"The Purpose of a Man" (closed)

14 November 2030
East slope of the Cascade Mountains
Central Oregon

Alice DuMont
19 years old
5'6", slim figure, nice curves
Red hair worn long and wild; mesmerizing blue-green eyes


Of all the places in the world where she could be, out here in the forest on patrol was the only place for Alice. But then, of all the places in the world might not have been the most accurate phrase: since the Plague of 2020, when Alice had been but 9 years old, she hadn't been more than 4 miles from her home village of Greenvale, which sat in a small valley on the eastern slope of Oregon's Cascade Mountain Range.

But Greenvale and its surrounding woods were all Alice needed for contentment. There was nothing out in the world beyond the valley that she wanted or needed. She had her mother and little brother, Eric, for family; she had Laura, Kimberly, and Connie for friendship and -- when the need overcame her -- intimacy and sexual fulfillment; she had the Perimeter Patrol for duty and service; and she had the rest of Greenvale's community -- current population, 58 -- for … well, for everything else.

Alice was fortunate in that she'd been young enough in 2020 to not now know what she was missing in this more primitive time. She had a vague recollection of cell phones and video games and the internet and thousand channel cable packages. But except for a wireless radio and some medical devices in the clinic -- all powered by solar panels and wind turbines on the edge of the village -- Greenvale had gone the primitive route, as had many of the smaller communities in the region.

There was, of course, one thing that Alice's mother wanted for her daughter that Alice herself was less enthusiastic about having: a child. Alice was resistant -- very much so -- to the idea of having a strange man's cock shoved inside her to fill her with seed that would ultimately become a child. She was only 19 years old, and she was totally committed to her Perimeter Patrol duties. Add to that that she'd never been intimate with a man, let alone had intercourse with one.

Of course, having sex with a man meant having access to one. And that was a bit more difficult in this post-Plague day and age than it had been back in the time when Alice herself was being conceived.

The Plague had killed 90% of the human race as a whole inside a year. Even more significantly, though, it had killed 98% of the male population in particular. And the virus was the gift that kept on giving: as much as 50% of seemingly immune boys died from the virus as their bodies began producing the hormones that would have otherwise transitioned them into manhood. Greenvale's record with boys-turning-to-men was even more tragic than that of some of their neighbors: Alice had only known of 3 boys who had maintained their immunity through puberty and into adulthood, and of them, none still resided in the village.

On this date, 14 November 2030, the population of Greenvale, Oregon, was 58: 8 post-menopausal women, 16 child-bearing aged women, 22 pre-pubescent girls, and 12 pre-pubescent boys. Most of the boys would likely die before they'd ever had a chance to spread their seed and help perpetuate the species, including Alice's own 11 year old brother.

The human race had very nearly been wiped out, and now it was on the verge of extinction due to a lack of breeding males. You would think, of course, that you only needed a handful of males to service a passel of female. After all, cattle ranchers for example had kept dozens, hundreds, or thousands of cows but kept only one bull.

But Immune males were a valuable commodity in this new age or, at least, the sperm they produced was. And those males -- or the females who sometimes controlled them as servants -- knew that you didn't just give out their breeders' seed without getting something in return.

Alice's mother -- like most mothers these days -- had been willing to give up everything to see her daughter birth a healthy child, and when the opportunity came, she jumped at it. The Crescent City Circuit Riders -- a traveling band of traders, craftsmen, and service providers -- had visited Greenvale this past Spring as usual. One of the services they offered was of great interest to Alice's mother: stud service.

Amongst the Rider's number were two fit and healthy immune men who -- for a hefty price -- would provide their seed to ovulating women. (Breeding was, in fact, the Riders' most profitable single service.) Alice's mother had been eager -- no, desperate -- to see her daughter produce a child, and she approached the traveling band's Matriarch to make a deal.

Unfortunately, after the stud fee was paid, a very reluctant and somewhat petrified Alice fled into the hills with her rifle and a pack filled with food … and she didn't return until she saw the Riders heading out of town three days later. It was only when she returned that Alice learned that the fee had been non-refundable and her mother -- who hadn't been ovulating and would have thus gotten nothing personal from the encounter except possibly a good fuck -- had given away the privilege of conceiving a child to the Charge of one of the Councilors, in the hopes of currying future favor.

The incident had caused a rift between Alice and her mother that even now, 7 months later, they had not been able to get past. The miscarriage suffered by the Charge of the Councilor only made things worse: without the anticipated but now moot favors, Alice's family was now poverty-stricken and barely surviving on the meager rations that came from working the Communal Gardens.

The stress of the whole situation had only made Alice want to spend less time in the village and more time any where else. She continued with her Perimeter Patrol duties, but in addition -- during free time that previously had often been spent in the village with her friends -- Alice had greatly increased the time she was spending hunting, fishing, and gathering anything and everything of value. She justified her absences to her mother by returning with bags full of mushrooms or trapped animals that provided both meat and pelts. Her extra effort was keeping the family from starving or -- worse -- having to offer services to others in the community who already looked down on their family because of Alice's actions so many months earlier.

Today, she was creeping down one of the well used deer trails on solo patrol, as she preferred to work. A crunching sound caused her to freeze in place, then lower into a crouch. A second, then third and fourth foot-on-ground sound told her that another person was out here in the woods with her. Alice contemplated the options and dismissed them one after another: there shouldn't be any other Perimeter Patrol members in this area; no hunting party would be out here without first informing the Patrol, aka Alice; and the foragers wouldn't be out this far without an armed escort, which again meant that the Patrol -- Alice -- would have been informed. Besides, it was too late in the day for the foragers, who would already be back in the village tending to the plants and animals they harvested.

Alice realized suddenly that her heart was beating hard. There was only one possibly answer to the question Who's out there? It had to be a resident of one of the three villages that shared a frontier with Greenvale. This was a violation of the treaties all four communities had with one another, agreements that prevented some of the issues and conflicts that had made pre-Plague Earth such a violent place.

Alice had come face to face with intruders twice before, and neither time had played out with peaceful results. Threats had been bellowed out in one incident; shots had been fired in a second. No one had been harmed either time, but each incident had resulted in further negotiations over borders and rights in the frontiers.

Alice flinched again as she heard another step, this one closer and bit farther to her left. She lifted her ass and lowered her head, then crept forward ever so slowly to take a position behind a huge, tree that likely had fallen to the ground even before Alice was born. She found a gap between the rotting wood and a chunk of bark and kept vigil.

Finally, Alice spotted movement. She kept her gaze glued to the intruder who moved in and out of view within the thick foliage. When the figure emerged from the undergrowth and stepped out into the more open deer trail, its head was hidden by an oversized hood. Alice waited another long moment, until the intruder was only thirty or so feet away, then she leaped up and leveled the rifle.

"Don't move!" she demanded. "If you move or run, I'll shoot! Put your hands out so I can see them! Slowly!"

The intruder did as Alice demanded. She hesitated a moment, unsure of exactly what to do. A lifetime of training for just this event, and Alice had no idea what to do next. What she did know was that her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears.

Then … Alice's confusion only deepened. She studied the intruder's figure a bit more deliberately … then its hands. A thought came to her that was … well, it was just … out there … out there so far that it might as well be on another planet.

"Pull your hood off! I want to see your face!" she demanded, quickly adding, "Slowly!"

The intruder again followed Alice's instructions … and her eyes widened even more than they already were. Softly, almost as much to herself as to the intruder, she murmured, "You're a man!"

Matthew Jones:
Age 25 years old
6’1
Brown hair with matching short beard

"Don't move! If you move or run, I'll shoot! Put your hands out so I can see them! Slowly!"

The words echoed through Matt’s head over and over and time seemed to come to a standstill. Matt did as the girl ordered and held his hands out to his sides. He then turned around slowly and took his good off so she could see his face. Matt laid eyes on the beautiful redhead who had a rifle pointed right at him.

He chuckled and then let out a sigh, after everything he had been through this is how it’s going to end? He thought, dying at the hands of a teenage girl?

Years back when the outbreak started Matt took his family up to their cabin by Hunter’s Creek. This cabin he kept stocked with food and water and supplies, because although he was just a mailman for the postal service he was also staying prepared for the day the shit hit the fan. Whether it be war, natural disaster, or in this case a deadly virus outbreak, he’d be ready.

His wife Ashley, Daughter Danielle, and his son Cody all made it to the cabin safely. They had plenty of supplies at first but as the months went on they started running out and Matt had to go out on weekly supply runs. At first he scavenged for what he could and about two years after the outbreak he came across a group of survivors, all female, as it seemed to be the normal since almost all the male population has been wiped out.

When he met them he asked to trade supplies but what they were interested in wasn’t supplied at all, it was Matt’s semen. In exchange for food and supplies, Matt would have sex with one of the females each visit. Some trying to get pregnant and some just needing a good lay. They would load him up with a decent amount of supplies due to how good the lay was. His cock was an impressive twelve inches and he always produced big sufficient loads.

Of course he didn’t tell his family about this. He knew if he did it would hurt his wife so much and after losing their son to the virus she wouldn’t be able to handle this. Matt tells them that he found and outpost where they provide supplies for manual labor.

On his way back from one of his meet ups is when he encountered the redhead. He was looking her right in the eyes wondering if she would actually pull the trigger. “Look I have food, water, medical supplies. You let me go they are all yours.” He said. There was a .45 caliber pistol holstered on his hip but he knew if he reached for it he’d be dead.

“Look I have food, water, medical supplies. You let me go they are all yours.”

Alice barely registered what the man was saying to her; her mind was filled with the simple and so incredibly unexpected fact that she was looking at a man … a male of the species … out here alone in the woods. Men didn't just wander the woods alone anymore; that would have been akin to a pre-Plague movie star sauntering through the shopping mall expecting to shop in peace, or a multi-billionaire hanging on the corner of a high crime neighborhood expecting not to be kidnapped for ransom.

Still unsure of how to proceed, Alice looked the man over well. He had a pack that seemed well stuffed, as well as other items strapped or slung over his body. And, of course, that gun. Alice was very familiar with her own weapons and the weapons used by the Patrol, but she was no firearms expert. Still, it was pretty obvious that the handgun on the man's hip was a large caliber that would easily punch a hole through her chest cavity should he get a shot off.

"Carefully … slowly...!" she began, trying to contain her nervousness at the situation, "Unbuckle your gun belt and drop your gun to the ground. Then … back up."

As she waited for the man to comply, Alice carefully made her way out from around the ancient fallen tree. The tested each step with her toes before taking it to ensure she didn't trip or stumble … and give the man the opportunity to go for his gun.

"I want you to put that gun on the ground … back up..." she continued as she moved gingerly, "...then … shed the gear."

Out from around the log now, Alice's confidence was building. She told him with a sense of authority, "You are intruding on the sovereign territory of the Village of Greenvale. You will be taken into custody. I am taking you into custody. You … you will be bound and tried … fairly … in accordance with the Law."

Alice almost smiled with delight at the fact that she'd been able to get all of that out without stumbling over her tongue. She'd practiced the procedure as part of her Perimeter Patrol training dozens of times, even role played it with other Patrol members, sometimes doing so with an intruder who mocked resistance. Of course, this wasn't role play; and the intruder this time wasn't one of her female friends; and -- almost frighteningly -- the weapon she was pointing wasn't devoid of ammunition as it had in the mock exercises.

Alice found herself wondering the same thing the man before her was: could she pull the trigger if it came down to it? She knew she could. Of course, what a fucking waste that would be, right?

“Alright Alright, just don’t shoot me!” Matt called out to the nervous looking teen. He very slowly moved his one hand down to unhook his gunbelt and drop it on the ground. Then he took a few steps back and continued to comply with the stranger by stripping his back pack and placing that on the ground as well.

Taken prisoner..? That can’t happen.. Matt thought as he stood there silently. His breath turning to steam in the cold winter air. “Look, just take all my stuff. It’s yours, just let me go in return. There’s no need to take me prisoner. Let me go and you’ll never see me again.”

“Alright Alright, just don’t shoot me!”

Alice was tickled to see the man complying with her orders … because she really didn't know what she would have done if he hadn't. It was the Perimeter Patrol's duty to protect the communities perimeter, by force -- deadly force -- if necessary. But how would the people of Greenvale react to learn that Alice killed a man? A male. A potential breeder! After the physical village itself -- the arable land, the crops raised upon it, the stock animals fed by those crops -- this man and his seed could very well become the most valuable asset Greenvale owned.

“Look, just take all my stuff. It’s yours, just let me go in return. There’s no need to take me prisoner. Let me go and you’ll never see me again.”

"No!" Alice said sharply, almost in panic. She stressed her control of the situation by tightening her grip on the semi-automatic rifle and again aiming it directly at his chest. She hesitated a moment, trying to calm herself, telling him, "No … you're-- I'm taking you into custody. I … I have to take you to the village … to the Council. You intruded on our territory. The Council has to decide what to do about you."

She jabbed the rifle at him, ordering, "Back up! Away from the gun!"

Alice backed the man away from the discarded weapon and gear, then carefully retrieved the pistol and worked it into her belt. She wasn't carrying her day pack as was typical, but reaching down inside her jacket she withdrew one item she was glad she'd brought with her: a tightly rolled bundle of paracord.

"Tie a slip knot and wrap it around one wrist," she ordered, tossing the rope to the man. She gave him detailed directions on how to self-tie his wrists before him, adding again, "Do anything other than what I say, and I'll shoot you."

Alice waited for the man's hands to be restrained before she told him to back up two more steps again. She moved forward, found the loose end of the rope laying on the ground, and ordered him to spin in place. As he did, Alice held the end of the rope tight such that it began restraining his arms tight against his body. She would have preferred to have the large sized zip ties that were standard issue to the Patrol day packs, but then, hey, that's what happens when you come out unprepared for the unexpected.

The unexpected...

Jesus, if this wasn't the unexpected, Alice didn't know what was. A man; a breeder; out here in the woods and now in her custody. Alice was going to get one helluva pat on the back from the Council, from the population as a whole, from her mother. This was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to her. It would most definitely make up for the shame of having passed on being impregnated by the Rider.

All this time, it had never occurred to Alice that what she was doing was essentially enslaving another human being. She grown up being educated about the value of a man as a breeder, not a man as a person; it hadn't even occurred to her that it might be more socially acceptable to treat the intruder as a fellow human being.

Something else hadn't occurred to her either, until now: why was she taking the breeder to the Council? Alice had discovered him. Alice had captured him. He belonged to Alice. Why should she turn the man over to the Council, particularly after they'd treated her and her mother so horribly since the incident with the Riders' breeder?

But … what was the option? There wasn't a chance in hell she could get the man down to and into the walled village without him being seen. And where would she keep him? In the family's house? No. He'd be discovered. Or he'd call out. No, she needed another place to keep him until she figured out how to best benefit her family with what he had to offer.

The cave, she thought, her lips spreading in a smile. Of course! No one knows about it but me and my three amigas.

"We're leaving," she told the man, circling around him to begin gathering all that he'd dropped to the ground. "You're going to walk ahead of me, slow and easy … and you're going to remember that I have a gun to your back and have every right to kill you as an intruder. Understand?"

Hearing the teen tell him again that she was going to take him into custody Matt cursed under his breath. He kept his hands up while she gathered his dropped belongings and told him to turn around and walk. Matt walked slowly through the quiet cold forest for what seemed like forever. Matt played multiple scenarios through his head on a possible escape but they all ended with him getting shot.

They eventually came across a hidden rock wall with a small opening. He turned around but the gun pointed directly at his face made it obvious that she wanted him to go in the cave. He got down in his knees and crawled into the hole which led to a small room. It was only lit with what light shined through the opening. It was about ten feet by ten feet and he couldn’t stand all the way up.

“Is there anything I can do to get you to let me go? I have a family to get back to.”

Alice was about to tell the man no when he began asking to be let go. When he said he had a family, her stomach literally rolled over from the stress of what she was doing. This was wrong, taking a man hostage simply because he was a man; but Alice knew that this could change everything for her, for her mother, for her family as a whole.

"We can't get back to the village before dark from this far out," she told him, changing the subject. That wasn't true, of course; they could easily make it down the hill in under an hour, and there were still two hours of daylight left. "We'll stay the night here, then make our way to Greenvale in the morning."

Alice gestured him all the way to the back of the small cave before laying the rifle across her lap to free up her hands. She gathered her fire striker kit, clashed the two pieces together to produce sharp, bright sparks, and very quickly had a small fire burning off to one side of the cave; she spread the flame to a trio of candles spread about the space as well. The smoke rose upwards to the cave's roof, which ranged from four or five feet above the packed dirt floor, then disappeared into the basalt rock through a long crack that led up through the earth to a larger fissure in the hill's topside.

"Remember what I said about doing something that could get you killed?" Alice warned the man as she rose from her butt to her knees. "I'd hate for you to die before you got to talk to the Council."

She moved closer to him and -- using a heavier rope she took from a wooden box -- tied his wrists again in a way that would be more secure for her and more comfortable for him. She untied and removed the rope that had both bound his wrists together and bound his arms close to his torso. She handed him a big chunk of dried venison and a pair of small, not-quite-ripened apples for hydration. Laying out a thick blanket, Alice told him he might as well lay back and get comfortable.

She ate some food herself, sharing some dehydrated mushrooms and fruit slices from the village's fruit trees. Pillaging through the man's backpack, Alice found a tiny can of something called Vienna Sausages and opened it up. She didn't see canned food much anymore; the last such canneries had shut down shortly after the world ended, of course. But sniffing at them, they seemed to be fine. Still, for safety sake, she threaded a 6 gauge wire through the little wieners and roasted them over the little fire before sharing them with the man.

"What's your name? I'm Alice," she finally introduced, tired of thinking of him as the man. She gave him the opportunity to reciprocate, ate some more food, then -- just trying to make conversation -- asked, "Is this family of yours real? Or … were you just hoping I'd feel sorry for you and let you go?"

Inside the cave Matt was still complying with the teen as she bound his wrists and took off the other rope. When she handed him some food he just nodded at her, as to say thank you, but I’m still pissed you won’t let me go. He started with the apple, crunching away at it while she rummaged through his bag.

The small cave started to warm up shortly after the fire was lit. When one of the sausages were offered to him he took it and ate it. “My name is Matt.” He said between bites. “My family is real. My wife Ashley and my daughter Danielle are expecting me home in a couple days.”

"Are they your real family … Matt?" Alice asked almost without hesitation. This time around, the use of real was aimed directly at his daughter, in the context of is she really your blood or just an adopted Immune. Alice thought her next question might help her trust his answer, "Is she pre-Plague or post?"

The Plague had radically changed family life across Oregon, the US, and -- Alice assumed -- the entire world. By the end of 2020, with the planet-wide death toll nearing 90%, families had been thrown into disarray, worse than any earthquake, tsunami, or nationwide war. Suddenly, there were untold numbers of parents without children and children without parents.

In some cases, this only let to more mayhem and more deaths. Alice had been raised with stories of children who had been horribly mistreated, enslaved, abused -- sexually, in particular -- or just killed. Millions who'd been orphaned simply perished of exposure, starvation, disease, and ignorance about the world about them.

But Alice had also heard heart warming stories of adults -- blood relatives and strangers, previous parents and adults who'd been childless pre-Plague -- taking in immune orphans and making them their own. Ironically, all three of Alice's best friends -- Laura, Kimberly, and Connie -- had been orphans who had been rescued by adults who were not their relatives.

Alice's family was one of those made up entirely of blood relatives. She, of course, had been born pre-plague, in 2011; her brother had been one of the first post-Plague children conceived in Greenvale, before male breeders began rationing their sperm to those who could compensate them for that jizz as Alice had heard it called once.

Some had thought her mother special in those early days because of both being immune and of being able to produce immune children. But then young men and boys began to die off at puberty, and now -- with her brother Eric being only 11 -- it wasn't certain that mama was special at all. Only when Eric survived through puberty would Alice know.

She waited for Matt to answer or not to answer as he saw fit, then asked a rather personal question for which she wasn't actually expecting a truthful answer. "Are you a breeder?"

There were three types of men in this post-Plague world: family men whose sexual activities were reserved for their mate, family men who dabbled a bit on the side to pay the bills as Matt did (though, of course, Alice didn't know that), and breeders, who entire purpose in life was to stick their dicks inside ovulating women and bring forth new life … for a price.

Which one was Matt?

“Yes they are my real family.” Matt replied to Alice from the other side of the fire. “Danielle was seven when the outbreak started. She’ll be turning eighteen in a couple weeks.” Matt was hoping the more details he gave Alice the better chance she would feel sympathy and let him go. He finished up the dried venison she gave him before continuing. “I had a son, Cody, he died... not because of the virus either, he was immune, my whole family is. We were out hunting and we were attacked by these savages...” Matt stopped there not wanting to get into detail about that fateful day.

He sat there looking into the fire before he was asked the next question. “No I’m not a breeder.” He quickly replied thinking of the men who go around exclusive breeding any female they find as vile beings. “Well..” he started off, “.. I have a deal with this village that in exchange for supplies I help impregnate one of their villagers when the time calls.” He also left out the part of the village leader who uses the other meet up times to just hook up with Matt. He always felt terrible about doing this behind his wife’s back but he needed to keep his family fed.

“Yes they are my real family.”

Alice's attention was fully on Matt as he talked about his family. She'd always been a sponge for tales from beyond Greenvale. Over the years, there had been a lot of first hand news brought in from other parts of Oregon or even from Idaho, Washington, or California about what was happening out there. Some of the news was easy to believe; some of it wasn't. Alice never believed anything told her second or third hand; if the story teller hadn't lived it herself, Alice dismissed it without question.

Matt's hope that his tale of his family would affect Alice was doing just that. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable -- despicable, actually -- for what she was doing to this man. But … well, simply put … she needed to keep him, to make use of his gift, to benefit her devastated family in a way she herself never could.

“Well.. .. I have a deal with this village that in exchange for supplies I help impregnate one of their villagers when the time calls.”

That didn't surprise Alice at all, nor would have the admission that he was in fact a true breeder. And while she had begun to feel horrible about having taken Matt hostage, this revelation that he had in the past traded his seed for compensation, Alice suddenly didn't feel any reluctance to what she was about to say.

"My family is poor," she began. She chuckled a bit, embarrassed. "I mean, compared to how my mama describes life before the Plague, we're all poor, aren't we? What I mean is … compared to some of the others in the village, we're poor. The Council ensures that every family has what they need to survives … food … basic supplies. We have our own Doctor … not something every village or even some of the bigger towns can brag about. Sometimes, people come to Greenvale just to see her, the Doctor."

She was getting off track. "Anyway, my point … all my mama and I have to offer is our labor. She works in the fields and sometimes in the Craft Building … and I keep Patrol … I walk the forest, protecting the perimeter. That was why I was out here … how I came across you."

Alice had been watching the flames dancing in the small fire as she talked and only now looked away from them at the man. "Earlier this year, my mama gave up almost all we had to a Circuit Rider to breed with me. But--"

She looked away again, embarrassed. Alice had failed her mother, her family, and her community with her flight to the woods that day. She drew and released a deep breath, looking back to Matt before she continued, "If you were to come down to Greenvale with me … voluntarily … if you were to … you know … breed with some of the women … particularly with the Chief Councils' charge..."

Alice could have told the story of how her mother had let the Circuit Rider seed Harmony Roer instead of her daughter; about how Harmony had indeed conceived; and about how the young girl had miscarried so tragically a few months later. But she kept that to herself as she continued, "If you were to do that willingly..."

She stopped there, unsure of what else to say. It wasn't like she could say we'll pay you. Hell, her family had nothing anymore and would be on the verge of starvation this winter, despite the basic food allotment the Council guaranteed every productive member. And she couldn't guarantee him payment from those who he served either. Greenvale was not a rich community; only two families had engaged the Circuit Rider breeders this past spring because of how much their Matriarch had demanded for the stud service.

The only thing Alice could really offer Matt in exchange for his service was his eventual freedom. And, of course, that was only something she could offer because she'd pointed a gun at him in the first place and said tie this around your wrists, you're coming with me.

As Alice talked a little about her life Matt finished up the remaining food he was given and the leaned back against the cold hard walk of the cave. Was she offering him his eventual freedom if he went down to the village and breeded some of the girls in her village. Matt leaned forward and sat Indian style holding his hands out near the fire.

“If I were to do that. Go to your village and breed with some of the villagers they will let me go?” Matt asked looking through the crackling fire at his captor.

"Of course!" Alice answered quickly. "Why wouldn't they?"

The Council would never approve Matt's enslavement as a breeder, not unless he had violated the Laws in some way and -- as punishment -- they sentenced him to fulfilling the primary purpose of a man these days, impregnating women and producing hopefully immune offspring.

Then, Alice realized the fault in her logic: she was claiming that the Council wouldn't hold Matt against his will … and yet, here she was doing just that! She suddenly felt embarrassed and couldn't look him in the eye.

"I'm sorry," she said in a whisper almost too low for him to hear. A bit louder she explained, "I'm doing this-- I mean … my family … my mother and my brother … I am the reason life is so hard for them now. It's my fault. And I never hoped to make up for what I've done to our family … until now. I need--"

She hesitated, looking to the fire for a moment before looking back to Matt and laying it all out on the line. "I need for you to do this, to breed with some of Greenvale's women and girls. My family will be compensated for your service and will no longer be looked down upon like they are now. My mother will have honor again … and pride … and … and then I'll let you go home to your family."

As she'd been talking, her words had become more firm with each word. This was the way it was going to be: Matt was going to share his seed with Greenvale under Alice's direction … and Alice's family was going to once again have the possibility of prosperity and pride under their roof.

"Go to sleep," she demanded, setting about preparing for the end of the night. She pulled a bear hide blanket from a plastic Rubbermaid container, telling him that she had killed the bear herself and her mother had processed the hide. "It'll keep you warm through the night."

Alice fed the fire in such a way that the larger pieces would feed right down into the fire, keeping it burning all night long. Then, after tossing Matt's bags out of the cave's entrance, as well as stripping off his boots and doing the same with those, she told him, "I'll be out there somewhere. You won't know where, but I'll be there. If you come out, I'll see you … and I'll put a bullet through you somewhere that will keep you from running away … but which won't keep your penis from doing its job down in the village."

Then, with that, Alice grabbed the two rifles and a pack of her own that had a blanket and water-repellant plastic sheeting in it and left...

Matt listened to Alice’s story and felt bad for her even if she was holding him captive. If he had to go to her village and fuck a few of the villagers to benefit her and earn his freedom then he would willingly do so. He hoped that the women he gets paired with are decent looking.

“Okay I mean not that I have much choice in the matter but I will do this to help you and your family.” Matt said. He sat there while Alice started getting everything prepped for night. Matt nodded at Alice’s warning about what would happen if he tried to escape.

Once she was gone he settled on the make shift bed and pulled the blanket over him. He was tired and sore from a long day of traveling so he already felt himself drifting to sleep. He toyed with the idea of trying to make a run for it but believed that she was keeping watch. And even if he did get away he was barefoot so his feet would get all messed up from the frozen and rocky terrain. Matt passed out shortly after into a deep sleep.

Being out in nature as Alice was -- in the dark, in the cold, without a real shelter -- would have been miserable, even hazardous for most people. But Alice's Perimeter Patrol training -- and her pure love of the wild -- had prepared her well for this.

She moved about 50 feet out from the cave entrance, to a foot diameter tree that had fallen a couple of years earlier. It's trunk was supported about three feet off the ground by the slowly decaying limbs and a forked tree into which the top of the dead tree had fallen so long ago. Alice slipped into the pup-tent shape of the trunk and limbs, wrapped herself with the blanket and plastic tarp, and laid down for what she knew would be a restless night.

Ironically, the discomfort of her situation was -- or could be -- vital to what she was trying to accomplish. Alice didn't want to enjoy a deep, comfortable sleep; she needed to be on the edge of consciousness, in case Matt did in fact try to flee into the night and to freedom. Throughout the night, Alice awoke occasionally and -- peeking through a gap in the plastic tarp -- checked the cave's entrance and surroundings.

At one point, she left her makeshift shelter and carefully crept up to and into the cave. Matt was still there sound asleep, which was a relief. Quietly, Alice fed the fire again and scraped some hot coals into a metal tin which she took back to her own shelter. They warmed her up a bit for an hour or so before losing their energy.

Just short of sunrise, Alice was back inside the cave again. Her work there awoke Matt, but she told him to go back to sleep if he wanted. She searched through his backpack and, finding a chunk of fresh meat wrapped in wax paper, put it over the fire on a metal rod that had once been a part of some machine Alice hadn't recognized.

"Here," she told Matt, tossing him his boots. She gestured for him to extend his arms and -- after a moment's hesitation -- moved closer and loosened the knots holding the rope around his wrists. She backed out of his reach before saying, "That should be loose enough to get them off. Go ahead."

Alice kept an eye on the man without trying to look like she was trying to keep an eye on him. She'd always been a very trusting person, but then she'd never been in a situation like this with a stranger before, let alone a male stranger. If this had been the pre-Plague period, she might have worried that a strange male might rape her. In this post-Plague period, many women likely would have encouraged it, if they were ovulating anyway.

No, Alice's concerns about Matt weren't that she feared for her virtue. They were simply that she feared he would react violent for her having taken him hostage.

Matt woke up to Alice rustling around the cave and cooking some meat. She tossed him his shoes once he was awake and loosened the rope so he could put his boots on. After that he ate the food that she cooked for him and the looked at her feeling a bit uncomfortable. He had to pee and wondered if she would let him go do it in private. “I have to pee.” He said looking at Alice.

Alice stared at Matt for a moment, wondering whether or not his need to urinate was real or a ploy to escape now that his hands were free and he had his boots on. Playfully, she snatched up an old tin bean can and tossed it to him.

"Go ahead, I won't look," she said. A moment later she laughed, saying only, "Kidding."

Shifting around, Alice crawled out of the cave again, telling Matt to follow. She stepped aside, holding her rifle before her in a ready position but not pointing it at him with any sort of threatening pose. Once he was out, Alice nodded toward some shrubbery about 60 feet downhill.

"There's a shithole there," she informed him. "The plastic container's full of Grampa's Beard."

Post-Plague Oregon had run out of mass produced toilet paper long, long ago, of course. But a DIY version of ass wipe was still made by most communities out of old reclaimed paper, plant fiber, old cloth, or other such materials. The world as it had been known might have ended, but butts still needed to be wiped. Grampa's Beard -- known by a great many other names -- was just a moss that was pulled from tree limbs and trunks, dried, and padded down to make a layer of fiber that … well, yeah, did that.

"Listen..." Alice started before Matt headed away down the hill. She looked hesitant, then even a bit guilty as she continued, "If you run away..."

She paused a moment, surprised that she was about to say this. "If you want to take off … I won't stop you. I'm … I'm not going to shoot you in the back."

She slung her weapon over her shoulder and sat atop a huge rock near the entrance. "I … I'm not an idiot. I can't keep you hostage and under my control like this. At some point, you're going to want to get away. I … I don't want either of us to get hurt, so … I might as well just tell you that -- if you want -- you can go at any time."

She turned to the cave entrance, reached inside, and pulled out Matt's back pack and a satchel he'd been carrying as well. She tossed them onto the ground near him, unloaded his pistol, and put it and the loose shells into a side pouch on the pack.

"If you want," she said reluctantly, "you can take your stuff down to the shitter with you … you know … just in case you decide not to come back."

For a brief moment Matt thought Alice was serious about him using the can. He then followed her outside and when she told him she would let him go if he ran he looked at her with a confused look wondering if she was bluffing or not. He was tempted to grab his belongings and take off sprinting. Then he though, if she got the drop on him could there be more patrols out here? If so would they think twice before putting a bullet in his back?

Math figured getting back to his family a few days late would be better then not showing up at all, fear of another patrol getting the best of him. “I’ll be back.” Matt said and left his belongings and went down by the shrubs to relieve himself. He walked back to meet Alice “I’m going to go with you.” Matt said wanting to help out Alice and her family. Being a family man he knew how it felt wanting the best for your family. “You promise they’ll let me go after a few days?”

“I’ll be back.”

Alice was a bit shocked by Matt's decision to stick with her. She'd taken him hostage, led him through the woods bound, and informed him he would only be released again after he'd bred with women from her village … and yet, when given the chance, he agreed to remain with her and do this great deed for her.

Either he's a much better man than I've been led to believe most are, Alice thought as she watched him descend the hill, or he's just looking forward to fucking a selection of women from Greenvale.

He told her once he'd returned, “I’m going to go with you.”

"Thank you, Matt," Alice responded with obvious relief. "You don't know what this means to me … particularly after I treated you the way I did."

“You promise they’ll let me go after a few days?”

"I promise," Alice said, not entirely certain that the Council would let Matt walk away as easily as Alice had minutes earlier. She went to his pack, still laying on the ground, and removed his pistol and the rounds she'd removed from it. "I'm keeping this for now, because when we get to the village they'll probably look through your bags. But … and I promise you I will do this … at my first opportunity, I will give it back to you. If anything happens … if anyone attempts to keep you from leaving..."

Well, she couldn't really tell Matt she was advising him to shoot his way out of Greenvale, but the implication was pretty obvious. She returned to the cave's interior to secure the things they'd used for her next visit to the hidey hole, then exited to tell Matt, "We should go. It'll take us a few hours to get to the village, and that storm is going to get her quickly."

Alice jerked her head toward the darkening skies to the west, waited for Matt to load up again, and -- with a smile and another round of appreciation -- headed down the trail that would take them to Greenvale.



Three hours later, using a route that was longer yet more easily traversed, the pair of them broke out of the tree line and into view of the village. Once upon a time, Greenvale had been a town of just over 600. The Plague killed off all but 28 of its residents, and over the months immediately following the apocalypse, that number increased with the influx of other Immunes and a meager number of new births.

Even with the near annihilation of the human population, there were still dangers to be faced by the village's population, dangers both realized and imagined. They wanted their home secured, but protecting the entire town would be nearly impossible. So a portion of the town was selected for protection, a four by six block neighborhood which included some of the downtown businesses, a church, City Hall (including the Jail), an apartment building, and 25 homes.

They built a wall around the new village using beams and metal sheeting salvaged from structures outside the proposed wall. Lookout towers were built in each corner, and safe rooms were built under a number of buildings -- some connected by tunnels -- to allow the population to hide and move about secretly should the village ever be attacked by a dominating force.

It might have seemed like an awful lot of unnecessary security, but there had been one incident early in the post-Plague days when Greenvale did come under attack. But as the Chief Council of the day had told the others, it was better to have such security and not need it than to not have it and be fucked.

Alice and Matt had gotten through the woods and into view of the Wall Tower Guard without any contact with that zone's Perimeter Patrol. This was an issue to Alice, of course, and was something she would be reporting to her superior at her earlier convenience. As they continued across the 300 yard, now mostly open terrain between the forest's edge and the wall, the Tower Guard -- who had been expecting Alice's eventual return and recognized her gait -- checked out the second approaching figure through her rifle's scope. For obvious reasons, her eyes widened in shock.

By the time Alice and Matt reached the gate -- which opened for them without hesitation -- a mass of people were either already there or were gathering: the Sheriff, the Perimeter Patrol Captain, the Chief Council (called the Mayor in the pre-Plague period), and others stood in a semi circle across the Gate Road to look upon the male who was arriving with Alice.

"That's my mother there," she said quietly to Matt as she gestured to an obviously surprised woman who was standing just behind some of the dignitaries who'd been alerted to the very unexpected visitor. With a tone of disapproval, Alice added, "She's already imagining me fat with your child."

Matt nodded when Alice said they should get moving. The storm off in the distance looked pretty bad and from how cold it was it could potentially be a blizzard. Matt carried his belongings minus his gun and ammo. The journey was mostly spent in silence until the got close to her village. The walls around the town looked very secure.

“Looks like a well protected village.” Matt said as they approached the gate. When it opened he did a quick scan of the welcoming party and held his hands out to the side to show no sign of hostility. Was her mother going to want Matt to breed Alice? He was nervous and starting to wonder if he made the wrong choice in coming.

(OOC: I am going to go with Mayor rather than Chief Council, fyi.)

Alice's first words of explanation could have been to anyone, from the Mayor who was the head of the community to the Patrol Captain who was her boss in a sense to the assembled group as a whole. But Alice wanted everyone here to know that Matt was here specifically to help her family first, so she reached a hand over to his elbow to gain his attention and guided him through the parting group to her mother.

"Mama, this is Matt," she said simply enough. "He has been kind enough to agree to stay with us for a while. Matt, this is my mother, Elise."

Elise just stared at the man standing beside her daughter, trying to hide her shock.

Around them, most of the others seemed just as stunned. There was a bit of whispering out along the fringes of the every growing assemblage, but no one was speaking to Alice, Matt, or Elise in particular.

Matt felt really uncomfortable standing in the middle of the group having all the eyes on him. What were they all thinking about him? Alice guided Matt through the crowd to her mother and introduced him. Should he hold out a hand to greet her or would that be treated as a hostile act from this stranger?

Matt looked at Elise and smiled. “Hello Elise, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Alice's mother continued to stare wide eyed at the man standing next to her daughter. It wasn't like she'd never seen a man before; hell, she'd had a dozen of more of them between her thighs before finally marrying, and then shortly after the Plague struck -- before the impact on the male population itself was fully understood -- she'd had another three lovers, mostly out of the need for intimate connection. Her second pregnancy -- the one that had produced Alice's little brother -- had been nothing more than a lucky surprise.

Matt said with a friendly though somewhat nervous tone, “Hello Elise, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," Elise responded, offering out a hand, which Matt took it. She glanced at her daughter, who looked to be struggling to hold back an explosion of excitement or pride, then looked back to the man and absentmindedly said, "I'm Elise … Alice's mother."

"He knows who you are, mother," Alice said, laughing. She moved forward to take an elbow of each of them, urging, "We should probably take this back to the house … to talk."

"Excuse me, Alice," a forceful voice spoke up from behind Alice. She didn't need to turn to know who it was, but she did, finding Mayor Penelope Parsons stepping up close to her. The woman of 50-something eyed all three of the central characters before her, then looked to Elise and said, "I think we all need to go to the Council Chambers … where we can discuss this latest turn of events in our town--"

"This isn't a turn of events," Alice cut in quickly. She could feel her heart pounding, even more so that it had been over the past many minutes since the townsfolk had realized a man was walking through the gates. "This isn't a village issue. This is me … and my mother … inviting a guest into our home."

"Into our town," Penny corrected as she saw fit. "Any and all non-residents entering Greenvale must have Council approval to be here. You know the law."

Alice was beginning to get nervous. Yeah, she knew the law. She'd only hoped she'd be able to skirt around it because of who -- of what -- her guest was, a breeder. Now she realized how naïve she'd been; bringing into the town a man who could offer the community something no one else here could was even more of an issue than bringing in some woman who only wanted to trade or provide a service.

"Captain Erickson," the Mayor said, gesturing toward the village's Sheriff. As the woman who had actually been a Greenvale Deputy Sheriff pre-Plague stepped closer, Penny said, "Please escort our visitor to City Hall. The Council will be assembled, and--"

"Why are you doing this?" Alice asked with a harsher tone than that which she'd ever spoken to a community superior. "He is my guest! He should go to my house to wait--"

But Elise stepped up close to her daughter and began speaking to her softly, reminding her that this was the way things were done. In the past, when a stranger or guest arrived at the village's gate, they'd always been escorted to the City Hall -- to the Council Chambers specifically -- to gain approval for their stay.

Alice fought against it for a moment, but she knew she was going to lose. She stepped closer to Matt and told him quietly, "It's okay. You'll be fine. They aren't going to--"

She turned and looked at the Mayor and the Captain, stressing, "I'm coming with him. I'm staying with him while the Council does whatever the fuck it's going to do."

"Corporal!" the Captain chastised using Alice's Perimeter Patrol rank. The woman who was a decade older stepped closer, gesturing forward a pair of on-duty Patrol members who'd gathered along with what Alice knew was now most of the town's population. "If you want to escort your guest, you may … but first--"

The Captain gestured, and the two Patrol members disarmed Alice and took both her and Matt's packs and bags.

As Matt shook Elise’s hand he had a feeling that things were going to go the way Alice had promised, but then the arguing started and the mood shifted. As his bags were taken from him and he was being escorted away he glanced over to Alice with a confused and concerned look on his face. Uncertain of what the future holds Matt complied and went with the members that were escorting him.

Once inside city hall Matt was led through a couple doors and into a single jail cell that was smaller then the cave he stayed in last night. He took a good look around the tiny cell before sitting on the bed that was in the back corner. Letting out a sigh he wondered what was going to happen. Alice never said he’d be locked in a jail cell, did she lie to him? Matt thought everything she told him was sincere and that things just didn’t go as she intended.

Alice continued to reassure Matt that all would be okay on the way to City Hall. But just short of the building, she and her mother were pealed away from him by the Captain and Mayor. She argued, "I want to stay with Matt. Let me go with Matt!"

But she found herself sitting in the Mayor's office, watched over by the Sheriff and one of her two Deputies, the true law enforcement officials of the community. The Patrol members -- who theoretically had no authority within the walls unless guided specifically by the Captain -- had disappeared, presumably taking Matt away.

The Mayor entered a minute or two later and began quizzing Alice about this man she'd brought with her to Greenvale without authorization.

"What authorization?" Alice snapped back at Penny. Alice's mother -- behind her -- laid a hand on her shoulder intended to calm her. The teen ignored her mother, continuing, "Why do I need authorization? I found a man in the woods, I invited him to come to my town, to visit my family … to stay with us a while. He agreed."



The Mayor led them into an almost hour long conversation that touched on every possible implication and complication of someone just willy-nilly bringing a male into Greenvale. Alice was listening closely to the conversation, particularly to what Penny was saying, and suddenly it came to her.

"You get a cut, don't you?" she accused. When the Mayor said she didn't know what Alice was implying, the teen clarified, "You get a cut! When the Crescent City Circuit Riders come through town with their breeders … when our citizens … my friends and neighbors pay them so much … sometimes almost all they own--"

"Alice," Elise said softly, trying to calm her daughter yet again.

"No!" Alice snapped at her mother. She looked back to Penny and continued, "When these women and girls who are so desperate to have a baby … to birth a child, in the hopes that it -- he or she, but mostly a he -- that it will grow up and escape this plague that has done so much damage to us … has changed our way of life … changed life on Earth..."

Alice was beginning to get hot, and she could see by the Mayor's reaction that everything she was saying was true or simply too close to being true for the woman's comfort. She finished, "You get a cut of what those women pay. Your women! The residents of the town you lead. You are taking some of what they pay for yourself. That's why you are so upset about me bringing in a breeder … a breeder that you have no control over!"

Around Alice, the tension was building. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice could see the two Deputies shifting a bit closer to her; and standing behind the Mayor, the Sheriff had shifted her stance a couple of times in the hopes that the movement of her hand closer to the butt of her sidearm would look incidental and inconspicuous.

"My mother gave up everything we own to have me bred," Alice continued, dredging up a past that had almost but not quite been put into the back of most residents' memories. "She's been working like a dog, sunup to sundown, to feed me and my brother--"

"That wasn't my call," the Mayor cut in. "You're the one who--"

"I'm not done!" Alice cut in, her fury about to boil over. "We gave up everything … and yes, I'm the one who fucked up. But that's not the point, is it? The point is … you took a cut of what mama paid … leaving her working in the fields and the factory while you sat back in your big leather chair and made rules and laws and ate our food."

As Alice had been going on, the Mayor had been peeking toward the Deputies. She looked up to the Sheriff, to ensure she had the woman's attention, then looked back to Alice and ordered, "Corporal, you will be place under house arrest while the Council--"

"What?" Alice snapped, rising quickly out of her chair. In an instant, the Deputies were on her, and as she struggled to get free, she hollered, "Let me go! You have no right! Fucking let me go-o-o!"



An hour later, the Mayor, Sheriff, and Captain all entered the cell block -- if you could call an outer door, an inner door, and a ten foot passage with a 6x4 cell at the end a block -- and walked up to the bars beyond which Matt was housed. They knew that he'd likely heard much of the higher volume conversation, particularly Alice rampage, which had included one desk being forcefully cleared of all its items by Alice's flying leg and a broken window near the exit of City Hall.

"I wish to inform you that the Council has met," the Mayor began with a formal tone, "Perimeter Patrol Corporal Alice Dumont, found guilty of insubordination and violation of seven other rules and laws of the Village of Greenvale has been stripped of both her rank and her position within the Perimeter Patrol and has been placed under house arrest."

As Penny had been explaining this, the Sheriff had excused the Patrol member who'd been watching the cell and Matt. The Mayor looked back to Matt once only the three highest ranking administration, law enforcement, and military representatives were left in the block and continued, "You have been tried and found guilty of being an accomplice to some of Miss Dumont's violations, as well as being within the territorial boundaries of the Greenvale Settlement and within the Village's walls without permission. As such, it will be necessary for you to atone for those crimes and violations in a manner befitting your gender."

Penny didn't have to explain what that meant, obviously...