Apocalypse Wow, Pt. 08

"Yeah..." she said. "I thought about trying when I was in the hospital, to capture one, but I just didn't have the resources..."

And a kind of quiet settled over us as the implications of what we were talking about filtered through us a little.

I knew it made sense. From the very beginning of all this, from the First Day, we'd obviously had questions about what had happened, why it had happened. And then with the information Caroline had brought with her, obviously these questions took on a more personal dimension for me. I mean, how could I not want to know if... if something was different about me... if there was some reason I'd been spared and if whatever that might be was unique to me. Was I really the last man alive?

Anyway, we agreed the idea was definitely something we needed to talk about with Simone and Chloe and it was the main topic over dinner that night.

After what had happened on our previous visit, we knew there were dangers but there was general agreement that another run to the hospital was worth the risk. We were better armed now, we'd tested the new guns, and Caroline suggested she could run some training drills for us with them.

We didn't foresee any major obstacles getting back to the hospital but capturing a red-eye was a different story altogether. Caroline confirmed that she didn't need a living one, but they would have to be pretty recently killed for any samples she'd take to be of use. And though she wasn't a pathologist, she thought it would also be useful for her to be able to perform a full autopsy on one of them.

So a rough plan had formed by the time we sat down for the movie that night. We'd take a couple of days to fine tune the details and do some training with Caroline on the new guns before heading back to Durden.

"So," Simone said, when she climbed into bed that night, "Caroline says you're too healthy to be of any use huh?"

"Ha! Yeah, I guess..." I said, "and hey, 'you guys do anything fun while we were gone', you really thought that was a good idea?" I wasn't really mad or anything, but I knew she'd gotten a kick out of it and I felt her body ripple when she chuckled again.

"Oh I'm sorry Jim..." she said, "I knew Chloe wouldn't be able to help herself and I just... anyway, I'm sorry."

"Oh yeah?" I said, "How are you gonna make it up to me?" I could already feel her hand moving down my abdomen before I'd finished speaking and then I felt her soft fingers gently wrapping themselves around my cock. Simone had this ability to make me just instantly hard.

"Way ahead of you," she said, and she leaned up to kiss me.

She stroked me pretty slowly and I guess we made out and I just kind of lay there, Simone leaning over me. I felt her shift her lower body so that she could press her crotch against my leg, wrapping her legs around it and sort of grinding herself softly against it.

And then I felt her shift again, slowly sliding her way down my body, pressing her soft skin against me as she did, pushing the blanket away and settling herself between my legs.

And she was in the mood for taking her time, slowly wetting my head with her saliva and spreading it along my shaft with her hands and then gently kissing the top and slowly snaking her tongue around it, swirling it again and again before finally I felt myself enveloped by the heat of her mouth.

She ran one hand slowly up along my torso and sank her body down until she was more or less prone at the same time as she slipped more of my length inside. Man, it was fucking awesome.

And pretty soon she was bobbing her head freely on my cock. I was totally slick with her saliva and more than a drop of precum. Sometimes she'd stroke me with her hands too, sometimes slowing down and taking as much of my length as she could into her throat. I guess I was making some fairly guttural noises by this point.

"Mmm... you like that?" she said, fucking purred, and there was this incredible sultry look in her eyes when she moved them up to meet mine. "So..." she said, "you want to cum in my mouth or...?"

"Or..." I said, "definitely or!"

"Mmm... I'm so glad you said that..." she said, still fucking purring, and she moved herself up along my body before planting her lips on mine again. I could feel her wetness pressing into me and she started slowly grinding against me, my cock settling between us.

Automatically, my hands drifted to her hips and I pulled her against me and we both just revelled in the pleasure of our bodies sliding against each other until, finally, she reached back and leaned forward a little, guiding me into her.

When she sank back onto me she released this long, heavy sigh and... she did the head thing.

"Oh my god I love you so much," I said, pretty involuntarily I guess, and Simone sort of chuckled before leaning down again, kissing me softly. She rolled her hips forward slowly, sliding me out a little before pushing back just as slowly, again and again. Jesus, the feeling of being... engulfed by her, so slick and tight, and then teasingly released and then consumed slowly again was... man, it was just fucking incredible.

She straightened her upper body again, and did the head thing again, so that she kept my full length buried inside her and started grinding herself into me, slowly at first and then harder, faster. She took my hands from her hips and brought them to her breasts as she did. Christ, I was in heaven. I kneaded them gently, running my fingers over her hard nipples and she moaned heavily.

I think I was conscious she was definitely holding back on being... loud I guess, on account of Caroline's presence in the house but, actually, those soft moans and whimpers were just as much of a turn on for me. And her breathing got heavier, her moaning more... insistent or something and she started moving faster, pressing onto me harder. My hands automatically went back to her hips to help her movement until she was feverishly grinding against me and I knew I wouldn't last much longer.

"Fuck... yeah," she said, whimpered, and she threw her head back again. "I'm cumming Jim... I'm cumming..." And then her body kind of clenched and shuddered and I felt her pussy grip me tighter. With my hands I pulled her against me hard and I guess her spasming muscles set off my own orgasm and I fucking exploded inside her. Her upper body fell forward and she planted her hands on my chest to support herself. I could see her biting her lower lip pretty hard and her hair kind of fell about her face and my own hips bucked against her as I came.

"Jesus," I said, "I wish you had to apologize to me more often..." Simone chuckled a little and then kissed me softly again.

Anyway, next morning we started planning in earnest for the next run to Durden.

We sat down together and worked on the details of what we needed from the hospital for Caroline to do the work she wanted. It was a pretty long list. We hadn't yet moved on to the discussion of how we would get the body of a red-eye back but it was already clear that we would probably need to take two vehicles and Chloe's dad's electric truck was looking like a good option.

This reminds me that gas was becoming an issue at that point. We hadn't actually put up a lot of mileage on the SUV, Durden isn't that far, and it had been more or less full on the First Day but still, it wasn't going to last much longer. Anyway, there was comfortably enough for this run to Durden but it was an issue we'd have to get into sooner rather than later.

As far as the red-eye was concerned, that was more complicated. At least in the hospital we knew where everything was, we just needed to pack it up. But we had no idea if one or more of the fuckers would even show up so there was a certain amount we'd have to play by ear.

Obviously, Caroline was the best shot and from her point of view, a clean kill, with a single shot to the head would be best, would preserve as much of the red-eye as possible for her to examine after. In any case, my encounter at Chloe's house had given us a pretty clear indication that anything other than a head shot was pretty useless. So ideally, we'd collect what we needed from the hospital and then start our red-eye hunt. We'd need Caroline in the hospital to point out everything we needed to take and she couldn't be in two places at the same time.

With the basic outline of a plan done that morning, we spent the afternoon training with Caroline and the new guns. She set up a sort of makeshift rifle range out back and a little away from the house. We were a little worried about attracting unwanted attention so we didn't go crazy or anything and we wanted to be careful with how many bullets we were using up. Plus Jerry really didn't like it, I mean at all.

Caroline was pretty free with her praise too, we did really well. I'd always been a reasonable shot and Chloe had a little experience so I guess she came out ahead of Simone in the rankings or whatever.

And for that reason, we decided that Simone would accompany Caroline inside the hospital to gather supplies and equipment while Chloe and I took up position in the lobby or just outside to keep a watch for red-eyes and load the equipment as they brought it down from the various floors of the hospital.

Anyway, as we'd agreed before, we took a few days to go over things in detail. We did a little more training with Caroline too but mostly, we just got to know her.

And, well, it was good. I mean, like I said, we had all liked her immediately but... things only got better. She was easy going and funny and managed to do some seriously impressive things with our supply of dried and canned food. I'd done most of the cooking and I was no slouch in the kitchen, but Caroline was something else.

And we did a lot of stuff together. I guess we were preparing for a pretty dangerous run and all but we also each managed to spend some time alone with Caroline, getting to know her one to one I mean.

Her walks with Simone and Jerry became a regular thing, a couple of times a day. Of course this also had the benefit of giving Chloe and I the opportunity to experiment with some other parts of the house and... I guess the yard too... and, well, the garage... and, like, the turbine shack...

And Chloe had taken a real shine to her too. And the feeling was definitely mutual. I think Caroline appreciated how... uncomplicated it was talking to Chloe. I guess I did too. And I don't mean that in any pejorative way, it's just that Chloe always says what she thinks, doesn't let you away with any bullshit, you know?

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was becoming clear that she was warming up to us, feeling more comfortable, you know?

Chloe brought it up over dinner the night before we went on the run back to Durden because, you know, of course she did.

"So Caroline," she said, "I guess you're settling in pretty good... What do you think of the place, you know, now you've had a few days to get the lay of the land?"

It was a classic Chloe question, something neither Simone or I would have said, and I was actually a little concerned it might make Caroline feel uncomfortable but, I don't know, I think she'd already figured out the kind of person Chloe was so I was pretty relieved when she just smiled softly.

"I think it's fucking great Chlo," she said. I think a ripple of laughter spread around the table. "Hot shower, hot food, comfy bed? What's not to like?"

And then her face... dropped a little... she got kind of serious looking all of a sudden and I was conscious that she'd put her fork down. She used both hands to push her hair behind her ears.

"I was on my own for a long time in that place... you know?" she said. "A lot of dark shit goes through your head. I tried to keep myself busy, watching the red-eyes and packing up the supplies and whatever but... I knew one of the reasons I was doing it was to keep my mind off... off the darker thoughts. Honestly, I never lost hope but... I did sometimes think I'd never get out of there or, well... that I'd never see another person again, share a meal with someone... go for a walk in the sun with a friend." She looked to Simone, seated on her right, and I could see her eyes glistening. Simone reached out her hand and Caroline took it without hesitation and her eyes moved to me and to Chloe too and she had this warm, kind of benevolent smile on her face.

"So I guess," she said, "the best thing about this house for me is that is has the three of you in it." Well, shit. I mean, come on. You'd have to be made of stone not to be moved by that, right?

I guess Chloe kind of whimpered a little and got out of her chair to hug Caroline and then Simone took her lead and joined in. I didn't want to feel left out so I moved around the table and then Caroline was just surrounded by all three of us. If someone had been looking in the window they might have thought it a pretty strange scene.

And then Chloe jumped up. "Oh my god," she said, "I have an idea, wait right there." She ran into the living room and came back with her phone. "I don't know why I haven't been taking more photos," she said. "I used to do it all the time. Big smiles everybody!"

"Wait," Caroline said, "we're missing one! Come on Jer, up here!" And Jerry, who of course had been loitering near the table while we ate, very happily took his cue to jump into her lap.

And so I had my photograph taken for the first time since the end of the world. It's funny... we'd had plenty of nice moments, you know, good days in that time but... I guess if a photograph is a means of capturing a moment of real happiness, you know, something you really want to remember, Chloe was right on the money with that idea. I don't know why we hadn't been doing it before then. We certainly did after.

Hey, come here, I want to show you something.

*What?

Well... I've been doing a little tinkering down at the Archive... and...

*Jim, what the fuck? You know you're not supposed to take these out of there.

You think they'll arrest me?

*Come on, you know that's not the point.

Don't you wanna know why?

*Wh... wait... this isn't it? Is it?

Darn tootin'

*Fuck off! This is Chloe's phone?! You got it working?!

I was talking with one of the kids after school the other day, damn genius. Absolutely drinks up everything that computer scientist who comes around a few times a year lays down.

*Tommy.

That's him. He's like a sponge. Anyway, I'd been thinking about this picture, I mean I haven't seen it in... shit... I don't know how many years. So I happened to mention to Tommy, you know, just in passing how great it would be to get some of the phones in the Archive up and running again and, well, turns out he's been working on a plan for months. So me and him went down there, I threw my weight around a little bit to get us access to the phones and-

*Did a little tinkering.

We sure did. Look at this.

*Holy shit... Dad? Is that you?

Gimme a fucking break Dani, I don't look that different.

*Ha! Sure you're don't.