VY Ch. 00-03

Hello and thank you so much for reading this. This is a story I started writing back in September of 2018. Obviously, none of us had any idea that a real-world pandemic would hit just over a year later, but it spurred me on to complete this novel. I would like to give many thanks to Volunteer Editors Phil Anderer and WishLove for their immense amount of help in fixing multiple aspects of the narrative writing.

All persons discussed and described in any forms of sexual and or intimate terms are and were 18+ years old. While there is a point in the story where incest and inbreeding become a primary focus as a driver for the story, I want to state that I do not condone this dangerous practice in real life. As this is a work of fiction, I also implore all my readers to recognize scenes that are fictional and not intended to be reenacted in real life.

Thank you.

Introduction

It was an election year. Amidst a heated political debate between the incumbent president and his political rival, another threat grew that would shake the very foundation of democracy. A mutated virus had appeared that targeted the Y chromosome. It was thought to have started in simple insect populations, quickly spreading to domesticated animals through insect bites. Still, the virus had gone about unchallenged since every time an animal died; they had assumed it was something else, like heart disease, old age, or some other normal cause of death.

The other assumption was that when a pandemic patient died, it was from complications from their treatment. Everyone across the world had already been primed to expect increased infection rates and a rising death toll during the warmer summer months. But a few careful scientists noticed that some pandemic projections were wildly inaccurate. Something was wrong. Female death rates remained in the predicted ranges, but the male death rates had exceeded expectations by several orders of magnitude. There were reports of healthy males being rapidly, and painfully, reduced to nothing more than pale bedridden husks on the brink of death, with most cases resulting in a gruesome, agonizing death in less than a week.

The issue gained more attention shortly after the president secured a second-term victory over his rival when several cases in lower Chicago began popping up where previously healthy young people started dying of what appeared to be heart disease and old age. Having presided as president during one of the worst global pandemics in human history, the president was not ready to witness the fall of the United States because of the economic fallout of another prolonged lockdown of the nation.

The pandemic had cost the U.S. an estimated 14.5 trillion dollars between lost GDP, Pandemic bills from Congress, and overspending to supply American families and small businesses with financial assistance.

The CDC, of course, immediately ramped up its efforts to investigate and identify the pathogen responsible for these deaths. In a matter of days, they had discovered the culprit, labeling it VYrus A because of the viral target being the Y chromosome. As more and more cases appeared at an exponentially increasing rate, the president declared a state of emergency in all forty-eight contiguous states, with Canada and Mexico soon following suit with their own states of emergency.

Because this virus only attacked the male sex chromosome, women were allowed to continue their normal routines with no restrictions, but all men in non-essential jobs were immediately placed under biohazard quarantine in their homes or other secured housing facilities until the crisis was averted. All men in essential jobs were to immediately work with their departments to train female replacements to take over their workload ASAP.

Within the first six months of the virus being identified by the CDC/WHO joint research team, a mutated form of VYrus A was discovered in several mosquito traps in Calcasieu Parish, LA. This variant, when exposed to rats in a controlled lab environment, exhibited increased resistance to and nullified all benefits from the anti-viral medications used while the biotech industry sought a cure. This was to be the start of a fast and vicious string of deaths on a global scale from VYrus.

Of course, with the announcement of this additional viral pandemic during a White House press briefing, news media outlets across the world picked up the story and began weaving their own narrative, injecting their predictions and assumptions into all their listeners' minds. As before with the previous lockdown, hordes of shoppers took to the retailers to grab all the supplies they could get their hands on. What they didn't realize was that there was no point in stocking up on hand sanitizer and toilet paper.

Within another three months, VYrus B had mutated yet again, this time inheriting the ability to become airborne and, at the same time, requiring fewer virions present in a new host to reach a lethal dose. This effectively made all protective equipment, short of a hazmat suit, ineffective in preventing the spread of VYrus, since they had already observed that VYrus could survive intact outside a host for upwards of ten days. When it came down to it, you either ventured out in a fully sealed hazmat suit with oxygen tanks or you stayed inside a hermetically sealed building away from anyone and anything that had been outside in the past two weeks.

Recognizing there was no way to safely have a male work without hazmat in the field, the world governments put into effect a mandatory stay-at-home order for all males, effective immediately. As if this weren't bad enough, with the death toll continuously rising ever more quickly, things were about to get a whole lot worse - and mankind would face the ultimate test, with extinction being the loser's fate.

VYrus C would rear its ugly head within days after VYrus B was found, but it was limited to being spread by all bodily fluids, including saliva, sweat, and those involved in reproduction. Between the ballooning number of deaths and the devastation to the ecosystem from insect and animal die-off, world governments were becoming extremely concerned by the rapid rate of mutation of VYrus.

Congress convened an emergency session to draft legislation required in the event no males survived this extinction-level plague event. After all, it had been estimated that the world population had already plummeted from an estimated eight billion to less than four billion in a matter of one year. At this rate, all males might be gone in less than five years and the only way to preserve humanity would be through artificial means, in hermetically sealed reproductive facilities.

Fortunately, as it turned out, it was another six months before the next variant VYrus D would be identified. VYrus D upped the game by adding in multiple new protein coatings and infection vectors to include simple bacteria being used as a transport mechanism. All remaining men had no choice but to eat lab-grown food that was completely vegan in silicate farms possessing minimal plant nutrients to prevent bacterial contamination.

Though this didn't stop the death train with another 500 million men succumbing to complete organ failure from VYrus infection during that time. Clearly, this was putting an enormous strain on cremation and burial services, not to mention the economic toll from billions of workers no longer producing goods and services to feed the tax coffers. Soon, governments resorted to simply digging mass graves and erecting an enormous wall with the names of all those buried beneath it.

As if VYrus wasn't fulfilling the role of a biblical plague already, because of mistakes, accidents, a few attacks by scorned lovers, and three terrorist attacks on these quarantine locations, nearly all the remaining men in the U.S. were either exposed or already dead. The small percentage of that had survived in other parts of the world did not fare any better and within months, only about 50,000 males were alive worldwide. Every scientist specializing in genetics, reproductive science, and virology was weighing in on how humanity could avoid this extinction-level event.

That number being how many humans from each gender scientists had already calculated would be the minimum required to maintain a healthy gene pool. Humanity was continuing to trend to drop well below the threshold on the male side and only time would tell if roughly three billion women could shore up the genetic diversity required to prevent the extinction of the species.

While this was definitely an extremely risky time for humanity, this presented the remaining scientists, most of whom now comprised immune females, an opportunity to identify more rapidly how to fight this virus which had by now gone through multiple mutations and the current form was VYrus E, an airborne, one-hundred percent contagious, lethal, antibiotic and vaccine-resistant version requiring extreme temperatures to destroy.

Researchers found that the only ones who could come into contact with the virus were females since they possessed a pair of X chromosomes, and oddly enough chimeras, those who possessed set of three sex chromosomes in their DNA. Though survivability rates for those chimeras were still being speculated after researchers confirmed the virus still destroyed tissues with Y chromosomes.

What researchers knew to be true across all variants of VYrus was the method by which it infiltrated the body and, generally, how it killed the infected host. They had observed that in every positive case, there was a visibly identifiable concentration of VYrus in the eye, which gave the appearance of a twinkle effect. Oddly though, no one could identify the mechanism causing the abnormal condition. In every exposed male, the fluid inside the eye was perfectly clear, as expected, and there were no impurities that could explain the phenomenon.

This was, however, a minor medical mystery compared to the larger and more drastic problem of ever-increasing genetic sparsity. So, when the number of surviving males hit 20,000, a new state of emergency was declared, bringing with it a new set of laws focused on the survival of humanity on a genetic level. Society no longer had the luxury of creating a new life solely as a product of the love of two adults.

These new laws essentially established an entirely new standard for a civilized society where almost all previous social conventions were now obsolete and new social conventions were in some instances mandated by law, while other new conventions for the sake of bipartisan cooperation were "recommended standards". The most shocking aspect of the new laws for most was that on the surface, it looked like a bunch of old men had written them set on re-establishing the old world of male domination over women.

When looking at the substance of this new legislation, however, one could see for themselves that, in fact, all men were essentially being forced to forfeit all of their freedoms and were being turned into a commodity, almost like slaves. Instead of being based on skin color, this was based on the ability to breed.

There was a prominent concern when passing these new laws as there were only six surviving males in the House of Representatives and only a single male in the Senate at the time of the passing votes. The House and the Senate unanimously agreed that all the men would have to have a complete and unwavering agreement with the bills being passed in order to alleviate concerns of misrepresentation.

To avoid genetic disorders from inbreeding from autosomal dominant diseases, familial lines would be kept separate by identifying families traditionally with the last name of the male. That is where the similarities to "the old ways" essentially ended. As a cornerstone of the new laws, each male would now be mandated to take at least one additional wife each year, and they would be required to replace any wife that left them with an additional wife within six months. This is in addition to the first group of wives to join them, which would number potentially in the thousands.

For practical purposes, the anti-bigamy laws forbidding being married to more than one wife were rescinded and they put a new unlimited polyamorous marriage statute in its place to expire with either the death of the male or permanent sterility occurring in the male. Also, with each child reaching reproductive maturity, the children would be transferred to their next household based on genetic compatibility testing performed at their birth.

Not only were the males required to take on wives regularly, but also as part of the mandated law, the men were required to demonstrate proof of engaging in procreation with each wife within four months of joining the household. Deviation from this would result in either laboratory insemination of the wife and government supervision of the male to ensure compliance, or in the case of marriage fraud, the wife would be forcibly divorced from the male, removed from the household, and barred from re-marrying for a period of no less than five years. In the unlikely event a male refused to impregnate his wives, they would be transferred to a medical prison where they would be chemically and electrically forced to provide sperm for the impregnation of their wives.

To maintain a balance between the genders, the senate, composed of ninety-nine percent females at the time of the vote for this legislative package, unanimously agreed that when a woman entered a household as a wife, they would immediately be granted lifetime no-cost healthcare with no maximum limit. In order to maintain this benefit, the wife would have to prove through ultrasound a confirmed pregnancy once every three years.

As was already customary, all children born after the ratification of the "Repopulation Law" would receive no-cost healthcare for a period of five years, with an additional benefit from the new law of ten more years. Upon the birth of each child, ten percent of a wife's total debt would be forgiven. A minimum of five children would be required from a wife to be granted lifetime household residence, except in cases where a wife became unable to meet this number through no fault of her own.

When VY struck, Braedon was in the midst of a typical suburban male lifestyle, still in the prime of his life, and married to the one woman who could remain devoted to a lifetime with him as his wife. Only she had understood the hurdles he had struggled with through his lifetime. He never imagined that one day his life would change forever and everything he was taught to believe would be swept aside. Would he be a willing participant in the destruction of his moral fibers and take advantage of a horrible situation or would he be a voice of resistance and refuse to allow himself to break the most important pledge in his life - his vow of marriage to his loving wife?

Chapter 1: Liberty Rings for the Final Time

Ugh, another morning of waking up at 4:00 AM? When Braedon said he wanted a few more hours in the day, this wasn't what he had in mind. Seeing as how he was awake though, he figured he could check his emails and see what was new for today until his 8:00 AM alarm went off. Braedon pulled up his Gmail and, to his surprise, found over 100 new emails just since going to bed a little before midnight. After deleting the obvious junk mail, it still left him with about forty emails, which was surprising.

When he checked the first for the county newsletter, the top story was about VYrus. Opening the story, he almost immediately saw that President Nerraw had declared a second state of emergency, which encompassed all fifty states and U.S. territories. Then the enormous shock came when Braedon looked at a graph showing the male death toll since VYrus was first identified, to the confirmed numbers as of last Sunday.

Over five billion males dead in only a matter of months, leaving only an estimated 2,000 surviving males, forcing the federal government to take immediate action to slow the rapid death spiral.

Reading further, the presidential order apparently required all males to avoid going outdoors, restricted all access to mass transit, and placed all human males on the endangered species list. What the hell?! Braedon couldn't believe what he had read and in the county newsletter, no less. This couldn't be right, he kept thinking to himself, until a call came into his phone at 5:00 AM from a number identified as the Dept of ICPD. Normally Braedon would just ignore a call and let it go to voicemail this early in the morning, not knowing who or what the Dept of ICPD was, but this call forced his phone off vibrate mode. Answering the call, Braedon listened to the pre-recorded message that immediately started playing:

"This is a call from the Department of International Conference on Population and Development. This call will be recorded. If you are not Braedon Owens, please press nine so that we can end this call and allow the next call from us to go to voicemail. If you are Braedon Owens, please wait for the U.S. State Department agent who will provide you with instructions."

...

"Hello Mr. Owens, this is Agent Landrew calling from the State Department. We apologize for the early call this morning, but we are calling all males who are documented as being free of infection from the VYrus pathogen. As of 8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, all U.S. male citizens are being directed to report to an assigned quarantine facility, where they will receive an informational packet that will provide more detailed information.

You are being provided with the time of pickup for the transportation you will take to in-processing. Please do not pack any belongings and avoid all physical contact with any persons that are currently residing in your home. You will be provided with a new communication device after you complete decontamination and your family members will be supplied with contact information after you board the transport.

Your pickup location is at your current home address as it is on file with the Social Security Administration and your pickup time is between 6:20 and 6:25 this morning. Do you have any questions for me at this time, Mr. Owens?"

After taking a deep breath, Braedon answered the agent by asking if he could text his wife from the phone he'd used to answer the call, to let her know he was being quarantined and that he'd call her as soon as he got an opportunity.

Agent Landrew had already been asked this question many times in the past forty-eight hours from the other men she had been tasked with contacting. She confirmed for him that this was acceptable.

"Yes, Mr. Owens, a brief text message is not a problem, since quarantine is accounting for initial contact on your phone for this call. After sending the text, though, we ask that you refrain from touching anything else and remain seated until the transport arrives. At that point, the medical transport team will knock on the door and identify themselves as Department of ICPD. Then we will disarm your alarm system remotely and they will utilize a lock pick to unlock your front door. Then just follow the agent's instructions and another agent will speak with your family and provide them with your contact information."

Satisfied, at least for the time being, Braedon agreed to follow the instructions provided and sent his wife a text.

'Hey, babe, sorry I can't talk to you face-to-face, but apparently, I'm part of a group of men being quarantined. They said no physical contact with anyone for now. The federal government is sending a vehicle of some sort to drive me to a facility for processing. They said one of their agents will answer any questions you have and give you information so we can contact each other once I finish with decontamination. I love you very much and give our child a hug and kiss for me! Hopefully, we will get to see each other soon!'