There was nobody inside. He checked, and double checked every square inch of the room. His mom was nowhere to be found. Dan wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried as he made his way back downstairs, scanning the living room and kitchen for any sign of her.
“… Dan?” The voice was faint, but he could hear it coming from outside.
“Mom!” Dan rushed out onto the front lawn and saw her running over, still in the casual t-shirt and leggings that she’d had on before.
“Oh my god, sweetie!” She wrapped him into a hug, and Dan squeezed her back so tightly that he was afraid he might be hurting her.
“Mom, everybody with the headsets, all of them, they’ve, they’ve…” Dan was stammering, unable to form a coherent sentence.
“I know, I saw!” said Lana. “I don’t know what’s going on!”
The two of them held onto each other tightly, as though they were afraid that one of the VR headsets would descend from the sky if they let go. Dan couldn’t help but think about how good she felt against him, her soft breasts and supple frame.
“Mom…” he said quietly. “You were right. All this time, you were right.”
Lana didn’t say anything back to him, and instead slowly leaned back, and ran her hand through his hair. She looked into his eyes and kissed him on the cheek, her lips hot and wet against Dan’s skin.
“I’m just so glad that you’re okay, honey,” she said. “I thought… I was so sure that something had happened.”
Dan thought back to his experience at Pete’s house, and what he’d done to Pete’s mom, and then blushed. Something had happened, but he was okay. They were both okay, and that was all that mattered at that moment.
“Have you seen anyone else?” he asked her. “Anyone else like us, who isn’t locked into one of those headsets?”
Lana shook her head, and grabbed onto both of Dan’s hands. He could see the fear in the look she gave him, but even more than that, he could see the love. She was still his mother, and having her there with him made a world of difference.
“Sweetie, I think this might have happened to everyone with their headsets,” said Lana. “I… just don’t understand it.”
“We never joined in and started using the simulations, there must be other people out the who haven’t, either.” Dan spoke the words in hope that they were true. He couldn’t think of a single person off the top of his head in their town, other than him and his mom, that didn’t own a VR headset.
“You’re right, honey,” said Lana. She smiled at him, and then hugged him again. This time, Dan was even more aware of how soft and sexy her body was. After what had happened at Pete’s house, it made him feel ashamed to be getting turned on from something as small as a hug from his own mom.
Dan sat down on the couch, still thinking hard about what they could do, what they should do. Lana wandered into the kitchen and began putting together a simple breakfast as though the habit was so deeply ingrained in her that even the end of the world couldn’t break her out of it.
She made them sausage and egg sandwiches, and the two ate silently, occasionally speaking up to bolster each other’s spirits. Dan felt almost like he was caught inside of a dream, one that was too bizarre and strange to snap himself out of.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Dan had just finished his sandwich and held his hand up, signaling for his mom to listen.
“What…?” asked Lana.
Dan recognized the sound, and bolted out of his seat.
“That’s a car!” he yelled. “That’s a moving car!”
He rushed over towards the door and charged outside. Off in the distance he could make out the shape of a black sedan speeding down the road their house was on. Dan rushed into the street and began waving his arms, not even considering for a moment what would happen if the driver didn’t see him.
The driver did, and slowed to the side of the road in front of the house. Lana had joined Dan outside, and she looked as though she was on the verge of hysteria. Dan ran up to the driver’s side window and peered inside.
A woman in her mid-thirties sat in the front seat, wearing glasses and medium sized hoop earrings. She had big breasts, which were clad in a low cut black blouse with the vaguest hint of a red bra underneath. Over that, she wore a white lab coat, and as she opened the door and stepped out, she straightened out behind her.
“How unexpected,” she said as she looked at Dan and Lana. “Were your VR headsets broken when the message went out this morning?”
Dan stared at her, too surprised to know how to respond.
“Broken?” asked Lana. “No, we never had any.”
The woman gave them a skeptical look, and then let out a small laugh.
“Figures. The only people that survive an AI’s takeover by default are the extreme techno luddites.”
Dan furrowed his brow.
“What are you talking about?” he asked her.
The woman looked as though she hadn’t heard him. She looked at her wristwatch, and old school, analog model, and then glanced up at the sun.
“Is there anything in your house that you’re going to need in the immediate future?” she asked them.
Dan looked over at his mom, who shook her head.
“Then come on, climb in,” said the woman. “I’ll explain as much as I can on the way.”
“On the way where?” asked Lana.
“To safety, or at least as close as we can get, given the circumstances.”
Dan looked at his mom for a long moment. He could tell that she didn’t fully trust the woman, but he could also see that she was worried. She finally nodded, and the woman instantly climbed back into the driver’s seat.
“Get in,” she said.
Lana took the front passenger’s seat, and Dan climbed into the back. The second he had his seatbelt on, the woman slammed her foot down on the gas, rocketing the car forward with more speed than Dan had ever seen a car move with on their sleepy, suburban road.
“My name is Dr. Caitlyn Chase,” said the woman. “You can call me Dr. Caitlyn.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” said Lana. “I’m Lana, and this is my son, Dan.”
“Dan and Lana.” Dr. Caitlyn laughed, and then looked away from the road and towards Dan’s mom. “Under these circumstances, it’s very nice to meet you indeed.”
Dan was still shocked by how empty the road was, and how carelessly Dr. Caitlyn hurtled them down it. The entire town felt as though it had been abandoned, left to its own fate by the people who’d once inhabited it.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” said Lana. “Is there anything you can tell us? Please?”
Dr. Caitlyn slowed the car down. There was a stoplight ahead of them that flashed from yellow to red, and strangely, she stopped for it. She turned at the wheel so that she was looking at both of them, and then sighed.
“Something terrible has happened,” said Dr. Caitlyn. “I’m a researcher, and my focus for the past couple of years has been on AI and its future impact on human society. It’s funny, this entire situation… it’s something that a couple of people in my field have been warning about for a long time. I guess we should have listened.”
“We’ve seen the people with the headsets on,” said Dan. “How is it possible? They’re all blank, as though they were vegetables.”
“The VR headsets only have basic neuro analyzing capabilities,” said Dr. Caitlyn. “Most likely the AI that’s doing this figured out a way to lock people in using visual stimuli.”
“Wait, you’re saying that this is a computer?” asked Lana. “How is that possible?”
The light turned green, and the doctor slammed on the gas again.
“I don’t have answers to all your questions,” said Dr. Caitlyn. “I’ll have a better idea of what’s going on once I get a chance to take a close look at an active headset.”
“Where are we going?” asked Dan.
“To the one place that makes sense to take refuge at in a post-apo
calyptic world,” said Dr. Caitlyn, with a smile. “To the mall.”
EI: Erotic Intelligence by Anya Merchant
SEXY CHEAT SHEET
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 13
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After the Fall: Close and Confined (Taboo Erotica) (Eden Harem Book 1) Page 13
