Chapter 3

Ann awoke slowly. The steady beating of Jim's heart was the first thing she heard as her mind began its ascent towards full wakefulness. The gentle lighting of the aquarium provided just enough light for her to see the rugged face of the powerful and handsome Jim. Her mind brought up a memory from her teenage years with astonishing clarity. As a young girl she woke up one morning to find her mother seated near her bed gazing at her face.

When Ann had asked her mother why she had been sitting there watching her sleep, her mother smiled at her and replied "when we are awake we seem to hide behind a kind of mask that we all wear; sometimes we even fool ourselves a bit the longer we've hidden behind it. When a person is asleep, the mask fades away and the emotions they have hidden away during the day sometimes come to the forefront and are revealed in expressions they would never allow to show upon their face if they were awake. I've been dropping in on occasion to watch you sleep ever since you were just a little girl; it gives me a chance to reassure myself that my baby really is happy with herself and the world."

Now, as Jim and the other women slept, Ann gazed at his face for quite sometime. She saw that he must be dreaming since his eyes appeared to be moving quite quickly under his eyelids; yet the expression on his face seemed generally serene occasionally easing into a bit of a smile. "Even through everything that has happened to our world there can still be happiness," Ann marveled.

She thought about the night she had spent with the giant of a man she now used as a bed. As scenes from the evening before passed through her mind, Ann felt her cunt juicing up. Jim had filled her up more completely than she had ever been filled before and it felt wonderful! The excitement she had felt after being near him during the day and the enjoyable evening hours already had her pussy thoroughly lubed up and ready to go long before they had made it into the bedroom. When he had first started to ease his impressive rod into the depths of her tight sheath, Ann had been concerned that it would hurt; but he had been so concerned for her enjoyment and somehow had the patience to wait for her initial discomfort to turn to pleasure. Inch after glorious inch of Jim's thick cock made its way into her depths as it touched places she had never been touched before. When he pushed the last few inches into her, Ann felt the head of his dick enter the opening of her cervix. Every time he had pulled his wonderful prick out a few inches and then slid it back home, she felt her clit rub against it. Never had she been filled so completely! Never had she felt so many incredibly wonderful sensations coming from her pussy! She realized that although she wasn't new to sex, this was the first time she had been "fully fucked" as Jasmine had so aptly put it.

"What a man! He was able to satisfy the three of us and seemed to stop only when he sensed that we were getting worn out!" Ann thought as she blushed. Men turned Ann on and she had never had any strong desire to experiment with members of her own sex, yet the night before she had been in bed with two other women as well. Even after having eaten another woman's pussy and feeling yet another's gentle attention to her own, Ann still didn't think that she would enjoy it as much without the presence of the wonderful hunk of a man who had shared the experience with them. She slowly moved her hand over the soft curly golden brown chest hair that adorned the 'pillow' she had slept on. Jim wasn't an extremely hairy man but his chest, arms, and legs were far from void of it. After having seen every inch of his marvelous physique the evening before, Ann thought he was just about perfect.

Last night she had let herself be completely free with her expressions of love and passion for perhaps the first time in her life. As Ann realized this she felt a pang of concern; would this incredible man, who her heart felt so completely bonded to, feel the same way about her? Would he want to be with her for the rest of her life?

At one point, after looking for 'Mr. Right' for so long, Ann had come to believe that she would always live alone. She had learned to be content and at peace, enjoying each day for the challenges and opportunities it would present her with. Ann was a person who could find ways to enjoy time alone, and her job as a waitress had provided what social interaction she did need. Now, after she had quit her search for Mr. Wonderful, he appears! Before last night, if someone had walked up to her and asked her if she could be happy sharing a man with other women, she would have told them they were nuts! Not only that, but she probably would have told them to go fuck themselves for having the nerve to ask her such a question; but then last night had just seemed so right! It had just flowed so magically and smoothly from one enjoyable experience into another and Ann now found herself completely smitten with the man! She was head over heals in love and lust with him! Did he feel the same way about her?

Ann noticed that Jasmine was now awake and also gazing upon Jim's sleeping form. Slowly turning her head the other way, trying hard not to wake Jim up in the process, she saw that Carol was awake also. Carol very carefully extracted herself from the bed and motioned to the other two women to do the same. Once all three were out of the bed, they pulled up the covers so Jim would stay warm. Scrounging around in his closet supplied each of the women with one of the long flannel shirts he liked to wear during the cooler part of the year. When the women wore them the big man's shirts seemed more like robes with the shirt tails coming down to their knees.

After they left the bedroom and closed the door, the three went quietly upstairs where they could talk without disturbing their slumbering giant of a man. Jasmine and Carol had never met each other before yesterday, but they both had been to the restaurant that Ann had worked in quite a few times. Once the coffee was going the three sat down around the breakfast table in Jim's kitchen and began to talk about the situation they now found themselves in. At first this mainly focused on what had happened to the world, their country, and their town. Eventually they began to talk about more personal things like what their lives had been like before the plague and who they had lost to the horrible sickness.

None of the three women were married; though Carol had been for about two years. She and Jay had been living in Denver when he was hit by a fatal bullet during a drive by shooting. They had been married during her sophomore year of college and Carol found herself widowed before she graduated. Yesterday, after she met Jim and watched how he handled a difficult situation with complete control over things, Carol felt a part of herself stirring that she hadn't felt since Jay had been stolen away from her so tragically. A doorway to a place in her heart she had locked away after her months of anguish was now wide open - she felt love again! It took her quite a bit of time to explain exactly how she felt to her two new friends; but Ann and Jasmine could both empathize with her pain and didn't rush her.

Jasmine's story was closer to Ann's than Carol's. She hadn't found Mr. Right either; but had learned to enjoy the life she had. When Jasmine spoke about some of her hopes and dreams the other two women found themselves identifying with her as well.

Ann shared some of her thoughts with them regarding the night before and the special man that fate had brought into their lives. The women found that they could be happy sharing their feelings together without feeling like they would be judged or condemned - and they liked the freedom it gave them! When they finally got around to discussing the delicate matter of what they should do since the three of them all fell for the same man, they came to the conclusion that they could be happy and content sharing in his life however he saw fit.

Incredibly, throughout this intense conversation, the three women managed to whip up a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. The furnace circulated the mouthwatering scent through all of the rooms in the house. Jim woke up soon after. He would have thought the night before had just been a wonderful dream but since women's clothing was still strewn all over the bathroom floor and the wonderful aroma of breakfast was wafting through the air he knew it had been real.

Once he had answered Mother Nature's call, Jim pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and headed upstairs to the kitchen. There he saw a sight he wouldn't soon forget: three naturally beautiful semi-dressed women working together in the kitchen each wearing nothing but a smile and one of his flannel shirts for a bit of warmth. The sight was one that certainly brought a bit of warmth to one part if his anatomy in particular! In Jim's wildest flights of fantasy he had never dreamed that he would hook up with three such beautiful women; but the night before had started with good food, conversation, and a chance to get to know each of them as a person. True, it had ended in the most enjoyable sexual scene he had ever participated in, but the feelings that stirred in him when he looked at the gorgeous trio this morning were more than simple lust. Somehow it just felt so right that they were here together with him.

He walked over to Jasmine and scooped her into his arms for a big hug and kiss. "Good morning Jasmine!" Jim said.

Finally putting her back down, he sat down and pulled Ann and Carol both onto his lap. Hugging them and showering them with kisses he said good morning to both of them as well. Jasmine poured a cup of coffee for Jim and sat it and a plate piled with food on the table before him. He leaned over the top of Ann's head and gave Jasmine another kiss for her thoughtfulness.

"I don't know what to do next ladies! Normally if someone placed a big helping of such wonderful food in front of me I would already be working to empty it; but this morning that would mean I have to stop kissing the three of you long enough to do so - and I'm not sure I'm so happy about that!" he said with a laugh.

"All of my life I've been such a big lout that I was somewhat bothered by my size; but this morning I find myself wishing I was just a bit bigger so I could comfortably hold all three of you in my arms at once while I tell you just how special you are," Jim told them with complete sincerity. "I think you are just wonderful!"

Talk about hitting the ball out of the park! Jim was soon smothered in kisses and hugs from the happy yet crying trio of women. Soon enough though, they stopped their love attack on the big man, at least long enough for him to eat.

"So Vyagar," Dale asked during his early morning meeting with the AI, "how are things working? Before my 'little nap' we went through some intense planning; how are things coming along?"

"Before I answer that I have a question for you: Just how much of our planning do you remember? You were so exhausted by it all that I've wondered if you would be able to retain everything," Vyagar told him.

"I think I remember everything alright; but then again, if I were to forget something, how would I know?" Dale said with a chuckle.

"Ah, good point. Well I guess I'll just start with the societal aspects of the plan and then go from there if that meets with your approval."

"Sounds good," Dale said while motioning for Vyagar to continue.

"We had discussed the whole concept of societal 'layering' and interaction between members of each layer extensively for a wide variety of cultures and species. You decided that since the Alpha Male phenomena had brought a sense of peace and stability into your own household that it should be extended into the rest of the human population; however, you wanted to remain as the top male of your species. With this in mind, I and my team of AIs have created two sub classes of pheromone and aura enhancing nutrient packages similar to yours in effect but reduced in intensity. The first classification we have designated the Beta Male and the second the Gamma Male.

"You have observed that you are able to adjust the intensity of your aura and pheromones so that you can control their overall effect on people. If for a moment we referred to the aura and pheromone combination you emit as being similar to radio waves, you have the ability to adjust the strength of the signal at will. You can emit a much more powerful signal than the Beta Male and effectively blank out the effect a Beta Male has by overpowering his signal with your own and a Beta Male can do the same with a Gamma Male. We had quite a bit of information to work with when choosing who to distribute the nanomedics to; but with the small window of time in which to work, we had to make what you refer to as educated guesses instead of highly accurate calculations. Some of our selections for Beta and Gamma candidates may therefore prove to be mistakes; however, we determined that with frequent monitoring of each situation it should be possible for you to step in where necessary before things get too out of control.

"We used the profile you suggested for the selection of the Beta Males. You said that we should select calm men who were used to thinking things through but willing to take action were necessary; men who cared about the people around them. We tried to follow your guidelines while paying attention to other considerations such as screening for major genetic flaws and determining who the nanomedics would be able to completely cure," here the AI paused for a moment.

"So far this all sounds remarkably like our plan. Did something go wrong?" Dale asked.

"Actually, given the drastic nature of the weapon released around the globe, things went better than I might have hoped for; but there have been several horrendous effects of the weapon that we were powerless to prevent. The best candidates for the nanomedics success are those whose body mass and overall health would assist in fighting the vicious organism. I'm afraid that we were able to save almost none of the general population's children or elderly Dale."

"None!" Dale exclaimed as he thought of a world without children.

"Remember that the organism's thirst for hydrogen quickly begins to dehydrate its victims. If someone with an extremely low body mass or someone with a poor heart becomes infected, the nanomedics would have very little time in which to act and in most cases not enough to be successful. We didn't have enough of the nanomedics on hand to take chances with their use," Vyagar said and then lapsed into silence to give Dale sometime to adjust to the new information.

After several minutes of quiet contemplation Dale began to talk to his most trusted confidant, "You said that China had fewer deaths than the rest of the world; but that they have become sterile. Are there enough of us left to repopulate the planet? What if some other major disaster occurred? Would we survive?"

"I can see that you have found this to be very difficult to deal with; otherwise you could probably find many of these answers on your own. Your race is in a very precarious position right now. If you had chosen not to allow us to release the nanomedics the human race would have died out completely within the next fifty or so years. Right now the earth's population is close to nine hundred million with the majority of that composed of those who had received the ill-conceived antidote; as I'm sure you've surmised most of those are in China. Our losses among those who were treated with the nanomedic technology were higher than we projected; the microbe worked much faster than we had anticipated and was very lethal. We believe that the current number of males on the planet who are not sterile to be just over one hundred and twenty thousand."

Dale continued to think for a few minutes longer before he spoke again. "I'm sure that your ever active mind has been working through all of the likely scenarios the future might hold; what do you think is likely to happen my friend?"

"I would not attempt to predict the future Dale; but there are some strong probabilities that you should be aware of. It is likely that the agent behind this disaster will attempt to conquer the rest of the planet while it is perceived to be at its weakest point. If the Chinese people rally together, they could prove to be quite formidable with their larger numbers and the fact that they've had far fewer deaths to deal with; but once the Chinese women find out that they can not have children with their husbands, there may be an entirely new twist on the situation.

Using the nanomedic technology we were able to save just over sixty eight million people. With our resources so stretched and initially believing that an effective antidote had been given to the bulk of China's population, we didn't even deploy any of the nanomedics there. With what we have now learned we believe it to be highly unlikely that any of China's male population could have avoided sterility. If you leave China out of the picture and focus on the sixty eight million the nanomedics were able to save, about eighty percent were women leaving approximately one potent male for every four hundred and fifty females. When you add China back into the picture, remembering that more than fifty percent of its population consists of now sterile males, you end up with a global ratio of approximately one potent male for every seven thousand nine hundred and fifty females."

"Ouch! That really brings things home," Dale responded.

"Let me refine it just a bit more Dale. Taking into account the average human lifespan, if the Chinese people were left alone they would cease to exist after another sixty or seventy years had passed dropping the earth's population by just over ninety percent," Vyagar told him.

"It sounds like you're trying to tell me that we aren't through with the dying yet," Dale summarized.

"I'm afraid that's correct; but more importantly, the notion of a family unit consisting of one man, one woman, and two children is not practical in the situation that currently exists."

"Yes; but we've already introduced the Beta Male and Gamma Male factors to try and ease the populace into accepting marriages with one male partner for many female partners," Dale added.

"True; however that alone is insufficient. To increase earth's population to a point where the birth rate will cover the death rate and where unanticipated disease or natural disaster won't wipe out the remaining viable males, those few remaining potent males must each father a great deal of children," Vyagar concluded.

After the good breakfast Ann, Carol, and Jasmine had fixed for him, Jim was full of energy and raring to go. He was somewhat startled as he realized that he hadn't felt quite this energetic, this full of vitality and life since being a teenager. After satisfying three women the night before, which in and of itself was quite a surprise, Jim expected to be dragging a bit today. Oh well! Complaining about it wouldn't gain him anything and nothing about the situation made him want to complain anyway!

When he made his way out to the barn to take care of Rosie and Sadie, Carol tagged along. Carol seemed very comfortable around the intelligent animals and Jim noticed it right away. "You've spent some time with horses before haven't you Carol?"

"Yes I have. Both of my parents were school teachers and every summer they'd take us over to my Uncle Bill's place for our summer vacation. Dad liked working the horses, and mom liked helping Aunt Janine with her chores. I've probably got more hours of riding time than driving time," she said with a laugh.

"Oh my!" Jim exclaimed.

"What?" Carol asked with some concern.

"I wonder what has happened to all of the penned up horses and cattle around here. There are probably quite a few of them in distress with no one to feed them."

"That would be pretty bad. Besides all of the pointless suffering if a lot of them were to die at once the dead bodies would pose a real health hazard," Carol added.

With Sadie and Rosie taken care of, Jim and Carol went back into the house and shared their concerns with Ann and Jasmine. After talking it over for a few minutes they decided to get on the phone and the radio and ask everyone to check on any domesticated animals near them. Horses, cattle, dogs, cats, fish, birds, you name it - they would all need attention.

Once everyone had been notified Jim and the three women talked about what they should do. Ann and Carol had lived in the area the longest and thought they knew where just about all of the horse and cattle ranches were.

Even though he knew they would be able to cover more ground if they separated, Jim didn't like the thought of these three women being very far away from him. The more he thought about it, the more convinced Jim became that he should tell these three adorable women just how he felt about them.

"Ladies, I'm not certain quite how to put this. We've only known each other for a short period of time. I'm afraid I'm not the most eloquent man you've had the opportunity to meet, so I'd better just come out and say it. I find that I have very strong feelings for each of you; I love you! Now I know that might sound just a bit crazy and illogical, but it's true. None of you owe me anything and I'd do whatever I could to help you in any case; but I'd sure like it if you were always a part of my life.

Here we are just talking about taking care of some horses and other animals - just a simple thing really; but the thought of being away from you, even for just a few hours, without having told you how I'm coming to feel about you is something I just can't do," the big man told them with surprising candor.

Once again, Jim found himself smothered in hugs and kisses from the three women.

"We all talked together this morning while making breakfast Jim," Ann told him. "I knew that I'd fallen in love with you and it seems that I wasn't alone in that."

"That's right!" both Carol and Jasmine said in agreement.

"We'd love to be a part of your life!" the three women told him.

A huge smile broke out on Jim's face. "I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life showing you how happy you've just made me," he told them.

The newly formed Bridgert family piled into the Jeep and headed to the nearest gas station. Once the jeep's gas tank was topped off, Jim headed towards the large horse farm about seven miles northwest of town. As they drew close to the place it appeared that everything was in order. There were horses grazing in each of the fenced in pastures they had passed. None of the animals seemed to be suffering any major distress.

"Somebody must be taking care of these horses," Carol said. "They look like they're doing just fine."

Before they had left the house, Jim had handed the map he'd been using as well as the notepad to Jasmine. Now he asked her to look at the map and find what lettered sector they were now in.

"We're not in any of the lettered areas Jim. This place isn't on the map you were using the other day."

He headed the jeep up the long drive. Once they had reached the circle in front of the large two story home, Jim parked and everyone piled out. Jim walked up the sidewalk and ducked his head beneath the overhanging porch roof. Though he didn't really count on any one being home, Jim rang the doorbell out of habit. After a few minutes the door swung open and a tall woman with honey blond hair stood gazing up at him.

"Good morning. My name's Jim Bridgert and this is Ann, Carol, and Jasmine. I hope we aren't disturbing you. With everything else that's been happening recently we were concerned that the horses might need some attention. Do you need any help, or anything at all for that matter?"

The statuesque blue eyed blond looked up into his handsome face looking deep into his eyes as if she could somehow discern his true nature. After a minute or two a warm smile spread across her face and she opened the door wide and invited them all to come inside. Extending her hand to Jim she said "It's good to meet you Jim. My name is Karen Ashford."