After The Virus (Book 1): After The Virus

by Archer, Simon

  She nodded as we retreated, then when we were back in clear air, she asked, “Vick’s? As in the menthol stuff for colds?”

  “Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “You put a bit under your nose, and it helps cover bad smells like this.”

  “Where d'you learn that?” Jackie leaned against the Dodge and eyed me. Her face was almost visibly green. Her eyes closed, and she leaned her head back, swallowing hard.

  I got the Vick’s and the masks, dabbed a bit of the menthol and vaseline solution beneath my nostrils, and took a deep breath of the clean mint. Jackie came over and took it, carefully dabbing some beneath her own cute nose.

  “Ow,” she complained, “That burns.”

  “It means it’s working,” I told her with a grin beneath my mask. “This should keep us from puking all over the place while we do our shopping.”

  “Shopping, heh,” she muttered, her voice muffled under the mask. “I thought this would be kind of fun, but now, I just want to get it over with.”

  “Right,” I said and strode off for the gaping darkness of the doorway.

  The inside of the vast space was chill, dark, and eerily silent. I paused to let my eyes adjust a bit, even with the light of the headlamp. The shadows of shelves hid the reaches of the store from our feeble lights and the inevitable sunlight filtering in from outside through the open door. The stink of rotting food was a bit lessened from the influx of outside air, and the menthol did its job, at least for me.

  I snuck a look over at Jackie as she came up and pressed close to my side.

  “Are you okay?” I asked quietly.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “The Vick’s works. This place is just creepy as hell.”

  “It is that,” I muttered. “Stay quiet a minute. I’m curious about something.”

  Jackie didn’t respond. She just fell silent and waited while I listened. A faint scratching and scurrying eventually reached my ears. Rats, mice, maybe some other small rodents, were digging into the food. Likely there were bugs having a heyday, too.

  “Rats, mice, and bugs,” I said. “Everything that was just waiting for Walmart to let down its guard.”

  “And that’s the part of the store we need to do our shopping in, isn’t it?” she asked, sighing. “Great.”

  “If you’d rather head over to sporting goods and camping gear, I can handle the canned goods, and any dry goods the little vermin haven’t gotten into.” I straightened and stretched.

  “I think I’d rather,” Jackie turned, pulled out a cart, and started off for the back of the store. “I’ll hit the pharmacy, too.”

  “Good idea,” I said, got a cart of my own, and headed off to see what was going on in ratland. I didn’t expect to see too many of the little critters, considering it was only a few days into this weird people-less world, but we’d have a population boom real soon.

  It would probably be best to get all our supply runs done as soon as possible, as I suspected everything would get hairy in the near future, especially as animals reverted and lost their fear of us.

  The wheels of my cart rattled and squeaked a bit as I moved along the darkened aisles. Flour, sugar, rice, baking powder, and dried beans were my first order of business, then potatoes and onions. Root veggies would keep and probably were the last things that vermin would have gotten into.

  The few rats were into the easier to get to stuff in the meat and produce sections, but there were a couple of enterprising fellows that skittered off into the dark when I came down the aisle.

  Cart after cart went into the truck, arranged as neatly as we could manage. Jackie took a bit longer on her first run than I did, but she came out while I was unloading my first run. I helped her pack away the boxes of ammunition and trash bags full of pharmaceuticals. We certainly would have what we needed to treat most basic problems, at least for so long as the drugs retained their efficacy.

  “Any problems?” I asked.

  She shook her head and smiled. “Not a bit, and no rats in sight.”

  “It’s not bad over in the groceries, either, but I think they’re having a rave in the veggies and meat,” I said with a shrug. “Once you finish up over there, could you come help me with cans? It’ll speed things up, and I think my Vick’s is fading.”

  “Yessir,” Jackie smirked a little. “There’s not too much more over there that we really need.”

  “Yeah, they don’t carry as much as you might think that would help in the end of days.”

  “Still,” she said. “I’m definitely loading up on toilet paper, soap, and shampoo. Any particular kinds you like?”

  “Manly ones,” I suggested.

  She laughed at that and headed back in with her empty cart. I watched her go for a moment, then took my own cart and followed. Over the next hour or so, we transferred as much food, ammunition, and other useful gear that we could find into the truck. Jackie had the foresight to fill a cart with clothes and drop those off before she came to help me.

  Together, we loaded the Dodge as completely as we could, then strapped the stacks of stuff down with a tarp, bungee cords, and rope. I’d have to drive a bit carefully, but we had damn near everything we needed, for now. Tomorrow would start the forays into Montgomery, and maybe we’d find some sign of other people.

  “I never thought I’d get tired of shopping,” Jackie said wryly as we left the Walmart behind. “Right now, I just want to go back home.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Then we get to unload.”

  “Ugh,” she grumbled and leaned her head back. “There is that. I’m going to be so sore tomorrow.”

  “Once we’ve got everything we can get squirreled away, though, we can settle into the day-to-day,” I assured her. “Basic farm stuff and figuring out what we should do for the future.”

  “The future,” she said quietly, her voice barely audible over the road noise. “That’s kind of a scary prospect. Not that I mind spending it with you, but without more people, it’s not like we’ll be able to play Adam and Eve and rebuild the human race.”

  I glanced sidelong at her but said nothing. She was right. We needed to find more folks, but how?

  13

  Night had fallen by the time we finished getting all of our supplies unloaded and put away. Once the animals were all taken care of, we had bowls of reheated chili, a couple of beers, and then retired to the den. Jackie flopped on the sofa while I went about building a fire.

  Ghost and Pepper decided to make an appearance, then, perching together on the recliner to watch us warily. Sasha sat on the couch beside Jackie, nervously eyeing the two cats. Jackie rested a comforting hand on the little black dog’s back and reassured her while I struggled to get the cold wood to light.

  Eventually, little tongues of flame began to lick from the tinder to the larger pieces and the logs. The night had gotten cold by the time we finished eating, although exhaustion may have played a hand in that, too. I gave a satisfied nod and pushed up from my seat on the edge of the hearth, then walked over and settled in on the opposite end of the couch from the young woman.

  “That already feels nice,” she commented and looked over at me with a smile.

  “Nothing like a nice fire on a cold night,” I said, stretching out my legs and wincing a little as my knees popped loudly.

  “Ouch,” Jackie said for me. “That didn’t sound good.”

  “A little early arthritis,” I admitted. It was an artifact of my military service, along with something of a genetic predisposition. My dad had bad knees when I was in my teens. “No big deal.”

  “Still…” she trailed off for a moment. “If you want, I could teach you some yoga. It’s supposed to be good for keeping mobility, even with arthritis.”

  “Why not?” I shrugged and smiled, then leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “I think we’re good for now, but I still want to head to Montgomery and see if we can turn up solar panels and batteries.”

  “If you’re doing that, what about trying to score an electric car?
” Jackie suggested. “I don’t know if there’s any electrical farm equipment, but a runabout might be useful, right?”

  “That’s a good idea,” I admitted. If we were going to rig up solar to power the house, we might as well see if we could get an electric car. Could a Tesla run without a connection to the Net, though? I wasn’t sure. Considering that the company was able to fix a braking problem with a firmware update, I had my doubts. It was still worth a shot.

  “Of course it is,” she said playfully. “It was my idea.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I scoffed. “Seriously, though, Jackie, I’m glad I met you, and I’m really glad you aren’t some delicate flower.”

  “Isn’t that a bit sexist?” she asked.

  “Dudes can be delicate flowers, too,” I replied.

  “I saw some quote online that was supposed to be Betty White, I think,” Jackie said. She shifted on the couch, and Sasha grumbled a little. “Between having balls and being a pussy, I’d rather be a pussy. Those things can take a pounding.”

  I snorted a laugh. “I could see her saying that.”

  “Bet she’s still alive,” Jackie said.

  “You might be right,” I opened my eyes and looked over at her. For a moment, our gazes met in the dim, orange light of the fire.

  “So,” she asked after a long moment. “Why are you all the way over there?”

  “I didn’t want to sit on the dog,” I replied wittily. Sasha gave me a thankful look as if she understood every word I said.

  Maybe she did.

  “Oh,” Jackie put her hands on her knees and looked down at them. “So, you actually mean all these things you’ve said about me being a good person to have around?”

  What brought this on, I wondered.

  “Hell, yeah,” I said, then narrowed my eyes as I looked at her. “If you’re like this after two beers, I might reconsider, though.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “No, no. It’s just…” she huffed and looked up from her hands to me. “I’d prefer it if you stayed with me.”

  “If you’re sure,” I said. “I wanted to make sure you had your space and that…” That, what? That I didn’t have any interest in her as a woman? That I was safe? Maybe I was being stupid, but I really did think I was being polite.

  “Listen,” Jackie told me. “We’re going to get really lonely in the days to come, and all we have is each other. I’d rather have you closer if that’s okay.”

  “Sure,” I said slowly. “You’re right, too. We’ve gotten along so far, but we need to figure out if we can put up with each other in close proximity.”

  “I think I’m happy to be around you,” she said with a laugh. “You don’t dip or have any other gross habits, do you?”

  “I ain’t quite that country,” I drawled. “Though I did consider it when damn near everyone I met around here did.”

  “Good,” Jackie said firmly. “And before you get any ‘last man on Earth’ thing going through your head, stop. You’re a nice, good-looking guy.”

  “Thanks,” I responded, tilting my head curiously as she slipped to her feet and walked over to stand in front of me, her eyes shining.

  Very slowly and deliberately, Jackie pulled her shirt and sweater up and off, then tossed it on the couch. She wore a black sports bra beneath them, and I couldn’t help dipping my eyes to the full swell of her cleavage at the low-cut neck.

  “What-” I started to say, but she shushed me with a finger to my lips.

  “I’ve got birth control for a few more months,” Jackie said softly. “Do you…”

  Did I? Hell, yeah. The girl was gorgeous, fit, and sexy as hell without meaning to be. Like this, in the flickering shadows of the fire, her bright eyes shining, she was practically a goddess.

  “If you’re sure,” I said, my voice pitched a bit deeper with desire as my pants suddenly felt a few sizes too small in the crotch.

  “Yep,” she asserted, and a moment later, the sports bra joined the shirt and sweater. Her breasts weren’t that large, a C-cup most likely, but they were definitely what I’d call perky. Hard nipples ringed with darker skin stood out in stark relief as she approached and straddled my thighs.

  I slipped my arms around her, letting my hands roam the smooth, silky skin of her back. Then our lips met, and I was lost. Jackie pressed against me, her kiss tasting of the beer that she’d just drunk. Exhaustion slipped away as I shifted on the couch and sat up a bit, hands roaming a bit more.

  She tugged on my shirt, then squirmed so she could unbutton it, all the while darting in for more kisses. A shiver went through her, and she gasped as I managed to get my hands on her breasts, stroking her hard nipples with my thumbs. Her breasts were firm in my hands, but soft enough, though, to squeeze gently, coaxing a gasping moan from her lips.

  Perfect.

  We undressed each other between hungry kisses and eager caresses, the whole process going far too slow, I think, for both of us. An eternity later, naked, we lay tangled together on the thick rug in front of the fire.

  I propped myself up a bit to gaze down at Jackie’s reclined form, illuminated in the deep orange light of the fire. She was beautiful, and she gazed up at me, wide-eyed and smiling, with shining, blue eyes.

  “I hope,” she murmured, “that you don’t think any less of me.”

  “So long as you don’t think any less of me for accepting,” I said, smiling down at her.

  “Not at all,” Jackie told me, then reached up, tangled her fingers in my hair, and pulled me down for a kiss.

  Our hands roamed and explored for a bit, but there was an urgency in the air. We both needed a release, and we found it, quickly, in each other. I broke the kiss and shifted my body against hers, moving to position myself between her legs. She squirmed in response to help, panting eagerly.

  Jackie either shaved or waxed. The soft skin of her mound was hairless but had the faint feel of stubble under my fingers as I caressed her skin and slid my hand on down between her legs. She let out another gasp as my fingers found her pussy and eased the outer lips of it apart. I dipped in a finger to tease her clit, then pulled my hand away to help guide the head of my erection to her.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “God, yes,” she whispered, reaching up for me.

  I kissed her as I slid my hips forward. She was wet and hot and tight around me as my erection entered her, and she moaned deep in her throat, back arching. I groaned as well as her body squeezed around me. It was an effort to shove myself all the way into her, but when I paused, and she wrapped her long, strong legs around me, everything became clear.

  The pair of us moved together, our hips thrusting and grinding, sweat-slicked bodies sliding against each other as we took our fill. For me, it had been way too long, and it was hard as hell to hold myself back until Jackie began to spasm beneath me, her head thrown back as she cried out in pleasure. That was my cue, and I spent myself quickly inside her with a growl of pleasure.

  Pushing up with my arms, I gazed down at her face beneath me. Her hair was damp with sweat, and her skin gleamed in the firelight. Those perfect, full lips smiled, white teeth flashing behind them. Jackie had her legs wrapped around me still, holding my hips tight against hers. I shifted slowly, grinding my body against hers and causing her to moan softly.

  “You’re beautiful,” I told her.

  She opened her eyes to gaze up at me. “You’re just saying that because I’m the last girl on Earth,” she teased.

  “No,” I shook my head in protest. “I thought that when I first saw you.”

  She reached up and caressed my face. “You’re pretty hot, too,” she admitted, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

  I shifted my hips again and gave a hard thrust that made her breasts bounce, and she let out a little cry of pleasure. “Again?” she gasped.

  Damn, but I wanted to. I needed a short rest, though.

  “Sure,” I said, there was no turning back now. “But let’s take it slow, this time.”


  Jackie shivered and nodded. “That sounds good,” she murmured, relaxing the hold of her legs around me. This was quickly followed by a pout of her full lips when I pulled slowly out of her, then ran her hands over my chest before I eased over to her side and propped my head up on a hand to gaze fondly down at her.

  “What?” she asked, blushing a bit and putting her hands over her bare breasts as if she suddenly felt exposed.

  “You look good like that,” I said playfully and grinned at her.

  She blushed even more and squirmed as I reached over with my right hand and lightly ran my fingers over her tight, faintly-ridged stomach. The girl had the body of an athlete, which I’d expected from what she’d told me. I just hadn’t expected everything else.

  “Hey,” she made a little sound of protest as I leaned over and kissed my way over her belly. Instead of pushing me away, though, she moved a hand to stroke my hair. The mock-protest quickly turned into happy gasps and moans as I stroked her skin with my hands, lips, and tongue.

  Our first coupling had been one of eager need, and I was determined the second would be much less rushed. I also didn’t think I was Jackie’s first, which was fine. She certainly wasn’t mine, and I was far from being the jealous type.

  I worked my way up to her breasts, gently pushing away the one hand that remained over them, and found one of her nipples with my mouth. She gasped and shuddered when I touched it with my tongue, still sensitive as hell from our lovemaking.

  Good. I wanted to see if I could make her the happiest woman on earth, or at least the most sexually satisfied. Focusing on her breasts for a bit, I licked and sucked and nibbled until she squirmed before nipping my way up to her collarbone. Instead of protecting her throat, she arched her neck back and offered it to me.

  I took the bait, kissing over the pale, damp skin while moving a hand to her breasts. Then I kissed her, gently at first but then more insistently as she responded.

  “Oh, God,” Jackie moaned as I trailed my hand from her breasts down over her belly, then slipped it between her parted thighs. “Henry...please…”