1. Chapter 4
Stir-crazy

2. Previously in the Apocalypse:
Kimmy lifted Science, since Military failed to show up for about four sim weeks.
She then married Justus Oates - the cow mascot where she went to university and the
only person to take none of her shizz - who lifted Oceanography.
Having done so, they now have access to elixir of life so that they can live forever. … And
never have to do anything productive again. Pillow fights, sex, children, and
occasionally going to work just to get out of the house.

3. Leaving their kids to do the lifts. Currently only twins Aisha and Benton, both of whom are
in Military, in the hopes that one of them will lift it.
Kimmy may not have lifted Military, but she was trained to do so, so her kids are very well
disciplined in most areas.

4. Forced to work, work and work against their own wants and needs. Not that they know
much different. But the opportunity to relax and take a sponge-bath would be nice. But
Kimmy insists that they can do that when somebody lifts Medical so that they can
have a proper bath or shower. And have protected sex for once.

5. Working hard doesn’t always work though.
*Groan*
“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOME ALREADY, MISSY?!”
“Um, they, uh, only needed one person, so they, uh, decided to keep Benton so I can go
after another job?”
*Suspiciously glares through back of head*

6. All this work isn’t really Aisha’s scene anyway. She wants romance, love, sex… And the
pickings are slim during an apocalypse.

7. Not to mention upcoming childcare duties, because nobody wants to leave Kimmy to care
for a kid on her own, happy though she is at the process of conception.

8. Benton is having a much easier and better time of it, since he made friends with a pretty
lady when he was younger. If you ignore the way that Marylena Hamilton looks so
very much like his mother, to an almost creepy degree.

9. There’s more than one reason for him to close his eyes when they kiss…

10. Though Benton’s probably not really at the stage of life where he’s ready to settle down
anyway.
“Now, my frosty enemy, let me show you why they call me Benton – Benton Destruction!
Mwahaha!”

11. Yet somehow Aisha’s concerned for her mental health instead of her brother’s. Though
she has just lost her job and she has to lift something or be stuck with her parents
forever, which would be enough to scare anyone.

12. And Benton’s happy enough, steadily progressing in the military; a sensible career choice,
where they actually send out vehicles capable of going through miles of thick snow if
necessary.

13. The gamer career, which Aisha’s taken instead, is a lot more stingy with their vehicles
despite all their technology.

14. Still, better to be out of the house for when their mother expands the family.
“JUSTUS! Baby incoming!”

15. And Justus was hit by a moment of clarity, where he realised that they were going to be
having and raising children for what could be the equivalent of several hundred years.
And Kimmy was never going to help.

16. Then he saw little Caprice and remembered how much he loves kids and family, and
quickly got used to the idea.

17. Not to mention how quickly time flies, so Caprice was a toddler very quickly, looking a lot
like Aisha at her age.

18. But with a rather different personality. Unlike her older siblings, Caprice turned out to be
very shy and thereby slow to talk.

19. Until given some Smart Milk anyway, the second aspiration reward Kimmy and Justus
decided to lift with their careers.

20. Time required to train her drastically slashed, Kimmy was a lot more willing to help. After
all, toddlers want to learn these things, so they would get aspiration points for doing
so, which would mean more elixir of life for Kimmy…

21. Which was the only reason Kimmy was prepared to give her any other attention. Caprice
didn’t understand all of this, of course, but was thereby thrilled all the more.

22. Meanwhile the older kids were stuck with the same amount of attention they’d had for
years: pretty much none from their mother. There was training for jobs to be done.

23. And Aisha got attention from women who weren’t her mother instead. Not that she craved
motherly attention or anything, no, they definitely only needed friends for their
careers…
The red-haired stranger wasn’t very impressed.

24. And then there was more work to go out and do at ridiculous-o’clock in the morning. Albeit
with an awesome new uniform for Benton.

25. And he could come home and socialise with his little sister and colleague when he came
home.
Caprice was already getting prepped for going to school…

26. Which was just about right as she became a child, with a decent outfit and everything.
And parents in just their underwear, but Justus had attended birthdays in less. And
Kimmy a bit behind in how old her daughter was.
“Weren’t you a baby the other day? What am I supposed to do with this bottle now?!”

27. Fortunately Justus insisted that Caprice didn’t have to keep eating from a bottle and could
start having actual food instead.

28. But the bottles wouldn’t be gone for long.
“Ugh, this is what I get for accepting somebody so freaking virile…”
“Mommy, what does virile mean?”
“It means your father is an annoying jerk.”

29. “I just had a horrible nightmare where Kimmy gave birth to an endless stream of babies
and none of our children could lift anything so we all starved to death.”
Justus has some legitimate concerns in his life, albeit slightly overblown.

30. Not to mention something else of concern to the family: Caprice.
You see, as it increasingly turned out, Caprice was… nice. Like, listen kindly and
attentively to strangers nice.

31. Build cute, friendly snowmen nice. Not a devilish smirk, horns or trident to be seen, nice.
In a family where the previous average number of nice points was 0.5, it was deeply
unnerving. And Kimmy started muttering about people her family had never heard of,
like ‘Terry’ and ‘Nicola’ and ‘Marina’.

32. “I can feel it kicking Mommy! Can I help when the baby comes?!”
Kimmy laughed. “Sure, knock yourself out.”
“I’m gonna be the bestest big sister and give them all of the kisses and cuddles and-”
“Kid, you’re weird. Stop it.”

33. To be honest, other members of the family could have used the love and attention.
“Look, imaginary giant rabbit, could you at least wait outside while I do this? I’m a little
busy. I’m sure no-one will mind.”

34. All the kids and work with not enough beds really wasn’t doing wonders for Justus’ health.

35. Especially with a fourth child, a little boy called Deimos.
“Who’s going to provide me with all the elixir of life I need, hmm? And who’s going to lift
medical so everyone can stop smelling like a latrine? And who’s going to be disowned
if they fail to lift something? That’s right, you are! Welcome to the family. Now meet
your father – JUSTUS WAKE UP AND TAKE THIS THING OFF ME.”

36. It was really fortunate that Justus loved his kids.
And at least Deimos looked a little different, having inherited Kimmy’s mother’s fairer skin.
With over 20 kids planned, looks were bound to get a little repetitive otherwise…

37. A shame the same couldn’t be said for Kimmy, yet somehow the kids managed to love
her.
“Mommy! You’re home! I stayed up ‘specially!”
“Oh. Right. Did you have a want for a hug?”
“Um, no, I just thought it would be nice…”
“That’s it, you’re grounded, go back to bed! I’m not wasting my limited ability to stand
people on interactions that don’t earn elixir!”
“Yes Mommy…”

38. Meanwhile, Benton was getting dangerously close to the top of his career, and…

39. Succeeded!
“Like a boss.”

40. YOU HAVE UNLOCKED MILITARY!
“Hi, I’m Benton Destruction Oates.
Besides one of your sims gaining the ability to use potentially-entire-population-repressing
weapons, Military is an awesome thing to lift all around.”

41. “I’m led to believe that generally there are supposed to be ferocious zombies roaming
your apocalyptic streets – not that I’ve ever seen any – but, with a military, those
zombies are violently forced back so that your streets are far safer to roam and your
sims’ friends no longer have to be crazy in love with them before they’ll walk over.”

42. “Equally, your sims can go to community lots-
“But make sure that those lots fit with your remaining restrictions too.”
“on vacation-”
“If Music is lifted so that you can fly places too.”
“to college-”
“If Education is lifted so college even exists.”
“teenagers can ask permission to go out or sneak out-”
“If they have ten body points or Law Enforcement is lifted.”

43. “sims can got out jogging or hiking, and they can also move out.”
“If either Journalism is lifted so that you can use the newspaper to do so, or Gamer and
Science are lifted so you can always use the computer to do so. If Science is lifted but
Gamer isn’t, you can use the computer to move out between midday and midnight on
a Tuesday. Also, anyone other than adults (and children going to school) must have
10 body skill points to leave the house until Law Enforcement is lifted or suppressed
anyway.”

44. “You’re such a buzzkill. And you’re saying that I can’t move out until Tuesday at the
earliest? That’s like a full week away!”
“Tough.”
“God, Aisha better get a move on lifting Gamer… We now return you to your regularly
scheduled programme.”

45. And, with another lift done, Deimos became a toddler, looking a great deal more like his
mother than any of his siblings had done so far.

46. So he was dutifully smart milked up…

47. And set to earning Elixir, and not wearing out the knees of his onesies.

48. “No Dad… Don’t leave… Don’t leave us with Mom, I can’t raise all these children…”

49. As for Deimos, he was proving to be a lot more along the lines of his eldest siblings:
outgoing and mean. And, fortunately for all the kids so far, none of them had a neat
point between them, which made the lack of good ways to wash bearable. Though it
was killing Kimmy all the more, being almost obsessively clean and the only one who
cared.

50. Then it was time for Caprice to become a teen and be able to do something more than
repeatedly wash her hands.

51. She remained pretty, though everyone knew she’d look like Aisha as an adult. And her
actual outfit…

52. Could have been worse really. The blue matched her eyes.

53. As for her personality, she took her nice points to heart and decided that she just wanted
to get on and be friends with everybody. Including her own baby brother.

54. Meanwhile things were getting desperate. Aisha still hadn’t lifted and was getting on a bit,
but senility was not going to help her at all, so Justus forced Kimmy to let Aisha have
some elixir, furious though she was. After all, Aisha had earned a fair bit of elixir
herself, and she was getting close to lifting…

55. She just found it so hard to be in a good mood. She was a romance sim with no lovers,
and her friends weren’t particularly obliging so she couldn’t get into a good mood that
way, and with limited food and spontaneous sponge baths only when the mood struck
and a sink was free, promotions were slow.

56. With Kimmy being how she was, and Aisha not getting far enough fast enough – and still
picked up by the same old beat-up car – Aisha was beginning to wonder if she ought
to be committing seppuku.

57. Her twin wasn’t helping much either, Benton bored and desperately wanting to move out,
but stuck until Tuesday next rolled around or Aisha finally lifted Gamer. So he wasted
time playing with stray wolves…

58. And going to work in a helicopter that was incredibly well-made and intact for an
apocalypse.

59. And the kids continued to grow.

60. Especially in Deimos’ hair department, and with another nice outfit.

61. And the skilling immediately began in earnest.
“Benton? When can I stop?”
“When you’ve lifted a career. In about thirty years, probably. But I’ll have moved out
soon.”
“How does that help?”
“Doesn’t help you, but great for me!”

62. Caprice was able to take a short break from her own skilling to – very shyly – attempt to
seduce Randy London, who she’d seen walking past and was totes cute.

63. Which was a little too much for Aisha, who was not going to be out-romanced by her
much younger sister. Aisha was only like… 40 or something.

64. Which put her in a better mood for work at least.

65. But not well enough for Benton – it was Tuesday and he was not waiting around anymore
to be able to leave. He’d set up a house elsewhere and then Aisha could move in
when she finally earned her lift.

66. They weren’t the only ones getting old either.
“Mmmm elixir… Best thing ever…. All the elixir….”

67. “Daddy, how come you never age? And wear that weird hat?”
“It’s elixir. You may have noticed it being extracted from you in your sleep. Unfortunately
we need it to save the world. Also: never disrespect the cow head, son, it is vital to
your heritage.”

68. Unfortunately Deimos wasn’t doing very well in the apocalypse either, probably due to all
the skilling and the lack of friends to make, especially with the frequency of snow days
in Hell.

69. But he was at least developing a very good frowny face for the future.

70. Elsewhere Aisha was making good progress, and received a better carpool, but never fast
enough…

71. At least her work uniform was more functional then some other peoples’.
“Ahhh, nice fresh, brisk air!”
“You know it wouldn’t hurt if you asked for a full swimsuit.”
“Why would I do that?”

72. Yes, not every family member was massively antisocial like Kimmy. Deimos had seen his
siblings’ struggles with romance, and soon latched onto a pretty girl with red hair who
looked nothing like any of his family members, like a sensible person.

73. A little too social though.
“D, are you earning points for this?”
“I… am. Didn’t you hear the point-earning noise?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Maybe only I can hear it when I earn them then?”
“That… makes sense, I suppose…”
Thank heavens for all that logic-earning earlier.

74. Speaking of anti-social…
“Look, Bertino, you best get out of my house and stop distracting my daughter from her
work, and if you even get close to making her pregnant I will castrate you because
there are more than enough kids around here and only mine are allowed, thank you
very much, and she’d lose her job after she’s finally getting somewhere-!”
“God, calm down, Aisha could use a friend and some time to relax for once-!”

75. “Don’t you talk back to me! I will do what I want with my kids!”

76. Unfortunately for everyone, Kimmy is not to be messed with. Except maybe by Justus.

77. And don’t expect Kimmy to stop at just one fight. At least Justus is a very supportive
husband in his wife’s battles.
“Give him the right hook! The right hook! Yeah!”

78. The way the kids act is hardly surprising really. At least this man was dressed for the
weather before he got drenched.

79. And the weather never really lets up, which is bad for everyone but the resident penguin
who escaped the zoo. Who thinks a melted snowman looks an awful lot like a sumo
wrestler. And would be very dangerous if it choose to steal that very pointy trident.

80. Speaking of dangerous, somebody had to fix the computer.
Fortunately Caprice has better luck than Benton had at her age.

81. And then proceeds to write in her very secret diary, because her unusual shyness and her
family’s disdain for her niceness means she can only express her true thoughts in
diary form.
*Oh no! Aisha might see what I’m writing! They might see that I love them all and get
mad! Pretend to be angry, Caprice!*

82. Meanwhile Aisha was finally so close to lifting, but she needed to have a better mood
before she was forced to have days of work.
And she may be a romance sim, but her secondary is family, so a certain big-value want
had come up… And one of her friends, made by playing chess with him after Justus
repeatedly brought him home, happened to walk by.
“Oh my god, Aisha, I never knew you felt that way! This is all so sudden!”
“Um, yeah, it sure is. But can you just quickly say yes before my carpool shows up in less
than an hour? Thanks.”

83. Aisha swiftly engaged and gone to work, it was time for Deimos to grow up.
“Uh, Justus, you’ve forgotten something.”
“I was in the middle of sponge-bathing; I’m not going to get dressed and then undress
again five minutes later. This isn’t the first time I’ve shown up to a birthday naked, it’s
practically a rite of passage.”
*Sigh* “Fine, let’s get on with this.”

84. Deimos grew up well enough anyway, and fortunately his clothes morphed with him so
that most people there were dressed.

85. His everyday clothes, though…. Not so much. Especially not for the weather.
“Is it me, or do I look a bit like a low-level old-timey gangster? When will we be able to
change our clothes?”
“I dunno, give it like… 15 more lifts.”
“Goddammit.”

86. And then Aisha got promoted again. She didn’t even know how to feel anymore.

87. YOU HAVE UNLOCKED GAMER!
“Hi, I’m Aisha Oates, and, after an obscenely long time, I have finally lifted a different
career to the ones we really wanted.
But Gamer’s still pretty cool – which you should know; you’re all gamers, right? – and I’ll
tell you why.”

88. “You can use the phone whenever you like: no more wasting precious days waiting for
Tuesday to come around so that your sim can invite over and marry – if you’re into
that kind of thing – their beloved, and friends will be much easier to keep.
Also, your sims can use their computer for anything not restricted by other careers.
But you know what’s very best of all?”

89. “When Military is also lifted, you can LEAVE! You can move the hell out of this cramped
little place! You have a chance at getting more than one plate of food a day! You won’t
have to put up with annoying little siblings who are young enough to be your own
children! You no longer have to deal with a mother who doesn’t care enough to even
learn your name! And who constantly drains your aspiration points for her own supply
of elixir! ARRRRRRRGH!”

90. “I’m- I’m sorry, I seem to have a little bit of pent up aggression there.
Um… We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme?”

91. *Intense stare of utter resentment*
“Bye A.”
“Aisha.”
“That’s what I said. A… sha. Go on: leave, it’s taken you long enough.”

92. *Grumbles* “Hope she gets devoured by an army of zombie children, worst mother ever, I
goddamn swear…”

93. And Kimmy and Justus slept soundly that night.

94. Somewhere, disappointingly nearby, a new house was erected, considerably better built
than the first.

95. And by no means poor, with one top level Gamer and a Military General, both of whom
have a decent supply of elixir. Aisha and Benton didn’t fancy dying just yet, even if
their parents would let them (which they wouldn’t).

96. And, well, Aisha hadn’t been massively attached to Brian, but she had proposed to him
and he had said yes, and thereby helped her get promoted and escape her mother, so
she kind of felt like she should marry him. He was pretty old anyway, so if she didn’t
like him it probably wouldn’t be for that long.
And he was grateful for the money.

97. And they were both grateful for the intimacy.

98. Benton not so much. “Is it just me or does this sofa kind of smell? Like… Oh. Great.
Thanks.”
“No idea what you’re talking about. Shut up and eat your burger.”

99. Though, to be honest, most everything smelled with how little they could wash. They got
used to it, and each other, though.

100. And the smells would only get worse with a baby on the way.
Aisha hadn’t really planned for this, but her family-side would accept it, and Benton was
totally secretly paternal now and then.

101. “I hear there was a marriage.”
“Er, yes: I am, um, your son-in-law, I guess.”
“You’re old.”
“But… aren’t you old enough to be a great-grandmother now?”
“What do you think the answer to that is?”
“Um….. No?”
“Well done. I’m going in your house now.”

102. “HEY! A! I’m a guest in your house, make me food!”

103. Later on, Brian was confused as to why Aisha had made him sleep on the sofa. He
figured it was pregnancy hormones. Benton just shook his head and locked the door
to outside.

104. It may not have been pregnancy hormones, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going
around. And Aisha may have been less than happy about what was happening to her
body.
“How much bigger can I get? I better not get stretch marks…”
Fortunately her tracksuit was apparently very stretchy too.

105. Brian made a better decision of parent to let into the house this time.
Not that he ever had much of a choice. “I heard there was a baby incoming. I will see it.
Prepare everything for labour.”
“Everything?”
“Anything then.”

106. They didn’t really need it though. Aisha quickly delivered a little girl with her black hair and
dark blue eyes and a middling skintone. She was dubbed Anarchy.

107. And Benton’s paternalness kicked in immediately, as half-expected, even when he
smelled worse than the baby did.

108. But Anarchy’s actual father… Well, it hadn’t been unexpected, but perhaps not quite so
soon when Brian had just had a child. At least he’d gotten the opportunity at all.

109. And with a smiley Benton instead, Anarchy was a bit too young to understand and be sad
about what had happened.

110. Anarchy inherited a lot of her mother’s (and thereby her grandfather’s) features, but with
Brian’s eyes and brow. And five whole neat points, and only three playful points where
everybody else in the family had 10. Still, cute as a button.

111. They were minus Brian, but still their own little family, powered by smart milk and elixir.
Who even needed Kimmy?

112. ~~~ End of Chapter 4 ~~~
Lifts: Science, Hopelessness, Oceanography, Military, Gamer.