He does, and he has company with him of course

Joslynn

Dawn found Joslynn still at the shore. She yawned and stretched before setting off toward the house.

She could see the work of the seed growing through the forest as she walked. The trees seemed to sing to her, calling out as if they were hers. Every blade of grass and every shrub seemed poised to leave behind the trappings of Before and become new, just like she had. It wasn't time yet. She felt that too, just as clearly.

The Hunting Cabin itself looked just as she had left it, with no more signs of the soldiers that had threatened to 'rescue' them the night before.

Inside, Deborah was already awake and was busy cleaning the house.

"Cleaning?" Joslynn was surprised.

"If Aaron and Lauren ever get here, they'll be suspicious of piles of cum," Deborah laughed, then added more seriously, "I don't know what we'll do about food."

Joslynn shrugged. She'd gotten used to the idea of not eating and bodily fluids being left everywhere already. But Deborah was right; Aaron and Lauren would find it odd.

"When was the last time you heard from them?"

"Several weeks ago, before the phones stopped working."

Joslynn felt anxious. Now that Deborah was infected and she'd planted the seed, Aaron was back in the center of her thoughts. So was Lauren—It was hard to get the woman out of her mind—and the impending conversation about her infection, and Sarah, and… She stopped herself, thinking herself in circles solved nothing.

"I'm going out," she announced, suddenly decided on a plan, and headed for the door without waiting for Deborah to respond. Outside she stared at the bright morning sun and thought about growing back her wings before deciding that it might be better not to, in case the people from the other night came back. She shivered. They bothered her. A lot.

Since flying was out, that left walking. Subconsciously Joslynn shifted her form and clothes back to those that she'd used walking up the road to the house. Instead of heading back down the main road, she headed for the back way. It was little more than a set of dirt ruts with some gravel sprinkled in that wound through the woods toward a cute little town she could never remember the name of.

The sun was warm, but it was still cool in the shade of the trees. The gentle breeze would have made it feel cold when she was a human. Now though, she never felt cold or hot.

After a few hours of walking, she stopped. 'I shouldn't get too far away from Deborah, but—' Her thoughts were interpreted by quiet whispers. They were far enough away that she wouldn't have been able to hear them when she was human. Even with her enhanced senses, she couldn't clearly make out what they were saying. 'Might as well go see who they are. They might be fun.'

She continued, though at a slower pace until she could clearly make out what they were saying.

"What are you going to do if Joslynn is here already?" a man asked. Joslynn was sure it was Richard, Lauren's father.

"If she's here, then we'll figure that out," Aaron said frostily. Joslynn recognized his tone. That was the tone he used when he was tired of talking about something. Since it was about her, she was curious and stopped to listen more.

"You're sure?" Richard asked.

"She's safe in that lab," Aaron replied.

"We'll never see her again," Lauren huffed.

Richard barked a short laugh, "I think you'd be surprised how tough that woman is, Lauren."

"We'll just tell her the truth and see where it goes," Aaron sighed.

'I wonder what truth I'm about to get told?' Joslynn smiled. 'Hopefully, it's something steamy.'

She leaned against a tree and waited for them to come around the bend.

The three of them finally came into sight. When they saw her, they stopped, staring dumbfounded.

"Joslynn?" Richard finally asked.

"Hi," Joslynn waved.

"Joslynn… Is that really you?" Aaron asked, his surprise obvious.

"Yeah," she smiled happily as they approached her. She felt a thrill shoot from her spine to her loins when she saw the way Aaron looked at her. That look was both hungry and excited. Lauren's openly jealous gawking sent another tingly jolt through her. 'You think that I'm going to take him from you, don't you?' She thought to herself with a smile.

She looked the sexy blonde up and down. Whatever they'd been through had hardly dented Lauren's incredible looks. Her hair was a mess, of course, but neither her breasts nor butt had suffered in the least. She still had a healthy D cup and at least a good thirty-five inches of ass. If anything, a bit of hard living had toned her up nicely and made her assets more obvious.

'I'm really going to like sharing you with Aaron.' Joslynn nearly licked her lips.

"You look… good," Aaron said after a minute. "I thought you were in some lab in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. How did you get here so fast?"

"Flew," Joslynn shrugged. No one seemed to question that she could have flown here from the Hole, thankfully. She wasn't sure she wanted to broach the subject of infection with Richard standing right there.

Lauren flashed an uneasy glance at Aaron, but he hugged Joslynn tightly with a big smile, "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I know," Joslynn smiled. "I'm glad I found you." She looked straight at Lauren, "And I'm so glad you're okay, Lauren. You mean so much to Aaron. Since we're going to be family, I hope we can be close too."

Lauren shot Aaron another glance, this one as much curious as anxious.

"We have a lot to talk about," Aaron's voice grew somber.

"Yes, we do," Joslynn agreed.

"Is it just you here?" Richard interrupted, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation his nephew, daughter, and future niece-in-law were about to have.

"No, Deborah is up at the house," Joslynn answered.

"Mom's here?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah. She got here first. She's doing okay."

"We should get out of here before any Infected show up," Richard urged them up toward the house.

Joslynn wasn't going to tell them there weren't any Infected around or that they wouldn't come between her and what she wanted anyway. She was more worried about the guys with guns and armored suits.

The walk back to the house was slower than her walk down had been. Joslynn realized how much faster she could move than a human could. She didn't feel even slightly tired. At least there was someone to talk to.

"What happened to you? It's taken you a long time to get here." Joslynn asked mainly Lauren and Aaron. Richard was leading the way with his rifle and very pointedly ignoring them. Lauren was clearly having the most trouble walking. Her hiking boots seemed to be in good shape, but she'd never been much for exercise. "Can I help you with your pack, Lauren?"

Lauren looked relieved for the offer. "Thanks."

Aaron helped Lauren shrug the pack off.

"Wha…" Aaron stuttered when Joslynn grabbed the backpack and swung it on with ease. She couldn't help but giggle when she saw his face.

He regained his composure quickly. "Where should I start?"

Joslynn almost said, "After you left your condo," but stopped herself. "Well, after we talked last, I would have assumed you would have gotten up here a lot sooner."

"Hmm," Aaron said, "yeah. There were… problems."

"Problems?"

---

Aaron

"Yeah, the Hunting Cabin. I'll get there as soon as I can. I'll stop at the store and stock up on my way. And I'll get Lauren and Uncle Richard," Aaron repeated back his mom's instructions, adding Lauren and Uncle Richard.

He could hear the hesitation in her voice at the mention of Lauren, but she left it alone for once, "Love you, Aaron."

"Love you too, mom," he hung up the phone.

He scribbled a quick note for Joslynn and left it on the nightstand. He wasn't sure when he'd see her next or if he'd ever see her again. Something was coming, something big, and it was time to go.

There were many perks to being rich. One of them was having friends who knew things before anyone else did. Their messages came in innuendo, letting you read between the lines to see the truth. But this time they'd said something straight. Something that had his mom scared shitless.

"This is the End."

Money and power weren't going to be able to buy them their way out of this one.

He filled his wallet with money all the same; no one else knew that this stuff was about to be worthless. He pulled out his camping supplies. He was an avid backpacker and had enough stuff for several people, including a backpack he'd bought for Joslynn. They'd only ever used once for a day trip. He wasn't sure what all he'd need but figured there was plenty of room in the Raptor. He made quick trips down to the lobby to load his truck.

For his final load, he went to his safe. He stared at the three little black boxes. One had his wedding ring in it, waiting for he and Joslynn's now unlikely marriage. The second had Joslynn's wedding band and anniversary band in it. And the last held an exact replica of Joslynn's ring in a different size. His stomach tied in knots every time he thought about that ring. He shoved all three boxes in his pocket, strapped the gun on his hip, and scooped up the bullets before leaving his condo for what felt like the last time.

"Going somewhere?" Frank, the doorman, asked.

Aaron had always liked Frank, and Joslynn seemed to like him a lot. He didn't want to give away his edge, but he felt like Frank deserved the warning. "Frank, it would be a good time to head up to your fishing cabin. Take your HAM radio with you, take a few months off."

Frank gave him a startled look, "What?"

"I… It's a good time to not be in the city. I can't really say more."

Frank nodded, "I'll think about it."

'That means "no",' Aaron grimaced. "I'm heading up to the family Hunting Cabin. If… If Joslynn comes by somehow, tell her, please?"

"I will," Frank promised.

Aaron felt a twinge of regret. This was probably the last time he'd ever see Frank.

He got in the Raptor and set his GPS for Lauren's house.

Lauren was such a complicated subject. Her mother was his father's sister, making them cousins. They'd always been close, but after his father and her mother had died in a car accident, they'd grown closer.

They had been young at the time, and everything had started out innocent enough, but as they grew, they left that innocence behind. Lauren grew from his best friend and a little girl into his best friend and a beautiful young woman, and he grew from a little boy into a young man. They had shared so much together. It all felt so natural, even though they were cousins. Their first kiss was at 14 years old, and it was magical. Over the next couple of years, they progressed from stealing kisses when no one was to so much more.

Then they got caught.

They were only kissing. Thankfully no one knew that how far the two of them had gone. But he was still barred from seeing Lauren for months. It was her 17th birthday party when he was allowed to see her again. Every visit from them on was always a busy affair, their parents carefully making sure they never had time alone.

Aaron shook his head. He'd been a wreck at first; a part of him was missing. And sometimes, he still did. But college had relieved some of that. He'd gotten more experience with women in college. His junior year, he'd met Joslynn. She wasn't like any woman he'd ever been with. She was kind and had emotional intelligence like he'd never seen before. She was beautiful, amazing in bed, supportive, and always ready to try something new. He'd never forgotten Lauren, and Joslynn had never replaced her, but Joslynn had filled a part with him he'd never known was empty.

With a sigh, he thought about the boxes in his pocket again. He'd never been sure why he bought the same ring in Lauren's size. It wasn't like he would ever marry her, and he was sure about Joslynn. Joslynn would eventually become curious, he was sure.

He arrived at Lauren's house and braced for Richard.

The garage was opened. Richard was standing in the open doorway with a pair of rifles in his hand. A large pile of supplies sat next to him on the garage floor.

"Your mom called," he said gruffly.

Aaron nodded. Sometimes his mother was a saint.

He helped load up the other supplies that Richard had set out. Lauren came out quietly and shot him a smile before getting in the back of the truck. Richard took the passenger seat, and he took the driver's seat, and they took off.

---

They had almost made it to Bear Mountain when the radio crackled, and the music stopped. "This is an urgent order from the governor. All people are hereby immediately ordered to return to their homes and shelter in place until further orders are received. Once home, lock all doors, and bar windows if possible. Do not leave your home, and do not open the door for any reason."

"Damn," Richard swore. "That's going to make it tough to get to the Hunting Cabin, and it's going to bring out the loonies."

No sooner had he finished than four men dressed up like army men stepped out in the road and waved them down.

Aaron rolled to a stop but left the truck in drive.

One of the men approached the driver's side door and tapped on the glass with a slight smile. He started talking before the window was all the way down. "We're the New York Minutemen, and we're going to need to commandeer this vehicle."

"Since you're not a Federal armed Service or an official state militia, you don't have the right to commandeer anything."

The man waved. A dozen other men stepped into view, each of them armed with an AR-15 or AK-47.

"Damn commie guns," Richard muttered.

"I don't suppose you'd take a pile of cash instead of the truck?" Aaron sure they were going to say no, but maybe they were dumber than they looked.

The man simply chuckled once and motioned with his gun for them to get out of the car.

Richard looked around and decided he didn't like his chances. "Alright, would you mind if we collected our stuff out of the bed of the truck real quick before you take it?"

The man smiled, "Of course, we don't need any of that."

Aaron glared, but he knew that Richard was right; there was nothing they could do but try to minimize the damage. He left the keys in the ignition, put the truck in park, and stepped out. Today was the last time he was going to see a lot of his things, it seemed.

They quickly unloaded as much as they could. Thankfully Richard had thought to pack a backpack for himself as well. Aaron and Richard quickly stuffed the other two packs and got the hell away from the New York Minutemen before they changed their minds.

They were several blocks away before Richard let them stop to assess their situation.

"We have three packs, three sleeping bags, but only two tents, of all the damned luck."

"At least they didn't take our guns or ammo," Aaron said, setting the two rifles aside. "We've also still got the camp stoves, my water purifier, and most of the hiking food I packed."

"That'll last us a few days," Richard sighed. "I guess we'll have to stop at a store and get more food."

"At least I brought cash," Aaron muttered. "We should find Lauren some hiking boots if we can."

"I don't think we're going to need money, but we will need to be fast," Richard grimaced.