The Adult Story Hub

It was almost noon the next day before we were ready.
We decided to take two vehicles. Doc Caldwell would ride with me in my pickup. Kathy and Tim would follow in her Jeep Commander. The others would remain at the hospital, keeping a low profile.
The two-car convoy took the four-lane, Highway 25, north for about two miles and then turned east onto a paved two-lane county road. After five miles we turned north onto a gravel road. We had passed many deserted houses, including a couple that had burned to the ground; but saw no people.
The gravel road had a meandering path through low-land pine forest. The undergrowth was dense enough to cut visibility from the road to a fifty feet or so. A couple of miles and we came to a turnoff. Actually, just a rutted dirt track that led across an open meadow before disappearing once again into the tree line.
I pulled far enough onto the track to allow Kathy to pull in behind me. After getting out and telling her to switch to four-wheel-drive, I got back in my pickup and did the same. For years I had tried to get granddad to improve the road some... with at least a good base of gravel. Granddad would just smile knowingly and change the subject. The only upkeep he ever did to his `driveway' was to run a bulldozed over it once a year to smooth the worst of the ruts and mudholes.
It was slow going. A time or two I thought I would get stuck with the heavily loaded pickup, but we managed to make it.
A mile from the house, the track crossed a shallow, gravel-bottomed creek and started to climb. It was here that I had to make another stop.
Just across the creek was a familiar sight. There was a metal fence gate between two posts that granddad had installed about ten years ago. No lock on the gate, it would have been ridiculously easy to drive around. Granddad had erected a six-foot square sign that he refreshed when necessary. Every time I had visited in the past, the sign had brought a smile to my lips. There was no smile this time. Just a numbness as I got out of the truck.
In bright red letters upon a white background the sign read, "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME! TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT! SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT UNTIL DEAD! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
Kinda gives one the idea that granddad did not like visitors, don't it.
The pathetic gate offered little obstruction to entry. Or so it would seem. Granddad had showed me how to open the gate without setting off the alarm up at the house. I debated, for only a second, about just simply opening the gate and the hell with the alarm; but finally decided to go through the proper sequence.
Fifty yards beyond the gate and around a curve the track got much better, almost as good as the gravel road we had traveled previously.
We topped a small hill and granddad's place spread out before us with the Tennessee River visible beyond. Thirty acres of cleared, gently rolling ground ended at a one-hundred-foot cliff that dropped to the river. Split-rail fencing enclosed the three sides of the area that did not border on the river. Two small streams divided the parcel into almost equal segments.
The main house had originally been a one-story, dog-run log cabin with the kitchen and dining area on one end, and the sleeping area on the other and a breeze-way between. Over the years granddad had expanded the simple cabin into a two story, almost four-thousand square-foot log house. Solar panels on the roof glittered in the sun. Down stream from the house and within easy walking distance was a large steel barn, also with solar panels. The road cut through plowed fields and pasture. I could see the winter corn crop green in one field. Four grain storage bins were off to one side. There were other small, relatively recent buildings scattered along the cliff edge. In one pasture I could see a half-dozen horses, three cows and a bull. They lifted their heads from grazing to watch as we drove past.
"I've never been out here," Doc said. "But this is not what I expected. You never told me all this was here."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Granddad made me promise not to talk about it. Sorry, Doc. You know how he is."
Doc Caldwell nodded. "Closed mouth bastard is what he is. Don't get me wrong, James, I liked the old man. But he acted and dressed like he didn't have a pot to piss in." He lifted a hand and waved at all before us. "How did he do all this? I thought he was living on his military pension, for God's sake. Even tried to help him out, a time or two; and he always refused -- Politely --, but he told me to mind my own damn business many times."
"I don't know," I said as I stopped the truck in front of the house. "There was always something new every time I came out here. He said it kept him busy and out of mischief. When I turned fifteen years-old, he stopped the rest of my family from coming out here. As far as I knew I was the only one ever to visit. I would ask him how he got all the building supplies and concrete delivered, but he would always change the subject."
Kathy and Tim got out of their Jeep and walked to stand beside us.
"This is old man Pitt's place?" Kathy said surprised. "Whenever I saw him in town, I felt sorry for the poor, old man living out here in the boondocks." She pointed to a satellite dish visible at one side of the house. "I had no idea..."
"Nor did anyone else," Doc said. He looked around. "Where is the son-of-a-bitch anyway?"
I was wondering that myself. Granddad was usually waiting for me at the fence-line. I dreaded what I might find inside the house.
"GRANDDAD!," I yelled. "GRANDDAD. IT'S JIMMY."
Only the breeze blowing through the trees and the sound of the river answered.
It was then that I noticed a sheet of paper nailed to the front door. I climbed the four steps to the wide porch that ran the length of the house.
Pulling the paper from the nail I read, "Whoever finds this place is welcome to it. If you can hold it, you will be worthy of living here after all the shit the world has gone through. If my great-grandson James Thomas Greer shows up, you take him in. If you don't, I'll come back and haunt you. That's a promise. Jimmy, if you show up, I'm sorry not to be here for you. You know where to look.
Daniel Pitt"
I handed the page to Doc and opened the door as he read it.
Stepping inside, the air was hot and stale; as it gets when a house has been closed up for a while. Sunlight through the windows provided enough light to see. The entrance hallway lead to the back of the house. To the right where the old kitchen had been, over the years, converted to a living room. To the left, the previous sleeping area had become granddad's office. The rest of the first floor had a large kitchen, dining room, bath, granddad's bedroom, and utility area. Upstairs were three baths and six bedrooms with an open attic over those. There was a full basement under the house that granddad had divided into several areas that he used mainly for storage.
I turned to the others. "I would appreciated it if you all would take a look through the other buildings."
Kathy said, "You sure you don't want someone with you?"
I shook my head. "I had rather do this by myself, Kathy."
"Come on, kids," Doc Caldwell said before the situation got too awkward, "let's take a look around."
"Thanks, Doc," I said as he lead everyone toward the barn.
I slowly walked through the house. The echos of my footsteps on the wooden floors were my only welcome.
I figured that granddad was dead. Another victim of the Flu. Or perhaps of his age.
I hesitated at his bedroom door, suddenly afraid to push it open.
I stepped into the room and looked at the bed.
Neatly made. No one. More to the point -- No Body.
I let out a breath that I had not realized I had been holding.
I turned and practically ran upstairs. Checking all the rooms. Frantic I even looked under all the beds and in the closets.
Next stop was the basement, but I found the door padlocked. This was new. Granddad never locked the door before and I had no idea where the key was. I could always tear the lock away, but obviously granddad could not have locked himself in the basement; so I put that task aside for another time.
Twenty minutes later I was sitting on the front porch swing when the others came back to the house.
"Jimmy?" Kathy asked as she sat on the swing and reached for my hand.
The others sat on chairs that I had gathered around the swing. Doc Caldwell settled his bulk on a seemingly too small stool.
I shook my head. "Nothing. He's not here."
"Nobody in the other buildings either," Tim said.
"It's like he just walked off," Doc said. He looked at the surrounding woodland. "Maybe he did wander off. Disoriented from fever..."
"Maybe," I said. "Maybe." I pointed at the paper Doc had folded and stuck in his shirt pocket. "But that doesn't sound like the words of someone disoriented. Does it?"
Doc took the paper out and unfolded it. Reading the words again, he said, "Nope. It don't give us any answers either. Just another question." He handed me the paper. "What does he mean that you will `know where to look'?"
"Unless he's talking about the food supplies and such he had scattered about the buildings, I have no idea," I said. "Nothing special comes to mind."
"There is still power to the barn," Kathy said.
"And the outbuildings I checked," Tim added.
"Solar," Doc said lifting a thumb toward the roof.
I got up and stepped just inside the front door. I had been so focused on finding granddad that I had not thought to check before. I flipped the switch on the wall and a soft light glowed from the overhead fixture. It was satisfying that something was still dependable, at least for a time.
"Granddad also has several micro-hydro generators connected to the streams and one in the river," I said. "A hundred-foot drop give a hell-of-a pressure head to spin the turbine. As long as either system functions there will be some electricity. I'll have to keep the demand low though."
Doc just shook his head. "The man continues to amaze me."
I smiled at his words. "That is what he would want to hear, Doc. He showed me a lot of stuff he did around the place. I even helped with a bit of it. But I don't think even I knew just how smart and resourceful he was."
"It is like he knew what was coming," Tim said.
Doc dismissed the idea with a shake of his head. "Shit. He had been sprouting `end-of-the-world' as long as I knew him. Even a blind cat can find a mouse if he looks long enough."
I pointed towards the northeast. "Did you know there is a shallow vein of coal over that way?"
Doc shook his head. "I thought all the coal was way to the east in the Appalachians."
"He and I were out hunting several years ago when he showed it to me," I said remembering better times. "I don't know how much is there, but it is enough to get us started."
"Started with what?" Kathy asked.
"Lots of stuff," I answered. "Heat for one. There is a couple of old wood and coal burning iron stoves around here somewhere. Black smithing for another. It's damn hard to work metal with a charcoal fire. It can be done, but you can get the fire much hotter with coal. Or so I've heard."
"I am going to have to stop calling Daniel Pitt an old fool," Doc Caldwell said. His gaze drifted over the land and buildings. "He built himself a little oasis here."
"I'm staying," I said, finally voicing my decision.
That brought all heads turning to me.
"Out here? By yourself" Kathy said, her eyes wide with surprise. "What if something happens, you fall and break a leg or something."
"You all are welcome to stay," I answered. I was more sure I was making the right decision as I thought more about it. "There is plenty of room. A half-mile north is another clearing, about ten acres. Big enough to farm. With a fresh water spring. So, there is plenty of room if we get on each other's nerves."
I could see Doc thinking it over.
I could also tell that all Tim could see was the isolation. His words confirmed that. "It's so far away from everything."
"Far from what, Tim?" I asked.
"Well. From town and... Everything. There is just the woods and the river."
"What is in town, Tim, that will not disappear in a couple of months?" I said. "The hospital's generator will be out of fuel inside a week. I would guess...."
"Sooner than that," Doc Caldwell said.
"...the canned food in the stores and houses will be used up in a couple of months. It is grown your own food or starve time." I gestured toward the fields. "Another couple of weeks, a month at the outside, and the winter corn crop will be ready to harvest. Granddad even plowed the fallowed fields and they are ready for planting."
"There is plenty of farms closer to town," Tim said. "No reason to be out here."
Doc said, "I can think of least one reason right off the bat."
Tim and Kathy looked at him questioningly.
"Isolation," Doc said.
"That's what is wrong with this place, for God's sake!" Tim said, standing up and beginning to pace.
Doc look at Kathy, then at me. I motioned him to go ahead. I knew my reasons for staying and had a pretty good idea what Doc was leading up to.
"No, that is what is right with it, Tim" Doc said. "Look, Tim. Sit down will you, please, your making my neck hurt trying to follow you around. I -- none of us -- know how many people around here survived. We don't know what is going to happen when a bunch of those survivors get together. Iuka is right on the intersection of the area's two major highways. And the intersection of rail lines, running north-south and east-west. A hundred miles to the west is Memphis. Forty miles to the east is Florence and Muscle Shoals. Less than a hundred miles north is Jackson and Savannah. Fifty miles south is Tupelo. Up river on the Tennessee is Wilson Dam and down river is Pickwick Dam. Both of those are hydroelectric producers. If an armed band from any of those places starts searching around for food, sooner or later they are going to come to Iuka. And there is not enough folks here to defend the area. There might be -- might be -- three dozen people left in the entire county. Six months from now that number may be only a dozen. I plan on being one of those dozen. How about you?"
"Well -- I..."
Kathy got a far-away look in her eyes as she thought the situation over.
"Look," I said. "Doc is right. Here we are far enough away from the main roads that we might escape notice long enough to get the basics built up. Iuka is just not defensible. Nor is any of the farms that I know of closer to town. I am not breaking my back putting a crop in the ground to have someone with a `gimme or die' attitude come and take it away from me. Sooner or later the supplies in any town close by will be gone. I had rather use that time preparing for the future rather than hanging on to the little left.
"Access to this place is limited. There are three -- no four -- ways in. The one we took is the easiest. There is enough cleared ground to support us. If we stay in town, someone else will die the way Susan did."
"Maybe," Tim finally said.
Doc said, "It is going to take me several trips to get everything I want moved. There are medical equipment, drugs -- that we will never see again in our lifetimes -- that I want out here."
I nodded. "We can handle that."
"I'm staying," Kathy said with determination. "I would feel safer out here with you guys, than in town without you."
Tim finally nodded. "I guess it just finally hit me. Everything has changed. Permanently."
"You've come on it faster that some, Tim," Doc said. He squeezed the young man's shoulder. "It is going to be frontier days again. Probably Middle Ages."
"I just hope it doesn't become the Stone Age," I said.
Two hours before sunset Doc Caldwell and Tim Wilson were in Kathy's Jeep Commander and on their way back to town. They would be back tomorrow with whoever decided to come out and what supplies they could pack.
Kathy and I spent the next hour unloading my pickup and stowing everything away.
After luring the horses and cattle back into the barn, I went looking for Kathy and found her in the kitchen. She was pulling open cabinets and drawers.
She had gathered her hair into a pony-tail when we started the unloading. A blue buttoned blouse, a pair of faded jeans, and well worn leather hiking boots were her ensemble. Sweat had streaked the dust on her face and bare arms. Very easy on the eye. Yes, indeed.
There was only one thing wrong with her. She wasn't Jules.
What had happened to Jules, I asked myself. I had searched, but...
I pulled my thoughts from that unanswered, painful memory.
Kathy must have felt my eyes on her, for she turned with a quick gasp. "OH! Don't sneak up on me like that." She turned back to her search.
"Sorry," I said and sat at the table. "I wasn't thinking."
"No big deal," she said. She pulled a can from the cabinet. "Beef stew?" She dug in a drawer and pulled out a can opener. "We've got water. The gas stove top is still working. I was afraid to try the electric stove. I wasn't sure how much of a load it would draw."
"Neither am I. Granddad usually had the propane tanks filled every November, so there should be plenty. I'll check out the electrical system tomorrow. Somewhere in the house is a big binder with all that information in it." I sighed. "Something else to do tomorrow."
She dumped the can's contents into a saucepan and added a little water. "At least there is a tomorrow." She turned the gas burner on and went looking for a spoon. "That's not something I've been sure of in a long time." She found a spoon and began slowly stirring the stew.
I stood and got a couple of bowls and placed them on the counter. Opening the refrigerator, I said, "Hey! We've got beer. Want one?"
"Please."
In just a few minutes we were sitting across from each other at the table, drinking beer and eating warmed up stew.
"Usually, I hate canned stuff," Kathy said as she greedily stuffed her mouth. "Now, I'm tickled pink to have it."
I swallowed my spoonful. "You know what I wish we had?"
Kathy shook her head.
"Ice cream," I said. "Ice cream that is so cold and hard that it bends the spoon when you scoop it out."
"With chocolate syrup and those little cherries," she said. With a wistfulness in her voice, "A chocolate milkshake, fries, and a McDonald's Quarter-pounder. Lots of ketchup."
"O.K." I said, getting into the game. "A thin crust pizza with everything. Pepperoni, sausage, olives. Double cheese. The works."
Kathy scooped the last spoonful from her bowl. Looking at it dreamingly, she said, "Broiled lobster. Baked potato with lot's of butter." She licked her spoon clean.
I pushed my empty bowl aside and took a swallow of beer. "Give me a couple of months and I'll give you the potato. And the butter. The lobster may take a little longer." I smiled.
She giggled lightly. "I am going to hold you to that." A flash of weariness crossed her eyes. "God, the list of things that we never will see again would fill a library."
"Yep. But the things we will see we will no longer take for granted."
She swallowed a gulp of her beer and studied the bottle carefully. "Like this?" She held the bottle up for inspection. "Can we make beer?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. We can probably figure out a kind of mead. With the corn, I know we can damn sure make whiskey."
Kathy drained her bottle. "Enjoy it while we can, I guess."
I nodded.
She looked at me for several seconds. I couldn't figure out what she was thinking, but it looked serious... and playful at the same time.
Finally she looked down at her clothes. "I need a bath," she said. Taking a sniff at me, she said, "So do you. We got enough hot water, you think?"
I nodded. "Should have."
"O.K. You go first." She gathered the used bowls. "I clean up here and then take my turn."
"You cooked. I'll clean," I offered.
"No, you go ahead. I want to take my time and not have to hurry because you are waiting for your turn. Go on." She shooed me out.
I used one of the upstairs showers. It just didn't feel right using granddad's shower downstairs yet. It didn't take me long to shower, shave, and change clothes.
I came downstairs and found Kathy swinging on the front porch.
"Your turn, Kathy," I said. "First room on the left upstairs. I laid out some jeans and a t-shirt that should fit."
With a last glance at the setting sun, she stood. She let her hand rest on my upper arm as she walked past. "Thanks, Jimmy. I'll be done in a bit." She stopped at the door and turned. "You know, this is really a beautiful place. I was sitting there and realized that Mister Pitt put a lot of love in it. I think he would be pleased that you are back." Not giving me a chance to reply she walked through the door.
I sat on the top step and leaned back against the post. In the dim light of sunset the place did look peaceful and bucolic. It was like nothing beyond the hills existed. It was hard to imagine that outside this little piece of land was death and devastation.
I remembered reading somewhere that mankind had once gone through a population bottleneck. The scientists thought that the population had gotten as low as 10,000 world wide. I wondered if the situation now was worse... or better.
If my thoughts had been lofty and pure, I would have been worried about mankind's survival. But I was selfish. I only cared about the little piece of humanity around me. Would we survive? Would our children? What kind of world would they have?
It got damn depressing there for a while. Damn depressing.
It was full dark when I finally went inside. A light burned in the upstairs hallway. Kathy had made sure everything downstairs was turned off before she went up.
She must have heard me on the stairs, because she called from the front bedroom, "Jimmy. I'm in here."
I stepped through the doorway.
"I don't want to sleep alone, Jimmy. Not tonight."
She had pulled the top sheet down and was sitting back on her heels, kneeling in the middle of the bed. Somewhere she had found a kerosene lantern and its soft glow was the only light in the room. Her hair had been washed and brushed into a gentle curl against her neck. Bare nipples testified to her need. Her breasts were a double-handful and so firm they seemed to float as she breathed. Flat stomach lead the way to bare, muscular thighs. She still showed the effects of recent weight loss in that her ribs and hip bones were just a bit too prominent. She was beautiful.
"I know I'm not at my best right now," she said. She parted her knees enough to show that her cunt was hairless. There was a different smell in the air. "but I don't want to be alone. Keep me company?"
She kept her eyes on mine and there was a slight embarrassed look on her face as she wait to see how I would respond.
My mouth went suddenly dry as I asked, "Are you sure, Kathy? Really sure? You don't have to do this."
Her eyes remained on mine as she lay down on the bed, turning slightly in my direction. One hand delicately caressed her body from hip to nipple. "I'm sure, Jimmy. Come what may tomorrow. I'm sure."
She was a alluring dream of temptation and need.
I stepped across the room and kicking my shoes off, sat on the bed. I cupped her face in my hands and brought my lips to hers. Her eyes were bright and hopeful as she looked up at me. He mouth opened slowly and invitingly and the taste of her was sweet. Our open lips met and tongues caressed slowly. She slipped her arms around me inside my shirt to trace the muscles.
Her lips moved sucking, nipping, and tugging on mine. Her body moved eagerly as I held her. I moved my hands slowly up and down from shoulders to thighs, as far as I could reach.
I pulled back and looked down at her. There was a light flush to her cheeks and breasts. Her tongue darted to lick her upper lip and she smiled. God! I could have died happily at that moment.
Her hands went to the buttons of my shirt and she pulled it from me, tossing it to fall I didn't care where.
I placed one hand at her waist and slowly moved across her stomach, stopping to gentle probe her bellybutton. My other hand caressed her warm, full right breast. She breathed deeply as her nipples hardened under my touch. She wiggled deeper into the bed.
Her hands loosened my belt and tugged at my pants.
I moved back, stood, and stripped my pants and briefs down. Kicking them away I stretched out on the bed and pulled her to me.
An overpowering need to feel alive roared through me as I felt her fold herself to me. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her firm breasts were moving mounds of delight. I nibbled at the junction of her neck, kissing her earlobes. She tossed one leg over mine and pulled me closer.
A heartfelt sigh of need escaped her lips. A bubble of satisfaction from her as her lips once again opened to me.
My lips closed on one nipple and one of my hands moved to cup her cunt. A finger lightly brushed her outer lips.
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. Yeesssss," she moaned. One hand reaching and gripping my cock between our bodies. The other hand going to the back of my head, pushing it harder onto her nipple. She pumped my cock slowly.
I suckled on her breast and softly massaged her with my fingers. Opening my mouth wider I took as much of her breast into it as I could, sucking it harder and running the tip of my tongue around her nipple.
She writhed and jerked on the bed, and I pressed her down into it as I slid my finger into her. A cry came from her throat as she began humping her hips upward. I moved my lips down her body.
A breathless stillness seemed to grip her as I moved my lips across her stomach. The tip of my tongue darted into her bellybutton and a tense quivering gripped her. It turned into a hard, sweaty shaking as my lips moved on down, caressing her lower stomach and nibbling at the top her mons.
Her legs parted wider with a need of their own. I moved my lips along one of her thighs, and an eager moan begged for more. I felt her body tremble in shuddering waves. Then she became absolutely still for an instant as I opened my mouth and buried my head between her thighs. Covering her cunt with my mouth, I buried my tongue between those wet, pliant lips. Licking upward, I flicked my tongue against her clit.
She went completely rigid. I continued to lick and flick. Her body bowing up off the bed and she pushed my head harder into her. "God, do it! Drink Me! Oh, God, that's good... so good... oh, so good..."
I pushed her thighs wider and the warm, pungent taste of her happiness filled my mouth as I sucked at her cunt and slid the tip of my tongue back and forth across her clit. Her body curled up and her cunt was held up to me, wide open. She undulated in hard jerks, driving her cunt up toward me.
She spread her arms wide and dug her hands into the bed as she tossed her head from side and her hips in and out. I held her thighs up and slid one hand under her. I lightly brushed against her anus. She tensed and began moving with violent jerks, making the bed rock with her spasms.
I kept flicking the tip of my tongue back and forth across her clit. It took only another moment.
"Cuming... Fuck.... Gonna Cum... AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH... NOW... FUCK... AAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH..."
I put my weight on her, holding her to the bed as the ecstatic convulsions shot through her. I tongued her and drove my finger in and out of her cunt, pushing her through the careening sensations which held her.
Her movements began to diminish in intensity and her muscles began to relax. I slipped my finger from her and climbed up her body. My cock made its own path up her thigh to rest against her.
Her legs slid back to the bed as she reached for me. She buried her face against my chest and threw her arms around me. "It's...it's never happened to me so fast before... usually takes a lot of warm up."
Her voice faded away as she wiggled her hips feeling my cock at her entrance. "Oh, that feels lovely... just lovely."
She pushed to roll us over and she was on top. Her hands moved between us to grip me. "Oh, yes. Just lovely. Warm. Alive."
She moved to kneel between my outstretched legs. A warm breath flowed over my cock causing it to twitch in anticipation.
End Chapter 5
To Be Continued...

Note to My Readers: I appreciate all the email. More than one suggest I get a proofreader or an editor to catch errors that have slipped through the many re-reads that I do before I post a chapter. Any Volunteers. I would perfer someone who is an Science Fiction fan. I am going to try and get out a chapter every week or two weeks, so the work will not be overwhelming. If you are interested drop me an email from the link on my SOL blog. Thaks again for the feedback.