by P. A. Glaspy
Monroe eyed the posts, holding his hand up to the rest of them with his index finger and thumb forming a right angle. He closed his left eye and moved his hand down until his thumb lay on the horizon. He moved from post to post checking each one. He dropped his hand, sniffed, and said, “I guess they look pretty level. Glad you fellas thought to use the tractor. It would have taken you hours to dig those holes by hand.”
Pete was grinning at him. “Love that old machine, Mr. Warren. She runs like a champ. Knocked those holes out in no time.”
Monroe squinted at him. “Name’s Monroe. Only folks that call me Mr. Warren are people I probably don’t want to talk to. Doctors, lawyers, government alphabet assholes, those kind of people. I’m glad you like the tractor. She’s never let me down in 40 years. I reckon we’ll be finding all kinds of uses for her now. If Lee is done with her, we can run out to the gate and see if they’re ready to dig some fox holes.”
Pete laughed and nodded, then looked to Lee. Lee waved them off.
“We need to hook up to the trailer and haul lumber down from the other shed, but we can do that with one of the trucks, if that’s okay with everybody. I think both tasks are important so if we can do both at the same time, that’s probably the best option.”
Russ had walked up to them by now, mopping sweat from his face.
“Good idea. Use my truck. It’s closest to the door. Keys are under the floor mat on the passenger side. I’m going to head out to the gate with these guys, unless you still need me.”
“Nah, we’re good. We’ll be gathering materials for a while, and I think we’ll put the roof on first so we can get it somewhat in the dry in case it rains. We might need some extra hands this afternoon getting the trusses set; but, like I said, I want to gather all the materials here first. Me, the Lawton brothers, and the Thompson boys can handle it for now. I’ll let you know when we’re ready for the next building phase.”
Russ clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for the hard work, Lee. We’re really glad you’re here. You guys don’t forget to stop and get some water in you before you head out to the other shed.”
Russ, Monroe, and Pete headed to the tractor. Pete deferred to Monroe to drive, but Monroe climbed on back.
“You brought her out this morning; you might as well keep on handlin’ her. I’m just along for the ride.”
Pete grinned at him and climbed into the driver’s seat. He cranked the tractor up, and they headed down the driveway toward the gate to find the security crew. They would find more than that when they got there.
****
Mike, Brian, and Bob had left the bunkhouse building site as soon as the last post was in its hole. They didn’t need everybody to fill and tamp holes once they got the things in the ground. They had stopped by one of Monroe’s junk sheds to pick up the tree stand and ghillie material for the treehouse, now officially being called The Bird’s Nest. Bob had named it trying to be funny, but everyone liked it and he had been strutting around like a peacock ever since. As Bob knew where most of the supplies were, he grabbed the crowbar, hammer, and nails.
“Can you guys think of anything else we might need for this thing? Straw, mud, hair? Get it? Bird’s Nest?”
He grinned at his own joke while Mike and Brian just shook their heads. Mike looked at him and said, “Dude, you ain’t right.” Bob pushed his chest out.
“Yep, but ya gotta love me.”
Brian replied, “The only who’s ‘gotta love you’ is Janet, poor woman. The rest of us tolerate you, mostly. Sort of. Somewhat.”
Mike snorted a laugh. Bob cut his eyes at him.
“Something funny, Sergeant Shitter? You finding all this amusing?”
Mike, who was quickly getting used to Bob and his ways, laughed out loud.
“Extremely funny. By the way, there will be an equally annoying nickname for you in the not too distant future, bubba. Count on it.”
Bob tried a menacing look, but couldn’t pull it off. He grinned again.
“Looking forward to it, Sergeant.”
They grabbed their supplies and headed for the treehouse. When they got to the tree, they dropped everything and took another look at the steps leading up. Brian took the tree stand and leaned it up against the tree.
“Looks like we’re going to be damn near perfect reaching the platform with this rig, and this is much sturdier than what’s there now.”
Mike looked it over, nodding. “Yeah, this ladder is going to save us a ton of work. Didn’t Monroe say he had some paint we could camo this thing with? We should do that first.”
“I know where it is. Be right back.” Bob headed for the house.
“In the meantime, let’s start pulling these steps off as far up as we can reach them. Set aside any you think we can re-use for something else. I’m pretty sure nothing gets thrown away around here.”
Brian laughed as Mike handed him the claw hammer and took the crowbar for himself. They worked together, one pulling the steps off, the other pulling the nails out. They had most of the ones they could reach down by the time Bob got back with the paint. Mike immediately gave him a hard time.
“Damn, man, I was about to come looking for you; thought you got lost. We were running out of things to do. What took you so long?”
Bob was agitated. “You’ve seen Monroe’s ‘storage sheds’, right? Do any of them look organized to you? I had to dig through about four boxes of shit before I found them.”
He held up three cans of spray paint: black, brown, and green. Mike took the brown and green. He started shaking them and turned to Brian.
“Lay that ladder on the ground. I hope Monroe doesn’t get pissed if we get paint on the grass.”
Bob was shaking the black can. “Nah, he hates the lawn. Said he’d plow it under if Millie would let him. What can I do?”
“Come in behind me with the black. No pattern, just random spots. It’s supposed to look like the forest, which has black spots caused by shadows. The hope is that no one will see this when they look through the trees from the road.”
They went to work covering the old paint on the ladder. When they were satisfied with the results and it had dried, they set it up against the tree.
“I think that will work. Let’s figure out how to get this thing attached.” Mike grabbed the ladder and laid it back down.
“Since the premise of a tree stand is to be able to climb up to a perch, it’s supposed to be set away from the tree, usually the distance of the platform at the top. This one still has the platform; it’s the seat that’s gone. We don’t have any of the cabling that would have come with it originally, but I think we can come up with something, hopefully even sturdier than the original setup.”
He looked at the tree stand then back at the tree. “Let’s go see what Monroe has in the way of scrap metal. If I can find the material to make a brace for this about a third of the way up, that should work fine.”
They headed out to the shed beside the barn. Monroe was not an organized man by any means, but he at least kept like materials together. They went to the scrap metal pile. Brian reached for a piece on top and got a nasty cut from it on his left hand. He dropped the piece and yelled out.
“DAMN IT! That thing cut me!” He stuck his hand in his mouth and sucked on the spot.
Mike shook his head at him. “Buddy, metal can and will cut you as quick as glass. You better go get Kate to clean that up for you.”
Brian pulled his hand down and looked at it. “Nah, it’s alright. Let’s finish this, then I’ll get her to look at it.” He was already wrapping it in a rag he had found nearby.
Bob looked at the cut over his shoulder. “You know we don’t have any tetanus shots now, right? If you get lock jaw, don’t come crying to me. Oh wait…”
Mike grinned at Bob’s joke but then donned a more serious expression. “He’s joking but it’s a concern. I’d feel better if you’d go get that looked at, get a clean bandage and some antibiotic ointment on it. We can handle th
is. Go see Kate.”
Brian grumbled, but headed toward the house. Bob looked at Mike. “Our first injury. Hope there aren’t too many of those, but I’m sure there will be. Let’s get this thing mounted. Did you find what you need to do it?”
Mike held up a piece of threaded rod about three feet long. He also had a bracket with three holes in it – one on each end, and a threaded hole in the center. Lastly, he showed Bob a U-bolt bracket.
“If you guys can get me something to drill with, I can use this stuff. We’ll mount the flat bracket on the tree with some long screws. We can then thread the rod into the threaded hole in the center. If I can get my hands on a drill, I can drill a hole for the other end of the rod to go through the U-bolt bracket. We wrap the U-bolt around one of the rungs, and we have some stability, then we tighten everything down. Oh, I’ll also need a hacksaw, to cut the rod to length.”
“You know something, Sergeant Shitter? You’re kind of handy to have around. Let’s get those tools. I can’t wait to see this put together.”
“Why thank you, Pinky.”
Bob jerked his head in Mike’s direction. “Pinky? What the hell you gonna call me that for??”
Mike held up his pinky finger and grinned. “You can thank Monroe for that one.”
“Son of a bitch.”
****
Brian was walking up to the porch when we saw him. Kate saw the blood and immediately headed that way.
“What happened? Is anyone else hurt?”
Brian shook his head. “No, just me. I was attacked by a jagged piece of metal. Mike wouldn’t let me help any more, said I had to have you look at it.”
Kate was pulling the rag away to get a look at it. The cut was jagged, but not too deep. It was oozing blood, but still bleeding.
“Good thing he did. This rag is filthy. We need to get this cleaned up and get a fresh dressing on it. Anne, you have medical supplies I’m sure.”
“I do. Come on in the house. We’ll clean him up in the kitchen.”
We all went inside. Medical supplies were something I had prepped heavy because, as I kept telling everyone, there were no doctors to run to now. I went to the basement and pulled out a box labeled “Simple First Aid”. This was alcohol and alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, band-aids, bandages, and tape; the things we’d need for minor cuts and scrapes. We had bottles of over-the-counter pain meds and fever reducers, as well as fish antibiotics in another box marked “Meds”. The veterinary versions are almost the exact same thing as what is dispensed for humans, but you don’t need a prescription for them. We had other boxes with different types of first-aid items in them, including sutures and IV kits. Janet and I had both taken some extensive first-aid training, but I was relieved to have an actual nurse here. Kate took charge of her patient.
“Come over to the table, Brian. Janet, can we get a light source over here?”
Janet grabbed a flashlight and held it over Brian’s hand. Marietta was hovering, worried about Brian, so Kate set her to work as a distraction.
“Marietta, can you get me a pan of water at the sink? Something shallow we can get his hand in.”
Millie was in the kitchen when we came in and was already pulling out small towels that looked like tea towels. She had also pulled out a small metal dishpan which she handed to Marietta.
“Here you go, dear. This should work fine.”
Marietta took the pan to the pump and started filling it. Millie took the towels to Kate.
“Do you need hot water? I can have some heated in a jiffy.”
Kate was peering at Brian’s hand. “Let’s see how clean we can get it with alcohol first. Oh, Millie, these towels look fancy. Are you sure you want me to use them for this?”
Millie placed them in her hand. “Yes, dear, I’m sure. I can’t think of a better use for them. They’ve been sitting in that drawer for years.”
Kate took the towels and set them on the table. She took one from the top and dipped it in the basin Marietta had brought to her. She started to clean the grime from around the wound and Brian winced. She looked at him, smiled, and continued with her task.
“Sorry, I know this is not going to be pleasant, but an infection will be a lot worse. It doesn’t look deep, but it is pretty jagged. I think our best bet is to clean it out, load it up with antibiotic ointment, and wrap the whole thing. You are officially off any kind of work detail that involves dirt or anything that will irritate this wound.”
Brian started to protest, but Kate was firm. “Brian, do you want to risk losing your hand or your life? We can’t take any chances right now. You could get a staph infection which could kill you. No. You’re grounded, mister.”
We hid our smirks by turning away to find something else to look at. Kate was vying for my Betty Badass status. I loved it. She cleaned the wound, then poured alcohol over it. After Brian stopped dancing around and hollering from that, she put the ointment on, followed by a large gauze pad held in place by a gauze wrap and surgical tape. She leaned back and surveyed her work.
“I wish we could give you a tetanus shot, but that’s obviously out of the question. Keep this clean and dry. I want to see it three times a day until I say otherwise. Understand?”
Brian nodded, looked at his hand, and got up from the table.
“Bob is going to give me so much shit for this.”
Janet and I completely lost it then. She caught her breath long enough to say, “Oh yes, he most definitely will. Sorry about that.”
“Well, I might as well get it over with. Thanks for patching me up Kate. Later, ladies.”
Brian headed out the door. We were still laughing while we were gathering supplies. Kate looked at me with a handful of them.
“Anne, maybe we should set up a first-aid station somewhere. Is there a space we can use? I’d love to be able to have everything readily available if we need it. If that had been worse, we would have wanted the supplies within immediate reach.”
“Great idea, Kate. Let’s see what we can set up in the basement. That probably offers us the most usable space right now.” I loved hearing Kate talk about setting up more permanent areas. I really wanted them to stay. It sounded like that’s what they wanted, too. We were headed down the stairs to the basement when we heard the gunshots.
CHAPTER 8
While we were still at home after the pulse we had all taken to wearing our pistols all the time. That hadn’t changed since we had arrived at the farm. The new folks didn’t all have side arms, but those who did – Mike, the Lawton brothers, and Sean – wore theirs as well. Kate carried their 38 special in her pocket. Lee didn’t have a gun, so he had been given the .357 from the man on the road. We had extras, but he had requested that one. His reason was they had tried to use it hurt us, so he would use it to protect us. Sound reasoning if you asked me.
We hadn’t really developed a plan for who would go where and do what if something happened here. We hadn’t gotten that far yet. There was so much to do to get everyone settled in and get our defenses set up that we hadn’t addressed it. Consequently, there was chaos when the shots were heard. Kids were running toward their parents, parents were looking for their kids, the dogs were running around everyone barking, and most of the men were heading toward the shots. Fortunately, the kids were all in the immediate area – some in the gardens, some in the barn – so I walked out on the porch and yelled for them.
“Kids! In the house! NOW!”
They ran to my voice, and Millie was there to herd them all inside, along with Kate, Sara, and Marietta. I turned to Millie and said, “Get them down to the basement. Keep them there until one of us comes to get you.”
She had a shotgun in her hand and nodded at me. “Anybody gets this far they’re gonna have to get through me to get to these babies. Be careful, darlin’.”
I quickly hugged her and ran down the steps with Janet on my heels. Ben and Rusty were standing in the yard with their guns drawn, looking around. The Thompson boys were there as
well with pistols at the ready, scanning for anybody who wasn’t supposed to be there. I got to them just as they were heading down toward the gate where we thought the shots had come from.
“Guys, hold up. We need you to protect the kids and the house. Most of our supplies are in that house and the root cellar. We can’t afford to lose them. If you’ll each take a side, the four of you can pretty much cover the whole yard. Go inside the house, get upstairs, and find a spot you can see the furthest from. Keep your heads down. If you see anyone you don’t know out there, shoot in their vicinity. Hopefully you can keep them occupied until we get more bodies to wherever they are. But, if they get in the house, shoot them. Don’t hesitate. Stay in there until we get back here, understand?”
The boys nodded and with a group “Yes ma’am” headed for the house. I wasn’t the security expert here, but in their absence, I tried to make sure the kids were as safe as possible, while still helping to secure the place. I was pretty sure Russ and the guys would agree with me on that one.
Janet and I ran toward the road. That’s where it sounded like the shots were fired and that’s the direction the guys had headed. Pete had gotten as far as the treehouse on the tractor. When they heard the shots, Russ yelled for Pete to stop the tractor; he and Monroe jumped off, pulled their guns, and grouped up with Mike and Bob. Brian had already been headed that direction, so he had caught up as well, pulling his pistol with his good hand. As Lee and the Lawton brothers had a head start on us, the guys were all there when we arrived. Mike hadn’t quite finished attaching the deer stand to the tree yet, but with the help of a couple of them holding it steady, someone could climb up and get a look. Russ saw me coming and met me on the way.
