After the Fall: Close and Confined (Taboo Erotica) (Eden Harem Book 1) (6 page)

Jack was shaken awake, and it took him much longer than it should have to realize what was going on.

“Earthquake!” He cast the sheets off himself and tried to stand up next to the bed, falling as his foot hit the shifting ground and slipped underneath him.

“Jack, get away from the walls!” His mom was still in bed, as far as he could tell. All around them the stacked storage containers were falling, their contents spilling out as they crashed down.

“Mom!”

The shaking was at least as intense as any of the earthquakes in the days prior. Jack struggled to stand up and climbed back onto the bed, feeling through the dark for his mother and pulling him close.

“It’s okay, we’re okay!” Rebecca pulled him in close against her, as much for her sake as for his. The reinforced metal roof above them was groaning, stressed to its limits, and Jack expected the worst.

It was at least a minute before the shaking finally subsided. Jack was still clinging tightly to his mom, his heart beating as if in solidarity for the intensity of the quake.

“Is it… over?” He asked, less to his mom and more to the ground. The emergency shelter was eerily still, as if nothing had ever happened to begin with. The room was silent, with only their intense, fearful breathing carrying over the air.

“I think it might be,” whispered his mom. She set her hand on his head and squeezed him, her breasts pushing up against his chest and reminding him of the night before.

This is life or death. None of that matters now.

“I’m going to turn the light on,” said Jack. “We have to get a sense of what the damage was.”

Still in his boxers, he stood up and made his way over to the main door that led up to the surface, pawing for the switch next to it. Nothing happened when he flicked it up.

“What is it, sweetie?” asked his mom.

“The power is out.”

He remembered all of the times the power had gone out when he was a kid, cutting him off from the computer, or his video games, and almost smiled.

This is about a thousand times worse than that.

“The power is out?” asked Rebecca. “That means…”

It means that we’re fucked.

Jack bit his lip, unable to think of anything constructive to say. His heart was aching inside his chest, and part of him wanted just to sit down and give up. They’d already given up so much, to lose one of the few creature comforts that they had left was the ultimate demoralizer.

“We can fix it!” announced Rebecca. “At least, I think we can. I saw some backup fuses, wires, and equipment in one of the storage boxes that might be able to help.”

Jack’s eyes still couldn’t adjust to the darkness, which was total and all consuming. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and turned it on, the light from the screen giving it a use again at last.

“Jesus,” he muttered. The main room was a complete mess. Clothes and supplies were scattered everywhere. Luckily, the roof was still in one piece, and without any cracks, as far as he could tell.

“This is fixable,” said his mom. “I can clean all of this up. Getting the power back on should be our main focus.”

Jack thought carefully for a second about what they needed to do. Slowly, he looked over towards the main door and the stairs.

“Mom,” he said. “I’m going to go up to the surface.”

He saw his mom shake her head in the darkness and stand up from her bed.

“That’s ridiculous, Jack!” She started towards him. “You’ll end up-“

“Molly said that the temperature would be low enough today.” Jack was already opening the door to the stairs. “I’ll just crack the top door open and take a peak.”

“Jack, what is the point?” Rebecca’s voice was sad and almost defeated. “You’re just going to see…”

I’m just going to see the destruction. Everything that’s been destroyed. I know.

“Mom, it might not just be a wiring issue,” he said. “The shelter is powered by solar panels, remember? After what Molly told us about the fire that swept over anything, there’s almost no chance that they’re still working. This will be a good time to see if we can set up some of the replacement ones.”

His mother didn’t say anything, but he could tell that she wanted to.

“Fine,” she said softly. “But I’m coming with you.”

The two of them took a minute to get dressed, a slightly frustrating task to have to do in the darkness, and then headed up the stairs. Jack felt as though every step made him a little more anxious, and he paused before turning the door handle after gripping it.

“Ready?”

He felt one of his mom’s hands settle on his shoulder.

“Alright, here we go.”

He pushed the door open about a third of the way and flinched back at the light that streamed in. It was brighter than anything he had ever seen before, bright enough to make his eyes sting and give him a mild headache.

“Jesus,” he whispered.

“The air… It’s still breathable.” Rebecca slid her hand through the opening. “And it’s not that hot, at least not to the point of being dangerous.”

The two of them waited for about a minute, letting their eyes adjust, and then Jack opened the door further. What he saw was completely different from the last time they’d been outside, right after the first earthquake and before the sky ignited.

The cellar’s foundation was still there, but coating it was a thick layer of ash and ruin. The house that Jack had grown up in was gone, and in its place was nothing more than a several inch deep pile of soot and charred pieces of scrap.

“This is unbelievable,” he whispered. Even after seeing the Earth from Molly’s perspective, and seeing the damage that the flames had done, it was still hard for him to process just how complete the destruction had been.

“We’ll have to climb up carefully,” said his mom. “There isn’t really anything for us to get a boost on.”

Jack glanced up at the sky as they walked into the empty cellar and over to the earthen wall on the other side. There were no clouds in sight, not even a hint of the smoke and smog that they’d seen when Molly had showed them her view. The sun hung against a brilliant blue backdrop, completely oblivious to anything being out of the ordinary.

“I think I can make it up on my own if I get a running start,” said Jack. “Here, I can give you a boost.”

His mom nodded, and stepped her foot into his clasped hands. Her sweatpants were tight against her thighs and butt, and Jack found himself shamefully aroused by the sight as she swayed right in front of his line of vision.

I need to focus on what’s important right now, not being horny over my own mother.

Rebecca’s blouse became dirtied with ash and soot as she pulled herself up to ground level. Jack took a couple of steps back once she had made it up and then charged at the wall with a couple of fast running steps. He jumped, managed to get his elbows on the edge, and let his mom take his hand and pull him the rest of the way.

“Honey, don’t panic,” she whispered. “We knew this was how it was going to be…”

Jack had to take a look around to understand fully what she was talking about.

“There’s… nothing left.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration. The landscape looked as though it had been leveled. Jack could still see where each house in his neighborhood had been, but all of them had been burned down to nothing more than a pile of black and gray ash. Even the cars had been destroyed, the ones that still managed to be identifiable as such being nothing more than charred, roofless auto skeletons.

“You’re right, there is no way that the solar panels would have…” His mom trailed off, and then refocused her words. “They wouldn’t have made it through something like this. We’ll have to find a spot to put the new ones down and connect them.”

Jack was still in awe of the destruction. He could see for miles in every direction, further than he’d ever been able to before with buildings and trees in the way. There was nothing but a sea of ash and soot on every side of them.

“There is no way that anyone could have survived this, is there?”

He asked the question without expecting an answer, and his mom didn’t give one.

All of my friends… Everyone at school… Even dad. They’re all dead.

“Jack, honey…” His mom walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind. “We can’t mourn just yet. We have to stay strong.”

“I… I know, mom.” He forced a smile onto his face, but dark thoughts continued to nip at the edges of his mind.

The only reason we survived is because I literally saw it coming. We only had seconds to get down underground. That’s the last thing anyone would do if they didn’t see the asteroid, if they thought it was just an earthquake, and then the fire would have caught them by surprise.

“Come on.” Rebecca was pulling him back over to the edge of what was once the cellar. “We need to make it a little easier to get outside. I saw a survival shovel in one of the boxes, we can get it and dig a little trail up to ground level.”

Heading back into the darkness of the emergency shelter was just as depressing as leaving it. It had been their home for the past two nights, but without electricity, it just felt like an empty tomb, stuffy and claustrophobic.

Jack grabbed the shovel, and his mom grabbed a couple of granola bars for breakfast. They headed back outside and took turns shoveling and eating. The dirt was easy to dig into, much drier than it would normally have been . Soon enough, they had a rudimentary earthen staircase leading up to ground level, just wide enough for one person to walk abreast.

“Alright,” said Jack. “I guess now… we should start troubleshooting the electricity.”

His mom went and grabbed the solar panels, which looked totally different from what he had been expecting. They were attached to flexible plastic and rolled up into a long, easily transportable tube. The cables of each one connected to all of the others, almost like strands of Christmas lights. There was a long extension cord to go with them, and Rebecca took it inside.

“I think I know what this connects to,” she said. “There is an outlet right next to the door.”

There was also a skirted rubber hole right above the main door, just big enough to allow the cord through. A reinforced metal hatch opened and closed to keep it from being exposed if need be. Rebecca slipped the cable through it and brought it inside, and Jack climbed to ground level with the solar panels.

“We’ll have to come out here at least once per day and make sure that the ash hasn’t blown onto them,” he called down to his mom. “They won’t do us any good if they aren’t exposed to the light.”

“No. No, they won’t.” She looked at him with a very slight, very sad smile on her face. Something within Jack stirred, and he had no choice but to look away. Making sure that the ground was level and even underneath, Jack slowly unrolled the panels and connected all of the plugs.

It’s all up to us now. The shelter, the solar panels, and the food we eat, all rely on our ability to push forward.

Jack crossed his fingers as he followed his mom back into the emergency shelter. The main door leading to the stairs down looked about as inviting as the mouth of a deep, dark cave, and the air tasted stale.

We need to get the power back. This is all that we have left.

Rebecca stopped short in the middle of the stairs, and Jack crashed into her from behind. Only a quick reaction on his part saved her from falling forward, instead pulling her up to where he was and against him. His mom was soft, and it was hard to ignore how much his hands enjoyed touching her.

“Sorry,” said Rebecca. “I thought I heard-“

A switch clicked from somewhere within the wall, and the lights flickered back to life. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank god,” he said. “The earthquake must have just done something to the batteries.”

His mom nodded and then turned her attention down to the main room.

“Well, it looks like we still have our work cut out for us.”

All of their supplies had been scattered about the floor by the shaking. Jack had seen the aftermath of tornados that were less chaotic. Everything was mixed together, all of their clothes, survival supplies, dried food, canned food, bottles of water, and even some of his mom’s panties.

“At least we’ll know where everything is after this,” said Jack. “There is one thing we should do before we get started, though.”

He walked over to the wall-mounted monitor and touched the face of it.

Let’s hope the earthquake didn’t break this, either.

He turned it on and tapped through the menus until he found Molly’s connection address. After double clicking it, a message appeared on the screen in big, green, capital letters.

CONNECTION PENDING

After a couple of seconds, the screen changed to the familiar view of the inside of the space station, and Molly. Her face froze in an expression of confusion, and tears were streaming down her face.

“Jack?” she whispered. “I… I thought that… I thought you were…”

“I’m okay, and so is my mom,” he said. “Sorry about that. The earthquake turned our power off for a little while.”

Molly let out an emotional laugh and wiped her face. Rebecca walked over to join the conversation, putting an arm around Jack’s waist.

“I was so sure that the two of you were dead.” She shook her head. “I saw the earthquake from up here. Like, I could actually see some of the damage it was doing. It was one of the worst ones yet.”

“We had to go outside, to set up new solar panels,” said Rebecca. “It’s pretty barren out there. Molly, is there anywhere left in the world that’s still habitable?”

Molly frowned.

“The ash storms have cleared up,” she said. “It’s made it easier to see from orbit. Here, take a look.”

She tapped on the keyboard under her webcam, and Jack and Rebecca’s view shifted.

Earth looked different from how it had before, right after the asteroid strike. The sky had calmed down and it was easy to make out the planet’s distinctive features, and how massively the impact had changed them.

The space station was orbiting over the Pacific ocean, heading towards North America. The water looked almost like it always had, except more extensive, swallowing up more of the coastline and extending north and south into the now nonexistent polar regions.

The impact crater that Jack had noticed was still there, and still glowing orange with hot, gushing magma, like a deep, open wound in the flesh of the planet. Both of the American continents were barren of any green or even brown, only gray and black, and North America, in particular, looked as though it had interlaced with cracks.

“Wow…” whispered Jack. “I was hoping that it would look a little better, but it’s still…”

“Like the aftermath of a nuclear Armageddon,” finished his mom. “Except without the fallout, and more geological damage.”

The screen switched back to Molly, who was looking at them with eager eyes.

“So you still haven’t found anyone else yet?” asked Jack. He knew what the answer was even before Molly had shaken her head no.

“Jack…” she whispered. “I don’t think there is anyone else left to find. It’s just you two, and me.”

The silence that followed her statement was intense enough to make Jack’s heart ache a little. Rebecca tousled Jack’s hair and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. He found himself wishing that that he could reach through the screen and do the same for Molly.

“Molly, I’m sorry,” he said. “It must have been tough for you while our communications system was down.”

The astronaut shrugged and smiled, but it was impossible for her to hide the sadness in her eyes.

“I’m okay,” she said. “And so are both of you. That’s all that really matters.”

Rebecca had started cleaning up the main room, sorting through the destruction left in the wake of the earthquake. Jack started helping, leaving the line with Molly open and continuing to chat with her as he did.

“So what was life like for you before this, Molly?” Jack had a loose extension cord in his hand that he was rolling up as he asked the question. “I mean, back before becoming an astronaut.”

Molly smiled at him and flicked her hair back in the zero g.

“In a word: boring. I was focused on my studies for most of high school and college, and then at NASA my life was all about work. I guess you could say I was a bit of a bookworm.”

“That’s a little hard for me to believe,” said Jack. “You are way too, uh…”

Jack had been about to say gorgeous, but his mom shoot a look his way that made him stop short, a mixture of possessiveness and jealousy.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot.” Molly rolled her eyes. “What about you, Jack? What did your life used to be like?”

“Nothing special,” said Jack. “High school, hanging out with friends… Uh, I had a part time job at the drug store?”

He shrugged.

“Girlfriend?” The way Molly asked the question, almost as though she was teasing him, made Jack’s face feel a little hot.

“No, no girlfriend.” He smiled and decided to fire back. “Why, are you interested in auditioning for the part?”

Molly laughed.

“It’s good to see that your sense of humor is weathering the apocalypse,” she said. “And in all seriousness, you are pretty cute for the last man on earth.”

Rebecca cleared her throat loudly and crossed her arms.

“Jack, I think you should take over cleaning up in here,” said his mom. “I’m going to take a shower and wash all of this dust and ash off.”

“Wait, mom, do we have enough water for-“

Rebecca had already stepped through the bathroom’s door and closed it behind her. Jack furrowed his brow and glanced back over to the screen, back over to Molly, as he set a pack of iodine tablets back into the box it belonged in.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Jack,” said Molly. “If you guys run out, you can just set some of those plastic totes out in the rain. You could catch more than enough for two people to get by.”

Jack nodded, and was suddenly taken into his head by a serious thought.

It is still just the two of us. Molly is up there, in the space station.

“Molly…” he said, softly. “What’s your plan?”

The astronaut ran one of her hands through her hair and shrugged.

“This is my plan, Jack,” she said quietly. “To keep looking for people up here. To keep chatting with you, and to keep you and your mom in good spirits.”

“You can’t stay up there forever,” said Jack. “That would mean…”

That would mean an early death, in an orbiting coffin.

“Jack, is this about what we talked about yesterday?” asked Molly. “About, well, you and your mom? Or step mom, I should say.”

Jack blushed. He had pushed the memory of the night before out of his head after the power had gone out. Now it was back, and just as vivid and intensely sexual as ever.

“No,” said Jack. Molly was quiet for a second.

“Did the two of you…?” Even she sounded as though it made her a little uncomfortable to talk about directly. Jack shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I mean, not yet.”

His cock was hardening in his pants. It wasn’t just the thought of his mother that were doing it, either. Molly looked like she held sexual potential in the palm of her hand and was in the midst of sizing him up.

“I can help the two of you out, if you need me to.” She smiled, licked her lips, and then floated up in zero g so that her breasts were center screen. “I don’t mind, if that’s what it takes to keep humanity going.”

“Molly…” Jack shook his head and looked over at the bathroom. The door was still closed, and his mother was still in the shower.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” asked Molly. “Does the sight of a pretty woman make you nervous?”

Jack turned back to the screen and saw that she had unzipped the front of her blue, one piece astronaut jumper. Her breasts were tantalizingly big and held in place by a white lace bra.

“Jesus, Molly,” said Jack. “My mom could come out at any time!”

“I honestly think that would be a good thing. I could coach the two of you in exactly what you should be doing every night.” Molly saw the look on Jack’s face and smiled. She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, and then held it against her boobs as though she was in the beginning stages of a strip show.

Jack was shaking his head, but it was hard for him to deny just how turned on he was.

“I’ve been so bored up here, all by myself,” whispered Molly. “It would be nice if I had something, anything, to make it a little more… interesting.”

She slipped her bra down a little, revealing the edge of one of her nipples. Jack’s erection was visibly tenting his pants, and Molly gestured to it with her free hand.

“Take out your cock, Jack.” She smiled devilishly at him. “Let me see just how much you’re enjoying this.”

This is insane…

Jack couldn’t stop himself from going along with it. He unzipped his jeans and pulled them and his boxers down far enough to expose his rock hard member, still keeping them enough in place to be able to quickly pull them up if his mom came out.

“Ooh, that’s nice,” said Molly. “What would you do to me with that big thing? What do you think I’d do with it if I were there with you?”

Jack felt the last of his resolve give way.

“Show me more,” he said. “Take off your jumper.”

Molly licked her lips, and then slowly unzipped it the rest of the way. The zero gravity let her float out of it, and she let go of her bra as well, bringing her gorgeous breasts into full view. They were made even more perfect by the lack of gravity, hanging with idealistic posture.

“Jack…” whispered Molly. “Do you know what I do up here when I get bored?”

She twisted the position she was floating in so that her legs were open towards the camera, and then ran one of her hands across her panty covered mound. Jack let his own hand wrap around his cock and slowly began stroking it.

“I know what you do, Molly,” he said. “You have fun. Why don’t you give it a try right now? Go ahead…”

Molly smiled at him and slid one of her hands inside her panties.

This is a terrible idea…

“Ooh, yeah, Jack,” she said. “Now it’s your turn. Stroke your cock for me. Imagine that it’s my hand around it, instead of yours.”

Jack followed along, masturbating for the camera as he watched her do the same. Molly’s breasts heaved up and down as her breathing intensified.

“Pull your panties down, Molly,” said Jack. “I want to see all of you.”

The sultry astronaut wiggled out of her remaining underwear with movements that begged for attention. Jack felt as though he was right there with her, and a pearl of precum formed on the tip of his cock when he saw how wet her pussy was.

“Jack…” she whispered. “If I was down there, or if you were up here… what would you do to me?”

Jack felt his heart begin to race as he stroked his cock faster. Molly was biting her bottom lip and rubbing tiny circles around her clit.

“I would push you up against the station’s wall, if I was up there,” he said. “I’d let my cock tease around your pussy lips, and take full advantage of the zero g to position myself, and tease you.”

“Oh, god yeah,” moaned Molly.

“And then I would push up inside of you, slowly at first.” Jack slowed the pumping of his hand to match his description. “I would make you beg for it before really heating things up.”

“Yes! I would beg for it, Jack. I’d take care of you until you were ready, licking, sucking, tasting all of your delicious-“

The bathroom door had opened without either of them realizing it. Rebecca walked into the room, her hair still wet and steamy, wearing only a tiny white towel, with her jaw dropped open.

“Mom!” Jack jumped up in surprise and rushed to cover himself. He saw Molly doing much the same thing on the screen, contrary to her previous boasts.

“Turn the connection off.” His mother’s voice was stern and full of parental authority. “Now.”