No signs of life 2 – Ellis

After an apocalypse, a teenager gets to fuck the boy of his dreams, but it comes at a massive price.

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No signs of life 2 – Ellis

The first day I discovered a number of things about Ellis.

The first thing I discovered was that I had to be very specific about the instructions I gave him. Even the slightest ambiguity seemed to short circuit his brain and he would either do something unexpected, or do nothing. It reminded me of an episode of Futurama where Bender made a deal with the devil, but the devil was constantly looking for ways to trick Bender by misinterpreting Bender’s wishes. At least with Ellis there was no malice, but I quickly learned that I had to pre-screen whatever I was going to say to him to ensure that it had no ambiguity.

The second thing I discovered was that without counter instructions, he would do whatever I instructed him to do until he was unable to. I tested this by getting him to jog on the spot. He continued running, getting warmer and warmer, and more and more out of breath, until I stopped him 20 minutes later when I was afraid he was going to pass out from heat exhaustion.

I discovered the third thing whilst I was washing him down. He’d stripped naked as I had instructed, and had followed me into the back yard. I was washing him down with rainwater collected in a barrel, when he started to shit. With no warning or hesitation. It simply fell from him. I was a little disgusted.

“Stop that!” I said, but he continued. “Stop shitting Ellis!” I repeated more urgently, and he quickly complied as though suddenly realising what he was doing.

“I don’t ever want you to shit or pee unless I tell you to Ellis. Do you understand?”

His expression never changed nor did he say anything.

“Clap if you understand me Ellis.”

He remained motionless. I tried some variations but I never managed to find a way for him to communicate his understanding. It was as though his inputs all worked perfectly, but there was a short-circuit in his outputs and his ability to reason.

I carefully steered him around the faeces he’d dropped, then finished washing him down. I took him inside and lead him to the ground-level bathroom.

“Sit on the toilet Ellis.”

The lid was already up. My mom hated that but…

Ellis sat on the toilet. He was glistening from the water I had washed him with.

“Now you can use the toilet Ellis.”

Nothing happened.

“Take a shit and a pee Ellis.”

Again nothing. I was going to try to find a more specific way of repeating my command when I heard the sound of his faeces hitting the water. It was followed soon after by the sound of urine.

I watched, until the noises stopped.

“Okay Ellis, use that toilet paper beside you and clean your behind.”

He took some sheets and wiped his ass.

“Drop the paper into the bowl.”

He did as he was told.

Progress was painfully slow but at least I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life wiping his ass.

When he was finished I ordered him back to the living room and dried him, then I handed him clean clothes and ordered him to dress. He did so with all the skill and attention to detail of a seven year old. It’s dumb I know, but seemed disrespectful to leave him in wonky clothes. I straightened his shirt, and zip his shorts up.

“Sit on the couch Ellis.”

He did as he was told.

I went into the kitchen and poured some water from a 5 gallon plastic jug into two cups. I gulped one down and took the other to Ellis.

That was when I discovered the fourth and most important thing, although it was more a confirmation, rather than a discovery. That he could eat and drink.

I held out the plastic beaker and said, “Here Ellis, take this beaker of water. Drink it.”

I had deliberately chosen a plastic beaker in case he dropped it. He accepted it and drank it in surprisingly careful sips. I don’t know how long he’d been sitting at his desk when I’d found him; hours or days, but he showed no urgency to finish the water.

I went and pulled a high protein snack bar from the cupboard. I opened the wrapper and took the bar out.

“Eat this,” I said handing it to him.

He accepted the bar and ate it with equal lack of haste. At least he wasn’t going to starve to death.

When he had finished, I ordered him to follow me out to the back garden. I pointed to a padded garden chair.

“Sit in that chair Ellis.”

He did as he was told, and sat with robot-like patience awaiting my next command. I knew if I never gave him another, he would sit there until he died. It was an overwhelmingly gloomy prospect.

I worked on the garden for a few hours until the sky started to change colour. I looked at the sky line, the sun was getting low, and the sky was a beautiful graduation from dark yellow to pink to azure blue, with a smattering of low clouds, dark blue/grey coloured but not stormy.

Before the world stopped, I would have been out on my mountain bike with my friends, or playing basketball, or doing my homework, or playing video games, or watching videos on youtube, or as a last resort, watching TV. Now all of those things were meaningless.

Well, I suppose not all. I could still go for a solitary ride, and the games would be a fantastic way to pass the time if power was not such a valuable commodity.

We actually had a generator and a couple of hundred gallons of gas including what was in the tanks of my parents’ cars. At some point, I planned to go around the neighbourhood and siphon as many cars as possible, but it was a relatively low priority.

There were also three dozen packs of batteries. I’d given up on the radio, but the batteries were enough to power a small set of speakers that I connected to my phone sometimes and listened to music. Only in the house though. I was afraid of attracting attention. I’d seen too many post apocalyptic movies: The Road, Mad Max, and Walking Dead, to feel safe around other survivors. Or at least, safe enough to want them to discover me unawares.

Truth be told, far from the explosions, hordes of rampaging rape gangs, and cities burning to the ground in the movies, the entire world had been almost completely silent for the past two weeks. I’d heard some bangs from the direction of the city a while back, and they might have been gun shots, but there was only a short series – less than six, then silence. Well, mankind silence. There were still birds, and I’d found some pet mice in one house. I took the cage to the back door and released them into the back garden. I’d also seen a couple of cats wandering around, but I was more concerned about feral dogs or wild animals.

I looked at my watch. 8.15. It would be getting dark in half an hour or so. I put down my tools, and headed towards the house. Ellis was sitting in the chair looking straight ahead, as motionless as he had been ever since he sat down. I wondered if he got uncomfortable or worse still, suffered cramp.

“Ellis, go into the house and sit on the couch.”

He rose silently and walked inside and I followed him.

When I was certain that he was seated, I returned to the kitchen. I had set up a large camping stove, and I cooked a small meal for us both. Burgers and pitta bread. I remembered seeing on a youtube video that it was almost indestructible and lasted forever, but my supply would not last for many months, especially now that two of us were eating it.

I poured a couple of glasses of water and flavoured them with orange Gatorade.

I walked into the living room. There was an adjoining dining area.

“Come and sit at the table with me Ellis.”

He sat in one of the chairs. I placed the food in front of him. His eyes continued staring ahead. He must have been hungry. Apart from the energy bar he hadn’t eaten in at least 10 hours. I wondered if he cared, or if he had an appetite. I put cutlery by his plate.

“Eat the food Ellis. Hope you’re not a vegetarian!”

It seemed like a very minor concern. On one hand, being a vegetarian was a luxury from the old world that paled compared to the task of surviving, but on the other hand, it might be the future for both of us. I didn’t have a clue how to hunt, and I had no intention of wandering around in the forest alone in any case. There were bears and cougars out there, and even if there weren’t, the last thing I needed was an injury away from home.

I watched Ellis eating with none of the gusto that a boy breaking a ten hour fast should show. I ate along with him. I was happy to have the company. Just the mere proximity of another living person was comforting, but his total silence was unsettling. Well, not total silence. That was what made it weird. He was making all the usual munching and smacking noises of a boy eating dinner, but there was none of the chatter that I was used to with mom and…

I felt the sadness pressing in on me. I had to knock myself out of it before it overwhelmed me again. I went and got my phone and my speakers. I put the speakers on the table, connected the phone, and pressed play. The music started playing and for just a moment, Ellis’ hand paused on its way to his mouth.

“Ellis?”

Nothing.

“Ellis can you hear me?”

Nothing. He continued eating. I looked into his eyes. He neither reacted to my examination, nor changed the direction of his gaze which was directed down towards his food.

I scrutinised him for two minutes, desperate for signs of consciousness but there was nothing.

He finished his food.

“Drink the juice Ellis.“

He did as he was told and we finished together.

“Go sit on the couch Ellis.”

I felt the constant need to ensure that he was comfortable. If I was him, and I was trapped, conscious inside a body that would not allow me to communicate, I’d be grateful for that kindness.

I took the plates out to the kitchen, leaving the music on to keep Ellis company. In the kitchen I wiped the plates clean with a dry tea towel. Water was too valuable to waste each time I ate.

I walked back into the living room and turned off the music. I turned my phone off completely. There was no point leaving it on standby, and it would only waste its precious charge.

It was time for bed. In the past, I would stay up till 10, 11 even midnight some days, but without power, there were no lights, and I didn’t want to waste cooking gas on the Tilley lamp that we used to take when we went camping. In any case, I’d have been too afraid of broadcasting my existence to anyone.

“Follow me carefully Ellis,” I said, and headed upstairs.

He rose to his feet and followed me up. I lead him to my parents’ room. Inside, I said, “Take your clothes off Ellis.”

He stripped right down to his skin. I looked at his small dick. I expect he would have been self conscious about it if he’d been seen in the showers at school, and now he was standing here naked as a jaybird. I felt my dick stir in my shorts.

I smiled. I didn’t mean for him to strip totally nude, but there seemed to be no good reason to ask him to put anything back on.

I lead him to the bathroom.

“Pee Ellis.”

He held his dick and peed, then stopped without shaking. His urine was dark orange in the bowl. Maybe he’d been sitting in his house waiting to die for longer than I thought. Or maybe he had simply sweated it out. I’d have to be careful; I didn’t want him getting dehydrated. I ran down and half filled another beaker in the growing gloom, then brought it back up and ordered him to drink it.

We returned to my parents room; his room now. I’d never be able to sleep in it. Too painful. The room was saturated with the smell of them. My mother in particular.

I folded back the summer covers.

“Get in bed Ellis.”

He obeyed, and I pulled the covers over him.

“Close your eyes and go to sleep.”

He shut his eyes. I leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek.

“I wish you were here under better circumstances. Night, night Ellis. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

It was a childish saying my mom used when I was 5 or 6. It always brought a smile to my face. I wondered why my mind had dredged it up now.

I backed out of the room and shut his door, then peed and went to my room.

I shut my door and pushed a chair against it, then I climbed into bed as the last of the light faded leaving my room in the kind of darkness that had not been seen in North America for over a century.

I thought about Ellis down the hallway, and not for the first time, I fantasised about him as I jacked myself off. I came hard, cleaned up, and fell into a sound sleep.

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