NanoVirus by cmsix

Chapter 7

I decided I needed to give them a short pep talk. The joke on Jenna had been 'mostly harmless' but it had distressed her and it was actually very unfair of the others.

They were all adults and despite her near physical maturity, Jenna's emotions were still those of a bewildered teenager. I actually admired the camaraderie that had developed among the others, but I couldn't let it stand at Jenna's expense.

"I know that this was just a fairly harmless bit of teasing among you. I really hope it was the sort of thing a bunch of older sisters would pull on a younger one; but we don't have the luxury of pulling these little stunts on each other. We have to be careful, at least for a while, not to offend or hurt or anger each other.

"Everywhere I ever worked, while I was in the real world, women would invariably form little groups. If there were only two women things always went fine, but if there were three, two would band together against one and pick on that one.

"If there were more women, it only made for larger groups but it always ended up with a larger group picking on a smaller one. I'd always thought it was some leftover ancient tribal ritual or some form of race memory and just laughed at it before.

"We can't afford to let that happen now; I won't let it happen. We'll have to consider our 'family' our group and save the teasing for other groups we may encounter later.

"In the workplace, shenanigans like this could only affect a person's job. Now it can affect their life or ability to keep living.

"We have to cling together and protect each other. I'm not trying to take the fun out of our new lives; I'm just trying to make sure all of us have as much fun as we can with all of us enjoying it.

"Jenna would you please go into the kitchen and make some coffee? You'll be receiving a few visitors in a moment," I said.

I had wondered that Diane, Jenna's mother, had gone along with the joke. I guess it just didn't seem as serious to her as it did to me. I could see at once by the way she was looking at me now that I had been mistaken.

There was utter devotion to me plastered across her face and I knew that I had just become her hero. I tried to ignore it since I wasn't through.

"I am not trying to be mean or bossy; but I'm afraid you've hurt Jenna's feelings more than you realized. We'll all go back to work now but I expect each of you to visit Jenna, one at a time, and assure her that no real meanness was intended."

We went back to work, except Nancy, who went into the house at once. As we finished the sorting process, I kept a watch, and all the women went to see Jenna for a few minutes.

I could tell they'd all cried during their visits and I was glad that Diane went last. Jenna must be a wreck after the whole thing. Luckily the work lasted longer than the talks.

After Diane came back, red eyed but smiling, I went into the house and found Jenna in the kitchen. She was facing away from me and didn't hear me approach.

"Is the coffee ready?" I asked.

Jenna seemed to freeze for a moment, then she turned around and looked into my eyes. Hers were puffy and red rimmed but gleaming. She charged me, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me to her with all her strength.

"I can't believe how much I love you," she said, "My own daddy wasn't as good to me as you've been. I feel like you're my daddy now and I'm just so happy."

"That's wonderful Jenna, I love all of you women too, even though some of us have just met, but I'll admit that I'm not feeling so fatherly toward you right now," I said, trying to sound cute as I dropped my hands to her tight little ass and pulled her to me.

Jenna wasn't repulsed; she latched her lips to mine and invaded my mouth with her tongue. She mashed her breast against my chest and jumped up to wrap her legs around my waist again. She began slowly grinding her sex against my abdomen. Finally she relinquished the kiss and put her mouth by my ear.

"You are my daddy now though and you know they say incest is best," she said, whispering it in my ear in her sexiest little girl voice.

Jenna pulled back to look into my eyes again.

"It won't be long now but I'm counting the days," she told me, seriously.

She hopped down off me then and scrambled to get a mug of coffee; then she dug around in the cabinets and found a package of cookies and opened them, putting them on the counter in front of me.

I told her that if I'd had any idea I could have hoped for this kind of service, I'd have chewed the others out a lot sooner, and I was thinking about going out to lay into them again.

This broke the tension and she was soon laughing so uncontrollably I was afraid she'd loose her breath. It wasn't that what I'd said was so funny, she was just on edge, emotionally, and the little joke had tipped her over into laughter.

All in all, I was a little proud of myself for the whole thing. I drank my coffee and ate a few cookies then patted Jenna's ass and kissed her before going back out to the garage.

When I returned, I could tell that we were close to finishing. I asked Janet to go see Jenna and explain to her how to get started with the pills.

"Do you need to examine her or anything like that?"

"It's a normal part of starting someone on the pill, but I've always been her doctor and there won't be any problems. She'll start as soon as her next period is over," Janet said, snagging a couple of packages of the pills as she headed into the kitchen.

We finished what we could do in the garage for the night. The women had gone into the house and I'd just closed the doors. It was about nine thirty, the sky was clear and the moon was bright. There were streetlights in my subdivision and they were still working.

I was just about to enter the house when I heard a shotgun go off. It wasn't right on us but it probably wasn't more than a couple of blocks away; then I heard two shots from a handgun.

They were close together and I thought they must have come from a semi-auto. Guessing, I thought they were probably from a nine millimeter, but I was guessing.

I went into the house and the women were standing in a bunch, looking at me. I could tell they were frightened so I told them to turn off all the lights and get their side arms and holsters. They scattered to obey.

There was some initial scrambling around and it took about three or four minutes before almost all the lights were off and the women were back in the living room, armed.

Most of them were fooling around, trying to put on their web belts and holsters. I told them to forget putting on their holsters for now and just lay on the floor facing the windows, and shoot anyone they saw approaching that wasn't me.

I went through the house, room by room, looking for anything that might be giving off light. I unplugged clocks and radios and two night-lights. In the living room, I unplugged the VCR and the DVD player and then I just unplugged the power strips they were all plugged into.

In my study I unplugged the computer system's power strips from the battery backup and threw a nearby blanket over the battery backup. Its light would stay on until the battery was completely dead and if I unplugged it, the alarm would beep every minute for the duration. Satisfied that we were blacked out, I returned to the living room.

I made sure they could all hear me and then divided their responsibilities as to which window or entrance to cover. There were no doors for the hall so I had Jana and Beverly watch where it entered the main part of the house. I reminded them that anyone that came in through any of the bedroom windows would have to enter the main house that way.

I had Jenna watch the front entrance and told Diane and Janet to watch the garage door and study door, which I'd closed. I asked Nancy to get a shotgun and watch the kitchen, which had a rear entrance door and a sliding glass door onto the patio.

I gave Karen the living room windows and told Diane and Janet that they would probably hear it if anyone tried to enter the garage or the study; since they would have to either break a window to get into the study or raise a door to get into the garage. I reminded them all not to shoot each other and not to shoot me when I returned.

Back in my bedroom, I put on a dark, long-sleeved shirt and then strapped on my web belt with the Glock, putting a couple of extra clips in one back pants pocket. Taking an M16 with a full clip and putting another clip for it in my other back pocket, I got a small Mag light that had fresh batteries and headed for the door.

Giving the women last minute instructions to shoot to kill at anyone who kept approaching after one warning. I wished them luck and slipped out the kitchen entrance. I heard another shotgun blast just after I closed the door.

I moved off toward the sound of the shotgun staying back from the street and the streetlights. I moved through yards and stayed close to, and in the shadows of, the houses. I had not made a survey to see if anyone was still alive living near me, and now I cursed myself for that failure. The houses were mostly dark but a few had lights on. I felt like they had probably just been left on. I nearly pissed my pants the first time a light came on from a motion detector but; I realized what it must be and fled the light. I heard a shot from the handgun and I could tell I was getting closer.

I knew I would have to cross the street. I did it now so I wouldn't have cross in the light when I was in shotgun range. I ran but tried to do it quietly. I moved into the shadows of the houses on this side praying I wouldn't come across anymore automatic lights. I was grateful that fences weren't popular for front yards in this suburb.

When I'd passed through two more yards I thought I heard someone speaking and with another yard crossed I could hear plainly.

"Just throw out the gun, lady and come out. You know you don't want to shoot me. Just throw out the gun. You can't live by yourself. You know you need me."

"Just leave me alone."

I couldn't see the woman but easily saw the man with the shotgun. He was lying halfway in a gate entrance to a backyard with a high brick privacy fence. I guess he thought he saw some movement or thought he could tell where she was; since he raised the shotgun to his shoulder and fired.

I moved as quietly as I could just after the shot. I knew it would take several seconds before he could hear properly again. I had already made sure the M16's safety was off and that it was set to single fire. I could see him clearly in the light from a streetlight. He rose as if to fire again. I shot him through the right shoulder. The one he had the shotgun butt raised to.

He screamed and slumped to the ground. I told him to be still if he wanted to live at least a few more minutes. He didn't move.

"Are you all right lady?" I yelled.

Nothing but silence for nearly two minutes. Then she said that she was not hurt but that she was scared. Then she added that she had a gun. I told her I had wounded the man that had been shooting at her and that I wanted to disarm him. I asked her to please not shoot me while I was at it. She said she wouldn't.

"Throw the shotgun away from you with your good arm. Grab it by the barrel and just throw it. If you surprise me I'll shoot you again." I told the wounded man.

He did as I said and then I saw he was reaching for something that was under him. He was moving his hand slowly and trying to get it under his body. I didn't feel like fucking with him any more so I just shot him in the back of the head. Then I did it again for luck.

"What was that?" She screamed from the back yard somewhere.

"I had to kill him. He was trying for a different gun." I explained.

"Who is he?" She asked.

"I don't know. I came when I heard the shooting. I thought you would know."

"I don't know him. I was driving around looking for a place to buy some food and he just started following me. I drove around trying to get away from him. I didn't have much gas and when my car ran out I got out and ran. He kept telling me to stop or he would shoot me. Finally he shot at me. I turned and shot twice and he quit following me for a minute and I ran in here. He kept telling me to throw out my gun and come with him. I probably would have if he hadn't already shot at me. I don't want to be by myself; but I was sure he was going to kill me anyway after he already shot at me." She told her story.

Well fuck! Another woman alone. I couldn't force myself to abandon her if she wanted help. I wondered about her attacker. If there were so many more men than women left; what was he doing spending all afternoon chasing just one that didn't want to go with him. Fuck it, it had been his problem and now it was nobody's.

I told her that I had other women staying with me and that I lived just down the street. I said that she was welcome to come with me if she wanted and that we would take her in. I explained that we were all trying to take care of each other.

She was scared. She was alone and she had been pursued by an armed man. She had been shot at and she was just scared. She didn't say so but once. She didn't go on about how awful things had been for her but I'm sure they had been. She was just scared and didn't know what to do. She couldn't make up her mind to come out. Since she had a gun I sure as hell didn't go to her.

I talked to her for a couple of hours trying to reassure her and calm her down. I explained that we had enough food and that some of the women were doctors and if she was hurt or sick they would help. She wasn't hurt or sick but she wasn't coming out either.

Finally I was just tired of it all. I told her that if she changed her mind she could just come down the street and try to find us. I told her to come to the house with the Bluebird RV parked in front. I cautioned her to make sure she announced her presence when she got there, as we were all shaken up from the gunfire.

I should have done it an hour ago. I hadn't gone three steps before she called to me and asked me to wait. She asked me if I wanted her to throw her gun out first and I told her no. I just asked her not to point it at me. When she came into the light I got an inkling of why the dead guy might have been following her.

She was tall. Probably five ten. She was not a skinny five ten either. She wasn't fat but she was a big woman. She had large breast from what I could tell in the poor light and her face looked lovely, though it was tensed with nervousness. I began to think that I might have been correct about only beautiful women surviving. She was holding some type of semi-automatic in her hand. She didn't have a holster for it with her so she just had to hold it. I asked her to turn her head since I wanted to check out the corpse. She did.

Dead guy had a revolver in his waistband. I saw it when I turned him over. I put it in my waistband and found nothing else of interest on him. I checked the shotgun and it was a Remington Model 1100 so I took it with me.

Her name was Sharon. She had been a high school teacher. History mostly. She lived in some apartments in another part of town and she didn't know anyone else alive. She had stayed in her apartment and hadn't ventured out until she was completely out of food.

She had been looking for a food store or restaurant that was open. She didn't want to just break in. She had just about decided she was going to have to break in somewhere when dead guy had started following her. He had seen her when she was out of her car pulling on the door of a small grocery store. When she saw him getting out of his car to approach her she had gotten back into hers and left.

When we got back to the house I stood in the street in front of it. I wanted to make sure my harem didn't shoot us.

"Honeys, I'm home. I've brought a guest." I yelled at the house.

The front light came on and we approached the front door. It opened and manners aside I preceded Sharon into the house. I turned off the front door's light and switched on an inside light. I asked for coffee and Nancy got up to make some. I asked her to turn on the kitchen light and when she did I turned off the one I'd just turned on.

I introduced Sharon to everyone and led her to a couch in the living room. I asked her to tell them her story. I went and asked Nancy if she would mind fixing Sharon something to eat as she hadn't eaten today.

Nancy was happy to and went to ask Sharon what she would like. Turned out that everyone wanted a little something so Nancy fixed Sharon a sandwich to hold her till she and Karen could fix something more substantial for all of us to have a late meal. Sharon sat at the counter with her sandwich while Nancy and Karen were cooking.

I took this little pause to give the others a short course on buckling on their web belts and attaching the holsters. I helped them get the size adjusted for their waist and then I told them they could put them away for now and leave the handguns in the holsters. I suggested they just take off the belts, re-buckle them and hang them up like that for easy access.

While they were doing this I plugged the TV back up and CNN was still hanging in there. There was yet another new anchor babe and she also looked like a dream. It was already after midnight here and their spotty reports told them it was just more of the same starting on the east coast. Their best estimate was that the United States' population had settled to around ten million after last night's passage of the death line. Preliminary guesses after its trip across the Eastern Time zone projected it would be halved tonight. All the military personnel were now believed dead

She babbled on saying not much else of interest for about thirty minutes and then the signal just went dead. A quick flick of the remote found no other channels at all. I went to my stereo receiver and checked for FM radio stations and found none. Then I checked AM and I found a couple that would fade in for a word or two and fade back out. Oh well.

The food was ready by now and everyone tried mostly to get Sharon's story between bites. She seemed much more relaxed by now and wasn't having much trouble fitting in. I couldn't help but wonder how she would react when she saw the good morning kiss routine. Now that I could see her in better light I was just hoping she would really fit in and I would get to see her, in the morning, in nothing but a long T-shirt.

She was twenty-five and had only finished college and started teaching last year. She proclaimed herself a physical fitness 'nut' and said that she had even competed in aerobics contests. She said her size had hampered her but that she didn't really care about winning she just loved it for the competition.

I had never known there was an actual organized aerobics sport. Then I remembered I'd seen events like she was describing on ESPN a time or two. I had never paid them much attention except to look at the girls. I know that I had never seen any competitors of Sharon's stature. I would have remembered.

It suddenly struck me that Sharon had only the clothes she was wearing. I mentioned it to her and asked if she could get by until tomorrow. I told her we could go to her apartment now if she really needed to. She told me not to be silly and that surely she could get by until we could go during daylight.

Karen showed her the remaining bedroom and I considered everything fairly well settled. We'd finished eating and Jana and Beverly had taken care of the clean up. We declared it was bedtime and frankly I was tired.

The women headed for their rooms but I noticed that Karen took Sharon into the room with she and Nancy. I assumed they were going to talk with her for a while longer. I headed toward my room and Diane joined me. I guessed it was her 'turn'.

"I hope you don't mind too badly but I begged Karen to trade place with me." She said as if I was aware of the order that had been determined.

"Diane, I don't have any knowledge of the order that seems to have been worked out. I can tell you that a man that has objections after discovering you accompanying him to his bedroom would have to have serious mental defects." I told her smiling.

"My real turn wasn't for two more nights but I asked Karen to switch. I told her I didn't think I could wait that long to thank you for what you did for Jenna. I think she agreed because we all still felt a little guilty. I went along with it at first because I knew none of them meant any harm. I was feeling pretty bad about it after seeing how Jenna was reacting though. Then you spoke up and I just felt you were so wonderful about it."

"Diane you don't owe me any special thanks. I did it for us all. We have to remember that we are all together and we have to treat each other with even more respect and caring than we would have in the old world." I said.

"You may not think I owe you anything; but I intend to show you how much it meant to me anyway. If you'll let me." She promised.

"I'm yours then. Do with me as you will." I grinned.