Cloverdale (Book 4): Confrontation

by Miller, Bruno

  “Depending on what we run off of this, these batteries should give us a couple extra hours of use from the solar panels.” Tom had finished running the wire from the inverter and was now beginning the painstakingly slow process of connecting each individual battery and linking them to the main wire with smaller pieces of wire.

  “Where’d you get the wire to do all this?” Vince asked.

  “We sifted through the rubble from a few of the places that burned down. It wasn’t all good, but we were able to come up with quite a bit so far.”

  “That was a good idea. I’d have figured the wiring would have melted,” Vince stated.

  “Some of it did, but not all. We’re going to need to find something better to run across the street to the motel, though. This stuff won’t carry the load, and we don’t have enough of it, anyway.” Tom held up a charred piece of wire before sanding the ends clean and attaching it to the next battery.

  “Hoosier Energy has a remote office and substation at the south end of town. I’ve seen big spools of heavy-duty cable out there in their fenced-in yard. I bet we could find what we need there,” Fred remarked.

  “Those spools must weigh a ton. We’ll have to use the loader,” Vince added.

  “We don’t need that much, just enough to get across the street,” Tom reminded them.

  “Well, we might need a little more. John was going to talk to everyone at dinner, but I need to let you know now, I guess, that he wants to turn the old Andersen place into a jail slash police station.”

  The two remained quiet for a moment as they looked at each other and thought about what Vince had just said. Tom sighed. “We’re going to need double the amount of wire to do that.”

  “It doesn’t have to be a priority, but we better plan for it,” Vince said.

  Tom’s brow rose. “Then we might as well just use the loader and grab an entire spool while we’re at it, and we better start looking for more batteries.”

  “I think it’s a good idea. A lot of extra work, but a good idea.” Fred didn’t bother looking up as he continued stripping wire ends for Tom.

  It would be a lot of extra work but worth it if it helped maintain law and order around here. Not that they’d had any problems yet, but they would—that much was inevitable.

  Chapter Seven

  Vince stayed with Tom and Fred for a while and helped hook up the batteries until there was nothing more they could do. It was time to tie the motel into the garage’s electrical system. Vince went out to the truck to use the radio while Tom and Fred took a well-deserved break in the shade of the gas pump canopy outside the building. After being stuck in the back room of the garage, they were all soaking wet with sweat, but they had made good progress, and Vince was pleased with how the project was turning out.

  “Come in, John. Do you copy? Over.” Vince leaned against the truck with his head down and his eyes closed as he waited for a response. He was exhausted. Outside of lugging the car batteries from the truck to the back room, the work they were doing wasn’t especially hard, but the heat had drained them of energy. It was like working in a sauna, and keeping the stinging sweat out of their eyes was a constant battle.

  Vince’s radio crackled. “Go ahead. Over.”

  “What’s your status? Over.”

  “We’re just about done getting the second load of cars secured on the trailer. Should be heading back to town in a few. Over.”

  “Roger that. I don’t want to stop your progress, but we’re gonna need the loader to grab a spool of cable from the substation on the south end of town. Over.” Vince was torn. He knew that using the loader to retrieve the oversized spool of cable from the substation was going to bring the building of the wall to a complete stop, but in his mind, hooking up power was equally important, and without the loader, their progress would stop as well.

  “I can give you a heads up when we get these cars unloaded. Over,” John answered.

  “Copy that. I’ll send Tom out to meet you guys and make sure we get the right type of cable. Over.” Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to take a little break right now. By the time they drove the loader out to the south end of town and came back with what Tom needed, it would be slightly cooler. He was reminded of Mary’s warning: Don’t work yourself to death. She had a valid point. Better to take a break and save themselves for the cooler part of the day. If they kept going at this pace and in this heat, they would all be spent before dinner. There was too much to do, and they couldn’t afford to burn out this early.

  Vince sent Tom and Fred over to the motel for the time being and told them to take a break. He’d come over and let Tom know when they were ready to go for the spool. There was no point in having them stand around in the heat and wait. Not that it was any cooler at the motel, but at least they could sit or lie down somewhere more comfortable than the hard chairs in the customer lounge of Vince’s garage.

  After Tom and Fred left, Vince found himself standing behind the counter in his garage’s eerily quiet storefront. He took a seat on the high-back stool and set the radio down by the register. It was hard to believe how much had changed in such a short amount of time. He could almost hear the chime of the little bell attached to the front door as a customer entered the garage and asked about getting an oil change or having their brakes looked at. Those days seemed distant and so far removed from his life now.

  He wondered if it would ever be that way again or if he would live long enough to see things return to normal. No, it would never be normal, at least not in that way. Their lives would never be the same, even if the power grid came back online tomorrow. Too much had changed. Too many people were dead or missing. The town was destroyed beyond what rebuilding could bring back. It wasn’t the buildings that made Cloverdale what it was, though; it was the people, and there was no bringing them back.

  “Come in, Vince. Over.” The radio crackled to life and startled Vince. He’d drifted off into deep thought about their situation and hadn’t realized how much time had passed. By the clarity of the transmission, he could already tell that John and the others were back in town and unloading the cars.

  With the “dirty atmosphere,” as John referred to the constant haze that seemed to hang low in the sky, the radios struggled to transmit clearly with a few additional miles between units. But they worked great from one end of the new town boundary to the other. That was part of the reason for building the wall where they had.

  Vince held the radio and stood up from his seat. “Go ahead. Over.”

  “We’re unloading the last of the cars if you want to send Tom our way. Over.”

  “I’ll let him know. Should be there in a few minutes. Over.”

  Vince quickly made his way around the garage and shut the doors they had opened when they were trying to cool the place down. They could be gone for a while, and he had no intention of leaving the garage exposed and open even for a short amount of time. He left Bill’s truck where it was and walked across the street to the motel to let Tom know it was time to go.

  Vince smiled and waved at Reese, who was taking her turn standing watch from the Ford pickup in the motel parking lot. Buster’s head popped out of the passenger side window, and his tail swished wildly as he watched Vince approach. Once he realized Vince wasn’t coming to the truck, the big dog looked disappointed and hung his head out the open window.

  “Good boy, Buster,” Vince called out. The dog’s ears perked up at the sound of his name, and he let out an excited whimper.

  Vince found Tom in his room, half-asleep on the bed. He felt bad about waking the man up, but they needed to make sure they had the right kind of cable.

  “You ready?” Vince stood in the already-open doorway to Tom and Beverly’s room. Beverly was on the adjacent bed, rubbing Ryan’s back as he slept.

  Tom groaned as he rolled off the bed and stood up. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “How’s he doing?” Vince asked.

  “He hasn’t been sleeping well at nigh
t. He keeps having nightmares. He’s afraid if he falls asleep, he’ll wake up back in that barn where they had him tied up.” Beverly’s voice cracked as she struggled to get the words out.

  “He’ll be fine. It’s just going to take a little time, is all,” Tom tried to reassure her. “After you, Major.”

  Vince backed out of the doorway and Tom followed him out onto the covered walkway. Once they were out of earshot of the room, Tom paused and turned to Vince.

  “I’m not sure who’s taking it worse, her or Ryan. Neither one of them is sleeping much lately.”

  “It’ll get better. Give them time.”

  Tom shook his head. “I hope you’re right, Major. We can’t keep this schedule up much longer.”

  “Things will change once we get the power hooked up and water running. That will make a huge difference. Trust me.” Vince patted Tom’s shoulder and they started walking again. “Come on, we’ll take the wagon out to meet the others. They said they were just about done unloading cars from their last run to the dealership,” Vince said.

  They rode in silence, and it was just as well with Vince. With the roads cleared through this part of town, he was able to open up the wagon a bit, and the blast of air through the window was refreshing, even if it was hot. Besides, he was out of inspirational words for Tom and didn’t really have the energy to talk or try to put things in a positive light.

  There was nothing really to say about what Tom’s wife and son were experiencing. They were all dealing with this in different ways. The fact that Ryan had been kidnapped and held for ransom didn’t help but what could he do about that? They would have to come to terms with what had happened in their own way and in their own time.

  Running water and power to the motel would help. He was sure of it. The basic amenities they had once taken for granted would be a luxury now. Vince just hoped they could pull it off—and soon. The looks on everyone’s faces told him that they were all running thin on morale and stamina. Just the ability to clean themselves and their clothes would probably be enough to breathe life back into the group. And they would need it, because there were tougher days ahead for sure.

  Chapter Eight

  When Vince and Tom arrived at the south end of the perimeter, John, Cy, and Bill were almost finished unloading the last car. Vince was disappointed to see Travis sitting in the shade and drinking from one of the water jugs, but he ignored him for the moment and admired what would be some of the last pieces of the wall coming together. One more load from the dealership ought to finish it off, and then there would just be the matter of moving the last Suburban into place and creating the gate.

  Knowing the wall would be finished today, at least the major parts that blocked road access, made Vince feel good. And from the main entrance, anyone coming in from the interstate wouldn’t know that there were gaps that had yet to be filled. Sometimes appearances were enough to persuade even the toughest of enemies to back down.

  “Looking good,” Vince yelled up to Cy in the loader.

  “Yeah, we’re almost there. John says we need to take the loader out to the substation and pick up a big roll of cable?” Cy wrinkled his brow.

  Vince nodded. “We need it to get the power running to the motel.”

  Cy shrugged. “Okay, let me get this trailer unhooked from the bucket and I’ll be ready to go.”

  Vince stepped back and gave them room to finish up. He kept one eye on Travis as the others set the last of the cars into place. Vince waved at Cy in the loader and got his attention. “Don’t disconnect the trailer just yet,” he yelled up.

  Cy throttled the RPMs down to a low idle as the others gathered around the loader.

  “The substation is just a little farther out past the dealership,” Vince said. “Why don’t we take the trailer to the car lot and disconnect it there? Some of us can stay behind and load cars while Tom and Cy go for the wire he needs.” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about this before now; it must have been the heat.

  “That makes more sense. I wondered why we were disconnecting the trailer and leaving it here,” Cy added.

  “All right then. Everybody to the dealership, I guess,” John said.

  They all began to load up as Travis reluctantly stood up and left his spot in the shade. Vince pulled John aside. “How’s he working out?”

  “He helped a little earlier. I think he knows he’s mainly here so we can keep an eye on him. He’s been pretty quiet for the last hour or so. Maybe we wore him out,” John answered. The two stopped talking as Travis approached.

  “Mind if I ride with you?” Travis looked at Vince.

  Vince nodded. “Go ahead.” He regretted not bringing Bill’s pickup now. He would’ve preferred to have Travis ride in the back of the truck rather than in the back seat of the wagon. Vince didn’t like the idea of having a stranger sit behind him. Hopefully Travis was good and worn out from the morning’s work. He sure looked like it, unless that was an act. At least Vince had Tom along with him for the ride.

  Cy drove the loader and the trailer to the dealership while everyone else drove ahead. A few minutes later, Cy joined them at the lot and didn’t waste any time unhooking the trailer from the loader’s bucket near the last row of new Chevrolets. Vince noticed that the cars no longer shone in the sunlight. There was a thick layer of dust over all of them now, making them all look much older than they were. Everything had a generous coating of dust and grit. Vince wondered if it had come from the fires or if it was some type of fallout from the EMPs. It really didn’t matter. The stuff was everywhere, and they had all been in it for days now. If it was bad for them, the damage would be done by now. At least it wasn’t airborne anymore. Not down low, anyway.

  It was decided that Cy and Tom would head out to the substation for the wire while the rest of them stayed behind and continued to load cars. The substation was another couple of miles south, and while Vince wasn’t crazy about Cy and Tom being that far away and on their own, that was the way it was going to be. It was important to stay here and keep working. He wanted the wall finished today. And the electric, too. The only way that was going to happen was if they all kept at it.

  Vince gave Cy the radio so they could stay in touch if anything happened on either end. No one had been as far south as the substation yet, so they were heading into the unknown and would most likely encounter debris-filled roads. If they were lucky, that would be all the trouble they ran into. Vince made them both double-check their weapons and confirm they had plenty of ammunition. They weren’t going far, but it would still take him and the others a few minutes to reach them if there was an emergency.

  The looters had been quiet, and it was closing in on twenty-four hours since they’d last attacked. That should have made Vince feel good, but it had the exact opposite effect. If anything, it made him more tense and aware that the likelihood of another attack increased as time went on. Cloverdale would have a few surprises in store for the looters this time, though.

  Now there was a barricade in place to keep them out of town. Well, almost. The south end wasn’t quite ready yet, but it would be soon. Of course, there was no telling where the looters would attack. If they were smart, they wouldn’t try a frontal assault, but there was no way of knowing where they would come from, just that they would come.

  Hopefully the spotlights would be in place by this evening as well. That would throw the looters off and spoil any plans they had of sneaking in under cover of darkness. Maybe they should post an extra man on watch tonight, at least through the late-night and early-morning hours. Vince hated to ask that of the others, but it might be needed.

  Vince watched as Cy drove away in the loader with Tom riding in the bucket up front. Tom had his AR-15 propped up next to him as he braced himself for the bumpy ride. They would be fine and hopefully back sooner rather than later. It shouldn’t take them long to find the wire Tom needed, and the chain-link fence surrounding the yard would be no match for the loader.

  Cy tol
d them all about his intentions to use the loader to drive right through the locked gate in order to access the yard. He was no longer a child, but that didn’t stop Vince from worrying about his son and his ideas sometimes. Fortunately, Vince was able to talk him into a more subtle approach with the loader and said that rather than ramming his way through at speed, he should push the fence over slowly and then carefully roll over it. They were in a hurry to put the wire to use, but they didn’t need it badly enough to warrant risking a tire on the loader or some other type of damage due to Cy’s exuberance.

  Cy did his best not to jostle Tom around too much in the bucket, but that was a difficult task with all the garbage and wrecked cars blocking the road. Those things, combined with the sensitive handling of the loader’s articulated steering, made it nearly impossible to provide a smooth ride. They hadn’t been out this way to clear a path yet, and it wasn’t like he could use the bucket as a plow, at least not while Tom was riding in it.

  It was best to go slow anyway, not only to avoid road hazards but because he was relying on Tom’s hand signals to find his way to the substation and the wire. Cy had never been out this way, even in better times, and if he had, he wouldn’t have paid attention to a power company’s field office. He had no idea where they were going, and in hindsight, he should have let Tom drive.

  He felt a little guilty about leaving the others to load the cars in the heat of the afternoon, but none of them seemed to care and no one proposed any alternatives. So it was up to him and Tom to get this done as quickly as they could and return with the wire that was needed to run power to the motel and now, apparently, the rundown house on the corner, which would become the police station.

  He wasn’t convinced that they needed a police station, but he understood that they might in the future. Besides, what if they caught some of the gang that was terrorizing them? They would need a place to keep them until they figured out what to do with them. Would they have to feed them? That hardly seemed fair after all the looters had done to them.