At The End of the World

HeyItsHarry

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Starting a new story here! Lots of plot to this one, planning for a bit of a slow burn (with some fun along the way, of course).

Chapter 1

DAY 1

Considering we may be some of the last people alive on the planet, I thought I should keep some sort of record of what happened here. But before I get to where we are now, I need to start at the beginning. If you’re reading this, of course you already know the major events, what happened everywhere else on the globe, so I’m not interested in tracking all of that. Instead, I want to keep a record of what has happened here, at the Antarctic Base.

I can’t believe how young I seemed when I arrived, how naive. What the hell were they doing sending a 23-year-old grad student who had barely left his home state, all the way to the end of the world? My advisor said it was a direct result of my achievements in my research — I won’t bore you with the details, but I made some advancements in growing food using minimal resources — and that the government wanted me to contribute to the experiments at the South Pole. With it came more pay than I’d see at my summer job, plus a guarantee that any lab in the country would want to hire me after I graduated, so though I was terrified it was an obvious yes.

The trip to the base was, as I’m sure you’d expect, a nightmare. Heaving, ink-black seas tossing our ship, making me violently ill for over a week straight. Endless days waiting for the weather to clear, so the helicopter could pick me up, with nothing to do but stare at the passing icebergs, jerk off in my bunk, and regret every decision that had led me here. Finally, the weather cleared, and they told me to pack my bags — the helicopter was on its way. I stood on the flight deck and watched the helicopter slowly settle on board, feeling the freezing wind whipping from the turbines. As the blades slowed, the helicopter door popped open, and out sprang a person, carrying a bag, who bounded across the deck towards me.

As they neared, they pulled their parka back and I was shocked to see it was a woman — an unbelievably attractive one, at that. Her blonde hair flapped in the wind, her blue eyes sparkling like the icebergs floating by the frigid water. “You must be my replacement,” she said, her Aussie accent adding to her teasing tone.

“I… guess?” I stammered, and she laughed.

“Good luck out there,” she said, putting one gloved hand on my shoulder. “These boys will eat you up if you let them.” And with that, she continued past me and inside the ship. I looked at the helicopter, where I could see a hulking figure sitting behind the controls. He gestured for me to come to him, angrily. Unsure what else to do, I obeyed. I poked my head into the helicopter, and the man inside turned his head and glared at me. He was huge — even shrouded in protective gear, I got the impression of muscles. By the look of his rugged, chiseled face with salt-and-pepper stubble, I figured he was probably mid- to late-40s.

“You getting in, or am I taking off without you?” he growled.

“Uh… sorry!” I said, clambering awkwardly into the seat next to him. My hands fumbled around, looking for the seatbelt. The pilot shook his head angrily and leaned over, reaching across me to grab a strap and, with practiced quick movements, quickly buckled me in. He tightened the straps with his hands to the point where I gasped sharply at the sudden pressure. Was he trying to kill me?

“They didn’t tell me you were a fucking idiot,” he said, and my jaw dropped, stunned. Before I could think of anything clever to say, the whirring of the rotors picked up, ending any chance at conversation, and all I could focus on was trying to keep my lunch down as we swept through the tumultuous air towards the base.

Mercifully, the flight was short, so it wasn’t long before I was stumbling out of the helicopter, practically in tears with gratitude at being back on solid ground. I swallowed deep, heavy breaths, trying to get my bearings, and the pilot shoved his way past me, his hulking body practically throwing me to the floor. I couldn’t believe was a fucking asshole this guy was. Of course, I had no idea how close we were about to become — he knew more than me, which makes his anger a little more understandable.

I was greeted by Jeff, the station manager, the civilian boss of the entire operation. He shook my hand, the first warm greeting I’d received, making me immediately warm to him. He was in his late 50s and from the jump I felt tenderly towards him, like a son to a father or uncle. He gave me a very quick tour of the very small base. It didn’t take long to see the med bay, the gym, the mess hall, the command center, the rec room, and the living quarters, so it felt like I barely had time to get my head sorted before he had deposited me at the door of my bunk.

“And these are your quarters. Space is limited, so most of us have to share.” He shrugged, apologetically. “You’ll get used to it. And, hey, at least you already met your bunkmate!” he said, patting me on the shoulder and walking down the corridor. “Take some R&R and we’ll see you at dinner!” he called over his shoulder.

I swung open the door to my bunk and, of course, was greeted by the sight of the helicopter pilot, doing shirtless push-ups in the middle of the floor. I stood in the doorway and awkwardly cleared my throat, and he slowly got to his feet and faced me. This was my first chance to actually see him without all the gear on, and I could see my first impression was right — this guy was muscular as hell, a thick, furry torso, huge shoulders, swollen arms, with beefy legs bulging against his short, military-issue silkies. That wasn’t the only part of him making a bulge in his thin shorts, but I wasn’t looking at that.

He lifted a corner of his lip in a sneer and let out a chuckle that sounded anything but amused. “They really fucked me on this one,” he grumbled, walking over to his bunk and dropping his heavy body onto it. He stared at the low ceiling and let out a sigh. “6 months of having my own fuckin’ bunk and they take it away for the end of my tour.”

“I’m… I’m sorry?” I stuttered, closing the door behind me and dropping my bag on the empty bed across from his. “I, uh, don’t want to be a bother or anything.”

Slowly, he rolled his head to the side and looked at me, his green eyes glowering at me from below his dark eyebrows. “Well, then don’t,” he said.

“I’ll try not to?” I said, feeling more awkward than I ever had in my life. “I’m, uh, I’m Patrick, by the way. Pat, if you want,” I added, pathetically.

“Pat,” he said, pronouncing it like a slur. “I’m David,” he added, after a moment, before turning his head back to stare at the ceiling, sliding a hand casually down the front of his pants and scratching himself. Well, I thought. At least I got a name out of him. I turned my back on him and started to unpack, nervously aware of the silent, furious, muscular pilot behind me. Not for the first time, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.
 

HeyItsHarry

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CHAPTER 1 - CONT.

DAY 1 - EVENING

My first experience in the mess hall was just as intimidating as every other “first” I experienced in Antarctica. Reminiscent of the first day of high school, I grabbed a tray of standard-issue food and stood awkwardly, looking at the collection of people, trying to figure out where I could or should sit. Feeling too shy to approach anyone, I grabbed the last empty table and sat by myself.

I was, embarrassingly, studying the food on my tray — an unfortunate habit of my career being every vegetable on my plate is in danger of becoming an object of investigation — when I felt a shadow fall over me. I looked up, into the first genuinely smiling face I had seen since landing. “Hey new guy, can I sit here?” the guy asked, gesturing at the empty chair across from me. I nodded and smiled, and he dropped down across from me. “Cool, thanks. I’m Isaac,” he said, leaning across the table to shake my hand.

He was a soldier, also 23 like me, but had been here on and off for 2 years on tours of duty. I expressed surprise at there being soldiers on a civilian base, and he playfully winked and raised a finger to his lips. “Shhhh, top secret,” he said. “With so many tensions between us and… well, every country out there, some bigshot decided we should have some security for y’all down here. There aren’t many of us, and during the winter they scale it back even more. But no one’s supposed to know that. So, you know, keep it secret, k?” I laughed and nodded, though I couldn’t help but feel strange at this information. We have soldiers here? With guns?

Worries aside, I was grateful to have the beginnings of an actual friendship here, so I got to know Isaac over dinner, who gave me a helpful high-level download on how the base operates — everything from the nuclear reactor that powered us to the satellite connection that links us to the rest of the world, all the way to the more useful stuff, like what times were most likely to have hot water in the shower. “It’s a group shower, so you gotta act fast or you miss out on the hot and take a freezing-ass shower.”

He looked at my face and grinned. “Oh boy, don’t tell me. You’re not used to group showers? Man, I forget what being a civilian was like.”

I blushed, feeling stupid and naive — not for the first or last time today — and shrugged. “I feel like there’s a lot of stuff I’m not used to around here.”

“Damn right!” Isaac said. “You’ll get used to it in time, though, man. But I know one thing I’m not going to get used to anytime soon. No goddamned women at all anymore around here.”

I looked around the room and noticed he was right — it was all men at the tables, not a woman to be seen. “Wait, seriously? I saw a woman get off the helicopter when I was coming here.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said, sighing wistfully. “Claudia. She was a babe. And the last woman here from the summer crew. Winters we scale things way back, and for some reason this year the winter crew is all fuckin’ dudes.” He sounded miserable.

“You’re joking,” I said. “They do that on purpose so people don’t fuck, or what?”

“Nah,” Isaac said. “Last winter we had like 10 chicks on base. It was great — tell you the truth, I didn’t even hook up with any of them, other than some making out, but still, having the possibility there was fuckin’ fun. Made the nights where we get to drink way better, too. My buddies Gio and Marlon both said they hooked up with some of the girls last year, but I still don’t believe them. Things can be pretty strict down here, so even if someone says they fucked someone last year, they’re probably lying and they just jerked off to the thought of it.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “So, guess it doesn’t really matter if there are women here this winter or not, from the sounds of it.”

Isaac laughed, too. “Guess not! My winter girlfriend would be this guy regardless,” he said, holding up his right hand.

We clinked our water glasses together, and I felt the warmth of friendship for the first time in over a week, an incredible feeling this far away from everything I knew.

After dinner, I decided it was time to take my first shower. Wrapped in only a towel, I made my way down the hallway from the bunk to the shared bathroom, where I was relieved to find the group shower empty. Checking over my shoulder, I slipped my towel off and hung it on a hook outside the showers, and stepped gingerly onto the tiles. I turned a handle and water sprayed from one of the showerheads and I jumped back as the water hit my body. It was freezing! It felt like the water had come straight off one of the glaciers outside. I stood there, naked and shivering, my hand under the stream, praying for it to heat up, but it never did.

Finally, I heard the bathroom door swing open, so I bit the bullet and stepped under the water, my breath leaving my body as the icy water spattered against my naked body. I could feel my balls shriveling up into my body, my dick shrinking in a desperate attempt to find any warmth left in my body. So of course I shouldn’t have been surprised when my roommate David turned the corner, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. He looked at my eyes for a second, before glancing down. I saw a look of amusement spread across his face as he took in the sight of my shriveled, shrunken dick and balls, and a smirk lit up the corner of his mouth. The first time I see this asshole come even close to smiling, and it’s in response to my shrinkage? Before I had time to say anything, he continued around the corner towards the sinks.

I finished my shower as quickly as I could, and as I stepped out and toweled off, I was once again alone in the bathroom. By the time I had finished preparing for bed and made it back to my bunk, the lights were off in the room and I could see a hulking shape under the covers in David’s bed. Too afraid to face his wrath by turning on the lights, I fumbled in the dark, unable to find a pair of underwear or shorts without stubbing a toe on my bedframe. Cursing softly, I gave up, and climbed under my covers, still naked and shivering from the shower. The thin blanket that was provided to me didn’t help warm me up much, and my first night of sleep on the base was anything but restful.