Chapter 27: Not Quite Boot Camp

Sergeant O'Malley stepped to the center of the room and looked at me. "Son," he said. "You have to be one of the bravest fools I've ever met. Did you just tell this man that you wanted to make a sex slave out of his daughter?"

"No," I replied firmly. "I told him that I would protect his daughter and love her. In my home she will be a partner, someone who can assist me in raising our children and providing a happy and enriching environment for all who live there."

The Sergeant smiled. "That's what I thought you were trying to say. And it is well said. Too many people with the CAP to volunteer are thinking about having subjects at their beck and call who have to accept all kinds of perverse orders. And the people without the CAP to volunteer often see the whole thing as a new form of sexual slavery."

I nodded. The Sergeant looked around the room. "If you haven't thought about that already, you should do it now. Right now most people are still too stunned by everything to react, and the rate of pickups is low enough that few families have lost someone who, without warning, became a concubine and was whisked from the surface of this planet. But as time goes on, more and more people will start to see the pickups in a negative light."

"If all the high CAP people act like Walter, I'm sure that it will only be a few more weeks before the backlash starts," Kelsey said. "I mean he demanded that Steph give him a blowjob during lunch a week ago."

"He what?" Kyle shouted. "Where were the teachers?"

"Our school only had two teachers with a CAP above six five," I said. "Both were picked up at the coffee shop at Fifth and Harrison. Since then, the three male teachers left in the school cower in their rooms, and the female ones won't backtalk anyone with a CAP that's six five or above."

"Teachers?" Katelyn asked.

Ashley laughed. "What? You think the teachers don't want to get picked up. Sure some of them are way older than the students, but they are desperate. And there is a rumor that a small school in Idaho was the site of a pickup that took both students and teachers."

"Providence High School," Sergeant O'Malley said with a whisper. "The place only had one hundred students, and the pickup occurred when they had an all hands meeting in the gym."

Everyone smiled except for Sergeant O'Malley who looked around the room. He seemed to be counting people and was not happy with his counts.

"Mark," he said. "Who here has the CAP to volunteer, and who belongs to who? I can't tell with the way everyone is sitting."

Jason, Jessica, Morgan, Kyle and I all raised our hands. Millie and Matti moved to stand behind Jessica while Kelsey jumped up from the couch and moved to sit at my feet. The retired sergeant looked around the room again stopping when his eyes saw the array of women behind Jessica.

"You have a CAP above seven? "he asked.

"Not yet," Jessica said. "I scored a six point eight when I tested last year. But you can retest on your birthday. Kathy is the only one I've promised to take right now. Millie and Tillie will be mine once I retest and improve my score."

"And you are sure you can improve it?" Sergeant O'Malley asked.

"When I tested, I talked to the Defense Forces Lieutenant who was working at the center while waiting for her transfer to come through. She said that most people see their score rise every year until they are eighteen or nineteen. Or at least that it what is being reported. I don't think they have actually conducted tests for that long a period," I said in support of Jessica.

"You pay attention. Now I guess I can see what's going on. Everyone, I am Sergeant Brandon O'Malley of the US Army, although I should admit I'm retired. I turned my experience from the army into a career as a security consultant. I met Mark, Jason and Ashley a few weeks back, and I have to admit Mark impressed me then, so I gave him a business card. This morning he called and admitted that he was thinking about me training him to protect those he loves."

"Can you do that?" Kyle asked.

"No one can truly train you for that," Brandon said. "If you don't have the right instincts and heart, you won't protect others well. But I've noticed that people with high CAP scores tend to be far more willing to make the sacrifices required to truly protect others. And I can say that from what I see Mark definitely has the right stuff."

"And that means?" Morgan asked.

"I can't be here every day to train you," Brandon admitted. "I have a company to run and paying clients to support. But I can be here one or two days a week, and I have friends who might be willing to help."

"Why?" Katelyn asked.

"Because they are bored. I have friends who got hurt while serving, and they were discharged due to their injuries. They need something to do to keep them busy, and this would be perfect for them," Brandon responded. "Now if you are interested, we could do something this morning, but it works better if you are in gym clothes."

"Is there space in the house?" I asked. "I would have thought we'd want to do this outdoors or in a gym."

"Not a gym," Brandon said firmly. "What you need isn't weights, but real life training ... and running. There is a park near here with a couple of large meadows we can use for most of this."

"Won't the city chase us out?" Kyle asked.

"Why? We'd be causing no harm." Brandon looked over at Ashley. "Just make sure everyone dresses properly. Do you want to start today?"

"Can we?" I asked.

"I'm free," the man admitted. "I see you aren't dressed for exercise though. How about I meet everyone there in one hour? Show up ready, and I can give you two hours of instruction and some drills you can perform at home. I'll call Mark tomorrow to work out a full schedule."

I looked over at Morgan. "It's Saturday, and my project is ahead of schedule so I'm free," he said with a shrug.

Becky giggled. "Bea and I have the late shift so we are fine until noon. We have to be at work at one thirty and we'd need a shower and lunch."

"Save water," Jason chirped. "Shower with a friend."

"Oh, but we already do that," Beatrice sang back. She leaned back into the couch with a smirk on her face as Letty fell over laughing.

We looked at Kyle and Katelyn. The man looked at his wife and shrugged. "It sounds too damn perfect," he muttered. "This boy has it all figured out. But we are free today aren't we my love."

"If he has you willing to admit you love me again, I'd say he is the wisest man in the world," Katelyn responded. "And I think we'll enjoy the exercise. We can even bond with our daughter."

"But she won't be participating!" Kyle snapped.

"Why the hell not?" I asked. "She has a right to defend herself, and I'd never deny my ladies a chance to exercise. They are human beings not machines and I want them to enjoy life."

Kelsey giggled. "I'd have to go change."

"We all will," I affirmed. "I say we all get breakfast and put on gym clothes and meet at the park."

Jessica looked at Kathy and my sister. "You will show up as you are, but you will still participate," she said sternly. "Millie, I want something sexy. How about shorts and a sports bra?"

"I can't run around in just a bra!" Millie hissed. "I've been dieting since you first said you might want me around, but I'm still fat. No one wants to see me in a bra!"

"Do you even know what a sports bra is?" Jessica asked. "Get one and you'll understand. I think the sporting goods store in town is open."

Millie pouted, but then smiled as she looked at Kathy's outfit. "Fine, I'll call Dad and get a ride."

Millie turned and ran to the front door of the house. We heard it hit the wall as she opened it and stepped outside. Kyle watched her go with a puzzled expression on his face.

"She doesn't seem to want to be yours," he said to Jessica.

"Millicent has a father who is terrified that women will be after him for his money. That has had a rather negative effect on Millicent. She doesn't trust, and she has a hard time opening up to others. She also fears most men. Right now, I'm about the only person she trusts to be the one to take her from Earth."

"But couldn't that cause problems?" Katelyn asked. "If she can't really handle the situation what will you do?"

"She'll be fine," Kathy said as she put a hand on Jessica's shoulder. "I've been with Jessica from the start, and I've watched Millie try to open up to others. She used to always find a quiet spot to sit by herself at lunch. Now she sits at the table with Jessica, Jason and Mark. She doesn't join in all the teasing and jokes, but she smiles. And she adores Jessica. Jessica is the only other student at the school with a wealthy father, and I think Millicent sees Jessica as the woman she could have been if she could overcome her father's fears."

Kyle looked shocked. "But why not try to be more like her? Why just accept becoming a sex slave?"

"I don't want to go to war," Lenore said. "I'd do anything to protect my little Angelique. But if I can avoid fighting I will. Think about our history. The women who stay home provided a huge inspiration for the men fighting for them."

"Sometimes that inspiration led to the death of men," Kyle pointed out. "I've heard that villages in England had a generation of boys wiped out after all the girls virtually coerced the men into joining the army at the start of World War One."

"Things like that can happen," Lenore said. "There is no guarantee that Mark will survive battle."

"I sure hope to," I replied. "I want to be there the day Angelique turns fourteen, and I hope to be home when she comes back from her CAP testing with a huge smile on her face because she scored better than me."

Lenore gasped and then turned to give me a solid and passionate kiss. For the first time her tongue forced its way past my lips as she worked to suck my tonsils out. I could hear several people shifting about uncomfortably as the kiss extended.

"Dude, get a room," Jason finally said, causing Lenore to slowly back away from the kiss.

"We have to get over to the park right now," I reminded everyone. "I guess I need to allow Ashley and Lenore to run home so they can get gym shorts and tank tops."

"Not a skirt?" Ashley asked.

"Not for exercising," I said. "I'm sure you never practiced your cheerleader routines in a skirt with no panties."

"No, but I would have next year," Ashley replied cheekily.

"Go brat!" I commanded haughtily. "We meet on the field of training in one hour."

Lenore and Ashley giggled and stood up. Then, as I tried to stand up, they leaned over, brushing their breasts on my arms before kissing my cheeks. I felt my face grow warm as they skipped out of the house.

Kyle, Katelyn and Kelsey followed at a walk. Kelsey had a hand over her mouth, but the way her shoulders shook it was clear she was giggling at the antics of her two rivals for my heart. I was trying to figure this out when Becky and Beatrice stopped to give me hugs, and Morgan held out his hand to me.

"Thanks for thinking to include us in all of this," Morgan said. "You have proved to be right about one thing. If you treat the women you are taking with you as humans and show that you want them to be happy, they seem to want to make you even happier."

"It was the only thing that made sense," I said. "I can't imagine being happy if the people around me are not happy."

The trio nodded, and then Morgan waved to the others. "We need to go change. Let's get to the car."

The house quickly emptied as everyone headed to their vehicles. I walked to the door to find that Jessica, Kathy and Millicent had already left. Matti walked up to me as I stared out the open doorway. "The driver waited for them," she told me. "I guess Jessica's father is a bit worried, so one of his bodyguards now watches over her."

I nodded as I closed the door. Matti stepped back and stood in the schoolgirl outfit Jessica had brought with her. "How did she know your size?" I asked.

"She asked me to e-mail her my measurements four weeks ago," my sister responded with a smile. "Why?"

"She shouldn't be playing dress up with you yet. You are too young," I said.

"It's dress up only. We both know that," Matti said to me as if I was stupid. "Its harmless fun. Meanwhile, shouldn't you go and change?"

"Three times in one morning," I said quietly. "This is going to be one hell of a day."

I climbed the stairs to my bedroom as my sister laughed. "I do that almost every day!" Matti shouted up to me. "Why should girls get all the fun?"

Her comment made me smile and it was with a smile that I dug through a pile of clean clothes that I had yet to fold and put away. I found one of my junior high gym uniforms and changed clothing. Once I was done I looked at the clock and realized I probably had forty minutes until I was supposed to be at a park that was only three blocks away. I looked over at my computer, but then shook my head to the empty room and headed down the stairs while carrying my cross trainers.

Matti was sitting at the dining room table and looking at a catalog I did not recognize. I claimed one of the other chairs and started to put my shoes on. My sister glanced at me. "You need breakfast," she said.

I finished putting on my shoes before looking at her. "We have fresh bananas don't we?" I asked.

"You purchased the food, and Dad hasn't been home since May," Matti reminded me. "You probably know better than I do."