Not all had lost friends and family to the slavers, but most knew of someone who was either sold as a slave or had been worked to death by the outlaw gangs, and then dumped somewhere unceremoniously. By the beginning of the third day over three-hundred people had gathered and the citizen-army was growing by the hour.
Not everyone who came to fight was a combat veteran. Some weren’t veterans at all, but they came to offer whatever they could to make the fight a success. They wanted to see the slavers defeated once and for all.
Trucks begin to arrive from every direction except the west. They carried people who wanted to join the fight. Everyone arriving was armed with some sort of a weapon; a rifle, shotgun, or a sidearm.
Some were housed in the small log cabins, some filled the rooms inside the inn, and others erected small, temporary shelters in and around Avalon. Latrines were dug and sheltered by small log privacy walls. People bivouacked outside of Fitch at the fairgrounds while others set up makeshift shelters on the backside of Avalon’s main building toward the back meadow. The shelters were constructed from fallen trees cut from the large wooded area to either side of the back meadow. Small fir trees were cut down and their limbs were removed.
Five steers and three hogs were slaughtered to feed the growing army of people. About fifteen chickens were prepared for the large feed as well. For some, this was their first real meal in a long time. Most hadn’t eaten much before their arrival at Avalon.
All ate heartily at the ranch. Many of them were given medical exams and treatment, as necessary. Caroline and Dr. Dan stayed busy during the initial two days. Some had not been seen by a real doctor since before the war. Dr. Len Stroud, the retreat’s dentist also saw a number of people and treated them during their stay.
On the fourth day soldiers loaded the trucks with tents they would set up before the beginning of the battle. When the trucks returned to the retreat the rest of the soldiers were loaded up and hauled to the bivouac area to prepare for the coming conflict.
◆◆◆
As Roger and Harlan came over the horizon in their gyro-copter, they spotted another group attempting to remain unseen. They had camouflaged most of their structures, but their garden and animal pens were a dead giveaway. They circled the group and yelled down to them.
“We’re from Avalon the Retreat and the town of Fitch. We aren’t here to harm you. Please allow us to land. All we want to do is talk to you.”
They landed in a small field far enough away as to not pose a threat to the group and their structures. They shut down the gyro-copter and waited for the people to come to them. Four men came forward, carrying three rifles and one shotgun. They approached carefully; Roger and Harlan didn’t do anything provocative. They just stood there waiting.
Once the four men were within talking, range Roger appealed to them.
“We’re from Avalon and we’re located a number of miles west of the town of Fitch. We were sent out to find as many people as possible and inform them of the upcoming fight with the slavers.”
One of the men named Bill Prentice, stepped forward and called out to them.
“We’ve known for some time that there are others out there just like us. Sorry we were a little less than friendly, but in today’s situation we can’t be too careful.”
He stepped forward and offered his hand. Both Roger and Harlan shook hands with the man and the other three stepped forward to hear what Roger had to say.
“We’ve been told the slavers are getting ready to attack not only Avalon and Fitch, but as many towns they can. Did you folks get any of the brochures we dropped sometime back?”
“Yes, we read the brochures and we know about Avalon and Fitch. We were surprised to read the United States is still a country and operating with a working government. We also know about Admiral Michael Reynolds.”
“That’s great. That saves a lot of explaining.”
Harlan spoke up.
“We have a medical doctor and a dentist at Avalon. If anyone in your group needs medical attention, they can be treated at Avalon or Fitch. We’re also offering training to anyone who wants to learn how to do just about anything to be more self-sufficient in terms of growing food, raising animals, and self-defense or military tactics. Roger here is a former Army Ranger and a trained medic.”
Roger looked at the men.
“We noticed the nice garden you’re growing. Good job.”
“Yes, we’re growing our own food and raising some animals. We have a self-sustaining community that we put together a few years ago before the war started. Most of us knew we needed to do more than just sit around and twiddle our thumbs or talk about doing something. Several of us got together when we got serious and did just that. We purchased the land we live on and began improving it immediately. Why don’t you two follow us back to our compound and have a look around?”
“Is there a place a little closer to your main camp for us to taxi our gyro-copter to keep it secure?”
“Head that way.”
Bill pointed toward a small cluster of trees.
They all began to walk toward the camp as Roger taxied the gyro-copter closer.
◆◆◆
The Fitch and Avalon planners hoped the slavers would not know they were coming. Surprise was always a nice element in any battle. Hit hard and sudden then back off, melt away, and either press the attack or withdraw, whichever is most advantageous at the moment.
A field with a high plateau was identified as a good location to set up headquarters. The hospital tent was erected adjacent to a meandering creek, it was small and shallow with a steady water flow. They would need water, and plenty of it. They set up a makeshift kitchen to feed the soldiers. Full stomachs always fought better than empty ones.
Mike and Sam did a little exploring and determined the battle parameters were to be off to their left and down in a valley. The floor of this area was strewn with large rocks, most of which were the size of a beach ball, but many were the size of a small car. It would provide adequate cover. Sam and Mike knew the slavers would be attacking on dirt bikes and would be fast, with mobility superior to their own. The ultimate advantage would be to Mike and his troops and because of the surprise element, having the upper ground and the excellent cover this area provided, the strategy was in favor of the Avalon group.
The prevailing wind appeared to be blowing away from them going down into the small valley. From this plateau, Randy and Gregg came walking into camp. They had been down below scouting out the enemy positions. They explained the slavers position to Mike and Sam who were reviewing a rough map of the area.
“They are here.”
Greg interjected. He would be on an old nearby hill once the attack began. As a trained Army sniper, he and his spotter would be there. He indicated with his index finger the area on the rudimentary map he had drawn.
On the other side of this area was another prominent elevated spot that Eric Bell and his spotter, Tim, would be manning. They would have excellent coverage of the entire area and would be able to take out any key players in the slaver’s group.
“A sneak and peek this morning placed the slavers main camp here.”
He again indicated this area with his index finger.
“I suggest our main force be placed in this area and be readied for an attack.”
Mike liked it. It would certainly work. The logistics were excellent. He smiled. These men were excellent soldiers. They were all looking at him, and Mike realized he needed to elaborate on the rudimentary plan laid out by Randy.
“Oh yeah, Greg, I like it. I want you and your spotter to work your way to the position you indicated here. Once you’re set, radio us. Eric, you and your spotter make your way down to your location. Radio us once you’re in position, and then wait.”
“I want fifty men over here. They’ll protect the hospital and make sure it doesn’t get overrun. Sam, I want you to be in charge of that group. You’ll have a .30 caliber machine gun mounted here, and that will give you a g
ood sweep from left to right.”
“I want Randy to be in charge of the troops down here midway through the valley. Randy, I want two mortar teams here and here. They’ll have the opportunity for first blood. Once the old tank arrives from Fitch, we’ll place it here. I expect it to be arriving in another fifteen or twenty minutes.”
He indicated on the map where it would be situated.
As he placed the small X’s on the map, he penciled in the initials of the key players.
“I’ll take twenty men and we’ll suck them into the trap here. We have to make them believe we stumbled onto them accidentally. And, as we retreat, hopefully we’ll get them to chase us. We’ll come in this direction. We’re going to go down there in a few minutes and dig a few trenches that we can jump into once the chase has been initiated.”
Mike looked at Randy,
“I want you to take twenty men and work your way down to this point. Place Claymores there and there. If any of the bikers make the attempt to jump off to either side for cover, they’ll jump on top of the Claymores. Once you have your mines set, work your way back up to your main position and have one man ready to detonate the mines. Dig in and wait. I’ll begin to make my way toward the camp in thirty minutes. Does everyone understand what they’ll be doing and where they’ll be going?”
Each man nodded.
“Let’s end this despicable group’s reign of terror once and for all. Set your watches. We begin the attack in exactly one more hour from—Now! Good luck and Godspeed.”
Each group headed toward their designated area. Mike sent runners to notify the critical teams that the attack would launch in one more hour.
◆◆◆
Roger and Harlan walked the small retreat from one end to the other as they were introduced to the other members. In all, they were twenty-six strong. There were eight couples and ten children that ranged from four to sixteen, six girls and four boys. The main compound was comprised of small sleeping areas with one common area used for dining and social events. All of the buildings were geodesic domes.
The structure where they held their social events was thirty feet across and consisted of two stories, with a large fireplace located on one wall. The kitchen and eating dome was smaller; twenty-five feet across. It also had a fireplace on one wall. The living domes were all two stories tall and fifteen feet across. Each had a potbelly cast-iron stove located in the middle. The main dome was in the center of the living domes which were laid out in a circle with adequate spacing of twenty feet dividing one from another.
To one side of the kitchen were two beehive ovens and a large rock-lined fire pit with a rotisserie apparatus overhead that had a crank and handle. Another well was set just inside of the kitchen. Out and away from these structures were three smaller domes that appeared to be about ten feet across. One was for storing dry foods, one was a workshop and the third was the cover for a deep root cellar.
“We were very careful about who we invited into our complex here,”
Bill explained.
“It was a struggle. Everyone wanted to be in charge; a few Indians and too many chiefs. We solved that by having an election every two years. We began this process once we started building what you see here, and after we recruited most of the members, although some came later. We’ve had two elections since the first one. If at any time, we don’t like the way someone is leading us, we have the right to hold a Council meeting and remove them from office if we all agree to it. The Council is comprised of what we call the elders, that’s all of the adults here. When children reach sixteen, they can be part of the Council and they have a vote, but they can’t hold office until they reach twenty-one.”
“What were your criteria to be considered for membership in your group?”
“Primarily we tried to find people who were multifaceted in terms of their ability to do certain things. Take Terry over there.”
Bill gestured.
“He’s an excellent mechanic and can make anything run. I don’t think there is any kind of machine, he can’t fix. He’s also a gunsmith. That means anything that has to do with guns, he can do it.”
Terry was smiling.
The woman next to him was also smiling. She was a pretty strawberry blonde named Peggy. Bill continued in his matter-of-fact way.
“Peggy can grow anything and is the principal person in charge of our gardens, bringing everything for our table. And she makes sure we collect seeds from every harvest. She is also the principal cook. Not only do we raise vegetables and fruit, we also have a few animals that we raise for food. Chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, a few cows, and some hogs give us our meat. They’re located back away over there away from us and the prevailing wind.”
He pointed out and away from the crop area.
“We also have a few horses for riding and to help with large work projects like stump removal.”
Another woman and her husband were introduced. She was a little gaunt looking, but she had a big smile. Her name was Linda and her husband was called Calvin. She was a registered chemical engineer and Calvin was a pharmacist. They took care of mixing and formulating whatever remedies and medicines the group needed. Anything from scratch, such as soap and shampoo, were easily concocted with their expertise.
They worked in conjunction with another man and woman who were herbalists. She was a registered nurse and he had been a physician’s assistant and emergency medical technician who once worked as a medic for a fire department.
The rest of the small group’s members were introduced to Roger and Harlan. The two men from Avalon were duly impressed. These people had, like the previous group, put together another miniature Avalon. They had a system that made them self-sufficient. There was more to see, and Bill explained it all to them in finite detail.
Two sources of power were especially worthy of pride for this group. First, they installed a bank of solar panels on a large rotating platform which was operated by two small electric motors that rotated the entire solar array to match the movement of the sun. As the sun rose, the panels followed the sunlight and repositioned themselves after dark to wait the next sunrise. The generated electricity was stored in a bank of batteries for future use.
Computers in the social dome housed DVD players and a library full of movies on CD’s. There were two wide-screen TV’s with a centrally located panel for connecting headphones. They were adequate to keep the boredom down to a manageable level. Although the solar panels and batteries allowed them to have electric lighting, they chose to use candles and oil lanterns much of the time.
The second notable innovation used in lieu of gasoline power, was their wood splitter. It was powered by a gasification generator device consisting of a fifty-five-gallon barrel with a smaller, one-and-a-half-gallon barrel inside. Both were made of steel. The top of this apparatus contained a hose that came off the top of the smaller steel container. A fire was started in the larger drum and wood was stacked inside the smaller drum. The wood inside the smaller steel container was heated to generate a volatile gas that could be pumped into any given machine that needed a power source.
Harlan was intrigued with the group’s ingenuity.
“How difficult was it for you folks to put together enough money to begin this project?”
“It took us three years to find the perfect place for our group. Once we discovered this abandoned ten-acre tract, we immediately started the purchasing process. It was previously a working farm, but the owners and heirs had died off years before, and it just sat here, abandoned.”
“You’re glossing it over too much. Bill,”
his wife interrupted. She jumped in,
“It was so difficult finding the right piece of land that we nearly gave up all hope of finding what we needed. Most of the land we looked at was way too expensive for us to even contemplate purchasing.”
She was laughing as she remembered some of their escapades.
“Like that place over in the valley. The owners wanted
ten-million dollars for it with two-million down. It may as well have been a billion dollars because we simply couldn’t afford it. Then the realtor called us about a month later and asked us if we were interested in taking a look at this place.”
“We made arrangements to spend a couple of days checking it out. We brought our dirt bikes with us and explored every inch of the place. We found it had adequate trees, enough open space to grow some food, and a very good year-round water supply. We had the flow measured and it had enough flow rate to power a small dynamo. But with the regulations in place, we weren’t allowed to install one.
Roger asked,
“What did you do?”
“We bought one anyway and stored it for a later time such as the start of the war. The rules have changed somewhat since then.”
That made them all laugh.
“How were you able to make the purchase in the end?”
“Sally Duncan was a vital asset to the group. She had invested heavily in the stock market before the war began. She didn’t do it as an occupation. She was simply self-taught and learned enough to be on the lookout for distress sales that were good deals. She acted quickly when the opportunity presented itself. She had the good luck of having amassed a small nest egg, and combined with other assets, the bank offered her a decent credit line.
“She was introduced to Bill and Linda at a community picnic. During that first meeting they realized they had quite a bit in common. They agreed, in particular, about the way things were shaping up, not only in the country, but throughout the rest of the world.
“They talked about politics, territories, the nuclear threat that seemed to be hanging over everyone’s head, and the dire shape of the economy. One subject that was particularly bothersome to them was the constant wars the U.S. seemed to be engaged in. They exchanged phone numbers and addresses. Later they got together socially at another small event.”
Sally interrupted.
“When Bill and Linda talked about putting together a compound for future survival, I was very interested. I didn’t have much knowledge about any of this stuff, but I was concerned enough to do a bit of research on the subject. The more I read, the more I wanted to participate.”
Avalon- The Construction Page 20
