passed thanked them, most with just words, a few with kisses and gropes. They found a row of seats and sat down just as the train pulled out of the station.
'That was quite a welcome home,' Belinda said. 'I think it made everything we went through out there worthwhile.'
'You ain't shittin',' Jeff said. 'I ain't never had me no blowjob in the fuckin street before.'
'I'm fuckin' horny,' Xenia said, her eyes a little glassy. 'I don't think I've ever been hornier.' She looked at her two companions. 'Both of you, fuck me, right here, right now!'
Belinda smiled. 'What's the magic word?' she asked.
'I love you,' she told her. She turned to Jeff. 'I love you too. I love both of you deeply and completely. Now fuckin'
'I don't think she's being sincere, B,' Jeff said sadly.
'Me either,' Belinda agreed. 'It's the horniness talking again.'
'Are you out of your fuckin' minds?' Xenia yelled at them. 'I could get laid anywhere, by anyone right now.' She stood up. 'Attention, everyone in this car!'
Everyone turned around in his or her seats to look at her.
'I'm extremely horny right now and I want to get fucked! Is there anyone in this car who would be willing to fuck me right here and right now?'
Hands went up from every man on the car and from well over half of the women. Even a few of the children raised their hands.
'Sorry, false alarm,' Xenia said. 'At least for now. If these two dawgs here don't wanna do the job, then I'll get back to you.'
There was some good-natured groaning and a few teasing remarks about teasing thrown back at her. She sat back down.
'You see,' she said. 'It isn't just sex I'm after. I could get that if I wanted it. I want sex from both of you, the two people I fucking love! Now are you going to give it to me, or what?'
They looked at each other for a moment and then both of them shrugged.
'It wasn't exactly what we were dreaming of I'm sure,' Belinda said, 'but I'll accept your sincerity at face value on the grounds that I'm hornier than I've ever been as well.'
'I'm down with that,' Jeff said, standing up and pulling his shirt off his body.
And so their first act of love with each other took place on a half-empty MarsTrans train. It was quick, forceful, and very satisfying. It was also quite entertaining to those passengers who were lucky enough to have picked that particular car to ride in.
Eden General Hospital was a bit of a contrast to the celebrations in the street. It was packed to well beyond capacity, the overflow having spilled out into two adjoining office buildings. Harried doctors, nurses, and other technicians move frantically here and there. Every available floor space was filled with cots in which wounded MPG soldiers or wounded WestHem soldiers were being housed and cared for. Scores of uniformed MPG soldiers — undoubtedly on the same mission as Xenia, Belinda, and Jeff, wandered here and there. A large line of them had formed before a main desk terminal that was staffed by four security guards.
'We'll never find anyone in here,' Belinda cried. 'Look how many people there are.'
'Yeah,' Jeff said, looking at some of the soldiers in the lobby cots. He saw people with arms and legs missing, with horrible facial injuries, people on ventilators, with holes drilled in their necks. 'I had no idea there were so many.'
'Come on,' Xenia said, pointing to the line of troops. 'Let's get in line. They should be able to tell us where to go.'
They waited in the line for more than forty minutes before making it to the front. Once there they gave Zen's name to the security guard. He looked it up on his computer. 'He's in the Bangkok Building next door. Second floor, sector Bravo six. The notation says he's able to have visitors.'
'How about Matt Mendez?' Jeff asked. 'I commed his dad and he told me he was here too.'
'You know his date of birth or his social?'
Matt rattled off his date of birth.
'Upstairs,' the guard told him. 'Fiftieth floor, nephrology wing. He's accepting visitors as well.'
'Right,' Jeff said. 'Thanks.'
'You wanna go visit your friend first?' Xenia asked.
'Yeah,' he said. 'If you don't mind.'
'You want us to come with you?' Belinda asked.
'You're my bitches now, aren't you?' he asked them. 'Of course I want you to come with me. We'll be quick.'
They walked to the elevator and had to wait another twenty minutes before being able to board one of the cars. The trip up to the fiftieth floor took another ten minutes. They emerged into a sterile hallway and followed the signs to the Nephrology Department. It was a small ward that had been designed for perhaps twenty patient beds. Currently it was housing well over a hundred. Most of the patients had visitors with them, adding to the overcrowding. Still the mood seemed more festive than somber and the smell of marijuana smoke could be detected even here.
They wandered up and down the rows for a few minutes until Jeff recognized Andrew and Carla Mendez — Matt's parents — sitting in one of the chairs. He headed over, his two companions trailing behind. Andrew saw him first. His eyes lit up and he stood, rushing over to greet him. Jeff was startled to see how much weight Matt's dad had lost. He looked almost fit now.
'Jeffery Creek, you little punk dust runner!' Andrew said, holding out his hand for the traditional Capitalist handshake.
Jeff gave it to him and then pulled him into a hug. 'How the fuck are you, pops?' he asked. 'What you been doing? Working out or something?'
Carla came forward and gave him a hug as well. 'We've been working in the agricultural fields ever since you two dumb-asses signed up for the MPG,' she said. 'We figured we might as well see what this whole working thing is all about.'
'Goddamn right,' Andrew said. 'We got almost four hundred of them credits in the bank now. Thanks to you and Matt, they'll still be worth something tomorrow.'
'We kicked their fuckin' asses, didn't we?' Jeff asked. He broke the embrace and walked over to the bed, looking down at his best friend since childhood. 'What the fuck happened to you?'
'Just a little skin off my ass is all,' Matt told him, leaning forward. They hugged, forgoing the Capitalist handshake by unspoken consent. 'How the fuck are you? Glad to see you made it. We heard you ground pounders took a hell of a beating out there.'
'I'm too fuckin' smart to die out in the field,' Jeff said, releasing him. 'I'm glad to see you made it too.' He stood up. 'Let me introduce you to some really static people I met. This is Xenia and Belinda. They were on one of the tank crews in my ACR.'
Matt nodded at them and told them he was pleased to make their acquaintance. He then turned back to Jeff. 'Are these two the reason you smell like you've been bathed in pussy?'
Jeff actually blushed a little. Xenia answered for him. 'We're the reason,' she confirmed. 'We couldn't contain ourselves on the train ride over here and... well... you know how it is?'
'I know how it is,' he said. 'The nurses and even a few of the doctors have been real thankful to me since I got here.'
'Hell,' said Andrew, 'I even got a blowjob from one and I'm just his dad.'
'No sense in bragging, Andy,' Carla said with a frown.
'The fuck there ain't,' Andrew shot back.
They talked for a few minutes, telling their tales of their part in the war. Jeff was amazed that such a minor wound had almost killed his friend and had resulted in the death of both of his kidneys.
'So what happens now?' he asked him. 'You doing that dialysis thing?'
'Yep,' Matt confirmed. 'Once every two days for two hours. It sucks ass. They tell me that once things settle down around here they're gonna grow me some new kidneys.'
'How much is that gonna cost you?' Jeff asked.
