It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse – V6 - Chapter 13

We weren’t the only ones meeting on this particular night. As they brought me into a derelict building, I noticed a half dozen other raiders all looking to be initiates of the Cock and Balls. Was becoming a raider such a hot commodity? There seemed to be two pairs and the remaining two were working independently. The three of us were the largest group among them.

One couple was a girl and a boy who didn’t look much different from Wastelanders. The second pair were two men who were in former security garb. The final two wore cloaks and hid their identity, likely using a lack of intel to protect themselves where numbers could not.

The fiend looked around the room, and then his face turned displeased. At that moment, there was a thump on a door that lead to what appeared to be a closet. It sounded like some was ruffling around back there. The fiend rolled his eyes and then walked over to the door. He grabbed the handle and yanked it open. What I saw on the other side made me blush immediately, and I found myself turning away. The girl let out a cry, hiding her face in her boyfriend’s shoulder. Neither Jacques nor Pick looked away, and the other two men watched with amusement.

There was a raider there. He had the colors of cock and balls, but he also had his cock and balls out. There was a girl on her knees using her mouth, and that was as much as I dared to describe that. The guy glanced up at the fiend and smirked. The girl tried to get up, but he grabbed her by the back of her hair and then forced her forward. She made gagging noises as she resisted, but he acted as if he could barely notice.

“Are you done yet?” The fiend demanded in an annoyed voice.

“Just about.” He smirked. “Ahhh… nice… you know, Rex. You should consider having some fun sometimes. Then again, are you able to even do that? I’d imagine the little thing as fallen off.”

The two men let out noises, but when the fiend named Rex glared back at them, they quickly quieted up.

“You never take anything seriously. That’s why you were demoted to recruiting security again. He looked back at the guy in the closet, who was finally letting go of the girl.

I finally forced myself to look back now that he had put it away. She turned over and started gaging, even throwing up a little. He looked down at her and made a face. “You have no gag reflex at all. You better work on that if you manage to get into the cock and balls.”

“I-if…” The girl sputtered, wiping her mouth and shooting him a glare. “You said if I did… that… you’d let me in!”

“I said I’d put in a good word. Hey, Rex, she’s got pretty soft lips, you should try her.” The guy laughed in her face before turning and grinning at the fiend. “He’s the guy who will decide if you become an initiate or not. You’ll have to see if he’s willing.

She turned to look at the skeletal fiend, and then her face turned white.

“Perhaps, you can understand why they made me the recruiter,” Rex responded. “As Dip here stated, I hold the last decision. And no, I don’t go for your fleshies. Too ugly.”

The girl, who looked almost as pretty as Feather, shot Dip a hateful look, but he was already walking out of the closet with a grin on his face. Her expression fell to one of hopefulness. She finally got to her feet and left the closet, but she kept a distance from everyone else and kept her eyes down on the ground. I felt someone jab me in the side and I turned to look at Jacques, who was wearing a slightly amused look.

“This is the Wasteland, no? People give more for less all the time.” Jacques spoke quietly

I gave a single curt nod. I was already aware of how harsh this world could be. Katarina and Kiera would both be living lives like that if I hadn’t come. That was part of the reason why I refused to give up on this world. I had to make myself safe, rich, and secure on both sides, or there was no point in doing any of it.

“You all must fight to get accepted into our ranks.” Rex finally began. “There are no teams. You each individually need to pass on your own. Those standing next to you are not your friends. The only thing you have is yourself!”

He looked at each of the pairs, ending on the three of us. Pick, Jacques, and I exchanged looks, but I had already been told how a lot of this would go, so I was already expecting it.

“First things first…” Dip cut in, “Hand your tokens over. If you don’t have a token, you can fuck off.”

He walked from group to group, and each person presented their token. We were no exception. Jacques had given me my token, and I had kept it in my digital inventory, which was the one place I was certain I wouldn’t lose it. When the guy came to me, I pulled it from that inventory while making it look like I was pulling off a magic trick. I didn’t know the sleight of hand, but I found it easier to pretend I did rather than reveal I had a digital inventory. It was difficult pulling stuff out of my pocket with digital inventory, as it wouldn’t materialize if there wasn’t sufficient space. Given my flourish, people just saw what they wanted to see.

The guy merely grunted and then continued. When he reached the woman whom he had previously had in the closet, she was rummaging through her pockets, growing increasingly more frantic. He leaned forward and grinned, and this was the first time I noticed he was missing teeth.

“You don’t have a token?” He asked, his voice sounding mocking.

“I just had…” She froze as realization crossed her face and she looked up. “You took it!”

“Hah?” He made an exaggerated sound. “Me? Did you seriously lose your token and now you’re blaming me?”

Although he was yelling, his words sounded hollow, and everyone presents could guess that he had swiped her token during their previous exchange.

“No, I had my token!” She cried. “You even asked me to show you earlier, remember?”

“No token, no admittance.” He responded.

“You bastard!” She grabbed her knife at her hip, but the sound of a gun cocking stopped her movement.

It wasn’t Dip who moved, but Rex. He had a gun trained at her head and a serious look.

“If you don’t have a token, then you don’t belong here.” He spoke in a low voice.

“B-but…”

“Keeping a hold of your token until this moment is part of the challenge. You sought to circumvent the rules by exchanging sexual favors. You lost.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Tears welled in her eyes, but the last thing she showed was an expression of hate. She finally spun around and raced out of the room, slamming a door as she went. Silence lingered for a moment, and then Dip let out a chuckle. He flipped a token up in his fingers. It could have been one of the tokens just collected, but we all could guess which token it was.

“Not bad, fiend.”

Rex uncocked the gun, making an irritated gravel-like growl in his throat. “I don’t like playing your stupid little games. We have a job to do, and you’re wasting our time.”

Dip held up his hands like Rex was pointing the gun at him. “I surrender, please. This is the fiend’s command after all.”

Rex watched him for a moment longer before sheathing his gun and turning to us. “The rest of you have provided a token. The token and the location are only the perquisites for getting a chance to join. Anyone can tell you where and when we meet, and getting a token can be just as easy as you saw someone lose it.”

The remaining girl in the group turned red again while her boyfriend soothed her. I began to wonder how they managed to get two tokens. She might have done something just like that. This was the Wasteland, after all, and the strong took advantage of the weak. Women wanted strong men who could protect them, and in the absence of a single man, they’d take a strong group instead. Feather had told me that one.

“Get on with it then.” Pick spoke up.

Rex shot the short man a look and then nodded in approval. “I also like to be straight to the point. Your test is rather simple. We got intel that a convoy was hit outside of town. You’re to get there and scavenge anything you can get. If you offer up a big enough Tribute, then you’re in. However, I’m only accepting three of you, so the three best tributes win.”

I began to realize why he wanted the three of us. Three positions, and three chances to join. Jacques likely always expected one of us to lose.

“What kind of convoy are we talking about here?” One of the cloaked guys that came alone asked.

Rex’s bony mouth turned into a terrifying grin. “We caught a big one passing by. We managed to see their flags. Red, White, and Blue…

“Shit…” Jacques muttered as everyone else seemed to react at once.

“What? What is it? What does that mean?” I hissed at him.

“The Red, White, and Blue Flag. It’s the Democracy. The former US government.”