by D Stalter
Ten minutes later, they hadn’t gotten any warnings. Sherrie went back to the kitchen and brought the booklet he’d taken out of the pantry.
“Here it is,” she said, handing the booklet to Will. “You need to find that sensitivity button and make sure it is set to the highest setting.”
Will took the booklet she held out and headed back out the door. A few minutes later, they heard a buzzer from the kitchen. It buzzed several times. Riley looked out the front window and watched. Will was walking back and forth. Each time he passed a certain post, the buzzer would sound.
“I think he’s got it.” He opened the door and waved Will in.
“You do realize that every time a deer or a dog walks down the drive we are going to get buzzed.”
“Better that than someone sneaking up on us. I need to see if I can still get a call out to Denise. She’s got to be worried sick about Benny.”
He dug his phone out of his pocket. “Damn! It says ‘no service.’”
He walked around the room waving the phone above his head, checking it every couple of seconds to see if any bars would appear. They didn’t.
“Check yours.”
Will pulled his phone out, checked it, walked outside and came back in. “Nope. See if it will send a text. Sometimes a text will go even if the phone isn’t getting a good signal.”
Riley typed, “Got Benny. Roads are jammed. Will stay here for now. See U soon as possible.” He stared at the phone for a few seconds. “It doesn’t look like it’s sending. Maybe it will in a while. Let’s see what we find here.”
Sherrie stayed with Benny while Riley and Will checked the house.
“I told you this was a bug-out house,” Will called from the master bedroom. Riley stepped in to find Will standing in front of the closet door.
“It’s a closet, King Moron. See, a couple shirts, a couple pants, and an ugly sweater. That’s what they make closets for. A place to hide your ugly sweaters.”
“But, look closer.”
“What?”
“Push right here.” Will pointed to a spot at the far end of the closet.
Riley lifted his hand and pushed where Will pointed. He heard a click and the wall smoothly opened out a couple of inches before swinging open. Behind the wall was a small room with sleeping bags, a few gallons of water, and three rifles on the wall. Above the rifles a shelf held a couple of handguns and several boxes of bullets. In the far corner, several cardboard boxes were stacked. The top box was open revealing canned goods.
“That’s pretty cool. How’d you find it?”
“Well, I was checking the clothes out and I backed up. I stumbled on that wooden box down there. When I went to catch myself, I just happened to push on that spot. And Voila!”
“You sure have good luck sometimes.”
“Yup. That’s why they call me Lucky Will.”
“Yucky Will is more like it.”
“Dad Blame It! You break my heart with talk like that. Can’t you see I’m a growing boy and need all the ego building I can get?”
“Come on, Lucky. Let’s go see what else we find.”
Day 1 - Allison Gets Home
Allison was never so relieved as when she pulled into her driveway and pushed the garage door opener button.
“Son of a bitch!” she screamed when the garage door refused to rise. She turned in time to see the front curtains open and a dark shape move. The sight of her black lab’s face brought a smile to her face.
“I wish you were smart enough to open the door,” she muttered. “I’m not smart enough to carry a front door key. I’m just so used to using the garage door opener.”
She leaned her head against the head rest and closed her eyes. When she opened them a few seconds later, she saw her husband, James, hurrying around the corner of the house towards her, a dirty green John Deere ball cap clutched in his fist.
Allison fumbled with the door handled and stumbled out of the car. “James!” she screamed. “Thank God you are here. What the hell is happening?”
James wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. “I was so worried. I kept trying to call you. Everything is gone. No phones. No electricity. Nothing.” He clasped his hands together behind her back and rested his chin on her head. “Let’s go inside, baby.”
“Wait!” She moved her hands to his chest and pushed him away. “We need to get my stuff out of the car. I saw a couple guys from a motorcycle gang out on the highway by the old Smith place. They were on the side road and they had guns.”
“I’ve unlatched the overhead door from the electricity. Let me pull the door up and you can drive inside and I’ll put a clamp on the rail so it can’t be opened.”
A squelch broke the silence as they unloaded the car. Allison jumped. James reached in his pocket and pulled out a small walkie-talkie. “This is James.”
“Hey.” Allison recognized their neighbor Don Schmidt. “Was that Allison we saw coming down your road? She OK?”
James pressed the button and replied, “Yes. She made it home. She’s fine.”
“Great. We’ll be over in a few.”
Allison shook her head. “No. I need to clean up. I’m a mess. I even have dried snot on my cheek. Can’t this wait til tomorrow?”
“We need to hear what he has to say. They are going to bring supper over and we can talk about what happened today and make plans while we eat.”
“Then at least give me a half hour.”
A half hour later, a side-by-side ATV puttered through the back pasture. Don Schmidt and one of his sons (Allison could never tell them apart) rode up to the picnic table in the back yard and started unloading baskets of food.
Allison and James carried their own basket of bowls and utensils. Allison’s dog, Bella, followed close behind. Supper was a simple meal of chili and bologna sandwiches. They listened to Allison tell of her journey home while they ate. After the meal, Don wiped his mouth with a paper napkin.
“From what I can gather from my friends with short wave radios, this appears to have been a solar flare. Apparently, there was a warning on the news this morning. I missed it. Guess I watch the wrong channel.”
James used a napkin to wipe the bowls before stacking them back in the basket. “I don’t understand why you have electricity and we don’t. Why did Allison have problems with her car and some other cars and motorcycles didn’t? Why didn’t my cell phone work and yours did?”
“Well, I have electricity because everything you see me using and these radios I gave you were stored in my Faraday cage. It worked pretty good. Wasn’t sure if I’d done it right. As far as vehicles, nobody really knew what would happen in an EMP event or a solar flare. Allison says that all the electronics stopped working for her. I don’t know the answer to the cell phone problem. I was able to call my boys after it happened, but the service does seem to be spotty now. I’m not sure. If some calls are getting through, the service must still be running, but probably overloaded. As far as the Jeep, I would guess that the rough running was caused by problems with her fuel injection system. That Jeep does use a fuel injection system, doesn’t it?”
“Nope. I’ve fine-tuned that carburetor myself. I don’t have a clue why she was having so much trouble. I’m just glad she made it home.”
“I’m glad too.” Don squared his shoulders with James and placed his elbows on his knees. “We need to discuss what we are going to do. From what I’ve heard, most of the country is without power. Some of my ham radio friends say that it might not be as bad in the south as it is here, but it’s pretty much all over.”
He sighed, and then continued. “We have to consider that Chicago is only 70 miles from here. Rockford is 50 or 60 miles. There are going to be tons of people escaping the cities and most will head south and or west. They are going to be hungry, crazy and, coming from those cities, will most likely be of the mind that what belongs to me belongs to them.”
“Kinda like Democrats?”
The table shook as l
aughter erupted.
“Or the walking dead,” Don’s son, Peter, replied.
“Kinda, I guess. But, the truth is, there are going to be a lot of hungry, scared people. They are going to pass through here. Now, I’m more than happy to give someone a hand, but I don’t think these people will all simply want a helping hand. They will be willing to kill for what I have worked hard for.
“I think we need to work together to keep our families safe. First, to protect our families and then to make plans for becoming self-sufficient. We’ve got enough food put away to get us through the winter. The gardens are producing. We need to make sure we don’t waste anything out of the gardens. My cows will supply all of us with plenty of milk. My goats give milk. Both the cows and the goats will provide us meat. We both have chickens so we will have plenty of eggs.”
James was nodding throughout the whole speech. He raised his hand. “We’ve got plenty of food as well. If it gets as bad as you seem to think it will, with people trying to take what we have, we also have plenty of ammo. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“If this was a solar flare... and I believe it was... most people will have nothing. Maybe a day or two’s worth of food in their house. When they realize that the stores are empty, they will start looking for ways to feed themselves and their families. People will do whatever it takes to feed their family, including kill another person for food.
“I’m not saying they are bad people. They will do whatever it takes. I feel the same way they do. I will do whatever it takes to feed my family. I’ve worked hard to ensure that I can. No one will take food from my family’s mouth. No one.”
“So, what are you thinking?”
“Well, both my boys and their families are at my place. We have six adults now so we can get our work done and still have a couple people standing guard. It’ll be a lot easier if we know you guys are standing guard here. We can protect you from the north and you can protect us from the south.
“But, my concerns are there are only two of you. There’s no way that the two of you can get everything done that needs to be done and still stand guard for intruders.”
“We’ll be fine,” Allison insisted.
Don looked at her. “I’m not trying to burst your bubble, but can you work all day and still keep an eye out for intruders sneaking up on you? Can you work all day and stay up all night to watch for intruders? You just can’t do it, Allison. You guys need at least six people here to cover everything.
“The best scenario would be to have at least 15 adults per homestead. Someone in charge of cooking, someone else in charge of gardening, and someone in charge of security. And always keeping a couple resting during the day so they can be nighttime look-outs.”
“Really, Don? Do you think it’s going to come to that?” Allison reached down to pet Bella who leaned against her leg.
“Not only do I think it will come to that, what you saw in the first few hours after it happened should tell you exactly where we are headed.”
“But, I never saw people attacking other people.”
“What about the sheriff’s deputy? What about the guys you were afraid of on the Interstate?”
Allison’s shoulders dropped. “Yes, you’re right. What do you suggest we do?”
“Well, we have to get through tonight. I doubt we will see much way out here away from town. But tomorrow we need to think about forming a group and getting supplies. I’d love to know that you guys are willing to work together with us to protect our own. We have a lot of good neighbors. They will want to join us, most likely.”
James, who had been quiet since the conversation turned, nodded. “I agree with Don. We do need to assume that we will be on our own and will need security. We also have so much to offer others. I just don’t know how to go about getting started.”
“Peter is going in to town in the morning to see if he can buy supplies at the farm store. I’d suggest you guys make a list of what you need and he can pick your stuff up at the same time. I doubt they’ll take checks so dig up any cash you have.
“How is your LP? Have you filled your tank for winter yet?”
“Yes.” Allison smiled. “Just last week. And we have two one-thousand-gallon tanks. One for the house and one for the barn. So, no worries there. I would also like to make a grocery list to stock up.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get lucky there. I highly doubt the grocery store will be open until they decide what is going on and how they will deal with it.”
“The chief of police is a good friend,” Allison said. “Perhaps I could find him and see what our options are.”
“I’ll contact the chief on the radio tonight. Peter can pick you up on his way to town in the morning. He’ll take you where you need to go.” Don stood up and looked around.
“I’ll be going around to our other neighbors tomorrow. We will be much stronger in a group than by ourselves. Our two properties are perfect for building a community. They back up against each other, they are easily defendable from three sides. We’ll have to come up with some defenses for the west side, but it’s do-able.
“Let’s all get a good night sleep and hit it hard tomorrow. Have your list ready by 6am. Peter will stop by shortly after that.”
Day 1 – Allison’s list
Allison carried a flashlight into the basement, calling over her shoulder. “James, can you help carry some things up for me?”
She made her way past the pool and ping-pong tables to the back wall of shelves where she started lifting boxes and placing them on the ping-pong table.
“What do you need?” James came up behind her.
“I’ve got some notes stored that I want to check to make sure I don’t forget anything. I also want to find some supplies we’re going to need. Here,” she handed him a box. “Check through there. I’m looking for some notebooks. Like the ones we used to use in school. The ones I need are black.”
“I see some red ones.”
“Red is for gardening notes. I need the black ones.”
“Okay.” He drew the word out and ended it with a high note as if asking a question. “Black is for?”
“Black is for nutrition. I’ve got all my notes on how much of anything edible we will need.”
“Got it. I never knew you were this organized.”
“You never asked. Anyway, you liked to make fun of my organizational skills.”
James had the grace to look away before saying, “I’m sorry.”
“Just find the black notebooks so I can get a list together for tomorrow.”
“Found them!”
“Great. If you can carry those up as well as this box of candles, I’ll bring my inventory sheets and the lanterns.”
Working by lantern, Allison compared her inventory sheet to her notes.
“We’re actually pretty well set,” Allison said. “I couldn’t remember how much flour and sugar was recommended for two people for a year. I’ve got 110 pound of sugar and the list suggested 120 pounds for two people. I’ve got 160 pounds of flour and the list says I should have 200 pounds for two people. I’ll try to pick up a little of each.”
“Where are you keeping 200 pounds of flour and over a hundred pounds of sugar?”
“Those fifty-gallon garbage cans in the pantry.”
“You mean those plastic bins that say ‘Do Not Open?’”
“Yep.”
“I didn’t know.”
Allison glanced up from her notebook. “What did you think was in them?”
“I don’t know. Garbage?”
Allison chuckled. “Surprise!”
She tore a blank sheet of paper out of the back of the notebook. “I’m going to make a list of the recommended supplies to take with me tomorrow. If I can get some extra of some things, I will.”
When she finished, James took the paper and read through the list.
Sugar 60#
Baking Soda 1#
Baking Powder 5#
; Cooking/Salad oil 2 gal
Butter 5#
Yeast 2#
Flour 100#
Toilet Paper 50 rolls
Bay leaves
Black pepper
Cinnamon
Cumin
Garlic
Salt
Premixed marinade packets
He looked up. “Do you have all this stuff stored somewhere?”
Allison nodded. “That and a lot more. Most of the spices I have are growing in the front window. But I want to pick up extra dried spices. As many as I can get. Especially black pepper and cinnamon.”
“The plants in the living room are herbs?”
“Yep.”
“What about toilet paper? It says we should have at least 50 rolls for each of us.”
“I’ve got about 70 rolls stored in the barn in totes.”
“Are you kidding me? And you were going to tell me when?”
“Well, hopefully, I wouldn’t ever have told you. But now I have to.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She narrowed her eyes and said, “Because every time I brought it up, you made fun of me. You called me a prepper.”
James shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”
Her eyes softened. “Forget about it. I’m just glad we have it. And hopefully this will all blow over and we can go back to our lives in a few days.”
“Yeah. I hope so. But Don doesn’t think so.”
Allison jumped up from her stool. “I forgot to feed the horses their grain!”
“Don’t worry. I did it just before you got home. I was worried that I’d have to come looking for you and thought I’d get that out of the way. They’re fed. Their water trough is full.”
“Thanks. You know....” she said, sitting back down on her stool. “I’d better add horse supplements and supplies to my list. Don said that Peter was going to the farm store tomorrow. I’ll see if he can pick me up some things.”
She tore another sheet of paper out of the back of the notebook and scribbled. Her face fell. “I don’t have enough hay to get through the winter if this lasts that long. I need 250 bales to get through the winter. We only got 186 bales out of the first cutting. That’s 2 months’ worth of hay I’m short.”
