Earth's Survivors: box set

by Wendell Sweet

  “I am just afraid,” Amy said. Her voice choked, and she buried her head further into Arron’s chest. Arron held her as she began to cry.

  Hazleton: Adam

  “Hey,” Adam said. He knelt down next to Winston where he lay on a cot. Cammy had found the cot and set up in a small side office. He looked in his eyes. “What's going on?”

  Winston nodded. “I think it's just something else, Adam. I know Cammy is worried, thinks it's my heart, but I don't think so.”

  Adam nodded. “What can I do?”

  “Nothing, really. I think it just has to run its course.” He shrugged.

  “Pain in your chest? ... Arm?” Adam asked.

  “Arm aches. Pressure in my chest. I got a bad ticker... I know it. I get that sometimes. I got Nitro... plenty,” Winston said.

  “But you don't think it will get worse?” Adam asked.

  Winston lowered his voice. “It's a bad ticker, Adam. Been bad before; been worse, better. I really think it's going to be okay. I don't have that feeling of doom. I can't explain it better than that. You get this feeling when it's really bad. I don't have that. I think, truthfully, that it will be fine. Maybe I overdid it a little the last few days. I'll be more careful,” Winston finished.

  “We'll probably be here the rest of today and tomorrow. Then we're thinking of pulling out... if you think you feel up to it. So rest. Let me know... but be honest about it. Let me know how you feel,” Adam shrugged.

  Winston shrugged too. Adam stood. Cammy stayed where she had been, seated on the end of the cot.

  Beth

  Beth walked along silently. Adam walked beside her. He had come back after all and caught her as she was coming down the ladder. He had waited as she made a quick trip to the garage, and then they had walked slowly into the junk yard, watching the rows of cars as they went. Adam told her what Iris had said to him earlier.

  “Iris can be silly sometimes. She gets an idea in her head and she runs with it,” Beth said at last. “Hopefully it doesn't cause you problems.”

  “It can't cause me problems,” Adam said. “I can't believe, though, that Iris would go to Cammy.”

  Beth shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way it can cause you problems, and I hope it doesn't.”

  “It can't,” Adam said again. “Cammy and I had a talk today. Let me rephrase that, Cammy talked to me, and I listened.”

  Beth looked up at Adam.

  “Cammy wanted me to know that she is not in love with me... can't love me. That was it. But that's not all of it. People think that we are together, and I haven't, she hasn't, corrected that. But the truth is that there is nothing there. Hasn't been. She was with someone else when we met. Long story, but she lost that person. I went through something bad too... lost someone I loved, the same as most of us did. She wanted me to know she's not ready to meet someone else. But we're not together, so Iris can say what Iris wants to say. Doesn't matter... Can't cause me problems.”

  Beth took a sip from the pint and passed it to Adam.

  Adam sipped deeply. “Wow.” He handed the bottle back, reached into his top pocket, pulled his pouch free and rolled a cigarette. He motioned to the pouch and looked at Beth.

  “Please,” Beth said.

  “Shit will kill you,” Adam warned.

  “Yeah, well,” Beth laughed and looked around. “I'm pretty scared.”

  “Guess I feel the same. If I didn't, I would have tossed this crap.” He rolled a second cigarette and handed it to Beth. A second later he scratched a match to life and lit both cigarettes. He blew gray-blue smoke into the air. They walked in silence for a time.

  “Let's get to where we're going and then sort this out,” Beth said. She looked over at Adam.

  “Alright, that's fair,” Adam agreed.

  “Yeah... No sweat,” she added.

  Adam nodded.

  “Yet,” Beth added with a laugh. She took a sip from the bottle and then passed it back to Adam.

  Adam chuckled, took another deep pull from the bottle, felt the fire roll down into his stomach and then passed it back. “Yet,” he agreed.

  September 15th year one

  Conner sat quietly on the stone ledge, feet dangling over the edge, watching the sunrise. Amy and Katie were both on post and Conner expected them to come down from the top of the pass in just a few minutes. He sipped at his coffee as he waited for them.

  He was midway up the ledge, just below the wider ledge that fronted the cave, before him the valley spread out in all directions. You could see the mountains where they blocked one end and sent the valley into a long right hand curve, but even that was several miles distance from where he sat. It was a huge expanse of land, and it was only a small part of the land that was available to them.

  There were three large metal barns within sight, constructed from the steel buildings they had bought in with them. There were two smaller steel structures, one that housed the school, the other their small power plant.

  That building sat next to the stream, further down the valley, and held the power generator they had bought, and two large diesel engines from two of the flatbed trucks.

  It had taken three days to get the trucks down there. Using a winch on the pickup and the third stake bed as an anchor, but, they had done it. The two diesels were soon to be hooked into the main power supply line so that when the wind power was not enough they could run the diesels for supplementary power. The stream itself generated power, but the current was not fast enough, or strong enough to fill their needs. Coupled with the wind power it was more than enough. Backed by the two diesels to turn the generators, they would be fine year around

  They intended to add solar panels eventually, to provide on demand power and to take the load off the water turbine on sunny days. The power that wasn't used could be stored in a bank of batteries. Another item that was needed. Items, Conner corrected himself. Plus wire, lots and lots of wire. Because, although the power plant was working, there were only a few lights here and there and only very close to the plant, most of the other dwellings, and the cave, were without power.

  The other dwellings were made of stone. Like the power plant, they had Dustin’s remarkable mind to thank for the stone and concrete walls. He had read about the power plant and put it together. He had read and understood the formula for cement and made it.

  The first few batches were not the best, but they worked well enough, and after that he had shown Arron, Amy, David and Conner how to mix the batches. The stone buildings had gone up fast after that.

  It took the longest to build the roofs, they were nearly all wood and they had not thought to bring a sawmill, although James was sure there had been a fairly large portable one at the farm equipment store.

  They had remembered chain saws and oil, and Dustin had used an illustration in a project book to build a small Sawmill using one of the larger chain saws. It worked well enough, but ate into their gas supply, which was very low. Even so it had allowed them to build dwellings, another barn, milk house, slaughterhouse.

  The concrete had allowed them to build a long stone wall that sat at the edge of the ledge that fronted the cave and the sheer drop off to the valley below. They had built a chimney for the smoke hole, as well as another wall at the front of the cave to close it off and protect it from the rain and snow they expected. Rain for sure, they had already seen that. They would know more about the snow in just a few months. Conner hoped to be back by then.

  He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and wrote... “Base type radios.” He then tucked the notebook away. The notebook was the only way to do it, otherwise he would forget too many things and...

  “Hey, babe,” Katie said. She and Amy walked side by side down the pathway from the top. They were both showing at nearly six months along. He stood quickly so she would not try to bend to kiss him. Katie was even larger than Amy and already uncomfortable. He kissed her and held it for a moment.

  “Any more of that coffee,” she asked.
r />   “At home,” he smiled. “All you want... Amy?” He offered.

  “Nope,” she stood smiling. “I'm going home to my man. With you two leaving tomorrow I have forbidden him to go anywhere else today or tomorrow. I don't want him to forget me,” she said. She smiled but couldn't quite hide the worry in her eyes.

  “I had the same idea,” Katie said. “Believe me,” she said, kissing Conner again. “He's not going to forget about me.”

  Amy laughed, “You guys,” she said. The three of them continued down the path to the valley floor, past the pool and on down the flagged pathway to the stone houses.

  ~

  They left Amy with Arron, and headed to the next house in line. The inside was still only sparsely furnished and smelled of the fresh cut pine that had been used to build the roof and wall studding. They had to make everything they owned, and it took time. Another thing they had not thought of, furniture. A few simple chairs or beds. They would remember this time though; they were on the list.

  Katie stayed on the front porch while Conner went in and started the coffee. The flowers in her little garden were in bloom and the fragrance was strong on the morning air. Conner came back out to find her sitting on the long porch swing he had built for her, fashioned from heavy rough cut planks and worked smooth with sandstone, watching the sun continue to rise.

  He handed her, her coffee, and then carefully sat down beside her so she wouldn't spill it. She was quiet.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Conner said.

  “You don't have a penny,” she said smiling.

  “Well, you know, if I did,” Conner said.

  “I've been thinking about you leaving. I wish I was going, but I’m also glad to be pregnant with our baby, still I'm going to worry about you while you're gone,” she took his hand and held it.

  “A month, month and a half tops, and we'll be back. I wish you were going too, but to be honest I'm glad you're not. Bouncing around those trucks, you and Amy both? No, not at all. Sandy was right to say no. So, I'm gonna miss you, but we'll be back with a bunch of stuff to keep you busy through the winter and probably the next few years.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said. “Which reminds me, computers.”

  “Computers,” he asked.

  “Yeah, it would be so helpful to have a few. For the farm, school, teaching the kids. The power project, but also for my music. You did that right... Computers? Used to program them,” she asked.

  “Yeah, and I didn't think I'd see them again, but you're right they would be useful,” Conner agreed.

  “Can you program,” she asked. “You said so, right? Can you write a program like Dustin wants for the powerhouse?”

  “Well, I'm okay with HTML, C, Java, but not so hot with C++. But, I don't have to be, Janna is,” Conner told her.

  “Janna,” she asked.

  “Yeah, she worked as a data processor. But she wrote several data base programs to do specific work. Not like macros or scripts you write for databases, but real programs,” he said.

  “Babe, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but will you get them?” Katie smiled.

  Conner smiled and pulled out a notebook. “How many were you thinking,” he asked.

  “A few dozen. A little more maybe and the stuff to hook them together?” She said.

  He wrote it down and then re-pocketed the notebook. “You got it, Babe. And I'm sorry for the tech-speak,” he smiled and kissed her. “Now, didn't you say something about spending time with me, before I left?”

  She leaned over and closed his mouth with her own. “Come with me,” she said softly, pulling him from the porch swing and into the house...

  ~

  There was no head of what they had named 'The New Nation' and then immediately abbreviated to just 'The Nation,' instead they had chosen nine members from among themselves and formed a representative panel. There were also no formal meetings, but when something needed to be decided or discussed the nine of them got together and hashed it out.

  They would be down to six, losing Conner, Arron and Nellie to the expedition, but they decided there was no real reason to appoint someone to take their places while they were gone. It was so rare for them to even meet that there should be little reason for that to occur while they were gone. “And if it did?” Amy had asked.

  “Well,” James had said. “Six could decide every bit as well as nine could.” And that had been the end of it.

  Instead of remaining in the dark ages as some had been concerned about, James and Janna had been all for nearly any and every modern convenience they could find. James had balked at telephones though when Dustin mentioned how easily it could be done.

  “We have radios. I for one don't want to have to answer the phone so young Dustin here can sell me a subscription to the local paper,” he had joked. But the point had been made, even with Dustin, and he had immediately turned his attention to radios. Base radios. More power. No Batteries. Radios, Phones, they were the same thing to Dustin's mind. A cell phone could fit in your pocket. The clunky radios they carried now could not. James would come around once he saw how much easier a cell phone would work. They were nothing more than a glorified radio anyway. Dustin decided not to mention his argument to James though. Maybe later.

  One of the first decisions the panel had made was to use the cave for a meeting place, clinic, and storage. There were several dry, cold storage areas. The passages went on forever it seemed. The ridge that lead away into the distance, and formed a natural border for the valley, was honeycombed with caves. Most of them connected to the main cave. At least the ones they had explored. Probably, Conner had opinioned, they all did. It was just a matter of exploring them and mapping them out.

  There were also underground rivers, steep narrow passages that went deep into the ground. They had blocked off anything truly dangerous within the first few months.

  Sandy and Susan had decided to build their own home into the stone overhang. It only made sense, Sandy had said. The clinic was in the cave. The herb racks. The medicines. They were both working their way through several books to learn as much as they could about herbs and the natural healing properties of the trees and plants around them.

  Dustin and Annie had chosen to live in the cave too. Dustin needed the space for the projects he had going. He moved from one thing to the next. He couldn't wait to get his hands on a few computers, and he was sure he could easily learn whatever Conner and Janna were willing to teach him.

  Sharon was learning to nurse from Sandy. She was also finding her background as a veterinarian's assistant in demand. She was fascinated with plant and herb medicines and was as eager as Sandy and Susan to learn it.

  Cindy had stayed in the cave because of Sharon. She was like a mother to her. Whatever had needed to click had. Cindy was impressed with the veterinarian skills Sharon had, and eager to learn from her.

  Cindy's other hero was Molly, who could do just about anything to a motor or any other mechanical thing. She was learning mechanics from Molly and animal husbandry from Sharon. It filled her days up. Made her feel useful. And she rarely thought of her old life any longer.

  The large main room in the cave was used as a gathering place by all of them when ever they wanted to get together. It was this space that had been closed in with stone, and a heavy, solid plank door protected the interior from the elements.

  Down in the valley, two of the barns held most of the animals, several heads of cattle and bison grazed in the valley. They were still fed grain to keep them dependent and close by. The others, mothers who were through nursing their calves, were moved to a separate part of the barn and joined the milking team. They now had twenty-four milkers, and a steady supply of milk, cheese and butter.

  The other half of the barn held chickens and rabbits. They had separate areas in the same space, and both reproduced very quickly so they had a constant supply of fresh meat. Some weeks more than they could use. But It was easy to use the far, colder reaches of the
caves to keep the meat cold. The cold storage was not enough to keep the meat frozen during the summer but it did keep it cold enough to keep the meat fresh a few weeks at a time. A permanent smoke house existed farther down the valley and took all the excess meat and turned it into dried meat. Highly concentrated protein that could be stored for months. They were working on pemmican so that it could be stored indefinitely, as long as it was kept dry.

  The egg supply was also constant with fresh layers coming along all the time. The beef cows were free to graze the valley floor. A short section of stone wall had been erected to close off the exit at the far end of the valley where a second, longer valley ran for several miles, eventually opening into untold miles of grazing lands past the mountain range.

  That closed in several miles of the main valley. The sides of the valley climbed to ridges that were far too steep for any animal besides a mountain goat to climb. The area that held the houses and the ledges that led up to the caves was fenced off.

  The horses shared the valley. They tended to prefer the closer proximity of people. Several horses were stabled in the second barn along with oxen teams. Some of those horses were used for field work along with the oxen, but there were about a dozen horses that were used for riding and herding the beef cows.

  Spread out in the valley there was a small herd of moose and another of deer. Both by-products of the cow chow they had used to lure the cows and horses. An even smaller herd of Bison had stayed in the valley. The question in everyone’s mind at first was whether any of them were cross mate-able. Because the moose bulls were constantly chasing after the cows when they came into heat. They took the questions to Sharon.

  “Moose and Cow, No,” Sharon said. “Cow and Bison, yes.” She had laughed it off. But soon after that they were blessed with the first Beefalo calf, and more, she suspected, were on the way.

  The third and fourth barns in the valley were used for storing grain and hay they would need to get through the coming winter.