by Shawn Keys
Paula cocked her head, listening as if she was being spoken to as well, then cleared her throat and said, “Indeed. Well, we’re expecting an address from the President any minute. He will be addressing the widespread investigations that are being mobilized to look into the bold claims made by the man known as Mr. Kyle Hutchings during his illegal broadcast that has stirred up large protests, as well as some riots in many cities across the country. Multiple Governors are already ordering their own state-level investigations, claiming independence from Federal institutions until such time as this is resolved. A few have also declared states of emergency, bringing in stringent measures to prevent violence. Counter-protests against these measures have been strong, many of them suggesting that they are being organized by the shadow organization itself, and thus not to be trusted. We will bring you news of the Presidential address at the top of the hour. First, we’ll take another look at the weather…”
Kyle dialed down the volume, letting the news anchor’s voice trail off. He whistled into the air. “Wow. This is insane.” He probably should have sounded a little more on edge, watching the whole world going nuts because of the information he’d thrown out into the ether. But it was awfully difficult to sound anything except totally content when he was surrounded in lovely beauty. He was propped up against a large pillow, jammed into place on the floor at the foot of a couch. Beneath him, he was on a faux-fur rug that stretched over the wide space left open in front of the television.
Around him, the women he had come to love surrounded him. The only two who were missing were Rebecca and Dazz, who were up in the cab of their ‘Tank’ truck, driving them further southwest across the upper half of California, paralleling the border of Nevada and heading for the border into Arizona. The ‘Tank’ trailer rocked once in a while in the wind as they rattled down the road, but otherwise it was tough to tell they weren’t in a nice little mobile home. Maybe a bit cramped, but it would do for now.
After a crash course in driving the big rig, Rebecca had graciously agreed to drive for a while, leaving Kyle the chance to renew his affections with the other woman in as physical a way as they wanted. Dazz had gone with her, stoically refusing to look at him much of the time as if afraid of what she might do.
On the couch, on either side of his head, Lily and Laura were lying like felines, their heads propped on their hands and elbows near his own, placing themselves in each reach to fondle him and kiss at his ears and neck. Lily still hadn’t slept with Kyle yet. The sexual tension was still there, but Kyle couldn’t help thinking he wanted the moment to be perfect. Not to mention how much he wanted to see her next attempt to find the perfect outfit to drive him over the edge into insanity where he would just sweep her into a bed. Despite that, Lily clearly had no shame in being there among them, and had joined in with their sexy games with wanton abandon.
Yvette and Danielle were on either side of him, leaning in against his shoulders. Megan was between his legs, cradled up to his chest and using him as a back-stop. Soo-Yun and Chloe were on the outside of his legs, nestled up to the legs of Yvette and Danielle to complete the unified cuddle. Only Claire was not in the group snuggle. She was on the couch, with Lily’s legs draped over her lap, running caresses up and down the nurse’s petite form and making the blonde woman purr. The scientist had looked torn at first, as if wondering if she wanted to just dive in and join the intimate embrace. Instead, she was lingering on the outside, though not completely shying away, either.
None of them except Claire was wearing a stitch of clothing, and even she was only wearing a robe over her bare skin.
All of them were still buzzing just a little from the rushes of pleasure they had all enjoyed. The fur rug beneath them was filthy enough that they would probably be throwing it out right after they were done recovering. Only Claire hadn’t been part of the fun, and the clear signs of regret hovered behind her strained expression. Kyle had seen a couple moments when he had thought she would run, begging to join Rebecca and Dazz in the truck.
But, she hadn’t. Kyle saw that as a good sign for the future. He had admired the mature beauty of the thirty-something year old scientist. He admired her mind even more. He knew her efforts in the lab might be the real reason they all ended up being saved. He needed her, and he would never do anything that would screw that up. If that meant waiting before she joined in the fun? So be it. If that meant she never joined in? That too. All he could do was wait and let her decide for herself.
Inwardly, he smiled. Though after seeing all the fun we got up to, if she hasn’t run away yet, that gives me a lot of hope we’ll be welcoming her into our arms all too soon. I’ll bet there’s some fireworks wrapped up inside all that control.
Fighting down the lustful thought, he focused on the matter at hand. “Well, that’s something, all right. Whatever the President says, I sure hope he figures out how to drive this all home while keeping things from flying off the rails.”
Megan purred a little in contentment, stroking his bare knee absently. She said, “That’s going to be a tight-rope. He’ll have to be decisive, but not too authoritative about it all. Half the people want the government to save them, and the other half think they’re the problem.”
Chloe sighed. “And they’re both right.”
Kyle grimaced. “Yeah. That’s the real problem with this whole damned situation. The Dawn are dug into the government like ticks. That’s always been the major issue. No matter who you talk to, if they have perfect teeth and a nice face, they could be one of these assholes. How do you sort that out?”
Yvette asked softly, “Do you regret what you did?”
Without needing to think all that long, Kyle shook his head firmly. “I’ve thought about it quite a bit since we hit the road. I know a lot of people are going to get hurt over this. But you didn’t hear the way Jackie was talking. She was suggesting the aftermath of all this was going to take weeks. Months. And hell, that’s just if things went well and the Dawn didn’t get their hooks into the people doing the investigation. Then it would be years, or maybe never. She tried. She really did. But she got stuck in the same trap as Claire. True, they didn’t try and kill her. But they did try to stop her, and they would have killed her career. Politely. Dismissed with honors. Quietly put out to pasture for daring to kick over the wrong rock. But it would have happened.”
He chewed at his lip, then added, “Not to mention that what I did told that asshat Andrew Lark that killing us wasn’t going to solve his problems. If we hadn’t done it, they would have kept hunting us. They would have kept carrying on with the flanking motion Laura described. Don’t know if you could have fought them off, but I know at least a couple of you wouldn’t have made it out alive. If we hadn’t stood our ground at that ranch house, who knows? We might have led them right to you when we met up.” He groaned at the spiraling thoughts, then waved it all away. “What we really needed was to put them on the back foot. Make them go on defense. Put the spotlight on them instead of letting them operate however they wanted. That’s what is happening now. Everything else… well, we’ll just have to deal with it.”
Megan craned her neck to peer up at him. “I think you’re right, love. But don’t think this is done. I’ve told you, over and over again, don’t forget your history. Wounded animals are dangerous. When harsh regimes think they are about to get overthrown, they don’t just let it happen. They know that probably means their death. They cling to their power as long as possible, riding their burning chariot right into hell. These people aren’t done yet.”
Yvette spoke quietly, “Indeed. Did you hear what the announcer said about language experts? I know many of my colleagues would not be that hard to find. I fear… well, I fear the worst.”
Kyle stroked her hair, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Maybe we should make that a goal? Drive toward any that you know. See if we can’t help them. Save them from being tracked.”
She smiled. “I’ll think about it. It might be too late for many, bu
t it’s possible some are simply hiding. What will really help is to get those translations done. I need to work on them more. The more I can send out, the less it will matter who else can translate them.”
Kyle knew that wasn’t totally true. After all, Yvette was with Kyle, which might make her translations suspect to anyone trying to be fair about all this. But it couldn’t hurt to have more readable versions of the documents out on the web.
Soo-Yun’s arms and legs were sprawled out as if trying to touch as many of them as possible. The newest member among them, she had been delirious with happiness since arriving, almost drowned in the affection. Being new, all of the others had been eager to ‘play’ with her. If they had been counting their climaxes, she had probably had the most. Floating right on the edge of consciousness, she murmured, “We haven’t heard anything from overseas, either. A lot of that stuff suggested there were Dawn organizations elsewhere in the world. Fred Reigns didn’t know very much, but he knew it didn’t stop here. My parents were back in South Korea for a vacation. Hope they’re alright.”
Ripples upon ripples, Kyle thought. This was going to impact everything and everyone. “We need a lab,” he whispered.
Claire might have been thinking the same thing, because she agreed quickly. “Yes. But I can’t work here. I mean, I appreciate all the work you all did on this thing, but I need a lot more power and stability that this can offer.” She looked almost ashamed, like she was knocking their work that might keep them safe.
Kyle took away any fear that she had stung their pride. “We know it, Claire. Really, we do. Wish we could have tricked this thing out with everything you need, but it wasn’t meant to be. We keep talking about all the things we might want to do. I promised Rebecca we’d consider giving her the chance to confront her family. Finding Yvette’s language colleagues…”
Laura spoke up, “Not to mention our own friends and family. They’re out there somewhere, trying to stay safe. If things go seriously pear-shaped, we might need to haul ass to wherever they are and pull them out of the fire. I’m still hearing from my father, but…” Her voice trailed off in worry for what might happen.
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, all of that. But, no matter what… we need to do what we can to cure Persterim. Otherwise, this is all academic, isn’t it?”
Lily said somberly, “Yes. If it stays in the air, eventually everyone who isn’t ‘baseline’ will die out. I mean, I don’t see how it can ever be totally effective, but the gene selection will continue. Even if the Dawn isn’t in charge, they’ll get their wish to change the nature of humanity itself. They’ll have changed the course of evolution. It could happen fast, too. We need to cure people! Once too many non-baseline people die, those genes will become rarer.”
The thought of the Dawn winning even in that small way gave Kyle the chills. We’re not letting you get away with this, you fuckers. You don’t get to decide who are the right kind of people. No fucking way I’m letting that happen.
Claire spoke up, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Hey, what’s going on? Kyle, the news… something is happening. Can you turn it up?”
Kyle focused on the television, seeing what Claire was seeing. He keyed the button, bringing the volume back up.
The first announcer, Paula was introducing something new. “We’ve been informed that the Vice President will be making a surprise announcement. This is somewhat unprecedented, considering that the President’s own press conference has not been cancelled. We’re shifting live now to… ahh, we’re being told he is broadcasting from a secure location.”
The scene flicked over to a podium, set up in the typical way of most national press conferences. An American flag on each side, a muted blue backdrop, and a lack of any real ability to discern exactly where he was speaking from. It could have been right down the street, or in a secure bunker two miles under a mountain.
The Vice President walked onto the stage. Graham Hill was a wide-shouldered man, tall and had a straight spine without seeming too rigid. He might have hair of pure white snow, but he came across as dynamic and engaging. On the scale of Vice Presidents, he was one that had been a true benefit in helping his running mate get elected. He was involved, flexing his power and influence to the very limit. Some VPs receded into the background, waiting their turn and doing ceremonial duties for the most part. Hill was at every press conference, often standing at the President’s elbow, never far from the ear of the Commander-in-Chief. He was respected on both sides of the aisle, and people listened to him.
Now, he looked into the camera with somber eyes, though a dreadful intensity hung over him like a cloud. “My friends and fellow Americans, I will be brief. I am sure my broadcast will be terminated quickly. I am fortunate to have this brief moment to issue this warning. I beg you to listen close, as I suspect I will have neither time nor opportunity you address you again.”
Kyle blinked at the odd opening. “What the hell is going on?”
Lily smacked him, “Shuuuush!”
The Vice-President kept speaking, his tone dire, “The announcement made by one of our citizens yesterday stunned all of us. At first, I didn’t want to believe any of it. Too many people, especially among the FDPC, have given their lives helping our civilization prosper in spite of Persterim. But early this morning, I was given irrefutable proof that I can no longer ignore. With a heavy heart, but in the same spirit as that brave young man who spoke to you yesterday, I will tell you what you need to hear. This evidence proves that our President, acting in cooperation with other world leaders, cooperated in the creation of the Persterim virus. In their wholly reprehensible vision, they attempted to solve what they perceived as problems: the world population crisis, food shortages, and other social issues considered too difficult to tackle by more normal means. In order to help the species survive the strain this action would put upon it, they selected certain genomes to be allowed to survive. They were never going to allow Persterim to be cured. The organization you have heard labelled as the Dawn extends to the highest levels of many of the world governments, and they were dedicated to seeing this terrible action to its conclusion. I know the outrage this will cause. I know the pain this will cause. The betrayal is a terrible one, and I do not see how we will come back from it. It is my fervent hope that the checks and balances that are part of our great system will –”
Between one word and the next, he was cut off mid-sentence. The signal went dark.
A second later, Paula was back on screen. Her face was blank, her mouth opened a little, as shocked as anyone. She wasn’t prepared. Realizing she was on the air, she scrambled for something to say. Anything...
Kyle hit the mute button. Whatever she said, it wouldn’t matter. She was clearly as caught off guard as the rest of them.
All he could think was… the shit had seriously just hit the fan.
He glanced at the women around him, trading wide-eyed looks that showed they had all been caught equally off-guard.
Finally, Kyle said what they were all thinking, blurting out, “What the hell was that?”
Dread certainty descended over him, as one thing became absolutely clear. The whole world was about to go fucking nuts.
The story will continue in…
Whatever Comes, Whatever
It Takes
