“Just one more zone, just one more zone.” Miere's voice was a whisper as she sat on the edge of the makeshift boat, a bunch of logs glued together with paper and honey, and clutched to the edge. Her wings buzzed in time with Erlea's, the two Honningbie driving it forward as they bounced on the choppy water.
It was the first water zone that Erlea had ever seen; she didn't even know it was possible to even have a zone filled with water. Despite the ribbons of shallow waters surrounded by deeper waters, there were still islands filled with dense trees and brush. The plants went right up to the edge except for the occasional uninviting shore.
Erlea tried not to think about their exposure. It was just like the previous zone, the plains, but she had no clue what monsters were waiting beneath the rippling waters. Somehow, she doubted they wouldn't be interested in impregnating her. She clutched the edge of the boat and beat faster, skipping their boat over the deep waters and toward a line of sand that blocked their route.
Billie and Gral stood on both sides, watching carefully. Both Kever and Orc Chief had their weapons out. Even though they had said little to each other, Erlea noticed that much of the tension had evaporated after their affair the previous night. They was a tense closeness to them, half-hidden nods and sly smiles but nothing more. She didn't broach the topic with Billie because she suspected that the Kever was uncomfortable with what she did, though it was obvious from her actions that she came harder than almost anything else. With a smile to herself, she rested her hand on Miere's hand and gestured to the front.
At the prow of the ship, well, a wedge of wood and paper, Tira spread her wings widely. The beautiful moth spread tilted one way or the other, guiding the ship through dangers only the Falene could see. The flutter of her many hairs were distracting as was the pollen and dust that streamed away from her and swirled around her companions.
Miere sighed. “This place seems—”
Billie held up a finger. “Do not finish that sentence.”
Miere cringed and ducked her head.
“We've been fucked in every zone since we left. It's just a matter of if but when something is going to sneak up on us. So, not saying things are easy or we're going to make it until we out of the zone and fighting off the next thing that wants to fuck you to death.”
Erlea gave Billie a hard look.
The Kever sighed and amended herself to Miere. “We'll be fine, just don't want to get complacent. One of us is probably going to get bred by the time we get out of this place. I can only hope we get to the border before night.”
Tira leaned back. “We're going to have to drag the boat over that sandbar ahead of it. If we're going to get ambushed, that is probably where it will happen. It will also take time unless we try to make another boat on the far side.”
Billie pointed to a large rock some distance. “How about there? We might get a good vantage point.”
Tira tilted one wing and spread the other. The boat steered toward it. Only a few minutes later, the two Honningbies drove the boat up into the sand with a crunch and a shudder.
Miere let out a high-pitched buzz as she released the boat and then lifted herself from the wood and water to hover near Erlea. One hand dangled down.
Erlea smiled and took it, summoning her Barrier around the both of them as they lifted higher into the air. She scanned the surface looking for signs of traps or monsters laying in wait. It didn't take her long to spot some suspicious ripples of sand that didn't quite move the same as the others. Lowering herself, she pointed them out.
Billie agreed. “Best to avoid them. Suggestions?”
Erlea hesitated and then gestured to the sandbar. “I didn't see anything that way, maybe about five hundred feet, then cut in and across. There is some rocky area about midpoint, say a hundred feet in. If we then angle back this way to the water on the far side, it looks as clear as it could be.”
She landed on the boat and her wings drooped. “But, I'm not absolutely sure. Everything feels like a trap here, with the sandbar cutting the zone in half and no way around it.”
Gral chuckled as he yanked the boat, and the breeders on it, out of the water. “Of course it's a trap. Every couple steps, something is going to lunge out. No way to avoid it, only to prepare and hope you can defend yourself.”
Billie glared at him. “Easy to say, you aren't going to get your cunt stuffed with dick if we're wrong.”
“No, they'll just kill me since everything we encounter is probably fifty to a hundred points more than me.”
An uncomfortable silence filled the air.
Gral interrupted it with a chuckle. “I promised I would help you as long as I can. But you know as well as me, I'm probably useless beyond Monefuck City.”
Erlea's wings jerked at his worse. There was something about his tone that suggested that he was making a suggestion that he had already decided it was the best approach. She tensed and looked at the others: Billie seemed surprised but Tira didn't. Her eyes narrowed as Tira looked away.
Next to her, Miere perked up. “You'll stay in Monefuck with me?”
At the hope in her voice, Erlea realized that it wasn't Tira that had driven Gral's decision but Miere. She relaxed and looked at the two of them.
Gral shrugged. “Just an idea, but those last few fights took a lot out of me and I can't evolve. Monsters don't have affinity and we don't gain CP, so I'm set at one-ninety and will never gain a single point. Beyond Monefuck, you'll be encountering three-fifties and higher easily. Though, there will be a mix of points in Monefuck so….”
He hesitated for a moment and then sighed. “I'm not sure how useful I will be there either. At least for defending Miere against the others. But at least I'll be able to hold my own more often than not.”
Emotions bubbled up inside Erlea, but she couldn't identify them. She couldn't tell if it was jealousy, relief, or annoyance.
“You were thinking about that last night?” asked Billie sharply.
Gral didn't rise up. He shrugged again. “Last couple of days, if you want to know. Just vague feelings. I always knew I wouldn't make it to the Shucks, but I did promise I would keep the sweet little bee free of cock to the best of my ability. And none of us want to abandon her in Monefuck, right?”
Erlea glanced at Billie.
The beetle shook her head. “No, we don't.”
Miere let out a high-pitched buzz and flew over to Billie to give her a tight hug. “I'm so sorry!” she cried as she plastered her body against the Kever's carapace.
Billie hesitated then wrapped her arms around around Miere. “He was right, it was my fault. You were scared and I didn't do my job. I should have stopped you. I shouldn't have blamed you for how I failed.” She sniffed. “I screwed up so many times.”
“Just beat them, Billie. Slaughter those Shucks, please?”
Tira slipped over to Gral. “You sure?”
“Yes, I think I am.”
“What happens when we're gone?”
Erlea's skin crawled as her thoughts took her to a dark place, triggered by the question. What would happen when they were gone? It was something that she had avoided thinking without realizing it. Leaving Miere in Monefuck meant leaving her defenseless. Her lover would have been raped or worse before they left the city. With Gral defending her, it would only delay the inevitable before the same thing happened.
The best would be to bring Miere safely back to the lower point zones, but there was no shelter for her. She had a Honningbie affinity, nowhere was safe for her. Even in a hive in the beginning zones would still leave her helpless, a victim the moment any creature attacked.
Erlea sank to her knees as tears ran down her cheeks. There was nothing for Miere, no way that her story ended well in Monefuck or anywhere else.
A whisper of wind brushed against her face as Tira landed next to her. The curvy moth wrapped her arm around Erlea's narrow waist. “Just realized it, didn't you?”
With a sob, Erlea nodded. “She's dead, isn't she?”
Tira nodded.
Gral came around and sat between Erlea and Miere, his bulk cutting off her vision. He shook his head. “I'm sorry.”
“What could we have done?”
Tira squeezed her. “Nothing. Even in a hive, it would have been just a matter of time. She's stuck, just like Gral, but without even the relief of breeding. She's static, fixed. There is no relief for her and it will only get worse.”
“I-I didn't meant for this.”
Gral rested his thick hand on her knee. “She knows though.”
Erlea wiped at the tears. “How could she?”
“She does. She may not have intended to go this far, but she's like me, it is just a matter of time. After a certain point, Monefuck seems like the safest place. We can find some hole and live out our lives. Avoid the big guys. From what I hear, there are smaller creatures there too, we can survive.”
“When we're done, then—”
He tapped her knee. “No, you don't come back.”
Erlea gasped and looked at him in horror.
“You don't. Because if we're gone, it will devastate you. If we aren't, then you'll be trying to stop her descent. She is a lost bee, no matter where you leave her. At least in Monefuck, you'll know she will have the best life you can give her. I promise, by the System, that I will fight without quarter to save her honor.”
“I… I couldn't just… why can't we come back and take her home. We can be safe there.”
“And will you be happy with a rat fuck? A goblin dick?”
Erlea's shoulders slumped. The creatures that terrified her in the beginning seemed so pathetic to her now. It would only take a flick of her finger to blast them away, leaving her with the same aching longing that took monster worms and bigger creatures to even have a chance of fulfilling. “What if I want to come back?”
“Then do it, I'm only giving suggestions as an Orc Chief. I haven't been down this path, I can only guess how it ends.”
Tira leaned into her. “He's right, you know. You can never go home, Erlea. You'll never have a home with her. No matter how much you hope, you are pushing three hundred and she's still the bee you left home with.”
Erlea shook her head and scrambled to her feet. “I-I… I need….” She looked around helplessly. There was nowhere safe for her anywhere. Even if there was, she couldn't abandon her friends.
Tira gestured out to the water. “Go on, fly high and do some thinking. We don't need you to cross the sandbar and we'll meet you on the other side.”
“What about—?”
“Go,” said the moth. “Fly high and away from everyone. We've all been thinking this, but you are so close to her, you wouldn't let you see it.”
Tears ran down her cheeks. “How can you just be okay with this?”
Tira shrugged. “The System.”
“Y-You too?”
Tira glanced at Gral. “Different aspects, but yes. We have a goal, stop the Shucks from destroying our world. Everything else is secondary to that, it has to be. If you give up, if you crawl into a hive with Miere, then we'll lose.”
Erlea shook her head. “No, I'm sure—”
Tira pulled Erlea up to her feet. “If you hide, we will lose. We need you to fight Caracas before he gets too powerful. You are the only one who even has a chance, a sliver of a chance, of defeating him.” Her eyes hardened. “If that means abandoning your love, then you need to do that.”
“Tira….”
“Defeat him, then we'll talk. If you think you can, then we come back. But, you need to leave Miere and Gral in Monefuck City, do you hear?”
Erlea clenched her hands. She wanted to lash out at something, anything.
Tira's gaze was hard as she gestured to the sky. “Go on, fly around and think about it. Find something we both missed. We'll meet you on the other side.”
Gral shook his head with a sign, but the nodded. “Find an answer, you can do it.”
Erlea couldn't look to her lover. With a sob, she took off and flew straight up, forming her Barrier around her as she streaked for the clouds.