Gina's Deal

by Holly Ardent

  Gina's Deal

  (Post-Apocalyptic MILF)

  The Retreat #4

  Holly Ardent

  Text copyright © 2018, Holly Ardent

  All Rights Reserved

  Find Holly's other stories on her Amazon Author Page:

  Holly Ardent's Amazon Author Page

  Bill sat in the radio room, monitoring the shortwave radio. It was three weeks since the authorities had finally admitted that there was a pandemic in the US and that admission didn't occur until a week after the news stations had started reporting on incidents of it. In the intervening time, the pandemic had annihilated over fifty percent of the population. Delivery chains had broken down, television and radio stations were off the air, even the electricity was out.

  It's a good thing I set the Retreat up for solar power, those panels are gonna save our ass, or at least make things a hell of a lot more comfortable for us.

  He grimaced as he thought of what that 'us' now entailed.

  I can't fucking believe that all three of the other guys ended up bringing a woman with them when they showed up. But I can't kick them out either, they're all contributing. Jackie's helped Andy double our number of raised garden beds and with her help they'll be able to keep up with that many. Vivian's already proved her value too, suturing up that cut on Andy's hand from when he sliced it open on that scrap metal he found digging for the new garden beds. And Suzie? Damn, that girl is so hot she haunts my dreams, but she also fixed the electric fence in less than half a day when it went down from the fallen tree and she seems to be almost as much of a gun nut as Scott is. They're all valuable and each and every one of them is dedicated to the man they came in with.

  Bill frequently lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep, but muffled cries or the occasional bed banging into a wall made that hard for him.

  I have got to, got to, find a woman of my own. But how the hell am I going to do that?

  Almost as though it were an answer to his thoughts, his scanning of the shortwave dial tuned in on a broadcast.

  “We're broadcasting this message to let people know that we'll be having a gathering for people to come and try to find things they need. Bring the items you're willing to barter. We'll have a barter fair. Bring your weapons for protection. With everyone armed, no-one's going to be stupid enough to start anything. Saturday the eighteenth from noon until dusk at the center square in Clarksburg. The last confirmed case of the bird flu in our town was more than a week ago, so it should be clear. Bring your medical masks and gloves if you're worried about it. There will be an entry fee, either barter per individual or a silver dime per person. We'll repeat this message from sunup to sundown, twice an hour, until Friday the seventeenth. See you there.”

  Well shit, I wonder if there's anything we need? If we go there, maybe I can find a woman of my own. I wonder if there's any women out there desperate enough that they'll just give themselves to me for three hots and a cot. I don't even care what they look like at this point, as long as they've got all their body parts and are functional.

  He admitted to himself that he was pretty desperate. He'd chatted up all three ladies in the house and, from their replies, decided that not a one of them would do anything sexual with him.

  Just my luck that all three of my buddies would find chicks who are loyal to them. I don't even care if the one I find is all that loyal, as long as she's in my bed every night.

  “Alright,” he said out loud, “I need to run this by the others. I'm pretty sure at least some of them will want to go, but someone's going to have to stay here at the Retreat. I don't want to leave it unguarded. Preferably Scott or Scott and Suzie since they're the best with weapons, but...”

  He trailed off, letting the room go silent once more. He still had another couple of hours to monitor the shortwave, but after hearing the same announcement once more it was dark outside and he only caught random snippets of other broadcasts.

  I knew I should have gotten my license and a two way radio so we could broadcast. It just didn't seem all that important then. It does now though. We can only get the news that happens to get mentioned, if there's anything in particular we're interested in, we can't ask anyone about it. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. What's done is done and at least we're sitting pretty compared to most others.

  He'd taken the time to write the announcement out longhand during the second broadcast and when Andy came down to relieve him at the radio, he showed it to him.

  “What do you think?” Bill said, “I'd like to go, but will anyone else?”

  “I'm sure some of the others will want to also, I'd like to go myself,” Andy said.

  “Well, we'll have to leave someone here, or maybe go in two separate groups, one earlier and one later. We can't leave the place with no-one here, that just sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

  Andy nodded his agreement and settled down into the chair. Bill took the message with him when he went upstairs. He caught everyone else at the tail end of dinner. Andy had eaten quickly and come down to relieve him so they'd both have the opportunity for a hot meal.

  He handed the message to Ted first. He read it and showed it to Vivian, commenting something to her. Then he handed it over to Suzie who scanned it, handed it to Scott and shook her head at him. Scott nodded his agreement with her before handing the message to his mom, Jackie. Once Jackie was done with, she handed it back to Bill.

  “Suzie and I will stay here, we'll need someone to keep an eye on things here,” Scott said.

  “Are you sure?” Bill asked.

  “Yeah, we're sure,” they replied in unison.

  After they'd spoken in stereo Suzie looked over at Scott and beamed a smile at him.

  God damn it! Bill thought. That boy's getting laid again tonight, and they're the most energetic of the others. I need some earplugs or something.

  “I'd like to go,” Jackie said. “There's a few things I can think of that would help with the gardens if I can find them.”

  “We want to go also,” Ted said. “Viv's mentioned a few things she overlooked when she packed so quickly.”

  Suzie blushed and leaned over to whisper in Vivian's ear. Vivian chuckled.

  “Yeah, those are one of the things I'll be looking for. I'll get extra for you also if I find enough.”

  “Thank you,” Suzie said.

  “I know Andy said he wanted to go,” Bill said. “So, five us to go and two to stay here? Are you really sure Scott?”

  “Yeah, I'm sure. We'll stay here and look out for trouble, no reason to go looking for it elsewhere,” Scott replied.

  Everyone at the table went back to eating. Most of them were done quickly, well before Bill, but they stayed at the table, talking about the things they'd like to find at the barter fair. Not surprisingly, the women were mentioning products for that time of the month. On the other hand, Bill was surprised at exactly which products they were talking about. Evidently the scrap cloth at the Retreat had been commandeered and much of it sewn into reusable menstrual pads. The women were thinking that they could barter some of those and get enough cloth to make even more, plus a few other little things they'd like.

  Bill was once more forced to realize that the women really were valuable additions to the Retreat and not just dead weight. He also realized that he'd have to be more picky than he liked about any woman he found, because he didn't want to be the one introducing dead weight to the group.

  By the time he finished eating, everyone else was already done and had taken their dirty plates and utensils in to the dishwasher. Suzie was waiting for his dishes, Scott close at hand while she waited. Once she had them, she did a quick rinse, got them in the dishwasher and started it. Then she took Scott's hand and led him towards the stairs.

&n
bsp; Music, maybe I can listen to an album on headphones and they'll be done by the time it's over, Bill thought. Even now that there's some hope that I'll get a woman of my own, I still can't stand hearing it. Maybe even especially now that there's hope.

  He sighed heavily, then went to his own room, which was on the main floor. He plugged his headphones into his mp3 player and drifted off to sleep with the music of his choice as the only thing he was hearing.

  * * *

  The days until the barter fair passed slowly for Bill. The first thing he did was check on their silver stash. Each of the guys had contributed a hundred dollars face value of junk silver to the Retreat as well as some silver rounds, so they had a lot of silver dimes. Many more than they needed for this. He wondered for a moment if they could make a killing selling silver dimes outside the fair, but the offer to allow barter for entry instead of silver made him think it wouldn't be worth their while.

  He gritted his teeth each time he heard one of the couples going at it and tried to find something to do where he wouldn't have to listen to it. But he still knew what was going on and it drove him crazy, hardening his resolve to find a woman of his own.

  Saturday morning dawned, it was a little chilly and the sky was cloudy with patches of sun showing through here and there.

  At least it isn't raining, he thought. That might have been a problem and kept people away.

  They chose Ted's truck for transportation, partially because he was hoping to find a rooster and he'd built a cage for chickens into the back of his truck. There was still plenty of room in the bed to transport anything they might find that they needed, even with a couple of people riding in back. Plus it got better gas mileage than Andy's truck and they were trying to save the gasoline in case it was needed later.

  The five of them that were going piled into the truck with Ted driving and Vivian riding in the middle of the bench seat. Bill was the third one in the cab since Andy and Jackie preferred riding together in the open bed to splitting up. He'd offered the third seat in the cab to Jackie, but she'd just looked at Andy and shook her head. It was just one more thing to fuel his ire.

  Try to be nice, get shot down, try to be less nice and get shot down. I just can't win here, he thought.

  He simply gritted his teeth and waited out the drive as Ted and Vivian chatted. They tried to include him in the conversation, but he only answered with monosyllables and soon they stopped trying.

  The drive in was mostly normal, except for the reduced traffic on the roads. They only saw two other vehicles, both headed in the same direction and probably for the same reason. At least it was normal until they got to town.

  The downtown section of the small town looked like it had seen a riot. Shop windows were smashed left and right. Someone had swept the broken glass to the edge of the road, but it was still there. Ted was very careful to stay towards the center of the road after he saw the first few piles. The cars that were parked on the street were mostly in bad shape with windows smashed and tires slashed.

  When they got closer to the park in the center of town where the barter fair would be occurring, the glass was no longer piled anywhere in the streets, there were several vehicles parked at the curb and these seemed to be in good shape. Evidently whoever had organized the fair had also tried to ensure that there would be safe parking available. All the street sections that were visible from the park that would hold the fair were the same way, vandalized cars removed, broken glass nowhere to be seen except for the jagged pieces that still hung in a few of the shop windows.

  The park in the middle of town was roped off, with a pair of entrances left open, one to either side. A pair of men stood at each entrance and other men, obviously armed, stood around the perimeter the rope formed. There were already a number of people in the park, most of them had blankets or large towels spread out with items displayed on them.

  They parked, paid their silver dime a piece, then walked in. It was fairly obvious that some people didn't quite understand the situation. Admittedly, they could use DVDs or CDs at the Retreat, but most people weren't going to have any use for those. That didn't stop a good third of the people there from having them spread out on their blankets with other equally useless items.

  Then there were the ones who seemed to have a clue, but not really know what people might need. These folks had some canned goods, dry foods, manual tools, and the like on their blankets. But when Bill asked about some of the tools, they were looking for fresh food.

  He shrugged mentally.

  Maybe they'll understand eventually, maybe they won't. It's really too early in spring for there to be much in the way of fresh food around. Unless maybe a hunter took down some game, that might get some fresh meat, but tomatoes or cucumbers like they're asking for? Not very likely.

  Those folks made up a little more than a third of the people there. The last portion were the ones that the ladies were looking to trade with. They'd be the most likely to recognize the value of the items the ladies had and they were also the ones that were the most likely to have thought to bring cloth as a barter item.

  Meanwhile Ted was making the rounds of the same people, seeing if anyone had a spare rooster to trade. It was the right time of year for them to have just realized they had one, his birds had started laying regularly less than a month ago, so he'd confessed to having some hope that he might find one.

  Bill, meanwhile, was people watching. It didn't take him long to realize that the woman he'd be looking for wasn't going to be inside the barter fair. Any woman desperate enough to take his offer wasn't going to have things to trade, or anything to barter to get into the fair. He walked the perimeter, looking out into the town. He'd nearly given up hope when he saw what he'd first thought was a pile of rags. The pile was shaking though, and there was no wind. He could barely hear the sound of feminine-sounding sobs from where he stood.

  He looked at the nearest guard, then walked over.

  “Hey, can I just jump the rope to get out?” he asked.

  The guard shook his head.

  “Well, you could, but then you'll need to pay again to get back in. Go out one of the gates and they'll give you a token that lets you back in without paying a second time.”

  Bill nodded his thanks and moved towards the nearest gate. After he'd gotten his token he made a beeline for where he'd seen the pile of rags. He'd been right and it was actually a person. They'd gotten up and were moving down the street away from the barter fair. He was in pretty good shape so he picked up the pace, breaking into a slow jog.

  “Hey, wait a moment,” he called.

  The person kept moving.

  “Wait, I heard you crying, maybe I can help,” he called louder.

  They stopped and turned. His suspicions were correct. The pile of rags was actually a woman, at least that's what the face looked like, despite the streaks of dirt that crossed it. When he got closer he realized that the rags were the remains of several coats that had all had portions cut out. The distinct smell of wood smoke came from the remainder of the coats so he was pretty sure they'd been partially burned and she'd thrown a single one together out of the remains of several.

  “What's wrong?” he asked.

  Damn it! I just want to make my offer, but with the way she looks, she'd bolt if I did. I'll have to soften her up some first.

  “I just wanted to go into the park. There's a water fountain that still works in there. But they told me I couldn't unless I paid.”

  “It's just for today,” Bill said. “But if you really need some water that badly I can pay to get you in.”

  She shook her head.

  “No, I don't have anything to repay you with. My house burnt down while I was sick, my parents' house really. I just managed to get out, they didn't even manage that much.”

  She sounded suspiciously close to breaking into tears again, so Bill tried to change the subject.

  “Come on back. I'll get you in and you can get a drink. I think I saw some people
selling stuff that you could eat also.”

  “I told you, I don't have anything.”

  “I'll buy it for you. Come on.”

  She allowed herself to be led back towards the barter fair. The guard at the gate raised an eyebrow when Bill led her up, but when he handed over his token and a silver dime for her, the guard just shrugged and let them in.

  “You okay Gina?” the guard asked.

  “Yeah, he told me he'd get me in so I could get some water, maybe buy me some food too.”

  The guard's eyes flicked back to Bill's face. Bill just shrugged and spread his arms.

  “She sounds like she's had a hard time of it recently,” Bill said. “Someone needs to help her, might as well be me, right?”

  “Getting her food for a day ain't helping her out very much,” the guard muttered, having seen the group Bill came in with and their condition, which was much better than most of the folks here.

  “Well maybe I'll see if she has any skills that would be useful and get her more help than just that,” Bill said, his voice taking on an irritated tone.

  And any woman would have the skills I most want, he thought.

  “Really?” Gina asked. “You could actually do that?”

  Bill guided her away from the entrance and out of earshot of the guard.

  “Yes, I could. My group is doing okay, but you'd have to have skills that would help out the group as a whole, and there would be some additional duties just for me.”

  She led him towards the water fountain she'd mentioned. When they got there, she threw back the hood that had been covering her head so she could bend over and drink. Bill did a different sort of drinking, drinking in the sight of her face and hair. Her face was narrow and slightly angular, but he could chalk that up to her not eating well for the past month. Her hair was somewhere between blonde and brunette, maybe dirty blonde or ash blonde, he wasn't sure. He'd never been good with the different names for hair colors, but it was attractive, or would be once it was washed if he was guessing correctly.