Chapter 8

Part I

Having gone to bed very early on Friday evening, it wasn't too surprising that Dan awakened early on Saturday morning. He roused himself and sat up. He discovered that he was still fully clothed, but for lacking socks and shoes. He noticed the shoes placed against the wall and could see a cloths hamper next to a closet. He guessed that someone had removed the shoes and socks.

He realized that he needed to find the bathroom. He carefully stood up and discovered he felt reasonably sound. He walked out into the hall and looked around. There were several open doors and a couple of closed ones. He stepped to his right and glanced into the first open door. This was the twins' room. He could see that both blond girls were still asleep in a set of twin beds. A quick glance around the room showed it to be what he might have expected - the room of two pre-teen girls. Lots of stuffed animals and frilly bed covers and whatnot.

He glanced across the hall and could see into another bedroom. He paused for a moment and decided to check the two closed doors before looking into the open room. One door was narrower than the others and his assumption that it was a linen closet was confirmed when he opened it and found stacks of sheets and towels.

He closed it and turned to the other closed door. He stepped up to it and heard snoring. He had to believe that this was Henry and Gwen's room. He'd pass up on intruding in on them. He knew he'd have a chance to look around, later. He did want to know the layout of things.

He turned back to the bedroom he'd bypassed and glanced in. As he expected, it was Jan and Susie's room. It looked less girlish than the twins' room. He tried not to stare at the sight before him, but he couldn't resist that which he was seeing. Both of Don's stepsisters had pushed down their covers. Each was wearing an oversized, very loose tank-top and what looked like nylon panties. Their long legs were spread out atop their sheets. He managed to suppress a groan at the display of Jan's fabulously beautiful face and body. He could have nearly as easily groaned at the sight of Susie. The tank-tops and panties covered less of their bodies than might have been expected. He could see lots of exposed, attractive stepsister flesh. The nylon panties clearly outlined very feminine features.

Cameltoes for sure.

OK, time for a cool if not cold shower.

This just might be a hell of a chore living with two such attractive girls.

He stepped up to the next open door and found that it was a bathroom. He'd hoped that was the case. He hadn't noticed it the prior evening. And earlier that prior afternoon he'd used a downstairs bath. So, it seemed that there was a bathroom almost immediately across the hall from his room. That would probably be convenient while he was getting back up to speed. He went on in and checked to find that there were more towels stored in the bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him. He took care of a couple of bodily functions and then had a shower. Once he was out of the shower he had to work at drying himself off. The arm still encased in the cast made it difficult to towel off every spot. He managed, somehow.

He spent some time examining his left side. He checked his ribs and found that they ached only a little bit whenever he prodded along them. A close look at his face showed only a mild growth of beard. Not enough to bother with shaving, he thought.

He'd previously only glanced at his hair and the scar lines formed on his head from injuries and surgery. Part of his scalp had obviously been shaven. He'd not wanted any of the nurses noticing how he'd examine himself once he'd started waking up. He now spent a couple of minutes stretching and pulling at his scalp. He also pushed down a bit along the evident suture lines. He could feel irregularities along his skull. Things were uneven and some spots hurt a bit when he probed them. Other troops he'd known and his old body had acquired some similar features. The details of these new scars were simply different.

Well, this is a young body. It should heal better than my old one.

OK, still - no contact sports for awhile.

And if Don's already been in two fights protecting his stepsisters, then I'll have to try to avoid that sort of thing for awhile.

He finished examining his newly acquired body. The cast on his left arm inhibited his movements, but he still had the mirror to help him in his self-examination. It looked like he had some fine potential with this body. Now, if only he didn't allow that monstrosity hanging between his legs to get in the way of things.

Well, at least I didn't get a hardon when looking at Jan and Susie. It had been nice, but not overwhelmingly exciting. Maybe I've got some control over this thing.

He put his underwear back on and tossed the wet washcloth and damp towel into the hamper. He got up his shirt and pants and decided not to bother with putting them back on. He bundled them up and clutched them between his chest and the cast on his left arm. He unlocked and opened the door. This took a little care not to whack his cast against the doorframe and so he didn't look up as he stepped out into the hall.

"Hi Don!"

"Don, how are you feeling?"

Dan stopped in his tracks and found that all four girls in the household were standing in the hall. They seemed to be waiting to get into the bathroom.

Wait! That doesn't make any sense. There's another bathroom downstairs.

And that's when he blushed. He was standing there in nothing but his underwear. In front of Don's two older stepsisters and two younger half-sisters. As those thoughts ran through his mind he dropped his right hand to the bundle he was holding against his chest. He quickly pulled out the shirt and pants and held them down against his underwear.

Terri and Traci giggled. Jan and Susie just smiled at him.

It was Susie who said it. "Like we haven't seen you in your underwear, before - Don."

Dan didn't sputter. He just tried to get through the situation. "Susie, I don't remember you ever having seen me in my underwear. Are you admitting to being some sort of 'Peeping Thomases'?" He managed what might have been a grim sorta grin.

The twins now laughed at their older sister. Jan's smile got larger. Susie's smile closed up and shut down.

Oh... That may have hit closer to home than I'd have thought possible.

"OK! Show's over! Let me get to my room!" He began crossing the hall towards Don's room.

The twins were still grinning as they rushed the bathroom door. Susie let out a loud "Hey!" and that's about when Dan felt somebody smack him on Don's right butt cheek. He didn't yell or anything else. He was slow on his feet, yet. He got himself turned around and found that none of the girls were paying him any attention. The twins were in the bathroom trying to close the door as Susie tried to force her way in against their defense. Jan was just standing there and watching the struggle. She stood there grinning and shaking her head at her three younger sisters' antics. There was no indication of who had planted her hand on his butt.

Jan glanced back at Dan and winked for a moment before turning away. She headed down the stairs towards where Dan remembered the downstairs bathroom had to be. He momentarily observed the struggle at the door and thought about whom was likely to have smacked his butt. Timing seemed to preclude either of the twins, who had already been in the bathroom when he'd gotten himself turned around. Jan had been furthest away from him and he thought she was badly positioned to have swatted him. Plus, she'd turned to him grinning and winked about what the three girls were doing. She couldn't be that good an actress. He'd already caught her out while embarrassed and blushing.

And then there was Susie. She had motive. And she had only been shifting into a position to try and force the door as he'd gotten turned around. And that "Hey!" had had a slight accent to it. It sounded like someone exerting herself while yelling. That decided it for Dan.

The struggle over the bathroom door was still approaching full-bore warfare between the defending twins and the assault force of Susie. The assault force did seem to be fully preoccupied with that effort.

He tossed the pants into Dan's room. He checked his position. He edged back into the doorway. Years of barracks room and shower antics had trained him in this little action. He held the shirt he'd been wearing by a sleeve and twirled it around for a couple of moments. He pulled it up and took hold of the shirttail with the fingers of his left hand. He rotated his body back to the left and into the doorway.

He assumed the best position he could manage with the left arm still restrained by its cast. He noted that Susie seemed to have gained some advantage in her assault. Analysis suggested that her feet had better traction on the hall carpet than the twins could attain on the tiles of the bathroom. He leaned forward and to the right just a little. It was just like the old days of thirty years before.

The target area was now fully exposed. In her struggles Susie's tank-top had crawled up atop her hips. Her purple nylon panty-clad derriere was thrust back and exposed. Dan allowed a quirky little smile to cross Don's face for a moment as he launched his attack. His body rotated rightwards and his right arm snapped the shirt forward in a straight line shot right at Susie's right butt cheek. The shirttail made contact on the purple nylon fabric enclosed right butt cheek owned by Susie Waters.

Susie didn't yelp. She shrieked. She jumped straight up. And the door to the bathroom immediately closed in her face. She spun around with surprise and fury on her face to only see the smiling face of Don inside his room. He was standing just inside his barely open door. Dan delivered his follow-up message. "Susie, if you want to smack me on the butt - you've got to ask my permission, first."

And with that he closed the door and locked it. The look on her face had been priceless. She'd known she'd been caught out. She certainly didn't know how he'd known it was her. But now she knew he'd be watching her.

Dan didn't think about such a consequence of this outcome. His attention would now be focused on Susie. Perhaps as Don's stepsister desired.

Part II

He'd leaned against the door in case Susie tried something. But, there hadn't been a peep from her. He listened and could hear sounds from the bathroom and just figured the twins were used to showering together. After a few minutes he gave up on his defense of the door and his listening post.

He checked around the room and found a drawer of underwear in the dresser. He took off the underwear from the previous day and changed into a fresh pair. He opened the door to what he thought must be a closet and was surprised to find that he had a walk-in closet. The first thing he noticed were several shirts hanging on the back of the door. All were button style shirts and each had had its left side opened up. He looked around the closet and noticed several things immediately.

There was an oversized security system mounted next to the doorframe. Its keypad and LCD were not typical of a commercially available unit. It looked like it might be custom-built. That made him wonder. He walked over to the window and parted the drapes a bit. He looked at the window framing and saw the tracework of sensor wires. There were two different sets of them. That was odd - it was almost overkill. Then he noticed the regular spacing of what appeared to be nailheads. There were matching nailheads on both sides and along the top and bottom of the window framing. He knew what they had to be. The window had at least three, possibly four sensor systems. He wondered what else there was to discover. What sort of paranoid was Henry Nichols?

He returned to the closet to find some cloths. He looked back in and beyond the security box. There were some hooks set in the wall. Several caps and belts were hanging there.

On the next wall there were two bows and a large amount of archery equipment hanging where he'd have expected to find some cloths. It would seem that young Don had been an archer of some ability - or, intent. Dan thought that this might prove to be interesting. He'd only ever used crossbows.

He turned to another wall and realized that a medium-sized gun safe was tucked into the corner. There was a yellow post-it note stuck to the door. Henry had provided him with the safe's combination and instructions not to touch anything inside the safe until he'd been re-acquainted with firearms safety instructions.

Dan tried the combination and the safe opened. He was surprised at its contents. There was a favorite of squirrel hunters - a Ruger 10-22 with what looked like a nice scope. And right beside it was another 10-22. Only, it had a bull barrel. He pulled it out and suddenly realized that the little rifle was too light to be a bull-barreled action. He tapped against the fat barrel and realized it was hollow. It was a damned silenced weapon. He found a magazine in a stock pouch and had a look at its contents. He'd seen the ammo before - it was the Aquila subsonic ammo meant to be used in silenced 22s. This was a poacher's wet-dream of a firearm. He replaced the magazine and put the weapon back in place.

Next to the two 10-22 actions was what seemed to be a stainless steel Ruger Mini-14. He reached in and pulled it out a bit. That's when he realized it was one of those really rare items. It was an SS AC-556K with a folding stock.