Good Night: An Apocalypse Story

A few days passed, and Harley was busy using her machete to carefully make small holes in a pile of old car batteries, extracting the sulfuric acid and collecting it in glass bottles. Meanwhile, Stephanie was focused on mixing the acid with the salt they had purchased from the Pfaueninsel camp, adjusting the ratio with scientific precision. Once the mixtures were perfectly balanced, she sealed the bottles tightly and stored them in a box in the first room of their bunker.

After they were done, Harley plopped down in a worn chair, wiping sweat from her brow as she looked over the tools and materials they’d been using. She let out a small chuckle. “Who would’ve thought making gas that’s considered a war crime on the battlefield would involve so much chopping,” she said, referencing the work she’d done to get the sulfuric acid from the batteries. Her eyes drifted to the side, where a bottle of tree sap and a container of animal fat sat, remnants from their recent hunts.

Stephanie had been busy with another project in the back of her mind. She wanted to create a fire mixture that wouldn’t be extinguished easily, even by water—something that would stick to its target and burn relentlessly. Her thoughts had been swirling around the tree sap and animal fat, both key ingredients in the incendiary mixture she was planning.

Harley, however, wasn’t thinking much about science at the moment. Her gaze wandered over to Stephanie, who was moving all around the bunker, gathering tools, checking on the materials, and occasionally bending down to retrieve things. The way Stephanie’s figure moved, especially the way she bent over, accentuating her big ass, had Harley’s full attention now.

Leaning back in the chair, Harley couldn’t help but grin, her mind wandering away from the sulfuric acid and mixtures. “You know, I’m not sure what’s more dangerous right now—those bottles we just sealed or you bending over like that,” she teased, her voice low and playful.

Stephanie, completely absorbed in her work, didn’t respond at first. But when she caught Harley’s eyes lingering on her, she shot her a knowing smirk. “You should be focusing on our projects, not my ass,” she said with a laugh, though she didn’t seem particularly bothered by Harley’s gaze.

“Hey, can you blame me?” Harley replied, shrugging with a mischievous grin. “It’s kind of hard to concentrate when you’re flaunting it like that.”

Stephanie chuckled, shaking her head as she got back to her work, though there was a hint of amusement in her expression.

Stephanie, still smirking from Harley’s teasing, wiped her hands on her pants and said, “Alright, enough staring. Let’s get back to work.” Her tone was firm but playful, and Harley nodded, obliged to get back to mixing the tree sap with the animal fat as they continued working on their incendiary mixture.

As Harley stirred the thick mixture, she began to hum softly, then started singing under her breath. “Master got me working, someday master gonna set me free…” Her voice was low and melodic as she worked, the rhythm of her hands matching the song’s slow cadence. “Never finish, master got me working…”

Before Harley could get through the next line, she felt a sharp but playful slap on her ass. She gasped slightly in surprise and turned to find Stephanie standing behind her, grinning mischievously. Stephanie tiptoed up, bringing her lips close to Harley’s ear, and whispered in a teasing tone, “I would never set you free.”

Harley smirked, her heart racing from the sudden kiss. “Oh, I see how it is,” she said, her voice laced with amusement, but there was no denying the spark between them. “You gonna keep me in this bunker forever?”

“Maybe,” Stephanie teased back, giving Harley a wink before returning to her side of the table, leaving the playful tension hanging in the air.

Harley laughed softly, shaking her head as she got back to mixing the ingredients. “Fine, fine. I’ll just be your little chemistry assistant, huh?”

“Good, now finish that batch. We’ve got a lot more to do,” Stephanie said with a smirk, her eyes glinting with amusement.

After a few hours of work, Harley and Stephanie stood outside the bunker, looking at a Freak wandering in the distance. It was the perfect chance to test their new incendiary mixture. Harley took a cloth soaked in the sap and fat mixture they had crafted, igniting it with a lighter. The fire caught quickly, and without hesitation, Harley hurled the burning rag toward the Freak.

The flaming cloth hit the Freak, sticking to its skin as intended. Almost immediately, the creature began to thrash violently, its limbs flailing as the fire spread across its body. The mixture stuck to the Freak’s skin like glue, and despite its desperate attempts to claw and swipe at the flames, nothing it did could extinguish the fire. It only burned its hands in the process, intensifying its agony.

Stephanie and Harley watched in silence as the Freak suffered an agonizing death, the fire devouring it entirely until its movements slowed and it collapsed into a smoldering heap on the ground. The mixture had worked perfectly.

Harley turned to Stephanie with a mixture of awe and mild unease. “You sure you’re not a sadist?” she asked, half-joking but a little unnerved by the sheer efficiency of the fire they had created.

Stephanie only smiled, her eyes glinting mischievously. “You dug your own grave, Harley. Now I’ve got some ideas for us to try next time we have sex.”

Harley visibly shivered at the suggestion, both intrigued and a little scared. “Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?” she muttered with a nervous laugh, knowing full well that Stephanie's imagination was both exciting and dangerous.

Stephanie, still grinning, gave her a playful nudge. “Just you wait, you'll like it.”

Harley chuckled nervously but couldn’t help the excitement that crept up inside her.

As Stephanie and Harley were walking back to their bunker, something suddenly sprang from the shadows. Before either of them could react, it collided with Harley, knocking her to the ground. Acting on pure instinct, Stephanie responded quickly, delivering a powerful kick to the creature’s head, sending it flying off of Harley.

Looking at the creature, Stephanie saw that it was a Freak, but different—smaller than the average, yet its claws were long and sharp like swords, capable of deadly precision. One of its claws had sliced across Harley’s side during the struggle, leaving a deep cut. A witch.

Without hesitation, Stephanie pulled out her pistol and shot the witch twice in the head. The creature crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Harley groaned as she stood up, cursing under her breath. “Damn thing got me good,” she muttered, inspecting the cut. It wasn’t too deep, but it stung, and the blood was already staining her clothes.

Stephanie, not wasting any time, knelt beside the fallen witch and began examining its claws. She pulled out her knife, trying to detach one of them, but the claws were tough, and it was difficult to do it alone.

“Harley, give me a hand with this,” she said, glancing up at her partner.

Despite the pain, Harley nodded, grabbing her machete. With her enhanced strength, she swung down and amputated the claws from the witch’s hands. The claws fell to the ground with a dull thud, each one gleaming in the fading light, still razor-sharp even in death.

“What do you want to do with these?” Harley asked, wiping sweat from her brow as she picked one up, feeling the weight of it.

“They’ll make great traps,” Stephanie said, standing up and examining the claws. “And they could be used as temporary weapons. With the right modifications, we could even rig them to some traps around the bunker. These things are sharp as hell.”

Harley nodded, still catching her breath. “Well, let’s make sure we don’t get any more surprises like that.”

---

After a few days of relative calm, Stephanie and Harley received a call from Hanz—he had a job for them, one that he insisted they couldn’t pass up. Intrigued, they headed to Pfaueninsel, where they met Hans at a bar. Inside, the dim lighting revealed a small group of people gathered around a table. Among them was the girl Stephanie and Harley had seen during their last visit—the one with the modified school uniform.

The girl was unmistakably Japanese—short, about 1.60 meters, with long black hair and bangs framing her face. Her black eyes were accentuated by purple lipstick and heavy black eyeshadow, giving her an intense, almost gothic look. She wore her rugged and apocalypse-adapted school uniform, complete with a few piercings and a mole just above her lip. Her resting bitch face made her seem unwelcoming, and her gaze could freeze the room.

Hans waved them over as soon as they entered. “There you are!” he said with a wide grin. “Let me introduce you to some people.”

They joined the table, exchanging brief nods with the group as Hans began the introductions. He gestured toward the Japanese girl. “This here is Shion,” he said, glancing at the girl, who offered no warm greeting—just a cold, assessing look. “And she’s one of the people who’ll be coming along on this job.”

Shion gave a sharp nod, her eyes lingering on Stephanie and Harley for a few seconds longer than necessary. Stephanie felt like she was being sized up, as if Shion was calculating something more than just their capabilities.

Hans continued, oblivious to the tension. “So, here’s the deal. We found some tunnels from the Cold War. We’re sure there’s a ton of weapons and provisions down there, but there’s a catch—it's infested with nightbrutes and Freaks. We need capable people to go through them.” He paused, looking at Stephanie and Harley. “If you help, you’ll get a share of the weapons and provisions we find. Plus, we’ll give you credits for anything extra you bring back. And,” he added with a grin, “we’ll provide you with UV flares and lanterns to make sure you’re not totally in the dark down there.”

Stephanie exchanged a glance with Harley, then nudged her partner slightly. Something about this job intrigued her—especially the mention of the tunnels. Her gut told her there was a connection between these tunnels and the facility they had been searching for. It was too much of a coincidence.

“We’re in,” Stephanie said confidently, her gut feeling solidifying her decision. Harley nodded in agreement.

Hans grinned. “Great! That’s what I like to hear.” He turned to the rest of the group, going over more logistics, but Stephanie couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

She glanced to the side and noticed Shion staring at her with an intensity that made Stephanie’s skin prickle. It wasn’t just a casual glance—there was something primal in the way Shion was looking at her, like an animal assessing a potential mate.

Stephanie tried to focus on the details of the job, but she could feel Shion’s gaze still on her, the air between them charged with something unspoken.

Harley, noticing the tension, leaned over and whispered, “Is she... checking you out, or am I imagining things?”

Stephanie smirked. “You’re not imagining it. She’s definitely sizing me up.”

Harley snorted softly. “Great. Now we’ve got to deal with Freaks, nightbrutes, and a girl who looks like she wants to either fight you or... do something else.”

“Well, let’s hope it’s not the latter,” Stephanie replied, though there was a trace of amusement in her voice.

Hans interrupted their whispered exchange, unaware of the subtext in the room. “Alright, then! We head out in 2 days at sunset. Make sure you’re ready. This one’s gonna be dangerous, but the reward will be worth it.”

As the meeting wrapped up, Stephanie could still feel Shion’s eyes on her, and she couldn't help but wonder just what the girl’s deal was.