Jenna asked, “Robert, how do you plan to move your smokehouse to the mountains? Do you have a vehicle that you can drive now that you have shrunk?” Robert said, “I have a small tractor and a trailer to haul behind it. I have already begun welding extensions onto the clutch so I can drive it. As long as I stay in low gear, I should have no problem moving our belongings up to the Mountain House.” Randy asked, “If I was to drive my four-wheeler down to your shop, could you add extensions onto the pedals.” Robert said he could do the modification, but warned everyone that the electrical power plants could fail. Robert said, “The tractor and four-wheeler are our only means of moving food and survival gear from our homes to the Mountain House. I suggest we get to work immediately. I would like to be in the Mountain House before dark tonight.”
***
As the first load of food from Rodney’s house arrived at the Mountain House, the men left Jenna, Britney and Kathy at the house to begin setting up the house for the first night. After they finished moving Bonnie and Rodney’s belongings, they unloaded the trailers at the Mountain House. When they headed back towards Jenna’s farm, they took her with them, knowing that having her with them would speed up the process. They would have to haul much of Jenna’s canned food up from the basement. When both trailers were full to the top, they began the three-mile trip back to the Mountain House. When they arrived and began unloading the trailers into the two-car garage, they could smell bacon cooking. When the trailers were empty, the girls brought out plates of food to feed the hungry crew.
When they had finished eating, they decided to make one more trip. This time Jenna remained at the Mountain House and Kathy joined the men. Once there, they loaded as much as possible into the trailer. They packed every blanket and tarp they could find. They would cut the blankets in half and make smaller, more manageable sized blankets. When they walked into Rodney’s storage building, they decided to load up all of the lumber he had stored away. As they loaded the wood, they decided they had enough lumber to build a loft and a good set of stairs. They would use the loft as their sleeping quarters. By the time the lumber was loaded into the trailer, everyone was exhausted. Everything they lifted was too heavy for one person; some was too heavy for three or four of them. The two by six inch lumber they intended to use for the floor joists was extremely heavy.
Once the trailers were full, they decided they had better begin the trip back to the Mountain House. If they did not hurry, they would have to travel in the dark. As they traveled along the highway, they decided to return tomorrow for the smokehouse and the rest of the camping gear and food. As they continued the trip back up the mountain, they stopped at Jenna’s house to fill up the gas tanks on both vehicles. Jenna had a hand operated gas pump beside her tool shed. The tank was full and would provide fuel for many days if they needed it. Pumping the fuel proved quite difficult. It took two of them to operate the pump. What had once been an easy task now seemed impossible for one person.
As they began the trip back to the Mountain House, they made the decision to get up very early in the morning and return for another load of supplies. They would bring both vehicles when they returned. They decided that if all seven of them made one more trip, they would have enough muscle to get Jenna’s treadle sewing machine into the trailer. They would also pack up every bit of sewing items they could find. Even dental floss would work as thread. They would also insure they had all of the guns, ammunitions, knives and tools they might need.
When they arrived at the Mountain House, they began the task of unloading the things that might get wet during the night. The clouds were beginning to move in and it looked like a storm was brewing. Once they had everything of value indoors and the lumber covered with one of the large tarps, they decided they were too tired to continue.
When they entered the cabin, Jenna, Bonnie and Britney had stacked as much bedding as they could find near the center of the room where the fireplace was located. They had hot food on the coffee table and the coffee was perking on the kitchen stove. As they fixed sandwiches and talked, they discussed spending a few hours filling up all of the containers they had rounded up for water storage. They still had electrical power to run the well pump, but they feared that the luxury could end at any moment. They realized that if the power went out they would have to carry water from the river and begin the tedious task of boiling any water they intended to drink.
Working in the kitchen was difficult at best. No one could reach the counter tops without standing on something. They moved kitchen chairs around wherever then needed them and then resorted to climbing up on top of the counters and working from there. They would need to raise the kitchen floor up higher or lower the workspaces down to an acceptable level when time allowed. For now, they would deal with the inconveniences before them.
While Britney filled containers they had stacked along the outside wall of the living room with a garden hose, the others gathered up all of the containers that were temporarily stored in the storage building and moved them into the house. As they washed them and moved them into position along the walls, they added a teaspoon of bleach to each container to keep anything in the water from growing inside the containers. It was well past two o’clock in the morning before they had filled every available sealable container they could find with water. They took a little extra time to insure each container was properly covered.
As they laid out blankets on the living room floor to sleep on, they discussed their plans for the following morning. They decided to make a few more trips back to their farms to gather any remaining blankets, boxes of nails, screws, power tools, leather goods and clothing. They would try to bring back anything that they could repurpose into something usable. Leather would be something that they could use for many purposes, as would old leather shoes. They could cut up old wool or fleece clothing and fashion it into warm winter clothing that would fit their much smaller bodies. Anything that could use for fuel, such as lighter fluid, gas tank deicer, starting fluid, any petroleum product that would burn would become useful.
The clan had a busy day, but they finally managed to settle down for some sleep around three in the morning. Randy asked when everyone wanted to get up and begin work. Jenna said, “I prefer to get up in about five hours. We can sleep and rest once we have everything here in the Mountain House to support ourselves. Today needs to be very productive. We still need to think about moving more of the gasoline from the tank at my farm up here before looters decide to steal it from us.”
Rodney had set the alarm on his wristwatch for eight o’clock. When it woke him, he got up and used the bathroom, and then put on the coffee pot. As everyone else began to stir around, he began cooking oatmeal and the eggs Jenna had brought back from her hen house. As they all worked around the kitchen, fending for themselves, Britney spoke up and said, “When we make the next trip back to the farm houses, could someone gather up all of the feminine hygiene products from the bathrooms. I have need for a few tampons.” Rodney said they should just take everyone except for Britney with them when they went scavenging the farms. That way they could retrieve some of the creature comforts and necessities and return them to the Mountain House. Jenna said, “I for one don’t think any one of us should be left alone. I will stay here with Britney unless someone else would like to stay.” Bonnie said, “I am the one who is most out of shape. I will stay in Jenna’s place if she wishes to go along. Jenna will be much more help to everyone today. Since I am good with tools and can build shelving, I can help Britney begin moving all of our canned foods inside. I would like to stack the glass jars in between the water containers we have sitting along the walls. Then Britney and I will build heavy duty shelving over the water containers to store the remaining canned food items.”
Around nine thirty, they filled the gas tanks on the tractor and four-wheeler and put the empty gas cans in the wagons. As they drove along, Jenna decided to put an empty fifty-five gallon drum she had stored in her tool shed into the trailer. S
he planned to fill the drum with the vodka and other drinking alcohol from her kitchen cupboard in the bottom and then gather every first aid item she could find. She would also try to find new toothbrushes, deodorant, aspirin and other items that the clan would need for long-term survival.
Randy was driving the tractor and he stopped at Jenna’s house to retrieve the drum that Jenna intended to fill with first aid gear. While looking around in the shed, they discovered a brand new fifty-gallon plastic drum with screw on fill caps. They moved the drum up next to the door and decided to fill it with the remaining gasoline from the large fuel tank located beside the driveway. Then Rodney drove to down the mountain to his farm next. As they gathered up things that would help in their survival, they soon realized that they had filled the trailers full again. They decided to take the first load up to the Mountain House, but they stopped at Jenna’s house to fill the small gas cans since they were already loaded in the trailer. When they stopped, Jenna emptied out her medicine cabinet and carried everything out to the metal drum on the trailer.
When they arrived at the Mountain House and began unloading, Britney came out to help. When she picked up an armload of clothing, she told them that Bonnie had turned on the television and discovered that GCN was back on the air. The news anchors were sitting at a low desk on small chairs and were reporting on what they had discovered about the shrinking of all living entities on planet Earth. They listened to what Britney had to tell them, but continued with their work. Nothing she had told them would change the fact that humans on the planet were now one-fifth the size they had been a few days ago. The seven members of the neighborhood clan understood that survival on planet Earth was now on a completely new level.
Once the trailers were unloaded at the Mountain House, they headed down the gravel road for another load. This time they would load the empty plastic drum from Jenna’s tool shed and fill it with the remaining gasoline from the storage tank. They also wanted to load up some seasoned cedar posts from a lumber pile behind Robert’s garage. They intended to use the six-inch diameter posts to support the second level they intended to build at the Mountain House for sleeping quarters. Robert also wanted to load up some one-quarter inch thick steel from his garage to build brackets to connect the cedar support logs to the floor joists. They also loaded up the oxy-acetylene torch set and large lag bolts.
They all intended for the third load to be their last. If they did need to return to one of the farms, they would bring the four-wheeler and pick up just what they needed. They were quite certain that they had everything they would need to survive the next winter.
***
When Jenna woke up, she went into the kitchen to put on the coffee pot. Once the pot was heating on the electric stove, she turned on the small television that sat on the counter. When the picture appeared on the screen, she saw three people sitting behind a small news desk. The backdrop behind them looked huge in comparison to the three small humans sitting at the desk. They were discussing some of the events that took place when all life on the planet suddenly shrank in size. They were showing videos of planes that crashed on the ground. They showed video feeds of trains that had crashed in the center of large cities. The out of control trains destroyed buildings and killed hundreds of people. There were major highways with cars and trucks crashed everywhere one looked. A large portion of Manhattan burned and no one could put it out since the firefighters could no longer drive the fire trucks. Power plants were beginning to shut down causing wide spread pandemonium in the larger cities. Satellite images over planet Earth were beginning to show large sections of Europe in total darkness. The scientists were unsure how many humans lie dead in the cities, but they were certain that the number would be staggering.
Those humans who had been lucky enough not to be driving, flying or involved in some other activity that only a full sized human could manage, had survived the mass resizing. Manmade machines that simply could not continue to operate without some form of human guidance killed thousands of people. The news anchors at GCN were in communications with the scientists of the world, trying to get some idea of what they believe caused the resizing. The scientists believed that a massive nuclear explosion in the universe had upset the dark matter to dark energy equation. Because of that fact, the universe’s big bang expansion rate slowed, which produced the size change in all living organisms. The entire explanation seemed unreasonable to Jenna. Other scientists called those words poppycock and said that God was trying to warn mankind of the second coming of Christ. Others simply tried not to sound stupid and remained silent.
As Jenna sat mesmerized by the words of the news anchors, Randy stepped up behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “I don’t believe that any of our scientists can explain what has happened on this planet. I suspect it will take many weeks of research for the astrophysicists to truly be able to explain the events to us, if ever.” Jenna said, “We cannot even explain how dark matter and dark energy really functions in our universe, let alone attribute this resizing event to dark matter or energy.” As Randy poured some hot coffee into Jenna’s cup to warm it, he said, “I suspect that only the creator of this universe truly understands the events that have taken place in the last few days.”
As Randy began cooking bacon, Jenna joined him and put water on the stove for some oatmeal. As the smell of cooking bacon permeated the Mountain House, the others soon got up.
While they sat around the breakfast table, Kathy looked up and said, “I hate to discuss bodily functions at the breakfast table, but have any of you thought about all seven of us using one bathroom in the long term. Could we add a second toilet and sink to make life a little easier for everyone?” Randy said, “Actually, when I built this home, I intended to put in a bathroom in the small room in the back of the garage. The plumbing in there, but I never hooked it up because I did not want to heat the room in the winter.” Rodney said, “I think we need to make another trip to my farm. I have a toilet in the garage that I purchased for the addition I planned to work on this winter. I should have everything we need to hook it up. There is a used sink there also that we could make work.” Kathy said, “Is the septic tank and drain field large enough to handle the increased long term use by seven of us or do we need to dig a hole and build an outhouse before winter sets in and the ground freezes?” Randy laughed and said, “I believe our plumbing will handle the heavy demands placed upon it by this clan.” Kathy giggled and said, “Then I will drop the potty talk at the breakfast table.”
Once they had cleaned up the breakfast dishes and put away their blankets, Robert and Randy decided to go to the south farm and pick up what they needed to build a second bathroom. Once they loaded up the things they thought they might need, they began the trip back towards the Mountain House. As they traveled, they discussed how they would heat the new bathroom in the garage. Soon, after they decided they should just abandon the idea of placing the bathroom in the garage, they decided upon adding another room to the house. That way they would not have to go out into the cold to use the bathroom and they would have no problem heating it. When they turned off of the main gravel road and onto the two track dirt road up to the Mountain House, they spotted four or five sets of motorcycle tracks on the road that were not there earlier.
The tractor would only move along at a snail’s pace, but they soon rounded the bend in the road so they could see the house. There they saw five motorcycles strewn on the ground and their riders lying on the ground around them. When Robert and Randy got near to them, they realized that all of them were dead: Their modified rifles lying on the ground beside them. Standing on the porch were Rodney and the four women. They all had their rifles in their arms. As Robert and Randy checked the men to see if any were still alive, they soon discovered that none survived. They realized that the men had modified the small frame dirt bikes to accommodate their small stature.
The men walked up to the porch where their friends and family stood, mostly in shock over
what they had just done. Kathy slid into her husband’s arms and hugged him, but she did not cry. When she stepped back, Jenna was the first to speak. She said, “It is tragic that those men had to die, but they force our hand. They tried to break into the house and we warned them to leave for the third time. Once two of them started shooting the animals in the barnyard, they sealed their fate. When we all came out onto the porch with our guns and Rodney warned them to leave the animals alone or we would shoot them, they turned their rifles on us.” Jenny walked up to the post that supported the porch and rubbed her fingers around the hole in the wood where the bullet had entered, she said, “When we returned fire, they hid behind their bikes and tried to return fire. We killed all of them before they could kill us.” Britney walked up to Jenna and slid into her arms. She hugged Jenna and talked to her calmly to try to calm her friend. When Britney stepped back, her eyes were dry. Robert checked each one of the rifles to be certain the chambers were empty and then handed them back.
After everyone had settled their nerves, the men went outside to care for the dead. They dug a large hole out behind the barnyard and placed the bodies in the grave. Then they emptied the gasoline from the tanks of the dirt bikes over the bodies and threw in a match. As they added wood from a pile of brush onto the fire, the bodies slowly melted away. The men added wood to the fire for the next three hours to insure the bodies had fully burned. After the fire burned down, they loaded the bikes onto the trailer behind the tractor and drove to a cliff that overlooked a deep ravine. They pushed the bikes over the side, hoping the heavy forest below would eventually hide the machines. As they drove back towards the Mountain House, they discussed the animals that were dead in the barnyard. They would have to care for the meat yet today if they intended to preserve it for use during the winter.
Universal Mass Page 2
