Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
It occurred to Penny that he wasn’t the first dead body she’d seen that day—he wasn’t even the second or the tenth.
But he is the first dead body that you actually killed yourself, a little voice in her head pointed out. You killed him, Penny—you killed him!
But she didn’t have time to wallow in guilt. V’rex was pulling her along, weaving through the crowd of breeders who were still fucking on every available surface in the Marketplace, including right over the fresh-baked loaves waiting to be taken home and eaten. Ugh!
V’rex guided her quickly and purposefully through the busy area. Thankfully everyone was so involved with the Public Breeding that they didn’t seem to notice she and the big Hybrid were defecting.
Penny’s head still felt muddled from the craziness in the bakery. She followed V’rex blindly, not even stopping to question where they were going until suddenly she saw they were standing to one side of the main gate.
“Okay, first things first,” V’rex muttered and Penny saw that he was studying a small white rectangle that appeared to have multiple buttons on it.
“What’s that?” she asked. “Is that it? Is that the Master Remote? You got it?”
“I got it,” V’rex confirmed. “Now let’s see if I can figure out how to use it. Maybe this is it.”
He pressed a button, seemingly at random, and gasped with pain. The remote fell in the dust beside him as he dropped to his knees, reaching for the white pain square attached to the side of his neck.
“Oh no!” Penny exclaimed. Reaching down, she snatched up the remote and pointed at him as she pressed a button. Nothing seemed to happen so she pressed another and another.
Suddenly, the atmosphere dome above their heads fizzled and went off. The temperature shot up twenty degrees at least and Penny began to sweat. But V’rex was still on the ground, clutching at the pain square on his neck.
“Stop it,” she muttered in frustration as she mashed the buttons and pointed the Master Remote at the big Hybrid. “Stop hurting him—leave him alone!”
The glowing green force field of the main gate suddenly flickered and went out and then, finally, V’rex stopped writhing in pain.
He lay panting in the dust for a moment, as though trying to catch his breath. At last his eyes rolled up to meet Penny’s.
“Thanks, sweetheart.” His deep voice was hoarse. “That was…pretty bad.”
Sitting up with an effort, he plucked the pain square from the side of his neck and flicked it away, into the bushes by the side of the road. Then he looked up at the clear sky and frowned.
“Hey—what happened to the atmosphere dome?”
“I…I think I might have turned it off,” Penny admitted “And, well, I don’t know which button to push to turn it back on.”
“Well, I was hoping to sneak out of here while everyone was busy fucking but I think they’re going to notice this,” V’rex remarked.
“I’m really sorry—” Penny began but he shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Here, let me see that for a minute.” He held out his hand and Penny handed him the Master Remote. “Let’s see if we can’t give them something else to think about,” V’rex muttered.
He cleared his throat and then pressed a button on the side of the Master Remote. Then he began speaking in a very passable imitation of the Glorious Leader.
“Ah, my children,” he said. “Perhaps you have noticed that our atmosphere dome has had a temporary malfunction which, unfortunately, raises the temperature somewhat in our lovely Compound. To combat the heat, I am hereby moving the Public Breeding from the Marketplace to my own mansion. And this includes not just those of you who are already breeding, but everyone in the Compound—I even want my NeverBreeders to come and watch. All of you please come directly into the house and make yourselves at home. Feel free to use any of my bedrooms, my couches, chairs and tables—just breed all over the place and have a lovely time, my children, by order of the Shining Star.”
Penny was giggling helplessly when V finished and shoved the Master Remote back into his pocket.
“There, that oughta keep ‘em busy for a while,” he said, grinning at her. “Hope the GL likes having an orgy in his house.”
“In every possible area and on every possible surface!” Penny added, giggling again. “What a mess! Oh, V’rex—you’re too much!”
“What I want to be right now is free of this place,” he growled, reaching for her hand again. “Come on—it’s time we got out of here.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Penny nodded. “Let’s go before somebody realizes what’s happening.”
“Hey, what are you breeders doing? Stay away from the gate!” a high, androgynous voice shouted.
Penny looked up to see two NeverBreeder guards headed towards them, weapons drawn.