Chapter 4

When Mary, my oldest daughter, ran into the kitchen and asked if she could go out and see the people, I sat there trying to figure out what game she was playing. It never occurred to me that she might be talking about real people. We had been alone here for so many years. I had not even thought about other people in several years.

I just sat there speechless for the longest time. What could she be talking about? What people? Was this just a kid's game with imaginary players? Just as I was about to ask her about it, another of the children, Janice, ran in shouting, "There are people out by the barn".

I got up and went to the window followed by mom. Everyone else crowded around behind us. Sure enough, there were four people over by the barn. They were just standing there in a group watching the house. There were two kids and a woman standing in front, and a man standing behind them. They were not making any attempt to hide. They just stood there, watching, waiting. The man appeared to be forty or so, around mom's age. I guessed the woman might be thirty. She definitely looked younger than my mom. The other two were young teenage girls and were probably thirteen or fourteen.

The man was white and very stocky, about the same height as me. The woman was a light skinned black and very slender. She reminded me of someone I had seen on one of our movies but I could not remember the name. I guessed one of the girls might be her daughter. She had the same shade of skin and body type. The other girl was Asian. I thought they were a pretty odd group to be together. They did not seem a very likely family.

They were all wearing clothes; shirts, pants and shoes. Except for winter we pretty much never wore clothes. It was late spring, and already warm, so we were all naked. I could also see that the man had a rifle that he held close to his leg. If I had not looked close I would have missed it. They also had backpacks, and a few yards behind them I spotted a cart that had bags and boxes stacked in it. The man put one hand to his mouth, "Hello the house".

I started to turn to get out of the pack by the window, "I guess I should go out and see what they want".

Mom took my arm and pulled me back. "Dan. We need to be careful here. He is armed", she had seen the rifle. "We don't know where they came from or what they want. But our biggest problem is what if they carry the virus? One touch from them could wipe us all out".

I looked back at the man, and then at the rifle. "I'll go out and see what he wants".

Mom stopped me again, "Just go on the porch. Don't let them approach you. They need to stay a good distance away. I just hope that is enough". She turned to Terri, "Terri. You are the best shot here. I want you to take a rifle, go out the back door and around behind the woodpile. If you can don't let them see you. I want you to cover Dan. If the man makes a threatening move I want you to shoot him".

Terri, still looking out the window said, "I don't like him".

I almost laughed. "How can you say that? We don't know anything about them".

She looked back at me. "Look how they are standing".

I looked back at the group. "You don't like him because how he stands"?

She looked at me a bit exasperated, "No, not how he stands, it's where he is standing. The women are in front. He is behind them, like he is using them as a shield".

I looked back out. "I see what you mean. But it might not mean anything". I did not want to make a big point of it in front of the others but she had something there. Terri was pretty sharp.

Terri looked back at me, "Don't worry Dan. I won't let him do anything". Then Terri went over to the gun closet, pulled her rifle out, made sure it was loaded and walked to the backdoor. She stood there waiting for me to go out. "Give me a minute to get in position before you go out".

When I got to the door I stopped and looked back around the room. All the kids and my sisters were at the windows staring at the strangers. This was huge for the kids. They had never seen another person outside of the family. Hell, we did not know there was another person outside the family.

Just as I was about to open the door mom touched my arm to stop me. "When you are talking to them, we are your wives, not your mother and sisters". I must have had a hurt look on my face, that was how I felt, because she immediately said, "No, I'm not ashamed. If you think about it, we are your wives. But anyway, I want him to see us as yours. We are an intact family. I don't know what his intentions are. I don't want him to think there might be opportunities for him here".

I opened the door and stepped outside, mom followed me. Before I could stop them, Megan and Shelly stepped outside also. I motioned for them to go back in but they both shook their heads and stayed. Both mom and Shelly were pregnant and almost ready to deliver. I did not think it was the safest place for them but I had to admit, he certainly could not miss the fact that we were a family.

They had not moved. I raised a hand in a greeting and the man waved back but stayed where he was. I remained silent. I wanted him to begin. After a few seconds he began, "Hello. We saw your smoke. At first we thought there was a fire but we should check it out. We have not seen another person in so many years. Can we come in"? As he said that he reached forward and nudged the kids and they took a step forward. I immediately held up my hand and they stopped. "Okay, would you happen to have some extra food you can spare"?

I finally spoke up for the first time, "Yes, we have some food. Where are you from"?

"Thanks. We are from Virginia. We have been slowly walking across country for years now. We explored and looked for people all the way but we never saw a soul. For the first few years all we saw was bodies. Now we don't even see that. My family lived down there in the valley. We stopped there. I hoped, but they are gone too. How did you all escape the virus"?

It was the crux of the matter, what we both wanted to know. "We were up here before it happened. We stayed here and did not see anyone until everything was over. We have never visited another farm and we've never gone down to the town below". I waited for a moment and then asked, "And you"?

The woman started to answer but the man grabbed her arm and she stopped. Then he replied, "Kind of the same thing as you. We were all in a wilderness retreat. We were the only ones there. We did not even know what was happening until it was all over".

I was curious about one thing, "You have been walking through towns and have had no problems"?

"You mean the virus? No, it must be over now. I guess that explains the lack of clothes on you people. I mean, you're staying here and not visiting a town".

The four of us had been standing there talking with them in the nude.

"Can we come up to the house now"?

Mom spoke up for the first time, "No. We need to talk first".

We turned around to face each other. "The fact that they are here does not mean the virus is gone. They could be carriers. That is, they could have the virus but do not get sick. They just pass it on to others". Mom had a good point.

"But how can we tell"?

"One of use needs to spend time with them. It works fast. Two days should be enough time to tell".

Megan turned to mom, "You mean one of us could die if they have the virus".

She nodded. "Our choices are limited. Either we send them away or we have to test to see if it is safe. The only way we have of testing is to expose someone".

I spoke up, "I'll go". It did not seem right to have one of the girls go. The man should protect them. It also seemed unreasonable to send away the first people we encounter.

Megan then put up a hand to stop me. "No. It should be me". Before any of us could say anything she continued, "Mom, you and Shelly are both about to deliver. It would not be fair to the babies if something happened to you. And Dan, don't be such a guy. You are the only man we have, and you are the father to all those kids back there. It can't be Susan. She is the one mom has been teaching to be a nurse. And Terri is the one with the gun over there covering us. And we certainly cannot send one of our babies out there. It has to be me".

I could not think of a single point to refute but I felt bad about not being the one to protect them instead of the other way around. I finally just nodded. Mom told her to go and get several days worth of food packed. We turned around to the group waiting for us. "What are your names"?

"I'm John, this is Sharon and the two kids are Janelle and Myoku. And you are"?

"I'm Dan. This is" and I had to stop and think. I had not heard mom's name since dad had used it, what, fifteen years ago or so. With the slight pause I added "Meredith, and this is Shelly and that was Megan who went back inside".

They started to walk towards us and I held up my hand to stop them a second time. "We still have a concern about the virus. You might be carriers. We have talked it over and the plan is to have one of us stay with you for a couple of days to be sure there is no problem, a quarantine of sorts".

If a few minutes Megan returned. She gave each of us a long hug and then we watched as Megan joined them. They pulled a tent out of their cart, set it up and then sat around on the ground and talked. We gave stern warnings to the kids that they were off limits for a couple of days. After a while the novelty of just watching them wore off. Terri had rejoined us earlier and we sat around in the kitchen and discussed what to do. After some heated discussion it was decided that if they were not carrying the virus they could stay here with us for a while. Take some time to see if they were compatible with our group. If not they would be asked to move on. Terri, who had disliked the man from the start, argued to have them move on now.

After a couple of days Terri was showing no sign of the virus infection. From what we saw on news reports from when we were little, we knew it took about a day after first exposure before you knew you were infected. Blood vessels throughout your body would simple fall apart. You would turn black from all the internal bleeding. You had total organ failure. After three days we decided it was safe and they came up to the house to meet us. While the adults met in the kitchen to talk, all the kids were out on the porch talking with Janelle and Myoku. It took about fifteen minutes for the kids to begin calling Myoku, Mikey. Our kids had never seen anyone with different skin color outside of a book so they were constantly touching the new girl's skin.

In the kitchen we decided they could use a bunkhouse we had out past the barn. It had several bunk beds in it and a wood stove that could be used for heat and cooking. Future plans could be worked on later. At the worst they could stay through the summer and winter and then move on. I thought it might be a good idea if they stayed with us. It would give us some genetic diversity plus it would be good for mom. There would be two people she could relate to, one her age and the other close to her age.

Later that night, after the kids had been put down, it was just my sisters, mom and I seated around the kitchen table. We had been bugging Megan for more information about them and she had been putting us off until later. Later had finally arrived.

"Here is what I remember, and a few things that I read between the lines. Sharon was married to a man who was much older than her".

Several of us interrupted asking where the husband was.

"If you will all be quiet I'll get to that. Janelle and Myoku were foster kids of his. They went on a trip into this wilderness area and that is where they met John. He hired out as a guide and he took them up to this small lodge that was way out in the middle of nowhere. They were the only people there. Food had been stocked there for guests. The guests were expected to hunt for meat.

They had a radio but hardly ever used it. When they got there they knew about the problems in Asia but they were out of touch when the virus took over. The radio was a hit and miss thing because they were out in the middle of the mountains.

When they finally heard about the virus spreading it was pretty much all over everywhere. They decided to wait it out there. Then it was like it was for us. They just did not hear anything on the radio anymore. Then something happened to Sharon's husband and he died. They did not say much about it, John changed the subject whenever I asked. I'm guessing that he does not like having the subject of her husband brought up because she is with him now".

I wanted to know, "What happened to the husband? How did he die"?

"From what Sharon said before John stopped her, I think he and John were on a hunting trip and he had an accident".

The mystery somewhat explained, we moved on. Everyone seemed to like the girls. We were all undecided about John. He was not very friendly or outgoing. We probably just had to get used to him.

Over the next few weeks, life slowly settled back to normal. Mom and Shelly delivered their babies, both healthy boys. John and Sharon joined in our work. Janelle and Mikey joined in with my sisters though they spent most of their time with Terri. That seemed only natural since they were the closest in age.

Since Terri walked around nude all the time Janelle and Mikey started doing the same. You could see they were shy about it at first, especially around me but in a few days they were over it. John and Sharon were a bit more conservative. The best they could do was to drop down to shorts and shoes. Sharon began going around topless. It was obvious she had not had children. While all my women showed the signs of repeated breastfeeding, Sharon's breasts, while full, rode high on her and really stuck out. Several times she had caught me staring at them. She would frown, look towards John if he was around, and shake her head. It had me a bit confused. Was she saying, not while he was around, or don't, because he won't like it. I finally got over it. I had enough breasts around me day and night to keep me satisfied. But I'm a guy. I had to look.

I was out mending a fence about a month after they arrived when Terri came up behind me. "What are you doing"?

If I had been wearing shoes I would have jumped out of them. "Don't do that. You are the quietest person I know. I ought to but a bell around your neck".

She was not amused. "John makes me nervous".

"What do you mean"?

"He is always watching me. I'll be working and find him looking at me. And he looks up and down my body. I don't like it. I would put on clothes but I don't like the idea of having to do that just because of him".

"Are you sure you're not reading too much into this? You did not like him from the beginning".

"No it's not that. I've talked to my sisters and he does not hang around them. Sometimes I go and swim alone. Afterwards I'll lie out in the sun for a while. Several times now I've seen him up behind some trees watching me. I had on sunglasses so I don't think he knows I saw him".

"Do you want me to talk to him"?

"No. I think you should let me shoot him".

I laughed.

"I'm serious. If I don't now, I will just have to do it later".

"Come on Terri. You can't just shoot him. If this gets worse we'll ask them to leave. In the meantime give me a day or so to figure out how to handle this. I'll talk to him. I just need some time to figure out what to say".

"Okay. He's up with Megan and Susan working in the corn. I'll go take my swim now while he's out of the way. I'll work on just staying away from him".

With and "Okay" she left and I decided to go to my workshop in the barn. I wanted to get away from everyone and give this some thought. About a year ago I found I needed a retreat where I could get away from everyone for short periods. As much as I loved the girls and my kids, sometimes I needed some time to my self. God help me, with twenty three kids, I really needed some time. So I had made a room for myself out of the workshop in the barn. I had a small bed and a couple of chairs in there. Every now and then I would just sack out there. The girls knew when I was there that I wanted to be alone and they respected it.

When I got there I went over to the bed and lay down. This was going to be a thorny problem. Could it be fixed or should we have them leave? Was it possible to fix it? John was a difficult person. He did not mix with us much. Sharon and the girls were great. We would miss them if they left.

As I was running possible scenarios through my head, the door opened. Janelle and Mikey walked in. What do they want? Of course they don't know the rules about this room. Before I could get up, they walked right up to the bed and sat on each side facing me near my feet. "What are you girls doing here? Do you need something"?

Janelle smiled at me, "Yes we do need something". She put a hand out and lightly ran it up my thigh from my knee to my hip and then back down. "And I see you have it".

I about swallowed my heart. It was obvious what she wanted. I looked over at Mikey, and while she was not as forward as Janelle, she was smiling also. "I think you girls had better go before John comes around".

Mikey answered, "Oh we don't have to worry about him. He sent us over". Then she put her hand out and laid it on the middle of my thigh with her fingers laying tantalizingly down the inside of my thigh. "Oh look, it moved!"

I didn't have to look. I knew what moved. My cock had been laying off at a 90 degree angle. Now it was 45 degrees. Both girls moved their heads closer to watch for any further developments. I wanted to distract them but they both looked so beautiful. They both looked so different from what I had grown used to. Mikey with her small breasts and Asian features and Janelle with her large breasts and dark skin.

"Look it's big". I looked down and I was now fully erect. I was now pointing straight at me and up off my stomach. Janelle reached out with a hand and grabbed me near the head. That gave Mikey the courage to reach out. She grabbed me at the base and with her other hand began pushing my balls around.

For a moment I just sighed and lay back in the bed and enjoyed the moment. Then I remembered John. He could get violent if he found us. These were his women. "You girls have to stop before John finds us".

"We told you. John sent us over. He wanted us to be friendly with you".

"I don't think this is what he meant be being friendly".

"He did not tell us not to".

I did not need much persuasion. That was good enough for me. I had two girls running their hands all over my legs and up to my chest while keeping a firm grip on my cock. I had lost quite a bit of blood flow to my brain so I might be forgiven if I was not thinking to clearly at the moment.

As I was lying there I heard Mikey say "I've seen Mom do this to John". The bed shifted as she moved. The hand on the top of my cock left and was then replaced with a warm, wet mouth. I looked up and saw Mikey's head going up and down on me. Whatever reluctance I had with the girls was now officially gone. I was theirs to do with as they wished. She began running her tongue around the head and moved her mouth up and down as she did it. I heard Janelle say with some anger in her voice, "John tried to get me to do that one night after Mom went to sleep but Mom woke up and stopped him".

Janelle turned and moved up closer to me. I reached out to her and cupped her breasts with my hands. When I touched her she pushed herself hard against my hands. She closed her eyes, "That feels so nice".

I let one hand trail down her stomach until I reached between her legs. She moved up closer so I could reach better and ended up with her breasts in my face. While I sucked a nipple into my mouth I began moving my fingers around on her pussy. She gasped, "Oh god. Maybe I should have let him". She was getting very wet. I was torn between letting Mikey finish me and having Janelle slide down so I could slide into her. I then realized I could also reach Mikey with my other hand. She was facing away from me still bobbing up and down on my cock. As I reached out to rub Mikey's pussy Janelle whispered, "Are you going to fuck me"?

"In a little bit". My hand reached Mikey's knee. I slowly caressed my way up from her knee until it reached her pussy. I moved it around her sparse pubic hair and then made my way to the lips of her pussy. She was as wet as Janelle. I pushed my finger against her lips and they parted. I put a finger inside her. It was so hot and tight. I had been making love to women these last several years that had all had multiple births. A really tight pussy was a distant memory, until now. She moaned and pushed back against my finger. I almost laughed as a thought flashed through my mind. It was something like a saying my mom used sometimes. Something about two bushes in the hand worth one bird.

I was trying to decide which girl should be fucked first when that familiar boiling and tingling feeling began in my balls. "I'm going to cum".

Janelle moved down quickly to Mikey saying, "I want to see. Move your mouth".

I thought, "Oh, please don't move your mouth".

Mikey moved her mouth away but continued moving her hand up and down my cock. It was just a few seconds longer before I felt the cum launching out of me. Both girls gave a squeal as the first stream shot up into the air. Mikey was leaning too far out and it hit her in the forehead and a second hit her in the cheek. Janelle laughed at her so Mikey pointed me at Janelle. A stream caught her in her in her mouth while she was laughing and another got her on the nose. Now Mikey was also laughing.

I watched as Janelle moved her tongue around in her mouth tasting my cum. Mikey, with cum dripping down her face, asked, "What does it taste like"?

"I don't know how to describe it. It's just different. Not bad. See for yourself. You have some on your lip".

The cum had dripped down from her forehead to her lips. The shot that hit her cheek was now dripping down in a long cum rope to her breasts. Mikey stuck her tongue out and licked her lips and then sucked it into her mouth. I watched as she swished it around in her mouth and then swallowed.

They both moved up in the bed so that they were laying next to me. Janelle moved her hand very gently around in circles on my chest. "Terri said you first fucked her when she was thirteen. We are both fifteen. So we are old enough. Who do you want to fuck first? Mikey already got you to cum so I think it should be me"?

As I was trying to think of my answer the door swung open, "Janelle, Myoku, are you in here"? Sharon stepped into the room. Both girls jumped up leaving me flat on the bed with a semi-erect dick. My heart fell as I looked up. Both girls still had cum dripping down on their faces.

"What are you doing in here"? It must have been obvious what we had been doing. "Oh no. John is going to be so angry. How could you do this to me? You know he takes these things out on me".

"It's okay mom. John sent us over".

"What do you mean he sent you over"?

"He said he had some things to do and told us to come over and be nice to Dan. He said we could learn some things".

Sharon turned to me. Fortunately I was completely deflated by now. "Dan. Where is Terri"?

Why would she be asking about Terri? "I think she went swimming a while ago. Why"?

"I think you should go check on her".

"I'm sure she is fine. She swims alone all the time. We all do".

"Dan. That's not the point. I think you should go check on her".

Then it hit me. "Where's John"?

"Go check on her".

I jumped up and started to jog towards our swimming hole. I went just a few steps when I stopped and then ran up to the house. The gun closet was always kept locked now with so many kids around. It took me a minute to unlock it. I grabbed a revolver, checked to be sure it was loaded, relocked the cabinet and then started running for the swimming hole. As I got close I could hear yelling. I could not tell what was being said but it sounded like Terri and it was intense.

As I reached the rise above our spot I slowed down and then walked through the trees to where I could see. I wanted to know what I was walking in on. I could now hear Terri's voice fairly clearly. "John. Stop! Get out of me"!

When I stepped around the last tree I could see them on the ground with their feet towards me. John was naked and on top of her. He was holding both of her arms stretched out with his and he had her body pinned to the ground with his. Terri had her legs up in the air and was trying to kick him while his hips were moving up and down driving his cock into her. I could hear him grunting as he rammed into her. He was raping her!

I quickly walked down and approached them from behind. As I got behind him Terri saw me but did not say anything. I put the barrel of the gun against the back of his neck and pulled the hammer back. With the click he froze.

"Get off her".

He let go of her hands and rolled off to a side. Terri jumped up. I could see tears in her eyes but her face was cold. She reached out to me. "Give me the gun".

"Go on back to the house".

"Give me the gun. I told you I would have to kill him".

"Go back and see mom".

She looked down at John. "Don't come near me again. If I see you again I will have a gun and I will kill you. Ask Dan if you don't believe me". Then she walked away.

I squatted down out of arms reach of him. The gun was still cocked. He looked very anxious. I was not sure of what I was going to do. "You know, I should have let her. The only reason I didn't is that you have a family to take care of, though they might be better off without you. But that is not my decision to make".

"Dan. I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. It's just that you have all these kids. We have been trying to have kids for this whole time and nothing. She is barren. She tells me the two kids are still too young and I have to wait. And then I see you here with all these...". And then his voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. We'll go".

"No. It is too late for you to go right now. We thought you might settle in the valley here, be our neighbors, but now I thing it would be a good idea for you to move on much farther away. You will not have the time right now. Winter comes pretty quick here. You will stay around the bunkhouse. Sharon and the girls can work with us but you need to stay away. She meant it when she said she'd kill you. She is an excellent shot, better than I am and much more cold-blooded. You want to stay far away from her".

I could see anger flare in his face and just as quickly pass. I'll need to watch him. He does not like being told what to do. "Okay. That sounds like a good idea. We should move on as soon as the weather is good. We had not really planned on staying in this area anyway".

I stood and took a couple of steps back. I looked at him for a few seconds trying to assess what was going through his mind but his face was blank. I turned and left him there, tapping the ground with one hand.

When I got back to the house Terri was in Mom's bedroom; she was comforting Terri.

"They will be staying here through winter and then be leaving. They won't be settling in the valley. I thought it would be best if they completely left the area".

Mom nodded. "It's too bad about the girls though. They would be welcome. I hate to think what it must be like living with him. I'll miss Sharon. It was nice having someone around who knows the old world, someone to talk to about stuff".

I left them there and returned to the workshop. When I walked in I could still detect the odor of sex in the air. The bed remained askew. I kept thinking back to Janelle's question, "Who do you want to fuck first"? I wasn't sure then. Now I knew it could not happen. They would be leaving in the spring.

The next two months were very tense. I saw little of John and avoided him when I did see him. Terri walked around everywhere. I suspected she was deliberately trying to have an encounter with John. She always carried a small bag with her. I had no doubt about what was in the bag. John had his meals with Sharon in their quarters in the bunkhouse. Janelle and Mikey came around to the barn a couple of times when they knew I was there and John was too far away to catch them. I gave them a brief hello and sent them on their way. It was not easy, as every time I saw them some very pleasurable memories would return. Unfortunately for me, it also brought back all the guilt I felt over my getting a blowjob while Terri was getting raped. Plus, the only reason for the blowjob was to give him the opportunity.

The two girls were very much like Terri in that they could be very quiet. They were always sneaking up on me. If I did not see them coming, my first clue they were even nearby would be Mikey or Janelle rubbing their breasts against my back.

"Whatcha doin"? They had done it again. I was sharpening our scythes and I almost cut myself when they startled me. I could feel Mikey behind me, or rather; I could feel her two nipples poking me in the back. I stepped forward to put some distance between us and then turned around. I had learned my lesson earlier about just turning around. The first time I had done that, I found Mikey in front of me pushing forward so that her breasts were right in my hands. She was not a tall girl. I knew she was somewhere under five feet. She was not that much taller than my oldest children.