The Bunker Ch 12

Ch 12 -- Building Cohesion

This whole militia setup was a bit loose. We would be issued government equipment and a mission. We had certain expectations of looking reasonably professional -- though not many in my unit had ever served. mostly I was being told "Here's twenty-one other men, and a task to accomplish, how will you organize them and what gear do you want?" I made a basic chart by role, without assigning individuals to those roles. That would come after I saw them perform individually and as a team.

With a preliminary Table of Organization completed, I went to work on the equipment I wanted for my section. That involved another read through of the intel report for the week of intake around the bunker, and a few specifics for my assigned sector. The southside of a gravel road leading off a state highway. The gravel road ran up towards the bunker and separated my section from another led by a former motorpool sergeant.

His secure BA military email account was included in the briefing materials. I sent off a note about coordinating training time. The briefing materials indicated we could get the use of a military bases' training and housing facilities for up to one week to train our men. With the two of us having adjacent sectors, it only made sense to train our men together. His other flank tied into a regular unit guarding the main entrance. My other flank was another militia section, led by a National Guard air defense soldier whose prior rank was sergeant, like me. He responded to my email quickly but had already scheduled his training time for a week that was now fully booked. We agreed to maintain communication about our plans and perhaps have a video call for the three of us.

I was pulled out of my planning and reading cycle by a soft rap on my office doorframe. Andrea stood there with a soft look on her face.

"It's two-thirty, sir. Everyone's assembled and waiting."

I dropped my pencil and rubbed my face. "Thank you, Andrea." I rose and gave her a kiss before she led me to the living room. No one had any wild modification suggestions. We had near unanimous agreement on which layout from which to customize. And it wasn't going to be difficult getting the desired elements of the other favored design incorporated into the majority favorite. The biggest modification was Jessica and Nicole's request for a small space, not much bigger than a walk-in closet, set aside for individual prayer and worship. They'd already chosen a room in this house for that use. It was right beside the 'quiet' living room, which is why I enjoyed sitting in that room for thinking, if my mind was troubled. It just... felt right. Sarah, Jen and Ellie had joined them several times in the worship room.

When they suggested that the new room be soundproofed, to not affect the rest of the residence, I objected, on the grounds that our spiritual life should affect the other parts of our lives. And the proposed location was adjacent to an undesignated medium-sized room that a few of us had already suggested as a sitting room. My stated reason did not entirely win them over. Then I fessed up about the soothing effect of hearing them sing worship songs, or the low sound of them praying, how it helped settle my mind and gave me the impetus to continue my own spiritual endeavors. That turned out to be a convincing approach. Andrea dutifully took notes, making my email later that much easier.

"Now, we've also given some thought to the additions list."

I was suddenly very glad Leslie had managed to sweep the house thoroughly and remove the bugs she found. She'd also managed to get some dampening devices in place so that any newly added bugs would stop functioning within several feet of the house.

"Hold on, do I really need to? I mean, come on, I have twelve of you already. That's a lot of women. I think the whole additions bit is more for those guys that 'only'" I emphasized the sarcasm on that word with a roll of my eyes "have six or seven women in their families."

"Kevin, maybe you didn't read the whole thing then." Sarah replied. "This is to request celebrities, not the next-door neighbor or coworker." She furrowed her brow. "Though I'm not sure if that's off the table either. The emphasis is clearly on 'known' names. Also, there's a paragraph here at the end that says that some women may be given the chance to add themselves to the family. There's a disclaimer that they have to accept a slave role --" I sucked in a breath in response to that. "--but they get to make a list of men they find acceptable, after reviewing the profile website. It also says these would mostly be celebrity or wealthy women not previously chosen."

"So they get a choice and we -- or at least Kevin -- don't?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know," Sarah replied. "It mentions they make a list, so maybe the offer starts with the first choice, and if he says no, they move on to the woman's second choice."

"Well that would be another reason not to choose any more. We'll be getting additional family members already." I interjected.

"Do Kiki and I need to have another conversation with you about maintaining a certain image?" Sarah said with a smirk. A few of the others giggled or chuckled.

"You know I love it when you're sassy, until it works against me." I replied, eyes hooded and mouth tight.

"I'm not working against you, and you know that." There was a slight edge in her voice.

"Master," Jessica said softly, "you cannot fix the world for everyone, but you can make it better for those around you. You've done this for the ones here, now. You can do the same for more women by asking them to join us or letting them join us."

"Save them with the power of my schwanz?" I got a few giggles in response.

"Worked for me." Destiny chimed in

soto voce

. Andrea and Ellie nodded their agreement. Melanie and Kiki just blushed.

"Can we make a suggestion?" Connie asked. I nodded. "Well, a couple of us had an idea. There's this woman who does science videos. She'd be good for you professionally, and... she's a redhead."

I grinned and chuckled. "Oh, brother. I do like other hair colors. You may have noticed."

"Yes, we have, and we appreciate that. But this girl is smart, and funny, and cute. And her hair is like, mahogany, so you'd be expanding your red spectrum."

I started to roll my eyes, then I recognized who Connie was talking about. "Oh, you mean, um, Emily Byrd? The girl that says 'What's the word, bird?' as she slides in or jumps into frame?"

"That's the one! See, you already know who we're talking about. I wonder why?" she added with a smirk.

"Okay, yeah, she'd have social media skills to pair with Andrea," she nodded as I mentioned her, "and knows how to capsulize science lessons into a short message. That

would

be helpful."

"Annnnd?" Connie prompted.

"And she's quite lovely. She has an engaging onscreen personality. She's also quite

young

."

"Five of us are younger than her. Andrea's only a year older than her." Jennifer added.

"Kevin," Sarah prompted, "make the offer and let

her

decide if the age difference is problematic."

With Sarah weighing in, I knew I was sunk. But once again, would that be so bad? She was an interesting person. And hot.

"Okay, I'll put in a request for Emily Byrd."

They all stared at me.

"Any other suggestions?"

"Come on, we gave you one prompt. Now who would you want to request? As big a movie buff as you are, surely there's a few actresses you'd like to 'extend an offer to'."

"I mean by looks, or their movie characters sure, but I don't know enough to know I want to spend a life with them. Hell, a bad choice could cause all of us trouble. Ok, for instance, Alicia Silverstone is pretty, and seems kinda fun on screen. Her interviews are generally interesting, but she went all vegan PETA anti-fur and I don't need someone lecturing me when I'm eating a steak."

There was general amusement at that observation.

"Your profile is very honest, Kevin." Sarah said. "The document says the women will get to look at it. They'll get a chance to know what they're getting into. So stop stalling and admit who you'd like to invite."

"There are several... interesting choices, but... maybe the most... compelling would be Jordana Brewster and Jennifer Love Hewitt."

"Fitting, both have long hair, nice legs, Hewitt has big boobs, Brewster's more modestly endowed. Our boy maintains his type. Well, types." Destiny observed. I shook my head resignedly. "There's someone else though. You thought of her a few minutes ago, and you don't want to admit it."

"No."

All of the women stared at me amused, leaning in.

"Fuck."

"Yes, sir!" Andrea and Destiny rose to approach me. Ellie and several others started laughing.

"Oh sit down you two! I'd threaten to spank you but that would backfire on me." The trouble twins high-fived each other. Sarah, Gabby, and Jess shook their heads, smiling. Everyone else was somewhat more composed than rolling on the floor holding their sides. It took a while to settle everyone down. Unfortunately, it didn't distract them from the point of discussion.

"So, who's this secret mystery desire, love? Destiny's right, you're holding something back," Jessica said with a gleam in her eye.

"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed, her hand flying to her mouth.

"You know?" Leslie and Melissa said in unison.

"Not exactly." Sarah replied. "But the last time he got that particular embarrassed look on his face, I was needling him about what kind of porn he liked. Which means, our mystery lady is a pornstar or nude model." She sat back with a self-satisfied smile.

Twelve pairs of eyes looked at me, amused. They blinked but were otherwise unrelenting.

I took a deep breath. "Janine Jeffries. She does videos and stills, but I've mostly only viewed her stills." As soon as I gave a name, everyone under 24 started typing on her phone. They very quickly passed around the images they found.

"Damn. Sir, you really should ask for her. I'll do anything you want with her. I can suggest a few things if you like." Destiny said.

"Well, she has done a lot of girl/girl work. Although a lot of her stuff is solo. And when she does boy/girl, it's usually her boyfriend. When she has one."

"Not that you've looked her up or anything." Connie said with a huge grin.

"Piss off."

"Okay, girls," Sarah said in her soothing tone, "we've teased him enough. Kevin, you should ask for her." She stroked my arm slowly. "Are you sure there's no one else you want to invite?"

I snorted. "That's four women. Granted, odds are they will all already have a place in the Bunker with someone else. But you also said there might be women that come forward on their own. Twelve. There's already twelve women attached to me. And no matter what I do, there are going to be more added. I think the four we discussed are quite sufficient for my request list." I ended with a clear no-nonsense face that cut any further debate.

******

Gabby and Jess needed a few items for tonight's dinner, and Andrea wanted a couple of simple dresses, and the big box store was good enough quality for that. I just wanted out of the house since I'd spent most of the past couple days on my ass in the office researching and planning. So I drove Jess and Andrea to the store.

By the time we grabbed a cart, I noticed that some of the turned heads held their gaze on us a bit longer than the usual glance to notice someone that moves near you. Most held a neutral face though. A few gave a small smile and a nod.

When we turned down the aisle to get bread, we ran into our first glare. A perfect third pew Karen for Jesus fixed me with an evil eye. She took maybe a second to sneer at Jessica and Andrea. Mostly, it was just me on whom she settled her barely contained hatred. Her head rotated, staying locked on me as she passed down the aisle and around the corner. I shook my head, snagged a bag of bagels and a tray of English muffins and tossed each into the basket. Then I recalled the size of my family, and tossed one more of each in.

Jessica wagged her head. "Neither of those are on the list sir."

"Well, they should be. We are out at the house, and most of us will eat at least one or the other at breakfast."

"You know how Gabby gets about going off list for grocery shopping."

"My lovely and intelligent Gabrielle is a bit too tight-fisted about grocery shopping. And you worry too much." I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "It will be fine."

"Yeah, well, that lady that just passed us hates your guts sir. Did you flunk her son or something?" Andrea asked.

"Maybe. But most people only take my gen ed classes. The only way to flunk is to check out and not do your work. My physics kids usually have the motivation to seek help -- from me, each other, or a tutor -- so they rarely fail."

"Well, she sure doesn't like you, M- sir." Andrea and Destiny were sufficiently enthralled teasing me by addressing me as 'Master' I'd had to remind her as we left that in public, she was never to use that label. She'd built the habit so much that it was now hard to call me anything else.

Jess grabbed two loaves of sliced bread -- which were on the list, and the reason we came down this aisle -- and pushed the cart out of the aisle and down to the dairy section. I loved the way her ass swished as she walked purposefully along. In gazing, I slowed my own pace and fell behind. Just before opening the diary case door, she looked over her shoulder with a knowing smile. Andrea, beside her, giggled. Yeah, I was busted. But hell, if you can't ogle a woman you're sleeping with, who can you ogle? I mean, I knew the feminist answer to that question, but I'm more interested in the 'real woman' answer. Pretty sure the real woman was waggling her ass in my face to get my attention. As she put two gallons of milk in the cart, I cupped one of her taut, denim-covered cheeks in my right hand and gently groped it for a moment. She purred and turned her face up to mine with a dewy look. I gave her a lingering kiss, lips only. The sunlight glowing from her face was gratifying.

Andrea smirked as we continued on.

"Are we making you uncomfortable?" I asked.

"No, just hopeful. I'm looking forward to building a similar... closeness." She leaned in close, whispering, "But until then, the fucking is incredible."

I snorted, then gave her a hug.

A few aisles later, we ran into Dr Helen Jensen, the 62-year-old former head of the English department at the now shuttered Simpson College. She gave me a smirk when we rounded the corner.

"Hello, Kevin. Been awhile. You hear about ol' boy losing his tin star?"

I looked at her, puzzled.

"Last night, the County Commissioners held a special session and removed Marty Kalahan from office. He is sheriff no more. Could not have happened to a nicer guy." That last sentence was delivered with sixty years' worth of sarcasm. I snorted. Granted, you rather expect an English professor to have a way with words.

"It's a step in the right direction, but it could make him more dangerous as well."

"You believe he will be more prone to violence or abuse without his badge?"

"No need to meet any external standard of behavior."

"You could be right," she replied. "From what I have seen, that man has no standards of his own." she cleared her throat. "I am a little shocked at your manners though, Kevin," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "You have not introduced me to your lovely companions." Helen was a dyed in the wool good ole' girl. She expected good manners while she told you where you could find the best moonshine.

"Oh, my apologies, Helen. Ladies, this is Doctor Helen Jensen, head of the English department at Simpson, the college Sarah and I used to teach at. Helen, this is Jessica Peters and Andrea Gadsen, my partners."

Helen shook hands with each of the ladies before turning back to me with a sly smile. "So, you mentioned Sarah, does that mean you finally got around to asking her out?"

Jessica and Andrea both tittered quietly as I blushed and rolled my eyes. "Yes, I asked her to join me that first day after the lottery results were announced."

"Oh, good, at least she got to be asked first."

I shifted, hesitantly.

"Oh, Kevin."

"Well, I thought of them both at nearly the same time, but I encountered the other earlier in the day. I don't usually see Sarah until lunch on Mondays."

A mischievous look crossed her face. "Did you snap up one of your students you naughty boy?"

"She's an exceptional young woman, in addition to being very pretty. And she's the first one pregnant as well."

"Oh, Kevin that's wonderful!" She stepped in to give me an enthusiastic hug. "I'm so happy for you. And when does Sarah get her turn?"

"She's carrying right now."

Helen Jensen, 62 years old, PhD's in English Literature and English Education, squealed and bounced on her feet like a tween girl. "Oh, that's marvelous!" She gave me another hug, this time with tears watering the lower part of her eyes. She held my shoulders as she spoke again. "I have been so worried that you two were going to keep missing each other. I truly wish every possible happiness for the both of you." Then she turned, taking Jessica and Andrea in her gaze. "All of you. The world is changing, but I hope you each find something wonderful in each other. Something that sustains you for a lifetime together." She paused, looking at Jess. "You, dear, are positively glowing." Turning to me she added, "Kevin, did you get all of them pregnant at the same time?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "No. I had to get one woman pregnant as proof I could. Jennifer and Jessica were... ready at an opportune time. Sarah wanted to start trying immediately and succeeded. For now, it's just those three. And they are spaced out a bit. Jen and Jess are only a week apart, but Sarah was a few weeks later."

"Jen? Is that the student you picked to schtup?" she said with a jovial, yet wicked grin.

"Yes, you probably had her in class. Jennifer Rodriguez."

Helen's eyes lit up. "Oh, the one that writes so beautifully? Oh, that girl was such a joy to have in class. Hardworker, always engaged. Her analysis was always so sharp. Well, of course you had to pick her. And here I was messing with you about being a dirty old man."

"I feel like one. I have twelve partners, and half are under twenty-five."

"Oh my, you are a busy boy." She hiked her eyebrows twice as she said that, verifying the lewd meaning of the sentence was the one intended. Then she shifted gears. "So, three of your partners are pregnant? Is it the first time for all?"

Jessica spoke up. "I've had three already, so I knew exactly what I was getting into. Jennifer is a little trooper. She had a rough first trimester, but she's getting past that now. Sarah's got a few weeks left."

From the sadness that entered Helen's eyes when Jessica mentioned having kids already, I assumed she understood the implication that Jess had joined me to save her kids. And what that meant for her legal status. She put her hands on either side of Jessica's head and kissed her forehead. "Bless you dear." She turned to me again. "YOU," she emphasized with a finger in my chest, "take good care of her, and the others."

"I will, best I can, every day."

Helen gave me one last hug, waved goodbye to Jessica and Andrea, and went on about her shopping.

******

I got my training plan to the general in three days. SFC Kolson, the section leader on my left flank, the one that used to be an E-6 in charge of the motorpool, and I had arranged to train our sections side-by-side. Some of our lessons would be joint work, others, we would run separately.

It was deemed reasonable by all concerned that a full week's training would be better served if the men had their families around after hours. It wasn't boot camp after all. Not quite, anyway. Though Kolson and I had plans that might make a day or two more intense. Regardless, the whole family -- mine, and those of each of my men and Kolson's men -- would be on base during training. The base had few, if any houses with that many rooms, so mostly this was accomplished by moving two sets of bunk beds into each bedroom of a four-bedroom house. Except the master bedroom, of course. The result would be cramped conditions for a week. More cramped than the Bunker would be, even. But maybe this short taste would foster some appreciation when we got into those tight quarters that would be our home for a decade at least. Likely two.