“Ah, about time you arrived, youngin.” The Colonel smiled at him and gestured for him to come over. “I’m showing these two a video of the last thing our outdoor surveillance system picked up before it went offline.”
Jack nodded and then wordlessly climbed the steps to join the group. His mom and Molly were both wearing matching outfits, the same military fatigue pants that he had on, but with tank tops on over them that clung tightly to their large, well-formed breasts.
“I’ve scanned these recordings myself, many times.” Jessica was the one sitting in the chair in front of the screen. She tapped something out on the keyboard, and then glanced back at him, smiling.
“Fast forward up to ten seconds before the impact,” said the Colonel.
Jessica nodded and clicked around with her mouse. The landscape shown on the screen was totally unrecognizable to Jack. It was dark, but he could still make out what was there, grass, roads, people, and houses. It served as a solemn reminder of how total the damage had been, for Jack to have not seen even a hint of any of it on his way through.
“Wait for it… wait for it…” The Colonel pointed right at the screen right as the perspective began to shake. “There. This is, I assume, right after the asteroid hit.”
The amount of shaking was enough to make it impossible to tell what was going on. Something crumbled from above, and for a moment, the camera’s view was blocked by dirt. The shaking continued, and it cleared up again, a little blurrier than it had been before.
“My god,” whispered Rebecca.
There was nothing left on the screen. The houses that had been visible on the horizon were little more than collapsed ruins. The grass was still on the ground, cracks had formed in the roads, and it looked as though a medium sized avalanche had buried an area on the edge of the mountain.
“Fast forward to the fire,” said the Colonel. Jessica nodded and began working the computer again.
The video returned to normal speed, and a couple of uneventful seconds passed by. Jack could see what was happening right as it began. Streaks of fire began to crisscross against the night sky, lighting up the land and creating a spectacle similar to a fireworks show, except magnitudes of order greater.
“It’s the ejection debris,” whispered Molly. “I saw it from up in the station, but… it wasn’t like this.”
The air itself looked as though it was changing color, turning orange, and then red. The grass ignited, the roads looked like they were on the verge of melting, and the houses in the distance became raging bonfires, trash pushed into an atmospheric incinerator. And then the image cut out.
Colonel Taylor let out a sigh and then turned back towards the group.
“That video represents the full extent of what we know is going on in the outside world.” He smiled at Jack and the women. “Part of the reason why I’ve welcomed the three of you down here is to get a sense of what you know, and what you’ve seen.”
“We haven’t seen much,” said Jack. “Or rather… there isn’t much left to see.”
Colonel Taylor smiled mournfully.
“Yes… hmmm, well, I figured that might be the case.” He shook his head as though forcing away intruding thoughts, and then glanced down at his wristwatch. “It’s getting late. Private Bradford, where are we at on supper preparations?”
Jessica stood up and saluted the old commander.
“Sir! I prepared some of the fresh food we have, as requested. We can eat as soon as you say the word.”
“The word!” Colonel Taylor instantly broke out into laughter at his own joke. He seemed to be in good spirits as he stepped down from the staging area and began leading them into the mess hall.
The smell of the food reached Jack’s nose as soon as the heavy door to the dining area had swung open. The table in the center of the room was filled with plates of steak, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and two delicious looking pies.
“Oh my god…” Jack stood gaping at the arrangement. He looked over at his mom and Molly and saw that they were similarly awestruck.
“We have a couple of fridges devoted to storing fresh food for the personnel on base.” The Colonel was smiling, clearly pleased by the reactions of his guests. “There’s only so much that Private Bradford and myself can eat per day, and we don’t want it to go to waste. And every refrigerator we can unplug improves our energy efficiency.”
“Thank you,” said Rebecca. “This means a lot to us, Colonel Taylor.”
The Colonel was beaming.
“But of course, my dear. Tending to your needs is part of my extended mission.”
The group found their way over to the table and everyone took a seat. Colonel Taylor positioned himself right across from Jack, with Jessica at his side. Molly and his mom sat on either of Jack’s arms.
Jack felt stupid picking up the knife and fork. It had been just long enough since he’d used one of either for the process to begin to feel a little unwieldy and ridiculous. He stabbed into the steak with the fork, watching as juice and steam vented out of it, and then slowly began cutting.
“Why are you being so kind to use?” Molly’s question surprised Jack, coming just as he was popping a delicious piece of steak, full of flavor and cooked to perfection, into his mouth.
The Colonel shrugged his shoulders. He leaned over to Jessica and whispered something into her ear, and the Private stood up and left the table.
“Would you believe that it’s all out of the kindness of my heart?”
Molly looked to Jack and his mom for support. Rebecca was frowning, and digging into her plate with tiny, efficient bites.
“I think Molly is just a little surprised,” said Jack. “We all are. We weren’t expecting anything like this to be waiting for us. It’s a little hard to believe.”
“Just take it at face value,” said the Colonel. “Sometimes, things are just what they seem.”
“Is this really one of those times, Colonel?” Rebecca asked the question with a more authoritative and accusatory tone than either Jack or Molly had been able to manage. “We’ve met other people before in our time on the outside. Not everyone’s mentality is geared for the greater good.”
Colonel Taylor’s posture was eerily still, and he had the tiniest hint of a patronizing smile on his face. Jack was still waiting for him to answer his mom’s question when Jessica arrived back at the table.
“Would anybody care for some wine?” She held the bottle in one hand and wiggled it back and forth triumphantly. The discussion at the table was put aside as Molly and Rebecca eagerly nodded their heads.
“Jack?” Jessica turned to him next, smiling so cheerfully that it was hard not to picture her as a waitress in a previous life. “Wine?”
Jack glanced at his mom. Rebecca frowned, but shrugged her shoulders after a second.
“The world has ended,” she said. “It would be a little cruel of me to keep you from having a glass of wine at the dinner table.”
Jack grinned, and Jessica passed him a wine glass that was filled a little bit more than he was expecting. The conversation shifted into lighter territory as the group continued the meal, and the reminisced about the past, TV shows, music, and irony.
After about an hour and another two glasses of wine, dinner began to wind down. Jack was laughing at a joke Molly had told about astronaut body odor up on the space station when Colonel Taylor stood up and folded his arms behind his back.
“It’s time for us to wind down for tonight,” he said. “I will show you to your rooms. And, about what we talked about before…”
Colonel Taylor waited until all of them had stood up from the table. His face shifted, and he suddenly looked a lot less like an accommodating host, and more like the military commander he was at heart.
“Everything I do is the sake of humanity, for the sake of preserving the future. The real reason I brought the three of you into my base is because you’re the only three people I’ve seen in over a week, other than Private Bradford. Saving you an
d protecting you is one part of keeping humanity going.”
Jack didn’t say anything.
“That’s very sweet of you, Colonel,” said Rebecca. “We understand where you’re coming from.”
He smiled, and his persona softened a little.
“Follow me.”
The group’s first stop was across the main operations room, back in the bunk hall. Colonel Taylor turned to face them after he’d gone through the last heavy door and gestured to the bunks.
“Molly and Rebecca, you may pick whichever beds you like,” he said. “They are nothing special, but-“
“Compared to what we’ve been sleeping on for the past few days, uh, yes, yes they are.” Molly was rubbing her hands together with childlike excitement.
“There should be a couple that were unclaimed even back when the base was filled with soldiers down at the end,” said Jessica. “Come on, I’ll show you where they are.”
As they moved to head down to the other end of the room, Colonel Taylor set a hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“You’ll be in the Staff Sergeant’s room, Jack. For the sake of giving the women a bit of privacy.”
Privacy. Another one of those things that I used to take for granted.
Molly and his mom walked over to him.
“Night, Jack,” said Molly. She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, and then winked. “Sleep tight.”
“Goodnight, sweetie.” His mom was next, and she pulled him into a tight, bosomy hug. Jack felt his body instantly reacting to her being against him, especially with her wearing the thin, military tank top.
“Goodnight,” said Jack. His body was a little excited when he finally did pull away, but what was even stranger to him was the way Colonel Taylor watched them. He was smiling slightly, and something behind his eyes looked like it was analyzing, and calculating.
“Goodnight, Jack,” said Jessica. “It was nice meeting you!”
“Come on then,” said the Colonel. “Let me show you to your room, Jack.”
Jack followed behind him, suddenly feeling a little drunk from the wine he’d had at dinner. He smiled to himself.
I know I should be used to sudden change by now, but this is still unreal.
CHAPTER 9
Colonel Taylor opened another heavy metal door at the end of the hall and then stepped in through it. A medium sized room lay behind it and a quick glance at the posters on the wall and the pictures on the table was enough to tell Jack that someone had lived in it up until a short time ago.
“All of the personal effects belong, or rather, belonged, to Sergeant Dolan.” Colonel Taylor let out a tired sigh. “He was a good man. But he enjoyed taking his leave, just like all the rest.”
“Do you want me to leave his stuff, or-“
“No.” Colonel Taylor shook his head. “No. You can do whatever you want with it.”
Jack nodded. He wasn’t sure what to say. Colonel Taylor was staring at one of the walls in the room, and he looked like he was a million miles away.
“Uh, thank you, Colonel Taylor,” said Jack. “You’ve done so much for us. I just want you to know that we really, really appreciate it.”
“Sit down, Jack.”
There was a double sided desk in the room with two chairs on either end of it. Jack sat down in one of them, and Colonel Taylor took the other, directly across from him. The Colonel set his elbows on the table and connected his fingers into a steeple.
“What do you think of the world that we live in?”
What do I think… of the world we live in?
“I guess…” Jack chewed on his bottom lip. “I haven’t thought much about it. It’s terrible, and harsh, and barren. The only thing I’ve thought about is surviving, and protecting the people close to me.”
“Would you be willing to make sacrifices in the name of making it better?”
Where the hell is he going with these questions?
“Yeah, of course,” said Jack. “I’ve already talked about this with my stepmom and Molly.”
The word ‘stepmom’ slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. The gleam that passed across one of the Colonel’s eyes made Jack’s stomach twist.
“Stepmom? So you and Rebecca… the two of you aren’t related by blood?”
“She’s the only mother I’ve ever known, Colonel,” said Jack. “Technically, we aren’t related by blood, but-“
“Jack, you’re a smart boy. I know you can see just as easily as I can that the world is now a pretty fucked up place. It’s barren, just as you said, of all human life. “
He’s been thinking about this from the exact same angle as us.
“I am also barren,” said the Colonel. “Sterile. Ineffective. Defunct in the erectile sense.”
What the hell?
“Jack, I’m not going to press you on any of this tonight,” said the Colonel. “You’re here now, in a safe place. And you have managed to survive in a world that’s killed everyone else.”
“Colonel, you don’t have to be coy,” said Jack. “I know what you’re getting at.”
“I don’t think you do.” The Colonel smiled mournfully. “A new society is going to form in the wake of this destruction. The two questions at hand are how long it will be before it does, and what kind of people will seed it.”
The Colonel paused, and gave Jack a stern, serious look.
“Are you a good person, Jack? Are your mother, and your friend Molly, good people? Is… Private Bradford a good person?”
Jack just stared back at him, his jaw hanging open. The Colonel smiled and then stood up from the desk.
“Goodnight, Jack,” he said as he walked out of the room. “Think about what we just talked about.”
The metal door closed heavily, and Jack heard the handle spin on the other side.
Just what the hell did we talk about?
Jack took a minute to look around the room before settling in. There was a small door in the back that led to a private bathroom, sans shower and bathtub. The dresser was filled with clothes, most of them standard military issue, but with some casual stuff mixed in. Most of it was about the right size for him, too, and Jack wondered if it would be inappropriate for him to wear some of it.
On the bed stand next to the bunk, there was a picture of a rather attractive woman, smiling. Jack picked it up and carried it over to the dresser, looking at it for a moment before tucking it away into one of the drawers.
This was somebody’s room, somebody with a life, loved ones, and a purpose.
He sighed, and walked over to the entrance of the room to turn the light off, pulling his shoes off as he went. Jack was a lot more tired than he’d realized, and after stripping off his shirt and pants, he climbed under the sheets of the bed and closed his eyes.
“Honey? Are you still awake?”
Jack stirred in his sleep. He felt groggy and still a little drunk from the wine. He wasn’t sure at first if he was dreaming or not. A dim light shined into his room from the cracked open door, and he could make out the figure of his mom slipping into the room.
“Yeah,” said Jack. “I’m awake.”
Rebecca closed the door behind her as gently as she could, the sound of the heavy metal latch catching still making a decent amount of noise. Jack reached over to the bed stand and fumbled for the light. It gave off only the barest amount of illumination, but it was enough for him to see that his mom had changed out of her military clothes and into a small, one piece nightie.
“Where’d you get that?” he asked. “The nightgown.”
Rebecca giggled.
“Jessica helped us find some clothes,” she said, softly. “There were a couple of other female soldiers in the unit. They had some casual stuff mixed in with the uniforms they’d been issued.”
Jack nodded. A tense silence hung in the air as his mom made her way over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it.
“Jack…” Her voice was little more than an emotion tinged whisper.
“I wanted to talk to you about this. I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest. Jessica seems nice, but the Colonel… I can’t help but feel like he’s hiding his true intentions.”
As Jack leaned up a little in his bed, he realized that he was sporting an intense erection in between his legs. He shifted the sheets in an attempt to downplay it, though he was sure that his mom had already seen it.
“I talked to him for a couple of minutes, right before bed,” said Jack. “I think his plan is, well, a lot like what we were already talking about.”
Rebecca reached her hand over and set it on Jack’s thigh.
“He wants us all to start having babies, then?” Her voice was sharp, and a little judgmental. “It’s different when it’s someone removed from the situation, someone we don’t know, suggesting it.”
“If he has ulterior motives, they aren’t related to that,” said Jack. “He’s sterile, mom. He told me.”
“So he’d putting it all on you, then? He’d have you trading off between Molly and Jessica, loading each of them up until they get pregnant?”
Jack grimaced, feeling appreciative of the way the shadows in the room hid his facial expression.
Should I tell her that I let the fact that she’s only my stepmom slip to the Colonel?
“Jack, I don’t have a good feeling about this…” A familiar tone of worry had entered his mom’s voice. “We don’t have any real say in what’s happening down here.”
“Mom…” Jack felt his cock aching against his boxers. “We still have each other.”
His mom’s hand slipped a little lower, and his hips moved upward automatically, causing her fingers to graze against his cock.
“Jack,” whispered Rebecca. “Easy…”
What am I doing? Why does it feel so compelling, and yet so totally wrong?
“Mom, things have changed so much over the course of the past few days.” Jack slowly pulled the sheets off him as he spoke, feeling his cock throbbing with anticipation. “In the world, and between us.”
“I know they have, sweetie,” she whispered. “But some things have stayed the same…”
After the Fall: Human Underground (Taboo Erotica) (Eden Harem Book 3) Page 7