by Geo Dell
“You should build some benches for out here, Tom.” Ronnie said.
Tom nodded and then laughed. “We didn't even have this, this morning. It's funny how fast we just incorporate something into what is the norm now.”
Mike laughed and nodded. “But really,” he looked around. “At least three or four. This is like the doctors waiting room.”
“Have you seen the doctors waiting room? Sandy, Susan, Steve?” Tim asked.
“Yeah... Went past there this morning. That's why I said it. It's crazy how if this weren’t here all of a sudden, or the doctor wasn't, we could go right on and be fine.”
Several heads nodded, but no one said anything.
“Surprised Jessie isn't there,” Tom said at last.
“She's leaving, I think,” Bob said. “They’re talking about building that Fold they set out to build.”
Mike sighed. “It's a name,” he said.
Bob nodded. “It's what I said... There is room here for both too... Bad time of year to start out for something else.” He raised his eyes to Mike. The others were silent. “Thought maybe to say something to you so you would say something to her.” He seemed embarrassed.
Mike sighed again, his mouth was fixed in a grimace. He nodded. “I'll take care of it.”
“I don't mean to put you in the middle of it,” Bob added.
“It isn't that... It's no big deal,” Mike fixed a smile on his face. “I'll take care of it, Bob.”
The others were quiet for a few moments and then the conversation picked back up once more. When the women emerged from the pool the men were all waiting, clean clothes and towels in hand.
Dinner preparations were well under way when the men came back down the tunnel, lanterns in hand. Mounds of fries, fried chicken, all cooked in fat rendered from the milk production and saved in one of the cold storage areas. Lilly and Cindy began seating the children when they saw the men.
Everybody ate well and then Bob, followed by several of the men, traveled back down the tunnel to see the second large cave that opened into the valley on the other side of their own.
~
“You could drive one of those little pickups or one of those electric four wheel drives right up to the ledge into this cave, straight out through the tunnel and out into the valley at the other end, and then right out through that valley to the mountain on the other side of us. Easy as pie. And I don't think we'd be doing anything all that unique if we did it either,” Bob said.
They were all back in the large gathering area of the cave. It was coming close to nightfall and everyone was getting ready for posts or to head to wherever home was and settle down for the evening. The small crowd around Bob murmured and several, Ronnie and Mike among them, nodded.
“As in it's been done before?” Steve Choi asked.
“Probably... I think this place was peopled for many generations by people that reached that other mountain, the other valley, just that way,” Bob agreed.
“Exactly,” Shar said.
“Shar saw it. If you look at the tunnel floor, with some lights in there now, you can see the middle humps up and the sides are worn down. Wheels: Cart wheels, wagon wheels. They didn't actually go driving out into the valley, and neither can we, but think of the work they saved themselves by being able to transport their harvests right into the tunnel to store it. On this side you actually can drive right up into the cave and then the tunnel. It's a straight shot right up from the valley floor to the ledge and through the cave to the other valley nearly,” Bob elaborated.
“Of course we've closed off the entrance here, but we don't really need to do what they did. We have the barns for storage. What Josh and Shar want to do is move themselves over into that other cave. Build a couple of barns in that valley the same as we did here. That would be bison and sheep, goats, and a crossbreeding I have wanted to do with cows and the bison. That would take a lot of the strain off this valley. It's a much bigger valley.” Bob finished.
“Now... Right now, it's open. Those herds that are there can go left or right and walk right out of there. To the left will bring them to us, no way out there. So it has to be to the right that they have an entrance into and out of that valley. That's all one long hill, steep in places... A ridge really, not a hill at all... Steep in places, too steep for them to get out anyhow. But I can see there looks to be a gap about three or four hundred feet long that dumps right out into the plains and from there they can get into the forest, and of course the plains lead off to the middle of the country.... The old country anyhow. A mountain or two in the way, but effectively the world is open to them through that gap and they are closed off from it if we can close that gap.”
“Now if we come around from our side... Sneak around and close that gap before they figure out what we're up to we'll have us a herd of bison and another of horses. We'll have to tame them... Domesticate them might be a better word, but they'll come around. They'll get grain from us, we can get them close that way. It won't take long.”
“The top cave, the one above us, is huge: Once it's cleared out it would make a perfect barn. Ready built. Not all of it, but a good portion of it. The left over space could be used for grain and hay storage. It's got a lot of natural ventilation.”
“We'll straighten out the smoke hole situation, actually build a real chimney around it to the top. And we'll keep a small area accessible by a staircase down to here that joins to the tunnel so we can easily reach the upper field or the valley and they can reach here just as easily.” He shrugged and looked around at those listening.
“The other big cave area is where Josh and Shar want to make a place to live. It's plenty big enough for a few others if they wanted to live there too,” Bob finished.
“Sounds good to me,” Mike said. He looked around the room finishing on Candace and Amy who had just wandered over. “We're all here so we should vote on it now.” He turned back to Sharon. “That's something you two would want to do?”
“We thought it could work. We'd like to,” she agreed.
“Then we'll do it. He looked around and all the eyes he met were in agreement. Mike turned back to Candace as Shar left to talk the plan over with Josh. He raised his eyebrows.
“If we're going to do this then we have to make a decision about replacing Molly,” Candace said quietly. The surrounding group, except Steve Choi, was what remained of the council. Only Janna Adams was missing.
Bob looked around and spotted Janna, her eyes moved to his own as though she could feel the weight of them on her. She nodded and then smiled at Cammy whom she was talking to. A few seconds later she came over. The silence held until she came over and settled down next to Candace.
“We need to discuss a few things... Us as a council,” Candace said.
“Maybe this meeting would be better somewhere else?” Mike asked.
What did you have in mind,” Ronnie asked.
“Barn would be a good place, “Bob offered. “No one comes down to that place unless it's to work.” That elicited a few chuckles.
“Steve,” Mike started.
Steve smiled. “No problem. I'll see you all later.”
“Um hm,” Candace agreed. “Except I think Mike was going to ask you to come with us.”
Steve had already begun to turn away and Candace laughed a little as he suddenly reversed direction and his mouth opened and then closed. “Well.”
“Private meeting,” Ronnie said. “Have to keep it to yourself”
“Oh... That's not a problem... That...” Steve seemed flustered.
“Come on, Doc,” Bob said. He threw an arm around Steve and a few minutes later they were all strolling down through the night darkened valley to the barn.
FOUR
“Okay, so this is a private business meeting, except Stephen Choi,” Mike gestured at Steve and then allowed his hand to travel around to everyone. Nods and assenting murmurers greeted his hand as it swept around and then came back to Steve. “Relax, Steve. We aske
d you here for a reason. We have all talked about this a little, privately. We had to make a few decisions.”
Steve nodded, looking uncomfortable.
“So we thought to ask you to take the empty seat on the council,” Candace said. “We need to have a public meeting here soon and we need to get this straightened out so there isn't a lot of dissension immediately over this issue. This guy wants to take the seat, or thinks his girl, friend, buddy should do it. That kind of thing”
“Yeah. We're probably at our last chance to make changes on our own. We have grown so much in the last month that there will be no more making the rules up as we go. We have to be answerable to those people,” Ronnie said.
Mike was nodding.” Yeah... Well said.” He turned back to Steve. “Not trying to short circuit things... Well, maybe a little, but we started this and we would like a little control.”
“Stephen,” Janna said. “You are an asset to this community and you should sit on this council.”
“But what about, Jessie?” Steve asked.
“Jessie wants to leave,” Candace said.
“Really?” Steve looked at her. “I thought she liked it here.”
“Maybe, but she told me she wanted to leave... Her name was on my list too, but if she isn't staying it makes it tough to start something only to watch it fall apart.” Candace said.
“We talked to a few people. Not really looking, just feeling people out... Bear... Beth, Sharon, Josh, and there are a dozen others too. They all have other pokers in the fire,” Bob said. “Things they want to do, and this is a job that I think is about to get very intense. The more people in The Nation the harder the job will be too.”
“What about the Fold... That was Jessie’s dream... Probably why she is leaving too,” Steve said.
“I doubt it,” Amy said. “I think she has other... Reasons, I guess. But, The Fold, The Nation, it's a name, right? We're all free, we're all here. Isn't that what's important? I mean are we arguing America versus Mexico or Canada?”
Silence held a moment and then Ronnie spoke. “ Anybody can be here. The Nation was our name... A name is important in some things. I mean it has to be called something. But that doesn't mean no one here believes in this... Fold of Jessie's. She can build that, just not here... This is the Nation.”
Mike was staring at his hands folded in his lap. Bob looked over at him and then to Candace who was looking up at the ceiling.
“Is this... Is this coming back to the old discussion we had way back on the way here? I mean... is this the split?” Bob asked.
Mike raised his eyes and smiled. “Bob, I don't think it is a split, but I do think we can't dictate what becomes of this place. We got us here... All of us. And the others have made their way to us. It's going to change. We can try to stick together and we might have some things our own way, but eventually this Fold, Nation and I have heard a few other names to, will have to work itself out... Probably at a meeting too. We can... We can guide, and that's about all we can do.” He frowned. “It could be us leaving to find a new place... Most especially if we try to force something on them they don't all agree on.”
So... So am I being voted in by the people at the next meeting?” Steve Choi asked.
“Uh uh,” Amy said.
“No, dear. You are being appointed right now... If you want it,” Janna Adams said.
Mike raised his hands palms up. “Probably the last thing we will do without a mandate by the majority. And that's why I want to get it done now. The position is an open ended thing... No time limit. I suppose that someone will want to change that too. Make it a year or even less, but right now it's open ended until they have us do a vote on it. So we can get a lot of the...” He paused and smiled, “guiding we want done before other people start pushing for change.”
Bob was staring down at the ground, an unhappy expression on his face. Probably, Mike thought, he hadn't thought that far ahead and realized that the changes he had fought against would happen and there wouldn't be much he could do about it at all. “Okay, Bob” he asked. Bob raised his head and let a slow smile spread across his face.
“Yeah...” His smile got a little crooked and then he grinned. “Thought it would be longer, I guess.”
Arlene spoke up. She and Lilly had followed them down and had stayed out of the discussion. “Steve, you are probably going to be very respected and liked because of what you know... “ She smiled. “You're also a genuinely nice guy. Given the opportunity I would rather get input from you than someone else. Your group was heading out to do the same thing. You would have taken on this same responsibility anyway...”
Steve nodded. “I thought of that... I accept.” He smiled and a great deal of conversation and laughter greeted his smile.
Mike raised his voice slightly and the chatter died down. “So, lets get some things straightened out as best we can.”
Amy nodded. “This Fold thing... I hate to bring it up, but I have heard a lot about it. It doesn't really seem fair that other people could come here and change what we are doing... Our name even.”
“I guess that's what I don't like about it,” Ronnie added.
“We can't do much,” Candace said. “If we ignore them it will get bigger just because we are ignoring it. We're going to have to address it.” She turned to Mike and Ronnie who were having a side conversation. “Probably sooner rather than later.”
Mike nodded and Ronnie spoke. “I think we should bring it up ourselves. We need a public meeting soon, I mean like the next week or so, and I think we should bring it up then. That way we don't look like we're hiding it or not taking it serious... I also think bringing it up that fast could short circuit it too.” He frowned. “I don't mean to sound so... So clandestine, I guess, plotting, but they won't be ready for it and we could put it to a vote and get it shot down pretty quick. The longer we wait the more opposition we'll have.”
“Yeah, but that isn't a guarantee that we won't have to face it down the road a little way. Maybe even at the next meeting when someone decides to bring it up again,” Lilly added.
“Yeah, but... Well, can't we do something like form The Nation? I mean we did that at our last public meeting, didn't we? We just didn't make it an official thing, but everyone there voted this to be called The Nation, so can't we.” She looked puzzled. “Wait, doesn't that solve the problem? Didn't we vote on that?” Amy asked.
“We did,” Candace agreed. “But it was the name... The New Nation?”
“Yeah... That was it. But we did make it The New Nation. We voted that in long before there was talk of anything else,” Ronnie said.
“Actually,” Mike added. “We did talk about other names... Other directions back in Old Towne.” He raised his eyes and looked at each pair of eyes individually. “We decided that point too, if we need to be technical. We had decided to splinter off as Bob just bought up, but in the end we voted to stay together and form The New Nation... I think that's binding.” Mike finished seriously.
“I think so,” Steve Choi added. “I am part of that group that set out to start the new fold with Jessie. If you guys made that decision then it's sort of like a hostile takeover, right?”
Amy laughed. “Wow. I didn't see it that way, but it sort of is. I mean we built this, are building it, it should be them coming to join with us, help us build, not tear down.”
“Well put, Dear,” Janna Adams agreed.
“I think that settles that. We offer them a hand to join with us, but no name change,” Mike let his eyes travel around once more.
“Yeah,” Amy agreed.
“Makes sense,” Bob added.
The others nodded.
“So... Bear and the Outrunners. This is probably the important thing before the public meeting. I like him. I think he's level headed. He sees what we need and he's willing to do it,” Mike said.
“And what is it we need?” Steve Choi asked.
“Protection,” Candace tossed out.
“Weapons too,”
Ronnie added.
“And we need to be able to trust that person. That's our safety net, what allows us to have this, that knowledge that there is a barrier between us and them.”
“Them... You talk about them as though they were still living … things. Still living things, Mike.” Janna added.
“They are... They are not stupid dead … things wandering around. The ones I have run into, the ones I have seen, are thinking things out. I don't even think that it's smart to think of them as Zombies at all... Un-dead, but not zombies. Zombie makes me think dumb, and they are not dumb. I have seen that. So have quite a few others.” Mike said quietly.
“So how do Bear and … Who else? How do they help us?” Bob asked.
“Bear... Billy Jingo, young guy came in with him, and Billy's woman Pearl... Three to start... They asked for another one down the road, but that is the start.” Mike said.
“So, well, what exactly do they do?” Steve Choi asked.
“They will do the same thing we have been doing. Supply runs. Ammunition runs, weapons... And a few other things that are the business of this council and no one else... Not public knowledge,” Ronnie said.
Steve raised his eyebrows.
“Has to be that way, Steve. We can't have people telling us how to protect ourselves. We need to be able to do what we need to do: If they find dead they kill them. Weapons, they bring them back. And we may not want everybody to know what we have weapons wise,” Mike said.
“And we think we know where this plague came from,” Candace added.
Silence descended.
“You’re serious?” Steve asked.
Candace nodded. “There is a secret military base under the city Pearl came from,” She looked at Bob and Janna who both nodded. “We saw planes going over the day after this whole thing happened, in the city. Not the dead rising, I mean the Earth going all haywire. They sprayed us down, and a few days later the dead are rising.”
