2nd Earth: Shortfall

by Edward Vought

  I check him out with the scope and see he is carrying a couple of grenades. Now where they got those I can only guess, probably they found a collectors stash in one of the houses. This changes the complexion a little now. I have to take the one working his way around the guys first. Tim says he sees the guy so I can take the guy in the house, they will take care of the one on the ground. I switch my sight back to the house with Rachel and the attacker has moved again. I go back to my original window and he is talking to Rachel, the look on his face is not pleasant so I figure to heck with it and take the shot. He drops like a sack of potatoes and just as he hits the floor I hear an explosion that rocks the building I am in. I am thrown back by the force and when I get back to the window I can see that about half the house across the street from where Rachel is has been blown up. Rachel runs out of the house she is in right into Billy’s arms and Tim asks me if I’m alright.

  He tells me that the coast is clear so I can come down now. When I get back to them they tell me what happened. The guy that was sneaking up on them didn’t quite make it. Tim caught him before he got close enough to toss the grenade at them. Tim took the two grenades that the guy had and was coming back with them when he saw two of the guys coming out the back again. Those two had grenades in their hands with the pins already pulled because when Tim shot one of them he dropped his and it went off causing the other one to go off as well. Then there was an explosion inside the house which took out half the house and everybody in it. That settles the problem of what to do with them. Rachel is her old self after thanking us for coming to her rescue. We check the house that exploded and there is no sign of life although there are several dead bodies in the rubble.

  We are leaving town when we see a pickup truck driving toward us from the direction of home. It’s some of our neighbors who heard the alarm and came running to see if we need any help. That makes us feel good, plus they are able to tell us how the guys in town knew where to look. Ryan tells us that after we killed those two who attacked Jessica, one of their men took off and they haven’t seen him since. They check out the bodies and tell us that the second one I shot is the one that took off. Well we shouldn’t have any more trouble with these guys. The ride back home on the motorcycle is a bit warmer because I stopped at a store and found a nice heavy work coat, a hat, and some gloves. Rachel wants to ride with me on the way home because she has never been on a motorcycle before. When we get home she recounts the whole adventure to everyone. It’s not quite how I remember it, but it’s close enough.

  15

  The winter is going by and life as always takes on a routine that most of us tend to get bored with. We found that we don’t generate enough electricity with the two windmills we have, so we decided as a council, to put up two more and divide the load more evenly. The parts are all available at the farm store so all we have to do is do it. We have been using propane to heat our homes and augmenting with the wood stoves. I am concerned at the rate that we use up propane. It is to be expected with the number of people and especially with the new babies. I just wish we had a renewable source for propane, like we have with the windmills. We discuss the possibility of going to electric baseboard heat when we install the other two windmills.

  Our neighbors are doing well, they are learning fast and we share knowledge and labor whenever it is possible. It seems that we are sharing more than that, Dayna always tells me I’m clueless and I am afraid I prove her right more times than not. I just found out this morning that some of our young ladies have moved over to our neighbor’s farm to marry some of their men and some of our neighbors have moved over to our farm to marry some of our people. When I mentioned this to Dayna, Robin, and Melissa at lunch, Robin tells the others that she warned them that having more than one wife would probably either cripple or kill me. They all laugh of course, but Dayna defends me. She tells the others that it has nothing to do with it, I was always this way. That gets more laughs than Robins comments, Karen who is six and Tammy and Tina who are four, come over to me and taking my face between her little hands Karen tells me she thinks I am just about the best daddy in the world. Her sister Kathy and brother Teddy agree with her, I stick my tongue out at the ladies and hug my favorite little girls. Teddy says he is getting to be almost a man and men don’t hug.

  After lunch we decide to work on the windmills, it is mainly a matter of assembling the heavy tubing and then letting Tim and Tommy take over because they understand that electrical stuff. Besides they cheat, they have the book and won’t even let me borrow it. That’s okay I get to help with the easy part this way. When both frames are put together and they start hooking all the electrical stuff up I decide to take a walk with Dayna and the children. We head for the orchard just because it is as good a way to go as any. Whenever we come this way the children like to throw rocks into the pond over here. We have been stocking it with fish that some of the young people catch and bring over while the fish are still alive. It seems to be working, at least we haven’t found any dead fish floating or on the shoreline.

  While we are sitting here looking at the ripples being made by the rocks being thrown in, Dayna nudges me in the side with her elbow and tells me to look across the pond at what is on the other side. I do, but I am careful not to make any sudden moves. I am surprised because sitting on the bank facing us is a beautiful dog. It looks like the ones that they use in Alaska to pull sleds. She does not seem to be frightened, but better yet she does not seem to be aggressive or wild either. The girls see her at about the same time I do and of course they want to go over and pet her right off the bat. We have to tell them that it may be a wild dog to keep them from it. Of course they tell us she can’t be mean because she is so pretty. I get smacked because I tell them that Dayna is very pretty and she is mean. The children laugh when I tell them, “see what I mean.”

  The dog just sits over on the other side of the pond looking at us. She keeps looking back behind her as well, but the ground falls away in a slight hill over there so we can’t see what she is looking at. My curiosity is peaked so I stand up and tell Dayna that I am going to see if she will let me pet her. She tells me I must be crazy. I agree, but I really do want to see if the dog is friendly or not. I take several steps around the pond to get closer to the dog and she just sits and watches me come toward her. When I get to within a few steps she growls a little, but doesn’t bare her teeth or anything at me. She just keeps turning around and looking behind her. I can see a small clump of trees behind her and what’s more important is the gas well I see over there. I put my hand toward the dog and she growls again so I talk quietly to her assuring her I am not going to hurt her.

  I have a little beef jerky in my pocket that we made, so I take it out and offer it to her. She sniffs it carefully then carefully takes it out of my hand, it’s like she is being careful not to bite me. Kathy, Karen, and Teddy are holding their breath while I try to pet her. They ask me every few seconds if they can come over and pet her yet. Finally after she has the chance to sniff my hand I reach toward her head to pet it and she actually reaches her head toward my hand. She comes closer so I can pet her back and sides and she is wagging her tail while I do. She takes a few steps back the way she keeps looking then looks up at me like I should follow her. Dayna comes around the pond with the children who really want to pet the dog and we all follow her to what she wants us to see. There in a little hollowed out area next to a large tree are seven of the cutest puppies we have ever seen.

  She looks at the puppies, who look to be only a few days old, then up at Dayna and I. The only thing we can figure is that she must have belonged to someone and they probably died or somehow they got separated and she has been running wild. I move toward the puppies and the mother seems to be okay with that. I pick up a squirming little ball of fur that is a puppy and show it’s mommy I mean it no harm by rubbing my face against its fur. She seems happy that I like her babies. I take the one I am holding over so that the children can pet it gently. Mom doesn’t se
em to mind so Dayna picks one up and is instantly in love with it. Actually, I think we are all in love with the whole litter.

  The children start petting the mom and she seems to love the attention. Dayna has a basket with us that she brought along just in case we found something good and we did. She tells the mommy that she wants them all to come up to the house with us and they can live with us where it is warm. I could swear that she understands every word that Dayna is telling her. When Dayna has all the puppies in the basket she holds it at arms length so the mommy can see her babies while we walk back to the house. The children are walking on both sides of the mommy dog petting her all the way back to the house. When we get back we are not sure how the mommy will react to going into a house. We have nothing to worry about because when Teddy runs ahead to tell Robin and the others about our treasures, the mommy follows him right into the house and is waiting when we come into the kitchen door.

  Melissa is trying to keep Tammy and Tina away from the mommy dog, but they are much quicker than she is and are hugging that poor dog like a stuffed animal. The mommy dog doesn’t seem to mind at all, she just sits there wagging her tail watching Dayna put her babies in a box with a blanket in it. The box is big enough for mom to climb in with them and she does much to the puppies delight as soon as it is ready. The puppies converge on mommy and it looks like it is meal time. We sure don’t need a babysitter this afternoon, just about every person under ten and some quite a bit over are sitting in our kitchen watching the puppies. We adults discuss whether or not we can trust the mother dog. Melissa tells Dayna that if she had any doubts why bring them in the house, we could have taken them to the barn. Within an hour none of us have any doubts when the mommy goes up to Melissa while she is sitting in an easy chair and puts her head in her lap. Naturally the twins who are sitting on my lap along with Kathy and Karen while I read them a story have to run over to their mommy to pet the dog. Melissa falls in love with her as much as the rest of us have.

  In the days following getting the dog I express my concerns to the other guys about our lack of a long term source for propane or any kind of gas really. Tim points out that on the side of the propane trucks we have there is an address and a phone number to call. I tell him I will rush right in and see if they can make a delivery today. He looks at me like Ma Horton used to when I would get sarcastic with her.

  “That’s not what I meant Einstein. What I meant was that with an address we can maybe find the larger storage tanks where we can refill the trucks and bring them back. Where is the map we have of Virginia?”

  We go into the house to check the map. The puppies are getting big enough to get out of the box, but chasing them down and putting them back keeps the children busy so it works out pretty good. Tim looks at the map and points to a small town about thirty miles from here if the map is accurate. We decide to take a trip over there just to check it out. We take two pickup trucks with us just in case we find something worth bringing home. We go through the small town and it still doesn’t look like anyone is living here. The other town is just about an equal distance from here as it is from our farm to here. There are more farms over this way as well, but none of them show any signs of life other than once in a while we see cows and lots of other animals in the pastures.

  The town looks as deserted as the one closer to us. The store doesn’t look like anyone has been in it in years. We take time to get a load of food including several very large bags of flour and other baking items. The propane dealership is easy to find, there are several large tanks in a fenced in area. We check and most of the tanks still say they have more than three quarters of a tank left. We decide we can probably have propane for several years before we run out, but I still think we need a renewable source at least until the world starts to be more like it was before the war, if it ever does. We stop at the farm store on the way back to check out some electric heaters, we are mainly interested in the baseboard kind. We find several and decide it can’t hurt to try some in a couple of the houses and see if they work as well as the propane ones we are using now.

  We find a large cushion that is made for dogs and some food dishes that are made for them as well. When we get home we install the electric heaters in Tim’s house and Billy’s house. I tease Ramona and Charity telling them that Tim and Billy were saying that they don’t keep them warm enough at night so they need some more heaters. As usual it backfires on me, they tell Dayna and Dayna smacks me for causing trouble. I spend the rest of the day painting one of the bedrooms in our house that no one uses yet. We know we will when the children get bigger and want some privacy or just space of their own.

  The mommy dog seems to love the big cushion we got her and the puppies. So far it is working out very well, she goes to the door when she needs to go out and comes back in when she wants to. The puppies are all getting personalities of their own, the children love them all, but they each have their favorite. The twins love one little puppy that is almost all white with just a little gray around its eyes and the sides of its head. It chases them around the kitchen whenever it gets the chance. They love to sit on the couch or a chair and hold it in their laps while they pet it. It doesn’t seem to mind at all, it does try to nibble on their fingers though which makes them shriek and laugh. They are all so cute. The other children all do pretty much the same things with the puppies they like best. It will be more fun when they get big enough to take outside and play with them.

  16

  The days go by as usual. We work during the day and usually go to bed fairly early, because we do work pretty hard, most of the time. The electric heaters are working well in the houses we put them in, so we decide to get more since electricity is coming from the wind and is not something that we are using up. We are sitting at the table eating breakfast one Friday morning, when I get the idea in my mind that I have to go to a town or small city that is south east of us that we have never been to. I have no idea why, but I feel that I have to go there today. Dayna and Rod feel like going for a ride, so we head out for our destination not knowing exactly why. They both tell me while we are driving that they have had times where something tells them they have to do something specific. Rod says that the day they met us is one of the times he listened to that voice, or whatever we want to call it, and he hasn’t regretted it for a moment since.

  According to the map and road signs, that are still standing, we are just about five miles out of the city when we see a young man walking toward us on the side of the road. As we get closer, we can see that he is wearing a military uniform, a modern military uniform and is carrying a duffle bag. We pull up and ask him if the town we are looking for is back behind him. He tells us he is sorry, but he has no idea, he has been walking since sunup, but has no idea where he is, or what he is doing here. He says he is not even totally sure if he is even awake and if this is all a bad dream. I smile and he asks if I think it is funny. I assure him I don’t, and ask him what unit he is with, I can see he is in the army by the uniform he is wearing. He tells me and I ask him if he was riding on a train or subway recently and fell asleep.

  He asks how I could know that, he says he was home on leave, having just returned from a war zone and he was going home to see some friends for a couple weeks. Dayna asks about his family and he says he doesn’t really have one. He was adopted and both adopted parents died in a car accident about a year ago. I ask him if he knows what the date is, he says when he got on the train it was one-fifteen a.m. on the twentieth of January, 2010. Now he isn’t even sure that he is on the same planet. I ask him if he would like a ride, he says why not, one destination is as good as the next, and if he doesn’t have to walk, so much the better. Besides he has been walking for over four hours and we are the first live people he has seen. We continue into town just to see what it looks like. We find several stores including a restaurant supply store. When we go inside, I know I have to have some of the cooking stuff in this store. There are several very large deep fryers and some very nice lar
ge gas grills like restaurants use.

  We get a couple of each loaded on the truck and I find a large meat grinder that is about twice the size of the one we have at the farm. The soldier asks how we are going to pay for all this stuff. I tell him if he can find someone to pay, I will be happy to pay them. He looks around and says that I have him there. In that case, he wants to stop at a store that has clothing in it. While he is doing that we visit the bank and get as much of the silver money as we can. He comes out wearing some new jeans and a flannel shirt and has a nice fleece jacket and a wool stocking hat and some gloves. His duffel bag is bulging as well so he found some clothes to wear anyway. We invite him to come home with us, and he says he has nowhere else to be for a couple hundred years, so he may as well.

  On the way home I tell him about Tim and I and how we came to be here. He is not as surprised as I thought he would be. His story is very similar to ours, except the location. The more we talk and the more I find out about his experience in the real world so to speak, the more I am convinced that he may have been sent here to help us. I know that sounds crazy, but Dayna and I along with Robin and Melissa have talked about this a lot. We feel that Tim and I were sent here by some higher power, we believe in a Heavenly Father, to help as many people as possible get the world back on the right track. There is no way to know for sure, but if you believe in the Bible, all things must have order and discipline to survive. We are also commanded to help each other and to live in harmony with one another. That’s the way we are trying to pattern our family and our neighbors are doing the same. The people that we talk to on the short wave radio are doing that as well. As I said there is no way to know for sure, but we are going forward planning to live as close to the teachings of the Bible as we can.