by David Peters
“I think I have the bulk of the dry goods and people written somewhere in this stupid book. We ran out of room in the main storage shed so we are using the open space in the horse barn.” She looked over several of the pages in her log, “You’d think I was taking handwriting lessons from Doc, I can’t read my own handwriting at this point. I’m going to have to redo half of my counts just because I couldn’t write the number down right. I will say one thing though.”
“What’s that?”
“These people really like canned chili. As far as I can tell, they had seventy-three cases of the stuff. Not the store brand stuff either, this is one-thousand and seventy-three quality packed cans of premium grade real meat chunky style chili.”
“So if I have a clear picture of the situation, they arrived with eight guns and more than seventy cases of chili?”
“They had their priorities. What can I say?”
“I think our priority now should be breakfast and a little shuteye before we simply keel over.”
“Breakfast?” She looked at the midday sun, “What is it, like one in the afternoon?”
“No idea, I couldn’t tell you what day it is right now. I just want some cornbread and a pillow, but if push comes to shove I’ll pass on the cornbread. I’m warning you though, I’m ready to fight for that pillow.”
“I would race you to the cabin, but I am still arguing with my legs to even stand up. That and I can’t remember which way we live.”
Dylan stood and pulled her to her feet, “No race. Food and rest, then we get back to saving the human race. I can’t afford to have you down due to exhaustion.”
She stopped and stared at Dylan with questioning eye, “So you think I’m critical to saving the human race?”
They continued walking down the boardwalk and reached the cabin with the blue door, “Of course I do. There’s no way I could do this without you.”
“In that case, I want a raise. I want at least twice the nothing I’m paid now,” she smiled as Dylan held the door open for his daughter.
“Done, but it looks like I can only pay you in canned chili.”
~4~
Dylan rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. Light struggled to get in through the thick blinds and he looked around the room as he tried to figure out what day it was. He was just finishing pulling his boots on when he heard a light tapping against the outside of the cabin. He knew he was still tired but the sound was so strange it made him pause for several moments as he tried to figure out what was causing the noise. He cinched his gun belt in place as he stepped down the narrow stairway into the small living room. No one was around so he grabbed his jacket off the coat tree and pulled it on. He dropped his favorite hat on top of his head and pulled the cabin door open. He froze as he stared at the crowd.
There was what looked to be at least thirty people standing or sitting in front of his cabin. Erica and Niccole stood by while Caperson finished nailing a large bed sheet to the outside wall of his house.
He pulled the door closed behind him and looked for anyone willing to tell him what was going on. He found a lot of staring eyes and no answers.
Caperson dropped the nails he was holding in his mouth and smiled, “Glad you made it back from that comatose state you call sleep. You are just in time for the unveiling. Welcome to the release of Paradise Falls, version 2.0.”
Dylan stepped around his friend and looked at the large, crudely drawn map of the town. The first change he noted was the addition of towers to what appeared to be a new wall that ringed the town. They currently had only the one central observation tower in the middle of town but the new map showed four more along the perimeter of the main interior wall. The small security fence they had out at the three hundred meter line was beefed up considerably and what looked like crop fields lined the areas along the fence line that were currently forest. At nearly half a mile away, a third defensive wall looked to be the biggest change. The long abandoned Dalia Apple Orchard was now right at the border of a fairly long section of wall that would encompass a large portion of the small mountain they lived on.
“Why does my back suddenly hurt so much? This looks like a hell of a lot of building, digging and moving really heavy stuff.”
Caperson put his arm around his friend, “Erica and Porter have been working on this since the call first came in from Folkesburg. They spent the last three hours putting all of their work onto this,” he pointed to the large bed sheet, “for our review. Erica? Would you like to continue?”
“I’m sorry for the hasty gathering, everyone. Dad, these are the shift leads from the previous build projects we have undertaken. Porter and I have actually been talking in detail about this for a little over a month. We still have a few issues that need to be worked out but I wanted to at least start setting up build crews and getting some of the preliminary assignments started. Some parts of the project will need to be done regardless of what happens with the layout. Clearing the new fields and getting the lumber ready for use are two of the biggest priorities I think. We are going to need a lot more lumber, rocks and dirt for these new walls. I have no idea how we are going to get some of the other engineering projects going but Travis is working on some new ideas using really old technology. I’ll get into that shortly.”
Dylan examined the smaller details of the plan, “What is this building right here? It seems huge.”
“Yes, that is one of the new, or rather old, longhouse designs. It will allow us to get far more people into a protected environment without having to build dozens of independent structures. I can’t stress enough how many trees we will have to process for this project. Sure wish we wouldn’t have burned up then blown up the lumber mill.”
“We sank it in the end, don’t forget that part,” Dylan said as he smiled at her.
Caperson pointed to the second defensive perimeter fence, “Notice the second wall. It was designed with a lot of the lessons we learned in the last major attack. It’s nearly twice as thick. The far side moat is nearly ten meters across and should be close to seven meters deep at the lowest point. That alone is a huge undertaking without having any heavy equipment. We added a second moat on the inside. When our wall was breached in the last attack we had nothing left. This will give us more time in the event of a breach and also serves as more filler for the core of the wall.
Dylan traced the wall lines with his fingers as he looked over the detailed plans, “When are we starting this project?”
Caperson cleared his throat, “I wasn’t trying to go around you, Dylan. You are still the mayor; I’m just the tactical guy. This is what we put together, you are the one who has to pull the trigger, or at least float it by the council and deal with whatever crazy crap the eco-party comes up with.”
“I’m not angry in any way, don’t get me wrong. This is what needs to happen, no one can argue that. Let’s just assume that the council approves this and start yesterday.”
Caperson nodded, “Sounds good.”
“Erica, did we get solid numbers on supplies and the likes?”
“They brought a heck of a lot of food, a lot of it canned like I mentioned, they also brought a lot of clothing and blankets. They have very little in the way of weapons or tools. Once we get the new perimeter in place, we will have a lot of new crop land and a pretty big apple orchard that we might be able to get back into shape if we can protect the people working it.”
Caperson broke in, “The orchard also has two wells we can tap into for the lower fields. That will make all the difference in the world if the river does actually dry up come summertime.”
Dylan asked, “Any idea how we are going to power those wells?”
“The wells themselves are run off of two small windmills. They are currently laying down in the weeds but Travis and John both assured me that there is nothing wrong with them and they could quite easily be brought back into working order. What we don’t have is a way to power the pumps that we would need to push the water up the hill.”
“Did Travis have any ideas for that?”
“He volunteered most of his solar array. We will need to move some of the solar panels from the workshop down there. Most of the larger tools are in a state of disrepair. We finally blew through the last blade on the band saw, it was the biggest power draw we had and I don’t see us finding replacements anytime soon.”
“Travis is okay with that? Does he really not need them?”
“He was actually the one that suggested it. He uses mostly manual tools now so was feeling a little bad about having power when he wasn’t using it. He thinks he can build some Archimedes screws to get the water uphill. He’s working with John to see if that makes more sense than trying to build modern pumps. We also talked briefly about the possibility of moving all of the solar cells into a field and wiring the town, nearly two thirds of the buildings don’t actually have old world wiring, they are all standalone powered units for the most part.”
“Guess that will get put on the to-do list. We should be able to salvage all the copper wire we need from the power lines still in the area. What else is on our agenda?”
Caperson added, “I want to build a central platform for the T-Mortars. James is the man when it comes to the hardware experience with artillery and is primed and ready for the job. He is chomping at the bit to get the weapons sighted in and ready.”
“Okay, the heavy weapons platform is the priority. That should be easy to knock out quickly if we dedicate the people to it. I think having those online for what might be coming should be the easiest thing to get done. If there aren’t any other questions, I think we have our work cut out for us. Let’s rebuild our little town.”
~5~
“So you don’t have any issues with me running the team?” James asked in a surprised voice.
Caperson smiled, “Dylan knows the value of experience, hell, I personally think it is more important than just about anything. He knows there is a big difference between reading about something, and actually doing it. If someone has experience with something and wants to continue down that road, there isn’t any question. You are the man to get this system working. I’m of the same mind. Anyone can read a book and understand how the system works, but it is never a replacement for field work. I would always laugh when we got new greenhorns in from boot. They had read every manual, been in every war game, but damn if they didn’t damn near crap their pants when a bullet bounced off the turret the first time.”
“I like it.”
“Keep in mind though. This isn’t just a matter of teaching people how to use them. You are in charge of the entire supply chain. We don’t have a lot of rounds for these and you will need to figure out how we can make more. I don’t know how you will be able to get a team proficient in these things when there isn’t any ammo to spare. There will be a lot of pressure on you.”
“I have to admit, this is a nice change from the last leadership I had.”
“I was under the impression that everyone was really happy with Martha, or at least how she ran the town. I haven’t heard one negative word about her from anyone.”
“Oh it has nothing to do with Martha, she was great. As a leader she might have been a little too nice to a few folks, like her head of security. Guy was military but never really clear on what he did. He claimed he was a colonel with some Special Forces unit but I’ll be damned if he could tell me which one. Guy didn’t know squat about field work. I tried to talk shop with him several times and the guy would get so uncomfortable he’d make up some excuse to leave the room. He wasn’t ex-Special Forces, that was for damn sure.”
“How long ago was he in? Maybe it had just been a long time. Things do change.”
“He was there until the end, or so he claimed. He wandered into camp one night looking like death warmed over. Nothing but fatigues and a small pack on his back.”
“What was his name?”
“Hastings.”
Caperson shook his head for several moments and laughed quietly, “No shit.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Was this guy skinny, kind of hollow looking? When he would talk to you, did he carefully enunciate words, sound out each syllable in a really irritating manner? About this tall?” Caperson held his hand up at about the same height as his nose.
“That’s him, dead on. Did you serve with him?”
“I was afraid of that. It’s a long story but the short version is that he wanted me shot in the middle of a gravel pit.” Caperson found himself scanning the faces around the town, “Is he here in town somewhere?”
“He stayed behind. Not sure why though, the guy never struck me as having an ounce of courage. He would go out of his way to make sure he was never personally involved with anything that had one iota of danger involved. His idea of leadership was sitting in a chair and dispensing wisdom. I guess some people pull it out when the stuff hits the fan.”
“Remind me to tell you the story some time. I don’t like to talk crap about those who are no longer with us, but this guy took the cake. He would have gotten my entire command killed if he had his way. If you were still having problems with him, then it sounds as if he didn’t change much.”
“That sounds like Hastings.”
Caperson led James to what would eventually be an elevated heavy weapons platform, “We already have a crew out working on the lumber for this platform and building should start later this afternoon. These folks are working on the pilings. We don’t have a lot of access to concrete so we have to go with rocks. Thankfully if we get down more than three or so feet in most areas we hit a fairly solid layer of clay. The platform should be solid enough, it isn’t going to be pretty but it will be high and stable. I want to start getting things dialed in by the end of this week. If what you heard was really coming to Folkesburg, it will be here someday soon and I want to make sure our fields of fire are mapped out and coordinated.”
“You have any grids?”
Caperson frowned, “We don’t have anything like that drawn up. You will need to find a way to work it out. Keep in mind that a lot of these people don’t have any military experience. Grid coordinates would be nice but in the heat of battle it just isn’t going to work. Keep it simple but accurate. Something a guy can yell back from the wall.”
“I’ll figure something out. We can’t be screaming out random locations and expect the arty to be effective.”
James walked around the edge of the platform pattern that was scratched out in the ground. At each corner he would look up and around the town. His experienced eyes would trace the path of the rounds departing the platform. He looked for any overhead obstacles. Power lines, trees, poles, anything that could alter the path of a round causing it to detonate nearly instantly or sending it off into friendly forces unexpectedly.
He reached the final corner and nodded approvingly, “You do know your stuff. This has got to be the best damn position in the town. Any further to the west and the tower there shadows that open field and a good portion of the barricade entrance. Any further to the east and the eaves from the town hall there would limit our reach. I’m used to setting up in a straight line with targets in a single direction, but I like the challenge.”
Caperson nodded graciously but said nothing.
“Does this Dust work as well as I have been hearing? Have you seen it in action? Does it really tip the scales?”
“You saw the training videos for chemical and biological warfare the same as I did, right?”
“Yeah, you don’t forget stuff like that.”
“If you were a Corrupted, this stuff is worse. If the density is strong enough, a thick cloud or direct contact with the Dust, it looks like,” Caperson thought for a moment, “You ever see those videos of the tests for that old Soviet Novichok stuff? It was a nerve agent that they tried desperately to keep out of the press back in the sixties?”
“Never saw the video. The trainer we had said it was pretty messed up. It’s supposed to be one of th
e most painful of the lot and brutal to try to clean up. Guess a bunch of our filters at the time weren’t fine enough to deal with it and there were some pretty big fears about it being used in Germany.”
“Compared to Dust, Novichok is a party trick, a glorified baking ingredient. I would say I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but it wouldn’t be the truth.”
~6~
Dylan sat upright as he tried to clear his mind. He was up but he didn’t know why. Another hard knock on the front door and Dylan swung around to get his boots and coat on.
Niccole sat up and reached over to Daniel’s small crib, “Does anyone sleep until sun-up anymore?”
“I’m not sure, but there isn’t any alarm bell so it must not be the Corrupted. Whatever they want it sounds pretty damn urgent. Stay here with Daniel, I’ll send a runner if it’s something you should be concerned about.”
“Please be careful, Cowboy.”
“I always am, Coco,” he said as he kissed her forehead.
Dylan pulled his belt tight as he made his way to the front door. There was another urgent knock, this one considerably louder than the others.
“I’m coming!” He yelled out angrily. He worked the small lock on the door and opened it, “What’s the problem? This better be damn good”
John Martelli was standing in his heavy coat with his assault rifle held in one gloved hand while the other was held in a fist ready to knock on the door again, “Sorry to wake you at this time of night, Boss. Scouts just picked up four folks from the South East. They are in a bad way. Doc has them over in the Q-Hut, he wants you there as quick as you can.”
“Is anyone bitten?”
“I didn’t see them close enough but it sure as hell smelled like it. Two of them were ripe as hell. If they weren’t bitten, then they were rolling around on a ‘Rupt.”
“And they are inside the medical building? They are on this side of the wall?” He asked angrily.
“I was just sent to get you. I’m sorry, Boss. I would have stopped it if I had seen it coming.”
