This story is fiction. Any similarity to any persons living or dead is merely a coincidence. They are also the sole creation of the author. If you would like to use them, please contact me first and get my permission. Any unwanted use will be considered theft. If you are not allowed by law to view this material, please do not do so. If you are under 18 years of age, please leave now. This is a love story between two barely under the age of 18 year old boys. If that offends you, I apologize and ask that you not read any further. Otherwise, enjoy.

*Author Note – This is my first attempt at a story. I welcome all constructive criticism. Please let me know what you think.

** Author Note – This chapter does contain an instance of rape. I apologize in advance if this offends you. I will try to highlight the paragraph(s) that contain this scene in red. This is not going to be a normal thing for this story.

After the Apocalypse – The Empire and The Free States – Prologue

All stories need to have a beginning. But where do you begin. Do I tell you that I am an only child? Do I tell you that my parent's are workaholics? I mean, where do you truly know where everything went wrong?

First off, my name is Cody. I have blue-green eyes and dark black hair. I guess I’ll start my story when I was about 7 years old. Two things started happening at the same time. The first was the signs of my own homosexuality. I know most of you are probably shaking your heads, thinking that that is way too young. I agree, but it was the first signs. You see, where all the other boys were pushing the girls down and throwing mud at them, I was their best friend. I don't mean I played dolls or anything like that, but I always sat with them at lunch and did my homework with them. My mother always loved it, telling her friends what a playboy her son was going to grow up to be.

The second thing that happened was I started having these small black outs. Typically it was only for a few seconds, maybe a minute at the worst. And afterwards was a small period of disorientation where I wouldn't know what was going on, who I was, or where I was. But it was never that big of a deal. At least I never thought so.

I remember the first time my mother found out though. She was pretty angry, but that was probably more because she had to take time off work to take me to the doctor's office. They ran all sorts of scans on me and eventually decided to admit me to the hospital for some more tests. Finally, when they couldn't figure it out they just let me go home. It was weeks later that my parents got the call.

I had just gotten home and was going about my normal business. It's odd when your parents work all day and night; you kinda start doing everything for yourself. Well, I was a little taken back when my mom showed up a little later and decided that she wanted to talk to me. She looked nervous, not really upset, I remember that very vividly. She sat me down at the kitchen table and told me that there was something wrong with my brain. The doctors had never seen anything like it before. They didn't know whether I would live or die, or even how long it would take.

After that day my parents withdrew even more. It was like they were trying to distance themselves from me now, instead of waiting for my death. For most people, you would think the possibility of their only son dying would bring them closer together. That they would show him more love, than go running the other direction as fast as possible. They bought me tons of stuff, all the toys a growing boy could ever want. But it wasn't the same as having my parents with me.

They pretty much let me do anything I wanted at that point. I signed myself up for baseball and just tried my best to have fun. After the coach found out about my unknown medical condition, I managed to talk him into letting me be in right field only, just so I could keep playing.

Several years had gone by. I was 11 at the time. It was the final game of the season, the state championship. The game had gone into extra innings tied at 1 to 1. We were in the 14^th inning when I hit a home run with two people on the bases. Unfortunately, the other team still had their chance at bat.

As the first batter took his place, it happened. I blacked out. When I came to, the bases were loaded, but I was still in my state of confusion. Glancing around I heard a loud crack that startled me as a ball came flying towards my head. I ducked, as almost any sane person would. Sane person, but not baseball player.

We lost the game by one run. The team hated me. Even the coach, who normally gave me a lift home since no one ever came to watch me, couldn't look at me. The only thing he said as I walked back in to the dugout was that he should have never let me play. I was alone again and so I started to head home. That's when I met him.

As I was walking the 10 miles to my house in my gear, a car pulled up beside me. I didn't recognize the car or driver so I kept walking. The car slowed down beside me and the window rolled down. The driver looked to be in his late 20's and had light blond hair. He had a nice bright smile on his face as he waved to me.

“Hey, that was a tough break at the game kid. Do you want a lift?” he asked.

“You were there? You saw that, and you still want to be nice to me? I lost the game.”

“Well I kinda can't be mad. My nephew was on the other team. I'm Michael by the way. So do you need a lift or not?”

Not seeing any harm in it, and not really wanting to walk the entire way home, I shrugged and walked over. Besides, the guy seemed pretty harmless, so I opened the door and got in. The man smiled as he continued down the road.

After that day Michael and I became friends of a sort. He would pick me up and take me to the park, buy me lunch. He became almost like another parent, the kind I wanted. The first Christmas that passed he gave me one of those cheap cell phones that parents give their kids so they can be reached but can't really call anyone. It only had six buttons. One to answer, one to hang up, and the other four had phone numbers preprogrammed into them. He told me to hide the phone and never let my parents see it. I figured it wouldn't be too hard since they never came looking for anything, even me.

Time continued to go by, as it often will. I was about 12 when I finally realized what the early signs were. I came to the conclusion that I was gay. I also came to the realization that Michael was an attractive man. Of course I kept that to myself, not wanting him to find out my preference and stop hanging out with me.

It was a year later than I realized how silly that fear was. It was a late night in winter and the power went out. The heat started to drop rapidly as the cold seeped in from under the door. It was late and the roads were closed from the blizzard that had started only a few hours before. Michael offered to take me home right then but I declined, not really wanting to go home to an empty house. So we were going to try and wait it out.

It was already after eleven in the evening, and there was no sign of the blizzard letting up. The temperature was getting lower and lower and I started to shiver. Michael slowly reached over and pulled me closer, wrapping his muscular arms around my slim adolescent frame. I felt so safe, so protected. Then he leaned down and kissed me.

His stubble rubbed against my smooth skin roughly. His lips tasted salty, probably from the peanuts he had been eating earlier. Tentatively my tongue slid out and ran over his bottom lip, trying to get a taste. Quickly, before I could pull it back in, his mouth opened and his tongue shot into mine, caressing against mine and trying to explore as much as possible. I moaned hungrily back into his.

That night we made love for the first time. It was the best thing I ever could have imagined. But after that, well, things began to change. Michael stopped taking me out to dinner. He stopped doing a lot of things. I still saw him a few times a week, but the only reason he ever called me was to have sex.

Another two years went by of this. Nothing changed and I began to grow tired of it. I realized that Michael hadn't been looking for a boyfriend; he'd been looking for his own adolescent pet. Someone he could call on whenever he needed to get off. Someone who wasn't going to stand up for himself. Who would let Michael do what he wanted. And he had found it in me. Well, one thing did change. My black outs stopped for some reason, although I wasn't sure why.

I was in high school now, although I didn't have a lot of a social life. Ever since that championship game, I hadn't tried to play sports, go to parties, or do much of anything that could be considered social. And, because I had not tried to make any friends throughout middle school, since I had Michael during that time, I was pretty much alone. But now I started to get more and more depressed.

Since I didn't have any friends, I started to pay more attention to the news. The war in Iraq was still pressing on at the time. I noticed other things as well. Australia had become more distant in foreign affairs, locking the doors to embassies and banning immigration. Threats of war were flying rampant as America got more and more suspicious. I was truly scared of what could happen; so, I stopped paying attention of it. Just hoping for it to go away. It's funny, but that never happens the way you want it to.

Then the most peculiar thing happened. I found someone else. His name was Theodore, but he went by Teddy. I never really noticed him before. My mind was always so preoccupied, that just one day after I stopped paying attention to the outside world, it was as if he appeared from no where.

First I noticed him in the lunch room, laughing with his friends. Then he appeared in my gym class, changing at the end of the row of lockers. That was when I first realized how handsome he was. He had light brown hair, tinted slightly red. His nose was sprinkled with freckles, and his eyes, those amazing pools of ice blue, felt like they could bore a hole right through you. He had a swimmer's build, a perfect 'V' disappearing into his boxers. I think it was at that moment that I fell in love.

I didn't have the guts to talk to him. He just looked so perfect, hanging out with his friends and laughing all the day. I wasn't sure how to walk up and talk to him. I hadn't tried to talk to anyone in years. I would stare at him throughout lunch period and gym class. I guess he started to notice because, one day, after we started weight training, he picked me as his partner. I couldn't speak. I just sort of stumbled over to him and stared. It was kind of funny, now that I think about it. I can imagine how much of a dork I probably looked like.

He just smiled at me, just a small smirk of his thin lips. I blushed furiously as he walked over and laid down on the bench, hands braced against the weight bar. I just stood there, stock still, staring at his perfectly formed body.

“You gonna give me a hand, or just stand there staring?”

I blushed again and nodded, moving over to stand above him, hands under the bar. He smiled again as he started to lower and raise the bar repeatedly. I finally worked up the nerve to say something. “Why me?”

“Huh? What do you mean 'why you'?”

“Why did you pick me? You have tons of friends in this class. Why did you want me to help you?”

“Why not? I've seen you looking at me. I figured you would either start talking to me if I picked you, or I would scare you off. Seeing as how you are talking, I guess the first choice was right.” He said, smiling that sweet smile of his again.

A small smile crossed my face for the first time in a while. I looked down at him and our eyes met. I knew at that moment that here was my savior, my protector, my hero. I knew at that moment that he would take me away from Michael and take care of me.

We became friends from that day forward. He would come over to my house and we would hang out. It was easier, by far, than going to his. His mom didn't work, and so was usually at home. She would ask questions and want to talk to my parents. So we just avoided her at first.

One day, while we were hanging out up in my room playing some video games, Teddy looked over at me and smiled. It wasn't unusual for this to happen, so I just smiled back as I continued playing. Slowly, he set down the control and scooted closer to me. He moved behind me, slightly, and I raised one eyebrow at him. He just smiled and as he scooted the rest of the way behind me and wrapped arms around my waist. I could feel the slight pressure of his head against my shoulder. With a content sigh, I leaned my head back against his shoulder. When he kissed my cheek, I felt like I was floating.

We didn't do anything that day. We didn't do anything ever. It seemed weird to me at first. When I asked him about it he simply told me that it was because I was worth more than just a quick release. He said what he felt was forever when he was with me. That he knew his love was endless, as long as I was close. I felt so touched that I cried on his shoulder.

It had been nearly a year, of seeing Teddy in secret. Juggling the two of them had been no easy task. Don't get me wrong, I loved Teddy and wish I didn't have to continue seeing Michael. I just didn't know how to end it. I was just so scared about what would happen. There was one prior time when I had tried, and I wish I didn't remember what had happened that night in the basement. Having to sneak around Michael wasn't easy. Finally, one day while I was with Teddy, Michael called. I was scared to answer, but scared not to. In the past, when I had tried to avoid Michael, he always found me, and I paid for it. I answered and tried to keep it short, saying as little as possible. When I hung up the phone, Teddy's shoulders drooped slightly, sensing my mood.

Teddy asked me and I broke down and told him everything. He looked shocked, but when he took my bawling form into his arms, and held me against him, I knew that he had already forgiven me. We talked for a while that night, and since Michael hadn't wanted to see me until the next day, I wasn't worried about running off, or him coming to find me.

Teddy and I decided that he would go over there the next day and would talk to Michael and tell him it was over. I was scared, but knew that if I went, Michael would play on my fears. Teddy would be strong for me. He would deal with it and then we could be happy together. Unfortunately that is not how everything went.

It was around 7:30 when I got another call from Michael. He demanded that I get over to his house right then, before he came over to get me. I nervously agreed, and ran down to my bike. I rode out into the pouring rain pedaling as fast as I could. I had forgotten my jacket, so I was quickly drenched. My thoughts ran wild. Why was Michael calling me? Hadn't Teddy dealt with the situation? Or had I been abandoned by my hero?

When I pulled up I looked around and noticed a second bicycle there. Teddy's bike. I couldn't figure out what had happened. What if he had done something to Teddy. I leaned my bike next to his and slowly walked up to the door.

The scene that I encountered was not what I expected to see. Michael answered the door in just a towel. Nothing else. Teddy was no where in site. At least not yet. He led me down into the basement ranting at me for running late. He always took me into the basement when I was late, or when he was unhappy with me. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, my eyes opened up wide.

Shock was spread over my face as I beheld my hero, blood dripping down the side of his face. His eyes, which had rolled into the back of his head, tried to regain focus. When they landed on me, I could tell he was trying not to cry. Tears built up in the corners of his eyes as he fought them back. His blue eyes begged me to forgive him for failing to stop Michael. I knew in an instant that I would. Finally the silence was broken, of course, by Michael.

“I'm glad you decided to show up, Cody. I had to find out the hard way that my pet was running around behind my back with this little piece of meat. Although, I must say, if I had to pick someone, I would have picked little Teddy here as well. But now I have a little bit of a dilemma. You see, I need to find someway to punish you for trying to get away from me. Now I could chain you up and keep you down here for a few weeks, but I'm sure that between the school and your ever so uncaring parents, someone would notice eventually.”

“You can do whatever you want. Just please don't hurt Teddy anymore. I promise not to see him anymore, just don't do anything else to him.” I was so nervous for him to believe me that I was stuttering throughout my whole statement.

“Oh, you won't see him anymore? Did you hear that little Teddy? He doesn't want you anymore. Which means I can have you now. And don't go running off Cody, I want you to see this.”

Teddy began to struggle in earnest now, fighting with all his strength against the binds that held him to some sort of rack. Of course, I knew that the rack he was tied to could pivot and move in many ways, and his struggling would only serve that purpose. Michael walked up as I could do nothing but watch in horror. He placed one hand on the rack and it spun so that Teddy was forced to stand straight up. Slowly he walked around it, turning it so that Teddy could still see me, but just out of the corner of his eye.

Michael smirked over at me, losing all of its humanity and looking evil. I wanted to close my eyes, but I knew that Michael would only make it worse. Michael slowly reached up and pushed on the upper bar of the apparatus, leaving Teddy bent over in front of him. Teddy's eyes were opened wide as he struggled even more, wanting nothing more than to just get free. Michael glared over in my direction as he reached down and tore Teddy's pants off. Teddy's eyes would have gotten bigger, but they were already as wide as possible. Michael slowly moved around, like a cat inspecting a mouse for dinner.

Finally, he nodded and lowered his own pants; his enormous cock standing at attention. The head glistened with precum as he rubbed it up and down between Teddy's crack. My eyes opened wider as he realized he wasn't even going to perform any kind of preparation. No lubrication, no stretching, nothing. Michael looked up at me as he placed the head just at Teddy's entrance, pushing just enough to taunt him. Then without any further hesitation, he buried himself to the hilt. Tears poured down the sides of Teddy's face as he tried to scream around the cloth stuffed in his mouth.

Michael was moaning in pleasure, his hips pivoting to full effect, dragging himself out and the burying it back in to the hilt. I started to cry, just wanting it all to stop. I would even stay with Michael if it would save Teddy from all this pain. When I looked at Teddy, into his eyes, I could tell he was only thinking of me. And something inside me broke.

Something that hadn't happened in a long time finally happened. Michael had pushed my emotions over the edge and my brain couldn't handle it anymore. At first I felt a ripple inside my body, starting in my chest and moving towards my brain. When it got there an enormous feeling of euphoria came over me. Don't ask me why, but I went from the worst moment of my life to my eyes being opened wide with pleasure. And then everything faded to black.

Thank you for reading this far. This is just the prologue to the first story of many. This portion of the story was told in the past tense, where as the majority of the story will actually be told in the present. If you enjoyed it, please let me know. I can be reached at cashewwolf@gmx.com.