After The Virus (Book 1): After The Virus

by Archer, Simon

  “Fair enough,” I chuckled. “We’ve got a little while, so what’s your story?”

  “How far back do you want to go?” she countered.

  “We could just play questions,” I replied. “That might be more interesting.”

  “Alright,” she said. “I’ll start. Books or T.V.?”

  “Books,” I replied. “What’s your service record?”

  “Four years in the Marines. Military Police. Stationed at N.A.S. Atlanta until my unit was assigned to the CDC right before everything went crazy.” She paused and shrugged. “Most of us went A.W.O.L. when contact stopped, but I stuck around.”

  “That was more than I wanted to know, but thank you,” I said. “Your turn.”

  “You already pretty much told everyone at the CDC your record,” she said and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Most of what I’ve got are stupid barracks questions like the first one I asked. I mean, I could ask more of them.”

  “Go for it,” I said. Stupid barracks questions could be pretty insightful, or just plain rude. It really depended on who asked them. “Just expect me to play the game like I’m active duty, and we won’t have any issues.”

  “Sounds good,” she said with a broad grin. “Condoms or bareback?”

  “Depends on who I’m with,” I replied. “Poker or Blackjack?”

  “Slots,” she answered. “Ford or Chevy?”

  “Chevy, but only if I can’t find a Dodge. Top or bottom?”

  “Bottom,” she replied, blushing. “Strange for a Marine, no?”

  “Not really. I mean, soldiers of all sorts spend their lives doing what other people tell them. If that’s not bottom behavior, I don’t know what is.”

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “You’re a strange man,” Angie told me. “What do you like to do for fun?”

  “Lots of things, really. What about you?”

  “Movies, books, running, shooting,” she answered. “I’m game for pretty much anything, active or quiet, indoors or out.”

  “You don’t make it easy,” I said. “How would you like to play a D&D game?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Some of the soldiers in my squad played, same with the CDC guys. I’ve never actually played, but it looked like fun.”

  “Awesome. Jackie’ll be happy to hear that.”

  “So where are you from, originally,” Angela wanted to know.

  “Up around Huntsville,” I replied. “My mom worked with NASA up there, and Dad was a programmer and systems analyst for some computer firm up there until he quit and went into consulting. What about you?”

  “Central Florida,” she replied. “Suburbs of Tampa, really. Grew up in the Gulf and joined the service to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps. It sounded amazing from all his stories.”

  “It usually does, until you realize, your second year in, that it’s mostly hurry up and wait, especially after you get put where they want you, and not where you wanted to be.”

  “Truth,” she said.

  We continued our back and forth all the way to the Easter Boulevard exit. It was kind of like speed dating, but there was no real worry about chemistry. As with Jackie, I already had a connection with Angela. The only thing we really had to do now was to deepen it.

  I actually had a place in mind when I chose to come here over searching any of the closer dealerships. There was a large Chevy dealership not too far north of the interstate, and I’d had my eyes on a truck there for a while. Loyalty to my Dodge was mostly what kept me from pulling the trigger on that, although the seventy-five thousand dollar price tag helped cool my jets a bit, too.

  Maybe luck or karma had more good stuff in store for me. The place was pristine. No broken glass littered the lot, and the doors to the offices and indoor displays were closed. It looked like any other dealer in the south on a Sunday.

  I stopped in front of the doors and got out.

  “You know,” I observed. “If you wanted to pick yourself out something nice, I won’t judge. My own tastes are kind of on the practical side since I have to replace my old truck, but I suspect there are some sports cars inside. If you have a taste for things like that.”

  Angela pounced into my arms, kissed me hard, then took off for the glass doors with a crowbar. “Find the rest of the keys while you’re at it,” I called after her.

  “Roger,” she yelled back.

  Instead of breaking the glass, she went for the slightly more subtle option of trying to pry the sliding doors loose from their locks and force them open. I turned away and walked off to search the lot for my own toy.

  37

  It really didn’t take me long to find the truck I’d had my eyes on. Near the main building sat the brand new dark gray Chevy Silverado 3500HD, four-wheel-drive king cab. The sheet stuck to the driver’s side window gave a complete list of its features, and I read my way down them with an almost smug sense of delight.

  There was a little bit of guilt, too, maybe. Despite that, I did a quick check to see if it was locked, and it was. The sky was growing a bit overcast, as well, so I hurried over to the showroom doors.

  Angie had managed to open them without breaking the glass, and the wide, sliding doors stood about two feet apart. I turned sideways and slipped into the dim interior.

  “Well, I think I’m done,” she called, a shadow in the shadows, silhouetted next to a low, wide car.

  “Corvette?” I called. Sure, it was impractical and would last only as long as the gasoline (unless we figured out how to do small batch refining), but what the hell?

  “Damn skippy,” she replied. “I found where they kept the keys. Went ahead and broke the lock.”

  “Awesome,” I said. “It looks like the weather's rolling in, so we may want to hurry. I need to find a trailer for the Nissan, too.”

  “Let me get this outside,” she said. “I’ll help you look.”

  “There’s probably one in the back,” I said. “Usually is.”

  I went back to the doors and went about levering them all the way open while she disappeared into the office area. After a minute, she called out, “Hey, what’s the number on that truck you wanted?”

  “I don’t know,” I yelled back. “Hold on. I’m trying to get these doors open for you.”

  Without power, they resisted pretty effectively, but I still had most of the muscle I put on in the service, so with some grunting and heaving, and no few complaints from my bruised and battered frame, I managed to slide the heavy glass doors all the way open, which was more than enough to drive a car through.

  Then, while Angie drove the gorgeous, cherry red, new model Corvette carefully out into the lot, I went back to the Silverado, got the number from the sales form, and went back inside. She parked before she showed me the back office where the keys were kept.

  We went through them by flashlight until finally, she spotted the right fob. I took it, then turned to her.

  “Thanks,” I said and bent down to kiss her softly on the lips.

  Angela made a soft, happy sound in her throat and returned it. Her lips were soft and eager against mine, and our tongues had a quick tangle before we drew apart.

  “We should get back to the farm before it rains, shouldn’t we?” she murmured.

  “Good idea.”

  Unfortunately, we completely failed to beat the incoming rain. It took longer than I expected to find a car trailer, although loading the Nissan on it after attaching the trailer to the hitch on the Silverado was virtually a non-issue. Unfortunately, a lot of the electronic hardware, for lights and supplemental brakes on a trailer, wasn’t actually installed, although the parts were there along with instructions for the new owner to do it themselves.

  For this, I didn’t really need it.

  Unfortunately, the luxury electronics in the truck and the Corvette didn’t really work with no cellular connection, but again, it wasn’t much of an issue.

  Angie grinned at me, then looked at her new car, then back at me. I jus
t shook my head and rolled my eyes.

  “Have fun,” I told her. “I’ll meet you back at the farm, but don’t get yourself killed, okay.”

  “Yes, sir!” she shouted.

  Not long after that, she peeled out and took off, fishtailed out of the car lot, and accelerated off towards the interstate.

  I chuckled and clambered up into the cab. It was nice and spacious, with that ‘new car smell’ that was so often advertised. The only thing missing was a CD player, damn MP3s, but I could fix that after I raided the local stereo store. All I had to do to start the truck was to have the fob in my pocket and push a button.

  That might take a little getting used to, but it was convenient. I rolled through the lines of parked cars that would never find a home now, then turned onto the boulevard and rumbled for the interstate. The turbocharged diesel seemed to have all the power I might need, and since the shelf life of that particular fuel was a lot longer than gasoline, I could drive this new truck for a lot longer than my Dodge Hemi would have lasted.

  Of course, we’d need to lay in more of a supply, but the truck would be useful a lot longer than the gas vehicles would be. I was sure Bruce would find something to complain about when he saw the Chevy, but I didn’t care. He’d want to stock up on diesel for his deuce-and-a-half, too.

  Maybe we could even process biodiesel with a little conversion work.

  I didn’t even see Angie’s Corvette ahead of me when I merged onto I-85. Apparently, she really meant to put that car through its paces. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too stupid with it, but then again, she wasn’t too much older than Jackie and seemed a lot less grounded.

  The two had definitely spent some time talking, and I could only assume after the kiss we three had shared, that anything Angie and I did while Jackie and the others were away met with explicit approval. If those two girls were plotting among themselves to share me, there was no way I’d complain.

  So I mostly passed the drive back home in quiet contemplation of what needed to be done at the farm, and I had quite a few additional ideas. Most of them depended on having a more reliable power supply, though, and doing a lot of research in the nearby libraries.

  Heavy raindrops beat on the windshield as I turned off the interstate and headed for home. We hadn’t beaten the rain, but at least we didn’t really have anything that needed to be quickly offloaded. The little Nissan could certainly wait.

  What was Angela up to, I wondered.

  At the farm, I found that she’d parked neatly out of the way, leaving a nice space in front of the house for me. She hadn’t even trenched the yard or the driveway by spinning her tires in the wet dirt. The rain, though, was picking up, and I got well and truly drenched by the time I made it to the porch. It was getting colder, too.

  “You know,” said a voice from the door behind me. “I kind of wanted to meet you on the porch, but I’m not sure I want to risk hypothermia.”

  I turned to see Angela standing in the open doorway, wearing nothing but one of my flannel button-down shirts. It reached down far enough to cover her to her upper thighs and was sexy as hell. She grinned at me and bit her lower lip as she posed, arms pushing her breasts together beneath the shirt.

  “Come inside?” she asked.

  “I’d love to,” I replied, taking the double entendre a little further.

  Laughing, she disappeared back into the house on bare, silent feet. I pushed my wet hair back and followed, grinning. Angie had worked fast to get back and prepare for me, or else she’d driven a lot faster than I thought.

  As soon as I was in the door into the kitchen, she stepped around and pressed into me, one hand reaching up to grab my hair and pull me down for a kiss, while the other cupped my crotch, caressing my half-hard manhood through the cloth of my jeans.

  I cupped her face in my hands, returning the hungry kiss with parted lips, and our tongues danced together eagerly. Her hair and skin were soft against my fingers, and she let out a low moan as our bodies shifted together.

  A long moment passed before she broke the kiss and gazed up at me, her eyes wide and shining in the dim light while the rain pummeled the house outside. Thunder boomed in the distance.

  Without any hesitation on my part, I reached out and caught the cloth of the shirt, holding her there as I tugged it away from her skin, just a little. Then, slowly, I began unbuttoning it.

  Once again, she caught her lower lip in her teeth and gazed up at me. I was hard enough now that it ached and strained against my jeans. Going slow was hard when I just wanted to tear off the shirt, bend her over a counter, and have my way with her.

  That was going to happen, just not so quickly.

  Angie backed up a little until she bumped against the counter, then reached back and put her hands on it while I continued to unbutton the shirt. I just moved with her and kept going, watching her face while I did. Her eyes stayed wide and bright.

  Once I was done, I didn’t even try to remove the shirt, just flipped it open to bare her breasts. She was completely naked under the flannel, with that compact, muscular build of an athlete. Her nipples were hard, her breasts maybe a little bigger than Jackie’s, but just as perky. My eyes lingered on them for a minute, and my breathing quickened before I let my gaze drop down.

  Angie didn’t shave, but she was either naturally light or trimmed down there. I couldn’t really see much more from the angle I was at, and I didn’t want to step back and stare. Once again, our eyes met.

  “Like what you see?” Angie asked playfully.

  “Very much,” I told her, reaching out to stroke her cheeks, then letting my hand drift slowly downwards until they reached her breasts, cupped them, caressed them.

  She arched her back a little, but kept her hands on the counter, fingers tightly gripping the edge.

  “Tell me you want it,” I said, changing my position and sliding my right hand down to cup between her thighs. She was already quite wet with arousal.

  “If I didn’t,” Angie gasped. “I wouldn’t be here.”

  I leaned down close again, and let my lips brush hers. “I just wanted to hear you say it,” I said.

  We kissed again, and I slowly spread her outer labia to let my fingers explore her more deeply. She made fascinating little noises as I touched her, and trembled, then leaned her head forward, gazing down.

  “How about,” she whispered. “You give me something to look at, too?”

  I chuckled, drew back slowly, then, without answering, unbuckled my belt, making a slow show of undoing my jeans afterward. If this girl wanted a show, then I could give her one, too.

  Once my jeans were open, I pushed them down slowly over my hips. Angie looked up at me, then back down. Her own breathing was quick and punctuated with little happy sounds. I smiled and slid them down further until my erection sprang free and stood at attention for her.

  “Oh, yeah,” she murmured as I left my jeans halfway down my thighs and shrugged out of my jacket, my flannel, and then pulled my t-shirt up and off. Her eyes rose again with the motion, and I could almost feel her gaze trickle across my skin. I dropped the shirt on the floor and reached for her.

  With a quick shift and twist, I turned her around and pinned her between my body and the counter. Angie gasped then and pushed her firm, muscular ass back against me before spreading her legs wide and bending forward over the countertop.

  “I take it you like it this way?” I said at her reaction.

  “Mhm,” she moaned.

  I used one hand to guide myself into her while I kept her held with the other. She was wet and ready, and I slid right in and hilted inside her with a single thrust. Then I slid both hands to her hips, pushing the flannel up to bare her ass fully as I took hold of her hips and began pumping away.

  Her body arched beneath me, and she cried out wordlessly as my hips slapped against her ass. I think she came, then, so worked up was she from our teasing play, and I was ecstatic that I could do that to her. While she shuddered and trembled wit
h orgasm, her insides clenching tightly around me, I gave in to my own lusts and took her hard and fast until I finally climaxed inside.

  A few more thrusts and I slowed, then held her against me, panting. She groaned softly and mostly sprawled her upper body across the counter.

  “Oh, God,” she murmured. “I needed that so bad.”

  After a short recovery, we finished undressing and moved to the bedroom to rest, and then make love a few more times while the storm raged outside. Apparently, we both had a great deal of stamina, which kind of surprised me, considering my recent injuries. Maybe the doctor’s treatments hadn’t yet worn off, and if that was the case, I was really, really grateful.

  38

  Despite the weather, Angie and I put clothes back on and saw to the animals around evening time, during a slight break in the pouring rain. The temperature was noticeably warmer, which promised that tomorrow might be a nice day, so long as we didn’t get washed away by a second Biblical flood.

  Once more, we were soaked through when we got back to the house, undressed in the kitchen, and spread our wet clothes out to dry before retreating once more to the bedroom.

  Eventually, we did sleep and woke early enough the next day to once more see to the animals, this time, for the hell of it, wearing nothing but our boots. Sure, it was a bit chilly and probably kind of stupid in retrospect, but we had fun and probably confused the livestock and poor dogs to no end.

  Ghost and Pepper gave us dark looks of judgment when we returned to the house, laughing, dripping, and slinging water about while Charlie and Sasha barked and ran about underfoot.

  “I never thought something like that might be fun,” Angie exclaimed as we removed our boots and headed back to the bathroom to clean up and dry off.

  “Maybe we should make a nudist commune,” I suggested, laughing.

  “Don’t tempt me,” she said. “Though I can’t say I really want to see Bruce’s old man bod.”

  “You never know,” I mused. “He might look like a weight lifter under those fatigues.”