2nd Earth: Shortfall (12 page)

On Monday we are able to take down two full sides of the wall panels. On Tuesday we finish the walls and start on the frame for the walls. Frank and the farming team have plowed as much land as we can see from our porch. They have already done a lot more than I thought we would do. In talking with Frank we agreed that we should definitely plant at least twice what we will need just in case someone comes along who is also in need. It will also come in handy for barter if we find more settlements by the time the crops are ready. On Wednesday we have the entire building down and transported to our yard.

Since Monday, some of our men have been working on pouring a foundation and base for the building. One group stayed to work on the base, while the others went to the farm store in town to get more concrete mix. Frank has fallen in love with the farm store, there is so much he thinks we should get that we didn’t realize we can use it isn’t funny. He and dad have become great friends already. They work together all day, and then play cards or some other game in the evenings to pass the time. The wives always join them as well so it is working out great. They had to pour the base in sections because of its size. The first couple of sections are ready on Thursday morning so we begin putting the building back together again.

12

We have found a couple of communication tools that I neglected to mention in my excitement about getting that building. We added an old fashioned triangle bell, like they used to show on movies that was used in the old west as a dinner bell. It works great. When someone rings it you can hear it almost a mile away. We also found out that we have nine citizens band base stations, one in each house, and our trucks now all have CB radios in them as well, so we can talk wherever we are. Around mid-afternoon on Thursday we are working on the buildings wall when we hear the alarm bell sounding rather urgently. It only takes a moment to see why. There are four trucks and a bus off the main road and heading for our yard. Several of the men already have weapons in their hands and our guns are only a few short steps away.

The first vehicle is a truck about the same size as ours, the driver stops on the road rather than pull in and sits in the truck with his passenger both keeping their hands where they can be seen. That’s a very smart move with at least twenty loaded guns pointing in their direction. Tim and I tell everyone to stand down, but to be ready just in case and walk up to the first truck to see what they want. The driver tells us they just came south from Michigan and just happened to see us as they were going by on their way farther south. They thought they would at least stop and ask if we know anything about what is farther down this road. They ask if their women and children can get a drink and stretch their legs for a minute. We tell them that will be okay, but please don’t start any trouble because they can’t win.

They say that starting trouble is the farthest thing from their minds. They are very much impressed with what they can see and would like to talk to us about how we accomplished all this. The people in the bus are getting off and are looking around. It appears without counting them that there are about thirty people in this group, there are more men than women, but they look like working men not predators. A couple of them look dirty and untidy, but that could just be because of the long trip. One of the other men goes by us and says hello cheerfully, Tim and I look at each other because that voice sounds familiar. Tim says something to him and then we are sure when he answers. This is the group we were talking to that said they were in Illinois.

“Is that you Chicago?” Tim asks the young man.

“South Carolina, is that you? What are you doing in Virginia?”

“I imagine the same thing you were doing when you said you were in Illinois. We don’t blame you, there are a lot of predators out there and you definitely don’t want to tell them where you are.”

He agrees and we talk to several of them about the things we have done here and the things we are still planning to do. The women seem to be getting along fine and everyone is impressed with what they see. They ask if there is anywhere near here where they may be able to settle. I don’t waste any words telling them what will be expected if they move close to us.

“You are all more than welcome to stay in the vicinity, there is a farm about two miles from here that would fit you all nicely, but I have to warn you that we make our own law here. We treat each other with respect and everyone pulls their own weight. We have no trouble with any of our family members and we won’t tolerate it from anyone else either. As long as you remember that we will get along fine.”

They say that’s all anyone can ask for and want to know where the farm is that we are talking about. Tim, Billy, and I, along with our wives, show them where the farm we are talking about is. We have looked this place over and it is pretty much like the farm we have, but only has four houses in the group. There is a windmill that has blown down, we tell them we can help them get settled and show them the town where they can get a lot of needed supplies as well. From the looks on most of their faces we can tell they feel like we did when we found our farm, they have come home. The women say there is no time like the present to get started cleaning, so with the help of our wives, they start sweeping and cleaning the houses out. We help the men put the windmill back up and reinforce it with some heavy piping we found in the barn.

By the time we get that done it is just about supper time so we invite them back for supper and tell them if they would like the men can sleep in one of our barns and the women can sleep in a couple of the houses. One of the dirty looking guys asks me if we don’t trust them.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t trust anybody that I don’t know. If you don’t like the sleeping arrangements we have offered then go somewhere else. I couldn’t care less where you sleep, but if you get caught in the yard or around one of the houses at night, every man here will shoot first and ask questions later.”

The rest of the group says it sounds more than neighborly to them, the barn will be much better than the places they were living in up in Michigan. Some of the people say this is the first time they have seen electric lights. Dayna and some of the other ladies in our family show off a little and get out the record player and play some music for our guests. They ask how long it will take to get the windmills hooked up so that they can have electricity. We assure them that unless there is something drastically wrong with the wiring, we should have it hooked up tomorrow. They can hardly wait for that. We spend a very pleasant evening getting to know each other. Just in case though we set up watches from among the men to make sure no one tries to take advantage of anyone.

We are relieved when nothing happens and in the morning we greet our guests with a bacon and wheat pancake breakfast. We found some recipes for breakfast sausage, but we don’t have the spices we need. We are planning to try to find some when we go to town again. We get an early start on their windmills and have the two of them working by mid-afternoon. Dad helps them get the pumps for the wells working and the women have the houses just about spic and span by supper time. They come back to our farm for supper, but leave to go to their home shortly afterward. They seem like very nice people except for the dirty two, I asked Ryan, alias Chicago, if he knows those two well and he said they are just different. I will take his word for it, but we will all be watching for anything out of the ordinary.

On Monday I go back to work on the building with the rest of the guys working on this project. We hope to have it done this week, some of the guys are working on the wiring and plumbing while we work on the walls and roof. Everything is going well, it is Thursday and our neighbors have been here for a full week now. We have some of our people go over to help them out and Billy, Tom and Frank, took them to town on Tuesday. While they were there they picked up another truckload of food including the spices we need for sausage. Our neighbors got a truckload of food and a bunch of stuff from some of the other stores as well. For some reason I get a feeling that something is wrong. I used to get these feelings when a mission was going sour or something wasn’t as it should be.

I am working on the roof of the new building fastening down the sheet metal when I decide to see what may be bothering me. I noticed Jessica and Jenny heading into the woods a couple hours ago and they very seldom stay out this long. I ask a couple of the men working in the barn closest to the woods they went looking for chickens in and they say they saw them going out, but haven’t seen them come back yet. I decide to go looking for them. There are a lot of things in those woods that can hurt you very badly. Look at what happened to Dan when that bull charged them. I am about two hundred yards into the woods when I hear someone running through the woods sobbing loudly as they come. I run to meet them and it turns out to be Jenny. She is totally out of breath from running and is openly crying almost hysterically. I take her by the arms and ask her what is wrong.

“Those men from the other farm were in the woods, when we started walking toward home they chased us and mama fell down. She told me to keep going, but those men have her and they already said they were going to rape both of us when they were chasing us.”

I tell her to get home and tell Tim and Billy what she told me, I will get her mother and take care of the men. I start running and in just a couple hundred yards I hear a woman’s voice begging for them not to hurt her. They laugh and slap her across the face, I can see them now and I am hurrying, but trying to get close before they know I am here. The biggest one who happens to be the dirtiest one, grabs her blouse and rips it off laughing. He slaps her across the face again knocking her to the ground. I can’t wait any longer, I yell for them to leave her alone. They step back, but just a step. I’m sure they think because there are two of them they may have the upper hand. The smaller one has the nerve to ask if I want my turn first. I am close enough now to punch him and I do. His problem is that he jerks his head back when he sees my fist coming, and instead of hitting him in the mouth or on the nose I hit him in the throat, causing him to drop to the ground choking. Not that I care because I am not going to let these animals live now anyway. I tell Jessica to go back to the house and assure her that Jenny is okay as well. She gathers her clothes up and wrapping them around her starts walking back to the house. My eyes haven’t left those of the big dirty one. He took out a large sheath knife when I hit his partner. He is starting to catch his breath a little so I have to watch him as well now.

The big one tells me if I turn and walk away, they won’t kill me. I tell him that if he feels real lucky he is more than welcome to try, because if he can’t kill me he is going to die right here. He looks toward the one on the ground and leaps at me swinging the knife with an upward motion at my face. He has some experience with that knife. Most people will swing from side to side. People tend to lean forward when avoiding a knife so an upward motion will often catch someone in the throat. That can take the fight out of you real quick. Lucky for me I have fought several very good fighters with knives, so I know a few tricks as well. I parry his arm away from me and just miss grabbing it. He is stronger than he looks. The one on the ground jumps at my legs and I kick him under the chin snapping his head back. From the way he goes down I either broke his neck or knocked him out. At least I don’t have to worry about him for the moment. I have my 9mm with me, but I don’t want to kill this guy quickly unless I have to. In case you haven’t noticed I am not real big on forgiveness. I’m working on it, but then I meet someone like this and I take two steps back.

Fat man lunges again, I can see the worry on his face now, I should be afraid and instead I am really amused with his efforts. He makes a couple quick striking motions with the knife, but isn’t even close to me yet. He is getting desperate now, I see that his buddy had a knife and dropped it. I work my way to it and pick it up, now he will pay for hurting Jessica. Every time he lunges I cut his arm or flick the blade at his face just drawing blood. He is out of breath from the effort and I know he is going to do something really stupid, but he has no choice. He rushes me swinging the blade wildly and yelling as he does. I step to the side knocking his arm away and stick my knife into his ribs low. It is not a killing blow. He steps back and starts begging for mercy. I tell him I will give him the same mercy he was going to give Jessica and Jenny.

He tells me in a whining voice that he was only going to give them what they all want anyway. Guys like this make me sick. He must think I have lost my focus because he charges again with a smirk on his face like he is winning this fight. I knock the hand away again and swing my blade across his throat cutting almost halfway through. The look on his face says he can’t believe that he is dying, but I assure him he is when I throw him to the ground. Tim, Billy, and at least five other men come into the clearing as I am wiping the blood off my knife. They check both men and declare them both dead. I guess I did break his neck when I kicked him. Tim asks me if I’m okay, I tell him I am fine, why? He points to my side and I see a large stain of blood spreading on my shirt.

I raise the shirt and see where his knife must have cut me sometime during the fight, it’s not serious and the blood is already slowing down. Dayna pulls up in the clearing driving one of the pickup trucks. She is scared and angry when she sees that I have been injured. I assure her I’m fine and that everything will be okay now. We load the two bodies into the back of the truck. Tim and I decide to take them back to our new neighbors and have a talk with them. Dayna tells me not to go over there angry and make enemies out of our new neighbors. I invite her along so she can make sure I don’t start any trouble. When we pull into their yard they come out to see why we are here. I drop the tailgate and show them their former friends and ask them if these two had ever tried to rape any of their women. Dayna smacks me and tells me to be a little more sensitive. When three of the women spit on the bodies I don’t have to wonder anymore.

I ask them why they let people like this stay with the group. It is easy to see that Ryan is embarrassed, but he answers honestly.

“Those two came to us just before we left Michigan. They said they would kill us if we didn’t bring them along.”

He can see that I am having trouble believing that two men, not even that tough of men, could scare fifteen other men so badly.

“I know it’s hard to believe that we were afraid of them, but you have to understand that we are used to running and hiding from aggression. It’s obvious that your family is not. Believe me I have hated myself everyday that they have been with us for being such a coward.”

I tell him that he should have told us about them before it came to this, but we probably would have had to kill them anyway to keep them from teaming up with a larger force and coming back against us. We explain that many of our men were the same as they are until we taught them to fight and how to use guns. We tell them that we will go into town tomorrow and find them some guns to protect themselves. I hate to ask it, but I ask if there are any others like those two left in the group. I am addressing the women, because I’m not sure I can trust Ryan to tell me the truth. They assure me that there are not. I make sure they understand that if there are and anything happens to any of the women in our group or I hear about anything happening here, I will be back and the person who did it will meet the same fate as these two.