Chapter 11

“I’m Riley Norris. He’s Joe Baker. Angie Sloan untied you and Linda Douglas was waiting here for you. Who are you?”

One said, ‘I’m Sheila Ramsay, She’s Jackie Edwards and she’s Nancy Dover. Those bastards captured us three days ago. I’m glad you killed most of them. You should have killed the rest.”

I said, “They’re gone and you’re safe. Well, as safe as anyone is these days. Is there anything close by that you ladies want to take with you? We need to find a better place to stop for the night.”

Each of the three shook their heads. I said, “Okay, Joe. I’ll lead off. Give me a hundred yards or so and come along strung out.” Joe nodded.

Sheila said, “Riley, let me go with you. I knew this area before and can help.”

I shrugged. “Come along.”

We led off with Joe watching over the rest of the women. Sheila proved that she knew the area noting where the land had changed due to the bombing. She admitted that she had hunted with her father until he became too sick to go out. They had owned a farm close to here. She changed my path to go by a different road and through a field. We came to a large farmhouse. She said, “This was my parents’ farm until they passed. I lived here and drove into Atlanta. I was home with a bad cold the day of the attack or I would be dead now. I was out searching when I was captured by those assholes. They didn’t know about this place. You guys, I trust.”

We headed toward the house. Both of us were watching carefully. She said, “If anyone’s been here since I left, they’re clever enough to replace my tell-tails. We should be okay to go inside.”

I shrugged. “Okay, let’s go inside and verify before I wave to Joe.” She nodded.

We went inside and did verify that no one had been nor was currently in the house. I waved at Joe for all to join us. They did. As they came inside, I explained, “This was Sheila’s home before the bombing. We’ll stay here tonight at least.”

Once we were all inside, I checked the water and found good pressure. For me, that meant a bath even if it were a cold one. I was learning that opportunities to get clean should be taken at any instance that they occurred. Sheila asked, “What made you smile?”

“Water means a shower and a chance to be clean.”

“I will really make you smile then. I have hot water.”

I was grinning big time now. “Where is a bathroom I can use?” Sheila grinned back and led me to the master bathroom.

“Use this one, Riley. After my parents died and I took over the house, this was my bedroom.”

I stammered. “I don’t mean to, err, wasn’t going to take over your room.”

“You won’t be.” She said nothing more but grinned. I went into the bathroom and turned on the water. As it warmed, I stripped. It did get hot! I got in the shower and was luxuriating in the feeling. My eyes were closed as warm water cascaded over my face. I felt a breeze and opened my eyes. Sheila was in the large stall with me and she was as naked as I was. “Move over. I want to get wet. If you’ll soap down, you can rinse in a moment. We’ll save water.” She was grinning and her eyes were dancing.

I realized two things quickly. One was that Sheila was very attractive with a great figure and second that I was reacting to seeing her body. I guess a third would be that she could tell. She quickly made her presence a “hands on” experience! I joined in that effort until our hands weren’t all the body parts involved in the experience. We cleaned up lazily.

“Riley, I liked you before and like you better now. I hope all that was good with you. I’ve never been one to jump in bed or a shower with a man but these aren’t normal times. You are a really good guy. I sensed that we would be good companions without sex which made the sex work even better for me.”

“Sheila, you are right. I wouldn’t have advanced on you but was very attracted to you. I’m all for showering with you any time in the future.” I grinned. “I thought we got along well today while leading our little group. I don’t think we’ll find problems working together in the future either.” I grinned some more. “I guess we need to put clothes on and check on the rest. Organizing supper might be a good idea.”

“We can do that, Riley. Get some clothes on and let’s get involved, with the others.”

We did and we did. No one seemed to notice what we had done. I noticed that Joe was happier and cleaner just like I was. I decided that I could ask him later. I noticed that another of the new women was standing close to him. Nancy was also happy and clean. I walked up to them and said, “Joe, let’s get this group a little organized. We need to eat and know how the water is heated plus anything else to know if we can be safe here from the aliens.”

Sheila said, “Riley, I’ve kept things the same since the initial attack. The only risk that I’ve identified is that the hot water is solar with roof mounted heating panels. There is no other power though I have propane for cooking and heating. I understand your thinking about infrared but we’ve had ships fly over without harming the house. As you saw, I keep the outside looking pretty deserted.”

Joe asked, “How did you guys get caught?”

Nancy responded, “We were out scavenging a couple of miles from here. We have a basement that Sheila and I rigged to look like our hideout. They had taken it over. They never knew about this place.”

Sheila said, “The three of us would like to suggest this house as a base. We need to clean up the basement hideout soon. Just a few hours gave them enough time to mess it up. We would like to work with some good people to figure out a plan.”

We ate supper and talked during the meal and afterwards. Joe and I cleaned the dishes while the ladies talked and watched. It was well after dark when we started heading for beds. Without TV, radio, or even lights, staying up long after dark wasn’t really practical. Sheila took me back to her bedroom and bed. We found that our sex was better horizontal and since we now knew more about what the other liked. We did finally sleep.

In the morning, we showered together again most enjoyably. Once dry, I said, “Sheila, this is habit-forming. I want us to continue together.”

“We can do that, Riley. We need to think about the other ladies though.”

I nodded. “True. We have an imbalance that needs to be cured with the right guys.”