Dad gets you up to speed

Leaving the warmth of bed and Jackie’s embrace was a titanic challenge, but as the morning rays of the sun began to filter into your room a nagging sensation tugged at your mind. You had things to do, and they wouldn’t wait.

After a quick breakfast that was limited to a small bowl of oatmeal, you followed the sounds of activity to your father’s office. He, Mr Klein, and Mr Spellman were all gathered inside with cups of coffee and frowning at a map. Your dad glanced up and his mouth twitched in a hint of a smile.

“Well, look who’s awake,” he greeted, looking you over,“how’s the jaw?”

“It’s fine,” you replied, rubbing at the wound gingerly, “I’ll be on soft foods for a while, but I’ll get over it.” You nodded at the map, “what’s going on here?”

The map they had gathered around looked vaguely like one of the city, but large sections of it had red marker scrawled across it. Whole areas scribbled over in crimson like the spatter of a bloody crime scene.

“These areas,” Mr Klein tapped the red, “are where the militia have run into trouble.”

You shared a glance with Spellman. “The guys we ran into?”

“It’s myriad of things,” Klein took another sip of his coffee. “When the event happened things were pretty chaotic across the board, but it wasn’t just the **** and the sex. Women working positions within critical infrastructures suddenly left their posts to attack their male counterparts, which caused a goddamned mess.” He tapped another part of the map, “this street here, was pretty much an inferno because firefighters hadn’t been called to put out a small house fire. Ten of our guys worked hard dousing it, but the whole area is a wreck. And there was a big pile up down another street involving a semi and several cars. Absolute carnage.”

Your father nodded grimly. “There are also…well, we’ve been calling them ‘packs’. Groups of women moving together, roaming around certain areas looking for whatever man they can find. Makes it difficult to move around certain streets.”

“And yes,” Spellman said at last, “there have been sightings of the scumbags from yesterday,” he grimaced, “fun times all around.”

You absorbed the information. It had only been forty eight hours and yet it seemed like the world had transformed into something utterly unrecognisable. More and more it seemed like your parents house had became an island of sanity amongst an ocean of chaos.

“And if that’s not bad enough,” your dad sighed, rubbed at his face and the stubble that was forming, “we’re going to need to go for a big supply run soon. There just isn’t going to be enough to sustain our numbers and while I made sure we’ve got generators and solar paneling in this house, there’s a lot of food that’s going to spoil once the city power grid goes.”

“Ok,” you said, nodding to yourself, “So that’s our biggest priority right now, securing food?

Klein nodded. “There’s a supermarket that’s close enough, and we’re getting together a group to do a run a little bit later. We’ll go in, load up as much as we can get and then come back, try to make it as quick and painless as possible.”

Though your body still ached from the previous day’s events, there was a feeling of obligation within you to go with the group, if only to serve as back up in case they ran into any dangerous women. With a few words you could probably keep a lot of people safe.

Your dad, seemingly read your thoughts and held up a hand. “ I know how stubborn you can be, but don’t feel like you need to volunteer. We’ll handle it.”

“We still need help fortifying a few areas around the house,” Klein added, “you could always give us a hand with that.”

You were still considering your options when Mr Spellman drained the rest of his coffee and made for the door. “Whatever you decide, I’ll be out in the garage getting ready. The sooner this gets done the sooner I can come back and catch up on my beauty sleep.”

Klein followed him out, off to see to his own arrangements and complaining about mediocre coffee on his way out. You made to follow them when your dad caught your arm, a concerned look on his face as he leaned in close.

“I spoke with Mr Robbins earlier,” he suddenly looked very uncomfortable, “he kept going on about physiological changes, evolution, and increased fertility. Something about progressive mutations occurring with some women but not in others...I dunno, I couldn’t really keep up with him but he sounded like he had a theory so if you get the time maybe pay him a visit.”

As you left the office you felt a weight on your shoulders, the world had really gone crazy, and you were going to have to be an active part in keeping the peace. Whatever that looked like in this new era. You had things to do and they wouldn’t wait.