Zoey and Luna sat on the edge of a cliff, dangling their legs. Below the girls, below the cliff, lay the blasted ruins of a valley that had once been green and prosperous, but was now covered in thick layers of ash and blood, soot and shrapnel. Piles and piles of decaying bodies laid, some with eyes closed and soft smiles, seeming almost to sleep, others with bulging eyes and lips still frozen in agony. The bodies laid there, strewn over the crumbled walls of what were once houses, in the hollowed-out shells of what were once basements, in the lifeless brown piles of what were once fields. On the horizon twinkled millions of bright stars, bathing the whole scene in an eerie light.

Zoey stood up.

“Well, it’s finally time. Are you ready?” she said to the other.

Luna kicked her long, slender legs and feet over the void below her. Then, she stood up, and her eyes met her friend’s.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” said Luna, taking Zoey’s hand and holding it in her own. It felt warm and comfortable, and her heart fluttered.

The two women stood there for a moment, looking one last time over the ruins of the apocalypse. And then, they put things in motion.

***

THAT MORNING, 12 HOURS EARLIER . . .

Luna rushed down the halls of the dank and dark cellar she called home, long red dress swishing at her ankles. She was a very tall woman, living in a very cramped place, but her familiarity with the dungeon meant she knew just when to duck, just when to veer to one side, just when to speed up and just when to slow down.

Before the fall of man, this place she called home had been a prison. It was still a prison of sorts, in truth, though it was no longer called one, and criminals were no longer locked away there. The cell doors freely swung open into the hallway.

As Luna’s heels clacked against the stone floor, she passed cell after cell holding girls, girls, girls. Many of the girls slept, even though it was well past dawn (not that one could tell, since the only light to be seen came from the candle-lit lanterns hanging from the ceiling). Some of the girls who were awake sat staring blankly into space, lips pursed into deadened frowns. Many of them wore dirty rags but even more were completely naked, modesty and shame worn down from years of living in this degradation. The place was a flood of breasts, bare, and wrists and ankles, mounds of pubic hair, nipples, asses, necks, and eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes lazily considering Luna for a moment before returning to reading, or smoking, or chatting, washing, or kissing. The place reeked of human sweat and mildew.

Luna brushed a strand of her perfectly straight black hair out of her eyes as she turned a corner, coming upon her destination.

“Zoey!” she said, as she burst into an open cell, but she stopped short at what she saw. There was Zoey on her bed, rocking back and forth as she stroked her huge, glistening cock with both her hands.

Luna couldn’t look away. She was transfixed by a little drip of golden precum leaking out of Zoey’s massive girldick. After a full second, Luna broke her mesmerized stare and about-faced. “Zoey! Have some decency!”

Zoey, not taking her hands off her dick, grinned. “What? I’m not ashamed of her. Just cause you paid a doctor to turn your balls inside out a decade ago doesn’t mean you get to lord it over me, Luna.”

Whether or not it was proper for a woman to have a dick, never mind a dick that size, was far from the point Luna had been trying to make. But, flushing deep red all over, she stayed silent, trying to prevent herself from saying or doing something embarrassing. Try as she did to control her thoughts, she couldn’t get Zoey’s cock out of her head.

Zoey groaned as she finished, eyes rolling into the back of her head. She sat, taking in the moment, feeling the pleasant looseness of her muscles and the pleasurable aftershocks running over her legs. She stuck her dick back in her beige shorts, beneath her camo panties. Then, she clasped her hands together and stretched them over her head. As she did, little droplets of morning sweat ran down her small and delicate neck, over her skimpy moss green bandeau, which hid small but noticeable breasts, and onto her exposed, muscular stomach.

She leapt up from her bed. “Alright, I’m decent,” she said. That was when she noticed Luna’s shoes. “Heels? Really Luna? It’s 10 am.”

About-facing to defend herself, Luna looked down upon Zoey, who was almost a full head shorter than her. In fact, she was so much shorter that Luna’s huge breasts, her pride and joy, were exactly at Zoey’s eye level, and Zoey didn’t miss the opportunity to ogle them. “Nothing wrong with a girl feeling pretty in the morning. And besides, we have a meeting with Cain,” said Luna. Then, she blushed again. “Zoey, can you please stop staring at my boobs and listen?”

Zoey tore her eyes from Luna’s massive tits, almost spilling out of her tight red dress. Her cleavage was deep and inviting, an endless sea of creamy flesh. “Uh, sorry. What were you saying?”

“Cain called for us.”

“Well, lead the way then,” said Zoey, grabbing a wad of cash, slipping on her combat boots, and quickly running a hand through her short, chaotic pile of blonde hair.

As they walked single file down a narrow hallway, Zoey fixated upon Luna’s curvy, full ass, almost losing herself in its hypnotic sway.

“Please stop staring at my ass, too,” said Luna, sensing Zoey’s eyes. She knew her only friend in this world too well. “Not in the mood for it, especially today of all days. We have to stay focused on the plan, Zoe.” But even as Luna said this, she fought back the rising heat in her body, as Zoey’s lustful gaze turned her on.

“Just a touch, Lune,” said Zoey, reaching out a hand towards her voluptuous ass.

“For the last time, Zoe,” said Luna, slapping Zoey’s hand away, “I’m straight.”

“Riiiiiiight,” said Zoey, with a wink. “I’ve seen what you do with some of the female clients, Lune. Keep on telling yourself that.”

“That’s business, Zoey. Not pleasure.” Luna sighed, closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples with two of her fingers. “Look, just - eyes on the prize today, Zoe. Eyes on the prize.”

Zoey, ticked off by Luna’s prudish stubbornness, huffed and nodded in agreement. Just a minute later, they ascended a small flight of stairs and passed through a thick curtain of beads, emerging into a cramped and dank-smelling den. The room was dark, with no windows, lit only by two burning candles. Imposing cabinets and furniture lined the walls, shoved together haphazardly, and in the far corner of the room, on a huge grey armchair, sat a man.

“Good morning girls,” Cain announced in his low, breathy voice. He wore a grey pinstripe suit. He folded his legs one over another and tapped the still-lit cigar in his left hand. He was a specter of a man, with piercing black eyes, slicked back hair, and thin lips that curled into a devilish grin.

Zoey and Luna said nothing. Instead, Luna reached into her cleavage and pulled out a thick stack of bills, clipped together. Zoey pulled her own stack out of her pocket, and they each laid them on a table in the far corner of the room.

“How much?” said the man.

“Five-hundred each,” said Zoey.

“Very good, very good. Last night was a good night, it seems, and my girls have been on the up-and-up lately. I like it.”

He rose from his seat and glided over to the table, where he meticulously counted the bills, one by one, twice. Then, he grabbed a stack from the piles in each of his hand and passed them to Zoey and to Luna, separately.

“Only a hundred?” said Zoey, spitting at his feet. “Are you kidding me?”

Then, a slap.

The clap of the back of the man’s hand against Zoey’s cheek was loud, the pain acute and sudden. Zoey shook with anger and clenched her fist, but Luna shot her a look that said No, not now. Not yet.

“Talk again and I’ll cut out that wild tongue,” said Cain.

“I think what Zoey meant,” said Luna, “Is that we got a bigger cut last week, right?”

“Right,” said the man. “And?”

Luna bit her tongue.

“Have you heard the recent sermon of Father Michaels?”

The girls shook their heads. They never went to church, and couldn’t even if they wanted to.

“It was glorious,” said the man, taking his seat in the corner of the room again. “‘The Lord God ordered the world in a chain of being,’ he said, ‘so that every man and every creature knows their place.’ God is the head of man, man the head of women, women the head of children. Children above the cattle, cattle above the lamb, and lamb above the rat. And you know what is below the rat?”

Zoey and Luna said nothing. They just listened, while resolving anew in their hearts the plan.

“If it wasn’t for me, people like you would be food for the rats. Know your place, whore.”

Cain let the words sit heavy in the air. Then, another few girls, dressed just as proactively as Luna and Zoey, entered through the bead curtain, which rattled.

“Right. The usual Monday clients have each ordered the two of you specifically, again. I don’t know what you two do, but whatever it is, keep it up. Now get out of my sight.”

“Yes Master Cain. Thank you,” said Luna, and like that Luna and Zoey disappeared amid the throng of other girls.

***

Zoey and Luna lived in the city of New Bethlehem. At only about 1000 people, New Bethlehem was more of a glorified village, but it was the largest settlement of humans left in all of Pennsylvania, a city upon a hill in an otherwise uninhabitable wasteland. At the core was the city proper, a group of tight, squat buildings, and for a mile around the core was the outskirts, ending on the far edge with a large wall that protected from outsiders.

Luna loitered in the Town Square, wearing a ragged brown dress, a thick shawl, and a cowl that hid her face and head. The sun beat down on her, casting shadows on the dirt. During the day, the Town Square of New Bethlehem was vibrant with life, with the hustle and bustle of commerce, craftwork, and worship. A huge crowd of people circulated through there each day, the long-bearded men wearing pressed white shirts and suspenders, the modest women, heads down, wearing dresses, aprons, and linen caps. There they talked endlessly, sang songs, and offered prayers to huge white crosses posted at every street corner, always overlooking the square.

That day something disturbed the crowd, though. From the back of the crowd, Luna watched as a priest dragged another of Cain’s girls - one she recognized, but had never spoken to - upon the raised wooden platform in the center of the square. She was young, maybe twenty, and dressed in filthy rags.

“Faithful of New Bethlehem! I call upon you to listen!” said the priest in a thunderous roar that hushed the crowd and focused them all on him. It was Father Michaels, a high-ranking bishop. “Take heed not to repeat the sins of this woman!” he announced, “The sins of this street whore, who seeks to corrupt our good living. Not only was she caught in the act of soliciting men for sex, but what’s more, she has been tried and found guilty of usurping the man’s role - woman loving!”

Gasps and muted whispers broke out around the crowd. Another figure took to the platform, a woman in a stately dress with a huge bustle. “Hear now the words of Lady Catherine Elsimere, our Lady of Public Health,” said the priest.

Lady Catherine looked over the hushed crowd. “Let this sinner be a warning to you all that excess knows no boundaries. She has loved men and women. She has dressed in a man’s clothes - surely heretical. And she has even defied god’s will for her fertile womb,” said the Lady, producing from the folds of her dress a small translucent bottle of blue pills, which she waved in front of the crowd. “I confiscated these contraceptives from her! Heed the word of the lord and forsake these sins of the old world, lest you wish New Bethlehem to fall just as the old world fell.”

“Amen,” said the crowd in unison.

Lady Catherine stepped down from the platform. “And now the sinner will be punished,” said Father Michaels, drawing a weapon from a wooden box and considering Cain’s girl.

Luna held her breath as Father Michaels whipped the girl’s bare back fifty times. With each whip she moaned out for him to stop, but he continued, each crack of the whip piercing the air like a bolt of thunder, until her back was beaten to a bloody pulp. At the fifty-first crack of the whip she cried out one final desperate gasp, and then fell limp, the life drained from her eyes.

“Let the death of this sinner teach you all!” bellowed Father Michaels. “For all of you who feel lust in your hearts, who dare defy god’s will that a man lie only with his wife, and a woman only with her husband, look to the cross and repent!”

The gathered crowd all at once, like one organism, turned to the white crosses surrounding the square and threw themselves upon the ground. In the chaotic din, Luna spotted a package of bread one woman had dropped to the ground as she fell upon her knees. Luna picked it up and dashed into a nearby alleyway, safe. From the shadows, she watched men, women, and children weep, tossing themselves at the bases of the crosses and shrieking their devotions.

She walked over to the cellar door of Cain’s home, opening the lock and descending into a dank sub-basement. In her haste, she crashed into another one of the girls.

“Oh, what’s this?” said the girl, picking up the bread Luna dropped. “Did the tranny scavenge some food?”

Luna stood up and dusted herself off. “It’s mine,” said Luna resolutely. “Give it back.”

The girl called over to a gaggle of other girls, further down the hallway, about sharing the loaf she scavenged with them. Luna simmered with anger. “You know, you and I are no different,” said Luna.

The girl recoiled with disgust. “Yes we are. You are a man, and I am a woman. I don’t care how big your fake tits are or how much plastic surgery you got before the fall - you’ll always be a man to me. I honestly don’t know why Cain keeps filth like you around.”

“They just killed one of us,” said Luna, clenching a fist and staring into her eyes. “They whipped one of Cain’s girls to death in the square. They’d whip you and I all the same. Don’t you understand?”

The girl stood silently, eyes boring into Luna. Then, Luna snatched the bread from her hands, and she didn’t resist. “Fuck off,” said Luna as she disappeared down the hallway.

She found Zoey in her usual spot, doing push-ups in her room away from the other girls. She broke the loaf and threw half of it to Zoey.

“How is it out there today?” said Zoey, sitting up and hungrily stuffing the bread in her mouth. As she did, Luna caught a faint smile come across her face. Being able to feed someone she cared about reminded her of the old times, before the fall, and for a brief moment, it distracted her from the fact that she was living in hell.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” said Luna, sitting down on the bed beside her and digging in.

***

That night, on an empty street corner on the edge of Town Square, Luna leaned against the outer wall of Cain’s home. She was dressed in a miniscule red tube top, which struggled against her ample breasts, along with a too-short skirt, bright red, which hugged her round, perfect ass. She wore fishnets on her legs and heels on her feet. The creamy, soft skin of her midsection was exposed to the humid, early summer heat, and her long black hair pooled around her shoulders, along with the strap of her tiny black purse. She had a small, pointed nose, and a look of disgust in her eye.

Around her was the city she despised. Even in the darkness that pressed in, she could feel the presence of the city, like a ghost, hard upon her. At every corner a huge white wooden cross towered above the road, announcing JESUS CHRIST IS KING. She fixated on the outline of one as she waited.

After a half-hour of waiting in the night air in her skimpy outfit, she heard footsteps, and a moment later, an old man appeared. He was tall and aged, with a gray mustache and the comfortable fat of excess and good eating. “Good evening Miss. If you’ll follow me, please,” he said.

Luna, used to the hoops her clients jumped through to keep her a secret, followed the man down several alleyways until they came upon a carriage, drawn by two horses. “He’s inside,” said the driver, to her, and she climbed into the cabin.

After shutting the door of the ornately carved wooden carriage, Luna was face-to-face with a plump, baby-cheeked man in a pure white frock. “Came right from late-night Devotionals,” he said. “Because I wanted to see you again.”

“How sweet of you,” said Luna with a fake flirtatious giggle, adjusting her skirt to prevent him from getting a view. “You spoil me so.”

“You look stunning tonight,” said Father Michaels. “Like my wife, in her youth.”

***

Lady Catherine adjusted her bosom in the mirror. She was a twig of a woman with heaving breasts that looked like overgrown tumors on her body. They were on full display in the long blue dress she wore. Then, a knock on the door.

When she opened it, Lady Catherine saw her favorite. Zoey, in only murderously tight green shorts, her moss-green bandeau, and black heels, leaned against the doorframe, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. Her nearly-flat but noticeable breasts pressed out behind her skimpy bandeau, but Lady Catherine’s eyes were drawn to her powerful thighs, barely hidden beneath the shorts.

“Hey,” said Zoey, letting herself in and depositing the cigarette in a porcelain ashtray. Zoey always marveled at how the interior of Lady Catherine’s house was littered with so much useless bullshit. Delicate jars, ash trays galore, paintings upon paintings depicting scenes from the bible.

“My my,” said Lady Catherine, placing one hand on Zoey’s shoulder and another on her waist. She ran the hand across the front of Zoey’s shorts, stopping on a familiar and imposing bulge between the legs. “Bigger than usual already, and hard as a rock. You must be excited to be my shemale savoir tonight. Hello hello,” she crooned.

Zoey held back her contempt for Lady Catherine. “Money first,” she said.

“Can’t we wait until the fun is over? I’m dying already to touch you,” said Lady Catherine, running her hand over Zoey’s bare abdomen, feeling her muscles.

“Payment first, in full this time” repeated Zoey stoically.

“In full? Not half and half?” said the Lady, feeling under a snuff box for a thick wad of bills. Zoey nodded, and Lady Catherine relented and quickly produced a wad of cash. “Now carry me upstairs. Now,” she ordered.

***

Luna sat on the edge of the bed inside Father Michael’s personal chamber, watching the rosy cheeked man slowly strip down. His house was the kind of large, imposing estate that only a pastor could afford in New Bethlehem. Nearly everything in the house was gilded in a gaudy, glistening gold, from the patterns on the carpets to the rims of candle-holders. His bedroom was no exception. It did, however, sport a variety of whips, chains, and gags, currently proudly on display on his grand vanity, but normally hidden beneath a floor panel.

“An aphrodisiac?” Luna asked, producing a small bundle of herbs from her purse. “It’s like incense. I know you like incense,” she said with a wink. He agreed, and Luna used a nearby candle to light the herbs in a small bowl. She passed it to him to take a whiff of.

“Minty,” he said, while unbuttoning his frock, “And something else, too. Sage? Thyme?”

“Anything that turns you on,” said Luna, placing the bowl on a bedside table without taking a whiff herself. “Can I ask you something, father?” said Luna.

“I told you not to call me father. You can call me daddy,” Father Michaels said with a grin and a chuckle, as if he were the most clever man in the world. “What is it?”

“I saw you whip a call girl to death in Town Square today.” As Luna said this, Michaels tightened. “Why? Why did she have to die?”

Michaels looked Luna in the eye, towering over her. He ran a finger lightly under her chin. “Oh, you poor thing. I understand. You must be scared. I promise I won’t do anything to you, my doll. You’re safe as long as you’re with me.”

Luna tightened her fist. “Father, why do you think God brought about the end of the world?”

Michaels looked surprised. “Very inquisitive today, Luna. But now’s not the time to talk Doctrine. Questions like that are above your pretty little head. You should be picking which collar to wear. I’ve got a new one just for you.”

“I’m serious.”

His hands, busy unbuttoning his khakis, froze. “Really? A transsexual seeking the truth of the Word?” he sat down on the bed and ran a hand over Luna’s knee, cradling it like a doll’s.

“Come on, daddy. Not even if I ask nicely?” she said, leaning back in the bed and pushing out her breasts.

He placed a hand over her left tit and bit his lip, feeling the weight of it. “Quickly, then. He ended the world because of man’s sin. The rapture awaits us now at any time.”

“And who will survive the rapture?” she said, guiding his hand down between her knees, where he felt the heat of her cunt.

“The true believers. The rest of the world is ruin, but the true believers of New Bethlehem alone will rise and take their seat with the lord. The sinners and the impure will be cast into hell. We won’t be able to share the afterlife, love,” he said. “But that is God’s will. The strong and the blessed will prosper, and the weak sinners will be punished at last.”

“I thought the meek shall inherit?” she said, with a moan, as his fingers teased the outline of her sex.

“That’s it,” said Father Michaels. “I want you. I need you. Down on your knees, bitch.”

***

Lady Catherine kissed softly, like a young girl, and Zoey kissed hard. She pulled on Lady’s Catherine’s tongue and lips, held her head in her arms, wrestled to get on top of her. They were on her bed, surrounded by paintings of shepherds and sheep. Catherine ran her hands up and down Zoey’s sides, feeling for the toned muscle beneath.

“Wait,” she said, “Stop. I forgot.” Lady Catherine wiggled out from under Zoey and rushed over to her vanity, where she pulled an entire drawer clean out to reveal, behind it, a secret drawer, full of little bottles of blue, oblong pills.

“Confiscated these from the whipping today. Can’t believe there are still so many floating around, even after the fall,” said Lady Catherine, beaming with mischievous excitement at Zoey. She downed the blue pills. Zoey had seen her take the birth control before. Every night she seemed to take them, always regaling Zoey with which unfortunate, often dead or exiled soul she had confiscated them from. Catherine benefitted much from her high position in society. “Can’t be having a tranny’s babies, Zoey,” Catherine continued. “I love your cock, but that’s the truth.”

“I know,” said Zoey. As Lady Catherine turned around, she saw a hand gun pointed at her face, pulled out from Zoey’s pants.

A look of terror came over Lady Catherine. “Zoey? What are you doing with that?”

“What I should have done a long time ago,” Zoey said. “It’s been fun ploughing you into the mattress these past few years, Catherine. But it’s time to move on.”

Lady Catherine’s shock settled into resigned disgust. “I should’ve known better than to trust a whore. Criminal scum, the lot of you.”

“Wrong. You should’ve known better than to trust the church. Brainwashed scum, all of you,” said Zoey. She pistol whipped the Lady, who fell over, unconscious, with a thud. Then, Zoey rifled through the cabinets in the room until she found a large white purse. She began shoveling the full mix of pills in the secret compartment, not just blue but also white, copper, and more, into it.

***

Father Michaels’ cock felt huge and warm in Luna’s mouth. She was on her knees, wearing a pink collar around her neck. He pumped it in and out unceremoniously, while gripping the back of Luna’s head and grunting. “You like that, don’t you? Moan for me, my devil.”

Luna moaned. Inside, she steeled herself. Just one last time. One last time she’d have to smell the putrid, oily sweat of Father Michaels’ balls, one last time she’d have to debase herself for a hypocrite who hated her and everyone like her, one last time before freedom. So she did what she does best. She acted. She moaned and moaned and touched her breasts, she begged for more, she whined and praised him, just like he liked.

His pulled his long, rock hard dick out of her mouth and grabbed her by the top of the head to look at her smoky, absent-minded eyes. Then he pulled at her collar with a jerk. “I love them submissive and I love them stupid. At least you’re one of those. But can you be both for me, just for tonight?”

She nodded. “Good. Now take this like a little bitch,” he said, plunging his dick back in. He groaned as his cum, a thick white paste, flooded her mouth. Then, he crumpled over, asleep, like a ragdoll.

Luna stared into space a moment before she stopped dissociating and regained herself. She stood up, dusted herself off, and spat out his cum onto his bare back.

“Sorry Father, but you’re the stupid one tonight,” she said. She grabbed the “aphrodisiac,” as she had called it, from the bedside table, snuffing it out while being careful not to take a close whiff. Even still, she felt a little sleepy just from smelling faint wisps of the concoction. Damn, she thought. Maybe I should’ve mixed it even stronger. That took too long. After dumping the mix in a bathroom garbage can, Luna raided the priest’s room, stuffing thick wads of cash into her purse, along with a few gold rings.

She carefully put her clothes back on, stepped around the priest, and stomped down the stairs, leaving through the back exit and entering into a small courtyard with the horse-drawn carriage and two horses, manned by the driver from before. He was sitting and reading a book, as he always did while he waited, sometimes for hours, for the Father and Luna to finish. When they did, he would drive Luna back to the town square under the veil of night. Father Michaels may have been a hypocrite, but at least he was always thorough about keeping his sins a secret.

“Done already?” said the driver, putting his book down on his lap. “That was barely twenty minutes. Is the Father feeling alright?”

“Light night, Alfred,” said Luna. “He’s tired. Can you take me home?”

“Have I ever not?” he said, with a jaunty grin. “Climb in.”

While the carriage rattled down the cobblestone road, Luna looked out the back window at the house of Father Michaels and counted. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds. Then, after five minutes, Alfred made a turn down an unexpected road, and Luna realized something.

“Alfred, wait!” said Luna, calling out through the narrow gap in the carriage wall where she could speak to the driver. “This isn’t the normal route.”

“I thought I might take you a different way tonight. Rest assured that it will take no longer. But a change of scenery is quite nice every now and then, don’t you think?”

Luna paused. This wasn’t the plan. “Could you please take me the normal way? I like looking at those houses.”

“Your wish is the Father’s wish,” said Alfred, rearing the horses around.

Luna calculated, then sighed a breath of relief. She had lost maybe five minutes. It wasn’t the plan, but it would probably be fine. She swallowed her fear. After Alfred had righted his course, after another eight or so minutes, she called out for him to stop again.

“What is it now? You’re being awfully picky tonight,” he said, reigning the horses in. She got out of the carriage, her heels clacking against the stone road, and walked around to the front to face him eye-to-eye.

“Of all the people in this town, even just now, you are the only one to ever have shown me a shred of kindness, Alfred,” said Luna.

He peered down at her and lifted his eyebrows, surprised. “Madam, surely that can’t be true. The Father treats you well, no?”

“He and all the other clients treat me like a toy, like a doll to use and throw away. But, with one exception, you’re the only one who has ever said a kind word to me, as a person. I want you to know I appreciate that, and that what is about to happen doesn’t change that between us.”

“Well now, that’s quite nice of you. But who is this one exception?” Alfred said with a grin, before hearing the cock of a gun from behind his back. He turned his head and saw Zoey, holding her pistol, aimed straight at his face. The carriage was stopped just outside of Lady Catherine’s estate. Overhead, the stars burned brightly as ever.

“Now ladies, there must be a misunderstanding,” he said.

“If you do what we say, you won’t be hurt,” said Zoey.

He lifted his hands up above his head. “What are you going to do?”

“The only thing two trans girls in a fucked up place like this can do,” said Luna. Then, Zoey and Luna stepped inside the carriage and shut the doors behind them. Zoey laid the large white purse of stolen pills onto the seat, besides Luna’s black purse stuffed full of bills and rings.

“You got the pills?” said Luna.

“Enough to keep us afloat for a few months, I think,” said Zoey, flashing the inside of the purse, which was full of blue estradiol.

Luna brightened. “We’ll be free women soon,” she said, taking Zoey’s hand. Zoey was caught off guard by Luna’s beaming grin. She was used to seeing Luna dejected, and couldn’t recall the last time she had seen a look of genuine happiness come across her face. There was something else there, too. A fire to her eyes that was so bright that Zoey couldn’t look away.

Zoey broke the hand hold and looked up at the ceiling of the carriage to try to hide her blushing. When Luna saw her blushing, her heart stopped for a moment at how cute it looked. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!” said Zoey, rechanneling her embarrassment into anger.

In a small gap between the front of the carriage and the driver, Zoey stuck out her gun, pointed at Alfred’s neck. “To the border,” she said. “And remember, we don’t want any suspicion. So take it easy.”

Alfred complied. The horses trotted along the cobblestone path, oblivious to the peril of their driver. As the carriage rattled, Zoey and Luna sat with bated breath.

***

A young woman ran through the streets, out of breath and panicked. She was dressed in a skimpy black and white maid uniform. Her huge bosom, half exposed, heaved as she ran, but she didn’t care. She was just focused on keeping the strands of her brown hair out of her face and on getting to her destination. She ran past Lady Catherine’s house, past the imposing white crosses, and past all sense of reason until she reached the Town Square. When she finally did, she ran around to the back cellar door of a large, regal house overlooking the square, and banged on it three times. The boom of the shaking metal rang out in the night.

A girl no older than 18 opened the cellar door, the same girl Luna had cursed out earlier that day. Her hair was messy, her clothes were missing, and she was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

“God, have some modesty!” said the young woman in the maid uniform.

“Milly? Is that you?” said the naked woman.

“Yes. But now’s not the time to catch up. I have an urgent message for Master Cain.”

“He’s asleep.”

“Well then wake him up!” said Milly, barging her way down the steps and bowling over the naked girl.

Minutes later, the naked girl had put on a shirt and left the cellar to rouse Cain from his bedroom, located in the proper part of the estate. Dressed in a white, fuzzy bathrobe, he descended into the cellar and found a familiar face. “Milly? I thought I told you never to come back here. This better be damned important. I was in the middle of a wonderful dream.”

Milly bowed. “And you were right to tell me so, Master Cain. Ever since you lifted me from the call girl’s life to pursue an honest living as a maid for Father Michaels, I’ve never been happier. It is to your kindness and generosity alone that I owe my life.”

Cain stood stoic, unimpressed, and yawned. Michaels himself had requested Milly as a maid, a request Cain had been all too happy to fulfill, given how handsomely he paid for the girls. At first the arrangement had been perfect. Michaels received the help he desired, both around the house and in bed. But Cain was surprised Michaels had still kept Milly around after he became obsessed with Luna. “Spit it out, then. What is it?”

“That whore Luna. She did something to Father Michaels to knock him out. Making my rounds for the night, I found him face down on the floor, with his own seed on his back. Still warm - it had been maybe only five minutes after she must have left that I discovered him. She robbed us blind and may have even stolen our carriage! I knew the Father should never have trusted her,” Milly said with a sour face. “She’s not even that pretty anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re much prettier than him,” said the formerly naked girl. “He’s a dude. Don’t know why you keep him and the other one around, Cain, instead of just offing them,” she said, spitting on the floor.

“Silence,” said Cain. Every muscle in his body tightened. “They’ll be rat food after I catch them. Natasha, ready my carriage, now.” The formerly naked woman nodded and dashed up the stairs. Then, he turned to follow her.

“Master Cain,” said Milly. “Wait. Let me come with you.”

He turned back to face her. Her eyes were full of fire. “Very well,” he said.

***

After another fifteen minutes, Zoey and Luna’s carriage slowly pulled up to the very outskirts of New Bethlehem. It wasn’t a big place, just an insular place. Before them was a huge iron gate, and on either side of the gate, a thick stone wall. Two guards with handguns stood by the gate.

Alfred, following a whispered order from Zoey, asked if they would let the carriage through.

“Curfew’s at 8. Nobody has been allowed in or out for the last 4 hours,” said one guard. “I’m sorry.”

Luna hopped out of the carriage and sauntered up to the guards. They placed their hands on their guns.

“No need to worry boys. We have permission. This is Father Michaels’ carriage. Him and I are . . . taking a trip into the country, you must understand,” she said, leaning over to give the guards a full view of her breasts.

They sensed Luna’s meaning, but still, the two guards looked at each other warily. “May we speak with the bishop to confirm?”

“He’s resting from a hard day’s work at Devotionals,” said Luna. “Surely you must understand. Isn’t that right Alfred?”

The guards looked to Alfred, who tugged at his collar, feeling the steel of Zoey’s pistol pressing against his neck. “Yes, he’s terribly tired today. Taking a quick nap at the moment, actually. But this was his order. Sometimes he needs to get away from it all.” Alfred opened his jacket pocket and produced a document with a raised real which the guards inspected.

“Well, the license is legit and High Church orders supersede curfew. You’re good to go,” one said. “But why not wait until morning?”

“The night is young and he has obligations during the day. Thank you boys,” said Luna, walking back to the carriage and making sure to shake her ass, just to give them a show and distract the guards from thinking too hard. Perhaps it was a bit much, she thought, but every little detail mattered if she wanted this to go off without a hitch.

As she mounted the carriage again and shut the door, Zoey brightened. “Are we good?”

“Home free at last,” said Luna, as the two guards began cranking the wheel to raise the gate. But as the iron bars lurched out of the earth, lifted by thick ropes attached to a pulley, another sound broke the air. It was the hooves of horses, galloping. Zoey and Luna looked out the back window of the carriage.

It was Cain, in a fuzzy white bathrobe, riding towards them at full throttle. His two huge black horses shot forward like bullets, carrying behind them a carriage rattling like thunder. He was at the reins, shouting “Stop! That carriage is stolen!”

“What!” said the guard cranking the gate open. He pulled his gun and aimed it at Alfred. “What is the meaning of this?” he screamed. Alfred stuck his hands up.

Then, a bullet ricocheted off the gun and rattled the guard, causing him to drop it. It was Zoey, shooting from the compartment in the carriage. As the guard reached down to grab the gun again, he felt a swift and pointed kick to the balls from Luna, who leapt from the carriage, using the toe of her heel. He crumpled over, howling in pain.

The other guard drew his gun only to fall over, a bullet landing squarely in his shoulder. A steady stream of blood dripped out.

Zoey, barrel of her gun still smoking, leapt out of the carriage. Luna began cranking the wheel to raise the gate.

“Just finish me off,” said the guard who took the bullet. Zoey pointed her gun down at him. His gun had fallen just outside of reach of his now-injured arm. Zoey picked it up and stuffed it in her waistband.

“Not my style,” said Zoey. “I want you to live to tell the tale of the two who escaped this hell.” Then, she walked past him to the front of the carriage. “Alfred! Your job is done here,” she said, motioning for him to dismount.

“Just take care of the horses, will you?” he said, arms still raised as he exited the carriage.

“Can do,” said Luna, having cranked the gate open. She jumped onto the driver’s seat of the carriage and seized the reins. Zoey did the same.

“Stop them!” roared Cain as his horses drew near. As Luna cracked the reins and Alfred’s horses raced through the open gate, Zoey threw a wad of cash at Alfred with a wink.

“The ropes!” called Luna as they cleared the gate. Zoey stood up and looked back at the gate, taking aim with her pistol. Then, two shots rang out in the night, each one severing a thick rope above the wall. With a thunderous crash, the gate fell shut just before Cain could reach it. His horses reared violently in protest as Milly, in the carriage, jumped out and tried to work the crank.

“It’s useless,” she said, kicking the dirt. “They severed the ropes. We’re stuck until morning.”

“Damn it all to hell!” said Cain. “I should have offed them a long time ago!” He furiously smashed his fist into the bench of the carriage again and again, yelling out into the empty night.

“She can’t get away with this,” said Milly, anger boiling over in her body. She watched through the bars of the gate, standing beside the two unconscious guards, as Zoey and Luna’s carriage disappearing into the night.

“You! Were you their accomplice to all this!?” said Cain, leaving the carriage and seizing Alfred by the collar.

“No, not at all! They held me at gunpoint!” he said.

Cain lifted him off the ground. Alfred held his breath nervously. “Do you know where they’re going?”

“Not a clue! Not a clue in the world!” said Alfred defensively.

Cain dropped him onto the ground, where he landed on his butt.

“This isn’t over,” whispered Milly, grabbing the bars of the gate and staring into the inky blackness.

***

Zoey and Luna raced across the wasteland. To their left they saw the ruined vista on which they had made their pact to escape, the cliff overlooking the pile of bodies and filth that had once been a civilization. To their right, they saw a dark and verdant forest. Ahead, the gallop of their horses and the road to freedom.

“Yes! Fuck yes!” shouted Zoey, shooting off a round into the air. “We’re finally free!”

“Watch it with that thing!” said Luna, trying to control the horses.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Zoey said, standing up on the bench, stretching out her arms and feeling the wind rush across her face. The light from the moon hit her just right, and Luna was star struck by the beauty of her face, by her petite frame, by the strength in her arms, and she looked away.

Zoey sat, immediately noticing Luna’s reaction. She pulled Luna into a headlock, shaking her violently. “Aw don’t be embarrassed. We’re free women now! We’re fucking free baby!”

She let go of Luna, who took a deep breath and righted herself. It was then that Zoey saw the fierce determination again in Luna’s eyes, the same fierce determination that had planned and finally brought them their freedom. It was that determination that turned Zoey on. That, and Luna’s tits.

“Let’s ride all night long baby!” said Zoey. “To freedom!”

Luna finally lightened. “To freedom! But not just freedom anywhere.”

“Right,” said Zoey.

“Onward!” shouted Luna, whipping the reins as the horses galloped across the wasteland, carrying them ever forward. “Onward horses! To the Free Gay City of Miami!”

TO BE CONTINUED . . .