you try
teaching them some decency?”
“You’re going to get yourself and the boys who listen to you shredded,” he
said.
“Well, maybe you’ll be there to put us down mercifully before they carry out
the sentence. That’s what you do, don’t you? You’re too much of a coward to do
anything else.”
She’d struck a nerve. She could tell by the look that crossed his face before
he made his expression blank. Capable targeted that sore spot again.
“The Boys don’t know any better, but you do. That makes you worse than them.
You might not do the things they do, but you don’t even try to teach them not
to. You think you love them, but you can’t or you wouldn’t let them become
monsters. You claimed you loved Furiosa, but you killed her. You care more
about protecting Joe’s power and being safe in his good graces than you care
about the people you supposedly love. You are a coward.”
“Lesson’s over for the day,” he called to the Pups. He walked away from Capable
without replying to her, just like a coward.
***** Toast XI *****
Toast rounded the corner and collided with a broad, rock-solid chest. One she
was unfortunately familiar with. Throttle. The collision gave him an excuse to
put his hands on her, under the guise of keeping her from falling.
He was her second least favorite War Boy, but he thought he was her second most
favorite one. The first day the Organic Mechanic had sent him to breed with
her, Toast had remembered him saying after the gangrapes that he was glad
Furiosa had turned traitor, that it was his lucky day. She’d been enraged,
knowing that he considered all her suffering a lucky break for him. If her
teeth were only sharper, she would have succeeded in tearing out his carotid
artery. Alas, all she’d done was excite him.
“Toast! How’s the sprog?” He splayed his big hand over her belly.
Toast reconsidered exactly what it was that he’d said and what it might
actually mean. He was glad that Furiosa had betrayed Joe because it led to Joe
giving three of his wives to the War Boys - which meant that he wanted Joe’s
wives for himself more than he wanted his Immortan not to be betrayed and
retain his prize possessions.
She was starting to think that Capable was looking for help in the wrong place
in trying to get War Boys to be kinder and gentler. Maybe instead of trying to
appeal to their better natures, they should be appealing to their worst, most
basic instincts. There was no way they were ever going to convince War Boys
that Joe wasn’t their good and great god. They were never going to turn them
against Joe by convincing them it was right to oppose him.
But the ones who cared least about right and wrong, the ones who believed most
whole-heartedly that might made right and who were confident of their own
strength… It might be possible to stoke their selfishness into resentment
against Joe and his sons and imperators.
“Baby’s fine. Let go of me.”
Throttle released her with obvious reluctance.
Toast raked her nails down his chest, knowing he’d like it. It should be enough
to keep him interested in case she needed him in the future.
He looked pleasantly surprised. “What was that for? You want to fuck?”
Toast scowled at him. “No. I just felt like scratching you.”
He grinned down at her. “Our pup’s going to be so fierce and shine.”
“Yeah, and he’ll still have to take orders from a dimwit like Rictus and a
monstrosity like Corpus.”
Throttle’s face suggested what Toast had suspected, that he didn’t like being
subservient to Joe’s imperfect sons. She didn’t say anything else, just left
him with that to think about.
“There you are,” the Organic Mechanic said. He was leaving the Blood Shed as
Toast was returning to it. “Come along. You’re going to get some obstetrics
training today.”
The Dag. But it was too early. Toast could feel the start of stomach-sickening
fear and helpless rage. Without a living, healthy baby to mollify him, Joe
might very well kill the Dag. Or he might throw her to his Boys. Toast was
thinking of how she could help manage it and lessen the horror for the Dag if
that happened.
But they didn’t go up to the vault. Instead the Organic Mechanic led her to the
south tower and a corridor gated off from the rest of the Citadel. He had keys
to the locks on the thick metal gate. Toast realized where they were. She’d
known that if she and Joe’s other wives and ex-wives were ‘prize’ breeders,
that meant there were other non-prize breeders. She’d avoided thinking about
those women and how awful their lives must be.
“Here you go, Toast. The breeding pen. What do you think?”
It was far different from the luxury of the vault, but it was no worse than the
rest of the Citadel. And at least the women weren’t actually in chains. There
were six of them of various ages and in various stages of pregnancy, and two of
them were still nursing babies from their previous pregnancies.
“This one of them, Organic?” one of the women asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Hop on up on the table and spread them, Missy. You know
the drill.”
“What were you thinking, bitch?” another woman asked Toast.
Toast recoiled at the woman’s hostility.
“Giving up being Immortan Joe’s wife?” The woman shook her head. “Crazy. What
were you fancy bitches thinking? I’d kill this baby in my arms to be one of
Joe’s wives.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what it was really like.”
Several of the women laughed. “You got fucked, same as we get fucked, but you
got compensated a lot better for it.”
“Is it true there are thousands of word burgers up there in the Dome?” asked
the youngest one.
The Organic Mechanic was grinning, looking downright delighted. “I don’t know,
girls, I think Toast and the other two like it better down here. Immortan Joe
is only one man - not a lot for five women to share. They’ve got all the
attention and all the cock they want now.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Toast snapped. “You don’t know what-”
“Of course they know,” the Organic Mechanic interrupted her, still grinning.
“They get gangbanged good and hard every time they’re ripe for breeding.”
Toast was horrified.
“And the Boys don’t whisper sweet-nothings to them before and cuddle them
afterwards like they do with you prize breeders either. They don’t get gifts
and Boys don’t make up silly rhymes about how shiny and chrome they are.”
The women looked even more hostile, but their hostility was all directed at
Toast, not the Organic Mechanic, and she realized what he’d done. He wanted
these women to know that she and the other ex-wives were still treated better
and still valued more than them. He wanted them to resent her and Capable and
Cheedo.
“The Boys love their wives.”
The worst part of that was that it was true. She, Capable, and Cheedo weren’t
merely breeders, they were the War Boys’ communal wives. It was an intentional
punishment for their attempt to flee from being Joe’s wives, but that wasn’t
how these women would see it. And many of the War Boys did seem to love them in
their bizarre way.
Toast refused to discuss it further. “Are you going to train me, or did you
bring me here to gossip?” she said to the Organic Mechanic.
When they were done there, the Organic Mechanic locked the gate behind them.
“I’ve got one more fetus to check on, but Joe doesn’t want you talking to the
Dag.” He grinned mockingly. “I can pass on a message for you, though, since you
and I are practically friends now.”
“Tell her I said the Organic Mechanic is an asshole.”
She returned to the Blood Shed just as Angharad appeared, flanked by two
imperators. Toast was stunned to see her. She’d been beside Joe when he’d
assembled the Citadel’s population and declared her his queen, but Toast hadn’t
heard anything about Joe letting her leave the vault without him.
“Angharad!” Cheedo ran to hug her.
“Capable is probably with the War Pups,” Toast told her. She wanted to ask her
so many things, but she was mindful of the imperators. They were there to spy
on Angharad as much as to protect her. And to watch each other, lest she tried
to get another imperator to betray Joe.
“Cheedo, have you been crying?” Angharad asked. “Is there anything I can do to
help you?”
Cheedo shook her head. “I just miss Morsov.”
“Who is Morsov?”
“A War Boy she was close to,” Toast told her. “He died last time the war rig
went out.”
Angharad looked surprised and very curious. No doubt she was wondering how and
why Cheedo had gotten emotionally attached enough to a War Boy to cry over one.
But she didn’t ask for details, aware that they had to be careful what they
said.
“I was told you’re assisting the Organic Mechanic now, Toast. How is that
going?”
“Very well.”
“How are things with the War Boys? I saw one with your name scarred onto him.
Why did he do that?”
Imperator Ryan gave a short burst of laughter, but he didn’t say anything. He
must know that it was Toast herself who had carved her name into Slit’s chest,
but fortunately he wasn’t interested enough to share that information with
Angharad. Toast was grateful the Organic Mechanic wasn’t here.
She tried not to look guilty. “It’s his maladjusted way of expressing his
emotions, I suppose.”
Angharad arched an eyebrow, but she didn’t press for a better answer.
“Can you go wherever you want?” Toast asked her.
“Yes,” Angharad replied. “As long as I have these two with me.”
“Ask them to take you to the breeding pen.”
Angharad looked repulsed at the words ‘breeding pen’ but she nodded. Talking
was her gift, not Toast’s. She’d probably have better luck getting the unprized
breeders to realize the wives were not their enemies, that they were all
victims and the real enemy was Joe.
***** Toast XII *****
Toast spotted Slit a good distance away. She could have avoided him, but she
didn’t. She stood watching him draw nearer. He walked like he fucked, all
animal grace and power. She felt a shameful pang of arousal. She tried not to
remember what it felt like fucking him, but the more she tried, the less she
could think of anything else.
Maybe...
She had a responsibility to her unborn child, she reasoned. And she owed it to
Capable and the others to do whatever she could to gain them any kind of aid.
“Slit, I want to talk to you.”
He looked surprised, but pleased. “Yeah? About what?”
“It’s confidential.”
He gave her a blank look.
“It means private,” she clarified. She turned and walked away, knowing he’d
follow her.
Almost immediately he caught up to her and slowed his stride to stay beside
her. “I heard you liked this place,” he said, when they reached the spot
outside with the big, flat-topped rocks. “Heard you’ve been chasing pups away
from it.”
He knew she’d been coming here alone? Toast was surprised he hadn’t accosted
her.
He sat down and drew one of his knives and began flipping it. “What did you
want to talk to me about?”
“Your baby.”
“My baby?”
Toast frowned at him. “Probably, yes. I find it very strange that there are so
many War Boys who raped Capable once and are each convinced he is the father of
her baby, but you seem utterly uninterested in my baby.”
He scoffed. “Of course I’m not like those mediocre Boys. Always whispering at
Capable’s belly and petting it. Stupid. Organic says the pup can’t hear them or
feel anything.”
Toast grabbed the knife and he let her take it, grinning at her. But she wasn’t
in the mood to cut him. She set the knife down on the rock and put her hands on
his shoulders.
“But you do love my baby, don’t you?”
“I love you.” He slid an arm around her waist and casually groped her ass with
his other hand.
“That’s not what I asked.”
He shrugged.
Toast was irritated. “How can you not love your own child?”
“I will when it’s born,” he said. “Right now it’s not even real.”
Toast grabbed his hand and held it to her belly. “It’s real.”
She leaned in and bit his earlobe to get his attention. “He or she is real and
they’re going to be damn ‘shine’ and ‘chrome’ because they’re ours. Mine.” She
nipped him again. “And yours.”
“Well, of course,” he said.
“Soon you’ll have a son as strong as you and as healthy as me.”
“Yeah, he’ll be an imperator for sure. Or if it’s a girl, she’ll be Adam’s
queen.”
Toast traced the scars that spelled her name. He was ambitious. She just needed
to get him to think bigger. “Hmm. Why should our child be subservient to
anyone?”
“He won’t be.”
“He will be to Joe and Joe’s sons.” She began unbuckling his belts. “And why
should he be?”
“Because it’s the Immortan.”
She stroked his rapidly hardening cock. “He’s just a sick old man. If you could
see him without his armor, you’d realize it. Why do you think he wears it? You
should see him naked, it’d turn your stomach. He’s got sores all over, even on
his cock.”
She kissed him, and then whispered in his ear, “Trust me, you’re a hell of a
lot healthier than he is. And you’re a much better fuck.”
It had to be blasphemy to a War Boy, but it seemed like a little blasphemy
turned Slit on. He kissed her hard. Then he pulled her tunic off and began
sucking on a nipple while squeezing her other breast.
Toast shed the rest of her clothes. She was already wet. “Fuck me.”
Slit slid off the rock and picked her up and set her on it, and then he crawled
on top of her. She drew her legs up, ready to wrap them around him, but he
pushed them forward, practically folding her in half. He entered her in one
deep thrust that should have hurt. Maybe it did hurt and she just couldn’t
recognize pain anymore because of him.
He pounded her hard, and she knew her cunt would be sore tomorrow, but it felt
so satisfying. “Yes!” she said. “Like that. Oh, fuck, yes.”
He cuddled her afterward, like always. Not for the first time, Toast thought
about how odd it was compared to his other predilections.
“Has anyone ever told you that it’s damn weird you do the things you do and
then want to cuddle when you’re done?”
“Yeah, Organic thinks it’s funny.”
The mention of the Organic Mechanic ruined her afterglow. It was clear he
encouraged the worst in Slit. He took advantage of many War Boys and seemed
particularly obsessed with Nux, but Slit wasn’t just one of his ‘favorites’. He
seemed to regard him as a genuine friend, one he’d made into his partner-in-
sadism.
“How long have you been one of his favorites?”
“As long as I’ve been a War Boy. He was real nice to me when I was a pup too.”
The Organic Mechanic was most definitely not nice. But Slit was idly playing
with her nipples, and it was making Toast ready for round two. She didn’t want
to think about the Organic Mechanic anymore. She grasped Slit’s chin and
studied his facial features, trying to mentally erase the scars and staples and
the paint and grease.
“You must have been handsome before your face got damaged.” He had to have
been, to have caught the Organic Mechanic’s attention.
“‘Course I was. I’m still chrome.” He proudly stroked the staples holding his
torn cheek closed.
Toast was glad his face had been ruined; he would have been too damn
attractive. She immediately cursed herself. What was wrong with her today.
“You knew I came here alone and you never tried anything. I’m surprised.”
“I was going to, but then I realized you’d stop coming here after the first
time. You need your sunlight.”
Yes, she did. The sunshine felt glorious on her skin, almost as good as his
hands, albeit in a different way. But more than that, she needed a place to
retreat to, somewhere she could feel safe even if it was just an illusion. She
wouldn’t have expected Slit to respect that.
“Swear that you’re not going to tell anyone about this. Not your friends, not
your rivals, not any other War Boy, not the Organic Mechanic. No one.”
He looked disappointed. He’d probably been planning to go brag and taunt
Throttle.
Toast pinched his arm. “Swear.”
“I swear I’ll keep it a secret.”
“Good.”
She straddled him and sank down onto his cock.
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m fucking you.”
He grasped her hips and thrust up in her.
Toast ground herself against him. It was almost too much, having every inch of
him inside her. She raised herself up, but he pulled her back down fully onto
him. Fine. She stopped trying to move her hips and instead began rubbing her
clit.
Slit seemed content to watch her masturbate atop him. She found it odd until
she realized that this was something new to him. But if she’d wanted to
masturbate, she could have done that without involving him. She pried his hands
off her hips and placed them on her breasts, keeping her own hands over them so
he couldn’t pull her down again.
He kept thrusting up as she rode him, but Toast liked that. Passivity wasn’t
something she wanted from him anymore than he wanted it from her.
“Fucking shine,” he said, when they were done. “If only Throttle could have
witnessed that.”
“Not a word to anyone,” Toast reminded him. She pulled away from him and began
putting on her clothes.
He tucked his cock back into his pants and buckled his belts.
Toast picked up the knife they’d left forgotten. “I want this,” she announced.
She gave Slit a challenging look, daring him to take the risk of letting her
keep it.
“Organic will have my balls if you stab someone again.”
She smirked at him. “Afraid, Slit?”
She put the point of the knife at the hollow of his throat and drew it down his
chest and stomach in a straight line all the way to the top of his belt. She
wasn’t quite as good with a knife as he was. She hadn’t meant to cut him, but
she’d pressed a little too hard. She watched blood well up where she’d sliced
his skin.
He seized her hair and yanked her head back so he could kiss her.
Toast let him kiss her for a moment, before she slid the flat of the knife
under his belt. She meant it as a threat, but knowing Slit, he probably thought
she was teasing him further. She pulled away from the kiss.
“Twice was enough. I’m not going to fuck you again today.”
He squeezed her breasts. “Why not?”
Why not indeed. But then sense reasserted itself. “We’ve been here long enough.
Someone could come out here and see us - and this never happened, remember?”
“We could go somewhere else.”
“No.”
He released her. “Is it not going to happen again sometime soon?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“You can keep the knife. But if you stab anyone, don’t tell them you got it
from me.”
“Fair enough.”
Toast was in a very good mood. Not a bad afternoon’s work at all.
***** Capable XV *****
Capable had trouble sleeping lately. It wasn’t that anything was wrong - not
more than usual, anyway. It was just that her baby seemed to wake and become
most active just as she settled down for the night. She’d been lying awake for
hours tonight. The night had to be more than half over. Capable gave up and
left her cot.
The Blood Shed was quiet, with the only sound being the occasional snore of one
of the blood slaves or dying War Boys. She watched Cheedo sleep for a moment.
Cheedo was adapting. She went out of the Blood Shed on her own now and seemed
to spend most of her days watching black-thumbs rebuild functional cars from
salvaged wrecks. She’d told Capable she liked that they made things - as
opposed to the rest of the Citadel and War Boy structure, which was designed to
destroy. She’d come back with her hands stained black with engine grease a few
times, so Capable knew she was doing more than just watching, she was learning.
Capable moved over to Toast’s cell. Toast wasn’t content to be one of the
Organic Mechanic’s assistants, she seemed determined to become better at his
job than he was. The War Boys and War Pups who were assigned to the Blood Shed
regarded their duties as an unpleasant chore, but Toast read all the Organic
Mechanic’s books again and again and took every opportunity to work on his
patients.
The Organic Mechanic was happy to let her do his work for him. He’d even taken
her with him to deliver the Dag’s baby. The Dag had given birth to a healthy
baby girl, which was enough for Joe to keep her as a wife and for him not to
harm her, but not enough for him to allow her the same freedom as Angharad. She
was no longer locked in her prison, but she was still confined to the vault.
Angharad descended to visit them every few days. She’d wanted to come every
day, but Capable had advised her against it. It wouldn’t do to have Joe think
they were conspiring. And Angharad was always accompanied by two or even three
imperators, whose presence severely restricted what Capable could say not only
to Angharad, but to her Pups and to War Boys.
The new normal was better than before, but this still wasn’t a place and life
she wanted for her baby.
Capable wandered the Citadel restlessly. There was scarcely anyone about,
except for guards on watch at a few key points. It gave the place a lonely
feel. She went to one of the look-out spots, but all she could see was the
dark. The fires of the Wretched below had long since been extinguished, and
there was no moon tonight. There were still stars in the sky, but as beautiful
as they were to watch, they didn’t provide enough light to see anything down
here.
She had a sudden longing for company of the kind she’d never actually
experienced and had only read about in books. She wanted someone to put their
arms around her and watch the stars with her. Capable sighed and headed back to
bed.
She awoke late the following morning. Her War Pups had come to see why she
hadn’t been to their den to tell them their daily story.
“I’m sorry, my sweets. The baby kept me up all night.”
“He’s a bad pup,” declared one of the littlest War Pups.
She went with them, and when she came back, she intended to ask Toast to make
sure she woke at the same time every day. Toast had just finished stitching up
a War Boy’s wounds, and as Capable watched, he pulled her against him. Toast
didn’t hit him or even shove him away. Instead she said something too quiet for
Capable to overhear and she gave his shoulder a lingering touch Capable was
tempted to call a caress. The War Boy released her and went away looking
pleased.
It made Capable uneasy. These past few dozen days Toast had been attentive to
the War Boys who liked her. Capable knew better than to think that Toast had
developed any fondness for them. She was planning something, but Capable had
been putting off asking her about it. She was afraid to know.
Capable’s legs had grown ugly purple lines and hurt sometimes. The Organic
Mechanic said it wasn’t unusual and there was nothing to worry about. Toast had
concurred, but she came every evening to massage them for Capable. When Toast
came to her cell that evening, Capable broached the subject of her War Boys.
“You’re getting along much better with the War Boys lately.”
“You were right. Harming them won’t change anything. They’re just a symptom of
the real problem.”
“You seem friendly with some of them.”
“You’re friendly with all of them,” Toast pointed out.
“You know why,” Capable replied. “I treat them all the same, but you seem to be
building relationships with specific Boys.”
“I’m trying to make sure the ones who might be the most useful are on our
side.”
Capable let her skepticism show. “I’d like to believe anyone can change and
everyone can be decent, but it seems very unlikely that War Boys like Slit
would ever be on our side.”
“Well, perhaps not our side, but their own side rather than Joe’s side. I’m
trying to find common cause.”
“You think you can turn them against Joe?”
“No. But I know I can turn them against his sons and the imperators.”
If War Boys had no regard for Joe’s sons, then once Joe was gone, they would
have no regard for Angharad. Capable had envisioned Angharad ruling them
through Adam after Joe’s eventual death. Clearly Toast had a different vision
for the future. As she was entitled to, Capable reminded herself.
Still, Capable worried about it that night when her baby’s restlessness left
her lying awake long after everyone else was asleep.
She saw Nux leaving the Organic Mechanic’s private room and she knew what he’d
been doing there. He wore an expression no War Boy would let show if he knew
anyone was watching him. Capable knew exactly how it felt to be stripped of all
your dignity, and she was inclined to let Nux leave without knowing that she’d
seen him.
But this was the perfect moment. “Nux,” she whispered.
He looked utterly dismayed, but the expression was quickly replaced by forced
cheer as he came to her cell.
Capable moved over and patted the cot, inviting him to sit beside her. “Do you
want to talk?”
“Sure, Capable. What do you want to talk about?”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Anything you want. You can tell me anything, Nux.”
“You are so chrome. Can I touch you?”
She felt her smile fade. She wouldn’t have minded holding him, but she was
disappointed that he wanted to touch her the way he did after he’d just
experienced once again how it felt to endure unwelcome touch.
“It doesn’t make you feel good or happy to be touched by the Organic Mechanic,
does it? It makes you feel terrible, doesn’t it?”
“It was just fucking,” he said unconvincingly. He might believe he shouldn’t
care, but he did care.
“But you didn’t want to do it with him.”
“He lets me get all my top-ups from the high octane blood bag. He even let me
take him out on fury road.”
“It isn’t right of him to make you choose between your health - your life - and
letting him use your body.”
“It’s not a big deal.” It was spoken as though he was trying to convince
himself as much as her.
Capable clasped his face between her hands. “It is a big deal. It’s a huge
deal.”
“I’m lucky to be his favorite.”
“But you don’t feel lucky, do you? Neither does Angharad.”
“But she’s the Immortan’s favorite wife!”
“She doesn’t want to be, same as you don’t want to be the Organic Mechanic’s
favorite.”
“Let me touch you,” he pleaded. He put his hand on her thighs.
He was upset and he wanted her to make him feel better. But Capable wasn’t
going to let him use her like that. She was tired of being used. “It would make
me feel the way the Organic Mechanic made you feel. Is that what you want?”
He jerked his hand back like he’d been burned. “No, of course not. I thought
you liked me.”
“I do like you, but I don’t want to have sex with you. At least not right now.”
Capable considered what she was willing to do. Nux needed to be comforted, and
she wanted comfort too. “You can sleep here with me if you’d like.”
“Keep each other warm,” he murmured. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
The cot was too narrow for two people, especially when one of them was heavily
pregnant and the other was Nux’s size. Capable spread the blanket on the ground
and laid on it. Nux snuggled against her. She’d never been able to sleep on her
back, and her belly would get between them if she faced him, so Capable turned
onto her side away from him. Nux spooned himself against every curve of her and
slung an arm around her.
It felt nice. Capable interlaced her fingers with Nux’s, noting not for the
first time that his hand was twice the size of her own.
“Good night, Nux.”
“It is now,” he replied.
***** Toast XIII *****
The downside to encouraging the affections of her War Boy admirers was having
to suffer them wanting to talk to her about their day. Toast had come to
realize that she’d sooner have to fuck them than listen to them ramble on about
the finer points of car engines or why some other War Boy’s new scarification
wasn’t quite as good as theirs. They were boring.
“Well, maybe next time he’ll listen to you and get the design you suggested,
Even.”
Whenever the Organic Mechanic could no longer stand the stench, the blood
slaves were taken to an area where water used in growing produce drained to
form a dirty pool. They were dunked and scrubbed like they were inanimate
objects. Most of them were long since mentally broken and neither resisted nor
cooperated, letting their bodies be handled as if they were objects and the
minds that had inhabited them were already gone.
Sometimes Toast had wished she had that ability, especially when Joe did things
to her that had nothing to do with breeding children.
There was a splash and then curses from the War Boy who’d been knocked over by
the ‘feral’ blood slave. He still fought. No less than ten War Boys were
required to be present whenever he was let out of his cage. Toast admired him.
War Boys were experts at violence, so this man had to be an extraordinary
warrior if it took so many of them to control him.
He was extraordinary period. He shouldn’t be in such excellent health and so
strong after hundreds of days of being kept in a small cage and having blood
taken from him every other day. It was impossible - or it should have been. The
War Boys might be too ignorant to realize it, but the Organic Mechanic had to
have noticed. Toast had considered discussing it with him several times, but
she always decided against it, afraid that he might decide to experiment and
make life even more hellish for this poor man. Besides, Toast was pretty sure
that he was intentionally refraining from acknowledging the man’s super-human
status in order to keep using his blood as currency paid to good-looking young
War Boys.
“Let me,” she said, taking the brush away from the War Boy who’d been
mercilessly scrubbing the man raw.
“He’s psychotic,” Slit said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
Toast pried one of his fingers off her arm and bent it warningly. He let go of
her. She gave him and the rest of them a hard look. “I’m sure he knows what
will happen if he damages your property.”
She knelt beside the man.
He stopped thrashing around and gave her a look she couldn’t read.
“I’m not going to hurt you, and if you hurt me or cause my baby to be hurt,
those boys are going to forget how valuable you are and kill you or make you
wish you were dead.”
He nodded.
“And don’t get any ideas about trying to use me as a hostage.”
He looked surprised at that and then he shook his head. He seemed almost
amused, and he smiled back ever so slightly when Toast smiled at him. He was
handsome. With his healthier-than-healthy state and his looks, he would have
been made one of Joe’s wives if he’d been female. She didn’t know anymore if he
was lucky or unlucky to be here being used as a blood slave instead.
When the blood slaves had been returned to their cages, most of the War Boys
dispersed. A few tried to stay and talk to her, but Toast snapped, “If you
pester me all day, you’re going to make me dislike you. Go away. You’ll see me
tomorrow.”
That didn’t work with Slit, of course. He remained lounging against the bars of
her cell, leering with anticipation.
“Idiot,” Toast hissed quietly. “I’m not going to fuck you here. Go away.”
He dragged her closer and squeezed her swollen breasts. “Your teats have gotten
bigger.”
“That does happen when one is in the later stage of pregnancy.”
He continued playing with her breasts, causing her to heat with arousal. She
didn’t want to stop him, she wanted more. She wanted his mouth on her.
Toast glanced around. Capable and Cheedo were away, the Organic Mechanic was in
his room with the door closed, and the War Pups who normally loitered about
were absent, probably off with Capable. There were two very sick War Boys lying
on benches, but they looked listless and uninterested in anything.
She pushed her tunic up to bare her breasts and Slit eagerly bent to suck a
nipple without having to be told. Toast pressed on his shoulder and he knelt.
She moved one of his hands from around her waist to between her legs. “Fuck me
with your fingers.”
Toast leaned back against the bars, enjoying the dual sensations of being
fingered and having her nipples sucked. It didn’t take long for an orgasm to
build, and once it had finished crashing over her, she pushed Slit away. Or she
tried to.
He’d stood up and he was using his body to keep her trapped against the bars
while he unbuckled his belts.
“No! I told you I wasn’t going to fuck you here.”
“There’s no one around to see.”
“No,” Toast said, though she knew it was inevitable and it was her own fault
for letting it get started.
But Slit frowned. “No?”
“No.”
“Really?” he asked. He wasn’t making any further move to force himself on her.
“Really.”
“But you got me hard. And you know you enjoy it.” He was practically whining.
Toast was struck suddenly by the significance of it, of the colossal magnitude
of what it meant that he was trying to persuade her to fuck him instead of
simply forcing her.
“Then jerk off. I’m not in the mood.”
He began sliding his hand up and down his cock rapidly. She hadn’t meant for
him to do it here, but she kept watching. There was a dark satisfaction in
knowing that she was denying him what he really wanted.
“You could do it for me,” he suggested hopefully.
“I’m enjoying the show.”
He reached out and squeezed one of her breasts. “I was looking forward to
watching them bounce while I fucked you,” he said almost mournfully.
She knew she would have enjoyed it if he’d ignored her refusal and fucked her
anyway, even though she would have hated it, him, and herself too. Toast hated
that he’d found that part of her and made her aware of its existence. She hated
that that part of her existed.
“What are you looking so mad about?” he asked.
“Just tired of every damn thing.”
“Let me fuck you and make you come again. You know I will.”
“I told you I’m not in the mood.” She wanted this over. She put her hand on his
cock and he let go, letting her take over stroking it.
He wanted to snuggle afterwards, as always. Toast no longer minded the
intimacy. She could say things to him she would never say to Capable.
“I know you won’t understand since you have such a high opinion of yourself,
but sometimes I really don’t like myself.
He drew back to look her in the face. “Why the fuck not? You’re shine and
shiny.”
Capable might have been the one charming War Boys in the desperate hope that
she could make them treat her more kindly, but it was Toast who’d given in and
adapted to what the Citadel wanted her to be.
“I’m not as strong as I wish I was.”
Slit nuzzled her. “Of course not, you’re tiny.”
“That’s not the kind of strong I meant.”
“I know. You’re tiny and not well-trained, you’d never be able to shred the
whole Citadel. You think too much if you think you could have.”
“I do think too much,” she admitted. “I wish I could shut off my brain
sometimes.”
He tapped his fingernail against the blade of the knife he’d let her take. “I’m
surprised you haven’t stabbed anybody yet.”
Toast hadn’t hidden the knife, she’d flaunted it, tying a length of cord around
the handle and wearing the cord around her hips like a crude belt. It was a
challenge, one the Organic Mechanic had backed down from. He’d cut himself off
in the middle of demanding to know where she got it - realizing he would have
to discipline the War Boy who’d given it to her and choosing to put his
friendship above good sense. And when he’d demanded she hand it over, she’d
told him to come take it off her, a challenge he’d declined to accept.
“I’m waiting for the right time. Besides, it’s useful for other things.”
Drums sounded, beating the rhythm that signalled a convoy from Gas Town. It was
the Citadel’s war rig that transported produce and quality drinking water to
Gas Town and brought back gasoline. A convoy from Gas Town meant a visit from
the People Eater, come to submit his reports to Joe and to be reminded that he
held his office only in service to Joe. Toast wondered if Joe was deluded
enough to make him swear fealty to his infant son, whether he thought the
People Eater would remain subordinate to the Citadel once he was gone. Then
again, a heart attack was likely to claim the People Eater before old age
claimed Joe.
Slit kissed her and then disentangled himself from her. “Got to go kick some
polecat ass.”
“If you can catch one,” Toast teased.
“Of course I can.”
When he was gone, Toast realized she’d forgotten about the one alert human
being who’d been there to see everything. She went to the ‘feral’ man’s cage,
ashamed that he’d seen what he had to have seen.
“I needed someone,” she told him. “And he already knew the parts of me I didn’t
want anyone to know about.”
The man shook his head. He grunted incomprehensibly. Then he cleared his throat
and said clearly, “Not my business.”
Three whole words.
“What’s your name?” Toast asked.
But he didn’t answer and his eyes went distant, like he was seeing something
else.
Toast sighed and went to sterilize equipment.
Around sunset there was a commotion as a War Boy carried Capable into the Blood
Shed, flanked by an anxious Cheedo and followed by a dozen other War Boys and
War Pups.
“You should have said something,” Cheedo was chiding Capable fretfully.
“It’s started?” Toast asked.
“The contractions started hours ago,” Capable admitted. “But you know there
isn’t anything to do but wait. I didn’t want to just lie here for hours and
hours.”
It wasn’t like childbirth was fun out in the wasteland - there was always the
worry that the birthing process would kill the mother - but it was a special
trial here in the Citadel. She didn’t know what the standard was for the other
breeders, but for Joe’s wives, a third stillbirth or imperfect baby meant being
expelled, unless your body was producing enough milk to get you used as a
milker. Toast had looked forward to eventually being released from Joe’s
clutches that way, but she’d soon realized it was no proper escape. Weakened
from childbirth and without anyone to care for them, there was a high
likelihood of death for the breeders thrown out of the Citadel.
It was a minor miracle that both Angharad and the Dag had given birth to
healthy babies. What were the chances that there would be a third miracle, or a
fourth, or a fifth? Probability dictated that they wouldn’t all have living
babies or healthy babies. It was incredible enough that neither she, Capable,
or Cheedo had miscarried so far.
The excited chatter of the War Boys grated on Toast’s nerves. How long would
they like Capable if she failed to give them what they wanted?
There had to be over two dozen War Boys crowded into the Blood Shed to
“witness” the birth. The Organic Mechanic kept ordering them out, but they’d
leave only to come back a few minutes later. As irritating as they were, their
presence was probably what kept the Organic Mechanic from verbally tormenting
Capable as he’d done to the Dag.
Toast had wanted to kill him. It was unspeakably cruel to shower a woman in the
agony of childbirth with insults and reminders of her fate if the baby she
delivered wasn’t good enough. Joe had checked in on the progress of the birth
occasionally, but he hadn’t cared what his Organic Mechanic said to the Dag.
Capable’s pain distressed the War Boys, most of whom seemed to have had no idea
that women didn’t simply pop out babies at will, that it was a long and painful
process. One of them offered Capable a hit of chrome.
“It’ll make you not feel the pain,” he said.
Capable looked tempted, but she shook her head before Toast could call the War
Boy an idiot. “It would get into the baby’s bloodstream and harm him or her.”
Against all odds, the baby was born alive and healthy and even male. Toast cut
the umbilical cord with her knife rather than a scalpel. It seemed right.
The War Boys had all fallen to their knees and were holding their arms up in a
V8 salute.
“A nice strong War Pup,” the Organic Mechanic announced.
“A son just as healthy and strong as Joe’s,” Toast said loudly.
The Organic Mechanic shot her a wary look at that, but he didn’t say anything
to negate what she’d said. It was the truth and no one could deny that, though
Joe would undoubtedly try.
***** Capable XVI *****
Angharad came to see her - and her baby - on the third day. She was accompanied
by two imperators, as usual, but Imperator Ryan went off to speak with a dying
War Boy and Imperator Luger hung back, seemingly uncomfortable either around
them or the baby.
"How are you?" Angharad asked. "The Organic Mechanic reported to Joe that you
were 'undamaged' and the baby was 'healthy and male'."
"I feel fine," Capable told her. "I know I'm not. I know this baby and I are in
a horrible situation, but, Angharad, I feel good anyway."
Angharad tried to smile at her. "I understand."
Toast joined them. "What did Joe have to say about this little miracle?"
Angharad looked very grim. "He was furious. He thinks it should have been his
and we robbed him of another son."
Toast seemed spitefully pleased at that, but Capable was worried. She could
easily imagine Joe demanding her baby be sacrificed to him or something equally
vile, and the worst part was that the War Boys would gladly do it.
"Have you decided on a name?" Angharad asked her.
Capable shook her head. She'd never thought of naming any baby because it'd
always seemed impossible that it was a choice she'd have.
"How about Pax?" Toast suggested, with a wicked smile.
Angharad looked amused and Capable had to smile too. "Very funny, even though
only us and Joe will know what it means."
"I don't think we should provoke him," Angharad said gently.
That really worried Capable. Giving her son a name that meant 'peace' was
exactly the sort of thing Angharad would have done. If she was advising against
it, then Joe was every bit as angry and jealous as Capable feared.
Toast seemed afraid of something else. "He isn't thinking of taking us back, is
he?" she asked. Her tone made it clear she was horrified by the notion.
Capable knew Cheedo would choose the vault and not necessarily just to be with
the Dag. She herself wasn't sure which she would pick if she was forced to
choose between returning to Joe or remaining here as the communal property of
his War Boys.
"I think he thought about it, but his pride wouldn't let him," Angharad
replied. She looked conflicted. "Do you want me to try to persuade him?"
"No," Toast answered quickly.
Joe might take Capable back, but he wouldn't take her baby and her baby was now
the most important thing in the world to her. She would endure another gangrape
if that’s what it took not to be separated from him. "No," she said.
“What do you want to be called, little one?” Capable murmured to her baby after
Angharad and Toast had left.
He was beautiful. Capable couldn’t stop marvelling at his perfect little
fingers and toes. He had no distinguishing features or coloring to hint at
which War Boy had fathered him. Pale skin, dark hair, dark eyes - it was a
common combination. Capable liked that. She was glad she couldn’t identify who
had fathered her baby; she didn’t want that bond with any of the War Boys, not
with the way her son had been conceived.
She heard Riker sigh loudly and release a blood slave from his cage. The man
fell and there was no movement. Riker hoisted the body over his shoulder and
headed out of the Blood Shed. He was carrying it to be processed and turned
into fertilizer for the green. Capable had lost count of how many blood slaves
had been used up - had been slowly murdered - since she'd been down here, but
she felt tears prickle her eyes.
She clutched her baby tighter. She didn't want him to be part of a society that
used people like that and she didn't want him being used. There had to be
something more she could do to save him from that.
She saw a War Boy approach out of the corner of her eye, but Capable didn’t
look up. War Boys came all day to see her and their baby. She didn't realize
exactly who it was standing there until the silence dragged on and she finally
glanced at her visitor.
The Ace had come to visit. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Her baby might be his
grandchild for all any of them knew.
Capable stared at him without speaking, waiting to hear what he would say to
her. What was there to say? She'd given the Citadel another War Pup, another
boy to have his humanity brutalized out of him until he grew into a monster to
be used as cannon fodder.
"Do you need anything?" he asked. He looked very uncomfortable.
"Freedom. And safety for my baby - real safety."
The Ace winced. "I meant like cloth for diapers or help with anything."
"No, thank you. His fathers are very resourceful and very helpful."
“I know you think the Citadel is a terrible place, and I won’t deny that it’s
harsh, but you are healthy and beautiful - you’ve been cared for all your life,
you don’t know how much worse it is out there.”
“It’s true I’ve never gone thirsty or hungry, but I know no one here has to go
without water or food. The Citadel has enough for the people below. Joe makes
them beg to be slaves and he works them to death without their thirst ever
being quenched or their hunger sated.”
She laid her baby down on her cot and stood to point her finger accusingly at
the Ace. “Furiosa knew it too. She tried to forget, but she came from somewhere
better and she remembered. She hated this place and herself and you.”
The Ace flinched. “Yes, she’d known better. It’s why she wanted to be forgiven
for doing what she’d done to survive.”
“And you?”
It made him defensive and angry. “It’s easy for you to judge, you haven’t had
to choose between yourself and another yet. You’ve had the luxury of other
people prioritizing your survival above others for you.”
Capable scoffed. “If you think that’s true, you have no idea what goes on in
Joe’s vault.”
They just stared at each other for a moment, the Ace looking miserable and
Capable feeling weary. Then she picked up her baby. She held him and kissed his
forehead, and then she offered him to the Ace.
He shook his head, refusing to hold the littlest War Pup.
“You know how it feels to know what awaits him. How do you bear it? How do you
not try to do anything to change it?”
“What am I supposed to do?” he snapped loudly.
“Something.”
There was a long, tense pause. Then the Ace said simply, “Let me know if you
need anything I can help with.”
Capable laid on her cot after he’d left, cuddling her baby close. Having no way
to save herself and her friends, having to simply endure what was done to her
was one thing. Knowing that she was helpless to save her baby was much worse.
She was crying silently when she tried to smile at her son and told him, “You
are my little bundle of sunshine. I think I’ll call you Sunny.”
***** Toast XIV *****
When he’d seized her in front of other people yesterday and whispered in her
ear where he was going to be today, she’d punched him for it. But now Toast
found herself feeling antsy enough to seek Slit out. Just like he’d said, this
tunnel was empty. It appeared to be a dead end, but when she reached him, she
realized there was a short ladder and a sturdy-looking metal hatch in the
ceiling.
“Does that lead outside?” she asked.
He pulled her against him and tried to kiss her.
Toast smacked his shoulder. “Answer me.”
“Yeah, I suppose. I’ve never seen it open. Immortan had it built when I was a
pup just in case.”
“Speaking of pups, yours is kicking me kami-crazy.”
He laid his palm flat on her swollen belly and appeared delighted to feel the
baby kicking her. “Shine!”
That, as well as the feel of his arm around her, seemed to settle or satisfy
something inside her. She felt calmer and almost contented in a way that she
knew was totally false and yet felt real. She also didn’t feel particularly in
the mood for sex.
“That was it,” she said, reluctantly pulling away from him. “That’s all. I’m
not in the mood for sex of any kind.”
He pulled her back against him and held her tight. “Alright. But stay and keep
me company. It’s so fucking boring having guard duty here.”
Toast didn’t believe it at first. He’d accepted that there would be no sex and
he was not only not upset, he still wanted her company? It was too good to be
true. But moments passed and he made no move to touch her sexually. She could
lose herself in his arms if she let herself. But Toast refused to do that. She
struggled until he released her.
“Your Immortan says I’m a breeder, but you want to know something? He hardly
ever did any breeding with me. Most of the time, he shoved his cock where there
could never be a baby, where he would just get off while causing me pain.”
Slit looked shocked.
Toast slapped him. “Guess I’m not a bad breeder when I’m actually bred, right?”
She’d cut her hair this morning. The memory of what it felt like when Immortan
Joe held her hair while he raped her, how he liked to pull her hair while he
fucked her from behind, had resurfaced vividly and she hadn’t been able to get
it out of her head.
“You are the shiniest and most chrome of breeders,” he said. He dropped to his
knees. “And your pup will be the healthiest and most shine pup.”
Stupid battle fodder. Joe’s mindless cannon fodder. But for one desperate
moment, Toast wanted to pretend he wasn’t, that he was the strong warrior he
looked like, that he was the sort of man whose child she would be happy to
bear. She hated that she was crying.
“Please don’t cry,” he said.
She hadn’t thought the word ‘please’ was part of his vocabulary, but it wasn’t
the first time he’d surprised her. Probably why she kept fucking him.
“And what if this baby dies before it’s born or it’s born dead? Or it’s not
even human? What will you think of me then?”
“It happens.”
“What?” She was beyond surprised, she was shocked.
“Babies die or get so you wish they’d died all the time. Not your fault or
mine. Immortan’s had plenty of babies die before they were born, and he has
Corpus, that useless smeg.”
It was true, and more truth than Toast had thought a War Boy could recognize.
She sank to her knees and let Slit wrap himself around her. It felt good if she
could only stop thinking.
Toast was in a much better state of mind when she returned to the Blood Shed,
only for the Organic Mechanic to inform her that Joe had summoned him and she
was coming with him.
Immortan Joe frowned when he saw her, and Toast realized he hadn’t ordered her
presence or expected it, that the Organic Mechanic had brought her along for
his own amusement. If only she had a gun and she could put a few bullets in
them both.
“How long before the breeder Capable can breed another pup?”
“There was no tearing and she’s recovering well. It should be safe to resume
breeding her in five or ten days. But the chances of conception are reduced
while she’s breastfeeding.”
Joe nodded. “All the more reason to take the pup from her. The milkers can
nurse him, and she will put her energy to better use breeding another pup.”
“The Boys won’t like losing their pup, Immortan,” the Prime Imperator said.
“My Boys will be happy to sire more pups for me.”
They were going to take Capable’s baby away from her, and hers too when it was
born and Cheedo’s as well. They were going to be used as breeders in the truest
and worst way and never be allowed to be mothers.
Toast wanted to scream. She wanted to tell Joe what a disgusting monster he
was. She wanted to kill him. But she kept quiet, too afraid that he would find
some additional way to punish her for any open defiance.
“You want to tell Capable the good news or should I?” the Organic Mechanic
asked once they were out of Joe’s presence. He sounded sadistically delighted.
Toast couldn’t even form an insult to spit at him. She stumbled away and found
a dark corner and allowed herself to cry freely. She wasn’t sure how long she
was there. Every time the tears stopped and she thought she had control of
herself, she broke down again.
“What’s the matter, Toast?” she heard a young male voice ask.
Toast quickly wiped away her tears and turned to see a very young War Boy whose
name she didn’t know standing there. He looked concerned.
“Nothing more than usual,” she replied, before walking away.
He must have hurried off to inform the other War Boys that he’d seen her crying
because only a couple of minutes later Throttle caught up to her.
“Heard you were crying,” he said.
Crying was seen as weakness and regarded with contempt, especially by War Boys
like him and Slit. Yet he didn’t seem disgusted. He looked worried. He liked
her because he thought she was strong and tough, so maybe to him her crying
portended a catastrophic disaster for the whole Citadel and the world as he
knew it.
Would he or any other War Boy care that their children were taken away if it
meant they got to make more? Joe thought they wouldn’t, that they would feel
and think whatever he told them to. Before the failed escape or even a hundred
days ago, Toast would have thought he was right, that his War Boys were mere
puppets he controlled.
Somehow, though, she’d developed a desperate hope that Joe was as wrong about
his Boys as he was about practically everything else. A foolish desperate hope.
When she didn’t reply, Throttle touched her face almost tentatively, as if he
wasn’t even sure how to touch someone gently or comfort them. But he was
trying, so Toast let him. It was shocking, especially since he’d never gotten
what she’d given Slit and there should have been nothing to evoke tenderness
from him.
“They’re our children. Ours. He has no right to take them from us.”
Throttle frowned. “No one’s taking our pups.”
“Immortan Joe is.”
He gave her a look of incomprehension.
“He’ll take them and keep them away for hundreds and hundreds of days, and when
you see them again, you won’t even know which are your children and which
children came from the Wretched.”
“The Immortan wouldn’t do that.”
“He will, you’ll see.”
***** Capable XVII *****
It’d been hours since the Organic Mechanic gleefully informed her that she had
five more days with her baby and then he’d be taken away and she’d have to
begin trying to conceive another baby. She’d begged, and promised that she’d
breed with every single War Boy in one day if he let her keep Sunny, but he’d
only laughed and said Joe had made the decision.
Capable had been sitting here ever since, trying desperately to think of some
way to change Joe’s mind. Perhaps if she begged to be allowed to conceive his
offspring… But no, even if he agreed, he wouldn’t reward her efforts until
after she’d produced a child for him and then only if the child was healthy and
male.
A pair of War Boys came to sit beside her. One of them stroked the top of
Sunny’s head and the other kissed the soles of his tiny feet.
“That’s a good name you gave him, Capable. He’s as shiny as the sun.”
“What’s the matter? You look sad.”
“Is it Sunny? Is something the matter with our pup?” He looked very worried.
The other War Boy was alarmed too. They thought of Sunny as theirs even though
neither of these two particular War Boys could have fathered him. His skin
would have been darker if Pierce had fathered him, and Sprockets was part of
the war rig crew and had raped Cheedo, not her, the day of Fury Road. But they
considered her baby theirs anyway because War Boys weren’t used to having
anything as individuals.
Even the things they scavenged and seized in the wasteland were considered
property of Immortan Joe, and his imperators allotted things to them on his
behalf. They knew that their very lives belonged to him, too, and they
considered it an honor and a privilege.
“Nothing’s the matter with my baby.”
She wanted to tell them what Joe planned and beg them to demand to keep Sunny,
but she knew better. All Joe had to do was appear in person and they would
gladly hand their baby over to him and believe it was an honor to have him take
him. She didn’t tell them because they wouldn’t do anything to stop it and it’d
only make her hate them.
“Is it you? Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Organic,” one of the two shouted.
But before she could explain that she wasn’t that kind of not-okay, several
Pups ran into the Blood Shed shouting for the Organic Mechanic. Their words
didn’t make sense at first.
“Immortan’s been shot! The Ace shot the Immortan!”
The Organic Mechanic ran, and Capable ran behind him, clutching her baby. She
had to see for herself. She prayed silently for it to be true.
It was chaos. War Pups and War Boys were praying loudly, and Rictus Erectus was
wailing.
“Organic, do something,” the Prime Imperator ordered urgently.
The Organic Mechanic stated the obvious. “There’s nothing I can do.”
The upper half of Joe’s head was gone, blood and brain splattered all over the
ground. The Ace was in the same state. He must have shot Joe in the head and
then given himself the same quick and merciful death he’d given Furiosa.
“He’s dead,” Toast said, joining them.
“He’ll live again!” insisted a War Boy.
“Why’d the Ace do it?” someone asked.
“Traitor.”
The War Boy Sprockets had followed her and now another War Boy attacked him.
“It’s a crew of traitors. First Imperator Furiosa, and now Ace. Let’s shred the
whole crew!”
Other War Boys joined in, and Sprockets fought back. Capable moved away from
them, lest her baby was accidentally hit. But other fights were breaking out.
“War Boys!” the Prime Imperator bellowed, trying to restore order.
“Immortan’s going to rise again,” insisted a very thin War Boy. He knelt beside
Joe’s body, raised his arms in a salute, and bowed his head as if he intended
to wait for his hoped-for miracle.
“He’s dead,” Toast shouted. “DEAD! His corpse will start to stink and rot just
like any other corpse.”
There was silence for a moment. Then somebody declared, “Immortan has gone to
Valhalla and left us behind!”
“We have to go with him!”
There was the sound of a gunshot and Capable pinpointed it just in time to turn
and see a War Pup fall dead, killed by a deluded War Boy who’d loved him enough
to want him to enter Valhalla though it was an honor usually reserved for War
Boys who died in combat or by Joe’s own hand.
“No,” she screamed. She knew herself onto the ground, trying to shield her baby
without crushing him.
“Yeah, we gotta take the Pups, and our wives, and his wives.”
“War Boys,” the Prime Imperator roared. “Stand down. You are not to kill
anybody. Return to your barracks. I’ll have orders for you shortly.”
“Why didn’t you go to Valhalla with the Immortan?” a War Boy demanded.
There was a brief pause before the Prime Imperator was able to marshal together
Joe-esque bullshit. “Immortan left me behind to keep things running. He doesn’t
want anyone else joining him now. We’ve got to keep the Citadel running smooth
for Adam. Immortan’s left his sons to lead us in his stead.”
A War Boy laughed harshly, and Corpus gave a squeal as he picked him up one-
handed, holding him by an ankle.
Rictus rose to his feet and started towards them angrily. “Let go of my
brother!”
“What are you doing, Throttle?” asked Imperator Jacks. “That’s Immortan Joe’s
son.”
“It’s a useless lump of misshapen flesh that wouldn’t have been allowed in the
Citadel if it wasn’t Immortan Joe’s.”
“But he is Immortan Joe’s,” the Prime Imperator reminded him sternly.
Throttle had backed away from Rictus to the edge of the room where there was
only half a wall and a large opening to the sky and the wasteland below.
Almost a dozen War Boys had encircled Rictus and drawn knives and other cruel-
looking implements. One of them darted close and pulled at his oxygen tank,
dislodging the hose that carried pure, clean air. Rictus swatted him and he
fell in a crumpled heap, but other War Boys were swarming him. Capable saw War
Boys cutting his hamstrings.
“War Boys, stop this insanity!” the Prime Imperator ordered.
Throttle flung Corpus out of the window, and a War Boy plunged a knife hilt-
deep into Rictus’s back.
“Why should we listen to you?” demanded the War Boy Slit. Rictus was still
alive, moaning piteously as Slit sliced his stomach open and reached inside.
“I didn’t like taking orders from those two either,” Imperator Luger said. “But
the insubordination ends with this.”
Imperator Ryan was smiling oddly. He was younger than the other imperators. He
had only been promoted a couple hundred days ago and he had more friends among
the War Boys than his fellow imperators. “It was a good question, Prime.”
“He’s the Immortan’s prime imperator,” Imperator Luger answered for him.
“The Immortan is not so immortal after all.”
There were some gasps at that. It was a shocking blasphemy, and even more so
coming from an imperator.
“Yes, Joe’s very much mortal and dead,” Toast said. She spat on him and kicked
at his ruined head.
A War Boy lunged at her, but before he could punish her disrespect, Throttle
wrapped his arms around her from behind and turned aside, shielding her.
“He’s dead,” she repeated. “He was no god. He was just a liar. If some of you
are stupid enough to want to join him, then go ahead. But there’s no reason for
the rest of us to keep living like nothing’s changed.”
“There will be no changes for now,” the Prime Imperator decreed.
But hardly anyone was listening. War Boys were chattering among themselves,
trying to make sense of what had previously been unthinkable to them. Despite
how quickly some of them had turned against Rictus and Corpus and the Prime
Imperator, most of them still seemed to believe that Immortan Joe had chosen to
abandon the wasteland for the shining halls of Valhalla where he awaited them.
“I’m going to ride to Valhalla proper.”
War Boys began streaming away, and Capable hurried after them.
They were getting their vehicles ready, and arming themselves, and drums had
started pounding to announce a war party departing. They were going to go off
to pick a fight with Buzzards or some other hostile group and get themselves
killed.
“No! Don’t!”
She grabbed a War Boy’s arm, but he kissed her cheek and petted Sunny, and then
carried on preparing for his suicide mission.
“Don’t throw your lives away for no reason, please!”
She saw Nux, her innocent monster, and threw herself against him. He wrapped
his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
“I’m going to miss you, Capable.”
It was a horrible, tragic waste. It repulsed her viscerally. They were going to
seek death because of that evil old man’s lies. He was gone and they still
wanted to give him their lives.
“War Boys,” Capable yelled, trying to imitate an imperator’s command voice.
“Joe lied. I swear to you, he lied. He was your Immortan, but I was his wife
and I saw him without his armor and without his clothes. I swear to you, he was
only a man. He was a wicked man who figured out how to use other people’s sons
and make them die for his benefit and use their daughters to breed him sons.”
They were listening, but they weren’t really hearing her. To hear what she said
and accept it would be too devastating. So Capable said what she knew they
could bear to hear and might accept.
“I need you all, and our baby needs you. Please don’t go die. I love you.”
“I love you, Capable,” Nux said. “We all love you.”
Two other War Boys were also hugging her, squeezing her tight between the three
of them, and others laid their hands on whichever part of her they could reach.
“So don’t leave me. Please, don’t go. Stay.”
A War Boy forced his way to her and kissed her. Capable couldn’t understand at
first why the others had let him displace them until he released her and
stepped back. It was a farewell kiss. Over a dozen other War Boys came to bid
good-bye to her and their baby.
She dug her nails into Nux’s arm. “No.”
“I’m going to die soon anyway. Best to follow the Immortan.”
“You thought you were going to die when you chased after the rig on Fury Road,
but here you are and here I am and Sunny too. You don’t know what you might
miss by letting yourself die before you had to.”
Capable pressed her mouth to his and kissed him desperately.
“So you do have a favorite,” another War Boy said.
“I don’t want any of you to die.”
Half of them who’d intended to follow Joe in death had listened to her. Capable
mourned for the ones who hadn’t, and then she finally allowed herself to marvel
at the fact of Immortan Joe’s demise. The Ace had finally done something.
Nobody would be able to take her baby away now, and the Citadel would change.
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