GIVE HER SHELTER

  Book 2, The Nurse

  CHASE JANNOCK

  Copyright © 2024 by Chase Jannock

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Chapter 1

  "A safe place to hide."

  Chapter 2

  "We need to hurry."

  Chapter 3

  "It's all falling apart."

  Chapter 4

  "I need your help."

  Chapter 5

  "Papi."

  Chapter 6

  "We're hoping this trouble passes quickly."

  Chapter 7

  "It comes and goes."

  Chapter 8

  "The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails."

  Chapter 9

  "Stay close."

  Chapter 10

  "We're all awake."

  Chapter 11

  "It's not the fear of dying that bothers me."

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  Synopsis

  Book 2 - A highly infectious disease that turns ordinary people into deranged killers has been unleashed and is spreading out of control. On a perilous journey into town for supplies, Brad and Kayleen will be thrust into the middle of this brutal new reality. Even as they struggle to survive, Kayleen will seek the raw pleasure she has always wanted from Brad. Still reeling from their encounter, Brad will be blindsided by a shocking offer from Merri. Despite being Kayleen's girlfriend, Merri has a craving that only a man can satisfy.

  But disease and the infected are not the only threats Brad and his women must face. In a life-or-death struggle, Brad is pushed to unthinkable actions that will leave him forever changed.

  In a world spiraling into chaos, can Brad satisfy three demanding women while keeping them safe from harm? Or will a relentless wave of murderous violence overwhelm Brad, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake?

  GIVE HER SHELTER is a harem adventure series. It contains graphic scenes. 18+ only.

  Chapter 1

  "A safe place to hide."

  The sky was clear and the sun hung just over the eastern peaks of the mountains. Conner Pond was awash in bright sunlight, a harsh glare reflecting off the ice and snow that sheeted the trees. I squinted into the glare, enjoying the warmth from the sunlight on my skin.

  Enjoy it while you can.

  The morning was passing quickly. I'd already climbed to the ledge to download the news feed on my phone. According to the weather report, the coming snowstorm was due to hit tonight, with 18 inches forecast to blanket the peninsula. I looked to the north, but trees and mountains obscured my view. I couldn't see the storm approaching, but I knew it was headed our way.

  The ice on Conner Pond had advanced, but the center of it was still not frozen. I expected that to change in the next few days. Ice skating would be possible if anyone had the inclination. It might make for a nice break from everything that was going on.

  What exactly is going on, though?

  I rubbed my face, feeling the cold skin and stubble rasp against my palms. Except for the distant crack of ice breaking in the trees, Conner Pond was calm and still. It was a tranquil setting, but these were not tranquil times.

  I bent over and grabbed the two milk jugs of water I'd let freeze overnight. They would keep the fridge cold enough for the perishables I had inside. The power was still out. I doubted it would come back anytime soon.

  The warmth from the woodstove washed over me as I stepped back into the cabin. I looked over the faces turned towards me, taking in the small crowd assembled around the kitchen table.

  Kay sat nearest to me, looking back over her shoulder as I shut the front door. I was struck again by how attractive she was, a far cry from the awkward teenager she had been when I last saw her.

  Beside Kay was her father. Mr. Gutierrez sat in his chair ramrod straight, just as I always remembered him. The old man might have been in his 70s, but the Marine in him was still evident in how he held himself.

  Sitting next to Mr. Gutierrez was a young woman in her mid-20s named Merri. She was blonde and pretty and very quiet. Kay had introduced Merri as her "roommate", but it seemed they were more than just friends. I thought Kay and Merri made a cute couple, though I was curious how Mr. Gutierrez might view their relationship. He was about as old school as you could get.

  Lana was at the camping stove, reheating the lasagna we made the night before. The smell of the lasagna mingled with the scent of coffee hanging in the cabin's warm air. It would have been a cozy scene, if not for the worried expressions on everyone's faces.

  "How's the food coming?" I asked Lana as I placed the frozen milk jugs in the fridge.

  "Almost done," she said. "I sliced some more bread, too. And I made some tea. It's on the table."

  "Indeed. Thank you."

  Lana flashed me a smile, letting me know she was enjoying being helpful in this strange situation.

  "Looks colder than a witch's tit out there!" Mr. Gutierrez said as I sat down at the table.

  "I think the pond will freeze over soon," I replied. "I have some ice skates if anyone wants to try it out later."

  "Last time I tried to ice skate, I damn near snapped my neck," Mr. Gutierrez snorted. "I'm way too old for that shit. Probably break a hip and need a goddamn wheelchair. No thanks! You kids can have at it."

  His gruff language made me grin. "I'm getting a little old for it myself."

  "I'd love to try ice skating," Merri said. "I've done roller-blading before. I think they're similar?"

  "Hopefully, you'll have a chance to find out," I said. "It's going to get very cold, very soon. Some exercise might warm us up."

  Merri smiled shyly, her blue eyes holding mine for a moment before she quickly looked away. A flush spread across her cheeks as she stared down at her hands, a faint smile still on her lips.

  The radio was playing Bach, my favorite composer. I wrapped my hands around my mug and looked around the table. An uneasy silence had fallen over the room.

  "I downloaded the latest news feed," I said, placing my phone on the table. "Reports are chaotic. Lots of misinformation and fear. Major stories are the same as the ones being reported on the radio. Israel being attacked and the Tacoma riots and the other events the news keeps focusing on."

  Lana joined us at the table, sitting close beside me. It was comforting to feel her thigh pressed against mine. I sipped my tea and gathered my thoughts.

  "So, Kay," I said quietly. "What can you tell us about all this?"

  Kayleen inhaled deeply as if collecting her scattered thoughts before speaking.

  "You're aware of these outbreaks of random violence," Kayleen said quietly. "And how it's being blamed on bath salts?"

  "Chemically induced psychosis," I said, nodding. "That's what they've been saying, but it sounds like bullshit. We encountered a woman yesterday who was out of her mind. She attacked us with a knife."

  "Was she naked?" Kayleen asked.

  "Yes. How did you know?"

  "Stripping off clothes is a common trait among the affected."

  "The guy at the gas station murdered her!" Lana exclaimed. "He shot her and she fell down and he walked up to her and shot her again right in the head, execution style."

  "That might have been for the best," Kay said quietly.

  Lana looked aghast. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You don't just execute sick people!"

  "She was more than sick," Kayleen said. "She was infected. There's no coming back from that."

  "Infected with what?" I asked.

  "Transient Violent Acquired Psychosis. T-VAP, it's called."

  "Tee-vap," I muttered. "Sounds like the latest social media app."

  That brought a wan smile to Kayleen's lips. I noticed the small gap between her two front teeth was still there. It was a feature I'd always found charming on Kay. As an adult, her slightly crooked teeth gave her sultry looks a very appealing sweetness.

  I sipped my tea and refocused my mind on what Kayleen was saying. This wasn't the time to be distracted by her good looks.

  "Go on," I urged her. "What do you know?"

  "Might as well start at the beginning," Mr. Gutierrez said. "Tell them what you told us, KayKay."

  He patted his daughter's hand. Kayleen squeezed it, reassured by her father's presence. I could see the bond between them was still as strong as it had been when she was a child.

  "I was working at the hospital in Coeur d'Alene," Kayleen began. "It's a nice place to live and work, but it gets busy this time of year with the influx of people looking to hit the slopes. Injuries tend to pile up from the skiers and the snowboarders. We're used to it, though. Despite staffing shortages, we were ready."

  Kayleen sipped her coffee, her finger absently running around the rim as her brow furrowed.

  "This season started the same way as always. A few dislocated shoulders, some broken legs, a concussion here and there. But then we got a patient who was in a mental health crisis. Middle-aged man from the Seattle area. Cops brought him in under restraint. He had attacked his wife and violently resisted being arrested. We deal with mental health crises often, but this case seemed different. Something was so frightening about the man's behavior. A look in his eyes, I suppose you could say. And he was so strong! The pure hatred on his face as he tried to grab at me and the way he kept screaming the most vile curses like he was possessed… it was completely unnerving to treat him. I've been a traveling nurse for over a decade and have seen it all. But he was different."

  Kayleen tapped a finger against her lips, her eyes distant. It seemed like she was reliving her experience in her memories.

  "Anyway, he eventually seemed to come out of his psychotic episode after 24 hours. The snarling, violent patient had turned into a mild-mannered gentleman who had no memory of what he had done. I felt terrible about his confusion and his fear as he was informed of his charges. The look on his face when the police led him away to the station was heartbreaking."

  "He didn't remember any of it?" Lana asked. "God, that's so messed up."

  "I thought so, too. Just thinking of this poor man having to deal with a psychotic break like that? Hurting his wife and a police officer? I wondered how he would adjust to what he'd done. Well, I didn't have to wait too long to find out. A couple of days later, I learned that this mild-mannered man had attacked another inmate at the county jail. He left the inmate blind and disfigured for life."

  I flinched, remembering the videos I'd seen online as well as the report about Dax attacking the pot shop owner.

  "Over the next three weeks, we began to have more of these patients undergoing psychotic breaks," Kayleen continued. "Each one followed the same pattern. The police would bring in a suspect under restraint. The suspect would be violent, agitated, and very strong. Over the course of 24 hours, the patient would become lucid again with no memory of their previous behavior. The police would then take these stabilized patients to jail. And every time, the patient would have another psychotic break and harm someone. It happened again and again."

  "That's why it's called transient," Merri said softly, her arms clutching her slender frame.

  "It comes and it goes," Kayleen agreed. "Signs of confusion, much like being drunk, are the warnings of a coming episode. That's why I had you do the drunk test, BJ. Each time it happens, the psychotic break lasts longer and longer until finally it becomes permanent."

  "So it's a disease?" I asked. "How does it spread? Is there a treatment or a cure?"

  "I don't know how it spreads. Certainly through direct contact, like bites. But maybe also through the air, like the flu. All I know is that it is highly infectious and spreading fast."

  "How fast?" I asked.

  "At this point, there is no way it can be contained," Kayleen said. "T-VAP will engulf the world. As for treatments? There are none. Once it infects you, T-VAP inevitably progresses to full-blown, permanent psychosis."

  "Wait," I interrupted. "So it doesn't kill you?"

  "T-VAP does not kill you directly," Kayleen said. "But the effect it has on your mind? You'd probably be better off dead."

  A hush fell over the cabin, each of us lost in our thoughts. What Kayleen was saying seemed too horrible to be real. Remembering the crazed, almost demonic woman at the gas station was bad enough. Imagining millions of people becoming like her was terrifying.

  "How do you know all this?" I asked.

  "Goddamn government fuckery," Mr. Gutierrez snarled. "Secret projects, secret experiments. Something leaked. Tell them, KayKay."

  Kayleen sighed. "It's true. The Secretary of State was on a skiing vacation nearby. One of his Secret Service detail attacked him. The other agents pulled him off the Secretary, but not before the Secretary got bit. They brought him into the hospital where I was ordered to assist with his medical detail. While I did that, I listened in on the Secretary's phone conversation with the President. That's how I learned about T-VAP. It was some kind of black box project that got out of hand. I heard words like 'aerosolized rabies' and 'prions' and other terms I didn't know. But whatever T-VAP is, the Secretary was clear that there is no cure and it's spreading unconstrained."

  "My god," I muttered.

  "Tell him the rest," Mr. Gutierrez said gently.

  Kayleen clung to her father's hand. "I was out of the room when I heard a commotion, then a gunshot. The Secretary had taken a pistol from one of his agents. He shot himself in the head with it."

  "Fucker was infected," Mr. Gutierrez said. "He knew what was going to happen to him. So he ended it. I can respect that."

  "That's when I left," Kayleen said. "Called Merri and told her to pack, then I walked out of the hospital and got into my vehicle. Picked up Merri and drove straight through the night to Tacoma, where my father lived. Pulled him out of his senior village and drove here. Did not stop for anything. When I thought of a safe place to hide, Conner Pond was my only choice."

  "Holy shit," Lana mumbled.

  "Indeed," I said, shaking my head. "I'm so sorry you went through that, Kay."

  "We're all going to be going through it," Kayleen warned. "I screwed up badly, though. I should have gotten more prepared, but I was just too scared. All I could think of was getting here. I should have gotten more supplies."

  "I was able to pack a big box of canned food and two jars of peanut butter," Merri said. "I also have two large bags of oatmeal. I use them for my baths because my skin gets itchy in winter."

  Kay and Merri shared a smile across the table. I could see the two women cared deeply for each other.

  These people need your help. If Kayleen is right, they're going to be at the pond for a while. They aren't set up for an extended stay.

  "Mr. Gutierrez, I know your cabin is mostly a summer residence," I said. "That fireplace you have is not very functional in weather like this."

  "It's fucking useless," he agreed.

  "You're all welcome to stay here," I assured them. "This cabin is snug and warm, even without electricity. The woodstove my father installed puts out significant heat. I have two full cords of wood outside. Plus, I've got enough food to feed all five of us for a few weeks. We'll get through the snowstorm, no problem."

  But Kayleen was shaking her head.

  "A few weeks is not enough," she insisted. "This thing is going to keep spreading and spreading. It will be a while before it finally burns out. Remember the last pandemic? This is going to make that look like a picnic. We need to be able to hunker down for much longer than a few weeks."

  "How much longer?" I asked.

  Kayleen grimaced, unable to give me an answer.

  "We just need to get as much food and supplies as we can," she said. "The more, the better."

  "And weapons," Mr. Gutierrez added. "KayKay's BB gun won't do. I was not allowed to keep weapons at the senior village I'm staying at, so I am unarmed. Your father keeps a respectable gun safe, doesn't he?"

  "He did," I said. "But Pops sold most of his guns before he passed away."

  Mr. Gutierrez let out a slow breath. "Well, I'm deeply sorry to hear of your father's passing. Even sorrier to hear he got rid of his firearms."

  "There's still a shotgun and a revolver," I said.

  "Better than nothing," Mr. Gutierrez nodded.

  "I have to make a supply run," Kayleen said fretfully. "I need to go now before the snowstorm locks us down."

  "I'll go with you," I told her. "We'll gas up your vehicle and then head for the warehouse store across the bridge. It will take time to get there with the roads all iced up, but your SUV is more than capable. We'll load up on necessities and be back before the storm hits."

  Kayleen nodded, gratitude clear on her face. Merri peered at me through a fringe of her blonde hair, her lips pursed in a shy smile. Beneath the table, Lana patted my thigh, her fingers straying across my cock in an encouraging caress.

  "First, let's get some chow," Mr. Gutierrez said. "That lasagna smells excellent."

  Chapter 2

  "We need to hurry."

  Kayleen's SUV was on the smaller side, but it was more than capable of getting us into town. It had AWD and studded tires. That was good. The roads would be a skating rink in some places, especially at our elevation.

 

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