PERILOUS JOURNEYS - 9

Copyright 2012 by Carl Mason

All rights reserved. Other than downloading one copy for strictly personal enjoyment, no part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for reviews, without the written permission of the author. However based on real events and places, “Perilous Journey” is strictly fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. As in real life, however, the sexual themes unfold gradually. Comments on the story are appreciated and may be addressed to the author at carl_mason@verizon.net

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[Author's Note: Thanks for joining me on another adventure! I look forward to hearing from you and comparing thoughts. And, say, where would we be without Nifty...especially when the times are rough and the crazies are out in full force? Will you join me in making even a small financial contribution to the Archive in order to keep this site free and, as it has always been, an important part of our lives? Thanks again, friend!]

This story contains descriptions of sexual contact between males, both adults and teenagers. As such, it is homoerotic fiction designed for the personal enjoyment of legal, mature, adults. If you are not of legal age to read such material, if those in power and/or those whom you trust treat it as illegal, or if it would create unresolvable moral dilemmas in your life, please leave. Finally, please respect yourself and those around you by practicing safe sex.

CHAPTER 9

(Revisiting Chapter 8)

Most of the remaining partygoers, who were obviously feeling little pain, made sure a little after midnight that Robbie was appropriately initiated as a new Kappan and Captain of Timothy's frosh football team. Afterwards, they gradually sought out informal sleeping nests where they generally remained until morning. Yep, the Thayers' opening party had been a good one!

But the University year had to dawn, didn't it? Oh, yes...

[Author's Note: Book II of our story begins on the University campus towards the end of the first week.]

(Continuing Our Story: Life-Changing Experiences)

Robbie Thayer vigorously shook his shoulders and kicked out with a powerful right leg. Man, he was sore! He seemed to be buried. What the hell! He had promised to be back at the frat house by four o'clock to help with the pledges. Shit! Barry, the Pledgemaster, would be meaner than hell all weekend! Fighting a rising sense of claustrophobia, the youngster got his feet under him, trying to maintain some sense of balance as he deeply bent his knees. Consciously, he tightened his heavy abdominal muscles developed over years of work on the family farm, in sport and, more recently, in the gym. Then, back and elbows straight, his hands firmly set against the panel immediately above, he gave a sustained scream as his muscular thighs and calves directed the full strength of his body against the pressure from above. To the sounds of splintering wood and sliding plaster, he suddenly broke through the layers of debris that had imprisoned him. Suddenly... thoroughly confused...he stood in the midst of utter destruction.

Vigorously shaking his head to rid his curls of some of the cement dust, he looked around at the remnants of the library basement. After his only Friday afternoon class and a light workout on the football field, he had headed down there to check one more reference that he needed for the first English Lit paper due on Monday next. Stacks leaned against each other in crazy disarray; books - many torn apart as if there had been an explosion in the enclosed space - were scattered everywhere. Although dust nearly obscured his vision, he could see that the stairs had collapsed under piles of masonry and heavy beams. Even more ominous, over by the wall where several copying machines had stood, he could see heavy sparking. "Time to get the hell out of here!" he mumbled in a youthful voice roughened by dust and shock.

Carefully, he lifted one foot after another, trying to extricate them from the debris in which he stood. It was only then that he noticed that he was now dressed in rags! A filthy, tattered T-shirt barely covered a powerful chest that clearly belonged to an athlete...and... Fuck! What had happened to his new cargo shorts? More skin was showing than cloth! It looked as if the bottom halves of both legs were pretty well chewed up, as well as much of the cloth that had covered his right buttock. Damn! Ok, so it was surprisingly warm, but this sure hadn't been the day to go commando! At least his new running shoes were still on his feet, but what about that three-inch gash on his calf? Regular practices would begin in less than a week. What was the team doctor going to say then? Hell!

As something over on the wall exploded with a sharp blast that brought more masonry and beams down into the basement, the youngster snapped out of his shock-induced stupor. Laboriously, he began working his way up towards a corner of the ceiling where some faint light seemed to be filtering through the rubble. About three-quarters of an hour's work brought him to within sight of a basement window. Evidently, his guardian angel must have been working overtime, for in answer to his shouts and pounding he heard yells and sounds of digging on the other side. Within less than an hour, he had been pulled from the wreckage of the library and laid on one of several tarps that had been spread on the lawn.

"Doc says you're lucky to be alive," Andy Cooper mumbled as he adjusted the light blanket that covered his buddy. "We made it, bro!" Rob exclaimed. "Did the Doc say anything about football?" "Yeah," the big guard grunted. "He said you were too big and too slippery to keep down for long. He cleaned up the gash on your leg while you were out for a few minutes. No big deal, as long as it got looked at... Right now, he said we have to watch you for shock...so stay where you are for a while. I'll get you another pair of shorts and a T somewhere...and when I'm through helpin', I'll give you a hand gettin' home." "Thanks for everything, Andy!" "Anything for a fraternity brother and a teammate", the brawny blond replied, a slight smile passing over his weary features. His expression quickly changing to a leer, he added, "By the way, a gaggle of sorority chicks zeroed in on your assets as you tossed and turned on the tarp. Sad as I knew you'd be, I used the blanket to stop their gawking when one of the gals pulled out her camera phone." Grinning, he added, "You can see why the Tau Tau bunch hate me!" Responding with an obscene gesture, the future Heisman Trophy candidate exclaimed, "What in hell happened, pal?" "Don't have time to talk more now, Rob," the blond replied, "but I'll catch you up later. Doc gave you a shot. Just lie back and snooze a bit - and be thankful that the library collapsed from front to rear rather than vice versa!"

Once reassured that he was likely to live, Robbie wanted to find out what had happened. Why had the library, a relatively new building and one of the largest on campus, collapsed? Other questions immediately began fighting for space in the front of his mind. Increasingly, however, he couldn't keep his eyes open and, within a minute or two, he slumped senseless onto the tarp.

(In Every Direction...)

Rob had just begun stirring as Andy joined him. Tossing a somewhat undersized pair of shorts and a smallish T-shirt to his friend, he held a blanket while he struggled into them. They sure didn't hide much... Once assured that his buddy felt "ok," Andy grunted, "Let's get out of here" and helped him to his feet. For a moment, as Robby swayed back and forth, the big guy tossed an arm around his shoulders. "Dizzy...and things are a little blurred..." Thayer gasped. "Let me just stand here for a moment." "No hurry, bro," Andy responded. Finally, the handsome youngster took a deep breath and looked around for the first time. "Oh, my God!" he gasped. All things considered, his comment was minimal, for in back of him the ruins of the campus stretched as far as he could see. Only the blockhouse "castle" of the Timothy wrestlers was recognizable. To think that it had long stood as one of the most beautiful campuses in the Middle Atlantic region stretched the imagination. The previously inspiring vista had been reduced to rubble. Ahead of him, the drive was dotted with wrecked autos and all sorts of debris, including the branches of countless mature trees that had been reduced to naked trunks. A cloud of dirty smoke rose over a nearby town, replicated in smaller clouds rising from several villages. In the distance, the refineries along the bay were blazing infernos. "What happened, Andy?" he managed to gurgle. "Not even Emergency Radio seems to know," the blond replied in a tightly controlled voice. "Maybe we've been hit by multiple warheads...maybe planted bombs set off simultaneously. In any case, it appears that most of the cities here on the East Coast are in ruins. Enough of that, bro. One of the aid workers has a pickup, and he's offered to give us a ride over to the Greek Village. Let's go."

As they made their way through rubble-strewn streets towards the Greek Village (i.e., the name given to that corner of campus where several fraternity and sorority houses had been built), they saw little new to give them hope. A scene of destruction met their eyes on every side. Compared with a regular day, the campus seemed almost deserted. Nor was Emergency Radio much help. In the first place, the Northeast seemed cut off from the rest of the nation. At least the boys heard no news from other sections of the country. Secondly, there wasn't much on the radio other than continuing announcements that Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston were burning and that most roads were closed by fallen trees, ruined bridges, and other debris. City transportation systems, including commuter rail complexes around the larger cities, were also inoperable. Even smaller northeastern cities such as Wilmington in Delaware, Trenton, New Jersey, and Providence, Rhode Island, had suffered the same fate. There were stories of powerful shock waves, brilliant, moving lights in the sky, and strange "thumps" that had knocked people and other animals off their feet. There was no word about the numerous atomic energy plants that dotted the region - or the radiation they might unleash - nor any word about biological contaminants. Nor was there any word about the President and other members of the Government. Rob thought that the announcers still appeared to be in deep shock and scratching for a story...any story.

Repeating their thanks to the Red Cross worker who had pulled his old 4x4 up in front of a badly damaged house on a Greek Village cul-de-sac, the two frosh footballers climbed out of the vehicle and headed up the walkway. The scene continued to be terrifying to the two boys who were already fast friends and teammates. Only four of their fraternity brothers were around - and three of them looked as if they might be shell-shocked. Surprisingly, their house was in better shape than the crushed and/or burned remnants of several others, and his Jeep had escaped any significant damage. A number of mature trees immediately to the rear of the building seemed to have simultaneously toppled against each other and provided some protection against the flood of debris that crushed almost everything before it. Two houses, those of the Betas and the Tau Taus, had pretty well burned out, but, again, they had been lucky. Rob decided to stay the night. He wanted to check on his close friends, collect personal goods plus some food and water, and take advantage of a central location to meet his dad. All of the common communication services appeared to be out of order, i.e., cell phones, e-mail, land phones, Western Union, etc. Everyone was weirded out by the strange lights that swirled throughout the sky and the "thumps" that occasionally shook the ground. No one even seemed to notice that friends slept with their muscular arms tightly locked around each other. Lounge furniture cushions thrown down on the floor provided a decent bed. During the night, they had to scare off several attempts to steal cars (or gas) - and even to attack and rob those who were sleeping.

Andy decided he had to try to find his parents who lived about 40 miles east of New York City on the southern shore of Long Island. Robby shook his head, commenting that he had heard local radio chatter suggesting that the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge spanning the entrance to New York's harbor was out (or at least heavily damaged) and that the metropolitan area was little more than burning rubble. "What are your chances of making it through all that?" he muttered doubtfully. "Dunno, babe," Andy retorted, "but I gotta try. If it doesn't work out, I know my way up to the camp." His buddy finally enveloped him in a massive bear hug and whispered something in his ear before letting him go with a vigorous whack on his upper arm.

Unlike the Coopers, the Thayers had an emergency plan in place. Given a disaster, natural or manmade, they had long planned to meet at their large camp in the far northeastern corner of New York state. It was both one of the oldest and most beautiful of the historic properties in the Adirondack Mountains. It was still dark when he completed packing, loaded a few extra cans of gas into the Jeep, and sadly left an area that had meant so much to his life. He still hadn't heard a word from his dad. Swinging through the University campus, he quickly ascertained that the relatively new tower building that had housed Scott's office (as well as the twin tower right next to it) had been reduced to rubble. He also stopped by the house in Mt. Baxter, but little was to be seen other than a pile of burned lumber and scattered debris. So strange... Most of the trees on that end of their property had lost their leaves...the ones that were still standing, that is! Heavy-hearted, he decided to follow the old (outdated) family emergency plan that Scott and he had at least briefly discussed.

(A Wasteland of Fire and Chaos)

Rob had decided to stay well off the Interstates and even the main highways. However successful this plan, there was no avoiding the oily smoke that burned the eyes and throat and was occasionally interrupted by torrential rain. Whenever a view was possible as he climbed into the foothills of the Alleghenies (the eastern U.S. mountains of the Appalachian chain in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, & West Virginia), he saw that everything behind him were burning. Nothing but local radio, and the static on those stations was fierce. He stopped once in a town to see if he could get some news, but he barely made it out ahead of hysterical locals. The fact that they did have to go through a large number of small towns still appeared to be a acceptable trade-off for avoiding main roads. Rolling into a village well up into the lower Alleghenies, he did in fact get some news at a grocery store. It was a good thing he was avoiding the main roads! There were multiple reports of killings, assaults, car jacking, accidents, breakdowns, and the like. For instance, the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike had been a veritable parking lot for most of the day. Informal reports said that the State Police were stretched so thin that they were increasingly hindered in controlling serious crime on that highway...or many others. Some auto crashes had evidently been caused by multicolored globes of light that seemed drawn to moving vehicles. The crush was apparently so great that emergency vehicles simply couldn't reach most of those who were in need. Unfortunately, the causes of the catastrophe were still unknown. In the absence of any hard news - or confirmation for most of the phenomena mentioned above - the seeming isolation of the Northeast was being dissected and "analyzed" by small town announcers until he was thoroughly sick of it.

The big guy made reasonable time until he reached a county road that was but lightly marked on his map. Rather holding his breath, he turned onto it. The map did promise that it would eventually snake its way up and over the moderate elevations in that section of the mountains. To increase his misery, what had been on-again, off-again rain had become a constant downpour and night suddenly was upon him. Other than the conflagration to his rear - now generally restricted to a strong, pulsing glow - it was black as pitch! Rob had only driven two or three miles up that mountain...track before realizing how bad the conditions were becoming. He breathed a sigh of true relief when he spied a weatherbeaten sign announcing that Drewstown, Pennsylvania, lay only one mile ahead.

(To Be Continued)