Alex realized how truly helpless he was in a matter of seconds. Yes, the catalyst of the breakdown that had been averted for a few weeks came in the form of a warm yellow liquid that forced its way out after several hours of holding it in. He did well, considering how long he held it. It got to the point where he could feel his kidneys throb every 15 seconds, producing slightly more liquid. That was two weeks ago. Since then, Alex hasn’t said a word. The only noises he’s made are occasional growling and screaming noises. He was little more than an animal.
Eryca tried and tried to get him back to normal, but all that yielded were some nasty bite marks on her fingers. To prevent him from hurting himself, she took a cage from a pet-co and placed him in it.
“Alex, please, just… talk to me.”
“Hssss…”
“I love you… please say something.”
“Grrrraaa! Hsss, ffft,” Alex shouted, flinging himself against the bars of the cage. He would do this every now and then--he seemed to be attempting to find a weak spot in it. All he had done so far was bloody his face and bruise his body. Alex was beginning to look like Tom Hanks from Castaway, clad in naught but some tattered clothing fashioned to look like a loin-cloth and a scraggly beard growing in. Nevertheless, Eryca remained by his side, only leaving to gather food. The apartments below and above them were running low on non-perishables, so she found herself taking longer journeys to the supermarket. In town a few of her friends were immune, but they were not lucky enough to have their significant other contract Type 1. Almost everyone anybody ever loved or cared about had died in the onset of the plague.
It was on one of her ventures to the supermarket that she met him. Damien Rodriguez. There were 31 Plague survivors in San Antonio. 15 were immune, 16 contracted Type 1. Of the 15 immune, Damien was one of two males. The other male was a young boy with hemophilia. He didn’t talk so everyone called him Alexander; as homage to the son of Nicholas II who likewise had hemophilia.
Damien was tall, dark and handsome. He was a high school dropout who worked at a video game store before everything went to hell. A Hispanic man of 18 with a rock hard body that came with using all his free time in the gym--and when your job only requires you to work 4 hours a day, that’s quite a bit of free time. He had a strong chin, a manly face, and perfect hair. If not for the fact he was an idiot and an asshole, he’d probably be the perfect man. Needless to say, he was the object of affection for all 13 of the surviving women, including the 12 year old Melissa, the 8 year old Megan, and the 15 year old Anna.
Alexander was 5, and did little to no talking. He was found hugging his father’s corpse. As best they can tell, he was killed in the rioting that came as the disease spread. Alexander carried a pillow and blanket around with him, never letting them out of his sights. Aside from the pillow, the blanket, and the clothes on his back, Alexander had a CD Case full of music and a ratty CD Player from about 3 years ago. He had a thing for Opera. The one he listened to most frequently was Mozart’s Don Giovanni--which Mozart wrote in memory of his dead father. How fitting.
The group set up shop in a mansion. The plague victims were admitted a shared room, except Alex. I believe it was best summed up by Catherine Cadena when she said, “He’s fucking nuts!” And so Alex still remained with Eryca, and still remained just as crazy. It probably didn’t help that Damien and Eryca were now dating.
“I still love him,” Eryca had said. “But… the Alex I fell in love with died weeks ago. This new Alex is… he’s an animal, he’s lost his mind. I still love him and I don’t want anything to happen to him… but I’m not in love with him anymore.”
Still, things were not well for anyone. The women hated Eryca for “stealing” Damien, Eryca hated herself because Damien was an asshole, and Damien was growing increasingly short tempered with Eryca on the grounds that she “doesn’t appreciate how lucky [she] is to be with the only man in town!”
So, let’s recap. Alex is nuts, Eryca and Damien are an item and any semblance of the old Alex watches them “do the dew” every night thus driving him more nuts. All the survivors have banned together for survival and the general human need for company. Primitive civilization seemed to be sprouting up in San Antonio, and based on how things were looking, it would be tribal autocracy with Damien at the head (simply because he has a penis. Truly sad that in a post-apocalyptic world, that’s all it takes to be a leader.)
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Eryca woke up to the sounds of clanging metal. She sat up and saw Alex hurling himself at the cage walls again. She looked at Damien. He slept on. She stood up and went to the cage.
“Alex, stop, you’re going to hurt yourself. Go back to bed.”
No response. He continued hurling himself against the cage.
“Alex, please… you’re gonna wake up Damien.”
No response--he seemed to be deaf until he heard the words “Damien”. Upon the mention of that name, his eyes darkened, and a scowl formed upon his miniscule face. He began slamming himself against the cage walls much more frantically, shouting angry nondescript noises.
“Shh, please. Go back to bed.”
“Aaaaah! Hssssss, grrraaaar!! Fffft, ffffft, raaaa,” he shouted, slamming himself against the cage door.
“Shut the fuck up,” Damien growled, placing a pillow over his head.
Alex let out an angered hissing noise, banging his fists furiously on the door of the cage.
“Shut him up, babe, before I do it,” Damien mumbled.
“Sorry, sweetie.”
That did it. Alex became infuriated. His bangings grew more frantic, his shouts more wild, and tears streamed down his face. He spun in circles, jumping up and down and thrashing about. He truly looked and sounded utterly bonkers. It brought a few tears to Eryca’s eyes. Damien felt another emotion entirely.
“I said shut the fuck up,” he growled, chucking a lamp at Alex’s cage. The cage was knocked off the shelf on which it rested, and fell to the ground with a loud clang. There was silence.
“Damien, how could you!”
“Hey, it shut him up.”
Eryca opened the cage and picked Alex’s limp body out of it. She held him to her cheek. His heart still beat, and he was still breathing lightly. He was alive. Just unconscious. She put Alex in her bra and stood up.
“I’m spending the night in Mary’s room. Goodnight, Damien.”
“Babe, I--”
The slamming door was all that greeted Damien as he called after Eryca.
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
Story 21: You've Lost That Loving Feeling