by N. C. Reed
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
It was late into March when the first long break of good weather seemed to stick around. Good was relative, of course, with temperatures in the fifties and strong winds. Still, it beat being buried in snow.
As the small community began to dig out, they surveyed the damage. Thankfully none of their own homes or buildings were damaged. Their perimeter system had suffered, and Howie took this long period of good weather to start working on that. It took him almost a week, but the alarms and cameras were finally all running again.
Billy and Danny spent three days working on the Todd farm to get everything back to battery. Once that was done, Billy told Danny he trusted him to look after the animals from now on, but to call if he needed any help at all. Danny took this trusted post with a swelled chest, proud that Billy would trust him so.
Billy then disappeared into his ‘shop’.
He had work to do.
*****
Billy was sitting outside studying a map when Pete rode into the yard.
“Hey, Pete!” Billy grinned. “How ya doin’?”
“Passin’ fair,” Pete nodded, grinning in return as he stepped down off his horse. “You guys about caught up?”
“Have been a couple days,” Billy assured him. “Got lucky this go ‘round.”
“I think we all did,” Pete nodded. “Was headed over to see Michelle, thought I’d stop in and say hello.”
“Guess it was a long winter for ya, huh?” Billy grinned.
“Made some snowshoes,” Pete chuckled. “Spent a lot o’ time at the Silvers’ place.”
“That’s the way to plan,” Billy laughed.
“What you doin’, anyway,” Pete asked, his head nodding at the map.
“Ah, just lookin’ at stuff,” Billy replied vaguely.
“What kind of ‘stuff’?”
“Railroad trestles and such,” Billy told him, his voice low.
“So that’s your idea,” Pete said, comprehension dawning. “How you plan on going about it?” he asked, interested.
“Ain’t made up my mind just yet,” Billy admitted. “Still studyin’ the layout so to speak. And a lot depends on what they do.”
“Well, I’m in, whatever it is,” Pete grinned suddenly. Billy looked at him for a long minute, then nodded firmly.
“Works for me.”
*****
“Jerry, reckon you’re the one knows what’s best, here,” Billy mentioned. “Reckon you oughta start us off.” Everyone who would be part of the communal work on the farms was gathered for a meeting. They all realized that there was no time to waste. They needed to get crops in the ground, and other work started. Sooner would be much better than later.
“Well, we got to get as much land broke up and fit to plant as we can manage, o’ course,” Jerry told them. “And some o’ that’s gonna depend on fuel and manpower. But we got to decide what we aim to plant, and make sure we got seed enough to do it.”
“We need plenty of rapeseed, for the bio fuel,” Ralph spoke up. George nodded his agreement.
“And we need a lot o' corn for the hogs,” Billy added, brow furrowed.
“And we got to have more hay,” Jon Kelvey spoke up. “Ran way too low, this time.”
“Now you’re startin’ to see the problem,” Jerry sighed. “Can’t just throw some seed at the ground, and that’s it. Takes plannin’, and good management. Gotta plant so that everything don’t come ready at once, or you loose some of it. Not to mention, we need a place to store the grains. Ain’t got near enough o’ that, right now.”
“So we get the crops in, and then start working on the storage?” Terry Blaine asked. “I can see that working. And it’s a good management of our time, seems like. We don’t have to be ready at planting time. Just at harvest.”
“That’s simplified, but mostly right,” Jerry agreed. “Thing is, if we make a mistake, we may not have enough time to fix it. And we don’t want everything in one place, neither. We need to spread everything around some.”
“Okay, so all we’re gonna plant is corn, rapeseed, and hay?” George asked. “And none o’ that is for us, right?”
“Right,” Jerry nodded. “Everybody will need to get gardens in, and grow their own. We’ll plant some wheat, though, and make sure everybody gets flour. And we’ll set aside some corn for meal, too.”
“Sounds like a long summer to me,” Toby sighed. He wasn’t really surprised. This wasn’t anything different from the way the Silvers’ had lived all his life.
“Well, we can get the breaking done right off, I should think, we got plenty o’ tools, and drivers.”
“Well, then, let’s get down to the bones o’ this plannin’, and we’ll start plowin’ tomorrow, right?”
*****
The work was hard, but not especially difficult. After a few trial runs, the consensus was that Jon Kelvey and Jerry Silvers would be the drivers. Both men were much better than the others handling the tractors and equipment needed to get ready for planting.
There were issues. The noise of the equipment would attract anyone in the area to come take a look. It was agreed that the security shack would be manned around the clock starting immediately. Everyone was given a weapons refresher, and those who didn’t have sidearms were issued them, and told to wear them at all times, or keep them near when sleeping, bathing, and so forth.
Spotters would also accompany Jon and Jerry as they worked to prepare various fields for planting. Their attention would of necessity be focused on operating the tractors. Someone would need to watch their backs.
After three weeks of pleasant weather, it was decided to go ahead and start the gardens. There were several plants that could be planted early, that a frost wouldn’t hamper. In three days time a decent greenhouse was started on the Todd farm, and several of the women gathered to get starter plants going inside. When the weather permitted additional planting, they’d be prepared.
By mid-April, the gardens were planted, as were the fields. It had been hard work, and almost everyone was tired. After months of enforced inactivity, the sudden spurt of hard work had everyone tired and sore. It was decided by the women that a social gathering was indicated.
The outing would take place at the Todd household this time. Billy, Danny, Toby and Pete left early one morning in two trucks, returning in the afternoon with various playground equipment. They worked the rest of the day setting everything up temporarily the Todd farm, with plans to relocate most of it to the Clifton Home once the gathering was passed. Kids needed playtime, Billy had decreed.
One of the fatter calves, and two goats were slaughtered and cooked over open fires for most of a night, to be ready for serving on the next day. As usual the men folk gathered around these fires and performed manly bonding rituals.
Pete volunteered to man the security systems, and Michelle Silvers, unsurprisingly, offered to help. Billy joined the ‘circle’, but he and Toby remained completely sober, just in case. There was no getting around the fact that these were dangerous times.
The day of the ‘social’ as it was being called was a full day of food, games, talking an playing. Everyone had a good time, with the men taking turns on watch. Every two hours, two of them would saddle horses and ride the perimeter of the farms, as the two currently on watch would return to the gathering. The same schedule was used for the security shack, making sure that everything was safe while everyone got a chance to let their hair down and recover from the long winter.
Debby Purdy joined the party too. It was the first time she’d been away from the house since her problems had come to a head. She was shy at first, uneasy as to how people would take her being there. But Amy had explained to everyone what had happened, and the fact that Debby wasn’t truly to blame for what had happened to her, and the others were willing to let it go.
As the day wore on, and Debby realized that everyone was glad to see her back on her feet, she relaxed, and began to enjoy herself.
All
in all, it was a very good day for the little community, and one that was long overdue. Tomorrow would bring a new round of chores for everyone, and the work would start early. But today, everyone just enjoyed the company.
CHAPTER SIXTY
It was the first of May. Billy and Danny were looking over their own herd, which had grown considerably. There was talk of taking some cattle to Franklin for trade, and the two of them were discussing what members of their herd might be suitable for that.
“I don’t think we should take the bull,” Danny said. “He’s young, but he’ll be a good new bloodline.”
“Be hard for us to use ‘im,” Billy shook his head.
“But there’s other cattle,” Danny pointed out. “We can use ‘im in the big herd. Trade ‘im out for one over there.” Billy considered that.
“Good point. New blood for us, and for the big herd,” he finally nodded. “Good idea. We’ll do that.” He looked at his adopted son.
“You know, we’re gonna have to keep good strict records on the breeding,” he noted. “Reckon you can handle that?” Danny looked up at Billy.
“You’d trust me to take care o’ somethin’ like that?” he asked.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Billy countered. “You’re plenty smart.”
“I. . .sure, I can do it!” Danny grinned.
“Might want to get a good notebook from Rhonda, and get started then,” Billy told him. “You need to keep good notes, and make sure they’re accurate. Might not matter right now, but down the road, it’ll be important. We need to keep the herd healthy, and strong.”
“I’ll start today,” Danny promised.
“We got records already for the original herd of ours,” Billy told him. “I’ll get’em for you when we get back. I want you to get Mary to help you. We need everybody able to take care o’ things.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s head over to check. . . .” he stopped as he saw Mary running toward them.
“Pete needs to talk to you!” she shouted before she reached them. “He called on the radio, said he’s on his way over, and it’s important!”
*****
“We maybe got a problem,” Pete said, as he took the offered glass of water. Danny was walking Pete’s horse, which had been winded by the ride.
“What kind o’ problem?”
“There was a small settlement west of Nashville. A town called Weber. More of a community than an actual town, but it was doing pretty well. Kinda like us, with people moving in there to work together.”
“Okay,” Billy nodded. “What about’em.”
“Well, they were on the radio about once a week,” Pete told him. “Just average stuff. Sharing weather info, looking for trades, that kinda thing. Terry or Jerry one have talked to them off and on all winter.” He paused, looking off for a minute, then taking a deep breath.
“We ain’t heard from them in almost three weeks. Not a peep.” Billy frowned.
“Maybe they lost their generator?” he asked. Pete shook his head.
“They’re using a combination of solar and pedal power for their radio,” he told Billy. “They got more than one radio, too,” he added, pensive.
“So you think something happened to’em,” Billy said.
“I think it’s likely,” Pete nodded.
“So what you wanna do?” Billy asked. “You wantin’ to take a ride up there, and see for yourself?”
“I. . .well, I don’t know,” Pete shrugged. “On the one hand, it would be nice to see what’s wrong. To know, you know? If it is radio trouble, we could take them one of the spares we have, maybe get’em back running.”
“On the other hand,” Pete went on, “there’s the possibility that we’d run into trouble ourselves. I don’t know what to do, Billy. I guess I was hoping you’d have an idea.” Billy frowned.
“I don’t know,” he mused. “How far is it?”
“About seventy miles,” Pete admitted. “Maybe a bit more or less. And we don’t know anything about the road conditions between here and there. At least not once we’re out of our area.” Billy pondered that. Finally, he sighed.
“I don’t see how we can help,” he admitted finally. “I mean, that’s a long way, into an unknown area. And we don’t actually know anybody up there. We might wind up walkin’ into somethin’ tryin’ to help.”
“And we can’t really spare anybody from here for a long time,” he added, rising from his seat and beginning to pace slowly. “We can barely cover what we got as it is. Send two or three people that far away, we might be askin’ for trouble here at home.” He looked back at Pete.
“I hate to say it, buddy, but I think it’s too much to risk,” he said finally. Pete nodded slowly.
“That was the decision I came to,” he said sadly. “I guess I just wanted someone to tell me I was right. I feel bad not going, but I’d feel worse if something happened here while I was gone.”
“I know how ya feel,” Billy agreed. “But we got to look out for ourselves first. I’m all for helpin’ anybody we can, so long as it don’t hurt us. Know what I mean?”
“I agree,” Pete nodded firmly. “There’s to much to risk here. Thanks, Billy.
“Anytime.”
*****
“You’re awfully quiet,” Rhonda said, as she and Billy cleaned up after supper.
“Just thinkin’,” he told her.
“What about?”
Billy told her about his conversation with Pete earlier in the day. She listened without comment, but was visibly relieved when she realized that Billy had been against going to Weber.
“I ain’t gonna put us a risk,” Billy told her flatly. “I’d like to be able to help, but it’s just too far. And too risky.”
“I know you want to help, honey,” Rhonda told him. “But I’m glad you won’t be going. I. . .I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I know. And it ain’t fair to you and the kids to keep runnin’ off. Can’t say we won’t have to some times, but when it’s too much to risk, I just can’t see that it’s worth it.”
“Good,” she hugged him.
*****
Billy woke up abruptly around three in the morning. Something was nagging at him, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. There was something he had missed, somewhere. Taking care not to wake Rhonda, he eased out of their bedroom and started downstairs. Rommel was at the foot of the stairs, keeping guard. He raised his head, looking at his person, and Billy stopped to ruff the great dog’s head, then went into the study.
A map of the area was pinned to the wall, and he walked to it, studying. He soon found Weber on the map. A tiny dot along a state highway. He looked at the area around the small farm community, finally seeing what had bothered him.
A railway. Less than five miles from Weber. Crossing the same highway that bisected the small community.
Perfect for a train borne convoy.
*****
Billy shared his revelation with Pete the next day, but both agreed there was still too much risk for them to go and see for themselves. Both hated that fact, but realized there was nothing they could do to change that. The two of them decided they would make a circuit of the Farms, making sure of their own security. It was early, and they packed food and water for the whole day.
It was a chance for Billy to show Pete more of the back country, too. The Native American ex-soldier had an uncanny ability to remember terrain, and once Billy showed him something, it remained Pete’s knowledge from then on. So he spent the bulk of the day showing his friend various fire and game trails all over the valley, as well as ‘shortcuts’ that allowed much faster travel from point to point.
“This is great country, Billy,” Pete noted, as they sat on the rim of the valley, looking out over the Farms.
“Yeah,” Billy nodded. “I ain’t never lived no where but here. Ain’t never really been nowhere but here, and a few places around. It’s always been home.”
The two of them rode back by a di
fferent route, taking their time, watching for anything out of place or suspicious. They checked on a number of places that seemed to offer natural lookout posts, but found nothing anywhere to indicate they were being watched.
“Well, reckon it’s gettin’ on for five or so,” Billy looked at the sky as they approached the house where Pete lived with the Blaine’s. “Reckon I better be gettin’ on back.” Pete looked at his watch, shaking his head. It was ten till.
“You’re gonna have to tell me how you do that, sometime.”
“Do what?” Billy asked, puzzled.
“Never mind,” Pete sighed. “I’ll see ya tomorrow, Billy.”
“Take it easy,” Billy waved, and headed home.
*****
Two days later, Billy was working in his shop when his his radio crackled. They didn’t use the little GRMS radio’s except in an emergency, to avoid anyone monitoring frequencies to overhear them, and come looking for the Farms.
“Billy, Pete, Terry, we got visitors,” Howie’s voice came through clear. He was obviously excited, but he kept his voice as calm as he could. “There’s a group on foot, looks like ten adults and maybe that many kids, on Cedar Bend Road. They’re east of the crossroads. Less than half a mile from it.” Cedar Bend Road was the road into town from the Farms. The intersection he spoke of was where the road to the Clifton Home, and to Terry Blaine’s house, crossed the main road.
“Are they armed?” Blaine’s voice came back almost at once. The group had decided that when there was a ‘tactical’ matter, Terry or Pete one would be in charge if they were available.
“It’s hard to tell from this distance,” Howie admitted. “But at least three of the men are carrying long guns. Two of the males are out front by fifty yards or so. They’re already at the intersection. Waiting for the rest, looks like.”
“Billy, I want you and Toby to take the blind east of the intersection. You should be able to get into it unseen. Pete and I will make contact. You back us up.”
