Apocalypse Wow, Pt. 11

In Part 10...

From the makeshift garage lab, Caroline - with Simone's assistance - began to slowly unravel some of the mysteries of what had happened to the world, and what was happening to the red-eyes.

Egged on by Simone and Chloe, Caroline finally agreed to 'use' Jim to relieve her increasingly affecting sexual frustration. And after a little initial hesitation, she took full advantage as a sleepless night of passion between them ensued.

The following morning, a group of red-eyes attacked the house. And although they were repulsed easily, our four heroes were reminded that security was their most important concern.

Later, as they returned home from a run to the hospital for more equipment, Jim and Caroline came upon a new group of survivors.

***

It's the End of the World as Jim Knows it.

Part 11 - "You mind if we move straight to the main event?"

***

*How's the ankle?

Not bad. Yeah, definitely feels better today.

*Good.

How are you feeling?

*I feel great. I'd nearly forgotten what it's like.

Any, like...?

*Sickness? Not really, a little queasy a couple of times I guess, but not too bad.

Your mom used to get it pretty bad.

*Oh yeah? I didn't know that.

Yeah, awful. I mean, it passed but, jesus it was awful for a few weeks, with all of you.

*I guess I'm lucky it doesn't run in the family.

Yeah.

*Shall we? We stopped at a pretty big moment yesterday.

Right, yeah, "you're not alone," right?

*Right.

Well, I guess it was pretty friendly after that. There was more shaking of hands and generally feeling pretty good.

They told us they were a college soccer team, or what was left of one anyway. They'd been on a bus on the First Day, when it started, on their way home to eastern Ohio from a tournament up in Portland, Maine. There were 22 of them on the squad and two men, just two on the bus. But those two had killed more than half of them before they escaped. And there were only four left, these four, when they'd stumbled on the RV, abandoned on the side of the road, and locked themselves inside.

They managed to get the TV running and saw some of the footage we'd seen, and they'd heard the emergency broadcast. But it was still a long way to Ohio so they'd holed up for a few weeks. They found a motel that had been closed down long before and made it their base, sneaking into the nearest town to gather water and food.

Eventually, after seeing only red-eyes and no sign of any other survivors, they decided to try to make their way home. They felt they had nothing to lose.

They tried to stick to highways, stopping occasionally to fill the RV with gas siphoned from other cars and trucks but sometimes found their path blocked. That was how they'd found their way to Durden, a place not many travelers frequented. And when they'd seen the big box store, they figured they'd hit the jackpot.

"So," Louise asked finally, when they'd finished their story, "do you guys... live here?"

Caroline and I looked at each other. She kind of cocked her head a little, and I think I understood that she was deferring to me on this.

I know I said we needed to be maybe a little bit more careful when we found new people but... if you'd stood there and listened to their story... jesus, if you'd seen them. I knew what they'd told us was the truth. I knew they'd had it hard. Honestly, at that point it really didn't occur to me that that they might stay with us... you know, permanently. They seemed pretty set on going home, but I thought the least we could do was offer them a bed for the night. And a shower and a hot meal.

"Actually no," I said, "we're, ah, well, our house is a little less than twenty miles from here. Our friends are there, Simone and Chloe... Listen... we... we have electricity, hot water, plenty of food... real beds. You'd be more than welcome to stay with us, as long you like. It's still a long way to Ohio and it can't have been easy even to get this far."

There was a moment of quiet and they sort of looked at each other. I'm pretty sure Louise was about to say thanks but no thanks but Lola cut her off.

"Yes," she said.

"Lola," Louise said, an obvious note of warning in her voice, "don't you think we should... talk it over a little first?"

"Fuck that Lou," she said, "did you not hear that? I haven't had a fucking shower in, well, it doesn't matter. We're going."

"You're right to be cautious Louise," Caroline said, "I was too when... when I first met Jim and the others. I haven't been with them that long but... I promise you, they're good people you can trust. You'll be safe at the house. And Lola's right too, take it from me, I went almost as long as you without a shower and it is fucking awesome."

She was smiling when she finished speaking, and Lola was too. Fiona and Alex looked like they would follow Louise's lead and there were a few moments where I think it could have gone either way but, eventually, she softened.

"I guess," she said, finally smiling a little, "I guess it... might be nice."

"Good," I said, "good. We've got some supplies to gather inside and then, I guess, you can follow us?"

So we completed our business there. Louise and the others didn't know a lot about guns but they had taken some like we had. Caroline recommended some accessories and stuff to them and promised to give them some training back at the house.

We'd taken the two way radios with us so when we were a little closer to the house we were able to call ahead and give Simone and Chloe the news. They'd long since returned from the yard.

They were excited for sure. A little apprehensive too I guess but excited. Definitely.

The introductions when we arrived were quick and pleasant. Jerry was fucking beside himself. Fiona was a real dog person and fell in love with him immediately.

When we'd called ahead, Simone and Chloe made a snap decision to clear out the extra bedroom upstairs. My parents had used it for storage mostly and it took them a while to clear and move enough stuff to make it so that someone could sleep there again. And really, we were all happy to give up our beds for a night or two but Louise and the others insisted they could share. So as it happened, Chloe jumped in with me and Simone and, well, turned out it wasn't so bad after all.

Anyway, that was later. When they arrived, a shower was the first order of business. Chloe showed them upstairs. I guess I was always a little conscious that Simone and Caroline and me were older than Chloe, you know? The girls were the first people we'd met who were her age or maybe a year or two older. Still, I think Chloe liked having them around for that reason.

There were other reasons too. By the time they were done showering, Caroline and I had prepared a pretty hearty meal and we ate together. It gave us a chance to share more of our stories and it wasn't hard to like them all. They were honest and open, they were obviously kind to each other and, well, they were fun. Lola especially but really, they all were.

They were pretty happy to find out about our movie collection and we watched two that night.

Now, it had obviously come up about our... domestic arrangements? I know it might seem like this was becoming a bad habit but we hadn't actually talked about what we'd do if this happened again but I guess we didn't need to. We were open about it straight away. We didn't get into specifics, but let's say they were aware that there was probably going to me more than sleeping going on with Chloe and Simone sharing my bed that night.

And they were cool with it. I thought maybe Louise looked a little, I don't know, odd maybe. Lola thought it was funny. "Pretty kinky," she said.

Anyway, it had been a while since I'd shared a bed with both Chloe and Simone and... I guess we enjoyed the reunion, like, a lot. And while we lay there after, we talked about our new friends. There was general agreement that we liked them, that they were good people. And we talked about asking them to stay.

We knew they liked it here but I guess we weren't sure if the draw of a hot shower and a warm bed were enough. That said, if they did decide to stay I think we were all pretty sure we'd be happy to have them. Caroline too.

But they didn't stay.

Breakfast was... nice the next morning. It felt good to have a full house, you know?

Simone made the offer, just when we were finishing the coffee.

"We know you want to go home," she said, "but we want you to know that you're welcome to stay. However long you want."

They looked at each other and smiled and I think I was a little surprised that it was Lola who answered for them.

"Thank you," she said, "thank you all. We're... we're really overwhelmed with all this. We didn't really expect to find anyone after all this time and... even if we did, we didn't think we'd find people so kind and... Thank you. But we have to go home."

And that was it. Maybe it was a little weird for people we'd just met but when they left it was like... I don't know, it was like old friends who'd come a long way to visit leaving again.

So I guess we were a little down after they'd gone. But it was good to know there were more people out there at least.

Anyway, that day was maybe a little bit of a write-off I guess, but with the new supplies and reference material, and a couple of relatively fresh dead red-eyes, Caroline and Simone got back to work in the garage.

It was a couple of days later when Caroline thought she'd finally make a breakthrough. With the extra and unexpected red-eye samples she had for comparison, she'd found something they all shared, a particular protein marker, something she'd have expected any normal, healthy person to have but I didn't have it. It wasn't irrefutable or 100% or anything, but it was a pretty solid lead.

So it was just some accident of my biology that saved me I guess.

We talked about it over dinner that night. It felt good to have some kind of idea about how it had happened, at least how I'd survived but, I guess the main thrust of the conversation was the likelihood of there being any other male survivors.

From Caroline's point of view, according to the science I mean, it was definitely very unusual, the marker I was missing, but she thought it was unlikely that it was unique.

And actually that brought us on to another topic. We'd talked about it a little before I guess but not that seriously. The species I mean.

You didn't have to be a biologist to know that... if there was only one man left then humankind as a species was fucked. Our children would be the last generation. And no, we hadn't started talking about children at that point, despite the frequent unprotected sex. But... if there was more than just me, if there were others, then maybe there was hope. Maybe the story of humankind had more chapters in it.

Anyway, it turns out that Caroline had done a project on the subject in college. Some professor of hers was a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction and set the class the task to research the topic. Minimal viable population, MVP it was called. The minimum number of people who needed to exist to make sure a species could endure without the problems caused by in-breeding and genetic drift. I guess all this is pretty basic knowledge for even school kids these days but at the time it wasn't something anyone but experts really knew anything about.

And sure, I guess it was weird to be thinking about it then, so soon after the First Day but... We were happy, comfortable. We felt safe. I guess it only made sense for us to think about the future, you know?

Anyway, after her tests Caroline was sure the risk of infection to me from the dead red-eyes was non-existent so I started to help her out in the lab a little bit. It was nice to get back to science for a while.

And I guess it also helped me and Caroline... get to know each other better, to deepen our friendship.

Maybe about a week or so after our first night together, we were working in the lab and things had gone a little quiet. We chatted most of time but there was lull I guess. I think, in hindsight, maybe I had noticed her being a little odd that day. But I'm not sure. Anyway, at some point I was conscious that she was... looking at me.

"What is it?" I said.

"Ahm... well," she said, "I... ahm... I was wondering if you... ah..." It was definitely weird. I thought I'd gotten to know Caroline pretty well at that point and being hesitant like that? It really wasn't her. Still, I think I knew what she wanted to say, right?

"Oh," I said, "you wanna have sex again."

I should say at this point that, after the first night Caroline and I spent together there had apparently been a very thorough post-mortem involving all three female residents of the house. Simone and Chloe had already gotten used to sharing the details of what they got up to with me and I think they enjoyed inducting Caroline into that particular club. Anyway, another outcome of their discussion, which I was only told in passing by Simone afterwards by the way, was that Simone and Chloe had insisted that Caroline should "feel free to make use" of me whenever she wanted.

Now, like I told you about that first night we spent together, as far as I was concerned I was happy to do whatever Caroline wanted, but I had no plans to instigate anything. I was pretty confident of what my role was. That said, I guess I had been expecting something like this.

"Well..." she said, "if... if you wanted to... I... I guess I wouldn't mind..."

"Sure, I'd love to," I said. I stood up from my stool and started to take off the jacket I was wearing until I saw this really kind of shocked look on her face.

"No," she said, "no, not here... I didn't mean right now. Jesus Jim. I meant, like... later... you know, you could... come to my room or whatever."

"Oh," I said again, and I guess I was a little embarrassed. I'd just gotten so used to... well... to having sex whenever and... wherever Simone and Chloe wanted. I'd just assumed, you know. "Sorry," I said.

"No, no, it's OK. I'm sorry," she said, "I guess I didn't explain myself properly. And don't worry, it... it won't take long."

Now, I'm pretty sure we carried on working for a while after that, but things were definitely a little weird and I kept thinking about 'it won't take long'. What was that supposed to mean? After what had happened the last time I spent the night in Caroline's room I was seriously thinking about going inside and taking a nap to build up some energy.

Anyway, before Caroline... invited me, I think I was supposed to sleep in Chloe's bed that night, but she didn't mind when I told her. Actually, I think she was a little excited about it. Not excited about me being with Caroline again, although I think that was a little bit a part of it, I mean she was excited cause she straight away asked Simone if she could sleep in our room.

So that evening, after dinner, Caroline said she was tired and didn't join us for a movie. Simone and Chloe had a decent amount of fun during it, with me I mean. They kept nudging me and making jokes, you know, "go on Jim, she's tired, you better get up there quick," that kind of thing.

And I guess I was kind of excited to go to her room again. Our first night together was one I knew I wasn't going to forget. Still, there was a kind of nagging feeling too, with how weird it had felt between us during the day.

Anyway, I didn't wait for the end of the movie. I used the bathroom in my bedroom, brushed my teeth and all, and left my clothes in there for some reason too. I'm not sure why that felt like a good idea.

When I opened Caroline's door her room was dark. I guess, I don't know, maybe I'd expected her to have the light on, to be waiting for me or something. I don't know.

"Jim," she said, "is that you?"

"It's me," I said. I think I really wanted to say something else too, I don't know what, but nothing came.

So like I said, it was pretty dark and it took my eyes a while to adjust so I guess I heard rather than saw that she was on the bed, I mean I heard the sheets rustle when she sat up.

"Thanks for... thanks for coming," she said. Man, was this weird. Thanks for coming? What the fuck?

"Sure," I said, "I... I... I mean, of course." I moved closer to the bed, and my eyes were starting to adjust. I could see she was lying on top of the blankets, wearing that oversized t-shirt that had once been my dad's and I still felt really weird. I knew... jesus, I mean, after that first night together and getting to know each other even better, I knew this should have been a lot easier than this. I didn't know what to do with myself, you know?

Anyway, I decided maybe the simplest thing was just to try to repeat what had happened the first night we were together. If it ain't broke and all that. So I kind of sat down on the bed and made to lean over to her, you know, to kiss her like I had that first night and... she moved away from me.

"Is everything OK?" I said.

"Yeah," she said, "yeah... of course... why, ahm, why don't you... lie down."

I can't say I felt a lot better. That wasn't exactly a confidence inspiring thing she'd said. Still, I did as I was told. I lay flat on my back on the side of the bed. Now, Caroline is a really beautiful woman and no matter how awkward this felt, I was still pretty sure my cock was going to be inside her soon enough so I guess I was probably starting to get hard by that point.

"Good," she said, "yeah."

In the darkness, I could see her move and she kind of straddled me, moved her legs either side of me. She didn't take the t-shirt off.

"I'm pretty wet already Jim," she said, "you mind if we move straight to the main event?"

"No, no," I said, "of course not. Whatever you want Caroline." And I meant it. Still felt weird though.

And then I felt her kind of press her pussy against me. I guess my cock was kind of wedged between us with her on top of me and, slowly at first, she started to grind on me. I could feel that she was wet, just like she'd said. She must have been getting herself ready while the rest of us had been watching the movie downstairs.

I looked up and I thought I could see her close her eyes. She didn't say anything but I could hear that she was breathing deeply. And after a couple of minutes of grinding, and I was totally rock solid by that point, she lifted herself up a little and I felt her hand wrap around my cock, guiding me to her entrance.

She took her time sliding herself down on me and I heard her release this long, slow sigh. I guess I probably did too. Weird and awkward or not, she was a fucking incredible woman and she felt fucking amazing.

But it was still weird, no doubt about it. I mean, I was just laying there. I was totally buried in her but I still didn't know what I should do with my hands. They wanted to hold her hips, to help her grind on me, they wanted to reach up and feel her tits, her fucking incredible tits but... honestly, I was afraid she'd stop me. I don't know, I just didn't think she wanted me to touch her.

I guess I did, like after a few seconds, move to rest them on her thigh I think. It was probably more involuntary than anything but she didn't acknowledge it at all. She just kept grinding away on me, pressing and rolling her hips against me, her breathing getting heavier all the time.

And slowly but surely she started to move faster and faster, her breath got even heavier and I still didn't know what to do with my hands. It was probably another involuntary move when I grabbed her hips and helped then pull and roll against me. She just felt so fucking good. There was definitely a part of me that just wanted to sit up and kiss her, to lay her back and worship her but... I just lay there.

I'm not sure how long it went on, but I really don't think it was that long before I started to feel her movement and her breathing get ragged. Little whimpers and moans started escaping from her mouth and when she finally came I felt her pussy squeeze me and the muscles of her legs spasmed by by sides.