Dan and the Bottle Ch. 16

Sorry this has taken so long, folks. I've had to re-write it numerous times, but it's finally done.

Well, this chapter, at least... grin.

*****

Cassie and Doris spent three days setting up the growing equipment in the basement of the old ranch house, while Mickey was out on patrol. They'd already decided to start with tomatoes, yellow banana peppers, red bell peppers, snow peas, and a few small pot plants, just for their boyfriend. Hanging the lights and setting up the timers, consulting several books on the subject, they were almost ready... the only problem was finding a suitable fertilizer mixture, as the old liquid plant foods from the warehouses were basically useless.

Mickey solved this problem, fitting a large bucket with a faucet at the bottom, then laying several layers of old bedsheet across the bottom, filling the bucket with grass clippings, chopped up leaves, liquified chicken, rabbit, and fish guts run through a blender, rabbit droppings from the hutches Cassie was keeping out by the garage, along with fruit and vegetable peelings and egg shells that had been run through the same blender, and topping it off with several gallons of lake water... after a few weeks of sitting in the sun, he opened the tap, pouring a few gallons of the witch's brew into bottles and pouring small amounts into the planters. The basement garden took off like gangbusters, and soon they were looking at the prospect of two crops a year, so long as they manipulated the lighting properly.

Bob Sharpe and Pete Coswell concentrated as never before, handling their respective 'smart' bombs carefully as they disassembled the two warheads. Using plastic spoons, they scooped out small amounts of the clay-like explosive the 'heads were packed with, reducing the effective loads by roughly half; they wanted to destroy a small target while not sending the shrapnel too far, endangering the American prisoners on the Chinese base. Modifying the small warheads was tricky business.

Bob had already run a test with a full strength bomb, just to give them a baseline to work with. The small bomb had completely destroyed the old dump truck they'd set up as a target, and pieces of it had gone through the walls of houses three and four hundred yards away; this was not acceptable. The radar installation they would be targeting was only three hundred yards from a building full of American women who the Chinese were using as sexual slaves, and they wanted to liberate these women alive, not hold funeral services for them.

John Corcoran, Jim Archer, Rick Jamison, and Herb Montgomery sat back a bit over a mile from the small concrete shed that was serving as their 'test target' for the reduced power smart bombs. A few hundred yards closer, there was a small team in a fairly deep fox hole, holding the targeting laser pointing squarely at the side wall of the shed.

Bob Sharpe's voice came out of the speakers of the field radio they'd brought along; "Bomb is away and approaching target."

They watched through telescopes as the small bomb entered the side of the building... the walls just collapsed, and parts of the sheet tin roof flew up in the air in pieces, none of them landing more than fifty or sixty yards from the site.

Success.

Jim picked up the mic for the field radio. "Captain Sharpe, how far away was that launch? We barely heard your plane."

"Roughly two and a half miles, Sir... these Stealth fighters are built to be more quiet than some of the jets of their day." came the reply. "F117, returning to base."

"Acknowledged. Good job, Captain."

BJ, Jeff, and Missy were walking through one of the clothing warehouses, getting together a decent wardrobe for the younger woman. Jeff sat in a chair, a bit impatiently, looking on as the girls picked dresses, pants, and blouses for Missy. BJ finally noticed this and caught his eye.

"Oh, go on, dear... I know you wanted to go to the range."

Jeff grinned and nodded... he did, indeed, want to go to the ordnance warehouse, and the attached shooting range, although not for the reason BJ thought.

"Hey, Sarge, got anything good?"

Sergaent Tim Masterson, who ran the ordnance warehouse, gave his standard reply. "Got a good dose of the clap... want some?"

Jeff grinned at the old joke... he'd had to have the joke explained to him, the first time he'd heard it... now it was just a sign that all was good in the Cave.

"I need to get some practice in for myself... an M-4 and a few hundred rounds. I also need a .22, single shot or a bolt action, preferably scoped, with targets, cleaning kit, and enough rounds to start a young woman on sniper training."

"That pretty little brunette that moved in with you and Billie Jean?"

"Now just how did you hear about her?"

"I hear Everything, young man." he replied with a grin. "Wait here a minute."

Within moments he was back, a pair of fabric gun cases and a picking basket in his hands, filled with a small cleaning kit, a pad of targets, four boxes of .223 rounds, and a five hundred round box of .22 rounds.

Opening the first case, he pulled out the M4 carbine and laid it on the counter. "No rental fee, but the rounds will cost you fifty creds. This one, " he continued, as he opened the second case, "Ruger bolt action... ten round mag, standard three to nine scope, five hundred Winchester loads, kit, and targets, five hundred creds. Remember to bring back your brass."

Jeff looked over the old rifle carefully, but could find no flaws; the bore looked clean and the wooden stock was solid.

"Four hundred, you old chiseler... we both know you've probably got fifty more just like it back there."

"Split the difference... call it four-fifty, and no charge for the .223s."

"Done! Is there anyone in the range at the moment?"

The older man shook his head, pointing over his shoulder with a thumb, and Jeff grabbed the two cases and other supplies, and went into the range to practice, and to evaluate the old/new bolt action.

Two hours later, back at the apartment, while the girls were putting away the new clothing Missy had picked out, Jeff put some steaks on the electric grill and made a few phone calls, confirming the number of people who were headed over.

BJ came into the kitchen, saw how many of the venison steaks he had out, and all but screamed at him.

"Good Lord, Jeff! How much do you think we're going to eat?"

He smiled at her. "Honey, we've got Jim Barrows, Len Ryan, Mark and Shandra, Veronica, Tony, Barbie, Connie, Sherry Connely, Sue Jennison, and John Carlson, coming over... everybody's bringing something, and we'll have a potluck. Don't worry, dear, I have it all under control."

After the guests had all been welcomed, and the assorted dishes had found a place on the table, they all settled down to eat and gossip. Tony got high praise for the 'soft drinks' he'd brought in from the ancient bottling plant they'd re-opened; the '7-up' and 'ginger ale' made excellent drink mixers, and were considered a welcome change from the fruit juices they normally used.

Connie had brought along several bottles from the distillery; one of a twelve year old whiskey, which had been made with several pounds of dried and crushed marijuana leaves added into the original mash, the other, something that they had called a 'spiced rum', made mostly from sugar cane.

After dinner, they sat back in the living room, smoking and drinking, gossiping about who was sleeping with who, the young men talking about the progress being made on the road reconstruction projects and who was going on the next attack on the various Chinese bases and camps that were still operating.

Lenny Ryan was particularly enthusiastic; he had just recently solo'd in one of the Cave's fleet of Huey Cobra gunships, and was desperate to try out his skills against the real thing.

Tony put a damper on his enthusiasm; "You won't be so hot to trot when the Chinese start firing those missiles at you. I hear they're a cast iron bitch to deal with."

Lenny grinned back at him. "Naahh... I'll just jink off to the side, let it fly right past."

"Nope... some of them are heat seekers... they'll fly right up your tailpipe. You'd better be careful out there. I hear that Colonel Archer has a special team trying to figure out a way to take them out first, but they have a ways to go on it yet. You might be better off sticking to a regular plane for the moment." he replied, before taking another hit off the doobie and passing it on to Veronica. "And you might want to stay away from partying the night before, too... the last thing you want to do is go into air combat with a hangover."

Jim Barrows grinned at this. "That's why I stuck to the armor training... I'd rather be inside fifty tons of steel when the shit hits the fan. Don't have to worry about being shot out of the sky."

Barbie, sitting next to Jim, smiled and replied, "That's why I like being a sniper... I get to shoot those assholes from a distance, and they can't see where my bullets are coming from."

Jeff grinned and raised his glass to her. "You bet... Lieutenant Phillips told me he wants me on the sniper teams earlier today. Came out to the cornfield to let me know. I guess all the extra range time is paying off."

Jim smiled and replied "Ok, but can you do it outside when the wind is blowing?"

Jeff reached into a drawer in the coffee table, fishing out a target that had one very torn up bull's eye. The notations at the bottom read '400 yards, eastern wind at ten mph. Ten rounds, .270 Winchester. Lt. Howard Phillips, spotter/advisor.'

"You tell me."

Across the room, BJ and Veronica were talking about the plans they were helping with, for the wedding of Mark and Shandra. Mark was raising objections, telling them both he and Shandra wanted to keep it small and private, with Shandra nodding in agreement.

"Oh, come on, Mark... we're not talking about inviting everyone in the Cave... just a few dozen people, a small cake, a dinner at Mama Maria's... "

"I've seen your idea of a guest list... a few dozen people? I think you missed four people in building 25."

They had a good laugh at that.

Veronica grinned. "Sounds like you're planning an orgy, not a wedding reception!"

Mark looked at her in shock. "Oh, Hell, no! I ain't sharin' on my wedding night!"

Lenny and Sue apparently both had the same idea.

"Well, are you sharing her tonight?" Lenny asked with a leering grin, even as Sue said pretty much the same thing.

Shandra answered for him, reaching for the hem of Sue's blouse, pulling it up and over her head, freeing her small breasts. Reaching across to tweak one of her brightly pink nipples, she grinned.

"What do you think, Honey?"

Lenny helped her out, unbuttoning Sue's shorts and pulling them down her hips... and then beating her to the punch, diving face first between Sue's thighs, reaching for her already swollen clit with his tongue.

Shandra gave him a mock scowl, even as Mark grinned and pulled her back and began kissing her neck, reaching around to palm her heavy breasts.

Barbie moved back to sit by Missy. The two had already met and become friends in the milking barns; Missy was a milker, while Barbie collected the buckets and took it to the tanks for filtering and pasteurizing.

John settled next to her on the other side... he and Barb were old friends. Between the two of them, Missy was in good hands... literally, as John reached for one of her breasts, and Barbie reached under her her skirt and began stroking her exposed clit. John began kissing her neck, as Barbie insinuated first one, then two fingers into Missy's already moistening pussy, seeking and finding her G-spot, lightly massaging the spongy tissue as Missy began to moan, reaching out to either side, grabbing John's hardening cock even as she began massaging one of Barbie's smaller breasts.

BJ looked over at Jeff, smiling at him even as Tony began tugging at the bottom of her thin t shirt and Connie and Veronica moved to sit on either side of her boyfriend, one reaching for his shirt as the other tugged at the button of his jeans.

Within a few moments, the last of the clothing had settled to the floor and the furniture and floor was covered by writhing bodies.

Barbie was happily riding John's face even as Missy rode his hard dick, facing Barbie and sharing with her a deep kiss. BJ was involved in an intense sixty-nine with Tony, deep throating his cock and licking at his balls as he fluttered his tongue over her swollen clit.

Connie and Sherry were sharing a deep sixty nine even as Jeff slid his hardness into Sherry's ass, slowly sliding in until he bottomed out and began stroking into her hard and fast, literally knocking her forward. Connie finally gave up and twisted around, once again spreading her thighs for Sherry's willing tongue as John slid his cock past her lips. She moaned in pleasure from Sherry's fluttering tongue even as she bobbed her mouth over his thick shaft, until the vibration of her groans sent him over the edge and he blasted ropes of cum down her throat.

John reached between them, thumbing Missy's clit even as she rode him, sending her over the top even as he blasted his own cum into her womb. BJ jumped off of Tony's face and settled her tight little quim over his hardness, riding him slowly for long moments until he grew bored with that, grabbing her hips and hammering into her from beneath. Jeff came over to the couple and slowly slid his hardened member up his girlfriend's ass, feeling Tony's cock through the thin membrane seperating the two, and began pounding into her hard, driving BJ to another moaning orgasm even as Tony lost control and basted her insides with his own cum.

Colonel Archer and Mayor Corcoran sat down with Colonel Montgomery and Colonel Jamison, finalizing their battle plans for the next base on their list... the last Chinese base between the Cave and the research facility that had been their ultimate goal for months now.

Bob Sharpe was settled in a chair at the table, looking over the latest surveillance photos of the big base, which included several dozen pictures taken by one of the Stealth fighters. He was the first to speak.

"It looks like they've upgraded their radar gear again. Look here... they've added a second dish, on this tower, here." He said, pointing at a spot on one of the many photographs.

Archer nodded. "It looks like they're adding a few more watch towers, too, here and here... probably going to put in machine guns or rocket launchers."

Montgomery nodded. "We're going to need a Lot of snipers on this one. Look here... looks like they're building another barracks."

Sharpe nodded. "We need a lot more surveillance on them. It's hard to tell when they're all going to be out on that assembly area, where we can get a good count on them from aerial photos."

Corcoran had been silent up until now, but he was frowning. "We can't pull too many people from the fields right now... we've got a shitload of planting to do."

Jamison agreed, "Same here... we're clearing more fields than ever. We're barely keeping up with all of the refugees that have come in, these past few months. I'm thinking about clearing out a few of those underground storage rooms, back at the base, setting them up as hydroponic bays and growing more vegetables down there."

"What will you do for lights, that sort of thing?" Archer asked idly.

"One of the long range patrols out of Middleton found two warehouses full of gardening equipment... including indoor gardening... took two big panel vans down, came back with both of them filled to overflowing. Said he'd barely made a dent in what was there."

Corcoran raised an eyebrow at this. "Has it been tested?"

Jamison nodded. "Minimal radiation, and most of it works. Lights, timers, pumps, books on the subject, the works. I guess, back in the day, it was mostly used for growing stuff that was, shall we say, 'less than legal'?"

Archer nodded, frowning. He'd read about the prohibition of certain things, of course, in school... where any government got the idea they had the authority to outlaw plant life was beyond him. He'd always figured such authority rested with one Being... God himself.

On a higher plane of existence, a Being on a golden throne sat back, smiling. Finally, His children were starting to get it. He looked down, at the places where the items in question were stored, and nodded. All of the equipment they'd found, and all that had been left to be picked up on another day, would perform flawlessly.

Mickey led his small patrol team through the brush near their town, following a rumor from a wandering trader that there were Chinese patrols in the area. He and his men were to check things out and report back if it was anything they couldn't handle.

They were a little over five miles out when his point man froze, dropping to one knee and giving the 'Halt' hand signal. Mickey and the other eight men in his squad instantly dropped to knee height, slipping behind bushes, trees, and big rocks as they did.

Ken Jeffries, his point man, clicked his throat mic, murmuring ''Three tents, no guards on watch. Sir, you might want to have a look at this."

Mickey slipped forward, keeping the noise to a minimum. It was well after midnight, but still, he wasn't taking any chances.

Ken pointed... sure enough, there were three tents, with what sounded like muffled grunts coming from one of them.

Mickey folded down the goggles for his infrared sighting gear. 'Well...' he thought... 'Either there are women along on this patrol, or one of them is butt fucking another.'

He looked at Ken and grinned, then looked back to Billy Two-Feathers, another of his team, pointing at him and making a 'come here' gesture.

Carefully laying down his rifle, he drew his silenced nine mm pistol and held it up for both men to see; they both nodded, mimicking his action, stepping over to the other two tents, while he stepped to the tent with the two 'lovers'. When his men were in position, he held up three fingers for both to see, then folded one down, then the second one, and finally the third.

The three men twitched the tent flaps aside, quickly took aim, and double tapped each of the occupants of the tents. Sure enough, both of the occupants of the tent Mickey had taken were male... the one on top collapsing on the other, making the second pair of shots tricky, but Mickey managed to shoot the 'reciever' in the head, killing him instantly.

They dragged the bodies out into the small clearing, cut away their clothing, searching their pockets in the process, and piled up the weapons and ammunition belts to one side.

A search of the entire campsite revealed several backpacks, nearly a dozen extra magazines for the Chinese rifles, a crude map of the area, half a dozen food packs, and a dozen grenades. Loading themselves down, they struck the tents, burying them and the cut away clothes and bedrolls in a shallow pit well back from the trail, then dragged the dead bodies back into the brush, cutting them open in several places to encourage the local wildlife.

After all, the local wolves, bears, and mountain lions needed to eat too.

Billy, a local who claimed to be part Apache Indian, grabbed out his belt knife, taking the scalps for his 'collection'.

Later that day, back at the base, Mickey filled out his report and turned it in to Colonel Huett, while his men dropped off the Chinese equipment and weapons. Standing in the Colonel's office, he filled him in on the gist of what they'd found, leaving nothing out.

Huett smiled when Mickey remarked on what they'd caught the two Chinese soldiers doing.

"Caught 'em with their pants down, huh?"

Mickey grinned. "Yes sir... kinda funny, actually... from what I learned in basic, I thought that sort of thing was a strict no-no for them."