by Sage du Toit
Tom picked her up and spun her around, sitting her on the edge of the bed. They ran their hands over each other’s bodies, enjoying the languid movements of the other caresses. Tom slowly undressed her, kissing each body part as it was exposed. Sam returned the favor, taking her time and lingering each time their lips reconnected. Once they were both fully undressed, Tom pushed her back on the bed and pulled her legs straight up and pushed himself slowly inside her. He teased her, moving in and out a little more each time until she was on the very edge. She was begging him and moaning his name, ready to explode. Finally, he plunged his hardness fully inside of her and pounded his rod faster and faster until he finally released just as she let herself go. She could feel him twitching deep inside of her as she squeezed him and felt the ultimate release. Sam wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him down on top of her for a deep kiss.
After a quick clean up and change into comfortable clothes, Sam checked on Lucky and the kittens, who had been safely tucked away in their trailer. She pulled the zippered enclosure fully open and lightly petted each sleeping feline. She decided to leave it open, they could come out and cuddle on the bed with them if they chose. As soon as Tom and Sam were snuggled up under the covers together, Sam felt Lucky jump on the bed and find the spot she liked to sleep, up against the small of Sam’s back.
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------
2 March 2021- Kittens 11 weeks old
Centreville, AL
For the next two weeks they fell into a routine with the new group. In the morning at breakfast they would take turns teaching sign language to the group. Of course, the children picked up on it faster than the adults. Gretchen was happy to help and she paid special attention to the children, because they were learning so fast. The children had always loved spending time with Grandma and the chickens and now with learning sign language they seemed to enjoy it even more.
The new group of women, as well as Tom and Sam, were also learning how the vertical garden worked and were helping to expand it. It wasn’t too complicated, once you understood how it worked, but Sam was surprised when she finally got her tour of the gardens and found out there were fish involved. The group had just started making adjustments to the system for the fish, after one of the members of the group, Janie, had mentioned that the local fish farm, where she had worked, still had live fish.
Now they were all learning about taking care of the tilapia and trout that were helping to fertilize the gardens. Janie and Maya had worked together to build the first garden and even though others had helped them work out some of the kinks, they were the main contributors to the set up. Neither of them had actually built one before, but both of them had previously done research into aquaponics and were excited to try it out. So far, the efforts were showing to be very fruitful. The garden was flourishing and the fish were too. They were planning their first fish dinner for this evening and everyone was looking forward to it! Tom was especially interested in the aquaponics system and spent most of his time helping with the garden and fish or assisting with expanding the solar panels that powered the system.
Sam spent most of her time helping Gretchen and learning all she could about the chickens. She was determined to take chickens with her to Texas and after talking to Mr. Banks and others in the group, they had agreed that the help Sam and Tom were providing to everyone had earned them chickens and much more.
Tom and Sam had decided that they wanted to get back out on the road as soon as possible. They had already spent more time traveling than they had expected. Their plans were to leave first thing the next morning. To help make up for all of the lost time, they were given one of the trucks. They were only going to take fuel and what would fit on the loaded bikes and trailers, but they were going to travel as far and as fast as they could in the truck before switching back to the bikes and trailers. If they could make it all of the way to their destination in Texas with the truck, they would.
Allen turned out to be a great mechanic, and he went over the truck with Tom. They removed all of the lights and replaced the muffler with a quieter one. He also tuned the motor and changed the oil. The truck was an older model, but after he was done, it almost purred. They had chosen that truck in particular because it had an extended cab and a cover over the bed of the truck. The bike trailers were collapsed down and the bikes carefully laid on their sides. It still left plenty of room for their supplies and fuel.
Gretchen had picked out six of the young chicks to go with them. She said they were four hens and two roosters, just in case something happened to one, they would have a back-up. Over the last two weeks they had eggs hatching almost every other day, so there were lots of chicks. Sam didn’t feel bad about taking half a dozen of them. After all, they had done a lot of work in helping the group. Sam had mentioned to Gus, the carpenter, that they were going to need a special crate to carry the chicks in while traveling and on the bikes. Sam had found that people could get very inventive when they had the right drive, and since there wasn’t much to do now, lots of people found that working to solve a problem was great entertainment.
Before she knew it almost everyone had given their input and ideas on what to do for a chicken carrier. Even Gretchen had gotten in on it and made some improvements to the plans to cover things they hadn’t thought of. Tom and Sam were both concerned about the increased weight to their load and had already decided that they didn’t need all of their items back from the group. They had originally had a lot of weapons that Tom was carrying in his bike trailer, so they decided they only needed their own personal weapons and ammo. Carrying the other weapons was just asking for trouble. They gave all of the guns and ammo they had, plus the weapons the convicts had, to the Centreville group.
This greatly reduced the load that Tom had been carrying in his trailer. They decided he would carry the chickens on his trailer. Gus made a carrying box that would fit inside of the trailer and could be removed easily. The box was made with galvanized wire and thin wood to decrease the weight. The bottom of the box was a removable tray that was filled with shavings to catch the chicks waste. There was a water bottle attached to the side of the cage and a feeder. One of the women made a breathable cover to go over the box to keep the chickens calm, if it was dark, they would most likely stay asleep most of the time. The ingenious part of the box was it could be expanded when they stopped, to give the chickens more room to move around and exercise.
Sam had offered to give the group one of the female kittens and they talked it over and everyone decided the remaining kittens would be better off staying together. They told Sam that once the kittens were grown and they had more babies, she could make a trip up to visit them and bring them a breeding pair. Until then, they would keep an eye out for any surviving cats or other animals in the area. Jacob, one of the men from the Centreville group claims to have seen a dog while out checking for survivors, but it had run away scared.
They had placed out as many live traps around the area as they could find. None of the survivor’s had been able to save their pets and after playing with the kittens, a lot of the people wanted to find companions for themselves. They had hopes after Jacob saw the dog, that other animals may have survived. So far, they hadn’t caught anything but two of the traps had been triggered and the bait was gone, but nothing was in the cage. There was a lot of speculation of what would be smart enough to take the bait and not get caught. Tom had checked both of the cages and the area, to look for tracks, but he hadn’t found anything, other than human foot prints.
Everything they were taking with them had been gathered and loaded in the truck, except for the last-minute items; the kittens, chickens, and their bugout bags. They had enough fuel to get them all the way to Texas. They had also gone over the map and planned their route. They were going to head almost directly west and try to avoid the big cities along the way. If they didn’t hit too many blocks in the road or trouble, they could make it there in
a day.
The fish dinner was ready and everyone was setting out plates and dishes. They had fried some of the fish and grilled some as well. There was salad, rice, fresh bread, and an assortment of canned vegetables as well as fresh. They tried to mix up and use non-perishables along with the perishables at each meal. There was also macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, several pies and a large cake. The large cake was decorated and said, ‘Safe Travels Tom & Sam’.
The cake was a surprise and when Sam saw it, she felt tears welling up. She had once again made close friends that she was leaving behind. Tom put his arm around her and pulled her close, whispering in her ear, “I know how you feel; we can stay if you want.” Sam had shaken her head no and dried her tears. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to settle down until she knew if her family had survived or not.
The meal was delicious and they even had wine, beer and mixed drinks for the adults. Sam had a glass of wine, but she didn’t want to overdo it and wake up tomorrow with a hangover. It would be a terrible way to start out their trip! Tom also refrained from drinking more than two beers, but several of the other adults did not refrain. Sam knew that people often drank to help relieve stress, and there had been no end to the stress since N-day.
Once everyone was done eating and had cake, they sent the children off to a large room in the house that had been set up for them to stay in for the night. The teenagers in the group were going to take care of the kids, and they had been provided with games and snacks to keep them entertained for the night. They had even hooked up a TV and DVD player so they could watch movies, something they hadn’t been able to do since N-day. The adults were going to take the occasion to drink and celebrate their successes and to send Sam and Tom off with a party in their honor.
Sam and Tom stuck close together and laughed at the antics of some of the intoxicated people. One of the men, Sam thought his name was Mark, brought out a guitar and played a little music. Occasionally someone would request a song, and if he knew it, he would play and everyone would sing along. Sam was reminded of the women she went to basic training with and how they would sing at night before going to bed.
Everyone was sitting around the glowing fire and singing along to an old song that Sam wasn’t too familiar with when there was a sudden scream. Everyone turned toward the scream and saw Maya and Meagan rolling on the ground fighting. Sam instantly knew the jealousy must have come to a head with the alcohol affecting their inhibitions.
The two women were separated and placed in chairs next to the fire. Someone brought out coffee for everyone, which Sam thought was a great idea and took a cup herself. Once everyone was settled down with a cup, Mr. Banks addressed the two women. “You both know we can’t have this type of behavior, we are a small group, and any type of fighting creates issues for everyone. We all knew this was going to come to head eventually…yes, we all saw this coming, and I should have addressed it before this happened. Neither of you are going to be punished for fighting, instead we are going to talk about it, in front of everyone!”
Neither of the women were hurt but both women were ashamed of fighting. Mr. Banks patted Maya on the back and told her it was time for her to talk about how she was feeling. Maya looked around at everyone and then paused as her eyes found Mitchell. She explained that she had feelings for Mitchell and that they had gotten really close while traveling and when he came back without his wife, she had thought they would become a couple. She looked down at her hands and explained that he was so distraught at not finding his wife and son that he had come to her for comfort and things happened between them. So, when his wife and son showed up, she was upset that she had just been thrown away like yesterday’s trash.
As Maya told how she was feeling, Meagan’s face went through several emotions, Sam could see anger, jealousy and then understanding. Meagan reached out and grabbed Maya’s hand. She told her she understood and explained that she had not known about the relationship, at which point she looked toward her husband, Mitchell, and said he never told her, and he should have. She explained that they were having issues of their own dealing with the things that had happened to her. She had been abused and raped so many times by her captors that she wasn’t doing well with her personal relationship with her husband. She looked down at her and Maya’s hands and explained that she had been sleeping on her son’s bed because she couldn’t stand to have Mitchell touch her yet, but they had been working on it.
Everyone listened quietly as each of the women opened their souls to the whole group. Sam thought the alcohol might still be having an effect on each of the women, they were being very honest and open about everything. Both women looked at Mitchell and Sam could see he was torn. He walked over to the two women and kneeled down in front of them and wrapped his hands around both of theirs. He apologized to Meagan for not telling her everything and then he apologized to Maya for making her feel like trash, she had been there for him during a very difficult time. He explained that he just didn’t know what to do. His wife had returned, damaged in a way that he didn’t know how to deal with and he had been concentrating on her and didn’t want to bring up something that could upset her.
Suddenly the three adults were in a three-way hug and everyone started clapping. Sam wondered what would happen now. She looked around at the group and realized how many more women than men there were. She had already noticed that some of the women had paired up with the single men. She thought it only made sense. They would need to propagate to rebuild the world, but what about the women without partners? At Fort Jackson some of the women had two partners, it was a new world and polygamy might be the way they would have to go for a while. It was also possible that if Maya joined Mitchell and Meagan, she could help Meagan overcome her trauma.
The party was starting to break up now that the drama was over with. Everyone pitched in to clean up and then couples started drifting off to their rooms. There was still a small group of people around the fire listening to Mark play his guitar. Sam and Tom decided to remain a little longer, they didn’t get much music these days and they both missed it. Mitchell, Meagan and Maya were also in the group around the fire.
Sam walked over and sat down next to Meagan and hugged her shoulders, asking her if she was ok. They talked quietly and Meagan said she was alright; she just didn’t know what to do. Sam glanced over at Mitchell and Maya who were both watching Mark play his guitar. They were sitting close to each other but not touching, Sam could see there was a tension there, like they wanted to touch but were refraining.
Meagan was explaining that she just couldn’t get over the revulsion of being touched in a sexual way and she had a lot to drink tonight, hoping it would help her get over it. Her husband had also indulged. She said she knew that Maya often avoided her but she didn’t know why so when she caught Mitchell and Maya kissing behind a tree, she had reacted without thinking. Sam asked her why she attacked Maya and not Mitchell, after all he was just as much to blame. Meagan bowed her head and said she didn’t know why, but she just didn’t like seeing another woman kissing her husband, even though she cringed when he touched her, she didn’t want him touching another woman.
Sam nodded and told her about the problems they had at Fort Jackson because the number of men outnumbered the women. She pointed out that they had the opposite problem here, with the women outnumbering the men. She pointedly looked at Mitchell and Maya. Sam paused for a minute and thought about how she would feel about sharing Tom with another woman, but she didn’t have the problems Meagan did. She looked straight at Meagan and suggested that maybe another woman in their bedroom could help her resolve her problems. It would at least reduce the pressure on her to be intimate with her husband.
Sam could see that Meagan had a sudden revelation. She didn’t want to lose her husband to another woman, but she hadn’t considered sharing him. Meagan looked over at Maya and Mitchell and then back at Sam with a sneaky grin. She nodded her head at Sam and thanked her, she gave her a hug and told her how
much she was going to miss her.
Sam went back to sit with Tom and not long after, she saw Meagan stand up and take her husband’s hand. She reached out with her other hand for Maya’s hand and after a moment of surprise, she took it. The three walked away from the fire and toward the house. The few people left in the group around the fire, watched them as they walked away, then they all exchanged nods of approval.
The last of the people decided to call it a night and the fire was put out and the last of the cups and bottles were cleaned up. They put out the lantern’s and lights as they went and as they walked into the house, they could hear the TV in the kids’ room, still playing a movie. Sam recognized the song from a popular animated movie and she was tempted to go in and watch it, but it was late and they wanted to get an early start tomorrow.
Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------
3 March 2021
Centreville, AL
They woke up bright and early the next morning. They decided to shower first and then pack the last of their gear. The kittens and Lucky sensed that something was going on and they were running around the bedroom playing and very excited. Sam encouraged them to play, soon they would be trapped inside the pet carrier in the cab of the truck. They had considered letting them lose inside the cab of the truck while traveling, but realized if they had to get out quickly, it would be too hard to gather then kittens, so better off to just keep them confined for the short time they would be traveling.
Once they were packed, they put Lucky and her kittens inside the plastic pet carrier they were going to use in the truck and then grabbed their bugout bags and another bag that had extra clothes and supplies. They were both loaded down but trying to be as quiet as possible. They knew that after last night, some of the people would be waking up with headaches. They made it down the stairs and looked into the kitchen.