Dystopia: The Beginning of the End (8 page)

Matt put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and said, “Let’s not worry about it tonight, you and your family should stay with us for now.  Your house in town is not safe and if you had issues we could not be of much help to you in defending that location.  I will explain all that has happened tomorrow.” 

Loel agreed and everyone went to bed. 

Chapter 10

“Settling In”

“Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution.  It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.”

-Niels Bohr

The next morning everyone came together and laid out some plans for the day ahead. With the power out, they would need to figure out the solar pump for the well along with many other things to adapt to life without electricity. With all that happened the day before they wanted to make one final push to get everything they needed from the locations they came from and were sure that it had to take priority. 

Herb and Janice were off by themselves, having an animated conversation, and overhearing them, Charleigh and Toni approached, “Janice, what’s wrong. “

Janice almost in tears, said, “Our granddaughter won’t know where to find us.  If she gets out of Lexington, she will come to our house looking.” 

Charleigh, who was very good with people, gave Janice a hug and said, “Don’t you worry about that, I will go see what we can do to make sure that anyone looking for any of you can be found.” 

No one thought about this issue before, in all the mess they only thought about keeping their friends safe.  Charleigh approached her mom and told her what Janice said. 

Dez, looked pained saying, “Oh no, poor Janice, she’s right, we didn’t think about that. We’re going to have to come up with something.  And today before they leave, let’s go talk to the guys and see what we can come up with.” 

Dez and Charleigh went over to Matt and explained the issue; he agreed something had to be worked out. After a few thoughts were expressed, everyone was in agreement that just putting a note with the address was a bad idea. 

They then devised a plan to leave notes at all the places people would go looking for loved ones.  It would instruct them on what to do, saying that they were to go to an old abandoned farmhouse that was only about two miles from the group’s location and wait there until contacted.  They struggled to decide how they would distinguish those that showed up with family from those just looking to raid, and they had to figure that part out quickly. 

It was Toni that suggested the solution, she suggested that they use the CB for verification. Each day a group would go and observe the farmhouse from the hill.  They were to check and see if anyone was there.  If they found people there they would radio back and a group would be on standby to either pick up or fight off whomever they found. 

Those found at the farmhouse were to be approached cautiously and once established that it was a note that sent them there. They were to be asked whom they knew and what their names were.  This information would be radioed back to base where the person would be found.  They would then radio back questions only that specific family member or friend could answer.  Notes were prepared by all who needed them to be left and given to those that were going.

Everyone that stayed at the house had to make a count of all the people there and get together a full list of supplies; they talked of group meals to conserve these supplies.  They counted everyone and there were 7 adults and 1 child in the main house with 2 adults and a child in the cabin.  In the other house there were 8 adults, including 16-year-old Cameron, whom they counted as an adult and 5 children.

Tawny looked concerned and Dez asked her what was wrong, she said, “Do you realize that is 15 adults and 7 kids all together?  We should definitely think about making meals mess hall style or we are going to run out of food very quickly.” 

Dez admitted that was already on her mind, but didn’t quite know what to do about it.  She said she liked the mess hall idea, but this kitchen was just too small.  While they were busy discussing it, Janice came in and overhearing what they were talking about, cleared her throat to get their attention. 

Dez turned and said, “Hi Janice, what’s up?” 

Janice said, “I have an idea about the meals issue you were just discussing, are you able to reach the guys out getting the things from the cul-de-sac?”

Dez said, “Yes, we could call them on the CB, what do you have in mind?” 

Janice said “Well, that barn over there is empty and it has a nice floor, we could prepare the meals and serve them in there.  I have about 6 long folding tables in my basement with chairs, if they could get them, we could set up a mess hall.” 

Dez hopped on the CB and ordered up some tables pronto.  Herb came back over the radio and said, “What for? Is my wife planning for a yard sale?”

The girls laughed as Janice motioned for the mike and matter of factly responded to him, “Mister, don’t you be giving these ladies a hard time, you just get the tables and don’t you go forgetting the chairs.   And while you’re at it you can get them strong men to grab that old wood stove out of my canning shed too!” 

Herb wasn’t happy, but he agreed. 

“Sometimes you gotta get on that old coot.”  Janice joked.

That made the girls laugh harder, they were still giggling as they headed over to the barn to see how they could get it set up. 

The barn had a cement floor and was well put together, it could certainly be heated well.  It also had a loft for storage, and the ladies talked and thought it would be perfect, so they gathered the kids to begin sweeping it out. 

They then sat down to discuss the figuring out the supplies.   They felt it was the best choice when they decided that since some did not have much for supplies while others were well stocked, that they should gather the food in a central area so they could plan meals and keep track of it. 

Janice recommended they begin by using the refrigerated items up to save on generator fuel and also to start drying or canning anything they could.  Dez smiled at Janice, saying what a treasure she was. 

The ladies noticed that Rose barely came out of the house until today when she insisted they charge her tablet for her.  Tawny asked about Rose and Dez said she did not really know anything about her.

Janice in a lowered tone said, “I would not expect much from her, she’s not the joining type if you know what I mean.”

Toni said “well she had better learn to be.” Reminding them what Jeremy always says, “If a man shall not work, he shall not eat.” 

Dez smiled and said, “Yep, that’s my son” and laughed.

Rebecca, who was forced to remain on the sofa until she was stronger chimed in from the living room, “I think we will be ok ladies, we can make a better inventory list when the guys get back.  I want to do something, and maybe you could release me from sofa duty to do that?” 

Dez with the mother tone said, “We will see young lady” and they both laughed again. 

“It feels good to laugh when we can, days may come when we can’t” Tawny said

Matt and Connor went to the storage with Loel in the box truck; he said they would need it. Both were harassing Loel the whole way there, about how guys exaggerate the size of things. But when he opened the storage unit they were amazed at what that man had put in there, it was full. 

Loel just stood there looking as if he was Spartacus, a mighty gladiator, just after winning a ferocious battle. 

He put in there hundreds of pounds of food.  Canned meats of every kind, rice and beans, wheat and vegetables it looked like a grocery store. 

Matt said to Loel, “I can see why the urgency, holy shit man I had no idea.” 

Loel smiled and said, “That’s the point.”  He continued, “Wait till we get to the good stuff” and they began loading the truck.

When they got to the rear of the unit he had an assortment of rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Matt exclaimed “What a cache, you planning a war?”

Loel just laughed and told him to settle down, he would let him play with the toys later.

It took most of the day to clear out the storage, but they were able to do so without incident.  Even so they each took their rest time standing guard just in case. 

Herb, Jeremy, Frank, Jim, Joe and Aaron went to the cul-de-sac. First stop was to go to Herb and Janice’s, where they found that the old wood stove was actually a cook stove. It was big and needed all of the guys to load it into the truck. They got the tables and chairs Janice had demanded and some old traps Herb had kept as decorations to the shed, which was more like a big barn.  They had garden tools and some kind of grinder Herb said Janice would want, along with some canning supplies. They went through the house grabbing blankets, pillows, warm clothes and anything left in the cabinets. 

They brought coolers for the food left in the big freezer, which in only 24 hours was already starting to thaw slightly.

Joe asked, “Won’t this just go bad?”

Herb told him Janice would know what to do to preserve it.  They left a small box of food for their granddaughter along with the note they had prepared. 

Herb took Aaron with him to help bring the supplies back. He left the others to gather from the other family’s homes, saying,

“I don’t want to leave the frozen items in a cooler too long, it's best we get the ladies on preserving this or it may be lost.” 

Jeremy, Frank, Jim and Joe continued to Jim and Joe’s houses.  Neither of them had had the treasures they’d gathered at Herb’s place, but still productive. Finding blankets and warm clothes, a few first aid supplies and food.  They also went over to stop in on Randy and Sue to check on them before heading to Frank’s.  Sue was still adamant they would not leave their home. 

Sam pulled Randy off to the side and said, “You know where to find us if you need anything, but be careful not to lead others there.” 

Randy said, “I know, and we do not have much food now.”

Sam offered to leave some of what they already gathered from Jim and Joes, but Randy declined, saying, “I know we will run out and then she will be forced to leave, that and the demands of George’s group have been getting worse.  You will likely see us in a few days, once she’s hungry and no longer feels safe. 

The men shook hands and after gathering what they could at Frank’s they went over to check on Amanda.  When they got there, they were not prepared for what they saw and were thankful that Herb who also had taken Cameron with him had left. 

Amanda’s door was partially open, they knocked and there was no answer so they went in to check it out.  They called out with no response, and after searching the entire house they thought she must have left. 

As they were leaving Joe heard a slight whimper and put his hand up for them to be silent.  He jerked his head, looking to the hall closet; there, he had heard it again. 

He went to the closet and found Amanda, naked and beaten, she had been traumatized and was almost incoherent, and she started screaming and hitting at the air. 

They knew what had happened to her, although no-one spoke it.  Joe carefully wrapped her in a blanket and carried her to the truck, while the others gathered clothes and any supplies from her home.  Jeremy radioed to base that they needed a room for her and a couple of ladies to help her. 

Dez came back asking, “What happened to Amanda?”

Jeremy only said, “The worst thing that could happen to a woman, prepare someplace.”

Sam told them they could use his room, he would set up his tent.  Dez asked Janice and Tawny to help her with this; she did not want the younger women to see this right now and said that since Amanda knew Janice it might help. 

When they got back, Joe carefully carried Amanda into the house, where Janice was waiting with some food and hot tea.  Amanda on the way there had begun crying uncontrollably and was exhausted.  Janice managed to get her to eat and into a bath.  She was very soothing in the way she spoke and handled her, and Amanda fell asleep without telling them what had happened. 

Dez told the others that she would tell them when she was ready to, and no one was to push her. They already had a pretty good idea, all they needed was to know whom, and that it could wait.  One of the women kept watch on her at all times, they did not want her to wake up alone. 

Everyone else was occupied with various duties. Some of the guys were setting up the woodstove in the barn, while others were putting the supplies in the loft.  Charleigh and Toni prepared the evening meal.  They wanted to get the mess hall set up so they could eat in there.  This would also get everyone together in one place to talk about what happened today. They wasted no time in getting started with assigning watches and getting some people on crews to get things done.

                           
Chapter 11

“Thief in the Midst”

“Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants.  When we think that we are automatically entitled to something.  That is when we start walking all over others to get it.”

-Criss Jami

September 28

             
It had been just ten days since the banks closed and only three since the power went out, yet it seemed that the whole country was in chaos.  Many people ran out of food within the first few days after the banks closed.  Robberies and looting were rampant, even in their small town.   George went from militia to war lord in as many days and his gang of thugs was becoming a plague of its own.

Lexington was only 35 miles away and was the largest city close to them.  Like many large cities, there were a number of gangs in residence, including elements of a well-known and feared Mexican cartel.  The gangs and thugs had already begun to spread to the nearby communities in search of supplies.  At the morning meal the group discussed different issues they each felt needed addressing. 

Security was pretty high on the list of things to address, they had no fence and the lawn was getting tall, too tall for Jeremy’s liking.

“An intruder could sneak up simply by belly crawling in the tall grass, and without being noticed I bet.”  He argued. 

They decided some of the fuel could be spared to get it mowed.  Jeremy and Cameron volunteered to take care of it.  Sam was concerned about safety of people doing daily chores, even working in the garden he said could leave them vulnerable, “It’s out back, off to the side of the property.” 

He persisted, “I want everyone old enough to carry a firearm armed at all times, and for those unfamiliar or uncomfortable with them, we will get them trained in safety and use.” 

Rose immediately objected, saying she did not believe in guns, that they kill people and that she would not allow Jim to carry one and neither would she.  Matt looked at Jim, who just rolled his eyes as he stood there with his Glock 26 on his hip. 

Matt said to Rose, “Well Rose, I guess that is your decision and since you do not believe in guns, we will respect that choice.” 

Rose crossed her arms nodding, and looking smug. 

Matt then went on to add, “And furthermore, not I or anyone here will raise those guns to defend you out of respect for your belief.  We wish everyone to have the ability to have and voice an opinion here and we will respect that opinion on matters concerning you.” 

Rose’s smug look faded as she sat quietly. 

Dez and Tawny shared a slight giggle.  Tawny already told Dez how she had observed Rose demanding the biggest bedroom, which she was promptly kicked out of by Loel’s family. 

She told Dez, that Janice told her she treated everyone in the house like servants and that no one could stand to even be in the same room with her. 

Dez pondered this for a while as they worked on watch schedules, she too was getting annoyed by the fact that Rose seemed to demand power to charge her tablet yet would do absolutely nothing to contribute.  As the meeting continued Dez had an idea. 

It was time to discuss duties and Dez said everyone should write down what they have for skills and experience with that that they should note what chores they might prefer.

Explaining further she said, “For example, someone might be a great cook but not so good with babysitting.” 

Most thought this was great, giving them the chance to see where people fit and make it easier on all. 

As they were all writing, Rose just sat there refusing to write anything.  They only spent a few minutes writing down likes and dislikes along with special skills they each thought they could contribute. 

Dez then asked for three or four people to put together some schedules, not necessarily timed, but just days saying who would have what responsibility.

Joe volunteered and said, “I think we need at least one guy helping with the schedule or these girls are gonna have us out picking dandelions.” Then leaning back in his chair he smiled a big grin. 

Tawny was laughing and said, “Hey now, don’t be hating on the dandelions, I make a heck of a dandelion wine.”

Everyone was laughing, amidst the laughter Janice said she would help, as did Toni and Rebecca. 

Rebecca said “Since y’all won’t let me do anything right now at least I can help with this.”  

Janice smiled at her and said she would be a big help.  Toni was collecting the papers and when she got to Rose there was nothing on the paper, she asked Rose if that meant she could do most anything. 

Rose replied with a sneer saying, “I don’t think I should have to participate in your forced labor, I can cook for myself.” 

Jim was becoming visibly angry with her and said “Rose, we all need to help out it is only right that each person does their share.” 

She replied that she shouldn’t have to be scheduled to do work, she was an adult and this was not elementary school. 

Matt was losing his patience as well and said, “We live by a code and that code is...
If a man (or woman) shall not work they shall not eat...
We cannot spare food and supplies for a person who is unwilling to contribute.” 

Matt gave Jim a subtle wink, to which Jim responded with a slight grin.  Jim had been considering divorce since long before this happened because of this attitude she had and did not care what it took to make her do something… anything. 

She was angry, standing up and yelling, “So if I don’t agree to be your slave you will not let me eat.” 

Matt replied, “No, ma’am, you may have all of the food that came from your home. You may also hunt or gather from the woods.  The garden and other’s supplies are off limits, if you did not plant it and do not work in it you have no right to it, but you are free to do as you please. No one will force you to participate in any way.” 

She sat looking smug and said to Jim, “You need to go get our food and put it away.”

To which Jim nodded a slow no, he said to her, “I choose to participate, all of these people were kind to us, I will help where I can and eat with them.  You, go get it yourself.”

She got up and stormed off, cursing under her breath.

After she left, Janice said to no one in particular “I for one am glad someone put their foot down.  I’m sick of her crap.  Always demanding the generator be used to charge her tablet and ordering people around in the house.” 

Matt said to Dez, “No work, no juice.” 

Dez agreed and they all headed off to do their own thing for the evening.  Sam and Tawny were on watch until midnight when Lynn and Joe would take over. Tonight’s schedule was set and they agreed to look at the scheduling to make certain that whoever was on an overnight watch would have light duty the prior day so they would be alert. They should do logistics or other light work, nothing back breaking following because of the loss of sleep they didn’t want any accidents.

On their way over to the house Aaron approached them and told them he needed to leave. 

Matt said, “What’s up Aaron, are you not ok with things?” 

Aaron replied, “No, no that isn’t it, I think y’all are doing great and have been more than generous with everyone, even that bitch Rose.” 

Matt shook his head saying, “Then what is wrong?”

It’s just that my ex-wife and kids live up north of Lexington in Georgetown, I’m worried about them.  I need to get there and check on them.”  Aaron said.

Dez looked sad saying, “Oh Aaron, I didn’t know.  We could have gone for them before and you would not be worried right now.” 

She looked at Matt saying, “We should ask for a volunteer or two to help you.” 

Aaron shook his head saying, “No, I won’t try to come back down here.  I’m planning to take them to my parent’s house.  It is much further out than where they are now, about fifteen miles east of I-75, we will be safe there.” 

Matt told him to see them in the morning that they could top off his gas tank and get him supplied for the trip.  He thanked them and said he would see them in the morning.

The next morning at breakfast Rose came into the mess hall expecting her breakfast like nothing had happened, which she was denied.  She was told to choose a job from the list posted to help with for the day and she could help herself to anything she liked.  She flatly refused and left.  Later on the others saw her eating cheerios from the box, although no one said it everyone thought she deserved it and went on to tend to the needs of the day.

Aaron was fed a hearty breakfast and given sandwiches for the trip, there was soda and water and chips as well.  Although Georgetown was only about an hour away, they did not know how the roads would be and wanted to be sure he had supplies.  He was loaded with a tent, and other camping gear, along with four boxes of food, one of which was MREs. 

The guys topped off his fuel tanks and goodbyes were said, everyone was sad to see him go and wished him luck.

Matt pulled him aside and told him that if it didn’t pan out or they had issues to come back.  He also told him how to find the property in case they had to leave here.  Aaron said he was grateful for all they had done and headed down the road.  No one knew if they would see him again, his leaving made for a quiet day amongst all. 

While Janice along with Charleigh, Toni and Rebecca oversaw the preservation of all the things that could be preserved.  Dez, Tawny and Lynn tended the garden and began planning a cold frame to extend the growing season for some of the heartier crops. 

Matt, Sam, and Connor were looking over the property for defensive issues and made plans to address any they found.  Sam mentioned earlier in the day that they had not seen the last of George and that they’d better be ready. Jeremy and Loel took to working on some of the water and heating issues.  Noting that while the main house and the barn had wood stoves the back house had no heat or water. 

Jeremy showed Loel a design he and Herb were trying to make work, explaining how they could build solar convection heaters on the windows.  They went off to find Herb to get them rolling with it. 

Loel was amazed after they built the first one. They used pieces of foam board insulation, black paint and some liquid nails.  Herb said that while permanent installation on the windows was not ideal they did not have all they needed to make ones that could be removed. 

They measured a few of the windows that had the best sunlight and cut pieces to fit snugly into the window frame. They then cut more pieces of insulation about 4 inches wide to make a sort of maze flowing upward.  It had a hole in the bottom of the big piece on the right and another at the top left.  The maze made it so the cold air would be drawn in the bottom and as it was heated it would naturally rise through the maze and be forced out the hole at the top.  All was painted black to increase the heating of the air and they were fitted into their respective windows and secured with the liquid nail. 

They immediately began producing heat, but this would only work as long as there was sunlight.  The temps would drop at night, but for now it was not that cold and this would work to warm the house in the afternoons. 

They set for themselves some goals and a list of projects, including using the two new rain barrels to catch the rain from the roof. This would help with water needs if there was no sun for the solar water pump.  They were using the generator for the well pump for these past few days, but knew long term this was not going to last. 

Tawny was working on setting up the solar pump, being an electrician really came in handy quite often.  Dez was getting the solar panels she had in storage out of the shed.  She had some plans to set them out for charging small electronics with an inverter and the two car batteries, they purchased plus the two they already had on hand. She enlisted the help of Tawny to set up the batteries, something about stinging them in series. 

Dez mumbled as she walked over to Tawny, “Series increases volts or is it amp hours?”

Shaking her head as she came over she yelled out to Tawny, “Is it series or parallel?”

Tawny smiled, saying, “You will never get the two straight will you?”

Dez shrugged, saying, “That’s what I have you for.”

Tawny put her hand up and bowed her head as if to indicate no applause needed and said, “For this we will hook them up parallel, because we only need 12 volts.”

Dez was hoping to surprise everyone with a TV and DVD for some movie nights in the barn, she wasn’t sure if it could handle a larger TV, but opted to try as it would be easier for everyone to see, Tawny was pretty sure it would hold up just fine. 

She got Janice, Herb and Toni to help her and Tawny with the project and hoped they could have it done and reveal a movie after dinner.

Joe and Cameron were out collecting firewood for the big cook stove in the mess hall when they came across something under a tarp.  It was a few boxes of food and things.  It surprised them that they were things that were missing from the house they were staying in. 

They had a thief in their midst.  Cameron wanted to bring the things back, but Joe cautioned to leave it just as they had found it.  When they told Matt he cautioned them to keep silent, saying, “Say nothing to anyone.”