by Pete Thorsen
They broke into every warehouse to see what it contained and Don had even brought a notebook with to write down addresses and contents of the warehouses. From there they went to Don’s old store and this time Don opened the ground level receiving door and drove the pickup inside so it would be safe while they continued their exploration on foot.
They each had also brought small day packs which they now carried along with their rifles. Lynn had a pistol and Don had one on each hip. Every business had been broken into and some were a mess inside while others looked pretty normal with only the broken door as evidence of the entry.
Food and water supplies were not found in any place they looked through. This was only to be expected. The grocery stores were all a mess and very stinky inside. The smell was bad enough so they barely even looked into those stores.
Don was somewhat surprised when he saw that there were many car batteries still in the auto parts stores but then realized that hundreds of batteries were available with all the stalled cars and trucks everywhere.
Don guessed that some of the commercial buildings might have solar panels on the roofs but he never checked. Solar panels were very common out here in Arizona and likely some were on a few of these commercial buildings along with some residential houses. They found many dead people but none were fresh at all.
The bodies had been all eaten likely by dog packs and just the scattered bones and ripped clothing was left. It was impossible to know what had killed those people. There were a few corpses in some of the buildings that the animals couldn’t get to but they stayed away from the bodies and cause of death was immaterial at this point anyway.
They did not go into the residential areas at all. There was no water source here without electricity so neither thought anyone would have stayed here. Lynn said the city had installed a large solar array to power one of the pumping stations but it must not be working now for some reason. Don thought some of the circuits or electronics had maybe been fried but an electrician could likely get it going again.
Running water would mean that many people could again live in this area but they would have to figure out something for their sanitation needs. Maybe they could put in a few large septic tanks that could service several houses. With water they could have gardens to supply them with some food at least. Solar panels could be salvaged from many houses or those houses with the panels could be moved into. With some work the people here could have water and power but instead there was just no one around.
Don asked Lynn if she knew if there was a cemetery in town. She said there were a couple out of town but there was also one just a few blocks from them. Lynn led the way and soon they were at the cemetery. It was not a good scene. They could see many ‘new’ looking graves and one very large dug up area that they thought was likely a mass grave but the worst was all the evidence of dead bodies that had been just dumped here and the animals had got to and eaten.
Bones and ripped clothing were everywhere. Dogs (or something) had dug into the suspected mass grave to get at the bodies there. It was an awful experience to see. There was no way to estimate how many bodies had been brought here to be left or buried but it had been a considerable number.
They both turned their backs to the scene but they could not forget the images they had seen. Now they knew where many people from town had ended up. Many had also likely been buried in back yards and it was almost a sure thing that many more were just corpses that were still in their houses.
Don and Lynn turned back towards the edge of town where they had left their pickup. It was not a happy trip. They had not found a single person who was alive. They were about three blocks from their destination when they heard the sound of a motor. They stepped quickly to the edge of the highway that went through the town and soon saw a man riding small old motor cycle. When he got a little closer they both started waving and the man stopped some distance away and looked at them for a bit.
Don took his rifle off his shoulder and laid it on the ground then Lynn did the same. When Lynn laid her rifle down her hat came off and her hair fell out which caused her to naturally shake her head to get her hair to fall straight. More than setting the rifles on the ground it was likely the fact that one was now obviously a woman that the man decided to trust the two strangers and he rode over to them.
“Thank you for stopping to talk with us. We were beginning to think there was no one left alive here.”
“There are not very many that are left. Are you from out of town?”
“Yes we live in the country near here. We just wanted to come to town to visit and see how it was here. We never expected it would be this bad.”
“Yes it was and still is very bad. Some people went crazy and some just did nothing and waited for things to get back to normal. The first few days were OK but after that things went downhill very fast. As soon as one store was broken into and people saw that there was no law any more then all the stores were looted.
Then bad guys just started taking anything and anybody they wanted to and killed anyone in their way or just killed for fun. It took way too long for the good people to band together to solve that situation. Now there are not very many of us left. A few people left town. Some hiked into the mountains to try to live off the land and others left following one of the roads hoping for who knows what.”
“Are those still here doing alright? Do you have enough food and water?”
“Sorry we have none to share.”
“No we are OK at our house and not looking to get a hand out. We have enough food and a steady supply of water. If you guys are in trouble its possible maybe we could help you some.”
“Well we are not starving right now but I really doubt all of us will survive this coming winter because even with all the gardens we put in we can’t grow enough food and the dog packs killed all the game in the nearby area. We made a group effort and we think all the feral dogs are now dead but the damage has been done. We are living near the lake on the north side of town.”
“Have you pooled your resources together?”
“Yes pretty much. I’m sure some kept some aside just for themselves but overall it’s a group effort just to survive.”
“If we happened to show up there with a little food to give away, would we be in any danger of being mobbed?”
“No one would hurt you but you would be mobbed just from people trying to find out if you have any news of the outside world.”
“Do you think it would be safe to say the food would be distributed fairly amongst everyone there?”
“I would say ninety nine percent would be fair. We had a couple of bad eggs that we encouraged to leave and now we all get along pretty good. Do you really have food enough to share with us?”
“We will take stock and if we can we will share some. Please do not expect too much. Are you the official scavenger of your group?”
“I guess you could call me that. I got this old motorcycle running and I make runs everyday looking for supplies. I carry a list of things people want besides food and I try to help them by finding stuff. I can’t carry much but that no longer matters because I have went through just about every store looking for stuff we can use. Do you have any news from anywhere outside the area?”
“Sorry we have heard nothing at all. I can tell you that a large group of Mexican bandits came up from the south killing and raping anyone they found but some local people worked together to kill them in a bloody battle. It was pretty awful but at least they were stopped.”
“Some of those in our group were worried about that happening. I will tell them about it. If they came once I bet more will follow.”
“Thank you for talking to us. My name is Don and this is Lynn.”
“I’m Bill. It’s great to find some new people and not have them try to shoot me. Even if you can not spare us any food you are welcome to come up and visit us anyway.”
“It’s a deal. We’ll come visit you guys either way. We’ll let you get back t
o your work and we’ll check and see if we can bring some food up to you. Please tell the others that you will get a couple of visitors and please do not shoot them.”
“I’ll do that. Our group is not very trigger happy. I only carry this pistol in case I see anymore dogs. Good luck to you two and nice to meet you.”
“And good luck to you. We’ll hopefully see you in a day or two maybe.”
With that they parted company and each went there separate ways. Don and Lynn just hung around until the noise from the cycle had faded away in the distance before they walked back and left in their pickup. Don headed back to a trailer dealer and picked up another trailer then they went to one of the warehouses they had found and loaded it full of food.
The warehouse was not full of food but did have a fair amount. A trailer full should go a long way to keeping that group fed though Bill never gave any indication just how many people were in the group. Very smart on his part to hide the number but Don sensed that Bill was a good man.
By this time it was getting close to sundown so they decided to just stay in the warehouse over night. Don was able to park the pickup and trailer inside so they would not have to worry about it overnight. The warehouse had a couch in the workers lounge that Don let Lynn take and he slept on several sheets of cardboard that was way better than the hard concrete.
Day Forty Seven
and Forty Eight
In the morning Don and Lynn were in no hurry and had a very leisurely breakfast. After driving the pickup and full trailer out of the warehouse, Don locked it up as best he could considering that the office door was busted. They drove through town and Lynn directed Don where to go from Bill’s description. When they got to the area near the lake they saw a couple people by a group of houses and stopped near them.
“Hello. Bill said it would be OK if we stopped in for a visit.”
“You’re the folks that Bill met yesterday?”
“Yes, we had a short talk with him yesterday in town. Is it OK if we stay for a bit and talk with you folks?”
“Please shut the truck off and come meet the rest.”
Don shut off the truck and he and Lynn stepped out as the man and woman they saw walked up and started some small talk. Soon they were led just a short distance away and several other folks started to come out of the surrounding houses and in a short time Lynn and Don were surrounded by over a dozen people of many ages with about equal numbers of men and women. Everyone was talking and Don found it difficult to follow all the different conversations that were all going on at the same time. Bill walked up and many of the conversations seemed to sputter out.
Apparently he was the defacto leader of the group. The talking continued for maybe and hour before someone offered the use of their deck where there would be at least a few chairs for some to sit down. So the whole troop followed the man to his place with a few peeling off only to return carrying additional chairs. Lynn and Don got separated with all the women together at one end of the deck and the men on the other.
Talk went on for at least another hour before Don asked if anyone would help him unload the trailer he had brought with. Don saw Bill smile and he volunteered to lend a hand and the men moved in mass to Don’s trailer. When Don opened the back of the trailer and everyone saw what it contained they were speechless, an event that Don really appreciated.
After a couple questions Don assured them that he had brought the food just for them with the only stipulation that it be distributed evenly to everyone. Naturally everyone agreed to those easy terms as it was something they would have done anyway.
About that time the women all showed up because Lynn filled them in on what was in the trailer. After a short discussion they asked Don to back up to a nearby garage and then they unloaded the food inside. After the food was unloaded and everyone was together he started asking a few questions.
“What is your water situation here?”
“One of the houses has its own well that has a solar powered pump on it. It works fine and has good water but we can only run it for very short periods because it runs out of power. So we only use it for drinking water with all our other water coming directly out of the lake.”
“There are a big number of solar panels around that are not being used, why not add more to the solar pump?”
“We want to but none of us have any working knowledge of electricity and we are afraid we might ruin the pump if we screw it up. If we lose that pump we lose our only source of potable water.”
“Does the pump use batteries to power it like at night?”
“Yes it has a small battery bank but if we run it too much the batteries go dead and then we have to leave it off until they are charged up again.”
“Do these houses have their own septic systems?”
“Yes the city had run water service out here but had not yet run sewer service. This was very handy as we can use pails of water from the lake to flush toilets and we can wash and run water down the drains in the houses.”
“Do any of the houses have solar panels on them out here?”
“Yes two have panels but they do not produce any power and none of us can figure out why.”
“Most houses with solar are wired so it only will work if the power grid is up. If there is a power outage like now the panels are made to shut down. I think this is so the electric linemen working on power lines don’t get zapped from solar power coming through the lines.”
“Well that explains why those panels don’t work.”
“I would think the library, solar panel dealers, and maybe Home Depot would have books that tell how to hook up panels and do other wiring. It should be very easy to increase the number of panels and the number of batteries for the solar pump so it will pump as much as you want. I would gather solar panels and install them on all the houses you are using so you could have some conveniences in the houses to make life a lot easier on all of you.”
“Why do all that work? Don’t you think the government will get here pretty soon?”
“The government is not coming. Have any of you seen any planes or jets fly over? You are on your own. Any help you get will have to come from you. I don’t know or care what professions you had before this happened but you had better start educating yourselves on many simple things fast if you want to survive.”
“Could you help us?”
“Yes, I could help but I would rather see you help yourselves so if anything happened you would know how to fix it yourself and could install more yourself. This is not just about solar panels. You will have to do everything for yourselves and you better hope the learning curve is short.
There are no second chances any more. Chances are if you make a mistake you will die. You have a tremendous amount of work to do if you plan on surviving the winter. How are you going to stay warm? How are you going to keep the water from freezing? How are you preserving the food from your gardens to tide you over winter?
Are you saving the seeds from the plants in your gardens to replant next year? If you are planning to burn wood for heat do you have enough gathered up already? Do you have any idea how much wood you will need? If you are now cooking over an outside fire is that what you will do in the winter also and do you have enough wood to do so?
Have you gathered medicines in case some of you get hurt or sick? Have you gathered books on just about every subject so you can at least look up what to do and how to do it? ”
No one said anything; they just looked down at their feet. It was very obvious that they had never thought about these questions let alone the answers to them. Most of them just now were realizing that they would likely die in the months ahead. Finally Bill was the one who spoke up.
“We are not going to make it are we?”
“You can make it. It looks like you are all healthy. But you guys have a lot of work to do and a lot of learning to do. Every one of you better realize that this is a new world and a hard world. No one is going to help you.
You a
re responsible for your own lives. I see that not a one of you are carrying a gun. If bad guys come here, and sooner or later they will, you can not call the cops to protect you. On top of everything else you need security. Lynn and I have both witnessed the evil that is loose on the land now. I suggest you prepare for it.”
“It is too much. We can’t do all that.”
“Then you will all die and some quite horribly.”
Again all of them were quiet. This time the quiet lasted for some time.
“Will you help us?”
“Yes and no. I am not your keeper. You still do not get it. Every single thing is up to you. Start using your heads for something other than a place to put your hat. Make lists of things that you must do. Make lists of things that you absolutely need to get to survive.
Work hard everyday so you go to bed tired and sore. Then get up in the morning and do it all over again. Everyday. You have a choice. A life of hard work or a very short life. And you are going to have big decisions to make.
It sounds like you have a little communistic society going here. That can work maybe on this very small scale. But it never has worked in the past. There is always someone who doesn’t want to work. Is that person still going to get the same amount of food as all the rest that are working their butts off?
Are you going to kill that person? Are you going to banish that person? If you banish that person are they going to find a group of bad guys and lead them back here to teach you a lesson? Besides a lot of work you all have quite a lot of real hard thinking to do.”
“You make it sound like we don’t have a chance of surviving and we should just lie down and die right now.”
“A little spunk. That’s good. On the contrary, I think you guys have a lot going for you here. You have found a spot to live that is workable. You have grouped together for mutual benefit, that’s good. You seem to be getting along amongst yourselves, that’s good.
