Page 10 of Semi-Human

As the camp wakes up the following morning, I ask River if we should walk with the group for the rest of the day, but he says, “We have to move on. What happened to them is happening to others and will keep on happening.”

With those ominous thoughts, we say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

“Did you know they have tanks?”

I ask once we’re out of the woods, walking north on a narrow paved road. The roots of the nearby trees have broken through the pavement, so I watch where I step.

“No,”

he says gravely.

“Is there more that you can tell me about the New-Humans?”

“Can we talk about it when we break camp this evening?”

“Hmm, sure.”

The farther we walk, the more I notice there’s something wrong with him. He’s paler than usual, his eyes seem tired, and his shoulders are slumped. He can say whatever he wants about not needing much sleep, but I can spot an exhausted man when I see one. “You need to rest, River.”

He shakes his head. “We have a long way ahead, and we’re already behind.”

“Stopping for a few hours won’t matter.”

“Won’t it?”

He halts and holds my gaze, his anger making me edgy. “A few hours are enough time for them to destroy another settlement. I… I told them what was happening, but they said it wasn’t our problem. How can it not be?” He growls and punches a nearby tree so hard it cracks.

I’m beginning to suspect he hasn’t been fully honest with me. “You said that we’d need to convince your people to work together with mine, but do they even know you’re bringing me to meet them?”

He crosses his arms, looking at his feet. “I told them about my plan, but they said no. They hate all humans.”

I rub my face, trying not to let my anger fly because River looks so lost. “Then why are we even…? You know what, never mind. We’ll talk about it later. And no—we’re not waiting until evening to break camp. A few hours more, then we’re stopping.”

He nods with a sigh. “You’re a bossy prisoner, but fine.”

We eat some fruits along the way, barely speaking during the time it takes us to reach a clearing in the woods near a small tarn. Clusters of white flowers grow close to the water’s edge. “Let’s stop here for the night.”

River nods and drops our things. He seems even more tired than before. I feel like shit for sleeping all night while he was keeping watch. I could have at least kept him company for a while.

“We have some meat left from yesterday,”

I say. “Let me start a small fire and prepare the food. Maybe go for a swim to freshen up.”

He watches the tarn as if going in is a chore. Without stopping to think, I say, “I’ll join you soon.”

He frowns, then cracks the first smile I’ve seen from him all day. “I don’t swim with clothes on.”

I swallow. “Maybe I won’t either.”

We watch each other for what seems like a long time, until he finally looks away and says, “I’ll go in, then.”

I turn to unpack our things, my heart beating fast. I might have made a mistake by offering to join him, but I’m dying to wash the sweat off my skin, and we’re both adults.

I’m not as good as River at starting a fire, but I’m better than most. I gather wood and leaves, and after a few minutes, I manage to kindle a spark that grows into a little fire. In the background, I hear River slowly moving in the water. I glance his way, finding him looking back at me, floating as he waits for me to join.

I guess the dead rabbit can wait.

I stand up and pull off my shirt. I’ll need to change the bandage around my arm later, but I can afford to get it wet. I remove my boots, socks, and pants before stopping to debate whether to remove my underwear as well. It might be even more awkward backing off after I made that statement. I look up, relieved to see River with his back to me, as if he senses my embarrassment.

I quickly pull down my underwear, leaving it behind with the rest of my clothes and common sense. I expect the water to be freezing like last time, but it’s surprisingly warm. It’s also surprisingly deep. After a few steps, I have to float to keep my head above water, but my arm and ribs still hurt. After a few failed attempts, the pain overpowers me. I struggle to return to the shoreline, swallowing water as I kick with my legs.

River reaches me in seconds, prompting me backward until my ass is on a smooth rock, the water reaching the bottom of my chest.

“I forgot to tell you it was deep,”

he says, moving to sit next to me. “Sorry.”

I pant, my damn ribs reminding me how brutal those kicks were. “I’m okay here. You can swim.”

“I’m okay here too.”

He spreads his legs forward, and I’m glad the water isn’t clear enough to see what I shouldn’t be looking at.

I stretch my legs as well, and they float next to River’s. My skin is tanner than his, though it doesn’t mean much in his case.

“Tonight you need to sleep,”

I say. “I’ll keep watch.”

“You don’t need to watch; I’ll still hear if someone’s close.”

I would have called bullshit if it were anyone else claiming that. “Okay. Do you mind telling me why we’re going to meet your people if they don’t want to meet me?”

It takes him a few moments to answer. “They think we’re safe in our village, but we’re not.”

“Then doesn’t it make sense for them to want to work with my people?”

“Almost everyone in my village has never spoken with a human. We grew up hearing horror stories, sharing memories that were passed on to us from the first wave. All we know is that your kind is ungrateful, evil, and wishes us harm.”

His words hurt, but it doesn’t make them less true. “You still left your village even though you thought we were monsters.”

“Because I was curious, and I wanted to see more of the world. A few of my people did the same, like my friend in High Hope.”

I can relate to what he’s saying: the need to explore beyond the boundaries of your home, no matter what is waiting outside. “The people in your village can tell me to leave the second they see me.”

“They might try, but I’ll insist. My friend Lyla from High Hope will join me, I’m sure.”

“Is she from the same wave as you?”

“Yes, and she’s as strong as I am. Maybe a bit stronger, but don’t tell her I said that.”

“All of your people are strong, right?”

He hesitates before saying, “Not all of us are the same; some are not much stronger than humans, and some are enhanced in different ways, like aging very slowly or not needing to sleep at all.”

I’m taken aback. It goes against everything I was told about them, though I should know by now to question everything I thought. The Defender in me recognizes how valuable River’s revelation is, but the Josh who’s sitting here with him doesn’t feel right thinking that way.

“Are you sure that your wave was the last?” I ask.

“Yes. I likely don’t even have a clone.”

I’m not sure I’ve heard him right. “A clone?”

“It takes a lot to create one of us, so they used to divide us into two fetuses, with only one being allowed to wake up and leave the pods. The other one waited until the original version died, but since both grow at the same pace, there’s no point in waking up the clone if the original dies of old age. My wave was mostly dead fetuses because the lab didn’t have much to work with, so creating and maintaining new clones didn’t make sense.”

He shrugs. “I think I prefer it; I don’t like the thought of having a clone floating alone in a lab.”

I try to push away that unpleasant image, amazed by how advanced our technology once was. “You’re being very honest with me.”

“When there’s trust, there’s cooperation.”

I smile. “Mother’s words.”

“Correct.”

River slips back into the water, floating with his hands on the rock I’m sitting on. “When my people meet you, they’ll understand we can work together.”

I stop myself from saying that he’s asking a lot of me, and he’s perhaps being a bit naive. If someone was raised and taught to hate humans, I don’t have it in me to change their entire worldview. But yesterday I’ve seen firsthand the horrors those New-Humans could cause, so I have to at least try to follow River’s plan, hoping he knows what he’s doing.

River wets his lips. “Is it okay that I’m looking at your body?”

“What?”

“I want to look at you, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

I do feel uncomfortable, but I don’t want to sound childish by admitting it. “It’s fine.”

His honey-colored eyes visibly scan my torso, moving from side to side and up and down. I’m painfully aware of the way I sit, the way I hold my shoulders, and how my hands rest on the stone.

“I like that you have a bit of hair on your chest,” he says.

“I… yeah, I like it too.”

“Is the hair underneath your arms also dark?”

I swallow and raise my arms, trying to flex without making it obvious.

River nods, a little smile on his lips. “Dark as well. Mine is more brown than red.”

He raises his right arm to show me. He doesn’t have much hair there, and it is indeed more brown than red.

We both lower our arms. As awkward as this is, I’ve become fully erect. The water reaches a few inches above my crown, so he might not have noticed.

“Do you have a partner in the Hive?”

he asks, still using the rock I’m sitting on to stay afloat.

“No, I have a good friend that we… we’re close.”

“Caden?”

“How do you know?”

“It was the first name you wrote in the letter.”

“Oh. Yes, Caden. He was the Defender you saw leaving with Finn.”

“Then he’s lucky. Finn will protect him.”

I chuckle. “I think it’s going to be the other way around.”

Unless Finn ends up revealing he lied to us about River, and in that case, Caden will break his neck.

“Does that mean you like boys?”

River asks, holding my gaze.

My skin feels hot, and I’m sure he can sense it. Nobody ever asked me that directly, and it’s not something I ponder often. There’s not much point in contemplating your sexual attraction and relationship goals when a Raider could blow your head off at any second.

I clear my throat. “Yes, I like boys, but I haven’t done anything except with one. What about you? Do you have someone… special?”

He twitches his lips in thought, and I’m dreading hearing he has someone waiting back home. There’s nothing rational about it, but my dread doesn’t care.

“I don’t,”

River says. “I slept with other Enhanced before, but only with a few humans. It’s easier with my people because we know what the other likes without asking. With humans, I need to guess, and it makes me nervous.”

Even though Caden has always been straightforward with his desires, I can imagine River’s challenge in trying to figure out what is otherwise obvious to him.

“It’s okay to ask if you’re not sure what someone wants,” I say.

He watches the water for a few moments before looking back at me. “What if I ask to touch your penis?”

There are many responses that cross my mind, but for some reason, I end up saying, “It’s a cock. Nobody really calls it penis.”

“Really? I like penis better.”

He watches my face, waiting for an answer.

What do I have to lose? There are many other things I should be more concerned about than River touching my cock. Or penis.

“You can touch it.”

He seems surprised by my response, but a second later, he spreads my knees on the rock as he floats between my legs. I’m lightheaded from the blood that rushes to my crotch. I’ve never been intimate with anyone other than Caden, and I can’t help but feel unfaithful. But Caden has been with other people, and I don’t wish to deprive myself of whatever it is River is willing to offer.

He moves his hand under the water until his palm wraps around my erection. I look down, but his hand and my cock are blurry, though the feeling is razor sharp.

“It’s thick,”

he says, “and warm. I like it very much.”

I expect him to remove his hand now that he has touched it, but he ends up saying, “I’m going to touch it some more, okay?”

I nod. “Okay.”

He begins to stroke, and I shiver, goosebumps rising up and down my skin, above and below the water. My balls tighten as my toes curl. He doesn’t use much pressure, but I haven’t come in days, and it doesn’t take much friction to make me react. I try to keep my expression composed, but it’s difficult when all I want is to throw my head back and moan into the sweet forest air.

“Your nipples are hard,”

he says as he strokes. “Can I touch them too?”

“You don’t have to ask about everything.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You won’t. I’m… also into this, so you don’t have to ask.”

He considers my words, then smiles in mischief. Before I can react, he releases my cock and pushes himself up with his palms on the rock, bringing us face to face. I’m frozen, hoping I’m reading correctly where this is heading.

Then River kisses me. He uses just his lips, and when he leans back, there’s hesitation in his eyes, though there shouldn’t be.

I lean forward and hold his head, pressing my lips to his. First chance I get, I slip my tongue into his mouth. He tastes like fruit, so warm and sweet. A voice in my head reminds me to be careful because this man isn’t like me, isn’t officially human, yet nothing feels more human than kissing him.

My mouth is sore by the time we break the kiss. With my forehead resting against his, I take deep breaths, savoring this moment.

“I knew you liked me.”

He licks my bottom lip. “The way I like you. Lean back.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be tired?”

“This is more fun than sleep.”

He nudges me back until I lie with my upper back on the grass, the bottom part of my body still covered in water with my erection poking out.

“Can I…? No, no questions.”

He leans down and takes me into his mouth. I moan, my muscles melting as I feel the back of his throat wrapped around my crown. He holds my balls and plays with them in the water. I tilt my head back and let out embarrassing sounds, but my pleasure has the helm.

River reaches for my chest, pinching my nipple and causing the right amount of pain. For the first time in days, I’m detached from my burn and my bruises. A cocoon of pleasure is wrapped tightly around my body. I raise my head to find River’s honey-colored eyes watching me intently, my cock deep in his mouth. He’s breathtaking, from his pale skin to his long lashes and his pink lips.

“Tell me if I sound ridiculous,” I say.

He raises his head, leaving my crown wet from his saliva. “You sound even better than my harmonica.”

I smile. “That’s a big compliment.”

“It is.”

He licks my slit, jolting me with sharp pleasure. “Do you want to put your nutrients in my mouth?”

“My…?”

“Nutrients.”

He strokes my balls.

I burst out laughing, unable to stop for almost a minute. “Sorry.”

He doesn’t seem offended. “If you don’t want to…”

“No, I want to. Please, take my nutrients.”

He slides me back into his mouth, sucking fast with his tongue spinning like a fan propeller. I don’t hold back—grunting and moaning, my trembling body sending ripples through the water. I know he’ll notice if someone comes close, so I don’t care if every animal around hears my climax, even the bears.

“River, I’m… I’m…”

I shoot into his mouth as he increases his sucking to milk me dry. When he finally raises his head, I’m a rag in the water. The pain in my ribs rises once more, but I don’t care.

River comes to lie next to me, licking his lips. “Protein. Sodium. Spermidine.”

“What?”

“Some of the nutrients I got from you.”

I’m too drained to laugh, so I just smile and reach for his hand, surprised with how natural it feels. “I want to do the same to you.”

“Next time. We need to eat rabbit now.”

“Okay. And you promised to sleep.”

“I will. Oh.”

He scoops a final drop from my slit. “Your semen is white.”

“Wait—yours isn’t?”

“Mine is pink and glows in the dark. If you put it on the ground, it will make a flower grow.”

I gawk at him until he bursts out laughing. “I’m kidding!”

We cook without putting on our clothes, exploring and discovering with our eyes, though I vow to touch every part of his body as soon as I can. Whatever shred of embarrassment I felt earlier is now floating in the water.

We eat next to the campfire as the sun slowly sets, my shoulder resting against his. When we’re done eating, River pulls out his harmonica and plays while standing naked by the fire. The flames cast dancing shadows across his pale skin, and I’m hypnotized.

My home might be many miles away, but I no longer feel alone.