Doing The Apocalypse Shuffle: Southern Prepper Adventure Fiction of Survival Grid Down (Old Preppers Die Hard Book 2) (2 page)

That’s what Farley needed to do now, pass on some wisdom  and woods lore to those less informed. Farley had managed to somehow become the unelected leader of a small group of survivors that needed his assistance and he their friendship and support.

Times and technology had changed so fast that Farley was considered a dinosaur by some of the younger generations because of his admission of not even having more than a basic cell phone to his name just a couple months ago. That technology and knowledge put those young guys and gals in forefront for modern survival skills when the grid was up, but his remembering so much primitive or back to basics survival things now put him far ahead of the pack.

He could also say his knowledge of the use and function of the actual modern day traps and snares that he had brought along with him allowed him access to major technology that they might never be able to posses personally.  Nobody was building modern day traps and snares anymore and he doubted anyone would ever trade such a rare commodity. That he had a sufficient amount of them to put in service for food procurement now was akin to a marvel.

Farley was all they had as the latest greatest thing that a lot of people could have hoped for to have around technology or survival wisdom wise. A leftover relic from the past that now regardless of the fact that he only had only a glimmer of an idea of what an X box or a game station was previously, knew this new/old survival game expertly.

His current young acquaintance aggravated Farley no end though, constantly bemoaning the fact that he missed the grid up days with free access to plug and play electricity of playing zombie blasters on his smart phone and trying to explain to Farley all sorts of odd sounding hunting games that lived on the internet or on applications he had never heard of…

Farley had run across in his travels two displaced souls previously that either fate or bad luck had put before him to look out for that were about as adept in this world as his old country boy self would have been seeing himself dressing up in a top hat and going to an Italian opera recital in New York City.

That sort of thing just didn’t translate to his laid back self or for that matter anyone else he knew. Farley figured that being merely uncomfortable in a situation didn’t translate into being able to avoid it wisely or be sociable enough to get help from others to try and understand it if you were forced to live it.

Well, that was not quite true, Farley lived to try to get people to understand things especially be it physical or mental survival and he was in his element as far as that application of wisdom was concerned. That they thought his preparedness tips and tricks were now cool versus media hyped odd “Doomsday Prepper” crazy survivalist lore was something they sought out and asked for rather than criticized.

It wasn’t an easy job teaching these greenhorns. He hadn’t even had a chance to teach his new charges the basics of what wisdom was written in the annals of an official Boy scout manual yet about putting their pinkie toe into the wilderness before they were depending on him for everything and anything from who has the roll of Charmin for a toilet break to “Hey you idiot don’t reach under that log without looking, there might be a snake under it to bite you!” Farley took it in stride though and did his best to bring them up to speed as quick as possible.

Questions about what did a poisonous snake look like and what was not one as well as their habits and the habits of other critters mixed in with other numerous rules of life they should have learned growing up at least a little bit in his opinion consumed most of his day lately.

Farley could be said to be a natural born teacher and leader but his patience had let him down more than once trying to talk to generations or people who had a different way of looking at or approaching things.

His new found crew was a mixed bag of stranded and bewildered people to say the least. A formerly mentally medicated woman far from home along with her young teenage son that was a bit of a wild child, a Retired Air force veteran who just happened to be a Chinese American with California like liberal tendencies and his Vietnamese wife that seemed to enjoy fussing about most things in general.

The “Tribe” as everyone now called this weird association of individual relations with each other and this place they all now called home had begun only yesterday it seemed like when Farley had inadvertently stepped into everyone’s lives. That a fanfare of problems came with him that he couldn’t help they accepted, that they couldn’t sustain themselves alone wasn’t his fault or responsibility rather something they all had to accept and so they were now committed to each other. He didn’t know how or for that matter why, but something in him had said take this group on to insure his own survival and he had done so gladly but with reservations.

He was aware of the dangers that other people bring with them during a time of mass chaos and civil unrest. The world is a dangerous place and without law and order it's a hundred times more dangerous. He thought about that and called himself lucky for finding these friends. With others he tried being as careful as he could be under the circumstances.

Farley remembered move in day at the military lake resort fondly but still wondered what he had got himself into this time as he reminisced to himself about that day.

“Miss Feng, your husband Charlie said it would be all right if we camped out here for a few days down at the cabins if it was all right with you, in exchange for a few chores around here by me.” Farley had begun the discussion on that fateful day not long ago with an Asian women speaking pidgin English.

“In exchange for what he say trade? He no tell me about this? I no problem you stay at cabins but what did crazy old man offer you without talking to me first? Crazy man!” Charlie’s wife Feng had blurted out upon his first broaching the subject of him and Becky and her son possibly moving into some vacant vacationer cabins for the duration.

“Miss Feng you know all about my obviously bad and unfortunate encounter with that insane old man and the axe so we decided that it might be a good idea for me to just hang out here and lay low for a bit. Charlie and I decided in lieu of me paying any kind of rent or making other arrangements that I could fix the security gates and see about some tasks around here like doing some light construction or getting some wild game for the stew pot.” Farley said before being harangued by the small feisty Asiatic woman again that he couldn’t just think he was going to sit around with Charlie and drink beer and stay there for free by not doing any of that work he proposed.

Once a pause in the bickering amongst them all had ceased and a chattering truce was called, Farley had set about doing the chores he had contracted for and had undertaken much more than he had even planned on doing for securing the welfare, comfort and safety of everyone involved that he had in his own optimistic euphemism referred to as having been ‘taken under his wing’.

Farley, Becky and Jeremy went to check out the cabins and chose which ones they wanted. The inside of the cabins were pretty much all uniformly  the same and they finally decided to choose the last two on the end going towards the Wu’s house.

Farley mentioned that when they ended up moving over here full time later today that they should park their vehicles at one of the other cabins they were not occupying rather than their own new homes. By spacing them out, he hoped that to any outside observer that might find their way over to this place or remember it for looting or foraging might think there were more people living here than just them.

He scratched his head and tried to think of any other possible ways to get the same effect but couldn’t come up with anything other than maybe occasionally moving their cook fire around. They had enjoyed a communal meal with Charlie and his family today getting to know each other but for now Farley figured they would eat at their own respective cabins mostly and Charlie and his family would eat at their place.

There would be some barter going on between Farley and Charlie Wu regarding  Farley’s long term storage food versus some supplies that Charlie was in control of that were left behind in the lake resorts snack bar and small store.  Charlie had been the civilian military employee administrator for this Air Force recreational facility and possessed the keys to the kingdom as it were of this now abandoned and forsaken place.

Charlie and his family had been mostly subsisting on frozen hamburgers and hotdogs kept cold by the use of an emergency generator but fuel for it was running out. For Farley and crew finding someone possessing such a bounty of these types of delicacies though was like finding a fountain in the middle of the desert. This small amount of food stores left wouldn’t last long though and needed to be eaten up well before the gas ran out.    Farley was going to try his hand at making hot dog rolls soon in his Dutch oven but he said that he couldn’t guarantee what kind of results he would have other than it would be some kind of biscuit shaped like a hot dog bun.

Farley figured they would be sharing a communal meal together off and on often enough if for no other reason than splitting up big cans of long term freeze-dried food was easier that way, as was tasting everyone’s different way of cooking and sharing the task. Later on when their supply started getting low, the communal pot was probably the best way to go though when they became more dependent on hunting and gathering but that wasn’t necessary right now. What was necessary now was the bonding and formation of their survival family or tribe as they began to refer to the arrangement.

“Farley, did you get yourself and everything moved in all right?” Charlie asked as he walked over to Farley’s place from Becky’s cabin.

“I pretty much got enough stuff unloaded for now I suppose. I got a lot of goods I brought along with me in that van and I haven’t wrapped my head around how to distribute or store it best. You know, Charlie, that driving all these preps and other crap around is kind of like being a Brink’s truck driver hauling gold or something and having no place you feel comfortable with delivering it at. Well let’s put it a different way now, once that driver decides to just park it, where do you stash all that bullion? I need to spread it out and cache it here and there but I am not comfortable doing that just yet. I have many practical and personal reasons to consider. You got to understand that I have been standing armed guard over my food and supplies with a gun 24/7 and for me to be even be considering leaving stuff behind tomorrow is hard even if I know I should be back in a few hours but it worries me. Oh, I know you all won’t bother my stuff at all or I wouldn’t be leaving it but I am not here to guard it either and it wasn’t too long ago I was worrying about having to walk away from it when I needed it most when I broke down on the side of that road.” Farley said a bit somberly.

“I can see your worries about even setting a bowl of rice down while you’re eating these days for fear of it getting spilled or something. The loss of even a grain of rice these days can be a tragedy. You can put some of your stuff up at my house if you want and get it when you come back. I can’t guard it too well seeing that I don’t have any firearms as you know but it will be at least harder to find and get to besides here.” Charlie offered.

“Thanks, I was considering that. We got to do something to remedy that gun situation. I got a few ideas how to go about that but we will discuss that in the morning. I only have my two weapons so I don’t have anything to lend you.” Farley said.

“Darn, I am sorry to hear that. I thought for sure with all that stuff you said you brought with you that you might have something to lend or sell to me. That’s one reason I waited to talk to you alone. How you planning on remedying that, if you don’t mind me asking?” Charlie asked.

“Oh, guns are not nearly as hard to find as you might imagine. This country is full of them, it’s the procuring one without getting shot or worse that is sometimes the problem. I will tell you an odd little secret. Where do you think the easiest place to find a pistol is nowadays?” Farley asked.

“I dunno, that’s a good question.” Charlie responded waiting for the answer.

“Cemeteries… Isn’t that bizarre? Folks committing suicide often go to cemeteries to die so they can be around their loved ones. Course these days whatever you might find would be rusted to hell and back but it’s not a bad place to find ammo and parts. I tell you another thing, lots of people have done themselves in outside like on their front porch for some reason. It’s spookier than hell to see a real corpse sitting in a chair having done themselves in by committing suicide, by overdosing on drugs or something on someone’s patio like its Halloween or something.” Farley said flashing back on some of the more gruesome sights he had seen so far in this apocalypse. He had still not gotten the stench of rotting bodies and pets out of his nostrils yet that seemed to follow him just like the screams and the acrid burning house smoke from the city that was forever etched into his senses and memories.