It's just a small get together

Grant looked at the three men, and seven women that were strangers to his small group. They were all neighbors who had answered the door when Mary and Alice had gone out to introduce themselves to the neighbors. There had been a few attempts to pretend like no one was home, which either indicated that the woman inside wasn’t claimed yet, or the man and woman inside were smart enough to know that going outside could be dangerous.

Still, with the tiki torches lighting up the small area around the pool, Grant was grateful to see these people around him. In some ways, ten people weren’t a massive amount of people start trying to build something new with, on the other hand, it was something that meant that they had a foot in the doorway. With a total of four households, it seemed like it might just be possible to start doing some long term planning.

“First and foremost, thank you all for coming. I know it’s only been a few days since the whole Claiming message went out, but it definitely feels like we’re all living in a new world. A new world with unknown dangers and unknown rules. Like you, I have Claimed multiple women, and, like you, I am absolutely committed to mine, just as they are committed to me. I think that, given how we are all living in a single neighborhood, we should be thinking of committing ourselves to working together.”

Making sure that his eyes didn’t rest too long on any one person, Grant tried to see what the reaction was so far. Most seemed like they were at least willing to humor him. One older man, in particular, seemed like he was doing his best to make sure that he was holding back some mirth. He was the only other man present who had more than two women with him. One was clearly his wife before the whole show world went sideways, and the other two were clearly the next generation. Most likely his daughter’s or his nieces who happened to be going to the same university as Alice and Jessica.

“Now, the reason I think that is because we are all smart enough to realize that by each of us having Claimed more than one woman, that means there are men out there that aren’t going to be able to easily Claim any women at all. Now, for some of you, it looks like the extra women Claimed are family members. I don’t think that people that will try to get them will care. And yes, I know that by my having much more than two or three, I’m definitely a bigger target. On the other hand, just because I’m a bigger target doesn’t mean that I will be the only target. If we work together, we can more easily survive.”

“No, we’re safe! Daddy claimed us, and so we don’t have to worry about other men trying to make us theirs!” One of the younger women said. When Grant swept his eyes to meet hers, he was not surprised that it was one of the two younger women with the man who had been trying to hold back laughing. “You’re just trying to scare us!”

“No, I’m not, though you should be scared. Because, unless your dad has Imprinted you, then you can be taken from him. If you stray too far from him, you can be reclaimed. If he has something happen that means his immortal soul departs from this world, you can be claimed. So, no. You’re not really safe, because I doubt that your dad Imprinted you, and so you are still a viable target for raiders.”

That certainly wiped away the smug look from the older man. And caused quite a stir from some of the other families as well. They had all gotten the message about the Claiming, of course. But the Imprint was something that it seemed they hadn’t put together too much. Whether that was because most of the married folks were older, and therefore not as active in the bedroom as they used to be, or simply had been too busy to try and put two and two together…it didn’t seem to matter. The fact that even Claimed women could still be in danger was something that was an unpleasant prospect.

After a questions and answers session, Grant held up his hand to gather everyone’s attention. He announced that his first priorities were going to be starting to expand and fortify the house he was in, and then any houses of those who decided to throw in with him. Then he was going to start trying to build walls of more than just boards or chain link fences around people’s homes. After that, it would be to start building some basic buildings like barns behind their homes and out towards the empty fields and farmland that stretched behind their suburb.

That got one of the quite men to scowl hard. “You planning on raiding those farms, boy?” With the way that his hands clenched and the muscles of his jaw clenched and unclenched, Grant could tell that there was some sort of personal connection with at least one of the farms that existed beyond the city’s edge.

“Not if there is anything I can do to stop it. I’m not interested in destroying people’s lives. On the other hand, let’s think about this for a moment. Those farms feed more than just this city. Farming has gotten to an industrial scale to survive. What happens to a two or three hundred acre field if the family that works it doesn’t survive, or they can’t harvest with their usual combines because there isn’t any more fuel, or no way to get a part in? I’m not going to just let the harvest sit there and rot in the field. Not when we could hire to harvest it ourselves, or if it’s abandoned, just harvest it. But that means we need somewhere to store it. I’m not going to let resources go to waste when the whole world is going to be **** for everything it can get so it survives.”

Grunting, the scowl eased off the man’s face as he nodded begrudgingly. “You’re not wrong. And you’re not wrong that some of those farms won’t be being worked by the time that harvest is ready. I still think you’re a little young for it, but you’re smarter than some around here, and you can see what needs doing. That’s enough for me. Name’s Greg. My wife Amelia and…uh…our friend, Julia. She…uh...well she is our girlfriend.”

“It’s great to have you all aboard. I can’t exactly judge you Greg, since I have all these ladies. I’d ask if you had Julia Imprinted, but I can tell by your smile that you have. That’s fantastic. It also means that you could send one of them out with us when we start doing some more resource raids on the stores in town, and get you some supplies and such yourself. It’s smart, and I’m glad to welcome you to the team! If you don’t mind my saying, you had a strong reaction to the thought of someone raiding the farms. What’s the connection?”

“I grew up out there. My wife and I have a substantial garden, but it’s nothing like the farm I grew up on. My brother inherited it last year, and he’s doing good. I know the world’s changing, but I hate the idea of the family farm, all the hard work he’s doing and my family’s done for the last hundred years, just going up in smoke.” Greg said, his blush at admitting to sleeping with two women slowly fading. Greg let his eyes wander out to the South, his eyes scanning the horizon for a farm that likely he couldn’t see. “Still, even if everything works this year, and he harvests everything, who’s he going to sell too? And how is he going to move it to market?”

“Well, that’s part of what we’re doing. We’re setting up a place where we can be safe an secure, which would mean we could purchase some of it. We’d have to figure out a system of bartering or something, since cash is going to be useless, and if cash is useless then credit cards and such are even more worthless. But that’s still something for him. Besides, he’ll want to keep some of it himself so him, his family, and any workers he gets can eat as well.” Grant said, moving to stand next to the stocky man who topped him by a head, and who’s shoulders felt twice as wide as his own. “None of us are going to be as independent of every other piece of the machine as we once pretended we were. Society is too different now, and the basic building blocks of human society are about to be remembered as what keeps the whole thing working.”