A Twink & a Trucker Survive the Was

Chapter 3 - A Twink and a Trucker Survive the Wasteland

*****

'You know this guy?' Red shook the man he held in his grip, his knife placed steadily against Twink's throat, a cut beginning to well up with blood as the sharp material tugged at the skin.

'Let me go,' Twink tried to escape from Red's arms, but he knew one false move and blood would come gushing from his neck.

The atmosphere was tense as the crew still pointed their weapons at the mysterious stranger, not taking the lead of Trucker who had since powered his gun.

Trucker looked from one crew member to another and then resting his eyes on the man in Red's grip before lowering his eyes to the sandy ground beneath his feet.

'Boss, start talking. Who is the guy?' Blue was getting antsy as he pointed a gun at the man.

'A friend of yours?' Mech asked.

Trucker rolled the words around in his mouth, struggling to form an explanation, but he knew he had to say something before his crew slit the guy's throat. 'Not a friend exactly... more of an acquaintance.'

'Pffft, that's not what you were calling me in bed last night,' Twink piped up, a teasing note to his voice.

Trucker stared wide-eyed at the young man, but it was too late. The cat was out of the bag.

A beat passed as the crew took in the man's words. The descending sun cast long shadows across the ground and the faces of the men, making their expressions hard to decipher. A gentle breeze blew in the silence around them for miles. Nothing but deep burnt-orange sand surrounding them listening and waiting until the penny dropped.

And with a sudden explosion, the rest of crew burst into a chorus of laughter, lowering their weapons and falling to the ground in fits of laughter while Trucker and Twink looked around at the rest of the men. Red let go of Twink, softening at the humour of the situation.

Trucker and Twink exchanged a look, Trucker was blushing in embarrassment. He squinted his eyes and shook his head in disapproval at the younger man, while Twink raised an eyebrow and shrugged, triumphant that he had gotten himself of the predicament.

'Alright, you've had your laugh,' Trucker tried to get a handle of the situation.

The other men gathered themselves, picking themselves up from the ground after their laugh.

'So that's where you snuck off to last night,' Blue elbowed Trucker playfully.

'I was wondering where you'd disappeared to,' Red winked.

'Got yourself a little boyfriend, have you, Boss?' Mech even joined in on the teasing while Twink sniggered off to the side.

'No,' Trucker growled, gritting his teeth. 'It was supposed to be a one-time thing. This rat must've snuck on board somehow.'

'Mustn't be very good bandits if I was able to sneak on board and not get caught this whole way,' Twink nodded the way they'd come - all those long hours and hours of travel, the distance of the wasteland they'd already traveled, the assailants they'd fought off to survive. And not a peep from Twink.

They all looked at one another - he was stealthy for sure.

'I told you last night, this ain't some bus to be hitching a ride,' Trucker told him.

'What are you doing sneaking on anyway? We're delivery, not bandits. If you wanted that kind of joy ride there's plenty of gangs around looking for impressionable young men to take into their fold,' Blue took the man in, gazing at his clothes.

'I ain't looking to join a gang, I needed to get away from...' Twink's voice petered off.

'Them,' Mech said solemnly, turning away to peer into the distance they'd come from.

The other men could only see his back. In the setting sun he was merely a silhouette against the desert.

'Who?' Trucker asked, but he was already forming the answer in his mind.

'That's why we were attacked so early,' Mech explained. 'They were after him.' He let the words hang in the hot air.

The others turned to the young man, who withdrew into himself.

'You jeopardized this whole operation,' Trucker grabbed Twink by the front of his shirt. 'And for what? Now there's a target on our backs because they must've seen you sneak aboard.'

'Why are they after you?'

'I... that's my business,' Twink clamped his mouth shut, remembering the sage advice from last night about keeping your cards close to your chest.

'Uhhh, we should just leave you here, see how long you last in the desert,' Trucker was getting exasperated. Mostly by the fact that Twink had squirmed his way on board their truck, but also the fact that Twink remained as cute as ever. Like butter wouldn't melt. But he knew he had to remain firm now, and not let his dick do the talking for him.

'We can't,' Mech said. 'They know he was with us. They'll still come after us if they think we're carrying him on board.'

'Fuck,' Trucker pushed Twink away out of his grasp. 'Well, next town we reach, we're dumping him there. Send word out on the airwaves that whoever's looking from him can find him there.'

'Please, I just need to get to Eden city and then I'll become invisible. You'll never see or hear from me again.'

'No. Not Eden. The next town. You're off the truck and out of our business,' Trucker said with a note of finality to his words.

Twink and the rest of the crew knew when to shut their mouths when the boss's word was gospel.

With that the crew cleaned up from their dinner, some chilling by the campfire as the sun finally set, descending the wasteland into night. The landscape became a wilderness of darkness, their campfire the only light for miles.

But above them, the universe opened up. The black sky was met with millions or even trillions of stars, constellations and cosmic wonders delighting the skyscape.

It was Trucker's favourite part of traversing the wasteland - the quiet moments at night when it felt like he was the only person in the wide universe, with all the blinking dots in the sky to gaze upon. The bandits, the scorching heat, no guns, no fighting, just tranquility.

'I know you don't need me to tell you, Boss,' Mech said, pulling Trucker aside for a quiet word, breaking him from his reverie.

'I can tell what you're going to say,' Trucker braced himself for a lecture from the wise mechanic-come-philospher.

'Well, just to reiterate. A night of fun is never just that. Whatever energy we put out into the world has a way of finding its way back,' Mech said sagely, looking out at the wide expanse of the universe. 'We get back what we put out.'

'So it's divine punishment for me screwing around that we landed with him and are being pursued?'

'I never said we were being punished, it's up to you what you do with this situation. I just mean... don't get mad at the young man. We're all part of this crazy, unknowable world. He's trying to get by just like we are. He may have strengths we may not yet know of...' At this, Mech stalked away, leaving his mysterious words hang in the air for Trucker to contemplate, whatever those words meant he was yet to find their meaning. If there was any merit to what he'd said.

Trucker moved to the lounger beside the truck and laid back, sipping a cool drink as he gazed up at the night sky. He looked in awe at the wonder of it all - every night, a whole new expansive landscape to search and enjoy. He almost in a trance as he stared transfixed at the sky - it could've been hours that had passed.

Suddenly, he was brought back down to Earth by a light tapping coming from the truck. Mech was tinkering away inside with his tools. Red and Blue were taking inventory of their weapons. And Twink was watching the fire, gazing deeply into its weakening embers, lost in the swirl of his own thoughts.

'Well, I'm off to bed,' Trucker announced.

Twink peered up from the flames.

'Alone,' Trucker added. 'You can sleep on one of the couches inside or out here if you want. But no more sneaky business or you can walk to civilisation.'

Twink gulped as he watched the tall burly man head inside the truck. He thought of the night before, when Trucker had had his arms around him, when he'd kissed him, when he'd been inside. The intensity, the intimacy, the heat. It seemed like a million years ago. He couldn't really linger on that too much. He needed to worry about his next steps. If the crew were going to dump him in the next town, he needed some sort of a plan when he got there. The people after him wouldn't take too kindly should they get their hands on him.

He laid down on the lounger, taking a blanket to cover himself and fell asleep by the fire.

*

The following morning, the crew set off bright and early. The Moon brothers drove ahead to do some recon on the route up ahead and fed back any information - the rolling sand dunes that could be traversed, sheer cliffs to steer clear of, any signs of bandits or fires, small oases or gatherings of beasts that the truck needed to swerve out of the way of.

In the cab of the truck, Twink was a chatterbox, persistently asking questions as he sat in a seat beside Trucker at the wheel - the route they were taking, what they were delivering, who it was for, what missions had they been on before, what other bandits they had fought off.

To all of the young man's questions, Trucker replied in a gruff voice that it was none of his business and told him to go off and annoy someone else. But, Twink persisted, thinking of more questions and more ways to annoy Trucker.

Twink had never seen such an expansive landscape. He'd grown up in Westaria, the largest city west of the Wasteland - more a metropolis than anything - and had lived there all his life. So he'd only ever known urban landscapes filled with busy, bustling streets, tall skyscrapers, and crowds packed tightly together, all going about their lives.

Out here in the Wasteland, the eye could look miles and miles in all directions without seeing a creature, tree or building. The emptiness was unfathomable and was in many ways more overwhelming than a buzzing, bustling city. So, naturally, Twink had questions about life out here for those who chose to traverse its wild landscapes.

'How long until the next town?' Twink asked Trucker now.

In response, the large man just grit his teeth. A vein was beginning to bulge in his forehead, so Twink decided to put a rest to his questioning and see what Mech was up to.

The young man stalked through the truck and sat down at the mechanic's work station. There were endless tools, fittings and materials all scattered around the desks. It looked like a random pile of mess to Twink, but he was sure the wise man had some sort of system to his madness.

'What are you working on?' Twink asked.

Mech was bent over a large sheet of thick metal. There were some large burnt chunks missing from the sheet. He spun around, his eyes large behind his wide goggles. 'Ah, young man,' Mech said as if he'd been away with the fairies and hadn't seen him just a few hours ago. 'Well I'm actually repairing some of our defense mechanisms that were damaged in the shootout from yesterday. I'm using this fascinating material I picked up from a merchant in Westeria - it's from a newly discovered mine far away. She traded it in to test out the quality, but apparently it's all the rage,' Mech said excitedly. 'Anyway, it's a liquid metal that hardens once it dries. I'm trying it out. It's supposed to be stronger than anything we've used before. Except I'm trying to find the temperature to make it melt into a liquid,' Mech turned back to his station, lighting a burner flame. 'I haven't quite figured out the right degree of heat yet...'

Mech kept on rambling, but Twink had long since zoned out, too bored to listen to the ins and outs of the mechanic's experiments.

He got up was about to stroll to the back of the truck to where the other areas were - the cabins to rest, the weapons room, maybe even the delivery compartment...

That was until Trucker spotted him trying to squawk off and called him to the front of the truck, forbidding him from snooping around.

With a sigh, he sat back on the seat next to Trucker and slouched down. As much as he was fascinated by the Wasteland, they'd not seen anything interesting out the windshield for hours - just endless orange rock underfoot, brown sand dunes rolling for miles around them, the clear blue sky above and the burning yellow sun shining down on them. For a reckless, dangerous place, there was very little going on.

He turned to Trucker to stare at the man as he drove. He was pleasant to look at - gruff, but handsome in a rugged way. His beard was thick, his body large and muscular, and his face handsome. The brow was furrowed in a sexy moody way as he concentrated on the road ahead.

Twink's eyes fell to Trucker's lips. They were full and red in between the thick bushy beard. He licked his own lips, wishing he could touch his own lips against Trucker's, move them about and stick his tongue inside like they'd done previously. Somewhat out of boredom, but also because he still found the large man very attractive. Being in his arms had taken his mind off of his worries, but also had been enjoyable in general.

Like Trucker, he'd only expected a one-night fling, and the older man seemed quite annoyed by his continued presence, but he couldn't help being drawn to him now sitting next to him. His brooding, confident prowess as the truck driver of a brave crew only made him more appealing.

'Stop staring,' Trucker announced, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.

Twink jumped in his seat and tore his eyes away from the handsome driver. He hadn't realised he'd been daydreaming. Too bad Trucker clearly wasn't as into him as he was.

He looked back to the sandy flat terrain ahead and sighed again, placing his head against the back of the seat in boredom.

'Uhh, you're getting on my last nerve,' Trucker warned.

'Well there's literally nothing to do,' Twink moaned.

'Huh,' Trucker sighed. 'Fine, you can ask me about the Wasteland, and our missions, our and battles if it gets you to stop being so annoying,' he gave in.

And with that, Twink excitedly asked Trucker about all he knew, and the driver complied, leaving out anything confidential, but it the most part retelling about past scuffles with bandits, previous missions, the medicine they were delivering, the geography and history of the wasteland, and various bits of information he knew.

Twink soaked up everything he could get, learning about a part of the world he knew next to nothing about as a city-dweller to the west. Truth be told, Trucker was glad of the company - Red and Blue were far ahead doing recon, only every now and then passing back useful info, and Mech was busy on his work. The chats passed the time, and made the journey go a lot quicker.

From his work station, Mech looked up at the two up front chatting, laughing and swapping useful tidbits of information, wisdom and knowledge. He smiled to himself and turned back to his work. 'We get back what we put out,' he whispered.

*

The next two days were uneventful - travel through the wilderness was quiet and monotonous. They didn't come across any bandits or dangerous geological features that prevented their passage. The crew stopped to take breaks during the day and set up camp at night, resting until the next morning and doing the same all over again.

After another day of travel, the crew stopped close to an oasis to set up camp for the evening. The fresh water gave them an opportunity to drink and even have a dip in the cool, refreshing waters. The site was quiet and tranquil, looking safe to use without much caution. It was beautiful in the light of dusk, orange sunlight reflecting off the clear waters.

Trucker had splashed about in the waters, letting the water cool him off, and was dressing by the shore as the others returned to the truck ahead of him. He had pulled on his boxers and was reaching for his pants when he heard a grizzly growl coming from behind him. Turning, he saw a beast on all fours bearing sharp teeth.

It looked like a large lion, only dark purple in colour and thrice as big. It had rippling scales and a long furry mane that moved as it stared down at Trucker.

'Shit,' he thought to himself. His gun was out of reach and lying on the sand a distance away. He stayed very still, but tried to subtly step towards his weapon.

Even his slightest of movements made the beast growl more as it began to brace itself to pounce towards its prey.

'Shit shit shit shit,' Trucker's thoughts moved a mile a second as he surveyed the scene, thinking of all the possibilities of what lay ahead. 'Move' he thought. 'Move now or die,' he decided and with that he leapt across the space towards his gun just as the beast jumped at him.

He'd managed to escape its razor-sharp claws. He grasped for his gun, gripping the handle and pointing it at the end beast, firing, letting out loud shots that flew around the once tranquil oasis.

One of the bullets found home in the beast's shoulder, but it was ferocious and large, taking little notice of the bullet and pounded forward again.

Trucker jumped out of the way but the beast's claws got him in the upper arm, sending him flailing across the sand, his skin flesh burning from the deep cuts and his gun falling from his hand.

He landed with a thud in the sand - he could feel the wounds seeping blood. The pain was searing and he could see spots in his vision.

As he blinked his eyes and refocused he could see the furious beast in front of him preparing for the final blow. This was it. Trucker was all out of options. He had no weapons on him, the crew were back at the truck. If they'd heard the shots, they hadn't made it to him in time. He'd be dead within a few seconds.

He inhaled deeply, awaiting the final pounce of the heavy beast that would end his life. Closing his eyes, he braced for the end.

But it never came. Instead, an ear-piercing howl filled the air.

Opening his eyes, Trucker saw the large beast flailing, tossing its head from side to side and growling in agony, as if in pain.

Looking closer, Trucker could see two two knives sticking out of its eyes, one for each eyeball. Someone had stabbed the beast in its eyes with deadly precision. But who? There was no one in sight.

Then suddenly off to the side, a figure emerged from their concealed position in the sand dunes. It was Twink. He strolled up towards the blind beast who piteously shook its head, unable to rid the knives from its eyes. But it was too late, its sight was long gone. Blood poured down its face from the punctured eyeballs.

With grace and smoothness, Twink came up close to the beast and with one quick flick of his wrist slit the beast's throat. A thin red line flew across its throat, pouring blood and the beast fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Proud of his accomplishment, Twink turned away from his kill and strolled over to where Trucker was laying in shock on the ground.

'How did you...?' Trucker asked, amazed at Twink's performance.

'We all have our secret talents,' Twink smiled, then turning his eyes down to Trucker's crotch, commenting: 'Seems like some of us are really excited about my skills.'

Trucker looked down and saw he was sporting a boner in his boxers. He moved to cover himself and then looked up at Twink again.

The young man winked and gathered Trucker up to help him back to the truck. 'Don't worry, nothing I haven't seen before,' he joked.

At some point on the way back, Trucker passed out from the exhaustion of the attack.

*

Trucker awoke in a cabin bed in the truck. He was tired and achy, the pain in his arm was still present, but it was more dull now compared to the sharp, searing pain of earlier. Someone had bandaged his arm up, and there was a smell of disinfectant in the air.

He clambered out of bed, happy he was able to walk. As he plodded through the truck and to the camp outside, it was dark. Night had fallen. He must've been asleep for a few hours.