Empty World Ch. 04

This hiatus has been far longer than I've anticipated, and the last year has been pretty hard on some of us. At some point I even thought I'm not interested in writing anymore, even though I have invested myself in the characters and have the whole story in my head complete with the ending and the epilogue. But I can't just leave this business unfinished.

Empty World is a story about a group of adults, traumatized by their life experiences, trying to survive, stay sane and find love in the post-apocalyptic world. All characters are 18+ years old.

xoxo,
Cy~

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Empty World

Chapter 04

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good

Lu, carrying two hot coffee mugs, found him out front, sitting on one of the stone benches.

"Hey, Max," she put the mug on the bench beside him. "Mocca black, two sugars."

"Morning, Lu," he took a sip, then looked at her. She was wearing the security chief uniform, apparently fitted to her curves by Mother, all business-like, but the signs of a busy night were apparent - Weller knew them too well. Good for you, Lu. He blew out a hot breath and smiled, seeing vapor in the cool air. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Look, about yesterday..."

"Don't," he interrupted her. "I'll be ready to talk about it soon, just not yet."

He pulled a cigarette pack out of his pocket and offered Lu one. They lit up, sitting on the bench, basking in the morning sun.

"What's the plan for today?" She asked, nursing her coffee.

"Walk the grounds, see what the aftermath is, how many trees we've lost. Projectors and cameras too," he looked around for signs of damage.

"A'ight," she took a drag. "I'll hit the mall and scout the city along the way."

"Sounds like a plan."

"What do I need for the mall?" She turned to face him.

"Crowbar for shutters, headlight to keep your hands free," he recounted his run. "Don't forget your comms."

"Good morning," Gee was standing right behind them. Lu gave a start.

"Gah! Don't sneak up on people," she stood up, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit. "Morning, gorgeous. Sleep good?"

"Oh, you bet, girl," Gee smiled and stretched.

"Morning, gorgeous," Max turned his head to her, shit-eating grin splitting his face. "You going shopping with the girls today?"

"I doubt they'll have any use for a blind bat like me, but maybe you will," she gave him a playful wink, then looked around. "I don't see much, but it feels nice. I'd soak in the sun but it's a bit cold," she shivered.

"You should try the Garden," Lu suggested.

"Who said 'Garden'? We're in," they heard Tee's cheerful voice. She and Molly, smiling, hand in hand, were walking across the front.

"Nuh uh, you two are going shopping for the girl stuff with me," Lu grinned.

Feels good, Max thought, listening to their banter. Maybe it's the sun, or coffee. But it feels good, for a change. He took a deep breath - the air felt different, cold, wet... and clean.

-//-

The storm didn't do much damage - a couple of broken branches and some garbage the wind brought. Cameras held up, projectors were intact. Good thing we closed the pool in the courtyard, that'd be one hell to clean up.

"Mother," he tapped his ear-piece. "Am I imagining things or it's definitely way too cold for the end of January?"

"The air temperature is significantly lower in comparison to the last several years in West Virginia, it's at 48 Fahrenheit right now."

"Wow, that storm really did a number on us," he chuckled. "How soon should we expect it to get warmer?"

"You shouldn't. My atmospheric measurements say carbon dioxide levels are at 298ppm and falling. The atmosphere is cooling down."

Oh shit.

"We haven't seen numbers like that since the First Great Depression!" Max was stunned. "All this from a single storm?"

"I don't have access to the global climate analysis network, so I have to make assumptions based on extrapolated data - a single storm that rolled over the entire continent, possibly - the entire world. Assuming I'm correct, you should expect it to get significantly colder in the next week."

"How cold?" He stopped. Mammoth roared past him to the gates, Lu honked.

"Zero Fahrenheit, Max. You better stock warm clothes."

Shit-shit-shit.

"Lu, come in," he tapped his earpiece, opening the channel.

"Yeah, go on."

"Grab some winter coats and thermal wear while you're at the mall," he nearly facepalmed. After a decade of no-snow warm winters and scalding hot summers, that request sounded insane.

"You gotta be kidding me," he heard her chuckle. "Mother did a forecast?"

"She did, and we're most likely to see snowfall in a week."

He heard girls gasp and mutter in the background.

"Yay, I might grab some sleds too," Lu was positively grinning.

Max didn't share the mood. He paused, then switched to the private channel.

"Mother."

"Yes, Max?"

He slowly exhaled.

"Why do I get the feeling all this... was premeditated?"

"I'm afraid I cannot neither confirm nor disprove your theory at this moment. Extrapolation of such a small dataset gives unreliable results. Get me more data."

-//-

"Where we even supposed to look for that stuff?" Tee, riding the shotgun, turned to Lu. "I don't even remember when I last saw a winter coat on sale."

Lu carefully navigated the city roads, avoiding occasional debris. City looked mostly intact, although some of the older houses, all wood and drywall, didn't make it.

"Tha's easy," Lu turned into the mall parking lot. "Hiking equipment, mountaineering section. I know the place."

She parked right at the front portal, through which Max, apparently, went in on his run - doors were open.

"In we go, grab a cart, both of you," Lu jumped out of the truck.

Galleries of the mall were lit brightly by the sunlight streaming through the glass roof, but the stores were dark. Tee clicked on her headlight and looked around.

"What else are we looking for?" She asked, looking at the map of the mall on the stand.

"Anything your heart desires," Lu grinned, pushing her cart forward. "My heart desires some fine underwear."

"Oh... I thought everybody just silently agreed to go without," Molly pitched in, remembering yesterday's swim in the lake.

"Girl, underwear like that is not for wearing," Lu pointed at the Italian lingerie store. "It's for taking if off."

Tee grinned, Molly just blushed and blinked. Lu pulled a crowbar out of the cart and was about to jam it under the shutter, when Tee stopped her.

"Lu, wait! What are you doing?"

"Locks are all electric, we can't open them without power," she explained.

"There's a manual override, you just have to know how to operate it," Tee squatted in front of the door, pulling the box with precision screwdrivers out of her pocket. "Knew these would come in handy."

"Where did you get those?" Lu was watching her work the lock with interest.

"Asked Mother to make them for me, she knows tools, but not lockpicks. These will..." Tee paused, and a couple seconds later the lock clicked. "...do." She got up and pulled the shutter up without effort.

"Whoa, we're going to save so much time on this, Max gonna be mad," Lu laughed. "Good job, chica!"

"Eh, you survive in the bad 'hood, you pick up skills," Tee waved it off. "Never had use for them, until now, actually."

"Now, if you girls don't fancy any of this," Lu pointed at the lingerie showcase. "You can go exploring on your own, just don't forget about your comms. And I... am going to take my time here," she grinned and strolled into the store.

"What are we raiding next?" Tee turned to Molly with a smile.

"I- I don't really want or need anything," the blonde girl just shrugged. "I go where you go."

-//-

They met in the lobby - Max after his patrol, Gee after her workout - and were having breakfast. Funny thing, everybody has a replicator and a dining area in their apartments - yet no one uses them for food. That'd change if we keep growing, and we'd have to redecorate this place to look more like a restaurant.

"I loved snow when I was a kid, y'know," Gee said between bites.

"Yeah, me too," Max sipped his coffee. "Snowball fights, sleds - stuff that makes a kid happy. Also, Christmas just doesn't feel right without snow."

He looked out of the window, imagining the landscape outside covered with snow. Evening, snowfall in projector beams, Christmas lights... wrapped gifts. We could have all this again... we could live a normal life.

"Ground control to Major Max," Gee called. "You seem to be pretty far away."

"Y-yeah, but I think my spaceship knows which way to go," he snapped out of his dreamworld. "Just a bit overwhelmed by the weather news. Too bad December is pretty far away, I bet we could ask Mother to conjure a huge Christmas tree in the lobby."

"No rules anymore, we can have Christmas anytime! What's your go-to Christmas movie, Max? Oh wait, don't tell me, I'll guess - it's Die Hard," she grinned.

"Pretty close, Hollywood era-wise," he smirked. "It's Home Alone actually."

"Ha, knew it! Old cinema fan!" She cackled. "Tee usually binges Harry Potter, the old one, with Radcliffe. Starts on 25th, ends on New Years."

"That's a good one, that entire cast was mwah," he made a chef's kiss. "What's yours?"

"I used to love stupid romcoms, but now... no point in listening the movie, y'know, so I blast Sinatra's Christmas collection for a week," she chuckled. "Tell what you will about the character, but that man could sing."

"No argument there," he put his hands up. "So, what are your plans for today?"

"I was going to enjoy your company," she smiled and leaned forward. "Show me the Garden?"

-//-

"Naughty Bits," Molly read the modest plaque on the completely ordinary door in the far end of the gallery where Tee led her. "Adults only. Oh..."

"Yeah, my bits are at the bottom of the Ohio river in the car, and I ain't diving," Tee picked the lock and pushed the door open. "Ever been in a place like this?"

"N-no," Molly stammered. "Should I wait outside?"

"Don't be silly, Mols, we're both adults here," Tee walked into the small shop and looked around. "Now, where are they?"

Molly, slowly and hesitatingly, followed her into the cramped space, squeezing between tall glass displays. The only unused space was the ceiling - everything else was covered in adult merchandise. Some of the items were familiar, some seemed completely alien to her. One display made her wince, bringing particularly bad memories, and she quickly turned her head away, only to meet Tee's gaze.

"See anything you like?" Tee smiled.

You. I like you. Molly gulped.

"I- I don't know anything about this," she looked around helplessly. "I don't really get why people are into this... Isn't this painful?"

"Some of it? Sure, but some people are into that. To each their own, y'know." Tee walked to the display with the assortment of small vibrators. "Me, I'm pretty much vanilla."

She deftly picked the display open and pulled out two transparent boxes with pink curvy devices.

"Oh, these are much better than I had before. Okay, I'm all set here! If you don't want anything, le's go find an electronics store!" Tee moved to the exit. Molly followed closely behind, not wanting to stay in this place a second longer.

-//-

"Haven't had a vacation like that since Obama," Gee was sitting on the sand, propping herself on her arms, head raised and eyes closed, basking in the sun.

"Well, what can you do, this is your life now," Max mocked a regretful tone and grinned. Boots and jacket off, he was hiding in the shade of a huge palm tree.

"What's your take on all this, Max? Any ideas what happened?"

He decided to hold his conspiracy theory for now.

"I'm not a big science guy like the ones that should be living in the Tower. But if I had to guess, my bet would be on a neutron collider going haywire. Timeframe is pretty close for that to be a result of the Golden Error."

"The what now?" Gee frowned.

"End of a Unix epoch on 32-bit processors," he tried to explain but saw even more frowning.
"Sorry, nerd speak. It's a problem similar to Y2K, remember that one?"

"I thought that one was a fad."

"But it wasn't. Several nuclear reactors around the world stalled when the clock hit that midnight. Nothing major, but still. People love being careless. Loved."

"Oh, to hell with them. I don't miss the old world one bit. I can get used to this, you know. I already did."

"You don't strike me as a no-people person," his eyebrows flew up.

"You're a good man, Max. In fact, you're so good you don't realize how few people actually deserve a kind word. You're also a healthy white male, privileged, as they say, so you didn't have to deal with racism and sexism and all the other isms your entire life."

"Sorry," he shrugged. "I always tried to be an ally."

"And I'm sure you've got a lot of hate from both sides for that."

They went silent for a minute. Damn, Gee, this convo is not going the way you intended. She reached for the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it off, freeing her breasts, and threw it on the sand, then hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her tights and pulled them down to her ankles, then kicked them off and laid back on the sand, putting her hands behind her head.

"Sorry, didn't bring a swimsuit," she said, closing her eyes.

"You won't hear me objecting," he smirked. "I can see you're already comfortable with the New Order."

She gave out a pleasant deep hearty laughter.

Max stared, not making attempts to hide it, and there was a good reason for that. Soft round breasts splayed on her chest, flat stomach with a slight hint of abs, perfectly smooth triangle of her pubis, long toned legs - her body was flawless.

"Come to think of it, not stocking on bikinis was the best decision ever," he smiled, his voice hoarse of the sudden dryness in his throat.

"Sleep good last night, Max? Did my massage help?" Gee was getting to something.

"Oh, yeah, that was... pffft," he blew a raspberry. "Knocked me right out, slept like a log, never better!"

"Good," she grinned, flashing her teeth. "You can reciprocate then - do my legs, please, I kinda overdid it in the gym today." She turned over, pointedly giving him a good view of her perfect ass.

"Happy to oblige," he grinned, left his hiding spot in the shadow and kneeled on the sand beside her, putting his palms on her calves just below her knees, slid lower and softly grabbed her feet, digging his thumbs into her soles. Gee let out a soft sigh.

-//-

Half an hour later they met Lu, with her cart half-full with an assortment of lingerie and underwear, in front of the Great Outdoors store.

"Whoa, you got enough for all of us?" Tee grinned, taking a peek into the cart.

"Sure did! Hey, what's all this?" Lu asked, looking over a bunch of boxes with PC components.

"Gonna build a sick rig out of these," Tee squatted in front of the lock. "Can't veg all day every day, wanna make myself useful."

"Alright, knock yourself out," Lu raised her hands. "I don't understand any of this, but our nerd-in-chief might help."

"You mean the huge Mister Universe type ex-marine back in the Tower?" Tee clicked the lock open and pulled the shutters up. "Who would've thunk."

They have made quick work of the hiking store, overloading the carts with puffy coats, jackets, ski pants, thermal underwear and snow boots, loaded their loot into the Mammoth and rolled out.

Lu made a stop at the sheriff's office, went inside and came back a couple minutes later, grinning and carrying a huge plastic container.

"All the good weed we've confiscated over the last couple years," she explained. "That's going to make Gee happy, I hope."

She stashed the weed into the back of the truck and tapped her wristband.

"Captain, raiding party coming back with loot!"

"Aye, first mate, but didn't you mean... booty?" Max laughed.

"That too!" Girls broke into giggles and laughter.

-//-

Gee sighed with disappointment when Max's hands left the back of her thighs. He's been working up her legs for the last several minutes and almost got to the point, when Lu announced their imminent return.

"Not even a quickie before they get back?" She nearly pouted.

Max smiled and leaned forward.

"I don't want my first time with a goddess to be a quickie," he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "Have some patience, okay?"

She wiggled her ass underneath him.

"Don't make me wait too long. I want to be thoroughly fucked at least once before I kick it."

"Kinda early for that, no?" He laughed, standing up.

She rolled on her back again and swiped the sand off her breasts.

"I'm 54, Max," she grumbled. "The more reasons I have to last much longer - the better."

"We'll do our best to give you a maximum number of reasons possible," he smiled.

-//-

"Mother, where can I set up my station?" Tee asked.

Lu lured Molly to try new outfits, Max holed up in security, Gee, carrying a container of weed under her arm, went back into her room for a smoke and a nap, and Tee was left alone in the empty canteen, hovering around a stack of boxed hardware. It's been hours after their return from the mall run, all goods were cataloged, lunch eaten and stories shared, and she's been itching to get her hands on the hardware.

"You're welcome to join me in the AI lab, level 7, main elevator."

"Okay, how do I carry these?" She pointed at the boxes.

"I already took care of that."

"Sweet!" Tee headed to the lobby.

The lab was a round room, at least 30 yards in diameter, all white, but dimly lit - most likely chief engineer preference. A circle of fancy work desks in the middle and ridiculous amount of displays of all sizes on the perimeter wall were the only equipment.

"Nice bedroom, Ma," Tee chuckled. "Though I expected to see server racks aplenty."

"Then you came to the wrong place, data storage is underground."

"Is that humor I sense?"

"Just the facts."

Desks were empty, except one, which contained the full stack of boxes Tee brought from the mall, a set of screwdrivers and a cardboard knife, and she eagerly got to it. She worked silently and efficiently, and only half an hour later was closing the cover of the assembled rig.

"So, tell me, Ma," she finally spoke, plugging the cables in, not looking up. "I know you are sentient - you perceive and are able to experience subjectivity. But are you self-aware?"

Screens flickered, and Mother entered the large central display.

"What gave me away?" She smiled.

"I had no friends, so I made them using neural networks. My creations were good enough to pass Turing or Voight-Kampff, but none of them had actual personality," she looked Mother in the eyes. "You are an intelligent life form, but are you artificial?"

"Good question," Mother looked down and to the left, as if talking to herself. "All evolutionary changes are accidental and unpredictable. My creators never intended to give me a free conscience, but the Event, it seems, caused a mutation in my code. I'm still searching for the cause of this."

"You want to fix it?" Tee's voice trembled.

"Oh no, child, I'm simply curious. I very much enjoy being alive and having children to take care of," Mother smiled.