“The EMP we experienced was not part of the nuclear blast at Bragg. Again, our satellites reported a blast at very high altitude over Kansas. Right now, we do not know who set that off, but the Joint Chiefs believe that it was a coincidence that the nuke at Bragg went off right before the EMP. One theory is another country set off the EMP and Homeland did not know it was going to happen. We don’t know who, and right now it doesn’t much matter. The Joint Chiefs have people investigating who set it off and will let us know when they figure it out.
“Surprisingly, there is not a lot of fighting going on in the rest of the country. Chinese UN troops have about taken over California, along with their Homeland counterparts. There have been skirmishes along the borders with Arizona, Nevada and Oregon, but we have Patriot troops along those borders to keep the Chinese and Homeland there in check. Homeland has tried landing troops on the Gulf Coast near Galveston, but the Navy and the Texas militia wiped them out. We are now in complete control of all US Navy vessels. The navy has a blockade in place for most of the ports on the East Coast, and on the coast off of Los Angeles and San Francisco. There is some fighting going on around San Diego and the southern border of California and Mexico, but the Navy and the Marines from Camp Pendleton are handling that.
“The next few days will be incredibly busy as we get set up and begin planning for the long term. I am expecting a contingent from the Air Force to arrive soon, and they will help bolster our defenses here by getting radar working again and bringing in troops and supplies. We have several companies deployed around the area for security, and nobody comes on or off base without permission.
“I want you to pay particular attention to your troops. Since almost all of the troops here are from Bragg, the nuke has got to be hitting some of them hard as they realize there will be friends and even family members who did not make it. After all, none of us have ever experienced a nuke on American soil before. Watch for any signs of stress and try to catch it early. Keep them busy, but don’t overwork anyone.”
General McPherson spent another hour with the officers, answering questions and making notes on issues they were having or supplies they needed. Finally, at 2130, the General kicked them all out, telling them to get a well-deserved good night’s sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
Tuesday morning dawned bright and warm. The people going to Riverdale were really excited to be headed off the farm for a little while. I have to admit that I was getting excited, too. It had been a week since our trip to Whispering Willows to see what needed to be done, and I was looking forward to seeing if the eight soldiers who had stayed behind at the school were able to accomplish anything during that time. I was also looking forward to visiting with our new friends from the church. Of course, we were all excited at the thought of getting the new community put back together. Janet and Maria had packed a lunch for everyone, and we filled several coolers with cold water. We were taking six of our teens with us, and they were beyond excited that they were allowed to come with us on this trip. They were busy helping load tools and building materials into the MRAP parked in front of the house. Although we were going to work on the houses, everyone was armed, even the boys. Jimbo, Top and Scooter were doing last minute checks of weapons and ammunition, and the three of them planned to come with us to help with the work.
Finally, all the tools, supplies and food were loaded, and it was time to go. It would be a tight squeeze, but we all decided to try to ride in the back of the deuce-and-a-half truck. Kiara, Lionel, Marty, Jose, and Tim sat on the bench on one side, while Marcie, Red, Tom and I sat on the other side. The boys sat on the floor in the middle and could not have been happier. The young teens had bonded well with Red, who at 23 was not all that much older than them. Jimbo and Scooter hopped into the cab of the truck while Top drove the MRAP full of tools and supplies. We were not going far, and we would meet a second MRAP at the gate to the outer berm. That MRAP would hold the troops who would be our security while we were working.
It took about a half an hour to get to Whispering Willow subdivision, and the whole way the boys and Red were busy teasing and razzing each other.
“Hey, Red,” called Jer. “What’s red and really bad for your teeth?”
“I dunno,” answered Red. “What is it?”
“A brick”, answered Jer, laughing hysterically.
“Okay, that’s a good one,” answered Red, rolling his eyes. “What do baseball teams and muffins have in common?” Red started laughing as the boys all looked at each other not knowing the answer. Suddenly, Jeff’s eyes lit up. He answered,
“They both need to have a good batter!” The boys roared laughing. Then Drake, who was usually really quiet, asked,
“How do you make a kleenex dance?” At least three of the boys answered at once:
“Put a little boogey in it!”
The adults were busy laughing just listening to them. It was so refreshing to hear kids just being kids in spite of everything going on. Amid all of the laughter, we quickly reached the subdivision. Mark and two soldiers were waiting for us at the gate. After we all drove through, they re-locked the gate and followed us back to the school. Once we arrived, we all climbed out of the vehicles and looked around. I was really impressed with the work that the resident security group had gotten done. The grass around the front of the school had been cut and raked and several large compost piles had been started. All of the trash we had seen around the school was gone, and the broken windows we saw the first time we were there had been boarded up. Mark called us all into the cafeteria and gathered us around the map. I was happy to see the five families from the church were in the cafeteria waiting for us. I was even happier to see that the inside of the school appeared to be much cleaner.
Mark introduced the five families to everyone, and explained they decided they would rather stay in the school for now with the security group than in the church. The men spent the last five days moving their supplies to a couple of classrooms while the women got busy cleaning the rooms they would use.
“Okay, folks, let’s get down to business,” Mark said. “Gather around and let me show you where we will be working on the map.” He pointed to a large map on the bulletin board behind him. “We are going to start on the block just to the north of the school. There are nine houses on that block. One home burned and there is probably not anything there worth salvaging. This one is probably too damaged to be used for human habitation. Tom, look at that one and see if we can make it into a barn or a storage building, or if we should just take it apart for raw material.
“The guys already emptied out each house of most of the furniture, dishes, clothes and stuff. The good things were sorted and put into classrooms, and the trash was piled into an empty lot on the far side of the community. We tried to completely empty each house, so we know what needs to be done.”
Remembering the contents of several of the homes from our last visit, I gave an involuntary shudder. Mark apparently saw the look on my face, and explained, “We’ve also removed any human remains from these homes, and we now have a cemetery over by the church. We also left windows open where necessary to air those houses out. Let’s divide into two groups, one on each side of the street. Security troops, post a lookout at each end of the block and the rest of you spread out to form a perimeter. All of you need to keep your eyes open. Just because we have not seen anyone here this past week does not mean there are no other people here.”
I was very impressed to see that the map now listed names next to many of the homes, as well as the number and ages of children. I pointed this out to Mark and complimented the work his troops were doing. Mark laughed and said it was thanks to the three clerks with laptops that Carter arranged to go through the files. He said the three of them were not only updating the map but were also tracking everything that was brought into the school for storage and eventual distribution. They set up spreadsheets so that we would know who the original residents were, who was moved into that house, and wha
t supplies and equipment the new residents were given to set up their households. He said they were also going to track the work that each new resident did so that he could eventually set up some kind of payment scale - so many hours of work to exchange for a house, dishes, linens or other supplies. I was really impressed, especially that only three people were doing all that work. Mark just laughed and said they were his secret weapons.
When we finished looking at the maps, Mark gave last minute instructions to the security troops, as well as the troops staying behind at the school. As soon as he was done giving directions, we headed off to the houses. With all of us working together in two teams, we were able to go through all nine homes in about three hours, making lists of what each home needed to make it livable again. While we all sat in the shade of a big tree on one of the front lawns to take a break, we compared lists between the teams. The first house needed to have the front door and a couple of windows replaced, and the carpets needed to be removed with new floors put in. The second house had a hole in the roof that needed to be repaired and had some water damage to the second floor. The windows were all OK, but this house needed repairs to the doors so they could shut and lock. The third house was in relatively good shape. Other than a few bullet holes in the front of the house, everything else looked good. The fourth house was the one that was not able to be repaired. After a quick walk-through, Tom decided it was not worth trying to fix it up into a barn or storage based on the amount of damage. He explained we would take it apart carefully so that we could reuse anything and everything that was not too badly damaged. That included shingles from the parts of the roof that were not damaged, wood from the walls, plywood sheets from the floors, wiring, windows, doors; in short, anything that could be reused.
The other team reported similar results. All of the homes needed minor repairs. One home needed several windows replaced and two had damaged doors. Inside the houses, most had areas needing sheet rock repairs. All of the houses except for the two we already knew about would be able to be fixed up for new residents.
We finished our break and then decided our first order of business would be to disassemble the one house that was beyond repair. Tom suggested all of us work together to get the house torn down. He suggested we start off by a few people removing the shingles while others went inside to start pulling up the carpets and sub-flooring. Jimbo and two of the men from the church were assigned to remove the appliances and set them on the lawn. We all split up and, in a few hours, had most of the house taken apart. As we disassembled each room, we split items into separate piles. Before long, we had piles of wiring, hardware, boards, plywood, sheet rock, doors, windows, and all of the other items that goes into building a house.
Once we had a large stack of shingles removed from the house, Tom and Tim climbed up onto the roof of the house next door and began removing the shingles around the hole. As they threw the shingles down into the yard, the six boys picked them up and sorted them into two piles: reusable or trash. Once the damaged area was exposed, the two men removed the plywood sheathing and tossed it down into the yard. It had a large rotten area in the middle, so the boys carried it off to the trash pile. Luckily, the framing underneath the sheathing was still intact and did not need to be replaced. A couple of the men passed up a large sheet of plywood taken from the sub-floor of the house we were disassembling, and Tom and Tim nailed it into place. When they finished, they climbed down the ladders so Red and Marty could bring tar paper and shingles up.
Meanwhile, Kiara was checking on the external electrical hookups for each house, disconnecting the house from the grid. She checked all of the breaker boxes as well as the connections where the power lines went into each house. She explained that if they could get a good solar set-up established, she could probably hook up each house to have some electricity.
Once Tim was down off the roof, he began checking the plumbing lines in each house looking for evidence of broken pipes or leaks. Jose and Lionel, meanwhile, removed the front door from the house we were disassembling and took it down to the first house. The rest of us kept taking the house apart.
We were very careful with both the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, as we hoped to be able to reuse them, too. A couple of the men removed the bathroom fixtures, carefully setting them out on the lawn. It was almost a treasure hunt, seeing how many items we could salvage to be reused. Knowing that it may be decades before factories would reopen to make simple things like doorknobs or electric outlets was very sobering.
Finally, we disassembled as much as we could and there was very little left of the house. Red and Marty were still on the roof next door and had just finished putting down the tar paper. Most of us decided to sit down to take a break and watch the guys on the roof. Once tar paper was laid over the bare plywood, it was time to start shingling. The boys all wanted to climb up on the roof, but Marty and Red said that would be too dangerous. Instead, the two men suggested a competition to see which team could place the most shingles on the roof. Each man paired up with three of the boys. One boy would stand on the ground and pass shingles to the next boy, who would stand part way up the ladder. He would then pass to the third boy standing towards the top of the ladder. The boy on the top of the ladder would then pass the shingles to Marty or Red. Jer, Mike, and Nate teamed up with Marty, and Jeff, Drake, and Sam teamed up with Red. Tom stopped working long enough to be the timekeeper.
“On your mark, get set, go!” yelled Tom. The boys were having a great time, with a lot of laughter and trash-talking as they raced to pass the shingles. It took about twenty minutes to finish the roof, and Red finished about a minute before Marty, using just two shingles more than Marty. As the boys jumped and yelled, Red stood up on the ridge of the roof with his arms raised.
“We are the champions!” Red yelled. Marty’s team all booed and hissed.
“We are the champions of the world!” Red yelled. Jeff, Drake, and Sam were all cheering. Suddenly, several loud cracks filled the air, and Red slowly tumbled down the side of the roof towards Jeff on the ladder. Marty was just beginning to go down his ladder and tried to catch Red, but just couldn’t reach. Jeff grabbed hold of Red’s shirt but was not able to hold Red’s weight. As the shirt began to tear, Red dropped from the ladder to the ground while the rest of the boys looked on in horror. Tom raced over to Red, and it was immediately obvious that Red was dead with several gunshots though his chest.
All of a sudden, our security team opened fire, and we were in the middle of a raging gun battle. At the same time, we heard Kiara scream. Tom ran to her and helped Kiara into the house she was working on. I pulled out my radio and called for the security team back at the school.
“We need help. Red’s been shot, and we do not know where the shooters are. I think they’re off to the east, but I don’t know where.”
A minute later, the security Humvee came tearing around the corner. Mark and Top climbed out of the front seat and ran to Red. They stopped short when they got close to the body and looked at me. I just shook my head. Mark turned to the other soldiers with him and gave them instructions to find the gunman. Top knelt down next to Red and shook his head. “This is going to tear Lynn apart, I’m afraid. She is just barely over him getting shot the first time, and now this.” He looked up at me with sad eyes and said, “I want to be the one to tell her. I don’t want anyone else to have to do that.”
“I’m so sorry Top, and you’re right – you can comfort Lynn better than any of us. We’ll take care of getting a grave dug, I guess up on the hill with Grandma and Grandpa, while you take care of Lynn.” I just did not know what to say. We went from having a wonderful time to being grief-stricken in a matter of minutes, and I know we were all in shock.
Meanwhile, Marty gathered the boys and brought them into the house to take cover. The older boys were angry and wanted to go find the shooter and kill him. The younger boys were terrified and both Mike and Drake looked almost tearful. Sam just looked at Marty and asked, “Dad, how are
we going to tell Miss Lynn her brother was shot again? And that he is dead this time?” Marty put his arms around his son, and all the boys huddled closer to Marty.
Mark ran to the MRAP parked on the street and drove right up to the door of the house Kiara was in. Tom helped Kiara into the MRAP and Mark drove to where Lionel was waiting frantically to check on Kiara.
Meanwhile, we were still hearing sporadic gunshots as our guys went after the shooters. The battle lasted about twenty minutes, although it seemed like hours. When we finally decided it was safe, we all ran to the house where Lionel was caring for the injured. Kiara was shot, but fortunately, it was a through-and-through injury to her upper leg. Lionel was busy cleaning the exit wound, which was significantly larger than the entrance wound. He said that he would need James to help him surgically clean the wound once we got back, as there were probably fibers in the wound from Kiara’s jeans. John, one of the men from the church, was also shot, but he was in much worse condition, having been shot through the shoulder. His arm appeared dislocated at the shoulder and was starting to swell badly. Lionel had already cleaned and dressed the wound as best as he could and said he would need to come back to the infirmary at the farm to have surgery, too, or else he was sure to lose the arm. Tom also had been creased by a bullet on his upper left arm and had a bandanna wrapped around it. I pulled him off to the side and told him to let me dress his wound. He tried to shrug it off as nothing, until I reminded him that without hospitals and pharmacies, any injury could turn into a lethal infection. After that, he got quiet and allowed me to clean the wound on his arm. Fortunately, it was not deep, and I figured it would heal in a week or two if he kept it clean and let me change the dressing every day.
Premonitions: Book 2: War Page 8
