Jess strode into the school’s auditorium flanked by her two sisters. The other women in the room parted as she passed, quick to make way for her and her sisters. She scanned the room. Finding nobody of note, she and the two other women of the Crason family took their place at the corner of the expansive room.

May, the middle sister let the women who previously occupied the corner see her brass knuckles. Her cute face no matter how stern could not intimidate others by itself and so she often had to result to more direct methods. The women hissed their teeth but went on their way, taking not one look back.

The oldest sister, Lara sat down, legs crossed. “We could have asked them to leave. Better yet, we could have found an unoccupied spot.”

May sat down beside Lara. “If the lottery does not go as planned and I doubt it will, then we should be in a position to see how everyone reacts.”

“Then we should be by the door so we can escape.”

“Here we might be able to take advantage of the chaos.”

“You are so certain that we won’t win?”

At that, May raised a brow while smirking. “Ha! Win? This is not a contest. It’s a lottery. The chances are slim, even if there are less women than last month. Some were not allowed to enter again but my bet is that others understood this lottery is a waste of time.”

Jess had let her older sisters bicker long enough. “Enough of that you two. There are lawwomen here. Don’t want them hearing any of your slander toward the lottery.”

The two quickly shut their mouths. It was not as if Jess disagreed. Increasingly it seemed only the right people were winning the lottery. Now the masses of women waiting for a healthy young man to breed who thought they had a fair shot turned bitter at each failure to acquire a man.

While she saw nobody of note when she first scanned the room, she did see those bitter faces. Everyone here had contributed much to the new society in order to earn extra lottery tickets to enter. The more tickets, the greater the chance to get a man.

What caught Jess’s eye was the age of the gathered hopefuls. Many were hitting their late twenty’s. The oldest even their early thirty’s. The effects of the gas would soon make them unable to birth children, limiting any future prospects for advancement in the new society.

May was correct on one thing for sure. There would be trouble but Jess was with Lara. If there was trouble, they should run. They’d taken this spot so abandoning it now would be pointless. That and several lawwomen had just taken their place by all the entrances, or should she say, the means of escape.

If trouble arises, the youngest sister would handle it. She’d seen May take out a small gang of troublemaking women with her bare fists alone. Nobody would think such a cute girl could pack such a punch. An advantage the girl ruthlessly exploited.

A woman on the stage interrupted her thoughts. She bellowed into a low speaker to get the attention of the gathered women. Eager to get started, all conversation stopped, allowing the woman to get on with the event.

“Thank you all for coming! Today is the sixth lottery of the year!” said the announcer. After a longer than expected pause, she continued. “And also, the last.”

The announcer closed her eyes and covered her ears. She knew an outburst was coming and so it did. The crowd of women hollered and screamed. A lottery every month. Those were the rules. The government of the new society was breaking them.

One woman got a bit too close for the comfort of the lawwomen guarding the stage and was cracked over the head with a baton. She had her baton raised and directed hard eyes to others who had any similar ideas. After a tense moment the women backed down, and the lawwomen put away their batons.

The announcer nodded to the lawwoman in thanks and continued her announcement. “Unfortunately, more men have fallen ill due to the gas. They are in a stable condition but in no way able to take part in any breeding.”

The women hung their heads, and some prayed at the sad news. May whispered to Lara her suspicions that the illness was the women controlling the men having their way with them without authorization. Lara answered back that the women watching over the government supply of men were the authorization.

Jess didn’t bother to tell them to shut up, they wouldn’t be heard over the crowd who mourned the loss of breeding partners. Curse the gas that put them in this situation. And if the watchers for the men were the cause of their inability to breed, then curse them as well. They had access to a government brothel they should have no need to hump the men in their care.

Using the opportunity to soak up sympathy, the announcer called for a moment of silence. It worked, and the crowd calmed. Jess had to admire the women’s ability to control the crowd. Unlike the lawwomen who so quickly used brute force. Though the type of women to join their ranks were often of violent natures. Jess resisted turning to her sister May.

“Now, I think all of you misunderstood what I have said. This will be the last lottery of the year. Meaning this month’s lottery will continue,” the announcer explained.

At this, the crowd went from silent to jubilant. Very clever this one.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Jess spotted a woman who failed to cheer. Dressed in fine clothes and gaudy jewels, she had an air of calm about her that caught her attention. No, not at calm: confidence.

Jess signaled her sister. “Lara.”

“Yeah, I saw her. Hot little thing but not my type.”

“Chat her up.”

“Well if I have too.” Lara grinned like a lewd cat and strode to the lady.

Jess could always count on the oldest to flirt. She’d defused many a tense scene with her charms. Jess doubted she’d be too upset if they failed to get a man today.

“It’s starting,” said May, still sitting on the ground.

So it was. Two women had dragged out a large sphere. Then they methodically called out all the balls that represented a ticket that the entrants had earned before putting it into the sphere. Once finished the announcer spun the sphere, once, twice, thrice. It came to halt minutes later.

Sweat beaded down her forehead and she wasn’t the only one. Others in the room clenched skirts and disturbingly their weapons as well. Thank god nobody had guns anymore. But that would make the gas a god and she had no thanks for that.

A single ball dropped from a tube at the bottom of the sphere. This ball was the winner. The woman who would get a man. If it was her and her sisters, they would share the man. Their chances were great because of this. All three of them worked themselves to the bone to get as many chances as possible. If only each of them had a ticket, they would be three times more likely to win but as they gained multiple tickets due to hard work, they were eighteen times more likely.

Taking the ball into her hand the announcer let the winner of the year’s sixth lottery be known. “The winner is Osa Karl!”

Somehow, she knew, Jess just knew of who the announcer spoke. Turning to her side, he saw the well-dressed woman leave Lara’s side to claim her prize.

The lawwomen were ready but none attacked her, only giving her glares of spite and envy. Osa took it in stride and went up on stage. After a moment a man came out and what a fine one, he was.

Well-muscled and firm he walked confidently to his new owner and breeding partner, hugging her tightly. Any other woman may have humped him right there or collapsed into his grasp but she only returned the hug casually.

Such a healthy man was rare, and all knew it. Maybe a reward due to this being the last lottery of the year. Yet doubt tingled the back of her mind.

Lara returned to her sisters to tell them what she’d learned. May stood and had her brass knuckles on. Glaring around the room for threat. Though her glare looked like a cute pout.

“She’s not just a rich girl. The way she talked. Her every reaction oozed plutocrat.” Lara informed them.

“Likely the daughter of one.” Jess returned her eyes to Osa now holding the hand of her man. “She knows that man.”

The whispers of the crowd went from disappointment to anger. They may have picked up on the irregularities as well. If the gas had made the men ill why was this one so healthy? Some realized who Osa was and started calling foul.

Then a woman threw something.

“Time to go,” May said and dashed for the exits along with several others.

Jess and Lara followed after her. The riot had begun.

Lawwomen blocked the door, not wanting the angry women to go to the streets and spread chaos. They would have to go threw them.

“Mask!” Jess ordered.

Jess and her sisters covered their faces and attacked the lawwomen guarding the door. Normally even an outnumbered lawwoman could crush any challenger but the two lawwomen by the door had their hands full with a gang of women with bats, knives, and chains.

May threw her small brass-knuckled fists out at a woman in their way while Lara shoved aside another to be trampled by the crowd. Every woman for themselves.

Making it out of the auditorium, they headed out of the school. Sirens flared from inside and somehow the women outside who could not take part in the lottery already knew what happened for they were all engaged with lawwomen.

“We the preplanned route out of here,” Jess said as she kicked a wild woman out of her way.

May was back to back with Lara. “Harder with—all these bitches in our path.”

“Does not change that we need to get out of here before they come down heavy on this. The authority hates dissent like this.”

“Gotcha!”

May stopped holding back and cleared a bloody path for them away from the school, plowing her fists into anyone within reach. Those who saw her violent rampage retreated giving them a clear path back to their home.

Bursting into their house, Jess slammed the door behind them and collapsed at the entrance. The riots had spread and the suppression of them had begun just before reaching their home. The authorities went so far as to use strategic releases of the gas to cow the riot.

What were they thinking? Rigging the lottery. The fools.

Prying herself up from the floor she took in heavy breaths and headed to their kitchen to fix up some food. They found dinner already made for them.

“Grandma, are you here?” Jess yelled out.

Lara joined her in the kitchen. “She must be sleeping or maybe Timara made it.”

Timara was their cousin who was staying with them for a while. Events in the once peaceful Canada had taken a dark turn. She and her mother fled, staying with them until they could find a place of their own.

Lara took a bite of the chicken. “Timara made this for sure. Hmmm!” She licked her lips.

Taking their seats around the table they filled their bellies while discussing the day’s events.

“Forget the last lottery of the year. After that shit show that may be the last lottery ever,” May said.

Lara was digging into her chicken. “The authorities would risk everything shutting the lottery down. How else will women like us get men?”

“I’m more concerned why they would risk it in the first place,” Jess aid. “They risked so much for so little. They already have a personal supply of men at their beck and call.”

“Well, all I know is that I’m horny, and the vibrator isn’t cutting it. Scavenging batteries for that thing isn’t easy,” May said.

Lara laughed. “You should go les like me. I’m always satisfied.”

“No thanks. Some things only a dick can solve.”

“You’ve never had one so how would you know that.”

“It’s called reading.”

“Is that what you call fingering yourself to smut.”

“It requires reading words. So yes.”

Jess pinched her eyes. “Back on topic you two. Ideas. How do we get a man?”

“We kidnap one,” said May like it were nothing.

Given their dire situation Jess didn’t dismiss it out of hand. “Anything else. Something less risky.”

Lara gave her idea next. “We could borrow one. I know a girl who might let me have at her man.”

Jess shook her head. “She’s luring you into a trap. She will ask for a crazy favor for the opportunity. If not, she will let you with him but not us. We must all benefit or none at all. Worse than not getting a man is breaking up the family due to jealously.”

Both her older sisters nodded at that. Family kept them alive threw the hard times. Not the hope of gaining a man.

Still, Jess needed more ideas or they would have to default to May’s kidnapping idea. “What about ... a brothel?”

“Never seen one,” May said.

“I have a lead on one. Probably nonsense but it what I got,” Lara said.

Taking a drink of rare coffee Jess agreed. “A brothel it is. Follow that lead Lara. May, you go with her. She’d be dealing with shady characters.”

The girls nodded. They made no complaint, accepting her direction with little fuss. Her being the youngest had no bearing on her leadership skills. Calm and whip-smart, she was the one the family looked to for answers.

Still, it pained Jess that despite all her smarts, the family would go off in search of a brothel to answer their problems. She’d failed. All their eggs were put into one basket. Countless hours and coin had gone into increasing their chances of winning the lottery and it had been robbed from them.

In silence, the three sisters finished their meal.

Against her better judgment, Jess allowed Lara to go out into the night to search for the location of the brothel, accompanied by May. The two could handle themselves but word had spread of the rigging of the lottery and the riots had continued reaching the residential districts. The radio new had scattered reports of looting and assaults on men.

Wishing her sisters luck, Jess went to check on her grandmother. Upstairs, she found the old women resting peacefully in bed. She tried to withdraw from the room in silence but she stepped on a creaky piece of wood and woke the woman up.

Startled she jumped from the bed with a swiftness that belied her age. “Who’s there!”

“Just me grandma.”

“Oh, Jess, my dear. Back from the lottery so soon.”

“It ended a while ago.”

“From that sour puss look on your face, I can tell I did not go well.”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

Seeing that her grandma was in a mood to talk she sat by her on the bed, explaining the events of the day but leaving out their plans. Telling grandma they might be kidnapping a man seemed unwise.

Grandma nodded patiently at her explanations. “I’m sorry you girls have to live such a hard life.”

“So what? You had it easy?”

“Not exactly. There were more men around that’s for sure but that came with its own problems.”

This astonished Jess. How could having more men be a bad thing? Grandma saw her face and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s just amazing how things have changed. You see dear when there were more men around, they were the ones in charge. Their rule was not a pleasant one and if they knew how desperate women were for their seed, they would invent time travel to get here.”

“The few men I have seen look at me like a predator.”

Grandma gave Jess a knowing look. “That’s because you are. It is the way of the new society.”

“Well, the old world could not have been as bad as this. Not enough people willing or able to do the mining and manufacturing means that even though we have technology that survived the gas, there is not enough of it to make things easy.”

“Generations of technological advancement gone is a flash. Or rather a puff of gas.” Grandma sighed.

The old women tried to get up but Jess stopped her. “We already had dinner. Timara made it.”

“What a good—girl.”

The youngest female in the house, Timara was of a slight build and weak disposition. Because of this she felt like a burden and did her best to help around the house, anointing herself the maid of the house. As family, they would not have turned her out on the streets even if she wasn’t of use. Jess had to admit she did a fine job of cleaning up after them and filling their bellies.

“I know that you girls are going to do some kinda crazy to get a man. You better not get Timara involved.”

“Of course not.”

Before the old woman nodded back off to sleep, Jess had a question to ask while the woman was willing to talk. “What caused the gas?”

Before closing her eyes, Grandma mumbled “Us.”

The next morning, Jess was awakened by Lara and May, both girls grinning over her. “I take it you two found it.”

May spoke first. “You should have seen her, Jess. Lara had these two girls fighting over her, practically itching to spill their secrets.”

Lara played with her neck length black hair. “I would like to think it was due to my charms, but it’s likely because everyone knows about the mess at the lottery by now. Now that women know that no men are coming anytime soon, they are more open to talk about alternatives. If that means letting another girl go down on them then so be it.”

“Any trouble?”

May frowned. “Yeah. The riots stopped but the streets are dangerous. Saw a gang of women try to get at a woman’s man.”

“So, people are already going the kidnapping route. Did you see what happened to the couple?”

“Yeah, I broke it up. Chased them off.”

“Don’t play the hero May.”

The cute girl shrugged. “I’m not. I just wanted to beat people up and get thanked for it.”

Jess sighed. May was very lucky to have not ended up in jail once in her life. She’d gotten involved in numerous fights and always looked for trouble. Any excuse to get her fists into flesh. It made Jess worry but May was May. Hopefully, she would become a lawwoman and they would temper her.

“Where is the brothel and how do we get in?”

Lara scratched her head. “That’s the tricky part.”

Jess rose a single brow.

The trio of sisters inspected the dingy abandoned motel at the outskirts of town. At some point in the past, it probably catered to men and women leaving the city but as the cities declined due to loss of population and inability to supply them, the motel must have gone to waste like so many other buildings.

Jess looked to her sisters. They met her look. Their eyes held confidence that this was indeed the right place so she continued onward.

At the entrance, a bell rang as they opened the door and a woman slipped from the shadows holding her hand out. Trying not to show surprise, Jess handed the woman the card Lara said would grant them entrance. The woman inspected it for a moment then waved them to the dark hall she came from.

As they walked down the hall, they began to hear music, soft and non-descript, there only to build atmosphere. She parted purple curtains, and they now stood in a reasonably lit waiting area, a cleaned-up version of the dingy entrance they came from. Another woman waited behind a counter while others waited on couches.

“The ones on the couches must be the customers,” May whispered.

“Yes, they are,” said the woman at the counter. May must not have whispered softly enough. “Join them please and wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“The men.”

At those words, the sisters hustled to the couches accidentally bumping some of the others who must have been too worried about being booted from the brothel to make a fuss. That told Jess more than anything that this place was the real deal.

She’d not imagined herself sitting at brothel eagerly awaiting the appearance of men to pleasure her in some shady motel but desperation had led her to this point. At least she and her sisters didn’t have to kidnap anyone now.

Finally, the men appeared. They were average, but that was fine. The youngest was seventeen, and the oldest was in their thirties at least. But they all looked healthy.

The men went to a woman and took them by the hand leading them out of the room to another private one. By the time it was over the sisters were left alone. With no men!

“What’s the meaning of this!” Jess wanted to keep her voice down but the letdown was too much.

“All the other women had appointments. You ladies do not,” the woman said simply.

Gas it! How could she let something so obvious slip by? Oh no, Jess knew how. She was thinking with her clit, not her head. They would have to make an appointment.

Lara walked up to the counter. “When is your next available man?”

The woman played with her tie and took out a heavy book. “Let us see here ... the next month.” A month. They could wait for that. “Of next year.”

“Oh c’mon!” May threw her hands up.

“After the riot, all our previous clients radioed in to book us. They all paid quite well. You three, however, are using one of our complimentary cards. A promotion for frequent guests that has since expired. We let you in on as a courtesy. I hope none of you are thinking of causing trouble.” She looked to May as she said this. The middle sister was playing with her brass knuckles, justifying the woman’s concerns.

Jess gestured for May to put the weapons away. No need to make enemies here. “We’ll go.”

“There is another option,” the woman called out before they left.

This filled Jess with hope and from the twinkle in her sisters’ eyes they’d hoped to hear of another option. Then Jess got suspicious, reminding herself to think with her head. She would let the woman have her say but she already distrusted this other option.

The woman continued. “We have a new young man today who is a bit shy. It would be of great help to us if you three could ease him in.”

How would letting three women sleep with him be easier than one? Jess could not see the catch. “Does he have an STD.”

“Nobody has those anymore. Don’t insult us. Leave if you don’t want my offer.”

“We’ll take it!” May said before Jess could stop her.

Jess gave her a glare which May promptly ignored. It was her own fault, really. She forgot that her sisters would think with their clits instead of their heads even if she didn’t. Gas it all.

The woman grabbed a radio phone at the side of the room and punched in a few numbers. Moments later, the woman who escorted them down the hall came dressed like the one at the counter, with a tight purple vest and neat tie, to take them deeper into the motel where they heard the grunts and moans of the other clients.

“Soon that will be us,” May commented, ecstatic.

Lara just shrugged and Jess kept her eyes open for anything suspect.

Their escort left them at a door. Lara knocked her knuckles on the door lightly and a soft voice asked them to enter. All were shocked at what they saw, including the occupant.

There they saw a young man. Dressed in tight shorts and a thin shirt. The clothes highlighted his pale but lightly muscled chest and firm thighs. It was no wonder they’d been fooled. His figure was feminine enough to pass for a girl for those who knew no better.

On a cushy bed, his butt on the edge and eyes wide, sat Timara, their cousin.

“What the fu--” May’s yell was blocked by Lara’s hand. If the managers heard and came in, they might notice the resemblance between the family members.

They all shared the same glossy black hair and deep black eyes. Still, Jess had to be sure. “Timara?”

Shaking her head, she—he said, “Yes. What are you three doing here?”

Lara marched up to him, grabbing him by the collar. “What are we doing here? What are you doing here?”

Jess separated the two once Lara began shaking Timara. “That’s enough. However, we need answers. Can we start with your true name?”

Rubbing his neck, he answered. “My real name is Tim.” He hesitated but at Lara’s glare, he continued. “After what happened in Canada our mother decided to take me to back home where it is safe, or at least safer. People always have mistaken me for a girl depending on what clothes I wore so grandma and mom thought I should pretend to be one.”

May spoke up. “Did you not trust us?”

“Of course I do but telling you I was a man would put you three in danger. I was already enough of a burden.”

“So, you work at a brothel to help pay the bills,” Lara said.

Tim nodded. “You all sunk everything into the lottery. This is my way of contributing. I could even find a man here that could go with you.”

“You didn’t need to do that. We don’t think you are a burden.”

For the first time since entering the room, Tim’s eyes hardened. “Letting me live with you is not the same as not treating me as a burden. When you talked about your plans for the lottery, you would stop talking when I entered the room. Whenever anything important was being discussed you all would clam up. When you all forgot I was there and realized later you would suggest I leave and not bother myself with your silly girl talk. You treated me like I wasn’t there. So, I thought nobody would notice if I whored myself out.”

At Tim’s blistering rebuke, all the sisters cringed. They could not deny that they failed to take him seriously. Something else made Jess cringe. Tim said their mother brought him here to America.

She had to know. “Tim, are you our brother?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit we almost screwed our brother!” May said.

“Keep your voice down,” Jess warned.

“So, what now?” Tim said, moving to get better dressed.

“Now we get you out of here.” After that Jess would reconsider how much she knew of her family and how they treated each other.

“You can’t. The sisters will never let it happen. I’m already in this.”

“We can and we will,” May said, clenching a fist.

Again, Jess focused on what was overlooked. “You said, sisters.”

“All the men here I’ve seen are the brothers of the women running the place,” Tim said.

“Pimped out by their own family. Yep, that’s it. We are getting you out. Tell us everything about this place and we will come back to bust you out.”

“Why not get him out now?” said May.

Lara checked the door to make sure nobody was listening. “They will know it’s us who took him for one. And for another, they are ready for it.”

“Gases,” May cursed.

They sat with their newfound brother and listened to what he knew of the motel brothel.

Reluctantly, the sisters left the brothel and headed home to form a proper plan. None of them liked what Tim had to say. Because of their ignorance, he would have stayed there trying to help them. So obsessed were they trying to find a man they forgot how dire their finances were. Tim was the one thinking of the future, not her.

Tim’s information on the brothel was disturbing. Turned out the woman at the counter was trying to break him in, not ease him in. She counted on the fact that any new client would be as horny as hell and three clients would overwhelm him. This would leave the brothel with a cowed man to do their bidding.

He also told them of the abuses that went on at the brothel mirroring the horrors only heard of in the hell hole that was Canada. Sex-starved women hopped up on power and drugs riding men until they needed to be injected with performance enhancers. Men overdosing on Viagra. Worse was the sick punishments for disobedience imported right from Toronto itself.

It made them all sick. The sooner they got him out the better. However outraged, their anger would not settle in place of a solid plan.

Grandma was up, waiting for them by the table with lunch. At seeing their faces, she somehow knew what had happened.

As they all sat around the table Grandma explained herself to them. “There is strength in numbers but so are there weaknesses. At the time the authorities were asking for more men to volunteer themselves to the government but they would give no details on what that meant. So, your mother left me to raise you, girls, while she took care of Tim in Canada. At the time the country was a wonderful place.”

“I don’t remember Tim at all,” Lara said.

“He lived with your father at another home most of the time.”

“What about our father,” Jess said. She’d never met the man, unlike her sisters.

“I have no idea where he is. No secrets there. One day he was here and the next...” she made the gesture while mouthing ‘poof’.

“Did you know what Tim was up to?” Lara had accusation in her tone.

Grandma me her accusation with her own. “I suspected and don’t you take that tone with me. None of you. You two dumped all your money into the lottery despite my warnings and Tim’s polite attempts to suggest you all find another way but not one of you listened. Back in my time men were a lot like you girls. They would risk everything to get laid and tell themselves it was some higher purpose other than spurting out from their dicks.”

“Let’s not point figures. Besides ... grandma is right, we messed up. I did.”

“All we can do is learn from our mistakes. So, how will you girls learn?”

“I want Tim here with us so we can ask him how we can do better first.”