Dan and the Bottle Ch. 21

Somewhere, a Djinn, once known as DJ, was smiling. It was he, after all, who had put the jar of seeds on that shelf in the first place. A society without pomegranates? Unthinkable!

Another stop, at the bakery, yielded up a fresh loaf of bread, a bag of corn muffins, and a big chocolate cake.

"You're going to stay for dinner, right? I'm sure Pete would love to see you."

"I s'pose I can.... Mickey's off, hauling another tank from Juniper to Klamath, and Cassie isn't expecting me home tonight."

Back at the apartment Missy and Pete shared, Missy got the roast into the oven, and Doris peeled potatoes and cut them up for boiling, while the two of them talked about anything and everything, including the latest gossip about who was seeing who, which couples were splitting up, and who was moving to other towns... Doris was surprised when Missy mentioned Debbie Bergen and Jimmy Archer, junior.... she hadn't seen that coming.

Missy nodded... "They were down at that little cove we used to party at, goin' to town... Pete and I were headed down there but we kinda had to stop short when we heard her telling him to fuck her ass harder." She said with a grin.

"Oh, my... gotta wonder if Jim Archer and Frank Bergen know what's goin' on there."

Missy grinned and shook her head. "I doubt it... but, hell, they're both over eighteen. Not like there's anything their dads can do about it. At least they waited til they were old enough."

Missy's phone rang, and she answered it.

"Hi, honey! Guess who stopped by?"

There was a brief pause, and she frowned. "No, silly, not him.... Doris came in, from Clancy... you know, one of the women I lived with before we met? Oh, that's perfect! Bring him by.... I've got a roast going in the oven, so we'll have plenty of food."

Doris raised an eyebrow at this exchange. Missy grinned back.

"A new friend.... Jimmy Martell. You'll like him.... he's got a huge dick.... and lots of staying power." She replied to the unasked question with a smirk.

Doris looked at her old friend, a little puzzled, thinking 'What did she consider 'huge'? Pete was packing a good ten inches himself.'

Missy smiled again, replying to the unasked question, "Trust me.... you'll like him."

She took advantage of the extra time to make a few phone calls, Inviting Patty and Steve Harris over, along with Jenny Marsden, and soon, the evening turned into another 'potluck' party.

Patty brought along a pot of peas, and another of carrots, and Jenny and her girlfriend Carol brought along a big pot of corn on the cob and a blueberry pie, and soon, the table was nearly groaning under the weight of all the food.

The two of them went back to cooking, mashing the potatoes, cooking up a small pot of beans, and warming the muffins in the now turned-off oven.

Pete came in as they were finishing up, and Missy greeted him and Jimmy with hugs before she shooed Pete out of the kitchen, telling him to go mix up some drinks and roll up a few doobies for after dinner while she and Doris got everything out to the dining table. Doris headed out there with plates and silverware, then helped with the various food items, while she assessed the new man.

Jim turned out to be a light skinned black man, a shade under six feet tall, with medium brown hair and startling grey eyes.

Conversation around the table was light, and centered mostly on Pete's new job, working at the foundry, melting down lead to cast into bullets. He had progressed to the head of his department, and Jimmy was one of the new hires, having moved here to the Cave from one of the many small towns that had been 'liberated' by the Wyoming Militia.

Missy and Doris cleared the table, while Pete moved to the living room, followed by Jim, setting up the home theater system with a concert DVD, an ancient band called the 'Doors', which they all found amusing.... the names those old bands used!---- and sat down to watch and listen for a bit, while they had another few drinks and smoked a few joints.

Jenny sat back against the front of the couch, on the floor, smiling inwardly. She'd been hoping they'd invited Jimmy again, and she wasn't disappointed. Carol might still be wary of men, but Jenny still liked a hard dick once in a while.

Patty and Steve weren't sure what to expect; they, too, were newcomers to this town, and had been here for a party last week, which had gotten a bit wild. At one point, in fact, Patty had been double teamed by Steve and Pete, and she was secretly hoping for a repeat of that performance tonight. Pete was built better than her boyfriend Steve, and the feeling of him pounding her ass, while she rode Steve, had been a rare treat.

She'd never had two men fucking her at once, and had lost count of the orgasms she'd had.

Jimmy sat back, wondering whether this was going to evolve into another orgy.... he kinda hoped so, considering the woman called Doris had been eyeing him the entire night. He'd been here for one other night like this, a few weeks ago, and had gotten into three different women that night.

It was Missy who kicked it off tonight, when she walked over to Doris, pulling her to her feet, kissing her full on the lips and breathing out "Dance with me, Honey."

By the time the two were finished, both were topless, kissing uncontrollably, and Missy had her hands full... of Doris's tits. Doris was kneading Missy's full asscheeks, and most of the men in the room were sitting back, mesmerized.

Carol got up to join the couple, and soon Doris was sandwiched in between the two, eliciting small moans from her as Carol reached around her, stroking her dripping pussy through her thin slacks as she nuzzled at the younger woman's neck.

Jenny looked over at Jim and smiled, crooking a finger at him in a 'come here' gesture, and he was only too happy to oblige her, settling on the floor beside her. She replied silently, by scrambling into his lap, wiggling her ass against his hardening dick.

He reached around with one hand, fondling a plump breast, while his other hand worked at the button of her shorts. She, meanwhile, twisted her neck, bringing her lips in line with his. He managed to get her shorts unbuttoned and while she lifted up to slide them off, he took advantage of the open space between them to shed his own jeans, revealing a semi-hard cock that caught Doris' attention.... as Missy had promised, it was huge.... he wasn't even fully hard, and the damned thing had to be at least a foot long.

Doris caught his eye. "Good Lord! What do you feed that thing!?"

He smiled back, doing a passable imitation of an ancient action-movie actor. "Blondes."

Jenny, who was herself a solid brunette, frowned and lifted up, grabbing him by his thick shaft, which her hand couldn't reach all the way around, and fitted the head to her already dripping cuntlips, seating herself slowly on his big cock. She lifted back up, slowly, trying to get accustomed to the thick shaft that was invading her tight little quim, but he grabbed ahold of her, holding onto her hips as he began fucking up into her, eliciting a gasp from her as the head knocked at her cervix.

She smiled back at him.... "Feels like it's still hungry!"

She watched movies, too.

Pete came up behind Doris, reaching around to massage her tits while nuzzling at her neck. "It's been a long time, hun."

She smiled at this, turning in his arms to face him, kissing him briefly and murmuring "Too long, sweety." before dropping to her knees before him, unbuttoning his work pants and fishing out his ten incher. She had to nearly unhinge her jaw, but managed to get him all the way into her mouth, her throat rippling as he bottomed out nearly at her tonsils. She began to bob her head, doing her best to breathe through her nose as his meat stuffed her full.

Steve walked up behind her, reaching around to grab at the buttons of her light slacks, and dragged it and her panties down in one shot, running a hand up her thigh and between, feeling her moist pussylips. He knelt down behind her, giving them a wet, sloppy kiss, which soon had her moaning, then stood slowly, fitting the head of his own cock in between them, giving one good push into her. She moaned appreciatively again, enjoying the feeling of being stuffed at both ends, and began to rock between the two men, pulling almost off Steve's hardness while taking Pete's fully down her throat, then reversing that direction.

Carol, meanwhile, walked over to the couch, settling on the floor between Patty's thighs and flipping the young woman's skirt up, smiling as she realized that Patty had decided to go 'commando' tonight.... within moments her face was buried between her thighs, seeking and finding the woman's unfurling cuntlips, going to work with her tongue in a display that soon had her groaning.

Patty had never had another woman eat her pussy before; that didn't stop her from enjoying it, though, and when Carol began sawing two fingers in and out of her cunt, it nearly had her gushing. Carol's other hand was busy, too, working over her own clit at the same time.

The room was soon filled with grunts and moans of pleasure, small cries of orgasm echoing off the walls... Jenny nearly passed out from the huge cock that was plowing her, and Doris was having a hard time swallowing fast enough to keep up with Pete's load. Steve had pulled out of her suddenly, which puzzled her for a moment; he hadn't cum, not that she could feel, anyway.... but her unspoken question was answered when he repositioned himself, forcing his still stiff cock into her ass. He wasn't the biggest in the room; she estimated maybe seven inches, by the feel of him, but he made up for it in thickness. He slowly forced more of his dick into her, finally bottoming out in her bowel, and began to pick up speed, until he was hammering into her, finally exploding even as she was overcome by a powerful orgasm of her own.

Jeff Gelder led his scouting party through the forest, parallelling the road to the east of Sturgis; they were following a small contingent of Chinese that had approached the town earlier in the day. Fortunately, they were on foot, so he and his team didn't have to scramble to keep up, and could keep to the cover of the woods. They'd gone perhaps ten miles when his point man, Greg Willits, stopped, giving the hand signals for 'stop' and 'find cover'. The signals were relayed back, and the entire team dropped behind trees and large rocks.

Jeff crawled, as quietly as he could, to a position next to Greg, and saw why they'd stopped.... the Chinese were making camp for the night. He clicked the mic of his headset.

"Ok, folks.... looks like they're bedding down for the night. Grab a few ration bars, break out the canteens, and get comfortable. Two man shifts on watch, three hour rotation. You guys know the drill, make it happen."

The Chinese rested until just before dawn, breaking camp just as the sun peeked over the horizon, and the Sturgis scouts followed suit, rolling up blankets and sleeping bags and wolfing down few more ration bars while the enemy troops broke down their tents and made ready to depart.

Within two hours, the Chinese were back at their base camp, a small, abandoned village about sixty miles east of Sturgis. It wasn't a big base, more of an outpost, but it was obviously growing by the day. Even as they watched, the officer in charge of the scouting party made a beeline for the laergest house, while the rest went to smaller cottages all around.

Several Hummers and deuce and a halves pulled in at the other end of the long street, and armed men jumped out, each one carrying one or two large boxes or ammo cans, and another officer stepped up, directing men to many of the small cottages, obviously assigning sleeping quarters. Another deuce and a half pulled in, this one full of troops, and these men were directed towards other small houses, while another group of drivers pulled the trucks around to a small building, from which several men emerged with military five gallon gas cans and topped of the tanks.

As soon as the trucks were refueled, each one took off in a westerly direction, headed back to the coast to pick up another load. By the end of the day, nearly twenty trucks had come and gone, each one carrying more than a dozen men. This base was growing exponentially; they'd have to scramble to nip this one in the bud.

Jeff and his team sat well back in the woods, keeping a loose, running count of the troops and how they were armed. Most were carrying some variant of the AK-47, but several hauled some sort of heavy machine gun out of the trucks, while others grabbed steel ammo cans and large wooden crates, presumably RPGs and hand grenades. Many of these were hauled to a few garages near the center of the small, suburban street.

Jeff caught the eyes of two of his squad leaders, Dwight Mellon and Sandy Jansen, and smiled broadly. "Nice of them to set up shop in places with the house numbers in full view, isn't it?"

The two grinned back at him.

Jim Archer left Belden base, satisfied that their training regimens were coming along well; this base would be fielding a thousand snipers and twice as many scouts in less than six months, and if they kept to their schedule, they'd have at least twice as many in a year. Colonel Wellston, the base Commander, sat back behind the desk, giving Archer time to go over the numbers he had.

"Well, Commander, it appears you're going to be short on rifles and ammo both in a couple of months."

Wellston nodded. It was no secret that his people were scrambling to keep enough lead to recycle their brass; pistol and rifle ammunition were constantly in short supply.

Archer had looked once at the rate they went through it, and had immediately called Frank, setting up a resupply convoy that would be there within three days. Another would follow within a week, with another following within a month. The old U.S. Army had stored enough in some of the underground storage bunkers to wage three different wars at once; just one of the underground warehouses at Juniper had already yielded up over half a billion rounds of .223 rifle ammunition so far, and it was far from being empty. Camp Cooper was heavily stocked, too, and Frank Bergen had already said there was enough ordnance there to equip at least four smaller camps. His last report had indicated that there were at least ten billion rounds of .223 rifle ammunition alone, and about half that number of 9mm pistol ammo. They could afford to share out a few thousand cases of each.

John Corcoran sat in his office at the Cave, going over the production numbers for the underground farms, finally coming to the conclusion he'd been trying to avoid.... they were going to have to start farming on the surface. Some vegetables were constantly in short supply, and recent expansions of both the beef and dairy herds had put a bit of a strain on the supplies of certain grains and hay. If they could get just another hundred acres of hay, along with two hundred of corn, the shortages would disappear in a season. He made a note to introduce the idea at the next council meeting.

He called down to the store, asking the young woman who ran it to come up with a list of the foods that were typically short supply, and deliver it to his office in the next few days.

Tina Meyers smiled into the phone and replied that she could give him a short list right now.... Onions, several types of peppers, cucumbers, corn, and lettuce were always coming up short, as were beans, watermelons and pumpkins.

The bakery called him, later that day, to let him know that flour supplies were a bit on the low side, but that would work into two seperate directions at once.... wheat grass made good hay, so once the wheat was harvested, the plants could be cut down as fodder for the animals. After two hours on the phone with various departments, he'd set the wheels in motion; in the spring, they would plant four more fields, just ten acres apiece, that should get them out of the hole and again generating a surplus.

Bob Hutcherson, who had come from the first village they'd 'rescued', sat at one of the tables in the councilroom, looking over an aerial map of the area around the Cave. He knew about the shortages they were facing; hell, he'd been the one to report some of them. He also knew that the old fields, the ones his village had used, had been lying fallow for the years since he and his fellow villagers had come here to live. It was still a bit cold out; early February in Wyoming couldn't be anything else. If they could get a few truckloads of manure and compost out there now, plowing it under and letting it soak in, they could have an extra ten acres ready to plant by mid-April. ... and there were several other such places, scattered around the proximity of the Cave.

Corcoran looked over the maps, checking out the areas that Bob had marked, and nodded in agreement. It looked like the areas he'd marked, altogether, would total about another hundred and forty, maybe a hundred and fifty acres, and having that much extra land producing food would give them a huge boost. Within a week, they had this new plan set in motion, with many of the older kids pitching in, and within two months, another eight fields would be planted.

Herb Dixon, BJ's Father and the oldest man left from their old village, looked around the old field as he swiped at his brow. It had been a long time since he had been back here, in the field that had once supplied his old village with most of their meals. He, along with a small army of teen agers and older folk, were weeding these three acres prior to planting, and the protesting muscles in his back were reminding him that he wasn't getting any younger; still, it felt good, getting out here and 'sweating out the poisons', as his dad would have said. He'd already filled three baskets with weeds and grass, which would be scattered around the ground in the cattle pastures inside of the Cave, and most of the others seemed to be keeping pace with him. He'd thought, with nearly fifty people descending on this one field, that they'd have made short work of it; boy, had he ever been wrong!

'Ah, well' he thought.... 'At least the cows and the sheep will be happy.'

He looked up, just in time to catch sight of the Hummer coming from the direction of the Cave, towing a small trailer hauling over a dozen big coolers. Lunchtime. He made his way over to it along with his fellow 'weeders', grabbing two sandwiches and three bottles of fresh, cold water, sitting down on the berm at the side of the road and dug in. He was just about finished when one of his old neighbors, Angus McClatchen, sat down beside him.

Fishing around in his pocket, Angus produced a tightly rolled joint and lit up.

Herb eyed it for a second, then accepted the doobie, saying ''You know we're not supposed to be getting high on the job, right?"

"Oh, hell, this isn't 'getting high', old man.... this is a bit o' pain relief for our poor, achin' backs! Ain't neither one of us is gettin' any younger, y'know!"

Herb grinned and took a deep hit. "I can live with that."

They passed the burning number back and forth until it was too small to hit any longer, then went back to work. At the rate they were going, he figured they'd be finished with this field and on to the next in another three, maybe four hours.

John Davidson was out again, with Big Mike and Jim Fulton, in northern Ohio, trading their way across the country. They were loaded down with some goods from the Cave and some of the things they'd bartered for over the last few days.... and a few odds and ends they'd found in abandoned towns. They'd just stopped in the edge of a small town to fix a lunch when they heard the sound of an engine in the distance.... and it sounded like it was coming this way. The three of them rushed to the trucks to arm themselves. 'Stranger', out on the road like this, could easily mean 'enemy'.