Dystopia Ch. 01

Note: There is no sex in the first chapter (maybe more) of this story. We'll get there. It's a multi-part piece, and I really want to set stuff up before I get to the sex. I hope you all enjoy my first submission to Literotica.

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It was just luck that she survived. Most people wouldn't have given her a snowball's chance in an inferno of being that lucky. It had been her day off, she'd decided to take a drive, and when the bombs hit she'd been halfway between here and there. She saw the flashes and stopped at the filling station at the halfway point of the turnpike. She bought all the beef jerky and dried fruit that the filling station had along with filling up her gas tank. From old military training she realized that this would be the last time she spent actual money on anything for a good long time. If anyone else realized what was happening, they'd be doing the same, but Deirdre had little faith in the intelligence of other people.

"Going camping?" Was the question from the clerk when she showed up with her beef jerky, bottled water, and dried fruit and nuts.

"Something like that."

"It's cheaper at the grocery store." He said with a little sneer.

"Yeah, you guys have my favorite kind, though." She made a mental note to hit some outlying Wal-Marts. They'd be relatively safe because of the lack of windows. Most people didn't realize that radioactivity behaved like sunlight, if it came up against a brick wall it'd just bounce off. Something in her hardened, then. She walked back out to the car, and drove off.

She gave her situation some thought, and turned on AM radio. The news wasn't good, not only had there been nuclear attacks in most major cities, some genius had figured out a way to sneak a biological agent into the mix as well. The zombie apocalypse was good and started, and the situation in the cities was totally out of control. She was in an enviable position with her car full of gas and dried foods. She sat in the car for a few minutes trying to decide what to do, and grinned slightly as an idea struck her. Who better to consolidate and help her then a few men she'd known before. She was more than aware that her life was now going to be measured in 'before' and 'after' the blasts.

Everything had changed in an instant. She made a few phone calls--cell phones still worked, as no one had thought to turn anything off the instant before the bombs hit. She wondered how long that would last, and tried to reach all of her family. Nothing. The calls were even going through, which surprised her somewhat, but apparently everyone had been in the blast zone or contaminated by the 'virus' that was killing people too slowly. From the radio, the National Guard and police forces that were left were ripping through the 'zombies' but the numbers of the infected were overwhelming them.

She turned the car toward Poteau, Oklahoma and started to drive.

She stopped at a gas station when the gauge registered about half. The electricity was still on in the station, but no one was there. She figured out how to release the gas pumps and filled up her car. Also, she took every bit of dried fruit, meat, and water out of the place. Her car was filling up, but there was no help for that. She had an idea of where to go anyway, and what she was going to do. She had a plan. That was more than most people had, anyway, and she was really clear on what was going to happen in the next six hours. What she was considering was absolutely crazy in the world that had been three hours ago, but in the new world it made plenty of sense. Two hours later, she rolled up on the prison.

The area was gorgeous, the prison had been built by the CCC in the 1950's. She knew about it, honestly, because her grandfather had been in the CCC. There was a lot of history behind Jim E. Hamilton Correctional Facility, but the part that Deirdre liked the best is that there was a lot of vo-tech training going on there. The place was kind of far away from society, and also there were a couple of guys she knew there. She was clear from having visited a couple of times that there were really a minimal amount of guards at any given time, and with everything else that had happened, she was really kind of expecting what she found.

There were about four guards left, and they were somewhat panicked. They had the inmates locked down, but almost everyone else had fled. Deirdre walked calmly up to the building, and went in through the front door. The guards were arguing over what to do with the inmates, and the options ranged pretty much from letting them go to shooting them all. Deirdre, unnoticed by the four men, pulled out her pistol, sighted the guy that wanted to kill the 654 inmates, and shot him through his head.

The other three, unarmed, turned to look at her babbling like idiots.

"We won't be having any slaughter of minimum security inmates." Her voice was calm, firm, and the officers--although slightly rebellious-looking--at least were shocked into silence by her sudden violence.

"What are we going to do?" Asked one of the men.

"Have you done anything about cooking dinner?" Asked Deirdre.

"Well, no."

"I suggest you get out some inmates and get to it, then. And I suggest you treat them nicely. They may not know what's going on now, but they will soon, and at that point things are going to change."

She felt the officer creeping up behind her with the same sense she'd known when her children were up to something. She turned and shot him twice in the chest.

"The rules have changed, gentlemen. There are two of you now unless you've left someone to babysit the inmates. Let's get dinner started. And I'll need a set of keys and the current census."

The youngest officer, Jim Thomas by his name tag, got the stuff she'd asked for. She took it and started looking through the census when he spoke.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"Why?" His gesture took in more than the two dead men on the floor. It took in Deirdre, and by default, her pistol. It took in her actions.

She heard the door behind her, and smoothly turned and knelt. Her marksmanship was as good as ever, and the officer she'd sent to get dinner ready fell with a bullet hole in his chest and one in his head. He was holding a rifle and never got off a shot, not even a wild one.

"You know what's going on, Mr. Thomas." She didn't even look at him. She could tell that he was upset by the goings-on of the day.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Things have changed. There are a few inmates here that I knew when I was a nurse at one of the County Jails. I won't bore you with the details." She shook her head, then fixed him with her piercing blue eyes. "They are people that I believe I can trust. People that made some mistakes, but they are still people. I will not see them executed because they are in prison. The United States seems to be down a few billion people right now, and total anarchy is reigning. We must be smart if we are going to survive, and I can't think of anything smarter than having a small army to start with."

He nodded as her words made sense, and was relieved as he realized that someone here was going to take charge.

She handed him the census sheet. "I've made notes by a few names, here. What I want you to do is go get those five inmates and bring them to me. Then go get five more you know are mostly trustworthy and get to the kitchen and start cooking. Things are going to be different, so get ready." She walked over to the dead man with the rifle and took the rifle and his keys. "Send those five men to the warden's office, and until I say something different, you can address me as ma'am or Warden."

"Yes, Ma'am."

'Who has keys to the armory?"

"On this shift, just Jim. And well, I don't think he'll be bothering you anymore."

She had to resist the urge to giggle. Between the Army and nursing she'd developed a really warped sense of humor. No reason to disturb the kid, though.

"All right. You've seen what I've done so far today, so don't try me. Get dinner going. Make it some kind of sandwiches, we need to eat the perishable stuff first and save the other stuff for later. This is going to be really slow going until we get things straightened out. Thank the gods that we're in a wildlife-heavy low population area at least."

"Ma'am?"

"Hmm. Yeah, Gods. I believe in more than one. A fat lot of good the Hebrew one's done today." She paused. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

He nodded once and fled. She could see how nervous he was. Hopefully he'd get his game face on, or the inmates would eat him alive.

It was less than ten minutes later that a soft knock disturbed her, and she looked up.

"Warden?"

It was a voice that she remembered, and she started to smile. She knew that this man had been innocent, but the criminal justice system had railroaded him into prison. There had been generous proof of his innocence, but he was an African-American male with priors. There was no way that Oklahoma was letting him loose.

"Come in."

The door opened, and he smiled broadly as she jumped up and hugged him tightly.

"Andre." She barely breathed it he was squeezing her so tight.

"Deirdre." He hugged her some more, then looked down at her. "About those dead guys in the lobby?"

"Yeah, we probably need to bury them or something."

"Did you do that?"

"Well, yes..."

"I only have two years left! How could you do this? We're going to be in so much trouble.."

He was getting louder and a little panicked, and she put her finger on his lips. "Things have changed, Andre. Nuclear devices that were armed with a biological agent went off all over the U.S. this morning. This place is far enough away from the fallout that we'll be relatively safe. I am taking over this prison, and also a state park not too far from here, maybe two. We are going to secure this part of the State before someone else has a chance to, mostly because it's going to be mostly safe from fallout and the virus.

He looked at her like she'd grown an extra head. She turned on the radio, and right as the other four men showed up the news confirmed what she'd told him. The looks on their faces were grim as they looked at her and at each other.

She turned it off.

"Gentlemen, I know you remember me from the County. I never lied to you. I always had your best interest at heart."

They all nodded.

"We need to secure this prison. I need a few people to go into Poteau and obtain some things from stores and pharmacies. We'll go together after dinner is over. I need a few more trustworthy people to help run things. That poor officer I left alive is kind of...twitchy.

The white man, the one she knew would be trouble from the first and had decided to make an example of turned toward her slowly.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Bitch, giving us orders. There are five of us and one of you! I could make you do what..."

The report of the gun sounded loudly in the room, and Deirdre casually put it back in the holster at the small of her back.

"I don't suppose you guys know anyone good at taking care of dead bodies?"

Three of them nodded and she gave them a key out of the warden's lockbox.

"Just get a few to dig graves, and then after that's done let's get everyone to the mess hall. I have a lot of explaining to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

When the other three left, Andre looked at her.

"Is this hard for you, Deirdre?"

She gave him a level gaze. "You know me."

He gathered her up in a hug, she had lost a significant amount of weight in the last couple of years, and his body almost swallowed hers now. She was barely visible in the hug.

"I can't cry now Andre. There's no time for it. We have to be hard now. Later. But if we're going to survive, I have to be hard now."

"Hard times are what we're made from, Baby."

"Yeah."

"Do you think we can do this?" He stared at her. Her asymmetrical haircut. Her blue eyes, her generous lips, her now-muscular but still small frame.

"At least it's 'we'."

"It's always 'we' baby, since you helped me. I'm here."

"I'm not here because you owe me, I'm here because I need someone I can trust, and I need people that know how to stick together. Honestly this is the best place next to the military, and they're having a pretty tough time right now."

"I can see that."

"Also, it kinda helps to have people that are used to taking instructions. These guys at least will need a bit of guidance at the beginning, but they'll be thinking for themselves in the way we direct them. Regular people are just running around like idiots right now trying not to die. I don't intend for us to die."

"At least not 'til our time, Baby."

"Yeah, a lot of numbers got punched today. I don't intend for our numbers to be up for a while."

He didn't say anything. He knew her well, and knew she was crying on the inside. One thing he'd always admired about Deirdre is that she was able to do what was necessary. He could see her logic in coming here, and he admired her casual brutality in taking control. There would be a lost little girl in her tonight, once she tried to sleep, but for now he stood behind her as people filed back in.

"Dinner is ready, Warden, and the bodies are taken care of."

"Thank you, Gentlemen. Let's eat."