22

Chapter 21

When Phil showed up, he looked crestfallen. Andy's first impression was that his friend had bad news for him, but he wasn't sure how bad of news, because Phil looked more bleak than Andy could ever remember seeing him. It was either Phil winding him up for some epic prank, or the kind of horrible news like he couldn't possible even imagine.

"Jesus Phil, you look like shit," Aisling said to him. Andy was glad that it wasn't just him who was rattled by his friend's appearance.

"Yeah, thanks for that," he grumbled. Phil had bags under his eyes, like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a week. He gave Charlotte a soft smile, his weary face growing kind for a moment. "Heya, Doc. I hear you're going to be happier with me, so I hope you don't end up regretting that."

"Thank you for agreeing to take me in, Mr. Pak," Charlotte said to him as he walked up to the porch. "Andy's a sweetheart, but I'm simply not attracted to white men. You, on the other hand," she said, moving to wrap her arms around him. "I'm going to take you home and gobble you up whole."

Phil laughed a little bit at that, leaning down to kiss Charlotte, only for a moment, and clearly not for as long as she would have wanted. "I need to talk to Andy for a little bit first. I'll be back in just a little bit."

Now Andy was beginning to get very worried. It wasn't a prank. It was damning bad news of the worst sort. He was starting to wondering if one of their mutual friends had died and he just hasn't heard about it yet. "What's going on, Phil?" he asked him.

"Let's go for a walk," Phil said to Andy as Charlotte pulled away from him, starting to load her things into the car.

"Yeah, okay."

The two men started walking along the side of the house, heading towards the back, when Phil suddenly said "You got a private place we can talk for a bit? Some place where nobody will find us?"

"Sure," Andy said, as he led Phil into the house.

One of the places that Andy had discovered and kept to himself about the house was that there was a private study with a small balcony. The study was concealed behind a bookcase that popped out to reveal a secret passageway. He hadn't told any of the girls about it yet, simply because it was something he'd discovered on his own, and found it a nice little getaway. He'd only used it once or twice, and never for more than a few minutes, but for the time being it was still his private space. He'd tell the girls about it soon enough, although he was tempted to let them just discover the space like he had.

The study had a couch, two chairs and a desk, and the balcony was concealed from the ground level, so that if you didn't know it was there, it would be completely overlooked. On the desk when he'd found it was a simple bottle of incredibly expensive whiskey, two crystal glasses and a note that read "good luck" on it. He still wasn't sure who'd left him the bottle or the note. He didn't recognize the handwriting, and he asked Nicolette about it, and she hadn't known either, although she had known about the presence of the room. She'd been the first to arrive at the house, a day before Katie and Jenny, and three days before Andy had showed up. She'd agreed to keep the room secret for the time being, just to give him a little hideaway.

"We going to need a drink for this?" Andy asked him.

"Yeah, and don't be skimping on the pour."

Andy poured a large glass of the whiskey for Phil, and a smaller glass for himself, holding out the small one to Phil, but his friend reached over and took the lesser glass instead. "You're going to need the bigger one."

"I don't drink that much, Phil."

"Trust me on this."

"Okay. Phil, now you're scaring me. What the hell is going on?"

"So let me give you the good news first, so you know that there's something to hold onto," Phil said with a sigh. "They've developed another vaccine, one that can be transported cheaply and is going into mass production, unlike the one you and I have been getting for some time delivered second hand from our partners." Phil shrugged a little. "It's progress, I guess. We'll be getting shots of that vaccine too, and as long as the population goes and gets vaccinated, the quarantine will start to slowly get lifted in about three or four months time. At this point, Congress is so desperate to keep people alive that they're going to do anything they can think of, what's left of Congress, anyway."

"That's great news, Phil! So why are you so glum?"

"They're going to announce that vaccine next week, and people should start getting shots in about a month, but with that news, they're going to also release the death tolls, the *actual* death tolls... and it's very, very bad."

"Like, how bad, Phil?"

Phil lifted the glass and drank all of the whiskey. He waited for what felt like an hour before he spoke again. "Three million women dead. *Eighty* million men dead."

Andy poured Phil another glass worth, because he didn't even know what to say to that. He could feel his jaw wanting to drop to the floor. "That's... that's over half the men in America dead. How the hell have they been keeping all this quiet?"

"Lots of suppression at the hospitals, of the media. Anything they can do to prevent a panic. Shit, I know I'd panic. I *am* panicking. Fuck, I panic each and every day. I mean, fuck, we're having to do mass cremations just to prevent the whole fucking system from collapsing. Too many people refused the first vaccine and those people each became a Typhoid Mary, infecting thousands of others. Hell, like a third of Congress is dead, although let's be honest, we won't miss most of the fuckers who died there from their own fucking stupidity. Teach them to say the whole goddamn thing will just *disappear* one day. Fucking morons."

Phil was clearly getting angry about the whole thing, not that Andy could blame him. Phil had had a front row seat to all of the political backseating that had gone on for months now, hearing all the mistakes people had been making in the reactions to the virus, and Andy suspected it had been eating away at him. For months now Phil's temper had grown shorter and shorter, and wasn't allowed to talk about it. Hell, Andy was certain Phil wasn't supposed to be telling him any of this, but his friend had clearly boiled over and just couldn't bottle it in any more.

Before Andy could say anything, Phil continued. "Why couldn't they just do their fucking jobs, just fucking tell people to stay the fuck at home, and we could've weathered this whole thing with only a couple of thousand people dead instead of *this SHIT!*"

Andy was half afraid Phil was going to throw the glass to the ground.

"Is it... is it this bad around the world?"

Phil shook his head. "Most places took this threat fucking seriously!" he shouted loud enough that he was sure people in the house could hear him, although he doubted they could make out what he'd said. "They hunkered down, bubbled up and took the advice of their fucking doctors! Doctors know more about medicine than braindead politicians! So in the parts of the world not run by fucking morons, we're looking at most countries losing only about five to ten percent of their male population, although there are a few outliers. India has numbers like ours, UK's got about half our losses per capita, maybe more, and China, well, nobody fucking knows what's going on in China, but the working theory is they're about as fucked as we are, if not even more so. Nobody will fucking tell us anything, though. The phone keeps ringing and ringing at their embassy but nobody's answering, so that's fucking scary as shit..."

Andy took a deep pull off his whiskey. "Goddamn, who's going to recognize this fucking country once we're on the other side of this? Hell, how does this fucking planet go on from this?"

"None of this is public information yet, so don't go talking about it to anyone outside of your household. You're still going to probably get a few more girls added to your household before all of this is done, if for no other reason than to start bringing our population numbers back up. A lot of the surviving males in this country are currently under sixteen. The children, it seems, could handle the virus better than us old farts. The country's going to go through a whole 'Give Birth To A New Generation To Save This One!' campaign soon. It's post WWII on crack. Polyamory's going to be the lay of the land with the announcement late next week, encouraging men to be married to multiple women and to be getting them pregnant as soon as possible. They've already got the rewritten laws ready to be passed as soon as the announcement hits. Our generation, the generation before us and the generation after us are all mostly wiped out. Pretty much anyone we went to high school or college with is probably dead."

"No wonder it's been impossible to get a hold of people for the last few months," Andy muttered. "There's nobody fucking out there."

"Yeah, all of which brings me to the real reason I'm telling you all of this, Andy," Phil sighed. "Conner and Samantha are okay, your mom's fine, but Matty died this morning. I'm so sorry man."

Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he took a long draw from his glass of whiskey. "Do you know anything more?"

"Shit, Andy, I shouldn't even be telling you this much. I know it was quick and he didn't suffer. He was barely in the hospital 48 hours before he passed," Phil said. "They had him on a ventilator for a bit, but his body just couldn't take it. I know you've often told me you guys weren't all that close, but he was still your brother."

Andy wanted to cry, scream and collapse all at the same time, but the varying emotions kept conflicting with one another and he found he couldn't process any of them. "He was nine years older than me, and he went off to college out of state when he was 16. Smartest son of a bitch I ever knew, but that meant I was seven when he left, so we never really bonded like proper brothers." Andy slumped back in his chair. "He was a good man, though. Always called on Christmas, or my birthday, and always trying to find new things I might like. He always told me he was so proud of chasing my dreams and becoming a writer. He was always a little pissed at himself for staying to the safe route, selling real estate and not chasing his dream of working for NASA and going into space, but his family was so goddamn important to him. Christ, Conner's only eleven and now he doesn't have a fucking father any more? God*damn* this fucking virus. Do you know how he caught it?"

"One of his neighbors was trying to get their storm doors shuttered before a lightning storm and he went out to help them. Apparently caught it from them."

Andy sighed, rubbing at his eyes, knowing they could burst into waterworks at any moment, but the shock was still too great. "Typical fucking Matty. Always willing to help out, never quite thinking it through before he did. I assume Sam knows? And my mom?"

"They've both been told. Your mom's in intensive care herself, but it looks like she's going to come through it relatively okay. She's on a breather, but she's showing steady signs of improvement. That's why I'm here telling you instead of her telling you over the phone. Sam's a total mess, and said even talking to you would set her off crying all over again. She and Conner will come out okay on the other side."

Andy nodded. He couldn't find much more in terms of words. "Well, I guess I'm glad the news came from you, then."

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"You going to be alright?"

"We weren't close, but he was still my fucking brother, Phil." Andy threw up his hands. "No, I'm not fucking alright. I'm fucked in the head!" He drew in a deep breath, held it as long as he could, then slowly let it out. "It's a fuckload to take in."

"I'll come by in a couple of days and make sure you're coping as best you can. We can play poker if you want."

Andy laughed a touch bitterly at that. "Let's take a few weeks off from poker, alright?"

Phil echoed his laugh, immediately understanding why. "I mean, you're never going to get a prize like that ever again. You're banging Emily Stevens, which I would love to break your legs over, but I can't say I fault you for."

"Did you know she and Sarah Washington are already a couple? Like, they were together long before they got here?"

"What?!" Phil chuckled, thankful to take Andy's mind off of the pain for even a split second. "No! And you landed them both!"

"Well, Emily made sure I landed Sarah and then was delighted to see she came along for the ride. I'm sure she'll tell you the story at some point, but she had more of a hand manipulating things than I think any of us knew, even Niko, who had her fingers in stirring that pot as well."

"At least you're going to have plentiful beautiful bodies to drown your misery in."

"I suppose. Eventually," Andy frowned. "Right now, I just want to break down crying, and yet I can't feel the tears coming."

"You're in shock, man," Phil said, giving Andy a hug. "You're just in shock. There's no one set way to grieve. It'll sneak up on you, or it'll hit you in waves, or it'll just come at you a little bit at a time again and again and again. Nobody can tell you that you're grieving wrong. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll get through it, day by day. And tell the girls. Tell them what's going on, what you're going through. Don't hide any of it from them, or try and underplay it." Phil patted him on the back. "You'll get through it, even if we have to carry you through parts of it. That's what friends are for."

Andy patted Phil's back in return. "Thanks man. I'm going to sit and have a think for a bit, if that's okay? You know the way back?"

"You kidding? Finding your way out of here's got to be easier than finding your way in. You want me to send any of the girls up?"

"Nah, I'll be down soon enough and talk to them then."

"Got it. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news."

Andy shrugged. "Better you than some stranger."

Phil headed back down the stairs and then opened the bookcase door, closing the door behind him, leaving Andy alone with his thoughts.

For a good ten minutes, Andy had himself a good cry. He wasn't ashamed of it, he wasn't embarrassed by it, but he needed to let it all out before he could regain his composure. He spent a couple of minutes on the balcony, and he could see Phil's car driving off. He expected Phil had stopped and told the girls the news, and was glad they didn't come racing to try and find him. The sun was starting to set over the tree line, and Andy regretted most of all that he'd never be able to talk to his brother again. He couldn't remember the last time they'd talked, or what they'd talked about. It had probably been about Conner, Matty's son, Andy's nephew. Ash had talked to him a few times via Facetime, and Niko and Lauren had both talked to him just the once, but not for all that long. They'd all looked forward to seeing each other on the other side of the pandemic, something that was never going to happen now.

After another ten minutes or so, Andy slipped back down the hallway and opened the bookcase, stepping out, closing it behind him. He wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone, but he also knew that hiding and sulking wasn't good for him, so he wandered down towards the dining room area, since it was getting close to dinner time.

As soon as he set foot in the room, Aisling and Niko immediately rushed him, both of them wrapping their arms around him, hugging him tightly, refusing to let him go. "We're here for you, babes," Ash said to him, kissing his cheek. "And we're never letting you go, okay?"

"I mean, none of you even got to meet him in person," Andy sighed. "One of the only people who knew me growing up, and he's just... he's just fucking *gone*." He was trying hard not to cry, but both Niko and Aisling started crying, which set him off as well.

He was a bit of a zombie throughout dinner. It was lovely, Jenny had made chicken fettucine alfredo with prosciutto, one of his favorite things ever. But even with the marvelous food, Andy was sleepwalking, shellshocked from the news.

Lauren and Taylor came in later, and obviously either Ash or Niko had called them earlier and told them, because neither of them talked much, other than to check on where Andy's head was at, a question he couldn't really answer. They even made an exception and let Taylor eat sitting at the table, although Lauren still hadn't let her put clothes on.

Asha, Emily and Sarah were all still very deep into the imprinting process, and it looked like Piper hadn't finished either, even as they were getting ready for bed, which surprised Andy. His general estimate these days was that the imprinting process took somewhere between 12 and 18 hours, but Piper had been deprived of completing the innoculation/imprinting process longer than anyone was supposed to be, so maybe she needed longer for everything to take hold in her system.

When it came time for bed, Niko made sure Andy stripped bare, not letting him grab pajamas, and then Ash pushed him in between Emily and Sarah. Niko then moved to roll Emily partially onto his chest on one side, while Ash pushed Sarah on the other. Then both girls climbed into the bed and also wrapped their arms around him, followed by Lauren and Taylor, until Andy was basically being smothered in girlflesh, all of them hold onto him tight, until everyone fell asleep until morning.

Chapter 22

In the morning when he awoke, Andy had expected that the girls would've scattered some around the bed, but instead, found all of them had moved in much closer instead. Sarah's face was against one side of his neck and Emily's face was against the other. One of his hands was folded into Niko's and the other was folded into Aisling's. Amusingly enough, Lauren and Taylor had actually slept toe-to-head with him, and were hugging his legs and each other.

The biggest problem was that he desperately needed to take a piss.

He started by drawing his legs in, gingerly slipping them out between Lauren and Taylor's arms without waking either of them. Two down, four to go.

Andy slowly drew his hand out from Niko's, skating his arm slowly back towards him, working to roll the two women back, which he found he was able to do without too much trouble. He was about to do the same to Emily and Aisling, but saw that Aisling was awake and gave him a little wink, letting go of his hand and pulling Emily back and away from him enough for him to slip out, standing up, placing his foot on the headboard, using it as a sort of precipice, stepping up just long enough to pivot out and reach the edge of the bed, hopping out of it quietly.

Aisling moved to lay Emily against Sarah, then moved to follow him into the bathroom, where he was already sitting on the toilet. They'd long ago gotten comfortable enough to talk to one another while they peed, although she still closed the door behind her, mostly to keep their conversation from waking the others.

"Feeling any better?" she asked him.

"Still mostly in shock," he sighed. "I mean, it's not just my brother. Basically any of my guy friends from high school or college is likely dead. That's a hell of a thing to lay on a person, and not be able to tell anyone."

"Sure, but that's too big a thing to think about, so your brain's focusing on Matty, love," Ash said to him. "And that's okay. He sounded like a great guy, even if you two weren't that close."

"He was. I was really looking forward to introducing everyone to him. I don't really have much family left at this point, other than this one, I guess. At least my friend Xander is staying safe back in Cleveland."

"You talked to him Monday on FaceTime, remember?" Ash reminded him. "He was giving you shit about watching 'The Ipcress File' again."