Apocalypse Wow, Pt. 18

In Part 17...

As Penny neared the culmination of her Scout training, its challenges increased, including intensive physical training from Pierre Trudeau, a specialist from La Plage.

Along with her Team, she snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Middle of Nowhere test, a harsh and unforgiving examination of their skills.

With the help of her room mate Jake, to whom she felt herself growing ever closer, she settled on the topic of early Scouting and First Contacts as the subject of her final project. And thanks to Luke, her former room mate, she looked forward to the possibility of meeting the most famous Scout of them all, Jim Sullivan.

***

Part 18: Penny the Explorer - Two

"...the best Scout there ever was and the best Scout there ever will be, learning on the job together..."

***

"See you tomorrow everybody!" Jim called over the din of his students jostling their way out of the classroom and he was smiling to himself as he moved around the room, fixing chairs and tables back into their proper position and tidying up the materials they'd been using. He thought it was a little odd that, not only was he smiling, he noticed that he was and his smile only broadened. He remembered how reluctant he'd been, how he'd almost taken Dani's head off when she'd suggested he return to teaching and he was glad, so glad that she'd persisted.

"Hey dad!"

Jim almost laughed when he heard Dani's cheerful voice call from the door and he didn't hesitate to move to greet her with a long, warm embrace. The force of it was enough for Dani to be taken aback for a moment but she didn't resist the urge to give in to the hug.

"Hey Dani... I... I was just thinking about you," Jim observed, releasing his daughter and holding her shoulders, smiling warmly at her before leaning up to kiss her forehead lightly, just like he'd done when she was a child.

"You're in a good mood..." Dani observed, noting again not without a little self-congratulations that her father was, as he had been for months now since he'd returned to the classroom, as happy as she could ever remember seeing him.

"Yeah... well, you know..."

"Well... it's nice to see you so happy dad," Dani observed, almost forgetting the reason she'd some such was her joy.

Jim hadn't failed to notice that, since the end of their work on the oral history project -- although Dani had suggested there was still plenty of his experience they could revisit if he wanted -- she'd taken to calling him dad almost all the time. Before, she'd reserved that affectionate epithet for only those times when she was either very happy with him or very angry with him. Still, whatever had led to it, he couldn't deny that it made him happy.

"Thank you sweetheart," he said softly, giving her shoulders one final squeeze before finally releasing her. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Can't I just drop in to say hi to my pops?" Dani said cutely, garnering the wry glance she knew it would from her father. "Actually I have a... proposition for you."

"I'm intrigued," Jim observed, sitting casually on the edge of his desk.

Dani moved to sit next to him and, at first, she felt her urge to sit so close to him a little odd, felt it even odder when she took his hand in hers. Still, it made her smile, that closeness.

She recognised that her relationship with her father had gone through difficult phases. She thought about those times, not least after her mother's death from cancer, when she had been so young, when he'd retreated into himself, hidden himself away from the world. And while he'd never treated her coldly, never been anything other than caring and loving towards her, as she'd gotten older, they had undoubtedly drifted apart.

Although it hadn't been a conscious part of her intention, her decision to involve him in the oral history project she was working on had, almost surprisingly, brought that closeness back to their relationship. Although there were moments while they'd been working together recording his testimony when she thought their relationship might be permanently damaged, ultimately, she knew they'd never been closer than they were now and she was grateful about that. She wasn't sure to whom she should be directing her gratitude, but she was grateful nevertheless.

So as she sat next to her father, holding his hand, she was smiling broadly at him, so much so that she could see a quizzical look on his face.

"You OK Dani? You're not on drugs or something are you?"

"Shut up daddy," she said, laughing as she leaned in to kiss his cheek, "I'm just... it's just..."

"I know D... me too," Jim said, reflecting her smile back to her and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "So what's this proposition all about?"

"You're gonna fucking love this dad," Dani said excitedly, standing so she could face him. "So you remember that nice Servicer from Haven, Luke...?"

"Little Tommy's father?"

"Right."

"Of course, really nice fella that Luke."

"He is... he's... he's really awesome. Anyway, he has this friend, his old room mate, who's a trainee Scout, in her final year actually..."

"Oh really? A Scout huh? Well you know Dani, I practically-"

"Invented Scouting, I know dad. Shut up and listen will you?"

"OK."

"So Luke contacted me, on Penny's behalf, that's his friend, and asked if I'd check in with you about maybe, I don't know, maybe sitting down with her, doing an interview or something?"

"You mean, like... like you and me did, like the project?"

"Maybe, something like that, yeah. What do you think?"

"Why does she wanna talk to me?"

"You're Jim Sullivan dad, kids like Penny practically worship you."

"Come on D..." Jim scoffed.

"Don't gimme that shit dad, you know what I'm talking about, Mr I practically invented Scouting," Dani shot back, smirking at her father. "Anyway, she's chosen early Scouting as her focus for her, like, final project or whatever, apparently it's really important. First Contacts especially."

"I see. And... well, is she any good?"

"Come on dad, jesus, I don't know. Of course she is!"

"Well how do you know? How did she do on the MoN test?"

"I don't know what that is dad. The only thing I know about Scouting is that it's fucking dangerous! Wait, is that the really dangerous test they have to do where they're, like, dropped in the middle of nowhere or something?"

"Yes Dani, MoN, middle of nowhere, I in-"

"You invented the damn test, of course you did. Well, now that you mention it, Luke may have said that she aced it, or something, I really don't know how these things work."

"Hhmm... maybe I should have a chat with Lou about it..."

"But... you're interested, right?"

"I guess... sure... I mean... I fucking hated the idea of your project at first but... it worked out OK in the end, right?"

"It was fucking awesome dad. So you'll do it?"

"Lemme talk to Lou first. I'll come find you later OK?"

"Good enough, thanks dad. I gotta run..." Dani said, turning quickly to leave.

"Hey D," Jim called after her, standing up from his perch on the desk.

"Yeah?"

Jim waved her back with his hand and Dani smiled warmly as she walked slowly back to him. He took her head in his hands and kissed her forehead softly again.

"I'll see you later."

"See you later dad. Love you."

"I love you too sweetheart."

Jim smiled as he watched Dani go and he remembered the blazing argument they'd had during their work on the oral history project when he'd considered to return to Scouting. And although he'd ultimately decided against it, largely thanks to Dani's feelings on the subject, he reflected that this opportunity might be just about as ideal a way as their could be to combine the two ways he'd always felt he contributed best to the community - teaching and Scouting.

He packed up the rest of the classroom and wandered over towards the Scouting Center, a collection of buildings just up the street where Scouts trained and planned and materials were stored. It was still pretty early and he assumed he'd find Louise Brown behind her desk.

He'd known Lou just about as long as anyone alive. The community now known as Simonia had contained just four people - Jim, his late wife Simone, Chloe Murphy and Dr Caroline Wong - when Lou, along with Lola McKinnon and Fiona King, her only surviving team mates from her college soccer team, joined. It was so long ago that, at that point, time after the First Day was still being counted in weeks. Jim and Caroline accidentally happened upon the RV the girls had been travelling in during a supply run to Durden. There had been a fourth member of their group when Jim and Caroline first met them that day, Alex. After an initial couple of days, Lou and her team mates had decided to try to continue their journey, to try to make it home to Ohio. They returned to the house for good a few weeks later having found nothing left of their home town, but Alex never made it back.

Like her team mates, Lou had gone on to contribute just about as much as anyone to the development of both the community and the Network and she was currently in yet another stint as Chief Scout.

Jim imagined that, for most people, swanning into the Chief Scout's office in the middle of the afternoon would probably have been a non-runner, and he didn't resist a self-satisfied smirk as he wandered through the office to the casual greetings and offers of coffee from the various Scouts, instructors and trainees who were around. Still, he also knew that they were aware that Lou would probably have their heads if they sent him away.

He knocked on Lou's office door before sticking his head inside.

"Hey Lou, you got a minute?"

"Jim, fuck, are you a fucking sight for sore eyes, get in here you old bastard," Lou said as she got up from her desk and came to greet him with a warm embrace. "It's good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm good Lou. You look great. Sometimes I think you're getting fucking younger."

"Fuck you Jim. You don't look so bad yourself. Drink?"

"Sure, why not. So how's Chief Scouting going?"

"Pain in my ass is how it's going," Lou observed wryly as she poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to Jim, who'd sat down opposite the desk, before sinking heavily into the chair next to his.

"That bad, huh?"

"Don't get me wrong Jim, I fucking love the job and, you know, most of the time it's great. I can get out in the field and visit other Scouting Centers but... well, other times it's just fucking paper work, you know?"

"Don't have to tell me Lou, that desk used to me mine once upon a time."

"You want it back?"

"Fuck that. Besides, Dani'd have my head."

Lou laughed warmly, well aware of the tension Jim's brief flirtation with a return to Scouting had caused between him and his daughter.

"So this just a social visit?"

"Trying to get rid of me?"

"Never," Lou said warmly. "What can I do for you Jim?"

"Well, Dani's come to me with this... proposition. Apparently there's trainee Scout over in Haven, there's some link with Little Tommy's dad-"

"Penny."

"That's the one, you know her?" Jim was a little taken aback. He knew Lou took her job very seriously, and was very good at it, but he hardly expected her to know every trainee Scout in the Network, especially from such little information.

"You remember Chloe's kid Bonnie?" Lou asked. Chloe Murphy had been one of the four Simonia residents prior to Lou and she and Lou and been in at least something of a relationship for many years, notwithstanding the challenges of living apart so much of the time because of their work.

"Of course, over in Haven, great kid. Nuts for animals, right?"

"Right. Anyway, Bonnie and I are pretty tight and Bonnie is in a relationship with little Tommy's dad, Luke."

"You're kidding?"

"I kid you not. There's even talk of marriage."

"Get the fuck out. And here I thought marriage had gone out of fashion?"

"Apparently not," Lou noted with a chuckle. "Anyway, Bonnie's mentioned Penny quite a few times but that's not actually how she came on my radar. Toni Beecher runs the Scouting Center over in Haven and she called it in almost as soon as Penny started training. She's a real special kid, Jim."

"Oh yeah? Exceptional Training Protocol?"

"The whole nine yards. Even sent Pierre Trudeau out there."

"No kidding, Pierre? What'd he think?"

"Said she was the best he'd ever seen."

"Wow. That's not the kind of praise Pierre gives away for free. Dani said she aced the MoN?"

"She fucking blew it out of the water. It was just a couple of weeks ago actually. Her team broke the Haven record by 12 hours. And that included a navigational error that cost them almost a full day. She's the real deal Jim. You should read the individual debriefs from her team members, they'd walk through fire if she told them to."

"Shit."

"Yeah. What was the proposition anyway?"

"Oh, ah, apparently she's selected early Scouting for her final project. Luke got Dani to ask me if I'd, I don't know, sit down with her or something, maybe do an interview."

"I think that's great Jim. That girl's gonna be sitting behind this desk some day. The more knowledge and experience we can share with her, the better. You gonna do it?"

"Well, I told Dani I better check in with you first, you know, didn't want to step on any toes or whatever..."

"Bullshit, you just wanted to find out if she was any good," Lou observed wryly.

"Well apparently she is," Jim replied with a smirk.

"So how's Dani doing anyway?"

"She's great Lou, really great. She's been doing some teaching but now that Tommy's a little older she's going back to the project. Once he's settled she's going back on the road to gather more testimonies, The Glen I think."

"She's a great kid Jim. She reminds me so much of her mom..." Lou observed, and immediately childed herself as she saw Jim's gaze move to the middle distance, the warm smile fade slowly from his face.

"Me too," he said finally, his smile returning.

"Sorry Jim, I shouldn't..." Lou began but Jim stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.

"It's OK Lou, I mean... fuck... it's been twenty god damn years. I miss her every day but... I think I might finally be coming out the far side of it," Jim said, chuckling ironically.

"You know, Chlo's in town in a few days," Lou said after a brief pause.

"Shit, really? Well, we should get together, back at the house. I'll tell Caz, it'll be just like old times."

"We absolutely should. You cookin'?"

"Fuck, Caroline'll be doing the cookin', she'll insist on it."

"Yes she will."

"Well great, thanks Lou, that's really great news. I'll look forward to that," Jim said as he stood.

"Me too," Lou replied as she too stood, "and thanks for doing this thing with Penny, Jim. I really think she'll get a lot out of it."

"I hope so, I guess we'll see. It's good to see you Lou," Jim said warmly as he moved in to hug his old friend.

"You too Jim. Take care of yourself."

"I'll see what I can do."

He took his time making his way to Dani's house on the far side of town, stopping off at the Meeting Place for a beer, although he made sure he arrived before bedtime and, as he'd anticipated, he was mobbed by children as soon as he walked in the door.

"Fucking hell dad," Dani chided playfully as she saw him, little Tommy in her arms, "do you deliberately keep coming here at this time just to get them all riled up before bed?"

"Just givin' the people what they want sweetheart," Jim replied with a smirk as he waded through the crowd to kiss his daughter's forehead once more. "And how's this little guy?"

"He's a handful, but he's great. You wanna take him?" Dani didn't seem to wait for Jim's response as she handed the child over, but Jim didn't resist and smiled as his grandson giggled. "You wanna have dinner with me? Most of the guys have eaten already but I was just going to sit down," Dani suggested.

"Sure sweetheart, I'd love to."

"Great. And seeing as your arrival has made his job about ten times harder, why don't you give Charlie a hand with bedtime and I'll see about rustling something up."

"OK. Let's go little dude, bedtime!"

Dani's house, like almost all in Haven and in most communities of the Network was made up not of what would have been a traditional family unit before the First Day, but a wide range of people of different ages from the community. Responsibility for the care and upbringing of children was a collective one, something the entire community took pride in. Dani's older children, Chloe, Holly and DJ had already been assigned to houses of their own. Her house was home to six children under twelve, including Little Tommy for the time being, another four under eighteen and six more of apprentice age, between eighteen and twenty-one with another half dozen adults, fully fledged members of the community. Each house was led by a First, most often one of the older adults, chosen annually by all the residents from amongst themselves, although in practice, many Firsts remained in the position for many years. In general, bedtime duties were the responsibility of the apprentices, all of whom knew Jim pretty well and Charlie, just eighteen and very early into his training on the farm, was delighted to have the help.

It was nearly an hour before Jim rejoined his daughter in the expansive open area to the rear of the house that contained food preparation and dining facilities.

"Everything go OK?"

"Perfect. Charlie's sure great with the little ones."

"Isn't he?"

"So I talked with Lou..." taking a seat at the table as Dani placed two plates of food down and joined him.

"Oh yeah? So you gonna do it?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, why not? Lou says she's a real special kid. Massive potential. What did Luke tell you about her?"

"The same I guess, that's she's great. Although, well, I mean he did say..." Dani looked up at her father with an odd smirk that he found hard to quantify.

"What? What the fuck am I getting myself into here D?"

"Nothing, just... I guess he said she can be a little... you know... wild."

***

Penny awoke with a start, a brief panic moving quickly through her, before she sighed heavily, pushing her head back hard against the pillow as she felt her legs pressing themselves tightly together with a shudder.

"Not again," she said aloud.

"You OK Pen?" Jake asked in a whisper from the bunk opposite hers, wakened by her movement.

"Come with me," she said without pause, climbing out of bed and shifting her eyes briefly to confirm that their other room mate Lisa was still sleeping soundly.

"Aw, come on Pen, again? We're gonna-"

"Please Jake?" she said softly, her eyes pleading with him in the semi-dark of their room, dawn only just threatening to break outside.

"Fuck..." he said heavily, throwing his legs out of bed, a weak smile forming on his face, "who am I kidding?"

Since that first time he'd joined her in there, the morning after her return from the successful Middle of Nowhere test, and with Karen not calling them on it as they'd feared she would, fucking Jake in the shower had become a semi-regular occurrence over the following two weeks, in ever increasing frequency. This was the third morning in a row she'd beckoned him to follow her.

At first it had simply been the fun of it, although Penny couldn't deny the element of danger, the threat of being caught certainly added something to it. But as the days passed, she knew it was her dreams that left her so needy in the mornings. Every night it seemed now, ever since Luke had made the suggestion of working with Jim Sullivan on her final project, her dreams had been more and more intense.

It was always a little different, but the basic premise was the same. Her and Jim, out in the wilds somewhere, Scouting, exploring together. The location was always an amalgam of all the various places she'd been outside the fence during her training but somehow utterly unknown to her. And there was always some crisis, a red-eye attack or some wild beast that threatened them. Sometimes Jim would save her life, sometimes she would save his but always, always, as soon as the threat had passed they would tear each others clothes off and fuck wildly, right there in the open, in the middle of nowhere and always, always, just as her dream-self was about to have the most overwhelming orgasm imaginable as Jim Sullivan, the Jim Sullivan, the most famous Scout, hell the most famous person in all the Network railed her relentlessly, she would wake up, sweating and panicked, her pussy a sodden mess.