Roger had never felt as helpless as when he had left the lawyers house that afternoon. All his life he'd been conflict avoidant but his anger fizzled on his skin. His daughter was missing, presumed dead and the man who was responsible for it just took his grandson away and there was nothing he could do about it. His wife was collapsed in her bed, sobbing. She was like a deflated balloon, slowly seeping remnants of air. Beth had always been such a vibrant woman. The life of the party, the social butterfly. They had been together since they were freshman in high school. She was the only woman who ever really came to his eyes and she was falling apart. Roger gripped his hands through his hair in frustration as tears came to his eyes. If he hadn't retired from the factory he could use his pull to bribe the officers to be more active in this case, but he had no power anymore. Retirement was a blessing and a curse. If he hadn't been in such an important position his wife would have starved, like his other former coworkers. It was common for the elderly to euthanize themselves once they couldn't contribute to society. Roger and Beth refused to be those people and both of them were fortunate to qualify for jobs with retirement grain packages. Getting those positions had been a long and rough journey that stole from their quality family time with their daughter but it kept them alive in their old age and their daughter had been grateful for the experiences and welfare they could provide for her. The years of struggle to get into those positions was worth the sacrifice. But none of that matters if a monster is just going to take their only daughter and grandson away from them. What was the point of everything without them?

Mike had knocked on the door with a grim smile on his face. His father in law had always been a pushover. Talking to his wife's family was like ripping off a band-aid. Just had to get it done. His son was inside and it was time to collect his progeny. His mother would never tolerate his other grandparents raising his son. It just wasn't done.

"Hey Roger, Is Caleb here? It's time for him to come home."

Silently fuming, Roger nodded and shut the door, leaving Mike outside. Mike winced at the snub but then shrugged it off. His son would be coming home with him today no matter how this old man felt.

"No, Roger." Beth cried clutching her grandson close to her. He had his little jacket on, along with his backpack. They both knew that they had no power over this situation. Beth's body was shaking as she feebly clutched onto his little green jacket. She didn't want to break down in front of the child but after losing her daughter, she was clutching this sleeve like it was her only lifeline.

"I'm sorry Beth, there's nothing we can do. The cops are on his side, and he has all the power here."

"Then what do we do? Just accept that she's gone and let them take Caleb away? What if we never see him again either? What do we... we.. do Roger? I just don't know how to save my babies. My babies....", she trailed off as she wiped her face.

"I'm sorry, Beth." Roger said as he held her, sobbing. He wiped the tears from her face as he said, "I wish I could do more for you, love but I can't fight this. We can only wait for the police to give us answers. I sold the last of the cucumbers to the mayors assistant so we can pay off Officer Carter to really dig into this case and give us some answers. She couldn't have just vanished. We will find her. It's only been 4 days. Have hope Beth." he coaxed her as he removed her hand from Caleb's sleeve and guided him toward the man his daughter married.

Handing Caleb back to the man was like delivering a sacrifice to a volcano.

"Thanks Rog, See you!" Mike smilingly replied as he led Caleb to the SUV. Roger watched as he loaded Caleb into his car seat and belted him in and his face flared in anger when he saw who was in the front seat. His daughter had been missing for 4 days and he already had his mistress in her place. He had their family fooled for years. Roger played the hand he was dealt but right now it was a losing one. He still watched as his grandson was belted in and his innocent little face smiled and waved at him from the car window. Roger waved back. He was afraid that this would be the last time he saw his grandson as well. And there was absolutely nothing he could do. He had called all his former coworkers earlier and most of them had already took the needle. The ones who were left were being pushed into early retirement. Things weren't getting better in the world. Maybe having his children taken away is better than them starving in ten years. The government had killed the world. Things weren't going to get any better. But being cynical wasn't going to bring his daughter back. He would go talk to the officer later and get him to really do something about the case before someone else paid them off.

Deciding on a course of action, Roger kissed Beth's head and headed to the car. He needed to find his daughter. Doing nothing wasn't helping anyone, and his wife wasn't going to recover if he just sat in her misery with her. Roger kept moving forward. That's all he could do.

Mike and Jennifer were smiling and holding hands in the front seat. Looking over her shoulder, Jennifer smiles at Caleb and says, "Hi Caleb Do you remember me?" Mike would often bring Jen around Caleb so they could bond or whatever. She would eventually be the kids mother so of course she had to do the mom thing. Mike wasn't interested in doing the mom thing. He was more of the standoffish dad. His job paid for the kids grains so he was doing his duty, he surmised. And now he even lined up a new mom for his kid without even really meaning to.

Mike had many lovers, but Jennifer had been the one he pursued the longest. She was 14 and he was 19 when he started chasing her. It just took a few sweet words and some empty promises before he found himself buried inside her. She was his one of his favorite girls. He called her up on most days just to have sex with her, and then take her back home but she didn't even realize that was what was happening. She was naïve enough to consider each visit a date. Each lie that she bought filled him with glee. He spent a year spilling his seed inside her before he realized she was another dusty. Dusties are people who's bodies are born infertile, apparently an evolution to the new environment. More and more dusties were being born every day. And this was fine, because she wasn't the only field he was plowing. He already figured he could keep her around to suit his physical needs when he was bored. Anyone could punch out some babies for him.

Jennifer was 15 when her lover told her she was a dusty. Dusties couldn't have children and men didn't want women who couldn't give them children. Mike had been her life for a whole year. She gave up her friends and fought with most of her family over her involvement with him but she went ahead and burned those bridges because she loved him so much. If she couldn't have children, was she still even a woman? This was the question all women of the modern era had to answer for themselves because our species was dying off. The world didn't want us anymore. It was like we had washed the Earth in pesticides that killed humans. As these thoughts were spiraling in her head that's when Mike gave her hope.

"I could just have kids with someone else, and you could raise them." he casually suggested. And with that Jessica had hope for kids one day. But every time she saw this child and said "Hi" he would respond "Where's Mommy". And that's what happened next.

"Hi"

"Where's Mommy"

But this time, they froze. Jennifer looked over at Roger, grimacing.

"Daddy sent her on a vacation so she could relax and eat lots of grains. Don't worry about her. This is Jennifer. Remember Jennifer?" he mused.

"Yeah. MAD LADY. I member"

Jennifer fumed in the front seat gripping Mike's hand harder. Mike chuckled, "Mad lady." and Jennifer calmed down a bit smiling back at him. At least she had him to herself now. And she could raise a child, something she wouldn't be able to do otherwise. She had waited four years for him to be finished fathering these children and developing a stable household for her. He complained about the wife his mother chose constantly as he was thrusting inside of her. It was tiresome to hear about it but she knew it would pay off someday. The way his wife left the picture was disturbing, but it seemed fated in a way. There were many times that Jennifer had debated kidnapping the woman and leaving her in the slums to starve but she knew Mike would lose face if that happened. Even if he did kill her, which she didn't think he would, the only thing she really had a problem with was the fact that he left all the blood just so he could meet up with her on time. He swore that he wasn't involved but there was always a lingering doubt in her heart.

As Mike drove home with his girlfriend and son he felt contented but irritated at the same time. This is what he wanted but Jennifer's temper around his son annoyed him. It was hard to control the both of them together. He figured he could leave them at home for some bonding time and he could stop by Tiffany or Heather's house to let off some steam. As he squeezed Jennifer's hand he let go of it and grabbed his work cell to texted Heather with the big tits.

[15 min. DTF?]

"Hey I'm gonna head to the office to touch base with my boss about all of this Hannah stuff. I don't want my job to be affected by all this." he explained to Jennifer as he looked down at the [nude picture] Heather sent back to his message. His dick twitched and he adjusted his erection as he side eyed Jennifer to make sure she didn't notice. Smiling at the thrill of not getting caught, he pulled up in front of his house leaned over and kissed Jennifer, quickly fondling her breasts, pulling away as she giggled.

"Take Caleb in and get him settled. I'll be back in an hour or two depending on the boss." he lied, easily as he discreetly looked back down at the picture of the meal he was about to eat. Heather was a new addition to his list of women. Heathers personality reminded him of Hannah when they first met; very naïve, very young, with low enough self esteem to let him do whatever he wanted. She also had a two year old she was abandoned with so he was guaranteed a good fuck if he brought over a bit of food. He had been trying to get her pregnant for a few months to no avail. Tonight he was gonna try harder. A creepy smile stretched across his face as he rushed towards his rendezvous.

Jennifer led her new son by the hand into the house, unlocked it and removed both of their jackets. After placing him in front of the television she went into the kitchen to make some dinner for her new family. She smiled as she thought of the three of them surrounding the dinner table. She spent the next two hours cooking and making the dining room look fancier. Then she spent another hour sitting at the dining room table with Caleb. Mike would not answer his phone and the food had grown cold Making a sacrifice like having your food grow cold in this world was tantamount to sacrificing your life. But she wanted that first family meal. She felt tears well up in her eyes as sadness and frustration welled up inside of her. She had waited four years for this night and he couldn't even be there. The disappointment choked her as Caleb whined, "I'm hungry." one more time. Jennifer threw the bowl of teriyaki vegetables at him and ran up to her room. She could hear the sound of the irritating child's loud whining from the dining room for the next hour. Soon she finally decided to go clean up her mess before Mike came home. They didn't even get a chance to meet with her parents like he had promised.

She found Caleb passed out on the couch, hands arms and mouth covered in teriyaki sauce, so at least the boy ate. Jennifer wiped down the kid and changed him before tossing him in bed. After cleaning the couch and putting all the food away, Jennifer sat up staring at the front door, waiting for Mike like she had done since she was 14 years old.