Rebirth Pt. 01

All characters in sexual situations are 18 years of age and older.

Chapter 1

Hello everybody! Sorry for the long break. Please enjoy this new story!

Rhea inspected the gash on her neck in the rearview mirror. Darn concealer didn't do a thing. She supposed it was a tall order to try to cover such a recent injury, but she hoped it at least kept the worst of it from view.

She sighed and glanced out the window to the elementary school. Still no sign of either of her kids. She reached down to rummage through her purse and pulled out the concealer she kept inside. Maybe another layer would do the trick. It might look a little odd, but it was better than her children asking too many questions.

To this day, they still thought their father was simply a busy businessman, gone for long work conferences and company missions. He hadn't cared to correct them, and Rhea thought it best for them to think of him that way, at least for a while.

But she knew the truth. Two years after their marriage, she'd discovered his first mistress. When she confronted him about it, he shrugged it off with a half-hearted apology and moved on. Another year later she discovered that he hadn't even stopped seeing her and had taken another mistress. When she pressed him, she discovered that his history of cheating went all the way back to their engagement.

At first, she was devastated, as any woman would be. Eventually that despair faded into something akin to relief. He visited home less and less, and he wasn't around to hurt her or the children. She touched at the gash and winced.

He had last arrived home late last night, after the kids were in bed. He had discovered that the dishes hadn't been done, and he'd been furious. He'd drawn a knife, held her despite her struggles, and carefully sliced into her neck. It would have hurt less if he'd just been drunk and struck wildly. The cold calculated punishment hurt all the much more.

Suddenly the back doors of the car popped open, and in slid her children. "Hey, Mom!"

She removed her hand from her neck and tugged up her collar. "How was school, Ash? Learn anything exciting?"

Young Ashley grinned. "I think they talked about adjectives or something. I don't really remember."

Rhea rolled her eyes. She doubted that. "Okay, but what were you learning about?" Ashley loved to remind everyone around her of her intelligence. Rhea played her little game of superiority, but she knew it couldn't last forever if Ashley ever wanted friends.

Ashley shrugged. "I decided to review geological formations. Did you know that when horizontally parallel strata of sedimentary rock are dropped onto tilted and eroded layers, it forms an angular unconformity?"

Rhea smiled and shook her head. "No, dearest. I didn't know that." She glanced in the rearview mirror to her son. "How about you, Zach? Learn anything interesting in school?"

He didn't reply, simply looking out the window. After a moment of silence, Ashley jumped in. "Zach got in a fight today."

Rhea gasped and turned to look at him. "Zach! What... Why...?"

Ashley smirked. "I think it had something to do with May."

That got Zach to snap out of it. He glared at Ashley. "I just hate bullies. That's all."

Rhea sighed. "Zach, you can always just talk to an adult. I'm sure they can-"

"But they won't!" He folded his arms. "Adults just sit around and talk about it. They talk to them, and then they think everything is fine." He turned to stare out the window again. "But Greg won't be bothering her again, I think. Not anymore."

Rhea bit her lip. What was she going to do with him? His intentions were good -- they were always good -- but he was very rash. She knew of Greg. In fact, she knew Greg's mom. He was a beefy kid, a sixth grader. Zach hadn't even reached puberty yet. He likely couldn't even stand to the other kid's shoulder.

Shouldn't the school have called her? Keeping an eye on the road, she reached into her purse to retrieve her phone. 3 missed calls. She winced. It must've happened during work.

"Are you going to punish him, mommy?" Ash asked innocently.

Rhea sighed. "No. I think he's been through enough punishment. I'm more worried about what the school had to say then-"

Without warning, her phone started blaring. Had she set an alarm? "Ash, dear, do you mind checking my phone?"

Ash reached forward to grab the phone and read what it was reading. "It looks like it's from that Gravity app Grina downloaded. 'Impact eminent.'"

Rhea's head whipped around. "Are you sure? Does it say anything about being a false alarm?"

Ash shook her head and frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

Rhea's best and only friend, Grina, had turned out to be quite the survivalist. She was completely paranoid about the end of the world and had joined an organization, Gravity, to fund nuclear bunk sites. She was insistent that Rhea subscribe to them, so Rhea had purchased the minimal subscription.

"Call Grina, Ash." Rhea fought to keep her voice calm. "I need to talk to her."

Ash obeyed silently while Zach looked on, confused. Rhea took some deep breaths, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. That alert could only mean one thing...

Nuclear war. The Gravity team had organized (probably illegally) a group of satellites to detect incoming nuclear weapons. Usually when it fired off, the message would read "Impact Iminent: Drill Test" or "15% chance of Weaponry." She had turned off the notifications a long time ago.

Ash put it on speaker. "Hello? Rhea, you got the message?"

"Grina, what's going on? What is this all about?"

"This is the real deal, Rhea," Grina said grimly. "It's the end of the world."

"Shouldn't the news or alarms or something else be telling us this?" Rhea glanced nervously at the sky. "What makes you so sure?"

"Gravity satellites detected 215 separate units descending towards the atmosphere. This is no joke."

Ash's eyebrows furrowed. "Mom...?"

Rhea took a shaky breath. "What do we do?"

"Go to the bunker. I'll meet you there. We only have about half an hour, so pack up your things quickly." Then she hung up.

Rhea's mind raced. She felt like throwing up. In a moment, she made her decision. She's rather have this be a false alarm and be safe inside a bunker than brush it off and have it have been real. She swerved to get on the lane towards the highway.

Ash fell silent next to her brother. At least she had figured out that this wasn't the time for talking. Her eyes were wide and alert.

Zach still seemed confused about the whole thing, and, as usual, kept his mouth shut. Rhea was grateful to them both. She couldn't deal with the distraction of an explanation when she herself didn't really understand what was happening.

The first order of business was to get them to the shelter. Nothing at home was worth risking their lives. After that, if she had time, she'd run home and grab some of their stuff. For now, she just had to get to the shelter.

She'd only been once, but the route was pretty memorable. With only mild hesitation, she pressed her foot firmly onto the gas pedal and watched the speedometer tick upward.

The drive was a panicked and eerie journey. The rest of the world went on its merry way, oblivious to what was coming. Either that, or she was being ridiculous and paranoid. She wasn't sure which reality she'd prefer.

After what felt like an eternity, they arrived at the bunker. "Kids, come on." She quickly unbuckled and climbed out. "We need to move."

They obeyed without question, though she could tell they were burning with questions. She grabbed them both by one arm and all but dragged them down into the building.

The bright white walls and well-lit rooms helped to ease her nervousness. She knelt down and put a hand on their shoulders. "Now, stay here. I'll be back in a few-"

"Automatic defense system activated. Doors closing in 3... 2... 1..."

Rhea could only stare in shock as the massive overhanging blast door drifted down and locked them inside. "What? But we still have twenty minutes!" She ran to the door just as the shockwave hit.

It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. The closest it came was to when she was younger, bouncing on the trampoline with her friends, playing "Crack the Egg." She's be curled up, and they'd all bounce around her, trying to launch her hard enough that she'd release and break open.

Except there was no soft cushioning trampoline. This was hard, ungiving titanium. The lights vanished almost immediately, and with her final conscious thought, she prayed that her children would be all right.

Then the darkness took her.

*************

Several Years Later....

***************

Rhea hummed quietly to herself as she stirred the rations of soup. The years had passed simply and easily.

No one else had made it to the bunker in time. Likely they had thought the thirty minutes was more than enough time to grab some stuff before arriving. She didn't know why the calculations were so far off, and there was no way to tell now.

In any case, the lack of people meant that there were more than enough resources for them. It had been prepped to last for 10 years for roughly fifty people, and with only three of them that looked like it could be a lot longer. Unfortunately, for some reason, the food expired in twenty.

She glanced up to the clock. There were no dates or years on it, just the amount of time the remained locked in here for. It was down to three years and some odd days. In a few days, they would get to celebrate an anniversary. It wasn't the anniversary of getting locked in here -- rather, they would celebrate in advance when they could get out.

The bubbling soup broke her out of her thoughts. "Kids! It's dinnertime!"

Ashley arrived first. She had grown into an astoundingly beautiful young woman, slender and graceful. Her eyes gleamed with incredible intelligence, more brilliant than ever before.

"So, what are we eating tonight?" Ashley's face soured as she sniffed. "Not soup again..."

"I know it's not your favorite, Ash, but it will be the first to run out. We need to eat it first."

"It's still got five years on it, Mom!" Ashely settled into her chair. "I think I'll pass for tonight."

Rhea frowned. "Young lady, you can't keep skipping meals. You're wasting away."

Ashley shrugged noncommittally. "I'm not starving, and I'm not exhibiting any symptoms of malnourishment. I'll be fine." She rose to return to her room.

Rhea caught her by the collar. "You'll at least stay for dinner, even if you won't be eating anything. We need our family time."

Ashley groaned. "We've been trapped inside this house together for several years. I think we've had more than enough family time."

They were interrupted by the entrance of Zach. He had grown tall and taken after his father, handsome and moody. He was covered in dirt, and in his arms were several indistinguishable orbs.

Ashley grinned. "Geez, Zach, you look like you just got crapped out of a buffalo."

He ignored her and plomped the melons down on the counter. "They're ripe. I need to finish harvesting them." He hesitated. "Can I skip dinner tonight to finish?"

Rhea sighed. "Like I told your sister, no. We need this time together."

Ashely wrinkled her nose. "She made soup again."

Zach took a deep whiff. "Awesome. I love soup."

Ashely threw her hands up in disgust. "You really are a pig. You act like one, and you sure do look like one."

Rhea tapped her finger on her chin. "She's right, Zach. Maybe you should wash up first."

Zach sighed. "But I'm just going to get dirty again after dinner."

Rhea leaned over to take his hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I think you can afford one night of relaxation."

He stared at her blankly. "What would I do?"

She didn't know what to say. Most parents would be trying to get their children to do something, especially without school. She had to find ways to get them to relax and enjoy themselves.

She relented. "All right, you can shower when you're done tonight. But for the festival I expect you both to put down the books and ignore the farm for just one day, okay?"

Ashely leaned over to whisper in Zach's ear. "She didn't say anything about the gym. Maybe we can hit that up instead." She made no attempt to be quiet.

Rhea scowled good naturedly. "Or the gym! For one day, I want you to just be normal kids, alright?"

They nodded. "We promise." Ash elbowed her brother. "Promise, Zach?"

"Promise."

Satisfied, Rhea scooped out their portions of soup and offered them each a bowl. Ashely used a spoon to faintly sip at it, while Zach ate quickly, trying to finish to return to the farm.

Rhea smiled sadly as she ate her own. He hated the soup as much as Ashley, maybe more. But no matter how bad things got, he never complained.

Ash, on the other hand, complained as a form of entertainment. She would complain about EVERYTHING, using it as a tool to sharpen her argumentative skills. Rhea didn't really understand why, but she got used to it.

Fortunately, Zach had grown used to her teasing. It had started when they were just reaching their teenagehood, about the time that Zach grew taller than his sister. She had teased him relentlessly about everything, from his height to his slow speaking to his voice cracks... All of it.

He had been hurt at first, but after a long discussion, Rhea and he had decided that it was Ash's version of showing affection. They hadn't told her, obviously, but it became more and more clear as the years went by.

After dinner, to Rhea's surprise, instead of rushing off like Ash, Zach stuck around to help with dishes.

He washed as she dried, an unspoken agreement. Rhea tilted her head. "Something on your mind, dear?"

Zach sighed. "Do we really have to wait three years? Doesn't this thing have an override or something?"

Rhea set down the bowl she had been drying. "That timer isn't arbitrary. That's how long the computer calculates until the outdoors will be safe again. Relatively safe, that is."

Zach frowned. "Maybe the computer's wrong. The nuclear waste receptors haven't been picking up anything this whole time."

"Which is why," Rhea reminded him, "We need to be so careful. The system might be malfunctioning, in which case-"

"We'd never leave." Zach shifted to look at his mother. "But they seem to be running perfectly. Maybe this was all just a mistake. Maybe that's why you haven't gotten anything on the radio."

Rhea hesitated. "I can't get any other stations, either."

"Maybe that's a design flaw of the base! In any case, there's nothing to say it's really dangerous outside except that timer."

Rhea huffed and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not willing to risk either of your safety because I was impatient. You felt that shockwave. Something happened -- something big. I, for one, am going to trust the computer." Her face softened. "And I ask that you do the same. Even if you can't trust the computer, trust me. Can you trust your mother?"

Zach sighed. "Yeah. Alright. We'll wait."

Rhea walked over and hugged him, to his surprise. He was still covered in drying mud, but she didn't care. It had been a while since she'd offered him some physical affection.

He stiffened before returning the hug. During their captivity, she'd read up on this thing called Love Languages. It hadn't taken a genius to know that his was physical touch.

He gave her a squeeze. "Thanks, Mom." He slowly released her. "I'm going to go back and garden now."

Rhea smiled as she watched him leave. He was growing into a responsible young man.

She returned to washing dishes, lost in thought. What was his future going to look like? She didn't know. It would all depend on what happened when they opened that door. But it didn't sound promising.

The radios were in contact with every other Gravity base in the world. She had triple-checked countless times the manual's troubleshoot, with the same result each time. No answer at all.

The obvious answer seemed clear, but she hated to consider it. It was possible that every other base had been destroyed. Nothing else she had come up with made sense, except that hundreds of other bases had all simultaneously decided to not speak to her, which seemed much less likely.

As the years went on, it was seeming more and more likely that the unspeakable had happened.

Her family were the sole survivors of planet Earth. Perhaps there were a few stray bases made by some crazy, independent nuts, but she doubted it. If professionally sustained titanium bases produced by Gravity could collapse, homemade ones stood little chance.

"Mom! Mom!" Ashley ran into the room, holding a book in her arms. "I found it!"

Rhea turned to look at her daughter. "What? You found what?"

Ashley grinned. "The Dweller handbook!" She held out the book.

Rhea stared in surprise. She had been starting to think it didn't exist. The base's library was stacked to the brim with books from all around the world -- thousands, maybe millions of them. They were completely lacking organization, and as such, made it difficult to locate any one book.

The Dweller Handbook was apparently the instructions for the base leader. Since Grina was supposed to fill that role, Rhea had just assumed that it had been with her at the time of the Event. Apparently she was wrong.

"That's wonderful news!" Rhea smiled and took the book. "Good job, Ash! Thank you so much!" She reached out to pat Ash's head.

Ash rolled her eyes. "I'm getting kind of old for that, Mom. Next time let's just stick with a handshake."

Ashley turned and returned to the library while Rhea sat down to read the manual. For YEARS she had just been going by the skin of her teeth, trying to figure out how to make everything work. At least the radio's had their own manual.

When she opened it up, she was surprised to note that it started with a list of objectives.

1. Close down the base.
2. Establish contact with additional bases.
3. Determine hierarchy and continue with governance.

Rhea frowned. "So what do I do if no one answers?" she asked aloud. She flipped to the page that spoke to the new Guild leader.

You all took an oath when you signed on that you would save the human race from extinction. That is your number one priority. First, to save your base, second, to save other bases, and third, to repopulate the world. Should you have the resources you are bound to your oath.

Rhea scowled. When had she ever taken an-. No, wait. It was probably part of those terms that she signed to. She sighed and set the book down. It didn't seem oriented on equipment. Maybe the equipment had its own set of rules.

Saving her base was an easy objective to submit to. She'd save her kids whatever the cost was -- yes, including the rest of the world. She'd run through the scenario in her head several times, and the answer was always the same. No questions there.

Saving other bases? She knew that there was another one just across town. In the unlikely event that people there were still alive, she was fine with going to check it out after the door opened. That shouldn't be a problem.

And unless that happened, the third requirement wasn't even an option. It's not like they had the resources to-

Rhea closed her eyes. No. They were a family. She opened the book back up and read the first portion again. You took an oath to save the human race from extinction. Surely, they didn't mean at ANY cost, right?

Well, regardless of what the book said, she had her boundaries. She wasn't about to do something so vile as incest. She closed the book and went straight to bed.