World's End Expansion Pack

Readers, I'm grateful for all the enthusiastic comments to previous chapters and I appreciate the suggestions, too. Thanks for your continued interest in these characters and their adventures. The story started as a way into a mother-son, what-if, plausible scenario, then grew in a particular direction, without planning. But of course as it got longer it got more complicated, so I had to take some time to devise a larger context and a plot that didn't contradict what had gone before. That's why this chapter has taken so long to write. In the process I've imagined several more chapters that maintain continuity and provide some sexual diversity. Thanks for your patience.

5 World's End Expansion Pack

As the night deepened around us and the chill and damp crept within the blanket where Beth and I lay under the nearly full moon, we listened to the thin hiss from the radio. A suddenly awakened wisp of hope flickered in me. I hadn't realized how powerful it would feel to know that others were really out there. When the girls had come into camp it enlarged our small world, but to know that their existence wasn't a lone aberration, but likely the norm, and to imagine a world beyond ours populated with someone capable of connecting from far away excited me.

I didn't stop to wonder then if it might change the sexual mores of our brave new world. I fully intended to make as many babies as I could, however I could. The barbarian in me thought that feeble signal smelled like woman. It aroused me.

But the signal had stopped and we hung in that moment of hope and excitement. My father, crouched over the radio naked and hairy in the moonlight, grunted and said, "Oh, of course..." and he moved the dial slowly upward until he found the clicking again. "They're skipping frequencies," he explained, "Improving their chances of being picked up." He tried another pen, it failed and he threw that one as far as he could, swearing loudly. I saw in my mind the absurd image from the opening sequence of the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey; the apes around the monolith learning to use tools, throwing the jawbone in the air.

"Charcoal!" I said and dragged myself from Beth's sated embrace and into the cool night. I crab-scrabbled to the cookstove and picked a charred lump from the pail of ashes beside it. Dad took it and began copying out the dots and dashes, using up much too much of our precious paper. He was desperate not to miss a letter. Beside him Delandra squinted in the dim light at the Handbook trying to decode his scribbles. She slowly put letters to the marks on the crinkled pages. My mother built a fire in the stove and went to find some clothes. Beth dozed on under her blanket.

"...n...o...t, Not..." Delandra said, "a...f...b...what?" She kept working and dad kept scribbling. I joined them to keep the papers in order. I suddenly understood why ancient folks used clay tablets. If we had some, dad could be putting a hell of a lot more code into a smaller space and they could be erased, too. "a...f...b...s...m...s...e...8...j...u...n...t...g...r...e...c...o...3...9...9, what?, I don't get this," Delandra sounded frustrated. "It makes no sense."

"Just keep going," said dad, rapidly marking up pages. When the clicking stopped, dad eased the dial and found it again. He kept on jotting and I kept on piling up the papers. Eventually Delandra said, "Hey, it's starting to repeat, I think. Can we spread these papers out inside so I can see them better?"

I wrapped on my kilt and picked up the tiny Beth and carried her to our family bed. She smiled and hugged me tight as I bent to lay her down. "Cuddle with me, Jack," she sighed. Her warm body invited me to embrace her and I felt terrifically protective just then. I'd taken her virginity...no, I'd introduced her to the universe of joy and pro-creation, and now I wanted to curl her in my arms and help her body nurture the seed I hoped I'd planted in her.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," I said, "I've got to know what we're hearing." Reluctantly, I left her there, warm and kitten-like in the big bed. We were going to have to work out the logistics of bed-sharing or bed-hopping or whatever. It might be a king-sized mattress, but it wouldn't hold all five of us every night.

In the kitchen mom had turned on the one rationed light we'd rigged up to run off of the small battery bank of the solar kit. Then she went back out wrapped in a blanket to make minty tea at the stove in the moon-lit yard. Still naked, Delandra lay the papers on the floor in order, pushing the table to the side. I was so eager to know what she'd decoded that I nearly didn't notice her firm body's feline movements, or the fruity ripeness of her breasts as she bent down. Somewhere they registered, though. I got halfway hard again under my kilt. Dad had dragged on his overalls and leaned over her.

"I think this is the beginning," he said, "move those to the end." In about forty sheets of paper we had magical evidence that we five weren't alone. "Look, here's something." He pointed to a series of letters that almost made sense. I saw down at the end: r,e,s,p,o,n,d,1,4,5,m,h,z, then there was a blank. "I think they're asking for an answer at 145 megahertz," said dad. "That's a radio frequency. I guess for ham radio?"

"How do we respond?" Delandra asked.

"We don't have the equipment to do that," he said, rubbing his forehead. "I think this first part is a location. Look, m,i,n,o,t,a,f,b is maybe Minot, Air Force Base in North Dakota."

"Whoa," I said, "shit, that's a long way from here."

"Yeah, but it would be equipped to support hundreds in a crisis, maybe thousands. If survivors happened to be there they'd have plenty of resources."

"How many are there?" I wondered.

"No idea," sighed dad, looking pained, "see, what's this - j-u-n-t-g-r-e-c-o...unless it's another language. But there's no context and I can't figure what the s-m-s-e-8 in front or the 3,9,9 after it might mean."

We followed the signal for two more hops up in frequency and decided that the short message was all we were going to get. Reluctantly, we agreed to sleep and return to the puzzle in the morning. Dad joined Delandra upstairs in my old bedroom and Beth and mom and I nested in the parent's bed. It had been a doubly surprising day.

********

As I drifted up from a deep sleep a dream of flying evaporated into the morning air. I felt my mother stir behind me, her back nestled against my butt. Our connection was really warm and she reluctantly pulled herself out of bed. In my arms Beth pressed back against my body, morning wood twitching between us. She squirmed against me.

"Are we all going to do it again today?" Beth asked sleepily.

"If you like," I whispered into her ear, her black hair tickling my lips. She giggled and wriggled. I pulled her slight body back into mine and thought about how easy it would be to roll her over on her tummy, hold her down with my bull body, ease her legs apart and sink my cock in her. But I wouldn't do that. I remembered the astounding feeling of finishing in her last night and the patience that she had yielded to. Now she was asking for more? As you wish, princess, as you wish, I thought. Out loud I said, "You just say where, with who and when..."

"I'm hungry," she mumbled, "for food first. And I've gotta pee." I kissed the back of her warm neck and she dragged herself away to stand and wrap herself in the blanket. A little monk, she shuffled to the bathroom. It would have been mean to make her walk to the privy where I went in the cold, dewy dawn.

I met dad on his way back, deep in thought. I yawned.

When he noticed me he said, "There's no broadcast this morning. Not yet anyway. I'm thinking about the message...what's the significance of the numbers three-ninety-nine?"

"You want me to think first thing in the morning?" I went on down toward the privy and left him to puzzle it out. Part of being so alive in my body now was really enjoying a good piss. I spread apart the kilt, pulled out my hose, half hard, crusty with sex juices, and let it run, full and long and steaming beside a tree, listening to the symphony of birdsong and the shush of the breeze in the leaves. A thousand shades of green and some early fall reds and yellows sparkled in the forest. Then I had a thought - what if the numbers were a total of something, like people? Could there be 399 people at Minot Air Force Base? Wait, there's 365 days in a year...how long has it been since the event? I did some quick math and realized I wasn't sure what day it was. I shook off and hurried back to the kitchen.

With dad at the table I shared my thought. We checked the wall calendar he'd found at the Dollar Store. September 27. It wouldn't be impossible for our tally to be off, but it looked pretty close to 399 days since that awful August afternoon. "Well, we can test your hypothesis by listening and seeing if the number changes to four-hundred," said dad, looking gratified. "Good thinking, Jack."

"So the message gives us a where, a something unknown and a when?" I thought about that resonance - just what I wanted from Beth - where, who, when - Minot had sent to us. "Maybe the middle part is a who. But s-m-s-e-8-j-u-n-t-g-r-e-c-o doesn't easily make sense no matter how you look at it."

"Whoever's tapping this out for hours each night I suppose would want to keep it basic." observed dad. "Easier to do without mistakes."

"I'm guessing if it were me and I'd been sending every day for a year I'd be getting pretty dismayed. I don't know if I could do this completely alone. I could be getting sloppy."

Dad said, "If there's more than one, maybe they take turns."

Mom came in with fried eggs and said, "You're both inventing a whole world from some skimpy dots and dashes? Sure that's wise?"

"You probably feel the same urge to try to respond as we do, don't you?" my father asked. "There's another human being reaching out. Can't ignore that, can we?"

"Just keep your speculation realistic, OK? Let's eat."

When the girls joined us at the table, back to t-shirt and flannel, it was with a new, relaxed demeanor. And there was some excited anticipation buzzing between us.

"Before play, work," my mother dictated with a reluctant sternness when we finished eating. Funny how the apocalypse didn't change some things.

There were chores to do, of course. And we each had something vital to contribute to the fall harvest and storing of food. My root cellar was cool and filling with potatoes nested in dry, brown grass. Dad was working side-by-side with my mother to plant the green mulch for the winter. As I moved the dried spuds into the cellar I wondered if we could ever take down larger game, even a fawn. I'd wasted a few days just trying to get close to the local deer, but I didn't have any kind of weapon to kill with except one of those pointed sticks dad made. The deer stayed out of reach, if not out of sight. That was frustrating. Maybe we could trap some rabbits and breed them. How hard could it be?

I'd read that young boys in rural Ireland used to be able to kill rabbits by throwing stones. I couldn't imagine ever having that skill without taking time away from something more productive. They say that we and dogs teamed up really early in human development because we both liked to scavenge carcasses. How dead would something have to be before it was too dead to eat? Maybe we could find a dog to keep the deer and groundhogs out of the garden. And to give the bear and wild boar pause if they came around. My thoughts just wandered like that for most of the morning as the sun rose to pierce our clearing with its warming light. See, I didn't think about sex all the time...

But, with that sun on my naked shoulders and my body alive with work...and three healthy women close by, my thoughts did turn lusty. I stood in the sun above the cellar and watched for a minute. I realized that somewhere in my brain I always kept track of where the women were. I knew that earlier they'd all had a convo in the bathroom and that while I loaded the cellar my mother was bent low in the garden. Delandra was orbiting over in the berry patch and Beth drifted from the kitchen to the garden where the last of the crookneck squash were ready to harvest.

Now I stopped to really look at them. Beth tiptoed around in a long t-shirt again, pricked with her fat nipples, her hair in a high, short spray of a ponytail. She does kinda walk a little bow-legged this morning, I thought semi-proudly. I got semi-hard thinking about her slick insides sliding up and down my pole and the look of amazement in her eyes. I guess as much as anything a man wants to feel competent, like he's good at something. This abundance of horniness we were all feeling left no room for jealousy or greed. I didn't feel possessive of Beth as her 'first'. I'd be as happy to bed Delandra and watch dad do Beth.

Delandra's lean and buxom body was caressed by her favorite flannel shirt. She was uber-careful in the thorny bushes, but occasionally one of the thorns pulled her shirt away and she accidentally flashed us all. I noticed that she had an eye on me, too. Our turn was coming.

And my mother still kept my attention. Her ripening body pulled mine into its irresistible gravity well without my even looking at her. I sensed her presence and my soul leaned in her direction. It was still the most powerful relationship in my life. She and dad were toiling as a team here in our brave, new world, just as I'd known them to do in the before times. His parti-colored, masculine firmness balanced her growing softness.

Honestly, we weren't as focused on our work as we could have been. That physical pull toward each other was distracting. Well before our lunch break Beth came to me and in her demure way said, "Let's do it again right now." She wrapped both arms around me and pressed close.

"Is this what you women were talking about in the bathroom earlier?" I asked, bemused.

Delandra noticed and came to join us. "What am I missing?" she teased, "You ready to share this hillbilly, girl?" The black woman wrapped her arms around us both.

Beth looked contrite and spoke into my chest, "Well, no, I think it's better to stay with one guy, like I said."

When Delandra crossed her arms and frowned, the asian girl said, "It's just that I hardly know Jack and I kinda feel like a slut already. In fact, maybe we skip the group sex and have some privacy today."

"Well, I'm not going to fight you, honey," sighed Delandra, looking pointedly at my kilt where my cock was tenting it, "But, I'm gonna get a turn."

"I'm not going to argue about that either," I said, "But I do want to point out that nobody here thinks you're a slut, Beth. Nobody in the world thinks you're a slut."

Dad looked up from his efforts and smiled at our conspiratorial trio.

My mother paused from hoeing, wiped her brow and stood tall, stretching her back. In just a skirt, the sight of her ripening mammaries brought a tingle to my groin. "There's a lot of veggies to deal with here..." She waved at the garden.

"Can't we skip the work for a day?" I asked. "I think there's a movement afoot to engage in some more baby-making." Mom looked like a teacher who'd lost control of her class.

"Yeah," said Delandra, "You said it's vital we take some of the responsibility off your back."

"Melonie," my father chuckled as he walked toward us, "Looks like it's time to invent democracy."

"When it's four to one?" laughed mom, "I say we seek unanimity on all matters that bear on the future of humankind." I couldn't tell if she was entirely joking. But she moved over to the couches that we'd left in the yard and sat on one, patting the seat beside her. "Please, let's at least talk about it first." She announced, chuckling, "family meeting, you horny fucking citizens!"

We others eagerly sat, too, not ready to stage an insurrection.

"Let's game out our fantasies about that signal from last night first," said mom, "then we can live out some of the sexual fantasies we've all got." She smiled all 'round. I relaxed with Beth sitting on my knee and Delandra curled in the crook of my father's arm, naked. She'd stripped off her flannel. He just held her and gently rubbed her back.

Mom said, "So...Ron, you said we should mount an expedition to find some electronics."

"Yep, and some textbooks or manuals to learn how to use it. I mean, I know the basics, but not how to build a transmitter from scratch." He absently rubbed Delandra as he spoke. She leaned over to whisper in his ear, pinching one of her own nipples.

"Jack, what's your thinking on this?" Mom turned to me. I was gratified to be asked. It felt like I was an equal partner now in our dystopian adventure.

"Well, dad's only gone about fifteen miles from here so far, but we know there's the county seat about sixty miles in the other direction," I tried to bring up my memory of our one paper USGS map. "Not knowing how many trees are down or culverts washed out I can't say exactly how long it would take to get there. Maybe four days to a week?"

"And longer to get back if you find what your father needs." said mom.

"Me?"

"Well, Jack, I'm pretty sure I'm due in May and I'm really into the nesting phase of this pregnancy," she said and held my hand on her warm, rounding belly. "We'd like your father to keep prepping us for winter and you and Delandra to make the journey to Middlesboro."

Beth looked at me, concerned. Apparently, mom and dad had thought this through while they worked. The small woman hugged me fiercely for a minute.

"But I haven't been farther than the ridge alone," I pointed out.

"Delandra's got a few hundred miles of travel under her belt. We think you'd make a good team."

Dad didn't seem inclined to argue. "Your mom's got six months...and you've got maybe six weeks til it gets cold enough to slow you down. This is your best window." Maybe he was thinking he'd be here with two women all to himself.

"Uhh," I cautioned, "are we sure that the world's supply of viable sperm should be put at risk?"

"If you're careful I'm sure you're no more at risk than here," said dad. "And you'll have plenty of opportunities to impregnate Delandra on the way..." He ran his hands over the black girl and cupped her breasts as if to offer her to me. She smiled broadly, but gave a sympathetic glance to Beth.

"Girl, you get all the lovin' you can from Jack today. Maybe when I get back we'll both be pregnant."

"Surely we can make that round trip in a couple of weeks," I said, thinking out loud about the logistics. "Even if we make a cart, like out of those two wheelbarrows maybe, and pulled it like mules." My musing was interrupted by Beth's slim hand snaking into my kilt to find my organ.

"I'm willing to bet you'll find something in Middlesboro to drag back here, so travel light on the way out. You'll also discover the conditions of the trail." Dad said, distracted by Delandra's leaning against him and beginning to nuzzle his ear. "So plan to get your kit together tonight and head out in the morning, OK?" Then they were kissing.

"Ron, honey," mom said, "there's a little something I've been wanting to try..." and she shooed me and Beth from the couch, "You two go on upstairs."

Beth jumped up and grabbed my hand, dragging me from my seat. I resisted, to see what mom and dad and Delandra were getting up to, but other than my mother's come-hither gesture to them my curiosity went unsatisfied. We scrambled up to my old bedroom.

The small girl pulled me up the stairs impatiently. Inside the door she turned and wrapped me in her arms, tight. She buried her face in my chest and whispered, "I'm afraid of disappearing, Jack. I'm afraid you'll disappear when you're gone and never come back."