Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4005193.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Mad_Max:_Fury_Road, mad_max_-_Fandom, Mad_Max_Series_(Movies)
  Relationship:
      Immortan_Joe/OC
  Character:
      Immortan_Joe, Miss_Giddy, Rictus_Erectus, Corpus_Collosus, The_Organic
      Mechanic, The_Splendid_Angharad, Original_Female_Character(s), Capable_
      (Mad_Max)
  Additional Tags:
      Dubious_Consent, Forced_Marriage, Developing_Relationship, Pregnancy,
      Ambiguous_Relationships, Dubious_Morality, Internal_Conflict, Slavery,
      Sexual_Tension, Sexual_Slavery, Prequel, Stockholm_Syndrome, Emotional
      Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological_Abuse, Sexual_Abuse, Postpartum
      Depression, Abusive_Relationships, Disturbing_Themes, Explicit_Sexual
      Content, Rough_Sex, Oral_Sex, Rape/Non-con_Elements, 69_(Sex_Position),
      Grooming, Underage_Prostitution, Underage_Sex, Past_Abuse, Prostitution,
      Sex_Work, Vaginal_Fingering, Biting, Rough_Kissing, Forced_Pregnancy,
      Miscarriage, Post-Traumatic_Stress_Disorder_-_PTSD, Abuse, Physical
      Abuse, Childbirth
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-05-25 Updated: 2018-02-10 Chapters: 27/? Words: 20558
****** Such Things ******
by baixue88
Summary
     A wife's tale, told in segments of exactly 100 words each.
     Takes place approximately 5 years before the events of MMFR.
     Warning: Everything in the tags could be potentially triggering. This
     fic deals with some very dark themes, especially surrounding sex.
***** Chapter 1 *****
 
[cover]
 
 
     “The devil he wore such a fine, fine shirt
     and it stayed so clean while he dragged me through the dirt.
     Now, honey, don't trust anyone who looks you in the eye
     don't take any kindness, it's a demand in disguise."
     - Deb Talen, ‘Rocks and Water’
 
Cargo
           Mint awakens with a jolt. Her hands are bound, and so are her legs,
and her head is pounding horribly. Vaguely, she remembers her mother’s ragged
cries, and something hitting her on the head.
           She raises her head slightly, looks around. There’s a slaver in the
front seat of the car, his head wrapped in a dirty brown mask.
           “Don’t even think about a fight,” he tells her.
           She wasn’t. There’s no point, not now. She just lies there, rocking
with the movement of the car. The desert sun is hot on her legs, and she closes
her eyes again.
 
Before
           She remembers what happened to Rick, but only in bits and pieces.
The old man had been travelling with them for ages now, and he was travelling
with them as usual when gunfire ripped him in two. He’d never been caught off
guard before then.
           The slavers descended on them from both sides of the narrow valley.
Old Rick fought as long as he could, but he bled out fast, his iron red
staining the sand. Mint ran for Mom, but thick arms wrapped around her waist
and something heavy sent lightning through her skull and she knew nothing more.
 
Mom
           They have never been apart. Not a single day. She has no memories
without Mom in them; her wiry steel grey hair and hard brown skin.
           When Mint was about fourteen, Old Rick came along. When Mom saw his
bulge, she gave Mint to him, and so he stayed with them.
           It had hurt at first, but Mint got to like the feeling of his
stubble as he licked her breasts. Mom always said it was safe, that she
wouldn’t start bleeding till she was older anyway.
           In the beforetimes, Mom said, they bled at twelve or younger. You’re
lucky.
 
Surrender
            Rick is dead now. It’s too horrible. She’d have been his girl a
while longer; she’d liked him and his dry wit and quick draw.
            “If ever you get caught,” Mom had always said, “just let them do
what they want to you. They’ll hurt you less that way.” Then Mom would show
Mint the scars all up and down her legs and the stubs where her toes used to
be.
            Mint lies very still and says nothing, and neither does the slaver.
She searches her mind hard for a last memory of Mom, but everything is grey and
fuzzy.
 
Citadel
            Voices rise to greet them, gnarled hands claw at the windows. A
long shadow falls over the car, and Mint risks a look outside. All she sees are
rock walls.
            The frantic, frenzied begging is drowned out by a loud screech of
metal on metal, an endless clanging, and then there’s a voice at the window:
            “What’ve you got?”
            “Girl for sale. Inspected her myself. Healthy and intact.”
            The shadow shoots her a glance through the glass and then nods.
            “Bring them up!”
            The clanging begins again. Mint can see the rock walls passing as
they rise up into darkness.
 
Inspection
            She’s pulled out of the car and carried like a sack over a big
man’s shoulder, thumping against his broad back. When they set her down, a
bearded man in goggles unties her legs and prods at her innermost places. She
squeezes her eyes closed and tries not to cry.
            “He ain't lying; she’s intact. Virgin. Have you bled yet, girlie?”
            She keeps her eyes shut tightly. Shakes her head.
            “No matter; she’ll start bleeding soon enough from the looks of
her.”
            “We should bathe her before we bring her to Him.”
            “Why waste water? See what He thinks first.”
 
Lies
            She hasn’t been a virgin for six hundred days now, even if she is
still ‘intact.’ Rick and his hard cock took care of that. She’d resented Mom
for it at first, but Mom didn’t want another mouth to feed, and Mint still
hadn’t bled at all. It was easier that way. Over time, she almost came to love
him. He took care of her and Mom.
            Should I tell them? she wonders, but then she imagines being thrown
from the height of the rock wall and decides she’ll just let them think what
they want. Maybe they’ll be kinder.
 
Immortan
            He is examining a car: two bodies melded into one and set upon
gigantic wheels. He is immense, even from a distance – broad and tall and
standing powerful. She doesn’t need to see Him up close to know that this will
not be like Old Rick, and her legs buckle beneath her.
            Just let them do what they want to you.
            No, she thinks, run. Run!
            Her legs won’t function. They’re limp as an old hose. She is held
by her arms and dragged forward.
            “Immortan,” someone says, “new delivery for you.”
            He turns. His face is a death’s head.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Look
            His gaze weighs her, penetrates her, a gem collector rolling a
stone in his hand. She can only look straight back. If she looks away,
something terrible may happen. Never let a snake out of your view, Rick told
her.
            Would Mom have looked away? She thinks of the scars. Maybe.
            “Turn around,” He says.
            Someone’s hand touches her arm, and she remembers the fingers
between her legs. “Don’t fucking touch me,” she blurts, jerking away.
            “My apologies, Immortan. She has a mouth on her.”
            His eyes don’t leave hers.
            “Turn,” He repeats, His voice no louder than a breath.
Turn
            Mint is still caught by His eyes. They’re cold and hungry and
there’s none of the laughing warmth that was once in Old Rick’s.
            I’ll never see him again. The realisation hits suddenly, and she
glances around, frantic. White faces on every side: staring, curious. She is
utterly surrounded, all eyes on her brown body.
            She looks back up at Him, closes her eyes, and turns slowly.
            His gaze is a live wire, tracing down her back and up her arm and
across her collarbone and then back down again, brushing across her breasts and
finally resting on her womb.
Bargain
            “Give him ten gallons.”
            “I want fifteen. Nearly lost my eye, killing her father.”
            Rick would’ve made a shit dad, she thinks, but keeps quiet. She
keeps her eyes closed, too, so she doesn’t get trapped in His blue eyes again.
If that happens, she might not get another chance to look away.
            “The advertisement was for ten. Bring me another and I’ll consider
tipping you.”
            There is some grumbling, but the slaver leaves willingly, footsteps
fading.
            I am worth ten gallons of water, thinks Mint. So little, but so
much.
            She thinks of Mom's scars. Her mouth is dry.
Preparation
            “Where’s my mom?” They are the first words to leave her mouth as
the old woman bathes her.
            The woman’s mouth tightens as if in pain. “I don’t know, child. Sit
still.”
            They say nothing else. Mint is plunged into warm water. She drinks
half of what pours over her, her mouth open greedily.
            She’s dressed in white linens that show off her flat brown stomach
and the curve of her hip. Her hair, clean for the first time in years, is
pulled back behind her ears in a twisting braid. She has never been dressed so
fine, so exposed.
Rick
            He found them by the roadside. He pulled up in his car with the red
stripe down the middle. Mom’s anxious fingers dug into her arm.
            Girl for a ride.
            Going where?
            Anywhere. She’s untouched, and yours every night of the journey.
            The 'journey' lasted two years. It didn’t take long to figure out
that Rick didn’t intend to ever drop them off. Nobody gives up free pussy, he
laughed when she asked later on, pushing greying hair out of his eyes.
            She’d hated him at first. She’d hated her mother more.
            But at least he’d never have married her.
Vows
            “Name?”
            “Mint.” Her mouth is dry again already.
            The Immortan makes a noise inside His mask that might be a snort of
laughter. He reaches out and takes her right hand in His. His fingers are meaty
and rough.
            “Mint,” He says, “I take you as my wife. You will have me and hold
me, love, cherish, and obey me, so long as I see fit.”
            And then she hears a sizzle, and the back of her neck is on fire.
She screams. He does not let go of her hand, and the air around them erupts in
horrible cheers.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Waking
            Mom is sitting crosslegged, mending broken tools to sell by the
roadside. She is singing, low and clear.
            She wakes up in a clean, soft bed surrounded by bright sandstone
walls. Light is pouring in from above, and everything is burning.
            “Water,” she gasps, voice hoarse, and a cup is put into her hands.
She drains it, and when it’s refilled she drinks it down so fast that she
almost chokes.
            “Slowly, slowly,” a voice coos, and for the first time she sees the
twin faces in front of her, white eyes set in midnight black skin.
            “Finally, she’s awake.”
 
Twins
            The girls are wrapped in identical white sarongs that accentuate
their breasts. Their hair is shot through with copper wire that glints in the
light as they move.
            “Jedda,” says one.
            “Jarrah,” says the other.
            “But He calls us Left -”
            “- and Right -”
            “-and never keeps it straight.”
            “I’m Mint,” Mint says, “and that’s all He’s called me so far.”
            “He’ll come up with something soon.”
            “Always does.”
            “You’re His new pet.”
            “Pets get nicknames.”
            Mint finishes her water as the Twins question her. She’s too tired
to answer most. It doesn’t matter; they still tumble on as if she has.
 
Fourth
            There are two more beds in the room, both primly made. One, they
tell her, is occupied by another wife, who’s “at the Mechanic.” The other is
vacant. Waiting.
            The fourth woman comes in soon, and at her side is the old lady who
bathed Mint, helping her as she struggles forward with her heavy, pregnant
belly.
            “Just two months to go,” she murmurs, and the Twins bite their lips
in unison.
            “Maybe -”
            “- it will live this time.”
            “It has to.”
            “It will,” the woman says firmly, but she seems unconvinced. She
has bags under her blue eyes.
 
Kindest
            Then the woman notices Mint.
            “Oh,” she whispers, “you’re awake! How are you?”
            Mint isn’t sure whether to lie or not. “Fine.”
            The pregnant wife struggles over, one hand on her belly and the
other extended. “I’m Kindest,” she says.
            “What’s your real name?”
            “Just Kindest.”
            “It’s what He calls her,” says Jarrah.
            “That’s all she needs,” says Jedda.
            Their voices are gentle, but they share a look behind Kindest’s
back, the corners of their mouths turned downward.
            Kindest drops her hand when Mint doesn’t take it, and her delicate
fingers tug anxiously at the white linens covering her belly.
 
Beginnings
            The days pass by quickly.
            Miss Giddy teaches them all together, but the other girls are more
advanced. Mint can barely write her name. When she fails her alphabet, she
smashes her cup against the wall. A few plates soon follow. The other girls
look at her in terror, glancing occasionally towards the giant vault door.
            After a few times, Miss Giddy lets her stay in the bedroom. The old
woman’s eyes are sad. Mint sits in bed and tries to forget.
            At night, she dreams of Mom and Rick, and wakes screaming to find
herself wrapped in Kindest’s arms.
 
Breaking
            “- won’t even try. And won’t stop breaking things.”
            Mint awakes but doesn’t stir, just listening. There is a murmured
reply, and then a long silence. She closes her eyes again.
            “Miss Giddy says you won’t do her lessons.”
            The voice makes her start and she sits up fast, eyes wide. The
Immortan fills the door with His frame, His breath heavy.
            Mint says nothing.
            “And you won’t stop breaking my things,” He adds, and folds His
arms as He watches her, waiting for her to reply. When she doesn’t, He grabs
her hands, looks at the pottery-cuts.
            “Very well.”
 
Glass
            The next day, the Immortan enters, holding a large hammer in one
hand. A slave brings in an old box filled with bottles of every size and
colour, as well as a pair of heavy gloves and goggles.
            “Wear these.” The Immortan tosses Mint the goggles and gloves. “Get
it out of your system.”
            He hands her the hammer. She takes it, fingers brushing His against
the rugged wood.
            She goes to the centre of the room, sets a bottle on the floor, and
brings the hammer down on it. Glass splinters, throwing green spots of light on
the walls.
 
Therapy
            The next day, the other girls move to the far side of the room to
get away from her noise. Mint smashes away, listening to the tinkling music as
the bottles split apart, until she can no longer lift her arms. Then she sits
in the middle of her mess.
            Slowly, on the dusty floor, swirls and patterns begin to emerge,
little pieces of glass fitting together into sun and sky and swirls of stars.
She doesn’t notice the other girls fall silent. She doesn’t hear the vault door
swing open, nor the heavy footfalls.
            “Good,” says the Immortan. “Good.”
***** Chapter 4 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Nightmares
            Mom is sitting crosslegged, mending broken tools to sell by the
roadside. She is singing, low and clear.
            Mom, whispers Mint, I think I’m in love with Rick.
            She sighs and sets down the screwdriver. Don’t be ridiculous. He’s
just all you know so far.
            He’s a good guy!
            He’s tolerable. That’s all. There will be others.
            Why should there be others?
            Because you’re a woman. Mom points to her mangled feet. There’s
always gonna be others.
            Mint’s pillow is wet. She feels pressure on the bed beside her, and
looks up through the blackness.
            “You were crying,” whispers Kindest.
 
Settling
            The Immortan gives Mint a little tin box to keep her shards in.
Every night she picks them up, and every day sees a new design. As the days
pass, Miss Giddy begins to coax her into trying the alphabet again, and soon
she is reading haltingly.
            Some nights, He comes in and sits with them as Kindest plays the
piano. The Twins joke back and forth merrily, and it makes Him laugh, but
behind His back they clasp one another’s hands and squeeze tight. On those
nights, they go away with Him.
            “He takes them together,” Kindest explains, unasked.
 
Familiar
             One night, He says He’ll eat dinner with them. A big table is
brought in, set with cooked meats and fresh greens and fruits.
            There’s a soft hiss of pressure releasing, and for the first time,
He removes His mask. Miss Giddy averts her eyes, but the others don’t react.
They’ve seen this face too often.
            Mint just stares. His face is soft with age, but she can see the
remainders of a hard jaw, a grim mouth. He glances at her, and the corners of
His mouth prick up. She realises with a thrill: He smiles just like Rick.
 
Names
            “Mint,” He murmurs her name one day, sitting in the sunlight by the
impluvium. “Why did your mother name you for a plant?”
            “Not a plant.” Mint is arranging her little shards of glass again,
making patterns of colour. He’s watching her intently; she can feel His eyes on
her hands. “A little pill. She said it was the most incredible thing she ever
tasted.”
            He stands up. “Come.”
            She looks up at Him, startled. “Where?”
            “I want to show you something.”
            For the first time, He unlocks the vault door and swings it open to
let her go through.
 
Green
            The greenhouse is alive with the smell of wet dirt. There is more
green here than Mint has ever seen before, ascending and descending in ripples.
The workers step aside, staring, their eyes catching on her bare stomach. A few
blush and turn away.
            They step back in waves as the Immortan passes, and she follows in
His wake, her eyes on the green. The smell is wet and fresh and her mouth
waters at it on instinct. She wants to dig her fingers into the little pots and
feel the moisture, but she keeps her hands at her sides.
 
Mint
            The Immortan plucks a leaf from one little plant and holds it up
before her.
            “Mint,” He tells her, and with His thumb He presses it between her
lips. He keeps His thumb there, just between her teeth, and a sharp taste
floods her mouth. It burns, but in a pleasant, warm way, clean and bright as
the sunshine.
            His thumb is still in her mouth. His palm cups her cheek, rough as
sandstone. She is not sure what to do, but her tongue curves instinctively
against Him.
            He pulls His hand away. “Bleed soon,” He says.
            It’s a command.
Chapter End Notes
     Two chapters tonight, I'm on a roll!
     I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D
***** Chapter 5 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Firsts
            The first time hurts terribly. Rick’s panting and groping repulses
her, and afterwards she can hardly walk.
            After it’s over, she creeps to her mother’s bed, lays her head on
her lap, and weeps.
            It’ll get easier, Mom promises, smoothing her hair.
            It does. She learns to enjoy his hands, and he teaches her to enjoy
herself, too. He shows her the best ways to pleasure him, how to rub him and
lick him and suck him. She learns to love the way he moans her name, the look
on his hard face as he spills himself on her stomach.
 
Read
            “Read to me,” He commands her one evening while Kindest plays the
piano.
            “What should I read?”
            “Whatever Miss Giddy’s been teaching you.”
            She fetches her tattered book. The Boxcar Children, it says on the
front. She can read it on her own now, though it’s still a struggle.
            “‘One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery ….'”
            “Sit.” He pats His thigh. Mint looks at the others. Their eyes are
carefully averted. Kindest keeps playing.
            Mint obeys and sits down stiffly on His lap. His thigh is soft, but
His armour is hard against her back.
 
Stories
            He puts a hand on her hip, rubbing His thumb in circles.
            “‘No one knew them,’” she reads, trying to ignore the whisper of
His mask against her ear. “'No one knew where they had come from ….'”
            She’s almost halfway through Chapter One when she shifts herself a
little and suddenly feels a lump in His pants that jumps against her. His
breath catches in His throat, and she feels the teeth of the mask brush against
her hair.
            Her voice falters. She looks up from the book to meet Kindest’s
eyes. Kindest smiles, sweet and sad, and nods.
 
Touch
            Mint keeps reading. His hand slides down her outer thigh, rough
fingers slipping into the opening of her sarong to stroke her bare skin. He’s
tracing more circles up and down her soft flesh.
            As she finishes the chapter, His fingers have wandered back up her
inner thigh, edging towards the opening of her underwear. His touch burns, and
something deep within her trembles.
            She closes the book and, following some deep, wily instinct, grinds
back against Him ever so gently. His breath comes out in a soft hiss.
            “I need more glass,” she tells Him.
            “Yes,” He groans. “Yes.”
 
Tease
            He takes the Twins that night. When they return the next morning,
they are moving gingerly, trying not to grimace. Their dark arms and legs are
smattered with darker purple bruises.
            “You shouldn’t tease Him,” says Jedda.
            “He gets frustrated,” says Jarrah.
            “He hates being frustrated.”
            “Wait till you bleed.”
            “You’ll understand.”
            Mint is standing above a glass bottle, her hammer in her hands. She
hands silently it to them, and the two girls take turns smashing the new
bottles that were brought in early this morning. Colours fly everywhere. Mint
stands and watches, guilt twisting sickly in her stomach.
Chapter End Notes
     Next chapter coming (very) soon! Thanks for reading!
     (Excerpts from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner)
***** Chapter 6 *****
Grace
            The woman is small and boney. Her face was once beautiful, though
now it’s been blasted by sand and heat. She is well-dressed for a Wretched: her
clothes are whole and she doesn’t carry her home on her back like the others.
            “Teach her to dance. You have three days,” Joe says, gesturing to
Mint.
            The woman smirks. “So you did miss me.”
            He glares, but goes out silently and shuts the vault door behind
Him.
            The woman looks at Mint, her face hard but her eyes full of pity.
“So you’re the new favorite. I’m Mab. Once called Grace.”
           
Reunions
            When they see Mab, the others burst into tears almost immediately.
They rush her as one, wrapping their arms around her and touching her
everywhere to make sure she’s real. Kindest can barely breathe, she is so full
of emotion.
            “We thought you were dead,” she keeps repeating. “We thought you
were dead!”
            And then Miss Giddy comes in, and the weeping begins afresh. The
old woman takes Mab's face in her hands, stroking it, kissing it.
            Mint can only stand back, feeling half awkward and half estranged.
She just watches as Kindest wraps her arms around Mab’s emaciated waist.
 
Outside          
            “How have you survived?” They ask her once they’ve calmed down.
            “I danced before I came here. I dance again. Among…other things.”
            The others look at one another awkwardly.
            “Root Bottom,” Mab says aloud, a bitter smile on her face. “It’s
better than any alternative.”
            “Are…are others there?” asks Kindest.
            Mab shakes her head. “Timid was once. But she’s…gone now.”
            Miss Giddy gets up and goes to be alone.
            “Maybe He’ll let you stay on,” Jarrah says.
            “Teach us all,” Jedda adds.
            Mab shrugs and points to Mint. “No, just her. Be grateful. She’ll
have all His attention soon enough.”
 
Demonstration
            Mab is allowed to stay with them at night, and they stay up talking
and reminiscing for long after Mint goes to sleep. She tries to stay awake, to
listen, but she doesn’t know half of what they’re talking or laughing or crying
about.
            The next morning, lessons begin. Mab goes first as Kindest plays a
lively, exotic tune. Mab’s moves are primal, sensual. Each step is an
invitation and a denial all in one. Her whole body flows flawlessly, hips
swaying like a snake and arms twisting about her torso.
            For a moment, Mint, entranced, forgets why Mab dances.
           
Lessons
            Mab starts her off slow, teaching her gentle moves – how to move
her hips, twist her shoulders. They dance all day until Mint thinks her feet
will fall off, only to continue the next day.
            The lessons don’t get too complicated; Mab focuses only on how to
dance for someone else’s pleasure. The Twins act as props for them, sitting in
for Joe as Mab demonstrates how to drag her body over His to the music, how to
grind her ass against His lap to a rhythm. Jedda and Jarrah joke all the while,
impersonating Joe’s voice in cupped hands.
 
Protégé
            The third day dawns, and Mab works Mint harder than ever before,
even giving her lessons in how to do what she calls a strip-tease. Her voice
grows harsh and urgent; the laughter of the day before is gone.
            Finally, when Mint feels like she can no longer even move without
her muscles screaming, Mab lets her sit and bathe her swollen feet in the
impluvium.
            “Listen,” Mab says. “I’m teaching you this for you. There’s going
to be a day when He throws you away, too. There is for everyone. You need a
back-up plan for when He does.”
 
Goodbyes
            The sky above them turns pink, then purple, and then the light
fades away. The women sit and speak quietly and sadly. Kindest clasps Mab’s
hands in hers and Miss Giddy stuffs what supplies she can into the pockets of
Mab’s clothes.
            When the light fades from the sky, the vault door swings open.
            “Say your goodbyes,” Joe tells them, and poor Kindest nearly begins
to wail, her arms wrapped tight around Mab’s waist.
            “Please, no,” the Twins are begging, but Joe doesn’t heed them.
            Mab grabs Mint’s hands just before she disappears through the door.
            “Remember what I said!”
***** Chapter 7 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Bleed
            Rick lies before her, and his blood gushes red from his chest. It
stains the sand and begins to pool, surrounding her and staining her and
soaking her in thick, warm crimson. She can feel his bullet wounds piercing her
guts.
            And then she wakes, and the bed underneath her is a mess of blood.
The pain is shrieking through her muscles. She rolls over, clutching at her
stomach, tears springing to her eyes.
            “Kindest,” she whispers, her voice wavering with terror. “Kindest.”
            A lamp flickers to life, and worried faces surround her.
            “She’s bleeding. God, she’s bleeding.”
            “It’s time.”
 
Treat
            Joe comes in first thing that morning. He holds the stained red
sheets in His hands, His face unreadable except for His eyes, which are
shining. Mint is lying, still in pain, on a clean bed, a hot pack pressed to
her belly.
            He hands her an orange ball. It smells sweet and pungent and it
takes her a moment to realise that it’s food.
            “Congratulations,” He tells her, and He sounds sincere. He looks to
Miss Giddy. “I trust you to teach her what to expect, if she’s not already
aware.”
            Miss Giddy takes a deep breath. “Yes, Immortan.”
 
Duties
            “I know what to expect,” Mint says as soon as Joe leaves.
            Miss Giddy strokes her hair, just like Mom used to. “I know, child.
But do you know what He expects?”
            Mint is silent, turning the orange ball in her hands. Miss Giddy
takes it and cuts it open with a little knife, revealing the pulpy flesh
within.
            “He will not be gentle,” she whispers, her voice tense. “He will
not be kind. And He will expect you to enjoy yourself.”
            “I’m not really a virgin, you know,” Mint grumbles.
            “Good. No girl should have Him as their first.”
 
Week
            Every day for five days, Joe comes in to check on Mint. For the
first two days, she feels too sick and sore to get out of bed. He sits by her
bedside and talks to her a little while, and gives her the same fruit – an
‘orange,’ He calls it – every day. She devours them greedily, savouring the
puckering sweetness.
            Sitting still for the remaining few days drives her nearly crazy.
The rags between her legs reek of iron, and they’re itchy. She sits and
practices her reading, trying to ignore the sticky mess and her own suffocating
boredom.
 
Lucky
            The blood wanes at the end of the week, diminishing to only a
trickle of red. Kindest sits with her, letting her feel the kick of the baby
under her palm.
            “It’s almost over,” she assures Mint. “You won’t have to deal with
it again for a while.”
            “One month.”
            Kindest rubs her huge belly. “Not if you’re lucky.”
            “How is this lucky?”
            “He doesn’t come to you as often once you get big. He gets too
worried about disturbing the baby.”
            “Is it that bad with Him?”
            Kindest sighs. Her face looks old. “He loves us. But it hurts.”
 
Love
            She thought she loved Rick. He was funny and he took care of her
and Mom. But Mom always warned her that Rick didn’t love her back.
            Just another man, Mom would say, and rub her legs.
            “Joe loves us,” Kindest assures her. “We’re His treasures. He gives
us so much.”
            It’s true: she has never been so well fed, or had so much to drink.
She's never slept so comfortably or taken baths or eaten oranges.
            Sometimes He even tells them, “I love you girls.”
            “No one else has ever loved me so much,” whispers Kindest, and she
smiles.
 
Ready
            The blood stops one morning. There is nothing on the rags when she
wakes, and they wait to see if it starts again. It doesn’t.
            “It’s time,” Miss Giddy says, and sends word to Joe.
            Mint is given a bath and her hair is combed out long and loose. Her
legs and armpits and womanhood are shaved totally bare. Sweet perfumed oil is
applied to her neck and her breasts and her inner thighs. Finally, she is
wrapped in fresh white linens. Her lips are painted bright red, her eyes
outlined in black.
            “She’s ready.”
            The Twins hold her hands.
Chapter End Notes
     Be warned: the next chapter is pretty clearly going to have some
     harder stuff. Thanks for reading, as always!
***** Chapter 8 *****
Chapter Notes
     Trigger warning: Pretty much everything in the tags applies for this
     chapter.
Virgin
            She isn’t a virgin, but she nearly feels like one again as the
vault door swings open and an immensely tall man shambles inside.
            “Dad’s sent me to get ya,” he grunts, and Mint rises hesitantly to
her feet, her mouth dry and heart pounding. Kindest squeezes her hand gently,
and the Twins hug her.
            “It’ll be over soon,” promises Jedda.
            “Before you know it,” Jarrah adds.
            The tall stranger makes a noise of impatience. Shaking like a
child, Mint follows him out, casting one last look back at Kindest before the
door slams shut with a heavy, metallic thud.
 
Maze
            The man leads Mint through twisting halls, down stairways, around
dark corners, until she’s well and truly lost her sense of direction. Any
attempt to escape in this maze would be a fool’s errand.
            That is, if she wanted to run. She’s not sure she does, though her
fear tugs at her to do so. She can only think of Mab, selling herself down in
Root Bottom. Where else does she have to go? Rick is dead, and Mom could be
anywhere. The wide expanse of wasteland is fully visible from the vault: there
is no where else to go.
 
Bedroom
            At last, they arrive at a great iron door emblazoned with the same
mark that’s still slowly healing on the back of Mint’s neck. The tall man
knocks, waits a beat, and then pushes the heavy door open with ease and nudges
Mint gently inside.
            “That’s all, Rictus.”
            Mint blinks until her eyes adjust in the low light, and then sees
Joe, surrounded by a few War Boys. His death mask is gone, and the Boys are
working on removing His armour, rubbing His dusted-white torso down with water
and ointments.
            Rictus nods, and another door slams shut behind her.
 
Sons
            “My son, Rictus, is a giant with the mind of a child,” Joe tells
her. His soft skin is covered in scars and strange nodules. Though He sits
upright and proud, His breathing is laboured, and His jaw is clenched against
pain. “My other son is a giant with the body of a child.”
            “I didn’t know you already had children.”
            “Children. Not heirs.” His eyes meet hers, flashing pale blue
through the dimness. “That is your job.”
            The Boys finish up and bow. Joe dismisses them with a wave of His
hand, never looking away from Mint.
            “Now. Dance.”
 
Dance
            Joe presses a button on a machine beside Him, and music begins.
Mint closes her eyes, and her hips begin to move to the thrumming beat.
            When she opens her eyes, His are burning with hunger, and she feels
a thrill at seeing Him half-naked and still. 
            Her own enraptured audience.
            And so she does the dance Mab taught her, kneeling between His legs
and sliding slowly up His body like a snake before turning around and grinding
her ass against Him, her hips jerking to the rhythm. She leans back against His
chest, feeling Him swell beneath her.
 
Grind
            When she takes His hands and places them on her hips, He can no
longer keep still: she feels His ruined lips drag up her neck to her jaw bone,
His breath warm against her ear. His calloused fingers dig into her flesh so
hard that she’s sure she’ll have bruises later, but she keeps up the dance.
            It’s easier to do this than I thought, she realises. It’s so much
easier just to lose herself in the music, to let her body take over as the
dread leaks away. She is in control here.
            But then the music changes.
 
Switch
            She loses the beat and, with it, whatever charm she held over Him.
He jerks her ass back tight against His crotch, and she feels something warm
and wet as He traces His tongue in a line along her throat. His hand grabs her
by the jaw and turns her face roughly so that He can press His diseased mouth
to hers.
            She doesn't struggle; she lets His tongue in, and it roams her
mouth possessively, tasting her. She hears herself let out a strangled moan,
and His cock twitches against the cleft in her ass.
            “Bed,” He growls. “Now.”
 
Bed
            She half-stumbles to the bed, linens already being pulled off by
His greedy hands. Her sarong comes off in a tangle of white, ensnaring her arms
and legs. His mouth is everywhere, tasting her, exploring her, teeth nipping at
her flesh. His great, hulking frame overwhelms her. She can only close her eyes
and give herself up. Rick never hungered like this, never attacked me with such
need.
            When He enters her, she is slick, but still not expecting the
suddenness of it. He fills her up, surges into her like a battering ram.
            She is drowning beneath Him.
 
Delight
            Sleep takes Mint almost against her will; her body is just too
exhausted to resist it. She falls asleep with an arm slung across His wide
chest, His seed dripping out between her legs. In the morning, He wakes her
with His mouth on her breasts, His fingers dipping into her folds. She’s still
mostly asleep when He takes her from behind, and she allows herself to half-
dream it’s Old Rick, alive and with her and protecting her.
            Thinking of Rick, she comes, her whole body quaking.
            “A delight,” He whispers to her afterwards, stroking her hair. “You
are a delight.”
***** Chapter 9 *****
Doors
            When she opens her eyes again, she’s still tangled in His bed,
limbs caught in His sheets. Her womanhood aches as if someone has kicked her.
Her torso is covered in His bite-marks.
            Slowly, she becomes aware of a great clamour outside. For the first
time, she notices that there’s another door, this one much larger than the one
leading to the hall.
            Muffled by sandstone, she hears Joe’s voice ringing out across the
Citadel, and answering cheers. Gingerly, she wraps a sheet around herself
and hobbles over.
            Amazingly, it opens. This door, out of so many, is unlocked.
Water
            Cautiously, Mint pushes the door open and finds herself surrounded
by water on one side and light on the other. There is more water here, in this
one room, than she has ever seen in her life.
            As her eyes adjust to the bright light, she’s able to make out Joe
standing against blue sky, surrounded by several men.
            “-beaten the Buzzards back!” He shouts, waits a beat, and then
holds up His hands to silence the wild cheering.
            And then she hears a loud click, a rushing, and a thunderous noise
so powerful that it makes the stone tremble.
 
Curiosity
            Rictus, standing beside his father, turns. She freezes, but it’s
too late: he nudges Joe and motions.
            Joe glances at her. “That door was meant to be locked,” He hisses
at Rictus. He’s at Mint’s side in an instant, a hand closing around her arm.
His brow is furrowed, and for a moment her heart catches in her throat.
            “Why didn’t you wait inside?” He demands.
            “I just ...,” Mint looks towards the great blue opening. Her mouth
is dry. “I just wanted to see. I was thirsty.”
            His eyes soften. “Come on, then. Rictus, get my wife a some milk.”
           
View
            His hand still fast around her arm, Joe takes Mint to the huge
opening, keeping her to the shadows so that none outside might gaze upon her.
            Mint looks out in awe, drinking up the sight of the Citadel that
she can just barely hear from the vault. There's the massive Garage directly
across from them, crawling with white-painted War Boys, and then, below, the
great brown swarm of unwashed bodies.
            “The Wretched,” Joe tells her. “They come to me from all over for
protection, for shelter. You would be down there had I not raised you up, my
Delight.”
 
Search
            She stands and looks out a while longer, Joe at her side the whole
time. Rictus brings her a bottle of milk which she drinks up quickly, her eyes
never leaving the Wretched below. She tries her best to make out individuals,
to look for a grey-haired woman on crutches, but to no success.
            Joe keeps a hand on her waist, and thankfully His attention is
elsewhere as He gives orders to men with black foreheads.
            “There was a battle?” she asks, not taking her gaze from the
Wretched. Where are you, Mom?
            “In the East.”
            “We won?”
            “We won.”
 
Hope
            “I need to go to the Garage.”
            Mint’s spirit leaps. “Can I come with? I know some about cars.”
It’s true; Rick taught her plenty about them on the road. And the Garage is
closer to the bottom, closer to the Wretched, where she might look at their
faces better.
            Joe looks at her in mixed pleasure and surprise, but shakes His
head. “The Garage is no place for you,” He says, petting her hair. “You must
wait for me.”
            She is shuttled back into His bedroom, and the door closes behind
her, locking her in stifling darkness once again.
 
Cry
            When the lock clicks behind her, the tears burst forth violently
and unexpectedly. She hasn’t wept in two years. Stop your weeping, Mom always
reprimanded her. It's a waste of water.
            She can’t stop, though, no matter how hard she tries. Her heart is
tight with rage and frustration and it turns into water and is pouring out her
eyes. She wants to strangle someone, to break something, but she doesn’t dare
touch anything in this room. Instead, she just goes to the bed and punches a
pillow until she doesn’t want to scream anymore.
            Pain throbs between her legs.
           
Soothe
            Her tears have dried by the time Joe comes back, leaving her with
only a tired, empty feeling. Joe is actually humming with satisfaction as He
walks in. He doesn’t even notice the redness of her eyes; He just takes her
straight to bed, sating Himself on her flesh.
            Fucking is like dancing, or dancing is like fucking. Either way,
it’s a backwards sort of comfort, numbing her pain through bruises and bite-
marks. When He gestures for her to use her mouth, she obeys without question,
and He grabs her hair so hard her eyes water. Even that is comforting.
***** Chapter 10 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Mutual
            They go slowly this time, and Mint is grateful. The crying left her
hollow. She’s greedy for whatever fills the space.
            He lets her set the pace, rolling her tongue languidly over the
head of His cock and down the shaft, licking up the drops of precome that leak
from the tip.
            “Wait,” He mutters, and moves her so that she’s lying down His
body, His head between her legs. She gasps when she feels His tongue probe at
her, and before long she can no longer concentrate on His pleasure.
            He presses a finger in, and she cries out.
 
Melt
            When He finds her clit, she can no longer contain herself. She’s
reduced to a quivering mess on top of Him, muscles gone watery and mind gone
white.
            There’s wetness all over her thighs, His mouth. She feels a rumble
of laughter deep in His chest.
            Joe squeezes her ass and rolls her off Him. She can only lie
senseless on the mattress as He leans over her, eyes bright with lust and mouth
dripping. He attacks her with His mouth again, sucking and biting her flesh,
drunk on her.
            “Please,” she begs, not knowing precisely what for. “Oh, please.”
 
Gently
            Joe leans back against the headboard and pulls her onto His lap,
her chest against His. She’s still limp from her orgasm, so He maneuvers her
limbs, wrapping her legs around His waist and lowering her onto His cock. His
fingers are digging into her soft skin, His mouth bruising her collarbone with
biting kisses.
            When He thrusts upward, though, His mouth curls into a pained
grimace, so instead He guides her hips in gentle rotations.
            Mint just closes her eyes, tucking her head into the crook of His
neck, savouring the combination of His tender movements and His cruel lips.
 
Exhibition
            When He finally comes, He grabs her by the hair and crushes her
mouth to His. His scent fills her nostrils as He slams her pelvis ever harder
against Him.
             After He grunts His orgasm into her mouth, Joe releases her, and
she collapses backwards onto the sheets, releasing His softening cock. He
stares down at her brown body stretched out, the mess of their fucking covering
her thighs.
             She watches Him from hooded eyes, grateful that, horrible as He
is, He makes her forget whatever was hurting.
             He’s breathing heavily in combined pain and exertion. “You weren’t
a virgin.”
 
Price
            She freezes where she is: a picture of lascivious display with wide
terror in her eyes.
            “I…how…how did you know?” She finally manages to whisper.
            He smirks a little, placing a heavy hand on her leg and rubbing.
“No virgin knows what you do. The Mechanic made an error.”
            “I’m sorry,” she breathes, her heart hammering. She has no idea
what else to say.
            “You only lied by omission. The slaver is the one who cheated me.”
Joe holds up two fingers.
            Two gallons. He was overcharged for me. I’m only worth eight.
            The knowledge settles heavily in her gut.
 
Secrets
            To her great relief, the Immortan mostly seems satisfied that He’s
figured out her secret. “The slaver will be dealt with,” He tells her, His
voice chilly and calm. He traces a finger idly up and down the opening of her
womanhood, frowning in thought.
            “So who were the others?” He finally asks.
            She takes a deep breath, and tells Him everything:
            The dusty road, darting in fear from settlement to settlement until
Old Rick found them.
            Mom’s scarred legs, her missing toes.
            The endless nights naked at Rick’s side, finally feeling safe for
the first time.
            Safe like now.
 
Medicine
            When she finishes, Joe’s frown is even deeper, but He says nothing.
When He moves, His jaw clenches in pain again.
            “I need my ointment,” He grunts. “There, on the shelf.”
            She fetches it for Him. “Do you want me to go get…”
            “No, you do it.” With a soft sigh, He manages to shift Himself onto
His stomach so she can see the expanse of His tumoured back.
            The ointment smells terrible, and His flesh is horrifying, but when
she’s finished He squeezes her hand.
            She’s sent back to the vault that night. The others look at her
sympathetically.
Chapter End Notes
     As always, feedback is deeply appreciated! Thanks so much for
     reading!
***** Chapter 11 *****
After
            The Twins joke with her, trying to cheer her up from the horrible
experience that she’s still not sure she had. She still can’t shake the
numbness from her cry.
            Mint ignores their efforts, going into the room with her and
Kindest’s beds. Kindest is massaging her swollen belly, and when she sees Mint
she stretches out her arms. Mint settles into them immediately. Kindest is warm
and soft and demands nothing from this embrace, and Mint falls asleep there.
            In the morning, she looks in the mirror and counts the deep purple
bruises and bite-marks sprinkled across her flesh.
 
Wife
            The new routine is easy to embrace. She soon comes to enjoy when He
calls for her. When she’s in His bed, she’s more than free pussy. She’s His
wife. His Delight.
            She takes pride in how quickly she learns how to make His eyes
flutter closed, how to make Him gasp her name like He’s dying. She even learns
to love His greedy mouth, His grasping hands, the way they hurt her even as He
pushes her into screaming orgasms.
            Soon, she no longer needs to think of Rick. There’s only this
Immortan, this God, and He’s chosen her.
 
Cage
            The worst is when she has to go back. Back into the vault, into the
stifling everyday where she feels like a jug put back on the shelf.
            So she dances. She dances as much as she can, developing new moves,
new routines. When she gets too tired, she sits among her glass pieces – her
“mosaics,” Miss Giddy calls them - and out come images of wasteland sunsets,
big rigs, V8 engines, winding roads. Things she saw growing up out there.
Rick’s car with its big red stripe.
            With her fingers, she travels the childhood roadways she will never
ride again.
 
Seeding
            Joe divides His time equally between the Twins and Mint now.
Kindest He leaves alone, only fawning over her round stomach, feeling the
movements under His palm. The closer they get to the birth, the more excited He
becomes, working with ever more vigour at planting His seed in the others.
            When the date arrives for Mint’s next bleed, it doesn’t come. When
the week ends without a spot of red, she sits upon His knee and whispers it in
His ear.
            He takes her then and there, in her own bed. The others wait
awkwardly in the main room.
 
Joy
            This time, the gift is a great green ball, striped with black, as
heavy as her belly will one day be. Joe splits it open and inside is juicy red,
dotted with black seeds. The light, sweet smell fills the room.
            “Watermelon,” He calls it, and hands Mint a huge slice. The water
runs down sticky over her hands when she bites in.
            “For my Delight,” He says, “who does not disappoint me.”
            The Twins sit silent. Six months since their last pregnancy – one
dead, one deformed – and they remain barren. They almost look relieved, as if
crossing their fingers.
 
Interrupted
            Kindest is playing the piano for Joe when He nudges Mint to her
feet.
            “Dance for me,” He tells her.
            Kindest’s music flows around her, lifting her arms, bending her
into graceful movements, her arms twining around her body like vines in the
nursery.
            The piano clangs to a stop, and Mint’s feet stumble. She turns and
looks at Kindest, who has gone pale. A trickle of clear fluid runs down her leg
and puddles on the sandy floor. Her hands are shaking over the keys and she
looks, terrified, into Mint’s eyes.
            “Oh,” she whispers. “The baby. The baby.”
 
Labour
            All at once Joe is on His feet. With alarming speed, the Immortan
rushes to the door and bellows for the Mechanic before barrelling back to
Kindest’s side, one thick arm behind her back to support her, His eyes frantic.
            The Mechanic is there within minutes, his satchel of tools bouncing
against his side. “Get her to a bed, you fools! Hurry! Someone get me some
water!”
            Someone shoves a pail into Mint’s hands, and she stands there
stupidly for a moment before Miss Giddy impatiently yanks it away from her.
Kindest is screaming.
            Mint keeps trying, but she can’t move.
 
Disappointment
            The baby comes in a rush of blood, Kindest howling all the while.
Its flesh is red and puckered and its face is half-gone: just one eye and
a nose crushed inward. It can only make a strange wheezing noise.
            Kindest never gets to hold it. Joe takes one look at it and turns
away, gesturing sharply. The child is taken out, unable to even cry.
            Joe leaves Kindest’s bedside. There is a loud crash as He picks up
a plate and hurls it at the wall.
            Mint plucks up the pieces and puts them in her little tin box.
***** Chapter 12 *****
Midnight
            Mint awakens one night to hear Kindest sobbing. She almost says
something, but then she notices the great shadow leaning over Kindest’s bed.
            “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Kindest keeps repeating.
            “We’ll try again,” the Immortan says, and Mint is amazed to hear
His voice choked with emotion. “One last time.”
            “You won’t drive me away,” Kindest whispers between sobs. “I trust
you. I know you won’t.”
            Joe remains silent. He stays a while longer, patiently calming
Kindest, then gets up to leave. Mint closes her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
           She feels His hand lay heavy on her stomach.
 
Nausea
            It doesn’t take long for the nausea to start. Miss Giddy calls it
‘morning sickness,” but it seems to last all day. It’s horrible. She can barely
stand the smell of food any longer, especially not the cheese they have at
lunch.
            Joe takes her to bed once or twice, only to have her get ill on top
of Him. He ends up towelling Himself off and then finishing alone, scowling in
irritation all the while as she retches into a bin.
            She holds her tongue, not pointing out that He’s the one who wanted
her this way so badly.
 
Exam
            The Mechanic comes regularly now. He parts her legs with a
lecherous grin and feels her breasts for milk, his hand lingering just a bit
too long. Joe is always there, hovering in quiet anxiety over the Mechanic’s
shoulder.
             “Somethin’ definitely growin’ in there,” he grunts after a couple
months. “Growin’ well.” His rough hands stroke her stomach. One drifts towards
her crotch. This is just too much, and Mint whispers “Joe,” her voice edged
with panic.
             “Enough,” Joe breathes. “I’m pleased.”
             The Mechanic sits back, grinning. “You should be. This’un’s as
fertile as any you’ve had. She’s a delight.”
 
Diagnosis
            She can’t see it behind His mask, but Mint can tell that Joe is
making His subtle little smile. “I knew it when I saw her. I named her well. Do
you have anything for her vomiting?”
            “Not much, I’m afraid. It’ll pass soon enough. Just be gentle with
her.”
            Joe’s eyes drift towards Kindest’s bed. She rarely gets up anymore.
Not even to play piano. When she reads, her eyes glaze over and she drifts off,
not looking at anything.
            “And her?”
            “Post, uh, partum. Should be safe to try again with her, though.
She’ll get over it soon.”
 
Retry
            It’s the Twin’s turn next. Jedda lies on the bed as Jarrah holds
her hand. Mint goes to sit with Kindest, trying to ignore her queasiness.
            “In heat, both of ‘em,” the Mechanic says. “Kindest should be, too.
I’d make the most of it, put more buns in your ovens.”
            Joe takes the Twins that night, and Kindest the next. When Kindest
returns, she crawls into Mint’s bed. Mint wraps her arms around the older girl,
holding her tight.
            “It’s not going to work,” Kindest whispers. "That was my second
strike.”
            “He loves us,” Mint reminds her.
            “He loved Mab, too.”
 
Confused
            They lie quietly for a while, Mint rubbing Kindest’s back. And
then, in the darkness, she feels the soft wet press of Kindest’s lips to hers,
salty with tears.
            She hesitates, unsure what to do, but then she remembers and moves
her hand, pressing it between the other girl’s legs and stroking.
            Kindest breaks the kiss, pulls back.
            “No,” she stammers. “No, not like that. I didn’t…I don’t know. I
don’t want that. Not now. I’m sorry. Not right now.”
            Mint can’t see her face, but she can hear her voice cracking,
choked with tears and confusion.
            “I’m so sorry.”
 
Lost
            “Please just hold me,” Kindest whispers after a little while, her
voice still wavering. “Please. I don’t know what to do.”
            So Mint holds her friend, her mind spinning. Does she want Kindest?
She doesn’t know. She can only think of Joe, think of the comfort in His hands,
and she wishes she could give that to Kindest.
If it were allowed.
            Mint clenches her fist and holds it up in front of her face. She
can barely see the shadow of it in the darkness.
            Eventually, she’s able to sleep. When the two awaken, they don’t
speak of it. 
***** Chapter 13 *****
Chapter Notes
     It has come to my attention that a certain plagiarist by the name of
     infinitysteelecressingdon (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5506536/
     infinitysteelecressingdon) has been stealing this fic and claiming it
     as her own. I'd appreciate it if my readers reported her.
     She also has accounts under the names of katherineziegler and
     mercuryelizabethjordanrandolph on fanfiction.net, and as
     infinitysteelecressingdon and katherineziegler on tumblr.
     Katherineziegler, I know you're stealing my fics. You are a thief,
     and not even a very clever one. Stop stealing my writing and others'
     writing.
Heartbeat
            Neither Mint nor Kindest ever mention what happened. They continue
to sleep in the same bed, but Kindest is careful to only hold Mint’s hand.
            Her breasts swell, her stomach grows. Pressing his earhorn to her
womb, the Mechanic reports a heartbeat, and Joe nearly shoves him out of the
way to listen. The Immortan hovers over her, listening until His eyes light up
and He looks to Mint and she sees pride and tenderness and love.
            He drops the earhorn and gathers her into His arms, the teeth of
His mask pressed to her forehead in a monstrous kiss.
 
Frustration
            The nausea disappears, and with the sickness gone, Joe once more
takes her to His bed between His renewed attempts with Kindest and the Twins.
            Now He touches her like she’s glass, refusing to fuck her into the
mattress like before. It nearly drives her mad; with the growth in her belly
has come a surge in need for more, harder, rougher, as much as possible.
            Instead, He gently quiets her when she begins sobbing in
frustration. She pounds on His chest and swears; He holds her head to His heart
and shushes her, His hand on her rounded belly.
 
Lovemaking
            Tenderly, He turns her over and parts her legs, slipping in from
behind so that He doesn’t accidentally press His weight against her belly. He
pumps into her as gently and slowly as possible, His hands on her breasts. He
loves touching them even more now that they’ve filled with milk, and she
doesn’t let on how sore they are. He might stop otherwise.
            It all goes so gently that she nearly starts crying again, but she
keeps quiet and rubs her clit furiously as He rocks into her, pushing herself
hard until she finally achieves a disappointingly minor orgasm.
           
Sleep
            Joe takes His sweet time, apparently wanting to draw it out as long
as He possibly can. When He finally does come, she’s nearly drifted off, the
high of her little orgasm leaving her. Joe wraps His arms around her and she
feels His breath in her hair as sleep takes her.
            Her dreams are restless. She can never escape the awareness of His
scarred, pale arms around her.
            In the morning, He wakes her with a hand stroking her lower belly,
heat-chapped lips pressed to her shoulder.
            “Delight,” He breathes, “you have the seed of a God within you.”
 
Gods
            Mint doesn’t know how to respond to that; she knows the War Boys
and Wretched worship Him, but is Joe really a god? Miss Giddy says He’s not,
but what if nobody has ever met a god before? What if even gods can grow old
and sickly in this Waste? What if gods plant their seed in young women? Mint
remembers the story Miss Giddy told them: the old one about the god who
impregnated the virgin, and how she bore him a healthy son.
            That was a desert god, too. Maybe this is just something that
desert gods do.
 
Anticipation
            When the kicking starts, her heart awakens.
            It almost seems unreal for the first few months, but then the first
little jolt comes, and then another, and then another, and then she can feel
the child moving its whole body, jostling around inside her with a sudden
vigour.
            She sits and presses her hand to her belly, and when she’s alone
she finds herself talking to it, telling it about the desert, about stars,
cars, gas, engines.
            She begins thinking of names, wondering what the child will look
like. Joe’s stature, her hair.
            And then one day, the kicking stops.
***** Chapter 14 *****
Chapter Notes
     Warning for blood and semi-graphic descriptions of a miscarriage.
Silence
          “It’s quiet,” the Mechanic mutters, listening carefully. “I’m not
hearing much.”
          “It stopped last night,” Mint tells him. “Is it normal?”
          He sighs and sits back. “Never know, with firsts.”
          “Is it too soon for a caesarian?” Joe asks, hovering behind the
Mechanic.
          “What’s a caesarian?” Mint asks immediately, her skin prickling. The
sound of it on His voice is cold, ominous.
          Both men ignore her.
          Instead, the Mechanic shakes his head and looks at Joe. “Won’t
survive, not this early. Lungs aren’t formed.”
          Joe scowls deeply, the white paint on His brow creasing. “Then what
now?”
         “Now? Just wait.”
 
Rivers
            One morning, Mint wakes up to find spots of blood between her legs,
with dark little pieces of red.
            By noon, she’s reduced to weeping in pain. She barely makes it,
delirious with agony, to the toilet. Blood is streaming rivers down her legs,
and she crouches moaning on the porcelain as something drips and slithers its
way out of her.
            Dimly, she hears someone screaming for the Mechanic, and soon she
feels strong arms around her, pulling her up. Her vision is fading, but she
smells Joe, and she buries her head in the soft crook of His neck.
 
Empty
            She’s laid down, but the world is rocking, nausea spinning through
her.
            “She needs a blood bag. She’s lost too much.”
            She doesn’t hear or see anything for a long time. When she opens
her eyes again, there’s a naked, pale man hanging upside-down beside her bed, a
long line of red running between them. She opens her mouth to scream, but she’s
too tired.
            She sleeps again.
            When she next wakes, she’s clean and in her bed, and Kindest is
beside her.
            “The baby?” She whispers.
            “I’m so sorry, Mint.”
            She puts a hand on her belly, still swollen.
 
Loss
            There’s a stirring in the main room, and soon enough Joe appears at
the door, looking down at her. His eyes are red and tired.
            Mint turns and squeezes her eyes shut. She can’t look at Him, not
while His eyes are so sad. After a few moments, she hears His footsteps recede,
and the heavy clunk of the vault door.
            “He was out there since the miscarriage,” Kindest tells her. “The
first is always so hard for Him.”
            “For Him,” Mint mutters. Her body feels so light, so vacant. She
rubs her stomach, waiting for a kick. None comes.
 
Mourning
            She never gets to see what came out of her. Kindest tells her it
was no bigger than Joe’s fist, barely even looked human.
            Mint doesn’t speak. She just sits quietly, probing the sudden
emptiness inside her. She had never imagined being pregnant, and now she is
suddenly not-pregnant again, all within the space of a few weeks.
            Joe leaves her alone for a long time. He focuses on the Twins
instead, who now spend more and more time sitting alone and speaking
secretively. They do their best to make Him laugh, but their own laughter has
long died away.
 
Songs
            One night, He comes in and tells them that He wants to be sung to.
Miss Giddy has been teaching them songs from the beforetimes, in lovely ancient
languages. Mint can barely carry a tune, but the Twins sing like angels, their
voices perfectly harmonised.
            When their song fades to silence, the only sound is Joe’s clapping.
            “Beautiful,” He says, “Beautiful.”
            He then turns to Mint. “And you, child, do a dance for Daddy.”
            Mint shudders at the name. It’s sick, backwards, when almost all
His children lie in shallow graves.
            Even so, she obeys, trying to remember old movements.
 
Want
            Though she knows her limbs are stiff and out of practice, Mint
closes her eyes and permits Kindest’s music to carry her gently. When she opens
her eyes, His are full of that familiar old desire, and she knows what’s
coming.
            Mint doesn’t bother waiting for His orders; she flits to Him like
sunlight and settles upon His lap. Even so, she can’t bring herself to touch
Him first. She still feels too empty.
            Joe looks at her for a time, admiring her, before running His hand
up her side to cup her breast, still swollen and full of milk.
 
Tears
            He takes her to His room that night. His old roughness returns as
He rips her linens from her body, still soft from the pregnancy. When He begins
to kiss at her neck, she suddenly realises that she’s crying. She hasn’t cried
in so long. Her eyes have been too dry for tears in this desert, even during
the miscarriage.
            The Immortan notices her weeping, but says nothing. He simply wipes
her tears away with rough, calloused fingers and kisses her, shoving His thick
tongue into her mouth until she feels like she’s going to choke to death on
Him.
***** Chapter 15 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Dreams, I
            She and Rick spend the night on the ground outside the car in a
makeshift lean-to. They always do this when he wants her. Mom sleeps in the
car.
            When Rick calls her, she’s sitting in the back of the car with mom,
working together to fix up an old shotgun. Her own little Beretta is lying
beside her on the seat. At his call, she flings the door open and leaps out,
happy to escape the work.
            She slips into his sleeping bag already half-naked, and he buries
his stubble-covered face between her legs and licks until she screams.
 
Dreams, II
            She wakes to gunfire.
            The girl! someone is shouting. Get the girl!
            She feels a hand close on her arm, and Rick drags her out of the
lean-to to take shelter behind the car. She reaches for her gun, but suddenly
remembers where she left it.
            She doesn’t even have trousers on.
            Rick takes a couple men out, but when he turns and screams at her
to get under the car, he’s hit twice. Blood gushes from his chest, and he
slumps back against the trunk, sinking down to the sand.
            When they take her, her hands are stained red.
 
Wake
            Mint awakens, staring at the ceiling through dim morning light. Joe
is snoring hard beside her, His heavy arm draped across her chest and tangled
in her hair. She looks at Him and thinks of Rick and the lightness in her
stomach makes her want to scream. Instead she just nuzzles as close as she can
against Joe, clinging to Him, her tears wetting His powdered skin.
            He wakes and begins to hold her tight, too, to caress her in
return. She presses her face into His neck, feeling His pulse, knowing Joe is
alive and here and with her.
 
Admissions
            His hand drifts to her breasts, to her soft belly, stroking.
            “Try again?” He murmurs, His voice still heavy with sleep.
            She nods silently, choking on her sobs. He pulls Himself on top of
her and presses inside. It only takes a few pumps before He’s spent, too tired
to draw it out like He enjoys.
            Mint doesn’t care. She wraps her legs around His waist, won’t let
Him withdraw.
            “I love you,” she whimpers. “I love you, Joe.” And then, softer:
“Please don’t leave me.”
            Silence as He looks at her.
            “I’m not going to leave you. Daddy’s here.”
 
Good Girl
            They stay like that for a long time. Joe is stroking her hair,
tired and deep in thought. She can only put her head against His chest and
listen to His heartbeat, steady and regular as a war-drum.
            Don’t be ridiculous,Mom whispers in her head.He’s just all you know
so far.
            She squeezes her eyes shut as if that will close her ears, too.
            He loves me, she repeats to herself. He won’t leave me. He won’t
leave me.
            “You’re such a good girl, Delight,” Joe tells her as He drifts back
to sleep.
            Delight kisses His cheek.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry for the long wait! I've been dealing with a lot of busy life
     changes!
     This chapter was a short one, but it officially marks the halfway
     point for Such Things! As always, thanks so much for reading!
***** Chapter 16 *****
Suffocation
            She spends almost all her spare time in Joe’s bed as He tries,
again and again, to fix what went wrong. When she has space to move, when He’s
not biting at her neck and squeezing her too tight to breathe, she practices
her reading. It’s come to a halt since the miscarriage; she has to work hard to
learn new words. Her spelling is atrocious.
            In the evenings, she sometimes makes mosaics, but she can’t
concentrate. Her hands are too restless to be satisfied with them. The
movements become monotonous, the colours faded.
            She misses the feel of metal.
 
Used
            She sits with Kindest, who does not get up much now, braiding her
hair, holding her hand.
            Sometimes, Mint begs Kindest to eat something. When she does, she
just cries, and says it tastes like ashes in her mouth.
            “I’ll never have another baby,” she sobs into Mint’s shoulder one
night after Joe takes her.
            “You still have a third try.”
            Kindest shakes her head, shaking. “I’m used up. It won’t work any
longer.”
            The Twins sit and help comfort her, but they share a look, their
eyes distant. Jedda whispers something to Jarrah in a language Mint doesn’t
know.
 
Barren
            It’s been a long time since the Twins got with child. Joe, as they
tell her, allows five hundred days between pregnancies before a wife is
declared barren and cast out. Mint isn’t sure how long it’s been for them, but
they have a calendar in their minds, and they’re counting down.
            Nevertheless, they tell Kindest not to worry, that He will surely
give her another baby soon. She buries her head in her hands, says they’re
wrong.
            Perhaps, Mint figures, they just hope it will be her and not them.
            She sits and worries her hands, itching to move.
 
Daddy
            Manipulating Joe is not so terribly hard, once Delight figures out
how.
            “Daddy,” she murmurs to Him, ever so sweetly. “Daddy, I want to see
your car.”
            He groans softly, fingers digging into her curls. “It’s not a place
for you, Delight.”
            She doesn’t stop. She trails her tongue down His chest, over His
belly, her breath light on His cock.
            “Please, Daddy? I’ll be good.”
            “Be good now.”
            “I want you to fuck me in the Garage, in your car. Daddy, I want it
so bad.”
            Joe moans His consent. Wetness splashes her face, warm and sticky.
            “Okay?”
            “Okay.”
 
Garage
            The Garage is bigger than she ever imagined. The tunnels open up
into one great hall where rows upon rows of cars are kept. The ceiling is hung
with chains and a metallic din fills the place.
            Delight remembers the garages of her wandering childhood, watching
cars being fixed, helping Mom – when Mom could find work.
            There’s a smell of oil and gas in the air, and she smiles.
            War Boys bow as the Immortan walks past, but their eyes go wide
when they see Delight trailing behind. They stare unabashedly, some of them
turning red under their white powder.
 
Horse
            Delight doesn’t mind anymore. She’s used to it now, the way people
stare at her. She pays more attention to the cars, especially the great black
beast that looms up in front of her, parked just in front of the massive cave
opening. It reminds her of two bodies entwined, rooting in some sort of
violent mechanical passion.
            Joe pauses to talk to a Blackthumb for a while, discussing repairs,
and His attention drifts from Delight. She goes up to the huge car, running her
hands over the fender in admiration, staring at the deep, polished black of the
hood.
 
Below
           It’s then, out of the corner of her eye, that she notices and
remembers the great opening and the dense crowds below, just beneath the
gargantuan, slave-powered wheels. Delight turns, moving to the opening to look
down at the Wretched. It’s easier to distinguish the desperate faces in the
mass from here, all covered in layers of sand and grit, their houses strapped
to their backs.
          And then she sees the shrivelled form of a woman curled up in the
shade. Her hair is dark, shot through with gray: a long, tangled black mane
like Mint’s.
          And her legs –
          “Mom!”
***** Chapter 17 *****
Screaming
     Once she starts screaming, she doesn’t stop. She launches herself at the
edge of the Garage door and has to be held back by an Imperator. Only the arms
around her waist are keeping her there, and she’s kicking and struggling
against those, hollering as loud as she can.
     Mom turns and looks up, and Mint sees her scramble for her crutches and
limp towards the Gatekeepers. Distantly, she can hear that familiar voice, high
and ragged and frantic.
     Joe arrives beside Mint, pulling her back into His arms. She struggles
against Him, too, her own voice shrill and wild.
 
Shock
     She goes out of herself for some time. She’s not sure when. When she
returns, though, she’s in the vault, a cup of cold Mother’s Milk in her hands.
Kindest is beside her, an arm around her waist, and the Twins are sitting
across from her, curled up on the other bed and staring.
     Distantly, she can hear Him talking to Miss Giddy. She still can’t hear
what He’s saying exactly – everything’s so indistinct and foggy.
     Hands shaking, she takes a sip of the milk. It’s not quite real, either,
and she has to remind herself to swallow it down.
 
Lecture
     The others leave; Joe enters, sits and stares at her with fierce dark
eyes.
     “You nearly killed yourself,” He tells her.
     “My mom,” she begins.
     Joe grabs her by the chin. “Were you really so eager to get away,
Delight?”
     “No,” she objects, but He squeezes, silencing her.
     “You nearly dived out the door to her. To her. The woman who sold you as a
child to a man you didn’t know. Why?”
     “She’s…,” Delight whispers, “she’s my mom.”
     “And I am your husband, your All-Father, your god.” Joe strokes her hair.
“Sweet Delight, you never had anyone but me.”
 
All
      You’re all I’ve ever had, she tells Old Rick one night. They’re lying out
on some old, threadbare blankets, watching the stars. Some are moving.
      What about your mom? You’ve got her, don’t ya?
      Rick lights a cigarette, a little blink of orange in the deep blue-black.
      It’s not the same. She doesn’t love me like you do. You’re the only one
who’s ever loved me this much.
     She nestles against him, her head on his broad chest. He smells of car
grease and sweat.
     He doesn’t answer that. He just hugs her a little bit, patting her
shoulder affectionately.
 
Alive
     Joe takes Delight into His bed again that night, and He thrusts so
brutally into her that she knows she’ll have new bruises the next day. He
dwarfs her, overwhelms her.

     Everything hurts when He touches her, and everything has changed. Mom is
alive. Mom is alive, even if Joe insists He’s all she has. Mom is alive and
down among the Wretched, trying to get to her. Missing her. Wanting her back.

     She lets Joe pant on her skin, thrust into her. She moans His name, calls
Him ‘Daddy’ so sweetly, just to hear Him make those desperate noises.
 
Truth
     She doesn’t come this time. She just holds Him tightly as he pumps and
shudders His seed into her. Afterwards, He rolls off her, holds her.
     “I love you,” she tells Him. It’s still true. Seeing Mom hasn’t changed
that. It won’t ever change that. He’s her husband. All-Father. God.
     “I love you too, Delight,” He whispers in her ear, and she feels tears
prick at the corners of her eyes, emotions bubbling up from the cold numbness
at her core.
     “You’re the only one who’s ever loved me this much,” she tells Him.
     This time, she knows it’s true.
 
Second
     A few weeks later, Delight wakes up and runs to the toilet, sickness
bubbling up within her. She retches into the porcelain bowl, miserable and
nauseous.
     Her blood doesn’t come the next week, either, when it’s due. The week
slides past with no redness, no iron mess. It doesn't matter. She knows. She
doesn’t need the Mechanic to tell her, though he does anyway.
     “This time, it’ll work,” the Immortan repeatedly assures her.
     She wants so badly to believe Him. She puts her hands on her stomach,
rubbing it, wondering when she’ll feel the kicks.
     If she’ll feel the kicks.
***** Chapter 18 *****
Beg
            “Please,” she asks. “Please. She knows how healthy pregnancy works.
She was pregnant with me.”
            He doesn’t answer. His eyes are cold and closed as He sits and
watches her.
            “Daddy,” she whispers, dropping carefully to her knees. Her hand
rests on His inner thigh, close to His crotch. “Daddy, please. I’m begging.”
            His hand closes in her hair. “Convince me,” He says. The others
have moved into their alcoves. She can feel them trying to ignore what’s going
on in the main room.
            Delight moves her hand over the bulge in His trousers, rubbing
gently before opening them up.
 
Mercy
            The vault door swings open one day, and in limps Mom, followed by
the Immortan. Her head is bowed, her lined face tense.
            “Someone here to see you, Delight.”
            Delight rises to her feet, hand on her round belly. In that moment,
there’s only Mom, and she runs as fast as she can to embrace her.
            Mom stands still and quiet, and doesn’t move to embrace her in
return.
            Delight doesn’t care. She hugs her, hard.
            “Thank you,” she whispers to Joe, tears pricking in her eyes.
“Thank you, Immortan.”

            His eyes are smiling gently.
            He’s so good to her.
 
Disappointed
            Mom sits down gingerly on one of the chairs, not speaking. She lays
her crutches at her side. Delight, weeping in joy, kneels at her feet,
clutching her scarred knees.
            “I thought I’d never see you again!”
            Mom is silent. Her dark eyes are stony, and she looks about the
vault, face grim.
            “Mom,” Delight whispers through her tears. “Mom, say something?
Please?”
            When Mom turns to look back at her, her eyes are cold with
disappointment.

            “They say you’re his favourite,” she says flatly. “Do you love
him?”
            “Yes,” Delight admits.
            “I thought I taught you better than that.”
 
Argument
            “He’s good to me,” Delight says. “He loves me.”
            “He loves your cunt,” Mom snaps, and Delight recoils as if slapped.
“Same as Rick. Same as the rest.”
            She looks at Delight’s belly and shakes her head. “And he’s using
you as a breeder. I taught you better.”
            “He treats me better than you ever did!” Delight cries.
            “Does he?” Mom asks. “Look at my legs, Mint! Look at them! That’s
what they do after they say they love you!”
            Delight’s hands are shaking and she puts them to her ears. “He
never sold me,” she insists. “And He won’t!”
 
Intervention
            Miss Giddy takes Mom by the hand, squeezing hard. She leans in,
putting her mouth to Mom’s ear.
            “Do you know what I’d give to see my daughter again?” she whispers.
Her inked face is fierce, harsh. Delight has never seen her look like this
before. “I’d certainly not lecture her, if I had that chance. No more of this.
Who knows how long he’ll let you stay together?”
            Mom stares up at the old woman and goes quiet before looking down
and away, like an ashamed child.
           In that moment she looks so young, even with her greying hair.
 
Future
            Joe takes the Twins that night. They leave hesitantly, their eyes
cold and angry.
            Mom says nothing. She sleeps in Delight’s bed, arms around her
waist. Delight feels like a little girl again, sleeping at her mother’s side
under a vast expanse of stars.
            She doesn’t remember much of childhood beyond that, and fixing
machines with grubby fingers, just like Mom taught her.
            Maybe she can work in the Garage, if He casts her out.
            When He casts you out.
            Delight’s hand goes to her pregnant stomach, once again growing
full.
            Not this time, she thinks. This time, it’ll live.
 
Dancer
            Joe leaves Delight alone for a little while after Mom arrives,
though He still sometimes has her dance. Mom watches from the corner. She
doesn’t say a word to Joe. For the most part, He ignores her presence,
apparently content that His wife is happy with her mother.
            One night, sitting quietly together, Mom says, “you’re…you’re a
good dancer. You danced as a little girl, you know. Danced all down the roads.
Couldn’t get you to stand still long enough to hold my tools for me.”
            Delight looks at her mother. Mom is smiling. She wraps her arms
around her.
 
Tag
            “Remember Rick’s old dog tags?” Mom asks suddenly.
            They glitter in starlight, swinging above her as Rick slams into
her.
            “Yeah.”
            “Here,” Mom reaches into her pocket and pulls them out. “Kept them.
Don’t know why.”
            Now that she can read, Delight sounds out the words stamped into
the metal.
            “Richard Rupert.” She turns it over. “Main Force Pat…Patrol.”
            There’s a long silence between them, as she plays with the tags.
Then there’s a spot of wet on her hands. And another.
            “Mom?”
            “I’m sorry,” Mom whispers, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry I sold
you to him. I’m your mother.”
 
Fathers
            “The man who cut my legs gave you to me. I was so young. Younger
than you. And here you are, in the same situation.”
            “He loves me.”
            Mom shakes her head. Delight doesn’t know how to explain how He
holds her, how He whispers such tenderness to her in ways that Rick never did.
            How He wants to give her babies.
            “They’re all the same,” Mom mutters. “And I let them have you,
too.”
            Joe takes her that night. Mom watches as He leads her out, face
broken. When she comes back to bed later, Mom holds her tight.
***** Chapter 19 *****
Expectation
            She keeps expecting the baby to go, just like the first. But it
never does. It holds on, stays in her, jostling and wriggling. Her belly gets
big, bigger than it did during her first pregnancy, and soon it’s hard for her
to move around without back pain.
            “It’s going to be a boy,” Joe tells her. “Big and strong.”
            She doesn’t say anything to that. It doesn’t feel like a boy.
            She expects Mom to leave, too, but she never does. She sleeps in
Delight’s bed, arms around her waist, just as she did when Delight was just
Mint.
 
Learning
            Miss Giddy begins teaching Mom how to write during her free time.
One day, Mom proudly limps to the board to write her own name in clumsy, big
letters:
            Amy
            She turns and beams at Delight, and in that moment she looks young
again.
            Delight puts her hands on her belly to feel the movements there.
            “Good job!” she says, and her heart swells.
            When she’s not learning letters, Mom’s with the Twins, drawing
diagrams. She teaches them mechanics, righty-tighty lefty-loosey, gears and
latches and locks. All three sit and whisper, and the Twins study long into the
evening.
 
Waiting
            There’s a calendar on the wall. On it, each menstruation is
diligently marked, each date of conception. The days are nicked off, one by
one, until two hundred and seventy days have passed.
            “This week, probably,” the Mechanic tells Joe, and Joe squeezes
Delight’s hand tight, eyes shining.
            A day passes, and then two, and then three. Delight’s feet are
swollen and her back screams.
            And then, one morning, she wakes up and it feels like she’s wet the
bed.
            “Mom,” she gasps, voice trembling. Mom doesn’t wake.
            The first contraction comes, and she cries out. This time, Mom
wakes.
 
Birth
            She’s stripped of her lower linens and laid down on the Mechanic’s
table, legs spread in the stirrups. She’s so exposed, but the contractions are
coming closer and closer together, and it’s too painful for her to care any
longer. Mom doesn’t leave her side.
            It seems to last hours. Joe paces like a caged beast, hovering over
her and wringing His hands and barking at anyone who disturbs Him.
            And then, at last, the Mechanic yells: “Crowning!”
            “Just a few more pushes, baby,” Mom is whispering frantically in
her ear.
            She strains. There’s a wail.
            Joe howls in rage.
 
Fault
            The little girl comes red and screaming into the world, lungs
healthy and full of anger. Her face is screwed up in fury and her dark black
hair sticks, slick with birth-fluid, to her head.
            She has no feet, and her little legs are twisted.
            Joe slams His sceptre so hard into a chair that it goes crashing
across the floor and into the impluvium.
            “Your fault!” He’s shouting at Mom. “You cursed her!”
            He jabs an accusing finger at her legs, her crutches.
            The Mechanic shakes his head, tongue clicking. He cuts the
umbilical cord.
            The baby screams louder.
 
Twisted
            “Breathed your air, twisted it up!” Joe is frothing. His eyes are
wild. “Made it a fucking girl!”
            Miss Giddy hands the Mechanic an old bit of sheet, and he shrugs,
wrapping the child up. He doesn’t even wash her.
            “Let me hold her?” Delight whimpers, reaching out. He ignores her.
She can’t sit up; it hurts too badly.
            Joe towers over Mom, screaming. She’s gone rigid, breathing
shallow. Her eyes are looking at something none of them can see.
            “Out!” He bellows.
            He seizes the baby by her swaddling, shoves her into Mom’s arms.
            “Take this thing with you!”
 
No
            Mom comes back when she sees her grandchild in her arms. Her eyes
focus, and she looks over at Delight, sees her limp and weeping on the table.
            She looks up at Joe.
            “No,” she rasps out. “You can’t keep me from my daughter.”
            Joe grabs her and drags her to the door. Her crutches clatter to
the stone and her legs give. He just keeps dragging, fists clenched.

            Delight can feel something else coming out of her, the afterbirth
splashing down, but she drops off the table and throws herself at Joe. She’s
screaming, but she doesn’t know what.
 
Corrupt
            The Vault door slams shut, Mom and the baby on the other side. Her
daughter’s cries are still ringing in her ears, but Delight is howling too,
fists pounding at Joe, nails clawing.

            He turns. His eyes are flame.
            There’s a crack of lightning in her head, and suddenly she’s
sprawled on the floor and there’s blood dripping from her mouth.
            “Please,” she begs. She doesn’t stand. She doesn’t dare. Mom’s
crutches, forgotten, lie beside her. “Please don’t take them. Please, my mom,
my baby!”
            “I allowed corruption in here because of you,” He hisses through
His mask. “No more.”
 
Aftermath
            “One more chance,” He tells her before leaving. His breathing is
ragged. His eyes are full of fury and disbelief and hurt when He looks at her.
            The pain in Delight’s head pulses to the beat of the pain in her
groin. She sits and stares at the closed vault door, trying to seal the image
of her daughter's face in her mind. Tiny and screwed up and dark, angry red.
            “Come on, darling,” Miss Giddy is saying. “Let’s get you a bath.”
Her voice is wavering, and when Delight looks, she sees tears wetting the words
on her cheeks.
***** Chapter 20 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Milk
     Delight’s breasts swell with milk until it hurts. There is no child there
to drain it.
     She has no name for her daughter. She can’t think of one.
     A couple days after the birth, Joe takes her to bed. Her cunt is searing
with pain and her face throbs where bruises mottle it. He sucks the milk from
her teats and then turns her on her face so that He doesn’t have to see her
swollen cheek.
     The next day, the Mechanic brings a machine and hooks her up to it. She
sits there, far away, until the milk drains.
 
Cow
     The machine stands in the corner and waits for her, day after day,
whenever the milk comes back. And it does, day after day.
     “And what does the cow say, Rictus?” Joe says, His voice overly cheery, as
Rictus helps the Mechanic gather the milk one day.
     “Says ‘moo!’” Rictus replies with a big, jokey grin, and Joe laughs,
clapping him on the back.
     Delight remembers a picture of a cow in a book. It was big and docile,
with huge, sad eyes.
     She doesn’t look at Joe, and she knows He’s not looking at her, either.
     Her cheek throbs.
 
Again
     The moon turns above, and the women get closer to their regular heat. One
night, Delight wakes up to harsh, whispered voices.
     “Not going through this again,” Jedda keeps snarling.
     “It’ll be easier,” Jarrah keeps promising her.
     “I can’t. I can’t do it anymore, Jarrah!”
     “Listen, we just need the one night. One last night with Him.”
     Jedda goes quiet. Delight thinks she can hear sobs.
     “You two,” Joe says a few nights later. He's not in the mood for
entertainment; His eyes are burning.
     The Twins look up. Jedda shivers, but Jarrah grabs her hand and holds it
tight.
 
Consolatio
     When they're gone, Kindest sinks down, weeping.
     “He doesn't want me anymore,” she sobs.
     “You are more than His desire,” Miss Giddy tells her fiercely – the same
thing she's told Kindest time and time again. “Remember what I was reading you
last week. Remember Pico: 'We have made you a creature neither of heaven nor of
earth, neither mortal nor immortal, in order that you may, as the free and
proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer.'
That is your power, not His.”
     Kindest just shakes her head, shoulders heaving. She cannot listen.
 
Savior
     Delight takes Kindest's hand and draws her to bed, tucking her in.
     “When I was twelve,” Kindest whispers as the tears subside, “my parents'
caravan was ambushed by Buzzards. They were horrible, covered in filthy
bandages. The men surrounded me. They began taking out their … and then
suddenly I heard gunfire and He was standing above me. He picked me up and He
carried me to His car. Just like those old stories in the books.”
     She sniffles, wiping at her face. “He saved me. And now He doesn't want me
anymore. I'll never give Him a healthy baby.”
 
Alarm
     They awaken to a long, mechanical howl. It's echoes over the quiet Citadel
like a spirit.
     “Sirens,” Miss Giddy hisses. She shuffles to the windows, but there's no
fire in the darkness, no rat-a-tat of guns.
     “What's going on?” Delight whispers.
     “I don't know. Get yourself dressed. Kindest, too. Just in case.”
     The three women are sitting in a huddle when they hear shouting outside
the thick walls. It's distant, just barely discernible, but it's the sound of
War Boys.
     The vault door opens with a creak, and in strides Rictus, looking
exhausted.
     “Dad wants you!” he barks. “Follow me.”
 
Trouble
     The two young wives stand, clinging to one another, and shuffle towards
him. Rictus holds up a hand, pointing at Miss Giddy. “Her, too!”
     The old woman looks at him in confusion, but she rises and limps forward
with her walker. The girls move to her side, helping her walk.
     Rictus leads them downstairs, clearly impatient with how slowly the old
woman moves.
     “Hurry!” he barks more than once at them, and they try, but progress is
still slow compared to his long strides. All they can hear in the shadowed
halls are his heavy footsteps and their gasping breaths.
 
Fury
     Rictus takes them down to the great hall where Joe makes His speeches. The
Immortan is sitting on His stone bench, doubled over in pain, and Delight holds
her breath when she sees that He's wrapped in bandages, covering a blood-soaked
piece of gauze on His back, just left of His spine. The Mechanic stands nearby,
cleaning his tools and putting away his stitching-thread.
     Joe looks up when the women are ushered in. His powdered face is a hideous
mask of rage and pain.
     “You three,” He hisses, voice choked, “go to the balcony and tell me what
you see.”
 
Spotlight
     Miss Giddy takes the first hesitant steps forward. The girls are pulled
along with her like helpless, bewildered children. Delight feels like she's
floating, but her grasp on Miss Giddy's arm keeps her present, and she clings
to it.
     At first, they can't see anything but the glare of the spotlights through
the darkness. The lights aren't pointed directly at them, but at a spot a few
feet to their right. Kindest's eyes adjust first, and she lets out a horrible
scream.
     Then Mint is able to make out two mangled bodies, hanging by their necks
against the rock walls.
 
Consequence
     “Oh, no, no, no!” Miss Giddy is moaning, “No, Joe, what've you done?
What've you done?”
     The Mechanic throws two especially long shards of coloured glass at their
feet, and Mint knows them. They were sky and sand, cornerstones to swirling
patterns she painted on the ground with broken bottles.
     They're covered in blood.
     “Those bints tried killing my poor dad!” Rictus snarls from beside Joe, a
hand on the Immortan's shoulder. Joe says nothing; He just looks at them in
silent rage.
     Kindest vomits off the side of the balcony, tears and mucus streaming down
her face.
 
Accusation
     “You!” The Mechanic grabs Mint's face. “Did you know about this?”
     “No!” she shrieks. She looks to Joe. “I didn't! Please, Joe!”
     Joe's eyes are icy with suspicion.
     “They had plans on them,” He growls. “Diagrams about lockpicking. Your
mother was a blackthumb, wasn't she?”
     Mint's mouth goes dry. “I didn't know about this. Please, Joe you know I'd
never! I love you!”
     Joe stands and comes to her, brushing the Mechanic aside. When He reaches
for her face, she remembers pain, and she flinches. It doesn't deter Him; He
cups her cheek, gazing deep into her eyes.
     “Do you?”
 
Proof
     “Do you love me, Delight?”
     Delight struggles to swallow, and nods. “Yes.”
     “Prove it.” His fingers stroke her cheek.
     “I will,” she promises, and does it matter what she'll have to do? This is
the second time that Joe has been harmed because of her. This is the second
time she's caused Him disappointment and pain, even if she never meant to.
     “Good girl,” He tells her, but His voice is frigid.
     The spotlights are shut off, and in the darkness she can hear the Twins'
bodies moving, pushed by a sickly wind to bump gently against the Citadel's
walls.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry for yet another very long-expected chapter. Life has been
     pretty rough lately, and it's been hard to focus on extra-curricular
     writing. We're in the final lap, so hopefully these chapters will get
     a little more regular now.
     Excerpt is from Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, 'Oration on the
     Dignity of Man,' translated by A. Robert Caponigri.
     As always, thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts,
     especially after such a rough chapter.
***** Chapter 21 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Decree
            “Neither of you will be leaving this vault again,” Joe says. He’s
delayed visiting them for several days since the Twins tried their escape. Now
He stands tall and proud, Rictus at His side, just as imposing even with the
bandages clearly visible beneath His armour.
            Kindest and Delight glance at each other. Where are they to lie
with Him?
            As if reading their thoughts, Joe jerks His head towards the upper
level where the Twins once slept. “That will be my bed from now on, when Icome
to visit you. No more excursions. No more little ‘dates’ outside.”
 
Revoke
            Joe regards both of them quietly, His eyes measuring them. Weighing
their contents.
            “You.” He points to Kindest. “Upstairs. Let’s see if you’re worth
another try.”
            Kindest flinches, but does as she’s told, head lowered as she
climbs the stairs. He glances towards Delight, towards the little box of glass
shards that she’s left sitting on the floor.
            “Rictus,” He says, “take that box away. Give it to the recyclers.”
            Then Joe follows Kindest, footsteps heavy on the stone.
            Delight sits downstairs, hands empty. All she can do is listen,
twisting her sarong between her hands until her flesh burns.
 
Remains
            When Kindest comes back down, her face is still and flat, eyes far
away. She has fresh bruises on her long, pale neck in the shape of bite-marks.
Delight tries not to look.
            “Delight,” Joe calls from upstairs, and she jumps up from her seat,
nearly running up the steps to where He lies, a big, pale shadow in the cool
darkness of the upper room. The Twins’ few belongings are still scattered
around; favourite books and hair-brushes. A pair of matching dolls lie, brushed
aside, on the ground.
            Delight steps over them and crawls onto the bed with Joe.
 
Limp
            He welcomes her into His arms, but His hands are so still and His
eyes are so cold. He’s looking through her, she realises, and she leans forward
to kiss Him.
            He returns it, but it is passionless and stale.
            Mechanically He jerks at her linens, pulling them down and away to
bare her sex.
            “Get me ready,” He orders, and she tries to obey, taking His cock
first in her hand and then in her mouth, desperately working to get Him stiff
again. But it’s no good; it remains small and soft even as she does all she
knows.
 
Failure
             Joe fidgets, impatience growing as He waits on her.
            Nothing. Not a twitch. He lies limp in her mouth like a dead fish.
            “Fuck,” Joe snarls, and shoves her off so hard she nearly tumbles
from the bed. He doesn’t even look at her. Grabbing a sheet to cover Himself,
He storms down the stairs. Moments later, she hears Him hollering for the
Mechanic.
            Delight lies alone and waits, shivering and bare, on the Twins’
bed. Tears prick hot at the corners of her eyes, but she bites the inside of
her cheek.
            The sheets still smell of the Twins.
 
Restart
            When Joe comes back up, He’s half-hard, and there’s a new light of
determination in His eyes that sends chills through her.
            He doesn’t meet her gaze, doesn’t say a word. Instead, He just
grabs a fistful of her hair and drags her head towards His cock.
            Her mouth is frantic on Him, trying to get Him completely hard on
her own. She can feel her cheeks burning, eyes stinging, but she won’t let Him
see the humiliation in her face.
            When He’s finally ready to take her, Joe pushes her roughly down
onto the bed and thrusts in dry.
 
Affection
            He never looks at her as He pumps away. She tries to caress His
soft cheek; He knocks her hand away. She tries to kiss Him; He pushes her head
down against the pillow.
            His thrusting grows harder, and soon she can’t conceal her moans of
pain; she is dry as the Wastes and He is a hammer.
            “Joe,” she chokes out. “Joe, I love you. I promise, I love you.”
            There is no reply. He comes.
            “Bear me a son,” He orders as He pulls out.
            And once again He leaves her, cold and alone on the double bed.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry again for the long wait. Life has been chaotic and rough, and
     frankly, this fanfic is getting harder to write the darker it gets.
     Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks, as always, for reading. I
     look forward to hearing what you guys think of the new developments
     as we open the third and final act of this story.
***** Chapter 22 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Quiet
            It’s so quiet now, with just the two of them and Miss Giddy.
Kindest has always been quiet, but now she is mute. She only ever picks at her
food, her cheekbones standing out thin and sharp through her skin.
            Delight has neither her mosaics nor her dancing – not as long as
Kindest refuses to play piano. She retreats into the only place left: books.
Her reading slowly begins to improve again, and she blazes through all the
simplest books they have.
            Miss Giddy gives her a bigger book. It also has a train on the
front.
            “Read,” she says.
 
Orphans
            “I’m tired of orphan stories,” she grumbles to the old woman after
finishing the first couple of chapters. She can’t bring herself to feel much
empathy for the little boy living under the stairs who always has food and as
much water as he likes.
            “Most old children’s stories are about orphans,” Giddy says.
            “Who’d want to read about that?”
            “I suppose they thought it’d be more exciting.”
            Delight flings the book across the room.
            “You know better.” Miss Giddy’s voice is sad.
            Delight tries to stay angry, but she eventually goes over and picks
up the book despite herself.
 
Wizards
            “Was it real?” Delight asks.
            “Which part?”
            “Hog..Hogwarts. Was there really a wizard school?”
            “No, no such thing.”
            “Then where did the wizards come from?”
            Miss Giddy looks at her, bewildered. “Child, there aren’t wizards.
There never were.”
            Delight shakes her head. “I’ve met one. Mom sold her my hair when I
was a little girl in exchange for some little medicine pills for headaches.”
            “That was just a snake-oiler. People are desperate for hope
wherever they can find it.” Her eyes drift out the window, out to the War Boys
working in the Garage and the Wretched teeming below.
 
Memory
            Things keep on that way: Kindest off in her head and Delight buried
in books. Miss Giddy tries to fill the time with lessons, but the emptiness of
the Vault still echoes around them. Sometimes, they manage to convince Kindest
to play the piano, but Kindest only ever plays sad songs now, and Delight can’t
dance to those. Her feet miss the movement, the energy.
            “Do you want me to dance for you?” she asks Joe one night.
            “Do you remember how?” He’s trying to joke, but she winces.
            “Yes.”
            “Let’s see it, then.” He cranks the little record player.
 
Distracted
            She tries. She really does. But her feet feel clumsy after so
little practice, and she can’t seem to let go and float the way she once used
to. When she glances over at Joe, His eyes are far away, not even looking at
her. She gives up trying to do any teasing and instead just straddles Him,
grinding to the rhythm.
            He puts His hands on her hips just like He always does, but His
eyes stay far away, almost looking straight through her.
            “It’s so empty in here now,” He murmurs.
            His eyes are so sad and tired.
 
Girls
            The older girl is gangly from puberty, but her eyes are clear and
blue, and her cheekbones sharp and regal. Her lips are full for one so young,
and they’re trembling, but her eyes stay fierce and wary. The other one looks
sullen and has a rounder face, but her hair is flame red. Delight can’t stop
staring. She’s never seen hair like that before.
            The redhead keeps her eyes on the ground, but the tall one looks
up, eyes darting attentively around the vault and all its treasures and books
and water, water, water, enough to drink for days.
 
Chattel
            “Where did they come from?” she asks Miss Giddy in a whisper.
            The old woman’s lips are in a hard line. “Bartertown stock. Entity
used to be against such things, but the flesh trade proved far too tempting.
They kidnap little girls, or buy them, and keep them shut up and chaste. It’s a
good price for virgins. Sometimes even higher if they’re too young to bleed.”
            Giddy’s eyes are full of disgust, but not for the girls that stand
so quiet and grave.
            Joe’s blue eyes are electric, just as they were the first time He
watched Delight dance.
 
Eyes
             Joe is eagerly showing the two new girls all He’s provided for
their education, their comfort, their entertainment, and His shoulders are
squared with pride. He circles around them, gesturing grandly, but He never
moves far from them. His fingers brush through the redhead’s hair, but He can’t
seem to take His eyes off the tall one.
            The older girl meets His gaze, and their eyes lock. His words slow,
and then fade. There is no desire in the girl’s stare, no need; just something
Delight hasn’t seen since Mab.
            It still thrusts a spike of jealousy through her chest.
Chapter End Notes
     I'd like to apologize for how long this took. This spring was
     incredibly difficult for me in terms of mental, emotional, and
     physical health. I tried to write, but nothing seemed to come out.
     But now, the words are coming again. I think I'm healing.
     Thank you all for hanging in there with me, and thank you for
     continuing to give me feedback and encouragement. Most of all, thank
     you for your patience.
***** Chapter 23 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Beauty
            The new girls are branded and wed. The eldest, Angharad, is
bleeding already. The younger girl hasn’t. She doesn’t have a name, either. She
says people just always called her ‘Red’. Joe wanted to buy her up quickly.
            “For my hair,” she grumbles.
            “Baseball cards,” Miss Giddy sighs. “He never changes.”
            “A ruby,” Joe says proudly.
            But Angharad is even more precious to Him. She doesn’t have
remarkable hair, or even unusual eyes like Delight.
            Still, she’s beautiful.
            Even as a gangly teenager, she’s beautiful. There is something in
her that’s almost regal, even with a face creased in pain.
 
Greed
            Red is sobbing. Angharad holds her hand, her lips barely trembling.
            And then He comes for her.
            He enters, dressed in loose white to match His treasures. His skin
is suffering from a new outbreak of angry rash, and He cannot wear His armor.
Still, His eyes are lit with hunger, His eager hands tense and ready to grab.
There is already a bulge between His legs.
            “Joe,” Miss Giddy breathes. “Joe, please. Not here. Not in front of
the young one.”
            He brushes past the frail old woman and advances on Angharad, who
tenses but does not shrink away.
 
Ascent
            Red puts her arms around Angharad protectively, but it seems more
for her own benefit.
            “Upstairs,” Joe rumbles, His voice thick and heavy.
            Angharad gently removes the other girl’s arms from around her
shoulders and presses her lips to Red’s forehead.
            “No!” Red begs, but Angharad is already ascending the stairs, her
breath coming quick and eyes brimming with unshed tears. She seems determined
not to show any more fear than necessary.
            Joe follows.
            Red springs to her feet as if to chase after them, but Delight’s
arms are quick; she catches her about the waist and holds her there.
 
Harder
            The girl rounds on Delight, eyes fierce with desperation and fury.
“Let me go! Right now!”
            Delight just shakes her head.
            “Don’t make Him angry. It’ll only make things harder,” she tells
her. She doesn’t know where it came from. She never even thought it before now,
but she knows it’s true. She always has.
            It will always be true.
            Red turns and flees to the bedroom. She flings herself on a bed and
buries her head in a pillow, shoulders shaking as she sobs. Delight can only
watch her, trying to ignore the noises coming from the upstairs room.
 
Bear
            It’s not easy. She recognizes that voice – the voice He uses when
he’s drowning in His own pleasure, when He can barely manage to speak. His
groans, His gasps – she knows them all.
            She hears the weeping, too. Angharad cannot bear His hunger.
Delight pities her, but something more poisonous unfurls in her core.
            Whyher? She is too weak to bear Him. But Delight always could. Why
not take someone whowantsit?
            The other women are huddled in the bedrooms: Miss Giddy with Red,
Kindest off alone like always. Only Delight sits waiting on that dark upper
floor.
 
Smitten
            When Angharad finally comes downstairs, her body is covered in
marks Delight recognizes. A little while later, Joe descends, looking sated and
content. He exits the Vault without saying a word.
            Angharad is the subject of His attentions for days. It’s hard to
listen to Miss Giddy or read or anything with Him hovering every free moment He
has. He stares, caresses, calls her away suddenly in the middle of other
activities. Even when Delight knows that He has other obligations, other
responsibilities, He is stealing time to come into the Vault and paw at His new
prize.
            He’s smitten.
 
Submission
            And Angharad submits – or at least her body does. She bends to His
touches and intrusive caresses and does not pull away when He strokes her hair
or nuzzles the teeth of His mask against her neck. When He says her name, she
rises and goes upstairs, fists clenched at her sides. After the first night,
Delight hears no more weeping.
            But her eyes remain hard; something in her does not bow or bend.
Not that He notices. So long as she willingly accepts His attentions, He seems
not to notice the obvious: nothing in her agrees with His claims.
Chapter End Notes
     The muse is struggling, but I'm hanging in there.
     Another chapter is already written; I just have to transcribe and
     edit it. Keep an eye out!
***** Chapter 24 *****
Chapter Notes
     Big massive content warning for this chapter, which deals strongly
     with the themes of coercion, brainwashing, and rape.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Envy
            Delight and Kindest become ready the same time each month. And Joe,
lovestruck as He is, keeps His calendar well.
            “Kindest,” He calls, and she seems to wake for the first time in
days. She looks up at Him, hope and love shining from her weary face. When He
beckons, she springs to her feet, following Him on twiggy legs up into the
darkness.
            Delight just watches. She hasn’t been called first for ages. She
feels Angharad’s eyes on her and turns her face away, not wanting the girl to
see the envy there. It eats at her like hunger.
 
Summons
            “Delight!”
            She hears her name barked out in Joe’s thick, guttural voice, and
she starts and looks up to the shrouded upper room. It’s only been a few
minutes – or did she lose track of time? The looks on the Angharad and Red’s
faces say that she hasn’t.
            She stands up slowly, looking at the other girls in confusion, but
they just stare back at her. How should they know? They’re new, after all.
            Miss Giddy looks away, her knuckles white on her walker.
            “Delight, get up here!” He calls again.
            His patience is fraying; she hurries up the stairs.
 
Reminder
            Kindest is lying naked in the bed, her face to the wall. Her
shoulders are trembling. Delight looks to Joe, who is perched on the edge of
the bed, His eyes burning with a cold light. His fists are clenched, His cock
limp.
            “Come here, girl,” He says icily. “I think you need to remind your
sister-wife of how to serve me properly.”
            Her voice catches in her throat. She takes a step to leave, but her
obedient feet carry her forward instead of back, and like a doll she kneels
silently before Him and takes Him into her mouth.
 
Choke
            It’s a struggle not to breathe in the dust that He’s brought in
with Him from the outside, but it fills up her nose along with the stench of
stale sweat and rot.
            She should gag. She should pull away. Her body is His and not her
own; she stays on her knees and sucks and licks and sucks again.
            “Watch,” she hears Him snarl at Kindest, and His voice is far away.
From the corner of her eye, Delight sees Him yank Kindest’s head off the
pillows by her hair.
            “Remember this?” He gives Kindest’s head a shake. “Remember?”
 
Remember
            The other girl just continues weeping, silent. Delight flicks her
eyes away, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. The sooner she does, the
sooner all this is over. The sooner He’ll be happy and satisfied again, and
He’ll leave Kindest alone. He’ll leave Kindest alone and remember how much He
loves His Delight.
            Once He’s ready, He pushes Delight away. She makes a motion to
leave, but Joe shoots her a look that freezes her in her tracks.
            His thick hand dips between Kindest’s legs, and comes away dry.
            “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Joe snarls under His breath.
 
Kiss
            He looks back up at Delight, mouth twisted in disgust.
            “Well?” He says when she doesn’t move. He jerks his head toward
Kindest. “Get her ready, girl.”
            “How?” Delight asks. Her throat is so dry and she can barely form
the word. She knows how. She knows. Her stomach won’t stop churning.
            Joe doesn’t bother to answer; His hand closes around her wrist and
He yanks her onto the bed.
            Her heart is hammering as she looks down at Kindest. The other
girl’s eyes are squeezed shut, so Delight just kisses her softly, the way she
did so long ago.
            And then she begins.
 
Sick
            That night, Kindest sleeps in Miss Giddy’s bed. Delight lies alone,
staring up into the darkness. She can hear Angharad and Red whispering
together, but their words run together into an indistinguishable murmur, their
heads beneath their quilt.
            Sickness churns in her stomach, but she doesn’t vomit. His seed is
still drying on the inside of her thighs and her neck still aches where He
pushed her into the mattress, grunting like a beast. Nobody looked at her when
they were done, not even Joe.
            Without Him, she feels empty, and she can’t decide if that’s worse
than the sickness.
 
Finally
            Kindest doesn’t bleed the next month, or the next month after that.
            “Maybe it finally worked,” she says as they wait for the Mechanic
to arrive and examine her. Her eyes are soft and hollow as she puts an
emaciated hand over her stomach.
            She remains still as the Mechanic paws at her, testing the weight
of her breasts and the feeling of her womanhood and listening carefully to the
inside of her stomach.
            “Congratulations,” he finally says to Joe, who stands quiet and
patient beside him. “You’ve gotten one more outta this one.”
            Kindest bursts into loud, horrible sobs.
Chapter End Notes
     Once again, I'm horrified by how long it took me to post this.
     Between the demands of my PhD and my own physical health, it's been a
     rough few months, and on top of it all, I have to admit I was
     procrastinating a lot in writing this chapter. I knew what was
     coming, and I didn't want to write it. Writing it made me feel quite
     ill myself, and I knew it would, so I avoided it for as long as
     possible. But no more excuses. This fic has taken far too long to
     publish, and I can't drop the ball this close to the end. Only a few
     more chapters remain in Mint's story.
     As always, thanks for reading, and thanks even more for your
     patience. I'd love to hear your feedback, especially for a chapter as
     delicate and horrifying as this one.
***** Chapter 25 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Watermelon
            The watermelon is sticky on their fingers as they eat. Pink juice
stains their white linens where it runs down their arms. Red devours the soft,
delicate flesh greedily, licking at her lips and fingertips as she does.
            Angharad can’t mask how she savors it, but her bites are small and
sparing. Her eyes occasionally flick towards Kindest, and her chewing slows.
            Kindest is hardly eating at all – even though it’s her watermelon.
She just sits and stares at her huge chunk, her moist eyes lost in the
glistening pinkish-red. She doesn’t seem to have the energy to lift it.
 
Distractions
            “You need to eat, dear heart,” Miss Giddy murmurs.
            Kindest gives the old woman a shaky smile. Slowly but surely, she
does. The empty plate slips from her shaking fingers when she lifts it, and
everyone jumps as it shatters.
            “Oh, no,” Kindest mumbles apologetically, and kneels quickly to
gather up the pieces. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I suppose I’m distracted.” No
one says anything in response, but Red kneels to help Kindest scoop the rest
up.
            “Ow!” she gasps, and drops a piece to look at her finger. Blood is
mixing with the juices that cover her hands.
 
Patience
            In the following weeks, Joe continues to hover every second He can
spare, making the excuse of looking after Kindest’s new pregnancy. In truth, He
only looks after her belly. He feels it in His hands, murmuring praise over its
growth, waiting with barely contained enthusiasm for signs of the quickening.
            “Patience,” the Mechanic advises Him, but He has never known
patience.
            He never looks Kindest in the face anymore. His eyes, when they
aren’t fastened on Angharad, watch that gently growing belly.
            The renewed hope gives Him renewed strength in the bedroom. He
always calls Angharad to Him first.
 
Greedy
           The Immortan ruts with Angharad until she screams from pain, and
that only seems to make Him treasure her more. Delight comes to Him afterwards,
and hates herself for feeling relieved when He shows no signs of tiring. There
is still, she thinks, some greed left in His heart for her. She feels it when
He kisses her, His eyes never closing, just burning like fire into her. His
fingers leave marks on her body again, like they used to, back in the
beginning. She opens herself up to Him, spreads herself wide, begging to be
bitten, eaten up, devoured.
 
Pregnant
            It happens one night, when she sits at the big windows, looking out
into the wastes, her eyes straining. Something in her body whispers, and she
knows: she’s with child again. Her third try, here already. Her cycle is still
some time off, but she doesn’t need it to tell her. Her body simply knows.
            Somewhere, in the distance, she can hear a child wailing down among
the Wretched. A sharp ache goes through her breasts.
            This time, however, she doesn’t tell Him. She watches how He gazes
at Kindest’s belly and not her face, and she holds her tongue.
 
Girl
            If it comes right down to it, Delight can always pretend to be
surprised by it later, when her cycle doesn’t return. He couldn’t possibly tell
if she withholds the information for two or three weeks, could He?
            It’s an unexpected pleasure, the not-telling. It is something that
only belongs to her, something quiet and private, where she can sit deep inside
herself without anyone intruding. Just her and her baby.
            In her mind, it’s a girl with twisted, shrunken legs. A girl with
wiry black hair and bright blue eyes. A girl with Mom’s voice.
            And it’s all hers.
           
Window
            She sits out on her own after bedtime more frequently. Kindest
can’t stop weeping lately, and Delight can’t find the words to console her.
It’s every night, now, she cries.
            She doesn’t know how to console Kindest now. Not after what
happened.
            And, truthfully, the constant tears are beginning to grate on her.
            Mom always taught her it’s a waste of water, a waste of energy.
Don’t weep when you could be fixing things instead.
            So she sits out by the window, trying to listen for a baby’s cry. A
little baby girl, with a red face and twisted legs.
 
Goodnight
            One night she’s staring out, up at the sky, when she hears
movement. She turns to see Kindest, padding softly out of their shared room.
Kindest stands at the edge of the impluvium, and then sits, staring down at the
rippling water in the starlight.
            Delight gets up to go to bed, her hand on her secret where it lies
in her belly.
            “Mint?” Kindest asks as she passes.
            Delight clenches her jaw and stops to look back at her. “Yes?”
            The other girl doesn’t look at her – she just keeps staring down at
the water. “Goodnight.”
            “Goodnight,” Delight replies.
Chapter End Notes
     Once again, sorry for the long wait. It's been one hell of a year.
***** Chapter 26 *****
Chapter Notes
     Another major trigger warning for this chapter.
     And yes, two in one night - consider it an apology for so many
     delays.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Pink
            The next morning, she’s awakened by screams.
            “Don’t look!” Miss Giddy is saying. Too late. Kindest’s sandy hair
spreads around her like a halo as she floats in pink water. A piece of
shattered plate lies beside the impluvium, one sharp edge stained.
            Her eyes are closed, her face sad and soft. She’s just sleeping,
Delight thinks briefly. She looks at the other girls. Red is wailing. Angharad
just holds her, eyes wet.
            Why areyoucrying? Delight wants to snap at Red. You didn’t even
know her. You barely spent any time with her. What gives you the right?
 
Stains
            Instead she just stands there silently, looking down at the girl
floating peacefully in the impluvium. She doesn’t know how long it takes, but
soon the vault door clangs open and Joe bursts inside, eyes frantic and
breathing harsh. When He sees Kindest’s body, He lets out a an inhuman bellow
that abruptly brings Delight back to herself, and she steps back as He dashes
forward. Water splashes out of the pool as He wades in, further staining the
pool with His dirt encrusted boots.
           He scoops Kindest’s frail, empty body into His arms and wails like a
wounded animal.
 
Wretched
            “Didn’t I give her everything?” Joe is sitting on the edge of the
impluvium, the shard of plate in his big hands. Red and Angharad have retreated
into the bedroom, but Delight sits by the windows. The water has been turned
off and impluvium drained, and now some Wretched women, ankles shackled, are
scrubbing it clean. They don’t even look up at the wonders around them; in
Joe’s presence, their eyes stay lowered, and they work with frantic, desperate
energy.
            Delight stares at their haggard faces, matted hair, tumours. Rough
feet, hard as rocks, just like Delight’s used to be.
 
Children
            Delight feels the soles of her own feet. They’re soft and tender,
as if she’d never been outside at all.
            “I loved her!” Joe bursts out, talking to everyone and no-one. His
mask is removed, and tears have drawn lines down His white-powdered cheeks.
“Why would she do this to me?” His face twists in a mixture of rage and agony
and He squeezes the shard in His hand until blood drips from between His
fingers.
            Delight goes to Him. She rips a length of fabric from her dress and
wraps His hand, and He watches her like a child.
 
Alone
            That night, He takes her to bed, but He doesn’t fuck her. He just
lies there, looking up at the ceiling. They’re hand in hand in the same bed
where He took Delight and Kindest at once, but for some reason, the sheets
still smell like the Twins. It never really wore off.
            I’m alone, Delight realises. They’ve all left me.
            She squeezes Joe’s big hand, and nestles closer to Him, breathing
in His scent of dust and machine oil and gun smoke and sickly-sweet death. He
is warm and solid beside her, the touch of His ruined skin familiar.
 
Explode
            “When I was young,” Joe says, His ragged voice breaking the
silence. “Back in the Oil Wars, a guy in my squad shot himself. The Chinese had
cut us off from the main forces, and he thought we were done for. Put the gun
barrel in his mouth and his head exploded like a melon. For some reason, that
made me decide I wasn’t going to let ‘em take me.” He lets out a grim chuckle.
“Slaughtered half a dozen before I realised I was covered in his brains.”
            Delight puts a hand on her belly.
            “Joe?”
            “Hm.”
            “I’m pregnant.”
Chapter End Notes
     Only two chapters (and an epilogue) to go! Hang tight, kids! Thanks,
     as always, for reading.
***** Chapter 27 *****
Insomnia
            Delight barely sleeps; the baby keeps her awake. She lies in her
bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the distant, muffled sounds of War
Boys chanting as they rotate shifts. At least once every night, a long,
animalistic wailing drifts up from the Wretched. As the nights crawl by, she
realises that the wailer’s voice is never the same two nights in a row.
            When she does sleep, the dreams are a dark, confusing jumble. As if
standing outside of herself, she can see the way she shivers and shudders and
moans, her eyes moving rapidly beneath shut eyelids.
 
Dreams, III
            She dreams of pink water, of the soft thump of bodies against a
sandstone wall. She dreams of wide swaths of open wasteland, brilliant orange
under the sunset. And always, always, she dreams of a red-faced little girl
screaming. When she wakes, her linens are wet with leaked milk.
            Nothing seems interesting anymore, not even reading. She can’t seem
to make herself focus on Miss Giddy’s lessons. When it’s time for music, her
voice is a low whisper – if she sings at all.
            “Dance for me,” Joe tells her one night. “It’s been so long since
I’ve seen you dance.”
 
Weights
            Delight stands and glances automatically toward the piano, but
Kindest isn’t there. She looks back to Joe and opens her mouth to speak, but no
words come out. Her feet are made of lead.
            Joe’s blue eyes flicker, but then He looks at her belly and His
gaze softens. “You’re tired,” He murmurs, extending one big hand towards her.
She takes it and lets Him draw her in close, and then she sinks into His lap,
wrapping herself in Him like she’s wrapping herself in a familiar blanket. With
a grunt, He stands and carries her into her little alcove.
 
Alcove
            “Your eyes are so hollow, my Delight,” Joe coos as He holds her
close, like a mother with a newborn child. They’re sitting on her bed, in the
warm square of sunlight that filters in through the tiny window. “What’s the
matter?”
            “Nothing,” she assures Him, which is true. Nothing is the matter.
She’s pregnant. He loves her again. Shouldn’t she be okay? “I just haven’t been
sleeping well. That’s all.”
            Joe sighs and rocks her, rubbing her back. “It happens sometimes.
It’ll be over soon. I promise.” One rough hand rubs her brown belly, leaving
trails of white dust.
 
Panic
            The baby is screaming as it comes out of her, its face flushed and
red. But then she sees the legs, and they’re twisted and gone and going on
forever.
            Delight jolts awake. She sits up, rubs her eyes. In the dim
lamplight, Red is shaking and weeping in Miss Giddy’s arms.
            “I can’t do it!” She begs. Her eyes are wide and far away and she’s
gasping like she can’t breathe.
            “It’s barely a drop,” Miss Giddy assures her.
            “He’ll find out!” Her voice rises into a hysterical half-shriek.
            “He will if you keep screaming about it,” Delight says.
 
Wounds
            “I won’t say a word, child. None of us will.” Miss Giddy stares
straight at Delight. “It’s not the real thing. I promise.”
            Red keeps sucking in deep, heaving sobs that wrack her whole body.
It takes ages, but when she does finally stop, sleep takes her almost
instantly.
            “What happened?” Delight asks Miss Giddy as she pulls away Red’s
underwear. In the centre is a single red dot, bright and accusing. A bullet
wound on the white fabric.
            “Thank God it’s small enough to wash away without a stain,” she
says. “He doesn’t need to know. Agreed?”
            Mint nods.
 
Haunt
            The next morning, Red’s eyes are haunted, but she isn’t weeping any
longer. Her underwear, scrubbed clean white in the impluvium, is dried out
within the first few minutes of sunlight. Her leg bounces as if her nerves are
too alive.
            Mint watches her, looking for any signs of breakage. She missed
them when Kindest broke, and the next thing she knew, Kindest was gone.
Floating peaceful in a pink pool.
            I can still feel her, she thinks aimlessly, she’s floating right
behind me.
            Kindest is waiting for her. Like an angel. Like a curse. Waiting
for all of them.
 
Fragile
            Mint takes to watching both girls like a hawk, recording every sign
in her memory like a checklist. They’re too fragile, like glass waiting to
shatter. Too soft and paper-thin. Soon, Angharad’s shiny steel resolve will
crumble, just like the rest. Red will follow as soon as her blood is regular.
And Delight will be alone again, the only one strong enough to survive Him.
            Look at you, Kindest – no, Mom – whispers in her ear. You call this
survival?
            The voice is right behind her, so clear she turns to look. Nothing;
an empty bed and a warm, sunlit wall.
 
Here
            She’s looking out the window when her water breaks. It comes
spilling out between her legs and soaks the stone bench. She says nothing; just
sits in the wet and looks out the window. If she ignores it long enough, the
baby won’t come.
            The pain of the contractions soon makes that impossible. In the
distance she can hear Miss Giddy calling for Joe and the Mechanic. A hand wraps
around Mint’s, squeezes tight.
            “I’m here for you. I’m right here.”
            Mint looks up, and for a moment, she sees Kindest. But no,
Kindest’s face was rounder and softer.
            “Angharad.”
 
Perfect
            Angharad sits with her for all of it, her eyes locked on Mint’s,
hands clenched tight. Even when Joe arrives to witness the birth of His child,
the two of them to not break contact. Mint’s nails dig into the other girl’s
skin as her body heaves out the child, but Angharad doesn’t even flinch.
            “One more push, pretty,” the Mechanic is saying in the distance.
Mint screams.
            A baby cries. Mint looks away from Angharad in panic. But there
they are: two tiny feet, pink and healthy.
            “Congratulations, Immortan,” the Mechanic murmurs. “It’s a boy.
It’s a healthy boy.”
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