One in Ten Ch. 09

"The Plague has broken out in China and made its way to the West Coast. We have operatives and men we'd like to rescue in threatened areas. We were hoping to inoculate our people so that they don't get infected. Infected people have to be left behind," Jen explained.

"How many men are going to die?" Aniqua groaned.

"Wait - you said 'our people'," Capri's eyes narrowed. "Why would you need to inoculate woman against the Plague?"

"This is a new plague," Zara finally spoke. "It is killing everybody." How exactly does a person respond to that? I wanted to erase the last five seconds of my memory and trundle along like nothing was wrong.

Well, more wrong than was normally wrong for me.

"Israel, you have to vanish - now!" Capri insisted. "No more screwing around. Let them take you out of here to someplace safe." I did not want to deal with the logic or emotion behind that statement. Capri wanted me to go, knowing she was going to die in some unpleasant manner.

"Why did you call me Frank?" I turned to Brandi. She was setting up another machine that had tubing and a really sharp needle.

"Inside joke," Brandi's smile tried to be comforting. "See, I'm Brandi the Veterinarian, Jen works for NASA and you're Frank the Duck."

"I don't get it," I mused.

"Are you really a vet, as opposed to an honest to Goddess doctor, or paramedic?" Kuiko wondered. Aniqua groaned once more.

"Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, courtesy of the University of Minnesota and Uncle Sam," she confirmed.

"I thought I'd work with K-9 units, but after my initial evaluations, they informed me I had another valuable skill set that I'd been overlooking," she added.

"What would that be?" Capri muttered.

"I'm really good at blowing things up," Brandi chatted while setting me up for the blood withdrawal.

"Oh Goddess," Venus gulped. "Were you girls behind the Arena bombing?"

"Yes," Jen replied.

"You killed all those people," Aniqua stood up angrily.

"Wake up," Jen growled. "What did you think was going to happen when society crumbled?"

"Billions are going to die. We can't save them. We - the movement - have to bring the government down before we can move to stage 2 of the plan. If you ladies can't deal with that, you are hanging around with the wrong man," Jen continued.

"Israel?" Samantha called out.

"I figured it out, Samantha. I didn't know at the start, but I figured it out. Everyone you know, who is not Angel, or Roni that is not in this room will be dead in two months," I sighed.

"Oh...you are trying to save as many as you can," Venus murmured. Had I a cohesive plan, or an iron will, maybe I would have understood that enough to save more.

"Do you know why Frank is so willing giving up his blood right now?" Jen asked the group.

"He's got hot-sexy eyes for Zara?" Kuiko offered. Jen snorted. Zara's back was to me.

"Well, that and...look around the room," Jen told them. "Do you know how many women are on the list of those to be taken to safety?"

"None," Capri responded.

"Precisely...and he's trying to change that. Of the nearly twenty-six hundred men we have 'vanished', less than twenty asked for another woman to be saved - every one of those asked for their mothers," Jen stated.

"Israel asked you to save us?" Kuiko sounded surprised.

"Asks the woman who was fuck-stunned for thirty minutes," Jen joked. "He hasn't asked. He didn't have to. That first Sunday, he was on the list. The following Saturday morning, he was off it because he had a female attachment. We kept an eye on him, just in case."

"Saturday night he took a beating you cannot imagine because he wouldn't betray Angel Kristi," Jen explained. "Men don't do that. We never give them the chance, but Frank did. We didn't know what Carabolix - 37 was yet. All he had to do was tell another woman that he loved her and treat her the way he treated Angel. He wouldn't do it. He was back on the list."

"Since then, somewhat inadvertently, Frank has been working his ass off to help us with our plans," Jen mused. "We didn't think he knew about our background until today, but he put all of the pieces together - seconds after freaking out and walking into a wall. If he hadn't been screwed-up in college, and wasn't a man, he would be on the fast track to academic recognition, political office, or the head of some conglomerate."

"Instead, he's a mess, but he's a mess that gets to live as the world dies," Jen finished. My mind was still in the kitchen. Brandi's equipment wasn't powerful enough to see either the T1I1 or T2 viruses, but it was clear that my guys had cleaned house. It also meant...

"You brought a sample of the T2 to the city," I whispered to Brandi. She nodded.

"It was risky, but we had to know if we had to write off dozens of our people. Now," she sighed happily, "thanks to you, we don't. Some of those people I've known for years."

"Until Frank," Jen continued, "we weren't planning to save anyone but the chosen men, despite their disadvantages. Now, your small crew might make it."

"You'll save us because he loves Angel?" Kuiko inquired sadly.

"Love conquers all," Capri murmured.

"Basically yes," Jen nodded. "Because he loves all of you, you might just make it."

"That means I get to have sex with him again!" Kuiko exulted.

Yeah, the world was going down the crapper, billions dying, civilization as we'd come to know it was fading into darkness...but having sex with me again made it all okay with Kuiko. She was wonderful.

"Me first," muttered Venus.

Things calmed down after that. I was given a pillow for my head and two for my feet as I lay on the floor giving up two pints of my blood. Brandi was going to replenish me with two fresh pints of blood plasma to keep me going. Somewhere along the process, Brandi left for a spell and Zara came in.

She took my free hand and held it tight. Our eyes met. She had that some comforting glow about her. I was woozy and very tired - barely awake.

"How did I get so lucky?" I whispered. Her eyes grew brighter and her glow warmer.

"Get some sleep," she advised and off I went.

(Wednesday)

"Wake up," Capri was calling out quietly while shaking me by my shins. With no feminine face over me as I awoke, I didn't have to worry about freaking out. "Eloise called Kuiko and asked her to come back in and be re-interviewed." That was pretty sad code for me and Capri to come to the Sentinel offices. The cloak and dagger ratcheted up my worry.

I sat up. The other girls were all awake now too. I came to a sad realization. I was a whore by necessity. I was trading my body for services. There was also no misunderstanding in the relationship either - except, maybe for Capri...and Kuiko...and Angel. Maybe I was simply a morose bastard filled with self-loathing and self-pity. I was being a jerk.

"I'm going to take a shower now," I stood up and announced. "Venus, can I convince you to join me?" I wasn't going to have my sex life become a matter of 'turns', or a rotation. Monogamy wasn't going to happen. It was a selfish fantasy on my part and totally unfair to my friends - my female friends. Thank you, Kuiko.

For a second, Venus froze. She was up and removing her shirt so fast it tore; she was trying to steal back that second.

"Sure!" she declared. Venus rushed past me on the way to the bathroom. I could hear the shower coming on as I finished undressing, placing my clothes in my bedroom hamper.

Damn, laundry day was overdue. That was a problem I'd have to save for later. At the moment, I had to make my way to the bathroom where a terribly frightening, and terrifically sexy, naked Venus was waiting for me with a burning hunger. I had faced the black depths of Flame's gun, a wall of angry cops and the threat of that unknown cop in the arena, so I could do this.

"There are going to be some ground rules," Venus held up her hand. Uh-oh. "Whenever I do something that is starting to weird you out, you let me know - right away."

"Uh - yea - wait, why do you get to set the ground rules?" It came out more as a plea than the strong voice I wanted to project.

"I want to have sex with you again. I want you to want to have sex with me again. You don't have to treat me the same way you treat Kuiko...unless you want to," Venus grinned wickedly. "Now let's get in the shower before all the hot water runs out."

"Trust me, that doesn't happen," I reminded her. Angel and I had a real...time in the shower.

I followed Venus into the shower then began shifting around. I couldn't get her rhythm. It was like...

"Are you a virgin?" I whispered. Venus gasped and her eyes widened.

"What makes you think that?" she countered with bravado.

"Let me rephrase - you are a virgin," I said softly. Another denial formed on her lips, but then she nodded. I quickly cupped her jaw and kissed her. I kissed her again then French kissed her. Her tongue was ready and willing. Venus had no idea what to do with it. I inched back.

"Let your tongue follow mine. I won't bite," I soothed her.

Her smile went from uncertain to aggressive. She wasn't Kuiko - Venus was unskilled but confident. She initiated the next kiss and took my advice. I had to break the embrace because I was not prepared for a tongue wrestling match.

"Next: French kissing is not a contest finished with a three count," I joked.

"You do know if you tell any of the girls about this I'll - I'll - I'll nipple twist Kuiko until she cries," Venus threatened. I was willing to bet the first idea in her mind was 'punch me'. She was not Kuiko, not Kuiko, not Kuiko...I spanked Venus' ass.

"No you don't," I challenged her. I was gaining solace in my mentorship and that let me wash myself clean of the corrosive toxicity that threatened my joy of life and take delight in Venus' body.

"You hit me," she smiled.

"I spanked you," I corrected, "and nipple punishment is my teaching technique. Find your own."

Venus snickered, tried to stare me down then relented with a kiss.

"Deal," she panted when the kiss broke once more. "I think I like being spanked." Oh, God.

I dodged our next connection, going for her jawline instead. Her hands fumbled to redirect me, but I slipped past her efforts to her neck. I lightly kissed my way down to her left nipple, tickled it with my tongue then nipped it with my teeth. Venus' hiccupped, her teat flared and her body spasmed. Her hands insistently held my head in place.

My hand drummed against her hip, giving her a gentle reminder of where the 'freaky' began for me. It took a few seconds, but Venus did relent, though she groaned as she did so. I switched to the right nipple, sucked the whole, half-dollar sized areola into my mouth then worried it briskly with my teeth while suckling like a starving infant.

I could feel her muscles ripple around me. She pushed her breast forward, doing with her chest what she couldn't do with her hands. Her arms were flexing, her fists clenching and unclenching, her calves and feet pushing up so she could tilt farther forward. Venus was hissing her extreme arousal through her grinding teeth.

My hand went straight to her pussy, my thumb hunted for her clit while two fingers slid straight into her cunt.

"Ai, ai, ai, ai," Venus chirped. She was nice, juicy, warm and ready to go. I kept this up for over a minute.

Her clit, stubby but thick, came out to play and I began to tap on it like a telegraph signal.

"Oh, fuck me Israel," she pleaded. "If I've been good, stick it in me - if I've been bad, forgive me, but please, please fuck me. I don't want my first orgasm with you to be from your damn fingers."

"If that's what you want," I murmured to her with true affection. Venus was aggressive, but she didn't know what to do. Her hormones had to be racing. She couldn't order her thoughts through the storm clouds of her emotions. I was telling her that she was on the right course while she took control. I knew that would make Venus more comfortable and happy.

I leaned against the back of the shower. Venus put one foot on the quarter meter lip between the tile floor/lip and the glass door and wall. She pushed up, balanced her hand on the far wall and poised crotch on my stomach. I wedged my left hand between our bodies. I straightened up my dick and rubbed it back and forth over her twat before Venus trapped it in her slit and slid down.

It was easy for me to see women as leering, lustful villains wanting to take from me. That was not a far-fetched picture based on my experiences. I had let that caricature stop me from reaching out. It had stopped me from really seeing women for what they were - past their prejudice of my gender and their perceived place for me in their world view.

They were confident yet fearful, emotional and confused, practical dreamers and romantic pragmatists. The fascist proletariat - good one Capri. We were blessed by our differences, not divided by them - we complemented one another. Nature never intended for us to be at each other's throats until one or the other was dead or subjugated.

Crap - the Vanishers kept getting smarter and smarter in my estimations. If you reduced the equation down to raw survival all the extraneous shit went out the window - pure democracy. You couldn't emotional, or physically, wreck another member because the group needed everyone working at their best so that the group could survive.

The gender ratio would still favor the women, but even that was purely practical. It would take time to train the men to be equal contributors to the group. Men would have to earn the right to be considered an equal. This wasn't a carrot at the end of a stick. It was a goal with set mileposts and a graduation date. We would seize equality by our own efforts, free of doubt and the fear it could be taken away.

And some of us would end up being devoured by tigers, or chipmunks, or whatever other ravenous monsters roamed the Federation wilderness. Things weren't going to be easy.

"Oh Goddess," Venus moaned loud enough to be heard across the hall, "this is so much better." I image she meant 'better' than artificial aids.

She placed her palms against the wall on either side of my head, grinning triumphantly, while trying to leverage her hip gyrations with her limited mobility. I rested my hands on her ample, muscular ass cheeks - Kuiko's were smaller, but firmer. Venus' and Angel's were very much alike.

I took over Venus' revolutions, lifting her free of her footholds.

I could tell she was mildly surprised at my strength. Since I buckled under so often, it was normal to see my social weakness mirrored in physical under-development. It was too easy for women to ignore the enforced workout regimen of men meant we were indeed tougher than we looked.

"Oh - shit-damn, that feels great," Venus purred as she added her thigh compressions to my lifting to keep control of her sensual stimulations. Debra had been nice, but it had been 'work'. I didn't want to think about Magdalena at that moment. Angel was love, Kuiko was fun and Venus was - easy.

She was easy in that she knew what she wanted, and once I opened the portal and showed her the correct pathway, she gladly took the lead. True to her word, she was experimenting in the things she could do to bring me pleasure, but it was all her.

I could have sat back and made all the proper noises and she'd have been happy. I didn't cheat Venus. Once she had established her mistress-ness of the situation, I tuned up my own game. I began chewing on her breasts and teats, spanked her ass and played with her anus, kissed her with enough tongue to excite her sense of domination and bit her lips.

My ejaculating first caught me by surprise. Normally I was more in control. I attributed it to the blood transfusion earlier as well as a lack of sleep.

"Oh my Goddess," Venus growled victoriously, "you came inside of me - you came." She struggled on with that sense of accomplishment for thirty more seconds.

"Ah - SHIT!" she screamed. Her vagina, while not super-tight, clamped down on my slowly deflated cock. Then the waterworks began, both top and bottom. Venus began sobbing tears of joy. Her vagina coated my balls with thick, creamy fluids. Her body shook through an intense orgasm for nearly half a minute before her forehead fell on my collarbone.

Slowly her head turned so that her mouth was puffing her breaths on my neck.

"When are we going to do this again?" she panted. There was a pause as I was putting my own mind back in order. "If you say next month, I'm going out there and paddling Aniqua's bottom. I've caught you sneaking peeks at it when you think no one is looking."

I was starting to think that I didn't need an Alpha female - I needed a God-damned referee. There was also another way to approach this, I discovered.

"When do you want to make love again, Venus?" I murmured playfully. I saw the pleasure in her eyes. That was more than she hoped for.

We hadn't graduated from mentor and student. It was wonderful seeing the dawning realization in her eyes. I wasn't going to be the problem - her female cohorts were. She'd 'won' me. She now had to face the wrath of her peers over that deed. Sure, she could say 'let's do it at lunch', but then she'd have to face down the other six women.

With that came the understanding that Angel and Kuiko had convinced me to be available too. Monogamy wasn't going to happen so she would have to work it out with the other women. This was a totally different outcome than she'd expected. Having the upper hand in our relationship was a bitch.

She couldn't even be angry with me because this was what she wanted. Welcome to equality. I could refuse to choose. There was no longer a power structure that required me to do anything sexual so I could freely concede the initiative to the ladies without giving up a thing.

"Are you smarter than Capri?" Venus studied me, face to face and eye to eye.

"Please Goddess, tell me you are the smartest person I know," she teased me. "Please tell me you are smarter than that red-haired witch, because if she can trick me as easily as you just did, I'm never going to live it down."

"Venus, I am happy to be with you here, right now," I replied. "That's all that matters to me."

Venus kissed me deeply, pulled back and gave me several slow pecks on the nose and lips.

"That was very sweet of you to say," she purred. She gave me another passionate French kiss.

"You aren't going to answer my question, are you?" she glared.

"Not in this lifetime," I grinned.

We cleaned up and exited the shower. Venus gathered up her torn shirt, shorts, bra and underwear. I reached out and took her hand.

"We can dress in the bedroom if you prefer," I offered. She looked like she was about to fall over. Venus had considered Kuiko's review to be so much hysterical tripe...until now.

It wasn't the sex. I really thought she liked it. It was a simple, adolescent romantic gesture - the holding of hands. It wasn't sex, it was affection - and effortless gesture that said 'I like you' and there was not enough of that going around these days. Venus blushed slightly.

"Sure," she tried to sound nonchalant.

She was going to a boy's bedroom and she was NOT going to have sex. The possibilities expanded in her mind. 'He cared - he really cared'. Sure, I also cared for some other girls, but now, for the first time, she was on the inside looking out. She had a guy who WANTED her, and that was a magical thought all on its own.

For a poor working girl like Venus, this had been a cruel dream dangled just out of reach. She was attractive, played baseball and had steady work, but she knew in her heart she wasn't marriage material. Men married up. Whatever man she might get was destined to leave her, not matter how hard she tried.

When she first came at me, is was as a She-Wolf, trying to get one good bite, one taste, before I departed for greener pastures. Against pre-ordained fate, she was here, at my side, her partner and mate. She could nuzzle up against me (cautiously) and expect gentle contact in return. Sex isn't slamming a cock into a vagina - that's rutting and all mammals do it.