The stagecoach lurched and wobbled along the dirt road, heading south from Gordburg towards the first little hamlet along the way. The place didn't have a name. Straps hung down on the inside of the coach for passengers to hang on to and Alexa clung to hers. They weren't traveling all that quickly, but someone had decided to make the stagecoach as authentic as possible, which meant that it had an authentic Nineteenth Century suspension. The seat cushions could have been padded a little more to compensate, but nobody had bothered with that.
“Rough ride, isn't it?” Mike smiled at her from the opposite seat. They were the only two passengers. That was understandable, since this was the first stage of the day and it left Gordburg so early in the morning that it was barely daylight. Alexa had taken it thinking that she might get enough of a head start on Mike to make it hard for him to catch up to her, but when she'd arrived at the station she'd found him already there and waiting for her. She had to admire his determination, but he was putting something of a crimp in her plans. Dinner with him last night had been fun. He was witty and well-traveled, wouldn't give her any more than hints about what he did for a living and was clearly interested in her. It was all very flattering to be the focus of his attention, but she was going to have to find a way to shake him before he messed up her plans. Last year, she had competed in that very unusual and challenging competition and beaten the three other women participating in it, all gorgeous professional athletes whom she had never beaten at anything before. It had come as a surprise to her when Will had told her that she'd also beaten the unofficial record of a mysterious young woman he called 'Elf-Girl' who had gone uncaptured longer than anyone before her. But she had not beaten the official record, and that's what really counted. Having finally beaten Martina, Lynette and Naomi at something, Alexa found it irksome that she was still only Number Two in the Gordburg record books, such as they were. Will had given her some training in outdoor survival in addition to all the other training he had given her in sexual submission. He had also given her a lot of information on Gordburg and how things worked there. Now she thought that she had a fair shot at beating the official record of that near-mythical 'Elf-Girl'. She did wish that she knew more about the woman, including how she had come by that nickname, but that was something she could leave for another day. She smiled across the narrow space at Mike, who was hanging on to his own strap.
“It's not so bad,” she replied. “And it'll be over in a little while anyway. You know, I was kind of surprised to see you waiting for me.”
“Why? I told you I found you interesting. I want to see what you're going to do. You haven't told me anything about that.”
“It isn't really any of your business,” Alexa replied without any attitude. “Besides, there's a lot about you that you haven't told me either.”
“Such as?”
She liked the way he looked at her. It was a mixture of curiosity and frankly carnal interest. She might be a personal trainer and sometime fitness model, but that didn't mean she had bulging muscles and washboard abs. She didn't have bulges: She had curves, a teensy bit more in her hips than she would have preferred, and a teensy bit less in her boobs than she would have liked. Her stomach was flat, and she had very nice legs. Mike had seen much of it all last night at dinner when she'd worn her daring long-skirted halter-top dress, the one slit all the way up to her hip on one side, and he'd been properly appreciative and attentive all the while. He wasn't seeing anywhere near as much this morning, since she was swaddled in bulky sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt, but she knew that while he was looking at her as she was now, he was remembering her as he'd seen her last night.
“Well,” she said after a pause, “you could at least tell me your last name.”
“You'll laugh.”
“No I won't.”
“All right,” Mike shifted in his seat. “It's Jackson.”
“Mike Jackson? As in Michael Jackson?” Alexa's smile widened, but she didn't laugh.
“Michael Andrew Jackson,” he said with a rueful grin. “I was named after my grandfathers. I had nothing to say about it.”
“It's not a bad name,” Alexa said. “I've heard worse.”
“You know, I've been thinking about you ever since last night,” Mike said, changing the subject. “I wanted to know more about you, so after you left me at your hotel room door without even so much as a good-night kiss, I asked around a little.”
“I paid for dinner,” Alexa said, trying to change the subject herself. “If you'd paid for it you might have gotten that kiss.”
“Now, see, if you'd let me know that ahead of time I would have paid for it. I did pay for your lunch,” Mike countered. “At least I didn't order the most expensive thing on the menu.”
Alexa laughed.
“Aren't you going to ask me if I found out anything about you?” Mike asked.
Alexa's smile faded away. “Should I?” she asked. What had he found out? She couldn't bring herself to ask.
“Your choice,” Mike shrugged. “Let's just say I was interested in you from the start.”
“And now?”
“Now I want to find out what you're up to. The only way I can think of to do that is to follow along.”
“I didn't invite you along,” Alexa said.
“Try telling me to get lost, then.”
“I would, if I thought it would work,” Alexa retorted.
The stage rumbled into the first little unnamed hamlet and pulled up in front of the lone saloon, which was also unnamed. Mike started to get out, but stopped once he saw that Alexa wasn't moving.
“Going on to the next town?” he asked.
“No,” Alexa answered. “I'm getting out here. You go ahead. I'll be along in a moment.”
“You're not just telling me that to get me out of the stagecoach?” Mike sounded doubtful.
“Trust me,” Alexa favored him with her sweetest smile. “You'll want to see what comes next.”
He looked at her, shrugged, and got out of the coach. The moment he did, Alexa shucked off her sweatshirt and pants. Under it she wore her most comfortable jogging outfit, very short little shorts in vivid green and a belly-baring shirt in canary yellow. Last year, she had burdened herself with so much stuff that she'd had to stash most of it away in hiding places in the woods. This time around, she was traveling light.
“You're right,” Mike said as she disembarked. “I did want to see that.” He looked her up and down appreciatively. “So now what?”
Alexa favored him with a grin. “Now I'm going to get some coffee,” she said as she went past him and into the saloon.
“I could buy you breakfast,” he called out as she pushed open the swinging doors.
There was a fair crowd in the saloon, chiefly men dressed for the outdoors drinking coffee and wolfing down doughnuts or danishes. Alexa got herself some of the coffee, but passed on the pastries. Mike followed along after her, chewing on a cherry danish. There were a couple of women there, apparently with husbands or boyfriends. They didn't seem to appreciate Alexa's presence or her appearance very much. She in turn ignored them but made brief eye contact with many of the men, giving each of them a brief nod and a smile before she finished her coffee and went back outside.
The day was warming up nicely, though it was still a bit on the cool side for the way she was dressed. Alexa didn't mind. She'd be warm enough soon. The stage had already left, taking her sweatshirt and pants along with it, so all she was left with was her jogging togs and that funny little chip in her left earlobe that would identify her if she got caught but in the meantime was more like an ATM card she could use to buy whatever she needed. She paused for a moment to stretch and then set out for the big barn at the eastern edge of town. Will had told her that each nameless hamlet had its own mini-slave market in one of those barns, and she was curious to see what it was like inside one of them. The big double doors were shut, but there was a normal-sized door standing open alongside them, so she went into the barn through it.
It was dimly lit inside, but there was the same sweet smell of fresh hay. Alexa paused for a moment to let her eyes adjust and then began exploring the barn. There was no elevated stage here, just a central passageway that ran from one end of the barn to the other, where it ended at another closed pair of big doors. Stalls lined both sides of the building. She peered over the low wall into the first one. It was empty. She worked her way down along one side, and in the third stall she found two naked young females, both blonde, lying asleep, snuggled together on a thick blanket that had been spread over the straw. They had collars around their slender necks that appeared to be fastened to the far wall with lengths of chain. The next stall was empty, but the last one held an attractive female of around thirty, with long, dark hair and a very nice hourglass figure. She was awake, sitting on her blanket in a far corner of her stall. She wore a collar and chain much like the blondes had. She stared at Alexa warily until Alexa went away to check the other row of stalls on her way back to the entrance. The first two were empty, but the third was interesting. There were three small cages that looked a lot like dog carriers in it, each one containing a naked female. They were all lying with their heads pointed away from the passageway, so Alexa couldn't tell much about any of them. She moved on, wondering why they were in cages. Maybe they were going to be taken somewhere? Or was it some sort of punishment, since the cages were too small to stretch out in?
The last stall held another naked female, this one in her late twenties, with short brown hair and big brown eyes. She was awake, just lying on her side, apparently waiting for something. She didn't move when she saw Alexa. She just looked away and sighed. Her curiosity satisfied, Alexa went back outside into the sunlight. It seemed so bright after her time in the barn that it took her a minute to realize that there was a handful of men outside, waiting for her. One of the men was Mike. As her eyes adjusted again, she saw two more men approaching from the saloon. She grinned to herself. She'd been hoping to attract some attention. She began doing some stretching and limbering-up exercises. Some of them caused her shorts to hike up just enough to show slivers of her ass cheeks. She didn't say anything. She waited for one of the men to say something first. She caught sight of Mike leaning against the side of the barn, watching her, and knew that he wasn't going to be the first to speak. She finished stretching and, ignoring her audience, began walking towards the edge of town. She saw two stakes driven into the ground to either side of the dirt road that ran east into the woods. Each stake had a faded green ribbon tied around it. From what Will had told her, those stakes indicated the edge of the 'safe zone'. Inside of it, as she was, any woman was perfectly safe. Outside of it, she was fair game for any man or men who wanted to hunt her. She felt her heart start to beat a little faster and took a slow, deep and deliberate breath to calm down. She stopped just a few feet away from the stakes and stretched again, her arms over her head.
“Uh... ma'am?”
Alexa turned to look back. The men were standing just a little further away from her than she was standing from the stakes. “Yes?” she said.
“You know about the safe zone, don't you?” The speaker was one of the older men. He was about forty, she guessed, and only a couple of inches taller than she was.
“Oh, yes,” Alexa replied. “I've been here before.” Facing the men, she stretched again, arms over her head, back arched.
“So you know exactly what you're doing, don't you?” Mike called out. Alexa grinned at him. “Do I, now?” she challenged. “Say, how far away is the next little town along that road? Two miles? Three? Four? There aren't any maps.”
“I don't know,” Mike shrugged. “It takes the stage about an hour to get there.”
“Let's see how long it takes on foot,” Alexa said. She turned away from her very interested audience and set out at a slow trot, quickly passing beyond the stakes. A little way beyond them, she looked back over her shoulder. All of the men, including Mike, were just standing there as if they couldn't fathom the situation.
“Catch me if you can!” Alexa taunted them, and kicked her speed up to a sprint. Behind her, she heard a sudden commotion and then the sounds of pounding feet. She risked a quick look back over her shoulder. Three of the men, Mike included, were rapidly closing on her. Two more lagged behind them, and the last two had apparently decided to not even try. Now came the first tricky part, staying out of their clutches for the next few moments. She put on just enough of a burst of speed to keep the distance between her and her closest pursuers. They were probably faster than she was over a short distance, but if they didn't run her down quickly it would become a matter of endurance, which was what she was aiming for. She'd run in a number of marathons. She didn't think that any of the men chasing her had. Once it was down to that, the second tricky part would come up. She had to maintain a lead over them, but not so great a lead that they just gave up. It would be one thing to arrive in the next wide spot in the road all alone. It would be much better to do so just ahead of a pack of gasping, panting men who had chased her all the way there and had almost, but not quite, caught her. If it took the stage about an hour to make the trip, she figured she could do it in around forty-five minutes. How many of her pursuers could keep it up for that long? Well, she would find out. She had certainly done what she could to arouse their lustful interest with her skimpy clothing and the shameless display of her limbering-up exercises.
Mike was sneakier than she'd thought. She'd kept looking back over her shoulder to see where her pursuers were, and how many of them were left. Once they were down to four she slacked off on checking them for a while so that she could concentrate on her pace and breathing. This part of the dirt road was rutted and littered with stones, and the last thing she wanted to do was twist her ankle. She was so intent on not making a misstep that she didn't see that Mike and one of the other men had stealthily quickened their pace enough to begin to slowly close the distance between themselves and her. It might have worked, except that the other man's breathing was just a bit too loud. When Alexa risked a quick look back she saw Mike almost close enough to reach out and grab her. She gave a surprised yelp and broke into a sprint again., not daring to look back until she started to become winded and had to slow down. Her four pursuers were still there, all strung out along the road with Mike in the lead some twenty or thirty yards behind her. He looked grimly determined. The other men were too far back for her to see their expressions clearly. She settled back into her best jogging pace, but now looked back at every hundredth step or so. Mike was slowly gaining on her again, and one of the other men seemed to have given up. She kept going. The sun rose higher in the sky and startled crows cawed angrily as she went by them with her pursuers in tow. The chase went on. Every time Alexa looked back she saw the three men behind her, led by Mike, who was doing remarkably well considering that he was wearing heavy boots instead of running shoes. She rounded a bend in the road and saw the next little hamlet just ahead. She could see people walking around. Some of them spotted her and stopped whatever they were doing to watch. More stopped as they saw Mike pounding along after her. She took one last quick look back, judged how much of a lead she had and whether or not the men chasing her could manage one last burst of speed to catch up to her before she reached the safe zone. She slowed her pace. The only thing that could screw it all up for her now was if some man up ahead decided to run out after her himself, but everyone seemed too bemused by the spectacle to even think of it. She drew closer and closer until she could see the stakes to either side of the road only a little way ahead. Another quick look back told her the men couldn't possibly catch her now unless she stopped dead. She had no intention of doing that, but she did slow her pace down so that when she crossed the imaginary line into the safe zone she was walking. She threw her hands up in victory, no longer walking so much as bouncing down the street in triumph. She heard cheers from some of the people watching. When she turned around to see how her pursuers were doing, the last one was just tottering into town. He looked as if he was ready to keel over. Mike was leaning against a hitching post, trying to catch his breath, and the other man had sat down in the street with his back propped against a building.
She'd done it! Oh, she was a bit short or breath herself but she felt as if she could easily keep going on to the next hamlet. It wasn't part of her plan to do that so early, though. She quickly scanned the tiny town and spotted the saloon. It was in a two-story wooden building, and she knew that the upper floor had rooms to rent. She'd already reserved one, and the small parcel she'd sent on with the stage should be waiting there for her. All she had to do was go in, claim her key, and relax for a while. But she was feeling so elated at how well her plan had worked so far, even with Mike bird-dogging her, that she wanted to celebrate. The fact that she'd attracted quite a crowd only served to boost her spirits higher. She looked around for Mike and saw him walking towards her, still breathing heavily. She had a sudden inspiration, and when he finally reached her she grabbed him by his belt before he could catch his breath enough to say whatever he seemed to want to say to her.
“You come with me,” she told him, and set out for the saloon. Too winded and weakened, and probably too curious to see what she had in mind, Mike trundled along after her without saying a word. She towed him up the steps and into the saloon by his belt. “Alexa Marx,” she called out to the startled bartender. “I have a reservation!”
“Room three, top of the stairs,” he said. He was a heavyset man with an impressive handlebar mustache that he's apparently cultivated to make up somewhat for his bald head.
“I need the key!” Alexa barked as she approached the bar. The man reached under the bar and came up with the key, which he slapped down on the polished bar surface.
“Thanks!” Alexa barked again as she scooped it up and headed for the stairs. There were a couple of people sitting at tables, and they all stopped whatever they were doing to watch Alexa drag Mike upstairs. She ignored them. She was feeling suddenly and almost uncontrollably horny and any time spent in not immediately getting her closer to what she wanted would only be time wasted. It also might be enough time for Mike to get his wind back and possibly mess up what she had in mind by suddenly getting all masculine and assertive. The door to Room 3 was unlocked when she got there. She threw it open, hauled Mike inside with her, and slammed the door shut behind them. Only then did she let go of his belt, so that she could throw her arms around his neck and kiss him, long and hard and with lots of tongue. He was too surprised to respond at first, but when he did it was enthusiastically. When she felt him putting his arms around her, Alexa abruptly let go of him and pushed him back.
“What...?” he started to say, clearly confused.
“Shut up,” Alexa ordered. “Get your pants down and get on the bed. If you aren't carrying a condom they keep some in the drawer in the nightstand. Move!” She stepped forward to give him a gentle shove in the direction of the bed and began taking off her shoes and socks. When she looked up, Mike was sitting on the bed with his pants down around his ankles, opening the drawer on the nightstand. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he looked up, smiled at her, and held up a condom. She smiled back and pulled her shirt and sports bra off up over her head in one smooth move and let them fall on the floor. Mike kept watching as she shucked off her shorts and panties and stood before him naked. He certainly didn't look disappointed.
“Get it on,” she ordered him as she walked towards the bed, trying, but not entirely succeeding, in moving slowly, deliberately and sexily. Now that he had some idea of what was coming, Mike's cock was becoming erect, but wasn't hard enough for him to slip the condom on easily. It didn't help that he kept looking from what he was trying to do to Alexa as she approached him. Exasperated, Alexa shoved him over onto his back and started giving him a hand job. He was sweaty enough that she didn't see a need for any lubricant, and soon he was hard enough for her to slip the condom on to him easily. The moment she had, he tried to sit up again, his hands going for her breasts. She was long past any need for foreplay, though. She roughly brushed his hands away and made him lie on his back on the bed. He didn't object, and when she straddled him, gripping his cock to guide it into her, he reached up again for her breasts. He seemed to be getting his wind back.
Alexa eased herself down onto Mike's cock. It was about average in length, but it was deliciously thick and she couldn't help moaning, her head tilted back and her eyes closed as she slid down, down, down. She heard Mike moan in turn and looked down at him with a wicked little smile.
“Tight, isn't it?” she asked as she began rotating her hips, slowly and strongly. He only moaned again, his eyes closed and his hands groping and squeezing her breasts. Miffed, she ripped his shirt open and pinched his nipples. He let out a startled cry. His eyes flew open and he looked up at her, frowning.
“I said: 'Tight, isn't it?'“ she repeated, giving his small male nipples a twist.
“Yes!” he answered promptly, and then she did something to his cock that made his eyes roll up.
“This is what you get for coming in second,” she purred to him, grinding her hips.
“Second?” he asked without opening his eyes. His hands slid from her breasts to her hips and gripped her as if he was worried she might get up and leave otherwise.
“I came in first,” she teased, bending over low so that her tits were almost in his face. He opened his eyes for that, but didn't let go of her hips. “Imagine what you'd get for beating me,” she went on, still grinding away. She shifted her position just enough for his cock to do her some real good.
“You could strip me, tie me up, spank me, whip me...” She leaned down to whisper into his ear. “Make me suck your big, thick cock until you came in my hot, wet mouth...”
Mike groaned and tightened his grip on her.
“Would you like that?” she asked. All he did was groan. It looked like he was too far gone to think of anything beyond how good he was feeling, and how much better he would feel in a moment. And as nice and hard as he was now, she'd have to move quickly to take advantage of that while it lasted.
Mike came scant moments before she did, but by then she was so close that it didn't matter. Normally she was pretty quiet when she came, aside from some loud moaning, but this time around she wanted to make some freaking noise. She shrieked as her orgasm hit her, digging her nails into Mike's broad shoulders, but not quite breaking the skin. She shrieked again, collapsing on top of Mike as she surrendered to the tremors wracking her body.