“Running On Empty”
Kay didn’t know if a Chevy Lumina could actually run on sheer willpower, but if she didn’t spot a gas station in about five miles or so, she suspected she was going to find out. She glanced down at the gauge again for the tenth time in the last two minutes, but it thankfully continued to hover right on the line marked ‘E’. “Come on come on come on,” she chanted over and over, the quiet prayer of the weary traveler. This was not a time of year or a part of the country she wanted to run out of gas in. Not for the first time, Kay cursed her fear of flying.
She should have stopped an hour ago, she really should; but she thought she had enough gas to make it to the Twin Cities, and she figured she’d be stopping for the night anyway, and why make two stops when she could just drive straight through? But she hadn’t counted on a long detour due to road construction (who was still doing road construction in November in Minnesota? Well, obviously the highway department, Kay didn’t think there were many freelancers in that line of work, but why? Weren’t they supposed to be shut down for the winter?) And that left her easily an hour away from even the southernmost suburb of the sprawling metropolis, with bleary eyes, a growling stomach, and most importantly...very little gas. “Come on come on come on...”
The needle dipped a little. By this point, Kay was watching it almost more than the road. It was a little bit below ‘E’, now, but they always made the gauge look a little bit more empty than the tank really was, right? It kept people from doing stupid things like driving until they were clean out of gas, right? Stupid things like Kay was doing right now...right? “Come on come on come on...”
The sign with the words, ‘GAS FOOD LODGING’ written on it proved to be about the most welcome sight Kay had seen since leaving Kansas City. She flicked on her turn signal, despite the utter lack of traffic around at this time of night, and exited at the turn-off. Another sign, this one placed by the gas station instead of the state, promised ‘Barb’s Gas and Auto Repair’ would have ‘full service, clean restrooms, and friendly staff’. At this point, Kay would settle for gas and directions to a motel, but she had to admit, full service sounded nice. Must be more common out in the boonies, she mused. I don’t think I’ve even seen a full service station in years.
Barb’s Gas and Auto Repair turned out to be a set of pumps in front of a small house on the side of the road. The lights were on, thankfully (Kay hadn’t even considered the suddenly-terrifying possibility that they would be closed) and she could see that the living room had been converted into a small store, while the attached garage had a few cars parked next to it in various states of disrepair. “Obviously not a chain,” Kay said wryly to herself as she pulled up to the nearest pump, turned the engine off, and gave the horn a light tap.
After just a moment, a man trotted out wearing a grease-stained pair of coveralls and a baseball cap on his head. He waved cheerfully and jogged over to Kay’s car, then tapped on the window to let her know that she should roll it down.
“Hi, s...” Kay said as she rolled down the window. “Ma’am,” she finished, swallowing the ‘sir’ she’d been about to utter. The woman might have been dressed in unisex clothing, heavily tattooed, and well-muscled enough to look like she could probably lift Kay’s car with one hand, but there was no mistaking the hand-embroidered ‘Barb’ on the chest of those coveralls. “I need a little...whoa.” Kay coughed a little, as the overpowering smell of gas hit her. The fumes were so strong that she wondered if it was entirely safe. Was there a leak somewhere?
Barb grinned. Kay almost expected a missing tooth, then felt a little guilty about it. “What can I do you for, ma’am?” she asked. “Motor problem, or do you just need a little gas?”
“Fill her up, please,” Kay said, trying not to breathe in too much. Some of it was Barb, she realized. Those coveralls looked like they’d seen plenty of hard use, and it smelled like they were practically saturated with gas. “And could you give me directions to the motel?”
Barb reached over to the gas pump and casually flipped open the cover to the tank. “Sorry, ma’am, but the nearest motel’s about twenty-five miles down the road.” She slid the nozzle into the opening and started to pump, sending another wave of gasoline fumes up around them.
“But the sign said ‘GAS FOOD LODGING’!” Kay replied plaintively.
“I’m sorry, hon,” Barb replied sympathetically, reaching over and patting Kay on the forearm. “That sign’s out of date. Motel closed about a year ago, and the restaurant about six months after that. Ain’t nobody out here now but me, and I mostly keep the place open out of charity. Never know when someone might pass by running on empty.” She gave Barb an almost maternal smile. “What’s the matter, hon? Starting to feel a little run down?”
Kay closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them again. “No, I’ll be able to make it to the motel, I just...” Her head swam for a moment as the gasoline fumes swirled around her. “I’ll be fine,” she said, trying to make her voice sound firm and confident.
“Here,” Barb said, opening the door to the car. “Why don’t you get out, stretch your legs for a moment? That always helps me when I’m feeling real sleepy.” Kay got out, feeling a little self-conscious at the disparity between the two of them—she barely came up to Barb’s shoulder, and her petite form looked even more feminine next to Barb’s square-shouldered frame.
“Thanks,” Kay said. She leaned back a little, and stretched her arms all the way up, as far as she could reach...then lowered them abruptly as she felt herself blush. She didn’t want to make any more snap judgments tonight, not after being zero for two, but Barb looked like...well, she looked butch enough to be the kind of woman who might enjoy seeing another woman stretch out her back and thrust out her breasts a little too much, maybe. Kay didn’t want to give the wrong idea.
“Been on the road long?” Barb said, keeping half an eye on the pump.
“Since Kansas city,” Kay said. “Driving up to spend Thanksgiving with the folks in Duluth.”
Barb frowned a little. “You want to be careful, little missy,” she said. Kay felt a surge of irritation at the phrase ‘little missy’—it might have been an accurate size comparison, but it still felt patronizing—but she held her tongue. “You stay on the road too long, you start to get groggy. You don’t even realize it at first, but you get tired, sleepy, then before you know it your eyes just don’t want to open anymore. You don’t want to be driving when that happens.”
Kay blinked thickly for a moment. “I’ll be fine,” she said, suddenly conscious of the slight slur in her voice. “I just need to get away from these gas fumes, they’re kind of doing a number on my head. I’ll be A-OK once I get back on the road.”
Barb grinned. “Are they really bad? I guess I don’t even notice ‘em anymore. Kind of built up a tolerance, I suppose.” Her smile disappeared. “But I think I’d notice if they were that bad. I think you’re just having such a time with them because you’re already so sleepy. I can see it on your face. Your eyelids don’t even want to stay open anymore, and your legs are having a hard time just holding you up. You sure you’re good to drive?”
Kay rubbed her eyes, trying to drive away this sudden, strange exhaustion. “No, I’m good, I just need to go another half-hour, that’s all, and then I...” She swayed a little on her feet, and Barb darted over to support her. That only made things worse, though, not better. Barb’s coveralls smelled so strongly of grease and gas and oil that it made Kay even dizzier. She sagged slightly into Barb’s arms.
“Oh, that’s it,” Barb said. “I would not be able to live with myself if I let you get back in that car, little lady. You are too sleepy to go even one more inch.” Kay gritted her teeth at the words ‘little lady’, but the irritation was swamped by exhaustion.
“But, the motel,” Kay replied muzzily, wondering if Barb was offering her a ride or something. She’d have to come back and get her car in the morning, though, and that would cost her time...
“Motel nothing, honey,” Barb said. “I’ll just let you have a lie down in my room for a while. And once you’re all rested, I can fix you a little something to eat, get you on your—oh, shit!” She dragged Kay over to the car, where a little gas was already spilling out from the tank as the nozzle continued to pump. She clicked it off hurriedly. “Sorry about that, hon. Won’t charge you for the spill, I promise.”
Kay could barely even think about Barb’s words; she was too busy trying to keep her eyes open. The smell of the spilled gas was thick and heavy in her nostrils, making her so dizzy that she clutched at Barb’s coveralls to keep herself upright. “Smells different,” she said, surprising herself with the words. Her thoughts seemed to be coming in a disjointed, random fashion, the way they do when you’re losing the fight against sleep; but once the idea popped into her head, Kay realized it was true. It did smell different from regular gasoline. “Sort of sweet,” she mumbled, not sure if she was trying to explain it to Barb or to herself.
Barb held her up with one beefy arm while replacing the nozzle with the other hand. “Oh, you know how it is,” she said lightly. “We use all sorts of blends nowadays, ethanol and cleansers and whatnot. Nothing to worry that pretty little head over, sweetie.”
“Oh, okay,” Kay said distantly. Some part of her wanted to be upset at being so blatantly patronized—just because Barb was a woman didn’t mean that she got to treat Kay like a man treated a woman, or like a woman like a man treated a woman, or, or...the train of thought slipped away. Kay let it go.
“Come on, honey,” Barb said, easily picking Kay up and carrying her towards the house. Kay felt her legs go limp, and realized only then just how much effort it had been to stand up at all. “Let’s get you into a warm, soft bed, sleepyhead.”
“...sleepyhead,” Kay muttered into the shoulder of Barb’s coveralls. Her face was pressed up against the fabric, and every breath brought more of that sweet, pungent scent into her lungs. She thanked whatever gods helped travelers that she’d found Barb; if she’d driven even one more inch like this, she’d probably have cracked up. She definitely didn’t want to be driving like this.
Kay expected the house to be a complete mess of grease stains and disused auto parts, but it was pleasant, even cheerful. Barb took her back through the storefront into a small living room, then from there into a bedroom with a double bed. “There we go,” Barb said, laying her out on the bed. “All sleepy and warm, just lying there and listening to everything I say, aren’t we?”
“uh-huh,” Kay said, nodding her head just slightly as she spoke. She felt like she was asleep already. Even though her eyes were open, everything seemed like a warm, pleasant dream to her now.
“That’s a good girl,” Barb said, moving over to her dresser. She opened up one of the drawers and took out what looked like a white scarf. “And here we go, just a little something to help you sleep even better.” She crossed back over to the bed and lifted Kay’s head up, placing the scarf over it.
Kay struggled a little at first, as she smelled the fumes even more strongly. But Barb stroked her hair and said, “It’s alright, sweetheart, there’s nothing to worry about,” and as soon as she said it, Kay felt all the tension and fear and stress wash out of her. She relaxed limply onto the bed as Barb wound the scarf loosely around her face. “This stuff doesn’t do you any harm, honey child. Just makes you listen a little better, is all. You like to listen to me, don’t you?”
“uh-huh,” Kay said again, her voice slightly muffled by the scarf. Her head felt almost empty now, like the fumes were pushing every single thought out of her mind except for the ones Barb was putting there. Everything just made so much sense when Barb said it.
“That’s a good girl,” Barb said, running her fingers down Kay’s blouse like she was petting a cat. “Such a good, sleepy girl, and you know you’ll sleep better with those clothes off, don’t you?”
“uh-huh,” Kay said again. It seemed like the only response she had left now. She undid the buttons on her blouse slowly and mechanically. Her fingers felt thick and heavy, but they didn’t have any problems doing what needed to be done. Soon, her blouse fell to the floor. After a moment, her bra joined it.
Kay inhaled sharply as Barb resumed petting her now-naked chest, sending another dose of the drug deep into her lungs. It was hard to think of that as a bad thing, now, though. It was hard to think at all, and all she really could think about was how much better she’d sleep once her skirt was off, and how good Barb’s hands felt, and how she really just wanted to be a good girl and listen.
Once she’d pulled her skirt and panties down, Barb kicked them off the bed and lay next to her. “I really did think you looked too tired to drive,” she said, almost to herself. “But you have no idea how lonely a girl gets out here, with nobody to keep you company. I try not to take advantage, but oh, honey...” Kay tried to think about the words, but just then Barb kissed her hard through the scarf and put her hand on Kay’s pussy in a way that made her squirm and whimper. “You have no idea how good you look.”
All Kay could think of to say back was, “oh...” Then Barb’s rough, calloused thumb found her clit, and “oh” became, “ohhhhhhh...”
“I think,” Barb said teasingly, “that you need to cum just a little before you can sleep, sweetheart. That makes sense, don’t it?” She flicked Kay’s nipples as she talked. “You know how hard it is to sleep when you’re horny, and you’re not asleep yet...so that must mean you need to cum, don’t you think?”
Kay couldn’t follow the logic, she was too dizzy and horny, but she couldn’t help agreeing with the basic idea. “yes, need yes, please...” She arched up into Barb’s fingers, moaning sharply.
“Sure thing, honey.” Barb winked. “We are a full service station, after all.” She pulled off her coveralls, revealing yet more tattoos and a taut, heavily muscled body, and tossed off the baseball cap so her short hair could stand up. “And I want to fully service you.”
But instead of getting closer, Barb stood up and went back over to the dresser. Kay whimpered helplessly, unable to muster up either the willpower or the energy to do anything about her increasing arousal, as Barb pulled out a strap-on harness from one of the drawers and put it on. Kay stared with huge, glassy eyes as Barb set a huge double-ended dildo into the harness, sliding one end into her own cunt and letting the other end jut out obscenely in front of her. “Just relax, honey,” Barb said as she lubed up the dildo. “Relax and let yourself open wide for me.”
Kay didn’t have any choice, now; she felt like everything Barb said was the best, the smartest, the most wonderful idea in the whole world. She spread her legs as wide as they would go, grabbed her ankles and whimpered as Barb climbed back onto the bed and slowly slid the fake cock into her pussy.
“Oh, oh, that is so good,” Barb moaned as she thrust into Kay. “Oh, you are so wet for me, girl, oh fuck...” She pressed all the way into Kay’s pussy until their hips touched, then started to push in and out. Kay grunted loudly, letting go of her ankles so that she could wrap her legs around Barb’s body and pull her even closer with each downward stroke.
“Oh, that’s right, you love this, you, oh, fuck...” Barb panted, gasping for breath but never ceasing her pumping motions. “You love it when I fuck you, feels so good, so hot, ohhh...”
Kay moaned out, “yes yes yes,” over and over, the quiet prayer of the needy lover. She clutched Barb tightly as her first orgasm hit, but Barb didn’t stop fucking her for even a second. One orgasm became two, then three, then one long blur of ecstasy as she came and came and came. Some part of her wondered if Barb was ever going to let her go. Some part of her hoped she never would.
Barb lifted her up and sat up with her on the bed, using her powerful arms to slide Kay up and down on the dildo. Kay eagerly assisted with the motion, putting as much of her remaining energy as she could into bouncing up and down on the fake cock. She leaned into Barb, rubbing her nipples against the other woman’s and reveling in the tiny sparks of pleasure that only enhanced the greater bliss of their fucking. “nnnh, ohh, unnnh...” she moaned out, now utterly beyond words as she came again.
It seemed like hours before Barb finally slid out of her and unhooked the harness, sliding it off to fall to the floor next to their clothes. Kay felt weightless; her exhaustion, the afterglow and the effects of the drug combined to send her into a blank, dreamy space where all she wanted to do was curl up and be held, and Barb obliged her without needing to be asked. “You go ahead and sleep, pretty girl,” Barb said, and Kay felt her mind rocketing down into the darkness of oblivion. The last thing she heard was Barb continuing, “And when you wake up, I’ll find you something to eat.”
The last thing she felt was Barb wriggling her pussy against Kay’s thigh, and she smiled dreamily at the implications of Barb’s words before her mind gave in completely to sleep.