Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7]

by Wendell G. Sweet

  “Now there are over thirty communities that I know about. None nowhere near this size. Most top out at thirty, thirty five, quite a few smaller than that. I take care of all of that, now the Nation included. It's a job, I like it. I got access to a few big cities where I can get the stuff we need, the things we can't make ourselves. As for the dead, I've seen them less and less lately. I think a sickness has begun to spread among them,” he shrugged and then continued. “As for the bad places, I know where those are too and I stay away from them. I travel heavily armed, I have had some trouble a few times, but nothing that's kept me held up from getting where I need to. It's just folks like us we'll be dealing with,” he finished.

  He answered several questions about the people he traded with. What kind of people were they?

  “All kinds,” he answered. “Religious groups, some just thrown together for safety. Most of them just the same as the Nation,” he told them.

  “How did they live? Where did they live? How close were they?”

  “Some as close as thirty miles, many closer to a hundred or a little more,” he had answered. “My own place is about sixty miles out to the West,” he had added.

  The questions fell off. They voted the balance of what needed to be decided and then Conner called the meeting closed. Many of the people in the meeting area, Katie and Amy included, went back to the jobs they had been doing before they had broken for dinner and the community meeting.

  A few hours later the meeting area emptied out and Conner and Aaron wandered into the clinic area where the work was ongoing. The ward area was finished and one of the flat screens had been set-up and powered. Katie and Amy, along with Lilly and a few others were watching a movie, teary eyed, as Conner, Aaron, Jake and Rollie came in.

  “I love this movie,” Katie said.

  Conner and Aaron both nodded. Jake stood respectfully with Rollie.

  “See, they're best friends,” Amy said, “and they have this restaurant, and it's so sad because the little boy lost his arm.... He just did.”

  Conner and Aaron nodded once more and Jake and Rollie joined in.

  “Oh, they're going to have the funeral for the arm” Katie said.

  “Oh, that's right,” Amy agreed and teared up all over again.

  “Uh, we just stopped to see if you are all right before we head out for the night,” Conner said.

  “The barn,” Aaron added.

  “Helping me,” Jake said.

  Katie turned her tear streaked face to Conner. “You had them set this up in here?”

  “I thought you would like it,” Conner agreed.

  “I have to get back to work,” Katie said after a second of straining to turn and see the screen and then looking back. “See you at home later?”

  “I think you should finish the movie... I'll probably be late,” Conner told her.

  She kissed him once more as Jake wrapped his arms around Lilly, Aaron hugged Amy and Rollie looked at the movie. A few moments later they were walking down the wide ledge that dropped into the valley below. The warmth of the cave gone, the cold wind whistling around them.

  “I could see staying here,” Rollie said as they walked. “You guys have it pretty nice.”

  “Don't we know it,” Jake agreed. “Don't we know it.”

  Bobbie Teals Diary

  I have decided to keep a journal like so many of the others here. I am nineteen, I was studying medicine and I have been fortunate enough to be able to jump right back into learning again here.

  We found out today that we are not the only ones doing what we're doing. We met an old man, like something out of an old western movie, he travels by wagon and trades with people. He's leaving tomorrow with the longest list of things we want. We're going to start trading with all these places that he travels to, so we will probably meet many new people as we do.

  Bonny and I are moved into our new home. It's not big, but we like it. It's one of the stone houses that were first built here down in the valley. There are two others that no one else has moved into yet. It's perfect for us, and it now has electric and a wood stove keeps it warm enough for us. I hear at the power plant, where I work, that next year we'll have steam heat, maybe hot water the year after. Crazy.

  It's winter, the snow is deep in the valley and it is so beautiful to me. We have an informal carpentry shop which will probably get more formal as time goes on. We build furniture, sleds for the kids. Big sleds called sledges for the horses to pull: Tables, chairs, it's all voluntary. Bonny does it and so do I because it's something I can share with her, and it's fun.

  Bonny wants to build guitars. Not a guitar, guitars. She talked to the trader guy, Rollie, and he thinks they will sell. He encourages any hand made stuff. He says it's worth double and triple what store made stuff can still be found. Knitting, crocheting, woodworking he says it will all sell easily. So, Bonny is going to start by building herself one, then other band members, then some to sell. She's good with her hands... I guess I made a joke.

  Well, I'm writing a book for my first entry in this journal. I hope when you read this you realize how lucky all of us here are. You are our child. This is year one of the Nation. We love you.

  January 16th

  From Steve Choi's Clinic Notes

  Saw 'C' today and examined her after Sandy did. She came in with a group last week. She fell and injured herself on the way, and it has not healed well. She seems like she might have an infection in her leg, but she wont let me have a good look at it. Wish Jess was here, I don't like it at all. Sandy and I both agreed she should let us take the baby right now. It's too dangerous for her to try to carry it to term. She refused. We talked it over afterwards, but there is little we can do. As much as I am at odds with Conner and the others right now I may have to go to him to resolve this if she doesn't change her position. The worst part is I didn't get to see the wound, so I don't know where this is really at.

  January 17th

  Conner's Journal

  It's been quiet all day long. Rolland, or Rollie as he likes to be called, left early this morning. It snowed pretty much all day yesterday and delayed him. We sent a pair of breeders from the Bison-Cow mix with him. Rolland is positive he can get us some good trades for them. We sent more beef, four more sides, and more flour too: Even though it is wild flour he says it will trade well. It is something no one else is making and it has become hard to find out in the world. He can show the quality of our horses from the two he has.

  Spent part of the day yesterday with Katie and Amy. The clinic is coming along well. Another offer has come in for Steve Choi. He will probably go, but I suppose that is for the best. I blame myself for what he thinks of us. He believes we knew all along about the push to take over the council and used him as a scapegoat. None of us knew, but I could not convince him. Our relationship is strained and I suppose it will always be, so moving on is probably the best way for him to resolve it. My concern is the new doctor. I think Sandy will stay, but there has always been bad blood between her and Katie, so I can't be sure, and James and Janna were her friends.

  As for Jessie, Janna and David, we have done what we felt was best for the Nation and we will have to live with that.

  I spent all of today working with Debbie and Chloe hauling broken rock and cement. Aaron, Jake, Cindy and Craig jumped in too. Brad was there, but he is still silent, brooding. I don't know why. No one else does either. Josh and Sharon ran wagon loads of rock. They're building in the space next to Brad. I have heard that possibly there was something between Jessie and Brad, something that was not returned by Jessie. Maybe that is what is wrong with Brad. Still, nothing concrete. Only a rumor that Aaron picked up.

  We managed to get the entire space closed in today. The openings set in for a door and two windows. One I thought was pretty clever, they chiseled out a window from a small natural fissure in the rock and so they have an opening directly into the valley. It's closed off, it's huge, but Rolland left with the measurements and swears he'll
return with a window that will fit it. They'll have a nice view once it's in.

  ~

  Chloe stepped back and slipped one arm around Debbie's waist as she surveyed the large open space. In the past week they had studded out walls and divided the space into two rooms.

  At that point they had, had a few choices. In the old days the walls would have been sheet rocked and then finished and painted out, or papered or paneled: Whatever way they chose, nearly all the work would have all been done with sheet goods, but there were no more sheet goods.

  Now it was strips of lathe and then a mixture that was a cross between cement and plaster over that, built up until it was thick, stable and fairly flat. Plan two would have been wood planks, and they had used that option on the walls that faced the living space. Plan three was a chicken wire over the top of the lathe and a stucco job using cement. They had used that on the rest of the exterior walls because it blended so well with the stone.

  They were admiring their handiwork. The space smelled like pine from the thick planking they had used on the living room walls. The lights were in and working. The doors were hung. Two of the front windows were in and allowed some light into the huge living area space. The large side window they had cut into the stone was tarped. A wood stove heated the area nicely.

  “I'm not sleeping in the cave anymore. I don't care if we don't have furniture yet. We have lights. We have heat, a floor is a floor. I want to stay here, Deb,” Chloe said.

  “I'm with you, babe,” Debbie said.

  Chloe pulled away, walked to the corner and pulled out several quilts and padded sleeping bags.

  “What are you doing, babe?” Debbie asked.

  “You'll see,” Chloe told her.

  She dumped the pile in the middle of the floor: Took two quilts, hung them to cover the windows, and began to layer the sleeping bags on the floor. She finished, turned to face Debbie, and then with one fluid movement she stripped her sweatshirt off over her head. She looked at Debbie and then unsnapped the top of her jeans.

  January 19th

  Year two

  Lilly clicked an icon to reboot the server that the software for the power house ran on. It was currently running on the back-up server and the change over had been flawless.

  She and Conner had worked out a few problems, the biggest being the windmill on the ridge, which had been relegated to charging batteries only, unable to dump its excess power into the grid as it was designed to do.

  They were both sure the new script would correct the problem. The old script had been looking on the wrong line for the sub-routine that would allow the change over of its power status. Since it couldn't find the sub-routine it needed, it skipped to the end of the script and charged the batteries instead. Fine, except the batteries could only handle just so much charging. The power would simply bleed off to ground.

  Lilly had been splitting her time between school and the power house to help Conner, since Janna was no longer there to do it.

  The server booted, self checked, and then flashed a green icon on the screen. Conner clicked an icon on the screen in front of him and sent control back to the primary server. If this worked they only had to replace the script running on the back up server with the new one, so that in the event the back-up kicked in they would be running the same routines.

  Lilly's screen came to life as all the system status graphs loaded in the appropriate windows. The windmill graph, showing the power status remained at zero. She was just about to let Conner know that when the graph began to rise, then steadied at twenty-nine percent.

  “Got it,” she said, turning and grinning at Conner.

  “Yipee,” Conner said.

  “Hey, don't talk cowboy to my woman,” Jake said as he walked up. They all laughed.

  “So?” He asked.

  “Got it,” Lilly repeated.

  “Yipee,” Jake said. He looked at Conner. “Hey, she's my wife.” He grinned widely.

  “Well at least he didn't say My Woman again,” Lilly laughed.

  Conner winced. He said that in regard to Katie all the time. “Uh, is that a bad thing to do?” he asked.

  “What?” Lilly asked.

  “The My Woman thing,” Conner said.

  Lilly laughed. “Only if you're Jake. He means it.”

  “Don't,” Jake said. “Much,” he added.

  “Told you,” Lilly said. “I have to keep him in line one way or the other.”

  Conner took the other server down, replaced the script and clicked the icon to reboot the server so it would be on standby. “Okay,” he said once his icons came up to show the server stand-by status.

  Lilly clicked her icon to shut her own server down, causing the other server to take over the job. It went flawlessly, the meter graph once again hovering around twenty-nine percent.

  Conner raised one hand and Lilly slapped it with her own. They both smiled.

  “So, what next?” Jake asked.

  “That's it for the software part of it,” Conner said.

  “It's all running good?” Jake asked.

  Conner leaned away from his monitor and showed him the graph on his screen, as Lilly once again booted her server and the process reversed, bringing the main server on-line once again. “Everything's good, working exactly as we knew it would,” he said. Just then the phone rang, startling all three of them.

  They all laughed nervously. Jake picked up the phone, cleared his throat and spoke. “Power plant.” and “Amy, how... Uh huh... Uh huh... Will do, will do,” he said. He hung up the phone and turned to Conner. “Your presence is required in the clinic... Newcomer pregnancy... Amy says maybe she's been bitten and has been hiding it... Either way, Steve and Emmett are worried.”

  ~

  Aaron met him on the path heading up to the main cave and walked with him.

  “Called you too?” Conner asked.

  “Amy says she is going to give birth. She's been bitten,” Aaron shrugged.

  “How in hell did this happen?” Conner asked.

  “Lied to Jessie, or Jessie lied to us. Steve said he became suspicious the other day. She said she injured herself on the way here. He ended up talking to the others she came in with and they said she was already hurt when they found her. Guarded, wouldn't let them actually see the wound either. Bobbie got a look at the leg accidentally in the bathes. Black lines running away from it into her thigh. Blew it off like she didn't see it, but she let Sandy know and Sandy told Steve.”

  “Anybody know what we can expect?” Conner asked as the hit the upward slanting ledge and began the uphill walk to the main cave.

  “Amy didn't say,” he shrugged helplessly.

  “How is she in the clinic?” Conner asked.

  “Not happy... At gunpoint, according to Amy.”

  Conner nodded and they walked the rest of the distance in silence.

  ~

  When they stepped into the clinic Sandy and Susan were both waiting with Emmett.

  “Steve has her in the other room,” Sandy told them.

  “Emmett?” Conner asked.

  “I'm unsure... I, well, I never examined her... This is something that was going on before I got here. I really don't know what...”

  Conner held up his hands. He bowed his head. There was nothing to do for Emmett. You never really knew what any person was made of until something came up and showed you. Most of those times it showed them too. “Sandy.”

  “Conner?”

  “I might need you, if I do can I count on you?”

  “Yes,” Sandy answered quickly. Emmett sighed and looked away, examining the walls.

  “I guess I'll take care of regular stuff,” Emmett said after a few moments of silence.

  “If you think that's best,” Sandy answered when no one else did.

  Conner walked past them and into the second examination room off to the left of the main door. It was meant strictly as an overflow room so it was not as close to the main area as the waiting area or the ma
in part of the clinic itself.

  Steve, Katie, Amy and Josh were present. The woman was huddled in a chair next to the examination table. Her stomach distended, obviously far along in her pregnancy.

  “She won't get on the table so I can examine her,” Steve told him.

  Conner walked forward and bent down next to the woman. Her eyes rose to meet his and she shrank away from him.

  “Not here to hurt you,” Conner told her.

  “I know what you people do down there in the barn... Everyone knows it.”

  Conner nodded. “Sometimes we have to keep people apart... That doesn't mean you... I don't even know that there is anything wrong with you... Any reason.”

  She met his eyes and her tears began to fall, slipping over her bottom eyelids and flooding across her cheeks. Conner looked around and Amy handed him a box of tissues. He pulled some free and then handed her the box. He brushed at her cheeks with the ones in his hand.

  “What's your name?” Conner asked.

  “Clarissa,” she managed in a whisper.

  “Well, Clarissa, I'm not here to lock you up... I don't even know what the story is yet... Maybe we can start there... Why do you think I would do that?”

  “Because I got bit.” She broke down into sobs and Conner reached forward and hugged her while she sobbed. A few seconds passed and she seemed to be getting herself under control.

  “On the way here,” she said. She pulled back and swiped at her eyes. “I didn't mean it... To lie, I mean. I didn't mean to do it. I just... I just couldn't lose the baby... And I made it,” her eyes focused on him again and she stretched her arms around his neck and pulled his face to her own. “The baby... It was the baby... I couldn't let you kill my baby....” The tears continued to spill from her eyelids and flood across her cheeks.

  “Let Steve see, Clarissa... The baby, he has to see how it will be for the baby... Make sure the baby is okay...”

  “He won't hurt it?” she asked.

  “He won't hurt it,” Conner agreed. He leaned back, resting on his haunches, and then rose, pulling her to her feet as he did. She came willingly, allowing Steve and Conner to position her on the table. She laid back and closed her eyes.