Sarge waved an empty beer bottle at him, so he drained his and went back inside. The vegetables roasting smelled like heaven. The ladies leaned against countertops and drank their wine. He went to the fridge, snagged two more beers, and said, “How long?”
“About ten minutes,” Elle replied.
“I’ll throw the steaks on.” He walked back to the patio, handed Sarge a beer, and they watched the sun begin to sink into the horizon, firing off a red-hued sunset as the smell of the steaks cooking assaulted their senses.
“I’m really looking forward to this,” Stryker said. “I haven’t had a steak in months.” He got up and flipped the steaks, examining them closely and nodding his approval.
“We’re ready,” Elle said from behind the screen door.
“Right with you,” Stryker replied. “I need two more minutes, so go ahead and set the table.”
“Okay.”
Stryker stacked the steaks on a platter and went inside the house. Sarge followed and they all gathered at the island in the kitchen, grabbed plates, and loaded them with vegetables and a steak each. They moved into the dining room and sat down. Stryker took a wine glass with him, filled it, and stared at the others from the head of the table. “Welcome to my home,” he said, raising the glass. They all did the same, with Sarge using his beer bottle to toast. “Please consider it your home from now on.” They sipped their wine and dug into full plates of fresh food.
When they finished eating, Stryker noticed that Elle left her steak untouched, but went back for more vegetables. He looked at Erin, confused.
“She’s a vegetarian,” Erin explained.
“When she’s done grazing, pass the steak down to me. Anybody else want some?”
“I’ll take more,” Sarge said.
“Me too,” Erin grinned. When Elle finished eating, Erin passed Elle’s plate to Stryker, who divided the steaks in thirds and handed the plate to Erin after taking his cut. She did the same and passed it to Sarge.
Stryker got up and went to the kitchen, grabbed the tray of vegetables, and returned to the table. He scraped more onto his plate and passed it to Erin, who did the same. Sarge finished it by emptying the platter. They all cleaned their plates and pushed back from the table.
“My god! That was good,” Stryker said. He passed the wine bottle to Erin and it went around the table again until empty. The sun had set while the group ate, and they sat in an intimate glow of faint light from the kitchen. The silence was comfortable and they all seemed content.
“I suppose somebody should clean off the table and do the dishes,” Elle said, then slumped back in her chair. Everybody chuckled.
“Are we going to make a plan for what we’re all going to do?” Haley asked. “I don’t like not knowing what happens next.”
“The first thing we’re going to do is digest this food. I guess we can meet up tomorrow and chat about it; but I don’t really know enough about what everyone here wants to plan anything,” Sarge said.
“The one thing I know is we can do whatever we want,” Stryker added. “We can stay here, we can go somewhere else, and we don’t really have any restrictions on us. So let’s think big when we talk about it. Put it all on the table, turn it over and look at the down side, and then we can decide what we want to do. Who knows, maybe we want to go to Hawaii and live on the beach.”
“We’d have to get there,” Erin said.
“That’s why God made men who could make and sail ships,” Stryker replied. “I’m not saying anything like that is likely. I’m just saying we don’t have to rule it out.”
“I’m just so happy to be somewhere that I feel safe, I don’t really care. I guess later maybe I’ll have feelings about it that I want to talk about. But for now, I’m just grateful,” Haley said.
“Me too,” Elle added. “I’d feel safer if we all slept in the same room, but I guess that isn’t workable.” Stryker stared at Elle for a moment, then said, “if that’s what you need, we can sleep in the master bedroom. You and Haley can have the bed. Erin and I can take the floor. The only thing Sarge is afraid of is women, so he will be fine on his own.” The women laughed at the comment, but Stryker added, “I’m not kidding. We’re a team now, and if you need us to support you, we will do that. It’s no big deal.” He paused and added, “You and Haley good with that?”
“Sure.” Erin replied.
“Okay, then let’s do that.”
“You want to mount a watch?” Sarge asked.
“Haven’t done that since I’ve been here, but if you want to, get me up in four hours and I’ll take the second. Erin can take the third, and Haley can wake us up.”
“I want to do a watch too,” Elle said.
“You can after you get weapons training,” Sarge replied.
“When do I get that?”
“Tomorrow after you get up.”
“So, you really want to do the watch?” Stryker asked.
“Yeah, it may be stupid, but I think we should.”
“Okay, get me up in four.”
Stryker got the sleeping bags out of the Jeep and positioned them on the floor a few feet from the bed. Haley stripped down to panties and underwear and Stryker stripped down to his shorts. Erin came over and climbed into the bag next to Stryker’s. Elle came out of the bathroom dressed in panties and a bra and stood next to the bed. She was magnificent.
“Ahh, yeah,” Erin murmured, then rolled over in her sleeping bag. Stryker set a mental alarm clock and was immediately asleep.
He awoke later than evening, put on his clothes, and walked out to the living room. Sarge was visible through the picture window sitting on the porch. He walked out, softly closing the screen door behind him, and said, “Coffee?”
“Sure.” Stryker went back inside and started the drip maker. After five minutes, he returned with two cups and took a seat beside Sarge.
“Must be close to midnight,” Stryker said. He had long since quit wearing a watch.
“About ten after.”
“You going to go in?”
“In a bit. I’m not tired yet.”
“So, how are we going to play it tomorrow?” Stryker asked.
“I guess we just lay it out the way we see it and go from there. It’s not like there’s a playbook for this.”
“I wonder how they’ll take it.”
“They seem like a pretty resilient group. It’ll be fine.” He finished his coffee, rose with a groan, and handed his rifle to Stryker. “See you tomorrow.”
“Night.” Stryker set the M-4 across his lap and settled into a more comfortable position. He listened to the merry chirps of cicadas. The air was still and the moon full. He didn’t bother to wake Erin, as he enjoyed the time alone and the chance to think things over. As the sun started to bathe the landscape in faint light, he got up and made another pot of coffee, then moved back to the porch.
He heard water rushing through the pipes as he passed the bedroom wall, and presumed the women were up and taking showers. He promised himself one of his own when they finished.
“Morning,” Haley said as she passed through the screen door. Stryker nodded his head. Ten minutes later, everyone was seated on the porch drinking coffee and eating crackers. Stryker went inside, took a shower, then put on a change of clothes. He emerged wearing a work shirt and jeans.
“Let’s get the meeting started,” Sarge said in a brisk tone. “You mind if I start?”
“Go ahead,” Stryker replied. He glanced at the young women and noted there was curiosity in their expressions, but no looks of concern.
“Well, Stryker and I were talking yesterday, and we decided we needed to bring everyone in on the conversation and decision making. What I’m about to say may seem harsh or overly pessimistic. But we do think it’s the truth of the matter.” He took a breath, clearly trying to choose his next words with caution. “The fact of the matter is things are going to get more difficult as time passes. The canned and dried food we mostly eat has a shelf life
. It will eventually go bad and we need to start making our own food.”
“That’s a good thing,” Elle said. “It’s much better for us to eat fresh, and we already got a garden going.”
“That’s true,” Sarge allowed. “But we need to be able to feed five of us, and the garden is too small for that. We also need to get equipment to start canning the food we harvest. And, we need to get an irrigation system in there to grow year-round. We also have to round up some farm animals and start a breeding operation for hogs, cattle, and chickens. That means we will have to build corrals, chicken coops, and pig sties.” He paused, then looked at Stryker, who took his turn to speak.
“This brings us back to what we talked about at the table last night. The question is, should we look for somewhere that already has what we need and move there, or should we build everything here? Before we can answer that, we also have to realize that before too long, gasoline will degrade and we won’t be able to drive any longer.”
“How does gas degrade?” Erin asked. “It’s not like it’s going to rot like food.”
“Gasoline is a highly refined product brewed to a chemical composition with very specific characteristics. One of the most important characteristics of gas is volatility. That’s the term used to describe how easily and under what conditions the gas vaporizes so it can be burned in a car's engine. The most highly volatile components in gasoline evaporate over time. As they do, the ability to combust degrades. The less volatile the fuel, the less effectively it burns in your engine. We’ll know when that happens because we’ll be able to start vehicles, but they will run roughly. Within six months of that, it’ll probably not even start the engine.”
“What about stabilizer? I’ve read that you can extend the life of gasoline with that,” Erin said.
“We have stabilizer in the tank in the yard. That’ll buy us a few years. After that, we can squeeze a few more out by putting gas in a barrel, letting it sit for a few days, and then just using the gas from the top half of the barrel. The volatile components in gas are lighter and you can increase the concentration of them in bad gas by doing that. That’ll buy another few years. But the outcome in the end will be the same.”
“So we need to be close to the things we need because we won’t be able to travel long distances,” Haley said.
“That’s right,” Sarge answered. “Or we need to stockpile all the things we’ll need before the gas goes bad. For example, we don’t want to be hauling fertilizer or animal feed in single bags over miles of terrain.”
“And we need to find someplace that’s defensible, or make this house easier to defend,” Stryker added. “The only organized group of bad guys I’ve run into were the ones who kidnapped you, and they were easy pickings as they had no training or discipline. The outcome could have been very different if they were any good. I don’t know if any groups like that exist now, but we have to be prepared for the worst.”
“So what do you guys think?” Sarge asked. “Should we look for somewhere else to live? If so, where?” Everybody looked thoughtful for a moment and then Erin spoke.
“I think we should look for a lake or a river, and live there.” She paused a moment to think. “We can fish, we got water for the garden, and we travel by canoe or sailboat.”
“How about on the ocean?” Elle added.
“I guess there are pros and cons to both. The ocean is salt water so not good for crops, but there’s a wider variety of fish,” Stryker said. “I don’t know anything about gardening, but would the salt air affect being able to grow vegetables?”
“Not that I know of,” Elle replied. “I’ve seen gardens close to the sea on the east coast, and they did fine.”
“I can also make an argument for staying here,” Stryker said. “We have reliable power and the wells, in thirty years, have never run dry. We can get farm animals from Hank and we already have half a garden.”
“How hard would it be to disassemble the pumps and panels and move them to another location?” Sarge asked.
“Probably two to three long days,” Stryker answered.
“Well, this falls short of a real plan, but how about we start looking for a new location now and stockpiling what we’re going to need at the same time? If we do that, the options remain open. If we don’t find something, we just stay here.” Sarge looked around at the others to see if they agreed. Everyone nodded their heads.
“Okay, we can start checking rivers and lakes close to here tomorrow and then make a trip to the ocean north of Corpus Christi. That’s the closest place we’re going to find ocean front.”
“Works for me,” Erin said.
“Next topic is a bit trickier, and Sarge and I decided to bring it up in the interest of honesty, not because we can do anything about it.” Stryker paused, noting their expressions had changed to looks of concern. “Your lives are going to change in ways that may be difficult. The fact is that we are not going to recover from this in your lifetimes. There just aren’t enough people to rebuild the infrastructure we had, or even a small part of it. You will not lead lives that are like the ones you had. There is no guarantee you’ll ever work at a job, have a husband and kids, take vacations, or make new friends. It may seem a small thing, but once we are settled wherever we end up, you’re going to be facing a great deal of boredom. The reason I started scavenging was not just to have things to trade, but also just to get out of the house and do something.”
“What did you do before that?” Haley asked.
“I’ll show you.” He disappeared into the house and reappeared carrying what looked like an armload of magazines. “Crosswords,” he said, laying the magazines on the table. “Lots of crossword puzzles.”
“There must be a hundred of those,” Erin said.
“There are 126, but nobody is counting. Do you guys get my point?”
“All the stuff about us never recovering or leading normal lives is hard to believe,” Elle said
“I would say it’s hard to accept, but not hard to believe. I don’t like saying this any more than you like hearing it. I just want you to be prepared for it and to not let it get you down.”
“Grandpa, do believe all this, too?” Erin asked.
“I do. I don’t like having to talk about it, but we needed to make sure you understand what it’s going to be like. Both Stryker and I traveled to here from California, and we both saw the same things. No people to speak of, nobody running a store or shop, nothing moving except the occasional person or people trying to get somewhere. And things are beginning to shut down. Power systems are going down and water systems are running dry.”
He paused and then added, “I always thought the end of the world would happen quickly. One day everything worked, then a disaster, then nothing. It’s not going that way at all. Things are just falling apart at their own rate. Next it will be cars, and then we are effectively living in the world we had more than two hundred years ago.”
“What about the power and water here?” Haley asked.
“Same thing,” Stryker replied. “The solar panels will last twenty years or more; but someday there won’t be working panels to replace them. Same is true of the water pumps. Someday they’ll break down and we may not be able to find parts. That could happen at any time.” The group fell silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts. The mood was grimly thoughtful. A long silence ensued.
“I’m going to get the power hooked up to the house and start charging the batteries. After that, I’m going on a run. Anybody want to join me?” Stryker said, anxious to let the conversation die and move on to something more positive.
“I’ll go,” Haley said.
“Me too,” Erin replied.
“I’ll get Elle trained up. We’ll be behind the house,” Sarge said.
Stryker finished wiring the circuit breaker box as he listened to shots being fired in the back yard. They were erratic with long lapses between. He imagined Sarge patiently explaining what Elle did wrong between the shots, an
d grinned. He knew Sarge must be gritting his teeth and cursing under his breath.
He tested the batteries with his multimeter and turned the main breaker on. Everything looked good. He went inside and put on his running shorts and shoes, left his shirt in the bedroom, and went to the front room. He strapped his XD back on and walked to the front porch. The ladies weren’t there, so he walked around the house and found them working in the garden.
“I’m heading out for a run. You guys still want to go?”
“Just give us a second to get changed and we’ll meet you on the porch,” Erin replied.
“Okay.” He walked back to the porch and they shortly joined him. Both were dressed in cargo shorts and t-shirts. “You don’t have any running gear?”
“We were naked when you found us,” Haley said with an exasperated tone.
“True. We’ll go into town tomorrow and get some gear for you.” He set off at a trot with both women slightly behind him. They soon were running abreast at a leisurely gait.
“I saw you had several zipper scars on your back when you were washing up back at the house we stayed at,” Erin said.
“Yeah, I had two surgeries. They were trying to sneak up on the problem, but gave up.”
“What happened?”
“I had shrapnel in my back from a bomb blast and then a wall fell on me.” The women noticed that he picked up the pace after the exchange and fell behind him. Haley looked at Erin with a question mark in her eyes, but Erin refused to make eye contact. They both stopped for a moment and watched him plod along for a bit while they caught their breath. Stryker continued to run.
“Did you see that pucker scar on his chest before we started running?” Erin asked.
“Yes.”
“That looked like a gunshot wound.”
“Don’t know about that; but it didn’t look like it was fun getting, whatever it was.”
“Grandpa has one like it. I saw it when he was changing shirts, years ago.”
“I didn’t know that.” They both sprinted to catch up, but Haley maintained the faster pace and ran well ahead.
Stryker: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale Page 12
